Juan Manigault and ostentation (WIB 5)

Webster's New Twentieth Century Dictionary defines ostentation as: 1. The act of making an ambitious display; pretentious or vain show; display of anything dictated by vanity or intended to invite praise or flattery. 2. A show or spectacle. Synonyms listed are show, display, flourish, parade, pageantry, pomp, pomposity.

So what, you say. We all have our faults. Mr. Manigault likes comfort and status - where's the harm?

Let's just suggest that there is a potential downside when an individual with this nature has access to public funds.

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Returning readers will know of the blog's series published (mostly in September) on the fiscal mismanagement of the Northern Indiana Workforce Investment Board headed by Juan Manigault. The series was a product of analyzing 169 pages of public record and included audits and correspondence of involved officials. The costs to the public were staggering - approaching two million dollars - but the causes were not entirely clear.

Since that time, I've had contact with a number of folks who have some direct experience with that situation. I'll stipulate that unlike the previous posts on this subject, this one will be highly subjective and anecdotal.

The story I heard recently that seems best to frame this happened long ago. Mr. Manigault was in a meeting with then Mayor Joe Kernan. The topic turned to the taxpayer furnished vehicle Mr. Manigault should have for his job. Mr. Manigault suggested reportedly that it should be a large, comfortable vehicle (implying status). Apparently Mayor Kernan was not impressed with the argument and assigned a small, economical Chevrolet instead.

Visitors to the County/City building will find the austerity hard to miss. My father was in city government in Evanston, IL in the 1960s, and the ambiance of our municipal building in South Bend seems nearly identical.

Years ago, the building the Workforce Investment Board was located in became coveted by Memorial Hospital. It is now gone. The WIB then moved to 401 E. Colfax and set up shop.

It has been suggested that the square footage was well in excess of what a taxpayer funded agency of less than 20 employees could possibly need. It has been suggested that high end upholstered seating and hardwood tables might be unnecessary to fulfill the function of this agency. It's also a possibility that the expensive art on the walls might not aid this agency in an effort to attract and keep track of funding for programs to help our citizens land decent jobs. Who can say for sure?

But I've been tasked to emphasize the difference between a governmental or quasi-governmental organization and one in the private sector. In the private sector, if you screw up or spend wastefully, you can raise prices, sell something, find a new revenue stream, etc. In the public realm, every dollar you get is supposed to do a certain job. So, if you spend great sums of money on office furniture or office alterations - you would need to have some grant or some taxpayer allocation dedicated to that.

Or it would come from somewhere else. Some grant for job training. Some grant for child care. Some grant for displaced workers' transportation. You get the idea.

I thought I had finished this story. But there's more to come.

Democracy is not a spectator sport.

Don Wheeler