Quasi-Republican wins DEMOCRAT Travis County District Court primary (over hack incumbent)

"You shall not pervert justice; you shall not show partiality, nor take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous."
Deuteronomy 16:19

This is pretty funny:

There will be at least four new district judges in Travis County after final results of the 2020 primary election came in early on March 4.

....

In the 353rd district court, Madeleine Connor defeated Tim Sulak, the incumbent serving in that position since 2011 in a closely contested race, winning by fewer than 2,000 votes. Connor received 50.6% of the vote to Sulak's 49.5%.

Sulak built an early voting lead of more than 6,000 votes in early voting, but Connor's election day margin of 48,514 votes to Sulak's 37,652 was enough to give her a narrow victory.

Both Wahlberg and Sulak were endorsed by a majority of respondents to the Austin Bar Association and Austin Criminal Defense Lawyers Association preference poll.

If you've been around awhile, you'll remember Madeline Connor. She ran for the Third Court of Appeals as a Republican in 2012. She lost to Scott Field, who was subsequently a victim of the Democrat wave in 2018.

We're not really sure what to say.  Connor seems to have...issues.  The Statesman did a write up of her and her campaign about a month ago.

Reading the Statesman article, it seems that Connor has voted in both parties primaries.  And that she's run for office multiple times in each party.  There's nothing necessarily wrong with that.  Although we remember Connor running around in 2012 and telling anyone who would listen that she was Ms. Tea Party.  She now claims that judicial positions should be "non-partisan."  At a minimum, that suggests a certain lack of convictions.  Telling people whatever they want to hear in order to obtain elected office doesn't exactly suggest a strong judicial temperament.

On the other hand Tim Sulak, the incumbent, is a hack.  We have a very specific reason from 2013 why we don't like him.  So we're happy to see him lose.

It's impossible to know why this happened.  Although it's a Democrat primary, and the female candidate defeated the male incumbent.  Identity politics is probably a good guess.  But it's just a guess.

Bottom Line: Pretty funny.

TPPF Lawsuit Against #atxcouncil's "Sick Leave" entitlement has first hearing

"Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Or is your eye evil because I am good?"
Matthew 20:15

This afternoon, we attended the first hearing for the TPPF lawsuit against the City of Austin's so-called "sick leave" entitlement; two takeaways stand out.

The first is that Tim Sulak is the presiding judge.  Longer term readers will remember him from the 2013 Austin ISD bond lawsuit.  We stand by everything we said at the time and suggest his presence is all you need to know.

The second is that the City's strategy is going to be chubbing and misdirection.  With the ordinance scheduled to go into effect on October 1st, the city doesn't want to give an appeals court a chance to issue a temporary injunction.  So stall, stall, stall....

Today's hearing was supposed to cover the plaintiff's request for an injunction on the ordinance.  That didn't stop the city from wasting an hour trying to get other issues considered in front of the injunction.  During this discussion, the city's attorney claimed that businesses aren't suffering harm because the ordinance hasn't gone into effect yet.  That level of arrogance and ignorance was the hallmark of the city's performance.

Ellen Troxclair was the first plaintiff's witness for the injunction.  Troxclair explained the lack of Austin-specific data accessible to council during it's deliberation.  She also pointed out that council didn't have the final ordinance language available until the day of adoption.  On cross-examination, the city's attorney attempted to gaslight Troxclair by asking her a bunch of irrelevant questions about her opinion of sick leave as an employee benefit.

The second plaintiff witness was Douglas Rigdon, who runs the Strickland Christian School in South Austin.  The Strickland school is one of the plaintiffs in the suit.  Strickland is significantly less expensive than the average private school (max tuition = $5kish).  Strickland's low tuition business model would fall apart if the city's ordinance were to go into effect.  Ridden suggested Strickland might have to eliminate teacher bonuses, or lower cash salaries for teachers, to comply.  Higher tuition is given.  The city's attorneys responded by belittling Rigdon's business model, belittling tuition increases, and suggesting Strickland borrow money to cover the costs of the ordinance.

