The False Martyrdom of Sargent & Grossman

I'm not sure if people are just stupid, or if there is a concerted effort to mislead the public, I suspect the later because Grossman is quite the propogandist, but Sargent and Grossman are not the martyrs that they are being portrayed to be. 

Sargent and Grossman weren't reappointed to the El Paso County Historic Commission...and we should be thankful. 

Here's the truth, they weren't let go because of the fact that they were pro "Durangito". That is complete bullshit and is their way of trying to make themselves martyrs. 

Anyone who thinks or says that is a liar or stupid. 

Probably both. 

What they don't want people to know is the fact that they are a huge liability and have been for, by their own admission, basically as long as they have been on the commission. 

How do I know that? Because it as a unanimous vote. For those of you who don't know, a couple of members of the Court are against the site of the downtown arena. If the dynamic duo were truly being let go because of the arena, you'd think that one of the commissioners would have been against them not being reappointed. 

But no, the court spoke with one voice. Why? Because they have become a liability. 

Here's the short of what they did - they sent out emails to vote on an agenda item. They acknowledge that they did it. They are blaming the county for the fact that they weren't trained on the Texas Open Meetings Act (TOMA) - but let me remind you that Grossman is a PhD and Sargent has been on the commission for about a decade. 

So these guys aren't stupid. But speaking of stupid, I don't know why they keep hanging their hat on the alleged violation being "unintentional". Not having an intention to break the law is what pretty much everyone says when they are accused of a crime. 

But its not a legal defense. 

Speaking of that vote, Max Grossman has been saying - even as late as Sunday in an email, that there was unanimous consent on the part of the commission to oppose Durangito. But news reports on KTSM indicate that Grossman's claim is false. They did an open records request of the aforementioned emails and guess what they found out?

There were 19 members of the commission not the the 21 he says. 10 voted in favor of opposing he site, 8 didn't respond, and they can't account for another. 

That is NOT unanimous. I only bring this up because I really can't buy anything Grossman says. 

In order to believe that the two were not reappointed to the EPCHC because of their stance on Durangito, you have to believe that they are now somehow negatively affected in terms of their ability to advocate for their position on the stadium location. Well, on the contrary, the two are even more free to advocate for their position. Hell they are now free to call anyone a pussy that they want to. 

Also in order to believe that the two were somehow martyrs to the stadium location they would've had to have been the only two people that weren't reappointed. 

Whoops. They weren't. There were others that weren't reappointed, they were just the two that jumped in front of cameras. I know, shocker right?

One last thing, there are some people that have commented on this issue that really don't know that they are talking about so I'll set the record straight - the El Paso County Historic Commission did in fact deal with money. They had a bank account that for whatever reason, and I'm sure that will get straightened out, wasn't going through the County auditor's office. That's a big time no-no. 

These guys aren't martyrs, they are a liability. How do I know? Well mostly because Grossman pointed it out in that same Super Bowl Sunday email, although Bernie Sargent has said so a couple of times in other interviews as well. 

They essentially (allegedly) brag about breaking the TOMA for years. Well whenever something is improperly voted upon by a body, anyone can come forward and challenge the result of that vote. Do you have any idea how many historic markers are now in jeopardy of being challenged and what that cost is to the County? 

What is the likelihood of that happening? Probably not high, but certainly not impossible and doesn't make them any less of a liability.