Thursday, December 23, 2010

Yep, Sounds Like Government To Me...!


You have to wonder if all people that hold any public office are infected with the same strain of stupid!

Why in the world would anyone, especially someone with a law degree, allow this type of insanity go this far? I guess that when you become a politician, you have to check your common sense at the door!

Bridgewater spends $17K to defend $5 fee it charged resident

Published: Wednesday, December 22, 2010, 6:35 AM
The Associated Press By The Associated Press

BRIDGEWATER — A Somerset County town spent more than $17,000 defending a $5 fee it charged a resident for a compact disc of a council meeting.

Tom Coulter filed a complaint with the New Jersey Government Record Council in October 2008, saying he should pay the actual cost of the CD to get the recording.

The state council this year sided with Coulter and found he should have paid about 96 cents.

Bridgewater paid more than $14,000 in legal fees defending the case. It had to pay $3,500 to Coulter for his legal fees and give him a $4.04 refund.

Coulter says the case shows a lack of common sense.

Township Attorney Alan Grant tells The Courier News of Bridgewater the legal fees would have been substantially lower had Coulter settled, as the township had offered.

What scares me the most about this whole thing is that this township doesn't seem to think they have done anything crazy! Of course, that's because they are not spending their own money! That's the main problem with nearly all government. It's easy to spend like an idiot when it isn't your own money your spending!

Maybe if they had to pay all expenses from this kind of stupidity out of their own pocket...things wouldn't go this far! Instead, as usual, the tax payer has to carry the expense! That's the way it usually turns out!

What else can you say?

Now, let's get some fresh coffee and sit on the patio. No charge, trust me!

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Beauty fades stupid stays.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like our local government as well - WHY BUY ONE WHEN YOU CAN BUY TWO FOR TWICE THE PRICE.

Have a great day HermitJim, in spite of it all. Sometimes, even a great sense of humor just isn't enough . . .:^)

Beatrice P. Boyd said...

Morning HJ, reading this story about NJ local government was like being home. I used to live in Somerville, NJ (town right next door to Bridgewater, NJ). It is pretty amazing and really tragic how dumbing down some local governments can be about petty matters. This one should never have gotten as far as it did - just give the man his $4 and change back which would have been a whole lot less costly.

JoJo said...

Good Morning My Special One,
Thats the goberment for ya.
It has been raining here all night and sounds like a light drizzel still coming down. It would have been a great day to stay in but need to run daughter #3 to work.
Have a wonderful day.

Ben in Texas said...

Shakespeare had it right when he wrote
"First thing we do is kill all the lawyers."

HermitJim said...

Hey Anon 12:27...
I like that saying! Sounds like something I should be able to use sometimes!

I appreciate the visit today!


Hey Anon 5:50...
Funny how much all state and local governments seem to be alike, no matter how far away they are!

Wonder if someone writes a hand book on how to do stupid things?

Thanks for coming by today!


Hey Beatrice...
Like using dynamite to kill a flea! Some entities seem to only exist to do things in the extreme!

It's a crazy world sometimes!


Hey JoJo...
You be careful out there, sweetie! Some of those drivers are really crazy this time of the year!

I really want to thank you for coming by today, darlin'!


Hey Ben...
Makes perfect sense to me! Only dealings I ever had with a lawyer were not good ones!

Thanks, buddy, for coming by today!

Marjie said...

My 4th son "broke" a door in high school. It was a metal door that was supposedly locked, and my son ripped it open, twisted the metal door and caused the glass to pop out of it. Sure, and he's going to be the next Mr. Universe. Anyway, he paid $250 to the school for the door when he was 17, then after he turned 18 he sued the district. He lost, but he was tickled by the fact that the school district had to send the teacher, asst. principal and a team of lawyers to court (twice) fight him. Of course, this was all rigged against my boy, because the lawyers and magistrate were all buddy-buddy. It's just another example of abuse of taxpayers. Pfffft.

Merry Christmas, my friendly Hermit friend!

HermitJim said...

Hey Marjie...
Another example of our "wonderful" system in action!

The "good ol' boys" systems always seems to win out over the common, average man. But at least your son had the backbone to stand up and fight them! More power to him for that!

Thanks for coming by today and have a nice one!

Anonymous said...

Jim
we laughed so hard while reading this. it is too stupid to make up.
Hard to believe.
thanks for sharing
Selene

HermitJim said...

Hey Selene...
As Will Rogers once said " I don't tell jokes, but watch politicians and report what they do"!

Well, that's pretty close to what he said, and I guess it's as true today as it ever was!

Totally crazy! I mean, just insane!

Hey, thanks for coming by today!

Anonymous said...

If it wasn't for stupid... what would we blog about?

AV

Frugal Canadian Hermit said...

I had to think about it for a little bit myself, and ya, it did'nt really seem to make a bunch of sense to me either.