Thread: Don Allen Holbrook IEDC Rogue Former Member / Jeff Finkle Orchestrates Cover-up

http://www.iedconline.org/Downloads/...nforcement.pdf

The IEDC has the absolute duty to properly discipline Don Holbrook. His extravagant spending, outright lies about the projects he is involved in, refusal to substantiate the claims he makes and very unprofessional lawsuit threats and meltdowns in public need to be addressed. The Committee on Professional Conduct can initiate proceedings against Holbrook itself. If they don't take action I may file a formal complaint myself. Does the IEDC really want this Holbrook character using them as an endorsement in light of the facts presented here?

Soapboxmom

Hey, all. As the founder of EarthQuest concept for theme park and nonprofit conservation institute, and a former journalist, I have many reasons for supporting your and others efforts to bring to the light of day all that has blocked the progress and wasted taxpayer money, and my own, on the project. All that's gone wrong is a huge disappointment to me too, but I hope people will not throw out the healthy baby with the dirty bathwater. A lot of good development work was done on EarthQuest planning it and demonstrating how it's a good investment, even though the public money spent should have produced even more. It's still a viable project, especially now without the deceptive, perhaps criminal, leadership of Marlin/Atlantis. Under new ownership and management, here is still a reasonable chance the project can succeed. If so, I think it will do a great deal of good for Montgomery County in education, entertainment, and revenue.
Also, I am hopeful that people will truly do their homework and be specific in their allegations. There is some serious wrongdoing here, not to be confused with ineptness or plain old greed. I think it's important to look at the distinctions. Personally, I am not happy with stone-walling going on now by many involved, and EMCID definitely didn't do its proper homework before getting themselves, and me, into bed with Marlin Atlantis. And I think the nonprofit was poorly managed by its board (including me) and not well managed by Holbrook. But I don't see where EMCID or Holbrook for that matter are guilty of any crimes. In fact, much as he might self-promote, Holbrook actually did his job quite well for the for-profit theme park, which was to interest EMCID in the project and get state benefits for the project. One could certainly take exception to the style or the expenses involved in all paid people's work on this project, but I do want to make clear the distinction between EMCID and Holbrook's conduct, and that of the developers which may have been outright illegal if they misrepresented their ownership of the land.

Don Holbrook

The Next America: Moving Beyond a Fragile Economy at Author
Las Vegas, Nevada Area Capital Markets
Current

• The Next America: Moving Beyond a Fragile Economy at Author and Keynote Speaker
• Author at Knights Templar Fictional Book Project
• Board of Director at CDC Small Business Finance

• Site Location consultant/Partner at The Vercitas Group
• Keynote Speaker, Economist, Author, CEcD at Don Allen Holbrook, LLC
• Board of Director at International Economic Development Council
• Member, CEcD, FM at IEDC

see less

Past

• Consultant at EMCID
• Senior Project Director at The Institute EarthQuest
• President/CEO at Professional Economic Development Organizations

Education

• University of Phoenix
• Wright State University
• Wright State University

Recommendations 10 people have recommended Don
Connections 500+ connections
Websites

• Vercitas Group
• Economic Developer
• IEDC

Twitter 9thTemplar
Public Profile Don Holbrook | LinkedIn

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Summary


My professional practice asists both businesses in need of capitalization for their operations and/or in search of a new location for relocation or expansion of new business opportunities and market expansion. We discover the most advantageous business climate and location, recommend the short-list of possible facilities or sites, and negotiate public incentives and inducements that lower the upfront costs of such investments and increase the equity and thus ROI to the ownership.

We also work with communities to recommend the creation of incentive and capitalization strategies and tools that will increase their ability to attract investment into their locales. Our focus is on deals that create quality jobs, significant investment and improve the quality of life for residents of our community clients. typically this helps the community economic development organization diversify their economy and improve their outcomes to their communities.
Specialties

Site Location Analysis, Business capitalization, Hybrid capitalization using special economic development tools, public policy such as incentive strategies tied to ROI, deal negotiations for public incentives and investment inducements

Holbrook says he is out of the Earthquest debacle. That means this clunker is a failed project for Holbrook plain and simple! The taxpayers are left holding the bag and cleaning up the mess he made!

