Pay more taxes, accrue more debt or THE KIDS WILL DIE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That is the unhinged thesis of some new ads put out by the North Carolina Chamber — allegedly the state’s largest and most powerful pro-business group. (Disclosure: I was briefly a member of said organization. I got frustrated with it after a while. Most of the membership consists of Raleigh and Charlotte mega-law firms / lobbying shops, and large crony capitalist corporations. It’s not the good old fashioned small-town chamber of commerce run by Fred the insurance salesman and George the barber. )
Gov. Pat McCrory is trying to sell a gazillion dollar transit spending package that will require us taking on a whole lot of new debt — and paying more in taxes. The Chamber is taking to the airwaves to help Gov. Pat make his case:
A new ad pulls no punches.
“North Carolina drivers drive on over 2,200 structurally deficient bridges every day,” the announcer with the grave voice re
ads. “We never think of the imminent danger we put our children in, until this happens.”
The screen goes to black and fades up with flashing lights and someone posing as an emergency operator says: “We have a bridge collapse with a school bus full of children.”
The message is clear: fix our state’s bridges now… or else.
Yep. The kids on that bus? They’re gonna DIE! Unless, you cough up some more money to the nanny state in Raleigh …
[…] The North Carolina Chamber of Commerce released the commercial late last week. It very closely resembles an ad in Iowa that makes the same case; bridges are in such disrepair they pose an immediate danger to drivers and, specifically, school children.
“If we do nothing, it basically is a decision to allow economic decline to happen in North Carolina,” said Lew Ebert, President of the NC Chamber.
The commercial isn’t so much an appeal to keep our kids safe as it is to invest in our transportation infrastructure.
“It’s an economic and future issue,” said Ebert. “Our members believe that if we don’t think about it and move that idea forward, we don’t really know who will advance that issue for our state.”[…]
Instead of trying to con the rubes across the state into OKing more taxes and spending, why not do some budgetary housecleaning? We’ve already reported on the outrageous amount of gas tax money — meant to pay for road construction — gets siphoned off to things that have nothing to do with road construction. Let’s try a little accountability, honesty and responsibility from our elected leaders in Raleigh FIRST before bleeding more out of our wallets. MORE:
[…] “We have many more needs out there than we have dollars to address them,” said DOT Communications Chief Mike Charbonneau.
The Department of Transportation confirms more than a third of the state’s bridges and overpasses need some sort of work [repair or replacement]. Charbonneau says of the 13,500 bridges maintained by the DOT, about 5,300 are considered either “structurally deficient” (2,100 bridges) or “functionally obsolete” (3,200 bridges).
According to Charbonneau, fixing all the substandard bridges in the state would cost about $11 billion. This year, he said the department expects to get about $485 million in state and federal funds.
“We definitely share some of the same concerns as the Chamber when it comes to funding transportation infrastructure,” Charbonneau said. “If there is a bridge out there that’s not safe, that bridge will be closed immediately. But in the meantime, there are may be bridges out there that need to be improved upon that need to be repaired and replaced. There are numerous needs. More needs than we can address which is why we have to look at how we fund infrastructure in North Carolina.”
According to state numbers and because of a new funding formula, the DOT is on track to complete 300 more projects over the next 10 years than previously projected.
But even then, Charbonneau says only 18 percent of community needs will get addressed. And that means a need for more money.
“We’ve got to continue to invest holistically and continue to look for new ways to invest if we want to keep up with growth and continue bringing the jobs here,” said Charbonneau.
Interesting. Not A WORD from our allegedly conservative administration about tightening its own belt FIRST before turning to us to tighten ours and cough up MORE.
Critics Respond
The notion that the state should be spending more on infrastructure is a welcome one among many of the Administration’s critics. Democrats and progressives have complained about Republican budgets and spending decisions since conservatives took control of the state Legislature in 2010.
“The spot itself is very effective,” said Rob Schofield with the liberal think tank NC Policy Watch. “It makes some good points. Our infrastructure is crumbling in this state. But the point that’s missed by the ad is our infrastructure is crumbling in so many other places.”
Oh, so a senior member of Blinkin’ Chris’s Manson Family counts as a “critic” of more government spending? I am surprised ABC11 didn’t go to their former employee Gerrick Brenner for some good ol’ socialist red meat.)
[…] As Schofield puts it, the Chamber endorsed budgets which cut total education spending, including funding for school transportation and teacher assistants, many of whom drive school busses.
“The school busses that those kids are riding on are older today because of the budget that the Chamber helped get passed in the General Assembly in the last two years,” said Schofield. “We cut taxes on folks at the top. We cut spending on things like TAs who drove the busses and made the school busses have to run an extra 50,000 miles. I wish they’d be just as concerned about that as they are the roads. I agree with them that roads are a problem but the infrastructure of the state is crumbling in a number of different ways that need addressing as well.”
Oh, I get it. The Manson Family counts as critics because they don’t think the Chamber is demanding ENOUGH spending. MORE:
[…] But the commercial isn’t about the busses. It’s clearly about transportation funding. And to that end, the Chamber has made some suggestions; 16 suggestions to be exact. They all involve raising revenue which could mean anything from a bond to new fees to increased taxes.
“We gave them 16 ideas,” said Ebert. “Any combination of those would be a plan. But we want the legislature and governor to figure out how that works. We’re trying to get the discussion started on something that’s been a problem in our state for decades and if we don’t do something now, we could be in a tough position as a state.”
Oh, if these guys want more spending so badly — their need to cough up, kick back, or surrender any past-paid or to-be-paid taxpayer-funded goodies their members have shaken down the legislature and Department of Commerce for. I am sure those funds would more than suffice in covering the balance being sought for this spending plan. (But again, I am NOT going to hold my breath. I am going to count on the common sense of the state Senate to save us.)
Absolutely! Restructure the budget as is. Take back those 300 kilobucks Bill Barber has been getting. Eliminate the funding for teapot museums. I’m very sure there’s plenty of legislative slush that can be dumped back into the DOT. Rename the “Education Lottery” as the “Infrastructure Lottery”. Only 17% of lottery revenues are going to schools anyway.
And why all the angst about not enough money when toll road schemes abound?
Amazing how as soon as state control changes hands there is a problem with the infrastructure. What were the Dems doing all those years? Twiddling their thumbs and hoping no one would notice their ineptness in solving problems. We are definitely not sending the brightest and best anywhere to solve the problem.
The Chamber at the national level has become a leftwing Big Government organization. It is not surprising that its state affiliate is as well.
Members of local Chambers should get their organizations to disaffiliate with the state and national branches and shun them.
Yep… the state budget is around the $20-23B mark…. they’ve plenty of money for infrastructure, they dont need more cash from the taxpayers. What they need is a better evaluation of the state’s priorities.
Also, the Chamber is indeed a “pro-business” group… which is fine for them. But “I” am not “pro-business”, I’m “pro-free markets” – I think there’s an important distinction there that unfortunately is too often glossed over.
Likewise, our government should not be “pro-business” – as pointed out in the story, that’s simply “crony capitalism” corruption.
Frances nails it. What have they been doing with the money they were supposed to be spending on bridges for the past 60 years?
And after watching the SOTS, what year will North Carolina elect a Republican Governor?
I fell out with the local chamber when my church start paying dues. Why should a church join the chamber?
And then right after that the church started donating money to Habitat for Humanity. I told the preacher that if I wanted to give money to Habitat I would do so rather than giving money to the church for them to give it to Habitat.