Danielle Dick is running for Harris County Department of Education. Her husband, Eric Dick, is currently on the board but will leave in January to pursue other interests. He ran unsuccessfully for the Harris County Republican nomination for County Treasurer. Even the Republicans had enough of Dick.
Last March Dick was fined $30,000 by the Texas Ethics Commission, which at the time was the 2nd highest fine in TEC history, for various reasons. His final order can be reviewed here. Usually complaints like Dick’s end in a slap on the wrist, a small fine, and a promise not to do it again. Unfortunately for Dick it ended in a large fine and the TEC referred him to the Texas Bar for possible disciplinary action.
Joe Synoradzki according to LinkedIn works at the Dick Law Firm. He is also the treasurer for Dick’s campaign and at this point should know the rules of the Ethics commission inside and out. He is also the treasurer for Eric’s wife Danielle and as of today has not filed an campaign finance report which was due earlier this month.
Usually not filing a timely report ends with a slap on the wrist, a small fine, and a promise not to do it again. Let’s see how this one plays out.
I was a bit disappointed (a bit). As advertised I was hoping to hear from City, County, & State Leaders on school safety and hear them defend their non action on limiting the easy access to assault weapons but that wasn’t what happened. There were no city, county, or state officials in attendance. That was disappointing since they have been in hiding ever since the Uvalde shooting that killed 19 children and 2 teachers.
But, all was not lost. The staff of CCISD did a great job on presenting their Safety Network. I took notes and will highlight the highlights. Since the Santa Fe shooting the district has spent $35 Million on hardening our schools and providing services to students and parents. They have added a total of 45 law enforcement officers to the campuses, created secure vestibules, panic buttons, door hardware for each classroom to secure the doors from inside or out, bus cameras, open door alarms, and security cameras on all campuses.
They discussed their apps available to the students and public called CCISD Alerts which is available for download. Their emergency protocol is consistent across the district no matter what type of emergency is being reported, a shooting, an emergency around the school, or a loose dog roaming the campus. The protocols for lockdowns, sheltering in place, etc as all the same.
I truly believe CCISD is doing the best they can in securing the school facilities given the limitations by our elected officials at the state level, who were not in attendance to explain these limitations. Unfortunately there are holes in the security that should be addressed.
As an example the most security for the campus is a fence that an 18 year old with an assault weapon could shoot through at kids playing at recess, or practicing football, or at band practice. Unlike the school classrooms the campuses are wide open. To compound this situation according to Texas law anyone (including criminals) can walk around in the open with a loaded assault weapon, wearing body armor, with hundreds of rounds of ammunition, large capacity ammo clips, and silencers and there is nothing law enforcement can do about it.
We were told at first there are no limitations on how close a possible shooter could come to the school but later we were told that the limit was 1000 feet if they had a license to carry. On the surface this sound reasonable but….how can you tell if that person has a license? Law enforcement cannot ask for proof of a license. They can only take action if that person breaks the law by threatening someone or shooting. This needs to be clarified. It makes absolutely no sense and should be addressed.
As I have said, I believe CCISD is reacting responsibly to the threats to our schools because of the lack of action by our elected officials on the State level. They are doing the best they can given the situation. It is sad that they have to become security experts just so that our elected officials can protect the rights of an 18 year old to buy assault weapons, body armor, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, large capacity ammo clips, and silencers.
It’s like they want to protect guns and bullets instead of girls and boys.
Greg Abbott is morally crippled. After 19 nine year olds were slaughtered by a gunnut with an AR-15 Abbott has refused to do anything about gun violence or at least try to make it harder for someone to buy a military style weapon, hundreds of rounds of ammo, body armor, and a silencer.
Now according to The Guardian, Abbott’s love for guns and his policy of access to guns has made it easy for Mexican Cartels to arm themselves at the expense of Texas children.
Mexican foreign affairs ministry legal adviser Alejandro Celorio Alcántaraestimates that half a million guns annually are purchased legally in the US and then brought into Mexico illegally. About 70% of guns seized in Mexico from 2014 to 2018 and submitted for tracing had originally come from the US, according to officials with the American bureau of alcohol, tobacco, firearms and explosives (ATF).
It is clear that Abbott and the Republican Party will not change their minds about easy access to military weapons even after the El Paso shooting, the Santa Fe shooting, Odessa shooting, the Sutherland Church shooting, and the Uvalde shooting. His love for guns and making money selling them to Cartel members is greater than his love for his own constituents.
The only person more pathetic than Abbott is the person who votes for him.
The vast majority of ethics complaints filed with the Texas Ethics Commission end with a slap on the wrist, a promise not to violate the law again, and a small fine. Then there are the fines against Matt Armstrong.
Matt Armstrong is/was the treasurer of a couple of GPACs in Flower Mound Texas. He is a political consultant for “conservative” candidates. He recently resigned as chief administrator for Denton County Precinct 1 Commissioner Ryan Williams. He has been the center of controversy according to the Denton Record-Chronicle.
He had 3 complaints filed against him in 2022 and the Ethics Commission has ruled and posted the sanctions on their website today. It’s not pretty. The TEC fined Armstrong $10,000, $15,000, and $12,500 for a total of $37,500. That fine is the 2nd highest fine in the history of the TEC with a $75,000 fine issued against Harris County Commissioner Jerry Eversole many years ago. Early in 2022 the TEC fined Eric Dick, candidate for Houston City Council $30,000 and referred him to the Texas Bar.
