City secretary Becky Sims used to be Johnny-on-the-spot. Quick to respond and with an attention to detail.
Not anymore. I asked her TEN DAYS ago who the company is that supposedly announced “20 to 35 jobs” and a $700,000 capital investment.
Now she takes her sweet time answering ORRs (Open Records Requests) and when she DOES answer, she does everything in her power to avoid giving a direct answer if the question isn’t phrased EXACTLY right – even though she knows exactly what I’m getting at.
I guess she got some marching orders from the boss.
I can’t blame her, really. When you’re pulling down about $94,000 in salary and benefits for shuffling paper in an air-conditioned office while getting a ton of vacation time every year, you do as you’re told. Otherwise you end up out in the real world with none of that stuff.
So I get it.
That’s ok. I’m smarter than her and I never let go of a bone once it’s in my teeth, so I will get my info eventually.
What’s her latest stunt? Refusing to answer my question about who the company is that supposedly is creating “20 – 35 jobs” and plunking down $700,000 in “capital investment” – which the LEDC has been crowing about publicly for two months now:
You’d think they’d WANT to tell me and tell EVERYONE, right? Unless, of course, those jobs are phantom bullshit jobs that have been “promised” vaguely in the future but which don’t actually exist.
The ONLY reason I can think of for refusing to divulge this company’s name is if it is the super secret Business Pork prospect (**cough**probably Eco-Turd**cough**).
And if it IS the super secret biz park prospect, then somebody is a gigantic lying sack of shit over there. Either hack City attorney JC Brown or Stacy Ybarra or Misti Talbert.
How do I know someone is a lying sack of shit?
Because just two weeks ago, the City’s hack attorney JC Brown wrote a letter to the Texas AG hoping to get him to agree to deny me all the information I have requested through a keyword search of the City email server.
You want to see what part of her argument was? Here is a screenshot:
According to JC Brown, the city cannot divulge anything because “at this date there are no agreement(s) or contract(s) between the City, the LEDC and the prospective entities identified in the B-2 emails.”
So to keep from divulging and information, JC Brown tells the Texas AG on June 17th that THERE IS CURRENTLY NO AGREEMENT OR CONTRACT with any prospects!
But on May 10th – OVER A MONTH EARLIER – the LEDC was crowing publicly about 20 to 35 jobs being announced with a $700,000 capital investment. That sure as shit sounds like an agreement was made. Otherwise that job and investment announcement is a big ugly lie.
So is the hack City attorney JC Brown lying to the AG? Or is Misti Talbert (LEDC president) or Stacy Ybarra (Economic Director) lying?