Greensboro City Council Member Zack Matheny Still Won't Come Clean on His Anonymous Investors off of Highway 68

It is time for Greensboro City Council member Zack Matheny to come clean on his investment development with fellow Greensboro City Council member Robbie Perkins on land off of Highway 68 . This is why we need ethics taken to the next level where nobody knows who these investors are? Have they had other business in front of council?Are some of the investors a part of one of the biggest law firms in town ?

Below is what Zack Matheny said to a question from the Greensboro News and Record for their 2009 Questionaire.

4. What community or business interests could
possibly create conflicts of interest for you on the council, and how would you handle them?

In the past, I have had two occasions that have
required recusal from a vote. At one point, I had an investment in land on Highway 68 and when a vote came up I recused myself, which is what is legally expected.
I am no longer involved with that investment. I work for a company that has real estate holdings in Greensboro, however, the properties have been in existence for numerous years and require no Council request. In the almost 34
years since the company I work for has been founded, no one has been in front of City for any reguest therefore i would be surprised if it created a conflict.

On February 19, 2009 on a post on Triadwatch titled"Robbie Perkins 4 Conflicts of Interest and Had Partner in Over Development Crime on 2 of them" CLICKHERE

Here is what was said in the post

"Then at the end of the council meeting the city of Greensboro had 2 resolution's to have an agreement with Guilford County to add sewer and water to the Northwest campus for GTCC. This agreement's would cost the city of Greensboro $2,083,534 with the county picking up $2,825,397.
Then come to find out they are bringing water and sewer to a part of the city where it looks like Robbie Perkins and partner in over development crime Councilman Zack Matheny had to abstain from the vote because of financial ties to land speculation done by both Robbie Perkins and Zack Matheny which has been reported before on Triadwatch CLICKHERE with the title "Highway 68 North + Anonymous Investors +Zack and Robbie = Ethical Problems".
Councilman Zack Matheny contemplated for about 20 seconds because he is not a part of this development company anymore but who knows what you were a part of to begin with.It is time for Zack MAtheny to come clean on his ties to this development company you were a part of last year. This is the kind of cozy relationship's between developers and city council members that needs to be transparent for all to know and see.
These items and plenty other conflicts of interest need to stop and the only way to do that is to vote these ethically challenged city councilmen out of office come fall.There could be a recurring theme come fall where the citizens can get their council back and have a
"DUMP THE DEVELOPER PARTY ON ELECTION DAY"
with a trifecta of developers on council to vote out of office in Perkins, Matheny and Groat. "

Come clean Zack Matheny and Robbie Perkins on this whole ordeal that is still going on since September 17, 2008.Name all the investors in this whole property, it is called transparency and ethics.

We all know you 2 both read the blogs because here is what David Hoggard had to say at ed cone's blog CLICKHERE on September 26, 2009

"In the last couple of weeks I spoke of local blogs and their content with Robbie P. and Zack M. They both read and lurk here and elsewhere (as do most all other local leaders - elected and not). "

If not, than this could be a case study on getting another law passed on the state level to make these ethics disclosure forms mandatory for all local and county elected officials all over this state.

UPDATE: After this post went on Guarino's blog and look who posted a comment ? CLICKHERE

Supreme Court Kelo Decision 4 Years Later

The Associated Press: Conn. land vacant 4 years after court OK'd seizure

In the Kelo case, the Supreme Court held that the use of eminent domain to acquire property for “economic development” was not unconstitutional.

This Supreme Court case was one of the worse property rights decisions ever made . To see a AP article 4 years later and the non progress on this development is fitting to read. Seeing government power take private homes to benefit a property developer and the decision from the Supreme Court was unimaginable.

If you want to see the whole article click on the title above or the red highlighted title .

NEWSBUSTED on TRIADWATCH for 9/25/2009 Stimulus Money Going To Road Signs

Newsbusted is new for 9-25-09 on TRIADWATCH , click on the embedded video above.

Topics in today's show: Former CIA directors ask Obama to stop probe of terror investigations, Stimulus money going to road signs, Dollar losing its value, And hippies.

