(Nashville, Tennessee) – Today at the Legislative Lounge of the Tennessee State Capitol, the Tennessee Center for Policy Research (TCPR) and Citizens Against Government Waste released the 2011 Tennessee Pork Report, exposing how state and local governments across Tennessee wasted $371 million over the past year. For the sixth consecutive year, Tennessee’s premier free market think tank partnered with taxpayer watchdog Citizens Against Government Waste to document waste, fraud, and abuse at all levels of Tennessee government.

Examples of wasteful spending outlined in the 2011 Pork Report include:

• $140 million to pay a European company to relocate to Memphis;
• $14.5 million on an unnecessary solar energy program run by the state;
• $2.5 million for tax credits to Nissan Leaf purchasers, which could lead to an increase in state gas taxes;
• $131,000 to send utility district employees on exotic trips around the globe; and
• $95,000 wasted by Nashville’s criminal court clerk who only works three days each week.

“Yet again, state and local governments failed to live up to taxpayers’ expectations by wasting their hard-earned money,” said Justin Owen, president of the Tennessee Center for Policy Research. “With our economy in dire straits, the last thing government officials should be doing is offering handouts to corporations, dreaming up whimsical environmental programs, and using taxpayer money for their personal use. It’s time for them to become better stewards of Tennesseans’ money.”

In addition to exposing wasteful government spending habits, the report also offers effective solutions to eliminate waste and promote more responsible, open government. The report serves as an informative and valuable resource policymakers and taxpayers alike.

“The 2011 Tennessee Pork Report just scratches the surface on the amount of taxpayer dollars wasted by Tennessee’s state and local governments,” said CAGW President Tom Schatz.  “It is imperative that all the frivolous spending highlighted by the Tennessee Pork Report be cut immediately.” 

Click here to read the 2011 Tennessee Pork Report. The Tennessee Center for Policy Research is an independent, nonprofit and nonpartisan research organization dedicated to providing concerned citizens, the media and public leaders with expert empirical research and timely free market policy solutions to public policy issues in Tennessee. Citizens Against Government Waste is a private, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, mismanagement, and inefficiency in government. For more information visit www.goldwaterinstitute.org and www.cagw.org.