Bay Area Houston

The vast majority of ethics complaints filed with the Texas Ethics Commission end with a slap on the wrist, a promise not to violate the law again, and a small fine. Then there are the fines against Matt Armstrong.

Matt Armstrong is/was the treasurer of a couple of GPACs in Flower Mound Texas. He is a political consultant for “conservative” candidates. He recently resigned as chief administrator for Denton County Precinct 1 Commissioner Ryan Williams. He has been the center of controversy according to the Denton Record-Chronicle.

He had 3 complaints filed against him in 2022 and the Ethics Commission has ruled and posted the sanctions on their website today. It’s not pretty. The TEC fined Armstrong $10,000, $15,000, and $12,500 for a total of $37,500. That fine is the 2nd highest fine in the history of the TEC with a $75,000 fine issued against Harris County Commissioner Jerry Eversole many years ago. Early in 2022 the TEC fined Eric Dick, candidate for Houston City Council $30,000 and referred him to the Texas Bar.

The final orders are a bit long and complicated but there seems to be a pattern to the results of the investigation. According to one of the complaints:

The pattern of behavior shows a deliberate effort by the respondent to evade disclosure and mislead the public. The respondent also ignored the Commission by failing to timely respond to the complaint and failing to participate in the preliminary review hearing.

I believe one of the worst things you can do when a complaint has been filed with the TEC is to lie, mislead, and/or ignore the requests by the TEC staff. It’s best to just pony up to the bar, admit you made a mistake, take a fine, and move on. After reading the complaints against Armstrong it seems like he didn’t do that.

Note to treasurers: Don’t mess with the Texas Ethics Commission.

Clear Lake’s “Representative” Dennis Paul had his annual fundraiser at the Webster Civic Center. A group of us greeted his donors with signs concerning gun violence, fixing the grid, and women’s rights, although it focused mostly on gun violence.

Dennis Paul, like all MAGA Republicans, has his nose buried in the NRA’s ass and will do nothing to protect Texans from being shot at church, concerts, parades, Walmart, or schools. After the Sante Fe shooting Greg Abbott and Paul promised action and then passed open carry so gun nuts could walk around with loaded assault weapons without a license and without training. From the Houston Chronicle:

Outside Paul’s event, Rhonda Hart, an anti-gun violence activist and the mother of Kimberly Vaughan, who was killed during the Santa Fe High School shooting in 2018, held her own sign and spoke through a megaphone as Paul supporters walked into the event. She was there, Hart said, out of frustration. 

“On May 31, 2018, Greg Abbott promised us that our school shooting would be the last, and here we are four years later, and 19 more kids and two teachers were shot dead at Uvalde,” she said. “I’m frankly sick of this GOP being pro-life and yet so many people get un-alived on their watch. It’s disgusting.”

Houston Chronicle “Activists put gun debate front and center outside State Rep. Dennis Paul fundraiser”

Four years later 19 ten year olds and 2 teachers were slaughtered in Uvalde after an 18 year old purchased an assault weapon and hundred of rounds of bullets. Afterward Dennis Paul did nothing. Absolutely nothing. He couldn’t even pull his nose out of the NRA’s ass for a minute to address the killings.

The quotes from the Chronicle are pretty good:

“We’re protesting the gun policies that our administration in Texas have passed to allow 18 years to buy AR 15 assault weapons,” “They refuse to pass common sense gun laws to protest citizens of Texas.”

“….the group criticized elected officials like Paul, saying they are  choosing “bullets and guns instead of boys and girls”. “Our main thing is the kids because people are being killed and they’re not doing anything about it,” he said. “Voters have an opportunity to pick a side, who side are you on? Is it guns or is it families?”

“He (Paul) has a 100 percent approval rating by the NRA,” she said. “We need people to remember that there is another choice of people who care about communities and individuals instead of caring about lobby money. That’s where he (Paul) votes, he votes where the money is.”

Paul, the coward he is, said “I don’t know anybody outside,”.

BTW. I live a block from his house.