Saints, Sinners and the Marriage from Hell

When a new Administration comes into office, the operative programs from the previous Administration don’t change.  The programs are re-wrapped in shiny new paper with a different color ribbon and the rhetoric changes to target the political base of the new Administration – but the programs themselves don’t change.  They may be allocated more or less money and receive more or less attention.  Where the significant changes occur is in the administrative rules and grant program definitions but since few people pay attention to these things except “stakeholders” they rarely get public attention until something egregious happens as a result of them.

Obama and his Chicagoland gangsters in the White House were involved in the exploitation of the programs before he came into office and those programs were set up to be exploitable by the Clinton Administration.  Surprisingly, Alternet has a good article on Obama’s team activities in Chicago before he came into office that gives a glimpse of the tip of the iceberg.

How Obama and Valerie Jarrett Helped Launch Their Political Careers in an Outrageous ‘Urban Renewal’ Scheme.

Stanley Kurtz who has been doing a magnificent job of exposing the Obama Administration’s activities in Chicago and the carryforward to the White House wrote:

“Obama used his position on the board of the Woods Fund, where he served with Bill Ayers, to funnel money to Gamaliel and related efforts. As he entered electoral politics, he was also able to play “good cop” to Gamaliel’s “bad cop,” manipulating external pressure to “organize” his legislative colleagues to come around to his point of view–a strategy he would later attempt on a national scale in the Obamacare debate of 2009.”

Discover the Networks website has a good write-up on the Gamaliel Foundation.  I removed the hyperlinks because it’s better if you go to the website and read the entire article:

“When former Jesuit priest Gregory Galluzzo became the foundation’s executive director in 1986, Gamaliel was restructured as a community-organizing leadership institute that focused on training activists “to build and maintain powerful organizations in low-income communities.” GF has since grown into a network of faith-based community-organizing affiliates with branches in 18 U.S. states, South Africa, and the United Kingdom.[1]

Like the Gamaliel Foundation itself, GF’s affiliates carefully select non-threatening names that form biblical acronyms. Michigan, for instance, has the Interfaith Strategy for Advocacy & Action in the Community (ISAAC); a Wisconsin affiliate is called Joining Our Neighbors, Advancing Hope (JONAH); and a New York affiliate is named Niagara Organizing Alliance for Hope (NOAH).”

Before the III% March against the Refugee Resettlement Program, I was doing research on the Economic Development Districts because it appeared that refugee resettlement is an integral part of obtaining federal economic development money.  The Office of Community Services (OCS) within HHS includes the Office of Refugee Resettlement.

In Twin Falls, ID, the Region IV Economic Development District office is located at the College of Southern Idaho (CSI) right along with the CSI Refugee Resettlement Program.

Saints

Economic Development Districts are private, non-profit organizations that receive grant money from the federal government and they can access funds from the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) that are also private, non-profits that have access to U.S. Treasury Funds.

Idaho has four Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI):

Idaho-Nevada Community Development Financial Institution, Pocatello

Neighborhood Housing Services Lending, Inc. Boise

Pocatello Neighborhood Housing Services, Inc. Pocatello

Potlatch No. 1 Federal Credit Union, Lewiston

Joe Herring, President of the Region IV Economic Development District at the College of Southern Idaho is also a member of the Board of the Idaho-Nevada Community Development Financial Institution, Inc.

A search on CDFIs brought up the name Opportunity Finance Network and some history information on CDFIs.  There are three short videos that give the history of the Opportunity Finance Movement.  The video below is just the first one.  It’s embedded here because of the timeframe.

Sinners

Hillary Clinton went to work as a staff attorney for Marion Wright Edelman’s Children’s Defense Fund right out of law school.   That reference is only to show a connection to poverty law.  It is not known if she knew about the opportunity finance network, but very likely she did.

The following is a clip of Larry Nichols from the Clinton Chronicles produced by Citizen’s for Honest Government.   The full documentary can be view HERE.

