Newly elected Tarrant County Commissioner Manny Ramirez had been on the job less than a month before he skipped the January 17th Commission meeting to hang out at the exclusive W Hotel in Austin – a five-star luxury hotel that cost taxpayers nearly $600 per night. Over just two nights, Tarrant taxpayers were billed more than $1,400 to accommodate Ramirez while he attended lavish Greg Abbott inauguration events.
On the day Ramirez was living large in Austin instead of doing his job in Tarrant County, new County Judge Tim O’Hare said, “We’ve been spending money in Tarrant County like drunken sailors.” Apparently, O’Hare was bragging not complaining. He neither questioned nor challenged the Ramirez political holiday.
Meanwhile, County Workers Stiffed for Official Business Expenses
While payment for Ramirez’s expensive political perk was quickly approved and the O’Hare-led commission continued squandering millions on a boondoggle software project, legitimate equipment expenses and travel permission for civilian county employees doing their jobs are being rejected. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram lays out the details and reports, “In their first two months in office, the new court denied requests for a mail sorter at the elections office and travel requests for county employees for the sake of savings.”
MAGA Rs Think It’s Their Money
Tim O’Hare and Manny Ramirez may be new, but they quickly adopted the principles of MAGA Republicans in Austin and Washington – use power to hold power, public office is an opportunity to grift, and taxpayers are to be exploited rather than served.
