Can the potty jokes
Published October 15, 2013
By Carter Wrenn, Talking About Politics, October 14, 2013.
Spend $230,000 in taxpayers’ money fixing up the private bathrooms at the Executive Mansion? You could hear howls across the state when that news leaked. (Get it? “Leaked”?)
OK, time out. No more potty humor. This has already been a headline-writer’s dream: “Flushed,” “in loo of,” “down the drain,” “taxpayers take bath.” Let’s deal with the serious political issues swirling – excuse me – involved here.
Like, whose bright idea was this? Who in the McCrory administration thought this made sense?
Well, the list came from none other than Budget Czar Art Pope. The news release about the $90 million in repairs and renovations came from the Department of Administration (Secretary Bill Daughtridge and PIO Chris Mears).
The release quoted Governor McCrory himself: “This is the first step of fulfilling my promise to the people of North Carolina to rebuild and repair state facilities that have been ignored for far too long. These long-needed renovations will not only produce more efficient buildings, they will also protect and enhance the public’s investment, particularly at our state universities.”
The bathroom redo sank fast. Governor McCrory had to put out a statement Saturday pulling the plug. (Stop me. I can’t help myself.)
But this is just like paying inexperienced 24-year-old campaign aides $87,000 a year. The public gets it. They may not get all the Medicaid debate. But they get $87,000 salaries. They get spending more on bathrooms that most people’s homes cost in North Carolina.
Yes, McCrory canceled the project. But his people approved it, and they would have done it if they hadn’t got caught.
Governor McCrory is learning a harsh political lesson: the worst wounds are self-inflicted.
