Unbelievable.

went through all of this expense re-imbursements before County Commission ever launched an audit. Is it possible that he made way with some of them, way back when?

A new county mouthpiece?

Named Dupes?

OMG

Mayor's officials "do expect to turn this around very quickly," Ragsdale spokeswoman Susanne Dupes said. "What we didn't want to happen was to get up to day nine … and have to make a last-minute request."

I thought Ragsdale would resign later today. But clearly they plan to fight. What's next, Team Ragsdale refuses to be investigated until all the reporters are forced to take polygraph tests?

Not even reading to children can save Ragsdale now. But can they stretch this out to 2010?

*facepalms* I personally scanned thousands of pages of receipts and noted countless instances in which the receipts were missing--frankly too many to keep track of and still keep up with scanning. The notion that Louis Cosby or Larry Van Guilder or I were running off with them is utterly laughable. Never mind that we were supervised the entire time either by Lorna or Abby from their office.

Is this really what it's come to?

Why didn't Rodefer Moss uncover this massive problem. Or if they did, why was it ignored?

I saw some receipts blowing down W. Main Street the other day. Missing evidence?

Brian A.
I'd rather be cycling.

Wow, is Arms serious with that accusation....that just proves that corruption is rampant in the knox county mayors office, Trying to pass the blame on to somebody else for their mistakes and blatant disregard for what is right, ethical and quite frankly the LAW.....These officials should be forced to take countless hours of ethics courses so they can finally act like the majority of good, reasonable people in society....they should all be FIRED for being incompetent...

probably, almost certainly......
The bigger issue is the fake invoices, why those were produced and has that been done in the past and has it escaped detection.
While the things that were brought out in the audit show what seem to be mistakes and the amount of money overall is not large you have to realize a lot of people resent it, some for economic reasons of their own and others resent Finch and the other African-Americans involved for purely racist reasons.
I wonder why Finch, who seems an intelligent woman would be so thoughtless as to give racists ammunition to use against not just her but all other African-Americans who serve in local government. Why ?
Of course ex-Sheriff Timmy and his allies want to use this to get rid of Ragsdale and take over county government....and that should be something that could be way way worse than the current situation in my view...

I hesitate to ask, but who appoints an interim mayor?

My apologies if this has already been covered here.

Back before uncle Herb was busy suing the current administration, he was busy going after Shurf Tim for his funny financials. Now, it looks like Shurf Tim might has his eye on replacing Ragsdale in coming years. Like repplacing a rabid dog with a poisonous snake. All the while, taxpayer dollars keep channeling into the lifestyle enhancement fund. I'm just glad nobody charged any helicopters to the p-cards. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

up on her own? I bet Ragsdale's invoices are suspect at best and I'd like verification that his wife traveled with him on the tickets/other tickets subject of the audit.

I hope he has a nice time in DC this weekend, surely the other cats there know he's the laughing stock of local politics and is a king with no kingdom and no dominion.

Somebody needs to call the gathering and verify that he is actually there and not reading to school kids out in Virginia somewhere or dining at the 4 Seasons in Georgetown on our hard earned tax dollars.

This guy is a piece of work.

--------------------------------------------------------->

having once met Schumpert I kind of have the feeling he wouldn't accept/doesn't want the interim Mayor job and would want to stay as far away as possible from this mess.

I read the online KNS article and I'm not sure that I read it correctly. Does it say that Rags is the president-elect of the County Executives of America??

Don't you know the dog ate their receipts?

OF COURSE documents and receipts could have been carried away, lost or misplaced in the C&C building! Dozens have sifted through those records, and many who have motives. Cosby, many reporters, Arms, etc. And their filing system was horrible to start with. Common sense tells us that these people certainly could have intentionally or accidentially destroyed or misplaced documents.

I think the release of the draft and the response from Issacs actually helped Loyd's case - not in the discrimination issue, but it may be evidence of abuse of power. Based on the audit draft, it looks like she simply bought groceries and flowers a lot.

BUT, in light of the "missing" receipts (although illegible and the documentation does not look contemporaneous), I have a totally different view. If the boss is directing the spending for lunches and flowers, appearing to be personally generous and compassionate, but the charges are on a subordinate's P-card, and the receipts go missing... Well, it just looks like the employee abused privileges - especially if she has "resigned".

The problems in Ragsdale's office now seem more systemic and disturbing than we know.

