Carole's Greatest Hits, Vol. 3

If there's one quality Austin mayoral candidate Carole Strayhorn has in spades, it's the ability to sniff out a chance for shameless political self-aggrandizement. After a string of news stories in late 2003 exposed serious abuses in the state's foster-care system, Strayhorn (then state comptroller and governor wannabe) pounced, undertaking a review of the entire foster-care system. In April 2004, with much fanfare, Strayhorn released a comprehensive and extremely unflattering portrait of the system, specifically targeting the Department of Family and Protective Services. She singled out several foster-care providers as examples of particularly poor caretakers, including the Bastrop County-based therapeutic wilderness camp Woodside Trails. When camp director Bebe Gaines and others familiar with the camp's operations argued that the accusations were misleading and unfair, that Strayhorn had not seen the camp nor had she sought to understand its therapeutic history, it only made the camp a bigger target.

In response, Strayhorn's staff flooded the state's abuse hotline with complaints about Woodside Trails – ultimately, the camp was shuttered amid specious allegations that Gaines had neglected her wards and that a counselor had abused a male camper. Gaines sued Strayhorn and DFPS officials. A federal judge dismissed Strayhorn from the suit – but not before chastising Strayhorn for her conduct. "It is worth noting here that the Court is not saying that its eyebrows have not been raised by the treatment of [Gaines] in this case," U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew W. Austin wrote. "No doubt much of [Strayhorn and her staff's] behavior in this case ... is untoward and petty. No doubt much of the behavior is (much) less than one would expect from an elected official or her staff." Gaines won her suit, but the damage to the camp was permanent. (For more on Strayhorn and the Woodside Trails fiasco, see "Campfire Horror Story," Nov. 21, 2008.)