Big Jolly Politics

politics in Harris County and Texas

Mayor Turner’s Hurricane Harvey Tax Increase

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Mayor Turner wants to raise your property taxes by 15.3{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} to pay for storm related debris removal. The Federal government has agreed to reimburse the City of Houston for debris removal.

This new Hurricane Harvey tax will be on the value of your home pre-flood. The Mayor is moving to institute the tax before your homes are revalued in January. Do not believe Channel 13 who rarely if ever gets anything right and is stating it is a 9{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} tax increase, pure fiction. The increase is 8.5 cents, which represents an increase of 15.3{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} on your property taxes.

There are three public hearings necessary to enact the tax. Here are the dates and times on the hearings;

September 26th, at 6:00pm October 3rd, at 6:00pm and October 11th at 9:00am.

All will be held at City Hall

I will be writing more on this shortly. Please mark your calendars and if your home flooded please come tell the Mayor and the Council how you feel about money grabs. You may want to ask the Mayor what happened to the 900 million dollars collected for the “Rain Tax”.

This was on my mind.

Let the Investigations Begin

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Link to the Council Meeting-Looking for the Press Conference that followed:

The Sylvester Turner back slapping, self-congratulatory tour continued yesterday at the special meeting of the Houston city council. Before the meeting began, I noticed the presence of Turner’s crooked contractor friends in the audience. And, and of course, Stephen Costello, father of the rain tax, was present. I did not see Karun Sreerama, Sylvester’s former public works director, who was forced out in disgrace after it was revealed that he bribed Houston Community College Trustee Chris Oliver. After snitching on Oliver, Karun is probably persona non grata at these events. This group isn’t really fond of snitches.

In the midst of evacuations and rescues, the meeting began after 9 a.m. Councilmembers Travis and Martin were not present as they tried to help their districts in this tragedy. The true purpose of this meeting was for councilmembers to praise Turner’s handling of Harvey relief efforts. Turner allowed each councilmember to tell stories of Turner’s good works. Turner’s audience was Senator Ted Cruz and Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee because Turner wants them to bring home the bacon for the crooked contractors.

Turner called on Police Chief Acevedo and Fire Chief Pena to tell Cruz and Lee about their good works. Both men represent unions who have put in a lot of overtime and the mayor wants federal reimbursement for services rendered.

When I entered the GRB yesterday, I was patted down by some nice officers. I left my knife and .40 at home because I knew that my second amendment rights would be infringed upon entry into this special meeting. I have actually been carrying my 10 mm through most of the storm – for varmints and such.

Turner, et al. treated Senator Cruz like a king (even though they usually think of him as a pariah). The CongressWOMAAAAAAN sat next to Cruz and served as a character witness for Turner and his friends. Then, SheJack hugged Cruz. Hopefully, Cruz sees through this bologna.

Throughout the meeting, there was a lot of lip service about bipartisanship. Cruz, facing reelection next year, is being pressured by SheJack and Turner to deliver on billions in federal funding, which Turner will make certain is doled out to his friends. Very nauseating.

I did not have the opportunity speak with Senator Cruz because Turner whisked him away and out the back very quickly, but I did tell Cruz’s aide, Jessica Hart, that Turner’s charade was a smoke and mirror show.

Stephen Costello entered the room and visited with Tommy Moss, chief of staff for Greg Travis (and previously employed by former councilmember Oliver Pennington, a big Renew Houston aka rain tax supporter). This is the same Costello who went on a road show with Annise Parker to pitch Renew Houston to Houstonians as a project to prevent flooding. Clearly, this is one of the largest frauds perpetrated on any community.

Link to the Mayor’s Press Conference-fast forward to 29:30 and listen to his answer about where “Rain Tax” went. 

Big Jolly Politics readers know that I spent many years asking for Costello’s city contracts. Costello’s engineering company, Costello Engineering and Surveying, has sought city and county contracts for many years. Costello was elected to city council in 2009 and ran for mayor in 2015. Turner subsequently appointed Costello as the city’s “chief resilience officer.” An appropriate BS title. During the meeting, Turner called on Costello to recite his talking points and praise the public works department (sans Karun) for saving the North Houston water plant.

After the city council meeting, Turner held a lengthy press conference. Meanwhile, the Harris County Sheriff’s Office was recovering the Saldivar family from their van that plunged into Greens Bayou. And active rescues were ongoing throughout the county. But, Turner thought that his pomp and circumstance was more important.

