Time To Pull The Curtain Back On Some More TRWD Propaganda Before Monty Bennett Comes To Fort Worth Tonight

I tell you this TRWD Chinatown Board Election is exhausting. This morning it was a despicable full page Jim Lane attack ad in the Star-Telegram. This afternoon it was another poster size Jim Lane/Marty Leonard attack ad in my mailbox.

The attack ad in my mailbox shared some of the same propaganda as this morning's newspaper attack ad, that being the accusation that Monty Bennett was digging up and re-burying veterans, and others, in his fake, pipeline blocking cemetery.

However, the TRWD incumbent's attack ad in my mailbox outdoes the despicability of this morning's Star-Telegram ad.

Before I get to saying anything more about this afternoon's despicable attack ad, just as I was getting ready to take a photo of it, due to it being too big to fit on my scanner, my phone rang with an un-recognized 817 number. I answered to find myself being told that the evil Dallas businessman, that nefarious bogeyman puppeteer, Monty Bennett, will be in Fort Worth in a couple hours, attending the Fort Worth Business Press TRWD Board Election Forum  at 5:30 pm at the Central Library  in downtown Fort Worth, 500 W. Third St. (corner of Third and Lamar, two blocks from the Tarrant County Courthouse).

I have also been told that Jim Lane has chickened out of attending this forum. Student that I am of psychology, it surprises me not that Lane would not want to face those against whom he has launched today's despicable attacks. It is a symptom of Little Man Syndrome to be all brave bluster when one is a safe distance from the tall object of ones faux brave bluster.

Now back to the piece of despicability I found in my mailbox. One quarter of the huge mailing is taken up with BIG white text in front of a red curtain saying "It's time to pull the curtain back on Dallas businessman Monty Bennett and his puppet slate of Water Board candidates".

When we pull back the curtain, or open the poster, we see the depiction of Monty Bennett you see above, being the evil Dallas puppeteer.

And what is that 'truth' behind the curtain?

Well, it is truly shocking stuff, way more shocking than Jim Lane funneling millions of TRWD money to his bankrupt friend.

I shall translate the shocking revelations to be closer to the truth than the TRWD propagandist's muckraking.

For instance Michele Von Luckner was recently ordered to pay an overdue, disputed bill. Von Luckner has someone working on her campaign who once changed his name and was once arrested for something like jaywalking in San Angelo. This highly suspect person is the treasurer of a PAC. Von Luckner has never voted in a Tarrant County election and has been known to use her maiden name (shouldn't she be doing hard time for this?). Von Luckner's political consultant is Monty Bennett's business partner. (Now that really is shocking, I know I'm shocked. Aren't you?)

And then there is the nefarious Craig Bickley. You can tell just by looking at his menacing face that he is probably up to no good.

Well, get ready to be shocked. Bickley can not vote for himself. And he also is involved with someone who changed his name to hide his criminal past in San Angelo. (methinks San Angelo must be a hotbed of crime) This criminal also is a treasurer in a PAC. (I wonder if this is the same bad man that is on the notorious Von Luckner campaign?) Bickley's political consultant is also Monty Bennett's business partner. (I tell you it is a vast criminal conspiracy)

And the most shocking of the TRWD incumbent's behind the curtain Bickley revelations? Craig Bickley failed to win a previous race in a Republican primary. And not only that, for this current TRWD election Bickley baldfacedly declared that his residence was outside of the extremely gerrymandered TRWD voting district.

Craig Bickley failed to win a previous race? Only one? How many times has Jim Lane lost a race? I think the only time he's ever won is election to the TRWD board. If I am remembering right Jim Lane has lost mayor, city council, congressional, senate and dog catcher races.

So, yes, Craig Bickley is way behind Jim Lane in number of races lost.

Will Fort Worth's SWAT team be on site to deal with the evil Dallas businessman coming to town? What with it being so widely known that Monty Bennett is behind a vast conspiracy to take over Fort Worth's water supply I suspect a massive police presence will be in play.....

How Despicable Is The TRWD's Cowboy Napoleon Jim Lane?

A few minutes ago someone from the TRWD incumbent's side, who is disgusted with the TRWD incumbent's low blow campaign, emailed photos of TRWD incumbent, Jim Lane's, advertisement which appeared in today's Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

The top of the ad is that which you see here, the ad also included an equally large letter from Jim Lane, full of phony umbrage and propaganda twisting of the truth.

