Last summer, the FOP Lodge 7 under President Dean Angelo hosted
the annual golf outing. This one, though, was different than all previous golf
outings.
What made this outing different was that the Lodge didn’t break
even financially, as it had in prior years. In fact, there was a sizable
deficit. In the end, the members were left holding the golf bag, so to speak.
The evidence of this financial fiasco was covered in the
September 2016 newsletter:
"…participants started the nearly 10-hour extravaganza by
lacing up new golf shoes courtesy of the Lodge… This was the first time each
player was gifted a brand new pair of Nike golf shoes, a retail value of up to
$100.…"
The glossy newsletter article boasted that the FOP members paid
for the shoes. The article goes on to say that there were more than 500
participants. Five hundred multiplied by 100 equals $50,000.00.
But don’t worry. Our dues didn’t buy $50,000.00 worth of shoes.
At the January, 2017, general membership meeting, an FOP board member was asked
if the Lodge went over budget on the outing. The board member acknowledged that
the Lodge had gone over budget by more than $25,000.00. More than $25,000.00 is
less than $50,000.00.
So, it seems, not all the gift golf shoes were over budget. It’s
not that bad. Is it?
But here is the most important question: What did the members
get out of it? Rather than pass out brand new golf shoes, couldn’t the money
spent in buying golf shoes have been better spent, like helping officers who
have been stripped? Wouldn’t that money be better spent in the legal fund, the
fund that will likely be tapped to the bone in the coming years?
Equally important, what say did the members have in this gift
buying? Would they have approved this policy ahead of time if they knew they
would be holding the golf bag to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars?
To some FOP members, the gift giving might reek of vote buying.
