Civitas Review Online

WSOC in Winston-Salem did a story last night on Civitas’ Brian Balfour’s Top 10 Worst Federal Stimulus Projects in NC:

According to NCRecovery.gov, North Carolina will receive approximately $8.9 billion from President Obama’s stimulus plan passed in February 2009.  It ought to be easy for Governor Perdue to create jobs in North Carolina will all of that money.  But the unemployment rate for North Carolina was 11.2% last month according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the 7^th highest in the nation.

North Carolina had a population of 9.2 million according to US Census Bureau estimates in 2008.  If Governor Perdue were to give each North Carolinian an equal amount of the projected funding from the stimulus package, each of us would receive $967; an impressive amount of money.  Who among us would not be stimulated by an extra $967 in their bank account?

Consider also that the entire state budget for the 1993-1994 fiscal year in North Carolina was $8.9 billion and you can see how massive the amount of money coming into the Tar Heel state is.  Where has this money gone?  One example, our state received $132 million for home weatherization.  See what else North Carolina’s job creation money is being spent on here.

Today I posted a report about State Auditor Beth Wood using a state car and not following procedure on reimbursing the state. I did not address the whole question of why we provide cars to elected officials, as well as other state employees, for them to use commuting to work. It is interesting to note that while Wood issued a letter in August about a violation of the commuting policy to another state department, she did not reimburse her own commuting until October.

Also troubling is the attitude state officials take towards waste in state government. In talking to a high ranking official in the Auditor’s office after our report was published, I asked about the fact that apparently there is a widespread problem with “commuting” reimbursement throughout state government. I was informed that in a budget the size of state governments it is not worth the effort to try and fix problems like this! Carrying that idea its logical conclusion the larger the state government gets – the more amount waste is tolerated because it is such a small percentage.

If the people who are inside government believe that waste and fraud are acceptable as long as it stays a “small percent” than that is the best argument for restraining the growth of government I have heard.

A parting question, is anyone else bothered by the fact that Wood is driving a state car with a personal tag on it? It is at the end of the report and is all perfectly legal.

The News and Observer on Friday exposed the Raleigh City Council for holding a $10,000 welcoming suaree for themselves at the beginning of the new council terms.

While many members expressed shock and regret for splashing that kind of cash on themselves, it seems from their comments that they really only had a problem with it because of the economy — that if things were going well, this type of expense would be just fine.

Raleigh Mayor Chalres Meeker is quoted as saying, “That’s more than it should be, particularly in this economy” (emphasis mine).

Council member Mary-Ann Baldwin added: “”Something like that probably sends the wrong message in these economic times“” (emphasis mine).

So what both of these big spenders agree on, is that this type of  government spending is wrong, but only because of the economy.  If times were good, they’d have no problem with feting themselves on hibachi beef and champagne at taxpayers’ expense.

After all, they were holding the reception in a $225 million taxpayer financed shrine to Downtown Raleigh.

Gov. Bev Perdue is honoring veterans today by pandering for military votes telling businesses that they should hire more veterans by participating in a new program called “I Hire Military.”

That’s great and all, but has the Governor noticed unemployment in North Carolina is 10.8% (8th highest in the nation)?  Nobody is getting hired, military or not.  In fact, the opposite is happening.

If she was really concerned with businesses hiring more workers, why did she sign a budget that raises taxes on all businesses, regardless of size, by 3%?  That’s 3% more of their revenue that they can’t use to hire veterans (or anyone else for that matter) because it has to be sent to Raleigh so state cars can sit idle, a $25 million pier can be built, or she can spend $80,000 going on a trip to China.

Does she recognize that one affects the other?

Yesterday, the NC Auditor’s office released a new audit detailing some deficiencies in the operations of the Golden LEAF Foundation. Of note:

There is a risk that potential conflicts of interest or political influence play a role in Golden LEAF investment decisions.  For example, in 2002 Golden LEAF invested $30 million with an investment company owned by a well-known political campaign contributor.  In 2006, Golden LEAF approved a $10 million investment in which a board member voted on the investment after disclosing, at an earlier meeting, a conflict of interest regarding his brother’s position on a related board.

The problems with Golden LEAF should not be anything revolutionary to readers of the Civitas Institute as our own Brian Balfour made the case earlier this year to dissolve the organization.  Brian wrote then:

The political nature of Golden LEAF’s Board of Directors has corrupted the Foundation’s grant-making process. Rather than an objective analysis of which projects will best advance the “economic well being of North Carolinians,” grants have all too often been decided by political turf wars and power plays. A review of pet projects and questionable items funded by the Foundation, in fact, prompted the Capital Monitor to state, “many are concluding that Golden LEAF has been nothing more than a multi-million dollar slush fund.” ⁹

The need for Golden LEAF to exist is highly questionable.  It’s grant-making can be handled by existing government agencies and its revenues could better be used to pay for the Medicaid and State Health Plan costs for smokers (as the funds were originally intended to be).

In what has to be seen as a somewhat bizarre and highly questionable decision, the NC DOT has decided to continue with its plans to expand a Winston-Salem road that leads to the soon to be empty Dell manufacturing plant.  From today’s W-S Journal:

Even though Dell said earlier this month that it will close the plant early next year, DOT officials say they are moving ahead with the Union Cross Road plans. They say that present and future traffic needs justify the expense.

The cost to widen the road?  $53 million.

Oh and the traffic counts the DOT is basing the need for widening on, they were done at the height of Dell’s employment and use of the road in 2007.

So is this the “critical needs” that the General Assembly used to justify raising the gas tax by 2 cents per gallon on July 1?  I sure hope not.

It looks like the legislature is going to sell one of the planes owned and operated by the State Department of Commerce. That is a good start but what they are selling is the slower and less comfortable of the two planes, a Beech King Air, and not the faster, more luxurious,  Cessna jet. They also are not selling the expensive (and expensive to operate) Sikorsky helicopter. Why does the state insist on spending over $2,000,000 each year for the “Executive Transport Division” when an allocation of maybe  $250,000-500,000 should more than cover all the travel the governor could possibly do in a year. If it is a disaster we still have the entire National Guard air fleet and the Highway Patrol helicopters.

As I have said before, the state does not need an air force consisting of over 60 planes and helicopters. More on this later.