‘You gotta spend money to make money’ seems to be the mantra of city government these days. As yet another example, the City of Winston-Salem finds itself stuck with the tab for services rendered by the Washington lobbying group The Ferguson Group.
The city will pay $210,000 over the next two years so The Ferguson Group can turn around and get $800,000 for the Davis Garage renovation and a public-safety center project, whatever that is.
The $210k is in addition to the $100,000 it’s already paid along with the Forsyth County and the Winston-Salem Chamber of Commerce. But the chamber pulled out in 2006, and now the county’s pulled out:
Commissioner Gloria Whisenhunt, the county board’s chairwoman, said that the county’s decision was based mostly on money and a desire to do it alone.
“We did not fund it this year because we wanted to see if we could do more aggressive lobbying on our own. There may come a time when it will be reconsidered,” she said. “Many of the things pertain more to the city, which is still good for us.… You have to eliminate sometimes.”
Whisenhunt may have pointed to the budget as the main reason for the county’s withdrawal, but money for the Ferguson Group also got wrapped in politics last summer when the commissioners voted on the county’s annual budget.
After Commissioner Debra Conrad, the board’s vice chairwoman, cast the only vote against the budget, which included a 3-cent property-tax increase, the commissioners cast a series of punitive votes aimed at her. They rejected several pet projects that she had supported, including money for The Ferguson Group. Conrad declined to comment on those votes, but she did say that The Ferguson Group has been effective.
“It was my impression that, yes, they earned their keep,” she said.
That’s politics, I guess. But here’s the question: If the Winston-Salem City Council is the only gang that believes keeping The Ferguson Group on the payroll is a good idea, does that make it a good idea?
