Local Elected Officials vote in support of vouchers for rich kids

November 20, 2023

They are voting against the wishes of the community.

State Representatives Dennis Paul of Clear Lake, Terry Wilson of Galveston, and Little Baby Briscoe Cain of Deer Park joined a handful of State Representatives and voted against an amendment to strip vouchers out of an education bill. Paul and Wilson also voted to not impeach Texas Attorney General Paxton. At least Baby Briscoe had enough common sense to be sensible. Only 23 House Representative voted to give Paxton a pass.

The amendment to remove vouchers from the bill was supported by 63 Democrats and 21 Republicans. Vouchers would give parents $10,000 of your tax dollars to send rich kids to a private school. It’s not a popular idea especially in the rural areas where schools are significantly underfunded. In Clear Lake the district is against vouchers. The Clear Lake Chamber of Commerce is against vouchers as is the Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership.

For me I can’t see how this is even constitutional. If someone is paying $2000 in school taxes, why should we give them $8000 more from our taxes just so their kids can attend a private school? Why should they get more than they put in? If vouchers were going to pass they should get no more than they put in. You put in $2000? You get $2000 and nothing more.

Private schools are not cost efficient and most parents can not afford the tuition or the transportation even with the voucher. Vouchers have nothing to do with school “choice”. It is nothing more than give away to rich kids.

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Texas, Bored of Education, opposes depiction of climate change

November 16, 2023

LOL. Scott Bowen again.

The Texas State Board of Education including Julie Pickren, from Pearland, has a problem with the depiction of climate change and evolution in science books. Pickren’s claim to fame was being at the Jan 6 insurrection. As I said in a previous post:

Pickren is being funded mainly by two Republican Oligarchs, State Representative Money Mayes Middleton and failed congressional candidate Kathaleen Wall. According to Pickren’s latest campaign finance report she raised $36,000 with $20,000 coming from Wall and $5000 from Money Mayes. Pickren also has some far right extremist PACs supporting her run for school board.

Pictured above is Captain Snowflake, Justin Hicks, League City Mayor Nick Long, CCISD Trustee Scott Bowen, and Congressman Randy Weber. She is only endorsed by the best people. According to the Houston Chronicle:

The Republican-led State Board of Education preliminarily rejected several new science textbooks on Tuesday over their presentation of climate change and evolution, a sign the books may be watered down before a final vote later this week.

Publishers were allowed until Wednesday to make changes that address criticism from board members, such as altering the depiction of the oil and gas industry. 

Pickren and her buddies are there to protect the oil and gas industry’s profit margins, even after posting record breaking profits. They also want creationist theories (ie the Bible) to be taught as an alternative to evolution and let the students decide which is more scientifically correct. Maybe they should consider teaching family values by Bryan Slaton.

Pickren since raised $115,000 for her race. $85,000 came from just 6 individuals including $40,000 from Richard Weekley, $20,000 from Kathaleen Wall, and $5000 from local Senator Money Mayes Middleton. Here are her top donors:

Weekley ,Richard25,000.00
Kathaleen ,Wall15,000.00
Schumacher ,Amanda10,000.00
Weekley ,Richard10,000.00
Bryan ,JP5,000.00
McMahon ,Linda5,000.00
Middleton ,Mayes5,000.00
Richard ,Weekley5,000.00
Wall ,Kathaleen5,000.00

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Posted by johncoby

Martina Lemond Dixon for Houston City Council

October 28, 2023

Great endorsement!!!

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FFS! It gets worse for CCISD Trustee

October 26, 2023

“It’s like a nightmare, isn’t it? It just keeps getting worse and worse.” –The Color of Money

FFS! Just when you think it can’t get any worse, it does. Yesterday I posted about the relationship between CCISD Trustee Scott Bowen, Defend Texas Liberty, Chris Russo and Cary Cheshire. I said:

Russo, Cheshire, and Bowen graduated from Texas A&M. All three were on the Student Senate together. Russo was the President of the Senate the year right after Bowen. Cheshire co-authored a bill concerning the Gay Community at Texas A&M on religious freedom grounds. Russo and Cheshire are directors for Texans for Strong Borders, an anti-immigrant PAC primarily funded by Defend Texas Liberty. Russo is listed as the Treasurer with an address in El Lago.

