John R. Houk, Editor
Posted May 24, 2018
I live in Oklahoma. Every so every I like to highlight the
politics going on in my State. I get a newsletter from Oklahoma’s Sooner Tea Party.
I like the Sooner Tea Party because they are committed to Conservative
principles rather than a political party such as the GOP or the Leftist Dems.
This Newsletter looks at:
o Oklahoma tax reform
o The apparent cover-up of an audit revealing the last three
State Attorney Generals (all GOP) – including the present Mike Hunter – not acting
on criminality revealed in the audit.
o Announcement of Konawa Tea Party speaker engagement (which I’m
omitting because the announced date was May 22).
o House and Senate Platform Indexes Now Online.
o
Soft on Crime Story of
the Week
And now, the Newsletter
JRH 5/24/18
*******************
Sent May 20, 2018, 9:22:54 PM CDT
Click on the link below to
donate and tell us what you want your donation used for in the comment section:
May 20th 2018 Newsletter
Simply the Most Important Thing You Can Do For
Conservative Values
One of the more common excuses that people give for not
getting involved in the fight is that they are powerless, that a single person
can do nothing against the liberal/RINO machine that is grinding away our
freedom and stealing our hard earned income. That is so wrong on so many levels
but no one can argue this; your one voice coupled with 40,999 others damn sure
can get something done.
Forty one thousand signatures is all that is needed to set
the largest tax increase in Oklahoma history on a upcoming statewide ballot. If
that can't be accomplished then there is no hope of ever holding the line
against the RINOs and liberals simply because our people wouldn't deserve the
line to be held. It is one thing to come to the front and lead, it is another
thing to fight for others while they sit on their asses whining and crying that
they are helpless.
The minute that the signatures are counted and approved the
teacher taxes are stopped butt cold, frozen in place, until the outcome of the
vote. Your signature and support for this effort will send a loud message to
the union thugs that we call teachers, it sends a message to the union thugs in
other states that are threatening to strike for higher pay, it sends a message
to the legislature and every politician in the state. And that message is; Cut
the waste before raising our taxes.
If you smoke, use gasoline or diesel, or purchase items that
require the use of fuel to get them to the store or to your home, you are
impacted by these massive taxes. If you are a middle class taxpayer your
deductions have been slashed. If you are a working class or working poor
taxpayer your deductions have been slashed. If you are wealthy your deductions
have been slashed. If you are on social security or disability the economy that
pays for your benefits is being impacted by these taxes and ultimately you will
be impacted.
Oklahoma Taxpayers Unite has a website up with a list of
locations that are hosting a petition. You as a business can ask to be added to
the list or you as a private individual can ask to host a petition. Get
involved, get a petition and ask others to sign it. Be one of 2050 people that
manage to get 20 friends, family, or neighbors to sign the petition. Petition
signers need to be registered voters in the State of Oklahoma and the person
hosting the petition needs to have the petition page notarized once it is
filled.
Their website: Click here
A list of signing places: Click
here
Their email: Oklahomataxpayersunite@gmail.com
Their phone number: (405) 470-9990
Some of the Faces of Corruption in Oklahoma [Drew
Edmondson, Scott Pruitt & Mike Hunter]
We have been following the Tar Creek Audit for years and
with the release of the two audits thanks to pressure on the AG office by a
lawsuit, everything that was alleged years ago has turned out to be completely
true. David
Van with Sooner Politics ran a story on the release of the audit last
week and we read both audits and there is no doubt that this was corrupt.
Three Attorney Generals fought to hide this corruption. Drew
Edmondson, Scott Pruitt, and the current weasel Mike Hunter. No doubt the
corruption was protected thanks to campaign donations or political power from
those that profited. What should have been a $600,000 project to clean up some
old houses at Tar Creek turned into over $3,000,000 in taxpayer dollars wasted.
