Now is the time that we all come together once again to ensure one of our own dedicated and superbly effective activists carries home to Indiana a Sam Adams "Sammie".
Last year I won the "Tea" Party" Sammie. But I did not have near as much personal difficultly or achieve as much tangible success as the woman I want our community to rally behind for a 2008 Sammie.
There is courageous woman I wish to nominate for the 2008 "Sunshine" Sammie for using our state's open records laws to uncover government corruption, waste or malfeasance. For this the Sam Adams Alliance will reward the country's most effective person to use the FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) with $5,000!
There is only one person in the country who I know has already earned the Sunshine prize. Her name is Diana Vice, she writes the "Welcome To My Tea Party" blog. She is the homemaker whistle blower from the Lafayette area who first uncovered the self-dealing bid schemes of the national predatory government contractor, TREMCO ROOFING.
Diana uncovered that Tremco had a lock on statewide bid schemes with our school systems and routinely charged three times what a competent and local contractor would charge for the same work. In fact local Indiana-based contractors gave up on ever getting state contract work even in their own communities.
She also uncovered that their lawyer lobbyists who give fat campaign donations to the two main political parties were often hired political thugs for TREMCO.
As of the last year, TREMCO's sales have plummeted from $40 million to just $4 million. You can bet they want their pound of flesh and are doing everything in their power to stop our Indiana Heroine Diana, including harassment, threats, and a defamation lawsuit initiated by a powerful Indiana lobbyist firm. And she needs money to recoup her personal expenses with the very effective fight she is successfully waging.
Back in January 2008, the media would not listen to Diana Vice, nor would they give air to her story. Frustrated, she began to email taxpayer activists and came to me via this blog. By the end of our first phone conversation stuffed with names, dates, documentation, and too big a web of corruption to get my head around in one sitting, I convinced Diana that she needed to learn to blog herself. And then I assured that I would have her back and make sure she got her documented research networked.
Shortly thereafter, her work began its journey into Sunshine on 1/25/2008 with this first entry on her newfound WELCOME TO MY TEA PARTY blog:
Welcome to Reality
There are six things that God hates, and lying is one of them. The lying that I witnessed at the Indiana Statehouse this week was the last straw for me. It did have one useful purpose, though, and that is, it provided the motivation that I needed to create this blog and to organize a state-wide tax protest. I saw first hand how lawyers and paid lobbyists can negatively influence legislators to the detriment of the people. Stay tuned to this site and you'll receive increments of truth that will motivate you to action. Keep your blood pressure medicine handy, because if you're a taxpayer in Indiana, what you are about to learn will make you very angry.
Read the rest.
And by the way, her blog documents and connects EVERYTHING with painstaking detail. It might be way too much for you to read every word and still keep up with you family, home, and career. Let's just trust that the Department of Justice is making use of her very valuable public document of everything related to TREMCO bid schemes and the government corruption that allows to it exist.
All you need to do is help make sure Diana wins. And, if you think another activist in our community deserves one of the other prizes, let's "get 'er done".
--Melyssa for HFFT
3 comments:
HOW YOU CAN HELP -- FROM DIANA'S BLOG:
What Can You Do to Help?
The corporate bullies know better than anyone that what they are doing is wrong. Their purpose in suing citizens is to intimidate, harass, bankrupt, and silence simply because we told the truth. I also believe I was sued in retaliation for notifying the State Board of Accounts of the illegal bid rigging scheme, and I firmly believe that there would be no chance for change had I not been sued. I am willing to make the necessary sacrifices, and I’m asking others to join with me. Together we can make great changes as we demand accountability from those whom we elect.
This affects all of us in many ways. It has a chilling affect on all of our rights, because it could cause others to think twice before writing a letter to the editor, or speaking out at a city council or school board meeting. It also affects the bottom line for property taxes that we pay. Since school budgets take the lion’s share of the property tax pie, the illegally bid, overpriced roof jobs are costing Indiana taxpayers millions of dollars. It’s time that we unite to put a stop to these abuses.
To do this, you can contribute to my legal defense fund by sending a check , made payable to John Price or Diana Vice Legal Defense Fund, and send it to Diana Vice at P. O. Box 4, Lafayette, Indiana 47902.
You can also contact your legislators and ask them to support Senator Tom Weatherwax’s efforts in putting a stop to this illegal bid rigging scheme. Express your sentiments to the governor, and ask the attorney general and your local prosecutor to convene a grand jury to hear and view the evidence that has been collected. If you read through the archives on my blog at diana-vice.blogspot.com you’ll likely come to the same conclusions that many of us have about the illegal bid rigging scheme. Fair and competitive bidding are essential to a free society.
Melyssa,
You have left me utterly speechless and teary-eyed. You were the first person in the state to offer your assistance, and I'll always be grateful to you for your support. Thanks for encouraging me to start my Tea Party blog! It's made all the difference as it has caused government officials to pay attention to what I've been saying for the last several years.
I would like to make one clarification for your readers. The sales figures you cited are for federal contract sales only, not the total sales figures which would include state and local projects. The figures can be found at this link:
http://www.fedspending.org/fpds/fpds.php?company_name=tremco&sortby=r&detail=0&datype=T&reptype=r&database=fpds&fiscal_year=2008&submit=GO
It will show that in 2007, the total for federal contracts paid to Tremco was $40,339,393. It shows that the total sales for 2008 stands at $4,499,698 thus far. I don't know what to attribute that too, but I found it very interesting.
Thanks again for your vote of confidence. Your kind words mean more than I can say.
Why would Diana not be eligible for the $10,000 "Modern-Day Sam Adams" award? Wasn't this not only a "state-wide effort political effort", but also a nation-wide political effort that brought change to handling of roofing contracts, saving children's lives and millions of taxpayers' money by getting the Indiana State's Attorney Office to come out in favor of proper bidding?
Kurt
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