And it gets worse.
The Texas Tribune has dug deeper into Chris Russo and the known white supremacist, Nick Fuentes. It’s not pretty. From The Texas Tribune:
Since at least 2019, Texans For Strong Borders founder and president Chris Russo has operated in Fuentes’ racist movement on various social media platforms under the username “Optics Respecter.” Without sharing his real identity, Russo used the accounts to rail against immigration, feminists, the LGBTQ+ community and Black people, as well as share posts by other Fuentes followers that contain racial and homophobic slurs.

Bowen needs to publicly distance himself from these individuals and Defend Texas Liberty. He needs to return their donations. He needs to come clean with the community.

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Yet more troubling details about Defend Texas Liberty PAC and CCISD

October 25, 2023

This is truly troubling. Seriously screwed up and it implicates one of our own CCISD Trustees. Bear with me.

Quick Background.
I’ve written about the extreme right wing PAC, Defend Texas Liberty (DTL) meddling in CCISD’s local election before. (they failed) DTL is funded by 2 billionaires featured by CNN. They financed the campaign for a CCISD candidate for Trustee. They donated $2000 to Scott Bowen in his re-election bid. They donated $5000 to a CCISD candidate who refused the donation. They made donations to only 1 out of over 1000 school districts for Trustee races, that being CCISD and Scott is responsible for that.

It gets worse.
The Texas Tribune had a breakthrough investigation concerning the leader of DTL, former State Representative Jonathan Stickland, meeting with a known white supremacist, Nick Fuentes……for 7 hours. Fuentes is documented by the ADL including “On a livestream episode, Fuentes “jokingly” denied the Holocaust and compared Jews burnt in concentration camps to cookies in an oven.” Texas Speaker of the House Dade Phelan has since called on republicans to return their donations from DTL and Johnathon Stickland has been removed as the leader of DTL.

But…it gets even worser. 🙂
The Tribune has documented a long, troubling list of white supremacists affiliations with DTL including some local individuals. According to The Texas Tribune the following individuals has interfaced with DTL:

  • Chris Russo. (More on Chris below) Director of Texans for Strong Borders. Was seen chauffeuring Fuentes to and from the meeting at Pale Horse Strategies this month. Multiple people, who asked not to be named to avoid drawing the attention of white nationalists, told the Tribune that Russo has ties to Fuentes’ so-called “groyper” movement. 
  • Cary Cheshire. (More on Cary below) The executive director of Texans For Strong Borders and a longtime employee of Defend Texas Liberty-linked groups, was also at the Pale Horse offices while Fuentes was on-site.
  • Kyle Rittenhouse. The kid that crossed state lines and shot and killed two protestors. Was on site during the meeting with Fuentes.
  • Julie McCarty. Founder of True Texas Project an organization identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as an anti-government “extremist” group. The local chapter was banned from holding meetings at the Webster Presbyterian Church after the elders learned of their background.
  • There are many more individuals with ties to Fuentes as documented by the Tribune. Visit the story and view the graphic identifying these individuals and their associations with Qanon, white supremacists, white genocide, antisemitism, European American Community, and more.

Back to Chris Russo, Cary Cheshire, and CCISD Trustee Scott Bowen
This is truly strange coincidence. Russo, Cheshire, and Bowen graduated from Texas A&M. All three were on the Student Senate together. Russo was the President of the Senate the year right after Bowen. Cheshire co-authored a bill concerning the Gay Community at Texas A&M on religious freedom grounds. Russo and Cheshire are directors for Texans for Strong Borders, an anti-immigrant PAC primarily funded by Defend Texas Liberty. Russo is listed as the Treasurer with an address in El Lago.

This is the company Scott Bowen is keeping. It’s clear Defend Texas Liberty was invited by Bowen to meddle in our local elections. And now it is clear exactly who they are. If you have read this far, take a few minutes to read The Texas Tribune article.

