The Lombardi Law Firm Blog

There are too many lawsuits, but where do I find an "ambulance chaser"?

In St. Louis they'd ask: "Whose sperm is on first?"

The Ponzi Victim and the Ponzi Whistleblower

Iowa sexual abuse by priests and brothers

Three more priests have been named to the Diocese of Davenport’s list of credible cases of child sexual abuse by a priest. Two of those are dead; the third was a brother in the Franciscan Brothers of Christ the King.  According to the report the two that died are William Kerrigan and James Lawrence.

The list is four pages long and can found through the Diocese of Davenport home page.

List of Credible Allegations Against Priests and Brothers.  Of the 31 names 11 remain alive and one’s whereabouts appear unknown so his death can not be reported.  The list includes the name of the living as Francis Bass, Paul Deyo, Daniel Emrich, James Janssen, James Leu, Frank Martinez, Mark Quillen, Brother Francis Skube, Eugene Smith, Lawrence Soens and Gerald Stouvenel. For more detailed information see the list by following the link. You can download the list as an Adobe Acrobat file.

As a person born and raised as a Catholic I have to wonder if those guilty of abuse are burning in hell or banished to purgatory.

The story is covered by KCCI News.

Government waste being pushed on the federal government by Iowa town

No one needs to be told the United States is in recession/depression and a budgetary crisis for over spending.  No one should need to be reminded of these facts. That is of course unless you’re officially from the City of Bondurant.

Welcome to the City of Bondurant the most greedy and un-American town in Iowa. While the rest of the country is reeling from economic chaos the City of Bondurant’s leaders are stomping their feet demanding a new post office be built.

Here are the facts: The local U.S. Post Office lease is up on a building the City of Bondurant owns and leases to the U.S.P.S. The City wants to tear the building down to extend the parking lot for the library. The U.S. Postal Service says they don’t have the money to build a new building; no big surprise. The City of Bondurant says tough we won’t extend the lease. The City of Bondurant is demanding that the U.S.P.S. build a new building and to hell with the U.S. budget crisis.

The City of Bondurant stomps its feet to the beat of its own drum while the rest of the U.S. goes to hell-in-a-hand-basket.

Are you kidding Bondurant?  For the sake of parking a few cars the “City” is attempting to force the federal government to add to the deficit we all have to pay for so you can boast a new United States Post Office and a few more parking spaces for the library? I find that difficult to justify and even more difficult to believe you can be that greedy. I’ll settle for just plain dumb; but truly it’s always about the money and who’s getting it.

Is the City of Bondurant unaware of the reduced demand for snail mail? Have they not heard of electronic methods of communication? Perhaps Bondurant City Officials are aware but choosing to ignore the other more popular methods of communication that are driving down the demand for snail mail services around the globe. Traditional mail services are down in favor of email and other electronic methods of communication; or haven’t’ you noticed?

Snail Mail versus Email

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMt_VbcEau8

This can’t be about parking spaces; this is about some builder getting a development contract and some officials getting campaign contributions. Is the leadership of Bondurant so out-of-touch with the economic conditions we as a country face? Why would anyone promote wasteful spending during a recession/depression.

Follow the Money:

• Whose pockets are being lined by the building of a new U.S. Post Office?
• Who is selling the land?
• Who is the developer?
• Who lays the concrete?
• Who sells the brick?
• Who does the electrical work?
• Who is going to own the lease?

The line of those with their hands out is sure to be long.

Absolutely outrageous; this is just more of the same government waste and misappropriating of federal revenues that we’ve seen that has gotten us in this mess to begin with. What is so appalling is that the City of Bondurant has the temerity to demand wasteful spending during a recession/depression. It’s beyond reproach or apology. All of you who voted to demand the post office should resign.

The largest things in little Bondurant are the egos of the Mayor, the City Administrator and the City Councilmen. The City of Bondurant has fewer than 3,000 residents. Seriously, do you think you’re running a large metropolitan area like New York City?

