Tag: transparency joke

Mayor Transparency STILL Holding Up Documents FOUR WEEKS After Attorney General Orders City To Hand Them Over

Months and months ago, I requested documents related to the “economic impact” report for the LEDC ‘business’ park prospect Eco-Strong.

The City did everything in their power to obstruct me. I got my lawyer involved (yet again) and tried several different tactics to make those documents public.

One of my tactics (which worked previously in the Azbell A/V scam) was to request CITY EMAILS that contained keywords like “Eco-Strong”, “business park”, “Mike Cour”, etc. Those emails are most DEFINITELY public docs and they will be required to produce them.

Overpriced City lapdog lawyer JC Brown made sure to produce reams and reams of bullshit (and billable hours to the taxpayer) to try and stop this. She (once again) requested the Texas Attorney General side with her and protect all these emails as containing “sensitive” and “proprietary” information which would harm negotiations with Eco-Strong.

[Keep in mind, the LEDC appears to have DUMPED Eco-Strong as a viable prospect for their goat pasture – which makes this all a moot argument. But that doesn’t stop them from continuing to obstruct]

That is total bullshit, of course. The AG agreed and ordered these buffoons to hand over the docs. They ARE allowed to redact certain “sensitive info”, but they MUST turn these docs over.

That was over a month ago. Odd, because our mayor has sworn up and down she is all about the “transparency” in City government. Remember this quote from a City council meeting?

Her exact words: “I feel like (City) staff and Council oughta be tasked with being accountable to answer on the spot…and..uh…I would be comfortable doing that….that’s transparency at its finest…is…you know…we don’t put off a question, we answer it on the spot”

I’ll tell you this, JC and Misti and Finley: when I finally DO get my hands on these documents, I will go over ALL 800 pages with a microscope. I will not miss ANYTHING. And since you have dragged your feet and farted around for so long on this, I promise you I am going to embarrass the shit out of every single City Nerf job worker and/or council member who appears in them and deserves it.

Stay tuned.

Transparency In City Government Is a Bad Joke

I had a good laugh a few weeks ago when Mayor Talbert opined at the end of a City council meeting [go to the 1:26:45 mark and listen for 45 seconds] about how citizens should be able to ask department heads anything and get answers…that there should be complete transparency.

Her exact words: “I feel like (City) staff and Council oughta be tasked with being accountable to answer on the spot…and..uh…I would be comfortable doing that….that’s transparency at its finest…is…you know…we don’t put off a question, we answer it on the spot”

I chuckled because every single time I ask a department head (IT, LEDC, Finance, etc) OR even Finley himself a question that might actually make them look negligent, incompetent or profligate, ‘transparency’ goes right out the window. This is evidenced by my past questions about the no-bid Azbell A/V contract, the LEDC and ‘business park’ contracts, employee discipline questions, ransomware attack questions…..the list literally goes on and on.

In fact, this ENTIRE BLOG only exists because I asked IT DIRECTOR Monica Wright (July of 2018) a simple question about what appeared to be a ridiculously overpriced NO-BID audio/visual system from Azbell Electronics for the new Council chambers. Her response? To copy and paste a couple sentences from the Azbell bid sheet! When I pressed her, Finley took over immediately and shut down all lines of inquiry. Seems to be a pattern with all “department heads” – they aren’t actually ‘head’ of jack shit, but rather a Finley Finger Puppet dancing to his tune.

Well, I have apparently opened an whole NEW can of worms regarding the City’s health insurance premiums and payouts. I had recently politely requested information that is WELL WITHIN my rights as a taxpaying citizen and guess what? Finance Department head Yvonne Moreno and City manager Finley ‘Elmo” deGraffenreid are once again hiding behind their City attorney and stonewalling me.

When that happens, I just KNOW I am on to a big stinky pile of dogshit they prefer to keep hidden. Good thing I still have MY lawyer on retainer.

Details coming up very shortly! I know you all need SOMETHING to keep you entertained during quarantine. Until then, let’s watch Finley ‘Elmo’ deGraffenreid make the Seven Goldfish dance to his tune…