Shortly ago I hiked up to Albertsons hoping to acquire this week's Fort Worth Weekly and see the sleazy Jim Lane ad myself.

Well, no FW Weekly yet, and apparently the Cowboy Napoleon ad is not in Star-Telegram editions sent to the east side of town. That or I missed it, which seems as if it would be hard to do, what with it appearing to be a full page ad.

At the bottom of the top part of the ad I can make out it says "An open letter from U.S. Army Veteran and Tarrant Regional Water District Board Member, Jim Lane". Below is the letter....

In the letter the Cowboy Napoleon is full of outrage over the alleged "ruthless" relocation of a World War II veteran and an elderly woman.

Of Monty Bennett, Lane despicably spews "How despicable of you to hunt for dead bodies to bury in the path of the pipeline!"

I have been told that Monty Bennett provided a burial location for a WWII veteran with whom Mr. Bennett was acquainted and who Mr. Bennett knew had no funds for a proper burial.

And regarding the burial of the WWII veteran the despicable Jim Lane says, "And how dishonest of you to do this AFTER receiving formal notice of the water pipeline crossing an uninhabited portion of your weekend ranch. You used those dead bodies only as "props" in your failed injunction to stop the water pipeline."

Lane huffs and puffs that Monty Bennett has committed some sort of cowardly act for which he needs to apologize, saying...

"So, Mr. Bennett, I am asking you and your well-financed slate of candidates (Mr. Bickley and Ms. Von Luckner) to publicly apologize, and to pledge to the voters in the Tarrant Regional Water District to never disrespect our veterans again."

Lane ends his letter by saying of his apology demand that "It is the right thing to do."

Sincerely,
Jim Lane
Vietnam Veteran

Okay, Mr. Lane, I think what actually is the right thing to do is for you to apologize to Monty Bennett, Mr.Bickley and Ms. Von Luckner for your slanderous despicable desperate attack ad. I think Craig Bickley should bring this up at first opportunity at tonight's Fort Worth Business Press TRWD Election Forum in the downtown Fort Worth Central Library.

And does anyone know in what capacity Jim Lane served in Vietnam? I have seen Jim Lane in person a couple times. It is not easy to picture him in uniform. I guess army uniforms must come in all sizes....

The TRWD Secret Swimmin' Hole Needs A Thorough Voter's Purge

This morning in my email I found the above editorial cartoon by Michael H. Price, published in the Fort Worth Business Press at some point during the 2006 TRWD board election which saw Jim Lane elected to the money dispensing position he has now held for 9 years.

Near as I can tell this particular editorial cartoon depicts TRWD water board candidates lamenting that they were no longer able to operate in secret, with their crystal clear Trinity River swimming hole now known to the great masses of unwashed Fort Worth voters yearning to swim clean.

I was thinking about that crystal clear Trinity River this morning, well, more accurately, I was thinking about the nasty un-clear Trinity River this morning.

Last week after I blogged Watching Fort Worth's Cowboy Napoleon Get Waterlooed By Craig Bickley & Michele Von Luckner a comment caused me to ask Is It Time To Pull The Mismanaged Plug On America's Biggest Boondoggle?

In that Plug the Plug on the Boondoggle blogging I made mention of what Craig Bickley had said that set off the Cowboy Napoleon's embarrassing tirade, with part of what Craig Bickley said being....

"They are trying to get people to get into a nasty river. Why don't you clean up the river first?"

Good question. Why is there not a concentrated effort to clean up the Trinity River? When rain falls in copious amounts, as it has lately, why does so much litter end up floating in the Trinity River? All the creeks I have contact with which flow into the Trinity River are littered messes when water runs high.

Village Creek, Fosdick Creek, Tandy Creek, all with astonishing amounts of litter getting flushed into the Trinity. There must be dozens upon dozens of other creeks flowing with the same littered mess.

Why?

From whence I came, Western Washington, there are several rivers which flow out of the Cascades into Puget Sound, the Nooksack, Skagit, Snoqualmie, Puyallup, Nisqually, Snohomish, Green, others I am not remembering. In flood mode I do not ever remember seeing masses of litter getting flushed into Puget Sound. I do remember seeing a lot of logs in the rivers, and one year, a house floating down the swollen Snohomish.

Does all that Trinity River litter end up in the Gulf? Creating a litter plume, ending up on Gulf beaches?

