Superior Court Judge Geoffrey Crawford today threw out a lawsuit two former city councilors filed against the city of Burlington seeking repayment of $17 million in taxpayer money illegally loaned to Burlington Telecom during Bob Kiss’ tenure as mayor.
The lawsuit by Gene Shaver and Fred Osier sought to hold Jonathan Leopold (pictured), personaly liable for repaying the cash; Kiss’s powerful chief administrative officer oversaw the loans to BT. According to the Burlington Free Press, Crawford ruled that the municipally owned Burlington Telecom had in fact violated its state license by failing to pay back loaned taxpayer money within 60 days, but ruled that Leopold wasn’t on the hook.
Seven Days contributing writer Kevin J. Kelley caught up with Leopold by phone Tuesday evening; he had just returned from a short holiday with his family in Italy.
“I feel vindicated,” Leopold told Kelley. “It’s taken a long time for the facts to come out and I’m pleased with the decision.”
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EVIDENCE of wrongdoing. Lacking. The New North End city council members continue a costly ill advised reactionary witch hunt. EVIDENCE! Now lets elect reasonable city council members and forget about the “shoot from the hip” style of Osier, Scott Shumski, Kirk and so many others.
He feels “vindicated”…, hahaha. Claiming incompetence is the last refuge of the white-collar criminal.
Fraudsters know that stupidity is not a crime.
Short vacation in Italy. Really. I shall now vomit on Leopold’s shoes, those newly acquired Italian models.
Never underestimate the human capacity for incompetence, mismanagement, and lack of attention, jcarter1. The world runs on incompetence, mismanagement, and lack of attention. The Burlington City Council is Exhibit No. 1. There’s no evidence that anyone personally pilfered or was paid off. But there’s plenty of evidence of incompetence, mismanagement, and lack of attention.