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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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: Several current City Councilpersons Fail to Comply with State Election Laws
COMMENTARYLATEST NEWS
Opinion: Several City Councilpersons Fail To Comply With State Election Laws
Charles WinfreyBy Charles Winfrey Last updated Nov 1, 2017
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Those who are detractors of Mayor Karen Weaver love to bandy the word “corruption” around. However, when one looks at the behavior of Scott Kincaid’s cronies on Flint City Council, you’ll end up scratching your head as to who is truly corrupt.
The classic definition of corruption is a form of dishonest or unethical conduct by a person entrusted with a position of authority, often to acquire personal benefit. When an elected official violates the rules as though the rules don’t apply to them, or when those entrusted with enforcing the rules look the other way to allow their friends and cronies to violate the rules, those are classic examples of corruption!
There are three seated members of Flint City Council who have either failed to file their Statements of Campaign Organization with the Genesee County Clerk’s Elections Division as prescribed by law, and/or have failed to file their Campaign Finance statements on the legally prescribed dates in accordance with P.A. 388, the State’s Campaign Finance law.
According to information posted on the Genesee County Clerk’s website, 2nd Ward Councilperson Jackie Poplar, and 3rd Ward Councilman Kerry Nelson failed to file campaign finance statements for the August 8 Primary Election. A pre-election campaign finance statement was due July 28, and a post-election statement was due September 7, 2017. A report for the General Election was due October 27. One can only wonder what they are trying to hide, what are they afraid of disclosing? Rumor has it they have received huge contributions from Republic Services, the city’s waste collection contractor they fought so hard to retain.
Both Kerry Nelson and 5th Ward Councilman Wantwaz Davis also failed to file Statements of Organization for their respective campaigns. Those were due in May 2017. Jackie Poplar did not file said statement until August 2017.
I asked Genesee County Clerk John Gleason why no letters of errors and omissions, or failures to file were issued to each of the candidates. He said he didn’t know. Whether this is a case of staff in the clerk’s office failing to do their due diligence, or whether it is an example of an official giving certain individuals preferential treatment, remains to be seen. Why none of these elected officials have been financially penalized is beyond explanation.
While such infractions may appear minor to some, Campaign Finance rules are law and all of the previously named individuals are sworn to uphold the law. Besides, minor infractions are usually indicators of much larger violations down the road. They are also indicators of the character of individuals who believe they are above the law.
(The views and opinions expressed on this website are solely those of the original authors and other contributors. These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of Flint Beat, FlintBeat.com, Brown Impact Media Group our staff and/or any/all contributors to this site.)
Last edited by untanglingwebs on Sat Dec 01, 2018 10:52 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Fri Nov 30, 2018 7:48 am |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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On November 1, 2017, Charles Winfrey had an opinion piece in the Flint Beat entitled "Who is truly corrupt?". Most media declines to publish such inflammatory political articles less than a week before a general election. But, consider that besides Winfrey being the CEO of the New McCree Theater, he is also the editor for The Courier newspaper, formerly the CPSA (Concerned Pastors for Social Action) Courier.
In his opinion piece Winfrey stated he wants financial penalties for three council members who had minor deficiencies in their campaign finance reports. Ironically, these three were also some of the council members that some Concerned Pastors spoke of replacing on two regular Saturday WFLT 1470 am radio talk shows.
Proclaiming that these seemingly minor omissions of the Campaign Act were Failures to adhere to the council oath of office to uphold the law. So therefore, this was an indication these individuals thought they were above the law.
Before launching into the definition of corruption and then citing the Michigan Campaign Finance Act, Winfrey had a tirade on how "those who are detractors of Mayor Karen Weaver love to bandy the word corruption." |
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Sat Dec 01, 2018 10:10 am |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Second Ward councilwoman Jacqueline Poplar and Third Ward councilman and council President Kerry Nelson were late with their filing of their primary election reports. Winfrey asked "What are they trying to hide, what are they afraid of disclosing? ". He then indicated these two were "rumored" to have received large donations from Republic Services to retain their services for the waste removal contract. Winfrey then discussed how both Nelson and Fifth Ward councilman Wantaz Davis had failed to file heir Statements of Organization and ha Poplar was late with hers.
Having filed campaign complains and having read others, there are no severe penalties for minor errors that are corrected and there are fines for late report The Secretary of State has stated their primary goal is to work with candidates to ensure accurate reports. Felony complaints are referred to law enforcement.
