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Friday, July 20, 2012

Town Manager denies allegation of theft

    Quartzsite Town Manager Alexandra Taft issued the following statement, in response to Councilwoman Workman's criminal complaint of misappropriation of funds in the investigation of voters.


"Allegations have been made that procurement of professional services by the Town
Manager were made in violation of Town Code Procurement Policies and/or without lawful authority. Contrary to these allegations, an investigation is being conducted by the Town Attorney as authorized by Arizona Revised Statutes Section 16-1021 which has necessitated the engagement of professional investigative services. This assistance was procured pursuant to Quartzsite Revised Town Code Section 3-409 which permits contracts with professional service providers apart from the standard bidding requirements of Quartzsite Revised Town Code Article 3-4. The procurement of these professional services is substantially related to the authority granted to the Town Attorney by the Arizona Legislature and the services were lawfully procured.


"The Town Attorneys' investigation is ongoing and the information obtained at this point will remain confidential to prevent the destruction of evidence and to protect those whose activities, while apparently suspicious, may yet prove to be lawful. The Town is working diligently toward acquiring prima facie evidence of voter fraud and hopes to gain the assistance of the Arizona Attorney General, the Arizona Secretary of State and/or the United States Department of Justice in bringing those individuals who voted illegally to justice."




The town's Personnel Manual contains language similar to Arizona Revised Statutes:
http://www.azleg.gov/FormatDocument.asp?inDoc=/ars/9/00500-14.htm&Title=9&DocType=ARS


9-500.14. Use of city or town resources or employees to influence elections; prohibition.


A. A city or town shall not use its personnel, equipment, materials, buildings or other resources for the purpose of influencing the outcomes of elections. Notwithstanding this section, a city or town may distribute informational reports on a proposed bond election as provided in section 35-454. Nothing in this section precludes a city or town from reporting on official actions of the governing body.


B. Employees of a city or town shall not use the authority of their positions to influence the vote or political activities of any subordinate employee.


C. Nothing contained in this section shall be construed as denying the civil and political liberties of any employee as guaranteed by the United States and Arizona Constitutions.




Section 3-2-5 Town Attorney (ord 11-08 ).... The town attorney will approve or disapprove as to form, in writeing, all drafts of contracts and all official or other bonds before final approval or acceptance thereof by the council.


    Facebook commentor Tomas Nethkin offers this analysis:
"Geee.. This was a contract wasn't it?
I must have missed the council meeting where the council approved this contract..
Ohh wait.. maybe they did that in an executive session?
nooooo.. they didn't have any executive sessions that would have allowed for discussion of such a contract in the time period in question did they..
It's Plain and simply laid out that under article 3-4 Purchasing.
of the Town Code the Clown Manager is the Purchasing agent for the town.
 Essentially the town code has this;.
 "NO"..
it doesn't say some, or a few , or every other..
 It says "NO" contracts of ANYKIND shall be made by ANY employee officer, agent ect.. of the town except as laid forth under that section of the town code.
 Mr Brannan way have authority to act within his budget.. But for the best of me I can't see anywhere in the code that allows him to enter into contracts outside of the procedures laid out in the town code.
 His argument would be the equivilent of the town plumber going out and buying a new $30,000 water pump on his own authority because he after all was charged - right there in that work order in his hand-with making sure that house on the cor...ner had water restored to it.
 He might need the pump.. But he isn't allowed to buy it on his own.
And I don't think he goes to the Town Attorney to get him to OK that thirty thousand dollar purchase..
He goes to the Clown Manager.. And the Clown Manager goes to the council for approval..
Or he goes to jail.
Seems to me.. I'm not an attorney, but I do know how to read...
 The only thing 3-409 does is remove the requirement for a bidding process on a contract.. and even then only if they can show that another governmental agency used the same firm for the same type of investigation in the past.
 Town code 3-4-9 and ARS 16-1021 still don't look like they give anyone the authority to purchase or enter into a contract of this high amount without council approval."


    The press release offerred no explanation for why the town manager signed the check to pay one of the investigators and mailed it out 12 days before it was put on the Consent Agenda for approval by the council (they tabled it to the next meeting but did not put it on the agenda). Two other checks disbursed for the investgation were also paid before they were approved. See pg 5 of the July issue.

8 comments:

  1. "The Town Attorneys' investigation is ongoing and the information obtained at this point will remain confidential to prevent the destruction of evidence and to protect those whose activities, while apparently suspicious, may yet prove to be lawful."

    Translation: Despite that the Ombudsman said "Confidential" doesn't mean anything, and that the Town cannot withhold a public record to "protect the innocent," Taft will not release the record despite a lawful public record request.

    [And what is she talking about "destruction of evidence?" How does one destroy evidence by getting a copy of a public record? Sounds like a Freudian slip. Destroying evidence is something Brannan and she do. (IMO)]

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    1. Who has the right to request the Documents of this crime, and if Alex Taff was trying her best to cover this up, it will open a door for many other illegal act she and her gang is covering for since she got brave enough to start cheating and a lien.
      You know, I believe ED Foster, and I really do think once those investigators get here from San Diego we will get to see and hear more about Brannan pass, there is something about that fella that just don't set right about with me, I don't know what it is, he seems to like to dictate or babal law scrip and will read it till you get tired of it, will some please tell him to interpret what he has spent way to much time on.
      This way he can be held accountable for misuse of law terminology. We must start making him put him self up for inspection, DON"T FOR GET TO PRAY!!!

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  2. Town Manager Alex Taft can’t destroy the evidence of Check #34040 for $11,018.61 being signed by Vice-Mayor Barbara Cowell and Alex Taft and being paid on June 28th! Has anyone ask how can you pay out that much money 11 days before it comes up for Council approval?

