I Am Shocked Regarding New TRWD Ethics Violation Allegations

If I have said it once, I have said it twice. There is way too much corruption that way too few people notice here in the Fort Worth zone of America.

Benefit of being a backwater?

I don't know.

But, where else in America would something like the nepotistic hiring of the unqualified J.D. Granger to run a billion dollar public works project not be a scandal? With the local newspaper of record not objecting strongly to such an outrageous case of nepotism?

Hiring the son of the local congresswoman so as to hopefully secure federal earmark dollars for a thing like the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle should be a scandal. This would be a scandal anywhere else. But, in Fort Worth it is just shrugged off as being the Fort Worth Way of operating.

And now, this afternoon, I've received multiple emails regarding what seems to me to be yet one more example of the Tarrant Regional Water District being ethically challenged. With me thinking, the reason these type things keep happening is due to that Fort Worth Way of operating that I mentioned in the previous paragraph.

This afternoon I am being told several things, none of which I am able to verify, all of which, for good reason, I believe to be factually accurate....

Apparently the Fort Worth Star-Telegram is working on a story about an ethics complaint which has been filed with the Texas State Ethics Commission regarding this past May's TRWD board election. John Basham, Mary Kelleher, Timothy Nold and Monty Bennett are the persons named in the complaint.

I am being told no one has yet received official notice of the ethics complaint, or what is being alleged in the ethics complaint, but that the official notice will arrive today via a phone call followed by a mailed letter.

So, who filed this complaint you are likely wondering?

Now that is where it gets interesting.

A man named Jerry Llewellyn Jenkins allegedly filed the complaint. So, what is this Jenkins guy's connection to the TRWD you can not help but wonder?

Well, guess who is a close neighbor of Jerry Jenkins? If you guessed TRWD Board Member, Jack Stevens, you guessed right. Jack Stevens and Jerry Jenkins are also both active members of the Azle Chamber of Commerce.

Big deal, you are likely sitting there thinking. So, they are neighbors and are in a Chamber of Commerce. What is unethical about that?

Now let's bring up another name. Lee Christie. Lee Christie is an attorney. For whom is Lee Christie an attorney you might be wondering?

Well.

Lee Christie is an attorney for the Tarrant Regional Water District.

Again, you are likely sitting there thinking, big deal.

Now, what if I told you that I am being told that Lee Christie is also an attorney who has allegedly worked with Jerry Jenkins, he being the guy who filed the ethics complaint against John Basham, Mary Kelleher, Timothy Nold and Monty Bennett?

Does the term "conflict of interest" mean anything to anyone as an "ethics violation" in the zone where the Fort Worth Way persists?

I am almost 100% certain that John Basham, Mary Kelleher, Timothy Nold and Monty Bennett have done absolutely nothing unethical regarding this past May's TRWD board election.

I am also almost 100% certain that there is something unethical regarding the "business" relationship between Jack Stevens, Jerry Jenkins and Lee Christie.

I am also wondering if the Star-Telegram is going to be reporting the "entire" story if they publish this article they are working on?

Complaint Filed With The Texas Ethics Commission Over TRWD's Misuse Of Public Funds

On Friday I blogged about what I thought to be an ethically corrupt use of taxpayer funds by the Tarrant Regional Water District Board in a post titled Taking A Corrupt Shot From Tarrant Regional Water District Board Incumbents.

The following day the corrupt use of taxpayer funds showed up in my mailbox and in a blog post titled I Found 10 Pages Of Tarrant Regional Water District Propaganda In My Mailbox This Morning.

A lot of voters in the Tarrant Regional Water District zone are in extreme umbrage mode over the TRWD Board's unethical antics.

Including Fort Worth's Adrian Murray.

Today Adrian Murray announced, on Facebook that he....

