October 18, 2006

For the past few days, I am in Austin.  This has nothing to do with the website, but the reading I have been doing with the availability of actual newspapers has been somewhat enlightening.  It seems that our congressman have been up to no good as usual.  They have not only given themselves a raise, but now are helping family members who work for lobbying firms with personal gains.  Family members working for lobbying firms are getting these congressman to appropriate money for projects that benefit clients of their firms, and in the process benefit personally for doing it. 

The really unnerving part is that nearly half of the Congressman who were polled think there is nothing wrong with this practice.  This is just another way of benefiting from one's elected position. Benefiting from one's elected office happens in Red River County also, and our officials think nothing is wrong with the practice.

It is amazing that one of our officials recently acquired a substantial tract of land in the southeast part of Red River County.  There were several thousands of dollars owed in back taxes, and the land was on the list to be brought up for sale on the Courthouse steps.  This official contacted the heir to the property, and worked out a deal to pay the taxes, and obtained the land at a substantially reduced price, taking the land off the courthouse steps and placing it into his back pocket.  We heard that this angered a land speculator in the Red River Area who was planning to bid on this property at the tax sale. This is gaining personally from one's elected office, and it is illegal but no one in Red River County seems to really care.

Do you think that we need to look at our elected officials, and the fact that they are using their elected offices to gain financially from them not only in Red River County but in Washington?  Should our elected officials be held accountable at the voting booth when the time comes?  Do you think that we have the opportunity in Red River County where officials resign and the few "Good Ole Boys" on the Commissioners Court keep appointing the same corrupted mindset types who sponsor the continuance of the corruption and personal gain?  Do we as citizens really have the opportunity to elect our officials, or is there something going on that keeps our votes from really counting?

What I am hearing at the present is two of our officials, the County Judge and the Sheriff are thinking about resigning, and they haven't even gone through the General Election in November.  I also hear that they already have some "GOB's" picked out that are a sure thing for appointment by the commissioners court after their resignation in the first part of next year. 

This practice is causing your votes to be nullified, and a continuance in our county government of the same mindset that I hear everyone complaining about.

 The sad part of the whole situation is that these officials think there is nothing wrong with any of their practices, or they just don't give a damn!!!

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