Shelby County – Sometimes you just have to say wow.

Shelby Co. (ECWd) –

The local reporting in Shelby County highlighted the current contested race for County Board.  In light of what we have been exposing, once again we must expose when local media fails the public.

According to the local reporting:

“Cannon brings a wealth of experience to the county board and is currently overseeing a revisiting of the methods by which the county conducts business. This would be Bennett’s first time serving the entire county if elected.”

A wealth of experience?

So is this “wealth” of experience good or bad wealth?  With all the years Cannon has been on the County Board, one would think the most basic operations of County Government would have been done within the confines of the law, but that is not the case in Shelby County.

For example:

• Cannon hires a private attorney in violation of the law rather than having the State’s Attorney represent the County on all matters as the law outlines.
• Three months after being informed of the law, the private attorney still works for the County and still submits bills for payment.
• The private attorney hired for ONE thing yet bills for all kinds of County work, Cannon has yet to correct the wrong.
• Cannon has failed to respond to a single question we have asked, yet he responds to local media who clearly did not fact check his statements.
• The County continues to pay private attorney even though the resolution only hired him for the 2014-2015 budget cycle.
• The county does not bid out their health and liability insurance as required by law.
• The county does not bid out the Farm Ground lease….never mind such a lease is not supported by law
• County pays property tax on farm ground leased for private gain in contradiction to established rules from the Department of Revenue.
• Numerous County offices have no record of actual time cards to show hours worked – a matter that leads to the resignation of the Deputy Treasure rather than being prosecuted.
• Farm contracts being signed by Committee members who have no authority to sign contracts.

Yep, a “wealth” of experience…….in how NOT to run County Government.

Another interesting quote in the local reporting:

“Since becoming Chairman, again, Cannon supports new County Treasurer Erica Firnhaber, as well as Shelby County Clerk Jessica Fox for their efforts to bring past practices into compliance with the state regulations.”

So is telling that newly elected Treasurer to “shut-up” during a meeting his way of supporting her?  Yes, he later apologized but that only came after we exposed it during one of the first meetings we went to.  The County Treasurer has uncovered all kinds of improper and illegal payroll matters since taking office and has been trying to fix them for over a year with virtually no support from Cannon.  We can only wonder what he is supportive of since he has not even asked to see the evidence the Treasure has collected regarding payroll problems.

A question we believe should have been asked after such a quote is “why after 12 years on the County Board do we have practices that are not compliant with state regulations?”

After the local media reported a few fluff quotes from Cannon that clearly were not fact-checked, they mention his opponent in the election by saying:

“Still, Bennett is running for Cannon’s seat.”

A better comment might have been “Finally, someone is running for Cannon’s seat.”

While we understand how local government officials may not know the right way to do things at first, one would think after 12 years of public office you might be like the blind squirrel and eventually find a nut or two, the nut being the law that applies to them.

So there is no confusion, we have asked Cannon numerous questions and to date, he has refused to answer a single question.  Such lack of transparency is not good.

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