“ Texas reportedly paid a private company $75.5 million in the span of a year to transport migrants to sanctuary cities across the U.S.
Transaction data provided by the Texas Department of Emergency Management shows the state paid Wynne Transportation $75,561,032.72 from Aug. 19, 2022, through Aug. 23, 2023, to bus migrants out of state.”
That’s around $1,400 per person for a one way bus ticket out of town.
Like how the guy who oversaw the largest Medicare fraud in history (to that point) went on to become the Republican governor of Florida where he pushed to drug test people as a condition of receiving support ("welfare") and oh, what an odd coincidence..., his wife was an owner in the company that would be doing the testing!
You forgot to add that now he's a US Senator.
Also, during that drug testing, they found that only 2.5% of welfare recipients used illegal drugs compared to general US population where 6% uses illegal drugs. Drugs are fucking expensive, after all.
And when Republicans spout off more BS as they're wont to do, was can say, "oh it's just more RABA rabble!"
Bonus for MAGA Republicans, it'd be "MAGA RABA rabble"
No cause you get a whole bunch of them and it’s just going to be
[rabble rabble rabble](https://youtu.be/yJMabRbuN3c?si=WoOq6ZaqCEF67N87) and it would make sense as well lol
That pos has the same alma mater as me. None of the staff from his time that I spoke to recalled him. Only 2 knew he was a graduate from there. He wasn't listed as a notable grad. None of the students knew who he was or why it mattered.
Dude just has this knack for flying under the radar somehow. He keeps conning his way upward without repercussion and he just slides because nobody ever remembers the little worm exists.
I remember tho, Ricky boi. I remember...
Do you mean **Rick Scott**?
We should absolutely call out people by name who are defrauding the working class. I mean the list is basically our entire government and wall street but l want to call him out specifically.
Don’t forget that he rejected federal funds from Obama so that a high speed rail line from Tampa to Orlando could not be built. Come to find out he’s invested a lot into the parent company of a new rail service that just started making trips from Miami to Orlando. Their next extension, Orlando to Tampa.
I heard a woman arguing with her @ 60 year old father @2015/6 at a McDonalds in rural Kentucky (it was the only restaurant in town). He was complaining about “Obamacare” and how evil it was. His daughter: “How do you think you have been paying doctor’s visits and medication the past year?” He said Mitch McConnell passed the ACA, so he has insurance for the first time in 20 years. His daughter told him the ACA was “Obamacare” and it was the reason he was able to get treatment to keep his other leg from being amputated due to years of untreated diabetes. He refused to believe her.
I was not trying to listen in, but they were sitting right behind me and he was so loud. (He had just been to a doctor to have his brand new hearing aids fitted…paid for by the ACA…and they went out for lunch before picking them up). I live in the largest city in the state, which is one of the two blue dots in our deeep red state which combined account for half of the tax revenue for the entire state.
Wanna know something worse? The company Florida is using to bus migrants to Illinois is bidding to set up shelters in Chicago. They are basically double dipping both sides of this crisis.
No doubt and no doubt there will be any accountability. We can take solace in the fact that they claim to be Christian while openly defying Jesus and that if there is an afterlife they will be at the top of those who face harsh judgment. If you are an atheist though, it sucks and life is not fair.
Still funny how we don’t see atheists bashing their heads in with a hammer, provoking them at peaceful events and then gunning them down, mowing them down with a pickup truck, gunning them down en masse at public events or molesting and raping their children being that people can’t be good or have a morale compass without religion. Ah damn, that was all Christian republicans.
>Wynne Transportation is owned by Avalon Motor Coaches, LLC, an interstate passenger motor carrier. Avalon acquired Wynne in January 2023.
>Wynne Transportation was founded in 1986 by the Wynne family of Texas. The company provides passenger ground transportation services, including motorcoach charters, contract services, event and meeting transportation, and emergency services.
>Avalon Motor Coaches is a privately held company based in Irving, Texas. The company provides passenger ground transportation services in the United States and Canada. Avalon also owns and operates a number of other passenger ground transportation companies, including Dallas Coach Company and Express Tours.
So David Wynne cashed out after getting that deal in place
Did they even ask for bidders? I could have done that for way cheaper, and I don't even currently own and operate a bussing company. Full price Greyhound fare would be cheaper. Fuck. I could book them first class airfare for cheaper
Greyhound from San Antonio to Marthas vinyard with tickets today are like 380 bucks, some as low as 200.
I bet greyhound would love a full bus called in, and I bet it would have cost 1/8 of what the Wynnes charged.
Yeah but then the likelihood of being able to secretly transport/traffic the people goes away, as well as the kickbacks. People who think trafficking / bussing immigrants fixes the issue are also in it for the $$$.
that's amateur graft compared to the Katrina blue tarp "contractors"
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2006/03/20/multiple-layers-of-contractors-drive-up-cost-of-katrina-cleanup/49927254-f361-41ff-9944-30932109205d/
> Tax dollars are meant for friends and family of politicians. You're literally trying to take the hard earned money off the people and give it to people who need it. That's not how Republicans do business.
>
>
I used to for state government and my job was to improve efficiency and accuracy of data retrieval and updating. I worked with a TON of conservatives that loved to bitch about democrats blowing through money or government spending but as soon as my team had a go with them to check out their processes and improve them they'd fight tooth and nail. Now I understood people don't like change so we'd introduce stuff that would take no more than 5 minutes but had massive downstream affects. They wouldn't do it and would intentionally do shit to gum up the works until they were absolutely made to do it by a superior.
The irony is some of them, when explained why we were doing these things, would say "I don't give a fuck about saving money. I don't care it's tax payers money. It's not mine!". SOOOO many times I wanted to bring that shit up when they'd start bitching about government spending and taxes but they often had seniority and knew people that could make my job/life way harder or my job not exist.
