And you wonder why League City Council got rid of the Ethics Committee?

In his last campaign finance report Scott Higginbotham did not disclose a $5000 donation to Nick Long’s PAC. That donation was used to attack his opponent. Looking at his latest report Higginbotham claims to have raised $11,850 but documented only $582.82.

In his previous report he had $10,627.26 COH after raising $11,850, loaning his campaign $5000, and spending $6222.74. That adds up. What doesn’t add up is his second report.

In his second report he loaned his campaign another $16,500 leaving an outstanding loan balance of $21,500. He didn’t document over $11,000 in donations. He claims to have spent over $24,000 but documented only about $4000.

None of this is right. None of it ads up. None of it.

It didn’t come from just any conservative. It came from inside City Council.

League City Councilman Chad Tressler wrote a lengthy Facebook post supporting Justin Hicks’ opponent, Joe Italiano, and absolutely hammering Hicks. (If you have access to his post you can find it here, otherwise I posted it below) It’s long and covers Hicks’ lies about his bankruptcy, his fiscal irresponsibility, his record on Council, his chaos, and his so called “accomplishments”.

If you are considering voting for Hicks you might want to read about his record on Council, provided by a Councilman, and compare it to his claims of being a fiscal conservative. It is a long read. Here is a summary provided by Tressler:

In summary, Justin Hicks is the worst member of Council I’ve ever witnessed. His out of control ego, his abusive treatment of other folks, and his seeming inability to tell the truth all should be red flags for potential voters. If anyone would like to know more details regarding any of my thoughts on this, please feel free to give me a call or email.

It is one week before the election. Here is the full comment by Tressler:

This is my endorsement, 𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐯𝐨𝐭𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐉𝐨𝐞 𝐈𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐨 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐠𝐮𝐞 𝐂𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐥, 𝐏𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝟓

𝐋𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐕𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧: For far too long I’ve kept the peace by keeping silent. But what was that really accomplished? When it comes to Councilman Justin Hicks, it’s lead to his ability to con more and more citizens of League City into believing his shtick. It’s lead to his wife showing up in Council chambers holding a sign accusing me of being a “groomer”. And it’s lead to his continued abuse of and threats towards citizens, local business owners, other council-members, and city staff when they fail to respond to his demands to jump with the question “How high?” I’ve realized that my silence hasn’t brought peace. My silence has been a disservice to the citizens of League City I was elected to serve. And while I’m sure there will be some form of retribution from his camp, I cannot allow my silence to remain as tacit approval for the antics of this fraud.

Why do I call Justin Hicks a fraud? Because the appearance of an effective elected official which he presents on social media couldn’t be further from the truth. The fact is the only area where Justin Hicks happens to be effective lies in mimicking a cockroach, able to survive off the crumbs dropped to him from far more skillful politicians while deflecting the scrutiny and disinfecting power of sunlight on his actual actions and personal character (or lack thereof). As someone who has seen behind the curtain, through interactions that the public doesn’t see, I owe it to the citizens of League City to call out the real Justin Hicks, specifically:

Bankruptcy

Regarding his financial bankruptcy I will only say this – I find it odd that Mr. Hicks has made public statements during debates on student loan forgiveness to the effect of if you can’t afford the payments, you shouldn’t take out the loan. And while I personally hold that belief and don’t support student loan forgiveness, I also continue to pay my own debts all the time. Seems he should take some of his own advice. Sure, circumstances change, and he’s asking for that consideration from the citizens, but he doesn’t seem to give it to others. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander. In his own words, “…why do YOU deserve to have your loan paid off with a magic wand?” Isn’t that what bankruptcy ultimately amounts to as well?

Claims council duties don’t include managing city finances/Claims he has saved taxpayers money

This claim from Justin is the most laughable. Frankly, the single most impactful thing that a council member does in a council-manager form of government is to review, edit, and approve the annual budget. This is where the words and promises become actions and expenditures. This is where fiscal responsibility and conservatism are demonstrated, and this is where problems get solved. There’s only two possibilities based on Justin’s claim – either after four years of serving on Council he STILL doesn’t know what it is that we do, or he simply isn’t concerned with telling the truth, only with whatever serves to get him out of his latest self-made fire at the time. Neither is a good reason to have this guy on Council any longer. Sadly, I think it’s the character issue at play, not simple ignorance, as Mr. Hicks himself refuted his own claims that he has “no control over city money” in his own quotes provided for the article when he stated, “I have saved the residents so much money in property taxes.” After all, saving money means expenses were cut. So which is it? Furthermore, while he wants to hide behind the anonymity of being a body of eight members when asked about city money, he then goes on to claim HE saved property taxes, as if he did anything single-handedly.

Claims he passed more legislation than any of his colleagues

I know where Mr. Hicks came up with this little fib – he wasted our staff’s time when he asked them to peruse the minutes of council meetings to flag for him every item he sponsored on the agenda. And while it’s been quite a few items – here’s the issue: sponsoring an item on the agenda is not the same as passing legislation. The fact is everything passed by our Council is (as Mr. Hicks correctly identified elsewhere) done as a body. So the truth is, passing the most simply means you voted along with the majority more than anyone else. I wasn’t aware we were awarding prizes for being a fantastic follower, and it’s pretty ironic to see someone who criticizes folks as sheep celebrate being simply part of the majority. But there’s more issues, first and foremost, that simply by default of having been on council much longer than Mr. Hicks due to previous terms or earlier elections than that which brought the city Councilman Hicks, at least half the council has actually passed more legislation than he.