Great point, Dawg. You've gotta wonder if both Bone and Loyd were spending on orders from their boss (Finch and Ragsdale).

"Pick up my dry cleaning..."

"Take Commissioner Jordan to lunch..." -- s.

Older records were filed in the purchasing department offices on Central Avenue (the old Sears building).

Tamara, I'm not sure why you consider "dead filing" a more "precarious process" than leaving records in place, assuming space was available. In my previous incarnation as a corporate controller I can't recall a single instance in which a receipt or an invoice turned up missing when needed, say in a sales tax audit, for example. The difference was that company employees were actually held accountable for the integrity of the records, inlcuding personal expense reports. Who should we hold accountable for the county's "missing homework?"

(link...)

Larry Van Guilder

who has done the so-called audit in the past should have found evidence of problems. Did they miss it? Did they hide it? Were their questions "explained away"? Were their recommendations ignored? What's up with that???

Remember Arthur Anderson and Enron...

I was watched 100% time by representives of the Mayor' Office just as other people from the TV and newspaper media. Thay made copies for me of things I attached yellow stickey notes (they also charged me) or scaned. Never in my life have I taken an original document. This is "the dog ate my homework" excuse. Lewis Cosby

Does anyone remeber hearing a previous report what stated Knox County has procedures inplace to keep the p-cards from being used in Knox County but that Mayor Ragsdale had those restriction lifted so he and his cronnies could use the p-card anywhere they wanted?

If that is true then why did the auditors not pick that up and report... I think that goes to the heart of the misspending as premeditated/calculated on Ragsdale part to skirt the system... technically he broke Knox County Spending Laws

I think that goes to the heart of the misspending as premeditated/calculated on Ragsdale part to skirt the system... technically he broke Knox County Spending Laws

He definitely broke the Travel policy. The question is whether there is another policy which will give him cover. Mayor Ragsdale has I believe a $50,000 annual discretionary expense account. What does discretionary mean? Can he take the staff to lunch at Regas with that account? I wouldn't think so, but it is clear that no one really knows how Knox County government works.

It looks like Ragsdale has been using fancy lunches and dinners as a way to reward top staff since he got in office. Isn't that disguised compensation for the staff?

But what if he takes out a big campaign contributor for some tasty lobster? Is that against the rules? I believe that the rules say you can take a prospective business client to a fancy dinner, a person who might build a big factory in Knox County. But can he take out anyone? For any reason?

Each Commissioner has a $5,000 annual discretionary expense account. What rules do they have to follow?

This is one reason why the budget has gone from $497 million dollars when Ragsdale started office to $647 million dollars today. But what can you do when the daily paper covers for him? This Emperor has never worn any clothes. It took six years for anyone to notice.

This is truly unbelievable. I thought under Knox County form of government that the mayor was basically a figure head that all real power resided with County Commission. For lack of a better term is the mayor in Knox County's form of government not actually an administrative role?

Then how do we get our mayor to go back to being what the charter states "I am the chief fiscal officer of Knox County." and quit acting like the Donald Trump?

I thought under Knox County form of government that the mayor was basically a figure head that all real power resided with County Commission.

The County Mayor has tremendous power. Just not enough to satisfy some people like Jack McElroy. He wants the Mayor to have even more power. He wants a Mayor King.

Most people don't know that the County Mayor makes the appointments to powerful offices. All the Utility Boards. Along with the City Mayor he appoints MPC, PBA, IDB; the list is long. Commission has to vote on those appointments but rarely if ever goes against the Mayor. I can't remember a single time the Mayor has had an appointment refused.

The Mayor can kill a project in any District. He can use his $50,000 annual discretionary expense account to create either reward or mischief. New Commissioners are told very early to get on the train if they want anything in their District.

The County Mayor has great control over the funding of local non-profits.

What would be great is if the daily paper would actually explain the current structure of County government rather than playing cheerleader for the "Knox Charter Petition" and their great ideas to change the County government few people understand.

Why should knox county be funding non-profits. If the non-profit is worth while should it be able to raise its own funds directly from private citizens and businesses?

Just because 75% of the 200K expenses were "documented" is no comfort. What if the draft of the audit had not been released? Team Ragsdale would have simply "documented" the remainder of the expenses and we would never have known the damning details.

It seems the Mayor thought he was more than a mayor, possibly a king or a god. His ambition has known no boundaries, and the evidence we can see from the audit is surely just a drop in the bucket to the more subtle abuses that are harder to prove.

