Wednesday, December 8, 2010

COUNCILWOMAN JUDY GREEN, SENATOR JULIE DENTON, AND MORE......

It is nice to know you are missed. Seriously. For the hundreds or so who have been writing asking where I have been I thank you immensely. It truly is heartwarming to know I make such a difference in many of your lives. For the record I took the last couple of weeks slow on this site intentionally. In short I needed some rest and time to deal with some personal issues.

My wife had a health scare that needed addressing and I adopted a new puppy who was sick and had to be put down Thanksgiving night. Zeus lived with us for two short weeks but had an amazing impact on all of us. Speaking of which the Kentucky Humane Society is knowingly adopting out sick animals which is against the law. That will be dealt with in a future article. With all of that and the 100 plus hour workweeks between this, and the real job that helps keep all this in existence, it was just too much and I needed to focus on my family.

I am working on funding to get the radio show back on air. For the thousands of you who keep asking hopefully I will have that in place by January and I will get back to doing this full time. We are working to turn the show into a daily format as well. I will keep you posted. In the meantime you can help by donating at the paypal link to the right ;-)

For now here are some updates. I will be back in full swing in the next week or two.

District 1 Councilwoman Judy Green has apparently dodged a bullet. According to reports Green will not be charged with any criminal wrongdoing in the case of her self titled "Green team." Green sponsored a youth summer work program to put kids to work cleaning up alleys etc in District 1. The problem?

None were paid. Their pay was held up due to an audit being performed on the accounting practices of Ms. Green's program. While finally paid in September the audit has brought much to light and makes us question if ANYONE in elected office will ever be held accountable.

After being investigated, one primary reason for that was because Judy Green had her own kids paid through HER program funded by our tax dollars (no one sees a conflict here right?), the LMPD Public Integrity Unit had this to say. From the CJ
Judy Green won't face criminal charges in jobs program investigation courier-journal.com The Courier-Journal:

Louisville Metro Council member Judy Green will not face criminal charges in connection with a summer jobs program for youth that was funded by city tax dollars and employed several of her children or foster children, according to a case summary of the investigation by the Louisville Metro Police Department's Public Integrity Unit.

But the police report is highly critical of the program,
saying it was “extremely unethical in its design, control and completion.”

Metro Police have been investigating the so-called Green Clean Team's 2009 program since August, after the city's internal auditor, Mike Norman, couldn't account for $35,000 in spending.

In their investigation, police gathered hand-written receipts and canceled checks that the report said “seemed to account” for $34,735.

The police findings were reviewed by a special prosecutor, Commonwealth's Attorney Laura Donnell, whose office covers Shelby, Spencer and Anderson counties. A case summary of the police investigation was obtained by The Courier-Journal earlier this week.

While the report says there isn't “enough evidence of a crime or criminal intentions,” it also says the program “has the appearance that criminal activity could have been taking place in regards to the improper utilization of Louisville Metro Government grant funds.”

I love the hand written receipts thing myself. I mean how hard is it to go back and dummy up that evidence.

Of course Green says she did nothing wrong and plans on continuing the program next summer and why not? She just got away with this idiocy so what is to lose by padding her family pockets once again with our money.

Additionally I have received a few reports of Judy Green's husband receiving $100,000 for a cleanup project in the old Perkins Chrysler property on Dixie at Algonquin Parkway. I am researching that claim now but funnily enough I have not seen any clean ups or anything different on that property. At the very least it shows once again what I consider to be unethical behavior by padding the pockets of your family.

From what I gather Ms. Green is also the Aunt of former housing director Kimberly Bunton who is now being charged for criminal wrongdoing for taking money from the Housing authority for her family's gain.

Apple tree anyone?

Apparently unethical and borderline criminal is ok for elected officials that would put us in jail. Good to know huh? This story is not going away I assure you.

Meanwhile speaking of ethics. How is it that State Senator Julie Denton was not named in the recent audit of the Passport program? You may recall a CJ story back in July of 2009 that told us of Julie Denton being hired by MCNA Dental AFTER they received a $20 million contract with our taxes from Julie Denton.

From http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/juice/2009/07/mcna_dental_julie_denton_kentucky.php

MCNA Dental Plans, a benefits system based in Fort Lauderdale, wanted a $20 million contract from the managed care group that administers Medicaid spending in Kentucky. State Sen. Julie Denton, a former dental hygienist, wanted a job. They both got what they wanted.

As Chair of the Kentucky Senate's health care committee Julie Denton directly oversaw the Passport Health Plan which gave MCNA Dental its $20 million contract. MCNA then of course returned the favor by hiring Julie Denton. One more example of political patronage and unethical behavior by elected officials.

Alarmingly her own son filed suit against Julie for theft claiming she stole $15,000 from his trust fund set up by his Dad, and her ex husband, Tom Rose that she then used for her personal self.


Pattern of behavior? Who knows but there are many things not adding up with our elected officials at all levels and now is the time for each of us to stand up, be heard, and demand better including prosecution and forfeiture of office.

None of us would be exempt why should they?

In the meantime in case you haven't noticed. I'm back so get ready.......

8 comments:

  1. MCNA hired Julie Denton to do what after her committee granted a $20 MILLION contract to MCNA?

    ReplyDelete
  2. glad you're back Ed. missed ya.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The position requires [Denton] to serve as the link between dentists who see Medicaid patients and MCNA, which processes and pays claims. It also requires her to handle dentists' questions or complaints and represent the company at state hearings where people appeal denial of services.

    Thanks for writing.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Paul and anonymous thanks! It is good to be back.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Of course Green says she did nothing wrong and plans on continuing the program next summer and why not? She just got away with this idiocy so what is to lose by padding her family pockets once again with our money.

    ReplyDelete
  6. ED, ED H's our man if can't expose them no one can!

    Glad to have you back! Give me a call when you can!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Add these wood chips to the Green fire: the commonwealth attorney who decided "no criminal charges" from the Integrity Unit investigation is also the supervisor or one the Judy Green's daughters; the internal audit office was given 7-10 bank check copies from the 2009 Green Clean Team program that were endorsed by Green for kids who were not in the program and several were out of town during the program; no one in the internal audit or integrity unit investigations has yet to ask one child who participated in the program "who ran the program" ... maybe Judith's saying that she did not run it is answer enough.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for reading LNP. Open and honest discussions of local politics and relevant issues is important to voter understanding. Please listen to the "Ed Springston Show". We broadcast Monday through Thursday evenings at 7 PM on local media outlets. Please check for the links.
Yours truly,
Ed Springston

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