Bay Area Houston

As of today there are 3 candidates who have filed to challenge Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo. The first campaign finance reports dropped yesterday. You can find the reports here. The County doesn’t make it easy to review the filings. I have summarized the numbers below.

Judge Lina Hidalgo
Hidalgo raised $30,339, spent $141,460, has an outstanding loan balance of $51,400 and has a Cash On Hand (COH) total of $600,492. The COH includes a refund from various legal organizations of over $650,000. Most of her donations are small with a few at $5000.

Former Mayor Annise Parker (Democrat)
Annise Parker has one of the best resumes of the bunch. She was Mayor of Houston for two terms, Controller, and a City Council Member. She has raised $96,105, spent $9,793, and has a COH of $92,755 with no outstanding loans. $40,000 came from 3 donors.

City Council Member Leticia Plummer
Plummer has not filed a report for this period.

Mayor of Piney Point Aliza Dutt (Republican)
Dutt is the Mayor of Piney Point Village, population 3128. She raised $132,500, spent $2337, and has a COH of $246,662 which includes a personal loan of $118,200. She has quite a number of large donations with $60,000 coming from 6 donors of $10,000 each. The Chronicle has more details.

As I said earlier today Harris County Department of Education Trustee Eric Dick had a really bad couple of years.

Dick was fined $40,000 by the Texas Ethics Commission. A formal complaint was filed against him as a HCDE Trustee. Two judges in Harris and Galveston County sanctioned him in two different lawsuits. A judge recently questioned the signature of a dead inspector. Another judge in San Antonio dismissed a suit against USAA because Dick claimed his client had died. (He didn’t) And his wife filed for divorce. But that isn’t all.

According to The Houston Landing Dick has been charged with assault of a family member. From The Houston Landing:

The Houston Police Department arrested Dick on March 7 for hitting a female family member with his hand, according to a criminal complaint. Publicly available court records do not provide details about evidence obtained by police, statements made by witnesses and any injuries sustained by the alleged victim. 

There isn’t much filed except for the document below. I wish him and his family luck.

This is some serious stuff.

Steven Hotze, who led an effort to rid Harris County of illegal voting and harvesting of votes, is scheduled to go to trial this year on a number of serious charges concerning….wait for it….voter fraud. In 2020 a retired police officer, working for Hotze’s Liberty Center for God and County organization, stopped and held at gunpoint an air conditioning repairman claiming he had a truck full of harvested ballots. He didn’t. The officer was charged with a number of felonies including assault and false imprisonment.

Later Hotze was also charged with 4 felonies including engaging in organized crime, Case # 188121801010. The AC repairman has since filed a civil suit against Hotze and Liberty Center for God and County. You can read the entire complaint here. There is a damning recording between Hotze and a US Marshal, Lt Governor Dan Patrick’s brother asking for help for the arrest of the AC repairman.

Now Hotze is trying to delay his trial. His attorney, the former Chair of the Harris County Republic Party, Jared Woodfill, claims the charges are all part of a great conspiracy by the Democratic Party. From the Houston Chronicle:

“[Hotze] was only criminally prosecuted due to his political views and the fact that Liberty Center was investigating voter fraud in an election where the Democrats were successful,” Hotze’s lawyer, Jared Woodfill, wrote in the filing.

Just to be clear there has been no evidence of voter fraud discovered in Harris County or anywhere for that matter. None. Zero. Zip. Nada. All lawsuits stemming from the 2020 election claiming voter fraud were dismissed. A year and a half of investigation by the Texas Rangers and DA Kim Ogg resulted in a giant whomp whomp ending in an embarrassing press conference.

The AC repairman’s suit is scheduled for Feb 17. This ought to be interesting.

This is pretty damn strange.

So last month the Harris County Department of Education Board unanimously approved to censure Trustee Eric Dick for lapses in ethical conduct including refusing to pay $40,000 in fines to the Texas Ethics Commission, refusing to honor a subpoena, providing false information to the TEC, providing false information under oath along other things stemming from an ethics complaint filed in 2019. You can read the detailed results of that investigation here.

A month later they reversed course and in lieu of censure Eric Dick promises to donate $40,000 to the educational foundation of Harris County Department of Education “to be used for the CASE debates program for future lawyers.”. Elizabeth Sander of the Houston Chronicle wrote a detailed article about Dick’s ethical problems with the Texas Ethics Commission, the Harris County and Galveston County courts, and for possibly illegally soliciting clients affected by the Maui wildfires. The proposed censure was based only on his conduct concerning the Texas Ethics Commission. According to the article:

“In lieu of a censure, the Harris County Department of Education accepted a $40,000 donation,” Cobarruvias said. “But he still owes the taxpayers and the Ethics Commission $40,000.”

I highly recommend that HCDE cash his check as soon as possible.

Eric Dick. Again. Prior to the meeting I ran into Dick in the bathroom. Gross.

The Harris County Department of Education voted unanimously to sanction Trustee Dick after a grievance hearing yesterday. I filed the grievance. From the Houston Chronicle:

“Trustees are elected officials. Taxpayers should expect them to do some basic things, tell the truth, follow the laws of the state, honor subpoenas issued by judges, pay your fines assessed by the state,” Cobarruvias said at Wednesday’s hearing. “What happens if you and I don’t pay our parking tickets? You know, it’s pretty clear. But the worst part about all this is that he’s thumbing his nose at the law.”

