Guest Post: Billie Jo Casapulla Bullock on Patrick Miller’s Abuse Of Funds From Indian River Volunteer Fire Company

Editor’s note: Billie Jo Casapulla Bullock worked at the Indian River Volunteer Fire Company until July 12th, 2018.  She volunteered there for seven years as an Emergency Medical Technician.  She was suspended in early June.  The board of the fire department, after a vote by the fire company, terminated Bullock after she had come forward about her discovery of financial improprieties stemming from Patrick Miller and had gone public.  Miller has seven relatives as members of the fire company.  Today, Bullock sent an email to every single legislator in the state along with Governor Carney, Attorney General Matt Denn, State Treasurer Ken Simpler and the Delaware State Fire Prevention Commission.

I am asking that the Indian River Volunteer Fire Company be looked into for fraud, abuse of authority and abuse of public trust.  It has been found by myself and the treasurer that the President Patrick Miller has been doing the above.  There is such a dictatorship at the company that the members are afraid to speak up and take action.  This is  what the treasurer sent to the fire chief after the vice president would not take action against the president and suspend him until an investigation was complete.

—– Forwarded Message —–

From: “Michael Eisenhauer” <meisenhauer1@verizon.net>

To: “‘Steven Deery'” <steven.deery@irvfc.com>

Sent: Thu, Jun 28, 2018 at 3:05 PM

Subject: SCBA grant

It appears that FEMA intends to fund our grant.  I had to fill out paperwork for the bank to be aware of direct deposit of funds from FEMA.  Mike Penzotti called me and said that this is the process when they decide to fund grants.  My concern is this.  The Delaware Congressional Team will get involved and if we have issues that they become aware of I think we can kiss the grant goodbye.  There is one single issue that should have resulted in the suspension of the president.  He has been getting the News Journal since 2012and having it paid on the Credit Card.  He gets on the computer and inputs “News Journal (or Newspaper) Electronic version”, $15.00 and now it is $22.00 a month.  A member asked me for the password to read the paper but I don’t have it so I went to find it.  IRVFC does not have a subscription to the News Journal.  What the Company has been paying for since 2012, is for the Sunday print edition of the News Journal delivered to Patrick Miller. (editor’s note: I took out Mr. Miller’s home address and phone #.)  For the past 90 months the president for the most part has been falsifying company records for his personal gain.  I have documented a persistent pattern of abuse of authority and dishonesty on behalf of the President of Indian Rive Volunteer Fire Company.  I tested Mario Street and he took the information to Patrick and after that I quit communicating with Mario.  Mario made  a serious error by using his position at SUSCOM to get at BJ and he well feel more than just the heat in the near future.

Now, it is up to you Steven.

Thank you for your time and consideration in this matter.

Michael Eisenhauer

Treasurer

This letter shows just one thing that is happening.  This is just the TIP of the iceberg  After the treasurer and myself started to investigate we uncovered a substantial amount of misappropriated funds from Patrick Miller .

We all know how much the volunteer fire companies in the state receives from state and  county funding.  This is tax payers money and I feel that there needs to be more accountability within the fire companies to stop fraud. 

There are many other organizations that could use this funding if the fire companies are going to lie cheat and steal. 

I can say that the other fire companies that have found fraud stepped up and took action against the abuser, this is not the case for Indian River because Patrick Miller controls everything within the company.  Just like he did when he was the CFO at the Indian River School District.  He is still the same person and nothing has change and as you can see he has been abusing his trust at the fire company for a very long time.

To this day nothing has been done and Patrick Miller has been able to continue to do the above mentioned actions to now include trying to hide what he has done.  The financial oversight committee did request the state to do an investigation and Patrick Miller stopped that from happening.  At this point I think it is going to take the state to step in and take action to resolve this issue and bring trust back to the company and community.