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Starring: Jodi Miller

Director: Bruce Roundtower

Executive Producer: Matthew Sheffield

Greensboro North Carolina Municipal Elections with Listing of Candidates With No Reports

Welcome to the Guilford County Board of Elections

The Greensboro North Carolina 2009 municipal election is heating up and it is time to post on the candidates who do not have any information that has been posted on the Guilford County Board of Elections web site.

Here is what is written on the State Board of Elections under organizing a committee.

After completing the Statement of Organization-Candidate Committee and
the Certification of Financial Account Number Information forms, the
candidate must determine if they intend to receive and/or spend over
$3,000 on the campaign during the election cycle. Keep in mind, any
personal money a candidate spends counts toward the $3,000 limit. If
the candidate determines they will NOT spend over $3,000 for the
12 election cycle (refer to the definition of election cycle in the GLOSSARY), a
Certification of Threshold form (CRO-3600) must be completed. This
Certification states that the candidate will not receive and/or spend over
$3,000 for the election cycle. Please refer to the section on Threshold
requirements for specific information regarding this status.

So as you can see there is a $3,000 threshold but maybe in the future this $3,000 threshold will be obsolete because there might be a bill that will make reporting of campaign finances will be dropped to $500 or hopefully in future it will go down to ZERO so that everyone is held accountable to each dollar that comes into the campaign. This is called transparency.

The Guilford County Board of Elections has a section of their web site called Candidates Financial Reports you can get there from clicking on the title above or the welcome sign at top of page. Below is a list of the Greensboro municipal candidates who have nothing online .

Greensboro At Large
Max Benbassat, no report online
Jorge Cornell, no report online
Gary Nixon, no report online
Danny Thompson, no report online and has already brought out commercials on facebook and looks like they were professionally done . Also has signs all over town and hasn't met the $3,000 threshold , odd.

District #1
T. Dianne Bellamy Small, no report online
Charles Coffey, no report online
Luther Falls, no report online
Ben Holder, no report online
Jeramy Reid, no report online

District #2
Nettie Coad, no report online
Dan Fischer, no report online
Gordon Hester, no report online

District #3
All candidates have a 35 day report

District #4
Mike Martin, no report online
Joseph Rahenkamp, no report online

District #5
Art Boyette, only organizational report

Also saw a sign for people to vote Yes on the Natural Science Center bond. I Hope this organization is going to register with the Guilford County Board of Elections under the section where referendum committees need to register because if you have signs already out then you are getting money into your campaign.

NEWSBUSTED on TRIADWATCH for 9/22/2009 President Obama Appears on 5 Sunday Shows

Newsbusted is new for 9-22-2009 on TRIADWATCH click on the embedded video above.

Topics in today's show:

Obama appears on 5 Sunday talk shows, Iran wants a UN ban on attacking them, Missile defense, And Jimmy Carter's insanity.

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Starring: Jodi Miller

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Executive Producer: Matthew Sheffield

Erik Huey Has A New Blog in Vegas, Watch Out Mayor Oscar Goodman

My good friend Erik Huey has started a new blog in Las Vegas called The Vegas Valley View CLICKHERE

The Mayor of Las Vegas Oscar Goodman better be on his best behavior.

Good luck with this new blog.

PORKER OF THE MONTH Goes To Seven Nutty Senators Supporting ACORN

CITIZENS AGAINST GOVERNMENT WASTE CLICKHERE

Porker of the Month is a dubious honor given to lawmakers, government officials, and political candidates who have shown a blatant disregard for the interests of taxpayers.

Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today named the seven senators who voted on Monday, September 14 to continue sending tax dollars for housing and community development programs to the Association of Community Organization for Reform Now (ACORN) its September Porkers of the Month.
The seven senators are Roland Burris (D-Ill.), Robert Casey (D-Pa.), Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.). The 83-7 vote to cut off funding for the group in the fiscal year 2010 Department of Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Act came on the heels of the release of explosive video footage of ACORN’s employees in Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and Brooklyn, giving questionable legal and tax advice to filmmaker James Keefe and a female friend who posed as a pimp and a prostitute. ACORN’s employees gave guidance on how to illegally shelter income, mislead the Internal Revenue Service, and obfuscate the ages and immigration status of underage girls who were going to be used as prostitutes in a make-believe brothel. All of the videos can be viewed at http://www.biggovernment.com/.

