Houston Chronicle punts on CCISD coverage

May 5, 2023

Thanks to the Galveston Daily News for covering the CCISD Trustee election.

The GDN did a great job reporting on the outside PACs infiltrating our local elections in support of one candidate, Peter Lauzon. Lauzon is running in District 3, in Harris County. Although I appreciate the coverage I wish the Chronicle had reported on it since it is in their area.

The Chronicle has covered other districts like Katy and HISD but posted only one CCISD article allowing the candidates to introduce themselves. The Clear Lake area has become a media desert on issues such as the CCISD elections and local politics.

GCN’s article was brutally truthful. Lauzon is the only candidate being funded solely by outside extreme PACs. Here are a couple of tidbits:

The political action committee, which has donated the bulk of Lauzon’s total campaign dollars, has expended more than $10 million in donations toward conservative Republican organizations, home-school coalitions and Republican Party state representatives and senators.

When asked whether he would feel comfortable with other candidates accepting monetary donations from political action committees, Lauzon declined to comment.

This is actually a typical response from Lauzon. If he doesnt like your questions on his Campaign site, he blocks you. When he is caught lying on his website he limits comments. GCN reported on another CCISD candidate:

Glencora Rodgers, a candidate running for Position 2 on the board, was given $5,000 from the political action committee but returned the money, according to reports.

Rodgers, who said she doesn’t have a specific opinion on other candidates accepting PAC money, was a little skeptical after receiving a check in the mail for $5,000.

“I learned that the PAC doesn’t completely align with my values,” she said. “I want my race to be about school issues. I want people in the community to know that my only loyalty is to them.”

Kudos to Glencora. Three out of the four candidates running for the CCISD Board have run honorable campaigns, raising money from the district, with no allegiance to anyone but our parents, teachers, and students.

Maybe if CCISD voters vote against the billionaires who are funding Lauzon the Houston Chronicle would be interested.

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Posted by johncoby

Fact checking the lies of CCISD Trustee Candidate Peter Lauzon

May 5, 2023

Donald Trump taught the Republican Party how to lie and they do it. Every. Damn. Day.

Far right on queue Peter Lauzon sent out a mailer, paid for by the Republican Party, that attacked his opponent with lies and misinformation. Former Trustee Laura Dupont took the time to explain the facts and debunk Lauzon’s attack:

I am sickened by the misleading statements and absolute lies that are plastered on texts and flyers against Arturo Sanchez in the CCISD District 3 School Board race. Please reach out to a credible source and learn the facts before you cast your vote on Saturday.

Here are a few facts to start with:

* The CCISD Board of Trustees has not held a vote on changing or eliminating the homestead exemption in over 10 years. In fact, it has been a board assumption each year to maintain the exemption.

* The entire board has been unanimous in voting for a tax rate CUT every year since 2018.

* The amount of school taxes we pay has been increasing because of rising property values – this is not controlled by the school board. In fact, the state uses this to their own advantage such that the state contribution to school funding has decreased every year since 2019.

* Every action the board takes is based on a vote of 7 people. One trustee cannot raise – or lower – taxes on their own.

* Every school district in this state, including CCISD, is anticipating a funding crisis next year if our legislature continues down the path of not using a cash surplus to increase the basic allotment (which has not changed since 2019!) and adequately fund public education, at least correcting for inflation. Texas is currently ranked 48th in the country for per-student funding of public education.

The Republican Party has become nothing more than a pack of damn liars much like George Santos, Donald Trump, and Peter Lauzon. It is sad.

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Posted by johncoby

Texas Secretary of State, Jane Nelson. An ethical scandal

May 4, 2023

Senator Jane Nelson was appointed by Greg Abbott to the Secretary of State responsible for elections in the State. In a recent bill, if passed, she will be able to overturn an election in Harris County if she believes (even with no evidence) there is fraud. She has a bit of baggage to discuss.

Stay with me on this. It’s good. I promise.

Prior to 2009 there was an issue of using campaign donations to buy a condo or house, then selling it and keeping the profits. At the time Senator Nelson had been paying $2000 a month to an entity called “Twin Star” for a “lease”. At the time I actually thought Twin Star was a plane company and she was renting a plane to travel from Dallas to Austin on official business. But…

On her campaign finance reports she reported the address of the company called “Twin Star” as PO Box 603 Lewisville, TX 75067 which caught my attention. I began to research and could not find a company called Twin Star. After a search of the PO Box I came across a document filed with the Environment Protection Agency with the PO Box associated with Mayday Manufacturing, making aerospace parts.

Mayday Manufacturing is located in Denton, Texas. Mayday was owned by James Nelson, her husband.