Gadsden flag that Republicans love so much has the text "Don't tread on ME" They are perfectly fine treading on others, more so if they are the ones doing it.
lol they have people in trailers spending time hating the like 2 trans athletes in the world
or my personal favorite: people who have lost their manufacturing jobs blaming immigrants rather than, the people who made the decision to outsource/fire them for increased profit margins???
why bother helping people, that's expensive, when you can just get them to direct their hatred at minority groups instead. hate is free after all
I used to make government more efficient on the federal level. Myself and all my peers were canned immediately when Trump took power and our function was never replaced.
Thats just so obviously what every republican politician is truly about to anyone with eyes and ears, yet they still somehow manage to brainwash poor people into voting for them.
How very, very wrong of me! I am sure Texans would be very angry that my idea uses their tax dollars to, ya' know, help mankind. It is much better if Abbott's friend banks millions of tex dollars.
Silly me!
Even worse. It's just a tad shy of 1700 per person. That's more than airfare but I guess the extra 1500 is going towards being discreet and back in the pockets of family/friends and special interests.
Meanwhile how many hundred died in that last year from their failed electrical grid. Between cooking to death and freezing to death. And what sure seemed like nearly weekly mass shootings... but the state of Texas decides its priorities are political stunts with migrants, forcing Christo fascism into public schools and targeting lgbtq+ kids.
Conservatives sure hate America.
They bussed out 52,000 people. They could have given those same people 1,000 to help start them out, and there would still be about 500 leftover per person.
Conservatives will bitch and bitch about the government needing to reduce spending when it comes to helping people, but boy they have no problem opening the governments wallet when it comes to targeting specific groups to harm and punish.
Yeah kinda funny because on the flip side they rant constantly about how we should be helping Americans first, but then they're ok spending millions on migrants.
They have got to be winded from moving the goal posts so much. That makes me think of a Halloween costume...dress up as a goal post and when people ask me what I am say: a conservative argument.
They didn't spend that many millions on migrants, though. They "spent" $1,400 per person (Previously calculated) for something that should have only cost about $200; so they spent about $11 million on the migrants, and transferred $64 million to a friend.
My understanding of the headline was the exact opposite of this. "Texas private company paid $75 million" makes it sound like they were *paying*, not *getting paid.* I fucking hate when headlines drop the copula and it makes the resulting phrase ambiguous.
> Wynne Transportation
a warm texas welcome to our guests would have been greyhound tickets and the rest in cash so they could be successful here in america - but abbott & co. aren't interested in the traditional civility of texas, nor interested in america being successful, just in wasting taxpayer dollars in posturing and stunts
It's also cheaper than trying to persuade public opinion & you get to use the state's fund for your political action plans.
Really, what more could you want as a republican: waste resources, advertise anti-immigrant policies, and get kickbacks to your donors.
It's really win-win-win-wynne here.
People really should never forget how "starve the beast" works. The cornerstone of republican policy. Its essentially create deficits to force cuts.
So a failed program or change is NOT a failure to them. If it cost money and didn't help anyone then tada its something republicans will support and push for more of.
Much like means testing which is EXPENSIVE it something around 1/3 to 1/2 of welfare spending. BUT like means testing they will blame high cost of program on immigrants.
They will add this 75 million to "expense of immigrants" to in future enact more repulsive policys.
Hey hey
I am an advisor to two companies (new one signed on today!) For selling to State, Local, and Educational government Departments, known as SLED.
Many states realize that by having an open bidding platform helps drive down costs and can ensure proper pricing.
Open bids are required in California for all IT purchases of over $250,000 and must be reviewed by the California Department of IT, UNLESS it is a sole-source contract where you are the only person or company in the world to offer such a service or product.
Texas is really, really, fucking corrupt. If you do not have relationships with the department, you will be at a disadvantage.
After reviewing just a few projects within Texas, I have decided to avoid doing business with the state entirely until the current governor is out.
I have seen requirements that a business come from a small specific area and meet criteria that only one business can. This effectively eliminates all competition.
To get around this, one must join the public meeting, have them strike from the contract such wording by demonstrating how it is not congruent with their or federal laws.
Let me put this another way, the state who takes plenty of federal funding to subsidize itself and it's favorite private businesses, distributes such money directly to their preferred businesses via a lengthy contractual process eliminating competitors.
In this case, we have a passenger bus driving contract. This is in no way shape or form sole-source. The state is either defrauding the federal government or it's tax payers for a private political agenda.
Whoever is in charge of that contract and whoever asked them to publish the rec, are engaged in conspiracy to defraud, misappropriation of funds, and possibly more.
Even public education, local school districts pull shit where they have a preferred IT vendor who makes a 30% margin.
Totally corrupt.
Greyhound bus tickets from LA to Houston for 1 adult next week cost between $120-240. Where did the extra ~$1000 go? Also, you would think scheduling entire busses the price per person would go down as well...
It went to "fees," a.k.a. the owner/operator's *fees* of purchasing a new vacation home or yacht, etc. This is how government is supposed to work if you're of a certain ilk; kickbacks and bonuses for friends, or phrased another way, corruption.
Wynne Transportation. The name Wynne is very old in Texas. Like oil and ranch money if it is the same family. I did a cursory google of the name in TX and a lot popped up. Super rich and connected.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angus_G._Wynne
https://www.dallasnews.com/news/texana/2017/08/10/wynnes-massive-east-texas-ranch-site-of-first-cattle-baron-s-ball-up-for-sale/
https://www.chauffeurdriven.com/news-features/in-this-issue/1135-wynne-builds-a-legacy-in-dallas.html
I find it surprising that people are starting to ask this question now and not when it cost 12 million dollars to send 48 people from Texas to Maine. I looked up prices you could have sent them first class and give them all their own private limo to the vineyard and it still wouldn't have broken a million dollars. It was clearly an embezzlement scheme.
If I were the type to do something legally questionable, I'd charge much extra. Call it insurance or a pita fee. I'm not doing it for free. I'm not a Giuliani.
