Dennis Marlin

It's payback time now in NE Tarrant

I have decided that my favorite area politician is Colleyville Councilman Dennis Marlin. He is a columnist's dream because, without much effort, he makes other politicians look good.

When he ran for office last year, he was late paying his property taxes and filing his campaign finance reports.

He has been a business partner of developer and behind-the-scenes political boss Raman Chandler, who lost his own council race two years ago. Chandler was Marlin's chief financial contributor.

Marlin didn't answer questions from the League of Women Voters because he said the group has its own agenda. Also, Marlin's campaign Web site misspelled Colleyville as "Collyville."

How could this guy win?

Easy. He ran against incumbent Nelson Thibodeaux, never a favorite to win any Mr. Congeniality an award.

I'll return to Thibodeaux in a moment. Marlin likes to brag at public meetings and in letters to voters that he has a strong financial background (he is a municipal and corporate bond specialist). He once wrote that he had saved the city from "potential financial disaster."

Maybe he can save the city, but what about saving himself?

Last week, the Colleyville-based LocalNewsOnly.com Web site reported that Marlin has failed to pay his property taxes.

He is not the only tax-delinquent area politician, but what matters here is that he is in violation of the Colleyville city charter, which prohibits council members from being "indebted to the city."

Marlin owes $2,071 in city property taxes, part of a larger $14,904 county and school tax bill that went delinquent Feb. 1. The taxes are owed by Marlin and his side business, Marmac Custom Homes.

"Yes, I am late on my taxes," Marlin told me this week. "They will be taken care of as soon as possible."

I consider Marlin's punishment for not paying his taxes to be cruel and unusual.

Not only are council members threatening to remove him at the June 19 meeting if he does not pay up (Marlin says he will), but Marlin's snitch is none other than his old nemesis, Mr. Un-Congeniality.

Thibodeaux is the owner of the Web site that revealed Marlin's tax lapse.

Talk about your payback. The former councilman's scoop also meant that he could quote himself in his own story.

So Thibodeaux quoted himself saying, "If more citizens followed Mr. Marlin's example, we will most certainly have a difficult time paying off the millions in debt that he voted for."

Ouch.