Last Splash

Wednesday, 14 February 2007

More tales of corruption from the NC government. My husband had diversity and ethics training yesterday for work, and some of the talking points he came home with really got me thinking. If a DMV officer cannot accept a "food treat" AFTER approving a driver from a CDL license, because it means he may show favoritism to that driver in the future, then how the hell are lobbyists able to take Senators out to dinner at $100 steakhouses? Just a thought.

Something that made me laugh is that apparently, the Department of Transportation (and I'm sure other prestigious departments in our fine state) has a fund set aside in their budget for keeping up their relationship with legislators. Basically, a portion of taxpayer money is set aside so that they can wine and dine the people's representatives if they feel it is needed. Now, answer me this conundrum: if the representatives are the ones setting the budget, then they are basically budgeting money for themselves to be taken out to fancy dinners on ferry boats to help along their own relationship with DOT. Wouldn't it make more sense (and help streamline taxes) if these senators just decided "hey, we don't need this money in the budget...why don't we just make sure that we're giving enough money to DOT to get the roads and ferry system in top shape, and then they won't have to worry about catering a dinner when we come to town". Right?!