$900,000 missing in Greene County?

By John Mitchel, LtCol, USAF (Ret)

John Mitchel, Patriots Against Public Corruption founder, announced that he would testify before the Greene County Commission on February 10th at 9:00 AM. He claims that the Greene County Commission has conspired to illegally launder County tax dollars into the campaign funds of Dave Hobson, Steve Austria and other Greene County politicians. Furthermore, according to Mitchel, the Board of Commissioners has collaborated with other elected and appointed officials to cover up pervasive “pay-to-play” politics in Greene County.

In response to the announcement Mitchel commented, “In 2003 the Greene County Commission signed an un-bid contract with the Dayton Development Coalition for $1.9 million to lobby for Wright Patterson AFB during 2005 Base Realignment And Closure (BRAC) negotiations. Except for politicians, officers and staff at the Coalition, and a few consultants, this sweetheart deal did nothing to advance economic development in the Miami Valley, let alone Greene County. Not only does this look and smell like money laundering on behalf of Austria, Hobson and others, it may violate three state laws, not to mention the federal Racketeering Influenced Corrupt Organization (RICO) Act.”

Mitchel added, “I think it’s strange that even though the contract was for $1.9 million, only $1 million was financed by Greene County taxpayers through a grant and Economic Development Note with interest. I believe the citizens first should know why they paid the interest on an interest-free loan to the Dayton Development Coalition, a private corporation, and second, what is the source and what happened to the unaccounted-for $900,000. Sooner or later we will learn the answers to those questions. Hopefully that will happen Tuesday after I offer my testimony before the Greene County Commission.”