www.fotisforsheriff.com

It’s now fully apparent that Jim Fotis, Jeff Doyle and Ted Deeds have shown their true colors. A campaign based entirely upon lies, denials, obfuscations and personal insult is no way to get elected. But these guys were so dirty that they apparently believed that they had no other alternative but to distract people away from their record of gross mismanagement at LEAA.

Like rats fleeing a sinking ship, where will they scurry to next?

Glendell Hill 3,971 votes = 61.20%
Michael W. Messier 1,340 votes = 20.65%
James J. Fotis 1,177 votes = 18.14%

Now, where are Ted Deeds and Jeff Doyle hiding? Are they back under the rock they crawled out from under?

Fotis may have instructed Mr. Doyle to withdraw from this fray, but in return he gave us “Interested Party” aka “Not Again” aka “Ted Deeds”.

Its very frightening that these are the kinds of individuals that Mr. Fotis has elected as his mouth pieces.

By virtue of Doyle’s first post (where he stated that he’d be at Fotis’ side at a parade the next day) it became apparent that he was with Fotis when he made that post and that Fotis likely put him up to it.

You’re right again Pundit. As an LEAA Board member, Jeff Doyle is complicit at some level for the financial mismanagement and campaign cash “shenanigans” that LEAA has engaged in over the last decade.

Fotis may be sleazy but he’s savvy enough to see that he is hemorrhaging ever more blood in this blog with each ill-tempered, shallow and disingenous Doyle post. It would seem logical to assume that Fotis instructed Doyle to withdraw from this fray.

Be forewarned Pundit. We may see Doyle accusing you of being part of a vast conspiracy against Fotis. That’s what James Carville would do, and Fotis & Company (LEAA) are using his playbook.

Well, here is a mail solicitation that I received from LEAA, dated September 16, 2003 and signed by JIM FOTIS:

———————————–
“Dear TJ,

In my 12 years as Executive Director of LEAA, this is the most difficult letter I have ever had to write.

If you’ve seen my last few letters to Members, you know that LEAA has been facing a SEVERE FINANCIAL CRISIS this year. And even though many of our members have responded generously to those appeals, matters HAVE GONE FROM BAD TO WORSE.

The reasons for our financial crisis are several…..and frankly not that important right now.

What is important is the fact that we are on the verge of having to make drastic cutbacks in programs, in media outreach, and even critical members of our staff. The situation is that serious, UNLESS we can get a significant injection of funds immediately.”
—————————–

So, do the math boys. As the “Stealth Pac” link above suggested, LEAA reported income in 2000 at $2,714,035.

By 2002, LEAA was reporting income of $ 6,931,053.

Of course, LEAA won’t divulge WHERE that money came from, or WHERE AND WHY they spent every penny of that income. All that we know at this time is that JIM FOTIS was PLEADING with us to give him more money to answer his latest FINANCIAL CRISIS. He even blows off explaining the notion of explaining the crisis to his membership when he tells us (as quoted above);

———————————
“The reasons for our financial crisis are SEVERAL …..and frankly NOT THAT IMPORTANT RIGHT NOW.”
———————————

Hmmm….is the membership clueless enough to keep swallowing such “crisis” appeals from Fotis and then a barrage of insults from Jeff Doyle when we ask why LEAA is playing “Pirates of the Caribbean” with money?

So, Fotis and his handpicked Board of Directors did the only thing that they could do; they became an energetic money laundering machine for issues and causes that had nothing to do with gun rights, crime or the occupational safety of police. And even after all of that prostitution, they still had to move their headquarters out of their 15-year Falls Church office address to a rathole on a dead-end street of an industrial park. And, it all happened on YOUR watch JEFF DOYLE!!!!

If you want to know why Jim Fotis was shut out of the HR-218 White House signing ceremony, you don’t have to use much imagination.

Talk about people being ego-maniacs! Don’t flatter yourself about your writing ability. I’ve read your work. Though your writing is likely popular amongst people lacking a full set of dentures, trust me - it’s nothing to boast about!

