Read all about it. Strib's own local reporting presents the story, (Matt McKinney), and it has charm to it, much as if Robin Hood had stole from the poor to give to friends, with the Sheriff of Nottingham in cahoots.
Or that's roughly the kind of impression Strib's report leaves with me.
Surely a less cynical reader would see things differently, so follow the link and see if you are less cynical.
Just wanting to see that children are raised right on the public's dollar? Or something else, (but of course equally well-intentioned and respectful of public money taxed to be spent on public purposes and not end up as privately pocketed pork).
What we can wonder, since it's not in the report, was this bright idea Swanson's first, or Fletcher's, i.e., who sold what to whom?
$35,000 for blippo seems highly priced.
UPDATE: And then, there's Arpaio.