Electioneering

November 1, 2015

Is it a surprise to any of us that our current state senator has taken an active part in encouraging 18 year olds that attend school in the Ysleta district to register to vote?

The Ysleta district lost a bond issue earlier this year by about 300 votes if I recall correctly.

It seems that there are about 1,000 students in the district that have reached the age where they are eligible to vote.  We have been told that the district has been able to get 800 of them to register.

Take note of the fact that we have not heard anything about the senator working in the other school districts to encourage new voters.

We deserve better

Brutus

6 Comments | Uncategorized | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Debtor’s prison?

October 31, 2015

Our city council agenda had an item on it the other day relating to the possibility that some of our citizens are being jailed because they cannot pay their traffic tickets.

The discussion occurred in executive session.  Council used the “consultation with attorneys” excuse to hide from us again.

Why did this item have to go into executive session?

Could it be that our city is “culpable”?

We deserve better

Brutus

6 Comments | City government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Featherbedding

October 30, 2015

The report we wrote about the other day in Whatever happened to women and children first? details the staffing levels that the contract between our county hospital and the children’s hospital specified.

According to the report, 24.3 FTE’s (full time equivalent) employees are billed to the children’s hospital.

The bill for those people is $2,059,891 each year.  That comes to an average cost of $84,769 per person.

Those costs are before the $91,176 “administrative fee” is tacked on.

The report recommends that the staffing level be 12 instead of 24.3.  It also suggests that the children’s hospital is not getting good service even with the surplus of personnel:

“EPCH lab and radiology personnel are performing many of the tasks assigned to the UMC personnel.”

We deserve better

Brutus

 

1 Comment | County Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

YISD ethics violation?

October 29, 2015

The people at the Ysleta school district and some it’s employees may be violating Texas law in the way they are promoting their bond issue.

A reader posted this comment a while back:

YISD recently had a day where grandparents could read to their grandchild. It was 10 minutes of reading and then all the grandparents were herded into the gym where they were shown a video on the bond issue and given a presentation by an associate superintendent. Then bingo and light refreshments were provided. Look at the deception that YISD is committed to. I fear the bond issue! What other tricks are planned with our money and children?

Violation of section 255.003 of the Texas Election Code is a class A misdemeanor.  Class A’s carry a maximum jail term of one year and/or a fine of up to $4,000 in Texas.

You don’t have to be a board member or officer of the district to be subject to the law–the law applies to employees also.

Use of facilities

Take a look at this slide from a presentation I found that was made to another Texas school district:

yisdethics

It would appear that we have improper use of facilities and the paid time of district employees in the case cited by our commenter.

We deserve better

Brutus

6 Comments | State Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Editorial policy changes?

October 28, 2015

Can someone explain why it seems that the Times has started to take on the city recently–at least on some things?

Most of their recent criticism has been about people not results, but at least they have stopped their cheerleading.

Have the new owners decided to change the editorial policy?

Are they going to let their people try to be reporters instead of mouthpieces for the city?

We deserve better

Brutus

 

5 Comments | City government, El Paso Times | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

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