State Rep. Ben Harbin continues his role as Porkmaster as local assistance grants (the Georgia version of earmarks) are added on in conference committee, hidden from public view until an hour before the budget is voted on:

The spending included 470 local assistance grants that were not revealed to the public until hours before the 2008 legislative session ended. The $6 million in grants were just about the last thing budget-writers add to budget before approving it on the final day of the session.

In addition, lawmakers sprinkled millions of dollars in big-ticket items such as local construction projects throughout the budget, many in the districts of prominent lawmakers such as Speaker Glenn Richardson (R-Hiram), House Majority Leader Jerry Keen (R-St. Simons Island) and Senate Majority Leader Tommie Williams (R-Lyons).

The budget for fiscal 2009, which begins July 1, includes more than $1 billion in local construction projects.

Even Gov. Sonny Perdue, who has not been on the best terms with House leaders, got $2 million for a new library in his home Houston County and $7.3 million for a local horse barn and practice ring.

House Appropriations Chairman Ben Harbin (R-Evans), who helped secure money for his hometown Little League program as well as more than $75 million in projects at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, defended the local spending.

“That money belongs to the taxpayers, and if we can get it into those communities, and it benefits those communities, it benefits the whole state,” Harbin said.

That money does belong to the taxpayers, and they deserve to keep it instead of going to pay for what are nothing more that vote buying projects in legislator’s districts.

Here is an example of some of the projects paid for by your tax dollars:

This year many communities received money to promote tourism, improve parks and restore old buildings. For instance, Jeff Davis County in rural Southeast Georgia got $10,000 in the budget to promote local tourism. The county is represented in the Senate by Williams, and in the House by Majority Caucus Chairman Jay Roberts (R-Ocilla). Alma, another Southeast Georgia town and home to Republican Rep. Tommy Smith, got $8,000 to replace seats at a local theater. Douglasville got $20,000 to help with economic development and tourism. Tybee Island got $30,000 for a theater restoration project.

You can view more of the Local Assistance Grants by looking at the budget, which you can find here. The LAGs begin on page 29. I am not complaining about projects that concern public safety, like funding for police or fire departments…I am point to projects like $20,000 to restore the Baxley Livestock Barn & Arena or $35,000 to renovate restrooms and bathrooms at park in Madison County.

LAGs aren’t the only problem, as the article notes. The budget was full of pork projects in other parts of the budget. And, like I wrote above. The process of adding these projects was not subject to any public scrutiny, as Georgia Republican appropriators used similar tactic of their Democratic counterparts on the national level by inserting the projects in the budget in conference, this was something floated by House Majority Leader Jerry Keen before the 2008 session. This prevents amendments from the floor that could potentially strike some of the more frivolous projects.

There is no transparency in the budget process and Republicans in the state legislature are working to make sure it stays that way.

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Consider this a very small victory:

“I am not as big of an advocate of the state investing in museums as I was last year,” said state Rep. Ben Harbin (R-Evans), chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.

Harbin pushed the General Assembly for extra money last year for the Golf Hall of Fame in Augusta, which is near Harbin’s home town. Perdue vetoed all funding for the Golf Hall, although he continued state payments to museums in his Middle Georgia region.

“Obviously, we don’t need as many museums as we used to,” Harbin said. “There is a point where we have to ask, ‘Should the state be investing in museums.’ “

I’ve picked on Ben Harbin quite a bit, but this sounds promising.

The bad news is the Governor wants to spend more of your money on a project that isn’t necessarily needed.

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The full budget request by the Governor is now online at the Planning & Budget office. It’s a very large file (7MB) and 440 pages, but you can download it directly here.

I already posted some of the requests yesterday. This report just goes into more detail.

Let’s just say that the state isn’t getting out of the Hall of Fame business anytime soon:

• $125,000 for the Golf Hall of Fame
• $50,000 for the Civil War Commission
• $50,000 for the Aviation Hall of Fame
• $862,240 for the Music Hall of Fame
• $811,230 for the Sports Hall of Fame

Like I said the other day, we’ll see more, especially in Local Assistance Grants, once the House Appropriations Committee gets their hands on the budget.

