Bay Area Houston

Political sign wars are petty. Signs don’t win elections. Don’t engage in sign wars. It is a waste of time, but….. FFS Scott, it’s 5 months out!

Off of his embarrassing defeat for CCISD Trustee, Scott Bowen has filed to run for State Representative. The republican primary is March 3, 2026. Five months out Bowen has decided to litter the district with his 4×8 signs, most if not all, are in violation of city ordinances.

A google search for “political yard signs rules texas” states signs cannot be place prior to 90 days before an election or on the right of way. Unfortunately Texas has no way to enforce this. The Texas Ethics Commission will not accept complaints about signs and they lack any enforcement of the law. Many cities have adopted ordinances concerning political signs. They do have enforcement abilities but again they have better things to do with their time. The City of Houston has an ordinance with a 90 day limit as well as right of way restrictions. City of Webster has an ordinance with a 45 day limit. I am sure Friendswood, El Lago, Nassau Bay, Taylor Lake Village, and Seabrook have similar ordinances.

If you want to report a sign in violation of the Houston Sign Ordinance, call 311 and provide the location, who the sign belongs to and why it violates the ordinance. In Webster call (281) 332-1826 with the same information.

This isn’t rocket science folks. We don’t want to look at political signs on the right of way for a full 5 months before the election. Not only is it against city and state ordinances it is just disrespectful. Bowen is the only candidate violating these rules. It’s as if he is above the law.

Maybe voters in the republican primary should tell Bowen “If you can’t follow the laws, you shouldn’t be making the laws.” BTW Bowen is being challenged in the primary by an excellent candidate, Bob Mitchell.

The special election for Houston City Council At Large Position 4 will be held in November 2025. Here are the current candidates and their fundraising activities according to the City of Houston. HNF means “Has Not Filed” a campaign finance report for this position at this time. The official list of candidates can be found here.

This Ethics Commission investigation involves City Council Member Nan Huffman, Tony Buzbee, The Houston Hispanic PAC, The Harris Progressive PAC and an unknown candidate for office, Enyinna Isiguzo. The Houston Chronicle wrote a detailed article prior to the election.

Background
During the city election of 2023 Buzbee, Huffman, and Isiguzo ran for City Council District G, the River Oaks area. Isiguzo had no money, no background, and no business running, but he did. Someone sent out glossy mailers supporting him. Other mailers attacked Huffman in an attempt to draw enough votes away from her. Isiguzo drew 11% of the vote and forced a runoff which Huffman later won. An ethics complaint was filed and the Texas Ethics Commission investigated and assess a fine of $12,500.

Who sent the mailers?
The mailers were printed by Long Printing and paid for by the Houston Hispanic PAC and the Harris County Progressive PAC. Neither PAC filed with the Texas Ethics Commission. They spent over $29,000 on the mailers. An ethics complaint was filed and the registered agent was fined $12,500. The mailers also had a fake Union logo which could lead to a fine of up to $10,000. Falsifying a union label is consider a breach of federal trademark registration and copyright, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Falsifying a union label is considered a breach of the federal trademark registration and copyright laws, said Oscar Lopez, president of Houston’s Printing, Packaging, Production Workers Union Local Chapter 4535M.

Who is the Houston Hispanic PAC and the Harris County Progressive PAC
The HHPAC was created in 2016 according to the Secretary of State. I found no information about the Harris County Progressive PAC. Both are not registered with the Texas Ethics Commission. Neither have any association with the Harris County Democratic Party. Isiguzo ran as the “progressive” candidate in the deep red district.

Who is Daysi Marin?
Daysi Marin is the registered agent of the HHPAC and is good friends with Gilbert Garcia. Garcia ran for Mayor in 2023. He was also the treasurer for Tony Buzbee. Marin has been featured on Garcia’s talk show in the past. Marin was the Vice President of the Texas Democratic Women’s organization but was removed from her position. According to the TEC, Marin ignored the Ethics Commission’s complaint. She did not respond to the complaint and failed to attend the informal or formal hearings. The hearing video concerning this complaint is available here starting at 3:50:22. In short, she ignored the complaint, she hindered the investigation, and the TEC fined her $12,500. You can read all of the details in the Order and Agreed Resolution here.

Who is Enyinna Isiguzo?
Good question. Little is known about Enyinna. A google search reveals little. His campaign finance reports shows he spent just $150 of his own money. Buzbee spent millions in his losing effort while Huffman spent a couple hundred thousand. His treasurer was Heather Riley of Houston. According to the Chronicle he knew nothing about the expenditures in his favor.

