There’s a saying in some circles that “politics is a contact sport; you better put your helmet on.” In Lubbock, a community that is known as the “buckle on the Bible belt,” that bromide is held near and dear.
This morning, March 12, 2010, I almost spilled my coffee because of a big belly laugh when I saw that my favorite newspaper had made a major event out of a political postcard, highly critical of Lubbock businessman and candidate Mark Griffin, that was mailed to some residents in Texas House District 84 the day before the primary election.
Griffin, who is in a runoff with John Frullo for the Republican nomination to replace incumbent Carl Isett, and his family used to own the “Tara” house that formerly was located on Fourth Street and effectively was the northern terminus of Slide Road.
As part of a street project to widen Slide Road and push it through Loop 289 northwest toward the Clovis Highway, the city of Lubbock purchased the building and surrounding property for almost $2 million.
What raised eyebrows at the time of the deal, and very effectively pointed out in the mailer, was that the always accurate, always fair, always current (Ed’s note: He’s being sarcastic) Lubbock Central Appraisal District had valued the property at only $670,000!
The mailer that many people received dramatically asked (and used a terribly manufactured illustration showing Griffin kissing money bags—see the mailer below), “Did the appraisal board undervalue Griffin’s property so he didn’t have to pay his fair share of taxes or did Griffin get a sweetheart deal on the condemnation?”
(Before I go further, let me add that I’ve been told that commercial property is appraised differently than residential property because of the law and, in many cases, that is why the valuations are much lower than the sale price. If that’s the case, and I believe it is, the law should be changed!)
In addition, the mailer, which had the word “warning” plastered on the front, also stated, “Griffin says that he wants to continue Carl Isett’s brand of ‘conservative’ leadership, but when Isett first ran for the House, Griffin–a former Republican Party Chairman—endorsed Isett’s liberal Democrat opponent instead.”
Griffin told my favorite newspaper that the mailer was offensive, but would not comment.
Some of Griffin’s supporters, though, have indicated that they thought the ad was negative and should not have been produced.
Here’s some breaking news: Political races can be really dirty and hard-fought. Many folks say they don’t like negative campaigns, but it sure can’t be proven by how they vote.
In this particular race, Griffin won the early voting with more than 50 percent (before the mailer), but Frullo won election day (after the mailer).
The runoff is coming up in a few days. The fight is just beginning; everybody needs to put on their helmets!
Two talk radio guys this morning were talking about why Lubbock people don’t offer themselves for political leadership roles at the city council and school district levels.
During their discussion, one of their listeners sent them a text that blamed “toxic” talk radio shows, but not these two guys, for why people don’t want to put their lives on the line.
The two radio guys then proceeded to indicate how “fair” their show is and how “toxic” other radio shows are. I found myself chuckling.
These two gents aren’t “toxic” in their discussions about local politics; instead, they take sides without revealing that fact to their listeners and then proceed to “smear” the opponents of their political friends.
I have no problem with radio personalities railing on local politicians as long as they do it fairly and transparently. The two gents who were talking about it this morning use their show to advance their political friends while making it appear to their listeners that they are “fair and balanced.”
Don’t you believe them!
The Harley Honey and I had the opportunity to attend the stage production of “Tuna Does Vegas” Saturday night at the City Bank Municipal Auditorium.
This structure seats approximately 2,800 people for events, and, if you believe at least one former mayor and several city bureaucrats who wanted to feather their nest a couple of years ago, the fact that this entertaining show was being held in the 50-year-old-plus structure was endangering the lives of every person there.
To that I say hogwash!
A few years ago, a city bond committee, operating under the only mayor in the city’s 100-year history who was not re-elected and key administrators who pulled him around by the nose and the ears, proposed demolishing the auditorium and coliseum. The thought was to build a mega-million-dollar facility in the downtown area.
This project, along with several other ill-conceived ideas, thankfully, ran into such tremendous opposition that the decision was made to retreat and simply repair the auditorium at a fraction of the cost to build a new venue.
As I sat in the auditorium Saturday, all of that political fighting came rushing back to my memory. It was difficult to look around and find many flaws with the current building.
After spending a few hours in the building, I still can’t figure out why the mayor and the city manager wanted to tear it down.
Oh yeah! They wanted to leave a legacy–a legacy the taxpayers did not want to fund.
When it comes to child molesters and sexual predators, I have absolutely no compassion.