Bottom Line: We'll get into the meat of the legal arguments tomorrow, but a very revealing day today.

District FLOPS in Austin ISD Bond Debate

Austin ISD Board President Kendall Pace

"The rich rules over the poor,
And the borrower is servant to the lender."
Proverbs 22:7

Tuesday night, we attended KXAN's debate over the Austin ISD bond/tax hike.  Participants were Roger Falk of the Travis County Taxpayers Union and Bertha Delgado of Save East Austin Schools in opposition and Drew Scheberle of the Austin Chamber and Kendall Pace from Austin ISD in support.  You can view for yourself how badly this went for the District:



Highlights:

• Chamber guy spouts cliches about "talent availability."
• "21st century learning spaces."

• Roger Falk: Use finite resources wisely.
• Status quo is taxing people out of their homes.

• Chamber guy scaremongers re: bond failing.
• Calls Austin ISD's facilities plan "very thoughtful."

• Austin ISD is the largest land owner in central Texas.

• Roger: It doesn't take $1 BILLION to solve overcrowding.
• Austin ISD spends over $100k per month per school on maintenance.
• Austin ISD spends more per student than any urban ISD in the state.
• "Bloated, Contractor Bond."

• Pace: Something, something "belt tightening."
• Note: LOL, see here, here, and here.

• Roger: Robin Hood's impact is exaggerated.
• The only difference between the bond and Robin Hood is that you're giving the money to Wall St (via the interest payment) instead of giving it to the State of Texas.

• Pace makes a pretty racist statement re: El Paso.

• Pace acts super flustered and defensive.

• Chamber guy deflects when asked about bond being primarily for contractors.

• "Buildings don't teach children, people do."

• Chamber guy makes snotty, condescending, comment.

• Roger: "Right size the borrowing in this bond."

• Chamber guy deflects question about debt's impact on local economy by complaining about Robin Hood.
• Something something, tax hike not a big deal compared to "talent."

• Pace: Something, something "equality of outcomes."

• More cliches from Chamber guy.

• Austin ISD's superintendent just got a raise to over $300k!!!

• Roger: You could buy every student in Austin ISD an iPAD for $24 million, district is asking for $1 BILLION!!!

Austin ISD bond: Polling locations tipping scales AGAINST East Side?!?

"Dishonest scales are an abomination to the Lord,
But a just weight is His delight."
Proverbs 11:1

From the Travis County Taxpayers Union:

East Austin Voter Suppression in AISD Bond Election

23 October 2017

Austin, TX -- The Travis County Taxpayers Union (TCTU) has analyzed the Austin ISD polling locations for the AISD bond election and discovered some startling disparity regarding poll accessibility and hours of operation in comparing East and West Austin. 

In total, West Austin has 2551 hours of available in-district polls, whereas East Austin has only 794 hours of available in-district polls, making West Austin at least three times more accessible than East Austin. 

West of I-35: 

2551 poll hours (76% of total)

East of I-35: 

794 poll hours (24% of total)

"This is just another example of troubling behavior by the school district to mislead the public, and now they're engaging in voter suppression of East Austin residents," says Roger Falk of TCTU. "East Austin voters ought to be outraged."

The trend holds true when analyzing Early Voting polls, mobile polls, Election Day polls, or an aggregate of all three types. 

Mobile polling locations are the most unfair of the three types, with nearly eight times more hours available in West Austin than East Austin (199 hours and 26 hours, respectively). Most East Austin mobile polling locations are only open for a mere two hours per day, whereas West Austin mobile polling locations are open for a much longer daily average timeframe. 

"It's already more difficult for middle and working class voters in East Austin to access polls and cast their votes. We should be giving more time for democratic participation in East Austin - not less."

Construction Interests Bankrolling the Austin ISD Bond....

"Like a roaring lion and a charging bear
Is a wicked ruler over poor people."
Proverbs 28:15

From Travis County Taxpayers Union:

Corporate Cronies, Special Interest Unions Contribute $81,500 to Sell AISD $Billion Tax Increase

16-Oct-2017

Austin, TX -- The Travis County Taxpayer’s Union (TCTU) has analyzed and released their findings regarding the 30-day financial disclosures of the Austin ISD pro-bond campaign, and the results are alarming.

