Tag Archives: Props & Measures

About That $141,530 Measure To Raise More Than $141,530

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David Henderson In The Wall Street Journal.

In a 1968 article in the Journal of Law and Economics, James R. Schlesinger— later defense secretary under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford and energy secretary under President Jimmy Carter—wrote: “The tool of politics (which frequently becomes its objective) is to extract resources from the general taxpayer with minimum offense and to distribute the proceeds among innumerable claimants in such a way as to maximize support at the polls. Politics, so far as mobilizing support is concerned, represents the art of calculated cheating—or more precisely how to cheat without being really caught.”

The good news is that the Pacific Grove residents who alerted me to this have caught the cheaters. Is it too late? Time will tell.

About That $141,530 Measure To Raise More Than $141,530

Council Spends $140,000 To Find More Money

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What kind of wild hiss quackery is this? Say no if you get polled.

City Hall

The Pacific Grove City Council has approved paying a consultant more than $140,000 of taxpayers’ money to come up with ways to collect more from taxpayers.

After councilmembers in May gave themselves a 130 percent pay hike to significant public criticism, the group Transparent Pacific Grove led a successful citizen referendum to challenge the raise — something noted by former city councilman and group leader Luke Coletti in a Nov. 29 letter to the city. “As you know, Pacific Grove voters recently rejected [the pay raise] through the referendum process, clearly expressing opposition to increasing council compensation,” Coletti wrote. “This makes the inclusion of council stipends within a taxpayer-funded consulting contract especially concerning.”

Council Spends $140,000 To Find More Money