News 14 Carolina - Political Connections

Quite the news day! Between Gonzalez resigning and Michael Vick pleading guilty it's hard to find a spot in the news rundown! On top of that it's the first day of school in the Triangle and a bunch of other "smaller" stories are popping up.

On the political front, Sen. Basnight and Rep. Hackney are headed to the Gov's office (not intended to sound like they are headed to the principal's office) tomorrow to talk transportation. It appears less and less likely that a special session will happen before May (when the General Assembly gets back to work).

It's more likely, I'm hearing from several sources, that the three minds will create some sort of study commission or panel to make recommendations on how to fund the massive need to build and retrofit roads and bridges among other things. The meeting is set to take place early Tuesday afternoon.

On another front, Gov. Easley essentially has until the weekend to sign, veto, or ignore a bill that's starting to catch fire in the minds of many. You've heard plenty about economic incentives to lure in jobs. The $200 million plus in tax breaks given to Dell and Google are facing lawsuits and grabbing headlines. Now, legislation passed this last session would open up a path to give Goodyear $10 million over four years to keep jobs here\ (not tax breaks, real money).

I talked at length today with Elaine Mejia with the Budget and Tax Center who opposes incentives. She is concerned this will open up a whole new can of worms and existing businesses will follow Goodyear threatening to leave if the state doesn't hand over some dough.

In fact, I've heard from multiple stories there's evidence that some companies have already inquired about the future deals.

Easley has until the end of the week so stay tuned!