Graphic by Noah Dawson
Now that 2023 is here, we can say with full confidence that 2022 was one of the biggest years in The Amarillo Pioneer’s history. It was a busy year with a lot going on, and we’re here to recap what we feel have been the biggest stories we covered in 2022. As you’re reading, you can click the included links to view articles we’ve published throughout the year.
A Year of Elections
If one theme dominated 2022, it was elections. Voters in Amarillo headed to the polls not once, not twice, not thrice, but four times in 2022. Below is a brief recap of each election and a preview of the upcoming May 6th Municipal Election.
March 1st Primary Election
The first election of 2022 in Amarillo was the March 1st Primary Election. We had our largest voter guide ever, featuring candidates from around our area and around the state. We also had an excellent virtual candidate forum, giving voters an opportunity to hear from the options on their ballot even as our city dealt with a major blizzard.
Once Election Day was over, though, the biggest headline was the large number of races which went to runoffs. One local race that shocked many by not going to a runoff, despite a crowded field and an open seat, was the race to replace Kel Seliger as the State Senator for District 31. Triumphant in that election was Kevin Sparks, a businessman from Midland. Sparks’ closest competitor was Tim Reid, who was backed by Amarillo Matters PAC, the same group which had supported Mayor Ginger Nelson throughout each of her local campaigns. Amarillo Matters’ support wasn’t enough, though, as Reid earned a distant second with 23 percent of the vote to Sparks’ 55 percent.
May 7th Bond Election
Before voters could head to the polls to vote in the May 24th runoff elections, they made history by, for the first time ever, defeating bonds put forward by Amarillo ISD. The bond package, put on the ballot just over a week before the March 1st Primary Election, was met with criticism from voters, many of whom felt the packages were rushed and filled with unnecessary side projects. In the end, of the four items placed on the ballot, Propositions C through D failed with between 62% and 63% voting against. Much closer was Proposition A, which would have completely replaced Austin Middle School due to structural problems in some portions of the campus. While Prop A was significantly closer, 55% of voters still rejected the plan. Prop A alone would have been the largest bond package in Amarillo ISD history at $180 million, while the other three combined sat at just over $100 million.
May 24th Runoff Election
Just weeks after casting ballots in the Amarillo ISD Bond Election, voters decided a number of races sent to runoffs in the March 1st Primary. One of the biggest surprises locally was Joanne Garcia Flores, who came from a second place finish in the first round to an upset win in the runoff. Many local organizations and figures rallied around Flores, including Amarillo City Councilman Place 1 Cole Stanley.
November 8th General Election
After a break from elections over the summer, voters finally headed back to the polls to decide a number of contested races.
Before voters could head to the polls, however, a late retirement from Justice Pat Pirtle from the Seventh Court of Appeals (which covers both Amarillo and Lubbock) forced the Republican Party to choose a replacement nominee. Out of that process came Alex Yarbrough. While not much attention was focused on that race back in August, eyes are now turning to the court as the potential for an appeal looms after Alex Fairly won a lawsuit against the City of Amarillo, though we’ll get to that story later.
Another important local pre-election decision came from the Texas Supreme Court, who ruled that the Republican Party of Texas waited too long to bring a lawsuit in an attempt to kick several Libertarian Party candidates off of the ballot. Among these candidates was Nick Hearn, who ran a campaign against incumbent Republican State Representative Four Price.
Local controversy also came as outgoing State Senator Kel Seliger endorsed Democrat Mike Collier for Lieutenant Governor. Seliger wasn’t the only local Republican to support a Democrat on the ballot, as it was revealed that Potter County District Attorney Randall Sims donated to Democratic Justice of the Peace Candidate David Deleon, who unsuccessfully attempted to oust incumbent Robert Taylor.
Then, with little over a week until Election Day, Libertarian candidate for Attorney General Mark Ash sent then retracted an op-ed titled “Libertarian Candidate for Attorney General Recommends Democrat Rochelle Garza.” Ash’s retraction came after he claimed that the piece was “misinterpreted as an endorsement” of Garza. Before retracting the piece, several other outlets across the state picked up the story from The Amarillo Pioneer, including The Dallas Morning News.
Finally, on Election Day, while Republicans didn’t get as large of a red wave as expected, two contested local races featuring a Republican and a Democrat both went to Republicans, including Blair Schaffer’s defeat of appointed incumbent Potter County Commissioner Robert Ruiz.
Things weren’t quite over on Election Day, however, with a controversy over an error occurring during early voting in Potter County culminating in the county exaggerating transparency regarding the issue.
