IS IT TRUE? December 12, 2011
IS IT TRUE that the readers of the City County Observer who have responded to our current reader’s poll are voting by a margin of 10 to 1 in favor of the Evansville Redevelopment Commission demanding the return of every dollar that the Weinzapfel for Mayor campaign received from any company or person directly associated with City Centre Properties LLC?…that for City Centre Properties LLC to accept the incentive check from the City of Evansville and then turn around and give money to Mayor Weinzapfel’s campaign fund without performing the task that they were incented to do is not consistent with the spirit of incentives and basically turned the “Loft Program†pioneered by Mayor Weinzapfel into a money funneling operation where the City of Evansville’s money ended up in the campaign coffers of the Weinzapfel for Mayor campaign while nothing was done for the City of Evansville?…that the CCO suspects that with the principles and the associated companies that the total that the Mayor’s campaign coffers enlarged as a result of the McCurdy debacle is somewhere in the neighborhood of $25,000 or more?…that these contributions clearly should be returned to the City of Evansville as they were ill-gotten in the big scheme of things?
IS IT TRUE that the Evansville Convention and Visitors Bureau recently sent out a promotional brochure hoping to attract tourists to Evansville?…that there was one little problem with the brochure and that was that word “Indiana†is reported to have been spelled incorrectly?…that we are sure that there is some fat in someone’s frying pan over this little oversight?
IS IT TRUE that following up on the first paragraph we wonder just how much money was contributed to the “Weinzapfel for Mayor†campaigns during the last 8 years by companies and individuals who materially benefitted from City of Evansville projects?…that we would not be surprised if such contributions exceed $1 Million if all of the construction companies, their owners, law firms, consultants, and other beneficiaries of contracts with the City of Evansville are tallied up?…that many other local politicians have lined their pockets with such contributions as well?…that this is no different than the Wall Streeters bankrolling the campaigns of national politicians while benefitting from federal contracts?…that it would be easy to sit back and smugly say “that’s just the way things are doneâ€?…that the practice of laundering government dollars into the pockets of politicians is the epitome of SNEGAL and undermines belief on governments?…that we wonder if the people of Evansville, Indiana, and the United States will ever demand that this practice be stopped?…that you may contact Mayor Weinzapfel to demand the return of McCurdy sourced contributions on the following link?
http://www.evansvillegov.org/Index.aspx?page=1682&recordid=1
IS IT TRUE that the people of Evansville can take a huge step by calling, emailing, and sending letters to the Mayor of Evansville to return all contributions that he received as a result of the McCurdy project to the City of Evansville?…that this is a clear case of underserved benefit while some of the other cases really are “just the way things are doneâ€?
IS IT TRUE that another corporate headquarters has announced that they are leaving Vanderburgh County last week?…that Champion Labs is following Mead Johnson Nutritionals to greater Chicago for their corporate headquarters?…that we wonder how many of the powers that be were blindsided by this announcement?…that we also wonder what the reason’s were as Chicago is clearly a more expensive place to maintain an office?…that when Mead Johnson made their move the two biggest reasons were TALENT and AIR TRAVEL?…that we suspect that these may be the issues behind Champion’s departure as well?
Maybe the Rick Davis campaign should return all money to the Fire Fighters PAC since he won’t be in a poisiton to negotiate them a better contract.
Didn’t he spend it trying to get elected?
….and also incur a substantial amount of personal debt along with using the money for it’s intended purpose.
JMHO
They key words are “used for its intended purpose”. Any money that went into a “Weinzapfel for Mayor” account after 2007 was clearly not used for the purpose that it was contributed for.
Maybe….it would depend on what your trying to buy with the contributions, not all monies are given in good faith to see the candidate elected, as stated in the “Is It True” some are merely redistribution of tax dollars with a slice off the top for the effort…Oh!, I didn’t say that did I? disregard….that never happens, it’s all in my head….everybody in politics is above board! 😉
JMHO
What money are you talking about? Where’s your proof? You are slandering the Mayor without any proof regarding the McCurdy or the Loft Program.
Proof 1: $800,000 of incentives paid to City Centre based on $10,000 per new apartment as per loft program
Proof 2: The Weinzapfel for Mayor 2010 campaign finance report
Both of those along with the 2007, 2008,& 2009 campaign finance reports are public record. No other proof needed.
Slander is intentionally speaking a lie about someone. Libel is intentionally writing a lie about someone.
Publishing the absolute truth about where money came from and where it went constitutes neither slander or libel. It constitutes repeating the public record. If it does not reflect well on certain elected officials then so what. They made their bed, let them lie in it.
