votefix
Lawmakers Arrogance
Home
Vote Fix Links
Paper Ballots, Emergency Ballots, All-Mail Voting
Investigation-less election
Voter Registration Rolls Online?
Illegal This But Not That?
Solution or Problem: Federalize Voter Registration for Federal Elections
PA Power Insight
Myth or Fact
Question Them All
"little" Fraud?
Assorted Items
PA Watch
Populism vs PA Constitution
2007 Watch: PA Constitutional Convention
Move toward PA Con-Con
Guidelines for Variety election issues and observing at the Polls
Initiatives and Referendums: Gutting Republicanism
No Voter ID = Passport to Fraud
Illegal Immigrants Voting in U.S. Elections Facts
Goals of HAVA:
Paper Ballot Make It A Voter Choice
PA SB 977 and HB 2000
Both Sides: Electronic Paperless (Selker) vs Paper (Mercuri)
Know It: Second Chance Voting
Holding Breath Will Fayette Purchase Paper Ballot eScan and Electronic eSlate?
Discussion Sites
All laws repugnant void
Activists Absent
Board Discussion
Chat
Opinion None of the Above
To Show or Not to Show State Rep. Roberts Phone Calls
Discussion PA Politics 101.2 Media Woke Up to 1 Man Agenda?
Discussion PA Politics 1000.2 PA Clean Sweep's Reform Agenda
Discussion PA Politics 102
Voter Registration Lists
PA Law Changes First Time Voter
Discussion PA Politics 101
Discussion PA Politics 1000.1 Candidates
Lawmakers Arrogance
Blogging Net the Truth Online
Hodgepodge
Voting Technology 2006
e-Voting Truth
Should taxpayers fund WW2 memorial with religious engravings?
Net the Truth Online About Election Fraud
Issue File Voting by Mail
Powerful Information
Citizen Advisory Group Proposed
Demand PA SURE used
Inspector/s of Voter Registration
Interviews of Note
SURE about SURE
Motor Voter Law and Deceased
Back to the Future?
John Fund's Political Diary
Year 2000 Highlights Palast Update
Buchanan Vote 2000 Hoax
Fraud 2000: The Confusion
Fraud 2000: Holes
Fraud 2000: The Machines Background
Fraud 2000: Quote of the Millennium
Fraud 2000: Spotlight
Fraud 2000: Undervotes Trail-less
Fraud 2000: Built on the Past
Fraud 2000: Solution in search of Problems
Fraud 2000: Recounting the Ways
Fraud 2000: Dimples
Alert: Fraud 2000
Fraud 2000 Proof
Fraud 2000: Flaws
Fraud 2000: Courts
Fraud 2000: Count and Recount
Fraud 2000: Count and Recount 2
Fraud 2000: Analysis Debate
Fraud 2000: Past to Future
Ballot Fraud of Old
1984 Florida Ballot Problems
Local, State, National Election News
Daily Developments
Voting Fraud Tale Spin
Discussion Internet Free Speech on Trial?
STOP tax reform plan Guts PA Constitution
PA Constitution Doesn't Need Makeover
About Vote Fix
Why Vote Fix Is Up
Overview
Security concerns electronic voting
Paper/Opti-scan vs Touch-screen
Voter Confidence/Increased Accessibility Act 2003
Vote Fix Guestbook
PA election reform status
Fayette County Watch
Election 2007 Watch Fayette Politics
United States a republic, not a democracy
Suggestions
Voter Identification (ID) Proof
Citizens Demand Security
Solutions Here
Federal Legislation Update
Testimony HAVA
Net Voting
So Little time
Useful Items
Comments on voting machines
Public Comment on voting machines
Supporting material
Link resources submitted to commishes
Vote Fix Research
Contact/Voice a View
Motor Voter Happenings
Trail of Treachery Chad-Fraud
Fraud 2000: How it went
Fraud 2000: How it Went Then
Trail of Treachery: Varied News & Opinions
Track Vote Fraud

it's in their blood

we say expose them all challengers and incumbents alike

Let's root for a major award to the author of this piece
 
 
By Brad Bumsted
STATE CAPITOL REPORTER
Sunday, February 26, 2006

A small Beaver County development agency has spun into a $10.6 million outfit controlled by a powerful Democratic lawmaker and financed exclusively by Pennsylvania taxpayers.