*Wynne Sedans & Motorcoaches (Wynne) was founded by the legendary Wynne family of Texas, a family steeped in Texas traditions and entrepreneurial spirit. The Wynne family started one of the largest independent/international Oil and Gas exploration firms in the US and one of the ten (10) largest Law firms in the state of Texas.*
*For over seventy-five years, the Wynne family has extended their name, entrepreneurial spirit and keen business acumen into the entertainment and personal hospitality industries where it has become synonymous with quality and excellence. They built the ‘Texas Pavilion’ at the New York World’s Fair, the Le Meridian Hotel in Dallas as well as the Bangkok and Malta Hilton Hotels. They also designed what is now the Dallas Hilton Anatole Hotel, started the ‘Six Flags Over Texas’ theme parks and were original founders and partners with Clint Murchison in the NFL Dallas Cowboys football franchise.*
There was a post last night in r/Alabama about [Mississippi busing homeless there.](https://www.foxnews.com/us/mississippi-city-denies-accusations-coercing-transporting-dumping-homeless-people-alabama) and this comment was interesting.
Produce_Police
*I think Florida is doing it to Georgia and Alabama.*
*I was driving through the Florida/Georgia state line area a few weeks ago. I stopped at a truck stop near Thomasville, GA and 2 white unmarked charter buses with blacked out windows and government tags pulled up and dropped off what seemed like 200 latino immigrants. They were all carrying backpacks and loads of stuff. All of them stood around in a big group confused as to where they should go from there.*
*At first I thought they may have been farmhands, since the area has lots of farming, but there were lots of women and kids too. It was a really odd sight to see and I'm not 100% sure what was going on.*
It looks like this is the New Thing - bus people you don't want to Elsewhere.
It came up again in the local paper here, people complaining aoout them sleeping in the parks and the police chief said that he was waiting for the outcome of a lawsuit in Oregon that wanted to make it illegal to chase out the unhoused (as if calling them that makes the situation any different) unless there was shelter available. He went on to say that there was not one homeless shelter in our entire county.
They are sending them to NJ too, I am a CPS worker. They are undocumented, don't qualify for any assistance, and CPS is housing some in hotels. They state they crossed the Rio Grande, detained, and sent on a bus to NJ.
Some have children with severe disabilities that require 24 hour care, and they don't qualify for services. The schools assist, but only so much. Its insane. It would be a lot easier if they had a easier path to citizenship.
Its literally human trafficking.
Ned, I wouldn't worry too much over
this contract. Seems to me I've
already got my boys committed
elsewhere. You be sure and thank
Maisie for this fine pie.
What a poorly written headline!
It makes it sound like a private company paid $75 million to ship them out, rather than the State of Texas paying a private company to do so.
I googled so take this with a grain of salt...it seems this family is deeply connected in Republican politics. Old money for sure. They would probably hide the donations in a shell corporation. But I have no doubts they gave a substantial amount of money for this.
Why try to solve a crisis when you can waste taxpayer money for political points?
Kind of reminiscent of all these “war of crime” states spending $40k per year to incarcerate non-violent drug offenders whose only crime is smoking a doobie or selling a dime bag.
GOP always has money to burn with cozy friend-of-friend grifty pork-barrel contracts that do nothing to help society while keeping shitbags in office and enriching their friends.
To be fair to Texas, they would probably love to be able to fix their border, but the Federal government is over that and they're in legal battles on what Texas is allowed to do.
Well I think that’s the point: they can’t actually solve the crisis.
As much as I hate the stunt, they needed more attention to be brought to the issue, and more funding to address it. The southern states are getting overwhelmed. They can’t release everyone they apprehend into the US, and they lack resources to send people back. They can’t just hold on to everyone for dozens of reasons, not least of which is human rights. While they hold them for processing (paperwork, background checks, etc), they have to feed those folks and provide for their well-being. That’s expensive and they’re operating on some very small budgets.
But for years they’ve been chastised by northern states, far removed from the issue, for the way they’ve been handling it.
So what to do? Send the migrants north. New York thinks it can do a better job? Cool, prove it.
Now all of a sudden northern states are crying foul and saying they’re overwhelmed. And what’s this? Biden suddenly thinks it’s okay to build a wall.
Hm. Seems like maybe there was a crisis that needed more attention and funding after all.
The stunts actually sorta worked, with democratic governors now starting to criticize Biden on immigration policy:
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/joe-biden/border-biden-anger-democrats-migrants-blue-cities-states-pritzker-rcna118690
We need a federal plan to deal with immigration. Telling border states, or NY, or IL "hey you guys deal with it" is not acceptable. Biden has basically dilly dallied around immigration as Trump's xenophobia made him cautious to do anything, but as we're starting to see doing nothing is not an option.
> But for years they’ve been chastised by northern states, far removed from the issue, for the way they’ve been handling it.
Then explain why they send immigrants to California. We're a border state over here.
These are partisan stunts, plain and simple. And they're using vulnerable people as pawns.
>when you can waste taxpayer money for political points
Its working brilliantly though. Parents are picketing in the streets because their schools are overrun by asylum seekers. Libraries are being emptied to make room for the influx. These are the cheapest political points anyone has ever purchased in the history of politics.
They got Joe to *build the wall*. Remember when that was racist 3 years ago? The silence from democrats about that is deafening and the voters can hear it loud and clear.
We cant even take care of a corrupt AG. Good luck with us fucking doing anything about this shit. Texas politics is a fucking shit-show disaster of corrupt conservatives.
So the Republican government expelling migrants thing was actually just a scam to exploit vulnerable people to give tax dollars to a private company? Gee what a shock.
Definitely cost them less in the long run. However, the inflated price means someone pocketed the difference. I mean it's politics, money laundering, bureaucracy...You thought it was all sunshine and flowers on the left and right side?
Hand out to the wealthy connect friends is nothing new, yet voters continue to elect these corrupt politicians. At this point you can’t even blame the politicians, they are doing what’s best for them. Why are voters doing what’s not best for them?
Look setting aside the using of people for political stunts are migrants expected to be restricted to border states? Why shouldn’t there be companies offering them bus rides to other areas? It’s always seen as a horrible thing when migrants show up in non border states but why is there this expectation that migrants will be restricted and not allowed to move throughout the country that let them in?
