That’s one of the questions Will Arbery asks in this month’s issue. He made $758,918 in 2008. Does that not sound high? Consider this:
McKoy is the highest paid manager of a state fair in the country. His peers don’t even come close. The president of Virginia’s state fair, which brings in about the same revenue, makes $219,037. McKoy’s compensation is not just an outlier among his fellow state fair managers. In 2008, the State Fair brought in total revenues of $36,319,776. The average compensation for the highest paid people working for Texas nonprofits with revenues around $40 million is $209,265.
And this:
McKoy also paid each of the six supervisors under him—Lee Winton (finance), Robert Hilbun (maintenance operations), Ron Black (food and beverage), Mitchell Glieber (marketing/public relations), Jaime Navarro (VP controller), and Eunice Sloan (VP exhibits)—more than $170,000 in 2008. Four earned more than $200,000. These seven employees made a combined $2,256,486—in a year in which the State Fair reported a net loss of $2,787,911.
So maybe more people should be asking questions.
A FrontBurnervian found something interesting while trolling through the Texas Tribune data base of largest Texas PAC holdings. July 15 reports were filed by 2,694 PACs and campaigns. Of these, 274 had at least $100,000 cash on hand. AG Greg Abbott leads with $11 million. He was anticipating that Kay Bailey would resign, setting off a game of musical chairs that would put him in a race for Lt. Governor. Scrolling all the way down, we see other candidates and potential candidates as we get to #17, State Rep. Dan Branch, who was positioning himself in the musical-chair game to run for Abbott’s job.
Then we hit #18. Former State Rep. Steve Wolens, husband of former mayor Laura Miller, retired from the Legislature in 2005. But five years later, he is still sitting on $1,182, 000 in contributions. That’s a lot of money sitting around doing nothing. Now let’s assume that money came in big chunks, which is allowed for state races but not for federal ones. That means it can only be spent in a state race. And who might be interested in a state-wide race, say, in 2012* when Democrats will hold more of a demographic edge in Texas than they do today? IJS.
* Make that 2014. A FrontBurnervian points out there are no state-wide non-federal races in 2012.
Our quest to find the city’s prettiest ladies continues with this next batch of beauties for your viewing pleasure.
Up now: Bina Palnitkar Patel (an attorney at law and worldwide traveler), Ashley Burghardt (a handbag designer and fondue aficionado), Alex Tran (a pageant queen with a biochemistry degree), Lauren Kingsman (a bright, young finance student at SMU), and Laurence Car-Moebel (a French, crème brûlée-making mom).
Check them out now and choose your favorite. Then vote once a day every day to help her make it to the finals.
Congrats to these three ladies, who will move on to the finals round of the 10 Most Beautiful Women in Dallas 2010 voting!
Sadly, we have to say goodbye to Nina Moch and Monica Heinemann-Combs. It was an honor to have their beautiful faces grace the ballots.
To see Candice, Vicki, and Leah again, come back Sept. 13-20 during our final round of voting. The three women with the most votes from each week will be here, competing for one of the top 10 spots. (That’s 12 ladies total to look at, folks.) But for now, hit up our Week 2 semifinalists, and give your fav the click of confidence.
1. Lots of kiddos are heading back to school today, and this report in the Dallas Morning News is there to remind us that depending on their race and socioeconomic situation, they may or may not be statistically inclined to achieve. The DMN reports that while TAKS scores indicate that more black, Hispanic, and poor children are scoring at the “commended” level, an indication of college readiness, there are still wide achievement gaps between these students and their white and Asian classmates.
2. Karl Rove is banging on doors, raising money for his American Crossroads political action group that will join (lead?) the charge against Democrat incumbents this November. Who is its largest single contributor, giving the organization $2 million over two months? Why, it’s Dallas’ “Most Evil Genius.”
3. What does it say about a place when news of a potential “cold front” that may drive temperatures all the way down to the mid-90s is a cause of giddiness?
Deric Walpole, the attorney for indicted deputy Collin County clerk Rebecca Littrell has issued subpoenas duces tecum to local reporters, including me, Ed Housewright of the Dallas Morning News, and Danny Gallagher of the McKinney Courier-Gazette.
A subpoena duces tecum requires the recipient to appear in court and to bring certain documents. I have been ordered to appear before the 401st District Court on Aug. 25 and to bring “articles regarding Rebecca Littrell … including but not limited to ‘Blog’ posts and responses.”
