Vote em' out!

If anyone knows, it's Adrian Murray.  He ran for the Tarrant Regional Water District last time (the election before the one they voted to cancel).   They went after him the same way they are Timothy Nold.  They aren't very original as they are going after John Basham for the same thing this time, too.  Exerpt from Durango:

Meanwhile, John Basham, an actual contributor to American society, was injured while serving his country, with the consequence, as happens to way too many who serve, of John Basham running into financial woes, whilst recovering from his injuries.

Below is what Adrian has to say about the late taxes, (NOT unpaid).  Any reliable "news" source could have found that information.  Wonder why the ST didn't?

My disdain for the methods of the TRWD board is well known. I have read years worth of board meeting minutes where it is so obvious to anyone with a pulse that the board does not act as an impartial board overseeing the interests of the pu...blic, but is nothing more than a sham, an agent for the private companies they are shelling out money and favors to, a mouthpiece for an extravagantly well-compensated staff who stumbled upon a gold mine known as the Barnett Shale and concocted schemes to share this bounty among themselves and some friends. Whether the members of the board personally gain from this is doubtful and really immaterial. That they look the other way in their marathon sessions voting unanimously to approve everything the staff puts before them is enough to disqualify them from ever being in a position of public trust.

Now, for the first time ever, there is a serious threat to the syndicate which operates out of a sprawling and expanding Taj Mahal on Northside Drive. When I ran for this board in 2010 along with John Basham, we were woefully underfunded and could only scrape together enough money for two mailers. We never really had a chance, but we did open some eyes as to the dirty deeds taking place on the banks of the Trinity River.

But our meager possibilty of actually dethroning Marty Leonard and Jim Lane did not stop stop their campaign team from going all out slime on us. On the day before election day, a mailer hit voters' mail boxes in the district stating that I had recently moved to the area from California "leaving behind a string of tax liens." never mind that the statement was patently false. There simply was no chance at all to refute it as the final vote was the very next day.

They are very good at this, these sultans of slime. They did it last week with Andy (Timothy) Nold. On Monday of last week a letter appeared in mailboxes throughout the area, ostensibly written by Marty Leonard, stating that one of the challengers was a tax deadbeat being sued by the district. (Oddly, this charge came in a letter decrying the tactics of the challengers who were, if they did not stop, about to make our dear sweet board of directors cry.) This was followed a week later by the incumbents with a repeat of the tax deadbeat line.

Of course, none of it was true, as you can see from this pic. It was made up out of whole cloth by a cabal desperate to keep its secrets from being revealed. They'll do and say anything, defile anyone in any way they can, to keep the people out of their vault.

Vote 'em out.

Truth, Justice and the Fort Worth Way

We've been playing catch up with all the election emails we've received. Seems folks are very interested in the Tarrant Regional Water Board election.

And it looks like we're not the only ones playing catch up. In the past two days the TRWD incumbents and their crew have started sending out mailers.  We hear even some in the halls of Austin are being approached about this quiet little election.  Water Board Member, Marty Leonard's NEGATIVE email and letter was first.  Then they sent one for mail in ballots to seniors. (BNK already did that). Some Seniors reported their precinct and voter ID number were in the wrong spots. They wondered if it was a ploy by TRWD or just more sloppy work. Then the "Clean Water Committee" (is that an oxymoron?) PAC sent one showing Mayor Price on one side and the ballot on the other (BNK - been there, done that too). That mailer also mentioned the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. (More on that connection to come...)  Jim Lane left a couple of interesting voicemails around town and of course, a ST employee is shilling for him.  (Shouldn't Jim be concerned with his own race?  The one the downtown crowd doesn't want him to win?)

Kay Granger also sent out an email to her "friends" accusing many people of many things. She made it clear she wants things to stay the same. Since her son is employed by the water district, one would guess so.  One would also guess this was made clear to everyone (and their employees) from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram all the way to the Bank of Texas. 

Mayor Price and Congresswoman Granger both held fundraisers in the past couple of weeks, one for the incumbents and one where they handed out information for the incumbents.

