Same Old Song And Dance

After long search, Fall River selects
and hires new city auditor

By Michael Holtzman
Herald News Staff Reporter
Posted Sep 29, 2010 @ 02:00 PM
Last update Sep 29, 2010 @ 05:05 PM


FALL RIVER — After a lengthy search, the city has hired a Quincy comptroller with a high degree of accounting experience and education as its auditor, Mayor Will Flanagan said Wednesday.

Krishan Gupta of Berkley will start the job Oct. 12 at a top-step salary of $80,292.
 
For the past three years, he’s worked at Quincy College, an enterprise of that city, as senior director of accounts and finance. He’s handled budgets, payroll, ledger maintenance and preparation of financial statements.

His duties included working with external auditors to finalize annual financial statements and audits. Those are among the key roles of the auditor’s office, which is behind in both its financial and grant audits, according to the state Department of Revenue.


Flanagan called the new auditor “a problem solver.”

He said Gupta met with financial department heads at length last week. He also spoke with the DOR and the city’s auditing firm, Hague & Sahady in Fall River, to learn about the current backlog. “He sat down and he made an assessment. If he didn’t feel he could make a difference for the city, he was not going to take the job,” Flanagan said.


Flanagan said he was seeking an auditor with municipal auditing experience to replace Kevin Almeida who took a comparable financial job in early July with the city school department.

Flanagan also cited Gupta’s extensive education in finance and accounting and college teaching experience.


Educated initially in India where he grew up, Gupta holds a master’s in business administration from the University of West Georgia and master’s in accounting from the Graduate Center City University of New York.


During more than 20 years of teaching accounting in New York and Massachusetts, he taught at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth from 1998 to 2004 and is on the adjunct faculty at Bentley University in Waltham.


Human Resources Director Madeline Coelho said Gupta had been interviewed this summer during a first round of screenings and was a top candidate in a small field.


She noted he was experienced with the city’s MUNIS system and with the Uniform Massachusetts Accounting System.


Gupta accepted the job last week and took a small pay cut from his job in Quincy, Coelho said.


For a year before that he worked as comptroller at Massasoit Community College in Brockton. He was a mid-level manager of the State Bank of India from 1974 to 1985.


“I’m excited about it. I think I can make a difference,” Gupta said in a phone interview.


Informed the DOR is awaiting the late audits, he said, “I’m aware of the challenge and the work that is cut out for me. Challenges are good.”


He expressed optimism he’d receive the cooperation needed to accomplish the tasks as city auditor.


A resident of the SouthCoast and Berkley since 1998, Gupta said the shorter commute will help with his family life. He is remarried with a 2-year-old son, and he and his wife have five college-age and grown children from before they married.
E-mail Michael Holtzman at mholtzman@heraldnews.com.


Let's all hope that our new Auditor has the right stuff for the job ahead. More importantly, let's all hope this guy is a completely honest person capable of not playing "hit the number" for the numerous grant, especially education grants (5-7 years worth in some cases) and general ledger accounts (since FY09) that have been allowed to lay about unaudited and, reportedly, in very bad shape.

I hope he realizes that his staff stinks and that he doesn't have enough warm bodies to provide him with loyal, qualified assistance in this mighty effort. No, we better start calling him "Revis", because he's all alone on that island of his, and in municipal finance, that's most definitely NOT a good place to be.

I have no idea who this man is. I had no idea who the "Finance Director" was when he was hired, and he's been so great he wasn't allowed a voice in the auditor's hiring! It's never a good sign when both men appear to have a similar work-skill background but the supposed underling, the Auditor, has more high level accomplishments than his supervisor, Mr. Grab. (I don't know about you, but a Treasurer named "GRAB" makes me chuckle...a  lot...when I hear the name. It's pure Fall River!)

Aside from the obvious connection between these two titans of municipal finance, Grab and Gupta, that being the City of Quincy, there could also be a tie between Gupta and the GREAT CADIME (HA!) through UMASS/Dartmouth. But none of that really matters. You see, in this day and age of unemployment, even amongst professionals, or what pass as professionals, it is rare indeed that TWO of the scant few finance professionals in the City would come from the same City and both be willing to take a pay cut for the privilege of toiling in the GREAT AND WONDERFUL COMMUNITY OF FALL RIVER. HMMMMM. Something's not right about that! NO FOOLING!

But we shall receive answers soon enough. You never know, maybe either Grab or Gupta will be the new Sylvanagan patsy to take the blame for the next set of completed financials for the City, and I'm sure they will tell one sad and sordid tale. Don't forget, it will be the report of the last year of the reign of the GREAT DESTROYER CORREIA. I guess Mr. Almeida, Correia's nephew or godson, or whatever relative of Correia he was, and ex employee of Hague & Sahady just didn't want to be associated with the nasty truth so he split for greener and quieter pastures at the School Department. Wouldn't you?! Let that crap hammer fall on the new guys, right? Don't you just love all the Fall River "Profiles in Courage"!

Let me take this opportunity to inject some terrifying factoids into this discussion:

• DOR isn't kidding. The last administration, and the current one, made promises to DOR to complete financial reports in a timely fashion. They better get them on time, or else. I wouldn't want to be Sylvanagan if the reports are not timely filed and then have the State Aid withheld until they are! Say "buh-bye" Sylvanagan!
• At a meeting held at MMA this week, some truly hideous FY12 state budget scenarios were laid out. Apparently, because this is an election year, the state FY11 budget was balanced by maxing out revenue forecasts and plying the final budget with scads of one time federal monies and depleting the "rainy day" fund. Everyone is terrified that the ballot proposition to cut the state sales tax to 3%, if passed, will bankrupt the state since the balanced FY 11 budget counts on a full year of receipts at the current sales tax rate, and with rosy receipt figures at that! WITH a cut in sales tax rate if the ballot question passes, one MMA estimate indicates a whopping 30% across the board cut in the state budget for FY 12. 30%! The lowest estimate, given no change in the sales tax rate, is an even still awful cut of up to 18% in the FY12 budget. That's across the board, including LOCAL AID! Chew on that one in an election year Sylvanagan! The new guy Gupta might as well stay right where he is because the City will not be able to afford him, or anyone else , with a 18 - 30 % cut in local aid. I mean, that's a joke and a half! I'm so glad I left the business when I did! Again, say  "buh-bye" Sylvanagan!

So, all this is an academic discussion, the new Auditor, the late financial reports, the lack of knowledge of Public Finance of anyone in elective capacity in Fall River. Fall River cannot survive FY12. Impossible. And did not the School Department just use fed monies to hire 130 new people? Maybe they know more than the rest of us, but if the Republicans take control of either the House or Senate in Washington in a month, continued massive ed and local government aid will be cut back severely, if not all together.

