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8/31/9 Reality
conflicts with political agendas.
We have problems with our local governmentS -- yes,
governmentS. City, School District and County public officials have
betrayed their fiduciary responsibilities and abused their elected office.
A few elected officials have and are speaking out to expose wrong doings.
Although rare, these few brave people give us a small sliver of hope in a
very dismal situation.
City Hall is getting lots of attention, thanks to the Don Hill Bribery trial,
but our Bail Bondsman DA Watkins tarnishes county government by obstructing
efforts to investigate problems with two constables and their towing practices.
When Dallas County Judge Jim Foster tried to persuade someone to investigate alleged wrongdoing involving constables, the response was less than overwhelming.
He said he first met law enforcement officials from an agency he won't name about a year ago. In recent months, he said, he tried to get the Dallas County district attorney's office interested but was not satisfied with the response.
Foster went to Austin to seek help from the Texas attorney general's office and was told that its staff couldn't intervene without an invitation from the local district attorney. He contacted the Texas Rangers, who, he said, indicated that his concerns were outside their purview.
That prompted Foster and two county commissioners ? Maurine Dickey and Kenneth Mayfield ? to announce last week that they would appoint an independent investigator to determine whether Precinct 1 Constable Derick Evans and Precinct 5 Constable Jaime Cortes, or members of their staffs, have violated any laws.
The Dallas Morning News revealed last month that the constables have towed thousands of vehicles without accounting for them. Foster's announcement created a new flurry of political maneuvering and posturing.
... For example, the Dallas County DA's office provides a variety of legal services to constables. The office advises the constables on legal matters and represents them in lawsuits and open records requests, and often handles asset forfeitures involving constables.
The DA's duties include prosecuting cases of wrongdoing by public officials. Sources say the office is investigating the constables, although the scope and vigor of that investigation is unclear. Some current and former deputy constables said they were contacted only last week by the DA's office regarding information they had provided months earlier.
If a DA has represented elected officials in civil matters, then is called upon to conduct a criminal investigation, there might be, at the very least, the appearance of a conflict of interest.
... In 2007, when allegations of sexual harassment were made against Precinct 5 Constable Mike Dupree, commissioners hired former appeals court judge Maryellen Hicks as a special investigator. Hicks said her charge was to determine whether Dupree had created a hostile work environment, but "criminal matters came up." District Attorney Craig Watkins' office then allowed the attorney general's office to conduct a criminal investigation.
... Last week, Watkins declined an offer by the attorney general's office to look into the allegations involving the two constable precincts.
... University of Houston law professor John Douglass, who served as dean of the National College of District Attorneys for two decades, said it appears that Watkins may have his own precedent to live down.
"When you've done it once, it's awfully hard now to back away," Douglass said.
... Such a move ? going around a DA ? would be extremely rare in Dallas County, perhaps unprecedented.
But Foster says it may be necessary. ...
Hicks said that what she learned during her investigation "was the tip of the iceberg" ? and that more oversight of constables is needed.
"There needs to be some reform," she said.
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DallasArena.com has questioned the ethics of Craig Watkins from the get go.
The guy's a bail bondsman -- having him as our District Attorney makes the fox
guarding the hen house seem appropriate. This man is a racist. Allen
Gwinn tried to get Watkins to take on DISD Trustee Ron Price, and got a
frightening response:
"Look... when you attack one of us, you attack all of us," sounds like the credo for a street gang. So imagine how surprised I was to hear it roll off the lips of Craig Watkins, candidate for Dallas County District Attorney.The day was Saturday, August 13.
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The DA and his wife, Tanya Watkins, continued his title business even though he
cannot use his law license outside his elected office and yet his title business
is required to be operated by a lawyer, which his wife is not. Fox 4's
Paul Adrian had the following exchange with the DA:
Our questions were simple: is he still working at the title company and is that private legal work?Craig Watkins qualified to be an escrow officer because he is an attorney. His wife, Tanya, is not an attorney but qualifies to be an escrow officer because she works for one, her husband.
