With a host of
Russ Racop, a candidate for Board against Doris Wright, spoke against the payment. He raised several of my long-standing criticisms: 1) There is no meaningful or specific accountability of spending beyond a pro forma balance sheet; 2) there’s no evidence the expenditure brings development the city wouldn’t otherwise get, 3) but, most of all, the money pays for salaries of people who lobby against what many perceive the public interest (for public school takeover, for freeway destruction of
It took a rare vote from Mayor Mark Stodola, long a chamber ally, to get
This handout was ruled unconstitutional in a taxpayer lawsuit. But that lawsuit became moot when the legislature promoted, and voters passed, a constitutional amendment legalizing local taxpayer handouts to chambers of commerce and other economic development agencies. The practice had become epidemic around the state. Members of chambers found it far more agreeable to pay for their organizations with pennies from sales taxes on groceries, blue jeans
Russ Racop recounts events on his blog. It’s worth a read because it shows the big pile of nothing that was produced when Blue Hog Report attempted to get information about this