| First, if your administration policy directive is to cut taxes and save corporations from supervision, the choices you make about governance follow pretty transparently from these first principles. Please notice that nowhere in this formula is a concern for public service or the common good. In Perry mind, in the mind of all the sadly deceived people that have help enable him such things do not exist, do not matter.
Thus, Perry found money for tax cuts wherever he could and ignored the resultant problems because in his worldview they were so much less important than the overarching goals .In turn, Perry's agenda was the key to his re-election and all the gravy and perks that brought.
In the case of the DPS, here is what we know. First, the programsproblems caused by insufficient resources and the consequent low morale were brought to his attention long before the mansion went up in smoke.
Memo reveals trooper staffing issues
AUSTIN - Texas Department of Public Safety officers not only pressed for more security at the Governor's Mansion before an arson fire, one warned a staffing shortage weakened security at the state Capitol, according to DPS documents.
"Our troopers are constantly being pulled away from their primary responsibility, which is to maintain public safety and security at the Capitol," Sgt. Adam Kinslow, assigned to the Capitol, said in a May 29 memo, 10 days before the June 8 Governor's Mansion fire.
The documents consisting of dozens of DPS e-mail exchanges indicate concerns dating back to last fall about inadequate security at the mansion and more recent complaints about trooper reassignments that exacerbated staff shortages.
Capitol troopers were diverted to the Governor's Mansion and Honor Guard details, Texas Supreme Court and Operation Border Star - with the latter posing a particular problem - wrote Kinslow in the memo, which was among documents released Tuesday to the Houston Chronicle and the San Antonio Express-News under the Texas Public Information Act.
"Not only do we not have the manpower to spare, many of the troopers we are sending to the border lack current training and recent experience in patrol procedures, which is unsafe for them and the public. By sending troopers to Operation Border Star, security is weakened at the Capitol," Kinslow wrote.
[snip]
One trooper stood watch at the time of the mansion fire - and that trooper had completed an eight-hour shift at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum earlier in the day.
The bolded comments again demonstrate Perry's priorities - Potemkin security on the border over a reasonable allocation of resources to provide real security How do you keep cutting taxes but react to public anxiety over the border? Overtax your state troopers and make damn sure they don't complain to the press.
Morale an issue at DPS
Whitmire said the difficulty in setting appropriate funding to pay for everything from stopping drug trafficking to providing driver's licenses in a timely fashion has been compounded by the reluctance of state agencies - including DPS - to talk openly about funding problems.
"They don't want us to know their shortcomings and their difficulties. And a lot of it is political pressure on them not to talk about ... what budget restraints have done," said Whitmire, who said the pressure comes from "state leadership."
Whitmire said state services haven't yet recovered from 2003 cutbacks made to meet a $10 billion budget shortfall without new taxes, despite efforts at restoration.
The Republican governor championed the 2003 budget-balancing approach and continues to praise those cutbacks as the key to Texas' relatively positive economic picture.
Just as he blamed the TYC for the problems in that agency and the school districts for the problems of Texas education, Perry proceeded to blame the DPS for what happened at the mansion.
Memo reveals trooper staffing issues
"Like all Texans, the governor expects our law enforcement agency to properly allocate resources to protect Texans' lives and Texas property," Black said. "Perhaps the trooper making the complaint was unaware that since at least 2002, DPS management has failed to fill over 100 commissioned officer vacancies each year and currently have 260 officer positions unfilled."
The governor agrees with those calling for a "thorough structural overhaul to not only ensure that a tragedy like this does not occur again, but that our state is able to meet new threats in a post 9/11 world," Black said.
I love that bolded part. Guess why it is so hard to fill those positions? Well the lack of salaries to keep pace with the aggressive hiring efforts of other law enforcement had a lot to do with it. Guess whose fault that was? If you said Perry you would be right. But Perry is blame proof - somehow it is always the fault of his bureaucrats, you know, the ones that really can't fire back ( except anonymously) for fear of their jobs.
It was a Greek statesmen of the classical age ( I can't find where I read this recently) who said: Don't worry if you have no time for politics, it will have time for you. While our fellow citizens were busy with other things this gang of glitzy snake oil salesmen took over our state. I blame us progressives as well. We did not fight smart all the time, some of our loses were due to pigheadedness and our own brand of arrogance. Now the politics of a gang of self-seeking hypocrites is wrecking havoc on our quality of life. Politics does have time for us, and those who wield political power if they do so without regard to some common sense belief in a common good can do great harm.Witness our hypocritical governor in all his incompetence.
Let me end by recommending a recent diary on a sister blog,
The Top Ten Awesomely Bad Moments Of The Perry Administration |
