Tag Archives: Potter County

local news, political news

Welcome aboard, Judge Tanner

Potter County Judge Nancy Tanner has just assumed a monstrously full plate of issues.

She took her oath of office today — an oath that seemed to have no end, to be candid — after telling the crowd crammed into the Santa Fe Building auditorium that she plans to get right to work as head of the county’s commissioners court.

* The Santa Fe Building is one-third empty, Tanner said, and she plans to put more county employees into the 85-year-old structure. Where is she going to get them? From the Courts Building across the street from the old County Courthouse. The Courts Building needs major work to make it less of a hazard and Tanner said she has plans to deal with the lousy structure that former County Judge Arthur Ware has referred to as “The Grain Elevator.”

* Morale is low in several county departments, Tanner said, and she plans to improve it.

* Taxes are “too high,” according to the new county judge, who said the best cure for that is to bring “more business” into Potter County. No specifics came today on how she plans to do that.

Tanner’s swearing-in ceremony was festive and friendly. Tanner is a dedicated Republican officeholder, but I was glad to see a smattering of known Democrats among those who attended the event. They’re all friends of the new judge. Indeed, retired Court at Law Judge Dick Dambold — who administered the lengthy oath to Tanner — held office as a Democrat. So it was good to see Tanner spread the love across partisan lines in Potter County.

The judge took note of how she was able to be elected to the office by defeating four other Republican candidates outright, avoiding a runoff — a result that surprised a lot of political observers, including yours truly.

Still, I am delighted for the county as well as for the new judge. Her former boss, Ware, fired Tanner in 2013 from her job as administrative assistant to the county judge for reasons he’s never explained publicly. Tanner’s dismissal was part of an awkward and embarrassing set of events that included Ware’s endorsement of one of Tanner’s opponents in the upcoming primary.

Happily, though, Ware and Tanner have made peace and they’re back to being friends.

It’s a new day, though, in Potter County. Tanner took note that she becomes the county’s first female county judge.

She took the oath, applause rang forth from the crowd in attendance, the curtain parted on the stage of the top-floor auditorium — and it revealed a sign: “History Begins Today.”

Congratulations, Judge Tanner.

Now, get to work.

local news, political news

Voting for the party, not the candidate

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We’ve all said at one time or another: I vote for the candidate, not the party.

This item in today’s Daily Oklahoman caught my eye. It’s on the editorial page and, of course, it gigs Democratic-leaning voters for making some, um, strange polling-place choices on Election Day. I get it, given the paper’s conservative tilt editorially. No problem with that.

http://newsok.com/scissortales-an-unusual-distinction-for-oklahoma-governor/article/5364590

An editorial brief in the Oklahoman refers to a Democratic candidate for Congress who received 35,006 votes on Tuesday — even though he died in a car accident several days before the election. Then it refers to a Cleveland County commissioner candidate, another Democrat, who received 38 percent of the vote despite having been arrested three times for drunken driving.

The paper wonders whether party label mattered over candidate qualifications.

Good point.

But here’s another example of the point the Oklahoman was making.

Over here, in Potter County, a Republican candidate for justice of peace actually defeated a long-time Democratic incumbent even though the GOP challenger had been arrested multiple times in recent years on felony charges involving domestic disputes.

Does party affiliation matter more in this instance than a candidate’s actual qualifications?

I will say, with considerable emphasis, “yes.”

local news, political news

Republican wave douses Potter County

Just how serious is this Republican wave that the GOP is proclaiming from the Tuesday mid-term election?

Consider what happened in one justice of the peace precinct in Potter County, Texas. It had been served since 1998 by a Democratic justice of the peace, who on Tuesday got drummed out of office by a first-time candidate who –near as I can tell — no one had heard of.

My pal and former colleague Jon Mark Beilue talks about this in a blog he wrote this morning.

http://amarillo.com/blog-post/jon-mark-beilue/2014-11-05/anyone-republican-would-win-local-election

Texas is seriously Republican. The Panhandle of our state is even more so. Democratic stronghold pockets are dwindling with each election cycle. Another of them bit the dust Tuesday.

