| State Justice department hid millions in contracts | | Posted Thursday, February 01, 2007 3:01:32 PM by Blog57 Team | | The California Department of Justice improperly concealed tens of millions of dollars worth of contracts with lobbyists, consultants, legal firms -- even couriers and parking garages -- in violation of its own confidentiality rules, an Associated Press investigation has found. An internal agency review, conducted at AP's request, found information on scores of contracts, many of them no-bid, that were erroneously labeled "confidential" and omitted from computerized state records, shielding it from public view. The department says no open-records laws were broken and there was no attempt to intentionally hide spending or protect favored contractors from public scrutiny. Still, as a result of the investigation, the agency is reviewing the way it identifies and withholds confidential contracts listed in those records.... | |
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| | | Legal questions surround fairgrounds | | Posted Monday, January 29, 2007 1:04:06 PM by Blog57 Team | | Potential illegalities now cloud $53 million in contracts for the Richard M. Borchard Regional Fairgrounds, a complex that has grown in county officials' vision from a new livestock showbarn into a giant economic engine for Robstown. The $27.6 million contract for the fairgrounds' first phase appears to have violated a state law that prohibits change orders that exceed 25 percent of the original contract price. Contract records obtained by the Caller-Times recently show a change order exceeding the original contract price by 36.4 percent, adding a $7.4 million equestrian center to the previous $20.2 million pricetag. The first phase also appears to have violated the same law that county officials admitted last week was violated when they awarded the $25 million contract for the Heritage Center, seen as the crowning jewel for the Robstown complex.... | |
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| | | Housing agency reviews dispute over contracts | | Posted Sunday, December 17, 2006 1:05:45 PM by Blog57 Team | | City housing authority commissioners adjourned into closed session Wednesday night to discuss a controversy involving legal contracts worth as much as $500,000. Maria Marquez, executive director of the authority, said she did not expect the board to take action on the contracts at the authority's work session Wednesday night. The matter could be discussed at the Dec. 20 public meeting, Marquez added. Attorney Darryl S. Caplan won the right to be the authority's attorney this summer after emerging as the highest-scored bidder, the Courier-Post reported Sunday. But Caplan didn't get the contract. Instead, the authority hired Vincent P. Sarubbi to examine legal issues concerning the bidding process. Sarubbi told the board the job could be put out to bid again, thus denying Caplan the contract.... | |
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| | | Freelancers Must Have Contracts | | Posted Tuesday, November 14, 2006 7:00:50 PM by Blog57 Team | | If you're going to do freelancing, you don't want to get in trouble or have difficulty getting paid. The About Advertising Guide says Tip: Freelancers Must Have Contracts and I agree. Even (or perhaps especially) if your work is for a friend or family member, a contract protects you both. Contract and Legal Help Contracts How to Set a Price for Web Design Work Web Legal Issues .... | |
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| | | Benefits boosted for city execs | | Posted Monday, November 13, 2006 3:28:40 AM by Blog57 Team | | Two Elk Grove City Council members, in one of their last decisions in office, helped the city's two top executives get enhanced contracts that include family medical insurance for life. The 4-1 council vote on Wednesday night, with Councilman Jim Cooper dissenting, improved benefits for City Manager John Danielson and City Attorney Anthony Manzanetti, whose jobs could be in peril under the new council. R. William Mathis, who represented Danielson and Manzanetti, during their annual review, won them fully funded lifetime family medical benefits upon their retirements from the California Public Employees Retirement System, an enhancement with future costs that were not addressed at the meeting. .... | |
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| | | First Edition Cycling News | | Posted Sunday, November 12, 2006 1:29:33 PM by Blog57 Team | | According to La Gazzetta dello Sport's Luigi Perna, not much information came out of Friday's four hour meeting in Geneva, Switzerland to discuss imposing DNA testing on the pro peloton. On hand for the parlay at a Geneva airport hotel were UCI ProTour coordinator Alain Rumpf and attorney Philippe Verbiest, as well as UCI medical staff Dr. Mario Zorzoli and Anne Gripper and pro team association prexy Patrick Lefévère. The pro riders' association was represented by attorney Rocco Taminelli, secretary Daniel Malabranque and rider Cdric Vasseur, who rides for Lefvre's Quick.Step-Innergetic squad. After the meet, Rumpf told La Gazzetta's Perna that "it was a first step and our discussion was held in a good atmosphere with a positive dialogue. I can't say if one side or the other has to give up their position.... | |
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| | | USAID Awards BearingPoint Contracts Valued at $19.6 Million to Support Labor Mobility and Tax Reform Projects in Bosnia | | Posted Saturday, November 11, 2006 11:20:03 AM by Blog57 Team | | BearingPoint, Inc. , one of the world's largest management and technology consulting firms, today announced the company has been awarded two contracts by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to support efforts to implement the agency's Enabling Labor Mobility (ELMO) Activities in Bosnia- Herzegovina and to assist in the implementation of the agency's Bosnia- Herzegovina Tax Reform Activity (TARA). Together, the two new contracts span four years and have a value of $19.6 million with options. ELMO Through its ELMO project, USAID is working with local counterparts to reduce barriers to labor mobility in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and ease the fiscal burden on small and medium enterprises by promoting flexible and diverse forms of labor relations and agreements.... | |
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| | | Marriage ban creates uncertainty for gay couples | | Posted Thursday, November 09, 2006 7:22:12 PM by Blog57 Team | | MADISON - Gay marriage was never legal in Wisconsin, but some gay rights advocates fear that the state's new ban on it could jeopardize couples' ability to share health and other benefits. Fifty-nine percent of voters approved a constitutional amendment Tuesday that defines marriage as a union between one man and one woman and includes a second sentence that says the state cannot give a legal status similar to marriage to unmarried individuals. Based on action in other states with similar bans, activists and government officials said they now expect social conservatives to sue agencies offering domestic partner benefits to gay couples. They point to Michigan, where the attorney general has said a similar ban prevents the state from offering the benefits in employee contracts.... | |
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| | | Nigeria: PTDF - FG Counters Atiku On Contracts | | Posted Tuesday, November 07, 2006 11:02:49 PM by Blog57 Team | | The Federal Government yesterday officially reacted to claims by Vice President Atiku Abubakar that phoney contracts were being retroactively awarded by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) to cover up alleged mismanagement and misappropriation of the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF). In a statement yesterday by the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mr Frank Nweke Jr, the government listed 16 contracts awarded by the PTDF under the supervision of President Olusegun Obasanjo in his capacity as substantive Minister of Petroleum Resources with oversight functions over the fund as a parastatal under the ministry. Atiku Abubakar in a statement on Wednesday alleged that the presidency had resorted to "administrative perjury" by manipulating the records of the PTDF including approvals of retroactive contracts by the FEC to cover up fraud in the management of the fund and thereby obsfucate the planned probe by the Senate.... | |
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| | | Union may fight control board powers | | Posted Monday, November 06, 2006 7:19:53 AM by Blog57 Team | | The largest union in Erie County government is weighing a legal fight over the county control board's decision Friday to assume significantly more power. Attorneys for the Civil Service Employees Association are reviewing options, Joan Bender, Local 815 president, said Saturday. No decision has been made on a court challenge, but Bender criticized the board's decision to impose a one-year "control period." "We elect leaders to govern. It annoys me that they're not left to do their jobs, even though some of them don't do a very good job," Bender said Saturday. Erie County's top lawyer, meanwhile, said discussions were continuing this weekend about a possible court fight over the board's unanimous decision, though he added that the county hopes to avoid such a fight. County Attorney Laurence K.... | |
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