Fred Ilfeld is out of options.
He strung the LAFCO Board out for months in every attempt to forestall the inevitable failure of Incorporate Olympic Valley.
He spent $80k of his own money on financial analyses.
His latest and last gambit was to go to the California Controller’s Office and attempt to get them to re-write the Comprehensive Financial Analysis he disliked. In Fact, Ilfeld sent a list of 30+ “issues” with the analysis to the Controller’s Office.
The Controller Betty Yee understands local government and isn’t likely to pay-to-play and give Illfeld an outcome he likes. She is more ethical player than most politicians. The Controller’s office came back to Ilfeld with a very reasonable response: Pay us $125k to re-do the Financial Analysis, we are not here to cater to you. You get to play by the same rules as the rest of us.
So – what has been Fred Ilfeld’s nexus for this whole thing? Does he want to rule a fiefdom?
Does he want to control development in the area? Is he simply a NIMBY that bought a place up there and now he wants to clear everything and everyone else out?
Will Ilfeld pony up another $125k, bringing the price-tag of his rampage to $400K+? (Remember, you have to include the EIR, Lawyer’s Fees, Consultants, etc in Ilfeld’s total)
Two different experts say incorporation is unfeasible. Fred Already spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on fiscal analyses, financial experts, and high priced lafco attorneys like Coulantano. Much of what IOV (The Incorporation Group) spent goes unreported because LAFCO expenses aren’t campaign expenditures. They don’t count. Will he spend another $125k plus $147k on an EIR when Fred has criticized Squaw for spending money to protect their business?
Fred forced county employees and LAFCO staff to spend hours to give them a fair shake. Will he force the rest of Placer county to continue allowing this selfish effort that distracts limited county resources?
Recently the real NIMBY/BANANA crew sent a shot across everyone’s bow in the Sierra Sun. The enviros basically said they were going to sue to stop Squaw Valley from constructing their expansion.
Sierra Watch has lost most of their frivolous lawsuits. But Ilfeld’s fellow radicals in Sacramento have passed a series of imbalanced laws and regulations that allow such lawsuits without consequence.
Ilfeld will show us all what his true motivations are if he declines to pay for the Controller Review. How? If his goal all along was to thwart the development (which is what I believe), then he will simply pass the baton to the enviros because he knows IOV is dead. His only remaining hope will be whether the enviros can successfully judge-shop for a left-wing loser they can manipulate.
Admitting IOV is dead would be a total humiliation and I know few pseudo-intellectual university professors that could bear to be forced to admit fault so publicly. So, behind door number 2 is:
If he wants a fiefdom to rule over – he has to pay the money, because he boxed himself in to a corner. He has to be able to make a case that LAFCO is corrupt and the CFA is bogus. If the controller returns a CFA that says IOV does not work – then Ilfeld has to sue himself.
Sometimes university professors show the world what the term “book smart” means. Nimbys want control of a ski town for their own selfish pleasure. These aren’t common folk, they are wealthy people pursuing this ridiculous effort to incorporate. Time to end the madness, Fred.
