IS IT TRUE the People of Evansville Deserve to Know the State of the City Finances and that has been the story behind the alleged recording and selective distribution of the 2012 audit exit interview from the day it was done?…in spite of the fact that the mainstream media has piled on and allowed itself to be a forum for direct character assassination over the course of the last three days until today no recording or transcript has been released to the public at large?…from the Evansville Courier and Press printing that the City County Observer was the recipient of said recording and the publisher of a transcript of that recording without so much as picking up the phone to contact Joe Wallace was simply inexcusable for a newspaper in the family of Scripps-Howard publications?…they did eventually remove all references to Mr. Wallace as secretly and silently as a band of politicians led by then Mayor Weinzapfel and now Mayor Winnecke attempted to take away the Homestead Tax Credit back in 2009?…we will take the removal of that reference by both the Courier and WFIE to be apologies as both pulled the kindergarten journalism trick of being lured into publishing something untrue without even trying to verify the content with a well known source?
IS IT TRUE that Friday’s IIT that outlined how we had not even been called is now the fourth most read article ever in the CCO?…the other three articles are of national interest and were picked up on the wires drawing tens of thousand of reads each?…it is very safe to say that Friday’s IS IT TRUE is overwhelmingly the most read article of local interest since the CCO started?…in spite of the tabloid feeding frenzy of the weekend fueled by the CP, WFIE, and Brad Byrd’s interview with John Friend that was filled with 2nd hand and 3rd hand claims, the reality of the situation is that the status of Evansville’s financial management has been in serious trouble for nearly four years as evidenced by the following:
• The City of Evansville cannot today May 19, 2014 obtain a clean audit and the Winnecke Administration has not balanced the City’s payroll account since he took office, which means that the payroll account has not been reconciled since December 31, 2010
• The State Board of Accounts tried for months to assist the Winnecke Administration in reconciling the payroll account, and they were not successful
• Nearly $2 million dollars has been spent since taking office on software support through Tyler Technology to try to fix a problem that should have never happened if the Weinzapfel Administration had taken an elementary school class in switching programs.
• The City of Evansville will have to begin its 2013 audit with the State Board of Accounts in the next few months without reconciliation from the previous year.
• The failure of the Winnecke Administration to address the problems within the City’s financial records subjects the tax payers to a higher cost of doing business with the outside world and can lead to higher interest rates when we borrow
• The refusal to acknowledge the problems with the City’s financial records continues the cycle of secrecy related to the people’s money as has been carried on for over 10 years now
• To fix a problem, we must first acknowledge it exists, and we are running out of time to prevent a third year without a clean bill of health for the City of Evansville’s finances.
IS IT TRUE today’s press conference called and presided over by Evansville City Councilwoman Stephanie Brinkerhoff-Riley is a golden opportunity to break the machine that has attacked her every way imaginable over the weekend?…at this point all of the information required to provide the people of Evansville with a good snapshot of what the state of the city’s finances are is out there for those who are inclined to analyze it?…we hope many will and we also hope to see the exit conferences of Indiana city audits recording and released to the public within 30 days for the indefinite future?…the cities and the state need to remember who pays their bills?
IS IT TRUE that until the machine had a meltdown at the thought of the recording or a manuscript being released, there was no reason for anyone who may have had a copy to release it?…the copies that were in places of safe keeping would have stayed that way forever if the final report would have been released in a timely manner AND if Councilman John Friend and others could have kept their silence as every one of those who were preserving the truth for future comparison purposes did?…the reality of the situation is that today’s press conference and the recording itself would not have ever happened if the government of the City of Evansville had done their job in the first place?…today is the day that the chaotically organized and machine led SALEM WITCH TRIAL should end and for the real solution to another legacy failure to be implemented?
IS IT TRUE that the sound did not work on either the Courier and Press or the 14WFIE websites of the press conference?…all we can say about this is how convenient and how expected is silencing a live feed that had over 300 people logged on to listen?…the CCO has had serious log in problems this morning?…we will correct this but isn’t that timing pretty curious?
unfortunately I could not attend, but I hear reports from those who were there that Stephanie acquitted herself very well.
Cyber bullies actions by AG Holder. Interesting, looks like some of’em hacked Alcoa, and other private commerce through their military.
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/u-s-charges-china-cyber-spying-american-firms-n108706
You can see a shart on IR/elf signature aperture systems, might watch who hits the restroom first.
