Barton’s published account of the March 30, 2010 attack continued to evolve with each new report creating additional contradictions, but Barton’s is the only version to be found in print
Note: The story of the dramatic altercation that took place March 30 between Pct. 2 County Commissioner Jeff Barton and his assistant Kara Ashley Bishop has taken on many lives. The truth behind the incident remains elusive. We do not wish to beat a dead horse, and we don't believe this horse is dead by a long shot. The case remained active for three weeks with the Sheriff's criminal investigation unit. The initial call report was "Assault/Public Servant." The incident type, "Assault" UCR code "ASSAULT - Strong-Arm."
Newstreamz/Sept. 2009
Bishop, standing; Barton seated at right
The RoundUp obtained a copy of the Offense Report filed by the Deputy on the scene, Mike Chance. Deputy Chance's report appears to be as thorough and professional as it could be, considering that Barton waved the deputy off and refused to talk to him directly. From the report: "Deputy Chance determined that the offense of Assault upon a Public Servant had been committed" . . . "Deputy Chance could see that Commissioner Barton's bottom lip was swollen and bleeding. Commissioner Barton had blood stains on his hands and arms." The deputy said in his report he observed blood stains on the tan leather driver's seat of a green 2002 Toyota Highlander SUV and on the asphalt next to the vehicle. "While waiting outside, Deputy Chance spoke with Deputy Constable Todd Watkins who advised me that he was driving by, heading home, when he observed Commissioner Barton on his knees next to the green Toyota, in the parking lot . . . While waiting Deputy Chance observed one of the Kyle Police Officers enter Commissioner Barton's vehicle and begin wiping the blood off of the seat prior to it being photographed . . ."
Send your comments and news tips to roundup.editor@gmail.com, to Mr. O'Dell at codell@austin.rr.com, or click on the "comments" button at the bottom of the story
____________________
“Sure there are dishonest men in local government.
But there are dishonest men in national government too”
~ Richard M. Nixon
But there are dishonest men in national government too”
~ Richard M. Nixon
By Charles O'Dell, Ph.D.
Contributing Editor
Hays County Pct 2 Commissioner Jeff Barton has controlled the news story with his singular and uncontested, but conflicting versions of what happened when his young female assistant of two years bloodied him in an attack in front of his Hays County office in Kyle, Texas the afternoon of March 30, 2010.Even the Kyle Police Department, located only a block away from Barton’s office, officially reports Barton’s underlying version of the incident. And area news media also reported the Barton version, including its many discrepancies. There is one important exception to the Barton version – the Hays County Sheriff Department report that has been finally released to the public.
If an elected official had planned to announce to his young female assistant and campaign manager that he was dumping her (we can only speculate why), would that official have called the young woman’s parents beforehand to solicit their help – especially if the stepfather was Senior Pastor of an Austin Baptist Church, and the mother was a supervisor and Director of the Clinical Pastoral Education Program of Seton Hospital System in Kyle? He might have, especially if he anticipated his assistant would be angry about his intended action to dump her. But what if the situation between the official and his assistant turned unexpectedly violent – embarrassingly in public and creating the need for damage control?
Suddenly, the official needed a public story line about the attack that was unchallenged, less onerous to the parent’s public persona, provided political cover for the elected official who was running for higher office, and that the young woman could be convinced would be less embarrassing for her.
If instead, that elected official’s young female assistant, “has been off her medication and needed mental health treatment” (A statement Kyle police officer Zacharie Castilleja attributes to Commissioner Jeff Barton on 3/30/10); or is, “suffering from the on-set of a yet to be diagnosed or determined mental illness” (A statement Hays County Deputy Mike Chance attributes to Bishop’s stepfather, Rev. Larry Bethune on 3/30/10); or she, “was dealing with some health issues” (Hays County Pct 2 Commissioner Jeff Barton on 4/1/10); or she, “suffers a rare, serious, physical condition” (Barton: No hard feelings about cell phone incident, Sean Batura, Newstreamz, 4/6/10); or had, “some ongoing health and stress-related issues” (Kara Bishop in her statement issued 4/7/10) – would Commissioner Barton and his assistant Kara Bishop, “laugh about an incident last week in which she threw a cell phone into his face” (Newstreamz, Batura 4/6/10)?