Fall River. It's just a disaster waiting to happen!

Target Rich Enviorment

FROED loans $2M to
 15 Fall River businesses in 2010
***************
By Michael Holtzman
Herald News Staff Reporter
Posted Sep 27, 2010 @ 12:00 AM


FALL RIVER — The Fall River Office of Economic Development has provided low interest loans to 15 local businesses totaling nearly $2 million this year, according to a recent press release from FROED officials.

Those loans are targeted to help retain 350 city jobs and create 62 new positions, reported Kenneth Fiola Jr., FROED executive vice president.


“Typically in a normal lending year we probably loan between $1.3 and $1.8 million,” Fiola said. The first eight months this year are indicative of a small turn in the economy and companies are now looking to reinvest.”

The businesses that received funds through the FROED loan programs include: Amaral’s Central Market, B.G.B.; LLC d/b/a Consolidated Thread Mills; Barcelos Bakery; Bell Garment Co., Inc.; Fall River Ford, Inc.; Famosa Hair Salon; Fitzgerald Insurance & Financial Services; Griffin Manufacturing Company, Inc.; HealthFirst Family Care Center, Inc.; Ledoux & Company, Inc.; Main St. Nat. Title & Closing Services, LLC; Northeast Food and Beverage LLC; Oliveira Construction, Inc.; Raw Seafoods Inc. and Red Velvet Florist Inc.

Mayor Will Flanagan, who chairs the private, nonprofit FROED board of trustees as the mayor, and businessman Alan Amaral, its president, said the impact of the long-standing loan program helps the city in multiple ways.

“Success of business here in the city is a key component to the development and prosperity of the city,” Flanagan said.
FROED’s services “not only benefit the businesses who utilize those but also the city as a whole through job retention and creation,” Flanagan said in a press statement issued by Lynn Creamer, FROED’s economic development coordinator hired earlier this year. Creamer also plays an economic development role to the mayor’s office.

Amaral said FROED continues to follow its mission since being established in 1978. That includes “promoting the prosperity and general welfare of the citizens of Fall River through the stimulation of economic strength and expansion of new and existing businesses.”

He cited financial assistance to local businesses and project management as two resources it provides.


He listed several long-term and ongoing development projects FROED has been involved with, including the Fall River Industrial Park, Commerce Park and eminent domain takings for Meditech and the University of Massachusetts Advanced Technology Manufacturing Center on Martine Street.


The City Council has asked Fiola and the administration to attend a Committee on Finance meeting and update the council on recent economic development projects.

Fiola said the information about the ongoing loan program was coincidental to that recent council request.


He said the addition this year of two staff persons to fill long-vacant positions will include providing quarterly updates on FROED programs.


The agency, housed at Government Center, lists $65 million in loans to more than 600 city businesses since its inception. The listed benefits have been retention and creation of 14,000 jobs over that 32-year period, the press release said.


Applicants for loans are asked to submit an application, financial statement and business plan to the FROED office.
E-mail Michael Holtzman at mholtzman@heraldnews.com.

" TheShadow:

"I wouldn't believe anything that dork Fiola says even if his tongue was notarized." "

My oh my, a voice of reason found on the commenter's section in the Fall River Herald News (HN), otherwise known as the worst fish wrap money can borrow. But let's look at several of the goings on of recent vintage in Fall River shall we?! You must admit, with the advent of fall, Fall River has become a target rich enviornment.

• 
  
  You have to LOVEEEEEEE this story (above). When all is said and done, and all the many propaganda hacks defending FROED stop yacking for a minute, the chirping you hear are the local "crickets of commerce" hiding in the weeds but still very much detectable. It's a vast and unending insult to Fall River citizens that these clowns are able to steal the way they do without being called out and by continuing to raid the FROED, largely publicly funded treasury, with complete brazenness and impunity. Oh Lord, where are the FBI undercover agents when you need them! Just promise Fiola the Weeper more cash and he'll get caught in record time. AMAZING! FROED's operations are really like a revolving fund/Ponzi scheme, a private savings and loan , with your money and your full and faith and credit backing them. You, the Fall River taxpayer swallow the losses. That's the truth. But it's the truth Fiola, Amaral (or as I like to call him on the pages of the HN's commenter's pages "Pocketnuts Troy" - that will get an angry response I'm sure...hey loser, go play with your yo-yo's!) and the rest of the happy band of thieves don't want you to consider.
• 
  
  "So....youze wannah buy a chance to make some dough? Just buy inta dah sweepstakes I'm runnin'....hey, it's not like before, it's LEGAL!"... You have to hand it to Pellitier, he sure knows suckers when he sees them. Internet cafe' my buttocks! All I can say is "what's the administrative fee and payoff schedule there Oh crooked one?! A fool and his money are soon parted....who said that...oh yes, Wampanoag Chief Cromwell. He was soooooo right!
• 
  
  The dirty dozen! It's not the title of a WWII movie we all have seen, it's the number of jobs that REALLY were expected by FROED and  Fiola the Weeper from the Bio-Park. The 8,000 jobs would come over a period of 15-20 years, or so he says NOW!  Myself, I think he's simply softening the blow for the news that the Bio-Park is going to New Bedford, not in any of these "PRIME" Fall River locations offered to UMASS/Dartmouth or the Baccari (THE PRESUMED BRIBER OF ELECTED OFFICIALS) owned land in Freetown, the alternative "make-up" locations made available AFTER the public started going bat guano crazy about losing BOTH the casino AND the Bio-Park. That's probably the game afoot with FROED. Tell everyone the Bio-Park wasn't so great an idea and trumpet scads of well paying (HA!) jobs - $25 - $35,000/year - jobs available at a casino...if it ever gets built. The City Council drilled the two fools  (Fiola the Weeper and "little Napoleon Torres) sent into harms way by Bag-Boy Deluxe Sylvanagan. Oh and just about any and all concrete information about all of FROED's dealings surrounding the Bio-Park and the casino are still on "double secret probation" status. Sounds like Nixon's secret plan to end the Vietnam War to me! Hooey and crapola is what the public is getting from FROED and mayor Sylvanagan.

That's enough for now...so much negativity is bad for a person's health. So with that, I'm signing off for now....but later...I'll discuss MMB and the deplorable situation at the Fall River School Department....MCAS lives!

Growing Rats Nest

INSIDE TAUNTON: Trash-to-energy consultant switch
under City Council’s watch, not Crowley’s

By TED GAY

GateHouse News Service

Posted Sep 19, 2010 @ 11:42 PM

Taunton —

Charles Crowley makes the point that he wasn’t mayor when the City Council switched in mid-stream consultants for a trash-to-energy plant.

