The community of Pilot Point’s effort to increase local government transparency was blocked on March 27, 2025, after a 6-1 City Council vote rejected a proposal from Mayor Elisa Beasley to join the Texas Government Accountability Association (TGAA).
Beasley, the lone supporter, was advocating for a $500-per-year Interlocal Agreement (ILA) that would introduce third-party oversight, fraud audits, and citizen-enforced ethics provisions.
The rejection followed an intense week of controversy, marked largely by vocal anti-transparency advocacy from The Post-Signal, the local newspaper owned by Daniel and Rosemary Thatcher, which has published a series of articles opposing rigorous accountability and ethics measures. Council Member Andrew Ambrosio, whose wife freelances for The Post-Signal, led the charge against the agreement.
In a presentation to the council, TGAA representative Anthony Wilder outlined the proposal, which included conflict-of-interest disclosures, gift bans, vendor transparency, and live-streamed public meetings, as outlined in Policy Sections 1.2–1.4. The initiative also allowed for public lawsuits against those who violated the law.
However, The Post-Signal article from March 20 had already framed TGAA negatively, prompting three residents—two from Pilot Point and one from Kennedale, TX—to speak against the proposal during public comment, echoing many of the article’s talking points.
Following Wilder’s presentation, several council members posed pointed questions that closely mirrored criticisms found in the earlier article. Wilder later sent an email to The Post-Signal on April 4, correcting inaccuracies and accusing the paper of misrepresenting key facts made in a second article published on the same day. Most notably, it claims that Matt Armstrong had presented in Odessa in August 2023. In reality, Wilder’s involvement began after Aaron Harris’ presentation on February 13, 2024, with Wilder securing unanimous approval on April 23, 2024.
Critics argue this misreporting reflects a broader effort to preserve the status quo.
The six council members who voted against the proposal—Ambrosio, Chad Major, Ray Dane, and three others—have frequently been associated with what residents describe as the town’s long-standing political establishment. The TGAA proposal, which also included a two-year exit clause, was seen as a direct challenge to existing practices.
Wilder justifies the TGAA as a cost-effective and efficient accountability tool, highlighting its unanimous support in Odessa. However, The Post-Signal’s article argues that regular auditing under the TGAA is overly costly for small towns. In reality, basic audit practices are already mandated by Texas law, and for a town like Pilot Point with fewer than 5,000 residents, the annual cost for third party accountability would only be approximately $500, according to sources.
As the city prepares for its May 3 election, Beasley and her reform-oriented allies are using the vote as a rallying point. With Pilot Point projected to grow to 70,000 residents, they argue that now is the time to put transparency measures in place. Whether voters respond by demanding change—or are influenced by the Thatcher’s and the establishment – remains to be seen.
Mayor Beasley said at the meeting that she brought the TGAA to the council because it’s important to have “accountability to someone else.” She continued by claiming, “We don’t even follow a lot of our own rules … we just came out with this governance committee … the MDD has its own governance, and one of the things it says is if you miss three meetings in a row, then you’re automatically taken off the board. Well, I know for a fact there are members on the dais who have missed three meetings in a row, and they are still on the dais.”
The rejection of the TGAA proposal seems less a matter of mere policy divergence and more a calculated maneuver by established interests. Amid claims of media bias, political coordination, and efforts to stifle reform, the May 3 election may prove pivotal in deciding whether Pilot Point advances toward greater transparency or remains anchored in its less accountable history.