Bay Area Houston

It is pretty damn ugly.

Dolph Tillotson lives in Galveston and is a member of The Daily News editorial board. He wrote a column “Politics in La Marque has descended into dysfunction“. I believe Tillotson is a Conservative (not a MAGAt) and his comments are spot on. Take a moment to read it.

Background:
So in a nutshell what is happening in La Marque and why? The chaos in La Marque is mostly due to one person, Council Member Joseph Lowry. Lowry won his seat in District C just over a year ago and has brought divisiveness, pettiness, and chaos into city politics. He claims to be a “journalist” writing on a Facebook page with childish comments and doctored pictures of his fellow Council Members. His claims of corruption have been baseless and his personal attacks on members of Council and citizens have grown old. His pettiness makes my pettiness look petty. The infighting caused by Lowry was the main reason for a Council Member to resign his seat. You can search the Galveston Daily News for many articles concerning Lowry here.

Multiple Censures and Suits:
Lowry has been censured a number of times by Council. He has been sued by members of City Council for harassment. He owns a concrete business and is being sued by one of his competitors for defamation. He is being sued by Galveston County for unpaid taxes amounting to $43,000. There has been a complaint filed concerning his application for $50,000 in COVID related relief. He has a very troubling criminal past in Washington State which called for a decision on whether he is legally qualified for his position. (The Council took the issue up and took no action.) He has sued the City for breach of his 1st Amendment rights. A federal Judge sided with the City.

Failed Recalls:
According to the Galveston County News Lowry orchestrated a number of failed recalls. One concerning a tax rollback and a couple concerning the Mayor. Needless to say his time on Council probably isn’t the most productive. The article documents a profaned laced interaction with a city resident which was highly criticized by City Council.

Cease and Desist:
And recently his harassment of the new City Manager, JP Pritchett, took a nasty turn. Lowry, along with the City and the Chief of Police, was served with a Cease and Desist order from attorneys representative Mr. Pritchett. This C&D claims he has been harassed, threats made, and has been stalked by Lowry. The order specifically demanded the following:

The letter goes on to demand that Lowry cease and desist from making any further false statements, harassment, threats, and stalking of Mr. Pritchett. They ask for the City to take immediate action to prevent Lowry from accessing city facilities where Mr. Pritchett works and to prevent any further release of private or confidential information.

You can read the entire C&D here.

The Recall:
Lowry has used his Facebook page to harass members of the community and in return they have filed a Recall Petition. The community members are actively obtaining signatures to force a recall vote. Unfortunately these recalls are relatively expensive but based upon Lowry’s actions it may be the only action the city can take. If the recall is successful then an election must be held to fill the seat.

Film at 11.

You just can’t make this shit up.

Last year the republic party was all up in arms about Hunter Biden falsifying a government document. He didn’t check a specific box concerning drug use on an application when purchasing a firearm. Eventually he was convicted and later pardoned by President Biden. Needless to say the MAGAts lost their minds. Once they were able to get over their President’s 34 felony convictions and his pardoning of some the worst criminals in the United States they demanded justice.

It is amazing how the party of “Law and Order” has become the party of “Law and Order and Laughing.” Case in point newly elected Galveston County Sheriff Jimmy Fullen. Fullen also falsified a government document failing to admit he had a number of incidents that led to disciplinary action against him. The Texas Commission on Law Enforcement voted to revoke his license stating the following:

Specifically, Respondent omitted, failed to disclose, or provided false or untruthful information related to job experience, having been disciplined at work, having been fired or asked to resign from a place of employment, having been accused of discrimination, having been the subject of a written complaint at work, having failed to make or been late on a court-ordered payment, having been part of a civil lawsuit, and failing to disclose two arrests.

You can read the entire letter from the TCOLE here. Last week Fullen and his donor and lawyer, Tony Buzbee, failed to mediate an alternate solution with the TCOLE. If the TCOLE rescinds his licenses Fullen can no longer hold the office of Sheriff. Fullen has since sued the TCOLE hoping to convince a judge (his buddy) to rule that the TCOLE does not have the authority to rescind his license, although the TCOLE has been given that exact authority. I45Now has the full story.

