Kirk Launius
Mike Alexander
                             

03/11/04  Enforce Regulations for All Politicians!

As regular DallasArena.com readers might imagine, this is a sad morning for me.  Even though something negative was expected from the Grand Jury for Sheriff Jim Bowles, the actual indictment was a shocker.

Looks like media hound Chris Milner went fishing with a big net, missed the catch he expected, but came home with enough to justify the trip.

If Sheriff Bowles did what the Grand Jury has indicted him for doing, he should resign.  I love the guy, but these are serious charges.  He needs to devote all his time and energy to defend himself and clear his name.  No law enforcement officer can be effective in a leadership position with an indictment hanging over his head.
 

Bowles indicted by grand jury Denton County sheriff also facing charges 11:39 PM CST on Wednesday, March 10, 2004 By DAVE MICHAELS / The Dallas Morning News

A grand jury indicted Dallas County Sheriff Jim Bowles on Wednesday, alleging he misused more than $100,000 worth of campaign donations, a day after the longtime sheriff overwhelmingly lost his bid for re-election.    Denton County Sheriff Weldon Lucas, also a loser in Tuesday's primary in his bid for a county commissioner's seat, was indicted on two counts of aggravated perjury, a third-degree felony. Sheriff Lucas lied to a grand jury about gifts he received from a jail vendor and about statements he made to other sheriffs about the vendor's ability to raise campaign funds, according to the indictment. He denied the charges.    Special prosecutor Chris Milner declined to comment on the cases, which grew out of his continuing investigation of businessman Jack Madera and Mr. Madera's dealings with Texas sheriffs and county officials. . . .  Reed Prospere, the sheriff's attorney, said Sheriff Bowles believes he dealt appropriately with campaign funds. . . .  Court records say Sheriff Bowles transferred the money in January 2000 from two campaign accounts and one "sheriff's account" into his personal checking and investment accounts. . . .  Sheriff Bowles said he did not have the money to pay his political consultant, Clayton P. Henry, who quit in early January. The sheriff loaned his campaign $29,000 of his own money.  . . .   Sheriff Bowles received $363,544 in political contributions between January 1988 and June 2003. He spent about $214,900 over the same period . . . should have left a campaign balance of $148,644. . . .  Sgt. Don Rowe, a sheriff's deputy and regional director for the Texas Municipal Police Association, said Sheriff Bowles should resign if the allegations are true. . . .  Mr. Sweet said Sheriff Bowles, 75, does not plan to prematurely quit the office he has held since January 1985.     Danny Chandler, the county's emergency management coordinator, defeated Sheriff Bowles in Tuesday's Republican primary election.   . . .  said he would like to assume the office if Sheriff Bowles resigned and if county commissioners appointed him. . . .  Republican-dominated Commissioners Court would be unlikely to appoint a Democrat to the position.    State law does not require an elected official under indictment to resign.   . . .  grand jury investigation began last year, after The News reported that Sheriff Bowles accepted thousands of dollars in meals and trips from Mr. Madera before awarding a commissary contract to the businessman.  . . . The News later reported that Mr. Madera paid for a driveway to be paved at the sheriff's home and that the job was worth about $1,800.    Sheriff Bowles awarded the contract to Mr. Madera's Mid-America Services Inc. in June 2002. The five-year contract was worth $20 million . . .   Mid-America's annual commission offer of $600,000 was at least $400,000 less than what other vendors offered. . . .  commissioners could not challenge the contract because state law allows a sheriff complete control of the jail commissary. . . . The sheriff has repeatedly insisted that his relationship with Mr. Madera did not influence his decision to award the commissary contract to Mid-America.    Mr. Madera faces charges . . .  grand jury's indictment accused him and two associates of using a forged document to obtain a Kaufman County jail contract in 1997. . . .

