To help trim the fat out of state spending, the Bluegrass Institute for Public Policy Solutions (BIPPS) and Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) are releasing the first Kentucky Piglet book today at a press conference in the Capitol Rotunda in Frankfort.

"From a taxpayer's perspective, the state budget should be one lean cut of meat," said Bluegrass Institute president Chris Derry. "For too long, Frankfort's politicians have lived high on the hog at the expense of taxpayers."

Some of the choicest cuts offered by Kentuckys first Piglet Book are:

● Conventional pork. Pork producers looking to sell some hogs may be attracted to Corbin's new convention center. But does a facility likely to attract primarily flea and farmers markets in a town of 8,111 folks deserve $12 million from the states tax-incentive trough?

● Fishy pork. Tobacco farms are commonplace in Kentucky. However, lawmakers netted nearly $3 million worth of pork to promote shrimp farming in Kentucky.

● Parking-lot pork. A parking lot, a pickup truck and a bunch of produce is all you need to start a farmers' market. Instead, Frankfort's porkers have opted to subsidize these markets to the tune of $2 million annually.

● RoboPork. Kentucky tourism officials are hoping that people from other states will flock to an abandoned coal mine in Lynch, Kentucky where the main attraction consists of animatronic coal miners.

"From subsidizing golf courses to shrimp farming in a land-locked state, the wasteful and undisciplined spending in Kentucky state government is out of control," said David Williams, CAGW's vice president of policy." CAGW is delighted to work with the Bluegrass Institute to publicize this issue."

For interview information, contact Jim Waters, Director of Policy and Communications for the Bluegrass Institute. He can be reached at (270) 782-2140 or jwaters@bipps.org.