Jobe To Host El Paso Fundraiser for Jerry Patterson

Tonight Stanley Jobe will host a fundraiser for pal, Jerry Patterson, the rootin' tootin' gun-totin' Texas Land Commissioner. It will be at the War Eagles Air Museum.

One industry insider told me that Jobe and Patterson are buddies and that is why Jobe doesn't have to go through the usual channels to get leases. I don't know if that is true but one wonders how ethical it is for Patterson to take money from the man who comes looking for State property to lease for quarrying. Certainly Jobe's raising money for Patterson and Patterson taking it is a big conflict at best. It's a win-win for these two folks. Meanwhile, our community has several of our greatest natural assets slowly taken from us.

This blog has recently pointed out that Jobe has been a big contributor to Patterson's campaigns and has even flown Patterson and an entourage to his ranch to discuss leases.

It is not surprising that Patterson's GLO leased property to Stanley Jobe's company that abuts the Franklin Mountains State Park and contains critical mountain to river corridors previously identified by the City of El Paso as part of its Open Space Master Plan. Patterson, along with Governor Rick Perry, continues to back offshore drilling even as the now infamous BP oil spill turns toward Texas. (Perry, by the way, packs a .380 pistol while jogging and recently killed a coyote within the Austin City Limits. He's rootin' tootin' gun totin' too.)

Patterson's opponent for Land Commissioner is Hector Uribe who has a solid record of public service and environmental advocacy. In fact, he wants the General Land Office to "become a major catalyst in moving Texas into the 21st Century renewable energy economy, by aggressively promoting wind and solar energy." He wants to provide incentives to private interests to lease state lands to develop renewable energy sources. Such a plan he suggests "will bring additional revenue to our cash-strapped neighborhood public schools, spur economic activity in Texas, and contribute to the production of more clean energy."

Apparently rootin' tootin' Jerry heard about Uribe's plan and adopted it as his own . . . sort of.

When I learn more about the fundraiser this evening, I'll let you know. In the meantime, I suggest that you go to Uribe's campaign web site, read through it, get on his e-mailing list and contribute.