Bangor City Hall: Nice Work If You Can Get It

[Full upfront disclosure: In addition to my writing, I'm also a professional photographer, one whose geographic 'service area' overlaps with that of Richard Greene, the subject of today's post. That said, I don't know the man and had never heard of his photographic endeavors until his arrest last month.]

Former Bangor mayor and current city council member Richard Greene deserves the benefit of the doubt —€” up to a point. Greene, who runs the local Klyne Studio, allegedly forged the city manager's signature on a $9,000 photography invoice he submitted to City Hall. Police arrested him on January 10, then released him on bond. He says he's not guilty, and indeed he is until a judge or a jury finds otherwise.

But even if Greene didn't falsify any papers, there's something disconcertingly douchey about the affair. Greene claims he's due $9,000 for "usage fees" that the City supposedly owes him for portrait photos he took of former Bangor mayors. That is, he wants all that dough not for taking the portraits (that 'sitting fee,' whatever it came out to be, was presumably paid at the time of the sessions, or shortly thereafter). No, Greene says he's entitled to the nine grand so that the City may continue to hang the pictures on a wall somewhere.

He also submitted a controversial invoice for a further $9,500, pay he sought for "restoring" mayoral portraits (whether these are the same photos as the ones mentioned earlier is unclear).

I'm inclined to say that when a businessman freely (and perhaps cunningly) negotiates a lucrative deal with a client, well, more power to him, even if the agreement involves eye-popping fees that most people would find ridiculous and disproportionate.

However, I reserve the right to do a 180 on that when (a) the outlandish fees are paid out of public coffers, and (b) the contracts are most likely awarded due to chummy connections between the two parties. That's called, in a word, cronyism.

It's pretty easy. An ex-mayor and current city councilor seeks and receives the taxpayer-funded patronage of his fellow City Hall officials who are also his former subordinates. For his extracurricular services, he charges a councilor's king's ransom —€” that is, many times the going rate.

It may not be fraud, but it sure is bald-faced, even sleazy.

Just the other day, it emerged that Greene, a renaissance man who has also worked in local broadcasting, had lined his pockets with tax money before. Since 2004, people who call City Hall have been greeted by Hizonner's sonorous voice, reading a 26-second phone message ("if you have a touch-tone phone, press 1 now," etc.). Allowing for a couple of false starts and some vocal-cord exercises to bring out the honey, let's say it took Greene 10 minutes to record the little monologue. True to form, he sent the City a $750 bill for his services, which was promptly paid. That works out to $4,500 an hour. 

Of course, that may not be the end of it; for all I know, Greene could invoice the people of Bangor for additional "usage fees" on the recording until the day he dies or the City swaps out the message, whichever comes first.

Nice work if you can get it. 

Comments

[Jerry]

I grew up and Bangor most of my life, but live in Northern VA now. This doesn't surprise me even a little bit. This I would say, as someone who has done work with the City, is probably not the only one.

[Linda]

What??? Cronism? In Bangor??!

I hadn't been in Bangor, Maine for a week before I saw the ways things worked. "Sleazy" is an understatement for the way things are done.

Of course, I was living right in Jabba the Hutt's trailer park:

http://outsider222.wordpress.com/2008/02/10/bangor-maine-recap/

Good post. Thanks. I've subscribed to BDN several times, but for some reason, they refuse to send it to me...Go figure!

;-)

[Larry T. Doughty]

Well, here is a very well written article on the masterful Councilor Greene. I will copy this and do a posting on my own blog. Thanx much..