Is Old Ogle Ogling Political Power Again in Arlington District 3?

Arlington District 3 City Council Candidate Roxanne Thalman shown with Former District 3 Arlington, TX City Councilman Wayne Ogle

This controversial photograph of Arlington District 3 City Council Candidate Roxanne Thalman with former District 3 City Councilman (1995-2005) Wayne Ogle has ruffled quite a few feathers with voters in our District. The Fish Creek Neighborhood is situated in District 3 where Ms. Thalman currently seeks political office.  This duo has made appearances out in the community and on social media lately. In fact, she even did a little name dropping at the League of Women Voters Candidate Forum mentioning Wayne Ogle's name as though it would win this Girl Scouts Troop Leader some brownie points if people knew that she was connected to him.  

  But what has she done for District 3?

This young protegee is riding on the coattails of former Councilman Wayne Ogle who ran for office 22 years ago and doesn't even live in the district anymore!  Ogle lives in District 1, on the north side of I-30 ~ the opposite side of town.  In addition, nearly 99% of Ms. Thalman's financial support totaling $31,896 has come from outside the district.  If elected, who will she represent? 

She is an interloper.

Ms. Thalman lives on the fringe of District 3 where she enjoys a nice view of a park outside the front door of her town home.   Chances are she's never mowed a lawn or seen an active drilling rig.  The scenic views from our neighborhood include gas wells and sinkholes!  This woman has not been on the same journey as we have.  Marvin Sutton, on the other hand, lives in the heart of the community and has attended town halls with frustrated neighbors whose quality of life has been seriously diminished because of gas drilling.  Will Roxanne fight for you? We doubt it.  

     

Now, according to voting records, Ms. Thalman voted in the last Republican Primary.  But not to worry ~ word has it that Wayne Ogle was also a Republican who presented himself to voters as Democratic back in 1995 in order to win his seat in District 3.  He was known as a flip-flop candidate, just like Ms. Thalman who was affiliated with the Democratic Party in Utah in 2007.  Wait. Utah!? Seems this Arlington sweetie lived in Utah and not Arlington her entire life as the campaign seems to frame it.         

We hope that the people who are screaming over social media to vote out the incumbents do not  vote for this candidate, because she is an interloper ~ bought and paid for by special interests ~ part of the good ol' boy network. 

PLEASE VOTE!!!

 We recommend Marvin Sutton for a safer, smarter, greener Arlington.  He's built a rapport with the community over the years, and nearly 62% of his total campaign contributions totaling $7,025 have come from inside the district. He will represent constituents, not outside special interests.

ELECTION DAY IS SATURDAY, MAY 6TH  
Polls are open from 7 am - 7 pm.

Click HERE to find your voting location.

Next on Fish Creek Monitor... 

One year ago Arlington, Texas, also known as The American Dream City, became a Film Friendly Community, recognized by the Texas Film Commission. Numerous movies and television shows have been filmed here over the years including Prison Break, Super Nanny, Tin Cup, and JFK to name just a few. We would like to recommend filming another fracking documentary or maybe a new episode of Sister Wives. Wouldn't that be exciting!?  Stay tuned...

Every Vote Counts

How many ways can we suppress the vote?  Arlington, TX City Councilman, Robert Rivera, will host his third gas drilling town hall to be held on Election Day despite objections from citizens.  There are concerns that a meeting held on this day could pull focus away from the election process and have a negative impact on the vote.  Every vote counts, so we can't afford to lose a single one.

In April, citizens suspected voter suppression when we learned that the well-established early polling location at the South Service Center would no longer be utilized.  The new location at Saint Joseph's Catholic Church ~ chosen by two City staffers ~ would be even further away from our community.   Many spoke out at City Hall on April 14th.  Council claimed that they didn't know anything about this change, even though this maneuver had been in the works for months.  Scroll 56:00 minutes into the meeting to hear Councilman Rivera's explanation about why it's too late to reinstate our early voting location for this year's municipal election.  He says, "It's already out of our control... There's simply nothing else we can do." 

This explanation did not sit well with Marvin Sutton, who is running against Rivera, District 3 incumbent.  Marvin, along with community groups, pushed to get our early voting location reinstated for this municipal election.  Click here to view the 7-minute long special meeting of its reinstatement.  

Even State Representative Chris Turner (HD101) ~ who typically doesn't meddle in city affairs ~ intervened.  Click here to read the letter he sent to Mayor Cluck.

We spoke with supporters from various campaigns throughout the week, and they all report that they have had no trouble with parking ~ one of the reasons given for the need to close that location. 

Now, since nothing of substance was accomplished during the first two gas drilling meetings other than citizens venting their frustrations over fracking inside the community, we see no reason to waste taxpayer resources on another fruitless meeting where Mr. Rivera might potentially scoop up some last minute votes for himself, and we are pulled away from working our campaign.  It interferes with the political process. 

The previous two town halls did nothing to improve living conditions for the neighbors living near the Sue Barnett Site.   XTO's operations are still an ongoing nuisance.  They reluctantly agreed to wrap the rig floor with a sound blanket, but it is still noisy. Sometimes we can hear that rig from a mile away!  It sounds like an older model in need of a tune up and a brake job.

Furthermore, it is pointless to hold another meeting to discuss gas drilling when it is more likely than not that Texas municipalities will soon lose local control over the regulation of oil & gas.  On April 30th, the Texas State Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Economic Development swiftly voted to pass HB40 with a unanimous vote of 9-0.   Click here for the link to watch this committee hearing, which is just under an hour long.  

Although the State will allow cities to regulate surface activities such as lights, truck traffic, and noise, these regulations must be "commercially reasonable," which is ambiguous language that the committee refused to eliminate from the bill.  In essence, we really won't be able to do much to protect safety or quality of life if HB40 becomes law because this is heavy industrial mining happening inside the neighborhoods in very close proximity to our homes.

NO ONE from our city attended the hearing in Austin ~ not even our lobbyists from HillCo.   When we inquired with Jennifer Weichman, Director of Management Resources for the City of Arlington,  as to the reason why no one attended such an important committee hearing on behalf of our City, she stated, "Our goal was not to change the bill...We think the way it's working is working fine...We monitored it... We put our resources where we can."

It is curious that our City chose to NOT spend resources in Austin on April 30th to defend democracy, property rights, and health and safety of its residents, yet they choose to allocate City resources for staff overtime to hold yet another pointless gas drilling meeting for Robert Rivera just hours before the polls close on Election Day. 

Early voting continues through May 5, 2015.  
For hours and locations, click Here.

Election Day is Saturday, May 9, 2015.

Click here for information on how candidates stand on local issues. 

The Fish Creek Monitor endorses Marvin Sutton for District 3 Arlington City Council.