I believe there was enough evidence that showed Senator Nelson was paying her husband from $1500-$2000/month for a lease on a condo/house that he bought, so I filed a complaint with the Texas Ethics Commission alleging that over $160,000 of her campaign money was used to indirectly purchase real property againts the rules of the Ethics Commission. First she was paying her husband for services. TEC does not allow you to spend your campaign money on services from your immediate family. And you cannot convert campaign donations to personal use such as buying a condo.

The TEC accepted the complaint, investigated it for almost two years. It was eventually settled, but, the results of the investigation was kept secret. Why? I don’t know and they have refused to say. We will never know. We will never know who Twin Star is/was or who she actually paid the money to, or what services were actually purchases.

Payments to Twin Star stopped in Febuary of 2007 after 7 years of payments totally $163,500.

Good huh?

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Posted by johncoby

More partisan political money infiltrating CCISD elections

May 4, 2023
From Peter Lauzon’s mailer

There is nothing worse than lying, whining, hypocrisy, and partisan politics invading CCISD elections.

We knew this was coming. One of the candidates running for CCISD Trustee, funded by 2 billionaires out of the Dallas area and the Harris County Republican Party, has released a mailer not only attacking his opponent (which is against the agreement he signed) but dripping with hypocrisy and right wing talking points.

The only person running, funded by a political party, is Peter Lauzon. He is a former Executive Committee member of the state Republican Party. His wife is the VP of a republican club. He has been caught on tape praising his buddy Trustee Scott Bowen on CRT issues and taking over school boards by his party. He has been caught on paper with disturbing views on our Gay community and public schools. His party has cut education funding. He supports vouchers, as state in his party’s platform. He is an election denier.

AND YET HE WANTS TO “KEEP POLITICAL AGENDAS OUT OF OUR SCHOOLS”? Are you kidding? Lauzon’s mailer and campaign is funded by the Republican Party and Defend Texas Liberty a right wing PAC funded by two billionaires featured on CNN. They are funding extreme right wing candidates across the state in an attempt to take over school districts. The cost of the mailer has not been reported by Lauzon or his party but it is probably in the $6000 range. He has raised only $503 from the district. And yet he wants to keep political agendas out of our schools?

Lauzon’s mailer also attacks his opponent against the Code Of Fair Campaign Practices which he signed and filed with CCISD. No other candidate running for the CCISD Board is being funded by outside money. No other candidate has attacked their opponent. No other candidate is bringing their party politics into our schools. Only one. Just one. Peter Lauzon.

Filthy partisan politics does not belong in our schools. Hopefully voters will see through this incredible hypocrisy. Read more about Lauzon in Keep Partisan Politics out of CCISD.

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Posted by johncoby

You’ve got to be kidding. Eric Dick running again.

May 2, 2023

Are you serious?

Former Harris County Dept of Education Trustee, Eric Dick, is running for the Board again. Dick served on the Board then he decided to run for Houston City Council in 2019. He lost that race but not before generating a boat load of controversy. The headline from the Houston Chronicle says it all: “Houston Republican fined $30K for mailers suggesting Black Democrats endorsed him“

Dick sent out about 100,000 mailers during that election. That mailer can be viewed below and it looked like he was endorsed by many African American officials. (he wasn’t) I filed a complaint against him for funding the mailer and not having the required disclaimer “Political Ad Paid For By…..”. I truly expected a small fine, a slap on the wrist, and a promise from Dick to not do it again. Instead Dick was fined $30,000, the 2nd highest fine in the Ethics Commission’s history, and a referral to the Texas Bar. His cohort in this little scheme, Paul Bryant, was fined $6000 for his part. You can read all the details about the fine at: “The Texas Ethics Commission issues final order on Harris County Dept of Education Trustee, Eric Dick“. It was much, much, more than just the lack of a disclaimer. Much, much, more such as:

Dick had claimed, under oath, that he had nothing to do with the mailer, yet the data provided by the printer showed that he paid over $20,000 for over 100,000 mailers and was directing the printer on every aspect of the job.

Dick lost that race. He also lost his bid for County Treasurer in 2022. His wife ran for his seat on the HCDE Board and lost also. I thought for sure that would be the end of Dick, but according to the Harris County Ethics System, Dick has filed an Appointment of Treasurer for his run for the HCDE Board. Of note, his former treasurer, Joe Synoradzki, is no longer his treasurer for this race. Synoradzki is listed as an associate in the Dick Law Firm. According to his filing Dick has appointed Marcus Coward who is associated with the white wing wag Texas Conservative Review.

I really thought that a $30,000 fine and a referral to the Texas Bar would have been the end of Dick’s political career. Once again, I am wrong.

