Part II Report On County Tire Contract Controversy Delayed

Published by Dick Schaefer, Contributing Writer and Part-time Investigative Reporter

I want to apologize to Hermann Hearsay readers for taking so long to develop Part II of my four-part series about the Gasconade County tire and tire services contract controversy.

The delay results from the exhaustive research I am doing with The Missouri Ethics Commission in Jefferson City.  Complicating my communications with them has been the three-day 4th of July weekend.  Hopefully, I will get a response to the questions I have asked later this week.  Their offices have been closed since Friday afternoon and will remain closed until tomorrow morning.

I have to tell ya, folks, this investigative reporting stuff is really tough work.  Done properly, a good journalist will spend about 6 - 8 hours of research for every hour he spends writing up the story.  Investigative reporting is harder than most people think!  Ya see, in order to write up Part II of my series on the county's tire contract controversy, I'm having to double-check the following things with people who are the experts on the subject:

1. What exactly and legally constitutes a financial "conflict of interest" on the part of an elected public official?
2. What chapter(s) and paragraph(s) of the Revised Statutes of Missouri (RSMo) apply to financial "conflicts of interest"?
3. At what dollar amount are elected public officials of a county required by Missouri statute to competitively bid out the purchase of supplies, equipment and services?
4. What chapter(s) and paragraph(s) of the Revised Statutes of Missouri (RSMo) applies/apply to the purchase of supplies, equipment and services by counties?
5. What is the procedure for filing a formal complaint against a public official who is believed to have done something illegal or unethical?
6. What is the state's legal process for investigating complaints which allege financial "conflict of interest" by an elected public official?
7. What is the state's legal process for investigating complaints which allege "failure to follow the supply, equipment and purchasing procedures mandated by state law"?
8. If an elected public official is found to have violated Missouri state law(s) pertaining to financial "conflict of interest" and/or "mandated purchasing procedures", what are the prescribed remedies and/or penalties?

As soon as I complete my tedious investigative research, I will publish Part II for ALL to read.  This won't be one of those "exclusive" news reports for paid subscribers only.  We've only done one or two of those "exclusive" new reports in the past, and our owner now thinks it's a bad idea.  He wants everyone to be able to access our news reports, news analysis, opinions and other stories. 

Our owner's position is this:  "We are not desperate to motivate our FREE subscribers to purchase paid subscriptions, so we will not engage in any policies or practices which seek to induce, entice or lure them to upgrade.  The practice of hiding articles from the view of FREE subscribers is such a practice.  We are building a professional and classy local news analysis and opinion website.  Hiding articles from the view of FREE subscribers is NOT a very classy practice!"

If you want to refer back to previous articles I have written about the Gasconade County tire and tire services contract controversy, you can click on the following links:

1. 7/1 - http://www.hermannhearsay.blogspot.com/2010/07/too-stunned-to-report-on-july-1st.html
2. 7/2 - http://www.hermannhearsay.blogspot.com/2010/07/gasconade-county-tire-and-tire-services.html
3. 7/2 - http://www.hermannhearsay.blogspot.com/2010/07/county-tire-contract-controversy-part-i.html

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