CLAY COUNTY CLEANUP SHUT DOWN?!?!



We've been following this good government effort for more than a year. It started with a outrage over a pricey coffee machine and snowballed into a good government crusade and petition effort in search of more accountability.

However, this week the Clay County commish strikes back and there's no denying they have demonstrated a great deal of skill in challenging the efforts of petitioners.

And so we put it to our blog community . . .

WHO IS WINNING THE FIGHT TO CLEAN UP CLAY COUNTY??? WILL THERE BE A COMPROMISE??? AND IS THE KEURIG K3000 WORTH THE MONEY?!?!

Honestly, it looks like a splendid machine even if I would miss my favorite midtown baristas because TKC looks just a bit friendlier carrying some extra winter weight and bundled up like I'm prepping for the Iditarod just to walk less than one block outside.



Check the links . . .

KSHB: Battle between Clay Co. Commission & MO State Auditor escalates over audit

KMBC: Legal fight continues in Clay County over Missouri auditor's subpoena

KMBZ: Animosity grows between Clay County and the Missouri Auditor

You decide . . .

Comments

  1. Amore accurate headline would be...

    "TWO SKETCHY CLAY COUNTY COMMISSIONERS IN A PANIC TRY DESPERATELY TO DELAY AN AUDIT UNTIL ALL EVIDENCE HAS BEEN DESTROYED!"

    But that's not really a headline, that's the entire story.

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  2. ^^^^^^^^^ Good point!

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  3. As far as I can see in any story, the coffee pot is the only real concern this group of clowns has to offer as misappropriation!! Jason Withington, Mr. Transparency himself, won't let anyone with facts who disagrees with him on the site, and deletes comments that don't meet his needs. HE'S A FARCE! If we're going to have transparency, let's have it everywhere!!!!! Jerry Nolte is engineering this little train wreck because he's a crybaby who has no friends on the commission. If Lauren Arthur were smart, she would run from this shit show and not get involved!

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    1. Tick tock. Have you got your bug out bag ready? Felonies are no joke.

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  4. From KSHB: “She can’t go out and do management audits or performance audits. She can only do financial audits,” he said. “We’re not trying to hide anything that the law doesn’t say we’re allowed to withhold.”

    Since the audit began, Hatley said over two dozen county members have been interviewed while the county has handed over plenty of financial information.

    “The county has given her the last two years of its general ledgers and 300,000 lines of its last transactions,” he said. “The county has fully cooperated with the auditor’s request when it comes to the financial transactions and the financial records. That’s all she’s empowered to look at under the state constitution.”

    Hatley said concerns were raised by commissioners after the auditor’s office allegedly asked for closed session records.

    According to Hatley, the records contain sensitive information.

    “There are things that come up in closed session, such as personnel issues and employee health issues,” he said. “We don’t know why they want them and they won’t give us an explanation and that’s all we’re asking.”

    JASON - WHAT IF YOU WERE AN EMPLOYEE WITH A PERSONNEL ISSUE DISCUSSED IN CLOSED SESSION, WOULD YOU WANT CERNER TO MAKE THAT PUBLIC ON YOU?? SOUNDS TO ME LIKE THEY ARE PROTECTING THE EMPLOYEES THEY ARE CHARGED TO PROTECT! YOU WANTED FINANCIAL AUDIT - LET THEM DO A FINANCIAL AUDIT. I'M THINKING SHE DOESN'T UNDERSTAND HER JOB (AND CLEARLY - NEITHER DO YOU).

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  5. Clay County maleficence is amateurish compared to KC mayor/council sleight of hand.

    They need to go take classes and 12th and Oak.

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  6. Were Finances discussed at all in those "closed sessions", @8:04?
    Because that would make them eligible for the Auditor's review.

    It would be extremely easy to plot all sorts of fiscal chicanery during a two-person "meeting", then mention "what a great job Waldo is doing, we should promote him, now that his rash has cleared up.", and try to "close the books of the crooks" because there were "personnel issues and employee health issues" discussed, that tactic has been tried before, many times.

    I spent many years performing Forensic Audits, and so far Galloway appears to have complied to Generally Accepted Standards and Practices just fine.

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  7. 8:24 - and KC City Hall has LOTS of KEURIG machines!! Jason - chase that story!!

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  8. 8:27, Hi Jason, I seriously doubt you have any real experience in closed session materials and the legalities of their use.

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  9. @8:31, sorry, not Jason -why yes, as a matter of fact, I do have experience with spurious closed door sessions, I've helped detect several cases of fraud in the Corporate world, and have been called as an "expert witness" in quite a few Cases.

    And your own expertise is?

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  10. 8:36, my expertise - detecting BS when I see it!

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  11. @8:58, yes, lots of us see your posts, every day!

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  12. Minutes of closed meetings are public record. Discussions are not but any votes are to be disclosed. Also disclosing info to auditors is not the same as making it public.

