[nfbmi-talk] Fw: and who was the chair?

[joe harcz Comcast]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: joe harcz Comcast 
To: Leigh Campbell-Earl 
Cc: Scott Heinzman ADAPT ; Clark Goodrich ; Laura Hall ; rhon koch 
Sent: Sunday, December 01, 2013 10:11 AM
Subject: and who was the chair?


And who was the Chair  of Career Alliance while all this was going on? Yes, J. Michael Zelley chair of the Michigan Civil Rights Commission and long time CEO and serial ADA violator, of the Flint based “The Disability Network”, which is our center for independent living.

 

Joe

 

 

Gary Ridley | gridley at mlive.com . Pamela Loving MLive.com file photo FLINT, MI -- The attorney for the former head of Career Alliance who pleaded guilty

to embezzlement has asked a federal judge to spare her from prison time, referring to her as an iconic figure in the Flint community. Pamela Loving, 70,

is set to be sentenced Tuesday, Dec. 3, in Flint U.S. District Court after pleading guilty in June to embezzling federal funds from the career services

agency. Loving, the former president and chief executive officer of Career Alliance, admitted in court to taking $78,000 from the organization for her

personal benefit and to pay for training sessions for people who did not work for Career Alliance. A sentencing memorandum submitted to the court Wednesday,

Nov. 27, her attorney, Richard Morgan, says that Loving is alleged to have misappropriated more than $700,000 in funds during her 11 year tenure at Career

Alliance, which now goes by the name Genesee/Shiawassee Michigan Works. Morgan, who has not commented on Loving's case, claims in the memorandum that Loving

used $13,000 of the funds for her own personal use -- used mainly to purchase airplane tickets to conferences and possibly taking her husband along. "...Ms.

Loving is alleged to have misappropriated funds, again, the amount of money that one might argue, went directly into her pocket is miniscule in comparison

to the amount of money that she had control of, $20 million for over 11 years amounts to $200 million," Morgan wrote. "Therefore, the allegation that she

may have misappropriates for herself $13,000 speaks volumes as to the kind of person Ms. Loving was. The rest of the money was distributed into programs

that "the Department of Labor thought should no longer be funded," Morgan claims. Morgan argues in the memorandum that the federal judge should issue a

sentence that does not call for prison time, but rather probation, home confinement or a tether. Loving's plea agreement calls for her to serve 10-16 months

in federal prison. "Ms. Loving has paid a dear price for what she believed to have been a deed to help mankind," Morgan wrote. "As misguided as this may

now appear in the daylight, as she was performing her tasks she certainly did not see herself as being a criminal or someone that was doing something inappropriate,

as far as she was concerned. Loving, too, submitted a statement to the judge asking him to forgo including prison time in her sentence. "I have lived my

entire life on behalf of others," Loving said. "Incarceration would be very difficult for me and my family at age 70. I have no intention of using federal

funds for any purpose in the future. Loving has served on the Flint school board, on the Hurley Board of Managers and the Flint Public Library Board. "This

is a woman who dedicated her life to the Flint community," Morgan wrote. "A woman who met the challenges and needs of a diverse population and succeeded

in helping and changing many of their lives. Flint Journal records show Loving was placed on unpaid administrative leave from her position at Career Alliance

in 2007 and never returned. She won a $154,000 judgment in 2008 against Career Alliance because she claimed her contract had been effectively terminated.

County, state and federal investigators reported chronic mismanagement and improper spending at Career Alliance after a series of Flint Journal stories

in 2007 detailed problems at the organization. Career Alliance serves as a job-training agency for Genesee and Shiawassee counties as well as the city

of Flint and is responsible for millions of dollars for employment programs. Last month, former Flint school board member, Helen Williams was sentenced

to two years probation after she pleaded guilty to embezzling funds from Career Alliance. Williams served as executive director of Flint Family Road, an

organization started with the goal of reducing infant deaths by better preparing parents to be mothers and fathers, according to Flint Journal files. She

admitted in court to falsifying invoices to get money from Career Alliance contractors for services she never provided. Williams admitted in court to embezzling

more than $88,000. Williams served on the Flint school board for seven years, before resigning in 2001. In a 2008 letter questioning spending at Career

Alliance, the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Growth said it had been informed Helen Williams was a cousin of Loving and that Family Road was

given rent-free space in Career Alliance's Ruether Center. Williams was sentenced Oct. 17 by Flint U.S. District Judge Mark A. Goldsmith to also pay more

than $240,000 in restitution. QB Pittman, Career Alliance's former chief Financial officer, was sentenced Oct. 24 in U.S. District Court to one year probation

ordered to pay $91,321.46 in restitution after Pittman pleaded guilty to misapplication of Workforce Investment Act funding. Pittman said in court that

he did not directly benefit from the money taken, but also admitted he did nothing to stop it.