I sat down this evening to tell you about two ethics violations that have been filed with the Texas Ethics Commission over illegal electioneering by both the NHMCCD board as well as the Teachers Union. But guess what landed in my mailbox this evening! YET ANOTHER mailing by the NHMCCD organization that violates the electioneering laws. Unfortunately, I do not have the means to scan and upload it tonight. I will update this in the morning with a PDF of it. Not only does it AGAIN falsely indicate that passing the bonds will result in no rise in tax rate, when in fact the bond proposal language expressly allows the board to increase the tax rate up to 80 cents per $100 valuation with 50 cents per $100 valuation going to service the bond debt if they decide to which means up to $1200 for a $150,000 home with $750 of that just to service the debt, it ALSO lists the candidates running in the upcoming election and indicates which ones are incumbents which is illegal. And in the article opposite the bond referendum article, is an article talking about how the board voted to lower the tax rate by 3.3% (which by the way puts it at 11.67 cents per $100). It is quite a big jump from 11.67 cents to 50 cents. This is not fiscal responsibility at its highest here.
Update: Fred Blanton just emailed me a recording of (President of Montgomery college in The Woodlands) Tom Butler’s talk in front of the Montgomery County Republican Women’s Association where he also stuck to the party line about no higher taxes. Unfortunately it is too large to upload here. I’ve asked him if he would host it on his site so I can link to it. If he does I will update this with a link. Here is the link! (thanks Fred!)
UPDATE 2: OK, here is a scan of the newsletter that is so rife with electioneering that every time I look at it I see yet another level of it. I’ve had to upload each page individually because the entire file is too large. I apologize for the poor quality, my mail carrier does not seem to know how to close the mailbox when it is raining…
Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4
UPDATE 3: Here is a link to the whole thing. Note the incorrect statement that all the campuses have seen an increase in attendance when in fact the North Harris Campus on W.W. Thorne Dr. has actually seen a decrease. Most of the system’s increase in enrollment has come from online classes, not physical classrooms, and those could just as easily be hosted in India or Pakistan as on the physical campus grounds. The internet knows no concept of physical “place”.
Filed Under Uncategorized ·
Comments
33 Responses to “Ethics? We don’t NEED no stinkin Ethics!”Search
Our Sponsors
Poll
Loading ...LST Book Club
-
Defending Identity: Its Indispensable Role in Protecting Democracy
by Natan Sharansky -
Fear No Evil
by Natan Sharansky -
The Case For Democracy: The Power of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny and Terror
by Anatoly Shcharansky -
The Jewish State: The Struggle for Israel's Soul
by Yoram Hazony -
Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There
by David Brooks -
Snobbery: The American Version
by Joseph Epstein -
A Conflict of Visions: Idealogical Origins of Political Struggles
by Thomas Sowell
First! You forgot to mention the other 80 Cent tax…slacker! /ducks and hauls butt!
Vote Blanton, Crowder & Holsey.
Vote NO on all bond referendums!
$0.50 ON THE $100 VALUATION OF TAXABLE PROPERTY AND PROVIDED THAT THE AMOUNT
OF BOND TAX TOGETHER WITH THE AMOUNT OF MAINTENANCE TAX SHALL NOT EXCEED
$0.80 ON THE $100 VALUATION OF TAXABLE PROPERTY; SAID BONDS TO BE ISSUED AND
SAID TAXES TO BE LEVIED, PLEDGED, ASSESSED, AND COLLECTED UNDER THE
CONSTITUTION AND LAWS OF THE STATE OF TEXAS INCLUDING THE TEXAS EDUCATION
CODE?
How much would that be? Should I vote no? Afterall, it’s for the children….
ST
GOOD EXAMPLE! VOTE NO!
ST, actually the total is capped at 80 cents, and 50 cents of that would be for the bond debt service. so one is a component of the other if I read it correctly.
I just went back and re-read my post and I think I will edit the post to make that a bit clearer.
Please do. I take it as, they can raise the property tax to 50 cents, but tack on for “Maintenence” to make the tax 80 cents per $100. But I’ve been wrong before and will be again fer sure!
oops! forgot this:
BOND TAX “TOGETHER” WITH THE AMOUNT OF “MAINTENANCE TAX” SHALL NOT EXCEED
$0.80 ON THE $100 VALUATION OF TAXABLE PROPERTY
I haven’t seen a bond proposal I’ve actually deemed worthy of voting for in a really long time…
So is it $.80 per $100 valuation with $.50 per $100 valuation going to service the bond debt leaving $.30 remaining? I’ll say 11.67 cents to $.50 is quite a LEAP! Go figure.
#10, that is the way I’m reading it.
Rorsch:
Update: Fred Blanton just emailed me a recording of (President of Montgomery college in The Woodlands) Tom Butler’s talk in front of the Montgomery County Republican Women’s Association where he also stuck to the party line about no higher taxes.
