Thursday, June 08, 2006

Question: What Do Chula Vista Elementary School District and the City of Beaverton, Oregon Have in Common?

Answer: They both spent hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars on cover-ups.

Chula Vista Elementary School District in San Diego County is not the only public entity that flagrantly and repeatedly violates laws requiring that government operate in an above-board and transparent manner. We who pay millions to these entities have a right to know how our money is spent, and we have a right to make sure that our money is not used to fund illegal activities.

The city of Beaverton, Oregon, refused for two-and-a-half years to turn over a 19-page document that described the city’s “assertive target approach” to annexation.

“This stopped being about annexation when Beaverton turned the dispute into a matter of trust, credibility and openness in government. The document finally turned over to Nike last Friday should have been given to the company long before taxpayers ponied up the first half million dollars to pay for the city’s legal defense…[Taxpayers] now may have to pay Nike’s attorney fees, too,” The Oregonian said on June 7, 2006. “It’s no wonder taxpayers fight so hard to stay out of Beaverton.”