The artist continues his masterful use of language as a double edged sword. In this case he is posing "budge" against "budget" while presenting comical yet realistic - in terms of the two power positions they hold within Niagara Falls City Hall - images of the City Controller and the Mayor.
How better to illustrate the perceived relationship between the all knowing, all powerful, all controlling Controller and Mayor than to feature her happily aboard the Mayor as she directs him to the "money" to the "cash" to the, as it were, the "love" that has so sadly driven Paul Dyster's City Hall...at great expense to the residents as they most recently were handed tax increases by the Mayor and Controller.
The artist is saying that the city government has given in to the craven drive for money and personal power which comes at the cost of both good government and taxpayer dollars. Like a monstrous turtle (note the Frankenstein Monster head of the mayor) that moves slowly but inevitably toward the brink of the falls the entire sad scenario is in the reins (or is it cleverly "reigns") of the city controller.
--Rockwell Peabody
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