Two weeks before I met Gary Hogan in 2007 I had received a written gas lease offer from a landman in the mail. As a retired chemical engineer and physicist who had served two years on a gas drilling advisory committee for the Philmont Scout Ranch in the Sangre de Cristo mountains of New Mexico, I had many questions, none of which were even suggested in the letter. I sent an email to Chuck Silcox, my Councilman, expressing my concerns and asking his advice.
That evening Chuck called me and talked for two hours. He explained how such a proposal could be treated by the Mayor and Council in such a casual manner. He suggested that I call Gary Hogan and ask him to help. Gary had been Chuck's appointee to the 2006 city gas drilling task force. Gary agreed to speak to my neighborhood association about gas drilling issues.
At a meeting at my neighborhood elementary school both Gary and I spoke, and Chuck attended. As a result, the ill-advised plan to drill our neighborhood was withdrawn and redesigned. The plan had been to drill so close to the school that a typical accident would have blown out all the windows in the school.
Gary has since served on the 2008 gas drilling task force, has spoken at more than a hundred neighborhood meetings, and was asked by Chuck to run for the District 3 Council seat this year.
No other candidate has a grasp of the importance of this issue to the future of Fort Worth. No other candidate will stand up to the Mayor. Vote for Gary Hogan on May 9.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Friday, April 3, 2009
What we need, and what they're offering
The City Council election of 2009 begins on April 27 when early voting starts and ends on May 9, election day. There are seven candidates in the District 3 race. You may wonder why there are so many candidates for an unpaid job that traditionally is about bread and butter issues like police and fire protection, street maintenance, parks, street lighting, zoning, water, sewer, and the like.
The purpose of this blog is to shine a spotlight on the candidates and explain why there are so many people running for District 3 this year. We'll keep an eye on the money--where it's coming from, how much is being spent by each candidate, and why.
This is important, because in District 3 we were represented for the last 17 years by Councilman Chuck Silcox, a man of the people whose focus was on the needs of his constituents and who did his best to keep downtown special interests out of their pocketbooks.
Since 2003 Chuck had been battling a Mayor who demanded unquestioning loyalty and was very vindictive toward Council members who disagreed with his plans. But Chuck stood up and provided a voice for the people. When Chuck passed away in October of 2008 the Mayor decided not to hold a special election because he didn't want to risk getting another independent thinker on the Council at a time when the Trinity River Vision project and the gas drillers had so much business before the Council.
There might be a demand for a city audit. (There hasn't been one in years.) There might be a fight over the right of drillers' subsidiary pipeline companies to condemn homes and front yards for the purpose of gas gathering pipeline right of way--all for private profit. There might be some resistance to the recent practice of granting generous tax abatements to businesses seeking a handout as a condition for locating here. Without Chuck on the Council the Mayor had a very compliant City Council, so District 3 remains without representation for seven months while the Mayor's agenda proceeds full tilt. The proffered excuse was the cost of a special election.
If the upcoming election didn't have crucial special interest issues at stake one would historically expect the District 3 race to be rather uninteresting as such elections go, but this year there are seven candidates.
To listen to the stump speeches offered by the candidates in public forums, every candidate loved Chuck Silcox and the way he represented the people. And they all promise to follow in Chuck's footsteps. Some talk about how they have "worked with" Chuck in the past. But what would you expect them to say? I can imagine the worst of the Mayor's yes-men on the Council today saying the same kind of politically correct things in spite of their own allegiance to the Mayor's agenda. Talk is cheap.
One of the Star-Telegram's favorite candidates, a very polished speaker who has never before shown an interest in running for Council, was sitting with Danny Scarth, Carter Burdette, and Jungus Jordan at a candidate forum in March at the Ol' South Pancake House. These Council members are the most loyal of the Mayor's supporters on the present Council and are squarely in the pockets of the special interests.
Another, who is a retired Lockheed-Martin executive has been in the race since shortly after Chuck passed away. He steers away from talking about special interest projects, choosing to focus on his management experience and trying to convey the idea that there are no special issues facing the City and District 3 at this time. He has dropped one bit of gas industry propaganda in his talks, however. He says that he is concerned that if we impose more regulation on the gas drillers they may just pull out of Fort Worth and leave us behind. This is a favorite argument of Carter Burdette, Danny Scarth, and the Mayor. Where do you suppose this candidate will cast his lot if he is elected? There are already two cases of gas driller eminent domain activity in residential neighborhoods for the purpose of installing large gas gathering lines in front yards.
In the March 3 City Council meeting after contentious hearings regarding the Greenwood Cemetery/Crestwood pad site and the amendment to the City zoning ordinance Mayor Moncrief said, "We're going to continue to drill in Fort Worth, and the further we get into the core of the city the tougher it's going to get..." Based on the way Moncrief's Council handles these matters, what he means is that the Council will continue to support whatever the industry desires to do regarding pipelines, and the citizens be damned if they think this is improper.
