Whatever Happened to the Underpaid Civil Servant?

Thursday night I was traveling through eastern Virginia and picked up a copy of my old hometown paper – the Daily Press.  Low and behold, there was an editorial claiming that the salaries and benefits paid to government employees are OUT OF CONTROL.

Some of you may wonder why this is so significant.  Many of us have known for years that the incessant whining of government workers – that they are overworked and underpaid – is so much hogwash.  However Hampton Roads, the primary market of the Daily Press, is a blood relative of Washington, DC.  There are military bases every few miles; with not only uniformed personnel, but tens of thousands of civilian employees.  Large pockets of non-military federal, state, and local employees also run around numerous bureaucratic hives.  Besides those that DIRECTLY feed at the taxpayer funded trough, there are tens, hundreds, of thousands more who work for government contractors.  Without the taxpayers’ largesse, these nominally private sector employees would be out of work.  Therefore, you may understand why I was surprised to read such an op-ed in THIS PARTICULAR paper.

Here is a copy of the editorial in Thursday’s edition:

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Even for Bill McCain – Be Careful What You Wish For

Last night’s “Repeal the Cap Rally”, hosted by outgoing Wicomico County councilman Bill McCain (D) was a rousing success – if you supported keeping the county’s revenue cap in place and opposed increased county budgets.  Approximately 75 citizens came out to express their opinion.  While there were a few of the usual “tax and spend” suspects present, only one spoke up – WET president John Groutt.  His response was mainly to call the rest of us “simplistic” and a bunch of “Tea Partiers”.  (I always get a kick out of leftists who call me simplistic because I don’t support their socialistic policies.)

A Model for Future Councils

While I have agreed with McCain on little during his term on council, and am not sorry to see him leave, he should be commended for last night’s get together.  Granted, it was 3 1/2 years in coming; but this was exactly what the city council needs to do.

Well … not exactly.  The entire council, AND county executive Rick Pollitt, should host such a meeting every quarter.  They could do it from the council chambers.  The council chambers are already wired for PAC-14 broadcast and for Wi-Fi.  Those who couldn’t attend could watch the proceedings live and it could even be arranged for the participants to take call-in questions.  We could even live blog the event, possibly collaborating with other local bloggers.  The costs would be minimal and the potential for increased citizen involvement is immense.

Some may be asking, “What’s the point?  Isn’t this just like public comment at council meetings where a few people come an gripe?”.  No, that’s why I argue that this type of meeting should be a model for future councils.  Here you had an opportunity to actually interact with elected officials and they actually answered questions.  Can you imagine what would happen if Salisbury city councilwoman Louise Smith had to do this?

However, to make this type of meeting a consistent success the presence of Pollitt is necessary.  As I pointed out last night, McCain and his colleagues on council are part time citizen legislators.  It is Pollitt who drafts the budget.  It is Pollitt who proposes almost all legislation.  While some of us may consider it fun to complain to the council, we must no longer allow Pollitt to use the council as a political shield before taking a stand on any issue.

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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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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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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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Holloway Uncovers MORE Wasteful Spending at the BOE

Wicomico County Councilman Joe Holloway isn’t very popular with the bureaucrats over at the Wicomico County Board of Education (WCBOE).  He politely asks for information on their spending habits, they attempt to stonewall him, Holloway keeps fighting for the information, the bureaucrats are embarrassed.  At least the taxpayers get to find out how their dollars are being wasted.

Speaking last night at the monthly meeting of the Wicomico chapter of Americans for Prosperity, Holloway gave a brief re-cap of his term on the county council.  Holloway made one thing crystal clear – despite the protestations of people like Wicomico County Executive Rick Pollitt and several members of the county council, Wicomico County doesn’t have a REVENUE PROBLEM.  Wicomico County has a SPENDING PROBLEM.

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Wasteful Spending at Post Office Just Pre-cursor to ObamaCare

Appearing last week on FOXNews, former Virginia Governor George Allen outlines how profligacy at the US Postal Service is simply a small example of what we’ll see under ObamaCare.

 

When you hand over 1/6 of the nation’s economy to a group of people with no accountability (government employees), what else do you expect.  As governor, Allen and his team forced state government to be responsive to taxpayers.  Little wonder many civil servants whined about his administration for years.  Do any of us believe that federal employees will be responsive to our health care needs?

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Why The Proposed Wicomico Budget Amendment Is Bad Policy

On Tuesday, November 10th, the Wicomico County Council will hold a public hearing on County Executive Rick Pollitt’s proposed budget amendment.  Nominally, this budget amendment is to correct a revenue shortfall caused by a loss of over $6 million in state aid to the county.  In reality, Pollitt’s amendment is designed to force citizens to repeal the revenue cap and will result (within 7 – 19 months) with a tax increase for Wicomico homeowners and businesses.

If you don’t mind paying higher property taxes, you should attend Tuesday’s hearing and say so.  However, if you agree with me that the revenue cap should stay in place then you should go to Tuesday’s hearing and DEMAND that the county council vote this measure down and call on Pollitt to RESTRUCTURE the county government to live within its means.

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Flip-Flop Frank Has a Real High Opinion of Himself

Rep. Frank Kratovil (D-MD1), aka Flip-Flop Frank, surprised the world by voting against the initial stimulus bill.  The man was to be commended.  Until ….

You’ve got it!  Unable to abandon his lefty, O’Malley-acolyte roots Kratovil voted for the final conference report on PORKULUS.  This, in itself, was not surprising.  This type of behavior was something that many of us predicted throughout his campaign.  A true son of MoCo and PG County, Kratovil basically believes that his Eastern Shore constituents are just a bunch of hicks that can be snowed by smiling pretty, shaking a few hands and throwing a few bacon scraps our way.

What really amazed me, was Flip-Flop Frank’s reasoning: Read more

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Let’s Double the Gas Tax!

Tertium Quids notes that the federal highway trust fund is running on empty (it will run out of money in FY2009), while the earmarks just keep on coming:

…(proving, again, that when earmarks are on the line, partisanship, principles and common sense don’t stand a chance).

And the GOP still can’t figure out why we lost in 2006?

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