Bay Area Houston

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?

There is so much wrong with what Houston City Councilman Michael Kubosh did yesterday by going to a restaurant which opened against the County’s executive order.

Let’s start with the rule of law. What the hell happened to the Republican Party that once claimed to be the king of the hill when it came to following the law, being tough on crime, and personal responsibility? Kubosh, as an elected official, openly defied a public health order and now that dog whistle tells his white wing followers that civil unrest is OK.

And lets end with Rosa Parks. Kubosh compared his hot dog fetish to Rosa Parks. From Click2Houston:

“Sometimes, civil disobedience is required to move things forward. That’s why we remember Rosa Parks.” Houston At-Large Council Member Michael Kubosh said.