Big Jolly Politics

politics in Harris County and Texas

Bill King: If you don’t vote, I can win!

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I gotta say, this email from Bill King is one of the most bizarre press release I’ve ever seen and I’ve seen a whole bunch of ’em:

bill king

So hey, don’t vote because if you do, you might hurt my chances. Sheesh. Never seen anything like that. As Greg mentioned here, King stated (allegedly) that he would vote for Turner if the runoff is between Turner and Buzbee. I say allegedly because King has denied it but I have 3 credible witnesses that were at that meeting at a home on Crestwood on September 29th and they all confirm it. I asked King about it directly via text message and he has not responded. Makes you go, hmmm.

This whole race is bizarro. Slyvester is corrupt. King and Buzbee are fighting each other instead of focusing on corrupt Turner. With King supporting Turner, we’re gonna have another 4 years of corruption. Like I said, bizarro.

I got no dog in this fight other than anyone but corrupt Slyvester. No, there is no conservative in this race. That’s a fact. There is no Republican in this race. That’s a fact. But there is one guy that can disrupt the status quo at Houston’s City Hall. And that guy isn’t named Bill King.

Good luck Houston. All of us in Harris County need you to make an informed decision.

Rep. Jon Rosenthal is a bigot and a hypocrite

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From the InBox:

mark mccaig

McCaig to Rep. Rosenthal: Get Off Your High Horse and Apologize for Your Vulgar and Bigoted Comments

HOUSTON, TX – Mark McCaig, Republican candidate for Texas House District 135, today released the following statement calling on incumbent State Representative Jon Rosenthal (DHouston) to apologize for vulgar and bigoted comments he made attacking Republicans and Christians:

“The media has written extensively about the distasteful comments made by Speaker Bonnen about Representative Rosenthal, for which Speaker Bonnen has rightfully apologized. Representative Rosenthal has used this episode to raise money for his fledging re-election campaign and fraudulently portray himself as some kind of advocate for political civility. However, Representative Rosenthal has failed to exhibit the basic decency to apologize for vulgar and bigoted comments he has made about Republicans and Christians in the course of his campaigns.”

Last year, in an interview on the “Trans Advocate” podcast, Rosenthal made several comments mocking Christians, the virgin birth, and the sacrament of communion. At one point in the interview, Rosenthal called Christian conservatives a “Christian Taliban”, joked that advocates of abstinence education are “these same religious people that will tell you there’s an exception to that rule, right, you can be abstinent and still get pregnant” and stated “As a non-practicing agnostic, I don’t think I should be, let’s say, required to take communion walking into the Texas legislature. And it’s not that I have anything against eating crackers, but I think those crackers are generally not very tasty.” Later in the interview, Rosenthal personally attacked the Republican legislators who are now his colleagues, stating his belief that “these people are seriously f**ked up.”

“Representative Rosenthal needs to get off his high horse and apologize for engaging in the same kind of name-calling that he has publicly condemned. Representative Rosenthal’s hypocrisy on this matter is overshadowed only by the personal contempt he has expressed for his colleagues and constituents who share different political or religious views that differ from his own. Representative Rosenthal is right when he says the citizens of District 135 are sick and tired of political bullies. They are also tired of the divisive and extremist rhetoric regularly used by Representative Rosenthal. District 135 deserves a state representative who will be an effective and respectful conservative voice for our district.”

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It’s amazing how hypocritical some politicians are.

Yo’ Dennis Bonnen! Stick a fork in it, you’re toast!

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As I stated here, Speaker Dennis Bonnen is a liar. After Empower Texans’ Michael Quinn Sullivan released a recording of his interaction with Bonnen and Rep. Dustin Burrows, you have all the proof you need.

Before learning there was a recording, Speaker Bonnen lied about every single aspect of the meeting. The pattern of lies is significant. He told the public during the session he would not challenge any incumbent House members, and he threatened to punish any House members who did. The House GOP caucus even passed a rule this year prohibiting its members from working against other Republican incumbents. Then, as he plotted to break his own rules, he told Republican Caucus members that I (rather than he) was their greatest threat.

Most significantly, of course, is Mr. Bonnen offering to ensure Texas Scorecard staff would receive media credentials in 2021 that were improperly denied to them in 2019 on the condition I went along with his plan. He has denied making this quid pro quo offer.

(click here to read the post on TexasScorecard.com)

and

“This is Dennis,” the speaker said to a House member in a 22-second voicemail soon after Sullivan lobbed his allegations. “Hopefully, you know better than to believe anything Michael Quinn Sullivan would bother to say. … I did meet with him to tell him he should not campaign against any Republican in the primary — um, obviously the opposite of what he’s trying to present.”

Now that voicemail, obtained by The Texas Tribune, is giving more ammunition to critics who say it was Bonnen — not Sullivan — who has lied and misled the people who elevated him to the powerful elected position he could be in danger of losing.

(click here to read the post on KCBD.com)

Of course, Michael was accurate in his original post about the matter. Bonnen lying isn’t new, nor is Michael’s opposition to people he thinks are “conservative” enough. I’ve disagreed with him and his Empower Texan employees plenty of times. In this case, he is completely correct.

