SCROLL FOR UPDATES
THIS IS A MUST READ –
I was going to do my own feeble attempt but national award winning investigative reporter Tim Connor has written the definitive story of the ill-fated MOBIUS Project. Tim Connor of the Center for Justice who attended the hastily called Park Board subcommittee’s meeting in HDR Engineering’s conference room has written the rest of the story that Mr. Brunt couldn’t or wouldn’t write. Also see my email I sent to Mayor Verner re the City Attorney’s Office again involved in secret meetings to the detriment of the citizens of Spokane.
Ron the Cop
*****
Dear All:
For those trying to make sense of the Mobius Science Center controversy, the report below is a must read. Just posted on the Center for Justice Web site, it is by CFJ Communication Director Tim Connor, an award-winning journalist and former senior editor of Camas Magazine. Connor’s story contains eye-opening evidence, heretofore known by only a handful of insiders, that Spokane Park Board members have grown restive about the demands of the Mobius board. Among their concerns: Mobius board members want certain aspects of the deal kept out of the public eye; the “science center” may be just a front for more publicly funded downtown retail space. If true, that could make the project another River Park Square-like illicit laundry of public funds. Please forward this story to others whom you think might be interested.
Larry Shook
http://cforjustice.org/2009/
Reversal of Fortune
Published on November 19, 2009
Amid charges of back-door deals and Cowles family influence, the Mobius Science Center project hits a snag at the Spokane Park Board.
By Tim Connor
On Tuesday of this week, the long-running serial that Spokane historian Bill Stimson casts as the battle between Spokane’s “Insiders and Naysayers,” made a trail to a brand new, fortress-like office building on East Trent Avenue. There, around what was literally a back room conference table at the Spokane offices of HDR Engineering Inc., a subcommittee of the Spokane Parks Board gathered. The atmosphere was tense, though not without nervous laughter.
On the agenda was a single item, “Lease Negotiations.”
A more accurate description would have been “explosive counter-offer,” because the subject of the meeting was a 36-page document from Mobius Spokane. Mobius Spokane is a
Portion of Mobius’s sketchup for a new north bank science center.
non-profit organization, created in 2005, that according to its website, fully expects to “break ground” in 2011 and be the operator of a $29.5 million Mobius Science Center on the north bank of the Spokane River on the northeast side of Riverfront Park.
The “lease” referenced in the agenda is an as-yet unsigned “ground lease,” whereby the City of Spokane would lease to Mobius 5.7 acres not just for the Science Center but for other, unspecified commercial projects that Mobius would sublease, ostensibly in order to produce revenue needed to finance the operation of the new Center.
No one could have left Tuesday’s meeting thinking it was a done deal. And, indeed, the headline on Jonathan Brunt’s front page story in Wednesday’s Spokesman-Review was “Science Center Plan Falters.”
The headline and the story behind it begged at least two questions. The first is why the project appears, now, to be faltering. The second is just how it even got this far given the peculiar terms of the proposed lease.
“Why can’t the public know what’s going on? What’s the big secret? It is my right as a PB member to know what’s going on and have the opportunity to discuss things. We had public meetings about smoking and pools why can’t we have public meetings about the Mobius lease? Don’t you think the Public would like to know that the PB is giving away their land for a buck a year?”–Park Board Member Kim Morse in an email to board members last week.
The volatility of both these questions is what led to the anxious meeting in Ross Kelley’s office. Originally, the Park Board had planned to discuss the new lease proposal from Mobius at a meeting in the City Council chambers last Thursday, November 12th. But the item was unceremoniously yanked from the Thursday agenda because, as Park Board President Gary Lawton explained, the arrival of the new lease from Mobius had created too much confusion and consternation on the full board to have a meaningful discussion about it. . .
