Blunt's Secret Emails Continue to Cause Fuss

Well, Blunt keeping his emails secret continues to cause problems.

Shortly after it was mentioned here that Scott Eckersley was responding to Sunshine requests about emails, Fired Up! reported that Scott got fired. Readers may recall that I made a Sunshine request for emails about Jim Torres getting forced to retire from MHDC after he complained about racist comments and promised to keep you posted.

I got a letter dated September 25, 2007 from Henry Herschel enclosing Torres' resignation email, a letter from Ed Martin to Pete Ramsel (director of MHDC) and Pete's email. Jim Torres emailed his resignation letter to Pete on September 6, 2007 at 4:58 pm. Pete's email (grammer errors are his, not mine) to Ed Martin of September 7, 2007 at 5:13 am says:

Ed, Jim resigned yesterday. i am OK with this. it is to bad, but it is the best thing for the agency and JIM. again, i apologize to you. so you know he had issues with other commissioners, especially Jeff Schaeperkotter. pete

Jeff Schaeperkotter is not on the MHDC, but he does serve as Nixon's representative. Why would Pete Ramsel be revealing Jim Torres "issues" with other commissioners?

The letter from Ed Martin to Pete, dated September 6, 2007 (that means Ed quickly went into CYA mode) says in part:

Thanks for the call last night. I appreciate it and accept your apology on behalf of the MHDC. As I mentioned, I was surprised to read the fax from Jim Torres. I found it both unprofessional and inappropriate. . . . And I was clear that there are too many developers and contractors who deny that there is a problem with illegal immigration. Too many of them simply look the other way and that is unacceptable. . . . What [the contractor] did was illegal and the Governor and MHDC cannot accept his excuses.

OK, I'm calling BS. Ed Martin says simply looking the other way is unacceptable and that the Governor cannot accept excuses?? Well, Gone Mild reported how when that same contractor got caught employing illegal aliens AGAIN and there was a motion to take the tax credits away from the contractor, Martin looked the other way and hung up the phone so he wouldn't have to vote. KC Blue Blog dug in further and identified Nixon's representative (Jeff Schaeperkotter) as the person seeking to pull tax credits from the contractor that employs illegal aliens.

Chief of Staff Ed Martin and Gov. Matt Blunt, care to explain why you looked the other way and wouldn't pull the tax breaks from a developer that employs illegal aliens?