Riddle us this Batman, WHY would local and federal elected officials be so engrossed in the TRWD campaign? Have they met all the candidates? (Aside from Mary Kelleher addressing City Council)? Have they heard all of the candidates speak? There has been no debate (unless you count the conversation between a water district employee and a candidate at a local restaurant). BNK shows up to talk to the voters, the incumbents do not. One incumbent did show up to a recent meeting, after the crowd was finished, we're guessing he wished he hadn't.

WHO do YOU want in office? Someone that will get out among the voters or those WHO YOUR elected officials want to keep in their place? Literally. 

VOTE BNK!  John Basham, Timothy Nold and Mary Kelleher for the Tarrant Regional Water District!

Fort Worth, Dallas on Line 1

Finally.

The Dallas Morning News writes about the Tarrant Regional Water District. 

Read what the Water District spokesperson had to say.  YOU can't afford not to.

Kudos to Dallas for having a real "news" paper.  Y'all come back real soon!!

And for the rest of you, there's an election coming up.  Pay attention!

Bennett’s lawsuit alleges that the real debate and discussion of water district business — decisions on the pipeline route and awarding of multi-million-dollar design, engineering and construction contracts — takes place not in the public meetings of the board of directors but in secret committee meetings.

Notices about the time, place and agenda of those committee meetings are neither posted publicly ahead of time nor do they appear on the water district’s web site, according to Chad Lorance, a spokesman for the water district.

A little background is in order here for readers unfamiliar with local governments in Texas.

The Texas Attorney General has ruled repeatedly that a governmental body such as a tax-supported water district cannot create committees to deal with a public issue and then allow the committees to meet in secret and make decisions in secret.

I asked Lorance for a legal rationale for why the water district’s committees should not be subject to the state open meetings law. He did not answer directly.

Instead, he cited another statute found in the Texas Water Code. It says, “A meeting of a committee of the board, or a committee composed of representatives of more than one board, where less than a quorum of any one board is present, is not subject to the provisions of the open meetings law.”

One could infer from Lorance’s citation that the water board committees purposely structure their meetings to include less than a quorum to avoid violating the open meetings law. But he did not say that.

“All 339 actions were unanimously adopted by the board,” the lawsuit concluded.

Down in flames

That's how one water board incumbent seemed to go last night at group meeting last night.

There was some confusion on his part to whether or not the Tarrant Regional Water District owned a hunting lease or not.  Apparently that depends on if you call it a deer lease or call it something else.

If you were confused by it, you can read an old article from the FW Weekly on it.  They were reporting on the Water District back in the day (2006).  Too bad no one was listening.  You hear them now?  Did you hear Julie Wilson, (yes, that one) say, “We’re not going to condemn any land for economic development,”  We know several people downtown WHO know that ain't true.

Seems lots of folks at the meeting were upset with Jack Stevens as some of them helped him get elected, now they can't get him to do what he promised, which was look after them and their property. 

The three candidates, John Basham, Timothy Nold and Mark Kelleher fared much better.  Do yourself a favor and vote BNK for the water board.  Otherwise, it's business as usual. And from the looks of it, the locals have had about enough of that.  Hunting season's over.

The water board, as most people call it, has been a low-profile agency for most of the 80 years it’s been around, taking care of four dams and the lakes behind them, selling water to local cities and towns, looking out for flood concerns, and choosing its leaders in elections that often generate anemic turnout. But from time to time, especially when one of the agency’s construction projects requires the taking of private property from those who don’t want to sell, people start getting more curious — and critical — about how the district operates.

“It’s there for the recreational use of our employees,’’ says Board President Victor Henderson. “I think it’s a good thing.”

When an existing board member grew weary of service, he (and until recently all were men) would typically quit before the term was over, allowing the remaining directors to appoint a replacement who could then run for election as an incumbent. Water board elections were often held on days when public interest and turnout was light. In the late 1970s, for example, one election drew fewer than 300 voters.

But district officials say those days are long gone. In recent years, at least three board members have been elected without first having been appointed. And at least one incumbent has been defeated in a recent election. That was in 2004, when businesswoman Gina Puente-Brancato, the only woman and Hispanic to serve on the board, was defeated by retired engineer Jack Stevens.

