A rundown of the TFSC’s history demonstrates that the agency is no stranger to controversy. A 1971 audit of the Board of Morticians (now the TFSC) found that the agency was paying a $500 per month retainer to Johnnie B. Rogers Sr. — who is now SCI’s attorney — while Rogers was lobbying for the Texas Funeral Directors Association (TFDA). Moreover, the TFSC rented office space for many years from the TFDA, the trade association whose members the agency is supposed to regulate.
In 1980, state auditors poked around and found that the agency “did not serve to protect the health, safety, or welfare of the public.” In 1986, Consumers Union publicly declared that the agency had a “hand-in-glove relationship” with the industry. Its reputation slid further downhill when, in 1990, the Sunset Advisory Commission recommended that the TFSC be abolished because the actions it took to resolve complaints were “minimal and ineffective.”
Finally, in 1997, the State Auditor’s Office said the TFSC had failed to monitor funeral homes that had repeatedly violated state rules.
One wonders how the TFSC was able to hang on for so long when watchdogs and regulators claimed the agency was not fulfilling its sole purpose — to protect Texas consumers. The agency will have a very hard time looking out for consumers without a capable director. Jim Garrison, executive director of the Texas Funeral Directors Association, says that finding a new leader will be difficult, in part because the position pays about $43,000, and finding someone “who wants to take on a job with that many problems for that much money won’t be easy.”
Kiser, the outgoing TFSC board member, is more direct: “Unless they are a masochist they won’t want that job.” Kiser points out that the agency will come under sunset review again in 2001, and he says that the uncertainty of the sunset process, coupled with the controversy over May’s lawsuit, should scare off any good applicants.
In 1996, Hughes, another outgoing TFSC board member, interviewed several candidates for the executive director’s job. Most, he said, were not qualified. The agency hired Eliza May in July 1996 because, said Hughes, “she was head and shoulders above anyone else we talked to.”
But Hughes says he lost confidence in May earlier this year and voted to dismiss her. Now that both May and Hughes are out of the TFSC, Hughes sounds a little bitter about the experience. He also admits being impressed with SCI’s power play on the TFSC. “SCI poured the money in the right places and kicked our butts out,” he said. “They told us, ‘We’ll go to the governor and get this thing thrown out.’ I didn’t think they were that strong. I didn’t think they could buy that many people.” Apparently, Hughes was wrong.
This article appears in August 27 • 1999 and August 27 • 1999 (Cover).