Another candidate is a nice enough fellow who seems very interested in a political career. He began as president of his neighborhood association. He decided to leave that position a few years ago to become president of the Fort Worth League of Neighborhood Associations. He left that position in late 2007 or early 2008. He has served on several of Mayor Moncrief's select committees, and graded the performance of the Mayor at "C" at a neighborhood candidate forum in March. The candidate who sat with Mr. Scarth and the other two council members at the Ol' South Pancake House also gave the mayor a "C" at this meeting. All other candidates gave Mr. Moncrief an "F". In my opinion, anyone who would give Mr. Moncrief a passing grade is someone we don't want representing District 3 after the election on May 9.
I am supporting Gary Hogan for District 3. I'll save my reasons for a later post.
The purpose of this blog is to shine a spotlight on the candidates and explain why there are so many people running for District 3 this year. We'll keep an eye on the money--where it's coming from, how much is being spent by each candidate, and why.
This is important, because in District 3 we were represented for the last 17 years by Councilman Chuck Silcox, a man of the people whose focus was on the needs of his constituents and who did his best to keep downtown special interests out of their pocketbooks.
Since 2003 Chuck had been battling a Mayor who demanded unquestioning loyalty and was very vindictive toward Council members who disagreed with his plans. But Chuck stood up and provided a voice for the people. When Chuck passed away in October of 2008 the Mayor decided not to hold a special election because he didn't want to risk getting another independent thinker on the Council at a time when the Trinity River Vision project and the gas drillers had so much business before the Council.
There might be a demand for a city audit. (There hasn't been one in years.) There might be a fight over the right of drillers' subsidiary pipeline companies to condemn homes and front yards for the purpose of gas gathering pipeline right of way--all for private profit. There might be some resistance to the recent practice of granting generous tax abatements to businesses seeking a handout as a condition for locating here. Without Chuck on the Council the Mayor had a very compliant City Council, so District 3 remains without representation for seven months while the Mayor's agenda proceeds full tilt. The proffered excuse was the cost of a special election.
If the upcoming election didn't have crucial special interest issues at stake one would historically expect the District 3 race to be rather uninteresting as such elections go, but this year there are seven candidates.
To listen to the stump speeches offered by the candidates in public forums, every candidate loved Chuck Silcox and the way he represented the people. And they all promise to follow in Chuck's footsteps. Some talk about how they have "worked with" Chuck in the past. But what would you expect them to say? I can imagine the worst of the Mayor's yes-men on the Council today saying the same kind of politically correct things in spite of their own allegiance to the Mayor's agenda. Talk is cheap.
One of the Star-Telegram's favorite candidates, a very polished speaker who has never before shown an interest in running for Council, was sitting with Danny Scarth, Carter Burdette, and Jungus Jordan at a candidate forum in March at the Ol' South Pancake House. These Council members are the most loyal of the Mayor's supporters on the present Council and are squarely in the pockets of the special interests.
Another, who is a retired Lockheed-Martin executive has been in the race since shortly after Chuck passed away. He steers away from talking about special interest projects, choosing to focus on his management experience and trying to convey the idea that there are no special issues facing the City and District 3 at this time. He has dropped one bit of gas industry propaganda in his talks, however. He says that he is concerned that if we impose more regulation on the gas drillers they may just pull out of Fort Worth and leave us behind. This is a favorite argument of Carter Burdette, Danny Scarth, and the Mayor. Where do you suppose this candidate will cast his lot if he is elected? There are already two cases of gas driller eminent domain activity in residential neighborhoods for the purpose of installing large gas gathering lines in front yards.
In the March 3 City Council meeting after contentious hearings regarding the Greenwood Cemetery/Crestwood pad site and the amendment to the City zoning ordinance Mayor Moncrief said, "We're going to continue to drill in Fort Worth, and the further we get into the core of the city the tougher it's going to get..." Based on the way Moncrief's Council handles these matters, what he means is that the Council will continue to support whatever the industry desires to do regarding pipelines, and the citizens be damned if they think this is improper.
Another candidate is a nice enough fellow who seems very interested in a political career. He began as president of his neighborhood association. He decided to leave that position a few years ago to become president of the Fort Worth League of Neighborhood Associations. He left that position in late 2007 or early 2008. He has served on several of Mayor Moncrief's select committees, and graded the performance of the Mayor at "C" at a neighborhood candidate forum in March. The candidate who sat with Mr. Scarth and the other two council members at the Ol' South Pancake House also gave the mayor a "C" at this meeting. All other candidates gave Mr. Moncrief an "F". In my opinion, anyone who would give Mr. Moncrief a passing grade is someone we don't want representing District 3 after the election on May 9.
I am supporting Gary Hogan for District 3. I'll save my reasons for a later post.
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