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Tuesday, July 17, 2007

living the high life in d.c.

I may be all the way in Chicoutimi, Quebec but this still caught my attention. It looks like the Alberta Tories Ambassador to the United States of America isn`t having many problems enjoying a taxpayer funded high life in the District of Columbia...

Bills detail lavish perks for Alberta's D.C. envoy
Taxis cost $6,000 despite car; annual allowance of $15,000 added to $223,000 salary
Darcy Henton, The Edmonton Journal
Published: 1:50 am

EDMONTON - Alberta's man in Washington had just the right pitch to get the taxpayers to pay for a GPS for his $42,500 government fleet car.

Murray Smith told provincial officials he needed the global positioning system because he'd been lost for an hour chauffeuring premier Ralph Klein around Maryland during the premier's visit last year.

"Don't want to do that again," he wrote in an e-mail obtained by The Journal under Freedom of Information legislation.

...

But the Canadian Taxpayers Federation expressed shock at the Washington office expenditures, especially the GPS.

"That's unbelievable," said Alberta director Scott Hennig. "What does it cost to buy a map? $5? What about a Google map? That's free."
Indeed...

Also, Jeffery Simpson has some thoughts on Ed Stelmach`s Alberta Tories 34% approval rating...

3 comments:

James L. said...

Dunno. I had a hell of a time with a printed Google map finding my crash pad in NYC the last time I went there.

And $6000 for taxis is excusable as I'm sure that Smith does a lot of drinking on the job (schmoozing is part of the job description, isn't it?).

C'mon, it's hard out here for a pimp.

Glen said...

And yet if someone were to ask Stelmach to find Calgary on a map...

Robert McBean. said...

if someone were to ask Stelmach to find Calgary on a map...

ouch.

give smith a break. his old riding (where i live) went liberal in the last election. that must have chewed up the entire liquor budget for a year.

smith has a very very difficult job. he has to get up every day, find the cocktail party, attend the cocktail party, then convince american politicians to buy canadian hydrocarbons.

i don't understand why you people are not more sympathetic.