Bowles: DMN Editorial Board Still Doesn't Get It

Re editorial: It's Time for Results: What does Valdez have to show for 18 months?

When will you get it?

Nobody can succeed as Sheriff as long as the Commissioner's Court says NO!

Under the law, the Sheriff is obligated to plead (beg) for the funds he or she needs to operate the Dallas County Sheriff's Department. Under the law, the Commissioners can simply say NO!

For 19 out of 20 years, as Dallas County Sheriff, I operated a model department. I didn't "suddenly lose it" in my 20th year. I got crossways with the Commissioners and, when I wouldn't accept a "deal" to withdraw my candidacy, I was run out of office.

You see, to the Commissioners, I was a heretic.

I begged the court to raise taxes the equivalent of 1 cup of coffee per taxpayer, per month. They could have blamed me! Instead, they panicked. The court arbitrarily kept taxes frozen in the 19-cents-per-$100 range even though other surrounding counties collected almost double that.

And you (The Dallas Morning News) ignored my plea for help.

I begged the Commissioners for more space, more staff, more supervisors, more training, better medical services and realistic pay. I more than paid for my requests with a few hundred-million dollars of non-tax revenue I raised for Dallas County.

So lets look at the current complaints: shortage of space, shortage of staff, shortage of supervisors, inadequate training, problems with medical services and the lowest pay in the region.

To quote the late Yogi Berra: "It's deja vu all over again."

But to the Commissioners (and the News) I was the problem.

Complaints began rolling across the newsprint. $75 airplane tickets, $300 in business lunches, questionable relationships with vendors. A special prosecutor was appointed, and a grand jury seated.

Thus began a crusade (for lack of a better term) to discredit my years of service to Dallas County.

When it was all over, no wrongdoing was found. After the high-profile televised raids, the grand jury returned no indictments.

But my 55 year career and history of honorable public service lay discredited and in ruins.

Now the News could do the honorable thing.

Instead of continuing to "take shots" at me, let me retire in peace! After all I've been through, haven't I earned it?

The News could, instead, quit "cozying up" with the Commissioners and start holding their feet to the fire.

Fund County operations adequately!

Don't let the Commissioners use artifically derived inadequate tax calculations as "political puffery" to falsely suggest superior performance on their parts. It is their duty to be honest and efficient--not be "cheap tightwads."

The News certainly wasn't reluctant to exercise its "journalistic prowess" where I was concerned. Are the Commissioners immune from scrutiny?

Please give the public the integrity it expects from The Dallas Morning News.