What’s more, even if they did know when elections were being held, only a fraction of the residents served — or affected — by the agency are eligible to vote for the people who oversee it.

Not if she can help it...

We've told you about Eleanor Fairchild.  She is the one who was arrested with Daryl Hannah, ON HER OWN PROPERTY.

Read the latest in the FW Weekly.  Don't think it can't happen to YOU or your great grandmother.  This is Texas, sadly, it happens every day.  Though this time it's a Canadian company taking her land.

“I called the soil conservation people at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, but they said they had no jurisdiction. I called TCEQ (Texas Commission on Environmental Quality), and they said they couldn’t do anything about erosion. I called the Railroad Commission, and they said they only gave out pipeline permits but have no jurisdiction over them. I called everybody — the Department of Transportation pipeline safety people, the Army Corps of Engineers — who gave the permit to TransCanada to cross my creek and got no response. Even the EPA said they couldn’t do anything until there is a spill.”

“I’ve learned that our government is not there to help us — not when you’re fighting the big guys,” she said. “I think I’ll be an activist for the rest of my life so that others don’t have to go through the same thing.”

A picture is worth a thousand words?

A recent editorial in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram has us asking again, WHAT?  We were reading along, agreeing and wondered, what's the catch? 

While we agree with some of the content and are glad the paper realizes there are more neighborhoods than just downtown, we noticed this was the second article without a mention of their beloved Trinity River Vision.  The article says if Fort Worth can't fix its mangled budget, it should stick to the basics.  You know, those things your tax money is supposed to pay for - infrastructure, police, fire...

And then, there it was, the picture for the article shows the failed, costly streetcar that the Trinity River Vision had brought to Fort Worth and put on display like a pig at the county fair.  We have to ask, is it really a basic? 

Or is this just another commercial?

The meaning of quality of life in Fort Worth depends on where you live.

Unfortunately, we still have areas in Fort Worth where even the essentials are lacking. A good quality of life in these neighborhoods would mean curbs, sidewalks and access to a grocery store that doesn't take two bus transfers and three hours to reach.

The city is faced once again with a massive budget shortfall in the fiscal 2013 budget, in the neighborhood of $45 million. That is about twice the size of the hole the council had to fill last year. Closing that $23.1 million gap required $5.8 million in cuts and money transfers from the enterprise and capital budget funds.

This just may be the new normal, folks. Wishing for the good ol' days of sizable increases in property and sales tax revenues is not a sustainable solution.

Sure, it would be great if urban villages were blossoming like springtime irises, with wide tree-lined boulevards sporting sidewalk cafes, free Wi-Fi and a streetcar to whisk patrons hither and yon. It would be great if every council district had a family aquatic center and a modern library and a dog park.

But it'd also be great if local government would focus on making sure the essentials -- safe neighborhoods, drivable streets, functioning waste and storm water systems -- were part of everyone's quality of life.

Voters still have no say...

Is what the Fort Worth Star-Telegram could have called their article, "Voters had no say as DFW cities took on debt". 

Read what your "leaders" say about YOU.  Does it sound like they called you stupid?  Or they just know you're not paying attention?  What's it going to take before you do?  They aren't going to stop on their own.

While we commend the "news" paper on writing a "news" story, we noticed one tiny, billion dollar item was missing from the list.  The Trinity River Vision, which is completely taxpayer funded, was not listed as another one of these projects where voters have no say. 

If you are a citizen and taxpayer of the metroplex, it is YOUR duty to send this to every citizen and taxpayer in the metroplex you know.  Your kids are counting on YOU.  Then, you should read their article , "Congressional mailing privilege favors incumbents at taxpayer expense".  Duh.  They use your money to tell YOU to vote for them, to keep them in office, so they can keep spending your money.  WHO didn't know that? WHY do YOU continue to do it?  Tell us, inquiring minds want to know.

If we haven't convinced you yet, maybe some of what they said will...

In fact, none of them got to vote at all.

However, taxpayers are on the hook should funding fall short.

$52.7 million -- wasn't presented to voters.

