The troubling relationship between Mark Rohr and Wallace-Bajjali

When the Joplin City Council made its first aborted attempt to fire City Manager Mark Rohr, the people of Joplin- at least those who sent their comments to the Joplin Globe and other local media- seemed to be of almost one mind.

They wanted the council members who dared oppose Rohr to be strung up and they were not too happy with that Texas firm, Wallace-Bajjali, that the council brought in to be the master developer for the tornado-stricken area of the city.

Bringing in Wallace-Bajjali or any other master developer was the furthest thing from the City Council's mind in the days following the May 22, 2011, Joplin Tornado. The idea came from Rohr, who was fired this morning by the Joplin City Council following a marathon closed session. and the Citizens Advisory Recovery Team (CART).

When David Wallace of Wallace-Bajjali first came to Joplin is a matter that has not exactly been pinned down with some saying he was here even before the tornado. One thing is for certain- Wallace was in the city right after the tornado and was already working with Rohr and those involved with CART.

A profile by the investigative online magazine STRY noted the following:

There’s no clear answer as to when Wallace Bajjali formally came into the picture. Rohr says David Wallace was looking at construction projects in Joplin in the days before the storm. (CART Chairman Jane) Cage remembers Wallace showing up at meetings in the weeks after the tornado.

What is certain is that Wallace started talking about a formal partnership long before Joplin was ready to take action.

It was David Wallace, a developer, who pushed the idea that the city of Joplin should hire a developer and he had a ready partner in Rohr, who not only vouched for the Texas businessman, but also steered the City Council past Wallace-Bajjali's troubled history,which includes, as the Turner Report was the first area media outlet to note, involvement in two bankruptcies and a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation that led to Wallace and his partner, Costa Bajjali, both agreeing to pay $60,000 fines, though they insisted that other people were at fault.

The STRY article noted how Rohr steered the Joplin City Council past any concerns members might have had about Wallace-Bajjali:

But some things from Wallace Bajjali’s background nearly derailed a deal. In February (2012), the comapny agreed to a deal with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to pay back $1.2 million to investors. The SEC says the company was involved in a fraudulent scheme involving a media entity called BizRadio. The investors were less kind, saying Wallace Bajjali knowingly backed a Ponzi scheme.

In Amarillo, Texas, where Wallace Bajjali is working on a $113 million development project, one of their partners was forced into bankruptcy.

Rohr says he personally investigated the matters. He says he’s spoken to multiple officials in Amarillo about Wallace. When asked by council members about the SEC fines, Rohr says: “I described David as being a very trusting person. And in some of his business dealings, he got involved with people that, in retrospect, didn’t warrant that trust.”

The article also notes that though six companies submitted proposals for developing the tornado-stricken area of Joplin, Rohr provided far more favorable information about Wallace-Bajjali than the rest of the developers combined:

In April, city councilman Benjamin Rosenberg publicly criticized Rohr for not disclosing more information about the five other applicants. At that meeting, according to a Joplin Globe report, Rohr told council members that he would stake his reputation on Wallace’s company.