Barton’s published account of the March 30, 2010 attack continued to evolve with each new report creating additional contradictions, but Barton’s is the only version to be found in print. Even Bishop’s statement finally issued on April 7, 2010, eight days after she bloodied Barton in front of his office, seems to support the Barton version with one important exception – Bishop speaks only of, “ongoing health and stress-related issues.” No mention of a rare physical condition, a yet to be diagnosed or determined mental illness, or of being off her medication.
It was relatively easy for Barton to control the news because he controlled the message and the media.
Bishop’s June thru December 2009 employee time sheets while employed as Barton’s assistant, and obtained from Hays County through an open records request, are inconsistent, with some appearing to have been altered. They show Bishop had no work hours submitted in November or December. Instead of being on medical leave, and that Bishop, “has been off her medication and needed mental health treatment,” as Barton claimed, (Updated: Barton campaign manager on leave after assault, by Brad Rollins, Mercury.com, 4/1/10), Bishop’s time sheets show that effective January 1, 2010, she had been placed on leave without pay from her county job as Barton’s assistant. Barton was slowly cutting ties with Bishop.
Barton’s January 2010 Campaign Finance report to the County Elections Office showed an error for payment to Bishop which we brought to Barton’s attention. The correction showed Bishop was paid $2,000 on 1/24/10 for campaign consulting. Barton hasn’t reported campaign expenditures beyond 1/31/10.
The Barton version of Bishop’s cell phone attack first appeared online in Barton’s family owned Free Press.com and in the San Marcos Mercury.com, both reports written by Brad Rollins two days after the Barton/Bishop altercation. Rollins is not only managing editor of the Mercury.com but is also a reporter for the Barton owned Hays Free Press newspaper and Free Press.com. Rollin’s original post on the Mercury and Free Press contained a photo of Barton. That photo was quickly removed in an updated version of the Barton story.
There are other serious discrepancies and contradictions in Barton news reports. Batura reported in his 4/6/10 article that Barton said, “…after the cell phone incident, Bishop obtained a first aid kit and helped him tend to his injury.” A little later Barton is quoted as saying, “I stepped outside the car and there happened to be a constable who just drove up, and he saw me bleeding…and (Barton asked) if they could just give me a first aid kit to stop the bleeding.” Barton goes on to say, “She (Bishop) was very upset in general and kind of threw her cell phone. And unfortunately, I was in her line of fire. We’ve laughed about that together.” How contrived and insulting for Barton to characterize this sorry episode as being an accident and a laughing matter.
Rollins quotes Kyle police officer Castilleja who spoke with Barton and refers to Barton throughout his police report on a first name basis. “Jeff said that, ‘a Hays County constable unit was in the area and assisted him.’” “Jeff stated he went to the restroom to get cleaned up.”
When Hays County Sheriff Deputy Mike Chance arrived and asked Barton if he cared to discuss the incident, Barton politely declined. Barton knew that he needed time to get his story straight because he would be dealing with a professional Sheriff Department, not friendly Kyle police officers who removed evidence and supported Barton’s story.
While waiting outside, Deputy Chance observed one of the Kyle police officers enter Barton’s vehicle and begin wiping the blood off of the seat prior to it being photographed. Ultimately no photographs were taken and no evidence was collected according to the Sheriff Department Offense Report.
Where were Bishop’s parents when she was suffering this “yet to be diagnosed or determined mental illness? Why is Barton controlling the public story? Why would Barton drive Kara Bishop to his office to discuss getting her some medical treatment at a Mental Health Institution in San Antonio? Kara’s mother is Director of Clinical Pastoral Education program at Seton Hospital in Kyle (just across I-35 from Barton’s office) and Seton has a mental health services facility in nearby Austin.
Why would Barton drive to San Antonio with Bishop and her parents to seek mental health services instead of going to nearby Austin Seton, a hospital system for which Gina Bethune works? Barton isn’t a family member and according to San Antonio State Hospital (SASH) policy he wouldn’t be allowed in the process.
An attack on a public official is a big deal as demonstrated by the arrival of a constable, five sheriff deputies, Kyle police officers, fire department personnel, and three ambulances. The question is what motivated Bishop to throw her cell phone at Barton? Given Barton’s stumbling efforts to play down the matter, and his conflicting accounts of the incident and its cause, I suspect this young woman was offered up so that others might sidestep accountability for their sorry behavior. We have only Barton’s account of what happened and why it happened.
