The article that managed to slightly annoy me is titled, Big money is pouring into the race for Tarrant Regional Water District board.
One of the board incumbents, running for re-election, Vic Henderson, claims the water quality of the Trinity River is much improved from when he began serving on the board in the 1980s, saying, “I know what that river was like. It’s very different than it used to be.”
The Trinity River is different than it used to be? Well, now that totally settles the quality of the water issue.
Apparently the TRWD Board and J.D. Granger are stunned regarding the large amount of money that has been raised by their opponents, particularly John Basham.
J.D. Granger claims "we did not expect a race at all." In that same paragraph I learned that not only is J.D. the executive director of the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle, he is also the development director for the Tarrant Regional Water District.
Also from J.D....
“And all of a sudden, four or five mailers hit the street. I’ve never seen anything close to this much money spent on a water district election."
As a result, the incumbents are suddenly playing catch-up, and the district “is staring at a well-funded smear campaign.”
As opposed to the incumbents underfunded smear campaign?
The Star-Telegram neglects to mention the fact that the TRWD Board is being sued for over 300 violations of the Texas Open Meetings law.
Speaking of which, does anyone have the public record of the Open Meeting the TRWD Board held when they discussed why it was a good idea to give the unqualified, un-experienced, J.D. Granger the job of TRV Boondoggle executive director?
The TRWD Board people have been in brouhaha mode over having the fact that they bought a helicopter brought to the attention of the voting public.
The following 2 paragraphs in the Star-Telegram article particularly vexed me...
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| TRWD Helicopter |
The $440,000 helicopter owned by the water district does not boast any leather seats. It is used to fly over and inspect pipelines and facilities that are not easy to reach on roads.
I have received all the B-N-K mailings. I have seen no photo of a large helicopter in any of the B-N-K mailings. I have seen a photo of part of the interior of a helicopter in one of the B-N-K mailings. No where have I seen a claim made that the TRWD bought a multi-million dollar helicopter. I have read mention made of leather seats. And that the TRWD Board uses their helicopter to fly to a private deer hunting location.
I thought it odd that Jim Lane was all adamant about the leather seats, but made no mention of the deer hunting.
Look at the picture above, which I took from the controversial campaign mailer that the TRWD Board spent your tax dollars on, and see if you think that those seats look like they may be leather covered.
I find Jim Lane's explaining that the almost half a million dollar helicopter is needed to inspect pipelines and facilities without road access to be troubling.
Has the TRWD always had a helicopter, all the way back to its inception? One must assume so, what with those hard to get to pipelines needing to be inspected.
So, the TRWD Board spent almost a half a million dollars to buy the helicopter. How much is spent on fuel each year? How much is a pilot paid?
Here's what I'm thinking. Would it not be a wiser use of taxpayer money to invest that half million dollars in some interest generating instrument, and then use the interest on that investment to hire a couple people to walk the sections of pipeline that one can not drive to? I am sure there are a lot of currently unemployed people who would love the job of hiking to inspect pipelines.
After all, we learned in the notorious Betsy Price TRWD Water Protection Team mailer that the Tarrant Regional Water District provides wise and conservative stewardship of our tax dollars....
The hubris gives me a headache.
If the TRWD needed a helicopter, they ought to have considered one built by a Texas company. That one is a Robinson; built in Torrance, California.
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