You don’t think items being posted on this board won’t be seen by enough people to make a difference in this election? You’re wrong! The “1196 Views” that you see on the counter at the bottom of this page are just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. It’s a matter of WHO sees the items being posted on this board. And Guber-Doyle, the RIGHT PEOPLE will see these posts! Thanks to your schizophrenic and feeble attempts to defend Fotis via evasion, obfuscation and intimidation, the picture that you’ve help paint ain’t a pretty one!

No one can portray me as being ungrateful for your help. I am truly appreciative of the assistance you’ve rendered.

Sincerely,

TJ “Your Boogeyman” Anderson

It would be nice to see people stick to addressing issues without resorting to personal attacks as a form of evasion. And this isn’t just directed at Jeff Doyle. Knock the crap off about COs not being cops! They have one of the most thankless yet critical job functions in the CJ system. The “Eddie Munster” quip was also uncalled for. What purpose did it serve?

I’m here to find out what’s true and what isn’t in this election campaign. Unfortunately, all we’re seeing here is name-calling and issue-evasion. Can we salvage anything from this thread? Well, can we?

Jeff Doyle, your defense of Fotis seems akin to giving a child a pack of matches to play with. I think you’ve burned the LEAA house down trying to defend it. You’ve blatantly dodged so many issues that anyone visiting this blog is likely to see what your mission is.

Forget whatever grudge or inferiority complex you have with that Aveni guy you’re so obsessed with and start addressing issues! Start with the links that others have posted and tell us about the allegations of LEAA money laundering! Tell us about why LEAA has dodged financial disclosure requests on numerous occasions! Tell us about why Fotis fired his bookkeeper when she spilled the beans about his misuse of LEAA funds! Tell us about why Fotis was banned from the White House HR-218 signing ceremony! Tell us how about the membership fraud allegations that we keep hearing about!

And, for God’s sake, start telling us the TRUTH for a change! This routine of, “Well, so what if Jim Fotis was bankrupt when he was hiding income from his creditors - who cares?” is CRAP and won’t cut it with anyone scrutinizing a sheriff’s election! Get over whatever inferiority complex that you have and start acting like the cop you never were!

Here’s how I see things…

For MONTHS Aveni (in the persona of “TJ Anderson”) attacked Fotis here with charges that, if true, would have been ANY US Attorney’s dream. In over a decade, nothing has come of it….and that just eats Tom Aveni’s ample gut.

I bloodied Aveni’s nose with a dose of TRUTH and next-thing-you-know, you all crawl out of the woodwork repeating the same pap…verbatim.

Notwithstanding your collective opinion relative to my comments being ‘personal,’ intemperate, (or my being a “typical knuckle dragger”) I choose my words carefully. I stand by them. (Or, as I told [you] Tommy-Boy, “So Sue Me.”)

And, I didn’t survive a job most of you clearly hold in the lowest possible regard, by allowing myself to be rat-packed.

In that context, knock yourselves out: misrepresent my comments as you will (and have). Repeating lies doesn’t make them true…does it TOM (TJ, Sybil or whomever you claim to be or whose mouth you are manipulating)?

When it’s all said and done, you will undoubtedly convince yourselves this thread had relevance and turned the election. It doesn’t–It won’t. I could by a brew for every reader here with a 12-pack…

In any case, LEAA will continue its mission whether Jim is elected or not. If the membership is so inclined, I will continue to serve on the BOD. You will continue to attack us AND nothing will come of it because, as stated previously, it IS nothing.

Keep the love coming, boys. Now Daddy has work to do. See you after the election.

PS- TOM, you really need to take a course in ghost writing. I make a very good living at it and, as a rule, you’re supposed to make it appear as though the same person didn’t write EVERYTHING.

Based on the “Stealth Pac” disclosures, and the elaborate schemes that Tom Delay was orchestrating to launder campaign cash, we’re left to wonder to what extent LEAA was tied in with any of that. All of it hurt Republicans at a time when public confidence in the GOP was already imploding. I hate to think who might inherit the White House in 2008.

It appears as if the inmates at Folsom have been given Internet access!