As a valued member of the local press corps (ask David Jennings), I had the opportunity to ask a question about Renew Houston. I asked the mayor what had happened to the $800 million collected under the rain tax. Even though the courts have invalidated the rain tax vote, the city continues to collect this tax. Turner responded that this money was being used for road improvements. Really? If you drive our city streets, you know that can’t be true.

The truth is that rain tax funds were used to pay the salaries of public works employees instead of flood project improvements. The city has never accounted for the rain tax funds. Judson Bryant, president of the Downtown Pachyderm, has been asking for these records for many years.

Federal public corruption investigators should move to Houston for the duration because Turner, et al. will need to be watched very closely. Just a few months ago, Turner’s (former) public works director was wearing a wire and the offices of Dannenbaum Engineering were raided by the FBI.

The answer to all of these concerns is to have the federal government serve as the general contractor. Turner and friends cannot be trusted with the public largesse based on past history.

The Republican congressional delegation needs to form a panel or commission to oversee the implementation of all federal funds. The Democrats will try every way they can to distribute funds to their friends and contributors. Houstonians deserve better.

Ray Nagin, the former mayor of New Orleans, can explain this to everyone. In February 2014, Nagin was convicted on 20 of 21 counts of bribery, fraud, and money laundering in connection with a kickback scheme involving city contractors. Contact Nagin, now federal inmate number 32751-034, at the federal prison in Texarkana.

Learn Lessons Rather Than Casting Blame in Harvey’s Wake

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hurricane harvey
These people don’t have time to point fingers and play the blame game.

Now that Hurricane Harvey is departing the area many will wonder what could have been done to make the devastation less severe. In times of crisis blame is easy. Blame feels good – it’s an emotional outlet. Blame also is a defense mechanism as old as The Fall in Genesis – it casts responsibility on others. But just like in Genesis blame doesn’t solve problems or resolve issues.

What’s important is learning lessons from the disaster so that when the next crisis arises the preparation is better and impact lessened.  To that end, criticism of the mayor for not ordering an evacuation needs to stop. Whether an evacuation was or was not ordered would not have impacted the flooding. Blaming the mayor for not calling an evacuation is not productive. He made the right call. We were never in danger from wind or storm surge. That’s what you evacuate to escape.

Not evacuating also had benefits that aren’t readily visible for the news so don’t get reported, but do have a significant impact on reducing human suffering. The media doesn’t see the 2:00 AM property walks that discover debris filled drains and gutters that are cleared to restore drainage and in the process saves vehicles and homes from sheet flooding. Homeowners who stayed battled sheet flooding intrusions and were able to keep flooding below the power outlets significantly reducing the amount of repairs needed. None of those stories gets picked up, and the picture presented is incomplete and one sided.

There will be a time to demand accountability going forward. Now is not that time. When that time comes it’s important to focus on the future and what lessons we should learn from the disaster.

HCC Board Member Chris Oliver Indicted

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Oliver Indictment

Houston Community College Board Trustee Christopher W. Oliver was indicted in the Southern District of Texas on March 9, 2017. In May, Oliver pleaded guilty to count 2 of the indictment. This is arguably the most important public corruption case in the Houston area since Commissioner Jerry Eversole admitted to lying to FBI agents in 2011. One interesting connection – both cases involve the ESPA Corporation.

Count 1 of the Oliver indictment contains a weird reference to K.S. – a “victim” who paid Oliver over $77,000. People paying bribes are typically not referred to as victims; so, this is rather curious. Another interesting tidbit is the ESPA Corporation, formerly owned by Harris County Commissioner El Franco Lee, was sold to a man by the name of Karun Sreerama a.k.a. K.S. Former Harris County Commissioner Jerry Eversole was also a paid employee of ESPA Corporation.

Sreerama serves on the boards of the Houston Downtown Management District, Houston Community College Foundation, the American Council of Engineering Companies of Houston, and the Indo American Political Action Committee of Greater Houston. All of these affiliations denote lots of money being handed out to politicians, probably for very little work. Think pay to play. In 2011, Mr. Sreerama’s company, ESPA, did a two million dollar facility study for HCC. Basically, he was paid two million dollars to determine whether another HCC campus should be built. The answer is clearly no because HCC cannot fill up the classrooms they have now.

