Most of what I just quickly read makes me think the real problems are with the King county government. I found a link to Mr. Winograd’s response to Ron Sims in one of the links you posted.

http://nathanwinograd.blogspot.....nt-of.html

Maybe Mr. Winograd is polarizing, but I admit he is growing on me. I see that Ron Sims did not buy himself a puppet when he hired Mr. Winograd. I never thought much of Ron Sims when I lived in King County, not that he is any worse than many county executives, I suppose.

I’m not sure now why the shelter workers got so up in arms over Mr. Winograd since I see no sign that he blamed the powerless for the awful mess there. Maybe there was a personality clash, but my impression at this point is that they should be glad that he stood up to Sims and the county government.

Are you aware that UC Davis also studied conditions at the shelter, and came to remarkably similar conclusions? UC Davis report cites animal suffering, death in King County shelters

The unspent funds were in the Animal Benefit Fund, public donations to the shelter that just sat and weren’t spent. When after the Winograd and UC Davis reports, a plan for reform was created, some of the funds came from those previously untouched donations. They were totally under the shelter’s control. I’m too hot and tired to dig out everything, bu this should get you started: Shelter dogs and cats to get new space and less crowding

Try searching “King County” on this site, and do some reading. Then search elsewhere. This isn’t about Nathan Winograd.

Happy reading!

Lisa, I didn’t say that greenmonkeyfever is independent. But I notice that she links to Best Friends, a feral TNR program, Woodland Park Zoo…so she does seem to be an average animal lover. I would say looking at the amount of volunteer work she does, above average.

http://greenmonkeyfever.blogspot.com/

But she may also work at the shelter from looking at the entry about Winograd and she feels like the shelter was unfairly smeared.

She seems like a decent person, so you have any proof that the King county shelter is sitting on unused funds of any magnitude?

And if there are unspent funds, is it the fault of shelter management that the funds are not being spent, or is local politics involved? I really don’t know the answer to that question, but if there is really a money-hoarding problem with shelter management, how will the county spending 50K on a consultant fix things?

And I don’t hate Mr. Winograd, but I am skeptical what appears to be a cult of personality around him due to the CCF connection and he just seems like a very polarizing person.

(And those idle, unused funds aren’t counted in the thousands, or tens of thousands, either.)

Comment by Laurie — July 10, 2008 @ 12:51 pm

If your source is that blog, you are putting “independent skeptics” everywhere to shame.

I tried to get in with the grand conspiracy theorists, but they wouldn’t have me. So I’m just a rogue thinker. And I think I recognize a duck when I see one.

“What is the source for your claim of Winograd’s “$50,000 consulting fees from public shelters”? Doesn’t PETA have anything better to do?”
———————

Ah, the other grand conspiracy theory - everyone that isn’t in lockstep with your thinking is part of ‘PETA.’ FYI - I am an independent skeptic. The source is quoted.

(And I am not associated with the greenmonkeyfever blogger or the shelter in any way. I do not even live in that county nor do I approve of that ‘r’ word.)

To respond to the other questions…

The source said that $50,000 was paid by King County, not out of a pile of money the shelter had sitting around. This is much like the case where my county has paid an urban planning firm a small fortune just to come up with suggestions for using some park land the county aquired. Yet the county did not have the funds to put up a long-requested lighted crosswalk to the park and a little girl was killed on her way to the park. (Still no crosswalk a year later.)

Commons sense and decency do not always control how governments spend taxpayer money.

The question in my mind is how 5 days of time is worth $50,000? Perhaps there was some homework involved? (Lots of it.) Even if you think Winograd is ‘worth it’, is it right to take so much money to make suggestions about shelter improvements?

Personally I find the sum shocking. Maybe that blog is a bunch of bunk, I don’t know for sure, but I have been skeptical of Winograd ever since I saw that he submitted to interviews used by the Center for Consumer Freedom. I think it is fine to educate people about things, but I personally would not have anything to do with that lobbyist group.

http://www.sourcewatch.org/ind.....er_Freedom

Just letting it sit.

And I’d like to know what’s wrong with a consultant getting paid, too.

“I think BSL is more about simple-minded thinking than a grand conspiracy theory.”

I think there is some of both at work. The AR groups have been working at getting various forms of legislation enacted all over the country that are designed to slowly erode our rights as animal owners. And these different strategies play on human emotions and human behaviors in different ways - certainly, the “BSL strategy” plays on the tendency of many people to engage in “simple-minded thinking”.

As for your blog entry which you have linked to - has it ever been pointed out to you that the word you use repeatedly - I won’t stoop to using it here, but it begins with an “r” - is considered disrespectful and demeaning to those who are developmentally disabled? You don’t do your own credibility any good by using such crude and hateful language in your efforts to make your case.