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Tuesday, January 18, 2011

MCPS executives dine in style with a Washington Post reporter

Records obtained by the Parents' Coalition reveal that MCPS Chief of Staff Brian Edwards, MCPS Public Information Director Dana Tofig, and Washington Post education reporter Michael Birnbaum enjoyed a meal together at Il Pizzico Ristorante on October 15, just days before the final Broad Prize announcement.


We don't know exactly whose meals were covered by the $46.46 tab, but we do know that Edwards used an MCPS-issued American Express card to pay the bill -- at taxpayer expense, of course.

Why are MCPS executives meeting over lunch (or dinner) with a Washington Post reporter?  Did MCPS pay for Birnbaum's meal?  Which other news reporters are MCPS taking out to lunch?

Update: Washington Post reporter Michael Birnbaum contacted us this afternoon and stated that he paid for the bulk of the meal (which included his own meal), and that he invariably pays his own bill for business meals.  Therefore, only Tofig's and Edwards' meals were paid with school system funds.
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5 comments:

  1. AnonymousJanuary 19, 2011 at 6:46 PM

    Here's the Post story that ran the day of the lunch/dinner:

    Study of Montgomery County schools shows benefits of economic integration (October 15, 2010)

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousJanuary 19, 2011 at 6:47 PM

    Stories that ran after the lunch:

    Montgomery's multi-tasking Little Red Riding Hood (December 6, 2010)

    New curriculum working its way into Montgomery County schools (December 6, 2010)

    Montgomery trumpets AP data (December 5, 2010)

    School sale to academy approved (December 1, 2010)

    Montgomery to sell school building to private academy (December 1, 2010)

    http://projects.washingtonpost.com/staff/articles/michael+birnbaum/

    ReplyDelete
  3. freestategalJanuary 20, 2011 at 12:08 AM

    Mr. Wilen, great work on uncovering this information for the taxpayers of Montgomery County. Thank you. You deserve the Upton Sinclair Memorial Award. Can we get some more clarification? What does Mr. Birnbaum mean when he says he paid for the 'bulk' of the meal? Did he only pay for his own lunch, and Messrs. Tofig and Edwards used our tax dollars for their lunches, which means the lunches cost approximately $23 each? Why didn't Mr. Birnbaum simply say he paid for his own lunch, and the Messrs. Tofig and Edwards paid for their 2 lunches with tax dollars?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Local Tax ExpertJanuary 20, 2011 at 7:35 AM

    freestategal -- I suppose that I could ask Mr. Birnbaum for a receipt to show exactly who paid for what, but the important point is that Mr. Edwards used our tax dollars to pay for his and Mr. Tofig's lunches.

    Please stay tuned to learn more about Mr. Edwards' practice of pulling out the MCPS-issued American Express card to cover fancy meals and other questionable items.

    ReplyDelete
  5. freestategalJanuary 20, 2011 at 2:50 PM

    Louis, you know I will!

    ReplyDelete

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