Monday, January 5, 2009

CAFR AND JANE DRISKELL UPDATE

As many of you know the CAFR that is normally available by mid December has not been made available yet. As I have alluded to in other posts, Louisville News and Politics: ABRAMSON AND THE CAFR: WHAT IS HE TRYING TO HIDE?, what gives?

I have been waiting for the excuse that since Jane Driskell retired they needed more time yet it has been confirmed by an anonymous source that she is indeed still working in essentially the same capacity as a "special consultant." Great way to double dip but hey that is another story. This would negate the argument that they need more time.

More questions abound.

Who approved the agreement for Driskell to be a paid consultant? IS this circumventing the new state pension law?

According to the new state pension law you cannot be rehired in the same capacity until after a certain period of time goes by. 30 days to come back full time or 90 days to come back part time.

With this in mind there also can be no agreement to rehire in place before you retire. In this case it would appear there has been an agreement and therefore violates the new law. It was announced that Driskell would stay on as a "special consultant" for awhile. If she gets rehired it can obviously be linked. Stay tuned.

On another note a different question. The LMPD just got their equipment checks and they were signed by Jane Driskell. Is this legal? Driskell is not a Metro employee but a paid "special consultant." Should those not employed as a permanent Metro employee be allowed authority to sign a Metro check?

Would any of us be allowed to sign these checks? Definitely not and this raises all kinds of accountability question as well. Unless of course they were signed prior to December 1 when Driskell resigned. Pay attention.

One other interesting tidbit about the CAFR. According to the CAFR reports Metro Louisville has received a Certificate of Achievement for excellence in financial reporting from some other "awards" place. How many bogus awards can be made up for crying out loud?

The purpose in mentioning this is simple. As we know Abramson loves to tout all these "awards" or "achievements" like they are a huge deal. Ok let him have it. I would prefer to be recognized by a solid peer not some obscure thing most do not know about.

Either way here is the interesting part of this whole rant. According to the 2007 CAFR report the GFOA, Government Finance Officers Association of the US and Canada (and you wonder why I challenge the integrity of the award), awards this certificate based on a number of things. The one that caught my eye was the eligibility requirements.

In order to be considered for the award ALL appropriate items must be postmarked or e-mailed to the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) no later than six months after the government's fiscal year end.

This would mean in order to be considered for the award again the CAFR must be available by December 30 since our fiscal year ends June 30. That would mean of course that the CAFR is ready since we all know Abramson will not pass up the chance to get an award.

If we receive this award again (sorry I had to cough a little referring to this as an award) then it will be plainly obvious that Abramson has withheld the CAFR on purpose. That is not acceptable in any form.

Stay tuned for more info this keeps getting more interesting.

14 comments:

  1. Your are right about the retirement system but.........if she receives nothing but pay, no retirement, health insurance or other benefits, ie, "on contract" then there is no violation of the state retirement rules.........as for the other things such as signing checks etc......that's another matter.

    Note that the retirment system forced a lot of people to retire that didn't want to retire. This is the last year your retirement would be based on your highest 3 years. Jane (and others) would have lost their shirts if they had not retired with these new rules, plus taking a 10% pay cut, it would have cost her plenty if she had stayed on.

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  2. I might disagree with "lost their shirt" for the simple reason that their pay wasn't changing anyway - they've made essentially the same annual pay since merger. The 10 percent pay cut was likely a factor - and that was caused by Abramson.

    Funny thing is, I suspect the check signing was just a mistake - since Abramson hadn't named anyone to her position the computer was probably just still coded to her name. But ... that shows that the agency is leaderless at the moment.

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  3. I don't think it violates the letter of the law, but it sure does the spirit. And I'm a little uncomfortable with a volunteer, or a consultant, handling a responsibility that is a "city" responsibility.

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  4. I don't disagree, but it is violating the spirit of the law. And doesn't a PSC require Council approval? I haven't seen anything come through the Council.

    The pay cut is what probably drove them out. I don't think the high three was that big of a deal, since they've essentially made the same salary since merger - and could expect to continue with that - except for that pesky cut. Getting a few more years in the system would have been more beneficial.

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  5. Ed, you hereby are granted the Award of Superiority for pointing out all of these crimes committed by the mayor. Congratulations!

    Thanks for exposing yet another lie from the usual gang of suspects. There should be a CAFR protest in front of city hall, or at least a CAFR release party thrown by the citizens that have been demanding the report.

    BTW, where the hell is the link to the Valley report?

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  6. Jane is getting married to long-time love, Derrick Sistrunk who she struck up a relationship with when they both worked for Mayor Armstorng. He now works security at Kroger. Retirement has allowed her time to plan the wedding.

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  7. lol Brian. I am not Abramson I don;t need the awards to feel superior. I am not that shallow. Lol. I just do what I do as I promised you and so many others long ago.

    We will get the truth out and effect positive change one way or the other ;-)

    In the meantime anonymous that argument would have some merit if they hadn't been together for what more than 10 years? In that time they were so in love they couldn't plan a wedding?

    Sorry but the spin doesn't add up. matter of fact in my mind it hurts the argument. I mean if they couldn't figure out a way to get married in all this time how the heck did she handle the pressure of the budgets and finance.

    I also work at Kroger as well so that is no biggie in the scheme of the argument.

    Thanks for responding folks.....

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  8. Well dingbat...the long and the short of it is that Derrick is african american and Jane wanted to hide the relationship from the bosses for fear of being judged. Now that she's retired she can marry him and not worry about job security. Don't believe me...wait a few months.

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  9. lmao anonymous. You have just proven that Jane is willing to hide things with your comments. No offense but seriously if that is the best argument that can be given is that she wanted to "hide" her relationship for fear of being judged wonder what else she is hiding for fear of retribution?

    This argument of yours truly does not hold water. I certainly would question the loyalty or "love" of someone I was involved with if they were too ashamed to be open about it.

    Interesting and thanks as usual for the comments.

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  10. Jane "hid" the relationship for several reasons. I'm not going to go into them all but other than him being a black man he is also employed by LMPD. Yes, that's right, she sign's his pay check. They married in December because she is pregnant. It will be interesting to see if she will turn 49 before the birth of her first child.
    What does all this have to do with her ability to perform her job? Bad choices in her personal life most certainly are reflected in the the mismanagement of our tax dollars. She was back to work in January "volunteering" and now is back full time picking up right where she left off.

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  11. Really people get a life. You sound like a bunch of resentful employees, council staff or former employees. Congratulations to Jane for having a PRIVATE life. Her happy marriage and pending birth are none of your business.

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  12. Another "anonymous supporter." I would agree in principal actually with the right to privacy but in this case Jane is a public figure who has benefitted from dealings with Abramson.

    I personally have no interest whatsoever in who she marries or how many kids she has BUT considering the way many feel she has mishandled the finances of Metro Louisville.

    Some believe she has a history of deceptions and lies and use this as an example of it which is why they talk about this. The integrity of a person is measured by the way they choose to live their life.

    For some it is felt that this shows a pattern of behavior that goes to the real person.

    Just saying.

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  13. I fint it interesting that you selectively post comments... if you dont like what people have to say perhaps you shuld consider how other people feel about what you have to say. Your blog is very biased.

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  14. LMAO. I love the anonymous posters who accuse me of censoring. You have no clue at all as usual. For the record since this site's inception there has only been one comment deleted and ALL have been posted unless asked not to. And I keep those emails that request that for my protection from moronic accusations like this one like yours.

    I also keep IP addresses like yours so when necessary I can show who posted the comment.

    The one comment that was deleted had to be as it had an embedded link to a porn site in it and that I will never allow.

    You obviously have me confused with at least 2 prominent sites I can think of and at least 1 wannabe prominent site I can. I get censored at those on occassion as well. They know who they are so I will not out them. yet anyway.

    But hey insider thanks for playing. I love it when idiots post stuff like this on my blog. Lets me know I am on the right track and you are worried.

    You should be. More will be forthcoming on this story and many others. We will gain accountability of those that have abused the system and benefitted from it at the expense of we the people in Louisville.

    Keep trying but here is a suggestion.

    next time try to prove it since you cannot.

    Thanks for the comments.

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