"Rep. Richardson's flight of fancy - The Long Beach Democrat requests two emergency services helicopters to give her and 19 staffers an aerial tour of Southern California." By Steve Lopez, March 14, 2010 - L.A. TIMES.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-lopez14-2010mar14,0,3158504,print.column
You can read this to see the waste that goes on at the federal level, too. There is a woeful lack of oversight on these things. This woman, Laura Richardson, is a complete nut. See the story for the several foreclosures she's had. One of them was rescinded after she used her influence as a congresswoman to undo a sale according to a report in the past. Last year, neighbors complained of a house she owned and let overgrow with weeds. Some said rats were seen there, but not anyone to maintain the house. Finally it became tended to after the story was a topic of several talk shows.
Now she asked for and received the use of County Fire Dept. and City helicopters for a "tour" that was nothing more that a free trip for her staff. We see that the woman has no regard for tax dollars but more seriously, she was ignoring the fact that she would take out helicopters out of service from their regular duty. And what was the purpose? A sighseeing tour for her staff of 20- and that was totally bad. Maybe crazy is a better word for her personally need to throw her weight around to get her way in spite of the fact that all the reasons that were told to her were rejected - the tour must go on.
She is another one of the examples that exist to show absolute arrogance that some people either bring to the office or develop soon after arriving at their jobs.
Read the story to form your own conclusions. I just think that Steve Lopez was too gentle with this nonsense that went on. The City of L.A. contributed the service of one helicopter, too, and that was not reimbursed, but even if it was, it's paying with OTHER TAX DOLLARS anyway.
Pigs feeding at the public trough again, but if this woman had any sense at all, she would not have come up with this stupid waste of money, and if she was a bit less stupid, she'd have taken the cues that were given to her by the local representatives who ultimately gave in to the demands. They were probably afraid of repercussions if they refused her- and this kind of person is very likely one to complain, too.
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