Rah, rah, TAD boom-bah! (Peaceful commission meeting invaded by cheerleaders)
December 12, 2007 at 4:01 pm by Thomas Wheatley in NewsTo add a dash of high school cheer to my esteemed colleague’s post yesterday about the DeKalb County Commission’s vote to approve a TAD at Briarcliff and North Druid Hills roads, I wanted to add a little on-the-ground detail. Yes, DeKalb Commission meetings are usually filled with heart-stopping moments, thanks be to the CEO and his showmanship. But even he was upstaged yesterday.
First, I ask you to harken back to the early days of the debate over whether DeKalb residents wanted a $1 billion Sembler Co. minitropolis built at the busy intersection mentioned above. There were allegations of misconduct, but one that stood out — perhaps for the obvious reasons — involved Commissioner Elaine Boyer and a $20,000 donation made by Sembler to Lakeside High’s Vikings Booster Club. Boyer’s daughters attend Lakeside and are members of the cheerleading squad that the Vikings Booster Club “boosts.”
And yesterday, before the commission meeting got underway, I — along with the rest of those in attendance in Maloof Auditorium — was granted a rah-rah performance by the Lakeside cheerleaders. Filled with chants, cheers and yells. CEO Jones got to meet them in the hallway before the meeting. The girls “loved his [purple] tie.”
That is all.
December 14th, 2007 at 12:36 am
Vernon gets big financial campaign contributions from Mel Sembler, and Sember consultant Angie Fuster is also a Vernon campaign consultant. Vernon wanted Sembler to get their TAD, and they got their TAD.
Vernon wanted his preferred vendors to get big money from the county, and they sure did (link below).
Vernon is just smarter than the rest of us, and always finagles his way to get exactly what he wants.
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/dekalb/stories/2007/12/13/dekaudit_1214.html
The purchasing problems came to light after the county Finance Department asked KPMG to inspect the spending as part of the firm’s audit of 2006 county finances. In a letter summarizing its findings, KPMG said DeKalb frequently skirted its own procurement policies and warned of numerous purchases that posed a “significant deficiency” in financial controls.
An internal review by the county Finance Department was even harsher. The review, conducted under the supervision of finance director Mike Bell, noted a “substantial pattern of splitting” purchase orders into amounts small enough to “circumvent” county policies requiring competitive bids and, in some cases, County Commission approval. “It was obvious that there were intentional violation of those guidelines,” the review said.
January 14th, 2008 at 7:51 pm
You should look into that “booster club” of Elaine’s that Sembler donated to. She has promoted it as a nonprofit group, but it is not registered with the Sec. of State’s office as a nonprofit — or as anything at all. It was just a made-up group that Elaine concocted to receive the money from Sembler and bully the principal and coaches at Lakeside into doing what she wanted. There’s much more here than just a donation from a developer. Promoting a group as a nonprofit when it isn’t even a legitimate booster club is VERY questionable. I wish someone would do a little digging into Elaine’s fake booster club and some of her other antics. She is not all that she would like people to think that she is.
June 21st, 2009 at 1:57 am
Hey i like it!!!