Current AG Mike Hunter made sure that the theft and
corruption went unpunished by holding off the release of the audits till one
day after the seven years statute of limitations had expired. Investigators in
his office colluded by claiming that there were no prosecutable crimes committed
despite the audits clear results and clear statements that the bids were rigged
and favoritism was shown. Even the bidders on the project did their part by
suing and halting the process, shining a bright light on the bidding process
yet they were so brazen as to steal the taxpayer money anyway.
Imagine, a carpet cleaning company with zero experience
beats out three other experienced demolition contractors, some of which had
handled tens of millions of dollars in such demolition work. The carpet
cleaning company is able to obtain a bond and magically comes up with a quality
control document/plan that matches word for word what the original project
engineer submitted despite state and federal law that prohibits the sharing of
bid information. The experienced demolition contractors score 1's on the
scoring process set up by the project engineer and board members while the
carpet cleaning company scores a 10.
An alternate contract that is put in place in case the local
EPA landfill or the local state dumping site can't be used suddenly is approved
despite only 15% of the debris being hauled to the Kansas dump site. What
should have been a $150,000 payment for the extra miles and dumping fees turns
into over one million dollars windfall for the contractor/carpet cleaning
company.
Thousands of dollars were billed for non existent structures
on empty lots, allegedly paying for asbestos abatement and demolition of the
homes and the hauling away of hundreds of yards of debris despite photo showing
the empty lots before the work began.
Micky Mantle's home was sold to a neighboring town and
hauled away at their expense, yet the carpet cleaning contractor billed
thousands of dollars for demolition and debris hauling and disposal. That same
home still exists and is on display in the neighboring town.
Initial bids on the entire project were under one million
dollars, with the lowest being just under $600,000. The state realized that the
Davis Bacon law didn't have to be followed so they rebid the contracts,
expecting to save money for the taxpayers. Indeed, that lowest bid came back
$41,000 cheaper than the original bid. But somehow the project was given to the
highest bidder for ultimately $3.4 million dollars based upon the carpet
cleaning company having a better quality control plan than the other three
experienced demolition contractors.
Here is part of the summary of the 2nd audit:
“This report describes various
problems with the LICRAT Property Improvement Clearance Project that was
bid and awarded through the Department of Central Services(DCS) in December
2010. Although our investigation did not provide direct evidence fora
conspiracy against the state, it did provide considerable circumstantial
evidence that a conspiracy may have existed.
We observed that the DC$ bid
process resulted in this contract being awarded to the same vendor implicated
in our report for Objective I, CWF Enterprises, Inc., despite the fact that the
March 2010 bid process contained significant violations of the Title 61, Public
Competitive Bidding Act and was voided by an Ottawa County District Court on an
Open Meeting Act violation.
Every change, modification, or
re-interpretation of this second demolition contract served only to increase
the eventual payout to the contractor and increased the appearance of
favoritism directed to the benefit of CWF Enterprises (CWF). As a consequence
of highly questionable change orders and extremely lax contract administration
of the December 2010 contract, the payments to CWF, under this second bid
award/contract, totaled $3,050,785.93.
This amount, along with a
payment to CWf of $366,282.56 under the March 2010 contract, brought the total
payments to CWF for the Property Improvement Clearance Project to
$3,417,068.49. Contrast this total amount with the original bid received on the
project in October 2009, of $599,988.00.
To attribute the following
sequence of events surrounding the December 2010 contract to simple coincidence
or merely poor management, it would have to be “reasonable” to believe:
• That a
restoration-cleaning company with no heavy equipment and little experience
in actual demolition work would receive a perfect “10” across the board
in the DCS pre-bid qualification process led by Jack Dalrymple, the LICRAT
project manager.
• That this same pre-bid
qualification process would attempt to disqualify all three other
demolition companies by rating them near across-the-board “l’s” on a
scale of 1to 10, although two of the three initially disqualified companies
provided examples of prior experience of major and more complex demolition
contracts totaling tens of millions of dollars.
• That all parties signed
a contract omitting the Alternate bid as unnecessary, only to
subsequently add the $1.3 million Alternate two months later using “clerical
error” as the ostensible justification for increasing the contract award by
nearly 78%.
