Bay Area Houston

From CigarSnobMag.com

Oh. My. Gawd. This isn’t going to end well.

Just 2 days after entering the race for Mayor the Houston Fire Fighters Union endorsed City Councilman Dwight Boykins over Tony Buzbee. They might want to take a mulligan after Boykins performance at a Youth Advocacy Summit organized by OCA Asian Pacific American Advocates and Mi Familia Vota. As reported by ABC 13:

“He was telling us we should keep our legs closed, that we shouldn’t taint ourselves,” said 16-year-old Khloe. “In a way, saying that we should stay pure because otherwise, in the future, other men won’t want us.”

And it got worse. And there is a video. I’m not a fan of Boykins for Mayor. I feel he tried to jump on the Pay Parity issue for the Fire Fighters for political gain. The Union prematurely endorsed him because of their disdain for Mayor Turner. This was a real bad performance by Boykins. He did issue an apology:

Over the course of my career, I have always been plain-spoken and have always spoke from my heart, especially where it involves laying a positive path forward for our youth. That was my sole objective recently when I was asked to speak to a group of students about their future hopes and dreams. During the discussion, I shared my perspective on life and the importance of staying focused while avoiding some of the pitfalls that far too often plague many of our youth, a message I have delivered to groups around the city. My words were met to inspire and I deeply regret the extent to which they caused anyone hurt or discomfort. That was never my intention, and to anyone who may have taken offense by what I said, I apologize.

That didn’t end well. Let’s give the Democrats a thumbs up for a job well done!

Tony Buzbee is just like Donald Trump. He is a politically ignorant candidate running for political office. He isn’t doing very well so far. He courted the Houston Fire Fighters Union for months only to be passed over for City Councilman Dwight Boykins just 2 days after he entered the race. On Saturday Buzbee should have known that his appearance at the Harris County Democratic Party Executive Committee meeting would not end well. It didn’t and he got his feelings hurt. Hundreds of Democrats representing the party gave Buzbee the respect he deserves.

Buzbee has been a major contributor to Trump and republicans. From a previous post:

In 2016 Buzbee gave the Trump Victory Fund $250,000. He held a fundraiser for Trump at his home in River Oaks. He donated $35,000 to Trump’s PAC and $165,000 to the RNC. He then donated $500,000 to Trump’s inauguration. 

But that is not all. Since 2015 Buzbee has become the sugar daddy of a number of state parties donating $110,000 to the Republican Party in 11 different states. He has donated over $1,000,000 to various candidates including $308,000 to Greg Abbott and $80,000 to Rick Perry.He is clearly running a loud mouth, in your face, type of campaign, again just like Trump.

So his attendance at the CEC meeting was appropriately welcomed with loud boos and was heckled on his way out.
Buzbee tucked tail and ran to his Facebook page to whine about the event. It was almost like he didn’t understand why he wouldn’t be welcomed. Maybe he ought to try attending the Republican Party CEC meeting after bankrolling the Democrats successful effort to wipe out their judges.

On the Democratic side Buzbee helped the party wipe out the Republican judges in Harris County with his $90,000 donation to the Harris County Democratic Party not including the $20,000 to their Federal PAC in 2018. He also donated $176,178 to Democratic Judicial Candidates. Every one of them won.

Wayne Dolcefino was an investigative reporter (sic) for KTRK-TV. He had a boner for Sylvester Turner back in 1995 when Turner first ran for Mayor. Dolcefino was eventually sued and lost for a story about insurance fraud and a jury awarded $5.5 Million. 

On Father’s Day 24 years later his son, Anthony, took up his fathers crusade running for City Council District C on his Facebook page:

That must have hurt.

After Buzbee sucked up to the Fire Fighters Union for months for his run for Mayor, the Union decided to endorse City Councilman Dwight Boykins only a day after he entered the race. Both are courting the Union by claiming they would fund their 25% increase in pay but both are not able to pay for it. Boykins attempted to call for a increase of $25/month on garbage collection which failed. Buzbee has no stated plans. Boykins conceded to the fact that there needs to be a revenue increase to avoid layoffs:

“I believe this solution is a fiscally responsible option, and it’s only an option, that would eliminate the need to lay off city employees,” Boykins said during the Council meeting.

Unlike Buzbee Boykins has qualifications to be Mayor. He is not politically ignorant. Hopefully that is why the Union endorsed Boykins over Buzbee. Buzbee fired back claiming he was campaigning on city property courting the Fire Fighters vote:

From Houston Public Media

King is yet another Republican who wants to buy his seat.

In his campaign finance report filed 1/4/2019 King has $108,000 with a $110,000 outstanding loan from himself. So he basically is running a deficit in his own campaign much like what most republican are good at. King has had up to $685,000 in outstanding loans since his last campaign in 2015.

