Jackson Jambalaya

The Madison County Journal reports construction will soon begin on the Livingston Township development in Madison County :

"A general store, four restaurants and an art gallery are just a few of the teasers developer David Landrum released about the commercial makeup of the Town of Livingston set for a groundbreaking and reception next week.

The 47-acre mixed-use development is located at the corner of Mississippi 463 and Mississippi 22 and will bring shops, eateries and office space to an otherwise rural and residential part of the county.

The busy intersection is positioned at a central point between Flora, Madison and Canton and has drawn high interest from commercial retailers hoping to tap nearby residents who represent some of the highest household incomes in the state.

The first phase of the project will encompass 20 acres of mostly commercial space built around the site of the original Town of Livingston established in 1829." Article

However, the development will apparently use taxpayer money for the construction of some buildings. The Madison County Community Facilities Corporation applied for a $5.8 million USDA loan to construct a schoolhouse and courthouse on the site. The corporation was established by the Madison County Economic Development Authority earlier this year. The articles of incorporation state the three board members of MCCFC are Dick Hutchison, Bill Guion and Jack Harrington. MCCFC will also "have unlimited corporate authority to incur indebtedness" although the corporation will not be able to borrow over $10 million without approval of the Madison County Economic Development Authority.

The Board of Supervisors endorsed the loan application in a September 19, 2011 letter to Jack Harrington, President of MCCFC. Board President Tim Johnson wrote "We are pleased to support the USDA Rural Development application being submitted by Madison County Community Facilities Corporation to construct the convention and meeting facilities at Livingston Township. Sincerely, Tim Johnson."

The decision to issue the letter was made at a special meeting of the Supervisors on the same day. Local firm Stone Adams Financial Partners will prepare the application package (Former USDA employee Nick Walters is President of Stone Adams.). The only representative from MCEDA and MCCFC present at the meeting was Jack Harrington.

Hmmm....... Jack Harrington, where have we heard that name before? A quick check of the JJ archives reveals..... the Steadivest fraud case. Steadivest was a family of companies established by Marshall Wolfe and Jack Harrington to pursue real estate investments. Construction, rehabs, mortgages, listings, buying & selling properties- Steadivest aimed to be the supercenter of all things real estate in the Jackson area. Local investors lost millions of dollars when Steadivest collapsed in 2009. The investors sued Steadivest alleging fraud and filed complaints with the Secretary of State's office.

The Secretary of State's office issued a cease & desist order against Steadivest LLC, Marshall Wolfe, and Jack Harrington. The state accused them of operating a phony investment scheme that used several companies to steal millions of dollars from unsuspecting investors. The state fined Mr. Harrington $170,000 for his role in the fraud on December 10, 2010. Earlier post on Steadivest cease and desist order. Mr. Harrington was the President, Chief Operating Officer, and Chief Financial Officer of Steadivest, LLC.

The original order stated Steadivest operated a "ponzi scheme", misled investors, and defrauded them by diverting the invested money for other purposes. The state said the company did not keep records, never had a real audit of its finances, and intentionally deceived investors. The Secretary of State found the defendants guilty of five counts although it later dismissed two of them. Mr. Wolfe and Mr. Harrington appealed the Secretary of State's decision to the Attorney General. The Attorney General has not ruled on the appeal.

Mr. Harrington's role in the Steadivest fraud case is receiving more scrutiny at the federal level. The Steadivest companies filed bankruptcy petitions in federal court in 2009. The bankruptcy trustee, Derek Henderson, filed a complaint against Mr. Harrington earlier this year in U.S. Bankruptcy Court (Complaint posted below.).

The trustee accused Mr. Harrington of looting Steadivest as it collapsed. Instead of protecting investors money, the trustee alleges Mr. Harrington kept selling shares and then transferring money from the sales to himself as the company imploded. The trustee claimed the company received $484,000 from investors in March 2008. Steadivest then paid $306,302 to Mr. Harrington through another company only a few days later. Mr. Henderson charged:

"Harrington defrauded SV and the investors of SV. Harrington accepted funds from investors to purchase membership interest in SV when at the same time intended to take these funds for this personal use."

