Amid all the glee we felt at Ron Dellums’ involvement in gay weddings (to say nothing of his forthright admission that we will probably have to raise taxes), we almost forgot all the things we don’t like about him. Thank God KTVU has reminded us. In a new investigation, the news station found that the Oakland mayor is working considerably less than eight hours a day a full third of the time he’s in the office. In return for this herculean effort, he bills us for a full-time chauffeur as well as stays in fancy five-star hotels around the country. All told, KTVU reports, Dellums has billed the public more than $50,000 for personal expenses, compared with the $120 that Jerry Brown billed in his last year. On top of that, Dellums insisted on a massive hike in his personal salary, pushing it from $115,000 to $183,000. Meanwhile, the mayor wants to shut down city government for twelve days, citing budget shortfalls. Dellums’ staff has promised KTVU that the mayor will “partially reimburse” the city for all those times he stayed at the Ritz Carlton in D.C. Partially reimburse? Does the mayor actually think he’s being generous to us?
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