Here is the head honcho at the IEDC. I am told he is quite a Holbrook fan. I would politely request that he check out his rogue member very carefully and analyze the effect his shenanigans will have on the organization he heads.

Jeff Finkle

President, International Economic Development Council
Washington D.C. Metro Area Nonprofit Organization Management Current

• President and CEO at International Economic Development Council, Washington, D.C.

Past

• Deputy Assistant Secretary at HUD
• Executive Assistant to the Assistant Secretary at HUD

Education

• The Ohio State University
• Ohio University
• Newark High School

Recommendations 11 people have recommended Jeff
Connections 500+ connections
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• The Bollinger Foundation
• The International Economic Dev

Public Profile Jeff Finkle | LinkedIn

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Summary

With over 30 years of experience in economic development, Jeffrey A. Finkle is President and CEO of the International Economic Development Council (IEDC), the world’s largest economic development membership organization. He is a recognized leader and international authority on economic development, and has established multi-lateral partnerships with economic development organizations around the world. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for Climate Prosperity, Inc. The Bollinger Foundation and Flax Trust America.

As a longtime leader in community service and philanthropy, in 2005 Jeff organized 250 economic development volunteers to work in Gulf Coast communities endeavoring to recover from Hurricane Katrina. He also founded the Bollinger Foundation - a non-profit organization that provides financial assistance to educate and support children who have lost one or more parent who worked in the field of economic development - awarding approximately $500,000 in grants.

A former Deputy Assistant Secretary in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Jeff is a past member of the Arlington Virginia Economic Development Commission, and served as CEO of the Association of Defense Communities for over ten years. With the formation of IEDC in 2001 following the merger of the Council for Urban Economic Development (CUED), and the American Economic Development Council (AEDC), he was named the first CEO.

Jeff writes and lectures frequently about economic development issues. He has testified before Congress and has had appearances on CBS Sunday Morning, Fox television and the Journal Report on PBS among others

Maintaining a strong connection with his Ohio roots, Jeff has a long-standing relationship with Ohio University’s Voinovich School for Leadership and Public Affairs and received the Medal of Merit from Ohio University in 2010. He was previously bestowed the Appalachian New Economy Partnership Award for Economic Development.

Originally Posted by Don Lessem

Hey, all. As the founder of EarthQuest concept for theme park and nonprofit conservation institute, and a former journalist, I have many reasons for supporting your and others efforts to bring to the light of day all that has blocked the progress and wasted taxpayer money, and my own, on the project. All that's gone wrong is a huge disappointment to me too, but I hope people will not throw out the healthy baby with the dirty bathwater. A lot of good development work was done on EarthQuest planning it and demonstrating how it's a good investment, even though the public money spent should have produced even more. It's still a viable project, especially now without the deceptive, perhaps criminal, leadership of Marlin/Atlantis. Under new ownership and management, here is still a reasonable chance the project can succeed. If so, I think it will do a great deal of good for Montgomery County in education, entertainment, and revenue.
Also, I am hopeful that people will truly do their homework and be specific in their allegations. There is some serious wrongdoing here, not to be confused with ineptness or plain old greed. I think it's important to look at the distinctions. Personally, I am not happy with stone-walling going on now by many involved, and EMCID definitely didn't do its proper homework before getting themselves, and me, into bed with Marlin Atlantis. And I think the nonprofit was poorly managed by its board (including me) and not well managed by Holbrook. But I don't see where EMCID or Holbrook for that matter are guilty of any crimes. In fact, much as he might self-promote, Holbrook actually did his job quite well for the for-profit theme park, which was to interest EMCID in the project and get state benefits for the project. One could certainly take exception to the style or the expenses involved in all paid people's work on this project, but I do want to make clear the distinction between EMCID and Holbrook's conduct, and that of the developers which may have been outright illegal if they misrepresented their ownership of the land.

A big hearty Texas Welcome! We are very honored you took the time to share with us here on RS.

"His profession is about professional bullshitting," Lessem says.

This was the cutest comment in the Houston Press article. It nicely illustrates some of the issues I have with Holbrook as this thread shows.