As for the other type of Trinity River pollution, of the e.coli don't eat the fish sort, where does that pollution enter the river? Are Lakes Benbrook, Worth and Eagle Mountain polluted with elevated e.coli and other bacterias? Or does that bad stuff enter the water after it leaves those reservoirs?

Back in the 1960s Puget Sound and other Washington bodies of water, such as Lake Washington, were badly polluted. One could not swim in Lake Washington or eat the salmon one caught there. Then the voters in the Puget Sound counties voted to clean up the water with new treatment plants, with the result being a clean Puget Sound and edible salmon and swimmers frolicking in Lake Washington.

Has there been any similar type effort to clean up the Trinity River before polluted, littered water reaches the Gulf of Mexico?

If not, why not?

If not, is it not the Tarrant Regional Water District which is responsible for the sorry quality level of the water in the Trinity River as it passes through Fort Worth?

Which brings us back to that question Craig Bickley asked "Why don't you clean up the river first?"

When It Comes To TRWD Law Breaking Are Marty Leonard & Jim Lane Part Of The Problem?

This morning, for the first time this TRWD board election season I found a mailing from the Craig Bickley/Michele Von Luckner campaign in my mailbox.

I have found at least three mailings in my mailbox from the TRWD incumbents, Marty Leonard and Jim Lane, and their co-conspirators in propaganda spewing, Betsy Price and Mike Moncrief.

It is interesting to make note of the differences between the TRWD incumbent's campaign mailer and the TRWD opponent's mailer.

The incumbent's propaganda productions have been poster sized, too big to fit on my large scanner bed.

The opponent's mailer easily fit on my large scanner bed. So, I scanned both sides and morphed the result into one image, which you see above.

The TRWD incumbent's campaign mailer features big headlines warning about the imaginary evil Dallas businessman's plot to take over Fort Worth's water. Other than the Bogeyman warnings the incumbent's large mailing is rather sparse with information, and what information is there is blatant puffed up propaganda.

Meanwhile the TRWD opponent's campaign mailer, whilst significantly smaller, manages to include a lot of information, in the form what are known as facts.

Like a headline which states the fact that "IT PAYS TO KNOW JIM LAND AND MARTY LEONARD..." next to a paragraph which details one of the TRWD's more blatant acts of corruption, that being rescuing Jim Lane's friend, Carl Bell, from his financial woes by paying $16,000,000 for land appraised at $9,010,000, on which the world's first drive-in movie theater of the 21st century was built.

Clyde Picht also makes note of the TRWD Bellgate Scandal in a letter to the editor in yesterday's Fort Worth Star-Telegram, which you can read in a Star-Telegraph post titled Clyde says...

The TRWD opponent's campaign mailer also has a couple good quotes from Fort Worth Weekly. Such as this...

"It's well known that top water district officials put relatives on the agency's lucrative payroll. But ask the agency for a list of relatives who work there. Ask how many of Oliver's relatives work there. You won't get straight answers. You'll get a non-answer from a lawyer."
Fort Worth Weekly - July 2, 2014

And this....

"THERE ARE UNANSWERED QUESTIONS AND POSSIBLY LAW BREAKING."
Fort Worth Weekly - November 21, 2014

The TRWD opponent's mailer includes a list of priorities, including focusing the TRWD's budget on increasing water levels, while reducing spending on private development. Getting rid of the deer lease, the ice skating rink and the TRWD's restaurant. Plus increase TRWD transparency by responding to open record requests in the legally mandated manner.

In addition to getting rid of the deer lease, ice rink and restaurant, I think a few other dubious TRWD developments should be undeveloped. Such as some of the poorly designed eyesores, like Cowtown Wakepark and Panther Island Pavilion, where there is no island  or pavilion.

And a stop should be put to rockin' the river in inner tubes until the Trinity River is flowing with clean, clear water suitable for fish and humans....

Building The World's Longest Floating Bridge In Four Years While In Fort Worth America's Biggest Boondoggle....

Today we continue with our popular series of bloggings about feats of engineering, mostly of the bridge sort, with project construction timelines of four years, give or take a year or  two.

Looking at these various feats of engineering has been prompted by our befuddlement regarding the construction of three simple little bridges being built over dry land in Fort Worth, Texas, with those three simple little bridges having a four year project timeline.

The bridge you see here, under construction, in a photo screen capped from the WSDOT SR 520 Floating Bridge and Landings Project website, will be the longest floating bridge in the world upon completion.

