Houston elections wrap-up 2019

December 16, 2019

Well that wasn’t fun, for some.

The Winners
Mayor Sylvester Turner
Chris Brown Controller

Amy Peck District A
(Delayed) District B
Abbie Kamin District C
Carolyn Evans-Shabazz District D
Dave Martin District E
Tiffany Thomas District F
Greg Davis District G
Karla Cisneros(*) District H
Robert Gallegos District I
Ed Pollard District J
Martha Castex-Tatum District K

Mike Knox At Large 1
David Robinson At Large 2
Mike Kubosh At Large 3
Leticia Plummer At Large 4
Sallie Alcorn At Large 5

The Losers
Tony Buzbee.

Overall
Buzbee lost and that was good for the city. Up till the day of the election Buzbee clearly showed he had no idea of how the City works or how to govern. To him is was about money, his money, and how he could buy a seat. He lost $13 Million. We won. District B is in the courts and will be decided at a later date. Two women joined the members of the At Large delegation. 8, maybe 9 out of 16 members of Council are women. Chris Brown returns as Controller.

Media Bias
Back in 1995 Wayne Dolcefino was an investigative reporter (sic) for KTRK-TV. He had a boner for Sylvester Turner 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. 

We ought to have an award for those in the media who chased stories that left them with egg on their faces. Fox26 would easily be in the running. They are becoming the FoxNews of Houston. This isn’t good. I used to work with a reporter at Fox26. He was fair and asked the tough questions. That was all I wanted or expected. Professional. Respectable. This is lacking at Fox26 now. 

Don’t be a a Dick law.
Eric Dick’s racist mailer cannot go unchallenged. He needs to suffer what ever consequences there may be. Unfortunately the Texas Ethics Commission does not have a rapid response process that would put Dick on notice. Instead a complaint takes months to resolve. We need a “Dont be a Dick” law.

Ed Pollard
Ed can be in the same boat as Dick. Claiming an elected official is endorsing you is dishonest and he should pay some consequences. I hope he does better as an elected official.

Before you run for office
Do yourself and us a favor, think before you jump into a race you know nothing about. We had way too many candidates who could not, would not, raise money and who have no business running for office. This isn’t a game.

Self Financing
There ought to be restrictions on self financing Buzbee put in $13 Million of his own money. Eric Dick put in $300,000. Money Mayes Middleton put in $2.5 Million for a House Race. The list can go on and on. This has to stop.

On to the primaries!


Raising/Spending campaign cash: COH Runoff elections

December 7, 2019

Buzbee put another $2.3 Million of his wealth into his campaign for a total of $12.3 Million.

Dolcefino raised $19,215 with $14,500 coming from PACs and 2 other donors. Kubosh still has a $276,000 loan. Plummer has a $21,900 outstanding loan, and Eric Dick has a $75,000 loan with another $65,205 spent out of his own pocket for this period.

CANDIDATE COH Raised Spent Loans
MAYOR
Sylvester Turner (inc) $597,624 $1,741,906 $1,722,625 $0
Tony Buzbee $524,420 $0 $3,076,360 $2,300,000
Position 1
Mike Knox (inc) $16,073 $69,710 $50 $0
Raj Salhotra $64,150 $128,672 $121,736 $0
Position 2
David Robinson (inc) $189,649 $111,280 $199,791 $0
Willie Davis $19,816 $127,725 $10,367 $0
Position 3
Michael Kubosh (inc) $113,500 $72,215 $69,164 $276,000
Janaeya Carmouche $5,812 $17,570 $11,757 $0
Position 4
Anthony Dolcefino $6,478 $19,215 $17,482 $0
Letitia Plummer $12,443 $41,915 $44,501 $21,900
Position 5
Sallie Alcorn $49,463 $195,105 $154,757 $0
Eric Dick $2,545 $720 $65,205 $75,000

#DishonestDick strikes again.

December 6, 2019


Eric Dick is a republican and he is representing the party very well, just like Buzbee.

Once again Eric Dick has sent another round of his misleading campaign mailer. As with the last one, it features pictures of President Obama, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, Ann Bennett, and other local Black elected officials. On the back is a list of endorsements from a group called “Harris County Black Democratic News” a group, if it exists, is not associated with the Harris County Democratic Party.

