HARRISBURG PATRIOT-NEWS Editorial: With this week’s auction of Wild West artifacts, a sordid chapter in Harrisburg’s history is coming to a close.
Amassing the artifacts, often at inflated prices, for a museum that never materialized, using funds snuck through the Harrisburg Authority, well away from public attention, with sloppy or non-existent records to document their real historic value, was one of then-Mayor Steve Reed’s most egregious sins. Compounding his excesses, Reed once used the artifacts as collateral on a stop-gap financing deal to fill a hole in the city budget.
Reed spent about $8.3 million on the Wild West collection and other now-orphaned items. The city will be lucky, very lucky, if its final take from unloading them is anywhere close to half that much. (A previous sale netted $1.7 million, and a legal settlement against a vendor for selling bogus artifacts brought in $450,000.) … (more)