Winfrey accused the County Clerk's staff of a failure of due diligence and of giving preferential treatments to some individuals. He then insisted these minor infractions were "indicators of much larger violations down the road." |
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Sat Dec 01, 2018 10:51 am |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Using the criteria set out by Charles Winfrey, there are current council members ln that could face the same allegations. The records of Winfrey's daughter, Fifth Ward Council Woman are a "hot mess" with multiple amendment for the same same frame that don't match financially and vary in pages. Also she appears to have an unpaid $200 fine from 2017. Then she also has two letters the AG for failure to file reports or amendments.
The most controversial report is that of Sixth Ward Councilman Herbert Winfrey, How does one hold a fundraiser without disclosing where it was held, what kind it was and how does one raise $2850,00 with 20 people and incur zero cost. And how did the Clerk's office miss that. Also only four of the nine donors gave a business name. Most were independent contractors or self employed. (even self employed usually have DBA or a corporation). The firs clue was a corporation called Green Bean and was involved with marijuana. At least three others were publicized in recent years over marijuana and one was involved in food stamp fraud for his restaurants.
My question is was lobbying involved? |
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Sat Dec 01, 2018 11:13 am |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Jerri Winfrey-Carter
Document Received Due Pages
Stmt of Organization (Amended) 08/15/18 - 1 View
LFF Notice 08/06/18 - 1 View
Quarterly Stmt (Jul) - 2018 08/06/18 07/25/18 3 View
Failure to File 07/26/18 - 1 View
Pre-Election Stmt - 11/07/2017 General Election (Amended) 12/19/17 12/21/17 5 View
Miscellaneous
STATEMENT OF ORGANIZATION WAIVER CORRESPONDENCE 12/08/17 - 1 View
Error and Omission 12/08/17 - 2 View
AG Letter 12/07/17 - 1 View
Pre-Election Stmt - 11/07/2017 General Election (Amended) 12/07/17 12/06/17 25 View
Post-Election Stmt - 11/07/2017 General Election 12/07/17 12/07/17 6 View
Error and Omission 11/21/17 - 2 View
Miscellaneous
CORRESPONDENCE 11/17/17 - 2 View
AG Letter 11/16/17 - 1 View
Pre-Election Stmt - 11/07/2017 General Election (Amended) 11/16/17 11/15/17 37 View
Error and Omission 11/01/17 - 2 View
Pre-Election Stmt - 11/07/2017 General Election 10/27/17 10/27/17 28 View
Receipt 04/28/17 - 1 View
Stmt of Organization 04/28/17 05/01/17 1 View
Intro Letter 04/11/17 |
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Sat Dec 01, 2018 12:11 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Sat Dec 01, 2018 12:38 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Following up on Walling tip
Updated Apr 24, 2009; Posted Apr 24, 2009
By Joe Lawlor
Flint Journal
Here's what I've learned about the Dayne Walling accusations that have been surfacing recently. Walling is one of six candidates running for mayor in the May 5 primary. He's the only white candidate, and he lost a close election to former Mayor Don Williamson in 2007.
I'm just going to give this to you straight, with no opinion from me. Apparently, complaints have been filed with the state, according to a packet I received anonymously this week. There are rumors that it came from the Greg Eason campaign. I asked Eason about it, and he told me he had no knowledge of the accusations.
Who distributed the packet is conjecture. The following are the facts as I know them. Feel free to weigh in.
In Walling's 2007 campaign finance report, he fails to list the address for Public Network Consulting. He spent approximately $43,000 on the group.
Walling said it was an oversight, and when he was contacted about it, he provided the address to the Genesee County elections officials.
The consulting group is a joint venture between former mayor and current state representative Woodrow Stanley and political activist Charles Winfrey, Walling told me.
Winfrey in 2007 ran a campaign office on Clio Road for Walling, and Walling said several staffers were paid out of that $43,000.
The anonymous letter insinuates that Walling was trying to hide that the company was a front for Stanley, making hay over the lack of an address and that apparently the name of the group slightly off. (Walling had it listed as Public Network Consulting, while the letter says the group's full name is Public Sector Consulting Group)
Walling said this is nothing more than a paperwork error, and that it was well known that Stanley supported Walling in 2007. Although I haven't talked directly to Stanley, by all accounts he's stayed neutral during this primary.
"When you submit a 200+ page document to the county, could we have made a few mistakes? Sure," Walling said. "The folks who are mudslinging should stop fighting old battles. We're in 2009 now."
Doreen Fulcher with the Genesee County elections told me that there's no fine for a missing address or other missing information on a campaign finance report. If, however, it could be proven that there was an intentional effort by the campaign to mislead, misdemeanor charges would be possible.