The mailer implies Eric Dick is being endorsed by these Black elected officials. They have not. And these mailers are being sent to the Black community. If it isn’t illegal, it is extremely dishonest.

The mailer has a new return address of 17484 Northwest Freeway, which is assigned to Minuteman Press. The previous mailer used the address of 1918 Freeman Houston Texas 77009 and owned by Philip Bryant, a personal friend and client of Eric Dick.

And once again, there is no required “Political ad paid for by” disclaimer, a clear violation of the Texas Ethics Commission laws. The fine could be as high as $4000. According to Title 15 Section 255.001:

A person may not knowingly use, cause or permit to be used, or continue to use any published, distributed, or broadcast political advertising containing express advocacy that the person knows does not include the disclosure required by Subsection (a).


Unfortunately complaints to the Texas Ethics Commission, the DAs office, the County Attorney’s office, or the Texas Bar will not stop Dishonest Dick’s mailers until months after the election. By then the damage has been done.

There ought to be a law.


Yet another lie by Toni Buzbee

December 5, 2019


He really is just like Trump. He just can’t stop lying.

In a recent push card claiming to support the Houston Fire Fighters Buzbee claims “The mayor ignored voters and sued the firefighters”. This is not true. According to Houston Public Media:

The Houston Police Officers’ Union (HPOU) has filed a lawsuit against both the City of Houston and the Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association, in an effort to block implementation of a charter amendment granting firefighters pay parity with police officers of equivalent rank. Houston voters approved the amendment, also known as Proposition B, earlier this month.

The Police Dept wanted the Proposition to be ruled unconstitutional, and it was. According to the Texas Constitution the pay increases must follow certain procedures and not simply putting a pay increase on the ballot without allocating funding for it. (Talk to your City Council Member about this. I did.)

The article goes on to say 

Earlier this week, Houston City Council voted to hire the law firm of Norton Rose Fulbright, as a first step in filing its own suit to block the charter amendment.

This is the city, not the Mayor as Tony wants you to believe. Do yourself a favor. Ask your elected officials how the city could pay for a 29% increase in Fire Fighters pay. Most will be honest about the lack of funds but the desire to increase pay in a sustainable manner.

Buzbee on the other hand will probably just lie to you. It worked for trump.


More on Dick and the Harris County Democratic News

December 1, 2019

OK. I’m officially obsessed.

Recently an organization called the Harris County Democratic News released a mailer with pictures of Black elected officials such as President Obama, State Representative Senfronia Thompson, and others with the back endorsing people of color except for one, Eric Dick. Some have wondered who paid for this mailer and maybe I found out that it is only one person, the white one.

According to the City of Houston website, there is only 1 contributor to the Harris County Democratic News and that is Eric Dick for a total of $8500. The address of this news is 1918 Freeman Houston Texas 77009 and owned by Philip Bryant. The HCDN is not registered with the Texas Ethics Commission.

This is definitely strange since there is no political disclaimer so filing an ethics complaint will be challenging.


Paying for endorsements: Eric Dick

November 30, 2019

More Dick for Saturday.

The Conservative Review is run by Gary Polland, the former chair of the Harris County Republican Party. Recently he issued his “endorsements” for the upcoming city runoffs. Eric Dick paid $25,000 to Pollard and Buzbee gave $35,000 and both were endorsed. Mike Knox gave $5,000.

In 2015, Bill King donated $150,000. Dick gave $12,000 in 2013 and former City Councilman Costello gave $120,000. Mike Knox gave $20,000 in 2015.

Buzbee was real proud of not seeking endorsements except from Hotze or the sloppy seconds from the Fire Fighters Union but he had no problem paying $35,000 and recieving the endorsement for Mayor from Polland.

Along with paying The Conservative Review $25,000, Dick also paid some group called the Harris County Black Democratic News $8500 and received their endorsement also. Dick just can’t get endorsements. It looks like Dick is having a hard time.

Giggidy.


Who paid for the misleading ads from Harris County Black Democratic News?

