September 28, 2006-
WEEKS DEFEATS ADELSTEIN IN BID FOR PRESIDENT.
Landslide vote places Weeks first in race for TPSA leadership.
By a vote of approximately 165 to 55, Carl Weeks defeated Larry Adelstein for president of the
Texas Process Servers Association. The large majority of votes were submitted by mail-in
ballot and most likely decided the election before the conference held over the weekend.
Only about one half of TPSA members voted which is representative of less than 10% of the
industry. The association (and the industry) will now wait to see if Weeks and former TPSA
president, Lee Russell, will keep their promises. According to Weeks, fees for "operational
support" of the Process Service Review Board will be $50.00 to $75.00 per year. Russell
applauds the current certification program and claims we couldn't have a better deal if it had
been legislated. However, there was little discussion about the bill that will be written to
support the request for funds from the legislature. In fact, Lee Russell stuck to his guns by
claiming that no bill has been written. He even challenged conference attendees to provide
proof that a bill even exists. In Russell's message to the conference he claims, "I can assure
you at this moment, there are no bills coming forward, and only if something comes up that
would require such a move will this board or the next one act to introduce legislation."
Mr. Russell is playing a word game; while they may not "introduce" a bill, they will endorse it.
Further, something has already come up that requires that a bill be filed; the request for
funding. Weeks before the TPSA conference, Carl Reynolds of the Supreme Court's Office of
Court Administration indicated that a bill will be filed. While Russell can claim that he himself
did not write the bill, legislation will be created by the same people who wrote SB 165 and will
be fully endorsed by TPSA leaders. Mr. Reynolds is on the Supreme Court's Judicial Council
that made the legislative appropriations request for the funding referred to by Mr. Weeks. The
sponsors of SB 165 at the last legislative session, Senator Wentworth and Representative
Hartnett sit on this council.
I will make my own assurances. Despite what Mr. Russell says and even though a bill has not
been made public, a bill is being planned and will be written (if it hasn't already). It will be very
similar to SB 165. Another attempt will be made to license the industry except this time they will
call it "certification" and the industry will be kept under the Supreme Court instead of being
placed under the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. There is no historical
example of funds of this nature being requested without rules and regulations to go along with
it. Weeks has already proposed major changes to the current program that will make
certification more like the licensing bill Russell claims he is glad was defeated. Only time will
tell, but, this author is convinced that the pro-licensing group, despite what they say, is not
happy with the current certification program and has plans to achieve what they didn't with SB
165 at the last legislative session.
The goal of Texas Process Watch as stated at the top of the home page is to protect the current
certification program. I just wish the TPSA leaders would, for once, be completely forthcoming
about their intentions. They have not given up on their goal of full blown regulation for an
industry that is happy with things the way they are. They have acted so secretively because
they know the large majority of the industry just wants to be left alone until renewal time. They
know changing the renewal and/or training to a yearly requirement is not a popular issue. They
are secretive because they are not interested in what the industry wants. They are only
interested in what they think is best for the industry. This is why members are never polled on
issues that directly affect them. I would much rather their attempts to destroy certification be
headed off at the pass than to be able to look back and say "I told you so" a some later date.
Once a bill is made law, it will be nearly impossible to repair the damage. Texas Process Watch
will continue to monitor the situation and work to keep the industry informed.
Despite a good campaign, Alfie Phillips was also defeated by Roger Harman for membership
director. Harman was not very clear on his plans as the new director. Let's just hope he can
turn the tide and get the membership totals back up.
Story by:
Tod E. Pendergrass
Director, Texas Process Watch