The Winkler County News (Kermit, Tex.), Vol. 80, No. 10, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 19, 2015 Page: 4 of 12
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Page 4
The Winkler County News
Thursday, March 19,2015
Editorial
E-gate epidemics
By Victor Davis Hanson
Former CIA Director David Petraeus plea-bargained to a misdemeanor
count of unauthorized removal and retention of classified material after
having given classified government information to his onetime mistress,
Paula Broadwell. How was Gen. Petraeus‘ transgression uncovered? By
exposure of a nongovernment email account that he had set up with to
communicate with Ms. Broadwell free of CIA scrutiny.
After a series of Democratic scandals in the New York state legislature,
Gov. Andrew Cuomo is instituting a policy to have the emails of state
employees automatically deleted after 90 days. Apparently, Mr. Cuomo
does not want e-trails of politicians’ communications. Meanwhile, the
former speaker of the New York state assembly, Sheldon Silver, faces
charges of corruption and was forced by subpoena to turn over computer
correspondence.
Under the Cuomo plan, a politician like Mr. Silver could delay and
obfuscate for three months, and then safely assume that almost all of
his communications had safely vanished — in a fashion that pre-email
politicians could never have imagined.
In December 2012, shortly after the re-election of President Obama,
Enviromnental Protection Agency administrator Lisa Jackson quietly
stepped down without much public notice. Mrs. Jackson, in apparent
violation of the law, had been under federal investigation for fabricating a
phony email persona, “Richard Windsor.”
Mrs. Jackson, using the Windsor persona, communicated in a way that
allowed her to skirt federal record-keeping laws. But she not only wished to
exchange email beneath the radar of the federal government that employed
her, she also wanted to create an alias that might weigh in favorably on her
own agency’s policies.
In surreal fashion, Mrs. Jackson’s self-created Windsor also received
an award from the EPA for meritorious service — perhaps the first case of
a bureaucrat rewarding her own electronic alter ego.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is now trying to explain away
her own email scandal. During her tenure, she may have broken federal
laws by creating several personal email accounts on her own private server.
Like Gen. Petraeus, Mrs. Clinton ostensibly sought to avoid leaving an
electronic trail that might have allowed the government to have full access
to her correspondence, in her case while serving as secretary of state.
Earlier, Mrs. Clinton had issued a cable to State Department employees
warning them not to use their personal email accounts for national security
reasons — even though she herself did exactly that.
Mrs. Clinton even went so far as to create her own private domain
server that, in effect, allowed her to adjudicate which of her government
communications would eventually be deleted and which would be retained.
Consider the controversies that arose and contentious decisions that
were made during Mrs. Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state: a failed reset
with Vladimir Putin’s Russia, the pullout of all U.S. peacekeepers from Iraq
and that country’s subsequent implosion, the estrangement from Israel, the
killing of U.S. personnel in Benghazi and the scapegoating of an obscure
video-maker. In theory, Mrs. Clinton alone could have chosen to release
official or unofficial communications that she found useful and to simply
delete those she found problematic — messages that, most likely, only her
staff knew existed.
Why, otherwise, would Mrs. Clinton avoid all standard, required
government email accounts to create her own for official business — even
with the risk that her shenanigans would be exposed as unsecure, unethical
and potentially unlawful?
In all of these email scandals, the root of the problem is not, as is
sometimes alleged, undue government intrusiveness into the private lives
of federal officials. After all, the public deserves transparency — even with
regard to bureaucrats’ private correspondence, at least while they are in
office and communicating as public figures.
Public service is also voluntary, ft is usually of a limited nature. And it
requires accountability to the public.
The real problem is that our public servants are using their electronic
correspondence to affect their public records — indeed, to massage history
itself far more easily than had been done in the pre-computer age.
A CIA director who is entrusted with the nation’s secrets cannot use
email to facilitate secret lives in a way that would be difficult with just
postage stamps and phone calls.
Mrs. Jackson created a false identity that enhanced her own reputation
in a way that would have been nearly impossible with a typewriter or pencil.
With the aid of high-tech correspondence, Mrs. Clinton attempted to
decide for herself which of her emails should be subject to oversight — in
a manner difficult for prior secretaries of the pre-electronic age who were
forced to leave a clumsy carbon paper trail.
Email speeds things up. It expands the power of communications and
allows one to message far more people, far more often — and sometimes
more stealthily.
Our public servants who get caught up in these electronic scandals are
not victims of a new face of intrusive Big Brother. Instead, they are using
technology to become a sort of Big Brother themselves.
• Victor Davis Hanson is a classicist and historian with the Hoover
Institution at Stanford University.
