With the municipal election campaigns now in full swing, the press releases from candidates are rolling in. I thought this one was amusing:
Where in the world is Jolanda Jones?
Yesterday Houston City Council was in session, but Council Member Jolanda Jones was not at the table. Council Member Jones is currently in Ghana, Africa on a boondoggle junket to explore how to bring jobs to Houston.
Dr. Jack Christie commented, “The citizens of Houston elected Council Member Jones to represent their needs in Houston. In light of all the serious issues before council, now seems like an inappropriate time to look for jobs in Ghana. I hope she will return to Houston immediately to do the job entrusted to her by the voters.”
The City of Houston is actively exploring the possibility that the developing nation of Ghana has the ability to create enough jobs in Houston to warrant such trips and use of resources.
Dr. Christie said, “When you consider all the things that the city could do to encourage economic development right here in Houston, this effort to seek jobs in Ghana seems wasteful, misguided, and just plain silly.”
Jobs for Houston via Ghana? Seriously?
Candidate Websites:
Ghana is the site of one of the largest oil discoveries in the world. The size of production on a single day could employ 1650 chiropractors making 100,000 dollars a year. Now if you look at the annual production one can only imagine the numbers of Houston engineers, lawyers, accountants, petrotechs, geologists, and housewives that will benefit from this largese. Congratulations to Gene Van Dyke and Vanco for their latest discovery and proving once again that Houstonians and Texans dominate offshore exploration around the world. http://ghanaoilonline.org/2010/03/lukoil-vanco-and-gnpc-make-discovery-offshore-ghana/ I am thinking Jolanda Jones may be on to something and I am betting Jolanda can google.
Don, that is a very selective use of economic statistics. Rate of growth is distorted when going from nothing to something. As well, it appears that the Ghana government "re-estimated" the size of their economy from $16bn to betweeen $21-35bn on their own.
What Ms. Jones is "on to" is having the taxpayers of Houston pay for her vacation. Not a bad deal if you can get it, right?
Dave,
I know nothing of the Ghana economy but I can speculate that they did redo their numbers. The size of the new Ghanian oil discovery is huge, and it was done by a Houstonian. The amount of onshore infrastructure mid stream work will be calulated into the billions of dollars. A lot of ths work will be done here in Houston, thank god. Jolanda's trip was entirely paid for by private funds, however, if we had a delegation their full time paid for by the COH obtaining the work to go along side this major new discovery it would be money very well spent. The significance of the new discovery can not be over stated and Ghana lacks in resources. If Mayor Parker had a brain she would be there with every mid-stream company located in Houston. This discovery and I will say it again by a Houstonian will have an enormous positive impact for our economy. Jack is idiot if he argues differently and what a bone headed press release. Exactly, the type of individual we do not need on council. Not to mention Jack Christie has done nothing for any Republican or conservative cause ever. Jolanda, on the other hand, has helped on Prop1, Metro, red-light-cameras, and private property rights. Jolanda is much more conservative than Anne Clutterbuck, Oliver Pennington, or Mike Sullivan. I never see any of these folks in the thick of the fray anywhere.
This seems to be much ado over nothing. If Jolanda Jones lived in Boston she would be know as a right wing Republican. While I'm always ready to promote the Republican idea and candidate, this may be one race that deserves nothing more than a token effort. Which seems to be what we have.Are the people asking for change? Jack Christie shows to have bought in no money, spent no money and to have a $500.00 loan outstanding. Jolanda bought in 113K, spent 30k and has 85k cash and no debt. Jack O'Connor had three people donate a total of $363.62 to his run for position 5. When Jolanda gets back we will have to ask her some questions. Did she spend public or private money? Will she bring jobs back with this? Did she go surfing while there? We want the truth, did she have any FUN on this trip?
Jack Christie should be looking for jobs from Madagascar.
Darren,
I take it you don't know a lot about energy?