Thursday, January 07, 2010

Who is Troy Henry? Really....who is he?

When Troy Henry first announced his mayoral ambitions, I was like most people and responded, "who?" I faintly remembered the name from the UNOP days, but I didn't know much about him.

I was particularly interested in the reports that he attempted to privatize New Orleans' water utilities because I shuddered at the thought of it....so I started searching the interpipes to find out more. One thing lead to another, as web searches often do, and I began to learn the story of the debacle which occurred with the City of Atlanta and United Water (Henry's former company). The city was one of the first major municipalities to explore the world of water privatization and United Water landed the contract.

Things didn't work out so well:

City finds pros, cons for United Water

As Cities Move to Privatize Water, Atlanta Steps Back

Water for Profit

So as I was reading all this I was picturing Troy Henry, President of United Water, and wondering how he handled the crisis. But then I noticed something curious....in no online article could I find any listing which stated Troy Henry as the president of United Water. I found articles and a company profile which listed Henry as the President of the South region, but it became increasingly clear to me that Henry was never "THE President" of United Water.


He was listed on the executive team up to the summer of 2003 as President, Southern Region, but he was never listed as THE President and/or CEO.

Curious.

So I started calling United Water to find out if I was missing something, I did finally get a response from a person in their media relations dept. who did in fact state that Henry was never "THE president of the company".

While I was shooting Henry's press conference yesterday, I took the opportunity to ask him about it.



Hmmm....

Henry: "You are absolutely right, I was the President of the Southern Region."

Me: "But you said you were President of the Company,"

Henry: "I never said I was President of the Company..."

This is his flier which I picked up at the front of his campaign office:


And this is from his website:

My issue here is that he is clearly implying that he ran the entire company when he states "...led a team of 1500 people and a $600 million dollar company." Is it just me or does it get any clearer than that?

He then tries to clarify the issue by stating he was one of 3 presidents in the company and asked me if I wanted him to name the other two...I said yes. He replied, JC Goldman and Bob Iacullo.

Well, actually there were 5 people listed as Regional Presidents, they managed 5 respective regions:


He also conveniently failed to mention the real guy who was running the company, Chairman and CEO, Michael J Chessner:


The way I see it, he lied on his resume. This is hauntingly reminiscent of a 2002 mayoral candidate we all know, Ray Nagin, claiming he was a CPA. This is why I'm so concerned...this guy is coming out of the gate lying to us....what's he capable of if he gets elected?

Second issue....on WIST's Eric Asher's show, Asher asked Henry if he had received any contracts with the City of New Orleans. Henry told Asher no and here is his reply:



Full Interview

Well then how do you explain this contract in 2008?

http://egov.cityofno.com/ECRS_ConView/DisplayContract.aspx?FID=0000000000000000000000000000622

$400/hr.? Damn, that's pushing Bernardo rates.

He and his consulting company clearly had a city contract in 2008. Why would he lie about that? Did he forget about a 280k contract? Damn, life must be good for him if that's the case.

I'm harping on this because I do not want to see another mayor in office who:

1. lies

2. doesn't take responsibility for his actions.

We've had 8 years of that and it damn near destroyed us. It may yet....we still have to get to May.

I would invite and encourage Mr. Henry to reply to this post.

UPDATE: I was immediately contacted by someone from Henry's camp and they informed me that the city never actually paid Henry Consulting for this contract. I hope to get more information tomorrow.

36 comments:

Anonymous said...

You still haven't a clue about Troy Henry's background. Come on has anyone been around long enough to know how he earned his money........errrrr rather how his father put him in the position that he is in today? SOMEONE ANYONE PLEASE ENLIGHTEN THE AZ---his father was head of the a Union but not just any union. The public has such a short memory unfortunately. Do you research on Henry's father first AZ.

Jason Brad Berry said...

no because the last time I checked his father wasn't the one running for mayor. Why don't you enlighten me instead ranting?

Anonymous said...

Whether he earned his money is beside the point. He lied about his resume, then he lied again when asked about lying on his resume.

What I don't understand is why he lied in the first place. His job was plenty big as it was ... and Troy Henry still felt compelled claim credit for a bunch of stuff he didn't have responsibility for. It's a little pathological ...

jeffrey said...

