By Ross Hunter

Well, friends, we went down to the council meeting, and we won a major success. We walked out of there with the greatest sense of triumph I’ve felt in several years.

It was a historic night, a grand watershed event. It was a decisive battle in the campaign to restore Georgetown to open government.

I could describe what happened but all the media were there: Ken Martin from the Austin Bulldog; the Austin-American Statesman; the editor and publishers of the Williamson County Sun – even the Community Impact newspaper was present. So you can read about it.

I am so enormously proud of everyone who spoke. This is why I love this town so much – for the decent people who come out of their homes just to speak a simple truth in favor of honesty and honor. The bright intelligence of the people speaking was a stunning contrast to the shame-faced body language and bowed heads of the six members of the council who last night sealed their own doom as public servants.

Council member Patty Eason stood alone, forceful and unrelenting, against the rest of the council as they tried to shut her down and silence the voices of public comment. And but for the passionate outrage at the decisive moment of former mayor Mary Ellen Kersch who sat behind me in the audience, they might have succeeded. There was a moment of holding breath, and then the will of the council collapsed under its own cowardice, and Councilwoman Eason’s agenda item was allowed to go forward, and we spoke.

If you weren’t there you wish you had been.

And if you weren’t there it may be time to ask yourselves why you weren’t there. As I told the council last night, INACTION in this matter will speak quite as loudly as action.

But now we move on with the hunt, and I believe the media is starting to smell blood. As I warned the council last night also, I truly don’t believe the people of this town will tolerate the loss of open government.

Watch the TV show, read the press reports, stay tuned to OldTowners.com and sign up for our email alert – and get ready for the victory battles yet to come.

By Ross Hunter

Council is tomorrow, about 24 hours away, and I’m inviting you to attend the session.

If you haven’t read the weekend Sun you should pick up a copy anywhere you can and get an exhaustive overview of the numerous allegations made lately against our city attorney, along with comments from most of the council members and the attorney himself, Mark Sokolow.

These allegations have been made principally by Ken Martin at the Austin Bulldog, and if you’re not on his alert list you won’t know that he published another story last night, with new allegations, along with a great summary of what’s been published so far and what we hope to happen at council tomorrow.

You can read his story here:
http://www.theaustinbulldog.org

I will be appearing before the council tomorrow, speaking quite soon after session opens at 6 pm. I’m on the agenda with my long-standing political fight-partner Rick Williamson to ask the council for an investigation into all the allegations that have appeared in the press.

The whole town is talking about all these allegations of incompetence and impropriety, yet not one word has come from the council about any of it in open session. Everything so far has happened in closed session, and it comes time now to drag this nonsense into the light of day.

But there’s way more than my little speech happening tomorrow. Later in the proceedings when we come to item Q of the Legislative Regular Agenda we get our chance to pay honor and respect to council member Patty Eason for forging ahead against much adversity and creating a formal invitation from the council for the public to speak.

This is what you should come down for. It’s okay to sit and watch – I’ve told you many times that the headcount is what these politicians are swayed by, nothing else. And people really value having supporters around them as they get up to speak. But if YOU are willing to speak, you can simply and briefly make the request for an official investigation into these allegations you’ve read about in the press. That will be completely sufficient.

Remember this is not really about the attorney, that fiasco is just a by-product of the council’s own incompetence and its fears of being found out. This is about the open government we used to have, and the good governance that this council destroyed. We’ll only get it back if we grab these scoundrels by their jaws and prise them open and make them speak to us.

So we start at 6 pm in Council Chambers, at Seventh and Main. Shortly into the proceedings I’ll get my chance to speak. Then we have to wait while the folks from Shady Oaks do their part for democracy regarding an annexation that’s earlier on the agenda. This may not take very long, but we won’t know until we’re there. Soon after that will come your chance to address the council if you so wish, or to lend the rest of us your silent support as we do. Rick and I believe we are allowed to speak again, and we’ll sign up for that one for sure.

Join us.

[Editor's note: this story is reproduced under a Creative Commons license granted by its author, Ken Martin, of The Austin Bulldog. The story here is stripped of its original formatting, graphics, and links to its many sources. Original links are shown in red here. We encourage you to click through to the original story at the authoring website.]

More Legal Problems in Georgetown

Georgetown Council Member’s Pay Violates Texas Constitution

Investigative Report by Ken Martin

Pat Berryman, who is serving in her third term as a member of the Georgetown City Council, was paid a lump sum of $13,600 by the City of Georgetown in an apparent violation of the Texas Constitution.

The payment was requested by Berryman as reimbursement of expenses from July 2008 through December 2009.

The payment is reflected in a copy of Council Member Berryman’s city payroll record obtained from the City of Georgetown using the Texas Public Information Act.

During the entire period for which Berryman claimed reimbursement, she was a state employee working for State Senator Steve Ogden (R-Bryan), according to state payroll records obtained from the Secretary of the Texas Senate through an open records request.

Section 40(b) of the Texas Constitution prohibits a state employee who is a member of a governing body from drawing a salary. A state employee serving as a council member may be reimbursed for actual expenses but must prove that the expenses equal or exceed the amount reimbursed.

Council Member Berryman has not met that requirement. Continue reading →