On Monday, I told you that NorCo General Purpose Authority (GPA) Chair Shawn Langen has billed Northampton County $11,950 for his review of a third party engineer who is already reviewing work being done on 33 county bridges through a public private partnership agreement with Kriger Construction. Because Langen waited until the end of last year to submit his invoices all at once, they ended on Executive Lamont McClure's desk. He's weighing his options. On Tuesday, I told you that GPA Solicitor John Lushis and his law firm, Norris McLaughlin and Morris, have already earned $813,000 for their legal work over the past two years. It is highly unusual to pay any board member, except for the Revenue Appeals Board. But the real problem is the excessive fees being charged by Lushis, which have been paid. How did this happen?
Gambling. Executive John Brown took $500,000 in table games revenue and slid it over to the Corrections Budget. From there, he created a "special legal services" line item, and that's what he was using to write checks to the GPA From there, they went to Lushis. That's how he was able to do this without Council or the Controller catching on.
Today's one-liner: "The shortest way to the distinguishing excellence of any writer is through his hostile critics." Richard LeGallienne
Local Government TV
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Wednesday, February 21, 2018
19 comments:
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Can Brown be charged for this? What culpability does Norris McLaughlin and its partners have?
ReplyDelete——Mother Jones
It's very premature to talk about charges. I believe Brown did subvert the Admin Code, but this would need more research. Also, it's no crime to charge excessive fees. I do think it is foolish to pay them, but criminal? I doubt it.
ReplyDeleteSweet deal for luscious Lushis. With that kind of solid income from the county they barely need to break a sweat to bring in enough to make everyone in the firm fat and happy. Brown always acted like he was so responsible - didn't fool me with his $50 vocabulary words and phrases like synergies and economies of scale. Guy was a total buffoon. Probably spent most of his time coming up with fodder to feed council on the rare occasions he said anything at all. Good riddance.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like this is a law firm that should be avoided by governments.
ReplyDeleteThis is crazy. Also a large 500k transfer SHOULD have triggered a look by the controller? Isn't the corrections budget audited?
ReplyDeleteCounty Council hires an "outside" auditing firm to serve as a check and balance to the administration. Were they asleep at the wheel? Did the "finance Director" know about this transfer? He is the one that had to transfer the funds? How did the County accept $500,000.00 from the Gaming Commission and no one knew about he transfer. Did the Director of Corrections know the money was in his budget? You need to get an independent auditor in here to review the County's finances and you need to do it now!
ReplyDeleteGOOD JOB BERNIE
Also, doesn't Council have a Representative on the GPA. Didn't Council's representative think it unusual to have the County paying bills that the Council Rep never saw or approved? Looks like collusion to me??????
Get the independent auditor in here and do it now.
I believe the Russians hacked the payment process.
DeleteFaked factual data put to print to mislead the public into beleiveing the power point presentation!
ReplyDeleteWho said Brown was a dummy? He hoodwinked the government, council and the taxpayers for four years. His dupes, or co-conspirators, worked hard to screw the taxpayers over. Council, even worked harder to the look the other way. This needs to be investigated and tuned over to a special prosecutor for criminal or civil action. At the minimum, the GPA needs to be dismantled!
ReplyDeleteIn the 2016 budget approved when Peg Ferraro was Council President, 500K was allocated from Table Games revenue to the GPA.
ReplyDeleteI was under the impression that all gambling funds went to municipalities affected by the Sands.
ReplyDeleteDisgusting behavior by team Langen/Lushis. How could something like this happpen? Isn’t there ANY accountability?
ReplyDelete"County Council hires an "outside" auditing firm to serve as a check and balance to the administration. Were they asleep at the wheel?"
ReplyDeleteNo. As I've explained several times, they do not audit the GPA.
"I was under the impression that all gambling funds went to municipalities affected by the Sands."
ReplyDeleteThat only applied to slots revenue, and counties have lost control over that.
That is a hell of a lot of money for 2 years worth of work.
ReplyDeleteAuthorities and School Board Solicitors.....ALL HOGS at the feeder-
ReplyDeleteGreat work Bernie, you are like Mueller, just providing the foundation of facts from which the Truth can be deciphered. I would be surprised if the DA didn't take an interest in these shenanigans, it would be a great political move for him and bolster his quest for Congress. There is no downside to exposing abuse and corruption, collusion, hell, this is like Trump lite. Thanks, I look forward to reading your daily installments. Has the MC of ET picked up on any of this yet?
ReplyDelete"took $500,000 in table games revenue and slid it over to the Corrections Budget."
ReplyDeleteIn what year was 500K appropriated from table games to corrections? Who is is feeding you that information? Why would Brown even need to do that? The 2016 budget makes a direct 500K appropriation from table games to the GPA.
Every government agency that receives and spends government money should be audited at least annually.
ReplyDelete