Tennessee Mobsters in THDA and the Development Districts

Ichoch

New Member
Anyone Tennessee senior citizen using The Community Programs Division (CPD) of the Tennessee Housing Development Agency (THDA) should be aware of the underhanded tactics of the CPD, especially when the Emergency Repair Program (ERP) is administrated by the development districts of Tennessee.



One such district, the Northwest Tennessee Development District (NWTDD), in connivance with THDA intimidates elderly Tennessee citizens with threats of violence and other coercive methods if these elderly citizens do not adhere completely to these two organizations demands when the elderly citizens request the ERP program services.



The elderly and impoverished Tennessee citizens that are supposed to benefit the most from the ERP program take a distant back seat to the benefits to the slipshod inspectors and contractors along with the employees of some, if not all, of the nine Tennessee development districts. Some, if not all, of the contractors and inspectors couldn’t care less about what the senior citizens suggest about the reparations to their homes. And if, for example, NWTDD is told about this unconcern, they shed off all responsibility by saying that the inspectors and contractors do not work for them, when indeed it is the NWTDD (and all other Tennessee development districts) who pay the inspectors for their “work.”



The CPD is a “firewall” between the development districts and the rest of Tennessee’s citizenry in that the CPD insulates the development districts from the revelation of the districts’ transgressions by claiming that they are “supervising” the districts, when, in fact, they will do anything they can to hide how the districts mismanage the ERP program, much like kingpin gangsters isolate their underling thugs.



Don’t expect THDA to uphold their supposed rules of inspection and oversight of the districts either. Telling the THDA about any infractions of the districts will result in THDA handing off the problem to their Internal Affairs division, which has exactly zero reason to ruffle any feathers in THDA or within the districts, and especially in the NWTDD.



Don’t expect the districts to adhere to any open records laws. If you require any information that is supposed to be available under the Tennessee Open Records Act the, for example, NWTDD will first claim that the records are not public. Then when that lie is exposed, they will conspire with the THDA in order for the THDA to say that the THDA will make the records available. Then, after months of procrastination, the THDA will make excuses in order to hide the public records (which undoubtedly are besmirching to the reputations of both the THDA and the NWTDD) for good from the Tennessee citizen who is requesting them.



And don’t expect the Open Records Counsel of the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury to do anything about retrieving the public records from THDA and/or the NWTDD like they are supposed to. The Open Records Counsel staff are so chummy with the THDA that they will give the THDA a “wink and a nod” and just be complicit with the THDA’s connivance with the NWTDD’s obfuscation of the records.



If you are an elderly and impoverished Tennessee citizen that plans on receiving repairs to your home through the ERP program realize that you are dealing with slick-talking con men at all levels of these government agencies. Be prepared to have most of the money that should be spent on your reparations ending up in the hands of all the “players” involved in this deceitful racket. And also be prepared for the contractors to “walk all over you” like they would on your welcome mats because they have no reason to be polite to you because they know that you are not paying them and that what you say means practically nothing. And if you dispute anything with the contractors, be prepared for the contractors to become bullies toward you.
 

This is something I would bring to the attention of my state legislators. It may also interest your federal Rep. and Senator if the state is receiving federal funds for this program. In my experience, finding an organization that has $$, lawyers on staff, national name recognition, and has been an advocate for your cause (seniors) in the past can help. I would suggest you bring this to the attention of AARP Tennessee. Ask them to take up your cause. If they refuse ask them for guidance. Ask, "What would you do if you were me?". I've known some professional lobbyists in my time that had no time in their day for the little guy cause but were happy to provide guidance for free to right a wrong. Good luck.

https://states.aarp.org/tennessee/about-aarp-tennessee
 
This is something I would bring to the attention of my state legislators. It may also interest your federal Rep. and Senator if the state is receiving federal funds for this program. In my experience, finding an organization that has $$, lawyers on staff, national name recognition, and has been an advocate for your cause (seniors) in the past can help. I would suggest you bring this to the attention of AARP Tennessee. Ask them to take up your cause. If they refuse ask them for guidance. Ask, "What would you do if you were me?". I've known some professional lobbyists in my time that had no time in their day for the little guy cause but were happy to provide guidance for free to right a wrong. Good luck.

https://states.aarp.org/tennessee/about-aarp-tennessee
Thank you very much for your valuable advice, especially the suggestion about AARP Tennessee.
 

