Matthew Hogue is a Pittsburgh blogger (who just celebrated his one-year bloggiversary), a former employee of the city Housing authority, and a Democratic committeeman to boot.Since the Comet has been covering the Zoning and City Planning angle unto death, let's read what Matt H has to say about the Housing Authority.
What are you trying to hide Mr. Meachem? Why won't you just open things up and be transparent? Why did you try to stonewall Ford when he wanted to look around? Was it your shady doings with the Garfield project? Was it the lobbying of board members that you wanted to keep under the rug? Why so shady Mr. Meachem? What are you hiding sir? Why won't you open the books? If something wasn't fishy then why would the city controller's office and the DA's office be interested in this? Why did Meachem start sending inquiries out about Ford's position as Chairman after Ford began asking questions within HACP?
City Controller's Office? What?
It's seriously time for officials to get to the bottom of all of this. Let Zappala's office and Michael Lamb's office take a good look within HACP to see what is really going on. I will work my hardest to help these offices get the job done. I will talk to anyone who wants to know what is going on and I have plenty of other people who will also talk about all of the misdoings at HACP.
Michael Lamb's office? What?
Mr. Meachem you have some explaining to do. You owe it to the taxpayers of this area, to the employees that you can't get maintenance materials to and to the residents of HACP that you have neglected and shortchanged since you took over.
Is Matt H carrying water for Pat Ford? Unlikely, but...
ADDED NOTE: [Ford] said blogger Bram Reichbaum called Sirk and threatened to release a copy of the blog publicly if she did not tell him about the surround-sound system. (Tribune-Review, J. Boren)
The Comet characterizes this statement as wholly untrue. It is old news already, but we felt a need to make the point clearly and on-record.
This would all be believable to me if it were from a different source. Matt has a bad habit of manipulating words and the true intent into something else. He has been untruthful several times, more than I can count easily. Just look at his posts from a year ago...
ReplyDeleteI look back... He was proud to stand with Dennis Regan, Mayor Opie and the rest of the cronies but now, as a disgruntled housing authority employee, he is Mr. Watchdog? Give me a break while I puke...
It only seems fitting that he takes this crap to the guy who was taking gifts from Lamar executives....
Oh, by the way.. He continued to work at the oh so terrible housing authority while all along not saying anything...
Eventually, he did quit, and not long thereafter, he started blowing whistles. Whether or not those whistles were warranted, well, they were taken seriously by the administration, and PF was designated to investigate that. Now what?
ReplyDeleteLarger subject: apparently, HUD considers directing the URA and chairing HACP to be a conflict of interest. That's fine in the abstract, but how might the dangers of such conflicts of interest actually play out, in the real world? Why would HUD forbid it?
Bram:
ReplyDeleteWith all due respect to the City Controller and the DA if there are really problems to be uncovered at the HACP, they should be directed to HUD's office of Inspector General. Neither of these other offices (nor Matt H or Pat Ford) are actually qualified to examine and expound on HACP spending.
http://www.hud.gov/offices/oig/hotline/index.cfm
I am going to work on getting the HUD Inspector General involved. I will call day after day if I have to.
ReplyDelete"It only seems fitting that he takes this crap to the guy who was taking gifts from Lamar executives.... "
I didn't take it to Ford. I took it to the media.
I think I might have to agree with the first anon. Matt easily could have manipulated this information.
ReplyDeletePerhaps Matt could just scan in and post all this information so we could all check it out...
I mean really...
Matt H ... to Marty Griffin.... to Pat Ford... It's a comedy of errors.
After all of the stuff that went on with Luke I don't trust a word the guy says either.
I didn't take it to Ford. I took it to the media.
ReplyDeleteSo why exactly should we believe you now?
Thanks to Matt, we saw enough of the spending practices to make an amateur assessment as to whether or not it was troubling.
ReplyDeleteMost of us thought it was troubling; Mayor Ravenstahl agreed it was troubling. That's why he dispatched PF to deal with the mess.
Now I have a question. I'm watching and re-watching the marathon post-agenda on LEDs. (Highly recommended. Sort of like watching Memento or Pulp Fiction for a second viewing.)
At one point, PF says of DO that he doesn't mean to speak for him, seeing as how he is 'no longer your boss'. That is, as Chairman of the Parking Authority at the time these leases they were speaking of were in question, the Chair of the Board was the "boss" of the executive director, and therefore of the whole operation.
At another point he says he was "hired" by the URA, and that he works for the board. Okay. Executive directors are the employees, and chairmen of board wield considerable power.