“Cutting off funds to ACORN should have been the easiest vote of the year, yet these senators could not bring themselves to do it,” said CAGW President Tom Schatz. “Taxpayers should not be accomplices in the rampant malfeasance of ACORN. Sen. Gillibrand deserves special opprobrium for her vote, since one of the videos was shot in Brooklyn’s ACORN office, and the New York Post had a story on the scandal prior to the vote. Apparently Sen. Schumer reads the local papers and Sen. Gillibrand does not. There is enough in these videos to warrant a nationwide Justice Department investigation into ACORN’s potentially criminal activities. All funds for ACORN should be cut off, in both the rest of the appropriations bills, and also for any stimulus money for which the group is eligible,” added Schatz.

According to an analysis by the Office of House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), ACORN has received at least $53.6 million in taxpayer-funded grants since 1994, not including millions more from states and localities, as well as foundations. Fannie Mae, for example, which was taken over by the federal government a year ago, bestowed millions in grants on ACORN over the years.

For keeping the spigot open to this seedy group in the face of pervasive unethical, if not outright crooked behavior, and trying to enable ACORN to fund its dysfunctional deeds with the taxes of hard-working Americans, CAGW names Senators Roland Burris (D-Ill.), Robert Casey (D-Pa.), Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) its September Porkers of the Month.

To Donate to Citizens Against Government Waste CLICKHERE

or to learn more about this organization CLICKHERE

NEWSBUSTED on TRIADWATCH for 9/18/2009 NBC's Push Poll

Newsbusted is new for 9-18-2009 click on the embedded video above on TRIADWATCH.

Topics in today's show: NBC's push poll, China's organ donor program, Spielberg wants to work in India, And Kelly Osbourne's drug problems.

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If we use them, we'll pay you USD $50 for each one.

Starring: Jodi Miller

Director: Bruce Roundtower

Executive Producer: Matthew Sheffield

Who Are The Usual Suspects on The Greensboro Downtown Consolidated Plan Core Group?

Donald Patterson from the Greensboro News & Record has a article on September 7, 2009 with a title."Plan Will Set Priorities for Downtown" CLICKHERE . In the article this was said"The group is working through a 15-member team that includes Mayor Yvonne Johnson and Melvin “Skip” Alston, chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners"

Below the fold you will see the list of who is actually on this 15 member Downtown Greensboro Colsolidated Plan Core Group ,with a slew of the "USUAL SUSPECTS" on this core 15 member group. Could we just rename the City of Greensboro, BRYANBORO or MELVINBORO or SIMKINSBORO and be done with it. It is also nice to see that the most politically connected developer in town gets a prime seat on this core group in Roy"Can I Offer You A Plane Ride" Carroll.

________________________________________________________

Downtown Consolidated Plan Core Group:

The Core Group will be responsible for managing and directing the planning process. Members represent major economic stakeholders will thoroughly examine and develop specific draft proposals and recommendations. The group will also serve to lead advocacy efforts to implement projects from the plan into the future. The Core Group will generally meet on a monthly basis.

DGI Staff - Ed Wolverton
City Planning - Dick Hails
Elected Official (City) – Mayor Yvonne Johnson
Elected Official (County) – Skip Alston
Professional – John McClendon
Bryan Foundation - Ed Kitchen
DGI Chairman - Michael Schiftan
Property Owner – Roy Carroll
Community – Ralph Johnson , on the Greensboro Zoning Commission Board
Moses Cone Hospital – Mike Roskelly
VF Corporation – Frank Terkelson
Downtown Resident – Afrique Kilimanjaro, Carolina Peacemaker
Action Greensboro - April Harris
County Planning – Les Eger
City Manager/Econ. Development – Andy Scott
Neighborhood – Mac Sims , East Market Street Development

Support Staff:
Action Greensboro - Cecelia Thompson
City Planning - Mary Sertell
City Planning – Mike Kirkman
GDOT – Adam Fischer

In addition to the Core Committee, the Downtown Consolidated Plan will involve a larger (30+) Advisory Committee representing an expanded list of downtown related interests.

