Bay Area Houston

OMG. It’s Tony Buzbee all over again only worse.

Gary Gates is running for House District 28. Just like Tony Buzbee he is self financing his campaign with over $1 Million as of Dec 31. Like Buzbee he is a Trump loving republican but unlike Buzbee he has some extra ugly baggage. From the Texas Tribune:

Forward Majority’s spot is based on accusations that CPS staffers made against Gates and his wife, Melissa, after the agency removed the couple’s 13 children — 11 adopted — from their Houston-area home in 2000, saying the kids were in “immediate danger.” A few days later, a judge sent the children back home — but he was disturbed by the claims, the Houston Press reported at the time, and emphasized he was only seeking to determine whether the “emergency removal was appropriate, not whether these children have been abused.”

13 children? Besides this latest tidbit, Gates is just one of many republicans buying their way into office. Money Mayes Middleton spent $2.5 Million to win a House seat in Galveston. Kathleen Wall spent $6 Million just to come in 3rd place. She is doing it again in CD22. Others include Angela Paxton, Patrick Fallon, Joan Huffman, Matthew Rinaldi (he quit), Don Huffines, and did I mention Tony Buzbee?

Reports are due Jan 15. Updates will follow.

Running for office is not a game. It’s not funny. It’s not cute. It’s serious business. Lives literally depend upon who is elected to represent our State and it takes money. Lots of money. As an example, Beto O’Rourke raised $80 Million (that is and 8 followed by a 0) and still lost. Candidates who do not understand this and does not make the effort to raise the money necessary to get their message to the voters should consider doing something else.

Jack Daniel Foster. Raised $6,957 for the period ending Dec 31, 2019 which includes a loan of $6932 from his own pocket.

Jack should consider a new trade.

I’m not sure how to feel about this besides being very cautious. From Real Justice PAC:

The Real Justice PAC works to elect reform-minded prosecutors at the county and municipal level who are committed to using the powers of their office to fight structural racism and defend our communities from abuse by state power.

That sounds pretty good, but on one hand we have a group, Real Justice PAC, that is funding campaigns for justice reform. This is good. We do need justice reform in our State and in Harris County. On the other hand it’s basically one person and most of the money is out of state.

The reports coming out of the Texas Ethics Commission (TEC), on the surface, doesn’t make any cents. The numbers do not add up. According to the Texas Ethics Commission Real Justice PAC has raised $298,050 with $200,000 coming from one individual, Cari Tuna from San Fransisco. Only $10,200 came from Texans, and only $600 came from Harris County.

Real Justice PAC has spent $425,192 which includes in-kind contributions. $280,000 was donated to Texas Organizing Project PAC, an organization that generally performs great work in the field. Real Justice have donated to three candidates for District Attorney in Bexar, Tarrant, and Harris County.

$54,681 was donated to Albert Roberts running for DA of Tarrant County, $29,444 to Audia Jones running for DA of Harris County, $61,065 to Joe Gonzales running for DA in Bexar County. I didn’t see any donations to the candidate in Travis County. These figures include in-kind donations. For Audia Jones in Harris County the $29,444 account for most of her donations with $24,803 coming from in-kind donations.

So, if I were to make a prediction TOP will endorse these candidates and work for them in the field during the March primary.

If you think you do not need to file an Ethics Report, you might want to think. Look what I found in the Texas Ethics Commission website.

In late 2016 Harris County Judge Elaine Palmer was fined $15,000 for not filing required campaign finance reports. According to the Texas Ethics Commission, sworn complaints SC-31606159, SC-31607163, AND SC-31607167

According to The Texas Tribune GOP mega donor James Dannerbaum is in a bit of trouble. 

James Dannenbaum, a prolific Texas Republican donor and former University of Texas regent, is resigning from his namesake engineering company after admitting to coordinating illegal campaign contributions in 2017.

Since 2000 Donnerbaum has donated almost $4 Million to various republicans including $427,000 to Rick Perry, $317,000 to Greg Abbott, $168,000 to Dan Patrick, and $17,000 to my own State Representative Dennis Paul. Dannerbaum is his biggest contributor and has been in hot water before. From an earlier post:

Dannenbaum Engineering has stirred a lot of controversy as it has grown into one of the dominant engineering companies in South Texas over the past 30 years. On April 26, the FBI executed a broad raid of its offices across the state, including in San Antonio, to gather records related to the company’s pursuit of infrastructure projects in the Laredo area. A decade ago, reports from the El Paso Times and other media outlets linked the company to another FBI corruption probe in El Paso County.

 Here are his donations sorted by recipient.

It’s a thing with republicans running for office.

Tony Buzbee, in a runoff for Mayor, Gary Gates for House District 28, and Eric Dick running for Houston City Council all have one thing in common. They can’t raise money so they are using their wealth to self fund their campaigns. 

