BRAC Cover-up, Part 3

In Part 2 OCGJ identified the four elements required to characterize the perfect crime; motive, opportunity, a criminal act and the cover-up.  The unmistakable “smoking gun” that condemns the Greene County political class is Judge Walters enabling Prosecutor Haller to operate on both sides of the law, i.e., Walters dismissed our case against Haller to force him to release public records and then Haller released the records anyway.  For good reason Prosecutor (and Defendant) Haller dug his heels in until the last possible moment before complying with the law…..he knew full well that his last and best hope to avoid prosecution was a corrupt judge acting as a firewall between him and the rule of law. 

However it’s important to note that Haller’s illegal delay in releasing public documents is the least of his legal problems; in fact it’s just the tip of the iceberg when we take a closer look at the incriminating evidence related to the BRAC Initiative Agreement.  Listed below are documented violations of federal and Ohio statutes breached in the BRAC Initiative Agreement by those in the political class in Greene County government and the Dayton Development Coalition.

• Money laundering: Violates the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act and Ohio’s anti-corruption statute, O.R.C. Section 2923.32.  Greene County elected officials laundered county and state tax dollars for the benefit of Coalition executives, The Greentree Group and PMA, a defunct Washington lobbying firm.
• Misappropriation of funds: Violates O.R.C. 5705.41(B) that prohibits “any expenditure of money unless it has been appropriated as provided in such chapter.” The $1.9 million that funded the BRAC Initiative Agreement (2003-2006) was never appropriated in the 2003 Greene County budget.
• Violation of O.R.C. Section 307: Ohio statutes require “economic development” funds be spent on economic development.  The BRAC Initiative Agreement enabled The Greentree Group, an information technology (IT) firm to win an unbid contract to manage an economic development program, a skillset not listed in their business description.
• Greene County and the Coalition ignored a disqualifying conflict of interest when they awarded the contract to The Greentree Group who’s Chairman of the Board, Sam Greenwood, sat on both the Wright Patt 2010 Committee and Advisory Board.
• Violation of O.R.C. 307:  Requires County Commissioners “assure that county economic development is coordinated with that of state and other local governments.”  Paragraph 8 of the Agreement reads, “The BRAC Initiative Agreement shall be independent of existing job retention and expansion efforts currently undertaken by Projects, the Coalition, or other local governments.”
• Breach of contract:  In Case No. 2009CV03305 Greene County taxpayers paid for Defendants Haller, Perales and Reid’s defense counsel.  Paragraph 12 of the Agreement requires “Projects,” a subsidiary of the Coalition, “pay all damages, costs, and expenses of the Board in defending any action arising out of the aforementioned acts or omissions.” 
• Bid-rigging: The Agreement authorized overpayment of $303 per hour to Greentree’s subject matter expert (SME) for doing work he was not trained or qualified for.
• Bid-rigging after the fact: Coalition and Greentree agents made a constructive change to the contract two weeks after it was signed by increasing the budget from $1.9 million to $2 million dollars, thus qualifying for another $100,000 in state matching funds.
• The FBI received evidence that Greene County officials tampered with evidence, a third degree felony as explained in O.R.C. 2921.12.
• Congressmen Dave Hobson and Steve Austria knowingly accepted illegal campaign contributions bundled by Paul Maglioccetti of the defunct Washington lobbying firm, The PMA Group.  Magliocchetti was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison for that crime.

If the political class has their way, all this can be explained away by Judge Walter’s dismissal of Greene County Common Pleas Court Case No. 2009CV0305 where his sole justification for ruling against the citizens is that “State of Ohio” was missing from the caption when the original case was filed.  Characterizing this case as an “injustice” against Ohio taxpayers may be the understatement of the decade…..“atrocity” would be much more fitting until those responsible are held accountable.