Representative Shirley Randleman (R-Wilkes) has introduced into the General Assembly House Bill 1521 which requests $50,000 to “construct an environmentally friendly visitor’s center in Wilkes County.” To paraphrase former tennis star John McEnroe, “You can not be serious!”
Leaving aside for now the question of what exactly makes a government-funded rest stop “environmentally friendly,” one has to question the nerve of Randleman to file a bill to bring pork back to her district during North Carolina’s largest budget crisis in at least a generation.
Moreover, Wilkes County isn’t even a border county, so the placement of this proposed visitor’s center is suspicious to begin with.
For such a blatant misplacement of budgetary priorities during a recession, HB 1521 wins this week’s Bad Bill of the Week.
I know there is much about running the government I do not understand; however, it seems to me that representatives and senators should be representing the people, not government. In other words, our taxes should be used for the purpose they were originally intended, i.e., police service, new roads (as needed) and repairs, and schools.
I am embarrassed that a Republican, Shirley Randleman, would even consider submitting a bill to spend more money on something that is not needed at this time. It should be every representative’s and senator’s job to submit a bill to try and save money and cut spending.
It is a sad day when many of the representatives and senators obtain a bloated ego and stop listening to the people and thinking that they alone are the only ones that know how to run the country. They should realize that when they get a letter from more than two constituents on the same subject saying approximately the same thing that they should rethink their votes. Instead, most of them vote for a bill depending on lobbyists and who contributed the most to their campaign. People that are voted into office today are not representatives of the people, but represent only those who can contribute the most.