(Washington, D.C.) - Today Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW), the nation’s premiere taxpayer watchdog, and the Tennessee Center for Policy Research (TCPR), Tennessee’s free market think tank, unveiled the 2008 Tennessee Pork Report: Waste, Fraud and Abuse of Your Tax Dollars Exposed.  The report is the third Tennessee Pork Report in as many years to expose wasteful spending by the state. 

The Pork Report exposes $260 million in waste, fraud and abuse of tax dollars and offers enough examples to make any Tennessee taxpayer cringe, including:

 

• $6.5 million for boll weevil eradication - even though the pests no longer threaten Tennessee’s cotton crops;
• $1.7 million to fund a ferry service used by an average of 23 people per day;
• $1.4 million to subsidize failing state-owned golf;
• $1.2 million to fund a ferry service used by an average of 23 people per day;
• $420,000 for electric motors that were never delivered to Memphis schools;
• $200,000 in subsidies for fairs and livestock shows;
• $27,620 to support a film festival that screened “Goodnight Vagina” and “The Teat Beat of Sex;” and
• $14,436 to replace dimmer switches in the Governor’s Mansion with fancier brass models.

The Tennessee Pork Report combines elements of two perennial CAGW publications, the Congressional Pig Book and Prime Cuts, with TCPR’s knowledge of the Tennessee state budget.  The report exposes many areas in the state budget where wasteful spending can be eliminated, providing a valuable resource to legislators and taxpayers.

The report is be available online at www.cagw.org and www.tennesseepolicy.org.  For answers to further questions, to schedule an interview, or to order a hard copy, please contact Alexa Moutevelis (202-467-5318, amoutevelis@cagw.org) or Drew Johnson (615-383-6431, drew@tennesseepolicy.org).

Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.  The Tennessee Center for Policy Research is an independent, nonprofit and nonpartisan 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.