JP Nancy Bosquez soon will be a former justice of the peace. Her successor will be a fellow named Richard Herman, a retired Army sergeant.

Potter County’s Precinct 2 long has been considered relatively “safe” for Democrats. No more. To be a Republican running for anything in Texas, let alone the Panhandle, is now to be a juggernaut. Herman won even though he’s lugging some considerable personal baggage, which includes multiple arrests on felony charges.

The Republican tide Tuesday was real. It swept out a dependable officeholder who had the misfortune of being from the “other” party.

However, here’s one head-scratching element to this story. The county commissioner from that very precinct, Democrat Mercy Murguia, was elected to a full term. She survived the GOP tsunami, while Bosquez was getting swamped.

Very strange.

 

 

local news, political news, State news

Democratic or Republican justice?

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Two candidates for Potter County justice of the peace seem to have something in common, even though they represent differing political parties.

They both dislike electing judges on partisan ballots in Texas.

Wisdom crosses party lines, yes? Good deal.

A commentary in the Amarillo Globe-News took note of their shared dislike of partisan judicial elections. Democratic incumbent Nancy Bosquez is being challenged by Republican Richard Herman for the Precinct 2 JP post. Bosquez has been JP for several terms. I don’t know much about Herman.

Here’s the deal, though: I can make a case that no political office needs to be elected on a partisan basis, other than for the Legislature, governor and lieutenant governor.

All the rest of them, from attorney general, comptroller, land commissioner, agriculture commissioner … and on down through the county ballots, with the exception of county commissioner and county judge need not be elected on partisan ballots.

Have you ever wondered whether a county tax assessor-collector does his or her job based on her or her party’s political platform? Does a Democratic tax collector do the job differently than a Republican one? Same for treasurer, district attorney, even sheriff. How do you tell the difference between a Democratic law enforcement official and a Republican one?

The judge races drive me the most nuts.

I can understand Bosquez’s discomfort with partisan judicial elections, given that she serves in a heavily Republican county. Yes, her particular precinct leans Democratic, but it leans less in that direction than it did, say, a decade ago.

But the point is valid no matter one’s political affiliation. How does a Democratic JP adjudicate small claims cases differently from a Republican JP?

I’ve noted many times in the past regarding these partisan judicial races: Too many good judges from he “out” party get the boot when the tide favors candidates from the other party. That’s been the case in Texas dating back about three decades, when Republicans ascended to power. Democratic judges have been ousted by inferior Republican opponents — and exactly the same thing happened in reverse when Democrats held every office under the big Texas sky.

I’ll keep harping on the need to reform this goofy election system of ours, even though it’s falling on deaf ears.

Meantime, be sure to vote on Nov. 4.

 

 

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Hoping retirement is this agreeable

Here is another in an occasional series of blog posts commenting on impending retirement.

The closer I get to retirement, the more I hope that status is as agreeable to me as it is with others I encounter almost daily.

The other day, someone from my professional past crossed my path at the part-time job where I work.

She took my breath away … but not in the way you might be thinking right about now.

Rebecca King served as 47th district attorney for Potter and Armstrong counties until 2004. Then she retired. I hadn’t seen her in the decade since she left public office — and all but disappeared from public view.

She came into the auto dealership where I worked to get her vehicle serviced. I saw her, caught my breath, extended my hand and we exchanged pleasantries.

There’s really only one way to say this: Retirement has been very kind to Mme. Prosecutor.

Her hair is now as white as snow. She looked happy, fit and so very relaxed. It was great catching up with her.

What’s she doing these days? She says he’s a full-time rancher. “Do you still practice law?” I asked. She laughed. “Oh no. When you’re a career criminal prosecutor, there’s nothing else I can do,” she said.

Folks like Rebecca King set the bar high for those who are coming along right behind them.

Here’s hoping I can hold up as well as she has.

local news, State news

New county judge's plate will be heaping

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Nancy Tanner isn’t shying away from the huge tasks awaiting her when she becomes Potter County’s next judge.

