For Immediate Release
May 9, 2012
Contact Stephanie Brinkerhoff Riley, 812-499-3384
I am pleased that the City of Evansville has decided to walk away from the deal with Earthcare Energy. I commend Mayor Winnecke for doing the right thing. I don’t think he had a choice, given the research done by the City County Observer, Dan McGinn, and myself. The public reaction that followed was both justified and expected. Although I believed this project was suspect on its face, you didn’t have to get far beneath the surface to expose some serious issues.
I am hugely disappointed in the performance of GAGE in even suggesting the project, and for their complete failure in properly vetting the project. I frankly, question the future of the organization and why the City is contributing so much to its budget. The fact that Debbie Dewey has refused to report how much of the money the City is giving GAGE for her compensation, is enough to warrant looking at this entity at budget time. We would be better served to keep at least some of that money for City Council to have its own budget to perform the duties that GAGE was either unwilling or unable to do.
Evansville is now galvanized against making loans to start-up businesses and is skeptical about traditional incentive packages. If a group of entrepreneurs that really have the potential to be the next Intel or Apple were to apply for help today, it would be political suicide for Mayor Winnecke or any member of the City Council to support a loan to that business. This is unfortunately one of the consequences of poor vetting and rushing the vote. Hopefully, in time the Mayor and the City Council can regain the confidence of the people through transparency and competent performance.
Now we must find a way to recover the $184,000 that Earthcare owes to the taxpayers of Evansville. Let’s work together to make sure that there are no more vetting fiascos, and that Evansville is seen by the outside world as a competitive and desirable place to do business.
Keep taking it to them, Stephanie!!!
Don’t let them off the hook.
1) Evansville needs to recover its $200,000
2) GAGE needs to be defunded and disbanded
3) We need a full accounting of how this near-tragedy happened.
The sky is falling, the sky is falling! And I’m running for Mayor in 2015! Pictures at 10:00 on WFIE!
The sky was not only falling Chicken_Little, Evansville was about to throw $4.8 Million of good money after the $184,000 that apparently has already been lost. Dewey was on the news Monday touting how all was great with Earthcare and Ziemer was talking about closing yesterday. When the guys running the City are as oblivious as the monkeys on the monkey boat then our sky is falling. You and many others need to acknowledge that Stephanie bailed out the old boys from another disaster.
What does Earthcare owe us $184,000 for? I wouldn’t hold my breath on getting any of that money back. Earthcare will cease to exist in a few days and Haney and crew will be doing business as a new company name looking for their next sucker.
Because they were given a $200,000 loan by the City of Evansville and only paid back $16,000. That check was certainly written without any fanfare wasn’t it?
2 loans? Most amazing is that Mr. Lindsey voted against this disaster and Demo Council members that think they are way smarter didn’t. Explain that.
There is plenty of blame to go around concerning the EarthCare fiasco.
GAGE/Dewey’s lack of professionalism in researching this business proposal certainly stands out. This deal should have never been pitched to the Mayor of Evansville.
Since it WAS pitched to Lloyd Winnecke, he should certainly have handed it to the city’s corporation counsel Ted Ziemer for a legal opinion. I am all but certain that the results of even something as pedestrian as a LexisNexis background search on the officers of EarthCare would have produced enough information to raise red flags to such an experienced attorney as Ziemer. That was two missed opportunities that should never have happened.
A third opportunity presented itself when this proposal came before the Evansville Common Council. I believe that some on the council thought that the Mayor and GAGE must have certainly done their due diligence or else this would not have been put on the council’s agenda.
Even so, the first council hearing is an informational one where discussion is supposed to take place. If there are questions presented for which answers are not forthcoming, then the proposal should have been tabled for as long as it took to get the answers. That did not happen either as we all are aware that this was hurried through to a vote at the earliest opportunity.
Politicians take oaths that must be upheld, and paid professionals are bound by ethical behavior standards. I believe that in the end, at least three individuals understood that and pushed to do the right thing.
My sincere appreciation goes out to Councilwoman Stephanie Brinkerhoff-Riley, Councilman Dan McGinn, and City Corporation Counsel Ted Ziemer.
Although this process took far too long to conclude, the final decision was the correct one.
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It is apparent that two of the three attorneys who hold city council seats could see right through the EarthCare proposal. They recognized it as a potential disaster. Those two attorneys also hold different political party affiliations.
Connor O’Daniels vote on this issue leaves one scratching their head. Was he really not able to work his way through this deal and see it for what it was? That does not seem plausible to me.
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I fully endorse SBR’s idea of defunding GAGE, and using that money to purchase services from an out-of-state CPA firm (perhaps Saco, ME), who will report only to the City Council, and give the Council members the good, the bad and the ugly of any deal Council is asked to bless. Winner, winner, chicken dinner !
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