I'll tell you what should happen: If the City of Bondurant won’t renew the lease, the U.S. Postal Service should rent space in Ankeny or Altoona and make the residents of Bondurant drive the extra miles to get their mail.

Or better yet, how about the U.S.P.S. sits down with me and we figure out how to accommodate their needs by using all the available vacant space currently in the surrounding market and sign a long term lease; and say the hell with the City of Bondurant. Voters should wake up to the fact the office market is the softest it's been in years. There is so much vacant office space in the market due to Wells Fargo and Allied/Nationwide building new buildings and not renewing leases on previously leased space. With Wells Fargo having just laid off more workers the situation will only get worse and office market softer. The U.S.P.S. could have it's pick of several available properties. So if the City of Bondurant wants to push they should learn to push back; not buckle.

Who is running the City of Bondurant?

Mayor:        Marla McCoid-Suddreth

City Administrator:    Mark Arentsen  

Mayor: Martha Suddreth-McCoid

Mayor Pro Tem: Keith Ryan

Council Members: Mike Adams, Sr.

Michele R. Bailey

Eric Boatwright

Keith Ryan

Curt Sullivan

How large is this demanding and petulant child called Bondurant?  Population:    2,976

How do you contact them?  Address:    200 2nd Street, Northeast 
Phone:       515-967-2418           Fax:           515-967-5732      

E-Mail:    info@cityofbondurant.com

Web-Site:   www.cityofbondurant.com                                                                       

What should you do?

Write to the City Mayor and Administrator and tell them what you think about their wasteful spending. Demand that the project be stopped.

Take a look at the official goals of the City of Bondurant?

The City fathers and Mother are violating at least six of the official goals.

AT THE CITY OF BONDURANT, IT IS OUR GOAL TO:

1.      Provide expedient, courteous service to new and prospective residents and businesses

2.      Establish cost effective administration practices

3.      Implement policies and projects which improve the City’s image

4.      Expand public safety services

5.      Continually upgrade the City’s infrastructure

6.      Reduce the City tax rate

7.      Improve recreation facilities & activities

8.      Support planned, organized growth

9.      Expand the City’s boundaries where practical

10.  Promote economically feasible commercial development

Bondurant, you should be ashamed. In times that demand we sacrifice you’re un-Americanly wasteful. Add that to your official goals. These are not the values that have made Iowa what it is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rSEjWQNc2E

U.S. Budget and Economy

As can be seen, the unified deficit is projected to reach $482 billion in 2009. In nominal dollars this is a record, surpassing the prior record of $413 billion reached in 2004. …

However there are two serious problems with focusing on the unified deficit as an indicator of our financial condition. First of all, it doesn't include the monies that are being borrowed from the trust funds, chiefly Social Security. As the above table shows, the on-budget deficit is projected to be $663 billion in 2009. The on-budget deficit does includes the monies that are being borrowed from Social Security and the Postal Service. Including the monies being borrowed from ALL of the trust funds gives the gross federal deficit. This is the change in the gross federal debt and is projected to be $815 billion in 2009.

Secondly, and more importantly, we should be focusing on the debt not the deficit. It is the debt, not the deficit, that we will have to pay interest on forever (unless we pay it back). The only lasting significance of the deficit is that it is added to the debt. As the above table shows, the gross federal debt is projected to reach $10.438 trillion in 2009. That's 70.4 percent of GDP, far above the level of 39.9 percent of GDP that we reached in 1983 (see this link). It's even well above the prior high since 1955 of 67.3 percent of GDP reached in 1996. And the worst part is that we are 25 years closer to the Boomer retirement than we were in 1983. In fact, the first Boomers are just now eligible for early retirement and will be eligible for Medicare in just 3 years. Hence, we are arguably in much worse financial shape than we were back in 1983.

And finally… Who will these people and entities make campaign contributions to?

