Tag: scandal

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All in the Family

CREDIT: Melking | Dreamstime.com

Full disclosure: At this time last week, I was planning to write about the incestuous relationship between MLGW and city government.

Of course, I was only going to talk about interlocking pensions and retirement benefits. But then came news about a list of elected officials that MLGW insiders considered friends and family.

The Commercial Appeal reported last week that Mayor Willie Herenton, along with City Council members Edmund Ford, Rickey Peete, E.C. Jones, Myron Lowery, Jack Sammons, and former council members John Vergos and Pat Vander Schaaf, were all included in MLGW’s “Third Party Notification” service, a program designed to alert friends and family if loved ones’ utilities are in danger of being cut off.

But the politicians’ cut-off notifications, if there were any, were slated to go right back to MLGW executives.

Talk about friends with benefits.

Gale Jones Carson, MLGW’s new director of corporate communications, sent out a statement this week saying that the list was compiled before Joseph Lee, the former city finance director, was appointed president of MLGW in 2004. And that people included on the list probably didn’t even know it existed.

“We know that it’s more than a decade old,” said Glen Thomas, supervisor of corporate communications for MLGW. “Judging from the people on there, it has to be pretty old.” Thomas said he didn’t know what steps MLGW executives would have taken if one of the politicians’ accounts became delinquent. One can assume, however, that if someone wanted to know about it, they probably would do something about it.

In her statement, Carson said she could not explain how or why certain elected officials were selected for third-party notification. If council members didn’t have knowledge their account was being flagged, that means MLGW executives — for whatever reason — were interested if certain individuals were ever at risk of getting cut off. Was the utility simply being nice? Or was it looking for leverage with members of the City Council?

Technically, MLGW is owned by the city. The council has to approve rate increases and budgetary items. But MLGW has its own CEO, CFO, and board. That leads to some interesting overlap.

Carson created a stir in January when she left her job as Herenton’s spokesperson to work for MLGW, “bought” her six years back from her previous employment at MLGW, added it to her time working for the city, and because she now had 12 years of service under her belt, started collecting her city pension. And an MLGW paycheck.

But last week City Council attorney Alan Wade determined that there was nothing improper about what Carson did, even if she did buy her time back right before retiring.

“That may seem unfair,” said Wade. “If she had bought her time back when she first came over to the city, it would have been $9,000 as opposed to $14,000. By waiting, she penalized herself.”

More than 30 other employees have used the system in the same way; five of those were with MLGW.

“The two pension plans are separate and distinct. They’re not one and the same,” said Wade. “If an MLGW employee comes to the city and is in payment mode, he or she cannot buy into our plan. They have to start fresh.”

Lorraine Essex, head of human resources for the city, said she doesn’t know why MLGW has a different pension plan than the city. “This is the way the plan was set up in the ordinance,” she said. “It didn’t just happen this way, but I’m not sure how old the provisions are. Probably older than some members of the council.”

That doesn’t explain why employees can transfer time from MLGW or the Memphis library to their years with the city, but don’t have to add their time together. Employees should get what they’ve earned; I just wonder why there is an option that leaves the public paying for a pension and a salary at the same time.

Right now, an underlying problem is the “12 and out” provision that lets both elected and appointed officials retire after 12 years of service with the city. The industry standard is more than double that and that’s what the city now uses. The “12 and out” provision was ended November 2004 but, because of grandfathering, may come up until 2016.

Politicians with third-party notification, on the other hand, looks to be a thing of the past. Herenton is strongly recommending that the board discontinue the program immediately. MLGW’s Thomas said he doesn’t know what will happen to the list or if there will be any legal ramifications for the utility.

But with a lawsuit pending and the feds investigating, it seems that when you join this family, it may be for life.

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News The Fly-By

Moral Mystery Revealed

“It ain’t about how hard you hit. It is about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward,” says Bellevue Baptist Church pastor Steve Gaines, quoting Rocky Balboa in his Sunday-night sermon.

Gaines tells the packed house that trials and tribulations teach maturity and endurance. Minutes later, the church’s investigative and personnel committees release a report detailing one tribulation that has plagued the church since last December, a decades-old sexual-abuse case involving former staffer Paul Williams and his son.

According to the report, Williams engaged in “perverse, sexual activity with his adolescent son over a period of 12 to 18 months” more than 17 years ago. The report states that Williams, himself a victim of sexual abuse, did not abuse anyone else.

The “moral failure,” as it has been labeled by the church, was first reported to the congregation December 17th, and Gaines initiated an investigation three days later. On January 22nd, Williams was fired from his position, which involved interviewing lay ministry volunteers and planning church events.

A staff member for 33 years, Williams told Gaines about the abuse last June. He also confessed to two other members before telling Gaines. But the abuse was not reported to church members until Williams’ now-adult son confronted Gaines in early December about Williams being allowed to remain on staff.

“We could have learned about this six months ago and headed things off at the pass,” says church member James Manning. “But the church seems to continually demonstrate a lack of willingness for accountability and transparency.”

Sunday night, Gaines admitted responsibility for not dealing with the issue sooner. He labeled the situation “uncharted waters,” claiming no church policies were in place to deal with sexual abuse by a staff member.

According to the report, the Department of Children’s Services (DCS) will be training the church’s human-resources department in how to handle such situations, and human resources will pass that knowledge onto all other staff.

Manning and other church members believe the investigation, which was conducted by church leaders and an attorney, should have been handled differently.

“This was a closed-door investigation, where membership really didn’t know what was going on,” says Manning. “I think the key in dealing with these situations should be transparency.”

David Brown, of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) and a former Bellevue member, believes the church should have included an abuse victim on the investigation team. After learning of the abuse on a Bellevue-oriented blog, Brown reported it to the DCS. The agency is now conducting a separate investigation.

In response to the church’s handling of the situation, Manning and

SavingBellevue.com founder Jim Haywood have launched an independent group — Integrity Does Count, Inc. — to “instill accountability” into Bellevue’s church leadership.

“I don’t have my finger on the pulse of 30,000 people,” says Manning, referencing Bellevue’s large membership. “But the people who follow current events in the church are pretty irritated.”

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News The Fly-By

The Cheat Sheet

CREDIT: Greg Cravens

In a recent column, we compared Memphis to the Wild West because of all the gunplay here. But at least one thing we didn’t have to complain about was cattle rustlin’. Or so we thought. Last week, some good-for-nothing varmints stole a horse that a local fellow gave to his wife as a gift. It wasn’t a real horse — just a very expensive, almost-life-size fiberglass replica that she displayed in her front yard near Millington — but that still makes them horse thieves.

The world of television can teach us so many valuable things. A Binghampton man was accused of murder after human remains were found in his backyard. When police investigated, they found traces of blood under the newly painted walls of his home. The suspect’s simple explanation: “Yeah, I painted the walls of the bedroom. I watch CSI.” Perhaps he should also have watched Boston Legal — you know that part where the cops say, “Anything you say can and will be used against you.”

Greg Cravens

Steve Cohen is off to Washington, and state representative Beverly Marrero wants to take his place as state senator. Then, it seems Patrice Robinson, who is head of the school board, wants a chair on the Memphis City Council, to replace TaJuan Stout Mitchell, who has resigned to take a job in city government. Maybe. Look, we played musical chairs when we were kids. It was a fun game then. Not now.

Memphis Light, Gas and Water announced a plan to replace its meter readers with computerized gadgets that somehow transmit utility readings to headquarters. The project would cost anywhere from $70 million to $150 million, but MGLW wouldn’t be more specific. That doesn’t surprise us. That’s about the same amount our bill changes from month to month, and they can’t explain that either.