There are other accusations in the information I received, but none of the others are fully traceable through public records, so I'm not going into them at this point. |
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Sun Dec 02, 2018 11:10 am |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Following up on Walling tip
Updated Apr 24, 2009; Posted Apr 24, 2009
By Joe Lawlor
Flint Journal
Here's what I've learned about the Dayne Walling accusations that have been surfacing recently. Walling is one of six candidates running for mayor in the May 5 primary. He's the only white candidate, and he lost a close election to former Mayor Don Williamson in 2007.
I'm just going to give this to you straight, with no opinion from me. Apparently, complaints have been filed with the state, according to a packet I received anonymously this week. There are rumors that it came from the Greg Eason campaign. I asked Eason about it, and he told me he had no knowledge of the accusations.
Who distributed the packet is conjecture. The following are the facts as I know them. Feel free to weigh in.
In Walling's 2007 campaign finance report, he fails to list the address for Public Network Consulting. He spent approximately $43,000 on the group.
Walling said it was an oversight, and when he was contacted about it, he provided the address to the Genesee County elections officials.
The consulting group is a joint venture between former mayor and current state representative Woodrow Stanley and political activist Charles Winfrey, Walling told me.
Winfrey in 2007 ran a campaign office on Clio Road for Walling, and Walling said several staffers were paid out of that $43,000.
The anonymous letter insinuates that Walling was trying to hide that the company was a front for Stanley, making hay over the lack of an address and that apparently the name of the group slightly off. (Walling had it listed as Public Network Consulting, while the letter says the group's full name is Public Sector Consulting Group)
Walling said this is nothing more than a paperwork error, and that it was well known that Stanley supported Walling in 2007. Although I haven't talked directly to Stanley, by all accounts he's stayed neutral during this primary.
"When you submit a 200+ page document to the county, could we have made a few mistakes? Sure," Walling said. "The folks who are mudslinging should stop fighting old battles. We're in 2009 now."
Doreen Fulcher with the Genesee County elections told me that there's no fine for a missing address or other missing information on a campaign finance report. If, however, it could be proven that there was an intentional effort by the campaign to mislead, misdemeanor charges would be possible.
There are other accusations in the information I received, but none of the others are fully traceable through public records, so I'm not going into them at this point. |
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Sun Dec 02, 2018 11:10 am |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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The consulting group is a joint venture between former mayor and current state representative Woodrow Stanley and political activist Charles Winfrey, Walling told me.
Winfrey in 2007 ran a campaign office on Clio Road for Walling, and Walling said several staffers were paid out of that $43,000. |
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Sun Dec 02, 2018 11:11 am |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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| Doreen Fulcher with the Genesee County elections told me that there's no fine for a missing address or other missing information on a campaign finance report. If, however, it could be proven that there was an intentional effort by the campaign to mislead, misdemeanor charges would be possible. |
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Sun Dec 02, 2018 11:12 am |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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| However, if the missing address o a donor is not corrected it will be treated as anonymous and must be given to a charity. |
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Sun Dec 02, 2018 11:15 am |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Charles Winfrey has long been a lightning rod for controversy in Flint politics. During the Stanley Administration Winfrey served as Flint's Equal Opportunity and Contract Compliance officer. His position was eliminated in the 2001 budget cuts. Winfrey was one of five subjects in an Ombudsman report by Ramona Sain over campaigning activities in City Hall. There were 30 draft copies issued to individuals named in the report and the administration. Despite written requests to keep the document confidential until it would be released, the draft report was leaked to the media. Immediately there as a barrage of criticisms and calls for a police investigation by the Stanley administration.
Last edited by untanglingwebs on Mon Dec 10, 2018 7:24 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Sun Dec 02, 2018 3:07 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Campaigning on City time Flint Talk
Observers of an incident in front of City Hall reported Appointee Steven Branch was confronting recall workers with petitions while the City was in business hours.
Involvement in campaign related situations has been an issue for many years. I remember hearing about signatures being collected and hidden under counters in various departments. Allegations of pay to play were also rampant.
Last month residents stated off duty police officers using their city issued police cars were gathering signatures of a candidate running against 5th Ward candidate Wantwaz Davis. The allegations between Davis and Charles Winfrey became a minor facebook battle as the opponent to Davis is the daughter of Charles Winfrey.
The Ombudsman Office, under interim Ombudsman Ramona Sain, wrote a thorough and conscientious investigative report on such allegations. On April 27, 1998, Sain released a public report on campaign activities performed on city time and using city resources.
Iniitially the office received a complaint on September 24, 1997, but soon the office was dealing with four similar complaints which were combined into a single report. The first complaint involved Director of Public Works, J. Bennett Jones, who ordered all Cost Center managers (CCM's) through a city e-mail on September 2, 1997 that all employees who had volunteered for the Mayor's fund raising activities were not to be forced to use annual time and there was to be no deductions from their pay. Jones emphasized this was "Standard Operation Procedure" (SOP) After this was brought to the attention of City manager David Ready the original e-mail was rescinded. While many who received the e-mails believed it referred to the "Last Chance Golf Outing" , the golf outing had been held on August 25, 1997.
