But you get the feeling that George Raffkind is in there most of the time, along with the Seligers, and, increasingly often, Ana Estevez.
Yesterday, Jerry Hodge called a press conference to let the citizens of this city know that these Smoke-Filled-Roomies are running his campaign. Jerry Hodge's election as mayor is therefore a fait accompli. Everyone should move along, there's nothing to see here.
He also wanted to issue a proclamation that, when he becomes mayor, Maxor Pharmacy Services will phase out of its insurance contract with the city. Hodge is currently chairman of the board of Maxor, so the withdrawal is necessary to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest. Hodge sez (emphasis added):
"We have been thinking about running for mayor for some time prior to the time when we made our announcement. One of the concerns that I had and that the board had was that Maxor has a contract with the city of Amarillo, and has had it for a number of years."And Hodge sez:
"But Maxor has decided as a board that if elected mayor, we will phase out of this contract as soon as possible, and we will forgo the contract with the city of Amarillo in order to avoid any appearance of any conflict between myself, Maxor and the city of Amarillo."Hm. The royal "we" or the pharmaceutical "we"? Who is running for mayor, again? Hodge or Maxor Pharmacy Services?
As a service to our citizens, Amarillo media need to ask Hodge the following questions:
John Ward, former City Manager and current CEO of Maxor, states that Maxor will assist the city in finding a suitable replacement and will audit the company as a free service to the city. Why? Do they intend to phase the contract back in at some future date? Is this audit a means of assessing the competition? If so, how is a conflict of interest avoided by temporarily phasing out of the contract?
How will a changeover to a different health and drug plan affect 4,000 city employees? How will the loss of the contract affect Maxor and its employees? Is the election of Jerry Hodge to the mayorship worth upending the health care of thousands of people? Is it worth making the livelihood of Maxor employees less secure?
Is this run for mayor the best decision for Maxor? If it is not, how can we be sure you will be a better steward for the city than you were as Maxor chairman? If it is a good decision for Maxor, why? Will your actions as mayor be based on the city's needs or on Maxor's?
Just asking.
SPACEDARK
BTW, "Maxor will phase out of the contract" is an awkward sentence. I use the same construction as Hodge, because I'm not entirely certain what he means. That's kind of the point.
ReplyDeleteblogarillo works at Maxor. I'll probably lose my job before this is all over. :)
ReplyDelete(ulp) I hope you understand that any "questions" are directed at Hodge and the board, I support the worker ants. blogarillo's not on the board of directors, is he? :)
ReplyDeleteAlso: the questions I suggest may well have innocent answers. I just think our media should ask them and (what's the term?, oh--) "let the voters decide," rather than participate in a coronation.
ReplyDeleteLOL...if I was on the board I wouldn't be the kind of person to join PTS. Don't sweat it. There was nothing inappropriate in your post. I'm just trying to sort out an appropriate place for me in all this. I've been here 5 years and I could probably count on one hand the number of times Jerry has spoken to me. I do my job, he gives me my paycheck and that's it. We aren't friends by any stretch of the imagination and I don't support his candidacy. There. I said it.
ReplyDeleteI don't know why he's running. It's just what millionaires do. If they aren't out flying hot air balloons or playing cowboy on their ranches they're running for political office. Frankly, I've grown weary of the "business knows best" attitude that runs so deep in this area.
Now that I've spoken my mind, I guess I should get that resume polished up...
blogarillo, I'm with ya on "business knows best"-- I've resigned myself to never understanding how a people (Amarilloans) who as a group claim to be so Christ-based in their personal philosophies end up actually basing their day-to-day ethics so completely on money.
ReplyDelete