*****
Dear Mayor Verner,
I’m sure by now you’ve read Tim Connor’s article regarding Tuesday’s meeting of the Park Board’s MOBIUS Subcommittee. I’ve openly copied you with some of my other emails on this topic. I just wanted to go on the record with you about the involvement the City Attorney’s Office. Mind you I have no confidence in this Office’s ability to fairly represent the interests of the citizens, taxpayers, and stakeholders of the City of Spokane. This was plainly evident in the RPS Bond Fraud, RPS Bailout, their cover-ups, and the subsequent manslaughter death of Jo Savage that was the direct the result of this ongoing criminal enterprise (RICO). The MOBIUS Project has all the same earmarks of RPS et al with the use of an alleged nonprofit that in fact was a shill of this criminal enterprise as determined by the IRS.
I am still dismayed that you will not waive the atty/client privilege of O. Yale Lewis so that he may speak freely and defend against what I believe to be false accusations as I challenged you to do on the Mark Fuhrman Radio Show when you were running for mayor. See my analysis below of the Lewis documents that Lewis sent you intending them to go former Mayor John Tablott and Councilperson Cherie Rodgers that were intercepted by the City Attorney’s Office that refused to release them under the guise of privilege communications or work product. It was only after considerable time and effort on my part that I was able to get them from the City with a PDR.
From Connor’s reporting we again have secret meetings to consider this MOBIUS Project Lease that I agree with Apple should have been dead on arrival. The Machiavellian manoeuvring by the players with the assistance of the City Attorney’s Office to subvert the intent of Section 48 of the City Charter is beyond the pale. The former Barbieri property (Broadview Dairy) was purchased with 1999 Park Bond money. This property was heavily touted by all including the S-R to expand Riverfront Park. This coy work around by allowing sub-leasing is a fraud – “call a shovel a shovel.” This is a gifting of public funds to benefit a few of Spokane elites yet again.. I know you have little statutory authority/control over the Park Board but the City Attorney works for you. I find it despicable that the City Attorney Office was meeting in private with MOBIUS Project members with a few park board members to negotiate against the interests of the citizens/taxpayers of Spokane.
Mayor Verner you must act to put a stop to this activity immediately. The City Attorney’s Office works for the citizens of Spokane and not the Cowles family.
As I wrote the Park Board via Ms. Goodspeed:
Dear Ms. Goodspeed,
I just received this email from Larry Shook who is an expert on WA OPM and was a successful litigant in a previous public record action against the City of Spokane brought by the Center for Justice.
Please share this with the Park Board as it may be enlightening for them. As I mentioned in the meeting yesterday the regional air resources board was held accountable by the Center for Justice for being less than transparent in its actions under the existing WA OPM Law
As I’ve been previously quoted I believe that there is a criminal enterprise led by the Cowles Co. et al as defined in the Federal RICO Act that has systemically co-opted and corrupted the political and governmental law enforcement and decision making bodies in Spokane. Former Sheriff Bamonte [and I] are preparing a case to bring a federal civil class action RICO prosecution on behalf of the citizens/taxpayers/stakeholders of Spokane [See causes of action for RICO prosecution below]
Yours,
Det. Ron Wright (Retired)
*****
[My analysis of the O. Yale Lewis documents]
In my reading of the Lewis documents the fraudulent conspiracy between the Cowles Co. and various “John and Jane Doe” public officials, as Lewis referred to them, was a classic Mexican standoff between the Cowles Co and the City of Spokane. The City of Spokane sought redress under the then Mayor John Talbott who hired Attorney O. Yale Lewis as the City’s special bond counsel to get to the bottom of the RPS fraud. Had the conspiracy plank been pursued in Lewis’ Second Amended Complaint, the Cowles Co would have retaliated and exposed certain complicit elected/appointed officials to potential criminal charges. Mayor Talbott was later defeated by John Powers. Powers had the behind-the-scenes campaign support of Betsy Cowles who would use the Cowles Co.’s powerful PR firm of Rockey Hill and Knowlton to sandbag Talbott to remove the threat of exposure of the Cowles Co.’s criminal acts.