City Councilman Conor O’Daniel told reporter he signed a confidentiality agreement at start of the same audit exit conference that Stephanie Brinkerhoff Riley attended and recorded.
Stephanie Brinkerhoff Riley told reporter she doesn’t recall signing any agreement, and if she did she took it to apply to the audit and not the exit conference that she then recorded and released.
“I don’t recall†is a standard legalese for I’m not going to tell you the truth.
Moreover it sounds a bit beyond belief that that she can’t recall signing a confidentiality agreement but conveniently is ready with the excuse ready that she took it to mean it only covered the audit document and not the exit interview.
What sort of lawyer wouldn’t read a document that she was asked to sign her name to? Besides, doen’t it call to question whether she reads all the documents she signs as council member, especially as vice president of council.
Willful disregard of a confidentiality agreement after signing it raises other critical questions about reliability, honesty, ethics, and trust.
Truth Serum,
Yeah, yeah we get the Confidentiality Agreement. Nice Spin !
Now tell us what you think about those payroll accounts.
What about the multiple versions of bank recs submitted DURING the audit ?? Wow, I’ll bet that bred a lot of confidence in the State Boys !
She failed to mention that not a single CPA was on the audit or managed it. In fact, they have since promoted Quentin Tarantino who has supposedly passed the CPA exam to manage the audit. He will be filming his latest blood and gore movie about the City Audit as well.
I wish I could have found it strange that the CCO was knocked off line and the C&P and Channel 14 had audio issues with the press conference… that conveniently didn’t until SBR started speaking.
Instead I found it utterly predictable. Who do these guys think they’re fooling?
Incredible. The C&P and WFIE are true “lackeys” for the Administration.
SBR can next call for an investigation of the manipulation of media. As Animal said, we’ve come to expect it.
FYI, in the print version of the C&P this morning:
front page article on the press conference, with NO MENTION of: 1) Where the event would be held; or 2) When the event would start.
So, if you are an elderly voter who does not go on-line, you were foreclosed from participating in this assembly. That is wrong.
Well it’s said that you can fool some of the people all the time and all the people some of the time but you can’t fool all the people all the time.
If these media outlets did purposely disable the audio for public broadcast then they are just Hack Media at best. They critize the CCO and openly call it a “Blog” but they are no better IMHO. They are really losing credibility. Wait I just remembered that one can’t deflate a flat tire. It’s already flat. Even though it’s only flat on one side (bottom). Just as one can’t deflate a flat tire one muse ask themselves is a media outlet that has no real value or credibility can really lose it’s credibility? Is that possible? You’ll have to decide for yourself.
How creepy is that, turning off the audio just as the VP of our City Council starts speaking about an official meeting that basically is telling us that we have been mismanaged at best and possibly robbed without even knowing it…. yet?
Awful funny how our local government only seems to get things done when they are things shutting down, ain’t it?
I say we should all vow to kick them ALL out of office the next time we can…..
CCO was knocked off line due to overwhelming traffic. WFIE 14’s mic got knocked down and had to be put back on the podium. I don’t no about C&P
I noticed the loss of web site today at the CCO. I figured (guessing but and educated guess) that it was caused by a overload of people coming to read the web site along with a few well placed DoS packets perhaps? Like you said. How convenient was that.
Did anyone threaten to kill anyone today? 🙁
I know I was anxious to read todays IIT NEWSPAPER ARTICLE.
I don’t read that Blog that calls itself a news paper anymore. That’s the biggest rage I’ve ever seen. And I’ve see that rag working behind the scenes before in my professional lift. I didn’t like the way they did business then and I still don’t like the way they do business. And don’t ever forget it’s a business for them not a public service. No it’s far from doing a good public service IMHO.
It’s good to see the CCO up and running good today.
I went out the other day and noticed lots of people sitting around a WiFi Hot spot and reading the CCO. LOL.
What’s the frequency DAN? >>>> Secret Agent Man… Secret Agent Man.
Scene fads away ad Max Smart gets a phone call on his Shoe phone.
Fads to black………………….
Thank you, Stephanie Brinkerhoff-Riley, for being the “Whistle Blower” that Evansville so sorely needs!
Thank you, CCO, for giving the Councilwoman the podium she needed to shine the light on the truth about the audit. Without your website, it would have been virtually impossible for SBR to get the public’s attention to the situation that exists.
Shame on Mayor Winnecke, John Friend, and all of the others who have tried to present her as a villaness, unworthy of the public trust. It is you who seem not to deserve the trust of the electorate.
