Re: [Swlfest] Poor George

[George Zeller <georgez@xxxxxxxx>]

It is interesting to see all these comments from Fest people amid the ton 
of e-mails that I am getting locally during the big hubbub in Cleveland. 
Thus, it may be of some general interest to the Scanner Scum and others as 
I spread around the editorial that was printed in today's (Wednesday's) 
edition of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Meanwhile, in other local news, Ohio 
Gov. Bob Taft was today indicted on criminal charges. This is the first 
such indictment of a Governor in the history of Ohio. That guy George 
Forbes that is mentioned in the Plain Dealer editorial is involved in the 
Governor's scandal. Forbes is the former powerful President of Cleveland 
City Council and is currently the executive director of the Cleveland 
chapter of the NAACP. He recently had to resign from the board of trustees 
of the Ohio Bureau of Workman's Compensation because the BWC Board let a 
contract to a firm in Pittsburgh that lost about $400 million of Ohio's BWC 
money. Forbes' daughter Mimi works at the firm in Pittsburgh who lost the 
400 big ones while getting the contract from her father. Forbes is also the 
chairman of the Board of Trustees of CEOGC, the place that fired me on 
Friday. The other name mentioned in the article is Jacki Middleton, my 
former boss who fired me on Monday. The Plain Dealer has run numerous prior 
articles and editorials about Middleton's profligate spending habits, using 
the now cash-strapped organization's money. The Plain Dealer has previously 
reported that George Forbes is under investigation by two grand juries in 
the Ohio Gov. Bob Taft scandal. Now that you have a program, you will know 
who the players are in this one.

George Zeller
http://www.nacs.net/~georgez


PLAIN DEALER EDITORIAL TODAY:

http://www.cleveland.com/editorials/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/opinion/1124271322126032.xml&coll=2
Head Start: the spin doctor is in
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
When an agency has a deficit, it has to cut somewhere, and usually that 
means workers. There's nothing unusual about that.
But when that agency is the Council for Economic Opportunities in Greater 
Cleveland, the organization responsible for running local Head Start 
programs and racking up irresponsible charges for travel, rental cars and 
gifts, it pays to watch where the scythe falls.
This time, it fell on 13 administrators, including George Zeller, a senior 
researcher and top-notch poverty expert. Zeller, who has worked at the 
agency for 20 years, apparently was laid off as the agency tries to dig 
itself out of a $1.7 million deficit.
Head Start has not deigned to answer many questions about its latest 
actions. Executive Director Jacqueline Middleton and George Forbes, the new 
president of the Board of Trustees, are letting a paid spokesman take their 
calls - hardly the way for a poorly administered, cash-strapped poverty 
agency to act.
Surely, the job of communicating with the public should fall to Middleton 
or Forbes. Earlier this summer, Forbes, a former Cleveland City Council 
president and lawyer, seemed perfectly capable of handling the media. He 
visited The Plain Dealer on his own accord to talk about the agency's 
problems and to promise his full cooperation. Now he's replaced the 
open-door policy with a deadbolt and is peering timidly through the peephole.
Joe Rice, the agency's spokesman, says he's being paid "an infinitesimal 
amount" to work on the agency's behalf. Rice also insisted he was hired 
"well before this" crisis.
Oddly, though, Rice can't remember exactly when his contract began or even 
how much he is paid. But he is quite clear about his purpose: He's been 
hired to deal solely with the media, not to help market Head Start programs.
For Forbes and Middleton to hire a mouthpiece to speak on their behalf is 
an egregious waste of taxpayer dollars. If they can't communicate with the 
public about how millions in tax dollars are being spent, then they should 
resign or be replaced.


© 2005The Plain Dealer



At 02:45 PM 8/17/2005 -0400, you wrote:

>I think the writer unfairly lumped everyone that worked at George's
>agency with Forbes and Middleton and the comments about the runaway
>expenses.
>
>But I guess anyone that has worked in government knows that a lot of
>people attracted to that kind of employment sometimes aren't the
>brightest bulbs in the socket, and George was a rarity. Someone who knew
>his stuff and cared about what went on in the community. I guess it just
>seemed easier for the powers to be to "clean house" and start over and
>unfortunately George was one let go.
>
>Working for city/state government used to be a good-paying gig. We just
>had something similar here in Georgia, with a new director for DFACS and
>a similar house-cleaning.
>
>George will bounce back. Good people always do and he is one of them.
>Being unemployed is no fun-been there, done that and have the battle
>scars courtesy of Citi.
>
>
>
>
>Maryanne
>
>
>
>
>
>
>E-mail message
>
>Sender: swlfest-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx From:
>rdcuff@xxxxxxxxx(Richard Cuff) Date: Wed, Aug 17, 2005, 2:16pm To:
>swlfest@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Discussion list for the Winter SWL Fest)
>Subject: Re: [Swlfest] Poor George Reply to: swlfest@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>(Discussion list for the Winter SWL Fest)
>This message is not marked with a green dot  in your Mail list because
>it is not from a known sender. To make this a known sender, choose one
>of these links:
>
>Not sure how you could determine that from the article. The article
>focused on Forbes and Middleton, the senior managers at the agency
>involved.
>The article focused on the irony of George's reporting of unemployment
>stats, including his own.
>Richard
>On 8/17/05, maryanne kehoe <atlsvo@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>OK....got the link (finally, cleveland.com is slow as molasses)....what
>a shame, and it seems that the article isn't too kindly on George
>himself in slagging off his abilities.


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