A SPECIAL SERIES!

342. Welcome everyone to this special edition of the Blog. I was inspired to do this Blog by someone who used to work in city government (not Superior) who told me that we, the taxpayers don’t see 90% of the corruption that goes on there. What we read or see in news is only about 10% of what really goes on. I felt that seemed like a really high number, but after starting the Blog I thought he might be right.



It seems like everyday something pops up on my news feed, so I thought “why not share some of these stories with my readers”. Some of these stories will have a resemblance to our plight and others won’t. But if you like reading about corruption like I do, I think you will find it interesting.

343. So as I was doing my research, I read an article and I’d like to share part of that with you. See below.

STORY # 1

Pennsylvania State Treasurer Rob McCord (D) was convicted of attempted extortion for threatening two business owners with economic harm using his authority as state treasurer if $125,000 worth of campaign contributions for a potential gubernatorial run were not received. His crimes, “federal investigators said, involve McCord’s heavy-

handed attempts last spring to secure about $125,000 in contributions from a Philadelphia-area law firm and a western Pennsylvania property management company for his failed 2014 campaign for governor. McCord threatened both potential donors that he would use his power as treasurer to economically harm their businesses if they didn’t pony up, investigators said.” 

(PennLive, 2/17/15)

Sentence:30-month prison term [The DOJ, 8/28/2018]

STORY # 2

Queens City Councilman Dan Halloran (R) was convicted of bribery and fraud, including taking bribes to get a Democrat on the Republican New York City mayoral ballot. According to prosecutors, Mr. Halloran engaged in two schemes. In the first, he took $20,000—and expected to receive a total of $75,000—to help Mr. Smith secure a spot on the 2013 mayoral ticket as a Republican. Because he was a Democrat, Mr. Smith needed the approval of at least three Republican Party officials. Mr. Halloran negotiated bribes to be paid to three Republican party leaders to support Mr. Smith. In the second scheme, he received $15,000 in bribes for funneling about $80,000 in city money to a nonprofit.” [The New York Times, 3/5/2015] 

Sentence: 10-year prison term [The DOJ, 5/4/2015]

STORY # 3

Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley (R) quit after misusing campaign funds and allegedly forcing state employees to help cover up an affair. “Mr. Bentley quit in connection with a plea agreement on two misdemeanor charges: failing to file a major contribution report and knowingly converting campaign contributions to personal use.” Reports also surfaced of Bentley forcing state officials to help him cover up an affair, though he denied this. [The New York Times, 4/10/17] 

Sentence:30-day suspended jail sentence, 12 months of probation, 100 hours of community service, and he can never run for public office again. [The Atlanta Journal Constitution, 4/10/17]

STORY # 4

Pennsylvania House Speaker John Perzel (R) was convicted for being “the architect behind a scheme that spent more than $10 million of taxpayer money on sophisticated computer systems to track voters and voting patterns” for the Republican party, known as Computergate. “An influential former speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives was sentenced to up to five years in prison on Wednesday after admitting that he used public funds for a computerized election system to help Republicans win elections.” [Reuters, 3/21/2012] 

Sentence: 2-year-and-6-month prison term [PennLive 5/30/2018]

STORY # 5

Louisiana Mayor Ray Nagin (D) was found guilty of bribery for taking more than $200,000 from businessmen looking for kickbacks. “The jury found he accepted cash, granite, travel and other things of value from city contractors Rodney Williams and Frank Fradella, and in turn used his influence as mayor to help them land city contracts. The jury also found that a $12,500 monthly consulting job Nagin landed through Fradella after his departure from City Hall in May 2010 amounted to a kickback for earlier favors.” [CNN, 2/14/2014] 

Sentence: 10-year prison term [USA Today, 7/9/2014]

STORY # 6

Atlanta police officer Lucius Solomon accepted multiple bribes in exchange for protection of major cocaine dealers. “SOLOMON provided protection for what he believed to be multi-kilogram cocaine deals. For each deal, SOLOMON agreed to protect the people he thought were drug dealers in exchange for $2,000. On two of those occasions, SOLOMON was on duty, in uniform, and in his marked police vehicle when he provided the protection.” [The FBI, 12/6/2010] 

Sentence: 12-year prison term [The FBI, 12/6/2010]

STORY # 7

Michael Grimm (R-NY) admitted to perjury and tax fraud.The congressman was indicted in 2014 on 20 counts involving tax fraud in connection with a Manhattan restaurant that he owned with others. He pleaded guilty to one count of felony tax fraud. Grimm also admitted he committed perjury in a lawsuit brought by some of the restaurant’s employees. [USA Today, 8/8/2018; The New York Times, 7/17/2015] 

Sentence: 8-month prison term [The New York Times, 7/17/2015]

344.

MY COMMENTS

Thanks for reading today’s Blog. I think it’s important to point out that the problems we are having in Superior are widespread all over the country. Many other people have had to endure the wrath of corrupt politicians and government officials like we have. Then there are those like city council, the media and others that just don’t even take the time to inform themselves about the facts of what they are voting for or reporting on. I will have more on that in upcoming Blogs.

Brian