The Determination of Senator Judith Zaffirini – The Queen of Conflict of Interest – The Beginning

 

Senator Judith Zaffirini has been living off the taxpayer’s dime since 1980 when she sued her own Laredo University and settled for a Quarter of a Million Dollars.

 

In today’s dollars that would be around 2 Million Dollars which is much larger than the settlement the City just coughed up in the Sexual Harassment suit filed against the City of Laredo Secretary.

 

The interesting thing about this lawsuit is that The University apparently did nothing wrong as they admitted no fault, therefore, it appears Zaffirini and her Hubby Carlos who was the lead attorney grabbed a Quarter of Million Dollars of the Taxpayer’s money for what?

 

With this money, she launched a political career and built a fine house on the hill over in Century City thanks to the generosity of Webb County taxpayers.

 

We call this legal Welfare…

 

No wonder Zaffirini promotes welfare in District 21…we suspect it is sort of like a penance…

 

Anyways, don’t let us try to convince you…read it for yourself….

Ok Zaffirini, its Jack's or Better for Openers

Maxxamizing Your Returns at the Texas State House

Two peculiar looking donations that showed up on Senator Judith Zaffirini’s mid year July 2008 Campaign Finance Report came from Maxxam Inc. Pac, Houston.

As our loyal readers may recall, we have already uncovered what we believe to be part of Judith Zaffirini’s “Hidden Agenda”, an agenda so sinister that she certainly is not bragging about it in angelic fashion in her humorous Reports to the Taxpayers of District 21…that being her affinity towards the gaming industry that is currently attempting to turn Texas into Las Vegas Two.

Not only is Zaffirini taking money from the Las Vegas Gaming Industry, she is also taking money from other forms of Gambling as well – Dog Racing…

Maxxam Inc. gave Zaffirini two…yes two…not just one…$2500.00 campaign donations this time around for a total this reporting period of $5,000.00. 

OK Jack…out with it…just who in the hell is Maxxam Inc.?

Well, according to Texans for Public Justice in a 2004 Report:

“The 800-pound gorilla of Texas race tracks is Houston-based Maxxam, Inc., which contributed $290,623. Run by Charles Hurwitz, Maxxam owns 100 percent of the Sam Houston and Valley race parks. It also has an application pending to open a new horse track in Laredo. Texas law prohibits anyone who already owns 5 percent or more of two tracks from buying 5 percent or more of a third track. To comply, Maxxam’s application says it will sell an existing track if the new application is approved.

The LRP Group also has a pending application to put a

horse track in the same Laredo market that Maxxam is

From an article in Quarter Horse Racing Journal we find the following article which we assume many Laredoans may find of interest:

TEXAS COMMISSION GRANTS THREE NEW RACETRACK LICENSES

March 21, 2007 – “The Texas Racing Commission on Tuesday granted licenses for three new Class 2 tracks, including one on a conditional basis.

Two of the licenses are for tracks in Laredo, while the other is for a track in McAllen. Both cities sit on Texas’ southern border with Mexico and are about 100 miles apart.

Plans for the McAllen track, which would be owned in partnership by the LaMantia family of McAllen and managed by Retama Park, call for a seven-furlong oval and a stable area for 800 horses. The total cost of the project, which includes a 1,210-seat grandstand for racing, is estimated at $23 million.

The project has the support of McAllen mayor Richard Cortez, Hidalgo County Judge J.D. Salinas, and State Rep. Kino Flores. However, the granting of the license was opposed by Harlingen mayor Rick Rodriguez, who claims that business at the city’s Valley Race Park, a greyhound track, would be adversely affected by a competing track in McAllen. Harlingen is about 20 miles east of McAllen.

“We’re extremely disappointed in the racing commission’s decision in granting this license,” Rodriguez told the Brownsville Herald. “It will cost the city of Harlingen approximately 200-plus jobs and tourism money. If the (Harlingen) racetrack decides to close, it’s just going to have a very negative impact on the city. The (area) cannot support two tracks.

“I’m going to get together with the business community to see if we can challenge this decision or if there is a way to appeal it to see if there is a way for the commission to reconsider its decision,” he added.

The LaMantia family, which owns local Budweiser distributor L&F Distributors, and Retama Park, were also granted one of the Laredo licenses.

The other Laredo license was granted to Maxxam Inc., which owns and operates Sam Houston Race Park and Valley Race Park.

The real question that District 21 Voters need to be asking themselves about now is this:

Jack, are sure you’ve got the right Judith Zaffirini?  Surely Sister Judy, our saintly Senator would not engage in such endeavors that would only have a negative effect to our community as our mothers, fathers and grandparents turn into degenerate gamblers…

Folks, it doesn’t stop here…it gets worse…she is also taking money from The Chickasaw Nation, a Native American Indian Tribe that currently operates casinos in Oklahoma…this is where the story really gets interesting…

She’d make a damned good Bookie!

Jack...you just ain't too bright are you?

Jack attempts to have his last name changed to Pappas and is kicked out of the Courtroom!

According to my attorney, it should have been a fairly easy endeavor…basically pay a fee and explain why I wanted it changed and wa la…it is done…

However, things did not quite work out that way.  When the judge asked me why I wanted to change my last name to Pappas I duly informed his Honor that I had now lived in Laredo going on 20 years and thought it appropriate that I change my last name from Holland to a coveted Mexican name and that I had chosen Pappas…

Well, the joke apparently was on me as the whole damned court room broke out in a howl of laughter and the judge attempting to hide his amusement…said…look pendejo…Pappas is Greek, not Mexican!

