Thursday, January 29, 2009

And another

Making my way home via Cincinnati, yikes snow and ice here! When traveling I read USA Today, what the heck it's at my hotel door. From today's issue, page 8A.

"Miss. mayor, wife indicted in fraud case"
"The mayor of Gulfport, Miss., and his wife pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges they lied to get more than $220,000 in government grants to repair damage to their beach-front house caused by Hurricane Katrina.

There have been quite a few Comments (if you check) regarding Jerry and his issues. Here is my perspective. He ran on his experience as a C-level executive and promised to bring these skills to manage the "business" of the City. Looking back, I believe he was well aware of his ongoing issues with the Feds regarding the DFA trades. If the people of WL knew he was under investigation for trade manipulation would that have made a difference? I think so. At the same time he acquiesced to those who were spreading rumors about financial "issues" of the previous administration (York) and one of his first actions as mayor was to establish an Audit Committee to review the finances. Their findings? A-OK. The City audit report by the outside auditor? "One of the best I've seen". About the same time the trade commissioner is about to lower the hammer and "punish" (not my words, the commissioners words) to the tune of millions of dollars, Jerry and his collaborators. Ironic? Of course this activity took place well before he became Mayor. To me it is a matter of trust, of business ethics, of character. So, when you see in the news, stunningly this week, politicians gone wrong, I have to wonder...don't you?

And that is as I see it.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

My next mayor election(if Bos runs), I will be looking for Bos to explain the trade manipulation and what did he bring to the plate to improve the financial health and well-being of our city.

Anonymous said...

Have you looked at your tax bill?
Mr. Bos (and the Board) raised your taxes!!
You didn't notice it because the fire district lowered their tax rate.

Anonymous said...

This is my understanding. DFA was penalize 12 million and banned trading for five years. The executives in the company (not just Jerry Bos) were also personally penalized. What I hope someone would explain, in detail, how the manipulate scheme worked and how Jerry Bos directly or indirectly engineered it. Surely some anonymous source out there can provide this specific information. Mike, I would like to point out that your examples of crooked mayors involve them taking advantage of their office for personal gain. It seems you are implying Mayor Bos has the same potential. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely agree trust, business ethics and character are important but I don't think you can sight an example to say Mayor Bos has done something for personal gain while in office. The point of this is not to support Mayor Bos. The point is to get the facts out there so people can make educated decisions when voting in the next election. And yes, if I knew what I know now, I would have definitely voted for Alan York in the last election

Anonymous said...

New pic for your BRB blog?

http://tinyurl.com/b8d5s3

Another item of interest that is not so funny...46 out of 50 States this year will be facing a Budget Shortfall.

http://www.cbpp.org/9-8-08sfp.htm

Seems that banks are not loaning any money to States despite the bailout.

Thank you so much for your blog sharing community info!

Anonymous said...

I may not know a lot about CEO and CFO's but I am sure that as with any business with that many people something can occur without your direct knowledge that you may be held responsible for. NOt to say that Bos was not responsible. But again like others have said how about we get "ALL" the facts first!!!

Anonymous said...

Why dont you ask your Mayor to provide the facts?