The Silence on CCISD Elections: How Our Local Media Failed Us

May 7, 2025

In the words of Hank Hill: “Where you at?”

BTW. I have contact with a number of journalists and greatly appreciate what they do but their outlet needs to do better. The CCISD area has a couple of local media outlets including Community Impact, The Houston Chronicle, The Galveston Daily News, and the The Southbelt Leader. None of these media outlets have ever dug deep into the candidates for CCISD trustees. I can give a pass to Community Impact because that isn’t what they do although maybe they should reconsider. The 2025 election was a great example of our local media being missing in action.

No media outlet dug deep into the candidates past, abilities, or fundraising for the position. Trustee Scott Bowen has a history (documented by videos) of supporting school vouchers and advocating against public schools in Austin. He has a history of associating with extreme organizations and people. There is enough background on him to fill up a post titled “A Threat to CCISD Education” and yet no local media reported on it. Joe Machol, Bowen’s recruit, was probably the worst candidate in CCISD history to run for the Board and yet the media was silent. He had no money, no background in education, no campaign, and no business running for Trustee.

These positions are important to the community especially parents of school kids. The information about these candidates should be researched and provided to the community so they can make informed decisions. They should know their past, their qualifications, and their source of funding no matter how disturbing it may be. Over the last few years school districts across the country have been infested with extremists funded by white wing organizations like Patriot Mobile and Defend Texas Liberty and yet there was little if any coverage of this.

It’s disappointing that my small blog, Bay Area Houston, has to do the heavy lifting. All the information is public or available via a google search but I don’t have the coverage of the media in the Bay Area. I don’t have the audience to make an impact. I’m not an educated journalist. I’m just a loud mouth blogger. The community needs this information. They need our media outlets.

Do better. We need you.


Texas Insurance Legislation: A Disappointment for Bay Area Property Owners

May 6, 2025

We are on our own until November 2026.

Side Sour Note: 
Since my visit to Austin I have been overly busy and have neglected to keep you informed of the progress of any bills that may help us with the rising cost of insurance. I left Austin extremely disappointed in the lack of attention to our situation. Let me be blunt about where we stand. No one is coming to help us. The bills being debated are nothing but minor changes that will NOT help reduce our premiums. There are some Legislators who understand our situation and are trying but they are overwhelmed by the opposition in Austin. Where do we go from here? I do not know.

Bills being debated:
Megan Kimble of the Houston Chronicle just wrote an excellent article, “Texas plan to rein in home insurers doesn’t go far enough”  concerning a number of bills making their way through Austin. Take some time to read it to understand where we stand.

Our State Representative and Senator
HB2067/SB1006. State Representative Dennis Paul and Senator Mayes Middleton filed HB2067 and SB1006 which are “companion” bills. Companions make it easier to fast track. Both are on their way to passing but will have no effect on our situation. The bills require an insurance company to write a letter when they cancel or deny service to you. That’s all it does. Expect them to boast about this accomplishment soon after the session is over.

Senator Mayes is stepping away from his seat to run for Texas Attorney General and Dennis Paul is rumored to be retiring. Maybe we can find two candidates who will champion our cause in 2026.

HB2741 will prohibit the use of credit scoring in setting premiums. It was left pending in the Insurance Committee in early April. SB1644 Will require an insurance company to write a letter if your credit score negatively affects your premiums. It seems ready to pass. Once again pretty useless.

SB1643 will require insurance companies to justify an increase in a rate over 10%. It passed the Senate. This bill does NOT apply to increases in premiums. It is for rate increases. Your rate may not change but your premium might double. This bill does absolutely nothing for us. 

HB1576/SB2924 will create a “Fortify” program similar to Alabama. In Alabama the state helps you fortify your home from weather events in exchange for lower premiums. The Texas bill does not guarantee lower premiums. Why anyone would go through the expense of fortifying a home without an incentive is beyond me. The House bill has passed the house. The Senate bill is coming up for a hearing.

No bills were filed to address the cost of repairs or price gouging after a weather event.


Voters Reject Partisan Politics in Texas Schools including CCISD

May 5, 2025

If I woke up with my head sewn to the carpet I would not be more surprised.

CCISD voters made a huge statement last Saturday and rejected partisan politics in our schools by soundly beating Trustee Scott Bowen and his recruit, Joe Machol. They beat back Bowen’s Billionaire Buddies. I bet the voucher bill signed on elected day contributed to these defeats. Bowen authored the Voucher Bill resolution for the Texas Republic Party. CCISD was not alone in taking a stand against extremists.

Mansfield ISD defeated 3 MAGA incumbents including the President and Secretary by large margins. In Katy ISD James Cross crushed the sitting MAGA President Victor Perez. “Perez, an outspoken conservative, has led the charge for banning books since taking office.” (Houston Chronicle) In Keller ISD (see background here) MAGA Trustee Micah Young decided not to run and for good reason. He would have been crushed. He was funded by the right wing Patriot Mobile PAC with $50,000. MAGA incumbent, Tammy Nakamura, funded by Patriot Mobile was defeated in Grapevine Colleyville ISD. Patriot Mobile spent $70,000 on her race.