“I don’t even know who those people are,” Isiguzo said. “I would definitely like to find out who paid for that, too, because they didn’t tell me anything.”

Conclusion
I am sure everyone can connect the dots between Marin, Garcia and Buzbee. Marin will probably never pay the $12,5000 fine just like Harris County Department of Education Trustee, Eric Dick. The Texas AG will write a sternly written letter threatening legal action and then will do nothing. The TEC does not have enforcement authority so this will be just another of many unpaid fines. The entire event almost succeeded and could lay the foundation for others interested in swaying an election.

OMG! WTF? GOP!

The cases against Aubrey Taylor, some kind of political blogger, were dismissed yesterday. From a previous post:

A right wing blogger, Aubrey Taylor, who publishes an online publication called Houston Business Connections, (It’s a blog) was indicted yesterday for assaulting the chair of Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee campaign.

The case was dropped after the prosecutor claimed “Probable cause exists but cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt.” Taylor is a strange dude. He has a serious criminal record and has served time. The Houston Chronicle wrote about the assault as well as the dismissal. According to the Chronicle Taylor filed a civil suit against the chair the day after the assault. He is demanding $100,000.

Taylor likes to parade around polling stations dressed up like someone in the press in a war zone, flack jacket and all. The flack jacket looks like a life jacket for skiing and it might well be. I don’t know which side of the aisle he is on but Democrats should stay away from him. Again from a previous post:

He has ties to Steven Hotze an extreme far right influencer of the Harris County Republican Party who also has been charged with a felony, although much more serious.

Taylor list Hotze as the “Man of the Year”. Hotze is under indictment for aggravated assault for his role in an attack on an AC repair man who Hotze claimed had thousands of illegal votes in his truck. (He didn’t) His case will be coming up this year.

Taylor’s lawyer claims the case was dismissed due to the incompetence of the previous District Attorney, Kim Ogg. Ogg has become like the jelly of the month club. She just keeps on giving.

Just an FYI to candidates. Even if you didn’t win you are required to file a report that was due Jan 16. The following have not filed as of 1/23/24:

• Lee Kaplan
• Melanie Miles
• Marina Coryat
• Obes Nwabara
• Richard Cantu
• Casey Curry
• James Joseph
• Donnell Cooper
• Ericka McCrutcheon
• Leticia Plummer
• John Branch

Elizabeth Sanders of the Houston Chronicle wrote a very interesting article concerning a mystery PAC meddling in Houston City elections. It is well worth a read.

In short, a PAC identified as the Houston Hispanic Action Committee sent mailers out to District G voters advocating for an unknown, first time, candidate for City Council who raised only $125. The candidate received 11% of the vote and sent the race into a runoff. City Council Member Mary Nan Huffman failed to receive the 50% margin by only a few hundred votes. The PAC also advocated against Huffman incorrectly saying she endorsed Trump for reelection.

So. Who is the Houston Hispanic Action Committee (HHPAC)? No one knows but someone spent a good amount of money to help Buzbee get to a runoff. HHPAC is not registered with the Texas Ethics Commission. They did not appoint a treasurer. These are very serious violations and could result in large fines especially if it was done deliberately to influence an election. Sending out mailers was deliberate. An ethics complaint should be filed.

Unfortunately there is no contact information available for HHPAC. They had a website up until today. The domain name https://houstonhispanicaction.com was created in Sept of 2023 just in time for the election. The administrator of the domain is hidden. They had a Facebook page until today. That page is no longer active. In order to file a complaint with the Texas Ethics Commission you need contact information for the Houston Hispanic Action Committee and there is none.

According to the article the PAC used a specific printer, Long Plan Printing or LP Printing. They have declined to provide who paid for the printing but there is a way to find out. According to the Texas Ethics Commission LP Printing has received over $163,000 over the last ten years mainly from Republican candidates and organizations. Spring Republicans spent over $93,000 for services during this time period.

Sending these mailers under a fake PAC name is a serious violation of the laws governing campaigns and it should be investigated by the Harris County District Attorney’s Office or the Harris County Attorney’s office. They have the authority to issue subpoenas and find out who designed the mailers and who paid for the mailers to be sent. If this is allowed to go unpunished it could affect elections on all levels in the future.