It’s not exactly a done deal just yet, although it’s virtually so. Tanner won the Republican Party primary in March. No Democrat is on the ballot. Still, she has to go through the motions of an election in November. It’s safe to assume she’ll be elected in the fall, then she gets set to take the gavel from her former mentor and friend, Arthur Ware, who fired Tanner from her job as his administrative assistant in 2013 for reasons no one yet really knows — officially.

Job One for the new judge?

It appears that the Courts Building needs replacing. Not repair. Or refurbishing. It needs to be knocked down.

No one in county government — at least those with whom I’ve spoken — likes working in the structure that Ware calls without a hint of affection the “Grain Elevator.”

It was completed in 1985, which means that it has fallen apart in less than 30 years. Compare that with the Santa Fe Building, which houses several county offices. That Santa Fe was built in 1930 and as a friend who works for the county told me this morning, he toured the then-vacant structure right after the county bought it in 1995 — before the county lifted a finger to fix it up — and said “We could move right now!”

I should add that the county paid a grand total of $400,000 for the 11-story office building.

How’s the county going to pay for a new Courts Building? Tanner told the Rotary Club of Amarillo this past week she believes certificates of obligation are an option. The county has a relatively light debt load, she said.

Now the big question: How much would a new building cost? My spies at the county tell me they’ve heard estimates that hover around the $150 million mark. Would the county issue that COs to cover the entire cost? Tanner didn’t say.

The building is a piece of crap. Everyone seems to agree on that fundamental point.

It needs to go. Finding a suitable strategy to replace will keep the new county judge up late at night.

Welcome back to public service, Judge Tanner.

 

 

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Wipe out dry precincts

An idea for a Texas constitutional amendment came to me today as I read a newspaper story about a petition to allow for beer and wine sales at a retail outlet planned for a Potter County justice of the peace precinct.

Let’s call for an amendment to the Texas Constitution that allows Potter County to get rid of the prohibition.

For that matter, why not vote statewide on eliminating all dry county precincts?

Are we up for it?

At issue is a petition to allow a proposed Sam’s Club box store planned for a site in far west Amarillo. It sits in JP Precinct 3, which is dry. To buy a mixed drink or a cold beer in JP 3, you have to join a private “club.” I found this out when I first moved to Amarillo in January 1995. I went to dinner one night, ordered a beer at Hoffbrau on Interstate 40 and Coulter, but had to join a club to buy a drink.

What a joke.

I’ve never quite understood, to be candid, how dry precincts and counties continue to have any relevance in this mobile society of ours.

As for the Sam’s Club petition, to deny the retailer the chance to sell alcoholic beverages — beer and wine — is to deny the company a chance to enhance its profit, earn more revenue, thrive in a growing business climate. Why not allow the sale?

I’m guessing it would require a constitutional amendment to enact the change, given that Texas counties are governed by state statute. Under state law, any constitutional amendment — no matter how “local” its implication — requires a vote of all Texans.

The entire notion of dry justice of the peace precincts is an archaic notion that needs to be tossed aside.

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Potter County joins downtown game

Potter County is in the game to rehabilitate downtown Amarillo.

And why not? The downtown district sits entirely within Potter County. The county will derive direct benefit from whatever accrues from downtown’s revival — assuming, of course, that it ever gets going.

The Commissioners Court voted 3-2 Monday to approve a tax abatement for the Coca-Cola Distribution Center, which now paves the way for the center to vacate downtown for a new site at CenterPort Business Park. The county will forgo tens of thousands of dollars in annual tax revenue from Coke. It will gain — again, hoping for the best — much more in return as downtown kick starts its revival.

That revival is supposed to include a “multipurpose event venue,” or MPEV, a parking garage and a convention hotel.

It’s supposed to cost $113 million, which developers hope will come from private investors who’ll just be delighted to death to sink their money into these projects.

I truly hope it happens. I believe the downtown project has enormous potential for the city.

