County commissioners pay raise

August 8, 2016

It seems that our county commissioners might be looking for a pay raise.

The Times published an article about a recent salary survey the other day.  The survey evidently indicated that our county judge and commissioners are significantly underpaid when compared to other Texas counties that have large populations.

Some of the commissioners are playing coy, saying that the survey results were a surprise but  that there should at least be a discussion about giving themselves a raise.

The survey was commissioned to study pay rates for all county employees.  Commissioners could have paid less money for the survey if they had ordered one that did not spend money on studying their salaries.

These people are elected officials.  They know what their salaries are before they run for office.  Now they might use their powers to give themselves a pay raise.

They might want to read the 27th amendment to our constitution.  It prohibits congress from giving themselves a pay raise.  They can raise the pay of representatives and senators but the raises cannot take effect until after their next election.

We deserve better

Brutus

11 Comments | County Government, Federal Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Let’s keep our independence

July 4, 2016

We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness–

That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed,

that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

*****

Please vote.

We deserve better

Brutus

3 Comments | City government, County Government, El Paso Independent School District, Federal Government, State Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

The law of the land, unless it does not work for the prosecutors

July 1, 2016

The vise tightened for the six former EPISD employees that were indicted earlier this year.

The judge in the case ruled that it is “complex” and that our speedy trial provisions do not apply.

The prosecution claims that the laws are complex and that they need time to prepare for trial.

The sixth amendment to our constitution states:  “In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial…”.  It does not finish with “unless some judge thinks that he is more important than this amendment”.

No legislature and certainly no judge has the right to nullify the word “all”.

Unfair indictment

Getting indicted is devastating.  Those people can lose their jobs, incur immense legal bills, suffer shame at the hands of fellow citizens that think that if the government indicts you then you must be guilty, and a host of other debilitating problems.

A fair person would think that they cannot indict you unless they are ready to prove their case, ready to go to trial.

Instead the game being played is designed to drain the indictees and force them into pleading guilty before trial begins.

According to the Times article none of the defense lawyers objected to the government’s request that the case be classified as complex.

Shame on them.  They want the delay too.

Why?

Going to trial takes work.  All to often we see attorneys in these cases represent their clients in such a manner that they know the client will run out of money and be forced to plead guilty.  “Bleed them and plead them” is an unfortunate term that is often used.

If their client pleads guilty before trial the attorney gains both the benefit of fees and is relieved of the work necessary to bring a case to trial.

Every one of these indictees should file motions to separate themselves from the other five and thus have a separate trial.  That would make the case less “complex”.  Of course the motions will be denied, but they should be filed anyway.

According to the Times, the government wrote “The requirements vary from state to state as NCLB [no child left behind] allows each state’s education agency to determine how measures for at-risk students will be addressed.  Texas has its own peculiar way of determining AYP [average yearly progress] which is extremely complex in an of itself”.

For crying out loud

Peculiar?  Extremely complex?  The rules are so cloudy that a team of lawyers needs time after bringing an indictment to see how and if the rules were violated?

How on earth could six educators untrained in the law know what was and was not allowable?

The end game

The move to override a constitutional right for the convenience of unprepared government lawyers is really designed to defeat the defendants individually and put them into a position where they have to testify against their fellow indictees in order to receive lighter punishment.

Stand back and watch them fall.

We should not have to fear our government.

We deserve better

Brutus

9 Comments | El Paso Independent School District, El Paso Times, Federal Government, Uncategorized | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Good reporting

June 20, 2016

Something good happened at the Times the other day.

Lindsey Anderson wrote a headline article about two former EPISD administrators.

Her article was thorough and balanced.

She told us that they each pled guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States.

We were informed that they are to be sentenced a month after the trial of six other ex-administrators begins and that they could receive lighter sentences if they give “substantial assistance” to law enforcement and prosecutors.

I wonder what would happen to one of the other six if they offered something for giving “substantial assistance” at trial to one of the two that has pled guilty.

We deserve better

Brutus

3 Comments | El Paso Independent School District, El Paso Times, Federal Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

An indictment is like flypaper

June 12, 2016

The screws are turning.

Two school administrators who were recently indicted have pled guilty.

Please take note that they did not plead guilty to what was charged in the indictment.  Instead they have evidently plead to  an information.

It would appear that some of the charges in the indictment might have been over-reaching or not true.  What is true is that a different set of charges had to be formulated before the two were willing to give up.  Thus the information.

Once again we don’t know what these people did or did not do.

What we do know is that when the weight of our feral government lands on someone’s head in the form of a criminal indictment the target faces unbelievable financial and life hurdles.

Don’t be surprised if the plea agreements specify that the punishments will depend upon what these two say at the trial of the remaining three.

We deserve better

Brutus

3 Comments | El Paso Independent School District, Federal Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

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