Well, I hate it when I agree with Lonsberry, but being a proud member of the reality-based community ™, I’m required by Law to agree when something makes sense. From his blog last week:

Here’s a coincidence, a couple of guys who gave Monroe County Republicans $20,000 have just been awarded a big contract by Monroe County Republicans.

Amazing. Will miracles never cease?

It has to do with parking at the airport, and a five-year deal that is going to make these two guys a lot of money. They spent the first six months of this year funneling as much money into local Republican coffers as they could and the other night every Republican in the County Legislature voted to give them a sweetheart deal.

Again, it’s a heck of a coincidence.

$20,000 will buy you a lot of political mailers from Steve Minarik’s printshop. Lonsberry is talking about this:

The Monroe County Legislature voted 17-12 along party lines Tuesday night to award the five-year contract for airport parking to Mapco.

Seems uninteresting. Except:

[Mapco,] the Goldsteins’ company has been a longtime contributor to local Republican committees and, according to the lawsuit filed Monday, the Goldsteins — through the entities they control — contributed more than $20,000 to Republican party organizations and candidates from February to mid-July 2006.

Doh! But what exactly is their return on that investment?

The contract the legislature approved does not say how much Mapco would get in total, but it provides that the company would get a monthly management fee of $35,000 for the first $500,000 in monthly parking revenue, plus 4 percent of the next half-million dollars and 3.5 percent of any monthly revenue exceeding $1 million.

Wow! That’s an amazing ROI! And clearly fishy. But why didn’t anyone say anything about it then? Oh, wait, they did:

Democrats opposed the contract at the Ways and Means Committee last week. “We just didn’t believe the county was getting the best deal,” said Legislator Ted O’Brien, D-Irondequoit.

But the County quickly responded…

Monroe County Attorney Daniel M. DeLaus Jr. said that the county acted appropriately. “The allegations against the Airport Authority and David Damelio are ridiculous. This is clearly a dispute between partners,” said DeLaus.

Once again, the message is: “Nothing to see here. Don’t worry your pretty little heads.”

Just another installment of the joys of 1-party control of the County Leg and Executive branch. Is it time to clean house yet?