“Can’t Anybody Here Play This Game?”: Chapter, Oh, 1,000,000 and Something.

Filed in Arts and Entertainment, Delaware by on July 30, 2014

I LIVE for stuff like this.

Wilmington City Council pays $1000 so that Councilman Mike Brown can fly back from Florida on the city’s dime to cast the deciding vote to override the Mayor’s veto of cuts to the Fire Department budget only to come up…TWO  VOTES SHORT. Oh, and for reasons that not even Mike Brown can explain, he lied about where he was vacationing. Why? I have no idea. Apparently, neither does he. From Amy Cherry’s WDEL story (watch and listen):

“Monday night Councilman Mike Brown told me he was out-of-state in Maryland.

It turns out Mike Brown lied.

“So why did you tell me you were in Maryland yesterday?” I asked.

“Because it really didn’t matter what I told you, you were going to find out anyway.

“Why lie about it then? Why not tell me the truth?” I asked.

“I don’t think I lied about it, I think I just didn’t wanna tell you where I was,” said Brown.”

Okeydoke. And Brown wasn’t about to fly back on his own dime to vote to save the city money. Still, riddle me this, Batman. How the bleep can Theo Gregory piss away $1000 of taxpayers’ money without even knowing how many bleeping votes he had? Casey Stengel put it best. “Can’t anybody here play this game?”

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  1. BTW, just askin’. But is it possible, just possible, that Brown was in Orlando on the city’s dime, perhaps at a conference or something?

    Why else would he lie about it, other than the increasing possibility that Brown lies about everything?

  2. Geezer says:

    Given some of his “explanations” to Amy Cherry, we have to consider the possibility that he’s just not very smart.

  3. Citizen36 says:

    At least he wasn’t wearing his purple suit when claiming he doesn’t have the means to travel.

  4. hmm says:

    El Som, he said he was there on pleasure in the clip.

    Just for a fun fyi, I just checked priceline, tickets from Orlando to Philly for today average around 240 dollars.

  5. Bane says:

    And now we find out that the Governor probably does the same crap that the Treasurer does with regard to his credit card. lol http://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/local/2014/07/30/report-top-officials-ignored-travel-rules/13353529/

  6. Geezer says:

    For what it’s worth, Mike Brown has flown back to Florida to finish his vacation — those first-class tickets were round-trip.

  7. Geezer says:

    From the auditor’s report on travel expenses:

    “Wagner’s report says that Flowers did not know about Benner’s inappropriate charges until he was confronted by Finance Department officials in April 2013. And it defends the treasurer’s own out-of-state travel as proper.

    “But it contradicts earlier statements by Flowers that Benner’s extended stay in Alaska after the end of a state treasurers’ conference was business-related. Benner reimbursed the state for the travel at Flowers’ request in June 2013.”

  8. puck says:

    I’m sure Tom Wagner has a big smile on his face today.

  9. Bane says:

    Headline should have read… Tom Wagner finally decides to do his job. Coming away from reading today’s article…. I think the biggest problem here is the fact that the News Journal sucks at their job and Tom Wagner is always late to work.

  10. PluribusUnum says:

    Who the fuck pays 1k to fly to Orlando? even RT?

  11. Bane says:

    Round trip… 1st Class…. A flight that is not Southwest Airlines… It could happen Pluribus

  12. citydem says:

    El Som – theo probably HAD the votes —–????? like to hear your take on the fabulous five – ??? and who may have committed to Theo, — D Brown is a separate issue

  13. THINKING you have the votes is different than having the votes.

    If Theo had solemn assurances that all the votes were solid, then and only then do you spend city money to bring Mike Brown back from ‘Maryland’.

    And if those two councilpersons, what’s the word I’m looking for, ‘lied’, then Gregory should at least sanction them in some manner. Bust them from a committee post, or find a way to defund a pet project or two. Maybe that’ll happen.

  14. bobsmith6019 says:

    Mike Brown should just resign, but then again he’s Theo’s puppet.