UPDATED: Raising Campaign Cash: Houston City Council Oct 2023

October 5, 2023

Still waiting for Donnell Cooper’s report that is now 10 days late. Next reports are due 8 days before the election. I’ll update this post as the results are posted.

NOTES:
Gilbert Garcia, candidate for Mayor is self financing his campaign for over $3,500,000. Of the $277,911 that was raised this period, $250,000 was from his own pocket.
Fred Flickinger, candidate for District E (Clear Lake) is also self financing for over $100,000.
Have not posted yet. Donnell Cooper and Roy Morales.

Raised: Total money raised this period. Includes In-Kind donations.
In-Kind: Something of value donated as opposed to cash such as used of an office space.
Expenditures: Amount spent over the period.
Loans: Outstanding loans. This may not be the total loan amount for the entire election period.
COH: Cash on Hand. Money that is in the bank.

CandidateRaisedExpendituresIn-KindCOHLoans
Gilbert Garcia*$277,911$2,030,646$7,547$1,542,929$0
Sheila Jackson Lee$630,518$756,621$6,363$901,824$0
Lee Kaplan$111,655$552,791$0$915,353$300,000
John Whitmire$1,092,518$3,924,144$52,060$6,876,948$0
Robert Gallegos$11,450$16,607$0$145,075$0
At Large 1
CandidateRaisedExpendituresIn-KindCOHLoans
Melanie Miles$53,133$58,396$0$144,643$50,000
Conchita Shelly Reyes$38,405$47,688$5,231$18,206$0
Leah Wolfthal$40,054$76,371$380$10,040$0
Julian Ramirez$19,540$33,294$0$21,392$20,000
At Large 2
CandidateRaisedExpendituresIn-KindCOHLoans
Nick Hellyar$48,125$42,840$1,450$138,413$0
Danielle Bess$10,245$53,774$0$65,996$0
Holly Flynn Vilaseca$44,550$57,436$0$84,158$0
Marina Coryat$13,836$14,250$0$9,500$0
Willie Davis$12,950$8,283$0$1,805$0
Obioha “Obes” Nwabara$11,736$28,649$5,000$18,446$20,000
At Large 3
CandidateRaisedExpendituresIn-KindCOHLoans
Twila Carter$32,425$21,975$0$200,546$4,000
Richard Cantu$23,097$10,831$0$39,120$0
Casey Curry$3,938$19,571$0$2,360$0
James Joseph$27,250$64,605$58,200$37,493$0
Donnell Cooper
Ericka McCrutcheon$2,725$11,437$0$0$25,000
At Large 4
CandidateRaisedExpendituresIn-KindCOHLoans
Letitia Plummer$35,240$41,099$0$87,533$7,000
John Branch$300$1,157$0$300$0
Roy Morales
At Large 5
CandidateRaisedExpendituresIn-KindCOHLoans
Sallie Alcorn$64,520$50,029$0$432,922$0
District E
CandidateRaisedExpendituresIn-KindCOHLoans
Martina Lemond Dixon$35,950$17,910$0$18,039$0
Fred Flickinger$11,975$45,914$0$63,169$103,000
Controller
CandidateRaisedExpendituresIn-KindCOHLoans
Chris Hollins$160,578$598,460$500$214,799$0
Shannan Nobles$8,150$98,752$0$69,663$112,000
Dave Martin$107,475$31,629$0$225,202$0
Orlando Sanchez$91,808$27,416$0$71,681$198,128

Who filed the frivolous lawsuit against Judge Lina Hidalgo this time?

September 30, 2023

There is a League City connection.

Well leave it to the Republican Party to continue running to the court house filing more lawsuits because they lost an election. Recently Alexandra Mealer dropped her frivolous suit against Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo. Even her attorneys were not happy with her. Now three plaintiffs are suing to remove Hidalgo from office even though she is scheduled to return on Monday. So who are these folks? Glad you asked.

Dave Wilson. Dave is one of those “Run for something” guys. Once he won running as a Black man. Literally. KHOU has that story. “The mailers featured “smiling African-American faces — which he readily admits he just lifted off websites — and captioned with the words, ‘Please vote for our friend and neighbor Dave Wilson'” over 24-year incumbent Bruce Austin. He won in the heavily black district by just 26 votes.”

Thomas Thrash. I can’t find anything about him on the world wide inter webs besides his property in Katy.

Thomas A. Bazan. He is listed as a Lead Testing & Removal Specialist living in Jersey Village. He is also a republican precinct chair.

