According to news reports, Rep. Paul Stam (R-Wake) is crafting legislation that would dissolve the Golden LEAF foundation – something I’ve advocated for years.
Some of the uses that Stam proposed for the $600 M in Golden LEAF’s coffers include “the fund for state employee retirements, community colleges and compensation for victims of forced sterilization.”
Gov. Perdue has stated her opposition to this measure, and she continues to mistakenly identify Golden LEAF as some sort of catalyst for economic growth. I’ve detailed before how tiny the share of Golden LEAF’s grantmaking is devoted to anything plausibly related to “job creation” (nevermind that political appointees dispensing other people’s money can’t really “create” jobs anyway – merely shift resources).
I may also note here that Perdue’s response suggests that she is more concerned with dispensing favors to her corporate cronies rather than taking care of state employee pensions and setting right the state’s forced sterilization victims. Seems like some odd priorities.
But a new article just posted on the Civitas Institute website may shed some light as to why there will be such pushback against dissolving Golden LEAF. The foundation is so deeply entrenched in a decade-long web of politicians, high-dollar donors and political insiders it will prove to be very hard to break up.
Perdue’s contribution to the mix includes the two men she apppointed to Golden LEAF’s Board of Directors during her two years in office – men who just happened to donate more than $33,000 to Perdue’s campaign coffers over the years.
Any doubt now why Perdue and others will fight to keep their $600 million political patronage nest egg?
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