STEVEN A. McCALEB
103 ALVERADO DRIVE
LONG BEACH, MISSISSIPPI
PHONE & FAX: (228)-868-8428
By GEOFF PENDER and PATRICK PETERSON
THE SUN HERALD
Monday, April 30, 2007
GULFPORT - In a court hearing Friday, Harrison
County officials produced records that they had denied existed.
Does the word, "Special Election" mean
anything to the voters and taxpayers of Mississippi?
The five elected supervisors and County
Administrator Pam Ulrich have denied that supervisors divvy up the county's $1
million-a-year escrow account to spend in their individual districts on
organizations, people and projects. Because Harrison County operates under the
unit system of government, state law requires that spending and other operations
be managed for the county as a whole, not by individual supervisors.
If it is found that our elected officials have
committed a crime by Fraud, Waste, & Abuse of tax dollars. I would think
these Supervisors would have the decency to resign.
If the Supervisors do not resign, then the wrath
of the law should be placed upon them.
MONEY, POWER, & PERKS along with FRAUD, WASTE,
& ABUSE equals= CORRUPTION
Records that the county produced Friday, and
recent reports from former and current county employees, indicate the practices
that Harrison County supervisors use for spending escrow money are more similar
to those of the "beat system" of government. Under the beat system,
each supervisor runs his or her district like its own little government.
It seems as though the Harrison County Supervisors
could not break away from their old way.
Money will do that to elected official, especially
if the money is not there money but the taxpayer’s money.
Harrison County, like many Mississippi counties,
switched from the beat system to the unit system in the late 1980s, after the
FBI conducted a sting that led to the conviction of 57 county officials
statewide for crimes involving county spending and construction. State leaders
said then that the beat system was wasteful and left too much room for abuse,
allowing politicians to pave roads for friends and dole out personal favors. The
unit system was created as a means of reform.
I would say even though the FBI led to the
conviction of 57 county officials statewide. And since the Supervisors have
decided to keep the escrow account I would say there acts were unlawful and
should be terminated.
Harrison County supervisors have said they have
only an informal "gentleman's agreement" to share the escrow money.
The supervisors and Ulrich have denied they keep separate accounting records by
district. They say the account is simply a "catch-all" for unplanned
expenses.
What is a "gentleman's agreement," and
how does this agreement fit into the taxpayer’s money. I seem the,
"catch-all" for unplanned expenses meant each Supervisor had their own
spending account. And lying about not having records means they knew and
meant to lie to the Mississippi taxpayer and voters.
But in Friday's hearing on an open-records
lawsuit filed by The Sun Herald and a countersuit by the county, Ulrich supplied
records that indicate the county has been keeping a district-by-district
accounting of escrow money for at least five years.
I would say that there are records, which go back
further than five (5) years.
When did the Harrison County Supervisors decide to
place the $1 million in the escrow account, and just how did they place the
money in the escrow account?
Who approved the escrow account and where are the
records, which shows the approval of the escrow account?
Duh; its hard to come clean when you have been
caught in a scam.
Supervisors have used money from the escrow
account for cell phones and Port-O-Lets, Mardi Gras beads, furniture, cars,
food, entertaining and impressing visitors and many other things.
And many, many other items, which the voters
and taxpayers are going, too are very, very upset about.
MONEY, POWER, & PERKS along with FRAUD, WASTE,
& ABUSE EQUAL = CORRUPTION
The records produced Friday list deposits,
expenditures, balances and even interest for each supervisor district's escrow
money.
Please, taxpayers, request these records under
the, Mississippi Public Records Act of 1983. Find out about your tax money and
how these Supervisors have committed Fraud, Waste, & Abuse. This is a crime
and a serious crime, get these elected officials out of office.
The Sun Herald filed its lawsuit after a former
county employee supplied records indicating supervisors split up the escrow
money.
Corruption in Mississippi is nothing new, but
actually proving corruption on the part of the Harrison County Supervisors shows
proof exist.
Sandra Cuevas, a former secretary in the county's
Lyman Work Center, has said Supervisor Larry Benefield had workers keep a
separate and highly detailed accounting of "his escrow money," and
that he directed spending from the account. Cuevas also has said Benefield
frequently directed day-to-day operations at the work center in his district, in
apparent violation of state unit system laws. Cuevas quit her county job in
1999, she said, because of disagreements with Benefield.
Sometimes, is just does not pay to make your
employee angry; such as this case has shown.
"Larry (Benefield) can do anything he wants
with his escrow," Cuevas said. "Escrow is like a supervisor's pocket
money - that was my understanding. They see something they want, they get
it."
It must be nice to have a million dollars a year
of the taxpayer’s money to spend any way you want to.
But getting caught spending the taxpayers money as
they have is a very big problem for the Harrison County Supervisors.
Ulrich testified Friday that she didn't provide
escrow account records, such as those Cuevas supplied, because The Sun Herald
"never specifically asked for anything of that nature."
The words, "never specifically asked for
anything of that nature," is how you’re elected officials and state
agencies keep the public from obtaining records under the Mississippi Public
Records Act of 1983.
The Second way is to charge you, the public, and a
second time for providing you with records under the Mississippi Public Records
Act of 1983. And this is do to the Secretary of State, Eric Clark:
SECRETARY
OF STATE Public Records Information
Click here
She said she didn't believe the records, kept on
the computer in her courthouse office, were public records and said she uses
them as an informal accounting of requests for purchases from the escrow
account.
All records are public, MISSISSIPPI
PUBLIC RECORDS ACT OF 1983
Click here
Cuevas key figure
When The Sun Herald published a story in which
Harrison County supervisors denied spending money by district from an escrow
account, former District 2 secretary Sandra Cuevas stepped forward with
documents that contradicted their statements. She gave The Sun Herald records
indicating District 2 Supervisor Larry Benefield had workers keep a separate and
highly detailed accounting of "his escrow money," and that he directed
spending from the account. The newspaper has filed a lawsuit against the Board
of Supervisors to obtain complete escrow records, which it contends should be
available under the state Public Records Act.
District 2 Supervisor Larry Benefield,
"his escrow money," denied spending money by district from an escrow
account.
Former District 2 secretary Sandra Cuevas stepped
forward with documents that contradicted their statements. Records indicating
District 2 Supervisor Larry Benefield had workers keep a separate and highly
detailed account.
I believe the facts speak for themselves. Here the
taxpayers have five (5) corrupt Harrison County Supervisors, which has been
spending, and million dollars a year any way they wanted too.
This is a bad thing, a very bad thing, and needs
to be addressed by the voters and taxpayers of Harrison County.
COMMENTARY
MY OPINION