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.

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Downtown District

A Letter to the Editor in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram makes an excellent point.  Downtown Fort Worth isn't a congressional district.  It's part of one.  Don't show up in the rest of the district asking for our money to dump into our river.  Pay attention. 

Seeking attention

The Sunday article about Rep. Kay Granger gave much information about her international activities. I wish she would do as much in her own district, which is not just Fort Worth. The Tarrant County portion of her district, before redistricting, has 14 percent of the area and 79 percent of the population.

If you go by her own claim for appropriations in 2010, 61 percent was spent in Fort Worth and 4 percent in Parker County, with the rest being national or regional. Most of the Parker County spending went to a company that does business outside the county. Wise County got nothing. I got appropriations information from her website but can no longer find that link.

Granger does come to Parker County to raise money. With 86 percent of the area and 21 percent of the population, Parker and Wise counties would like to have more than 4 percent of the attention.

-- Darrel Behrens, Aledo

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Water Boarding 3-2

Earlier we told you the Tarrant Regional Water District held a vote to give them themselves another year in office.

Wouldn't it be a conflict of interest for someone to vote on extending their own term?  You know, even in Fort Worth?

Kudos to Jim Lane and Hal Sparks for possibly making history on a TRWD vote.  Even the Fort Worth Star-Telegram noticed.

But the water board, which historically has been known for casting unanimous votes, was split on the issue.

Sparks said he felt like he made an agreement with voters to serve four years when he was elected and voted his conscience on the issue.

Does that mean the other board members don't have one?

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More Culture of Corruption

From the Tarrant County breeding ground.  Via Watchdog Nation.

And in the Watchdog's column in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Fort Worth retirees double dipping is described as "common".  Well, these folks learn from the best. 

UPDATE: In January 2012, federal prosecutors announced that Spencer Barasch, formerly chief enforcement officer in the Fort Worth, Texas office of the Securities and Exchange Commission, had agreed to pay $50,000 to settle charges that he violated federal conflict-of-interest standards by providing representation for financier R. Allen Stanford, the Associated Press reported.

Barasch is now a partner with the Dallas law firm, Andres Kurth LLP.

Malcolm Bales, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas, said the fine, the maximum amount allowed under law, shows that the government is serious about cracking down on former federal officials who attempt to us their influence in the private sector, the AP reported.

Bales said, “There should be zero tolerance for people who serve the public and then go into the private sector and use [that service] for personal benefit,” he said, according to the AP.

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"Egomaniacs running amok"

In Tarrant County...well, duh.  Where have you been, under a rock?!

While it's a quote a local columnist used to describe our Constables, (which he refers to as "tin-horn sheriffs") we say if the shoe fits...

Ego continues throughout the 60+ comment string on Facebook, as well as insults.

Maybe YOU should check out some of the local boys running for Constable.  Several of them have served in one way or another and have spent much of their time protecting THE PEOPLE.  What is it that columnist do for THE PEOPLE?

WHO were THEY talking about today?

Glen Bucy.

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WHO's talking

About Texas air quality?

WHO isn't?

Read the New York Times article.  YOU can't afford to miss it.

Don't miss the connections...

Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston are the only Texas cities currently considered in "nonattainment" for ozone, meaning they do not meet Environmental Protection Agency standards. Nonattainment can cause a loss of federal highway money, though this has never happened in Texas.

On Friday the E.P.A., citing emissions from drilling activities among other factors, wrote to Gov. Rick Perry to propose including Hood and Wise Counties in the Dallas-Fort Worth non-attainment area.

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WHO's your daddy?

As previously mentioned, we keep it in the family in Fort Worth.  Literally.

Read about the court connections on PoliTex.  And keep in mind, that ain't nothin.

This is Texas, we do it up big.

They’re the latest in a long line of notable offspring to be hired by the Tarrant County district attorney’s office.

Others who have branched out on the district attorney’s family tree include:

--J.D. Granger, son of U.S. Rep. (and former Fort Worth mayor) Kay Granger. J.D. Granger is now executive director of the Trinity River Vision Authority.

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THE Women want to know

Y'all better answer them.  Don't they publish a voter's guide every election?  You go, girls.

Read the letter in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Ordinance revisions

The League of Women Voters of Tarrant County applauds the Fort Worth City Council for commissioning a comprehensive, independent study of air quality in the Fort Worth area, and for charging city staff to make recommendations for additions to the gas drilling ordinance in response to the study findings.

However, we are disappointed that the City Council chose not to adopt any of the proposed revisions.

The health issues raised by the study remain, so we ask: When will changes be made to the ordinance to address these vital issues?

-- Judy Wood, president, LWV
 Tarrant County, Fort Worth

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Yeah, we felt it too

There was an earthquake in Fort Worth tonight.  Well, we don't know where it was centered but we have reports coming in from North Fort Worth of a lot of shaking going on. And Google has lit up like a Christmas tree.  And, we felt the earth shaking.

Last night there was an earthquake in Oklahoma City.  Tonight an earthquake in Fort Worth.  What does Fort Worth and Oklahoma City have in common? Aside from gas drillers? 

