Amarillo Mayor Ginger Nelson/Photo by City of Amarillo
While Amarillo voters have been grappling with the chaos of the Ginger Nelson-led City Council in Amarillo, a story slipped through the cracks this week from our neighbors on the South Plains, which I think should teach our local elected officials a lesson.
KCBD-TV in Lubbock reported this week about Lubbock Mayor Dan Pope’s conflict of interest in a tax incentives deal handed out to a downtown Lubbock restaurant in which Pope’s wife is an investor. Pope voted for the tax incentives package in April and never disclosed his family’s interest in the project. After three months worth of questions from reporters, Pope apologized for taking the vote.
“That’s probably why I’ll beat myself up about it, is because I have a pretty clear understanding of that and so, I, to our voters, to our taxpayers, I apologize and I trust that they’ll, I hope that they’ll accept that and that we’ll move forward,” Pope said, according to the KCBD report.
First, and foremost, I think KCBD should be praised for tracking down this story and holding Pope’s feet to the fire. That is something would never see KAMR or any of the local TV stations in Amarillo doing to the Amarillo City Council. Dan Pope should have known better than to participate in that vote and it is an absolute shame he did not disclose his conflict to local voters.
But, secondly, I think Amarillo voters should look at this story and be willing to compare how the Lubbock situation played out against previous potential conflicts of interest by the Amarillo City Council.
In 2018, the Amarillo City Council voted to purchase a downtown warehouse from 701 SE 5th LLC, with McCartt and Associates being listed as the real estate company involved in the transaction. Amarillo Mayor Ginger Nelson’s husband, Kevin Nelson, had been a business partner with Joe Bob McCartt, president of McCartt and Associates, according to a 2006 press release. However, despite Kevin Nelson’s business associations with McCartt, the purchase went through and Nelson never recused herself. In fact, Nelson went so far as to say that abstaining from the vote would create a “precedent” that she could not support.
Apparently, to Mayor Nelson, elected officials abstaining from votes in which they might have a conflict of interest is a bad “precedent.” That should tell you everything you need to know about Nelson’s style of self-serving governance.
Looking at the Lubbock situation and comparing it to Amarillo’s past conflict of interest issues, you can’t help but notice the difference between the two cities. Yes, both Pope and Nelson voted in instances where they should have recused themselves, but only Pope apologized. Meanwhile, in Amarillo, Nelson planted her feet and refused to apologize or even act like there might be a conflict. Instead she voted in favor of the purchase and set a precedent that the self-serving actions of her City Council, shielded by the Amarillo Matters PAC checkbook, would continue.
Luckily, Lubbock voters have a chance to show their disapproval of Pope’s actions in this November’s election, when he will be opposed by Stephen Sanders in the Lubbock mayoral election.
However, in Amarillo, the self-serving actions at City Hall have not stopped, and now the City Council is asking for their terms to be extended to four-years each. Not just that, but they also want to cut the number of meetings they have each year in half. I guess cutting the meetings in half makes it easier to spread the corruption around over a year’s time.
Lubbock deserves better, and they might just get it this November. But Amarillo also deserves better. Remember, Pope apologized while Nelson ran from questions.
Do not reward the shameless, self-serving government at Amarillo City Hall. Vote against Propositions A, B, and C, this November, and vote for a new City Council in May 2021. Amarillo deserves better, but can only get better if local voters end their perennial apathy and show up to the polls.