Buzbee has sunk $10 Million into his campaign and came in 2nd place, 18 points behind Mayor Turner. Gates from a previous post:

Now he is running for House District 28 and doing what he does best. In his first report he raised only $265, loaned himself $271,000, and has a loan balance of $821,000. The numbers do not add up but that is for another post. In his latest report he raised only $500 and added another loan of $445,000 to his campaign. He has an outstanding loan balance of over $1 Million.

And Dick from a previous post:

Dick is continuing his Buzbee method of raising money. He isn’t. Instead he has an outstanding loan of $75,000 and he has spent $99,000 of his own money in this period alone. He is in this race for $267,000 of his own money. 

All three are wealthy republicans who do not have the necessary skills to run for office. Gates has tried a number of times spending up to $4.5 million on his failed races. Dick has tried for City Council before and failed. He is currently on the Harris County Board of Education a job he has not business being in. And Buzbee is just a politically ignorant, rich, asshole. 

Just like trump.

From the Fort Bend Herald

Gary Gates is one of those guys who runs for office, over, and over, and over again. He is also very wealthy, wealthy like Texas Representative Money Mayes Middleton, Kathaleen Wall, or Tony Buzbee.

Money Mayes Middleton spent about $2.5 Million of his own money to win an election in House District 23. Kathaleen Walls spent $6 Million of her own money and lost in CD2. Tony Buzbee is spending $10 Million of his own money to try to win the Mayor’s race in Houston. Gary Gates is another republican, running for Texas House District 28, and he is using his millions to attempt to win it.

It hasn’t worked for Gates in the past. In 2005 he began loaning himself money and spending from his own pocket in a race for State Senator District 18. He lost. In 2014 he ran again, this time loaning himself $1.7 Million. He lost. In 2016 be ran for Railroad Commissioner loaning himself about $4.5 Million. He lost.

Now he is running for House District 28 and doing what he does best. In his first report he raised only $265, loaned himself $271,000, and has a loan balance of $821,000. The numbers do not add up but that is for another post. In his latest report he raised only $500 and added another loan of $445,000 to his campaign. He has an outstanding loan balance of over $1 Million.

Gates is loser. Let’s keep it that way.

UPDATE: Sri almost out raises all other candidates combined running for CD22!

UPDATE: Sri out raises his primary opponents 8-1 with $817,139. Reed raised $114k, Moore $112K. As expected, Kathaleen Wall put $600,048 of her own money into her campaign. Harris raised $211,000 including a $120,000 loan.

I’m expecting Kathaleen Wall to file with a few million of her own money. She ran in the republican primary in CD2 with $6 Million of her own money. She came in 3rd place. The three who have filed already have not been very successful. Most are using their own money or depending upon in-kind donations. Chevalier received about $6700 in donations with one being $4000, $1300 over the limit.

Look for more updates soon.

Make no mistake about Tony Buzbee. He is a republican except when it comes to his profession. Don’t buy into anyone saying he plays “both sides”. That really isn’t true. But don’t take my word for it. Look at the reports from the Federal Elections Commission and the Texas Ethics Commission.

On the Federal level Buzbee has donated over $589,600 with only $25,000 going to the Harris County Democratic Party to help wipe out all the republican judges that could rule on his cases. This does NOT include his $500,000 donation to Trump’s inauguration committee. Here is the data from the Federal Elections Commission website:

Now here is the data from the Texas Ethics Commission. $1,034,581.69 with $225,000 to Greg Abbott, $80,000 to Rick Perry, $179,000 to Democrats including $80,000 to the Harris County Democratic Party,  to wipe out the Republican judges in Harris County. Here is the data from the Texas Ethics Commission.

It just doesn’t get anymore dishonest than this and it’s not his first time either.

Bill King sent out a mailer in the Kingwood area listing some Democratic precinct chairs as endorsing him for Mayor. The office is a non partisan race and precinct chairs can endorse in this race. Unfortunately, some on his mailer did not endorse and would not endorse him and they called him out on it.

That was a couple of weeks ago. Obviously King has learned that dishonesty and lies championed by Trump can work so he did it again, this time in Clear Lake. Again some Democratic precinct chairs were listed as endorsing him, as well as a well known journalist who has not endorsed and cannot endorsement due to her profession. That person is not happy and shouldn’t be. I’m not sure if this is illegal, but it should be. Regardless it is a deliberate, dishonest attempt to sway voters.

Earlier in the year King, running his second campaign for mayor, used campaign literature that did not have the necessary disclosures. It’s almost like the man running against corruption can’t follow the law.-

Bill King ran for Mayor of Houston 4 years ago. You would think his campaign would know that the “Political Advertisement Paid for by” requirement applies to all candidates. King’s campaign was in the neighborhood putting out door hangers without the necessary disclosure requirement. King might want to review the following section of Title 15 Election Code: