As the Campaign Consultant/Manager for the grass roots organization Citizens Against Red Light Cameras I can’t say that I was shocked that the Chronicle chose to endorse the City’s financial interests and its ongoing relationship with an out-of state-vendor instead of supporting our public safety. I can say I’m surprised that they never bothered to call us and request a formal or even informal interview with the board of editors.

And yes I’m well aware that Lisa Falkenburg a columnist with the Chronicle did a profile piece on Paul Kubosh one of the founders of the CARLC. But she admitted at the time she was not a member of the board of editors. As a long-time political activist that has been professionally involved in well over a dozen local campaigns (some which the Chronicle did endorse), it seems inconsistent with the Chronicle’s typical endorsement procedure that they did not at least make the attempt to appear unbiased by formally interviewing all sides involved in the election.

Although I will admit Keep Houston Silent and its supporters i.e. the Chronicle are consistent in one regard – subterfuge. On the same Labor Day weekend a lawsuit is filed in Federal court by the ATS-backed Keep Houston Safe/Silent to deny Houstonians the right to vote in November, the Chronicle issues an endorsement in the campaign without the courtesy of asking why our grass roots campaign is opposed to the program. Note to the editors: ignoring something you don’t want to hear does not make it go away.

So perhaps the editors might allow me a few inches of space to at least tell its readership why they should join our effort to allow Houstonians to determine the direction of our city as opposed to a Goldman Sachs investment based in the State of Arizona.

The cameras are about money NOT safety. Disregard for a moment the increase in accidents at intersections where these cameras have been installed (which they have) and instead look at the intersections where they were installed. They were not installed at the most dangerous intersections in the city, which would have been the logical location if it were about safety. Instead they have been placed at those intersections that have higher than average violations. Simply put, more chances for more money.

Granted the Chronicle in its endorsement did cite the money as the chief reason for support (along with just doing what were told, you have got love that part.. end sarcasm ) However according to recent media reports the City’s trauma care centers are not currently receiving their share of the money. Please don’t tell me the check is in the mail.

The cameras do in-fact lead to more accidents. The original, most comprehensive publicly published study to date, the December 2008 Rice University Stein Report, proved this. Despite the city’s repeated attempts to suppress data that would result in a report against the cameras, Dr. Stein resisted and admitted that the cameras do not reduce accidents in a March 14 email to the City which was obtained through an open records request.

In your endorsement you failed to mention that the study you cited was never publicly released, and Dr. Stein sent an email this year acknowledging this new report was based on incomplete data due to some papers being lost in a city warehouse

I, along with many citizens feel the program is a violation of our Constitutional rights to due process and the right to confront our accuser. The people have a right and a duty to hold their Government accountable, and just because big brother tells us to sit down and be quiet does not mean we have to obey. We can and should refuse to be silent and we can and should dictate to our Government how it should operate, it does not have the right to tell us how to live.

And as for the law and order argument which is oft cited by the Red Light Cameras supporters that people should just obey the law, I agree, and so should our City Government. Every red light violation that is issued by the City violates state law by not including statuatory language required by the authorizing legislation. (Sec. 707.019 of the State Transportation code). Even still, I do not think that the camera program truly changes driver behavior for the better. The fact that some admit they drive differently when they know there is a camera present creates far more problems that it supposedly solves.

How can we allow the city to break the law while enforcing another?

And how can anyone defending this practice claim to be concerned with the law and the rights of our fellow citizens?

Maybe money has something to do with it, and since when should we trust Government when money is involved? As for me, I trust my fellow citizens.

We at CARLC believe a fair examination of the facts leads to obvious conclusions:

One, Houstonians should be allowed to vote on the issue in November in a fair and proper election, the rights of the people to vote should be paramount. Democracy cannot be convenient to Government, only holding an election when it can control the outcome. Instead it should be its chief concern, the right of the people to petition their government to address grievances should be respected and the City should do all in its power to defend the people’s rights.

And two, when you vote in November and you reach Proposition 3 on the bottom of the ballot, Vote NO. It is time to shut down this gross money grab by a Big Government/ Big Business partnership which risks our safety and violates our rights for the sake of a few dollars.

Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.

B. Franklin 1755

Unlike Keep Houston Silent and the Chronicle I’ll trust you to make up your own mind.

Please visit our website to learn more.

http://www.nocamerashouston.com/

 

Philip Owens

Citizen Against Red Light Cameras

42nd Annual Fiestas Patrias Parade

I love parades! And this parade was awesome, with plenty of floats, politicians, vaqueros, dancing vaqueros, balloons, horses, firetrucks, everything! And the weather was absolutely perfect, unlike last year when the threat of rain kept attendance down. I’d guess there were between 5 and 6 thousand people lining the streets of downtown Houston to enjoy the parade.