"I'm glad you asked that, Eric" I think that's my favorite part of his answer.

Also, what is up with all this, "You don't know the real story, now go do some research" business? It's like taunting, "I know something you don't know" Okay, great. Now, what?

Xavier said...

Got Henry's campaign contribution filing from the La State Ethics Admin website: He raised $342,360 in total. Of this amount, he loaned $215,000 to the campaign which means that he raised $127,360 from others. Of this total from others, $16,360 was raised from his family members and $8,250 was raised from out of state contributors--this means that he raised $102,810 from in state and non family member contributors.

My veriword is munked. Troy Henry munked the voters with his resume!! He probably thought he would be a big dog in a small yard. Not good to try to wow the locals. I feel MUNKED!!

OK, I can't type so my new veriword is fabilat as in Henry's resume is absolutely fabilat, darling!!

Anonymous said...

the more you read this i think more you realize what the desperate race card stunt was about. now when the media picks up on this and exposes him they're only going after him because yadda yadda yadda.

Beth said...

Also, what is up with all this, "You don't know the real story, now go do some research" business?

It's like in all bad mystery movies, when the hero is kneeling over the dying victim, who croaks out an obscure clue - "Dark is the con of man!" - rather than just saying "The creepy albino Templar killed me!"

Civitch said...

How very telling that they called you to jump all over the contract story, but are leaving the "president" issue alone.

Anonymous said...

Like the Saint's cheer of a few years ago: WHOOP THERE IT IS!! WHOOP THERE IT IS!!

Be interesting to see if the main media picks up on this. I think his move to claim racial preference was a preemptive strike so that the media would not attack him for (1) filing incorrect financial statements and (2) fibbing on his resume.

WHOOP THERE IT IS....

Unknown said...

G*D DAMN IT SO MUCH !!!!

I tend to fall for women with the same problems. And now I guess candidates too!

I liked Troy Henry... like I liked Nagin in 2002, though.
I liked how Henry has specific managerial strategies when interviewed. And I thought he could be the guy I wanted Nagin to be.

When people had said Henry is Nagin II, I disagreed. Hell, I almost got in a fight with a guy in a bar defending Nagin when he first ran

I'm not saying I would vote for Henry, but I certainly saw it more Landrieu v Henry (then Georges) and felt if Henry won it could be a good thing.

But the way he disregarded your question and is clearly obfuscating his qualifications AND for no real reason! (its not like he went to Tuskegee and has only worked for small companies)

It all seems Pathological-

Signs of Pathological Liars-
2. One-upping. Whatever you do, this person can do it better. You will never top them in their own mind, because they have a concerted need to be better than everyone else. ....
3. They "construct" a reality around themselves. They don't value the truth, especially if they don't see it as hurting anyone. If you call them on a lie and they are backed into a corner, they will act very defensively ....


In fact these are the kind of women I fall for.

Frolic said...

Any chance the Southern region included 1,500 employees? If that's the case (and I'd frankly be surprised if it were), then this seems like a small matter.

That seems like the follow up question to ask the company's media rep.

Anonymous said...

wasn't pappy barre aligned with henry and the united water outfit?

Anonymous said...

the first thing that caught my attention was his claim that he "led significant recovery efforts in New Orleans including the Unified New Orleans Plan (UNOP)..." Go to UNOP website and Henry Consulting is just one of 12 members listed under:
Citywide Planning Team
Villavaso & Associates and Henry Consulting LLC
Laurie Johnson, Burk-Kleinpeter Inc, GCR & Associates, University of New Orleans,
Coastal Environments Inc., Duncan Associates, Neel-Schaffer, Urban Systems,
Dr. Catherine DiGeorge, Lenny Kopowski, Dr. Ivan Meistchovich, Allen Rosenzweig

Anonymous said...

To me this seems more like puffery than outright lying, but either way I'm glad you dug this out.

I can't help but being reminded of The Office bit about "assistant regional manager" vs. "assistant to the regional manager."

Anonymous said...

Thanks for your digging, AZ. Keep up the great work.

Anonymous said...

Follow the bouncing IG ball:

>Accusing his opponents of "blowing smoke," Troy Henry criticized the inspector general for lacking a clear mission, saying the lapse has bred skepticism among black business owners that the office is trying to impede their access to city contracts.

