In Which We Find Chip Flowers Changing the Credit Cards Story AGAIN
Delaware State News reports on the Chip Flowers’ travel document dump, and we find that that the State Treasurer still can’t quite wrap his mind around the escalating mismanagement of these credit card issues. For one (and the most jawdropping to me), we find that Flowers wants us to know that he lost all of those receipts because the corporate world he came from has differing standards:
Not keeping the original receipts was a mistake that Mr. Flowers acknowledged, and he attributed the discarded receipts to following the general policies of corporate business during his transition to public office in 2011.
Every corporation sets its own standard for documenting expenses, but the vast majority of them require you to actually document those expenses. The reasons are wrapped up in ensuring some budget discipline and in being able to provide an adequate audit trail, not just for the payment and receipt of funds, but also for tax purposes and being able to justify expenses being written off. There are no organizations that I have worked at that would not have had serious issues with my not being able to produce a receipt for $800+ to rent a car. On the other hand, many corporations (mine too) have gone to a completely online credit card reconciliation process — with provisions to code expenses to projects or to overhead and all paper receipts are scanned and submitted as pdfs attached to the reconciliation. Other firms are using other online services to have employees justify expenses — but it is the rare firm that won’t require the receipts. However, if you are in the IRS and reading this, it seems reasonable to assume that the Flowers Law Firm is going to be a target-rich environment for you.
Flowers claims that more than $80K has been spent in responding to this FOIA. I can’t help but think that if he had owned the original problems discovered with Benner’s credit card rather than blame the Department of Finance, all of this would have gone away.
A few weeks ago, Flowers claimed (during a call in to WDEL with Al Mascitti and El Som — at least I think El Som was there) that he was not allowed by law to say who he was meeting with re: state investments. I couldn’t find this law, and reached out to a few others who couldn’t find this law, either. But now the story about why he can’t say who he met with goes like this:
Mr. Flowers will not divulge the names of the bankers or lawyers, standing by his office’s policy for meetings with such institutions to be kept confidential.
“As a matter of policy, the Treasury rarely discusses meetings and matters relating to state portfolio,” Mr. Flowers said Friday via email.
“Additionally, if a financial institution requests a confidential meeting, we honor that request to ensure that the Treasury obtains information that may be critical to the management of the portfolio …”
Now it’s a “matter of policy”. Really? But the State Auditor is finally rousing himself:
State auditor Tom Wagner, who has begun a preliminary review of Treasury’s travel documents released to the public after a Wednesday press conference, said he “can’t fathom” why participants’ identities would be made secret when short-term investments and cash for the state are involved.
Mr. Wagner pointed to the relatively simply nature of Treasury’s investments, and the state strategies being made public through policies set by the Delaware Cash Management Policy Board as making Treasury discussions non-sensitive to identifications of parties involved.
The Division of Accounting says they’ll be reviewing the records that were released last week, yet we still have Chip contradicting himself, after telling the NJ that some of his travel records were missing:
On Friday, Mr. Flowers said the Division of Accounting had possessed the information for months.
LOL! But I’ll leave you with the best quote of the story:
“It was amazing looking out at a bank of cameras and it kind of felt like a White House press conference,” Mr. Flowers said. “I was slightly nervous; I wondered how does something so small get so big? And how do I get it back to reality?
This is so choice in so many ways — not just in imagining himself in a White House press conference, but in the sheer cluelessness on how he got to be facing all of those cameras in the first place and his own hand in routinely shifting the reality (whatever that might be) of this situation.
And I’m apologizing in advance for not offering you guys pancakes with this story.
Tags: Bamboozled!, Chip Flowers, Featured
Yeah. That receipt excuse is pure bullshit.
His law firm clients better check their billables.
Ya’ll know the old joke about attorneys ( no real offense meant to any attorneys in here)
How do you know when a lawyer is lying?
His lips are moving…..
Now, this could be applied to practically any profession, but fits well with most attorneys and most politicians
Well, Chip IS an attorney……….and a politician, so…do the math…double the whammy!
Bullshit. Pure BULLSHIT with all of the corn still it. He was sworn in as Treasurer in January, 2011 and eight months later he’s losing receipts for the Vermont exotic rental car excursion?
By the end of his second week at the new job at the latest he should have known the credit card policy inside and out, unless he’s just that F*CKING STUPID.
So what is it, Chip, are you crooked or a f*cking moron who’s way over your head with this job, because those are the only choices left.
Why did he even give this interview? He consistently says something new and equally outrageous (meaning untrue) each time out.
I think he believes that, at some point, his lies will lock into some sort of a plausible explanation. But all it shows is that the guy’s spinning has spun completely out of control. He can’t put all the lies back into order. He’s totally busted, and he did the busting.
In a one-party state, it’s up to the D’s to send this prevaricator back to a more suitable profession. The only enemy that Flowers started out with was the one in his mirror. He has now left responsible people no choice but to try to put an end to his embarassing reign.
Gimme Pancakes!!!!
Something tells me that I’m gonna regret that picture in the morning.
