SAY NO TO OUTDOORS RETAIL SUBSIDIES

The Museum Scam is an very creative and questionable method for sucking public money into the coffers of private business. Cabela's has been persuading local governments across the country to pay for a part of the store that supposedly does not include retail. These "museum" parts of the store typically include stuffed animal displays and animal dioramas, and Cabela's has been successful at encouraging local politicians to subsidize this portion of construction. These museums or displays are clearly used to entice people into the retail store to spend money. It is a marketing tool that is all about selling product, with little or nothing to do with the benefits of a real museum. An alert citizen in West Bend, Wisconsin, has challenged this abuse of the public with a lawsuit against his local government's $500,000 museum subsidy. This gentlemen understood that he was being scammed, and stepped up to do something to protect his fellow taxpayers. Why should the government be paying for a portion of a private retail business that is meant to promote sales at the store? It is ridiculous on its face, and only the mad hunger for development could prompt normally conscientious local officials to waste money in this frivolous manner.