Reporters are in the unique position of investigating and connecting the dots on property transfers for "industrial development" projects and contracts. I suspect this is where the big bucks are.

Supervisors are more responsible for p-card abuse than employees. They approved every transaction by neglect. After looking at the Loyd receipts, I can't believe she wasn't acting at the request of her boss to order and pick up food or have flowers delivered, knowing that the charges would be on HER p-card, NOT HIS! Then her receipts were never documented and now have been "lost" several times. Good on her for keeping a copy.

The Mayor needs to be toppled like Saddam. He seems to think he is invincible.

Did Mr. Cosby not mention in his report last year about the undocumented spending but also mention that the majority of the documented spending violated Knox Spending Rules too. Should someone not be reviewing the entire p-card statement for misappropriate spending not just undocumented spending? Who know how much money Ragsdale has really spent in the past 5 years it might be $500,000 or $600,000 in illegal spending as per the Knox county rules. Just because it is documented does not mean it is correct or right or legal or whatever the term may be.

Mr. Toad, if what you say is true about the p-card rules then Ragsdale, in my opinion, he stole from me the tax payer. In my world if you still $1.00 or a $100,000 stealing is stealing and why is he not in custody?

The "no receipt" problem is a result of the total lack of adequate review and filing procedures in the County Mayor's office. None of the top three persons in the County Mayor's office, Ragsdale, Arms or Werner, had any real business or accounting experience. They totally failed to setup any rules for review and approval of expenditures. Other employees in the Mayor's office simply followed the extreemly lax policy of their superiors. I'm not saying at all that certain expenditures may be inappropriate. But from day one the Mayor did not require any of his staff to complete expense reports or turn receipts into a central file. Receipts and documentation were filed everywhere. That's why Cosby didn't find receipts that were there, because a lot were in the desk drawers of about 5 different people in the Mayor's office.

Operation and control of a department is the responsibility of the boss, and in this case all 3 bosses ... Ragsdale, Arms and Werner failed to see that policies and procedures were followed.

As I understand the problem, is that Ragsdale removed the restriction set in place to combat the out of control and illegal spending we are seeing as a result of this audit in the mayor's office. The reason no other department seems to be having these problems are the restrictions were not lifted on those pcards.

So that being said Ragsdale knew what he was doing was wrong and wanted to break county spending rules, which makes this whole mess that more of a problem.

It appears that Ragsdale turned $140,000 year job into a $300,000 year job by abusing the pcard, travel allowance, county owned vehicles, salary supplements and who knows what else.

As a Knox county tax payer I am very upset and want Ragsdale and his bunch of crooks to go to jail for misappropriation of public funds and abuse of the public trust.

I have to think the resolution Owings is putting in front of Commission giving him full authority to remedy the p-card issues is setting the stage for an ouster suit.

Owings does have the authority under the Charter (along with Nichols) to bring an ouster suit unilaterally, without a petition or referundum. Bill Lockett is a law partner of Ragsdale's personal attorney, and it's obvious Ragsdale had a hand in Lockett running.

It has to be more than coincidental that Owings is asking Commission for a resolution now and did nothing before. He lost the election and has nothing further to lose, and Ragsdale cost him his job.

And, while Owings does have the authority to act without the Commission resolution, after the resolution passes he can say it's a consensus, and deflect potential criticism that it's a solo act of vengeance.

This would be the ultimate punishment for Rags, because let's face it- he ain't going to jail. Finch maybe, but not Rags. I think if we see a Ragsdale resignation it will only be b/c Owings goes to him and says the ouster suit is drafted and ready to file.

If you go to knoxcounty.org you will see that the Mayor's response on the P-Card audit is due March 27th. Three days AFTER the March County Commission meeting. This has gone on for nine months. When will the obstruction end?

You can do something without waiting for County Commission or the County Law Director. You can send a written and signed complaint to the Knox County Ethics Committee.

All complaints must be in writing and must be signed.

They must come from a Knox County resident and the return address must be listed. You need to list specifically what your complaint is and what you want done.

For example, a complaint about the delay in investigating the P-Card abuses along with a demand that the Knox County Attorney General convene a Grand Jury to investigate criminal conduct could be the complaint.

If you wish to file a complaint mail it to:

Knox County Ethics Committee Chairman
P.O. Box 7302
Knoxville, TN 37931

So how will you sign yours #9