We are painfully familiar with federal pork - inappropriate, wasteful spending by Washington. But what about pork in Tennessee?
The Tennessee Center for Policy Research joined with Citizens Against Government Waste to produce the 2011 Tennessee Pork Report. It says state and local governments in Tennessee wasted $371 million in the past year. The organization cites these examples, among many others:
n $14.5 million spent on a program run by the state to promote solar energy. Solar and other energy producers should stand on their own two feet;
n $2.5 million to give state tax rebates to purchasers of the electric-powered Nissan Leaf. Buyers of particular types of vehicles should foot the bill themselves; and
n $131,000 to send some utility district employees from four counties to Costa Rica - with their families.
There can be legitimate disagreements about what does or does not constitute pork, but does this sort of spending seem sensible to you?