It’s a good point in understanding the collapse of the high tech landfill replacement project. Crowley was responding to an item here last week that raised the question of who should be held responsible for the failure.

In an e-mail, he said there were individuals on the state level who could share the blame, as well as those on the local level.

Crowley noted that the council embraced the project the night councilors unexpectedly switched consultants from Camp, Dresser and McGee to Alternative Resources, Inc. That was about five years ago.

The subcommittee, then chaired by Tom Hoye, followed by Dan Barbour, and A. J. Marsall, heard the recommendation of then City Solicitor Steve Torres for making the change and approved sending it to the full council for endorsement. That vote was unanimous. So was the vote of the full council that night.

It remained that way in the years that followed with the public being kept in the dark.


“The council likes to blame me for everything and yet take credit for everything,” Crowley wrote.

He cited the cost of the fire watch for the Star Theater when the councilors knew only the fire chief could order the watch, as well as the councilors claiming that passage of the local meals tax enabled the city to rehire laid off workers. The tax did not provide enough revenue for that.

(separated at birth)

Another in a long line of great jobs completed by our very own modern day Ratso Rizzo (From Midnight Cowboy), City Corporation Counsel Steve Torres. I don't think this person can do ANYTHING right!

We all know there were some shady goings on with the "trash -to-energy" project in Taunton when he was  the City Attorney there with cries of outrage from members of the Taunton City Council after they found out about Mr. Torres' travel to France to check out a facility along with consultants for a specific product. Nice going there Steve, the way you and your partner in "crime" work, your then assistant legal errand boy, our very own Mayor Sylvanagan, being layed out for the honest world to see. You folks NEVER change your modus operandi because you are pretentious attorneys for cripes sake, masters of the universe and more knowledgeable than anyone you meet, right?

 You guys went way past Arrogance Street and set up house in an apartment on Hubris Circle. And I thought you loved Fall River so much you would have at least bought a home on Sincere Avenue. Nope, not Fall River loving Mayor Sylvanagan. It just wouldn't fit the profile. Grifters like you two need to stay free of putting down roots. You never know when you'll have to move on quickly. It's one deal at a time for you two, right?

And maybe we found one of the latest deals. Just because you two have been on a continuous losing steak since landing in Fall River doesn't mean you can't soak SOMEONE for a bundle, right?

Well, meet "JOHN DOE #2", as the FBI affidavit against several North Providence City Councilmen calls him, aka (as far as we know) Mr. Baccari. Around these parts Mr. "Doe" (aptly named, I might add) is the gentleman who we think owns the land in Freetown near the Rt. 24 cutoff originally planned as an access way to the 300 acres for the Bio-Park. The land he owns is the very same land on which Messers Sylvanagan , Torres and Fiola want FROED to buy to entice UMASS/Dartmouth to build the Bio-Park. And as we all know, Sylvanagan, Torres Fiola and FROED are trying to soak the Wampanoags and are trying to sell them the same 300 acres intended for the Bio-Park so they can build a destination casino. In either situation, Mr DOE #2's land in Freetown will be much, much more valuable now that he has that nice Rt. 24 access way built right next to his Freetown property. Who is soaking who is really the actual issue, but let the grifters do their thing.

Reading the actual FBI affidavit of MR. DOE #2's handiwork is amazing. You can find it right here:

 

http://www.projo.com/news/2010/pdf/north_providence_councilmen_affidavit_0506.pdf

It is truly an exercise in the worst aspects of local government graft and corruption, and the open willingness of a monied business interest to spread the wealth to get precisely what they want, and screw John Q Public!

One of my favorite passages is one that talks about the mechanics of the scheme, the actual payoff for Council votes, and the extremely vulgar, yet cliched way the offer was put to the miscreants involved:

   

CS#1 asked ZAMBARANO if the others involved in the bribery scheme were BURCHFIELD and DOUGLAS. ZAMBARANO said "Yeah." ZAMBARANO continued "They don‟t even want to talk to you about it...in other words... they agreed. Now its gonna be four of us. So... You come tomorrow night... if you go along with the show and go along with everything we‟ll give you $4,000 ... and I‟m gonna tell you it was twenty five divided by three. So we‟re not getting much more than you are. But I mean I negotiated the deal. I mean... and they were in on it from the beginning...so I came up with that figure." CS#1 asked "Twenty five hundred?" to which ZAMBARANO replied "Twenty five thousand." ZAMBARANO stated to CS#1 that JOHN DOE #2 told ZAMBARANO "You deliver four votes and I‟ll give you twenty-five thousand dollars."  

Right from an episode of The Sopranos! But it happened right next door in Rhode Island.

Now why bring up Steven Torres and the Taunton Project? Whether a City Corporate Counsel , Fall River Mayor who worked under him, an attorney representing FROED or a monied property developer who will stop at nothing to get things done HIS WAY, we are discussing a collection of arrogant individuals who will not change the way they do business. These leopards will not change their spots. Doing things in the dark, out of every one's eye shot, keeping things secret and quiet, are the hallmark of these folks. It's frightening to see these individuals in on the same deal in any form or fashion. One has a legitimate reason for concern that things are not being done on the up and up, or that some type of valuable considerations are being traded between these particular parties.

I'm not saying there are quid pro quos going on, or that cash is changing hands under the table . No, I'd never do that. But I am saying by their past activity you shall know them. They will never change. Grifters never do.

One last frightening thought to consider. JOHN DOE #2's daughter is married to the son of the would be Governor of Rhode Island. I'm so glad I live in the Bay State.

If 6 was 9

Fall River Mayor Flanagan:
 City working on revised local hiring law

Fall River Mayor Will Flanagan, shown here with Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Chairman Cedric Cromwell, says the city is working on a revised version of the responsible employer ordinance.

(Actually, it's a handshake agreeing to screw the taxpayers of Fall River to ensure their own future's!)

By Michael Holtzman
Herald News Staff Reporter
Posted Sep 19, 2010 @ 08:48 PM
Last update Sep 19, 2010 @ 10:02 PM


FALL RIVER — Mayor Will Flanagan, called out by several city councilors over the controversial Responsible Employee Ordinance, said he supports such a provision and has his law department working on a revised version.

“I would have rather seen the ordinance reworked than repealed,” Flanagan said Thursday, two days after the City Council removed it.


Noting the lawsuit filed in June that followed its initial passage, Flanagan said, “I believe we had time to rewrite the ordinance before we went back into court.”


