Whipping Boys Or Asleep At The Wheel? Crisp Coverage Uncovered :
Ouch. I won't speak for all the media here, nor will I speak for the reporting of others.
But I believe in transparency.
Since I was handed this story several months ago, we've been working diligently on getting the story on the air. It takes longer than I'd like. Television news is a different beast than Online or print reporting. Yes, we need video. Of houses in question, of people, and of documents. Add to that the time that it takes to pull these records at the hall of records. Then, we have to track down key players and give them a chance to respond. When we go out and do that, we get a small but strident minority who say we're being too agressive and unethical. When I put a story on the air, I stand behind my work. I can't go on the air with a story without backing it up with documents and multiple sources. And many sources on this story were reluctant or otherwise unwilling to come forward. I talked with scores of members of the real estate industry who knew about the transactions that we reported in July, but were unwilling to discuss them on camera or even mention David Crisp Or Carl Cole.
40 comments:
Glad to see my previous comments are falling on a receptive audience in the spirit they were intended.
Kiyoshi and that ankle biter Scott Rivera have nothing to apologize for in my book. Sure they were slow to the story, but as mentioned they did need proof. And since many of us bloggers aren't in the RE business we couldn't prove much.
Now for Mr. Hart - I just don't like him and his comments on the blog. I'm glad he got bit by the dawg!
Why did Galen Young (@ 17 news)continue to puff this up?
He did a report in late 2006 where he stated "we are getting lots of calls from people on this subject" (none of them was me). He then stated they are all untrue. He then went on to debunk them all. Meanwhile most of them have turned out to be true.
Why did he do the piece? If he didn't believe it (the rumors) then why not just ignore them? Why do a piece to let everyone know "everyting is a ok"?
Also, Jim Scott did a show in the Summer of 2005 where he had realtors and appraisers on to discuss this out of control market. They ALL stated there were no issues and prices would continue to rise. Where was the balance on that show? Obviously you guys knew this could not continue, yet realtors were allowed to continue to pump up this market when it was obvious we were at the peak. Were they looking for a few more suckers?
Meanwhile...
I hope you guys are going to cover the RUN ON THE BANK in England happening right now. This is big news...
http://calculatedrisk.blogspot.com/2007/09/northern-rock-bank-run.html
Run on the bank photos.
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/ver/223/popup/index.php?cl=4093666
Video of a "former" shady brokers
The central banks can only throw so much money at the problem. We are in a recession are we starting the depression? Is Sept./Oct. the start of it (bank runs).
Often times, my frustration with the media comes from their apparent lack of insight and the lack of relevant questions that follow. Case in point: My blogging partner and I did a few posts on the Sacramento area pot house story. We were able to track and predict where the next busts would occur based on the agent of record for the past transactions (the crime syndicate used the same RE agent for all their purchases :) Not surprisingly, we both received calls from our local media representatives asking for insight, which we provided. What followed was the weakest set of news stories you could imagine, no hard questions for involved parties, and little follow-up on a huge local story. I got so pissed, I wrote up a post with suggested questions the reporters could ask.
I appreciate Kiyoshi's perspective, and I would like to hear from the other media outlets in Bakersfield. Was there any editorial pressure to paint Crisp in a good light? Are you claiming you were conned like the rest of his victims are?
I have a feeling that in most of these newsrooms, 99% of the on-air content is controlled by either the assignment editors or the news director. The reporters are just the worker bees.
However, there were a million leads to follow in 2005 and most media outlets chose to be lazy and not run bad stories on their customers (the advertisers).
As for Mr. Hart - you just found the biggest real estate blog in Bakersfield in 2007? Take your hubris and your journalism degree and mail them back - you're WAY too late to the party to be cocky.
Kiyoshi's been quick to investigate and follow up, but Hart is just a hack trying to justify his previous inability to see past his own nose. Pathetic.
These people are not Casey Serin, i.e., everyday garden variety fraudsters. These people hired, organized, managed, and ran a continuing criminal enterprise and they did so not under the noses of the local media, but right in their faces up close and personal.
I still say Mike Hart is a good guy. He has a lot of different areas of interest and RE may just not be one the "fron burner" for him.
Some of us RE "nerds" don't realize that what is "de rigeur" to us (economics-micro¯o, local financings and concomitant idiosychrasies thereto, RE machinations incl REO's, LOC's, LIBOR, HELOC's, etc.) is mumbo jumbo to others.
I knew right away that this blog was not only run by someone truly "dialed in" to RE and economics but that most of the bloggers were as well.