Perhaps in the end truth will prevail, but don’t hold your breath waiting for it to come from Commissioner Barton and his crowd.
9 comments:
Jesus! What don't you just hand the son of a bitch and be finished with him? That's what you want to do, isn't it?
Barton will be finished in November when he runs against the good Republican doctor who will soon replace the County Judge.
But, go ahead and keep the pressure on the poor bastard. What goes around comes around.
Talk about a deer staring in the headlights! This does not look good for Barton. And where did that Kyle officer get the ok to wipe away evidence? This whole thing has been messy and smelly from the start and it will hang over Barton's sorry head for a long time. Thanks Charles for your dogged pursuit of the truth. So much corruption and so little time, eh?
Just Swimming,
You miss the point of it all. It's not about elections and which Party is in office---it's about integrity, respect for others and human decency.
Please get your head out of politics for a moment and consider how important it is to reap the consequences of our individual and collective behavior
Think of how much improved all our lives would be if we were held accountable for our actions.
A spouse who cheats is accountable to his/her family. An individual who breaks the law is accountable to the victim and society through a court of law.
Anyone who violates a position of trust should be held accountable.
Only when there is accountability for our actions can we hope to have an ethical culture that benefits us all, not just those in positions of power.
Hays County government is in the grips of a corrupt few, and too many of those in positions of authority abuse that authority. Not because I say so, but because its a reality. Look around, but take off the blinders of Party affiliation or labels.
It doesn't have to be that way but first, every day ordinary people have to care. And the first step of caring is awareness.
Charles, why don’t you get a real job? This is a re-run of an old non-story. You don’t like Barton, we get that, okay?
"You miss the point of it all. It's not about elections and which Party is in office---it's about integrity, respect for others and human decency."
Charles, are you serious?
You don't have a prayer to find integrity, respect for others and human decency in Texas politics.
You won't find it in state or local politics. The state of Texas is totally corrupt and dictatorial. You don't find it in daily life either.
Those days are long gone.
Tsunami is probably correct about politicians, but integrity does exist within individuals. If you don't know that, you need to change your life.
“Those days are long gone.”
I believe those days never were. Texas politics and civility have never been fellow travelers in this state. After the reconstruction period, Texas was ruled by the new Southern Democrats in a dynasty that has lasted to this very day. The Republicrats now own a larger portion of the game but are not all that different. Texans will get the government they tolerate.
Mr. O'Dell,
I applaud your cry for integrity in politics and I hope your efforts help move us more toward that objective sooner rather than later.
My opinion, however, is that we will never achieve that goal unless we restrict special interest money. Nothing new here but it is so obvious that most people don't care or don't understand.
The apathy on the part of voters to not care about this problem is most disturbing. It is why America is becoming a failed state and why Wall Street is corrupt and why we allow oil disasters and why we keep voting for money and power greedy politicians.
And why our nation has 10% to 15% real unemployment.
Apathetic parents who keep voting for pathologically lying politicians are making their children ashamed of them and in the end telling their children that lying is normal. Sad but true.
Mr. O'Dell, I hope that you will put this article in Newstreamz, San Marcos Daily Record, Austin American Statesman..etc. This needs to be in all area's of news. I doubt they will publish this in the "Barton Free Press".
Yes, there is corruption, dishonesty in alot of the elected officials, remember Nixon? Clinton? all of the Senators with their actions? Now we see it in our local government, city and state. How can you teach your children that Honesty is the best policy when they see what we have elected?
I hope that the voters will come out and not elect Barton as County Judge. I hope that we start with a clean court. It is time to vote out our current court. It was bad enough watching the court on video with Powers, Russ and Susie. That was a disgrace to the county with their cheap shots and snide remarks. It was like watching the circus and not having to buy a ticket. Now we have Barton and Ms."Green" Ford and they need to be replaced with someone that does not have a hidden agenda, nasty remarks and will tell the truth.
Why do we have a court anyways when all they do now is hire a firm to do their research and come back with findings then have to go back out and research again because it is not what the court wants? Talk about a waste of money. Why does the court have assistants then? Maybe fire them and use the salary savings to help fund the special firms for research.
Sometimes I think a dead horse is beat to death on some of the articles on here, but you hit the nail on the head with this artice Mr. O'Dell. Make sure that this article is posted everywhere a Hays County Voter can access it and lets clean up Hays County. Instead of being a "Green County" lets become a "Barton/Ford" free County...
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