So...if you promise that a gathering for politicians will be funded privately but come up short when the bills arrive, just do what government does best: Take it out of taxpayers' pockets "to cover the funding shortfall for the four-day, $1.5 million summit, which included thousands spent on gifts and entertainment in July 2010."

And of course, take a page out of the economic-development bureaucrats' book by claiming it had "a big economic impact."

I don't doubt that the 2010 National Conference of State Legislatures in Louisville had some economic impact on the area, but it's unsound policy to make taxpayers cover funding shortfalls for an event that should be covered by private funds, as I state in today's Courier-Journal story about the event.  I'm sure that supporters of this policy are hoping taxpayers won't notice that "the funding shortfall" amounted to $587,000 -- more than one-third of the event's total $1.5 million price tag. Whoa! That's a lot of "gifts and entertainment" -- oh, sorry "economic impact."