Michael Davis
Callie Stephens
                             

02/06/06  Some council members most spend our money on unnecessary travel?  Shocking!!

		Sometimes, you have to laugh because there are no boundaries or limits to how Shakedown Chaney, Brain-Dead Thornton-Reese and the FBI's Favorite Target Don Hill will use their council office wastefully and to benefit no one but themselves.

With trade goals, some on council take to road; Dallas: Mayor urges caution in going on taxpayer-funded trips Sunday, February 5, 2006 by DAVE LEVINTHAL / The Dallas Morning News

... City leaders plan to travel farther and more widely than before – and spend more taxpayer money in doing so – as the potential payoff of new commerce and jobs is too lucrative for them to stay put, several say. Others, such as Mayor Laura Miller, caution that while taxpayer-funded trips are sometimes necessary, they must be taken judiciously.    "When you're attempting to create lines of communication, lines of distribution, if they don't know who you are and what you do, you don't stand a chance," City Council member Bill Blaydes said of potential Dallas trading partners.   In November, for example, council member Ron Natinsky spent a week in China on a trade mission. ...   In December, Mr. Blaydes, Economic Development Director Karl Zavitkovsky, consultant David Dean of Dean International and other city staffers traveled to Long Beach, Calif. There, they attended ceremonies celebrating the maiden voyage of the Hanjin Dallas, a giant container ship, and met with area political and trade officials.   The vessel's owner, Hanjin Shipping of South Korea, plans to unload its cargo in clogged California ports, then send it by rail to Dallas' southern sector, which would serve as an "inland port" of destination. ... "A little $1,000 trip or $2,000 trip and you get a hit with a $50 million factory – that's well worth the money," said Assistant City Manager Ryan Evans, who oversees Dallas' economic development efforts.    Ms. Miller agrees – to a point.    The best reason for council members to travel is to increase foreign trade, she says, noting that "personal contact is necessary for cementing relationships." ... She describes her own travels as "done sparingly, for a very specific purpose, and with clearly defined goals." ...  "Elected and appointed officials often feel they deserve travel at the taxpayers' expense because they have a title and access to trips that they could never afford to take if they had to pay for it themselves," Ms. Miller wrote in an e-mail. ... In recent years, most taxpayer-funded council travel expenses have come from conferences and meetings for municipal organizations such as the National League of Cities. ... According to city records, three council members' travel expenses exceeded $10,000 between June 2003, the beginning of the 2003-05 council session, and November, the most recent month of available figures. They are Leo Chaney, $17,460.20; Maxine Thornton-Reese, $14,036.51; and Don Hill, $12,875.34. ... with the remaining council members spending less than $10,000.    Between June 2003 and November, Mr. Chaney made 14 total trips over 61 days ....    Dr. Thornton-Reese took 10 trips over 40 days ...    Mr. Hill, the city's mayor pro tem, who made 10 trips, ... ... Improved public disclosure of official travel practices is the best way to prevent abuse, said Mary Boyle, spokeswoman for Common Cause, an independent, Washington, D.C.-based group that advocates government accountability. ... Ms. Miller suggests publishing a monthly summary of which city officials are flying where, and setting a limit for how much public money a council member – or the mayor – may spend each year on travel.

You can't really be surprised that the most abusive use of taxpayer dollars is by Shakedown Chaney, Brain-Dead Thornton-Reese and the FBI's Favorite Target Don Hill.  It's the same mindset that DISD Board Member Ron Price uses to justify all of his travel costs and cell phone abuse.  It's Other People's Money that they're wasting, and who cares anyway?  Well, me for one, and Allen Gwinn for two, and Mike Perry for three, and so on.

What is the matter with Chaney, T-Reese, Hill and Ron Price?  Were they born without any pride, any sense of fiduciary responsibility to the people who elected them?  The answer to that second question is obvious.  Ron Price's abuse of his cell phone and travel privileges at the DISD are legendary and are best quantified by Allen Gwinn on www.Dallas.org.  Yet, they get re-elected. 

If the FBI's Favorite Target Hill were to be elected Mayor, just think how much money he could waste in a hurry.  I'm still astounded that the DMN's Goffer Jeffers considers Don Hill as a viable candidate.  Inquiry wouldn't rule out Hill as mayor candidate (Tuesday, 1/31/06 by GROMER JEFFERS, JR.  / The Dallas Morning News).  Goes to show you what an astute political observer Jeffers is.  Maybe, it just show  how little respect Goffer has for Dallas voters.

This city desperately needs for honest people to run for office.  Unfortunately, they are too busy making a living and supporting their families and paying their taxes.  The likes of Shakedown, Brain-Dead, Hill and Price are out there doling out favors and distributing (or promising to distribute) public monies to their cronies and political base.  Right now, Shakedown Chaney is grooming Ron Price to replace him on council because he is termed out after this year's election.  In turn, we hear Price is making sure that Shakedown will get his old DISD job back once he goes off the council.  Mind you, Chaney's old job was a $56,000 gig that had no job description and required him to do absolutely nothing but run around building up his own personal political machine. 

When you think about it, having Shakedown earn $56,000 a year for doing nothing at the DISD is not much worse than having Lew Blackburn continue to serve as a DISD School Board member while he draws a salary as a Wilmer-Hutchins ISD employee.  Dr. Blackburn even signs WHISD checks.

Then there's Ron Price using DISD travel and cell phone perks to promote his new consulting company -- an education consulting company.  Almost as ludicrous as a convicted wife-beater speaking to an all-girl assembly.  Wonder what he talked about?  How to be more submissive to avoid a righteous beating by your dead beat husband?

This is all so wrong, and no one is going to do anything about it!