Patriot Mobile has spent an outrageous amount of money on their candidates. Two lost. One resigned. Maybe parents, teachers, and taxpayers have had enough of dark money in school boards.

Maybe.


Local Candidates Face Election Upset in Seabrook

May 5, 2025

With all the noise coming out of Seabrook I didn’t expect this.

The candidates of the Save Seabrook (SS) Squad were enjoying spicy crawfish at The Barge on election night, at least for a little while. In the end all but one lost. Angela Cervantes is the only SS candidate that won her seat on City Council. Jackie Rasco lost. J.P. Byers lost. Kyra Burton lost. Chris Hues lost. I really didn’t see this coming and I bet they didn’t appreciate the guy in the corner playing WOMP WOMP on his trombone.

As a side note former Seabrook City Councilman and former NFL referee, Joe Machol, was ejected from the game with a crushing defeat for CCISD school board. That was a win-win for both Seabrook and CCISD.

Mayoral candidate, Jim Sweeney, beat Rasco by only 13 votes out of a total of 1539. There will be a recount and possibly legal action by Rasco with wild claims of voter fraud, ballot harvesting, and other unsubstantiated claims that have never been proven across the county and country. If Harris County had handled this election there would be a paper trail that can be recounted and verified. I’m not sure what type of voting machines Seabrook uses so it might not be an easy recount and candidates could claim the machine switched votes. We shall see.

Otherwise Seabrook has elected an incredibly talented Mayor and great members of City Council. You might want to review Sweeneys resume here. Maybe the citizens were not ready to be the center of attention for local media and nosy bloggers. Congratulations to Jim Sweeney, Jared Sessum, Summer Sanford, Tyler Kubena, and Angela Cervantes.


CCISD Voters Reject Billionaire Influence in School Board Election

May 4, 2025

Last night the Conservatives, Democrats, and Independents of the district found common ground and returned Trustee Jessica Cejka to the school board and elected Rebecca Lilley. People said loudly “PARTISAN POLITICS DO NOT BELONG IN OUR SCHOOLS!”.

CCISD voters have bucked the billionaires from Dallas, Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks. These two have spent millions financing candidates for school boards across the state including CCISD. Scott Bowen took their money as did his recruit Peter Lauzon. Both have lost. Lauzon was primarily funded by Wilks PAC, Defend Texas Liberty with $5000. DTL also gave $5000 to another candidate. She returned it.

Bowen spent almost $20,000 of his own money in his losing effort while others spent a couple of thousand. Joe Machol who challenged Jessica Cejka didn’t have much of a campaign and spent little if any. He did get a bit of help from the Harris County Republic Party with some texting.

Thanks to the voters CCISD will be a shining example across the state. We stood up to the billionaires. We put kids, parents, teachers, and tax payers over political parties. It doesn’t matter what party you align with just as long as you run for the right reasons. Congratulations to Jessica and Rebecca and to the voters of the district!


Justin Hicks II might return to League City Council

May 3, 2025

JFK! WTF is wrong with you people?

Wasn’t Justin Hicks enough for League City? Aren’t you tired of chaos, corruption, and cruelty? Aren’t you tired of the veiled threats by the extreme MAGAts of the Republic Party? Aren’t you starving for civility and elected leaders just doing their damn jobs? If so why in the living heck would you put Scott Higginbotham on Council?

His latest Hicks move is a recent mailer he sent with his opponents home address. That is unnecessary. The opponent he attacked has responded. Voters should respond to.


Houston, We Have a Problem. Again.

May 3, 2025

NASA’s problem is Elon’s profit.

Remember when President Obama cancelled the Constellation Program in 2009? I do. The Tea Party People (pre-MAGAts) at NASA threw a fit! Constellation was a massive, underfunded, program designed to continue the Space Station, return to the Moon and go to Mars. The Obama Administration cancelled the Mars portion (for good reasons) and began investing in the private sector (Space X) for transportation to the Space Station leaving travel to the Moon to NASA.

The right wingers of NASA at JSC went absolutely ballistic. At least one manager was “promoted” to staff after sending an email calling for voting Obama out of office. Others were clearly not happy. Some quit in disgust. Before Elon Musk became a dick the idea of using SpaceX vehicles became cool and was accepted by the NASA community. But now? Massive cuts to NASA are coming in the 2026 budget released by Trump. Most of that money will now go to Musk and SpaceX. Here are the highlights from NASAWatch:

Orion, Gateway, and STEM will gut NASA/JSC. These are programs assigned to JSC. Gateway is a Space Station around the Moon and the first module was recently delivered. It’s dead. Orion is the vehicle that will send humans to the Moon and Mars. It’s gone after the 3rd flight. NASA has worked on that project for over a decade. STEM Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, is an educational program for aspiring young scientists and engineers. Space Launch System (SLS) is a heavy lift rocket designed to send Orion to the moon. It is being designed in Alabama and has had one flight.

