Commissioners’ Court Diverts Federal Dollars to Women’s Shelter

It’s an interesting turn of events when you see the Fort Bend County Commissioner’s Court do an amazing thing right out in the open, but that is what happened this week when they voted 3 to 2 to take $20,000 in federal grant money and reallocate it from one charitable organization to another.

Voting, this time, against County Judge Bob Hebert.

What could be behind this, I had to ask myself. So I perused the rest of the article found here in the Chronicle’s Fort Bend County blog and thought I had an answer, but question marks still kept appearing.

The 20 grand in question was targeted to benefit the Fred and Mabel Parks Youth Ranch, Inc. a facility currently under construction in rural Fairchilds. This is a facility meant to house abused troubled and homeless children in Fort Bend County. A homeless shelter for children does not exist in Fort Bend County. Well not one for those who are not charged with a crime, anyway. The facility was funded by the Fred and Mabel Parks Foundation and the Mamie George Foundation. Management of the construction of the facility was donated by Asset Plus Companies.

This endeavor, it seems is a multi-million dollar undertaking.

An undertaking that has as one of its board members the very same County Judge Hebert who voted in favor of sending the 20 large to this charity. His charity.

Instead, Commissioners Morrison, Prestage and Meyer voted to divert that money away from Hebert’s project and direct it toward the Fort Bend County Women’s Shelter, an organization that houses and shelters abused women and their small children. This organization, by the way, was the beneficiary of $60,842 from the same federal emergency shelter grant, bringing their total up to $80,642, or 94.8% of the total federal grant.

Hebert said that the vote was “political.” From the Chron:

“I can’t sit there and vote to withhold money from a charitable organization whose only mission is to help homeless children. I think it’s a terrible precedent that members of the court made a determination on what charities are worthy of receiving federal money.”

In seeming answer to Hebert’s charges of politicization of charities, the article then concentrated on community opposition to the youth ranch and specifically how neighbors have been negatively impacted by the ranch’s construction.

So what is it? Was the vote to divert funds to the Women’s Shelter a vote in support of Fairchilds residents who opposed the project? Was it a vote to overturn what seemed to be an obvious conflict of interest on the part of Bob Hebert? Or was it simply a choice of which charity needed the funds more, a well-funded youth ranch or the women’s shelter, which gets its funding from donations and proceeds from the sale of used goods in their thrift store?

Whichever it was, one or all, I really don’t care.

Here’s why.

It took a little digging but I discovered that the Fred and Mabel Parks Youth Ranch will be run by the Arrow Child and Family Ministries, or Arrow Ministries for short. This is a Christian organization that endeavors to create “communities of children and families who have experienced healed hearts and changed lives enjoying a whole and meaningful life through faith in Jesus Christ.”

I also discovered that Arrow Ministries is in some way associated with the Michael Reagan Center for Advocacy and Research. The self-same ultra rightwing organization that conducts robotic telephone push polls all over the country pushing their conservative agenda.

So you see, I really don’t care what or why the 3 commissioners voted the way that they did. I simply do not want my federal taxpayer dollars, and that is what this federal grant is, to be used to support a sectarian cause. It is in absolute violation of the Establishment Clause to the US Constitution.

And I really don’t want a cent of my taxpayer dollars to benefit an ultra-rightwing political organization.

There are lots of private foundations to support sectarian and rightwing causes. Let them handle all of that and let’s let the federal taxpayer money benefit non-sectarian apolitical causes.

This is America, after all. Not a sectarian state like the Islamic Republic of Iran.

County Commissioners Approve of Sales, but Not Discharge of Fireworks

This is typical.

In response to having had several weeks now without a drop of rain and record hot dry days, the Fort Bend County Commissioners this week approved a motion by County Fire Marshal Vance Cooper to declare a “burn ban” in the county.

A burn ban effectively means no open flames are allowed because it might set off wildfires.

And because we are just 10 days out from Independence Day, that means open flames also apply to fireworks.

And that’s a good thing. That is the responsible thing to do. Because what those of you not from around here may not know is that here in Fort Bend County we take our fireworks seriously. We are not of the namby pamby sparkler set, now. When it comes to fireworks we don’t mess around.

Literally.

Around here you can purchase just about any kind of fireworks made. I’m talking rockets and bombs, here. In my youth we had to travel to Mexico to find fireworks of that sort.

What is typical, though, is that the burn ban falls short of banning the sale of fireworks in Fort Bend County. That’s right, you can buy them, but you can’t set them off.

From FortBendNow:

“Precinct 3 Commissioner Andy Meyers agreed with Hebert, saying the ban won’t prevent fireworks sales but does make lighting or discharging fireworks illegal.”

“Because of a law requiring a lead time before banning fireworks sales, “the only thing we can do is prevent people from setting fireworks off,” Meyers said.”

This makes absolutely no sense at all, which is why I am not surprised that the Commissioners Court signed off on it. Why? Because your typical fireworks-burning yahoo here in Fort Bend County does not read the local papers. Your typical yahoo doesn’t even know what a Commissioners Court is or what it does.

