Bay Area Houston

Steve Stockman by the Texas Tribune

Well that was a long wait for nothing.

The city of Houston completed their proposed redistricting. The Houston Chronicle has a good article on the maps without mentioning District E which has connected Clear Lake with Kingwood by a canal, literally. The new map for the city can be viewed here.

Clear Lake has been gerrymandered for decades including the city districts. Because of this we no competition for city, state, or national office. So we have a choice between a far right republican and an extremely far right republican. Steve Stockman represented the Clear Lake area. After one useless term in office he was indicted and convicted on 23 felony counts. He spent 2 years in jail until Trump pardoned him. This is the kind of representation Clear Lake gets because of redistricting. 

Now we have Congressman Babin, the ghost of Congress. He rarely comes out of his hole for fear of seeing his shadow or his constituents. Dennis Paul is our representative in Austin. He represents the NRA and also rarely comes out for fear of meeting his constituents in the greenbelt while walking his dog.

So after decades of being connected with Kingwood, 45 miles away, we are going to be stuck again. Public Hearings will be held at City Council Chamber (City Hall, 2nd Floor, 901 Bagby):

• Wednesday, July 13, 2022, 9:00 a.m.
• Wednesday, July 13, 2022, 7:00 p.m.
• Wednesday, July 20, 2022, 9:00 a.m.

As I have said in past, I do not like Houston City Councilman Greg Travis.

Much like Congress Member Marjorie Taylor Greene, Houston City Council Member Greg Travis is no longer on any committees. Both of them are what we call “deadwood”, that is, someone who is just there and doesn’t pull their own weight. They are not only useless, they pass on their responsibilities to others. Travis also joins Greene as part of the Q Party.

Unlike Greene who was removed from her committee assignments due to her threats to other members of Congress, Travis removed himself from his committee assignments and as representative of the Houston Galveston Area Council (HGAC). Travis was elected in November of 2019 and resigned his positions in January of 2020.

He will be dead wood until 2024 unless he resigns before then.

You might get the idea that I do not like Houston City Council Member Greg Travis. I don’t.

Back in 2008 a couple of us reviewed the spending habits of State Representative John Davis. We found he had spent tens of thousand of dollars of his campaign donations on personal items including a pair of $1500 custom made boots. He eventually had to pay a hefty fine and refund the donations to his campaign. He was one of many we found. (MANY!)

So, I was interested in what Greg Travis was spending his donors money on. In his end of year report for 2020 he spent $11,833. What was interesting was his $2000 donation to Trump/Pence campaign. So for those who are donating to Travis just be aware who your money might be going to.

This is actually old news but I bet most Houstonians are not aware of this.

Houston City Council Member Greg Travis posted racist and other inappropriate comments on his social media pages. Members of City Council and the public have called for swift and decisive action including censuring him, removing him from office, and/or removing him from his committee assignments. There is just one problem with that……Travis isn’t assigned to any committees.

In January of 2020 Travis resigned from all his committee assignments leaving the work of the committee to other members. Travis is now just a voting member on Council like entitled dead wood. The committee assignments posted to the City of Houston website does not include any mention of Travis. City Hall Reporter Jasper Scherer tweeted a letter from Travis to the Mayor resigning his positions. In the letter he said:

“The current committee assignments fail to effectively use my education, experience, and skills. Skills like posting racist comments and partisan politics using my twitter account and other social media.”

Ok. That isn’t exactly what he said but you get the point. Travis whined like Donald Trump when he doesn’t get invited to a football game. So he just gave up, took his ball, and went home while still sitting on Council.

So mission accomplished?

OMG. This is bad.

I remember the day the botched Harding Street raid happened and the press conference the city conducted.  Five police officers had been shot, one seriously. The press conference was highlighted by the lunatic rantings of Houston Police Officers Union’s President Joey Gamaldi blaming the incident on Black Lives Matter. From KHOU:

“if you’re the ones that are out there spreading the rhetoric that police officers are the enemy, just know we’ve all got your number now, we’re going to be keeping track of all of y’all, and we’re going to make sure that we hold you accountable every time you stir the pot on our police officers. We’ve had enough, folks. We’re out there doing our jobs every day, putting our lives on the line for our families.”

Well it turns out that this wasn’t BLM or any other organization. In fact it was the fault of the police and now they are paying a price for it. According to the Harris County DA’s Office:

January 25, 2021

A Harris County grand jury indicted a Houston Police officer for murder, and five others who are or have served on the force, for engaging in organized criminal activity, as the result of an investigation touched off by a 2019 raid that killed two people in their home on Harding Street.

Take a moment to read the charges filed against 11 officers. It’s not pretty. The charges include murder, theft by a public servant, tampering with a government record, and engaging in organized criminal activity. 

Joey has been quiet.

Houston City Council is non partisan although it’s easy to find which party they support by a simple google or reviewing their financial filings. Another way is to look at their official social media account. Case in point, CM Greg Travis.

Travis is still under fire for posting a racist dog whistle on his twitter account, @TravisDistrictG. This account identifies him as a Houston City Councilman. It is not his personal account yet it is a combination of city business, COVID misinformation and right wing political commentary as well as inappropriate posts. 

It begs the question to City Council and the Ethics Committee, is this an acceptable way to use social media as an election official? It would seem that an account that identifies the individual as an elected official of the City of Houston could reflect poorly on City Council especially when they take no action on inappropriate and/or racist posts. These accounts should be for city business ONLY. If a CM wants to make political commentary and/or racist posts they should do it on their PRIVATE account with no reference to Houston City Council.

I’ve contacted City Council for a response. Here are some of his posts:

 Get the point Greg?