START

SPREADING

THE NEWS...

Montgomery County Councilmembers Sign Off

on Record Tax Increases, Ambulance Fee;

Blast Off on Taxpayer-funded

NYC Vacation?

Another www.RobertDyer.net Exclusive!!!

...They're leaving today.

Two unidentified Montgomery County Councilmembers are joining a county "delegation" on an all-expenses-paid New York City vacation today.

After an OMG-we're-about-to-get-voted-out conversion to austerity, and a stiff reprimand to the residents of Montgomery County for making them spend all that darn money over the last 8 years, what is their next move?

Taking a taxpayer-funded day trip to the Big Apple! (At least I hope it's just a day trip).

Something tells me they won't be taking the Tripper or Vamoose bus, or (good heavens!) driving themselves there on 95 (some of our elected officials can't even drive themselves around the county).

So, who's picking up the tab for the Acela or shuttle flight?

What is the purpose of the trip? Supposedly, they are going to explain to the bond rating agencies why they shouldn't downgrade the county's AAA bond rating.

They're going to tell Gordon Gekko the same Orwellian tale spun by the council through the Washington Post last week: We had good intentions! The citizens of Montgomery County... they made us spend! They'll have to tighten their belts (even as we increase our own salaries over the years, collect pensions, buy the Webb Tract, take taxpayer-funded trips to NYC and OC, and give tax cuts to developers and keep spending on our political allies)! And now, you just gotta believe us! We've learned our lesson! We don't need to go to our rooms or go to bed without dessert!! Even though there is no evidence or reason to believe we'll change our ways after the election is out of the way, you just gotta believe us. Please!

Of course, they'll have to eat lunch - at taxpayer expense?

They might order a hot pizza pie at Motorino where they'll encounter NYC celebrities!

And for dinner, why not The Mark Restaurant by Jean-Georges? New York's new, posh dining spot on East 77th Street. According to Sam Sifton, it is "comfortable as wealth itself." Just what some Montgomery County big-spenders need. Hey, is that George Leventhal outside the MTV studios in Times Square?

I just have to ask: has anyone ever heard of Federal Express? The telephone (I hear Gordon Gekko still has his 80s original cordless)? Fax? Email? Teleconference? Go to Meeting? Say it with flowers? Does communicating a good fictional story to the agencies require an actual trip to Wall Street?

No, there's no substitute for the real thing. No, this isn't election-year theatrics. They've learned their lesson, just in time. Forget what they did for the last eight years, and that you're going to pay the bill for the next 80; the council is gonna make a brand new start of it - in old New York.

You just gotta believe 'em! The Post said so!