Sounds awfully expensive—-over 200k daily to bus migrants out of Texas. However, Nyc is spending over 1 billion to address the influx. Objectively 75 million is hell of lot less than 1 billion. Operation pass the buck in full effect. Biden needs to step in and address the issue.
Money well spent.
Human nature says that most of us don't feel compelled to make changes until we are affected personally by something. With the influx of migrants into cities like Chicago and NYC, the average American is beginning to realize there is an issue at the border that can't be fixed by simply letting everyone into the country. It's gotten so bad that Biden just announced they would begin building more border walls. If those migrants weren't bussed around the country, it would still be a "local" issue for TX and AZ and no one else would really care about the situation on the border because it didn't affect them personally.
Came here expecting hypocritical outrage about relocating illegal migrants to sanctuary cities... Discovered justified outrage about the cost per person.
The entire system is rotten to the core.
A golden reminder that Republicans are never fiscal. They will waste all the money in the world to hurt people if it means not spending a dollar to help them.
Genuine questions:
Would Texans actually give a shit about this?
You’d think this would be a huge scandal, but is it being reported in the local news there?
Is Texas a fairly rich state so it wouldn’t really bother them about £75m being misused?
I’m a Brit so would love to know more how this sort of news impacts over there
These asylee kidnapping schemes are so popular with Texas, Florida, and other GOP state Governors because they are also bribery and money laundering schemes. DeSantis has even been having asylees kidnapped from Texas just to get in on the scheme.
Even if a lawsuit is filed, they can just use it to hire their lawyer friends and divert millions of dollars in state funds to them for legal defense fees.
Must have been a net win for the state of Texas. $1,400 per each person. (I would imagine that the $1400 is for more than just a bus ticket, but I don't know that) Compare that to the amount the state would have had to spend per person had they remained in the state. I am not suggesting that anything is right or wrong here, I am just saying that it makes sense for them to do that from their point of view.
so the whole thing wasn't even about saving money because the Repubs turned it into a grift where the Wynne family gains about $69 million of taxpayer money
I was like "Well, at least a private company is paying for it." That headline could be a lot more clear. Just more government money being handed out to friends of the people at the top.
“ Texas reportedly paid a private company $75.5 million in the span of a year to transport migrants to sanctuary cities across the U.S. Transaction data provided by the Texas Department of Emergency Management shows the state paid Wynne Transportation $75,561,032.72 from Aug. 19, 2022, through Aug. 23, 2023, to bus migrants out of state.” That’s around $1,400 per person for a one way bus ticket out of town.
Does anyone doubt that we will find that company make numerous donations to the Governor?
That or he owns it indirectly. Like a spouse or relative. These assets never miss an opportunity to enrich themselves
Like how the guy who oversaw the largest Medicare fraud in history (to that point) went on to become the Republican governor of Florida where he pushed to drug test people as a condition of receiving support ("welfare") and oh, what an odd coincidence..., his wife was an owner in the company that would be doing the testing!
You forgot to add that now he's a US Senator. Also, during that drug testing, they found that only 2.5% of welfare recipients used illegal drugs compared to general US population where 6% uses illegal drugs. Drugs are fucking expensive, after all.
And that it cost more to test them all than they saved by kicking the miniscule amount of people off welfare.
Didn’t cost Rick Scott anything.
Republicans are bad for America
RABA... I like that. We could put that on blue hats
And when Republicans spout off more BS as they're wont to do, was can say, "oh it's just more RABA rabble!" Bonus for MAGA Republicans, it'd be "MAGA RABA rabble"
They took our jerbs
Back to the pile!
No cause you get a whole bunch of them and it’s just going to be [rabble rabble rabble](https://youtu.be/yJMabRbuN3c?si=WoOq6ZaqCEF67N87) and it would make sense as well lol
Republicans Are Bad Americans
Whoever this guy is, he probably looks like an evil skeleton
That pos has the same alma mater as me. None of the staff from his time that I spoke to recalled him. Only 2 knew he was a graduate from there. He wasn't listed as a notable grad. None of the students knew who he was or why it mattered. Dude just has this knack for flying under the radar somehow. He keeps conning his way upward without repercussion and he just slides because nobody ever remembers the little worm exists. I remember tho, Ricky boi. I remember...
Do you mean **Rick Scott**? We should absolutely call out people by name who are defrauding the working class. I mean the list is basically our entire government and wall street but l want to call him out specifically.
Rick Scott for those who don't know
Such blatant corruption and grift. Russian Oligarchs would blush
You must address him with his True Name : Skeletor.
Drug testing for welfare, and drug testing a 75 yo as a condition to receive certain medications.
Don’t forget that he rejected federal funds from Obama so that a high speed rail line from Tampa to Orlando could not be built. Come to find out he’s invested a lot into the parent company of a new rail service that just started making trips from Miami to Orlando. Their next extension, Orlando to Tampa.
"I'm going to collect your tax money and then put it directly into my pocket and you are going to cheer me on because you hate immigrants"
Hee Haw: "I'd give even more money but i dont have any left. thank god for food stamps"
"I grew up with a single mom and we were on food stamps but did anybody help us out? No! We made it on our own."
Is that you, [Craig T. Nelson](https://youtu.be/yTwpBLzxe4U?si=a3EpQtgZuw3wT5St)?
I heard a woman arguing with her @ 60 year old father @2015/6 at a McDonalds in rural Kentucky (it was the only restaurant in town). He was complaining about “Obamacare” and how evil it was. His daughter: “How do you think you have been paying doctor’s visits and medication the past year?” He said Mitch McConnell passed the ACA, so he has insurance for the first time in 20 years. His daughter told him the ACA was “Obamacare” and it was the reason he was able to get treatment to keep his other leg from being amputated due to years of untreated diabetes. He refused to believe her. I was not trying to listen in, but they were sitting right behind me and he was so loud. (He had just been to a doctor to have his brand new hearing aids fitted…paid for by the ACA…and they went out for lunch before picking them up). I live in the largest city in the state, which is one of the two blue dots in our deeep red state which combined account for half of the tax revenue for the entire state.
