Stick a fork in Steele, he's done!

The articles I posted in April and July of this year should have been a pretty good indication of what was to come. More proof that Affirmative Action is a bad idea!

Top RNC Aide Slams Steele For Failed Fundraising


Republican National Committee political director Gentry Collins offered an abrupt resignation Tuesday, coupled with a stinging rebuke of Chairman Michael Steele and the committee's fundraising efforts in the midterm elections.

In a five-page letter to Steele and members of the RNC's executive committee, Collins said the party's lackluster fundraising effort contributed just a fraction of the amount of money to state parties that it had in previous cycles. That financial downturn, Collins said, prevented Republicans from capitalizing on an historic wave election and allowed Democrats to hold on in key races.

Collins' public rebuke of Steele's tenure is the latest indication that there are serious divisions within the RNC and that Steele, who is seeking a second term, will face a tough battle to hang on to the job.

Steele hired Collins, a top Republican operative who worked for former Gov. Mitt Romney in the 2008 cycle, in an effort to reassure donors and committee members that he was building an effective operation with seasoned and competent people in key roles. Collins is the latest staffer to leave disgruntled, but the first to have done so in such a public manner.

"Sadly, if left on its current path, the RNC will not be a productive force in the 2012 campaign," wrote Collins. "During the 2010 cycle, the RNC allowed its major donor base to wither."

Collins said the fundraising operation was ineffective, handing out a relative pittance to state parties and candidates while spending more money to raise less. Big donors who gave more than $1,000 contributed just 10.5 percent of the committee's fundraising, an incredible drop-off from recent years.

Meanwhile, Collins revealed the RNC has drawn down $15 million it had secured in lines of credit, and that unpaid bills owed by the committee are "likely to add millions to that debt." The money went to expenses other than the political department, which for the first time since the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill was passed did not fund an independent expenditure program.

What's more, even standard programs developed over decades failed to materialize. The RNC's 72-hour program of turning out voters "was left largely un-funded," Collins wrote, as RNC chief of staff Mike Leavitt withheld funding from states until October 22, a week before those funds were to be implemented.

The lack of funds had a real impact, Collins argued, contributing to Republican losses in Democratic-held seats the party might otherwise have contested. Collins points to 21 House races, stretching from Washington State to Arizona to New York and North Carolina, that the party left on the table, as well as to Senate races in Washington and Colorado and governorships in Vermont, Minnesota and Connecticut.

The 2012 elections represent "huge opportunities requiring massive obligations," Collins wrote. "And this Committee can meet them. But to meet them, we must dig out from huge debts, be focused and disciplined about spending wisely, only spend to win elections, and adopt a laser-like focus on the hard work of reviving our major donor fundraising network."

Collins' public rebuke is stunning in that he has shied away from ever commenting about the internal workings of the party. While staffers, former staffers and committee members have complained, Collins refused to speak with the press except on a handful of occasions while briefing reporters at committee meetings.

HL

We know how to get out of this mess. But, how much more damage gets done until then?

BY: B. Keith Plunkett

Even those of us with a little history of being on the wrong side of the political witch hunters in Madison County—one day, I’ll write that story and explain—have to look at the past few months of shenanigans with mouths agape in amazement. There is no definitive starting point, and apparently no ending point, to the political gamesmanship that occurs here in the “Land Between Two Rivers”. It goes back decades. But, if one were to try to define a timeline of events that have us where we are today, the ramp-up to our most recent toxic political climate can be traced back to February 2006 when Board President Tim Johnson and Supervisor’s Karl Banks and Paul Griffin formed a voting bloc and passed a $50 million bond debt program without knowing how the county would pay it back. That lack of budget sense was followed by a vote again in September 2008 to raise taxes to the tune of 3.3 mils to cover the debt that was incurred from it.

Before the 2008 vote, there was an attempt to stifle debate altogether by closing the public hearing, followed by a surprisingly inept attempt to double the increase to 6.33 mils. Due to public outcry and the threat of legal challenges, it was quickly reduced back to the original 3.33 mils. But a new way of doing business had been put into play:

Johnson, who said he worked with an “ad hoc” committee comprised of County Engineer Rudy Warnock and road department officials to develop the plan, said he intentionally did not solicit input from either Jones or Taggart. Johnson, who said he did not need public input to determine the county’s greatest transportation needs, said he did discuss the plan and how best to finance the individual road projects chosen as priorities with District 4 Supervisor Karl Banks and District 5 Supervisor Paul Griffin.

“They were a part of it, yes,” Johnson said.

Warnock, who formally drafted the presentation document outlining almost $100 million in road construction and repair projects, was approved as part of the road plan’s 3 to 2 adoption to serve as the lead engineer for the entire road plan project – a responsibility that could potentially earn his engineering firm up to 20 percent of the road projects’ total costs.

“I will be the lead engineer for the road work,” Warnock said.

“It’s what the board decided.”

Plans for the future had been made behind closed doors. It was a sign of things to come.

