Today’s Charlotte Observer article
on the difficulty getting a paved road to the National Whitewater
Center paid for shows that House Speaker Jim Black and Senate President
Marc Basnight are still using Department of Transportation slush funds for pet projects:
Whitewater Parkway is expected to cost between $3.5 million and $4
million total……Whitewater officials thought they had $1.8 million in commitments
from the state, said assistant city manager Ron Kimble, who is involved
because the state money will flow through the city.But Kimble said that earlier this year, when the city tried to verify the state’s commitment, it could document only $1 million.
That initial $1 million was composed of $250,000 each from four
sources: the N.C. DOT division that includes Mecklenburg County, the
division that includes Gaston County, House Speaker Jim Black,
D-Mecklenburg, and Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight, D-Dare.Black and Basnight each have access to a fund that can be used
for
any transportation project across the state. (Sen. David) Hoyle (of
Gaston County, who is Basnight’s roommate when the General Assembly is
in session), who worked with
Basnight on the Senate’s share, described the fund as a way to pay for
relatively small projects that don’t need to get caught in the DOT
bureaucracy.Recently, Black and Basnight each increased their contributions to
$400,000, and the center obtained another $500,000 through the
governor’s office, Kimble said.
So much for slush fund repentance.
