Developer Defrauds Government, Appointed to Oversee Development
A Milwaukee developer convicted of defrauding the government was appointed to a key board after giving Mayor Tom Barrett $1,200 in campaign donations.
The 2004 criminal conviction came as a result of Boris Gohkman’s part in a scheme to defraud the Medicare program.
In 2008, Barrett appointed Gohkman, a real estate developer, to a Business Improvement District Board (BID).
Between the 2004 conviction and 2008 appointment, Barrett took $1,200 in campaign contributions from Gohkman.
“Less than two years after Gohkman was convicted of felony fraud, Mayor Barrett is accepting campaign cash from him,” said Chris Kliesmet of Citizens for Responsible Government.
“Talk about appointing the fox to guard the henhouse, Barrett appoints a developer convicted of defrauding the government to a board overseeing city development efforts,” said Kliesmet. “Why not give an accountant convicted of embezzlement the checkbook while you’re at it?”
Showing posts with label Unelected Boards. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Unelected Boards. Show all posts
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Monday, October 4, 2010
Unelected Boards Create Campaign Cash
"Barrett" Example Yields Over $150,000 in Board Contributions
Citizens for Responsible Government (CRG) has long analyzed and reported on the drawbacks of unelected boards, particularly those with the power to unilaterally impose taxes. The CRG audit and online database of Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC) Board spending and the well-publicized shortcomings of the Metro-Milwaukee Sewage District (MMSD) Board highlight a lengthy list of perceived problems with unelected boards given broad regulatory power as well as taxing power without direct voter representation.
CRG began an investigation and analysis of MMSD due to citizen outrage over recent flooding and basement sewage back-ups. Initial findings suggested that these failures are largely due to governance issues at the City of Milwaukee and on the MMSD Board level rather than operational issues at MMSD. Further investigation of political actions and involvement within MMSD revealed significant contributions from MMSD Board members to the politicians that appoint them.
For example, MMSD Board members contributed almost $10,000 to Tom Barrett campaigns with $4,000 being contributed in 2009-2010 election cycle alone. Every MMSD Board member who contributed gave at least $100, six gave at least $250, five gave at least $500, and three gave over $1000 with one donor exceeding $2000 and another exceeding $3000.
As a result, a pilot project was undertaken to analyze and understand the relationship between political contributions and appointments to boards such as MMSD. The City of Milwaukee and Mayor Barrett were chosen as the initial study example based on the large number of appointed boards the City has jurisdiction over as well as the large number of mayoral appointees to those boards.
The study methodology required compiling a partial list of mayoral board appointees by Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett to 92 boards during his tenure as mayor (list is partial as a complete list of past appointees do not exist – spouses were included on list). This list was cross-indexed against contributions to Barrett campaigns from 7/1/2000 to 6/30/2010 obtained from databases maintained by the City of Milwaukee and the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign. The entire tabulated data set may be downloaded at http://www.crgnetwork.com/shared/Barrett%20Board%20Appointee%20Contributors%20Worksheet-update.xls.
The following are selected statistics from the analysis
Total Campaign Contribution Dollars $151,307.79
Average Contribution Per Donation $330.37
Average Total Contributions Per Donor $1,220.22
Barrett also made dubious appointments of local real estate developers to Business Improvement District boards after receiving substantial campaign cash.
Convicted felon Boris Gohkman received one such appointment after $1200 in campaign donations. Even more suspicious was the appointment of Ronald San Felippo after making a series $1500 donations to Barrett on the 22nd of six consecutive months (January to June). San Felippo was subsequently appointed 6 days later on June 28th!
Project leader Chris Kliesmet commented, “The numbers yielded by our analysis were quite surprising and perhaps more than a little disturbing. Given that the total contributions are well into six figures and the average total contributions per donor crosses the one-thousand dollar mark, it does suggest at least a perception of impropriety that should be addressed, particularly when reviewing compensated boards. Additionally, one must not discount the imputed value of the regulatory power wielded even by uncompensated boards. For those seeking appointments, and there are many who covet such appointments, the regulatory power may be more highly valued than any monetary reward. Whether by design or sheer happenstance, it is safe to say that the power to make unelected board appointments can be used as a tool to raise campaign cash and creates yet another strong argument against unelected boards. CRG will issue updates to our investigations should our analyses continue to yield noteworthy results.”