I was shocked and was left with not much else to do but look down at my highly polished boots and pretend to kick a penny around on the floor as my attorney patted me on the back and said…well Jack…you wanna rethink this name change thing…

Having left the court house in utter embarrassment, I then headed back to my Penthouse apartment in The Hamilton Hotel and shot tequila the rest of the morning…wondering how I was ever going to get my hands on some of The Great Mexican Senator Judith Pappas Zaffirini’s campaign money…for as far as I could tell from reading her expenditures from the mid year July report that was just posted to the Texas Ethics Commission website, if your name is Pappas you stand a good chance to rake in a bundle of cash and possibly a free automobile on the taxpayers dime to boot.

Here is what I discovered:

Some dame by the name of Josie Pappas scored the following checks from the Zaffirini Campaign fund:

02/25 – 400.00 – Contract Labor

02/25 – 250.01 – Travel

03/03 – 400.00 – Contract Labor

03/10 – 400.00 – Contract Labor

03/10 – 136.70 – Travel

03/17 – 400.00 – Contract Labor

03/24 – 351.50 - Travel

03/24 – 400.00 – Contract Labor

03/31 – 400.00 – Contract Labor

03/31 – 161.21  - Travel

04/07 – 102.23 – Travel

04/07 – 400.00 – Contract Labor

04/14 – 400.00 – Contract Labor

04/14 – 80.00 – Travel

04/21 – 400.00 – Contract Labor

04/28 – 400.00 – Contract Labor

05/05 – 189.29 – Travel

05/05 – 400.00 – Contract Labor

05/12 – 400.00 – Contract Labor

05/19 – 400.00 – Contract Labor

05/28 – 400.00 – Contract Labor

05/28 – 203.13 – Travel

06/02 – 400.00 – Contract Labor

06/09 – 35.77 – Travel

06/09 – 400.00 – Contract Labor

06/16 – 400.00 – Contract Labor

06/23 – 400.00 – Contract Labor

06/23 – 685.84 – Travel

Grand Total – $9795.00 paid For in Full courtesy of District 21 Campaign Donors

So as you can see, having the last name Pappas apparently pays big dividends.

We made a few phone calls and someone told us that Josie Pappas is somehow related to Judith Zaffirini, perhaps a kissing cousin, or Siamese twin that was twice removed…

...and that they thought she was the one Texas A & M International University created a cushy librarian job for that pays close to $70,000.00 per year…it is apparently such a highly classified job that it appears that there is no such position at other branches of Texas A & M…we will be looking into this allegation further.

 Pappas is Greek...well I'll be damned...

And I thought they were honest Mexican-Americans…gosh darn it!

The two groups to whom the governor would grant a monopoly on Texas slots dominated these contributions. Texas racetrack owners contributed almost $3.1 million since 2000, led by investors in San Antonio’s Retama Park.

Two Indian tribes, the Tigua and Alabama-Coushatta, gave $698,350 more. (The Kickapoo tribe—which opposes slots that would compete with its casino—gave $96,000 in the same period.)
 

Racing animal interests contributed another $251,075, led by the Texas Quarter Horse Association. The top dog-group donor was the Texas Greyhound Association. Slot manufacturing interests gave $71,100, all of which came from Gordon Graves. Graves was chair and CEO of Austin’s Multimedia Games until 2003.

Slotted politicos
Governor Perry, who invoked slot legalization in calling the current special session, is the top recipient of slots money, collecting $572,175 since 2000. His GOP party took another $98,200.

Former and current Comptrollers John Sharp and Carole Keeton Strayhorn were the next-largest recipients, clearing well over $300,000 apiece. The comptroller is an ex-oficio member of the Texas Racing Commission, which regulates tracks.

Two other statewide officials with busy campaign slots are Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst, who defeated Sharp in 2002, and Attorney General Greg Abbott.

Thanks to rich father-in-law B.J. “Red” McCombs, a Retama Park track investor, John Shields collected more slots-related money than any other legislative candidate. Senate slots-money recipient Jeff Wentworth narrowly defeated Shields in the 2002 Republican primary. San Antonio Rep. Elizabeth Ames Jones was the largest House recipient of slots money, surpassing even House Speaker Tom Craddick.

Track owners and donors
Investors own seven operating Texas tracks that stand to benefit from the governor’s slots proposal.¹ The Texas Racing Commission also has licensed two tracks that have yet to open and is reviewing applications for two additional track licenses.

Retama Park investors account for $1.7 million in political contributions—far more than any other track. Retama’s top investor is San Antonio’s Joseph R. Straus family (13 percent). The late Joe Straus, Sr., began lobbying to legalize gambling in Texas in the 1930s, according to Sen. Wentworth’s 1995 Senate Resolution honoring the family.

Retama’s many other investors include Texas Lottery contractor GTECH (8 percent) and such major donors as auto dealer Red McCombs, developer George Hixon and Caterpillar machinery distributor and Spurs owner Peter Holt. Governor Perry appointed Holt to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission in 2003.

While religious groups are leading the moral crusade against slots in Texas, Retama lists an unspecified “St. David’s Episcopal Church” among its investors.