• That adding the $1.3
million Alternate bid as a “clerical error” change order was reasonable
and appropriate, although state law prohibits cumulative “change orders
or addenda” from exceeding 10% on contracts exceeding $1 million.
• That it was acceptable
to invoke the Alternate bid for additional costs to haul debris to a
fee-based Kansas landfill when non-fee based facilities were still receiving
debris.
• Finally, after invoking
the Alternate bid, that it could be presumed legitimate for the
contractor to charge LICRAT on a “lump sum” basis for the entire $1.3 million
Alternate, even though billing documentation reported only approximately
15% of project debris was hauled to the fee-based Kansas landfill,
resulting in a “windfall” to the contractor of over $1 million. We do
not believe that the above events can be explained away as poor management or “clerical
error.” We believe the above provides sufficient circumstantial evidence for additional
investigation into a potential conspiracy against the state.”
Five years after the initial audits were done this gets
released, again a few days after the statute of limitations runs out. The two
audits even disagree on a few points, as well as disagreeing with a 2013 EPA
investigation, showing that political pressure was brought to bear on the
auditor who is running for Governor.. Hunter claims he found “found
prosecutable evidence of criminal activity.”, well if you wait till the statute
of limitations expires that might be the case. Yet the original audit found
evidence of violations of the cometitive bidding act, bidder choosing,
collusion among bidders, unlawful disclosure of information prior to bidding,
conspiracy against the state, open meetings act violations, violations of
contractor and bidding bonds, and illegal federal award payments used to pay
legal fees for violating the law. Yet somehow these same findings were changed and
watered down in the second audit by Gary Jones.
Dalrymple was hired as the project engineer and managed to
get the contract language changed allowing him to approve changes in the
contract instead of the Trust Board. He stood to profit as he was to be paid
10% on top of the winning bids for the work, so the higher the bids the higher
his paycheck. Ten percent of $600,000 is lower than ten percent of $3,400,000
and that was his motivation for rigging the bids according to the audits. The
bid inspection and awarding was not done in an open meeting and the awarding of
the bid to the highest bidder was never explained as required by law. Why a
$599,000 bid was turned down for demolition work and a $2,100,000 bid was
accepted has never been explained. Time lines were jumbled, bids were awarded
weeks after emails from the principles showed that the bid had been decided
upon. Emails proving collusion between parties involved were ignored by
prosecutors.
The fraud and collusion is plain to see yet three Attorney
Generals fought long and hard to prevent this audit from being done and once
done they fought to prevent it being released. Drew Edmondson, Scott Pruitt,
and Mike Hunter all protected this corruption and whether they did so because
of personal gain or because they were paying off political debts is of no
matter, it stunk, it still stinks, and all three men ought to be in front of a
grand jury explaining their actions.
House and Senate Platform Indexes Now Online
You can find and download the actual index spreadsheets for
the House and Senate at these links:
Soft on Crime Story of the Week
Meet Roderick Scallion, career criminal that loves the
current soft on crime legislature. Scallion started his adult criminal career
in Hobart in 2003 just after his 20th birthday, CF-2003-00060 possession
of drugs, paraphernalia, and having an open beer in his vehicle. He pleaded
guilty and was released due to time served in the local jail of 120 days and
ordered to pay his court and incarceration costs. Which never happened so a
warrant was issued for his arrest on failure to pay. A few years later he had
been caught, his suspended sentence revoked, and sent to local jail for sixty
days. A year later Scallion is out and still refusing to pay so he is arrested
again on a second motion to revoke the suspended sentence. This time they send
him to Lexington for two years but of course he is released months later as
three years means a few months in actual prison. By 2007 he is still refusing
to pay fines and fees and his suspended sentence is revoked again. By 2010 the
state still hasn't managed to get a dime from Scallion and once again a warrant
is issued for failing to appear to explain why he is not following his agreed
payment plan each month. In 2011 he agrees to pay around $800 in arrears and then
pay $100 per month but doesn't and it is 2014 before they catch up with
Scallion again. Scallion once again agrees to pay and disappears once again
with a warrant out for his arrest. Repeat in 2015 and 2016 with zero payment
made on the original fines and fees.
