Just when we thought it was safe to believe our local elected officials had finally figured out – thanks to well-publicized discussions and a vote by the Park Ridge City Council – that giving away (a/k/a, “donating”) public monies and property to other governmental bodies or private entities is a misappropriation and/or waste of the taxpayers’ assets, along comes the Park Ridge Park District with a proposal on this Thursday night’s agenda to do just that.

According to the meeting agenda, the Park Board will be considering the adoption of Ordinance No. 13-8 “[a]uthorizing the sale or donation of used personal property owned by the Park Ridge Park District (2001 GMC Sonoma pick-up truck and 2000 GMC K2500 pick up truck)” [Emphasis added]

The proposed ordinance does not mention “donation,” but it expressly gives Executive Director Gayle Mountcastle absolute discretion to determine how, and at what price, those “surplus” vehicles will be disposed of.

Does that mean Mountcastle could sell them for $1 each to the Maine Township Emergency Management Program (“MTEMP”), that pet subsidiary of Maine Township/Team Provenzano government that was turned down for a similar “donation” of a used SUV last month by the City of Park Ridge, thanks to some clear-headed thinking by Mayor Dave Schmidt and Alds. Nick Milissis (2nd), Roger Shubert (4th), Dan Knight (5th) and Marty Maloney (7th)?

Or maybe a $1 sale could be made to some “charity” – like Kids Around the World, Inc., a Christian-based organization that was given the Centennial Park playground equipment, allegedly because it had no market value (an undocumented claim, of course) and the District was just darn fortunate to get that organization to disassemble the equipment and cart it away?

Or, given the ordinance language that allows Mountcastle to advertise (or not) and auction (or not) the pick-up trucks, could she steer the sale to one or more favored buyers through a process designed to look like competitive bidding, the way City Staff appeared to do recently in sending bid solicitations for fire hydrants to only six preferred(?) vendors – resulting in the Council’s criticism of the process and its rejection of the sole conforming bid?

We’re pretty certain the two pickup trucks the Park District is getting rid of have some value, although we can find nothing in the meeting packet that discloses what that value might be.  But whatever that value, it belongs to the taxpayers; it deserves to be maximized; and it is not properly “donated” to anyone anywhere.

Once again, it’s the principle and not the money.

Which causes us to wonder just how totally clueless and bereft of even the most basic understanding of their oaths of office do our local officials have to be when they blithely give away tax dollars or taxpayer assets?  And just how narcissistic must they be to think that they are more capable than the taxpayers of determining what charitable objectives are worthy of donations – especially when the funds those officials donate are confiscated from the taxpayers through taxation, or generated through the use of tax-funded activities?

Giving away OPM (“Other People’s Money”) doesn’t mean you’re generous.  And public officials who give away the taxapayers’ money are worse than common thieves – because they steal from the taxpayers under color of law, with minimal risk of criminal prosecution or conviction.

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