Tuesday, May 17, 2005

Pardon a little play on the slogan that he made famous locally while campaigning for state representative but here goes...No foolin', no Hohulin.
Though neither former State Representative Bubs Hohulin or his wife, Marilyn, is mentioned by name in the latest news release from the Missouri Department of Revenue, neither will be running the license fee office in Lamar.
The news release was headlined "Lamar motor vehicle driver licensing office will not transition as planned," creating the verb transition.
The release reads, "The Missouri Department of Revenue announced today that the Lamar licensing contract office will not transition to a new agent this week as was announced on May 12.'
It continues, "The department previously announced a tentative employee who has since withdrawn from consideration." That refers to Marilyn Hohulin, whose name was given in the May 12 release, even though nowhere in that release did it refer to her appointment as tentative. The release indicated it was a done deal.
The current contract agent, former Lamar municipal judge Bob Medlin, will continue to run the office, today's release said "until further notice."
In yesterday's Turner Report, it was mentioned that the site that had been designated by the Hohulins as the location for the fee office, 913 Gulf, had a "For Rent" sign on it. The site had been criticized as not having enough parking.
Today's news release says the office will remain at its current location, 104 W. 12th Street.
Today's news release is the latest embarrassment for department concerning the Lamar office. Initially, a news release was published earlier this year saying that the contract office had been awarded to Bubs Hohulin. No mention was made of that appointment being tentative either, so the Missouri Democratic Party filed a complaint with the state Ethics Commission. That complaint was dismissed when the Commission ruled that Hohulin had not been officially appointed to the position. After that, a Department of Revenue spokesman told The Joplin Globe that Hohulin's name was no longer under consideration for the position. Shortly after that, Hohulin's wife, was "tentatively" appointed.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

A classic case of "what goes around, comes around".

Anonymous said...

It would have been nice if the governor's office had been the ones to take Hohulin out of the picture. That decision may very well have cost Blunt my vote in the future. The man said he would listen . . . and he didn't, or, perhaps he didn't get the message. If he didn't, he may have lost my vote for surounding himself with a staff that doesn't listen. There were a number of problems with this appointment, the worst being "no one ask Barton County what was best for Barton County."

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure if anyone commenting knows the Hohulin's personally, but they each are VERY hardworking people and would do an excellend job running the license office. Give them a chance, then make up your mind. It seems although everyone has their opinions without really knowing the facts

Anonymous said...

Yes, sir, I know him. Hard work has nothing to do with ethics.

Anonymous said...

Well everyone thought Bob Holden was a great choice for Governor. Well after four years of his administration people decided they had enough of Mr Bob. Guess what Matt Blunt? You could be the next Bob Holden with the stuff you've pulled so far. I voted for you but with what I have seen so far it wont happen again!

Anonymous said...

I'm glad this was straightened back up. I was prepared to take all of my license business out of the county. I agree..the Hohulins may be hardworking, but showed no ethics in this situation.

Anonymous said...

Randy, I am thrilled at the news that neither Hohulin will be running the Lamar office so that I will not have to leave town to tag my vehicles. But I am still frustrated with how the Lamar Office was handled by our Governor, the Department of Revenue and the Hohulins.

The Governor should have admitted thier oversight in not recognizing the conflict of interest from the very beginning as well as the Department of Revenue should have looked at the location that Bubs had in Lamar much earlier in the process so (if my source is correct that the old Walters building location was not acceptable)they would have realized the problems with this plan prior to the day before the scheduled change over was announced and finally with Hohulins holding out for personal gain without respect to the other local people interested in the office and the local Republican leadership that prefered someone else.

If the press release was correct that it was Hohulins decision to withdraw so close to the scheduled opening then I think they owe the State of Missouri and Barton County a public apology and financial restitution for wasting our time and money.

I wonder if we will ever know the truth about what all really transpired to bring about this last minute change?