It’s nice to see that someone has come to Jim Fotis’ rescue during my week-long absence. Sure, from Jeff Doyle’s bio page on the LEAA website, he looks like a middle-aged version of Eddie Munster. But, his crude intimidation tactics seem to have been borrowed more from watching episodes of “The Sopranos” than anything he gleaned from the Munsters.

So, he’s blaming his juvenile name-calling tirades on the things that I said? That is very James Carville-like. He’s avoided every documented ethical issue that I posted while opting to name-call instead. Like Carville, attempting to defend Bill & Hillary, there were no billing improprieties at the Rose Law Firm! Whitewater? Paula Jones? Monica Lewinsky? Gennifer Flowers? Juanita Broaddrick? Kathleen Willey? IT WAS ALL A VAST RIGHT WING CONSPIRACY!!!! Everyone posting here is a figment of that vast conspiracy that Doyle attributes to his apparent moral nemesis, Tom Aveni!!!

Doyle, listen son, get a life! Fotis may have promised you a position as undersheriff if he’s elected - but THAT won’t happen!!!

In the meantime, start addressing some of the issues that have been raised here. Will Fotis allow you to do that? What about allegations of LEAA money laundering campaign cash? Several newspapers have reported it - what about it fella? What about the fact that LEAA hasn’t been disclosing its sources of large chunks of “donor” cash? You’re on the LEAA Board of Directors and you take some responsibility for that, don’t you?

Mr. Doyle, the more you rant, rave and loudly deny everything, the worse things are looking for you and your puppeteer, Jim Fotis. It’s looking fairly ugly fella!!!

I didn’t intend to demean you by stating that you have no LE background. It was merely an observation made in light of your preoccupation with “playing detective.” I paid my dues working in my county’s lockup as a CO before I began working as a road deputy. If anything, your manner of expression may not be doing people in the corrections field any justice.

I do have trouble with your denial of CCPOA affiliation, and then your admission that my assertion of the proof being in the March 1997 issue of the LEAA Advocate was true. If you had just told the truth the first time around you wouldn’t have a serious credibility problem dogging you now. And then you belittle my observation about endless LEAA mail solicitations for money? Does your attitude reflect the mainstream attitude of the LEAA Board? If so, I feel even better about letting my membership lapse.

Jason Graves:

I checked that link you posted and find it interesting for what it doesn’t directly reveal. You were wrong to expect to see membership dues reflected in those numbers. They don’t have to divulge that revenue for campaign finance purposes.

However, the assertion that the “George Bush years” appear fraught with LEAA impropriety does resonate with me. The final Clinton administration year of 2000 saw LEAA disclosing $ 2,714,035 in revenue. They spent every penny of it, and them some.

In 2001, the 1st GW Bush year, LEAA revenue nearly doubled to $ 4,478,955. And again, they spent every penny of it. They disclose only $2,500 in political expenditures, but some of the public interest groups and investigative journalists (links to articles others have posted above are worth reading) have complained that they’ve been stone-walled when they’ve gone to LEAA for detailed disclosures in recent years. In fact, the Stealth Pac’s link that Steve Carnes provided above suggests that LEAA hasn’t disclosed anything since 2002!

Speaking of 2002, that same source indicates that LEAA revenue increased by about another 50%, to $ 6,931,053. Nearly every penny was spent but only $18,991 was disclosed as being political expenditures. Most telling is that, with exception of the NRA, LEAA’s annual donors of big chunks of money are listed as “N/A.” And again, we have no disclosures listed since 2002. Do I think LEAA could have pulled off such obfuscation during the Clinton years? Absolutely not.

Jeff Doyle:

I also did a Google search for “Tom Aveni,” since you seem so obsessed with the guy. There are a few people by that name who come up in Google searches. One is a music production type, another is an historian and the other is an LE type. Is this the guy that you are so obsessed with Mr. Doyle?

http://www.theppsc.org/Staff/Aveni/Tom.htm

If that is your boogeyman, I gain much insight in knowing that. He seems to have excellent credentials - far beyond what little you’ve posted on the “Paco Villa” website. And, Aveni would seem to have little inducement to wallow in the name-calling mud that Jeff Doyle has languished in thus far.

