News-Record.com

Editorial writers at the Charlotte Observer are stretching their credibility on the issue of state funding for Johnson & Wales University.

They were all for the deal, brokered by House Speaker Jim Black, D-Mecklenburg, to "sell" a $5 million state office building in center-city Charlotte to the culinary arts school for a buck. Gov. Easley stopped that giveaway, finding a private buyer for the property instead.

Now the Observer says the state has to find another way to honor its promise to give Johnson & Wales $10 million for locating its campus in the Queen City.

But what promise was that? Why, it was given by Black and his Senate counterpart, Marc Basnight.

"The process of making the commitment was flawed," the newspaper conceded in an editorial published today (registration required), "but the House speaker and Senate president pro tem aren't two goofball political ne'er-do-wells making pledges no reasonable person would expect the state to honor."

A "flawed" process? That's putting in mildly. Black and Basnight might be powerful political leaders, but they don't have any legal authority to make personal promises for spending the state's money. That $10 million wasn't coming out of their pockets, and they were obligated to have it approved through the prescribed appropriations process. Any "reasonable person" should expect legislative leaders to follow the rules.

Even then, it's not the Legislature's job to make economic incentives deals on behalf of the state. We have a Commerce Department to do that.

No, Black and Basnight aren't "goofball political ne'er-do-wells." Rather, they're high-handed autocrats - or acted as such in this case. Fortunately, the governor put them in their place this time. The Observer shouldn't puff them up.