But he does buy lots and lots of fireworks.

You know, allowing fireworks to be purchased within your jurisdiction is tantamount to an agreement that once bought, the purchaser can put them to the use that they were intended for.

It’s like allowing the sale of bottled water in the county, but forbidding the use of it to quench your thirst after a long hot day outside mowing the ever-browning lawn.

But we here in Fort Bend County don’t want to stand in the way of free enterprise. No way will we stifle the merchandising of firestorm delivery systems. Because we support the capitalist way of life here. Regulating commerce?

That’s Obama Socialism writ large.

Judge Hebert: Just Say “No” to Ethics Reform

In a story buried in the Houston Chronicle on November 10th we find that Precinct 1 Commissioner-Elect Richard Morrison has a full plate of ethics reform to serve to the Fort Bend County Commissioners Court when he takes office in January.

The hors d’oeuvres to this 7 course meal are pasted below from Morrison’s website where you can also get a copy of the full resolution.

I. CONTRIBUTION LIMITS

• Starting with the 2010 election cycle, limit individual contributions to a County Jude or County Commissioner to $250.
• Limit PAC contributions to $500.

II. CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

• Any gift in excess of $100 to a County Judge or County Commissioner (or immediate family members) from a party with business before the County will require that Judge or Commissioner to recuse themselves from ruling or voting on that issue.

This isn’t news to anyone who knows Richard Morrison. Morrison has made it all about the unethical behavior that has been the curse of Fort Bend County government for far too long. And it’s time for a change. We changed the party affiliation of the 1st Precinct commissioner, and now it’s time to change out the feeding trough in the Commissioners Court and replace it with transparency and accountability.

News of the coming of this resolution was greeted with a smile and a yawn by County Judge Hebert. The Chron reports this reaction to Morrison’s resolution:

“He is entitled to his opinions. But I don’t know what good it will do if the commissioners court passes a resolution. It wouldn’t be binding on any elected officials. He needs to go to Austin and work with the state Legislature to change the law. We have to follow state rules in our fundraising.”

His hands are tied, you see. Tied. Hebert seems to be saying that if the state ethics commission [itself an ethically-challenged body in my opinion] doesn’t see a problem with how things are done now, can and should the county make these changes?

It’s non-binding, he says.

That is, if you violate the precepts found in the resolution, no one can punish you, or fine you.

I find it hard to say this to a government official, but here goes. What does it say about your ethical compass when the rules that you follow are only the ones that have monetary consequences if you violate them? What about what is right for the county taxpayers?

What is wrong with being right? What is wrong with being just? What is wrong with being fair? Texas ethics laws need revamping. That anyone can tell you. But why not serve as a model of ethical reform?

Show county taxpayers, and voters, that you are above the chicanery that Texas politics are famous for. Be an agent for change.

Or at least don’t get in the way of it.

Because the alternative is an unsaid admission that you like it as it is.

You like it just fine.

Was I At the Wrong Meeting or Was The Chron?

Apparently a Houston Chronicle reporter also attended Wednesday's S.T.O.P. meeting and came away thinking that every candidate had a huge problem with the Grand Parkway toll road to nowhere. I was there and as reported yesterday, came away with the distinct impression that Republican challengers Greg Ordineaux and Bill Dostal were not exactly saying they were against it, or for it either.

Dostal merely said that the existing free access portion of the Grand Parkway should never be converted to a toll road. Then he went on in another direction.

Ordineaux was even cagier. Ordineaux simply said that either the road would be built as a toll road or that the Fort Bend residents could vote for or against it in a bond election, and then pay for the bonds in increased taxes.

That last bit, "increased taxes", is Republican newspeak for "nuclear war", as in "we can have a road built using toll road fees or we can have nuclear war".

Just so you know.

But I have to agree with S.T.O.P. member Geri Wells, quoted at the end of the Chron article. You really don't know what they are really thinking, especially the ones who either used to support the notion of another tollway in Fort Bend, or have been quietly working behind the scenes to enable the eventuality of a tollway.

Fort Bend County Elections Chief Resigns On Opening Day

Just when we here in Texas are just settling down for a nice primary vote, early voting began today for the March 4th primary, our county elections administrator, J. R. Perez, pulled the plug and said “adios” to the Fort Bend Elections Commission.

But wait, when you tender your resignation, there is some sort of notice given, right? So the employer isn’t left in the lurch (especially on the first day of early voting). Most telling in all of this is the fact that the Commission made his resignation effective immediately.

According to FortBendNow:

“‘We have removed him from his responsibilities and replaced him with Robin Heiman,’ the first assistant elections administrator, said Fort Bend County Judge Bob Hebert, who also serves as Election Commission chairman, after the commission meeting.”

Yes, you heard that right: the county elections administrator quit on the first day of early voting in what is to be, very arguably, the biggest primary election voter turnout in living memory – and most likely, the largest turnout in Fort Bend County history.

