We’ve always known that Lubbock has a world-class reputation for “good ol’ boy” networking. Whether it’s a City Council member voting on a contract that just happens to benefit their family’s portfolio or a developer getting a “random” zoning break, we’ve mastered the art of the wink-and-nod. Take former Mayor Dan Pope, who famously had to apologize for voting on a massive tax incentive package that—shocker!—benefited a project his wife was invested in. He claimed he just “beat himself up” about forgetting the paperwork, which is the Lubbock equivalent of saying “the dog ate my conflict-of-interest form”.
Then there’s the “strategic” urban planning that makes the South Loop look like a pristine country club while North and East Lubbock get treated like the city’s junk drawer. Residents actually had to file a federal civil rights complaint because the city kept “randomly” zoning industrial plants and “super polluters” right next to minority neighborhoods. It’s not a conflict; it’s just the “Hub City” way of making sure the smog stays where the property values are lowest.
But it turns out the Lubbock Playbook has officially hit the big leagues in D.C., and Steve Feinberg is the MVP. According to ProPublica, Feinberg—the billionaire co-founder of Cerberus Capital Management—was brought into the Trump administration to lead the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board. But thanks to some high-level legal gymnastics, he managed to bypass the public financial disclosures that usually apply to people in charge of national security. It’s the ultimate Lubbock dream: having all the power and none of the paper trail.
While Feinberg was busy advising the executive branch on how to run the country’s spy agencies, his firm was busy owning DynCorp, a massive defense contractor that practically lives off government checks. It’s the kind of blatant conflict of interest that would make a local developer weep with envy. It’s like the guys on Woodrow Road who recently tried to push through a “heavy commercial” zone while pinky-promising neighbors it wouldn’t be anything “loud”—all without actually filing the deed restrictions to prove it.
It’s actually quite touching to see that our brand of West Texas “entrepreneurial spirit” (read: blatant self-interest) has such high-level fans in Washington. Feinberg didn’t just walk through the revolving door between private profit and public service; he took the door off the hinges and sold it back to the taxpayers at a 400% markup.
If this keeps up, D.C. might actually get as efficient at self-dealing as the Lubbock County Commissioner’s Court—though they’ll probably need more practice at the local steakhouse first.
https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-administration-financial-disclosures-steve-feinberg
