IS IT TRUE? September 23, 2011

22

The Mole #??

IS IT TRUE? September 22, 2011

IS IT TRUE that the City County Observer has done something that grabs headlines and attracts politicians like a flame attracts moths?…that we have “CREATED A JOB”?…that every time the act of CREATING A JOB or TWO with the dream of creating a larger number of jobs is announced by any business with a pulse that politicians and their posse flock around the JOB CREATING BUSINESSPERSON like flies at a picnic?…that politicians and their posse will come around with golden shovels, giant pairs of scissors, ribbons, and camera crews for just about any out of town business that creates any kind of job whatsoever?…that this is not just an Evansville thing, it is a nationwide epidemic?

IS IT TRUE that politicians and their posse seem to have a distinct taste for jobs that move here over jobs that are grown here?…that if a local company expands there is seldom any fanfare and the politicians and their posse are not seen or heard of?…that a job attracted with the anticipation of more jobs in the future is often rewarded with tax abatements, training grants, and even with an incentive check?…that when it was announced on WGBF 1280 am yesterday morning that the City County Observer has created one job that host Evansville attorney Les Shively commented that the CCO had created one more job than President Barack Obama?…that we assure everyone that there has been considerably less than $787 Billion spent by the CCO to create that one opportunity?

IS IT TRUE that after 4 years the CCO now has 4 people who are earning a part of their living from the publication?…that the number of public dollars and tax abatements offered to the City County Observer has been exactly ZERO?…that this is how it should be?…that what Evansville needs to really stabilize its economy and to dramatically reduce unemployment is 1,000 or so businesses to do what the City County Observer has done?…that it does not matter what those businesses do if each of them grows to between 4 and 10 people that will mean between 4,000 and 10,000 jobs for this region plus the accumulation of wealth that results from business ownership?

Nick Lacer, CCO Account Manager
IS IT TRUE that the face of the City County Observer that many of our clients and future clients will be getting to know soon is a 24 year old young man with a BS in Business Administration from USI named Nick Lacer?…that we welcome him and hope that our clients and readers will do the same?…that Mr. Lacer is a young educated professional that is ambitious and eager to prove himself in this world?…that a rapidly growing business in a growing field like the City County Observer is one of several places in this region where a broad range of experience and an opportunity to set the stage for a life of high potential can be added to the resume’ of a person who may very well have been at risk to become a BRAIN DRAINER?

IS IT TRUE that given the nature of our writing and our mission to use publishing to further good public policy in Evansville that we do not expect that there will be golden shovels, red ribbons, giant scissors, or smiling politicians at a news conference in the CCO’s immediate future?…that if we started publishing in some other city and CREATED A JOB with the anticipation of creating 10 or 20 more that yes the politicians and their posse would be flocking around us?…that when Google, Apple, Groupon, LinkedIn, and a host of other businesses hired their first employees that no politicians with their posse came around either?

IS IT TRUE that there were plenty of politicians, their donors, their posse, and their sycophants hanging around Solyndra?…that while solar may be one of the energy options of the future that committing over $500 Million in federal money and arranging for photo ops to build a factory with no customers is just plain dumb?…that our elected leaders seem to have misplaced priorities and limited vision when it comes to really CREATING JOBS?

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

22 COMMENTS

  1. Nick Lacer,

    1) Welcome;
    2) Don’t let the lower integer moles push you around;
    3) Lose the tie !; and
    4) Best of luck to you NIck !

    • Nick,

      forgot to mention that fractional mole # 2.5. Keep a “weather eye” out . . .

  2. Congratulations to the CCO, hope the growth of your small enterprise continues for many years to come, golden shovels and photo ops are nice but a pay check on Friday is what it’s all about. 🙂

  3. Anybody else see the Solyndra people plead the 5th today?

    It reminded me of the report of City Centre properties speaking to the back taxes… But could you imagine if Solyndra didn’t plead the 5th… and they just said something like, “Oh, man, you wanted that money back? Hmmm… Sorry, I’m not prepared to address that. I’ll have to check on that.”

    Or could you imagine if Solyndra was given as much time as City Centre?

    Now, I don’t believe City Centre is bankrupt (as Solyndra), but for practical purposes… I’m just curious… Normally, would that property have been sold at a tax sale, by now?

    Surely, the political connectedness of City Centre hasn’t prevented any government actions, or has it? (Sorry, I shouldn’t say “any”, I should have asked about “other than those already reported”, i.e. the leniency as far as certain code enforcement goes.)

    Is it wrong to compare the Congressional response to Solyndra to the Council’s response to City Centre?

    • Actually the City of Evansville owned the McCurdy before giving City Centre the money to pay them for it and then deeding it to City Centre. The property was in no danger of being placed on a tax sale when the city owned it.

      Now it is possible that the property could be be auctioned if taxes are missed for a couple of years. They are only behind by 4 months so that the auctioneers gavel is not pending.

      The real travesty is the 1st mortgage at 5th 3rd. If this guy pulls a Solyndra with this business (City Centre Properties LLC) the City will lose $1.4 Million and the building.

      It is a smaller deal but the City of Evansville has done something much more reckless than the Obama Administration did with Solyndra. At least Solyndra was started with private money and allot of it. The McCurdy does not have a dime of private money in it and never did.

      Ha! That makes Weinzapfel and the ERC stupider than Obama and his fundraisers.

      • I say, tax sale, I guess I really mean… when the city tries to reverse the deal – if that is even possible?

        You raise a good point though about private funding… I have not seen reported the amount(s) the owners had put or leveraged of their own cash. I would wonder how the % of the taxes (paid & not) to the gift to City Centre compares to the Solyndra deal…?

