THIS E-MAIL WAS SENT TO PRESIDENT OF EVANSVILLE CITY COUNCILMAN JOHN FRIEND BY CITY COUNCIL ATTORNEY SCOTT DANKS. Â THIS E-MAIL WAS PRINTED WITH THE PERMISSION OF ATTORNEY DANKS.
John;
Apparently the City County Observer enjoys a rather large readership among the members of the Evansville Bar Association.
I have been inundated with telephone calls from members of our Bar inquiring about the amount of monies spent by the City on attorney fees.
I have also been accused of “covering” for Ted by members of the Bar and some Council Members. This is somewhat true as I think that good legal representation is a necessity of good government.
However, to avoid the appearance that the Council has it’s “head buried” on this issue, I suggest that the Council request Mr. Ziemer to provide the Council with his and his associates/partners billable hours to the City and other governmental entities.
Please advise whether you concur. If so, I’ll make the request.
Scott Danks
About time someone take this Ziemer on. Give him hell Mr. Danks.
Danks is on a vendetta. Don’t trust anything Danks does. When was the last time Danks did anything that wasn’t Pro-Danks? I (as well as the rest of the Dem party) wish Danks would go away. He has no self control and anything he touches is tainted.
Good job Danks! But please update your photo. I think this one is when you were in your 30s.
I also would like to see the billable hours that Mr. Ziemer charged the city for legal work. I was told that Mr. Ziemer was paid about $1.4 million dollar to do legal work for the city in 2013. I can’t believe that this figure could be true. If it is true it seems like something might be rotten in Denmark! Isn’t Mr. Ziemer the Mayors top political fundraiser?
Come on watchtower Mr. Danks is still handsome after all these years. Take it to Ziemer Mr. Danks.
Keep up the good work Mr. Danks
All these damn lawyers and even Scott Danks are not interested in saving the people of Evansville any money.
They are only interested in getting their greedy paws on the growing city budget for legal work. They are only pissed at Ziemer because they want to be like Ziemer.
What rate per hour did the city agree to in Mr. Ziemer’s contract?
$ 1,400,000.00 divided by 2080 = $ 673.08 / hour if Mr. Ziemer worked a normal work year for the city.
This is 40 hours / week 52 weeks per year.
I doubt Mr. Ziemer went all year without taking Holidays, sick days, vacations etc.
I highly doubt Mr. Ziemer did not represent other clients.
It would also be unreasonable to consider he worked all day every day on city business.
Is he allowed to invoice at the agreed upon rate if others performed work? I hope we’re not paying lawyer rates for staffers.
Thanks for doing the math. It’s pretty mind-blowing! I’m just not sure how this will be justified, but it will be interesting, to put it mildly.
I applaud the effort to shine a light on the legal bills.
I suspect that Ziemer’s contract (prepared by him and billed to the City ????)has different rates for lawyers vs. staffers. The idea thst Ziemer himself billed $ 1.4 Million–his hours only–can’t be true, as the above calculation shows.
Nevertheless, these billings need a LOT of scrutiny, let the analysis and communication to the public begin.
I read somewhere a few years back that a lawyer billed his client because he “thought about their case” in the shower ? Any shower billings in there, Ted ?
This is a good thing Mr. Danks has chosen to do, and he is doing it through the right channels. I’m anxious for Councilman Friend to give him the “go ahead.” I’m even more anxious to see the answer, if one is given.
Good point about the proper channels. Effective way to neutralize the blowback.
It could get pretty unpleasant, Ziemer could call a cross march to distract.
I expect something bigger in the way of distraction. We may be seeing a free three-ring- circus brought to the “back forty.” That would also give “someone” a chance to check cars for “wrong” bumper-stickers.
Danks is on a cross hunt. No, actually I support Danks on this issue.
Yes, I’ve seen that little trick before. Anything to throw off the adversaries. Who does he think he’s b.s.ing with tactics like cross marches and blowback schemes? They may have worked in the 20th century, but not in the 21st. Get in the game, Theodore.
This is a great thing that Scott is doing, as usual.
And before I forget, his comments about Winnecke on Facebook were spot on to the core.
I read a while back that City Council is approving all of the outsourced IT Firm (Mark Rolley) invoices, “because we can” per Adams (like !).
Why not that same ‘hands on’ treatment for all of the Legal Bills which flow through ? No better way to get your arms around a problem than to touch it (the bills).
This is analogous to a small business owner reviewing the A/P invoices while he’s signing the checks. Business 101.
This is an excellent idea if honest and open government is the goal.
ZSWS billable hours for the EVSC should also be made available to the taxpayers, along with the billable hours for all legal firms doing business with the city and the EVSC.
___
Lets bring this government out of the dark ages where it comes to financial reporting.
Yes, I want to see the billing invoices along with a transcript of all the conversations regarding all invoices. And make it quick. I’m running out of patience and patients. No funny stuff. Got that?
Danks was a huge financial backer of Rick Davis. Ziemer was a huge financial supporter of Winnecke. Winnecke won and Zeimer was rewarded for his support. Had Davis won, Danks would be in that position now. He was hoping to cash in the same way Zeimer has. This is sour grapes.
Which should either get rewarded??
There is the problem. Cutting off the favors, patronage and sweetheart deals and serving the people is called “stabbing people in the back” in this godforsaken town.
Inquiring mind: My good friend served on Davis’ campaign and tells me that Danks made it clear that he was NOT willing to serve as the city’s attorney. Apparently, private practice is much more profitable if you bill honestly.
So, let’s see the math….$150 per hour divided into $1,400,000 equals 9,333 fours divided by 2080 hours in one working year, i.e. if you do not have any vacation or holiday pay, equals approx 4.5 attorneys working forty hours per week and, of course no vacation or holidays off. If anyone believes that crap, well, I just inherited the old Henderson bridge and will make YOU a deal….wise up Evansville, excuse me, “Suckersville”
Has anyone seen the CP article about 33 dogs in deplorable condition taken from a hording situation in Pike County by Vanderburgh Humane Society? I can not read it because I do not subscribe. I bring this up because 1% of Mr. Ziemer’s salary from the city would go a long way to improve the life of all those poor animals and I am sure he doesn’t give a crap.
There are things outside the world of Evansville politics. There is life and suffering. Please consider getting your head in another place than all the crud that happens at the civic center and get out into the world to help make it a better place.
Through no fault of their own, these puppies have had a miserable young life so far. You could make it so much better with a contribution to Vanderburgh Humane Society right now. What is the best thing you could do today?
VHS is a private group that WENT to Pike County to get these pups, they DID NOT remove them from the situation.
Keeping with the legality theme. Article in the Posey County News for March 4 Weekly paper. There is a close resemblance to Earthcare.
A John Shamo was sentence in a Posey oil well scam. Collected over a million dollars from investors with the guaranteed that their investment in oil wells would produce a profit. However, the money was never used for that, just put in his pocket.
Investigation started when a investor contacted the “Secretary of State office”. Investigation revealed that Shamo exaggerated his expertise and lied about his products to scam his victims out of money, said Indiana Securities Commissioner Carol Mihalik. She said that all investors must do their homework before making any investment decisions.
He pleaded to class C felonies for selling unlicensed securities and failure to register to sell securities.
http://www.indianainvestmentwatch.com is said to be used to avoid being a victim to fraud.
Sound like a familiar scam?
I’m somewhat confused. Wouldn’t the city council not have access to this info already thru the city? If the city has paid out that much money in 2013 – do we not have any documentation for what it was for? We have to request it from the person that we have already paid? Just wondering!
Good job Mr Danks. The whole council needs watched over. Especially the Mayoy
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