The topic of the Sandy Beach show on wben today was the $225,000 settlement by James Spano for the sale of furniture to the County. The settlement was a result of a lawsuit initiated by the Sheriff of Wall Street, Eliot Spitzer. The allegation was that Spano “overcharged” the County.

Once again, Spitzer is totally off the mark and coerced a settlement while gaining publicity for himself. If a businessman has a product and enters into a contractual agreement to sell it to a buyer, there is no such thing as “overcharging”. Businesses sell their product at the highest price they can receive, competition is what determines the actual value. If a price is too high, any sane buyer would go to a competitor for a lower price or just not purchase the item.

Nobody held a gun to the County forcing the purchase of the furniture. While political influence was certainly involved, the County must bear the responsibility for fleecing the taxpayers. The focus of Spitzer should have been that the County was ripping of the taxpayers to benefit incumbents, not a business conducting a legal sale.

A popular theme on Beach’s show today was allegations of fraud and criminal activity. The allegations might be true, but the County should be the target. The concept that a court of law can determine that an overcharge occurred due to the pricing of a business is ludicrous. It isn’t Spano that failed the taxpayers, it is the government system.