While a much used term in media and political circles, “pay to play” does fairly describe the interlocking circle of money and the support of political agendas in some cases. The specific “pay to play” case I am referring to is one concerning the proposed public safety center for the city of Raleigh. This building has been at the center of a political fight due to a tax increase to pay for it, the lack of a public vote to approve borrowing the money to pay for it and the high construction cost per square foot ($462).
The pay to play comes in when Harvey A. Schmitt the President and CEO of the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce weighs in with a letter to the editor endorsing a tax increase and the building of the center without a vote of the people. Seems strange that a pro-business group would endorse a tax increase for a project with so little support in the community? Not so strange when you look beneath the surface. This could be nothing more than Harvey answering to a major funder of his organization.
The Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce receives about $200,000 per year from the city of Raleigh and has received this money for over 10 years to support “economic development” for the city. Schmitt’s compensation is reported to be around $400,000 a year. If true that means the taxpayers and businesses of Raleigh are effectively subsidizing 1/2 the salary of someone who is advocating for higher taxes.
Since the city is “paying” it seems only fair that Harvey would “play” for them.
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/03/01/364039/wake-builds-tower-with-little.html?storylink=misearch
I imagine there were a few people shaking their heads this morning when they read about the punishment – or lack thereof – that was handed out to State Sen. R.C. Soles (See: news article). Yesterday Sen. Soles pled guilty in a Columbus County Courthouse to a misdemeanor assault with a weapon charge and paid a $1,000 fine. The incident in question took place last August when Soles fired on an intruder, Kyle Blackburn who had broken into his Tabor City home. Blackburn also happened to be a former client of Soles and — at the time of the incident — had been recently released from jail. Yeah, I know it sounds like a bad script from one of those TV movie channels. Unfortunately, it’s true.
So much for the work of those folks who served on the grand jury in January and indicted Sen. Soles on a felony assault charge. Soles’ plea means he will face no other penalties. Had Soles been convicted of a felony, he faced losing his senate seat, prison time and his law license. Sen.Soles is the longest serving member of the North Carolina legislature, having first been elected to the General Assembly in 1968. He is also Chair of the Senate Democratic Caucus. I wonder if a few of the ties Sen. Soles developed over the past four decades came in handy in resolving his troubles. Anybody who thinks an average citizen would have been treated the same way, let me know.
Late last Friday, the NC Department of Transportation released a new report that represents a major step forward for the department — they are now using a “data-driven approach is being used to score projects across the state” as opposed to its previous scoring system relying on political favor and cronyism for transportation projects.
This scoring system and a common-sense prioritization of transportation projects is one that Civitas and others have been recommending for years.
According to the report:
each project is classified under one of the Department’s three primary goals (Safety, Mobility, Infrastructure Health) and three tiers (Statewide, Regional, and Subregional). Projects classified as Infrastructure Health were further classified by Submode (Interstate Pavement, Modernization, and Highway Miscellaneous).
If you dig deeper into the rankings and pay particular attention to the rankings under “Mobility” (page 57) a distinct conclusion can be drawn — the Charlotte area has been neglected. 8 of the top 10 highest scoring projects are in the Charlotte/I-85 corridor.
The key here will be to see if NCDOT actually sticks to this ranking system and makes decisions based on this or will we see political pressures creep back into the system. I’m guardedly optimistic that road building in the state may have finally turned a corner.
As the N&O reveals yet another case of government corruption in North Carolina state government, Sheldon Richman describes why liberals and “progressives” are complete hypocrites to express dismay over political abuses of power.
It’s funny how the people who push hardest for government intervention in more and more areas are the first to gripe that everything has become politicized. What were they expecting? Did they forget that government is a political institution?
….
So, memo to Krugman, Matthews, et al.: You can’t have the kind of government you want without people inside and outside the halls going to great lengths to get their hands on that power. You know it, and so does anyone who spends five minutes thinking it through. Enough whining already.
With politicians exerting their influence in so many aspects of our lives, the only shocking stories should be those that don’t involve corruption. You reap what you sow, progressives.
Depositions taken last month show that former Democratic Governor Mike Easley was hiding a lot from the people of North Carolina. Testimony from his former communications directors for a public records lawsuit brought by the John Locke Foundation and several news outlets show that Governor Easley had a private email address that he used to conduct state business. Because email messages are considered public information, Locke and the news outlets sued the Easley administration when they found that messages were being deleted, or in the case of Easley’s secret account, not revealed at all, even when requests for information were made.
Easley’s private email address, a Road Runner account, was “Nick Danger” spelled backwards, presumably a reference to the fictional private eye.
In an April 2008 interview, Easley made it clear that he thought private email addresses should be public record if they contained messages pertaining to state business. North Carolina Public Records Law applies to every message “in connection with the transaction of public business by any agency of North Carolina government.” Although Easley said on the record that he understood the law, he continued to keep his email account and the state business he conducted using it a secret.
According to the communications staff in the deposition made public yesterday, Easley’s communications director, Sherri Johnson, instructed public information officers in several Cabinet agencies to delete emails to and from his office, and not to mention his office in emails. Officers were instead instructed to use the telephone for most communication, and not to mention the order in emails. This policy likely came about from feelings arising after an email from the Department of Cultural Resources painting Easley in a negative light.
