Toni Clark and Elizabeth Coggs, Milwaukee County supervisors, appear to have used Charlene Hardin as a role model.
From Daniel Bice, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
It didn't take long after Barack Obama declared victory on Nov. 4 for County Board members Toni Clark and Elizabeth Coggs to decide they needed to make a tax-paid trip to Washington, D.C.
Just two days after Obama's win, the two supervisors booked flights to the capital through a local travel agent, according to newly released county records.
Those records show Keystone Travel Services billed the county $931 for the two flights out of Milwaukee on Jan. 16 and returning five days later. The county paid the airfare a month later, after Chairman Lee Holloway's chief of staff approved their travel plans.
Numerous aldermen, state reps and other Wisconsin government officials went to the inauguration, but No Quarter couldn't find any others who billed taxpayers for their costs.
The two county pols have provided little or no explanation for the trip, which is expected to cost as much as $4,000. Other politicians, including some Democrats, have begun expressing concern about the timing of the excursion, which allowed the duo to attend a variety of inaugural activities on the taxpayers' dime.
"It looks pretty questionable," said state Rep. Jon Richards, a Milwaukee Democrat.
...Most local Democrats who did make the trip to D.C. last week paid for the trip personally or used campaign funds.
By contrast, the county has already shelled out $3,807 for Clark and Coggs' travel expenses, including airfare and lodging. Clark's hotel cost $644 per night for the final three nights of her stay.
No. This is not going to fly.
Clark and Coggs bilked the taxpayers.
$644 per night for Clark's hotel? Would she have ever paid that much for lodging if the cash came out of her own pocket? Who can afford that?
Clark and Coggs don't get to use tax dollars to fund their extravagant inauguration vacation.
Chairman Lee Holloway's chief of staff, Terrence Cooley, should never have approved their travel plans.
Two days after Obama wins the election, Clark and Coggs just happen to schedule a trip to D.C. during the inauguration, but Cooley thought their plans appeared legitimate.
Clark and Coggs said they were going to Washington to meet with U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, county lobbyists and others.
"Nobody said anything about the inaugural," Cooley said.
He said he, of course, realized that the trip would coincide with the Obama festivities, but he said he wouldn't speculate on whether Clark and Coggs designed the trip so they could be in D.C. when the new president was taking his oath.
"This is when they could schedule the meetings," Cooley said.
Was it really necessary for Clark and Coggs to actually mention the inauguration when proposing their travel plans for Cooley to figure out what they were doing?
Sure, the meetings just happened to coincide with the inauguration. What a coincidence!
Cooley seems to have been clueless.
Clark and Coggs seem to be conscienceless.
And the taxpayers seem to have been screwed.
1 comment:
Well, where do i start? This is unreal, especially in this day and time. Almost as bad as Adding millions of dollars to the stimulus package for new sod for the Whitehouse lawn! Thanks alot ladies, just we, as Milwaukee citzens need. Ive stayed in some pretty nice hotels before, some overlooking the ocean, one in London and many more, none of which costed even $250, let alone 600+! I'm sure there was alot of focus on bettering Milwaukee during that meeting, if in fact a meeting took place. For Cooley to be so clueless as to why they went is just as absurd as the pricetag. There is absolutely no accountability at these levels of government and its a sad, sad thing. Why isnt there a non-political oversight comittee to watch over these over empowered politicians? We the people have no idea as to where our taxes go and this is just another sad example as to why we're kept in the dark. Although i wanna know where our taxes go, i'd probably be better off not knowing. Taxes will forever be taken and politicians will always waste a large portion. If and when these ladies are forced to pay for their vacation, im sure they will deeply regret the lavish rooms in which they stayed. What a joke! When does it end? CROOKS
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