If this is true and y’all have evidence, I’d call the Conroe Courier and have them do an article along with a copy of that stupid bond proposal. The voter’s are gonna be BAMBOOZELED once again. Election day is next week! I posted my letter in The Villager, but most people use that for bird cage lining…
Great, get me all riled up so I won’t be able to fall asleep..thanks!
#9 Jimb: Still got strawberry preserves (collecting dust on cap) for ya! Sawdust Road behind HEB….Just for Y O U!
#12, the link is up, listen for yourself.
Sorry, free dial-up at home. Will check it out tomorrow at work….Rorsch, all I gotta say to you is:
SIC ‘EM boy! SIC ‘EM!!! goooood boy!
Would please consider trying to get an article in The Conroe Courier? puuuu-leeeez? blink blink blink…please?
To send press releases or submit story ideas– City Editor Andy DuBois — Send to: e-mail couriernews@hcnonline.com; FAX (936) 442-3393 or mail to 100 Ave. A, Conroe, TX 77301 or call (936) 442-3419.
My questions to Mr. Butler is this: You say that you retired the last bond debts, when in fact those bonds were renogiated down to a lower interest rate at a cost of 11% of the value of the bonds being refinanced. These “consultant fees” come out of the tax payers’ pockets. Where is the savings? Were these consultants on retainer based on open bids, or are they chosen to perform these functions by members of the board of trustees? An 11% fee to reduce bond indebtedness seems excessive to me.
Each little college in your district seems to have it’s own agenda, as you yourself stated. Why should I, who live in Spring, care about a graduating theratre for nurses in Kingwood? Why don’t you find a way to utilize existing facilities within the district for graduating purposes? Why should I finance $750,000 for a grand entry off E. Richie road into the NHC campus when those funds could be used to help your college finance more math labs? The building of a “grand parkway” will cost NHC additional money to replace parking spaces which will be destroyed to build another entrace/exit onto a campus which sits at the end of a runway, and said roadway will empty onto a direct path of another planned IAH airstrip.
Blather, blather, blather. Waste and fraud and deceipt and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Ethics? What ethics? This District is just despicable, and we need NEW LEADERSHIP! And maybe there is too much “autonomy” and not enough control over the purse-strings.
Where do Basaldua, Bates, and McIver stand on the blatent Ethics violations? Why haven’t we seen some heads roll at The District over the electioneering that whet on back in April/May, and that is obviously still going on now? Chapter 556 of The Texas Government Code outlines: Political Activities by Certain Public Entities and Individuals, and lays forth Prohibited Acts of Agencies and Idividuals.
http://agservices.tamu.edu/Forms/AG-417.pdf
Whereas today these people believe they walk on water, the truth is they are seriously treading water and skating on very thin ice.
Personally, I wouldn’t wish to be their shoes right about now. As a very wise man I know likes to say, “It ain’t over ’till the fat lady sings.”
I anxiously await your update Rorschach.
#16; I guess you are referring to the “Bond Swap” that went on back in the September Board meeting. Surprising that no media experts have picked up on this. Let me understand it. In the 1/4 Billion Dollar bond issue they had “Money” for refinancing higher rate bonds, that would cost us in fees about 2-3%. They spent fees of 11% as I have detected from an eyewitness at the Board meeting, and there was one Dissenting vote on that “Bath to the taxpayers” but they said we would save money, but nowhere near what the friends of board members will make in commissions; is that correct?
Mr. Butler looks like he will have some “splaining” to do over his statement of fact about “NO TAX INCREASE” … seems like he said to the Chamber of Commerce back in March or April that “it would not cost a dime.” Perhaps since he came from “up east,” according to the recording, that he does not know Texas Election laws, funny you’d think he’d know that making as much $$$ as he does!
#18, Sluth:
Yes. That is my understanding of the “bond-swap” events of September. I’ve no idea of how much we taxpayers pay in the form of income remuneration to The District Administrators, but from what I’ve seen at http://www.collegewatch.net, “upper level management” are paid quite well. And didn’t the board just “reward” them with a 4% raise? And spent time and efforts to education these people by having the Head of the Texas Ethics Commission speak before them so they would be aware of what constitutes ethical behaivor for “state employees?”
Pathetic, disgusting, immoral, and JUST SAD. They have no regard for this community. They’re in it for the glory.
Looks like some will go down in FLAMES! GOOD!
#17;
BATES, BASALUDA, MCIVER (Larry Curley & Moe) Funny how I read the section 556 that you mention and yet with all of the scandals, ethics violations and electioneering taking place within the College District, you would think, unless they are a part of it, that there would have been some firings, heads rolling and a little cleanup taking place.
But wait, it all seems to be towards their benefit and advantage…..BASALUDA keeps coming up with these “Clinton” excuses that he just got on the scene, but is ready and willing to take credit for everything done in the past, yet he was not there for the past 6-7 years? (literally “out to lunch” for the past 10 months) It reminds me of “I didn’t have SEX with that Woman” line… I see his signs up all over and his door tags and fancy color brochures about lower taxes, yet he wants to do just the opposite… WHAT happened to the “Happy TEAM” (once again trying to claim for the past when he was not here)… did they all split up and take the forks in the road or it just another deception again? These guys remind me of the Three Triplets with “matching unlike DNA, parents and philosophy”…. don’t know who they are, where they have been or where they are going….follow the money!
I guess I’d also have to ask where these guys stand on the Section 556 violations… seems taht they too have not seen fit for any action on all of those violations either!…..
Larry, Curly and Moe! I love it! muahahahaha. Maybe the HCN papers will pick up on it as a mantra, eh?
DP, interesting reading that link. It would appear that a whole BUNCH of political subdivisions (Harris County, City of Houston, and others) have been in violation of this since they ALL employ lobbyists.
OK So I am reading the “tea Leaves:
1. Largest Voting Rights Violation in Texas History
2. Largest Ethics Scandals in TEC commission history
3. More Questionable Spending and some whopper Credit Card charges, bigger than T.S.U. The Alma Mata of one of the board members?
4. Largest and Highest TAX RATE INCREASES in Harris County from 2002 to 2005…. 15%
5. Big miss on attendance increase for the Fall 2006 semester, in fact is there not a “on-Campus” decrease of something like 2-3%?
6. Missed totally the new Bush/IAH Airport Runway construction that goes right over their “Flagship Campus”
7. BLEW over a Million Dollars on a failed election, yet they got caught by the Justice Department…. and they claim to be cautious conservators of what?
8. Reminds me of our Cy-Fair ISD bonds that got us the Berry Edification Center… we voted for the schools, but we got “schooled” in what the “fine print” means and as they told us we voted for it in 2001… and one of the candidates also running was a big backer of those bonds too, if I remember correctly that was that Lampe woman.
I can go on and on and on and on…. but really are we going to get schooled again?
# 17 & # 22;
How does Section 556.0055 and 556.006 relate to the Chancellor lobbying the legislature “talking to” where he was paid something like $80-90,000 in 2005 and has all of those charges made to the District Credit Cards?
I see that there are exemptions to higher education, but is that a blank check to spend taxpayer’s money lobbying?
Is there yet another story developing?
#24. That may be a question for the Ethics Commission. I don’t much like paying for lobbyists out of my tax dollars, and I wonder what kind of loop-holes exist in lobbying laws that allow for a state employee to lobby the legislature. Also, how does Pickleman’s sabbatical fit in with the sabbatical leave policies of The District? I don’t see the connection at all !! I feel cheated by the system, and I certainly feel cheated by OUR college district! When does Justice serve all the people all the time?
It obviously DOESN’T !!
As a die hard liberal democrat, I am predisposed to voting for bonds to provide more resources for education. Thanks to the extensive evidence I read at http://www.collegewatch.net, I am voting against the NHMCCD bond with a clear conscience. When the college presents a clear and honest justification for a bond, then I will consider voting to approve it. Mr. Blanton, Mr. Crowder, and Dr. Hosley have my support and gratitude for their efforts and desire to clean up the unethical and shameful mess the current Board and college administration has made.
#26…. That seems to be the consensus out here too. There is no real justification for the bonds, on the face.
The last election that was to save a few thousand Dollars… cost us a cool MILLION $$$$$$ PLUS!
And for this voter, it cost me a couple pairs of socks and blisters and worn out tenny runners.
Small price to pay for JUSTICE!
http://biz.yahoo.com/weekend/mbacheat_1.html
M.B.A.s: The Biggest Cheaters
Why care about any kind of schooling when it’s all one huge JOKE!
garbage, garbage, garbage.
Let’s all go out and become EDUCRATS! And steal money from all the taxpayers.
garbage, garbage, garbage. Education is a privilege.
Right………….
Just got my copy of the *Star* in the mailbox today.
Liars, liars, pants on fire!
G A R B A G E ! ! ! !
(And guess who gets to pay for that rubbish? Propaganda? G A R B A G E ! ! !)
YOU DO!
Bah!
Guess what that latest bit of illegal electioneering cost the taxpayer! According to the minutes of the Oct meeting, it cost you $94,004 to write, print and mail that propaganda rag. I could have sent both of my daughters to UT for that and still had the change to pay off my house.
Didn’t they do the similar thing for about $53-54,000 on some Post Card and …got hammered for electioneering… and they are back again.
Did the $94,004 include the postage this time…I think it’s a “Four Colour” Four page piece this time…..
I guess we need the “Ever Ready Bunny” on this one, cause they just don’t learn… and I MUST NOTE: It’s in one language once again ENGLISH (my preferred) but no Viet. or Span…. are they not thinking again or is it another example of: “Larry Curley & Moe” back from the May election, and going to try it all over again?
Third time’s a charm… I’m waiting for the next blunder… I guess for Haloween they will all wear “Orange Jump Suits” and have chains and schackles … like some other commentor mentioned a while back!
Figures……..
I hope they all rot!