The Collin County Observer

Bill,

Thank you for providing such an informative program on the upcoming elections and other Collin County political issues. I know many of the candidates and listen to their speeches, thanks to you. It gives me a better insight as to who they really are. I noticed that Jerry Hoagland did not have additional remarks about the county hiring Arabs and Indians. That was such an embarassment for Collin County and hope that people will check further into Jerry's actions before putting too much stock into his speeches. He's really not the caliber candidate that Collin County residents deserve. Perhaps he's been in office too long and suffers from that dreaded burnout. It's time to replace him. Thanks!

Cheryl Williams was one of the better speakers of the night, out of all candidates at this forum, not just this seat. There are so many races this primary and I would have to say this one is one of the best for Collin County residents. You have a great list of candidates, all for different reasons. I also believe that these candidates would all be very different in office. I hope everyone understands the importance of this race and identifies what they want in this office and make the best decision.

Here is my rundown on the candidates:

Jerry - What you see is what you get, and that's not a bad thing. Sometime, predictability can be a very good thing in politics. You may have to put up with some stuff that bugs you at times, but you know what you're in for and you don't have to worry about his vote.

Cheryl - I believe Cheryl will be very innovative on the court and will grow into this position. That may sound like she needs on the job training, but I think that's the case with anyone who gets elected to a new position. She will be a fast learner and will serve the county well. What the far right will want to know is, is she sold out on conservatism, only time will tell. I do think she would do well.

Karl - Karl is a passionate conservative and that should make people question their votes between Jerry and Karl, but I don't think they will. Older folks are repetitive voters and I think Jerry will continue to capture that vote. I also think Cheryl's rise in this race caught Karl off guard. I don't know if Karl had a chance, but with Cheryl performing well in campaigning terms, Karl's chances continue to slide. Will he be able to garner enough grassroots support to force a runoff will be the big news in this race.

Now, I will give you my prediction.
Jerry will be the top vote getter and Cheryl will hope for a solid turnout for herself and from Karl forcing a runoff between her and Jerry. Throw some Matt Shaheen runoff campaign tactics in the recipe and you will have an interesting show.

I haven't heard the candidates address the issue of wasteful spending by county commissioners and judges, which was documented by Channel 11 news: http://cbs11tv.com/investigators/collin.county.officials.2.653684.html Do the candidates believe the taxpayers can afford these all-expense paid junkets? Commissioners' compensation is already above average for counties with a similar population.

Visitor, I would say ask Keith, but his response would probably be to laugh and say something like, fair is relative.

I think Cheryl's approach is very creative. I think she's called Jerry on the rug time and time again for making bad decisions related to the county.

I like that Cheryl is one of the only non-incumbents questioning the fact that county commissioners are so funded by developers and vendors.

There have been so many times that Jerry has embarrassed the county. In 1980 I'm sure he represented what Collin County was like, but not anymore.

I think its time for voters to consider mixing up commissioners court again and getting rid of a aggravating sore on our county's governing body.

I have viewed the above clips and clearly Jerry Hoagland brings an extraordinary experience to this race. I agree with mixing it up and that has been done with the addition of Kathy Ward, Matt Shaeen and County Judge Keith Self. Joe Jaynes and Jerry Hoagland are the veteran Commissioners and we need the HIStory on the commission. Jerry clearly addressed the spending and tax issues for the county. I would love to hear from those that are willing to "work for free or less pay"

Work for free? Jerry visits the courthouse a whopping two times a month. I know I know, the rest of the time he's at "meetings" which are defined as lunches on the county's dime with his buddies. In fact, doesn't he spend upwards of $25k - $30k a year on meals - in addition to his salary?

Jerry (and his wife) have been on the taxpayer's payroll for their entire careers, and it's not right.

Jerry votes against the budget a bunch (which pass anyway), but I can't think of a single time that he's voted against a raise in his own pay. Conservative? I think not.

We don't need that kind of "history" on the court anymore.

SO LONG JERRY!!!

I hope he isn't in the Courthouse much; his office is in the Admin Bldg.

Well points to Anonymous for being a wise donkey.

I would submit to you that county commissioners SHOULD be at the courthouse, and at the jail, and at the annex buildings, and at the juvenile detention center, and at probation officers, and at fleet services, and at at the substance abuse office, and at the WIC office, and at the umpteen other county offices which they pretend to know so well when they go line by line slashing costs.

Maybe if they did spend a little more time in county facilities and less time touring courthouse in Florida and Las Vegas, they'd be a little more in tune to what's going on. I know the other elected officials would appreciate it if county commissioners actually spent time in their offices before making arbitrary budget decision.

Gosh, thanks Anonymous, for setting the bar so low for county commissioners. I'm sure we're all better served by your willingness to tolerate idle county commissioners.

I think this post will be for good conversation.

Do you really think Jerry is a bad commissioner? I think it would be hard to say that. Do you think it is time for him to leave office and let a fresh perspective sit on the court in his seat, yes, I think most would agree with that.

With that said, I want to go back to people focusing on the workload of a commissioner. Is it Jerry's fault or is it the court's fault? I think that's a valid question. Think about the role of that job. What is the actual time committment required to be an effective commissioner. I believe it should be a 50-60 hour work week. For the salaries those people get, I think they should be working their tails off for you and me.
The question becomes, what if they don't do that? What if a commissioner decides, I 'm really only going to work 20 hours this week although it will look like I'm working 40? It's not like your job or my job where if I wasn't in my office for half the week, my boss would be waiting for me at the door when I returned, only to let me know that I could turn back around and leave again...for good.
So, if a commissioner can get away with doing his or her job in 20 or 30 hours a week, why wouldn't they do that? To take it even further, let's say you have a really sharp and really good commissioner who gets their job done, keeps their constituents happy and is working 30 hours a week. If they do everything they're supposed to and they keep their promises to their constituents, is there an issue?

