Mayor Bruce Todd told the daily it was “small potatoes,” but the Save Our
Springs (SOS) forces have been celebrating, or at least trying to, since last
week’s Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling that the city did not violate
FM Properties’ constitutional rights. The decision is a reversal of an earlier
jury verdict in favor of FMP that the city appealed. The company had sought $75
mil-lion from the city to pay for construction delays its projects allegedly
suffered due to enforcement of the SOS water quality ordinance. The SOS victory
comes on the heels of another environmental win two weeks ago when the appeals
court overturned a Hays County jury verdict against the city that had
effectively killed SOS. The citizen-initiated ordinance is back on the books,
and unless the U.S. Supreme Court says otherwise, there it will remain… — A.D.
The city council voted to privatize the Austin Convention & Visitors’
Bureau (ACVB) last week. The ACVB and about $2 million a year in city funding
will go to a non-profit corporation of hoteliers, Chamber of Commerce members,
and other representatives of the city’s tourism industry, that ostensibly will
attract an unprecedented amount of tourist dollars over the next five years.
Boondoggle potential is rife, since a free-for-all fiasco ensued the last time
the ACVB was in private hands. That was in the late Eighties, and tax dollars
were unscrupulously spent on political campaigns, expenditures were never
accounted for, and contractually, cousins were sleeping with cousins. Things
may be better this time. Councilmembers Jackie Goodman and Daryl Slusher added
numerous safeguards to the non-profit’s by-laws to enable more public
accountability. But the past isn’t easily forgotten by all, and Slusher and
fellow council freshman Beverly Griffith voted against the privatization… — A.M. Major Debra Meeks, the Air Force recruiter stationed in San Antonio accused
of being gay, can keep her job and her pension after all. She was acquitted
last week by a seven-member jury of sodomy and conduct unbecoming an officer.
The charges were brought in spite of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”
policy, which has been in place since 1993. The Servicemembers’ Legal Defense
Network estimates that the Pentagon spent more than $21 million in 1995
training replacements for personnel discharged from the armed forces due to
their alleged sexual preference. Meeks’ lawyer, Michael Tigar, a University of
Texas Law School professor who is also a lead defense lawyer in the Oklahoma
City bombing case, said he represented Meeks because he was “offended by what
had happened to her and how she had been treated. It seemed to me that having a
pajama police force was a waste of money…” —
R.B.
Vaya Con Dios
City Manager Jesus Garza may leave the city for the same position in CorpusChristi, according to an article yesterday in the Corpus Christi
Caller-Times. The article states that a majority of councilmembers there
would up his salary from his current Austin take of $125,000 to about $156,250.
Garza’s departure is not certain, but seems highly possible. Though he
originally turned down the job in June, he says in the article that he’s spent
the summer in thoughtful reconsideration. His roots are in Corpus, where he
grew up and was second-in-command at the city before journeying to Austin, and
the idea of a homecoming has become increasingly attractive.
Suspiciously, the article debuted just one day before the council planned to
discuss a new contract for Garza in executive session. Speculation abounds that
the turn of events has been orchestrated to put pressure on the council to
accept Garza’s terms. According to councilmember Daryl Slusher, Garza
originally asked for a wage increase above that of common city employees. After
getting a negative response, he lowered his terms to the standard 3% wage
increase. But Garza essentially wants a doubling of his retirement fund for
each year he stays, Slusher says, and also wants a full year of severance pay
if he’s fired or forced to resign.
Garza’s two years here have been successful, and he is widely considered to be
one of Austin’s sharpest city managers. Mayoral aide Trey Salinas says in the
article that the City will do all it takes to keep him indefinitely. But it’s
the mayor’s relationship with Garza that is his Achille’s heel. Councilmembers
past and present have faulted the city manager for an unseemly preponderance to
act as a Bruce Todd disciple, particularly in privatizing city services. If he
leaves, you may hear the common rhetorical lament, but you won’t see too many
councilmembers crying in the streets.
— A.M.
Who’s Frivolous Now?
A few years ago, Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold CEO Jim Bob Moffett told alocal TV reporter that he would “bankrupt the city” with lawsuits. Since then,
his development company has filed numerous actions against local entities,
including the city and the Travis Central Appraisal District. The company won
two cases against Austin, one in state and one in federal court. However, both
cases have been overturned on appeal. Last week, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court
of Appeals spanked Freeport for the second time in as many weeks when it sided
with the city in the case known as FM Properties Operating Company v. City
of Austin.
