Catalyst Associates Exposed

BACKSTORY

Jeanne Carney posted in BALDWIN COUNTY CITIZENS For GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY (CGA)

Jeanne Carney August 6 at 3:35pm

Freaky Friday October 3, 2014

The Ripp Report

Words are cheap. Connect the dots. Most candidates for public office use only three key words: Ethics, transparency and accountability. Once elected the words and their meanings are forgotten.

Fairhope councilman Kevin Boone made this announcement statement for his candidacy on April 27, 2012: “Government should focus on what matters most, which is the people. I believe people should take responsibility for their actions, and it’s time for local government to be held accountable to the people and operate in an honest and transparent environment, while working together in the best interests of the citizens.”

Mr. Boone uses the word “people” three times. Accountable, honest, environment and transparent—only once, and closes with the standup remark “best interests of the citizens.”

Mr. Boone was president of the Woodlands Property Association during the construction of the Publix Big Box shopping center. The neighborhood rejected unanimously any connectivity between their neighborhood and Publix by sidewalk, nature trail or street. Mr. Boone is now supporting Mayor Kant’s fire station at the dead end of Parker Road. If completed, it will connect into Rock Creek. So, the people of Rock Creek, do not count as much as his own subdivision, The Woodlands.

Mr. Boone is also a member of the First Baptist Church, where the pastor and the mayor, for years, have slowly destroyed the neighborhood surrounding the church, throwing the comprehensive plan and ordinances in place to protect the neighborhood—out the window. Parking lots have replaced houses for the benefit of a few, while the rest try to understand how it is allowed. The church now wants to vacate part of Church Street for future expansion. All this happened while the congregation is kept in the dark.

Mr. Boone said a single tourist mentioned to him that Knoll Park was unsightly, so he dismantled a ten-year park committee consisting of volunteer forestry and botany experts. A majority of citizens disagreed with Mr. Boone, however he decided the mayor’s wishes far outweighed the best interests of the citizens.

Mr. Boone agreed to settle the Triangle Lawsuit caused by our Mayor for $12.2 million. He is not being honest nor transparent about the costly legal settlement. He is telling us it’s a “park.” So we now own 106 acres of “park land” that has no walking trails, no parking, no maintenance, no access and no plan. Approximately 40 acres in the Triangle section has even been deforested, so how can Mr. Boone say anything about Knoll Park?

Mr. Boone also agreed with the Mayor and eliminated the finance committee. How is this accountable, honest, or transparent? Or, how is it in the best interests of the citizens?

Mr. Boone sees no conflict of interest in awarding a state senator or a member of planning and zoning municipal contracts. He feels this is a perk. In the case of Senator Pittman, he didn’t even complete his lucrative BP boom contract. He left hundreds of anchors in the bay. How is that accountable?

LET’S DIG A LITTLE DEEPER…

In 2012, Mr. Chris Elliott and Dane Haygood, Mayor of Daphne, joined forces with “Mr. Fix it” Lynn Stacey to form Elliott, Haygood & Stacy, “political consultants.” They collected tens of thousands of dollars from many Baldwin County candidates…to name a few: Tim Kant $22,500, Hoss Mack $12,000 and Kevin Boone $7,000. All the candidates they represented won. One hundred percent of their candidates won. Not a single one lost.

When Mr. Elliott became County Commissioner, Mr. Haygood and Stacy knew that this was such a huge conflict of interest that they had to come up with another plan.

THE OTHER PLAN

Mr. Scott Boone, campaign manager for Tucker Dorsey in 2012, and Chris Elliott in 2014, is the son of Kevin Boone. He joined with Mr. Lynn Stacey, son of the older, “Mr. Fixit” Stacey, to form Catalyst Associates, LLC on August 11, 2014. Catalyst is associated with eleven companies in seven cities. The company was formed as an LLC with the stated purpose of “Any Legal Activity.”

CONNECTING THE DOTS

On August 14, 2014, Judge Michelle Thomason, only three days after Catalyst was formed, became one of their first clients. Judge Thomason’s recorded expense report shows a payment to Catalyst for $2500 for consulting and polling. Does this sound familiar?

This is how politics and Judge Thomason work to deceive you, the voter. Now I’m sure that Mr. Kevin Boone has no problem with Catalyst being a contractor for the City of Fairhope, or maybe a sub-contractor, or maybe a sub-contractor to the sub-contractor. I’m sure it’s all legal, maybe unethical and deceptive, but it’s legal.

Mr. Kevin Boone, you have lost all credibility as a public servant and we expect that you will do whatever Mayor Tim Kant asks of you while ignoring the “best interests of the citizens.”

If you have read all of this, are you not in the least bit suspicious of the integrity of our election process in Baldwin County?

Paul Ripp
The Ripp Report/Baldwin County Legal Eagle