In the case of the Beaver Initiative for Growth, the power lies exclusively with state Rep. Michael Veon, of Beaver Falls -- the second-ranking Democrat in the House -- and state Sen. Gerald LaValle, of Rochester, another veteran Democrat.

"Jerry and I are the directors," Veon said in an interview.

As board members, Veon, 49, and LaValle, 74, determine how BIG spends its cash. As top-ranking lawmakers, Veon and LaValle influence the distribution of special grants controlled by legislative leaders to outfits such as BIG.

What's more, Veon conceded BIG does not create or retain jobs. Instead, the agency helps create a climate for job creation and lists its involvement in 50 community projects as proof.

"First of all, we don't presume that the Beaver Initiative for Growth itself creates jobs," Veon said. "We are a partner in economic development in Beaver County."

The BIG arrangement is rare: powerful lawmakers sending taxpayer money to a nonprofit organization they control.

It is an arrangement that raises questions from experts. One such expert is Laura Otten, executive director of the Nonprofit Center at LaSalle University in Philadelphia, which advises nonprofits on conflict of interest policies.

"The thing that makes it unique isn't that it is funded solely by state money. There are too many organizations you'd find that are funded 95 percent by state money. But you're not going to find them with a board of two -- and a board of two who are elected officials who have the ability to channel money to this organization," Otten said. "That's what makes this organization stand out and smell bad."

Another critic is former state Rep. John Kennedy, a Cumberland County Republican. He now heads a government reform project for the Commonwealth Foundation.

He called BIG an "outcropping of the arrogance of power and the mismanagement" of the special state grants used to fund the agency.

BIG also has caught the eye of state Attorney General Tom Corbett, whose office regulates nonprofit organizations in Pennsylvania.

"Certainly any time you have board members receive state money and distribute it, it is prudent to have multiple board members as a check and balance and to avoid the appearance of impropriety," said Kevin Harley, Corbett's spokesman.

Mr. BIG

Veon, a career politician, is the public face of BIG.

"Mike Veon has been the consistent driving force behind BIG," said Tom Woodske, the BIG executive director.

Veon said he and LaValle used their political clout to funnel $10.6 million in state money to BIG since 1999. He said BIG went through the same process every applicant follows to win special state grants, which are distributed by the state Department of Community and Economic Development.

Yet records show Veon and LaValle were so confident of approval they announced the receipt of BIG grants long before the state agency approved the applications, suggesting BIG grant applications receive special consideration. In the most recent instance, Veon and LaValle announced Nov. 4 they would bring $1.8 million from Harrisburg back to Beaver County. But the Department of Community and Economic Development did not approve the $1.8 million grant until Nov. 30, according to state records.

The ties between Veon and BIG are deep.

BIG leases office space in a former bank on Seventh Avenue in Beaver Falls, the heart of Veon's legislative district for the past 21 years. Taxpayers pay $1,250 a month to BIG to lease space in the bank for Veon's legislative office, state records show.

What's more, some Veon legislative staffers also work for BIG. His district office manager, Annamarie Perretta-Rosepink, earned $37,000 working part-time as BIG's financial officer between 2002 and 2004, according to federal income tax records filed by the agency.

Corporate records filed in 1998 identified Perretta-Rosepink as BIG's treasurer.

House records show Perretta-Rosepink earned $69,974 in 2004. She also received $20,423 that year from Veon's re-election campaign for consulting services and expenses, elections records show.

Perretta-Rosepink, who declined interview requests, is not alone.

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review's initial inquiries about BIG were referred to Veon's press secretary, Bob Caton, who earns $65,000 as a legislative employee. Caton is not on the BIG payroll.

"All press inquiries go through Bob Caton," Woodske told the Trib.

More recently, Caton contacted the Trib to provide help with references and contact information for BIG members.

In addition, Veon's newest hire, former KDKA radio talk show host Mike Romigh, works part-time for Veon's legislative staff for $20,000 a year and part-time for BIG at an undisclosed salary. ..

More... http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/trib/regional/s_427744.html

Do not skip reading this entire article thoroughly.   An article like this should inspire a lot of hopeful would-be journalists...

Enter supporting content here