Spreadsheet of Shame: How Villaraigosa Squanders Your Tax Dollars
By Walter Moore - Candidate For Mayor
You don’t need higher taxes. You need a new mayor. Villaraigosa and City Hall are squandering your hard-earned money to the tune of at least $4,949 per voter! The “spreadsheet of shame,” below, shows just a few of the boondoggles. Click on each item for details. Then tell everyone you know to vote “no” on Prop S. Don’t let career politicians waste even more of your hard-earned money.
That’s $2,205,887,800 -- over $2.2 billion -- divided by 445,763 people who voted in the March 2005 election, for a cost of $4,949 per voter. And this is by no means a complete list of the waste at City Hall. In the words of the City’s own controller, don’t pay higher taxes until City Hall gets its “house in order.”
Item Cost Cost Per Voter
Sphincter-control classes for civil servants $18,000 $0.04
City Council weekend "retreat" at luxury hotel $13,000 $0.03
Calligraphy department per year $550,000 $1.12
Villaraigosa's airfare and hotels per year $200,000 $0.45
Villaraigosa bronze plaque - purchase $200 $0.00
Villaraigosa bronze plaque - upkeep per year $100 $0.00
Rental monkeys - 10 years' rent, 3 monkeys $1,000,0000 $2.24
Rental monkeys - feng shui consultant $4,500 $0.01
Rental monkeys - monkey pen $7,400,000 $16.60
Business income tax per year $477,590,000 $1,071.40
Pork: subsidies for developers per year $670,800,000 $1,504.84
Pork: tax breaks for Grand Ave developers $66,000,000 $148.06
Pork: tax breaks for L.A. Live developers $140,000,000 $314.07
Cost of the special election on Proposition S $5,100,000 $11.44
Decision to capture rather than kill alligator $200,000 $0.45
Dog food lawsuit settlement and fees $2,780,000 $6.24
Elephant pen for two elephants $39,000,000 $87.49
Gang "programs" - "Big Weasel" gun dealer $1,500,000 $3.37
Gang "programs" - audit by controller $500,000 $1.12
Gang "programs" - study by "non-profit" $593,000 $1.33
Gang "programs" per year $168,000,000 $376.88
Housing agency employees' embezzlement $1,089,000 $1.79
Illegal tax via excessive DWP power fees $184,600,000 $414.12
Illegal tax via excessive trash fees $150,000,000 $336.50
Phone tax per year $270,000,000 $605.70
Gorilla pen $19,000,000 $42.62
TOTALS $2,205,887,800 $4,949
"And we shouldn't think of asking taxpayers for more money until we get our house in order."
Los Angeles City Controller, Laura Chick Daily News, 11/20/07