The following comes from a series run on Dec. 16, 17 and 18 on KCRA-TV in Sacramento.
City Council member Angelique Ashby is among the most fiscally conservative of her colleagues, when it comes to spending her discretionary funds.
Compared to other City Council members, last year Ashby spent the least — about $35,000 on community service programs and local events.
But that included giving tax dollars to Planned Parenthood Mar Monte.
When we asked Ashby about that expenditure, it led to the end of our interview.
“I donated to a scholarship. The money that I gave only could go to a scholarship fund for young single moms already selected to go to college,” Ashby said. “At one point in my life, sir, that was me. So I hope that in doing so, that some of those young women grow up, love their city enough to come back, run for City Council and be the next Mayor Pro Tem of the City of Sacramento.”
Ashby wasn’t the only one.
Since 2012, every City Council member gave some of their discretionary funds to Planned Parenthood, a total of $11,000.
Sacramento resident and mother of four, Christina Marotti, said she doesn’t want her tax dollars going to Planned Parenthood programs — period.
“I don’t think they as elected officials should have the ability just to spend where they please,” Marotti said. “It almost seems like it’s kind of hidden. If it’s not voted on, it’s not announced. (KCRA 3) found it, but I never knew about it before.”
Most of the city funds went to a scholarship and a program that provided support groups for teenage mothers.
Planned Parenthood says the teen success program costs $50,000 a year to help 12 single mothers.
Liz Figueroa, vice president of Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, said they get a great deal of funding from tax dollars and education reduces a lot of taxpayers costs.
But Mariotti takes issue with the fact the contributions were never voted on in a public forum.
“I think if people were aware of it, you would have an overwhelming amount of people showing up at a City Council meeting complaining. I think you would have calls to their offices. I think you would have long lines if there was an open forum for people to discuss. I think it would be a big issue,” Mariotti said.
Council member Steve Cohn defended his use of City Council discretionary funds for the programs.
Cohn said in an email, “I believe that is a undeniably worthy community purpose. These funds do not go to abortions or other controversial programming.”
Planned Parenthood officials said it is their policy to keep funding for educational programs separate from other services.
Sacramento State professor Charles Gossett said City Council members aren’t going to be able to make everyone happy when deciding how to spend tax dollars.
“That’s always a problem in a democracy. Sometimes the city will purchase things from a vendor that some people don’t think you should be buying from that vendor but it may have been the best vendor,” Gossett said.
Gossett said there are ways to alleviate concerns about giving tax dollars to organizations that some might find controversial by establishing clear policies or even citizen commissions to make those decisions.
Two groups, Eye on Sacramento and the League of Women Voters, are trying to get the city to enact several reform measures, including an ethics code and citizen commission as well as new sunshine laws to improve transparency in city government.
To read the original story and view a video of the reporting, click here.
Our tax dollars at work supporting Planned Parenthood. The number one baby killing organization in America. Why aren’t the bishops speaking out about this situation?
These law makers get legal slush funds and spend that money on anything they want. The question is why aren’t the taxpayers speaking out?
Bishops are too busy supporting ILLEGAL immigration, and other political things outside their area of expertise.
There was a famous Southern Democrat senator that explained that in his time a single aspirin would do the trick to prevent single moms.
Okay, so I watched the video, and it looks like PP has some kind of a program for single mothers going to college. I was not aware that they allowed women to continue to be pregnant when you walked into one of their clinics. They certainly do not provide prenatal care, to my understanding. It just makes it that much more difficult to accept an organization such as PP, bent on doing abortions, doing anything positive.
Sorry, Ms. Ashby, but Planned Parenthood is Murder, Inc. Satan hides behind many benign faces, even helpful ones that serve to hide his darker purpose.
No, the “segregation” of funds is a complete misnomer: money is fungible, what is not needed to be spent on one thing, is transferred to something else. The suggestion for PP to form more than one independent entities has been raised and rejected by PP. Why? The answer is pretty simple: because they want the money to be available to fund their cash cow, and they can do this better by inventing layers of “nice” projects to through off public scrutiny of their murders.
And, PP is completely racist. More and more abortion centers are located in or near low income and minority neighborhoods. And the rate of black abortion, especially, is outrageously tilted towards eliminating minorities in genocidal numbers.
PP is trying to win converts, and to cover up their evil. Like spritzing perfume on a manure pile; always.
John, because the bishops are more concerned about allowing more illegal Hispanics into the country so they can continue to vote for these anti-Catholic policies of their beloved Democrats.
Hasn’t Angelique Ashby ever heard of ABSTINENCE from sexual activity for the unmarried,
and the married who have a good reason for not have children ?
This is what she should be promoting.
Even the Center for Disease Control (CDC) states:
” The most reliable way to avoid infection is to not have sex (i.e., anal, vaginal or oral).”
https://www.cdc.gov/std/prevention/default.htm
Anyone who cares about the health of women and men will educate others on abstinence.
Here are some facts from the CDC.
https://www.cdc.gov/std/stats/STI-Estimates-Fact-Sheet-Feb-2013.pdf
There is no excuse for ignorance.
Give you elected officials copies of the fact sheet from the CDC – link I provided.
Most cities and county governments have a discretionary fund for elected officials as a specific part of the city/county budget. That budget, and thus the discretionary fund amount, receives approval from elected officials before the funds can be spent. If one wishes restrictions on where those funds can be spent, I suggest one run for election to the approving elected body on the well publicized platform of prior restriction of such funds.
You can also send your own elected Official the information regarding ABSTINENCE from the CDC, and the CDC’s 2013 fact sheet.
Sometimes elected Officials need some education.
And all citizens have the right to petition elected persons.
Unfortunately we no longer have government servants of the people, but government dictators.
They spend our tax dollars.