IS IT TRUE February 11, 2013

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IS IT TRUE the Hoosier Lottery has hired a company called GTECH Corporation that makes their home in Rhode Island to help increase the revenue of the lottery by $500 Million?.. the Hoosier Lottery and other lotteries across the country all were sold to the public as a winning proposition for our educational system back when they were needing votes to start them?…after more than 25 years of widespread state lotteries from coast to coast the school systems in the United States are indeed spending more money than ever but achieving no better results in performance that back in the old days when there was no lottery?…lotteries advertise that they are “fun” and that they are “games” but the fine print at the bottom is quite clear about the long odds of winning and that the publicly celebrated prizes are not as large as they say?…lotteries run by the state are no different than the numbers rackets run by the mafia gangs in the big American cities like New York and Chicago that the FBI attacked on the basis of illegal gambling and usury practice?…the only difference is that today’s numbers rackets are run by the states with the disingenuous cover story of helping our kids?…there are those who claim that lotteries are simply a tax on the poor?…taxes are paid for a purpose and the only thing about lotteries that is like a tax is that the profits go into the coffers of government?…lotteries in reality are a game that people with no understanding of the simple mathematics of probability get sucked into?…they are not a tax on the poor, they are a scam that the dumb continue to fall for hook, line, and sinker?…if the government of Indiana wants to expand the scam they have become dependent on then so be it?…the dumb will continue to be dumb and the poor will continue to do the things that made them poor in the first place?

IS IT TRUE that a firestorm erupted over the weekend in Evansville politics over the qualifications of David Garrett who was hired as a consultant by the Evansville City Council to conduct compliance reviews on the embarrassing situation caused by decisions made by the Weinzapfel Administration that has prevented the City of Evansville from balancing their books in over two years?…there is no question that oversight and discipline is needed at the Civic Center because the last several years have been disorganized chaos?…David Garrett at one time in his life did indeed pass the test to become a CPA and even worked for the City doing internal audits?…Mr. Garrett apparently for career purposes let his CPA license expire through not taking the annual training or paying the fee to practice as a CPA?…he is eligible to bring his training up to date and pay the fee to the state anytime he wishes should the three little letters CPA be to his advantage?…the Evansville City Council has some professionals among its members who at one time in their career had a license to practice law and/or medicine?…that if Councilman McGinn for instance decided to run the Evansville Zoo and let his license lapse that would not make him any less of a capable lawyer?…if Councilman Dr. Dan Adams decided to spend his time in public service as opposed to practicing medicine and neglected to send in the fee to renew his license that would not degrade his skills one iota?…the same is true for Mr. David Garrett?…from what we at the CCO have seen and heard of his consulting skills he is a fully qualified person to do the compliance reviews that the City of Evansville desperately needs done in the wake of CPA after CPA failing to do that very job?… Mr. Garrett has also been challenged to get information he needs and has formally requested to do his job?…all of this smokescreen being put out by Councilman Jonathan Weaver and others regarding Councilman John Friend’s incorrect assertions about the status of Mr. Garrett’s CPA license is not addressing the problems of screwed up books, misplaced money, and other City run programs that have been funding sources for crony capitalism for years? … didn’t Mr. Weaver vote for the infamous $5 million dollar “Earthcare” project?

IS IT TRUE that it has also been alleged that Mr. Garrett has either personally or as a guarantor been involved in a bankruptcy case at some point in his past?…a quick Google search does turn up one such case involving his being a personal guarantor on some debt that led to a bankruptcy?…the dates were beyond the time that such things stay on a credit report so as he is a healthy person earning a living we will assume that Mr. Garrett has emerged from bankruptcy much like many others have and gotten on with his life?…things like that happen and the laws of the United States were written for the purpose of keeping despicable things like debtor’s prisons from happening here?…bankruptcy laws also recognize that people at times need a new start?…bankruptcy is not a crime and no violence is perpetrated on anyone as it is with criminal cases involving spousal battery, stalking, harassment, or abuse?…it is important that whatever the details of Mr. Garrett’s association with bankruptcy are they should not be confused with a degradation of his skill or with crime which it clearly is not?…we will be watching this very closely in the coming days but it is clear to us that the politics of cronyism and personal ambition are involved in an attempt to politically assassinate the character of David Garrett at a time that the City Council and the leadership of Evansville should be concentrating on cleansing the financial cesspool that has been created by decades of cronyism and neglect?…we should let this man do his job, earn his $20,000, and take appropriate action so such compliance reviews are never needed again?

12 COMMENTS

  1. $20,000 for a Dirty job, in a “Dirty” little town, run by bunch of “Dirty” little people? Seems cheap to me. Mr Garret is going to earn every dollar!

  2. Thank you to the CCO for alerting us that it is Jonathan Weaver who is pushing this attack on Mr. Garrett. I saw that smug little p—- on the news last night and it made me want to puke. Someone needs to audit the last couple of years of Weaver’s life and stick that on the front page. There may be some real skeletons in that nasty little closet. Evansville, Evansville, what the heck have you voted for this time?

    • Where does it say that Weaver was responsible? I can think of several people in the Winnecke administration that would question Mr. Garret’s credentials. To the editor of the CCO….I am surprised that you are allowing this kind of name calling to remain on your blog. I am sure that if it was directed at certain other members of the city council it would be removed immediately.

      • The p word was removed. Thanks for the info. As for Weaver he was on TV last night talking in detail about the history of Mr. Garrett’s corporate bankruptcy. He also sent links to the CP article to two CCO people. He may not have filed the complaint but he sure is being politically opportunistic about Mr. Garretts credentials.

        • I thought that we were into transparency ….did Mr. Weaver make any incorrect statements or did he reveal what is already public record?

          • Gallagher, we are not going to address your questions about incorrect statements or public records because we are hearing from extremely reliable sources that Mr. Weaver will have to defend his public statements about Mr. Gaarrett in a court of law in the very near future.

          • Don’t forget the lie he made on the news channel about Rick Davis’s people stealing his signs. Even the CCO offer him a reward if he would bring them the picture he supposely had of people stealing his sign. So did he come forward with the evidence? HELL NO!!! He lied and try to ruin the image of someone. He’s nothing but a scumbag!!!

  3. The City wouldn’t be in this mess in the first place if they hired competent people. Former Controller and Utility CFO Jenny Collins isn’t a CPA and neither is Deputy Controller Janet Coudret.

  4. It’s a testament to how little oversight the Council has thus far provided that we now have to spend $20k on a CPA (or expired CPA) to make sure the Mayoral Administration is doing it’s job. That’s the real scandal here, from what I can see.

    All we can do now is hold our noses, pay this man the $20k if he is capable of doing the job, and not vote for anymore budgets until the books are in correct order. I’m looking at you, Mr. Friend.

    You seem like a decent fellow and we obviously know a lot of the same people, but you have never justified to me why on earth you voted for the 2013 budget when you knew we couldn’t even say with any certainty what money we had or where it was. I think there is enough blame to go around on a lot of these issues.

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