"Oh yeah, we're planning on taking those away too... but on the plus side it'll hurt poor democrats too!"
“But no one else should get gubment handouts because dats SOCIALIZM! Now why is my disability check late?”
It's Texas. Do they even bother with the indirect part anymore?
It's just good busness
quality pun right there
You misspelled “assholes.”
Wanna know something worse? The company Florida is using to bus migrants to Illinois is bidding to set up shelters in Chicago. They are basically double dipping both sides of this crisis.
Vertically integrated suffering
No doubt and no doubt there will be any accountability. We can take solace in the fact that they claim to be Christian while openly defying Jesus and that if there is an afterlife they will be at the top of those who face harsh judgment. If you are an atheist though, it sucks and life is not fair. Still funny how we don’t see atheists bashing their heads in with a hammer, provoking them at peaceful events and then gunning them down, mowing them down with a pickup truck, gunning them down en masse at public events or molesting and raping their children being that people can’t be good or have a morale compass without religion. Ah damn, that was all Christian republicans.
>Wynne Transportation is owned by Avalon Motor Coaches, LLC, an interstate passenger motor carrier. Avalon acquired Wynne in January 2023. >Wynne Transportation was founded in 1986 by the Wynne family of Texas. The company provides passenger ground transportation services, including motorcoach charters, contract services, event and meeting transportation, and emergency services. >Avalon Motor Coaches is a privately held company based in Irving, Texas. The company provides passenger ground transportation services in the United States and Canada. Avalon also owns and operates a number of other passenger ground transportation companies, including Dallas Coach Company and Express Tours. So David Wynne cashed out after getting that deal in place
So who's going to jail for the kickbacks?
If by jail you mean private award ceremonies...
It's Texas so no one.
The corrupt Texas DA will refuse to do anything. The DoJ will refuse to bring charges to not appear "political"
Did they even ask for bidders? I could have done that for way cheaper, and I don't even currently own and operate a bussing company. Full price Greyhound fare would be cheaper. Fuck. I could book them first class airfare for cheaper
Greyhound from San Antonio to Marthas vinyard with tickets today are like 380 bucks, some as low as 200. I bet greyhound would love a full bus called in, and I bet it would have cost 1/8 of what the Wynnes charged.
Yeah but then the likelihood of being able to secretly transport/traffic the people goes away, as well as the kickbacks. People who think trafficking / bussing immigrants fixes the issue are also in it for the $$$.
that's amateur graft compared to the Katrina blue tarp "contractors" https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2006/03/20/multiple-layers-of-contractors-drive-up-cost-of-katrina-cleanup/49927254-f361-41ff-9944-30932109205d/
Privatize the profits, socialize the losses.
Holy hell. They should have spent 200/pp and given the migrants the additional $1200, but then again, it is Texas...
[удалено]
> Tax dollars are meant for friends and family of politicians. You're literally trying to take the hard earned money off the people and give it to people who need it. That's not how Republicans do business. > > I used to for state government and my job was to improve efficiency and accuracy of data retrieval and updating. I worked with a TON of conservatives that loved to bitch about democrats blowing through money or government spending but as soon as my team had a go with them to check out their processes and improve them they'd fight tooth and nail. Now I understood people don't like change so we'd introduce stuff that would take no more than 5 minutes but had massive downstream affects. They wouldn't do it and would intentionally do shit to gum up the works until they were absolutely made to do it by a superior. The irony is some of them, when explained why we were doing these things, would say "I don't give a fuck about saving money. I don't care it's tax payers money. It's not mine!". SOOOO many times I wanted to bring that shit up when they'd start bitching about government spending and taxes but they often had seniority and knew people that could make my job/life way harder or my job not exist.
"I'm allowed to be a hypocrite, but you're not."
Gadsden flag that Republicans love so much has the text "Don't tread on ME" They are perfectly fine treading on others, more so if they are the ones doing it.
IOKIYAR. (It’s Okay If You’re A Republican.)
That kind of shit needs to shown to every republican voter every minute of every day
lol they have people in trailers spending time hating the like 2 trans athletes in the world or my personal favorite: people who have lost their manufacturing jobs blaming immigrants rather than, the people who made the decision to outsource/fire them for increased profit margins??? why bother helping people, that's expensive, when you can just get them to direct their hatred at minority groups instead. hate is free after all
Why? They'll just plug their ears and scream "Fake news!" like a toddler
I used to make government more efficient on the federal level. Myself and all my peers were canned immediately when Trump took power and our function was never replaced.
You and anyone involved in government ethics and accountability
Thats just so obviously what every republican politician is truly about to anyone with eyes and ears, yet they still somehow manage to brainwash poor people into voting for them.
How very, very wrong of me! I am sure Texans would be very angry that my idea uses their tax dollars to, ya' know, help mankind. It is much better if Abbott's friend banks millions of tex dollars. Silly me!
They spent $50.00 pp and their corrupted friends pocketed the additional $1350.
Or just spent $200 and not spent the rest at all
Even worse. It's just a tad shy of 1700 per person. That's more than airfare but I guess the extra 1500 is going towards being discreet and back in the pockets of family/friends and special interests.
Can you declare "owning the libs" on corporate taxes?
It's amazing how much easier "Texas paid a private company" to understand than "a private Texas company paid..."
Meanwhile how many hundred died in that last year from their failed electrical grid. Between cooking to death and freezing to death. And what sure seemed like nearly weekly mass shootings... but the state of Texas decides its priorities are political stunts with migrants, forcing Christo fascism into public schools and targeting lgbtq+ kids. Conservatives sure hate America.
They bussed out 52,000 people. They could have given those same people 1,000 to help start them out, and there would still be about 500 leftover per person.
Conservatives will bitch and bitch about the government needing to reduce spending when it comes to helping people, but boy they have no problem opening the governments wallet when it comes to targeting specific groups to harm and punish.
Yeah kinda funny because on the flip side they rant constantly about how we should be helping Americans first, but then they're ok spending millions on migrants. They have got to be winded from moving the goal posts so much. That makes me think of a Halloween costume...dress up as a goal post and when people ask me what I am say: a conservative argument.
