Joe Manchin’s first legislative deal 30 years ago

   “See that guy? He’s going to be governor one day.”

   The words came from an elder statesman of the West Virginia Legislature, telling a young reporter, me, some 30 years ago, about the future of a freshman state representative named Joe Manchin.

  And the words came true. Not only did young Manchin grow up and become governor, he’s now a U.S. senator. And today, the day the Democrat announced his compromise bipartisan solution with Republican Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania to expand background checks for gun buyers, the young prodigy has come of age. He’s one of the best known politicians in the land. An example of how to work with the opposite party to get things done.

U.S. Senator Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.

U.S. Senator Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.

   I’m not surprised at his deal-making abilities. As a young statehouse reporter for the Charleston Gazette, I was an eyewitness to his very first legislative deal. I was there to show readers the ugly process of making legislation, often referred to as “how the sausage is made.” Manchin was launching a long political career that peaked today with his bipartisan announcement in the nation’s capitol.

   I still remember him hunched over on one knee by the desk of a state senator working his magic. I watched him carefully that night on March 12, 1983 as I tried to trace how last-minute legislative deals are cooked up and served. It’s ugly. And the rookie put on quite a show, and then like most politicians, he denied that what I just saw had ever happened.

   In West Virginia, the final night of the annual state legislature is frantic. All the work, all the bills up for a vote, seem to happen in the final hour. It’s as if you played a game of checkers over several months, but in the end, you have to make 100 moves in less than an hour. Oh, and don’t forget the cheating.

  The rule is that all bills must pass before midnight, or else all is lost. But that night in West Virginia – I’ll never forget this – someone stopped the clock at 11:59 p.m. and the work continued. Here’s what happened:

   With 40 minutes to go before midnight (the real midnight) Manchin makes an about-face on an issue he ardently opposed. He suddenly – and, at first, no one knows why – supports the idea of a hospital rate-setting board that would put a cap on hospital rates throughout the state.

   Previous to that, he had railed against the idea, calling it “a bureaucratic noose around the heads of hospitals.” But now, at 11:20 p.m. his signature suddenly appears on a conference report supporting the bill – and clearing it for passage. He won’t say why.

   Another lawmaker, though, spills the beans. “We did some heavy duty negotiating,” he says about Manchin. For what? I don’t know. Not yet.

   A jobs bill is supposed to come up next. The bill is designed to create jobs in a coal economy staggering under an early 1980s recession. But that bill would have to wait.

   I overhear the Senate President telling his aides, “The next bill we will take is the physical therapists bill.”

   This makes no sense. A physical therapists bill with only a half hour to go? A bill that would allow patients to see physical therapists without a doctor’s referral? This, in the final moments, in a state hurting for jobs?

   Manchin hovers around the Senate clerk’s desk, watching. He should be on the other side of the state Capitol voting from his House chair, but something is bugging him. And it’s not unemployment.

   Turns out Manchin is the nephew of a similarly named Joe Manchin, a physical therapist in Fairmount, W. Va. The PT bill is Manchin’s. Although for the entire session, senators had fought vigorously against the bill, everyone seems to be rolling over now.

   Nine minutes ‘til midnight.

   “PT bill! PT bill!” senators cry out.

   I’m confused. Are they talking about the all-important property tax limitation bill, one that would save West Virginians hundreds of dollars on their property taxes? Naw. They have to get to the physical therapists bill.

   Now with minutes to go, it’s becoming clear. Manchin changed his position on the hospital cost bill so he could grab this gift for his uncle and his uncle’s PT buddies.

   Sen. Larry Tucker, who later would go to prison for taking a bribe from gambling lobbyists, tells me, “They’re paying Manchin off.” Not with cash, though, but with votes.

   I ask Manchin point blank, “Why are they running your bill here right after hospital cost containment? Was there any kind of an arrangement?”

   My tape recorder captures his answer: “No, no, no,” he says. “No, no, no.”

   But the truth is yes, yes, yes. His bill passes.

   The clock shows 11:59 p.m.

   I look at my watch. It’s well after midnight.

  Another political star is born, a star that shines ever so brightly these days as Manchin is cited as someone who can get things done.

  And this is how it all began for U.S. Senator Joe Manchin and his deal-making skills.

   

A surprising day at the Texas Legislature

I covered my first political race for a daily newspaper in 1975. Bully Mayor Frank Rizzo of Philadelphia won reelection. Since then I’ve covered zoning boards, city councils, legislatures in several states and even events at the White House.

But I saw something today that I’ve never seen before. And it wasn’t pretty.

Let’s start at the beginning.

For those who have followed my Watchdog Nation since it was created in 2008, you know it’s about showing you how easy it is to protect yourself against corporate and criminal bullies – if you know what you’re doing. The impetus for the consumer rights movement came about when I had personal problems of my own.

The first roofer I hired roofed the wrong house.

The second roofer I hired ended up in jail, convicted of criminal theft after he scammed 86 people for $671,000. (Read that story here.) Surely, I had to learn how to protect myself before I could show others how to do it.

So scamming roofers became a pet peeve of mine. (It’s the biggest section in my national-award-winning book, Dave Lieber’s Watchdog Nation: Bite Back When Businesses and Scammers Do You Wrong.)

