Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Convicted thief John Flood overseeing your tax dollars

Louisville, KYConvicted thief John Flood is now working in Metro accounting department. You read that right. According to an open records response I filed Flood is currently working as a finance supervisor at a salary of $55,000 a year.

Can anyone explain how this happened other than political favor?


If any of you out there knowingly falsely endorsed someone else’s check that did not belong to you and put it in your personal account for personal use what would happen?

You would be in jail for theft. That’s a no brainer.

John Flood was convicted of 9 FELONIES for doing just that. As a Democrat Party official in 1995 John Flood was in charge of a get out the vote effort in Newburg area. More than 20 people showed up to pass out literature for the Democratic Party.

The checks were falsely endorsed by John Flood and deposited in John Flood’s bank account.
Startlingly, even though John Flood’s attorney and the prosecuting attorney had agreed on an 18 month prison term, Judge James Shake decided against prison.

Such an outstanding citizen like this certainly warrants a good City government job given to him right?
Flood’s good friend Representative Darryl Owens certainly thought so and gave John a $28,000 a year job as an administrative assistant in 1998.

Though former Governor Paul Patton restored Flood’s Democratic voting rights he refused a blanket pardon of him ensuring Flood would remain a convicted felon.

Fast forward to 2008 and John Flood is once again accused of illegal wrongdoing.

Kentucky court case #08-M-018507 was the case against John Flood for perjury. By this time Flood was a Chief inspector for IPL with an alleged  history of abusing Louisville citizens for  political gain. The crime he was charged with this time was perjury.

Mel Ignatow got away with murder but did not get away with lying about it.

Flood had lied on his application to Metro about being a convicted felon and was to be prosecuted by Special prosecutor Chip McKay of Nelson County for it. A convicted felon cannot have any special police powers and Flood was a sworn officer based on his lie.

Flood signed a written oath declaring he possessed the qualifications prescribed by law for the position of Code Enforcement Officer, knowing that he was a convicted felon and therefore NOT QUALIFIED under law for the position, against the peace and dignity of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

Perjury.

Former Mayor Jerry Abramson, who wants to be your next Governor, even knew about this and was not concerned citing it was “old news” when questioned about it in 2008.

Of course Bill Schreck, Flood’s former IPL boss, even said he knew about the felony conviction and had no problems with it.

Why then would he allow Flood to be illegally deputized? These questions and more helped Schreck realize he may have to retire from that job which he ultimately did.

Astonishingly, with all the evidence to convict John Flood once again of a felony McKay decided to allow a plea deal even after promising there would be none. The deal allowed Flood to resign his position with Metro and everyone felt like it was better than nothing.

Wrong.

Not only did John Flood miraculously get away with no jail time once again he has been rewarded by Metro with a cushy job yet again.

According to the job description sent to me by Metro Flood’s duties are as follows:



Angela Dunn recommended Flood for this job with signed recommendations from none other than Bill Bardenwerper and of course Flood’s old boss Bill Schreck.

Was Metro aware of Flood’s background?

Of course they were.


Need more?

According to their own policies it defies logic how Flood could be considered for any job much less one involving our money.

8.1 Recruitment
8.1(1) Louisville Metro Government shall attempt to recruit the best candidates
for all positions.

Can anyone remotely believe that the best candidate for a job in accounting that involves our money is a convicted thief?

Clearly there was a coordinated effort to install John Flood into the Office of Management and Budget and clearly there were concerns based on his history.

So why would our Metro government install a convicted thief and liar to oversee our money including petty cash?

Would a bank hire a thief to guard the vault?

What does it take to disqualify someone from a public taxpayer job in Metro government? We went to
Metro policy to look for that answer.

According to Metro Policy 9.2, The Director of Human Resources may refuse to consider an applicant, disqualify an applicant, remove an applicant’s name from an eligibility pool, refuse to certify an
eligible, or recommend the removal of a person already appointed, if the person:

9.2(2) Has made a false statement of material fact on the application.
This led to his plea deal for perjury on his original Metro application.

9.2(7) Has failed to submit an application correctly or within the prescribed time
limits.

9.2(9) Has been convicted of a job-related felony or multiple misdemeanors.
Agreeing to a plea deal to avoid prosecution for a felony related to your job would almost assuredly raise immediate red flags of future employment. It would not even be considered in the private sector.

9.2(11) Has practiced or attempted to practice deception or fraud in making
application or taking an examination.

So who is responsible? I give you this.

11.1 Eligibility for Appointment
11.1(1) The Director of Human Resources, or designee, shall establish
procedures by which all applications will be reviewed. All applicants
meeting the minimum qualifications will be eligible for testing and/or
appointment.

Of course when your friends include a powerful State Rep like Darryl Owens, the entire KDP itself, a wife who is a sitting Councilwoman, and so many others it is clearly obvious that two sets of rules exist.
One for the connected and one for the rest of us.

After the most recent debacles involving the late Councilwoman Judy Green’s impeachment from office, and the current case against sitting Councilwoman Barbara Shanklin over misusing our money, how can we justify a convicted thief and liar overseeing any aspect of the monetary process with our tax dollars?

Get involved and demand accountability. Call the Mayor and ask him why we allow this behavior.

Listen daily from 7-8pm at The Ed Springston Show. Also visit Louisville Politics for more details and in depth coverage of local political and news issues.

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