Partin' with Parton

Friends, the temptation is to resoundingly say "I told you so." But frankly, despite my opposition to Randywood in Roanoke Rapids and the use of TIF (as in "stiff" the taxpayers) bonds to finance the deal, the real credit goes to Don Carrington of the Carolina Journal for his dogged reporting on the fiasco now unfolding. But that's not the reason to blog about the mess.

What we really need to be focusing on are the three key components contributing to how this scandal - and yes, it is a scandal - could take place. First is the escalating dollars game that surrounds the economic development practice in this state. And,yes again, the Randy Parton Theater is all about economic development. It is becoming far too lucrative for wheelers and dealers as well as companies to play the "incentives" game. And if BIG money is involved, eventually, someone is going to get greedy and start breaking the law. Did that happen here? I don't know but I bet someone is going to look into it.

Secondly, the issuance of $21 million in TIF bonds took place without a vote of the citizens of Roanoke Rapids. That's thanks to the passage of Amendment 1 in the 2004 election when the voting public was literally snookered into giving up their constitutionally guaranteed right to vote on the issuance of TIF bonds. It may be that the voters would have approved the bonds but I bet a lot of the shenanigans that went on would have been avoided if a vote on the bonds had taken place.

Thirdly, since economic development deals get done consistently behind closed doors with an absolute paranoid frenzy to keep the press and public from finding out what is actually being discussed, you then open the door to double dealing and potential violations of the law. The odor emanating from the Parton Theater from behind the phalanx of closed door dealings is only going to get worse.

The solutions: (1) start scaling back the economic development deals around the state (2) restore the right of citizens to vote to approve TIF bonds and (3) start demanding more openness in the economic development process. Maybe when these reforms are adopted North Carolina can start down the path of restoring its reputation as a good government state.