Carefree Truth

Issue #43, March 13, 2010

    

    

 

    The March 3rd edition of Bob Coady's Carefree Matters referred to the investigation into Mr. Coady's privately held recycle bank account.  "In one of his last official acts, ex Mayor Fulcher wrote to the County Attorney accusing me of these same allegations.   As a result, MCSO and the County Attorney implemented an investigation into these charges.  While it took some time, I have received notification that these irresponsible charges were found completely without merit, and there will be no further action taken by either office.

     Unfortunately, these frivolous allegations resulted in thousands of dollars of town funds for my defense. It is a sad commentary that elections in Carefree have stooped to such a low.  These allegations were used for no other purpose than to discredit me as a candidate during the past election."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIs19RS6lWA      

 

    

    Don Sorcych's March 3-16 My View column read, "This response was received by Coady earlier this week:

Maricopa County Attorney

ANDREW F. THOMAS

Wayne Fulcher

36221 N Peaceful Pl.

Carefree, AZ 85337

Dear Mr. Fulcher:

The Maricopa County Attorney's Office has investigated MCAO Report 2009-000011. That report listed you as a contact for the Town of Carefree. An attorney has reviewed the report and has made the decision to decline prosecution.

After all of the information available was carefully considered the reviewing attorney determined that the filing of a felony charge was not appropriate. We must be able to prove all elements of a crime "beyond a reasonable doubt." lf we are unable to do so, there is no reasonable likelihood of conviction at trial. For this reason this submittal does not meet the charging standard for the Maricopa County Attorney's Office and we are declining prosecution at this time.

Sincerely,

Annielaurie Van Wie

Deputy County Attorney

Special Crimes Bureau

Maricopa County Attorney's Office

CC:

Thomas K Chenal, esq.

7047 East Greenway Parkway

Scottsdale A Z 85254

David B. Smith, esq,

4310 N. 75th Street, Suite A

Scottsdale AZ 85251

    The answer was actually a form letter, I have seen them before."

 

 

    Indeed Mr. Sorchych has seen this form letter before, but his reaction to it was very different.  The previous letter was delivered to then mayor Ed Morgan, who had been falsely accused of Open Meeting Law violations by Bob Coady who, in conjunction with the Sonoran News, engaged in a hatchet job of monumental proportions.  They decried the letter sent to Mayor Morgan as cronyism and continued to rail about the "violations".   In the case of Mayor Morgan, "these irresponsible charges were found to be completely without merit" and "were used for no other purpose than to discredit" him, if I may borrow some of Bob Coady's words.     

 

 

    The following is an email letter from Ed Morgan:

    There was nothing frivolous about Mayor Fulcher's allegations.  Bob Coady's complete disregard for the Council and Town is evident when he refers to ex-Mayor Fulcher.  The facts are pretty clear: Coady had Town funds in a private bank account, and for a long time monies were going in and out of the account with no knowledge of the Town and the Mayor (me).  I had him close the account and turn over the money to the Town Treasurer and Attorney (Betsy Wise-Tom Chenal).  I gave him a break and the Council accepted the monies assuming the account was closed.  I chalked it up to stupidity by Coady and not dishonesty.  

    Two years later, Mayor Fulcher found the account was still open.  He (Fulcher) did the right thing by sending the letter requesting an investigation.  I doubt if Tom Chenal spent even 5 billable hours on this.   Nobody from Town of Carefree  was defending Coady.  This was an investigation not a trial.   

Ed Morgan

 

 

    As you may have noticed, attorney David Burnell Smith received a copy of this letter from the County Attorney's Office.  Mr. Burnell Smith was privately retained by Mr. Coady.  Mayor Morgan did not feel the need to retain a lawyer, nor was Mayor Morgan defended by the Town attorney.  As he pointed out, these were simply investigations.  In fact, the records indicate that Town Attorney Tom Chenal met with Bob Coady once briefly, and was again present when the Council members were deposed.   Period.  This in no way cost the Town of Carefree thousands of dollars, as claimed by Mr. Coady.

 

 

    The fact that Mr. Coady solicited donation checks made out in his name, depositing them in a bank account bearing his name and social security number,  showed highly questionable judgement at best.  That behavior seems a blatant attempt to highjack the town sponsored and paid for recycling event for the purpose of self aggrandizement, a recurring Coady theme.  And why did he feel the need to hire a lawyer?

 

Lyn Hitchon

 

 

"If you don't read the newspaper you are uninformed; if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed." -- Mark Twain

 

 

Prepared by Carefree Truth

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