What if voters say ‘yes’ to MPEV, council members?

ama city council

Let’s play a little game of “What If?”

It goes like this:

Amarillo voters will vote Nov. 3 on whether to approve a multipurpose event venue that includes a ballpark. It’s a non-binding referendum, meaning that the City Council is not bound legally to follow the voters’ wishes.

It’s an open question today about whether the $32 million project will receive the voters’ endorsement.

However, what if the voters say “yes” to the MPEV? The council currently comprises three members — a majority — who dislike the proposal as it’s been presented. The three men — Elisha Demerson, Randy Burkett and Mark Nair — were elected this past May; Demerson and Burkett defeated incumbents Ellen Green and Lilia Escajeda, respectively, in winning their council seats.

Green and Escajeda are staunch supporters of the MPEV.

Back to the “What If?” game.

What if the majority decides to buck the voters? Are they so wedded to their vision of what the MPEV should look like that they’ll say “no!” to the results of the referendum?

The three men campaigned on a promise to be more transparent, more accountable to the voters, more willing to listen to what voters want.

Well, this vote well could give them their best chance of all to prove they are men of their word.

It also could give them the opportunity to stand behind their combined belief that the MPEV as it’s been developed and presented is a loser.

This “What If?” game, of course, swings the other direction. If voters say “no” to the MPEV, the council members who favor it — Councilmen Brian Eades and Mayor Paul Harpole — face the same conundrum. Do they vote against the residents’ will knowing they don’t have the votes to stop it?

Ah, the change we got on our City Council. Ain’t it grand?

If the vote goes the way I want it to go — with an MPEV endorsement — I’ll send plenty of vibes toward City Hall encouraging the entire council to ratify the voters’ wishes.

And, yes, I’ll do the same if the vote goes badly.

 

W said what … about Sen. Cruz?

UNITED KINGDOM - JUNE 16:  U.S. President George W. Bush waves upon arrival at RAF Aldgerove in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on Monday, June 16, 2008. Gordon Brown, U.K. prime minister said Britain is pushing the European Union to impose new sanctions against Iran, including freezing the assets of its biggest bank, to pressure the nation to give up its nuclear program at a press conference with Bush in London today.  (Photo by Paul McErlane/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

George W. Bush can be full of surprises at times.

The former president was attending a fundraiser in Denver over the weekend to raise money for his brother, Jeb — who’s running for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.

Then he lobbed a grenade: “I just don’t like the guy.”

“The guy” is fellow Texan — and a GOP presidential foe of Jeb Bush — Sen. Ted Cruz.

Politico reported Bush’s feelings about Cruz and noted that many in the audience were stunned by the former president’s statement. As the Texas Tribune reported:  “I was like, ‘Holy sh-t, did he just say that?’ I remember looking around and seeing that other people were also looking around surprised.”

Others have suggested that Cruz’s criticism of Jeb Bush, not to mention his criticism of the former president’s policies, has contributed to the antipathy against the fiery freshman senator from Texas.

Again, as the Tribune reports, quoting an observer who heard the comments: “He sort of looks at this like Cruz is doing it all for his own personal gain, and that’s juxtaposed against a family that’s been all about public service and doing it for the right reasons. He’s frustrated to have watched Cruz basically hijack the Republican Party of Texas and the Republican Party in Washington.”

Hijack the GOP? Gee. Do ya think? The guy storms into office, grabs the first microphone within reach and starts bellowing about how the Senate Republican caucus isn’t conservative enough, doesn’t confront Democrats enough, doesn’t do enough to push the ultra-conservative agenda that Cruz and other TEA Party favorites desire.

Welcome to the club, Mr. President.

 

So … why are pledges for MPEV suites a bad thing?

MPEV

Here it comes. Some conspiracy theorists are now putting out allegations that businesses pledging money up front to use luxury suites at the proposed multipurpose event venue in downtown Amarillo are, um, buying votes.

Let’s take a breath, eh?

First, I want to make an admission. I got ahead of myself in an earlier blog post about the MPEV suites when I wrote that they’d been “sold out.” Although I noted in my blog post that no money had changed hands, the headline indicated the suites had actually been sold. My mistake.

