Developer Steve Schuck apologized Sunday to City Council President Scott Hente after a war of words sparked by a report that Schuck said that council members were “sitting on their asses doing nothing.”
“When approached prior to the meeting by the reporter, she had no writing materials and no visible recording device,” Schuck said about the reporter, who DOES NOT work for The Gazette, in an email to Hente.
“She never indicated that our discussion was an interview and that its content would be shared with the public. Shame on me for trusting her and not properly protecting myself by limiting my comments to only those which were guarded and well thought out. This ain’t my first rodeo. It will be interesting, however, to hear her explanation of how she actually validates my so called quotes,” he wrote.
Regardless, Schuck said he was sorry for his “poor choice of words” and any offense they may have caused.
“No one better understands all you do or has more respect and appreciation for the commitment and sacrifices you and other members of Council make in order to serve our community. Unlike most other elected officials, many of whom are handsomely compensated, you are true servants whose primary reward has to come from within,” he wrote.
Here is the full, unedited text of Schuck’s email to Hente:
scott
It is very unfortunate that others, one of whom may have questionable motivations, or worse, have functioned as intermediaries between us. My choice is to communicate directly with you.
Let me start by apologizing for my poor choice of words and for any offense they caused. No one better understands all you do or has more respect and appreciation for the commitment and sacrifices you and other members of Council make in order to serve our community. Unlike most other elected officials, many of whom are handsomely compensated, you are true servants whose primary reward has to come from within.
You may not be too surprised to learn that the quote attributed to me was both incomplete and seriously out of context.
When approached prior to the meeting by the reporter, she had no writing materials and no visible recording device. She never indicated that our discussion was an interview and that its content would be shared with the public. Shame on me for trusting her and not properly protecting myself by limiting my comments to only those which were guarded and well thought out. This ain’t my first rodeo. It will be interesting, however, to hear her explanation of how she actually validates my so called quotes.
Having apologized for the comments, let me change course and stand behind the message. It has been my position for a long time that any decision about the future of CSU must first take into consideration the costs and benefits that every responsible alternative might generate. You and a few other members of Council have already advocated an outcome, one that may or may not prove to ultimately be the best, without having the information that allows you to compare it to the others, assessing them all in an objective fashion with all available facts. The objective of Thursday’s meeting was to start a process, one that would ultimately result in your receiving expert input about alternatives and the tradeoffs associated with each. Why would you not want, or even demand, that information? When challenged about ‘why are YOU doing this,” my response was that no one else was, so why not me? When challenged about “why now” and why not wait a year as was recommended by Council, my response was “why NOT now?” Obviously you and the rest of Council came to the same conclusion on Wednesday.
As to your comments about me personally, they do not merit a response. My record and history speak for themselves.
Lastly, it is important to clarify the position of many of us towards tax increases and Tabor. We are not Neanderthals, as you imply. Rather, we are convinced that our City is on a perilous slide towards insolvency and we can no longer afford to do business as usual. If, after Mayor Bach has completed his transformation of city hall and squeezed out every possible unnecessary and counterproductive expense and cost, both financial and operational, there is still a need to enhance revenues, you will find me at the front of the line favoring them. But not until, and unless, we have exhausted all options to reduce both direct and indirect expenses will some of us swallow and prescribe the distasteful pill of draining resources from those who deploy them most efficiently. Our economy remains in crisis, unemployment in the Springs is almost 10 percent and most taxpayers are already struggling. This is no time to even consider raising taxes.
Despite our differences on some matters of policy, Scott, please know of my gratitude and admiration for all you do and for your outstanding service. should you wish to visit directly at any time, please just let me know.
Best regards
steve
Why are they taking advice from a person that has filed bankruptcy? Stevie needs to go away.
Instead of “raising taxes,” why not just increase everyone’s utility bill by 10%? After all, decreasing the spending power of every person and organization is what a tax-increase would do. So why not decrease the spending power by raising utility rates?
The city budget needs more money, and it’s evident by the “raise taxes” crowd that you and I have more than we really need. At least, more than the social engineers think we need.
So just raise the utilities rates by 10% — or whatever rate the social engineers want in order to make the world a better place — and skip the political debate.
So what if you won’t have enough money to go out to dinner or to the movies as much as you did. The movie theaters and restaurants don’t need your money as much as does the city. So what if people who work at theaters and restaurants have their hours cut. They don’t need a paycheck as badly as does the city. And so what if the under-employed theater and restaurant workers will have to find a second or third job to pay their bumped-up utility bills.
What do we really think happens when we “raise taxes?”
The citizens will vote on emotion, so whoever in the end brings out the most emotion with their platform will win. The public will never be educated enough to make a decision on facts, there are too many. EPRI said Newman was good, now there is doubt? So there you go. It will be like this from now until a decision is made, and by who?
Mr. Schuck is so full of it. He tries so hard to portray himself as being some seasoned executive: “this isn’t my first rodeo.” What does that even mean, cowboy? The truth is that he is a wealthy dude who is exerting his influence on the mayor and on other rich dudes to create a developer’s utopia — sans public input or process. He knows public input would mean an end to his dreams. Can’t he just go to some luxurious island somewhere and stop trying to manipulate our lives from behind his velvet curtain?
Thanks for leaving in the link to the Indy article. Nice to know there’s still someone out there digging up news…so many articles are just transcribing meeting minutes.
