What Did Gulf States Spend Their Money From BP On
BP has paid more than $754 MILLION to state and city governments in the Gulf Coast region because of the oil spill. The money came with almost no strings attached . . . just that it had to be loosely tied to recovering from the spill.
--And the governments that got the money REALLY took that whole "loosely tied to the recovery" thing seriously. Here are some of the things that they've purchased . . .
--Biloxi, Mississippi bought 14 SUVs and pickup trucks, two boats, two dump trucks, and a backhoe loader.
--A $35,000 2011 Chevy Tahoe went to the mayor of Biloxi so he could get to, quote, "countless meetings" about the oil spill.
--Ocean Spring, Mississippi bought Tasers for all of their reserve police officers . . . it's not clear how that was related to the spill.
--In one Florida county, which was kept anonymous, $14,000 went to the county commissioner's girlfriend so she could open up a PR firm to spread good news about the area.
--The head of the Lafourche, Louisiana parish bought herself a top-of-the-line iPad because, quote, "I must be in contact at all times." Her spokesman got a $3,165 Dell computer because work on the spill wore out his one-year-old computer.
--Florida spent $560,000 on three concerts . . . Kenny Loggins, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and the Doobie Brothers. They played on Okaloosa Island to show that the spill hadn't ruined tourism in the area. Or whatever. Let's hear "China Grove"!