Here’s the earlier post

Back to today’s issue at hand.

A leading opponent of the MPEV, David Kossey, wondered why the suites are being “sold” or “reserved” prior to the citywide vote on the MPEV, which is set for Nov. 3. He said that normally, the suites would be put up for the public to decide whether to purchase the suites. The implication is that businesses are pushing their way to the head of the line.

The co-chair of the pro-MPEV political organization, Vote FOR Amarillo, Paul Matney, told NewsChannel 10: “We’re finding out that businesses want to support the ballpark by committing to a suite. There’s no contract and this is not a commitment to an operator, just simply to the idea.”

So, I’ll pose this question. Why is the commitment from business interests in a venue that they want built a bad idea?

The $32 million MPEV construction will be financed with revenue bonds that the city will repay through a variety of funding sources. Hotel occupancy tax is one of them; rental revenue is another.

And, oh yes, revenue from the selling of these luxury suites is yet another payback method.

MPEV suites gobbled up

The interest expressed by business owners is what it is: a commitment to a concept they believe will benefit the city and the region. Is there some of what I like to call “enlightened self-interest”? Sure there is. They want to provide their business customers/clients with some quality entertainment. So what?

The bottom line is the bottom line. They’re helping finance an entertainment complex that its supporters believe will spur greater economic activity in the city’s downtown district.

That is a bad thing? No. It’s a very good thing.

 

 

 

A mind has changed on the MPEV

amarillo MPEV

A most interesting message came to me this evening.

It was from a businesswoman I’ve known for many years. She and I listened the other day to Paul Matney make the case for the multipurpose event venue that’s going to be on the Nov. 3 Amarillo ballot.

Voters are going to be asked whether to approve the MPEV and its ballpark design. My businesswoman friend had opposed the MPEV. Then she changed her mind. She told me that Matney’s presentation made her reconsider her opposition to the MPEV.

It reminded me of something the late Republican state Sen. Teel Bivins of Amarillo once told about his former Texas Senate colleague, Democrat Carl Parker of Port Arthur, was able to do … which was to change senators’ minds simply by the force of his own debating skills while arguing his case on the floor of the Senate.

It’s a rare thing to watch happen, Bivins said, but Parker was able to accomplish the seemingly impossible.

I don’t know that I’d ever witnessed such a compelling presentation, either before I heard Matney’s presentation. Then again, he was preaching to the converted already … that would be me.

Matney’s passion for whatever cause that’s on his radar can be a wondrous thing to see and hear. The former Amarillo College president became an ardent proponent of the school he led and he spoke with fluid eloquence about AC whenever he was given the chance.

He apparently has developed the same fluidity as he campaigns across Amarillo on behalf of the MPEV and the years-long effort to remake the city’s downtown business district. The MPEV with its ballpark design can play a huge role in downtown’s revival and Matney is delivering that message with stunning efficiency.

Believe me when I say that my friend whose mind has changed on the MPEV is not one to be pushed around easily.

I believe she might not be alone among those who are rethinking their view on this important project.

Odom: ‘a colossal dumbass’

odom

Unlike my friend Bill Perkins, a journalist in Dothan, Ala., I actually had heard of Lamar Odom before he passed out in that Nevada brothel.

But this social media post from my friend is just too good not to share:

“Never heard of Lamar Odom before he whorehoused himself into a coma. Now it’s all you hear about.

“It might be different if what we heard was ‘Boy, what a dumbass that guy must be.’ Instead, it’s all, ‘Omigod, he opened an eye!’ As if he won’t still be a colossal dumbass when he fully recovers.

“How many homeless people could have been fed with the $75,000 he spent on prostitutes and whatnot over three days?

“A helluva lot, that’s how many.”

I happen to want Odom to recover. I’m guessing my pal Bill does, too.

My other hope is that this near-death experience teaches the young man a valuable life lesson. And that he learns from it and changes his life for the better.

Hey, sometimes miracles do occur.

