The Collin County Observer

Ralph Hall earmarks Fusion Center

04/13/09

02:18:38 am, by bill

, 375 words,

Categories: Observer Opinions, Homeland Security, Ethics

Ralph Hall earmarks Fusion Center

On April 1, Congressman Ralph Hall (R-Rockwall) submitted a $500,000 earmark to the House Appropriations Committee for "Completion of North Central Texas Fusion System."

If past history means anything, the lion's share of this $500,000 will go directly to the son and daughter in-law of Hall's fellow Congressman Sam Johnson. So far, over $1.1 million of federal grant money for development of the Fusion Center has gone to ADB, a small company owned by Dr. Bob Johnson and his wife Anita Miller and operated out of their home in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Hall's earmark listing states, "I am requesting funding for the Completion of North Central Texas Fusion System in fiscal year 2010. The entity to receive this program is the Collin County Homeland Security on behalf of the North Central Texas Fusion System"

A presentation prepared this month by the fusion center's manager, Kelley Stone for the commissioners court (but never presented to them) showed that federal funding for the county's Homeland Security Department is decreasing.

In fiscal year 2003, the county received over $1.1 million dollars in federal Homeland Security grants. These grants to the county have decreased almost every year, such that in FY 2008 the county only was awarded a little over $501 thousand.

Fiscal Year	$ Homeland Security	$ Fusion Center
2003	$1,131,594	$211,314
2004	$1,076,263	$164,000
2005	$997,616	$0
2006	$790,179	$363,314
2007	$895,107	$518,214
2008	$501,627	$271,627

As long as federal grant levels for the fusion center remain unstable, it is far from certain that the federal government will continue to make adequate fusion center funds available in future budget years.

The county commissioners have expressed the fear that if federal funds are decreased or eliminated, the Homeland Security Department and especially the fusion center will become a kind of unfunded mandate paid for by county tax revenues.

Future federal fusion center funding could be harder to obtain after recent revelations of alleged nepotism by ADB, and after an alert bulletin put out by the Fusion Center sparked a congressional hearing and swift visit from federal HS Department officials to "re-train" local fusion center employees.

Collin County might find the recent federal grand jury summoning of the local fusion center manager in Cuyahoga County, Ohio for possible grant fund fraud far more troubling than any unfunded mandate.

Meanwhile, Ralph Hall's earmark could be Dr. Bob Johnson's best hope for a Collin County meal ticket in 2010.

Bill

Permalink Leave a comment

Comments, Pingbacks:

No Comments/Pingbacks for this post yet...

It is my hope that this forum will serve as an acute observer of Collin County government, leading to the return of the county to those it is supposed to serve.

I will post my opinions, fair analysis, news clippings that are relevant to local issues, and your comments.

To post your comment, you may register, or you may post anonymously. Comments will be reviewed before being placed online.

Comments that I consider inappropriate will be deleted, and the commentator warned. All I ask is that discussions remain civil and courteous. The standard for comments here is "common courtesy".

Subscribers will receive an email whenever a new blog entry is posted.

Bill Baumbach

You can observe a lot by just watching.
Yogi Berra

Find more discussion of CCO topics on The Collin County Observer Facebook Group.

March 2010
Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
<< <		> >>
	1	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27
28	29	30	31

Search

Files and Links

2006 Bill's Campaign for County Commissioner

County Government

Voting Rights & Education

Indigent Legal Defense

Indigent Healthcare

Texas Legislature

Texas Blogs

Commissioners Blogs

Mobility

2007 Bond Election

2008 Budget

Collin County Discussion Boards

Courts & Judiciary

Collin County Info & Stuff

Community Life, Art & Assistance

News Media

Financial Transparency

2009 Budget

Families & Children

Demographics

2010 Budget

Public Meeting Broadcasts & Videos

2010 Election

January 2010 Finance Reports

County Filers Campaign Finance Reports

Misc

XML Feeds

RSS 0.92: Posts, Comments
RSS 1.0: Posts, Comments
RSS 2.0: Posts, Comments
Atom: Posts, Comments

What is RSS?

The Collin County Observer

Ralph Hall earmarks Fusion Center

04/13/09

Ralph Hall earmarks Fusion Center

Comments, Pingbacks:

Leave a comment: