Elk Konnected Hand out at County Commissioners meeting on 4/25

[Diane Amberg]

Ross ,you brought the phones  up yourself..or is this your private thread to do with as you choose?

[Patriot]

Ross ,you brought the phones  up yourself..or is this your private thread to do with as you choose?

Perhaps not really private... but did you notice who started this thread?  

Then again... have you noticed the gaggle of self-declared peace loving moderates/tolerance preachers who have tried desperately to shut it down (or have it forcefully shut down in the background)... for  almost a year.

Maybe Ross is at liberty to say anything he darn well pleases.

[Ross]

Ross ,you brought the phones  up yourself..or is this your private thread to do with as you choose?

No Diane, it 's not my property!

I came across poorly and I apologize for that.

It wasn't about the phones, it was about "Beggar-Thy-Neighbor.

Cellphones are not a Necessity, they are a luxury. Especially if you can;t afford to buy a loaf of bread.

Once again it was not about the cellphone or the poor people that can not afford to buy and pay the monthly bill.

It was more about Economic Development which, I refer to as "Beggar-Thy-Neighbor..

My opinion nothing more.

[Ross]

While some organizations are sucking blood as Beggar-Thy-Neighbor
other highly respected organizations are doing it in another way and it's all related to greed in my opinion.

Why do we treat each other so rudely. GREED! Again my personal opinion.

Goldman Sachs exec resigns and takes aim at bank _ says colleagues called clients 'muppets'
NEW YORK (AP) — Goldman Sachs, arguably the most storied investment bank on Wall Street, has been compared to a money-sucking vampire squid and called the evil empire of finance.
at:
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/nationworld/sns-bc-us--goldmansachs-manifesto,0,3086418.story

and at:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2012/03/14/crisis-experts-the-damage-to-goldman-is-piling-up/

They are already calling the man that said the bad things a disgrunttled employee, that is normal Public Relations action.
They didn't fire him, he fired them.

[Patriot]

Back to the basics of this thread.....  Please stay to the end for some new information.

This thread started out by considering a facilitated (read guided) 'public' meeting regarding suggested uses of the PILOT money to be received by Elk County as a result of the Caney River Windfarm project and the presentation of 'suggestions' coming out of that meeting to our county commission.  

We considered the obvious appearances of impropriety that came about as a result.  The problems that seem obvious to some when a private company, owned in part by an elected official, runs a private meeting, creates a list of 'objectives', and then lobbies the very government board on which the elected official sits... presenting the outcomes of their 'meeting' as a consensus of the public.  (I suggest the biggest of Big Ideas was how to pull the wool over the eyes of the voters, taxpayers and citizens and fleece them to ultimately accomplish a private agenda)

We learned that the meeting in question was, in fact, a privately run meeting and not an open public forum.  It was, in fact, a private community organization stunt managed by highly trained experts designed to pick the brains of unwitting citizens and then tell those citizens what they agreed to.... all with no open vote on any suggestions.  We also learned that this 'meeting' process is a well documented manipulation technique used to control outcomes in both the public and private sectors.

We've observed that this same private company who ran this 'meeting' (and members of that company's steering committee) solicit public funds and receive those funds as a direct result of the vote of the very elected official who is a part owner (and self proclaimed founder) of that same company.

We've listened as a second elected official repeatedly touted their personal support (financial and otherwise) for this same company and then also repeatedly vote officially to give public funds and official support to that private entity.

As time passed, we saw a county employee (who also sits on the steering committee of that private company) print private company fliers and materials on county owned copiers (at no cost to the company), and then distribute those materials across the county during county work hours.  Then, to ad insult to injury, possibly claim mileage expenses from public funds for those activities.  We see the office of that employee plastered with promotional materials for that same private company.  Is it the Elk County Courthouse or the Elk Konnected Kourthouse?

We see that these county personnel receive wages/salaries and generous paid health insurance benefits all paid with public funds.

We've seen meetings run by this private company receive armed security provided by the county sheriff and/or his deputies all at taxpayer expense.  Real, well assessed, threats or fear on the part of people with something to hide or guilty consciences?

We've ultimately heard members of this private group apparently admit that they used public funds they received to help pay for membership dues to another, non-local, community organizing organization (also a private  company).  They even solicited and received public funds from town councils explicitly tor this purpose.

We've seen a county employee solicit grant monies from a private foundation, in the county's name, for the explicit use of this same private company owned/managed in part by these very same elected officials/employees.

We noted that the leadership of this private company cross political lines.  In a political sense, they are truly bipartisan.

We have even noticed the familial relationships that seem to exist between many of the owners/leaders of this private entity.

The ends, no matter how good the original intent, doesn't always justify the means.

Now, after all the hoopla, we see that the PILOT money is coming.... soon.  Over $800,000 to be used as the county sees fit. And where do our elected commissioners go to get input regarding use of the biggest financial windfall to ever hit Elk County?  Official public hearings?  Nope.  A public referendum on the ballot? Nope.  Public town hall meetings held by elected officials in their respective districts? Nope.  Advertised solicitation of public desire by mail or phone?  Nope.

Where's the first place two of our elected officials go for official input as to the best use of the money?  They ask about a half dozen county supervisors for written suggestions.... a couple of whom neither live, vote nor pay taxes here.  