The honorable thing to do would be for Bonnen to resign his House seat. As Bonnen correctly noted, Republicans in Texas are going to have a hard time in 2020 with Donald Trump at the top of the ballot. Given the right circumstances, Republicans can still win but not with a proven corrupt leader in the top position of the Texas House.

I’m disappointed in my representative, Rep. Dennis Paul, for not leading on this issue. I’m not surprised though because Dennis is a low profile guy.

I’m super disappointed in Rep. Jim Murphy, who has defended Bonnen even after listening to the recording. Rep. Murphy has been one of my favorite guys in the lege because he is low profile and very effective. But on this issue, he has been outspoken and a leader of the pro-Bonnen crowd. He characterized this conversation as nothing more than a political discussion. Total nonsense.

Republicans – clean up your mess. Otherwise, the voters will clean it up for you.

Houston City Controller Chris Brown accused in another City Hall scandal

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What’s in the water at Houston City Hall? Greg Groogan of Fox26 finds yet another scandal, this one involving City Controller Chris Brown.

As the elected Controller, Chris Brown is Houston’s financial watchdog – a watchdog that apparently no one at City Hall was watching very closely.

Documents obtained by FOX 26 News indicate a local developer who obtained a low interest, $3.5 million loan through the City’s Housing and Community Development Department used the proceeds to purchase Commerce Street property owned by Brown.

It was a big payday for Brown, but also a big potential problem because the City’s “financial watchdog” never disclosed to City Council he stood to profit from the publicly funded deal.

(click here to see the story on Fox26Houston.com)

So, let me get this straight. The guy vetting a low interest loan of taxpayer money gets an above appraisal price on a piece of property he owned by selling it to the person that borrowed said taxpayer money. Naw, no conflict there boss! Sheesh.

But wait, he says! I got Sylvester Turner’s appointed City Attorney to approve the deal!

Can’t make this stuff up, folks.

Brown’s opponent in the November election, Orlando Sanchez, was quick to offer a solution to the current system whereby crooked mayors appoint crony people to “serve” as City Attorney.

orlando sanchez

Press Release

October 10, 2019

Orlando Sanchez calls for change in City Charter

In light of news reports of City of Houston City Controller Chris Brown’s shady real estate deal and his claim that the City Attorney approved it, candidate Orlando Sanchez has called for a change to the City Charter, requiring that the City Attorney be elected, rather than appointed by the Mayor.

“It is clear that the people need an attorney down at City Hall working in their best interest, not the Mayor’s and City Controller’s”, said Sanchez.  “To get a rubber stamp approval from Administration insiders only adds to the distrust voters have in our leaders”, he added.

Harris County already has a County Attorney that is elected.  That individual answers directly to the people.  Houstonians deserve the same representation to protect against this corruption that has come to light.

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Normally I would be against adding another elected position but in this case, it sounds like a good idea. When you have the shenanigans going on in government like the City of Houston does under Slyvester Turner (please click that link for a look), someone needs oversight.

Confused about the City of Houston elections? The HCRP can help.

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I don’t recall anything like this in prior City of Houston elections, but I might be wrong.

harris county republican party

In order to ensure Harris County voters are as informed as possible heading into the upcoming election, the Harris County Republican Party’s Local Government Committee has compiled background information pertaining to each candidate running for office in the nonpartisan City of Houston elections on November 5, 2019. The Committee distributed a questionnaire directly to the candidates and collected each candidate’s primary vote history. Please click the link below to access the information and responses for each candidate. We’ve also included contact information to get in touch with the candidates’ campaigns directly if you have any questions.


Harris County Republican Party
http://www.harriscountygop.com/

In addition to primary voting history, they are using the same four questions for all candidates, regardless of position.

  1. Would you or your campaign accept political contributions from city contractors or vendors?
  2. Would you support changing Houston’s strong mayor form of government to a city manager form with a weak mayor?
  3. Do you support currently maintaining the city of Houston’s property tax cap?
  4. Do you support using city funds to pay for lobbyists?

There are some interesting results in these questionnaires. For one, I’m surprised that Orlando Sanchez didn’t respond. (UPDATE: Sanchez’s communications director tells me that Sanchez never received a questionnaire.) (UPDATE to the update: Sanchez’s comms director called back to say that the campaign did receive a questionnaire but it was overlooked in the email.) But neither did Chris Brown, so I guess that equals out.

Also, the number of people that are running for office that haven’t voted in either party’s primaries is interesting. I would have thought that people interested in politics would vote in primaries.

Then there is the Mayor’s race. Obviously, Sylvester Turner, Dwight Boykins and Sue Lovell have voted in the past 4 Democratic primaries. No surprise there. But I was a bit surprised to see that Bill King has only voted in one of the past 4 primaries, as a Republican. As has Tony Buzbee. It was also interesting that King was for funding of lobbyists and against replacing the strong mayoral form of government, while Buzbee was for replacing the strong mayoral form of government and against taxpayer funding for lobbyists.

Check it out.