Henry, a seasoned management consultant, said that if he is elected, the inspector general will be able to forgo efforts to streamline government and concentrate on rooting out graft. "No inspector general ... will know how to bring out more efficiencies in an organization than I will," he said.<

http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2009/12/post_215.html

This has been Nagin's argument: the IG is fo this, not for that. But of course hiding the ball in the ineffeciences of government is partly how corruption happens. If someone says, 'I will be an ethical mayor, so we don't need the IG" performing one function or another, watch out.

dsb said...

Nicely done.

Jason Brad Berry said...

- Any chance the Southern region included 1,500 employees? If that's the case (and I'd frankly be surprised if it were), then this seems like a small matter.

no..1500 was the whole company and you're conveniently leaving out the 600 million dollar company factoid as well.

Anonymous said...

The actual President of United Water's bio had the name of a company, and then the name (SUEZ) in brackets following it.

Maude Barlow, the UN special rep on Water issues, has some tough stuff to say about SUEZ in the book that got her the job, "Blue Gold". (Who knows if a UN job helps you do good or neuters you; either way, the book was noticed).

Your pal Naomi Klein also talks about SUEZ.

Al Jazeerah English online has stories about water privatization in Africa and the Middle East. You can find them through their programmes tab. The Inside USA show on water issues in the US looks at Atlanta.

The Economist magazine has had interesting articles on water issues over the past couple of years.

Troy Henry's lying was dumb, and great catch, Zombie. Thanks again.

But it was "United Water" and "Water Privatization" that got my attention about Troy Henry.

Like most people, I'm old school conservative on some issues and far to the left of liberal on others.

But privatizing water is neither left or right, it is just wrong.

Water is consistently used as a metaphor for Justice and for the love of God in the Bible.

In Ovid's "Metamorphosis", towns people who deny a goddess in human form free access to water are turned into frogs who croak and complain for all time, after an empassioned speech from the Goddess about free access to water as the birthright of all.

Those two examples are off the top of my head, and reveal my own "Catholic school and the Classics" education.

More time and I bet I could provide myths and examples about water as a sacred and communal resource and responsibility from cultures all over the world.

See Arundati Roy's writing against the big dams in India for more eloquence and integrity than I can muster on my best day.

MLK's powerful and resonant voice talking about justice flowing down like water and "righteousness like a mighty stream" ought to ring in the ears of anyone listening to Troy Henry on the issue of race.

Those who would privatize water are not righteous men.

Black Christians in particular better do some hard thinking and praying about Troy Henry if they are leaning towards a vote for him.

A Bible concordance entry on Water, some thinking about water in African societies, and some investigation into how this water privatization sh*t is playing out in the Third World takes Troy Henry off the table for any person of conscience.

And if the water stuff doesn't do it for you, remember that he also worked for Enron.

Anonymous said...

The contract says it is for:

"Assist the city in structuring housing (?) finance programs utilizing CDBG dollars & other city resources to leverage private financing."

This sounds real, real, real familiar.

Anonymous said...

"Those who would privatize water are not righteous men."

Hey, wasn't this Morial's big idea befiore leaving office???

jeffrey said...

I... er... sort of agree with that last Anon. The resume exaggeration is the hook but the important issue is the water scheme. Dambala provides a few links in this post for background. I suggest everyone go read them.

Superdeformed said...

This only solidifies the Nagin-esque vibes I get from Henry (and Georges for that matter).

I think too many down here pass former business executives with little or no criticism thinking the "competitive market" weeds out the bad leaders. It might sometimes, but not really unless shit falls completely apart.

Anyway, best blog ever.

Anonymous said...

Troy Henry is such a weirdo.

Frolic said...

"- Any chance the Southern region included 1,500 employees? If that's the case (and I'd frankly be surprised if it were), then this seems like a small matter.

no..1500 was the whole company and you're conveniently leaving out the 600 million dollar company factoid as well."

Wasn't trying to defend Henry, just pointing out something to be clarify. Sounds like you've got the details (as you usually do--good work).

Xavier said...

