Politics is nothing to do with it.
The facts are as stated - the software they need mostly doesn't exist on Linux and LibreOffice is a poor relation for any sort of serious corporate use. It's blindingly obvious. It's why every company I walk into uses Windows. They're not 'all about the pork', they're about running the software they need to do business with the minimum of bullshit.
"By then the MS lock in will be total" - when you're a city council it doesn't matter if you're locked in. Had they got the Linux project to work, they'd be locked into that. It's not like they'd be able to change distros or something at the drop of a hat.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