The trustee cited another example of fraud. One investor placed $968,937 with Steadivest in August, 2008 to pay for a project (Highland Heights). Mr. Harrington withdrew $936,481 on the same day the investor deposited the money with Steadivest.

The trustee charged Mr. Harrington with one count of misrepresentation and fraud, one count of breach of fiduciary duty, recovery of property, and one count of fraudulent transfers. Mr. Henderson asked the court to void the transfers and recover damages of $1,242,781 from Mr. Harrington. The complaint is still active in bankruptcy court.



Earlier posts about Steadivest










Note: This is from an earlier post where I speculated whether Mr. Harrington committed bankruptcy fraud using a property in Reunion:

"Then there is this one in Reunion Subdivision:
151 Cedar's Cove. Steadivest Development gave a warranty deed for this property to Selectbuilt, which is partly owned by Jack Harrington, who is still listed as an officer of Steadivest Resources and Steadivest, LLC. He is a co-defendant along with Marshall Wolfe in lawsuits filed by several Steadivest investors. Mr. Wolfe listed himself on the deed as the manager of Steadivest, LLC. The transfer was signed on February 5, 2009 but not recorded until March 23, 2009, the day Mr. Wolfe submitted a petition for Chapter 11 bankruptcy for Steadivest to the bankruptcy court.

Under Section 547 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code (concerning preferential transfers), there may be a question of whether these new liens and transfers are permissible under the law and if the trustee will reverse these transactions. Mr. Wolfe was a member of Investlinc as well, further demonstrating the pattern of last-minute inside-dealing regarding Steadivest-owned properties. What is also interesting is Bankfirst Financial Services issued two mortgages shortly afterwards of nearly $700,000 to Selectbuilt for the Reunion property. (One wonders what would happen to Bankfirst's mortgage if the Court were to nullify the Steadivest-Selectbuilt transfer.) Given current under-writing guidelines, the combined loan to value was probably not more than 75%. Thus the market value of this property is probably around a million dollars. The Steadivest swamp continues to grow."

The note was paid in full in January 2011 and released.

As we are now in the middle of electing a new Congressman from the 3rd District, it is time to examine the positions of the candidates in terms of national security and terrorism. There is no doubt they are all good men and are probably very similar in their stands on most issues. As soldiers are currently in harm's way, one must consider how much thought they have given to fighting terrorism. Are they just going to march lockstep with Bush, regardless of the policy? Will they follow McCain's lead and support the overall policy but then have the courage to offer specific criticism of the Administration when needed? Will they buck the administration when it might be in our interests for them to do so? If they are going to vote on sending our friends and children to battle as well as making decisions to protect us from terrorists, then we need to ignore their statements about loving the flag, protecting our guns, going to church, and how much they love their families. What exactly do they have to say?

Greg Harper published the following statement about fighting terrorism on his website:
"The War on Terror is not a choice or political slogan, it is a reality and is necessary for the security of our country. To avoid another 911 catastrophe, we must:
·Fight terrorists abroad before they bring the fight to us.
·Make our country safe by continuing to address homeland security issues and supporting a missile defense program.
·Provide for the men and women of our military, giving them the tools they need to do their job! They are the guardians of our freedom." http://www.greggharperforcongress.com/

It sounds nice and patriotic but is also pretty generic as a serious Democratic opponent will probably have something similar on his website. One can probably safely assume that the other candidates, regardless of party, make similar claims in their campaigns.

It is also unwise to state we are fighting terrorists overseas so they can't fight us here. This is a war and the enemy will retaliate here as Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations have sleeper cells already placed in this country. Several plots such as the one involving Fort Dix have been prevented. Saying that we are fighting the terrorists over in Iraq and Afghanistan so we don't have to fight them in America ignores the predictions of most terrorism experts. What we need is straight talk from our leaders, not sloganeering that has little thought behind it.

How exactly Mr. Harper will fight terrorism in Congress? Does he think the President should have the authority to intercept phone calls from terrorists overseas to America without a warrant? What does he think our strategy for Iraq should be? Should we expand the U.S. military or keep relying on the model that makes heavy use of the reserves? How should we deal with an Iran that is controlling Hezbollah, killing our troops in Iraq, threatening to wipe Israel out, and enriching uranium and improving its missiles? Has he actually read the National Intelligence Estimates? Before we invaded Iraq, less than ten Senators bothered to read the NIE that was used to justify the war in Iraq. Hopefully the candidates will ignore that tradition.