A Haltom City official cautioned that greater disclosure would confuse people and make them more inclined to oppose something because "it's just a bunch of big numbers."

And they aren't foolproof.

One critic testified before the Legislature that such financing can result in "vampire indebtedness" -- debt that never dies.

"I think we're smart enough to know when we're in their wallets," Combs said.

And the moral to the story?  Do something.

Keller voters forced an election in 2006 and crushed the proposal while also voting out three council members who had supported it.

Please. Do something!

In Tarrant, 18 cities, including Fort Worth, borrowed at least 40 percent of their tax-supported debt from 2005 to 2011 without voter approval, according to an analysis of Texas Bond Review Board data.

Fort Worth City Treasurer James Mauldin said certificates are used in many cases to avoid the time it would take to bring a bond to voters. Such measures also save on election costs, officials said. "Usually, it's we need it before we can put another [bond] program out on the streets," he said.

"It seems some local governments are making every effort to [not put] things before voters," Venable said. But with so much focus on the national debt, she said, "few people realize that local debt is growing exponentially as well."

But official statements about the debt, on file with the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board, show that in recent years the borrowing funded projects such as new libraries that some see as amenities or computers and software that may be outdated before the debt is scheduled to be paid off.

North Richland Hills' 2010 official statement for a $23.7 million certificate fails to mention that uses for the money included the recreation center that opened Saturday. Yet the city says that's where they got $18.8 million for the complex.

A spokeswoman said that the information was omitted in error, that it wasn't a legal problem, and that voters were informed through a council resolution and legal notices.

Or cities may say that revenue from special tax districts or sales taxes will pay off new debt, but they don't make clear that if that revenue falls short, taxpayers may bear the burden. That's because to obtain more favorable terms, cities usually back the certificates with property taxes.

Keller serves as a cautionary tale. The city borrowed $33 million using certificates to finance a town hall and other projects, with revenue from a special tax district to pay for it. But revenue couldn't keep up, and the city, despite refinancing the debt, had to use other funds to make payments.

Taxpayers could turn to the Texas Bond Review Board for information on borrowing, but it may be unreliable. In spot-checks, the Star-Telegram found errors in the board's information. For instance, Richland Hills' per capita debt was skewed by a reported population of 338 -- the figure should have been 23 times that: 7,801 residents. The board reported the assessed property values of Weatherford at $329 million, a number off by more than $1.4 billion. Arlington's tax-supported debt was listed incorrectly as $432 million. The city says it owes $659 million.

In Fort Worth, where debt and interest top $1 billion, Mayor Betsy Price said she believes that elected officials' job is to provide full disclosure. Price said the city communicates through town hall meetings, through social media sites such as Facebook and at council meetings.

"But it's also the citizens' responsibility to read the details," she said. "Voters need to study and get engaged on those issues and ask their elected officials tough questions."

Cities aren't required to tell voters that they can block the certificates. Voters can force an election if 5 percent of them sign a petition and submit it before the certificates are approved.

One of the few instances of that took place in Keller, where voters had rejected a bond issue for a library in 1999. Nevertheless, the City Council approved plans in 2005 to borrow about $8.5 million for a library without an election.

WHO's land is it?

Find out in the FW Weekly. 

What will YOU do when they want yours?

But TransCanada wouldn’t do that. The firm, hired to move tar sands bitumen — a mix of sand, clay, and water saturated with an extremely dense petroleum — from Alberta, Canada, to the Houston refineries along what’s been dubbed the Keystone Pipeline XL, upped its offer on the easement a couple of times between 2008 and 2011 from $7,000 to $21,000. When the Crawfords continued to say they weren’t interested, TransCanada went ahead and condemned the land it wanted in September 2011.

Since then, the two parties have been in a legal wrestling match pitting the Crawfords — farm manager Julia Trigg Crawford, her younger brother and sister, and their dad — against a multinational billion-dollar corporation that claims the right to take, by eminent domain if necessary, any land they want to lay pipe on.