Littrell, along with five others in the District Clerk’s office, was indicted for “Engaging in Organized Criminal Activity,” including counts of “Theft by a Public Official” and “Falsifying Official Documents.” They’re accused of falsifying time records to grant hundreds of hours of paid time off to district clerk employees.
In any event, I plan to attend the hearing and report. All six defendants are expected to appear. The judge will also hear arguments on several defense motions.
Two of those motions, filed by Deric Walpole, seek to restrict publicity of the trial. Official corruption trials are the public’s business, and I’ll continue to ensure that the citizens are informed of the progress of these trials.
Scenario: You take your eight-year-old “premium” SUV to a Dallas dealership for its 75,000-mile maintenance (not one of the major checkups, according to the book). Your adviser reviews things and presents his service recommendations, telling you they add up to more than $800. After you get up off the concrete floor, you ask for an accounting of the individual charges.
He’s basically listed about eight items, including “detailing” ($200) and nearly $100 to rotate and balance tires that had been rotated and balanced about 3,000 miles earlier–at the same dealership. Friday question: Are these ripoff charges by an outfit that needs to make up for still-tepid new-car sales by pushing its “service” side? Or is this just a concerned company that really, really wants to see my tires in better-than-perfect balance and my chrome grille sparkling in the summer sun?
Those American Apparel stores at NorthPark and Mockingbird Station? May soon go adios.
Good morning. Actually, make that great morning. The weekend is fast approaching, and you have several fun options for how to spend it.
Tonight
For various reasons, Garrison Keillor’s not for everyone—believe me. However, those who like him really like him. He’s in town tonight, and that’s a pretty big deal. This is a good bet if you’re looking for a wholesome start to your weekend. Have fun. The rest of us will be over at Victory Tavern enjoying a martini.
The new U. S. News college ratings are out. Here’s how our Texas schools did. Except for Rice, not a very impressive performance compared to California, Michigan, and Illinois (among others).
The race for votes is tightening up, so we mustn’t rest this weekend. Make Friday’s vote now. Then, grab your laptop and vote again on Saturday and Sunday to ensure you’ve done your part to support your favorite candidate among our first five semifinalists. This is no time for slacking! It’s down to the wire. (You couldn’t possibly hate us for asking you to look at all those lovely faces again over the weekend, anyway, could you?)
And remember: on Monday we’ll reveal a whole new set of ladies competing to be included in our 10 Most Beautiful Women in Dallas.
1. So remember this guy? Well, it did occur to me yesterday that surely it should be a little harder to bust onto a runway than that, right? But WFAA’s aviation expert said something last night (also quoted here) that made me pause — and then rewind to hear it again. “They should’ve shot this guy,” he said.
2. Dear Texas Rangers: You’re killing me.
3. So first, during that Love Field concession vote during the City Council meeting, Carolyn Davis was really ticked off, and she told the mayor she’d been his swing vote a lot, and that he owed her and she’d remember it. But then Sam Merten over at the Observer does some fact checking, and well, nuh-uh.
4. My former time-waster at work? The Dallas Morning News‘ Problem Tracker. One time, I saw Michael Davis needed fixing. Another time, someone said there was a giant crater at 508 Young Street, where a newspaper used to be. I even saw someone once request more Funyuns. Now, though? It’s this. I could sit here all day and watch it. And I just might.
5. Yes, it’s Friday. So here you go. But remember, you can always play the home version here.
Maybe it’s the fact that I’m still rocking the 3G iPhone. Perhaps it’s because I graduated from a high school in Beaumont, Texas, some 200 years ago. Whatever the case, this story about newly completed Timber View Middle School in Keller makes me feel old. According to this WFAA report, “there are iPads instead of spiral notebooks” at this place! Now I must go—my dial up isn’t working so well, and I have to hurry and check the email on the World Wide Web before I lose my connection.
We told you earlier about the new issue of D CEO magazine, whose cover story discloses a budget crunch at the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and asks whether the issue’s cover boy–symphony CEO Doug Adams, pictured with conductor Jaap van Zweden–would be able to turn things around. The issue went online and was scheduled to be mailed to subscribers a week ago Wednesday. Almost a week later Adams quit, effective next month.
But somehow along the way, we just found out, most of the September issues never got delivered to the post office. Instead, drivers for Con-Way Freight somehow “lost” two-thirds of the 18,000, those in the know say. Then some “research” was done–after we asked what gives–and the issues were suddenly “found.” As of today the mags were “on the truck, being sent out,” they contend. No truth to the rumor that Doug was one of the drivers.