Watkins said he needed more specific questions before going on-camera to be interviewed. "What are you afraid of? Are you afraid of the answer?" Watkins asked Adrian. "What are you afraid of?" Adrian asked Watkins. "I'm not afraid of anything," Watkins replied. "I've seen your work," he continued. "I'm not going to allow you to discredit me because you want to do a story," Watkins told Adrian. "I'm not going to allow that."
Watkins says owning a title business and closing real estate deals is not the practice of law. He says he doesn't represent anybody.
"Do you have a contract with Fidelity?" Adrian asked. "I sure do," Watkins responded. "What does it say?" Adrian asked. "That I sell title insurance," Watkins responded.
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How are we supposed to get public corruption prosecuted in this city or county
with a DA who plays so loose with the rules of his own profession and state law when he wants to
make some extra money? Now, Tonya Watkins is shaking down judicial
candidates as a "political consultant", when those candidates or sitting judges
have or will have the DA appearing before them. Sam Merten reports:
Hawk, one of several Republican judges now running as a Democrat, paid Watkins $2,500 in April and then began paying her a $650 monthly fee in June, according to campaign finance reports. If Hawk pays Watkins through October 2010, she'll have received a total of $13,550. She stresses that Watkins isn't directly involved in nabbing her endorsements."She doesn't call elected officials and set up appointments -- you have to do that on your own," Hawk says. "So any endorsements that I've gotten from the elected officials here in Dallas County that are Democrats, I've personally had to call on my own. She has not done that for me."
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It's either a shakedown or a gig on MTV -- "money for nothing".
So, why is all the attention on City Hall?
As is typical with Dallas politicians and Our Downtown Betters' local daily,
The Dallas Managed News, it's all
about style -- never about substance. Rather than address real problems at
City Hall caused by single member district ward politics, they are fixing a
problem that doesn't exist.
It was not (and is not) the lobbyists at City Hall who take bribes and shake down
developers and/or zoning applicants for "contributions" before their zoning case can move forward at City Hall through the confusing
zoning maze at City Hall.
When a council member and their puppet on the Plan Commission are the sole
deciders on any zoning cases in their respective council district, no disclosure
rules will prevent another Don Hill debacle.
Those paid to lobby Dallas City Hall could soon find themselves under much stricter disclosure requirements, but even longtime backers of lobbyist registration say they wonder if that gets to the heart of a problem being laid bare in the corruption trial of former Mayor Pro Tem Don Hill.
With Hill's federal case casting a spotlight on the way City Hall does business, there is unprecedented support on the City Council to increase scrutiny of lobbyists.
But the idea is far from new.
Former Mayor Laura Miller said that in her 9? years at the council, registration requirements were broached several times.
"There just wasn't enough support on the council to move forward on it," she said.
... When Miller, former Mayor Pro Tem Max Wells and other council members pushed for a major overhaul of the council's ethics code in 2000, the lobbying registration proposal was left on the cutting-room floor.
... "We thought that was unnecessary and just over the top. We knew who the paid people were," said former council member Donna Blumer, who favored strengthening the ethics code.
For the most part, that remains true today.
A handful of professionals, mostly lawyers and experts on the city's zoning codes, are paid by developers or neighborhood associations to speak to council members and their appointed city plan commissioners about land use.
... Prosecutors accuse Hill of approving zoning, and with it a bounty of city incentives, to low-income housing developers who gave him kickbacks. He has denied the charges.
... Hill's alleged fraud centers not on lobbying but on the traditional power a council member has to grant or deny zoning requests in his district. With rare exception, developers who want to build in a specific area must get that council member's approval.
It gives the council members enormous power over millions of dollars in deals that prosecutors say led to fraud in Hill's case. Defense attorneys say Hill did nothing wrong.
Leppert said he backs the change because it will improve accountability.
