IS IT TRUE May 16, 2014 “We Don’t Have a Transcript & No One Even Bothered to Ask”

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Mole #??
Mole #??
IS IT TRUE the City County Observer has 159 “CCO Moles” to protect because they have provided valuable resources to force  ‘GOOD PUBLIC POLICY” decisions from our elected and appointed officials?…we have never revealed our sources and will not be starting to now?…we wonder if Evansville’s mainstream media like the Evansville Courier and Press protects it’s sources?…if the truth were of concern to the Courier and Press and to the individual who granted them an interview yesterday they would have made an attempt to verify the content that was blabbed to them but they did not even try?…no one from the City County Observer was contacted before the name of the CCO editor was printed yesterday?…at least the CCO does verify sources and stories when the stakes are high?
IS IT TRUE that the City County Observer is not in possession of any transcript of any recording made of the exit interview of the 2012 City of Evansville audits?…the CCO has not published or claimed to have seen any such transcript?…we have a search bar on the site so City Councilman John Friend who told the Courier and Press that we had published this transcript is free to check any time he pleases as is the Courier and WFIE 14?…we have indeed asked about such a transcript and would love to see it if it exists, but as of this day we would swear on a stack of bibles that we have neither seen, read, or published any transcript of the nature that Councilman Friend claimed that we published?
IS IT TRUE that if we indeed had a recording of the City of Evansville audit our intention would be to wait until the official audit is made public so we could compare both documents?…if at that time the contents had changed materially with respect to the financial dealing of 2012 we would publish the contents and ask some very hard questions about how the dealings of 2012 could be changed in 2014?…what we continue to wonder is why the city audit taken so long to be made public?…it has now been over 2 months since the exit interview and any sane individual would wonder if whitewashing was happening?…audits typically are released within 30 days even when the opinions are less than flattering?…this one is now at the 65th day since the exit interview?
IS IT TRUE if we were to give up our sources that have functions in the Civic Center and all of them were fired,then the Civic Center would be a very empty place?…the questions that should be asked are why such a large number of the people of Evansville feel it is necessary to provide the CCO with information THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN RELEASED TO THE PUBLIC ANYWAY?…we also wonder how many other elected officials have recorded meetings including meetings held in the Office of the Mayor?…Evansville has serious problems and carrying on Salem Witch Trials to avoid the lens of the people’s focus on real problems like botched software integration, non-reconciled books, dilapidated homes, disfunctional sewers, horrible roads, and out of ADA compliance sidewalks is simply kindergarten level governance?…the real question should be “don’t these people have anything more important to do?”
IS IT TRUE we have received Mole Tips from employees of the main stream media because their management wouldn’t let them publish the story?…everyone in town should ask themselves why?…there are many times a year do we get e-mails from State, City and County elected, appointed officials information worthy of IIT posts?
IS IT TRUE  just today we got a very detailed email from a local official regarding the capacity of the downtown TIF to service the bonds it is expected to service?…the opinion of the author was that the TIF would be coming up short with the projects currently approved?…without giving away the source we assure you the initials of this person is not SBR?

 

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161 COMMENTS

    • Deflection, indeed.

      Why is the Exit Conference (held after completion of audit) such a TOP SECRET anyway ? If the Audit is done, it’s DONE !

      Whoever taped that meeting should get a key to the city, as any attempt to change the audit outcomes after-the-fact has been foiled.

      CCO, please push for a change in the law, whereby these Exit Meetings are TELEVISED.

      Let the Sun shine in !!!!!!

      • + 1,000.

        It appears that there was some ‘Opinion Shopping’ going on ? If the Audit came out exactly like it was stated in the Exit Conference, then why all the fuss ?

        Yes, a Nobel Prize to whoever recorded the Exit Conference. It was the right and courageous thing to do.

      • The exit conference is not the end of the engagement. After the ext interview, the audit firm must cover any points of disagreement, type the final report and prepare the “management letter.”

        At this point there should be complete agreement as to what form the audit report will take. Exit conferences can be quite intense, as they should be. Yes, all the cards on the table, no holds barred.

        • It’s like the Mayor is up in arms because Councilwoman Brinkerhoff-Riley actually DID HER JOB, and took notes at the exit conference.

          I routinely recorded my professor’s lectures in college, even though I was present in class, and actively taking notes via pen and paper. Having the recorded enabled me to study up while I was doing other things, like cleaning house, stocking shelves, driving, etc.

          But I stand by my original assessment: Misdirection.

          I have a nose for it, and personally, as I boy I used love with the coach called ole Victor Zebra 32 Foxtrot. It meant I got to run a stunt and/or aim to take someone’s head off.

          So Mr. Mayor? You’re the linebacker here, Who is it you’re running spy on, eh?

  2. This is a good IIT from the CCO and one that certainly needed to be said. This is quite pathetic of the C&P and 14 but not surprising. The fact that the whole story is ballooned up the way it has BEFORE confirming with the CCO they had a transcript represents a new all-time low for journalism in Evansville.

    And once more, the C&P quoting the CCO mission statement as if no one had heard of them or was familiar with what they did was just as pathetic as the article.

    And I do feel that I must say John Friend is 100% in the wrong here and the CCO was right for pointing it out.

  3. Well,
    Plan is simple… Destroy any person that does not go along with the corrupt program..
    Ask too many questions or speak up/oppose the mafia boss you get the treatment..

    1.Disgrace Al Lindsey.
    2.Disgrace and remove Jay Carter from the ERC
    3.Disgrace Sherman Greer.
    4.Disgrace Rev. Adrian Brooks.
    5.Disgrace Connie Robinson.
    6.Try to hide the 11 million dollars missing….

    • Bingo. This is exactly what they are doing.

      Did you read the post the other day that had a link to the story about the Mayor of Peoria, IL sending his police dept after a person who make a fake twitter account so that he could mock the Mayor online? There is a law suit being file by the ACLU on that one.

      Perhaps the Feds need to come to town and straighten things out. That way it would be a Democratic Controlled Executive Branch (Fed) against two Republican Controlled exec branches. (GOP Gov and Mayor)

      IMHO the way I see it now is that the Governor and his State Cronies are protecting the Mayor and his cronies in this audit. Things sure don’t look right IMHO. But this will just be whitewashed down the sewers again. The only thing that straighten out’s corrupt leaders is the masses rising up and starting things all over again with a new system. And that only happens ever few hundred years. Revolutions good or bad still happened though out history. Maybe those brave patriots were smarter than the current citizens who don’t even bother to go vote anymore. We don’t have a true or good democracy. What we have is a corrupt republic.

      Anyone that would dare go after SBR is not going to get my vote. I stopped trusting the C&P way back in my 20’s when I saw first hand how they were in cahoots with the Civic Center. Just remember that the C&P makes it’s money from advertising and they get most of their ads from business people who are members of the Chamber of Commerce. You want to know who really controls this city? The Chamber is where it’s at. They lead the Mayor and everyone around the civic center by a nose ring. When the chamber says jump the mayor just asks how high and for how long!

