Last month Hayley Winkelmann turned in a motion to recall La Marque City Councilman Joseph Lowry which started a clock to collect about 190 signatures from District C voters. Today they turned in 268 signatures. Once the signatures are verified City Council will have to call a recall election. If that passes then an election to fill the position must be called. It’s not an easy process. Collecting that many signatures is also not very easy. In fact it is very hard work.
Lowry has been the center of controversy ever since being elected to the Council. As I said in previous post:
So in a nutshell what is happening in La Marque and why? The chaos in La Marque is mostly due to one person, Council Member Joseph Lowry. Lowry won his seat in District C just over a year ago and has brought divisiveness, pettiness, and chaos into city politics. He claims to be a “journalist” writing on a Facebook page with childish comments and doctored pictures of his fellow Council Members. His claims of corruption have been baseless and his personal attacks on members of Council and citizens have grown old. His pettiness makes my pettiness look petty. The infighting caused by Lowry was the main reason for a Council Member to resign his seat. You can search the Galveston Daily News for many articles concerning Lowry here.
This is one of the strangest and saddest ethics complaints I have ever seen, and I have seen a lot!
The Texas Ethics Commission issued an Order and Agreed Resolution concerning Fort Bend County Judge KP George’s consultant for his reelection, Taral Patel. Both have been in the news lately with KP George being indicted for money laundering and misrepresenting his identity. He has since left the Democratic Party and joined the GOP (Group of Phelons).
The complaint was filed against Taral Patel and resulted in no fines but Patel plead guilty to two misdemeanors and four felonies and has entered into a pre-trial intervention program for four felony charges of online impersonation. Houston Public Media has the full story. Patel is cooperating with law enforcement in the case against George. At the time Patel was running for County Commissioner against the incumbent Andy Meyers. Personally I thought he had he had all the qualifications for the job and a good chance of winning. From Houston Public Media:
Taral Patel, a Democrat who lost his bid to become a county commissioner last year, also signed an acknowledgment that he had committed one of the offenses alongside Fort Bend County Judge KP George — who has been accused of a similar crime. Patel worked on George’s campaign and also previously served as his chief of staff.
According to the TEC Patel, with the intent to harm a candidate for office, impersonated five individuals on Facebook, Anthony Scalawag (really), Richard Meltonese, Paul Rosenstein, Jennifer Tremaine, and Jane Donnie. From these Facebook accounts he posted racists comments at himself and opposed his candidacy.
A grand jury eventually indicted him on various charges and he lost the election. Because he was indicted and agreed to a resolution the TEC declined to assess a fine. You can read the entire Order and Agreed Resolution here.
Before you file to run for a political office 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’s not a game. Running for office is not a game. There is nothing cute about running. It is very, very, tough work for the candidate and your volunteers. The position has a direct impact on people’s lives whether it is timely trash collection, providing a safe neighborhood with our police and our fire fighters, or protecting our country from foreign and domestic threats. 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.
Follow the law. Running for office requires you to follow the laws of the State governing elections such as filing timely financial reports disclosing donations and expenditures. Visit the Texas Ethics Commission website BEFORE you run, not after a complaint has been filed. A complaint could be very costly to you and your treasurer.
It will cost money. Lots of money. A run for a State Representative seat will cost half a million 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? Do you understand the process used to pass legislation, and do you know 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? 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.
Garrett W. Fulce of Sugar Land hosts “Seeing Red,” a right wing podcast. He claims he is a conservative and is not very happy about Fort Bend Judge KP George announcement about switching to the Republic Party. Fulce wrote an op-ed in the Houston Chronicle titled “KP George needs to say the magic words: ‘I resign'”. It’s a short, funny read. From the OP-ED:
Rejecting George as a Republican isn’t about ideology. It’s about character. George’s party affiliation may have changed, but his character remains consistent: self-serving, manipulative, and deceitful.
Yeah. Right. “self-serving, manipulative, and deceitful” sounds like someone else who is the leader of the GOP. Anyone in the republic party speaking out against KP George is like Osama bin Laden speaking out against terrorism. Give us a break. That in itself is “self-serving, manipulative, and deceitful”.
KP George is the Fort Bend Judge and has been caught up in multiple serious controversies leading to a number of indictments and the Democratic Party calling for his resignation. Instead of resigning KP switched to a party that would welcome him and they did. Why not? Their great leader is a convicted lying, cheating, self-serving, manipulative, and deceitful, felon. Their Texas AG was impeached by an overwhelming number of republicans in the House. They are worshipping convicted felons who stormed the capitol on January 6 some who beat law enforcement. They have no respect for the rule of law or decisions by judges. To them “Law and Order” is the new LOL.
