PaulAdrian's Blog

District Attorney Craig Watkins says his staff members didn’t break the law when they asked local corporations for Christmas gifts, because the staffers simply went to their friends and those friends gave the gifts irrespective of the offices that the gift recipients held.

So here’s my question to you? Do you think the corporations that gave nice gifts for a DA’s staff party did so out of personal friendship or could it have had something to do with the fact that a representative of the District Attorney was asking for a gift?

And by the way, if someone gave you luxury suite tickets to a Cowboy’s game a few months ago, would you remember the name of the person who gave you the tickets? Both Craig Watkins and his assistant, Gloria James, say they can’t remember who provided Cowboy’s tickets for the Christmas giveaway.  They say they didn’t keep records.

 

More than one-out-of-every four Texans has no health insurance.  It's the worst record in the country.  The cost of health insurance for families climbed nearly 40 percent between 2001 and 2005. That's the 3rd worst record in the country. Without doubt, when it comes to health care, a lot of Texans are living dangerously.   

In 2003, led by the Governor, Texans were sold on the idea that tort reform might help with health care by bringing in more doctors. Has it?? Well, that's certainly open to debate. While supporters claim the reform is bringing doctors to the state in record numbers, a UT researcher found that the growth rate for doctors is worse now than before tort reform. As a state, we certainly have more uninsured people and health care costs have continued to skyrocket.

Love it or hate it, though, the impact of tort reform on Texans has been profound. Insurance companies are making huge profits. Fewer people can sue.

What happened in 2003 can happen again. The system can change to bring more or less tort reform in the future or perhaps, as a state, we should focus on health care itself rather than lawsuits as an answer to our health care crisis. Whatever happens, it'll begin with a discussion.  What do you think?? Was tort reform an answer for health care problems or is there a better solution for Texas? 

So why doesn’t the legislature close the loophole that allows big companies to benefit from a tax break aimed at family farmers and ranchers? One reason is that a lot of farmers would oppose changes to the current law. Why? One farmer told me it’s kind of like the National Rifle Association opposing every kind of gun legislation.  A lot of farmers would see any tightening of the current law as a slippery slope that might one day lead to a complete loss of the tax break.

What do you think? Should the legislature tackle this tax break and try to rewrite the law so that big companies, investors and developers pay the full tax instead of pennies on the dollar?

When Richland Hills lengthened a yellow light at a camera monitored intersection by just half-a-second, the number of red light running citations plummeted by 88%.  Was that a coincidence? 

 

The statistic makes me think about all the other cities in North Texas running red light camera programs.  City leaders universally say their programs are about safety.  If lengthening the light at one intersection by half a second prevented 88 % of red light violations, I wonder what lengthening the yellow at other monitored intersections in North Texas would do.  If safety truly is the objective, wouldn’t an immediate massive drop in violations be a good first step?  That appears to have happened in Richland Hills.

 

Of course, if the numbers of citations drop by a huge margin that means the amount of revenue generated by tickets would also drop by big margins.   That shouldn’t matter if safety is the goal.  But I’ll bet it matters.

 

What do you think?

 

            Should cities be allowed to report folks to credit bureaus if they don’t pay their red light camera tickets?

            State legislators quite clearly sent the message that cities should not ruin people’s credit just because their car was photographed running a red light.  Remember, cities make no attempt to prove who was behind the wheel.

            But Dallas city leaders, who have so far caused more than 11,000 reports to be sent to credit bureaus, defend the practice as legal. Why? They believe their program is grandfathered and that they don’t have to follow the new rules.

            What do you think? 

            The Texas Legislature requires appraisal districts value properties at 100 percent market value.  That’s what a home would actually sell for if it sold on January 1st.  But tax appraisers say the legislature handicaps them by refusing to provide the single most important tool needed to comply with the law, sales prices.

            Texas is one of a handful of states that has not passed a law requiring buyers and sellers of real estate to publicly disclose the sales price.  So, appraisal districts have to find information that is not in the public record to determine the value of your home.  How do they do this? Many cut deals with Realtors to access the private Multiple Listing Service.

            It’s a big help, but is not a complete record of real estate transactions.  Some buyers and sellers intentionally ask Realtors not to add their sales price to the Multiple Listing Service. Why? People who spend a huge amount of money on their new home may not want the tax appraiser to know how much it’s really worth.  The MLS also misses most sales not handled by a Realtor.

            Furthermore, the MLS is completely unhelpful with commercial property.  So, appraisal districts are left to guess on the most expensive properties in a city.

            What’s the downside of a lack of information?

            Incomplete information means appraisal districts might get your value wrong.  If it’s too high, you’ll pay too much in property tax.

            Or perhaps, they’ll nail your value, but undervalue a huge office building.  In that case, the tax burden gets shifted from big business to a regular homeowner.

            So, what do you think? Should the Legislature change the law to require the disclosure of sales prices?  You should know this issue was brought up in the last two legislative sessions and both times it was defeated.

 

            Dallas traffic engineers don’t like the way we interpreted research that shows extending yellow lights can make problem intersections safer.  You can read the reports yourself and see what you think. We’ve posted them all online.

