UPDATE: Who’s funding the Harris County Democratic Endorsed?

March 11, 2024

You will be surprised.

Last month a group called Harris County Democratic Endorsed was sending texts with their endorsements. It looks as if it was coming from the Harris County Democratic Party. Their logo is very similar to HCDP as is their website which is hosted on WordPress. (rookies) Their endorsement is paid for by Community Justice PAC a PAC created late last year.

Here is what I found back in February:

They raised $50,000 from two individuals/entities, spent over $13,000, and has over $36,000 COH. Joshua Lee donated $25,000 and the law firm Push & Nguyen donated $25,000. Of the $13,000 $7626 was paid to Christian Alexander with a PO Box for JC National for consulting expense and $5000 to John Humphries with a PO Box for Loud Inc for a reimbursement for the the JRR Dinner.

Since then they have filed 3 reports raising $136,000 with $125,000 coming from 4 individuals/organizations including ERIC DICK for $25,000. Yes, that Eric Dick, the republican on Harris County Department of Education who has not paid his $40,000 fine by the Texas Ethics Commission. All of these top donors are associated with law firms, Dick, Lowenberg, Push & Nguyen, and Spagnoletti. Lee works for Armstrong Lee & Baker.

Community Justice spent $60,800 with $40,000 spent on “CONSULT”. One of the candidates Community Justice supported is Erica Hughes who defeated long standing Democratic Judge Mike Engelhart. I have to wonder if these law firms had any cases in front of Judge Engelhart. Here are the top donors

Dick ,Eric25,000.00
Lee ,Joshua25,000.00
Lowenberg Law Firm25,000.00
Push & Nguyen Injury Lawyers25,000.00
Spagnoletti Law Firm25,000.00
Ramji ,Adam5,000.00

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Posted by johncoby

Greg Abbott calls for consequences for Uvalde law enforcement

March 10, 2024

After a scathing report from the Department of Justice concerning the mass shooting at Ross Elementary Texas Governor Greg Abbott has called for swift consequences for all involved law enforcement. “21 crime victims in Uvalde never even had their crime investigated. That includes 19 young children ,” Abbott wrote on X on Thursday. “The state must impose consequences for this neglect & provide solutions to prevent acts like this that allow criminals to get easy access to military firearms.”

The response by local law enforcement was swift. “We were confronted by an 18 year old with a military style weapon one that Abbott provided easy access to. Maybe Abbott ought to shut his goddamn mouth, get off his lazy ass, and get these damn weapons off the street. “

What a rotten crippled bastard. Welcome to Satire Sunday.

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Posted by johncoby

Who funded Takasha Francis against Judge Robert Schaffer?

March 8, 2024

We need to have a conversation about this.

Unlike Erica Hughes who ran against an excellent Democratic Judge, Takasha Francis actually has excellent experience for the job but it still make me ask “Why in the hell would anyone recruit and finance someone to challenge a great Democratic Judge who has served the Courts and the County honorably?”.

According to the Texas Ethics Commission Francis raised $24,500 including $5600 for legal services. She spent $18,018 with $5591 for Advertising, $1502 for Poll Workers and $3250 for fees, food, and fundraising.

As with the others I wonder who recruited her and financed her campaign. She won 55/45 against a very successful Democratic Judge. Surely there were other judges that needed to be challenged. Judge Schaffer was not one of those.

There needs to be a conversation about this. We lost a great Judge and we lost.

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Posted by johncoby

Who funded Amber Boyd-Cora against Judge Peter Kelly?

March 7, 2024

This race is more disturbing than Who funded Erica Hughes against Judge Mike Engelhart.

Unlike Erica Hughes Judge Elect Boyd-Cora has little if any applicable experience for the 1st District Court of Appeals and yet she won. By a lot, 60-40. Don’t take my word for it. Go look at her list of experience posted on her website. (I’ll save you the time) Her site has a email that bounces and her phone number is listed as (123)456-7890 and it has nothing listed about her experience beside generic statements like:

As a judge, Amber vows to be a voice for the people, ensuring her decisions reflect the community’s needs and values. 

The Houston Chronicle summed up their endorsement of Kelly:

Challenger Amber Boyd-Cora, 43, has no experience in courts of appeal, while the incumbent, Peter Kelly, 60, was an appellate specialist before winning this place in 2018. It’s an easy call. 

So like I said with Erica Hughes “Why in the hell would anyone recruit and finance someone to challenge a great Democratic Judge who has served the Courts and the County honorably?”. I just don’t get it. Boyd-Cora doesn’t have the experience for the job. She doesn’t have the endorsements from the Democratic community, and she didn’t raise money.

According to the Texas Ethics Commission she only raised $12,856 yet spent $23,125. Those numbers don’t make sense. Her largest donation was $3100 for legal services. She spent $5000 on advertising, $7100 on fees, food, and fundraising, and $4300 on salaries for poll workers. As with Erica Hughes she donated $1750 to the Houston Black American Democrats for mailers. It is almost as if someone told her to just put her name on the ballot and she will win. And she did.

