#ncga: David Lewis took OUR money!

At least THAT is what John Zumwalt, Republican challenger to incumbent Jamie Boles in NC House District 52, is claiming: 

Hmmm.  Lewis is quite a powerful person in Raleigh these days.  He is one-third of the junta that runs the state House now.  He chairs the powerful Rules Committee — which is basically the traffic cop for legislation in the lower chamber.  If he doesn’t like your bill, it doesn’t see the light of day. 

The link included with Zumwalt’s post   provides some helpful information on the whole sales tax expansion kerfluffle that Zumwalt and the Moore County commissioners have been hammering Boles on. The link includes a chart showing Moore County getting a big fat ZERO percent of the extra revenue, while our neighbors in Lee, Harnett, Montgomery, Scotland, Hoke and Montgomery counties are all getting a piece of the extra tax revenue.

Interestingly, Randolph County was well-taken care of.  It is the home county of our state senator, Jerry Tillman, and our other legislator, Allen McNeill.  

This information DOES certainly buttress Zumwalt’s argument that Boles is a non-factor — a placeholder — in Raleigh.  Boles has made a big deal of his committee chairmanships and leadership roles in the Republican-dominated House.  BUT  David Lewis and the folks in Lillington and Dunn and Buies Creek managed to get a huge chunk of the money we paid locally in sales taxes.  We got NONE of it. 

The expansion to the sales tax was meant to pay for public education, economic development, and community colleges.   At a public forum in Pinehurst last week, county board of commissioners chairman Nick Picerno told the audience that BIG FAT ZERO PERCENT worth of extra sales tax is the reason why we have a local sales tax increase issue on the March ballot.