While Harris County Democrats were busy passing a useless resolution admonishing the District Attorney and worrying about pronouns, one of the Democratic Judges has been deemed ineligible to run for re-election. Go figure.
Judge of the 333rd Judicial Court, Brittanye Morris has had her application for re-election rejected. Morris, in 2020, ran against a very well qualified and excellent Judge, Daryl Moore, and won in the primary and in the general election. Moore was an outstanding judge. Morris came out of no where, had raised very little money, and really had no good reason to challenge an incumbent but she did. And she won. And now she lost because she is not on the ballot.
Why she has been declared ineligible to run has not been disclosed. I am hoping it is nothing but a technical error that can be successfully addressed. We will see.
Until then Democrats need to stop being distracted on stupid shit and focus on what fucking matters.
Thanks to Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee for responding to this. As my 5 readers recall I noted that Houston City Council Member Elect, Wille Ray Davis, listed his residence as the City of Houston while taking a homestead and disable veteran exemption on his $600,000 home in Brazoria County. This exemption does not disqualify him from running in the City or voting in Harris County.
As I said, I do not like it but I accept it. A few years ago Dave Wilson, a candidate for Houston Community College, was sued by the County Attorney for not residing in the district he was running in. Wilson, a supporter of the sanctity of marriage, was separated from his wife and listed his residency as a 1,140-square-foot apartment upstairs at his office, located at 5600 W. 34th St. in the college system’s District II. He eventually won this lawsuit and took his seat on the Board. He eventually resigned.
So, back to Davis. The case against Wilson showed taking a homestead exemption doesn’t necessarily determine where you live, where you put your head down at night. It doesn’t make sense to those of us who are not trained in law. It’s not hard to understand but it is hard to accept. So there. A candidate can take a homestead exemption in another county and run in Houston for office by just claiming an address in Houston and claiming they live there.
I wonder if someone was tailed the candidate for a month, his cell phone traffic was investigated, and it showed they did not lay their head at their Houston address but instead at their homestead if that would make a difference.
Regardless, we can attend the inauguration ceremony on Jan 2 and welcome Willie Davis to the Houston City Council.
I believe we need to thank Kim Ogg for her service then nominate Sean Teare for DA in 2024, but let’s be honest, she has received some undue criticism.
Personally I believe Kim Ogg has worn out her welcome with her constant drama concerning Commissioners Court and the primary of 2022 but the issue with the COVID contract award and the investigation is justified and troubling. On the surface it stinks. The County awarded a multi million dollar contract to a small, local, woman-owned firm called Elevate. The allegations by a member of the Commissioner’s Court claimed that this company did not have any employees, had no experience for the job, was given special treatment, and was selected as a political favor. All of these allegations are disturbing if true. Judge Hidalgo has published a page debunking these allegations. It is worth a read.
The contract was eventually cancelled and District Attorney, Kim Ogg, began an investigation that has resulted in the indictment of three members of her staff. Having served on multiple grand juries I find it very disturbing that multiple indictments were handed down. On a vote of at least 9-3 the grand jury believed there was sufficient evidence that a crime was committed. A grand jury provides a check and balance for those charged with a crime. Every grand jury I have served on took their jobs extremely seriously. So as I said, it bothers me. We will see if the allegations hold water next year.
As I have said above, this entire situation with this contract stinks. Ogg’s giddiness in publicly investigating the issue doesn’t help. Neither does the drip, drip, drip, of additional information by the Houston Chronicle. It all doesn’t pass the smell test and those who think this is yet another political attack on the Harris County Judge need to take a step back and ask themselves what they would want the DA to do if the Judge was a Republican.
Personally I believe the three staffers will be acquitted. I do not believe they were that stupid to do something that stupid.
After the 2022 election the Harris County Republican Party bitched and moaned about voter fraud. They filed multiple lawsuits, all but one, was dismissed and the election results stood. Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg was also quick to call for an investigation. So far her investigation continues.
Yet here we have a situation with a candidate for Houston City Council, Willie Ray Davis, who won in the runoff, with very questionable residency issues and no one is looking at this. Not the City. Not Harris County Attorney’s office. Not Harris County District Attorney’s office. Not the Ballot Integrity Committee of the Harris County Republican Party. And not the media.
What the fuck over? As noted before Willie Davis claims on his application to run for office that he lives in the City of Houston but according to Brazoria County he bought a new home in 2021 AND took a homestead exemption and a disabled veterans exemption. (Thank you for your service) In order to take that exemption he must live in the home for 12 months and in order to run for office he must live in the city of Houston for 12 months.
Besides that issue, Davis voter registration card lists his residency as the City of Houston while he has a homestead exemption in Brazoria County. Isn’t this voter fraud?
I’ve asked the City to investigate. They referred me to the Harris County Attorney. The City Attorney, the County Attorney and County DA should be investigating this issue. I don’t know how much clearer this needs to be. According to official documents Willie Davis does not live in Houston and should have been disqualified from running.
