Michael Kilian, candidate for Oakland City Auditor, submits Conflict of Interest Complaint to Oakland Public Ethics Commission
Michael Kilian, candidate for Oakland City Auditor, submits Conflict of Interest Complaint to Oakland Public Ethics Commission
On October 10, 2010, Michael Kilian, who is opposing Courtney Ruby in the campaign for Oakland City Auditor, submitted a compl aint to the Oakland Public Ethics Commission alleging that Inspection Services Manager Antoinette Renwick failed to report a familial relationship with her department's primary blight abatement/cleanup contractor, Arthur Young Debris Removal Service, which constitutes a conflict of interest.
On October 10, 2010, Michael Kilian, who is opposing Courtney Ruby in the campaign for Oakland City Auditor, submitted a compl aint to the Oakland Public Ethics Commission alleging that Inspection Services Manager Antoinette Renwick failed to report a familial relationship with her department's primary blight abatement/cleanup contractor, Arthur Young Debris Removal Service, which constitutes a conflict of interest.
Kilian states this one example of nepotism appears to have cost the City more than $1 million each year in cleanup contracts.
Renwick, who became Inspection Services Manager in 2002, appears to have retired October 15, five days after Kilian's complaint was filed with PEC Executive Director Dan Purnell.
Courtney Ruby's nepotism audit does not appear to have detected or corrected this example of nepotism. A 2007 audit of Public Works bidding found that Arthur Young was also the #1 Public Works contractor.
Comments
I am sorry to send a second political email to the group. But I feel this is an extremely important matter.
I know that many of us on the block remember the chaos, panic, and anger we experienced when some of us got the false, or in some cases actual but unwarranted, blight citations issued by CEDA and/or Public Works (part of the same umbrella organization) as a result of blank forms being given to a private citizen or a Building Services inspector colluding with a neighbor when the citations were unwarranted.
As a result of that experience, I’ve become very involved in helping to uncover and expose massive corruption within CEDA. Some of you have been informed about this through choosing to stay on my mailing list. But I am now writing to the block as a whole to inform you that Michael Kilian, candidate for City auditor, has been instrumental in helping with routing out the CEDA corruption. By contrast, our current auditor, Courtney Ruby, has not only missed the corruption but failed to act on it when it was reported to her.
In fact, CEDA abated one whistleblower’s house a “substandard public nuisance” and scheduled it for demolition – without ever having set foot in it – as a result of her reports to Ruby. All of this went ignored by Ruby, who has an obligation to protect whistleblowers.
The corruption going on within CEDA – which is detailed on the site linked to below – is in my opinion the worst to occur in our city, or even arguably any city, in a long time. A citizen lawsuit has been filed against the city administrator and other high City and CEDA officials for violation of the state constitution and other state and local laws, alleging that CEDA has inflated its fees and ramped up its lien process in order to balance the Oakland budget on the backs of blameless homeowners, some of whom it has forced into foreclosure. CEDA also now stands accused of damaging nepotism, kickbacks, and more. Its head of Building Services recently resigned in the face of these accusations.
Michael Kilian, who is not yet our auditor, is doing something about this. Courtney Ruby on the other hand, who holds the office, not only has done nothing but has ignored the information and evidence after being handed it.
Please vote for Michael Kilian for auditor.
WWW.AUDITOAKLANDCEDA.COM