Unlike last year, Republicans were well represented. County Judge Ed Emmett, who was forced to miss the parade last year due to a prior commitment, led the way, literally. Man, I don’t know if it is the huge lead he has in the polls or if he is on some kind of super duty exercise program, but the guy was bursting with energy. Seriously. I thought I’d follow them for a block or so but it was clear after a few yards that I’d have to undergo some jolly old conditioning exercise before I tried that! The guy literally ran the entire parade route, from one side of the street to the other, handing out flashlight rings. The Houston chapter of the Latino National Republican Coalition joined his team for the walk and I bet LNRC-Texas Chairman Artemio “Temo” Muniz, one of the banner carriers, was glad when that walk was over! Some pics of the Emmett team:

Judge Emmett’s opponent, immigration lawyer Gordon Quan, was also there:

Um, enough said about Mr.Quan.

District Clerk candidate Chris Daniel participated as well. If hard work leads to success in elections, Chris will do very well this year because the guy is working his tail off. He attends any event, it matters not who sponsors it nor how big or small it is. Here is Chris with Telemundo’s Mariah Pellicer:

Chris’ opponent, first term incumbent Loren Jackson was also there:

By all accounts, Mr. Jackson has done a very good job in his first term after being elected in the Obama tsunami. It will be interesting to see how this race turns out. Obviously, Mr. Daniel won the day here because of his riding partner!

Another Republican working his tail off is Fernando Herrera and yep, he was there riding on top of a cool firetruck:

I didn’t see his opponent, way-too-long-time incumbent Jessica Farrar.

Like I said earlier, Republicans will no longer cede the Latino vote to the Democrats. I wish Leo Vasquez had been able to participate this year, telling both Houston Votes and the Republican primary voters to stick it in their ear, but he had a previous commitment. I wish more Republican candidates had been there and I really, really wish the county party had bothered. One person asked me why the county party made such a big deal out of some Indian festival at the GRB a while back and ignored thousands of Latinos. I have no idea. Ask ’em yourself because I’m tired of trying and am focusing on the candidates.

A few more pictures from the parade:

Plaza Americas Voter Registration

Okay, I admit that I wasn’t all that interested when Judge Lynn Bradshaw-Hull told me that she and other Republican judicial candidates would have booths set up at the Plaza Americas mall, formerly known as Sharpstown Mall. Shows what I know.

If you haven’t been to this mall, I gotta tell you, it is active. As in hard to find a parking place within a football field from the door. Goodness. And I was so proud of our judicial candidates, man, that was awesome. I walk in and see tables of Republican judicial candidates directly across the aisle from a few Democratic candidates at a mall designed for and full of Latinos. Awesomeness.

It is extremely important to note that this was NOT a Republican event. Burt Levine, a public relations person, developed this idea for the malls owners. At least two independent voter registration groups were there (no, Houston Votes did not have a presence) and probably 30 different candidates. I arrived late and some candidates had already left but Judge Bradshaw-Hull was still there along with Judge Roy Moore and candidates Sheri Y. Dean (newly minted Judge Dean) and James Lombardino. It was a blast (literally) because a bandstand was setup directly across from the Republican candidates. Check out this quick clip of Sheri Y. Dean and Burt Levine:

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Okay, lest you think most of my enthusiasm is just that, enthusiasm, think again. The Democratic candidates don’t quite know what to think about the Republican invasion and are confused and even angry about it. When I first walked in, I saw Burt and some people I didn’t recognize and waved them together for a picture. After taking the picture, one of the candidates walked up to me and told me that some of those in the picture were Republican, she had no idea why they were there, and they really shouldn’t have been in the picture. True story. She proceeded to disparage her Republican opponent – let me just say that I rarely hear judicial candidates attack their opponents like this. Except in the primary, that was brutal, but not since. Interesting.

One of the booths was way cool. They were setup to play “Voter Jeopardy” and the contestants won by answering questions about the voting process. Not only is it a great way to generate excitement in the mall, but it also educates the players about the system. Neat idea, be sure and check out the photos of that booth.

It was a busy weekend but well worth it to see Republicans venture into non-traditional territory.