The SR 520 bridge floats from Seattle on the west end, to near Bill Gates' home, in Medina, on the east side of Lake Washington.

As you can see, the SR 520 bridge is being constructed over water, not dry land.

The Goobers responsible for foisting on Fort Worth the building of these three simple little bridges have actually claimed they are building them over dry land so as to simplify engineering and cut costs. When the actual reason is there are insufficient funds to build the three simple little bridges in a timely fashion.

Fort Worth's three simple little bridges are part of what local congresswoman, Kay Granger, thinks is the biggest urban water construction project currently underway in North America. That urban water construction project is known as the Trinity River Uptown Central City Panther Island Vision Boondoggle, also known as The Boondoggle, also known as America's Biggest Boondoggle.

The current price tag for The Boondoggle's underfunded project is around a billion dollars. The Boondoggle started off costing a couple hundred millions dollars. And then Kay Granger's son, J.D., was hired by his drinking buddy, Jim Oliver, to run the project, which soon had The Boondoggle sponsoring inner tube beer drinking parties in the polluted Trinity River, a wakeboard park, a drive-in movie theater, a restaurant, an ice rink, a beer hall and other wonders in addition to those bridges being built in slow motion.

The Seattle zone's SR 520 Floating Bridge Project is currently slated to cost $4.65 billion.

So, how is this expensive bridge building project funded? Well, let's look at the WSDOT website and get that information.....

Financial Information
This project is funded by a variety of state and federal sources, including SR 520 tolling that began in December 2011.

Imagine that, the money is coming from state and federal sources, which I suppose makes sense since it is a state highway connecting to a federal highway. And a toll has been charged to those crossing the existing bridge since December of 2011.

Fort Worth voters approved building a multi-purpose arena by voting yes to a one dollar toll to those renting a livestock stall in the new arena. How is that project coming along? Is there a project timeline for the arena project?

I wonder if a Seattle area congressperson's kid was hired to direct the SR 520 bridge project so as to secure those federal funds? I suspect not. What with the project appearing to be well underway, that and I think doing such a thing is illegal in progressive, democratic, non-oligarch parts of America.

Now, on to how long til the SR 520 Floating Bridge is ready for drivers to float across it. Back to the WSDOT website  for project time line information...

What is the project timeline?
Late 2011 - Began pontoon construction in Tacoma.
Early 2012 - Began anchor construction in Kenmore.
Spring 2012 - Began bridge construction on eastern shore of Lake Washington.
Spring 2016 - Anticipated date to open new floating bridge to drivers.
Late 2016 - Anticipated date for removal of the existing floating bridge.

Okay, Spring of 2012 bridge construction began from Bill Gates' side of the lake, with the bridge anticipated to be open to drivers in the Spring of 2016.

Four years to build the longest floating bridge in the world.

Over water.

Can anyone point me to a link to a TRWD webpage, or a TRUCCPIVB (Trinity River Uptown Central City Panther Island Vision Boondoggle) webpage where we can glean any financial or project timeline information?

Like, what is the total number of dollars, both in salary and perks, paid so far to Kay Granger's son for mismanaging America's Biggest Boondoggle?

Four years to build the world's longest floating bridge in a progressive, democratic part of America. Four years to build three simple little bridges, over dry land, connecting the mainland to an imaginary island in what is not a progressive, democratic part of America.

One would think the locals would catch on that something ain't quite right with doing things the Fort Worth Way of having a big town run by an oligarchy. One would think the locals would get fed up and insist some changes be made, like starting with the firing of the local congresswoman's son from a job it is now quite clear he was not qualified for, that is, unless, maybe, the locals are perfectly okay with living in the town where America's Biggest Boondoggle is located....

This Morning My Mailbox Contained A Tale Of Corruption Along With Some TRWD Corruption

An early Sunday morning, pre-swim, opening of my mailbox rendered what I think I would characterize as serendipitous irony.

A letter from Mary Kelleher, with the envelope boldly in red letting me know that what was inside the envelope was "A Tale of Corruption Told From an Insider's Perspective..."

Also in the mailbox was yet one more poster-sized propaganda mailing from the TRWD incumbents and their mouthpieces, Betsy Price and Mike Moncrief.

In Mary Kelleher's Tale of Corruption she cautions...

