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Says city engaged in ‘racially motivated campaign of denigration’
By Guy Page
Evidently hoping for a good response from Progressive Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak, the first and former Burlington racial equity director is demading $7.5 million due to what her lawyer calls a ‘racially motivated campaign of denigration.’
Tyeastia Green’s pursuit of city funds was declared in an April 3 letter from her lawyer to the city. The letter was recovered via a public records request by Seven Days. Green also wants the city to pay her legal fees and issue a public apology. The city says there will be no financial settlement but is open to a “restorative process,” the October 1 report by Courtney Lamdin says.
According to 7D, ‘the wide-ranging missive accuses city officials of attempting to suppress Green’s right to free speech and undermining her work; defaming her in media interviews; and coordinating a smear campaign with the City of Minneapolis, where Green worked after leaving Burlington.’
The letter alleges that she and Democrat Mayor Miro Weinberger had disputes, that he yelled at her on the phone, but soon afterwards asked her to stay on because her resignation would make him look bad. Last week, however, city officials indicated that a financial settlement is off the table but that they’re open to “a restorative process,” the emails show.
A city review of Green’s tenure shows hiring, spending and budgeting decisions not within city guidelines, but no fraud or embezzlement.
Green was hired in 2020 in the heyday of the DEI/George Floyd activism. Green’s job in Burlington included organizing the city’s first Juneteenth celebration in 2021 and (until her March 2022 departure) the 2022 Juneteenth. After leaving the Burlington job, she was quickly hired by Minneapolis, where George Floyd was murdered and the largest city of the state where she graduated from college.
As first reported by Vermont Daily Chronicle, Tyeastia Green, the first director of Burlington’s Racism, Inclusion, Equity and Belonging (REIB) Department, in March 2023 left a similar position in Minneapolis, MN “under a financial cloud.”
In March, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported financial concerns surrounding Green’s oversight of a February, 2023 “Black Expo.” A week later, she was no longer working for the city.
Most of the Vermont media ignored Green’s departure from Minnesota. Not so the City of Burlington: wondering if lightning had struck Burlington before Minneapolis, it commissioned an investigation.
“The City of Burlington engaged the legal firm of Sheehey Furlong & Behm [SFB] PC to conduct a review of the contracting processes and expenditures associated with spending by REIB in fiscal years 2021 and 2022, particularly with respect to Juneteenth 2022, to determine whether there was fraud, waste or abuse.”
Those are the opening words of an 18-page July 31 memo from the law firm to Katherine Schad, the city’s Chief Administrative Officer. The memo outlines the timeline of events and the firm’s conclusions and recommendations.
It is important to say that in both Burlington and Minneapolis, authorities explicitly deny finding Green responsible for theft, fraud, or embezzlement. However, in both cities there were hiring, spending, and fundraising decisions that appear contrary to both the spirit and letter of city guidelines.
Underperformance by Casey Ellerby, an Atlanta, GA fundraiser and resident hired by Green as a full-time city employee, appears to have been a major problem:
“Green and Ellerby both stated that the budget for Juneteenth 2022 was always intended to be $500,000.
“Based on our review and the documents provided, we found no evidence that a budget of $500,000 was shared with the Board of Finance or the City Council. Ms. Green and Ms. Ellerby both stated that the bulk of the budget for Juneteenth 2022 was intended to be provided by private sponsors. Ms. Green stated that she had between $200,000 and $300,000 in commitments from private sponsors by the time she left REIB in March 2022. Ms. Ellerby stated that she thought there were $300,000 in commitments from private sponsors at the time Ms. Green left.
“Based on the documentation we reviewed, we saw no evidence of actual or expected commitments in that amount at the time of Ms. Green’s departure. Rather, the documentation of requests for private sponsorships or commitments for Juneteenth 2022 is sparse when compared to Juneteenth 2021, for which the total 17 commitments for private sponsors were $149,000.
“We do not know on what basis a conclusion would reasonably have been reached to determine that $300,000 or more in private sponsors would have been available for Juneteenth 2022. In fact, there was approximately $103,000 in private sponsorships.”
Out-of-state vendors also received extremely generous lodging on the city’s dime.
“Ms. Ellerby stated that lodging was provided for any out-of-state vendors, as well as any out-of-town vendors or performers at Juneteenth 2022. At some of the higher end hotels used, the stay was $299 per night, and individuals were provided lodging for multiple nights. Many out-of-state vendors were used for Juneteenth 2022, as well as for Black History month in 2022.
“In addition, there were multiple vendors or contractors used by REIB who were not registered to do business in any State. There was a general lack of documentation within REIB related to Juneteenth 2022, including the lack of a budget and lack of detailed planning information. There was also a lack of documentation showing that attempts were made to secure goods at the lowest cost for the quality needed, as the Purchasing Policy requires, or that some exception should be made to this general requirement in a particular instance.
As noted above, Ms. Ellerby, a full-time City employee, was given permission by Ms. Green to have her lodging paid for in late April or early May 2022 when she came to Burlington to do her job.”