A pubic records request on the City contract could verify if there were any payments made pursuant to the contract. Looked to see if Henry received any funds from MWH--heavily involved in the CDBG funds administration. These were the guys paying off Edwards of S&WB fame. If anyone can hook Henry into MWH, there is a definite Nagin connection. MWH preceded Nagin, receives $2 mil a month from the City, and is probably looking to stay here. Won't find a campaign contribution but some other connection.

my veriword furial Happens when you bury mad

Anonymous said...

this is long, but so important. Dambala has a link to a 2002 story in Mother Jones about water privatization and United's performance in Atlanta. Do we really want a mayor who's management skills led to this:

On a cloudy August day that brought a welcome bit of drizzle to drought-parched Atlanta, Mayor Shirley Franklin lugged a seven-pound bound volume off a shelf and heaved it onto a table in her office. The report, prepared by a committee she appointed shortly after taking office last January, contained the city's case against United Water. It detailed violations of federal drinking-water standards, including one instance in which levels of chlorine rose to six times the level the company agreed to in its contract. The report also listed a string of maintenance problems ranging from broken security cameras and gates to open manholes and water-main leaks that went unrepaired for weeks. Some residents had to wait months for basic repairs, even though the company's contract specifies that some repairs must be made within 15 days. In fact, United failed to complete more than half of all required repairs in 2001, and it allowed rust and debris to build up, so that when the boil-water alerts forced the company to flush the system, brown water flowed from the taps.

Unknown said...

Anyone hear his interview on 690?

http://www.webwiseforradio.com/site_files/244/File/KJ_010810_H3.mp3

He addressed the issue of the contracts.

midcitynola said...

You have sure invested a lot of time, energy and effort into researching Mr. Henry. You have not or I will say I have not seen any research on any of the other candidates. My question would be which campaign is paying you to do all of this work and research.

Usually people only target the candidates that they view as a threat. Whether Mr. Henry was the President of United Water or the President of the Southern region it still gives him moe management and municipal experience than any of the other candidates. Mr. Henry has the most experience in large organizations and the best education. .......

Oh and Henry Consulting and Troy Henry was the lead firm on the UNOP process. In the spirit of full disclosure, I am a fan of Henry. I have researched and followed all of the candidates and concluded 2 weeks ago that I would vote for and support Henry in any capacity I could.

New Orleans needs compitent leadership right now, and we need to stop getting hung up things that are not relevant to who would be the best Mayor for the City of New Orleans. I LOVE NEW ORLEANS, I know Troy Henry Loves New Orleans and we need to get it right this time.

Jason Brad Berry said...

- You have sure invested a lot of time, energy and effort into researching Mr. Henry. You have not or I will say I have not seen any research on any of the other candidates. My question would be which campaign is paying you to do all of this work and research.

oh no...i've put a lot of time into Georges as well.

Who's paying you?

Xavier said...

We have a malaka sighting at We could be famous blog. Georges wants to replace Letten. BE forewarned for the groveling you will hear, it is hard to listen to.

my veriword predge as in I would predge a campaign contribution to John George but I am prejudiced against him.

Clay said...

This should fit nicely into the "elect Troy Henry at all costs" to cover Nagin's ass:

http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2010/01/police_superintendent_warren_r_1.html

Forget about the alleged "N-bomb" email actually surfacing (doesn't exist), but that's a pretty blatant lie, even by Riley's standards

Anonymous said...

if you want someone who tells the truth and takes responsibilities for his actions, then James Perry is NOT the guy for you either

Ricardo said...

Hey Anon, January 11, 2010 11:15:00 AM CST- Your statement is as credible as Warren Reilly claiming Stacy Head had called him"bad words". Back up your allegations. Otherwise you are just a troll.

Dambala, It's been 4 days, still no "honorable explaination" from the Henry camp?

Anonymous said...

I ran into Diamond and Henry when they had some sort of Gulf Coast minority business initiative going. I assume they received grant money for it. I was curious what they were doing for the hispanic community. I repeatedly asked for a meeting to find out more about it, and to put me on their mailing list. They kept saying sure, but never did anything. The first email I ever received from Henry was when he put me on his list for his mayoral campaign. I would love to know what he did with the money for the minority business initiative.

Anonymous said...

PS: Midcitiy--who are you working for? And by the way, you misspelled "competent" when describing what you want in a mayor. Ironic, huh?