Before you file for Houston City Council…..

January 22, 2019

The Houston City elections are coming in November with many Houstonians considering a run for city council. Before you file for a position do yourself, your family, and your friends a favor by investigating the office before running for the office. Here are a few tips and questions you might want to consider before signing up. I am sure a political consultant might want to add a few other tips to this list. It all depends upon the office you seek.

It’s not a game. Running for office is not a game. The position has a direct impact on people’s lives whether it is timely trash collection or providing a safe neighborhood with our police and our fire fighters. Don’t cheapen the office by running just for the sake of running and distracting from those who have a clear understanding of what they are doing and are qualified to run.

It will cost money. Lots of money. A run for an At-Large position will cost in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. This will include money to run a successful campaign to target the needed number of voters to win. If you do not intend to raise the necessary amount of money needed, then do not run, Do the math before you sign. Understand what the campaign will need and how much this will cost and whether you can raise that amount.

What qualifications do you bring to the table? Our government allows anyone to put their name on the ballot but some shouldn’t. Ask yourself if you understand the position you are running for. Do you have qualifications or personal experience that would apply to this position? Have you attended the city council meetings, understand the process used to pass legislation, and know who the players are behind the scenes? Have you been involved in your community that you want to represent?

How many votes do you need to win? This is a hard question and is never an exact science but you can determine, with analysis of the past elections, an idea of the number of votes needed to push you over the top. This number will drive your campaign strategy and fundraising efforts. If you can’t answer this question then you really shouldn’t run.

How much money will it take to win? The number of votes you need to win will drive your fundraising efforts. As said above, running for office is not a game and it costs money. You will be on the phone for hours a day raising campaign cash in order to achieve that winning number.

Who is your financial base? Who will you be depending upon to achieve your financial goals in order to achieve that winning number of votes?

Who is your volunteer base? Who will be there to make phone calls for you or block walk in the hot sun? Do you have a base of supporters or do you intend to file and expect your political clubs to drop what they are doing and support you 100%. A campaign will strain your relationships with family and friends. It’s a grueling undertaking requiring a considerable amount of dedication and support. You should have buy in from your family and those you expect to support you before you sign up.

Good luck and thank you for running. Or not.

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Posted by johncoby

Loaning even more Campaign Cash: David Mayes Middleton

January 16, 2019

David Mayes Middleton won his election in 2018 for Texas House District 23 in the Galveston area. He raised $3.2 Million, with $2.4 Million coming from his own pocket. He won 56-43. His opponent raised $4000.

According to his last ethics report Middleton raised $137,000 including $125,000 of his own money, plus another $500,000 loan. He has a Cash On Hand balance of about $481,000. His loan to his own campaign was made after the election in November.

He has spent $2.3 Million on a race that should have cost about $500,000 if it was competitive. It wasn’t. The Democrat on the ballot raised just $4000 and had no serious campaign. The $2.3 Million included $782,000 on salaries, $671,000 on consulting services,  and $698,141 on advertising.

His expenses for salaries included over 20 individuals with salaries ranging from $137,000 to $18,000. The $782,000 in salaries included the following:

Berry Communications $137,000
Willi Luthy $62,000
Michael Jenkins $56,000
Ryan Caruso $52,000
Eric Romero $50,000
Kyle Diamond $48,000
Josh Lyrock $43,000
John Maurer $40,000
Kara Rose $35,000
Trevor Harris $27,000
Tylene Wilcox $23,000
January Arnold $18,000

It makes little cents to have so many individuals on the payroll for a campaign like this. Add this to the huge amounts of advertising and consulting services and it looks like a money laundering operation. Why would anyone pay over $3 Million for a race that required a little more than putting your name on the ballot? It just doesn’t make any cents. Gov Greg Abbott endorsed Middleton as well as Kathleen Wall who invested $6 Million of her own money to lose in the primary.