But in acknowledgement that this is just perhaps a failure of Mr. Hicks incomplete mastery of the English language and he only meant to say more items that he sponsored have been passed, this is actually highlighting a fundamental failure of Mr. Hicks in comprehending how municipal governments work and an inability to focus on what should be the actual priorities of a council member. When I say he doesn’t understand how municipal governments work, here’s the crux of the issue – the staff are frankly much more educated and informed on almost everything which the Council discusses. Those of us who understand that also know that the staff are the ones that will have to implement anything we vote for and will be responsible for carrying out the day to day work. As such, when we have ideas, we run them by the staff, and if it’s something that’s just good governance, they take the idea and run with it, bringing it back to council for approval.

Consequently, you won’t see our names on the agenda as sponsoring many of the things that we’ve initiated, unless they are things which are more theoretical and philosophical in nature. You’ll also see us focusing on municipal issues, which is a struggle for Mr. Hicks. His priorities are topics that are decided at the state and federal level, which is why he’s put some of them on the agenda, and they’ve been items that have done nothing but bring unnecessary division while accomplishing nothing.

Claims that he has saved taxpayers money

Justin was appointed to serve as council liaison to a TIRZ (Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone). When he figured out that all of the planned projects were completed, he asked them to go ahead and end the TIRZ early. He then told the public that he “found” some sort of magical free money and proceeded to promise it to all sorts of groups. He promised new equipment to the Fire Department’s volunteers. He promised a new fire station to another council member to be built in an undeveloped field on the west side of town and called it “much needed”. He promised new vehicles to the officers in the Police Department. But what he didn’t tell anyone is that this money would come out of the general fund in that maintaining the no-new-revenue rate going forward would mean these projects are replacing other expenses. He could have actually passed on a small savings to the taxpayers, but instead went on a spending spree.

Takes the credit for actions taken by the entire Council as his accomplishments

While he definitely voted in favor of all the things he claims on his campaign literature, the fact is most everyone of those votes (except for a few highly divisive ones that were hyper-political and resulted in zero actual changes) were unanimous votes. This doesn’t make him a great councilman, it makes him a politician. For example, he brags about League City being named the 4th safest city. He ignores that this is the work of our PD, and the fact that we live in a relatively affluent and highly educated town. He claims that he ended remaining COVID restrictions immediately when he was elected. I was on Council then – we’d already ended the emergency declaration and the best I can recall is the only thing that remained were some footprint decals in front of the desks at Hometown Heroes Park and the Clerk’s desk. Justin made sure those were removed, I’m glad he saved the day. (Frankly, I’d love to have some space in lines to this day, and it has nothing to do with COVID, but hey, he wanted to say he did something).

In summary, Justin Hicks is the worst member of Council I’ve ever witnessed. His out of control ego, his abusive treatment of other folks, and his seeming inability to tell the truth all should be red flags for potential voters. If anyone would like to know more details regarding any of my thoughts on this, please feel free to give me a call or email. (409)218-2916, chad@chadtressler.com

This is just sad.

The civil war in League City is pitting Conservatives against MAGAt Republicans and it is getting ugly. On one side you have MAGAt Republicans, League City Mayor Nick Long, and his political action committee, Bay Area Conservatives. Joining Long is Justin “Morally Bankrupt” Hicks, and Scott Higginbotham running for City Council. On the other side you have conservatives such as Tom Crews and Joe Italiano.

If you believe the crap Nick Long is putting out you might think Italiano and Crews are left wing nuts. They aren’t. They are conservatives. Not MAGAts, conservatives. There is a huge difference. Italiano is a CPA, a fiscal conservative, and very well qualified for the job. His opponent Just Hicks has filed for bankruptcy, can’t seem to hold down a job, has multiple suits against him for not paying his credit cards, has brought his divisiveness to the city, and has a voting record as thin as an onion skin. Yet he advertises himself as a fiscal conservative and veteran. Fiscal conservatives pay their debts. Veterans vote. Every. Fuckin. Time.

Tom Crews is a sitting Council Member. He is also a conservative. Mayor Long is sending literature and posting signs that claim Crews is a Democrat. He isn’t. He doesn’t act like Long’s MAGAt buddies. Crews opponent, Scott Higginbotham, has paid for these attacks by hiding his $5000 donation to Nick’s PAC. He endorses these pathetic attacks. One of Scott’s supporters even verbally assaulted Crews at a polling location. Who the fuck does that? (MAGAts)

The voters will make the call in November. Do they believe in conservative values or are they also MAGAts? My bet is that most of League City voters don’t give a flying fuck about conservative values. They, like Hicks and Long and what they represent. They love the lies. They talk a big game about being conservatives but in the end they are just MAGAts.

This is strange, tacky, deceitful, and quite dickish.

Mayor Nick Long, the guy who ushered in Justin Hicks onto League City Council has taken a side in the race for city council and it is slimy. League City is a republican leaning city. City Council is a republican sausage fest with all males, some being of the MAGAt kind. Real conservatives are a minority on Council. They are the ones that will not support banning books or attacks on the gay community. Those are not conservative values. They are MAGAt values, the kind Long and Hicks embrace.

So Long’s political action committee is supporting a candidate who is running against one of the true conservatives on council, Councilman Tom Crews. He is pulling a trump and doing what trump does best. Lie. Like a dog with his cute little sign calling Crews a Democrat and claiming he is going to “defund public safety”. Saying that is not only wrong it is something you say if you want to sound like a political moron much like saying “I do my own research”. Personally I have never seen a sitting Mayor take a side and being a dick about it and I’ve been involved in politics a long time.

At least Long is not actively supporting Bankrupt Hicks. He has limits to his stupidity and dickishness.