You just gotta love this:
A commission appointed to reform the state budget will hold its first meeting next week.
Gov. Beverly Perdue plans to address the Budget Reform and Accountability Commission and charge it with finding ways to save the state money.
“She will be charging them with the task of really looking deep, of not being afraid to make tough decisions and tough recommendations,” said David Kochman, a spokesman for Perdue.
Ooooh, I can just hear those pencils being sharpened. And who will be making these “tough decisions” to dig deep for cuts?
- Dan Gerlach, former budget advisor to Gov. Easley. Gerlach dug so deep during the Easley years that the budget only grew by 47%, and state debt doubled in 7 yearsunder his watchful eye. Gerlach – using his lofty connections – then landed a sweet gig making about $190K to head the Golden LEAF slush fund upon the end of Easley’s tenure. Gerlach’s primary objective will be to protect Golden LEAF’s assets from the General Fund, even though GL’s expenditures are virtually indistinguishible from the Rural Economic Development Center and the numerous regional economic development commissions across the state
- Norma Houston, former chief of staff to Senator Marc Basnight – he of the $25 million Pier to Nowhere fame. Ms. Houston is a lawyer and state employee in the taxpayer-subsidized UNC system.
- Charlie Sanders, former big Pharma CEO and the first chairman of the state lottery commission – which was plagued by corruption even before its inception.
- IBM executive Curtis Clark. Mr. Clark has 17 years experience working for NC state government, and brags in his bio about how much taxpayer money was required to finance the department he ran.
- Ron Penny, department chair at the taxpayer-subsidized and managment-bloated NC-Central University
Heading up this commission are:
- Norris Tolson, who heads the NC Biotechnology center – which will receive roughly $15 million in taxpayer dollars to help “develop the biotechnology industry.” Tolson previously had been appointed by Gov. Easley in 2001 to be Secretary of Revenue, “where his first task was to resolve a budget crisis.” How did that budget crisis get resolved? With massive tax hikes and $5 billion in new spending over three years.
- Hilda Pinnix-Ragland, chairwoman of the State Board of Community Colleges – a system that receives about a billion in taxpayer dollars every year to stay afloat.
So here we have largely a collection of people who have, and continue to, make a living relying on government largesse. And these are the people who are supposed to look deep and make tough decisions to save the state money? Please.
Hello, rooster? It’s Bev, can you come guard the hen house for me?
[…] that time, I examined the list of Commission members and expressed my skepticism that the committee would look very deep. So, what were some of those […]