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Posted by johncoby

Justice Democrats' record of losing elections

January 15, 2019

Justice Democrats, a Bernie Sanders’ socialist group is making waves about finding a candidate to run against Democrat Henry Cuellar. From the Texas Tribune:

Justice Democrats, a political committee founded after the 2016 election to reshape the Democratic Party through primary challenges, is working to recruit a challenger to Rep. Henry Cuellar, a seven-term congressman from a strongly Democratic district who’s one of the few anti-abortion-rights voices in the party’s House conference.

Based upon their lack of success in the 2018 elections, Justice Democrats should be the last group to find a candidate to challenge Cuellar, if a challenge is warranted. Out of 80 candidates endorsed by JD, only 7 won. 2 were incumbents in deep blue districts. 1 was unopposed.  4 were all in very blue districts wiping out their general election opponents. It’s not like they were endorsing in tough competitive states like Texas, although those that did, lost. All of them. One raised over a $1 Million and lost 70-30 in the primary.

Some of their candidates were capable of raising large amounts of money and still losing such as James Thomson who lost 59-40 after raising $1.4 Million. Here is a list of all 80 candidates, the results of their election and how much money they raised. It isn’t pretty. 

NOTE: Some are listed with $0 raised. This is due to the data not being available on the FEC site.

Candidate Result Raised
Raúl Grijalva
AZ-03		 Won  general 61-39 $700,000
Ro Khanna CA-17 Won  general 72-27 $2,700,000
Ayanna Pressley
MA-07		 Won  general unopposed $1,400,000
Rashida Tlaib MI-13 Won  general 84-11 $1,600,000
Ilhan Omar
MN-05		 Won  general 78-21 $100,000
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez NY-14 Won  general 78-13 $200,000
PramilaJayapal
WA-07		 Won  general 83-17 $2,100,000
Mary Matiella
AZ-02		 Lost  primary  $291,000
BriannaWestbrook AZ-08 Lost  primary 60-39 $42,000
Deedra Abboud
AZ-Senate		 Lost  primary 79-20 $113,000
Audrey Denney CA-01 Lost  general 56-43 $1,200,000
Roza Calderon
CA-04		 Lost  primary   $97,000
Dotty Nygard CA-10 Lost  primary  $66,000
Bryan Caforio CA-25 Lost the primary  $1,200,000
Laura Oatman CA-48 Lost  primary  $244,000
Doug Applegate
CA-49		 Lost  primary  $100,000
Ammar Campa-Najjar CA-50 Lost  general 54-45 $400,000
Alison Hartson
CA-Senate		 Lost  primary  $400,000
Saira Rao CO-01 Lost  primary 68-31 $565,000
Stephany Rose
Spaulding CO-05		 Lost  general 58-38  $366,000
Kerri Evelyn Harris DE-Senate Lost  primary 65-35 $69,000
Chardo Richardson
FL-07		 Lost  primary 87-13 $41,000
