Tales from the Mendacious Toads

FROED loan to one of its directors
 deemed to be above board.
 (WITH  chowmeinsammich EDITORIAL COMMENTS)

By Michael Holtzman
Herald News Staff Reporter
Posted Aug 27, 2010 @ 11:12 AM


FALL RIVER — Office of Economic Development officials said the $250,000 loan made this spring to one of its directors, Fall River Ford owner Fernando Garcia, has limited precedent but is well secured and consistent with its mission to advance businesses.

[ED. NOTE:  Especially as long as the business in question is owned by a member of the FROED Board of Directors (B of D)]

“It’s a fair question,” FROED Executive Vice President Kenneth Fiola Jr. said when asked about the large loan to one of the 32 members of the board of directors.

He listed three or four working capital loans to directors for companies they owned or managed compared with over 600 gap loans the non-profit agency has issued since formed in 1978.

[ ED. NOTE: So, in other words, you only violated IRS regulations with regard to non-profits three or four times! What was it Mr. Executive Vice President, three or four? Please speak directly into the microphone!]

They included $450,000 from five loans to Engineered Yarn Assoc. and Gerry Mauretti from 1991 to 2005; two loans totaling $100,000 to Winter Rock and the late David Westgate in 2002; and by far the largest amount, about $9 million to Lightolier in a series of loans from the mid-1980s until 1992.


Loretta George was Lightolier’s vice president, and has served as a director since FROED's founding.


“Everything was done above board,” Fiola said of the Fall River Ford loan. “Everyone felt very comfortable issuing the loan.”

[ ED. NOTE: “Everything was done above board,” Fiola said  - According to who, Mr. Executive Vice President, YOU?! Not quite who I'd call an impartial third party, more like a potential unindicted co-conspirator. Can repeated violations of IRS non-profit regulations and financial activities be covered under RICO statutes? I wonder?]

He said the Finance Committee, chaired by Anthony Riccitelli, recommended the loan and it was unanimously approved by the full board, with Garcia abstaining on the vote.


[ED. NOTE: "Our "FRIEND" in duh bizinezz" Garcia was at least smart enough to abstain from the vote...LOL!]

He noted the quasi-government agency includes the mayor as chairman and representation by the heads or representatives of the school department, local community college and university, Redevelopment Authority, Fall Area Chamber of Commerce and others.

[ED. NOTE: If the public, or taxpayer and grant funds, are co-mingled, does that mean Mr. Riccitelli is admitting the use of public , taxpayer funds for personal,  private gain? There are strict rules on the reasons for which Massachusetts municipalities can do financial business...Loaning monies to buddies is not one of them...too much risk!]

Garcia received in May a five-year loan at a 6 percent interest rate, which falls within the 5-6 percent range several other loans FROED made this year of comparable amounts, Fiola said.

[ED. NOTE: And he was precluded from going to banks and other private sector debt markets because....? Was his business such a bad risk that his buddies on the FROED B of D who run banks refused to grant him working capital financing loans? Something is not right here!]

“This is a job retention loan,” said Fiola, which Garcia explained in an interview.

[ ED. NOTE: No doubt! For both Garcia, personally, and Fiola, personally. You won't keep your job as Executive Vice President of FROED, especially given the hideously poor job you've done, if you refuse to grant extremely questionable  and risky loans to members of the FROED B of D, will you Mr. Fiola?]

“It’s no secret the automotive industry has been severely impacted,” Fiola said, stating that Garcia’s long-term ownership of the auto dealership and being “a strong community leader” were important factors making the loan.


He said the funds were to provide Fall River Ford with “working capital” aimed at job retention. Garcia’s business serves as collateral on the loan, he said.

[ED. NOTE : Sales must really be awful for him to have to come to FROED for a loan as opposed to private sector sources, LIKE BANKS!....The only way a local bank would refuse a loan at market rates to a business as long established as Garcia's is if the risk of default was very great, PERIOD! And isn't Ford doing well? I don't get this at all! Don't banks hold the notes on the new vehicles in stock? Something isn't right here, or we aren't being told the truth!]

The key reason FROED made the loan rather than the owner seeking a standard commercial lender, Fiola said, “It’s a better interest rate, and we were able to turn it around quickly, within 30 days.”

Garcia explained what he called “really a bridge loan” for the dealership he’s owned for the past 12 years because of his long-time lender’s financial problems and inability to lend funds. He said Millennium Bank “was not functioning.”


[ED. NOTE: I've never heard such nonsense in my life! And the purpose of FROED is not to act as bank to firms managed and owned by it's B of D members! FROED is not here to make cheap money loans on favorable terms to Fernando Garcia or any other board member.  It's public money for God's sake! I demand to see where the articles of incoporation as a non -profit organization are that specifically state such loans can be made to it's board members! That would violate the spirit and letter of the law of non-profits, and all such loan activity would have to have been submitted in audit reports made to the IRS. I doubt these reports and audits containing such activity exist!]

“There really is no rule against a board member borrowing. In this particular case, I’m trying to create jobs and retain jobs,” Garcia said.With the economy failing, his full-service dealership has cut 125 employees it had in peak years 2006-07 in half, Garcia said.


"Without it," he said, “I probably would have had more layoffs.”


