Mecklenburg County Commissioner Bill James recalls that one primary job of government — local government in particular — is to keep the bad guys away from the good people. To that end, James is not going to wait for Raleigh to fund Mecklenburg’s struggling local prosecutors and instead is moving to get the county to fund the Mecklenburg district attorney directly.
James knows this could cost the county millions more each year, but figures it is a job that somebody has to do. There are doubtless several million dollars in the county budget that could be redirected to prosecuting criminals. I mean, if you care about that sort of thing.
Update: A few minutes with the FY06 county budget will easily yield any serious person at least $2 million in low-priority items — as ranked by the county commissioners themselves — which could be cut in order to free up funds for the DA’s office.