Over the years, I’ve developed a fondness for the North Texas Roofing Contractors Association. In the absence of a state licensing requirement for Texas roofers, this trade association promotes its own ethics code and pushes hard for honesty in this troubled industry. I even helped them with their video. (Watch here.)

So when the NTRCA told me that Senate Bill 311, sponsored by Sen. John Carona of Dallas, was designed to bring licensing requirements, I cheered!

Dave Lieber's Watchdog Nation: Bite Back When Businesses and Scammers Do You Wrong shows you how to protect yourself. The book, now in its third 2013 edition, won two awards for social change.

Senator John Carona (Photo courtesy of Ramparts360.com)

Today, I traveled to Austin to appear before the Texas Senate Business & Commerce Committee, chaired by Sen. Carona, a Republican. I wanted to testify in favor of his bill, something I could never do as a working journalist. Now I can, though. So I did.

At first, Carona was my hero. He stood tall in the committee room at the State Capitol. He made me proud as he strongly argued in favor of his own Senate Bill 311. He apologized when he took extra time to explain it and a companion bill.

When early witnesses criticized his bill, he staunchly defended it. Forcefully. But then something happened.

After the first hour, he announced that “I hear you” to the bills’ critics and said he would drop the roofer licensing portion. He announced he would settle for roofer registration only, probably at a cost of $100 a year for each Texas roofer. Roofers would register and people could easily track them down if something went wrong through this new state registry. At least that’s something.

But then an hour later, after hearing more testimony, he announced he was dropping the meager registration requirement, too.

Keep in mind that Texas licenses electricians and plumbers, and I never hear complaints about them. But roofers? I hear about roofing scams, especially among the elderly, all the time.

So by the time I got up to testify after more than 2 ½ hours of watching him water down his own bill, I was confused. I testified that, after watching what had happened, I was lowering my standards from licensing to registration, a weaker version of enforcement, but at least something designed to protect Texans from roofing scams. Please at least enact the registration requirement, I implored.

Carona told the packed hearing room, “I’ve lowered my standards just this morning.” The room, filled with dark-suited lobbyists, erupted in laughter.

Watchdog Nation founder Dave Lieber testifies at the State Capitol.

Watchdog Nation founder Dave Lieber testifies at the State Capitol.

Imagine that. The chairman who forcefully pushes his own bill at 8 a.m, waters it down by 9 a.m., then waters it down even more at 10 a.m. Then less than an hour later, it appears, he has given up on enacting the real teeth in his bill almost entirely. And this is his own committee!

Here’s the takeaway. If you are a Texan and you are hoping the 2013 Legislature will enact new laws designed to protect consumers from corporate bullies and individual scammers, think again. This is a Tea Party legislature, perhaps the most conservative legislature in the nation. What that means, to use the language of these legislators, is that they won’t do anything in this session to “increase the footprint of government.”

That means more Texans will get scammed, and their state government does not care.

Final note: I heard a lot of excuses why roofers shouldn’t be regulated like other professions in today’s testimony.

One witness said consumers should be smarter. (Well, it’s kinda complicated to pick a reputable roofer, as I learned.)

Another said that with hundreds of thousands of roofs put on in Texas each year, only a small portion were scammed. (First off, it’s not so small, as my mail indicates. And second, that’s like saying there are a lot of banks but only a few get robbed. Notice that banks still have security measures in place – bars, guards, alarms. And none of that exists in the roofing industry.)

Still another said that any expansion of government in any way is bad for Texas.

The bill isn’t dead yet, but it suffers from severe poisoning. By its own sponsor.

After the hearing, I gave Senator Carona a copy of my book.

God only knows: I hope he reads it.

 

Watchdog Nation EXCLUSIVE: Fort Worth’s top dog at center of City Hall dispute

   Fort Worth City Hall is like a soap opera that never gets cancelled.  The latest episode might be the strangest yet.

   The star is the city’s number one dog, Henry, a rescued black lab who has his own city uniform, attends city events and helps raise money to expand the animal shelter.

Henry facebook profile photo

   The episode also features Code Enforcement Director Brandon Bennett, the city’s golden boy whose duties have expanded to include other city areas as well. And rounding out the top-tier of the cast is Kenneth Battle, a long time city code enforcement officer who sued the city last year charging a hostile work environment based on his race. Battle is African-American.

   See if you can follow this.

   The episode begins when Battle complains that two city employees, not married to one another, are having an affair in the office, according to court papers he filed. He says it’s disruptive. Battle is transferred to another city job in code enforcement.

   In his new job, Battle says he is the target of negative attention from his bosses. As part of that, he says, he is forced to write an explanation about why he missed work to attend a dental appointment (he says he had permission). When he hands in his report, his supervisor mocks Battle’s writing style by using old-time shuckin’ and jivin’ language. Battle is pissed. “I don’t talk like that,” he says he told his boss. “So if you’re trying to insinuate that I sound like a slave or something, that’s not how I speak.”

   Coming on top of other work-related problems, Battle, pictured below, goes ahead and files his lawsuit in federal court.

battle 2

   After that, his supervisor keeps an even closer eye on Battle. So much so that Battle believes the supervisor sits in his dark office across the work room and uses binoculars to read what’s on Battle’s computer screen. When the supervisor sees legal papers regarding Battle’s lawsuit on Battle’s PC (emailed to his city email account by his lawyer), the supervisor rushes out to yell at Battle for not doing his work.