Prepare you case. Research the state agency in charge and what laws define this program Write out your entire case. Organize it on a timeline. Gather all of your supporting documents; bills, emails, letters, calendars with dates of appointments, what ever. Put every detail on paper. That's your long version. From that prepare a one page document that someone not familiar with your cause can understand. Then prepare a short list of talking points 5 or 6. Prepare one minute and two minute speeches. These will serve you in most situations. You want these in your hands when you contact legislators. Your one pager is your email. Your talking points are the followup phone call you make to the legislators. Sometimes the phone call comes first and you tell them you'll send a followup email.

Chances are you will know more about this program than the legislative staff person you are working with. Nurture that relationship. If it all works well you can make them a valuable asset not only for you but for their boss. They don't have time to deep dive on any specific issue - you do that for them. Stay away from opinions and provide facts.

You will want to see what your political landscape is. If this is (probably) a cabinet level state agency in charge your governor will have appointed the head. If your legislator is of the same party you need to know that. They may or may not be interested in making any noise or changes. If they are of different parties you may gain some traction. See where your state budget process is. If they are putting together the next budget this is a great opportunity. This may be where you can get the most attention from legislators across the state. Bring to their attention the millions spent and how they are spent. Prepare separate talking points showing funding and spending.
 
I think somebody got burnt by contractors. Having had a relationship with a contractor, I don't think shooting them is the answer. A bullet in the brain only gets 'em once, I prefer repeatedly running over them in a parking lot.
That said, I have to say, I'm a little skeptical of Ichoch and Wigglestein.
 
Prepare you case. Research the state agency in charge and what laws define this program Write out your entire case. Organize it on a timeline. Gather all of your supporting documents; bills, emails, letters, calendars with dates of appointments, what ever. Put every detail on paper. That's your long version. From that prepare a one page document that someone not familiar with your cause can understand. Then prepare a short list of talking points 5 or 6. Prepare one minute and two minute speeches. These will serve you in most situations. You want these in your hands when you contact legislators. Your one pager is your email. Your talking points are the followup phone call you make to the legislators. Sometimes the phone call comes first and you tell them you'll send a followup email.

Chances are you will know more about this program than the legislative staff person you are working with. Nurture that relationship. If it all works well you can make them a valuable asset not only for you but for their boss. They don't have time to deep dive on any specific issue - you do that for them. Stay away from opinions and provide facts.

You will want to see what your political landscape is. If this is (probably) a cabinet level state agency in charge your governor will have appointed the head. If your legislator is of the same party you need to know that. They may or may not be interested in making any noise or changes. If they are of different parties you may gain some traction. See where your state budget process is. If they are putting together the next budget this is a great opportunity. This may be where you can get the most attention from legislators across the state. Bring to their attention the millions spent and how they are spent. Prepare separate talking points showing funding and spending.
Thanks again Wigglestein for your detailed advice. What I want to do first is write a newspaper article about all this, as I was a reporter in the ‘90s with a couple of hundred publications under my belt. To write that article comprehensively I need to get the names of the seniors that used the ERP program so I can get their stories about it. This is some of what the NWTDD and THDA are hiding, and what the Tennessee Attorney General told me and them is indeed public information. But NWTDD and THDA are fighting “tooth and nail” to not release this information which clearly shows that they have a lot to hide.

Just a few examples of the dozens of damning things I have so far discovered is: 1. An inspector for NWTDD who works his full-time job two blocks down the street from an elderly person who’s floor joists were falling down took 56 days to show up do a slipshod 10-minute inspection for the Emergency Repair Program. 2. Executives from THDA told a senior citizen that if he wants to get the ERP job done then he better not complain about the development district. 3. Evidence of crimes perpetrated by at least one district's agents in performance of the ERP have been given to Tennessee Commerce and Insurance, who did absolutely nothing about the crimes.

I am going to contact Tennessee AARP as you kindly suggested to see if they will give me some advice about having a court order handed down for the release of the public information, because that is where it stands now. Thing is, I don’t speak like a Tennessee home boy, so any judge would see me as some kind of outsider, not a person who is trying to help the Tennessee seniors, even though I’ve lived here in Tennessee for 21 years. Plus the court costs are about 280 dollars, which I am not going to pay.

After I write and publish the article I might approach the legislatures as you suggested. Having this all published in the first page of the Wall Street Journal or something like that would probably pique the legislators’ interest more than if it just came from a report from me.
 


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