Getting back to Mr. Oliver, realize that he pleaded guilty on May 15 in Judge Vanessa Gilmore’s court. This means that Mr. Oliver has been walking the free earth after pleading guilty to a federal felony bribery charge. Mr. Oliver has been attending HCC board meetings and voting on board items after pleading guilty to bribery. HCC had a board meeting on May 25 and June 15. There was also a board retreat he presumably attended. You can bet your bottom dollar that he was wearing a wire. Looking at the board minutes, Vice Chairman Christopher Oliver voted on a number of issues.

Reading the minutes Oliver noted that he attended the HCC graduation and various community activities in his district. He left out a few important activities such as his arrest and his appearance before federal Judge Vanessa Gilmore where he pleaded guilty to federal felony bribery charges involving HCC. This will no doubt win him the adoration of his fellow board members. Were they aware of his arrest? Were they aware of his plea? Did Oliver tell Jarvis Hollingsworth, the board’s lawyer, about his arrest and plea? What board votes were taken following Oliver’s guilty plea?

Big Jolly politics knows of at least one high profile attorney representing a witness or target of this investigation – not Oliver. It should be noted that on March 17, Karun Sreerama was appointed to be the director of public works and engineering for the City of Houston. Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, of course, found the best public works director in his orbit. It always depends on what you are looking for in a public works director.

Lt. Dan’s Pension Bill

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If you are a fiscal conservative, Monday May 1, 2017 will forever be known as Bloody Monday in the Texas Senate.

Never let it be said that Dan Patrick cannot move legislation. If you have a bill that makes multi-millionaires out of City of Houston employees and is promoted by the most fiscally liberal mayor in our lifetime, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick is your guy. All of the campaign contributions from HPOU finally paid off like a slot machine making the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the Houston Police Officers’ Union (HPOU) the kings of the Texas Senate. The faux conservative gig is up. Yesterday, Dan cashed in his conservative bona fides for Sylvester Turner and his big union buddies.

Lieutenant Dan was not alone in wrecking the finances of the City of Houston – he had accomplices. There is always Senator Joan Huffman who never fails to demonstrate her liberalism when it counts. Senator Huffman waived to all the Houston police officers in the gallery as she lined their deferred retirement option plan (DROP) accounts with her vote.

It is no secret that Sylvester Turner intends to lift the property tax cap in order to pay for all of this nonsense. When Turner lifts the tax cap, please send a love note to Lieutenant Dan for the pension Napalm bomb. We supposedly have a “conservative” legislature; however, Lieutenant Dan cannot make things happen on conservative issues like education and property tax reform. Lieutenant Dan should not captain a shrimp boat let alone preside over the Texas Senate.

Allen Blakemore, Lieutenant Dan’s political consultant, proudly displays on his website that he has also served as a consultant for HPOU. Finally, HPOU and SEIU’s political contributions to Dan, Joe Straus, and House Pension Committee Chair Dan Flynn have paid off like a million dollar slot machine.

The Greater Houston Partnership (GHP) and C Club joined in on Lieutenant Dan’s corruption of Houston finances. Both GHP and the C Club were somehow allowed to represent Houston taxpayers in the pension bill negotiation. This is like sending Bill Clinton to chaperone Miss USA contestants. I wonder if C Club member and Greater Houston Partnership Infrastructure Chairman Jim Dannenbaum participated in these negotiations. Or was he too busy dealing with the FBI?

Fiscally conservative Houstonians are without a voice in our Texas Legislature. As usual, Houston taxpayers are left holding the bag for the worst piece of legislation to come out of Austin in years. It is a sad day for Houston.

http://www.hpou.org/salary-calculator/ 

When a Corridor is a Cap

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    1. Senator Joan Huffman State Rep. Dan Flynn

State Representative Dan Flynn from Van, Texas ran the Houston pension bill hearing last Monday. Speaker Straus has appointed Flynn to serve as Chair of the House Pensions Committee for the past two legislative sessions. Although Flynn claims that he has “never voted for a bill to raise taxes” he does not seem to mind increasing the tax burden of Houstonians. All for his good buddy Sylvester “Sly” Turner.

Last Monday, I attended the House Pensions Committee meeting. Flynn ran the meeting like an autocracy, which is just the way Turner wanted the meeting to function. Although opponents to the Flynn/Turner bill were permitted to speak, they were not allowed to sit in the hearing room until their turn to speak. When I attempted to enter the hearing room, I was told that I would have to go to one of the overflow rooms. I quickly learned that the city lobbyists were controlling the seating and only those supporting the bill were allowed to sit in the hearing room during Mayor Turner’s presentation and those of the resource witnesses.

