A Jeffersonian In East Texas

Illegal Taxation: Drivers Responsibility Program Surcharge

The illegal taxation program known as the “drivers responsibility program surcharge” looks as though it may have  been hobbled a bit. It’s about time!

Scott Henson and other petitioners presented a petition, and proposed rule changes to the  existing program on the 9th of August. Hopefully, they will be adopted. Read more from his Grits post: Suspending drivers licenses for ‘economic crimes’ problematic here and abroad. There are links to the petition, and the proposed rule changes in the post.

Our legislature needs to further deal with this by dismantling this ridiculous, missguided, and unlawful program, Legislators, please do away with this travesty! It is a tax, it is not legal, it is responsible for making 6 to 10% of Texans criminals because they can’t afford to pay! While you are at it, please refund the money to the individuals who have  payed thus far!

If you are stopped under suspicion of DWI in Tyler this season, according to a story by KLTV 7 Tyler, you have no right to refuse to blow into the tube! If you do, you will be hauled off to jail! Just exactly when did we elect a communist regime comrade?

This really happened in Montgomery county NJ. Police were engaged in a standoff with a cardboard cut out! After the cut out refused to respond, the swat team was sent in. There were no reported paper cuts!

Read More:

Full-size cardboard figure causes NJ bank standoff

According to the Tyler Police Department yesterday was a busy one for traffic accidents. Unusually high numbers of accidents are often the harbinger of the holiday shopping season, but I would love to know the number of drivers involved in such accidents who were actively involved in the use of a mobile communications device when the accident occurred. I am willing to bet that it was 80% or better.

I have said it before: If the state of Texas, and the county of Smith does not take the cell phone driving problem as seriously as driving while intoxicated, (both are impaired drivers) It needs to apologize to everyone convicted for dwi, and refund all expenditures!

Just when you think things in Smith county Texas politics and criminal justice have been as weird as they can be, someone comes along with information that raises the bizarre bar! What I am talking about is a story in the Clyde’ Report that says that the “Yes” committee paid the wife of Smith county attorney Robert Davis (the lawyer hired to fight the Attorney General of the State of Texas on the issue of disclosing the Smith county jail documents) for her services through her political consulting firm.

For the rest of the story, see: Follow the Money Update

After 4 recent failed jail proposal in 3 years, we thought it might be good to offer some advice on how to do it.

Things that have to be done before we will vote yes:

• Stop arresting people for “ticketable” offenses.

• Take full advantage of the effective measures already being used in Smith county.

• Develop more “out of the cell” ideas, and fund them.

• Get more courts to speed up the process.

• Get more space for judicial use.

How the plan should be developed:

• Only after the above steps are taken should this even be attempted.

• It should be developed openly and transparently.

• It should be developed with input from all concerned parties, not just officials.

• All fear mongering should be left out.

More on this topic later.

It could be too late, but there is still a chance.

When Judge Baker came into office, he was seen by many as being one of the best hopes for county government in the beleaguered history of Smith county. Personally, I felt the same. I thought that we were seeing the birth of a new county government with a heart and a brain! I, like many others, am now asking, “What happened?”

My tendency is to think that it is a case of “bad company corrupting good morals”. If that is the case, it may not be too late.

A good start would be to admit that the most recent course was the wrong course, and that the the closed door meetings were a mistake as well. Getting rid of the attorney hired to cover up the mess would also go a long way toward healing. Besides, the lawyer for Smith county commissioners, Mr. Davis, was probably the best tool that jail opposition had! The hiring of a rude and raving attorney looked like desperation to the public, and sent many voters to the other side.

A big part of the world got a big shock last night! In our small part of the world the electorate gave what should have been a shock to local officials, but I fear it was not effective. Smith county officials have not realized that the population of the area has changed, and the attitude of the area has changed along with it.

Voters in these economically questionable times, chose a 125 million dollar school bond package, and rejected a 59 million dollar jail bond package. Officials can no longer blame the jails failure on the peoples reluctance to vote in favor of additional taxes. If taxes had been the issue, both bonds would have failed. Officials have blamed past jail bond failures on taxes and economy, and that rationale has evaporated. It is time for the officials to take a long hard look at the real problem, and the real reasons.

It is time to get some input from people other than the same old county cronies. The status quo preserving advice coming from people who fear that any change might lead to some personal economic distress is not working, because the political clout has shifted.

Smith county voters said: “We want schools, and we don’t want jails!”  This is very significant, because it says, that in spite of claims that the economy and taxes are the reason for past jail defeats, that is not the case!

Smith voters do not want a jail! The commissioners and other county officials should get that through their heads. Voters need to keep a watchfull eye on county officials and say no to such sleazy tactics as “certificates of obligation”, which could slip the unwanted jail under the door of the democratic process.

The work that Ken Good has done with the issue of secrecy in the commissioners court is still very important, and I am sure it will continue as it should. The smith county commissioners should admit that they are out of touch with the voters, and and change their ways, or resign! The courts should be given all that they need to cary out the programs that are already working, as well as new programs. Local law enforcement should take advantage of the tools that were provided by our legislature, and signd by our governer, and stop clogging the system with “sidewalk spitting” cases. These things taken together will bring the jail numbers down, and provide a real world picture of the type of facility we might need in the future.

Note: This little note comes after watching Judge Baker being interviewed on local news. Judge Baker said that the failure of the economy was the reason for the failure of the jail proposal. He must have missed the fact that the school bond proposal passed with flying colors in the same economy! Looks like we can look forward to more of the same constipated thinking as before!

Smith county, I am proud of you!