TX Judge Rules Beaumont ISD/DOJ Election ILLEGAL – Admin Got Paid to be a Fugitive

No surprise here, Beaumont ISD is once again in the news for, well, being corrupt. There are actually several new stories of corruption that I could write about, but I am just going to focus on the two biggest recent stories. First, BISD has had their planned November School Board Election declared illegal because, well, it violates Texas state law. Second, a top BISD Administrator had charges filed and a warrant out against her for blocking a public entrance and she was given paid suspension while she was running from the law.

The Drama over at Beaumont ISD is never ending. I am not a gambler, but if I was I would be willing to bet good money that if you polled Texans from around the entire State, most of them will have heard of Beaumont, TX (and Jefferson County) and believe it to be one of the most corrupt places in all of Texas.

Beaumont ISD Election Ruled ILLEGAL – BISD Tried to Use Holder’s DOJ to Push Illegal Election via Voting Rights Act

Ok, so let me make this long story short. Beaumont ISD is corrupt. The people of Beaumont wanted to really shake things up so they legally had a petition drive to change the board from 7 single member districts to 5 single member districts with 2 at large members who would be elected by the entire city and not from poorly drawn single member districts. The petition was successful and it was placed on the ballot to be voted on by the entire city. The people of Beaumont spoke and voted to change the BISD to a 5-2 plan.

The Beaumont ISD districts were also changed during all the redistricting in 2012. State Law requires all members of the school board to be up for re-election after redistricting.

Well, election time come around for BISD. The election was supposed to be May 2013. BISD says a big “forget you” to the people of Texas and decided they will not implement the 5-2 plan and they also say they will not put all 7 members up for election.

BISD goes running to Eric Holder’s Department of Justice and says that a 5-2 plan is racist and must be stopped. Holder used the Voting Rights Act section 5 and refused to give preclearance to the 5-2 plan. So BISD decided to move ahead with a 7 member district election.

After a ping pong match between Federal and State Courts, and after the election got pushed back to November 2013, the Voting Rights Act giving DOJ automatic preclearance of election changes in Texas got struck down by the United States Supreme Court.

With DOJ preclearance not needed anymore, BISD no longer had a reason to refuse to implement the 5-2 plan. They refused anyways and it ended up in court again.

Just yesterday, the 9^th Court of Appeals in Beaumont, TX declared Beaumont ISD’s upcoming school board election to be ILLEGAL.

Beaumont ISD Communications Director Jessie Haynes Given Paid Leave while she was Investigated and eventually Charged and had a Warrant out for her Arrest – Haynes pleads the race card

Ok, so here is the short story. Jessie Haynes did not want certain members of the media to be at a press conference, so she blocked the public doorway in the BISD Administration Building. Jerry Jordan of SETinvestigates.com has been exposing corruption in BISD and so Jessie Haynes took it upon herself to deny Jordan the ability to go into the public press conference. School Board Trustee Mike Neil (one of the good guys) showed up and tried to go into the press conference. She denied the school board member entry as well. Neil went to open the door anyways and that is when she took a football tackle stance and tried it looked like she was going to try to tackle the school board member. Above picture of the incident was taken by Jerry Jordan.

Charges were filed against Jessie Haynes and she had a warrant out for her arrest. While she was a fugitive, she was put on paid suspension and was getting a paycheck. Once she turned herself in and got out on bail, she was given her job back by Superintendent Timothy Chargois. Chargois seems to be continuing BISD down the corrupt path that former Superintendent Carrol “Butch” Thomas.

Oh, and what defense does Jessie Haynes claim? She claims everyone is racist against her. No surprise she pulled the race card. Oh, and just to be safe, she added in that she is a victim of violence against women. Interesting she should bring up violence against women because she was seen getting bailed out with Tyler Thomas Jr., who was accused of beating his girlfriend, and also when his father was a deputy for Hardin County his father was caught in a sting with a prostitute.

Holder's DOJ Blocks Texas ISD Election because More Whites than Blacks Voted

Eric Holder's Department of Justice Opposes a Beaumont Texas School District Election because too many white people voted, tries to block election using Voting Rights Act.

Beaumont, TX is a city where the majority of the residents are minorities. Beaumont ISD has a majority of school board members who are minorities. Minorities are WELL represented in this city and in this school district.

