IS IT TRUE that the real truth about the 2:00 PM meeting in the Mayor Conference room this afternoon is really about the proposed $54 million Johnson Control project and not about the terms of the upcoming state audit?…that the Mayor’s Attorney, Ted Ziemer has called and shall chair this meeting on behalf of the Mayor?…that John Friend, CPA, President of City Council, Connie Robinson, At-Large City Councilman, Dr. Dan Adams, City Attorney, Scott Danks and David Garrett, CPA will represent the Evansville City Council interest at this meeting?…that City Attorney Ted Ziemer and Chief of Staff, Steve Schaefer and select others will represent the Mayors position on this pork barrel project? … the first question asked in this meeting by the President of the Evansville City Council should be “Mr. Mayor, why on earth did you not tell us that you filed an appeal to the IURC ruling that rejected the Johnson Controls contract”?…the look on the Mayor’s face and the demeanor that follows that question will set the tone for the next three years of this administration?

IS IT TRUE it has been alleged that the Mayor wants city council to support this $54 million dollar pork barrel project so he can push it through quietly without fanfare?…also, it has also been alleged if this project is approved, the Mayor can take care of many of his major political contributors of Mayoral campaign?…this should be one of those “coming to Jesus” meetings where SNEGAL ways of this administration with regard to this project are exposed and the real intentions can be extracted?…if someone representing the council is really on their toes there could and should be a line of questions directed at why bad decisions handed down by the Weinzapfel Administration are not be allowed to vanish when a perfect opportunity to do so it handed to the Winnecke Administration on a silver platter?

IS IT TRUE that the infamous ball field project is back in the news and that the Evansville Convention and Visitors Bureau is busy planning another 8 field project?…the location of this will supposedly be anywhere but Roberts Stadium?…as has been written many times here there is nothing wrong with a ball field complex as long as it does not become an overpriced project like the last one that was estimated to cost over $2 Million per ball field?…this new proposal is looking more like $1.6 Million per ball field which is still a ridiculous amount of money for a ball field complex?…an 8 field complex that caters to out of town little league teams coming to Evansville for a tournament should not exceed $4 Million plus the cost of land if the land has to be purchased?…all we really ask of local government and its surrogates like the CVB is sanity when it comes to spending the innkeeper’s tax?

IS IT TRUE that we have it on good authority that the reconciliation of the financial accounts of the City of Evansville are not yet completed?…we also have learned that some progress has been made toward that but that the real drop dead timeframe for complete reconciliation is not even established?…if a timeline is not set in stone that is consistent with having a State Board of Accounts audit on time for 2012 the City of Evansville will once again be embarrassed for ineptness and exposed for financial buffoonery?…most of the readership of the CCO indicates they do not think our local government are thieves?…on the other hand it is widely believed that the ineptness is systematic, rewarded, and has some nefarious purpose that the pawns in the thick of it for the most part are oblivious to?

IS IT TRUE that the Vision 1505 project that spent $7.6 Million to refurbish the old abandoned Safe House into 32 apartments has been completed and is deemed to be a success?…we are sure that for nearly $240,000 per apartment this should be a success?…for the same amount of money one could have bought a 380 unit apartment complex, 100 average cost middle class houses, or even 32 luxury holes with a pool in the Evansville market?…that people who praise government projects for “doing good” at a price that is 10 times what it needs to be are as much a part of the financial demise of the United States as the Congress of the United States?…if this project is any indication of what government spends for things relative to the real free market prices our national budget could be balanced by just putting a couple of thousand middle class moms in charge of the nations checkbook?…that being stupid in the name of doing good is the enemy of really doing all the good one can do?

IS IT TRUE according to some superstitious minds the Mayan calendar ends tomorrow and that this means doomsday scenario #4,052 will be playing out on December 21, 2012?…of course being a practical publication the CCO thinks this latest “end of the world” prediction will pass into the annuls of nonsense as all of the others have?…what probably happened is that the last skilled chiseller for the Mayan king passed away at that point of his chiseling and he was not replaced?…that maybe the Mayans were experiencing a bad economy and the royal chiseller’s job was subject to layoff by attrition?…it is even possible that the Mayans raised the taxes on skilled people like chisellers and they all just headed to the beach rather than give their earnings to the king thus the last date chiseled was Dec. 21, 2012?…if there is no IS IT TRUE tomorrow morning that the modern day psychotic interpretation of the Mayan calendar must have been true?

IS IT TRUE that it has been pointed out to the CCO that Garrard and Associates, the business hired by the Winnecke Administration for $185.00 per hour to spend the next 6 months herding the EPA on behalf of the City of Evansville’s sewer problem is the very same James Garrard who was in charge of this under Mayor Weinzapfel?…it seems as though Mayor Winnecke just hired the guy who it would seem should have done this during the last two years to take up his pen and do it now?…the City Council may want to ask Mr. Garrard for an overview of what was done to herd the EPA during the last 2 years and how he plans to make it to the finish line in the next 6 months?…we also wonder if this contract was let out for bids so that engineering firms that have handled such problems in other cities could bid on this contract OR if the typical action of just continuing to do as ex Mayor Weinzapfel did still dominates the decision process of the Winnecke Administration?

IS IT TRUE the American people were treated to the news that General Motors (GM: NYSE) will be buying back a large block of the shares that the federal government bought from GM to bail them out at half of the price they sold them to the government for in the first place?…this transaction will guarantee a $12 Billion loss for the US government for its intrusive foray into investing in a public company and changing the rules of commerce?…the remainder of the governments stock will be sold at “market price” over the next year at prices that will guarantee even more losses?…of all the bail outs that were done back in the days when the term “too big to fail” was coined, only three have resulted in giant losses for the American people?…those three are General Motors, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac, the last two being the purveyors of government intrusion into the housing markets that are hopelessly under water?…these three bailout bombs (or bongs if you prefer) all got government money, government management, and the laws were changed to their benefit yet all still failed?

IS IT TRUE even the bailout companies that were found guilty of corruption and manipulation managed to pay the government back but these three prima donnas did not?…this should surprise no one and the statement from GM management that the “stigma” of being called Government Motors had hurt their business shouldn’t either?…if any one of us could sell the government stock for $52, then hold the cash for a few years before buying that stock back for $27.50 with the same money it would be pretty difficult not to make money doing so?

IS IT TRUE that it was reported yesterday that the renouncing of citizenship by French citizens has increased by roughly 500% since President Francois Hollande shoved through a “soak the rich” tax rate of up to 75% on marginal earnings?…the people leaving France are the high earners and entrepreneurs that pay the lion’s share of the taxes to keep the socialist machine running?…one prominent actor even made the statement that “he was tired of living where he is hated for financial success and taxed beyond the point of sanity”?…if this sounds familiar to modern America it would behoove us all to see what happens in a society that allows out migration when the government takes over virtually everything?…we hope our readers enjoy Les Miserables this Christmas but not to let guillotines and nationalization of assets fan the fires of hate for wealthy Americans who do indeed pay for way more than their share of government services already?