Shame on you, Evansville Courier, for libelling the public official who saw fit to “blow the whistle” on questionable and possibly corrupt practices in the City’s finances. Real newspapers, who maintain their charge to inform the public, would have jumped at a chance to cover the story of a public official with the courage to do what SBR has done. Instead, you took the “low road” to stay in the good graces of a Mayor whose days in office are likely numbered. In doing so, I expect that you have hastened your own eminent demise.
I wonder why we have these problems and these city council people and the Mayor are fighting the release of the truth? Is there someone holding a smoking gun to their heads?
Who in this town has a history of using violence along with Gambling, Drinking and Prostitution?
Is there a Vega Connection here? There obviously is a problem with the books and that’s never any good right?
I thought that John Friend was one of the good guys but he’s acting different from what I would expect. Who’s controlling him?
We get a whole lot of money from one place in town. The same place that lead to the Judicial System saying that the Smoking Ordinance was unconstitutional in IN. Why when so many people were for the smoking ban ordinance, Even a Hearth surgeon, did they let big money get in the way of passing a clean no smoking ordinance. Could the same forces be at work here?
Thankfully there are always a few brave soles that stand up for the public and not the bad guys. We need more people on city council like Stephanie
You go girl!
Next big financial headline:
City that can’t balance its books floats $545 million bond issue.
Sewers before stadiums ring a bell?
I was honored to have been able to attend today. What a great crowd and what an overwhelming amount of support…
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10101978876891770&set=a.10100349864705250.2585620.12913772&type=1
1I love listening to the C&P’s recording when the crowd gives a Bronx cheer for SBR after they asked her if can anyone trust you.
Could you clarify that last sentence ? I though C&P had no audio ? And a Bronx cheer–why ?
The C&P has a sound cloud recording of the press conference. A reporter, I think it was Martin, asked if she could be trusted. She replied I think the voters trust me and a Bronx cheer broke out which you can hear in the c&p sound recording.
Surely you jest re: payroll ?
“The City of Evansville cannot today May 19, 2014 obtain a clean audit and the Winnecke Administration has not balanced the City’s payroll account since he took office, which means that the payroll account has not been reconciled since December 31, 2010”
• “The State Board of Accounts tried for months to assist the Winnecke Administration in reconciling the payroll account, and they were not successful
”
Payroll Bank Recs are the easiest of all ! You have one deposit to fund Net Pay, the paychecks clear very quickly and your ending Book has to equal the OS checks (oh, wait, I also saw they were showing OS checks at 12/31 which had cleared in prior periods).
I am calling FOUL on the notion that the State Board actually tried to ASSIST the City in reconciling the Payroll Account ? That’s not allowed ! Are we going to get a bill from SBOA for its failed attempts to reconcile ?
Why not ?!!
Harding & Shymanski billed $ 76,000 for bank rec assistance and accomplished this: ZERO.
The Indy CPA firm Umbaugh & Associates has racked up over $ 750,000 of charges to “assist in bank reconciliations” and accomplished this: WE DON’T KNOW–they won’t publish the freakin’ report !!
It’s funny how soon we forget the details in this story. For those of you touting her as a hero and whistleblower, she did not release anything publicly until she was “caught”. She recorded the interview and emailed it to another private person, not to the public. She knew that the jig was up and she decided to fall on her own sword by posting it herself. According to the state board of accounts, she was already in violation so how much damage could be done if she did a full scale public release? She could only stand to gain support from the blood-thirsty CAVE mob and hope to spin this into her being a whistleblower. Anyways, who is she blowing the whistle on? She’s the VP of the body that controls spending. Are you trying to tell me that she could not address this directly in the several council sessions that have been held since the exit conference? Is the only way that Evansville’s accounting can be cleaned up is through feeding the CAVE mob? If David Garrett had never mentioned undisclosed details about the meeting to John Friend, SBR would still be sitting on the recording. Do we have any resaon to think oherwise? She had already held onto it for two months. She is so concerned about the city finances that last week she voted on bonding the IU medical school project. These are all legitmate things to ask yourself, but I’m sure that the only response that I’ll get is personal attacks to distract the CAVE mob from the truth.
