Mesa Mayor lays the Smackdown on Jerry Reinsdorf

Yesterday, White Sox owner and alleged tool Jerry Reinsdorf complained about the plan for the Cubs to raise money for a new spring training facility by adding a surcharge to the ticket price of every game in the Cactus League this spring. Nevermind that the Cubs are the only reason that half of America knows which state Mesa is even in, and that their crazed fans bring in lots of revenue for the area.

Mesa mayor Scott Smith is a man who realizes what an important role the team's spring training activities play in keeping his town a habitable place to live. And he's probably up for reelection sometime soon so what better way to keep his constituency happy than to slam the owner of the most hated team in Mesa?

"Is this the same Jerry Reinsdorf that skipped out on Pima County taxpayers who had spent tens of millions of dollars to provide him with a taxpayer-funded stadium, to come to Glendale, where Maricopa County taxpayers provided him a Taj Mahal spring-training facility?" Smith said.

Smith also said Reinsdorf's White Sox play in a publicly funded ballpark in Chicago, and that Reinsdorf looked into buying the Phoenix Coyotoes, who play in a publicly funded facility in Glendale.

"The irony is delicious," Smith said.

[via Chicago Breaking Sports]