Fort Wayne Deputy Mayor introduces Chicago style cronyism
Posted by AWB in City & County Government, Fort Wayne
Beth Malloy, our fairly new Deputy Mayor came from the Daly administration in Chicago. For those of you not familiar with Chicago style politics, you keep your hiring of staff and letting of contracts within your circle of friends.
Malloy recently hired Carolyn Grisko & Associates to the tune of $72,000 to teach city employees how to use Facebook and Twitter. Notice how it’s $3,000 below the new city threshold. Malloy hired her Facebook buddy Grisko when she was chief information officer for the city of Chicago. Yes, her Facebook friend.
Click for larger image
Fort Wayne has no less than 15 companies that can perform the same service. Malloy chose to use one of her pals. I bet if they asked John McGauley he would have volunteered to show them how for free.
Grisko is a good democrat. Over the years, Carolyn Grisko has donated over $4,000 to Personal PAC Inc, which supports the election pro-choice candidates at state and local level. Also, to the Chicago 43rd Ward Democrats, ActBlue Illinois, which works to support all Democrats running for state legislative or statewide offices, and Friends of Debra Shore (D), whose purpose is to elect Debra Shore to the Cook County Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Board, and others.
What a load of Chicago crap.
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Tags: Beth Malloy, Carolyn Grisko
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I can confirm your bet. I would have shown them how to do it for free. Or Mike Green could have shown them. Or any of the other dozen government entities I can think of that are doing social media. This is even goofier than paying someone $90,000 to escort all those Navistar jobs out of town.
This is horrible! How'd we get stuck with a Chicago hack as Deputy Mayor? Henry has some explaining to do!
When do we get to vote? Do we really have to wait until 11/2011? The "Brain Drain" we used to complain about is now in the Mayors office…
Scloho,
You're right. If we cannot keep tech dollars within our community it affects our ability to maintain those jobs. Malloy apparently doesn't care.
Such a shame to see FW money being sent outside the state. Not only do we have a multitude of firms that can do this right here in Fort Wayne, we happen to have what appears to be one of the best. I found one called Haus of Walls that manages Michael Jackson's Facebook, (currently the #3 most-popular page in all of Facebook according to their page) and they're located right here in Fort Wayne. So why did we hire outside people again???
Well, she is not a hack. I will check Monday to get her take on this. But Matt below, John above and AWB have made some pretty good points. You have to wonder, so I will wonder directly to her, if they will put me through.
Matt: There is a pervasive attitude around here sometimes that nobody from Fort Wayne is good enough to SERVE Fort Wayne. Seriously. Look at some of the hiring that takes place within city government and within some of the entities that are funded by it. It's an ugly and self-defeating attitude that the next Mayor would do well to squelch.
The city could definitely learn from the county on this. I follow several county offices on Twitter and learn a lot. No one in Fort Wayne? I bet there are kids out there who could teach them as well. Even local nonprofits have a blog,a Facebook page. and a Twitter account. I can not believe they all spent that much in Chicago.
Remember that trash pickup contract – will it be awarded to Henry's brother before the a new guy comes in.
Mayor Tom said he cannot afford 10K a year for city police motorcyes to run the greenways, traffic enforcement, but he can afford this that would have ran the cycle program for seven years? I have never, ever, seen anything like this Tom Henry and his administration in all my 50 plus years here. In the meantime traffic runs every morning down Vance Ave. at fifty to fifty five miles per hour.
Well Chicago is thriving, and Navistar wants to go there.
So why not be like Chicago?
Everyone has to remember to vote early and vote often.
And don't forget the register the people in the cemeteries too.
Everyone:
And I can add that in the SE part of town, we've got the slum, drug and gang situations alive and well…another similairty to Chicago in the making.
All we need is to build an elevated commuter line…lol.
(entitlements for everybody)
Buscopat, you forgot about the jailbird voters…
Not even Rep. Smith gets it. His question should have been not if a local company can do this. A better question would have been………"WHY THE %$&@ ARE WE SPENDING $72K ON THIS?" 75% of americans have access to a computer. Less than that have access to facebook and twitter. Isn't Ms Malloy decriminating against those who don't have access to those medias? Can't wait to hear the Mayors explaination on this one and why we really need it.
I think you have nailed it, it is a question of priorities. It seems at times, all too frequently, that Tom does not have his priorities in place. Vance is a speed course, I have watched. I wonder, wonder what the justification for this is, other than the consultant is experienced in crisis management and has ex-reporters on staff who know how to smooze the media. I guess if they did not do questionable things like pay $75k for a consultant to do what a class at IPFW would love to tackle for free they would have fewer crises to manage.