            But what do others think about the yellow light issue?

            The country’s 23rd United States House of Representatives Majority Leader, Dick Armey, produced a report in May 2001 on red light cameras.  His report concluded that, “We should never have allowed the personal privacy of our citizens to be undermined by these Big Brother devices.”

            His report examined the yellow light issue as well as the evolution of the ITE guideline that engineers use to calculate proper light length.  The report makes an interesting argument. If you get a chance, read it, and let me know what you think about the position a Texas Congressman took on red light cameras.

 

 

When I interviewed Dallas’s top traffic engineer about red light cameras, Elizabeth Ramirez assured me that the city’s program was popular with its residents. She says her office fields calls all the time from folks who are asking for red light cameras to be installed at an intersection near their part of town.

A couple of days ago, I interviewed State Senator John Carona on the same subject and asked him whether he thought Texans liked the idea of red light cameras. Carona chuckled and said there was no question how Texans, known for their independence, feel about having big-brother-like cameras watching them at intersections.

So what do you think about red light cameras? Are they there to make the roads safer as local politicians promise or to boost revenue as opponents fear?

I especially want to hear from those of you who have had a personal experience with the cameras, good or bad. Did you cheer upon seeing a camera flash as someone raced through a red light? Have you struggled to get your credit cleaned up after getting reported to a credit bureau for not paying a ticket?

Let me know your stories and how I can contact you.
We think this is an issue that’ll require a lot more investigation in the future.

In this post 9-11 world, most would agree someone ought to watch things that could potentially go boom, especially if those things are right downtown, like Southwest Industrial Gases.

Yet, Dallas Fire-Rescue had not conducted a full safety inspection of the facility in more than five years.
OSHA never visited the site before the fire.

Of course, Southwest is just one of many companies in Dallas/Fort Worth dealing in the kind of hazardous or explosive stuff that could hurt you.

What should taxpayers expect from the local and federal agencies charged with protecting their safety?

The Case of the Crooked House should concern every person paying to build or remodel their home.  Our story will air on Wednesday, July 18th, on FOX 4 News at Nine.  It's a story about a new house that cost more than three hundred grand to build.  In May, the taxman valued the home as worthless. 

What’s the buyer to do?  Since 2003, the path has been clear.  In an effort to protect folks from lawsuit abuse (remember all that talk about tort reform), your legislature created the Texas Residential Construction Commission.

 

Before taking any legal action, homeowners must file a complaint with the T.R.C.C.  A complaint kicks off a process that takes months to reach a final report of recommendations.  Only after receiving the recommendations can a buyer begin seeking a legal remedy.

 

So how does the system work? The Case of the Crooked House should give you a good idea.

What do you think about a law that requires homeowners to go through a dispute resolution process with the state before they can initiate any legal action?

            We aired a report Tuesday night (June 19th, 2007) questioning the tactics of an agency charged with policing Medicaid.  Since 2005, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) has targeted a Kaufman Pediatrician it suspects of over billing Medicaid.  Two-out-of-every-three of the thousands of children he treats pay with Medicaid.

            In mid-2006, the agency sanctioned the doctor, Turner Lewis, with a 25% payment hold while carrying out its investigation. He requested a hearing and won. The hold got thrown out.  But in June 2006, the OIG also ordered Dr. Lewis file all of his claims on paper, instead of by computer.  He says he’s not getting paid on the vast majority of the bills.  So, even after beating the state in his hearing and without officially being charged with any other wrongdoing, the doctor is on the verge of going out of business because he’s not getting paid by the state on most of his claims.

            On the morning that our report aired questioning the O.I.G. investigation, the doctor got a visit from another state agency. Dr. Lewis tells us an inspector with the Attorney General’s office spent a big chunk of the day at his practice.

            Why was he there?  Spokespersons with the A.G.’s office won’t say.

            But we do know that both O.I.G. and Doctor Lewis have asked the Attorney General to intervene.

            Ralph Longmire and Michael Garbarino of O.I.G. say they made a referral to the Attorney General about their suspicions that the Doctor defrauded Medicaid.

            But Dr. Lewis and his attorney, Hugh Barton, also asked the A.G. for help. They hope the Attorney General will investigate the Office of Inspector General for the tactics it’s used against the physician.

            We’ll let you know what happens.

            The doctor has also asked the head of the Health and Human Services Commission to lend a hand.  Dr. Lewis and Barton met with Commissioner Albert Hawkins on Friday, June 15, to plead his case.  No word yet from the Commissioner on what steps he’ll take to ensure that the investigation of Dr. Lewis is being handled fairly.

 

            What do you think about the investigation of Dr. Lewis?  While we all expect the state to protect our tax dollars and aggressively pursue fraud, is it fair for the state to push a physician out of business without proving he did anything wrong?  Let me know.

 

            By the way, the physician says he could get a job tomorrow treating rich kids in Dallas, but he thought it was important to ensure kids paying with Medicaid could easily find a doctor in a rural area.

Living in the middle of one of the country’s largest natural gas production booms impacts nearly everyone.

