| During the 2006 campaign for Texas Agriculture Commissioner, Democratic nominee Hank Gilbert said that consumers were getting shorted due to faulty gas pumps. The question I ask consumers, particularly urban consumers, is, "how many of you can go buy top-notch electronic equipment and it works perfectly, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for four years without malfunctioning?" It just doesn't happen. So every time you buy gas now, every time you buy any type of packaged meat that has been weighed, or fruits, or vegetables weighed on a scale, you're probably getting less than what you are paying for. Even according to the current Commissioner's own documents, there a lot of regions in the state where the weights and measures are off. They are never off on the side of the consumer.
Well, turns out he was right ... even the guy who defeated him, Todd Staples is admiting it. "At a time when families are struggling to purchase fuel, I am sure all Texans would agree with me that despicable violations such as these are repulsive and must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," said Staples, whose agency is responsible for checking gas pumps for accuracy.
Wow, Todd sure seems angry. Of course, if he had acknowledged the problem back in 2006 -- like Hank did -- it could have addressed back then. But no, Staples has waited until now, when astronomically high gas prices make his outrage the politcally convenient thing to do. Not all the blame is on Staples. Previous Republican Agriculture Commissioners Rick Perry and Susan Combs "instituted legislation to where the scales and pumps are now calibrated only every four years." We'll be lucky when Todd Staples tries to run for higher office and loses in 2010. Of course, we'd be even luckier if Hank Gilbert decided to run again. McBlogger and South Texas Chisme have more on this story. |
