Public Barred from Diocese Auction

By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Gallup Independent
September 22, 2015

http://gallupindependent.com/

A California businessman hired by the Diocese of Gallup to promote and conduct property auctions as part of its bankruptcy case barred members of the media and public from observing an auction in Albuquerque Saturday.

Todd Good, the CEO and president of Accelerated Marketing Group, of Newport Beach, California, barred anyone from entering the auction who wasn’t a qualified bidder.

Good, along with George H. “Hank” Amos III, CEO and president of Tucson Realty & Trust Co., was hired by the Gallup Diocese to conduct auctions in Phoenix Sept. 12, and in Albuquerque Sept. 19.

At the Albuquerque auction, held at the Airport Sheraton Hotel, Good was asked why he closed the auction to the media and general public when court motions filed by diocesan attorneys never stated the auctions would be closed.

“I can’t answer that,” Good said. “I didn’t write the motions.”

In documents filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, attorneys for the diocese requested and received permission from Judge David T. Thuma to sell pieces of unwanted property in Arizona and New Mexico. However, none of those court documents indicated the auctions would be closed auctions, or closed to the media or the general public.

The Diocese of Gallup’s bankruptcy hearings are open to the public, as are documents in the case’s court file. The only exceptions to this are confidential documents related to clergy sex abuse survivors who have filed claims in the case.

Good’s response

“It doesn’t matter,” Good responded when asked about the wording of the court motions that outlined how the auctions would be conducted.

Good described himself as an “agent for the court” and said, “We have discretions how we conduct the sale. We see no advantage to let somebody in the sale that is not a bidder. In other words, it doesn’t benefit the debtors and it doesn’t benefit the creditors, and therefore we only let qualified bidders into the event.”

Good suggested anyone who disagreed with the closed auction should take it up with Thuma.

“They can go back into court on Monday, and they can talk to the judge about it,” Good said. “They can call me in front of the judge if they want to, and I can explain why I did it.”

Good was also asked about apparent errors in the report diocesan attorneys filed with the court Wednesday, regarding last week’s auction in Phoenix that reported only total gross sales of $58,960 for 12 properties. In the report, one piece of property was listed twice with different sales figures, another piece of property was not accounted for, and another listed an incorrect buyer’s premium.

Good started to review the report, and then asked, “What I want to understand is, how do you have this list?”

It was explained to Good that the report was a public document, filed by diocesan attorneys with U.S. Bankruptcy Court, and available to the public.

“I can’t discuss this,” Good said. “If you want to put your request into writing, send to attorneys for the debtors and we’ll respond.”

Attorney barred

Attorney Meredith Edelman was also barred from attending the Albuquerque auction.

Edelman, originally from Pinetop, Arizona, previously worked as a bankruptcy attorney for two international law firms. She is currently a doctorate scholar at the Australian National University, working on a research project examining Catholic clergy sex abuse through the lens of restorative justice principles. Edelman is back in the United States conducting interviews for the project and recently interviewed several representatives from the Diocese of Gallup.

According to Edelman, a man from the auction threatened to remove her from the hotel property after she also questioned why the auction was closed to the public when it had not been advertised that way in any of the court documents. In an interview afterward, Edelman said she did not get the man’s name but was disappointed by the incident.

From her own experience as a bankruptcy attorney, Edelman explained, she would have expected the court documents to clearly state whether the auction was only open to qualified bidders.

“I would make it clear what is and isn’t allowed,” she said.

Sales reports

Local residents Justin Winfield and his father Robert Winfield were admitted to Saturday’s auction as qualified bidders but left early without purchasing any property.

The Winfields said they attended the auction with the intention of possibly buying the diocese’s vacant lot in downtown Gallup, located on the corner of Aztec Avenue and Fourth Street. They didn’t want to see the property sell for a low price, they explained, so they were prepared to purchase it to ensure the Diocese of Gallup received a reasonable price. They said they were pleased, however, when someone else bought the lot for $50,000.

“We didn’t have a plan for the property,” Justin Winfield said, adding he and his father thought they might donate the lot back to the diocese.

Justin Winfield said they weren’t concerned about the property’s history of environmental damage, which was caused years ago by leaking underground gasoline storage tanks.

“It’s still a nice piece of property,” he said.

The Winfields said one of the properties that did sell before they left the auction was the Catholic Charities building in Farmington. That building was the subject of controversy earlier this month after Catholic Charities Director Debe Betts told a Farmington reporter that the Diocese of Gallup had listed the property for sale without her knowledge. According to a media report, Betts said she only learned about the sales plan after an auction notice was posted on her organization’s building.

Betts has not responded to further media requests for comment about her claims.

According to the Winfields, a buyer at the auction purchased the Catholic Charities building for $40,000 with the stated intention of donating it — presumably to Catholic Charities.

A report detailing the Albuquerque auction sales should be filed with U.S. Bankruptcy Court later this week and available for review by the public.