Citizens for Responsible Government (CRG) has long analyzed and reported on the drawbacks of unelected boards, particularly those with the power to unilaterally impose taxes. The CRG audit and online database of Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC) Board spending and the well-publicized shortcomings of the Metro-Milwaukee Sewage District (MMSD) Board highlight a lengthy list of perceived problems with unelected boards given broad regulatory power as well as taxing power without direct voter representation.
CRG began an investigation and analysis of MMSD due to citizen outrage over recent flooding and basement sewage back-ups. Initial findings suggested that these failures are largely due to governance issues at the City of Milwaukee and on the MMSD Board level rather than operational issues at MMSD. Further investigation of political actions and involvement within MMSD revealed significant contributions from MMSD Board members to the politicians that appoint them.
For example, MMSD Board members contributed almost $10,000 to Tom Barrett campaigns with $4,000 being contributed in 2009-2010 election cycle alone. Every MMSD Board member who contributed gave at least $100, six gave at least $250, five gave at least $500, and three gave over $1000 with one donor exceeding $2000 and another exceeding $3000.
As a result, a pilot project was undertaken to analyze and understand the relationship between political contributions and appointments to boards such as MMSD. The City of Milwaukee and Mayor Barrett were chosen as the initial study example based on the large number of appointed boards the City has jurisdiction over as well as the large number of mayoral appointees to those boards.
The study methodology required compiling a partial list of mayoral board appointees by Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett to 92 boards during his tenure as mayor (list is partial as a complete list of past appointees do not exist – spouses were included on list). This list was cross-indexed against contributions to Barrett campaigns from 7/1/2000 to 6/30/2010 obtained from databases maintained by the City of Milwaukee and the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign. The entire tabulated data set may be downloaded at http://www.crgnetwork.com/shared/Barrett%20Board%20Appointee%20Contributors%20Worksheet-update.xls.
The following are selected statistics from the analysis
Total Campaign Contribution Dollars $151,307.79
Average Contribution Per Donation $330.37
Average Total Contributions Per Donor $1,220.22
Barrett also made dubious appointments of local real estate developers to Business Improvement District boards after receiving substantial campaign cash.
Convicted felon Boris Gohkman received one such appointment after $1200 in campaign donations. Even more suspicious was the appointment of Ronald San Felippo after making a series $1500 donations to Barrett on the 22nd of six consecutive months (January to June). San Felippo was subsequently appointed 6 days later on June 28th!
Project leader Chris Kliesmet commented, “The numbers yielded by our analysis were quite surprising and perhaps more than a little disturbing. Given that the total contributions are well into six figures and the average total contributions per donor crosses the one-thousand dollar mark, it does suggest at least a perception of impropriety that should be addressed, particularly when reviewing compensated boards. Additionally, one must not discount the imputed value of the regulatory power wielded even by uncompensated boards. For those seeking appointments, and there are many who covet such appointments, the regulatory power may be more highly valued than any monetary reward. Whether by design or sheer happenstance, it is safe to say that the power to make unelected board appointments can be used as a tool to raise campaign cash and creates yet another strong argument against unelected boards. CRG will issue updates to our investigations should our analyses continue to yield noteworthy results.”
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Mayor Barrett Appoints Graffiti Supporter to City Anti-Graffiti Committee
You just can't make this stuff up! Talk about being anti-productive and wasteful.
In Obama-like fashion, Mayor Barrett appointed graffiti supporter Reggie Moore to his Anti-Graffiti Policy Committee. Mr. Moore is the putative head of Center for Youth Engagement, which (based on the fact that the website has had less than 250 page hits and no substantive information) seems to be nothing more than a shell consulting firm. He also lists himself on his Linked-In profile as Assistant Director, Youth Activism for the American Legacy Foundation but we can find no mention of him there. He also lists himself as the Board Co-Chair of Funders Collaborative on Youth Organizing. Although he is listed as a Board Advisor we can find no corroboration that he is a Board Co-Chair.