Here is part of a column I wrote when I was at the Avalanche-Journal:
Danger lurks in unexpected places
Every time I see a picture of little Jessica Marie Lunsford there is a tremendous feeling of sadness, followed by anger.
Jessica was the beautiful little girl with radiant eyes, sparkling smile and long straight hair covered by the cutest floppy pink hat. Her photograph portrays a happy little girl with no cares in the world.
I can imagine her jumping into the lap of her grandfather, throwing her arms around his neck in love and planting a great big kiss on his forehead.
She was a living doll.
That is until some crazed repeat child sex offender decided that he wanted her for himself, invaded her grandparents’ Citrus County, Fla., home early one morning in late February and took her away to sexually torture her.
Here’s the link to the article: http://lubbockonline.com/stories/040305/ran_040305098.shtml
Now comes this horrible news (and this crap occurs every day in our country):
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/mar/03/suspect-pleads-rape-and-murder-chelsea-king/
I know he’s innocent until proven guilty, but this type of stuff makes me want to return to the days of public executions.
Wow! Tuesday night’s election, for me at least, had plenty of surprises.
Last week I blogged about my predictions for many of the Republican races (http://lookingatlubbock.com/2010/02/22/and-the-winners-are%e2%80%a6/). I was correct on most, but I sure blew it on four of them:
- I wrote that the old warhorse Delwin Jones would be able to turn back his challengers in the chase for the District 83 seat in the Texas House of Representatives but that there was a possibility that Zach Brady would make a runoff with Jones. Jones told me Saturday that his polling was showing that he would be in a runoff with Charles Perry—and his polling was right on! Perry, a co-founder of the so-called “Tea Party” movement in Lubbock, may now have the momentum on his side.
- In District 84, it was my thought that Mark Griffin would win the race without a runoff. John Frullo, a “Tea Party” guy and a local businessman, came from almost nowhere to throw the race into a runoff. He may have enough momentum and his followers may smell blood in the water to be able to pull off the upset when the two clash in April. Griffin’s challenge will be to get his supporters to return to the polls. Quite frankly, I don’t think they will.
- County Judge Tom Head soundly trounced former City Council member David Nelson in what I view as an upset. To be frank, though, I’ve never picked Head to win any of his previous races. Head’s style of hands-off management seems to be what voters desire.
- I thought the race between incumbent Commissioner Patti Jones and John Leonard would be a close one. Wrong again, buffalo breath. Commissioner Jones handily disposed of Leonard 64 percent to 36 percent.
With our new, opening-delayed jail, which was supposed to cost $83 million now topping $100 million (and my guess that it will be closer to $105 million before the doors, if ever, open), our county tax rate soaring more than 70 percent in the past decade and the budget almost tripling, this election pretty much gives the commissioners court a mandate to continue with their tax and spend habits.
It seems as whenever there is a social problem in our community, that many folks look to the city fathers to solve the issue.
Several years ago, maybe two or three decades ago, the city government formed a committee to examine human relations in our community. The report still hasn’t been written, and I can’t tell that civil rights issues have been improved because of anything our local government did to help.
Now comes a group of folks who want to establish a committee to look into our city’s homeless problem.
Here’s what I think: Lubbock has a homeless problem.
But forming another useless committee won’t do a thing to solve the issue, no matter what one thinks.
When we have a strong United Way, a city of churches, and a community that is known for its charity, why don’t we let the private sector study this issue and come up with the solutions?
I would prefer that the City continue to fix the potholes in the streets, collect the garbage, provide police and fire protection and leave the social experiments to those who know how to deal with them.
Some time in late 2001 or 2002, Lubbock County officials began building their case for the construction of a 1,500-bed new jail near the Lubbock airport. As the editor of The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, I was one of the people that Commissioner James Kitten and Sheriff David Gutierrez, both now gone from office, heavily courted in an attempt to gain editorial support for a new jail.
I remember being taken on at least one personal tour of the jail by the sheriff and had everything that was wrong with the downtown jail pointed out. I remember attending a couple of meetings with county officials and jail designers. I think, if my memory serves, that The A-J even sent a reporter to examine a jail that would be very similar to the one that Kitten, Gutierrez, and others wanted to build here.
Kitten and Gutierrez did an outstanding job of convincing The A-J’s editorial board and me that we needed a new jail. After the decision was made to move forward with a bond election to ask the Lubbock County voters $83 million to construct a 1,500-bed jail, I was completely on board.
