Leave it to Rick Casey of the Houston Chronicle to come up with this gem of an article, Proposal: A $1 million recusal rule, and I mean that very sincerely. Casey has written some great columns on the abuses in the homebuilding industry, such as about KB Home's denying their homebuyers their 1st Amendment rights, and the "independent" arbitrator who worked as the General Counsel of the Greater Houston Builders Association (See Texas Observer Story).But this one Proposal: A $1 million recusal rule is about Bob Perry, unlimited cash donations, our Texas Attorney General, and Representative Swinford.
Rylander eventually issued the report with a recommendation to scrap the Commission (TRCC pronounced trick) that Bob Perry helped created.Last Dec. 15 he received $100,000 in campaign contributions from Houston homebuilder Bob Perry and his wife.
The next day, he received a letter from Rep. David Swinford of Dumas, chairman of the House Committee on State Affairs.
Swinford wanted Abbott to issue a formal opinion on whether Grandma, a.k.a. state Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn, had the authority to conduct a review of the performance of the newly created and controversial Texas Residential Construction Commission.
For these reasons, if it were up to me personally, I would blast this TRCC builder-protection agency off the bureaucratic books.And Swinford, chair of the State Affairs Committee assigned to homebuilding issues, hasn't called a hearing, hasn't called for his own investigation, or taken any action on the TRCC, but was the first to bitch and whine about the Comptroller investigating this screwed up Commission. All while taking large donations from Bob Perry. Imagine that.
Bob Perry's unlimited bank account has begun to spread across party lines. His influence in the House of Representatives is so legendary that two seats in the gallery of the House are referred to as "the owners seats", for Bob Perry and David Weekley, homebuilder and brother of Richard Weekley who heads up Texans for Lawsuit Reform.
Attorney General Greg Abbott has absolutely no interest in protecting homeowners from bad builders. Instead he cut the budget for the Consumer Protection Division's complaint department. Now complaints against builders submitted to the AGs office are simply filed. Literally. They are filed and nothing more. A copy is not even sent to the builder. The AGs office is just a dark hole.
Over ten years I have tried to work with the Attorney Generals office and have found them to be the most useless organization when it comes to consumer proctection. It is a pathetic waste of money.
And a great investment of Bob Perry's money.
17 comments:
I have said it before and will say it again: when we elect Republicans to office, we get Republican government. Blame the voters for not giving a damn.
Amen brother!
I agree! I can't vote Republican again in my life.
Artemus,
You can say this ten more times but the FACT is many Democrats have benefited from the pockets of Bob Perry. This is not an exclusive club of Republicans and it is open record. When it comes to this problem everyones eyes are closed as long as the builder's pocketbooks are open.
Can you imagine buying a new home that the builder knows is defective, filled with mold and the AG does NOTHING; but sell a $5 bottle of water for $10 during a hurricane and watch the FBI surround your home.
I know of several people who contacted their Reps and Senators who are Dems and did not get any response much less help.
This goes right to the heart of politics,"It's all about the money."
I can only pray people will get out and see how we need David Van Os in that office!
One last thought on Bob the Builder- looking at all his contributions just for the last few years, I can only wonder the good that much $ would have done for medical research for cancer, MS, muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy etc. or how 'bout helping our veterans that are coming home in a medical crisis. I can only shake my head and wonder where we are headed.
Yes, but the amount he has given republicans dwarfs what he have Democrats.
His single donation of $100,000 to Perry before he appointed his VP to the builders commission is more than he gave to ALL democrats during the same period!
So yes he is spreading his wealth. And yes he is rich. And yes he is filthy.
Filthy rich.
Bob Perry contributes FAR more to Republicans than to Democrats. He's also the money behind the Swift Boat campaign of lies against John Kerry. I think his most recent check was for $200,000. Interestingly enough, Perry is considered a good Baptist in his home community of Nassau Bay. Glad they have to defend him, I sure wouldn't want to. And if we had an attorney general who hadn't been bought and paid for, Perry's handouts (bribes?) to politicians might be under investigation.
I am aware of all that but do you really beieve if Perry handed these same checks to the Democrats they would be turned down? How 'bout that Dem. that received $25,000 from him. No small change in my book.
