Vote against repeal of the Unit Road System

By LOU ANTONELLI

Editor-in-Chief

It’s traditional in any small town – in East Texas as elsewhere – for people with deep roots and many connections in a community to circumvent the rigors of the employment market by using the political system to get jobs for themselves, their family members and friends.

That’s formally called “patronage, although these kinds of set-ups in this part of the world are often called “Brother-in-Law” deals.

Even local elected officials who mean well and don’t plan to engage in this kind of corruption get coerced into it by family members. A man comes home from work and he’s grabbed by the lapel by his wife, who very assertively tells him “Your deadbeat brother lost his job again and you’re going to get him job with the city – or county – or school district - or else he’ll never be able to pay back the money he owes us, if you know what’s good for you!”

Two years ago, Titus County voters approved at the polls a very sensible proposal to consolidate four separate public works departments – each under the control of a different county commissioner – into one, professional, well-organized, efficient department. It saves time, manpower and equipment.

And it’s pissed off the old-timers who’ve always thought of local government as their personal employment agency as well as piggy bank.

The old timers are fighting back this year and urging voter to approve going back to the old ways of patronage, waste and inefficiency. They say they want each commissioner to have his own little patronage racket again.

Normal people would be ashamed to make such a naked appeal to self-interest, but the old timers must assume they have enough relatives and friends who owe them money to put this bullshit over on the public.

If Titus County rolls back the Unit Road System, it will be a laughing stock in Texas. Anyone with half a brain would know such a regressive effort could only be pulled off by a jaded political machine taking advantage of an apathetic public to serve its own interests and feather its own nest.

The Unit Road System is working now, although it took a while to get rolling – hardly unexpected since most county commissioners have fought its implementation tooth and nail. Only Al Riddle supported it.

The state law that allows a county to vote in a Unit Road System is a masterful piece of legislation. The lawmakers in Austin certainly knew that if implementing the Unit Road System was left to small town politicians, they would never do it. They would never give up their little personal patronage kingdoms for the greater good of the taxpayers.

That’s why - despite the opposition of most Titus County Commissioners - the voters had the opportunity at the polls to vote it in.

Now the forces of government backwardness and reaction are engaging in a campaign of lies, gossip and backstabbing in an attempt to get their hands on those jobs and contracts again. Show them the voters of Titus County know better.

Early voting starts Monday, Oct. 22. Since Proposition A supports the repeal of the Unit Road System, you must vote “Against” to keep the system.

No system is perfect, but the Unit Road System is the best way available to a county the size of Titus to manage its public works resources. The repeal argument is a rat’s nest of hatefulness, envy and nepotism. Reject it, and do the right thing for Titus County.