Bay Area Houston

Although I do not agree with the ruling I respect the decision.

And I am glad I filed this grievance against Scott Bowen for testifying at a hearing in Austin advocating for a bill, on OUR behalf, that would harm public education. Bowen identified himself as a Trustee, spoke as a Trustee, and stated that his constituents, you and me, were against everything the Texas Association of School Boards advocated for including eliminating racism in the class room and stopping vouchers which would harm our public schools. But don’t take my word for it. Watch the 3 minute video and make your own decision.

The presiding attorney concluded:

It is my recommendation that the grievance and written requested remedy that Trustee Bowen be sanctioned, reprimanded, or asked to resign be denied for the reasons stated herein. Trustee Bowen had a right under Texas law and the United States Constitution, First Amendment, to participate in the legislative process in his individual capacity, and he had a right to identify his title as trustee in doing so. I do not find that he crossed any lines or that he spoke or intended to speak on behalf of the CCISD Board of Trustees. 

You can read the entire report here. Maybe next time Bowen will think twice about speaking on behalf of his constituents when he doesn’t have the right to.

This is some serious money and dirty influence.

The extreme far right Political Action Committee, Defend Texas Liberty attempted to influence voters in CCISD. CCISD voters didn’t buy it and for very good reasons. CCISD candidate Peter Lauzon accepted $5000 from this extremist organization which was the majority of his donations. Candidate Glencora Rodgers returned the $5000 they had donated. Most voters have no idea of who Defend Texas Liberty is or who funds them. Here are some details:

Defend Texas Liberty filed their first report with the Texas Ethics Committee in 2020. Since then they have raised nearly $12 Million mostly from two billionaires. Timothy Dunn donated $7.3 Million while Farris Wilks donated $3.2 million. These two individuals accounted for 88% of all the donations. Windi Grimes of Houston donated $571,000. Phillip Huffines donated $500,000, and Ken Fisher donated $100,000.

Timothy Dunn
Dunn has donated over $21 Million since 2004. His biggest donations were to Empower Texas (dissolved) for $7.7 Million, Defend Texas Liberty for $7.3 Million, Ken Paxton for $672,000, Shelley Luther for $1.7 Million, $407,000 to Tony Tinderholt and $275,000 to Bryan Slaton. Shelley Luther is known for being the hairdresser who refused to close her shop during COVID. She ended up in jail then ran for the House and then the Senate. She lost both. Tinderholt is a christian, conservative that has been married 5 times. Praise the lord. Bryan Slaton was removed from the Texas House by unanimous vote after he was found to have provided minors with alcohol and porked his 19 year old staff member. Lordy!

Farris Wilks
Wilks donated almost $15 Million since 2014. He also donated to Empower Texas for $2.4 Million, Defend Texas Liberty $3.2 Million, Ken Paxton for $776,000, and Bryan Slaton for $103,000.

Defend Texas Liberty
Defend Texas Liberty has spent $10.8 Million to various candidates and PACs including $160,000 to Representative Bryan Slaton pictured above. As I said, Slaton won his election and was recently removed from office by a unanimous vote in the Texas House for providing alcohol to minors and having unbridled sex with his christian, conservative, staff member who was 19 years old at the time.

Other notable donations:
Local State Representative Terri Leo-Wilson received $12,000 to add to her total, of which 94% came from out of district. State Representative Tony Tinderholt received $23,000.

Tim O’Hare, an extreme far right candidate, of Southlake Texas received $86,000 for his race for Tarrant County Judge in 2022. Texas Homeschool Coalition received $112,500.

Shelley Luther received $208,500 for her failed bid for Senate. Her claim to fame was.

And that is who attempted to influence the CCISD elections.

NOTE: A formal hearing on the grievance I filed against Scott Bowen was held yesterday. I want to thank the attorneys who represented Bowen and who presided over the hearing. I appreciate their professionalism. I may not agree with the results of the hearing when they are presented but I do respect what they do.

Last month I filed a grievance against Trustee Scott Bowen for his testimony in support of Senate Bill 175 which would, among other things, cut funding to the Texas Association of School Boards. In that video, posted by an anti-public education extreme right wing organization, Texas Education 911, Bowen identified himself as a CCISD Trustee and spoke on behalf of the Board. He also claimed he was representing his constituents and claimed we were in favor of vouchers, racism, and removing accountability from the district.

You can view his 3 minutes of fame here. Watch it and ask yourself if he was speaking on behalf of the Board and his constituents.

Bowen didn’t attend the hearing. Instead he left his defense to the CCISD attorney. The attorney defended Bowen saying that Bowen stated “I’m here on my own time and own dime” and therefore was not speaking on behalf of the Board even though he stated he was a CCISD Trustee. Watch the video yourself and make your own determination.

He says “TASB advocates for everything my constituents hate” using examples of eradicating racism and being against vouchers. That was his words. Literally. The attorney claims that he didn’t mean ALL constituents. Again, watch it. Make your own determination.

What also bothers me is that he signed in as representing CCISD and as an Executive Members of the Republican Party, Senate District 6. That can be found on the Senate website under SB175 here. He could have testified as “Scott Bowen” or as Mr. Joe Citizen but he didn’t. He used the weight of the title of Trustee to add credence to his testimony.

In the end the attorney claims that what Bowen did was not against CCISD policy from a legal standpoint. I might agree with this but what he did was definitely unethical and he should be held accountable.

The report from the attorney presiding over the hearing will be available in 14 days.

Michael Smith, Editor of the Galveston Daily News nailed it in his editorial, “Toxic campaigning won’t end unless voters demand it“.

“Our hope is voters are rejecting the incursion of hate-mongering, covert money, outside money, partisan ideology and partisan agendas of all sorts in their decisions about electing local people to volunteer posts.”

He references the CCISD election as well as other local races fueled by the likes of Wayne Dolcefino and outside PACs. It is well worth the read.