It is highly ironic that one of the major disagreements I've had in the past with Mike Hart was relevant to another "Dawg" -- i.e. pitbulls and their "bites". :-)
Wow!
That was wierd! What I submitted was way different than what posted:
Should have been {edited}:
"and RE may just not be one on the "front burner" for him.
Some of us RE "nerds" don't realize that what is "de rigeur" to us (economics-micro{& macro},.."
Bear: What you posted has made me wonder if RICO statutes may not apply?
I'm gonna go out of character here for a moment. David found a slot machine that paid off nearly all the time not every time just near every time. The mere effort of pulling the handle made money. The harder you pulled the more you made. David pulled hard. Even if you pointed it out he could point to his success and "prove" you wrong. By the time statistics asserted themselves he had access to massive credit and resources. Tapping credit, leveraging resources? Happens all the time. At this point he probably didn't even understand he was gambling. It was only then when he should have retrenched and refocused that instead he decided to "double down" to spare his family and reputation.
Well, that's one story at least. ;-)
I more or less agree with the dawg. Those of us who knew (know) Crisp and grew up with the kid knows that he was a pretty decent guy. Always kind and hard worker (not like his brother).
I feel is initial intentions were good, it's was just that his convictions about the market powering every higher were dead wrong. Then when the market "turned" (which every RE agent should've seen) he went to the shady side. Clearly his ego (which I never saw until just a few years ago) got in the way...
I say he'll lay claim to doing it in an attempt to help humanity in the name of God.
They always do.
Here's an idea: Determine common financial and religious affiliations David and Carl had that also work for the Bakersfield media.
Anyone think that wouild ever happen?
Curious said...
"Here's an idea: Determine common financial and religious affiliations David and Carl had that also work for the Bakersfield media."
Hmmmmmmmmmmm.......
Careful now.............
Remember in "Planet of the Apes" when Zeus tried to tell Charleton Heston: "Don't go there Taylor, you may not like what you find......"
While we are still discussing the effects of the drop out of the market, could anyone tell me if CSU has a seed money program along the lines of UC? This is a program put into place to loan money to new faculty and high-ranking administrative staff to fund RE loans.
My nose tells me there is a minor story out there regarding future hardship to educational institution's finances.
Gwynster said: "My nose tells me there is a minor story out there regarding future hardship to educational institution's finances"
Sniff......sniff.... I smell a CSUB connection/story here.....
Not sure how "minor" it is!
In UC's case, the loans are part of a relocation package to entice new faculty. They get a very low rate, something like 3%. But it's still a low rate on a very overpriced asset.
Now here is the what if part of the discussion. With values declinging, will people walk away even though the loans are being carried by their employer? Will the institution make large land purchases, knowing full well they are overpaying, to help prop up values where a large about of these seed money loans were used? How much are they banking on those 3% interest payments to float a future program? It may all be fine. I'm just curious.
about= amount
Determine common financial and religious affiliations David and Carl had that also work for the Bakersfield media.
Bako is such a small town, I wouldn't be surprised to find common threads. But remember, correlation is not causation.
As a member of the media (not local), it isn't hard to surmise what happened in newsrooms around the city.
You're pulling in advertising dollars from a source that exudes affluence. A positive relationship there pays off big in the long run. Despite what all other leads suggest, you protect that revenue stream--not by lying, but by sticking your head in the sand.
Months pass and your invoices go unpaid. In any other industry, collections is your only recourse against such a large bill. In print, Web, or broadcast, the pen is mightier.
When it becomes clear you were taken for x number of full-page spreads or 30 second clips, you do the job you should have done before advertising interfered with journalistic integrity and bury the subject in question (it's an inevitability when the money men call the shots--I'm not critisizing here).
I see it happen in technology all of the time. It's no wonder the story is hot now that these outlets know they won't be getting paid.
"Sniff......sniff.... I smell a CSUB connection/story here....."
I'm thinking more about the approx $2 mil funneled to CSUB to get the "Towers Project".
Could have been more. Wonder where it all went? New President, moving to Division One?
" When it becomes clear you were taken for x number of full-page spreads or 30 second clips, you do the job you should have done before advertising interfered with journalistic integrity and bury the subject in question (it's an inevitability when the money men call the shots--I'm not critisizing here)."
As Mark Twain once said, " A Journalist is someone that fills in the space between advertisments".