Sure, and you could say that in the 50s few people had access to TV, ergo don't use that medium… We want better communications from government—transparency. So, let them learn to use Facebook and whatever new comes down the pike, but why so much, why Chicago, why a Facebook friend there, not locally when there is an abundance of talent, some of which would be happy to advise for free or much lower prices? It was not the most political astute of moves or judgement. We await their justification.
By the way, media is a plural and does not require an "s" at the end. The singular form is "medium," as in a good steak or someone who sees into the future.
It's an completely unnecessary expense, IMHO. Facebook and Twitter use do not require extensive training. Many agencies/entities have used Facebook for quite a while, without any formal training, including, but not limited to –
* Fort Wayne Parks and Recreation
* The Fort Wayne Philharmonic
* Fort Wayne Children's Zoo
* The Downtown Improvement District
* Fort Wayne Community Schools
* Fort Wayne Museum of Art
* Fort Wayne Civic Theatre
* Fort Wayne International Airport
* Fort Wayne/Allen County Convention & Visitors Bureau
* West Rudisill Neighborhood Association
* Allen County Fair
* Allen County Public Library
* Allen County War Memorial Coliseum
* Allen County Health Department
* Allen County Recorder's Office
* Allen County Solid Waste Management District
And this is just a partial list.
You forgot the West Rudisill Neighborhood Association, my friend. We are deeply insulted and will take it out on your chipmunks. You will pay for this slight.
No, they're listed!
Well, that conclusively shows a lack of local expertise. There must be a different line of reasoning.
I'm not suprised. When the Administration hires a consultant to teach those on the 9th floor to wipe their butts….then I will be outraged.
Has anyone considered that perhaps this contract is more than just using and operating those social media products, and could have more to do with the use, theory and best practices of using them in a manner to inform and/or persuade the intended audience? That would be the only other non nefarious reason for the hiring of an outside consultant.
The Deputy Mayor has email saying that she is happy to talk this through. Would any one like to add a question to those that I will ask her?
What kind of idiots need someone to 'show' them how to use social networking sites? It's nice to see the old school 'cronyism' coming into the new millennium though.
Okay, my testy friends and fellow critics, I was directed to the city’s web site where the contract is located and described in not so clear detail. I am sure, and I should be respectful, that to those who wrote it the synopsis is clearer than to me…or, I will bet, to you. Here is the link. Please give it a read and comment. I received three emails from the Deputy Mayor over the last 18 hours and she has been forthcoming and willing to meet. Her schedule and mine, however, do not allow chats today. I will see what I can learn as the day goes by. Here is the link. http://www.cityoffortwayne.org/index.php?option=c…
When on the city's site and when you have found the contract click on CGA910.pdf for five page outline of the project. I have given it a cursory look and figure you will have many questions.
72,000 is just the base. This contract will be well above the base. Nice payout for 4 months worth of work. The Mayor’s office is out of control.
The above estimate does not include video production, printing, stock photography,
photography licensing or administrative expenses.
Administrative Expenses
CG&A will be reimbursed at cost for administrative expenses, including the following:
Mileage at the current IRS standard rate per mile and parking
Airfare and accommodations
Copying at $0.10 per page
Color copying at $1.00 per page
Long distance telephone calls
Postage and messenger service
Out-of-Pocket Expenses
The City of Fort Wayne may incur out-of-pocket expenses in the course of implementing this campaign, including, but not limited to, such items as:
• Newswire charges (if necessary)
• Graphic design and printing costs
Expenses of this nature handled by CG&A will be billed to the client and incur a handling fee of ten percent (10%). All expenses over $250 must be approved in advance by the City of Fort Wayne. All expenses will be billed to the City of Fort Wayne in addition to the service fees.
I did notice the City has the right to terminate the contract. City Council needs to stop the bleeding and push the administration to cancel this contract.
Termination of Engagement.
Either CG&A or the City of Fort Wayne may terminate this engagement with not less than five (5) days' written notice. If such termination occurs, the City shall pay CG&A for services performed and expenses incurred in accordance with this Agreement to the date of termination and the City shall have no liability to CG&A for any other compensation of any kind, including anticipated profit.
It's nice that she is paid by our tax dollars, but she still has Chicago as her current location on Facebook.
Thanks for the update Kurt, I was just about to add that. In effect, this $72k could more than double.
Nice digging Kurt, but I don't think where one shows a "current location" matters to anyone.
Chicago politics at it's finest.
Maybe we can get Raum Emanual to run for mayor.
Facebook and Twitter are hard. Seriously. Ask the 500+ million users and they will tell you that it's the most difficult task they face every day.
Yes, one of the big impediments to the growth and financial success of Facebook was that people couldn’t figure out how to use it without weeks of grueling, expensive training at the hands of experienced professionals. The process will clearly be more difficult with City employees than with the average middle-school child.
It’s a shame we don’t have newspapers to report on this kind of waste, and to look to see what kind of political contributions this outfit makes or has made. A great thing with bringing in out-of-town talent is you get access to hundreds of new donors who will give thousands in contributions for mere millions in wasteful and unnecessary contracts.
Looks like Grisko's watching. The link was from an email. Cannot imagine who sent that.
Visitor DetailUnique Visitors
Visitormail.grisko.com IP Address99.167.250.59
Date08 Nov, Mon, 14:08:48
OrganizationCarolyn Grisko Assoc BrowserMSIE 8
ContinentNorth America Operating SystemWindows XP
CountryUnited States Screen Resolution1280x1024
State / RegionIllinois
CityChicago
Mark, we are beyond that point in the discussion. Note above that the contract is for a more comprehensive marketing program, not to help a few folk in water maintenance learn to become my friends. There are different questions to ask. Kevin Leininger's article was unfortunately headlined.
My 19 year-old son built Secret Fort Wayne http://www.facebook.com/SecretFortWayne to over 8600 fans since March and even turned it into a revenue producer. There's not a lot of rocket science to all of this. And keep in mind, Beth never looked inward to see how other departments are already using Facebook and Twitter successfully.
My wife and daughter have no problems dealing with these sites.
My wife runs her profile and a site for a not for profit, and she has had no training from anyone on how to use these sites.
Most people I know that use Facebook are very religious regarding updates. It takes 2 seconds to update your current location. She updated her LinkedIn profile. Why not Facebook? Your probably right, not a big deal. Maybe she is more versed in LinkedIn and needs some training on Facebook.
My frustration with the current administration is that we (taxpayers) are constantly being told there is no money for some very basic services (like street repair). But the administration always seems to find the money when there is something they want. The Mayor’s Office has a hard time understanding the difference between want and need.
Perhaps, as you say Kurt, she is busy with other things. I would agree with your second point that my priorities and theirs are frequently different. That means we disagree, but does not mean that they are devious or destructive or to be ridiculed. We disagree. Questioning their decision, as you have done above, is excellent. Insulting them, as others have done, merely reflects on the person writing the insult. We should all try to criticize the policy.
Your right, I know number of people in the administration. They are not bad people. This decision was made in the Mayor’s office and he made a very bad decision. Granted Mayor Henry did not sign the agreement, but ultimately the buck stops with the Mayor. Or at least that is where it should stop…. sometimes it stops a couple doors down from the Mayor’s office.
Comptrehensive marketing of what to whom, Jim? the contract is bs, but quite essential to those who want "Seamless integration of a developed suite of primary and secondary message hard and soft points, and development, analysis, review and measurement of progress in utilization, standardization and promotion of agreed upon messaging across available portals and intercepts."
Wow, all that for only 72K plus CG&A and expenses! Let's repaint "All-America City" on the streets.
So, I guess we're now all on the "enemies" list. How many are we on, now?
Has anyone noticed the fact that the Carolyn Grisko & Associates' FACEBOOK page is almost completely empty, and only has 2 people who "like" it?? Excellent social media skills! Impressive…
Perhaps I am the only one who things this matter is overblown. Perhaps there is a company locally that can provide the services. Perhaps. Certainly, there is a taint to Chicago politics, here, but you can not expect the deputy mayor, new to town, to understand that bit of local thinking; certainly, the NS story by Kevin Leininger sadly emphasized, via a ill-written headline, the frivolous over the more substantive; and I doubt that this is cronyism, just that the Deputy Mayor's choice of a company she felt would do the job she thinks will benefit the city. In ascribing sinister motives to her choice we are simply wrong. While members of council will privately say that the effort has been clumsy most members of council have very high regard for Beth Malloy as a person and as a deputy mayor. They see her as most willing to work with council, with the public and with the gladiators within the administration to do the very best for the community. They see her as very productive.
Yup, we are right: why not a local company, at least one from Evansville or Indy. Maybe Asher could have done the job, maybe not. Time will tell.
Maybe it is a coincidence that they are both from Chicago.
Beth Malloy says this company specializes in this kind of thing, but I think the bottom line is, everyone would prefer our government to think local first.
From Carolyn Grisko's bio: http://www.grisko.com/team/carolyn-grisko.aspx
She travels, always knows the best restaurant, can cook a decent meal herself and actually knows all of the many friends on her Facebook page.