Among the biggest campaign contributors is a host of corporations, architects, contractors, lawyers, and service providers to AISD, further evidence as to who is the true beneficiary of the bond: not the students, nor the teachers, but the bureaucrats and crony capitalists who directly and monetarily benefit from the extravagant spending in the taxpayer-funded bond tax increase.  Some of the corporate donors:

ABC Home & Commercial Services - $10,000.00

Greater Austin Economic Development Corp. - $10,000.00

Education Austin PAC - $10,000.00

Heritage Title Company of Austin, Inc. - $5,000.00

Pfluger Associates, L.P. - $5,000.00

Walsh Gallegos Trevino Russo & Kyle, P.C - $5,000.00

American Constructors - $5,000.00

Bartlett Cocke General Contractors - $3,500.00

DLR Group - $3,500.00

O'Connell Robertson - $3,500.00

PBK, Inc. - $3,000.00

Encotech Engineering - $2,500.00

Ranger Excavating, L.P - $2,500.00

BLGY Architecture, Inc. - $2,500.00

Flintco, LLC - $2,500.00

Joeris General Contractors - $2,500.00

D'Amato Conversano, Inc. DBA DCI Engineers - $2,500.00

Husch Blackwell LLP - $2,500.00

JE Dunn Construction - $2,500.00

Ranger Excavating, L.P - $2,500.00

Square One Consultants - $2,000.00

Journeyman Construction, Inc. - $1,000.00

Studio 8 Architects, Inc. - $1,000.00

MWM Design Group, Inc. - $500.00

“Don’t be deceived, Austin ISD taxpayers - this is a corporate contractor’s bond,” says Don Zimmerman of TCTU. “The school district is shrinking, and no bond money is going towards our teachers. Our kids - and our educators - deserve better.”

“What this amounts to is that Austin ISD has severely mismanaged their maintenance budget - a whopping $54,000.00 per month, and is now being bankrolled by opportunistic contractors and construction companies to try and trick taxpayers into bellying up. Austin voters should not stand for this.”

Meanwhile, the district continues to claim the bond will not increase tax “rates” - a rhetorical device being used to deceive voters that borders on a lie, and perhaps even an ethics violation according to the rules set by the Texas Ethics Commission (TEC). The ballot language itself reads that, if the bond passes, Austin ISD will be authorized to increase taxes “without limit.”

Ballot Language:

The issuance of $1,050,984,000 school building bonds for the construction, acquisition, rehabilitation, renovation, expansion, improvement, modernization and equipment of school buildings in the district, including (i) technology systems and equipment, (ii) safety and security systems and equipment, (iii) improvements to address overcrowding and safety concerns, (iv) improvements for students with special needs, and (v) reinvention programs for twenty-first century learning;  the purchase of the necessary sites for school buildings;  and the purchase of new school buses, and the levy, pledge, assessment and collection of ad valorem taxes on all taxable property in the district, sufficient, without limit as to rate or amount, to pay the principal of and interest on the bonds and the costs of credit agreements executed in connection with the bonds.

Astonishingly inept Austin ISD bond draws remarkably diverse opposition coalition

"You shall not cheat your neighbor, nor rob him. The wages of him who is hired shall not remain with you all night until morning."
Leviticus 19:13

[Note: There was a lot of ambient noise in the background and the sound wasn't amplified on site, so the audio quality on the videos we shot turned out terribly.  Unfortunately, because we were filming, we didn't take notes during the press conference.  We've included the videos below, but hope readers will cut us some slack over the fact that we're writing up today's events from memory without the aid of notes or good video.]

It takes a special act of chutzpah to push a tax hike so big that you piss off every Republican in town, while structuring said tax increase so that the burden falls disproportionately on the Black and Hispanic communities in East Austin to subsidize affluent white people on the west side of town, which pisses off half the Democrats; with this current bond, somehow Austin ISD somehow accomplishes that feat.

