In my report on the Harris County Department of Education’s Board of Trustees vote against a tax rate increase, I chose not to focus on the feud between two trustees: Roy Morales and Mike Wolfe. First off, blog posts should be as short as possible and secondly, the main thrust of that post was that the Republican dominated board held the line on taxes. I had every intention of doing a second post about the meeting because there was so much material. I didn’t realize that the two would continue feuding in the interim.
First from Wolfe after the vote:
Once again, Roy Morales changed his mind at the last minute and voted for my original proposal.
This morning from Morales (spelling is his, not mine):
Why does Michael Wolfe continue to lie and decieve the public? The record shows that Trustee Roy Morales made the motion to freeze property taxes for Harris County residents and proposed adopting the Effective Tax Rate. Trustee Marvi Morris second the motion. The vote was 5 for and 2 against. Why would anyone vote for Michael Wolfe with his record of unthical behavior. Has the public forgotten that he was fired by the Harris County Republican Party as the 2008 Primary Director for unethical behavior (See Bettancourt Saves GOP from Wolfe.http://www.chron.com/default/article/Bettencourt-saves-GOP-from-Wolfe-1782526.php)?
Heh, Morales manages to get Tio Pablo (aka Paul Bettencourt) involved! Nice touch!
The truth is that the record will show that Morales voted FOR the tax increase before he made a motion to reduce the rate to the ETR. The record might well show that Trustee Marvin Morris seconded the motion – that will be up to the board secretary, who will have to flip a coin because both Morris and Wolfe seconded the motion at the same time. The record also shows that the ETR is what Morris and Wolfe proposed in the first place.
So I’m at a loss as to Morales’ assertion that Wolfe continues to lie and deceive. During the board meeting on Tuesday, Morales did respond to Wolfe’s original charges, saying that there are multiple divisions of Phonoscope and that the division he works for has nothing to do with the division that will likely be involved with the new for-profit business dealing with cloud computing. Morales confirmed that he did consider resigning the board in order to pursue an out of county opportunity but decided to stay because he wanted to continue his work on the Harris County Department of Education in order to help the children.
I was very disappointed in Wolfe for trying to hide their feud away from the prying eyes of the public. When Board President Angie Chesnut moved to agenda item 5F, Wolfe made a motion to move it to executive decision, to which Morales went nuts, chiding Wolfe for always talking about transparency but then wanting to hide. I thought it was a well deserved punch. I asked Wolfe after the meeting why he did it and he told me that a couple of other board members had wanted to keep the board’s dirty laundry from being public. Well, fine, but let those members make the motion – Wolfe should know better.
Now see there? This post is already too long and I still have lots of stuff from that meeting. Some other time.
BTW, you can hear Morales yourself today at noon. He’ll be the speaker at the Downtown Houston Pachyderm Club’s weekly meeting at the Spaghetti Warehouse. Come on down, you’ll meet a lot of good people and have a cheap meal. And maybe figure out why a Republican is telling people not to vote for a fellow Republican.
Mike Wolfe, HCDE Trustee says
David,
As usual, you are correct. I am glad we allowed Roy Morales’ diatribe about his conflict(s) of interest and flip flops on tax increase votes in the public where it belonged. I was caught up in the emotion of the moment when I moved to take the agenda item to executive session.
Roy Morales is merely attempting to deceive the public into thinking he was not for the tax increase before he was against it. I’m reminded of Democrat John Kerry.
Paul Bettencourt is a friend and mentor of mine. Every time I see him he encourages me and gives me advice. If you ask him, I’m sure he will tell you he fully supports my reelection. For some people, to be attacked with an article from the Houston Chronicle is a badge of honor.
The Republican Voters of Harris County renominated me for office this year by more than 63{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} of the vote because conservatives in Harris County know that I will never be a flip flopper on tax increases like Roy Morales continues to be.
By not supporting every Republican on the November Ballot, Roy Morales proves that Republicans should not trust or support him in another elected office.
However, I am relieved that once again Roy Morales changed his mind at the last minute and supported my original proposal of adopting the Effective Tax Rate.
