Friday, March 22, 2019

The Jeff Gahan Money Machine, Part 20: Buying and selling a city? Our master list of 59 Gahan wheel-greasers is a pornographic potpourri of pay-to-play.


Previously: The Jeff Gahan Money Machine, Part 19: Department heads, insurance peddlers, duffers and a few other odds and ends from Gahan's long and winding money trail.

We've been plumbing the depths revealed amid eight years of the Committee to Elect Gahan's CFA-4 campaign finance reports. It's been a month since our detailed examination of Mayor Jeff Gahan's eight-year campaign finance bounty began, and I'm happy to announce my gag reflex has been tamed by the sheer numbness of repetition.

The funny thing is I continue to stumble upon convergences. Nearing the conclusion of this master list, I realized that AB & E Consulting LLC's money ($2,500) hadn't been followed.


Right there it was, just seconds away on Google -- and another back-alley way for HWC's Ed Jolliffe to give Jeff Gahan a few thousand more dollars.

Let's repeat some numbers. With a slightly above average fundraising year in 2019 for Big Daddy G, he'll pass the $500,000 mark in donations since running for mayor. Given his success in 2015, reaching this milestone should be as easy as looting a TIF area.

2011: $56,515
2012: $16,575
2013: $30,350
2014: $58,795
2015: $103,532
2016: $51,799
2017: $56,225
2018: $64,250

Total: $438,041

Yearly average: $54,755 and change, and Gahan began 2019 with $128,000 cash on hand. It boggles the mind.


Without further introduction, here's the lowdown on Gahan's $1,000+ donors, with donor companies and their individual donating components being grouped as efficiently as possible. I've probably missed one or two, and remember, this entire list takes into account legal, recorded donations. Fish bowls, fruit baskets and Keeneland handshakes are not included.

THE REALLY BIG THREE:
PLATINUM LEVEL GAHAN DONORS

Clark Dietz and CD PAC
Out of town
$34,400
---
Jacobi, Toombs and Lanz, Jorge Lanz, BHL Properties
Out of town
$33,225
---
HWC Engineering via Ed Jolliffe, Terry Baker, CRS Marketing and AB & E Consulting
Out of town
$30,000

→ $97,625 -- 23% of Gahan's total take since 2011

$10,000 GOLD LEVEL GAHAN DONORS (9)

John Neace (Neace Ventures, AllTerrain Paving)
New Albany resident
$17,500
---
Beam, Longest and Neff
Out of town
$16,550
---
United Consulting (including owners and employees)
Out of town
$15,650

GM Development, Greg Martz
Out of Town
$15,500
---
Cripe Architects via William H. Stinson, Citizens for Excellence in Government PAC
Out of town
$12,700
---
Axis Architecture and Interiors
Out of Town
$11,750
---
Stephen Triplett (AllTerrain Paving) 
New Albany resident and business 
$10,750
---
Denton Floyd Development, DF Property Holdings, Adam Denton
Out of town
M Fine. Reisz City Hall projects
$10,000
---
Frost Brown Todd
Out of town
$10,000

→ $120,400 -- 27% of Gahan's total take since 2011

$5,000 - $9,999 SILVER LEVEL GAHAN DONORS (14)

Lemor Dowell, New Albany Heating & Cooling
New Albany resident and business
$9,200
---
Edward and Dana Culpepper Cooper, Culpepper Group
Out of town
$8,600
---
HMB Professional Engineers (Brad Meyer)
Out of town
$8,600
---
Terry Ginkins, TA Ginkins Construction
New Albany resident and business
$8,525
---
Faegre Baker Daniels
Out of town
$7,750
---
Bennett’s Towing
New Albany business
$7,000
---
Wheeler’s Towing
New Albany business
$7,000
---
American Structurepoint and DPBG Political Action Committee
Out of town
$6,400
---
Dennis Wesley Co Inc (includes Chris Coyle, a Wesley owner)
Out of town
$6,245
---
Lochmueller Group, Dean Boerste
Out of town
$5,750
---
Jeff Eastridge (CCE)
New Albany resident and business
$5,500
---
David and Karen Wood
Out of town
$5,500
---
(Stan) Robison Law Office
New Albany resident and business
$5,250
---
Wayne Estopinol
Out of town
$5,000

→ $96,320 -- 22% of Gahan's total take since 2011

$1,000 - $4,999 FEEL SO GOOD 'BOUT THE BOSS LEVEL DONORS (33)

* denotes out of town donors

*EchTech/Robert Lee/Bryan Slade $4,050
*(Paul) Wheatley Group $4,000

*Barnes & Thornburg $3,550
*Adam U. Kahn $3,500
*Pro4mance Contracting Services $3,500
David Duggins $3,146
*Governmental Appraisal Services $3,000