This afternoon, a broad trans-partisan coalition of grassroots Austinites held a press conference in East Austin to highlight a number of flaws with the current Austin ISD bond proposal.  Objections ranged from the sheer size of the package, to the deceptive marketing of a tax increase that could easily surpass $600/year for median Austinites, to the fact that the district is holding East Austin schools hostage to the bond while structuring the bond so most of it's 'benefits' are seen elsewhere.

Obviously, this website has been opposed to the bond ever since we learned of it's magnitude (combined with the fact that they've never completed the process of selling off other real estate holdings they assured us they would complete before attempting another bond).  It's just a gigantic ask when their recent record of financial stewardship doesn't inspire confidence.  What have they done with the maintenance budget they already have?!?

Taxpayer advocate John Goldstone explained how the district is using deceptive language to minimize the tax impact.  The district is claiming the bond won't change the tax rate.  But you don't pay a tax rate, you pay a tax bill.  And more debt service means higher taxes.  In this case, Goldstone estimates the tax hike at over $600 per year (we will deflect all questions over how he came up with that number to Goldstone himself).

A number of other community advocates, including former #atxcouncil candidate Pete Salazar (ran against Greg Casar in 2014), LULAC head Gavino Fernandez, and Grey Panthers head Richard Franklin, discussed how the bond places a disproportionately large tax burden on the black and Hispanic communities on the East side to disproportionately benefit affluent white folks in the West side.  To be honest, we hadn't thought about that aspect prior to hearing it today.  But it's completely true.

And that's what's interesting: We've been fighting poorly conceived bonds for several years in Austin.  And it seems like there's more opposition on "the left" this time than we've seen previously (or that they're at least more engaged).  And the district has no one to blame but itself and its own arrogance.

Bottom Line: Early voting begins in two weeks; Election day is November 7.

-------

Central Health (AGAIN) siphoning money away from indigent health care....

"Defend the poor and fatherless;
Do justice to the afflicted and needy."
Psalm 82:3

Any time Central Health makes the news, it's never good.  Yesterday, we attended an event where a broad ideological cross section of Austinites highlighted their failure to provide services in Del Valle while continuing to subsidize the UT medical school and building lavish buildings for themselves.  Keep in mind, the alleged purpose of this entity is to provide "indigent health care."



Highlights:

• Central Health has been stonewalling activists for 9 months.

• Del Valle has paid for facilities that have never been built.

• CH has a $200 million budget this year.

• CH building expensive office buildings instead of Health Care facilities.

• CH gets federal $$$, but Lloyd Doggett isn't doing anything.
• Ditto Kirk Watson...and central health is his baby.

• According to several people at the event, the current CH board is stacked with Kirk Watson cronies.

• The homeless are getting a few crumbs tossed their way for political purposes.

• CH is involved in all sorts of things outside their charter.

• "We break the rules all the time in Travis County."

• Accountability, accessibility, transparency.

Is Austin ISD Bullying Engineers to invent support for bond?!?

"They are deeply corrupted,
As in the days of Gibeah.
He will remember their iniquity;
He will punish their sins."
Hosea 9:9

Don Zimmerman asks some fantastic questions:



Highlights:

• Austin ISD exaggerating problems 

• Decision to close T.A. Brown was "a political move designed to build support for a bond campaign."

• "I think it was political theater and I don't appreciate it."

• "The district was putting pressure on engineers to exaggerate their interpretation of the studies."

• Contractor issues denial.

• Parents of students at the school agree with Zimmerman.

• Austin ISD declines to comment.

Alder's "Corridor" Bond: Opposition holds Campaign Event

"Then David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone; and he slung it and struck the Philistine in his forehead, so that the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the earth."
1 Samuel 17:49

South Lamar Blvd. -- This afternoon Ashley Schor, proprietor of Bead It at the corner of South Lamar and Oltorf, opened up her business to a rally and press conference for opponents of Mayor Adler's so-called "corridor" bond.  As a business owner on South Lamar, Schor would be sacrificed in pursuit of the Mayor's so-called "smart" corridors.  A variety of citizens, candidates, and elected officials spoke.

