Editorial: 'Professional' Shaming for Prop A

Artist’s rendering by the City of Amarillo

By Thomas Warren III, Editor-in-Chief

As local voters head to the polls to decide the fate of Amarillo’s Proposition A, the depths supporters of the “for” campaign are stooping to continue to amaze me.

Over the weekend, Build Amarillo PAC, the campaign supporting a “for” vote on Proposition A, a $275 million bond to fund the majority of a $319 million downtown spending package, sent a letter to local television stations demanding television ads placed by their opponents be removed from the air. Particularly, the group took issue with a statement in an ad placed by Save Amarillo PAC, which is opposing the bond, that the project would include a 39% tax increase. After sending the letter, the group went on a media tour, with Build Amarillo committee member Jason Herrick providing quotes about the group’s opponents supposedly misleading voters. Ironically, while screaming about misleading voters, the group then turned around with a straight face and told voters the tax increase would only be about 5-6% for Amarillo taxpayers, despite saying in a letter to the media that the increase would run over 30%.

During the group’s media tour, they were able to earn support and sympathy from a number of traditional media outlets in Amarillo, including KAMR-TV, KVII-TV, and KGNC radio. KAMR, the Amarillo establishment’s favorite television outlet, shockingly ran the most balanced story of the bunch. Meanwhile, KVII and KGNC completely shilled for the establishment, by running slanted stories including quotes solely from Herrick, without including interviews, comments, or quotes from the targets of their story — Save Amarillo PAC, billboard owner Randy Burkett, or businessman Alex Fairly.

I rarely respond to stories from the establishment media on social media, but I made an exception on Monday when these stories hit social media. Shortly after publishing my comment on one outlet’s social media account about the issues with the story, I received a phone call from a radio journalist and activist who was unhappy with my comment. I was told I was being unprofessional by for expressing my opinion that this outlet was shilling for the establishment and was criticized for calling out another media outlet. There were many other outlandish comments made in the phone call, but none of which are worth rehashing here. It is worth mentioning I recorded the entire phone call.

All of this is mentioned to address the real problems in this election — the dispute over the 39% tax increase and the media shilling for the establishment. Let’s take these problems in order.

First, on the 39% tax increase, supporters of Proposition A are now trying to claim the tax increase, at most, will only be a 33% tax increase on Amarillo taxpayers. 33% is still way too much, but what’s worse is that number is not even honest. The numbers published by the City of Amarillo and utilized in advertising, from the time the plan was first unveiled to the public until just recently, pointed to a 39% tax increase. Now, with a recession here and a desperate push to get this passed before the May 2021 election, the City of Amarillo is promising the tax impact has dropped 6%, despite not changing a penny’s worth of expenses in the bond plan. The prices have stayed the same, but remarkably, the City of Amarillo is now promising they have made the tax impact smaller.

This should not be a surprise to anyone, considering Mayor Ginger Nelson’s June 10th email to city manager Jared Miller regarding talking points on the Civic Center bond, which included ways to “decrease” the need for a property tax increase. At the time, COVID-19 relief funds were floated as a way to decrease the cost. Now, despite the costs not changing, the City of Amarillo has given up on trying to find ways to decrease the need for property taxes and is instead now just promising the tax increase will not be as bad as 39%. Give me a break. Despite the City of Amarillo’s attempts to pull an imaginary rabbit out of the hat on this dumpster fire, there is still no justification to approve this bond.

Of course, the other thing I want to address is the establishment media shilling for Proposition A. If it were not for traditional media outlets, I would not be working as a journalist today, because I stepped in when all of these media outlets were failing their viewers by not reporting fairly about local government. That was back in 2016, and here we are in 2020, and they are back at it again.

I first want to say I will not be lectured to by anyone from traditional media in Amarillo about professionalism, with it being my opinion that they have failed voters in every single election they have covered. Whether it has been any of KAMR’s bogus reporting over the years, KVII’s failure to disclose important information about the ballpark in 2016, or the failures of both KVII and KGNC to provide adequate reporting on Proposition A today by failing to include any opposing voices, traditional media has failed Amarillo time and time again.

Our media in Amarillo has been all too willing to promote whatever scheme the City of Amarillo, Amarillo Matters, Build Amarillo, or any establishment group has devised. The 2020 downtown projects bond is no different. With journalists appearing in television commercials asking voters to approve the bond and writing articles making claims about being “bold” by voting for the bond, Amarillo voters are once again being bamboozled by the media. You are asked to buy all of the Amarillo establishment propaganda these outlets can produce, while still having to make an accurate discernment about what the best vote is for you and your family.

My promise to you is this: despite traditional media outlets pushing whatever propaganda they have to in order to remain favored by the Amarillo establishment, we will not take the bait. Amarillo voters deserve accurate reporting, and if that means telling you your City Council is going to give you a 39% tax increase, while Build Amarillo promises they won’t, then so be it.

I did not get into reporting because I wanted social notoriety or because I wanted to be the favorite muckraker of Amarillo Matters and the City Council. I became a reporter because I wanted Amarillo voters to have a place where they could get clear and accurate information about their local government and elections, free of the establishment’s control. And, for going on five years, that is exactly what we have done at The Pioneer.

Election Day is November 3. Remember what’s really going on at City Hall when you cast your ballot. Remember the 39% tax increase. And remember where you read it — right here in The Amarillo Pioneer.