A Call to Duty!

Introduction

As you probably know by now, Mayor Linda Thompson nominated Jennifer L. Smallwood and me to serve on the Harrisburg Authority board. City Council had a Legislative Session on Monday, August 16, 2010 to consider Jennifer’s Resolution 53-2010 and my Resolution 54-2010 to serve on the board. Both Resolutions failed. I can’t speak for Jennifer but what it looked like to me as the time of the vote drew near, we were going to be turned down. It is nothing personal. Business is business! I don’t think it was because of our positions or our qualifications. We were voted down by the majority of City Council because we voted for Linda Thompson to become mayor at the polls.

At least that is what our City Council Leaders want us to think!

Even if City Council would have voted for me to take a seat on the board, I still had a problem because my employer would probably stop me from taking my seat. My employer told me that if I just say “no” to this nomination, it would save me a lot of grief. I asked, just let me play out this hand and we will deal with my grief later.

What are the Motives?

We all have motives for everything that we do. That does not necessarily mean that what we want is bad. My motive for wanting to be on the board was because I was called to do my civic duty. As you know from City Council in the past 8 years, I am interested in Government and have often done my civic duties when called upon. But I would like to see Hale St. and Market St. in front of the High School repaired. That is my motive for being civically involved in local government.

I believe the Mayor nominated me knowing that City Council would turn me down. She knew that my employer would never approve of me taking my seat. However, she knew that I was highly qualified to take a seat. From the time Linda Thompson took her seat on City Council to the present, I was involved in civic activities in the City of Harrisburg. I was involved with investigating the incinerator deal and I went to all the incinerator hearings. I believe her motive was to show the public that City Council will turn down anyone that she sends down to City Council for an appointment.

Wanda R. D. Williams, Brad Koplinski, and Eugenia Smith who never voted against me before, voted against me on this issue. They want the public to think that it is because I am a “yes man” to the Mayor. The real reason is because they are part of the “Reed Team.” It does not matter that Mayor Reed is out of office. He still calls the shots when it comes to his branch of the Democratic Party. Mayor Reed and many of his partners do not want an investigation or forensic audit. So I believe that he instructed these three council people to vote “no” on any nominees who believe in conducting an audit of past spending at the Harrisburg Authority. This is nothing personal. As I said, business is business.

In my opinion, a forensic audit may show unethical activity. In my opinion, it may also show criminal or civil liability. That could damage the Reed Team political activities in the Harrisburg Area. The council people are just following orders.

Patty Kim wants a former member of the Board Reappointed. She will not vote for any member of the board until that one person is reappointed. For some reason, she believes in that individual and she does not care if her vote further damages the Harrisburg Authority. As long as she gets her way, that is what matters.

President Gloria Martin Roberts and Kelly D. Summerford want to get the Authority up and running. They believe that the Mayor has the right to appoint whoever she wants just as long as they meet the qualifications of the job.

Susan Brown Wilson has a long business background. She works in middle management for IBM and knows how projects should be managed. She wants business people who can think independently of the political process and politicians. She wants people who can solve problems. She wants a forensic audit and will vote for business people who will act in this manner.

Members of the public should have a motive. That motive should be to pay as little in taxes and in fees as possible. Many people think that the incinerator problem is just a City issue. What they fail to understand is that the County Commissioners of Dauphin County put every homeowner in Dauphin County as well as every renter at risk of paying higher taxes, rent, and fees by co-signing to finance this project.

Public Corruption

At the City Council Administrative meeting, I gave the seven city council members what I knew and what I suspect about the corruption that caused the problems for the City of Harrisburg, the Harrisburg Authority, and the taxpayers of Dauphin County.

First let me say this! The reason why a City or County has an authority is to remove legal liability from the citizens of the City or County. With the City of Harrisburg and Dauphin County interference with the projects of the Harrisburg Authority, that protection for the citizen was taken away.

License to Steal

The engineers, lawyers, finance and accounting professionals working on the incinerator project were really High School dropouts or they were very good smart professional criminals. Barlow Projects Inc. was the primary contractor on the incinerator project. They were not bondable and that fact was kept from City Council and the Dauphin County Commissioners. The bond question never came up at any of the City Council committee meetings. No bond on the contractor means that if something happens to the project, no investigation will take place. No investigation means that no civil or criminal prosecution by the bonding agent would take place. As a result, the City of Harrisburg, Dauphin County, and the Harrisburg Authority gave Barlow Projects Inc. a license to steal and mismanage the money for this project.

