(Great guest post from a long-time BOR reader, featuring content from Cuentame. We hope you will be hearing more from both Nick and Cuentame in the future. - promoted by Katherine Haenschen)
What happens if you privatize prisons is that you have a large industry with a vested interest in building ever-more prisons." -- Molly Ivins, 2003
For the past three years, the small West Texas town of Littlefield has had to come up with $65,000 a month to service a loan on an empty prison it never needed. To avoid defaulting on its prison loan, Littlefield has laid off workers, cut every department's budget, raised property taxes, increased fees, raided its municipal sewer and water fund, and even delayed its purchase of a new police car.
With just 6,507 residents during the 2000 census, Littlefield did not need a new prison. The city's elected officials decided to build one anyways. Littlefield issued $10 million in revenue bonds for construction of a 310-bed for-profit detention center as part of the city's economic development strategy in 1999. Revenue bonds are a special type of municipal bond that do not require voter approval, because they are backed by the expected revenue a project will generate. Littlefield's politicians built the prison believing it would pay for itself, pump money into the local economy, and expand job opportunity.
The nonprofit organization Cuéntame produced the excellent video below about the experience of Littlefield, Texas with speculative for-profit prison construction. Take a look:
As a result of this experience, Littlefield's bond rating was downgraded to junk status, and Littlefield taxpayers were saddled with millions in debt after discovery of mismanagement by for-profit prison operator Geo Group led the Idaho Department of Corrections (IDOC) to terminate its contract and remove its prisoners in 2009. When IDOC cancelled its contract, Geo Group bailed on Littlefield by terminating its contract and laying off 74 workers.
The Idaho Department of Corrections discovered Geo Group's mismanagement when it conducted an audit of the Littlefield lock-up. The audit was prompted by the suicide of Randall McCullough, one of Idaho's inmates, at the prison. McCullough had been placed in solitary confinement for more than a year as administrative punishment for a fight that was never criminally prosecuted. The IDOC audit revealed that Geo Group chronically understaffed its facility. On the night that McCullough died, the facility was so short on staff that the warden worked the midnight shift.
Of course, extreme right-wing organizations like the Texas Public Policy Foundation and the corporate-funded American Legislative Exchange Council defend privatization of prisons, schools and social services by peddling sanctimonious twaddle about the "innovation," "competition" and "efficiency" associated with private entrepreneurship. The most common way for corporations like Geo Group and Corrections Corporation of America to save money in running a prison is to cut guards' salaries, though (innovative!).
It turns out that when prison guards are paid wages as low as grocery store cashiers and fast food workers, they don't stick around very long. And when prisons are understaffed or have high turnover, they end up with inexperienced staff, higher rates of prisoner-on-guard assaults, more escapes, and more contraband violations as evidenced by higher rates of positive urine tests for drug use. Or, they might just be plain understaffed, à la Geo Group.
I would continue from here, but Molly does it better:
"The right says that, in the private sector, pay and performance are related. I look at the CEOs of American corporations, and if there's a connection between pay and performance there, I missed it.
What you get when you privatize and outsource is something like the Department of Defense and the military-industrial complex. We spend $399 billion a year on defense, and if you think that money is well spent because much of it gets run through defense contractors, you have not been paying attention.
DOD is the happy home of the $700 hammer, the endless cost overrun, and the revolving door, with accompanying conflicts of interest and dubious contracts. It's a fiscal nightmare. The Pentagon once had to announce that it couldn't account for $17 billion.
You get nightmare public policy consequences, as well. What happens if you privatize prisons is that you have a large industry with a vested interest in building ever-more prisons. The result is even more idiocy, like the three-strikes law and long terms for small-time drug possession."
--Molly Ivins, 2003 Syndicated Column
Amen.
The video in this post was produced by Cuéntame. Cuéntame is an online platform where the Latino community and the public at large can address social, political and cultural topics through social media, videos, interviews, and docu-series. Cuéntame translates "count me" or "tell me your story," and Cuéntame facilitates conversations about everything from soccer and music to immigrant detention and the anti-immmigrant legislation crafted by extreme right-wing, corporate-funded organizations like the American Legislative Exchange Council. Find out more about Cuéntame or tell your own story by following Cuéntame on Facebook or Twitter.