The justices said the city had not violated the company’s constitutional due
process rights and it remanded the case to district court for dismissal. Thus,
Freeport has sued the city twice and lost twice. In the process it has cost
Austin taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees.
An interesting outcome in light of the company’s denouncement of a lawsuit
filed against it last April by Tom Beanal, leader of the Amungme tribe in
Indonesia. In a class action suit, Beanal and 1,000 other plaintiffs allege
that Freeport’s mine in Irian Jaya has polluted their land and destroyed their
way of life. They are seeking $6 billion in damages. When the suit was filed,
company officials dismissed it as “frivolous and opportunistic.”
Now that Freeport’s claims against the city of Austin have been shown in court
to be without merit, are they frivolous? Calls placed to Bill Collier and
Garland Robinette, Freeport’s former reporters-turned-spokesmen, were not
returned. — R.B.
Career Privatization
Sue Milam, the director of the Travis County/Austin Health and Human ServicesDepartment (HHS) turned in her resignation last week announcing her decision to
take a position with the Austin Regional Clinic (ARC), a local managed-care
group. Long viewed as an advocate for privatization of public health care
through managed-care programs, Milam’s seven years with HHS, (six as director),
was marked by several major moves toward those goals for city and county
Medicaid patients. Milam and former Assistant City Manager Byron Marshall
created the city’s managed-care pilot program in 1992 that moved 300 indigent
patients in the city’s Medical Assistance Program (MAP) to PCA, a health
management organization. The pilot, deemed a success by patients and officials,
was recently expanded to 600. HHS plans to expand the program further to
include as many of Austin and Travis County’s 9,364 MAP patients as possible.
Milam was also in on negotiations between the city and the Catholic-run Seton
Medical Center for management of the city-owned Brackenridge Hospital. That
agreement precipitated Seton’s interest in taking over management of the 13
city and county public clinics; at this point, however, the city has not begun
discussions with Seton.
PCA also holds a contract with ARC, but Milam says she will work “exclusively
for Austin Regional Clinic,” starting up a new physicians group as their
Director of Corporate Development. “It’s a great opportunity and challenge with
a superb group,” says Milam. She should know — ARC employed Milam as director
of development before she came to work in the public sector in 1989. Milam was
asked to return, she says, because ARC is planning to start a new physicians
group called the Austin Regional Independent Association.
Milam is leaving September 1, but HHS spokesperson Dan Pickens says “there’s
been no word from downtown yet,” about who will take over the department and
its $104 mil-lion annual budget. — L.C.B.
Quiz Time
Clinton, Nixon, and Coolidge. What do those three presidents have in common?Answer: They all won the White House without winning Texas. Richard Nixon
narrowly lost the state to Hubert Humphrey in 1968. Calvin Coolidge lost Texas
in 1924 to John W. Davis but still managed to win the race.
President Bill Clinton has a chance to beat Bob Dole in Texas, but it’s not a
great chance. The last Democrat to win the state was Jimmy Carter in 1976 and
the GOP has taken Texas in six of the last seven presidential races. Polls last
week showed Clinton and Dole in a dead heat, with each getting 38 percent of
the vote. H. Ross Perot garnered 11 percent of the vote.
If Dole is to have any chance of winning the White House, he absolutely cannot
lose Texas. Clinton proved in 1992 that he can win without the Lone Star State.
If he wins California again, as he did four years ago, and wins Texas, he will
have more than a third of the votes needed for a return trip to 1600
Pennsylvania Avenue.
The Democratic National Committee plans to spend some $3 million in Texas this
year, more than twice the amount it spent in Texas in 1988, when native son
Lloyd Bentsen ran on the ticket with Michael Dukakis. Still, the GOP remains
optimistic. Gov. George W. Bush told Ken Herman of the local daily, “We are not
in danger of losing Texas.” He may be right. Polls taken in August of 1988 and
1992 both showed Democratic candidates to be 10 points ahead of their
Republican counterparts. And in both races, the Democrats lost. This time
Clinton doesn’t have an August lead.
But the Dems aren’t about to give up. First Lady Hillary Clinton will be
touring the state next month as will her husband. The GOP version of Hillary,
Elizabeth Dole, will visit Dallas, Houston, and Tyler this weekend. —
R.B.
This article appears in August 23 • 1996 and August 23 • 1996 (Cover).