Sanjay Patel FL-07 Lost  general 60-40 $337,000
Pam Keith
FL-18		 Lost  primary 60-40 $558,000
Michael A.Hepburn FL-27 Lost  primary  $38,000
Lisa Ring
GA-01		 Lost  general 58-42 $222,000
Kaniela Ing HI-01 Lost  primary  $410,000
Courtney Rowe
IA-01		 Lost  primary  $16,000
Pete D’Alessandro IA-03 Lost  primary  $378,000
Marie Newman
IL-03		 Lost  primary 51-48 $1,500,000
Sameena Mustafa IL-05 Lost  primary 62-24 $134,000
Anthony Clark
IL-07		 Lost  primary 73-26 $91,000
David Gill IL-13 Lost  primary 45-13 $1,300,000
Dan Canon
IN-09		 Lost  primary 68-30  $455,000
Brent Welder KS-03 Lost  primary 37-33 $941,000
James Thompson
KS-04		 Lost  general 59-40 $1,400,000
Juana Matias MA-03 Lost  primary 21-15 $567,000
Roger Manno
MD-06		 Lost  primary  $442,000
Ben Jealous MD-Gov Lost
56-42		 $0
Matt Morgan
MI-01		 Lost  general 56-43 $1,300,000
Robert Davidson MI-02 Lost  gneral 55-43 $1,200,000
David
Benac Mi-06		 Lost  primary 37-21 $90,000
Fayrouz Saad Lost  primary 27-19 $769,000
Abdul
El-Sayed MI-Gov		 Lost  primary 52-30 $0
Cori Bush MO-01 Lost  primary 56-39 $150,000
Jamie
Schoolcraft MO-07		 Lost  general 66-30 $55,000
John Heenan MT-AL Lost  primary 33-31 $1,100,000
Jenny
Marshall NC-05		 Lost  primary 54-45 $140,000
Kara Eastman NE-092 Lost  general 51-49 $0
Tanzie
Youngblood NJ-02		 Lost  primary 57-18 $114,000
Peter Jacob NJ-07 Lost  primary 66-19 $141,000
Antoniette
Sedillo Lopez NM-01		 Lost  primary 40-20 $100,000
Amy Vilela NV-04 Lost  primary 61-9 $198,000
Michael
Devito NY-11		 Lost  primary 63-20 $48,000
Jeff Beals NY-19 Lost  primary 22-12 $378,000
Patrick
Nelson NY-21		 Lost  primary 55-9 $71,000
Ian Golden NY-23 Lost  primary 32-13 $177,000
Cynthia
Nixon NY-Gov		 Lost  general 81-17 $0
John Russell OH-12 Lost  primary 40-16 $129,000
Greg
Edwards PA-07		 Lost  primary 33-25 $451,000
Jess King PA-11 Lost  general 59-41 $1,900,000
Matt
Brown RI-Gov		 Lost  primary 57-33 $0
Aaron Regunberg RI-LTGOV Lost  primary 51-48 $0
J.
Darnell Jones TX-02		 Lost  primary 52-22 $19,000
Lorie Burch TX-03 Lost  general 54-44 $317,000
Laura
Moser TX-07		 Lost  primary 70-30 $1,300,000
Vanessa Adia TX-12 Lost  general 64-33 $208,000
Adrienne
Bell TX-14		 Lost  general 59-39 $208,000
Derrick Crowe TX-21 Lost  primary 30-23 $179,000
Mary
Wilson TX-21		 Lost  primary 58-42 $112,000
Rick Trevinon TX-23 Lost  primary 66-33 $56,000
Linsey
Fagan TX-26		 Lost  general 59-39 $176,000
Darlene McDonald UT-04 Eliminated
at the convention		 $49,000
C
Hallquist VT-Gov		 Lost  general 55-40 $0
Dorothy Gasque WA-03 Lost  primary 42-5 $88,000
Sara
Smith WA-09		 Lost  general 67-32 $0
Randy Bryce WI-01 Lost  general 54-42 $8,600,000
Paula
Jean Swearengin WV-Sn		 Lost  primary 69-31 $219,000

