Once again the dynamic duo of Walsingham and Ospert have stepped up and saved the city MUCHO money and saved the city fathers from egg on their shirts. Huzza ! Huzza ! Huzza !

Too bad no one credits their mornings labor.
(Except here ,of course .)

At the least the city owes the both of you a super jalapeno , fries, and malted from BBB !

You'd think elected officials in the city would CHECK HERE in the mornings BEFORE opening their paper.

Once again , good work guys !

Saaaay , where were they intending to get get their painters here anyway , hmmmm ?

Lets see... $300,000 criminal fine, $550,000 Labor Fine, and $250,000 labor penalty. That's $1.1 Million dollars, of which our $23 Million incentive would have helped bail them out.

I kind of thought this quote was interesting:

The business recently lost a nearly $23 million economic development and lease agreement with the Midland Development Corp. when the governing body of the Texas city rescinded the deal after learning about the immigration raid and that the company owed taxes to New Mexico.

I thought it was all about available labor and housing? This also seems to imply that the MDC and the Council didn't "learn" about these issues until late in the game.

Old Otto failed to read a Reporter-Telegram Web log, giving credit where credit was due.

April 16th edition of Newsroom Stew

"Two points come to mind after Tuesday's Council decision to rescind the MDC offer to Dean Baldwin Painting.

1. Rack one up for the bloggers. The people of Midland can thank the bloggers - specifically the crew at Jessica's Well -- for what happened Tuesday. Say what you want about bloggers and the positives and negatives about what they do and how they do it, but this group got a lot of information out there for people to look at."

Stewart , I was unaware "Newsroom Stew" was an extension of the MRT .

But , yes I DO remember reading that , but the point I was addressing at the time was that it did not seem to make it to print or TV or radio discussions .

A little MSM publicity for JW certainly can't hurt...Can it ?

So Stewart , sometime in the very near future , the ladies at the information desk at the MRT will be bringing you a Jello Pudding Cup as an offer of my apology .

My Bad .

Why do you guys have such a boner about these painters? !Ay carramba! I looked through the archives. There must be 200 posts. The Council had the good sense to blow them off. Sounds to me like they did the right thing.

Jerry Morales can be trusted to stand up to people like Dean Baldwin. He also can be trusted to give government incentives to legitimate employers who are looking to create quality jobs-right here in the Permian Basin.

For those of you out there who don't believe that all of your neighbors are crooks, there will be a good candidate on the ballot. If you don't like Jerry, that's fine. But, vote for Kennedy at that point, because at least then we'll get somebody who can work with John James and Wes Perry.

Thonger: Whenever you get a break from your Jerry Morales for Vice-Jesus phone bank duty, try reading those posts instead of counting them and it will be clear what our issues are with not just Dean Baldwin Painting but any corporate welfare Queen that Mr. Morales and Mr. James are willing to subsidize with public funds.

Wasn't Jerry still on the MDC board when the MDC started looking at Dean Baldwin?

If there is a true believer on public subsidies for private concerns it is Jerry Morales. He was one of the ones that got the "economic development" sales tax initiative re-started after it was voted down in a prior referendum.

He may have been a founding MDC board member, but in any event he has served on their board as Treasurer.

What his current golf handicap is or how he rates on the Badassometer I know not.

I am not interested as much in someone who can "work with John James and Wes Perry" as in electing someone who will listen to Midlanders who are suspicious of the corporate welfare queens who want Midland tax money.

Walsingham--

Do you drive out on the runway to check and see if the Fuji blimp works for the Chinese? Hahaha.

You are a black helicopter man. A conspiracy nut. UFOs, aliens, etc. Hahaha.

John James and Wes Perry are going to help all of these new arrivals--people I deal with everyday--to get in to this town and live some kind of decent life. I've got a crew that I helped place that works 14 hour days on rooftops, in this heat! Would you do that kind of work? Hell, no!

If you're going to exploit people, you at least have an obligation to let them have a roof. These people work hard, and they do get paid money. But their sorry wages for hard work won't get them even a shack in this overheated market.

We need supply! Nobody wants those dump buildings downtown! Stand aside, and let progress take hold.

The above comment was written by edytas_thong!

I would think we are starting to see the re-allocation of resources based on market forces here in Midland. Yes, Midland's economy has been hot for a couple of years, but so has the rest of the state/nation. Now that home prices are down 14% from last year (nationally) and home builders are going belly-up in other regions, they figure they can still make a buck in Midland, so no the only limiting factor is the supply of buildable lots.