   But the supervisor brings Henry the dog with him. Henry, although cared for by agency head Bennett who has unofficially adopted Henry and uses him for city PR purposes (“Help save dogs like Henry”), sometimes stays with other supervisors in their offices. On this particular day, Henry is hanging with Battle’s supervisor.

   The supervisor angrily rushes toward Battle’s desk. He begins to yell at Battle. Henry, sensing something is wrong, tries to jump on Battle’s lap, Battle tells me. Battle pushes Henry away from him, but his left hand gets caught in Henry’s collar.

   “Get that dog away from me!” Battle shouts.

   Battle’s hand hurts the next day. Now, several months later, he has been diagnosed with two broken bones. Hand surgery is scheduled for early February. A pin will be put in his thumb, too. Battle has been off work ever since. He complains of constant pain. (Watchdog Nation reviewed Battle’s medical records for verification.)

   Battle’s lawyer, Rob Ghio of Arlington, comes out with a good line: the Fort Worth code supervisor who rushed to Battle’s desk with a dog is from the “Bull Connor school of management.”

   Connor was the Birmingham, Alabama police chief who ordered the use of fire hoses and police dogs against peaceful civil rights demonstrators in 1963, disgusting a nation and changing the course of civil rights in America forever.

   “I don’t care if it’s Lassie or Rin Tin Tin,” Battle’s lawyer says, “You don’t have a dog with you when you yell at an employee you don’t like. That’s just an invitation for trouble.  And in the context of an existing race discrimination complaint, it’s insanity.”

   Pete Talleos, president of the North Texas Association of Public Employees Local 9527 which represents city workers, says: “This dog was used as intimidation to a particular employee who happens to be of color.”

   Battle says he has nothing against Henry. “I would just see him at picnics, the city functions. I didn’t want the dog jumping on me. I didn’t know the dog’s intentions. It kinda caught me off guard.”

   The city’s Human Resources department is finishing up an internal investigation into allegations of a hostile work environment in the division’s West Broadway Street building. Bennett, the division head, says he asked for it to clear things up.

   The supervisor who angrily brought the dog to Battle’s desk, code enforcement superintendent Keane Menefee, declined comment to Watchdog Nation. A city spokesman also declined to speak about this.

   Bennett, pictured below,  told me, “Henry has never bitten, attacked, etc. an employee or citizen. He does not bark or even act aggressive towards people or other animals. Not in his personality. We did have an employee that strained their hand when they pushed Henry away from them.”

Brandon and Henry profile

   And Henry, who was the subject of a recent much gentler column by me in the Star-Telegram (here’s the link – “Henry seems to get preferential treatment as a city fundraiser” – while the link is still up), is getting a taste of what it really means to be a Fort Worth City Hall employee.

   He’s a dog, yes, but even he’s not immune to the continuing City Hall soap opera that never ends.

 The author, Dave Lieber, is founder of the national-award winning Watchdog Nation. WDN shows you how to protect yourself and fight back — and also exposes government and business wrongdoing. Share this story, which you won’t find anywhere else, with your friends. Please comment and tell us what you think.

Watchdog Nation credited with fix for Texas prison

   Watchdog Nation is getting credit from Texas inmates inside 8 Tank at Wayne Scott Unit prison near Angleton, Texas for a big fix that improved their lives.

   It all began when an inmate wrote Watchdog Nation a year ago complaining  of unsafe conditions inside the unit. Rain poured through holes in the roof, coming dangerously close to electrical wires. The unit was freezing in the winter and excessively hot in the summer. Watchdog Nation inquired, and results came soon after.

[pullquote]It was only because of your phone calls and the perceived threats of your position that finally led to this prison administration breaking down and fixing 8 Tank. Thank you.[/pullquote]

   prison

   In a letter to Watchdog Nation received last week, the inmate writes, “I know for sure it was only because of your phone calls and the perceived threats of your position that finally led to this prison administration breaking down and fixing 8 Tank. Thank you.

   “Mr. Lieber, until you took the time and cared enough to get involved this problem had persisted for several years with them constantly telling all the prisoners and their family members they were going to fix it… Due to your help, it is now the best place to be housed on this entire unit. Thank you. For sure, I know one person can really make a difference. You’re a good man with a good heart. Thank you.”

Stopping robo-calls from Rachel of Credit Card Services

Rachel from credit card services, where are you? Millions of Americans want to pull the plug on your constant robo-calling.

The Watchdog’s No. 1 source of complaints in recent months is these prerecorded calls from Rachel or other women who offer credit card services.

North Texans are furious about the barrage. They want it to stop. But they don’t know how.

Nobody really does.

Some people say they get several each week. This month, I received only one on my home line and another on a cellphone. I consider myself lucky.

Rachel is like a monster in a horror movie. Bullets bounce off her, but she keeps calling. Pressing a button to stop her calls doesn’t work. Talk to a human for help, but he wants your bank account number or a credit card number so he can take your money.

Robo-caller Rachel is a prerecorded voice coming from somewhere, but nobody is sure exactly where. Calls from Robo Rachel and others are designed to make recipients believe that they come from their bank or credit card company. A Minneapolis newspaper reporter tried to track her down a few years ago, but he gave up.

