“Questionable” practices continue to hound Baltimore City Government
I used to be one of those people that had a lacksadaisical attitude toward politics. Yea - I saw it on the news, but I didn’t pay it much mind. But for the past two years, I have really developed a strong passion for community organizing, advocacy, and public policy. Once I learned that I could manipulate my environment (I got two bills passed last year in Maryland); my appetite to be involved in more systemic change quickly developed. I began learning A LOT! And finding out that so much was being HIDDEN from the general public concerning the political process like where the money is going, and who really makes up the Power Structure. Let me give you an example.
See this guy?
His name is W. DAVID STOFFREGEN. He is the former President of Poole and Kent Construction. Why FORMER PREZ you ask? Oh it’s no big deal. [insert sarcasm here]
Alls he did was enter a guilty plea on November 28, 2006 [REMEMBER THIS DATE] on racketeering, conspiracy, and mail fraud charges. Stoffregen paid former state senator Tommy Bromwell $80k per year to stay in his political seat as Chair of the Finance [read: MONEY] Committee. Stoffregen’s construction company also did about $85k worth of construction on the Bromwell’s home in 2000 and 2001 without billing them. What did Stoffregen get in return? Senator Bromwell helped steer million dollar construction contracts to Stoffregen’s company: POOLE & KENT CONSTRUCTION. I’m talking CORRUPTION at the highest levels of state government! Corporate executives paying an elected official thousands of dollars to unjustly and illegally manipulate laws and regulations so that this construction company could make millions. Now if you really want to see something interesting take a gander at the financial contributions that Stoffregen has made to political candidates seeking office going as far back as 1999. You’ll see checks sent to notables like Martin O’Malley, Sheila Dixon, Ulysses Currie, Nathaniel McFadden and more. Do you think that those contributions were made with no strings attached? [Please don't tell me you're that naive] Stoffregen has been playing the BIG MONEY game for years buying the influence of elected officials like cheap souveneirs in an out of town gift shop.
Now before you try to say that this was an isolated incident and Stoffregen was the only corrupt one in the company - think again. Stoffregen and all of his leaders went down like dominoes.
So tell me why in the world POOLE AND KENT is still in business in Baltimore? You heard me right. This construction company is making MAJOR cake compliments of Charm City. One would think that if the president of a construction company along with his top level management goes down on these types of felony corruption charges that the company would be finished…or at least punished for a while to go in a corner and think about what it did. But ohhh no. Not in Baltimore…the political cesspool that it is.
Less than 1 year later (on October 10, 2007 to be exact) POOLE AND KENT CONSTRUCTION was pre-qualified [please don't miss that word] for a contract from the Baltimore City Board of Estimates in the amount of $8,079,606,000.00. That’s 8 Billion 79 Million 606 Thousand dollars awarded to this company.
LESS THAN 1 YEAR AFTER IT WAS EMBROILED IN ONE OF THE BIGGEST CORRUPTION SCANDALS MARYLAND HAS SEEN IN YEARS!
(They have signs up all over Baltimore - especially around Johns Hopkins Hospital on the East Side near the dirt mounds where Black families used to live)
Now THAT’S GANGSTA…I’m not talking about no movie starring Denzel…I’m talking about major money being moved in the wee hours of a Wednesday morning on the 2nd Floor of City Hall at a Board of Estimates meeting that most of the general public knows absolutely nothing about. (I was there to observe this corrupt transaction and will upload the document for your review as soon as I can find a scanner.)
The dope boys don’t have NOTHING on these guys. They OWN Baltimore politicians and therefore CONTROL THE DISTRIBUTION OF RESOURCES. So don’t marvel at the lack of quality public education for Baltimore students or the closure of PAL Centers or the forced relocation of poor and elderly Blacks, or the land banking by the city, or the intentional divestment of Black neighborhoods…sorry boys and girls -Black empowerment is just not a part of “their” plan. And because many of us don’t even know what the Board of Estimates is and don’t know when they meet and don’t have documentation from their meetings in our hands, we remain ignorant or worse - completely uninterested in learning more about the White Power Structure that makes a maze out of the Black community so they can watch the mice scurry desperately searching for cheese and the next rally or prayer vigil.
Is this enough to peak your interest in local politics? Is this enough for you to want to learn more about how your life is being controlled by the White Power Structure? Are you mad enough or at least concerned enough to want to do something about it? Or do you need more? Do you need to know that Baltimore City sold the Elmer A. Henderson Elementary School and the Luther Craven Mitchell Elementary School to EBDI for $1 dollar a piece. (That’s about three acres of land in East Baltimore sold for a little less than the price of 1 gallon of gasoline.)
When will my people wake up? Scratch that. When will a worthy remnant of the people become conscious to what is happening right under their noses? (God has rarely needed a crowd to execute Divine Will) When will Black people within “the system” - those who have “good government jobs” - realize that their strategy to “go along to get along” will lead to the decimation of their people and that they too will be discarded when they are of no more use to the Power Structure?
I hope we wake up soon. If not, I’m sure that the powers-that-be-on-earth will have no problem steamrolling right over any chance of liberation and revolution that we thought we had.
November 7th, 2007 at 1:11 am
Unfortunately, many of us are waiting for foul play to show up, not just on our doorstep, but it actually has to prove itself at destroying my life before I began to COMPLAIN (which is different from making a move)…
Too often we find ourselves(Black People) in positions where we’re so concerned about our existencing circumstances(bills, the job we don’t want to do, our teens having sex, drugs, violence, you name it)that there’s no real effort to concern ourselves with coming up with ways to resolve the problems..Issues and problems are completely different…
When you discuss ISSUES, you’re discussing the consequences of what the PROBLEM effects (CAUSE AND EFFECT)..The PROBLEMS effect my relationships, my finances, my family, my ability to see clearly, my ability to think, my ability to continue to be mobile and active..So when we focus our energy on ISSUES, we spiral downward into a pit that becomes more difficult to get out of…
When discussing PROBLEMS, you’re discussing the cause (CAUSE AND EFFECT again) of it..you begin to focus your attention much more on the who, when, what, why, and this way you’re able to begin the process of thought that allows you to come up with obtainable resolutions…
The problem with all this, is the dynamics within our Black Communities..there are many things going on, presenting challenges for us to begin to see clearly (vaccinations, poor diets, drug abuse, neglect, etc)..and this is no coincidence..before we can begin to ask our people, to get involved in any movement, we must address the more immediate needs: quality food, quality family environment, quality education, healthy relationships, careers, etc,
and this way it wouldn’t be so difficult to bring forth the type of movement that would revolutionize the world..why do we think that real funding to end world poverty is nonexistent?..why don’t the schools have the funding necessary towards true education of Black People?..quite simple, if we were supplied with quality foods, I mean real food, not processed, not in metal cans, not sugared down, and we ran OUR OWN SCHOOLS, we wouldn’t have a problem at all with the involvement toward real change..But, they, mr. white man, controls it all!!!…
In baltimore, Our People had one school to get to before the creation of Paul Lawrence Dunbar High School..during that time, Our People were walking miles to The Colored School and we had a training school to move on to..There were Black Teachers, teaching black children about black problems and ways we resolved our problems..the sad part is that I was never educated on my history as a student that graduated from Paul Lawrence Dunbar Senior High School..I,like many others, was deprived of a part of my culture that would’ve been vital and key to my moving in a direction of continuing the legacy of my brothas and sistas who fought to make education accessible…
When you don’t have your own, taught by your own, have quality food and families, money is scarce, so is the people who will join the movement…
The government, present and past, has never and will never be for US..we have to keep that in mind..we will never truly see life as it should be as we’re in their world, mr. white man..some people are afraid to call out truth as it is, which is also a problem because we never put faces to these crimes(thanks Heber for giving a visual of Stoffrengen)..when you don’t attach names and faces, we continue to use the word devil using a definition of “creature with a red suit on holding a stick” which further removes us from the truth..My Husband and I were talking about a situation that I’m dealing with, and he responded by saying,” The devil is a liar.” Oftentimes, we never really stop to think about that phrase, but that day I did..I thought, a devil is a PERSON that intends to destroy(everything from your mind, your perceptions, EVERYTHING)..if we continue to believe the definition of “…red suit and stick”, we’ll never seek to stand for anything…
In conclusion, we have to call things and people what they are instead of dressing it up..as long as we continue on that road, and not seek better, we will live and die in the trap that we’re in, WHITE MAN WORLD…LET’S CREATE OUR OWN..AGAIN!!!