It’s the latest version of the David and Goliath story that has already affected thousands of Texans who’ve been steamrolled by the natural gas industry. But this version goes beyond the usual pipeline land-grabs, because it involves a company taking property years before it will obtain a permit to lay the pipe — a company that may not be in compliance with Texas law and therefore may not have the legal right to take anything.

Despite those questions, TransCanada has been involved in at least 89 eminent domain land seizures in Texas alone. The fight involves the issue of which government agency, if any, oversees pipeline companies and their use of eminent domain. Landowners are asking why there is nothing in state law to make a company show the need for a new pipeline before it is allowed to seize private lands — and why individual landowners are having to go to court to thrash out issues that they believe should be covered by state law and public policy.

It’s an issue that seems designed to make Texans, with their love of the land, stand up and shout for answers. But few have. Oil and gas companies, as well as the pipeline companies, generally get to do pretty much as they like here, and even the people who know they can fight also realize they have little chance against companies that can hire lawyers by the carload and drag out lawsuits for years.

In this state, pipeline companies have been turned down only once in more than a hundred years, in taking land by eminent domain. And perhaps the most difficult part of fighting the pipeline companies is that the moment they file to condemn your property through eminent domain, they are considered to own the easement that’s been condemned and have the right to begin laying pipe. That’s a tough hurdle even for a landowner with deep pockets.

The Crawfords are one of a handful of families trying to fight back. They simply don’t want any of their land used for an easement for a pipeline that could rupture and ruin Bois d’Arc Creek, one of their farm’s primary water sources. They don’t want the Caddo Indian artifacts that lie just beneath the surface disturbed. They don’t want to say “How high?” just because a company demands they jump for private profit. For the Crawfords, it’s not about getting a better financial settlement from TransCanada in exchange for allowing them to lay their pipe: It’s about principle.

Hello, McFly...

Something stood out while reading the Fort Worth Weekly this week. 

Why would the FBI be looking at people like this college student in Denton, instead of looking at things like this?  

Really??

Constable Candidate

If you don't know WHO Glen Bucy is, you should.  He's a Fort Worth resident that has been involved in local politics for the past several years.  He's a TCU Political Science graduate, he survived the Wedgewood Church shooting in Fort Worth, and a combat tour in Afghanistan, he is also an Arlington Police Officer.  He's running for constable in precinct 6 and we have a question for those of you "in the know" out there...

WTH could Bud Kennedy have against an all American guy like Glen Bucy?? 

Seems at a recent forum, one of Glen's opponent's stood and made the claim that he was endorsed by Congresswoman, Kay Granger.  Bucy went on to explain why he did not want such an endorsement.  Once again, on Facebook, Bud Kennedy weighed in on Bucy -  about the congresswoman being "criticized--by a constable candidate?"

WHO else is supposed to call them out?  The "news"??

Since when can constituents not comment on their elected officials and their spending?  If we left that to the "news" paper, no one ever would. 

Here's what Glen had to say earlier in the week about the endorsements. 

And pork is pork, no matter how they serve it in Fort Worth. 

While at the Southwest Republican Club, one of my opponents stated that he was the only... candidate in the room that was unequivocally endorsed by Congresswoman Kay Granger,(the most powerful endorsement you could possibly have in Tarrant county according to my opponent.) to which I responded in my final two minute closing statement "The only reason I do not have Kay Grangers endorsement, is because I did not seek it out. I have spoken publicly in the past about several issues that I had with Congresswoman Granger, most importantly, that she is a Pro-Choice Republican, and I am a Pro-Life."

While I agree that Kay Granger has done some good things for Fort Worth, I cannot condone her pro-choice stance on abortion. On matters of fiscal responsibility, Granger fails the test again being one of the largest pork barrel spenders in congress. With projects like the Trinity River Vision and its $909 million dollar price tag, Kay doesn't do our party any favors when we talk about cutting back in Washington spending. As Republicans, we need to be taking the lead in matters of fiscal responsibility/accountability and that is exactly what I plan to do in Constable's office.

It's only lobbying if someone else does it...

We found the most interesting pieces of Bud's column to be quotes.  One of those being his own.

On the group's website, he posted a statement saying that the group's contact with lawmakers is not lobbying and that the Texas Ethics Commission enforces what is "probably an unconstitutional law."'