Largely thanks to my parents' amazing love for music, I grew up with this kind of sound shaping my childhood. When things turned down, I was more likely to listen to Jackson Browne or Townes Van Zandt than anything else. I specifically remember listening to Dylan's Blood on the Tracks and Jackson Browne's Late for the Sky for a long, long time.
As I learned the guitar, and began to play at nights (on occassion) with my Dad, I always focused on rhythms and singing, not anything technical. To date, the most technical song I can play correctly is probably The Beatles' "In My Life." But I'd much rather strum along to The Byrds' "You Don't Miss Your Water" or Shake Russell's "Deep in the West" than anything else.
Anyways - just a great song I thought you'd enjoy. Well done, Glenn.
Parker County has no elected officials who are Democrats.
It's a sad state of affairs, but we're not just sitting around weeping about it. In fact, we're getting off our butts and welcoming several Democratic candidates at our third annual Old-Fashioned Democratic Rally, scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 3, at Hall Middle School in Weatherford.
The schedule of speakers is as follows:
12 p.m. - John Sharp
12:30 - Hank Gilbert
1 p.m. - Bill White
1:30 p.m. - Jeff Weems
2:50 - Felix Alvarado
3:30 - Neil Durrance
We'll also have appearances by State Rep Mark Veasey, a representative from Tom Schieffer's campaign, and Sharon Wilson (you may know her as TxSharon).
Plus, there will be all of the usual stuff: Silent auction items, baked goods, and barbecue!
This is shaping up to be a great event and we really, really need support, as we're kind of the Lone Rangers out here in Parker County. If you're in the DFW area, please come by.
If you need more info, please see www.parkercodemocrats.org. Thanks! Hope to see you there!
On May 23, 2009 Austin-based AM radio talk show host Randall Kelton (of The Rule of Law) presented the Cherokee County, Texas grand jury a list of criminal complaints against Cherokee County officials, including the county judge and county attorney. The grand jury was informed by the district attorney's office to ignore the 55 sealed complaints. Randall Kelton acting as a journalist was subsequently charged with "operating a private investigations company without a license," a charge levied by outgoing district attorney investigator Joe Evans. Kelton's exposition of corrupt Cherokee County politics was not just written off as a publicity stunt, it has been completely buried. Misdemeanor charges against Randall Kelton are still pending as Cherokee County contemplates how to violate the US Constitution one more time before the Primaries.
According to published court documents, Randall Kelton began his research into Cherokee County when the incarceration of Robert Fox and bogus charges of "tampering with government records" came to light on his show. Fox had been in and out of Cherokee County jail after an initial raid on his nondenominational ministry, the House of Israel located in downtown Jacksonville, Texas. Fox and others rounded up in the Nazi-esque purging filed civil and federal complaints against their accusers, all of which fell on deaf ears in the neighboring Tyler Court of Appeals and US Eastern District Court.
After years of settling federal lawsuits against Jacksonville, TX police officers, the newly appointed Chief of Police and overzealous investigators decided to finally clean up the City's image by painting a dichotomy: Cherokee County citizens were to forget about the rapist cop they had once decorated, Larry Pugh who was now sitting in federal prison (for trying to drag one of his victims off by the hair of her head for going to the FBI after being raped in a cemetery at gunpoint by him in uniform- Source: US District Court Cause No. 6:06-CV-357). Citizens were to instead focus on the House of Israel and its members' "sovereign citizen" rhetoric instead.
Robert Fox was found not guilty of possessing illegal drugs on Wednesday July 29, 2009, the impetus for the invalid raid conducted on the House of Israel over a year and half earlier. (Source: Jacksonville Daily Progress July 31, 2009)
Cherokee County officials and newspapers continued the propaganda piece of the validity of the illegal search and seizure, in reference to the possession of expired dental and pharmacological substances, i.e. antibiotics and painkillers. They also claim House of Israel members were Timothy McVeigh and Taliban sympathizers based upon the unlawful seizure of items not specifically spelled out in the open-ended Search Warrant.
