Sometimes reality is much more gut-tickling than any parody one could ever come up with, as evidenced by this effort from Bruce Gibson, vice chairman of the Guilford County Commission, to defend his recent trip to Hawaii to attend the National Association of Counties conference:

Gibson said he was in seminars and workshops during much of the five-day event, held just off the famous Waikiki beaches.

Particularly useful, he said, was a morning-and-afternoon session on budgeting that featured a presentation by Mecklenburg County, which recently switched to a more results-focused budget process that treats county government like a business.

Gibson, who supported the recently passed $510.5 million spending plan but criticized how commissioners drew it up, plans to go to Charlotte in the next couple weeks and learn more about Mecklenburg’s process.

So, Gibson spent thousands of taxpayers? dollars to travel to Hawaii to hear a budget presentation about what?s being done in Mecklenburg County? Got it.

p.s. Gibson could have heard pretty much the same material at a policy conference closer to home, anyway.