From The Texas Tribune

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Posted by johncoby

Recommendation: Vote for all 3 CCISD propositions

October 23, 2023

School funding in Texas is complicated, very complicated. Voting to support our schools, students, and teachers is easy.

This is a no brainer. You can get a substantial tax cut AND help our school district! Let me explain as if I am an idiot when it comes to Texas school funding, and I am. (I tried to take the online class provided by CCISD. I failed.)

Texans are going to vote in favor of the Texas Constitutional Amendment 4 which will lower their taxes by a substantial amount. This is going to pass even though it is actually a bad idea, but that doesn’t matter. The CCISD Propositions include a VATRE (Voter Approved Tax Rate Election) and two bond elections. Voting for the VATRE will take a small portion of the large tax cut and put it back into CCISD schools. The proposed upgrades to CCISD are detailed extensively here. (Go ahead and read it. I’ll wait.)

In the end it is a win-win situation. We get a tax cut and CCISD gets needed improvements to campuses across CCISD. Remember these improvements were studied by a group of individuals from the community, provided to the CCISD Board and were recommended to the voters for approval. That approval begins tomorrow.

The propositions are supported by the Bay Area Chamber of Commerce and the Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership. It’s a good deal. Let’s take it.

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Nick Fuentes, Defend Texas Liberty, and CCISD Trustee Scott Bowen

October 12, 2023

CCISD Trustee Bowen needs to speak up.

It’s hard to stay quiet without looking like I don’t like Scott Bowen, but I don’t like Scott Bowen anyway especially with his ties to the Defend Texas Liberty PAC. The leadership of DTL had a 7 hour meeting with Nick Fuentes a known white supremacist. According to The Texas Tribune:

White supremacist and antisemitic leader Nick Fuentes has been thrust into the state political spotlight after he was hosted by the president of an influential group that has donated millions of dollars to top Texas Republican officials.

On Sunday, The Texas Tribune published photos of Fuentes at the headquarters of Pale Horse Strategies, where he spent nearly 7 hours on Friday. Pale Horse is owned by Jonathan Stickland, a former state representative who also leads Defend Texas Liberty — a political action committee that two West Texas oil billionaireshave used to give millions of dollars to right-wing candidates, including Attorney General Ken Paxton and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.

What to know about Nick Fuentes. The Texas Tribune

I’ve looked at DTL campaign finance reports. They have spent almost $8 Million in just a couple of years on extreme far right candidates including State Representative Bryan Slaton, who was removed from office after providing alcohol to a minor and having sex with her. DTL claims they are now targeting Republican House members who voted to impeach Ken Paxton, the same guys who voted to remove Bryan Slaton from office.

How does Scott Bowen fit into this picture? Well, out of 1207 school districts in Texas, Defend Texas Liberty PAC donated to multiple candidates in only 1 district, just 1 out of 1207. Guess which one? DTL donated almost $2,000 for text messaging services for Bowen’s 2022 campaign. Then they donated to two candidates in 2023, one a political friend of Bowen for $5000, and another who returned a $5000 donation.

How did Defend Texas Liberty pick CCISD out of 1207 districts to meddle in? How did they know who was running? Why would two billionaires care about CCISD? It’s pretty clear that Bowen invited them. He has some association with this organization and brought them into our school board.

And the leader of that organization, former State Representative Jonathon Stickland, met with a known white supremacist for 7 damn hours. Stickland is silent. So is Bowen.

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Posted by johncoby

White supremacists, Defend Texas Liberty, and CCISD

October 10, 2023
Texas Monthly

Thanks to the voters of CCISD we dodged a white supremacist group.

Former State Representative Jonathon Stickland is the lead of the Defend Texas Liberty PAC, an extreme right wing organization funded by two Texas billionaires. (background here) DTL donated $5000 to fund Peter Lauzon’s campaign for CCISD Trustee. (he lost) They also attempted to donate $5000 to fund Glencora Rogers campaign. (She returned it) CCISD Trustee Scott Bowen had something to do with these donations. He has ties to DTL. He should be speaking up about the following issue.

