If She's Innocent, Who's Guilty?
By now, the New Albany Board of Public Works & Safety, Mayor Garner, and City Attorney Shane Gibson will have in hand all the submissions for operating the household refuse collection services for 2006.
But there sure seems to be a lot of sub rosa maneuvering going on. The Gang of Four are up to the same old dirty tricks again. When told last spring that there was a hole in the ship that is New Albany, the gang proceeded to start digging holes in the keel. When a sail needed hoisting, they cut the lines.
Now, we discover the allegation that one or more city council members is tampering with the sanitation contract, claiming to have secret knowledge of the unknowable.
Every bidder, and every resident of this city, is entitled to a bidding process that is fair. These bids were sealed, and opened only this morning. Yet, the manager of the pink blog claims to know in advance not only the low bidder, but the winning bidder.
But she claims not to have personal knowledge, but rather, knowledge secretly passed to her by a member of the city council.
We know her facts are lies. What we don't know is who the liar is. Is Laura Oates the liar? She did retract her false report, but only in part. Apparently, she still maintains the truth of her assertion, but "apologizes" for the authority she cited.
Now, she is alleging felonious conduct on the part of a city council member. You can be sure the attorneys for those companies (and the union, if applicable) who fail to obtain the city sanitation contract, will want to know who that (those?) member(s) is (are).
Did BPW chairman Tony Toran impermissibly open these bids? Did another member of the board of works? Did a clerical employee tamper with sealed bids? Did a city council member use undue pressure on some lowly city employee to obtain knowledge of the bid specifics?
I am myself satisfied that the bid packages themselves were not tampered with. But I'm not the judge and jury on that. Mr. Toran's ethics are above reproach, smears and slanders notwithstanding. No city employee would risk their job and risk jail time to leak information to a city council member about sealed bids.
Therefore, there are only two possibilities. Oates is lying. Or her sources lied to her.
The lie is exposed. The attempt to interfere with the bid process is a felony. The question is, who committed the felony - Oates or the elected official? Disinterested speculation as to who might be the "favorite," and even journalistic digging to ferret out from the bidders their proposals would be permissible, if unhelpful, but when an elected official pretends to have inside information and spreads that around, it is clear malfeasance and grounds for removal from office.
The potential for bidders being extorted into shading their bids, or the potential to deter present and future bidders from participating in a sham process, are serious violations of the public trust. New Albany needs for its bid processes to be not only clean, but to appear to be clean, too.
I believe that the next city council meeting is the time for each member of the city council to come clean. While we're at it, let's interrogate Mr. Toran and the rest of the BoW to see where the truth lies. While denials by all nine won't necessarily implicate Oates as anything other than a gullible tool, it could be the lie that ends a political career.
If, as I suspect, the member(s) believe themselves fully justified in either a) engaging in felonious tampering or b) extortion of bidders, they should step forward and explain themselves to the council, and to the people.
Beyond the legal ramifications, which may have deterred the union from submitting a legal bid, it was a cruel lie to dump on the employees of the sanitation department on a holiday weekend. For those to whom Ms. Oates has credibility, it only poured fuel on the fire. But come to think of it, that was probably the motive. Too bad the political gamesmanship crossed the threshold to criminal malfeasance.
In this instance, I believe Ms. Oates. Will Keith Henderson?
But there sure seems to be a lot of sub rosa maneuvering going on. The Gang of Four are up to the same old dirty tricks again. When told last spring that there was a hole in the ship that is New Albany, the gang proceeded to start digging holes in the keel. When a sail needed hoisting, they cut the lines.
Now, we discover the allegation that one or more city council members is tampering with the sanitation contract, claiming to have secret knowledge of the unknowable.
Every bidder, and every resident of this city, is entitled to a bidding process that is fair. These bids were sealed, and opened only this morning. Yet, the manager of the pink blog claims to know in advance not only the low bidder, but the winning bidder.
But she claims not to have personal knowledge, but rather, knowledge secretly passed to her by a member of the city council.
We know her facts are lies. What we don't know is who the liar is. Is Laura Oates the liar? She did retract her false report, but only in part. Apparently, she still maintains the truth of her assertion, but "apologizes" for the authority she cited.
Now, she is alleging felonious conduct on the part of a city council member. You can be sure the attorneys for those companies (and the union, if applicable) who fail to obtain the city sanitation contract, will want to know who that (those?) member(s) is (are).
Did BPW chairman Tony Toran impermissibly open these bids? Did another member of the board of works? Did a clerical employee tamper with sealed bids? Did a city council member use undue pressure on some lowly city employee to obtain knowledge of the bid specifics?
I am myself satisfied that the bid packages themselves were not tampered with. But I'm not the judge and jury on that. Mr. Toran's ethics are above reproach, smears and slanders notwithstanding. No city employee would risk their job and risk jail time to leak information to a city council member about sealed bids.
Therefore, there are only two possibilities. Oates is lying. Or her sources lied to her.
The lie is exposed. The attempt to interfere with the bid process is a felony. The question is, who committed the felony - Oates or the elected official? Disinterested speculation as to who might be the "favorite," and even journalistic digging to ferret out from the bidders their proposals would be permissible, if unhelpful, but when an elected official pretends to have inside information and spreads that around, it is clear malfeasance and grounds for removal from office.