From our notes:

Jim Skaggs (Longtime taxpayer advocate):

• Construction can drag out for months, or even years, at a time which will directly threaten the viability of every independent business in this bond's path.

Ora Houston (#ATXCouncil, D1 -- East Austin):

• "Just because I do not support this bond does not make me a 'do nothing.' "

• This bond would make traffic worse, not better.

• We don't know the final cost.
• Author's Note: $720 million is essentially what is known in business as a W.A.G.

• Flawed process created flawed proposal.
• "Corridor" plans were developed pre 10-1.

• "Corridor" re-development threatens local businesses.

• Bond ignores district 1.

Don Zimmerman (#ATXCouncil, D6 -- Far Northwest Austin):

• City attorneys misled council behind closed doors; by excluding a provision related to tax impact on the ballot language, the city has given itself authority for unlimited taxation to repay bonds.

• City transportation department could put district 6 projects on the back burner.

• Floated 2018 proposal: Something 'less expensive' ($500 million ish) with council, instead of the city bureaucracy, directing the project.

Rob Walker (Candidate -- #ATXCouncil, 10 -- West Austin):

• We certainly need to 'do something' but we don't need to do something stupid.
• Author's Note: That will make the original problem worse.

Jerry Patterson (Austin Resident and former elected official):

• There's a difference between 'doing something' and fixing the problem.

Ashley Schor (Business Owner):

• Adler's scheme would destroy the character of the "corridors."

Bottom Line: We'd love to begin fixing traffic congestion, but step one is to halt this massive step in the wrong direction in it's tracks.

------

Adler's "Mobility" Bond: Opposition coalition meets informally

“For My people are foolish,
They have not known Me.
They are silly children,
And they have no understanding.
They are wise to do evil,
But to do good they have no knowledge.”
Jeremiah 4:22

Last night, several groups held an informal meeting to begin discussions about Mayor Adler's so-called "transportation" bond.  Gregory Harrison of Empower Texans, Roger Falk of the Travis County Taxpayers Union, and Rental Housing advocate John Goldstone made formal presentations while others chimed in.  We felt the following observations were notable:

[Author's Note: While we intend to follow up on a number of these subjects in the coming weeks, for now we suggest following up with the source cited at the end of the listing if you want to know specifics.]

• This bond just isn't going to do much to address congestion. (GH)

• Simple congestion solutions, such as improving the timing of traffic signals, don't require a massive bond package. (GH)

• The bond should have been broken into it's component parts. (GH)

• The real cost of the corridors alone is between $850 million and $1.5 billion.  (RF)
• In other words, completing just the corridors would require at least one, and possibly two, more bond packages in '18 and '20.
  
• The 'right of way' authority the city seizes as a result of this package is a threat to every single independent business along the corridors.  (RF)
• "Driveway elimination and consolidation" will destroy their traffic and put them out of business.
• In other words, there will be a lot of cheap land available for 'redevelopment' in five years.
• ie. "Gentrification on Steroids."

• City only wants to "do 30%" of the corridor plan on this round.  (RF)

• This is going to create more congestion along the corridors by increasing the number of U-turns.  (RF)

• "A perfect storm of gentrification" -- What happened on the east side is now going to happen north and west.  (RF)

• Adler is partner is a law firm that specializes in eminent domain. (RF)

• Bonds equal taxes; taxes equal higher rents.  (JG)

• Tenant's associations need to speak out.  (JG)

• If the process is bad, you must vote no, and the process on this one stinks.  (JG)

• Lots and lots of financial detail we couldn't follow.  (JG)

• The city is lying about the property tax impact of this bond; using realistic assumptions about interest rates, the property tax increase is going to be at least 45% higher than what's being advertised.  (JG)

• The Riverside corridor plan calls for replacing one of the lanes with parking; whatever your thoughts about the proper way to fix urban mobility, that doesn't make any sense under any of them.