$6 Billion out of a $24 Billion budget is massive. Management at JSC has encouraged those who voted for the felon, civil service and contractors alike, to stand up and volunteer to quit their jobs. Needless to say none will take that offer. (I’m kidding).

What will JSC have left? Operation of the Space Station serviced by Elon Musk up until 2030 when Trump wants it decommissioned. Then NASA/JSC will transition to Musk. Musk will provide private sector space travel using our tax dollars. LOL. Seriously. Trump is simply privatizing space travel using our money.

Maybe the NASA MAGAts will throw a fit before being thrown out the door.


Seabrook Sh*t Show Part 2

May 2, 2025

This is strange. Very strange.

Seabrook has a loud and obnoxious Facebook group called Save Seabrook (SS). It’s like Elon Musk’s DOGE of Seabrook, making wild ass claims about the state of the city. It’s what MAGAts do. Tell a lie, repeat it, defend it, move on to the next one. It has been quite successful all over the country. People eat that shit up like it was spicy crawfish.

In the long run it may not serve the people of Seabrook well. Take a look at League City for example. The MAGAts took over City Council led by Mayor Pro Tem Justin Hicks. Real Conservatives lost their voice in all the chaos. Justin eventually resigned but League City provided media outlets with enough stories to last a year and a Sunday. As I said in my last post (Seabrook Shit Show) about Seabrook and Mayoral Candidate Jackie Rasco who is supported by the SS group:

So a few years ago there was an incident that required police intervention at Jackies home involving a nosy neighbor, an intoxicated expunged, a gun, $3000 worth of damage, and an arrest. You can read the entire police report here.

That was some crazy shit! Now just a few days prior to the election the SS group announced a free pound of crawfish provided by The Barge295 if you show a I voted sticker. Once they realized that is against the law to provide a reward for voting they rescinded the offer. Then someone actually made signs blaming their own stupidity on the candidate for Mayor! As I said, lie. Defend. Repeat.

The Barge used to be my go to place for crawfish but I think I will look elsewhere from now on. Not quite sure what the candidates, supported by the SS, have promised The Barge. Why do voters want chaos when they can have a Mayor who has decades of incredible applicable experience in city issues and has served the community well? The SS is supporting Rasco, Burton, Byers, and Cervantes.

Seabrook could be the next League City.


Fact Checking CCISD Trustee. Again

May 1, 2025

It’s Scott Bowen again.

Scott’s latest mailer criticizes his opponent for her support of masking during the COVID Pandemic that killed over 1 million Americans. She was clear in her support and for good reason. She works in the medical profession and saw the death and suffering of many who were stricken with COVID. Scott on the other hand made fun of those who were trying to keep kids safe.

At a board meeting on 10/25/21 Bowen visibly made fun of a parent (video here) who was wearing a mask. It wasn’t funny and he got the message. At the next meeting Bowen had to publicly apologize for being a dick. (video Here)

Scott should remember what happened to his friend, Scott Apley. Apley was a member of the Texas Republican Executive Committee as was Scott. Apley was a City Council Member for Dickinson. Like Scott he was a COVID denier and Like Scott he rallied against the mask mandate during COVID.

Scott Apley got COVID. He died at the age of 35. He left a wife and a newborn.


Will CCISD Voters Reject Out of District Billionaire Influence? Again?

April 30, 2025

Michael Smith, the editor of Galveston Daily News said it best:

Our hope is voters are rejecting the incursion of hate-mongering, covert money, outside money, partisan ideology and partisan agendas of all sorts in their decisions about electing local people to volunteer posts.

And former CCISD Board President Laura Dupont said it even better:

The truth is, school boards only work when they reflect the communities they serve — not the agendas of party leadership. That’s why our school board elections are held in May, separate from partisan ballots. We’ve protected that nonpartisan tradition in Texas for over a century because education isn’t supposed to be political.

Over the last decade school boards across the state have been flooded with unlimited money from out of district PACs including Defend Texas Liberty funded by two West Texas Billionaires. In most part they have been successful in winning and controlling school boards bringing chaos, corruption, and cruelty into schools. Do your own research on Keller ISD, Katy ISD, and Friendswood ISD. Friendswood is an example of voters rejecting outside money. The losing candidate raised an outrageous $50,000 from 2 out of district donors. (FYI FISD has only 6 schools. CCISD has over 40)

In the past CCISD voters have rejected this outside money and political influence by rejecting Trustee Bowen’s recruited candidates, Christine Parizo, Misty Dawson, and Pete Lauzon. All three were woefully uneducated in education. Bowen’s buddy, Joe Machol, is also a very poor choice for our kids and Scott Bowen is responsible for this political sideshow and outside influence into the district. On Saturday voters have a chance to put an end to outside, political influence and solidify CCISD as a shining example of putting parents, teachers, students, and tax payers above partisan politics.

As Ms Dupont said:

Local elections matter more than ever. The best way to protect our schools is by electing leaders who are there for the right reasons.

Election Day is May 3 this Saturday.


Bay Area Houston

Hard hitting political commentary always full of wit in Houston Texas.

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