VIESTE IS ALMOST GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN.

VIESTE IS ALMOST GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN

submitted by Alan S Freemond, Sr.
Jackson Township

Two months ago on this blog I had urged the resignation of Vieste et al from work for Dearborn ounty (Read that as work for the wealthy, omnipotent, ubiquitous DCEDI). Well of course no one paid attention to that; there was money to be made! For whom?

With Vieste and its accompanying companies making contributions against the county commissioner campaign of Ralph Thompson, an engineer with an MBA, one became suspicious as to why these companies would prefer a less educated commissioner in fields directly related to their own expertise. In fact there was the aroma of decaying roadkill on a hot July day. .

Now Vieste is leaving and leaving the taxpayers with all sorts of fees to be paid to the principals of Vieste et al for work done? Or work not done?

It is important that we do not make the same poor judgment call again, unless of course our wealthy members of the DCDEI and the Lawrenceburg Chamber of Commerce are willing to foot the bills AND guarantee contracts for all that they currently wish to impose upon the taxpayers of the County; then the costs be damned.

The contract signed by two of the current County Commissioners and former Commissioner Vera Benning was a joke. Among other depredations foisted upon our people was the section IV of the contract which essentially hold Vieste et al HARMLESS. Yes, unless one can prove intentional misconduct on the part of Vieste et al, all damages are paid by who else -- the taxpayers of the county.

Now who was it in the county administration who found Camparato or WAS FOUND by Camparato of Vieste?

With what other business entities did that individual or that group of individuals who proposed Vieste compare their ability, past performance and fee arrangements?

What is the experience of the finder/finders of Vieste or those found by Vieste in such matters?

Were our county officials in over their heads?

What are the qualification of Brian Messmore, Rick Fox, Jeff Hughes and Vera Benning to make such large decisions?

Who advised them?

This is serious business with 10’s of millions of dollars being bandied about by overly ambitious people.


Who decided that Camparato and Branaman were worth 300 dollars an hour?
That is outrageous, did no one question that pay rate? Which county officials were cognizant of that rate of pay? Did they negotiate these fees or were they overwhelmed by the fact that Camparato told of his hard working immigrant forebears, as if none of the rest of us had hard working immigrant forbearers. Oh what a wonderful "up from his boot strap" guy! Huh?

Or did Vieste simply take our obviously impressed officials or official to someplace like the Harrison Room at the Columbia Club in Indianapolis, a favorite watering hole of our Senator Johnny Nugent, to have a few and make a deal?

It is obvious to me that we had inexperienced people dealing with Vieste. It is obvious that the previous three Republicrat Commishes, and some members of the County Council did not act in the best interests of the citizens of this county. The very fact that Vieste and its associated companies campaigned against Commission Thompson, an engineer and a holder of the degree of Master of Business Administration should have raised warning flags and wrung bells. But no, for reasons best known to Commissioners Fox and Hughes, and former commissioner Benning, some members of the County Council, and other officials of the county including the formidable Republican Central Committee this was no alarm. In fact some of them may have encouraged these donations, certainly some approved of these contributions.

This expensive adventure is inexcusable. The money involved represents the tax payments of thousands and thousands of Dearborn Countians. Because this money is casually referred to as county money it is spent with abandon. One would like to see any of the denizens of the courthouse or their enablers, the members of the DCDEI and the Chamber of Commerce, come close to spending their own money as casually as were the payments contracted for and paid to Vieste and its associated companies.

I have sent multiple messages to the various companies associated with Vieste who are involved in Dearborn County. I asked them how they decided that they preferred to not have an engineer/MBA as a commissioner in Dearborn County. Of course they have not answered; there is no honorable answer.

Now let’s get to the fun part, the actual payments agreed upon by our County Commishes and County Administrator.

Vieste et al fixed themselves a deal whereby if they get fired (although there must be a euphemism for the term fired) they’d get plenty of money. Why it’d be enough to get them back to Indianapolis and find another county in which to employ their talents and then some. In fact they are in Wabash County involved in, what else? - an ethanol plant, of course!

So these boys may receive over 92 thousand dollars for simply being fired, terminated, released, or whatever. Yes it’s in that famous contract agreed to by our officials. Did they read it; could they read it; did they really care?

Actually Vieste and its associated companies and people could make a very good living by starting a project, tying the locals into a good contract for themselves and them manage to get fired so that a large chunk of the money appropriated for work not done is paid and Vieste et al can go down the road looking for more Dearborn County type officials.

One of the coziest expenditures is item 2-d, payment for completed work. It seems that our County wisemen are obligated to pay Vieste 2,250 dollars to evaluate a building for possible use by Dearborn County. The building in question is owned by our one and only Fortune management company, the self proclaimed guardians of environment and expert historic old building rehabilitators. If you remember, the Alan Greenspan wannabe’s of the Bond Bank loaned this guy eight million dollars at an interest rate of 1%. That is not a typographical error it is 1% -like one percent. Yet Fortune Management had difficulty raising 360,000 dollars for early-on bills. It was an “accounting problem.” That problem was never explained to the public. Dearborn County has strange happenings doesn’t it? How many times must money be put into that building. The bond bank bonds for Fortune’s 8 million dollars are guaranteed by the taxpayers, the money paid to Vieste to look at that building is also paid by the taxpayers.


Therefore I recommend the following two actions:
1. In regard to the slovenly appropriation of taxpayer money and the acceptance of a ridiculous contract; If the shoe fits (and you know who you are,) resign your positions.

2. The United State Attorney in Indianapolis should determine whether any of the actors in this matter have violated The Federal Honest Service Statute. People actually go to jail as a result of violating that Federal Statute but we all know that don’t we?

Alan Stanley Freemond, Sr.
Tanners Creek Farm
Jackson Township