By

Harvella Jones

Texas. Yes, it is true. I have the audacity to bring into the open what has been in the dark for many years. Bob Perry,a wealthy home builder here in Texas,who has the power to uplift anything Republican and destroy anything Democratic,also appears to have that same power to destroy good homeowner bills and has done a thorough job of doing just that by making last-minute phone calls to legislators to do so. (Bob Perry is not related to Governor Rick Perry.)

Being a co-instigator (with my husband Johnnie) of an advocate movement that started back in 1990,I personally take offense to anyone having that kind of power as our democratic process should not be motivated, operated and compromised by who has the most money but in what is legal and Constitutionally correct. Our forefathers did not create our system for the rich to overpower the poor and control the law based on what is offensive to the rich’s small empire.

While Perry is known to be reclusive, he doesn’t seem to mind picking up the phone and placing crucial phone calls to stop homeowners from getting oversight on their communities’ property homeowner associations.

Now at least the behind-the-scene phone calls by Bob Perry is out in the open as one would have to wonder until now, why year after year after year, no good bills were ever passed for homeowners that didn’t smell like tainted fish.This legislative session an overwhelming amount of good bills were filed and victory was in sight at last until I personally witnessed confirmation of what I had been told last session in regard to Bob Perry shutting down good bills for homeowners. Is there something wrong with developers and builders just building our homes, getting paid for their labor and product and just leaving the community 100%? Is it necessary for them to leave their lingering effects in the form of a legacy of control behind for homeowners to become enmeshed for the life-time of the home ownership?

This shared ownership crap is just a pile of elephant dung and it is time for this form of homeowner dictatorship to be cast to the fore winds. Either build our homes and go or sell them out in the open as time-shares if developers and builders want to continue to control the use of the land after they have sold the property. The associations they have created and forced us into as “mandatory” are more like law enforcement and revenue pumping services for the stakeholders as opposed to the associations being formed to collect and pay for “shared” common property. Not only do these associations have more power such as foreclosure and fining rights than the owners but there seems to be no end in sight.The balance of control is 100% in the favor of stakeholders with the owners paying all the bills being treated more and more like a third-world country with no democratic rights or choices at all.

Bob Perry’s ability and willingness to donate money to organizations and individuals that support his platform is one thing but placing phone calls to kill legislative bills that will benefit homeowners is another thing and is not part of the bill-making process.No one has the right to do that, not even Bob Perry. After all, he is merely an individual who created a commercial product. His right to justice should not be any greater than anyone else’s. Is this what democracy has degenerated into in America?—“the land of the free and the home of the brave”? Is this how the rich stay and get richer and the poor stay and get poorer? Can the phone call of a rich man be more powerful than the testimony of advocates at legally setup hearings by legislators trying to do their job? The answers to these questions are obviously yes.

What Perry and so many rich people fail to realize is their income is derived from a source just like everyone else’s’ income and that it is only permitted by God. In this case, Bob Perry’s income is derived from the homes he builds. A gift from God but one he has chosen to use in a disrespectful manner.According to the Houston Chronicle, Perry Homes, the company Perry founded more than four (4) decades ago, was the third-largest homebuilder in the Houston area in 2009.Perry has chosen to spend his twilight years buying political power at a time when most people his age of 77 are wondering if their Medicare is going to be shut down. It appears he had a bit of a run in with a couple regarding a defective home he built that highlighted how interesting the road to justice can be when you are up against power and money but if persistent and honest, how you can win in the end.http://homeownersoftexas.org/03-2 8-09-NPR-Did-Houston-Builder-Bob-Perry-Clout-Trap- Couple-In-Dream-Home-.html

Since his homes are custom-built homes, it is safe to say, they are built in master-planned communities with deed restrictions modified by developers/builders for property owner associations that are resistant to any type of oversight and public awareness to what really happens to your property rights when you purchase a home in a master-planned community. There is no real over-sight and Bob Perry along with other stakeholders through their powerful and well funded advocate group TCAA, the acronym for Texas Community Association Advocates, have managed to hold back real oversight on these associations.

It is extremely frustrating, insulting and sickening to go back and forth to Austin to testify for or against legislative bills for homeowners when at the end of the process, Bob Perry just has to pick up the phone and make a call from a secret location that will shut down justice and he is so powerful, legislators know beforehand that any type of bill that in any way infringe upon the builders’ and developers’ power in these communities will not go anywhere. The system was not set up to work this way but obviously, this is the way it actually works.What a power boost that must be for Perry to have the ability to do that—shut down the legislative process we all so dearly depend upon.

Bob Perry does not appear to be shy about donating mainly to anything Republican to promote the agenda of Republicans. This, of course, is his prerogative. What I have problems with though is his interference with the legislative process as this is not supposed to be part of the legislative process in making or defeating a bill. Donating is one thing but actually inserting yourself into the legislative process in this manner is another thing. What a shame there is no criminal punishment for such interference—no fine—no jail time.However, there is punishment for it in other ways, as it is extremely arrogant to think that you as one individual have the power to continue to sabotage the legislative process without some kind of penalty.

Since the income of Perry is derived from selling homes, the punishment has to be from restricting the source of this income. Using these God giving funds to restrict and harm the poor (in comparison to his income) must stop.The best way to do that is to boycott the product. There are other homes out there that can be purchased. Much better homes. Why should owners finance a builder that is sabotaging legislative bills they would and could benefit from? Once the income dries up, the power leaves.This being mainly a money driven society and not a God driven society, with a green light instead of a white light, this will minimize the intrusion on our legislative system by bias outside-the-box sources. Another option homeowners have along with a boycott of the Bob Perry Homes are lawsuits challenging the Inwood vs. Harris 1987 case that allowed developers/builders more lasting control in our communities. If we do not resolve these abuse issues legislatively, we will resolve them judicially—but they will be resolved to the satisfaction of the homeowners and voters in this state.

It is always worth noting that power will always be in the hands of the one who is “buying” the product and not in the hands of the one “producing” it and while justice temporarily resides in the hands of the wealthy, it will be removed by God that rules over ALL of us.This is something that the rich eventually learn in the end.

Har vellajones1234@sbcglobal.net

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