P.S. Most people need to go back to civics class to understand how our type of government works. The same people that cry for efficient less-costly government are the same ones that think that the people should be in the middle of every decision. Stop micro-managing. We’ve elected these people to represent us, but we want to constantly look over their shoulders and second guess everything. We live in a representative democracy. We elect the people to represent us and make decisions in our best interest. The checks and balances are with the mayor, council and the courts. Honestly, the only time the people are involved in the process and have a say in how their goverment operates is on election day and according to two weeks ago only 5.66% of us care enough to participate. Most of you asking for the audit results wouldn’t know what to do with them if you had them. You’ll wait for Joe or Ron to explain the results to you and you’ll take their opinion as gospel. Also, people are cheering when SBR mentions changing the laws to meet your bloodlust, but screm bloody murder at the prospect of Obama changing a law. It’s like people are wrapped so securely in their blanket of hypocrisy that they don’t even see it.
Go sit down in the corner and shut up Phillip. You don’t have a clue what the people need or should know.
Why don’t you run for office if you think you are such a political hot shot? No, no interest in running for a office and letting the general public vote for you. I doubt you could run and get elected as Dog Catcher. You are pathetic IMHO.
Like I predicted, no intelligent rebuttal. Just name calling. It’s funny that you challenge me to run for office while you hide behind a peudonym. You can’t even muster up the courage to use your real name.
“the only time the people are involved in the process and have a say in how their government operates is on election day”
I believe this is a quote from a community organizer, isn’t it?
I sure as heck hope not. I don’t believe that I have ever said a phrase that our Organizer-In-Chief has said. It’s the truth. We, the people, speak at the ballot box.
Phoenix, you’re a hell of a predictor. Your handler’s bosses are looking inept, unable to properly run this city. Money seems to be missing. Nobody is telling you anything of import because you are a rank gossip, but your blathering often provides a useful distraction for your handler’s handler. Not this time. An ace political operative like you isn’t worth a cup of coffee to those people. You’ve helped focus attention on this scandal and it isn’t going away. You’ve blown up in their face.
They’re having trouble reining you in. You overvalued the attaboys and sops they tossed you. I expect Bob Jones to contact you soon to offer you an um…position to get you off the chess board. They’ve got urgent things to figure out. Excuses to invent. Not the time for you to be out stirring up more trouble and embarrassment for them. Play your cards right and the Old National stockholders might stake you to and advanced degree from Capella.
First of all, get off of your slave “handler” talk. I’m a man and more of an adult than you could ever dream to become. Man or woman up and get out of the shadows. I’m sure that plenty of you that run your mouth on here were present at today’s press conference, yet no one had the courage to stand up to me and say the same vitriol that you love to spit on here. Like I’ve always said before, you’re trolls that love the anonymity of the internet to make yourself feel like you’re important. I’ve never seen you add anything intelligent to any conversation on here. You’ll just make a couple of juvenile remarks and yell upstairs for your mom to make you a sandwich for lunch.
I doubt he’ll be offered more than a one-way coach class ticket to a destination at least 1,000 miles away. Greyhound Coach, that is.
” Also, people are cheering when SBR mentions changing the laws to meet your bloodlust, but screm bloody murder at the prospect of Obama changing a law. It’s like people are wrapped so securely in their blanket of hypocrisy that they don’t even see it.”
You’re really not making a lot of sense with that statement. Most of us with liberal leanings have no problem with the idea of the President working to change a law. The only “blanket” I see here is your blanket insults to the posters here.
There was an air of civility here, even from “Truth Serum”. You showed up, and the civility flew out the window.
Phyllip,
Are you sure your timeline is in order ? What if some City Councilmen received a copy of the audio recording far before the conversation you cite between DG and JF ?
What say you to that possibility ?
I’m only going by the information that was made public. If I wanted to speculate, I would say that it would be a safe bet that she gave the recording to several people in her inner circle, including Al Lindsey and Cheryl Musgrave. Regardless of who she gave the recording, it would be in violation of SBOA’s definition of confidentiality for the entire process.
You may be right. The reality remains that until John Friend and the Mayor went nuts over the fact that there was a recording none were released no matter how many there were out there. Maybe Riley chose her friends wisely. One thing is for sure and that is that the hoopla of the weekend started by John Friend and Mayor Winnecke is what forced Riley’s hand to release the recording. I bet those two fools wish they had kept their damn mouths shut now.
Someone please tell Conner O’Daniel that his blathering about he and SBR signing a confidentiality agreement is nonsense.
The expiration date on that thing is way past due, in fact it’s got mold all over it.
