Letter to Editor: Mayor Blames Crowe Horwath for Stalled Vetting Process

Mayor Blames Crowe Horwath for Stalled Vetting Process

By: Brad Linzy

In a shocking report last night from News 25, Mayor Lloyd Winnecke called proposed vetting firm Crowe Horwath’s claim that the blame for the stalled vetting process lies with HCW “incredible”. It is not entirely clear whether the Mayor meant “incredible” like “The Incredible Hulk” is “incredible”. Given the tone of his voice and the circumstances, it might be safe to assume he wasn’t calling Crowe’s actions “unbelievably awesome”. Instead, it appears what the Mayor really meant was “incredible” as in “incredulous”, as in “lacking credulity”, as in he thinks they are lying or fudging the truth about why they would refuse a $15,000 vetting contract.

Let’s rewind the clock to September 5th. Just after the 8-1 Council vote to secure Crowe as an outside firm to perform the additional vetting this Mayor said to the Courier Press, “…we certainly appreciate the fact that council has outstanding questions. We think it’s our role to facilitate to make sure they get their questions answered.”

Now, a scant 10 days later, the vetting process has ground to a halt and this Mayor is blaming the outside firm – the one without a single dog in this fight – for stalling the vetting. Furthermore, he again trots out Rob Hunden – the guy to whom his Administration paid $105k to produce a study he could use to gain support for a predetermined goal of building a 250 room hotel – to say those in opposition of the deal are “cherry picking” information from his report, which is not only a mischaracterization of what we’re doing when we try to use relevant quotes from the report, but is a total distraction from the story at hand, namely the stalled vetting this Mayor vowed to help facilitate.

Distraction is the key word here. The only political move this Administration and his toadies have given the current situation – beyond the honorable tact of disavowing support for the HCW deal – is to distract and confuse, to lay down a smoke screen of misdirection and innuendo and redouble their efforts to have the City Council delay the vote they previously had said should not be delayed while they scramble to convince Councilmembers and probably themselves there is a CPA firm out there who will take on this backroom “vetting” without the ability to release the actual findings to the client (the City Council).

Even Councilwoman Robinson is jumping on the Hope Train. She told the Courier Press, “We don’t want to throw in the towel because one company said no.” By this statement, it is clear Councilwoman Robinson believes we should go forward and find a CPA firm to “vet” this deal without actually releasing all the requested information to the City Council. If I am wrong, I hope she corrects me.

In what was perhaps the least shocking, but nonetheless appalling, among Monday’s developments were the statements of Councilman Weaver who managed to in a single breath defend HCW and call into question both the maturity and trustworthiness of some of his colleagues. The Councilman criticized the leaking of internal emails to “bloggers”, using that as a defense of HCW’s refusal to cooperate.

One thing is for certain – this deal is dead. The support is not in the community for this taxpayer funded hotel deal with HCW and the City Council members know it. The votes for this deal were not there at the last meeting, so they voted for vetting 8-1. This latest development is the final nail in the coffin. The chickens for this deal have had their heads severed. Their bodies are currently running around frantically looking for a good place to die. Let the blame game begin.