(Reprinted from The Washington Times)
MEMBER
2015
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Capi
tal Highligl
By Ed Sterling
its
Lawmakers seek to control
elements of state spending
AUSTIN — Debates over
the Texas House and Senate
versions of the state budget lie
ahead, and movement toward
setting budget controls to blend
into a final, agreed-upon budget
for 2016-2017 emerged in low-
numbered bills filed last week.
SB 20 by Senate Finance Chair
Jane Nelson, R-Grapevine,
would strengthen state agency
contract reporting requirements,
require agency heads to sign off
on contracts worth more than
$1 million and require agencies
to post a list of all contracts on
their state website, according to
a report posted by the Senate’s
in-house news service. “These
contracts are paid for with
taxpayer dollars,” Nelson said.
“We must ensure that they are
awarded with the highest degree
of ethics and transparency.”
Nelson said her committee
would vote on SB 20 this week.
SB 9 by Sen. Kelly Hancock,
R-North Richland Hills, would
tie the state spending cap to
population growth, plus inflation,
rather than stick with the current
benchmark, personal income
growth, to devise a boundary
for state spending. The state
constitution limits the growth of
the state budget to no more than
the growth of the state economy.
In other news, the Senate Select
Committee on Government
Facilities examined deferred
maintenance at state agencies,
meaning the costs of upkeep
that get put off due to lack of
funding. Select Committee Chair
Kevin Eltife, R-Tyler, said
state agencies need $1.5 billion
to fix state facilities, up from
$400 million in 2006. “If you
don’t fix the roof, it’s not just
the cost of the roof five years
out, it’s the cost of the walls.
It’s the cost of the carpet and
repairs.” Eltife said, and called
for a four-year plan, including
a special account, to catch up
with deferred maintenance.
Bill-filing deadline passes
Friday, March 13, marked the
60th day of the 84th regular
session of the Texas Legislature
and was the final day for state
lawmakers to file non-local
legislative bills and proposed
constitutional amendments.
True to form, bill filing
reached tsunami proportions
in the last week of bill filing,
with more than one third of
the total rolling in a matter of
days. Statistics kept by Texas
Legislative Council show 4,114
House bills, 1,226 Senate bills,
and 133 House and 65 Senate
joint resolutions (proposed
constitutional amendments)
were filed. And those, in addition
to concurrent resolutions and
congratulatory and memorial
resolutions submitted by
members of both bodies came
to a grand total of 7,989 bills.
With 80 days left in the 140-
day session, lawmakers must
move with all possible speed
to get their bills assigned to
committees for consideration.
An intensive schedule of
committee hearings has begun.
From here on, it’s a race against
the clock. In the second week of
May, a string of deadlines ensue
that will cut down the number of
bills that have some chance of
entering the final stages of the
maze before June 1, the 140th and
final day of the regular session.
Sales tax revenue increases
State sales taxrevenue inFebruary
was $2.46 billion, up 11.7
percent compared to February
2014, Texas Comptroller Glenn
Hegar announced March 11.
“This marks the 59th
consecutive month of year-over-
year growth — an encouraging
sign that Texas’ diverse
economic engine continues
Dear Editor:
As most people are aware
since the fall of 20131 have been
speaking to the Commissioners
Court regarding the lack of
proper signage on our existing
truck route. My last attempt
to bring this matter before the
Court was on February 8 of
this year. While addressing the
Court, I realized what most
preachers must feel like when
they talk to some members of
their congregation. It is going
in one ear and out the other.
On two different occasions I
have presented two packets of
pictures I have taken showing
the poor excuse for signs on the
route at present. I have measured
the signs, indicated the distances
between them, and yet when
to drive spending growth in
households and businesses all
over the state,” Hegar said.
Receipts from manufacturing
and wholesale and retail trade
grew and tax receipts from
the oil and natural gas sector
were up sharply over last year,
despite a decline in oil and
natural gas prices, Hegar added.
Cities, counties, transit systems
and special purpose taxing
districts will receive March local
sales tax allocations totaling
$590.1 million, up 6.7 percent
compared to March 2014.
Governor certifies disaster
Gov. Greg Abbott on March
9 issued a disaster proclamation
certifying that drought
conditions continue to pose
a threat of imminent disaster
in 95 of Texas’ 254 counties.
While this 30-day drought
proclamation is in effect, rules
and regulations that may inhibit
or prevent prompt response to
this threat are suspended for the
duration of the state of disaster,
as authorized by state law.
Ed Sterling | Member Services
Texas Press Association
305 S. Congress Ave. Austin
TX 78704 (512) 477-6755
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capitalhighlights
trucks turn into the truck route off
Hwy 302, they get to Hwy 115
and have no idea that the route
continues across the intersection
as there is no indication that
the truck route continues. What
happens? They simply turn left
and drive straight thru our City.
