Bethlehem City Council member Karen Dolan may have resigned as Executive Director at Illick's Mill, but it's pretty clear she's still running the show. Over the weekend, she appears to have sent out three "GB. Fox Transparency" emails to the public.
Below a picture of her staring up at the Mill reverentially, as though it were the Face of God, her missive starts like this:
Although the recent false accusations, innuendo, and attacks against our non-profit have been outrageously untrue, we know that no one can protect themselves against unethical bloggers and those who act on the principle of repeating lies so that eventually they become “the truth.” In today’s 24-hour news cycle and atmosphere of vicious and unsubstantiated on-line accusations, we understand what Warwick meant in Henry VI: “What fates impose, that men must needs abide; It boots not to resist both wind and tide.” (Loose translation: Don’t fight what you can’t change.)
I'm not sure who this unethical blogger is, but I'm thinking Molovinsky. Might even be that bastard, Bill White.
How do I know it's Dolan? She quotes Shakespeare, and then has to translate it for we vulgaris, her intellectual inferiors..
Loosely.
She condemns the attacks on her nonprofit, but actually, it is her own conflicts of interest and questionable dealings with the City that have drawn criticism.
Anyhoo, after the tautology that false accusations are outrageously untrue (She was an English teacher?), Dolan goes on.
But we can speak the truth to you – backed up by every supporting document we have -- in the hopes that you will make up your own minds about the Fox Environmental Center. To that end, we created a Google Drive web site where anyone can review our organizational information at his or her convenience. In the coming weeks and days, we will add additional text to help our members and supporters understand how these documents make a clear case against loose accusations. We will also respond to each question raised against us in the blogosphere and then repeated in mainstream media.
She's gonna' need more supporting documents. None of them rebuts any of the things I've said about her. She failed to file 990s for three years straight. As a result, her nonprofit status was revoked by the IRS for at least a year. During that time period, she continued fundraising. She stopped paying utilities at Illick's Mill, despite the plain language of her lease. Her weddings at Illick's Mill also appear to violate the strict language of her lease. She racked up a $128,000 debt to the City that mysteriously went Poof! As Chair of the Parks Committee, she proposed easing up on the booze rules so her nonprofit could benefit. As a Council member, she voted twice to approve City budgets that included $11,000 for heating oil at a nonprofit in which she was financially interested. She threatened to use her powers as a member of Council to keep a new lease from going to that body.
In short, nothing she has posted changes the fact that she engaged in conflicts of interest in violation of the Ethics Code.
The documents she does post raise new questions. Why is it that the 2008 and 2009 tax returns are undated and unsigned? Where are the 2011 and 2012 tax returns? Why is it that the 2010 tax return bears a date of 4/15/14? What authority did she have to host weddings when they appear to have been conducted in violation of the plain language of the lease that she published? Why did she throw her accountant under the bus when it was her own responsibility, as Executive Director, to file those tax returns?
I've got a quote for her.
"We must be careful about what we pretend to be." Kurt Vonnegut, Mother Night. Loosely translated, that means Dolan is the worst kind of phony.
I sent an email to the address in this weekend screed. No response. I called the number. Not in service. Using the Illick's Mill webpage, I emailed Board Chair Andrew Bollinger. Invalid email. I emailed a Board member I know. No answer.
So much for transparency and wanting to answer questions.
Dolan should put down the Bard and pick up the Ethics Code.
She should also resign.
What do you think of this?
ReplyDelete"Current Mayor Bob Donchez said he doesn’t plan to seek payment on the $128,000 worth of work though his administration included the 2010 bill in the information it sent to city council. He said he’s also heard before that the $128,000 was for improvements to the building that the city had agreed to do for Dolan’s organization."
Can a Mayor just do that?
the racist got caught with her pants down (try to erase that picture from your mind) now she is tilting at windmills.
ReplyDeleteseems to me she should quit digging her own hole deeper
For all the good she has done, she's simply making things worse.