Ma’am or Sir….(Auchilles)
You do realize that there are federal/state laws that govern campaign financing and influence peddling?, and that the ex-governor of Illinois was just convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison? that while the feds will steal you blind they don’t take too kindly to two-bit city/county officials breaking the campaign laws or trying to move in on their turf…. 😉
JMHO
How do you know that it was not used for the purpose that it was contributed for. Whenever I give money to a candidate, I let them decide what the best use of the money is.
Say if x is running for Mayor and I have contributed to him and he is way ahead in the poles I do not have any problem with him giving the money to a city council candidate who is struggling if it will make him a more effective mayor.
When you are giving money to a candidate you should give with the expectation that he will put it to what he considers the best use. If you do not want this then you should not contribute.
To say that you are giving money to x for mayor so the money should only be spent on his mayor’s campaign is kind of simplistic.
So was this money used to further the political ideologies of the people who gave it? It is still in the campaign fund.
Auchilles needs to learn the difference between slander and libel. They really need to address that down there at Welborn.
Sir or Ma’am…(Hiroller)
If you want the money to go to the PARTY then donate to the party, but giving a contribution to a candidate is not simplistic if you expect the candidate to use the money for his campaign, it is the intended purpose of donating the money….to be used for that candidate’s election campaign.
Your viewpoint is rather simplistic in thinking that candidate x and candidate y because of belonging to the same party (or not) and that giving money to x is the same as y or its ok for x to give y the money you gave x….for his or her campaign…what if the contributor doesn’t agree with the stance or ideals, or policy’s of candidate y?
Bottom line is your argument is a deflection of the topic which is money donated and not used for the intended purpose which is candidate x’s run for office…it never happen so the money should be returned to the contributors so they can decide where they want their money to go, after all it is their money….not used in any other way.
An analogy for you…if you donated money to habitat for humanity (x) with the intent that that donation be used to build houses for the needy and habitat gave your money to the boy scouts (y) for a camping trip to Yellowstone would you feel the money was used for it’s intended purpose?….we won’t even consider that the boy scouts used your donation to buy a bus to drive to Yellowstone.
This link may help you….
http://www.fec.gov/pages/brochures/statefed.shtml
JMHO
The Mayor should give back the half million dollars he raised last year for his “re-election” before he decided he was not going to run for re-election. Where else can someone collect and keep money for something they never do?
http://www.courierpress.com/news/2010/jan/30/weinzapfel-donors-draw-state-interest/
why not advocate for the return of campaign contributions from City Centre Properties such that the money pays the delinquent tax bill ? That way the City benefits.
“that the practice of laundering government dollars into the pockets of politicians is the epitome of SNEGAL and undermines belief on governments?…that we wonder if the people of Evansville, Indiana, and the United States will ever demand that this practice be stopped?”
Money laundering is the practice of passing illegally acquired money through a legitimate bank or business to disguise its illegal origins. This is what the mob or white collar criminals do.
“that when Mead Johnson made their move the two biggest reasons were TALENT and AIR TRAVEL?”
Would you be talking about Bristol Meyers Squibb? Mead Johnson is expanding and adding jobs.
What I see is that City Centre Properties tried to do something with the McCurdy in the worst econmic climate since the Great Depression and were unsucessful.
Mead Johnson moved their corporate headquarters to Chicago. They are indeed hiring in the branch office of Evansville that was at one time the corporate headquarters.
As for the money laundering definition you are close. Money laundering is the process of disguising illegal sources of money so that it looks like it came from legal sources. Illegal sources is not the same as illegally acquired.
If any politician were to write his campaign fund a check from the government is would be a crime and would clearly be an illegal source of money. If that same politician does what it takes to get the government to write a check to a crony who then makes a campaign contribution to the very politician that brokered the deal, is that an acceptable way to be governed? I would submit to you that it is the very definition of money laundering.
In the case of the McCurdy I think you are correct that CCP had honorable intentions. The fact that they failed, did not pay their taxes regularly, and that the City of Evansville received no benefit at all is what makes the campaign contributions so blatantly dirty. They are SNEGAL and no one will be jailed but the only winner in this little money triangle is the Weinzapfel for Mayor campaign. The City of Evansville lost money, City Centre Properties lost money, yet the Mayor’s campaign fund came out with cash in the bank for doing nothing.
Do you really think that is okay?
Whiny-Zapple and his minions ran all over Evansville extorting campaign contributions from local businesses. They were particularly successful in collecting from any kind of company that had to have a city, county, or state license or permit to conduct their business. A prime example was liquor stores. A friend of mine worked for one of the biggest liquor stores in Evansville. During his reign of terror Whiny-Crapple extracted from the owner thousands of dollars in cash and merchandise for his campaign. If Whiny doesn’t get investigated, indicted, tried, and thrown in the penitentiary justice will not be done in Indiana. There can be no excuse for the way that sorry a$$ed mayor wrecked this town.
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