#ncga: Lights, Camera … WELFARE !!!!
Well, they approved $45 million in corporate welfare after turning down TWENTY MILLION for being too much last session. Movie incentives also got shot down. So far, this year it appears all bets are off. 
It appears Senator Bill “Tax-Hike ” Rabon is teaming with Senator Mike Lee of Wilmington to create a, um. “special fund” within the Department of Commerce to give away all kinds of taxpayer cash to the movie people. Here are the gory details:
[…] The funds are reserved for a production on which the production company has qualifying expenses of at least the following:
a. For a feature-length film,
fiveone million dollars($5,000,000).($1,000,000).b. For a video or television series,
two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000)one million dollars ($1,000,000) per episode.c. For a commercial for theatrical or television viewing, two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000).
(2) The funds are not used to provide a grant in excess of any of the following:
a. An amount more than twenty-five percent (25%) of the qualifying expenses for the production.
b. An amount more than
fiveten million dollars($5,000,000)($10,000,000) for a feature-length film,film for theatrical viewing,more thanfivetwo million dollars($5,000,000)($2,000,000) for a feature-length film for television viewing or a television or video pilot or episode for a television or video series, or two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000) for a commercial for theatrical or television viewing.
(3) The funds are not used to provide a grant to more than one production company for a single production.
(4) The funds are not used to provide a grant for a production that meets one or more of the following:
a. It contains material that is “obscene,” as defined in
G.S. 14-190.1, or that is “harmful to minors,” as defined in G.S. 14-190.13.G.S. 14-190.1.b. It has the primary purpose of political advertising, fundraising, or marketing, other than by commercial, a product, or service.
c. News programming, including weather, financial market, and current events reporting.
d. Live sporting event programming, including pre-event and post-event coverage and scripted sports entertainment. For purposes of this exception, a live sporting event is a scheduled sporting competition, game, or race that is originated solely by an amateur, collegiate, or professional organization, institution, or association for live or tape-delayed television or satellite broadcast. The term does not include commercial advertising, an episodic television series, a television pilot, a music video, a motion picture, or a documentary production in which sporting events are presented through archived historical footage or similar footage taken at least 30 days before it is used.
e. Radio productions.
f. It is a talk, game, or awards show or other gala event. For purposes of this exception, an awards show is television programming involving the filming of a ceremony in which individuals, groups, or organizations are given an award.
g. It fails to contain, in the end credits of the production, a statement that the production was “Filmed in North Carolina,” a logo provided by the North Carolina Film Office, and an acknowledgement of the regional film office responsible for the geographic area in which the filming of the production occurred. Additionally, the production company will offer marketing opportunities to be evaluated by the North Carolina Film Office to ensure that they offer promotional value to the State. […]
Ahh, that grand old party of limited, non-intrusive government that goes about it’s appropriate and well-defined duties…
*sigh*
Hey! I know where we can get an easy $45M to put back into the gas tax bucket 🙂
Damn skippy we’re going to spend more of your money on our friends, we’re going to do whatever the hell we want to, you have no say so.
It’s summed up like this and this is our position on it you plebs, in the words of a Republican from Union County
‘I am the senator. You are the citizen. You need to be quiet.’
Sen Tommy Tucker
Nice huh? Don’t forget it!
Tommy Tucker is the liberal who beat former State Senator Fern Shubert, one of the best conservatives to have served in Raleigh in a primary with some lying last minute attack ads produced by Dee Stewart a few years ago. The lies were exposed after the primary for how much good it did then.
It would be nice to see a primary against Tucker and those words thrown back at him in primary advertising. Since they are 100% true as coming out of his mouth, an opponent would not have to wait until the last minute to use them.
If we throw in the towel and walk away, the enemy wins. “The enemy” also includes not only Democrats, but every Republican turncoat who voted for more taxes and corporate welfare. My senator and my representative are both guilty.
Didn’t they read the Republican Platform that they swore to uphold? I’m going to ask them, in person. They won’t like it, and I don’t care.
I’m a Republican, now, only through sheer determination not to let the varmints win.
Remember General Washington and his troops — barefooted, sick, exhausted, freezing, and discouraged, but they persevered and won.
Please don’t give up. Let’s beat these asses.
When we say out Senators or Repersentatives voted for it, CALL them out by their name for the world to hear.
Here are the culprits in my district:
District 118 Rep. Presnell (R) voted for the gas tax increase and for the NC Competes Act (corporate welfare). She’s been a huge disappointment.
Senator Ralph Hise voted for the gas tax increase. He tried to justify it by claiming that several projects couldn’t be funded, without increasing taxes.
Scrap the projects, then, Senator. I have to live within my means. Why shouldn’t you?
The 2014 NC Republican Party Platform,
Article II. The Economy, states:
2. Economic freedom is essential to human liberty and dignity. It preserves the inherent right to liberty and ownership of private property. To protect this inherent right, government must provide an environment for individual’s initiative and enterprise unencumbered by excessive regulation and taxation.
3. The government should tax only to raise money for its essential functions.
Article III. Individual Liberty, states:
4. Government should treat all citizens impartially and equally under the law. Discrimination is a detrimental to freedom for all individuals and we oppose it in any
form.
Article V. State Government, states:
2. We believe that government at all levels must not spend money it does not have.
______________
There are probably other sections of the NC GOP Platform which also apply, here, but these are the ones which jumped out at me. I wonder why they didn’t also jump out at Senator Hise and Representative Presnell?
Governments should not be handing out mule-choking wads of our tax dollars to ANY business. Republicans throw a hissy-fit when the Obama regime does this. It is no less outrageous, when Republicans do it. Hypocrites!
The market will sort out these businesses. Get out of the way, and let it.
Here’s the link to the 2014 NC Republican Party Platform:
http://www.ncgop.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Platform-2014.pdf
Fortunately, I am in a district with a good conservative representative who voted against the corporate welfare. My state senator is also a conservative who usually votes right and he tells me that he is against the corporate welfare bills, too.
I am willing to help out in primaries in nearby districts, giving contributions and volunteer time to help elect Republicans of principle in the primaries over the opportunists. We need elected officials who have an R in their hearts, not just an R by their name on the ballot which they often forget when voting on legislation.