October 14, 2008
by Ed Naile
Let’s do some quick math – municipal style.
The Atkinson Town Budget has a line item appropriation of $19,000 for Elderly Affairs.
This money pays for the jazzed up cruiser Police Chief Consentino uses to shuttle little old ladies to doctors appointments. This project helps this incompetent, thick-headed, bully in uniform buy grateful votes for Atkinson Town Meetings. Call it a taxpayer funded get-out-the-vote scam.
Up until this year Consentino was getting donations from some of the little old ladies and putting them in the Elderly Affairs account where he had control of the money. Then, along comes the NH AG’s Office and points out to Atkinson the fact that under state law the Trustees of the Trust Fund control these types of donations.
What does Consentino do? He creates his own non-profit 501c-3 to collect gifts. Now nobody is going to tell the bully what to do! He has his own personal slush fund.
But does he?
Last year, Chief Consentino claimed to have made 1,644 trips with his Town Elderly Affairs money. This is the $19,000 voters raise each year as part of the police budget.
Now is when we ask, how is that financially possible?
It isn’t.
The Chief is obviously using much more Atkinson Police Department money to accomplish his goal of dominating Atkinson politics with his legion of Elderly Affairs beneficiaries. This means fewer patrols by police on duty because the appropriation for that town function is being tapped for sleazy politics.
What about maintenance of vehicles? How can anyone make 1,644 trips anywhere with a cruiser for $19,000? Remember, earlier this year I caught Consentino and a little old lady leaving Manchester in the Elderly Affairs cruiser on Rt. 93 going over 80 miles per hour. Someone has to buy, maintain, insure, fuel, and fix this rig when something goes wrong.
Before Chief Consentino created his PERSONAL 501c3 non-profit Elderly Affairs donations went to the Town of Atkinson to offset expenses, now they go to the bully’s private account.
Consentino has even had the gall to ask people who made past donations to the Town account to request those funds back and re-donate them to his stash – $6,500 has been re-donated so far.
I know two of the Atkinson Selectmen want to comply with the AG’s office and get the Town portion of this scam straightened out but there is the nagging problem of the town resources being used for private gain.
It is not good for any community to have a bully or a weasel in the position of Police Chief. In the end it costs much more than the short term pain of dealing with him.
CNHT is going to ask, through RSA 91-A, for all the records of the Atkinson Elderly Affairs appropriation and publish them on line if the Atkinson Selectmen do not take action themselves soon. Being an Atkinson Selectman and having answers about this shady account would probably make the phone calls from reporters much easier to deal with.