Been a reader of WRRB stuff since... way back.Always make time to peruse WRRB reports looking for discrepancies. And finding them.
Apart from discrepancies, the WRRB has an annoying tendency: negate critical facts, most pronounced with real estate tax related reports. Um... got the feeling they've a pro-business bias. Did someone say lobby?
But their reports are still worth reading regardless of one’s politics - it's the only source Wusta's got for that kinda stuff.
So what about competition? Ain't liberal Wusta got a mouthpiece? Nope. What the heck do we have Clark University for? Unfortunately the local C&U’s aren’t research oriented institutions, just degree mills.
Wusta's recent tax rate debate brought to the forefront the melding of two not-so-disparate interests: The ethically challenged used car sales gal Beth Proko (48) of Worcester Citizens for Business, a lobby for 108 of the nearly 4,000 businesses in Worcester, and the WRRB’s intellectually challenged Roberta Schaeffer (68).
Recently the ladies managed to get their tax manifesto published in the T&G (publisher Bruce Gaultney is a WRRB board member), lobbying for a single rate tax system in Wusta. That joint endeavor conclusively confirms the fact that the WRRB isn’t a think tank, but a full fledged lobby.
So what's with the 990 you may ask? Hey those things are great reading, containing lots of juicy facts. Here's one. In 2009 the WRRB received $117,000 of taxpayer monies for research efforts. How’s that possible, your tax dollars supporting a lobby? Gonna call my Congressman bout that.
A research bureau eh? Nothing could be further from the truth. Their list of directors is the proverbial who’s who of local business interests. Unbiased research eh?
Reminds me of the ethically challenged WCCA, taking taxpayers monies under the pretext that they’re supporting public access to the airwaves. Anyone wanna buy a bridge?
How wacky can it get around here? Next we'll see local blog-buffoon Bill Randell (WCB member) on the WRRB's board. Now that would be something eh?
Welcome to Wusta!