The Texas Tribune received a tip and seemed to have staked out the DTL headquarters. Guess who they saw. From the Tribune:
FORT WORTH — Jonathan Stickland, the ultraconservative leader of a group that has donated millions of dollars to high-profile Texas leaders, hosted prominent white supremacist Nick Fuentes and other right-wing activists for several hours on Friday.

Other white wing activists included Kyle Rittenhouse, the kid who killed two Black Lives Matter protestors. Also in attendance was Matt Rinaldi, the chair of the Republican Party of Texas although he claims he had no idea Fuentes was there. The building is the headquarters of Pale Horse Strategies a consulting firm owned by Stickland.

This is who was trying to infiltrate our school board. Thanks to the voters of CCISD we beat back the billionaires and defeated their candidate. I doubt Lauzon would have accepted money from Stickland if he had known that he was meeting with a known white supremacist, but others have accepted money from him including Lt Gov Dan Patrick for $3,000,000 just days before the Paxton trial. Elected officials have called upon him to donate the money to charity.

CCISD Trustee Scott Bowen should be denouncing his buddies at Defend Texas Liberty.

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Elected officials in Clear Lake who supports vouchers

October 9, 2023

Doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure this one out. So who’s in favor of school vouchers? Teachers aren’t. The vast majority of parents aren’t. Their constituents aren’t but that doesn’t matter to them and for good reasons.

Senator Money Mayes Middleton has self financed his campaigns. He owes no one not even his constituents. he recently wrote an op-ed supporting vouchers claiming that parent know what’s best for their children (they don’t). He is all in for vouchers.

Representative Dennis Paul. Paul isn’t going to upset the apple cart for fear of being primaried. Abbott has him by the nose. he is a solid vote.

Representative Terri Wilson out of Galveston is exclusively funded by Texans for Lawsuit reform [sic]. She knows who butters her bread and it’s not teachers. She is another solid vote.

CCISD Trustee Scott Bowen. Corporal Chaos is too much in bed with the party to be against vouchers even though CCISD is clearly against it. Will he travel to Austin and testify? We will be watching.

Tony Buzbee. Tony is running for Houston’s city council and doesn’t know what the fuck he is doing. I threw him in because Scott likes him.

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Houston elite private school ranked #5 in the US. The $35,000 tuition proves it.

September 27, 2023

The Houston Chronicle seems to be advocating for private schools via a voucher system.

Yesterday the Chronicle reported on a number of highly rated Houston private schools in the State as well as in the United States. What they forgot to report is how much these schools charge for tuition. This tuition, for those who can afford it, could be reduced by Greg Abbott’s voucher system. I’ll fill in the gaps in the Chronicle’s article. From the Chronicle:

Greater Houston has four of the top five best private schools in Texas, three of the top five largest public high schools, Texas’ most diverse private high school and some of the best schools for various religions in the state.

St. John’s School. At No. 1 in the state and No. 5 in America, St. John’s School is one of the highest-rated K-12 schools in the country. Tuition: $35,000/year. (that is not a typo)

The Woodlands’ John Cooper School. Third in the state and No. 27 in the U.S. Tuition: Prekindergarten: $25,460. Kindergarten: $25,460. Grades 1-5: $28,030

Awty International School. Fourth-best private high school in Texas and the 15th-most diverse private high school in America. Tuition: $33,000/year

The Village School. Fifth-ranked private school in Texas, the most diverse private high school in the state and Texas’ highest-rated boarding school. Tuition: $74,000/year

Strake Jesuit was rated the best in Texas [$25,000/year] , trailed by St. Agnes Academy (3rd,) [$25,000/year] Duchesne Academy of the Sacred Heart (5th,) [$26,000/year] Incarnate Word Academy (6th) [$18,000/year], St. Pius X. High School (7th) [$19,000/year] and St. Thomas High School (8th.) [$24,000/year]

So you can see how much Greg Abbott’s voucher system is needed for those who can afford to pay $25,000/year for a private elite education.

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