It matters not to the local editors of Cherokee County owned and operated propaganda pieces that Robert Fox and associates have either had all initial criminal charges against them dropped, dismissed or have been acquitted. The local media is in business to continue the Cherokee County District Attorney office's lie that filing a complaint against Cherokee County officials is a crime. Robert Fox's latest charge of "tampering with a government record" is still on the backburner.
Filing a complaint against Cherokee County officials after an illegal raid is also a Felony in the eyes of Cherokee County's district attorney. Brain dead followers in the Daily Progress and Cherokeean Herald repeat this lie in print even though their own taxpayer dollars are being squandered to justify an ill-conceived, albeit typical illegal and open-ended Search Warrant composed no doubt by the district attorney himself.
Robert Fox is out of jail and stands acquitted of possessing narcotics so Cherokee County officials challenge his religion and patriotism to distract from the illegal seizure of items not specifically spelled out in the Search Warrant. Fox's personal effects including his anti-establishment writings were seized and openly displayed for the willing press, even though it had nothing constitutionally to do with the seizure of the alleged illegal drugs. Cherokee County, Texas law enforcement is taught that as long as a willing city judge will sign off on a Warrant, then they are given carte blanche to illegally seize anything beyond the scope of the Arrest Affidavit. As in the Randy Kelton case, probable cause does not even need to be established. The Jacksonville Police Department was aware that Robert Fox's former associate and founder of the House of Israel Barry Brooks (convicted of practicing dentistry without a license) had left behind expired dental drugs and supply within the building. They were after Fox's legal writings to parade around to bolster another charge of barratry that was also eventually dropped.
The Jacksonville Chief of Police and his investigators made public these items though they are protected free speech under the US Constitution. The public is supposed to believe that the Robert Fox group is dangerous, while simultaneously believe the District Attorney's office had nothing to do with the blatant persecution. Press conferences were held to laud the work of the Jacksonville Police Department for the "narcotics" raid and subsequent "Taliban Link" discovered within the House of Israel. Now there is barely a murmur in the East Texas newspapers that Robert Fox and associates have been acquitted.
Cherokee County, Texas is operated by liars and sycophants in the newspapers whose livelihoods depend on placating their advertisers. The Jacksonville Daily Progress has finally succumbed to internal pressure and shut down its own Hey Martha forum after its editor faced his third DWI in Cherokee County. (Source: Jacksonville Daily Progress July 9, 2009 and Jacksonville Daily Progress Sept. 1, 2009) Free speech and actually debating official misconduct simply will not be tolerated.
If the local high school coach is accused of having sex with a student, then they bury the story. (Source: KLTV August 11, 2009) Justice authorities do their darndest to completely cover up the sordid details involving their own relatives. If any citizen disagrees with such unconstitutional acts perpetrated by these so-called 'justice authorities,' or exposes the crimes of these rogue officials, then those same officers of the court fabricate legal statutes out of thin air. And use their taxpayer subsidized salaries to go after their political enemies. Hence out of town radio personality Randall Kelton was given fair warning not to meddle with the District Attorney's handpicked jurors.
Talk show host Randall Kelton has filed several motions in Cherokee County district and county court, including Statements of Witness Tampering, Probable Cause and Habeas Corpus that argue the bogus criminal affidavits filed against him and Robert Fox. As he states in his defense briefs, the State of Texas does not require a license to "investigate," anymore than it requires a license to sit on a Grand Jury or sit behind a microphone.
And in Texas it is a felony NOT to report a felony. So who is violating the law? Kicking down people's doors just because they aren't welcome in town? Filing bogus and baseless charges against people because they don't like what they say about them on the phone and on the air? Working as a Cherokee County Constable by day and selling crystal meth by night? Kidnapping women off the streets of Jacksonville in a patrol car and raping them while on duty?
