Beacon Center of Tennessee Publishes State’s 2023 Pork Report

The Nashville-based Beacon Center of Tennessee published its annual Pork Report on Wednesday, highlighting the wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars this past year across the Volunteer State.

Examples of “offensive” and “wasteful” uses of Tennessee taxpayer money highlighted in the 2023 Pork Report include the nearly $5 million taxpayer subsidy given to benefit the California burger chain In-N-Out’s move to Tennessee, large property tax increases in multiple counties, and the City of Memphis giving out over $1 million to a TV show on the verge of cancellation.

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Indicted State Senator Has Billed State for 10 Times More in Travel Expenses Than Tennessee Colleagues

Indicted Tennessee state Sen. Katrina Robinson has traveled extensively to conferences on the state’s dime during her time in office, costing Tennessee taxpayers $17,934.56 in the past 20 months – nearly 10 times the average amount of state spending on conference travel for her Senate colleagues.

A federal grand jury indicted Robinson, D-Memphis, last month on 24 counts of embezzlement involving government programs and 24 counts of wire fraud.

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More Than $1.2 Million in Taxpayer Waste in Tennessee This June

    by Chris Butler, Tennessee WatchDog Yet another California artist gets taxpayer money for TN public art. A Los Angeles artist will design one of Memphis’ most expensive public art projects at taxpayer expense, according to Memphis TV station WREG. The “I Am a Man” art project will cost $700,000, the station reported, adding it’s one of the city’s most expensive public art projects. As Tennessee Watchdog reported last year, city officials paid another California artist $300,000 to create a 103-foot-tall sculpture near the Memphis International Airport. As Tennessee Watchdog also reported, Nashville officials paid $300,000 last year for an exhibit commemorating the Civil Rights movement, but the artist lived some 2,000 miles away in Oakland, California. Three years ago, Nashville taxpayers paid $750,000 so an abstract artist from California could construct large multi-colored sticks and place them partially upright near the Music City Center downtown. Meanwhile, “Tool Fire,” built in 2013, consists of several shovels, rakes and pickaxes glued together and placed on display along the Shelby Bottoms Greenway. For that project, the city paid an Alabama artist $30,000. Nashville taxpayers also paid two Seattle artists $350,000 to create a sculpture at Nashville’s West Riverfront Park symbolizing the…

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