Eric Dick has owned the Texas Ethics Commission $30,000 since March of 2022. He owes $10,000 for another ethics complaint that he settled back in 2023. He agreed to pay this fine but has yet to pay it. The Texas AG’s office has demanded payment and yet he has refused. In the article he claims he is challenging the TEC’s fines but I haven’t seen any indication that this is nothing more than bullshit.

In 2022 the TEC had 387 complaints filed. Only 3 went to a formal hearing. One was for Dick and another was for his buddy Philip Bryant who was also involved in the original complaint filed against Dick. Like the formal hearing Dick failed to show up at the HCDE hearing to defend himself.

This new Republic Party doesn’t give a crap about honor, dignity, truth, or abiding by the laws of our State. At least the HCDE did what they could legally do and sanctioned Dick. You can read the long, but interesting, final disposition by the TEC here.

This should make every fiscal conservative in Harris County pretty pissed off.

$700,000 down the drain. After almost 2 years of investigating the problems with ballots during the 2022 elections Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg held a press conference to announce an indictment of one individual for something that had nothing to do with the ballot issue. The press conference just needed a Womp Womp played in the background. But according to the Houston Chronicle this wasn’t the big story:

But according to interviews with election workers and documents related to the investigation, Ogg’s office and the Texas Rangers – who assisted in the probe – had likely known there was no election tampering for at least a year before Ogg informed the public.

There were over 20 lawsuits filed against Democratic Judges who beat their republican challengers instigated in part by Mattress MAGAt Mac. These Judges had to raise money for their defense. By law could not receive pro bono help from attorneys. They could not be represented by the County Attorney. They had to take time to address the allegations, something they had nothing to do with. In the end all the suits were dismissed. The Secretary of State issued a very detailed report after their investigation stating there was no evidence of voter suppression. None. Zero. Zip. In face the word “Fraud” doesn’t even show up int he 147 page report. The republicans just flat out lost. You can read the Cliff Notes about the report here. Here is a summary:

Texas Secretary of State, Jane Nelson, a Republican issued a 147 page report on the audit of the 2022 election in Harris County. In short the Republican said “The allegations of election fraud in the 2022 Harris County election are total bullshit.”.

Ok. That was not the exact comment but you get the idea. Kim Ogg sat on this information for a year while the County was needlessly spending resources and money. This entire situation should have consequences. The republicans who brought the baseless suits should pay for all the legal fees. Their attorneys should be sanctioned. Mattress MAGAt Mac should be fined.

And Kim Ogg should be investigated as she is being ushered out of the office.

I’ve said it before. Whomp Whomp.

It’s over. Finally. Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg held a press conference (video here) detailing the election fraud charges concerning the 2022 elections. The two year investigation found no evidence of election fraud. Nothing. Zero. Zip. Nada. Just like the Secretary of State stated in their 147 page report:

Texas Secretary of State, Jane Nelson, a Republican issued a 147 page report on the audit of the 2022 election in Harris County. In short the Republican said “The allegations of election fraud in the 2022 Harris County election are total bullshit.”.

Ogg said the same thing. So Ogg, Mattress MAGAt Mac, Senator Paul Bettencourt, and all the whiny little bitches of the Harris County Republican Party were left with egg on their faces. The 22 frivolous lawsuits have been dismissed or withdrawn. In the end it was a complete waste of time, resources, and press conferences.

Ogg did file charges against a worker assigned to providing supplies, including the paper ballots, claiming he was working two jobs possibly at the same time and he neglected his duties. This led to a paper shortage in a couple of voting locations. The SOS could not find a single voter that was affected by this. Not one. If this employee was double dipping then that is something that needs to be addressed by the court but again there was no fraud. None.

It is time to get over it. Quit whining. You lost. Again.

Hopefully this puts an end to the bickering between the two.

Yet it will most certainly get worse. Yesterday Ogg posted a press release claiming to have major developments in the on going investigation into a COVID contract. Instead she later just said she was handing the investigation to the pillar of law and order, Ken Paxton. That was her explosive new development. What a load of crap.

Don’t get me wrong. The $11 Million COVID contract award to a questionable company should have been investigated. It didn’t pass the smell test and the fact that 3 individuals were indicted is disturbing. I’ve served on 3 grand juries. To get 9 out of 12 jurors to agree a possible crime was committed in 3 separate cases is tough, but then again I’ve seen Assistant DA’s present very biased presentations before. It has been my experience that jurors see through these biased presentations and would ask detailed, follow up questions.

But personally, I’ve had enough of Ogg’s theatrical bickering. Unfortunately that is what she will be remembered for. I expect an elected official to do their job and leave the theatrics at home. Ogg’s use of the media didn’t help. If she had just come out and said “We’ve had a complaint, we will look into it.” and leave it at that I wouldn’t have had such a problem with it. Let the experts investigate and let the process work.

For Ogg to hand this off to Ken Paxton at this time also doesn’t pass the smell test. It stinks. A lot. It’s almost as if she is enjoying this last opportunity to wave her middle finger to Judge Hidalgo.

I’ll be glad when she is out of office.