The second complaint involved Charles Winfrey, who was identified as the Executive Assistant to the Mayor for Minority Business as well as the Affirmative Actin officer and the Contract Compliance Officer.
Winfrey wrote and circulated a memo on August 26, 1997 and while he used Mayor Woodrow Stanley's letterhead, he distributed the memo through the inter-departmental mail system to the City Department Heads. Winfrey also had previously sent each department head two petitions for them to obtain signatures for an ad supporting Woodrow Stanley. Winfrey indicated he wrote and compiled the documents in the Campaign headquarters at 1207 N. Ballenger.
Hans Kuhlman, Deputy Director, also sent an e-mail advising CCM that they were expected to buy 2 tickets for the Mayor's Ball that was held on February 8, 1997. The tickets were reserved in their name and available upon receipt of their check. (each department head had 10 tickets to sell) They could pay $500 for 2 tickets and attend a special reception with Mayor Stanley prior to the ball.
Kuhlman was also accused of discussing the tickets in staff meetings and threats of retaliation were allegedly made in these meetings. While some employees felt intimidated , others laughed at the threats saying they would go to City manager David Ready.
Employees also stated they overheard Kuhlman calling contractors and asking them t purchase a table at the ball. He denied the allegations that the contractors were threatened with no contracts if they did not attend the ball.
Employees stated at least two individuals, one a supervisor, were observed getting signatures on the petition. Some employees signed and others refused. At one point a petition was left on a table in the cafeteria.
David Ready indicated Winfrey had made a wrong move and had been reprimanded. Ready also said that he was upset that Kuhlman would coerce some one to attend the ball. According to Ready, Kuhlman had gone outside his scope of authority. Kuhlman doesn't make personnel decisions, I do."
During the 1997 Last chance Golf outing at least 47 employees golfed and at lest 35 of those were sponsored b corporations. Four had no sponsor and did not pay. The sponsors came from 17 different companies, of which 14 had an existing or recent business relationship with the city.
Several City ordinances were violated and the Ombudsman office suggested that they be made stronger. In January of 1988, P. Huber-Davis had researched, at Council's request, a recommendation was made for an Ethics policy. Council had failed to take action then but they should consider it in the future. |
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Sun Dec 02, 2018 3:21 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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The Flint Journal story, (Winfrey's article on Clerk draws council ire, January 16, 2002, A2, Christopher Machniac) discussed council's response to the Courier coverage of the City Clerk Inez Brown and her staff during the verification of the recall petitions. Stanley sued in an attempt to invalidate the process due to Brown's cautio in following the law with the recall signatures. Brown prevailed
Council Vice-President Johnny Coleman was reported to have waved a copy of the paper as he referenced the article by the editor Charles Winfrey.
"I just want to hold a moment of silence for editors who are brain dead."
In the Journal article was a reference to the long time friendship between Winfrey and Woodrow Stanley and noted that Winfrey served as a political advisor to Stanley.
Last edited by untanglingwebs on Sun Dec 02, 2018 6:25 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Sun Dec 02, 2018 3:40 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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the Journal stated Winfrey was critical of media outlets and said they were clearly biased against Stanley and supportive of the recall effort.
*Note: WNEM TV 5 had to go to court to prevent Stanley from blocking their reporters from Flint press conferences. In addition Stanley filed a PPO request against James Kiertzner. Part of this stemmed from an alleged attempt by Stanley to hit a TV5 cameraman while leaving a press conference on property of the School for the Deaf. This piece of property was to be a new fire station, but it never came to fruition
Political activist John Hightower had called for a boycott of the Journal in the Courier and had a poorly attended protest.
Journal writer Andrew Heller was also the subject of he Courier criticism. However in my opinion, Heller's articles focused on legitimate financial concerns as the deficit was growing .
Stanley was convinced he could have overcome the deficit That would have been true as the state had broken revenue sharing promises which would have covered the deficit.
The Great Revenue Sharing Heist - Michigan Municipal League
www.mml.org/advocacy/great-revenue-sharing-heist.html
The state has managed to pinch over $6 billion in revenue sharing from local government over the last several years. ... Michigan's broken municipal financing model is almost a cliché. ... Flint will have lost $54.9 million dollars by the end of 2014. ... but we must not ignore the reality—the promises were made with a different ...
Last edited by untanglingwebs on Mon Dec 03, 2018 3:39 pm; edited 3 times in total |
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Sun Dec 02, 2018 4:01 pm |
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