Raising Campaign Cash: Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo

July 25, 2022

Yeow! The report submitted by Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo for the period covering 2/20/2022 to 6/30/2022 was so large (over 800 pages) it would not download from the site. I was able to obtain a copy nevertheless. Not only is Hidalgo running for re-election she is also a marathon runner and she is running away in the fundraising campaign.

In this period Hidalgo raised $1,150,804, spent $569,065, has an outstanding loan of $1400, and has a Cash on Hand balance of $1,983,697. Of the $1,150,804 about $290,000 came from donations of $10,000 or more. The highest donation was $30,000. These donations account for about 25% of her entire fundraising for the quarter. Her opponent raised 70% of her total fundraising from just 7 individuals including 4 who gave $100,000 each.

The rest of her report was littered with 800 pages of small donations. The reports provided by the County Commission is not like the Texas Ethics Commission where a spreadsheet could be downloaded and analyzed. It is difficult to analyze due to the volume of pages and donations. (but I did it for you!)

In contrast, during her run in 2018 Hidalgo raised about $183,000 in her January 2018 report. 

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Posted by johncoby

Raising Campaign Cash: Jack Mormon for County Commissioner Pct 2

July 25, 2022

Even with a poor accounting of fundraising, never “misunderestimate” the power of money in the Republican Party. With the party flush with billionaires and millionaires and with no limits on the amount of a contribution, Mormon could easily be right back in the game with just one single $1million donation. But not today. Not today.

In his July report Mormon raised $63,144, spent $19,585 and has a Cash on Hand balance of only $69,638. He has no outstanding loans. His largest donor was Richard Weekley for $9606. Weekley could easily drop a $1Million on his general election and just might. Other than that he had a very weak reporting period. His opponent in the runoff raised only $46,150. His opponents in the primary also had very weak fundraising results.

Mormon will face Commissioner Adrian Garcia who raised over $700,000 in the same period and has almost $2 Million Cash on Hand for the general election.

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Posted by johncoby

Raising Campaign Cash: State Representative Dennis Paul (voucher money)

July 18, 2022

Dennis Paul isn’t exactly a money making machine when it comes to raising campaign cash. 

In his last financial report Paul raised $34,606, spent $21,461, and has $26,554 cash on hand. He still maintains an outstanding loan amount of $111,000. For a State House race $34,606 is a loser but Paul is in a safe district. Paul could be caught with giving a 18 year old a loaded assault weapon to shoot up a bunch of children and he will still be elected.

$1025 came from three individuals. $33,529 came from PAC money including $2500 from the Charter Schools Now PAC. As much as Paul kisses the ass of the NRA he has not received any money from any gun nut organization. 

BTW. Paul has scrubbed his website of any mention of any gun nut organizations. Luckily what is posted on the internet, stays on the internet.

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Posted by johncoby

Raising Campaign Cash: Alexandra Mealer for County Judge (Holy shit!)

July 17, 2022

I expected Alexandra Mealer to be flush with money but the details are disturbing.

On her latest report filed in July Mealer raised $764,544 which isn’t a bad haul, but just 4 individuals gave over half of her entire fundraising efforts. Each gave $100,000 including the wife of Jim MAGAt McIngvale, Hassenflu of Fidelis Realty Partners, David Modest of Vega Energy, and David Weekley of Weekley Homes. David Modest is on the Board of Texans for Lawsuit Deform. (Reform)

Three other individuals, Ned Holmes, Flores, Pitcock gave $111,000. Seven total individuals gave 67% or $511,000 out of the total $764,544.

This is what we are up against. 

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Posted by johncoby

The Texas Democratic Convention. The election of the Chair

July 17, 2022
Pic from the Dallas Morning News

As they say after eating sushi from a gas station, this too shall pass. 

