It’s a bit early but candidates for Harris County District Attorney have filed campaign finance reports.
Incumbent DA, Kim Ogg, raised $55,695, spent $28,571, has an outstanding loan of $48,489 and has $274,748 Cash on Hand. Nothing unusual about her report.
Her opponent in the Democratic primary, Sean Teare, raised $748,317, spent $102,192, no outstanding loans, and has $608,269 Cash on Hand. There are two major donations to Teare, one from Laura Turek for $100,000 and $500,000 from Scott Freeman. Without these donations he raised $148,317.
Harris County has no restrictions on the amount that can be donated to a candidate. I expect Mattress MAGAt Mac to pour a few millions into a republican candidate but that candidate has not filed a treasurer appointment yet.
As part of the State takeover of the Houston Independent School District libraries across the state are being turned into disciplinary centers.
“There is nothing better than a good old fashion paddling to straighten out and humiliate a child.” said an Texas Governor Greg Abbott. Corporal punishment, including hitting a child with a paddle, a belt, rope, or electrical cord, was outlawed decades ago except in the Catholic Church where knuckle whacking with a ruler is still performed.
Parents had mixed feeling about the proposed punishment. According to one parent, “I have no problem with a teacher whipping the snot out of my kid just as long I can do the same to the teacher if my kids grades don’t improve.” According to the new superintendent “Paddling centers will be implemented across the district. Paddlings, whippings, and slaps will continue until parents show they are capable of discipling their own kids. Maybe we could extend the paddling to parents.”
Today begins the filing period for Houston City races. The period runs till Aug 21. According to campaign finance reports for the period ending June 30 there are a number of candidates for each race that are serious about running and there are those who are not.
The filing deadline for submitting campaign finance reports ended Monday July 17. Candidates were to have submitted their reports electronically or via paper at https://www.houstontx.gov/council/reports2023.html. Even if a candidate does not raise or spend money the reports must be filed showing $0 raised and $0 spent. It’s isn’t that hard. The following candidates have not filed reports for this period.
Mayor Gaylon Caldwell Julian Martinez Theudis Daniel
At Large 1 Anthony Dolcefino
At Large 3 Bernard “Bernardo” Amadi Ethan Michelle Ganz Richard Nguyen
The Defend Texas Liberty PAC, based out of Willow Park Texas, attempted to influence the CCISD election and lost.
Candidate Glencora Rogers was given $5000 for her race but she returned it. Peter Lauzon received $5000 which was the bulk of his donations. He lost. Since then Defend Texas PAC continues to raise money from a few donors and attempt to influence elections and the impeachment of Ken Paxton.
According the Texas Ethics Commission the PAC raised $3.5 Million in the last 15 days from just two donors Timothy Dunn and Farris Wilks, the two billionaires who were featured on an investigation on campaign donations in Texas by CNN. Of the $3.5 Million only $48.03 was from another donor who probably thinks they are donating to something good. He isn’t.
During this 15 day period the PAC gave Lt Governor Dan Patrick $3 Million. Dan Patrick is presiding over the impeachment of Attorney General of Ken Paxton. It should be clear what he is going to do. They also gave $100,000 to State Representative Tony Tinderholt. Tinderholt is a right wing, devout christian who has been married 5 times.
How does Bowen fit into this mess? He has personal ties to this organization. They will most probably finance his race for State Representative.
According to the Texas Ethics Commission Dennis Paul is quitting. Sort of…..
After serving just 8 part time years in the Texas House, it looks like Dennis Paul is going to cut and run with a nice retirement and free healthcare for life. Paul filed his July report with the Texas Ethics Commission and it leads one to believe he is leaving.
In his last report he only raised $9,600, spent $19,450, leaving a balance of just $3,118 and an outstanding loan balance of $40,000. All his donations except for $1,500 came from PACs and one third of his entire donations was paid to his Treasurer. Paul has never been a great fundraiser and depended upon a $150,000 loan from his company to win his primary. Instead of spending his money running for office during the 2022 election he repaid $70,000 of the partial balance of his loan. Based upon all of this it looks like he is quitting.
But, don’t cry for Dennis. According to the retirement system Paul’s 8 years of partial service will be quite rewarding! For the rest of his life he will receive a $25,760/year pension. Most people work their entire lives and will never get a $25k pension, or anything more than a retirement cake and a watch. But, it gets better. Paul will also receive free healthcare for himself and his spouse for the rest of his life! It truly is a sweet deal especially after just 8 part time years doing pretty much nothing.
After 8 years of representing House District 129 Paul leaves a legacy of having no town hall meetings, keeping his constituents in the dark, and being rated as “furniture” by the Texas Monthly. To me he will always be remembered for giving easy access to assault weapons to an 18 year old who killed 19 children in Uvalde.