The City and County needs to either get off their asses and do something or make it real clear that you can run for office in the City of Houston without actually living in the City of Houston.
Eric Dick was appointed to the Harris County Department of Education in January 2023 after his failed attempt at running for Harris County Treasurer. His wife ran for the seat and lost. Now according to the Secretary of State’s website both Dicks are running for the Department of Education.
Eric Dick is running for his current seat Place 4 and his wife, Danielle Dick is running for Place 3. Neither are challenged in the primary. Danielle will be running against the incumbent Richard Cantu if he wins in the primary. Eric Dick endorsed Cantu in his run for City Council. Eric Dick will be unopposed in the general election so Dick is back. Again. Some of the precinct chairs of the Harris county Democratic Party was too busy voting on a worthless resolution against Kim Ogg instead of finding a candidate for the Board, so we get Dick.
Recently HCDE was made aware of Eric Dick’s run against the Texas Ethics Commission. The TEC fined Dick $30,000 back in 2021 and referred him to the Texas Bar for his conduct. His fine has since been referred to the Texas Attorney General for collection. He has since been fined another $10,000 for yet another campaign finance violation. BTW I filed both complaints but never expected such high fines. The $30,000 fine is the 2nd highest in TEC history 2nd to Harris County Jerry Eversole’s fine of $75,000.
If both advance to the HCDE there will be two family members on the Board.
This was a solo trip for me. Long drive. Loooong! Luckily I stayed one night in Blanco and that made the trip the next day tolerable. December has perfect weather with the highs in the mid 60’s and sunny and low 40’s at night. Perfect for hiking.
The Hotel I stayed in Terlingua, the ghost town, in a place called La Posada Milagro. It was a small bunk house with a shared bathroom and shower outside of the unit. Small but perfect for my stay. They have other rooms with private bathrooms. It was a short walk to the breakfast restaurant Espresso Y Poco Mas. It had two porches, an outside kitchen, and fireplaces. I was lucky there was a meteor shower when I was there and spent the evening outside with a warm fire. Visit their website for some great pictures! It was also a short walk to the Starlight Theatre and restaurant. They have wifi and 5G was available around the area. Great place to stay if you want to be right in Terlingua! There are other hotels in the area as well as a resort in Lajitas and teepees, domes, tents, and Triangle type of structures all in the area. In 2021 I stayed in a small cabin in the middle of no where that had a large telescope in a building and an observation tower. It was pretty cool!
The Starlight Theatre Pretty good food and they had entertainment every night. Sometimes there was a short wait for a table but everyone just grabbed a drink from the bar and went outside to sit in the funny chairs (see below) and visit with others. Next door was a nice gift shop. Some of us sat and had a few beers, every now and then, interrupting each other when a meteor appeared. (It was an awesome show!!!) If you go, make sure you stop here for dinner. Try the Chicken Fried Antelope!
Big Bend National Park. As usual I left my Senior pass at home but it was only $20 for the entire weekend. Great price. I was able to do two hikes, one 5.5 miles and another 3.6 miles. Both had some great views. There is another, the Lost Mine Trail, that I hiked back in 2021. That one was about 5 miles straight up!!! There are plenty of trails from .5 to 12 miles. I also went to the mouth of the Santa Elena Canyon. There is a 1.6 mile out and back trail. I hiked that one in 2021. Make sure you have gas. There is a station in Terlingua with $3.49/gallon and another in Lajitas for $5.39/gallon. Get gas in Terlingua! The weather was perfect! I took a sweat shirt and had to use it in the shady areas.
Food. There are plenty of options for food in Terlingua. Venga is a new place and had great well priced breakfast. There is a barbecue, pizza, and Mexican food places in the area as well as a couple of bars.
Caverns of Sonora I stopped at the Caverns in Sonora just a few miles off I10 on the way back. If you like caves it is a pretty good one. Privately owned for decades. It’s hard to compete with Carlsbad Caverns but it was a good stop.
UPDATE AND CORRECTION: city Coucil did NOT vote to terminate the services of the librarian. Her superiors did. More later.
You can’t make this stuff up.
Last week League City Council fired the City Attorney. This week after the Helen Hall Library received the 2022 Achievement of Excellence in Libraries Award they fired the librarian. This award was announced on the League City website. According to City Council:
Of the 552 public libraries in Texas, only 73 received this award in 2022. With this distinction, Helen Hall Library is recognized by the Texas Municipal Library Directors Association as being in the top 15% of all public libraries in Texas.
I can only assume Captain Chaos, City Councilman Justin Hicks, has something to do with this as he did with firing of the City Attorney. Hicks, who is trying to escape the League City Purge has his house up for sale for the last 148 days (according to Zillow) Hicks wasn’t happy with the advice given by the City Attorney concerning Hicks book Purge. I would bet the firing of the City Librarian is for the same reason.