Mayor Powers then hired Attorney Laurel Siddoway and Lewis was in essence fired. The conspiracy charges in the City’s lawsuit were immediately dropped. Siddoway would twice act to protect City officials from exposure to criminal charges by removing the conspiracy allegations against the Cowles Co. Siddoway and Powers first double teamed Lewis to remove his conspiracy allegations. In my read of the Lewis documents, Powers and Siddoway deceived Lewis to get his approval to remove his conspiracy allegations from his Second Amended Complaint by implying a settlement was imminent that never materialized. Gary Ceriani who later brought the successful civil bond fraud on behalf of the defrauded first RPS bondholders included the conspiracy allegation. The City would buy out Ceriani’s case and retained him to pursue the perpetrators that were to include the Cowles Co.
Siddoway again removed the conspiracy allegations against the Cowles Co. to settle Ceriani’s case, against the strong opposition of Ceriani. Ceriani’s objection was concealed by Siddoway from the Council that voted in favor of the RPS Bailout. In fact Siddoway misled the Council to believe that Ceriani was in favor of this settlement. In so doing Siddoway avoided the mutually assured destruction policy of the Cowles Co. that would have exposed the complicit City officials. Siddoway’s actions to protect these complicit City officials were adverse to the interests of the citizens/taxpayers/
[Causes of action to bring a federal civil RICO prosecution]
The underlying criminal acts under Washington State Law are:
Grand theft by fraud e.g., gifting of public funds; false misrepresentations in financial statements relied upon by public officials; conspiracy; perjury on a material fact in question in a civil deposition e.g., Betsy Cowles (See WA Press Council Report, pg 7) in Gary Ceriani’s civil bond fraud case; extortion of government employees to render criminal assistance; probable cause to believe the bribery of public officials; intimidation and or tampering with potential witnesses; malfeasance of elected/appointed officials; failure to perform official duties; rendering criminal assistance; the manslaughter death of Jo Savage e.g., her death which was the direct result of this public corruption; subsequent acts to conceal these crimes; and the obstruction of justice by the perpetrators or by those who aided and abetted the perpetrators.
Under Federal Law these specific crimes and other federal crimes that would have similar elements of the above listed state crimes:
Wire and mail fraud separately and in conjunction with securities fraud; IRS tax evasion by a tax-exempt bond fraud scheme; the subversion of HUD loans and the normal means by which they are collateralized; false/misleading statements on the FCC license renewal application for Cowles Co. owned KHQ TV station e.g., a legacy act remaining from the silencing of award winning TV reporter Tom Grant; potentially unlawful acts in financial disclosures in the purchase of KGA 1510AM from Citadel Broadcasting by Mapleton Communications to silence the Mark Fuhrman Radio Show (See my Sullivan letter 06-17-08); the use of predatory unfair/unlawful business practices amounting to extortion to conceal Cowles Co.’s criminal activity e.g., withholding of $100Ks in ad revenue from KXLY TV while Tom Grant was doing hard hitting pieces on the RPS expansion project; potentially lying to federal investigators; and the obstruction of justice.
UPDATE I:
See previous post:
The Secret Dahlia Society, the MOBIUS Project, and the Cowles family connection
My interest in the Park Board activities stems from the ill-fated Northside Landfill Little League Project that was the direct result of backroom deals known by the Park Board, the Council, and the special citizens park bond committee that was formed by the Council to monitor the last park bond. I put the Park Board on notice that it should watch its “p’s” and “q’s” carefully so it didn’t violate the WA Open Public Meeting and Public Records Law (OPM). See my email to Mayor Verner in the link above.
The Park Board suddenly pulled the MOBIUS discussion from its public meeting last week. I was noticed of this special subcommittee meeting on Monday. Unfortunately I had a prior commitment and couldn’t attend. In part Erik Looney (KXLY), Brunt, and Connor attended because of Jock Swanstrom’s and my information and prodding.
I spoke with Brunt on Monday and expressed my concerns. I also sent him an email with my thoughts and a list of S-R archive stories regarding the Pacific Science Center that was voted down in 1995 that was heavily touted by the Park Board. As you may note my concerns did not appear in Brunt’s story nor did the sticking point of City Charter Section 48 but did in Connor’s story. The science center concept was a footnote in the purchased of the Northbank property in the 2000 Park Bond Campaign.
As I told Brunt in my email:
Jonathan,
I just can’t help but seeing the similarities between RPS and the science center project under either the Pacific Science Center and/or the MOBIUS Project. From my quick read the Park Board was trying to ram the a science center down the taxpayers throats. In my quick read of the previous S-R articles an opposition group formed led by Steve Corker that forced the issue onto the ballot and it was narrowly defeated. Read the article how the previous Park director got the boot re the failure of the Pacific Science Center. My sources say the demise of Barry Russell may have more to do with the MOBIUS Project than with the stated collapse of the property deal at Joe Albi with the cemetary. There was an attempt to re vote the science center that never materialized. However unlike the the science center the RPS went through as an emergency ordinance that precluded a referendum by the voters. So we got hosed to the tune of $100M.
Some of the arguments then are the same ones that are again surfacing with the MOBIUS Project lease agreement. Doug Floyd, Doug Clark, and Chris Peck were all touting the Pacific Science Center Project. Nancy Goodspeed at the time was working for Rockey & Knowlton who was doing the PR on behalf of the Science Center [Note a source has since told me Goodspeed is above reproach]. According to Swanstrom the Cowles family were heavily backing this project.
I hope you see my point re the a science center slipping in again by the Park Board in the 1999 Park Bond. If this wasn’t bundled into the much larger Park Bond my guess is it would have been defeated again as this project just doesn’t pencil out without substantial public subsidy no matter how they attempt to cook the books.
It would probably make for sense for the Park Board to directly lease or sell this property to pay off the debt they just saddled the City Council with on the YMCA building deal.
Look I don’t have any heartburn about land banking prime river front property for the benefit of the public but I don’t like carpetbaggers hanging on and individually benefiting at taxpayer expense. I would enjoy river front trails, paths etc with other commercial development set back leaving a green corridor. But the current MOBIUS Project is going to benefit only a few select developers at taxpayer expense again. If it tanks will the taxpayers be left holding the bag again as Swanstrom suggests? Mind you the already signed lease agreement with the MOBIUS Project is beyond the pale and was some what reigned in with the 2006 amendment. Further restrictions are what are being negotiated now with the new lease agreement. This mess is in need of strong sunlight so the public understands just what is at work here.
I would appreciate some objective reporting on this. Camden previously refused to disclosed the Cowles family involvement in this project as not being relevant. In my quick read of the Pacific Science Center the Cowles family was pushing hard for it. The fact that they are again involved is in need of public disclosure. When I mentioned this in Camden’s blog my comment was pulled because I linked to something that Larry had to say about the similarity to RPS.
As I would later write Jock Swanstorm:
Yes, Mr. Swanstrom, S-R Brunt only told half of the story. Is the Spokesman-Review lying by omission again for a Cowles’ family project e.g., the RPS Bond Fraud, RPS Bailout, their subsequent cover-ups that direct result of which led to the manslaughter death of Jo Savage in the RPS Parking Garage?
Brunt was silent on the previous Pacific Science Center Project that was a Park Board led project that was heavy involvement by the Cowles family including Wanda Cowles. Interestingly enough Wanda Cowles was on the MOBIUS Project’s board of directors until just recently. S-R Reporter Jim Camden did not consider it relevant in his previous article on this in August to mention Anne Cowles and Wanda Cowles were on the MOBIUS Board. See the current MOBIUS Project Board of Directors. I should note that Mr. Goeble based on the explosive deposition of Rex Franklin in the Jo Savage civil case could have been charged with manslaughter in her death.