        Plus, the Congressmen were all indicating how they had individually COVERED THEIR BASES by inquiring with Solyndra about the health of it’s business and the business plans etc. (I.E. any result that wasn’t accomplished, the natural questions were geared around potential FRAUD.) Where as, our ERC/Council (as proven in it’s past failures…?) both seem to just be geared around an… Aw shucks, we’ll just TRY it all over till we get it right, attitude?

        • I have read that private investors had put up over $1 Billion in Solyndra before the stimulus loan of over $500 Million was granted. One of those investors was the biggest fund raiser in Oklahoma for the Obama campaign. So was the Obama Administration helping out their crony, legitimately thinking that Solyndra was a worthy investment, or both. At best the government loan to Solyndra was very poor financial judgement. At worst it was payola. Stay tuned.

          I am quite sure that the management of Solyndra will be made into scapegoats by a the PYA crowd in DC. These guys will be prosecuted for fraud to throw some blood to the wolves of government. Guilty or not they will be found to be.

          The possibility to reverse the transaction without complications for the McCurdy ended when the 5th 3rd mortgage was given a superior position to the City of Evansville’s.

        • Class III Directors—Term expiring 2006

          John M. Dunn, age 68, has been a director of SIGCORP, Inc., a predecessor of the Company (“SIGCORP”), or the Company since 1996. Mr. Dunn is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Dunn Hospitality Group, Ltd. and Dunn Hospitality Group Manager, Inc., a hotel development and management company. He is also a director of Old National Bank of Evansville, Indiana.

          * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

          “The property was owned by Safe-On-First, LLC. John M. Dunn, chairman and chief executive officer of Dunn Hospitality, said he created the firm to buy the parking lot from Old National Bank in April 2005.”

          * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

          Obviously Dunn was a director of ONB when he bought the property from them for $125K in 2005.

          I would like to take this opportunity to link this sad turn of events to something known as “voter turnout”.

          When people feel, from personal observation, that the ole boy network is firmly in control no matter who they vote for, can you blame them for not voting?

          ____

          • Dunn made an 382.4% increase in his “investment” for the 29 months he held the property, April 2005 to October 2007.

            I would say that with proof like that of the sky-rocketing property values of downtown real estate, no further public monies need be spent in that area of the city, and there was probably never any justification for a downtown TIF!

            __

    • If they did what they are purported to have done, then let justice take its course, and to hell with them. However, if you were hauled in front of a congressional committee comprised of men who relish every photo opportunity granted them at the expense of the taxpayer, and you had the constitutional right to plead the 5th Amendment, would you do so if advised by your lawyer to protect yourself legally?

      • That’s the contrast:

        In Congress there would have been serious repercussions for saying “Uhhh, I don’t know”.

        Our Council… basically took a pass on at least making a “show” of support for the taxpayer’s dollar… didn’t they?

        Have you seen any news coverage where any Council person put any heat (reputational, legal or otherwise) on either the ERC or City Centre, to if nothing else, symbolically show a respect for the taxpayer?

        At least the cronies in Washington treat us like we have a brain and understand what’s going on… Plus, AT LEAST CRONY CAPITALISM (federal), has downside effects for the crony that doesn’t deliver!

        WE all talk about sneagle… but doesn’t non-existant downside Crony risk, locally, indicate… a form of government far, far, worse (than crony capitalism)?

  4. “Have you seen any news coverage where any Council person put any heat (reputational, legal or otherwise) on either the ERC or City Centre, to if nothing else, symbolically show a respect for the taxpayer?”

    I understand where you’re coming from, and have been frustrated myself from time to time on the same account.

    But honestly, I have to answer “yes” John Friend lately has been very aggressively putting the heat on ERC and Arena officials, not just symbolically, and at the expense of some heat being put back on himself, they way I understand it. So, I have to take John Friend at face value at this time, that he is sincere in his efforts to hold ERC and others accountable. Just my take on it.

    • I agree, but Friend’s speaking out didn’t happen until an election year. I think he started questioning things so his opponent would have less shovel to bury him with.

      • After seeing John Friend’s opponent perform at the Central Labor Council, I’m not sure Brent knows how to pick up a shovel or which end goes into the ground.

    • The Friend-quisition…

      To me, is just a symbolic rebellion (like Davis) to win election. (And to give a symbolic impression that he’s capable and has been doing “the job” the whole time in office.)

      • You may be right. Time will tell. Right now I take John Friend at face value because he stood up, used his professional background, and voiced for the taxpayer.

        Besides, after catching John Friend’s opponent at the Central Labor Council, I’m not sure Brent has ever picked up a shovel or knows which end to poke in the ground.

          • No. John’s not my accountant. My accountant’s name is Steve. He’s a staunch Republican. That’s not the issue. John Friend is an acquaintance. I run into him a couple of times a year at parties thrown by a mutual friend. Sometimes we see each other at political events. I have serious disagreements with John Friend politically since he is as blue a blue dog Democrat as they come. I’m just calling it like I see it, Brent. You blew it at the Labor Temple. Really snotty performance, in my opinion.

        • Look at the results to date, hasn’t it’s already been proven?

          I wish we had more candidates that were not trained and indoctrinated by the elders of the current kingship…

          I wish we had more voters that realized that figuratively knowing how to efficiently shovel coal into the progressive train this administration built – is not necessarily a trait any taxpayer should admire…

  6. Soon2B
    I enjoy reading your post and agree with most of your comments but if you think John Friend is a blue dog democrat you missed that one. Most blue dog democrats I know havn’t ran for city council in past elections on the republican ticket.

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