PUBLIC SCHOOLS’ GSA MENTALITY: Investigations Turn Up Massive Spending With Public Dollars

Published on May 4, 2012 by

Prop 103, the proposed $3 billion tax increase for public education, failed two-to-one across Colorado. But after recent 7News and CBS4 investigations of outlandish spending by public school districts, if Prop 103 were to come up again it might go down with an even larger margin of loss.

Both CBS4 and 7News found school districts racking up insanely indefensible bills, such as Denver Public Schools spending $200,000 on fast food in a year, or school districts across the state hosting GSA-like conferences at the swanky Broadmoor hotel in Colorado Springs. If public school districts complain about budget cuts, their complaints are likely to fall on deaf ears if they're found paying for $30 hamburgers at the Broadmoor. 

It's not just major television stations uncovering these unexcusable wastes of taxpayer dollars. Education reform activist Regan Benson found that Jefferson County schools spent over $68,000 on just pizza in 2011. As Benson points out, that $68,000 could be better spent hiring seven part-time para-professionals who are used to support teachers and students, which, after all, is how education dollars are meant to be spent. 

The wasteful spending of Colorado school districts and the GSA junket in Vegas are both small amounts in comparison to their total budgets. But they destroy the lack of trust the public places in public officials to spend tax money. If you can't trust someone to spend the money you already give them properly, why in the world would you agree to give them more?

(Photo Credit: Flickr/ Mack_L)


 

GOVERNMENT LARGESSE AIR WAR: American Future Fund Running Ads In Colorado On GSA, Solyndra Scandals

Published on April 24, 2012 by

The American Future Fund is running ads in Colorado hitting the Obama administration for the twin government spending scandals of the lavish, million-dollar GSA conference in Las Vegas and the failed $500 million handout to solar panel manufacturer Solyndra. The ads in Colorado are part of a larger $2 million buy across eight swing states.

Check out the ad here:

The two spending scandals have an odd connection — the General Services Administration (GSA) Administrator missed the Vegas junket to have meetings on Solyndra.

The GSA and Solyndra scandals also have their own Colorado connections.

9News reported that 52 Colorado workers attended the GSA conference in Vegas. Denver-based GSA Rocky Mountain Region commissioner Paul Prouty was placed on administrative leave, along with seven other GSA employees who have been suspended or fired for the incident, which included taxpayer money being spent on clowns, mind readers and expensive suites. 

Colorado also has its own version of Solyndra in Pat Stryker-backed Abound Solar. Just as Solyndra collapsed after receiving hundreds of millions in Obama administration loans, Abound Solar laid off 70% of its employees despite receiving a $400 million loan. 

As liberal Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne said on Sunday, government spending scandals like the GSA conference are "really bad for progressives, liberals, when any of these scandals come out. Because progressives and liberals are people who say based on history, government can accomplish great things."

They're also not good for Obama. With a narrative that Obama spends too much, any attention paid to the government wasting money helps further that damaging narrative. 

It also doesn't hurt to have a few thousand points put up to further that argument. 


 
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