Pay to play

Last week the Nature Coast Human Resource Society, Inc. conducted a seminar at the Silverthorn County Club. The theme of this seminar was "What happened to the stimulus money and other questions you would like to ask." The cost of this seminar was $25.00 which included a continental breakfast and lunch. While I applaud this small business for thinking up enterprising ways to make money, I say shame on all the elected officials and government offices that participated in this pay to play seminar.

According to the flyer sent out from the Hernando County Chamber of Commerce, Senator Bill Nelson was instrumental in helping to set up this seminar. In a capitalist society, I certainly hope the owners of Nature Coast Human Resource Society, Inc. made a profit but it doesn't excuse government officials from participating in this event that required payment for information that should have been presented in a free-public forum,.

Here's the line-up of the government officials and offices that participated in this seminar:

• Senator Bill Nelson
• Florida Dept. of Financial Services
• Florida DOT
• Department of Energy
• Small Business Association
• Hernando County Government
• City of Brooksville

I'm sure this seminar was very informative but in this economic climate everyone needs to be questioning why these officials participated in a seminar that required payment to understand the expenditures of the federal stimulus package. Having to pay $25.00 to see a government official explain how our tax money is being spent is inexcusable...