He also took a rhetorical swipe at Truitt's Republican political consultant, Bryan Eppstein of Fort Worth, saying Eppstein "promotes higher taxes and burdensome government."

In a rarity, Eppstein did not return a call.

Don't miss the reader comment below.  Did Connor say such a thing?  What does he say now? 

I like what former Star-Telegram publisher Richard Connor said about Bryan Eppstein:

This man is a pig at the trough, and Fort Worth is his barnyard.

"Irrelevant column devoid of any understanding...

...of how an improvement district works."

That is one of the comments on the latest column in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram by Mitch Schnurman.  Apparently he's on a roll.  And apparently doesn't realize the city he doesn't live in is made up of 300 miles, all of them in need of something, not just downtown, "central city", Seventh Street or his favorite boondoggle, the Trinity River Vision. 

As usual, the comments are more telling than the column.

The folks that "run" downtown and have the most to lose financially by taking downtown business over to 7th Street or the Southside don't want any part of it. They happen to be very influential and have spent many years making sure they control the political establishment in the city of Fort Worth. Don't think they are going to allow any changes until they buy up these new areas as well. And of course long term they don't want anything to impact their beloved Trinity River Vision the taxpayers are buying for them.

If this doesn't scare you...

Read the comments.  93 of them on an article posted today on the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. 

WHAT'S more important to YOU? Quality or growth?  What's more important to YOUR elected officials?

Do YOUR leaders really think lawn watering is the reason we're in the shape we're in?  We have reports of dead grass and trees from here to the Red River.

Remember earlier this week when a nonprofit did an investigation on Congress and their family connections.  WHAT do you think they are they paid to say?

WHO controls YOUR water?  What will the other cities do?  Like always, wait and see what Fort Worth does.  No offense, guys, but you need to pick another role model.

Guess the latest Irving Mayor has been brought into the game.  The last one tried to get water for the city instead of waiting on the Tarrant Regional Water District. All the way to the Supreme Court to get water from Oklahoma. 

"Mayor Price and I have been talking about lots of initiatives together, and water is one of them," Rawlings said. "I think water conservation is probably the most important issue we have in the next three decades. We cannot continue to grow without water, and I want to continue to grow."

The district provides raw water to 98 percent of residents in Tarrant County, including Fort Worth, Arlington and Mansfield.

"The goal is to reduce excessive outdoor watering and water waste, especially during peak summer months when rain is scarce and demands are high," said Linda Christie, the district's government and community relations director.

The (Tarrant Regional Water) district provides raw water to 98 percent of residents in Tarrant County, including Fort Worth, Arlington and Mansfield.

Officials with Colleyville and North Richland Hills said they haven't discussed the issue. North Richland Hills spokeswoman Mary Peters said the city will likely follow the lead of Fort Worth and the authority on the issue since it buys water from both entities.

The Fort Worth Water Department has 30 wholesale customers, including Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, Southlake, Hurst, Burleson and Crowley. Its contract requires customers to follow whatever rules the city implements itself.

The mayor of Irving, which tried unsuccessfully to broker its own water deal with Hugo, Okla., said the city is ready to work with others.

The U.S. Supreme Court recently declined to hear a lawsuit that resulted from the proposed deal, upholding a lower court's ruling that Hugo couldn't sell water without Oklahoma's permission.
The people say:

Ok, I can understand wanting to conserve water and even using the  twice a week plan. BUT... what about all the Government buildings, Commercial properties & City landscapes that (even when "WE" were in restrictions last year) continue to water on a daily basis, not only in the heat of the day (outside of City required times) but also over watering to the point that there is a large stream running down the road.

What's required for us should be required for the Government and Commercial properties also.
"We cannot continue to grow without water, and I want to continue to grow."

Sounds like a mindless comment to me.  At what point does growth reduce the quality of your life?
Maybe if Rawlings stopped and thought about it, he would realize that the lack of water ITSELF is trying to tell him something, that growth only works when there are reasonable resources to sustain it.
Promoting growth with one hand, while restricting resources with the other, is a bad idea.  There has to be a balance.