I guess she missed one, eh?
Busco, I think you are right, always try to find a solution locally, it is simply more economical in a variety of ways, but there is also value in gaining outside expertise. The extreme negative of buying always locally is in creating an closed system in which new ideas or other approaches are kept out. It is a sort of political incest with all of the ramifications. That is one reason I was opposed to Karen Goldner's Buy Indiana point system on contracts. Use to be that the good ol' boys, friends of the mayor or the mayor's brother were at the front of the line. The open bidding process has reduced that sort of graft, but buy Indiana leads right back in that direction. Best product at the best price, regardless of where it comes from. Protectionism is bad policy regardless. We certainly don't want Fort Wayne companies blocked from bidding due to protectionism. I am disappointed that there is no money in the budget for our officials to visit our sister cities. They were set up to provide all of us here -students, teacher- athletes-individuals and government officials- with insight into how others approach a problem, in short, a way to learn and apply locally solutions. It would be helpful to Fort Wayne for our planners to learn from the Germans, for our physicians to learn from the Poles or our entrepreneurs to watch Japanese production methods. So, I don't begrudge her for hiring a Chicago firm any more than our insurance advisor comes from Jersey and our police radios from Motorola and many other products and services from elsewhere.
The point to all of this is the money. I am sure Ms. Malloy is a wonderful person and will return to Chicago shortly beeming with pride on a job well done. I always look at the cost versus the payback. Does this make sense? I don't think so, especially not for a city that is blowing money on a building they can't afford to remodel, a stadium they can't fund, and payroll they have to cut.
How much did we waste on the contingent for the All-American city designation? Just to label our streets with a logo?
Technology is a great thing but this seems just a little ridiculous to me.
Said communications system would have made great sense during the Flood of 82 or the Blizzard of 78 or the Ice Storm two years back. I suffered through two and worked to fight the flood, from the 9th floor and the Coliseum. It would have been quite helpful in recruiting vols and announcing, instantaneously, roads closed, lines down, dikes failing.
As for the All-American City comment, I am not sure of the cost, much was donated or paid by the participants, only a few of whom were city employees. Whether it is worth anything is another question, but since community leaders regularly seem to think it worthwhile there must be some value, although a cost benefit analysis would probably not be able to show any tangible benefits. As for the building, Tim Pape explains that the police needed to move, that other departments were scattered about town and that buying, renovating and consolidating was fiscally prudent. Moving different complimentary offices of city and county together in adjacent or combined offices appealed to everyone. As I remember only Shoaff, Harper and Smith regularly voted against the project. That would mean most of the "conservative" Republicans voted to go ahead with the project. The stadium is funded. There was a bond and cash from the renters. If you will, there is a mortgage, but the stadium is a whopping success. It is the condo project that is yet to come to fruition, but I understand it will this spring…maybe. The city has not had to cut payroll, there was a raise, council chose to cut positions, as is their prerogative. Fort Wayne government, compared to most other American cities, is doing rather well.
When will you people realize that ALL politicians are self-serving criminals? Mayor Tom Henry has been bowing to his Chicago buddies the entire time. Why do you think the man wants a casino so badly? To serve his Chicago cronies.
I need to write a song about this …
This website is a fine example of social networking toward the goal of good governance. I move that the City retains AWB for $72,000 to dig through closets and air out skeletons, for the good of the people.
Brother Ransom,
I would do it for far less than that
Be specific Dean. Tell us names and how he serves them, please.
I am glad AWB does what it does, Ransom. I am glad Harper has his blog and Parker has his. Unfortunately, the newspapers, our traditional sources of coverage of local events, are withering and the quality and volume is diminishing. The vacuum is being filled by a myriad of voices and that is good for democracy. It would be nice if the level of discourse were a bit higher, and with time, it may greatly improve. But that will happen as blog sites become more lucrative and can afford to pay real reporters who check and double check facts. It is in the details that good public or private business ideas are separated from bad ideas, and it is digging and leg work and longevity that reporters find details, make comparisons and provide insight . That was the role of papers with their large reportorial staffs, but they are going fast. Will blogs replace papers or will technology race past blogs in a few years?
Unless it has to do with the trash contract… I’m sure the local guys could have hauled our garbage with no problem, and at a $2mil savings.
Quit using double standards!
Jim – What response have you had from her??
