I don’t know if you guys are aware but Fox 4 cameras have shown there’s at least one rusty vent in the Platte County Jail.
Fox 4 probably hoping to score an Emmy for that kind of coverage. Details are still fuzzy and we’ll try to get to the bottom of that story of what must be absolutely hellacious rusty vent living conditions, but from what we can gather so far it appears the county has a choice to replace the rusty vent or pass a $400 million tax increase. They seem to be leaning toward the latter. Developing. . .
By the way, Rusty Vents would make a great band name. For an oldies group specializing in songs like Folsom Prison Blues and such.
I’d totally hit that concert and dance till my rusty joints couldn’t take any more. Seriously. Don’t tempt me. I ain’t playin’.
Kudos to Beth McPherson of the Weston Chronicle for being the first to expose the Platte County Commissioners on another untruth or half truth or outright lie when it comes to their jail tax campaign.
By the way, is anybody keeping a count of the lies, half-truths, untruths, and pieces of misinformation being told in the county commission’s jail tax campaign? Not to mention their use of creative math concepts and projections. I think it’s commonly known as the garbage in-garbage out math model.
I had good intentions of keeping an accurate count but the half-truths and untruths started coming so fast and furious I ran out of fingers and toes. And as the, um, always calm, cool, and collected presiding commissioner Scott Fricker tells me, I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer so it should not surprise you that I was overwhelmed by the amount of excrement being thrown in the faces of voters by our county commissioners.
By the way, I’m so challenged that I’ve asked Fricker to type very slowly when he sends me his butthurt text messages and emails.
We have a bleeder. Fricker’s ego is very fragile and he is often in a glass case of emotion when he reads dissenting opinions. He is the most reactionary and thin-skinned public official I’ve dealt with in my 42 years here. I’ll try to be more sensitive to his emotional needs. (Fact check: No, I won’t).
And now, back to the countdown. . .
The Weston Chronicle noted last week that the Clinton County Leader reported on Joey McLiney, Platte County Commission’s financial advisor, way back in late May/early June met with Clinton County commissioners trying to get Clinton County to sign an agreement that would consist of Platte County renting out inmate beds to Clinton in Platte County’s proposed 471-bed three-story Prison Palace in Downtown Platte City.
This revelation comes as county commissioners have openly indicated they have no plans to rent jail space to other agencies. Shocking that they would mislead us in this way, is it not?
Fricker had even posted a comment on Facebook–under one of the $80,000 worth of Facebook ads and other advertising that the county commission is buying with our money to send out many inaccurate statements and unique math to voters–that there is no plan to rent space: “This proposed facility is not intended to house inmates from other counties. It’s sized to support the county’s needs for the next 25 years.” He posted that even knowing that the county commission had already sent their financial guy to open talks with Clinton County about renting jail beds.
On multiple occasions now Fricker has shown himself to be, well, let’s be polite and say he has misled the public. Let’s just say Fricker will never be confused with Honest Abe.
Remember in last week’s edition we ran information about how Platte County’s financial model for its jail proposal included wildly inflated projected inmate numbers for the jail? When I say wildly inflated I mean, for example, for the year 2036 the county commission’s financial model listed inmate population of 480 while their jail expert only predicts an inmate population of 302 in that year. Of course inflating your projected inmate numbers will cause some projected inmate expense items, such as inmate medical expenses, to be inflated as a result. This results in higher projected overall expenses and an increased cash grab on Platte County taxpayers.
At a public event Monday night, Fricker handed out paperwork that had yet another set of projected inmate numbers. This handout, which Fricker later referred to as his “personal model” and not an official county document (huh?), had lower inmate numbers than the county commission had listed in the financial plan it used to back its jail tax ballot question. Got that? Yes, it’s hard for these folks to be consistent or transparent. Fricker did acknowledge that the financial projections supporting the commission’s decision to approve the ballot issue had errors but that he sees no reason to issue a corrected projection. As Gordon Cook pointed out, Fricker is asking voters to approve both ballot questions based on financial projections that he knows are inaccurate.
After the Monday night forum in Parkville I asked Fricker why his handout Monday evening listed inmate and bed counts so much lower than the county commission’s earlier version. That’s when he said he’d talk slowly in hopes that I could understand. I’m glad he did. I’m happy when Fricker talks slowly because it makes it easier for me to count his untruths and other misleading statements.
Anyway, Fricker says in his analysis the acknowledged formula mistakes in the county commission’s original numbers account for “only” a five percent financial difference. Other professionals will tell you the county commission’s formula errors amount to well over a $100 million difference. Even if Fricker’s super-duper-top secret personal analysis–a copy of which he repeatedly declined to share–is accurate, “only” a five percent mistake within a project of $408 million is a $20 million error.
A good reminder to protect your pocketbooks anytime our elected officials start doing political math.
(Platte County might next try to sell war bonds to help Fricker in his war with the truth. He is losing. Email ivan@plattecountylandmark.com)