In his report filed 1/15/2016, after his first loss, King has an outstanding loan balance of $650,000 with a Cash on Hand of $52,000 after spending $701,000 and raising $485,000. There isn’t a clear source of the $650,000 loan. There are a couple of $150,000 loan entries from his 2015 run for Mayor but I could not find the other $300,000 entries.

Buying an election has become a republican trait. King is a republican.

True to form.

Just like Trump, Buzbee is trying to buy his way into the Mayor’s office or at least attempt to. Money Mayes Middleton the Republican in Galveston did the same thing raising $2.5 Million with $2.25 Million coming out of his own pocket. Besides the fact he bought his way into the race and defeated a fellow Republican he spent $2.5 Million for a seat that should have cost no more than $500,000 if it was a competitive race. It wasn’t.

Buzbee, like Trump and Money Mayes Middleton, has money to burn, a lot of money to burn. According to his campaign finance report of 1/2019 he had only one donor, himself, for $2 Million. This is a donation not a loan. He has spent over $500,000 most going to an out of state media firm.

This has become a pattern for republicans running for office. Kathleen Wall spent $6 million of her own money in a losing effort to win a seat in Congress. Patrick Fallon raised $2 Million with $1.8 coming from his own pocket. Former State Senator Huffines spent $6 Million of his own money of his $7.4 Million total.

Huffines lost. So did Wall. Maybe Buzbee can be added to that pattern.

Which candidates for Houston City Council support Trump? This doesn’t seem to be a hard question but it turns out it the answers can be complicated.

For instance when asked “Do you support Trump?” the usual answer from various candidates is “I support the President like I supported all Presidents.” OK. that question didn’t work. “Do you support the wall?” is answered with “I support border security.” That didn’t work either.  “How much did you donate to his campaign?” “I have a meeting to go to.”

So before tagging any candidate who supports this rotten human being President I will have to develop a set of detailed questions to ask, research their donations, look at their twitter feeds (Already done that), and look for pictures of candidates at his rallies or fundraisers.

Let’s use Tony Buzbee as an example. In 2016 Buzbee gave the Trump Victory Fund $250,000. He held a fundraiser for Trump at his home in River Oaks. He donated $35,000 to Trump’s PAC and $165,000 to the RNC. He then donated $500,000 to Trump’s inauguration. According to the Center for Public Integrity, a donation of this size comes with tickets to the ball, a luncheon with the President and Pence, VIP seating at the parade, seating at the swearing in ceremony and much much more.

So for Buzbee it is clear.  Buzbee is a Trump supporter although he has claimed he withdrew his support after the “Grab em by the p****” comment and just weeks before donating the $500,000.

Yeah right.

This entire story about Tony Buzbee’s home being robbed of over $21 Million as reported by Courthouse News just doesn’t seem to settle well, like bad yogurt on a late Sunday night. According to Buzbee:

“Luckily, I was armed, and ran the subject out of my home, and but for the fact that my weapon misfired, I would have shot one of them.”

If you are being robbed, scared for your life, and had a revolver that “misfires” what would you do? Pull the damn trigger again! If you have a .45 type of weapon then you eject the shell and fire again. Anyone who has a lick of gun sense knows how to do this. Buzbee is a Marine. He should know better. Either he can’t shoot a gun or he is not telling his story correctly.

His story sounds like the same kind of bullshit he is shoveling for Mayor. He lives in a $10 Million home and yet he doesn’t have a security system or camera? Even my home has a security camera for fuck sakes. Any idiot who stores tens of millions of valuables in their home would have a very advanced alarm. If you have paintings worth millions how in the world would you not protect them with an alarm? How can they breach his wall in River Oaks, get access into his house, and be able to steal $21 Million in valuables without being noticed, photographed, tripping alarms, or shot?

I look forward to the investigation by HPD and his insurance company. Personally I think Buzbee is full of shit. Again.

City leaders held a press conference after a drug bust which killed two homeowners and injured 4 Houston Police Officers. A press conference isn’t unusual when an officer is shot. What was unusual and uncalled for was the Houston Police Officers’ Union President Joe Gamaldi prematurely putting blame on others and issuing threats. 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.”

Now after the smoke has settled it looks like this bust was a bust with an investigating officer lying to obtain a warrant for the raid. From KTRK:

A confidential informant didn’t buy drugs at the southeast Houston home where a botched police raid turned into a deadly shootout last month, according to a new search warrant. The shocking new information was revealed today after ABC13 obtained two of several search warrants executed as part of the ongoing investigation following the deadly raid.

Of course Joe Gamaldi is now singing a different tune sounding exactly like the activists he previously threaten:

“We believe, truly, this is only one person who has caused the issues with this case and there is only one person who is facing these types of allegations right now,” said Joe Gamaldi, referring to senior police officer Gerald Goines. 