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Categories: Burlington
In my opinion this is a result of a generation that has to blame everyone else for everything they do. For some reason Ms. Green seems to have it worse than most.
Since equity is a Marxist BS term meant to destroy our way of life and because races are different and each have strengths and weaknesses she was doomed to fail to begin with, maybe this was her plan all along.
Now look at all the money she will get. That is not failure, as she will win the lawsuit lottery.
The simple fact that Burlington felt the need to create a “Racism, Inclusion, Equity and Belonging (REIB) Department”, that they hired this person and her staff at an exorbitant salary and then budgeted a half million $ for a single event celebration shows what an unhealthy obsession they have with race in general.
The city did not budget half a million. That was supposed to come from private supporters.
Whether Burlington “budgeted” money from it’s overburdened taxpayers or whether it came from private entities that were coerced through marxist intimidation to donate, I still call that budgeting, but fair enough, just call it an “allocation”. When a mafia protection racketeer approaches a business owner and says: “nice restaurant you got here, it would be a shame if something was to happen to it”, the business owner still is wise to “budget” for the payoff.
authorities explicitly deny finding Green responsible for theft, fraud, or embezzlement
Just like EB-5!
Nobody in government does any of that no, couldn’t possibly be that.
Just another bill sent to the taxpayers.
They will of course rubber stamp this, fostering a grift wave of epic proportions.
Who am I kidding, Vermont is Astro Turf king, she was running a massive astro turf campaign…..just like 95% of Vermont politics…
We are being lied to, directly in our face, while they steal from your pants pocket.
This is the Montpelier way, it’s not the Vermont way.
She wants to steal the city’s money by lawsuit. Con artist and thief.
When you hire incompetence at the outset you get incompetence
as the end result. Oh by the way, this is regardless of race, color, creed or sexual orientation.
The fault lies not only with the inadequacy of the person who was hired but the mindless entity who hired her in the first placed. They went on not only to bring her in at an usurious salary but failed to provide oversight and leadership during her tenure.
For this failure the good people of Burlington will pay.
Consider this a practice session as Burlington will have a future collision with her ilk.
Apparently, she must have learned her accounting and management skills from Jane Sanders, Bernie’s wife.
I guess the twisted, nonsensical efforts at passing scam slavery reparation’s legislation weren’t moving fast enough for her…
The Right Mark
So the Sudansleeze kid on the Burlington School Board and this DEI winner should go into business together.
Yes, this happens when you hire a DEI candidate, we all know that in most jobs handed to them, yes handed and that they’ll be in over their heads, and this case is no different,
She was hired for two reasons skin color and gender, by the leaders of blunders, that would be Burlington’s city council AKA, ” Gaggle Of Fools “.
The only education DEI hires have is ” Get A Lawyer “and sue for whatever reason they’ll pay, make it substantial, and settle then move on to your next suckers !!
I hope we get to see Tyeastia Green’s job description and her performance records ??
What a racket!
The sleepy wokes are suckers for punishment with the cost to the taxpayers.
Wait for it ….
Could she be a quick study of the Conservation Law Foundation?
It’s like the bureaucrats in Vermont government are directly out of central casting for ‘The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight’.
She should be ashamed. This is a con. Skin color does not give a person special rights or consideration, welcome to the reality of having a job( you were unqualified for), had to leave, now go away. Take Milo with you. Burlington, think about who you elect. Include competency in that assessment.
So, Libbies, how’s Diversity working for you? Increased violence and drug crimes in Burlington and now this. Hope you’re all proud of yourselves.
First, George Floyd was not murdered, court documents show the official autopsy report stated he died of an overdose. They burned and looted cities over a dead drug addict and a convicted domestic abuser. Some say it was just a “show,” a false flag psyop. Some say Floyd’s family cleaned up bigly while other poster child families and black communities BLM held up for public consumption, got nothing, nada, zilch. Where did all that money go? Billions of dollars raised. Some speculate George is living in Florida. Who knows, other than it was all for nothing unless you were a grifter and conspirator to commit fraud. Perhaps why Tim Walz was “selected.” Expose the grift, the fraud, the psyop. This was all under the pysop of COVID as well….never forget!
Second, who created the DEI racist, bigot, Bill of Rights violating crimes against humanity grift? Who legislated it, created it’s own stand alone department, and inserted into every crevice of State government, Federal government, town/city government and businesses? They created and fed the monster. Now, the monster demands even more money based on fabricated, staged crimes, blatant lies, reverse discrimination, fraud, collusion, and MSM driven deceptions. “A mainly peaceful protest” reported in front of a burning city. All the crimes commited in Seattle? No one convicted. Now look at Seattle, Portland, Oakland, Philly, Chicago….as they go, so go Burlington and the State of Vermont.
During the VP debate, Vance had the perfect opportunity when Walz inevitably brought up Jan. 6, to remind Americans of how Walz fiddled while Minneapolis burned…
Is there a single friggen day that goes by wherein anything positive comes out of this country anymore?
Depends how do you feel about DEI? 🙂