That was in reference to the suit filed by the Utility Contractors Association of New England Inc., alleging four sections of the enacted ordinance violated federal and state constitutions.

“We’re researching in the law department what’s considered a reasonable approach,” Flanagan said of the REO in general and specifically its controversial apprenticeship hiring standards.

“I think we can get it out by the next court date,” Flanagan said. “We will put it before the council.”


Councilor Eric Poulin and others urged him to do that.


The contractors group claimed the ordinance's residency requirements for hiring were illegal. The organization's lawyer, Richard Wayne of Boston, called apprenticeship requirements that contractors have approved training programs in place for several years in order to bid “pretty onerous.”


As a result, the city’s law department agreed to suspend enforcement of the ordinance until Wayne filed a court request for summary judgment. That was expected sometime in October.

Similar ordinances, adopted by about 18 larger cities and towns in Massachusetts, govern requirements for unionized and open shops that bid on municipal projects.


Flanagan said he supports local hiring laws in general and some conditions in the now-repealed ordinance.


He said any employer knowingly allowing illegal, undocumented workers “should be prohibited from future work. It is illegal. It should be part of the ordinance,” he said.


He cited the city’s 14 percent unemployment rate and union halls with sometimes half its members out of work. He said he indicated in meetings with union and open shop leaders his support for a “local hiring preference.”


The residency requirements, targeted in the lawsuit, are “a gray area,” Flanagan said.


He supports paying prevailing wages — which state laws mandate on public jobs — and providing benefits like health insurance.


While medical benefits can vary widely, especially between union and open shops, Flanagan said he supports how that part of the ordinance was written.

“I support a reasonable apprentice program,” Flanagan said.


His assistant corporation counsel, Elizabeth Pereira, called it “a huge issue that’s been difficult” to resolve. Union and open shops have widely different preferences on graduate training programs, maintaining them and meeting quotas.

Pereira, assigned to the research after the contractors filed suit, said she’s been working with Corporation Counsel Steven Torres “to try to figure out some way to word it so it’s in conformance with case law... “We were hoping to have something by the beginning of September, but it didn’t happen,” she said. “Steve and I began working on it, and it got to a stumbling block when we got to the apprenticeship issue.”


Pereira said they are ready to proceed. The City Council repealed the ordinance rather than referring what had originally been passed to its Committee on Ordinances and Legislation for revision.


“It really didn’t make too much of a difference as far as we’re concerned,” she said. “The REO enforcement was suspended. To us, it was if it was off the books.”


Now that it’s repealed, she said Utility Contractors may seek reimbursement for attorney’s fees.


Flanagan said they’d dispute such pursuit of damages because the ordinance was embargoed then repealed.
“I’m not the authority that proposed the ordinance,” Flanagan said of the 8-0 council vote to pass it after Torres finalized the law union leaders gave the council.

“Attorney Torres to this day says he thinks it’s defensible. We haven’t changed our position,” Flanagan said.


Despite claims to the contrary by some councilors, he said he did not directly or indirectly support repeal of the ordinance.


An issue Pereira said needs further clarification is whether the city’s original and more limited REO, enacted in 2000, remains in effect.

“The old ordinance is essentially stricken,” she said, citing the new REO language.


City Clerk Alison Brett and City Council President Joseph Camara said the night of the repeal the old one remained on the books. Pereira said Brett had contacted her saying that was the council’s intent.


She planned to research the council action and give Brett an opinion.
E-mail Michael Holtzman at mholtzman@heraldnews.com.


"Ok, so a guy goes into a bar and sees a turtle, a chicken and a lawyer drinking burbon, and he askes the bartender "Hey, what's going on with those three?" and the bartender says........"

Nothing this crook says or does can possibly be taken at face value. He's not smart enough to bring about real, positive change in Fall River, but he's just devious enough to be dangerous to your financial well being and your standard of living in Fall River. And then there is that ever present nagging question of "What's in this for him?"

You naturally have to extend the beneficiaries of that query to include his pals Torres and Fiola, as well as his biggest campaign contributors and his fellow members of the FROED Board of Directors. You might also want to include the Chamber of Commerce. Oh yes, and anyone publishing a newspaper in the City and those painting newspaper boxes (HA!). Newspaper boxes! HAHAHAHA! PAINT A NEWSPAPER BOX AND CHANGE THE DIRECTION OF FALL RIVER ! I haven't stopped laughing since I first read that happy horse twaddle!

So, from what I gather, the City Council, riding the expected crest of a populace anger wave, set about trying to solve the city's unemployment problem by trying to mandate, quite illegally, that city people be hired , in exorbitantly high numbers, as trade apprentices and employees on construction crews in order for firms to be eligible to be awarded a city contract. And when an attorney, a very expensive and far more qualified attorney than our CRACK , home grown city legal team, representing Utility Contractors Association of New England Inc., filed suit against the city, the City Council reacted by killing the ordinance they had passed, but left the framework of an earlier attempt in place, primarily, I think, to allow them all to say they are tough on construction firms trying to win city contracts by mandating Fall River labor be used. There is more useless posturing going on right now than in an episode of America's Next Top Model.

And then came Sylvanagan. This fool wants it every which way that will make him look good. But the entire discussion, from his vantage point, is entirely devoid of what is right or wrong, what is appropriate to reach a valid social goal, or what actually is allowable under both state and federal constitutions. I guess that's why we must rely on Atty. Richard Wayne representing the Utility Contractor's. I guess that's also why Atty. Wayne's clients want legal fees paid by the City of Fall River in the event the Judge sides with the Utility Contractor's in a possible summary judgement. The way Sylvanagan claims we shouldn't have to pay makes me feel we is doomed. It's an all too frequent feeling whenever he tries to justify how Fall River DIDN'T screw something up!

" Flanagan said they’d dispute such pursuit of damages because the ordinance was embargoed then repealed.

“I’m not the authority that proposed the ordinance,” Flanagan said of the 8-0 council vote to pass it after Torres finalized the law union leaders gave the council.

“Attorney Torres to this day says he thinks it’s defensible. We haven’t changed our position,” Flanagan said. "

But what is really so "Sylvanagan" about the entire mess is this little bon mot:

" Pereira, assigned to the research after the contractors filed suit, said she’s been working with Corporation Counsel Steven Torres “to try to figure out some way to word it so it’s in conformance with case law... “We were hoping to have something by the beginning of September, but it didn’t happen,” she said. “Steve and I began working on it, and it got to a stumbling block when we got to the apprenticeship issue.”