Peace and Blessings Brothas and Sistas
November 7th, 2007 at 6:21 pm
The latest, Heber I attend the board of estimates mtg today. This is a letter I sent out to a few people in Baltimore.
From the offices of Haki Ammi, I today report my attendance at the Baltimore board of estimates with a questionable discovery.
As many of Baltimore’s Black leadership celebrate the beginning of a Black Female Coup in Baltimore’s yesterday general election. I believe that the instance of today needs to be explained. To those that have not heard already, The three sista girl Mayor, President of City Council and Comptroller today this morning at approximately 9:45 A.M. voted unchallenged for a Anne Arundel County white business to get a contract of which a Black Business MBE from Baltimore City should have or could have got it.
Now, I will be the first to admit my limited awareness of the players involved and maybe the three sista girls may not want to start the Black Empowerment Revolution on the date after the election. I’m guessing they want to keep a low profile “Just a little while, right Sista girls in charge” wink. No disrespect about the sista girls though I’m saying that there are some black men that need to feed their families to. There are not enough jobs out here and if black males are continually to be excluded from MBE and Employment what are they going to do. They are going to sell drugs, rob and steal. I do not know about some of you I do still live in Baltimore “for now”. If the Economic pie is not distributed more equally to benefit black people then we are in for a long 4 years of more crime and violence. There was an article in the Examiner after the first primary election. It said “Mayor’s first priority Employment”. Well maybe the Mayor didn’t get that notice. Again I do
not know the details, though an objection to this and testimony was given by Mr. Jolivet who to my understanding knows the MBE process inside and out. Now maybe there is some personal history going on of which maybe Mr. Jolivet is on someone’s “bad boy” list for his continued speaking out against the MBE percieved or apparent injustices. I don’t know what do all of you think? Don’t everyone speak at once. I know how much everyone is so concerned.
I was speaking to an informed Business leader today and it was suggested that these deals are made months before and that this Anne Arundel person comes out of the O’malley favors or Dixon’s Annapolis favors that she owes. Well whatever it is, It is against the city charter. No I’m not a City Charter expert though I thought that businesses had to be based in Baltimore??? What’s up with this? Is this just going to be glossed over by the Dixon Adminstration? Will this be glossed over by black leaders? What does Mr. MBE Political Economy Expert Doni Glover think of this? Matter of fact why aren’t more people down at the Board of Estimates Meetings? Well I know I can not make it all the time so I will not criticize though who or what is paying attention to the Economic disparities in Baltimore?
Solution, Well from this maybe I do not understand the “all” of the cities politics and/or economics, but I do know history. I do know that some ethnic groups killed off the buffalo to stop another ethnic group from eating. I do know that black people in Baltimore are becoming more violent and more cannibalistic about resources. Poverty causes ugliness to come out. Perhaps the Queens may not answer to the commoners as Ms. Dixon dressed up as the Queen of England on Halloween I hear. Maybe the peasants are not worthy of an answer. Well I tell you what, I’m stepping up like the old slave General that became King in the movie Gladiator. We must look for a solution without MBE as an option.
I would like to assist in the creation of Black Millionaires. If we can not do this via city contracts we must explore “ALL” wealth building opportunities with the absolute, focused, dogged determination to create as many black millionaires as possible, as quickly as possible. I have not heard any Black Leader around in Baltimore make a projection or goal like this and with all due respect I believe that I am one of the only ones that has some of the more valuable research to make this happen. I have laid out the foundation for this. My business operations and knowledge are such that can create this. It has been suggested by some that politicians are not interested in paying much attention to those persons and/or businesses that are not employing 3,000 persons. Well it is now time for some folk to step up, focus and concentrating on creating those industries that can do such a thing. I am not interested in nothing else. I’m asking to sit down with intelligent,
informed, researched Black leaders to create 40 to 50 Black Millionaires. I do not have a specific time frame though I could say within 5 to 10 years.