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Posted by johncoby

8 Day out campaign finance reports for CCISD

April 27, 2023

UPDATED: I’ve added the totals for the other candidates.

Peter Lauzon
Lauson has raised only $503 from inside CCISD. He has accepted $7070 from two candidates/PACs. Alexandra Mealer who lost her election in 2022 and has sued, like trump, claiming fraud (there was none) has donated $2070 for texting services. Another $5000 was donated by an extreme far right PAC from Dallas funded by two billionaires. He donated another $1000 of his own money to the campaign for a total of $3000. He has spent a total of $8100 with $6060 going towards mailers. He has $294 cash on hand.

It is sad that he has to depend on money from outside the district. He is in this race for the far right reasons.

CandidateRaisedExpendituresCOHLoans
District 2
Jamieson Mackay434639633820
Glencora Rodgers6501036821369400
District 3
Arturo Sanchez301038501526950
Peter Lauzon3295813629451350

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Posted by johncoby

In Texas calling a woman the C word gets you reelected. Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller

April 27, 2023

Texas has their own unique Texas sized family values.

Case in point. Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid “The C*nt” Miller. Unlike Tucker Carlson who was fired from Fox News for calling a woman the C word, Sid Miller was reelected to serve the woman of Texas. Twice. Maybe Texas Republican women have lower self esteem and don’t mind an elected official referring to anyone as a C*nt.

Usually anyone referring to a woman as a C*nt would be fired, slapped, or would get a well deserved ass kicking but here in Texas it’s just a part of Republican Christian family values and will end with a reelection. Texas Republican women aren’t snowflakes. They don’t mind the abuse just as long as they are owning the libs.

Miller isn’t the only one who has problems with women. State Representative Bryan Slaton is being accused of porking an intern and is currently under investigation. And there is Senator Charles Schwertner who sent dick pics to a student at Texas University. And there was former Congressman Joe Barton who resigned after sending dick pics to a woman. And Congressman Blake Farenthold was accused of sexual harassment.

All of them are republicans.

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Posted by johncoby

Data shows Harris County Republican’s lawsuits are just like Trump. Total bullshit.

April 21, 2023

The multiple lawsuits, filed by Harris County Republicans after they got their asses kicked in 2022, are frivolous and the investigation by the Houston Chronicle shows it.

A Houston Chronicle examination of election data found that while there were problems and technical glitches, there remains no evidence voters were systematically disenfranchised. Nor is there evidence the Election Day issues prompted people not to vote in numbers great enough to change the outcome of any of the races being contested.

Sounds familiar? It’s what Fox News knew all along about the 2020 election and they are paying for it today. Unfortunately facts don’t matter to republicans, lies do. This entire set of frivolous lawsuits are designed to drain Judges from campaign money since, as sitting judges, they cannot accept pro bono legal assistance and the County cannot represent them. They are also about continuing to create more distrust of our paper trail voting system. There was no election fraud. They know it. Fox News knew it. We know it. And they lost 65 out of 69 races.

The lawsuits claim there was an effort by the Election Administrator to limit ballots to certain locations therefore some voters did not get an opportunity to vote. The data shows otherwise. Not one individual has reported not being able to vote due to the paper shortages in the 29 voting locations.

BTW In Harris County voters can vote at any location in the county. They can visit Harrisvotes.org and find another location with the shortest lines. There were over 1000 locations across the county and they can even vote at the their local early voting location. Judges at the polling location have maps of all voting locations. Polling locations are operated by 2 judges one from each party. If there was a shortage then why didn’t the republican judges allow that to happen?

The Chronicles article is a good read. Here are some results:

In more than eight hours of public hearings [on voting bills in Austin] largely focused on Harris County’s November election, no one testified that they had difficulty casting a ballot in Harris County. 

Based on interviews and the county time-stamped data, the Chronicle was able to confirm 20 of the 29 voting locations cited by Republicans ran out of ballot paper.

Of the 29 locations, 55 percent were in precincts won by former President Donald Trump.

Under the countywide election system in place since 2019, voters can cast ballots at any polling place — they are not limited to their home precinct. Around half of Election Day voters cast ballots outside their home precincts that first year.

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Posted by johncoby

What is MAGAt Mattress Mac whining about?

April 19, 2023
Pic by the Houston Chronicle

MAGAt Mac, pictured with Wayne Dolcefino, was at the Texas Capitol whining about election fraud. Again. According to the Houston Chronicle:

Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale pressed state senators on Tuesday to help him access Harris County election records from last November’s midterms, using the remarks in Austin to denounce his home county as crime-ridden under Democratic leaders.

