Just in from Jared Woodfill, he was successful in his pursuit of a restraining order preventing the City of Houston from offering same sex benefits to its employees. Here is the order:
Whatever you think about the issue, Jared Woodfill is a fighter for what he believes in.
He will do well as the next state GOP party chairman.
Wow. R’s rule! A few thoughts on the results in the Texas election.
But first, I have to give thanks to the election workers in my precinct, the mighty 377 in Harris County! As a precinct chair, you always wonder if the workers you ask are actually going to show up. Fortunately, we had a great team and made it through a long day without any problems that we couldn’t handle on site. So thank you to Don Hill (Alternate Judge), Richard Florance (my right hand), Marion Schmitz, David Williams, and Mike Meehan.
Human Interest Story
Okay, so during the 12 hours (really 14) that election workers work the polls, there are always several human interest stories. From the mighty 377, the one that stands out was the grandmother who brought her autistic grandson to the poll. I was so happy with the response of our poll workers and the voters in the booths at the time. My alternate judge, Don Hill, displayed grace beyond measure in trying to talk to the young man and then moving discretely behind the voting machines to help protect the setup. The voters in the booths at the time quickly understood what was happening and no one complained. It was, to me, an awesome display of basic humanity and I’m proud to say that the grandmother was able to vote with minimal distraction and I am blessed to have met her for this brief period of time.
Harris County Sweep
Kudos to Chairman Paul Simpson. He came in on a platform of “professionalizing” the party and he did it in just a few months. The phone banking and GOTV measures he put in place clearly helped in the Republican sweep. And he took advantage of Houston Mayor Annise Parker’s gift and spent party money on radio ads by Paul Bettencourt urging voters to vote straight R. More on that later but since I haven’t been Paul’s strongest supporter, I think that I have to give kudos where they are due and certainly, Paul earned them.
Governor
Greg Abbott is the real deal and he is not Rick Perry or anyone else. Voters made an awesome choice and Governor-elect Greg Abbott is going to surprise many of his Democratic detractors with his forward thinking ideas for Texas. He is going to be an awesome Governor, I guarantee it!
Justice, 1st Court of Appeals District, Place 3
So, so happy that my friend Russell Lloyd destroyed incumbent Jim Sharp in this race. Russell has a brilliant legal mind and will be a positive force on the 1st Court.
Justice, 14th Court of Appeals District, Place 7
Justice Ken Wise deserved to be elected to this position. Justice Wise is a calm, steady jurist that will not legislate from the bench.
District Judge, 113th Judicial District
Everyone in the top echelon of Harris County Republican Party politics was worried about this race. Judge Landrum didn’t get the Houston Chronicle endorsement and his opponent was a well respected former Democratic judge. I didn’t understand the concern because I know Judge Landrum and he is one of the finest men I’ve ever met. Fortunately the voters agreed with me and he coasted to victory. Congratulations to Judge Landrum and Mary Grace!
State Representative District 23
Very pleased that Wayne Faircloth won this race and flipped a former Democratic seat. Wayne is exactly the type of candidate we need (we coastal residents) in this district and I look forward to his leadership on TWIA issues.
State Representative District 129
It was never in doubt after the primary but I still have to give kudos to Rep.-elect Dennis Paul and his campaign manager Debra Risinger for their overwhelming victory in my home district. And Debra did this while pregnant and giving birth to the newest Risinger! I’m almost positive I received an email from her while she was in labor urging me to get out the vote for Dennis! How do you top that?
State Representative District 144
This might be the biggest surprise of the night to many but since I know the players involved, it wasn’t such a shocker to me. Gilbert and Cynthia Pena worked their tails off to win this Democratic, Latino focused district and flip it from last session’s rookie of the year, Mary Ann Perez. They did it with no money, just hard work and great strategy. I’ll have a lot more on this race since it involves my old stomping grounds in Pasa-get-down-dena. For now, if you are a candidate in an urban area, I’d suggest you check out American Renaissance Consulting for help.
Harris County District Clerk
Another non-surprise but Chris Daniels has shown the way for future Republicans. Do a great job in your elected position, get out and talk to people of all stripes, and you will be rewarded with another term in office. Love this guy.
Harris County District Attorney
Hey, you can’t win them all. The Republican voters chose to “keep Harris County red”. If you look at the totals, those of us that supported the D in this race made a fairly significant impact but clearly not enough. That’s okay, Mrs. Anderson is on record on any number of issues for change at the criminal justice center. Believe me, we will be watching. I hope that she follows through on them and gives me a reason to vote with a very happy face for her in two years when she runs for a full term. It is never fun coming out publicly for a Democrat when you are a dyed in the wool Republican precinct chair. Trust me on that one.
We’ll have more and certainly more specific numbers and analysis later. For now, that’s all I got.
Except…wow! It was almost as good as 2010! Let’s govern like we deserve these votes and then we’ll have a chance in the 2016 Presidential election!