There will also be multiple community meetings (with direct mailings to all downtown property owners and other advertising means) and potentially some smaller focus groups addressing specific downtown interests or geographic areas.

The development of the Downtown Consolidated Plan was authorized earlier this year through resolutions adopted by both the City of Greensboro and Guilford County. Additional suggestions on public involvement for this process are welcomed. Additional questions may be addressed to Dick Hails (373-2922), Mike Kirkman (373-4649) or Mary Sertell (373-4769).

This information below the fold was sent to me from Cindy Briggs in Public Affairs Department for City of Greensboro with a Freedom of Information Act request for this information.

Hat Tip from Newsbusters on a Post from Taxpayers March on D.C.

Noel Sheppard from Newsbusters has a post from yesterday titled "NYT Reports Rally Crowd in Thousands, Daily Mail says 2 Million" CLICKHERE with a HAT TIP to Keith Brown in the post.Below is a few paragraphs from the post and the hat tip, pretty cool.

"It goes without saying the Obama-loving media are going to do everything in their power to downplay Saturday's Taxpayer March on Washington, and the New York Times is certainly living down to such expectations.
As evidence, consider the Times headline,"Thousands Rally in Capital to Protest Big Government."

Thousands?

That's certainly not how Britain's Daily Mail saw it (h/t NBer MrShy and reader Keith Brown) "

Porker of the Month Goes to Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii)

Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) CLICKHERE has named Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii) Porker of the Month for slipping a provision (Sec. 2833) into the House version of the fiscal year 2010 Defense Authorization Act that would double the construction costs of relocating 11,600 U.S. troops from Japan to Guam.

The original cost estimate was $15 billion, $10 billion of which is associated with construction of living quarters for military personnel and their families. However, Sec. 2833 requires that the wages paid to construction workers match the “prevailing” wages in Hawaii, which are 250 percent higher than those on Guam. The Congressional Budget Office estimates this would increase the construction costs “by about $10 billion.”

OpenSecrets.org lists the Hunt Building Company, which would be one of the prime builders of the new facilities, as among Abercrombie’s top five campaign contributors in the last election cycle. In addition, Rep. Abercrombie has supported the alternate engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, which has been a target for elimination by the Pentagon and both Presidents Bush and Obama. For abusing an already-stretched Pentagon budget to reward favored contractors and continue funding a wasteful and unnecessary alternate engine, CAGW names Rep. Neil Abercrombie August Porker of the Month. Read more about the Porker of the Month.

Editorial Cartoon of the Day Under The Heading of ETHICS

We can only hope that the batch of local Guilford County candidates in municipal races all over the county will start looking more and more at better transparency and ethics.

ETHICS ETHICS ETHICS Greensboro City Council Candidates Speak Up! Who Else Will Step Up?

Greensboro City Council At Large Candidate Nancy Vaughan has offered a "ETHICS Challenge" CLICKHERE to all the candidates in the upcoming 2009 Greensboro North Carolina Municipal election.

It seems like Greensboro mayoral candidate Bill Knight has posted on his own blog Knight At Large CLICKHERE that he has accepted the ETHICS challenge and will post on his campaign site as soon as the commission receives a copy.

The blogosphere has been talking about this issue today and TRIADWATCH is a little late to the party but if you have been following this blog you will know that this is a huge issue to me and to the citizens of all of Guilford County just check out the 40 plus post on ethics CLICKHERE. Here is a few of the post that have been out today on this Ethics Challenge from

ROCH 101 CLICKHERE to Ed Cone CLICKHERE to My Good Friend Tony Wilkins CLICKHERE and FEC with his xtranormal video CLICKHERE

Where did this ETHICS challenge come from?