Is the Iowa Lottery being corrupted by retailers involved with inside trading and the outright deception of its customers?

The Iowa Ombudsman released an investigative report of the Iowa Lottery. The reports should shock every Iowan. The shock won’t be because of questionable behavior and practices by the retailers that sell the tickets, no that should be expected. But because no one in the government or the Attorney General’s Office seems to care or have anticipated it could happen. This report makes me ask the question: Are we Iowans naïve, stupid or just complacent about organized criminal activity and corruption from inside trading?

The story has been covered by MSN’s Money Central, The AP and BusinessWeek in their financial news, the Cedar Rapids Gazette and the Des Moines Register newspaper.

Here are a few instances of questionable winnings:

In 2007 a northwest Iowa store owner claimed a $250,000 prize from an instant ticket that came from her store. Her big win was announced in a press release issued by the Iowa Lottery:

[The retailer] was spending the day with her girlfriend … when they decided to stop by the store to see her husband…. [They] own the store.

“On my way to give [her friend] a ride to her house, we just drove through the drive through [of the store] and [my husband] said, ‘Here, why don't you just scratch some lottery tickets?’”

[The retailer] scratched the tickets on the spot and revealed the big winner!84

In January 2008 the media reported my request encouraging the public to contact my office with concerns about the Lottery. In response, we received several dozen contacts from the public.

Here are some representative samples of comments made by these individuals:

• “I know a lot of people who work in c-stores [convenience stores] and they all say co-workers have pulled this scam at some point.”

• “I have been told (heard) that others are aware of ticket ‘sellers’ holding ‘dead/loser’ tickets near a machine and running those thru instead of running the ones you give them. I have not seen this myself, but because of the many articles I have been reading, I am watching the vendors more closely when turning in my tickets.”

• “I have had two occasions over the years where I knew I had a small winner and the clerk told me I did not have a winner. I had them check again and they then found their ‘error.’ I believe it was a mistake both times on their part or I would have reported it to lottery headquarters.”

Why are retailers and the relatives of retailers eligible to win the lottery to play the scratch games?

Odds are against the pattern and practice winnings, see what you think.

One out of 67,000. Those are the approximate chances of buying an Iowa Lottery ticket and having it win a high-tier prize (more than $600).85

Iowa retailers and their employees have claimed dozens of high-tier prizes. In 2007 alone, we found that retailers and store employees claimed at least 28 high-tier prizes, totaling $676,352. Those prize winners included a store owner (mentioned above) and a store clerk, both from northwest Iowa, who each claimed $250,000 prizes from instant tickets from the stores where they worked.86 In all of 2007, only seven other people claimed an instant-ticket prize for $250,000 or more. We could not establish whether any of the other seven involved retailers or store employees.

The Iowa Lottery was already tracking the developing scandal in Canada when it received those two $250,000 prize claims in early 2007. The Iowa Lottery did not investigate either prize claim before honoring them. Through our investigation, we found that the Iowa Lottery generally does not investigate prize claims by anyone unless it has received a complaint.

We found that the store owner and the store clerk have also claimed other big prizes. The store owner (and her husband) have claimed 16 prizes since 1991 for a total of $263,501; 11 of their claims have occurred since 2004. The store clerk alone claimed eight prizes for $266,000 in less than one year’s time.87

The Iowa Lottery does not track prizes claimed by retailers and their employees. That’s incredibly naïve or stupid, I’m not quite sure which to choose. The Iowa Ombudsman’s report is 218 pages long so it will take me some time to get through it, but I will and will report more on the findings.

Iowa Lottery It's a Wonderful Life Contest

And so today I have to wonder, is the Iowa Lottery promoting such a wonderful life, or is that just one more dream that doesn't exist?

Is it illogical to think that if the State of Iowa is the entity that owns and operates the lottery or scratch game system that organized crime will not exist?

Or is that simply just a field of dreams?