If we had any real reporters in this town they would be calling the SBOA and Suzzane Crouch and asking them what the problem is.
“If we had any real reporters in this town they would be calling the SBOA and Suzzane Crouch and asking them what the problem is.”
Bing-O, BB! If we had any real reporters in this town, they’d be all over the story of a City Councilwoman who had the guts to be a “Whistle Blower” on the Mayor, City Controller, and the SBOA.
Rumor has it that Friend showed up for the City Council meeting and is chairing it. That indicates to me that the Cover-up Crew is now in full panic mode.
Just the opposite I’m afraid.
Friend has his whitewashed audit and now they are teeing up SBR to be cast as reckless, erratic kook.
Just see Weaver’s apperance on 14 last night and Winnecke’s statment.
Winnecke says the books have always been balanced and who is not to beleive him when he has his whitewashed audit WFIE and the CP are there to back him to the hilt.
If you’re not wired into the whole story and most people aren’t what would you believe. You’re going to believe the machine’s version.
They started this morning with the “exit confernce” is not the final say and the questions this morning continued that narrative. Then the annoucement of the second exit conference this afternoon.
The CCO did all it could but the machine won again.
Weaver is an opportunistic little POS. He reminds me of Pee Wee Herman on crack.
That’s an insult to Pee-wee Herman!
That is also an insult to crack !
Same goes for John Friend.
John Friend is Uncle Fester!
Can even the average voter really swallow the one about a “second exit interview”?? I’ve learned not to expect a lot from the politically un-involved in these matters, but that is a real stretch.
You can’t swallow it because you’re sane and informed.
All the average voter knows is that Winnecke is being backed by the SBOA, the City Council and WFIE and S&P, if they know that much. Who do you think they’re going to believe?
Then, the rest of in crowd, and the machine backers would nod their heads in agreement, like the trained seals they are, if Winnecke said he once beat Usain Bolt in the 100M dash, had a lower golf score than Kim Jong-il, and was smarter than Stephen Hawking
Everyone knows that the City Controller’s Office is a joke. The County is on the same software and the State Board has no issues with them! They even get their bills paid in less than six months. Rumplebeancounter and Jenny Collins are accounting flunkies. If they were so good then they wouldn’t need to spend hundreds of thousands on Umbaugh and Harding to do their jobs. That is what the real problem is here folks. Weinzapfel couldn’t put competent people in the Controller’s Office and since he helped Lloyd get elected, the same people are in there messing everything up.
Great point.
I saw the State Board’s very own Sheldon Cooper in the background at the Press Conference today. He was playing Rock-paper-scissors-lizard-Spock with Russ Lloyd. Bazinga!
Am I the only one irked that she went out of her way to defend Weinzapfel? As if his negligent ‘leadership’ didn’t contribute to this mess at all?
No, you are not. Weinzapfel’s incompetence is the root of all of these problems. The one thing that Riley and Winnecke seem to agree on is that Weinzapfel should never ever be accountable for anything.
Weinzapful does indeed have responsibility and culpability in this giant mess.
However, I don’t think it serves SBR or the community to go down that rabbit hole. Then you’re in the weeds of how much of the responsibility is Weinzapful’s and how much is Winnecke’s. Keep the focus on Winnecke, he is the current mayor and the one responsible.
Besides they’re two heads of the same snake.
Weinzapfel’s stupid decision to fail to parallel the two programs is the root of this whole problem. Where can I find an opportunity to destroy the accounting system for a $300M city budget and be rewarded with a chancellor’s job at over $200k a year? The ex mayor makes the term EF-UP-MOVE-UP look like a great life plan.
Just the threat of using $900k in your campaign account can get you a lot of favors.
That is odd…..when that same argument is made but about Obama and Bush, there is foaming at the mouth.
I want to talk about it. I want to know who is to blame and how much they are to blame. No free passes should be doled out due to favoritism. We either hold everyone accountable on the same level or we don’t, and go on being a cesspool of corruption in Southwest Indiana……
Okay, this is AMAZING to me, but I just saw it with my own eyes. The Poll on the Courier site is free to vote in. The question asks whether SBR should be prosecuted for disclosing the audit results, which is crazy enough, but it is running 51% “Yes.” I hope CCO voters go there (just this once) and vote “No.”
This may come as a shock to the politicos in corruptville,–they can “dance with the Stars” of this cover up all they want, —the readers (except Phillip of course) have enough on the ball to add 2 and 2 even without an accounting degree.
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