Summerside falls into honey trap for $1.3 million

Beyonce Summerside falls into honey trap for $1.3 million photo

Beyoncé not coming to PEI

Our leaders are the finest men and we elect them again and again

The City of Summerside is suing a California promoter for the $1.3 million the City advanced on a Michael Jackson Tribute concert.

If you can’t believe your eyes reading that sentence, join the many.

It’s hard to believe that wise and august elected officials would be hoodwinked by a red-header grifter who promised Beyoncé was coming to Prince Edward Island.

The Mayor is long on hubris and short on due diligence. He also lacks common sense.

Perhaps we should ask the RCMP to put parental controls on the Mayor’s computer.  No more emails from strange con-artists for the Mayor and his team.

Basil Stewart, the beloved Mayor of Summerside, has presided over a string of boondoggles and gaffes. Yet he gets re-elected “again and again” like in What Did You Learn in School Today.

What Did You Learn in School sung by Pete Seeger

basil stewart 100728 1 Summerside falls into honey trap for $1.3 million photo

Summerside Mayor Basil Stewart throwing another million at red-headed strangers and con artists from California (photo CBC)

Islanders elected Basil Stewart for 25 years because he was the best thing to hit Summerside since slice bread.

But after this foolishness, the million $$$ Griffin lawsuit and the petty St. Eleanors ditch affair – is his best-before-date expired?

Moncton has had many successful concert promotions without losing a dime. They don’t pay promoters or con-artists. Moncton works on providing infrastructure and a friendly environment for the music promoters. Works for them.

PEI seems determined to spend taxpayer’s money and build infrastructure like the concert site in Cavendish. I guess we have more money to waste on Prince Edward Island.

Our leaders are the finest men and we elect them again and again.

Charlottetown

Folks in Charlottetown can’t be too smug. We have our own ship of fools at City Hall.

The affable Mayor Clifford Lee romped to victory in last year’s election and appointed Councilor Mitch Tweel to head Human Resources.

mitch tweel winter Summerside falls into honey trap for $1.3 million photo

Mitch Tweel, the cops had to keep him from harassing a woman but Mayor Lee appointed him to manage HR (photo CBC)

The pre-election rumors about Tweel got legitimized when the City Police charged Councilor Tweel with harassing a woman. Only a few days after the election the Crown sought a stay order against Tweel.

Are we supposed to believe that Clifford Lee, the street politician, didn’t know Tweel had a problem with women? The police had that information before the election and Lee doubtless knew about it. The street talk was all over Tweel’s riding and spilled onto Facebook.

Only when the media pushed Mayor Lee in January did the Mayor remove Tweel from the Human Resources committee. No doubt the women in the City’s employ sighed with relief.

Mayor Lee is setting Charlottetown up for a US style perfect storm of financial troubles. The Mayor wants development at any cost. Don’t worry about the parking bylaws for new buildings. The Mayor likes to take the cash now and worry about expensive parking garages later.

Despite an aging population and high percentage of seniors with disabilities, Mayor Lee is stalling on the building code for accessible housing.

Our leaders are the finest men and we elect them again and again.

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  • Stephen Pate

    Mayor defends falling for Jackson concert pitch

    FLG Duh!
    CBC The mayor of Summerside, P.E.I., says the city acted in good faith when it paid $1.3 million for what it claims was a bogus Michael Jackson tribute concert.

    Basil Stewart spoke to CBC News Wednesday about the $1.3 million lawsuit the city filed in a San Jose, Calif., courthouse against Katrina Berg Sussmeier and her promotion company, StarLink Productions.

    “It’s a situation that nobody is happy with, but it happened. Everybody at the time thought it was in good faith — well, most people, I should say,” Stewart said. “It happened and it’s being dealt with. Council made a decision to follow the route it’s going, so we’ll see how it unfolds at the end of the day.”

    Stewart refused to go into detail about why council decided to send a second cheque to the promoter even when the concert was in question. He said the matter is before the courts.

  • Stephen Pate

    More on this story – Live Nation the biggest concert promoter sniffed the scam last year.

    Promoter encourages city to rethink mega-concert

    SUMMERSIDE – Journal Pioneer – As the City of Summerside continues work to secure talent for a major concert here, at least one promoter says council is going down the wrong road.

    Live Nation Entertainment, one of the major promotion companies in North America, is not involved with the City of Summerside in its pursuit of a major concert for the community.

    Riley O’Connor, chairman of Live Nation Canada, said the company has not been approached by the city to undertake any promotion.

    But the city has sent $1.2 million, two installments of $600,000 of taxpayer dollars, to a California-based promoter to bring a mega concert to the city. One arrangement that had been worked on for this past summer fell through and the city is still mum on what its plans are or where the $1.2 million is.

    O’Connor said this is not how he does business.

    “Never in my whole career, and I’ve been working as a promoter since 1977, have I taken a dime from the government, municipal, provincial, or federal,” he said. “I don’t need government help. I don’t need a handout and I’m not interested in taking taxpayers’ money and putting it at risk. I don’t understand why they would even make a deposit like this.”

    Summerside CAO Terry Murphy said the city has a contract with an unnamed promoter to put on a concert.

    “We’re still working on it finalizing the arrangement,” he said.

  • Stephen Pate

    Followup CBC – Concert promoter angry about P.E.I. lawsuit

    The concert promoter being sued by the city of Summerside, P.E.I., says the city has filed “a meritless, baseless false claim” against her.

    Katrina Berg Sussmeier issued the statement in a news release on Friday.

    The city paid Sussmeier and her company StarLink Productions $1.3 million for a mega-concert that never materialized.

    The lawsuit was filed in a California court on Monday.

    The city’s statement of claim said Sussmeier’s promise of a Michael Jackson tribute concert was little more than an elaborate con game.

    “In reality,” reads the statement of claim, “the Michael Jackson Tribute Show was, from start to finish, an elaborate fraud.”

    The statement of claim describes how the city fell completely for Sussmeier’s plans.

    It said the city wired two payments of $650,000 to the promoter — the first in July 2009, the month after Jackson died, and the other in March 2010. The second payment was sent to the promoter despite growing doubts.

    “Summerside officials became increasingly concerned about the status of the concert,” says the statement of claim about the months leading up to that final payment.

    The concert was to be a kickoff of a world tour, beginning on July 24.

    The performers were to include the likes of Beyonce, Justin Timberlake, Rihanna and Usher.

    But the concert never happened.

    Friday was the first time Sussmeier had responded to the suit.

    In her statement, Sussmeier said, “I am outraged at the city of Summerside for filing a meritless, baseless false claim against me. Contrary to the egregious and outlandish accusations made in this complaint, the real victim here is me.”

    She went on to say, “This malicious attack is nothing more than a fraudulent attack to destroy my name, my business and reputation … and I welcome the opportunity to expose the facts.”

    Sussmeier hasn’t said when she’ll file her formal statement of defence.

    Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/prince-edward-island/story/2011/01/28/pei-concert-promoter-angry-with-lawsuit-against-her-584.html#ixzz1CQ2kN5wG