It has been reported to me that all the Republican members of City Council met at Don Schmidt's home to discuss the proposed budget. This would be a legal caucus....except they were joined by Council Legislative Affairs Administrator Molly McCray and one of the City Council attorneys. These folks are paid with TAXPAYER dollars and should not be considered part of a POLITICAL caucus.
Since a majority of the council was at this meeting, and since it may not be qualified as a caucus, and since they discussed the city budget, it is unclear to me if they budget we now have is legal or not.
I'm not sure who Knuth's source is but former councilman Sam Talarico has informed me that he was at no such meeting and hasn't been to Schmidt's house in five years. I also contacted Molly McCray and asked her to confirm this and she told me she has no knowledge of any such meeting taking place. I've also been told that council attorney Joe Bonahoom was not at any such meeting either. So if this meeting did take place it sounds like it was in fact a legal caucus and we have a legal budget...
9 comments:
I find it rare that I believe much of anything Kevin posts on the ACDP blog these days.
Apparently Kevins term as the Jackass parties head man has affected his thought process - When you are required to work with such as he has, the mind just cannot keep sane. John B. Kalb
john b. kalb - I take issue with your assessment. Kevin Knuth has been an excellent party chair. And when you use phrases like "When you are required to work with such as he has", you DO realize that you are insulting 40% of the voting populace of Allen County,including the authors of this blog, right?
On the other hand, perhaps you speak of insanity from experience or early senility.
And, lest I forget to mention it, proper punctuation matters.
Good night.
John Good - Rereading my comment to the thread that Jeff began, I don't read any expression of non-excellence of Kevin's activities as party chair - I also believe he has done a reasonably good job. My comment was in reference to his having to work with donkeys like "King" Richard et al during Kevin's term - I was trying to be sympathetic to him. I had no intention to insult the 40%(which has at times included me) or the authors of this blog. John B. Kalb
John - I am frequently amazed by the negativity directed towards Graham Richard. I understand you were against Harrison Square. I understand that many people misunderstood Graham's mgnt style. He's a "behind the scenes" kind of guy.
But he was an effective manager who increased both the efficiency and responsiveness of local government.
From today's JG:
"Members of the council confirmed the meetings occurred, but city staff was not present, as Knuth alleged. Also, one Republican said he did not attend the budget caucus."
I will point out that in less than 3 days we went from "the meeting did not occur", to discussing who was actually present.
I stand by my statement.
Kevin,
I wrote:
"So if this meeting did take place it sounds like it was in fact a legal caucus and we have a legal budget..."
I think that's what we have here - a legal caucus where the majority of the council was not present nor was the staff.
How could you stand by your original statement?
"It has been reported to me that all the Republican members of City Council met at Don Schmidt's home to discuss the proposed budget. This would be a legal caucus....except they were joined by Council Legislative Affairs Administrator Molly McCray and one of the City Council attorneys. "
You gave 4 statements of fact and only 1 of the 4 were confirmed
1)All Republicans met
2)The meeting was at Schmidt's home
3)The meeting was about the budget
4)The LSA and city attorney were present
Kevin,
I think I would be remiss if I didn't note that you are at least trying to get things to be more open and I think we all benefit from that...
Jeff,
Actually, we can confirm TWO of those points at this time (read the News Sentinel article).
There is NO DOUBT that the meeting was at Schmidt's house and they discussed the budget.
However, MORE THAN ONE council person originally denied being there to the media.
I think it is going to be an interesting week!
And I stand by my original comments.
Post a Comment