Funds Called ‘Reward’ for Hard Work

RALEIGH — A former state House Appropriations Co-Chair says that discretionary funds controlled by General Assembly leaders constituted a justified reward for their districts, because of the extra hours they put in to pass the budget. State Rep. Debbie Clary, a Cherryville Republican who supported the 2003 power-sharing coalition of Democrat House Co-Speakers Jim Black and Republican Richard Morgan, said entrusting the funding of members' special district projects to General Assembly leaders was the only way to get them passed in the budget. Also now online: CJ's 1997 articles on slush funds