Purveyors of truth? (July 16, 2015)
Art Bishop should know all about playing coy. He was instrumental in saddling taxpayers with Measure JJ so that he could have the VVC build the fire training facility off campus in North Apple Valley. That bond was for $297 million dollars, but investors knew it wasn’t worth what the proponents said it was, raising only $130 million instead. Doesn’t matter, it was big money that WE have to pay back.
People should remember that Art Bishop is an opportunist. He hadn’t served on the Apple Valley Council even one full term and was already making a run for the Assembly, even though he promised to serve for a very long time in Apple Valley when he campaigned. Likewise, Apple Valley Mayor Larry Cusack who campaigned with Bishop, has business interests within the town that have become so entangled, that he can’t even vote on the Apple Valley Ranchos eminent domain issue. He does business with them
(AVRWC).
Bishop and the rest of the council could have partnered with Carlyle and now Liberty Utilities to get badly needed water upgrades and infrastructure, but instead he and the other council members have gone to war using your tax dollars and are underselling the true costs to the taxpayers for this eminent domain seizure of Apple Valley Ranchos, while also hiding what the real motives are. The operational word they use is local control of water, because local control equates with power, however what the town really covets are the revenues of the Apple Valley Ranchos to bail out some very bad financial decisions that the town has made. Some examples: The purchase of Apple Valley Golf Course, taking over Parks and Recreation, and the $14 million in loans from the town to RDA that were never paid back. All are now carrying even larger deficits than you know. These are the facts people. Don’t be fooled!
— David Mueller, Apple Valley
Published: Daily Press