More curiously, Mr. Moore is ALSO the Vice President of True Skool's Board of Directors. True Skool has been the recent focus of several raised eye-brows for its graffiti training program and has drawn the ire of Milwaukee Alderman Bob Donovan for promoting graffiti in his district. This organization suggests its mission is as follows.
"We believe Hip Hop can be a tool to reach, teach and build foundations for young people to create real change in their communities. Since the Civil Rights Movements, there have been few driving forces that unite cultures and classes like Hip Hop. We understand that the billion dollar and worldly popular Hip Hop industry has deviated far from its cultural origins of the 1970s and 80s of Peace, Unity and Having Fun. Current media coverage of Hip Hop culture is filled with negative stereotypes and degrading messages to youth who are increasingly lured by the manipulation of materialistic greed. Whether it is through community activism, addressing environmental issues, or youth programming and events, we explore how Hip Hop has been and continues to be a means and voice for social change."
Hip Hop as a teaching tool, really? Funny, we didn't need to use beatnik philosophy to teach kids in the "good old days." One wonders how Mr. Moore has been advising Mayor Barrett and what city anti-graffiti intelligence he might be covertly leaking to True Skool staff and attendees. Typical anti-graffiti programs involve the placement of live and fake cameras. Hmmm, wouldn’t it be valuable for a tagger to know the difference?
True Skool Director Sarah Dollhausen-Patterson’s husband Eliot Patterson is the Program Director and a well-known graffiti advocate and many True Skool attendees are there under court order for tagging vandalism.
The City of Milwaukee Department of Neighborhood Services expressed the following
"...Sharon Blando, special enforcement inspector with the Department of Neighborhood Services' graffiti program, said that while the mural was legal and approved by the building's owner, it appears to have prompted an "incredible amount" of illegal tagging throughout the neighborhood between Saturday night and Sunday. There were several illegal tags within 15 feet of the project, including on garbage cans and a fence, she said. Covering up the mural with paint the way TRUE Skool did it is actually inviting to taggers, too, Blando said. Painting over the wall, she said, identifies it as a place that has attracted graffiti before and may not be monitored for tagging."
Link here to read about the FAILURE OF FREE WALLS. More info on the failure of municipally sponsored graffiti exhibits can be found here.
Numerous allegations against other True Skool employees have been reported that are so outrageous that we will only report on them after full corroboration. More later ...
In Obama-like fashion, Mayor Barrett appointed graffiti supporter Reggie Moore to his Anti-Graffiti Policy Committee. Mr. Moore is the putative head of Center for Youth Engagement, which (based on the fact that the website has had less than 250 page hits and no substantive information) seems to be nothing more than a shell consulting firm. He also lists himself on his Linked-In profile as Assistant Director, Youth Activism for the American Legacy Foundation but we can find no mention of him there. He also lists himself as the Board Co-Chair of Funders Collaborative on Youth Organizing. Although he is listed as a Board Advisor we can find no corroboration that he is a Board Co-Chair.
More curiously, Mr. Moore is ALSO the Vice President of True Skool's Board of Directors. True Skool has been the recent focus of several raised eye-brows for its graffiti training program and has drawn the ire of Milwaukee Alderman Bob Donovan for promoting graffiti in his district. This organization suggests its mission is as follows.
"We believe Hip Hop can be a tool to reach, teach and build foundations for young people to create real change in their communities. Since the Civil Rights Movements, there have been few driving forces that unite cultures and classes like Hip Hop. We understand that the billion dollar and worldly popular Hip Hop industry has deviated far from its cultural origins of the 1970s and 80s of Peace, Unity and Having Fun. Current media coverage of Hip Hop culture is filled with negative stereotypes and degrading messages to youth who are increasingly lured by the manipulation of materialistic greed. Whether it is through community activism, addressing environmental issues, or youth programming and events, we explore how Hip Hop has been and continues to be a means and voice for social change."