Dave Lieber's Watchdog Nation: Bite Back When Businesses and Scammers Do You Wrong

Watchdog Nation prefers Ernestine to Rachel

Why can’t the government, with all its resources, stop this?

Baby steps are being taken. In March, the Federal Trade Commission announced a breakthrough in this years-long national annoyance. The FTC forced an offshore company, Asia Pacific Telecom, out of business after accusing it of making more than 2 billion robo-calls. The government also seized $3 million worth of assets.

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2012 Book Edition Debuts on Good Morning Texas TV show

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The government charged that the company violated the National Do Not Call Registry and also spoofed caller IDs to hide the telemarketers’ phone numbers.

Along with the FTC, the Federal Communications Commission regulates telemarketers. In February, the FCC changed the rules for telemarketers in a big way. From now on, before making a robo-call, companies must get the consumer’s written consent.

Under Texas law, telemarketers do not need written permission as long as they have a prior business relationship. But under federal law, that prior relationship isn’t good enough anymore. Written consent, even if electronic, is now required for all out-of-state robo-calls.

There’s also a new kill-switch rule — a requirement that every robo-call must include “an automated, interactive opt-out mechanism,” according to the FCC. Consumers can revoke consent by pressing a few keys, and telemarketers must add rejected phone numbers to their internal do-not-call lists.

Dave Lieber's Watchdog Nation: Bite Back When Businesses and Scammers Do You Wrong

Here’s something to remember: Thanks to the new rules, any company that robo-calls a consumer without written consent is acting illegally and is likely a scammer, the FTC says.

“No legal business wants to break the law and risk having to pay penalties up to $16,000 per call,” FTC spokesman Frank Dorman says.

Last year, the Public Utility Commission of Texas received 900 complaints, but the culprits are tough to find because “there’s just very little information to pursue the source of these calls,” PUC spokesman Terry Hadley says.

In Mississippi this month, state regulators fined a California telemarketer a record $945,000 to get Rachel to stop calling. Roy W. Cox Jr. and five companies he controls were accused of hiding their true names on caller ID boxes and using “Card Services” and “Credit Services” as their business names, The Associated Press reported.

So what to do when Rachel calls? The best advice is hang up. Don’t engage and don’t press buttons on the phone.

Second, file a complaint with the FTC, the FCC and the Texas PUC. Although it may sound futile, staffers at all three agencies say that complaints help them catch the Rachels. “It helps us find patterns that can lead us to who they are, and then we can act against them,” Dorman says.

With the Asia Pacific case, he says, “We got a good chunk of it. But as long as there’s a way for the bad guys to continue to do it, they probably will. But we haven’t been able to stop it completely yet.”

We know.

# # #

Stopping robo-calls

File a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission at 888-225-5322 orwww.fcc.gov/complaints.

Sign up for the National Do Not Call Registry and also file complaints at donotcall.gov or 888-382-1222.

Sign up for your state’s Do Not Call list, too. Google your state name and Do Not Call list.

Remember to get on both state and federal do not call lists and register all numbers — land lines and cellphones.

# # #

Do you want to learn how to stop companies from bothering you? These tips and many others are in the award-winning book by Dave Lieber, author of this story. His book Dave Lieber’s Watchdog Nation: Bite Back When Businesses and Scammers Do You Wrong, shows you how to fight back — and win! The book is available at WatchdogNation.com as a hardcover, CD audio book, e-book and hey, what else do you need? The author was the national award-winning Watchdog columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Visit our store. Now revised and expanded in a 2012 edition, the book won two national book awards for social change.

Read The Watchdog Nation manifesto here!

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First praise for Texas city manager who fired himself, then scorn for how savings are spent

Forgive me, but when I heard that Keller City Manager Dan O’Leary had fired himself, I thought the city was going to save a lot of money. Others thought so, too.

O’Leary was hailed by budget hawks everywhere.

EmpowerTexans/Texans for Fiscal Responsibility named him “an Honorary Taxpayer Champion.

“At the very least, he should be considered a hero to all taxpayers,” the group said on its website.

From coast to coast, the news traveled fast, even making the syndicated News of the Weird.

Weird to me was the complete candor of the outgoing city manager. He told Keller Citizen reporter Susan McFarland: “It’s a little unusual for a city of our size to have three city managers. … There was a time that was needed, but at this point in time, I don’t think we need three city managers.”

He went further on KRLD NewsRadio 1080: “There came a point … where I realized that there wasn’t enough work for all three city managers, and quite honestly, in some respects, I could tell the days were getting a little longer and I was getting a little more and more bored.”

O’Leary’s $176,000 annual salary was suddenly wiped off the books. That’s a nice savings for a town of about 40,000 people.

Or is it?

Dave Lieber's Watchdog Nation: Bite Back When Businesses and Scammers Do You Wrong

Dan O’Leary (Photo from Star-Telegram archives)

As readers of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Dave Lieber Watchdog column first learned, Watchdog Nation discovered that the savings have largely evaporated. After salary increases were granted to four top employees, including the new city manager, only $55,000 in savings are likely, City Manager Steve Polasek said.