John,
We have two phone chats. I don't think this is cronyism. She barely knew the woman before hiring her, according to Ms. Malloy. It doesn't rise to the level of me pushing jobs your way, and we hardly know each other, and there is no hint of kickback or any sort. Ms. Malloy explained to me a bit of the scope of the project she had outlined to her staff and they had told her, a newbie to Fort Wayne, that no local company could quite do what she had in mind. I think that advice may not have been very good, perhaps there is a company or two in the area that can do exactly what she wants, or can certainly rise to the occasion. More than anything I believe that to be the mistake and it is not, in my opinion, her ticket to the next career step, to mix metaphors. Malloy and I have been together three times, twice with city council members of both political scents. She is a breath of fresh air compared to other politicos with whom I have dealt. She is willing to discuss, she listens, she does not jump on the end of your sentence as if she was only waiting for a chance to make her point, she seems genuine and determined to help her new community. She is a good woman who may have made a bad choice. She also was a bit surprised about the ferocity of animosity toward Chicago politics. Here we have built one corrupt story on top of another to create an image of everyone on the take. The history may be accurate, but Chicago has greatly improved over the years. It seems to have been one of her jobs to make the system there more transparent and she has done much the same here with her creation, Smartgov which is meant to put documents on line so you and I can read them ourselves without having to beg or file suit. I think she is a genuinely good person, that she is trying hard and we should treat her with respect. If you want a story about corruption it is the ongoing service of Marty Bender on council where he serves his bosses. Teddy White once called Indiana one of the most corrupt states in America because we do things just like that and see it as normal. Marty is not corrupt and he is a remarkable public servant but a system that allows a police officer to oversee the proposals of his bosses for new cars or a new building, and his own pay raise, is fundamentally corrupt. Malloy is not a hack, is not playing cronyism, is doing a damn good job for the city. Most council members would agree.
John, Please accept my apologies for typos and run-on sentences. I am tired. Jim
What is the record for most comments relating to an AWB post?
Kurt, I believe it was around 120, but that was a couple of years ago.
Do a search for "fort wayne casino chicago tribune." Why is a casino in Fort Wayne such a hot topic in Chicago? Why did Henry hire deputy mayor Malloy from the Daley Administration? Why did Malloy give $72,000 to a Chicago company to offer advice about Facebook?
Personally, I refuse to drown in the lies and crimes of Fort Wayne government. You guys can go ahead an have a blast. It is not worth it to me.
Angry White Boy is likely praying for a Republican to save us from all of this …
Until Sack gets names, he can just assume Mayor Tom Henry is an honest man.
Wow, Jim. Be sure to wipe the red Kool Ade stains from your lips.
Jim Sack thinks paying $72,000 for Facebook and Twitter advice is a bargain. When you need to know stuff about YouTube and myspace, PLEASE consider hiring me, Jim.
"I don't that this is cronyism."
EVERYTHING related to Tom Henry is cronyism.
"In ascribing sinister motives to her choice we are simply wrong."
Jim Sack sees no reason to suspect that someone from the Richard Daley's Chicago political machine would do something dishonest.
Jim, that is purely childlike thinking on your part.
"Most members of council have very high regard for Beth Malloy as a person."
Fort Wayne City Council is the idiotic entity that allows the Henry Administration to spend millions of dollars without telling anyone – just as long as he spends it at $75,000 a shot (down from $100,000, an empty gesture that solves nothing). City Council is a bunch of crooks serving their cronies. Remember Tim Pape and Earth First? The man should be impeached. Tom Smith loves the USA PATRIOT Act but refuses to acknowledge that it destroys civil rights. Jim Sack believes these crooks are actually trying to help anyone but themselves and their cronies.
Jim, it is time you put the cap on your pen. Shut down the computer. Don't worry about turning off the light. AWB will take care of that.
Your work is done. It is time for you to retire … or become Mayor Henry's new Public Information Director. Apparently Henry now allows white people work that job (for a few months, anyway).
Had to have been one of the "boondoggle" threads.
Here's another example of a FW gaffe about sending money to Chicago.
http://donkincaid.wordpress.com/2010/11/17/shop-c…
we could save alot of money by not feeding flouride/poison,in our drinking water.it seems that no one has ever questioned the reasoning behind this travesty of science.an endorsment,or a recommenndation is nice but its not science.when the truth of this comes out.it will boogle the mind.
Charlie, I am of the first generation that will die with my own teeth. My mom's generation, for the most part, lost their teeth in mid-life. Fluoridated water is much less a health threat than a decaying set of teeth.
As for the rest of you, I doubt you have worked with the deputy mayor or kept close tabs on her and what those, friend and foe, who work with her say. Most of the above misses the mark by a country mile. .
Vote Henry out. He's a spendthrift.