Letter to Bernhard T. Mittemeyer, M.D, TTUHSC
September 18, 2006
On September 17, the El Paso Times reported that with years of achievement and the near-completion of our Medical School, Senator Shapleigh’s opponent seems to be playing politics with our future at the 11th hour.
Written by Senator Eliot Shapleigh, www.shapleigh.org
Topping off El Paso’s School Of Medicine, September 8th, 2006
Bernhard T. Mittemeyer, M.D
Interim President, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
3601 4th Street Stop 6258
Lubbock, Texas 79430
VIA UNITED STATES MAIL
VIA FACSIMILE
Re: Texas Tech Health Science Center Funding
Dear Dr. Mittemeyer,
I am disturbed by your failure to inform me and other members of the El Paso legislative delegation about the recent allocation of funding for El Paso's Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. Despite my decade-long fight to secure this funding, you made no mention of it during our meeting at the topping off ceremony on September 15.
Enclosed for your review is a copy of the September 17th El Paso Times article titled “Candidate Questions Why Funding Was Kept Quiet,” which states you felt “there was some concern about legislators in the El Paso delegation - their arguing among themselves over the medical school funding and their relationships with Republican state leaders.” The Times article also reported that Texas Tech kept no minutes on the $5 million allocation for El Paso's Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center.
This article and your failure to communicate raises serious concerns, not the least of which is the fierce dedication of the entire El Paso delegation to bringing a four-year medical school to El Paso. Since El Paso’s Economic Summit in 1998, we have led the fight for the medical school. Moreover, it is disingenuous of you to blame infighting or politicking by El Paso lawmakers for the delay in funding for the medical school. While our delegation has been fiercely united on this issue, certain Republican leadership has not. We both know how the Speaker, for political reasons alone, quashed efforts to appropriate funding in the last two regular sessions and all of the special sessions. You played the same kind of politics when you decided to delay the public announcement regarding funding for the medical school.
I must remind you that under Chapter 552.001 of the Government Code, you have no right or authority to decide what the public can or cannot have by way of information. The legislature long ago enacted open records laws to guarantee free access to government information. The preamble to the Texas Public Information Act states that:
The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know. The people insist on remaining informed so that they may retain control over the instruments they have created.
Under Chapter 551.021 of the Government Code, you are also required to keep minutes on any decisions made during public meetings of the Board of Regents. Your decision not to record the discussion regarding the medical school was in plain violation of that law. Your decision to prevent public access to this information raises very serious questions.
In this regard, I plan to find out exactly what the Regents did during the August meeting. On September 21, I will be in your office to discern what happened so that I can report it to the 700,000 El Pasoans whom I represent.
I also request the copies of the following information from the Chancellor, the acting President, and the Dean:
1. All written records of the August Regents meeting, including without limitation any video or audio tape recording, agenda, notes, minutes, and any other written or tangible documents or records regarding what was discussed and what decisions were made. I am requesting this information with regard to each item on the agenda, including funding for El Paso's Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center;2. From March 1, 2006 to date, all correspondence, emails, phone records, calendar entries, and other written or tangible documents or records that evidence communication between yourself, the office of the President of the Medical School, the Dean or Acting Dean of the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in El Paso, the Chancellor, and any third party about the medical school announcement or funding.
If you did not keep minutes of this transaction, I want a written explanation from you as to why not. Texas law requires such minutes and I want to know why this item alone was excluded from the records. If you did keep minutes, please release them to the public and our delegation today.
I sincerely hope that you will never again repeat the mistake of withholding information from the public and those elected by the people to represent them. I am confident that you would never treat Senator Duncan or the Lubbock delegation in this manner, and I ask that you never again treat me or our delegation in this way.
We deserve to know everything that you are doing, since everything you do is the people’s business.
Very truly yours,
Eliot Shapleigh
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