The raises cost $75,000 in base pay and more in benefits. According to a flowchart presented by Polasek to council, the city is adding a $55,000-a-year management assistant, too.

Polasek, who was one of O’Leary’s two assistant managers, replaced O’Leary in late April. He reorganized the top management structure to plug the supervisory hole caused by his old boss’s departure. O’Leary’s desire for one fewer assistant city manager was part of the plan. After Polasek was promoted to the top job, he wasn’t replaced.

The City Council agreed to pay Polasek $169,500 a year, a raise of $39,460 for the first-time city manager.

Dave Lieber's Watchdog Nation: Bite Back When Businesses and Scammers Do You Wrong

Steve Polasek, new city manager

Assistant City Manager Chris Fuller was promoted to deputy city manager and given a $15,000 raise to $145,000.

Dave Lieber's Watchdog Nation: Bite Back When Businesses and Scammers Do You Wrong

Chris Fuller, now deputy city manager

Police Chief Mark Hafner was promoted to director of public safety/chief of police and also given a $15,000 raise to $145,000.

Dave Lieber's Watchdog Nation: Bite Back When Businesses and Scammers Do You Wrong

Mark Hafner, now Director of Public Safety

Community Development Manager Tom Elgin was promoted to director of community development and given a $5,000 raise to $95,000.

Polasek’s reasoning? The four managers, including him, have new responsibilities.

Fuller has two new departments to supervise. Hafner now oversees the Fire Department, too. Elgin also has more oversight duties, Polasek said.

“We didn’t hand out raises,” the city manager said. “We gave them new titles to fit the work that they’re doing, and then we provided salaries that are commensurate with what the position calls for.”

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He showed me charts that compare the salaries of similar jobs in other area cities. Keller managers are paid below the average of their peers elsewhere, he said.

However, city employees received a 1 percent raise last year, their first in three years. They also received a one-time $1,500 stipend. Also, more than 20 staff positions have been eliminated in the last two years, Polasek said.

There may have been a public misunderstanding in the way O’Leary’s departure was presented, Polasek said. O’Leary “didn’t clarify the situation. He didn’t do that intentionally. But he left a very large hole, and we were able to fill it, but it comes at a cost.”

Mayor Pat McGrail agreed: “The way it was played up, everybody just assumed we were saving the salary dollars of an assistant city manager. Well, that obviously wasn’t a true number, and we never depicted it as that.

Dave Lieber's Watchdog Nation: Bite Back When Businesses and Scammers Do You Wrong

In a coincidence, weeks before O’Leary announced his resignation, Watchdog Nation founder Dave Lieber and the author of this story, took this photo of Dan O’Leary (left) and Mayor Pat McGrail while he led them on a tour of the new Star-Telegram newsroom. Lieber originally tweeted the photo.

“We basically said, ‘We’ll save money as far as the overall expense of the management team.’ At the end of the day, we’re still spending less money than we did before.”

The mayor said he and other council members support Polasek’s reorganization.

O’Leary, now unemployed, told me that he was disappointed by the news about the savings. But “the move I made there wasn’t necessarily motivated by saving my salary. It was pretty much just the fact that we had too many upper-level managers in general in terms of workload.

“The money was secondary. It wasn’t to save $175,000. It was a move to say, ‘You’ve got too many managers at the top of this.’

“There was a little overreaction to it, I think.”

Don’t worry about O’Leary, though. Starting in June 2012, he will be Duncanville’s city manager.

# # #

Read how Keller’s neighboring city of Fort Worth also reclassified the job of 100 City Hall employees and gave secret raises. Another Watchdog Nation report.

Are you tired of fighting the bank, the credit card company, the electric company and the phone company? They can be worse than scammers the way they treat customers. A popular book, Dave Lieber’s Watchdog Nation: Bite Back When Businesses and Scammers Do You Wrong, shows you how to fight back — and win! The book is available at WatchdogNation.com as a hardcover, CD audio book, e-book and hey, what else do you need? The author is The Watchdog columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Visit our store. Now revised and expanded in a 2012 edition, the book won two national book awards for social change. 

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Here’s what Keller City Councilman Doug Miller wrote on his Beyond Right Field blog about this:

“Speaking of controversy, looks like Dave Lieber is going to do a column on how the City of Keller is squandering money this Sunday. Let me lay it out for you, after Dan O’Leary’s departure, the City Council hired Steve Polasek to take his place with an increase in salary from his salary as an Assistant City Manager. Steve gave Chris Fuller extra responsibilities by taking over two more departments, with that responsibility came a promotion of sorts and an increase in salary. Steve also created a Director of Public Safety and inserted Chief Hafner in that position, and with an increase in responsibility came an increase in Salary. Steve also created a position to handle Special Projects. There is always something going on in town that the Council directs the Staff to do, and this person will handle taking care of those projects.

“All in all, the City will still save over $60,000 a year from where we were a month ago, but apparently Dave Lieber felt that the City should be saving the entire salary of Dan O’Leary with his departure.  In fact, the Council knew before we hired Steve officially of his plans, and he had our blessings from day one.  We aren’t stupid, we knew part of the reason O’Leary made his exit the way he did is to make him look better for his next job.  Nobody expected the story to go internationally the way it did though, and we all expected a little bit of blow back after that happened.  (In fact, it was Steve that warned us of it weeks ago)  Sunday’s column is part of that blow back.  I told Steve that as long as the column doesn’t feature him living in a 10,000 square foot mansion and driving a Bentley on the weekend, I was fine with it.  (If you want to laugh harder, ask Steve to show you his vehicle….then you’ll get the joke).”

