Archive for the ‘County Government’ Category

Photos by Danny FulgencioHouston city council member -- and Survivor: Palau cast member -- Jolanda Jones at yesterday's rally​Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price did not attend yesterday's rally on his behalf at the Pan-African Connection Bookstore across the street from Fair Park. And those who'd packed the pews at the St. Luke "Community" United Methodist Church one month ago did not fill the parking lot, or the bounce house. Attendance was ... sparse -- 20 maybe, 30 tops, and even then only toward the end. The rhetoric was heated, yes; the barren concrete, more so. Perhaps it wasn't such a great idea to hold a nine-hour event without a set schedule on a 107-degree day. Those who did take the stage, of course, were undaunted by temperature or turnout. "The FBI is nothing new to us. Law enforcement is nothing new to us ... government destroys our movements and destroys our leaders ... the game is always the same," said Robert Muhammad, a Nation of Islam minister in Houston, "I am here because our brother, county commissioner John Wiley Price, is under attack." "Teach, Muhammad, teach," said someone standing nearby. "The solution is revolution," Muhammed said. "The only way out is revolution, and revolutions are bloody," reiterated Mukasa Dada, the former spokesman for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Martin Luther King Jr.'s old friend, once known as Willie Ricks, delivered the most incendiary speech of the day, neglecting to mention Price but praising Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and calling President Obama an "agent of capitalism."

Via.​Moments ago, Thomas Muhammad -- president of the Dallas chapter of the National Black United Front and organizer of Saturday's rally for Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price -- sent word that a Very Special Guest has been added the list of speakers scheduled to attend Saturday. That would be civil-rights movement icon Willie Ricks, one of the leaders of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the man often credited -- even by Stokely Carmichael -- with coining the phrase "Black Power" in a June 1966 speech following the shooting of James Meredith.Ricks, also known as Mukasa Dada, says in the NBUF's release that follows that he's met Price several times during trips to Dallas, and that when he found out about the FBI's investigation, well, he signed right up:"Hell no we can't allow this to happen to such a strong and powerful brother who loves and helps his people. This is what Dr. King, and Brother Kwame [Stokely Carmichael] and I fought for all those damn years. Getting beat by police, bitten by vicious police dogs and facing white racist cracker Ku Klux Klansmen in the South so our people could have good people like John representing them. Tell that brother I'll be there to do whatever I can to fight against Cointelpro and will keep coming to Dallas until we see victory!" Muhammad also explains in the release who he believes is behind the JWP investigation and why. Jump for that.

Click to embiggen your invitation​Speaking of a certain Dallas County commissioner ...The Dallas chapter of the National Black United Front, which is not to be confused with the People's Front of Judea, sends word of a daylong rally scheduled for August 20 at the Pan-African Connection Bookstore near Fair Park -- and not just a pro-John Wiley Price wingding, though there's that, but a more comprehensive event titled "Hands Off! Bold Black Leadership Rally!" intended to outline the history of government-sponsored oppression of black leaders, a recurring theme at the "Justice for John" event last month. Matter of fact, a release sent out yesterday echoes quite a few sentiments shouted from the St. Luke "Community" United Methodist Church pulpit. A regular COINTELPRO bowl.And, as with that event, this one's scheduled to feature noted guest speakers from out of town, among them Cynthia McKinney, the former Congresswoman from Georgia not known for being shy; New York City council member Charles Barron, founding chairperson of NBUF'S Harlem Chapter; and Houston council member Jolanda Jones, a former Survivor: Palau cast member currently embroiled in her own ethical dust-up with the Houston city attorney. Serving as "mistress of ceremonies," none other than Dallas city council member Carolyn Davis, last seen collecting checks in a basket for Price's legal defense fund at the Justice for John event.

WFAA-Channel 8​The video below, in which Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price explains the hard way to WFAA's Brett Shipp that his office isn't public property, has been updated; it's the piece that ran on Channel 8 last night at 10, in which you do hear Price tell Shipp, in a bizarrely calm voice, that he'll "split your neck" if he doesn't back the eff up. In case you were wondering.Now then, back to that incident. Moments ago, an email arrived from Jamille Bradfield, spokesperson for Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins, concerning the scuffle. She writes, "Attached for immediate release is a statement from the Dallas County District Attorney's Office re: the incident on 08-10-2011 between Commissioner John Wiley Price and WFAA reporter Brett Shipp," which says, in full:The Dallas County District Attorney's Office has been in contact with both Brett Shipp of WFAA and Commissioner John Wiley Price regarding the incident that occurred on August 10, 2011, and was informed by both parties that neither wishes to pursue charges. During their communication with the District Attorney's Office, Mr. Shipp and Commissioner Price were professional and acknowledged that they both recognize the stress and pressures involved in their respective positions. Who was it yesterday who referenced this in the comment? Spot on, apparently.

