August
26, 2014
Chico
Enterprise-Record
On July 28, Michael Bush
distributed criticisms of the 2013-14 Grand Jury report to the city of Chico.
Dismissing the report and its
contributors, Bush absolved the City Council majority of responsibility for the
current $21 million deficit.
Bush sarcastically attacked
Councilman Mark Sorensen, former City Manager Brian Nakamura, and journalists
who identified the council's lack of fiscal transparency.
He fantasized that Sorensen
manipulated the Grand Jury by simply seeking raw data and detailed accountancy
records to provide better budgetary oversight regarding alleged financial
improprieties.
Bush disgracefully maligned the
councilman whose work has been characterized by integrity and due diligence.
Bush embraced a comically
conspiratorial view of the investigation as some plot directed against the council's
liberal majority. Did he forget that Grand Jury foreman Chuck Nelson was an
altogether reputable liberal?
Bush exemplifies the amnesia
and blame-shifting that helped produce the city's financial predicament.
In 2007, the city's deficit was
$6 million. Some predicted it might reach $56 million by 2017, a 900 per cent
increase in 10 years. Today's deficit is $21 million, a staggering 250 per cent
increase in seven years.
Since the debt skyrocketed by
"only" 250 percent since 2007, Bush complimented the council
majority.
Blinded by self-deception, he
supports the habits of overspending. In praising the council majority for
"doing something right," he holds it blameless for the festering
budgetary mess.
Bush encourages citizens and
council members alike to forget about past fiscal misbehavior and allow it to
continue into the future.
— Charles Geshekter, Chico
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