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  13. A lot of us don't see his posts every day. He hides them, particularly when he's wrong and making stuff up. And he blocks the people he lies and makes stuff up about, as well as the people who might explain the facts that the is misstating, just to keep them from pointing out the truth.

    This isn't about the audit. You may have started well, Jason, but you've accomplished that, so now what? You're using your fifteen minutes of fame to misstate facts about your new targets . . . why?

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  14. 9:23 - where do you see my comments? Certainly not on Jason's pages - he blocks people who might know the truth. He's transparent, after all.

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  15. Nespresso coffee machines you can at least recycle the cartridges, and get a cheaper machine.

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  16. I fully support this audit.
    However, I am disturbed by the motivations of those driving the audit and Galloway's behavior. Most auditors quietly go about their work and in the end release an audit report. This auditor, Galloway, started off by grandstanding in press releases and interviews. She has made disparaging comments about the County, some commissioners, and staff. She has joined in with a group led by Jason Withington and Presiding Commissioner Jerry Nolte. Jason Withington is not held in high esteem by anyone except himself. He has no credibility in the community and has his own political ambitions. Nolte is using the audit in retribution against the other commissioners that he doesn't get a long with. The whole audit effort was deeply political at the start. It isn't about a group of citizens desiring a well run county. It is an effort to drive two people out of office and make Nolte and Withington prosper politically. Although the results of an audit may result in findings that reflect poorly on people, including office holders, and even criminal charges, this should not be the motivation. Galloway should have recognized this and insulated her office from it. Instead, she has behaved very unprofessionally and she now has no credibility.
    Now we have Senator Arthur introducing legislation making it possible to remove the two targeted commissioners. Senator, you are pandering to Withington and Nolte.
    To date, I don't see anyone wanting to do an audit. This is about Nolte, Withington, Galloway, and Arthur wanting to get two commissioners thrown out of office.
    I think Galloway should step back and hire a third party audit firm to complete a professional audit.


















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  17. @10:31 -- Well said!

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  18. 10:32 I agree

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  19. The audit will be a huge nothing because everything Withington and Nolte have ever touched ends up that way.

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  20. 10:41 is exactly on point. 10:43 is also correct.

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  21. Nolte has been promoting all the controversy at the behest of a developer who wants to regain control of Clay County.
    Nolte's first contribution in 2014 was $5,000 from the developer. Millions of dollars in TIF and other incentives are at stake. Nolte's October 11, meeting featured a lecture on TIF from this developer. Nolte has been leading the effort to create controversy in order to discredit the other officeholders in the hope that the others can be easily defeated. Withington has latched on to Nolte as birds of a feather. Galloway and Arthur are are both incredibly naïve about Clay County. Check the background of Nolte's first contributor and you will find convincing evidence of criminal activity.

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  22. Gene you've posted plenty of agreements with yourself, I'm going to be at Huey's for lunch around 12:30, name's Bill, 6'2", graying at the temples, full beard, USMC jacket.

    Why don't you drop by and we can discuss your horseshit claims and insults face to face? I'll buy the coffee.

    Oh, and don't worry, I know what you look like.

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  23. Bill, Is Huey's a restaurant? What's the address?

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  24. Sorry, I've posted some of these posts critical of Withington's activities unrelated to the audit. I'm not Gene, I'm not Luanne, I'm not a developer, I'm not a politician. I'm just an ordinary Clay County Citizen. And I will not be joining you for lunch, sorry.

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  25. Bill - I've had lunch, but thanks for the offer! Oh, and I'm not Gene either. You guys can't have it both ways, first the commissioners are too old to know how to operate computers (white out on the screen...you remember?) or they are posting on TKC.

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  26. Same old Bill2/6/19, 1:43 PM

    Missed you at lunch, Gene!
    Oh, and like you didn't know, Huey's is that place across the street from the Courthouse that you walked by on your way to your car today.
    (That was me, waving from the table in the window.)
    Food was great, as always!

    You've made a few slipups in your posts, today and previously, making references to information that only someone intimately familiar with the workings within County Government could possibly know, so any claims to be "just an ordinary Clay County citizen" ring as false as the claim that you two are resisting the Auditor's work "to save the citizens of the County money".

    But, that's okay, just keep on denying who you are and posting unsubstantiated claims that others are beholden to developers (as both you and Luanne certainly are) and I'll continue to rag you about it.

    Oh, and I never implied age had a relationship to white-out, that hoary old joke relates to hair color.

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  27. So now it's outright thuggery and threats to those that are interested in getting to the bottom of the Clay County shit show.

    One thing is for sure. This amount of shrieking rage and defensive panic means there's a very juicy story to be found out.