Fred Blanton says
Think I have had enough and heard enough…..We need a bill introduced to disband it…PERIOD contact me if you want to participate.
Colleen Vera says
I’m with you Fred.
Roy Morales says
Michael why do you continue to make false allegations about me You know there is no confilct of interest. As usual in the board meeting you demonstrate your lack of transparency to the public to stand up like a man and confront your allegations. This is not the first time you have tried to hide behind a SECRET session. I only write this comment because you know I pointed out your lies and misinformation at the Board meeting. Here’s the information I provided in a public meeting about your false allegations.
Mr. Wolfe it is a sad day when false accusations and lies are said about another trustee. The statements made by you are half truths, lies and misinformation. I have served my country, city and county with the highest integrity and with the public always coming first. I don’t know if you ever had any ethics courses but that is something I take very seriously in my everyday life. We took annual courses every year in the Air Force. I ran because I thought I could make a difference for our children. You see Mr. Wolfe I have a son that is autistic and know how hard it is for the child and the parents. I thought I could do some good for the children here in the seven county region and still have a well efficient and effective department that would do good for the children while keeping the taxes down.
– Mr. Wolfe there are several Phonoscope Companies. I consult for Phonoscope Health Network, Inc. I have filed a CIS (Conflict of Interest form) according to the Law. This tells the board I will not be voting on and contracts on Phonoscope Health Network, Inc. I went a step further and nver voted on contracts related to any Phonoscope companies. I do not consult for the other Phonoscope companies. Phonoscope has been an internet vendor to HCDE before I was sworn in as a Trustee.
– I have gone above and beyond my ethical and legal duty. I have always abstained when it pertained to Phonoscope even when I was not required by law. In fact I removed myself from discussion and position as a board member when it pertained to Phonoscope Health Network. I have also abstained on votes to vendors that have contributed to me politically.
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– In fact I have sent letters to both the department and Phonoscope Health Network stating that I would refuse any commissions on product bought by HCDE from Phonoscope Health Network.
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– Mr. Wolfe you were wrong in your statement that “Phonoscope does almost all of our IT work for HCDE”. “Mr Schul does Phonoscope provide all the IT work to HCDE?” Mr. Schul’s HCDE CIO answer was NO.
– Mr. Wolfe you asked me if a contract was going to be awarded to Phonoscope for Cloud Technology. I was cutoff from discussion to answer you. The answer is the business office makes those decisions not trustees. Jesus can explain to Mr. Wolfe how you select vendors?
– Mr. Wolfe claims that Phonoscope is the only vendor for the cloud project. Mr. Schul how many vendors are under review? I believe it was Phonoscope Light wave that submitted a proposal. I do not have any contract with Light wave and will not receive any commission on the project from Light wave. Phonoscope hired another consultant for education projects. In fact the cloud technology project is cooperative contract award.
– Mr. Wolfe you brought into play the tax rate vote. You misled the public by saying that taxes will go up 8.9{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986}. This is another lie. The budget will go up 8.9{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} not the public’s taxes if the boards votes for the proposed tax rate.
– Again Mr. Wolfe misleads the public by stating that the cloud project will be awarded to one vendor. Again, it is a cooperative contract for several components for Cloud technology.
– Mr. Wolfe, yes, I was considering resigning last year. I stayed because of the children and to help with the budget. Budget workshops you were AWOL on for the whole year.
– Mr. Wolfe states I always change my vote because of pressure from the public. Mr. Wolfe you know very well I was the driving force to reduce the tax rate in2007 after ten years of the nominal rate (which was a tax increase for those ten years). I have voted every year to freeze tax bills and last year it was my vote that reduced the tax bill for Harris County residence. Mr Wolfe you also know I voted “NO” on the 2009 and 2010 budget because I knew that there were going to be hard economic times. And yes, I listen to my constituents when making a decision. They are my bosses.
It is a horrible when an individual tries to tarnish my professional career and the reputation of a fine 50 year old company like Phonoscope.