Bush channels Billy Jeff

Jeb  Bush

Jeb Bush seems to be channeling William Jefferson Clinton in trying to explain how President George W. Bush “kept us safe” from terrorist attacks.

You remember when Billy Jeff tried to explain the definition of the word “is.”

The former Florida governor, who’s running for the Republican presidential nomination, is struggling with the reality that the 9/11 attacks occurred on George W.’s watch. Thus, he is responsible — as commander in chief — for the failure to protect us against terror attacks.

Bush is correct, though, to assert that since the attacks the United States remained safe. President Bush and Congress created a new Cabinet agency — the Department of Homeland Security — and gave it specific authority to devise a strategy to prevent future terrorist attacks.

Bush says W kept us safe

It doe no good to quibble over the definition of “keeping us safe” and arguing over whether we mean pre-9/11 or post-9/11.

The attacks occurred nine months into George W. Bush’s presidency. There’s no denying that, right? Nor is there any denying that the president did rally the country behind the initial effort to go after the terrorists in their Afghanistan hideouts — and to take down the government in Kabul that was supporting them.

The unity evaporated when we went to war … in Iraq.

Did the 43rd president keep the nation safe? Yes — after the attacks that killed 3,000 innocent victims and changed the nation forever.

 

Bush seeks to dodge 9/11 responsibility

attack

CNN’s Jake Tapper might have asked the most incisive and insightful question of the 2016 president campaign.

Over the weekend on “State of the Union,” Tapper asked former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush the following question: “Obviously Al Qaeda was responsible for the terrorist attack of 9/11, but how do you respond to critics who ask, if your brother and his administration bear no responsibility at all, how do you then make the jump that President Obama and Secretary Clinton are responsible for what happened at Benghazi?”

Gov. Bush answered this way: “Well I — the question on Benghazi which, is hopefully we’ll now finally get the truth to, is was the place secure? They had a responsibility, the Department of State, to have proper security. There were calls for security, it looks like they didn’t get it. And how was the response in the aftermath of the attack, was there a chance that these four American lives could have been saved? That’s what the investigation is about, it’s not a political issue. It’s not about the broad policy issue, is were we doing the job of protecting our embassies and our consulates and during the period, those hours after the attack started, could they have been saved?”

Did you follow the former governor’s answer? I had trouble getting the connection.

Bush once was thought to be the favorite for the Republican presidential nomination next year. He’s no longer the front runner, based in part on the stumble-bum answers he’s given to questions regarding whether President Bush — Jeb’s big brother — was responsible for the 9/11 attacks.

Gov. Bush said his brother “kept us safe” during his presidency. Hmmm. The loved ones of the 3,000 or so Americans who died on that terrible day might disagree with that view.

The attack occurred nine months into Bush’s presidency. He had been briefed by national security advisers about the threat that al-Qaeda posed. He was warned in advance about the possibility of an attack. The massive intelligence apparatus that we employed did not do its job in protecting the nation.

Is that the president’s responsibility? Well, gosh, it seems that the commander in chief ought to be held accountable. However, Gov. Bush chooses to avoid holding his brother accountable for that breakdown.

As for Tapper’s question, it still requires some clarity in the answer.

If George W. Bush doesn’t deserve blame for the tragedy that befell us on 9/11, how can Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama be held responsible for the Benghazi attack that occurred 11 years later to the day?

Is there a double-standard being applied?

 

MPEV suites sold out … already

amarillo MPEV

Let’s hang a proverbial “No Vacancy” sign on what supporters hope will be a multipurpose event venue to be built in downtown Amarillo.

You see, it’s been reported that all 12 luxury suites designed for the MPEV have been sold. None left.

Interesting, yes? Absolutely.

It’s that ballpark element that’s drawn all the attention from the buyers. They want to enjoy minor-league baseball in the relative comfort of the suites. Wow! Imagine that. Customers jumping at the chance to watch a little baseball in a shiny new sports venue.

Who knew?

No money has been laid out yet for the suites, but Advance Amarillo — a group supporting the MPEV — says without equivocation that enough buyers are waiting in the wings that the suites will be sold out when then project is built.

Gosh, isn’t that what proponents have been saying all along would happen?

