While the $64 dollar check was small potatoes, the article itself brought up some interesting points. It may have been unfair to ask city manager David Ready if he was familiar with the check but seeing "The best city manager in the country, (Steve Pougnet's words)" channel Sergeant Schultz of Hogan's Heroes was classic. The "smartest" guy in the room did really not have any answers.
The following also jumped out at me as it describes yet another "consulting" contract for Pougnet from developer Stephen Mitchell.
Mitchell and his wife Nancy paid Pougnet as much as $100,000 for consulting work in 2012. Stephen also wrote Pougnet an $8,000 check for his 2007 mayoral campaign.
Like the Meaneys, Stephen Mitchell has declined to say how much he paid Pougnet and what work the former mayor did for his company.
"That's between him and me," Mitchell told a Desert Sun reporter in September. "I just hope everything turns out OK."
So the mayor got yet another 100 grand from a developer? Now I love the fact Mitchell won't disclose what the mayor did. I hope members of the corruption task force read this interview. If I were on it, I would be at Mitchell's office in about 5 minutes.
Questions still abound though. And among them for me are these:
What did Steve Pougnet do for at least the 300 grand he received over 3 years from now 2 different developers?
Was Rich Meaney, who appears to not have the funds to buy a postage stamp let alone 200 grand, merely a conduit, paying Pougnet, for a 3rd party? If so, who? And why?
Why didn't the city require that recipients of the city grant fund program like the Hacienda Beach and Cantina Club purchase a surety bond to cover the grant? It would have guaranteed the city repayment of the money.
How could David Ready and city attorney Doug Holland have no inkling or sense that something was wrong?
Oh well, more details and maybe indictments may emerge shortly.
Steve Kelly can be reached at skelly@rrbroadcasting.com or followed on twitter @skellynj.
You might want to check the Mitchell's even further. On one of their tax returns, they claim their home as their business address. Also....that they made around $130,000 that particular year, $10,000+ of which they paid Steve for "consultation".....or a little less than 10% of their overall income. Hmmm.
ReplyDeleteIt has been suggested, tho' not confirmed, that their design business was trying out flipping, bought a house on El Mirador and perhaps paid a finders' fee to Pougnet?????? Who knows. It's one explanation.