November 30, 2019
Dick.
Eric Dick donated $8,500 to the “Harris County Democratic News” located at 1918 Freeman Houston Texas 77009. Recently a flyer was distributed with endorsements from the HCDN on one side, which includes Eric Dick, and pictures of prominent elected officials including President Obama, and State Representative Senfronia Thompson as if they have endorsed him. This misleading mailer prompted a statement from Representative Thompson:

“Let me set the record straight. In this upcoming Run-off Election, I have only endorsed Mayor Sylvester Turner, Dr. Letitia Plummer, Sallie Alcorn and Rhonda Skillern-Jones,” said an outraged State Representative Senfronia Thompson. “I have never been contacted by the Harris County Black Democratic News nor am I sure that they are a legitimate news or community organization. I did not consent to being included in the Harris County Black Democratic News and am appalled that a group would go to this extent to mislead voters. Other black elected officials are experiencing the same shock as to the gall of the group to use their name and photo to mislead the voters.”

This is NOT the first time Eric Dick has done this. When he first ran for City Council he sent a mailer with pictures he took with various elected officials implying they endorsed him. 10 years later he is doing it again. There is very little information available at this organization except Whois. This organization is registered to Phillip Bryant of the Island of Hope Church at 1918 Freeman. 832-267-9936. Here is the Whois entry. The website is nothing more than a sign in sheet for their “news” with a picture of President Obama.




What else will Tony Buzbee lie about? Glad you asked….

November 24, 2019

I’ve said it before. Tony Buzbee is just like trump. 

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.

And like trump, he lies. Every. Fuckin. Day. He has lied about crime statistics. He has lied about so called “corruption”. He has lied, and was caught on camera, about his endorsement from the extreme right wing group led by Steve Hotze. And now he is lying to the residents of Meyerland and once again, has been fact checked. 

Buzbee has plastered Meyerland with the following poorly designed flyer. Click on the pic below to read the fact checks by a Meyerland resident. Thanks to Art!



Buzbee is just like trump. He just can’t stop lying. If he lies to your face on TV he is going to lie to your face in person. 


Anyone else getting Dicked via text msg?

November 22, 2019

I do not like Dick.

I met Eric Dick when he first ran for Houston City Council. I didn’t like him then. I don’t like him now. He is the kind of guy that would suck up to anyone and say anything to get a vote. Ask the Houston Fire Fighters Union. He probably told them he would vote for their 29% increase in pay even though he has no idea how to pay for it.

Dick has had a drama filled few years on the Harris County Dept of Education calling his republican buddy, Mike Wolfe, a “pervert” and asking for an investigation into his hiring process. The investigation resulted in Dick being put in time out and a recommended that Dick should not serve on a committee with Wolfe.

So, it bothers me when I and others get unsolicited text messages from “Char”, a volunteer with Better Streets Hou, a group I cannot find on the net. Needless to say someone had a snappy response.

If there was a way to file a complaint on Dick, I would. He truly is a dick.


Buzbee secures 2nd place endorsement from Fire Fighters

November 15, 2019

The Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association has endorsed Tony Buzbee for Mayor. From the Houston Chronicle:

“Our firefighters deserve a raise but one that the city can afford,” said Sue Davis, communications director for Turner’s campaign. “Oh, and what happened to not seeking endorsements and not being beholden to anyone?”

As you recall the HPFFA endorsed Dwight Boykins days after he entered the race. Most had expected Buzbee to receive their endorsement even though Buzbee hasn’t sought endorsements from anyone except from Steven Hotze the extreme far right anti-gay community, so called “Christian”. Boykins told the Fire Fighters what they wanted to hear even though he knows the city can not afford the 29% increase they are seeking. Buzbee has promised the same even though he has no clue about what the city can or cannot afford.

The HPFFA’s recent endorsements are disappointing to say the least. Anthony Dolcefino has absolutely no experience what so ever in city policies or business dealings with the city in even in the city. No experience what so ever but he received their endorsement. As did Eric Dick who again will tell anyone anything to get anywhere. Buzbee did the same.

So it shouldn’t surprise anyone that Buzbee got the 2nd place participation trophy. He told them what they wanted to hear even though he has absolutely no idea how he would pay for it. The math just doesn’t add up. 

Even the Harris County Republican Party has passed on Buzbee’s endorsement. It’s not rocket science folks.