The city of Oakland is in a financial mess, facing a $15 million deficit with the mayor calling for a 12-day shutdown of city services. The city also is having problems hiring enough police officers or even getting the ones they have to patrol crime-infested areas.
However, this deplorable situation does not seem to worry Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums. He is living the high life on taxpayers’ dime. He’s staying in luxury hotels, dining at the finest restaurants and paying outrageously high salaries to his top staffers.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, (June 16, 2008), “Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums is talking raising taxes and shutting down non-essential City Hall services for several days in his crime-wracked city to trim expenses…but maybe he should look to cut back on his own generous personal spending first.”
“A new investigative study shows his bloated payroll is nearly two times as large as the staff expenses of the previous mayor, Jerry Brown. Indeed, Dellums’ chief of staff…earns substantially ($165,000) more than Brown, the current state attorney general, did when he was running Oakland ($115,000).
Who is Mayor Dellums representing? Clearly not taxpayers. One need only look at the specifics of his spending…“And then there’s the personal expense accounts, in which Dellums has charged taxpayers for very pricey stays at 5-star hotels like the Ritz-Carlton and Four Seasons in Washington D.C., (though he owns a fancy home in nearby Georgetown) not to mention $200 meals in D.C. French bistros.”
Furthermore, an investigative report by KTVU, Channel 2, in Oakland notes “…[T]he mayor—who earns $183,000 a year—has hired on a dozen new staffers. Including the all-important $60,000 a year full-time chauffeur.” And, just when you think you have heard it all, it gets better, “Dellums was reimbursed for an $800 limo bill in Los Angeles on one day alone.”
Taxpayers should be outraged that, “Dellums’ total $50,000 expenses since he’s been in office far out weighs Brown’s total tab to the taxpayers–$120.” Keep in mind, his election to the mayor’s office was only two years ago.
Mayor Dellum’s behavior is unethical at best. Clearly, he has shown an appalling lack of good judgment—treating taxpayer dollars as his own personal checking account. Before he contemplates raising taxes on hard-working folks, there should be a full-blown investigation into his spending spree of using taxpayer dollars to pay for his posh lifestyle. At the very least, Mayor Dellums needs to reimburse taxpayers for his lavish, unnecessary expenses.
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