Wes Perry and John James are just along for the ride, just like the rest of the council and the MDC. I have been saying for close to four years that Government cannot move at the speed of the economy, I don't care who sits in the seat of power. What they do best in the economic development realm is get in the way, or spend money in the wrong place.

Thonger (I'll go with that ,Wals ),
Since you state you're in the business of placing workers on roofing crews( I am assuming roofing for all you said) so I must assume you read contracts .

I MUST have missed something . Please redirect me to where Walsingham considered conspiracies , black helicopters ,Ufos or ALIENS ( once again I assume you mean the kind from outer space and not south of the border).

For a man who must read these legal documents on a daily basis (authenticating SSN and Texas ID numbers) you must be a whiz at researching the JW Archives ! THEREFORE :

Please give me the information requested and , perhaps , I might vote for Mr .Morales as I do not wish to be associated with nut-cases .

Thank you .

Provide information? Conspiracy information? Walsingham is the paranoid here. Ask him. The whole premise of this web page is that everybody in town is crooked except some of the writers here.

The council isn't full of a bunch of crooks. Any time you do business you end up with trouble. You just have to be ready. It's impossible to offer incentives and not be hit up by bad guys. Bad guys can seem like good guys at first. But, they roped in Dean Baldwin. Just like Jerry would have.

Walsingham wants people to believe that this is all some kind of conspiracy, and that those painters were "in" somehow or some b.s.

Go to Gerardo's Casita and try the food. Would anybody who could cook like that let you down?

it is obvious that edytas_thong does not read Jessica's Well, or at least cannot distinguis from the contributing authors and the commentors (they are wildly different).

The contributors at Jessica's Well go out of their way to avoid terms like "crooks" or "shady deals" when it comes to our elected and appointed officials, unless they get perp-walked.

The whole issue with Dean Baldwin Painting was that anybody with an internet connection and the search phrase "Dean Baldwin Painting" could see that the company had contractual, tax and legal troubles and the MDC board and Staff green-lighted a fast track project with $23 Million in incentives with no publicly explained consideration of the risks. Yes the Council stopped the deal, but there are lots of questions that remain unanswered about the vetting process used by the MDC and the lack of preparedness for combating the negatives of their deals.

By extension, anyone who is running for public office and served on the MDC, needs to be prepared to address these issues, no matter how good his food is.

If they were "roped in" by Dean Baldwin at the MDC, well they're incompetent. DPB's record was a plain as the first page of a Google Search. In short, the MDC knew about the warts and was willing to gamble on a company in Rehab. Then they didn't bother with full disclosure to the public or Council that they were going to blow their entire wad and borrow a little more money on a company with "issues."

I think those are worthy issues to discuss in a local campaign...and ones any previous or current member of the MDC should answer head on.

Thonger:

I am not allowed to stand aside. I am forced to contribute through increased taxation.

Something else I am curious about: How is it, exactly, that you are the one helping to place crews on roofs for fourteen hour days in the heat and at wages that preclude them from attaining affordable housing....but we are the ones doing the exploiting?

Lastly, find the post where I have called anyone on either the MDC Board or the Council a crook and I will concede the point. Should you fail to find it, you should then admit that you are wrong on the point.

Morales would do well to find this edytas_thong and shut them up. The more I hear of Jerry from him the less reason I can find to vote for him. And IMHO there is better Mexican food, though Gerardos ain't bad. He should probably just stick with that.

Face it dude---

You just don't want anybody in town who's not white, you don't want to pay any taxes, and you want endless wars. Typical rad-conservative insanity.

I project a Morales victory. And if it's not him, it'll be Kennedy. Both will support Perry and James after they're elected, too.

Thonger ,

You seem affable and a person well met by some of your earlier statements however , you seem to not realize words have weight !

You may not realize this but you have called an individual a racist only because he has disagreed with you ! Were I to disagree with you , would it then be OK to call you a pederast ?

I think not !

Your comment " Would anybody who could cook like that let you down?" Must have been made in jest as any attorney who made a similar comment...("Would anybody who could paint/swim/moonwalk/etc like that beat their wife?)would get laughed out of the courtroom .

I can assure you Thonger , "race" has NEVER been an issue here at the well !

Good luck on your candidate but do keep in mind words carry weight and can come back to haunt you.