Filed complaint with the Texas Ethics Commission this morning over TRWD's misuse of public funds in printing and mailing a 10 page 4 color glossy brochure promoting the Board of Directors just days before early voting begins in the board election.  Three fifths of the board is up for reelection and this was clearly a campaign mailer and should be paid for by the incumbents, not the taxpayer.

Addendum: The complaint filed with the Texas Ethics Commission is against each TRWD Board Member, individually, as in a separate complaint against each of the 5 Board Members, Victor W. Henderson, Hal S. Sparks, Jack Stevens, Marty Leonard and Jim Lane.

Texas Ethics Commission? Is this some sort of oxymoron? Or is this a rare legit Texas commission that has not been co-opted by the foxes that the commission is supposed to keep out of the henhouse?

Wikipedia has a short article about the Texas Ethics Commission, consisting of the following 4 paragraphs...

The Texas Ethics Commission was established in 1991 to "provide guidance on various public ethics laws" within the state of Texas. The agency is headquartered on the 10th Floor of the Sam Houston State Office Building at 201 East 14th Street in Downtown Austin.

It was created by a state constitutional amendment voted on by the voters on November 5, 1991, Article III, Section 24a.

It consists of 8 members and legislators are excluded from serving. By the constitution, the ethics commission recommends the salaries of members of the Texas Legislature, the Lieutenant Governor and the Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives.

The legislature has also given the commission various other duties, including the filing of financial disclosure statements for government officials.

I can not help but wonder if the Fort Worth Star-Telegram is going to share with its dwindling number of readers the information that a complaint has been filed with the Texas Ethics Commission regarding alleged misuse of public funds by the TRWD Board.

Such an allegation seems totally newsworthy to me...

Flushing Out Fort Worth's City Hall

The following is a message from Don Young regarding the upcoming, May 9 elections in Fort Worth.....

Sensitive readers: please read no further.

Only a fool would keep flushing a stopped up toilet, right? Disgusting? Yes. Irresponsible? Definitely. But that's essentially what's happening in Fort Worth, Texas under the watch of the current elected officials.

Fort Worth Mayor, Mike Moncrief, and his city council brown-nosers keep flushing and we keep paying to clean up their mess. Case in point:

Irresponsible Gas Drilling.

The reason that irresponsible gas drilling is allowed in Fort Worth and other north Texas urban centers can be traced directly to Mike Moncrief's and former mayor Ken Barr's dishonorable association with the gas drilling industry. The buck stops with them. Consider the following:

---Moncrief's gas drilling Task Farce was designed to deceive the public and grease the wheels for a dirty industry. Public comments were ignored.

---We now have proof that Barnett Shale drilling has a major impact on the air we depend on for life yet, the City of Fort Worth under Moncrief's watch still issues drilling permits and cozy's up with drillers.

---The Barnett Shale Energy Education Council (BSEEC), Moncrief's brainchild, was founded by gas drillers to counter the negative press they rightly deserve. (see above)

---Moncrief continues to violate respectable ethical standards by voting on controversial gas drilling issues before city council, despite his significant investments in Barnett Shale drilling companies.

---Former FW mayor, Ken Barr, who now works for Chesapeake Energy, represented them on the gas rilling Task Force and, unethically uses his insiders clout to push their filthy agenda at city hall. That's not very sporting of our former mayor.

---For the past year, both men and their lawyers have mercilessly toyed with the people of Carter Avenue whose property and lives have been held hostage.

---Moncrief has so many conflicts of interest it's hard to tell him from a truth-challenged Pinocchio. He deserves a jail term, not another term as mayor.

Voters should stop holding their noses and hoping things will get better. Moncrief's, "Fort Worth Way" is the Wrong Way. It's time to stop the foolishness and flush out city hall.

>>> Vote the gas drilling fanatics out of office on May 9th.
>>> Bring back ethics and a livable city to local government.

Need more reasons to flush out Moncrief & Co.? See my 28 Questions for Mike Moncrief (that he never addressed) first published in 2005, here:

Now it's your turn. Voting Day is May 9, 2009.