A long time ago I worked for the Kentucky Division of Child Support Enforcement. As part of my job there I had to work with some County Attorneys. It looks like some things never change when you mix lawyers and state money.
Finding out anything on the internet about the Campbell County Government is a little difficult.
But one thing seems certain, it doesn’t matter if the County Attorney is Republican or Democrat or endorsed by the TEA party, they take care of each other.
Watching the transition of the Campbell County Attorney from a Democrat to a Republican it is interesting to watch the money.
Former Campbell County Attorney Justin Verst may be getting over $700,000.00 bonus for child support collection. While the County Attorneys should go after child support, the amount they sometimes pocket borders on obscene.
Child Support collections mostly repay the state for welfare payments. So when a County Attorney keeps the money it really comes out of our tax paying pockets.
While Justin Verst was Campbell county attorney he charged the county about $95,000 a year rent. The property is assessed at $169,000. This office was also used for Verst's private law practice which is a pretty nice deal if you can get it.
The new County Attorney Steve Franzen seems to be doing the same thing by charging the county rent for his offices at 319 York Street Newport. Franzen, (Franzen was endorsed by the NKY Tea Party) is keeping Verst on the payroll as a consultant at a cost of $15,000 a year.
He also approved a deal which would allow the interim County Attorney Jim Dailey and partner of Verst to take a position as attorney at the Campbell County Detention Center at a salary of in excess of $100,000.
I'm sure all this is legal. But remember just because it's legal doesn't make it right.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Sergeon Smell Test
Some things just don't pass the smell test. While I don't have all the pieces put together yet here are some of pieces of the puzzle. I hope the Securities and Exchange Commission is looking at all of these guys, particularly those in Kentucky, and following the money.
The Kentucky Retirement Systems’ $6 million man Glen Sergeon is a New York City political operative turned investment salesman has been involved in pension plans across the country.
He has no special knowledge and adds no value to any of these transactions for his nearly $6 million in fees. I doubt if he has any degrees or designations in investments. He cuts political deals and then he either runs it through his own company or finds a company to run it through.
While Sergeon’s political donations are primarily to Democrats, Sergeon has no problem going both ways and for $2 million from Arrowhawk cut a deal with a Republican.
One of the managing principles of Arrowhawk, David A. Burke is a major national fundraiser for the Republican Party and head of Republican fundraising for Connecticut. Burke’s wife in 2007 and 2008 was the communications director for Rudolph W. Giuliani’s presidential campaign.
In 2010 Haley Barbour handed Burke the Prescott Bush reward for donating the most money to the Republican Party in Connecticut.
Sergeon is affiliated politically with New York City boss Carl McCall, and with current comptroller John Liu. McCall made him a Trustee of the New York Teachers years back. It is also suspected that he is close to Charlie Rangel and the car czar who was caught up in the NY placement agent scandal.
While it has been disclosed in the internal Kentucky Retirement System audit that Tosh and Sergeon had a prior relationship, I bet the stronger relationship was between Sergeon and Tosh's incarcerated old boss Mark Lay.
Sergeon changes firms like most people change cloths. One of the firms Sergeon sometimes works for Diamond Edge has been involved in pay for play and its leading partner Marvin Rosen is infamous for selling the Lincoln bedroom. 911
In Connecticut Sergeon works under the firm Capri Capital where has teamed up with the brother of the former Connecticut State Treasurer Francisco Borges.
If you look up the North Carolina scandal you find Kentucky Retirement System manager Horsely Bridge involved in pay for play Horsley Bridge Partners paid Sergeon $437,500 for KRS.
Sergeon gave to North Carolina Chief Investment Officer Gerrick's charity as reported in the KRS internal audit. Gerrick was very intertwined with Horlsley but used another placement agent called Avid Partners. Avid Partners was the Placement agents for Horsley at the New York Common Fund which is currently under investigation by the New York Attorney General
Sergeon received $706,220.00 from Commerce Street in 2009 which is led by Dorey Wiley who is a trustee for the Texas Teachers Retirement systems and has been accused of conflicts there.
How Sergeon and other placement agents tie back to Kentucky politico’s is up in the air, but my money is on the Aqua Buddha man Mark Riddle as at least one of the players.
The Kentucky Retirement Systems’ $6 million man Glen Sergeon is a New York City political operative turned investment salesman has been involved in pension plans across the country.
He has no special knowledge and adds no value to any of these transactions for his nearly $6 million in fees. I doubt if he has any degrees or designations in investments. He cuts political deals and then he either runs it through his own company or finds a company to run it through.
While Sergeon’s political donations are primarily to Democrats, Sergeon has no problem going both ways and for $2 million from Arrowhawk cut a deal with a Republican.
One of the managing principles of Arrowhawk, David A. Burke is a major national fundraiser for the Republican Party and head of Republican fundraising for Connecticut. Burke’s wife in 2007 and 2008 was the communications director for Rudolph W. Giuliani’s presidential campaign.
In 2010 Haley Barbour handed Burke the Prescott Bush reward for donating the most money to the Republican Party in Connecticut.
Sergeon is affiliated politically with New York City boss Carl McCall, and with current comptroller John Liu. McCall made him a Trustee of the New York Teachers years back. It is also suspected that he is close to Charlie Rangel and the car czar who was caught up in the NY placement agent scandal.
