I really thought it was a bad move to make Lyda Ness wait until after 6:00 p.m. to hear her special item. It was posted for 9:00 a.m. and the council should have heard it then.
Ness is a practicing attorney and I'm sure she did have to move at least a couple of things around to accommodate her delayed item.
Next time they should honor the posted time.
and that's all I have to say about that.
Agree but hard to care when she wants to waste many hours of city employees time and our money running off thousands of emails.
Posted by: news person | May 11, 2011 at 12:03 PM
The regular meeting was also posted for 9am. It's the Mayor's call.
Now to the issue.
1. I have no idea if Rep. Lilly is guilty or innocent of what Ness has alleged.
2. I do know that Ness did not file a complaint with the Texas Ethics Commission who is the proper authority in this matter nor any other authority for that matter.
3. All Ness had to do was pay the cost but she refused to do so. Why? Simply I do not believe she wanted the info in the first place. Instead I believe she deliberately created this mess in the hopes it would help her as a candidate in her attempt to unseat Rep. Lilly who is the current District 1 rep.
4. I see this as nothing more than dirty politics from Ness and a very good reason for District 1 voters NOT to vote for Ness-Garcia but to examine the rest of the District 1 candidates and make a choice upon that knowledge.
Posted by: Lisa Turner | May 11, 2011 at 01:10 PM
HA! Please, tell us who you are endorsing, MR. Lisa Turner. That way we know who really not to vote for!
You're all a bunch of hacks! Not a single viable candidate. The hell with them all! It won't matter who gets it because we lack a true conservative figure.
Posted by: (R) | May 11, 2011 at 02:46 PM
Newsperson-Doesnt it make you mad that Lilly is using the office for her campaign? All Garcia wanted to do was review the documents and then pay for the copies she wanted.
Lisa - you get so caught up in ankle-biting it might behoove you to listen just once. The city attorney wanted her to pay for the non-confidential review not just the confidential review - which she has no problem paying. That is not permitted. So dont talk when you dont know anything.
Ric shecter had it right when he pointed out it would be irresponsibile to file complaint with just the whistleblower document.
Kudos to him!
Posted by: Sylvia Campa | May 11, 2011 at 05:23 PM
Sylvia,
I think you need to clarify something. Lilly isn't using her office for campaigning - Ness alleges that this happened, but refuses to let any investigation into the matter go forward. So... it didn't happen.
You might want to clear that up before Lilly sues you. After all, you are accusing her of committing a crime and that's slander.
Do not let your love of Ness cloud your decision making and lead you down the path to lawsuitville.
Posted by: David K | May 11, 2011 at 05:43 PM
(R), you are an asshole.
Lisa, you are right on target.
Sylvia, you are very naive. The e-mails with Ness-Garcia's name and her campaign manager's name were found on Rep. Lilly's assistant's computer. Guess who used to be Rep. Lilly's assistant - THE CAMPAIGN MANAGER'S WIFE WHO CURRENTLY WORKS FOR O'ROURKE AND WILL SOON BE OUT OF A JOB UNLESS HUBBY'S CANDIDATE WINS. Connect the dots.......
That copy was not found at a city hall copier.
Posted by: Diana | May 11, 2011 at 06:26 PM
Sylvia - you obviously have no idea how Open Records Requests work. You have to pay for any documents given to you - a copy charge and certain charges for manpower as allowed by law. One item Ness wanted to review/see is $179. The other one is $1,000+. She wants the info for the "public good" then by damn she needs to pay for it. The rest of us do it every time we get ORR's and we also believe our ORR's are "in the public interest/good". So quit defending someone that has no concept of how ORR works. She cried to the Attorney General trying to get her way for free. Had she prevailed it would have opened the flood gates for every single person going forward to come to council and demand they get ORR documents for free since it's "in the public interest". Just like in a court case - Ness gambled with the facts and lost her case. Her supporters need to move on - take the loss and get over it.
Posted by: 100% voter | May 11, 2011 at 07:05 PM
Was Ness on a fishing expedition in this documents search?
If she was and could not be specific in her request, she deserves to pay what the City is charging.
Posted by: Old Fart | May 11, 2011 at 09:54 PM
Did you see her original request? It was ridiculous! She was on a fishing expedition. She is very mean-spirited. I have yet to hear her state her position without trying to put down Rep. Lilly. She reminds me so much of Theresa Caballero. God help El Paso for having two of them!
Posted by: Marie | May 12, 2011 at 11:20 PM