Chalk up one scalp for Patrick, I suppose...
Michael Kenney resigned today as executive director of Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority in advance of a report expected to detail his personal ties to a vendor providing line insurance to PWSA customers. (P-G, Smydo & Lord)
Asked whether it was concerned what comes next for the embattled former authority director, Pittsburgh only shrugged.
Like Mr. Kerr, most of Utility Line Security's principals also are executives with Utilishield, which sells water line warranties outside of the city, and Resource Development and Management, which is led by former Allegheny County officials Joseph M. Hohman and James J. Dodaro.
Mr. Kenney described a long professional and personal relationship with the firms and Mr. Kerr. (P-G, Rich Lord, 3/26/10)
That guy. Always with the reverse-trails of breadcrumbs. Alright, so this might not have been a successful scalping, so much as routine seppuku.
*-ADDED: Reading the article again, it's unclear how near the report was to completion, but apparently there were some proceedings earlier this week:
As a rule I dislike using screencaps from Facebook, but the guy doesn't tweet like he used to and does most of his city-related web-trafficking in facespace.
*-UPDATE: Null Space provides a whale of an update on all things water and PWSA.
We had to call and yell to get them to not charge us the $5 even after "opting out." Swiping $60 a year from me to give his old friends on top of the 100% increase I've seen in the water/sewer bill over the past ten years. Thieving asses.
ReplyDeleteI still don't understand why stealing $5 from 300,000 people with a crony-phony public official scam doesn't net as much prison time as stealing $200 from the Quick Mart.
ReplyDeleteMH - Hey oh, oh ay! The opt-out nature of the line insurance program is one kettle of fish; the conflicts and rules regarding competition are another.
ReplyDeleteI'm not saying your gripes are necessarily ill-founded, I just like to make that distinction crystal clear since they are not equally as debatable, if you catch my drift.
Yes, Lamb says the insurance is a good value and that you should always buy the "rust proofing" when you get a new car.
ReplyDeleteThe opt-out line insurance is a good thing. Yinzers would not realistically obtain this insurance themselves...they'd just get hit with 15k sewer line reconstruction bills. Ask any of the folks who have been saved by this program if the $5/mo. has been worth it.
ReplyDeletebest not to confuse debates. The issue is not whether the insurance in itself is good or bad... with insurance, you have to consider whether the issuer will be around for the long term. Always kind of iffy to buy insurance from a new company. It is a fine line between a quality insurance policy and a ponzi scheme no matter the circumstances... especially when you are insuring against low probability events. There is a reason insurance in general is much more regulated than other industries.
ReplyDeleteTechnically the sewer insurance stuff isn't insurance. It is a warranty, meaning they don't even have to prove to a regulator that they have any assets sufficient to meet claims.
ReplyDeleteA deal has been cut and watch for it. Kenney didn't leave because of Dowd. He left because the Mayor cut a deal with Dowd to not back Kenney in exchange for Dowd's support on the lease deal. This is politics my friends. Dowd wanted the line insurance and pushed for it publicly and privately with Kenney. When the heat turned up he cut and ran. Now he has a new deal to backstab the public on.
ReplyDeleteIf I'm going to start believing in unverified, potentially self-serving claims I see on the internet, I'm going to start with this e-mail I got from a high official of the Nigerian Central bank.
ReplyDeleteUm...Kenney left because his business ties were/are inappropriate. Really, that's reason enough.
ReplyDelete