Columnist David MartinToday is the last day of online voting for the Beacon Center of Tennessee’s 2015 “Lump of Coal Award.” According to the website, the distinction is supposed to be given to an organization or person in the state which has “done the most egregious things with taxpayer money” this year.
There are some solid nominees on the list, including the University of Tennessee’s Office for Diversity and Inclusion, which has used public funds for some very controversial non-higher education purposes, and the Memphis Economic Development Growth Engine (EDGE) for siphoning loads of loot away from essential projects instead of redirecting dollars to private projects, like $9.5 million toward a new IKEA store.
I cast my vote yesterday – which required plenty of contemplative brow-furrowing – but I really wish there was an opportunity for a write-in campaign, because the Governor’s Highway Safety Office definitely deserves to be on the list.
No, not for its overtly sexist “100 Days of Summer Heat Booze It and Lose It Campaign,” which, among other things, warned young men that worse than possibly getting a DUI, a night out drinking on the town could lead to them taking a “chatty” or “clingy” girl home who looked “hotter” at the bar.
Well, OK, maybe the Highway Safety Office should’ve gotten two nominations. Yikes, that was a horrible campaign. But at least it wasn’t a waste of Tennessee taxpayer funds since the Knoxville firm working the campaign provides jobs to people here in the Volunteer State.