One of the hottest state representative races in Texas is in Galveston County’s District 23. Republican Wayne Faircloth and Democrat Susan Criss are vying to replace Craig Eiland. Apparently Criss knows that her party affiliation is not helpful and is hiding from it. So much so that if you search her campaign website for the word “Democrat”, you get only five hits, four from news articles and one from a Facebook feed. Nor does she use the term “Democrat” on her advertising materials. Now that is what you call running from your party!
But make no mistake, Susan Criss is an Obama loving Democrat. Let’s take a look.
Gun Control – she is so proud of advocating for removing your 2nd Amendment rights that her website features an editorial she penned on the subject titled “Balance the Right to Bear Arms and Protection“. Sure, “balance” our rights – i.e., limit our rights. Definitely a Democrat.
Obamacare – Criss supports the ACA and says it is and should remain the law of the land. Definitely a Democrat.
Hyper partisan – Although she runs away from the term “Democrat”, Criss describes herself in this video as a “very very very partisan Democrat”. She also shares an office with Battleground Texas. Definitely a Democrat.
Faircloth also has a new radio ad up and running that helps people understand that Criss is a Democrat – just like Barack Obama. Take a listen:
Look, if you are a Democrat, be proud of it! Don’t run from it! It’s really easy Ms. Criss! Just tell people, hi, I’m Susan Criss and I’m a Democrat!
Wayne Faircloth is a Republican and he isn’t afraid for anyone to know it.
Voters in District 23 have clear choice between two very different candidates – Criss, the Democrat that supports Barack Obama’s policies and is supported by trial lawyers versus Faircloth, the Republican small businessman and insurance expert.
Appointed Interim Harris County DA Devon Anderson has tried to convince voters that she is “tough on crime” while labeling her opponent, Kim Ogg, as “dangerous”. In fact, if Politifact had put Anderson’s claims through their “Truth-O-Meter“, they would have awarded Anderson a “Pants on Fire“.
They also might award Ms. Anderson a Pants on Fire for her claim that she is tough on crime. Let’s take a look at a few cases.
Judge Denise Pratt – in a secret backroom deal brokered by political insiders, Anderson let Judge Pratt walk away from criminal charges of any type in return for her resignation from the bench.
HPD Homicide Detective Ryan Chandler – Ms. Anderson brokered a deal with her friend Judge Susan Brown to send the case to Montgomery County, under seal, where former HPOU attorney Brett Ligon, now the Montgomery County DA, assigned a rookie prosecutor to the case. When the rookie prosecutor cleared him, Ligon’s right hand man, Phil Grant, claimed that he had made the decision. Neither Anderson nor Brown objected to this blatant violation of the special prosecutor statute. Here is what the HPOU had to say about Mr. Ligon upon his election as Montgomery County DA:
He has loved helping HPOU members through officer-involved shootings, suspension hearings, grand jury appearances, trials on “the merits,” and any other part of the complicated job of being a police officer in a big city.
Hundreds of cases that Chandler worked on are now in jeopardy and Chandler gets off scott free.
Capital Murder Express Court – Ms. Anderson is touting the creation of a special court to get non-death capital murder cases through the courts quicker. She cites no statistics and provides us with just one anecdotal case. What about the other 93 cases that were rushed through? Swift justice is not always justice, if you know what I mean. She’s proud of the fact that the median case is only 1.5 years old – that is less than the time she has taken to prosecute Constable Trevino, to whom she offered a traffic ticket. If I’m some poor schmuck being falsely accused, I think I might not want the express train to “justice”. Or, maybe I do – after all, if she can reduce four felonies to a traffic ticket, maybe she can let me out on a Class A misdemeanor, right? Secret backroom deals seem to be her stock in trade.
Prostitute Court – Ms. Anderson wants to create a special court for prostitutes because “they are victims”. Yeah, right.
Teachers – Ms. Anderson is going to help HISD crack down on cheating because teachers can’t be trusted. But hey, prostitutes, ya know?
Now let’s take a look at someone who is in the news today for killing a Deputy Sheriff the other night. Some are accusing Kim Ogg of trying to gain politically off of the death of Deputy Jesse Valdez III for pointing out that he would be alive if the DA had been “tough on crime” with defendant Kelly Jo Ivey. Sometimes the truth is hard to hear. Let’s take a look at Ms. Ivey’s record and you decide if the appointed, interim DA is “tough on crime”.
Not very pretty, is it? And that doesn’t include a conviction for theft in Liberty County. But it is the three charges in December, 2013 that are relevant in this case. As part of a plea bargain, Ms. Anderson, through ADA Keri Fuller, dismissed one charge (theft, habitual offender), and agreed to the minimum time allowed in the other two cases, after abandoning two enhancements on the auto theft charge, which could have increased the minimum sentencing. They did this knowing full well that Ms. Ivey would be eligible for parole long before the minimum sentence time in jail would be reached. Click here to read the rules on parole.Ms. Ivey did get out early and the rest is fact, not something used for political gain.
“Two years in prison for 3 grams of methamphetamine is perfectly acceptable and I stand by the prosecutor who made that plea bargain,” Anderson said.
