All hail the Queen of Pork, Representative Marian McLawhorn (D-Pitt)! This past session, Rep. McLawhorn proposed more than $173 million in pork. McLawhorn’s earmarks include $34.4 million for 4-H camps, $30 million for Pitt Community College, and $1.1 million for a new dining and recreation hall for the Future Farmers of America.
Other choice morsels proposed by legislators include:
$500,000 for the James B. Hunt Institute for Educational Leadership and Policy (Douglas Yongue (D-Scotland))
$250,000 for a documentary on Jewish life in North Carolina (Jennifer Weiss (D-Wake))
$150,000 to restore the Old Pickle Shed in Faison (Russell Tucker (D-Duplin))
All in all, legislators tried to pass almost $1.5 billion in pork barrel spending in 2007 alone. In fact, more than 18 percent of all bills filed were for earmarks for specific projects. $160 million of these requests actually made it into the budget, with millions more being passed as separate legislation.
To read more, see Civitas’ new report on earmarked funds for the 2007 session.
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