Milinda M. Morris. Oh this is a doozy. Milinda was a failed candidate for Texas Senate losing by 60 points. (not a typo). She is also a member of the State Republican Executive Committee.

Tom Slocum Jr. Another doozy. Ran for Railroad Commissioner and won 14% of the vote. Graduated from Texas A&M. I wonder if he is related to Coach Slouch of A&M Football?

Keith A. Gross. The League City connection is the attorney who filed the misspelled suit, Keith A. Gross Texas Bar No. 24027357. He is a former City Council Member. You might want to check out his Yelp reviews.

The suit itself, which can be found here, is in dire need of a spell check. Hidalgo is not HILDAGO. Katy Texas is not KATEY. The suit references Texas Penal Code 22.041. What is Texas Penal Code 22.041? Glad you asked:

Texas Penal Code 22.041 Abandoning or Endangering Child. An offense under Texas Penal Code § 22.041(b) is a felony of the second degree if the alleged offender abandons the child under circumstances that a reasonable person would believe would place the child in imminent danger of death, or bodily injury, or physical or mental impairment.

Local Facebook Attorney stated “What a frivolous load of crap. These whiny little bitches just need to shut the fuck up and move on.”


Another $10,000 Ethics fine for Eric Dick, republican candidate

September 30, 2023

This is weird. Just plain weird.

Bear with me for a bit of background. In 2019 Eric Dick ran for Houston City Council. I filed a complaint via the Texas Ethics Commission against Dick for not disclosing the cost of a mailer he sent for the election. The headline from the Houston Chronicle says it all about the result of that complaint: “Houston Republican fined $30K for mailers suggesting Black Democrats endorsed him“. The TEC also referred him to the State Bar. You can read the details here. Trust me. It’s long, but interesting!

Years later Dick decided to run for Harris County Treasurer. He lost in the primary but didn’t disclose $50,000 in donations from the extreme white wing group called Conservative Republicans of Texas. CRT was founded by Steve Hotze who was recently indicted on multiple felonies concerning voting fraud. His side kick, Jared Woodfill, is the president. Dick also failed to disclose over $100,000 in expenditures. So I filed another complaint.

Just like the previous complaint I expected the TEC is issue a small fine and Dic would promise not to do it again and just like the previous complaint that didn’t happen. Dick was fined $10,000 which is a pretty big fine by the TEC. The TEC wasn’t very happy with Dick, again:

The respondent has also acted in bad faith with Commission staff throughout the sworn complaint process. He not only ignored the Commission’s repeated attempts over the course of many months to contact him regarding the complaint, but when he finally submitted his response it was over eight months late.

Dick has since changed his long time Treasurer, has dropped out of the race for Harris County Department of Education, and has a new attorney representing him, Jared Woodfill. Dick has agreed to the Agreed Resolution.

As of today Dick has not paid the $30,000 fine. You can read the entire resolution here.


CliffsNotes: Judges summary judgement against Trump properties in New York

September 27, 2023
Someone is not happy

I took another one for the team and read the 39 page summary judgement issue by the Judge in the New York case against Trump and Trump properties.

Background.
Trump is being sued by the New York Attorney General Leticia James. The suit has been on going for a year. Yesterday the Judge issued a summary judgement, ie the Judge concluded that the evidence was so overwhelming, that a jury trial was not necessary. [based upon my vast legal experience from Facebook U.] The trial will continue to determine how much Trump will have to pay to New York State. Here are the Cliff Notes of the ruling:

