Recap on home insurance bill hearing. (It’s not good)

March 28, 2025

Our Representative, Dennis Paul, filed HB 2067. The hearing for HB 2067 was held on Tuesday March 26 starting at 8:00 am in Austin. The bill will simply require an insurance company to write a letter to a policy holder if they deny or cancel their policy. That’s it. Nothing more. It will NOT lower our premiums or deductibles. 

You can view the entire hearing here. It starts at 1:30 and runs for about 15 minutes.  I spoke with every staff member responsible for the bills in the Insurance Committee and urged them to, at the very least, require the insurance companies to report this information to the Texas Department of Insurance so we can know what companies do not do business in our area. That was not discussed in the hearing. I also met with Representative Paul last week concerning this issue.

At the end of the hearing a member of the TDI touched on the lack of this data being available to the consumers but unless a bill addresses this issue nothing will be done. This bill does not address this issue.

Thank you for sending your comments to the committee. There are other bills being addressed. I will keep you informed.

Dennis Pauldennis.paul@house.texas.gov512-463-0734

Deer Park Pastor rallies against “ungodly and immoral” lifestyle. Votes for Trump

March 28, 2025

Praise the Lord? or WTF?

Jesus Christ! Deer Park Pastor Doug Harris of the Central Baptist Church used his sermon to condemn the “ungodly and immoral” lifestyle of a candidate for the Deer Park Independent School District. Over the last ten years Harris never used his sermon to condemn the “ungodly and immoral” lifestyle of Trump who porked a porn star. He didn’t condemn Trump for cheating on his wife, or causing the death of police offices on the steps of the capitol, making racist comments, mocking a disabled American, etc, etc, etc. But he did take his time to address this one individual and it has not gone well. According to ABC News:

“Truth be told, she has a lot of great experience and she is well-educated. The difficulty is in her morality. She lives a lifestyle that is ungodly and immoral,” Harris said during the March 16 sermon.

The front running candidate for DPISD is a well respected educator and has dedicated her entire career to educating children. She is a perfect choice to lead the district. The School Board agrees. The community agrees. Many have called for Harris to apologize. Others have called for his resignation. I personally have called the church and had a good conversation with the church staff. That individual totally agreed with my disgust.

From Angela Garcia, president of the Pasadena Educators Association:

“It’s just hard for me to understand how people can be so hateful to someone that’s really doing their best to guide our children and our school district in the direction that it needs to go,” said Garcia, whose two children were taught by Regan when she worked at Deer Park Junior High School.

You can take a moment and voice your opinion to the church at (281) 479-2662. I bet Harris voted for trump. Fuckin hypocrite.


CCISD candidate called for unsportsmanlike conduct

March 26, 2025

Joe Machol, a former NFL referee, is still on the ballot for CCISD trustee. Based upon his answers to a questionnaire by Community Impact and another set of questions (see below) it is clear he should not be competing on the field. He hasn’t filed an appointment of Treasurer, yet it seems he has spent money on campaign items. That’s considered unsportsmanlike conduct by the Texas Ethics Commission and could result in hefty fines. He doesn’t have a website, Facebook, or any social media account. That’s a fumble. His heart is not in this race. I wrote to him asking if he would consider focusing on what he is good at, refereeing and his World War II activities:

Personally I don’t think your heart is in this race. Maybe you should consider focusing on returning to refereeing, and continuing your WWII activities? In the past running for CCISD was a non partisan, quite boring campaign left to those who were educated in education. Recently it has become a race between educators and wannabe politicians like Scott Bowen. It is brutal, with out of district money flowing into the district, and outside PACs interfering with our elections. Candidates must now be vigorously  screened. I’ve been screening candidates for many years now and will continue but this latest questionnaire and your answers are embarrassing to say the least.

He ignored me. My email to him was based on his response to a recent questionnaire. I posted about his answers here. Below are his responses in full. In summary he believes in the 3 Rs. Reading wRiting, and aRithmetic. Read it for yourself.


Kemah Police deletes public information from social media accounts

March 25, 2025

What did we expect from Kemah?

The Facebook page of the Kemah Police Department was proud to post a pic of their police at the soon to be opened trump burger welcoming them to Kemah. The officers seem to be very happy to stand with the cutout of Trump and standing next to someone wearing a trump shirt and throwing the White Power hand signal.