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That is the amount of the new budget proposed by Governor Sonny Perdue:

For the budget year beginning July 1, 2008, and ending June 30, 2009, the governor proposes a budget of $21.4 billion, an increase of about $1.2 billion – or 5.6 percent – from the present spending level.

The Governor is purposing:

• $50 million for loans to local governments for transportation projects
• $53 million for the state’s trauma network
• $30 million to buy undeveloped land for environmental protection
• $17 million in subsidies to provide insurance to employees of small businesses
• $21 million to improve the state’s mental hospitals
• $52 million to dredge the Savannah Harbor
• $25 million to improve the infrastructure of Jekyll Island
• $14.2 million for VIP, a program to get parents involved in their children’s education

You can view the rest of the Governor’s recommendations here.

We won’t really have much to go on as far as pork goes until the House Appropriations Committee meets.

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This is a slightly condensed version of my legislative preview. I’ve tried to focus on issues that concern taxation and spending. You can see the full version of the preview here.

Tomorrow is the first day of the 2008 session of the Georgia General Assembly. This session is the most important that the Republicans faced since taking control.

The Governor will present his budget proposal on Wednesday before the annual State of the State address before a joint session of the legislature. Perdue is supposedly considering some tax cut proposals.

Here is a look at what will be taken up during the session:

GREAT Plan: Speaker Richardson’s tax proposal has been the source of much contention. Local governments, teachers unions and bloggers have all voiced strong opposition to the plan. Meanwhile, property owners have suffered at the hands of local governments with continuous backdoor tax increases through reassessments. Many legislators in the Republican dominated legislature are philosophically against property taxes, but the political ramifications of passing a controversial tax reform bill will too much for many of them to bear. House leadership will push the bill to the floor for a vote. If it passes the House, which isn’t likely though possible, it will not pass the Senate.

Grady and Healthcare: There will be a major push by Democrats to increase state funding of Grady. Recently, opponents of reforming are attempting to demagogue the issue by portraying the creation of a non-profit board as privatization. Democrats are also wanting to tap into other Metro Atlanta counties as a funding source for the hospital due to its regional use.

Republicans leaders refuse to sink more until there is a change in the way the hospital manages its money. Some Republicans are using the issue as part of the continuing crusade against abortion. Such rhetoric will only create more tension as the legislature looks for a bi-partisan solution.

Glenn Richardson publicly floated a $10 fee on car tags in order to fund trauma centers. State Senator David Shafer, who has taken the issue head on will introduce legislation that would require hospital over a certain bed capacity to turn over management to a non-profit corporation. For more information, please visit Reforming Grady.

Both Sonny Perdue and Casey Cagle have proposals to deal with health insurance. Perdue’s plan would subsidize health insurance premiums for small business. Cagle’s proposal would create a clearing house website for consumers to look at different health insurance policies from private insurers, as well as state subsidized plans if the individual is eligible (I am assume this is existing plans, like PeachCare, I’m not sure if Cagle’s plan creates state subsidized plans available for purchase).

Education: The Governor’s education task force has suggested that education funding be more flexible so schools can put money into more urgent areas. The flexibility would be given after academic criteria is met. However, the method that is used to determine school funding is still in place.

Transportation: With a new commissioner in place, it’s likely that the state won’t move on any new transportation methods, such as commuter rail, for at least another year. However, there is some controversy. Gena Abraham was Sonny Perdue’s candidate for the job. State Rep. Vance Smith was the House’s choice. Abraham won by one vote. This could play out next year as House leaders will look to get even with GDOT members that voted against Smith.

Transportation funding is another matter. The Georgia Department of Transportation currently faces a $7.7 billion funding shortfall. There were several proposals in the last legislative session to address the issue. State Rep. Vance Smith proposed a ten year, one cent statewide sales tax that would be used for transportation projects. The proposal would be a $22 billion tax increase, the largest in Georgia history. The proposal would be subject to voter approval. The Governor is not sold on the proposal.

There is also a proposal (introduced last session) by State Rep. Chuck Martin that would allow counties to enter into a regional SPLOST agreement, subject to majority vote approval among the counties participating. Martin’s proposal is the most politically viable.