DallasArena.com will not address the Denton County Sheriff's problems, but Chris Milner is feeling pretty smug today.  If the indictments become convictions, rightfully so.  Taxpayers deserve to know their elected officials are not misusing public monies or officials are not leveraging public contracts for personal gain.  Political contributors deserve to know their campaign donations are not going into the candidate's pocket or the elected official's pocket.  That's where this indictment really bothers me.

DallasArena.com has been screaming for enforcement of election rules and regulations almost since we started "our journey together" in 1998.  In the arena election, thousands of dollars (possibly hundreds of thousands) went to "harvest" mail in ballots by hook or crook. 

Carol Reed (Ron Kirk's Large White Shadow) and Kathy Neely absolutely pulled off that coup for Hicks and Perot by spreading money around for vote harvesting.   Still, TWO WRONGS DON'T MAKE A RIGHT!

If Sheriff Bowles diverted political contributions to his private use, he was wrong to do so.  I don't know that he did.  I also did not see what Chris Milner presented to the Grand Jury or what they said among themselves to decide on an indictment for Sheriff Bowles.  It must have been strong because this was a serious move to indict two County Sheriffs.

That doesn't mean the Grand Jury didn't make a mistake, but it looks bad for Sheriff Bowles and it looks worse for the Sheriff's Department.  He owes it to the people who work under him to step aside.  If he had won the primary and had a chance of being re-elected there might be some reason for him to hang on to his job, but Sheriff Bowles lost by a wide margin. 

I have always supported term limits.  Twenty years in office is too long for anyone.  The office becomes the incumbent's property rather than a public service for the taxpayers and citizens.  Look at Congress.  Multiple generations of people vote for the same guy.  Strom Thurmond was way past his effectiveness, but the voters kept sending him back.  There are some Democrat Senators who are too vested in their office, too.

Don't tell me elections are "term limits".  Incumbents always have a huge advantage over anyone challenging them -- even if the incumbent is no longer productive or focused on his job.  Had this cloud not been hanging over Sheriff Bowles, he would have been re-elected.  As C. P. Henry said early into this mess, Republicans have been voting for Jim Bowles for a long time.

It's selfish of politicians to hang on to an office over 10 or 12 years.  There are new people with new ideas who want to step in and serve the public.  Commissioner John Wiley Price has been in his seat too long, but he's going to be there at least another 4 years.  Rather than grooming and mentoring others for public service, Commissioner Price hangs on to power.  Commissioner Price was very gallant in his comments to the press about Sheriff Bowles' situation.  He reminded the reporters he was in a similar spot a few years ago, and he did not resign and was ultimately exonerated, but he wasn't 77 years old.

It was an ego boost to see The Dallas Managed News lift our Monday headline to title their editorial.

Law and Disorder: Dallas must rebuild enforcement foundation 12:09 AM CST on Thursday, March 11, 2004 Editorial / The Dallas Morning News

This is a sad state of affairs for law enforcement in Dallas: The sheriff is indicted, two top law officers' jobs are up for grabs, and a third is under scrutiny.    Dallas County voters sent a clear message Tuesday when they turned out Sheriff Jim Bowles by a more than 2-to-1 margin . . . Mr. Bowles tried in vain to convince voters that the allegations against him were politically motivated. But they weren't buying. And neither was the grand jury. He was indicted yesterday on charges of misapplication of campaign contributions. . . .  the next sheriff will have to restore public confidence in the department and rebuild fractured lines of communications with the county commissioners. . . .  challenges are just as great at City Hall, which has been without a permanent police chief since August. Terrell Bolton's dismissal was necessary, given Dallas' high crime rate and low morale in the police ranks. . . . The area's other top law enforcement official, District Attorney Bill Hill, has his own set of troubles. One of his investigators and even a prosecutor in Tarrant County have accused his office of prosecutorial misconduct in a drug case. . . . The public deserves to know that law enforcement is on a solid foundation ? and the sooner, the better.

