Waiting for ethics reform from the republicans in Texas is like waiting for the next album by Guns & Roses. It will take a long time and you will probably not like it when it arrives.

According to an article on Empower Texas website, a far right wing PAC, Mayes who is the co-founded of the Chambers County Ethical Government Board, had declared himself the Ethics Czar of the upcoming legislation session. According to his article:

Elected office is supposed to be about public service, not self-service–we are all fed up with politicians profiting off their position. Corruption is an egregious perversion of our constitutional republic and should be dealt with extremely harshly.  People are elected to first, foremost, and always represent the true owners of every elected seat, the voter’s citizens and taxpayers, and never just their own wallets.

Yeah. Right. Mayes is the one who spent $1.5 million of his own money to win the republican primary in HD23, the Galveston County area. He only raised $1.7 million and spent $1.6 million for just 7981 votes. His opponent spent about $149,000 on the primary.

When you look at his financial reports you will find loans and contributions to himself totally $1,485,000, a total of 95% of his entire fundraising efforts. According to his July 2018 report he only raised $74,187, much coming from out of district, and he has only $45,099 cash on hand meaning he has spent about $1.5Million on a State House primary race. 

The Republican Party has been in control of this state for two decades. I cannot remember any major changes to laws concerning ethics or campaign finance reform. They are not interested in this issue. Never has been. Never will be. Neither are republican voters.

Maybe Mayes should push for an end to self financed campaigns instead. He should remember “People are elected to first, foremost, and always represent the true owners of every elected seat, the voter’s citizens and taxpayers, and never just their own wallets.”

Greg Abbott and Dan Patrick has endorsed Pete Flores in the race for Senate in district 19. He has about $12,000 left to run in a district that covers from San Antonio to Big Bend National Park. 

Flores has raised about $60,000 since early 2016 with $37,000 coming from donations ranging from $10,000 – $500. This includes a $10,000 donation from Richard Scott and a $10,000 from Antonio Falcon. For a Senate race this is not a good sign of being competitive.

Abbott has endorsed some strange fundraisers from Flores who will depend upon large donations from Abbott’s buddies to Kathaleen Wall who self financed her congressional campaign with $6million. And lost. Hopefully Flores will lose or else you will see special interest money flooding the district in a runoff.

According to the Texas Tribune:

Complicating the dynamic between Gallego and Gutierrez is a growing Republican effort to unify behind a single candidate — Pete Flores, who ran against Uresti in 2016 — and send him to a runoff in the Democratic-leaning district. That movement became clearer than ever Thursday when Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick jumped into the fray, endorsing Flores over his two lesser-known GOP rivals.

And Dan Patrick says:

“But Pete is reminding District 19 voters that the seat actually belongs to the people. People who have a shitload of money to spend to buy this seat.”

Well, he sort of said that.

I’ve said this before. A socialist is about as popular as herpes at a hot tub party.

According to Newsweek 76% of Americans would not vote for a socialist. They are being generous. Nobody likes a socialist especially as the leader of our country, state or district. Like herpes in a hot tub, a socialist’s ideas will not hurt people, but like herpes, not enough voters are willing to put their speedo on and join your Hot Tub Party. From Newsweek:

Seventy-six percent of Americans said they would not vote for a “socialist” political candidate, while just 24 percent said they would, according to a new Hill.TV/HarrisX American Barometer poll released Tuesday. The poll results fly in the face of a joint effort by Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez to push their Democratic-Socialism platform more into mainstream politics ahead of the 2018 midterm elections.

If the Bernie Sanders Socialists want to gain more traction they might consider dropping the title “socialist”. Being labeled a socialist and campaigning as a socialist is a great way to lose an election for you and your Hot Tub Party. If you want to align yourself with the Democratic Party, do us a favor and drop the title. It doesn’t help. It hurts. As much as you want to think socialists have good ideas  (and they do) that would benefit the country (and they might), as long as you call yourself a socialist you will never get enough voters to risk the dip into your political breeding ground. It’s just that simple. Socialists are not very popular in America. They are considered moochers, lazy, always wanting something for free while others work hard to provide it. Socialists may not like it but that is the reality.

You can be either be a socialist or a Democrat. There is no middle ground. We are Democrats. Nothing more. Nothing less. If you want to run on socialist ideas, do so but just drop the “socialist” crap.

When you say “Socialist” we say “herpes”
Socialist! Herpes!
Socialist! Herpes!

The republican candidates for state wide office have refused to debate their Democratic challengers. Ken Paxton has issued the following excuse from the Dallas Observer:

“Attorney General Paxton will communicate directly with the voters about important issues and his outstanding record of accomplishment the past 4 years, including how he has has spent millions of campaign donations to keep himself out of a federal jail.”

And Dan Patrick issued the following excuse from the Texas Observer:

“It’s no secret Lieutenant Governor Patrick relishes debates, but since his opponent shows no sign of grasping even the most basic rudiments of state government, our campaign has no plans to debate him. Besides I am still too busy working on the bathroom bill during potty breaks.”

Ok. Those are not exactly the quotes, but you get the idea. Sid Miller, the Texas Agriculture Commissioner has declined an invitation from Kim Olson and has issued an official response translated by his political adviser Todd Smith. According to Sid Miller:

“baaack baaack baaack BAA-CAA!”

“Sid Miller says it will be a cold day in the chicken coop before I will take the stage with a women that is taller, smarter, and has more integrity than in her little finger than I have in my entire body!”

Miller continued: “baaack baaack baaaaaack baack”

“Instead of debating his opponent in front of Texas voters, Sid Miller will stick to doing the job for the Texas farmer by endorsing the tariffs by Trump and letting the crops die. The loss of income will help farmers toughen up for the winter.”

