As the dust settles in Moore County, a new political fight brews

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I was browsing through Friday’s edition of our thrice-weekly Pulitzer Prize-winning local paper, when an ad caught my eye.  (The ads are usually more interesting than the news content.)   Anyway, here is what the ad said:

STOP AIRPORT WASTE
of tens of millions in taxpayer dollars

Moore County Airport — A shocking example of wasteful government spending right here in our own backyard

(when schools are being closed & teachers, cops & firefighters are being laid off)

$30 million already …

Hangars that stand empty and 70 new aircraft parking spaces

(Just a few of the airport expansion projects over the years)

Coming in 2012:  $20 million more to extend the runway
All for heavy-load  commercial jets that will never come

Get the facts about airport spending at
StopAirportWaste.com

And add your name to our petition to the FAA
(500-plus Moore County taxpayers have already signed on)

“We like out airport, but we like it just the way it is.”

Paid for by Taxpayers to Stop Airport Waste, LLC

I checked out the LLC filings at the NC Secretary of State’s web site, and the registered agent for this group is Dave Korb of Whispering Pines.  If you go to www.stopairportwaste.com you get some more info on the group’s mission:

 We bring to your attention, and recommend that you investigate, the grossly improper use of Airport Improvement Program (AIP) funds granted to the North Carolina Department of Transportation Division of Aviation, a state block-grant recipient.

      Pursuant to further investigation, we demand immediate suspension of funding for AIPs administered by the NCDOT, specifically those funds distributed by that agency to the Moore County (NC) Board of Commissioners and the Moore County Airport Authority.

      Pending completion of this inquiry we also recommend amoratorium on airport-expansion construction work currently underway at Moore County Airport (including, but not limited to, expansion of hangar and aircraft apron capacity, runway length, and what otherwise would be considered any activity contributing to airport expansion.)

     This petition is based on findings that the aforementioned projects are ineligible now, and have been ineligible in past fiscal years, for AIP funding under the FAA’s NPIAS and AIP Handbook guidelines.   

 

Wow.  Sounds like it’s time for some area politicos to “buckle up” …