This blog has evolved from initially being about Fotis’ ill-fated run for sheriff toward becoming an expose’ about LEAA’s fiscal and ethical dysfunctions. Which leads me to ask Jeff Doyle a question that intrigues me from prior posts. Given the number of police officials that were invited, why was Jim Fotis shut out of the White House HR-218 signing ceremony? That picture of Fotis and Rep. Cunningham on the LEAA website was intentially misleading, wasn’t it? Fotis went there but wasn’t allowed in, correct? Very telling.

He just admitted that LEAA’s own magazine suggested that LEAA took $50,000 from CCPOA and affiliated with LEAA in 1997. And he then tells us not to believe what LEAA’s own magazine reported at that time! So, we shouldn’t believe what LEAA’s magazine tell us? Obviously not - according to Mr. Doyle.

Perhaps, we shouldn’t believe anything that LEAA tells us, in any medium. And, since Doyle has been an LEAA Board member for more than a decade - he’s apparently been appointed to be the defender of LEAA’s realm of lies. But, in the process, Jeff Doyle is experiencing an emotional melt-down here because he can’t muster up anything beyond insults. Posted newspaper accounts of LEAA’s unethical conduct go conspicuously unanswered.

Case-in-point; looking at LEAA’s limited financial disclosures it appears that allegations about LEAA having virtually no membership are true. Funding from membership dues is apparently so insignificant that it isn’t provided. Is it merely a front organization for anyone wanting to skirt campaign finance laws? Check out this “Stealth PACS” page that I just found;

http://www.stealthpacs.org/finance.cfm?Org_ID=175

IRS seems inclined to target organizations that are opposed to the incumbant party. Clinton’s IRS obsessively targeted NRA and other conservative groups during his eight year tenure in office. LEAA’s errant financial behavior seems to have flourished during the Bush administration, and if the Democrats regain the White House, LEAA will likely have a great deal of IRS scrutiny to fear.

So, Mr. Doyle, you admitted to Fotis’ personal bankruptcy but deflected concern about allegations that Fotis hid income from his creditors. What are we to think of that? Then you got caught lying about CCPOA’s affiliation with LEAA. Care to come clean about anything else? You haven’t yet addressed why Southern States PBA or the Memphis Police Association defected from LEAA. Regarding the allegation that Fotis fired his bookkeeper for complaining about his misspending of funds, do you care to respond to that Mr. Doyle?

More directly, can you come clean about anything Mr. Doyle? Or, has years of rubbing rubbing elbows with inmates influenced your ethical judgment as much as it has your style of communication?

The reason why the Fed’s have not gone after LEAA is because they did nothing other than fight to advance the conservative agenda (horror of horrors!). They support the Second Amendment and did all they could to help support law enforcement — all law enforcement — (yes that includes deputy sheriff, CO’s, parole agents, constables and all other types of cops that some want to call ’second class law enforcement citizens’) while trying to show the world that Gun Control is NOT Crime Control.

If those hate mongers posting want to disgaree with that then I’d suggest they come out of the closet. Oh, and one other thing, if the key poster in all this is Tom Aveni from New England, one has to wonder why he is so all fired up in trying to dig up mud/stir up controversey… that seems to need a clear, honest answer… sounds like an ole’ grudge to me….

And one other thing…. did Aveni happen to forget that he claimed his writins as ‘facts’ and then when pressed on the quesiton of if those facts were ‘true’ he simply reverted to the , ‘well someone told me’ and, ’so what if that particular fact is not true/I can’t prove it, I can make other even worse allegations’… so there!

Thank God our courts don’t work that way. When individual claims can be easily demonstrated to be false or asserted without any proof, it must follow that other similarly unsupported (and silly) claims that are asserted must be taken for what they are… not FACT, simply a desire to carry on a grudge from years ago, using any means unsupported / unproven claims possible to achieve a destructive, means spirited goal!

Give them hell, Mr. Doyle!