Whoever it is advising him (or maybe it is just Chip at this point) seems to be locked into some narrative of Chip vs Who?, where he needs to emerge as the victor over whoever this is. The problem, of course, is that the narrative is that he can’t manage the people and budgets of his own office and never does anything to actually OWN any of that.
Aione says, “How do you know when a lawyer is lying?
His lips are moving…..Now, this could be applied to practically any profession, but fits well with most attorneys and most politicians.”
I guess this means that Aione knows all lawyers and all politicians, so that this calculation is accurate. Otherwise, this statement suggests a lack of factual integrity, which is at least ironic, given the context of the criticism.
Has anyone else gone through Chip’s credit card stuff? So much for full disclosure. It looks like he starting using his credit card in March of 2011. If that’s the case, at least 10 of the monthly statements and supporting receipts are missing. Did he think no one would notice?
Not only are one-third of Chip’s credit card statements missing (along with supporting receipts), we also have no clue how much he submitted for reimbursement when he used his own cash or personal credit card. The News Journal should be asking for a report of all reimbursements made to Chip during his tenure. Chip’s report claims that he has “released the complete travel records”. Another set of lies and deceit just like his “final and definitive report”.
I think Jim – you missed one very simple word…..
MOST – I even used it twice…..once for each profession
its right above your spin on what I said – the word ALL
take a look – use your finger move it v e r y S l o w l y up from your word “all” to my word “most”. they align pretty well – don’t you think?
better luck putting words in my mouth next time – and as you can see, no one, not even the attorneys here are offended…
I think you own the lack of factual integrity here – as you usually do. 😉
Aione – Perhaps the issue is with the meaning of the word “most.” Let’s define it to mean a majority. One can argue that a majority exists only if one understands the total from which the majority is drawn. For example, in 2005 most American lawyers were male. I can say that because (according to the ABA) 70% of American lawyers were male, as revealed by a survey done in 2005. When you argue that most lawyers are liars, you suggest that you are aware of the ratio between the total number of lawyers and the number of those who always lie. I meant to suggest by my comment that you probably don’t know those numbers. I used sarcasm, I admit (maybe that’s where I lost you). My own experience with lawyers and politicians has been very different than the judgement you pronounce, and I don’t mind defending those professions, even if that defense is not well received. The point of my comment, however, was to suggest that those kinds of generalizations are illogical and add nothing to the substance of the discussion.
All of these receipts can be ordered from the bank that issues the cards. If he wanted to get them he could, same goes with the car rental that appears to be way above the daily allowance – all you have to do is call and they will email you the receipt. I wonder if the receipts will get pulled by the auditor…
Will anyone primary this guy? Seems like an easy target
Yes. I was going to but I’m expediting a call from my Aunt in Philadelphia, so I have to stay by the phone.
“Yes. I was going to but I’m expediting a call from my Aunt in Philadelphia, so I have to stay by the phone.”
Well….should be expedited by now. Glad you are not expecting…that call.
Jim….so there is this attorney in VA,
Maybe you should get in touch with him, his logic is like yours…
GOOD LUCK, SMH
stupid spill check.
In addition to whoever the Democrats put up, it looks like this guy, Ken Simpler, is running.
And .. okay. Simpler is a lunatic.
http://townsquaredelaware.com/2012/02/13/one-mans-savings-another-mans-robberies/#comments
Congratulations, Mr. McGiffin. You have proved that those cliches are not backed up by the data.
What’s next on your agenda? Debunking “a penny saved is a penny earned”? Or “When you’ve got them by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow”? Once you start down your path, I suppose your work is never finished. I’d bet not a single saying in English could live up to your scrutiny. Well done.
It sounded like an interesting budget meeting yesterday. Apparently the Treasury office didn’t understand the travel expense policy. If you know your expenses will be more, you need to request it before hand.
So now he’s playing the race card and blaming … who for what, exactly? This doesn’t even make sense.
>>>>>>>>>>>
Flowers protested, “You haven’t lived my wonderful experience as an African-American treasurer in the state of Delaware.”
http://www.delawaregrapevine.com/11-13cashmanagement.asp
The travel policy is pretty straight forward, it is on the Delaware goverment website.
Treasurer losing receipts???
Time for his resignation.
I’ve been on travel lockdown this week, but if Chip Flowers is still telling people that his office can’t figure out the state’s travel policy NOW, then this clearly adds to the Incompetent Manager evidence. Who doesn’t know the travel policy they don’t need to live with after 2 or 3 years? And again I ask, if he isn’t managing his office’s travel expenses to policy, then how well is he controlling that budget item?
And being an African-American has nothing to do with it — it does have everything to do with handling the State’s money properly. A thing that Chip Flowers is willing to do when he is trying to claim some competence in managing the State’s cash accounts, but a thing he is willing to throw completely out of the window when it comes to managing his own damned budgets. Sheesh.
And it continues … Instead of just handing over a copy of his office’s travel policy, which he’s referenced himself, Chip is getting into yet another semantics pissing match.
http://delaware.newszap.com/centraldelaware/127558-70/travel-policy-woes-continue-for-flowers
Can’t this dope do anything right? Does he have no one advising him who can put up a warning flag and say, “Hey, boss, you’re going to look like an idiot if you do that”?
