IS IT TRUE May 14, 2012

IS IT TRUEthe deadline in the letter from the attorney for Earthcare Energy passed and that the pending litigation that Ted Ziemer, attorney for the Mayor’s Office may have become a little more closer to reality over the weekend?… the Mole Nation is telling us that Mr. Ziemer has been feeding information to other news outlets that he will be meeting with the Earthcare attorneys on Wednesday to discuss the letter’s contents?… the letter sounds more like a “seeking a settlement” letter than it sounds like a “want to do the deal” or a “want to go to court for a multi-year battle” letter?…that if the discussions are cordial, intelligent, and honest we may soon learn just how much it costs to have rotten vetting, vague contracts, and conflicts of interest as a way of doing business?

IS IT TRUE if this City Council does not adopt process of how to VET along with an ETHICS STATEMENT and a CONFLICT OF INTEREST policy that this fiasco will probably repeat itself?…it really seems as though a critical mass of elected and appointed officials in Evansville simply do not understand what the terms ETHICS and CONFLICT OF INTEREST means?… in the absence of such knowledge this history of foolishness and back room deals will continue?…this City and maybe even the State and Country are in a real quandary when the buck never stops and when clearly wrong things are successfully defended as legal?…that our laws seem to be leading the American people down a path of no accountability and especially the ones who find their way into elected or appointed positions of leadership?…that what has gone in Evansville during the last 10 weeks is a perfect example of fluff over substance and self interest over good public policy?

IS IT TRUE the path to rescinding the loan approval for Earthcare Energy will start at tonight’s meeting of the Evansville City Council?…that minimally the first reading of the Riley Resolution will be happening tonight?…that the Mole Nation tells us that City Council President Connie Robinson who cast a vote to fund a $200,000 loan advance before the City Council voted will not be allowing any discussion about Earthcare?…that President Robinson may control the agenda of the Council but she cannot control the 3 minute speaking opportunities available to the citizens of Evansville?…that based on this alleged attempt to MUZZLE THE DEBATE ON EARTHCARE by President Robinson, the City County Observer would like to encourage the people of Evansville to flood the Council Chamber and make statement after statement regarding what is thought about the way this deal has been handled?…it is important to have an official transcript that reflects the reality of what has happened and what the people of Evansville think about it?

IS IT TRUE we also wonder just what significance the loan approval by the City Council has and thus what effect rescinding it will have?…as long as we have a sneaky slush fund with people who have conflicts of interest that are willing to circumvent the will and authority of the City Council that this problem will not be solved?…that for the reason of conflict of interest, that we call for Connie Robinson, Debbie Dewey, Christine Keck, and Greg Wathen to resign immediately from the board of the Evansville Economic Development Loan Committee?…that with these people on this board it has no legitimacy?…we also call on President Robinson to apologize publicly for here roll in circumventing the authority of the Evansville City Council, the legal body that she is President of?…it would minimally be appropriate for Councilwoman Robinson to step down as President?…that this may be the second position of authority that she ends up being dismissed from in less than one year?…that first it was the Democrat Central Committee and now the City Council where to paraphrase Mr. Spock “the desires of the self were placed above the needs of the many or the few”?

IS IT TRUE May 11, 2012 Part 2

IS IT TRUE

the morning the world financial news outlets are all clamoring over a $2 Billion blunder made in the risk management division of J. P Morgan?…the words used by the Wall Street Journal to describe J. P. Morgan’s strategy that led to this loss were “flawed, complex, poorly reviewed, poorly executed, and poorly monitored”?…that in a public statement regarding this J. P. Morgan’s CEO, the “King of Wall Street” Jamie Dimon said “this trade does not violate the Volcker Rule, but it violates the Dimon principle”?…our little character SNEGAL seems to have been hanging around Wall Street for some time and that SNEGALjust struck again?…Chairman Dimon’s comment clearly implies that the complex charade that led to his firm’s $2 Billion loss was legal yet unprincipled?

IS IT TRUE that Evansville and particularly the government of Evansville is in the midst of enduring the unwinding of a SNEGAL (maybe) situation that also meets the description of “flawed, complex, poorly reviewed, poorly executed, and poorly monitored”?…hardly a day goes by that another layer comes off of the onion now known as the Earthcare Catastrophe?…that just yesterday we all learned that the contract between the City of Evansville and Earthcare did not even make a vote of approval by the City Council a closing condition for a $5 Million loan?…that just heartbeats after the contract was written a board appointed by Mayor Lloyd Winnecke with fully half of its voting members having a conflict of interest authorized an advance of $200,000 to Earthcare with no collateral whatsoever in place?…that the authorization of this loan when compared to the $3,500 Christmas dinner that resulted in the ouster of every board member who sipped the Opus One from the CVB board look like a Sunday School Picnic?

IS IT TRUE that two of the members who by virtue of their positions and experiences, namely Christine Keck of a Vectren subsidiary and Greg Wathen who sits on the GAGE board were not up to their eyeballs in conflict and may have been oblivious to the details of the ill-conceived scheme that they happened to be thrust into?…Mayor Winnecke who appointed this board should know better by virtue of the credibility he lost for his part in the Homestead Tax Credit back door meeting that BEING SNEAKY DOES NOT PAY OFF?…putting people into positions of conflicted interest is POOR PUBLIC POLICY?…that Mayor Winnecke needs to right his ship ASAP, apologize to the people of Evansville for his role in the Earthcare Catastrophe, and become the transparent, collaborative Mayor that he campaigned to be?…the Earthcare Catastrophe is strike two on Mayor Winnecke and the clock is ticking?

IS IT TRUE that four members of the board that approved the advance of $200,000 appear to have no conflicts of interest in this deal?…the CCO is a friend of Les Shively and do not believe Mr. Shively would have supported this disaster if the information that was withheld due to a failure to VET had been available at that time?…we will for the sake of hope conclude the same about the other three non conflicted members?…that does not excuse the fact that this vote on this advance should have never been arranged in the first place?…that the orchestration of this debacle, the support of the faulty VETTING, and the sneaky ways this went down fall squarely on the desk of Mayor Winnecke?

IS IT TRUE Debbie Dewey of GAGE and Connie Robinson of the Evansville City Council were not only conflicted beyond belief but they have exhibited nothing but arrogance and condescension toward anyone who has questioned their methods and motives?…that these two people more than any others have enabled and encouraged Mayor Winnecke to dig himself into a hole and are the architects and promoters of that which is well described as “flawed, complex, poorly reviewed, poorly executed, and poorly monitored”?…that all future votes or projects that come to the City Council with the recommendation or support of these two people shall be looked at with skepticism by virtue of the company they keep?…it is time for our City Council President Connie Robinson and Debbie Dewey to be prohibited from presiding over another thin dime of taxpayer dollars?