The Party needs to have a very serious discussion concerning those in the party who are recruiting and funding candidates who are challenging well qualified, honorable, elected officials. If not it will happen again and we will lose. Again.

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Posted by johncoby

Who funded Erica Hughes vs Judge Mike Engelhart?

March 7, 2024

It’s a good question and I don’t have any answers. Yet.

BTW. This has nothing to do with the qualifications of Judge Elect Erica Hughes. Her qualifications are impressive. Take a moment and read them. But the question remains “Why in the hell would anyone recruit and finance someone to challenge a great Democratic Judge who has served the Courts and the County honorably?”. Seriously there are judges who NEED to be challenged. Judge Engelhart was not one of them.

So, who recruited Ms Hughes? Who funded her campaign? According to her campaign finance reports it is clear she must have had help. It is very difficult to search the Texas Ethics Commission for organizations or donors that support candidates. There is no search function titled “Who supported [fill in the blank] and I don’t have a clue on how to start that type of search, but I do know this. Hughes must have had help.

According to her campaign finance reports Hughes only spent $23,125. Her largest expenditures was for signs $2641, and for mailers to the Houston Black American Democrats for $1750. She spent $5282 on fees, food, and fundraisers as well as $240 for hair and makeup. She also spent $4300 for poll workers. (which by the way, statistically, is NOT a great investment)

Hughes raised $55,000 with $38,000 coming from $1000 donations or more from about 26 donors. This includes $4100 for legal fees.

Democrats need to have a difficult conversation about what happened this past Tuesday. Judge Engelhart is a fantastic individual, a great Judge, and an asset to the community and our party. We did not deserve this.

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Posted by johncoby

The Democratic Primary. The Good. The Bad. The Ugly.

March 6, 2024

Let’s start with The Ugly

The Ugly.
What the living hell is happening to the white, male, Democratic Judges in Harris County? The purge continued with the loss of Judge Mike Englehart and Judge Robert Schaffer and I do mean “loss”. The losers are the citizens of Harris County who demand Judges who follow the law, do their fuckin job, and are fair to all parties. That is what Englehart and Schaffer brought to the courtroom. Why would anyone challenge them and why would anyone vote for their opponents? This is ugly. Real ugly. And stupid.

There is more ugly. After leaving the Mayoral race when Sheila Jackson Lee entered, Amanda Edwards endorsed Lee and ran for her congressional race. After being wiped out in the election Lee reentered her congressional race and won last night. Amanda lost and the Democratic Party has probably lost her as a candidate in the future. I wouldn’t blame her. The Party that wants young, talented, candidates to run for office didn’t vote for the young and very talented candidate. She lost.

The Bad.
With 6 candidates in the race to replace Senator Whitmire Representative Jarvis Johnson will be in a runoff with Molly Cook. This is bad only because Johnson is the best of the bunch and shouldn’t be in a runoff. Representative Harold Dutton won. Representative Shawn Thierry will be in a runoff for her seat. Her opponent received 49.79% of the vote while Ashton Woods caused the runoff with 5% of the vote. That is bad. Judge Ursula Hall won. That’s bad too.

The Good.
There is a lot of good that came last night. Sean Teare defeated District Attorney Kim Ogg by a wide margin. The good she has done for Harris County was all wiped out by her pettiness. Let’s thank her for her service and move forward. Senator out of Arizona, Kristen Sinema will not seek reelection. Yeah! The Democratic Socialist Pervez Agwan running against Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher was wiped out by 60 points. Favorites Christian Menefee, Ed Gonzales, Jerry Garcia, and Judge Delgado will all move on to the general.

On to the general.

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Posted by johncoby

Keller ISD Update: Emails show who knew what and when

March 5, 2024

This is going to get much worse……

Email obtained via an open records request (not by me) show that the Patriot Mobile Trustees Sandi Walker, Micah Young, and Joni Smith were notified about the Dutch film crew and was in communication with them. A Facebook post explains it in depth.

The poster asks some very valid questions like who else knew about this? What devices were used to conduct KISD business? Are any of them personal devices? From the emails it sure seems like all of them received the email from the Dutch crew then went silent choosing to conduct their business on their personal account.

I believe it was made very clear that if you use your personal device for official business then you could possibly be in violation of the open records laws if you delete them. I do not believe a person filing a grievance would be able to obtain any records, but I bet if a lawsuit is filed these records will have to be produced.

The emails clearly show the filming was political in nature. They contacted Walker and Smith and Walker forward it to Young asking for comments. The crew said:

Trustee Walker, who has since resigned, responded with:

There is going to be a lot of sunshine being shoved up someones back end in the near future. Trustees who had any prior knowledge of this need to come out, come clean, and then resign.

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Posted by johncoby

League City Personal Finance Statements are now available

March 5, 2024

But they are not online.