Did the Advocate ’spin’ CCPOA’s support of LEAA as an affiliation of some kind? Perhaps….and big deal. In any case, the fact remains CCPOA was never an affiliate of LEAA as YOU and Aveni well know.

Clearly, you two compatriots of Aveni (assuming you aren’t simply Aveni pseudonyms) have posited the question of the day: why hasn’t the IRS (et al) gone after Fotis and LEAA? After all, Aveni and company have worn out countless packs of Crayola’s writing every authority imagineable…to no avail. Why no government intervention in nearly 15 years? Because there is no THERE there, boys!

So, you just blubber about issues of a magazine you never received, repeat baseless allegations and carp at me for not getting down in the gutter to address your bile. Good show.

And WOW, what a zinger about my credentials in law enforcement. Yes, I was a CO for 6 years and a parole agent for 14. Yet, it wasn’t until you pointed it out that I realized I wasn’t a police officer. You got me.

Now, insofar as you fellows KNOW “TJ Anderson” is actually Mr. Aveni, yet continue to pretend otherwise, how are we to assess YOUR credibility (read honesty)? Moreover, you accuse me of name-calling while ignoring the FACT that my statements were in reaction to AVENI’s overt name calling. That’s not very honest, is it?

Jim Fotis, a bankrupt Executive Director (by LEAA Board member Doyle’s own admission), is hiding income by having LEAA pay for his apartment and car? And Fotis fired his bookkeeper for telling the LEAA Board about his misspending of LEAA funds? LEAA sends out what are described as “never-ending mail solicitations” for donations because of, “a money crisis, followed by another, then another, etc.” This all coinciding with a period of shady money deals, and non-disclosure of LEAA’s campaign funding? Why aren’t LEAA and Fotis facing IRS scrutiny?

I have to ask the same question; “And this guy wants to run for sheriff?”

I am a past member of LEAA. Like many who have been members, I became disillusioned with the steady stream of LEAA money solicitations while receiving little in return for my investment. It seemed, from the never-ending mail solicitations that LEAA always had a “money crisis,” followed by another, then another, etc.

The LEAA magazine, “The LEAA Advocate,” which had been a promised membership benefit, virtually ceased distribution at the same time LEAA incessantly begged for ever more money from members. So, yes, for me any admission that the LEAA Executive Director, Jim Fotis, couldn’t manage his own financial affairs without resorting to smoke and mirrors is indicative of LEAA’s apparent money management problems. And he wants to run for sheriff?

Mr. Doyle, the only issue you carefully elected to address among so many critical ethical issues that you ducked was whether CCPOA was ever affiliated with LEAA. And you’re denying that affiliation? So, you’re telling me that the published picture (March 1997, The LEAA Advocate) of you and Mike Jimenez giving Jim Fotis and LEAA a $50,000 check for associate membership isn’t what the caption says it was? Care to explain that Mr. Doyle? And, you conveniently didn’t address whether Southern States PBA was ever affiliated with LEAA. Ditto for the past affiliation of the Memphis Police Association. They were both affiliated with LEAA while I was an LEAA member. What happened Mr. Doyle? Why did you elect to gloss over those massive defections from LEAA?

As it appears to me, Jeff Doyle is stained by his Board position with LEAA. The continuous stream of documented campaign and financial “irregularities” involving LEAA has Mr. Doyle attacking and name-calling rather than addressing the issues. I’m sure this is as extremely transparent to everyone else as it is to me. Mr. Doyle, as an LEAA Board member of 11 years, how culpable are you for the fiscal management and ethical transgressions of LEAA? Is that what your no-substance, name-calling rant was all about?

It appears that Mr. Doyle’s has been delegated the LEAA role of “James Carville” at a crucial time. Mr. Doyle, a corrections guy with no apparent legitimate police background, has been tasked with the old stratagem of, “Lie, deny, demand proof and make counter-accusations.” Well, the lying and denying are quite conspicuous, as are the childish counter-accusations. But, the other side seems to have offered proof that you elected not to counter. Why is that Mr. Doyle?

Steven Carnes
sdcarnes279@yahoo.com