Jesus.
And he’s demanding an apology from the OMB who asked for a copy of his office’s meals Travel policy. An apology for doing their job.
How about we get an apology from Chip for this stupidly belligerent performance and for the serious incompetence he isn’t doing a good job of hiding?
An apology? At this rate of victimization, he is on track to run as a Republican.
I’m a short attention span guy. Uh, a very short, attention span guy.
I’m now officially bored with Chip Flowers.
Next!
If I had no scruples (and some money), I’d put Christine and Chip together in a reality TV show format.
They could go all over the world, stay at the finest hotels, never pay their bills, and…never touch each other.
Actually, “how could he have handled this worse?” could be a fun thread.
Entry 1 – he could have made an apology dressed in a white jogging suit shooting guns into the woods and announcing a run for Governor.
Sounds good, but you open the doors to the haters and it always goes off the rails.
“Does he have no one advising him who can put up a warning flag and say, “Hey, boss, you’re going to look like an idiot if you do that”?
From what I can tell, no, he has no friends or advisers. I’m growing increasingly convinced that we are dealing with mental illness here — if nothing else, he’s got an inability to control his shopping/spending habits, and there’s plenty of anecdotal evidence to indicate narcissistic paranoia. He, not Erika Benner, is the one who needs rehab.
Why are we not discussing the NJ article that details that our brilliant People’s Treasurer has actually lost “the people” money this year?! It is there in black and white that the Treasurer has lost over half a million dollars YTD.
Now I guess we can better understand why he keeps talking about historical performance and not recent performance. This is unreal.
It just keeps getting better and better with this guy. Or worse and worse if you’re a taxpayer like me…
I know when a Republican jumps in. Taxpayer like me… is a dead giveaway. Anyway, FWIW, I don’t think you guys are going to be running against him.
The People’s Treasurer traveled 26 times in 29 months!
2011
National Association of State Treasurers Legislative Conference – March 2011 (DC)*
Speech to Minority Supplier Development Council – March 2011 (MA)
Speech to SEO and Meeting with New York Stock Exchange and investment banks -May 2011 (NY)
Speech to Consortium Conference – June 2011 (NY)
Meeting with White House, U.S. Treasury and Bloomberg Government Representatives – June 2011 (DC)
National Association of State Treasurers Annual Conference (NOT ATTENDED DUE TO HURRICANE) – Aug. 2011 (PA) (Due to delayed flight)
Meeting with investment bank – Aug. 2011 (MA)
National Association of State Comptrollers, Auditors and State Treasurers Annual Conference — Aug. 2011 (VT – Departed and returned to MA)*
Meeting with White House and U.S. Treasury officials – Oct. 2011 (DC)
Speech to Bloomberg State and Local Gov. Conference and meetings with Federal Reserve and investment banks – Nov. 2011 (NY)
Speech to Inner City Capital Connections – Nov. 2011 (NY)
National Association of State Treasurers Issues Conference and Investment Bank Conference for State Treasurers – Dec. 2011 (NY)*
White House briefing, meeting with White House officials and presidential reception – Dec. 2011 (DC)
2012
CFO Roundtable Wall Street Economic Summit and meeting with Federal Reserve – Jan. 2012 (NY)
National Association of State Treasurers Legislative Conference – March 2012 (DC)
Council of State Governments Eastern Conference – July 2012 (NJ)
National Association of State Comptrollers, Auditors and Treasurers Annual Conference and meetings with investment banks – Aug. 2012 (WA)
National Association of State Treasurers Annual Conference and meetings with investment banks Sept. 2012 (AK)
Speech to Bloomberg Conference on State and Local Governments – Oct. 2012 (NY)
Congressional and lobbying trip to Washington DC re: Transaction Account Guarantee Program (“TAG”) – Dec. 2012 (DC)
2013
National Association of State Treasurers Legislative Conference – March 2013 (DC)
National Association of State Treasurers Management Conference – May 2013 (PA)
Bloomberg Conference – April 2013 (DC)
RFK Center Compass Investor Conference – June 2013 (MA)
National Association of State Comptrollers, Auditors and Treasurers Annual Conference– Aug. 2013 (MA)
Unless you’re staying overnight, DC and NY isn’t exactly traveling from Delaware. I’d think those would be at least monthly day trips for policy in DC and finance in NY.
I’m not sure this Ken Simpler would beat our Chip…
http://www.2coolfishing.com/ttmbforum/showthread.php?t=54989
http://www.nytimes.com/1988/05/26/nyregion/2-at-princeton-get-jail-terms-for-roles-in-pledge-drinking.html
‘Only Luck Prevented Death’ What a dick.
Nuttingham – He stayed overnight in NY and DC on multiple occasions. Those aren’t all day trips.
http://treasury.delaware.gov/wp-content/uploads/Treasurer_Complete.pdf
And Pete & Blevins are moving the CMPB bill forward: http://www.delawaregrapevine.com/11-13flowers.asp
Ah. Thanks, SW.
I think he will regret not seeing that bill pass at the end of last session since it will now be passed during a probable primary election.