IS IT TRUE, July 30, 2013

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Mole #3 Nostradamus of Local Politics
Mole #3 Nostradamus of Local Politics

IS IT TRUE, July 30, 2013

IS IT TRUE according to the itemized billing statement dated 3-24-2013 and acknowledged as received by the City of Evansville on April 1, 2013, on 3-8-2013 a Strategy and Advisory Assessment/Planning meeting was held with T Morehead of McGladrey LLP and two local elected officials?… invoice #4054542 that was sent by McGladrey LLP to the City Controller office for payment states that two of our local elected officials met with Mr. T Morehead for 11 hours on 3-8-2013?…we wonder why the Mayor of Evansville and the President of the County Commission needed to meet with Mr. Morehead of McGladrey for 11 hours on 3-8-2013?…the one thing we are certain of is that it could not be about the details of any recommended IT changes as neither of these people have any technical background at all?

IS IT TRUE the dates associated with the April 8th study which our Civic Center Moles tell us does exist and is not referred to anywhere as a draft or preliminary copy are a real point of curiosity?…given the rather large difference in the size of the April and July reports and the alleged differences in the narrative of the April and July reports, there was considerable work done in abbreviating and softening the language between March 24 and July 23?…with the words of the invoice being chosen to indicate the April 8th report was the final report and the invoice being as detailed as any law firms bill you have ever seen it makes sense that one of two things are possible?…the first possibility is that McGladrey just forgot to stamp the April 8th report as a draft and messed up with the language on their invoice?…the second possibility is that the allegations of the Winnecke Administration exercising influence over the content of the July report are true?…we are also interested to learn if there will be another invoice from McGladrey for the hours spent on massaging the report during the months of April, May, June, and July?…if there is another bill it will be interesting to see the words chosen for the invoice?…Mayor Winnecke campaigned hard on a platform that included transparency and collaboration?

IS IT TRUE this fiasco (ReportGate) and the strong assertions of the City Attorney that the April 8th document is not public property even though it was clearly paid for with taxpayer dollars is the antithesis of transparency and collaboration?…the easiest course of action for Mayor Winnecke at this point in time rather than dig his heels in over legal details is to just release the April 8th study and let the chips fall where they will?…the Mole Nation tells us that aside from the language chosen and the length there is little difference in the real content or the recommendations?…the language differences in the words “little Johnny is thick headed” and “little Johnny has some challenges in this subject that he just can’t seem to rise up to solve” may sound different to little Johnny’s loving mother but the F in IT remains the same?

IS IT TRUE the sanitization of constructive criticism that both of the McGladrey studies clearly were seems to be standard operating procedure for local government and promoter types in all cities?…this type of spinning happens all over America in the name of political correctness every day?…little Johnny may have gotten and F in IT but an A in spin and therein lies the problem?…a culture of unrealistic positive spin all the time has a debilitative effect on the ability of a population to make good voting decisions?…it could be argued that most elections and decisions of public importance are made without an honest discussion of the real issues needing to be resolved?…before long if all one hears is lies, platitudes and political spin one begins to believe them to be the truth?…unfortunately the damage done by such miscarriage of honest dialog is how many American cities have rationalized themselves into the Detroit death spiral?…even today civic leaders and their surrogates in Detroit will say “it’s a great place to raise kids” and “we have a good quality of life”?…every place uses such platitudes and a few of them are telling the truth?…you can tell which ones are telling the truth by real statistics on educational attainment, upward career mobility, earnings, crime, and fiscal strength of both families and government?

IS IT TRUE the CCO admonishes the Office of the Mayor to lift the embargo on the April 8th study so more people can start thinking from a realistic snapshot in time about what needs to be done to establish a world class IT department within the City of Evansville?…having exclusively elected officials none of which have a technical background and their attorneys on this case will not be sufficient to implement or sustain the recommendations that McGladrey has made in both studies?