Hip Hop as a teaching tool, really? Funny, we didn't need to use beatnik philosophy to teach kids in the "good old days." One wonders how Mr. Moore has been advising Mayor Barrett and what city anti-graffiti intelligence he might be covertly leaking to True Skool staff and attendees. Typical anti-graffiti programs involve the placement of live and fake cameras. Hmmm, wouldn’t it be valuable for a tagger to know the difference?
True Skool Director Sarah Dollhausen-Patterson’s husband Eliot Patterson is the Program Director and a well-known graffiti advocate and many True Skool attendees are there under court order for tagging vandalism.
The City of Milwaukee Department of Neighborhood Services expressed the following
"...Sharon Blando, special enforcement inspector with the Department of Neighborhood Services' graffiti program, said that while the mural was legal and approved by the building's owner, it appears to have prompted an "incredible amount" of illegal tagging throughout the neighborhood between Saturday night and Sunday. There were several illegal tags within 15 feet of the project, including on garbage cans and a fence, she said. Covering up the mural with paint the way TRUE Skool did it is actually inviting to taggers, too, Blando said. Painting over the wall, she said, identifies it as a place that has attracted graffiti before and may not be monitored for tagging."
Link here to read about the FAILURE OF FREE WALLS. More info on the failure of municipally sponsored graffiti exhibits can be found here.
Numerous allegations against other True Skool employees have been reported that are so outrageous that we will only report on them after full corroboration. More later ...
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
SERTA Votes to "Tax to the Max!" (So They Can Use the Money to Lobby for Even HIGHER Taxes?)
Yesterday, the un-elected Southeastern Regional Transit Authority committed to raising your taxes while scheming in a room at the Milwaukee County Airport (a regional transportation entity that actually MAKES money for Milwaukee County)! Governor Doyle and the Legislature gave this unelected board the power to raise the tax on rental cars to $18 per car, and they are getting ready to tax to the max!
Buried on page 12 of a 19-page PowerPoint presentation attached to the meeting agenda is proposal that they will raise the tax. But, the tax hike wasn’t even listed on the front page of the meeting agenda. Smell a rat yet?
Are they raising the tax to buy rail cars, tracks, conductor’s whistles? Nope. History shows they will probably just hire more consultants, lobbyists, and PR hustlers to raise more taxes. It’s the grand Wisconsin tradition of using taxes to lobby for more taxes. Just about every taxpayer funded city, state, village, dog-catcher, and government-subsidized group in the state has a lobbyist pressuring government to spend more and tax more. Using your tax dollars to pressure legislators to raise even MORE taxes is big business.
What makes SERTA’s taxing and irresponsible spending so outrageous is that they aren’t even elected. So when they put a tax hike proposal in a PowerPoint presentation, it’s so the real taxers in mayor’s offices and on county boards don’t get blamed. Let’s go back and take a look. In 2005, a $2 per car rental tax was established southeastern Wisconsin. But what did a big slug of that go for? The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported SERTA paid H. Carl Mueller and a small army of lobbyists nearly $500,000 to lobby the Legislature to raise the tax to $15 per car. “The RTA is spearheading plans for a $198 million commuter link that would make 14 round trips daily. The public agency is seeking legislative approval to boost the car rental tax from $2 to $15 per car,” the Journal Sentinel reported.
Now, spending on lobbyists and public relations is up to $1.4 million. No longer content with raising rental car taxes alone, they added a sales tax increase to their workload. After the Legislature gave them the power to raise rental car taxes to $18 but failed to pass the sales tax, SERTA began considering maxing out the tax. Bottom line: An unelected board has already spent $1.4 million of our money to lobby for even higher taxes and not even a conductor’s whistle has been bought for the train!
The Legislature's politically charged, election-year decision to adjourn without authorizing more SERTA tax schemes has led this unelected board to scheme even more. They admitted to themselves that it will be difficult to pass a standalone bill to increase their taxing authority so their new strategy will be to use your tax dollars to lobby elected officials to bury any new SERTA taxing power in the State Budget, a bill, as the SERTA Board put it, "that they HAVE to pass!" They also noted this could be accomplished by reconvening the legislature in a special session for a "budget repair" bill before the next election. Never underestimate the deviously clever mind of an unelected board!
