Hagan knows tires
Is there anything that Kay Hagan doesn't know?
Turns out the super-smart state senator from Greensboro is something of an expert on tires.
Taft Wireback reported today on a sweet tire deal for a Wilson company that's costing local school systems thousands of dollars a year in possibly unnecessary payments.
A state contract allows White's Tire & Rubber Co. to charge for up to three spot repairs on each school bus tire it retreads. Taft found the company charges the maximum for almost every tire, even though other companies that do tire retreading say there's no way every tire needs so many repairs.
This deal looked fishy to Hagan, who worked in her father's tire store when she was growing up in Lakeland, Fla. They did a lot of retreading. The claims by White's Tire & Rubber are "statistically unsound," she said.
She helped beat down a legislative proposal that would have required school systems to work through the state contract -- which was the case until 2004.
School systems ought to take a close look at their experience with White's Tire & Rubber Co. and make sure they're not paying too much of their scarce dollars.
This deal also needs a look from the State Auditor's Office.
What other state contracts are fishy, too? Kay, can you look into that for us?
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