11 COMMENTS

  1. Give it up guys. Winnecke will protect Weinzapfel’s ineptness to his last breath. When you make a pact with the devil you gotta give the devil his due. The seeds for secrecy and continuing bad policy were set at the Democrat headquarters back in 2011 when Democrat leaders rallied around Winnecke to keep the bad ship Weinzapfel afloat. The truth about little Johnny is that little Johnny takes care of little Johnny above all others. There is a cancer on local government and it will not be cured until every member and surrogate of Team Weinzapfel has been purged. That includes our Republican mayor.

  2. Very disappointed in McGladrey: a) What kind of consulting firm are you when you cave to the wishes of a client to soften the criticism ? Have to “tell it like it is” ; and b) The published report (‘Final’) is a stream of consciousness 7 page ‘Report’ (complete with grammar violations o’plenty), and a more or less pictorial ‘Action Plan’. A lot of the content in the action plan is standardized, and is not specific to the City. I am in favor of the IT Study, but ready to punt on McGladrey. I suggest McGladrey’s fee of $ 112,000 be paid $ 1/ month for 112,000 months to punish them fully.

    • I concur….what was very noticeable was that most National CPA firms sign the report under the CPA name, i.e. Tom Cohen would not be the one signing the his name, according to sources he is NOT a partner of McGladrey, then why would this National Firm allow a non-Partner to sign the report. It should have been sign as ” McGladrey, LLP” What begs the question, the partners of Arthur Anderson in New York City office paid a dear price to the rogue partners/managers in Houston Tx in regards to Enron…the one million dollars of weekly consulting fees blinds the judgment of the Houston office. Then, why would a National Firm subject itself to such s scrutiny??? The Council needs to have the Managing Partner of the Chicago office together with their Director of Quality Control come before the council!!!

  3. Really, an 11 hour meeting? Did the City pay the invoice for the 11 hour meeting?

    • I assume there were several “breaks” including lunch where the two “elected Officials” took the opportunity to burn up the phone lines back to Svengali’s office.

      One has to wonder if any sort of “leverage”, wink wink, nod nod, was used to get the report toned down to an acceptable level?

      Had JW been in the room they probably could have been in and out in an hour.

      ___

  4. It is unreasonable to believe that Winnecke and Abell would be able to sit through an Eleven hour meeting. Obviously, the eleven hours was in actuality, eight hours and the subject of the meeting, in relationship to the April 8th, report, the substance of that final report. Probably, Peto-bismal was being pasted around the table as a result of the findings and disclosure levels of MRC/Advance Network & Computer Services, Inc. performance, knowing that Mr. Winnecke’s signature was all over the February, 2011 renewal of the MRC contract,yes, for five long years!!! Kool-aid, anyone???

  5. What a travesty….now, Winnecke is going to negotiate a reduction of how much, $800k and do what? extend MRC’s contract!!! Winnecke has been above the 12,500 foot level without oxygen !!! So, we need to reduce the level of compensation to match the lack of performance levels…is this what the great orator is promoting…let see, five years times $800k = $4 million….hope Rolley has great pictures!!!

  6. Had the unfortunate opportunity to be earshot of Mr. Schaefer when he was giggling how he put one over on Connie Robinson in response to her canceling the hearing with McGladrey…what was so noticeable was that Winnecke always loves to come before the cameras, with those white pearlies and expound on his virtues, but. last night was so different, he came before the lectern, said some niceties, and handed the piton to Schaefer, and of course, having the opportunity to act as Mayor, proceed to educate us on the swell job the Winnecke Adm together with MRC was performing. Of course, Weaver, like the Chicken man was in attendance, and exactly, what did he say??? My husband and I have been on the back of the wagon lately, but, after the Weaver interview, both of us fell off…so, start buying up Bud Stock!!!

    • Steve Schaefer, “The Schemer”. Ziemer & Schemer, a.k.a. The Dubious Brothers. In concert at Mesker this summer !

  7. Bottom Line?
    Pretty obvious, Evansville’s Leadership doesn’t know Right from Wrong—The End.

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