Big news in the Pilot this morning…suspicious goings on in the Family Transfer business. The investigation of a few cases of possible illegal transfers may involve the law firm of Jesse Johnson. One of his partners is Councilman Jeff Gardy. This would be an embarrassment to the Mayor and Suffolk. Let’s hope this dust up will amount to nothing more than misunderstandings. A good case for openness and transparency.
Read the story in the Virginian Pilot.
38 comments:
What City idiot determined that the word “intent” was equivalent to “shall” when it came to a requirement of a family transferee to live in the property transferred? Use of “intent” left a big door open to those who would stretch the laws like a rubber band. This appears to be country bumpkin loose rules and there is no way to undo the “damage.” Perhaps that is just what the law firm hoped for…looking at the rules now is “too little too late.” There is no question that some heads must roll and others castigated for taking advantage. Congrats to the Pilot for the courage and time to dig into the stinking pile.
The pilot must dig deeper as there is more to this story that told. Look into the other land deals that this local law firm has handled and the votes of some on council close to it to see what has happened.
Greed is an empowering thing and we have alot ot it here in our little town. I have been here most of my life and I have never seen it as bad as it is now under the pin-heads now in charge. But atleast the City Manager has them all happy!
Look at Johnson's deals with CENTERPOINT!
this is just the tip of the iceberg...the Pilot must dig deeper...the Centerpoint deal will be the big prize for the reporter who uncovers that one!
How come no one back in December, when the Virginia Department of Transportation quietly changed its guidelines for public-private partnerships to smooth the approval of such deals.Speak up? The timing of this surely put pressure on the local govt to approve the deal.
Also interesting is the timing of the offer that CenterPoint Properties made for rights to the VPA terminals. The offer, came less than two weeks after adjournment of the annual session of the Virginia General Assembly. Having a port privatization proposal on the table when lawmakers were in session could have complicated things and created signs of conflict of interest among memembers of the general assembly, including connetions with local Suffolkians involved including the city of Suffolk adminstration?
The new boss is coming. Keep your mouth shut and everything will be fine. The boys from Chicago will show us hayseeds how it's done the Virginia Retirement System should be investing in Virginia, not the California Retirement System or the Illinois system The current Director of the VPA comes from California. We need to ask what role he has played in this. Have there been "deals" offered to local groups, maybe stock options with Centerpoint. This entire process beginning in Richmond and in Suffolk was a rush package just like an Obama plea WE NEED IT NOW. That way there would be less scrunity from state and local representives.It appears to be a good deal for some but not for citizens.
What did the Mayor and other councilmen know and when did they know it?
Gardy has been knee deep in these matters too. Then there is the Center Point deal and McDonnald that got approved without much demand to fix the roads in the area of Route 58, even though we all knew there was a huge problem. The only thing done has been to lower the speedlimit to 45, which everyone ignores.
This little industry of building subdivisions and gaming approvals where none should go, has been done for more than twenty years. There is a church/meeting building on Manning Road that started out as a barn/Ag building without any permits under the farm section of the UDO, but due to connections evolved into a meeting/Assembly building for someone who gave big to the Mayor. These types of slight of hand should be clamped down on and soon. Since the CA will not look at them they need to be looked at in the Court of Public Opinion!
At the very least there is a conflict of interest when the Mayor is asked to vote on issues that directly effect her husbands business ie the Barlow vote. She should recuse herself from such selfserving actions. But then again what do any of the gang of 4 do that isn't selfserving? Mr Mills better be carefull he doesn't join the ranks of the rest of the "malcontents" that the mayor and her hatchet men/woman have done in. I do give him credit for speaking up though.
Organizers need to prepare a petition and demand in person from council and the city attorney their definition of conflict of interest. The state legislature will do nothing nor will the Commonwealth Attorney or the State Attorney General. If we are ever to get a hold of this incredible misuse of athority, we have to hold the city council's feet to the fire.
Since the local DA wont do his job maybe the state attorney could come in and investigate on their own.Oh silly me, they are from Richmond as well, where this all began regarding Centerpoint.Besides why should they hurt our local DA in his seeking of other offices at the state level or beyond?
What is this about Center Point and Lawyer and Mayor Johnson? He worked on it and she voted for it along with her henchmen Par, Gardy, and Brown?
Who got paid and how much? Who voted for what and why? Show me the Money!
The money is long gone and in the pockets of those involved. How can it be alright to the mayor to vote for this big project that her husband is working on? Some questions are due her and now we need to hear from the perps. Who got what, why and how much? Does not look good for how they do it to us in Suffolk.
Mayor Linda, explain to us your definition of Conflict of Interest. If you cannot then you have no right being our Mayor.
SNH where are you? No investigation, no details and no opinion. Avoid reporting on stories of almost no interest to your readers you should be doing your job and press the mayor and city council.
Agreed. Where is the Suffolk News Herald? Why is it not commenting or following up on a story that involves the mayor's husband, her votes on Council, his partner's votes on Council, her close friend's votes on Council, and the whole CenterPoint deal. Where is real investigative journalism? Please be the journalists and not the PR folks.
The local newpaper reporters are hand fed news by the City Communications Director. They have limited themselves to attend city council, school board, authority meetings and an occasional public gathering. Take a look at today's news, is there anything that suggests they are capable of doing investigative fact finding reporting? They have become lazy, indifferent and fearful of reprisal if they dare ask a question that ruffles the feathers of the powerful. This is hardly the newspaper that cares about Suffolk?
As citizens of Suffolk we can not let this get swept under the rug! The city is conducting this "inquiry". That's not good enough! An outside entity must look into these events with an open mind...not those who stand to lose from the outcome. We have an obligation to see to it that there is followthrough on this or we will deserve what we get...more of the same.