This is not a City problem, it is a
County problem.
This is my last word on this
subj ect, much to the relief of some
and chagrin of others. Although
I still feel very strongly about
this issue, I am tired of being
the lone warrior in this battle. If
the parents and grandparents of
the children attending Kermit
Elementary do not care about
the 18 wheeler trucks driving in
front of this school, hauling God
knows what, then why should
I? Both our kids are grown and
not living in Winkler County. If
the residents on the 800 block
of East Austin do not care about
these trucks driving in front
of their residences, then why
should I? We live South of Hwy
302. If the merchants downtown
do not care that these trucks,
again hauling materials from
and to the oilfield, then again
why should I?
Folks have told me over
and over that nothing is ever
resolved, or taken care of, until
(See LETTER, page 5)
Letter to the Editor: Guidelines
The News will print letters to the editor if they meet
guidelines.
*The letter needs to be deemed pertinent, be of general
interest and/or be in reference to an article already
published.
*In addition, the letter needs to be under 150 words and
not include libelous, slanderous, malicious, misleading
or false information. It must be signed and have author S
phone number and address.
Selection for publication is at discretion of the editor.
Letter to Editor
Left back by
class warfare
By Frank J. Donatelli
Three recent developments
should have had President
Obama and liberals everywhere
grinding their teeth.
Apple recently announced
the biggest quarterly profit of
any company in history — $18
billion. The company sold 75
million iPhones at a 40 percent
profit per product. It’s the first
company ever to have a valuation
in excess of $700 billion.
Max Scherzer signed a
contract with the Washington
Nationals to throw a baseball
over seven seasons for $210
million. Half of the money is
deferred, but lucky Mr. Scherzer
wifi receive a cool $30 million
for every year he pitches for the
Nationals.
At this year’s Oscars, all
nominees received “gift bags”
valued by the Internal Revenue
Service (I’m glad they’re still
on the job) at $160,000 per bag.
The already-famous, well-paid
entertainers wifi take home even
more merely for being, well,
famous and well paid.
There’s been no outcry
from liberals. True, these are
politically popular industries that
have escaped progressives’ ire.
But complaints would also sound
foolish and petty when directed
against talented individuals and
financially sound companies.
Americans know instinctively
that their economic struggles are
not due to the success of others.
It’s one thing to attack the
amorphous 1 percent. It’s quite
another to hector real people
and companies. The president’s
“middle-class economics” is
not economics so much as a
jerry-rigged political agenda
designed to take the focus off
his administration’s terrible
economic performance. Much
as some unpopular leaders
manufacture crises abroad to
divert their citizens’ attention
from problems on the home
front, so does Mr. Obama and
his class warriors tell Americans
that their economic misfortune
is the fault of others.
Apple leads a vibrant tech
sector in America that along with
the energy industry is creating
jobs for thousands of Americans
and value for its stockholders,
including pension funds owned
by middle-class citizens. There’s
also the terrific new products
the company makes available
to citizens of average means.
(Quick: Who produces more
value for America, Apple or
Obamacare and the IRS?)
Max Scherzer’s contract is
testament to the vibrant growth
of major league baseball and
professional sports, again with
(See LEFT, page 5)
Presidential library
for Obama’s fairy tales
By Thomas V. DoBaccp
Sometime this month, the
Barack Obama Foundation wifi
likely announce the specific site
of the president’s library. It’s
expected to be in Chicago, but
that’s not the big news. Rather,
the 14th presidential library,
like the 44th occupant of the
White House, wifi probably be
the most controversial because
it wifi stray so far from the aims
of the original one begun by
Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1939.
At that time, FDR donated his
personal and presidential papers
to the federal government, even
pledging part of his estate in
Hyde Park, New York, for the
site.
What Roosevelt had in mind
was simple, as he indicated in
his dedication speech to the
library on June 30, 1941: “To
bring together the records of
the past and to house them in
buildings where they wifi be
preserved for the use of men and
women in the future.” In other
words, researchers would go to
Hyde Park to examine materials
and subsequently write about
the 32nd chief executive. Fifty
years ago, as a young assistant
professor, I researched files
at the FDR library for several
days. It was this historian’s
delight because the materials
were numerous, there were
no attempts to sanitize the
documents — and there was
very little in the library devoted
(See PRESIDENTIAL, page 5)
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Parks, Phil. The Winkler County News (Kermit, Tex.), Vol. 80, No. 10, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 19, 2015, newspaper, March 19, 2015; Kermit, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1118332/m1/4/: accessed July 4, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Winkler County Library.