If you follow the state capital scene, you know that this time of year is typically "bring home the bacon" time. Our State Assemblymen and Senators announce what member items they were able to secure shortly after the budget deal is announced. Member item funding are grants issued to organizations and municipalities with dollar amounts as low as $5,000 to as high as $300,000 or more. A few years ago when the budget ran late, well into the summer, then Governor George Pataki announced that there would be no member items in the agreed upon budget. Newspapers covering the larger populous like Buffalo, Albany, and Long Island often publish, in detail, what their elected officials where able to muster. The City of Albany even publishes how CBG [community block grant] federal money is spent.
Yet in the Hudson Valley, our elected officials seem to parse out the bacon slowly. Opting rather for targeted press releases later in the year. Some member items never get published. The organization just gets the money, quietly because it may ruffle the feathers of others. I think that FULL disclosure of member items is a must within 60 days of budget passage.
As of today, not one of our Hudson Valley delegation has published on their web site any member item money. Is it truly possible that the scenic hudson valley was left out of the member item pie this year?
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