Famous For Their Wait and See Position!

As the WAO case comes to a close, I cannot help but reflect on how the WAO investigation was handled by the Texas OAG and USDA-- extremely poor. 

I thought I'd share enough example of our tax dollars at work.  Nicole Garcia, former WAO CEO and President, sent an email to the WAO's attorney requesting a contact person for her W-2, which she said she never received.  Michelle Cryer produced, with some assistance, the 2009 990, which we all now know was another false document produced by the WAO.  It stands to reason, she should have been the one to produce and distribute, with some assistance, the W-2s for employees who worked at the WAO from 2009 to 2012. 

When Nicole needed her copy of the W-2 for 2009 and 2010, she contacted the WAO attorney via email for assistance.  No response.  So she sent another email, this time including the Texas OAG requesting contact information for the person who created/distributed the 2009 and 2010 W-2s.  Below is the email exchange between Nicole and the Texas OAG.  The original email included the OAG attorneys working the case--apparently they decided they were too busy (?) to handle a simple question...who is the point of contact for the W-2?

From: Public Information <public.information@texasattorneygeneral.gov>
To: Nicole Garcia
Sent: Thu, Apr 25, 2013 1:33 pm
Subject: W2's and misc. Information that I am requesting.

Dear Ms. Garcia:

Thank you for your recent email to the Office of the Attorney General.

Please understand the role of this office is to advise and represent state entities and interests as specified in the Texas Government Code. Under Texas law, the Office of the Attorney General is prohibited from providing legal advice or representation to private individuals. However, I hope the following information is helpful.

Texas governmental bodies are subject to the Texas Public Information Act. To make a request for information, contact the Public Information Coordinator of that governmental body. Information that is not exempt must be made available promptly after a written request is received. An agency may charge a nominal fee for making copies of requested information.

The request must be in writing and must be addressed to the governmental body. While hand delivered and mailed requests do not need to be addressed to any particular person, it is a good practice to clearly label your correspondence as a "Public Information Request" or "Open Records Request." However, requests sent via fax or email must be addressed to the public information officer or to the person designated by that officer to receive such requests.

For more information on the provisions of the Public Information Act, visit the open government section of our website at www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/open/index.shtml or call our Open Government Hotline at (877) 673-6839 or (512) 478-6736.

You may wish to formally report your concerns to the Charitable Trusts Section (CTS) of our Financial and Tax Litigation Division. So that CTS can review this matter, please complete our Charitable Trusts Complaint Form. It is available online in the consumer protection section of our website at www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/consumer/charities_complaints.shtml. Please understand, we do not comment on possible investigations. If additional information is needed, CTS will contact you.

If you wish to report misconduct or wrongdoing by a tax-exempt organization on a federal level, please contact the Exempt Organizations Examination Division of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). You can obtain IRS reporting forms at www.irs.gov/Charities-&-Non-Profits/IRS-Complaint-Process-Tax-Exempt-Organizations or by calling 800-TAX-FORM (800-829-3676).

The State Bar of Texas is the agency with authority to regulate attorneys in Texas. To file a formal grievance with the State Bar under the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct call (800) 932-1900.

Again, thank you for writing. We appreciate your contacting the Office of the Attorney General.

Cheryl Hawkins

Public Information & Assistance

Office of the Attorney General of Texas

What???

Nicole's response...

From: Nicole Garcia
Sent: Thursday, April 25, 2013 3:17 PM
To: Public Information
Subject: Re: W2's and misc. Information that I am requesting.

Thank you for this link, however I am requesting a point of contact of The Wild Animal Orphanage that I can direct my requests to regarding this and other matters not pertaining to

IRS.

I am requesting the information that will provide me with Point of Contact for The Wild Animal Orphanage.

Thank you for your time,

Nicole Garcia

The response...

From: Public Information
To: 'Nicole Garcia'
Sent: Fri, Apr 26, 2013 4:51 pm
Subject: RE: W2's and misc. Information that I am requesting.

Dear Ms. Garcia:

To formally request documents maintained by the Office of the Attorney General, please contact our Public Information Coordinator as follows:

Jordan Hale

Public Information Coordinator

P.O. Box 12548

Austin, TX 78711

(512) 494-8017 (fax)

publicrecords@oag.state.tx.us

Please be aware that the Public Information Act does not require a governmental body to answer questions. For more information on the Open Records process or assistance with your request, please contact our Open Government Hotline at (512) 478-OPEN (6736) or toll-free at (877) OPEN TEX (673-6839). You can also access information through the "Open Records" section of our website at www.texasattorneygeneral.gov.

Sincerely,

Cheryl Hawkins

Public Information & Assistance

Office of the Attorney General of Texas

Is this not ridiculous!  The OAG knows who the contact person is, yet for some reason, they refuse to provide this information, unless Nicole requests the information via Open Records?  What a waste of government manpower and funds!  This is what I went through with these people...unreal!

From: Nicole Garcia
Sent: Friday, April 26, 2013 6:32 PM
To: Public Information; Anthony, James
Subject: Re: W2's and misc. Information that I am requesting.

Thank you but I am asking for a simple point of contact. That is it. Are you informing me that I have to file a public records request and that you can not give me a POINT OF CONTACT for The Wild Animal Orphanage?

I am NOT requesting documents, I am requesting a POINT OF CONTACT, a name of who is now handling WAO concerns and a mailing address for WAO.

Thank you,

Nicole Garcia

Clearly, something weird is going on here... why won't the OAG provide the correct contact information?  What are they hiding?

From: Public Information <public.information@texasattorneygeneral.gov>
To: 'Nicole Garcia'
Sent: Wed, May 1, 2013 1:32 pm
Subject: RE: W2's and misc. Information that I am requesting.

Dear Ms. Garcia

You may wish to contact our office so I can better assist you. You can contact me at (512) 936-7930.

Sincerely,

Cheryl Hawkins

Public Information & Assistance

Office of the Attorney General of Texas

Clearly, the OAG wants to stop this email traffic because, it too, is subject to Open Records!

From: Nicole Garcia
Sent: Wednesday, May 01, 2013 5:18 PM
To: Public Information
Subject: Re: W2's and misc. Information that I am requesting.

I apologize that I do not have the availability in my day due to work hours to contact you.

Please respond by email, what is the name of the point of contact for The Wild Animal Orphanage in San Antonio, TX.

I do not understand the delay to one question, WHO IS THE POINT OF CONTACT FOR THE WILD ANIMAL ORPHANAGE.

I do not need to discuss this by phone as I do not currently have the time to during business hours. This is delaying my ability to file my personal taxes. Please respond ASAP as I have requested this information more than once.

Thank you for your time and have a wonderful day.

Thank you

From: Public Information
To: 'Nicole Garcia'
Sent: Fri, May 3, 2013 4:13 pm
Subject: RE: W2's and misc. Information that I am requesting.

Dear Ms. Garcia:

Because the Wild Animal Orphanage has retained legal representation, the appropriate contact for this organization is their attorney.

As previously stated, the State Bar of Texas is the agency with authority to regulate attorneys in Texas. To file a formal grievance with the State Bar under the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct call (800) 932-1900.

Sincerely,

Cheryl Hawkins

Public Information & Assistance

Office of the Attorney General of Texas

Back to square one for Nicole as she tried to get the WAO attorney to respond to her original request! After all the email traffic I have seen between the WAO and the OAG, clearly an email from the OAG could have been sent to the WAO, requesting status of the W2 for Nicole.   Once again, our illustrious Texas OAG went out of its way to be helpful... typical.  Looks like they are still taking their famous "wait and see" position when it comes to WAO wrong doings!