Gilberto Hinojosa retained his position running on his record. His opponents also were running on his record. Carroll Robinson of Houston hammered Hinojosa and his record everywhere he spoke. He criticized his record of just “maintaining” in 2020 when we ran against one of the worst human beings on the top of the ticket. We gained no ground. He criticized his record in the Valley where we lost in districts we should never had lost. He criticized his loss of Hispanic voters. He and others stated when you take credit for the gains of 2018 you must also take responsibility for just maintaining in 2020. He said it was time for something to change. Maintaining was not enough. It was time to win. He was right. He is right.

All of that changed after Robinson came in third place after the 1st vote. He addressed the delegates and instead of supporting the other change candidate he urged a vote for the very person who he criticized the day before. Instead of a change, as he was advocating for, he asked to maintain the course. The 2nd vote was taken and Hinojosa won. So here we are…..maintaining. Again. 

Many delegates were very disappointed especially those who are on the street knocking doors and doing the hard work looking for help and guidance from the state party. Needless to say Olson supporters were disappointed as they should be. In the year of the Woman, we voted for a man. In the year of change, we voted to maintain.

Hinojosa has a few months to prove us all wrong. Our state has moved backwards on every issue important to Texans, gun massacres, teacher salaries and respect, women’s rights, immigration, voting rights, the electricity grid, home insurance, property taxes, home prices, etc etc etc. What is he going to do? How are we going to make progress? How is the party going to help those willing to work especially those in the rural areas and in the Valley? These are good, valid questions.

Maintaining is not an option. Winning is. It’s the only option now. Congratulations to the chair. Let’s unite and move on. Let’s progress. Let’s move forward.

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Posted by johncoby

Election for the Chair of the Texas Democratic Party coming up!

July 16, 2022

This ought to be fun.

We have 3 candidates to choose from, our current Chair Gilberto Hinojosa, Kim Olson, and Carroll Robinson. I’ve heard all three speak at various events and I have my personal choice. Here is what I think the atmosphere is like in the convention.

Most everyone I have asked have good words for Chairman Hinojosa but follow it with a big but……we need to do something different. Hinojosa is running on his record but the other two are running on his record also. Hinojosa has been the chair for 10 years now and quite frankly I have to agree with the opposition. Our state has moved backwards on all fronts and we stalled in 2020. 

Lots of folks wearing pink Kim Olson shirts. Lots of women are supporting her. Robinson has a small showing. Hinojosa has a supporters but seem to be subdued. We will see what shakes out when the the sign waving starts.

Hinojosa has some interesting endorsements including one from an unknown PAC called Future Generations. Never heard of them but I received a text endorsing Hinojosa. FG was created recently, raised only $66,000 and seems to be endorsing far lefties across the county and Hinojosa, which I do not consider a far lefty. Not sure why they would pick a State Chair race to endorse.

Olson has received an endorsement from the Texas Progressive Caucus. I know very little about them.

Vote is later today.

Who’s is Future Generations PAC?

 

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Hispanic Caucus at the Texas Democratic Convention

July 15, 2022

Another large and enthusiastic crowd at the Hispanic Caucus.

Luckily they put party business before speeches electing two State Democratic Executive Committee (SDEC) members and then passing a resolution to endorse current Chair Gilberto Hinojosa before adjourning.

Although the vast majority of members loudly supported Hinojosa there were pockets that were not. No one nominated either of the other two candidates so it is hard to gauge his support but it does seem to be pretty solid, but not completely. We heard from Carroll Robinson and he seemed to have a solid argument for a change in leadership. I look forward to hearing Kim Olson speak.

Many of the speakers talked about the strength of the Hispanic vote unfortunately over the last few elections Hispanics have not voted their strength. I have seen this party work on issues that are core to the Hispanic community for years, decades, and yet they do not vote their strength. If they would no one who makes fun of our language would ever hold office again. No one who puts a target on our backs because of our skin color would ever hold office again. Yet….they do not vote their strength. 

Personally I have no idea WTF they are waiting for. Their kids have been shot. Their electricity cut off. They are targeted by white supremacy groups. Their home insurance, electricity, taxes, home prices have skyrocketed. WTLF are they waiting for?

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Women's Caucus at the Texas Democratic Convention. LOTS of energy here!

