Deliberate?

October 1, 2013

I wonder if the Times publishes what it does out of ignorance or incompetence or to deliberately try to influence public opinion.

Sunday’s article “Affordable Care Act: Marketplace in El Paso,US set to open Tuesday” contained this:

“Though there are exemptions, most people who don’t sign up will receive a penalty referred to as the individual shared responsibility payment.”

To be factual they could have written this:

Though there are exemptions, most people who don’t already have health insurance and who don’t sign up will receive a penalty…”

Or if space for fairness and accuracy is limited in the Times, they might have written this:

Though there are exemptions, most uninsured people who don’t sign up will receive a penalty…”

According to the Times we should hurry to sign up.

Muckraker

3 Comments | El Paso Times, Federal Government | Permalink
Posted by Muckraker

Keeping up with the Jones

September 30, 2013

The headline article in the Times today talked about the scheduled sentencing of some more people that have been involved in the public corruption cases here in El Paso.

These three individuals pleaded guilty to illegal activity relating to health insurance for local school district and government employees.  Access HealthSource was administering the health coverage.  Bribes were evidently offered to elected officials in return for their votes to give Access contracts.

This story is another one of those that the Times writes often about.  Maybe it is good for circulation.

More of the story

Below is my opinion:

What the Times failed to mention today is that they played a big part in creating the environment that led to the corruption.

For many years Young Insurance had the contracts to administer health insurance for the major school districts and local governments in town.  Steve Young was the head of the firm.  He administered the health insurance programs with fairness, efficiency and honesty.  The employees were happy.  He stepped in frequently to get to the bottom of problems so that employees were taken care of.  Young Insurance regularly saved the employers money and kept their health costs in line.

Enter a former local big shot (who is now in federal prison) who decided he wanted Young’s business.  Allegations were made about the fact that Young Insurance was not in fact an insurance company.  Other allegations were made that Young was secretly taking money from hospitals even though video coverage at the time showed Young explaining his financial dealings with the hospitals in open city council meetings.

The Times saw a scandal.  Scandals are good for circulation.  They published article after article about the situation.  We see the same behavior with the El Paso Independent School District story and the public corruption story today.

Eventually the pressure on Young and his business became too destructive.  He sold his business to the same Access HealthSource, owned primarily by our federal detainee.  Our former county judge who is also now a  federal prisoner and who coincidently has the same last name as the Access owner then helped to lobby for Access.

The result is the scandal that was covered again in the paper again today.

What about Steve Young?  Charges were never filed.  The investigating agencies never made an accusation.  He never got so much as a reprimand.  I think he lost his business thanks in large part to relentless hounding by the Times.

Steve died penniless a few years ago, but not before the Times printed a below the fold front page article that explained he had done nothing wrong.  Steve was grateful for that.

We deserve better

Brutus

3 Comments | City government, County Government, El Paso Times, Federal Government, Open Government, State Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Constitution Day

September 29, 2013

Constitution Day (September 17) came and went this year with no mention in the local newspaper.

More troubling to me, the local schools and university did not obey the law and teach students about the constitution.  http://www.cnn.com/2005/EDUCATION/09/16/constitution.day/

Our Constitution is largely ignored except for those cases that involve the rights of each of us as individuals.  The portions of the Constitution that control how government is allowed to work seem to be treated as though they are irrelevant in today’s world.

The Constitution is not only the law, it is the supreme law.  I personally believe that many parts of it should be changed to reflect our situation in this 21st century.

The problem with ignoring it is that we end up with uncertainty.  How can we respect a law that contradicts the Constitution?

The document provides two ways to make changes.  Many have been made.  Historically most amendments are ratified within two years.  Waiting two years is not much to ask when the supreme law of the nation is being changed.

All three branches of our government are guilty of doing things in violation of the Constitution.  Why?  Some have decided that changing it the right way is too difficult.

How can we know what the rules are when government officials feel free to ignore them and then pretend that what they are doing is right?

Eternal vigilance is the cost of liberty.

Cato

8 Comments | El Paso Times, Federal Government | Permalink
Posted by Cato

Disconnected

September 21, 2013

I think I am beginning to get an understanding of the Times’ editorial policy.

Friday’s  front page had an article about how the economy in El Paso is slowing down.

Saturday’s  editorial was lauding the opening of the Fountains at Farah and said  “Because the economy is on the rebound, open space at retail outlets, including Fountains at Farah, should begin to fill up, as they did previously at the other malls in town.”

Subscription

I don’t think they read their own newspaper.

Maybe we should chip in and buy them a subscription.

Muckracker

1 Comment | El Paso Times | Permalink
Posted by Muckraker

Earth to the Times — wheel was invented years ago

September 19, 2013

The El Paso Times front page headline yesterday introduced an article about the city releasing more than 180 previously unreleased emails Tuesday evening.  Two reporters worked on the article.

Old news

I don’t think that there is such a thing as old news, but evidently the Times does.  The emails in question were released a few weeks ago on the city web site.  I know — I read them weeks ago.

Out of touch

Are the Times reporters and editors this much out of touch?  City council approved releasing the emails on August 20.  Yesterday was September 17.  The documents were on the web site soon after August 20.

Did the reporters miss the invention of the wheel?  Will that be their next headline?

I can’t imagine the reporters assigned to the city beat not knowing for a month that the emails were released.  The email controversy is a major one in the public mind.

Maybe it is true that the reporters do not investigate our city government, but instead only act as a publishing arm for the city.

Bashing the schools

The same issue of the Times featured an article where the El Paso Independent School District rolled out a new payroll system.   They paid over 10,000 employees.  The headline “Payroll glitch hits hundreds” portrayed a pretty ominous picture.  Of the over 10,000 paychecks, 355 were reported to be wrong.  Anyone in business knows to expect problems with every payroll.

The Times evidently thinks that this is another sign of the incompetence over at the district.  If it is, shouldn’t we hold the new board of managers responsible?  After all, the chief financial officer (CFO) of the city is a member of the board.

Then again maybe we should have expected a bigger failure given the CFO’s history of presenting wildly misleading numbers to city council.

Talk about embarrassing!  The Times has sunk to a new low in my opinion.

Muckracker

1 Comment | City government, El Paso Times | Permalink
Posted by Muckraker

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