Getting rid of John Marlin, Trey White and their gang is a huge step in the right direction. They had the Earthquest property up for sale in 2006 I believe and it appears it may have been up for grabs the whole time the project was being planned for that specific property. I, of course, had a field day questioning why Marlin Atlantis White didn't just buy the property outright and fund the project since Trey White was in MLMers' videos and promotions (sometimes hamming it up for the cameras) being introduced as a multi-billionaire.

I am so looking forward to updates about the project. I thank you again for taking the time to set the facts straight!

Soapboxmom

Not the 100s of projects he should be naming, but certainly a less hostile tone:

thought on “How to Value our Economic Impact as a Professional Economic Developer?”

• economicdeveloper said:
  April 27, 2012 at 5:36 pm
  
  Soon I will upload an approximate business case that I use for valuing our efforts as Economic Development Professionals. It has to take into account some norm or acceptable protocol for how to approximate economic impact from the direct, indirect, and induced outcome perspective and it has to be cumulative over time. It is also very important to remember than some of us serve on non-profit boards and are engaged in financing decisions for small business, which can be considered in my opinion as part of our professional contribution to economic impact related to our careers from a pro-bono perspective.
  
  

Now if he would just release the charity papers required by law.

Soapboxmom

Don Holbrook is on the attack again. No one in their right mind would have any thing to do with this guy judging from this latest diatribe:

Don Holbrook 16 hours ago in reply to Heather Dawne Clarke Dobrott

Ms. Clarke I am a consummate professional of the highest moral and ethical fiber. Your untrue and Purposeful malicious assault on my reputation is illegal. Your assault on my career has been malicious and unethical. I have not overstated my accomplishments as you have accused me of doing and bombarded my professional colleagues and one of your apparent family members has even posted this totally false allegation on my Amazon book site. You obviously want to harm my economic livelihood, which by the way has been made honorably and honestly. Your allegations are not based on facts. I was able in less than 30 minutes to validate that in deed my career accomplishments were actually portrayed quite conservatively. Your foolish challenge for me substantiate my career is just another demonstration of your lack of understanding of legality. I have no need to substantiate myself. Therefore I am demanding you retract your false statements. Otherwise I will take the appropriate action to protect my reputation and restore my good name. Your wide spread comments have already caused me economic harm. You are in no way qualified to assert what economic value my time and expertise is worth, but your attempt to devalue my economic value based on rumor, innuendo and slander have created harm to my 22 year work at building my value. If you continue with this defamation and slander you do so at your great economic risk. You have been fairly warned.

So, now you think it is illegal to have an opinion? An opinion is how one feels about something and unlike a fact cannot be proven or disproven. I do not agree with the lifestyles of the rich and famous extravagant expenditures associated with Earthquest and I have every right to feel that way. I also do not agree that paying yourself $185 an hour to set up the charity was prudent. Again, that is my opinion.

You choose not to publish a list to substantiate this claim you made:

100 projects, 50,000 jobs created and over $1B in economic impact and investment.

No I am not going to name all the projects,
So in my opinion this case is now officially closed.

http://www.realscam.com/f11/iedc-int...html#post19668

I can't retract any false statements as you have yet to enumerate and refute any statements that I have made. Just what are those alleged false statements??? I certainly have no earthly idea what you are blathering about! Your vicious personal attacks, bragging and online antics are your doing and reflect on you. If there are false statements of fact then it should be no problem for you to identify those and provide the evidence that refutes them.

A barrage of online meltdowns and hideous lawsuit threats will drive away clients. Who wants to work with a hothead that resorts to litigation threats the minute anyone disagrees with him, questions anything or God forbid should have an opinion??? If you want to clear your name then substantiate the claims you personally are making. Explain why you told the marks in Pahrump that Earthquest was not rephased to a smaller scale when the newspapers reported it had been. Explain why you told the marks in Pahrump that this Earthquest deal would break ground in December 2011 or early 2012 when according to Judge Sadler no financing was ever firmly in place. Explain why you paid yourself such a huge amount in salary for a charity that only held 2 fundraisers and did only a single game development project with the local college as far as I know. Explain how it is you were hired to handle the financing and yet according to Judge Sadler there was never any money for Earthquest to go forward. Need I go on.