May 6, 2023 Municipal Election
While the May 6th Municipal Election is still months away, the 2023 Municipal Election Campaign season officially kicked off just one month after the General Election was over, with Mayor Ginger Nelson announcing her decision to not run for a fourth term. This was then followed by Councilman Place 3 Eddy Sauer making a similar announcement. With at least two open seats at City Hall up for grabs, it wasn’t long before announcements began. Retired businessman and local conservative activist Tom Scherlen and United States Marine Corps veteran and philanthropist Hobert “Gunny” Brown both announced runs on the same day. Scherlen announced he would be running for Place 3, while Brown left the decision as to which place he will run in up to Facebook.
While nobody has officially announced a run for Mayor, there has been a lot of speculation that businessman Alex Fairly, who successfully sued the city to stop the illegal issuance of tax notes, will run. It appears Amarillo Matters PAC is already gearing up to oppose Fairly, attacking him shortly after Mayor Nelson’s decision not to run was made public. While Fairly has yet to make an announcement, he already has a high-profile endorsement from Congressman Ronny Jackson.
Filing for local races, including Amarillo City Council, begins later this month.
Tax Rate Cut for First Time Since 2006
The City of Amarillo’s property tax rate has long been one of the most hot-button issues, with the rate having risen almost continuously for decades. That trend reversed in 2022 for the first time since 2006 thanks to Councilman Place 1 Cole Stanley.
City Council Proposes Tax Rate Increase
While a cut to the city’s rate eventually came, it didn’t start out that way. In a split vote at the beginning of August, Amarillo City Council voted 3-1 to propose an 11% increase to the property tax rate. Much of this new rate included servicing debt for the controversial new Civic Center plan, despite the fact that the debt had yet to be officially issued due in part to Alex Fairly’s lawsuit against the city. Cole Stanley, the one vote against the proposal, noted that he “would prefer not to tax in advance.” The city’s passage of the proposal included setting dates for public hearings on the proposed rate and city budget.
Public Hearings Cancelled
The scheduled public hearings didn’t remain for long. Mysteriously, the notices of the public hearings were soon replaced with notices the hearings had been cancelled. After initial silence from city staff, it was confirmed that the cancellations were to “allow council additional time to review” the proposed rate and budget. Finally, new dates and agendas were posted for consideration of the rate.
Stanley Wins: Council Cuts Tax Rate
Once the first meeting began, it quickly became clear that Stanley had gotten his way, with the council removing the Civic Center debt service from the proposed rate. The council passed the new rate, which was slightly lower than the then current rate, before finally ratifying the rate cut the following week. However, as many have pointed out, the effective tax rate still went up due to increased property valuations.
Council Fumbles Taxpayer Funded Lobbying Votes
Among the most controversial items taken up by Amarillo’s city government is taxpayer funded lobbying. The most clear example of the city engaging in these activities is the annual passage of the city’s legislative priorities. However, this year, the process went through several hiccups.
Council Tables First Attempt
When the item first came up last year, the city faced criticism for not including a list of the city’s legislative priorities in the agenda packet. Because of this oversight, the public had no information regarding what items the city was planning to push for in Austin and Washington. Bowing to public pressure, the council delayed a vote on their legislative priorities.
Council Reconsiders Item Under Erroneous Agenda Heading
Nearly a month after the city first delayed a vote on their legislative priorities, the item made its way back onto the agenda, this time with a full list of the priorities. These priorities included opposing legislation which would “restrict the City's ability to issue debt or impose undue burdens on debt issuance referendums.” The list also included opposition to legislation imposing “revenue caps including a lowered voter-approval tax rate or mandatory property tax rate ratification elections.” Though the list included a litany of other issues, the biggest controversy the day the item came up for a vote of the council was an error on the agenda, labeling the item under an incorrect heading. Despite this, the council passed the item in a split vote, with Councilman Place 1 Cole Stanley being the only one to vote against the item.
Honorable Mentions
Before we get to the biggest news story of 2022, here are a few of the other major stories from this year:
Mayor Ginger Nelson Signs Open Letter Calling for Gun Control (and Cole Stanley Responds)
Amarillo Firefighters Win Six-Year Workplace Dispute as Texas Supreme Court Denies City Appeal
Alex Fairly and Joanne Garcia Flores Named Amarillo Pioneers of the Year
‘Unidentified Amarillo Object’ Photographed at Zoo Brings International Attention
Potter County Website Goes Down After County Judge Complains About Cyber Security Training
Editorials:
Alex Fairly Fights City Hall (and Wins)
Last year would probably have gone down in Amarillo history as a year filled with elections if not for one other story that defined much of the year: Businessman Alex Fairly successfully sued the City of Amarillo to put a halt the illegal issuance of tax anticipation notes meant to fund improvements to the Amarillo Civic Center.