Vetoes: The legislature has a list of bills that could be considered for a veto override. Rumors have been flying as far as what that bill(s) will be. HB 91, sponsored by State Rep. Jill Chambers, is a strong candidate. HB 91 requires the executive branch (the Governor) to provide an annual report to the legislature contracts of $50,000 or more. It also requires a “list of any employment or consultant contracts, whether or not in writing, under which the employee or consultant is to be compensated more than $20,000.00.”

The House could also target Perdue’s veto of a $120 million property tax break from the 2007 supplemental budget. The House threatened to override (and did, but that is another story), the Senate leaders have refused to act.

There has also been talk of overriding some of Perdue’s vetoes of earmarks, including the Golf Hall of Fame.

You can stream each day of the session at this link, which also has video of the various committee meeting that took place in the months after the 2007 until just recently (including the Ways & Means hearings on the GREAT Plan).

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WSB-TV is airing the story on pork and government waste again tonight at 8pm (like…15 minutes) for a new show called Channel 2 Investigates.

I case you missed it the first time, you can watch it here.

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Here is some reaction across the blogosphere to the WSB piece on government waste and Georgia Porkbusters…

- PJNet
- Drifting Through the Grift
- The Spacey Gracey Review
- RedState
- What Is Goin’ On
- Peach Pundit
- Club for Growth
- National Journal

I also received a very positive e-mail from US Senate candidate Josh Lanier.

All in all…it seems that the response was positive, let’s just hope it turns into something when appropriators start working on the FY 2009 budget.

[UPDATE - 5:26pm] I just got this from Senator Tom Coburn’s office:

Excellent work. You are an American hero! We need people in every state doing exactly what you’re doing in Georgia. Keep up the great work.

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Back in September, WSB-TV shot an interview with me for a segment on government waste, corporate welfare and government spending…and Georgia Porkbusters. I got word last week that the segment will be featured on Thursday, November 8th at 6pm.

[UPDATE] The word on the street is that WSB is already running previews of the story for tonight.

[UPDATE #2] Here is the video…

Orginally posted on November 5, 2007.

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The Club for Growth has release the Senate RePORK card, which measures how individual Senators vote on anti-pork amendments.

Saxby Chambliss voted for 14 our of the 15 (93%) anti-pork amendments brought to the Senate floor, putting him near the top of the list. Johnny Iskason voted for 11 out of 14.

The Club notes:

Only two amendments were successful. The most popular amendment was offered by Senator DeMint to bar the use of funds appropriated for spinach growers in the Iraq Supplemental Bill (Roll Call #123, 03/29/07); it passed 97-0. The other amendment was offered by Senator Coburn to eliminate $1 million for a museum dedicated to the Woodstock Festival (Roll Call #377, 10/18/07); it passed 52-42.

Did you know that it was a responsibility of the taxpayers and the federal government to provide sand on the beaches on San Diego and to give Democrats and Republicans $100 million for their conventions? I can’t see to find important functions of government anywhere in Article 1, Section 8 of the United States Constitution.

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This is sad news:

Veteran Fayette County state Rep. Dan Lakly died this morning of a massive heart attack, state officials said.

Lakly, 65, a Peachtree City Republican, was chairman of the House Information and Audits Committee. He was known as a fiscal conservative who frequently questioned state spending practices. He was also willing to be on the losing side of one-sided votes, such as in 2005 when he opposed popular legislation outlawing smoking in most enclosed work sites and public places. He compared the banning to Nazi Germany.

Lakly, a Yugoslavian immigrant’s son, served on the Peachtree City council in the 1980s, then from 1989 to 1992 on the Fayette County Board of Commissioners.

He was elected to a seat in the General Assembly in 1992 when Republicans were a minority in the House. He was beaten in the Republican primary in 1998 by Kathy Cox, now the state’s school superintendent, when he sought re-election that year. Six years later he made a comeback, winning a Fayette County seat in the House just in time for his GOP to take over the chamber.

Legislative staffers said he apparently fell and hurt his wrist over the weekend and had surgery. They said he was expected to be released from the hospital this morning.

Like the article says, he was a staunch fiscal conservative, and even sponsored an amendment to scrap “Go Fish” spending out of the FY 2008 appropriations bill.

Keep Rep. Lakly’s family in your thoughts and prayers.

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