The drums are beating for facts on this issue. Who did what and for how much? Boil the perps in oil for their bad deeds.
Suffolk gets another black eye! How will our Mayor respond to yet another bad article in the paper for all to read?
Inside Suffolk will you go after this?
What are the limits between duties as a local politician and a real estater or businessman? Some may be critical and others accepting. Is there public money changing hands? Is there money flowing due to direct influence or is this about insider information?
Lots of questions, few answers.
The mayor and her ilk, Parr and Benett are no different than state or federal politicans that represent us.
"Politicians are primarily concerned about three things, getting elected, getting reelected, and getting paid"
There is a fourth need for Suffolk Politicians. They also want to have a say over everything and anything. Just look at how the UDO Planning Stuff works.
It is looking like a move would be even sweeter, if I could only sell my house for anything near what the city assessor says it it worth and I have been paying taxes on.
With the new pilot editorial today, it looks like we are in need of a real review of the conduct of the mayor, her husband, and thier friend on council councilman gardy. With leaders like this it almost seems like we do live in chicago.
Who knew what, who did what, and who got what? It should be easy enough to find out how much money changed hands and how these approvals got by the planning guys without much noise. Usually everyone complains how hard it is to get approval for anything, but it seems that some are getting away with these financial shenanigans all the time!
How is that possible and was it done because of who the lawyer is married to? If so, when so we get an investigation?
Realtors looking ahead to better days in sale, lease of industrial space. That's the name of the article in the Pilot this morning that refers to warehouse sales potential in Suffolk. Something to watch.
With so many in Suffolk stating that all is well in Shangrala, I must ask why we always have so many negative articles about our mayor and her husband (and their friends)? Could it be that all is not so great in peanut city after all? Most can be boiled down to two items of character fault. The first and most previlent is just outright greed. The second is the demand to control all within their grasp and to influence people to pay, so the first fault can be had in even greater depth.
The only way this cycle of failure will change, is with real political support for people of character and ethical insight before greed. Some who aspire to such conduct have run for office, but lack the reach to get elected to office under the present "Pay to Play" system. Others wisely just stand aside rather than dirty themselves in the political dialog with the present office holders and the system. As such we all loose by their reluctance to serve. In the past we have had real statesmen, who placed community above their own interests. Regreatably it appears that those who could lead with an ethical perspective, are diswaded by the very nature of those who presently hold power and we have a self-renenforciny cycle that may lead to our runination...
Good comment, but how can it be fixed? Seems like the entrenched are just to hard to get out of office. TERM LIMITS? Probably not because the ones in now must vote for it and they woun't. We don't even have the right to a referendum in Suffolk. Woo is us!
Last night, the presentation for the family land transfers was delayed until the Council's retreat. There was no reason given. Does anyone know why this was tabled?
Council'retreatand delay? Not hard to figure Execution plan to be disscussed on how to circle the wagons and close ranks. And still trying to be open, transparent and TRUTHFUL...
Truth had nothing to do with this decision. The plan was to give it more time so the sting of embarassment could quietly die down some more. This is another reason to mistrust the intent of our fearless leaders. The questions still remain: Who knew what and when? Who made what and what was their intent? Who let it happen and were they influneced by political clout? When the mayor's husband makes money from such and she calls for support of such is it right?
Many questions that will not be answered. Who wins by such lack of light shining upon the actions of the mayor and her like? only her and her cronnies!
There is lots in this to do with truth. Their version of the truth is what counts and we are to accept it...
Character schmaricter, anyone can be corrupted by the opiate of power brought on by elected office and appointment. The laws of Virginia must be reviewed and changed if we are ever to regain control of our government. The most simple and obvious problem of governance is conflict of interest by elected officials. It is largely ignored by the officials, media and public. The presumed safeguard of the Commonwealth Attorney's Office is handicapped by their dependency on funding at the pleasure of the city council. Council's fiscal control undermines their ability to investigate government corruption. Even the GOP Republican Candidate for Govenor Bob MacDonald did nothing to resolve this fundemental problem when he was State Attorney General.
Good old Chicago style politics in little Suffolk. Take all you can get, while the taking is good! The motto of our Mayor and her husband.
We need integrity and open government, not self styled gotcha politicians that smear others who disagree with them. I hate to add to government, but we need an independent "Auditor and Ethics Director" to save us from our local government! It will not happen by wishing it so!
Whatever happended to good 'ole basic values and expecting that our elected representatives live by them?
I doubt that our Council would support a strong ethics resolution, but it would indeed be a very good thing to have.
If government abuse as obvious as conflict of interest is ignored by both parties and no one is willing to beat the drum in Richmond then we have no one to blame but ourselves. Until a candidate recognizes the problem and promises to put an end to it we'll continue to have more Centerpoints.
CENTERPOINT: The Point that will be the CENTER of the POINT!
Look for more locals to make it big and take home the big paycheck as they tender their local influence for a big payoff for supporting CPP. This is why so many believe that Suffolk is a backwards center for Hampton Roads. Our Mayor will serve as the poster-kid for then dictionary entry.
We have an opportunity to change all of this on election day. Both Parr and Gardy's seat will be up for grabs this election cycle. Let's put and end to this voting block. We may be stuck with the Mayor for 4 years but she won't be able to do much without her 2 sidekicks. Then maybe the City Manager will start acting like a real city manager instead of a puppet.
The city manager is a shining example of EEOC, diversity, gender bias, mis-directed patronage to create somebody that should not have risen to the position. So she makes her position valauble to her employers (city council) by her prejudiced dedication to their every whim while tossing the interest of the public aside.
How much for the new trash fees will the mayor push to her husband as a lawyer fee? This City is going off the rails with setting fees and charging twice for everything. Time to change council or pack your bags and leave the new "Arm-Pit" of Tidewater.
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