This is a video of an Illinois Congressman, Don Manzullo (R), grilling a Treasury Manager about why they let 80% government owned AIG just pay a $3-million bonus to an AIG exec.
It is a good example of what we would like to see occasionally out of elected officials when local government agency spending requests are poorly justified (i.e lack of professionally developed economic and performance data) or managed.
Elected officials need to understand that staff will constantly present self supporting spending programs and elected officials must learn to question and challenge such requests when needed.
For instance, I recently looked at the "justification" for 17% hikes in health insurance costs for Lake County School District, and it was composed of two proposals from the insurance firm without ANY discussion comparing the proposed hikes or existing coverages to other district, local companies, etc. That is ludicrous and should not be acceptable practice.
vj