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Protest against Trump's Shutdown in front of NASA

January 13, 2019

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List of Tx Congressmen on the fence for Trump wall

January 12, 2019

Here is a list of all 36 members of the House and their support of Trump’s wall. Some key notes:

  • 36 members from Texas 13 Democrats and 23 Republicans
  • All 13 Democrats are a NO.
  • 5 Republicans are a NO
  • 2 Republicans are wishy washy and will not commit



District

Name

D/R

Support
1 Louie Gohmert R Yes “We’ve got to stand firm on getting money for the wall. We have got to stand firm on that.”
2 Dan Crenshaw R Yes We should not only build the wall but also ramp up tech-savvy ways to secure our border, like drones and sensors
3 John Taylor R Yes
4 John Ratcliffe R Yes “I was proud to vote for the passage of $5.7 billion to fund the wall along our Southern Border,”
5 Lance Gooden R Yes. “On today’s agenda: 1) drain the swamp and 2) FUND THE WALL!”
6 Ron Wright R Yes “I applaud President Trump’s decision to send the National Guard to protect our border. Congress should support the president on this including fully funding the wall”
7 Lizzie Fletcher D No
8 Kevin Brady R Yes I voted to stand with President Trump in his call to fully fund the border wall
9 Al Green D No ““=Building what President Trump calls ‘a big, beautiful border wall’ is a ‘clear, simple, and wrong’ answer to a complex immigration problem. To be clear, every sovereign country has the right and duty to control its border. However, we should not create a false sense of security with a pseudo-panacean wall when the problem is much more complex.”
10 Michael McCaul R Wishy Washy “You have to understand, too, that a 30-foot concrete wall is a very expensive proposition. And there are a lot of other things we can be doing technologywise to make it a smart border that’s more effective and more cost efficient.”
11 Mike Conaway R No. Voted NO on building a fence along the Mexican border.
12 Kay Granger R No She said Trump’s call for a wall between the United States and Mexico would hurt our relationship with the country.  
13 Mac Thornberry R No A prominent Republican said Tuesday he does not want money allocated for the military to be used for a border wall between the United States and Mexico.
14 Randy Weber R Wishy Washy Supports fences.
15 Vicente Gonzalez D No“I want to see a wire transfer from the federal government of Mexico to the United States Treasury for that wall,”
16 Veronica Escobar D No “We know walls don’t work, that they don’t stop drugs. That they don’t stop migration,”
17 Bill Flores R No “No. We need border integrity. Border integrity is a physical barrier where a physical barrier makes sense, where it’s feasible to have one. The bulk of the Texas border doesn’t represent an area where a wall is feasible.”
18 Sheila Jackson Lee D No
19 Jodey Arrington R Yes Whether it’s a loser or not politically, this is the right thing to do.
20 Joaquin Castro D No
21 Chip Roy R Yes “Fully fund and build the border wall immediately.“
22 Pete Olson R Yes. In a competitive district.
23 Will Hurd R No. Barely won in 2018, “Building a wall from sea to shining sea is the most expensive and least effective way to do border security. We need to allow the men and women in Border Patrol to adjust their tactics, techniques and procedures as they see fit. You can’t have a one-size-fits-all solution,” he said in a statement to the Tribune. “What works in San Diego doesn’t necessarily work in Tucson, and you need something different in El Paso. In heavily populated places a wall can be a useful tool. It’s just one more tool in your toolkit used to solve this problem.”
24 Kenny Marchant R Yes “We need to fulfill the will of the people and most of the feedback I’ve received from my district is to vote to fund the wall.”
25 Roger Williams R Yes U.S. Representative Roger Williams, District 25 (R-Austin), discusses why he believes increased funding for a wall on the U.S. southern border is necessary.
26 Michael Burgess R Yes “Trump’s support for a border wall is refreshing.”
27 Michael Cloud R Yes“Congress must fully fund the border wall”
28 Henry Cuellar D No “If you want to secure the border from letting drugs come in, a wall is not going to help because if you look at the latest DEA report, most of the drugs that come into the United States come through ports,” 
29 Sylvia Garcia D No
30 Eddie Bernice Johnson D No “A border wall will not achieve the goal that President Trump seeks to accomplish and I disagree with its premise to keep all immigrants out of our country. Furthermore, building a 2,000 mile long wall along our southern border is not only a knee jerk reaction to our issues with immigration, it is fiscally irresponsible. 
31 John Carter R Yes“It’s time to build that wall,” Carter said. “If you don’t want people from Austin, liberals like the folks who most of us moved up here to get away from, if you don’t want them running … you gotta wake up with this election.”
32 Colin Alred D No He says he supports border security, but characterizes the $5.7 billion Trump wants for the border wall as a waste of money.
33 Marc Veasey D No
34 Filemon Vela Jr. D No. Told Trump to stick his wall up his ass.
35 Lloyd Doggett D No “For our Nation of immigrants, a wall rejects our very history. A wall is not about America leading the world, a wall is about trying to shut off the rest of the world.
36 Brian Babin R Yes. “I am proud of President Trump for drawing a line and insisting that we fulfill the promise we made to the American people in 2016 to build the wall” Won his re-election 73-27



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Texas Republican Party. "We are only 25% racist!"