Garcia said he increased business from $10 million when he took over to $65 million several years ago, but sales have dropped to “the mid-$20 million” range.

He now has slightly more than 50 employees and is trying to retain them while expanding business offerings.

In particular, while they’ve added “quick line” services to compete with other automotive services. Garcia said he needed to borrow the $250,000 quickly to maintain his inventory and for redoing his service area.

[ED. NOTE: So the taxpayers will be forced to pay for your lack of business acumen and inability to compete, as well as a total lack of proactive planning, by granting you access to a credit source when the private sector realizes you are running your business into the ground and are a serious credit risk? Ever hear about bankruptcy and reorganization? Ever hear about the free enterprise system? FORD won't loan you money to tide things over? They are doing quite well right now! You only do business with Millenium Bank? If so, why? Are they going under too? Won't the local banks help you out, you know, the ones owned by fellow FROED B of D members? Is your riskiness that bad? Why should taxpayers bail you out, because it sounds like it's YOU personally that will be bailed out, Fernando? This is a joke!]

“Staying above board is what my intentions were, where they remain and where they always will remain,” he said. He's served for five years.

[ED. NOTE: This sounds way too much like Richard M. Nixon's "I am NOT a crook" statement!]

Mayor Will Flanagan, who chairs FROED in his capacity, said he did not vote on the loan but supported it.


“Mr. Garcia is a New Bedford resident who made a decision to open his business in Fall River and employ Fall River residents. He is a philanthropist and a leader in the Portuguese community.”


Flanagan said FROED’s role is to loan funds to help with job creation and retention, and Garcia borrowed like other funds like other business leaders would do.


“If he or other businesses apply and keep businesses operating and growing, I think that’s the purpose of the agency,” Flanagan said.

[ED. NOTE: There it is, the REAL reason for the loan...Mayor Sylvanagan is courting the Portuguese vote for the next election...we all should have known...LOL...he's such a toad!]

In contrast, he said, “If there are allegations of impropriety, that’s a whole other news story.” He was told none had been raised, only questions about a possible conflict of interest.

Flanagan said his key concern is the borrower’s ability to repay the funds. “The question is are they going to default on the loan?” he said.


Fiola said FROED receives public and private funds to operate an annual budget of about $1.2 million and over $8 million available in outstanding loans, a portion of which rolls over and is re-loaned each year.


They are receiving $335,000 in Community Development Agency funding.


Since January, FROED issued 17 loans totaling $1,934,000, well above their typical amount. “This is a good year for us,” Fiola said.

He said the loans come from “private funding sources,” mostly commercial lending companies.

[ED. NOTE: I do not believe a single word that comes from the mouths of Mayor Sylvangan, Fiola  or any member of the FROED B of D, PERIOD! If any group of public officials needed a Pinocchio Vaccine it is them!]

Three other large working capital/expansion loans Fiola cited this year included: Amaral’s Central Market, $350,000; Griffin Manufacturing, $300,000, and Ross Seafoods, $300,000.


While the agency has a strong record of loan repayment, one particularly sensitive default happened last year, Fiola said.


He said George Sousa, a board of director member who was president of the Fall River Area Chamber of Commerce last year, defaulted $31,000 of his loan.


Fiola said Sousa borrowed $50,000 for seven years in 2005 for expansion of Livery Specialists, a limousine company. He declared bankruptcy.


He was not on the board of directors when he received the loan but was when he defaulted, Fiola said, and FROED wrote off the loss.

[ED. NOTE: Oh, was that "public" money that was written off? Or was it proceeds of private funding that was written off? There is no way this can be legal, no way! Citizens of Fall River, if you let this collection of (ALLEGED) professional GRIFTERS, known as the FROED Board of Directors, to "steal" from you this way you deserve every headache and broken dream you get!]
 Flanagan said he does not like to see the leaders that volunteer to serve on non-paying boards like FROED being penalized for a loan or other opportunity.


“I hope they don’t do so for special interests or what can I do for you or quid quo pro, and do so because they want a better Fall River,” Flanagan said. “If someone volunteered for me and said, ‘You owe me a job, you owe me a loan,’ I’d be highly offended.”

[ED. NOTE: Sylvanagan, you are a sociopath politician and a lawyer...you cannot, by definition, be offended!]
E-mail Michael Holtzman at mholtzman@heraldnews.com.

FROED Board of Directors' Mascot:

The Lying Toad

Yes, I said it before and I'm saying it now. The entire Board of Directors of FROED are a bunch of LYING TOADS! That is as a group or as individuals, especially the Toad Master General, Mayor Warts Sylvanagan.

 Do not let this politician kiss your baby or shake your hand without some extra strength Wart-Off handy !

I tried kicking him as he walked by and when I went home that night, this is what my foot looked like!

After about $200 worth of Wart-Off I was able to exorcise the evil wart off of my foot. But I was one of the lucky ones. You see, I did not vote for this vile scum that rules the City of Fall River, this lying fool, this asinine, mendacious amphibian. No, my better wits about me, I avoided the scourge of the Toad and stand  (sit, actually) before you today giving thanks above for my salvation from THE MENDACIOUS TOAD SYLVANAGAN.

I can offer Fall River no more on this subject than this....Wart-Off is available at your local CVS and Walgreen's. Your vote is available only to YOU!