As with the firing of the City Attorney the vote to fire the Librarian was held with a vacant seat. The city has an election coming up in January for a vacated seat. One of the candidates is a MAGAt republican and is probably supported by Mayor Long and Hicks. Winning this seat will give them the majority needed to continue The Purge.
According to the Houston Chronicle “Harris County Democrats vote overwhelmingly to admonish DA Kim Ogg”. That’s not exactly correct. Last night at a poorly attending Executive Committee meeting 129 out of over 500 precinct chairs approved a resolution to admonish District Attorney Kim Ogg. I wouldn’t call that “overwhelmingly”. 61 voted against the resolution. Hundreds voted to stay home and do something more important.
In the end the far lefties got what they wanted after months of debating. And in the end it won’t amount to a hill of beans. Ogg probably won’t win the Democratic primary. She has pissed off too many people but passing a resolution is just going to get you a picture in the paper with a bad haircut. That’s it. Instead of putting the time and effort into important matters such as raising money or helping elect Democrats to office they passed a worthless resolution. And oh by the way 2 of our great candidates for City Council lost.
Besides the embellished title of the article the Chronicle also embellished the challengers fundraising. According to the article:
While the resolution does not limit her legal powers, it does put Ogg at odds with her own party as she heads into next year’s March primary. She is facing a challenge from Sean Teare, a former prosecutor who raised almost $750,000 in the first six months of the year – more than 10 times what Ogg raised during the same period.
$750,000…..well sort of. As I noted before, Sean raised $748,000 but that includes two major donations, one from Laura Turek for $100,000 and $500,000 from Scott Freeman. Without these donations he raised $148,317 still 3 times more than Ogg. Sean is a good candidate for the office. He served as a prosecutor with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office for 11 years, including 6 years as the Division Supervisor of the Office’s Vehicular Crimes Division. I like the guy. We should thank Ogg for her 8 years of service and move on.
Now that this issue is over maybe those who put this side show on would now go do their damn jobs. Here is an idea, go work on Sean’s campaign and quit the drama.
The voter integrity committee of the Harris County Republican Party is probably jumping on this like Donald Trump on a porn star.
Ok, hear me out. Prior to the election the Houston Chronicle questioned the residency of 7 candidates running in the Houston city elections, including Willie Ray Davis candidate for At-Large 2. Davis won in the runoff. According to the article the City only performs an initial check to verify the candidate put a city of Houston address on the application, they are registered to vote, and have not been convicted of a felony. Maybe someone needs to check a bit deeper.
Davis lists his address on his voter registration as 4734 Arbilla Ln Houston Texas 77021. That property is a single family residence owned by Lott Paul Wesley Sr. But here is where it gets interesting and disturbing. According to the Brazoria County Appraisal District Willie Ray Davis owns a $591,000 home at 3531 BENITO DR IOWA COLONY, TX. He claims a homestead exemption as well as a Disabled Veteran exemption. (Thank you for your service)
So here is the potential issue that the voter integrity committee is chowing down on. If this is the same Willie Ray Davis then he may have voted illegally. According to Texas law a candidate must live in the district for at least 12 months prior to the election and I believe if you take a homestead exemption on your home in Iowa Colony then that address is where you live. (it makes sense) So Willie Ray Davis lived out of the city of Houston.
And….if he registered to vote in Harris County using someone else’s address isn’t that a violation of voter integrity? And….if he voted in the City elections isn’t that voter fraud? And….if he didn’t vote in the City elections isn’t that a confirmation that he knew he would be committing voter fraud? If he claims residency in the City of Houston for the election then he can’t take a homestead exemption. That would be against the law and a lie. Willie Ray Davis is a pastor and I am sure he believes in Thou Shall Not Lie commandment.
There are a lot of IFs here and maybe this is a different Willie Ray Davis. So maybe someone should look a bit deeper on this. I will forward this to the voter integrity committee of the Harris County Republican Party and wait patiently for a response.
After Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee entered the race for Houston Mayor, Amanda Edwards dropped out of the race and endorsed her. Amanda then filed to run for SJL Congressional District knowing that if SJL did not win she might run for re-election in her Congressional seat.
SJL lost by over 30 points and a day later she filed for her Congressional seat. Kind of not cool but that is politics and it was a risk Amanda realized and took. So now what? According to the Houston Chronicle Amanda has outraised SJL 4-1 and SJL won her district in the Mayors race by only 2 points. Amanda has been working the district for months. She is raising money. She is young and very capable of doing the job. She has experience as a former City Council Member.
Sheila is Sheila. She had performed the job for many years. Everyone knows her but that loss in the Mayors race was huge. It was surprising and her performance in her own district has to be concerning.
Personally I wish SJL had ended the race for Mayor by endorsing Amanda and welcoming a new, well qualified, young, woman for the next Congresswoman for Congressional District 18.
Posted by johncoby 
Bay Area Houston 