The Harris County Republican Party continues its get out the vote efforts:
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politics in Harris County and Texas
The Harris County Republican Party continues its get out the vote efforts:
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It might be time for the Downtown Houston Pachyderm Club to issue pads and a helmet to their speakers. Or, if you are scheduled to speak there, you might want to bring your own. Harris County Department of Education Trustee Roy Morales could have used a bit of protection during his speech yesterday. Just kidding! The members of the club prefer verbal jousting to physical. I’m guessing that Morales felt like a pin cushion when he walked out yesterday.
Morales was defiant in the face of tough questioning about the Harris County Department of Education and his role in pushing for a new startup business that would have been funded with a tax rate increase. He managed to avoid answering most questions, saying several times “if you think there is a better way, call your school district or legislator”. He claimed that the board couldn’t hold a vote to disband the department, that the legislature had to do that. Ed Johnson challenged him on this one, saying that the entity no longer exists in the education code. Morales insisted that it was.
Well, I decided to check that one. Here is what is on the Harris County Department of Education’s own website:
Harris County Department of Education is governed by Chapter 17 of the Texas Education Code.
Chapter 17 was repealed by Chapter 260, § 58(a)(1) (S.B. 1), 74th Legislature, 1995, but § 11.301 of the Texas Education Code provides that a school district or county system operating under former Chapter 17 could continue to operate under that chapter as the chapter existed on May 1, 1995 and under state law generally applicable to school districts that did not conflict with Chapter 17.
Note that it says that the department is governed by Chapter 17, then immediately states that Chapter 17 was repealed in 1995. In fact, if you go to the Texas Constitution and Statutes website and try to find Chapter 17, you will discover that there is no Chapter 17. But, as noted on the department’s website, Chapter 11, section 301 allows them to continue operating under the old code. I think that Ed has the upper hand here because Chapter 11.301 simply says “may continue” not “shall continue”.
For whatever reason, Morales can’t seem to grasp that using taxpayer money as seed capital for a startup is incompatible with conservative Republican philosophy. When he was asked directly about this, he claimed that he wasn’t for it. When I pointed out that he testified at the tax rate increase hearing that most of the increase would be used to fund a cloud computing start up, he said, well, that isn’t a private business, never understanding that the business he was promoting would displace private business.
At one point, he started lecturing the crowd about their priorities, telling us that there were huge bond issues on the ballot that we needed to be against, not worrying about such a small thing as the Harris County Department of Education. How do you even respond to that? Most of the people in the room have been working against those bonds – I can’t recall seeing Morales even one time during this campaign. Unreal. Besides which, who cares how small a government agency is? Waste is waste and I do not consider $18 million in tax money small. I’m beginning to understand why so many people think this department is a waste if this is their defense – and after attending two of their meetings in addition to this talk, I think that it is their main defense.
One of the questions brought up a great point but let me backtrack a bit to the tax rate vote meeting I attended this past Tuesday. During that meeting, for the discussion about the cloud project, the staff brought in the IT heads from CyFair and Goose Creek ISD’s. After being called Frank twice and then being ignored, Frankie Jackson from Goose Creek left the meeting. The staff then introduced Harold Rowe from CyFair, noting that he was an expert and had just received an award. Hey, a little PR doesn’t hurt when you are trying to convince elected officials to increase taxes. Mr. Rowe proceeded to tell the board that CyFair wouldn’t really benefit from the cloud project because being a large district, they already have economy of scale, but it would really help out the little districts like Goose Creek that didn’t. Think about that carefully, reminding yourself that the Harris County Department of Education charges an administrative fee for managing the contracts involved.
Back to the Morales/Pachyderm meeting, the question was asked, if you proceed with this cloud project, aren’t the larger districts simply subsidizing the smaller ones? Obviously, the question was posed by someone that had been at the meeting Tuesday and heard Mr. Rowe talking about that. Morales couldn’t grasp this one either – yes, this project in effect has larger school districts subsidizing smaller ones. Very good point and one that I think applies to the entire “Choice Partner” program – remember, they don’t get business with low bids or best value, they use “relationship” selling, paying consultants huge fees to schmooze clients and “open doors”.
The meeting was loud and rancorous, with some apologies being said after it ended. Obviously there is much passion in the Republican community about the Harris County Department of Education. Curiously, with all of this passion, it was a Democrat, State Rep. Harold Dutton, that carried the only recent bill to eliminate it. You’d think one of the enterprising Republicans we have in the state legislature would want the spotlight on this one. Perhaps next session someone will step up and see what they can do.
Every program that the Harris County Department of Education handles can be handled through an existing government entity. The question is one of cost – who does it most efficiently? Answer that one and we might get a better sense of the future of the department. One thing to consider: you get taxed at least twice for every child that passes through their schools – once by the department and once by your school district.
I’ll finish this one up with a passage from the Sunset Advisory Commission’s staff report on the Texas Education Agency (page 35). This is a reference to the TEA outsourcing a part of its Adult Learning program to the Harris County Department of Education and it directly addresses the “relationship” selling used by HCDE:
While state law does not explicitly require contracts between state agencies and local governments to be competitively bid, TEA’s noncompetitive award of a contract worth $2 million a year to an existing adult education provider raises questions of fairness and transparency.
