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Showing entries for Category: Government-waste

The Mayor's trip to Egypt and other wasteful government travel expenses

9 comments

November 13, 10:03 AM

by Adam Meister, Baltimore Politics Examiner

The Baltimore Sun finally mentioned the Mayor's ridiculous trip to Egypt. Why the Sun did not make a big deal out of it or even mention it before this article is beyond me. The paper of record for this town has little critical analysis of the mayor and others so they are allowed to constantly get away with things like this. The Sun is well on its way to making itself completely obsolete. It did not have to be this way.

Since the Sun will not talk about it then I am going to have to. In these tough economic times no government employee should go on any tax payer funded trips or have any tax payer funded food at local meetings. If the Mayor can not give us our measly 2-cent property tax cut then they will have to tighten their belts also. It appears that most of the local government employees are tightening their belts when it comes to travel according to the Sun. The city budgeted $339,489 for trips this year but employees have only spent $66,535 on trips this year because of a freeze on most travel requests. Over a quarter of the money spent this year was spent on Dixon's trip to Egypt that the Sun refused to cover.

Councilman Robert Curran apparently finds little wrong with sending staff on trips. He thinks there are "long-term outcomes" according to the Sun article. I would love to have him elaborate on what a city employee learns from traveling to a location to a conference that he or she could not learn by reading a book or doing some internet research.

It looks like our old friend Patricia (Fire Burns) Jessamy is about to go on a trip to the National District Attorney Association meeting in Santa Fe, New Mexico. This will cost tax payers $1,012.50 according to the Sun. Why should the incompetence of our embarrassing State's Attorney continue to be rewarded? Does this woman have no shame? If she wants to go on a trip she should pay for it out of her incredibly bloated tax payer funded salary. Would you rather the $1000 be spent on Patricia Jessamy or paying a cop overtime to catch the Mount Vernon rapist? Maybe our leaders need to attend a conference that teaches them about priorities in life?

For more info: The original article I wrote about Dixon's Egypt trip.

Topics: City Council , Government waste , Patricia Jessamy , Sheila Dixon , Baltimore Sun , Baltimore City , Budget

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Comments

New Arena in Baltimore Could Mean A 6.5% Sales Tax

23 comments

July 25, 6:15 PM

So they are trying to force a new arena down our throats. Apparently the state (the tax payers) will pay for most of it. John Moag says that it could cost close to $400 million. Last year the citizens of Maryland were told that we had a budget... Read More
Topics: taxes , Government waste , NBA , new arena

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Random Tuesday Thoughts

2 comments

May 27, 11:19 PM

At most community meetings I attend people like to bring up their desire for more foot patrols by police. With $5 gas on the horizon the police department could save a lot of money and make a lot of people happier by taking police out of... Read More
Topics: crime , Government waste , $5 Gas , police , Federal Hill , mass transit

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How $5 Gas Can Help Baltimore

8 comments

May 15, 11:26 PM

The City and the citizens of Baltimore need to plan for later this summer when gas hits $5 a gallon. A few weekends ago when running in Baltimore I noticed three city-owned vehicles idling when they should have been turned off. Baltimore... Read More
Topics: Government waste , $5 Gas