Naturally, not everyone is on board. David Kossey speaks for a group that oppose the MPEV. He issued this statement this evening: “We are interested to know who authorized the sale, negotiation, or procurement of any transactions related to a not-yet-built ballpark. Is the Vote For Amarillo crowd pre-selecting an operator of the MPEV without consent of the voters in November, and superseding the authority of the city council? The media campaign by the ‘VoteFor’ group saying ‘all suites are spoken for’ appears to be a continuation of a ‘we will tell Amarillo what they want and who will receive it’ mentality voters removed by the results of the May election. After their attempt to confuse the elderly voters earlier in this election, this attempt to precursor the election with an idea that ‘this is a done deal,’ raises even more questions.”

Well, I don’t know what the verb “precursor” is meant to convey. But what the heck.

There is no effort being made to “tell Amarillo what they want.” The news is merely intended to report that the suites are being claimed by those who want in.

I believe that the MPEV — if it’s allowed to move forward — will produce significant interest among those who want to sit in a nice venue to watch an athletic event. It beats the daylights out of the dump — Potter County Memorial Stadium — that serves currently as Amarillo’s baseball venue.

 

Gowdy to GOP colleagues: ‘Shut up’ about Benghazi

Trey_Gowdy-1

I love the comment from House Select Benghazi Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy to his Republican colleagues.

“Shut up” about things about which you know nothing, says the South Carolina Republican.

They know nothing? Or do they know, um, too much?

Hillary Clinton is going to testify this week before the House panel about the fire fight in September 2012 at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. Four brave Americans died in the melee, including the U.S. ambassador to Libya.

Republicans have been trying like the dickens for more than three years to find enough dirt on Clinton, who was secretary of state at the time, to pin something on her. They’ve accused her of covering something up.

They’ve come up empty … so far.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy then popped off about the reason the committee was formed, noting that Clinton’s poll numbers have plunged since the panel began its work; his comments seemed to most observers to suggest the motive for the committee being formed in the first place was to torpedo Clinton’s presidential campaign.

And then came Rep. Richard Hanna, another GOP colleague, to say the same thing that McCarthy said. D’oh! There’s another one: Bradley Podliska, a former GOP staffer — who worked for the Benghazi committee — also said the same thing. He doesn’t know, Mr. Chairman?

Clinton’s testimony could sink her campaign. It could lift it to new heights. As some folks have noted, the Benghazi hearings have gone on longer than the House Watergate hearings and the Warren Commission hearings looking into JFK’s assassination.

One of these days, hopefully before the presidential nominating conventions next year, the Benghazi panel will wrap this up, publish its findings and then we can move on.

 

 

‘Transparency’ becomes the new city mantra

Transparency

Elisha Demerson got elected to the Amarillo City Council in May while calling for a more “transparent” city government.

That’s fine. I’m all for it. The more proverbial “sunlight,” the better.

Then this past week he trotted out a significant set of proposals he said will “reform” the Amarillo Police Department. On paper and at first blush, the proposals look pretty good — starting with a re-emphasis on “community policing,” in which officers work more closely with neighborhoods and their residents.

Back to the transparency thing …

I’m wondering how transparent Demerson was in formulating this set of ideas. Did he conduct public hearings? Did he consult with what’s left of the city’s legal counsel office? Did he talk privately with, say, the now-lame-duck city manager? Did he meet with his colleagues on the City Council?

Here’s my idea for a more transparent method for formulating such a proposal:

Meet in public with the entire City Council. Toss the ideas out there. Debate them with your colleagues. Seek advice — in public — from city legal authorities. Talk among yourselves. Argue these ideas point by point. Seek a consensus. Once you get there, ask all your colleagues to coalesce around a single idea.

Then you make your pitch to the public — which, by then, will have been up to speed already on the process that got us to this point.

Mayor Paul Harpole is critical of what Demerson has proposed. I don’t know yet if Harpole dislikes the ideas themselves, or the way in which his council colleague came up with them.

Either way, the transparency mantra hasn’t been served as well as it could have been before Councilman Demerson dropped this police reform idea on our collective laps.