'Twas the Night Before Christmas -- B&G Edition

Posted By Tina Trenkner | December 10, 2009

Photo courtesy of alsandro, Wikimedia Commons.

In lieu of a Question of the Week that we usually post on Facebook and LinkedIn (requires sign-in and membership, so join our group today!), we wanted to have a fun little contest for the holidays. What we're asking is for you to take the 'Twas the Night Before Christmas poem, and write your own government-focused version.

Send your entries to hkerrigan@governing.com by Thursday, December 17, at 12 pm Eastern time. A winner will be announced that afternoon, and a sampling of our favorites will be posted. The winner will receive a wonderful Governing goodie bag, filled with books, notebooks, and other assorted goodies!

See below for an example from Richard Greene and Katherine Barrett of the B&G Report. (B&G asked us to relay that they dashed this off in about four minutes, and they could do a whole lot better with a little effort...)

T'was the night before budget
And all through the town
The whole counsel was ranting,
"Our mayor's a clown!"

"He wants to raise the taxes,
on screws, nuts and bolts
But the big building lobby
Has a ton of votes."

"And then there's all the cutbacks
On pensions for cops
The law and order lobby
Red lights that. So Stop!"

"Of course, balance is needed,
For our small town's books
We could try number cooking,
But we're sure not crooks"

"So, here's the plan to suture,
Our fiscal wounds now
We'll borrow from the future!
As the law allows."

"Let our children -- no, their kids
Pay for services
We use up this year and next
They will not be nervous.

"They're too young to vote today
And when bills are due
And they find that they must pay
We'll be too dead to sue!"

Tina Trenkner

Tina Trenkner is the Deputy Editor for GOVERNING.com. She edits the Technology and Health newsletters.

E-mail: ttrenkner@governing.com
Twitter: @tinatrenkner

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