The potential for bidders being extorted into shading their bids, or the potential to deter present and future bidders from participating in a sham process, are serious violations of the public trust. New Albany needs for its bid processes to be not only clean, but to appear to be clean, too.
I believe that the next city council meeting is the time for each member of the city council to come clean. While we're at it, let's interrogate Mr. Toran and the rest of the BoW to see where the truth lies. While denials by all nine won't necessarily implicate Oates as anything other than a gullible tool, it could be the lie that ends a political career.
If, as I suspect, the member(s) believe themselves fully justified in either a) engaging in felonious tampering or b) extortion of bidders, they should step forward and explain themselves to the council, and to the people.
Beyond the legal ramifications, which may have deterred the union from submitting a legal bid, it was a cruel lie to dump on the employees of the sanitation department on a holiday weekend. For those to whom Ms. Oates has credibility, it only poured fuel on the fire. But come to think of it, that was probably the motive. Too bad the political gamesmanship crossed the threshold to criminal malfeasance.
In this instance, I believe Ms. Oates. Will Keith Henderson?
posted by All4Word at 1:28 PM
4 Comments:
Ms. Oates defense of her contribution to the malfeasance became quite comical when she conflated the bid for gasoline supplies with some new madness on the part of the Garner administration.
I don't know about you, but I seem to recall that gasoline prices recently plummeted. Guess for the pink bloggers, saving the city money is a detriment. Trying to get the best price for gasoline certainly seems to be a rather straightforward process, but dwellers in the darkness seem to be able to find monsters everywhere.
Is collusion part of this equation?
I'll reiterate my offer of $100, this time as a wager. Not only will Rumpke NOT be the prevailing bidder for the city's sanitation contract, but there is absolutely no doubt that the PLANTED RUMORS were indubitably untrue.
Did you know
Rumpke only submitted its bid at 9:58 a.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2005?
How in God's green earth could ANYONE suggest that the Rumpke bid had been awarded if the bid had not even been submitted?
Visitors from the trog blog, no matter your identification with Ms. Oates and her erratic integrity and promiscuous allegiances, her disassociative behavior and her proclivity for conspiracy theories, you must admit that her reliability as a source or truth is suspect.
Someone has been taking advantage of the scant attention paid to the affairs of this city. Someone has relied on this passivity, this tendency to pay attention to the affairs of the city only during the first few days of November every four years, to continue this city's slow decline.
No matter your personal animosities toward this author, you must admit that SOMEONE is trying to fool you.
I submit that your own devoted Gang of Four, which consists of veteran council members Dan Coffey (1st District), Bill Schmidt (2nd District), and Larry Kochert (4th District), and willing tool 3rd District tyro and "presentee landlord" Steve Price are engaged in a conspiracy to continue New Albany's decline.
All but a spartan few in Floyd County concede that these indubitably ignorant and regressive personages are the key progenitors of the tendency of New Albany toward decline.
Wake up!
Your affinity for conspiracy seems to exclude the possibility that three veteran council members, along with their submissive vassal, are the epitome of decline, the continuing regressivity that holds New Albany back.
How can any sane person attribute the problems of New Albany to the other five first-time council members and a first-term mayor?
Assuredly, no one can reasonably expect even a minuscule constititunecy such as that of the "Trog Blog" to pay even the slightest attention to entreaties from the progressive faction of this city, the constituency for progress (or even the Constituency for Progress) to open your eyes.
But one, two, or three of you are, even now, are considering the possibility that the Gang of Four are not, in fact, your champions, but in fact, your enemies. They are calculating POLITICIANS who rely on your passivity and disconnectedness to further their nefarious goals.
Who has tried to kill YOUR city? The guys who have been in power for years? Or the new guys?
I don't pretend to know what motivates the supporters of the Gang of Four. The reasons escape me.
But the motivations of that very Gang are clear. They are self-interested, and irredeemable. Their contempt for their constituency is palpable and obvious.
Consider carefully with whom you conspire. Consider carefully with whom you identify.
Whether you believe it or not, WE (whether that be this writer, or those who join with us) share your commitment to root out corruption. We will not hesitate to condemn TRUE corruption, no matter who might be offended.
We have made a rational evaluation of the persons and policies espoused by those persons who currently occupy the offices of this city. We are not naifs. We are not easily buffaloed.
There is a common purpose. Many have asked me just exactly what the ubiquitous yard signs "Clean Up New Albany" mean.
It is not my place to appropriate the original and perfectly innocuous purpose intended by its originators. We (those who display this sign) advocate a city environment and regulatory regime that encourages (and if necessary compels) a livable city.
But if anyone cares to attribute a grander vision of accountable and open government to such sentiments, who am I to demur?
EastdistEnded said:
Now, the dubious duo of R&R, they should be afraid.
I've taken all the name calling, character assasinations, threats, and slanderous story-telling I'm going to take.
Does this mean she's gonna make me shave my head?
Roger, I'd pay good money to see that : 0
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