We have protests, we must have counter protests! Delta gives the bird to Big Bird for taking taxpayer money:
Nice work from Felicia Cravens. Follow her on twitter: @somethingfishie
In my report on the Harris County Department of Education’s Board of Trustees vote against a tax rate increase, I chose not to focus on the feud between two trustees: Roy Morales and Mike Wolfe. First off, blog posts should be as short as possible and secondly, the main thrust of that post was that the Republican dominated board held the line on taxes. I had every intention of doing a second post about the meeting because there was so much material. I didn’t realize that the two would continue feuding in the interim.
First from Wolfe after the vote:
Once again, Roy Morales changed his mind at the last minute and voted for my original proposal.
This morning from Morales (spelling is his, not mine):
Why does Michael Wolfe continue to lie and decieve the public? The record shows that Trustee Roy Morales made the motion to freeze property taxes for Harris County residents and proposed adopting the Effective Tax Rate. Trustee Marvi Morris second the motion. The vote was 5 for and 2 against. Why would anyone vote for Michael Wolfe with his record of unthical behavior. Has the public forgotten that he was fired by the Harris County Republican Party as the 2008 Primary Director for unethical behavior (See Bettancourt Saves GOP from Wolfe.http://www.chron.com/default/article/Bettencourt-saves-GOP-from-Wolfe-1782526.php)?
Heh, Morales manages to get Tio Pablo (aka Paul Bettencourt) involved! Nice touch!
The truth is that the record will show that Morales voted FOR the tax increase before he made a motion to reduce the rate to the ETR. The record might well show that Trustee Marvin Morris seconded the motion – that will be up to the board secretary, who will have to flip a coin because both Morris and Wolfe seconded the motion at the same time. The record also shows that the ETR is what Morris and Wolfe proposed in the first place.
So I’m at a loss as to Morales’ assertion that Wolfe continues to lie and deceive. During the board meeting on Tuesday, Morales did respond to Wolfe’s original charges, saying that there are multiple divisions of Phonoscope and that the division he works for has nothing to do with the division that will likely be involved with the new for-profit business dealing with cloud computing. Morales confirmed that he did consider resigning the board in order to pursue an out of county opportunity but decided to stay because he wanted to continue his work on the Harris County Department of Education in order to help the children.
I was very disappointed in Wolfe for trying to hide their feud away from the prying eyes of the public. When Board President Angie Chesnut moved to agenda item 5F, Wolfe made a motion to move it to executive decision, to which Morales went nuts, chiding Wolfe for always talking about transparency but then wanting to hide. I thought it was a well deserved punch. I asked Wolfe after the meeting why he did it and he told me that a couple of other board members had wanted to keep the board’s dirty laundry from being public. Well, fine, but let those members make the motion – Wolfe should know better.
Now see there? This post is already too long and I still have lots of stuff from that meeting. Some other time.
BTW, you can hear Morales yourself today at noon. He’ll be the speaker at the Downtown Houston Pachyderm Club’s weekly meeting at the Spaghetti Warehouse. Come on down, you’ll meet a lot of good people and have a cheap meal. And maybe figure out why a Republican is telling people not to vote for a fellow Republican.
Judicial Watch, the long-time government watchdog group, has joined the “new” Hollywood revolution, partnering with Victory Film Group to produce a movie critical of the corrupt Obama administration. Check out the trailer for “District of Corruption”:
The movie opens in Houston this weekend and we have free tickets!
Opening date: Friday, October 26
Theater: Edwards Greenway Palace Stadium, 3839 Weslayan Street, Houston, TX (click here for showtimes)
To get your free tickets, send an email to [email protected]. They will send your tickets by email or, if you have a large group, they will have them waiting for you at the door.
This is a great way to be entertained and informed at the same time. Breitbart has the press release on the movie.
Spread the word – you’re not just helping people be informed, you’re giving them a cheap date night!
Geez, I haven’t seen this much celebrity buzz in Pasadena since John Travolta rode the bull at Gilley’s! Don’t laugh, I was an extra in that flick. Along with a thousand other Pasadena lookers on. The buzz today was all about Ted Cruz coming to town to support Republican David Pineda’s bid for Texas House District 144.
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David Pineda welcomes Ted Cruz to Pasadena
One thing is for sure – grassroots conservatives love them some Ted Cruz. The Pineda campaign office if fairly large be campaign standards yet it was overflowing. The halls were full, the second room was full, and still people were standing outside. And Ted didn’t disappoint, delivering a fiery speech about the need to take the country back. He even told of driving out to Pasadena in high school because he was dating a young woman who lived there. The crowd loved it.
This type of enthusiasm and hard work is what is going to make the difference on election day. Several candidates were there – Mike Sullivan, Michael Landrum, Jeff Hastings, and Chuck Maricle. These guys are working hard not only for their own campaigns but for all Republicans in Harris County. Be sure and thank them the next time you see them.
And Ted. What can you say that hasn’t been said about his work ethic? The guy works non-stop and has earned the accolades given him. His efforts on behalf of all Republican candidates in Texas cannot be overstated. I know that David Pineda appreciated his efforts today. And I know that Randy Weber is thankful that Ted is going to be with him in Beaumont on Monday to help defeat Nick Lampson. If you live in the Golden Triangle area, spread the word and try to come out to that event – make it even more successful than today’s rally! The rally will be held Monday, October 29th, at 1:00 pm at Madison’s on Dowlen Road in Beaumont – click here for a map.
As for the David Pineda campaign itself, the outlook is pretty good. They have knocked on over 28,000 doors, put out over 1,500 yard signs, and have enough money for mailers and to be on the air. That just shows what hard work can accomplish. Don’t be surprised when this young Marine wins on November 6th.
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