A reminder that our shameless speaker has reached into our pockets once again, this time with a neat little mandate giving his fellow optometrists some work. If you want your child to attend public school in North Carolina you’ll first have to pay Jim Black. Lindalyn Kakadelis has the details:
Five-year-olds entering public school in the fall (2006-2007) will now be required to obtain an additional eye exam. The general eye exam given by physicians during the standard, mandatory “Health Assessment” will no longer be sufficient to gain admittance to public kindergarten. Now, these students must also have a “comprehensive eye examination,” which can only be given by an optometrist or ophthalmologist. …
During the 2004 campaign, optometrists gave more than $125,000 to legislative and Council of State candidates, with over $59,000 alone going to House Speaker Jim Black.
This change in state law, made absent any indication that eye-sight issues in children were missed under the previous standard, constitutes an $8 million windfall to Black and his cronies.
