Blasi Quits After Delivering Some Choice Words to Corporate Power Broker
August 24, 2011
Bob Blasi is mad as hell and he’s not going to take it anymore .After the Town Council, doing business as the Planning and Zoning Commission, heard a one-sided presentation on the Stilo land use plan, Councilman Bob Blasi up and quit the Council.
In leaving, Blasi said he is upset because wealthy power brokers seem to be in control of Tusayan. Blasi states, “The lives of Tusayan's residents will be in the hands of silent partners, and not your elected officials.”
He went on to say, “The commercial potential here is as great as or greater than anything David Rockefeller and his cohorts has ever known. It has been quoted by one distinguished observer already when referring to the current council and its members, he said... "They have given the asylum to the inmates"
It’s unclear if Blasi is referring to the deep-pocketed Stilo group, but they are the ones in control having seen their slate of council candidates elected.
Here is a link to Blasi’s letter to the Town. Here is a link to a video that was shot when Blasi made his statement August 23rd. Blasi strays from his script in the video and he adds some additional comments not contained in the statement.
Blasi’s resignation also follows the release of the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office report on the third-of-July campfire investigation in which Tusayan Town Hall made a fuss over a small campfire that was lit during a Chamber of Commerce sponsored celebration.
Blasi’s comments to Sheriff’s investigators are both unrelated to the fire and stunning. The report reads: He began to talk about several other issues with the town and stated he was offered a bribe by “the Italians” and stated other people “took the money” and stated the money he was officered was $5,000-10,000 dollars was “a joke”. He also stated he thought it was a test of his loyalties.
By the ‘Italians,” Blasi was likely referring to Gruppo Percassi, Stilo’s parent company which is based in Italy.
So the big question is what “The Italians” expected in return for their money? Why does he consider it a bribe? The report does not indicate if this is related to the Stilo land use plan.
By the way, the Sheriffs report has a lot more tidbits, including the Town’s attempts to keep the fire investigation “internal.” We will have more to say on that later. Meanwhile here is a link to the report.