      I’m surprised that John Friend is involved in this witch hunt for such a transcript.

      I’m some times tempted to buy a sub to the C&P just to read their nonsense. But I’m sticking to my boycott of that paper hoping it does from a thousand paper cuts over time. They should rename the C&P spin city!

      BTW: the CCO should publish the Evansville Courier and Presses’ mission statement and then make fun of it.

  4. The C&P is still in business? I suppose there are folks wanting to stay current on obits and fresh cage liners.

    • The only good thing that the paper is good for is covering tomato plants to keep them from freezing in the early spring and to start the firewood in the fireplace or at the camp fire at the camp ground. It helps keep the bugs away.

      With each passing summer storm the subscriptions to the C&P goes up. People have a lot of tree limbs to get rid of. The news paper makes excellent kindling. And it’s great if you run out of toilet paper at the camp ground.

      Anyone else notice how the C&P only makes about 90% of their articles private? They realized if they blocked all their content from the non subscribers that no one would frequent their web site and traffic would be too low for the advertisers. So they leave a few stories open for all to read so that people still go to their web site for free. This just increases their traffic at their web site. I wish that they would just make it either totally free again or block everything from every one without a sub.

      Is this not how a drug dealer works? I mean at first they give out free samples of drugs to get people hooked. Then they turn around and start charging excessive amounts of money for their drugs? I guess that’s taught in Business 101?

    • He shouldn’t be thinking about another round in the council, let alone trying to be mayor….
      Why are we always stuck with arrogant incompetence?

      • For a while CCO had a defacto endorsement of him for mayor going. Of course they’ll say they didn’t just like they “didn’t” endorse Ungentheim. That’s what I was getting at.

        • I understood, Joad, but the idea of him running for mayor left a bad taste in my mouth. Had to comment. 😉

  6. Is it true that we await for SBR response to these recent accusations?

    Is it true that if we had transparency on these audits from city government, that this allege recording would be a “non” issue?

    Is it true that a “classify audit” is a positive move if it was for security reasons only?

    Is it true that a “classify audit” is a negative move that leads to corruption and a direction towards dictatorship?

    Is it true we should grab some popcorn, a drink and a chair and watch this unfold?

  7. They should be required to make the meeting transcript public anyway. Republicans have a super majority in all branches of Indiana government. Couldn’t they make this happen? Nah, too worried about cutting off food to little kids and naming an official state rifle.

    • Raaatt. I’m Harry Reid’s parrot, Raaatt. My god, at least I think for myself and don’t parrot the party line (Either one for that matter.)On a side note, I had a relative who owned a parrot and when he died all the parrot would say is “where’s Lenord?, poor Lenord.” Congratulations on reminding us all of the plight of parrots.

      • What are you blathering about? The republicans could change this in the blink of an eye. What am I parroting? You have an unhealthy obsession with my comments.

        • I agree, Joad. When it comes to matters like this, there should be no hush hush meetings. It should ALL be open to public observation.

  8. A very few days ago, I made a sarcastic comment here that I believed having one too many drinks while relaxing with friends should preclude one from ever being Mayor. I obviously did not believe that, but I now say with all seriousness that the false allegations attributed to John Friend SHOULD forever preclude him from being Mayor of Evansville.
    It is even more clear that this city needs someone with the honesty and transparency demonstrated by SBR to be Mayor, if the City is to ever recover from the onslaught of incompetency that has gripped its leaders in the past couple of decades.

    • IMHO: A few brave individuals, have courageously stepped-up, in an attempt to reveal the naked truth, regarding the City’s finances and those who are trusted with their keep.

      As they swing open the doors, turn on the light and throw back the covers, …shrieks of raw indignation and spontaneous shame, erupt.

      I, for one, can handle the truth. Perhaps those who struggle to keep it under the covers should engage only in actions that will reflect favorably upon them when exposed to the light of day.

      Time and time again, those who violate the unwritten code of feigned ignorance and forced silence are vilified.

      SBR, Mr Garrett, and the crew at City-County Observer, deserve and have my greatest respect and gratitude. …

      • Amen to that. We need to shelter the goods people and throw the bums out of the CC. If only more people would go vote and get interested in what’s going on in the city. They are all too busy with their own internal affairs that they can’t see the big picture and how that eventually effects them. That’s a crying shame! It’s easier for the crooks to get into office when few people really care what’s going on.

    • I might vote for her if I was eligible to vote in the city elections for Mayor. She would be a good one to head the city.

      • You should appreciate, as I do, that we live outside of the grasp of that disarray government leadership. And to think they was trying to spread that disease through out Vanderburgh county!

        • My problem is that I still have property in Vanderburgh County. And God only knows what the City So Called Leaders have up their sleeves to try to get a hold of the County Folks pocket books.

          Hopefully it will be a lot harder to revise the City take over of the county the next time with some of the new State Laws. But those laws can be changed. So I’m wary of the process until I can sell the property to someone else some day in the future.

          Even Vanderburgh County Outside the City limits has way more rules, regulations and laws that are more restrictive that the counties that are adjacent to Vanderburgh County.

          • There is a 5.5% tax that goes to the city from property tax bill.

            There is a “special district” tax of 2.6% (not sure of the meaning unless this is where the mayor regrouped the bonds for the zoo and somehow was able to make it a county wide payment?) *need verification*

  9. It does seem the CP was more interested in taking shots at the CCO than the content of the recording or the reason(s) for the delay in releasing the results of the SBOA audit. Now the State Police are involved. What in the world are these folks so intent on hiding? A person committing a rank infraction in the service of the public should be lauded not pilloried.

    “…is editor of the City-County Observer, which calls itself “an online community newspaper dedicated to the progress of this region.” ~~ From CP Article. Listen closely, you can hear a death rattle in there. The same pitiful gasp that has cost that ridiculous rag most of its subscribers.

    If Winnecke was any kind of mayor at all he’d release that transcript if he’s been trusted with it, by no means a certainty. Time for a stiff broom to sweep all remnants of this goofy administration out. If Friend used this to start his mayoral campaign I think he made a miscalculation.

      • Thanks for making that a link. I was thinking the administration was going to grow a different type of nose. I still think they are. A Pinocchineke.

        • Your welcome. Just to quote the link for those hesitant to do the clicky;

          “Before Streisand filed her lawsuit, “Image 3850” had been downloaded from Adelman’s website only six times; two of those downloads were by Streisand’s attorneys.[7] As a result of the case, public knowledge of the picture increased substantially; more than 420,000 people visited the site over the following month.[8]

          Emphasis mine.

          Hee hee, I like Pinocchineke, just need a good definition.

      • Isn’t that a nice palace Barbara has?

        Maybe this is why Julie Budd was not elevated to the fame and wealth level of Ms. Streisand?
        Two Jewish women fighting over fame and fortune, somebodies gotta lose!

        I am not so sure the Indiana State Police involvement will bring any transparency to the audit; it may even hinder it and that could be the reason they have been summonsed to duty?

