Farmers Branch fiduciary malfeasance

As expected by just about everyone I guess, including los pendejos on its City Council, Farmers Branch, Tejas has now been sued, and thricely if I've got the count correct, over its anti-immigrant apartment ordinance (which I wrote a bit about last year here and here). (I say anti-immigrant because I believe that fear and dislike of foreigners is the primary factor motivating the pushers of that ordinance and its Resolution Declaring English as the Official Language of the City of Farmers Branch.)

On the day after Christmas the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas (ACLU-TX), of which I'm a proud card-carrying member, and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) filed suit in Dallas federal district court on behalf of Farmers Branch residents and landlords challenging that city’s ordinance on the grounds that it "runs afoul of federal immigration law and places landlords in the untenable position of acting as federal immigration officers." The complaint also alleges that the ordinance is so poorly drafted that it excludes even some authorized immigrants from renting in Farmers Branch apartment complexes.

Two earlier lawsuits have also been filed against that city's ordinance: On December 22, 2006, the owners of three Farmers Branch apartment complexes filed suit in federal court asking that a ban on renting to illegal immigrants be declared unconstitutional (Illegal-immigrant laws facing another challenge). And in a separate suit filed on December 4, a Farmers Branch real estate agent charged the city with repeatedly violating the state's open meetings laws by discussing in closed session the apartment ordinance and another ordinance that targets property maintenance.

I don't know what's in the water up north there in Farmers Branch, but just about a year ago now their then chief of police resigned after public exposure of a racist statement he made to a review board that was looking into the hiring of new police recruits for that city, one of which was an individual of Vietnamese heritage. The statement? "As long as I’m police chief, we won’t have any gooks in this department."

I don't know whether the Farmers Branch police department hired that Vietnamese recruit or not, but as much as I'd like to believe that chief's apology, his comment and these recent Farmers Branch anti-immigrant ordinances and resolutions sure seem to me to reek of racism. You know, if it walks like a duck and looks like a duck....

But, while there may not be any overt evidence of racism playing a role in the Farmers Branch City Council's adoption of these contested ordinances and "English Only" resolution, given the ongoing disastrous financial state of affairs of their city, no one can doubt that by their recent anti-immigrant actions the members of that City Council knowingly violated their fiduciary obligations to the residents of their city. How so? Well, take a look at this excerpt from the Farmers Branch 2006-2007 City Budget:

After an extended economic downturn, proposed General Fund revenues (excluding photographic red light enforcement) have returned to 2001-02 adopted budget levels. This fact alone emphasizes the challenge that the City has faced over the past five years. Significant cost reductions were implemented during this time in order to adjust to the reduced revenues of approximately $5 million during the lowest point of the downturn. Services have been maintained to residents by a rise in property taxes twice over the past three years to maintain the effective tax rate necessary to produce the same amount of property tax revenues as received in the prior fiscal year, the elimination of 37 full-time positions, along with employees sharing a greater portion of health insurance cost increases along with redesign of the health insurance benefits, and a planned use of fund balance. These reductions were made along with the elimination of General Fund pay-as-you-go funding of capital improvement projects, outsourcing of services, and a consistent drive to cut costs wherever and whenever possible. (emphasis mine)

The City of Farmers Branch is now and has been in such an extended economic downturn, with reduced revenues of approximately $5 million, that they had and have to: twice jack up property taxes over the past three years; eliminate the jobs of 37 full-time workers; force their remaining employees to pay more for their "redesigned" (and we all know only too well what the hell that means) health insurance benefits; and engage in a consistent drive to cut costs wherever and whenever. In fact, Farmers Branch is now so fuckin' penny-pinched that they are begging for money in an online version of a street corner beggar holding out a tin-cup to passerbys.

Their city was and is in a severe financial crisis and those pinche pendejos adopted a couple of stupid and hateful ordinances they knew would result in their winding up in state and federal courts defending. If their acts in adopting those ordinances isn't malfeasance punishable by their removal from office, then I don't know what the fuck malfeasance is.

And if there is a scintilla of ethics or morals in any of the members of the Farmers Branch City Council they should follow the example set by their disgraced former police chief and resign immediately. They should also have to personally pay back every damn last penny their idiotic actions have and will cost the citizens of that town.