….
So did an attack ad from Anderson’s campaign.
“Kim Ogg isn’t just wrong. She’s dangerous,” says the narrator in the 30-second spot, Anderson’s second. “But Devon Anderson is tough on crime.”
The central debate in the race has revolved around Ogg’s plan to not prosecute low-level drug offenders, like those arrested for having small amounts of marijuana. Ogg has also said that she would institute a policy of ticketing suspects caught with cocaine residue in crack pipes, not arrest them on felony drug charges, a move that has drawn the ire of area law enforcement agencies who support Anderson.
That first quote says that Anderson doesn’t think 3 grams of meth is much, so a light sentence is deserved. All the while filing felony charges against people that might have a trace of crack cocaine on a pipe. Hmm, I’ll bet the folks claiming that crack cocaine users (i.e., blacks) have a tougher time in the criminal justice system than other drug users might have some fun with that one. But before we move on, let’s take a look at the original charging instrument for against Ms. Ivey for drug possession. Notice that she is charged with possessing a minimum of 4 grams and a maximum of 200 grams of meth. Later, the charge was reduced to a minimum of 1 gram and a maximum of 4 grams, which allows for a much lighter minimum sentence. How does the DA explain that?
And that second one, as we know, is a “Pants on Fire” lie. Kim Ogg has NEVER stated that she would ignore laws, she has stated that she will follow the law that the legislature put on the books in 2007 giving prosecutors and officers the discretion to ticket low level offenders.
So which candidate in this race is really the “tough on crime” candidate? I think the evidence is quite clear. Harris County voters need to clean up the courthouse and STOP the secret, backroom, politically brokered deals and put people in jail who deserve to be there while providing true justice for those who don’t.
I’ll be voting for Kim Ogg and I urge my fellow Republicans to do the same.
It must really not be a good time to be a Democrat in Texas and in Harris County. I mean, having to break the law to support your candidate of choice kinda sucks, no?
Well, yes, it must. Here are a few incidents.
First, from Dale Gibble comes this YouTube video of a woman ripping down a Greg Abbott sign:
Sorta sucks to be that woman, I’m guessing someone, somewhere can recognize her. In fact, if you know who she is, I’ll give you $50 if you let me know!
There have been some reports of electioneering at early voting locations in Harris County. One such complaint was at the IBEW Hall in Pasadena, TX.When early voting started last week, the Harris County Republican Party (HCRP) began getting complaints regarding Democrat campaign signs in the early voting area. The HCRP legal team got with the county attorney ( a Dem) and got the signs removed from view of the voters. However, these signs were then later moved to the front of the building. Again, the HCRP legal team discussed this violation with the election clerks and the signs were removed from the front of the building. At this time, the HCRP asked the Constable’s Office to send a deputy to make sure that no signs were visible in violation of Texas election code. A deputy was sent and reported that no signs were visible at the front of the building or in the voting location. However, it was reported that some signs were being kept in private union offices and if a person entered the wrong door there was a possibility they could see them. It has been determined by the HCRP legal team that there is nothing they can do about having signs in private offices that may inadvertently be seen by people entering the wrong way.So with this being the case, Phil Sandlin’s Office has been responsive to complaints and has done everything asked of it according to the HCRP legal team. Ed Hubbard has asked me to let people know that if they suspect or witness a campaign violation, to please contact the HCRP office and let them take the appropriate actions needed up to and including notifying the local Constables or Sheriff’s Office.
Update: Phil Sandlin will be going to the IBEW Hall today to personally inspect the grounds for any new electioneering violations that may have occurred today.
WHOAAAA!! ELECTION CODE VIOLATION!!! I’m at Bayland Community center RIGHT NOW and my opponent, the sitting State Representative is campaigning and having a campaign event inside of the early voting location during early voting?!?! Date is 10-25-14 and the time is 11:01am! I’ve reported this to the election judge and the alternate judge and they don’t know what to do?!? UNBELIEVABLE!!!
State Rep. Gene Wu campaigning inside early voting location.
Wow! My opponent’s campaign worker/representative Greg Wythe just came by my booth and took a swing at me for reporting an election code violation! 5 witnesses were present. I’m waiting for HPD to arrive to take a police report!!
What can I say? Yes, I’m supporting Democrat Kim Ogg for Harris County District Attorney and a couple of other Democrats for judicial benches but seriously, once you get out of the courts, most Dems are wacky as hell.
I’m voting straight R and crossing over for a few Dems that aren’t nutcases and are opposing R’s that are – like the appointed, interim Harris County DA Devon Anderson, who is wackier than most Dems.
I hope you can figure out who to vote for because this election is WHACKO! Voter fraud everywhere on the D side and nothing being done about it!
Okay, for everyone complaining about Sen. Dan Patrick not being accessable to the public during this campaign, here is your opportunity to meet with him and help get out the Republican vote in Harris County.
Wow. R’s rule! A few thoughts on the results in the Texas election.