Zoning power has rested with individual council members since the city was required to adopt single-member districts.
Michael Jung, a lawyer who has long been paid to work on behalf of homeowners and developers at City Hall, said the system has pluses and minuses.
On the one hand, it vests an unusual amount of power in one council member.
On the other, voters have a say only over their own council member and the mayor come election time. If a group of council members from outside a district pushed zoning in a neighborhood they don't represent, voters would have little recourse, Jung said.
"While I recognize the potential for abuse, I'm not sure you want to change that deference [council members grant each other over zoning]. Somebody has to be accountable for the decision the council makes on that zoning case," he said.
Like others who lobby City Hall, Jung said he won't oppose registration, but doubts it will change much.
"I don't think it will tell people much that they don't already know and I don't think it will diminish the potential for impropriety," he said. ...
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It's not surprising Attorney
Jung supports the status quo of omnipotence in council members over
their district subjects. He's part of the reigning clique in East
Dallas, which controls District 14. His defense of
"deference" is particularly chilling. It confirms what I say that
the City of Dallas is violating state law that requires a public hearing
to approve or disapprove zoning changes. |
We do not have public
hearings at the Plan Commission or City Council. The applicant must secure
support from the council member, not the rest of the council, prior to the
hearing or they are dead in the water. Woodard Paint & Body was even
denied a hearing at Plan Commission, where Neil Emmons told them they could not
even speak for or against their application for a SUP (Special Use Permit) or he
would move their application be denied with prejudice, which would prohibit them
from re-filing for 2 years and require a 3/4 vote at city council to override
the P&Z decision. They should have sued the City and Emmons, in
particular.
When Attorney Jung says "voters
have a say only over their own council member and the mayor come election time",
he is being completely disingenuous. It is impossible to unseat an
incumbent in this city. It is all but impossible to beat the anointed
successor of a retiring council member. District 14 has been controlled by
one group since 14-1 was implemented. The incumbents have the donors and
the machine. There is no election accountability for bad zoning decisions
or unfair treatment of applicants. Tom Pierce was able to get back at Ed
Oakley for his support of Bill Blaydes because Tom Leppert's campaign had the $$
to get the message out. The average candidate does not have the resources
to do information mailings, particularly against a sitting council member.
The donations will not go to the challenger.
There are ethical people at City Hall, both elected, appointed and employed.
Unfortunately, they are either intimidated by those who exploit their positions
or are warned off about making waves. New council members or plan
commissioners are "coached" by the veterans to go along, so they won't have
problems in their own district. With the fear of losing their jobs under
current budget cuts, no city employee is going to go public with what they know
is happening at City Hall, regardless of whether it is illegal or unethical.
That's why I am so impressed with Judge Joe Foster challenging DA Craig Watkins,
rather than ignore a real problem that has caused great harm to hundreds of
car owners in Dallas County. Imagine an elected official putting his
constituents' best interest above being a team player.
It is worrisome that State Senator Royce West is representing one of the
constables in question. As an elected official, West should first look
after his constituents -- but we are talking about Royce West, who tried to
shake down Richard Allen (Inland Port). Judge Foster blew that scheme
open, too. See
Be Careful What You Ask: Judge Foster Spills the Beans
About an Alleged FBI Investigation of John Wiley Price and the Inland Port
(by Jim Schutze, UnFairPark/DallasObserver.com,
5/27/9).
Judge Foster will draw the ire of Price and West and
their South Dallas Democrat machine in the March Democrat primary. It will be interesting
to see if the Dallas Gay community stands up for Judge Foster, or goes along
with Price and West's efforts to remove Foster.
Judge Foster has demonstrated how you fix corruption and ethics violations. You expose them.
You admit there's a problem. You take a stand.
Unfortunately, the reaction to Judge Foster's bravery demonstrates the political
risks of taking a stand for ethics and government integrity.
Judge Foster has become one of my favorite politicians, certainly my favorite Democrat
elected official.
sb
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