So, the Hernandez persecution has fizzled out, but legal research continues for future reference, by outside council, on a high-rate meter. http://lubbockonline.com/local-news/2011-04-29/hernandez-retains-lubbock-council-seat#comment-167336
One wonders, why does the city have in-house lawyers if they go outside all the time? Is it that they need someone to decide which outside lawyers to hire? Or is it the need to have someone outside to blame when mistakes are made, the way "consultants" are hired or committees formed before making any decision on anything, So much of our activity is no more than CYA.
See that headline? "Hernandez Retains Seat"? Makes you think he was about to be kicked off the council and hung on by his fingernails, doesn't it? Wasn't it pretty clear from the outset that he would not be ousted?
So Mayor Tom Martin is now saying “I don’t think it would have occurred to anybody that people would run for or serve for office not having paid their city taxes,” Oh, how unthinkable!
Really?
Then why think that city charter provision applied to unpaid property taxes in the first place?
That interpretation occurred to Mayor Tom and most on the Council and the City Attorney back in Jan/Feb. But that was then and this is now.
And what's the problem, anyway? Why can't someone who owes the city work for the city? Or be elected to city offices?
The only problem with that is the conflict of interest involved in working for an entity that is trying to collect from you, and in the case of unpaid taxes, there is no conflict because LCAD is in the picture. Maybe there ought to be a rule that everyone at LCAD has to be caught up on property taxes; no need for city employees.
In all this unpaid tax fuss, there is an irrational, angry, punitive element that Mayor Martin and others on the council have been pandering to, that paints those who are late paying taxes as bums and moochers, which is not the case.
Did anyone think Hernandez' taxes would never be paid? Or that Hernandez would pay the city a lot more in the long run? So what was the problem?
One wonders, why does the city have in-house lawyers if they go outside all the time? Is it that they need someone to decide which outside lawyers to hire? Or is it the need to have someone outside to blame when mistakes are made, the way "consultants" are hired or committees formed before making any decision on anything, So much of our activity is no more than CYA.
See that headline? "Hernandez Retains Seat"? Makes you think he was about to be kicked off the council and hung on by his fingernails, doesn't it? Wasn't it pretty clear from the outset that he would not be ousted?
So Mayor Tom Martin is now saying “I don’t think it would have occurred to anybody that people would run for or serve for office not having paid their city taxes,” Oh, how unthinkable!
Really?
Then why think that city charter provision applied to unpaid property taxes in the first place?
That interpretation occurred to Mayor Tom and most on the Council and the City Attorney back in Jan/Feb. But that was then and this is now.
And what's the problem, anyway? Why can't someone who owes the city work for the city? Or be elected to city offices?
The only problem with that is the conflict of interest involved in working for an entity that is trying to collect from you, and in the case of unpaid taxes, there is no conflict because LCAD is in the picture. Maybe there ought to be a rule that everyone at LCAD has to be caught up on property taxes; no need for city employees.
In all this unpaid tax fuss, there is an irrational, angry, punitive element that Mayor Martin and others on the council have been pandering to, that paints those who are late paying taxes as bums and moochers, which is not the case.
Did anyone think Hernandez' taxes would never be paid? Or that Hernandez would pay the city a lot more in the long run? So what was the problem?
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