I almost went "charlie sheen", when I read this article. I am e-mailing the link and entire article to each of my city council members and county supervisors. They have the nerve to raise our water rates, "because MWD's rates have gone up", as if they were just helpless to do anything else. AAARGH!!!

....SNIP..... Top brass at the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California sometimes live large and charge the region's ratepayers for it. Their world includes $9 room-service soda, $35 racks of lamb, $50 bottles of wine and $400 hotel rooms.....Receipts and expense forms examined by The Watchdog show that in 2009 and 2010, Metropolitan�s five top managers crisscrossed the country and spent just over $160,000 in the process

.....SNIP.....A number of expenses, however, are beyond the reach of typical water customers and above what other agencies allow. They raise questions about Metropolitan's dedication to cutting costs across its $1.6 billion budget during and era when water rates have jumped by more than 60 percent in four years across the region.

....SNIP...."We spend less than $2 million a year on staff travel. It's a relatively small item, but it's ratepayer dollars and we have to show that we are being as efficient as we can,"

....SNIP.....While customers may balk at such bills, Kightlinger said they are a necessary part of making deals across the country to maintain a steady supply of water for Southern California.

Here is a link that might be useful: MWD travel costs