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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
â also in Tomblin's turf â 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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