I hope you see where I am coming from. This court has such an arbitrary workload system. It's not defined. I think we should take a serious look at the structure of the court and see how we can improve the transparency of their workload. If not, I think we should look at "remodeling" their outrageous salaries.

Davis,

I admire your respective on the nature of the commissioners' job demands and how they came to be.

I do, however, disagree that Jerry has been a good commissioner - at least in recent years. Undoubtedly he made contributions in the first decade of his office. But, since then he has served to dishonor the people of Collin County through a thoughtless tongue and arrogant votes.

From arrogant raises of 17%, to racist comments and endless bigotry, Jerry Hoagland simply isn't the caliber of elected official we need anymore.

Now, to support your point about a commissioner’s job, I submit to you that they indeed have plenty of work to keep them busy for at least 40 hours a week. In addition to meetings, they need to be visiting the trenches and attempting to grasp the complex issues facing the county using a hands-on approach, not just seeing how much they can learn during each meeting. The level of debate at commissioners court meetings leaves much to be desired from a academic and management standpoint.

Instead, commissioners court has an administrative staff of 4 ladies who are vastly more familiar with the operations of the county individually than the commissioners combined. This isn't to mention the department heads of engineering, human resources (with a staff larger than the elections department), budget department, health department (which is constantly spat upon by commissioners) and the county administrator himself, who struggle to lower himself to the level of the commissioners' understanding. And, why do these people know the county so well? Because they spend every day with it.

I submit to you that it is the voters who are content with rhetoric and ideological jib jab rather than substantive management of the county. These are the people who are worried that no illegal immigrant receive a vaccine or that no alleged criminal receive free counsel, while they squander tax dollars on junkets and lunches.

I have to hand it to Joe Jaynes. Of all the commissioners he is in the office the most and seems closest to his constituents. I don't always agree with him, but I feel he works the hardest.

I welcome more debate on this, Davis, for there is nothing to gain except the quality of our leaders :)

Cheers.

Comment from Visitor........
Keith Self's travel receipts for that trip to Florida totaled a whopping $203.31.(Public record)
It's easy to edit video to get the desired effect to discredit an honorable man.
Get a life!

Gini, what are your thoughts about Keith's response to Greg Willis' hotel room in Vegas?

Gini, do you seriously believe Self only spent $203 for a trip to Florida?

Did he walk to Florida, stay in a cardboard box and walk to the different venues?

I just took one of my employees on a business trip to California. His expense report totaled $20 and my expense report totaled $3000.

I paid for his plane ticket, car rental, hotel room and most meals under my expense report. I'm 100% sure the entire cost of Self going to Florida wasn't only $203.31.

I'm sure Self is honorable. He and the rest of the county made a poor decision on this trip.

Given his "I'm standing by the taxpayer" mantra he should have vocally protested the valet parking, the meals at Kobe Steakhouse and Bern's Steakhouse and even the pack of chewing gum we paid for.

Instead his public quote was the trip may be perceived as a "little excessive" (understatement) and "elected officials have discretion to take trips as they deem necessary."

There was no discretion in this trip. It was a vacation/working trip. I'm sure the there are other restaurants in Miami other than the expensive Kobe and Bern's. Oh... and what did our money spent on at those two restaurants? Lobster and Filet Mignon.

Now, I do take some business trips to some rather nice spots. Sometimes I upgrade my car to something nice. I sometimes upgrade my airplane ticket to first class. I sometimes eat at $100 plate restaurants. I sometimes upgrade my hotel room. But I never charge my partnership for the excess. I expense what is reasonable for the location for example coach airfare, mid size car, average hotel room and $20 or less a meal.

I expect my Count Commissioners to do the same with our money.

Does anyone remember what the trips were for? They were to look at new audio recording systems which were going to be used to replace live court reporters in the district courts.

This trip was taken AFTER every single district judge at the time wrote a letter stating they would issue a standing order forbidding the use of electronic recording equipment in their courtrooms and demanded that live court reported be used - as they always have.

But, in true Self fashion, he didn't want to listen to the elected officials. Of course he preaches about their 'discretion' when it benefits him, but he's willing to overrule their discretion at a whim.

So, two trips, paid by tax payers, were taken after the judges had refused to do away with live court reporters.

These trips were a sham and were nothing more than vacations. Everyone knew the recording systems would not be implemented, but they took the trips anyway to ..."learn more." In fact, it was us, the taxpayers, who learned about the true intentions of Keith Self on that trip!

Eric,

For anyone to think that Keith flew to Florida, stayed in a hotel, used any form of transportation and ate food at a total cost of $203 is childish.

The problem is, Keith Self supporters will believe ANYTHING he says. Reminds me of some guy that ran for President in 2008...what was his name again?

Collin County Citizen and Davis are both correct. Since the Channel 11 report, there has been no justification explained to the citizens for why these junkets were charged to the taxpayer. Why were these trips considered "county business" in the first place? Why were they absolutely necessary? The commissioners are already paid higher than the average salary for counties with a similar-sized population. People have lost patience with the wasteful spending by politicians.