| ..."Today's Example Of Greed Over Principles."
As noted in Part 1, The Strib broke the (partial) story.
GOPer Mayor Phil Young's hometown paper soon followed up; the print edition from last Thursday (5-20-2010) stuck the story inside (on page 3) with this headline:
"Sloppy bookkeeping," but no crime in case of mayor's reimbursement record
There's only a "slight" problem with that headline; in the story it read, and again I quote:
Though the Hennepin County Attorney has opted not to press charges the case is still under investigation by the Plymouth Police, according to Police Chief Mike Goldstein. The case has been referred to the Plymouth city attorney, who will review whether to press charges in the form of a gross misdemeanor or misdemeanor.
Mayor Young is NOT "out of the woods" yet; City Prosecutors indeed still are considering charges because for 14 - FOURTEEN months in a row, GOPer Mayor Phil Young claimed per diem for meetings he didn't attend.
So I called the paper's Editor, and pointed the inconsistency out. And kudos to the Editor for changing the on-line version of the story to now read:
No county charges in case of mayor's reimbursement record
Again, kudos to the Editor for recognizing and fixing the inconsistency. Now, on to "Today's Example Of Greed Over Principles!" |
When then-Council Member Phil Young decided to go a step up and run for mayor, he put together a campaign website. And on that website, on one page, he listed his community activities; presumably proudly and presumably to induce voters to vote for him due his volunteerism. The screenshot is below, and if you look, there are two organizations listed that - when compared to the Meeting Attendance Claim Forms Young turned in - stick out:
1 - Board Member, Eden Prairie Foundation, and
2 - Member, Eden Prairie Chamber of Commerce Government Committee
Presumably, neither the Chamber nor the Foundation pay members to attend meetings.
Now, upon becoming Mayor, what did Eden Prairie's WORST. MAYOR. EVER. do?
Why, charge the taxpayers for now attending meetings; meetings that he - presumably - used to volunteer for!
Here's the dates Mayor Young charged the taxpayers for, for the Chamber, in just 2009:
1-7-09; 1-27; 2-19; 3-17 -- "EP Chamber gov't comm"; 4-16; 5-4; 5-19 -- "chamber gov't"; 6-3; 6-19; 6-23 -- "EP Chamber gov't cmtt"; 7-28; 8-6; 9-17; 10-23; 11-10; 11-30; and 12-15
If I listed correctly, and I think I did (especially the ones Young listed as "gov't committee") - and I count the above correctly, I come up with 17 Chamber meetings (with 4 specifically for a Chamber Committee Young presumably used to attend for free) at $35 per meeting for a grand total of $595 of new, taxpayer-provided income for 2009 for the fiscally-conservative Mayor Young.
For the Foundation, Young merely nicked the taxpayers for 4 meetings at $35 a pop, for a miserly $140 - in 2009.
Vote for Young for Mayor for his volunteerism; once elected, Young nails the taxpayer for what he - presumably - used to volunteer for.*
That's today's example of why GOP now stands for GreedOverPrinciples.
*actually, I did check with the Chamber.... |