While it has been disclosed in the internal Kentucky Retirement System audit that Tosh and Sergeon had a prior relationship, I bet the stronger relationship was between Sergeon and Tosh's incarcerated old boss Mark Lay.
Sergeon changes firms like most people change cloths. One of the firms Sergeon sometimes works for Diamond Edge has been involved in pay for play and its leading partner Marvin Rosen is infamous for selling the Lincoln bedroom. 911
In Connecticut Sergeon works under the firm Capri Capital where has teamed up with the brother of the former Connecticut State Treasurer Francisco Borges.
If you look up the North Carolina scandal you find Kentucky Retirement System manager Horsely Bridge involved in pay for play Horsley Bridge Partners paid Sergeon $437,500 for KRS.
Sergeon gave to North Carolina Chief Investment Officer Gerrick's charity as reported in the KRS internal audit. Gerrick was very intertwined with Horlsley but used another placement agent called Avid Partners. Avid Partners was the Placement agents for Horsley at the New York Common Fund which is currently under investigation by the New York Attorney General
Sergeon received $706,220.00 from Commerce Street in 2009 which is led by Dorey Wiley who is a trustee for the Texas Teachers Retirement systems and has been accused of conflicts there.
How Sergeon and other placement agents tie back to Kentucky politico’s is up in the air, but my money is on the Aqua Buddha man Mark Riddle as at least one of the players.
Pandering Political Xenophobes
Let’s talk money and politicians that throw away your tax dollars in an effort to get elected.
I assume David Williams pushed his Arizona style jail the Hispanic law because he thought he could get it passed. Not just to politically pander to the xenophobic sector of the Kentucky Electorate.
I'm not going to get into the racist nature of this law. Do you really think we are going to be pulling over Arab Princes when the come to buy horses to check their papers?
But did Williams ever once think about how many of our tax dollars he wants to spend to do this. At a time when the General Assembly is looking at reducing the prison population, Williams wants to create a whole new class of criminals.
It costs about $19,000 per year to lock someone up in Kentucky. Locking a person up is the purpose of this law.
From the Senate Bill 6:
In addition to any violation of federal law, a person is guilty of trespassing by an unauthorized alien in the first degree if the person:
(a) Is present on any public or private land in this state; and
(b) Is in violation of 8 U.S.C. sec. 1304(e) or 1306(a).
Being present on any public or private land pretty much takes in every square inch of Kentucky.
Trespassing by an unauthorized alien in the first degree is a Class A misdemeanor, a class A misdemeanor carries a sentence of up to 12 months.
So if you are an “unauthorized alien” you can be locked up for a year at a cost of $19,000.00 just for being in Kentucky.
Let us not forget the amount of incoming tax dollars we are tossing out when we lock up an employed “unauthorized alien”.
From the Herald Leader:
"I understand we're talking about 1 percent of the population in Kentucky, maybe not even that much," (a volunteer attorney for Maxwell Street Legal Clinic) said. "Data shows that in 2009, immigrants contributed $2.1 billion to the Kentucky economy. They pay taxes.
So Williams wants to toss out $2.1 billion of the Kentucky economy and lock people up at a cost of $19,000.00 per year. Show me how this makes sense from a dollars and cents point of view.
And yes the federal government has botched immigration reform. But this is not the answer.
The answer is providing an attainable path to becoming legal with a reasonable path to citizenship. Everyone wins in that case, except for pandering political xenophobes.
I assume David Williams pushed his Arizona style jail the Hispanic law because he thought he could get it passed. Not just to politically pander to the xenophobic sector of the Kentucky Electorate.
I'm not going to get into the racist nature of this law. Do you really think we are going to be pulling over Arab Princes when the come to buy horses to check their papers?
But did Williams ever once think about how many of our tax dollars he wants to spend to do this. At a time when the General Assembly is looking at reducing the prison population, Williams wants to create a whole new class of criminals.
It costs about $19,000 per year to lock someone up in Kentucky. Locking a person up is the purpose of this law.
From the Senate Bill 6:
In addition to any violation of federal law, a person is guilty of trespassing by an unauthorized alien in the first degree if the person:
(a) Is present on any public or private land in this state; and
(b) Is in violation of 8 U.S.C. sec. 1304(e) or 1306(a).
Being present on any public or private land pretty much takes in every square inch of Kentucky.
Trespassing by an unauthorized alien in the first degree is a Class A misdemeanor, a class A misdemeanor carries a sentence of up to 12 months.
So if you are an “unauthorized alien” you can be locked up for a year at a cost of $19,000.00 just for being in Kentucky.
Let us not forget the amount of incoming tax dollars we are tossing out when we lock up an employed “unauthorized alien”.
From the Herald Leader:
"I understand we're talking about 1 percent of the population in Kentucky, maybe not even that much," (a volunteer attorney for Maxwell Street Legal Clinic) said. "Data shows that in 2009, immigrants contributed $2.1 billion to the Kentucky economy. They pay taxes.
So Williams wants to toss out $2.1 billion of the Kentucky economy and lock people up at a cost of $19,000.00 per year. Show me how this makes sense from a dollars and cents point of view.
And yes the federal government has botched immigration reform. But this is not the answer.
The answer is providing an attainable path to becoming legal with a reasonable path to citizenship. Everyone wins in that case, except for pandering political xenophobes.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)