El Paso Times Tastes Their Shoes - Yummy!

A good memory serves you well in the news business.  It's almost a necessity when prosecuting story ideas and editorials.  When names, places and events take place it's important to be able to connect them to past stories. 

For example, when I was a lowly intern at KVIA Channel 7 we had done a story on the "Texas seven" who escaped from prison and were on the lam for a while.  The ringleader was from El Paso.  We had been doing background on the guy and had the address of his parents here in town.  Then one day we hear a call come over the scanner for SWAT.  Without even having a chance to think about it, three of us knew exactly who lived at the address they sent the SWAT team to.  Had we not kept in our memory the details around that story, we would have wasted valuable time trying to figure out if we had a story on our hands. 

side note:  Our camera crews caught a federal SWAT team working with EPPD SWAT... and a very hot FBI agent lady.  I'm talking Hollywood, only on TV hot.  If I was a co-conspirator I'd want to be cuffed and stuffed by her.  Hell I'd even resist a little just to see... well you know.

Back to reality.

Every year in every state they "audit" the receivables in fines, dues, fees etc.. that have gone uncollected for that year.  Between Christmas and New Years they release those numbers.  This has gone on in every state for the past 25 years at least.  It's a big deal.  Every news outlet in the country acts as if the millions, billions or trillions of uncollected monies are the biggest atrocites ever brought on man kind.  In reality, it's not.

The El Paso Times filled some editorial page space with an opinion piece on the subject today. You can find it HERE.  The number here in Texas this year is $1 billion or $1,000,000,000 if you like the effect that has on readers.  The Times is obviously upset this money wasn't collected and handed over to El Paso to distribute to each and every corrupt politician and businessman emboldened by the FBI's inability to bring charges against anyone in the public corruption case.

First of all, you can't "lose" something you didn't have.  I can't lose a Ferrari, because I don't have one.  I could lose a couple of extra pounds because God knows I have plenty of those.  The state can not claim they "lost" the benefit of these fees because they shouldn't be budgeting for them in the first place.  They should be treated as a windfall, not expected income.  It would be like you sitting down in January and working possible bonuses, possible inheritances and the occasional discovery of a five dollar bill on the street into your budget - you'd be an idiot for doing that. 

Unfortunately our state is run by idiots who budget for "sin money."  That's my term for monies collected by the state for you doing something wrong.  There is a mathematical chance that no one makes a mistake for an entire year and the state is screwed.  However, that's not usually the case.  The IRS makes billions of dollars for the U.S. government by making it quite easy for you to screw up and thus have to pay fines over an above what you first owed the government.  Making the process easier to understand and execute would lead to people not messing up and having to pay more than they initially owed.  This would keep Congress from building more bridges to nowhere. They don't want that.

Bottom line - The system is designed to make you screw up and pay more.  We shouldn't be alarmed by this.  It is "our government," after all.

The reason the amount of uncollected monies is so high is quite simple.  Many of those assessed fines or fees are under appeal or otherwise being fought.  They may eventually pay what they owe or have the penalties waved.  The number quoted includes anything assessed during the time period and makes no mind as to whether or not the fee or fine has been contested.  Believe me, they're still out there trying to get that money from the entities that owe it.  Thank God for this little thing we have to protect us called the Constitution.  It allows us to stiff-arm the government when they get a little overzealous.

Here's the funny part.  Here's where the Times' sticks their foot in their mouth because they have no memory.  In the piece they borrow a quote from a guy named, Michael Sullivan of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility.  Does he or his group ring a bell?

Mr. Sullivan was ripped to pieces by the times for opposing the children's hospital bond issue.  He was "hired" by Tenet to mount a counter campaign against the initiative.  The Times, along with anyone else supporting the hospital, ripped Sullivan and the Texans for Fiscal Responsibility group for their position on the hospital and foray into El Paso politics.  Some even venturing to claim his actions were
"illegal."

I find it funny that now the Times feels it's okay to quote Mr. Sullivan and his evil advocacy group because he's saying something they agree with.  You'd think one person over there would have said, "uh.. yeah - we think that guy and his group are a sack of assholes, can we not use that quote? It may hurt our credibility."  Nope - they figured you're too stupid to notice, or too stupid to care.  They assume you are blinded by the idea that you might get some free shit if someone did a better job of collecting speeding ticket money.

What are they thinking?

By the way, "Texans for Fiscal Responsibility" isn't really a large group of people sitting around trying to find ways to defeat new taxes.  It's one guy (Micheal Sullivan) who gets paid by special interest groups to mount campaigns against certain legislative and political issues under the name "Texans for Fiscal Responsibility."  Most of the campaigns are through direct mail.  His group allows folks like Tenet to get their message out there without having an obvious direct connection to that message.

thanks for sitting through all that.  more later.

Comments

[mike a]

as usual, i am enjoying your muses and writing style, david

here comes the "but"

please consider reducing the number of articles that you use the term "sh$t". it is not needed to make your point any clearer or more dramatic.

thanks - happy new year to you.....still wish you were on 1150/1650