July 15, 2022

Texas Democratic Women are NOT happy with the direction our state is going. In fact most women should not be happy. Hell, most men shouldn’t be happy. I was a minority at this caucus but I was glad I attended. It was full of good information and energetic speeches.

The Founder of Mothers Against Greg Abbott spoke and showed their latest ad which can be viewed below. She received a standing welcome by the standing room only crowd. This caucus had one of the largest rooms dedicated to their presentation. 
Sisters United Alliance,  an organization working to get women who have registered but not voted out to vote. Sherrie Matula from the Clear Lake area is the founder of the organization and made a call for money based upon their success in the last few elections. They are targeting nearly 1 Million women voters in this next election cycle.
Texas Democratic Women organized the event and coordinated the speakers including Janey Dudding running for Texas Comptroller, Susan Hays for Agriculture Commissioner, Judge Maldonado for the Texas Supreme Court. Very strong women candidates. There was fire in this room, not literally, but these women (and men) were hot. A number of issues were discussed such as gun violence, women’s rights, and the attacks on our teachers and schools.  There is energy here. 
MAGA’s ad below is titled Nothing Changes. I think this could be the theme of this election because nothing will change when it comes to safety for our families, women’s rights to their own bodies, cost of electricity, the electric grid being fixed, etc etc until we take action and vote. It is up to us alone.

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Jaws of life called for CCISD Trustee Scott Bowen

July 14, 2022

The League City Community has called for the jaws to get Trustee Scott Bowen’s panties out of his ass.This guy is such an a**hole. A major league republican a**hole.  Scott Bowen is having a flaming hissy fit. 

It seems there are organizations that specializes in finding qualified leaders for various positions such as the next superintendent of CCISD. Needless to say this is a pretty important position responsible for the day to day activities for thousands of students and parents. I would think hiring a firm that specializes in this type of search is a good idea since it would take a considerable amount of time to find, interview, and research a new superintendent. 

Turns out Scotty is having none of it. One of the companies requesting consideration for the job advertises being an equal opportunity organization which basically means to look far and wide for the most qualified. It has never meant to hire someone based upon a particular ethnicity it just means to search far and wide. It’s not a hard concept to understand unless you’re a pea brain.

Scott is a pee brain. I guess he wants to limit the selection of someone based only on qualifications (which they actually do) just as long as they are a white, male, right wing,  republican. What an a**hole. 

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The state of CCISD school safety. Will your kids be safe? It will cost you to find out.

July 14, 2022
The Coward of District 129

Well on one hand thanks to League City Chamber of Commerce for doing the job the cowards of our State Legislature refuse to do, having a discussion about school safety. On the other hand if you are concerned about how CCISD will be addressing an 18 year old with a military rifle, body armor, and high capacity clips attacking your kids school and playground you will have to pay for it.

The cost is $35 for non members and will probably not include any discussion about gun safety, or how permit less carry affects our safety at schools, malls, churches, etc. The three law enforcement officers from Galveston County and Texas Rangers presenters are all NRA republicans and will die protecting the guns that have been used to kill kids. CCISD will be represented by the Director of Safe and Secure Schools.

Other districts around Houston has had open discussions about gun safety to give parents the sad, truthful, facts about the easy access to guns and the challenge to law enforcement to keep us safe not only in school but in church, concerts, parades, etc. Some of these ugly facts include:

  • Anyone can carry loaded assault weapons in public 
  • Police cannot question anyone who is simply carrying a loaded assault weapon
  • To carry a loaded assault weapon in public requires no training or a license
  • 18 year olds can still buy an assault weapon and ammunition
  • Anyone can buy body armor and dress up like GI Joe
  • Anyone can buy a silencer to muffle the sound of shooting screaming kids
  • Nothing has changed to make your school safer from those who easily obtain assault weapons
This event is on July 20, 2022 and appropriately being held in a church where those who refuse to address gun violence can pray for forgiveness as they walk down the path to hell.

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Posted by johncoby

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