  • The Judge was not happy with Trump’s lawyers: Defendants’ conduct in reiterating these frivolous arguments is egregious. We are way beyond the point of “sophisticated counsel should have known better”; we are at the point of intentional and blatant disregard of controlling authority and law of the case.
  • Judge sanctioned his attorney’s for their frivolous arguments of $7500 each.
  • OAG has submitted conclusive evidence that between 2014 and 2021, defendants overvalued the assets reported in the SFCs [Statements of Financial Condition] between 17.27-38.51%; this amounts to a discrepancy of between $812 million and $2.2 billion dollars.
  • Accordingly, defendants” motion for summary judgment dismissing every cause of action is denied in its entirety.
  • The Trump Tower apartment in which Donald Trump resided for decades (the “TriplexTM) is 10,996 square feet. Between 2012- 2016, Donald Trump submitted SFCs [Statements of Financial Condition] falsely claiming that the Triplex was 30,000 square feet, resulting in an overvaluation of between $114-207 million dollars. “A discrepancy of this order of magnitude, by a real estate developer sizing up his own living space of decades, can only be considered fraud.'”
  • OAG demonstrates that as of 2012, no apartment sold in New York City had ever approached the price at which defendants valued the Triplex, noting that the highest overall sale at that time was $88 million for a Central Park West penthouse. The SFCs valued the Triplex at a staggering $180,000,000- $327,000,000fortheyears2012-2016.
  • Notwithstanding receiving market values from professional appraisals in 2000, 2006, 2012, and 2014 valuing Seven Springs at or below $30 million, Donald Trump’s 2011 SFC reported the value to be $261 million, and his 2012, 2013 and 2014 SFCs reported the value to be $291 million.
  • Trump Organization submitted SFCs that valued these rent-restricted units [Trump Park Avenue ] as if they were unencumbered, inflating the value of each unit between as much 700% (in 2014) and 64% (in 2021).
  • Despite these appraisals, the 2011 and 2012 SFCs valued the Trump Organization’s interest in the property [40 Wall Street] at $524.7 million and $527.2 million, respectively, an overvaluation of more than $300 million each year.!
  • Donald Trump’s SFCs for 2011-2021 value Mar-a-Lago at between $426,529,614 million and $612,110,496, an overvaluation of at least 2,300%, compared to the assessor’s appraisal. 
  • AnApril2014appraisalvaluedthegolfclubportionofTNGC Briarcliffat$16,500,000;later that same year, Donald Trump valued the golf club portion of TNGC Briarcliff at $73,430,217, an inflation of more than 300%, in his SFC.
  • Cushman & Wakefield appraised the value of 1290 AOA at $2 billion However, Donald Trump’s 2014 SFC calculated his 30% share based on a purported value of $3,078,338,462; his 2015 SFC was based on a purported value of $2,985,819,936; and his 2016 SFC was based on a purported value of $3,055,000,000. This resulted in overvaluations of Donald Trump’s 30% interest in 1290 AOA of between $205-$233 million dollars for those years.
  • Improperly including these intra-organization deals [Real Estate Licensing Deals] resulted in an overvaluation of up to $224 million in 2014, $110 million in 2015, $120 million in 2016, $113 million in 2017, $115 million in 2018, $97 million in 2020, and $106 million in 2021.
  • Defendants have continued to disseminate false and misleading information while conducting business. This ongoing flouting of this Court’s prior order, combined with the persistent nature of the false SFCs year after year, have demonstrated the necessity of canceling the certificates filed under GBL § 130, as the statute provides.
  • The Trump Organization has been cancelled in New York

It’s time to sanction Alexandra del Moral Mealer and her attorneys

September 25, 2023

As with the other lawsuits it was frivolous.

Alexandra Mealer finally dropped her lawsuit against Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo after realizing it was a baseless, frivolous case. According to the Houston Chronicle:
“The lawsuit was frivolous when she filed it, and she has wasted a tremendous amount of the County’s and the Court’s time before finally acknowledging tonight that there is no evidence to support her outlandish claims,” Manne said in a statement. 

It was frivolous just like the other 22 cases against Democratic judges who won their elections. Mealer could not identify one single voter that could not vote in the 2022 election as she alleged. She then wanted to amend her suit to claim thousands of votes were illegally counted, a claim even her own attorneys did not support.

Hidalgo was represented by an attorney who donated his services. Unfortunately by law the Democratic Judges could not receive pro bono work. They had to fundraise to pay attorney fees, funds that could not be used for re-election. It was a brilliant plan by the Harris County Republican Party and now they need to pay for it.

Mealer and her attorneys need to be sanctioned and all legal fees should be paid not only for Hidalgo’s attorneys but for all of the attorneys representation the 22 Democratic Judges. Frivolous lawsuits cannot go unpunished.

Now quit fucking whining Mealer.


Was Lt Governor Dan Patrick paid off to tank the Paxton trial?

September 25, 2023

Yes.

What kind of idiot thinks a $3 Million donation to a judge prior to an impeachment trial is proper? Patrick was acting (seriously) as the judge in the Attorney General Ken Paxton impeachment trial. He isn’t a judge. He isn’t an attorney. He has no law experience. He had to depend on his legal staff to rule on motions, objections, and other legal matters during the trial. But, nevertheless, he was the judge in the trial.

