For those who still remember long trips with our fathers when we were kids and hearing him look in the back seat and telling all us siblings, “Don’t make me come back there and deal with this". that is exactly how taxpayers ought to feel about the decision making process and our county budget. Taxpayers voted out part of the problem but much of the lack of business-like behavior still may need a stern look and a scolding finger from WE THE PEOPLE or it may continue.
A big chunk of the problem can be found when looking at two of our county offices. These two offices can hide behind the idea anything we say here is “politics”, or they could respond to the facts we present. Or better yet they could do the right thing! Let’s examine how the District Attorney’s office and the County Attorney’s office fit with the rest of the county’s budget process. Remember as we examine the facts, that the budget should be done like WE THE PEOPLE think it should be done. There is no benefit to the public when kingdoms are built within the courthouse. Fairness and good business practices should be more important when discussing this – not personalities and friendships.
District Attorney Mike Little has an undisclosed amount of money in a slush fund that can not be accounted for by County Auditor Harold Seay. Cars, cash, and coke add up to big bucks and none of it is considered when the budget pie is being divided up among the county offices. The District Attorney confiscates these things and more in drug busts and the benefit of those busts should be fully realized by taxpayers, not just Mike Little. Little is not only keeping WE THE PEOPLE in the dark, he is getting every consideration for budget increases he can with this money being out of the decision making process. Little may be doing big favors for the commissioners or he may be threatening them, but either way he knows how to get budget increases and he knows how to avoid an audit.
County Attorney Wes Hinch also has a special bird’s nest on the ground. While some of the other offices take a great deal of revenue in, they must turn it into the county coffers. Hinch’s office gets to keep the money they bring in from the pursuit of hot check writers. His dramatic public display of displeasure towards a judge needing a bigger piece of the pie to get his court up to speed seems very selfish and unsympathetic – especially in light of the slush fund he has from the income his office brings in. Hinch has also been reported to have voted against differentiating lower level employees pay by number of years of service. Hinch uses his slush fund to give bonuses and pay employees that work in his office more than others in the courthouse while blocks efforts to pay those who have tried to set things up according to normal business practices and reward people who have devoted years to public service.
It is difficult to believe that it is coincidence that the same two people who both seem to be so highly favored by the way the old guard set the budget up, are the same two people who have sat on their hands and passed on any effort to uncover and stop corruption within their ranks. Did we elect these men to build or maintain their own kingdoms and to turn a blind eye towards wrongdoing unless they are forced to deal with it because of their job description? Do we want vital areas of our county government to be underfunded or ignored because these two men are sucking up every dime they can?
Politicians who behave this way often take taxpayer money and use it to get re-elected. Take District Attorney Little’s war chest. He refuses to spend money prosecuting friends or people that could cut his budget or hurt him politically, but just wait until a big high profile case comes along. Little will be all over it. He will spend more money and time than is needed to win the case. He will use his resources to slam the jail doors on a criminal that anyone could have convicted – but he will ride the wave of publicity. You watch. When the right heinous crime comes along, Little will pull those hands out from underneath the butt he sat on as he passed big cases on, and he will wave them for the media as he soaks up the attention.
The new elected officials – the Republicans, can stop all of this. They can return a sense of fairness and good business practice to our local government. They can start by recognizing these are difficult times and cutting Little’s budget back to the 2007 level. Then they can set up some accountability system on the slush funds mentioned. If they allow the good ole boy budget to stand without a fight then why is it we elected them? A system that allows Wes Hinch to reward his staff and also allows Wes Hinch to deny others the opportunity to reward their staff is a broken and perverse system. If you require every office to pool their money in the county treasury and the rules for pay for one are the rules for all, a great deal of this will stop.
But then how could Mike Little get whatever he wants and how could the commissioners get special favors? 2011 will be the year we find out the difference between County Judge Phil Fitzgerald and County Judge Craig McNair. Odds are it will be a good year for the taxpayer. We will know soon enough.
19 comments:
Your story left out that Little is being sued in Liberty County for sexually assaulting a male prisoner.
We voted this new bunch in,wecan vote themout. But we need to give thema chance. They are just now having there eyes opened as to the mess they inherited.
Rather than worry about which party to run in, the old guard better clean up their own mess. Fontenot and Hunt should help make the budget process fair. the only reason not to is if Mike Little has something on them.
Remember how sunshine was brought to the whole shady mess when Judge Cain refused to lay down and let them shortchange the help he gets in his office.
Wes Hinch has really ended up being quite the politician. He does nothing for the people that would risk getting the people mad so he can go before the people and hope the people will re-elect him. Kind of like kissing the baby in public but refusing to help change the baby's diaper in private.
what else would you expect from hinch. he threw his chest out in support of the go along to get along weisgerber archer bunch. now he hides behind his supposed conservative values. as for me and mine we will vote for his opponent come 2012.
We need a new County Attorney, a new District Attorney and an new Sheriff. I voted for Patterson but now I realize that he has no backbone. He lets Cooper and Green run the Sheriff's Department. He has Deputies that openly say bad things about him. Most of these deputies should have been fired when he took office. Steve Green has no experience on the streets and was promoted to Captain just because Patterson wanted to take advantage of his so called law degree. Some good officers are gone because of Green. I really hope Bobby Rader decides to run for Sheriff.
Like wise, i will vote for his opponent also.
I voted Chambers when Hinch won. Hinch was a front man for that water scam we voted down a few year ago.
I have always liked Wes, but that water bill told me he had drank the kool aide when he was in law school. Most law school grads learn to justify just about everything. That water bill was near criminal.
Me and others have sent in probably 30 comments to local websites in the last two and a half years and nobody would post them. Thank you. He may be a nice guy from a nice family but he does not deserve a pass. His family probably doees not realize what a little sneak he became.
Can the Attorney General be called in if District Attorney Mike Little and County Attorney Wes Hinch continue to refuse to prosecute courthouse criminals. Groce, Fitzgerald, Beausoliel, Hight. Quite a list. Stealing mail, stealing law books, stealing FEMA money. I usually vote for Republicans but a decent Democrat will do if this is how Hinch brings change to the courthouse. litle is a political animal and needs to go.
People that write for this site and on this site can hide behind the first amendment but that doesn't mean that they shouldn't shut their damn mouths. We use to have a way of dealing with loud mouths. And we will again. Politics cycle.
Politics can "cycle" all the time, but the first amendment will require a great deal more than getting your mafia people back in office. When Little is gone, little intimidation by your goons will be left. If the public only knew.
The old guard looks at LD and the rest of us talking about what they are doing as unfair. LD has it right - WE THE PEOPLE - that is more than fair. If a public official views a citizen saying they will be against them next election as some kind of blow below the belt, they need to go back and study the democratic process again. They should change their behavior or run on it.
Mr.Akins, I had two issues in the County Attorney'soffice when Jack Hartel retired. One was an old hot check that had never been dealt with. I was amazed at how quickly the new County Attorney forced the hot check writer to pay me.The other was something much more serious and new. I am amazed at the do nothingness of this same County Attorney on this matter. Hartel would have dealt with the matter in two weeks.
The man that is "amazed" by Hinch needs to realize he was motivated to send out threatening notices to people who wrote hot checks. His office beefs up their slush fund that way. Spending time on other things could cost time,money and political capital.
Has anyone checked into the amount of money Little is sending the state of Texas on his confiscations - if he has lied about it, he may be rooming next to Phil.
RE; People that write on this site. Yes I know you all had ways of dealing with loud mouth people. Yes voters can change out people in office, but I don't think you or your old friends are going to take back over,any time soon. You need to quit whinning and get over your loss.
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