So Miller will not debate. Reminds me of Colonel Sanders. Chicken.

From The Lone Star Project

Loaning yourself money to get elected seems to be a thing with republicans including State Senator Joan Huffman.

According to her campaign finance reports Huffman loaned her campaign $890,000 with another $100,000 coming from Lt Governor Dan Patrick and she donated another $101,000. This amount was over 25% of her entire fundraising effort.

She raised a total of $4.9 Million with $2.0 Million coming from donations ranging from $10,000-$150,000. Her top donors were the Weekley brothers for $200,000, Anthony Annuziato for $150,000,  Robert McNair for $115,000, Bob Perry for $192,000, John Nau for $100,000, Stephen Davis for $140,000,  Tilman Fertitta for $60,000,  and Texans for Lawsuit Reform for $325,000. Today Huffman has about $69,000 Cash on Hand.

Huffman is well known for filing the so called “bathroom bill” that wasted considerable amount of time and money for a law that could never be enforced and could probably be used against her, just in case. The bill was flushed late in the session after Huffman listened to overwhelming negative testimony during the hearing. The testimony didn’t matter to her. It was passed immediately after the testimony was over.

I can’t believe he actually said this concerning the San Jacinto River waste pit, a Superfund Site on the east side of the County. From the Baytown Sun:

“I’ve driven by here 100 times, and this is actually the first time I’ve been on the ground down here,” Babin said.  

An EPA dive team discovered 22 small areas measuring up to 50-square-feet earlier this month that confirmed the protective cap was absent and the underlying toxic waste material was exposed. Data indicated that dioxins are still registering nearly as high in concentration as they were in those first days and weeks after Hurricane Harvey when they were more than 70,000 parts per trillion. The latest data found levels up to 60,500 parts per trillion, which is far beyond acceptable, as the EPA mandates cleanups for 30 parts per trillion and up. 

Really? Its not like it hasn’t been in the news. In fact not only has it been in the news, the Harris County Attorney, Vince Ryan, sued to have the pits cleaned. The pits were discovered in 2005 and was a dumping site for companies back in the 1960’s. Since 2005 the community and Harris County has been working to hold those who created this mess accountable. The EPA declared the pits a Superfund site in 2008. The Galveston Bay Foundation has a great collection of information and history about the site at their website.

So it’s not like the San Jacinto Waste Pits just sprang up as Babin was driving around in his district. It has been there for as long as Babin has been in office. It just wasn’t a priority for him especially when he advocates for the end of the EPA by cutting their funding. He also has major donors from the companies in the area who want to be freed from EPA regulations, the type that would prevent Superfund sites.

Babin continued:

“I’ve also heard there is a Space facility on the west side of the district. Maybe I will take a tour.”

Miller is under water on his financial reports. He is what we in Texas call a Texas sized a**hole. When you are looking for the a**hole of Texas, just look for Sid Miller.

In his last report, Miller raised about $63,000, spent $173,000, and has $136,000 Cash on Hand with a $275,000 outstanding loan. He is underwater.

Since running for Texas Agriculture Commissioner in 2014, Miller has raised $1.7 Million for this state wide race. $550,000 came from a couple of individuals who provided loans. He has paid back about $175,000.
Brad Allen loaned $200,000.
Richard Pedale loaned $100,000.
Tramell Crow loaned $250,000.

Of the $1,250,000 actually raised, $362,000 came from 7 individuals:
$97,000 Richard Redalen
$50,000 Donald McGill of McGill Toyota
$60,000 Tramell Crow
$30,000 Timothy Dunn
$25,000 Robert Patton
$25,000 Trevor Rees-Jones
$75,000 Todd Smith

It is difficult to determine from over 700 entries how much has come from PACs since much of the required information on the financial reports is not provided. Maybe I could dig harder on this in the future. For someone who hasn’t had an opponent for the general election in a long while, Miller has spent a ton of money with only $136,000 left and with $275,000 in outstanding loans.

State Representative Dennis Paul still has a $156,000 loan on his books. 

Paul only raised $31,400 this last reporting period. This includes $6000 out of state and $15,900 out of district. PACs amount for $25,000 and individuals provided just $6400. For a sitting representative his fund raising is lagging.

Last quarter Paul, who owns Paul Engineering, took $5000 from James Dannebaum. Dannebaum who also owns an Engineering firm, was raided by the FBI. From the Express News:

Ruben Villarreal is a Hispanic republican running for Texas HD144. Go figure. He beat Gilbert Pena in the republican primary after Pena raised a couple of thousand dollars.

His financial reports do not add up. He lists total loans adding up to $13,088 but only $9140 is documented. His total fundraising equals only $24,850 not including the $13,088 loan. Not including as in he didn’t include it in his contributions. About $8740 in loans came from, what appears to be a relative, Roberto Villarreal and $400 came from Ruben himself. His COH is $8076, again not including the $13,088 in loans.

His expenditures total 17,258.

$22,500 out of the $24,850 raised came from 3 PACS, $20,000 from Texans for Lawsuit Reform a front group for businesses in Texas, $1500 from the Hispanic Republican PAC, and $1000 from the State Farm PAC. Only $2350 came from individuals.

It appears TLR is going to finance Villarreal’s campaign. He is the Hispanic republican pigeon for the 2018 elections. I would bet this isn’t the first time TLR would finance a campaign in fact I remember a race years ago in the same area where TLR heavily financed a Hispanic Women in the Democratic primary. She lost.

Villarreal should be consider funded and dangerous. TLR is a cash cow and has tens of thousands to spend on this race against a current, very successful, representative, Mary Ann Perez.