Wary citizens talk of the lack of open government and restraint in Canton reached the stratosphere by 2009. One road project that had fallen out of favor within the newly developed road plan was holding up development in the City of Madison and Mayor Mary Hawkins-Butler began a closer look at the county spending. The result was notice of potential double-dipping by County Engineer Rudy Warnock in his billing practices with subcontractors.

A subsequent report by an independent engineering consultant, Richard McAfee, funded by concerned citizens in the City of Madison found several red flags in Warnock’s cozy relationship with Madison County. The allegations became public in March of 2010, and calls for a visit from State Auditor Stacey Pickering ensued. Board President Johnson and Warnock looked on that as the seminal shot fired. With the help of the voting bloc that now controlled the Board of Supervisors, they began implementing a scorched earth retaliation policy, and a game of “hide-and-go-seek” of the county’s invoice approval process.



It has engulfed the county’s business ever since. Now including Board Attorney Eric Hamer’s billing practices:



The questions of financial irresponsibility also extends to questions over the salary of lobbyist C. Steven Seale, and even if his employment is legal under Mississippi code. Nothing at this point appears to be viewed outside the prism of doubt and mistrust.

I’d be willing to bet that former County Administrator Donnie Caughman and Comptroller Mark Houston are happy as two pigs in slop that they got out when they did.

The latest installment of the timeline has the Board of Supervisor’s trying to lock Supervisor D.I. Smith out of any executive sessions by charging him with leaking sensitive legal information to MDOT regarding one of the privately planned road projects.

The tactic employed by Johnson and company is to deny everything, admit to nothing, and to lay waste to everything through counter charges. There is a void left from the board’s refusal to come clean, and citizens are left guessing at why this is all happening. The vacuum created by a Board of Supervisor's unwilling to explain themselves is filled by any number of rumors.

There is Supervisor Banks land holdings and the question of whether he has personally profited from his votes on the board. There have been concerns of the possible uber-politicization of the upcoming redistricting process to allow the control of the power levers to remain in Johnson’s hands as, are you sitting down . . . County Administrator. That's right folks, rumor is he has his sight set on a job to run the whole county; Boss Hogg in a sequened jumpsuit.

As puzzled citizens scratch their heads, old rumors of the county engineer’s epic shindigs have again been brought to the fore, as well. Warnock’s soiree’s, the rumor goes, supposedly helped him gain enough dirt on public officials that he could get away with the billing deceptions and the closed door road planning meetings. No one would dare cross him lest he go public.

Is this all true? I’m not sure. There is almost always a hint of truth in the most deceptive of lies. That’s what makes them believable. But one thing is for certain; the fact that it is all being talked about as the back story to the ongoing head-butting between factions is not financially or civically healthy for any of us.

This is what we Madison Countians have been reduced to by the mismanagement of a few who want all the power all the time. It didn't just start this year, and it won’t be fixed overnight. Most voters probably now realize it will require some serious purging come Election Day before that fix is possible.

The question becomes, “Can Madison County keep from imploding until then?”

Johnson's Cabal does away with all pretense of good government.

Tim Johnson and his friends on the Madison County Board of Supervisors have stopped acting as if they care, deciding to boot Supervisor D.I. Smith from Executive Sessions. They have worked behind closed doors from the public for so long, apparently now they want to rid themselves of the distractions while they systematically dismantle decades of work in one of the most promising counties in the state.

Madison County board says D.I. Smith e-mailed suit plans

A Madison County supervisor is accused of leaking information from a closed session that could impact a lawsuit against the Mississippi Department of Transportation.

Supervisor D.I. Smith faced allegations from fellow supervisors Monday during a board meeting.

On a 4-1 vote, with Smith in opposition, the Board of Supervisors agreed to have Board attorney Eric Hamer seek the opinion of the attorney general or the ethics commission on barring Smith from any executive sessions in which the MDOT lawsuit is discussed.


"He's shown he can't be trusted in this matter," board President Tim Johnson said in seeking to bar Smith.

Smith, however, said he has done nothing wrong and called the board's attempt to censure him "simply politics in Madison County.

"I'm not aware I disclosed any information I wasn't supposed to," Smith said.

The county is asking MDOT to pay back $20 million local officials said was lost when the county decided not to build an I-55 interchange for Reunion Parkway. Smith has said he thinks the suit is a waste of the county's money.

However, Mississippi Ethics Commission Executive Director Tom Hood said state law does not keep an elected official from discussing what occurred behind closed doors.


"Discussing what happens in executive session is not a violation of the open meetings act or the ethics in government law," Hood said.

CL

Bond Denied For Mother Charged In Newborn's Death

Police: Baby Was Found Inside Suitcase

A Madison County Circuit Court judge on Monday denied bond for a 41-year-old woman charged in the death of her newborn son.

Sheila Ealey is charged with murder, court officials said. She was recently indicted by a Madison County grand jury.

Madison County Sheriff's Department investigators believe Ealey gave birth to the boy in July. She's accused of wrapping the baby in a plastic bag and putting him in a suitcase, which was found behind Smith Chapel Baptist Church in Flora, police said.

Related Posts: Coroner: Baby Found Dead In Suitcase Behind Flora Church
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