CEIDC Indictment Turned Over to State AG

Greg’s Corner – EDITORIAL

By Greg Ritchie

Messenger Reporter

Editor’s note: Greg’s Corner is a section where Messenger Reporter Greg Ritchie shares odds and ends from the job and unusual or interesting facts from across the world and across time.

MESSENGER OFFICE – It’s time to talk about the situation with the Crockett Economic and Industrial Development Corporation – or CEIDC to save time. Accused by both sides at times of bias on the issue, my silence was purposeful. While both sides made accusations and insinuations, I have spent the better part of the last six months doing my own little research and investigation.

My opinion won’t be popular with everyone but I have no dog in this fight and will try and filter out some of the nonsense that has made the rounds of social media, coffee shops and city meetings.

CEIDC, by any measure, has not lived up to its expectations. Remove the allegations of lush expenditures, meetings not properly recorded from eight years ago or whether or not the executive director had satellite radio in his car – this is all titillating and makes for good gossip. The real issue is: did the millions of dollars spent on this project benefit the community?

The answer is no, at least not enough for the investment made. The city lost out on big projects and almost lost projects we did get due to a lack of follow-through, due diligence and professionalism on the part of CEIDC. Sources in the city government have told me how the city had to step in and make sure simple procedures and tasks were completed so businesses who wanted to come here could get the support they sought.

There was a community meeting this past week and much evidence was presented. Some statements were right on the mark – there were payments the executive director made to himself after-hours and there is no record of anyone approving those payments. Other statements made at the meeting seemed more intended to inflame than to inform. The speaker said CEIDC is not independent but a part of the city, then complained the city signed off on loans to CEIDC. It can’t be both ways. You can’t say the federal government could confiscate our city if we don’t repay loans and then say we have been paying our loans on time. Such statements come across as hyperbole.

Much of the information presented regarded issues from, well, a long time ago, with some of the members of CEIDC now deceased or long since moved away. This doesn’t help the investigation and doesn’t help making economic development work for our town.

Bank officials, the city attorney and our county district attorney’s office all came under attack. In the case of the district attorney’s office, my sources told me months ago they were ready to move forward with indictments when they learned of the city audit and wanted to wait until that finished in order to present one full and completed case to a grand jury. I hate to disappoint anyone but that sure seems like a plausible and reasonable thing to have done.

I know it’s hard to accept, but I imagine the overworked district attorney’s office probably had a few murders, drug traffickers and child molesters to deal with instead of making their lives about CEIDC. The criticism of the Crockett Police Department’s investigation is also out of place. Our police force just might have too much to do with too few officers to stop everything and make CEIDC their one and only mission in life.

I was able to reveal at that meeting, thanks to my sources, the indictment of James Gentry will be going to the state Assistant Attorney General as Houston County District Attorney Donna Kaspar has requested to be recused so the whole thing can move forward.

The nightmare of CEIDC has become political, racial, heated and with some expecting Mr. Gentry to do hard time in Leavenworth. As usual these days, the two sides aren’t talking or hearing one another.

Oversight is good and governments need to be accountable – but there is a bigger issue here. We need to foster economic development. Recruit small to medium businesses while you play the long game trying to bring in a big player to our city. A little business employing five people will make a difference in five families in our community. CEIDC kept swinging for the long ball, going for the big win when we may not yet be ready to compete with Dallas or Lufkin.

Let’s fill up downtown. Let’s get one little manufacturer in the grassy field known as the city industrial park. Yes, you might need to take them to a local restaurant and spend some taxpayer money to convince them to come here. I guess you could play some satellite radio for them when you bring them in from the nearest airport. We could have them ride in the back of the CEIDC pickup, I suppose – it would save money.

I am a taxpayer, too. I am sick and tired of people taking our money, using it for whatever they want and we get nothing for it. How much of our grandchildren’s futures have we already spent sending bombs to Ukraine or funding some study to see whether squirrels can be gay or Lord knows what else?

There is incompetence and there is illegality. Were there bad decisions taken at CEIDC? Yes, probably every day and several before lunch. Should there be more oversight from the city? Absolutely, this is still our money and we have a right to know how it is spent. Was Mr. Gentry the right man for the job? In the end, probably not. While he was, by all accounts, a good engineer, CEIDC needs someone with business savvy, who understands marketing and what it takes to get businesses to come and enrich our city.

We need to reform CEIDC in such a way that it serves its purpose and pays for itself with interest. It had its successes over the years but on the whole, we should have gotten more for our investment. Now that an indictment is moving through the state justice system, let’s focus on that.