Junior Earmark/Pork Scheme- Supervisor's Slush Fund
Posted by: Ken Campbell | 05/06/2008 1:06 PM
The Supervisor's Slush Fund doesn't have the same grand designs as the Congressional earmark/pork system-- remember former Sacramento Congressman Doug Ose's spending on a Cowgirl Hall of Fame, peanut competitiveness, an indoor rainforest, etc.-- but the principle is the same. Both schemes have at the heart politicians extracting an ever-greater amount of hard-earned money from taxpayers and giving it to their friends.
The Supervisor's Slush Fund, or more formal name, "Revenue Sharing", was originally a Federal Block Grant initiated in 1972-1973 to distribute money to local governments. The majority of the federal money was allocated for general County road resurfacing, county facility construction projects, major equipment purchases and other one time funding needs.
The Federal Block Grant funding program was discontinued in September 1986, but like any other government program its life goes on for eternity.... and it morphed into a social service program-- far from the original intent. $50,000 annually was taken from the Placer County General Fund to fund the Slush Fund and in 1999 the supervisors increased the Slush Fund amount to $100,000. Place County car tax and restaurant taxes have increased to insure the Slush Fund is flush with taxpayers' money.
The 2001-2002 Placer County Grand Jury Report, view here, states that "The requests for revenue sharing come from a broad range of groups, many of which may be appropriate, but some requests appear to have questionable value to the majority of County taxpayers." An example of this is former Placer County Supervisor Rex Blumfield who used his Slush Fund money to fund left-wing groups (Sierra Club being one) who always worked hard to keep Rex in office.
The County list of acceptable uses of the Slush Fund money can be viewed here. These are all worthy causes; however, should the priorities of local government be to provide public safety (police, fire, etc.) and infrastructure (roads, sewer, water, etc.) or should our local government set priorities of funding 4th of July celebrations, Granite Bay Easter Egg hunts, Tommy Apostolos Dinners, operational expenses for the Historic Auburn Post Office, etc.?? Why should we have a tax increase to pay for the Slush Fund? Aren't the people who earn the money smart enough to figure out where to donate their money rather than having an all-caring, all-knowing politician extracting it from the taxpayers to give it to the politician's friends?
This scheme is a junior earmark/pork program because the federal government does the same thing. Former Sacramento Congressman Doug Ose voted to extract money from taxpayers to fund his pet projects like the Cowgirl Hall of Fame, peanut competitiveness, an indoor rainforest in Iowa, etc.
Wouldn't a better option be to have a congressman and supervisors only tax the minimal amount needed to provide legitimate government functions, leaving money in the taxpayer's pocket to spend as the taxpayers see fit?
Electing Tom McClintock will be a major step in that direction.
Women's right to vote didn't exist until they fought for it. Blacks rights for equality didn't happen until...
Ken,
Great post. I cannot wait to see Kirk's list so we can see where the money really went!
John
How can Uhler even consider himself to be a conservative when all he does is raise taxes and spends on crap like this?
Pardon me while I clear my throat so that I may recite from the script…hhhrrrracccc.
“How dare you worthless, anonymous, chickens—t, coward, loser, worthless, %@#*, miserable &%@!#$ question me without posting your name. You are worse than the stuff that I step in that I have to wipe off my shoe with a stick. In fact, you are worse than the dirty stick simply because you won’t post your name and therefore what you say has no validity and so after I am through berating you I won’t address your comment. Loser. Jerk.”
John, Aaron, how did I do? Do I get the part?
Now, to the point of your post…
Raise taxes when and spend on c—p like what?
OK, I am a worthless coward and jerk, get over it.
You are still an arrogant politician who can't tell the truth.
You voted to raise taxes, deny that.
You waste our money on this revenue sharing, deny that.
Readers - Please note that Kirk Uhler has a 2008 Score of 100% from the Integrity in Blog Commenting Coalition. (IBCC)
Anon: Please explain yourself since you can't criticize Uhler with any courage. What Crap?
For the record - Uhler is wrong for Supporting Ose. (There's your balance)
Aaron so does this mean you support Kirk Uhler's tax increases and his spending on this revenue sharing thing?
Kirk, you voted to raise taxes, deny that.
Kirk, you vote to waste money on revenue sharing, deny that.
Whoeveryouare,
I have never denied my vote to establish the auto theft prevention task force, and I would do it again.
I do deny that the revenue sharing funds are wasted. The organizations for which I request revenue sharing funds (PEACE for Families, the Placer Women's Center, the Child Abuse Prevention Council, Acres of Hope, etc.) are all very well run, private non-profits that assist the County in meeting our state mandated obligations in a number of areas. We have contracts for professional services with several of these organizations. If you think that the funds received by them to support their mission are wasted, then either you have evidence that these organizations are squandering the funds or you must not support their mission.
Kirk,
First I want to thank you for putting all the information together and posting it, but there must have been formating problems because it has disappeared. I hope it can be put up again so we can discuss some of the items on the list.
However, let me address the general question: IF we needed another $300K for law enforcement to handle all the car thieves in Placer and IF there is a budget deficit looming this year, then how do you justify giving this type of discretionary spending?
Saying it is discretionary spending is NOT intended to demean the groups or imply they are not worthy of support: It is just the reality of budgeting. For example in my family budget, I give my tithe up front, which I again commend you for doing with your support of Bayside, I then have to meet my other family obligations and if there are funds available after that I too like to give to some groups doing good work like our local crisis pregnancy centers.
If I suddenly face a deficit, I might have to go back to the boss for a raise if the food and gas prices simply cannot be covered, but if I just want to keep that extra money at the end, I don't think he would be pleased with me demanding more money.
Hope this helps and that those figures can be re-posted.
John