Having worked as a reporter for a couple of papers about the size of the Californian, no reporter and most editors (the people writing the stories and deciding what's going in daily) have no idea who is putting ads in the paper or how much they are paying. And they don't want to know.
Your main incentive is not to be beaten, especially by the local TV stations. Why did the Californian have a Crisp fluff piece--because the Bee had a Crisp fluff piece. Its mainly about the competition, not the ad revenues in the newsroom. Circulation is still king, and fraud is always popular.
And for a paper the size of the Californian, and probably for most of the TV stations in Bakersfield, the revenue from C&C would be relatively small. Real estate as a whole would be large; C&C, no.
How this applies to TV, I'm not so sure.
I just watched the news video from yesterday.
The Elmer Fudd-like appraiser Mark Newton says the FBI came in looking for 48 files, yet he only had 11.
Either he has a very poor filing system, or he never originated those other 37 appraisals. If there are 37 forged San Juaquin appraisals attached to Crispy loans, Elmer Fudd will soon be a witness for the prosecution.
Does anyone know if the news guy Kurt Rivera is related to realtor Scott Rivera?
Elmer Fudd Newton shoulda had his atty speak for him.
Whadda dope!
He does "good work" though!
I'm glad someone else in town saw that FRONT PAGE of The Sacramento BEE article back to Oct 2005 about David Crisp.
one questions:
Does anybody have any idea how many lots are in tentative in metro Bakersfield? I'm guessing its yonder of 50,000!
"Having worked as a reporter for a couple of papers about the size of the Californian, no reporter and most editors (the people writing the stories and deciding what's going in daily) have no idea who is putting ads in the paper or how much they are paying. And they don't want to know."
What a wonderful testimonial to the caliber of journalists at "Californian" scale newspapers.
No idea who's putting ads in the paper? I guess the reporters never read their own newspaper.
Hint: Look between the blocks of copy to find the advertisements.
"And they don't want to know." Wonderful sense of curiosity there!
With these kinds of journalistic instincts, it's no wonder that local papers have become so useless as real carriers of relevant and insightful news information.
Yes, circulation is still king. The result is a paper stuffed with irrelevant fluff, geared toward the lowest common denominator.
(sigh)
Lone: Of course you are right.
At this point are we kicking my dead bull (chocked down by "vaqueros" trying to rope his a$$ and couldn't??)
We know he's dead. We know the arrogant a$$holes that did it.
What more needs be said? The "vaqueros" are telling my cowboys that the bull just had a "heart attack" for now reason.
At this point, we need to post the bull, ID the rope, talk to cowboys watching (witnesses), do DNA with rope and bull, go back to loading chutes, etc. for blood evidence to show pattern of abuse, in short, do a whole lotta footwork.
Does this analogy make any sense to any of you?
Give the FBI time.
Hey Ray time to sober up and get up out of that warm puddle of your own piss you're sitting in.
We know the FBI will take their time and get it right.
He's talking about your backwoods, buttfucking so-called journalists bellying up to the bar and slapping each other on the back and sucking each others' dicks.
You know about that, right Ray?
Sucking on and sucking up, waiting to be spoon-fed at the bar instead of doing research, pounding the phone, knocking on doors and asking pointed questions. Making people uncomfortable.
And then printing what smells shitty and letting the chips fall where they may.
Got that, Ray.
Gee
Ya got me
Ray Ray
From the Dale
gee: I've never mentioned the bigger implications heir apparent in re RICO, Vegas, S Wynn, C-21 Vegas, CSUB, HELOC's, LIBOR, FBI, IRS, HUD-1'S, LO'S, ESCROW O'S, CPA'S, J. ARR'S.'S, AIDEN & ALL LLC'S, HAYDOCK, ETC.
I've produced more grist for the mill than you have.
ante up
sure the media are banwagon jumpers
ever watch birds on wires?
happy as hell on one set of wires until one decides to go to another
then they all do
its what they do esse
Interesting...I recall that Crisp did compare himself with Steve Wynn at one time.
Check out the editorial in Sunday's Californian:
http://www.bakersfield.com/opinion/editorials/story/237609.html
Why has no one looked into Julie Farmer? She was David's right arm on ALL TRANSACTIONS!!! And she was an Agent!!! Why no mention of her?
I hear Julie Farmer is an Accounting Assistant at Brinderson Constructors, a southern California firm new to Bakersfield that's had its share of lawsuits already (search "Brinderson"). Janie JJ Stockton was also there for a while before becoming pregnant with her second child. Brilliant putting someone like Julie around money and lien releases. That has trouble written all over it.
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