WCBOE – The Big Field Trip (Part II)

On Wednesday, we looked at the Wicomico County Board of Education’s (WCBOE) attempts to hide information from the public regarding use (and abuse) of taxpayer dollars for travel and entertainment.  We also caught a glimpse at WCBOE to junkets to Disneyland, Disney World, Las Vegas; as well as trips by superintendent John Fredericksen and WCBOE board member Mark Thompson to sunny California.

Yesterday, we saw a disturbing pattern.  If you are a WCBOE educrat, why sit through boring meetings at the central office when the taxpayer will foot the bill for a nice meal.  Why worry that teachers can’t get needed supplies for their classroom (without dipping into their own pocket) when it’s FAR MORE IMPORTANT to eat out, IN SALISBURY, on the taxpayers’ dime.

Today, we’re going to look at at something that upsets me more than all of these other things put together.  While costing the citizens of Wicomico County very little, I was dismayed to see that WCBOE employees have so little regard for the taxpayers that they don’t think twice about leaving large tips when they pick up sandwiches, doughnuts, etc. for various meetings.

WHY NOT?  IT’S ONLY THE TAXPAYERS’ MONEY!

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WCBOE – The Big Field Trip (Part II)

In an era when teachers are being forced to pay for school supplies out of their own pockets, why does Wicomico County Board of Education superintendent John Fredericksen seem to think that the taxpayers should foot the bill for taking county executive Rick Pollitt out to lunch?  How about county parks director Gary Mackes?

It ain’t the $20 John.  It’s the principle of the thing.  This isn’t your money.  To be fair, I don’t know that either Pollitt or Mackes knew that their lunches with Fredericksen were on the taxpayers’ dime.  Maybe they did, maybe they didn’t.  One thing is certain.  The next time any elected official or county employee has a “meeting” with Fredericksen, they would be wise to brown bag it.

DOES ANYONE PAY FOR THEIR OWN MEALS AT THE WCBOE?

Admittedly, the question may be a bit over the top.  However, you do begin to wonder when you look at a very small sample of the WCBOE’s “travel” expenses.  An awful lot of receipts are generated for meals IN SALISBURY.

The whole board, along with Fredericksen, has dinner and charges it to us.  To be fair, I don’t begrudge them a free meal.  One or two of the board members actually work hard (maybe only one now that Sue Hitch has left the board).  They don’t get paid very much for an admittedly thankless job.  HOWEVER, these people are responsible for spending half of the county’s budget.  Their meetings are supposed to be public.  While it would be unfair for me to accuse them of wrongdoing, it still shouldn’t happen.  When the Wicomico County Council takes their 15 or 20 minute lunch break, the door is always open and they don’t seem to mind when people walk in and out.

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WCBOE – The Big Field Trip (Part I)

Junkets to Disneyland.  Junkets to Las Vegas.  Junkets to DisneyWorld.  These are just a few instances of where Wicomico tax dollars go thanks to our infamous Board of Education (WCBOE).

Oddly enough, I don’t believe that junkets such as these are the worst examples of the WCBOE’s travel / entertainment profligacy.  I don’t doubt that many of these trips afford some marginal benefit to our public schools.  Some may even be necessary.  Some examples, such as employees going to Hooters on the taxpayers dime are actually amusing.

No.  What frustrates me most is the attitude shown by superintendent John Fredericksen and his merry little band of bureaucrats towards the taxpayers of Wicomico County that I find most disturbing.  To Fredericksen, et al, we are a giant cash register; nothing more.

Eating out at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse.  Fredericksen going out to lunch with county parks director Gary Mackes or county executive Rick Pollitt and then charging it to the taxpayer.  The response is that this is allowed in the private sector.  This is true.  However, the private sector does not take funds from citizens by force.  Those same people in the private sector don’t have lifetime job security or a retirement package like WCBOE employees.

HIDE THE EXPENSE ACCOUNT

What is even more despicable is Fredericksen’s belief that he can hide this information from the public.  Last summer, Wicomico County councilman Joe Holloway requested information on the WCBOE’s travel expenses for the last two years.  Here is Fredericksen’s response.

Note that Fredericksen (in his most obtuse bureaucratic lingo) says that he would love to comply, BUT, before he could “assist our County counterparts”, Fredericksen must explain that it’s going to cost a small fortune to provide the information to Holloway.

Now, that might be a valid concern – EXCEPT …  Fredericksen wasn’t being exactly truthful with Joe Holloway.  Holloway is tighter with the taxpayers’ money than he is his own (and Joe can pinch a penny).  So, after receiving Fredericksen’s response he didn’t push the matter any further.  Until … at a council meeting in the Fall of 2009 the usual suspects from the WCBOE showed up for a budget transfer.  WCBOE comptroller Bruce Ford had a printout of some expense categories.  Holloway asked Ford how difficult it was to get that information.  Ford replied that all you had to do was enter the account code(s) and the time period and VOILA!

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Rick Pollitt Dances the Night Away for UMES

While this isn’t exactly the social / gossip column, I’ve had quite a few people point out that Wicomico County Executive Rick Pollitt attended the recent UMES Gala and a question arose as to who bought the somewhat expensive ticket.

I’ve never backed off from Pollitt if I thought he was wrong, but the taxpayers of Wicomico County DID NOT foot the bill for Rick to “trip the light fantastic”.  Either Pollitt’s campaign chairman, Connie Strott, or Pollitt’s campaign paid for Rick’s attendance at the posh soiree.  I haven’t been able to determine which.

However, it doesn’t really matter.  To the best of my knowledge, this would be a legitimate campaign expenditure (all of those potential donors don’t you know).  If Mrs. Strott purchased the ticket, that should be fine too; whether it’s declared as an in-kind contribution or not.

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Why Does the WCBOE Protect Criminals?

Harken back to the days of the great landfill scandal.  After Sheriff Mike Lewis caught the criminals and States Attorney Davis Ruark sent them to jail it was discovered that the miscreants would be collecting full county pensions.  Shame on us.

By law, nothing could be done about the problem at hand.  However, Wicomico’s county council did take steps to make sure that such an event wouldn’t occur in the future.  If a county employee was found guilty of defrauding or otherwise stealing from the taxpayers they would forfeit the county’s contribution to their pension.

Last year it was discovered that a Wicomico County Board of Education (WCBOE) employee was defrauding the taxpayers (or if you are a lefty – “stealing form the children”).  I’m sure it wasn’t the first time; nor the last.  Assuming that this woman is convicted and sentence to jail, she will be eligible to receive her full pension.  Shame on us again?

Maybe.  The WCBOE bureaucrats read the paper.  Hell, thanks to their “special relationship” they practically run it.  But, I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt as to why they didn’t pass a resolution similar to the county’s soon after the county passed their new pension rules.  However, in early December of last year the Wicomico County Council sent a letter to superintendent John Fredericksen asking that they adopt a similar resolution.  Almost four months have passed.  NOTHING.

If the WCBOE doesn’t act, then the next time an employee is discovered stealing from the taxpayer, the fault will lie squarely on Fredericksen and the board.  Perhaps Fredericksen, et al, will argue that their collective bargaining agreements wouldn’t allow them to pass such legislation.  But wait, I thought that it was all “FOR THE CHILDREN”.

Tomorrow – Part I of The Big Field Trip, our expose of waste, fraud, and abuse in the WCBOE Travel Budget

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Fredericksen Needs A Little Economics Lesson

It’s pretty obvious from yesterday’s Daily Times op-ed that Wicomico County schools superintendent John Fredericksen never bothered taking an economics class during his many years of post-secondary education.  Fredericksen seems to be under the delusion that the Wicomico County Board of Education (WCBOE) is somehow an “economic engine” that grows our local economy:

The Wicomico County school system is one of the region’s top three employers, an economic engine with 25 schools and more than 2,500 employees. Our employees support the Wicomico County economy and the communities where they live, magnifying the effect of dollars that are spent on public education.

While I certainly don’t expect Fredericksen to grasp Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, he should at least take the time to tackle Henry Hazlitt’s Economics in One Lesson.  Government spending CANNOT CREATE WEALTH.  Wealth creation is what grows an economy over the long term.

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Scandal Brewing At PAC-14

We haven’t written much about PAC-14, Wicomico County’s public access cable channel in quite some time.  Because of that, many of you may think that all is well there.  Sadly, you would be mistaken.  The crew running PAC-14 (along with some of the vocal “supporters”) are just as conniving and deceitful as always.

We have to admit that we made a mistake.  We tried to be fair and allow PAC-14 Executive Director Mike Goodson and a majority of PAC-14’s board the opportunity to do what they said they were going to do.  Instead, this merry little band has decided that giving Wicomico taxpayers the “middle finger” is the best route to obtain their goals – and those goals have little to do with providing viewers an opportunity to watch their government in action and providing citizens the opportunity to produce local content.  No, the goal of the PAC-14 board is to siphon money from the taxpayers and build an entity that will eventually be handed over to Salisbury University so that taxpayers will no longer have even a marginal say as to how a portion of their tax dollars are being spent.

Thanks to elected officials like Wicomico County Executive Rick Pollitt, Salisbury Mayor Jim Ireton, Salisbury council members Louise Smith, Gary Comegys, and Shanie Shields, along with unelected “volunteers” such as Phil Tilghman, Elizabeth Bellavance and WCBOE President Mark Thompson, expect PAC-14 to blossom into an organization which wastes money (your money) on consultants and plans for grand schemes while refusing to adhere to the basic rules of transparency (which are in their own by-laws).

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Should We “Throw All The Bums Out”?

As usual, last night’s Lower Shore AFP meeting was interesting.  Ed Urban of the Wicomico Tourism Board spoke about why the County Council did the right thing by spending $1.5 million of “free money” for a new parking lot at the civic center.  While I don’t thing many folks agreed, the discussion was civil.  Salisbury City Councilwoman Debbie Campbell came to explain how the current council majority AND the Ireton administration are illegally spending tax dollars WITHOUT appropriation.

For me, the most engaging moments came AFTER the meeting was over.  I listened to several good people make the argument that just because someone is an incumbent, they are somehow “tainted”.  This is a view that disturbs me greatly.  Experience is not a crime.  In fact, most societies have considered it a virtue.

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Saturday’s Conway / Mathias Meeting

Much has already been written about Saturday morning’s Salisbury town hall meeting held by Del. Norm Conway (D-38B) and Del. Jim Mathias (D-38B).  Michael Swartz of Monoblogue provides a very factual, blow-by-blow account.  Julie Brewington of Right Coast Girl weighs in with a little more opinion.  My friend Joe Albero, uncharacteristically, is taking a “can’t we all get along” approach.

There are two things that almost everyone seems to agree on.  One is that we appreciate Conway and Mathias taking time to meet with constituents.  Yes, I know it’s an election year AND that it’s part of their job.  Yet, not every member of the legislature takes the time.  The second thing is that both Conway and Mathias are “good guys”.  I concur.  Wicomico County Exec Rick Pollitt is a “good guy”; so is Councilmen John Cannon and Dave MacLeod.  Councilwoman Sheree Sample-Hughes is a “good person”.  Hell, I’m sure there are even a few people who like Salisbury Councilwoman Louise Smith and Wicomico Councilman Bill McCain.  Regardless, taxpayers need to ask themselves if they can afford to continue supporting these “good guys”.

BIG GOVERNMENT CONSERVATIVES?

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Oppose Pollitt’s Parking Lot

At 10 AM this morning, the Wicomico County Council will meet and hold a public hearing on County Executive Rick Pollitt’s proposal to spend $300,000 per acre on additional parking for the Wicomico Youth and Civic Center.  If they adopt this scheme, they will later come back to borrow additional funds to clear and pave the lot.

The time is now to say NO!

Does the Civic Center need more parking?  Yes.

Do we need to spend this money now?  No.

Pollitt makes an eloquent case for his folly.  The Civic Center needs a additional parking.  The money will come from state, not local, coffers.  He even admits that we will probably be overpaying for the property, but …

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