Aurora Sentinel: There seems to be a cloud of confusion over Aurora’s so-called sister cities program and in particular a recent trip by some city officials to South Korea.

We’ll clear the air.

Despite what some city lawmakers have said off and on the council dais regarding queries about expenses for a May junket to Seongnam City in South Korea —  it most certainly is the public’s business regarding who they went with, what they did there, where the money came from, and why clear and forthright answers to those questions are controversial and unanswered.

We get that the basis for a roiling spat over Aurora’s relationship with far-away municipalities and a recent trip to one such city in South Korea stems primarily from Councilman Charlie Richardson. For decades, Richardson was city attorney. Retired from the job, he was elected a ward councilman. Since then, Richardson has become a frequent gadfly and irritant to some other city lawmakers. There’s no doubt he’s persistent in his causes.

Richardson has been extremely critical of the sister city program, and he’s raised many good points with his very vocal objections. In gathering data to back his claims that the sister city program is a waste of money, Richardson has pushed to determine just how much public money was spent traveling to Seongnam and to what end.

His persistence and inferred accusations have angered some fellow city officials who went on the junket, ultimately creating a scene at this week’s city council meeting.

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