Cabarrus Cheap Seats

For more on the manufactured scandal, go here.

The Colbert Report viewers know, Truthiness is Steven Colbert’s word. That is not up for debate. For those who don’t know what Truthiness is, it’s defined as follows:

truthiness: the quality of stating concepts or facts one wishes or believes to be true, rather than concepts or facts known to be true. 

Harold Smith’s site is Cabarrus County’s #1 source of Truthiness. If you want any proof, look at this latest rant:

Get the Facts!… 

Open letter to John Day,County Manager

According to the minutes of the Cabarrus County Commissioners on September 19, 2005, the attorney for the UNC institute of Government recommended that Commissioner Juba should not vote on the Turner Construction Company as construction manager for the new jail.

To clarify this issue for the public, please get a written statement from the Institute of Government to determine what opinion they gave. It would be helpful for them to give an opinion on the total series of events surrounding “The Juba Scandal.”

The following are the facts:

On August 20, 2005, the Board voted to hire Turner Construction Company as the Construction Manager At Risk for the Jail and the Law Enforcement Center project. It was noted that “Commissioner Juba had asked to be recused from voting because of potential financial conflict.” Why was commissioner Juba named to the selection committee when she had this financial conflict?

On November 1, 2005, the Board was asked by County Manager John Day to execute a letter of intent to award the contract and to engage Turner Construction in preconstruction activities.

“Commissioner Juba asked to be recused from voting and cited North Carolina General Statute 14-214.” This statute deals with conflict of interest prohibition.

On September 19, 2005, during the Public Comment Period, June Allison, attorney from Mecklenburg County and represnting Juba Aluminum Products, addressed the issue of “conflict of interest.” She stated all the attorneys who has looked into the issue of “conflict of interest” including the county attorney (Fletcher Hartsell). According to Allison the attorney with the UNC Institute of Government (IOG) and the firm representing Juba Aluminum Products said that there was no “conflict of interest” “The attorney of IOG recommmended that she NOT vote on the contract…..”

On Dec. 19, 2005, when the contract was before the Board of Commissioners, Commissioner Joni Juba made the motion to approve the contract for Turner Construction and also voted in favor of it along with Commissioners Carruth and Carpenter. Commissioners Freeman and Privette opposed it.

Given these facts, what is the opinion of the Institute of Government? Why not get their opinion when all the facts are disclosed?

This would be helpful for adopting a “Code of Ethics.”

Harold Smith

PS: Visit my website for more information on the Juba Scandal and adopting a “Code of Ethics” under the section “The Juba Scandal.”

Well, here a few points of fact that might motivate Harold to not just take Coy’s word for things.

First, there wasn’t a meeting on November 1, 2005. There was one on September 1, 2005 where the Board of Commissioners asked County Manager John Day to send out a letter of intent to Turner Construction to award a CM At Risk Contract and begin pre-construction activities. There was $50K budgeted to start this. Privette voted against it, Juba was recused, the remainder voted for the motion.

Second, Joni Juba consulted the Institute of Government again before the December vote. By this time, the Board had stated its intent twice (August 20 and September 1) to choose Turner Construction. According to e-mails I’ve received, Joni Juba contacted the IOG again. Frayda Bluestein stated that since the vote in December was to execute a contract where the intent to award the contract had already been established that NCGS 14-234 did not apply; because there was no potential for financial gain on the part of Juba Aluminum.

Something to keep in mind here that should clear a few things up. Commissioners don’t decide to vote like you and I do. They are duty-bound to participate in every vote, unless the board agrees to recuse them. So, unless Joni Juba could demonstrate that she could possibly be violating the law, she has to vote on motions made by the board.

So, for Harold, Coy, and all of the chicken commenters out there - it would help if you would bother to write real e-mails and letters to John Day, Joni Juba, or whoever else you’ve got a beef with rather than just bloviating on websites, The North Carolina Conservative (who apparently don’t research anything), and the comment section on this here blog. I’ve asked all of the commenters who make accusations about illegal immigration, campaign improprieties, etc. to send me proof. Well, they either lack the actual proof or the intestinal fortitude to send it; because over this whole “Juba Scandal” I haven’t seen the first e-mail from the people perpetuating this nonsense.

So, I guess that’s the difference between me and Harold Smith - I actually do research. I’m more of a fan of facts than truthiness. Yet, I’m still a fan of The Colbert Report.