Not one single Cherokee County newspaper reported that Randall Kelton had gone to the Cherokee County grand jury and presented criminal complaints against Cherokee County officials. Not one single Cherokee County newspaper reported that their District Attorney's office filed criminal charges against Mr. Kelton for doing so. This is yet another recent example of how the ongoing generational Cult of Confession continues to infect Cherokee County, Texas politics. If the newspaper will not report it, and those who do get charged with a crime, then who will notify the public of the ongoing criminal activity? They collectively hope and make sure no one will.
Glenn Smith is one of our heroes here at Burnt Orange Report. A recurring guest writer for our site (as well as the work he's done over at the leading national blog, FireDogLake), Glenn is someone who sees the big picture of Texas politics, and connects with the progressive culture in a way that pure politics simply cannot.
With that, we're excited to announce the launch of his new blog, DogCanyon.org.
Many of us -- both here at Burnt Orange Report and across the Texas progressive blogosphere -- have had the good fortune of working closely with Glenn in recent years. Glenn has spent the past thirty years working in journalism and politics. Just a snapshot of his work (which you can view fully here at his Facebook page) is enough to make you realize how high the bar is set for all the aspiring political consultants out there:
Led Ann Richards' successful 1990 campaign for Governor of Texas
Worked for both TX Lieutenant Governor Bill Hobby and U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen
Has written for the Houston Chronicle and Hoston Post, and is author of such outstanding works as "The Politics of Deceit: Saving Freedom and Democracy from Extinction" and "Unfit Commander"
Glenn taught at George Lakoff's Rockridge Institute in Berkeley, and at the Starr King School for Ministry in Berkeley
Glenn's work stands on its own -- but rather than rest, he's gotten restless. In talking with him about his site, he told BOR:
"There's a growing gap between Texas political events and the voters. There are bold and engaged sites, like BurntOrangeReport, that are doing great work. At DogCanyon we're going to complement that work and offer some insights into Texas culture and politics, for readers here and around the country.
"In a couple of months the Texas Tribune will launch, an exciting new model for online news. I think all of us are trying to address a critical public need, the need for accurate and timely information. Make no mistake, the committed journalists at the big newspapers are committed to the same thing. They're just as committed as they've ever been, but the reading habits of people have changed."
Recognizing that we read differently, Glenn is adapting. His new website -- www.DogCanyon.org -- has already earned him rave reviews and accolades from respected voices in the progressive community:
“There are experienced progressive activists and there are insightful political writers. Glenn Smith is both, and he combines these skills with grace and abundant humor. Like Molly Ivins, he uses his colorful experiences in Texas to enlighten us all -- no matter where we live. I'm ready to make Dog Canyon a regular stop on my cyber-travels.”
--Arianna Huffington
“He has unmatched experience, a graceful pen (or pixel nowadays) and deep insight into the best and worst of us… He writes in the finest, firmest, fearless tradition of Texas essayists like Molly Ivins.”
--Paul Begala
“Glenn is a legendary political consultant and all-around good guy.”
--Markos Moulitsas, founder of DailyKos
We're excited and eager to read all of Glenn's new work at Dog Canyon (and hope he'll still come over and hang with the Burnt Orange Report crowd from time to time).
Best of luck, Glenn! And we'll be sure to read you at www.DogCanyon.org!
Neil at Texas Liberal is in Chicago. He has no notion of how to insert a link in an e-mail with the Wordpress iPhone application. Neil hopes you and yours are having a nice summer. Neil will be visiting the Indiana State Fair this week. He'll be the guy in a Houston Astros hat. (Note: link to Neil's site inserted by link roundup editor.)
If you run a red light in College Station and a police officer does not see you, do you still get a ticket? Depending on what red light you run the answer could be yes, and the city of College Station is attempting to increase the places in which that could happen. On February 18, 2008 cameras placed at four different locations in College Station began capturing video and photographic evidence of residents who ran red lights. The cameras have cause controversy and debate, and as the city prepare to place five more cameras in other locations residents have once again been voicing their opinions about the subject.