    Tick tock. :)

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  28. Sorry Bill -- You have mistakenly assumed that all of the anti-Withington posts are the same person. They are not. I have made some and not others; therefore, I know that there are at least two.

    I'm not Gene. I don't have anything against Nolte (except to the extent that he has empowered and allied with Withington). And I support the audit. Sorry to disappoint.

    I don't support Withington distorting the truth about non-profit organizations. Why don't you ask him about that?

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  29. Calling for an outside auditor!

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  30. Geesh! Old Withington is getting really defensive on his facebook page. Wonder why? Feeling cornered, Jason? Afraid the truth is coming out about you?

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  31. Funny thing is, he's blocked me from seeing things and I've never even posted anything on his page. Shows how scared he is that I might expose his half-truths and distortions.

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  32. Man Jason, you and Nolte ought to just give it up. Craig Porter doesn't pay you enough to put up with this abuse.

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  33. I hear that Galloway's team is living high on the hog when they are in Liberty. Expensive hotels and the best meals. Your tax dollars at work!

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  34. Why are you hiding behind anonymous? At least when I mention Northland Neighborhoods, Inc. (NNI) receiving $75k from Clay County I put my name behind it. The $75K also happens to also be the exact dollar figure of NNI’s CEO salary. When Clay County can’t fully fund the Sheriff’s Department or County Clerk’s office what’s wrong with asking why the county continues to pay the CEO’s salary?

    It’s my understand that NNI doesn’t have a funding problem. Two weeks ago, the KCMO Housing Committee voted to give NNI $500K (last year it was $250K). At that meeting the CEO and Councilman Fowler told the committee that for every $1 they receive they raise an additional $2.

    According to the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation last year NNI received $1,170,721 from government contributions, $50,974 from foundations and corporations and only $18,513 from special events. NNI’s fundraising expense is $14,892. They don’t have a grant writer, the CEO writes all their grants so I assume the $14k is for the annual breakfast or the CEO pays herself to write grants. Either way not a great ROI.

    If the housing committee is giving NNI $250K-$500K what other government source is providing the additional $1M? PIAC? The CEO is also the chair of the PIAC committee. I know NNI received $150K from D2 road resurfacing dollars. PIAC dollars I thought were to be used for capital improvement projects such as roads, sidewalks, playgrounds. What capital project did NNI complete with the D2 road resurfacing money?

    http://gkccf.guidestar.org/NonprofitProfile.aspx?OrgId=1126
    https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/431746357

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  35. What's NNI and what do they have to do with a Clay County audit? You are unhinged Wiffleton.

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  36. Wiffleton -- now, that's funny!

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  37. Can we call him Wiffy for short?

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  38. Mr. Withington, what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone on this page is now dumber for having read it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

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  39. Nothing worse than a conspiracy theorist with a computer and social media account! Did it ever occur to you Jason, that the reason Clay County has attorneys (to file suits and whatnot), is to use their valuable advice? If the attorney filed the suit, he must think they have a case. I know that's connecting a lot of dots for you, but give it a try.

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  40. I don’t think it is fair to drag Commissioner Nolte into this. He is just trying to make Clay County transparent and accountable. Don’t we all want that? I know for a fact that he can’t stomach Withington. He told me so. He said that Jason does a good job of keeping things stirred up for the audit. But he is sick of W calling him all of the time and demanding stuff.

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  41. @5:11 The Clay County attorney at the time wrote a legal opinion that the commission shouldn't send out the birthdays cards to only a select few of constituents. Ridgeway and Owen didn't take his advice and sent the cards anyway. If they didn't trust the attorney's advice then why should we trust they are taking the best advice now?

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  42. Yes, that birthday card business was HUGE breaking news!!

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  43. If the birthday cards weren't that big of a deal why didn't Commissioner Ridgeway and Assistant County Administrator Nicole Brown tell the truth? In the legal ruling the judge wrote that he found the testimony of both "not credible"

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  44. wtf somebody send this guy a birthday card.

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  45. Only if it includes a gift card or cash. Otherwise a Facebook wish is good enough. Save the taxpayers a stamp.

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  46. It's a food fight. The Commissioners have the biggest plates at the table for now. The elected officers of the county have the next biggest plates. Some commissioners are handing appointees more powers than elected officials-and that's why the courts keep handing the commissioners losses...it's not how things are supposed to work. The lawyers are the janitors, but to keep things from getting too messy, some are stealing some lunches for themselves. The citizens are just trying to get out of the cafeteria without being a mess. It doesn't take a law degree or a research position in government administration to see that Luann is trying to break up established paths of power in the elected offices outside the commission. As for the charter committee..."here, have some baked beans off this plate..." it's all part of the food fight. Citizens just need to vote "no" in April (or whenever this actually gets on the ballot). Then, when time comes to elect a new commission: make wiser choices. The established powers groups have that long to figure out their next move or join citizens in getting out of this food fight.

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