Some rake in great profits just for owning land and the rights to the minerals underneath the ground. The economy of the entire region benefits from the infusion of millions of dollars. But there are also negative impacts.

Previously, we’ve reported on concerns about the proximity between suburban homes and gas wells, especially when there’s active drilling. We’ve also reported on the use of eminent domain to take land for pipelines to carry the gas out of the region. Finally, we looked at the practice of injecting waste water, left over from drilling, deep into the earth.

We’ll investigate another impact of the natural gas boom Tuesday night, 6/13/2007, on FOX4 News at nine.

Making a gas well productive requires the use of a tremendous amount of water. How much? Well, lets just say, predictions for one county in coming years show three-out-every-four gallons used in the county will likely go to the natural gas industry.

I hope you’ll watch the story and let us know what you think.

            The drumbeat to reform the state’s electric market was silenced Monday evening on a point of order.

            Although consumer advocates thought Senate Bill 482 could have been stronger, Tom “Smitty” Smith of Public Citizen says, “We thought, on balance, this bill should have passed.”

            “It was better than no bill at all,” Smith said.

            But no bill at all is what the state will get.

            Representative Jim Dunnam of Waco, a Democrat generally thought to be a friend of consumer advocates like Smith, raised a point of order late Monday evening that effectively killed the bill without a vote.

            A ‘point of order’ is a technical problem that must be repaired before a bill can become law.

            The Representative complained that the bill had not been correctly referred back to the conference committee for a previous repair to a previous point of order he had raised on Saturday.

            On Monday evening, when he voiced concerns, the end of the legislative session was minutes away. There was not enough time to make another repair.

            Unless the Governor calls a special session, that means Texans will not get any additional protections in the electric market for at least the next two years. The legislature meets for six months every other year.

            The end result:

            Five years after much of the state opened its electric market to competition; the average price of power throughout Texas is up 50%. In the nation, the average price of power is up just 22%.  Texans complained to legislators in droves about the high rates they pay for power.  Legislators vowed to take action. They made electric market reform a top priority.

            According to Rep. Phil King, Chair of the Regulated Industries Committee, the proposed bill would have:

·        Guaranteed a rate cut for those paying the most

·        Authorized the PUC to review and adjust electric rates

·        Eliminated the use of credit scoring

·        Protected low income residents from disconnections

·        Required the structural separation of TXU into four smaller companies

·        Given the PUC the ability to punish market power abuse with fines up to 1 million dollars a day

 

            King said, “It is disappointing that one member chose to kill this bill, which provided rate reductions for electric bills, real consumer protections, and more stringent oversight of public utility buy-outs."

            Senator Troy Fraser, Chair of the Business and Commerce Committee, was equally frustrated.

            He wrote the original version of Senate Bill 482 and shepherded the effort to get it approved in the Senate.

            Fraser said, “"It is unfortunate that the large electric companies and a few disenchanted House members were blinded by the profits from high electricity rates and speaker politics and were successful in killing this consumer-friendly legislation.”

            So far, Representative Dunnam has not returned my calls to explain why he killed the bill.

 

            So what do you think?  Should the legislature, after six months of work, and countless hours of testimony been able to pass a bill to fix the electric market? Let us know – yea or nay – on the job done by your politicians to address that power bill you get every month.

 

            For years, Dallas attorney John Barr says he combated local graffiti artists brush stroke for brush stroke. When the Continental bridge crossing the Trinity River near his Oak Cliff office got tagged, he responded with a paint can.  He sent employees to the bridge to roll gray paint over the graffiti within 24 hours every time the bridge got hit.  It was a personal battle he was glad to wage that probably made spraying graffiti in the area a lot less fun.

            Earlier this year, however, the graffiti artists got some backup. Barr says a City of Dallas official in a white truck with a yellow light stopped his employees as they painted over graffiti. The city worker told Barr’s painters that they could go to jail if they didn’t stop what they were doing.

            When Barr found out, he knew exactly who to call for help – the city’s new Graffiti Czar, Lisa Fullerton. Surely she’d tell him it was okay to paint over graffiti.  He was wrong.

            Fullerton says she told Barr the bridge was owned by the state and without written consent from TXDOT neither she nor he could do anything about the graffiti.  Painting over the mess was a crime itself, criminal mischief, which could get someone locked up.

            So Barr called TXDOT’s Central Dallas Area Engineer, David Lott.  He’s the man in charge of keeping graffiti off the state’s highways in Dallas.  Lott says he told Barr he certainly could not paint over the graffiti, because he’s a private citizen, and the rules prohibit private citizens from painting over graffiti.

             Lott says he sent a state maintenance crew to check out the graffiti after Barr called, but he wasn’t sure whether the crew had actually painted over anything.  He says the crew may have added it to a list of projects to be addressed at a future time.

             Barr says he knows what has happened since the city stopped his painters, the graffiti has blossomed.  Artists paint with confidence knowing their work will not immediately be wiped out by an attorney and his can of gray paint. 

            By the way, Fullerton asked me to spread the word that Saturday, May 19, is Dallas’s Second Annual Citywide Graffiti Wipeout. Details can be found on the city’s website; dallascityhall.com.