Fort Worth Weekly Neglected To Award The Biggest Turkey In Town: Kay Granger

This week, due to this week being the week before Thanksgiving, Fort Worth Weekly's eagerly anticipated Turkey Awards issue hit newsstands all over Tarrant County.

The 2014 Turkey Awards award a large number of Tarrant County and Texans the coveted Turkey Award, including one of Tarrant County's favorite Turkeys, Bud Kennedy.

You can go to the online version of FW Weekly's 2014 Turkey Awards and read about all the Turkeys, but I want to focus on just one Turkey Award....

The Perks of Pedigrees Turkey Award

Thanksgiving is all about family and making sure your relatives have jobs at places that are a clear conflict of interest to your elected or appointed position. Wait — we’re thinking of Fort Worth’s rampant year-round nepotism, not Thanksgiving. When it comes to getting a high-paying cushy job in this town, seems that the best way to get ahead is to be related to some alleged public servant.

The Trinity River Vision staff reads like a social directory for the offspring of local politicians and high-ranking officials: Most notably U.S. Rep. Kay Granger’s son J.D. is its executive director, and the Tarrant Regional Water District’s head honcho Jim Oliver’s son Matt is the TRV’s public information officer.

Mayor Betsy Price was all over television shilling for the Ed Bass-led effort to get taxpayers to pay for his pet project, an absurdly high-priced arena. It would have been Fort Worth knowing (to borrow from those commercials) that her son-in-law works for Ed Bass’ real estate company and sits on the board of the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo.

I have been asked once, maybe twice, why I would say something as outrageous as to suggest that Fort Worth's Congresswoman, Kay Granger, is a corrupt politician.

Let me answer that corrupt question quite simply.

A non-corrupt politician, when told her son was going to be given a job in her district, for which he was totally unqualified, being the executive director of a public works project, with that project relying on attaining federal pork barrel earmark money to fund it, well, a non-corrupt politician would immediately object, saying you can not do that, it would be wrong, it would look bad, it would be nepotism of the worst sort.

But, Kay Granger willingly signed on to her unqualified son being given a cushy, high-paying job where he could act out as a textbook case of  a frat boy with arrested development, organizing floating beer parties, concerts, junkets and all sorts of other nonsense that has nothing to do with the construction of a flood control project.

In reaction to FW Weekly's 2014 Turkey Awards there were several comments, including one from a guy named Roy, which said, in part...

So what is it about the stunning nepotism at the Trinity River Vision? I have wondered for years why the most qualified person to run that boondoggle is apparently the son of the politician who corrals the jack for it. And NOBODY seems to notice or say anything about it. Is that what they mean when they say something is being done “the Fort Worth way?”

I find it gratifying that I am no longer alone in referring to the Trinity River Vision as a Boondoggle. In fact, I believe the number now is quite large who refer to this ill-conceived, poorly executed, never voted for by the public, public works project as a Boondoggle.

I have long shared the puzzlement that Roy is expressing, that being that NOBODY seems to notice, in a meaningful way, that something is dire wrong about how Fort Worth has gone about and continues to go about foisting the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle on the people who have never voted for it.

And yes, Roy, I have been told repeatedly that this is what is known as the Fort Worth Way. A corrupt town run by a corrupt oligarchy of good ol' boys and girls, who operate primarily in their own self interest, not in the interest of the majority of the people of Fort Worth.

All of them Turkeys worthy of an award.....

Stimulus Watch Looking At The Trinity River Vision

This just in from my one longtime reader, the President of my (imaginary) Fan Club....

Please go to this website and tell them the Trinity Uptown (Boondoggle) is not critical...please forward to anyone you know and ask them to do same. If you could leave a comment that would help as well because the ones with the most comments are actually getting reported on. (Be sure and read the other comments listed!)