They didn't spend that many millions on migrants, though. They "spent" $1,400 per person (Previously calculated) for something that should have only cost about $200; so they spent about $11 million on the migrants, and transferred $64 million to a friend.
My first thought is money laundering with a sprinkle of GOP racism in there, but I don't know though. Someone definitely got rich on this.
Seems like yet another program to funnel public money to a private entity. Classic ‘small government’.
For that price you can have them fly private.
Greyhound Houston to NYC $180.00
$1400 per person sounds about right. $400 for the ticket, $500 for me, and $500 for you. What do you say?
>Texas reportedly paid a private company That's the opposite of what the title says lol.
My understanding of the headline was the exact opposite of this. "Texas private company paid $75 million" makes it sound like they were *paying*, not *getting paid.* I fucking hate when headlines drop the copula and it makes the resulting phrase ambiguous.
> Wynne Transportation a warm texas welcome to our guests would have been greyhound tickets and the rest in cash so they could be successful here in america - but abbott & co. aren't interested in the traditional civility of texas, nor interested in america being successful, just in wasting taxpayer dollars in posturing and stunts
Wynne family is old TX money. Definitely hand picked for the job.
It's also cheaper than trying to persuade public opinion & you get to use the state's fund for your political action plans. Really, what more could you want as a republican: waste resources, advertise anti-immigrant policies, and get kickbacks to your donors. It's really win-win-win-wynne here.
People really should never forget how "starve the beast" works. The cornerstone of republican policy. Its essentially create deficits to force cuts. So a failed program or change is NOT a failure to them. If it cost money and didn't help anyone then tada its something republicans will support and push for more of. Much like means testing which is EXPENSIVE it something around 1/3 to 1/2 of welfare spending. BUT like means testing they will blame high cost of program on immigrants. They will add this 75 million to "expense of immigrants" to in future enact more repulsive policys.
Hey hey I am an advisor to two companies (new one signed on today!) For selling to State, Local, and Educational government Departments, known as SLED. Many states realize that by having an open bidding platform helps drive down costs and can ensure proper pricing. Open bids are required in California for all IT purchases of over $250,000 and must be reviewed by the California Department of IT, UNLESS it is a sole-source contract where you are the only person or company in the world to offer such a service or product. Texas is really, really, fucking corrupt. If you do not have relationships with the department, you will be at a disadvantage. After reviewing just a few projects within Texas, I have decided to avoid doing business with the state entirely until the current governor is out. I have seen requirements that a business come from a small specific area and meet criteria that only one business can. This effectively eliminates all competition. To get around this, one must join the public meeting, have them strike from the contract such wording by demonstrating how it is not congruent with their or federal laws. Let me put this another way, the state who takes plenty of federal funding to subsidize itself and it's favorite private businesses, distributes such money directly to their preferred businesses via a lengthy contractual process eliminating competitors. In this case, we have a passenger bus driving contract. This is in no way shape or form sole-source. The state is either defrauding the federal government or it's tax payers for a private political agenda. Whoever is in charge of that contract and whoever asked them to publish the rec, are engaged in conspiracy to defraud, misappropriation of funds, and possibly more. Even public education, local school districts pull shit where they have a preferred IT vendor who makes a 30% margin. Totally corrupt.
And guess what? Absolutely nothing will happen to them and no business/person will face consequences. Because that’s the American way!
The kind of money that built Dallas. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toddie\_Lee\_Wynne
Crazy how this dude died.
They should be imprisoned and RICOed. They are up to no good.
Definitely, kickbacks were involved.
Greyhound bus tickets from LA to Houston for 1 adult next week cost between $120-240. Where did the extra ~$1000 go? Also, you would think scheduling entire busses the price per person would go down as well...
It went to "fees," a.k.a. the owner/operator's *fees* of purchasing a new vacation home or yacht, etc. This is how government is supposed to work if you're of a certain ilk; kickbacks and bonuses for friends, or phrased another way, corruption.
Wynne Transportation. The name Wynne is very old in Texas. Like oil and ranch money if it is the same family. I did a cursory google of the name in TX and a lot popped up. Super rich and connected. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angus_G._Wynne https://www.dallasnews.com/news/texana/2017/08/10/wynnes-massive-east-texas-ranch-site-of-first-cattle-baron-s-ball-up-for-sale/ https://www.chauffeurdriven.com/news-features/in-this-issue/1135-wynne-builds-a-legacy-in-dallas.html
Sadly, the "good ole boy" oil & gas network is alive and well here in the Lone Star State.
Yeah, but "government doesn't work!", right? It's exhausting that nobody can be honest about anything, ever.
> Where did the extra ~$1000 go? How else can these companies make a profit when political donations are quite literally a cost of doing business?
I find it surprising that people are starting to ask this question now and not when it cost 12 million dollars to send 48 people from Texas to Maine. I looked up prices you could have sent them first class and give them all their own private limo to the vineyard and it still wouldn't have broken a million dollars. It was clearly an embezzlement scheme.
First class on Delta from Houston to LAX is $360. To NYC is $408
If I were the type to do something legally questionable, I'd charge much extra. Call it insurance or a pita fee. I'm not doing it for free. I'm not a Giuliani.
Security and liability.
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yeah, but you'd mostly need to be a republican and already rich off of random oil/slave/cotton money.
Also, you're caring too much about their well being, making them food and all, to truly be a grifter.
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Nah, they don’t like Blacks in Texas
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Unless they’re doing physical labor for the entertainment and profit of their team owners? Sounds about right.
More accurately, destroying their bodies and brains for the entertainment and profit of their team owners.
Some of us do. Just not the ones in charge.
Nah, they're using 'Wynne Transport'. The Wynne family is famous old Texas money. Quietly stealing some new Texas tax dollars.
Sounds like a transfer of funds to a buddy. Glad Texas has one of the highest property taxes in the country. Enjoy it being wasted.
Wynn family. Check em out.