The GOP is the Gang of Phelons and KP George has found a new welcoming home. Good luck and don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
FILE PHOTO: ear gas is released into a crowd of protesters, with one wielding a Confederate battle flag that reads “Come and Take It,” during clashes with Capitol police at a rally to contest the certification of the 2020 U.S. presidential election results by the U.S. Congress, at the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, U.S, January 6, 2021. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
Jeremy Brown wasn’t convicted for the Jan 6 riot but there is more to the story. And it’s explosive.
The Tri-County Women’s Republic Club will be hosting Jeremy Brown, a Jan 6 rioter who was serving a 7 year sentence on a related charge until Trump pardoned him. Brown served in the Army Special Forces and was charged with entering a restricted area and disrupting of a government activity, charges that usually warrants probation. He was in jail for 1243 days before being released. Why, you might ask.
Those charges were dropped after the pardon but he remained in jail after being convicted on a related, serious weapon charges. The DOJ determined the pardon for Jan 6 rioters applied to his other crimes. From NPR:
In a home search the day of Brown’s arrest, federal agents said they found unregistered and modified weapons that violated federal law, a 10-inch barreled AR-15 rifle, a sawed-off shotgun and two grenades. Agents also said they found a military report with classified information about a soldier who had been missing in Afghanistan. He was found guilty by a federal court jury in December 2022 and charged with possession of unregistered short-barrel firearms, possession of unregistered explosive grenades, improper storage of explosive grenades, and retention of classified information.
FILE PHOTO: REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
You can read the read the details of the legal document here. That was why he was in jail. He was convicted on 4 counts of possession of illegal weapons including GRENADES, for fuck sakes. This is who Republic women in Friendswood will be hosting. Friendswood joins Apogee Gulf Coast and The Bay Area chapter of True Texas Project who hosted Jan 6 rioters.
The Bay Area chapter of True Texas Project is holding their next meeting at a private school in Alvin, Apogee Gulf Coast. (Kind of far away from the Bay Area, more on that later) Their host for the evening is convicted Jan 6 rioter Treniss Evans who was sentenced to 3 years probation.
The Attorney General of Hawaii has filed charges against HCDE Trustee Eric Dick for the unauthorized practice of law. The four charges concern the devastating fires in Maui back in 2023. Hawaii News Now reported on the allegations at that time. You can read the complaint here. As I said a few months ago:
This Ethics Commission investigation involves City Council Member Nan Huffman, Tony Buzbee, The Houston Hispanic PAC, The Harris Progressive PAC and an unknown candidate for office, Enyinna Isiguzo. The Houston Chronicle wrote a detailed article prior to the election.
Background During the city election of 2023 Buzbee, Huffman, and Isiguzo ran for City Council District G, the River Oaks area. Isiguzo had no money, no background, and no business running, but he did. Someone sent out glossy mailers supporting him. Other mailers attacked Huffman in an attempt to draw enough votes away from her. Isiguzo drew 11% of the vote and forced a runoff which Huffman later won. An ethics complaint was filed and the Texas Ethics Commission investigated and assess a fine of $12,500.
Who sent the mailers? The mailers were printed by Long Printing and paid for by the Houston Hispanic PAC and the Harris County Progressive PAC. Neither PAC filed with the Texas Ethics Commission. They spent over $29,000 on the mailers. An ethics complaint was filed and the registered agent was fined $12,500. The mailers also had a fake Union logo which could lead to a fine of up to $10,000.Falsifying a union label is consider a breach of federal trademark registration and copyright, according to the Houston Chronicle.
Falsifying a union label is considered a breach of the federal trademark registration and copyright laws, said Oscar Lopez, president of Houston’s Printing, Packaging, Production Workers Union Local Chapter 4535M.
Who is the Houston Hispanic PAC and the Harris County Progressive PAC The HHPAC was created in 2016 according to the Secretary of State. I found no information about the Harris County Progressive PAC. Both are not registered with the Texas Ethics Commission. Neither have any association with the Harris County Democratic Party. Isiguzo ran as the “progressive” candidate in the deep red district.
Who is Daysi Marin? Daysi Marin is the registered agent of the HHPAC and is good friends with Gilbert Garcia. Garcia ran for Mayor in 2023. He was also the treasurer for Tony Buzbee. Marin has been featured on Garcia’s talk show in the past. Marin was the Vice President of the Texas Democratic Women’s organization but was removed from her position. According to the TEC, Marin ignored the Ethics Commission’s complaint. She did not respond to the complaint and failed to attend the informal or formal hearings. The hearing video concerning this complaint is available here starting at 3:50:22. In short, she ignored the complaint, she hindered the investigation, and the TEC fined her $12,500. You can read all of the details in the Order and Agreed Resolution here.