And that’s probably when Kemah decided to remove the post. I believe the Supreme Court has been clear about removing information from a social media post. You can’t. Luckily the internet is forever and the post is below. The police had a choice of the Stormy burger with firm buns and small meat or the insurrection burger with a side of pepper spray.

With this type of law and order you might want to travel elsewhere.


Harris County Trustee Charged with Unauthorized Legal Practice

March 24, 2025

It’s Dick. Again.

This is getting old. You have to wonder how in the living hell Harris County Department of Education Trustee, Eric Dick, is still an attorney. The Hawaiian Attorney General has filed charges against Eric Dick for Unauthorized Practice of Law after Dick solicited clients affected by the Maui fires. According to the charges:

ERIC DICK did intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly engage in or attempt to engage in or offer to engage in the practice of law, or did or attempted to do or offered to do any act constituting the practice of law, without a license or authorization so to do by an appropriate court, agency, or office or by a statute of the State of Hawaii or the United States, thereby committing the offense of Unauthorized Practice of Law in violation of Sections 605-14 and 605-17 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes. 

The AG has charged him with 4 misdemeanor counts. You can read the entire document here and the back story here.

Being charged for the Unauthorized Practice of Law is just another in a series of of bad news facing Dick including:


Contact Your Representatives on Insurance Bill Now

March 22, 2025

Do something!

Our Representative, Dennis Paul, filed HB 2067. The hearing for HB 2067 is scheduled for Tuesday March 26 starting at 8:00 am in Austin. The bill will simply require an insurance company to write a letter to a policy holder if they deny or cancel their policy. That’s it. Nothing more. It will NOT lower our premiums or deductibles. Contact the members of the committee and voice your concerns. (Talking points below)

Register your comments on the Insurance Committee website. It’s easy!

Then send your comments to the following with the subject line Comments on SB1006. You can also call and and ask to talk with someone about HB2067 in the Insurance Committee. Send it to the following:

Contact InformationNameEmailPhone
Jay Dean (Chair)jay.dean@house.texas.gov512-463-0750
Hubert Vo (Vice Chair)hubert.vo@house.texas.gov512-463-0568
Dennis Pauldennis.paul@house.texas.gov512-463-0734
David Spillerdavid.spiller@house.texas.gov512-463-0526
Jessica Gonzalezjessica.gonzalez@house.texas.gov512-463-0408
Vikki Goodwinvikki.goodwin@house.texas.gov512-463-0652
Andy Hopperandy.hopper@house.texas.gov512-463-0582
Matt Morganmatt.morgan@house.texas.gov512-463-0710
Trey Whartontrey.wharton@house.texas.gov512-463-0412
Greg Bentchgreg.bentch@house.texas.gov512-463-0734

Easy cut and paste email addresses:
jay.dean@house.texas.gov
hubert.vo@house.texas.gov
dennis.paul@house.texas.gov
david.spiller@house.texas.gov
jessica.gonzalez@house.texas.gov
vikki.goodwin@house.texas.gov
andy.hopper@house.texas.gov
matt.morgan@house.texas.gov
trey.wharton@house.texas.gov
greg.bentch@house.texas.gov

Here are some talking points:

  • We are in dire need of premium and deductible relief.
  • This bill will not reduce our premiums
  • This bill will not make our deductibles reasonable
  • At the very least this bill should require the insurance companies to report denial of service to the Department of Insurance and make this information public.

Harris County Trustee Eric Dick Under Fire for Legal Misconduct. Again.

March 21, 2025

2025 has started bad for Houston attorney Eric Dick. It just got worse. I’m seriously beginning to feel sorry for the dude.

Over the last few months Harris County Department of Education Trustee and insurance attorney, Eric Dick, has been sanctioned by a judge in Harris County for $137,000 and sanctioned by a judge in Galveston County for another $125,000. He is being investigated in Maui for soliciting clients. Dick was fined $40,000 by the Texas Ethics Commission. A formal complaint was filed against him as a HCDE Trustee. A judge recently questioned the signature of a dead inspector on documents submitted to the court by Dick. Another judge in San Antonio dismissed a suit against USAA because Dick claimed his client had died. (He didn’t) His wife filed for divorce. And he was charged with assault of a family member.

