Motorsports Investment District/Slush Fund

I read a great piece of reporting in the Speedway Town Press the other day regarding the proposed expansion of the "Motorsports Investment District." Being the curious and nerdy person that I am, I started looking into exactly what this "MID" is.

The first place I looked was in the Indiana Code of state laws. I found a few interesting tidbits:

For starters, this entire thing is a vehicle by which our legislature showers our tax dollars on private enterprise. Please remember this the next time Senator "Small Government" R. Michael Young talks about his "conservative values."

Next, this golden shower of taxpayer coin is available for "Qualified Motorsports Facilities," a term defined by statute to mean a race track that is at least 2 miles in length and holds at least two events per year, the combined attendance at which is at least 200,000. Hmmmm. Can't imagine who that's directed at.

The law creates the Indiana Motorsports Commission, which is empowered, among other things, to receive federal pork and incur debts. It is also authorized to request money from the State, not to exceed $5,000,000 per fiscal year.

The entirety of the statute is available for viewing at Indiana Code 5-1-17.5. Here is a link to the Indiana Code.

My point in this is not to trash IMS, which I believe to be a wonderful partner in our community. Given the largesse showered upon the Pacers and Colts, not to mention seemingly every casino project in the state, I can't blame them for trying to get a piece of the action.

The real blame lies with our state legislature, which has never encountered a piece of corporate welfare that it could resist. Remember, these people sell themselves as fiscal conservatives and then turn around and give your tax money away at every opportunity.

As they used to say at the poker table, "put up or shut up." Mike Young, show your fiscal conservatism or shut up about it. I would say the same thing to the remainder of our state legislature. Until you show some balls and forego the opportunities to shower well-heeled interests with public funds, your "fiscal conservatism" should be regarded as the sick, hypocritical joke that it is.

For more reading on the subject, I suggest reading Paul Ogden's blog or the late great Gary Welsh's Advance Indiana.