Nothing worse than a whiny ass little bitch. So what records does MAGAt Mac want to access? Good question. Wayne Dolcefino was an investigative reporter for KTRK and was sued by Sylvester Turner. From the Houston Press:

Sure, there have been some stories attached to his name, with the most infamous one being the accusation lobbed by then-KTRK reporter Wayne Dolcefino on the eve of the closely contested 1991 mayoral race that Turner was involved in an elaborate insurance scam. Turner refuted the claim—which a jury later found to have been “defamatory, false, [and] published with actual malice”—but the damage had been done. His campaign went into freefall, and he lost the election.

Turner was awarded millions by the jury. Dolcefino left KTRK in 2012.

Dolcefino filed 9 open record requests on behalf of MAGAt Mac concerning the 2022 election. Personally I think this is a fishing expedition looking for election fraud. I also think this lawsuit is nothing but a way to put doubt into our elections, claiming that the election was fraudulent (it wasn’t). Hopefully the judge will see through this and sanction their attorneys. You can read all the open record request here. The County has already responded to Mac claiming there is information that must be approved by the Texas AG (the one that is under a felony indictment) before being released. Mac can’t wait and needs to create chaos. Here is a summary of the requests:

  • Nov 17, 2022 phone records, emails etc from Clifford Tatum, the Elections Administrator.
  • Dec 7, 2022 Same as Above
  • Dec 8, 2022 Any documents detailing any maintenance issues with any election machines on November 8, 2022. Any documents detailing maintenance for logic and accuracy of election voting machines between October 30, 2022 and November 5, 2022. 
  • Dec 27, 2022 Any documents detailing the amount of ballot paper originally provided on election day (November 8, 2022) to all precincts in Harris County. A document detailing the number of voters who voted at each precinct in the Harris County 2020 election. Any emails, sent or received, including attachments, received by the Harris County Elections Administrator’s Office from any Harris County precinct judges regarding a shortage of paper for ballots on election day (November 8, 2022. 
  • Dec 27, 2022 A document detailing the number of voters who voted at each precinct in the Harris County 2022 election. 
  • Jan 18, 2023 Any written complaints or documented phone call complaints regarding the Harris County 2022 election received by the Harris County Elections Administrator’s Office or the Office of Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo between November 8, 2022 and the present. 
  • Jan 18, 2023 A list of all polling locations for the Harris County 2020 and 2022 elections. Any emails, sent or received, including attachments by Clifford Tatum regarding the Secretary of State audit of the Harris County 2022 election. 
  • Jan 23, 2023 Any emails, sent or received, including attachments by Clifford Tatum regarding the maintenance of polling machines, supplies of ballot paper, and/or addition or removal of polling locations between May 1, 2022 and November 8, 2022. 
  • Feb 9, 2023 A copy of each mail in ballot application to display signature and return envelope, and any related document which shows the signature of each mail in ballot for the Harris County 2022 election. 


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Posted by johncoby

Christian Republican State Representative Bryan Slaton. It’s like a nightmare.

April 15, 2023

It’s like a nightmare isn’t it? It just gets worse and worse. –The Color of Money

OMG! (literally) Christian Conservative Republican State Representative Bryan Slaton, 45 and married, is in really deep poo after an ethics complaint was filed against him for providing alcohol to an underage intern. But, as in The Color of Money, it’s getting worse. Much worse. According to the Texas Tribune:

A Capitol staffer alleged in an internal complaint that state Rep. Bryan Slaton, R-Royse City, had “sexual relations” with an intern two weeks ago.

Oh fuuuuuuuudge! Not only is it a crime to provide alcohol to someone under the age of 21, a misdemeanor, having sex with an intern might be an abuse of power, a felony. But OMG it just gets worse:

The same day, Slaton allegedly showed the intern emails from his personal account that accused him of having sex with a staffer, according to the complaint. The staffer believed Slaton wrote the emails as a test to see if she would report him. Slaton told her and her friends to keep quiet, according to the report.

And….obstructing justice is yet another felony. Luckily the Republicans are taking action by filing a bill to address Republicans having sex with interns. (Seriously) “Sen. Drew Springer, R-Muenster, drafted bill language that would target members of the Legislature who engage in grooming behavior with victims under the age of 21.” It’s amazing that a bill has to be filed to tell republicans not to pork interns or not to send dic pics as Republican Senator Charles Schwertner did.

The republican controlled House is trying to coverup this situation by starting an internal investigation. I am sure the Travis County DA has already started their own investigation. I bet Slaton is having a heck of a time explaining all this to his church and wife. BTW Slaton is a former pastor, received a BA in youth ministry and served as a youth minister for 13 years in The Church of Incredible Hypocrites.

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Posted by johncoby

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