Man, o’ man, you never know what you’ll walk into when you attend a board meeting of the Harris County Department of Education. I missed the last couple of board meetings because I can never remember when they are, so I put the November meeting on my calendar to make sure I’d remember. I wish I wouldn’t have but I’m glad I did. I wish I wouldn’t have because I had to leave when I got so angry that I became nauseous. I’m glad I did because otherwise I wouldn’t have had the “opportunity” to see a true trough feeder belly up to the trough and beg to suck on the teats of the taxpayers via their elected representatives for two more years.
I truly don’t know which is worse. A former state rep raping taxpayers for $12,250 per month for the privilege of lobbying the legislature to rape them more. Or board members elected by those taxpayers pulling down the pants of the taxpayers to make it easier.
There’s an old saying in politics that the first priority of a politician is survival. And that is surely the case with the members of the HCDE board that voted to give former state representative Rob Eissler and his new employer, The Schlueter Group, $269,500 over the course of the next 22 months for the sole purpose of helping those board members keep their positions of power.
Click here to view the contract between the HCDE and The Schlueter Group.
Nevermind that the legislature isn’t even in session for 75{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} of the time this contract is in effect. Nevermind that the members of the legislature and specifically the education committee will not be known until the 14th month of the contract. Nevermind that $12,250 per month doesn’t get you the full attention of The Schlueter Group – Eissler said during the meeting that they have many other clients. Nevermind that a quarter of a million dollars would help an awful lot of children get educated.
No, none of that matters because HCDE Superintendent Dr. John Sawyer is scared to lose his job. And the elected board members are scared to lose their positions. That is all that matters. Children and education be damned.
As for former rep Eissler, I used to think the guy was a decent public servant and had the best interests of the citizens and taxpayers in mind. His appearance before the board yesterday made me grateful for the voters in his former district that said no more and tossed him out of office. They obviously knew more about him than I did. Now I know.
Trustee Kay Smith tried her best to get the board to see this contract for the waste of money it is. She reminded the board that they had already spent $82,000 on lobbyist Pat Strong to do essentially the same thing. At that point Mr. Eissler said that he was sure Pat Strong was a fine person but that he had 28 years experience, that he was the former chair of the public education committee, that the staffers that are there now worked for him and trusted him, and that he could sway their decisions.
Trustee Erica Lee asked Assistant Superintendent for Business Services Jesus Amezcua, CPA if the $269,500 had been budgeted for and if the HCDE had the money for it. Mr. Amezcua responded that they did have the money for the portion that covers the current fiscal year but that they would have to budget for it in the next fiscal year. Meaning that government budgets are a waste of time because no, this wasn’t budgeted, but hey, we have plenty of taxpayer money to spend so don’t worry about it. We have to keep our jobs.
I could go on but why? Either you agree that this is a waste of taxpayer money or you don’t.
You want to know how to put that question to a test? You know, whether or not it is a waste of taxpayer money?
Here’s how you do it. You tell Dr. John Sawyer to set up a Harris County Department of Education Employee Political Action Committee. And then you tell the employees to contribute enough money to pay Rob Eissler $12,250 per month. Convince them that it isn’t a waste of money.
Wanna bet on the outcome of that campaign?
For the record, the official vote:
For:
Democrat Debra Kerner
Democrat Howard Jefferson
Democrat Erica Lee
Democrat Dr. Diane TrautmanAgainst:
Republican Angie Chesnut
Republican Marvin Morris
Republican Kay Smith
You still think there isn’t a difference between Democrats and Republicans?
There is an election next year. Two spots are up, both currently held by Democrats. You can make a direct impact on this board by replacing the Democrats with Republicans.
Are you willing to do that?