Karen Heller of the The Philadelphia Inquirer does a nice job of exposing another Harrisburg boondoggle involving the waste of millions of taxpayer dollars.While the state is bankrupt and deserving programs have been slashed, career politicians like Rep. Dwight Evans continue to siphon money for their pet projects.
The newspaper recently broke the story of a $1 million state donation to a poorly-attended jazz festival in Evans' Philly neighborhood. And how did so much money find its way to the streets of Philadelphia. Dwight Evans happens to be a good pal of Ed Rendell and is also chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.
From Heller's column:
Because you, dear reader, paid for the festival to the (free-form jazz) tune of $1 million through the Ogontz Avenue Revitalization Corp. (OARC), the tax-exempt, taxpayer-supported nonprofit group founded by State Rep. Dwight Evans, chairman of the all-powerful House Appropriations Committee.Read the full column at the newspaper's website.
This support is $1 million more than what the commonwealth gave to the July Fourth Welcome America festivities, which drew crowds Ogontz Avenue could only dream of.
Meanwhile, city parades, athletic competitions, heritage events, and even Mummers go scrambling for funding.
"I don't want to get into a debate about the numbers," Evans said about attendance, though he has no problem with numbers when it comes to securing state grants for OARC, scads in the past decade.
Consider this: $29.3 million in tax dollars went to his pet charity. That's an amount that would impress even Vince Fumo.
As Mayor Nutter said at the jazz festival, "This is the neighborhood that Dwight Evans built."
True, but with your money.
"I will say this is an economic-development event," Evans said. "It is about jobs. It does a lot for business. It does a lot for tourism."
Right, because when tourists come to this city, they head straight for Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, and West Oak Lane.
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