Thursday, April 25, 2013

Perry withdraws TDCJ board nomination

Governor Rick Perry has withdrawn the nomination of Annette Raggette to the Texas Board of Criminal Justice which oversees the state prison system after this blog broke the news, followed up by a story in the Austin Statesman, that she has close business ties and worked for years for an eponymous company run by TDCJ board chairman Oliver Bell. The story in the Texas Tribune announcing the nomination's withdrawal included this jab from rookie senator Sylvia Garcia:
“I’m not surprised because I think there are a lot of concerns. It surprises me that the governor’s office doesn’t do a fuller review,” said Sen. Sylvia Garcia, D-Houston, a member of the Senate Nominations Committee. “It appears to us there was a business relationship and we have reason to believe there was a family relationship. We thought brother-in-law deals were a thing of the past.”
Hadn't heard about the possible "family relationship." But it's true there seems to have been little review of the nomination. Grits discovered the potential conflicts of interest with a simple Google search of the nominees' names that led to Raggette's (since altered) LinkedIn Profile.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Grits, "But it's true there seems to have been little review of the nomination."

With that, I thought the whole purpose of creating the Senate Nominations Committee was to install checks & balances in order to vet nominees'? Asking because Garcia blames the lack of vetting on the governors office and seems to live in la la land thinking cronyism is dead. The taxpayers' of Texas thank you from the bottom of our wallets.

If anyone has a copy of their mission statement, please share it here.

Gritsforbreakfast said...

Don't know about the mission statement, 10:55, but to be fair, the nomination WAS shot down.

Anonymous said...

Thanks Grits!!! Maybe now TDCJ will start to be cleaned up and the good law abiding citizens can see where the real corruption lies within TDCJ. Now pass that TDCJ oversight bill now!!!! If any agency needs its corruption cleaned up it is TDCJ. They can start with a review and closet cleaning at the Crain Prison Unit. That joint is full of corruption from the top to the bottom and everywhere in between.
The ACA inspectors where paid to do nothing this month on this unit. The tax payers were defrauded know telling how many millions of dollars for this walk through. They simple look inside the front door of the inmates dorms. That did not see that half the toilets do not work and the stench of backed up sewage that humans breathe in, in these dorms. If a third world country housed their citizens like this, our country would tell them they abuse human rights. But the tax payers have paid the ACA to not see these things. Of course in this country we never practice what we preach, we only condemn other nations for breaking human right treaties. It is time for outside investigations of these TDCJ units and stop flushing tax payer money down the toilet to the ACA.

Anonymous said...

It is now time for Mr. Bell to step down voluntarily or be fired. These current hijinks just go to question his judgment or lack there for of judgment. He has no experience in actual the legal, law enforcement, or correctional fields. I am starting to believe the story about the 55k donation now. Was his position bought and paid for. I can see why TDCJ is the worst managed and corrupted agency in the state. You have people in charge with absolutely no experience in regards to this agency. No other job in the world would hire a Chairman of the Board with no experience but Texas I guess. Wake up tax payers!!! We need new people on this board now. The good ole boys and gals have grown too complacent and think the rules do not apply to them anymore. These people actually think they set a good example for the people incarcerated? This board is a joke full of clowns now. He has now lost his moral authority to lead.

Anonymous said...

Yes Mr. Bell should resign. I have been told that the backdoor nominee is actually his sister-in-law. I was also told on her application when asked if she was related by blood or marriage to any TDCJ employee, her answer was NO! So much for lying on an official government application! This proves that Mr. Bell no longer if he ever did have the moral authority to lead a state board of this magnitude. This tells me what I have always suspected and TDCJ is the most corrupted state agency. The Governor should fire him now based on these moral indiscretions. How can he possible lead at this point!