When the election season kicked off, our regal Mayor Fargo proudly summed up her track record at city hall in famous-last-words style when she gushed: “You won’t find a whiff of impropriety.”

I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps Mayor Fargo was referring to her pre government career, because the one at scandal-plagued city hall smells anything but pleasant as the hands of federal agents peel the onion layers back on employees involved in fraudulent activity.

Today Mayor Fargo’s PR team (the Sacramento Bzzzz– oh come on, I KID the Bee!) is reporting that an employee in the city of Sacramento Utilities department (as far as I know, this one is not an “ex” employee like the the last one the Bee reported on) has been coordinating so-called non profit golf tournaments between city employees and vendors, but the profits have evidently not been finding their way to the target charities, and some of the tournament prizes were donated by the same bay area businessman that is alleged to be involved in the scrap metal scandal uncovered by the feds!

“What’s a little harmless golf with some vendors?” You ask. I can answer that. I worked for a local municipality for a short spell (rolling stone here.. no moss.. or no mas) as a senior project manager. An eager vendor we were considering for a project sent me a sweatshirt as a gesture of good faith. Before I could even try it on, my boss cited the organization’s “ABSOLUTELY NO GIFTS OR FAVORS FROM VENDORS” policy–and demanded I send it back.

It is common knowledge in government ranks that responsible government organizations (like the one I worked for), absolutely do not tolerate ANY fraternization, favoritism, or gift giving whatsoever with vendors like the private sector does. And there are controls in place to ensure it never happens, and if it does, it is quickly shut down before the vendor knew what hit them.

What I want to know is where was the oversight at Sacramento City Hall? Audits? Inventory? Policy? Reporting? ACCOUNTABILITY? How did all this stuff happen on Heather “No crime on my watch!” Fargo’s shift? And where was she when all this was going on?

Hmm. Marco? Polo! Maybe she was in (rolls travel destination dice) CHINA. While at least one city of Sacramento department (that we know of) was losing $1.3 MILLION in water meters, selling taxpayer owned scrap metal on the black market, and hooking golf balls into the drink in pursuit of fabulous prizes from contract-hungry vendors, our lady of the immaculate conception Fargo was standing at the Great Wall taking vacation pictures for the city of Sacramento web site slide show. Check out the entries there:

The Mayor in Alaska

The Mayor in Dublin

The Mayor in Japan

The Mayor in Jerusalem

Funny, but I don’t see a single image gallery on the mayor’s web site called THE MAYOR IN SACRAMENTO.

Maybe that’s the problem.

Note: several people have inquired as to why I do not cite names of people alleged to have been involved in these crimes. I don’t think the names are important. The names are only important when they’re on ballots. Or so it seems to me.