Just saying.  And shaking.  On Saturday night in Texas.

Incoming update - 
Word is it was a 5.6 earthquake in Sparks, Oklahoma.  Like they say, what happens in Oklahoma, doesn't stay in Oklahoma...

What happens to water mains and gas pipelines when the ground moves?

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Just say NO

Many people have been asking about voting on the amendments in Texas.  Here's an interesting read we were forwarded.  WHY would some of these be coming right out of Tarrant County?  Where's that Attorney General when you need him?

This amendment will allow bonds to be sold to be used for a private commercial real estate development project and to pocket the profits. Public monies should not be used for private development. And it is highly questionable how the public can benefit from a developer building condominiums. It hasn't worked very well in the past--many big promises were made as to how the tifs would benefit us but it hasn't worked out that way.

This amendment allows counties to use eminent domain to take property and use for commercial interest. The sponsor of the amendment says it is to allow counties to build roads. But it also allows most anything else they can think of---just as happened which began the boondogle TRV project.

Voters already voted down a transportation bill for extensive rail projects that weren't liked and the same people who brought that item to the ballot are strongly supporting this--- so they can do an end-around the voters and decide to plan a rail project without public support. If this amendment passes, they can take private land without paying a fair price,  sell bonds without voter approval, and build whatever rail project they want,  then sell extra land to private developers to finish out project..... all without your approval and/or participation in the process.

Funding also provided by complicated tax refinancing similar to TIF'S. As you know some tifs have been a financial drain on taxpayers--they only help the private developer and big business, and not fulfilling the big promises of increased jobs and increasing tax base. They were also originally designed to use "blighted" areas for redevelopment but have turned out to be anything but that. The process has been abused in our area many times but voters are without recourse, once they unwittingly give up that power.

And the whole process depends entirely on the expectation that future property values will increase. If they don't the govt. entities must cough up the money somehow... so who do you think will pay if they are in danger of defaulting on their bonds?

I'm all for adding more rail projects but don't believe this is the way to do it after the TRV was shoved down our throat, leaving us with no recourse.

I'm voting no on all amendments,except maybe the first one.

Please join me in voting NO to prop 4 on Nov. 8

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Dear Texas Attorney General

It seems some in Tarrant County might need to be taken out behind the Woodshed...

The citizens have taken a special interest in the new Tim Love restaurant on the banks of the Trinity River. They seem to have issue with WHERE all this public money for private profit is coming from.  THEM.

Check out the latest on Durango.  Then, sit tight, more to come.

Beale also told me that the Woodshed cost $1.2 million and that currently three entities, (Tim Love, Tarrant Regional Water District and Trinity River Vision Authority) are at odds over something, which is why the Woodshed sits on the bank of the Trinity River, unopened.

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Jeers to you know WHO

A jeer in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram caught our eye this weekend. We hear there's more to this jeer...stay tuned.

Jeers: To the people who encourage us to tube, swim, wakeboard and otherwise recreate in a river that is known to have contaminated fish and fecal matter in it, as shown on WFAA last month. Is the Trinity clean now? If so, who cleaned it?

-- Debbie L. Sheffield, North Richland Hills

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Different Texas agency, same Texas corruption?

The North Texas Tollway Authority keeps making the "news".  WHY?

Because they've been through 5 guys in 5 years.  WHY did the latest head resign?  Because he was going to be fired.

WHY?  Because he thinks some of the million(s) of tax dollar relationships with some of the same companies since the 1950s are too cozy.  And maybe all those connections the board members have with the companies and politicians could be considered a conflict of interest. 

Hell, this is Texas...WHO are we kidding?

Is it time for the sunset of NTTA?

It ain't the only "Authority" that's overdue.

When it comes to Toll (Toal?) Roads and Rivers, it's all about WHO you know.


Some notes YOU can't afford to miss in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram articles this week.

The recommendations come after several potential conflicts surfaced involving individual board members, as well as the tollway authority’s institutional relationship with a handful of firms that are paid tens of millions of dollars per year to perform engineering, legal and other services.

Board chairman Kenneth Barr of Fort Worth disclosed that his brother is a lawyer with Locke Lord, a firm that does about $6.9 million a year in tollway authority legal work. Barr said he consulted with the tollway authority’s legal counsel, also a Locke Lord attorney, before accepting a board position in 2008 to ensure there was no ethical conflict.

The report said the tollway authority had “perceived and potentially real conflicts of interest” with HNTB, an engineering firm that is currently under contract for about $15 million a year in tollway work. When asked later what that meant, Alvarez & Marsal managing director Ron Orsini said the audit has uncovered a situation in which one HNTB consultant was approved to pay an invoice for another HNTB consultant – all with the tollway authority’s blessing.The report didn’t attempt to catalog how often the arrangement existed, or how long the practice had been in place, Orsini said.

Ethnicity has become an issue in recent months, when tollway staff disclosed that most of their contracts are awarded to firms governed by white males – although the report points out that the tollway authority is making progress in diversifying its contractors.

