IS IT TRUE May 11, 2012

25
The Mole #??

IS IT TRUE May 11, 2012

IS IT TRUE

the more the Earthcare Energy deal comes unraveled the more shocking and amazing it is to see the level of blatant arrogance and blinding ignorance has been exhibited since the day it was announced?…that yesterday we all learned that the City of Evansville had violated the closing conditions of its own contract with Earthcare by making a $200,000 loan in advance of the approval by the Evansville City Council?…today we have learned that the Economic Development Loan Committee was the conduit through which this loan was funded and that the meeting to approve an “advance” of $200,000 against an un-approved loan with VAPORWAREpledged as collateral happened within hours of the perfectly choreographed photo-op at the old Whirlpool building?…four of the eight voting board members of the Economic Development Loan Committee had clear conflicts of interest when they cast their votes of support for the $200,000 advance?

IS IT TRUE that Christine Keck is an employee of a subsidiary of Vectren Corporation that has had an interest in this loan going through from the beginning?…that the PPA (Power Purchase Agreement) between Vectren and Earthcare Energy has been touted as collateral for this loan from Day 1?…Ms. Christine Keck was clearly in conflict of interest when she cast this vote?…Debbie Dewey the president of GAGE and the most visible public proponent of the Earthcare Energy deal was also clearly in conflict of interest when she cast her vote along with GAGE board member Greg Wathen?…that City Council President Connie Robinson who has advocated for the Earthcare Energy deal from the beginning and who voted yes on the loan approval just three weeks later was perhaps the person with the most conflict of interest in the whole deal?…the question of whether or not the boards and elected bodies of Evansville have even a first grade understanding of the meaning of ethics?…it seems as though these people are completely oblivious to what is right and what is wrong in business and governance?…that Evansville will never ever have good public policy if we can’t even elect or appoint people who know the meaning of the word good?

IS IT TRUE if the people of Evansville continue to tolerate what is becoming an atmosphere of open abuse of privilege, conflicts of interests, and using public positions to further personal agendas that we get what we deserve?…that the actions of the public officials both elected and appointed on this project rival anything that has happened in Detroit, Chicago, Washington D.C., or in some small town in the south back in the 1950’s?…this is disgusting to the point that we should not wait until the next election to start replacing these people?…that this is so much worse than spending $3,500 on an Opus One fueled Christmas dinner that is makes one’s head spin?…the CVB board who wasted $3,500 was tarred and feathered by the public and former Mayor Weinzapfel for their deed and summarily dismissed?…that anything less with this board is a failure to provide good stewardship of the public dollars?…Mayor Weinzapfel was neither invited nor aware of the Opus One party but that Mayor Winnecke was fully aware of what was happening with Earthcare’s $200,000 advance?…that public apologies and dismissals are in order?

IS IT TRUE that in the case of our City Council President Connie Robinson it is time for her to step down or face whatever consequences that the rules of the Evansville City Council have available?…that being conflicted like this is not appropriate for a member of the council and are grossly inappropriate for the president?…that allowing Ms. Robinson to maintain her seat on council is to sanction these actions?…it is time for the people of Evansville and the non conflicted members to demand accountability?…we wonder if Evansville has the will as a city and a people to clean the mess that our elected and appointed officials have made, and we are not talking about litter?

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25 COMMENTS

  1. It’s time for the good citizens of this community to stand up and join the CCO call for “Good Public Policy” to prevail!

    Connie I knew your mother and father and highly respected both of them. I know they would be ashamed of your recent actions as an elected official of this community.

  2. Bravo to the CCO. This editorial is exactly 100% spot on correct. The snegal ways of local government, carried over from the former Weinzapfel regime, must end and must end now. Mr. Winnecke are you listening? To Robinson, Weaver and Mosby, goodbye as you only know the old ways of snegal.

    • Agree with you completley. And shouldn’t we get rid of GAGE also? Everything they touch gets ruined.

  3. Wasn’t Connie Robinson forced to resign from the Vanderburgh Democratic Central Committee recently?

    It’s time the taxpayers of this community forces her to resign from City Council because of the major back room political role she played in this Eartcare mess.

    At very least City Council should ask her to step down from being President of City Council.

    I’m ashamed of her!

  4. Is there a way the people of Evansville can impeached a City Councilman? And if not, how do you go about to get rid of the corrupted Councilmans without having to wait till the next election?

    • “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” — Edmund Burke

      Never be afraid to stand up for your rights. Taxpayers are NOT just so many chickens available for the plucking, as several current members of the Evansville City Council apparently believe.

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  5. our local disgrace is now national. all you folks who vote for people that tell you that ‘they’ are going to ‘run this country like a business’, are full of hooey. their business model belongs in a gutter, which is where it was drawn up. getting back to the national disgrace part. all you right wingers go out and get a usa today, take it home to the ‘one that can read’ in the family, and have him tell you what the op-ed page says. you hoosiers have made the big time. by the way, ihear the pink slime folks are looking to relocate.you clowns ought to put in a bid. they’re obviously your kind of people.

    • Jack, cool down a bit. If you had researched the subject a little you would have discovered that the individual school districts have the right to buy or not buy meat that contains “pink slime”.