Dave Lieber's Watchdog Nation: Bite Back When Businesses and Scammers Do You Wrong

Keller Councilman Doug Miller

A Texas Department of Insurance Cover-up

Update to readers: After this piece appeared in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Dave Lieber Watchdog column, the Texas Insurance Department changed its policy and restored open government. In August, 2012, State Senator Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, cited this episode in a letter to press release about a letter she went to Texas Gov. Rick Perry seeking the resignation of Texas Insurance Commissioner Eleanor Kirtzman. Here’s the original report, with slight updates.

# # #

With governments everywhere moving much of the people’s business online for easy accessibility, the Texas Insurance Department took a big step in the opposite direction.

Until September 2011, the department, which promises to protect insurance customers, publicly released the names of insurance companies and agents who violated state rules. The September announcement, for example, noted that Great American Assurance Co. was fined $195,000 for failure to file policy forms or endorsements containing property and casualty benefits and that the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association failed to process claims in a timely manner or pay claims for storm damage that is a covered loss. Information on violators was also available in the department’s newsletter, TDInSight.

No longer.

Less than two months after Gov. Rick Perry appointed Eleanor Kitzman state insurance commissioner, the department abandoned its longtime practice of naming names. The information was still available, but with some heavy strings attached. You had to write and ask for it.

Dave Lieber's Watchdog Nation: Bite Back When Businesses and Scammers Do You Wrong

For example, the most recent announcement, on April 25, says seven insurance agents had their licenses revoked and paid fines and restitution totaling $270,950. Want the names? Continue reading: “Copies of Commissioner’s Orders may be obtained by contacting TDI’s Public Information Office.”

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That’s an extra step that most consumers searching for the latest news on violators probably won’t take. And it protects the names of offenders since they will no longer show up in Internet search results.

I asked the department how many people had requested the list, and the answer was four.

The Watchdog asked the department for an interview with Kitzman. Spokesman John Greeley’s response? “The commissioner is not available for an interview.”

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Go figure. Online you can find out about all kinds of licensed professionals who get in trouble with the state. No problem finding out the names of nurses who get their licenses revoked or suspended. Actions by the Texas State Securities Board are a click away. The Texas Medical Board issues news releases naming disciplined docs.

The State Bar eventually reports the names of lawyers who run afoul of ethics rules. The Board of Architectural Examiners reports on architects who transgress, and the Department of Licensing and Regulation reports on auctioneers, barbers, electricians and 26 other occupations.

Alex Winslow, whose group Texas Watch monitors the Insurance Department, said Kitzman’s “job is to police the insurance industry and look out for the interests of policyholders. And if she’s sweeping these disciplinary actions under the rug, she’s doing the exact opposite. She’s covering the backsides of unscrupulous agents and insurance companies.”

Why is this information important?

“From a consumer’s point of view,” Winslow said, “that information must be public and must be available so that insurance customers know what they’re dealing with, whether it’s an unscrupulous agent or a company with a pattern of unfair claims practices. This is key information that insurance customers need when they’re making a decision about what agent and what insurance company to use, and how they’re going to spend their hard-earned money.”

Dave Lieber's Watchdog Nation: Bite Back When Businesses and Scammers Do You Wrong

Gov. Rick Perry appointed Kitzman

I sent the Insurance Department questions but received only this statement: “TDI strictly enforces the Texas Insurance Code and takes prompt action when entities (companies or agents) violate the law. While not every regulatory action is equally newsworthy, TDI will continue to highlight enforcement actions of greater or broader significance, especially instances of fraud, to serve as a deterrent.”

Kitzman, originally from Texas, made a name for herself as South Carolina’s insurance commissioner. She’s also a close friend of South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley. Kitzman ran as a Republican for South Carolina lieutenant governor in 2010. She collected more than half her donations from the insurance industry, according to reports. She lost, but when she learned about the Texas opening, she applied and was selected by Perry.

Kitzman has been accused by critics of politicizing her regulatory office. A month after taking charge, she served as a star attraction at a September Republican fundraiser that attracted insurance bigwigs she’s supposed to regulate. The event was for her mentor, Haley. But it also served as Kitzman’s coming-out party, held at the Las Colinas corporate offices of Ethos Group, an insurance and consulting company. The Texas Observer released a copy of the invitation that said, “Also in attendance will be the new Texas Commissioner, Eleanor Kitzman.” Suggested ticket price to meet Haley and the commissioner: $500.

Her ties to the industry may call into question the reasons the department decided to protect the names of the disciplined.

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Followup: After this piece appeared in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Dave Lieber Watchdog column, the Insurance Department changed its policy. The names of those cited for improper actions were returned to the state website.

In August, 2012, State Senator Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, cited this episode in a letter press release about a letter she sent to Texas Gov. Rick Perry seeking Kirtzman’s removal from office.