Why does one think a councilman's primary asset is that they will support the Mayor and an existing councilman? I'd prefer a leader who is independent and can build consensus and work with the others on the council for the betterment of Midland as a whole. Who needs a James/Perry Yes Man? Especially for an At-Large seat.

Like Bob said, you're not exactly making the case for Morales, or Kennedy for that matter.

In the grand scheme of things I thought Cuevas and Bradford were pretty decent councilmen, and last I checked the Midland City Council and Midland Development Corporation didn't start any endless wars....which means your national political views are showing.

If people stop getting elected locally on issues like using City resources wisely, filling potholes and fixing water lines, and instead get elected on their views on foreign wars.....then electoral insanity has truly set in.

I never called anybody racist. Find anyplace on this web page where I called somebody racist.

See, gentlemen...I can play this game too.

Race has never been an issue? Below this post there's a huge thing about blacks being "elitist" or "uppity".

Your definition of a color blind environment is obviously different than some.

Thonger ,

By saying the person that you are in disagreement with "just don't want anybody in town who's non-white", could , just probably..be considered by ALL..an accusation of racism .

This is not a game Thonger .

Your words carry weight and thus responsibility.
You called the man a racist! Own up to it .

Oh , and while I'm at it ..you are not reading the posts OR you are failing in your comprehension of the posts . Please re-read the offending material and offer it up here so we are able to point out the weaknesses of your education.

Thank you .

And by the way, Mr. Morales is white. Hispanic/Latino/Chicano etc. are not races, they are ethnicities.

Quite right Bon .

However our government in DC has made "White" a race instead of Caucasion , and "Black" a race instead of Negroid .

Also, instead of confusing other ethnicities with the problamitic question of what IS a persons race ,they now define race as AS ethnicity ,example..Hispanic..Arab..Eurasian .

I'll go with "failing in your comprehension of the posts".
Like so many before, of every race sex or creed, e-thong, took the tired tact of Pandora and the pitiful little man in Lubbock. The assume much, know little, and have no problem broadcasting that to all the Internets.

and quoting the noble edytas_thong

You just don't want anybody in town who's not white, you don't want to pay any taxes, and you want endless wars. Typical rad-conservative insanity.

You see, ladies and gentlemen, I never actually used the word "racist", which, according to the posters here, means that I never accused anybody of being racist.

Walsingham is obviously a fan of President Clinton, and so are other regulars here. Just because the word "crooked" and the words "John James" don't appear in the same sentence, the Well says that no one has ever been accused here.

By any reasonable standard, I did accuse the Well of ambient racism. Bob, you yourself said that I had a Hispanic accent. And you made fun of it in a racial caricature on an earlier thread.

But, nobody ever said that the Well itself adheres to reasonable standards. You just make up the rules as you go along. So, if you do that, why can't I?

Jerry Morales is not white. That's not racist, it's just common sense. I don't know Jerry, or Kennedy. I'm not Hispanic, and I don't work for a roofing company. I don't place illegal immigrants for jobs.

But, I do enjoy screwing with the Well!!!

If you don't want Morales on there, boys, well, never mind....

I am beginning to get the idea that if Thonger isn't Jerry Morales himself then Mr. Morales might want to have a restraining order placed on him.

Moving on....

Just because the word "crooked" and the words "John James" don't appear in the same sentence, the Well says that no one has ever been accused here.

Okay then, find the post(s) that didn't use the word crook but where you just know we were really calling him a crook in so many words.

Plus, I am only paranoid to the point that I think that the Fuji blimp is working on behalf of the Japanese.

You may not know Jerry, but you sure have one heck of a crush on the guy.

¡ay caramba!

and don't put words in my fingers,

I never said you had a hispanic accent, I said that when I read your post (regarding the ascent of the Midland hispanic population to a victorious and glorious power sharing position with the downtown business interests), it rang through my head with a silly hispanic accent.

FYI, commenting on an imagined accent, in my world, is quite different than accusing someone of not wanting other races in their community.

___

Walsingham-the Fuji blimp is working for Dick Cheney, as Haliburton is really a cover for an obscure company that makes 35mm film. Hide your digital cameras!

My mind is going in crazy circles....e-thong say "Jerry Morales is not white." Hispanics in the western hemisphere have at least some European (Spanish/Portugese) heritage, and native Americans are thought to be descended from Asians, according to recent DNA testing. Does this make Mr. Morales "Eurasian?"

This whole train of thought is extremely silly.

The real problem with Mr. Morales' candidacy is that he is thought to be too quick to spend tax monies.