[Watchdogs] An observant eye only

Wed Jul 30 18:46:13 CDT 2008

>Bill,

I have never heard of Radiance, except from another Core/Group member...I
do know the name of the PR firm which you can find as easily and confirm
it as I did.

As a Core/Member you know that I have  documents concerning the group's
strategic planning. I don't have to spin anything plus along with the
documents I have primary sources.

Keep the spin. It will all come out eventually  If I'm wrong...I'll post
it here and take the Core/Members out to eat...in my draws!

Joe Summy
Johnson City

 At 1:07 PM -0500 7/30/08, joesummy at moment.net wrote:
>>Mary,
>>
>>Thanks for your input. I respect your opinions.
>>
>>I just believe that there was a better way to affect the changes, which
>>might of taken longer but would have been less costly to the
>> members...and
>>far less bloody. There was a reason why Judge Dietz stated the courts
>> were
>>a last resort of solve for this internal conflict... and why the
>>Congressional Committee mainly affirmed this is our problem, not the
>>Congress's.
>
> There you go again, Joe, spreading misinformation.
>
> I have seen NOTHING in the Congressional Committee's output that even
> CLOSE to affirmed that it's ONLY our problem as members.
>
> PEC is one of several Coops who have abused their abilities. There
> are numerous others who have similar problems.  Cobb in Georgia is
> one quick example.  There are others who lock in access to Board
> seats, others who work insider deals and no-bid contracts with
> themselves and their families, and a host of other problems that can
> come with ready money and little to no oversight.  In most cases, the
> members' ability to control the 'Coop' has been pretty much stripped
> away by those who are in the seats of power.  The Congressional
> Committee was looking to see if it's just a matter of a few bad
> apples or is the industry norm, which would require that better
> oversight be mandated.  The fact that we, the members, have taken
> action to solve the problems may have kept the committee from
> immediately suggesting legal controls.  If there hadn't been a
> lawsuit that forced fair elections for PEC Board, the Committee very
> well may have had to step in themselves.  Basically, they said "it's
> nice to see that you're taking care of this already so we don't have
> to".
>
> Yes, we all know that you think we should have sat on our thumbs and
> whined for the next 20 years while PEC's power players did end-runs
> around us and bled the Coop's resources into their own pockets.
> Sorry that didn't happen. Sorry that someone was fed up enough to
> mount a lawsuit.  Too late to change that now.  And as Milton Hawkins
> pointed out the other day, PEC's insurance company (AIG) is covering
> the full cost of the defense (minus a small deductible) AND about 2/3
> portion of the plaintiff's costs - and possibly more if the appeal
> goes well.  $1.6 million is just 1 1/2 years of Bennie's "bonus",
> isn't it?  How many more million would we have paid him if he hadn't
> be forcibly removed?  And that doesn't count $200,000/year to Bud and
> the hundreds of thousands to the 17 Board members (let's see.... $20k
> less per year times 17... $340,000/year)... gosh, there's another
> half a million right there.  So what's the payback period?  Three
> years, maybe?  Four?  Well worth it in my opinion, since we'll be
> paying out far less after those bills are paid than we would have
> been otherwise.  A smart person knows to look at more than just the
> up-front costs.
>
>>When we get the final results...I believe members will understand more
>>about how all of this came about...but, just an opinion on my part.
>
> Your opinions are becoming more questionable with every post you
> make.  In *my* opinion.
>
>>Are you aware of the public relation firm that was hired to spin the
>>propaganda against the PEC?  This can easily be affirmed. Amazingly many
>>of the Core/Members claim they don't know of this tactic...but really not
>>surprising since some members of a special interest group are left out of
>>the loop on some nefarious tactics.
>
> You are SO VERY FAR OFF BASE with this one that it's just plain
> laughable.  Someone from this Watchdogs list accidentally got on
> another completely unrelated discussion list which I also manage -
> for a small community named Radiance - and you somehow jump to the
> misguided conclusion that PEC4U has hired some PR company called
> RadiancePR.com, and start spreading *that* information as gospel
> truth.   You always "seem to have heard..." lots of "information"
> that supports your stance, yet you rarely if ever cite your sources
> i've noticed.  If you have real information from real sources instead
> of just your usual idle speculation and lopsided opinions, please
> share them.  Otherwise, you should probably just hold your tongue.
>
>
> --
> Bill Christensen
> <http://greenbuilder.com/contact/>
>
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