LOL. The Party of LOL.

In 2009 I researched the spending habits of all Senators and House members. The report is called Don’t Mess With Texas Ethics. You can read that here.

According to The Texas Tribune every bill filed to address the unlimited money in Texas elections and the Texas Ethics Commission’s (TEC) ability to enforce the campaign finance laws have failed. Even the bill filed to address the Sunset Commission’s recommendations to improve the TEC failed. So Texas will continue to be the land of the lawless. The Tribune’s article is detailed. Take a moment to read it.

Our Senator “Money” Mayes Middleton was quoted in the article concerning reforming the Ethics Commission:

“It’s about prioritizing real misconduct over technical infractions, ending the weaponization of the complaint process, and shining a light where dark corners have persisted for too long.”

That is a load of crap. Middleton is the king of unlimited money in politics. He personally funded his campaign for his House seat spending millions to beat a sitting Republican in the primary. He has donated millions of his campaign money to various campaigns hidden behind advertising companies. These donations are difficult to find. Middleton did his best to kill the ethics bills.

Since running for office in 2018 Middleton has raised over $6,930,462 Million with 83%, $5,736,392, coming from his own pocket. He spent over $2 Million of his own money to win his House seat in Galveston in a campaign that required only $500,000 if it was competitive. (It wasn’t) He has spent over $7 Million on campaigns across the state including:

Some of his biggest donations include $300,000 to Louie Gohmert who unsuccessfully ran for Texas Attorney General against Ken Paxton in the Republican Primary. He donated over $60,000 to Galveston’s State Representative Terri Wilson. Wilson raised over 87% of her entire campaign donations from out of district PACs and individuals. He donated a few thousand dollars to the leader of conservative values, State Representative Tony Tinderholt, who has been married 5 times. He donated $186,000 to Carrie Isaac of Dripping Springs.

So I find it rich that Middleton would be making any comments concerning money, donations, and ethics. Middleton will be giving up his Senate seat to run for Texas Attorney General…..a race financed by his own money.

We all knew it was coming. The darling of the republic party, Scott Bowen.

After a devastating loss in his reelection bid for CCISD Trustee Scott Bowen has decided to run for State Representative. It’s a logical choice. Congressman Brian Babin’s seat is being saved for his son. Current State Representative Dennis Paul is running for State Senator. Current State Senator Money Mayes Middleton is running for Texas Attorney General. This leaves the State Representative seat open for Bowen.

This district was built for a do nothing republican because they don’t have to do anything to win besides put their name on the ballot. It’s so gerrymandered a Democrat can never win. Back in 2008 the State Representative, John Davis, was caught using tens of thousands of his donors money for personal items including a pair of custom made $1500 cowboy boots, gasoline for his roofing company, and other items. His approval rating was in the gutter and few if any voters knew who he was. His opponent raised $400,000, knocked on over 25,000 doors, made over 20,000 phone calls and yet still lost by 12 points.

This is a perfect place for Bowen. He can now officially go after public education funding. He can turn his back on gun violence victims and their families. He can ignore those of us who are being devastated by the rising cost of home insurance and an electricity grid in disarray. Like Dennis Paul, Scott will have a special place on Greg Abbotts ass. He will have money from his billionaire buddies and every special interest in Texas. He will be welcomed in Austin.

Maybe the parents, teachers, and taxpayers in House District 129 will hold him accountable. Again.

Well, that was a surprise. Kind of. It appears that those in Seabrook who call for “transparency” actually dislike it. The “beehive,” as some have dubbed it, of Jackie Rasco’s supporters took issue with my mention of a police incident at Rasco’s residence. You can find the post here and the actual police report here. That post became the second most viewed in my blog’s history, with the first being after actor Mark Ruffalo retweeted my post “Texas by the numbers. (it ain’t pretty)” (We truly aren’t doing well!)

I had compared the Seabrook race to the recent shit show in League City which ended poorly for a council member who instigated the chaos in the city. Below are just a few of the responses received on the post even one banning me from posting! EGADS! I am RUINED! Early voting ends today. Good luck Seabrook. You just might become the center of discussion for the next couple of years.