Steven MikulanA charming tongue-in-cheeker by the New York Times' Jesse McKinley looks at what happened when enough money got spread among avocado industry lobbyists.
“Luxury suites. Shopping sprees. Four-star hotels. Such was life in the high-flying world of the California Avocado Commission . . .
a state-established trade group financed by growers, as a kind of free-spending, avocado-gone-wild farm party”
A commission audit apparently turned up plenty of monkeyshines among the lobbyists, even though, apparently, their industry is in free fall. Some of the shenanigans included “season tickets for the Los Angeles Angels and hockey's Mighty Ducks; getting paid gym memberships, complete with stipends for vitamins and workout clothes; and running up large clothing bills.”
McKinley doesn't explain, though, the fruit's odd spelling in his headline, “Report Outlines a High Life for Advocates of Avocadoes.”
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