A Media Frenzy

Recently, there has been a media frenzy in response to the nasty tape recording released by County Executive Mark Hackel in an attempt to distract the public from what amounts to a crime.  While it is clear to most that this an attempt to silence and intimidate Warren Mayor James Fouts who cried foul on County Executive Mark Hackel who gave the green light to his “favorite” contractor to illegally dump at least 150,000 yards of road excavation dirt at the Freedom Hill closed landfill without any required permits or approval.  While County Executive Mark Hackel admitted that he did not have any written agreement with the contractor for the illegal dumping, the issue escalated when the Mayor of the 3^rd largest City in Michigan publicly requested that the AG conduct an investigation into what could have resulted in an environmental disaster in Macomb County.  Known for weeding out public corruption, Mayor Fouts insisted that such illegal actions by public officials must have consequences to avoid actions like this in the future.  

No stranger to playing “dirty” politics, the County Executive Mark Hackel “leaked” a morphed and engineered audio file of the Mayor in an attempt to pull the proverbial “wool” over the eyes of his constituency, by encouraging a network of media contacts to quickly go after Mayor Fouts in an attempt to disparage and discourage the citizens of Macomb County from pursuing the complaint raised by the Mayor of Warren regarding the cover-up of the illegal dumping at Freedom Hill and the systemic corruption plaguing Macomb County.

Received anonymously and with no indication of the time, date, or even the location of where this recording took place, County Executive Mark Hackel himself admits that the tape was edited, and is unsure of the number of edits/splices this recording underwent. 

While Mayor Jim Fouts questions not only the validity of this AWFUL tape, but the context of the tape, and who was also speaking and where this speech was recorded, and according to multiple sources, the contents of this tape clearly DO NOT reflect Mayor James Fouts' attitude towards the special needs community, the public outcry was as expected, severe.   

In a statement on his Facebook page, Warren Mayor James Fouts responded to this attempt to silence him by stating: "This recording was not me.  He (County Executive Mark Hackel) will stop at nothing which already includes name calling and intimidation. Expect the worse! When Mark doesn't have the facts Mark attacks."  

According to anonymous sources, County Executive Mark Hackel has the expertise available to him to electronically engineer audio recordings, in a technique commonly known as audio morphing and modulation, to serve his own political agenda in a vicious attempt to discredit his political rivals.  The software, referred to as voice cloning, has been on the market since 2001, and is easily capbale of synthesizing anyone’s voice by using just a few voice samples of anyone “simply talking somewhere out in public, during mobile phone calls, in videos posted on social networking sites,”.  Examples of which are Google’s DeepMind, Adobe’s Project VoCo, and many others.

While it is clear that the fallout from the illegal dumping at Freedom Hill clearly has nothing to do with the diversionary tactic used by County Executive Mark Hackel, the Mayor of Warren is prepared to use this opportunity to advocate and assist the special needs community and by raising awareness regarding the challenges faced by some members of our society every day. 

In addition to donating a sizeable contribution to fund the Awareness Building Campaign initiated by Lt. Governor Bryan Calley, Mayor Fouts publicly commented on his Facebook page that “If anything positive comes out of this, it is that there is more public attention on the issue.”  In a Facebook post, Mayor James Fouts stated that he “want(s) to make things better going forward, and will certainly do (his) part!”

While the county heals, it is important to remember this incident was a great learning opportunity for those of us unware of the challenges faced by certain members of our society.  It is important to remember that these individuals are the everyday heroes and champions that triumph over adversity on a daily basis setting an example for the rest of us.

A letter to Mayor Jim Fouts from Bernice A. King

 

January 9, 2015

The Honorable James Fouts Mayor of Warren, Michigan One City Square

Dear Mayor Fouts:

I am pleased to offer words of praise for you and the work that you have championed in Warren, Michigan, in your capacity as chief executive of that city. Personally, I know that it takes a leader with unwavering courage to embrace noble initiatives that are controversial in the minds of those who do not share your same convictions.  I am sure that your decision to observe Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday, for the first time in Warren, was met with considerable angst   However, you remained undeterred in your commitment in celebrating my father's legacy as a tribute to him and the role he played in fighting, and, ultimately, sacrificing his life for the causes of freedom, justice and equality.