The fact you viciously attack your critics, make totally disgusting lawsuit threats and do everything possible to force them to remove factual information and their opinions speaks to what kind of business person you are Holbrook. You want to threaten and / or spend your legitimate critics into silence. I will not be silenced by a pompous buffoon who relies on threats and totally fantasized laws that he cannot cite. All of this will be sent to the IEDC and I will keep the option of a formal complaint open!

Soapboxmom

Remember the infamous meeting:
Fantasy Land - Page 4 - News - Houston - Houston Press

McCrady's mantra for the evening was "moving forward." He said it so often that it would have made a terrific drinking game: Take a shot every time he said it. He said that residential developer D.R. Horton had already made an offer on the land held by the bankrupt Whitestone, and that he expected the judge overseeing the case to approve the sale, meaning the land might be free and clear for groundbreaking in 18 months. (D.R. Horton's spokesperson didn't return the Press's calls.)

Perhaps the highlight was when he assured the audience that while a $1,600 dinner at Chez Nous in Humble might look fun on paper, that and other expensive outings were actually high-pressure, cutthroat courtships wherein East Montgomery County was competing with communities across the country and had to do whatever it could to stand out.
At one point, he got a bit testy and suggested that, if the public thought he was spending too much money on travel and expensive meals in order to bring new business to the area, "We can sit in the office and wait for someone to walk in the door."

Remember all those extravagant world tour stops? What could those possibly have to do with any cutthroat competitions? EMCID had already hired and was paying Don Holbrook. The failed developers paid Holbrook an additional $773,000.00 out of the bond money. Holbrook was also making a killing working for the charity as its president and CEO. Frank McCrady just got led around by Holbrook and even more taxpayers money was wasted on these wild spending sprees at Holbrook's behest. Holbrook apparently planned these extravagant excursions.

Why on earth were the taxpayers forced to fund this ridiculous spending on Don Holbrook who was working for them to begin with? So far he has brought nothing to the area. Many believed the groundbreaking dates that McCrady and Holbrook were putting out there and lost money, sometimes their life savings due to this imaginary park. Frank McCrady should have been fired ages ago. Courting Holbrook is so completely ridiculous!!!!!

Soapboxmom

How to Value our Economic Impact as a Professional Economic Developer? « economicdeveloper

economicdeveloper said:

April 28, 2012 at 9:01 pm

So let’s look at a couple different examples of economic impact business case scenarios to give you as a reader an idea of who one might want to quantify their work record. There are several reasons to quantify such efforts and I don’t mind saying that it is about economic value. This is especially true if you are selling your know how and intellectual knowledge to clients on a fee for hire basis. People often scoff at how we value our time, but I don’t bite on such negative naysayers. Here is why I believe professional economic developers should be valued like any other remarkable knowledge based work. We create positive change such as jobs for those willing to work. Our efforts usually include adding economic value to the local, state and national tax base, thus reducing the demand of payment for the overhead cost of government on each citizen. In addition, our efforts diversify, preserve and/or expand the local economy normally. Finally, economic development professionals should be looked at as a profit center not a cost center. Our investments turn into return on investments for our clients. Unlike the fees of attorney’s and accountants we aren’t trying to avoid costs or reduce litigated exposure, we are creating what we refer to as new or found money in a marketplace and putting it to good use to create more money in that same market on the average between 2.5 to 9 times depending on whose economic model you adhere to. Now that is a good point to clarify. There are three major software tools that run from conservative to aggressive in their leveraging multipliers for what we refer to as indirect and/or induced economic impact, which is the result of direct economic impact.
I tend to use the conservative methods of 2.5 times direct jobs and 2 times economic investment spent on payroll in the market for the cumulative number of years the project has been an on-going concern. Remember you must add indirect jobs to direct jobs for your total tally.
I also count the amount of investment into construction as a one time economic stimulus… of course I could but I do not at this point count the temporary construction jobs, but they do have a very positive impact usually for less than 2 years.
I also look at Fee based projects where I consulted directly and/or gave advice prior to the final decision to the client as eligible projects for consideration in my tally. In addition, I look at broad sweeping grant investments that created a better business climate and value the jobs in that impact area as preserved. Third I look at indirect pro-bono service such as in my case I am on the nations largest CDC small business finance board in San Diego, serving CA, NV, and AZ. My role there is to be on the board of directors which directs the staff on investments into small businesses. I do so at no fee for service. But as a member of the loan credit committee our board is actively engaged every week in reviewing small business loan applications and recommending or denying them for business loans. I count the annual jobs created and/or preserved and number of businesses served as projects each year I have served and take those numbers directly from our CDC website and the annual report published to everyone.
I believe these are a fair and impartial way to value ourselves as a professional and thus derive what our economic fee base should be based upon. In my case I have two types of fee based services… a straight fee for service opinion based on a flat rate negotiated fee with hourly rate clauses for beyond scope work and/or a cost plus performance based fee, which allows the client to pay me a percentage of the economic value case I create and that becomes engaged by a mutual agreement between the public sector and a private sector client.
At this point our professional industry as established by IEDC in Washington has not given us a standard template for how to value our economic contribution so in the absence of a national or international standard this is my business case methodology. If such a standard was created of course I would adjust and re-establish my business case and accomplishment statements according to their guidelines.