Just prior to the trial he received a $3 Million donation from an extreme right wing PAC, Defend Texas Liberty. This is the same group featured on a CNN investigation. It is funded by two Texas billionaires. Their goal is to transform Texas into a christian nationalist state by funding extreme white wing candidates against republican elected officials. As an example they funded the campaign for State Representative Bryan Slaton and won. (Slaton was eventually the 1st representative in 100 years to be removed from office for providing alcohol to an under aged staffer, porking her, and then trying to cover it up.) They have financed State Representative Tony Tinderholt. (He has been married 5 times!) You get the idea. They are just massive christian hypocrites.

So prior to the trial they just bribed the shit out of Patrick and it worked. After the cowards of the Senate refused to remove Paxton, Patrick took to the microphone. He could have thanked the Senators, said another fucking prayer, then adjourn. Instead he berated the House investigators, demanded an investigation of the investigators, and acted like the giant dick he is. All for $3 Million.

The billionaires are now setting their sights on the House Members who voted to impeach Paxton. They have unlimited money and they are going to spend it. It’s happening now.


What the f*ck Fetterman?

September 22, 2023

Would it hurt to put on a pair of fucking pants? FFS!

I’m at The Texas Tribune Festival in Austin. I’ve just listened to Congressman Adam Kinzinger raising the alarm (again) about what is happening to our country, the possibility of becoming a facist nation, Donald Trump winning again, the collapse of democracy, and possible violence in the upcoming elections. Many in audience will be working their asses off in the upcoming elections to stop this.

And yet you have to pick this time to pick a fucking fight about your right to look like a fucking douche on the floor of the United States Senate floor. What in the living fuck is wrong with you? With our democracy hanging on a thread you want to pick a fight about your right to look like a bum? Seriously?

Here is a tip. Besides the extreme far left of the Democratic Party most Americans do not agree with you. Put on some goddamn nice clothes, shut the fuck up, and do your goddamn job.

For fucks sake.


Senate Republicans. No Morals. No Marbles. No Manhood.

September 18, 2023

As I have said. The new GOP. The Gang Of Pussies.

They aren’t laughing with you. They are laughing at you. This is who they are. The Republican Senators couldn’t find an ounce of intelligence, or morals, or a pair of balls to do the right thing, the obvious thing. Instead they let the biggest crook in the history of the Texas Attorney Generals office off the hook. They couldn’t hold him to the highest standard the office demands. They couldn’t hold him to the highest standard the Bible demands. They couldn’t hold him accountable because they were afraid of being kicked in the balls by those who control them, their donors.

They have been officially neutered. Paxton will return to office to fire some more people and continue screwing his mistress. Tony Buzbee will run for Houston City Council. Lt Governor Dan Patrick will take the $3 Million he received from a Paxton PAC, Defend Texas Liberty, and start an investigation of those in the house who brought the charges to the Senate.

As I said in the past, they were never going to have the balls, the moral fortitude to do the right thing. Today the Republican Party leaders are just a bunch of low life, lying, cheating, stealing, adulterer sympathizer, excuse making, rotten bunch of fucking bastards. They will let Paxton off.

What an incredibly fucked up, spineless, immoral, stupid, ignorant, lawless, party of pussies.


Bay Area’s Senator, Money Mayes Middleton a Khristian, Konservative, Koward

September 17, 2023
Paxton’s Mistress, Laura Olson

What a fucking coward.

Spare me the “praise Jesus” crap Senator. You not only turned your back to corruption, you turned your back on christian values. You are nothing but a coward. Just a big fucking coward.

Middleton voted against every single article of impeachment even though the evidence was clear, crystal fucking clear on many of them, not all, but many especially illegally hiring a “special prosecutor”. I watched the entire trial and out of all the articles this one was clear. It was no contest and every Senator should have voted to remove him from office but only 2 did.

Money Mayes Middleton doesn’t have a single christian bone in his fucked up body. He is a CHINO, Christian in Name Only. A hypocrite. A republican. This is who they are. Maybe Middleton is also having an affair. I wouldn’t be surprised.

I hope one day I can tell him to his face.


Welcome Back Party to be held for Paxton at OAG office

September 17, 2023

This should be fun!

The staff at the Texas Attorney’s Office are planning a welcome back party for Attorney General Ken Paxton after he was acquitted of 16 impeachment charges. According to his personal scheduler, who asked not to be identified, “I am so thrilled he is coming back. We will have a big cake for every staff member to enjoy.”

“I urge everyone in the office to sign the card with your name and phone number to show General Paxton that you actually showed up. Otherwise he might retaliate and fire your ass.”