# # #

Do you want to learn more about how to expose government wrongdoing? How to protect yourself from bad folks in the insurance industry? How to fight for openness in government and business? These tips and many others are in the award-winning book by Dave Lieber, author of this story. His book Dave Lieber’s Watchdog Nation: Bite Back When Businesses and Scammers Do You Wrong, shows you how to fight back — and win! The book is available at WatchdogNation.com as a hardcover, CD audio book, e-book and hey, what else do you need? The author is The Watchdog columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Visit our store. Now revised and expanded in a 2012 edition, the book won two national book awards for social change.

Read The Watchdog Nation manifesto here!

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Congressional franking mailing privilege favors incumbents at taxpayer expense

When I covered my first congressional race 30 years ago, the incumbent mailed out surveys and newsletters to constituents at taxpayers’ expense. But the mailings at least looked as if they were related to official duties. They were drab and issue-oriented.

Flash forward to today, and mailings sent under the free congressional franking privilege by some incumbents often look and read more like campaign fliers than government communication.

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A campaign brochure? Yet paid for with taxpayer money.

But there’s one big difference between a campaign mailing and a Capitol one. In the Capitol version, in the upper right-hand corner, where a stamp or postal permit number usually would be required, instead appears the signature of the member of Congress. This means the letter is mailed at taxpayers’ expense. Taxpayers pick up the cost of production and printing, too.

Not all members of Congress use the franking privilege as much as they could. In North Texas, for example, three members spent small amounts, according to a study of congressional office spending by the Sunlight Foundation:

Rep. Joe Barton, R-Ennis, spent about $25,000 last year on mass mailings to his 6th Congressional District. Rep. Kay Granger, R-Fort Worth, spent $8,000 in the 12th District. And Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Lewisville, spent $10,000. Some, like Granger, send a steady stream of e-mails to constituents instead.

Among House members from North Texas, the most money was spent last year by Rep. Kenny Marchant, R-Coppell, who asked taxpayers to pay $122,000 in mailing costs. Almost half of that came in the final three months of 2011 after Marchant learned that he would have an opponent in the Republican primary, now set for May 29, 2012.

Congressman Kenny Marchant ducked phone calls

The taxpayer-funded mass mailings continued until the legal cutoff date 90 days before a primary.

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His opponent, former TV news reporter and small-business owner Grant Stinchfield, said he was stung by them. “The bottom line is the system is rigged for incumbents,” Stinchfield said. “When they’re allowed to send out all that mail on your dime, you and I are the ones that ultimately lose.”

There’s nothing illegal about this.

Congress sets the rules, and in the House, congressional staffers review each mailing to make sure regulations are obeyed. But in the mind of some congressional reformers, the bar for approval has slipped. And nobody disputes that some members of both parties flout the rules.

“The franking privilege is an abuse that is well-protected in Congress, even with the rules that regulate it,” said Craig Holman, government affairs lobbyist for Public Citizen in Washington, D.C.

The Watchdog tried last to interview Marchant, his congressional press secretary, his campaign staff and his political consultant, Bryan Eppstein. But no one would talk to me.

Bryan Eppstein

I looked at eight mailings sent by Marchant’s Capitol office since October. Taken as a whole, the mailings are targeted specifically at the concerns of veterans and seniors.

One flier asks, “Are you a senior having trouble with Medicare or Social Security? Are you a veteran trying to attain earned benefits?”

A December mailing begins, “Looking Out for Texas Seniors.”

An October mailing starts, “Congressman Kenny Marchant invites you to Veterans Fair 2011.”

Other mailers touch on hot-button issues such as illegal immigration and the economy. A December mailer called “Lower Taxes/Less Spending/More Jobs” is six pages and includes three pictures of Marchant, one of Ronald Reagan and a survey at the end. As required, each of Marchant’s mailings carries this small-print message: “PUBLIC DOCUMENT/OFFICIAL BUSINESS. This mailing was prepared, published and mailed at taxpayer expense.”

Then, in language not required, several of his mailings add: “It was designed by the office of Congressman Marchant and printed at a local business in the great state of Texas.”

Members of Congress who abuse the franking privilege are forced to pay for the mailings out of their own personal funds, said a spokeswoman for the Committee on House Administration.

She said she couldn’t recall the last time that happened. Because committee staffers vet mailings in a “bipartisan process,” she said, violations are rare. They are sometimes found if complaints are filed. Stinchfield hasn’t filed one.

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Grant Stinchfield challenging incumbent

Jim Riddlesperger, a political science professor at Texas Christian University, said the debate over franking abuses has gone on too long: “We don’t need the franking privilege anymore. You can communicate with as many people as you want for free on the Internet.”

Dave Lieber's Watchdog Nation: Bite Back When Businesses and Scammers Do You Wrong

Jim Riddlesperger

Note: Marchant’s District 24 includes parts of Grapevine, Colleyville, Southlake, Hurst, Euless, Bedford, Irving, Carrollton, Coppell, Hebron, Addison, Farmers Branch and northwest Dallas.

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Are you tired of fighting the bank, the credit card company, the electric company and the phone company? They can be worse than scammers the way they treat customers. A popular book, Dave Lieber’s Watchdog Nation: Bite Back When Businesses and Scammers Do You Wrong, shows you how to fight back — and win! The book is available at WatchdogNation.com as a hardcover, CD audio book, e-book and hey, what else do you need? The author is The Watchdog columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Visit our store. Now revised and expanded in a 2012 edition, the book won two national book awards for social change. Twitter @DaveLieber

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How one man can buy another the U.S. presidency

Do you know who this guy is?