No dice! You have been endlessly making personal attacks against me and totally baseless lawsuit threats. You bragged of the 100 + projects. You need to simply name them. End of story!!!

Soapboxmom

Originally Posted by Soapboxmom

How to Value our Economic Impact as a Professional Economic Developer? « economicdeveloper

No dice! You have been endlessly making personal attacks against me and totally baseless lawsuit threats. You bragged of the 100 + projects. You need to simply name them. End of story!!!

Soapboxmom

Never knew it was so difficult to put together a resume.

And there is more on the HP article:

Don Holbrook 21 hours ago in reply to Craig Malisow

Craig
I gave you the facts. They are quite easy to validate. You chose to cast each like deflection or that I was not the leading author in my industry, even if it was self published and one of the leading public speakers on economic development public policy in the world. You are the one with the responsibility to report factually, fairly and impartially. You have chosen to substantiate your sensationalized claims on rumors, innuendo and slanderous bloggers not facts.

What? Are you saying you lied in the e-mails you sent to me that I passed on when you refused to turn over the charity docs or answer questions??? As you are refusing to turn the charity docs over I had no alternative but to turn those over to the authorities and news media.

And, again notice he doesn't quote and refute anything. Holbrook is just having a long winded online meltdown.

Holbrook, are you now going to claim you were not behind the extravagant travel described here and paid a bloody fortune by the EMCID and then $773,000.00 more by the failed developer???

Soapboxmom

This is for our McCrady who has been a courtin' Mr. Holbrook:



From McCrady:

expensive outings were actually high-pressure, cutthroat courtships wherein East Montgomery County was competing with communities across the country and had to do whatever it could to stand out.

Hong Kong Disneyland - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

That park, which cost an estimated 3.5 billion to build, is losing money with 4.6 million annual visitors. The $600,000,000 million proposed budget for Earthquest doesn't seem near high enough to build the world class green theme park we have been promised. How is Earthquest going to get sufficient funding (i.e over 1 billion dollars) and enough visitors to make it?

Hong Kong Disneyland shrinks; loss on cost-cutting - The China Post

Check out the projected cost of this newest theme park to be offered:

Disney Tries Again to Break Into the Chinese Market | Business Today
Notice they have 330 million people within 3 hours of the park. Quite a bit more than 18 million within 4 hour drive for Earthquest. I can see why investors have hesitated.

How much of this type of information is Holbrook sharing with EMCID???

Soapboxmom

Here is a very sobering look at the history of Six Flags. It has been plagued by financial problems for years and years. Did Holbrook look seriously into this?

http://www.csus.edu/indiv/s/shawg/ar..._timeline.html

How to Value our Economic Impact as a Professional Economic Developer? « economicdeveloper

The following is my current tally I have been continuously questioned about by the bloggers, general public CAVE people but for some reason not ever have my clients and/or my industry asked me to produce this list.

