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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Observers of an incident in front of City Hall reported Appointee Steven Branch was confronting recall workers with petitions while the City was in business hours.
Involvement in campaign related situations has been an issue for many years. I remember hearing about signatures being collected and hidden under counters in various departments. Allegations of pay to play were also rampant.
Last month residents stated off duty police officers using their city issued police cars were gathering signatures of a candidate running against 5th Ward candidate Wantwaz Davis. The allegations between Davis and Charles Winfrey became a minor facebook battle as the opponent to Davis is the daughter of Charles Winfrey.
The Ombudsman Office, under interim Ombudsman Ramona Sain, wrote a thorough and conscientious investigative report on such allegations. On April 27, 1998, Sain released a public report on campaign activities performed on city time and using city resources.
Last edited by untanglingwebs on Sun Dec 02, 2018 3:10 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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Thu May 11, 2017 2:28 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Initially the office received a complaint on September 24, 1997, but soon the office was dealing with four similar complaints which were combined into a single report. The first complaint involved Director of Public Works, J. Bennett Jones, who ordered all Cost Center managers (CCM's) through a city e-mail on September 2, 1997 that all employees who had volunteered for the Mayor's fund raising activities were not to be forced to use annual time and there was to be no deductions from their pay. Jones emphasized this was "Standard Operation Procedure" (SOP) After this was brought to the attention of City manager David Ready the original e-mail was rescinded. While many who received the e-mails believed it referred to the "Last Chance Golf Outing" , the golf outing had been held on August 25, 1997.
The second complaint involved Charles Winfrey, who was identified as the Executive Assistant to the Mayor for Minority Business as well as the Affirmative Actin officer and the Contract Compliance Officer.
Last edited by untanglingwebs on Sun Dec 02, 2018 12:04 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Thu May 11, 2017 3:07 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Winfrey wrote and circulated a memo on August 26, 1997 and while he used Mayor Woodrow Stanley's letterhead, he distributed the memo through the inter-departmental mail system to the City Department Heads. Winfrey also had previously sent each department head two petitions for them to obtain signatures for an ad supporting Woodrow Stanley. Winfrey indicated he wrote and compiled the documents in the Campaign headquarters at 1207 N. Ballenger.
Hans Kuhlman, Deputy Director, also sent an e-mail advising CCM that they were expected to buy 2 tickets for the Mayor's Ball that was held on February 8, 1997. The tickets were reserved in their name and available upon receipt of their check. (each department head had 10 tickets to sell) They could pay $500 for 2 tickets and attend a special reception with Mayor Stanley prior to the ball. |
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Thu May 11, 2017 3:39 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Kuhlman was also accused of discussing the tickets in staff meetings and threats of retaliation were allegedly made in these meetings. While some employees felt intimidated , others laughed at the threats saying they would go to City manager David Ready.
Employees also stated they overheard Kuhlman calling contractors and asking them t purchase a table at the ball. He denied the allegations that the contractors were threatened with no contracts if they did not attend the ball.
Employees stated at least two individuals, one a supervisor, were observed getting signatures on the petition. Some employees signed and others refused. At one point a petition was left on a table in the cafeteria. |
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Thu May 11, 2017 3:56 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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David Ready indicated Winfrey had made a wrong move and had been reprimanded. Ready also said that he was upset that Kuhlman would coerce some one to attend the ball. According to Ready, Kuhlman had gone outside his scope of authority. Kuhlman doesn't make personnel decisions, I do."
During the 1997 Last chance Golf outing at least 47 employees golfed and at lest 35 of those were sponsored b corporations. Four had no sponsor and did not pay. The sponsors came from 17 different companies, of which 14 had an existing or recent business relationship with the city.
Several City ordinances were violated and the Ombudsman office suggested that they be made stronger. In January of 1988, P. Huber-Davis had researched, at Council's request, a recommendation was made for an Ethics policy. Council had failed to take action then but they should consider it in the future. |
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Thu May 11, 2017 4:14 pm |
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