well, well, well mr hausman, looks like you finally did it. you've managed to defame a long time and faithful public servant, while getting yourself and your back-stabbing friends rich, using county money. hey newspress, any rumor of a kickback? betcha dont have to dig too deep to find that one. mr hausman, i went to school with some of your clan, and guess what, they don't like you. i don't blame them. i don't like you either. rosie, you're on deck ma'am. go get'em, but be sure to get some tall wading boots before you get sworn in, in january.

While I normally wouldn't like this story or others like it for face value, I happen to know some Hausmans.

Guess what? The Hausmans have been prominent business owners in this city for much longer than Mr. Hausman has sat on the commission. Turns out the family is in to so many things that it is inevitable, and logical they would eventually be performing work for the county or city.

So what, because this guy has a big family we have to punish everyone else in it? Absurd.

Why are they being targeted because they are successful? They are hardly the only name with old money in town. I don't see anything in the above article that isn't above-board. If he's got resources, why shouldn't we utilize them. Fairly. Which is apparently what is going on and people are whining.

MichaelH,
I usually agree with you, but not on this one. There is a problem, especially within the story. I don't have hundreds of thousands to kick around, but evidently the city does. To give someone a project that is off the other bid by $122,000 is absurd using the excuse that the higher one had a better "architectural design". Did anyone think of going to the other company and ask for their architectural design? That would be just good business for that amount of money. I agree with JAFO in that the Hausmans are pushy bullies that use their money to buy out or run out the competition. Now they have someone on the inside to take it a step further. The story with councilman Russell sounds like this Hausman has learned well from the family practices.

By the way, it doesn't always have to be nepotism to get smoked in this city. Try going to the "Planning and Zoning Commission" against a contractor in St. Joseph. Considering all of the bigger contractors deal with everyone on that committee (as most of the committee is comprised of construction related people), it is totally impossible to get a fair shake. Does anyone in St Joe have the sense to put impartial people on these groups? I guess not. The "good ole boy" system is alive and thriving in Joetown.

Im just surprised it took this long to run a story on this.

I'm not surprised it took them this long at all. I am surprised they didn't wait until the week of the election to run the story. The dirt always seems to surface close to election times.

I guess I’m stupid or blind, but I don’t see a smoking gun in this article.

The first paragraph is intentionally worded to suggest malfeasance but you have to know Dan Hausman didn’t sign off on anything by himself. His brother owns some property near the proposed Ag Expo Center. By my informal count, some 22 other people do too. Because Scott Hausman owns some nearby property the proposed site should be excluded? Please. All three commissioners agreed on the best proposal for the multipurpose building but because a Hausman cousin is a director of the winning bidder this is nepotism. I don’t think so. R.T. Turner buys some shelves from Hausman Metal. Big Dan’s son-in-law offers an unpaid opinion on technology providers who subsequently complete a successful competitive bid process. So what?

If this is the very worse an investigation into Dan Hausman’s affairs can turn up, I feel much better about my county commissioners. They may be foolish, but their behavior certainly doesn’t rise to the criminal.

At a small high school, 300 people is the Senior Class. He has 300 family members. Are all of them suppoesed to move elsewhere to pursue business? No... He didn't do anything wrong.

I quote from the story, "And although Mueller bidded $122,376 higher than Lehr, Mr. Hausman said commissioners decided on Mueller because they submitted the most definitive architectural design. A News-Press review confirmed Mueller’s more comprehensive design proposal."

I see it all the time in my line of work. People paying more for better work. It's like deciding on your brand of shoes, do you want to go with the Nike's or the Wal Mart brand. It all depends on the role that shoe is playing. That was obviously a huge job and it needed to be done right.

Mr. Allison,
Just because the commisioners agree on something, doesnt make it correct. I'm sure you make concessions with people you work with, or possibly Mrs. Allison, just to make life easier. Your attitude is exactly why we have problems financially in America. $122,000 is a lot of money to most people in this town. It could pay good ole Vince's salary. Make up for health insurance for the transit group so they don't have to call an emergency meeting to give more money away to CBIZ. I'm sure you approve of $500 hammers in our government as well.

Mr. Allison... the mere fact that that the commissioners are foolish is enough to get them out of office. Foolish in my opinion is maybe too filtered a word for the decisions and behaviour of these men. They were voted in to office under the assumption they would do what was best for this county. A large family does not make a county. Family ties or not, I am still ticked at running out of road and bridge money in July. My creditors won't buy "oops, I ran out of money in July, wait 'til January" Perhaps Mr. Hausman should have been looking at the budget and not standing at the corner of 169 and 29 dreaming.

i hear a train a coming its rollin round the bend its makin the same sound over and over again : out with hausman-out with hausman, out with hausman out with hausman.

If you feel betrayed because you think your Buchanan county commissioners [note to gr8fan: you realize we’re discussing Buchanan county, not the City of Saint Joseph, right? You mentioned the thousands of dollars the city has to kick around, the city manager’s salary and insurance coverage to The Ride, all city expenses. Buchanan County – City of Saint Joseph; not the same thing.] have acted foolishly with respect to their fiscal responsibilities then I understand. Government waste pisses me off too. That, however, isn’t the picture this article attempts to paint. This article attempts to make the case that Mr. Hausman has used his official position to provide undue influence to the financial betterment of his family. Using that standard, the article fails miserably. That was my point, but let’s talk about yours.

I think you have to expect a certain amount of foolish behavior from politicians. I think it is inherent in the nature of the personality that seeks higher office, or to put it less gently, folks that would beg us to allow them to lord over us are, for the most part, naturally asses, and make no mistake, our county commissioners are not professional managers; they are politicians pure and simple. Mr. Hausman doesn’t represent me so I can maintain a certain bemused detachment at his behavior but if he has maxed out your tolerance for foolishness then I urge you to vote him out, if you think you have a better choice. And, with respect to this particular election at least, the question whether you have a meaningful choice would be a subject reasonable people could debate.

OK, seriously, has any of you looked at that building? It is a big metal barn, I cannot see where there could possibly have been any architechtural design at all.