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?

IS IT TRUE May 11, 2012

IS IT TRUE

the more the Earthcare Energy deal comes unraveled the more shocking and amazing it is to see the level of blatant arrogance and blinding ignorance has been exhibited since the day it was announced?…that yesterday we all learned that the City of Evansville had violated the closing conditions of its own contract with Earthcare by making a $200,000 loan in advance of the approval by the Evansville City Council?…today we have learned that the Economic Development Loan Committee was the conduit through which this loan was funded and that the meeting to approve an “advance” of $200,000 against an un-approved loan with VAPORWAREpledged as collateral happened within hours of the perfectly choreographed photo-op at the old Whirlpool building?…four of the eight voting board members of the Economic Development Loan Committee had clear conflicts of interest when they cast their votes of support for the $200,000 advance?

IS IT TRUE that Christine Keck is an employee of a subsidiary of Vectren Corporation that has had an interest in this loan going through from the beginning?…that the PPA (Power Purchase Agreement) between Vectren and Earthcare Energy has been touted as collateral for this loan from Day 1?…Ms. Christine Keck was clearly in conflict of interest when she cast this vote?…Debbie Dewey the president of GAGE and the most visible public proponent of the Earthcare Energy deal was also clearly in conflict of interest when she cast her vote along with GAGE board member Greg Wathen?…that City Council President Connie Robinson who has advocated for the Earthcare Energy deal from the beginning and who voted yes on the loan approval just three weeks later was perhaps the person with the most conflict of interest in the whole deal?…the question of whether or not the boards and elected bodies of Evansville have even a first grade understanding of the meaning of ethics?…it seems as though these people are completely oblivious to what is right and what is wrong in business and governance?…that Evansville will never ever have good public policy if we can’t even elect or appoint people who know the meaning of the word good?

IS IT TRUE if the people of Evansville continue to tolerate what is becoming an atmosphere of open abuse of privilege, conflicts of interests, and using public positions to further personal agendas that we get what we deserve?…that the actions of the public officials both elected and appointed on this project rival anything that has happened in Detroit, Chicago, Washington D.C., or in some small town in the south back in the 1950’s?…this is disgusting to the point that we should not wait until the next election to start replacing these people?…that this is so much worse than spending $3,500 on an Opus One fueled Christmas dinner that is makes one’s head spin?…the CVB board who wasted $3,500 was tarred and feathered by the public and former Mayor Weinzapfel for their deed and summarily dismissed?…that anything less with this board is a failure to provide good stewardship of the public dollars?…Mayor Weinzapfel was neither invited nor aware of the Opus One party but that Mayor Winnecke was fully aware of what was happening with Earthcare’s $200,000 advance?…that public apologies and dismissals are in order?

IS IT TRUE that in the case of our City Council President Connie Robinson it is time for her to step down or face whatever consequences that the rules of the Evansville City Council have available?…that being conflicted like this is not appropriate for a member of the council and are grossly inappropriate for the president?…that allowing Ms. Robinson to maintain her seat on council is to sanction these actions?…it is time for the people of Evansville and the non conflicted members to demand accountability?…we wonder if Evansville has the will as a city and a people to clean the mess that our elected and appointed officials have made, and we are not talking about litter?

IS IT TRUE May 10, 2012

IS IT TRUEthe announcement that the Earthcare Energy deal was being placed into default for not performance on the part of Earthcare Energy was in political circles an orchestration of related and unrelated events to take full advantage of every natural and manufactured distraction that possibly could have been lumped together in time?…this announcement came at about midnight on election night in the home town of Richard Mourdock who became the first person from Evansville to win a Senate based election in over 50 years (Ellsworth was not opposed)?…a manufactured announcement of an economic development nature was perfectly timed to follow the Earthcare announcement by less than 10 hours?…there was hardly a waking hour that people only had the Earthcare announcement to ponder?…the choreography of the Earthcare vaporization announcement has only been exceeded in precision and grace by the filming of Mayor Winnecke’s “Go You Chicken Fat Go” video?

IS IT TRUE now that the announcement that most of the people of Evansville without blinders on knew was bound to happen it is time to do a post mortem analysis of just how did such a thing like this happen and how much will it really cost the people of Evansville in the end?…the first thing one must understand is that in spite of carefully chosen words of a terminal nature, this deal is NOT DEAD?…the reality of the February 28th document signed by Earthcare and the Mayor is that Earthcare legally has 30 days to cure any deficiencies?…the claim yesterday that it was a requirement to have a guarantee from the Department of Energy is not quite what the letter says?…the real language says that they have to be pursuing the DOE guarantee?…the real reason to put the deal into default as it turned out was the fact that Earthcare Energy has never produced a license with Langson Energy that they have represented to have had since day one?… the simple requirement to show that document and to be VETTED for having it prior to calling a press conference and announcing the deal would have saved Evansville 10 weeks of drama, an embarrassing vote at the now polarized City Council, and a whole bunch of money?

IS IT TRUE the Department of Metropolitan Development at some point loaned Earthcare Energy $200,000 and they now OWE THE CITY OF EVANSVILLE $184,000?…we wonder who authorized this loan and when that check was cut?…there are other costs that will come in as the post mortem continues through the next 30 days?…the City of Evansville has been paying Ted Ziemer for billable hours spent on the Earthcare project plus expenses?…there are other people on the payroll of the City of Evansville who have spent time on the Earthcare deal that could have been spent elsewhere?…the $184,000 that was handed to Earthcare is certainly at risk of never being paid but that we should not be surprised if the total cost of the FIRST NON-VETTING FIASCO OF THE WINNECKE ADMINISTRATION turns out to burn the people of Evansville for about $300,000 by the time all of the cash has been counted?…that if your amortize that over the 5 City Council members who voted for this without asking the obvious VETTING related questions that works out to $60,000 in losses of taxpayer dollars for every yes vote?…that Earthcare will go down in Evansville history as a failure to THINK AND VET on the same proportion as the McCurdy Hotel and the downtown Convention Hotel debacles of the Weinzapfel Administration?…this happened the same way, flushed a similar amount of money down the toilet, and for the same idiotic reasons?…that we wonder if the government of Evansville will ever learn to VET before hauling out the cameras?

IS IT TRUE the CCO is certain that there will be no post mortem analysis done by the City, the Courier, or any of the TV stations so we will attempt to carry that pail of water?…that today the CCO will be filing Freedom of Information Act requests with the Mayor, the City Controller, and DMD for all contracts and disbursements, or pending liabilities with respect to the Earthcare Energy project?…we know we won’t be told how much tax money GAGE spent on their part of this fiasco but we expect that is of Freedom Festival proportion as well?