    • You called it about the Courier, ‘dana! The more I think about it, the more I question Friend’s sanity. Why would he make an allegation that is so easily proved false? Did the Courier “reward” his loyalty with mis-quoting him? What gives here??
      You are absolutely right about anyone who does have a recording or transcript. Publishing it would be a brave public service.
      I do hope that CCO is immediately in touch with Scott Danks in regard to this matter, and takes any and all legal action available to it against Friend and the Courier.

      • A friend just told me The Bird is over there holding court. Reveling in it, defending his man. ‘The law is the law’ type of thing. The article and comments he emailed me shows something that’s a blend of A Phoenix and Icarus, about 70/30 Icarus.

        Calling SBR a ‘rat’ is not unexpected from him but swearing he knows what she knew, as he did, is what makes him such a rare bird.

        • Defending who? The audit is not complete therefore anything about it is subject to change. That’s just how an audit works. The fact that she did not notify anyone that she was taping the meeting tells me that she knew that she should not be taping it. It’s funny how you can draw all kinds of crazy conclusions with little or no evidience to prove it, but when you have damning evidence against one of your fellow malcontents it’s a smear job and much ado about nothing.

          • You’re wrong. The audit is complete. It just hasn’t been revealed to us because it is still in the “spin” cycle.

          • I think they should hang a medal around her neck. And one around yours too, a big one so you won’t fly so high.

          • While we’re accusing SBOA of fraud…what do they stand to gain from the delay? Wouldn’t this type of fraud discredit their organization and negatively affect their reputation? Wouldn’t this be damaging to not only their organization but all of the city’s that rely on their audits for their credit ratings? It’s amazing how some people can casually accuse someone of committing felonious fraud. I know. I get it. You hate Evansville and our local government, but could you at least come up with a more plausible conspiracy?

          • Scratch that last butchered response. Editor I need an edit function!

            What I meant to say;

            OK Phyllip, what is your reasoning for the delayed release?

          • I take offense to your tone, Phyllip. Just because we are critical of certain people who demonstrate a glaring incompetence for leadership in our local government does NOT mean we hate our city.

            We LOVE Evansville, and that’s why we’re so pissed off at this fiasco….

    • If the state police are getting involved I wonder if any Federal Monies have been misused and if the FBI could therefore get INVOLVED too?

      Might as well have all forms of City, State and Federal Government Executive Branches involved in this audit.

      We are witnessing a huge power struggle in action.

    • Since I dropped my Subscription to the Courier a long time ago I don’t get to read the paper very often. So when I saw a copy of todays paper laying around the restraint that I was frequenting today I grabbed it up and sat down to read what they were saying about the city council woman and the CCO. Humm. I’m wondering outloud if they libeled anyone or slander anyone in that story?

      They are using Hear say third party reports to accuse a Lawyer of doing something illegal. They don’t say it’s a felony or a misdemeanor. That makes a huge difference in whether they can get a Judge to sign a search warrant or not. Well at least that’s the way I understand how it happens in IL and specifically in Peoria, IL. See related story about the Mayor of Peoria, IL. This was posted in the CCO the other day as a link. I clicked on that link the other day and read the story that it took me to. Very Interesting reading. And I learned that it went viral and hit the National News too. I see this situation as pretty similar to what went on in Peoria, IL.

  10. Is it true that for a person formerly voting in one party to vote in another party’s Primary has to sign an affidavit stating that he/she intends to vote for a majority of that Party’s candidates in the next general election?

    Is is true that Ms. Riley-Brinkerhoff was or was not required to sign such an affidavit?

    Is it true or not true that she either at that moment intended to vote for a majority of Rebublicans in the 2014 General Election?

    Is it true that she either was a perjurer or in fact intended to vote for a majority of Republicans?

    • Who cares? A Party should not be able to hold people hostage. Everyone should be free to vote for whoever they think is best.

    • It’s not a requirement, just something that can be asked at the polling site.

    • No, Mary, it is decidedly NOT true that one has to sign an affidavit about who they plan to vote for. Did anyone ever tell you that there is a secret ballot in America, even in Indiana?
      Is it true that you either purposefully committed libel, or you are too ignorant to allow yourself to post public comments?
      Btw, I am a Democrat who voted in this Republican primary, and no affadavit was requested, because none exists. I suggest you set your troubled mind at ease with a quick call to the Election Office. Susie Kirk can explain it to you, as can any of her staff.

      • Laura, truth is Susie Kirk now is County Treasurer and no longer works in the Election Office. So you and others will have to get your cross over voting instructions from someone else from now on.

        • She may not be there anymore but she knows how the process is suppose to work and is still a good reference. So your comment is really just blowing smoke into the wind. The lady can still call the election office and talk to someone else about this if she wants. But I think this is a non issue in all reality. There are no laws that say if you vote one way in the primary that you can’t vote another way in the general election. If there are please provide a link to a state web site that shows this law! I sure hope that there are not such laws. That would be a travesty if there are suck laws.

        • Oops, my bad!! I don’t need crossover voting instructions, and neither does anyone else with a three-digit IQ. The election worker asks which party’s primary you want to vote in, you answer, and they set up the machine accordingly. NO AFFADAVIT is even mentioned.

          • No affidavit is needed by a voter to cross over and vote. That part is true. However a certain elected official with a 3 digit IQ will need an affidavit if she intents to run for office in 2015 as a candidate in the party which she currently claims to represent. Moreover many of her actions call to question whether she makes good use of her alleged towering intelligence.

    • It looks like you, John Friend, and the Courier have a lot in common. You’ve had plenty of time to learn the truth, but have not retracted your lies.

    • I am a Republican. I voted for Several democrats in the last couple elections….

      Vote for the PERSON, not the party. Party above all else is what has gotten us in this mess to begin with……

  11. It’s been a long time since I’ve been an auditor, however my understanding is any material changes to the financial statements from events subsequent to the CPA’s field work must include a disclaimer or a qualified opinion.

    For those of you who don’t speak accountanteese it means you can’t just whitewash an auditor’s findings(post exit interview) by just writing something off, eg. writing off a $7M unreconciled balance.

    You can’t change an F grade to an A, the best you can hope for post field work is changing an F to a C.

  12. 2 Freaking years this administration has used used the excuse of “new software” to justify their incompetence. They so obviously don’t know what they are doing. 65 Freaking days this administration has had time to come up with their “spin.” Well? Where is it?

    No one else but a political patronage hire is allowed to be so incompetent in their job. Winnie HAD to be mayor because he was “educated” in marketing. That’s a BS degree in BS. And look at how he has handled the “market” of Evansville. He looks like a hack.

    So I am going to give the mayor free advice. Mr. Mayor this is the ONLY way to save your bacon: Start firing people! Those who are incompetent do not belong in these positions. Start with Russ. That will go a LOOOOOONG way in restoring yourself to the people of Evansville. So do you want to go down with the whole crooked ship, or bail yourself out?