You have to love the thinking here, and the fact that it's discussed openly, like someone waving the stupid flag for all the world to see.  "We're trying to jury rig an ordinance around known case law AFTER THE FACT because we were too dumb to do it at the beginning!" I mean, is this what passes for adequate preparation and solid legal reasoning in Fall River? No wonder that Atty. Wayne reportedly called home and told the old wifey to order steak that night after he met with his clients from Utility Contractor's. YOU CAN"T MAKE THIS STUFF UP!

Not smart enough to bring about positive change, but just devious enough to get the entire City of Fall River into financial hock while trying to feather his own nest by any tortured reasoning of his own. Sometimes the most direct way is the best way.

" ...Well buddy, you see the Turtle drinks bourbon because he's a slow walking coward who hides from trouble, and the Chicken drinks bourbon because he's terrified of crossing the street to get to the other side in all that traffic....But the Lawyer drinks bourbon with the other two because he's setting up his new client the Chicken to get hit by a taxi during rush hour while he's still in the crosswalk and wants the turtle to be a witness on the sidewalk before he calls the ambulance"..

More Fall River CHRONIC Coincidences!!!

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100917/NEWS/9170312/-1/NEWS06

SOUTHCOAST TODAY
By CHARIS ANDERSON
canderson@s-t.com
September 17, 2010 12:00 AM

UMD looks to choose biotech site this month

NEW BEDFORD — The University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth could choose a location for a multimillion-dollar biomanufacturing facility by the end of the month, a university official said this week.


New Bedford and Fall River both submitted site proposals for the facility in July after the Fall River Redevelopment Authority agreed in principle earlier in the year to sell the original Fall River site to the Mashpee Wampanoag for development as a resort casino.


In addition to the cities' proposals, the university is considering building the $22 million facility on its Dartmouth campus, according to UMass Dartmouth spokesman John Hoey.


"We're in dialogue with the two cities ... as we continue to just get as much information as we possibly can to make the best decision, the decision that will be in the best interests of both the university and the region," he said.


"We're still planning to make a decision in September — that's our goal."


UMass Dartmouth Chancellor Jean MacCormack on Wednesday met with Mayor Scott W. Lang at City Hall to discuss the city's proposal, according to Lang.


Also present at the meeting were James Karam, vice chairman of the UMass Board of Trustees; Paul Vigeant, UMass Dartmouth assistant chancellor; Matthew Morrissey, the city's economic development director; and Tom Davis, executive director of the Greater New Bedford Industrial Foundation.


In the city's proposal, it offered the university a 5-acre site of the university's choosing in the New Bedford Business Park, a parcel that would be donated to UMass by the Greater New Bedford Industrial Foundation.


The park has 20 lots covering a total of 310 acres available for development, according to an Aug. 16 memo sent by Lang to the university.


The Standard-Times received the memo and other documents after submitting a public records request to the city for all correspondence related to the project.


In that memo, Lang detailed a number of other components to the city's proposal, including a commitment to provide $3 million in low interest finanacing to the university for the project through the New Bedford Economic Development Council.


Lang also committed to transferring ownership and control of the Naval Reserve Center property to the commonwealth for $1 when the funding for an expansion of SMAST on that site has been secured by the university, the memo stated.


The university's initial request for proposals listed a commitment by New Bedford to transfer ownership of the property as a required condition.


Lang further clarified his position in a Sept. 13 letter sent to the consultant hired by the university to evaluate the site proposals.


"It is our understanding from the University's Request for Proposals that the SMAST expansion is conditioned on the UMass Biomanufacturing being constructed at the New Bedford Business Park," he wrote.


"Therefore, when we receive a commitment for the siting of the Biomanufacturing Center in New Bedford, we will obtain and prepare all necessary documents for the SMAST expansion."


Hoey said the university was thrilled that the mayor had committed to transferring ownership of the Naval Reserve site once the project financing was finalized.


"The university doesn't have the cash on hand to build a $25 million expansion," he said.


But, Hoey continued, "There are a number of different options the university could pursue."


The Fall River proposal locates the UMass facility on a parcel that is part of 300 privately owned acres in Freetown next to the Stop & Shop distribution center, according to Kenneth Fiola.


Richard Baccari II, vice president of development for the site's current owner, has agreed to donate 4 acres to the Greater Fall River Development Corp., which will in turn donate that land to the university to build the biomanufacturing facility, according to Fall River's proposal.


The Fall River Office of Economic Development will also purchase an additional 50 acres of contiguous land, according to Fiola.


Fiola would not disclose how the Fall River Office of Economic Development would fund the purchase other than to state he was not worried about the financing.


The Fall River Herald News recently reported that Fall River Mayor William Flanagan said the city would likely seek the funding for the purchase from the Mashpee Wampanoag.


Fiola would not comment on the mayor's earlier statements; Flanagan did not return a call for comment Thursday


So, the negotiations with the Wampanoags to borrow cash to purchase land in Freetown from Bacarri the "Indicted One", if I'm not mistaken, are the very same  "double secret probation" negotiations that Mayor Sylvanagan's folks stated could not be discussed before the City Council. So delicate and secret was this information that SOUTHCOAST TODAY managed to gain access to it!

Why are these facts being denied the City Council and the people of Fall River? Why cannot the Mayor let his own constituents know, directly from his own lying mouth, what he plans to do ? I mean, if he plans to borrow money from the Wampanoags to buy land from someone under indictment in Rhode Island (again, we believe) in a town not Fall River, doesn't that mean the taxpayers of Fall River are liable to repay the loan? Of course it does! And why are the citizens of Fall River purchasing land in another town ? And why from this shady character Baccarri?

Why? I think it's nothing more than some pre-arranged deal made more urgent because of the bad reaction Fall Riverites had when it looked like the Gambling Bill would not pass and that the City had probably lost it's chance to capture the Bio-Park Project from UMass/Dartmouth!

If you will recall, FROED let it be known that it wanted to consider making FROED a more regional organization, not just Fall River, but to include contiguous communities on it's immediate borders. The publicly stated reason for this was regional economic development which would aid in bringing jobs to the area for Fall Riverites. I think it really was done for the purpose of doing business with this man Baccarri, to arrange some sort of land purchase deal for his acreage in Freetown. Surely, it was no coincidence that the Route 24 cut-off improvement benefits Mr. Baccarri as much as it does the 300 acre parcel originally designated for use as the Bio-Park, now the proposed site for a destination casino.

No, this is no accident. At least that's my belief. And you must start to ask yourselves whether you think those working at the behest of FROED , the Board members and executive level employees and this mayoral administration are getting "other" considerations from a man already being investigated for bribing a Rhode Island  member of the House of Representatives.

I'm sure it's all just a coincidence. Yeah, a CHRONIC coincidence.

RDA...real or memorex?

