Conflict of interest - how remote is a tie that conflict is imagined, possible, but too disabling of too many situations if rigidly applied?

KAAL TV, online reporting, here, reference back to here.

Carried to the absurd, would you fault a Ramsey council member for voting on having a VA clinic in Ramsey, without disclosing in writing on the record that he/she is a veteran and hence would benefit from the clinic being near home?

That would mean faulting the mayor, Tossey, and Wise, if not others; and to say such an interest is disqualifying would shrink the number of "unconflicted" decision makers unreasonably. There is an online case on point. Similarly, Tossey would not be disqualified to vote on Town Center stuff while owning a home there, as any such conjured disqualification would impact many citizens' right to run and represent Ward 3. Drawing a line of what's kosher or not is not easy, but the Wise real estate dealings were voted to be problematic while he serves on council. That is both very direct, and with a substantial amount of public money involved. It is not some speculative thing where a speculative small boost in market value of a home in Town Center would disqualify one from voting on minor subsidy to a restaurant, on the argument that another restaurant there would make it a more desirable place to live.

Factors to keep in mind, the public's wanting to discourage likely mischief, the amount at stake, requiring a gap between end of service and taking certain employments, the directness vs remoteness of the conflict, whether suitable advanced public disclosure is given so the public has information it may judge, and whether a decisive vote has been entered by the conflicted person.

RAMSEY -- More Darren dollars debate.

Sakry reports, Nov. 2, 2012, those wanting to flow more cash, same old bloc, opposition asking for justification detail, also mainly as before. Tossey and Backous being swing votes; this meeting Elvig was absent.

When it comes to freely flowing cash to Landform, Strommen is, interestingly, the fiscal conservative.

Yes, elsewhere.

Sakry reports, of all things, more Ramsey spending on the dumb Sunwood snaking (update: curved rerouting, to disambiguate the verb).

I use Coborns, and if the new route had only been a north running deadended-at-Sunwood thing intersecting Sunwood's west end somewhere around the Coborns complex, and the existing Sunwood stubbed dead end at the major westernmost Coborns entrance once Armstrong is rebuilt, Coborns access would not have been so senselessly screwed up. Mega-screwed up.

But this is Ramsey under present council leadership so spend more on a dumber routing.

Mr. Special, the I bring (maybe) Super America and a burger joint, wants more green.

Big surprise.

The guy who got a million and a quarter with the meter still running has brought a neo-Stalinesque hulking apartment complete with multimillion dollar public money subsidies, and then there's one Mexican food restaurant, and now Super America rumored, McDonalds, rumored.

It can be the equivalent of Hwy. 116 at Hwy. 47, with the burger joint semi-adjacent to the Mexican food outlet, the Super America across the street. Difference? El Azteca has better food and more class than Acapulco, and is not disturbingly loud.

A mil and a quarter, for ultra-schlock? Wow.

But, Mr. Special wants more.

Here's a quote from Sakry's report:

Whose responsibility is it to manage the Landform contract and see that it does not go over the approved amount, said Councilmember Sarah Strommen.

“I don’t want this to come back again. Are there ways Landform can use (its) time more efficiently,” she said.

Which brings us back to the headline.

Laudable and efficient use of time and tax money

An error. Nobody gave me notice. Self discovered, this correction. Then, Cincinnati.

On searching online district court dockets, James F. Winkels as a civil party, there were some cases with large judgments entered without any sign of their being paid down; e.g.,

No. 02-CV-10-6435, Anoka County, Judgment against multiple parties, Winkels included, in the amount of $3,852,751.76

No. 02-CV-10-6433, Anoka County, Judgment against multiple parties, Winkels included, in the amount of $1,737,819.81

Only today I noticed I could search outstanding judgments separately, and doing so for James Winkels yielded only

Without knowing system reliability, but presuming it reliable, the upshot appears that for some cause or reason judgments in large amounts happen and are entered, but that all that is listed for unsatisfied judgments is a five-figure amount of a six figure judgment.

Without taking time to track down court files, I conclude the man has gravitas, that somehow the multiple party judgments were cleared/lost, whatever. But only one shows for James Winkels, independent of middle initial.

The error was in this post.

The search of litigation showed much dispute reaching the courts, but appearing to not be any longer of consequence.

The question of signing an earnest money contract as "partner" of an LLC remains.

The question of the name of the LLC, and the web search finding such an LLC owning rental property in Cincinnati remains; how does an Ohio city relate to Town Center and promises of a gas station there. Such as that's worth, as a big deal.

Now, Flaherty has activity in Cincinnati; this link.

A affiliate of Indianapolis-based Flaherty & Collins recently acquired 11 acres of the former Cincinnati Milacron site in Oakley for $3.8 million.

It’s the second transfer of property in recent weeks at the Oakley Station mixed-use project. It comes two weeks after Reece-Campbell Inc. and Hi-Mark Construction Group. began construction on a 14-screen Cinemark movie theater.

