- Mayor: Dan Corbin
- City Council, District 2: José Segarra
- City Council, at-large: Jim Butler, Jared Foster, Mark Manning
- The Realtors group did not endorse any of the candidates in the District 1 race.
I admit I am tempted to point out the tarring that this organization's recommendation may apply to their selections, but I don't entirely disagree with them. Jim Butler and Jared Foster are not bad choices for the council; I've said good things about both of them. I think the realtors' choice of them is probably (from their point of view) just a pick of the best from a bad lot.
Why would our endorsement "tar" anyone? I'm the executive officer for FHAAR and like to see any FACTUAL evidence that we have been anything but supportive of property owner's rights, open and honest government, lower taxes and positive, well planned development? Facts, please, not rumor or emotion.
ReplyDeleteWe select candidates to support on the local, state, and national level based on individual interviews. Nothing secret about it.
We invited ALL the candidates for Killeen city council to be interviewed. 16 accepted the invitation. Three declined, one was out of state one said he'd let us know and the rest didn't even have the courtesy to respond to the invitation in any way. All the interviews were the same. We gave the candidates the questions ten days in advance. Even with that it was amazing how uninformed some of them were. In a couple cases it was shocking in fact.
We made the questions available to ALL local media for publication. We invited the media to question us or the process...none did.
The CAP group endorsed some candidates. How and when did they vett them...if at all? Why wasn't that made public? We're all candidates vetted?
Not one candidate had a negative comment about their interview with us, and I asked each of them if they thought it was fair.
One thing about the individual interview process...candidates can't play to the media or a crowd. They can't get away with empty promises that they can't support with facts. We get to see how well informed they are, how well organized in their research and how well they can present their position on issues.
Mr. Blair I have a challenge for you. I invite you to meet with me. I'll put in your hand documents that support our positions on the issues important to all of us. You can articulate your facts on why our support "tars" a candidate. Contact me at your leisure...if you really are interested in transparency, facts and openness.
I look forward to hearing from you in the near future.
Michael DeHart
That was a big reaction for a small stimulus.
ReplyDeleteI can easily explain my "tarring" comment. There are people in Killeen (I know this because they have told me) who think that realtors individually and as a group sometimes have priorities particular to their own lines of work, and that sometimes these priorities do not align with those of other groups like, say, the rest of us. People who have this opinion -- and I think there are probably quite a few such people -- might suspect candidates endorsed by the realtors are more likely than other candidates to support the unaligned priorities I mentioned. Those candidates would be marked, or "tarred" as potentially friendly to specific interests. Clear?
I don't recall commenting on the process you used to select a slate of candidates, but thanks for explaining it. It sounds like a reasonable procedure, and if it works for you, good.
I can't answer your questions about CAP. I think they are sort of an _ad_hoc_ group of candidates who occasionally talk to one another and have found some common ground. I'm guessing their membership is self-selected.
As for meeting so you can hand me documents, I'm taken aback. This is the internet age. You have a web site. If you have documents, post them. I'll be glad to read anything you think will help me correct any misapprehensions you believe I have.
Every time I ask someone for examples of why they suspect Realtors of, let's say, a conflict of interest all I get are vague, non specific answers. This is contrasted by our ability to show repeated examples of issues that we have supported and pushed at all levels of government and that affect us all. Like transfer fees on real estate transactions. This affects the buyer or seller and their costs...but it was realtors that fought legislation that would put these fees in place. How about extra taxes on your vehicle if you use it for personal and business use. We led the fight to stop that in Austin and it would affect many other professions than real estate. There are many more examples and that is what I was going to make available to you.
DeleteI too am taken aback to learn that this, and much more, is available online about realtors and what we stand for but it would seem you are unaware of this...as are many others.
In this information age it is a shame that people can and do disparage a group as a whole without taking the time to inform themselves.
As for the reference to CAP you mentioned some of the candidates and posters to your blog questioned the transparency of our selection process but not the CAP process. Even you attempt to explain my question away. CAP has advertised themselves as a PAC. They call it PACT but it is PAC. They use the word transparent quite a bit but it appears to apply to those they oppose and not themselves.
I'm disappointed that you've decided not to meet. I would have liked to meet you. I'm old school enough to like to size a man up by looking him in the eye...and am not afraid for him to do the same.
If you can come up with any specifics about our positions or actions please let me know. If you change your mind about meeting let me know.
By the way, next week I'll be in D.C. With a large group of realtors from across the nation.....about 20,000. We'll be there because congress is thinking of changing a lot of things like mortgage finance regulations that would adversely affect homeowners....like removing the mortgage income tax deduction among other things. Yep, that's us...those self serving realtors...wait, wouldn't that be helping "that other group" you referred to above?
My offer still stands...