“Obviously, the accusations are very, very serious and it is very, very disturbing, but it is not a reflection of the 5,200 brave men and women of the Houston Police Department who go out there and earn the trust of the community every time they interact with them,” 

Exactly. As many of us have said over and over again the actions of one should not reflect on the entire police force. Maybe instead of threatening all activists who want to hold the single individuals accountable, Gamaldi might want to reach out to them to understand why they are activists, apologize  for threatening them, and then resign as Union President.

NOTE: Four Houston Police Officers were shot during a drug raid last week. Two are still in serious condition. Let’s hope for a full recovery for all of them.

Houston Police Union President, Joe Gamaldi, went off the rails blaming activists for a shooting that injured four HPD officers before knowing all the facts. It was a ill advised, rambling, divisive statement by the Union President who shouldn’t have been given air time in the first place. 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.”

I have a couple of questions for Mr. Gamaldi: Who the hell are you talking to? You talkin ta me? Who are you going to keep track of? Who will be doing the tracking? How are you going to keep track of them? Even before the smoke cleared you were on camera blaming others for the actions of two old white grandparents who were responsible for shooting our officers. 

Houston Police Chief, Art Acevedo, had this to say:

“I don’t want to ever, as a police department, paint anybody with a broad brush based on the actions of one or a group of individuals,” Acevedo said. “We need to judge people individually based on their actions. So I’m asking everyone here to tone it down. And I’ve asked him that, too. And let’s focus on the good. And we fall short, let’s focus on holding people accountable, including the community. It’s a mutual responsibility. Accountability is a two-way street.”

Maybe Gamaldi might want to move back to New York and find another job. Maybe the Union might want to rethink their selection for Union President.

This is what you can expect from a Trump loving candidate for Mayor of the great City of Houston. From ABC13: 

“If you imagined a 2019 Houston mayoral election that would be bland and uneventful, the wheelbarrows of horse manure outside mayoral candidate Tony Buzbee’s midtown campaign headquarters would say (smell?) otherwise.”

Look folks. If if looks like Trump, smells like Trump, it probably is a Trump. Buzbee, like his press conference, is full of shit. Do yourself a favor and read about Tony Buzbee the Trumpette of Houston.

Buzbee is a politically ignorant, wealthy, “tell it like it is”, not a politician, lawyer who intends to self finance a run for Mayor of Houston, a political office. Sound familiar? It should. Buzbee is the Donald Trump of Houston. 

Let’s don’t cheapen our political process in Houston. We have seen the damage a politically ignorant candidate can do for our country. Let’s don’t bring that pile of shit to Houston.

The Houston City elections are coming in November with many Houstonians considering a run for city council. Before you file for a position do yourself, your family, and your friends a favor by investigating the office before running for the office. Here are a few tips and questions you might want to consider before signing up. I am sure a political consultant might want to add a few other tips to this list. It all depends upon the office you seek.

It’s not a game. Running for office is not a game. The position has a direct impact on people’s lives whether it is timely trash collection or providing a safe neighborhood with our police and our fire fighters. Don’t cheapen the office by running just for the sake of running and distracting from those who have a clear understanding of what they are doing and are qualified to run.

It will cost money. Lots of money. A run for an At-Large position will cost in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. This will include money to run a successful campaign to target the needed number of voters to win. If you do not intend to raise the necessary amount of money needed, then do not run, Do the math before you sign. Understand what the campaign will need and how much this will cost and whether you can raise that amount.

What qualifications do you bring to the table? Our government allows anyone to put their name on the ballot but some shouldn’t. Ask yourself if you understand the position you are running for. Do you have qualifications or personal experience that would apply to this position? Have you attended the city council meetings, understand the process used to pass legislation, and know who the players are behind the scenes? Have you been involved in your community that you want to represent?

How many votes do you need to win? This is a hard question and is never an exact science but you can determine, with analysis of the past elections, an idea of the number of votes needed to push you over the top. This number will drive your campaign strategy and fundraising efforts. If you can’t answer this question then you really shouldn’t run.

How much money will it take to win? The number of votes you need to win will drive your fundraising efforts. As said above, running for office is not a game and it costs money. You will be on the phone for hours a day raising campaign cash in order to achieve that winning number.

Who is your financial base? Who will you be depending upon to achieve your financial goals in order to achieve that winning number of votes?

Who is your volunteer base? Who will be there to make phone calls for you or block walk in the hot sun? Do you have a base of supporters or do you intend to file and expect your political clubs to drop what they are doing and support you 100%. A campaign will strain your relationships with family and friends. It’s a grueling undertaking requiring a considerable amount of dedication and support. You should have buy in from your family and those you expect to support you before you sign up.

Good luck and thank you for running. Or not.