They must try to satisfy constituents and be responsible THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Monday, April 30, 2007

RALEIGH

As House budget-writers work this week to complete the core of their state budget plan, they will evaluate the financial and political risks of spending around the edges.

Speaker Joe Hackney and other Democratic leaders will decide whether to pay for numerous requests from colleagues for special grants – generally from $5,000 to $500,000- to pay for small-town museums, arts projects and local health initiatives.

Bills also ask for $25,000 for the Anson County Bookmobile, $10,000 for the Lincoln Cultural Development Center and $250,000 for a Wake County YMCA.

“Sometimes you have to do what’s right for people in your district,” said Rep. Ronnie Sutton, D-Robeson, who filed several bills asking for financial assistance for projects back home, including a $289,000 golf course upgrade on N.C. Indian Cultural Center property.

But don’t expect an avalanche of rewards for rank-and-file legislators to bring home to constituents in the final budget. In two of the past three years, money for these so-called “special projects” received criticism from Republicans and good-government advocates as pork run amok. Even some Democrats questioned how the grants were distributed.

“It’s been abused and everything else all along,” said Rep. Mickey Michaux, D-Durham, the senior chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. (more…)