It was Steve Corker who led an opposition group that put the Pacific Science Center to a public vote. The Pacific Science Center was turned down by a slim margin of less than 500 votes in circa 95/96. The science center concept was a footnote in the Park Board’s Park $15M bond campaign of 1999 to purchase property owned by the Barbieri family on the North bank that was formally the Broadview Dairy for approximately $4M in bond proceeds. The public passed park bond. Conceivably the footnote of a science center went through as the public was not willing to vote no solely based on the purchase of North bank property. At the time based on S-R reporting there was considerable controversy that too much was being paid for the Barbieri property. Shortly after 2000 a science center returns to the forefront with the new MOBIUS Project.
Brunt also fails to mention the terms of the original lease with the Park Board was overly broad and included much of Riverfront Park at $1 per year for 50 years. The terms of the lease were reigned in with the 2006 amendment to the original lease agreement. Various MOBIUS business plans have not cut muster and the MOBIUS Project failed to perform on the conditions of the lease as amended in 2006. The new iteration stems from efforts of the current Park Board to further tighten the terms of the defalted lease agreement. These new terms are what the MOBIUS Project Board is balking at and sent a counter back to the Park Board. My eyebrows raised as reported by Brunt about a meeting out of the public eye between Park Board members and a city attorney with the MOBIUS Project to prepare a counter.
I also find it amusing that Brunt’s sources were able to provide him with a copy of the new counter by the MOBIUS Board. Mind you with the RPS project many public documents were withheld based on legal work of the S-R’s own first amendment counsel, Duane Swinton, that was serving two masters – the S-R and the Cowles Co. The last time I attended the Park Board’s meeting when it approved its latest offer I asked for a copy of the proposed lease agreement from the Board’s secretary who refused to give it to me. I had to file a PDR with the City Clerk and eventually got it at the end of the day. I previously posted a tongue in cheek post on my blog of this meeting referring to the Park Board’s penchant for meeting at 7:00 a.m. at the conference room of the maintenance building at Manito Park. You may have noticed this Park Board subcommittee was meeting at the HDR Engineering Company with one day’s notice of this meeting after having tabled this topic from last Thursday’s meeting of the Park Board at City Hall.
The Secret Dahlia Society, the MOBIUS Project, and the Cowles family connection
As I previously wrote Ms. Goodspeed, the Park & Rec Marketing and Communication Director, in reference to Park Board meetings regarding transpanency of its actions with this quickly called and announced meeting [See quote in email to Mayor Verner above] . . .
I have nothing against a science center and would tend to support such a project but all the cards must be clearly put on the table. All the risks must be clearly understood and that there is equity on how these risks are shared and borne. Too many times these mom and apple pie projects in Downtown are cons run by small group of Spokane’s elite that directly benefit at taxpayer expense. I have extensively investigated the RPS Bond Fraud et al that led directly to the manslaughter death of Jo Savage and find many similarities between these two projects. Nonprofits are used as shills in a con game to rob in plain sight the taxpayers. The IRS ruled that the RPS foundation was such a sham and said, “The Casino was Rigged.” In RPS Parking Garage this group rolled the dice and it game of craps. The price paid for the garage was inflated by almost three times, projected parking revenue was greatly inflated, there were secret lease deals not disclosed to the public or to the original bondholders that successfully later sued for bond fraud. The cons left the table with the money and left the taxpayers high and dry which will ultimately costs the taxpayers $100M. . .
UPDATE II:
Neil Worrall, president of the MOBIUS Project, wrote a gratituous guest OP/ED piece in Sunday’s S-R. Tim Connor wrote a piece in response. I’m now circulating this email to the FOF egroup:
Must reads if you want to get the whole story regarding the MOBIUS Project that you won’t get in the Spokesman-Review.
Please read if you want to prevent another RPS fiasco. Please feel free to share this email with all your friends. Word of mouth circulation by the new/alternative/social media is what broke secrecy of the longstanding knowledge of pedophilia of priests within the Catholic Church that was tolerated and covered-up by the hierarchy of the Church.
