Octopus Continues To Strangle Prince George's County

Members of the Prince George's County school system, elected officials, their staff and other county employees are still guilty of fostering the myth (misinformation) that "The Octopus" holds certain "elected" offices in one or more civic associations, when in truth, nothing could be further from the truth. A search of state, county and local information databases reveals that "The Octopus" is the 'self appointed head' of one or more non-chartered entities getting money and support from the county to the detriment of other organizations or citizens. 

News reports and other local sources reveal she was most likely forced out of the chartered association she is constantly associated with, the Suitland Civic Association, for failure to produce certain requested and/or required documentation.

Let's forget that Prince George's County schools have been ranked last or next to last in our state for too long and then some while various politicians/school board/educational system members supported "The Octopus"; let's forget that Jack Johnson was being investigated and or tried for political corruption around the same time "The Octopus" resigned or was forced out of office; let's forget or ignore that we have a new 'Office of Accountability' that is currently so underfunded we can expect nothing of substance will be accomplished by them in the near future.....let's just focus on a question of how $10,000 became(?) millions flowing thru "The Octopus" almost overnight without any apparent accountability by the county.

The officers of the Suitland Civic Association, those who followed the resignation of "The Octopus", have been involved in a protracted effort with the county to obtain documentation of financial grants or resources made available to the Suitland Civic Association, the Suitland Citizens Association and/or other entities (such as the Family Life and Technology Learning Center?) that were spun off by officers or members of the association during the tenure of "The Octopus", all to no avail. Over a year ago one of the chief financial officers for the county executive said this documentation was ready and available for public review.

Apparently with the passage of time, and/or as the dollars involved increased, he began to sing a different tune. In fact, on a matter not related to "The Octopus", as far as we currently know, he had more than a little difficulty responding to a request from a Washington Post reporter and the Suitland Civic Association concerning a recent sum of about $5MM dollars allocated to the purchase, renovation and sale of homes by the Redevelopment Authority.

Back to $10K becoming millions - the county states attorney said there was no criminal activity related to a $10K check returned to the county by "The Octopus" during the transition in the SCA administrations; seniors at Windsor Crossing said the county allocated almost $200K for a wrought iron fence around their facility but all they got was some cheap aluminum painted black; an old Suitland Civic Association newsletter from 2003/2004 was found containing information that the Suitland Community Development Center had received funding in the amount of $2,773,537 to be used for the Suitland Technology Center and Youth Substance Abuse Prevention Program; and to top it all off, that, for some, first puff of smoke, a failure to locate any active chartered entity by any of those names in the state records.

In some circles this is much ado about nothing, a total of less than ten million over ten plus years to certain entities, but in Prince George's County with its former reputation of being pay to play,  if there is a cover-up of some sort taking place, it is quite possibly a continuation of political corruption in local government in Prince George's County.