    Hire only people who are qualified and capable of the work before them. If you do that you will save TONS on consulting fees because you have hired people who can do the jobs you usually send off to consultants at the rate of $100K. Heck I could be a neurosurgeon if I could hire a consultant to do the actual doctoring for me. I know Marsha is county and lame duck but imagine how much havoc she will reek in the meantime. She will hire more family, steal the TV’s and office appliances as if she owns them, keep an eye on her.

    That’s how you fix this Mr. Mayor. The longer you wait, the more complicit you appear with the corruption in house. Fire the incompoops and hire people with real credentials. Perhaps you aren’t worried because you have already secured your post-term employment (through political favoritism). If so, I can’t wait to get you out of office. Evansville should save their biggest broom for this hack.

    Just so you know, I would vote for the person who shines the light on your administration for the good of the people. Whoever that is.

  13. Editor, there may be something wrong with your search box. I tried searching for the audit transcript and I couldn’t find it like you asserted, but I also couldn’t find Missy Mosby’s court records that you posted last year. You know the ones with SBR’s name at the top of the page as the query initiator.

    • Did you try typing in ‘rat’? That’s what you’ve been calling her at the Winnecke house organ this morning.

      • I know that you and your ilk live off of half-truths, but please try to quote me in the full context of my statement. Another person used the term “rat” towards people in our city government. My reply that using the mafia definition of “rat” would more accurately apply to someone that secretly recorded a meeting to use later to gain favor of someone or discredit another party.

        • I don’t ‘live off half truths’. That is a lie.

          You called SBR a rat. Quit trying to weasel out of it. For a bootlicker who claims to know a lot you don’t seem to know much. You’re a real piece of work, Phoenix.

        • Dance little puppet dance. Dance, the dance your puppeteer compels you to dance.

          Dance the sick little dance of obsequious patronage.

          Every narcisstic bully has a crowd of obsequious toadies surrounding him/her telling the bully he is infallible, that it’s not his fault that he is the greatest in all the land. The toady of course desparately wants to someday have his own crowd of toadies massaging his feet and telling him what a great and merciful bully he is.

          It truly is one of the sickest codependent relationships there is.

          Walk away, you’ll be surprised how easy it is. I doubt you can do it though, you’re getting to many positive emotional strokes from protecting your bully. Just remember though, despite the promises you WILL NEVER be one of them, EVER.

          • Did you ever hear the old joke about the girl who lived in a brothel, but left in a jealous rage when she found out the other girls were being paid? Something just made me think of that.

        • The rats are the Mafia not people that whistleblow on the bad guys. It’s time to run the rats out of the Civic Center and hopefully all their dirty rat like brothers that defend them. Those people are just followers and enablers.

          It’s time to RELEASE THE AUDIT RESULTS TO THE PUBLIC!

    • Phyllip, there is no transcript and there never has been. That is why you can’t find it. We called for one in IS IT TRUE a couple of weeks ago but no one answered. Councilman Friend was simply incorrect in stating that we had published one.

    • This is our only reference to a transcript which was published on May 9th.

      IS IT TRUE some Civic Center Moles have told us about the existence of a transcript of the exit interview that exists and is in the hands of people outside of the clutches of government that will expose any changes that may be made to these audits since the exit interview was conducted on March 12th?…it has now been 58 days since the exit interview and counting?…much mischief can occur in 58 days with respect to massaging the words or even the opinions if there are some willing players to make such things happen?…in our examination of the audit publication dates of other Indiana cities the City County Observer has checked over 20 of the largest cities and all of the audits were released in a timely manner whether the audits were flattering or not?…one city stands alone as lingering now for 17 months after the end of the audit period for reporting and that city is named Evansville?

      • It seems to me in the relatively short time I have been visiting the CCO, its moles have been pretty darn accurate about many things. The question rolling around my mind; would anyone present at that time be fool enough to do it in a subversive manner?

        Meaning, not all that long ago there was the two Abell flaps dealing with audio recordings, now we have a third. Coincidence? Dunno but does seem to me a bit odd and there is a smell here of latching onto recent “leaks” ala Abell and using the same method as a matter of “gee, why didn’t we think of that sooner” by the machine. A sort of smoke and mirrors if you will and the involvement of the State Police as nothing but a mere courtesy for our enjoyment diversion.

        But in the case of this supposed audio recording actually exists I have to wonder if said recording is in some booby trapped briefcases.

        • With everyone having a smart phone in their back pocket maybe the butt dialed the recording or video function on their smart phone accidentally? LOL

      • “May 16, 2014 at 8:11 am
        This is our only reference to a transcript which was published on May 9th.”

        Joe, will you clarify the above statement? I know at least one person who is taking it to refer to having published the transcript, instead of the reference to it.

        • We do not have a transcript. We have not seen a transcript. We never published a transcript. We have indeed heard about the possibility that one exists.

          • I think I heard John Friend tell Brad Byrd that CCO emailed a copy of the audit to him and Scott Danks.

  14. There needs to be a change to the laws.

    If a recording was made by a councilman, then that likely means they were fearful that the real facts of the audit were going to be covered up.

    I congratulate the person who made the recording. They set a baseline from which the actual audit will and must be compared.

    Inadvertently, the council member may have helped the City Administration by PREVENTING them from being able to spin cycle the Audit.

    Will the City Administration buy ‘the recorder’ a gift card to Biaggi’s for keeping the City Administration out of the brig ?

    By the way, where IS that darn audit report ?

  15. Mr. Friend has proven he does not have the character to be our Mayor. He is as high as he should rise in local politics. He has proven that he’s a typical democrat by spouting falsehoods while trying to shift our focus off the real issue.
    What’s next-name calling? It IS the democratic way after all.

    It is sad so many Evansville citizens will never know the truths the CCO publishes because at this time it is still Evansville’s best kept secret. Until distribution is enhanced by other means all of the truths exposed by CCO will be forever hidden to too many. Maybe a ½ hour TV show on WNIN following council meetings?

    Keep up the good work CCO & thanks to those feeding good information to CCO.

    • I finally got to see the TV Interview that Brad Byrd conducted with City Council President John Friend. Thanks to the guy that posted a link that worked tonight. I guess the Channel 25 tech guys got it working. Or maybe to be fair my computer didn’t work right at earlier time? One never really knows which of the technologies is messed up at any one time.

      But It sounded to me that John Friend failed to call or make contact with the Lady in question. Ms Riley? I can’t remember her name.. Sorry. SBR? I would have thought that John would have called her first before calling Mr. Garret.

      I think it’s funny how the Mayor, John Friend, Mr Garrett and some other’s believe that the CCO has some transcript when all that the CCO said was that they heard (third party Hear say again) that a transcript existed. I think the story was more hypothetical than real. Boy some people have a lot of egg on their faces right now going on rumors an innuendo. I’m really enjoying this story right now. It’s got more moves than a bucket of fishing worms. 🙂

  16. SBR just posted something on C&P claiming that recording the meeting broke no laws.

    Can some C & P subscriber fill us in ???