Of course this 2003 was just his first adult arrest. The
next was in 2005, CF-2005-00063 , escape from detention or
arrest. He is let out of jail for time served and the costs waived, agreeing to
move to Kansas it seems. By 2006 the dance begins anew with a motion to revoke
this suspended sentence and a warrant for Scallion's arrest. 2007 ends with a
new payment plan at $100 per month with no payments shown on the court record.
Third arrest in 2006, escaping detention and possession of
drugs, CF-2006-00021 . Plead guilty to suspended sentence and
probation, ordered to pay fines and fees but no record on the docket showing
any was ever paid.
Next arrest was in 2010, petty larceny. Scallion pleads
guilty, sentenced to time served and fees, doesn't pay.
March of 2010, Tulsa County, CF-2010-822 ,
assault and battery on a police officer, possession of drugs with intention to
distribute, driving without a license, and escaping detention. This case winds
on for years, multiple bondsmen, multiple attorneys of public defender,
multiple failure to appears, warrants, and re arrests. By May of 2014 Scallion
pleads guilty and receives suspended sentences, some time served, some
community service, and of course agrees to pay fines and fees that he will never
pay. By September of 2014 he isn't paying or appearing and another warrant is
issued. By September the suspended sentences are revoked. Scallion once again
cuts a deal and the suspension of the sentences stays in place but by early
2015 he is refusing to pay and appear once again and another warrant is issued
and once again the suspended sentences are revoked. Around this same time
Scallion has time and money to get married.
Next arrest in Kiowa County was late 2014, breaking and
entering and escaping detention again. Plead guilty, sentenced to the 135 days
of time served awaiting trial, and fines of course which were not paid.
By 2015 Scallion still isn't paying but the notes on the
file show he did call in to the court clerk.....
2015, obstructing an officer, CM-2014-00373. Plead
guilty because he isn't gonna pay anyway, doesn't show up again. On this one
case Scallion has around $5000 in incarceration costs alone plus another
thousand or so of court costs and fees.
September 2016 and Scallion has moved this business to
Oklahoma County, arrested on CF-2016-7405 for assault and
battery on a police officer, no doubt in trying to escape capture for one of
his warrants. By May of 2017 Scallion has been through several attorneys, most
likely not paying their bill, The case is still pending and scheduled to be
heard August 2018, three years after the crime was committed.
September 2016 and Scallion has committed another series of
crimes, CF-2016-7407 another
assault and battery on a police officer, possession of drug paraphernalia, and
concealing stolen property. Set for Jury trial in March of 2018 but continued to
August of 2018.
A few days after committing the crimes above Scallion
committed another felony, CF-2016-7519 , using a stolen credit
card it seems. By May 20176 he has jumped bail and is on the run again.
Scallion posts bond a few weeks later after being caught but jumps bail again a
few weeks later. He pleads guilty in September of 2017 and gets a three year
suspended sentence with 120 days credit for time served while awaiting trial.
But Scallion once again breaks his deal and the case is set for jury trial
again in August of 2018.
September 2016 another set of charges have been filed, CF-2016-7542 ,
committing felonies in two or more counties and Burglary first degree, and five
counts of having and using a stolen credit card. Set for trial in March of 2018
but continued till August of 2018, nearly two years after the crime was
committed.
Thirteen years of crime after crime after crime. The legal
system choked with hearings and trials for a man that always pleads guilty
after exhausting the delays, promises to pay and then disappears or simply
doesn't pay any of the tens of thousands of dollars in court costs or
incarceration fees. And time after time a judge gives Scallion another chance
and kicks the can down the road.
People say we lock up too many people. The fact is you have
to work really, really, hard to get sent to prison and you are there about one
quarter to one third of the time sentenced if your victim is lucky.
___________________
Intro to 5/20/18 Sooner
Tea Party Newsletter
John R. Houk, Editor
Posted May 24, 2018
__________________
Newsletter Title - Some of
the Faces of Corruption
No comments:
Post a Comment