We can rant and rave, but people in a position to stop this abuse will do nothing.  DISD Board President Lois Parrott functions in such a fog of unreality, she can't comprehend our concern about Price's abuse and Blackburn's conflicts of interest.  Jack Lowe, Jerome Garza, Nancy Bingham, Edwin Flores are no more effective at protecting taxpayer dollars than is Parrott.

If I hadn't looked up the list of School Board Members (you can't justifiably call them "Trustees"), I would have never known the name of Nancy Bingham.  I had high hopes for Edwin Flores, and certainly prefer being in his district than under Joe May, but Flores has been no more effective than a bump on a log.  Go-along to get-along is the last thing we need at the DISD or on the City Council.

Obviously, DallasArena.com is being much more positive about Mayor Miller than this time last year.  It's because she is being the Laura Miller we campaigned for -- bold, speaking out about the mayhem, abuse and corruption at City Hall.  It would have been easy for her to have been silent or acquiesce to a $6 million tax abatement for that Son of a Bigamist Billionaire Ray Hunt.  Well, it might not have been "easy", her being Laura Miller and all, but it would have been SMARTER ON PAPER for Mayor Miller to have let that waste of our tax dollars go through unchallenged.  She took a heap of public abuse from the council suck-ups to anyone with $$, not to mention all the public relations smear from Hunt's henchmen.

That's what happens in this town when an elected official speaks the truth.  That's why Sandra Dee Griffith, Weeping William Blaydes and Flip Flop Oakley think they could unseat Mayor Miller.  They certainly will never get criticized from taking a stand for the interest of Dallas taxpayers, because they will never do that.  They love to give away Other People's Money!

There was an interesting comment in the DMN's Letters to the Editor:

Letters for Monday Monday, February 6, 2006

Say yes, Laura Miller    I suggest Laura Miller take a look at the construction in the vicinity of the American Airlines Center. I remember she was against the AAC because adjacent development wouldn't take place.    Too bad she didn't remember her naysaying when the Cowboy stadium opportunity was on the table.    She should look for a way to say "yes" to visionary projects for downtown. Great cities are built as a result of vision, not negativity. Gil Phillips, Irving

Don't you love it? 

Mr. Phillips of Irving should look around his own Texas Stadium to understand the non-delivery of "visionary projects" like football stadiums.  His own Mayor and city council didn't put up much of a fight to keep the Arkansas freak's team in town.  They see that Texas Stadium land as much greater benefit to the city WITHOUT a sports monstrosity sitting on it. 

As for the development around the Hicks/Perot arena, it's more hotel rooms and office space -- just what we need to compete with existing Downtown office buildings and hotels.  There was already huge development BEFORE Tommy Hicks and Ross, Jr. set their greedy sights on the area.  The projects on Harry Hines were already happening.  Uptown was already happening.  Turtle Creek has always been happening.  Oak Lawn was booming.  There was even a wonderful project that was 4 years in the planning and process by Intervest that would have converted several of the buildings and saved the silos for loft housing.  Reasonable and interesting density that would have preserved some character and uniqueness for the area.

Mr. Phillips and his myopic ilk are wrong to say that Laura Miller was against a basketball/hockey arena at that location or any place else.  She (and I) were opposed to spending Other People's Money on a deal that Tommy Hicks and Ross, Jr. could have done themselves.  We naysayers were opposed to taxing one industry (car rental agencies) to finance other completely unrelated industries (land development and professional sports mafia).  We didn't think it was an appropriate use of Other People's Money.

Mr. Phillips mindset is the same view that would take property away from homeowners on Mockingbird, so he can get from Love Field to Central a few minutes faster.  Taking away the front yards of homes on Mockingbird will destroy the value of people's homes (taxpayers' homes), not to mention their right to the enjoyment of their homes.  What does Mr. Phillips care about property rights or not wasting Other People's Money?

One of the most important things the Oak Lawn Committee did with the Oak Lawn Plan (P.D. 193) was to lock in place the width of area streets.  Developers were pushing to widen the streets and replace single family neighborhoods with office buildings and apartments.  About the only thing that keeps Oak Lawn and Uptown livable are the narrow streets that discourage cross-town commuting.

We must get back to electing people with some sense of fiduciary responsibility. 
 

		Although I disagreed with them on Love Field, Jerry Bartos and Dr. Charles Tandy were strong fiscal conservatives on the city council.  Bartos from Northwest Dallas (now District 13) and Dr. Tandy from Oak Cliff (now District 3) were great naysayers at a time when Annette Strauss was building a concert hall and neglecting our infrastructure, when Lordi Palmer was getting the City into social services rather than providing reliable city services.  Donna Blumer (District 13) and Laura Miller (District 3) continued that North Dallas/Oak Cliff partnership of common sense.
		Unfortunately, Oak Cliff's current representatives Flip Flop Oakley (District 3) and Dr. Elba Garcia (1) are not ones to be concerned about wasting Other People's Money.  Since the days of Craig Holcomb and Lordi Palmer, Oak Lawn and East Dallas have been represented by the artsy fartsy Conservation freaks who supported every tax hike and big dollar ticket that came before them.

The fiscal common sense on this current council comes primarily from North Dallas:  Mitch Rasansky, Ron Natinsky, Linda Koop and Mayor Miller.  Maybe it's because 80% of the city's tax base is in their districts?  Weeping William Blaydes is no Alan Walne, who at least occasionally talked about protecting taxpayers' interest -- even if he always voted against his own common sense.

The more waste we learn about at City Hall and the DISD, the more unlikely it is that I will support or vote for any bond referendums.  For me, the city council and DISD Board are wasting MY MONEY, not just Other People's Money.

sb