This has nothing to do with the value of a science center to Spokane, but it has everything to do with the whole truth about the terms of the science center project. In other words, this concerns public transparency of government that the citizens of Spokane have empowered to govern on their behalf. I’m not opposed to a science center and would tend to support such a project but all the cards must be clearly put on the table. All the risks must be clearly understood. There must be equity on how these risks are shared and borne. This was not done in the RPS Bond Fraud which will ultimately cost the citizens and taxpayers of Spokane $100M. The similarities between the RPS Bond Fraud and the MOBIUS Project are so striking as to suggest that the MOBIUS Project is a continuation of the criminal enterprise that foisted the RPS fraud on the unsuspecting citizens of Spokane and murdered Jo Savage. Which by the way could have been anyone of us or our loved ones. The Savage family wasn’t so luckly in the luck of the draw.
Jonathan Brunt wrote an article on the Park Board’s subcommittee meeting last week on the MOBIUS Project:
Science center plan falters
City officials balk as Mobius backers pursue changes in contract
Award winning investigative journalist Tim Connor now the Communications Director for the Center for Justice also attended this meeting and wrote this piece:
Reversal of Fortune
Published on November 19, 2009
Amid charges of back-door deals and Cowles family influence, the Mobius Science Center project hits a snag at the Spokane Park Board.
Neil K. Worrall, president of the MOBIUS Project, wrote this guest editorial in Sunday’s S-R:
No derailing science center
Neil K. Worrall Special to The Spokesman-Review
A meeting of a Park Board subcommittee this week created an inaccurate perception of the Mobius Science Center project. Members of the board suggested Mobius is asking for sweeping changes to the pending lease the two parties have been working on for months. This is not the case. More importantly, this meeting led to a perception that the project may be faltering. Also untrue. . .
Connor has written a response to this gratuitous editorial:
That Was Quick
Published on November 22, 2009
An epilogue to last week’s Mobius malfunction at the Park Board again shows how the Cowles family uses its newspaper to decide whose voice gets center stage in Spokane, and who has to yell from the cheap seats.
I used some of the language I used in an email to Ms. Jewett also a member of the MOBIUS Project board of directors that Larry Shook commented on:
Dear All:
Friends of Betsy Jewett know that she has invested countless hours over the last many years in an effort to bring Spokane a high quality science center. Those who have heard her talk about this project tell me that no one could doubt the sincerity of her belief in the benefits it will bring the region. I trust that is true not only of Ms. Jewett, but of many, if not most, of the project’s advocates. The science center’s skeptics, however, have long worried that it isn’t what it seems to be. They fear that it is another RPS-like fraud engineered by the Cowles family. The real purpose of the science center, they charge, is to create another storefront behind which to illegally launder public funds to bolster the value of the Cowles family’s extensive downtown real estate holdings. (Please see “Secret Deal” at www.camasmagazine.com.) The Cowles family, say skeptics like retired economic crimes Detective Ron Wright, have perfected this con and are at it again with the science center. What is especially troubling to skeptics like Det. Wright and former Pend Oreille County Sheriff Tony Bamonte is that in the case of RPS the con turned deadly. (Please see “Deathtrap” at www.girlfromhotsprings.com.) The evidence that Spokane’s public corruption killed an innocent 63-year-old woman, they say, is irrefutable. Similarly, say Det. Wright and Sheriff Bamonte, the evidence is that those responsible for the April 8, 2006, death of Jo Ellen Savage in the Cowles-owned RPS parking garage, got away with it. At least so far. Sheriff Bamonte says he considers Ms. Savage to have been “murdered.” “Based on the evidence, Ms. Savage’s death should have been investigated as First-Degree Manslaughter,” says Sheriff Bamonte. “First-Degree Manslaughter is a form of murder.” (Google Tony Bamonte and you will see that he is credited with solving the oldest open murder case in U.S. history.) In the email below, Det. Wright shares with Ms. Jewett the mounting evidence reinforcing the skeptics’ concerns that the science center is another Cowles con. The spirit of Det. Wright’s email, it seems to me, is that of a seasoned law enforcement professional trying to help a good citizen stay out of trouble. Det. Wright asks Ms. Jewett, a Mobius board member, to weigh the evidence, and make a choice. As you will see, for Ms. Jewett, those associated with the Mobius project, and the community as a whole, Det. Wright warns that the stakes of that choice are high. Please feel free to share this email with others whom you feel may wish to wrestle with Betsy Jewett’s moral dilemma along side her.
