Those of you who have been so helpful in providing tips and resources for TheVerifiableTruth.com (TVT), and as such form the foundation of TVT, will find it humorous or perhaps even pathetic to know that Ilitch spokesman and political operative Tom Shields is so desperate to find someone to blame for Ilitch's failure to produce a casino in Barstow the last six years that he's manufactured a big conspiracy theory that ties together the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians located in San Bernardino County, California; a Barstow citizen activist who TVT has featured on this blog once or twice; and that "full-time anonymous blogger" TVT.
This is an all too frequent strategy for Shields when he has no where else to turn. Shields can't admit his clients' shortcomings or failures.
1. San Manuel Band of Indians
It is no secret the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians opposes the unorthodox scheme that Marian Ilitch and Mike Malik have tried to push through for a mega gambling resort in Barstow with at least two Indian casinos. That tribe has made no bones about its opposition to Detroit Developers attempting to relocate two adopted tribes from opposite ends of California to a site in the Mojave Desert where the San Manuel Band of Indians ancestors have endured and made their homelands over the centuries.
The San Manuel Band of Indians is one of fourteen tribes in the greater Southern California region who publicly oppose the Ilitch/Malik scheme for Barstow. The only Southern California tribe that supports the scheme is the one that Ilitch/Malik wants to transplant in Barstow, the Los Coyotes Band of Indians from San Diego County.
In fact, TVT is unaware of any endorsement of the Ilitch/Malik Barstow casino scheme by any other tribes or tribal organizations in California.
2. Barstow Citizen Activist Larry Halstead
Perhaps the loudest opponent of the Ilitch/Malik Barstow casino scheme is a local Barstow activist, Larry Halstead. Apparently Halstead is the chair of the local Democratic Club and he ran for Barstow City Council in 2006. It's quite obvious he wasn't one of the candidates that Ilitch/Malik backed with their $200,000 Barstow campaign budget in 2006. Rather, Halstead raised money from alternative sources and from what TVT has gathered the San Manuel Band of Indians contributed to his campaign. Needless to say, Halstead did not win his race for City Council given his modest campaign budget.
Rather than address the numerous questions and concerns Mr. Halstead has raised about the Ilitch/Malik Barstow casino scheme, their spokesman Tom Shields has desperately taken to making personal attacks on Halstead. It's mostly based on hearsay. Because the San Manuel Tribe gave Halstead a campaign contribution, Shields has now stretched that acknowledged truth to accuse Mr. Halstead of being on the tribe's "payroll."
TVT encourages Mr. Shields to document his claims with something other than his manufactured rumors! Perhaps Mr. Shields should first reveal who the anonymous donors to his $200,000 campaign fund really are. And then explain why 98% of his $200,000 budget had to come from people who don't live or work in the remote Mojave Desert community.
3. TheVerifiableTruth.com
And then Shields -- in back-handed admission of the effectiveness and impact that the citizen activists behind TVT are having in exposing the unethical practices, corruption, lies, half-truths and sobering realities behind the various Ilitch/Malik schemes -- is making allegations about TVT that just aren't true no matter how you look at the situation.
Larry Halstead appears to reference TVT at various City Council meetings. So no doubt that's where the pathetic Shields came up with his hollow theories connecting the San Manuel Tribe, Halstead and TVT. Please...more than 14,400 people have visited TVT and scores have made reference to or hyperlinked their Web pages to TVT. Focusing on Larry Halstead and the tribe from Southern California is underestimating the force you're dealing with!
Someone ought to tell Shields he needs to re-examine his qualifications for his day job!
Tom Shields is simply a liar. Shields falsely insists that TVT, "a full-time anonymous blogger," was hired and funded by the San Manuel Tribe. This is just another manufactured attack to avoid answering the many reasonable quesitons and verifiable concerns raised by TVT or citizen activists around the country.
Tom Shields may have had a $200,000 budget in Barstow and he collects hundreds of thousands (likely a million or more) each year from the Ilitch familyand the various Ilitch Holdings Inc. subsidiaries, affiliates and partners (someone should let Marian know she's paying far too much); but neither TVT nor any of the volunteer citizen activists in New York, Michigan and California or elsewhere who form the foundation of the TVT network are being paid to do what we do. Each of us is motivated by the pure fact that Tom Shields and his clients are just bad people and its time for these bullies to be exposed. They've exploited, threatened and used people in New York, Michigan, California and Washington D.C.; to advance their personal ventures at any cost, for much too long.
Mike Malik and his band of bullies blew the Barstow deal
The 1st amendment rights we enjoy in a free and open society coupled with the power of the internet have empowered and enabled TVT. It's the dawn of a new era that will make it difficult for ruthless people like Mike Malik and his band of bullies to conduct business as usual.