The Republicans in Austin required elected officials in cities with a population of over 100,000 to file a Personal Finance Statement. The PFS for League City officials are now available. The city secretary is responsible for their storage and can be obtained by filing an open records request. If interested you can view Mayor Long’s statement and Mayor Pro Tem Hick’s statement here. Believe me, it’s boring.

After looking at what they are required to disclose I have to wonder why anyone would object to disclosing the information. You are required to identify who you are employed by but not how much you make. You have to identify investment assets such as mutual funds and how much they are worth if sold, up to $47,000. You are NOT required to list your financial stability such as your debts, bankruptcies, or liens against your property. You can see the entire list below.

Hick’s and Long’s PFS can’t be any more different. Hicks reported having been employed with TNM LLC out of Henrietta New York as a Projects Manager. He has a lot, I’m assuming that is his home, but the value is not listed. That’s it.

Long’s PFS is a bit more detailed. He has a job with Allianz Insurance Services, a home, many different investments such as mutual funds and interests in a number of business entities.

The purpose for a PFS is to provide transparency to the voters and residents. Elected officials should recuse themselves if they have a conflict with a proposed expenditure in the city and their investments. You would like to know if an elected official is voting to provide a contract to a company they own or one they have a significant interest in. It isn’t rocket science. It isn’t all that intrusive.

Here is what is required to disclose in a PFS. This list is from Hick’s PFS:

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Who is funding the Mexican MAGAt in Deer Park?

March 4, 2024

That’s Bianca Gracia meeting with Enrique Tarrio, head of the Proud Boys and Stewart Rhodes head of the Oath Keepers the day before the Jan 6 riot. Tarrio and Rhodes were convicted of seditious conspiracy against the United States by a unanimous vote by a jury. They are each serving over 20 years in prison.

Gracia is running for the Texas House against State Representative “Little Baby” Briscoe Cain, of Deer Park, pictured below with his mom and younger siblings. Cain was one of those republicans who voted to impeach Ken Paxton and has little if any accomplishments to brag about but as the Houston Chronicle has said:

We’re no fans of state Rep. Briscoe Cain and his botched attempt to lead the passage of a voter suppression bill, but we’ll take his buffoonery and occasional principled stand over the far edges of extremism. 

So who is funding Gracia? Since filing Gracia has raised over $173,000 which is nothing to sneeze at. $105,000 came from those giving $5,000 or more. Patrick Byrne of Utah and former CEO of Overstock, gave her $25,000. Over $100,000 came from out of state. Only $11,000 came from within Deer Park.

You can see her top donor below.

Contributor NameAmountCityState
Byrne ,Patrick25,000.00Park CityUT
Ebarb ,Travis12,000.00las vegasNV
Fromme ,Kellye10,000.00HudsonWI
The Trafalgar Group LLC8,500.00WilmingtonDE
Defiant Projects5,000.00ConroeTX
Moore ,Danny5,000.00Cripple CreekCO
Jackson ,Larry5,000.00CrosbyTX
Paolini ,Vivian5,000.00Deer ParkTX
Garza ,Lazaro5,000.00HebbronvilleTX
Pinedo ,Socorro5,000.00HesperiaCA
Elswick ,Roger5,000.00HoustonTX
Ebarb ,Travis5,000.00las vegasNV
Integrated Digital Strategies 5,000.00OrlandoFL
Integrated Digital Strategies 5,000.00OrlandoFL

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Posted by johncoby

Raising Campaign Cash: CCISD Elections

March 4, 2024

CCISD Trustee elections for District 4 will be held on May 4, 2024. Candidates should raise money from within the district and refuse all PAC money.

Over the last couple of years school districts across the State have been flooded with out of district, special interest, PAC money. It used to be a school board election would cost about $2000 and a few signs. That has changed. In Keller ISD Patriot Mobile PAC spent $150,000 to elect three white wing MAGAts to the board. One has since resigned and one will soon. CCISD has had it’s own infusion of PAC money.

In 2023 Defend Texas Liberty, a PAC that has since become irrelevant due to their association with a known white supremacist, financed Peter Lauzon’s campaign with a $5000 donation. They attempted to donate to another candidate but she refused their donation. They donated $2000 to Trustee Scott Bowen who has refused to return it. Harris County Republican Party has also donated by sending out mailers.

School Board elections should be about three things and three things only, Students, Teachers, and Parents. Nothing else. This years election should be local. Candidates should pledge the following:

  • Will not accept PAC money
  • Will not accept out of district donations
  • Will not accept in-kind donations from partisan organizations
  • Will not self finance their campaigns

Trustee Jeff Larson and Albert Wittliff should both take this pledge. Raise money from within the district, from your neighbors, parents and teachers. Out of district influence must stop. This is our school district. We do not need meddling from white supremacist organizations or any political organizations in our elections.

You can find campaign finance reports for both candidates at the CCISD Elections webpage. Both candidates start the campaign with little or no funds. First reports are due April 5.

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Posted by johncoby

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