Authoritarian Falsifies Information to Gain More Authority

Here’s something that will be a shocker to nobody, an authoritarian made up information in order to gain additional funding so he could increase his authority over his subjects. It seems the previous Ramsey County sheriff, Bob Fletcher, made up information about terrorist organizations that threatened Ramsey Country:

Just weeks into the new Ramsey County Sheriff administration, we finally know why former sheriff Bob Fletcher ignored Minnesota Data Practices requests for the 78 Terrorism Information Briefs he boasted about preparing and disseminating since 2005.

“They never existed,” Randy Gustafson, the new public information officer for Sheriff Matt Bostrom, said in a telephone interview on January 19. “It is a very big lie.”

Oops. But hey that’s not even all of it:

While Gustafson was looking for answers to the Daily Planet’s October 20 Data Practices Act request, he discovered that some of Fletcher’s most shocking figures, such as his claims that Ramsey County citizens were threatened by 22 domestic and 11 international terrorist groups in 2009, had been made up, too.

I think this is yet another great example of the fact your government doesn’t love you. Many people in positions of power are lying in order to gain more power and increase their salaries.