Posted on 07/21/2011 7:33:27 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
The state of Arizona is now investigating allegations of massive corruption among government officials in Quartzsite, Ariz., the town that's the focus of worldwide attention after police forcibly removed a woman from speaking at a town-hall meeting, and where the mayor today says he's not being paid and most local police officers are wrongly being fired and have been ordered not to leave their homes.
"I'm no longer getting paid as mayor," said Ed Foster, the elected head of Quartzsite. "That's not a big deal, but it's in the town code that I get a stipend of $400. If they made a decision to withdraw my stipend, they have to do it in public, so just the decision to do it in private is another violation of the open-meeting law. It's just idiocy."
Quartzsite has become infamous since WND first publicized the ouster of Jennifer Jones, publisher of the Desert Freedom Press, over the vocal objections of Mayor Foster who pleaded with his own police not to remove her.
A video of the June 28 town-hall fiasco posted on YouTube has been viewed more than 100,000 times.
Foster, who's been at war with his own council and Police Chief Jeff Gilbert whom he has called corrupt and "a Nazi," believes potentially millions of dollars of taxpayer money is being illegally funneled through secret checks to unnamed councilmembers.
"Those checks are the real story," he said. "The response [of the council and police chief] has been overwhelming and vicious to the Nth degree."
The council met earlier this month as it locked out the public and declared a "state of emergency," allegedly due to personal threats resulting from the national exposure.
(Excerpt) Read more at wnd.com ...
I'd drive real slow along I-10 through there and have someone truly riding shotgun. A rear gunner couldn't hurt.
ping
Where’s the state police? Where’s the FBI? This is weird beyond belief.
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The FBI or the Justice Dept. You’ve got to be kidding ... they sound like Eric “the bigot” Holders type of people!
BFL
It’s like a Western movie where a corrupt sheriff and politicians have taken over a town.
Only, if this were a Western, the townspeople would have gotten their rifles, formed a posse, and taken care of the problem without any help from the Governor or the Marshals.
This story is like an episode from 1960s TV , where Rockford, or some hero would get stranded in some corrupt little town.
Jan Brewer has a lot of crap under the carpet she needs to deal with.
Lemme know where and when.
It’s just idiocy,when liberals go nuts and decide they are going to milk people and throw those who object in jail.It isn’t that kind of country and it never will be.
You frame your posts? Later on do you hang them up?
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I think this calls for the A-Team. :)
Keep the FBI out of this, Arizona has enough problems with the Federals. What would the FBI do? Call in the ATF to collect all the firearms in town and take them to Mexico? As for the state police, all we have is the AZ Dept. of Safety. I have very little faith in them since they seem to be mostly in the business of REVENUE INHANCMENT. In most places the County Sheriff is the highest ranking elected official in the county. However reading between the lines of the Sheriff’s statement, I suspect he is more interested in maintaining the status quo.
Sounds like they need a repeat of The Battle of Athens.
Wow, is that ever true. I am very close to a situation like this, but in a small town on the opposite side of the country.
What often happens in small town gov't is that a little clique of officials keeps getting elected. Nobody wants to run against them (or nobody dares), so they often run unopposed, Soviet-style, and "win" every election.
Pretty soon these types start to think they own the town. Our First Amendment right to free speech is the first principle to be thrown out the window. These councils will curtail the public's time to ask questions at meetings. They will also attempt to muzzle any rogue members amongst themselves.
And naturally, town business is conducted to personally benefit those in power.
Any request from the public for action that doesn't suit the council members' personal agendas, is either rudely dismissed, or blown off with that hoary old phrase, "we'll look into it."
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