Recently, the residents of BISD voted to change the school board from being 7 single member districts to being 5 single member school districts with 2 at large districts. Something like this is not uncommon and it is completely within the rights of the citizens of the school district voters to decide what they want. The residents in BISD voted to make this change (keep in mind that the majority of voters in BISD are non-white). Something like this is good because it allows for 2 members of the school board to be elected by the entire school district. These two at large school board members can look out for the interest of the entire school district instead of having only single member districts where each member only looks out for the interest of their own district where they were elected. With an at large district you have someone who is not just looking out for one single member district and will be held accountable by the entire school district. This is kind of like how the Representatives in the Texas House do not just pass laws themselves for their own districts. Laws from the Texas Legislature pass through the Governor too, and the governor is elected by all the voters in the entire state of Texas and not just from one single district.

Well, along comes Eric Holder's Department of Justice and they say no to what the voters decided. One of the most absurd reasons the DOJ gives for opposing this change is that, according to them, most black people voted against the change and most white people voted for the change, and, because too many whites voted, the black's lost the election and it would therefore be discriminatory to make the change.

It is COMPLETELY UNCONSTITUTIONAL for the DOJ to oppose this change. It is racism to overturn a vote based on the race you align with not winning the legal, non-discriminating election. Can you imagine the uproar if an election was overturned because someone didn't like that too many black people voted? That would be racism right? There is a double standard when it comes to racism in America. I vote based on values regardless of whether or not the person I am voting on is white or black and I wish Eric Holder's DOJ would stop being racist and using color of skin as a factor in everything he does. Oh, and keep in mind that the majority of voters in BISD are minorities so a good chunk of them had to vote for the proposition for it to pass, and also remember that people's votes are secret and there is no way to know who voted for what and what the race of the voter is. I guess Eric Holder does not care about the black people who voted FOR the proposition. They must not be black enough, or cornball brothers, or Uncle Toms so they do not count as part of the black vote even though they are black.

The BISD School Board (mostly black) will likely not oppose Eric Holder's non-binding OPINION even though the board is obligated to stand for the vote of the people, and it would be breaking Texas State Law if they do not implement the 5-2 plan (Section 11.502 of the Tex. Education Code). Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott might have to step into this mess to straighten things out. Who knows, some of the board members could even be arrested and charged if they do not follow Texas Law and implement the plan approved by the voters of BISD.

This situation with the DOJ and BISD is just another example of why Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act is wrong, unconstitutional, and will likely get struck down very soon by the United States Supreme Court. The Voting Rights Act is facing challenges from several different states, including Texas who is challenging the Voting Rights Act over Eric Holder's DOJ rejection of the Texas Redistricting Maps.

BISD is known for being corrupt. The school district even recently voted to keep an electrical contractor on the payroll even though the contractor (Calvin Walker's Electrical Company) stole millions from the school district and was just convicted of tax fraud. In 2011, the Texas Legislature passed a law to prohibit school districts from using tax dollars to build a hotel. This law was specifically passed to prevent BISD from building a hotel that the school was looking into constructing with tax dollars. The former BISD Superintendent, Butch Carroll Thomas, was even the highest paid superintendent in Texas (annual base pay well over $350,000) even though BISD is only a medium sized school district compared to massive school districts like Houston ISD. Heck, the President of the United States only makes $400,000 (not including the millions of dollars the President spends in tax dollars every time he wants to fly somewhere to go golfing).

BISD's "Butch" Carroll Thomas Can't Pull Race Card after Being Rejected for Texas Education Commissioner

Governor Rick Perry named Michael Williams of Arlington the Texas State Commissioner of Education, effective September 1, 2012.

Former Beaumont Independent School District Superintendent "Butch" Carroll Thomas applied for this position. Thomas wreaked havoc at BISD with stupid financial decisions and race based decisions like trying to use school tax dollars to build a hotel, re-hiring a black contractor who stole millions from the school, sending black teachers to a national black conference using tax money to foot the bill.

Thomas liked to pull the race card when people criticized him. In the application for the State Commissioner, Thomas submitted basically an entire book praising himself. I am sure that Thomas would have pulled the race card if he did not get picked for this state level position.

But Wait! Governor Perry picked a great black conservative to fill the position. I guess Thomas cannot pull the race card for not getting picked. He must be really upset.