Highland Park manager paid himself six figures

[Novine]

Gee, no one could have predicted this. When you put a crook in charge of the bank...

"The Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office is reviewing hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation that Highland Park Emergency Financial Manager Arthur Blackwell apparently co-signed for himself, according to records obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request."

[Detroitej72]

What a great idea, give a crook the keys to the safe.

[Bloomfield Pills]

Be kind to Art. He has to pay for his cocaine habit somehow.

[luckycar]

A Blackwell in charge of the cash in Highland Park.And there are rumors of mismanagement.Who is the idiot who puts a crook like in charge of anything?The Blackwells have been ripping off this once proud city since the 1960s!It would be like one of KKs kids being elected mayor in 30 years.

[gnome]

Who is the idiot who puts a crook like in charge of anything?

Answer: Granholm

[Novine]

No defense for the Governor on this one. She knew she was getting a crook when she appointed Blackwell.

[LodgeDodger]

People who are supposed to be helping, yet are on the take for themselves are one of the lowest life forms. IMHO

[Locke09]

There are people who protested loudly when he was first appointed financial manager. He countered that he was only getting paid $1 to do the job, didn't need the money and was only doing it out of his love for Highland Park.

I expect him to say that he only intended to get paid $1 until Highland Park was financially stable. Then, when the state approved him to get paid $11,000 per month, he assumed that meant he could get paid all the way back to the day he first started. He was just trying to make up all of his back pay. And who will be able to prove that it was not all just a big misunderstanding?

He also thinks now that Highland Park is financially stable and does not need a financial manager, but they should keep him on as a consultant. What was the criteria for success? Was it as simple as "balance the budget"? Anyone can balance a budget just by cutting out expenditures.Balancing the budget while providing necessary services is what requires skill.

[Novine]

Granholm needs to give him the boot.

[RobTruth]

What is amazing to me is the complete lack of responsilbilty assigned to Skip Pruss, Lisa Webb-Sharpe, and Bob Kleine.

These 3 people are the ones who are the members of the ELB which gave Art the money.

Even the so-called investigative reporter fail to mention this.

The real deal will be after Blackwell leaves, will he face criminal action for getting paid retroactively [[the ELB is liable too) AND if the double dipping is gone after by not only paying back all the money he received [[except for $1 per each year) and doing some time with a felony conviction.

Jenny G is pretty quiet. Why? The ELB is comprised of her

State Treasurer [[Bob), Director of Management & Budget [[Lisa), and Director of DELEG [[Dept. of Energy, Labor, & Economic Growth-Stanley).

Art is going to use the "Geithner"... I didnt understand whoops I 'll pay it back {witness the $66K already paid} and until the public gets really mad this kind of thievery will continue.

[daddeeo]

And some people wonder why taxpayers are po'd these days. Didn' t this guy help wreck Pontiac or was that a relative of his?

[detroitchef]

Dunno about Pontiac.
Art is a piece of work, in addition to competely screwing around on the Detroit Police and Fire Boards [[with his lovely buddy Rev Holley, last seen committing Check fraud) he was a partner in the first go-around of the Greektown casino. The partners who filed for bankruptcy and were sued by the group they sold the casino to. Art and his son Mo also own that damn Jazz Club in Southfield, where the employees line up three deep to sue for their paychecks. Even the vendors there keep the guy on COD, which is the kiss of death in the restaurant business.

You'll never see an indictment on this bastard. Granholm fired the woman who was actually FIXING the damn city to give this job to Art. She has this idea that supporting the Kilpatricks and the entrenched parasitical black politicans will result in votes for her in Detroit. Hey guess what, it seemes to work for her, as she's the last sputtering gasp of the MacNamara Machine. Blackwell isn't the disease, he's a symptom.

What they need is a massive FBI investigation, the problem is that it would take out easily 50% of the local politicans and you have Conyers, Cheeks-Kilpatrick, Levin and Stabenaw all blocking any investigation on party lines. If only the Democrats would buy a clue and start nudging these crooks out of the party...

[Novine]

Blackwell canned.

[Lowell]

This is so disappointing yet not surprising. As the Rock said on another thread, 'the acorn doesn't fall far from the tree'. His flamboyant father was mayor when I moved into HP during the height of the flight in 1972 and he was successful in getting funds for the city as he declared himself a 'Republican' and the Republicans, always desperate to prove they are a big tent party, fell for it.

The stench of corruption always hung around him but never stuck to him because he was always smart enough to never do things like have his signature show up on a city check written to himself, unlike his dollar-a-year-son.

He will always be remembered as the man who breathed a moment of revival into downtown HP's dying business district by transforming it into Michigan's porn capitol. He held court at a nudie bar called the Tender Trap, a half block away from city hall. A friend of mine, who in his youth was in the business, explained how business was done. You played poker with Bob Blackwell and lost money until he called off the game.

When Art was appointed caretaker, I rolled my eyes but gave him the benefit of the doubt. With his connections, perhaps he could get something done and if he made any money he could make it from business favoritism and not by dipping into the city's meager coffers.

To paraphrase a saying about Mexico and the US, 'poor Highland Park, so far from god, so close to the Blackwells.'