Sincerely,
Larry Shook
From: rocketsbrain
Date: Fri, Nov 20, 2009 at 10:47 PM
Subject: Ms. Jewett – Please read Tim Connors report on the MOBIUS Project at the Center for Justice websiteCc: Larry Shook , Timothy J. Connor , Breean Beggs , Tony Bamonte
Ms. Jewett,As I said in my previous email I do appreciate your service to the community and I do not wish to disparage your work with the MOBIUS Project Board. This has nothing to do with the value of a science center to Spokane, but it has everything to do with the whole truth about the terms of the science center project. This letter, in other words, concerns public transparency of government that the citizens of Spokane have empowered to govern on their behalf. I’m not opposed to a science center and would tend to support such a project but all the cards must be clearly put on the table. All the risks must be clearly understood. There must be equity on how these risks are shared and borne. This was not done in the RPS Bond Fraud which will ultimately cost the citizens and taxpayers of Spokane $100M. The similarities between the RPS Bond Fraud and the MOBIUS Project are so striking as to suggest that the MOBIUS Project is a continuation of the criminal enterprise that foisted the RPS fraud on the unsuspecting citizens of Spokane.
I would strongly encourage you to read the new report of award winning investigative reporter Tim Connors, who is now with the Center for Justice. You will here find his article on the MOBIUS Project here. Here’s an excerpt from Mr. Connor’s article:
“Why can’t the public know what’s going on? What’s the big secret? It is my right as a PB [Park Board] member to know what’s going on and have the opportunity to discuss things. We had public meetings about smoking and pools why can’t we have public meetings about the Mobius lease? Don’t you think the Public would like to know that the PB is giving away their land for a buck a year?”–Park Board Member Kim Morse in an email to board members last week.
From my investigation of the RPS Bond Fraud, the RPS Bail Out, their cover-ups, all of which led directly to the death of Jo Savage in the RPS Parking Garage, I do have serious concerns with the MOBIUS Project. Please read my findings regarding the death of Jo Savage that I have attached. I have every confidence that you would not knowingly associate with others who are involved in criminal activity. Many people have been conned by a clever group of individuals and their shills in Spokane while they have successfully raided the public treasury of tens of millions of dollars. Mr. Terry Goeble, a MOBIUS board member, based on the explosive deposition of Rex Franklin in the Jo Savage civil case, could have been charged with manslaughter in her death.