Even the purpose of the cameras is under discussion. Proponents of the cameras argue that the main purpose the cameras are to catch traffic violators and that a secondary purpose is to prevent traffic accidents. However, opponents of the cameras believe that the genuine motive for the cameras is to raise revenues. According to an article in The Eagle, College Station Traffic Engineer Troy Rother said that "the goal of the program is not to raise money."
There is strong public support for red light cameras. When asked if they supported red light cameras in the "most dangerous intersections" 69% supported the idea, according to a recent poll by Public Opinion Strategies (POS). The analysis of the poll by POS found that support for the cameras was strong through all demographics and political ideologies.
Tonight I will be a co-host on Biased Transmission, a progressive talk radio show which airs on 89.1FM KEOS every Wednesday from 6:00pm - 7:00pm. Kenneth Michael Absher*, a fellow at the Texas A&M University Bush School of Government and Public Service, was scheduled to be a guest on tonight's show and participate in a discussion about the Bush Administration's "enhanced interrogation" policies. Absher, who served for over 30 years in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), informed the show that he is "committed to activities that will prevent [him] from being available for an interview on [the] radio show for the foreseeable future"
Councilwoman Lynn McIlhaney is running for reelection and being challenge by two other candidates in the campaign for College Station City Council Place 4.
Councilwoman McIlhaney, Mayor Pro Tem, is a long serving member of the local government, and has served as a city council member or mayor for 22 of the last 27 years. It should also be noted that McIlhaney is a member of the Arts Council of the Brazos Valley, Keep Brazos Beautiful, and was a board member of the Brazos Valley Animal Shelter. McIlhaney is the only candidate for Place 4 who answers all of the Brazos Progressives candidate survey questions.
According to an article in The Eagle, McIlhaney supports building a convention center to foster tourism; however, she would also support allowing the voters to have the final word in a referendum. The councilwoman believes that the current City Hall "does not give us the space needed for future growth, it is not centrally located for our citizens and the cost to re-locate rather than renovate is a better investment for our citizens in the long term."
She supports the U.S. Mayors' Climate Protection Agreement and noted that the city is in the "process of looking for a staff person to co-ordinate the Green City program." On her list of possible improvements are hybrid cars, energy efficient buildings, and continuing the wind watts program. Along with these the councilwoman also supports promoting the curb side recycling program, and ensuring that new programs are cost effective and achieve the goal of reducing waste.
Providing access to pedestrians, bicyclists, and wheel chair users is something that McIlhaney supports, and note that the city plans to address the issue of "connectivity through our transportation plan as part of the new Comprehensive Plan and our Greenways Plan." The councilwoman does not support funding for a permanent farmer's market. Although she supports public/private partnerships, she does not "support tax payers buying land, building a building" in order to create a permanent famer's market.
According to the article in the Eagle McIlhaney supports the current "conservative approach" to annexing land, and believes that the city should encourage "development within the existing city limits, in-fill development, zoning, building standards and pedestrian friendly infrastructure."
College Station City Council member Dave Ruesink is facing a challenge for the council seat in Place 6 from two Texas A&M University students: Cliff Eggers and Chandler Salome.
Ruesink has served on the on the city council for the last three years, and the Bryan-College Station newspaper The Eagle said in a recent editorial that he "has shown himself to be more than up to the challenge of the job."
Ruesink supports funding for a permanent farmers marker in a visible central locations, and noted that having a market in Central Park would be a step forward but that a better location should be found. Also, Ruesink supports "smart growth," as opposed to urban sprawl, and has proposed the possibility of rasping property taxes on undeveloped property within the city to "make it more attractive to sell than to hold onto the land."
The construction of a new city hall has been an issue of great concern, and Ruesink had the most thoughtful approach to the problem. While agreeing that the city needs to be expanded, he also noted that it might not be possible to expand the current city hall efficiently in its current location. Ruesink said that "it would be more effective to being a totally new building that could incorporation "green" methods for construction."
*Note: Ruesink did not respond to Brazos Progressives questions about the US Mayors' Climate Protection Agreement, the curb side recycling program, or access for pedestrians, bicyclist, and wheel chair users.