"We cannot continue to grow without water, and I want to continue to grow."  Why must we continue to grow?  If you are conserving water, only to expand your growth, then you are just delaying the problem.  If we are under water restrictions, then there should be building restrictions as well.  No new house without the destruction of an equivalent number of sq ft.  7 billion people.  Just stop already.Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2...

Duh...

A new study called Family Affair, details the rampant nepotism in Congress.  Which isn't "technically" illegal, but how to YOU feel about paying for it? 

Recently there was the article about how much YOUR Congressperson is bringing home.  Now here's one about how much of YOUR money they are funnelling to their family. 

Guess WHO made the list? 

Even the Fort Worth Star-Telegram gave it a little notice.  YOUR billion dollars got a two sentence mention. 

Two-thirds of the Texans serving in the U.S. House of Representatives -- including three from North Texas -- have relatives who financially benefited from having a legislator in the family over the past four years, according to a report released this week.

The report, titled "Family Affair," was released by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which reviewed documents for nine months. It shows that relatives of 248 members received payments or otherwise benefited because of the lawmaker in their family.

Some payments were not made directly to relatives but may have come through federal funds earmarked to institutions or nonprofit organizations where they work. Or family members may have served as lobbyists or in government relations, actions that are "not illegal, but ripe for abuse," according to the report by the nonprofit ethics group.

Granger was named because she earmarked $30 million in federal funds for a river redevelopment plan in Fort Worth. Her son, J.D. Granger, heads the Trinity River Vision Authority, which is working to make Kay Granger's vision a reality.

Do no harm

Isn't that the oath doctor's take?

Seems the industry does not share the sentiment. 

What if something was making your child sick and your doctor was forbidden to tell you about it?  WHAT would you do?

Truth-out has a three part gas drilling series YOU must see.  YOUR life may depend on it.

Fracking: Pennsylvania gags Physicians

Fluids used in fracking include those that are “potentially hazardous,” including volatile organic compounds, according to Christopher Portier, director of the National Center for Environmental Health, a part of the federal Centers for Disease Control. In an email to the Associated Press in January 2012, Portier noted that waste water, in addition to bring up several elements, may be radioactive. Fracking is also believed to have been the cause of hundreds of small earthquakes in Ohio and other states.

The law, an amendment to Title 52 (Oil and Gas) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, requires that companies provide to a state-maintained registry the names of chemicals and gases used in fracking. Physicians and others who work with citizen health issues may request specific information, but the company doesn’t have to provide that information if it claims it is a trade secret or proprietary information, nor does it have to reveal how the chemicals and gases used in fracking interact with natural compounds. If a company does release information about what is used, health care professionals are bound by a non-disclosure agreement that not only forbids them from warning the community of water and air pollution that may be caused by fracking, but which also forbids them from telling their own patients what the physician believes may have led to their health problems. A strict interpretation of the law would also forbid general practitioners and family practice physicians who sign the non-disclosure agreement and learn the contents of the “trade secrets” from notifying a specialist about the chemicals or compounds, thus delaying medical treatment.

The clauses are buried on pages 98 and 99 of the 174-page bill, which was initiated and passed by the Republican-controlled General Assembly and signed into law in February by Republican Gov. Tom Corbett.

“I have never seen anything like this in my 37 years of practice,” says Dr. Helen Podgainy, a pediatrician from Coraopolis, Pa.

Typical

Both the TIF and the reporting.

Read the article about TIF's not living up to their hype or promises.  The article that then goes on to tell you how much the TIF's should make.  Wait, what??  Typical Fort Worth Way in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. 

It talks about the developers taking risks with TIF's, it doesn't say much about those that fund the TIF.  Yes, it's YOU.

Notice how when they tell you about the Trinity River Vision TIF, they leave out the 40 years it spans (so far).

Does that mean YOUR kids will be sheep too?

Many projections for valuation growth were wildly overoptimistic.

For example, the tax increment finance district, or TIF, that covers east Fort Worth's Woodhaven neighborhood has lost overall property value for two years in a row. And a TIF that was started to attract a Cabela's sporting goods store to far north Fort Worth doesn't generate enough revenue to reimburse the retailer for bond payments tied to the development.

