The Mayor and His Niece: Thoughts?

Between this story and the fireman's abuse of sick time in yesterday's paper, the BLADE was actually worth reading

^^I agree. If the Blade would look into more of the "sausage making" of local politics...and do so equally with respect to both political parties...it would be a must-read. Half the reason people look to online sites is to find information like this that is not reported in the mainstream media...where reporters are stenographers for the politco's well-rehearsed lines.

On the whole, this looks bad for Bell. But, honestly, I wonder if his high-profile stance on SB5 had anything to do with the Blade "uncovering" this story. It just smacks of a hit piece they have known about for months.

Find me a mayor/governor/POTUS who has not directed money towards those he favors. Not right, but not unusual either...and it doesn't make the front page every day.

Mike Bell reeks. I hope there are some strong contenders for the next election.

While I'm not a fan of nepotism of any sort, it seems she is turning results and is being paid a fair amount for her effort (assuming she is working on this full time). It appears the real winners are the contractors who are doing most of the work.

Let's start worrying when money comes up missing. Until then, it's nice to see a successful young entrepreneur who isn't running from Toledo as fast as she can.

Are these contracts bid out and if so, how can we bid on them? I would like to throw my application in for the next set of contracts or are these Halliburton type no-bid ones?

Well speaking of the bidding process... Bell is pushing for this:

"Companies that receive property tax breaks for creating jobs in the City of Toledo would not have to hire any local workers or ADVERTISE THE POSITIONS LOCALLY, under a proposed amendment to an existing law being pushed by the Bell administration."

http://www.toledoblade.com/Politics/2011/09/19/No-jobs-for-tax-breaks-draws-ire-2.html

(ALL CAPS mine)

If you have an LLC or a CDC you can bid on them ramblingman.

It would appear that between Mayor Bell and his campaign contributors at Toledo Glass, they had inside knowledge on this program and gave her the tools to make a run on it. Her only mistake appears to be how she listed her LLC on the initial paperwork. She's a smart girl and did the rest on her own it would appear. She will use her connections again on the China trip and probably see another opportunity that most would not.

I have met her out and about in Toledo, usually with the Mayor. She is classy and very easy on the eyes if I do say so.

Mo' Mayor Bell this morning in the Blade:

Businessmen in firm gave to campaign--Partners of Bell's niece exceeded $1,000 limit

So, reading the story...then I get to this:

Lucas County Prosecutor Julia Bates said her office rarely handles such cases and likely would not handle this one unless the Ethics commission referred it to her. The penalty is a fine of up to $1,000 and, if the contracted work has not been performed, the contracts could be rescinded, she said."

I don't give a crap about Bell...really don't. He will be pretty unmemorable as time goes on. But two breathless front-page stories from the Blade over an infraction where the maximum penalty is $1,000 (oh, and destroying Ms. Bell's business--can't forget that)?

Sorry, this smacks of a political hit-piece. I really think it has something to do with Bell's stance on SB5 grinding the gears of JRB.

OHT:

This may be a political hit-piece, but it is disturbing nonetheless. If you start from the beginning of this mess, Shayla has essentially no business experience whatsoever prior to Bell becoming Mayor. Despite that, two local businessmen decide to team with her (providing all the financial resources) to start a company to apply for no-bid contracts from the City. Those businessmen happen to be long-time friends of her uncle, the Mayor. So, they apply for the grants under the name of Fort Industry Development, a company that does not exist at the time of the application. And again, despite that, they are granted their first contract. Now they file with the Secretary of State.

Any one of those oddities would not be too concerning - it's the cumulative effect. Add a couple throw away comments in the articles: 1) Mayor Bell stated that his niece was upset he didn't hire her into his office after election; and 2) Ms. Bell applied for the grants within a month of Mayor Bell taking office, and you have a scandal at the very least. The Blade may be using this to make Mayor Bell look bad, but that doesn't change the facts, and the facts are pretty shady.

MTR--I agree with you (see my first post on this topic--"it looks bad for Bell"). The facts are shady, no doubt.

I'm just reading the tone of these articles and they both read like this is the corruption scandal of the century...when the maximum outcome is a $1,000 fine if any wrongdoing is found. I mean, this isn't a "Tom Noe scandal #2" by any stretch of the imagination.

And I find it hard to believe that the Blade just happened upon the information this week and is rushing it out...needing now two stories (with more to come I'm sure) to tell us all about it. Been around the media a long time and this feels like a very deliberate release and intensity of coverage for a very specific purpose.

"Agenda setting"--you can't tell people what to think...but you can tell them what to think about.

Sorry, this smacks of a political hit-piece. I really think it has something to do with Bell's stance on SB5 grinding the gears of JRB.

I don't think so. It seems clear to me that the Blade agrees with Bell on SB5. Block is very liberal, except when it comes to unions, and I think that stems from all the trouble he had with the unions a few years back.