And just who voted for this boondoggle that will require raising taxes if approved? The representatives of Racine and Kensoha counties, the representative of Governor Doyle, and the representatives of the three largest cities in the SERTA district - Kenosha, Racine, and Milwaukee (KRM). SERTA Board members openly discussed the issue of which gubernatorial candidate would most likely support the KRM line without mentioning any names. However, State Representative Peter Barca, who attended the meeting via speakerphone, was less circumspect, current City of Milwaukee Mayor and leading Democratic candidate for Governor "Tom Barrett" would be most sympathetic to supporting the KRM line was his blunt assessment.
Yes, Virginia, votes have consequences!
Buried on page 12 of a 19-page PowerPoint presentation attached to the meeting agenda is proposal that they will raise the tax. But, the tax hike wasn’t even listed on the front page of the meeting agenda. Smell a rat yet?
Are they raising the tax to buy rail cars, tracks, conductor’s whistles? Nope. History shows they will probably just hire more consultants, lobbyists, and PR hustlers to raise more taxes. It’s the grand Wisconsin tradition of using taxes to lobby for more taxes. Just about every taxpayer funded city, state, village, dog-catcher, and government-subsidized group in the state has a lobbyist pressuring government to spend more and tax more. Using your tax dollars to pressure legislators to raise even MORE taxes is big business.
What makes SERTA’s taxing and irresponsible spending so outrageous is that they aren’t even elected. So when they put a tax hike proposal in a PowerPoint presentation, it’s so the real taxers in mayor’s offices and on county boards don’t get blamed. Let’s go back and take a look. In 2005, a $2 per car rental tax was established southeastern Wisconsin. But what did a big slug of that go for? The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported SERTA paid H. Carl Mueller and a small army of lobbyists nearly $500,000 to lobby the Legislature to raise the tax to $15 per car. “The RTA is spearheading plans for a $198 million commuter link that would make 14 round trips daily. The public agency is seeking legislative approval to boost the car rental tax from $2 to $15 per car,” the Journal Sentinel reported.
Now, spending on lobbyists and public relations is up to $1.4 million. No longer content with raising rental car taxes alone, they added a sales tax increase to their workload. After the Legislature gave them the power to raise rental car taxes to $18 but failed to pass the sales tax, SERTA began considering maxing out the tax. Bottom line: An unelected board has already spent $1.4 million of our money to lobby for even higher taxes and not even a conductor’s whistle has been bought for the train!
The Legislature's politically charged, election-year decision to adjourn without authorizing more SERTA tax schemes has led this unelected board to scheme even more. They admitted to themselves that it will be difficult to pass a standalone bill to increase their taxing authority so their new strategy will be to use your tax dollars to lobby elected officials to bury any new SERTA taxing power in the State Budget, a bill, as the SERTA Board put it, "that they HAVE to pass!" They also noted this could be accomplished by reconvening the legislature in a special session for a "budget repair" bill before the next election. Never underestimate the deviously clever mind of an unelected board!
And just who voted for this boondoggle that will require raising taxes if approved? The representatives of Racine and Kensoha counties, the representative of Governor Doyle, and the representatives of the three largest cities in the SERTA district - Kenosha, Racine, and Milwaukee (KRM). SERTA Board members openly discussed the issue of which gubernatorial candidate would most likely support the KRM line without mentioning any names. However, State Representative Peter Barca, who attended the meeting via speakerphone, was less circumspect, current City of Milwaukee Mayor and leading Democratic candidate for Governor "Tom Barrett" would be most sympathetic to supporting the KRM line was his blunt assessment.
Yes, Virginia, votes have consequences!
Thursday, May 13, 2010
SERTA Plan Calls for New Tax Monday; Doubling Tax March of 2012
On Monday, leaders of the un-elected Southeastern Regional Transit Authority want to pass a $9 tax on every car rental. The plan is to more than double the tax by 2012 (see Agenda Item 7c).
The tax will fund --- in part -- the Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee commuter rail line. SERTA is proceeding with applying to the federal government for the project even though they said in December it wouldn’t be considered without passage of still more tax increases by the legislature. Those taxes failed, but SERTA may raise taxes anyway.
