John Locke Foundation experts continue to share their insights about state and local government budget issues. News 14 Carolina highlighted a recent “Political Connections” interview with Fiscal Policy Analyst Joseph Coletti as one of its top stories. Meanwhile, the Jacksonville Daily News is among the newspapers that included Coletti’s comments in a recent Associated Press assessment of Gov. Beverly Perdue’s budget plan. (Joe Coletti with the conservative John Locke Foundation
criticized Perdue for seeking the additional “sin taxes” but said the
state should be cutting costs further so that it will be prepared to
balance the budget when federal stimulus money runs out in late 2011.
)  Coletti also offered his analysis for an Asheville Citizen-Times article about provisions for prison closings in Perdue’s plan. In other news, Coletti took his expertise on the road to Burlington for a FreedomWorks presentation on revaluations and property taxes. The Burlington Times-News covered that meeting. Coletti and Dr. Michael Sanera, JLF Research Director and Local Government Analyst, continue to attract attention for their report exposing local government spending patterns. The Durham Herald-Sun and Monroe Enquirer-Journal have highlighted that report recently.