Would it make sense for a boss to send a worker on the verge of retirement to an out-of-town seminar? No, it 
would be an obvious waste of money, but it wouldn’t be the public’s business. But if government did that and taxpayers paid for it, then the boss has some explaining to do. Five Republican legislators attended the American Legislative Exchange Council conference in Salt Lake City last week. Three of them paid their own way or got scholarships to pay for it. Taxpayers paid for the other two, Rep. Vito Barbieri, R-Dalton Gardens, and Rep. Phil Hart, R-Athol. Barbieri is a first-term legislator who is seeking re-election. Hart was sidelined by the voters in the May primary. House Speaker Lawerence Denney makes the decisions about covering conference bills, but he told the Idaho Statesman, “I don’t really look at whether they’re retired or not.” He should/Spokesman-Review Editorial Board. More here.
Thoughts?
D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.
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