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| Shelton Law Firm - a whole lot of defending going on. The Ecclesia College and Paris Family trial is coming up soon. The college takes tax money but will not disclose, because it is a "church," but that is illegal - to give tax funds to a church. |
OPINION From worst to best | NWADG:
"What a GIF it is
What's up with elected legislators and our money? I see Republican State Rep. Jake Files of Fort Smith now finds himself wading chest-deep in the same pool of General Improvement Fund muck that last year slimed former state Sen. Jon Woods and state Rep. Micah Neal, both Republicans.
In Woods and Neal's instances, according to federal indictments, the alleged crimes centered around some $600,000 in GIF grants being steered to Ecclesia College in Springdale in exchange for a little consideration for the elected point men.
Now Files is being visited by FBI agents peering deeply into his own GIF grant machinations regarding a new softball complex that he and his partner, Sebastian County Election Commissioner Lee Webb, contracted to build for the city (along with more than $25,000 reportedly put to his own use), according to a federal search warrant affidavit. Files says he's done nothing wrong and for now we will take him at his word.
The story about Files' involvement with the Fort Smith grant and serious questions surrounding the bid process used to acquire that surplus tax money leaves me scratching my head and wondering just how many good ol' boys in our honorable Legislature have dug into the public's GIF pot.
Reporter Dave Hughes' thorough news account the other day laid out a story about Files' role in securing the GIF grant in Fort Smith and how monies were disbursed and how the city subsequently canceled its contact with his firm ... and where the money went.
With each revelation about corruption (and possible abuses) in this grossly politicized grant program funded by state surplus whereby politicians bring public improvement money to their districts for pet projects, it's beginning to sound to me as if the GIF acronym could stand for Grow Income Free (and fast).
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Mike Masterson is a longtime Arkansas journalist. Email him at mmasterson@arkansasonline.com.
Editorial on 08/27/2017"
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