While Mr. Chacon seems to enjoy being coy about it, the Independent’s Pam Zubeck is the reporter with whom Mr. Schuck spoke on Thursday. It was made clear to Mr. Schuck that Pam was there on assignment. She did use a recording device without advising Mr. Schuck that she was doing so, as Colorado law permits. And the quotes she used were neither incomplete nor out of context.
Pam you rock. There is nothing new under the sun. So what are they, the Colorado Springs Mafia , where we have to dip and dodge the media or anybody who is not in the loop.
You never know who is watching, listening and recording.
This won’t stop the hots shots from running thier mouths they can’t help themselves. LOL
Lilithia
I have worked as a vendor with the Schuck Corporation for years and found Steve and Bill to be men of outstanding character and integrity.
I’m sure that there will be those who think that as a vendor I’m pandering to a client. But I shared that for two reasons. First to be open and transparent (unlike a reporter secretly recording a convversation as an interview). And second because after years of doing business with the Schucks I speak from actual experience. Steve is a good man who cares about small businesses, education, and Colorado Springs.
Yes, Steve has influence. He is high on a list of men whom I admire. But, he has earned it, he didn’t buy it as was implied.
If you give a damn about our city, quit bashing those who are making a positive difference, find a cause you care about, and do something other than running your mouth!
Common for Mayor Bachs administration. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4qYzN4BSzU&sns=em
” First to be open and transparent” Oh, like holding a private closed door meeting with invited public officials. Not so open and transparent if you ask me…more like shady and underhanded. These “business experts” are only crooks trying to get their hands on the potential windfall of a utility sale. I think that Mr. Dierdorff is just sucking up for business…
Well as far as Sch(m)uk’s true interest I can say that before he gets a piece of that pie I, as a ratepayer of CSU want my cut of any sale first. Whatever is left Sch(m)uck and his vultures can have. Of course there won’t be a town left after Mayor Batch gets done with his fire sale of every city asset.
I applaud Mr. Hente and the other brave members of the city council (not Leigh, Williams or Dugan however) for standing up to these marauders.
Personally, it is time for a recall of one “Strong” Mayor and perhaps an adjustment to the “Strong” Mayor government. Ever wonder why the developers were so supportive of this type of government? And people talk about the corruption of Chicago politics…ha!
Outstanding Character and Integrity, If this is true then these Men Bach, Vidal Schuck, Wayne ect.. would not be hiding behind closed doors(invitation only) Whinning, talking smack about others, soothing each others wounds and crying about how CSU is going to be a lot harder to get done then what we planned.
City goverment is not filled with people who have Character or Intergrity becasue if they did they would not be in city goverment. It’s all about who plays ball and who plays the hardest.
MANIPULATING BEING SHADY IS NOT OUTSTANDING CHARACTER OR INTEGRITY , TREVOR HOW MUCH IS YOUR KICK BACK GOING TO BE LOL.
So, if anyone should shut thier mouths should be the one who has things to hid.
Lilithia
As stated above why is anyone listening to Mr. Shuck. He has claimed bankruptcy at least once, and screwed several local people and small businesses out of large sums of money. Mayor Bach has admitted (was Shuck corp. COO-as reported during the mayoral campaign) that Mr. Shuck is one of his “advisors”. Do we really want him advising the mayor or council on anything. Nice piece of land to develope down town if Martin Drake goes away. Hmmmmm wonder who’d be first in line for that?
The development community pushed for the strong mayor and other than Skorman every candidate was a developer. There is a fox in charge of the hen house, and the business model is skim off as much money as possible claim bankruptcy and start over. Just like the previous bankruptcy the little guy is left holding the bag. In this case is you and me!
Did anyone else pick up on the fact that Schuck is blaming Hente for Schuck’s poor choice of words and behavior? Ah yes, blame the victim for the crime, there ya go. If you hadn’t done this, I wouldn’t have had to call you names and beat you up. Typical bully stance.
Was an undisclosed recording unfair? Maybe.
Did Mr Shuck deny his words of condemnation about council? No.
Should the people know when powerful wealthy people are meeting with the Mayor, newspaper, and selected allies? Yes.
So two people did something in the dark, would it not have been better meetings and interviews held in the light? Yes.
Perhaps everyone should Google “Colorado Springs city government code of ethics” and read it over.
This is who it covers:
“1.3.101: LEGISLATIVE PURPOSE:
A. There is hereby adopted by the City Council “The City of Colorado Springs Code of Ethics” which shall apply to the Mayor and Council members, all their appointed boards, committees and commissions, the City Manager, Utilities Chief Executive Officer, Memorial Health System Chief Executive Officer, City Attorney, City Clerk, City Auditor, Municipal Court Judges, department heads appointed by the City Manager and all employees of the City’s municipal government and its enterprises including Colorado Springs Utilities and Memorial Health System.”
I think that covers Bach, Bennett and Leigh.
This is one of my favorite part of the code:
“1.3.106: CONFLICTS OF INTEREST:
Every covered person owes a duty of loyalty to the City. A conflict of interest exists when there is any personal or financial relationship that could influence or be PERCEIVED to influence the representation or conduct of business for, or on behalf of the City. A conflict of interest also exists when any improper and undue influence can be exercised or be PERCEIVED to be exercised concerning a direct action involving the City. A conflict of interest my exist when there is an APPEARANCE of impropriety. No conflict of interest is allowed.”
If you ask me, our “Strong’ Mayor, Bennett and Leigh violated that code of ethics as they are being perceived as being influenced by outside interests by attending a closed door meeting that could effect a city enterprise. I think they should divulge everything that was discussed in that meeting or be brought up on a code of ethics violation complaint — any citizen can do it.