A recent NextDoor post demonstrates so clearly how the neighborhood Con Man is now preying on newcomers in Windermere Oaks. He says so:
“For those new to the community, the Attorney General ruled against WOWSC and Gimenez in 2019 and 2020.”
NextDoor Post — Available in Full at bottom of this page
Well, the Con Man is (again) half-truthing on this well documented episode in our community’s history.
The half that is true is this: the Texas Attorney General in August 2019 did write a “letter ruling” that the water company indeed should disclose, without redaction, the entirety of invoices from Lloyd Gosselink. (The Con Man had requested them.)
But this why the Con Man’s statement is a false, fictional mischaracterization: the Letter Ruling was later recanted/retracted in its entirety by the Attorney General’s office itself. Thus the real effect of the original ruling against was completely overturned.
The nitty gritty details of that case apply now as the current WOWSC Board again seeks to protect its ability to do business from the Con’s ongoing games in the neighborhood.
A public entity has the right to redact information that could cause it to be damaged in some of its fiscal dealings on behalf of the public interest. This is true of our neighborhood non-profit water company, the City of Austin, or the State of Texas. Contracts and litigation strategies in particular rise to that status.
At the time in 2019, the water company and its directors were being sued by Rene Ffrench, Dick Dial, and Bruce Sorgen in their district court case 48292.
The WOWSC had contended to the Attorney General that its attorneys’ invoices contained hints of legal strategies that could be used against the non-profit corporation by Ffrench, Dial and Sorgen.
Those were the early days of the case, which had only been filed in May 2019. The WOWSC Board and its attorneys did not know which directions the case would take. Thus preserving the attorney-client privilege at that time was viewed as prudent, on behalf of the corporation.
These documents show the
WOWSC Attorneys' Request for Redaction of Invoices (2501 downloads )and
Attorney General's Original Letter Ruling Against WOWSC Request for Privileged Information (2824 downloads )As such, the Board filed suit against the Attorney General’s letter ruling. Because of that filing more senior lawyers in the Attorney General’s office looked at their office’s original letter ruling and found it to be wrong, legally. They then completely reversed their position to agree with the WOWSC that it had the right to redact those invoices.
The Con Man’s NextDoor proclamation that “the Attorney General ruled against WOWSC and Gimenez in 2019 and 2020” is demonstration of the sort of half truth narratives that he deals in. It is his method of operation and he is an expert at it.
The AG did rule against WOWSC. Then, later it reversed itself. The Con Man does not tell you that. Instead he attempts to gain the credibility from the first ruling to impugn the company and myself. He knows that most people won’t research the rest of the truth. He basks in the ignominy of others which he relentlessly fosters.
His marks — “those new to the neighborhood “– should be aware of his half-truthing MO: You will never know what part of his energetic pronouncements are true at the time he pronounces them. He is grandiose in his self-certainty, but that grandiosity should itself be suspect.
As a general guide, every set of Con Man proclamations have the overall goal of attempting to make other people look bad so that he can carry his false light narratives forward. He wants to look good at everyone else’s expense.
Now as to the fact that the WOWSC wishes now to withhold information pertaining to the offers for its disposable land, the company stands on good ground legally. The Public Information Act protects public entities from complete disclosures of information regarding personnel, private contracts, proprietary information, etc. For the sake of getting the best deal possible, and not dissuading future offers, the corporation should endeavor to withhold such information.
Why does the Con Man need this information?
Sure, he has a right under the Public Information Act to a great deal of information produced by the corporation. But there is some that is off-limits by law, to protect the public interest.
Now here he goes again adding to the legal bills which the corporation will pay to protect this information. And when you see that it is the corporation paying those bills, please know that it is you who will be required to pay for his pursuit of cockamamie conspiracy theories.
Again, to make this clear, the Con Man himself was the one requesting the legal invoices in 2019, thus forcing the WOWSC to first request redaction of legal strategy. That came at a cost in attorney fees. Then, when the AG’s office blundered on their first letter ruling, the corporation had to file suit, causing yet more attorney fees. When the AG’s office reversed their position — a complete 180 degree reversal — the Con Man then intervened in the Travis County suit, dragging it out and adding even more costs. It should be telling that he intervened using the same attorney that Dial, Ffrench and Sorgen employed for the 48292 case. Litigation is a strategy game and they wanted the WOWSC’s legal strategy.
Eventually, when the legal strategies contained in those invoices were no longer appropriate, the corporation released the invoices in their entirety. They are still on the WOWSC website.
The Con Man preys upon the likelihood that people won’t educate themselves about his continuing confidence game. Don’t be a sucker.
Here are documents that substantiate the representations above.
Here is proof that the Attorney General’s office reversed course. The Con Man decided to intervene in the lawsuit initiated by the WOWSC against the Attorney General’s office. The image below is taken from his own lawsuit(!) where even his attorney had to admit that the Attorney General determined that information could be withheld. Just so you know, the Con Man was using his buddies’ attorney for the 48292 case. The underlining is added, but you can see clearly that even their they had to admit that the information could be withheld.
Invoices were Eventually Released
As stated above, the invoices were released when the legal strategy was no longer an option. This short video points to where the invoices can be found, on the WOWSC website:
In case anyone in the future removes the invoices from the WOWSC website, they are available for download here:
http://spicewoodnews.com/download/429/?tmstv=1719499761
The Con Man’s NextDoor Post Asserting His Half-Truths