We Citizens Against Virtually Everything and your clients are asking for those 100 + projects. I have the e-mails and docs to prove your clients are asking and discussing it. I have had phone conversations regarding your claims as well. Do you really want to keep trying to BS everyone, Holbrook???

Soapboxmom

http://agendaquick.hhoh.org/docs/201...26,%202012.doc

13. Executive Session
Mayor Fisher stated there is a need for an Executive Session this evening to discuss personnel issues related to employment. Mr. Campbell so moved; Mr. Roger Hensley seconded the motion. On a call of the vote, Mrs. Dale, Mrs. Kaleps, Mr. Roger Hensley, Mr. Campbell, Mrs. Vargo, Mr. Lyons, Mr. Starline, and Mrs. Blankenship voted yea; none voted nay. The motion passes 8-0.

The Executive Session commenced at 8:16 p.m. and concluded at 10:05 p.m. with no decisions being made or actions taken in Executive Session. Mayor Fisher called the Regular Meeting back to order at 10:05 p.m.

City Attorney Alan Schaeffer said in Executive Session, Council discussed a situation involving the City’s contract with Don A. Holbrook, LLC with regard to which a very significant amount of money has been paid, although not the entire contract amount. Council discussed the quality of the work product that was tendered to the City. The general discussion was that the work product is not at all what was expected. It does not conform to the contract requirements that Don A. Holbrook, LLC was required to fulfill as part of that contract. If the City is going to proceed with litigation against Mr. Holbrook, the City Attorney would need a motion that would authorize legal counsel to take legal action against Don A. Holbrook, LLC., including the filing of a lawsuit based upon the demand letter already sent by legal counsel to Don A. Holbrook, LLC.
Mr. Campbell so moved; Mr. Roger Hensley seconded the motion.
Mr. Campbell asked if Mr. Schaeffer’s demand letter is public information.
Mr. Schaeffer replied yes.
Mr. Campbell asked if Mr. Schaeffer goes back to his legal team tomorrow and critiques this part of the meeting and finds anything that needs to be corrected or changed, could amendments be made to the motion Council is making tonight. He said that would give Mr. Schaeffer’s legal team the appropriate time necessary to review this.
Mr. Schaeffer replied yes.
Mr. Campbell then asked, if need be, could a Special Meeting of Council be called.
Clerk of Council Tony Rodgers replied yes.

On a call of the vote, Mrs. Kaleps, Mr. Roger Hensley, Mr. Campbell, Mrs. Vargo, Mr. Lyons, Mr. Starline, Mrs. Blankenship, and Mrs. Dale voted yea; none voted nay. The motion passes 8-0.

According to some reports I am getting Holbrook is something like a used car salesman trying unload an ancient unexploded Pinto. He says charming things like, "they didn't listen to me and they failed." "If you don't plant the flag first, then the community next door will 'steal' the deal and there was only room for one mega project." And how about this "wasn't his first rodeo." He is high pressure and plays off of folks worries and desperation to do something I am told. Holbrook also boldly proclaims he has never had a failed project.

The controversy is swirling around this clown:

Court gives EarthQuest developer time to raise money, save project - Tuesday, February 07, 2012 - Copyright 2007 Ourtribune.com

For example, the contract executed with Pahrump, Nevada, to determine if it was a good candidate for a major theme park, was initially presented to the public as a $154,000 agreement. The primary thrust of the initial contract was for Holbrook and Contour to conduct a survey and see if Pahrump was a suitable site. Not surprisingly, the search (conducted by Contour & Holbrook) did conclude that Pahrump was a viable venue.


In later town hall meetings it was disclosed to the general public that the contract was not a single-purpose document, but an on-going, multi-phase commitment, with those future phases triggered by specific events. Those future phases will commit the city to almost $900,000 in total fees as additional phases are completed. Furthermore, the contract provides for “Success Fees” should the project be constructed. Contour and Holbrook will receive 1 percent of all investor money raised, and 3 percent of all public funding committed to the project. On a $500 million project, the approximate cost of the EarthQuest park, that stipulation could generate a fee as high as $10 million+ to the developers.

