Carnival Cruise: legitimate expenditure?
Natalie Menten, candidate for state senate district 21, makes an important point on her website: “It becomes very easy to spend someone else’s money, unless that someone is watching.” She then goes on to make the case for transparency.
Through her own efforts, Natalie has acquired and published online the credit card expenditures for the Jefferson County school district. She has posted several months worth of statements, which provide a great snapshot into the spending habits of Colorado’s largest school district. She also cautions readers that “you will find many purchases that are completely acceptable but there is much that is questionable. “ And this is why we need transparency.
As we went through the PDFs, we asked how does this expenditure advance the learning process for Jefferson County public school K-12 students. Remember this represents taxpayers’ money.
- January 30, 2008, $1200 deposit for two cabins on a Carnival Cruise.
- For all the talk in the media about obesity and wellness issues, these statements show an enormous amount of money spent on food.
- August 8 to September 8, 2008, almost $17,000 to King Soopers mostly for food or food supplies.
- August 8 to September 8, 2008, almost $1200 to BlackJack Pizza. (I don’t blame them for this one. I love BlackJack!)
- August 8 to September 8, 2008, almost $4500 to Domino’s Pizza.
- August 8 to September 8, 2008, over $1500 to Einstein Brothers’ Bagels
- August 8 to September 8, 2008, over $3200 to Jason’s Deli
- Pages of food expenditures that include Safeway, Starbucks, Red Robin, 240 Union, Landry’s, Walmart, Albertson’s, Carino’s, Chili’s and more.
- Gift cards to Sam’s Club and Sears.
- January 14, 2008, $247.88 “Replacement IPod for intern.”
- Expenditure for “Election 2008.”
- Lunch expenditures with Norma Anderson, honorary mill levy increase ballot issue chairman.
This represents just a small fraction of the spending. Natalie has posted hundreds of pages of expenditures and over the next few weeks everyone at COST will be pouring through them.
Today the Jeffco school district is asking voters for a $350 million bond issue and an additional 4.4 mill levy increase for operating expenses. Of course, if “it’s for the children” then how can any voter say no! Here’s how…remember our motto: No taxation without information!
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[...] need for greater transparency is almost immediately apparent. Some of the entries raise red flags: Carnival Cruise, an iPod, lots of money spent on food, etc. Sure, plenty of it is likely [...]
[...] (CORA) and the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to look into how our tax dollars have been spent. Here are some examples of expenditures by members of the Jefferson County School [...]
[...] (CORA) and the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to look into how our tax dollars have been spent. Here are some examples of expenditures by members of the Jefferson County School [...]
[...] classrooms. Longer walks to school. Dirtier school buildings. More likely – a few less lattes from Starbucks and smaller cabins for the carnival cruise. How will they survive? And to think some stingy Coloradan are suggesting that before school [...]
[...] One last project for the Independence Institute that I wanted to highlight separately, is Colorado Spending Transparency. Colorado will soon embark on a project to make spending available online, in large part due to the hard work done by the people you’ll find here. Until it’s readily available, you’ll find what you need here to make an Open Records request to find out which school employee(s) used your tax dollars to pay for a Carnival Cruise. [...]
[...] One last project for the Independence Institute that I wanted to highlight separately, is Colorado Spending Transparency. Colorado will soon embark on a project to make spending available online, in large part due to the hard work done by the people you’ll find here. Until it’s readily available, you’ll find what you need here to make an Open Records request to find out which school employee(s) used your tax dollars to pay for a Carnival Cruise. [...]
[...] One last project for the Independence Institute that I wanted to highlight separately, is Colorado Spending Transparency. Colorado will soon embark on a project to make spending available online, in large part due to the hard work done by the people you’ll find here. Until it’s readily available, you’ll find what you need here to make an Open Records request to find out which school employee(s) used your tax dollars to pay for a Carnival Cruise. [...]
[...] One last project for the Independence Institute that I wanted to highlight separately, is Colorado Spending Transparency. Colorado will soon embark on a project to make spending available online, in large part due to the hard work done by the people you’ll find here. Until it’s readily available, you’ll find what you need here to make an Open Records request to find out which school employee(s) used your tax dollars to pay for a Carnival Cruise. [...]
[...] One last project for the Independence Institute that I wanted to highlight separately, is Colorado Spending Transparency. Colorado will soon embark on a project to make spending available online, in large part due to the hard work done by the people you’ll find here. Until it’s readily available, you’ll find what you need here to make an Open Records request to find out which school employee(s) used your tax dollars to pay for a Carnival Cruise. [...]