Annapolis Capital Punishment

The below was sent from Jim Conley, candidate for City Council, Ward Five. My comments follow:

I would like to address the misrepresentation of my past personal situation in The Capital Gazette’s article written by Joshua Stewart dated October 10, 2009.

There is a lawsuit mentioned in the article, which is the diamond mine in Ghana, West Africa. I have been dismissed from this suit. It is frivolous and libelous. The plaintiff entered our investment group by his own accord as a 5% partner with a simple written agreement.
There was NO agreement (written or inferred) as to when there would be returns on investments. It was a simple agreement to buy 5% of the group, no more, no less. The corporation continues to operate. As we have not yet turned a profit, there are no returns. The plaintiff was very aware of this agreement. In fact, we were approached by the plaintiff, as opposed to what the article stated.

To address my bankruptcy, my wife and I had saved our money to open our own mortgage company and live the American Dream of owning your own company. We opened 3 offices in three different states and employed many people. This came to a screeching halt with the financial crash and in retrospect as a business we expanded too quickly. 65% of our industry lost their careers and much more. We depleted our savings and retirement accounts and the debts became insurmountable. In the end, we declared bankruptcy at the advice of counsel.

Within the last year and years prior, I have been able to volunteer at St. Mary’s Elementary School, coach city youth football at P.A.L. Park and I am a Varsity football coach at St. Mary’s High School. In order to be eligible for this, one must pass a criminal background check by the Maryland State Police and Anne Arundel County. I passed a financial background check by my employer and each time I apply for Power of Attorney and underwriting privileges, another financial check is required. I currently have Power of Attorney to write up to $750,000,000.00 in Governmental Surety Bonds. I believe if I have Power of Attorney to write this much in Governmental Surety Bonds, my financial background has been properly vetted. I also believe that these corporations have sufficiently better resources to do a financial background check than The Capital.

As far as the residency issue, it is very clear. I have lived at 306 Riding Ridge Road in Ward 5 for the past 7 months and most certainly registered in the required amount of time to be eligible to run for Ward 5 Alderman.

I love my City and chose to raise my family in Annapolis. I had opportunities to “run”, “reinvent myself” and “take a job offer” in another state however, I have chosen to remain here in Annapolis to face the music.

My families’ past has been similar to many other citizens in this economic downturn that has affected Annapolis and the Nation. Having our past difficulties put in such a public light has been quite a struggle. Questions do need to be asked, but all of the information should be made public prior to judgments being made.

If there are any questions, you may call me directly @ 443-336-1382 or reach me on my website – conleyforward5 .com
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Good grief. Conley cannot seem to know how to quit when he is ahead, so here goes:

I have already explained that his personal and business bankruptcies, while unfortunate, were not so unusual for people in the mortgage business recently. It may have been totally out of Conley's control, 

but how he has handled himself is not. He owes a lot of people a lot of money so why with all these troubles would he feel confident to ask for our vote and for him to serve? But it gets worse--the diamond mine thing. Again, with all these troubles, is this just the straw that broke the camel's back?

 

Of the man who claims he is owed a lot of money from that, Conley writes, "The plaintiff entered our investment group by his own accord as a 5% partner with a simple written agreement. There was NO agreement (written or inferred) as to when there would be returns on investments.  It was a simple agreement to buy 5% of the group, no more, no less. "  

Oh yeah, I always set up my African diamond mine ventures with simple contracts. Nothing in writing an agreement is inferred. Something can be expressed, promised or implied in writing. Only a signer can infer something from a contract, but an inference cannot be written into one. Jim Conley may imply things, but I make inferences from that.



Regarding his bankruptcy, he provided me with what I thought was transparent information and published it on his web-site. I referred to it. It was discussed at our Sip N' Bog and that was that. Anybody who was in the mortgage business in the last couple of years got hit hard. Declaring bankruptcy does not mean you are criminal, evil or incompetent--but taken together with all the other questions, it sure makes some of us wonder. I never pressed him on the bankruptcy issues because it is not a sin. He was hit hard by a mortgage crisis. But what about the Lexus, the unpaid city bills, and is he not still sending his kids to private school AND then he gets himself and others involved in a diamond mining scheme, er investment?


As for his ability to write Government Bonds--sorry but that's out of my baileywick, but a diamond mine in Africa? Tell us more. Jim--please send us your balance sheet, your P and L, your corporate charter, send us some photos, or any kind of real document that will help you come clean. Anything? Don't you get it? It just stinks! It's too damn weird. On top of all this you want our vote so you can have our power to vote as one of nine on how to spend our property taxes on our services--and all you can campaign on is a property tax?   But a diamond mine in Ghana!  Really. When did you set that thing up? What is it called? Where is it incorporated? How did that come about? 

Finally he writes--and with no sense of irony, "Having our past difficulties put in such a public light has been quite a struggle.  Questions do need to be asked, but all of the information should be made public prior to judgments being made."  

Huh?? Well who was responsible for making all that public??? Conley should have thought about that before. Nobody made him run for alderman--again! Yes, of course questions do need to be asked and they are being asked, but if he believes that all of the information should be made public--he can go ahead and make them public! Who is stopping him? Is he waiting for us to demand it or for an investigation or what?   On top of all this, why does he so desperately again want to be alderman? He has enough headaches and enough things about which to be worried, yet he seems to have an answer for everything but it does not pass my smell test--and to think, his big issue is the tax cap in order to be fiscally conservative.




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