The newspaper wrote more than one editorial encouraging readers to support the bond proposal. Additionally, I used my weekly Sunday column to drum up support for the project—not because I had anything to gain, but because it was the right thing to do for our community. More than 60 percent of the voters agreed, and the bond package easily passed.
I remember saying privately on more than one occasion to Commissioner Kitten that “this jail better not cost more than what you’ve told us it will.” Every time I would bring up the cost, Commissioner Kitten would assure me that because they had factored in rising inflation, the jail would not cost more than the voters approved.
Commissioner Kitten was a man of his word too. When it became obvious that 1,500 beds could not be built for the $83 million, the county scaled back the project to a little more than 1,300 beds. While it might not have been the best decision, Commissioner Kitten was keeping his promise to the taxpayers.
At some point, though, some fast talking was being done and the commissioners decided to return the number of beds to 1,500 and revise the jail construction budget by $12 million, bringing the expected cost to almost $95 million.
At a recent political forum Sheriff Kelly Rowe told me that he thinks the jail, now closing in on being two years behind schedule, has cost $100 million!
Commissioners and others connected to the county and/or the jail are walking around with expanded chests as they “brag” about the jail being “under” budget. It may be “under” budget, but it sure ain’t costing the $83 million that voters authorized the county to spend.
As I did research for this commentary, I came upon some prophetic words that I wrote in my column on the Sunday after the November 2002 election: “The challenge now to the county is to build the jail for the amount it has said it would and for the contractor to do a quality job. The plans need to be right the first time.”
Golly, I sincerely wish I had been wrong!
One recent Saturday morning at my favorite breakfast restaurant I was asked by an insurance agent who I thought was going to win some of our local and regional elections this year.
There are numerous highly contested races on the Lubbock Republican Primary ballot but few, if any, hot races on the Democratic side of the aisle. I keep hearing that the Democrats are making progress in the Lone Star State, but I sure can’t tell it. The D’s will counter that their candidates are better (and they may be) but until they can field candidates who can win in November there is no way they can honestly say they are a viable party in Texas.
This year’s primaries are attracting thousands of Lubbock County voters. Approximately 10,000 early voters have shown up to cast ballots during the first six days of the 11-day session leading up to the March 2 election. The six-day total is approximately double the number that voted in 2006, the last time we elected a governor.
There’s little doubt that the highly contested race between Gov. Rick Perry and U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison is getting most of the attention, but I think the so-called “Tea Party” movement, those who are opposed to growing government, also is fueling the surge in political interest.
When I was editor of The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal we would try to find out as much as possible about each of the candidates and make our recommendations to readers as to whom we believed would do the best job if elected. Even then, though, we knew that sometimes the person we were endorsing was not going to win for a variety of reasons.
Today, I am going to make my predictions of who I think is going to win some of the contested races. These people are not necessarily who I voted for on the first day of early voting because I don’t necessarily think they are the best person for the job, but they are the people I believe will win.
Governor—Current Gov. Rick Perry will be re-nominated in a close race. I think there is a chance that Hutchison might make a runoff, but Perry will ultimately win.
Texas House District 81—Lawyer Mark Griffin should win without a runoff. The other two candidates are Lubbock businessman John Frullo and former county commissioner and former Democrat Ysidro Gutierrez. Frullo has the endorsement of current officeholder Carl Isett and may be able to garner enough votes to make a runoff. Many Republicans are suspicious of Gutierrez.
If there is a runoff, Griffin will win.
Texas House District 83—At one time I thought current Rep. Delwin Jones would not be able to hold off challenger Zach Brady, but now I’m not so sure. Voters don’t seem to be warming up to Brady and he does not appear to be successful in his attempt to portray Jones as an “old man.” Charles Perry, an accountant and a “Tea Party” guy, was picking up momentum until it was revealed that he has a pretty miserable record of not voting. Jones will barely nudge over the 50 percent line and win the race outright.
137th District Court Judge—While it is unusual for a judge to be ousted short of a scandal, incumbent Cecil Puryear is in the fight of his life. John “Trey” McClendon has mounted an awesome campaign and should win this race.
364th
District Court Judge—Incumbent Brad Underwood should prevail over former prosecutor Jennifer Bassett. Underwood has lots of baggage, but Bassett doesn’t seem to have gained enough traction to unseat him.
Lubbock County Judge—County Judge Tom Head, who has been in office as the county tax rate almost doubled and the revenue raised from those taxes tripled because of climbing appraisals, will probably lose to former Lubbock City Councilman David Nelson (Ed’s note: A reader pointed out that I had my head where the sun doesn’t shine when I originally penned this and wrote the wrong name for Judge Head’s opponent. My apologies). This tax issue should be enough to oust the incumbent.
