I’ve seen a lot of ethics violations over the last 20 years. This one ranks right up there with the best…worst. If you want to read another one of the worst, read about Secretary of State Jane Nelson.
Republicans have lost their “law and order” card. This is just plain sick. Taylor Goldenstein of the Houston Chronicle wrote a couple of articles about former Representative Chris Paddie. He was fined $105,000 by the Texas Ethics Commission for violating the State’s revolving door law. He also created a charity the day he announced his intent not to seek reelection and transferred $450,000 of his donors money to his own charity. He is the Chair of the charity and his son is the Vice Chair.
Lucky for Paddie the Texas Attorney General will not enforce the $105,000 fine and the Ethics Commission has no authority to do so. Like other republicans who have violated the ethics laws in Texas he is just going to ignore the fine. There is no record of the fine or the investigation of Paddie on the Ethics website. There was a formal complaint filed against him but if you have money you can have this complaint and resolution hidden from the public.
After leaving office an elected official can transfer their campaign cash to other candidates, the State, or charities but to create a charity under his own name is an incredible loophole that Texas Republicans will never close. His family can now benefit from the donations his supporters gave him.
According to the article he refunded about $30,000 to donors. I think I’ll look at this at a later time.
It’s City Councilman Joseph Lowry. If you had planned to attend the hearing you might want to follow this blog for future updates.
The civil trial for case # 24-CV-2218 | Walter Burt, Et Al vs. Joseph Lowry has been postponed. Originally scheduled for Oct the jury trial has been moved to a future date. This case is between the plaintiffs Walter Burt, Burt IV Construction LLC, Kimberley Yancy, CJ Beard, Jim Ross and the defendant Joseph Lowry. The documents are difficult to understand but it seems like this case is about harassment by Lowry. What a surprise.
Maybe this delay has something to do with Lowry’s deposition. According to a document filed with the court Lowry was deposed on July 31, 2025. He was deposed by the plaintiff’s attorney for 51 minutes and Lowry’s attorney for 5 minutes. Maybe that deposition will become public record. I’m sure it would be very interesting. You can read the entire document here.
WTF is going on in Galveston County? You have Sheriff Jimmy Fullen lied about his police record and may have his law enforcement license revoked in November. La Marque City Councilman Joseph Lowry is making baseless allegations of fraud and illegal activity while having been charged and convicted with possession of meth. And now former Texas City Commissioner, Dee Ann Haney, is going to jail for killing two people while intoxicated.
But, she was convicted in 2017 and sentenced to 10 years in jail. This week she was caught under the influence again and the judge revoked her probation sending her to jail to complete her 10 year sentence. 8 f***ing years later after killing two people.
What is disturbing is that she received only probation for killing two people. Just probation. So forgive me if I laugh when Galveston County elected officials talk about law and order. GFY.
FILE PHOTO: ear gas is released into a crowd of protesters, with one wielding a Confederate battle flag that reads “Come and Take It,” during clashes with Capitol police at a rally to contest the certification of the 2020 U.S. presidential election results by the U.S. Congress, at the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, U.S, January 6, 2021. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
Well, actually in this case he did and for good reason. The Houston Chronicle posted an article concerning Cy Fair ISD. It’s detailed, long and a good read. Turns out the so called “Conservatives” running for reelection are fighting each other over the endorsement from the Harris County Republican Party. Who is more MAGAt? Who will bring Bowen’s chaos into the district? Who will attack the gay community, Hispanics, and non-christians while claiming to be a christian?
How does Bowen fit into this chaos? Bowen was referenced late in the article “The chair of the local government committee, Scott Bowen, did not respond to a request for comment.” Bowen not only was responsible for the chaos in CCISD he was responsible for recruiting candidates to run for school boards across the county. In CCISD he recruited some of the most unqualified candidates to ever run for the board. Misty Dawson, Christine Parizo, Pete Lauzon, and Joe Machol. All were gawd awful candidates and all lost. It will be interesting to see who funded the CFISD trustees.
Bowen not only recruited these horrible candidates he found campaign money for them from the two Texas Billionaires who funded Defend Texas Liberty. This group was dissolved after their meeting with a known white supremacist was uncovered by the Texas Tribune. Bowen still associates with these individuals.
Bowen is now running for State Representative so he can further the decline of public schools in Texas. Well at least his gdamn signs are being removed by the City of Houston.
