Hays County's Party of the Good Ole Boys Rides Again, Stronger Than Ever

Bipartisanship at its naked Machiavellian best . . . how the power brokers inside the Democratic and Republican parties have joined hands to put their moneyed, special interest agendas first

The GOB mantra is to do whatever is required to gain and maintain governmental control. Governmental control and representative governance are not the same. Both utilize the democratic process, but one resorts to expediency, deceit and dirty tricks to gain and maintain control of the electorate.

A special two-part commentary

Part 1

By Charles O'Dell, Ph.D.

Hays County voters have spoken, but for those who may not have noticed, the Nov. 4 election results signaled a comeback for the good ole boys (GOB) from the time when Eddy Etheredge was county judge and mentor to then Commissioner Jeff Barton. Barton and Etheredge are back and both retain their GOB ways.

The Barton’s of Buda, Bob and son Jeff, claim to be Democrats, but like Charles Soechting, they are first and foremost GOB. Soechting resigned in 2006 as Texas Democratic Party Chair, and is an attorney at the San Marcos and Houston offices of The O'Quinn Law Firm. Soechting endorsed another GOB, Republican Will Conley in his reelection bid for Precinct 3 County Commissioner. The Soechting endorsement of Conley was more of a GOB rant against fellow Democrat Steve Klepfer, former Mayor of Wimberley, who is definitely not a GOB.

Political parties are simply to be used as a tool for control. The GOB will claim they are working for bipartisan cooperation but it’s really about GOB control. Those who oppose the GOB will be painted as obstructionists. If you understand this, then you can begin to make sense out of commissioners’ court and the Hays County election results.

The GOB mantra is to do whatever is required to gain and maintain governmental control. Governmental control and representative governance are not the same. Both utilize the democratic process, but one resorts to expediency, deceit and dirty tricks to gain and maintain control of the electorate.

This is widely known as the Machiavellian principle of government.
Pronunciation: (mak"_-u-vel'_-un)
—adj.
1. political expediency is placed above morality and the use of craft and deceit to maintain the authority and carry out the policies of a ruler is described.
3. characterized by subtle or unscrupulous cunning, deception, expediency, or dishonesty: He resorted to Machiavellian tactics in order to get ahead.

Priming the pump, and the '06 election of Sumter and Ford was just a bump on the road

A major challenge to the Hays County GOB occurred in the November 2006 election when Democrat Liz Sumter was elected County Judge in a stunning upset over Jim Powers, and newcomer Democrat Karen Ford was elected Precinct 4 Commissioner in a mild upset. GOB and Democrat Jeff Barton was also elected as Precinct 2 Commissioner, in large part because of a historical disconnect by new voters who had no knowledge of Barton having been voted out of the same office in 1998, along with his mentor County Judge Eddy Etheredge, amid claims of waste and corruption.

It would have been instructive for those new Precinct 2 voters to have known that the Barton Democrats supported Republican Bill Burnett in his run for reelection as Precinct 3 Commissioner in 2000. Burnett’s opponent was Democrat Liz Sumter. Bill Burnett is the son of William “Bud” Burnett who, for twenty years or more, used the GOB of Pedernales Electric Cooperative (PEC) to enrich themselves at the expense of PEC customers, and who was forced to resign in disgrace from the PEC board earlier this year.

Like father like son. In late summer of 2002, a Hays County Purchasing Department evaluation committee was ranking engineering firms that had applied to manage the County’s 2001 county road bond. Engineering firm, Turner, Collie Braden was at least fifth on the list until Commissioner Burnett interceded and pushed TCB to the top. In March of 2003, three TCB employees located in Austin, Ft. Worth and Houston each made $1,500 contributions to the Burnett election campaign. It turned out to be a very good investment for TCB. The firm was paid about $4 million from the 2001 road bond.

Such is the ways of the GOB. By their contributors ye shall know them.

In 2004, the last year of his second term as Precinct 3 Commissioner, Burnett was on the payroll of Houston firm, Dannenbaum Engineering. Burnett decided not to run for reelection and hosted a fund raiser for fellow Republican Will Conley who owns a car wash in San Marcos and boasted that Karl Rove was his political hero. James Dannenbaum, president of Dannenbaum Engineering made one of several large contributions to the Conley campaign. In fact, most all of Burnett’s special interest contributors switched over to Conley. Conley’s fat campaign budget won him the 2004 election.

In the election summer of 2006, Conley became a self proclaimed Hays County “Road Czar” and worked with TxDOT on the $133 million Pass-Through Tolling Agreement that would become the core of our current $207,000,000 so called “safety and mobility” road bond.

Conley and County Judge Jim Powers were so confident of funding the $133 million Agreement that they lined up seven special interest firms and awarded contracts to them totaling $10 million. The seven firms were: Prime Strategies - $1 million, Dannenbaum Engineering - $1.4 million, Carter & Burgis - $2.4 million, Cobb Fendley - $2.0 million, Lockwood, Andrews & Newman - $.62 million, Klotz and Associates - $2.5 million, and PBS&J - $.14 million. The County Auditor wrote on each of the seven contracts, “no funds in the budget for this contract.”

To jump start the seven unfunded contracts Conley got the court to divert $5.4 million from the county’s 2001 road bond for county roads, into the new Pass-Through Agreement that expanded state roads RR 12, changed the route of FM 1626, and built a new FM 110 that was called the road to nowhere.

Powers secretly intended to issue certificates of obligation instead of asking voters to approve a road bond, but first he had to get past his November 2006 election before springing the long-term debt on the voters without their approval.