• They haven't announced it publicly, but an open records request yielded a memo from Marc Ott outlining a plan to cut the speed limits along the corridors in half.  (RF)

• The city also wants to raise the "transportation user fee" on utility bills.  (RF)

• "A pandora's box of unintended consequences."  (RF)

• The pro-bike community is getting screwed; Alder's using them as political window dressing, but they actually get almost nothing (besides a little paint) from this package.

Bottom Line: The deeper you look, the more indefensible this thing becomes; more in the coming weeks....

Travis County Taxpayers Union hosts Courthouse Bond Press Conference

"There is desirable treasure,
And oil in the dwelling of the wise,
But a foolish man squanders it."
Proverbs 21:20

Austin City Hall -- The Travis County Taxpayers Union held a press conference this morning to discuss a better alternative to the current proposed playground for 1200 rich downtown lawyers:



Highlights:

• Travis County never seriously considered other alternatives.

• The only way to produce an alternative is to defeat this bond.

• "Bonds equal taxes, bonds equal rent increases."

• Travis County lying about the size of the tax increase.
• County figures doesn't included NON-VOTER APPROVED debt county used to "purchase" current proposed site.

• Building on the East Side would cost 25-50% less.
• Surface parking vs underground parking alone.

• East side location more accessible to county's poorest residents than downtown.

• East Austin has been promised various public facilities for five decades, it's time to deliver.

TCTU press release:

2015-10-13 TCTU

Travis County receives FIERCE pushback on Courthouse

Commissioner Gerald Daugherty (R - Western Travis County)

"There is desirable treasure,
And oil in the dwelling of the wise,
But a foolish man squanders it."
Proverbs 21:20

Travis County Commissioners Court -- Commissioner Gerald Daugherty, the only Republican on the Travis County Commissioners court, held a forum with the Travis County Taxpayers Union to discuss the proposed Courthouse bond this afternoon.  Daugherty, who supports the bond, repeated the company line about the current aging Courthouse that no one disputes.  The presentation was, to put it mildly, greeted with skepticism.

Belinda Powell, a county bureaucrat, handled the bulk of the presentation, she was assisted by Matias Segurra, an outside consultant with AECOM.

The most notable claim the county made was that the current proposal is a "design, build" project.  This means that everything we're hearing before the vote is a "concept" but we won't know the final plan until construction begins. Council member Don Zimmerman got the county to admit the ballot language was impossibly vague.  The county attributed that to a need for "flexibility."  Essentially, we have to pass the bond to find out what's in it.

The primary objections dealt with the issue of parking.  Former Austin City Council candidate Bill Worsham got the county admitted the new courthouse won't have sufficient parking to cover peak usage.  Several African-American residents of East Austin bemoaned the cost of parking downtown.  They were unpersuaded by the county's discussion of the bus routes available downtown.  One elderly gentleman explained that it was insulting to expect people who live in the outer reaches of the city to take the bus for two hours (each way) to reach downtown instead of building a facility with adequate parking.

Two of the (Democrat) candidates for the open seat in Precinct 1, Richard Franklin and Arthur Sampson, attended; both oppose the current proposal.

The bonds would have a duration of 20 years and the county currently has $695 million in debt outstanding.

Bottom Line: Today's presentation doesn't change the fact that current Courthouse proposal would produce a traffic nightmare, doesn't have NEARLY enough parking, and would make Austin's affordability issues worse.

The Urban Rail Swindle fleshes out details

"Dishonest scales are an abomination to the Lord,
But a just weight is His delight."
Proverbs 11:1



Highlights:

• Council voted unanimosly for Urban Rail.

• "Regional significance to relieve congestion" is governmentspeak for money laundering.

• Lee Leffingwell will be advocating for rail "as a private citizen on my own time."
• Personal Note: How stupid does he think we are?!?
• Secondary Note: Don't answer that 

•  "You can do road improvements that assist mostly the motorist or you can do road improvements that will assist future rail. So if you put a preference on road projects that can improve future rail, we think this is disingenuous. Because it's all about, it's really about rail,"

Austin Urban Rail: Opponents detail the next great swindle

"Dishonest scales are an abomination to the Lord,
But a just weight is His delight."
Proverbs 11:1

Opponents of the Austin Rail boondoggle held their first press conference this morning.  To our knowledge, KEYE, KXAN, and Time Warner were present.  Cahnman's Musings presents the entirety of the prepared remarks.