How about the Senator whose sister ended up in a new home like the afore mentioned. She didn't get much help. Seems some of his biggest contributors comes from the insurance companies.
I am also interested to know if any of you know the attorney for Greg Abbott when his accident happened (I believe it was Don Riddle) is related in any way to Debbie Riddle-Representative.
OK. What Democrat recieved $25,000 from Perry?
Are you talking about Alan Ritter? The Democrat who filed the builder protection bill for Bob Perry? Ritter sells lumber. Is a member of the Texas Builders Association and was honored for his role.
Or how about the $67,000 donated by Texans for Lawsuit Reform, to Anna Hernandez primary opponent? (Joe Moreno's seat) Her total donations was only $72,000. And she lost. What a lousy investment.
The homebuilding industry gave $8.9 Million over a 4 year period. Bob Perry gave $6.9 of this.
Do some research. The donations to Republicans are filthy.
Lots of dems have received his money. You forgot to mention that Mr. Swift Boat was one of Anna Hernandez's biggest individual contributors. I think there is a list somewhere that identifies all the dems that have received his money.
Here is some more details:
Total Donations
to Democrats: $450,000
to Dem organizations: $0
to Republicans: $7,188,029.50
to Rep organizations: $4,423,000.00
Highest Dems:
Sylvester Turner $49,000
Eddie Lucio $40,500
Patrick Rose $37,500
Anna Hernandez $30,000
Debra Danburg $10,000
Harold Dutton $7000
Frank Madla $17,500 (lost)
Velma Luna $3,500 (resigned)
There you have it. I am not saying the Dem. get the kind of $ the Reps. do but they still take from the biggest Rep. contributors. Let's not forget it was the Democrats who failed TPJ's report card for not disclosing. The person I was talking about taking big $ from Bob the Builder was the same one who failed to disclose a huge contribution.
I am a Democrat but what I am not is blind sided by that fact. My eyes are open.
There you have it?
Are you an idiot? or ignorant?
Go look at the data before you make such ignorant statements. There are very few Democrats who take the tort money compared to the Republicans and they take FAR more than ALL democrats combined.
http://bayareanewdemocrats.org/files/tlr.xls
Dont muddy the water when your party is guilty as OJ.
I believe you are the idiot man for thinking the way you do. You really need to get a grip and get real.
Just because Perry didn't give the democracts the sizable donations he gave the Rep. you really believe some of them would turn the $ down if it were handed to them? What cave did you just come out of?
The Attorney Generals office gets over 12,000 complaints a year on bad builders.
His office says they have neither the time nor the staff to bother. This is surpose to be an office of consumer protection? I surpose Mr Abbott has his reasons for not caring about these particular segment of the public.
Jordan,
That is why we need David Van Os in this office. He will be the people's lawyer.
Greg Abbott a/k/a bitch whore is the poster child for "bitch of corupt businesses." He whore's himself out like a streetwalker.
Perry isn't the only filling the pockets of that $1 pokey $2 love you long time....whore, Abbott. Take the big Oil companies (you know the one headquartered in TX with 2nd qtr recordbreaking earnings of 10.3 BILLION)
Oil companies have "contributed" hundreds of thousands of campaign dollars for Abbott to put on his lacey panties and dance around issues.
Homeowners Insurance Companies have taken "pleasure" in tossing tens of thousands of "contributions" . . . and we wonder why Texas has the HIGHEST homeowners insurance premiums in the COUNTRY! That's our whore, ummm I mean politician at work.
He's so hard at work greasing his pockets it's no wonder he can't find the time to take care of the Child Support issues in Texas.
No but he'll "skew" the numbers to make it look that way. The agency closes cases that have gone without action or collection so as to improve his overall performance.
Do us a favor Greg, go whore yourself somewhere else - as for me - my vote is for David Van Os.
Sandee I am sure we all feal your flustrations but we have to be careful and watch how we speak. We do not want the blogs shot down. So we have to contorl our selves as difficult as it is sometimes we just must. Pleas goggle my mane for more information about the great stae of texas. Did you know that one out of evey 920 Texas homes are going up for foreclusre?
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