Lathrop citizens enjoy "party politics"

Here's a view of the infamous "waste of public money" cake. If you look closely, you'll see it's not even a cake, it's a space-station like conglomeration of cupcakes. That saves money from having to cut it, provide plates, etc. On the sides you can see some of those "donut" balls. None of this is any significant expense. Yet the Manteca Bulletin finds fault with this "extravagance!" Sounds like someone has run out of things to criticize.

Maybe the decorative icing is the problem? But how expensive can that be? Apparently you can get a cake inscribed with happy birthday Adolf Hitler for a few dollars at Wal-Mart.

I've noticed this is a common "complaint" or attack. The uninformed complain about some tiny insignificant expense and never complain about the vast waste of tax dollars being spent somewhere else. Sort of like what Bastiat called the "seen vs. the unseen." The "seen" is complained about but it's usually the "unseen" that is more important.

I normally hate the argument that something is such a small expense it doesn't matter -- after all, every penny does count. But keep things in perspective: in the time it takes you to walk from the back of the room to the podium or fill out a purple complaint form speaker slip, the city spends more money than on that plate of cupcakes. It would probably cost more to stop the party than to have it.

Minor expenses are important but the distinction here is that it provides some public benefit. Note in the photo at right citizens get to meet their elected leaders. Shown in the background is the extravagant punch fountain -- which was actually a cheap plastic thing that ran out of punch about 5 minutes into the event. I couldn't fill a thimble with what was dribbling out of it.

The Bulletin writer screeches about "throwing a party without sending an invitation to those who foot the bill, namely the taxpayers." Au contraire -- the reception was published in advance and the doors were thrown open at 6 pm and anyone could come and partake in the goodies. You, the taxpayer, were invited and people did come by.

Instead of complaining about a plate of cupcakes worry about the millions being spent keeping land developers, civil servants and union bosses happy.

Instead of complaining about inviting us to a party let's ask why other cities like Manteca have their parties in secret. They have them, but we're never invited. Maybe they learned that if you invite the tax payers to the party someone will invariably complain about the "waste" and extravagance.