My Little Margie

Here’s an idea: Why don’t a half dozen of you try to make it down to the County Commissioner’s meeting this Wednesday and watch how the sausage is made. Not pretty at all but very interesting. I ran into the perennial candidate Michael Callis (R – Eaton) the other day who sees nothing wrong with the Sheriff’s new clothes, the trips that my little Margie takes or the lack of oversight in general on County finances. Yeah, I want Mike in Congress keeping an eye out for me. When did the Republican’s “conservatism” stop meaning fiscal prudence?
The reason we have a Commission is so that we can say some one is in charge, otherwise we would have departments making up their own budget that would be handed to them to spend any way they want which opens up the possibility of abuse. One of the biggest problems in government is not keeping track of the revenue streaming out.
A story in the news this week says the pentagon has lost track of 158 billion* in military contracts because the budgets have grown so fast that the infrastructure to keep track of them has not kept pace with the exponential growth/waste of tax payers dollars. You just know there is another infrastructure out there that is keeping pace with that kind of opportunity and they are siphoning it off to projects that never get built but get overbilled for cost over-runs. It’s kind of a whacky world where greed is the driving force. And so it is in the County.
When My Little Margie thinks it is her due to spend every cent in her travel budget and then some, and says to me out loud so other people in the hallway we were walking could hear: “It’s in his budget. He can spend it any way he wants,” speaking of Carr’s fancy pants, you have to believe that she has lost the plot. She no longer gets the idea of what the government role is. She’s not there to mind your tax dollars and see that the institutions run smoothly, she’s there to bilk the system. And you really need to look out now that the Commissioners won’t be getting a $500 raise that they had put in for. That was money that she felt was owed to her and you can bet she is going to find someway to make it up.
When I was down t’ Ossipee the last couple of times I noticed that the taxpayers must have decided that the Commissioners should have a coffee buffet in the meeting room. This is provided by the head of the kitchen at the nursing home. It probably takes him at least an hour to set up and half that to break it down. He probably makes $60K a year which is $30 an hour so it is safe to assume with the coffee and muffins it is costing you $50 every Wednesday so that the Commissioners don’t have to stop on the way in and grab their own cuppa. In ten weeks that would pay for Marge’s raise. Ten more weeks for Sorenson’s and ten for Olkkola.
But, them thieving bastids, the press and public, made so bold as to help themselves and there weren’t enough muffins left for the Comish’. Margie, who taunts the attendees with her inaudible murmurings and whispers her comments when she is conducting public business now belts out, “What happened to all the muffins?”
So come on down, It starts early and if you’re not there by exactly 8:15 the punctilious Chair will commence public comment without you and you’d be missing the fun part. You can help yourself to a coffee and muffin, if you hurry, and if you dare.
*$158 BILLION is almost the total amount that the $1200 per agent orange victim got (see Moving Wall above) for a one time payment to settle their suit in the ‘80s. Bush can only run the Iraq War for three more days on that kind of money and, y’ know, that’s not a bad idea. Then we can use the next three days worth to start funding the real cost of the war, broken bodies and dreams of the men and women who will never recover from the insanity.