The nightmare is that the taxpayers in these six states are paying for this clowncar full of bureaucrats.

Pattern:
1. Pump yourself up as the conference of champions. Make unfounded claims of superiority to get taxpayers to pony up for this entertainment.
2. Do what you want. Make political statements as excuses. Lose money. Who cares when you already have the funding.
3. Creative accounting that masks reality.
4. When creditors come asking for their money, make taxpayers pay for it since they already committed.
5. Sweep this under the rug as minor accounting errors.
6. Repeat.