I don't believe the contracts with EMCID have been published. What ridiculous terms did Holbrook trick McCrady and company into agreeing to? Do the taxpayers here have the option to sue or file with the authorities to recover monies spent on this dino disaster? I am not surprised Huber Heights, Ohio is considering litigation.

Texas sure got a virtual soon too explode Pinto to nowhere with this Holbrook character.

Soapboxmom

Pintos ruled! How dare you. I got many at a great deal used and beat them to over 100,000 miles.
And I have done 200 projects, 100,000 jobs created and over $2B in economic impact and investment.
Don't believe me. Too bad.....it's true because I say so. I should have been hired over Holbrook. :)

Originally Posted by Soapboxmom

How to Value our Economic Impact as a Professional Economic Developer? « economicdeveloper


We Citizens Against Virtually Everything and your clients are asking for those 100 + projects. I have the e-mails and docs to prove your clients are asking and discussing it. I have had phone conversations regarding your claims as well. Do you really want to keep trying to BS everyone, Holbrook???

Soapboxmom

There is absolutely NO WAY clients never asked when asked to fork over all the scratch he was demanding.

Originally Posted by Whip

Pintos ruled! How dare you. I got many at a great deal used and beat them to over 100,000 miles.
And I have done 200 projects, 100,000 jobs created and over $2B in economic impact and investment.
Don't believe me. Too bad.....it's true because I say so. I should have been hired over Holbrook. :)

You rock! You have had some real impact!

thought on “Responding to Bloggers and Negative Uninformed Social Media Inquiries”

• economicdeveloper said:
  April 27, 2012 at 6:05 pm
  
  No matter what you do to try to reason with bloggers and present facts they usually just twist it and make it look like you are trying to deflect your comments as being less than credible. In addition they usually stoop to calling you names and adding further defamatory comments to their already big pile. These folks in my opinion are usually whack jobs. They are unhappy with their own lives and thus they want everyone else to be miserable as well. They have nothing positive to contribute and offer no solutions that would create positive progress. But in the end there is a rule we need to all remember, “You can’t reason with Crazy nut jobs.”
• Perhaps the way we can reinstitute some basic rules of protocol and protect our civil rights. Perhaps new modifications to litigation should be reconsidered. We all know that Tort reform has been a major topic. So when people get wronged in our country and economically harmed you only have one course.. legal action. But the cost is insurmountable for most common folks. Here is a suggestion;
  Why not create a fee for each court case that goes into a public trust fund for use by small businesses and people who have been economically harmed and can’t afford to hire and fight a lawsuit against the offenders.
• 
  People are stymied by the legal costs… this is wrong it keeps the scales of justice unbalanced in favor of those with the gold. So how about this? A new national loser pays law gets passed that states if you are wronged and you prevail in a court of law the loser has to pay all legal expenses of the victor plus their cost of personal and/or business time consumed at the published rate of their compensation annually. In addition, the new law should provide legal funds for any case that get’s past summary judgement and is therefor deemed valid for consideration in court. This new law would also make rules specific to internet defamation, slander and libel that states the party wronged shall receive a ten year forward projection of their economic damage by averaging their past five years of earnings. This cannot be dismissed in Bankruptcy Court and is automatically deducted from any wage or tax return or dividends they receive into perpetuity until the debt is paid with interest in full.
  That would make people think twice about their online malicious activity and cyber stalking.
  Cheers

• Loser already pays in court cases where the judge so rules. What country do you think we are in Holbrook? So, you want a blogger who questions you to have to pay you the ridiculously huge amounts you got the poor unsuspecting taxpayers to unknowingly fork over in the last 5 years??? There is just one little fly in the ointment. You, Holbrook have not quoted and refuted any false statements of fact. You are still having meltdowns and cooking up insane new legal theories as you are not versed in existing law. Apparently, you can't distinguish fact from opinion.
• Now, we have another crazy nut job starting in on the cyberstalking nonsense. Holbrook has no idea what that term even means from what we have seen in his rants.

We have sure had some lovely discussions about cyber stalking:

• http://www.realscam.com/f22/soapboxm....html#post4953
• http://www.realscam.com/f22/soapboxm....html#post4934
  
  Soapboxmom

Local residents tell me that East Montgomery County is in fact a very impoverished area. To think Holbrook, McCrady and the rest think it is okay to mindlessly blow money like that is so horrifically disgusting. Holbrook and McCrady are not helping boost the economy and help people, but rather taking from the poor and lining their own pockets in a very troublesome reverse Robin Hood exercise. Why have the authorities let it go this far?

Getting America back on Track « economicdeveloper

Did Holbrook ever stop to consider that sales tax (he recommends a national one) is regressive and is a serious burden to the poorest members of society? How do we strengthen America if we are placing the tax burden on the poor?

It is really time this guy stick a sock in it!

Lazy and miserable town management

Posted on21 September 2011.
Since his appointment, the shameless Pahrump Town Manager William Kohbarger, has routinely demonstrated laziness, exhibited suspicious decision making and poor leadership.
It is long past due that someone bring the matters to light and hold Mr. Kohbarger accountable. Since the town board appears unwilling or unable to do so, I will.
In this instance, I will highlight the management deficiencies exhibited by Mr. Kohbarger regarding the $900,000 theme park study:
• Failure to require bidding or a request for proposals.
• Failure to ask other agencies for samples of theme park RFPs or bid documents.
• Failure to investigate optional theme park consultants.
• Failure to perform “due diligence” with Don Holbrook, which would have revealed terminations and litigation at previous positions.
• Failure to ask Holbrook for references or work product samples.
• Failure to ask Holbrook if he had experience with theme park studies.
• Failure to report the Eco Park Project Holbrook touts, which is broke and floundering.
• Failure to report that the $7M public bond issue for the Eco Park Project is spent, but Holbrook apparently got his incentive while the project is floundering.
• Failure to determine risks or benefits of hiring Holbrook and to report it to the town board.
• Failure to provide a written recommendation to the town board regarding Holbrook.
• Failure to inform the town board or the community of the $35,000 to 45,000 termination clause.
• Failure to advise the town board of the risk apparent in the “money back guarantee.”
• Failure to post the preliminary theme park report on the town’s website, after pressure from the community was put there.
• Refusal to allow the public release of the preliminary report.
• Failure to schedule workshops for public review and input into the preliminary report.
• Failure to ask for professional input on the preliminary report assumptions and findings.
• Premature release of payment to Holbrook before the report was even reviewed.
• Failure to recognize the report is not complete or worthy of payment.
• Failure to recognize $30M in infrastructure improvements required for the site.
• Failure to recognize the BLM use restrictions in place for the site, but can be changed, which would take three to five years.
• Failure to recognize the absence of adequate water rights for the proposed use.
• Failure to advise the town board of Holbrook’s investment incentives that will bias his opinion of continuing with the project.
• Failure to report that neither the town or Nye County has the where-with-all or the inclination to issue bonds to fund any theme park.
• Failure to report NDOT may never fund improvements on 160 for any project.
While Mr. Kohbarger enjoys his membership with the ICMA, his laziness and miserable management and lack of leadership are obvious to any one paying the least attention.
Mr. Kohbarger has an obligation to employees and residents alike, to perform professionally. There are numerable examples of poor leadership, and even poorer management by Mr. Kohbarger, all of which will be detailed in the immediate future.
However, at this point on these matters alone, Mr. Kohbarger’s continued employment is reckless, unwarranted and disrespectful to the town’s employees, residents and the ICMA.
Moreover, it announces to the town its nightmare with Kohbarger is almost over.
Frank Maurizo

Just substitute the name Frank McCrady and it would pretty much be the story here in Texas. Frank McCrady and company allowed that liar Holbrook to pick the taxpayers' pockets virtually unchecked. Millions have been spent (much of which lined Holbrook's pockets,) but now thanks to the news media and bloggers the real truth about Earthquest and its principles is finally coming out. With this much needed attention we can see to it no more communities get taken. Perhaps Pahrump and the EMCID will join Huber Heights in taking this to court!

Soapboxmom