2009

Wanna know what city employees make? Get out a calculator and magnifying glass

Hopefully you found the above decoder in your Argus ‘Cracker Jack Box’ Leader in yesterday’s issue.

Did you hear? The city released the salaries of all the city employees in Friday’s newspaper. Didn’t see it? Yeah, well it was buried in 6-point type in the real estate section of the newspaper. In an almost impossible to read columns something the city labeled as ‘City business’ they didn’t print the yearly salary, but instead gave you a handy formula to use when taking their bi-weekly amount times 26. Not only is this very poor open government and an obvious distraction to get people not to read it, it also shoots a hole in the Argus Leader’s ironic argument about printing public notices in a newspaper. If this were online, it could easily be downloaded whenever, you could also copy and paste it into an Excel spreadsheet and do a quick calculation of the salaries. I know the Argus is not responsible for the layout, they have to do what their client instructs them to, but they could have put it in a more visible section of the newspaper, especially since they charge the City $75,000 a year for the service. The rumor is that Munson’s office fought tooth and nail to get it printed this way? Why? Well several city employees got significant raises. Do I think that city employees are overpaid? No way, quite the contrary, I think most are underpaid, just like the rest of us in this city, but I also think that several administrators (Cough, Jodi, cough, cough) are overpaid. They conveniently mixed their salaries in with the maintenance men and parks workers in these columns.

DOWNLOAD PDF’S OF THE SALARIES HERE: untitled-1, untitled-2

This is normal par for course with Munson; don’t let the citizens know how much money he is spending (wasting). Keep it up Dave – we are watching and taking notes.

UPDATE: The Argus Leader Editorial Board woke up Sunday morning from a very deep sleep:

City officials, however, aren’t planning to institute any layoffs. As a matter of fact, they’re poised to proceed with adding 25 positions that already had been budgeted.

With so much economic uncertainty, though, it’s time to reassess whether Sioux Falls can afford to expand government right now.

Duh?!

Saturday Morning News Roundup; Ironic Johnny has a very short memory

John, John, John, remember that 1.4 trillion dollar tax cut you handed over to all the richy riches of the country;

As President Obama finally starts to fight for his economic stimulus bill, roadblock Republicans in the Senate continue to decry the price tag. While John Thune (R-SD) described how many times $1 trillion worth of $100 bills would circle the earth, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) proclaimed “Americans can’t afford a trillion-dollar mistake.” Of course, back in 2001, the GOP had no qualms (along with some invertebrate Democrats) in passing George W. Bush’s much larger $1.4 trillion tax cut package. And as today’s unending sea of red ink and unprecedented upward redistribution of wealth attest, the Republican Party is simply calling for more of the same.

Stop being a Dick, Dick, just go away;

You, Mr. Cheney, you terrified more Americans than did any terrorist in the last seven years, and now it is time for you to desist, or to be made to desist.

Don’t forget to Douche this morning;

So it turns out that when Plumber Joe was a child, he was on welfare, not once, but twice, and he credits it with helping his family ultimately lead a middle-class life style. He defends having received welfare by saying that he’s subsequently paid into the system.

Have I ever mentioned before that I thank God everyday Sarah Palin wasn’t elected vice-president;

(CNN) — Todd Palin and nine aides were found in contempt Friday by the Alaska Senate for failing to appear to testify in the Legislature’s “troopergate” investigation of his wife, Gov. Sarah Palin, a spokeswoman for the Alaska Democratic Party said.