Dammit all people.... once it hits the bank, it's YOUR MONEY!  So talk at home, talk at the cafe, talk in the field, talk at work, talk at the sale barn, talk at church.  But ultimately..... talk to those who will spend your money.

It's YOUR county, and it's YOUR government.  Elections are a ways off yet, and this money will be long since spent by then.  So maybe it's time to stand up and be heard!  BEFORE the money's all spent on some new county building we really don't need but must maintain, or some tax giveaway that benefits only a few, or some feel good/look pretty project that won't provide anything of substance to the taxpayers and voters.

Call or write your county representative today and tell them the people want to speak and be listened to.

Here's their contact information: http://www.elkcounty.org/commissioners.htm

[Ross]

I totally support every word that Patriot has said as gospel truth.
Good post Patriot.

Every bit of it is pointed out throughout this thread.

The very few Elk Konnected followers that have spoke against us, have even threatened me with a law suit in this thread, in hopes of frightening me for telling the truth.

Yes, everyone needs to be talking to each other and letting the County Commissioners know what they want them to do.

Yes, my posts on this thread have been openly called "VILE", in the County Commissioners Meeting, why?

In an attempt to embarrass me by Commissioner Liebau, an attempt to shut me up.

They don't want you to know you have a say.
Because then they would have to listen.

I would hope if they heard from enough of you or saw a showing of a large number of people at the County Commissioners meetings that there would be some form of return to ethics in County Government.

This is for all taxpayers, voters and citizens of Elk County.
You do have a right, a responsibility to speak and be heard.

YOU Tell them no more talk of
"Beggar-Thy-Neighbor" programs.

YOU Tell them what you want them to do with the windfall of $850,000.

No matter what name they put on the "Beggar-Thy-Neighbor" programs.

Or sit back and watch the money used for the wrong things and watch your property taxes grow larger due to

"Beggar-Thy-Neighbor" programs.

It is up to each and everyone of us to speak up.

[Diane Amberg]

Do you really think you all will ever agree on what to do with the money?
   As far as the people who attend those meetings, why do you assume they don't already know when and how to have a voice. People who attend such meetings at all usually know how it works or they don't bother going. Not everyone speaks or raises heck. Some just listen quietly until it's time to vote. Their ballot is their voice.

[ddurbin]

To Ross and Patriot:
Since you two are clearly the two most outspoken parties on this thread, I have a few simple questions for both of you.  How would you propose the PILOT money be spent?  What would be your top 5 priorities, in order?  Since you're convinced that the commissioners closely read and follow this thread, why not use it to let them know what you would like them to do with the money.  We've heard a great deal about all the ways you think they shouldn't spend it, so what are your positive suggestions?  Just asking.

[Patriot]

To Ross and Patriot:
Since you two are clearly the two most outspoken parties on this thread, I have a few simple questions for both of you.  How would you propose the PILOT money be spent?  What would be your top 5 priorities, in order?  Since you're convinced that the commissioners closely read and follow this thread, why not use it to let them know what you would like them to do with the money.  We've heard a great deal about all the ways you think they shouldn't spend it, so what are your positive suggestions?  Just asking.

Thank you for asking.  I must, at this time, however, defer to the need for the people of this county to be better informed and given an opportunity to be heard.  What I, singularly, might like to be done with that money is secondary, in my opinion, to the failure of our elected officials to inform and solicit input from their constituents.  My commissioner is well aware of what my preferences would be.  I have no doubt that he'll take that, the input of his other constituents, and solid common sense into account when the time comes.  If you really want my personal views, message me privately.  I'll not waste reader time with them here.

If you think this thread has been primarily about what should be done with the PILOT money, you're sorely mistaken.  This thread has been about the backroom agendas and methods employed by a few to see their special dreams and desires fulfilled.  Mostly at taxpayer expense.  It's about the use of government resources by a privately own company.  It's about what is clearly nothing but an oligarchy.  It's about informing the general public that what I have heard many of them saying privately is not a figment of their imagination, but a reality that needs to be openly confronted and changed.  It's about public employees who have been so poorly managed that they, too, have resigned themselves to simple survival in a dysfunctional system rather than express excellence in duty.  In short, it's about the continuing process that has resulted in a shrinking and aging population with no clear vision that produces results.  And it's about heads in the sand that allow that all to continue.

Our kids are still leaving, our property tax rates are the highest in Kansas, our seniors are dying off, our infrastructure is crumbling and we're being told by a few ideologues that movies after school, summer day camps for kids and historical status for a crumbling courthouse with a high dollar roof, or worse, a 5 million dollar school building or a new health center/fire barn are the answers to our challenges.  Well to that, I say hogwash.  Eventually, too many lollipops will rot your teeth and give you a bellyache.

So my personal views about PILOT money use are dwarfed by the need for the rest of the community to be awakened from their slumber, be informed, be consulted and be served by government... not serve only as the money machine for government.  But, again, thanks for asking.

[Patriot]

For any who may not know...


ol·i·gar·chy

noun \ˈä-lə-ˌgär-kē, ˈō-\           plural ol·i·gar·chies

Definition of OLIGARCHY

1: government by the few

2: a government in which a small group exercises control especially for corrupt and selfish purposes; also : a group exercising such control

3: an organization under oligarchic control


Source:  Webster's Dictionary