The jumbo rental car tax is part of the plan.
Buried on page 12 of a 19-page PowerPoint presentation for the unelected board, is the plan to approve the tax at the May meeting at Mitchell Airport.
The tax will double in March 2012 to $18 per car plus inflation. That’s right, in less than two years the tax will double.
SERTA is a board appointed by local politicians and the Governor to do their dirty work of raising taxes. The unelected board has the sole authority to levy the car rental tax up to $18, and sole authority under law to apply to the federal government to support the KRM line.
The new tax is hidden in the materials for Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee Rail line application to the federal government.
The tax will replace the lapsed $2 per rental car tax. You remember the tax that was established, and then used by KRM proponents to hire lobbyists and consultants to raise the tax even more.
So far the tax that was supposed to fund a rail line has mostly been spent on lobbyists and public relations experts who have been paid over $1.4 million of tax dollars to try to pass more tax increases.
Wisconsin residents need to call Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett at 414-286-2200, and tell him to stop the tax increase. Also, call Milwaukee County Board Chairman Lee Holloway at 414-278-4261 and tell him to oppose the tax hike. Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker was denied an appointee to SERTA by the Democrat Legislature because he wouldn’t play their game.
Make no mistake, elected politicians like Barrett control their appointees on the board. Will Barrett prove to voters he’s really not “Tom the Taxer” by telling his appointee to vote “no” and publicly speaking out against unelected appointees raising taxes? And, if elected Governor will Barrett allow the unelected SERTA to continue to run wild over the taxpayers?
Waste Watcher Bottom line: Milwaukee leaders had opposed raising the rental car tax because it wanted a sales tax for buses and other government spending. They were holding KRM hostage to get support for their tax increase. Now that the sales tax failed, they are falling back on the rental car tax. And, thereby proving: If you give unelected bureaucrats the power to "tax to the max" - they will do just that - tax to the max!
The tax will fund --- in part -- the Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee commuter rail line. SERTA is proceeding with applying to the federal government for the project even though they said in December it wouldn’t be considered without passage of still more tax increases by the legislature. Those taxes failed, but SERTA may raise taxes anyway.
The jumbo rental car tax is part of the plan.
Buried on page 12 of a 19-page PowerPoint presentation for the unelected board, is the plan to approve the tax at the May meeting at Mitchell Airport.
The tax will double in March 2012 to $18 per car plus inflation. That’s right, in less than two years the tax will double.
SERTA is a board appointed by local politicians and the Governor to do their dirty work of raising taxes. The unelected board has the sole authority to levy the car rental tax up to $18, and sole authority under law to apply to the federal government to support the KRM line.
The new tax is hidden in the materials for Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee Rail line application to the federal government.
The tax will replace the lapsed $2 per rental car tax. You remember the tax that was established, and then used by KRM proponents to hire lobbyists and consultants to raise the tax even more.
So far the tax that was supposed to fund a rail line has mostly been spent on lobbyists and public relations experts who have been paid over $1.4 million of tax dollars to try to pass more tax increases.
Wisconsin residents need to call Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett at 414-286-2200, and tell him to stop the tax increase. Also, call Milwaukee County Board Chairman Lee Holloway at 414-278-4261 and tell him to oppose the tax hike. Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker was denied an appointee to SERTA by the Democrat Legislature because he wouldn’t play their game.
Make no mistake, elected politicians like Barrett control their appointees on the board. Will Barrett prove to voters he’s really not “Tom the Taxer” by telling his appointee to vote “no” and publicly speaking out against unelected appointees raising taxes? And, if elected Governor will Barrett allow the unelected SERTA to continue to run wild over the taxpayers?
Waste Watcher Bottom line: Milwaukee leaders had opposed raising the rental car tax because it wanted a sales tax for buses and other government spending. They were holding KRM hostage to get support for their tax increase. Now that the sales tax failed, they are falling back on the rental car tax. And, thereby proving: If you give unelected bureaucrats the power to "tax to the max" - they will do just that - tax to the max!
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