A Wall Street Kind of Scandal on Lexington Ky's Main Street

"Bring it on home to me"

-Sam Cooke

Since much of Wall Street is now funded by taxpayer dollars, we get outraged when CEOs throw money around like it is coming out of their own pocket.

Some give themselves multi-million dollar bonuses, fly around on private jets and act like they are not accountable to anyone.

Some of us are yelling loudly. It's taken a while, but we are forcing the Wall Street fat cats to listen.

Wall Street big shots were slow to pick up on how the public perceived their outlandish behavior. They had gotten away with it for so long that they just didn't see their actions as wrong.

Washington and some journalists didn't get it either. I've watched commentators try to defend some really indefensible Wall Street behavior.

Their regulatory and journalistic vision was blurred because they were reporting on people they knew.

I understand completely.

It's easy to rip into guys like Hank Paulsen and Ben Bernanke, whom I have never met. It's a lot harder to go off on someone I will run into in the grocery store.

Thus, it has taken me a few weeks to get my arms around a scandal in Central Kentucky, where I live.

Starting in late November, the Lexington Herald Leader uncovered massive wrongdoing at the Lexington airport.

An audit showed that the director, who has since resigned, spent thousands of dollars on personal items, lavish trips and stuff that would make an AIG sales conference look tame.

He and two employees spent over $5,000 in a Dallas strip club. It appears that at least four of his staff members had the same spending habits as their boss. The Herald Leader noted $332,000 in credit card charges that four airport executives ran up in three years.

My favorite expenditure was $2,200 to a ticket scalper for tickets to see Hannah Montana's concert in Lexington's Rupp arena.

The city of Lexington and the state of Kentucky both have laws against ticket scalping. The next time I want to dump some basketball or concert tickets, I won't peddle them on the street corner and pray not to get caught. I'll just call the airport.

The Lexington Herald Leader dug up the scandal. The paper's stories prompted the Vice-Mayor, the city council and the Kentucky state auditor to investigate.

Each day the paper reports a story more horrifying than the last one.

Several politicians, most notably Lexington's Mayor, have been very slow to react to the scandal.

I understand their reluctance. Some of the members of the Lexington Airport Board are the Mayor's appointees. All the board members have friendships throughout city government. Some of the board members are MY friends. I don't want them to be embarrassed or, possibly, go to jail.

I keep hoping there is a logical explanation for all of this. So far, I have not seen one.

The Lexington scandal helped me understand why some in the big city media were going easy on the Wall Street mess, while people like me, living in the heartland, are going absolutely crazy about their excesses.

It's hard to go off on your friends. For a journalist, ripping someone might cost you a friend or a source. For a politician, it's even worse. A friend turned enemy will work to make sure you never get elected again.

It's easier to duck your head in the sand and hope it all goes away.

But there is a time when friendship stops and public responsibility begins. With a scandal in my backyard, I have to take a step back and have the proper perspective.

When I step back, the Lexington story gets even uglier. Especially when I compare it to the Wall Street outrages of the past few months.

Eliot Spitzer was forced out of office for hiring a prostitute. He didn't use public money to pay her.

Three top guys at the Lexington airport spent $5,000 in a Dallas strip club and charged it to the airport credit card.

The airport is supported by federal dollars and airport user fees. You and I paid for the strippers. And we didn't even get a lap dance.

When the Lexington Herald Leader uncovered the scandal, it noted that airport executive director, Mike Gobb, spent hundreds of thousands on trips and lavish living, including a $26,000 trip to Hawaii.

Gobb spent more on his trip to Hawaii than Rick Wagoner, the head of General Motors, spent for his famous private jet flight to Washington.

Wagoner didn't use taxpayer dollars to fly to Washington. GM shareholders paid for the flight, supporting his attempt to beg for taxpayer dollars.

A subtle, but distinct, difference.

As part of the $332,000 that the airport executives spent, some was spent on golf lessons and expensive toys. They had fancy dinners all over the place, including several at a restaurant owned by the Chairman of the Airport Board.

The same guy who oversees their expenses.

Can you imagine the story if the chief executives at AIG or Citigroup spent taxpayers' money in a restaurant owned by their chief watchdog?

The Huffington Post would run screaming headlines. For weeks on end.

In Kentucky, we have a scandal on our hands --.as outrageous, deep-seated and insidious as the one on Wall Street.

If we are going to clean up Wall Street and Main Street, we need to call people out when they get out of line. No matter at what level they operate.

I'll be seeing some of the airport people around town. It won't be fun.

On the other hand, I can't keep bashing on Wall Street if I ignore my friends on Main Street.

There is a point where public responsibility overcomes personal discomfort.

That's a lesson I hope our leaders in Washington, Wall Street and Main Street begin to understand.

Don McNay, CLU, ChFC, MSFS, CSSC is the founder of McNay Settlement Group in Richmond, Kentucky. He is an award winning, syndicated financial columnist and the author of two books. You can write to him at [e-mail] or read his previous columns at www.donmcnay.com. Don is Treasurer of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists.

Comments

[kprice64]

I live in Lexington and have been following this story since it broke. There was one important tidbit that was not mentioned, that the airport board advanced Gobb $10k in July 2008 so that he could seek treatment for a serious medical condition. The man was making over $200k annually, had health insurance coverage, free vehicle and fuel, free internet, cell phone and membership to a gym and yet he could not afford to pay for this "treatment" he received in Arizona.

The most recent shenanigan was Gobb flew to Hawaii for an airport executive convention on a $1900 ticket that the airport had purchased for him prior to the investigation and his resignation. The board claims they were unable to cancel the ticket and Gobb's attorney claimed Gobb bought his own ticket but the airport accidentally gave him the wrong ticket.

Can you say cluster screw?

[larry278]

It is almost like a Dickens story; one of the alleged malefactors is named Gobb.

[DenverJJ]

Good post. Move Wall Street to Utah or Des Moines and the national economy would be much better off.

[Trebor1]

On the flip side -- that is why it is so easy to bash socialists, union members, and the working class. Because no one knows THEM !!!

[schatsie]

Nobody knows them because they are at home baby sitting while the wife works another job... and they don't have access to the cash..

The first person to check out is the Treasurer, then Auditors and fire them...

[philopatris]

Compare this to the punishments that are visited on the poor for small thefts of physical items.
These people deserve to be embarrassed and given a criminal and civil record that will prevent their ever being hired again for public positions.
Make them pay back all the money with interest and fines. Probated sentences that stay prominently on their record. Newspaper stories that also do.
There is no need to yell for their blood. They're not Madoff.
But we have to establish accountability and responsibility again, all over the US.
Yes We Can.

[JohnFromCensornati]

If I were one of those people, I wouldn't be showing my face around town. If I were you, I would not be calling them my friends.