You have to wonder how much they pumped into these races.
The 1776 Project PAC, based in New York, endorsed 12 candidates in 7 school districts across Texas. They won 7 with 1 going to a runoff. Local Trustee Jeff Larson was one of the candidates and defeated Albert Wittliff. They endorsed two candidates in Katy ISD. Both lost.
I’ve written about Katy before. Parents organized and created KEEP Katy Educational Excellence Partners. KEEP “is dedicated to organizing community support to elect school board trustees who are committed to provide excellent public education for all and to maintain Katy ISD’s reputation as an educational leader.” It is unfortunate that parents, teachers, and students have to organize to keep extremists off of their school board but that is where we are today. Maybe CCISD needs to create NOPE! NO Politics in Education! Lucky for us our school board is composed of excellent individuals who leave their political preferences at home. (except for Scott Bowen and Jeff Larson)
So how much did they spend to win these seats? That is a tough question to answer. These PACs have a way to hide their expenditures. For instance this PAC is registered with the Federal Elections Commission and has spent over $3 Million over the last year. Unfortunately we will not see how much they spent in support of Larson until July and the expenditures might be just generic categories like “texting services”.
So the New York PAC won in CCISD. Let’s welcome Trustee Larson back to the CCISD School Board.
The Houston Chronicle, once again, has written about the heated race for two Katy ISD candidates due to political PACs funding and campaigning for them. According to the article two candidates have accepted endorsement from the Harris County Republican Party, The Project 1176 PAC and others. The Party has flooded the district with mailers, of course, claiming their opponents are flaming liberals.
Mailers are not cheap. From the article multiple mailers have been sent out. In a local race where a candidate is depending on support from parents and voters in the district it is very difficult, if not impossible, to compete against. In Keller ISD Patriot Mobile PAC invested $150,000 in three candidates. They all won. School Board races usually requires a couple thousand dollars, a hand full of signs, and lots of hand shaking. Trying to compete against $50,000 is impossible.
Katy ISD Trustee
In CCISD the partisan political PACs meddling in CCISD began with Scott Bowen’s election. In the last election Bowen recruited his friend, Pete Lauzon, to run and found $5000 from Defend Texas Liberty PAC for his campaign. DTL also donated $5000 to Glendora Rogers. She returned the donation. Bowen received $2000 from DTL for texting in his re-election. DTL, a PAC funded solely by two Dallas billionaires, is no longer active after their leadership was caught meeting with a known white supremacist.
In this years election, Trustee Jeff Larson, applied for an endorsement from The Project 1776 PAC, an extreme right wing organization out of New York. I’ve seen the texts they have sent out in support of Larson and heard about phone calls to voters. Both are not cheap. Larson has raised $2858 with $2549 coming from two donors, Scott Bowen and someone in Houston.
Partisan politics does not belong in our school districts. Candidates should be representatives of the community, parents, teachers, and students, not to out of state PACs or political parties.
This was my “after the wedding” trip. It was absolutely awesome!
My wife and I took a trip to Italy to visit Rome, Venice, and Milan. It was one of those touristy trip, hitting all the highlights, the Coliseum, Pompeii, Herculaneum, The Vatican, The Pantheon, the canals of Venice, and the Duomo di Milano. All of the tours we took were just incredibly interesting. It’s all a must see. Here are my notes and travel tips.
Lessons Learned. The hard way. My packing lists has extra clothes in my carry on. I forgot and it cost me. Do yourself a favor and put that on the top of your packing list.
American Airlines. You can’t fault an airline for rerouting you because of the weather but when they lose your luggage for 4 days and there is no way to call customer support for help (because they do not have customer support) it is pretty frustrating. Try calling AA and talking to a real person except for making and paying for a reservation. They will quickly take your money but good luck when you have a problem. Very frustrating experience. I fly Southwest for domestic travel and I can talk with customer support within a minute or two.
Bathrooms. Keep $5 in euros in your pocket because most bathrooms, except for restaurants, charge a euro. Seriously. The airports did not but the train stations did, the public bathrooms, bathrooms at the various tourist attractions did. LOL. You have to love the Europeans!
Accommodations. We stayed a half a block from The Pantheon. Very nice. The Dimora degli Dei. Yes, it is in the touristy area but it was so convenient to all the attractions. Walking distance to most. The staff was wonderful! In Venice we stayed at the Ambassador Tre Rose in San Marco. It was a very small, but clean and comfortable, room. We had a laugh at how small it was. The staff was just outstanding! We have nothing to compare it to but it was small. In Milan we stayed at the Brunelleschi Hotel. It was just around the corner from the Doumo. Beautiful room. Great staff. We returned to Rome and stayed in the Donna Camilla Savelli. Beautiful, wonderful staff, top notch!
Travel. We flew. Took a train from Venice to Milan and Rome to Naples. Rode the boats to Venice. Took a bike tour. And used uber/taxis for travel. When you use your Uber app they will list taxis also. They are cheaper and if you do not have luggage it is a great option. Just an FYI. If you don’t use the app at the airport and get into a taxi line, make sure you have cash to pay the driver. Good tip: Use the Uber app. BTW the drivers in Italy are aggressive!