It is the professional opinion of both former Sheriff Tony Bamonte and myself that there is a criminal enterprise led by the Cowles Co. et al as defined in the Federal RICO Act. This criminal enterprise has so thoroughly co-opted/corrupted the political/governmental structures in Spokane that they can no longer function to protect the citizens of Spokane from criminal victimization and from imminent public hazards. Former Sheriff Bamonte and I are preparing a case to bring a federal civil class action RICO prosecution on behalf of the citizens/taxpayers/ stakeholders of Spokane. The causes of action for bringing such a RICO case are:
The RPS Fraud, the RPS Bailout, the death of Savage that was a direct result of this criminal activity, the many other criminal acts committed over a many years as documented by Tim Connor and Larry Shook involving many state and federal crimes and acts to conceal or to obstruct the prosecution of these crimes are collectively grounds for bringing a federal civil RICO action as provided for in 18 U.S.C. Section 1964(c). The statute of limitations for such a RICO action is ten years from the last act. In my review of Connor’s and Shook’s evidence and the US Department of Justice’s RICO prosecution manual (4th Edition July 2000), here are the RICO causes of actions on behalf of the citizens, taxpayers and stakeholders of the Municipal Corporation of the City of Spokane for civil redress:
The underlying criminal acts under Washington State Law are:
Grand theft by fraud e.g., gifting of public funds; false misrepresentations in financial statements relied upon by public officials; conspiracy; perjury on a material fact in question in a civil deposition e.g., Betsy Cowles (See WA Press Council Report, pg 7) in Gary Ceriani’s civil bond fraud case; extortion of government employees to render criminal assistance; probable cause to believe the bribery of public officials; intimidation and or tampering with potential witnesses; malfeasance of elected/appointed officials; failure to perform official duties; rendering criminal assistance; the manslaughter death of Jo Savage e.g., her death which was the direct result of this public corruption; subsequent acts to conceal these crimes; and the obstruction of justice by the perpetrators or by those who aided and abetted the perpetrators.
Under Federal Law these specific crimes and other federal crimes that would have similar elements of the above listed state crimes:Wire and mail fraud separately and in conjunction with securities fraud; IRS tax evasion by a tax-exempt bond fraud scheme; the subversion of HUD loans and the normal means by which they are collateralized; false/misleading statements on the FCC license renewal application for Cowles Co. owned KHQ TV station e.g., a legacy act remaining from the silencing of award winning TV reporter Tom Grant; potentially unlawful acts in financial disclosures in the purchase of KGA 1510AM from Citadel Broadcasting by Mapleton Communications to silence the Mark Fuhrman Radio Show (See my Sullivan letter 06-17-08); the use of predatory unfair/unlawful business practices amounting to extortion to conceal Cowles Co.’s criminal activity e.g., withholding of $100Ks in ad revenue from KXLY TV while Tom Grant was doing hard hitting pieces on the RPS expansion project; potentially lying to federal investigators; and the obstruction of justice.
Based on my thirty-five years in law enforcement, at this point I believe you have a very important decision to make concerning your own due diligence about the MOBIUS Project. Again, the evidence suggests to me that the MOBIUS Project represents the continuation of a long-standing pattern of practice of an organized criminal enterprise led by the Cowles family that illegally diverts public funds to private parties. To ensure that your are not unwittingly aiding this enterprise as a MOBIUS director, I urge you to take the following steps:
1. Carefully study and reflect on this message.
2. Carefully study the report of Tim Connor, referenced above. (Not only has Mr. Connor won many professional commendations for his work, his work is of such forensic quality that it was referenced by bondholders in their successful RPS federal securities fraud case and by the IRS in its ruling that the RPS bonds violated federal tax code.)
3. Publicly call for full and open disclosure of every aspect of the MOBIUS transaction.
4. Publicly call for a PUBLIC vote on the MOBIUS Project to ensure complete disclosure of its details and the public’s support for it (City Charter Section 48).
5. Should you choose not to take the first four actions, I believe the most prudent thing would be for you to resign from the MOBIUS board to remove any appearance that you are in active collusion with its secret activities. What I’m saying, Ms. Jewett is that from this date forward you can no longer be considered an unwitting participant in the MOBIUS Project.
Again thank you for your service to the community and I hope you take my advice to heart. The victimization of the citizens of Spokane will only stop when the cons are exposed and no one will unknowingly aid them or succumb to their influence to perpetuate their frauds. Please understand that neither Sheriff Bamonte nor I will rest until justice is served. We will seek out anyone who aids or abets this criminal enterprise or has done so in the past. The citizens of Spokane and the family of Jo Savage have a fundamental right to ensure that justice is served when their political/governmental law enforcement and decision making bodies can’t or won’t act because of their systemic co-option/ corruption. In our legal system – NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW.Sincerely,
Det. Ron Wright (Retired)