Who is Enyinna Isiguzo? Good question. Little is known about Enyinna. A google search reveals little. His campaign finance reports shows he spent just $150 of his own money. Buzbee spent millions in his losing effort while Huffman spent a couple hundred thousand. His treasurer was Heather Riley of Houston. According to the Chronicle he knew nothing about the expenditures in his favor.
“I don’t even know who those people are,” Isiguzo said. “I would definitely like to find out who paid for that, too, because they didn’t tell me anything.”
Conclusion I am sure everyone can connect the dots between Marin, Garcia and Buzbee. Marin will probably never pay the $12,5000 fine just like Harris County Department of Education Trustee, Eric Dick. The Texas AG will write a sternly written letter threatening legal action and then will do nothing. The TEC does not have enforcement authority so this will be just another of many unpaid fines. The entire event almost succeeded and could lay the foundation for others interested in swaying an election.
Yesterday the Galveston Municipal Police Association thought it would be cute to post the above on their social media platform after former President Joe Biden visited the island for the Juneteenth celebration. They received a boatload of comments, mostly negative, including one simply saying “What a bunch of assholes”. That was me. They have since TACOed and removed the post.
The GMPA is a non profit organization and according to their Facebook page “GMPA was formed to represent the interests and concerns of police officers within the Galveston Police Department”. They have a PAC that raised just over $15,000 in 2024 spending over $8,000 on the services of Wayne Dolcefino instead of an actual website. Dolcefino is a former journalist with KTRK. According to the Houston Chronicle Dolcefino torpedoed Turner’s chances for Mayor with a story that was deemed to be false. A jury awarded Turner $5.5 Million. Dolcefino is now a glorified blogger.
Biden’s visit was greatly appreciated by those attending the celebration. While in office Biden made Juneteenth a federal holiday. On June 19, 1865 enslaved African Americans in Galveston, Texas, were finally informed of their freedom, two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation.
The GMPA honored those who celebrated the occasion by being a bunch of assholes. It’s as if their goddamn parents didn’t instill a lick of fucking sense when it comes to shutting the fuck up. Sometimes that is all you have to do, just shut the fuck up, to act like a fucking human being.
La Marque was on the edge of taking over the chaos in the city until Nick Long found a keyboard.
You would think the Mayor of League City would learn to read the room and STFU especially after this buddy Justin Hicks passed the chaos torch to La Marque and resigned. But the peaceful protest in his city against his lord and savior, Donald Trump, triggered him.
The protest was a huge success with almost 1000 showing up in a deep, deep, red area of Texas. The police did a great job and were greatly appreciated. The Trump supporters arrived in the single digits, at most 9 at one time. They had more signs than people to hold them. That didn’t stop Long from making ignorant comments on social media and commenting on a made-up claim about being harassed. (That didn’t happen)
He claimed that Elon Musk’s AI app, Grok, estimated just 350. Grok and Elon are NAZI trash. Besides, why in the fuck would Long care? It was a successful and peaceful protest. No one brought guns. No one stormed city hall. No one beat up or killed a cop. No one was flying NAZI or Confederate flags. League City received praise for all of this from the Galveston Daily News. All Long should have done was take credit for it, thank the protestors and the police, and go do something more productive like picking on the Gay Community. Again.
SpaceXplosion has a serious systemic problem. How many more explosions is the FAA going to tolerate before they determine the root cause of these mishaps. How many more explosions will the local residents tolerate? Who has to die before someone makes SpaceX stand down until they determine WTF is going on?
The video to the left is disturbing. Not only was the vehicle destroyed but the pad was destroyed and I would bet homes in the area might have damage. There is probably environmental damage as well. But watch that video and count between the time you see the explosion and the time you hear it. The people who took the video was just over a mile away. I was able to get a pass on “The Causeway” to see a Shuttle Launch many years ago. That location was about 8 miles away. My parents were VIPs at the visitor center which was just over 3 miles away. You can actually hear the person who took the video comment about the heat from the Xplosion. They were that close.
After this many accidents SpaceX needs to stand down and determine the root cause of the multiple failures. Calling the explosions cute names like a RUD “Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly” isn’t funny anymore. These accidents have become a RUFUS “Rapid Unscheduled Fuck Ups”.
You can watch the official SpaceX video below. If you watch from a couple of minutes before the explosion you will hear them talking about a June 29 launch and what I consider as an unprofessional attitude to a very serious endeavor. They then reference to the event as a RUD but then simply refer to it as what it really happened. It blew up.
Posted by johncoby 
Bay Area Houston 