Where to start today? Okay, look back at my post from August 2nd and you’ll see that I noted but soft-pedaled their ties to the Democratic Party. If only I had read this before going to that luncheon . That’s right, it is their own letter, one they wrote to Mr. Vasquez in July, well before I heard of them. They’ve released it as part of their joint PR campaign with “Top Houston political bloggers” in an effort to bolster their defense of their self-admitted fraud. The problem is that it does nothing of the sort and only goes to show that their entire campaign needs to be viewed in a negative light. Why do I say that? Because I know a little something about Harris County politics, the first lawsuit against the Tax Assessor Collector, and the reason it was settled so quickly, with the illusion but not reality of a Democratic “win”.

Look at that letter again and see not just the hostility from the outset but also to whom it is addressed. Not just to Mr. Vasquez but to the new Democrat Harris County Attorney Vince Ryan. Right off the bat, that tells me that Houston, we have a problem. You see, Vince Ryan is a partisan hack who did everything he could do to undermine Mr. Vasquez’s defense of the lawsuit filed against Paul Bettencourt. Hang in there, like I said yesterday, this is a complicated and big story.

Vince Ryan was swept into office in 2008 by the same numbnuts that thought Barack Obama was the next coming of the Messiah. In any ordinary year, his candidacy would have had about as much impact as a gnat on a cow’s butt. But thanks to the moronic new voters that simply walked into the booth and clicked on the big D straight party line, the guy squeaked out a victory. Here is a little background on him.

It turns out that Mr. Vasquez hired professional counsel to represent him in that lawsuit, a “super lawyer” by the name of Andy Taylor. Mr. Ryan, acting in his new role as county attorney, took control of the lawsuit and fired Mr. Taylor against the wishes of Mr. Vasquez. At the time, the three Republicans on the court chose to let Mr. Ryan’s dismissal of Mr. Taylor stand – why they would do this remains a mystery but I suspect they were a bit shell-shocked after the county wide Republican losses in 2008. Just a guess though.

Lest you think I’m blowing smoke here, think again. Look at this excerpt from a letter that Mr. Vasquez had to send Mr. Ryan ordering him to withdraw a motion from one of the subtexts of the lawsuit:

You gave me and the members of the Harris County Commissioners Court your personal promise to vigorously defend my Office in this litigation. Your actions via this filing have evidenced a clear breaking of that promise.

For more information on their adversarial relationship and Mr. Ryan’s undermining of Mr. Vasquez’s defense, read this motion from the suit. Now do you get the picture?

From the very beginning, Houston Votes SOUGHT a fight. They wanted this to happen. Is it any wonder that their efforts were so sloppy? Note that in this video, the one in which Project Director Sean Caddle admits that fraud has occurred, he says that “we send the cards through our own process internally, we do our best to clean up what we can”. And then think about the fact that Mr. Caddle himself submitted cards that were certain to be kicked out (slides 55 & 57). Suddenly, the immediate defense of Houston Votes and filing of yet another lawsuit by the Texas Democratic Party begins to make sense.

They wanted a fight, and they surely have one. Mr. Vasquez has confirmed that the Secretary of State’s Office has accepted his referral and has forwarded the information gathered by Mr. Vasquez’s office to the Texas Attorney General’s office for further investigation and possible prosecution. This ain’t New Jersey, Mr. Caddle.

Speaking of that referral, if “Top Houston political blogger” Perry Dorrell would have taken the time to read the statement put out by Mr. Vasquez or had a basic understanding of the voter registration system, he wouldn’t have made this erroneous statement in his attack on Mr. Vasquez (warning – the language Mr. Dorrell uses at his blog is Not Safe For Work at many companies):

Then turn it over the the DA or the AG and le (sic) them prosecute. Simple as that.

Um, dude, that is exactly what the press conference was for. Duh. Here, let me quote it for you:

As the official Voter Registrar of Harris County, Texas, I am referring the following patterns of action, along with associated documentation, for investigation and possible prosecution to the Texas Secretary of State and the Harris County District Attorney.

What? No cursing or vulgarity so you can’t understand that simple language? Damn, these “Top Houston political bloggers”, man, I don’t know about those guys.

In the same post, he links to the Kingwood Tea Party with a “Douchebags in Action” tag. Nice. Like I said yesterday, these people HATE you. Don’t ever forget that.

I don’t know much about this particular “Top Houston political blogger” “party blogger” having only met him once very briefly. After reading through his blog, it is obvious that he is afflicted with “white man guilt” (I suspect some of the other party bloggers are afflicted with this disease as well), as in “I wish someone would put a foot on my butt and kick me back into my mama so maybe I’d come out as a person of color because I’m white and have too many privileges in my life”. His is of the “angry I’m white” variety, so he gets very nasty at times. Click on the above link at your intellectual peril.

