Bay Area Houston

Konni Burton is in a good competitive fight for her seat in the Texas Senate. That is probably why the big guns have come out in her fundraising defense.

According to her latest financial reports Burton raised an impressive $1,055,000 over the last 3 months but look closer. $938,000 came from just 1 individual and 4 PACs. Dan Patrick contributed $40,000. Texans for Lawsuit Deform donated $333,000. Empower Texas $250,000. $40,000 from Texas Realtor PAC. And here is the kicker: $250,000 from Texans for Fiscal Responsibility PAC.

So Konni Burton raises 89% of her million dollars from 4 PACs including one that advocates for “Fiscal Responsibility”. Yeah right. Its like taking money from a condom manufacturer for abstinence only policies. There is nothing fiscally responsible about funding your campaign with PAC money.

$1,036,400 comes from donations of $1000 or more, 98% of her entire fundraising. She also has an outstanding loan from her husband for a total of $240,000. Her loan totals $295,000.

Not much to see here folks.

Stan Stanart the Harris County Clerk is the guy who can’t seem to do the one job he was assigned, that is to run the elections in the 3rd largest county in the country efficiently. He can’t seem to raise money either.

In his last report he has raised about $26,000 from 17 individuals, but $17,000 came from just 5 individuals who are out of the county. This includes $5000 from Colorado and another $5000 from Kathleen Wall, the lady who spent $6 Million of her own money in a losing effort to win a seat in Congress.

And that is it. Not a lot to be smiling about. #FireStanStanart

Looks like Ruben Villarreal running for State Representative in House District 144 has been abandoned by Texans for Lawsuit Reform.

Villarreal’s financial report for the last reporting period isn’t very impressive. As stated in my last post:

$22,500 out of the $24,850 raised came from 3 PACS, $20,000 from Texans for Lawsuit Reform a front group for businesses in Texas, $1500 from the Hispanic Republican PAC, and $1000 from the State Farm PAC. Only $2350 came from individuals.

This time around he has only raised $4475 from 5 individuals and one builder PAC for $1500. TLR didn’t contribute. Neither did the Republican Hispanic organization. It looks like they are cutting their losses. He still has a $13,000 outstanding loan and he has only $6200 cash on hand. 

During this last reporting period Middleton spent $182,000 with $33,000 coming out of his own pocket (again) for donations to various organizations. He spent $63,000 on salaries (in just 3 months for 11 people), $51,000 on “campaign services”, $39,000 on “Consulting”, $40,000 on advertising, and $3000 was spent on “Overhead” for electricity and utilities.

Middleton must not care too much about spending campaign cash. Why would he if most of it is his own?

See Buying a State Representative seat: David Mayes Middleton

This is just plain sick.

David Middleton is running for a State Representative seat in Austin representing the Galveston area. As I have stated before:

According to his latest report Middleton has raised over $1.7 Million with $1.5 coming from his own pocket, 87% of his entire fundraising efforts. He paid $1.7Million to win in the Republican primary.

His latest filings claims he has raised about $248,000 during the period ending in Oct. That is a very good haul for a State Representative campaign. But the $248,000 includes $225,000 from his own pocket! Once again Middleton is buying his seat in Austin. He has since written off all of his $1.7 million loans.

So he only raised $23,000 for the period ending in Oct, about as much as Sid Miller raised. Let’s face it Middleton is rich. Filthy rich. He has enough money to donate almost $2 Million of his own money to win a seat in Austin. $2 Million is an insane amount for a State Representative race. Completely insane. 

Middleton is buying his seat in our government. This is what is wrong with politics today coupled with dark money, PACs,  and allowing unlimited contributions from anyone. The amount of money he is spending is filthy.

Ain’t that rich?

OUCH! Sid Miller is all hat and no cash.

Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller cant raise money. Currently he has $52,000 which includes a $350,000 loan. He only raised $24,000 in this period and he still owes $195,000 towards the loan.

Miller only has 13 donors and 2 pledges of $15,000 including $10,000 from Drayton McClane, former owner of the Houston Astros. His total loans dating back to 2012 $750,000 came from 3 individuals, Brad Allen, Richard Redalen, and Trammell Crow. Allen is a nursery owner in Stephanville he loaned Miller $400,000. Miller’s campaign treasurer is Ted Nugent. Yes. Ted Nugent. I’m not kidding. Miller has come under fire for his lax reporting. According to the Dallas Morning News:

In November, The Dallas Morning News revealed that Miller lent himself $10,000 at an interest rate of 10 percent when he was running for the House in 2000. When Miller lost his seat 12 years later, he repaid himself more than $31,000 due to interest accrued.

In contrast his opponent Kim Olson has raised over $125,000 in the same period from over 1000 donors.