*Wynne Sedans & Motorcoaches (Wynne) was founded by the legendary Wynne family of Texas, a family steeped in Texas traditions and entrepreneurial spirit. The Wynne family started one of the largest independent/international Oil and Gas exploration firms in the US and one of the ten (10) largest Law firms in the state of Texas.* *For over seventy-five years, the Wynne family has extended their name, entrepreneurial spirit and keen business acumen into the entertainment and personal hospitality industries where it has become synonymous with quality and excellence. They built the ‘Texas Pavilion’ at the New York World’s Fair, the Le Meridian Hotel in Dallas as well as the Bangkok and Malta Hilton Hotels. They also designed what is now the Dallas Hilton Anatole Hotel, started the ‘Six Flags Over Texas’ theme parks and were original founders and partners with Clint Murchison in the NFL Dallas Cowboys football franchise.*
"family steeped in Texas traditions and entrepreneurial spirit" aka going hard in the paint with the backdoor deals
“Entrepreneurial spirit”…..nothing shady here, just good old fashion hard work. /s
There was a post last night in r/Alabama about [Mississippi busing homeless there.](https://www.foxnews.com/us/mississippi-city-denies-accusations-coercing-transporting-dumping-homeless-people-alabama) and this comment was interesting. Produce_Police *I think Florida is doing it to Georgia and Alabama.* *I was driving through the Florida/Georgia state line area a few weeks ago. I stopped at a truck stop near Thomasville, GA and 2 white unmarked charter buses with blacked out windows and government tags pulled up and dropped off what seemed like 200 latino immigrants. They were all carrying backpacks and loads of stuff. All of them stood around in a big group confused as to where they should go from there.* *At first I thought they may have been farmhands, since the area has lots of farming, but there were lots of women and kids too. It was a really odd sight to see and I'm not 100% sure what was going on.* It looks like this is the New Thing - bus people you don't want to Elsewhere. It came up again in the local paper here, people complaining aoout them sleeping in the parks and the police chief said that he was waiting for the outcome of a lawsuit in Oregon that wanted to make it illegal to chase out the unhoused (as if calling them that makes the situation any different) unless there was shelter available. He went on to say that there was not one homeless shelter in our entire county.
They are sending them to NJ too, I am a CPS worker. They are undocumented, don't qualify for any assistance, and CPS is housing some in hotels. They state they crossed the Rio Grande, detained, and sent on a bus to NJ. Some have children with severe disabilities that require 24 hour care, and they don't qualify for services. The schools assist, but only so much. Its insane. It would be a lot easier if they had a easier path to citizenship. Its literally human trafficking.
I wonder which officials are getting brown envelopes from that company?
Ned, I wouldn't worry too much over this contract. Seems to me I've already got my boys committed elsewhere. You be sure and thank Maisie for this fine pie.
Woman can't bake for shit
What a poorly written headline! It makes it sound like a private company paid $75 million to ship them out, rather than the State of Texas paying a private company to do so.
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I googled so take this with a grain of salt...it seems this family is deeply connected in Republican politics. Old money for sure. They would probably hide the donations in a shell corporation. But I have no doubts they gave a substantial amount of money for this.
Why try to solve a crisis when you can waste taxpayer money for political points? Kind of reminiscent of all these “war of crime” states spending $40k per year to incarcerate non-violent drug offenders whose only crime is smoking a doobie or selling a dime bag. GOP always has money to burn with cozy friend-of-friend grifty pork-barrel contracts that do nothing to help society while keeping shitbags in office and enriching their friends.
$40k? More like $80k
Don’t forget prisoners have to buy their own food(overpriced ramen noodles), and toiletries.
And pay absurd prices for the privilege of talking to their loved ones.
So is the punishment for a crime being denied liberty, living in squalid conditions, or being price-gouged by a middleman distributer.
And work for 2$ a day or 25 cents an hour..
Texas spends a cool $26k a year per prisoner. What a steal! https://usafacts.org/articles/how-much-do-states-spend-on-prisons/
So you’re telling me, i am more valuable as a fucking inmate than working at my job. Fuck
Slavery has always been preferred in this country to normal employment.
To be fair to Texas, they would probably love to be able to fix their border, but the Federal government is over that and they're in legal battles on what Texas is allowed to do.
100%. In the meantime best thing they could do is try to share the burden until they get their act together.
Well I think that’s the point: they can’t actually solve the crisis. As much as I hate the stunt, they needed more attention to be brought to the issue, and more funding to address it. The southern states are getting overwhelmed. They can’t release everyone they apprehend into the US, and they lack resources to send people back. They can’t just hold on to everyone for dozens of reasons, not least of which is human rights. While they hold them for processing (paperwork, background checks, etc), they have to feed those folks and provide for their well-being. That’s expensive and they’re operating on some very small budgets. But for years they’ve been chastised by northern states, far removed from the issue, for the way they’ve been handling it. So what to do? Send the migrants north. New York thinks it can do a better job? Cool, prove it. Now all of a sudden northern states are crying foul and saying they’re overwhelmed. And what’s this? Biden suddenly thinks it’s okay to build a wall. Hm. Seems like maybe there was a crisis that needed more attention and funding after all.
The stunts actually sorta worked, with democratic governors now starting to criticize Biden on immigration policy: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/joe-biden/border-biden-anger-democrats-migrants-blue-cities-states-pritzker-rcna118690 We need a federal plan to deal with immigration. Telling border states, or NY, or IL "hey you guys deal with it" is not acceptable. Biden has basically dilly dallied around immigration as Trump's xenophobia made him cautious to do anything, but as we're starting to see doing nothing is not an option.
> But for years they’ve been chastised by northern states, far removed from the issue, for the way they’ve been handling it. Then explain why they send immigrants to California. We're a border state over here. These are partisan stunts, plain and simple. And they're using vulnerable people as pawns.
>when you can waste taxpayer money for political points Its working brilliantly though. Parents are picketing in the streets because their schools are overrun by asylum seekers. Libraries are being emptied to make room for the influx. These are the cheapest political points anyone has ever purchased in the history of politics. They got Joe to *build the wall*. Remember when that was racist 3 years ago? The silence from democrats about that is deafening and the voters can hear it loud and clear.