Just imagine Amarillo’s minor league baseball team, the Sox, playing home games in a shiny new venue other than that rat-hole facility next door to the Tri-State Fairgrounds.

Potter County’s continued foot-dragging, though, is problematic.

I applaud commissioners for seeking to perform due diligence on the project. The “no” votes came from commissioners Alphonso Vaughn and Mercy Murguia, both of whom have demonstrated a willingness to ask difficult questions of sometimes-recalcitrant principals.

The county, though, ought to stand arm-in-arm with the city on this matter. The city is taking the lead on the development, but the county also has skin in this game, given that downtown rests entirely within Potter County.

I’ll stand by my earlier blog post and wonder when they’re going to start construction on this project. I’m getting a tad impatient, as I’m sure many other observers have become anxious for the work to begin.

All in all, though, the county made the right call. Now, let’s fire up the bulldozers.

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Will they ever start busting up some cement?

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Potter County is on board, finally, with a plan that is supposed to get downtown Amarillo’s rebirth started. Maybe. Eventually. Or will it ever get done?

http://www.connectamarillo.com/news/story.aspx?id=1061498#.U6jrcFJOWt8

County commissioners voted 3-2 Monday to grant a 10-year tax abatement for the Coca-Cola distribution plant, which will relocate to a business park near Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport.

Now construction can begin — one should hope — on a new ballpark downtown that will go where the current Coke distribution plant is located.

Given the closeness of the vote on the commission, one understands the contentiousness of this issue.

City planners had hoped, I’m guessing, to be a lot farther along on this project than they have gotten.

The County Courthouse project is done; the city has rebuilt some curbs at intersections; it has knocked down the old jail; it has welcomed a downtown business hotel in the old Fisk Building; a new convenience store has opened up across the street from a new bank complex.

But the Big Three of the downtown redevelopment effort — the stadium, parking garage and a new convention hotel — haven’t yet begun. It’s been more than three years since the city signed the deal with the Wallace-Bajjali development firm to spearhead a $113 million project that is supposed to occur with a single dime of public tax money being spent.

Officials connected to the project keep saying they have a lot i’s to dot and t’s to cross. It’s complicated, we’re told.

I’m as anxious as anyone else to see the downtown project move forward. However, I’m getting a little nervous about the time it’s taken to line up all the elements.

I’m ready to start seeing some pavement being busted up downtown.

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County to get its first female judge

Nancy Tanner reminded us today of something that seems to have slipped under the radar.

She made history by becoming, pending the election this November, Potter County’s first female county judge. I have to take pains to avoid getting ahead of myself. Tanner at this point only is the Republican nominee to be county judge. Her election is uncontested, as there are no Democrats on the ballot. I doubt seriously anyone will emerge as a write-in candidate, so her election is virtually assured.

One of the foes she vanquished Tuesday happened to be another history-maker, Debra McCartt, who had been elected as the first female mayor of Amarillo. McCartt sought to parlay that name-recognition into the county judge’s office, but fell short, finishing third in the five-candidate field.

It’s not yet clear how Tanner’s gender will determine the way she runs the Commissioners Court. Heck, I’m not convinced her gender even really matters.

She’ll be serving with four capable individuals on the court, three men and one woman. Two commissioners are Republicans, two are Democrats.

The most interesting relationship on the court could be the one that develops between the two women who serve the county, Tanner and Precinct 2 Commissioner Mercy Murguia.

One of the cautionary tales being bandied about in the weeks leading up to the primary was how the new judge might be able to work with Murguia, who’s become a force of nature on the court. She has become an aggressive questioner of department heads and others who come before commissioners, which can be a good development for the court if the questions are constructive and produce changes when needed.

Tanner strikes me as someone who can be a no-nonsense administrator. Her gender should have no bearing on how she runs the county as its only Commissioners Court member elected countywide.

Then again, she’s entering what traditionally has been a man’s world. One of the things I’ve learned about the Texas Panhandle in more than 19 years living here is that some traditions have a way of hanging on.

I’m betting — and certainly hoping — that Tanner’s history-making election will make way for an equally historic county judgeship.