Below is the minutes from the March 17, 2009 Greensboro City Council meeting and if you want to see the video CLICKHERE and proceed to the video for March 17, 2009

Mayor Johnson introduced a second addendum item, a resolution in support of House Bill #287 to extend state government ethics act to county and municipal officials. Attorney Wood explained that the resolution was designed to prevent public officials’ conflicts of interest. Brief discussion was held by Council regarding the limitations of the ethics bill. To avoid conflicts with the bill, Attorney Wood recommended that city officials not accept any items at all.
Discussion indicated that the state ethics bill was written in response to abuse; and the ratification of the ethics legislation would be applicable to elected officials and their spouses.

Councilmember Wade moved adoption of the resolution. Councilmember Rakestraw seconded the motion; the motion was adopted on the following roll-call vote: Ayes: Barber, Groat, Johnson, Perkins, Rakestraw, Wade, and
Wells. Noes: Bellamy-Small.

87-09 RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF HB 287 TO EXTEND STATE GOVERNMENT ETHICS ACT TO COUNTY AND MUNICIPAL OFFICIALS
WHEREAS, House Bill 287 has been introduced during the 2009 Legislative Session of the North Carolina General Assembly;

WHEREAS, the Bill would extend the state ethics act to include, apply to and cover certain local government officials, including city council and county commissioner members;

WHEREAS, local government officials should be subject to the same high standards of conduct and reporting requirements that apply to state government officials;

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Greensboro City Council supports House Bill 287 and City staff is directed to pursue passage of the bill during the 2009 Session of the General Assembly as part of the Legislative
Agenda of the City of Greensboro.

(Signed) Trudy Wade

________________________________________________________

It will be great to see the answers from the candidates as to if they will also step up to the challenge and fill out the ethics form. Will Greensboro City Council member Robbie Perkins who has plenty of vested interest all over the place and all you need to do is see this post titled "Greensboro City Council Member Robbie Perkins Getting Sued by Former Partner in Yes! Weekly" CLICKHERE

Then we have Greensboro City Council member Zack Matheny who also will not disclose his ties to the development industry with a post on September 17, 2008 with a title"Highway 68 North+ Anonymous Investors + Zack and Robbie = Ethical Problems" CLICKHERE

Then we have Greensboro City Council member Sandra Anderson Groat who should fill out the form and put a negative number because she owes around $250,000 to Pegram West according to this post from FEC with a title "SAG is Stupid" CLICKHERE but as the late billy mays would say "but wait there's more", then we find out that not only does the council women live out in the lake jeanette area of Greensboro she also is renovating a house near cone hospital here is that post from FEC with a title "Anderson Groat's New Digs" CLICKHERE , with a comment on the post saying this"I bet by the time she is finished, she will have close to $2mil in this property." Nice to know that you can renovate this home but won't pay your personal guarantee to pegram west.

Then we have the Mayor of Greensboro Yvonne Johnson where we also know that filling out the ethics form means you need to have your spouse as well fill out the form also. Let's not forget that on 7-31-2008 the rhino times has a article titled "Mayor named in Tax Lien Lawsuit" CLICKHERE with a quote from the article,

"When asked about her husband being so far behind on paying his city taxes, Yvonne Johnson, who has been a city councilmember since 1993, said, "I wish he had paid it. I didn't know it." She added, "I was not aware that he owed city taxes."

Nice quote there Mayor.

If any of the candiates wants to fill out the form to turn in to the ethics commission you can get the form CLICKHERE . It is time for ethics to play a more prominent role in our local elected officials because it is obvious that they don't have a clue and all you need to do is ask the mayor about a plane ride to D.C.

NEWSBUSTED on TRIADWATCH for 9/1/2009 KennedyCare?

Newsbusted is new for 9-1-2009 on TRIADWATCH click on the embedded title above.

Topics in today's show: KennedyCare?, All your base is belonging to... Obama?, Obama vacation, And the KFC double down.

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Starring: Jodi Miller

Director: Bruce Roundtower

Executive Producer: Matthew Sheffield