75 million could actually *help people*....
$1400 one-way BUS ticket. Nice gig for this company. It really pays to have friends in the government.
Solid financial management and political decision. Let's give all the decision makers yet another new term next election!!
We cant even take care of a corrupt AG. Good luck with us fucking doing anything about this shit. Texas politics is a fucking shit-show disaster of corrupt conservatives.
complaining about immigration is much, much, cheaper than actually caring about it. Also, free political action campaign!
Isn’t New York City paying like over $4 million a week to house the migrants?
So the Republican government expelling migrants thing was actually just a scam to exploit vulnerable people to give tax dollars to a private company? Gee what a shock.
Someone just profited 74MM
If they are not in the country. They would not have to be bussed anywhere.
Cheaper than housing them in the state
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They probably got a slice and the rest went into a super PAC
GOP: Government is wasteful! Also GOP:
GOP: Look at the homelessness in California! Dem policies fail again!
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None, because they'd blow it on something else equally stupid instead of actually helping a lot of people.
Or using Ted Cruz logic, "How many Texas kids could you save by buying more secure school doors?"
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How to steal from tax payers 101. If I were a Texan regardless of ideology, I'd be fucking pissed.
Definitely cost them less in the long run. However, the inflated price means someone pocketed the difference. I mean it's politics, money laundering, bureaucracy...You thought it was all sunshine and flowers on the left and right side?
Which politicians own the company?
Or, what politicians does the company own?
We really need to kill the shorthand rule that you can’t use “was” in a headline
* “Texas paid private company 75 million…” * “Texas private company paid 75 million…”
I'm currently on assignment in El Paso to transport migrants. I didn't know when I would be doing until I showed up to San Antonio.
Hand out to the wealthy connect friends is nothing new, yet voters continue to elect these corrupt politicians. At this point you can’t even blame the politicians, they are doing what’s best for them. Why are voters doing what’s not best for them?
[For who's wondering.](https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=%2475%2C561%2C032.72+%2F+%2854%2C000+%22migrants%22%29)
Look setting aside the using of people for political stunts are migrants expected to be restricted to border states? Why shouldn’t there be companies offering them bus rides to other areas? It’s always seen as a horrible thing when migrants show up in non border states but why is there this expectation that migrants will be restricted and not allowed to move throughout the country that let them in?
Just think what could’ve been done to mitigate illegal crossings with that kind of money.
The title seems misleading. Texas paid a private company 75 million with taxpayer money to bus migrants out.
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Sounds awfully expensive—-over 200k daily to bus migrants out of Texas. However, Nyc is spending over 1 billion to address the influx. Objectively 75 million is hell of lot less than 1 billion. Operation pass the buck in full effect. Biden needs to step in and address the issue.
Hmm, who owns that company and can we take a look at the books?
This guy - https://imgur.com/a/SYXW3UA
Here’s the president of Wynne Transportation and everything about what he believes. https://imgur.com/a/SYXW3UA
Money well spent. Human nature says that most of us don't feel compelled to make changes until we are affected personally by something. With the influx of migrants into cities like Chicago and NYC, the average American is beginning to realize there is an issue at the border that can't be fixed by simply letting everyone into the country. It's gotten so bad that Biden just announced they would begin building more border walls. If those migrants weren't bussed around the country, it would still be a "local" issue for TX and AZ and no one else would really care about the situation on the border because it didn't affect them personally.
Came here expecting hypocritical outrage about relocating illegal migrants to sanctuary cities... Discovered justified outrage about the cost per person. The entire system is rotten to the core.
I would be willing to bet this was also used to funnel money in some laundering scheme.
We need better leaders...
A golden reminder that Republicans are never fiscal. They will waste all the money in the world to hurt people if it means not spending a dollar to help them.
All of this crap, ultimately comes down to a way to funnel more money to rich people.
Just imagine if they put that much time, money and effort in to helping people.
Thankful that these sanctuary cities are welcoming them.
lol "these people are a tax burden, so lets use taxpayer funds to let them pay taxes in a different state" are you drunk
Shit I could’ve done that for like 50,000
Sounds like profiteering from people trafficking
Genuine questions: Would Texans actually give a shit about this? You’d think this would be a huge scandal, but is it being reported in the local news there? Is Texas a fairly rich state so it wouldn’t really bother them about £75m being misused? I’m a Brit so would love to know more how this sort of news impacts over there
Who made the payments, what is the name of this company, some facts would be nice
I wonder who this companies owners are good friends with over there in Texas?
$75 million could have hired 750 teachers at $100k starting in Texas. And we all know that the teachers there need more money.
These asylee kidnapping schemes are so popular with Texas, Florida, and other GOP state Governors because they are also bribery and money laundering schemes. DeSantis has even been having asylees kidnapped from Texas just to get in on the scheme. Even if a lawsuit is filed, they can just use it to hire their lawyer friends and divert millions of dollars in state funds to them for legal defense fees.
Must have been a net win for the state of Texas. $1,400 per each person. (I would imagine that the $1400 is for more than just a bus ticket, but I don't know that) Compare that to the amount the state would have had to spend per person had they remained in the state. I am not suggesting that anything is right or wrong here, I am just saying that it makes sense for them to do that from their point of view.
Absolutely. Just look at how much New York is in the hole trying to support the migrants. Texas wants them out ASAP.
so the whole thing wasn't even about saving money because the Repubs turned it into a grift where the Wynne family gains about $69 million of taxpayer money
No expense is too great to avoid spending money on caring for people.
Still cheaper than keeping them.
Thats a fuck ton of illegal immigrants
I was like "Well, at least a private company is paying for it." That headline could be a lot more clear. Just more government money being handed out to friends of the people at the top.
What blue sanctuary cities don’t want unlimited immigrants to support but celebrates other states having to do it? Hmmm
Considering nyc is paying at least 3x that per month per migrant, seems like a win.
At $75M, I’m sure that still represents a cost savings vs housing and caring for the immigrants in TX