Prop A Brought Back from the Grave
The story goes back to 2020, when voters overwhelmingly rejected Proposition A, which would have authorized the issuance of $275 million in bonds to fund improvements to the Civic Center and other nearby properties. While attempts to halt portions of that plan involving replacing City Hall were ultimately unsuccessful, it wasn’t until May 24th of 2022, the same day as the Runoff Election, that Amarillo City Council voted to issue $260.5 million in “tax anticipation notes” to essentially revive the rest of 2020’s Proposition A. The move was immediately met with criticism, with many noting that it felt like the city government was ignoring the will of voters.
Alex Fairly Sues the City
Alex Fairly, a local businessman who opposed the 2020 Proposition A campaign, quickly filed a lawsuit over the plan. Following complications including a suit brought by the city itself seeking an emergency declaration that the notes were legal then both parties agreeing the suits should be combined, legal teams for the city and Alex Fairly met before visiting Judge William Sowder for an initial hearing. The two suits were combined and the scope of discovery and date for the trial were set. Another hearing then occurred after the City of Amarillo made a motion to require Alex Fairly post a $6 million bond to remain a part of the lawsuit. After a hearing filled with bombshell testimony from Assistant City Manager Laura Storrs, Judge Sowder denied the city’s motion. This set the stage for the lawsuit to head to trial.
The Petition
But, before we get to the trial, we need to look at one other element to the situation: the petition.
On August 9th, locations to sign a petition seeking to force the Civic Center issue back to City Council and potentially back to the ballot were announced. The petition very quickly gathered far more signatures than necessary. The petition was presented to City Hall, and discussions about the potential of the May election including a proposition to repeal the tax notes began. Then, in a twist, City Secretary Stephanie Coggins announced the city had rejected the petition, citing claimed technicalities.
With the petition essentially dead, both sides prepared for trial. However, Alex Fairly, the man who initiated the lawsuit, was not to be present, as he had sustained injuries in a bicycle accident.
The Trial
With all eyes on the Potter County District Courthouse, the trial began on October 4th. Both sides presented arguments and testimony from witnesses, including Mayor Ginger Nelson, all members of Amarillo City Council, several high profile city employees, and experts. Some of the most explosive testimony came on the second day of the trial, which included testimony from experts brought by both sides, as well as Mayor Nelson. Dr. John Diamond, an expert witness called by Fairly’s legal team, poked holes in the city’s economic models used to justify the tax notes. Diamond estimated that the tax notes as they stood could “double the tax rate” paid to the city.
Perhaps most fatal to the city’s case, however, was Mayor Nelson admitting during her testimony that the city had been in talks to bring in an anchor tenant professional sports team to the Civic Center after the planned renovations. This would later be mentioned in documents by Judge Sowder as proof that the project did not meet the public work qualification necessary to utilize tax anticipation notes.
The trial then wrapped up without an immediate ruling from Judge Sowder. Weeks later, though, just as Amarillo City Council was meeting behind closed doors to discuss the lawsuit, the decision was filed: Alex Fairly won.
Fairly Wins, City Government Fights Back
Needless to say, the city government was not happy with the ruling, filing motions to request the ruling be modified and for Judge Sowder to explain his ruling. However, Mayor Nelson made it clear that, at this point, the project as proposed was officially dead. A hearing on these motions was held, but Judge Sowder reaffirmed his decision by rejecting the motion to modify.
While Judge Sowder did not modify his ruling, he did produce an 18 page document laying out how specific actions by the city broke various state laws. In the document, he referred to the project as “a plan by the city to ultimately issue tax anticipation notes with the intent to do so with as little notice and discussion as possible.” He further stated that the actions taken by the city were done “to avoid an election” on a tax increase.
Both sides are gearing up for a potential appeal, with filings due to the Seventh Court of Appeals by February 1st. In the meantime, though, it appears the city is still not satisfied with Judge Sowder’s explanation of his ruling, having recently requested that he explain why he did not accept a set of specific arguments made by the city during the trial.
How the case will continue as we enter 2023 is anyone’s guess, though you can be sure to find updates here at AmarilloPioneer.com.