Being sold as an attempt to lure business & tourism, Cleveland officials have accepted an invitation to France from Continental Airlines.
While they are calling the trip a public/private partnership to grow this opportunity, Jackson and his Parisian Clown Posse will be staying in a $581 per night hotel. City officials will be using public money to fund this phony vacation.
They will also be joined by the "Cuyahoga County Corporate Crooks" of the - The Greater Cleveland Partnership (aka The Cleveland Illuminati).
From the PD --
Cleveland will pay more than $14,000 so five city officials can travel next week aboard Continental Airlines' first nonstop flight from Cleveland Hopkins International Airport to Paris.
Mayor Frank Jackson will make the trip with his communications chief Maureen Harper and airport Director Ricky Smith. City Council President Martin J. Sweeney and Councilman Kevin Kelley, who heads council's Aviation and Transportation Committee, will be going too.
Harper, said the group will spend its time in Paris marketing the city to French business and political leaders. Continental invited them on the trip, Harper said, to help promote the carrier's new, seasonal service, which will run daily from late May until September. More...
I am confused... Jackson & his clown posse were invited by Continental to help them promote their new service - but Cleveland must pay their own way? Huh - some partnership! This sounds like the MedMart partnership!
While the whole damn thing is a joke - the best is Clowncil President Martin Sweeney has to bring his wife! Yeah like she is going to let him go to Paris alone after he tried boning the former Clerk of Council.
Since we have so much to offer the foo-foo's in France, officials justify the costs of this trip and lavish hotel claiming - its convenience and opening Cleveland to the global marketplace.
This bag of crap doesn't smell so good to everyone though --
David Williams, vice president of policy for the Citizens Against Government Waste watchdog group in Washington, D.C., said such trips often prove to be irresponsible. That's especially so, he said, for government bodies that are facing tough financial times.
"When a household is in dire financial straits, they don't take a vacation to Paris," he said. Williams also questioned whether the trip's benefits will outweigh the costs.
"It would be shocking to see them justify this on a cost-benefit analysis," he said. "Is the mayor willing to say that if it doesn't pay dividends, he'll pay the money back?"
Well Frank - are ya?
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