I know it's a different Dan Patirck, but didja ever notice the similarity between Dan Patrick and the Kingsford Charcoal guy?
Owl_Eagle
(If what I just wrote makes you sad or angry,
it was probably sarcasm)
Posted on 04/18/2005 3:30:41 PM PDT by weegee
The sloppy, inaccurate, "class-less", and potentially defamatory journalism displayed today by reporter Dan Feldstein and the Houston Chronicle in their article concerning my property taxes is a perfect example of why both the American public’s esteem for the mainstream media– and the Chronicle’s paid subscription numbers –continue to plummet like a stone.
This article was a clear personal attack on me in an attempt to discredit my efforts to reform the property tax system and bring relief to Texas homeowners. It was also an attempt to destroy the trust I have earned with the public over a 16 year career in Houston broadcasting, as well as undermine my reputation in this community.
I made it very clear to Mr. Feldstein last week that I had done nothing wrong, that the facts of the matter are clear about my having done nothing wrong, and that he was being used by my political opponents in an attempt to harm me.
Knowing all that, he chose to go ahead and write this article anyway.
Here are the facts, which I am prepared to document and attest to under oath, in the course of a legal proceeding:
* For many years I lived with my family in Katy, located in Fort Bend Co., and listed that home as my primary residence.
* During the period that my home in Katy was my primary residence, I always paid my Fort Bend Co. property taxes on time and in full.
* Only for purposes of paying Katy Independent School District taxes, my home in Katy was subject to appraisal and assessment by Waller Co.
* During the period that my home in Katy was my primary residence, I always paid my Waller Co. property taxes on time and in full.
* Because my home in Katy was my primary residence, I claimed and received a standard homestead exemption from both Fort Bend and Waller counties.
* For the past several years, I have also owned a second home on Lake Conroe in Montgomery Co.
* Because my second home on Lake Conroe was not my primary residence, I neither claimed nor received a homestead exemption for it.
* During this period, I always paid my Montgomery Co. property tax bill on time and in full.
* In 2003 my home on Lake Conroe became my primary residence.
* As required by law, I immediately notified the proper taxing authorities in both Fort Bend and Montgomery counties, dropping my homestead exemption from the former and reassigning it to the latter.
* In situations such as this, not only is it standard procedure for Fort Bend Co. to notify Waller Co. of any changes in homestead exemption status, they have a legal obligation to do so.
* Fort Bend Co. taxing authorities have confirmed for me, on multiple occasions, both verbally and in writing, that they– not I– were in error by not following standard procedures or meeting their legal obligation to notify Waller Co. of my change in homestead exemption status.
* My "dual homestead" exemptions were the result not of my actions, nor of my legal negligence, but of multiple bureaucratic errors that the bureaucracy itself acknowledges I was neither responsible for nor aware of.
* When my property tax bills of the last two years came for my home in Katy (which was now no longer my primary residence), I paid what the taxing authorities told me I owed.
* Because of mistakes and errors made not by me, but rather by three separate taxing bureaucracies, over the past two years I wasn’t assessed approximately $500 in property taxes, out of a combined property tax bill for my home in Katy that totaled close to $20,000.
* In February of this year I received a letter from Fort Bend Co. taxing authorities notifying me of their failure to properly communicate with Waller Co., but including no statement as to the amount of back taxes I might owe as a result of their mistake.
* Also in February of this year I received a letter from Waller Co. taxing authorities notifying me of their failure to properly communicate with Fort Bend Co., but also not including any statement as to the amount of back taxes I might owe as a result of their mistake.
* Of my own volition, I contacted Fort Bend Co. taxing authorities and spoke with a supervisor, who was very professional, very helpful, and who made it clear to me that this mistake had been their fault, not mine.
* I asked the supervisor if I owed any back taxes as a result of their error, and she advised me that there would be a tax bill due of approximately $500 dollars. The supervisor informed me that there would be no penalty due if I paid the tax by May 1st, 2005, since this matter had not been the result of my error.
* I have that statement in writing, signed by the supervisor.
* When I informed the supervisor that I was selling that home, she suggested that I simply allow the taxing authorities to assess and collect that amount at closing.
* Despite having closed the sale of my former home in Katy at the beginning of this month (April), it doesn’t appear that any taxing authority took the amount of back taxes I accrued as a result of their error.
* I am in the process of verifying that fact, so that I do not overpay my taxes.
* In fact, I still haven’t gotten an official statement, from any taxing jurisdiction, telling me exactly how much I owe them as a result of their mistake.
