{"id":1066,"date":"2016-03-12T22:29:32","date_gmt":"2016-03-13T04:29:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/truthinaddison.com\/?page_id=1066"},"modified":"2016-03-12T22:29:32","modified_gmt":"2016-03-13T04:29:32","slug":"the-kanter-web-is-unraveling","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/truthinaddison.com\/?page_id=1066","title":{"rendered":"The Kanter Web Is Unraveling"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Kanter Web Is Unraveling
\n<\/strong>By Susan M. Halpern
\n<\/strong>Former Addison Councilmember (1992-1999)<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Sir Walter Scott was right: \u201cOh! What a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.\u201d<\/p>\n

My recent article, \u201cWhat Kanter Didn\u2019t Tell You Changes Everything\u201d was a thorough discussion of why no self-respecting accountant would act as Kanter did on February 23, 2016, when he gleefully joined in Meier\u2019s plan to disparage Addison\u2019s staff and prior management.\u00a0 It was a classic Meier setup, with both Kanter and Meier omitting significant facts necessary to a fair presentation.\u00a0 But then, fair wasn\u2019t the point: the purpose was to set up the reelection campaign Meier will be running for those in his cadre who are now up for reelection.<\/p>\n

Kanter\u2019s presentation confirmed what we\u2019ve said all along: he was hired to be the mouthpiece for a mayor who believes that he has to distort and disparage Addison\u2019s past in order to measure up.\u00a0 Kanter\u2019s presentation was one-sided and politically charged. Kanter was not impartial or objective, and certainly not intellectually honest, all standards set forth in the AICPA\u2019s professional responsibility rules.<\/p>\n

Our analysis clearly touched a nerve.\u00a0 In classic Meier fashion, he recruited folks to do his bidding.\u00a0 They sent a newsletter out, trying desperately to undermine our analysis and refocus the public on all their disparaging comments.\u00a0 These folks almost screamed<\/em> that Kanter\u2019s work was not an audit, seeming to argue that this meant that the AICPA standards don\u2019t apply.\u00a0 Here\u2019s some more from the AICPA standards:<\/p>\n

Regardless of service or capacity, members should protect the integrity of their work, maintain objectivity, and avoid any subordination of their judgment.<\/p>\n

Members employed by others to perform consulting services are charged with the same responsibility for objectivity as members in public practice.<\/p>\n

We could go on, but you get the point.\u00a0 The FACT is that the standards apply, and that MATTERS.\u00a0 But also think about the premise of arguing against application of these rules: who doesn\u2019t want professionals hired by Addison to be impartial, objective and intellectually honest?\u00a0 We believe that if Kanter is unable or unwilling to meet basic standards like intellectual honesty, impartiality and objectivity, then his work is entirely suspect and without any credibility.\u00a0 And of course, that\u2019s exactly the point.<\/p>\n

But here\u2019s another thing about the audit issue.\u00a0 We agree that access to the FACTS is critically important. That\u2019s what the Open Records Act is about: citizens getting FACTS from its government.\u00a0 But these days in Addison, it\u2019s damn hard to get those facts.\u00a0 Talk about \u201cpast and present!\u201d\u00a0 In the past, information was shared readily, but the present is indeed very different.\u00a0 Nowadays Addison is short on disclosure and long on obstruction, yet another sign of an unhealthy government.<\/p>\n

In any event, in an effort to get the FACTS, we sent an Open Records Act request asking for Kanter\u2019s work papers and communications between Kanter and Addison\u2019s staff.\u00a0 Here\u2019s what Addison\u2019s attorney wrote:<\/p>\n

The City has determined that approximately 90% of the records responsive are excepted from disclosure pursuant to Section 552.116(a) of the Act.<\/p>\n

You know what Section 552.116(a) deals with?\u00a0 AUDITS<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 That\u2019s right, even as Meier and his supporters are telling you that Kanter\u2019s work is not<\/em> an audit, Addison is resisting disclosure by claiming that it is<\/em> an audit.\u00a0 So what Meier is claiming about Kanter depends on his purpose of the moment.\u00a0 This is what Addison\u2019s government has become, and it is unacceptable.<\/p>\n

And by the way, we wrote back to Addison in response to the attorney\u2019s letter, and we made the same arguments now being made by Meier\u2019s supporters.\u00a0 We quoted the same parts of Kanter\u2019s agreement, telling Addison that reliance on the audit exception is improper.\u00a0 We got nowhere, and Addison continues to conceal these key documents from its citizens.<\/p>\n

And of course, that paves the way for Kanter and Meier to say whatever they want in their quest to disparage Addison\u2019s staff and former management.\u00a0 Sorry, but that\u2019s not transparency.\u00a0 It\u2019s a web of deceit and slowly but surely, it\u2019s beginning to unravel.<\/p>\n

Those are the FACTS. And we agree that they MATTER.<\/p>\n

Addison\u2019s residents deserve far better.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n