Published April 18, 2011
TWISler Breakdown: Fraud in the Heart of Sarasota!
The rules regarding how Sarasota County signs contracts are about to get a steroid injection after a true-blue case of good ol’ fashioned hometown fraud was unearthed this month. The icing on the cake is that the perpetrator, one Mr. Rodney Jones, was actually sued by a local contractor back in 2005 for recommending that a $3.1 million hauling contract to clean up Hurricane Charlie’s mess go to his long-time buddy’s Ohio-based company, National Pipe Services, rather than our hometown boy Todd Balsinger’s company, T-Scott Services – a move that Balsinger says put T-Scott out of business.
Of course, all of Balsinger’s cries of shady dealings fell on deaf ears at the time. But it’s now come to light that Jones’s conflicting interests were well-known by his direct supervisors for years and completely ignored. In fact, after overseeing National Pipe’s contracts for two years, Jones actually left the county to work for the company, only to return to Sarasota five months later to continue overseeing his most recent employer’s work progress. The only person to raise an eyebrow was Balsinger, as he watched National Pipe work through $300 mil in hurricane–related contracts while he waited by the phone, with nothing but a $50,000 legal bill to pay at the end of his efforts. (more…)Author: admin
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TWISler Breakdown: Fraud in the Heart of Sarasota!
Published April 18, 2011
TWISler Breakdown: Fraud in the Heart of Sarasota!
The rules regarding how Sarasota County signs contracts are about to get a steroid injection after a true-blue case of good ol’ fashioned hometown fraud was unearthed this month. The icing on the cake is that the perpetrator, one Mr. Rodney Jones, was actually sued by a local contractor back in 2005 for recommending that a $3.1 million hauling contract to clean up Hurricane Charlie’s mess go to his long-time buddy’s Ohio-based company, National Pipe Services, rather than our hometown boy Todd Balsinger’s company, T-Scott Services – a move that Balsinger says put T-Scott out of business.
Of course, all of Balsinger’s cries of shady dealings fell on deaf ears at the time. But it’s now come to light that Jones’s conflicting interests were well-known by his direct supervisors for years and completely ignored. In fact, after overseeing National Pipe’s contracts for two years, Jones actually left the county to work for the company, only to return to Sarasota five months later to continue overseeing his most recent employer’s work progress. The only person to raise an eyebrow was Balsinger, as he watched National Pipe work through $300 mil in hurricane–related contracts while he waited by the phone, with nothing but a $50,000 legal bill to pay at the end of his efforts. (more…) -
TWISler Breakdown: Sarasota’s incompetence problem
Published May 3, 2011
TWISler Breakdown: Sarasota’s incompetence problem
It’s pretty clear after Sarasota’s recent uncovering of massive amounts of fraud throughout the county purchasing department, that this city either views incompetence as a prerequisite skill set for employment, or sweeping things under the rug is such standard operation procedure that we need to change County Administrator Jim Ley’s job title to “Custodianâ€. At this point, that’s not sounding like too bad of an idea, unless we’re planning on giving janitors tax money-funded credit cards. Then that could turn out to be a considerable waste of money.
Our newly discovered wrap sheet reveals a string of shady county credit card expenditures and no bid contracts dating back at least four years. It’s like our very own Iraq war contracting debacle, right here in little ol’ Sarasota! The fun began with the initial warning signs coming from a mid-manager in county government named Mark Utz back in late 2007. Utz had put together a fancy, official-looking letter to commissioners detailing the heaping steamy pile of abuse we were amounting in the purchasing department. Commissioners thanked Utz for his sincere concern and effort by promptly firing him, which Utz claims was done to send a message to any other whistle-blowers thinking about getting frisky with the facts. (more…) -
TWISler Breakdown: The SUM+ Conference gets brainy
Published May 10, 2011
TWISler Breakdown: The SUM+ Conference gets brainy
It’s come to the TWISler’s attention lately that while it may be necessary to point out the negative aspects of Sarasota’s political escapades, it’s also important to shed some light on all the good things goin’ down in the hometown. (And honestly, it kinda sucks to be the barer of the bad news week after week…) So, instead of the constant bombardment of bummers and downers, The TWISler has resolved to start mixing it up a bit by providing the occasional positive and uplifting story for our devoted readers’ gracious consumption.
One such winning development is the upcoming SUM+ Conference on June 17 at the fancy schmancy Hyatt Hotel by the bay. The whole point of this daylong mind-bending obstacle course, which will group attendees into mini think-tanks and put them through a regimen of mental exercises, is to unite the most creative minds among us to ponder really, really hard about how in the Sam Hell we’re planning to run this city in a fashion that will produce the most beneficial results possible. (more…) -
TWISler Breakdown: The Harvey Milk Festival gets TWISted
Published May 17, 2011
(Photo: sarasota.patch.com)
TWISler Breakdown: The Harvey Milk Festival gets TWISted
Harvey Milk Festival Art Opening: 7-10 p.m. Fri., May 20, The Red Panty Press, 513 Central Ave., free; 2nd Annual Harvey Milk Festival: 2-10 p.m. Sat., May 21, Rosemary District, 1376 5th St., donations accepted with a portion of proceeds benefiting ALSO Out Youth, harveymilkfestival.com.
As the TWISler pointed out in statistical fashion back in February, Sarasota is a pretty gay place. No joke, the federal government actually ranks cities on their level of fabulousness in a nifty census study ambiguously called The Gay Index. And last time we checked, our population was about 61 percent gayer than the national average.
I mean when you think about it, Sarasota’s actually known for some of the most flamboyant characters in the modern American psyche. Our biggest claim to fame in the YouTube world has to be SNN meteorologist Justin Mosley’s “Cockroach VS. Weatherman†video, which is clocking in at just north of a billion page views now. (When are you going on Tosh.0, Justin?!) Then there was local heartthrob Jason Champion on HGTV’s Design Star, who stands in the top echelon of most flaming contestants to ever grace the show. (more…) -
TWISler Breakdown: Don’t park – Don’t sit – Don’t even come downtown!
Published May 24, 2011
TWISler Breakdown: Don’t park – Don’t sit – Don’t even come downtown!
The heart of Sarasota is startin’ to feel pretty uncomfy these days. Yesterday offered us the first salty sweet taste of paid parking in downtown Sarasota, and I’m sure the flavor still lingers for many of you. Give it up for City Commissioner Terry Turner and his newbie accomplice Paul Caraguilo for their last minute attempt to put a temporary hold on our meter implementation aspirations, but once you’re already in a half-million bucks it’s hard to hold back.
At least we have a few Main Street business owners trying to make something out of the hand they’ve been dealt, like Pastry Art owner Forrest Shaw and his fellow Bogojoe.com collaborators with their parking receipts for gift certificates idea. But keep in mind, the biggest pots are usually racked up when nobody folds. (more…)