Collin County Politics: Democracy is Fragile

June 1, 2021

Allen City Council: The run-off election for Allen City Council continues to be incredibly ugly. The Dave contingent people are at the polls yelling and cussing at those voters not supporting their Trump-like candidate. They don’t even bother to moderate their hateful approach when children are around. Allen’s always been a town firmly committed to families, so it’s mystifying and tragic to see how far some of its’ citizens have fallen from the moral excellence they claim to have.

Commissioner’s Court: Speaking of moral turpitude, the Commissioner’s Court continues to be a horror show. The regular meeting lasted 8 minutes, leaving the rest of the 90-minute meeting to be filled by public speakers. Duncan Webb left early, perhaps grateful to avoid the drama.

Chris Hill obviously called in his minions as the gallery was packed. They got there early in order to fill all the seats. However, they weren’t of much help. Of the 26 speakers, only 7 supported Chris Hill and law enforcement. Most spoke last week and gave the same type of speeches. Clearly, creativity and critical thought aren’t their forte. Perhaps this is due to the problems with public education that our state legislature isn’t addressing.

Almost all of the other speakers were present to seek justice for Marvin Scott III. They mostly used their 3-minutes for silence to give weight to the 71 days of silence from the commissioners about the case. There were a few who spoke briefly, including one woman who let the audience know she noticed the smirks and the videoing and was not intimidated. Another speaker started off by saying, “Glad I could crash the Klan party here.” The look on the Republican guy’s face who was sitting behind him was priceless. A Republican retorted, “None of us are Klan here,” (sure dude, whatever you need to tell yourself) but was silenced by both Hill and the speaker.

At one point, Hill commented that he applauds everyone for being there. He primly said this is an orderly meeting and what democracy is. His statement turned out to be incredibly ironic given what happens later in the meeting. Also, he’s wrong (per usual). Democracy, especially when it’s struggling to be a healthy one, can be very messy. Anyone who’s paying attention realizes that, right now, the United States is not a healthy democracy and it’s getting messier by the minute.

Joshua Murray was the last speaker and, as is his custom, blasted the commissioners for being poor at their jobs. His issue at this meeting was whether they’re making certain the jail is safe for inmates. He questioned whether 18-year-old employees and a $41,000 entry-level salary are the best criteria for safety. When his 3 minutes (which Hill started early) ended, he started to leave. Hill said, “You’re dismissed.” This isn’t how he addresses other speakers. When Mr. Murray pointed out he was already walking away, Hill quickly made a motion to hold him in contempt (which he had to make twice since no one originally seconded it) and had a deputy constable show up to escort him out. Darrell Hale must’ve gotten his marching orders, as he eventually seconded and, along with the rest of his fellow sycophants, passed the motion. 

In the hallway, two deputy constables informed Mr. Murray that he needed to leave the building as he was trespassing. Mr. Murray reasonably asked how he could be trespassing since it’s an open public building. The officers became angry that he wasn’t complying with their unjust request. The dispute ended with them handcuffing him and escorting Mr. Murray out of the building.

The whole thing would be stupid except for how dangerous it is. Chris Hill doesn’t get to put people in a position in which they could be charged with legal offenses just because he doesn’t like what they have to say. He also doesn’t have the authority to tell people what they can or cannot wear in the gallery, as he did when Hill insisted one young man remove his bandana because it wasn’t “appropriate” attire. Despite Hill’s wishes, the commissioner’s court is not a court of law; it’s a legislative body. What he’s doing is not only a violation of the First Amendment but also some low-level fascist behavior. It cannot be allowed to stand.

McKinney City Council: The new city council members were sworn in and everyone was very complimentary about the two who are leaving as well as the new people replacing them. This was all lovely except that the male council members kept joking about everyone not “crying like a girl.” Mayor Fuller finally noted that this wasn’t a good thing to say. You think? As usual, the casual sexism displayed by many male members of this council is exhausting. Rainey Rogers continued in this vein by mentioning the sacrifices that the family of Councilwoman Feltus would have to make. He corrected himself to talk about the sacrifices everyone’s family makes when they serve. I suppose it’s good he corrected himself but his mouth never met a foot it didn’t like.

At least he wasn’t Frederick Frazier who didn’t know Furr Elementary was in McKinney, said the new council is made of up real people in this community who are going to do real things (as opposed to the previous council made up of fake people who did fake things?), and complained about both Democrats and Republicans attacking his campaign finance reports. Umm…Freddy? If it’s a bipartisan attack, then something might be wrong with your financials.

The council discussed the results of the 2021 Citizen Survey Results. The 745 respondents ranked Economic Health and Safety as the highest quality followed closely by Health Services. Transportation was the lowest. This outcome is disappointing but not surprising. People who took the survey clearly weren’t thinking about others who didn’t have access to the survey and what their needs might be. Typical McKinney. City Manager Scott Grimes said the fixed-route transportation services were mostly empty when we had them (which would’ve been YEARS ago) and that demand-driven is the future. He believes we need to focus on letting the community know about the voucher program. True but solutions to transportation issues must be more complex than that.