More from our illustrious Redevelopment Authority!!!

FIND THIS COVERAGE AT : http://www.vimeo.com/15060357

" 2 months ago The Fall River Redevelopment Authority met to discuss the following: Route 79, Commerce Park, 300-acre bioreserve land (in executive session), and other matters. All members were present and FROED VP Ken Fiola gave the presentation and answered questions from the board. At the end of the meeting, the board voted to extend the contract without pay to FROED, until such time as they can determine if they can afford FROED, or sell an asset. "


Fall River Redevelopment Authority, September 16, 2010, 2PM from MondoLizzie on Vimeo.


Many thanks to MondoLizzie !

Once again,LET THE GAMES BEGIN!!

Fired former Correia staffers
file lawsuit against city.

Oh...it's a lovely thing to be led by an childish idiot !!

By Michael Holtzman
Herald News Staff Reporter
Posted Sep 16, 2010 @ 10:42 PM
Last update Sep 17, 2010 @ 07:14 AM


FALL RIVER — Fired eight months ago from well-paying government jobs with three-year contracts given by their longtime boss and outgoing mayor, Jeffrey Santos and Kathleen Edwards struck back this week with a lawsuit against the city.

Their Providence attorney Richard Peirce alleges their constitutional rights were violated because they were terminated “due to their political association with the former mayor” — Robert Correia — and they were fired without due process.


Mayor Will Flanagan, on his first full day in office, fired the two recently appointed Community Development Agency employees.


The 11-page complaint does not list monetary damages.



It seeks, however, reinstatement of Santos’ $85,000-a-year job as Community Development Agency executive director and for Edwards in her $55,000-a-year job of executive secretary/contracts compliance officer.

 The suit seeks compensatory damages for the full length of the two contracts and for emotional distress, punitive damages if the city showed willful misconduct, attorney’s fees and other relief the court determines.



They seek a jury trial.


Santos and Edwards are longtime city residents who worked for Correia for the bulk of his 30 years as a state representative and two-year term as mayor.


Correia lost his re-election in the preliminary last September, after which Flanagan was elected in November.



Flanagan, joined by Corporation Counsel Steven Torres in his sixth-floor office, said he “deemed the lawsuit frivolous and without merit” — and worse.


“The lawsuit’s not worth even the paper it’s printed on,” Flanagan said Thursday after obtaining a copy from New Bedford Superior Court. Later, he took pleasure putting the document through a shredder at Government Center.



“I don’t believe they’re entitled to one red cent,” he said, stating that city lawyers would defend the suit and there’d be “no settlement.”

“They were not terminated due to their political affiliations. They were terminated because of contracts against public policy,” Flanagan said.


Torres said, “The contracts had provisions extended by the outgoing mayor that if the new mayor comes in he is responsible for the remainder of the contracts.”


He said the contracts “were written by a mayor that was not re-elected with the purpose of tying the hands of the administration. It’s what case law says it can’t do.”



The language says if the city terminates the agreement “for convenience,” it must pay out the cash value of the contracts, along with accrued time owed.



Torres has called that severance provision “unconscionable.”



The complaint Peirce assembled on behalf of Santos and Edwards included contentions that both were qualified for their jobs. It said Santos had “oversight” of the CDA since July 2008 after Robert Laughlin “resigned his position” as interim director and that neither of the two could be fired under their contracts unless they resigned, retired, died or for “just cause.”



The lawsuit claims no city official explained or justified their terminations or gave them opportunity to be heard prior to the firings. It also points to the three-year contracts for Torres and Assistant Corporation Counsel Elizabeth Sousa Pereira, which extend by about a year beyond Flanagan’s elected term, and by not including termination clauses would give his appointed full-time lawyers their salaries and benefits for the lengths of those contracts.


It would entitle them “to the same type of benefits provided for in the Edwards and Santos agreements,” the suit contends.

Peirce, contacted at his firm of RCF&P, said he was basically asserting a breach of contract and a breach of First Amendment rights.

“There is a contractual obligation to employ them,” Peirce said.


He said their severance under the contracts “should have no bearing on the city’s decision to discharge Edwards and Santos,” both of whom he said have been unemployed.



Peirce also said it made no difference that Correia had lost in the preliminary when he appointed Santos on Nov. 1 — the day before Election Day — and Edwards on Dec. 1, and gave both three-year contracts on Dec. 21, days before his term as mayor expired.

“I haven’t heard any representative of the city say Mayor Correia did not have the authority to enter into their contracts, other that they’re against public policy,” Peirce said.


The day he fired them, Flanagan said, “There was no search, no other candidate was considered, the appointments were open for years and, in the last 30 days (Correia) filled those appointments with key staffers. That would strengthen the case if it went to court.”


Edwards had been Correia’s chief of staff and Santos his longtime administrative assistant.


The lawsuit says Flanagan issued letters to them on Jan. 5 that said their CDA jobs “were not properly filled.”


Peirce had issued a “demand letter” to Torres on Feb. 26 to discuss the terminations, which he said did not result in any productive discussions.

 While Peirce said he found it “ironic” that Torres found the contracts unconscionable while his contract term extends beyond Flanagan’s term, the city officials disputed the outcome would be the same on Torres’ extended contract if he were fired.



He agreed Santos’ contract lists the terms and is silent on any termination pay he could be owed. “There’s not a hammer clause,” he said, stating the city would have to pay long term severance.

 Flanagan said his staff and legal counsels “are seen as part of the administrat
ion. The CDA is not part of the administration. They’re clouding the issue.


“It’s like Obama coming in and having to keep all of George Bush’s people in his cabinet. It just doesn’t happen,” Flanagan said.



He said what makes the Santos-Edwards provisions “against public policy is it makes the city liable for the full three years. No contracts have that.”


Other city contracts, however, have 60- and 90-day notice or severance, such as the one signed this spring for City Administrator Shawn Cadime, which lists both a 60- and 90-day notice that Flanagan said needs correcting.


Flanagan stated another factor he believes is relevant: that he retained Santos’ son as a member of the Licensing Board and Edwards’ husband, who was Correia’s campaign treasurer, as a member of the Planning Board.



“The sibling and spouse remain on the city’s payroll,” Flanagan said. “That diminishes their case. They have no case.”



“Our position is they’re bound by those contracts,” Peirce said.



Peirce said he planned to serve the suit on the city today. The city would have 20 days to issue its answer.

E-mail Michael Holtzman at mholtzman@heraldnews.com.

