Posted by: PM_ME_YOUR_ARCHES
Posting time: 4.8 years ago on 2/4/2016 7:31:41 PM
Last edit time: never edited.
Archived on: 2/12/2017 1:51:00 AM
Views: 53
SCP: 3
3 upvotes, 0 downvotes (100% upvoted it)
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Archived TIL of Marlow Cook, a recently deceased US senator who had a cunning way of disregarding taxpayer complaints over the purchase of steamboat Avalon (TIL)
submitted 4.8 years ago by PM_ME_YOUR_ARCHES
From Wikipedia:
In 1962, as County Judge-Executive, Cook was partially responsible for the county's $34,000 purchase of the decrepit steamboat Avalon at public auction in Cincinnati, Ohio. Though auctioned as little more than scrap material, upon refurbishment the boat was rechristened the Belle of Louisville, and still (as of 2007) carries passengers yearly as one of the most recognizable symbols of the city of Louisville, Kentucky. At the time, Interstate 64 was being constructed along the city's waterfront, and Cook's purchase of the steamboat was intended as a measure to bring attention to the city's historic cobblestone wharf. A politically motivated taxpayer suit was brought by local lawyer Daniel Boone because of the county's expenditure of such an "outrageous sum" for a dilapidated "throwback to the Dark Ages of transportation," in Alan Bates' memorable phrase. According to Cook, the expenditure worked out to roughly 6 cents per taxpayer (a negligible sum even at that time), and when individual citizens complained, he would simply pay them off with pennies from a jar he kept in his office desk for the purpose. In a 1989 interview, Cook said that some people insisted on checks and although he wrote several such six-cent checks, none of them was ever cashed.
In 1962, as County Judge-Executive, Cook was partially responsible for the county's $34,000 purchase of the decrepit steamboat Avalon at public auction in Cincinnati, Ohio. Though auctioned as little more than scrap material, upon refurbishment the boat was rechristened the Belle of Louisville, and still (as of 2007) carries passengers yearly as one of the most recognizable symbols of the city of Louisville, Kentucky. At the time, Interstate 64 was being constructed along the city's waterfront, and Cook's purchase of the steamboat was intended as a measure to bring attention to the city's historic cobblestone wharf.
A politically motivated taxpayer suit was brought by local lawyer Daniel Boone because of the county's expenditure of such an "outrageous sum" for a dilapidated "throwback to the Dark Ages of transportation," in Alan Bates' memorable phrase. According to Cook, the expenditure worked out to roughly 6 cents per taxpayer (a negligible sum even at that time), and when individual citizens complained, he would simply pay them off with pennies from a jar he kept in his office desk for the purpose. In a 1989 interview, Cook said that some people insisted on checks and although he wrote several such six-cent checks, none of them was ever cashed.
Source
[–] DishingShitLikeA 0 points 0 points 0 points (+0|-0) 4.8 years ago
Huh. Still seems like a misuse of funds. But at this point, whatever.
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[–] DishingShitLikeA ago
Huh. Still seems like a misuse of funds. But at this point, whatever.