Tarrant appraisal officials wanted to lie to you, not just ‘the media.’ They must go | Opinion

In our cynical world, we often assume government officials or politicians frequently shade the truth or “spin” the public on touchy facts. Even so, we are still shocked when evidence of brazen deception comes along.

This time, it’s an unknown bureaucrat at the increasingly troubled Tarrant Appraisal District. In a meeting to discuss the agency’s ongoing debacle over a new website, the head of the information systems department, Cal Wood, is heard assenting to “creating a false narrative that distances the truth from the media,” the Star-Telegram’s Jess Hardin reported Monday. He also said, according to a recording provided to Hardin, that “the further you create the truth from what’s being reported, the better you are.”

Such outrageous behavior is unacceptable for anyone employed in the public trust. Everyone involved should be fired. And someone — the taxing entities that make up the appraisal district, the Legislature, an outside auditor — should conduct a top-to-bottom review of the entire agency to root out leaders and a culture that would allow for such an assault on the taxpayer.

This wasn’t some obscure or unimportant topic, either. Wood was talking about a complete mess with the agency’s website that disrupted property owners trying to protest their appraisals to reduce their tax bills. Some homeowners will undoubtedly see higher tax bills because the system they were told to use failed.

A recently departed employee has detailed problems with homeowners getting information they needed from the site. Agency leaders say her concerns were addressed, but the details she shared with Hardin track with users’ frustrating experience trying to file a grievance they are entitled to under that law.

Hard-working Texans deserved answers about why the process they depended on wasn’t working, and Wood’s astonishing prescription was: Lie to them.

Let’s be clear about that last point, too. Don’t get distracted by the fact that Wood was talking about “the media.” If an agency lies to us, it is by extension lying to you. When our questions go unanswered, it’s your business being obscured.

Even if you dislike “the media,” understand that it’s not reporters who are harmed by this deception. It’s you and your neighbors. Wood was apparently advocating a cover-up, either to buy his department time to fix its mistakes, avoid accountability for them or both.

Consider the bigger picture, too: Aren’t you sick of this kind of arrogance from unelected officials who are supposed to be working for you? Aren’t you tired of hearing about government refusing to release information that belongs to you or declining to answer questions about its performance on your behalf?

Texas government once had at least some spirit of openness. Now, too many officials automatically try to obscure public information, playing games with documents and records that are clearly meant to be widely available. They look for loopholes, and when they can’t find them, they delay and obfuscate.

They demand formal requests under the state open-records law, even for information that is obviously public, as the JPS Health Network recently did about its budget. They file time-consuming appeals to the attorney general’s office for information they know is public. They’d rather delay than let you see what’s in the files — your files. That’s right: the citizens own them.

These kinds of acts contribute to the crisis of trust in institutions that is hampering our nation at all levels. Blatant lies are probably still rare, but without openness and straight-shooting, voters are left to look at a litany of failures and cover-ups and conclude that it’s happening again.

Wood has been suspended, pending investigation. That’s appropriate, but once it’s complete, the appraisal district must fire everyone who was complicit in a possible scheme to lie. If it doesn’t, top leaders, including Chief Appraiser Jeff Law, must go. If the board that oversees the agency won’t ensure that, demand to your city, county and school district officials that they replace the members with others who will insist upon honesty and accountability.

Otherwise, they’re going to keep lying to you. And there won’t always be a recording to catch them in the act.

This story was originally published August 22, 2023 at 10:11 AM.