The worm does turn, doesn't it?! When Mayor Correia signed the "Contracts from Hell" for his primary water carrier Santos and long time secretary Edwards I was enraged like any reasonable Fall Riverite. Even in a political moral backwater like Fall River there is a line that should never be crossed, and Correia clearly did just that with these two contracts. This was simply an unacceptable reaction by an unpopular mayor and politician who clearly had misjudged the public perception of him and his administration. When these contracts were proposed, I had a very strong feeling they were granted, not just to personally reward these two long serving individuals, but to symbolize the giving of a huge middle finger to the City for rejecting Correia. It was an act of retribution by a spoiled child. I call this Act I.

Now comes Act II. From one bad contract outrage to a couple of others. It would appear the City's legal eagles have learned nothing with the change of administrations. While Sylvanagan decried the gifts handed over to Santos and Edwards, he gave a few out of his own, and continues to do so.

By any stretch of the imagination Sylvanagan and Torres have contrived to do exactly the same thing that Correia did. Yet they want the world outside of themselves to accept their tenuous explanation of the why's and how's of their own legal machinations in the manner and award of contracts for their own close and high ranking supporters. I just don't think this is going to end well for Fall River taxpayers, and that usually means carrying the cost for yet another legal screw-up!

This was supposed to be the low-cost legal administration. All  we have witnessed since the election of Bag Boy Deluxe Sylvanagan is one legal bad opinion after another, and ALL of them are going to come home to roost on YOUR backs. Amazing.....I honestly never thought this clown would be smart enough to bamboozle the entire Fall River electorate, but, you know how bad I am at predicting politics in this City!

How utterly childish is it to have a photo taken of you putting a copy of the lawsuit filed against you through a paper shredder! Oh yes, I immediately thought of John Kennedy when I saw that picture! (HA!) More like Richard Nixon! And how embarrassed will this City then be if a settlement or judgement is eventually made against Fall River as a result of that lawsuit? Well, not me, actually. I'll just heave a mighty YUK towards City Hall! I'm sure I will not be alone.

Haven't you all had enough of the Titticut Follies this City has become under this selfish, sociopath fool of a mayor? This type of outrage will continue, it's clear and predictable. Opps, there I go again, predicting things...Let's just call it a feeling and leave it at that.

Act III. I wonder what that will be? Probably the next Mayor having to explain away the legal stupidity of Sylvanagan and Torres and the need for a take funds away from the City Budget to pay for a legal settlement. All I can say is "Oh...it's a lovely thing to be led by an childish idiot !!"

No more prognostications!

First, let me say congratulations to Rep. Mike Rodrigues for winning the Democratic Party's primary election for the State Senate. I did not support you, will not support you, but you are destined to win because there is no real opposition from anyone on the Republican side. They are the only force more dreadful in their ineptitude than mine in picking electoral winners.

I  think it's a good time to stop backing candidates for office. Being  "0" for "3" tells me all I need to know.....I guess I back candidates with my heart and not enough with my head. So there ends a non- productive activity on my part.

Finally, let me say, "thanks Mike Coogan for running!" I mean that. He's a gentleman and a good, solid guy. He would have been an excellent state senator. I'm proud to have carried your banner for all to see.

Well, that's my political wrap up. Things look very muddled politically right now, locally, in the state,and in the nation. I fear things may not work out for this state come November. We'll have to wait and see.

Yabba Dabba DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.......

Tax collector puts a stop
to online bank payments

By Michael Holtzman
Herald News Staff Reporter
Posted Sep 07, 2010 @ 08:30 PM


FALL RIVER — The city tax collector’s office has deleted the online bank payment system, effective immediately, citing backlogs caused by researching bills paid by that method.


Those wishing to pay online may only do so using a credit card option that includes a fee schedule based on amounts, City Collector Ida Geraldes said.


“It just takes too much research on what you’re trying to pay,” said Geraldes, a 25-year city employee promoted recently to department head.


Online banking started about seven years ago.
Many residents pay bills through a mailed check or come into the tax collector’s at Government Center to pay in person, she said.


While online banking is seen by many as improving efficiency, Geraldes said the opposite seems true for their office.
“I stopped it when I was processing the mail. The itemized bills just didn’t have enough information — such as the type of bill and quarter being paid — and didn’t allow our system to process them quickly,” Geraldes said.


“Everyone in the office agreed this is ridiculous,” she said. “It just takes too long to process the mail.”


She made the Flanagan administration aware of the change.


While online banking was used primarily for water/sewer bills and excise tax bills, Geraldes said such checks mailed from banks listed a disclaimer that they cannot be used to pay real estate taxes.

" But the system doesn’t have a way to stop you from doing it,” said Geraldes. She said the department had been accepting the limited number of online real estate bills that fell through, but will stop that.


On Aug. 26, the office mailed out roughly 7,500 letters to taxpayers about the change in online banking.

More than 5,000 of those went out with the latest water/sewer bills due next month.


Another 2,500 notices of the new policy went out with demand letters for those behind on the real estate quarterly taxes, she said.


Anyone paying those bills by online banking will have such payments returned, Geraldes said. “Up until today we were accepting them,” she said.


She noted the extra cost fee structure by using the relatively new credit card system with the city’s bank. Up to $100 of taxes is $2.50; $400 to $700 is $17.50; and $3,100 to $4,000 is $100 under the city’s UniPay system by UniBank.
She said the bank and credit card company makes the profit, not the city.


Further information is listed at the city website www.fallriverma.org and clicking “online bill pay.”


Geraldes said online banking did not comprise a large percentage of tax bills paid, but said the research needed contributed to the system falling behind and contributed to a public complaint and firing of the prior collector a few months ago.

There remain times the office is behind on processing collections and, therefore, being able to immediately deposit the funds, she said. She said the office could be a week, or even two, behind at times.


Geraldes said she does not find that acceptable and collections were processed up to date as of Tuesday.
The method to keep payment records straight is to bundle the payments and dates received each day until they can processed and deposited, Geraldes said.


“My biggest concern was processing the mail and doing it effectively and efficiently,” said the new collector. Her current salary is $63,600.
E-mail Michael Holtzman at mholtzman@heraldnews.com.

 Tax Collector's Office reconciling receivables

 Well, lookey here. The Mayor has fired a slow, incompetent Tax Collector and has hired an utter stone aged moron to replace her. All I'm worried about right now is which member of the FROED Board of Directors has a close personal friend working at Unibank?! I keed, I keed! I've been following Fall River politics for too long!
 

No, this is one huge step for idiots, one huge leap backwards for mankind and the tax and rate payers of Fall River. Silly me, I always thought the objective of the Tax Collector's primary job was to make sure that all payments should be deposited into the bank as soon as possible so that the City could make some interest earnings on the quarter billion dollars that flows through it's accounts each year. How could I have been so wrong all those years (20) as a Municipal Finance Director? I guess you're never too old to learn new things!