    Now that we know that Barbara Cowell was holding her seat unlawfully when she signed said check can she now be libel to both Civil and Criminal Court actions as related to her involvement in the payment of that unlawfully paid check? Would this not fall under the RICO ACT violations of US CODE?

    Has Barbara ordered her box of "Soap On A Rope" yet?

    Get the “Truth,” get the “Facts”!
    http://www.aview.info

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    1. As you will see very clearly and quick!!!!
      There is a conspiracy and for what direct reason is a floater. At first I thought there was a clear reason but now I see a clear panoramic view of all kinds of things and acts committed. A friend of mind has a son who is taking His pre-law made a statement
      And his Father being a senior attorney was very pleased with his observation and comment.
      He said him self, "don't worry, their is always a eye in the back ground that hunts for curruption with #*#* like this. And all of a sudden someone shows up with the van and the car with two officers in it and they spend about six month locking up person after person.
      Then another attorney who was at my friend's house said I've seen them lock up people in a small town up in Illinois and with a laugh said, They kept locking people till it was almost a ghost town, that corruption is a crime you don't want to be in.
      So, keep calling, keep emailing, don't let them think that it has slowed down or or stopped, MAKE SURE, this gets taken care of and where is lawyer Brannan from, some one made a statement that they wondered if he was from his home state and had a lot to stay about the one he thought or remind him of?
      It's going to to take time, but pray everyone gets what's coming to them in this.

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  3. Now that the 24-hour limit to amend the July 24 Council Meeting agenda has passed, Check #34040 that was tabled to "next meeting" has now gone into limbo, which usually means not passed, never to be passed. So even if Town Attorney's opinion regarding contracts is valid, there is no way to escape the fact that a check was issued, signed, and mailed out without ever being approved by Council. Heads should roll on this one.

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  4. Well after a little time passes I find that I based my earlier comments on the OLD TOWN CODE that was posted on the council website..

    Not on the "Revised Town Code" that was kept hidden from public view unless you walked into Toqn hall and asked to see it... Course you would have to wait while they process your Open Records Request.. lol.

    It would be funny how inept Quartzsite's Town government is, except the sad fact is the corruption that seems to accompany that ineptness harms so many of it's citizens.

    After this latest fiasco with The unauthorized checks to the private investigators..

    The Town started referring to sections of the town code that didn't appear in the town code listed on their website..
    It's an obviously desperate attempt to cover up and say; "nothings wrong here.. we were allowed to spend all the citizens money without council permission.

    Now this wasn't surprising because they make a practice of hiding everything they can from the public, up to and including the very interesting changes they manage to work into the town code.. And rarely reveal things until they have to use it to cover their butts.

    A perfect example of The Bozo Brigades ineptness is the latest "Revised Town Code" link they added to the council page of the town web site.

    http://​www.ci.quartzsite.az.us/​Council_main1.html

    It shows a section of the town code Ordinance (11-15) they got approved on December 13'Th 2011. In the minutes of this meeting they mention a resolution (11-18) that defines these new Procurement categories for this code they invented to 'make raiding the public treasury easier'.

    In their usual inept way they don't change the code they published to cover their butts with to show what the definitions defined in resolution 11-18 are.

    And they also forgot to change the category 3 code to say "written bids" NOT "oral bids" as reflected by a correction mentioned in the minutes of the meeting.

    http://​www.ci.quartzsite.az.us/​Support%20Docs/​Council_meeting_minutes/​2011%20Council%20Mtg/​121311%20MIUTES%20REG%20MTG​.html

    They fail to meet their own rules on passing ordinances on a regular basis.

    Heck the way they "pass" ordinances doesn't even meet the procedures they do have published in their council procedures manual.. Ineptness squared..

    These Bozos can't seem to get anything right.

    The Clown Manager and her Bozo Brigade really need to get themselves a new act.. Cause they aren't very good at the show they are putting on now.

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  5. Correction to my earlier post. Heads did not roll, but I am getting whiplash from the rapid backpedaling from the Town Attorney. First he says very clearly on the record when the original resolution was past on the "Voter Fraud" issue that it was not authorizing any expenditure, if the other Government agencies say no, that is the end of it. Now he claims to be pursuing a state law (which is above his pay grade because as Town Attorney he does not have prosecutorial power over felonies) and rewrites Town Policy on the fly to say that Council does not approve checks (as in authorize the payment thereof) but approves the ledger that states the checks were paid. I am proud to live in a "Backward Municipality" that does not sign the checks until after the Council meeting that approves them. There are many more around the country.

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  6. Is there a legal Court in Mohave County? and dose the Parker Police Department have any power in Quartzsite?
    I keep hearing the same thing told to me over and over that if a person don't have a good lawyer and money enough to get out of this county you have no rights, is this true?
    I hear that the Parker Government is as bad as Quartzsite if not wores, is this true?
    I hear that their contract states that law enforcement don't have to take their oath seriously.
    I hear that the people here in Quartzsite had rather have this going on too occupy their boring lives, is this true?
    The reason for these questions is, people keep telling me that the people here have done this over and over and never stick to it, to see it through.
    And they do this just so they have something to fuss and gossip about, is this true?
    The reason I want to know is, that if this is truly the Quartzsite pass time, Hell I wouldn't even bothered or wasted my time to or money to vote?
    A man told me up at Wal Mart the other day that there isn't a straight up desent citizen in the public sector of Quartzsite and they have been doing this crap as he called it", all my life. Dose any one say different?

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