To top it all it looks like he is grooming his replacement. From doing nothing to doing something worse.
Back in May Former Harris County Dept of Education Trustee, Eric Dick, filed a new Treasurer appointment to run for the Board again. Dick served on the Board then he decided to run for Houston City Council in 2019. He lost that race but not before generating a boat load of controversy. The headline from the Houston Chronicle says it all: “Houston Republican fined $30K for mailers suggesting Black Democrats endorsed him“.
He was not only fined $30,000 but the Ethics Commission referred him to the Texas Bar. I’m not sure what they would do with this but I doubt it would be a Rudy Giuliani outcome.
So today Dick has filed a “Designation of final report” which, according to the Texas Ethics Commission, terminates his newly appointed treasurer and relieves him of the duty to file any more reports. I am just assuming Dick has pulled out of the race. His final report show no money raised or spent during the short period.
I guess if he can find another Treasurer he can refile. Who knows?
Along with many school districts in the State of Texas, CCISD is reaching an unprecedented financial crossroad. From crippling inflation costs to inaction by the Texas legislature failing to adjust the basic student allotment, CCISD is leaning on our community to ensure that our students continue to reach their full potential, while improving their learning environment at a minimal impact to taxpayers. CCISD is seeking public input on a proposed Voter-Approval Tax Rate Election (VATRE) and three Bond proposals options to address critical capital needs. The community is invited to attend one of the following public meetings to learn more about the proposals and provide feedback.
With the recent Supreme Court decision allowing businesses to discriminate based upon “religious” beliefs, Clear Lake State Representative Dennis Paul has called for creating a business directory for those who embrace the wholesome family values of the Republican Party.
A directory will be distributed to every household in the Bay Area, similar to the yellow pages. It will list business owners who will not provide services to the Gay community, their family members, or friends. These business owners will be identified in the directory and provided a colorful sticker to proudly display on their establishment’s window.
“I believe fine Christian business owners across the Bay Area will flock to be listed in this directory which I have called “The Right Businesses Pages” and would be proud to have this directory provided to over 60,000 households across the area.” said Paul. According to Paul’s office the responses sent to his office has been swift and very positive with many willing to give up significant amount of business to embrace their love for Jesus Christ our Savior and the Supreme Court ruling.
“I’m a wholesome Christian business owner. I may lose 30% of my business when I am listed in this directory!” –Unidentified Auto repair shop
“As a Christian my business may crater when I am listed in this directory!” –Unidentified Nail Salon Owner
As a proud Christian business owner I applaud Dennis Paul and will be proud to limit my business dealings to those with wholesome Christians values catering only to heterosexuals, those who do not lie, cheat, or steal, and those who have never been divorced or have had pre-wedding sex. –Unidentified Bakery Owner
“Jesus Christ! If you list my business in your Right Businesses Directory I will sue the living f*** out of you!” –Unidentified Mexican Restaurant owner
Dennis Paul’s business, Paul Engineering, as of today, is not listed in the Right Business Directory.
NOTE: To be far, many candidates contribute to their own campaigns. Some with non refundable donations our of their own pockets and/or loans. Candidate for Mayor Gilbert Garcia has reported raising $3,290,664 in donations, but $3,030,000 came from his own pocket. Fred Flickinger, candidate for District E is also self financing.
I can see part of the Latino community supporting George Bush for Texas Governor or President. Bush had a great talking point of being a compassionate conservative which lines up with the values of the Latino community. He didn’t bash immigrants but was critical of illegal immigration, even though he didn’t do anything about it as Governor or President. There were many attributes that enticed Latinos to vote for him, one being that he wasn’t a dick about everything.
And now comes Trump. He is a big, giant, dick, a rotten excuse of a human being. He bashes immigrants to the point they are targeted by white wing extremists of the Republican Party. He makes fun of the language. He uses Latino voters as props, as ignorant pawns. He is a fucked up human being. He is disrespectful of everyone, the media, elected officials, foreign officials, and anyone he has a grievance with. He is a fucking liar, not just a liar, a fucking liar. He has fed the Latino community a mouthful of lies and some of you are too stupid to realize he is a fucking liar. He stole top secret military documents. He was impeached, twice. He has been indicted for felonies, twice, with more coming. He is a racist and is supported by racist organizations.
So I can see your Abuela (grandmother) looking at your stupid ass, taking off her chancla, and asking you the same question I’ve asked Dennis Paul and Veterans for Trump. What the fuck is wrong with you?
Seriously. WTF? This piece of trash is not your friend. He does not share your values unless you are a coward, a racist, a cheat on your spouse, a liar, or you steal from others, turn your back on your friends, make fun of the weak and disabled, or treat women like trash. Those are not Latino values. Those are not human being values.
You, we, are better than that. It’s time that some of you start acting like it.
Posted by johncoby 
Bay Area Houston 