The large overflow crowd took up two committee rooms and a large auditorium located in the Capitol extension. The red Houston firefighter t-shirts contrasted with the HOPE t-shirts worn by the City of Houston Organization of Public Employees. Some city employees drove to Austin in city vehicles.

Flynn is carrying Houston’s pension bill, HB 43, in the House and put words into the mouths of speakers before his committee. Flynn made every speaker announce their name, state whether they are for or against the bill, and asked all the speakers to acknowledge that they were speaking on the committee substitute to HB 43. I am sure that Flynn’s directions were confusing to the numerous witnesses who were new to the legislative process.

HB 43, as substituted, is the companion bill to Senator Joan Huffman’s pension bill, SB 2190. The two bills, as substituted, are identical except for the provision in SB 2190 that requires a vote on the process. These two bills contemplate a billion dollar pension obligation bond.  Huffman’s bill 2190 requires a vote for the pension obligation bonds. It should be noted that the firefighters receive no proceeds from this bond. Turner and the police and municipal employee unions object to the voting requirement in Huffman’s bill. I believe this is because they know that Houstonians would not vote in favor of more debt. Please note that Turner does want to place a referendum on the November ballot that would allow him to lift the revenue cap.

Turner, the first witness, described how the world would end without the approval of HB 43. The truth is if HB 43 failed, several scenarios could play out. The city could:

  1. File for bankruptcy;
  2. Dramatically raise taxes;
  3. Continue to borrow money from unions running up the unfunded liability – or layoff union workers.

The bankruptcy option is never discussed because this process would remove the mayor as the decision maker on spending. Raising taxes would require lifting the revenue cap. Thanks to Bruce Hotze, lifting the revenue cap requires a vote by Houstonians. Mayor Tuner wants folks to vote on the revenue cap but not the pension bonds. If hypocrisy had a vote, the lifting of the revenue cap would fail. It is not an accident that Turner labeled his cap a corridor.

The revenue cap, approved in 2004, limits the increase in the city’s annual property tax collections to the combined rates of inflation and population growth, or 4.5 percent, or the lower of the two. Voters in 2006 adjusted the cap, allowing $90 million above the cap for public safety spending. Turner has not made his desire to spend above the cap a secret. Turner’s attempt to cap pension expenses and remove the property tax cap will be difficult for city voters to stomach.

The real story of Monday’s hearing was the testimony from the firefighters and their families. Many firefighters spoke, far more than any other employee group. The firefighters were respectful, polite, and prepared. The firefighters told compelling stories of the impact of HB 43. Firefighters argued that they negotiated with the city over wages and benefits and agreed to lower wages and higher benefits. Conversely, the police and municipal employees argued for higher wages. Now, the police and municipal employees want the firefighters to help them make up their pension liability shortfall.

Recently, the city has hired 700 new employees; but, hardly any police or fire employees. The city’s public works department has 4,000 employees compared to the more efficient county’s public works department that operates with 500 employees. The county’s public works department builds roads faster and better.

The city’s ability to borrow large sums from the unions by not paying them has allowed the bloated bureaucracy to breed inefficiency, redundancy, and a lack of accountability. Turner’s plan punishes the firefighters when they have been the responsible adult in the room for many years. Instead of bloated salaries, Houston fighters have been fiscally responsible by requiring a fully funded pension. Now, the pay scale between police and fire is significant.

Truth be told, the police cut a very fat hog and now they want their firefighter brothers to pay for it. Turner will do anything possible to pass HB 43 because it allows him to spend money at an irresponsible pace. The police and municipal employees want HB 43 to pass because it gives them a billion dollars to allow escaping union members to retire. Those left behind will have to deal with the increasing realization that their pensions may not be funded.

Some union members have figured out that the defined contribution plan (in contrast with the defined benefit plan) actually costs less and gives more than Turner’s plan. Social media is interestingly enough playing a role in disseminating information about the cost of the corridor. Huffman’s bill has been placed on the intent calendar for floor debate in the Senate this week. It could be called at anytime. Will Bettencourt filibuster the bill? It will also be important to watch what happens to SB 2190’s voting requirement. This is where Turner and the city’s lobby team will attempt to get rid of the voting requirement.