Conley feared that Precinct 4 Commissioner Russ Molenaar might lose in his bid for reelection and worked hard in his campaign. Even if Molenaar should lose there would still be the majority of Powers, Conley and Barton, if Barton could beat Republican Susie Carter. So the Democrat Barton’s were working against Democrat Sumter, and Republicans were working against Republican Carter because she was too honest. The GOB at work.

When the unthinkable happened in November and both Molenaar and Powers lost their bids for reelection, the GOB had to formulate a new strategy. Barton and Etheredge to the rescue.

Barton/Conley tag up to play hardball while Ingalsbe stands by for the power shift

When the new court convened on January 2, 2007, Barton immediately began his efforts to “dominate” the inexperienced County Judge Sumter, and to “neutralize” the new Precinct 4 Commissioner Ford. A review of commissioners’ court videos located on the Hays County web site reveals the abusive and verbose “talk them into submission” approach Barton exercised week after week in the first months of the Sumter administration.

Republican Commissioner Will Conley, who was beginning the third year of his term, watched and learned from Barton. He and Barton soon began playing tag team on Sumter and Ford, and third-term Precinct 1 Commissioner Debbie Gonzales Ingalsbe watched carefully to see who would win the power struggle. She would go with the power, and provide the swing vote.

With the defeat of Powers and Molenaar, Conley had to scrap the non-voter approved certificates of obligation scheme. The new court majority insisted that any road bond go before the voters. It didn’t take Barton and Conley long to get the Pass-Through Tolling Road Bond on the May 2007 ballot. Voters eventually said no to the road bond in the May election, but that didn’t keep the court from paying $2.5 million by the end of 2007 to the seven hand picked Pass-Through special interest firms, and not a foot of roadway is constructed.

It was clear that a more orchestrated effort would have to be made if the road bond had any chance of getting voter approval. That would have to wait until the 2008 general election. In the meantime, the dirty tricks plan to discredit Judge Sumter was about to take a big step forward.

The GOB permitting department was challenged on April 14, 2007 when Sumter, Ford and Ingalsbe voted to revoke a commercial on-site septic facility Authorization to Construct permit that Environmental Health Department Programs Manager, Tom Pope had issued to Nick Ramus, despite its non-compliance with County and State Rules.

Declaring Ramus a victim of the new court majority, Barton and Conley railed against what they contended was both an illegal and unjust action by the Sumter majority. Ramus, with encouragement from Barton, Conley and other GOB, sued Hays County in District Court that July, claiming the county lacked authority to enforce its septic Rules.

This wasn’t the first time Ramus had filed a law suit, but it was the first time he was represented by an attorney. Twice before he had, pro se, sued his former employer at Texas State University and then settled out of court. And Ramus is not a stranger to Hays County courts. Records showed that he has been convicted twice of being a public nuisance and is currently facing a deadly conduct charge.

If Ramus lost his legal suit against Hays County, as existing case law strongly suggested that he would, the dirty tricks effort of Barton and Conley to discredit Sumter would be dashed.

As an interim tactic, Barton attempted to slip past commissioners’ court a precedent setting septic variance that he hoped would help the Ramus suit, but his scheme was exposed and he retreated, visibly shaken that his well planned scheme had been discovered.

Finally, a visiting Republican judge, without comment or legal rationale, found in favor of Ramus with a terse ruling that flew in the face of all previous case law. But Skip Newsom, attorney for Ramus, sat on the Judge’s Order until after the November election to forestall commissioners’ court appealing the decision that would surely be overturned and have damaged Conley’s reelection efforts.

This stalling tactic gave Barton and Conley time and opportunity to work on cleaning up the Ramus public image and to drive swing voter Commissioner Ingalsbe into their camp, giving them a court majority. Conley supported Ramus as a Republican candidate for Precinct 1 County Commissioner, and the Barton’s supported Celestino Mendez in the Democrat primary for Precinct 1 race against incumbent Ingalsbe.

That did the trick.

So Barton and Conley had encouraged Ramus to sue commissioners’ court. Barton’s precedent septic variance scheme had failed. A visiting Republican District Judge rendered an inexplicable ruling prohibiting the county from enforcing its development Rules and Regulations. Commissioner Ingalsbe was sent a message by the Barton’s in the Democrat Primary, and the Hays County Republican Party, dominated by Conley, supported Ramus as its candidate against Ingalsbe.

What was the purpose of these and other Machiavellian tactics by the GOB?

First, it was to maintain control of commissioners’ court and work for Sumter’s defeat in the 2010 election. Second, to protect the county’s development permitting group that is loyal to the GOB and will do their bidding whether lawful or not. And third, to avoid any election fallout for Conley, Ingalsbe and the road bond that would have occurred if their Ramus scheme fell apart.

Despite stalling the Ramus court Order until after the election, Ramus still managed to get himself charged with deadly conduct by confronting two citizens with a loaded shotgun. Even that case was delayed until after the election.

Part 2 will identify the hierarchy of the Hays County GOB, describe how they worked with special interests and used public funds to mislead voters on the road bond, identify who is supporting Ramus behind the scene and why, describe some of Conley’s expensive voter scams, “where they are today,” and more.

As co-founder of Hays Community Action Network (HaysCAN) in 2003, Mr. O’Dell strives to carry out the mission of ensuring open, accessible and accountable government. He is a long time and close observer of the workings of the Hays County Commissioners Court. He earned a degree in Agricultural Education and a Masters in Ag Economics at Texas Tech, and, later, a Ph.D. at The University of Maryland while employed as a Research Economist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in Washington, D.C. Texas born and raised on a family farm, O’Dell is a Hays County Master Naturalist and a board member of the Ethical Society of Austin.