Mark Souder Votes Against Mother’s Day - I’m Not Joking
Posted by Jeff Pruitt - 5/10/08 @ 10:29 pm
The House had a vote on their annual Mother’s Day resolution - you know a resolution saying Congress recognizes that mothers are important and that kind of stuff; a real controversial piece of legislation to be sure.
Well the Republicans have taken to stalling every single single vote with procedural tactics and other such nonsense, but today Mark Souder joined some of his Republican colleagues in actually voting against the Mother’s Day resolution. You can read the text of the resolution below.
It takes a special kind of contempt to vote against Mother’s Day. This is what we’re getting from our 3rd District Representative - political shenanigans on even the most benign votes. It’s Mother’s Day for goodness sake! Have you know shame Congressman Souder?
Filed Under 2008 Local Elections, Featured | 3 Comments
Shot in the Park? Impossible!
Posted by Jeff Pruitt - 5/10/08 @ 1:38 am
The JG reports that a man was shot in the leg while jogging in the city park with his mother. This is clearly impossible since city parks are Gun-Free Zones. I mean it says so right there in the city code:
97.62 HUNTING, FIREWORKS, AND FIREARMS PROHIBITED.
Fireworks, firearms, “BB” guns, slingshots, pea shooters, blow guns and paint ball guns are prohibited in all park areas unless permission has been obtained from the Department.
Filed Under Uncategorized | 3 Comments
No Income Tax Increase
Posted by Jeff Pruitt - 5/10/08 @ 1:29 am
As expected mayor Henry has came to the decision not to request an increase in the county option income tax. This obviously makes sense economically given the current environment but politically such a request would’ve been DOA at the council table anyway.
The mayor is reaching out to the citizenry and asking them to define their priorities. I started down this path with a series of posts and I hope to continue that process. But something has to go so contact your city councilmembers and/or the mayor’s staff and let them know what you want to keep and what you think should get the boot…
Filed Under Local Politics | Leave a Comment
Did The City’s Own Lawyer Also Represent The High Performance Government Network Group?
Posted by Jeff Pruitt - 5/9/08 @ 3:35 pm
Look at the signature on the city’s contract with the High Performance Government Network. It appears that the signature representing HPGN could be that of former city corporation counsel Joe Kimmel. If so, this would be an enormous conflict of interest and (imo) a major ethical breach:
I’ve asked the city to tell me who’s signature that is but they routed my request through the Public Information Office which is completely ridiculous. The name of that signature is a question of fact and not policy or interpretation and there’s no reason for it to go through the PIO. It may in fact not be Kimmel’s signature but the public should know whose it is.
I would like to think that the city’s corporate counsel would not think it ethical to sign off on a contract with the city especially given the close ties this company has to the mayor. There’s also a chance that Kimmel had resigned as corporate counsel by that data but even so he shouldn’t be signing contracts only days after he left his job with the city.
City council should consider an ordinance that would close this type of revolving door between government and the private sector. There should be a moratorium of at least a year before a former employee is allowed to accept a city contract…
Filed Under Featured, Local Politics | 4 Comments
Deputy Mayor Out
Posted by Jeff Pruitt - 5/9/08 @ 11:20 am
Mark Becker has resigned as deputy mayor and is joining the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership as Director of Regional Development and Executive Director of the Northeast Indiana Foundation. Care to speculate who his replacement might be? Greg Leatherman?
Filed Under Local Politics | 1 Comment
Fort Wayne Observed Posts High Performance Government Contract
Posted by Jeff Pruitt - 5/9/08 @ 10:00 am
You can see it for yourself. I cannot believe this is all there is to that contract. Does the city sign on to these kind of hastily drawn agreements on a regular basis? Has anyone else seen such a vague contract for $300k in services?
Filed Under Local Politics | 2 Comments
JG Chastises 11th Hour Contract
Posted by Jeff Pruitt - 5/9/08 @ 9:43 am
Today’s editorial echoes many of the sentiments I wrote about last night. Everyone seems to be in agreement that city council needs to get some answers about this contract:
First, the $100,000 threshold should apply to the life of the contract rather than an annual amount. The $285,000 contract should have been subject to council review.
Richard should have made the contract public when his administration approved it last December, and city officials still need to explain to City Council members and the public exactly what taxpayers are getting for their money and why so much of it was paid up front.
Filed Under Featured, Local Politics | 3 Comments
Per City Code - Mayor Richard’s 11th Hour Contract Is Null and Void
Posted by Jeff Pruitt - 5/9/08 @ 8:00 am
After reviewing the city code I don’t believe the council has to do anything to terminate the contract as I believe it’s already null and void. Here’s the city code citation and any of you lawyers out there should feel free to chime in and let us know what you think:
ยง 38.03 HIRING OF CONSULTANTS.
(l) All contracts and/or contractual arrangements to employ or utilize the services of a consultant or consultants with the city, either for civil, governmental or utility purposes shall be approved by the Mayor or Board of Works and Safety of the city. Prior to the Mayor’s or the board of works and safety’s execution of the contracts and/or contractual arrangements, the Common Council shall certify and approve, by ordinance, the need for the services of a consultant or consultants when extrapolated over one full year, is equal to or greater than the amount specified in the ordinance governing approval of city and city utilities’ purchases of supplies.(2) All such contracts or agreements with a consultant(s), hereafter entered into without such prior approval by the Common Council, shall be null and void.
(3) In case of emergency only may the city enter into a contract or agreement for the hiring and employment of consultants without the necessity of prior approval by the Common Council.
(D) If any questions arise as to terms of any contracts for the employment of consultants by the city the City Controller or his/her representative or designee shall meet and confer with the Common Council for the purposes of answering any and all such questions.
At the very least, council should use section (D) and drag Pat Roller in front of council to answer some questions about this contract…
Filed Under City Council, Featured | 6 Comments
Management Of The High Performance Government Network All Have Direct Ties To Graham Richard
Posted by Jeff Pruitt - 5/9/08 @ 2:15 am
The leadership of the High Performance Government Network is listed on their webpage. Here are their names and their ties to former mayor Graham Richard:
Ryan Chasey President - Former Quality Director and Public Finance Officer for the city of Fort Wayne
Kate Love-Jacobson Vice-President, Training - Former Human Resources manager for the city of Fort Wayne
Joy Hudson Vice-President, Operations - Former executive assistant to mayor Graham Richard
Lindsey Maksim Vice-President, Membership - Special Assistant to the Mayor of Fort Wayne
Christopher Campbell Chief Information Officer - Former webmaster for the city of Fort Wayne
I have no problem with these individuals forming a company to provide whatever service they want. But the fact that their boss, former mayor Graham Richard, fed them a $300k contract without council approval just days before leaving office stinks…
Filed Under Local Politics | Leave a Comment
Mayor Richard’s 11th Hour Contract Should Be Immediately Terminated
Posted by Jeff Pruitt - 5/9/08 @ 1:45 am
I’m assuming you’ve all read about Mayor Richard’s 11th hour $300k contract to High Performance Goverment (sic) Network Corp to provide “training” to the city.
The fact that the mayor can push a 3 year $95k contract out the door without council approval is appalling. Keep in mind that council must approve expenditures over $100k but can the mayor really push out multi-year deals that exceed that amount? What would’ve stopped him from awarding a 100 year $95k/year contract? Obviously if the contract total is more than $100k then it should need approval.
Another disturbing part of this transaction is that the President of this organization, Ryan Chasey, had a direct working relationship with the mayor - he was his former Quality Director and Public Finance Officer. The JG sort of picked up on this when they identified Chasey as a “former city employee”. But he was much more than some run of the mill employee as he was tied in at the very highest level. This is the kind of revolving door we do not want in our city government.
Just look at what happened on it’s face:
The mayor gives a last minute $300k contract to a former employee who heads a non-profit that he essentially created. Could there be a more blatant case of conflict of interest? The city council should move to immediately void this contract. If the current mayor wants to renegotiate the deal and get council approval then so be it but we simply cannot create a revolving door environment where political cronies benefit at the expense of the taxpayers - especially when we face a massive budget shortfall…