(Editor’s note: a high-resolution PDF version of this story can be found in CRI’s Special Reports section.) A nine-month investigation by the Caesar Rodney Institute has uncovered lucrative no-show jobs and no-bid contracts for campaign donors, allegations of fraud and a systemic misuse of millions of taxpayer dollars. By Lee Williams Attorney Steve Kinion receives [...]
Archive for the ‘Government Spending’ Category
Delaware Dept. of Insurance: Not in the public interest
Posted in Budget, Economy, FOIA, Government Spending, State Spending on March 30, 2010 | 18 Comments »
French Fries Anyone?
Posted in Budget, Delaware, Economy, Free Markets, Government Spending, Spending, State Spending, Transparency on February 6, 2010 | 5 Comments »
In a recent edition of the Wilmington News Journal (Tuesday, Feb 2 2010), we were reintroduced to the saga of the table top French Fry machine which claimed its fame last year when it received $50,000 from Delaware’s FY 2010 Bond Bill in a rather conspicuous fashion. The back story on the machine’s inventor, Fry [...]
Delaware, A Better Way to Budget, A Path to Economic Growth
Posted in Government Spending on January 30, 2010 | 2 Comments »
If we had limited year to year increases in state budgets to cover the twin rising cost drivers of inflation and population growth our current state budget would be 30% lower, about $2.2 billion/yr instead of $3 billion/yr. We would only need one-fifth of the billion dollars a year raised by state income taxes.
Individualism vs. Socialism
Posted in Government Spending, Health Care, tagged individualism on January 27, 2010 | 10 Comments »
Where do we stand on this road to socialism? By 1900 government spending was only 3% of the nations’ income, by 1950, 24% and by 2009, 47%. Now add industries targeted by current government initiatives such as private health care and insurance at 7%, banking at 7%, and energy production at 13%, and we will easily exceed the point where government controls everything.
Pay Increases for Elected Officials
Posted in Delaware, General Assembly, Government Spending on January 4, 2010 | 1 Comment »
Are elected officials entitled to automatic pay increases? That is the basic question discussed in a recent Baltimore Sun article which details the forthcoming debate over recommended pay increases for elected officials in Maryland. The story notes, “Not surprisingly, the prospect of approving raises in the midst of a recession has [Governor] O’Mally and some [...]
Dredging: Political grandstanding, ‘hoax’ lawsuits and more
Posted in Delaware, Economy, Government Spending, Jobs, Markell, State Spending, Unemployment, Unions, Wilmington on December 7, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Proponents of the Army Corps of Engineer’s channel deepening project claim opposition by local politicians is self-serving, a betrayal of their constituents’ best interests, anti-business and anti-labor. By Lee Williams (Note: this story can also be found in CRI’s Special Report section.) The Army Corps of Engineers has been dredging the Delaware River since the [...]
“cause I’m the taxman, yeah, I’m the taxman”
Posted in DelawareSpends, Economy, Government Spending on October 27, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Wilmington Mayor James M. Baker wants to strengthen the City’s tax code, resulting in stricter enforcement of tax collection rules and procedures, and producing millions of more tax dollars each year. In a press release sent Tuesday morning, Baker announced he is asking the City Council to approve four ordinances, which he claims do not impose [...]
“Justice Reinvestment” conference comes to Wilmington
Posted in Carl Danberg, Civil Rights, Department of Correction, Government Spending, Inmate Abuse, Prisons on October 13, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
If the political will exists in this state, Delaware could safely reduce spending on the Department of Correction, lower the overall inmate population and reinvest the tax dollars saved in strengthening public safety and making improvements to the neighborhoods where most inmates will return when they’re released, according to one national expert. Michael Thompson, executive [...]
BREAKING NEWS: First Amendment on trial Friday in Dover. You’re invited.
Posted in Civil Rights, Department of Correction, First Amendment, Government Spending, Open Government, Prisons, Rogue Force on October 8, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Attorney General Beau Biden’s office is going to court to silence one of Delaware’s most-vocal and most-respected prison critics at 10 a.m. Friday in Kent County Superior Court in Dover, in front of the Honorable President Judge James T. Vaughn Jr. Biden’s office does not want the public viewing video evidence of inmate abuse by [...]
Government v. The Economy 101
Posted in Government Spending on August 25, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
A look at how government spending hurts the economy from the CATO Institute.