Jim Skaggs; COST AUSTIN:


Highlights:

• Rail will dramatically increase congestion.

• Forms a barrier wall in the middle of central Austin.

• Only 6,500 new transit trips per day out of 8 million total in Austin roadways.

• 99% of all trips in the region will continue to be by road.

• MoPac expansion, 290, and 183A move 500,000 people per day for same cost.

• Any rail/road combination will place roads 2nd.

• Vote against ANY proposal that includes rail.

Roger Falk; Travis County Taxpayers Union:

Highlights:

• Misleaders are out again.

• This $1.4 billion only covers a small section on a long term plan.

• "Our taxes are pricing people out of their homes now."

• "This silly little trolley" won't help "if you're sitting in traffic on 360."

• Take the lights off of 360 and 183.

• There's no Federal dollars committed.

• If the GOP takes over the U.S. Senate this fall, the Federal $ could dry up.
• Personal Note: Roger doesn't know this, but your humble author has already held preliminary discussions with staff members from Texas' Congressional delegation about cutting off Federal Funding for this project.

Bill Oakley; AustinAffordability.com:



Highlights:

• Rail for Sale -- Sold to various special interests and paid for by taxpayers.
• Sweetheart real estate deals on East Riverside.

• Gigantic Boondoggle for UT
• Massive Taxpayer expenditure to help Med School employees commute.

• Money laundering costs thru Austin Energy and Austin Water Utility.

Austin ISD blackmails recalcitrant citizens into submission

Unfortunate news from the Travis County Taxpayers Union:

PRESS ADVISORY: Travis County Taxpayer Union (TCTU) plaintiffs drop AISD Bond Ballot language lawsuit appeal rather than face potential $50,000 fine.

22-Jan-2014
Austin, TX --

A few weeks ago, TCTU plaintiffs were confronted with the possibility of personal losses of $50,000 due to a legal tactic from Austin ISD. Because TCTU plaintiffs were unable to shoulder the financial risk, they elected to drop the suit.

Says Don Zimmerman, TCTU founder and treasurer, "We are dismayed at the legal tactics of intimidation used by Austin ISD, but we do not blame our plaintiffs for dropping the suit in the face of financial threats."

Says Stephen Casey, TCTU attorney, "The District's ploy of asking the court of appeals to affirm the lower court judgment, leveraged against our client's finances, was not accepted -- the court dismissed the appeal rather than affirm the trial court."

TCTU notes that Austin ISD is now effectively admitting that "projection of enrollment growth", made just last year in support of AISD's unaffordable Bonds, was false political advertising. The truth is AISD student enrollment is shrinking, not growing as the District falsely claimed last year. The illegal Bond ballot language was just another part of AISD's campaign of taxpayer subsidized propaganda to misinform voters.

As a volunteer organization, TCTU does not get and does not seek taxpayer money to promote it's political agenda through false advertising or legal transgressions.

TCTU will continue to counter District misinformation and gain compliance with ballot law as resources permit.

An unfortunate development, but we still be two of the bonds at the polls; with new swindles on the horizon, readers can expect to plenty from the Travis County Taxpayers Union in 2014.

Austin City Coucil Lying about Tax Increases?!?

The Travis County Taxpayers Union filed an ethics complaint against the Austin City Council yesterday; from their press release:

4-Nov-2013,  3:00 PM   

Austin, TX --  Brad Parsons, a TCTU volunteer analyst and concerned citizen, has filed an ethics complaint against the Austin City Council and the City Manager claiming that the city is unlawfully distributing "political advertising" in the form of its website materials, including their notorious flier, whose sole statement regarding the financial impact of this bond is "No increase in the property tax rate is anticipated as a result of this bond issuance."  

