Aye-yi-yi-yi. First bike share lies, then ridiculous charges at the city attorney (200 for a vocational expert?).

The buck stops with Hales.

Nice records request persistence.

City employees are subject to dismissal for fudging on their overtime. Scandals have ensued over $10 lunches and cell phone charges. Why should "consultants" get all snooty because someone asks questions about their bill?

This is the sort of thing that fuel's some of the Tea Party anti-government fire, the supposed inefficiency of government bureaucracies. They are inefficient because of lack of transparency and accountability and a very lazy and forgetful citizenry being relied on for outrage and pressure for reform. It's ironic that these libertarians and conservatives would have us privatize everything, because I guarantee you the bureaucracies of Boeing or General Electric are as or less efficient than government ones; only at least with the government you can rally citizens to demand of their representatives openness and reform.