VOTER BEWARE 
Now please be forewarned. You can expect to hear some outlandish attacks from people in authority like Mayor Betsy Price, Mike Moncrief, and Kay Granger. I implore you to hold to the facts. You will be told Dallas businessman Monty Bennett of Dallas is trying to steal Fort Worth’s water. NOT TRUE! Monty Bennett is a wealthy businessman who lives in Dallas but he also owns property in Fort Worth and east Texas. Monty is one of many victims of TRWD’s abuse of eminent domain; he just happens to have the financial resources to fight against this abuse.

So, in my mail today I get a warning from Mary Kelleher warning me about the TRWD propaganda which was also in my mailbox.

This latest TRWD propaganda confirms the shamelessness of these ethically challenged miscreants who somehow, in Fort Worth, are seen as legit authority figures.

These Fort Worth authority figures, Betsy and Mike, who Mary warned you about, in this latest propaganda, after their boilerplate attack against the evil Dallas businessman, are quoted saying "Don't be misled by false attacks...."

Oh, the irony.

You really should heed that false attacks warning from Betsy and Mike, but take it as some sort of Freudian slip, where their tortured consciences are warning you not to be misled by their false attacks.

Basically the TRWD incumbents can not run on their record, because that record includes way too many instances of corruption, so they are running against a Dallas Bogeyman, believing, apparently, that Fort Worth voters are stupid and are irrationally paranoid about anything coming from Dallas.

On the reverse side of the propaganda where Betsy and Mike warned us to not be misled by false attacks are their own false attacks (and propaganda) under the Orwellian heading of 6 GOOD REASONS to keep Marty Leonard and Jim Lane PROTECTING OUR LOCAL WATER.

The false attacks (and propaganda) from Betsy and Mike....

Claiming 99% of the money for Marty and Jim's three opponents comes from either the Dallas Businessman Monty Bennett or from outside of Texas.

Not true.

Claiming Bennett has been involved in 7 lawsuits against the TRWD, and to date has lost all of his lawsuits in court.

Where else would one lose a lawsuit? And, not all the cases have been decided. This is what is known as deceptive propaganda. Note that no mention is made of the ongoing Henderson County Grand Jury investigation into TRWD wrongdoing

Claiming Marty and Jim have ensured we have water for Fort Worth and Tarrant County families.

Really? How have these two ensured we have water?

Claiming Marty and Jim have been strong taxpayer watchdogs.

Yes, strong taxpayer watchdogs, if by that one means that these two watched millions of taxpayer dollars get wasted trying to use the courts to take water from Oklahoma. Didn't Marty go along with Jim's taking millions of TRWD taxpayer's dollars to rescue a bankrupt friend by paying way above market value for the bankrupt friend's land on which the world's first drive-in movie theater of the 21st century was built?

Marty and Jim have saved taxpayers millions of dollars through conservation education which has resulted in 104 BILLION gallons of water saved between 2007 and 2013.

The above is so ridiculous I sort of don't know if anything needs to be said to point out the ridiculousness.

Marty and Jim have helped our water board partner with nonprofit groups to expand community use of Gateway Park, Trinity Trails system and Eagle Mountain Park.

How have Marty and Jim helped the water board partner with nonprofit groups in a way which affected Gateway Park? Or the Trinity Trails? I've not been to Eagle Mountain Park. Does that park have modern restroom facilities, with running water? And no outhouses? Marty and Jim's TRWD Boondoggle, currently calling itself Panther Island, for years has had a massive sign installation at Gateway Park touting all the wonders that their cataract clouded vision would bring to Gateway Park, none of which has come to fruition.

But, the signs are nice.

As for that letter from Mary Kelleher which contained the warning about outlandish TRWD incumbent attacks, well turns out I had already read that letter, back on April 15, when it arrived in my email in PDF form.

I blogged about the letter from Mary Kelleher in a blogging titled From The Desk Of Mary Kelleher Why We Need To Elect Bickley & Von Luckner.

Click the link and read the letter, if you want to read a straightforward account about the TRWD from someone who has experienced the corruption up close and very personal.

And don't forget to vote. Early voting begins tomorrow, April 27.......

A Few Minutes Spent At Prairie Fest With Mary Kelleher & The Chicks

I spent an almost record breaking amount of time at the Prairie Fest today, along with a lot of other people.

I would hazard to guess that today's Prairie Fest broke the record for number of people on the Tandy Hills prairie.

The 10th Anniversary Prairie Fest appeared, by far, to have the most booths, displays and activities I've seen at a Prairie Fest.