Allow for me to interject something. Some black folk think that they are doing alright. I’ve heard this from some folk. Right now with all due respect if you are not making 250K at this time then I’m talking to you. Only poor and uninformed black folk are impressed with black folk that “Have a good job”. I’m not one of those, my operations of wealth building will proceed with or without some black folk help if necessary. What about the rest of black folk that are stuck in poverty? Who is going to offer Economic/financial literacy skills and training to them. Everyone’s not going to make it and we already are following the wrong type of leaders right now. I will end this now by saying. I ain’t scared. We need to all learn our power. We must become more aggressive about feeding ourselves. We are collectively about to be pushed more onto reservation/concentration camp type of deathstyles. I say to those that are not too Economically defeated or demoralized and feel
like Economic Illiterates have a poverty mentality to begin to awaken. Begin your process out of Economic bondage by a system that keeps you and your family in perpetual slavery. What I’m suggesting may not be the final solution to everything, but is a more informed, empowering, developed solution. I was in Bowie yesterday for the losing Black Mayor its time to spread out all over Maryland if necessary to build true Black Economic Empowerment movements. Baltimore should be the ideal location though if today is any indication of the next four years I’m stepping up my Economic game and will not starve when the cost of living continue to spiral out of reach of black people.
Peace
November 7th, 2007 at 8:48 pm
Brother Heber:
I have seen the very thing that you outlined in your introductory piece. When I went to these meetings at the state level, the decision makers, the persons that make the decision about who receives funding or services and supports, are all white - mostly female. Maryland has an entity called Local Management Boards (LMB). The LMB, each led by an Executive Director and Board of Directors, are the gatekeepers of funding and services for the 24 jurisdictions in the State of Maryland. 22 of the 24 excutives of these LMB’s are white.
On the local level, the decision makers are the real estate developers and outside interest. These entities, under the guise of community development, are interested in the gentrification of our communities. For example, the fight that is going on between the city and the Greenmount West community over the code blue shelter. The “community leaders” that are leading the fight are not the legacy residents of the area that have lived there most of their lives, but the property owners and businesses that are afraid of plunging property values.
November 7th, 2007 at 9:53 pm
Sista Chabria - as always thank you for your keen insight. Your reminder to revolutionary types to keep in mind the daily necessities (food, shelter, etc.) is well taken. The Huey P. Newton Reader (Hilliard and Weise) provides priceless documentation related to the founding of the Black Panther Party and as many know they instituted Survival Programs that met the basic needs of people until that time that the consciousness of the oppressed was raised. The essence of this belief is spoken of in the holy scriptures as well. James 2:14-17 speak to the importance of us meeting the needs of people before we attempt to educate/socialize them toward revolutionary aims. In fact, the act of meeting the needs of the poor can be considered revolutionary in this anti-poor, anti-privileged, anti-Afrikan society.
Bro. Haki - thank you for attending today’s Board of Estimates (BOE) meeting. I could not make it this morning, but I appreciate your report. You repeatedly provide the disclaimer that you don’t know all the players involved in the currency exhanges, but I’m not sure if many of us in our community do. That’s what makes our attendance at these meetings so vital. Each time we show up we are presented with the opportunity to learn a little more and connect a few more dots. In fact, we probably should attempt to create a system whereby we are assured that some conscious Afrikan attends every BOE meeting and delivers a report back to the community about what transpired making sure to bring back a copy of the Agenda for mass duplication. Let’s continue to build the types of coalitions that we need keeping in mind that God has endowed each of us with valuable gifts to be used in the struggle for liberation.
Kool-Aid Man - I so appreciate your comment and insight into this process. It is obvious that you are a person with what I call “inside knowledge” - the type of intel that is necessary to the crafting of a practical counter strategy. Given what you have shared, what would you suggest we do - beyond exposing the injustice in the system and naming names - which is more reactive. How should we proactively advance? WAIT! Don’t post that here. Feel free to email me directly at heber3 [at] yahoo.com. I am fully aware that many different eyes read what is written on this blog so I’m attempting to be more careful these days in what I post on the site. Everything doesn’t need to be shared with everybody. I’m sure you know what I mean. Hit me up in my inbox. I have a feeling that we know each other already.