      Going to fix some brats on the grill today. I’m not sure what all is in them, but damn they taste goooooood!

      BTW, USA Today isn’t exactly the American Journal of Science, if you know what I mean. Sensationalism and hype helps to sell their product.

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    • no,no,seriously. todays copy has a rebuttal written by one of your heros, explains your pekoe puffing path to prosperity in vivid detail. sheesh. as for the pink slime, otherwise known as franklin street caviar, story. the aforementioned pink slime industry has been kicked out of 3 other ‘business friendly right to work’ states recently due to public outrage. due to lack of said outrage in these parts over these types of companies it only makes sense that they would fish for some cash here next. your man mitch has proven time and time again that he’ll bite at anything.

        • my only point being that we’ve been told now for 30 years that government should be run like business. the above cited examples prove that to be oh so wrong. government should be run by people who know how to govern not by mooks looking to leverage a derivative out of a sidewalk contract for christ’s sake. unfortunately, my old friends in the gop have gone nuts over this ‘business plan’ form of government. such a shame. please excuse my feeble attempts at humor during my rants for i am but a frail old man with little else to do.

          • Let me assure you this Earthcare venture was not ran like a business. Not even close! In business, all would be fired for not properly vetting Earthcare.

  8. There were two requirements on this money used to advance $200,000 to Earthcare. One is that the business has to be in a census tract that has an income that is less than 80% of the average income and the other is that the business owners have to have an income that is no higher than 80% of the local average. That number would be well under $30,000 per year.

    I do not think the Whirlpool Building meets that criteria and I surely hope that our City Council did not approve a loan of $4.8 Million to people living below the poverty level. There is nothing about this deal that where good judgment prevailed.

  10. “IS IT TRUE if the people of Evansville continue to tolerate what is becoming an atmosphere of open abuse of privilege, conflicts of interests, and using public positions to further personal agendas that we get what we deserve?”

    I agree, but where do we take our grievances? The voting booth has not been the resolution. These issues cause the collective IQ of the voters’ to hurt, so they vote for what feels best. Further more, we have democrat leaders supporting republicans over their own candidates and joining with them in these snegal dealings. Clearly these dealings are that of an entitled oligarchy not a functioning representation of the people.

    There comes a time when the state leadership needs to step in and bring relief to citizens being oppressed by what has for decades been a political machine. I do not like that idea, but we clearly have issues that will not evaporate in an election. It has come to the point that our choice is the devil or his brother.

    • It took the intervention of the Governor to right the Homestead Tax Credit debacle. Maybe you are right and Evansville is incapable or unwilling to healing itself.

    • We just witnessed a damned good “first step” in the process of getting our feet back on the correct path.

      One thing we can do is to praise the people who are responsible for doing the right thing in killing the Earthcare deal.

      Offer support and praise for those who do the right thing, and offer scorn and condemnation for those who abuse the citizens.

      Information is vital. There are those out there now who are reading this who are aware of information, that if made public, could lead to a better and more ethical local government.

      To those people I would like to offer this quote by Edmund Burke: “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” It is an often repeated quote that unfortunately is not as often followed by action.

      Patrick Henry also said that “we are not weak” when speaking of the citizens of this country in his “Give me liberty or give me death” speech made to the Virginia Convention at St. John’s Church in Richmond Virginia March 1775. He was proven right, we are not weak, stand up to the people who wish to oppress you. The fight may be a long one but who can say the prize is not forth it?

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  11. Looks like the Mayor has a problem similar to the Homestead Tax Credit issue he, Marsha Abell and the past Mayor were involved in.

    We let our new Mayor slide on the Homestead Tax Credit issue but shall not let him get by the Earthgate back room wheeling and dealing!

    Sorry to say it looks like Mayor W is serving his last term in elected office because he has once again breached the public trust!

    • Our last mayor and this mayor are both Mayor Ws. Now I hear some saying the answer is another Mayor W, Williams. Maybe a Mayor R, Riley, would make a difference, but I think we have been crushed below the level of being able to make a difference by our little Chicago machine.

      If I falsify a loan application, and the loan officer enables me to do so, are not both of us guilty of a felony? How is that any different then the Earthcare boondoggle or any other of the barely sneagle scams of the last few years? I fear that we have come to to place where these issues are going to have to be set right on the witness stand rather than the voting booth.

  13. I have a lot of faith in John Friend. If John looks at the numbers and he said it works then ok. If john has full vetting information and he says its all good then ok. Id like to know what John thinks. Has he offered up a public opinion on this mess yet?

    • Benny,

      Big John voted against the $ 4.8 Million loan (one of the ‘4’ in the 5-4 vote to approve the loan). He also claims the $ 200K didn’t come before council, and the reporting in both papers yesterday was that there exists an appointed board, Evansville Econ. Dev. Loan Committee, which approved the loan. Take a wild guess what he thinks !

      • HMMMM……difficult to suggest this because the people with the keys to the car drove this one off the cliff, but, if the city loses money and they were given bad advice by the city attorney on which way to turn, can we recover the monies from the city attorney’s errors and omissions insurance coverage?

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