​Digging back through old files, I can see some patterns emerging that I missed back in the day. For example, the connection between Willis Johnson, the luckiest radio host in the world, and Ross Perot Jr. Johnson is a close personal and political associate of Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price, target of a major FBI corruption probe. Indications are that the FBI is focusing on transactions dealing with the Southern Dallas Inland Port, sometimes called the Dallas Logistics Hub, a major shipping and warehousing development. A developer in the Inland Port deal has accused Price of sabotaging him after the developer declined to hire a consulting group in which Willis Johnson was a key member. One of the firms hit with subpoenas in the Price probe is Hillwood, the real estate arm of the wealthy and powerful Perot family. Hillwood is run by Ross Perot Jr., son of the squeaky-voiced, big-eared man with the dry-erase boards who ran for president in 1992. The Perots control Alliance Airport, a shipping center near Fort Worth that competes with the Dallas Inland Port. Johnson, a Southern Dallas radio personality, is head of a company, Wai-Wize, that has become one of the city's most prolific minority-owned subcontractors, with no-bid "third-tier" subcontracts at almost every local unit of government -- city, county, transit agency, school system, public hospital and others. Wai-Wize supplies these entities with a lot of things you might not associate with being a radio personality -- everything from security cameras to para-transit to archival services. But is there a connection between Willis Johnson, Wai-Wize and the Perots? Sure. But you have to go back. Way back.

And here we thought we'd have to wait till 5. Not hardly. Let's take a look. At some point, surely, Maurine Dickey regretted not getting back into the barbecue business sooner.Update at 3:59 p.m.: KTVT's Bud Gillett piggybacked on Shipp's story and was also there for this morning's altercation and has quite a bit of footage of Dickey telling Price, look, this is public property, so what's the problem? Price eventually tells Dickey she can see the satellites but only if the media leaves. Jesus. Now, let's jump for Channel 11's lengthy video. Rashomon!

​While I was writing the item below, which I am sure you're all reading at this very moment, several Friends of Unfair Park asked if we were going to follow up on Brett Shipp's tweet concerning allegations that Dallas County Commission John Wiley Price assaulted him and threatened to "split my throat." Yeah -- I've been trying to reach The Ninth Most Powerful Man in Dallas this morning. But, clearly, he wanted to break the story on his own news outlet's website. Pffft. So here's some of what he just posted to the Channel 8 site: Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price was involved in a physical confrontation with WFAA-TV Reporter Brett Shipp on Wednesday morning. The incident took place around 11:30 a.m. at the commissioner's county office on Langdon Road, south of I-20. According to Shipp, Price used his arm and the heel of his hand to physically remove Shipp from his office. Price also threatened to "split my throat" according to Shipp. The story says Shipp, who was following up his stories about Wai-Wize and Willis Johnson and those satellite dishes for which the county clearly overpaid, was "not seriously harmed." And there's video coming at 5, 6 and 10. Tune in. Hard.Update at 2:43 p.m.: The video's been posted. Some of it, anyway.

​A Reuters story from last month tells you everything you need to know about Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, heretofore "a little-known institution in Reston, Virginia." Says the story, it's a 16-year-old entity created in 1995 by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and other Big Banks intended to "speed up the recording and transfer of mortgages," which, till then, were handled solely by county clerks' offices nationwide at a "glacial" pace. And for years, nobody seemed to mind. Until, that is, it was revealed in court docs in '09 that MERS's 50 employees didn't do much except maintain the company's computer databases, and that for fees of around $25 a pop and up, "the real work was done by loan servicers -- banks and other companies that do routine work for trusts that own the mortgages, including collecting and tracking payments from homeowners and filing to foreclose when a borrower defaults."Which is why, late last month, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley said she was going after MERS for foreclosure fraud. According to a Boston Globe story, "She is concerned that MERS failed to pay government fees as well as 'impaired the integrity' of the state recording system by failing to document loan transfers." Seems Coakley is a trend-setter: This morning, Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins will ask the commissioners court for permission to investigate whether MERS is responsible for "the possible loss of millions in revenues to Dallas County," per a release just sent out by his office. MERS veep Janis Smith tell The Dallas Morning News in a pay-walled piece that the company's done nothing wrong: ""This is a nonissue -- counties aren't entitled to fees for work they didn't do or that the law didn't even require them to do." But Watkins is pressing ahead."While the DA's office is traditionally only thought of as the prosecuting authority for crimes against individuals, in addition to handling those types of cases, we are also responsible for providing legal representation in civil matters such as this issue with MERS where Dallas County is the victim," Watkins says in a statement issued this morning. "When I learned about this issue, my first reaction was we needed to explore possible remedies for getting MERS to reimburse the estimated tens of millions in uncollected filing fees that are potentially owed to Dallas County. These possible remedies are in the process of being explored. This is yet another issue that has gone unaddressed for years that we have discovered, are taking action to correct and put measures in place to prevent it from happening in the future."The DA makes his case on the other side.

