That Dog Won’t Hunt
2009-08-06 - by
Whenever a lady starts a sentence by saying with perfect politeness, I just wanted to point out…well, any male who’s dealt with southern women knows he’s in deep trouble.
A very nice lady called from state government the other morning about a blog I wrote about the State Department of Transportation spending $29,000 to buy 100,000 ‘clickers’ to give to children at county fairs. Her point was simple: The $29,000 came from Washington – not from the North Carolina State Treasury – so I was wrong to say Governor Perdue was raising taxes to pay for this example of wasteful spending.
Of course, she’s exactly right. DOT buying the ‘clickers’ – to promote ‘click-it or tick-et – didn’t cost the state money. It cost Washington money.
So Governor Perdue’s off the hook.
I stand corrected and after reflecting on the Governor’s point of view have reached several conclusions.
First, when it comes to spending taxpayers’ money, the federal government is every bit as crazy as state government.
Second, one group of bureaucrats giving another group of bureaucrats money to spend is dangerous.
Third, there’s an odd point of view in the Perdue Administration about the tax money: State officials have no responsibility for spending money wisely – if it comes from Washington.
Secretary of Health and Human Services Lanier Cansler is an example: He spent $38,000 he got from Washington for ‘vocational rehabilitation’ to buy a thousand crab pots to set a deaf man without a boat up in the fishing business. When it landed in the newspapers he shrugged it off, saying, Well, its Washington’s money – why not?
Why didn’t Secretary Cansler just pick up the telephone, call Governor Perdue and say, Look, I need this money to pay for health care for uninsured children instead of crab pots – how about you call the President and see if that doesn’t make sense to him too?
Or just tell his assistant, I’ve got a better idea: You send that $38,000 straight back to Congress and tell those folks to stop acting like damn fools.
For taxpayers there’s not much comfort in the Perdue Administration’s philosophy on spending money from Washington. Imagine the Governor running for reelection, saying, Look, I got all the money I could from Washington and if some fool up there wanted me to waste part of it – that was fine with me.
Politically, that dog won’t hunt.
That Dog Won’t Hunt
2009-08-06/
Whenever a lady starts a sentence by saying with perfect politeness, I just wanted to point out…well, any male who’s dealt with southern women knows he’s in deep trouble.
A very nice lady called from state government the other morning about a blog I wrote about the State Department of Transportation spending $29,000 to buy 100,000 ‘clickers’ to give to children at county fairs. Her point was simple: The $29,000 came from Washington – not from the North Carolina State Treasury – so I was wrong to say Governor Perdue was raising taxes to pay for this example of wasteful spending.
Of course, she’s exactly right. DOT buying the ‘clickers’ – to promote ‘click-it or tick-et – didn’t cost the state money. It cost Washington money.
So Governor Perdue’s off the hook.
I stand corrected and after reflecting on the Governor’s point of view have reached several conclusions.
First, when it comes to spending taxpayers’ money, the federal government is every bit as crazy as state government.
Second, one group of bureaucrats giving another group of bureaucrats money to spend is dangerous.
Third, there’s an odd point of view in the Perdue Administration about the tax money: State officials have no responsibility for spending money wisely – if it comes from Washington.
Secretary of Health and Human Services Lanier Cansler is an example: He spent $38,000 he got from Washington for ‘vocational rehabilitation’ to buy a thousand crab pots to set a deaf man without a boat up in the fishing business. When it landed in the newspapers he shrugged it off, saying, Well, its Washington’s money – why not?
Why didn’t Secretary Cansler just pick up the telephone, call Governor Perdue and say, Look, I need this money to pay for health care for uninsured children instead of crab pots – how about you call the President and see if that doesn’t make sense to him too?
Or just tell his assistant, I’ve got a better idea: You send that $38,000 straight back to Congress and tell those folks to stop acting like damn fools.
For taxpayers there’s not much comfort in the Perdue Administration’s philosophy on spending money from Washington. Imagine the Governor running for reelection, saying, Look, I got all the money I could from Washington and if some fool up there wanted me to waste part of it – that was fine with me.
Politically, that dog won’t hunt.