Taken for "Grant-ed"

Last week's Newsday article exposing the distribution of grant monies from Brookhaven Town has set off a flurry of questioning of other grant money distributed in the community. Starting with the question of grants given to a 501c3 organization who in turn gave political contributions to the elected official that gave them the grant, to a civic leader announcing that an elected official was funnelling grant money through another civic organization, to the community impact funds from a large scale development that seemed to evaporate. These monies, which ultimately come from our tax dollars, are doled out by politicians to win favour with community groups. This is not a new practice, but one that should stop. In Washington DC, they call it pork, here in Suffolk County, we call it B.S. Call it whatever you want, its nothing more than a vote buying scheme. We really do not need our politicians spending any more of our money to support their friends or relatives or buying influence from certain community groups.