    • In the event that John Friend or any other person who was at that exit meeting has had verbal discussions with anyone at all about the contents of the meeting, they are just as guilty of violation of whatever law that SBR is accused of violating. Isn’t it time for some people who have been spoken to by Friend and others to come forward?

    • Editor,

      after poking around City Council I cannot seem to find the rules for recording (paper, video or otherwise) their meetings. Any idea what those rules are or where they are documented? Just wondering for clarification reasons.

      • No. City Council meetings are public and always recorded. Outside of that I do not know what their internal written rules or protocol are. I do know that sometimes outside meetings are recorded.

        • Based on the history of their meetings archive, that is what I was thinking, there are no restraints. Unless there is yet another “rule” ala Wayne Park that says doesn’t exist but does, it seems to me SBR via the C&P “headline” is correct that no rules were broken.

      • Roberts Rules of Order? Do they cover the new media devices of the 21st century. Smart phones. Pen recording devices, digital recording media like cell phone camera and video devices that record both audio and video in HD on the SDHC cards?

        This is getting to be more like Mission Impossible every day. Who’s got the SDHC card and where did they hide the thing? Ha ha.

        I love it when the “RATS” start feeling the heat. Bring in the Feds!

    • The latest C&P update quotes SBR saying that recording the meeting is not breaking any law and that she would explain the “situation” later. I suppose that sets us up for some bizzaro story about Friend hiring Chinese hackers to break into her computer files and delivering the audio file to him. That is unless Friend gets his price for not producing the recording in his possession. I think that Friend will require SBR resign from her leadership position to destroy the evidence.

      • “I think that Friend will require SBR resign from her leadership position to destroy the evidence.”

        Huh? How, exactly, do you imagine that Friend can require such a thing?
        The public should require that Friend resign his council seat!

        • If Mr Friend is as crooked as you seem to think he is he could easily “forget” exactly who sent him a recording of the meeting and destroy the evidence for a price.

    • The headline on the C&P website says:

      ” Brinkerhoff-Riley: Recording ‘violates no ethical rules or Indiana Statutes’ ”

      This was posted at 8:34 AM (I don’t subscribe to that rag either . . . )

      • I still subscribe and this post today on their site about this story brought back old memories of the good ole days sparing with ole smokey, (who is still churning out his venom everyday,) and the partiality the C&P is ate-up with:

        May 16, 2014
        2:40 p.m.
        Suggest removal
        Reply to this post
        CrAz1cRaCk3r writes:
        in response to CrAz1cRaCk3r:

        (This comment was removed by the site staff.)

        Comment was removed by the site staff?

        Wow! C&P! Deleted my comment because I opposed your view and spin on this story?

        Let all readers know that I said no cuss words and nothing considered private.

        You will find no truth with the C&P people!

        Cc

        LMFAO!

    • According to SBR, she broke no law recording the meeting. Said she would explain later. I don’t know the law but I didn’t think you could record a conversation without all parties involved knowing they are being recorded.

      • Indiana is a single consent recording state. Stephanie is correct is stating that making the recording broke no laws.

        I wish someone recorded the Homestead Tax Credit meeting but Winnecke, Weinzapfel, Abell, Curt John, and the sneaky team were too well controlled to actually expose that thieving moment. Winnecke’s little lecture on morals given his history of lying and sneaking is sickening.

      • I think that may only apply to telephone conversations. Maybe the culprit could say that they were recording the meeting for training purposes and quality assurance purposes? 🙂

        I get that a lot when I call a company on the phone these days. Seems to be very common.

        So the party recording the telephone call has to tell you that they are recording the call. I guess if you don’t like being recorded you could just hang up and not talk to them. I tried telling them that I didn’t want to be recorded but that didn’t do any good. They just hung up on me and I didn’t get my questions answered. So I stopped doing business with that particular company. Their loss not mine.

  17. Perhaps John Friend needs NOT to run for mayor and perhaps HE needs to step down from his position as the President of OUR City Council.

  18. The state police ought to do a thorough investigation – and go back deep into the Weinzapfel administration’s handling of oublic funds and start opening file cabinets at DMD too.

    • Bingo. It does appear they are trying to coverup some thefts during Weinzaps admin. Weinzap grew up on the westside as a catholic but converted to Judaism for that hag of a wife of his.

  19. I don’t have any legal credentials, but I have learned a lot about the law because of the work I have done in the past. My take on this is that John Friend committed libel against both SBR and CCO, and the Courier was complicit by printing his statements without verifying them. Even the most lame attempt to verify Friend’s comments would have exposed him and his lies.
    This incident should put a swift end to Friend’s political career and the Courier’s continued existence. Friend should be called upon to resign from City Council immediately, IMO.

    • To be fair, the CP hasn’t had writers, etc for a long time. Everything is done by “interns” now to keep costs down.

      I’m sure there is plenty of incompetence going on there as well. Ethridge can’t be everywhere at once and it must be hell trying to micromanage all those children he has working for him. Sometimes a little print snafu slips in there.

      There. I just gave the CP an out. Throw an intern under the bus hahaha

    • Careful. Mr Friend just may produce the email and the recording that was sent to him by Mr Wallace.

      • John is free to release any email that I have sent to him regarding this topic. All I will ask is that he releases complete emails with all attachments. If he does I will either confirm his release or deny it with the release of a full email.

        By the way I do not think John is crooked and I consider him a friend. He got caught up in the moment of the interview and claimed we published a transcript that we have not published or even seen. It is not unusual for politicians to let their adrenaline get out of control when the cameras are running.

        • Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. I don’t think that it would surpise anyone if Friend mis-spoke. We’ve all been guilty of doing this. By your statement, I would guess that you do indeed have the recording in question. I would also guess that Friend was accurate in saying that Garrett has the recording also. The recording and dissemination of the conference shows me that there are still problems with the professionalism in city council. There’s a difference between transparency and gossipping. What we are seeing in the past year leans towards the latter.

        • So you don’t have a transcript, but do you have a recording and did you send it to Mr. Friend?

        • Very classy reply by Joe Wallace to John Friend’s interview. Both Mr. Wallace and Mr. Friend are men of deserved good reputation. I expect Mr. Friend misspoke as to reading about a transcript rather than about reading a transcript. If so, Mr. Friend will issue the appropriate clarification and all is resolved.

  20. What about Quentin Tarantino? He’s the new local State Board boss who’s there to film his latest blood and gore movie about the City audit? I’m sure that the exit conference was filmed.

  21. If, and I repeat “IF”, SBR or anyone else recorded the exit interview, wouldn’t that person be protected by “Whistleblower Laws”, even if there is a prohibition to doing so?

    • Possibly a whistleblower thing but as I was asking the editor above about rules recording meetings, there does not seem to be any that I can find. Looking through their archives and based on the editors response, all meetings are recorded.