Oakley FC LLC, which lists Flaherty & Collins’ Indianapolis address, bought the newly created parcel on Oct. 19 from USS Realty, according to the Hamilton County auditor’s website.

Flaherty & Collins previously said it plans to build seven apartment buildings with 302 units at Oakley Station. The apartments will be located on the southwest portion of the larger development site, which occupies 74 acres bounded by Disney, Marburg and Forrer streets, with Cast-Fab Technologies Inc. to the west along Interstate 71.

Oakley Station is being developed by VanderCar Holdings as the second phase of its adjacent Center of Cincinnati retail complex.

Construction began last week, and tenant occupancy is expected in July 2013, said Jim Crossin, vice president of development at Flaherty & Collins. The units will feature granite countertops, balconies, washers and dryers, and oversize windows, he said. An 8,000-square-foot residents' facility will include a fitness center, club room and aqua lounge with wireless throughout, he said.

Sound familiar? Well, from reporting, which could be incomplete on source of money, the appearance is Flaherty's using $3.8 million of his own money with what must be a sophisticated counterparty; whereas he's using our own city money to bootstrap his way into the rental by the rails adventure here; with the counterparty here such as it is and as it is advised. Private sector seems to be able to get better reasonableness from Flaherty than public sector, here, Orland Park.

With reporting scant, there may be several devils in other peoples' details.

I am waiting to hear this argument, surprised it has not yet been advanced.

cumulative figure validation, this link

So here's how the argument goes, that is $1,262,171.59 and Wikipedia tells us "The population was 23,668 at the 2010 census."

That's only fifty-three bucks per capita. Sheep give up more each fleecing, and this is not like a slaughterhouse meal thing, hide tanning and all. It's a sandbur, not a scorpion sting.

Worded perhaps a bit differently by one who might reach for that sophistry in seriousness, to persuade, but stripped bare that's the argument.

A light fleecing, per capita, one that will not even cause a winter shiver.

This is an outrage. Use of the propaganda technique known as The Big Lie. Brought to you by Emily's spouse. What's his name.

What you see is weasel wording. Dreams to Desolation and Bank fraud, not expected but pled to, was the direct outcome of the Thomaswood folks in their haste to make millions off their cornfield selling to Bruce Nedegaard.

No prior council set that policy, other than to reason: leave it private sector, don't socialize it; don't subsidize it.

Unfortunately, private sector in a boom market, (per the Thomaswood profit-motivated decision making pair), led to the BIG BRUCE NEDEGAARD SPLAT.

Now, Drive north on Sunfish Lake Blvd and a quarter mile or so before the Alpine light, on the east side, notice the Thomaswood driveway sign, accompanied by a bevy of political signs of the Thomaswood favorites.

It is a crony sign pack, and what's his name, Emily's spouse, is right in there among them.

Go figure who is propagating the current thing in a meandering way, having gone as far as spending public money to compete with a private sector landowner who did know what he was doing and who built a VA center that is quite popular while having been fully financed with only private dollars invested, but with the Thomaswood favorites trying to take credit for their competitor's talent, panache and success.

What the Thomaswood favorites cheerfully ignored is that the market crashed for a range of reasons and was thus telling all but the most intrepidly inattentive that real estate was to be distressed for years.

So the Thomaswood favorites reasoned, "It's a big time splat, let's use city public money to buy and socialize it so we can play as if we know what we're doing," but instead they gave Landform $1.25 million, for Landform to pretend they know what they're doing (seemingly little, besides having a hand out and never turning down the current regime of regular monthly five-figure largesse for Landform).

Darren Lazan, he's not on the ballot, but the guy who loves the Flaherty subsidies, he is, and he bashes others (who never routed Darren a penny nor gave Indiana Jones Flaherty a multi-million dollar construction loan because a gamble can be fun when it's public money not yours).

Don't be too afraid to not SEE WHAT'S HAPPENING THERE.

___________UPDATE___________
Big lie two: This pack inherited an AA+ bond rating, with ample levels of reserves. and the rating agencies have not yet lowered it despite dangerous reductions of reserves so as to allow chest-pounding over an unsustainably low levy rate - unsustainable because there are only a finite amount of reserves left to deplete before that well runs dry. Their trick, turning the city into an operation run by Kurt Ulrich, who they'd have fired if they had the council votes, together with a pack of interns and high priced consultants. If the Flaherty gamble works as we all now are forced to hope for, then the bond rating may not bomb out; but if that mega-rental gamble by the rails goes splat the way Nedegaard did, this time it will be public dollars down the drain, and our town's bond rating will adjust accordingly - going down the drain too.

BE AFRAID, WHEN YOU SEE THE GAMBLE THAT'S THERE.

Facebook Image of the Day. I like my job.

UPDATE: Bless Mr. Cronk and Mr. Flaherty, for hiring the able and deserving. Bless the able and deserving for being available. All's right with the world.