They typically stay in place for 20 years.

But he added, "Nobody predicted the loss of tax base two years in a row," referring to Woodhaven.

Cabela's was touted as a destination that would attract other development and millions of visitors. But there has been no other building.

The TIF, which was challenged in court by a citizens group, was set up to attract the Cabela's project at the northeast corner of I-35W and Texas 170. Cabela's said it wouldn't come to Fort Worth without it.

One of the more ambitious TIFs in terms of funding development is the Trinity River Vision TIF, which spans 3,980 acres from Northeast 23rd Street on the north and West Lancaster Avenue to the south, and includes Gateway Park to the east. The TIF proposes $320 million in spending.

The TIF currently carries costs associated with the Trinity River Vision project and has raised $8.4 million but spent only $2.5 million, the report says.

It started in 2003 with a base property value of $130.7 million.

That grew to $334.8 million in 2010, but expectations are that it could have a taxable value of $2.6 billion by 2044.

No response

No surprise.

This attorney wouldn't call the FW Weekly back.  WHY not?

Call and ask him.  Check on the status of YOUR First Amendment rights.

And back up a Texas Hero while you're at it. 

Is there an attorney in the house?

Read about TXSharon and Range Resources on the Fort Worth Weekly.com.  They have the digits.

Bursting their bubble

As soon as the Rolling Stone article hit the street, the standard responses from the industry started rolling in. 

We've seen it before. 

What's different about this "news"?  The Rolling Stone chose to answer back.  Point by point.  Read the entire article.  The closing is not to be missed.  Bravo.

Keep on rockin'.

The company entirely dodges the article’s central point: that Chesapeake is highly-leveraged firm operated by a corporate gambler who engaged in complex scheme to profit off the illusion that America has a virtually unlimited supply of cheap natural gas.
But when it came time to answer more substantial questions, all traces of transparency vanished. A quick example: I asked Chesapeake three times to provide me with a statistic for the total volume of dirty flowback water the company handled in the Marcellus Shale region last year. I got no answer.

Even more disturbing, when I asked McClendon directly if he or his company had contributed any money to presidential candidates or their PACs during the current campaign, he said flatly that they had not. This was curious to me, because McClendon has a long history of making campaign donations, and often encourages others in the industry to give to PACs as a way to make sure their voices are heard.   So I asked him again in email a few days later: The answer was still "no." A week later, a researcher at Rolling Stone discovered that Chesapeake had indeed contributed $250,000 to Rick Perry's campaign last fall. When I asked Kehs about this, he admitted it was true. Apparently McClendon operates in a world where a quarter million dollar campaign contribution can just slip one’s mind. 

It's all fun and games

Till someone gets hurt, or goes broke.

Read about the Party in Fort Worth, sponsored by Chesapeake, on Durango.  Tickets were $200.00 for individuals and up to $25,000 for a table.  WHO paid for YOUR elected leaders to attend?

There were several in attendance, from Mayor Price to Queen Earmark. 

How much did that cost YOU?

Give it up

Instead of saying, “we can’t add”, the Star-Telegram chooses to call the call out on them “grumbling”. 

And don't miss the comments on Durango's boondoggle post.  They keep getting better.

Drive-in grumbling

A "back to the future" drive-in movie theater promises to reap a profit of $1.7 million over a 10-year contract with the Tarrant Regional Water District. The enlightened Star-Telegram Editorial Board says this "sounds like a way to jump-start activity along the Trinity River -- and at no risk to the taxpayer."

A 1.8 percent return on $909 million may sound like a good deal to the dim bulbs at the water district, Trinity River Vision Authority and Star-Telegram, but it sounds to me like yet another departure from a flawed Trinity Uptown plan that includes a flooded wakeboard park (what is the profit from that?), and a no-bid, one-time good-deal restaurant lease. And at no risk to the taxpayer, you say?

A couple hundred million to remediate flood potential caused by a half-billion-dollar rechanneling of the river, all to return far less than it costs. That's visionary?

-- Clyde Picht, Fort Worth