      But I guess the real questions are these;

      1. are there “circumstances” when meetings are not recorded which implies there is a rule floating around somewhere

      2. since all meetings are recorded as you can find their transcripts at their website, does it really matter if an audio recording was done at the sametime and/or would it be “illegal”?

      • Yeah, I’m starting to think all this squawk about a “rule” or “law” is merely a deflection tactic from the really desperate. If they can get the machine to come down HARD and crush and discredit a single person, remove them and their evidence quickly, then they are all safe in their deceit. The more time they can spend on this “issue” the more they can delay publishing and rebutting the audit. They haven’t yet closed the deals yet on how much it costs to grease the palms of coverup, nor decided who will be the ultimate “rap taker” for the group and how they will be compensated.

        It must have been some witch hunt since the original CCO post hit the fan….Is that how we want our city to be run. I’m voting Big Broom in November! I will vote for persons who shine light on this administration.

        • Hmm your post just triggered something.

          After the report is finally made public and it will be ugly, guess what happens? There will “all of a sudden” be a large interest by many local businesses willing to “invest” in all manner of things all for the benefit of Evansville. There will even be some “unfound money” mostly mysterious taxpayers money that somehow was “overlooked”. It will happen in a not so rapid fire progression, rather doled out over a period of months by Mayoral announcements to garner the “most bang for the buck”.

  22. I find it particularly interesting that the former city controller, under whose watch this fiasco occurred is still on the city payroll. Is it true that she needed to “serve” a city department at an enhanced salary? I suspect that da mayor arranged the transfer. I understand that she is still in a financial management position although she barely qualities as an entry level bookkeeper.

    The article itself states that the audit has still not released nearly two months after the exit conference.

    It is the taxpaying public who should be incensed’ The mayor should be merely irritated. After all, it is our money we are talking about, as well as our money which is paying for the audit.

    Call the governor and ask him who is holding up the release of the audit. But in any case, we should have it NOW.

  23. Stepanie Brinkerhoff-Riley for MAYOR !

    Between exposing the Earthcare rip-off and now collecting proof of the Audit as of the date of the Exit Conference, she has done immeasureable good for the citizens.

    I would vote for her in a New York second !

    • Good catch. If it had not been for Stephanie Riley’s diligence the taxpayers of Evansville would be out $4.8 Million by now to those hucksters from Earthcare. I saw old Debbie Doobie on the CP comment section last night blaming her for the loss of Earthcare. Doobie’s salary is now being paid with the money that Stephanie saved her from wasting. How ironic does it get.

    • I agree, but she has a growing Law Practice that she may not want to give up. She also has young twins. I’m not sure she’d want to take on the demands of unravelling this mess at the cost of her practice. She’s got a lot on her plate.

  24. Has Friend actually saved the day ?

    By revealing the existence of a recording, has he forced the Administration’s hand–i.e., they can’t go “opinion shopping” as one poster said earlier ?

    In other words, if the field work is complete, and you have an exit conference; and that meeting is recorded; won’t that ensure that the audit findings have to match exactly the recording ?

    Is Friend just evil . . . or an evil genius ?

  26. Anyone heard from Wayne Parke? Or is he just speaking through his attack dog Phil Davis?

    • No one speaks through me. I haven’t even spoken with Wayne in days. I would believe that he is ecstatic over this news. It just helps prove that the City Council in its current make-up is very dysfunctional. Like I said before, a circular firing squad. If we can’t pick up at least three seats on City Council, I’d be surprised.

      • Not dysfunctional. Just there are some on the council unwilling to cover for the Mayor. To that I applaud them. Far too long the current and past administrations have been pissing the taxpayers wheaties.

      • Let me get this straight. You think that the city council is dysfunctional yet it’s the Mayor and the City Controller who MAY be the ones who are responsible for not getting the City Books reconciled and balanced to the satisfaction of the SBA IF the hearsay about the audit results turn out to be correct in that it’s a bad audit? Am I getting this right?

        I think you put your shoes on the wrong feet this morning Phillip. Or is that normal for you?

        So you think that if the State give the city a bad audit report that it’s the city councils fault and not the Mayors or his cronies? You sure think funny IMHO.

  27. I’m curious as to what the EC is saying about the council woman but I won’t be going to their web site and giving them a click for their advertisers.

    I’ll just wait until later on when I got somewhere to eat and they have free news paper laying around for their customers to read.

    If you go to the Dr’s office or one of the hospitals they always have the paper laying around in the lobby somewhere.

  28. Okay, it is after noon. Friend has had plenty of time to retract what he told the Courier, but apparently has not. He hasn’t even tried the “I misspoke” cop-out. That leads me to the conclusion that he is going to try to ride this out, and depend on the citizenry to pay no mind, or else he has decided to commit politcal suicide.
    I suppose the Courier is trying to make CCO lose some of its moles, in a final attempt to have some relevancy. It’s way too late for that.

  29. Did the CCC listen to a recording of the exit interview. Was that recording sent by a member of the city council

  31. Just in Case

    May 16, 2014 at 1:09 pm

    Here’s Friend on Brad Byrd interview last night. He never talked to Riley, is unsure about the law, and ends by saying the reason not to release a transcript is to avoid embarrassing local government if the meeting does not match up with the final report. Why wouldn’t it match up unless these skunks are whitewashing the audit?

    http://www.tristatehomepage.com/story/d/story/brad-byrd-gets-john-friends-reaction-to-alleged-re/25522/Il7brvsg2E6OxxbP1YIQdw
    ================================================

    This post bears repeating.

    Yeah John’s suit got wet and there some mud on them too from the hip waders he has on.

    What a pile of gibberish he spouted.

  32. It’s sad to the end of John Friends political career because I felt he was doing a good job until now. One wrong statement in the media can do you in. Nobody body in their right mine could ever trust him ever again because what he did to Ms. Rielly.

  34. Mr Editor:

    There appears to be one item missing from your claims, and that is: You are saying nothing about the receipt of the actual voice recording of the exit interview. Are you denying the receipt of a copy of the audio ? This has nothing to do with a transcript.

    Do you have or have you received a copy of the audio of the exit interview ?

  35. Editor,

    IIT needs a new format. Here is why:

    IIT is the only worthwhile news commentary available in its market. C&P is a lapdog, run by children, and the TV stations have been hanging by a thread for a decade. If you’re serious about gaining readership, you need to more clearly communicate with tri staters.

    The format in which IIT is written needs to change. It is difficult to read & understand the writers intent, in it’s all-question format. It’s a unique method of writing & has a profound impact at times, but for the most part it just boggs down your work, making it wordy & difficult to follow. If you want to change a person’s Internet behavior, better make your product easy to understand with a once-over. The things you have to say are important.

    I’m beginning to get wordy myself; editing is difficult on the phone. Long story short, you’re going to alienate prospective readers with a product that often needs to be read twice to achieve full comprehension. The things you have to say are important and need to be heard. I’m not saying to dumb it down, just to deliver this stuff in a way that, quite frankly, flies right over the heads & reading comprehension levels of most tri staters.

