According to the change.org profile, the organizers want Veronica Escobar, Carlos Leon, Vincent Perez, Andrew Haggerty, Oscar Leeser, David Stout, Joe Moody, Beto O’Rourke and Jose Rodriguez to know that the signers of the petition do not want the El Paso County Commissioners to continue to spend tax dollars “recklessly.”
The petition states; “The El Paso Commissioners need to stop recklessly spending tax payer money.” It adds, “The County Commissioners and UMC want us to believe that they have the tax payer’s interests at heart, but they have repeatedly proven that they have no qualms about spending our money.” It concludes, “We don’t want the UMC board and the County Commissioners managing all of those tax payer assets…UMC, UMC Clinics, and now Children’s Hospital.”
According the site, the petition reached 100 supporters within the first day after it was launched.
A sampling of the reasons of why individuals have signed the petition reveals that the majority centers on two issues: high taxes and the lack of transparency.
Those of you that are inclined to sign the petition can to go to it by clicking on the link below.
The organizers have a stated goal of gathering 200 signatures. As of 8:00am yesterday morning, they had 171 individuals who had signed the petition.
As you all know by now, the El Paso Children’s Hospital is under a deadline of accepting a new, undisclosed, offer by UMC. The children’s hospital is also in the verge of running out of money, effectively forcing it to close its doors.
As is normal with the city’s controversies, there is much innuendo and public posturing from all sides. The latest being that the children’s hospital is being investigated for reporting rent payments it had not actually paid by various government oversight agencies.
It all ties back into the “rent that wasn’t really rent” that children’s has been contesting.
What all of the rhetoric conveniently forgets is that the El Paso Children’s Hospital was created specifically to game the federal monies system in order to maximize federal tax monies into the city.
Although we all know that the children’s hospital’s economic model is unfeasible, city, county and federal officials are still looking to bring it under UMC’s umbrella effectively making it a taxpayer-funded entity.
This begs the most important question that everyone continues to conveniently ignore; what about the promises made to the community by Veronica Escobar, Susie Byrd, Jose Rodriguez and others about the feasibility of the project and that it would never be a burden to the taxpayers.
The whole fraud was predicated on a lie – a rent that was never intended to be a rent.
Yet no one is being investigated for fraud?
The reason for that is self-evident, any criminal investigation would directly point to certain individuals that the oligarchy does not want a spotlight shined upon them.
That is what happens in corrupt-infested city like El Paso.