And it just got worse. A home owner, Thuan Pham, has filed suit against Dick for filing a suit against an insurance company without his consent or knowledge. According to the original petition, Pham hired a roofer to repair damage to his home back in 2020. The roofer referred this claim to Eric Dick, an insurance lawyer. Pham was unaware that Dick was representing him against the insurance company. Dick eventually filed suit against the company without authorization by Pham. It gets worse.

Two years later Dick received an award from the appraisal process and deposited the check into the law firms account. The petition claims Pham’s signature was forged. Dick eventually filed a nonsuit on behalf of Pham. In 2024 Pham learned of the suit and the award and has filed suit against Dick.

This is truly some crazy shit. You can read the entire petition here.


Guess who’s paying for your neighbors school voucher?

March 19, 2025

SURPRISE!

It is almost funny. The bill in Austin concerning vouchers will give parents $10,000 to apply towards tuition to a private school. Let’s say your neighbor pays $1000 a year in school taxes and has 2 kids in private school. This bill will give your neighbor $19,000 MORE than what they put in to the public school system. Who is going to pay for that? You. Us.

There are many reasons to stop this voucher stupidity and there are many examples where vouchers have failed in other states. Abbott claims it will improve education in the State, although his party has been in control for over 20 years and Texas ranks 43rd in education. We ain’t the sharpest bowling ball in the tool shed. Under 20+ years of republican rule Texas sucks in almost every category except for job growth. Just look at our electricity grid, home insurance, cost of education, healthcare, and more.

But this issue of giving your money to your neighbor so their snot nosed, uppity, kids can attend a private school should really piss off conservatives in the Clear Lake area. This is nothing but welfare for the wealthy and you are going to pay for it. If vouchers are going to pass then parents should get what they put in. Nothing more. Nothing less. Period.

As I said, Texans suck at education.

You can voice your opinion on House Bill 3 to our State Representative Dennis.Paul@house.texas.gov and call him at (512) 463-0734.


Judicial Ethics Under Scrutiny: Judge Seth Jones and Sheriff Fullen

March 19, 2025

You can’t make this stuff up.

The Houston Chronicle published an investigative article about Galveston County Judge Seth Jones and Galveston County Sheriff Jimmy Fullen. Jones and Fullen are buddies. Jones donated to Fullen for his campaign. Fullen appeared in campaign videos for Jones. They pal around with each other. They probably go fishing together and attend local crawfish boils hosted by Commissioner Hank Dugie. Jones was Fullen’s best man. (ok. that’s not true but you get the idea. They are buds.)

So guess who the Judge is for Fullen’s lawsuit against the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement? Yep. Judge Seth Jones. (Background here) According to the article:

“Whenever you’re looking at judicial ethics, the first thing you want to decide is, does it pass the smell test?” Teachey said. “Most of the time, if it feels like it’s stinky, it probably isn’t appropriate for a judge.”

This stinks as bad as the garbage cans at the League City Park after Hank Dugie’s crawfish boil. (Seriously 3 days after the event the smell was horrible for those going to the dog park.) Jones should recuse himself in this trial. It just stinks. Lucky for Fullen Jones is a republican whose party has shredded law and order. They will do anything, pardon anyone, and look the other way for all MAGA republicans no matter what the crime is.

Fullen is in good hands.


Harris County Trustee Eric Dick Faces Assault Charge

March 18, 2025

As I said earlier today Harris County Department of Education Trustee Eric Dick had a really bad couple of years.

Dick was fined $40,000 by the Texas Ethics Commission. A formal complaint was filed against him as a HCDE Trustee. Two judges in Harris and Galveston County sanctioned him in two different lawsuits. A judge recently questioned the signature of a dead inspector. Another judge in San Antonio dismissed a suit against USAA because Dick claimed his client had died. (He didn’t) And his wife filed for divorce. But that isn’t all.

According to The Houston Landing Dick has been charged with assault of a family member. From The Houston Landing:

The Houston Police Department arrested Dick on March 7 for hitting a female family member with his hand, according to a criminal complaint. Publicly available court records do not provide details about evidence obtained by police, statements made by witnesses and any injuries sustained by the alleged victim. 

There isn’t much filed except for the document below. I wish him and his family luck.


Bay Area Houston

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