You should.

He represents the future of America.

His name is Sheldon Adelson.

He’s a Las Vegas tycoon who put $5 million into Newt’s campaign superPAC two weeks ago.

Now there are reports that he’s going to put another $5 million in.

$10 million from one guy for one candidate in less than a month.

He couldn’t have done that before the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision.

But now one guy can buy the presidency for another.

That’s our future.

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No matter which party you favor, that’s the future in this country.

It’s something out of a James Bond movie.

Goldfinger.

Dr. No.

Sheldon Adelson.

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Dave Lieber shows Americans how to fight back against corporate deceptions in his wonderful national award-winning book, Dave Lieber’s Watchdog Nation: Bite Back When Businesses and Scammers Do You Wrong. Are you tired of losing time, money and aggravation to all the assaults on our wallets? Learn how to fight back with ease — and win. Get the book here.

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A regulator’s blind eye is dangerous to us all

UPDATE: In January 2012, federal prosecutors announced that Spencer Barasch, formerly chief enforcement officer in the Fort Worth, Texas office of the Securities and Exchange Commission, had agreed to pay $50,000 to settle charges that he violated federal conflict-of-interest standards by providing representation for financier R. Allen Stanford, the Associated Press reported.

Barasch is now a partner with the Dallas law firm, Andres Kurth LLP.

Malcolm Bales, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas, said the fine, the maximum amount allowed under law, shows that the government is serious about cracking down on former federal officials who attempt to us their influence in the private sector, the AP reported.

Bales said, “There should be zero tolerance for people who serve the public and then go into the private sector and use [that service] for personal benefit,” he said, according to the AP. Barasch’s lawyer, Paul Coggins, a former federal prosecutor, said his client settled witht he government “to avoid the expense and uncertainty of protracted litigation.”

# # #

Now here’s the original Watchdog Nation report:

I nominate Spencer C. Barasch for an asterisk when the whole story of the Great Recession is told by historians in years to come.

Dave Lieber writes about the financial scandals.

Spencer "Mr. Asterisk" Barasch

He is the Steven Bartman of the financial regulatory world.

In a baseball playoff game at Wrigley Field in 2003, Bartman touched a foul ball and disrupted a potential catch by the Cubs’ outfielder. The Cubs lost the lead — and the game. They never made it to the World Series. So Bartman is the Mr. Asterisk of Cubs’ baseball.

Dave Lieber writes about the financial scandals.

Steve Bartman, the Spencer Barasch of the baseball world

The same can be said for Spencer Barasch, too. I’m sure you don’t know who he is. But it’s important that you know these Dirty Dozen Facts about Mr. Asterisk:

1. Barasch was the former head of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s enforcement office in my hometown of Fort Worth, Texas.

2. In 1997, auditors in that office thought that accused swindler R. Allen Stanford may have been conducting a Ponzi scheme.

3. SEC enforcement, led by Mr. Asterisk, closed that inquiry because, he said, the plan lacked U.S. investors. That decision was described by some insiders as unprecedented. But Mr. Asterisk later explained, according to the SEC Inspector General, that he called Stanford’s attorney to sound out the case against him, and Stanford’s attorney explained why there was no case.

4. In 2002, SEC examiners again referred Stanford to enforcement. Again, Mr. Asterisk’s department took no action.

5. In 2003, the SEC received more complaints about Stanford’s investment scheme but did not act.

6. In 2004, SEC examiners prepared another case against Stanford.

7. In 2005, Mr. Asterisk decided once again that examiners will take no action.

8. That same year, Mr. Asterisk leaves the government for the Dallas law firm, Andrews Kurth, where he works today as a defense attorney. SEC staffers finally refer the case to enforcement, where the next year, the SEC opens an official investigation.

9. After leaving the government, Mr. Asterisk asked the SEC’s ethics branch for permission to represent Stanford. In his e-mail seeking permission, Mr. Asterisk wrote: “Every lawyer in Texas and beyond is going to get rich over this case. Okay? And I hated being on the sidelines.” His request was denied.

10. Even though he was denied, Mr. Asterisk did a small amount of work for Stanford in October, 2006, in apparent violation of SEC rules. The SEC has referred this to the State Bar of Texas.

11. In 2009, the SEC sued Stanford and criminal charges, still pending, were also filed. Victims claim losses around $7 billion. Stanford, who remains in jail, maintains his innocence.

12. On March 31, 2010, the SEC Inspector General released a report that targets Mr. Asterisk for the blame in lack of earlier prosecution. Read the full Inspector General report here.

Dave Lieber writes about the SEC

Do you see why this lawyer should be included in any telling of the Great Recession?

A regulator who thwarts justice because he has other goals in mind — including earning tons of money — is a dream come true for Wall Street and a nightmare for the rest of us.

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Dave Lieber, The Watchdog columnist for The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, is the founder of Watchdog Nation. The new 2010 edition of his book, Dave Lieber’s Watchdog Nation: Bite Back When Businesses and Scammers Do You Wrong, is out. Revised and expanded, the book won two national book awards in 2009 for social change. Twitter @DaveLieber