Linda Palmer, owner and operator of Hogfather's at the end of Main Street has been busy sending out emails to both citizens, groups and City of Toledo officials. In these emails she makes false statements about Mary Johnson and her activities in Toledo. Linda Palmer is blinded by her hatred for me and unable to discern the facts. Anyone listening to her vicious words will be seriously misinformed. She does not tell the truth. Here is the truth:ONE: In 2005, Mary Johnson was asked by the East County Community Partnership to handle the bookkeeping for a grant that had been received by the Lincoln Commission on Children and Families. Mary Johnson was not elected treasurer for this job. She was acting as the fiscal agent for just the Collaboration funds. During the course of handling these funds and issuing checks to various vendors, she came across some irregularities in the bills submitted by the Toledo Police Department. She also became aware of a check that had been diverted from the payee, Toledo Police Department, to another private account held by Don Denison. These issues were immediately brought to the attention of the supervisor at the Commission on Children and Families. They were also brought to the attention of the ECCP and became the basis for the complaint filed with Oregon Government Standards and Practices Commission against Don Denison.
TWO: No checks were issued from this account to Mary Johnson. Not one. No money from this account went to Mary Johnson. Not one cent. Mary Johnson was not paid to handle the bookkeeping at all.
THREE: Two checks were issued to the Toledo Community Center to reimburse it for materials used in handling the billing, including use of copier, computer, ink, paper, envelopes, and telephone costs. The two checks issued were for a total of $316.78 over the one-year period of the grant. Mary Johnson was director of the Community Center at the time. The Community Center did not pay Mary Johnson, either.
FOUR: One check was issued to the United States Postal Service for $48.00.
FIVE: The total income from the grant to cover all the expenses, salary for a coordinator (not Mary Johnson--someone else), vendor payments for youth activities and programs was $51, 333.60. The total amount spent on these activities was $51, 333.60. There is no missing money. REPEAT: There is no missing money. The audit has been completed. The funds are balanced. Linda Palmer is lying when she says there was missing money.
SIX: The East County Partnership is a 501 c3 organization and has operated in Toledo since 1994. It is made up of hardworking volunteers who are dedicated to the children and families of this area. It has operated for a long time without scandal. Linda Palmer has decided to include the ECCP in her defamation and continues to drag this private non-profit organization into her incoherent rants. Anyone even vaguely familiar with the operations of private non-profit agencies knows that they do not fall under Oregon Open Meeting law rules. They are not run by elected or public officials acting in an official capacity and are thereby also not bound by Oregon Ethics Law. That does not mean that they are free to operate in any way they choose. The election of officers, treasurers, and board members are governed by the by-laws of the respective organization. If the ECCP wants to appoint the Director to act as temporary Treasurer, and it is in keeping with the by-laws, it can certainly do so. Linda Palmer does not know what she is talking about. She received her information from her daughter, Wendy Rudy, who, as an employee of Lincoln County IS subject to Oregon Ethics Law. For Wendy Rudy to reveal the internal workings of a private non-profit organization, distort and twist the facts for some kind of personal and malicious vendetta against Mary Johnson is absolutely reprehensible. If her reports were true, that would be bad enough. But when they are false, she completely dishonors not only herself, but the volunteers who worked with her in this organization.
SEVEN: The Treasurer did not resign from ECCP because of Mary Johnson. I will not divulge her name or her phone number on this public forum, but anyone who wants to contact her directly will be given her phone number by calling Mary Johnson's home phone number, published in the phone book. I have spoken with her. She denied to me that that was her reason.
EIGHT: I never filed actions with 27 different government agencies, the FBI, the CIA, the Department of Justice, the Department of Defense, Department of the Interior. I have no idea what Linda Palmer is talking about. She has no facts. She has no evidence of any of this. She is making it up. The complaint was compiled and delivered to the Oregon Government Standards and Practices Commission in Salem, Oregon. In order to receive the documents regarding the secret bank account that Don Denison used for one of the Collaboration payments, I did file a public records request with the City Manager, Pete Wall, who refused to turn it over to me. Oregon Revised Statutes allowed me to then file with the District Attorney of Lincoln County to receive the documents. The order for relief was granted and Pete Wall was forced to turn over the documents.
NINE: Don Denison diverted a check made payable to the Toledo Police Department into another account named "Toledo Police Explorers" in violation of the conditions given to him by Pete Wall when he was authorized to open the account. He was told not to mingle any City funds in that account. He did it anyway. It was this activity that made me decide to file with the GSPC.
TEN: Of the charges included in my complaint, many of which did not fall under the jurisdiction of the Ethics Commission, as it turned out, Don Denison was found in violation of nineteen (19) counts of ethics law. Another complaint filed by Lowell Neal yielded an additional two counts. Don had an opportunity to give his side to the Commissioners. He retained legal counsel. This was not a courtroom. There is no judge. There is no jury. There is no appeal. Linda Palmer is not well-informed, but that should be obvious to most Toledo citizens by now. For Linda Palmer to claim that even the City Attorney did not know of the proper procedures to declare an actual or potential conflict of interest is pitiful. If it is true, then he should be fired immediately. Come to think of it, maybe it IS true. For the record, all incoming City Councilors and elected representatives are sent for training in these matters. The sessions are put on by the League of Oregon Cities. It is an easy matter to verify this. The online guide for Elected Public Officials is available on the website of the Oregon Government Standards and Practices Commission. There is absolutely no excuse for any public official to be unaware of the method of declaring a conflict of interest. The City of Toledo, evidently, is not getting very good legal advice. It is about to happen again.
ELEVEN: The Youth Services Team is made up of representatives from various agencies working with children and families. It is not an organization,
per se, but rather a gathering of service providers, all of whom are well aware of privacy rules regarding clients. Due to Mary Johnson's role in the community as a private preschool teacher, director of the Community Center and member of the East County Community Partnership, she was INVITED to attend these meetings as a community ombudsman. She was fully informed of the need to maintain complete confidentiality regarding the cases discussed and has never divulged any information to anyone regarding any case brought before this group. Her reputation is solid. Her integrity is unassailable. The role of ombudsman from the community was deemed by the YST to be necessary to the parents that come to the sessions. Any agency or individual can be asked not to attend if the parents so wish. If a family has had difficulties with, for example, the local police department, they may choose to ask the police department not to attend their own session. In the same manner, having a member of the community attend instead of only agency people, gives the families a potential ally, should they choose to do so. Mary Johnson first came into contact with the YST when acting in exactly that capacity more than seven years ago. It was because of this and her character and honesty that she was asked to attend--to represent the community, not the agencies.
TWELVE: I do not like having to divulge the inner workings of some of our community groups, but Linda Palmer leaves me no choice. She has repeatedly attacked me using the most vulgar and vicious terms. She has maliciously and contempuously continued to defame my character and has even sought to defame any organization to which I belong. Her actions are not worthy of the good people of this community. I never reacted to her many vile attacks, but now find that she will never relent. The people of Toledo deserve to know the truth about her accusations. The truth is posted above. Linda Palmer does not speak the truth. She is not a very nice person, as evidenced by her vulgar and nasty writings. Those people in the community who choose to side with her and give her support by listening and joining in her slander will soon find themselves caught up in a miserable web of lies, deception and incoherence. I will stand by everything I have ever posted on this blog, because it is the truth. When you tell the truth you don't get mixed up. If Linda Palmer is your friend, you might want to think about what that tells the community about you.
