“Pork” Grants Not So Easy To Get

A program that’s been criticized as pork barrel spending is causing headaches for state legislators and the Secretary of State’s office.

This year, the legislature allocated $20 million dollars for Community Enhancement Grants. The money was originally slated to be doled out by legislators as discretionary grants. But, by the time the budget was signed, lawmakers gave Secretary of State Riley Darnell authority over distributing the money. Now, some legislators are upset with him because some of their pet projects might not get funded. Darnell says that’s because the organizations didn’t fill out the paperwork properly or on time.

“The legislators seem to want me to ignore that fact that they weren’t filed timely and go ahead and make grants to those organizations anyway. And my position is, if they want me to do that, they need to open the law up in January. That is the way to deal with it rather than just be arbitrary about the grant process, we can’t do that.”

For now, Darnell says he will set aside a portion of the $20 million dollars in grant money for the organizations that need to resubmit their application, but only if it’s on a list of recommendations submitted by legislators.

WPLN’s state capitol correspondent Joe White discusses the controversy on Thursday during Morning Edition.