IS IT TRUE May 11, 2012 Part 2

26
Martin Luther King Blvd. in Downtown Evansville

IS IT TRUE May 11, 2012 Part 2

IS IT TRUE

the morning the world financial news outlets are all clamoring over a $2 Billion blunder made in the risk management division of J. P Morgan?…the words used by the Wall Street Journal to describe J. P. Morgan’s strategy that led to this loss were “flawed, complex, poorly reviewed, poorly executed, and poorly monitored”?…that in a public statement regarding this J. P. Morgan’s CEO, the “King of Wall Street” Jamie Dimon said “this trade does not violate the Volcker Rule, but it violates the Dimon principle”?…our little character SNEGAL seems to have been hanging around Wall Street for some time and that SNEGALjust struck again?…Chairman Dimon’s comment clearly implies that the complex charade that led to his firm’s $2 Billion loss was legal yet unprincipled?

IS IT TRUE that Evansville and particularly the government of Evansville is in the midst of enduring the unwinding of a SNEGAL (maybe) situation that also meets the description of “flawed, complex, poorly reviewed, poorly executed, and poorly monitored”?…hardly a day goes by that another layer comes off of the onion now known as the Earthcare Catastrophe?…that just yesterday we all learned that the contract between the City of Evansville and Earthcare did not even make a vote of approval by the City Council a closing condition for a $5 Million loan?…that just heartbeats after the contract was written a board appointed by Mayor Lloyd Winnecke with fully half of its voting members having a conflict of interest authorized an advance of $200,000 to Earthcare with no collateral whatsoever in place?…that the authorization of this loan when compared to the $3,500 Christmas dinner that resulted in the ouster of every board member who sipped the Opus One from the CVB board look like a Sunday School Picnic?

IS IT TRUE that two of the members who by virtue of their positions and experiences, namely Christine Keck of a Vectren subsidiary and Greg Wathen who sits on the GAGE board were not up to their eyeballs in conflict and may have been oblivious to the details of the ill-conceived scheme that they happened to be thrust into?…Mayor Winnecke who appointed this board should know better by virtue of the credibility he lost for his part in the Homestead Tax Credit back door meeting that BEING SNEAKY DOES NOT PAY OFF?…putting people into positions of conflicted interest is POOR PUBLIC POLICY?…that Mayor Winnecke needs to right his ship ASAP, apologize to the people of Evansville for his role in the Earthcare Catastrophe, and become the transparent, collaborative Mayor that he campaigned to be?…the Earthcare Catastrophe is strike two on Mayor Winnecke and the clock is ticking?

IS IT TRUE that four members of the board that approved the advance of $200,000 appear to have no conflicts of interest in this deal?…the CCO is a friend of Les Shively and do not believe Mr. Shively would have supported this disaster if the information that was withheld due to a failure to VET had been available at that time?…we will for the sake of hope conclude the same about the other three non conflicted members?…that does not excuse the fact that this vote on this advance should have never been arranged in the first place?…that the orchestration of this debacle, the support of the faulty VETTING, and the sneaky ways this went down fall squarely on the desk of Mayor Winnecke?

IS IT TRUE Debbie Dewey of GAGE and Connie Robinson of the Evansville City Council were not only conflicted beyond belief but they have exhibited nothing but arrogance and condescension toward anyone who has questioned their methods and motives?…that these two people more than any others have enabled and encouraged Mayor Winnecke to dig himself into a hole and are the architects and promoters of that which is well described as “flawed, complex, poorly reviewed, poorly executed, and poorly monitored”?…that all future votes or projects that come to the City Council with the recommendation or support of these two people shall be looked at with skepticism by virtue of the company they keep?…it is time for our City Council President Connie Robinson and Debbie Dewey to be prohibited from presiding over another thin dime of taxpayer dollars?

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

26 COMMENTS

  1. Does Dewey get a bonus based on job attraction announcements? You talk about conflict of interest! She may have effectively voted YES on a bonus for herself.

      • Yeah–Winnecke was really into transparency….

        …after he got caught with Weinzapfel in a bathroom stall trying to rob taxpayers of their homestead credit.

  3. I bet (the resume builder) Keck won’t be putting this board on her current resume.

    Wow, the 1st lady President of the Evansville County Club could be
    involved in alledged comflict of interest problem.

  4. Ms. Right Wing political type, Christine Kerk acted like a left wing Democrat by pushing for and approving a $200,000 non-vetted loan to Earthcare.

    I can’t wait tell she attends the next Right to Center political gathering. We have a lot of questions to ask her.

  5. The good people of Evansville demand the resignations of Christine Kerk, Connie Robinson, Debey Dewey and Greg Wathen from the board that gave Earthcare the non-vetted $200,000 loan.

    You all should be ashamed of your actions in this matter!

  6. If there is one good thing to come out of this fiasco it is this: the members of the common council surely most realize now that going along with anything proposed by Winnecke is liable to make them look INCREDIBLY STUPID.

    In other words, we may finally have some checks and balances in place…

    • You got that right, her little sidekick “Weezie” is at the public trough and doesn’t do a thing but shop online all day long.

