Easelgate Update
Editorial staff

Each weekly installment of Easelgate on this blog reveals more lies from city officials. City Hall on Aug. 28 notified community activist Lisa De Paul-Snyder that public records she requested on Aug. 8 were ready to review. Activists have looked through files that were supposed to provide a list of volunteers who participated in easel building. De Paul-Snyder had asked for records regarding Keith Rattay’s June 18 claim that 150 volunteers gave 800 hours toward assembling easels.

Blog readers who saw Rattay’s claim unanimously said they didn’t believe any volunteers participated. This blog has published city records that demonstrate city contractor Jamey Clark was paid to build all 500 easels (and then some).

In city records released to De Paul-Snyder on Aug. 28, there are no volunteers, no names, no information about work sessions, no memos, no emails and no other data. The city has no records of purchasing tools or equipment for volunteers to indicate any such work sessions took place. While the city has a tradition of serving elaborate meals to volunteers or mere participants in activities, no food was purchased – not even soft drinks. No information will be forthcoming because the city claims it has no records of any such volunteers or work sessions. Rattay doesn’t have a shred of evidence to back up his story.

The city’s behavior of either destroying records or not listing volunteers’ names is in contrast to the dog and PHONY shows it frequently presents at council meetings. Volunteers are routinely presented with awards and commendations for their service. For the easel project, the city invoked an entirely different policy, denying anything is known about volunteers. A slip of paper among records released on Aug. 28 summarizes the lack of information by saying such records aren’t retained after an event is over. Since when?

Instead of listing the nonexistent volunteers, city officials gave three names of “contact people” who might be connected with volunteers for city functions but not specifically for easel building. As an example, the first name is an alleged LDS church elder with no phone number or any other contact information. The name cannot be found in any city, county or state records. Two longtime LDS church members were contacted by this blog, and they confirmed the name isn’t listed in any of their LDS directories for the entire state. They said the title of “elder” doesn’t refer to an official in a local church, but it indicates the person is probably a missionary from out of the area – the type that might go door-to-door on a teaching mission.

One of the LDS members responded to city hall’s allegation that LDS had participated in easel-building: “I don’t know what he [Rattay] is trying to accomplish by saying that. Building easels for the city isn’t something our church would normally do. I would call an activity like that interfering with city business.”

The church member went on to explain that LDS is very involved in serving the needs of humankind. The implication that the church would involve itself in a local government project for the purpose of sheer entertainment was not well taken. The city’s 20th anniversary party has been widely criticized by residents as wasteful and having no legitimate purpose.

Keith Rattay has lied about costs, volunteers, community participation and city workers’ careless trashing of easels that were thrown in a heap and then taken to a county dump.

If anyone would like an alternative view of the remaining easels, the stack can be seen from the open-space path above the city yard that abuts Oso Creek. A resident who lives near the site reported that the tarp over the easels only covers the front of the stack (as seen from the alley behind the Michaels store). The tarp is just for show, and the easels are exposed to the elements. Rattay’s claim that the easels will be used for “years to come” is yet another hoax. An insider said three months ago, “Some day when no one is watching, all the remaining easels will be taken to the dump.” Some easels are still stored on the hillside, but the stack has clearly diminished from a month ago.