The trains between Rome and Naples and Venice to Milan were fantastic! If you arrive 30 minutes ahead you are probably going to be early! We had to wait for the train number to be posted on the TV screens which usually was 15-20 minutes before departure. We spent a little more and booked a first class ticket and enjoyed the lounge while waiting. Tickets are checked like the old days, on the train while it is moving.
Food. We tried the pizza. Once. It is not like American pizza and certainly not like Chicago pizza. It was boring. Try it. Once. The lasagna was so much better than the US but don’t expect a lot of meat in your meat lasagna. All the other pasta plates were very different and good! Breakfast was mostly pastries. It made me wonder if the diabetes rates were higher than the US. (They are not) Inflation didn’t seem to have taken over Italy like in the US. We thought everything was very well priced. And coffee was European. I’m not an espresso fan. An Americano was a small cup of instant coffee. They charge for refills. LOL. Even the Starbucks screwed up American coffee.
Rome. We booked tours via Viator. We have had good experiences with them. All the tours we took, except for the boat ride in Rome, were outstanding! Again we did the touristy stuff and toured the Coliseum, The Forum, The Vatican, Pompeii, Herculaneum, and the Pantheon. Skip the boat ride in Rome. It was uneventful. Boring. Everything else was just incredible!!!!
Venice. Unlike the other cities there are two ways to travel in Venice, boat or foot. That is it. There are no bikes, scooters, vespas, cars, nothing but boats and feet. We took a walking tour of Venice which is highly recommended. There is a mall that used to be a trading center for Germans that has a roof top viewing platform. It’s free but you have to have a ticket for a 15 minute viewing.
Milan. We stayed just around the corner from the Duomo di Milano. What a beautiful cathedral! Our tour through Milan included the painting of the Last Supper. That was interesting. The two paintings in the room were painted using different methods, fresco and dry. The dry painting of the Last Supper is faded and has required restoration. The other painting is pristine. Beautiful. Tourists are only allowed to be in the church for no more than 15 minutes.
Put on your walking shoes and visit Italy. Next stop for us, Tanzania!
The out of state PAC, The Project 1776 PAC, has endorsed and are campaigning for, other candidates across Texas besides CCISD Trustee Jeff Larson.
According to their website candidates from 6 other Independent School Districts across Texas have applied for their endorsement. Three of those Katy ISD, CCISD, and Spring Branch ISD are in the Houston area. They are also campaigning for candidates in Alabama and Wisconsin.
In order to receive their endorsement candidates must apply and provide answers to divisive issues like their support of “CRT” the unicorn of school courses. They have to pledge their opposition to diversity, and “Social Emotional Learning” what ever the fuck that is. It’s clear these candidates are extreme, white wing, masters of disruption. That is who they are.
This should really piss off CCISD voters. BTW I have asked Larson about this situation. He has refused to respond.
Partisan politics was introduced into CCISD and many school districts across the state a few years ago. CCISD Trustee Scott Bowen led the charge here with Trustee Jeff Larson following his right wing partisan politics. It led to division in the community, attacks on the gay community, attacks on our teachers, attacks on curriculum, and attacks on our librarians. It brought in the ban on the fictional studies called CRT which was never taught in schools in the first place. This white wing, extremist agenda also brought money from out of district PACs funded by billionaires out of Dallas. Nothing good has come from partisan politics in non partisan elections for the school board.
So what does Trustee Larson do? He applied for the endorsement of The Project 1776 PAC, a far right, extremist organization. They are now sending out texts in support of his campaign. How much they are spending is unknown at this time. I will spare you a copy of the multiple texts that have been sent. What is very disturbing about this is that he actually had to apply for the endorsement and some of the questions are more of the same crap we saw over the last few years that caused so much division. Here they are. I can bet I know exactly how he answered them.
Over the last few elections voters in CCISD have turned down the extreme candidates, Parizo, Dawson, Lauzon, and current Trustee who recruited these extremists, Scott Bowen, failed to received 50% of the vote in his last election.
Our Board, besides Larson and Bowen, are composed of great individuals who have put their personal partisan preference to the side. They have served the community very well. CCISD residents are lucky. Other districts such as Keller and Katy are struggling after candidates were elected by billionaire donations. In Keller three candidates won after a PAC spent $50,000 on each!
Larson should be ashamed of himself. Anyone who brings their sorry ass partisan politics into our Board should consider doing something else.
Jeff Larson. Raised $2858 with $2549 coming from two donors. $1549 was donated by CCISD Trustee Scott Bowen and $1000 came from Neal Meyer in Houston (outside of the district). Neal has a history of donating to republican candidates. His total for this race is $2858. So far there is no indication that the two organizations that have endorsed him or the Republican Party have donated any money or support.
Albert Wittliff. Raised $1380 with a total of $3100 for this race. He received $723 in in-kind donations for printing and $662 in donations (including my $50). He also spent $1144 using a credit card.