 

First this idiot lawyer as mayor fires the IT manager. Then he promotes some lifetime slacker yes woman as the Tax Collector, someone who knows absolutely nothing about correct Tax Collector procedures or requirements. This is a typical "Fall River Pride" F-UP, and is the equivalent of going back into the stone age to suit the talents , or lack thereof, of the unqualified people toiling away in the Collector's office.

 

I just don't get it. This move is so atrocious it is an exhibition of a stupefying level of wrong! And while everyone is agreeing to the great leap backwards in the Sylvanagan regime, I can tell you right now the reconciliations  between tax and fee payment receipts to taxes and fee payments committed and owed ledgers will never be known for certain. This means yet another embarrassing request by the City to DOR to certify a tax rate for accounts no one can verify. I mean, I am nearly speechless over the gross incompetence and mismanagement being displayed so proudly by this administration.. It boggles the mind of any thinking, caring person.

 

 

Fall River's Tax Collector hard at work!

I'll state it flatly...this woman, who ever she is, must be removed immediately. If there are problems with the payment system, don't stop it, FIX IT! What she is doing, with Mayor Bag Boy Deluxe Sylvanagan's blessing, is like starting a new checking account because you can't balance the current one! To place an unqualified, backwards thinking person in control of the City's cash flow is typical of Sylvanagan's woefully inadequate understanding of how to run a municipality. He's had ZERO prior experience in the day to day running of a municipality in this state. Being  assistant legal counsel in Taunton, a City not known for it's public management excellence, does not count, no matter how many property liens he's taken to court. This guy, through his solely reactive firings and hirings is nothing but an administrative and management CLUSTER F*&@. How about some proactive administrative and financial management ideas Mayor Sylvanagan? Oh, and how's that Casino deal coming along? What a useless tool of a politician. He sickens me!

 

Too many idiotic photo ops, not enough proactive action with this fool as mayor. It's been the hallmark of the Sylvanagan administration from before Day 1 in office. He had no answers during the campaign, only glib statements and lies. It continues to this day. I am sure that's all we'll ever get from this Bag Boy.

 

But hey...you elected him, not me. What are YOU going to do to fix it? You'll get a chance next year. Better do it right, though, because I hear they are replacing the Tax Collector's office computers with carrier pigeons and an abacus for every desk.

Mike Coogan....The Only Candidate to Consider!

Ladies and gentlemen, I detest the kind of almost criminal way people decide to attack reasonable candidates, especially new candidates, just before elections by ginning up contrived controversies. Because that's exactly what we have before us right now.

Let me put it plainly to all of my readers. I know Mike Coogan. I trust Mike Coogan. I support Mike Coogan. Why? Because I had the privilege to get to know him over the course of the last two years as a result of the reign of terror of ex-mayor Bob Correia who was twisting certain budget figures around to his spending advantage, especially Group Health Insurance. I am a strong pro-union man, and Mike and I became friends, trading stories of all things government and all things Fall River. I know him to be intelligent and thoughtful. In short, he's a very capable man and a good man.

Is Mike capable of making mistakes? Of course he is - he's human! Every person ever born throughout the history of mankind has made mistakes. If your ideal candidate is one who is infallible in judgement, let me tell you now, that person is not running for the State Senate. And let me also tell you that of the three Democratic candidates running, Mike Coogan has, by leaps and bounds, made the fewest mistakes.

Has anyone reading this blog ever had work done on their home or office by a contractor who made mistakes? Was everything always done perfectly? Always? Have you ever hired a certain contractor for one thing, and it turned out great, then hired them for something else, and you were less than thrilled with the work product? I know I have! I'm sure most of you have as well. Sometimes , we, as customers, are a pain in the rear as well! Sometimes, we like some or most of the work done, but find fault with one particular room or item. Be honest. It happens everyday.  No contractor is perfect. No customer is always reasonable.

I spoke to Mike Coogan about his side of things. Everyone is willing to take a muckraking "investigative reporter's" story as gospel truth. Let me walk into  your home on your birthday in the middle of a celebration with a video cam and start peppering YOU with questions about something you did that had NOTHING to do with the festivities at hand, and in front of all your friends and supporters. I'm sure you'd have ready, full explanations for questions like, "Who was that woman you went to lunch with yesterday, does your wife know her as well?, or "Your expense reports show you entered a business trip to New Hampshire on your mileage for the 5th, but you called in sick that day, didn't you?", and see how you do!

The fact is Mike Coogan had a discussion with this attorney he did work for (and who may, in fact, have ties to Rodrigues), and they BOTH talked about the fact that for Coogan to work on his property in Rhode Island  (RI)  he was not in licensed in RI. Apparently, however, Coogan had previously worked for this attorney and  the attorney liked the work completed, hence the request to do further work. There was an understanding that there would be no contract because Coogan was not licensed to work in RI! When the entire project was complete and the attorney was not pleased with the bathroom , Coogan agreed to pay the man the amount represented by the bathroom work and a check was sent.

Then the attorney decided to bring action against Coogan for the entire project amount in what the most casual observer would say was suspicious timing. Then the visit from the "investigative reporter". Curious timing indeed.

What you will not hear from other blog sites is that the results of some polling were floating around the statehouse recently and showed Mike Coogan trailed Rodrigues by only 4 points, with the other candidates trailing very, very far behind. It makes perfect sense to assume, in line with well established Fall River political tradition, for some vicious nonsense to be played out too close to the election without it probably being the work of individuals close to Rodrigues. To stay dancing on the gravy train makes you do BADDDDD THINGSSSS, the kind of things that have been reported and documented about against both John Mitchell and Mike Rodrigues. I mean, a bad home repair issue is peanuts when compared to attempting to essentially buy an election (Mitchell - State AG's annual report for FY 1996) and working as butt boy for a Speaker of the House that racked up 180 plus years in indictments (the nasty Sal DiMasi-Mike Rodrigues connection) , as well as being a total and complete whore for the MA Bio-Tech Industry. One thing I know is that Mike Coogan is his own man, and is owned by no one!

No, I don't like the smear politics that Fall River seems to wallow in without a thought, ever, to refrain from it again. Fall River paints itself as a backwards community at times, and this practice of sliming candidates just prior to election day is a hallowed tradition in Fall River more than any other community I've seen. It's disgusting and the entire City should hang their collective heads in shame for it.  And people wonder why people in communities outside of Fall River shake their heads and laugh at the sons and daughters of "Lizzie Borden". Amazing.

The only candidate for State Senate I'd vote for is Mike Coogan. Period!