GAGE Rejects Freedom of Information Act Request from CCO

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GAGE

Only 48 hours after filing a Freedom of Information Act request with GAGE, the office of Mayor Winnecke, and the Evansville Controllers office, GAGE has rejected the FOIA request through attorney Krista Lockyear. The letter to Tim Eckels, the Publisher of the CCO from GAGE asserted that GAGE in not a public entity and is completely separate from any government entity and therefor is not subject to the Freedom of Information Act.

There has been no response to the identical requests that were served upon Mayor Winnecke’s office and the office of City Controller Russ Lloyd Jr.

The request was for information gathered in the vetting process by GAGE which lead to president Debbie Dewey’s recommendation that the Evansville City Council should approve a loan of $4.8 Million to Earthcare Energy. All of the proceeds for such a loan to be made by the City of Evansville to Earthcare Energy will be from taxpayer dollars. GAGE reportedly receives a total of $375,000 per year in financial support from the City of Evansville and Vanderburgh County. It is not known at this time what percentage of GAGE’s overall funding is from public funds. GAGE also derives income by leasing out space in the Innovation Pointe Building. It has been reported that GAGE pays the Evansville Redevelopment Commission $10 per year in lease payments. The extent of GAGE support from private sources has not been disclosed.

GAGE’s Letter to Publisher of CCO:

Eckels_letter_4-19-12

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

35 COMMENTS

  1. Are you surprised to get told no by a place that won’t even answer simple yes or no questions. File a complaint with the Public Access Counselor and see just how non-public GAGE is. If local governemtn pulled their funding GAGE would be gone quickly.

    • GotYourBack,

      you are exactly right, file a ‘Formal Complaint’ with the IN Public Access Counselor at the link below. They will rule the due diligence documents PUBLIC records. If GAGE still doesn’t turn them over, you can get attorneys to file a lawsuit to get the documents (attorneys do this on contingency due to the high likelihood of winning), and at the end the losing side (GAGE) has to turn over the records, pay CCO’s legal fees, and, if it has already kicked in from Mitch’s recent bill, pay a fine.

      http://www.in.gov/pac/

    • I know a board member of GAGE who says Dewey won’t even release her own salary to her own board. That is the height of arrogance. That woman is paid with public dollars and this Earthcare thing is all about public money. The public has a right to know what went into this decision.

    • Time out folks read the article “There has been no response to the identical requests that were served upon Mayor Winnecke’s office and the office of City Controller Russ Lloyd Jr.”. Lets jump on GAGE as they have said NO, but let’s give some time to the Mayor & Controller to at least answer the FOIA. Hopefully it’s NOT business as usual!

      • The law gives them 20 business days to respond. If at the end of 20 days we have no answer or if they refuse without a basis we will publish their refusal without edit or bias.

  3. Don’t tell me anyone in Evansville is the least bit surprised. Business as usual. Different name same game. Maybe the next Mayoral election the Democrat voters will participate.

      • actually many people who traditionally vote by absentee ballot in the fourth ward didn’t vote at all because Louise didn’t pickup their applications which she traditionally did.

  4. Isn’t Winnecke on the board? Is he okay with secrecy. It seems like GAGE is just there to use for hiding information from the public.

  5. Krista Lockyear is GAGE’s attorney? I guess Missy was a yes vote on the Earthcare loan by default. She would never have voted against her best friend’s biggest client. What a joke.

  7. Since Gage doesn’t think they are accountable to the taxpayers maybe the city should stop their part of the funding for Gage. What a joke, who are these people who think they can spend our money without any accountability. Lockyear, Mosby, Weaver, Winnecke, how mcuh money will they pilfer and waste in the next 3 plus years? When will the voters wake up.

  8. Can we have a recall election? I voted FOR Davis last time because I liked them both but Davis better; but I’ll vote AGAINST Winnecke the next time.

  9. what is Gage’s tax code designation? If I wrote them a “donation” check would it be tax deductible ? If so then it is a publically funded institution and must disclose or lose their preferred tax status…. That is an easy enough complaint to file…IRS…. and it might carry a finders fee to the complainant. Last I heard it was 10%…..

    • I suspect the tax designation for GAGE is 501(c)(3), which is the same as schools, libraries, hospitals, animal shelters, child care facilities, etc. But you are incorrect when you say that it is a public funded institution and must disclose or lose their preferred tax status. It is obvious that you do not understand the Internal Revenue Code as it relates to not-for-profit institutions.

      Internal Revenue is very unlikely to pull the tax-exempt status of any public-private organization. I do not believe you could even call it a governmental organization.

      IRS would not honor a complaint of the type you are suggesting. And the “finders fee” is limited to the amount IRS is able to recover in unpaid taxes.

      I do believe a complaint under the FOIA would result in an order for GAGE to comply with the request.

      It appears to me that the arrogance shown by Ms. Dewey is much greater than the “Opus One” party. What happened to that board?

      • actually the only reason the IRS allows a tax deduction for donations to any entity is because the organization’s purpose is to provide a public service, and by allowing a tax exemption, the puplic is funding that service. There are very strict legal parameters that are regulated by the organizations’ accepted “purpose” and the IRS code…. if an organization violates those parameters, like a Church endorsing a Political Candidate, their non-profit status could be removed and the donations received could lose their deductable status and make them subject to tax… bases for finders fee…. there are other types of “public” organizations that receive preferential treatment by the IRS… at this point no-one is telling us what GAGE is, if they have a tax exempt status and these acts are in violation of that charter the IRS could do them great harm….

        • So where does negotiating secret deals with out of state people to start a business using public funds fit into this? How does refusing to disclose details to an elected official on the GAGE board of directors fit into this? It seems like the City is using GAGE to get around the law.

  10. Looks like we’re in for three and a half long years of corruption…

  12. Hey, Melcher, Shetler, and Winnecke! Are the 3 elected officials on the executive committee going to sit by and let this secret deal happen or are you going to be transparent like you say you are?

  13. Melcher is up for re-election this year. He better not sit by and let this secret deal stuff happen without making a statement if he wants my support.

    • So who else in on the Gage executive committee and why are they letting this go down the path of the Homestead Tax Credit secrecy fiasco.

      • If the Republicans see Melcher as weak or enabling deception they will run someone against him. It is a county wide election and Republicans do well when the whole count votes.

  14. I expect the Mayor and Shelter to cut back room deals but stun to see Commissioner Melcher to do this sort of thing.

  15. I know Steve Melcher and he is open anf honest. I know he doesn’t agree with the back room crap going on at GAGE. On the other hand the Mayor and Shelter have been doing this kind of thing for years,

    • Encourage him to take a stand then. If he sits by and does/says nothing then he is complicit to what they are doing.

  16. Have you considered filing a joint request with the Courier & Press and other local news organizations?

    Not sure if they’d join you or not, but it would be damned near impossible for Dewey, GAGE, and Winnecke to refuse multiple media outlets.

    • The CP has not even covered the vetting side of the Earthcare story. Neither have the TV stations. It is sort of demoralizing given the volume information that has been ferreted out by the CCO and others. I assure you that they are aware of it. Par for the course though, it took them several months to get on board with questioning the ball fields, the McCurdy, and the Vapor Hotel. They must be slow learners.

  17. You are right, of course.

    I forgot how deeply involved in the corruption the C&P is. Their main job is to protect the status quo.

    I mean, this is a newspaper that endorsed Missy Mosby for crying out loud. How could any editorial board with a shred of integrity arrive at such a conclusion??? LOL.

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