Missing Money

Someone from the City or the Authority presented Barlow Projects Inc. with a $150 Million check before the project was started. This check had no controls or restrictions attached to it. The contractor could do whatever they wanted with the money. I can make 10% per year on that money easily and safely. That is $15 million per year. Barlow Projects could have used the money to pay on other projects not related to the Harrisburg Authority. They could use that to pay back money to people that helped make the project possible. In any event, the spending of this money is not accounted for.

It took the signatures of the Harrisburg Authority, the City of Harrisburg, and Dauphin County to get the Investment Banker to float the Municipal Bond Issue. The investment banker sold the entire issue to one client. This is called “Private Placement.” Since this issue needed three cosigners, which should have told any educated attorney or money manager that this project was already in trouble. The bondholder was not worried because if the Harrisburg Authority or the City should fail, Dauphin County would be liable for the money. No matter what, they still get paid.

It should have told the people looking out for the City’s interest that the Rating Agencies see this project as very risky. This is why the people involved in the project gave a large investor an “Iron Clad” guarantee before the bond holder invested their money. Here is the reason why negotiating with the bond trustees to reduce the interest payments is a “fruitless” effort. The City, County, and the Authority have nothing to offer the bond trustee committee or the bond holder.

Watching the Project

I knew from the City Council member’s line of questioning that City Council was going to approve the project loan. I approached City Council President Richard House and told him my concerns about the management of the project. He gave me the duty of reading the management reports and reporting to City Council any problems that I find in the reports. Here is the reason to this day; I have a mail stop in City Council’s office.

The Authority did not manage the project or the contractor. No standard or procedures were set and the Authority did not inspect the work of the contractor. Authority Employees were reported talking about how Barlow Project people wasted time by playing cards while on duty. The contract called for city residents to be involved in the construction of the project. After the project was underway, I reported to City Council that the closest person working on the project to Harrisburg lived 36 miles away. This led to someone on the project to change the address of all the contract employees to a hotel address in the City of Harrisburg. THAT IS ILLEGAL!

From the first month, the project was behind. After the third month, it was obvious that the project reports were being falsified. Authority employees were saying one thing while the reports said another.

The Cover Up

Mayor Reed blamed City Council for interfering in the incinerator project after he publicly proclaimed the project is finished and a complete success. City Council’s job is to legislate. It is the job of the Mayor to manage the City of Harrisburg. It is the job of the Harrisburg Authority to manage the incinerator project. This they did not do.

Mayor Reed secretly borrowed $25 Million to secretly replace money that Barlow Projects reportedly gave to a third party contractor. That contractor went out of business and took the money with them according to one of the project attorneys. The money is not accounted for. BORROWING THE MONEY BY THE MAYOR WITHOUT CITY COUNCIL APPROVAL WAS ILLEGAL. Turning it over to the Authority was illegal. Hiding the fact that it was borrowed money was also illegal.

Inaction of the County Commissioners

After seeing this disaster on the City level, I barged into one of the County Commissioner’s meetings when all three commissioners were signing contracts. I told them about the disaster and ask that they look into my accusations. They were not impressed with what I had to tell them. They showed full confidence in Mayor Reed’s Management Style. However, I continued to send them written reports of the committee meetings held by City Council. The county commissioners were not moved at all and kept their head in the sand until they discovered that they were going to start paying bond interest payments. Then they paid attention. Soon people living in the Harrisburg suburbs will have to pay for this incinerator disaster just like the people of Harrisburg.

What you can do!

We need a forensic audit done at the Harrisburg Authority for the incinerator project, the sewer system, and the water system. With what I had told you concerning the incinerator project should be enough to trigger an audit. But it has not.

If we allow this type of mismanagement to go on, some of our political leaders in the future will invite others to do the same thing to us citizens and we will pay out more tax money.

I don’t care if you live in the City or outside the City, you want to call the State Auditor General and tell him that you want a forensic audit of the Harrisburg Authority done because you suspect civil and criminal activity in regards to their expenses with the Harrisburg Incinerator. Below is the website for the Auditor General.

http://www.auditorgen.state.pa.us/Department/Info/Investigations/

If you would like to contact the Office of Special Investigations, please call:
717-787-4548

Or fax:
717-705-0887

Or mail:
Office of Special Investigations
Room 327 Finance Bldg.
Harrisburg, PA 17120

A Call to Duty!

Then I want you to forward this blog to as many people that you can think of and ask them to do the same thing. If they do not have a computer, print as many copies as you can and give it to your friends, relatives, and neighbors. If we get everyone involved then we can get it done!