But the report also found that tollway staff publicly discussed winners of procurement contracts before the board had voted to approve the contracts.“Some board members did not trust the staff’s procurement process. It’s not clear when a procurement officially ends,” said Eric Noack, Alvarez & Marsal vice president.

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Commissioner Investigation

In Johnson County a former commissioner is being investigated.  One can only hope neighboring counties will start these investigations while these folks are still in office.

Read about the investigation in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

What happens when you start asking questions?

"The investigation is still ongoing. We are still conducting interviews. You ask one question and it leads to another," Sheriff Bob Alford said recently.

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Dear Congresswoman Granger -

Your letter to some of your "Friends" states -

America has had enough. Enough reckless, wasteful spending. Enough piling up more and more debt. You deserve to know the truth about America’s budget, and it’s my responsibility to make sure you have the real information. No budget tricks, no more gimmicks, and no more empty promises.

American families have had to tighten their belts and learn to do more with less. So should Washington.
 
Some people claim it's just more campaign rhetoric to cover yourself, some claim it's because you can't decide which side of the aisle you're on, some say they don't believe anything you say.

We say - Prove it.

Put OUR money, where YOUR mouth is.

You want us to believe YOU?

Then stop letting OUR water district spend OUR money and pay YOUR son to tell us (sell us) to get in the polluted river.  Stop letting them take taxpayers land to give to large campaign donors and developers.  Stop committing us and our children to more debt. Stop letting corporations suck water out of our drought stricken river.  Stop letting the Army Corp of Engineers try and move the course of the river.  Stop letting the NCTCOG (North Central Texas Council of Governments) spend OUR money.  Help your constituents in Tarrant County fix our roads, our infrastructure, our air.  Help us get our kids back to school and open the libraries and pools.

That grotesque amount of money being made from the gas drillers, if not going to benefit the taxpayers it belongs to, should instead be poured back in to finding solutions for when we run out of clean, usable water and to fix the flooding problems in Tarrant County and clean up the waterways that are full of trash, bacterias and PCB's.... Not so the New Kids on the Block can run up and down 7th street and jet off to Vancouver. 

So when you give up your billion dollar pet project (which is OUR money) for the good of ALL the citizens in your district, we might buy it.  Until then, business as usual.

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FBI Warning

Special Agent in Charge Robert Casey told NBC 5 that federal agents are pushing to curb public corruption and that "there should be some nervous people if they're doing something wrong."

This was after they showed up at the Dallas County District Attorney's office this morning. 

Wonder WHO's next? 

Read more about it on NBC.com.

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Whole lotta shakin

Going on in Tarrant County.

When the seismic trucks roll through your neighborhood, what's the cost to YOU?  To YOUR home's foundation?  Anyone??

Why do seismic testing crews hire police officers to escort them through city neighborhoods?

District 8 Councilwoman Kathleen Hicks has said "properties are protected against damage".   Those being tested want to know how Ms. Hicks is protecting them.

Read about it on FWCANDO.

Additionally, we request documentation that proves seismic testing will not harm slab foundations, public streets, sidewalks, plumbing, sprinkler systems, utilities, septic systems, water wells, electronic devices and other public and private property in any way including, causing subsidence, cracks, wear and tear or any other negative impacts.

We also request proof that our homeowners' insurance will not be impacted in any way by seismic testing including, increased rates or reduced liability coverage.

It is essential that this documentation come from an independent, third-party source and not from the gas drilling industry, City of FW or any other party who benefits financially from drilling or seismic testing. It is important that the document demonstrate that such testing is safe in an urban environment and has been monitored for a period of at least five years. It is imperative that this proof be provided in a timely manner since the City has already issued permits and testing is underway.

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What NOT to do this week

Read the latest Trinity River Vision scheme courtesy of Durango.  Good questions, anyone from the Trinity River Vision, Trinity River Vision Authority, Tarrant Regional Water District, District of Columbia, City of Fort Worth, or Tarrant County want to answer?

What is the reason the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle has added Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats to its vision? How much do the Happy Hours cost? Is the cost being covered completely by the sponsors?

Are J.D. Granger and his mom, Kay, going to be in the Trinity River on Thursday? If not, why not?

Then read about the Trinity River Improvement Partnership.  Get involved, if not for you, for YOUR kids.

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Texas Politics

The redistricting is causing quite a stir.  Seems just like before it's politically motivated. Surprise! 

WHO does it involve?  Tarrant County, who else.

Some don't want to take the time for a special session.  Isn't that their job?  Aren't their constituents worth the time?  Don't answer that...

How is it that when someone says something about the President, they are racist, but when someone wants to "divide and conquer" one race or another in redistricting they are called a politician? 

Read about the drama in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. 

"There's no doubt that the minority community is divided and conquered," Veasey said.

Veasey said the shift would place most of his African-American and Hispanic constituents in a largely rural and predominantly Anglo district, where they would have no opportunity to influence the outcome of elections.

"I feel we're put in the basement and shut off," said Veasey, the only African-American in the Tarrant County House delegation.

Veasey and Davis have contended that the new plan violates the federal Voting Rights Act, but Solomons defended it.

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