*Sanjay Patel/VS Engineering $2,750
*Indiana Economic Growth PAC $2,500
Linda Moeller $2,398
Hubert Rockey/Dock Seafood $2,300
*Flaherty & Collins $2,250
William Todd Bailey $2,000
Byrne’s Garage $2,000
*Martin S. Dezelan/Arthur Gallagher Co $2,000
*Indiana State Ironworkers Action Committee $2,000
*Int’l Brotherhood of Electrical Workers & PAC $2,000

*Bingham Greenebaum Doll $1,900
Laborer’s Intl Union of New Albany $1,900
Edward J. Wilkinson $1,860
Patricia Tarpley Harrison $1,810
*GRW Engineers $1,600
Land Design Systems (Josh Williams) 1,500
Amy Letke/Integrity HR $1,500
Steve Bonifer $1,215
Pam & Pat Kelley $1,200
*Jonathon “Wienzapple” Weinzapfel $1,150
Warren Nash $1,049

Cheryl Cotner Bailey $1,000
Plumbers & Pipefitters Local #502 $1,000
Specialty Earth Sciences $1,000
*Wessler Engineering $1,000
*Kelly Zullo $1,000

→ $68,628 -- 16% of Gahan's total take since 2011

These 59 donors/groupings have accounted for 88% of Gahan's $438,041 total.

Of the 26 donors and donor groups tithing $5,000 or more to Gahan since 2011, 18 are from out of town, and only 8 from inside city limits. Collectively they account for 72% of the campaign finance dollars Gahan has collected, and I defy readers to point to single one who has not benefited "contractually" from the joy of giving.

These 18 (of 26) top donors from elsewhere gave $243,620 to Gahan, or 56% of his total. Think of the millions of dollars that bounced back their way to take back home, even as Gahan's minions composed yet another press release testifying to the innate genius of the humble veneer peddler.

Of the 33 donors offering between $1,000 and $4,999, 17 come from elsewhere and 16 are homegrown -- but the 17 outsiders total $41,750 in donations, or 61%.

The conclusion is clear.


We still need YOUR help documenting our ruling elite's #CultureOfCorruption. Tell me about your experiences with the Jeff Gahan Money Machine, and together we can pull back the curtain and reveal the truth behind the propaganda -- and make absolutely no mistake, because that's exactly what Gahanism is, pure propaganda masking pervasive sleaze. Confidentiality is assured. Write me. Thank you.

The series link recap:


The Jeff Gahan Money Machine, Part 1: Mysterious CRS Marketing and the inevitable HWC Engineering tie-in.



The Jeff Gahan Money Machine, Part 2: Of fire stations, amphitheater studies and Axis Architecture and Interiors of Indianapolis.



The Jeff Gahan Money Machine, Part 3: Eight-year donor Terry Ginkins and a consistency of beak-wetting.



The Jeff Gahan Money Machine, Part 4: The Estopinol Group and Cripe Architects are just two facets of River Run Waterpark's fertilizing effect.



The Jeff Gahan Money Machine, Part 5: In 2019, Gahan will pass the half million dollar mark in campaign fundraising since 2011.



The Jeff Gahan Money Machine, Part 6: GM Development, yet another economic development consultancy from afar.



The Jeff Gahan Money Machine, Part 7: Jacobi, Toombs & Lanz, or the anatomy of $33,225 "Big Daddy Dollars" since 2011.



The Jeff Gahan Money Machine, Part 8: Our towing and recovery companies offer their tithes to Dear Leader.



The Jeff Gahan Money Machine, Part 9: These west end properties and their ultimate redevelopment surely comprise a rich, albeit tangled, source of campaign finance extractions for our Genius of the Flood Plain.



The Jeff Gahan Money Machine, Part 10: Oh Cripe! Or, the path from Al "Indy" Oak's company PAC leads to Silver Street Park and Breakwater, and probably others.



The Jeff Gahan Money Machine, Part 11: Lawyers from afar, expressing gratitude to Jeff Gahan for their billable hours -- and the curious case of Stan Robison.



The Jeff Gahan Money Machine, Part 12: Madam I'm Adam, or the way HMB's Dickey brokers power and channels his party's beak wetting.



The Jeff Gahan Money Machine, Part 13: United Consulting Engineers rocks Deaf Gahan like a hurricane.



The Jeff Gahan Money Machine, Part 14: Kentucky-based GRW Engineers and the subtle art of the $200 out-of-state handshake.



The Jeff Gahan Money Machine, Part 15: Beam, Longest and Neff -- they're why Jeff Gahan is HERE and awash in cash, 16,500 times over.



The Jeff Gahan Money Machine, Part 16: Last week's minutes from the Board of Public Works and Safety reveal big donors daintily lapping their gravy.



The Jeff Gahan Money Machine, Part 17: Denton-Floyd feels M(ighty) Fine -- and the resulting Reisz Krispies Treats never tasted better to Mayor Gahan.



The Jeff Gahan Money Machine, Part 18: Clark Dietz, CD PAC top Gahan's "Quality of Distant Corporate Donors" chart.



The Jeff Gahan Money Machine, Part 19: Department heads, insurance peddlers, duffers and a few other odds and ends from Gahan's long and winding money trail.

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