The final orders are a bit long and complicated but there seems to be a pattern to the results of the investigation. According to one of the complaints:
The pattern of behavior shows a deliberate effort by the respondent to evade disclosure and mislead the public. The respondent also ignored the Commission by failing to timely respond to the complaint and failing to participate in the preliminary review hearing.
I believe one of the worst things you can do when a complaint has been filed with the TEC is to lie, mislead, and/or ignore the requests by the TEC staff. It’s best to just pony up to the bar, admit you made a mistake, take a fine, and move on. After reading the complaints against Armstrong it seems like he didn’t do that.
Note to treasurers: Don’t mess with the Texas Ethics Commission.
Even Jack Morman, running for County Commissioner, has his own sugar daddies.
According to his campaign finance report Morman raised $457,000 from about 120 donors. $300,000 of the total was provided by 3 donors of $100,000 each for a total of 65% of his entire fundraising for the period. He also received $82,000 in in-kind donations by PACs.
The three sugar daddies include:
Alan Hassenflu who has made large donations to Mealer also, donated $100,000 as well as Richard Weekley, and David Modesett.
Greg Abbott like most republicans have a lot of sugar daddies, many of them out of state.
According to his latest reports Abbott raised $24.7 Million which includes two $1 Million donations, both coming from out of state, Nevada and California. Over 50% of his total donations came from just 55 donors for a total of $12.6 million. Each of them gave $100,000 or more in this period alone. 189 donors, who contributed $25,000 or more, provided a total of about 70%,. About $5 Million came from out of state.
He reported over 86,000 donations yet 70% came from those who can afford to drop $25,000. That is sad.
This is who Abbott is. Bought. Paid for. An NRA suck up. A morally Krippled, Khaotic, Kruel jackass of a human being. The head of the Texas KKK. Here is a list of his donors giving more than $100,000 in this period.
Texas State Representative “Little Baby” Briscoe Cain, pictured here in a recent photo at his 35th birthday, got a spanking by the Houston Chronicle.
The Chronicle endorsed his opponent Chuck Crews based upon his professional experience and the lack of professionalism of Baby Briscoe. From the Chronicle:
Fortunately, Democratic challenger Chuck Crews struck us as direct, capable and thoughtful, with a professional background that would help his constituents. A longtime petrochemical engineer, Crews said he’d put his extensive knowledge of the industry to use right away in the Legislature to make plants mechanically safer and environmentally cleaner for surrounding communities.
The Chronicle puts Baby Briscoe over their knee and gives him a good verbal whipping like his mom did at the Texas Democratic Convention. A few years ago he was flashing his concealed handgun and got his little ass thrown out of the convention center. His mother was called to pick him up. She stated:
“I am so sorry for my son’s behavior. I have told him to not play cops and robbers in the open and to never take his toy guns out of the house. I intend to whoop his ass once I get him home.”
(she really didn’t say that)
Baby Briscoe is an asshole. A Texas sized little asshole. He is a perfect republican. He is an election denier, a liar, a gun nut, a disrespecting little child. He acts like a child on the Texas House floor. He thinks he is cute. He is a child in a grown ass man’s body. Unfortunately his district will vote for a billy goat just as long as it has an R behind his name and Baby Briscoe has an (R) behind his name.
Unlike her opponent, Judge Hidalgo is raising the vast majority of her donations from small donors.
Mealer raised 46% of her $4.9 Million haul from just 19 individual republican sugar daddies with 9 individuals giving $1.7 Million with donations of $100,000 or more.
Hidalgo’s report contains about 1100 pages of donations. The reports provided by the County are not easy to read. They are not searchable so it was difficult looking through 1100 pages but I tried. Hidalgo raised about $1.5 million from approximately 5500 donors. She has $2 Million remaining Cash On Hand. I found 1 donation of $103,000, a couple of $25,000 donations and a few in the $1000 range but the vast majority of the donations were from small donors.
It’s pretty clear who each will represent on Commissioners court.
Well, David Weekley wasn’t lying about republican sugar daddies funding Alexandra Mealer for County Judge.
The reports provided by Harris County are difficult to read but I tried my best. I believe I missed some big donations and will update if needed. She has about 510 pages of donations with a remaining Cash on Hand of $1.7 Million.
According to her last report Mealer raised $4.9 Million a tad shy of what Weekley had promised. $1.7 Million came from 9 individuals including $120,000 from the MAGAt Mac family. Another $500,000 came from 10 individuals/PACs giving $50,000 each. 19 individuals/PACs gave Mealer 47% of her entire donations. The report is sprinkled with a number of $25,000 donors. Mealer definitely has the republican sugar daddy support.
Abbott has already blamed the 376 law enforcement officers who showed up at the shooting equipped with armor, shields, and weapons and yet stood around listening to children dying instead of doing their jobs. Many of them will now lose those jobs. Many might be having nightmares thinking of the sounds of kids dying. Many of them need to go to hell for what they did, along with Greg Abbott.
Instead of placing blame on Abbott and his NRA party for allowing a law abiding 18 year olds to have easy access to assault weapons, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, body armor, and silencers they just simply rolled over. That law abiding 18 year old went on to kills 19 children and 2 teachers.
The Superintendent and law enforcement know better. They know that easy access to guns was the root cause of this massacre but they seem to be ok with rolling over, losing their jobs, and losing their dignity just so an 18 year old can buy weapons.
Posted by johncoby 
Bay Area Houston 