Senator Basnight recently sent out a mass mailing defending his support of Jeannett’s Pier and his integrity. Here is Hood’s response:

The Senator defends spending $25 million on Jennette’s Pier by saying the Aquariums have had longtime plans to build three piers. And that’s fine except for two things: Now was not the time to spend 25 million dollars anywhere for projects that could have been delayed until more people have jobs and $25 million is too much to spend on such projects in the first place. Too much spending at the wrong time.

Sen. Basnight could have moved that money to revenue accounts that would have reduced the billion tax increase he approved. And he, as much as any other individual, could have stopped that tax increase. And it is hitting us again this year for another billion dollars when more people are out of jobs than ever in our history.

And he says he did not benefit from the contracts to Basnight Construction. That is simply not true. His family most certainly did benefit and that is wrong. He justifies it as being only 4% of the total cost. Four percent of $25 million is not an insignificant amount of money. That’s a million dollars.

The letter justifies the decision because “in April Republicans voted for the project.” And that is a perfect example of what is wrong in Raleigh. A bad decision is not made good because you get the votes, partisan or non-partisan. A bad decision is still a bad decision.

He says the pier “creates jobs, preserves public access to our waters, and improves research.” No it does not. It kills jobs. A billion tax increase in the middle of a recession is a job killer. And he could have created much more access for a lot less money and the pier is not necessary at this time to support ocean research. The high tax rate and burdensome regulations on business are job killers. What Sen. Basnight ignores is that most of the $25 million left Dare County.

Sen. Basnight defends his record by saying he has done nothing illegal. And he may not have, technically. But he is responsible for a corrupt system that has made the State of North Carolina one of the most corrupt in the nation. He, more than any other single individual—because he has been in charge for so many years—must take responsibility for that corrupt system.

Corruption is legal in North Carolina as I explain on my website at http://hoodforsenate.com/post/45/13/corruption.html. Read it and decide if the Democrat legislature has done its job in stopping corruption. Weak legislative oversight has been woefully inadequate or non-existent and that is the cause of much of the corruption in Raleign and he is directly responsible for that because it was/is his job to see that proper oversight is provided and to insure the laws are adequate to prevent or correct this corruption. The issue is not so much his personal integrity as it is that he has allowed this corrupt system to exist and grow on his watch.

For example, how can a man give $84,000 illegally to Sen. Basnight and the Senator defend it by saying he did not know that it was illegal? How can a system be considered adequate that allows that to happen? And I would challenge Sen. Basnight to tell us: What did Rusty Carter expect in return for his $84,000? Think about that for a minute. Sen. Basnight ought to explain that to the citizens of North Carolina.