    • Its time for the public to ask for Robinson resignation. She is only using her position to create more wealth for herself. What a poor excuse for a Councilman!!!

  7. My wife is an active member of the RIGHT OF CENTER political group.

    I heard her say to a friend today if Chris Keck attends a meeting she will be laugh out of the meeting because of her Earthcare loan vote.

    What a two face liberal Keck turned out to be.

  8. Is the vote record by this committee part of public record? It is great that you call everyone out and justly so, but please don’t give passes because some members are friends of the CCO and you don’t ‘believe’ Mr. Shively would have supported it if he had all the information. That is an excuse and biased. As a member of that board its his duty and all other members’ duty to ask for the information they need to make a good decision. If they can’t get that information, the vote should no or to delay until the info is received.

    What was the vote for this 200k loan? Was it 8-0 in favor? Or did some vote against it? What would you have done had you been on the board and presented with a loan application for 200k a day after the deal was signed and no presentation to the Council yet and no financials to review? Please have some journalistic integrity and come down on everyone that is guilty or otherwise you are just like the C&P. And if you are friends with Mr. Shively, perhaps he can enlighten the CCO as to exactly how that meeting and vote went and what information was known at that time, rather than guessing and making answers for him.

    • Thank you for making this point. Lets get ALL the pertinent information before making assumptions. If not the CCO becomes as guilty as the parties that are now being raked over the coals.

      • What are you smoking? The CCO as guilty as them there parties being raked over coals? Who broke the story? Ms. Brinkerhoff-Riley and Mr. McGinn deserve a taxpayer thanks for ending this complete scam. CCO ditto.

  9. The Minutes of a public meeting are public record AND some public meetings are tape recorded and that tape recording is also public record that may be copied if requested. The tape recording will always have far more information than the sanitized Minutes. So I have been told.

  10. I saw Greg Wathen show up at a Vectren IURC meeting in Evansville this past winter. He went on record as saying that he was unaware of any business that did not choose Evansville because of their electric rates. Futhermore, I have been in his office. The Economic Development Commission has WAY too much funds available to them. Each of their people have WiFi sync’d iPads that sit around their desks doing nothing. They each have Cisco Voip phones to just answer calls with. And they have one of the most lavish facilities I have ever seen.

    Greg Wathen is an idiot and is not doing Evansville any good. He sits up in his office day in and out with no real results to show for his work. To say that no businesses in Evansville consider the cost of electric in their decision to move or open in Evansville just goes to show you his lack of comprehension of the business world.

    I say go further than kicking him off the board, kick him completely out of the EDC!!! Or show me what good he has done!?!

    DD

  11. Energy cost are in fact one of the most important things busness executives looked at in deciding where to locate their new business complex. Because Vectren has the highest electrical rates in the State, it is a major deterrent in attracting businesses to locate in Vanderburgh County. The State as whole has one of the lowest electrical rates in the nation–no thanks to Vectren.

  12. Who called the March 1st meeting of the Evansville Economic Development Committee and why?

    To what purpose was the $200,000. loan to be applied? Will a transcript of the minutes of the March 1st Public Meeting of the Evansville Economic Development, which is a public record, be made available to the media?

    What is the name of the federal grant program that provided the funds for this loan and can a link be made available?

    __

  13. Anyone else think this scam might be more widespread?
    I mean, how did these clowns just come up with it?
    Anyone heard of other cities being conned by similar people?

    To think this deal is just here in Evansville seems naive.
    (no I don’t have a tin hat-it’s lead)
    Just saying I have a job and not a lot of time to work on it.
    But, this seems like a blueprint type of operation.
    As in -here’s how you can scam a city out of a lot of money.

    These scammers are not geniuses.
    There must be smarter people guiding them.

    Do reporters dream of Pulitzers any more?

    • We have done extensive searches under the names Earthcare and Langson. We did discover other private companies that advertise that they are distributors for Langson. What we have not been able to find anywhere is any other instance of any company at all with a Langson license that has had a public announcement with elected officials involved. Evansville appears to be alone in offering public money for such an enterprise.

      • Wow thanks for the info.
        And thanks for being so diligent on this.
        If not for the CCO…

  14. Robinson and Dewey must be held responsible for their Gross incompetence. They should promptly resign from their positions and all individuals responsible for the $200,000 advance to Earth Care be held personally liable for payment back to the Taxpayers. Corruption and fraud surround the entire process with Earth Care. Enough of Incompetence with our City and County Elected officials. This Incompetence continues to hold back this great community.

  15. I believe that it is time to bring in the US Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana and let him sort this mess out.

    It is clear that none of the local agencies involved in this Earthcare proposal have acted to protect the taxpayers money.

    It is time to get this straightened out and to restore some sort of confidence in local government!

    __

    • I agree…time to bring in someone with official power to investigate…this is going to get much uglier!

  16. Have there been any laws broken during this fiasco? If so why hasn’t our elected prosecutor gotten involved and started an investigation? The only to stop this back door politics is to put someone in jail. Does anyone remember the former illinois governor Blago?

    • I would certainly want to take a look at whether a hastily pulled together appointed committee has the same authority as an elected city council when it came to appropriating and dispersing funds.

      __

Comments are closed.