Golden Fleece Budget Veto
Leave it to Democrat Gov. Beverly Perdue to whip out the veto stamp and slam it smack down on teachers and taxpayers. That’s essentially what Perdue did this week in her first major tussle with the Republican-led legislature, when she vetoed the Balanced Budget Act.
Perdue claims the bill, which included a Republican plan to cut about $140 million from state accounts for so-called business investment grants and various other political piggy banks, would wreak havoc on her efforts to create jobs and attract businesses to North Carolina.
Senate President Pro-Tem Phil Berger, a Rockingham Republican, said not so fast. Perdue’s job-creation and business-incentive scheme is diverting funds that could more appropriately be used to help balance the budget and save teachers’ job.
“If Gov. Perdue’s veto is truly about jobs as she says,” Berger said in a statement, “then why would she keep unused extra tax money in these special funds she controls instead of using it to protect teachers’ jobs or to avoid a job destroying tax increase in the private sector?”
The answer: because it would mean relinquishing control over millions of dollars that for years has been used as political honey pots.
Take, for example, the Golden LEAF (Longterm Economic Advancement Foundation) fund, which Republicans had targeted for a cut of about $67 million. With revenues flowing from the settlement of a lawsuit filed by several states against major tobacco manufacturers, Golden LEAF money is tagged to address public health concerns and help advance the economic vitality of the state.
Since its creation in 1999, however, Golden LEAF has mushroomed into what is widely considered the mother of all slush funds. Some of the more dubious projects its credited with funding include a horse park in Hoke County; a museum in Cleveland County honoring bluegrass musician Earl Scruggs; the failed Parton Entertainment Center in Halifax County; several local biking and hiking trails; a Drag Racing Hall of Fame; and an art museum in the mountains.
Part and parcel of vetoing the Balanced Budget Act, Perdue refused to cut a proposed $67 million from Golden LEAF assets that totaled about $720 million in 2009.
Republican legislators say they won’t fight Perdue’s veto, opting instead for introducing another bill that would compel her to find an additional $137 million in budget savings.
“If she is unwilling to accept the suggestions we’ve made as to the funds that can be sequestered or set aside,” Berger tells News 14, “we are giving her the authority to cut that amount out of the current fiscal year.”
Any wagers on how Gov. Bev will exercise that authority?
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