For those of you who aren't aware the Trinity River Vision is a plan for economic development in Fort Worth that got cut due to funding, so the powers that be went back, joined this project with some others and then called it Flood Control. With the help of some important wealthy powerful political people and their family members it got pushed through. Now the levees that have protected Fort Worth for 60 years will be removed, the river will be rerouted and a city will be built right in the center of it and only a small portion will be protected from erosion. The land around this project is being taken by eminent domain. The taxpayers of Fort Worth are paying for part of this $600 million dollar project (while their water bills increase because they have a billion dollars of flooding issues currently) though they did not get a vote. The Tarrant Water board is footing the bill for some of it too, isn't their job to ensure we have water?

All of this is moving forward rapidly while the tributaries of the Trinity continue to flood and damage people's property and lives. There is no money for that, even though all of those important wealthy powerful political people are fully aware of the issues and have been doing something(?) about it for a minimum of nine years. When TRV is complete, those that have flooding issues now, will still have flooding issues...And in the middle of a recession, do we really need high end office space and another hotel in downtown Fort Worth? The city just paid to build the Omni Hotel, citizens did not get to vote on that either. The waterways in Tarrant county do not stop at the city limit lines, Fort Worth and the surrounding city residents should all get a vote on what happens to our waterways and we should get truthful, competent information from those capable of doing the jobs before making that decision. Please help as local media will not speak against our current leadership or projects even while knowing it puts thousands of lives at risk.

Thank you!!!!!

Some interesting comments----(go to the Stimulus Spending Watch Website to read all the comments)

Concerned Citizen says....

No, No, No... this is pork. The flooding problem is with the arterial waterways that feed the Trinity. This is "Decorative" flood control and has been an under the radar earmark for years! This is "Elective River Surgery" and insurance or Fed Money should not cover it. The foundation of this project is land acquisition and eminent domain abuse enabled by a local, state and federal group of politicians who have manipulated the legal process in order to expand the Central City area by taking land at at bargain in the name of Flood Control. This is a land and development scheme that is full of cronyism, nepotism, and half truths. The project claims that the river is at risk to flooding and shows pictures of te 1949 flood as a fear tactic. The River levee system was put in place following that flood event and has works like a charm even in the heaviest rain to fall here in 100 years. The Corp of Engineers estimated within the last decade or so, that all the river levee system needed was 9 million dollars to repair in areas that needed from 2 to 4 feet of levee surface to protect from the Standard Project Flood, as required. From 9 million to 383.5 million is a lot of added cash and it is centered around Special Interest! This is exactly what needs to be eliminated from this bill. The Tarrant County area is tragically behind to the tune of 1 billion dollars in street drainage repairs. It is precisely this arterial drainage that presents a threat to life, property and downstream flooding into Arlington... not the Trinity River and it's effective levee system that needs the 9 million dollar repair!!!!

Deep Throat Who Knows says...

The Trinity Vision Project is as good of an example of local systemic corruption involving wealthy favored city , county ,state and federal officials as has ever come to full flower. Investigative staffs of the Congress know this, watchdog national journalist who follow ethical transgressions know this, the authority of the Tarrant regional water district to engage in this activity with the help of local legislators was done in unethical ways with the only witness for the State House proceeding being the Director of the Tarrant Regional Water District. It is a land grab to enrich everyone from the Mayors son to the Congressman's son who is the Director of the Trinity Vision project. The only people who don't understand the scam are those who choose not too. This is a project that would make Rod Blagoveich proud, every one cashes in who isn't part of the "click"

And Sick of Wasteful Spending says...

TRV is better know as Trinity Up Yours in some Fort Worth circles. People aren't going to be driving in from the suburbs to sit at "riverside" cafe that has stinky and polluted water that's so bad that you cannot even eat the fish out of the Trinity. Granger is on the outs with the Congresswoman in Dallas who has a legitimate flooding issue. If anyone gets flood control money, it should be Dallas. The only people making money off TRV in Fort Worth are local politicians, developers, Grangers' deadbeat son and the Gideon Toal group. Where are Chuck Silcox and Clyde Picht when you need them?

Haven't you heard? Clyde Picht is running for mayor. His campaign slogan is something like "Impicht Moncrief." I think it is very clever.