Thank you for your time in this serious matter,

Billie Jo Bullock

Editor’s note: Wow!  Patrick Miller is at it again.  Not a state secret.  I’ve written about this before.  The problem is he keeps getting away with it.  At this point, I can only surmise that if he goes down he will take a ton of people down with him.  Including Delaware Secretary of Education Dr. Susan Bunting.  Even though I’ve made Carney and Delaware aware of her knowledge of his theft in Indian River School District, they are ignoring it.  They don’t know what to do with it.  So they continue to act like a deer in a headlight.  Meanwhile, the rampant theft continues.  I believe the State Auditor’s office already has a lot of the information Bullock references.  But according to Miller, there is no investigation going on.  The Delaware State Fire Prevention Commission has yet to act on any of this.  Their next board meeting is next Tuesday but they don’t have an agenda for their meeting.  Which breaks FOIA law because that has to be put up on their website or on the Delaware Public Meeting calendar seven days before their meeting.  I would file a FOIA complaint but how many times can I do that with no accountability?  Sigh…

I would like to give immense praise and gratitude to Billie Jo Casapulla Bullock to stand tall in the face of this.  It takes a very courageous person to come forward and do what is right.  As a result, she was terminated.  That is retaliation.  That is illegal.  And it isn’t the first time this happened with Miller.  He is a walking, talking, and breathing menace to Delaware.  We have too many scumbags like that in this state.  I know some legislators did respond to Bullock and she gives her thanks.

We stand at a crossroads in Delaware.  We the people can no longer ignore the shenanigans going on here.  It is time to call people out, loudly and publicly.  Whether it is personal or in the public’s right to know, things MUST change.  Our state government is doing nothing.  I have many ideas on how to really change things.  I would love to hear your thoughts.  There will be more on this soon.

News Journal Lacks Integrity And Ethics With Coverage Of State Auditor Race

Last week, News Journal reporter Jessica Bies came out with an article about a confidential report that the News Journal “obtained”.  The article was rife with speculation and hearsay based on a report commissioned by State Auditor Tom Wagner concerning Kathleen Davies.  That article appeared in print today.  It looks like something you would see in a bargain-basement tabloid at a grocery store.

That Wasn’t An Earthquake In Dover, That Was Governor Carney’s Approval Rating

Between Regulation 225 and the public beating him up over a plan to close three schools in Wilmington, Delaware, the ground shook in Delaware today. It shook from Massachusetts to Virginia. Reports of a 4.1 magnitude earthquake from the U.S.G.S. only measure the tremors, not the cause. It was Delaware Governor John Carney’s approval rating sinking to a new low. The irony of this happening within miles of the capital of Delaware was not lost on me.

Perhaps it was an earthquake, but the fact that this is the biggest earthquake in recorded Delaware history says something. As Delaware Republicans get ready to pounce on Democrats in the 2018 elections with no mercy, the aftershocks could be one for the record books. The people are speaking loudly and they want change. If the tremors were not caused by Carney’s approval rating it could have been the collective roar of Delawareans saying “Enough!”. We the people are getting tired of the status quo and change is in the wind. Too many legislators who I refer to as “lifers” sitting pretty in Legislative Hall without a care in the world. Leadership is horrible. It is time. It isn’t even about party affiliation as much anymore. It is about things getting worse in Delaware: in our communities, in our homes, in our schools, in our wallets. It is about taxpayer dollars not being spent wisely. It is about a growing (and fast) discontent with those who think the State of Delaware is their playground.

In the meantime, the Dover tree lighting went ahead without a hitch, unless you count a couple of legislators and the Kent County Levy Court singing “Frosty the Snowman”. If that earthquake happened two hours later I would have sworn it would have been because of that singing. A huge crowd came to Dover to see the annual celebration and watch kids sing.

The Dead Heart

We have not had a major world war in over seventy years.  There are very few alive who fought in World War II.  But the modern war is the companies.  The huge corporations.  Companies have more say than people.  They infiltrated education and took over.  Do you we the people have what it takes to take it back?  How loud do we have to get?  If we miss our chance, which is pretty much right now, our children will never be the same.  All the things we take for granted will be gone forever.

Even If Governor Markell Vetoes House Bill 50, The General Assembly Could Override The Veto

Governor Markell announced today he would veto House Bill 50 if it is passed by the Delaware House and Senate and comes to his desk.  However, in Delaware law, it could be overturned by the Delaware General Assembly.  Here’s how, taken from the Delaware Constitution:

§ 18 Approval or veto of bills, orders, resolutions or votes; repassage over veto.