Watch for last minute texting expenditures and mailers coming from a 3rd party in support of Larson. These expenditures won’t be reported until after the election. Early voting is on going with the Election Day next Saturday May 4.
Don’t get me wrong. The $11 Million COVID contract award to a questionable company should have been investigated. It didn’t pass the smell test and the fact that 3 individuals were indicted is disturbing. I’ve served on 3 grand juries. To get 9 out of 12 jurors to agree a possible crime was committed in 3 separate cases is tough, but then again I’ve seen Assistant DA’s present very biased presentations before. It has been my experience that jurors see through these biased presentations and would ask detailed, follow up questions.
But personally, I’ve had enough of Ogg’s theatrical bickering. Unfortunately that is what she will be remembered for. I expect an elected official to do their job and leave the theatrics at home. Ogg’s use of the media didn’t help. If she had just come out and said “We’ve had a complaint, we will look into it.” and leave it at that I wouldn’t have had such a problem with it. Let the experts investigate and let the process work.
For Ogg to hand this off to Ken Paxton at this time also doesn’t pass the smell test. It stinks. A lot. It’s almost as if she is enjoying this last opportunity to wave her middle finger to Judge Hidalgo.
The Texas Tribune had a great article about a new law requiring all school districts to post campaign finance reports. CCISD has posted the reports for years on their website. You can find them here. According to the Tribune “The Texas Tribune and ProPublica analyzed 35 Texas school districts that held trustee elections last fall and found none that posted all of the required campaign finance records.” That is 35 districts out of over 1000.
I have to highlight one of the responses from a school district. The State has put so much legislation pressure on school districts throughout the state including putting guns into school, posting religious statements, allowing Chaplins to replace professional counselors, and more. It’s amazing any district can keep up.
A spokesperson for Lago Vista Independent School District, outside Austin, said simply, “Unfortunately, with the multitude of legislative mandates following the 88th session, this one got by us.”
Even with posting these reports there are ways to hide campaign donations and support for candidates. Political Actions Committees (PACs) can spend unlimited money in support of a candidate and the expenditure can be very difficult to find. As an example a PAC spent $150,000 on three candidates in Keller ISD. $50,000 each in a race that typically should cost $2-$5 at most! BTW, all three won, one has resigned, and another is probably going to be sued.
I am surprised the State has required school districts to post this information but they should also require PACs to post to the Texas Ethics Commission in a way that a search can be easily performed. At this point it is very difficult to find a PACs participation.
Thanks to Albert Wittliff for answering these questions. I have not heard back from Trustee Jeff Larson but will update if I do.
Vouchers How will the passing of a voucher bill affect CCISD? Do you support vouchers? Why/why not? A: I oppose vouchers because they take already limited taxpayer funds out of the public school system and provide it to private organizations. Those private schools can pick and choose their students and are not held to the standards of public schools. As funds are reduced in public schools the only choice to address the shortfalls will be additional taxes or bonds. So it will cost more to provide less. Vouchers don’t work.
Chaplans Do you support allowing religious leaders to replace counselors in CCISD school? A: Religious choice is important for families and should be kept at home or in houses of worship. School counselors need to be professionals focused on the skills needed to support students.
Guns in school Do you support arming CCISD employees? A: No. As a career law enforcement professional I know that more guns create a more dangerous situation. Accidents happen and when they involve guns it can be devastating. Additionally it could provide access to a gun that wasn’t there before. I don’t think the additional burden should be put on teachers and staff. Having professional law enforcement officers in for form of SRO or SLO is the right way to address this need.
Fundraising School districts candidates across the state are being funded by out of district PACs including CCISD. Would you accept out of district PAC, partisan political donations, or help from out of district organizations? A: Out of district PAC money has no place in the non-partisan school board.
Partisan politics Partisan politics fueled by out of district PAC money has caused divisions within the community. Do you believe partisan politics has a place in CCISD? A: The board should be moderate and cooperative, not partisan.
Book bans. What are your thoughts about our public school libraries and the push to ban books? A: Libraries are a cornerstone of any learning environment and should be staffed with professional librarians. These librarians can make sure to curate the collections so that appropriate books are available at an appropriate age. This should be done in collaboration with teachers and parents. Further, there is a committee in place to address specific titles for review. As a general rule, book banners (or burners) are on the wrong side of history.
LGBTQ Issues Our gay community has been under attack by anti-gay organizations some right here in the CCISD area. What are your thoughts about our gay community within CCISD including our teachers, parents, and students? A: I believe everyone has the right to live and love as they choose and everyone should be safe and respectful.
The first campaign finance reports are in for the CCISD elections between Albert Wittliff and Jeff Larson. Jeff Larson raised $0 which makes me wonder what organization will be campaigning for him and whether they will be reporting the donations. Larson hasn’t filed a Code of Fair Campaign Practices.
Wittliff raised $1640 and spent $928. Both reports can be found at the Elections Website.
Posted by johncoby 
Bay Area Houston 