Louisiana state government is in the midst of a severe budget crunch. The Jindal administration will be making cuts to higher education and health care to balance the budget.
Our spending will actually decrease from last year because of the national economic downturn and the drop in oil and gas prices.
This decrease in revenue should not be an excuse to raise taxes on anyone, especially during a deep recession.
It is imperative that our political leaders use this fiscal crisis as an opportunity to tighten the fiscal belt and eliminate unnecessary spending.
Our budget has ballooned in recent years and it is time to bring spending down to the real world level, in line with other states.
There are two spending items which should be targeted for elimination. One is the obnoxious legislative slush fund which allows non-governmental organizations to receive state money. This fund has about $30 million for non-profit and local organizations that should be funded by the private sector, not state taxpayers. If these groups can’t make it without state funding, then that is just too bad. It is time we stopped going to the taxpayers of Louisiana to bailout every politically connected group in the state.
Another outrageous recipient of state spending is the Tournament Players Club of Louisiana in Avondale. Although this golf course is very impressive and hosts the Zurich Classic, it needs to survive on its own and not due to the generosity of state taxpayers.
State legislators are getting ready to approve a bailout of $9.2 million for this troubled club.
It is ludicrous that any golf course in Louisiana is receiving even one dollar of state funding, and to waste millions on this project is obscene. I’m sure that every other golf course would like money as would many other struggling businesses, yet they don’t have the support of the powerful State Senator John Alario (D-Westwego).
Alario has been the guardian for the Tournament Players Club from the very beginning. He started the whole process which led to the construction and funding of this course. It became the new home of the Zurich Classic even though the former home course, English Turn is more popular with the golfers.
The Tournament Players Club has received a total of $18.4 million in state funds since its inception.
Those dollars could have gone to much better causes but that money has already been wasted. Today, we should not compound our error by wasting more money on the course.
In this financial environment, we can no longer afford to waste millions of dollars on golf.
Our economic woes are not a game and if we do not get serious, we will not recover. This is a joke that legislators need to stop immediately. If not, let’s hope Governor Jindal has the sense to veto this wasteful expenditure.
Jeff Crouere is the Host of “Ringside Politics,” which airs at 7:30 p.m. Fri. and 10:00 p.m. Sun. on WLAE-TV 32, a PBS station, and 7 till 11 a.m. weekdays on WGSO 990 AM in New Orleans and the Northshore. He is the Political Analyst for WGNO-TV ABC26 and a Columnist for selected publications. For more information, visit his web site at RingsidePolitics.com. E-mail him at jeff@ringsidepolitics.com
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