What is it with Republicans sending dick pics? Texas State Senator Charles Schwertner website claims he is a “physician, family man, and life-long conservative.” yet he may have just joined Congressman Joe Barton in the republic party dick pic club. The University of Texas is investigating and may ban him from the campus.  From FoxNews: (yes….even Fox News is reporting this)

Schwertner allegedly texted the student, “I just really want to f— you,”  and sent her a photo of what appeared to be his genitals in the shower. The image does not show his face, officials said, and the student never responded to the message.

Gross. Ew. Ewww. EWWWWWW!

Oh my gosh what the hell is going on with the republic party? Joe Barton resigned in disgrace after sending dick pics leaving a Congressional seat he held for decades suddenly open. You would have thought a physician, family man, and life-long conservative would have been smart enough to expose himself in person instead of sending a text. What ever happened to the age old sexy phone call, or meeting in the cloak room, or grabbing them by the p****?

Texas Congressman Louie Gohmert had this to say about Schwertner: “I can’t help but wonder when I see you looking there, with a little smirk, how many times did you look so innocent into your wife’s eye and lie to her about your dick pic”

Ok. He didn’t say that towards Schwertner, but he could have. Lt Governor Dan Patrick had this to say: “Holy f***! What the living hell was he thinking? It’s sad I have to tell my own Senators to not send dick pics! Do it in person!”

Ok. He didn’t say that either.

Who would have thunk it? 

Many people believe the Republic Party is pro law enforcement, but that really isn’t true anymore. Case in point, Texas Congressman Brian Babin. Babin has continued his attack on the men and women of the Federal Bureau of Investigation with his latest email to his constituents:

Two weeks ago, I joined with my House colleagues to call for the declassification of the Carter Page FISA warrant application. This past week, President Trump delivered by ordering the FISA application, key documents, and text messages to be declassified. I hope these documents will be released without delay so the American people can get the answers that they deserve.  

A few months ago Babin supported the disclosure of classified information questioning the FBI and it blew up in his face. His party claimed the information was “worse than Watergate  and would end in indictments. It didn’t. It was yet another bust. He has also claimed the men and women of the FBI have created a “secret society” to stage a coup against the president. He has worn the aluminum foil hat with pride to protect the president.

Once upon a time the republic party was the party of “law and order”, tough on crime, protectors of the universe. Today Babin and his party have shown their true colors by supporting and making excuses for the most corrupt human being to ever hold the office of president. 

There will be a time when Brian Babin will have to take a break from attacking law enforcement and wipe the egg off his face.

Ted Cruz makes it hard to like Ted Cruz.

His latest stunt wasn’t just deceiving, one State Representative believes it violated Texas law. Cruz mailed a fundraising letter which looked on the surfaces as a summons. He could have sent a letter with a picture of him standing in the Senate shutting down the government, or maybe a picture of him defending his wife from Trump, but instead he used a method of deception. Many of us can smell a rat an envelope away but others may be fooled into opening this solicitation. From the Austin Statesman:

“Received this for my 88-year-old grandma,” Owen said in his post, which also shared a photo of the envelope. “Says it’s a summons from Travis County, but is actually for money for @tedcruz. Did your campaign authorize this? Is this even legal? Shame on you. That’s one more @BetoORourke voter.”

According to State Representative Gene Wu this solicitation may violate the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act:

“A person commits an offense if the person recklessly causes to be delivered to another any document that simulates a summons, complaint, judgment or other court process with the intent to: (1) induce payment of a claim from another person; or (2) cause another to: (A) submit to the putative authority of the document; or (B) take any action or refrain from taking any action in response to the document, in compliance with the document, or on the basis of the document,” the statute states.

Representative Wu’s comment on the summons letter adequately sums up why #NobodyLikesTedCruz:  “this still absolutely violates the spirit of the law. And even if it doesn’t violate the spirit of the law, this is slimy as hell.”

Texas Representatie Matthew D. Rinaldi joins other republicans in Texas who believe in buying a seat at the table. He shares the table with Kathleen Wall, Angela Paxton, State Representative Dennis Paul, State Senator Don Huffines, David Mays Middleton, and State Senator Joan Huffman.

Bennett Ratliff, a Republican who preceded Matt Rinaldi as state representative for House District 115 in Dallas County, on Friday endorsed Rinaldi’s Democratic opponent, Julie Johnson, in the Nov. 6 election. 

He called Immigration and Customs Enforcement to report that some of the protesters in the gallery were undocumented immigrants. Then he walked over to a group of Latino legislators and taunted them about his call to ICE. This seemed exactly the kind of racial profiling that Hispanic lawmakers had feared. The resulting shoving match was predicable. We won’t try to parse whether Rinaldi had legitimate cause to fear for his safety. But we do know that he escalated the incident when he threatened to put a bullet in the head of Democrat Poncho Nevárez. The Democrats weren’t blameless, but Rinaldi was the instigator. His conduct embarrassed himself, the House, and Texas.