Negotiations over the state budget continue at a snail’s pace as
behind-the-scenes power brokers are reportedly disagreeing over the cigarette
tax and pay raises for state employees. John Hood told the Asheville
Citizen-Times that House members might be doing some dealing with Speaker Jim Black. “There are blocs of legislators who have stiffened
their resolve on the budget because of defeats elsewhere. The
legislative Black Caucus, unhappy with the fate of the (proposed) death
penalty (reforms) may not be particularly helpful in fashioning
compromise majorities in the House. All of these things tie together
and make the whole process unpredictable, which is why we have another
extension,” Hood said. Meantime, writing in Dunn’s Daily Record,
Joe
Coletti challenged readers to justify 10 spending items that exist in
either the House or Senate version of the budget. They include $200,000
for Kid’s Voting, $500,000 to promote the CIAA basketball tournament,
and another $1.6 million for the Global TransPark.