January 11, 2019
Pic by Star Telegram reporter Bud Kennedy

Last night 25% of the executive committee of the Tarrant County Republican Party, about 49 of them, voted to remove a committee member because he is a Muslim. They failed, but the fact they actually had a vote and 49 of the 139 members voted in favor speaks loudly about what the (R) behind a candidates name stands for and the misplaced faith by Dr.  Shafi. From the Dallas Morning News:

“Today, the beacon of liberty held by the Statue of Liberty is shining brighter,” Shafi said after the vote. “My faith in our party, in our country, has been reaffirmed.”

It’s hard to have pity for Dr Shahid Shafi. He knew what he was walking into when he joined the Republican Party just like every Hispanic, Black, woman, non-christian, and teacher have. This party does not reflect your values. The fact they had to actually vote on your religion should tell you that you picked the wrong party. 

Your faith in a party that calls for a Muslim ban, whose leaders claims Muslims are terrorists, whose members call for your removal based upon your religion, is misplaced on the (R)acist party. This is who they have become. This isn’t the beacon of liberty. It the light of darkness and shame.

This is partly your fault. You knew who they were. You knew what the (R) stands for. You should not be complaining.

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Tx Republican Will Hurd: To win, don't be a racist.

January 7, 2019
From The Wall Street Journal

It’s sad that in this time and age Republicans have to tell their colleagues how to win elections as Congressman Will Hurd did in the Wall Street Journal:

“This is how you win suburban women: Actually talk to them. Talk to their kids. Do things to make sure their kids are ready for the future. Don’t be a racist, and don’t be a misogynist.”


To recap: Don’t be a racist because racism is bad. Real bad. And don’t be a misogynist pig because that is bad too. Here are a few other things Hurd should tell his party members on how to win elections:

Don’t send dick pics to your mistress. Ask former Congressman Joe Barton or soon to be former Senator Charles Schwertner of Texas. Both were caught sending dick pics. Barton sent it to his mistress. He was forced to resign. 

Don’t send dick pics to college students. According to Schwertner someone other than himself sent a dick pic to a college student. Schwertner claims it wasn’t his dick. He has since asked Lt Gov Patrick not to assign him to the chairman of his committee. Sounds like he knows something.

Don’t call women the C word. It should go without saying that an elected official should never use the C word especially towards women but when you have to tell grown men to not send dick pics you probably have to tell grown me to act like grown men,

Don’t steal your donors money. Congressman Duncan Hunter was caught and charged with multiple felonies of stealing his donors money. He has since blamed it on his wife. He was re-elected.

Don’t deal in inside trading. Congressman Chris Collins of New York was charged with multiple felonies of insider trading. Sitting on the board of a biotech company based in Australia Collins shared inside information to select individuals before the stock crashed. He was  also re-elected.

Also, get rid of that (R) behind your name. Its as popular as herpes at a hot tub party.


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The Honorable Rashida Tlaib should apologize

January 5, 2019

It really isn’t hard to apologize after calling an elected official a MFer like The Honorable Rashida Tlaib did when referring to the President of the United States. We all, at one point in our life, have had to make sincere apologies for some of our classless actions. We are taught as young children that apologies are expected and demanded when warranted. How many times have our parents said to us “Tell him your sorry”?. Apologizing is something we must do at times and Congresswoman Tlaib should do it at this time. Here is an example of a perfectly good apology:

“Last week I made a very unfortunate comment referring to the President of the United States that I deeply regret. I want to apologize to Speaker Pelosi for causing this distraction to passing our progressive agenda and to my constituents and the members of the Democratic Party for this vulgar language.”

She doesn’t owe an apology to Trump for calling him what he is but she does owe it to the Speaker, the Party, and to those who gave her the title “The Honorable”. Calling an elected official a MFer or calling anyone an MFer is conduct unbecoming of someone with “The Honorable” in front of their title. It is disrespectful. It is vulgar. It is low class. It is a sure fire way to be minimized.

The President is a low class, vulgar, racist, politically ignorant, rotten asshole of a human being who calls people school yard names, and has used horrible language in the past but that does not give us the right to condone one of our own when they do the same. We are not the republican party. We are not Trump. We are suppose to be better.