    -CB

    • And to not have to read 127 posts over and over to catch up on the latest comments would be nice also.

      But what the hell, life’s tough and then you die………..

  37. Can someone post the C&P article? If you don’t have a paid subscription you can’t read it. Thanks!

      • DiscussPrintAAAShare this on FacebookTweet this Email this to a friend
        Stephanie Brinkerhoff-Riley
        Stephanie Brinkerhoff-Riley
        EVANSVILLE — The State Examiner with the Indiana State Board of Accounts said Thursday evening he has asked the Indiana State Police to investigate the recording and release of a tape recording of the March 12 “exit conference” between state auditors and city officials regarding Evansville’s 2012 city audit.

        Paul Joyce, responding to an email inquiry from the Courier & Press, said, “I will actively pursue prosecution of any individual involved with releasing this confidential information. I have learned second hand of the taping of the city of Evansville exit conference and the subsequent release of the same. I have contacted the State Police and requested an investigation into this matter. I will pursue this violation of the public’s trust to the furthest extent that I am allowed to by law.”

        Mayor Lloyd Winnecke said Thursday that an Evansville City Council member secretly recorded the March 12 “exit conference” with state examiners and then distributed the recording in violation of state law.

        Three City Council members were in attendance at the conference — President John Friend, D-5th Ward; Vice President Stephanie Brinkerhoff-Riley, D-3rd Ward; and Finance Chairman Conor O’Daniel, D-At-large. Friend and O’Daniel said they did not record the meeting and had no idea anyone else was doing so.

        Friend said he has not spoken to Brinkerhoff-Riley yet, but City Council Attorney Scott Danks has.

        “As president of the Council, I’ve got to take leadership here,” Friend said, “ … I think if she was smart, she would step down from leadership. How can I, as president of the Council, go in with her and with the finance chair and deal with the administration to move the people’s business forward, when you lose trust?”

        Brinkerhoff-Riley, who is a family law attorney, said in an email Friday morning that “making a recording of the meeting violates no ethical rules or Indiana statutes,” and that she will elaborate on the situation at a later time.

        Her email did not directly address the allegation of distribution of a recording.

        A prepared statement from Winnecke’s office said the mayor was notified earlier this week about the secret recording and that the tape had been distributed.

        “The Mayor’s office has since notified the City Attorney’s office and the State Board of Accounts because of the sensitive nature of the audit process,” Winnecke’s statement said. “Clearly, this is a breach in the audit process and a violation of trust.”

        Friend, during a previously scheduled meeting Thursday with the Courier & Press editorial board, said the third party who initially received the tape was Joe Wallace. Wallace is editor of the City-County Observer, which calls itself “an online community newspaper dedicated to the progress of this region.”

        Friend said that at some point, content of the tape also was shared with David Garrett, a local resident who last year was hired by the City Council to assist Council members with oversight of city government financial records.

        Garrett’s one-year agreement with the Council has expired.

        Friend said he and Danks learned of the recording’s existence and also of a transcript that appeared on the City-County Observer website. Danks advised Friend to inform Winnecke, and Friend did so Saturday.

        “He wasn’t very happy,” Friend said of Winnecke.

        Friend said it would be wrong for someone to record the exit conference and hand out the recording because “it undermines the process. If I were the auditors, I would be pretty well incensed in the deal. You’ve got to have a free-flowing thing going with these discussions.”

        Friend said Charles Pride, supervisor of cities, towns and libraries with the State Board of Accounts and one of the examiners attending the March 12 exit conference, told him that “in 10-plus years he had never run into this.”

        Danks said he agreed with Winnecke’s interpretation that the recording and distribution was in violation of state law, but “although I’m not condoning anything here. I don’t think it was known to the participants (in the meeting) that it was violation of state law. It is an infraction, subject to a fine or a civil penalty.”

        Brinkerhoff-Riley’s email to the Courier & Press said “there’s never been a transcript made and posted anywhere.” The City-County Observer website also posted an article stating it did not have or post a transcript of March 12 exit conference in question.

        Following the conference, the Winnecke administration submitted its response to the State Board of Accounts’ findings, and there have been subsequent exchanges of information regarding city payroll funds.

        But the audit’s public release still has not occurred, and city officials expected it weeks ago.

        Local officials say they are eager for the audit’s final release and are hopeful for a positive opinion. The last completed audit of Evansville government financial records, for 2011, offered no opinion because bank reconciliations were in disarray.

        That audit criticized the City Council for a lack of oversight of the process, which led to the one-year hiring of Garrett. The Winnecke administration also hired private accounting firms for assistance.

        ribbit……….

        • Thanks for the post. Why is so much hoopla being raised over a recording and transcript that may or may not exist when the real problem is defined in the following sentence from the CP article.

          “The last completed audit of Evansville government financial records, for 2011, offered no opinion because bank reconciliations were in disarray.”

          • What is amazing is that John Friend was the finance chair of the City Council when three budgets were passed without having the checkbook balanced. How can a person with a CPA preside over such a mess? Speaking of messes, someone should ask the new Chancellor of IVY Tech how his financial oversight failures qualified him for his new job.

        • Judging from the above information, it appears CCO is up the creek without an attorney in this matter. If Danks represents CCO, as well as the City Council, that seems to be a serious conflict of interest in this matter.
          Lets not forget the bargain Danks got in the former EVSC offices, either. To call this “convoluted” is an understatement.

        • ” Friend said, “ … I think if she was smart, she would step down from leadership. How can I, as president of the Council, go in with her and with the finance chair and deal with the administration to move the people’s business forward, when you lose trust?”

          Kind of ironic, Friend. Accusing SBR in a round about way of not being smart, but not speaking English properly.

          I am certain that you meant to say ” If she WERE smart”.

          Of course, allow ME to say that if YOU were smart (I know that is a leap of the imagination, but bear with me!) you would resign the post that was given to you as a launching point for a mayoral run, and you would never run for public office again.

          Do us a favor, and resign.

          This isn’t even approaching the whole trust issue. I mean, if the public could trust the council, there wouldn’t be a fuss if something were recorded. There wouldn’t be random accusations flying at someone who wasn’t even spoken to about the matter before being accused. Our council is a joke. Our mayor is a joke.

          SOMEONE needs to step up and lead a takeover of our local government. Let’s not focus on Democrat or Republican candidates, but those who actually offer leadership and competence.

  38. The way I understand this audit is that the audit for 2012 that we are waiting for is actually for what occurred in 2011. So are we also past due for the audits of 2012 and 2013? I don’t care what kind of spin anyone puts on this audit, being sworn to secrecy not to disclose information that should be public is suspect. If the audit is bad and shows the city to be in financial difficulty and the council members know this, why would they vote to borrow money for the hotel and medical school? Why is a Republican Mayor and Controller covering for a previous administration? None of this makes sense.

  39. John Friend had no business going on Brad Byrd’s show BEFORE a meeting of the interested parties was held and all the facts were determined.