It is clear that Houston Votes is not the angelic organization that party bloggers (and the Bill White¹ Texas Tribune) portray. More to come.

 

¹ I stole that tagline from Cory Crow at Harris County Almanac.

First, lets start with a bit of background on the Houston political scene. For years, when a story hits a news outlet, the lefty bloggers in Houston have had their way in forming the “narrative” on said story. Narrative is everything when it comes to public perception. For instance, last fall, Harris County Tax Assessor/Collector Leo Vasquez settled a lawsuit that was filed against his predecessor. The average person most likely has the perception that the Democrats “won” that lawsuit but the fact is that no one “won” and the agreement is nothing if not benign. Read it for yourself if you don’t believe me. But that perception is out there because the left was able to drive the narrative surrounding the settlement.

The reason they have been able to do that is multi-faceted but it really boils down to the reality that the conservative side of the Houston political scene focuses on national issues and more importantly, we don’t have “party bloggers”. I don’t know who came up with that term but I see Dr. Kevin Whited over at blogHOUSTON.net use it frequently to describe the small group of lefty bloggers that pass the same email around the block, using the same bullet points, and the email always supports the Democratic Party. At least that is my definition of it, Kevin’s might be different.

So they win the day in the blogosphere and thus win the narrative in public perception. And this is compounded by the unfortunate reality that Houston’s newspaper of record, the Houston Chronicle, has been in turmoil for years and often misses the story or adopts the narrative posed by these guys, as in the case of the editorial board. YMMV, but that’s my take on it.

Now, lets get back to the party. While I was away, Mr. Vasquez held a press conference regarding the Houston Votes effort that I wrote about earlier. Here is his full statement, from which I pull this quote:

Evidence shows that the Houston Votes and Texans Together organization is conspiring in a pattern of falsification of government documents, suborning of perjury and a deliberate effort to over-burden our processing system with thousands of duplicate and incomplete voter registration applications. Even worse, the paid personnel of Houston Votes and Texans Together are alarming citizens with wild stories about the integrity of the voter registration database.

Now, you would think that people would take that seriously, even if you were a party blogger. Especially since Houston Votes claims to be non-partisan, which is questionable but at least they were able to maintain some plausibility of that stance prior to Mr. Vasquez’s press conference and the Texas Democratic Party jumping in to sue Mr. Vasquez. I think we can safely say that all pretense of non-partisanship went out the door with that lawsuit.

This is a big and complicated story now and blog posts aren’t well suited for big and complicated stories. So I need to break it up and I might write about it 10 times or 2, I don’t know right now. But I think it is best at this point to simply show you what the title of this post says: these “Top Houston political bloggers” don’t give a damn about the truth.

The reason for that is that they hate Republicans and conservatives. Literally hate them. Read them for a few days and you’ll know what I mean. But there is one group that they especially hate and treat with vulgar language and that would be anyone that attends, attended, thinks about, or has anything to do with “Tea Parties”. Make no mistake – they hate us and they aren’t going to change, so we might as well fight back and shove it right up where the sun doesn’t shine.

So the natural thing for them to do is to put the focus anywhere but on the actual facts of Mr. Vasquez’s press conference. When they found out that members from True the Vote were in attendance at the press conference, and were quoted in several news articles, they had their hook. Every single one of them took this and ran with it, never focusing on the truth. And the truth is that Mr. Vasquez was correct. Even the Project Director of Houston Votes agrees with Mr. Vasquez that FRAUD was committed by his workers:

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Watch that video. As Dr. Whited points out, at the 1:20 mark or thereabouts, Sean Caddle admits it. Let me ask you something: did any party blogger point that out? Did any news outlet run that clip? Nope. Narrative, folks, keep that in mind. And remember, they HATE you, so don’t think you can win them over by being nice to them.

Let’s start with the big dog of those “Top Houston political bloggers”, Charles Kuffner. Charles is a super nice person, a family man, he works very hard at blogging, and is recognized around the state for his work. And he has helped me with the Judical Q&A’s that you see here on Big Jolly Politics. But make no mistake: he is a party blogger and he HATES you. If he didn’t, do you think he would describe you repeatedly with a vulgarity that describes a sex act between homosexual men? I don’t.

So let’s grab a quote from one of his takes on the admitted fraud:

The other point has to do with the character of True the Vote, since they’re presenting themselves as some kind of defenders of truth, justice, and the American way. To that end, I direct you to Glenn Smith, who shows that one other thing True the Vote stands for is creating fake images to further their goals. Note to Leo Vasquez: You should be more careful about who you get into bed with.

