By Frank Keegan _ Local government leaders' threat to cut about half a million workers because of the recession is nothing more than a shakedown based on a lie.

The Big Shakedown begins, based on the Big Lie.

The Big Shakedown is a threat by local officials to lay off up to 500,000 municipal and county workers over the next two years.

The Big Lie is that it is because of the great recession cutting revenues.

Both the shakedown threat and the lie are in a joint announcement by three local government associations this week.

First the threat: “This report from the National League of Cities, National Association of Counties, and the U.S. Conference of Mayors reveals that local government job losses in the current and next fiscal years will approach 500,000, with public safety, public works, public health, social services and parks and recreation hardest hit by the cutbacks. Local governments are being forced to make significant cuts that will eliminate jobs, curtail essential services, and increase the number of people in need.”

Then the lie: “Local governments across the country are now facing the combined impact of decreased tax revenues, a falloff in state and federal aid and increased demand for social services. Over the next two years, local tax bases will likely suffer from depressed property values, hard-hit household incomes and declining consumer spending. Further, reported state budget shortfalls for 2010 to 2012 exceeding $400 billion will pose a significant threat to funding for local government programs. In this current climate of fiscal distress, local governments are forced to eliminate both jobs and services.”

What they fail to mention is state and local governments are taking more money from citizens right now than the record highs of just three years ago.

They don’t talk about spending increases in those years that exceeded revenue gains and inflation.

And most of all they are trying to hide their gross fiscal mismanagement and ledger legerdemain that allows deep deficits to pass as balanced budgets.

States are in on it, too, according to the National Conference of State Legislature’s latest State Budget Update:

“The impact of the severe economic recession that began in 2007 continued to create substantial revenue shortfalls during 2010 legislative sessions.  As a result, state legislatures were prompted to increase taxes and fees for the ninth consecutive year as they worked to shore up state budgets.”

Prompted to increase taxes and fees for the ninth consecutive year? Because of a recession that started less than three years ago?

Now unless they get even more of our money they threaten our safety and health. They hold children, the old and the poor hostage.

They speak of their fiscal atrocities as “structural” as if this is some kind of natural phenomenon like plate tectonics they can do nothing about. The fact is they structured this; they can de-structure it.

They can do the hard work and precision thrift every business and household in America has to do.

Instead of crudely whacking 500,000 of the workers who probably provide service, politicians can go through every position, person, service, contract, grant and other expense to eliminate the waste, fraud and abuse of fiscal trust.

But that would require them to end sweet deals for cronies, forgo kickbacks, take no-show friends and relatives off the public payroll and actually make some sacrifice themselves.

If you want some examples of how likely that is, check a report at Stateline.org on who gets the fat end of pension reforms.

Take a look at Bell, California, where officials paid themselves millions of dollars a year and racked up tens of millions more in unfunded pension benefits while running that little city into the ground.

Is that going on in your town, city, county, state? Find out, citizens.

Seek Truth in Accounting at every level of government. Ask for copies of budgets and Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports.

Get payroll records. Check contracts, grants and so-called economic development deals.

Attend meetings. Ask questions. Demand answers.

Frank Keegan, frank.keegan@franklincenterhq.org is a national editor for The Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity, statehousenewsonline.com and watchdog.org . All are available to help anyone dig into government and inform The People.