Unfortunately, their protestations of concern for Law & Disorder ring hollow.  The DMN is as responsible as any entity for our sorry municipal and county state of affairs.  The DMN anointed Ron Kirk aka Con Jerk to succeed Steve Bartlett.  For that matter, Ray Hunt and the DMN determined Dallas needed a strong mayor after Annette Strauss and mistakenly thought Bartlett was up to the job. 

Say what you will about Con Jerk (and we have said and will say plenty), he ran City Hall like a tyrant and kept dissention to a minimum.  That doesn't mean he ran it well.  Con Jerk hired Ted Benavides and Con Jerk and John Wiley Price told Benavides to hire Terrell Bolton.

Dallas and other cities of Dallas County deserve honest elected officials and public employees.  We also deserve a better newspaper.

What happened to Bachman/NW Highway was sanctioned by Our Downtown Betters (the ODB) and their official daily, The Dallas Managed News.  A city councilman (confessed and convicted bribe taker) and a future Chief of Police made sure city ordinances and regulations were not enforced in sex clubs near Bachman Lake.  Several City Attorneys ignored violations of city ordinances and advised city councils not to take action against the money making SOB's that were destroying NW Dallas.  What action was taken, was stop and start and compromise.

For the last several weeks, community leaders in NW Dallas have been raising a ruckus about a new and obvious sex club going into a building where we had been assured none could go again.  We learned the hard way that in this town only squeaking wheels get oiled.  There is no effort at City Hall to enforce our laws on a daily basis -- always crisis management.  Still, we are pleased the City Attorney's Office took action and got a TRO against that awful sign at Planet Venus.  We understand the City will pull the certificate of occupancy granted to the club for a "restaurant".  Code Enforcement and the City Attorney need to look at several clubs in the area which have restaurant CO's, but operate as bars and dance halls and even pool halls.  One "restaurant" closes its kitchen in the evening and operates as a night club until closing, although a restaurant CO requires the kitchen be open for serving at all times the business is open.

It's just the way things are done in this town. 

Our Mayor passes a "no smoking" ordinance, but we never had the staff for enforcement.  The VFW Hall on Garland Road (in Dallas city limits) is so smoke filled, some seniors with breathing problems cannot go in there. 

Our Mayor passes a "no panhandling" ordinance, but there is little or no enforcement anywhere I've been.  When was the last time you were stopped at an intersection where there was no street bum with a "give me booze money" sign? 

We have two and three families living in single family residences even though city regulations limit the number of people who can live in a single family home.  Many neighborhoods are overwhelmed with excessive cars parked on the street which are generated by the illegal occupants of houses designed for one family.

When government selectively enforces rules and regulations, it causes distrust and cynicism, which morphs into apathy among the citizens and more blatant disregard of all laws.

Campaign laws and regulations are as important as any city ordinances -- more so.  Without honest elections, you cannot have honest government.  When regulations limit how much can be donated by an individual or group, and authorities ignore obvious violations, you cannot have honest elections.

If only honest people follow the rules, crooks and scoundrels and their hired help win all elections and control our governments.  That's pretty much the current situation at City Hall.  You can't expect honest government with crooks running the show.

I sincerely hope the Grand Jury was mistaken about Sheriff Bowles.  I pray he and his attorney will be able to prove Jim Bowles did nothing wrong.  At this point, it looks pretty bad for him. 

There is no doubt all this effort by Chris Milner was politically motivated, but Sheriff Bowles has not helped his cause with his public statements.  He has a right to defend himself, but his public relations skills need work.  Sheriff Bowles has chosen to ignore the issues and point fingers at those asking the questions.  That has only added fuel to the fire. 

If he did divert over $100,00 in campaign contributions to his personal use, he did wrong.  If he can account for that money, he should do so now and put the issue to bed.

Our DA has been very lax about prosecuting election fraud even when information has been delivered to his office.  DA Hill needs to put some batteries in his system and put clean government on the front burner of his agenda.

More than any other local elected officials, the Sheriff and the District Attorney need to be examples of propriety.  There is just no wiggle room in these two offices.