Running for office and serving is not a game. The Honorable elected officials, at times, must send our kids to war. They pass legislation that means life or death for many. This isn’t a high school name calling session. This is very serious work that requires The Honorable to be honorable. If we condone Tlaib’s dishonorable act of calling elected officials vulgar names then we have lost our right to condemn Louie Gohmert when he calls Speaker Pelosi a stupid b****.

We are better than this.

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Melissa Noriega for House District 145

January 4, 2019

According to the Houston Chronicle 8 individuals have filed for State Representative in House District 145. From the Chronicle:

The field consists of six Democrats — Elias De La Garza, Oscar Del Toro, Ruben Gonsalez, Christina Morales, Alfred Moreno and Melissa Noriega — Libertarian Clayton Hunt and Republican Martha Fierro, the third-place finisher in last month’s race for Senate District 6, which overlaps with part of Alvarado’s old House district. 

The Democratic-leaning district, which covers part of the Heights and runs through downtown and South Houston to Beltway 8, voted 67 to 29 percent for Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump in 2016.

HD145 is just north of the Clear Lake. I have known Melissa since I joined the party back in the early 90’s. I worked on her campaign for City Council and will do so for this race. Looking over the field of candidates there is no one with the experience Mellisa can bring to the district. In a time where the Democrats are the minority party in the House, it is very important to have someone who is qualified and who has the political experience required for the office.
Besides representing the Houston area as an At Large City Council Member, Melissa was appointed to the Texas State House when her husband was called to serve in Afghanistan to fulfill his term. She has the experience and there will be no need to learn on the job.
The district and our state will be faced with very strong attacks on important issues such as education funding, immigration, and property taxes. It would be advantageous to have someone in that position that can hit the ground running and defend our positions on these issues.
Visit her website at: www.NoriegaForTexas.com for more information on her background and experience.

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What should the GOP do with Trump in 2019?

December 27, 2018
The big question for 2019 for the remaining Republicans in Congress is “What do we do with Trump now?”. What will the GOP do to minimize their upcoming loses in 2020? The voters in 2018 spoke loudly with the GOP losing 40 seats in Congress. In Texas there was an 180% increase in voting from the last midterm election causing a huge blue wave to wash across every part of the state. All indications show the 2020 elections will be worse unless they take swift, decisive action. Here is a suggested threee part plan for the floundering party of conservatives.
Phase 1. Pass a bill to fund the remaining parts of the Government with funds for the Department of Homeland Security but no wall. Trump has already says he would accept a fence. Give him $1.8 Billion for DHS and let them rebuild or repair the existing fence with a “steel slat barrier”. Trump will declare victory or he will be shamed by the right wing media and veto the bill. Congress will have to override his veto knowing that once they turn on the president they lose the 35% Trump base. At this point it’s either face the 35% in the primary or the 65% in the general election. 
Phase 2. Remove Trump from office. Pence is a right wing, religious, zealot but he isn’t nuts! He isn’t politically ignorant. He knows how to run a government. Pence would bring stability to the country and world. He would have a hard time explaining why he will overturn the policies he has supported while VP but he can and must do it. The only people at this point who would not accept Pence are the extreme right wing trump supporters. Our country needs Pence. The stock market needs Pence. Our allies need Pence. The GOP desperately needs Pence. 
Trump can be removed by impeachment but the republicans should be forced to file the articles of impeachment and carry the ball. Trump is their problem. They created him and allowed him to fester by not performing their duties as the third part of government. The Senate would not have to remove him. He would quit and blame it on everyone except himself. 
Phase 3. Continue to the probe into Trump and his family. The GOP must wash this stained out of their party. Continue the probe and demand the rule of law to applied. At least look like the GOP is the party of “Law and Order” upholding the rule of law, for once, instead of applying the law based upon who rules.
If the GOP wants to survive the upcoming elections they will need to grow a pair or lose them in 2020. At this point I would gladly accept Pence as President.

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