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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AFP Causing Ruckus About Baltimore County Pensions

Baltimore County councilman Kevin Kamenetz (D) is leaving the council to run for county executive.  If he is successful, and serves two terms as county executive, he will leave office with a pension of at least $108,000!  Perhaps that is why he is pleading with Baltimore County AFP co-chair Steve Bailey to quit talking about the pensions paid to members of the Baltimore County Council.

They say that timing is everything in politics.  For Kamenetz, the old adage is proving true.  No one seemed to whine when former county exec Dutch Ruppersberger bolted for Congress, taking a sizable pension with him.  Unfortunately for Kamenetz, what was once a hypothetical outrage has become real – and the public ain’t liking it too much!

Last fall, councilman Vincent Gardina announced that he would not seek a sixth term.  Gardina, 54, will leave council and collect 100% of his $54,000 annual salary for the REST OF HIS LIFE!  Now, incumbent councilmen like Kamenetz are taking heat for a pension system that was put in place back in ‘50’s (when council pay was $3,000 / year).

Tonight, the Baltimore County chapter of Americans for Prosperity will host a Town Hall forum on pension reform for our county council, county executive and general assembly.  The forum is from 7-8:30 p.m. at the Towson Library, 320 York Road.

Sorry Councilman Kamenetz!  This is an issue that needs to be talked about.  Kudos again to AFP for facilitating an event where average taxpayers can learn more about their government and how their hard earned dollars are being spent.

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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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Thank You Jim Bunning

Red State has a great piece about Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) (along with Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN)) being the only person to stand up and fight the extension of the Obama PORKULUS.  Bunning deserves our gratitude.

While his colleagues were watching the Olympics or fundraising, it was Bunning who stood firm and kept objecting to attempts by the Senate majority to sleaze through more wasteful spending.  I wonder where his colleague and fellow Kentuckian Mitch McConnell was?

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Despotism Returns to Salisbury

When elected officials waste your tax dollars your recourse is limited.  You can complain.  You can lobby your officials.  Ultimately, you can vote those persons out in the next election.  One of the wonders of our great nation is our willingness and ability to replace politicians with the ballot rather than the bullet.

Sadly, there are instances in our local, state, and federal governments when officials steal from the taxpayer – either through embezzlement or spending public monies that are not lawfully appropriated.  Do we resort to the bullet?  Of course not.  This is America; that’s what prisons are for.

During the fascist regime of the former Queen of Barrieland, Salisbury taxpayers witnessed a constant, and consistent, stream of spending public funds without lawful appropriations.  When current Salisbury mayor Jim Ireton ran for his present post he promised voters that this type of behavior would not be repeated under an Ireton regime.  Sadly, this has proven NOT to be the case.

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Wealthy Marylanders Vote With Their Feet

Liberals never learn.  They cling to the discredited belief that all you need to do to raise government revenue is raise tax rates.  Wealthy Marylanders are showing Gov. Martin O’Malley that they have options too.  They can move to a more tax friendly state.

In 2007 O’Malley and his leftist pals in the legislature instituted the so-called “millionaires surcharge”.  Montgomery County is learning that if you raise taxes they will leave:

County officials estimate next year’s budget deficit will be more than $761 million. Much of the shortfall is tied to a few residents who have either lost money in the economy, died or fled Maryland’s new millionaire tax.

County records show Montgomery lost $4.6 billion in taxable income between tax years 2007 and 2008. The number of income tax returns above $1 million declined by 27 percent during that time.

Despite this “shocking revelation” of basic economics, those stalwarts of fiscal sanity – the Democrat majority of the Maryland General Assembly – are considering extending the “surcharge”, which is set to expire next year.  Perhaps O’Malley should call newly elected New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and ask him how many high earners abandoned the Garden State under the tax and spend policies of Christie’s predecessor – Gov. John Corzine.

Go ahead Marty – dance while Maryland burns.

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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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A “Prebuttal” to O’Malley’s Groundhog Day Speech

Today, Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley will deliver his annual “State of the State” speech.  Brian Griffiths and Red Maryland have put together a “prebuttal” to O’Malley’s address:

Ironically, O’Malley has chosen to deliver his address on Groundhog Day.  Griffiths draws an appropriate parallel between O’Malley and the Bill Murray film Groundhog Day.  If you remember, the premise of the film is that Murray’s character lives the same day over, over, and over again.

Under O’Malley, Maryland citizens have endured the same things over, over, and over again.  We have suffered the same:

• Excuses
• Calls for Tax Increases
• Calls for Expanded Government Services

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