Gov. Mike Easley was absolutely right to veto a bill that would have given Fayetteville’s Goodyear tire plant up to $40 million – even if it laid off 750 workers.

Passed on the last day of the legislative session at the behest of Fayetteville Sen. Tony Rand, this giveaway was nothing short of an outrage. It would give public money to a company that threatened to leave the state otherwise.

There’s rarely an end to blackmail, of course. And once Goodyear got away with it, other companies would make similar demands.

So good for the governor. And double good for him because the Goodyear giveaway was engineered by one of Easley’s longtime allies in the Senate – a man not accustomed to being thwarted. If Rand tried to get the Honorables to override the veto, he might succeed. (more…)