Arrest. On April 20, 2005 Lowry was pulled over for speeding. He was arrested for obstruction claiming his name was “Jonathon Troy Lowry”. He had outstanding warrants for his arrest. His vehicle was searched. The officers found methamphetamine, blister packs of cold pills, a 12 gauge shotgun, and other items. Lowry had a prior 1997 conviction for Theft in the First Degree. You can read the entire Probable Cause statement here.
Plea Deal On March 3, 2006, according to the Sentencing Document Lowry pled guilty to the crime of possession. Lowry stated in his own words “On 04/20/05 did knowingly possess pseudoephedrine with the intent to provide the same to a cook who would manufacture methamphetamine.” You can read the plea deal here.
Sentencing On March 30, 2006 Lowry was sentenced to 29.75 months. It is unclear to me what the sentencing means concerning DOSA (Drug Offender Sentencing Alternative) and time served. You can read the entire sentencing document here and determine it for yourself.
Drug Evaluation On August 25, 2009 Lowry came into the office for a drug evaluation and possible treatment program. You can read the entire document here. There are details about his life but in short the evaluator did not recommend any treatment.
Conviction Vacated 15 years later as with his previous conviction in Superior Court of Washington for King County, case # 05-1-06568-7 Lowry petitioned the court to vacate his 2nd drug conviction based upon the Washington Supreme Court case State v. Blake. You can read the entire document here.
Applying for City Council. A few years later Lowry ran for La Marque city council. On his application he checked the box “I have not been finally convicted for a felony”. Whether checking that box instead of the box that states he was convicted but the conviction was vacated, makes him ineligible to run is for someone with legal experience and not a two bit blogger or an Undercover Investigative Journalist.
In Conclusion. So there you have it. Arrested. Charged. Convicted. Served time. Vacated. I hope this clears up this situation concerning his 2nd drug conviction.
Political sign wars are petty. Signs don’t win elections. Don’t engage in sign wars. It is a waste of time, but….. FFS Scott, it’s 5 months out!
Off of his embarrassing defeat for CCISD Trustee, Scott Bowen has filed to run for State Representative. The republican primary is March 3, 2026. Five months out Bowen has decided to litter the district with his 4×8 signs, most if not all, are in violation of city ordinances.
A google search for “political yard signs rules texas” states signs cannot be place prior to 90 days before an election or on the right of way. Unfortunately Texas has no way to enforce this. The Texas Ethics Commission will not accept complaints about signs and they lack any enforcement of the law. Many cities have adopted ordinances concerning political signs. They do have enforcement abilities but again they have better things to do with their time. The City of Houston has an ordinance with a 90 day limit as well as right of way restrictions. City of Webster has an ordinance with a 45 day limit. I am sure Friendswood, El Lago, Nassau Bay, Taylor Lake Village, and Seabrook have similar ordinances.
If you want to report a sign in violation of the Houston Sign Ordinance, call 311 and provide the location, who the sign belongs to and why it violates the ordinance. In Webster call (281) 332-1826 with the same information.
This isn’t rocket science folks. We don’t want to look at political signs on the right of way for a full 5 months before the election. Not only is it against city and state ordinances it is just disrespectful. Bowen is the only candidate violating these rules. It’s as if he is above the law.
Maybe voters in the republican primary should tell Bowen “If you can’t follow the laws, you shouldn’t be making the laws.” BTW Bowen is being challenged in the primary by an excellent candidate, Bob Mitchell.
Give me liberty or give me meth! — Frank Gallagher, Shameless
There’s a lot of opinions and questions about the felony conviction of La Marque City Councilman Joseph Lowry for possession of methamphetamine and whether he was eligible to run for office. I dug into the court records which was not easy. Here is what I found. The legal documentation can be found at the Superior Court of Washington for King County website, case # 05-1-06568-7.
TheArrest. On 9/29/2004 Lowry, age 25, was stopped for a traffic violation in Auburn Washington. After determining his identity the police found he had an outstanding warrant. He was arrested and his car searched. The search found a baggy of methamphetamine (meth), a scale, cold medications used for the production of meth, and a glass pipe with residue. You can read the entire document filed in the Superior Court of Washington for King County case 05-C-06568-7 KNT here.
Bail. The State requested a bail of $10,000 based upon his criminal history of theft in 1997, 1998 drugs possession, 1998 Harassment, 2004 Assault and resisting arrest, a pending telephone harassment, and an outstanding warrant for a racing charge.