Although there are flaws in Mr. Harper's website and positions, they are an improvement over David Landrum's website, which says nothing about this issue, http://www.davidlandrum.com/. Yes, Mr. Landrum is a family man, a church-goer, and is a self-made businessman who has "our" values. However, there are troops in the field in a shooting war. We face a high risks of terrorist attacks in this country (see the current Newsmax on possible targets and scenarios. Scary stuff. and likely.) Al Qaida is not going to go away any time soon. After going through the website, one must ask HOW much he has thought about this issue. I know he supports the troops and is for national security, but once we get past the obvious cliches, what exactly are his positions? The same can be said for Charlie Ross, which somewhat surprises me, given his military background. Don't worry, the American flag is prominently displayed on his website so I guess I should feel reassured on this issue. http://www.charlieross.com/ (full disclosure: I voted for Charlie Ross for Lt. Governor.)

What do the candidates think about Bennie Thompson's opposition to giving immunity to anonymous civilians for tips involving terrorists? What do they think about instituting background checks for convicted felons working on the docks in sensitive positions as Bennie Thompson led the fight against such reasonable measures. I am not beating up on the candidates just to score points or for some cheap political theatre as I consider these to be very serious issues and want to know exactly where they stand. Are they going to go to Congress as backbenchers who merely cast votes or are they going to go to Congress seeking to openly oppose views held by Mr. Thompson and his allies? See http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2007/07/more-on-bennie-thompsons-approach-to.html

John Rounsaville is more specific on his website, http://johnrounsaville.com/news/newsitem.php?section=ACM&id=5540&showcat=3&seq=4, although it is still pretty weak:"We have learned that fighting Al-Quaida and other terrorist organizations in Afghanistan, Iraq, and turbulent regions around the globe means that we will not have to fight them on the streets of our own cities. America also learned that by spreading freedom and democracy to these regions, we give their citizens hope for tomorrow and a stake in their own peaceful and prosperous future......The struggle in Iraq has been difficult, but it is important that we put aside political differences and unite around the common goal of seeing our military defeat the terrorist insurgency and prevent chaos from spreading to an already volatile Middle East. This situation is too important to become further embroiled in partisan politics.We should also agree that under no circumstances should we allow Iran to build or posses nuclear weapons. The Iranian government has made clear their intention to inflict serious damage upon the United States and our allies, so we must act decisively to deny them this capability."

Hopefully as the campaign continues, the candidates will give us more details on how they plan to fight terrorism and improve national security if elected. It is clear that the Jackson media will not ask such questions of the candidates. Don't think one congressman can't make a difference. Right now, the head of the Committee on Homeland Security is Bennie Thompson. One congressman from Mississippi has led the fight against stopping terrorists. Since one congressman can matter, I would rather grill them now and elect the right man, then grill them the day after a catastrophe because I fell for the mom, hot dogs, and apple pie routine.

IF any of the candidates do read this and need source material, here are some links from my blog:
http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2007/07/counter-insurgency-for-beginners.html (there is a link to a short Rand study. The author wrote the doctrine that is the basis for General Petraeus's current strategy in Iraq that is working. The general thoroughly studied Galula's work.)
http://www.michaelyon-online.com/ (best reporting from the field in Iraq)http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0geu.x698ZGICwB1w9XNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTE5Mjc4YzlrBHNlYwNzcgRwb3MDMQRjb2xvA2FjMgR2dGlkA1BSMDA0XzgzBGwDV1Mx/SIG=134lpmo4s/EXP=1187531002/**http://www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/pdf/dcpi/NYPD_Report-Radicalization_in_the_West.pdf, NYPD report on home-grown terrorism.
http://www.zionist.org/archives/000017.shtml, (Bernard Lewis essays. Leading Middle East Scholar)
http://counterterrorismblog.org/ Counter-terrorism blog
http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2007/12/read-nie-ffor-yourself.html, National Intelligence Estimate and commentary
http://www.walidphares.com/, Website of Walid Phares, terrorism expert

Feel free to add any useful links in the comments section.