Our theme for this year's King Holiday Observance is "Remember! Celebrate! Act! King's Legacy of Courage for our World."    I have no doubt that you will continue to lead your municipality with this motto as one of your guiding principles.  Your leadership certainly sets an example that politicians and other persons of influence should seek to emulate in the discharge of their duties.

Again, thank you for all of that you have done in Warren to honor my father.

With warmest personal regards,

Bernice A. King Chief Executive Officer

The Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Non-Violent Change, Inc.

449 Auburn Ave. NE  •  Atlanta, Georgia  30312   •  Phone:  404.526.8900      •  Fax: 404-526-8901

www.thekingcenter.org

A Statement regarding the recent public attacks from a disgruntled former consultant against Mayor Jim Fouts

Over the past few weeks, a series of fake recordings have been floating around the media channels, alleging that someone, purportedly Warren Mayor Jim Fouts, said some terrible things.  And while dirty tricks and diversions are nothing new, these vicious attacks have gone too  far.  A common denominator in the release of these fake audio recordings, and naturally, the most vocal in its corroboration, is Joe DiSano, the former disgruntled political consultant.

Well known in political circles for orchestrating and implementing questionable political tactics such as phony and misleading mailers, fraudulent and slanderous automated phone messages, and spreading malicious rumors on social media, Joe’s misadventures have on occasions landed him in hot water.   In fact, one such incident of dirty political tricks resulted in a record setting monetary judgment issued against Joe DiSano.

Joe’s obsession with the Mayor of Warren began when the Mayor didn't agree to employ DiSano with the City of Warren. 

Extremely upset over the Mayor’s decision to not hire him, Joe DiSano threatened the Mayor in front of numerous credible witnesses, that included an elected official and an appointed official, and has held a longstanding grudge ever since.  This grudge, eventually grew into an obsession with the Mayor, and his social media presence.  This obsession manifested itself in numerous ways, including stalking and trolling the Mayor’s Facebook and Twitter pages, and creating multiple fake accounts to harass and slander the Mayor of the 3^rd largest City in Michigan. 

Playing dirty political tricks and being involved in numerous scandals over his tumultuous career as a political consultant, Joe DiSano has delivered on his promise to stalk, harass, and slander Mayor Fouts, in an attempt to distract the Administration from continuing to implement the Mayor’s multiple development initiatives that have greatly improved the quality of life for the residents of Warren. 

Joe DiSano has made a career of creating dirty political stunts, making false statements about multiple elected officials, initiating robocall campaigns and many other political tricks, and was in fact quoted in multiple publications as stating that “voters don't look at fact-checking websites or research the claims made.” online, insinuating that sensationalism, not facts, drive votes.   One such incident resulted in a record setting monetary judgment against Joe DiSano for such dirty political tricks.

Joe Disano, along with his wife, were temporally employed by the Hillary Clinton campaign.  Mayor Fouts, a vocal supporter of the former democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, was attacked by Joe and his wife at the Democratic Debate when the Mayor cheered in support of Bernie Sanders.  Following this incident, Joe’s wife proceeded to further verbally assault  the Mayor in the spin room, and then published an extremely offensive post on a personal blog.  

Joe Disano had also been employed by Rizzo Waste Management Services.  As many Warren and Macomb Residents recall, this company had been the center of a scandal in Macomb County.   Rizzo Environmental Services, requested that the City of Warren outsource its sanitation department, to which the Mayor did not agree.  Moreover, Rizzo Waste Management Services had asked for a $10 / Per Ton increase in recycling with a Guarantee of at least 30,000 tons at one time.  The cost to the taxpayers of Warren would have been hefty, an additional $880,000.   Mayor Fouts refused these services, and as a result , Rizzo Services no longer works for the city of Warren. 

In short, it is evident that Joe DiSano, driven by greed and revenge, has no credibility.

www.jamesfouts.com