​A Reuters story from last month tells you everything you need to know about Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, heretofore "a little-known institution in Reston, Virginia." Says the story, it's a 16-year-old entity created in 1995 by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and other Big Banks intended to "speed up the recording and transfer of mortgages," which, till then, were handled solely by county clerks' offices nationwide at a "glacial" pace. And for years, nobody seemed to mind. Until, that is, it was revealed in court docs in '09 that MERS's 50 employees didn't do much except maintain the company's computer databases, and that for fees of around $25 a pop and up, "the real work was done by loan servicers -- banks and other companies that do routine work for trusts that own the mortgages, including collecting and tracking payments from homeowners and filing to foreclose when a borrower defaults."Which is why, late last month, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley said she was going after MERS for foreclosure fraud. According to a Boston Globe story, "She is concerned that MERS failed to pay government fees as well as 'impaired the integrity' of the state recording system by failing to document loan transfers." Seems Coakley is a trend-setter: This morning, Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins will ask the commissioners court for permission to investigate whether MERS is responsible for "the possible loss of millions in revenues to Dallas County," per a release just sent out by his office. MERS veep Janis Smith tell The Dallas Morning News in a pay-walled piece that the company's done nothing wrong: ""This is a nonissue -- counties aren't entitled to fees for work they didn't do or that the law didn't even require them to do." But Watkins is pressing ahead."While the DA's office is traditionally only thought of as the prosecuting authority for crimes against individuals, in addition to handling those types of cases, we are also responsible for providing legal representation in civil matters such as this issue with MERS where Dallas County is the victim," Watkins says in a statement issued this morning. "When I learned about this issue, my first reaction was we needed to explore possible remedies for getting MERS to reimburse the estimated tens of millions in uncollected filing fees that are potentially owed to Dallas County. These possible remedies are in the process of being explored. This is yet another issue that has gone unaddressed for years that we have discovered, are taking action to correct and put measures in place to prevent it from happening in the future."The DA makes his case on the other side.

​A Reuters story from last month tells you everything you need to know about Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, heretofore "a little-known institution in Reston, Virginia." Says the story, it's a 16-year-old entity created in 1995 by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and other Big Banks intended to "speed up the recording and transfer of mortgages," which, till then, were handled solely by county clerks' offices nationwide at a "glacial" pace. And for years, nobody seemed to mind. Until, that is, it was revealed in court docs in '09 that MERS's 50 employees didn't do much except maintain the company's computer databases, and that for fees of around $25 a pop and up, "the real work was done by loan servicers -- banks and other companies that do routine work for trusts that own the mortgages, including collecting and tracking payments from homeowners and filing to foreclose when a borrower defaults."Which is why, late last month, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley said she was going after MERS for foreclosure fraud. According to a Boston Globe story, "She is concerned that MERS failed to pay government fees as well as 'impaired the integrity' of the state recording system by failing to document loan transfers." Seems Coakley is a trend-setter: This morning, Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins will ask the commissioners court for permission to investigate whether MERS is responsible for "the possible loss of millions in revenues to Dallas County," per a release just sent out by his office. MERS veep Janis Smith tell The Dallas Morning News in a pay-walled piece that the company's done nothing wrong: ""This is a nonissue -- counties aren't entitled to fees for work they didn't do or that the law didn't even require them to do." But Watkins is pressing ahead."While the DA's office is traditionally only thought of as the prosecuting authority for crimes against individuals, in addition to handling those types of cases, we are also responsible for providing legal representation in civil matters such as this issue with MERS where Dallas County is the victim," Watkins says in a statement issued this morning. "When I learned about this issue, my first reaction was we needed to explore possible remedies for getting MERS to reimburse the estimated tens of millions in uncollected filing fees that are potentially owed to Dallas County. These possible remedies are in the process of being explored. This is yet another issue that has gone unaddressed for years that we have discovered, are taking action to correct and put measures in place to prevent it from happening in the future."The DA makes his case on the other side.