Unanswered questions
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The Daily News attempted to interview principals with GlobeVest, National Swim Center Corp. and Network Sports Marketing for these stories. By policy, The Daily News does not do interviews through email.
John Lehmann
John Lehmann, president of Network Sports Marketing, was the only one who took the interview and fielded questions about his company, his history and his experience.
James K. Sutherland
James K. Sutherland, president of GlobeVest LLC, answered a Daily News call to his cell number but immediately excused himself, saying he was having dinner and would call back.
He did not, nor did he respond directly to any of the messages The Daily News left for days. He sent an email saying he would have GlobeVest spokesman John Cruzat call.
When Cruzat called, he said he had been "out of the loop" on a personal matter. A Daily News reporter told Cruzat that research on Sutherland had raised questions that Sutherland should address.
Over the course of several days and conversations, Cruzat asked for written questions; said "there's nothing out there" in Sutherland's background that would raise any questions; asked what had turned up in Sutherland's background; said there were scheduling conflicts that prevented Sutherland from being interviewed; and said that some "internal communication coordinating" had to be done with Government House before Sutherland could be interviewed.
Cruzat also said Sutherland wanted to speak about the proposal, not background checks.
"We had no idea the culture there was so prone to this kind of communication," Cruzat said at one point.
When asked what kind of communication, Cruzat replied: "The community outrage. The perceived suspicions. All of this."
He said that GlobeVest was chosen for the project and now finds itself "flung into this culture of political infighting."
"We're trying to build a sports stadium for you guys and create some sports tourism. Now we're in a political infight that's creating background checks," Cruzat said.
John McIlhargy, Fred Yeo
John McIlhargy, executive director of National Swim Center Corp., responded to Daily News calls and requests for interviews with emails saying he was in meetings and had a tight schedule and requested that questions be submitted in writing. To date, McIlhargy has not consented to an interview.
Repeated attempts by The Daily News to reach Fred Yeo of National Swim Center Corp. were unsuccessful.
John Wessel
John Wessel of GEC also did not return Daily News calls.
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