I just returned from Ruffin Poole’s initial appearance in federal court before U.S. District Judge Terrance Boyle. Poole, advisor to former Governor Mike Easley, was led into the courtroom with his hands cuffed behind his back. Boyle read a summary of the 64-page indictment that refers to Poole as the “Little Governor” because of his role as Easley’s right-hand man.
The 51 charges against Poole include extortion, mail fraud, and money laundering, each carrying a maximum sentence of 20 years plus fines; bribery and monetary transactions in criminally derived property, each carrying a maximum sentence of 10 years plus fines; and racketeering, carrying a maximum sentence of five years plus fines. All parties agreed on the terms for Poole’s bail–$50,000 unsecured bond, that he surrenders his passport and any firearms, and that he restrict his travel to the states of NC, VA, and MD.
The entire court appearance lasted less than 15 minutes. The press outside the courthouse waited longer for Poole to appear and be whisked away by his attorney.
The scandals emerging from local ABC boards in Wilmington and Charlotte across the state tell us Raleigh certainly has no corner on corruption. Billy Williams, a high school graduate, current ABC administrator in New Hanover County and an ABC employee of 42-years is at the center of much of the storm in Wilmington. According to pay records, Williams is making about $280,000 in salary and bonuses. Yes, that’s right, I said $280,000. His son, Bradley, also an ABC employee is making about $140,000 in salary and bonuses. The public is understandably incensed. Not surprisingly, the elder Mr. Williams has chosen to retire in February. His retirement pay per year: $100,000.
Chair of the State ABC Commission, Jon Williams (no relation, I’m told) said all the right things last week when he criticized the lavish pay and “culture of entitlement” infecting various ABC boards. Williams’ surprise is a surprise to me. If officials had no idea of the problems and corruption, I’d simply ask: how good a job could commissioners been doing? Over a year ago, the Program Evaluation Division published a report highlighting the need for sweeping changes. Again, nothing was done. Now, doing nothing isn’t an option. Let’s hope we get it right this time.
How serious are politicians about fixing abuses within local Alcohol Beverage Control (ABC) boards? Newspapers in Charlotte and Wilmington have highlighted local ABC abuses and have helped to propel the story. However, one wonders where the scrutiny was when the Program Evaluation Division (PED) of the North Carolina General Assembly released a report in December 2008. The report recommended that North Carolina:
Modernize the current alcohol beverge control system by defining the mission of local boards, providing the North Carolina ABC Commission with management tools for better oversight of boards and modifying outdated statutes for ABC store elections and purchase-transportation permits.
Clearly, the PED report highlighted some major problems and made signficant recommendations. Still reports don’t do much good if the General Assembly fails to act.
.
This morning’s Wall Street Journal (subscription required) offers a look into the liberal mind Richard Ravitch, Lieutenant Governor of New York, bemoans the strings attached to federal stimulus money. Ravitch says the strings are making it harder for states to cut spending and manage their budgets. He writes:
The federal stimulus has provided significant budget relief to the states, but this relief is temporary and makes it harder for states to cut expenditures. In major areas such as transportation, education and health care, stimulus funds come with strings attached. These strings prevent states from substituting federal money for state funds, require states to spend minimum amounts of their own funds, and prevent states from tightening eligibility standards for benefits.
Because of these requirements, states, instead of cutting spending in transportation, education and health care, have been forced to keep most of their expenditures at previous levels and use federal funds only as supplements. The net result is this: The federal stimulus has led states to increase overall spending in these core areas, which in effect has only raised the height of the cliff from which state spending will fall if stimulus funds evaporate.
Ravitch’s piece vacillates between a rant against the federal government and a plea for help so that the states can be saved from themselves. Strings attached to federal money? That may be news to Mr.Ravitch, but certainly to not a lot of other people. Aside from obvious concerns about cost, the “maintenance of effort” spending requirements (which forbid states from reducing budgets) and prohibitions on tightening benefit eligibility standards, were the very things that conservatives found so odious last year. You have to wonder where Mr. Ravitch when the stimulus legislation was being discussed.
Many of Mr. Ravitch’s observations about the budgetary impacts of the stimulus are correct – albeit belatedly. However he’s wrong to think more stimulus money is necessary to help resolve this mess. The fact is, stimulus money only allowed policymakers to delay difficult decisions, but we knew that $787 billion dollars ago. More federal dollars equal more federal control. It’s an equation some of us never learn.
Just posted on www.nccivitas.org and at Capitol Monitor is information on how the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now(ACORN) has ingrained itself into the “progressive” network in NC. It works hand in glove with a multitude of left wing organizations to advance the liberal agenda. Many of these organizations sound innocuous – like Project Vote – but are really advancing a liberal agenda. Many of the organizations that ACORN works with in NC are well funded and even receive tax dollars from NC.
Well you know what they say “Birds of a feather flock together” or perhaps a better saying would be “lie down with dogs, wake up with fleas”!