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ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OR PORK? - You Decide... |
| (03/20/2003) |
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Opinion And Comment The West Virginia Legislature is at it again. A review of projects that won money from the $200 million plus Economic Development Grant Committee established by the legislature, shows that nearly a one-third didn't meet the committee's own job creation and financial commitment criteria, according to a report in the Charleston-Daily Mail. Reporter Toby Coleman examined all 34 projects and found that money was given to 10 not fitting the committee's own requirements. Economic development projects that got funding were supposed to create jobs and attract outside investment. The legislative committee gave $36 million to projects that either created no new jobs or had no other investment, said the paper. The economic development project funded by the 2002 legislature has been taken to court. The grant committee fully funded a $1.5 million community college branch in Lincoln County. Lincoln County in Senate President Earl Ray Tomblin's district, the community college run by his wife. (Tombyln's mother, incidentially, reportedly gets over $100,000 to raise Greyhounds for racing). The committee granted the entire cost of a $8.5 million park lodge in Logan County also in Tomblin's turf plus a $1.5 million railroad bridge into downtown Elkins, a $1.2 million park construction program in Moundsville and the $280,000 move of a high-tech mirror manufacturer, said the Daily-Mail. The West Virginia Citizen Action Group is challenging the legislative committee in a lawsuit that's been argued before the state Supreme Court. WV-CAG has argued that the committee is unconstitutional because legislators appointed many of the members of the body that serves an "executive function." Norman Steenstra of WV-CAG said ."If you're stacking the deck on the committee, you can determine whether [a project] meets the standards or not. It was the mother of all Budget Digests," he said. Concerns have also been raised about the Charleston ballpark and the Wheeling Mall. Business consultants have said outlet malls have frequently failed and are no longer being developed across the country. For complete details, read The Charleston-Daily Mail on-line. |
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