Next time you hear Tom Shields or anyone else whose part of the Ilitch/Malik network spout off, ask them to produce the documented proof that backs up what they claim. And when they turn to personal attacks, tune them out. Their personal attacks are a desperate acknowledgment that the claims made by those they attack are likely the truth.
The Ilitch/Malik Team's failure to conduct business in public; failure to invite, engage and negotiate in good faith with those who have other interests and concerns; and failure to develop and maintain trust and confidence among the public and policy makers are at the core of the Ilitch/Malik Team's downfall.
The Ilitch/Malik Barstow casino scheme failed because it simply was a flawed highly unorthodox plan.
1 comment:
Originally I was project neutral until my research showed the pattern and practice of BarWest buying influence and bullying their way into a process of violating the Ancestral Rights of local tribes as they engage in the despicable practice of Reservation Shopping. I was also turned off by their right wing orientation and their relation to the Jack Abramhoff scandal and Rep. Richard Pombo who I consider one of the worst, most corrupt congressman ever.
Upon these revelations, I denounced my support for the BarWest project and for two years or more I started speaking out about all of the influence peddling that BarWest was doing in Barstow. In my opinion, BarWest bought and paid for our Mayor who has been doing their bidding ever since.
During the last election, BarWest made a deal with Chamber of Commerce President Tim Silva that if he would turn the Chamber into a PR branch of BarWest, they would make him the next Councilman. Tim got the chamber to support BarWest and against the Chemehuevi, something that would violate the ethics of any chamber and is undoubtedly illegal when the city gives this chamber $50k in annual support along with cheap rent at the Harvey House.
On the last day before the deadline to file, I was talked into running by some LOCAL activist that felt by doing so I would be able to amplify my voice on issues that I was already speaking out on, such as the environment, local corruption, equal access and economic development. As it turned out, Tom Shields had already secured victory for his two candidates primarily by getting the local caucus and the rest of the BarWest Kool-Aid Club to get out the absentee vote. Shields ran their campaign and it was financially backed through their local PAC. He did so in a slick campaign, the likes of which Barstow had never seen and that their two candidates would never have been able to wage on their own. It was a campaign that did not even rely on the involvement of the candidates themselves.
Initially, I had no expectations of winning but my message of economic development garnished the attention of some highly respectable residential and commercial developers. These were quality 'community planning' oriented developers who had a 50 year history of having been scorned by the local cronies who have held power in Barstow since time immortal. They felt that the only way to proceed on their quality projects was to change the political landscape. The irony is that they are all Republican and they supported this strong Democrat leader because I have a background in business and have always worked closely with the business community which is most often Republican in orientation.
Along with some small individual donors, these Republican developers who I highly respect, financed 100% of my campaign. It was not until a week before the election that I made contact with a member of the San Manual Tribe when I was participating in an event of Congressman Joe Baca. I told them that I was fighting the cause for Ancestral Rights and Indian Sovereignty and against reservation shopping. I explained how I was alone fighting for what is the cause of the true legitimate Native American fight for self determination and that I could sure use some back up. After much deliberation, they broke from their long standing policy of NOT getting involved here in Barstow and reluctantly made a one-time campaign contribution of $2500. That much needed contribution was received a month after the campaign and was used to retire some of my campaign debts.
For the record, I have NEVER received a singe penny from any tribe to represent them in any capacity. I have NEVER been asked to represent a particular position or take any action on their behalf. I Have solicited input on how I could support a legitimate project here in Barstow but have yet to get any input or advice whatsoever.
As a Political Scientist, I have a life long passion for the values and causes of the Democratic party. I have been a community activist on issues such as the environment, alternative medicine, equal right, code enforcement, and civil rights. I have come to view Ancestral Rights as being the equivalent of civil rights for Native Americans.
While I would feel honored to serve as a consultant to any tribe seeking to secure or preserve their Ancestral Rights, this has yet to happen. If it did, you would hear it first from my own mouth and not something that would be hidden before being leaked by the likes of BarWest and their scumbag spin doctor Tom Shields who is now making false allegations of extortion against me.
I am currently serving as a consultant on economic development and politics. I do this to support what is my main cause and passion. My wife Michelle and I are the founders of the Earth Haven Foundations for Kids which deals with children who are born with substance abuse to parents that are drug addicted. We are the adopted parents of a total of eight of these children and we will take on more when funding becomes available.
THIS is your 'Verifiable' honest to God truth. In my opinion, Tom Shields and his BarWest Kool-Aid Club are directly attacking these child victims by attacking me with their filthy lies, character assasinations and deceptions which are nothing more than the worst kind of libel and slander. But then we all expect nothing less from these sleaze bags.
I have recently started a new blog, BarstowIndianGaming.blogspot.com so that I can start exposing this corruption for the world to see. I can be reached at larrydhalstead@gmail.com
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