The Very Model of a Modern Inspector General

Robert Cerasoli the Very Model of a Modern Inspector General.

I haven't met Mr. Cerasoli, although I did go through airport security with him recently.

Pretty much everybody thinks he's a good guy, riding in to clean up the town for the decent people, much like the black and white Westerns I liked to watch on Saturday morning as a kid.

James Stewart as Destry

Unlike Destry, he's a gun slinger willing to whip out a quip to skewer his opponents, or stare down the opposition across a table. He has also managed to get support for the budget he proposed and has demonstrated he won't be intimidated or diverted.

I have a lot of hope for him and I hope he causes some important changes.

I do however wish he gave me more confidence in his understanding of cost accounting.

Last week in his appearance before the City council Cerasoli joked that "he wanted one of those $142,000 jobs", referring to the $2,000,000 budget for 14 employees for the much criticized 311 system. I've never used the system. I can never get anyone at City Hall to answer the phone when I call, so I don't usually call.

It's true $2,000,000 ÷ 14 = $142,857.14285714285714285714285714.

I also know it was a joke.

But many people will believe that those operators actually make $142,000. It's the kind of urban myth that just can't be crushed. The $2,000,000 budget would include, in addition to the salaries, the benefits of those employees, the cost of maintaining the office and the equipment they use for their job. I have no idea what those costs are and apparently neither does Cerisoli or the guy who runs the programs. He, the guy who runs the program showed you at a budget hearing unprepared to talk about numbers.

It's also not particularly helpful for Cerasoli to pick on any program for the sake of a one liner. He's supposed to be looking at these things objectively. I wonder what will happen if he were to look at this program and find that the budget was appropriate and make recommendations to improve it's function? I wonder if people will start doing the same kind of loopy math for all manor of things, including his office?

He should be aware of the costs. He didn't include the cost of health and retirement benefits in his initial budget $2,900,000, 34 person budget. I never understood what "good fairy" he thought would pay for those benefits, but maybe they do things differently in Boston. BY the way his revised budget included 24 employees or a per employee cost of $120,833.33333333333333333333333333.

A lot of people wouldn't mind one of those $120,000.00 jobs.

It also seems he picked a number and created a budget to match it. In this kind of indeterminate job that makes sense. There is a virtually unlimited amount any Inspector General could do. They are usually constrained only by their resources.

He has his work cut out for him. I really do wish him well.

Alice in Garbageland -Updated

I think her favorite book is Alice in Wonderland, she can quote long passages from memory at the drop of a hat, sometimes.

'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone,' it means just what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less.'

Vanna White

The ever entertaining Vanna Veronica White is quoted in an article in the paper as saying;

Nevertheless, White said, the city has the right to require SDT to provide the full gamut of services even if it cannot pay the full bid amount.

If the money's not there, we have the right to ask for those services if we can pay for them or not," she said. "And we're asking for the services."

If they can do that to SDT, why can't they do it to Richards and Metro?

Later in the article;

Nagin spokesman James Ross said the city "does not conduct business via verbal agreement."

"We have a signed contract with SDT Waste & Debris, which articulates the requirements of both the vendor and the city," he said.

That sounds like a reasonable way to do business. I guess someone should go read the contract. According to the paper,

According to the contracts, bulky waste includes "stoves, yard waste, refrigerators, tires, crates, demolition material, washing machines, rugs, furniture, mattresses, and the like." They also state that payment for bulky waste pickup is included in the cost of regular garbage collection: "No separate payment will be made for these services."

and The Lawyer Stacy Head,

"The contracts do not require that the contents be containerized in any way. I don't know why we, by ordinance, would limit what the contractors have to collect," said Head, who introduced an ordinance Friday for future consideration by the full council that effectively would reverse the new ordinance.

Seems odd that SDT is being asked to do more for less and Richards and Metro are allowed to do less for more.

Les Miles has a point.

The NCAA overtime rules favor some teams.

Currently the NCAA overtime period works like this: both teams get a possession starting from their opponent's 25-yard line. No matter what, each team gets a chance to score. If the score is still tied after the first overtime, the teams swap whichever was on offense and defense in the first period. If the game goes longer than two overtimes, starting in the third period you must attempt a two-point conversion after scoring a touchdown.

The rules favor offense over defense, starting on the 25 yard line negates the defense's ability to have an impact. Special teams performance is also largely eliminated.

I have two simple suggestions, (1) at each overtime period move the starting point back 5 yards and (2) require the team on offense to kick a punt or a field goal at the end of their possession and give the opponent choice of starting points.

I wouldn't object to starting at the 35 yard line in the first overtime.

Happy Turducken Day

Turducken

Posted from the beach in Pensacola.

The Debate on the Debate

New Orleans along with 16 other cities applied to be one of the sites for the 2008 Presidential Debates to be sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates. The Commissions selected these cities;

• Oxford, MS,
• Nashville, TN
• Hempstead, NY

The Times Picayune got its panties in a wad over the decision. I don't know why everyone is upset we didn't get picked. New Orleans is too much of an issue and a distraction to be picked. The only place less likely to be picked is Bagdad.

What angers me is that they lied about it. They said we weren't ready. That is clearly a lie. The list of events the city has and will handle before this debate dwarfs the list of similar events in all of the selected cities combined (including Ole Miss home football games and the Grand Ole Opry). That lie may cost the city some much needed business. We should probably sue them for defamation.

It is possible our bid wasn't as good as some other cities, I don't know. I doubt is was much worse.

The real reason is of course politics. I just wish they had been honest and said so. The Paper published a long list of people who said they were in favor of it, including;

Seven presidential candidates -- five Democrats and two Republicans -- had signed letters to the commission expressing a preference that one of the debates be held in New Orleans, and that preference was shared initially by the commission's nine board members and two co-chairmen

... the backing of Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards, Chris Dodd and Joe Biden and Republican candidates John McCain and Sam Brownback. Brownback, a Republican senator from Kansas, has since dropped out of the race.

I think at least some of the candidates are lying. Of course if any of the major Republican candidates objected strenuously we would be rejected. I notice Giuliani, Thomson and Romney aren't listed as supporters of New Orleans, which may or may not be important. The only candidate I'm sure wanted a debate here is Edwards.

Update - Ashley has some information indirectly from the horses mouth. It seems the other end of the horse locally may not have been all that competent in putting the proposal together. This is a very plausible explanation might have been helpful if publicly stated.