The AJC is addressing some of the pork found in the FY 2008 budget, which was passed late Sunday night, and only sat for an hour before legislators voted on it:

Late Friday night, lawmakers approved a fiscal 2008 budget that included several million dollars for projects ranging from local museums to streetscapes, a party, baseball facilities, locker rooms and even a fresh coat of paint for a water tower. The projects were made public only a few hours before the Legislature adjourned.

As the session wound down last week, Gov. Sonny Perdue vetoed the current year’s budget, saying too much was left out when legislators approved a $142 million property tax break. That will lead to a special session in coming weeks.

Overshadowed by the veto was the fact that legislators used next year’s much larger 2008 budget to send millions home to local communities — the type of “pork barrel” spending many GOP leaders criticized when Democrats ran the statehouse.

[…]

When Harbin explained the budget to the House Friday night, he called it a “conservative budget that meets the needs of Georgians.”

[…]

“There is nothing wrong with special projects that are needed, and there are a whole host of those in the budget,” Cagle said in an interview Sunday. He cited, for instance, increased funding included for medical schools to produce more doctors.

Critics say special projects are goodies for lawmakers to brag about back home. It helps them at election time to be known as somebody who brings the bacon home to their districts. They argue that it’s one way to return tax money to communities that contribute to the treasury.

Here is a list of some of the pork, there is much more to be found, I’m sure. This list was complied by Bill Kecskes…
- $ 7,024,284 for 398 itemized Local Assistance Grants (Legislators Personal Pet Projects)
- $ 2,000,000 for City of Gainesville Parking Garage
- $ 400,000 for Tour de Georgia Bicycle Race
- $ 100,000 for Warner Robins AFB Museum
- $ 5,000,000 for Infantry Museum
- $ 2,500,000 for Cobb County Performing Arts Center
- $ 100,000 for Zoo Atlanta
- $ 633,685 for Golf Hall of Fame
- $ 793,344 for Georgia Sports Hall of Fame
- $ 814,070 for Georgia Music Hall of Fame
- $ 11,213,500 for teacher gift cards (- $100 for each teacher)
- $ 2,405,707 to Hire 20 additional lawyers, six paralegals, 3 secretaries
- $ 500,000 to do “condition assessments” on 17 state owned buildings
- $ 721,000 to expand DFACS offices in 5 counties.
- $ 2,500,000 to construct camp ground cottages
- $ 5,000,000 cash for “GO FISH”
- $ 14,000,000 in BONDS for “GO FISH”
- $ 400,000 for feasibility study of creating new counties
- $ 50,000 for silver-haired legislature
- $ 3,124,900 to increase training funds for KIA Auto Workers
- $ 150,000 to conduct business plan to support incorporation efforts for Chattahoochee Hills in Fulton County
- $ 500,000 for beautification of John’s Creek

I was glad to see the $1,500,000 for CSX rail improvements stripped out of the budget, but that is the lone bright spot. Anyway, for those of you that are interested you can find the FY 2008 budget here.

I am convinced that the GOP in Georgia is headed down the same path as their Republican counterparts, only they are doing it at record pace. No lessons have been learned.

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