    Friend seems to have a desire to be in front of the cameras as much as possible. When will these people learn that the job is one of SERVICE to those who elected you. You are not a celebrity, and if that desire was what motivated you to run for office you are definitely in the wrong job.

    Kudos to SBR for attempting to change things for the better. Transparent financial reporting is the goal we all should demand of our government.

    __

  40. You know what? I have a theory that would explain MS Riley’s somewhat cryptic statement about her “situation” this morning. She is correct that recording the meeting however surreptitiously is not illegal. Releasing the information from the exit meeting is illegal. What if MS Riley gave a copy of the recording to Mr Friend. That in itself would be defendable as he was in the meeting. That leaves us with the question “why would Mr Friend tell everyone that he got the recording from Mr Wallace?”. Is this a brilliantly conceived twin killing orchestrated by Mr Friend to eliminate a political rival and discredit the press that would defend her? Diabolical!!! Don’t you love a good mystery? This could be worthy of a House of Cards 3 episode.

    Townhall Twitter anyone? Monday 5:30 PM. #Evansvillecitycouncil
    Live stream: http://evansville.in.gov/index.aspx?page=1671

  41. As Evansville Turns:

    A Shakespearan tradgedy or comedy depending on your POV.

    When we last left our story the D machine had just turned to the Republican pitchman Lloyd Winnecke to crush Rick Davis and prevent Davis and his team from going through all the files at GAGE and the umpteen other goverment agencies/shell corportions the machine had set up to move money around and protect phoney baloney patronage jobs. Give the new mayor Winnecke a harrrumph.

    The old mayor, the unelectable, but machine esteemed Jonathan Weinzapful landed a job as an attorney at a local law firm which Winnecke then rewarded with millions in legal fees.

    All was well in the land of patronage and poltical favors, except for one giant problem. It seems that the powers that be couldn’t make the debits equal the credits, the checking accounts were out of balance by over $7M. Well where had the money gone? Frowns were seen all around, for even the lowest of low information serf/voter would know this was unacceptable.

    Well the new mayor could not blame his checking account problem on the man that helped him get his new position?

    Enter Bob Jones machine hero and Winnecke supporter.

    Bob takes two potential Winnecke opponents out with one stone by giving/getting them cushy jobs at his own firm and the local Jr college. Weinzapful may not be a real opponent but he could cause problem by throwing his campaign account money around.

    Meanwhile Suzzane Crouch and company stalls the release of the audit until after the primary. Now that Weinzapful and William are out of they way the adverse opinion can be whitewashed down by writing off the $7M with no explanation except perhaps a disclaimer or at worst a qualfied opinion which Winnecke can NOW blame on Weinzapful.

    Machine matriarch Abell has been defeated but the powers that be are working as we speak to nominate a preferred Demo machine candidate to crush Ungethiem in the Fall.

    SBR records the exit interview with the horrible audit results but that danger to the machine is cut off by councilman Friend as he throws SBR, and the CCO under the bus as councilman Friend wonders out lout on Brad Byrd’s show when SBR and the CCO stopped beating their spouses.

    And behind the scenes Councilmen Friend and Mayor Winnecke have a pinky shake deal and councilmen Friend will not bring up the Earthcare loan during next years election campaign and Mayor Winnecke will not bring up the fact that Friend completely and totally failed to make the debits equal the credits as finance chair.

    So now next year Evansville voters will get the phony choice of the D machine candidate or the R machine candidate.

    And unfortunately as Jack Warden’s character said to Woodword and Bernstein in “All the President’s men”, that’s the end of you story.

    But sadly for the taxpayers and citizens it doesn’t end. The Hotel and Medical School will not be the end of the spending for Jabbba the Hut is a union man and must be fed. Some phoney baloney downtown project will be “needed” in 2016 and 2017.

    Heads the machine wins, tails, the public loses.

    • +1 There is no democrat or republican in this town, just the machine. When it has me liking your comments, perhaps/hopefully it has went to far.

      • Cheers to enoch for an extremely well written and factual commentary in the C&P this morning.

        right on……..right on enoch……………….

  42. I’m told that WFIE reported that Friend is not attending the next Council Meeting. That means he’s leaving running the meeting to SBR, who he is trying to oust???

  43. Unfortunately, the damage is already done. It only takes a name and allegations (not truth) for the general public to associate with wrongdoing. No general public will follow up on corrections made. The seed has been planted and that all the media needed to do.
    The news just played a word association game and the general public will eat that up…. any correction made at a later date will most likely not be see nor, squash the original story.

    First impressions are the most important.

  44. Brains,

    Thanks for detail on the players involved. To me, it appears that the city leaders (and the local power wielders) are ashamed of the state audit exit interview results. For me, this is a truly sad situation.

  45. C&P 5-17-14

    Sub headline

    *Tape’s “alleged” distribution worries officials.

    alleged adj. So declared, but without proof or legal conviction / the alleged assassin /

  46. Just wondering if there is a requirement that exit meetings be documented. Haven’t found anything specific about that subject. The Guidelines for Audit from the SBOA is mute about docuementing the meeting.

    It does reference the SBOA will follow the guidelines established by GAO. I could not find any specifics about documenting exit meetings.

    There is one section in Government Auditing Standards, section 7 which deals with reporting standards. Of interest is Section 7.44a dealing with the distribution of the report, which I quote here;

    “a. Audit organizations in government entities should distribute audit reports to those charged with governance, to the appropriate audited entity officials, and to the appropriate oversight bodies or organizations
    requiring or arranging for the audits. As appropriate, auditors should also distribute copies of the reports to other officials who have legal oversight authority or who may be responsible for acting on audit findings and recommendations, and to others authorized to receive such reports.    ”

    So a question here; who on the council would be authorized to have a copy?

    Sections 7.40 through 7.43 (Reporting Confidential and Sensitive Information) may have a bearing as well. It deals with what can be omitted in the report. I think the Mayor and the machine is desperately trying to figure a way to use that to their full advantage. I have a feeling whatever the contents of the report will be, it will not present just how badly the cities finances really are.

  47. https://www.facebook.com/VoteBrinkerhoffRiley
    Vote Brinkerhoff Riley Status May 17th:
    The idea that I’ve done something wrong or am going anywhere is inaccurate. I’ve never seen such a rabid drive to hide the truth about the current state of the financial records of Evansville. As a representative of the public and an advocate for fiscal transparency, I take my job seriously. Backing down isn’t in my DNA. The recording I made was to preserve the truth. The fact that it will be embarrassing is a testament to its value. Evansville still can’t balance its checkbook after 2.5 years of Lloyd Winnecke in office. The way to solve a problem is to admit it exists. There’s a reason our State Legislature made the potential penalty for the release of critical information to the public by an elected official an A infraction (speeding ticket). It was so that doing the right thing doesn’t come at an unbearable cost. And I will fight any ticket issued. As to morality, I’ll take my interpretation of morality over that of my critics any day. More information will be released later this morning. Please share.

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