Two events over the last few weeks caught my attention and made me wonder how they might relate to my community.

The first, grabbing international attention, was the disgusting GSA scandal where government employees were found to have spent almost a million dollars on a conference that appeared to be more a debauched circus for their own enjoyment than anything else.

The second, not well reported, involved a city employee in a small Illinois town who embezzled over 33 million dollars over five years.

This from a town 2/3 the size of Norton Shores!

Americans are understandably upset and angry over the recently exposed waste and lavish spending by federal GSA employees.

A growing scandal that continues to exhibit the apparent contempt that too many government employees have for the hard earned tax dollars of American workers.

The real point is not how they spent or stole the money but that the money wasn't theirs to waste.

If they'd spent their own money no one would complain.

But, it was the taxpayers of our country who provided that money and those GSA employees had a solemn responsibility to treat it as they would their own.

Instead, it was "somebody else's money" and no one seemed to give it a second thought.

Not even those whose job it was to oversee the spending.

The Dixon Ill. embezzler got away with her theft because those who were entrusted to ask important questions simply didn't ask the important questions.

And now those who we expected and trusted to provide the oversight that would have prevented these thefts tell us "it's not our fault".

I thought to myself, this is a big deal!

Maybe those charged with overseeing the spending of taxpayer dollars will be more prudent and take extra thought when spending "other people's money" from now on.

Sadly when I found this little spending item had been inserted and passed by our county board of commissioners, I realized nothing has changed:

With this "clarification":

I subsequently found out it was a last minute addition, added so late that it wasn't included in the agenda posted by the county until after the vote.

While it was an important enough spending item to be inserted at the last minute, it wasn't important enough for any of the 11 commissioners to bother asking ANY questions about it at all during the 22 minute meeting.

Not one question was asked by anyone in the room.

So I examined the request and had many questions but one big question I'd have asked if I was a county commissioner who cared about spending precious tax dollars would be:

"WYSE's website has the 14" X90M7 thin client laptops on sale to distributors for $749 (it's the most expensive computer of the 9 listed).

I just bought a 17" HP laptop for $399.

You want 40 new computers. HOW MUCH WILL THEY COST?"

Not one of the eleven Muskegon county commissioners even bothered to ask how much this request would cost.......somebody!

Anybody!

If this was an aberration or a rare occasion I'd have saved my letter writing time.

But it is emblematic of the mindset that the GSA, Dixon Ill and our local politicians seem to embrace.

"It's other people's money so let's vote and get out of here before someone asks a question we don't want to answer."

But voting to spend money without a clue how much was being spent or fully knowing just where the money is coming from is a regular occurrence on the 4th floor of our county building.

I can't say if these 40 computers were a necessary purchase at a well researched price that will be of great benefit to all involved.

Or another boondoggle in a long list of "heck, it ain't my money so let's spend, spend, spend" decisions that seem the hallmark of this board.

But I'm just a talk radio host.

I'm not one of our well compensated county commissioners spending someone else's money during a 22 minute meeting.

And they didn't even bother to ask at all.