   
    This statement, while partly factual, is misleading in its implication that property taxes will not go up when the $65,000,000 is borrowed at an undisclosed interest rate.  In fact, the Housing Bond proposition, if passed, is legal justification for unlimited increases in property tax levy (amount taken from property owners) to pay back the new bond debt, plus interest. 
 
    This misleading City flyer statement clearly shows that the City is advocating for passage of the bond, violating its own statement that it is not advocating for the bond, and leading to a violation of state law regarding distribution and publication of "informational materials" which are actually "political advertising."
 
    TCTU founder and treasurer Don Zimmerman adds, "we have actually seen Facebook comments on our 'No Means No!' vote against website saying people would vote for the Bond 'because taxes won't go up, or that the Bond has nothing to do with taxes.'  Clearly, this unlawful city government propaganda is working to some extent."
 
    Another new TCTU friend, John Goldstone, a local taxpayer who has been instrumental in getting the word out that "Bonds Equal Taxes," attended all of the City's Housing Bond panel discussions, wrote 2 published letters to the editor in both the Austin American Statesman (November 2, 2013) and Austin Chronicle (October 25, 2013), as well as giving a rousing citizens communication speech on October 17, 2013 (4th speaker). 

Mr. Goldstone has raised awareness of the failure of the City to admit that there will be an actual cost of repayment of the bonds (including dissemination of the cost of the bond to the voters), which should have allowed City of Austin voters the chance to weigh the pros (adequately presented by the City in its materials) and cons (property tax cost to the rest of us).

 Read the full ethics complaint here.

Austin Chronicle tells a Bald-Faced Lie

From today's write-up on the Austin Housing Boondoggle:

It's these types of public exchanges that are making affordable housing advocates nervous. Last year, a $78.3 million bond election failed by just 7,000 votes – and that was without any organized opposition. This time around, with a $65 million bond proposition on the ballot, a group called Travis County Taxpayers Union has organized against the measure. And though it's a low-budget opposition campaign – basically a one-man-band run by Don Zimmerman, a libertarianish Republican who's made a few runs for public office – it carries all the bells and whistles (a "taxpayer rape whistle," to be precise) designed to get Zimmerman's political brethren riled up, no matter how offensive the tactics. In last year's bond election, the Taxpayers Union did not specifically target the housing bond; rather, it put all its marbles into defeating the proposed medical school, which won handily. So maybe the group's losing track record will bring housing advocates some luck at the polls this year.

[Emphasis Ours]

The Chronicle conveniently omits TCTU's victory against two Austin ISD bonds earlier this year; nor to they mention the TCTU lawsuit that has the other two bond propositions on ice at the 3rd Court of Appeals.

Or maybe the Austin Chronicle fails to read their own paper.

But hey, why accurately cite history from five months ago when there's a narrative to push?!?

Laundered taxpayer money promoting Austin 'Housing' Bond

From a Travis County Taxpayers Union press advisory:

Travis County Taxpayers Union (TCTU) expresses concern that taxpayer funds are being used to lobby local voters to vote for the unaffordable Austin Housing Bond on the November ballot.   In the period of March – September, 2013, $103,000 of public funds were laundered through “Foundation Communities”, a 501c3 corporation (the same IRS designation as churches) to promote and sell City of Austin affordable housing bonds.  

There’s further concern with a “non-profit” receiving large sums of public tax dollars that pays exorbitant compensation to its Executive Director ($164,000/yr), and has an extravagant executive payroll of $638,000 (2011).  

Tax exempt status and public service honor shouldn’t be afforded to such lucrative ventures.

“Keep Austin Affordable” is a corporately funded Political Action Committee, created to promote City of Austin UNaffordable housing bonds.  Public filings reveal so called “non-profit” corporate contributions of over $146,000 to fund campaign staffers and other expenses to sell the public on $65 million (plus undisclosed interest payments) in new government debt.  

Links to these reports are below:

Mid-year report (July 15^th, 2013)

30-day report (Oct. 7^th, 2013)

Here are a few of these leading taxpayer subsidized 501-c-3 corporations, from IRS Form 990 reports, publicly available at www.guidestar.org,