Burns: Tedesco emails reveal Johnstown was weeks away from accepting refugees in November
Vision 2025 CEO also introduced landlord to state Department of Human Services two months ago
Rep. Frank Burns April 18, 2022 | 1:15 PM
EBENSBURG, April 18 – Following his intuition that the people of Johnstown and Cambria County weren’t being told the full story, state Rep. Frank Burns has uncovered emails that boldly contradict what Vision Together 2025 Inc. has been saying about its refugee recruitment plan.
Burns, D-Cambria, made a Right-to-Know request of the state Department of Human Services for copies of any documents dealing with the relocation or recruitment of refugees or immigrants to Cambria County – and was startled at what was found in the response.
It yielded emails from Vision 2025 CEO/President Mike Tedesco dating back to October 2021 that fly in the face of Tedesco’s assertions that Burns was among those “manufacturing controversy” and harming Cambria County’s image by calling for transparency from Vision and Tedesco.
“As a state representative who is accountable to the people, I set out to independently gauge the depth and progress of Vision’s plan,” Burns said. “I suspected Vision was bypassing elected officials and the public by going directly to the Department of Human Services – and that certainly appears to be the case.”
Some of the emails Burns uncovered were between Tedesco and Frank Butcher, program advisor for the Refugee Unit within the state Department of Human Services.
November emails show Tedesco telling Butcher and Dr. Amanda Vaglia of the Indiana Refugee Working Group that Vision “may be only a few weeks away from accepting our first families into Johnstown.” In February, Tedesco introduced Laquan Marshall of Johnstown Capital Partners as “a local property owner with a portfolio of housing units that may come in handy when placing newcomers to the community.”
Those emails from Tedesco to Butcher read:
Nov. 5, 2021
Thank you, Frank!
Dr., great to meet you! Here in Johnstown we are rapidly ramping up (to) accept newcomers. Next week, we (are) hiring a project manager to begin active coordinating efforts, so we may be only a few weeks away from accepting our first families into Johnstown. Can we perhaps meet soon to compare notes?
How are you looking on November 18? Happy to come your way.
Mike
Feb. 14, 2022
Hi Frank.
I want to introduce you to Laquan Marshall of Johnstown Capital Partners. He is a local property owner with a portfolio of housing units that may come in handy when placing newcomers to the community. On our end, the private sector has very much activated around attracting people here, so more to come on that subject!
Thanks for all you do!
Mike
Burns said these emails further erode Tedesco’s and Vision’s credibility, as they further confirm a lack of truthfulness in their public pronouncements about how far along the plan was developed – and now show evidence of favoritism.
“Were all members of the Greater Johnstown Landlord Association introduced to the state Department of Human Services as potential landlords, or is Vision in the business of secretly picking winners and losers?” Burns asked. “It sure seems like Tedesco and Vision 2025 are predetermining who is going to profit off of their efforts.”
Burns said there also were a significant number of redactions in the documents and emails supplied by the state Department of Human Services. Burns said he understands and does not quibble with the redaction of personal information, such as Social Security and private phone numbers.
However, Burns noted other redacted material fell under what DHS said was a legally exempted category of “a record of an individual’s medical, psychiatric, or psychological history or disability status, including evaluation, consultation, prescription, diagnosis or treatment.”
Burns said that very broad definition makes it difficult, if not impossible, to ascertain whether Vision’s stated plan to recruit “legally vetted” immigrants included any with medical, psychiatric or psychological problems.
“There may or may not be something there,” Burns said. “Once again, none of us outside of the Vision inner circle really know.”