ReplyDeleteanyone notice a trend here? not respected as a teacher, not respected as a so called council person. not respected as an non-profit exec. three strikes and you're out
ReplyDeletebut then you never know brown could hire her
anyone notice a trend here? not respected as a teacher, not respected as a so called council person. not respected as an non-profit exec. three strikes and you're out
ReplyDeletebut then you never know brown could hire her
She should stop talking to the press.
ReplyDeleteIt's one thing to be bad at being a director. It happens. Things get missed.
However, when you feel a constant need to defend yourself to anyone who will listen, it gives off the appearance you've got something to hide or you're hedging against the other shoe dropping in the near future.
If she's no longer the director, the organization needs to tell her to zip it.
The board Prez needs to pull the plug on this ASAP!
ReplyDeleteIf Willie Reynolds wants to show ANY TYPE of leadership he needs to ask Ms Dolan to resign from council.
ReplyDeleteCity Council is already a mess and Karen Dolan is the ring leader of incompetence
BO, you must admit you are truly one of the Vulgaris
ReplyDeleteTrue.
ReplyDeleteBernie happens to know the Fox number and email. Although it's also on the Fox website, it was incorrectly typed into the first email, then quickly followed up with a correction. The email is nature center@gbfox.org; the phone number is 610-419-0218.
ReplyDeleteDolan is the Executive Director until April 30th; the effective resignation date chosen by the Fox Board. She will continue to volunteer at the Fox at least through the summer.
Contrary to what you seeom to think, i do not walk around with emails and phone members imprinted on my brain. I called the number listed. It is not in service. I emailed the address provided. No answer. I tried contacting the Chair via the Fox webpage. His email is invalid.
ReplyDeleteSo it goes.
So much for your transparency. Not one of your documents has addressed the concerns raised.
How can the Board choose an effective date when she is the one who resigned? She chose the date, not them. I understand she's still getting paid, too. Must be nice.
ReplyDelete11:44. He can't force her to resign. That would highly unethical and illegal.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, they would just appoint another anti-Donchez member to Council. Probably Joe Kelly.
The resignation letter offered the board an immediate resignation, or the option of Dolan staying on until the 30th, giving the board a chance to transition.
ReplyDeleteThe Board chose the 30th.
Dolan was a volunteer who first got paid for her job in the Fall of 2013 (You can find proof of this in the documents the Fox posted publicly). This is contrary to what you wrote, that she had been getting paid since 2012.
These salary documents were once made available to you, but you refused them.
The truth is coming out, and Bernie's lies are unraveling.
Actually, it is Dolan herself who told the ET during an interview that she was being paid. That was in 2012. She clearly had a pecuniary interest even if she was not being paid bc it was her intention to be paid. So when she voted for the 2013 Budget, she violated the Ethics Code. When she voted for the 20/4 Budget, she was being pade and clearly violated the Ethics Code. When she recently threatened to use the power of her office to keep a new lease from Council, she violated the Ethics Code. Her role in having the $128,000 debt written off needs to be explored. That is likely yet another violation. I've been fairly sccurate in my reporting, and what Dolan has posted actually corroborates the conflict.
ReplyDeleteShe has disgraced her office and the people of Bethlehem, and needs to resign.
You just got owned, BOH.
ReplyDeleteAnyone who thinks that lives in never never land. That has been Dolan's problem all along. She claims to be transparent but does not identify herself. She is now using nonprofit resources to attack the press and "unethical bloggers." The information she has posted actually hurts her. It provides solid proof that she is being paid. It shows she violated the lease.
ReplyDeleteDolan, by virtue of the information she herself has posted, has demonstrated she engaged in a conflict if interest.
what do you mean she's still getting paid bernie?
ReplyDeleteThis has been the way it is for decades. The Callahan's, Donchez',Reynolds and Hana's, all look at the rest of the Bedlam residents as the vulgaris to be fleeced and used to their advantage.
ReplyDeleteThis is the story of Bedlam.
Such is life in a one-party town. Dolan isn't going anywhere.
ReplyDeleteBernie, do not stop. Great investigative reporting. I am not being facetious. Great job!
ReplyDelete