Guilty Plea. On 9/6/2005 Lowry plead guilty to one count of possession of methamphetamine. You can read the entire plea here. Lowry stated in his own words “On September 24, 2004, I did unlawfully and feloniously possess the residue of methamphetamine, a controlled substance, located on the scales found in my car in King County Washington.”
Sentencing. Lowry was sentenced to 97 days in jail with time served. (I assume that means he was in jail for 97 days) He had to complete 12 months of community custody. You can view the sentencing document here.
Vacating the conviction. 16 years later the Washington State Supreme Court in State v. Blake, found the state’s felony drug possession statute unconstitutional. Based upon this ruling Lowry petitioned the court to vacate his conviction. According to google:
Vacating a conviction is a legal process where a court withdraws or annuls a past guilty plea or judgment, effectively making the conviction void. This is achieved by filing a motion with the court, arguing reasons such as newly discovered evidence of innocence or constitutional violations during the original trial. If successful, you are released from the penalties of the offense and can legally state you were not convicted of the crime, though this does not erase the fact you were initially charged. The specific legal grounds and procedures vary significantly by jurisdiction, so consulting with a qualified attorney is crucial for pursuing this type of post-conviction relief in Texas.
Applying for City Council. A few years later Lowry ran for La Marque city council. On his application he checked the box “I have not been finally convicted for a felony”. Whether checking that box instead of the box that states he was convicted but the conviction was vacated, makes him ineligible to run is for someone with legal experience and not a two bit blogger or an Undercover Investigative Journalist.
In Conclusion. So there you have it. Arrested. Charged. Convicted. Served time. Vacated. I hope this clears up this situation.
I am not a reddit user. I’ve heard about it but nothing more. But I was forward an interesting post titled “Scott Bowen-unflushable turd“. Needless to say it piqued my interest and I visited the site. OH MY GAUD! The original posting has been removed by the moderators but the comments about Scott are still there and they are NOT good. Some are comical, most are not flattering and they are coming from people who know him! But don’t believe me, you can read them yourself here.
Prior to the CCISD election I wrote “Bowen: A Thread to CCISD Education” documenting his troubling associations with extremist organizations, his support for school vouchers, his billionaire buddies donations, and the chaos he brought to CCISD. Thanks to the voters Bowen was defeated and CCISD is much better for it. Bowen is now running for State Representative against a great conservative, Bob Mitchell, former President of the Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership. Hopefully conservatives throughout the district will vote for the conservative in the primary and put Bowen to rest.
But, back to the Reddit post. Again, don’t believe me, go read the comments. These are coming from inside Bowen’s house, people who know him. Here are some examples:
The Houston Chronicle wrote an excellent article “Who are Houston’s power brokers?” identifying the millionaires who donated more than $350M over the last 25 years. It is worth a read. The article has a number of interactive charts showing who donated, how much, and where the money went to but they failed to mentioned what party they belong to. So here is is.
The Chronicle identified 25 millionaires who gave a total of over $337 Million. Of that amount $36 Million was donated by Democrats, just over 10%. Republicans gave about 90% for a total of $301 Million. So no, both sides don’t do it. In Houston Democrats have been capable of being competitive in local races even though being grossly outspent over and over again. (Case in point Mealer vs Hidalgo for Harris County Judge)
Missing in this group is Mattress MAGAt Mac who gave just under $500,000 in state donations, not including any county or federal donations. Here are the totals:
Leave it to City Council Member Joseph Lowry. Again.
If you haven’t been keeping up to date with the fiscal situation in La Marque you are missing an unhinged side show orchestrated by Lowry. Last night the Mayor had enough of Lowry’s baseless claims of illegal activity by the Mayor and other Council Members and called him out for his continued spreading of lies. Instead of finding solutions to a very serious problem, Lowry continued his baseless allegations including accusing the Mayor of accepting bribes by developers, a relatively new allegation. As the Mayor said, the only one who is claiming this illegal activity is Lowry, not the police, not the DA, not the Texas Rangers. It is all baseless, made up, allegations.
According to the rules of the Council the Mayor can issue 3 warnings to a Council Member and then have them removed to a nearby room to participate electronically. You can watch as a police officer looms over Lowry as the Mayor verifies the process after giving 2 warnings. Lowry eventually shut his pie hole and the meeting continued.
You can watch the exchange below. It is about 2 minutes long. Kudos to the Council for keeping their cool.
Posted by johncoby 
Bay Area Houston 