ALBANY – Two small pork-barrel spending items in the state’s new $89.6 billion budget – “Dyke TV” and “Homovisiones” – were raising eyebrows at the Capitol yesterday.
Just-released budget bills provided no information on the two programs, saying only on Page 76 of the Education Department’s spending measure that $1,000 had been allocated for each item.
“This is outrageous, and I’d like to know what they are doing in the budget,” asked a senior legislative fiscal analyst, who called the items to The Post’s attention.
The answer is that the two obscure appropriations are part of what appears to be over 1,000 pork-barrel “member items” that get included in every new budget – projects favored by individual lawmakers that total a whopping $170 million a year.
The two provocatively named projects were sponsored by Sen. Thomas Duane (D-Manhattan), one of only two openly gay lawmakers in the Legislature.
“These are two cable-television shows in New York City which provide much-needed information to the lesbian and gay communities,” Duane said.
“In the city, it’s difficult to get through your news messages and one of the best ways to do it is by getting on cable television.”