* Again, I want to be perfectly clear– I communicated to Dan Feldstein and the Houston Chronicle the substance of all of this information last week
In response, they saw fit to write this:
Radio host billed for back taxes
I made that promise to Mr. Feldstein because as our interview went on it became clear to me that he was less interested in being fair than in smearing me– a suspicion borne out by the callous disregard for the truth evident in the article he finally produced.
"Sloppy" because Feldstein sounds more like he’s blogging for his personal online journal than a major metropolitan print publication– or are all Chronicle reporters now going to be allowed to report "the news" using a breezy first-person tone dripping with sarcasm?
"Inaccurate" in so many ways I don’t even know where to begin. I’d only ask that you compare the facts as I’ve laid them out for you above with what Feldstein put in print. For now, I will simply note that the idea that the Chronicle "discovered" this informaton and brought it to the attention of taxing authorities is absurd; I brought it to their attention in early March.
And "class-less" because, in printing anything other than my "stage name" the Chronicle and Dan Feldstein did nothing to actually advance their "story", while successfully robbing my family of some of the anonymity and security they deserve.
The Chronicle and Dan Feldstein should be ashamed of themselves.
They will be held accountable, in an entirely appropriate manner, in due course.
I thought from the headline this was ESPN's Dan Patrick
Sounds like the Chronicle and Mr. Feldstein will be hearing from Mr. Patrick's lawyer.
I know it's a different Dan Patirck, but didja ever notice the similarity between Dan Patrick and the Kingsford Charcoal guy?
Owl_Eagle
(If what I just wrote makes you sad or angry,
Dan Patrick is not my favorite Houston conservative, but he deserved better than this cheap shot from Houston's hometown Pravda.
Go Git 'em Dan!
The ESPN guy?
That's just it, the left has gone juvenile with taunts of "nah ah!" and other jeers from the peanut gallery whether their targets are "Mr." Bush and his "daddy", Halliburton, Rumsfeld, DeLay, et al.
When will people wake up to reality that they have been shoveled horsesh*t 8 feet deep for decades now?
While there may be some legitimate differences of opinion or room for complaint, on the whole most charges are groundless and simply serve to give them "something" to rally around.
Some would call it an abuse of power to repeatedly violate the public trust like that. CBS is lucky that their FCC license was not put in jeopardy for the crap they repeatedly pulled during the 2004 election.
No.
"Sounds like the Chronicle and Mr. Feldstein will be hearing from Mr. Patrick's lawyer."
Let's hope.
Houston / Media Bias Bullzogby double ping.
Whoa, that *is* uncanny.
G-d I despise the Legacy Media.
What's the appraised value of a glass house (post-stone tossing)?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1386049/replies?c=21
posted by GOPCapitalist:
"Somebody needs to remind the Chronicle of their own taxing situation.
http://www.houstonpress.com/issues/1999-10-14/news/insider.html
The offices and printing plant of the Houston Chronicle at 801 Texas lie smack in the middle of the booming west side of downtown, across the street from the reborn, glittering Rice Lofts and its stylish bars and eateries. Homeowners in similarly upgrading inner-city areas have learned the hard way that when tear-downs next door are replaced by spiffy new condos, the fallout is soaring property taxes.
For Houston's self-proclaimed leading information source and champion of downtown revitalization, the gentrification experience has been far less traumatic on its pocketbook.
Two years ago, the Harris County Appraisal District valued the Chronicle's block-long 12-lot property at $18.2 million. Last year, the appraised value slipped to $15.5 million, even as the surrounding blocks exploded with development. Two months ago, after the paper's agents argued their case before a three-person appraisal review board, that value was further lowered to $11.1 million, a more than 40 percent reduction over two years, which adds up to more than a quarter-million dollars in property tax savings. At the rate things are going, the Hearst-owned paper may eventually get its appraisal down to where it claims it should be: a bargain-basement $6.4 million for a prime block of downtown real estate. "
Here in Tucson the "RED" Star's subscription numbers are falling so fast that they are giving away "Free" subscriptions just to keep up their advertising rates. People are literally FED UP!. BTW the advertising pays for the production of the paper. The street/subscription price is pure gravy.
It's not unlike the chronicle to have selective memory, having lived in Houston most of my life. I too find the paper much like Pravda. Those at the chronicle "distort by report" in order to further their less than altruistic goals.
If any of you are still subscribing to the Commie-cle....
SHAME ON YOU!!!!!!
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