However, the belly dancing was a bit subdued this year, at least whilst I was watching. But there was some good hula hooping going on in the hippie van belly dancing tepee area.

Music is a big part of the Prairie Fest, powered by solar generated electricity. As you can see, below, the Prairie Fest is a bit of a Woodstock on the Prairie.

Now that you're making me think about it, I think Woodstock on the Prairie should be the theme of next year's Prairie Fest.

As I walked around the Prairie Fest, taking in all the festivities swirling about me, I came upon one area that was in a frenzy of excitement. What, I wondered, are all these people looking at and doing which seemed to be causing them to have such a mighty fine time?

Turned out to be a wagon full of one week old chicks.

Earlier in the week I had been told that Mary, who has a farm, would be at the Prairie Fest with chicks. At that point in time I was not sure what this meant.

Turns out Mary with the farm is Mary Kelleher, the lone Representative of the People on the TRWD board.

Mary wheeled a wagon full of chicks to the Prairie Fest where she and others, including Layla Caraway, were doing some intense campaigning for Craig Bickley and Michele Von Luckner to join Mary on the TRWD board, replacing Jim Lane and Marty Leonard, who were nowhere to be seen at the Prairie Fest.

I sat with the chicks for awhile. It was interesting, and a bit surprising to me, how many people were tuned into the TRWD board election and totally receptive to the plea to vote out the incumbents. Some of the people sounded more like campaigners than the campaigners.

The young voter above told me he'd named his chick, Peeps. I thought that was cute, but we were all concerned he was holding Peeps way too tightly.

At one point I decided to take a picture of the chick's signage. That caused a bad dog reaction which almost got me bit.

I was asked twice if Craig Bickley and Michele Von Luckner were in attendance. I said that they were not in attendance, but Mary Kelleher was in the room.

With her chicks.

Mary Kelleher in the room seemed to be a satisfactory substitute for the missing candidates.

I did point out that fellow TRWD board candidate, Keith Annis, had a booth, but no one seemed to know who he was. I saw the Keith Annis booth, with Keith Annis manning it all alone. It was sort of pitiful. He could have used some chicks....

10th Anniversary Prairie Fest Opens On The Tandy Hills Under A Clear Blue Sky

The 10th Anniversary Prairie Fest has begun, with People to the Prairie starting to arrive a few minutes ago at the 11am opening, closing when the sun leaves today at sunset.

The Tandy Hills are likely a bit damp today, muddy in places, due to yesterday's heavy rain. But, a little mud won't stop a lot of people from having themselves a mighty fine time communing with the natural world today.

I expect to be among the nature communers sometime in the mid-afternoon time frame.

Twisted Star-Telegram Editorial Endorses Lane & Leonard For Not Doing Things The Right Way

What you are looking at here is a screen cap of the "Keep Lane, Leonard for water district" headline in a bizarre endorsement editorial in Fort Worth's Pravda, also known as the Star-Telegram.

The entire editorial is senseless, but even before you get to that senselessness, the headline and sub-headline are equally senseless.

Endorse Lane and Leonard for re-election, while at the same time saying change is needed because the TRWD does not always do things the right way?

Not the right way? Like when Jim Lane finagled a TRWD rescue for his bankrupt friend by getting the TRWD to pay far above market value for the bankrupt friend's land on which the world's first drive-in movie theater of the 21st century was built?

Of course the Star-Telegram follows the 7th Street Gang's party line by bringing up the Dallas businessman bogeyman, while doing so very hypocritically. In the editorial we read the following paragraph....

Countering the big-dollar financial support for their challengers, Leonard and Lane are backed by a political action committee that had raised almost $500,000 as of early April from well-known Dallas and Fort Worth business leaders including Ed Bass, Ross Perot Jr. and Alice Walton.

Followed a few paragraphs later by this....

More than 97 percent of their financing, a total of almost $100,000 in the first report April 9, is from Dallas hotel executive Monty Bennett, who is also suing TRWD to redirect the pipeline while campaigning against what he calls a “heavy-handed” agency.

So, in the Star-Telegram's corrupt way of looking at the local world it is okay for the TRWD incumbents to get over a half million dollars from Dallas businessmen who have vested interests in keeping the TRWD's crony capitalism un-disturbed. While it is somehow an outrage that a Fort Worth hotel owner, who also does business in Dallas, and who does not want the TRWD to take some of his land, has donated less than 100,000 dollars to the TRWD opponent's campaign.