The meeting today was behind closed doors. The press was barred from attending, being presented with an opinion of Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott on whether a meeting of an Elections Commission constituted a public meeting under the “Texas Open Meetings Act”. It wasn’t said Abbott.

So we will never really know what went on behind those doors, even though that particular meeting affected the voting ability of each and every registered voter of Fort Bend County.

Nothing new here. It fits the transparency test of “clear as Brazos River mud” Fort Bend County government.

In they all went, slam went the doors, and then 15 minutes later J. R. Perez left in the company of a county attorney.

Rumor has it that if J.R. didn’t tender his resignation, it would have been requested. By whom no one knows, but I assume it would have been requested by County Judge Hebert, who is the common denominator between the Elections Commission and the County Court. There, at the Court, it has been a most acrimonious time with county commissioners nipping at J.R’s heels over his remarks to the news media that he had not been receiving support from the county commission.

Then came J.R.’s recommendation that the county scrap its paperless electronic voting system, the infamous product of Hart Intercivic, in favor of an optical scanning system. This, by the way, would do nothing to alleviate the predicted long lines in the primary, or even in the presidential election in November. Perez said it was far too late in the day to make changes to prevent voter angst now or then.

But now, not only do we have ill-equipped polling sites, we have a decapitated county elections office.

Karl Rove, the Republican mastermind of voter suppression, couldn’t have done any better. Thanks to poor planning by the county commission, including their opting for the expensive dial-a-vote paperless system hated by every county voter I have talked to, and the hasty appointment of a county assistant who will run things, voters can now worry, and worry well, over whether their vote is going to count.

Early voting, Fort Bend voters. Early voting is your only real hope to get your vote in and counted. Get there early if you can, too. Stories of crowded early voting locations are already beginning to surface.

What a Friend We Have in J. R.

J.R. Perez made it to the front page of FortBendNow twice today. A most startling story on the Fort Bend County Elections Administrator first appeared before noon today, disclosing Perez’ fears that there would not be enough of the Hart Intercivic “Dial-A-Vote” voting machines to service the upcoming March 4th primaries. Citing record turnouts in other states, Perez became concerned about having 40% of registered county voters actually showing up to vote in the primary.

A 40% turnout, it seems will crater our county’s voting system.

The voters, Perez has noted, are coming out to the polls in record numbers for a primary season. Democrats mainly. Democrats are most enthusiastically appearing at the polls this year in record numbers to make their wishes known – and maybe to cast a preliminary NO vote against all things Republican.

That notwithstanding, why is our county elections office under-equipped with voting machines? Have we been playing it fast and loose with past trends? Thinking that maybe the status quo is de rigueur here in Fort Bend County? Our commissioner’s court appears to be so enrapt with these high tech wonders, after all.

Now I am beginning to wonder whether that love affair that our county commissioners have had with Hart Intercivic and their abomination that they call a voting machine has all been part of a larger plan. A Karl Rove-ian- hatched plan that proposes to make it as hard as possible for citizens to exercise their constitutional right to vote. Such long, long lines and waiting periods were noted all over the county during the November ’06 general election. Clearly more machines were needed just to handle a mid-term general election. Now we have the biggest primary event to come to Texas in over 50 years, and . . . oh my . . . we don’t have enough machines to go around.

But wait, there’s more.

In the afternoon, Perez met with the commissioners who were pretty disturbed over all of this, especially about Perez’ comments to a Fox News reporter that he wasn’t going to be able to get enough machines for the county, that he would need to buy paper ballots and optical scanners to make up the shortfall, and that the county commissioners would not support him. “…we gave you everything you asked for,” said Precinct 4 commissioner Patterson.

Perez replied that he “recommended in August for paper ballots. I was overruled, and so I went out and bought more equipment.”

And now, since all of that equipment will not fulfill the needs of the county voters, Perez is now proposing to scrap the entire paperless ballot system.

Can I get a big HALLELUIAH?

Yes, J.R. Perez proposes that the county sell the Hart paperless system and buy optical scanners and paper ballots. He predicts that the county should get 50 cents on the dollar for the Hart Intercivic machines (although I would take another look at that market, J.R., I suspect that you’ll find the market pretty soft for paperless ballot machines these days).

So what bodes for the primary just 3 short weeks away? Nothing good. Perez says that he will just have “to grin and bear it. And I hope people appreciate standing in line”.

No, he said that, I didn’t make it up.

Famous last words on the subject come from our Precinct 2 commissioner, Democrat Grady Prestage, who quipped:

“For the primary, you don’t have a lot of choice, just go ahead and hunker down. We were a victim of trying to rush into technology. From everything I can see, we will be back to optical scan systems.”

That is, an optical scan system with a paper trail.

This underlines what lots of us have been saying. DON’T WAIT TO CAST YOUR BALLOT UNTIL MARCH 4th!!! Early voting is for EVERYONE. Avoid the lines and confusion. Early Voting for the March 4th primary starts Tuesday February 19th and goes through Friday February 29th.