News-Record.com

(Audio link below.) N.C. Treasurer Richard Moore - a declared candidate for governor, if you didn't know - stopped by the paper's Greensboro offices today and chatted for a while with editorial writer Doug Clark and myself.

I'll have more from that conversation later, but one bit was relevant to this week's budget festivities in the Senate.

Moore is not enamored with the $1.2 billion the Senate would spend on Certificates of Participation (known as COPs), which is a way for the state to borrow money without going to the voters for bond approval.

"It's got nothing to do with the worthiness of the projects," Moore said. He specifically pointed out the proposed nanotechnology school as a very good item on the list. (The Senate budget proposal would borrow $58 million to finish the school.)

But, he said, COPs should be used sparingly, only in instances where they are truly necessary such as building prisons or, say, replacing a school that had burned down.

The state constitution, he said, is fairly clear on how government should go about borrowing.

"If they're such great ideas, why can't we vote?" Moore said.

Of COPs in general, he said, "They should be rarely or if ever used."

Click here to listen to his full answer on the topic. (About 4:15 seconds.)