Does this mean that as Chair of the Housing Authority, PF was FM's "boss"? If so, what does that say about the accountability for problems at the Housing Authority? What does that say about PF's apparent failure to blow whistles regarding "obstruction" by FM until after he was suspended?
Tip to Bram... too much lingo and initials. Who is DO? How hard can it be to type out Pat Ford -- not PF.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
Thanks to Matt, we saw enough of the spending practices to make an amateur assessment as to whether or not it was troubling.
ReplyDeleteDouble take on the "amateur assessment" part.. Like the rank amateur making copies when he should have been working?
In the "big picture" I see a 22 year old kid that was in over his head in getting toilets fixed making broad assumptions about spending citing expenses such as "$2,000 laptops" as excessive. Yet previously this same kid was okay with the Mayor doing whatever he wanted with the DHS SUV. It seems like Matt is ripe with double standards and not only turns a blind eye when handy but appears to be cross eyed as well. Not to mention way over his head.
Wrapping your arms around guys like Dennis Regan, Luke and Zober while trying to be taken seriously as a "whistleblower"? It's not a two way street dude.
Sorry, Mark, that's an affectation we picked up from Love of Chair, and its one that's going to stick for awhile. If I start using "evah", shoot me in the brain.
ReplyDeleteCan we say you are the Brittany Spears of the Pittsburgh Bloggers?
ReplyDeleteOf course Matt is trying to cover Ford's back. You have to give Matty credit for spinning this from the beginning. Rich Lord reports that Alecia Sirk called him after Bram’s call to get him to talk to the district attorney about HACP. She must have expected some sort of help. Has anyone considered that Matt’s original charges could have been part of an effort to get rid of Meachem? Can Sirk's call to Matt be considered collusion?
ReplyDelete"So why exactly should we believe you now?"
ReplyDeleteBecause my actions were clearly outlined in the Griffin report. I took it to Griffin and then he in turn went to Ford.
You can tell by the interview that I went to Griffin and not Ford. Why would I have taken it to Ford first?
"Has anyone considered that Matt’s original charges could have been part of an effort to get rid of Meachem? "
ReplyDeleteI went to Griffin in late fall of last year.
I went to Griffin in late fall of last year.
ReplyDeleteSure, that's what you say now but why should we believe you when you have been so dishonest in the past? I find it hard to believe Marty sat on this for 3 months, he will rush to the microphone with anything, substantial or not. Just ask a certain priest.
Why would I have taken it to Ford first?
I don't know Matt. Perhaps because your hatred of the Housing Authority clouds your judgment?
For example, I am sure it will be pointed out that I am anonymous but you proudly display your name. Well, you did after you were sloppy and outed.
Matt what's with the new do...???
ReplyDelete"I find it hard to believe Marty sat on this for 3 months"
ReplyDeleteCall him or E-mail him and ask him. Go straight to the guy and find out.
Smitty---huh?
Well how you are saying this went down and what I heard is a bit different. I can trust the other 2 people, but not you. In the end it's not really that big of a deal anyways.
ReplyDeleteThe end result is the same.
Smitty that is recording start Eminem ... the real slim shady.
ReplyDeleteI just don't get it. While Matt might not be 100% truthful all the time I think he might be on to something here.
ReplyDeleteBut unlike the post-gazette, who I trust, this is a trust but verify situation.
I myself would like to see the documents in question. Perhaps that would clear up things. Perhaps Matt could post them?
here comes the smear Matt people again---instead of going after the real issue people go after Matt H for doing the right thing...some people around here amaze me.
ReplyDeleteWell to me Matt had made some serious accusations and has asked us to trust us based on his and Marty Griffin's opinion of the records he has. Neither of these 2 individuals are particularly trustworthy. In addition, should we trust in Pat Ford? Well, only if you want to cough up some consumer electronics....
ReplyDeleteThe trust has to be earned. It's like trusting the mayor. Sorry, I just can't do it based on the say so of one person who has not earned it. Can you blame me?
"Opinions of the records he has." There were numbers quoted, line-items given. Those we don't have to "trust" anybody to weigh.
ReplyDeleteBram,
ReplyDeleteWhere are they? Were they taken in the correct context?
Perhaps asking Matt to provide this information to all so that we may make informed decisions is asking too much?
Okay. Whattaya say, Matt? Care to share your data with a fellow blogger?
ReplyDeleteMatt..the bright blonde..definitely a summery do
ReplyDeleteGiven the silence, I wonder what Matt will do? I think Matt's not going to do it. If he did we would all see that this is a non issue.
ReplyDelete