On December 8, 1993 a press briefing was held at the White House press briefing room.  Secretary of the Treasury Lloyd Bentsen, Robert Rubin, Assistant to the President for Economic Policy and Eugene Ludwig, Comptroller of the Currency were present to talk about the Community Reinvestment Act.

The following is from the CDFI Coalition history page:

The legislation that Clinton signed was the Riegle Community Development and Regulatory Improvement Act of 1994.  That legislation created the CDFI Fund managed by the U.S. Treasury.   The legislation specifically defines Investment Area as including empowerment zones or enterprise communities.

Chicago was one of the first six cities to be designated an Empowerment Zone.  The New York Times wrote an article about the zones in January of 1994 titled, The Myth of Community Development.

The Marriage Made in Hell

One of the mysteries about the system of economic development, the College of Southern Idaho and refugee resettlement was how the Southern Idaho Economic Development Organization (SIEDO) fit into the picture because they are not part of the Economic Development District system that originated with the (OEO) Office of Community Services system.  SIEDO is a parallel parasite to the Region IV Economic Development District.

In 1987, a group of Twin Falls businessmen formed a private investment firm called Business Plus. On the Business-Plus website, there is a history and a list of the businesses they’ve brought into Twin Falls.

In 2001, SIEDO was created as a joint venture between Business Plus, the College of Southern Idaho and “regional communities”.  By that, presumably they mean local cities and counties must pay dues to them (I got this info on good authority).

The following is an excerpt from an article in the Idaho Business Review about Rebecca Wildman, Executive Director of Business Plus.

Rebecca Wildman is executive director of Business Plus, an industry group that supports economic development efforts in the Magic Valley region. Business Plus is the funding arm of the Southern Idaho Economic Development Organization, or SIEDO, a two-person operation based at College of Southern Idaho that works to attract business investment in Twin Falls and the …

Recently, Jan Rogers who was the Executive Director of SIEDO left to go to Idaho Falls to join another parallel parasite called Regional Economic Development for Eastern Idaho (REDI).   That left an opening at SIEDO.  The link for the job listing was a tinyurl so it wasn’t immediately apparent who had the listing.  When the link was expanded, the job listing was no longer there.  I was however, able to retrieve the listing from the Internet Archive.

The Executive Director of SIEDO works in the Office of the President of the College of Southern Idaho and is paid by the college.   What that says to me is that the college and Business Plus are freelancing “economic development” using the College as a front.

This is the updated version of the extracurricular activities of the College of Southern Idaho:

Since both SIEDO and Todd Schwarz, CSI’s Chief Academic Officer were mentioned in connection with the Chobani deal so I took another look at the Dealsheet that was posted on the Twin Falls City Website.

Business Plus is listed as an investor.   URA is a an Urban Renewal Area and TIF is Tax Increment Financing, and Ulukaya Hamdi came up with $18,000 where did the actual cash for the deal come from?   It seems like there is magic money in this deal.

In legal terms, the following is a definition of conversion:

n. a civil wrong (tort) in which one converts another’s property to his/her own use, which is a fancy way of saying “steals.” Conversion includes treating another’s goods as one’s own, holding onto such property which accidentally comes into the convertor’s (taker’s) hands, or purposely giving the impression the assets belong to him/her. This gives the true owner the right to sue for his/her own property or the value and loss of use of it, as well as going to law enforcement authorities since conversion usually includes the crime of theft.

Business Plus, the Administration of the College of Southern Idaho and the entity they call the Southern Idaho Economic Development Organization (SIEDO) converted (as in conversion) the College of Southern Idaho into a front for what this writer considers to be an international organized crime syndicate that emulates the economic development structure established under Office of Economic Opportunity programs established for LBJ’s War on Poverty.

SEIDO is the organization that is bringing in Foreign Direct Investment which means foreign money, foreign businesses and foreign workers that are displacing American workers and American businesses on our own soil.   That’s the modus operandi.  They start out with American workers and then get rid of them when the incentives run out – and then they bring in imported labor.  (See L-1 Visas).