Do you want to talk about character Charles? Fine. You just LIED about True the Vote. True the Vote, specifically Catherine Engelbrecht and her team that produced that video, did not create that fake image. You lied, Charles. A cursory check of the internet would have prevented you from lying about that group. Want to know how I know this? Because I did that cursory check. It is real easy: go to Google. Click on Images in the upper left. Type “voter fraud” in the search box. Click Search.

What do you see?

Right there on the top row is the image that you just lied about. And it is from 2009. Scroll down the page and guess what? You find the same image from 2008. Keep scrolling and you will find others just like it.

You know what I thought at that point? Ah ha, it looks like someone was making a video and needed a representative picture, typed “voter fraud” in Google and said, hey, that fits this situation perfectly! Happens every single freaking day of the year. So I decided to call Catherine Engelbrecht and ask her if that is what happened. Oh, I know what you are thinking! I have some super secret phone number for her because I’m one of those dreaded people you like to mock with a vulgar term, right? Actually, no. I just clicked on the contact page for King Street Patriots, dialed the phone number, left a message and she called me back.

Guess what! I was right. They grabbed an image off the web after typing in “voter fraud”.

And yet you question their character and LIED about them, Charles. All to divert people away from the truth, as admitted to by the director of the Houston Votes project. You should be ashamed but somehow, I doubt it.

Let’s play along just a little bit more by checking out the link that Mr. Kuffner used to base his lie upon. The link takes you to a blog put up by Stace Medillin, again, a nice guy, family type of guy, but again, he HATES you. Read through a few of his pieces and you will see that you, Mr. and Mrs. Tea Partier (no, I won’t use his vulgar term) are RACIST. He HATES you. Don’t forget that.

Here is a quote from the piece that Mr. Kuffner used as the basis for his lie:

DosCentavos.net questioned the validity of Vasquez’s accusations toward Houston Votes given the fact that he allowed access to voter information to an obviously partisan organization.

Now, seein’ as how Mr. Medillin is a “Top Houston political blogger” and all, it pretty much sucks that I have to explain to him how to get the information that he says forces him to question Mr. Vasquez (note that he doesn’t question Mr. Caddle’s admission that fraud was committed). Here you go, Stace.

First, go to the Harris County Tax Assessor Collector’s website, enter the precinct number that you are interested in and BAM!, you have all of the registered voters in that precinct on your little computer. How ’bout that? A hayseed like me could do it but a “Top Houston political blogger” didn’t have a clue. Know what? A bunch of people have already done that for each and every precinct, copied them to a CD and will sell it to you for 25 bucks or so. Now, sir, you are armed!

Oh, but, tsk, tsk, you say, what about the new registrations? Sigh. Do I really have to tell a “Top Houston political blogger” how to file an open records request? Okay, okay. Get back to the HCTA website and click on the contact page. Then click on the bright blue link that says “Click here to access an Open Records Request form.” BAM! Just like that a form opens up and you can request your little self away. It even tells you where to send it.

Now, pray tell, if this ol’ hayseed from Pasadena could do it, don’t you think one of them there “obviously partisan organizations” like True the Vote could figure it out? Hmm?

Geez, I’m beginning to wonder about these “Top Houston political bloggers”. Big dog lies, little dog doesn’t know how to file open records requests. Strange but in the liberal world, perhaps we need to question the definition of “top”.

One other little thing about men that know about an obscure sexual act that homosexual males use to get their rocks off: how’d they come to be so intimate with that term?

Leo Vasquez Press Statement

Leo Vasquez Presentation of ADMITTED FRAUD

True the Vote website – get up off your ass and help them by becoming a poll watcher.

King Street Patriots website – go to their meetings every Monday night and keep informed.

Remember: they HATE you. Don’t be afraid to fight back because nothing you can do will change that basic fact. Returning this country to the right path is worth fighting for so get out there and FIGHT. I’ll have more fun in the next few days.

Jared and every other Republican need to get it through their thick heads: The Republican Party is not an arm of the body of Christ.

If Republicans think that using these pseudo religious organizations are going to save the day, they are fooling themselves. Christians have a mission – make disciples of all nations. Christians have a guidebook to proper citizenship – the Bible.

The US Pastor Council is a joke. Our churches are a joke because of pastors that spend their time doing “patriotic” work instead of doing the work Christ has called them to do.

Live your faith, people. Don’t sit back and tell others how to live theirs.

I don’t know how many of the 117 are Republicans but it should be 100{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986}.

Read more about it here. Or just trust me and click here to sign up. Seriously.