Section 18. Every bill which shall have passed both Houses of the General Assembly shall, before it becomes law, be presented to the Governor; if he or she approves, he or she shall sign it; but if he or she shall not approve, he or she shall return it with his or her objections to the House in which it shall have originated, which House shall enter the objections at large on the journal and proceed to reconsider it. If, after such reconsideration, three-fifths of all the members elected to that House shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent together with the objections to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by three-fifths of all the members elected to that House, it shall become a law; but in neither House shall the vote be taken on the day on which the bill shall be returned to it. In all such cases the votes of both Houses shall be determined by yeas and nays, and the names of the members voting for and against the bill shall be entered on the journal of each House respectively. If any bill shall not be returned by the Governor within ten days, Sundays excepted, after it shall have been presented to him or her, the same shall be a law in like manner as if he or she had signed it, unless the General Assembly shall, by final adjournment, prevent its return, in which case it shall not become a law without the approval of the Governor.

For purposes of return of Bills not approved by the Governor the General Assembly shall be considered to be continuously in Session until final adjournment and the Clerk of the House of Representatives and the Secretary of the Senate shall be deemed proper recipients of such returned bills during recess or adjournment of the General Assembly other than final adjournment.

No bill shall become a law after the final adjournment of the General Assembly, unless approved by the Governor within thirty days after such adjournment. The Governor shall have power to disapprove of any item or items of any bill making appropriations of money, embracing distinct items, and the part or parts of the bill approved shall be the law, and the item or items of appropriation disapproved shall be void, unless repassed according to the rules and limitations prescribed for the passage of other bills, over the Executive veto. Every order, resolution, or vote to which the concurrence of both Houses of the General Assembly may be necessary, except on a question of adjournment, shall be presented to the Governor, and before the same shall take effect be approved by him or her, or being disapproved by him or her, shall be repassed by three-fifths of all the members elected to each House of the General Assembly, according to the rules and limitations prescribed in the case of a bill. Every order and resolution to which the concurrence of both Houses of the General Assembly may be necessary, except on a question of adjournment and those matters dealing solely with the internal or administrative affairs of the General Assembly, shall be presented to the Governor, and before the same shall take effect be approved by him or her, or being disapproved by him or her, shall be repassed by three-fifths of all the members elected to each House of the General Assembly, according to the rules and limitations prescribed in the case of a bill.

In a nutshell, if House Bill 50 gets to the point where Markell vetoes the legislation, the House of Representatives (who originated the bill) would record Markell’s objection, and if they decided to revote on it, and if 3/5 of the House says yes (25 out of the 41), it would then go to the Senate.  They would vote, and if 3/5 of the Senate says yes (13 out of 21), it would become law.

So this means everyone needs to call, email, post on their elected officials Facebook, Twitter and any other social media they have, and publicly and loudly request their support for House Bill 50.  I will be posting information that will make this very easy for everyone shortly.

The Secret Weapon Jack Markell Never Saw Coming

For ten years, ever since Dr. Paul Herdman and his group of merry men published Opportunity Knocks, Jack Markell has been at the forefront in the conversation on education in Delaware.  But now, he is faced with an enemy that even he couldn’t foresee because he doesn’t have the capability.

Do you hear that noise Governor Markell?  It’s called chatter.  It’s the voice of the people and we are getting louder every day.  You hear it all around you.  It must be frustrating to witness your world crumbling around you, your legacy finally exposed.  It’s starting to crack and splinter, and it has to gnaw at you more and more every day.

Presumption and assumption are very dangerous things.  They are the bane of any strategist.  For years, you assumed we were okay with what you were doing with education.  You presumed to know what is best for our children.  We allowed this for a long time.   But then two little words came up in the conversation: opt and out.  It began as nothing more than a whisper, and then a small voice.  Now it is all you ever hear.  The echo down the hall, now a booming cacophony of destruction meant to tear down the wall that is corporate education reform.

You created this Jack, and now you are seeing the fruits of your labor.  In the annals of Delaware history, you will go down as the Governor who truly made the people speak.  You forced us into this position, all of us.  The parents, the students, the teachers, even some of your friends.  When anyone is pushed to the wall too hard, they will start to push back and fight.  It’s the nature of man.  You gave us an out through your own actions.  We heard the whisper, and opportunity knocked.