Jan Rogers who was the Executive Director of SIEDO is also a member of the Board of International Economic Development Council.    She was invited to the White House Forum on Economic Development.  From the press release posted on the IEDC’s website:

WASHINGTON, D.C. (July 29, 2015) The International Economic Development Council (IEDC) and SelectUSA will host the 4th annual White House Forum on Economic Development on Thursday, July 30, 2015. The day-long summit will feature keynote panels and breakout discussion sessions. Over 50 economic development leaders from across the country will attend and directly engage senior White House and Administration officials. Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor to the President and Assistant to the president for Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs will provide the welcome remarks.

SelectUSA

It appears that the Select USA program of the Department of Commerce is the U.S. Buy a Job program.

This is a link to the list of federal incentives offered to foreign investors.

Economic Hitmen?

One of the “services” of the Select USA organization is Facilitated Investment Missions.

SelectUSA leverages the U.S. Foreign Commercial Service (USFCS) network across 72 countries to provide U.S. economic development organizations and jurisdictions with unique international promotion opportunities and access to potential investors.  SelectUSA conducts Facilitated Investment Missions (FIMs), designed as a platform where multiple U.S. states, local or regional governments and economic development organizations (EDOs) can connect with foreign firms interested in learning about investment opportunities in the United States. FIMs are often organized as “Invest in the United States” seminars, road shows with multiple venues, or a targeted event alongside a larger industry trade show or conference. FIMs offer participants with market insights, investor connections, one-on-one business appointments, and networking events.

Select USA also provides the incentives offered by the states so you can see what your state is giving away to Buy a Job.

Of course none of those incentives apply to businesses already in your state.  It just gives foreign businesses and domestically relocated businesses a significant competitive edge as Mr. Gersema of Employers Resource in Boise found out a few weeks ago.

The Boise Valley Economic Partnership (BVEP) which seems to be a similar organization to SIEDO successfully recruited Mr. Gersema’s competitor, Paylocity with offers of significant incentives to relocate to Idaho thereby putting Mr. Gersema at a competitive disadvantage and in all likelihood, out of business.

Any local business that is making money could be targeted this way. Which is exactly what Butch Otter’s Accelerate Idaho program is.  It’s a continuation of Project 60 to sell Idaho.  When it was discovered initially, Butch was courting the Communist Chinese to buy Idaho.

Here is Idaho’s No. 1 real estate salesman putting Idaho on the block again:

Here is a roadshow for you… selling America to China

Todd Schwarz, Executive Vice President and Chief Academic Officer came to CSI in the year 2000.  According to an article concerning a leadership award issued by the International Economic Development Council, Todd Schwarz recruited Dell Computers to establish a call center in Twin Falls and he created the technical training program to train Dell employees.  He then became Chair of the Trade and Industry Department (at a community college?) and then he was appointed to be the Dean of all technical programs at CSI.  Schwarz was able to bring in $20 million in grant money for the Dell facility and training programs.

Dell was in Twin Falls for only about 5 years and then they closed their facility.  That was just about the time that the business incentives ran out.  As long as they keep moving states, the taxpayers will continue to subsidize their business in the U.S. Buy a Job system.

Continuing with the activities of Mr. Schwarz:  The article goes on to say that another of his accomplishments was Chobani to Twin Falls.  Chobani is the brand name of yogurt.  The corporate name of the company is Agro-Farma.  Chobani is owned by a Turkish immigrant named Ulukaya Hamdi.  Chobani initially hired Americans but after the state business incentives ran out, the American workers were let go and replaced by foreign imports – primarily Muslims as the scuttlebutt has it.  The following are excerpts from the article:

The following is an excerpt from SIEDO’s annual report”

This success is attributed to a variety of factors, including a high level of teamwork among the partners. The region has developed a unique model with SIEDO marketing the region, community teams highlighting their area, the College of Southern Idaho providing job training, and private business fundraising by Business Plus to help provide direct grants and to help fund SIEDO’s efforts.

It’s a model alright – and it’s one that needs to be investigated.  Simply because all of a town’s leading citizens are involved in it doesn’t mean it isn’t corrupt.  In a small town like Twin Falls, hidden is plain sight is the best cover.