Divided they fail

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram's recent article concerning the Fort Worth School Board was so divided it was laughable.  Leave it to the Fort Worth Weekly to turn the lights on. What happens when you turn on the lights?  They scurry, quick.  Notice WHO didn't respond for the article.  The very same ones that "failed to show up" for a recent meeting.  Failed to show up?  For something they have been elected to do? Concerning our kids?  And these are the ones the S-T claims are above board?  The same ones that sent emails attacking the others by namecalling?  Elections can't come soon enough. 

No wonder the recent speaker at City Hall pointed out the difference of the "news" papers to Mayor Price.

Betsy Price ran this week’s city council meetings in the same manner she handles herself — she was pleasant, efficient, and confident. She remained calm after a resident took his turn to speak, lectured the council on how to vote, and told them not to believe anything in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram while urging them to take Fort Worth Weekly stories to the bank. Price smiled and joked with the guy about using her big gavel to keep the council in line. Former Mayor Mike Moncrief would have smiled in that situation too — but only after saying, “Release the dogs” and watching a pack of Dobermans maul the dissenter.

Back to the school board, be sure and read the article, otherwise, YOU don't know what you're missing.

After Johnson’s resignation, Vasquez, Sims, Sutherland, and Rangel asked board president Ray Dickerson to call a special meeting to name an interim superintendent; Dansby’s name had already been raised as the likeliest candidate. He had strong support from the local educational employees union and from a coalition of activists and ministers representing the city’s minority communities.

Needham, Norm Robbins, Christene Moss, and Jackson — all failed to show up. With no quorum, the meeting was cancelled even though the auditorium was full of Dansby supporters. A week later, on June 7, Dickerson called another special meeting, and Dansby was appointed.

Since May 2010, the daily has written 30 editorials implying dirty dealings and collusion by Sutherland, Rangel, and Vasquez, in particular in the awarding of a lucrative tax collection contract to the Austin-based law firm of Linebarger, Goggan, Blair & Sampson rather than to the local joint venture of Perdue, Brackett, Flores, Utt and Burns. Perdue had the contract for 17 years but lost it after the election of Sutherland and Jackson, both of whom voted with Rangel and Vasquez to hire Linebarger. Sims and Needham voted for Linebarger as well but faced no criticism from the daily paper.

Connected in Cowtown

WHO is writing letters for Betsy Price?  One name that keeps popping up over and over with the Fort Worth School Board.

This letter writer is a very close friend to another Tarrant Regional Water District member.  The letter writer also wrote a letter to the drillers recently and recalled it after it was made public (see above link).  And was mentioned again today in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.  Interesting note.  And the circle keeps getting smaller.  That's what happens when things start going down the drain.

Vasquez said that when it comes time to appoint trustees to the boards of the city's tax increment financing zones, called TIFs, the nod usually goes to the trustee who lives in the same district as the TIF. But in October 2009, trustees appointed Needham to a TIF board for the Trinity River Vision project, which is in Vasquez's district. At the time, Vasquez expressed disappointment that he was not selected.

"We do things historically when they're convenient," Vasquez said.

Civility in Fort Worth?

Now that's a new one.

The FW Weekly has the scoop on the new group forming to hold the FWISD trustees accountable.   Put Our Kids First. Unlike the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the Weekly tells it as it is.

And there is that name again.  Judy Needham.  Read what some of her emails to her fellow board members say.  Are these the people YOU want looking out for YOUR kids? 

Adding to the controversy is the fact that trustee Judy Needham sits on the Lena Pope board of directors along with her close friend Marty Leonard, daughter and niece of the late Leonard Brothers retailers.


Both point out that no group formed to call for civility when Needham began sending ugly emails to Sutherland last year, with copies to all board members and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

In one she called Sutherland a “crazy old fool of a woman,” and the “worst” elected trustee in Texas, because Sutherland took it upon herself to stop Chesapeake drilling company from using a loophole in the law that would have allowed it to drill within 200 feet of a school in spite of the fact that the district has a 1,200 foot setback from all schools. (Needham’s hands are hardly clean on the Chesapeake drilling issues. She and trustee Tobi Jackson were recently caught sending identical letters to the state legislature opposing a bill by Fort Worth representative Lon Burnam that would have made it a state law that no gas drilling could occur within 1,200 feet of a school or any school properties. Both rescinded the letters after they were caught and exposed on Facebook, the Star-Telegram and this paper.)

We have a question about one of the comments.  WHO knows the truth? 

 In the guise of this “civility grassroots effort” is Ed Lasater and former mayor Ken Barr who was not named in this article. Ken Barr is both a Chesapeake consultant and treasurer to Jim Lane who is running for Mayor. Barr is behind the scenes with Ed Lasater. Sal Espino is supporting Jim Lane. Do you see the picture? Vote for change in the Mayoral and City wide elections. Politicians cater to special interests. Gas drilling is big as demonstrated in this article by Tobie Jackson and Judy Needham .