And let me add that that 97 percent figure the Star-Telegram cites is deceptive. Why not cite the most recent financial report, instead of the first one? Because the percentage would no longer be 97, due to the flood of donations from the fed up public to the Bickley/Von Luckner campaign.

And then there is this editorial gem...

Lane and Leonard also want to continue work on Panther Island, a different $900-million-plus downtown project repairing worn-out levees while adding retail shops, restaurants and apartments on the river’s north bank.

It amuses me how the locals who follow the party line, like sheep, jumped right on board with the ridiculous Panther Island new name for The Boondoggle. One would have thought they learned their lesson after their Sundance Square embarrassment, where for decades Fort Worth's few out of town tourists were confused as to where the square was that the Sundance Square signs pointed to. Usually a helpful local would point to the big parking lots, where, ironically, an actually square was finally built, goofily named Sundance Square Plaza.

And now we have Panther Island, where there is no island, where that which is referred to as an island will only be somewhat surrounded by water only if a ditch is dug to divert some Trinity River water under three little bridges currently being built in slow motion over dry land.

The Star-Telegram thinks Lane and Leonard want to continue working on the imaginary island? Does the Star-Telegram not hold the TRWD board at all responsible for the fact that the Trinity River Uptown Central City Panther Island Vision has become America's Biggest Boondoggle? With very little to show for well over a decade of boondoggling?

And then there is this shoddy cheap shot...

Both Bickley and Von Luckner question project spending and describe TRWD as secretive and crony-riddled. But neither seems familiar with basic state and regional water plans or prepared for the board’s primary task.

Really? Upon what does the Star-Telegram base claiming that Bickley and Von Lucker are unfamiliar with basic state and regional water plans and are not prepared for the board's primary task?

Oh, I forget to mention the stupidest item in that paragraph about Panther Island....

"Panther Island, a different $900-million-plus downtown project repairing worn-out levees."

Worn out levees? This is the first time I have read that those levees which have kept the downtown Fort Worth zone flood-free, for well over half a century, as being worn out.  Exactly in what way does the Star-Telegram think those massive levees are worn out?

And then the Star-Telegram ends its endorsement editorial with....

With their legacy of community leadership, they are best-positioned to help reshape a more responsive board. The Star-Telegram Editorial Board recommends Jim Lane and Martha “Marty” Leonard for the Tarrant Regional Water District board.

Their legacy of community leadership? That legacy is what should get them fired by the voters, and not endorsed by Fort Worth's sad excuse for a local newspaper.

Community leadership? Leading Fort Worth to the distinction of currently hosting America's Biggest Boondoggle?

They are best positioned to help shape a more responsive board? They have been on that un-responsive board the entire time it has been un-responsive. In other words they are responsible for the board being un-responsive.

Legacy? Like the legacy of finagling shady deals using taxpayer funds to rescue a bankrupt friend?

I don't know how the Star-Telegram editorial board can spew this nonsense without being embarrassed by it. 

So Far There Have Been No Murders In The TRWD Board Election

A few minutes ago via an incoming phone call I was told about a TRWD board candidates forum that will be taking place next Wednesday at the Central Library in downtown Fort Worth.

A few minutes later an incoming email had a link to a Fort Worth Business Press article you see partly screen capped here.

Richard Connor, he being the FWBP publisher, pretty much sums up the soap opera drama that TRWD board elections have become in Lights, camera, action! TRWD brings drama to the polls.

The last three paragraphs include the info you need to attend next Wednesday's public forum, along with the news that so far there have been no murders in the TRWD.....

As a newspaper, we are trying to separate fact from fiction, both with our news coverage and by arranging a public forum featuring the water board candidates. The forum will be held at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 29, at the Central Library in downtown Fort Worth, 500 W. Third St. (corner of Third and Lamar, two blocks from the Tarrant County Courthouse).

There have been no murders in the TRWD version of Chinatown – not yet, anyway – and no one’s nose has been slashed, but plenty of noses are already out of joint. With early voting beginning April 27 and political observers predicting that up to $2 million could be spent on the campaign, it’s virtually certain that rhetorical mayhem will run amok by the time May 9 rolls around.

You might want to grab some popcorn. The water board election won’t win any Academy Awards (Chinatown was nominated for 11, won 1) but it should be quite a show.