Another course of pork

From the NY Post:

Pols are quietly pigging out on $31 million worth of new pet projects — despite a 2010 pledge that pork-barrel spending was done for good, the Post has learned.

The new spending is hidden in the budget as state Dormitory Authority grants — and they fund everything from buying cars and washing machines for nonprofits to designing pedestrian plazas and sprucing up community centers.

Since the authority issues bonds, future taxpayers will pay for the pork — plus interest.

“The state is trying to get out of a financial mess, and now we’re borrowing to help politicians,” a legislative source said.

On June 21, in the last minutes of the legislative session, the state Senate awarded cash to more than 130 projects through a $350 million capital-spending allowance created in 2008 that’s administered by the Dormitory Authority and Empire State Development Corp.

The Assembly already spent nearly $250 million of the allowance on major capital projects over the years, but the Senate had $31 million left to fund the barely camouflaged “member items.”

“It’s a classic Albany shell game,” the source added.