Lubbock County Commissioner, Precinct 4—Incumbent Patti Jones is in trouble for the same reasons as Head. Current City Councilman John Leonard, who has a record of not voting to increase taxes, should prevail in a really tight race, thanks mainly to the city voters who are tired of seeing their county tax rate soar without any perceived additional benefits.
There are a couple of Justices of the Peace races, but I expect both incumbents to prevail.
Remember that these are my predictions of who will win each of the races and do not necessarily represent the person who got my vote. We’ll see how I did Tuesday night, March 2.
A few days after I wrote my last blog piece in the middle of December, the Harley Honey and I jumped on the two-wheeled Green Machine and headed to Florida for a two-week holiday. In the weeks since, it has been difficult to bring myself to set aside the few minutes to write on the blog. Not because I’ve been too busy, but because I’ve been too lazy!
I’ve been receiving encouragement from several readers (okay, maybe three or four) to take up the plow and return to blogging. With this mid-February morning being so pleasant, I decided to move my coffee drinking and laptop to the sun-soaked front patio to try to write a few words.
In the two months that I’ve been away from blogging I’ve missed the opportunity to comment on some of the major news stories of the last of 2009 and beginning of 2010. Here are just a few news items I’ve missed, accompanied by a short editorial comment:
- The pre-Christmas snowstorm that brought Lubbock and the South Plains a White Christmas. It’s hard for me to comment on this because I was on the beach in Florida enjoying the 70-degree days down there. My friends here told me that there was lots of snow; I’ll take their word for it.
- The suspension and ultimate firing of Head Football Coach Mike Leach. Believe it or not, there wasn’t a whole lot of conversation about this in South Florida. Several friends contacted me about it, but all I knew at the time was what I read online or heard on ESPN. As I have come to learn more about the issue, I’ve decided there is plenty of blame to pass around, but it was probably time for the coach to move on.
- The retirement of Rep. Carl Isett, who represents District 84 (most of Lubbock) in the Texas House of Representatives. My take is that Carl, who’s been in office for more than a decade, is still feeling the sting of the fine that he got from the Texas Ethics Commission more than a year ago and decided he needed to make a living for his family. I’ve never been a huge fan of many of his political positions, but he’s a good guy.
There have been lots of other news items that I could have drawn comments, but these three are the big ones that I remember as I return to regular blogging.
Next week, maybe Monday, I’ll issue my predictions (not my endorsements or who I voted for) of some of the major races in this year’s Republican Primary. I’d do the same for the Democratic Primary, but, quite truthfully, so few races are being contested that there is little local interest in them.
When the Lubbock City Charter was adopted by the citizens 92 years ago, our community was a different place.
Our town only last spring celebrated its 100th birthday. When our town was founded, there were fewer than 2,000 souls living here. I would imagine that it was pretty easy to govern…just go to a couple of church meetings and the mayor would know the feelings of virtually all of the citizens.
But, as the city grew to more to more than 4,000 in its first decade, the residents realized there needed to be a little more structure to the city government in order to provide some semblance of order. So, our city fathers set out to establish a charter that would determine how we were to be governed.
Because of the municipal government scandals of the late 19th and the early 20th centuries, many American citizens were suspicious of elected officials (has that changed?) and citizens across the land began to opt for so-called professional administrators to run their cities with oversight from a paid mayor and city council.
In the mid-1910s, when the Lubbock charter was adopted, the decision was made to pay the mayor $75 a month and the council members $25. Not bad pay, at that time. The $25 check might have made a mortgage or car payment (if that had been the way folks bought things back in those days); today $25 won’t buy an inexpensive dinner for a two people.
There never has been much attempt to raise those salaries in the 40 years I’ve lived here. It seems as if our citizens don’t mind paying some bureaucrat they never see upwards of $150,000 a year and more, but they won’t trust their councilmember, who they may even see every Sunday at church, with a $100 a week stipend!
Now, for the first time in maybe two decades, our city council has decided to take a real look at the charter with the possibility of making some significant changes.
I don’t know what is on the table to be considered other than to try to remove some antiquated rules and to take steps to keep the bureaucrats from reaching into the LP&L cookie jar, but I hope something will be done to loosen the stranglehold that a few city bureaucrats have on our city and create a document that will allow those people we elect to run the town.
