Big Jolly Politics

politics in Harris County and Texas

Texas Republicans are protecting your vote

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In the last session of the Texas Legislature, a Senate Bill 1 was passed regarding election integrity and ballot protection. One of the aspects of the bill was to change the identification requirements for voting by mail. We have long assumed that there were many counts of fraud in the system but we had no way to verify it. Now we do.

And Democrats are whining about it.

Harris County is asking the Department of Justice to intervene after thousands of mail-in ballots and applications were rejected in the wake of a strict new voting law passed in the Texas Legislature.

In a letter addressed to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, county leaders pointed to an “alarmingly high number” of rejections based on new rules enacted in Senate Bill 1, which went into effect Dec. 2 and created new voter ID rules that elections administrators across the state say have tripped up voters as they seek to use mail-in ballots.

The letter — signed by Harris County judge Lina Hidalgo, County Attorney Christian Menefee and Elections Administrator Isabel Longoria — asks the DOJ to step in and investigate.

from Houston Public Media

And yet they are the ones that are having to enforce the law. And guess what? They are!

Of 33,270 mail-in ballot applications received by Harris County, 4,598 — or 14% — were flagged for rejection due to the new voter ID requirements, and 13,736 — or 41% — were “flagged for rejection for any reason.”

Just 4,227 applications were flagged for rejection during the same period in March 2018, the last midterm election, the letter says — 6.6% of all applications received.

On top of that, 35.5% of mail-in ballots themselves were flagged as of Tuesday due to new ID requirements, the letter says — 3,491 of the 9,809 ballots received in Harris County.

from Houston Public Media

In case you weren’t aware, Democrats run Harris County, so they are the ones that have to enforce the law. The fact that they are doing it is surprising but appreciated!

Oh, and thank you to the Republicans for passing a law that confirms what we already knew but couldn’t prove.

Keep up the good work!

Downtown Pachyderms host 4 candidates

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Doug Smith, Sophia Mafrige, Tom Zakes, Mark Ramsey, Brett Guillory, Dan McKaughan, James White, Dale Gibble

The Downtown Houston Pachyderm Club hosted four Republican Party Primary candidates at their weekly meeting January 20, 2022. The four candidates were: James White for Texas Agriculture Commissioner; Dan McKaughan for TX CD-8; Mark Ramsey and Brett Guillory for TX CD-38.

James White

James White concentrated his remarks on the ethics (or lack thereof) of incumbent Sid Miller. He repeatedly referred to Sid Miller’s campaign consultant Todd Smith, who was recently indicted by the Democratic District Attorney of Travis County. Used to be that Republicans would dismiss political indictments out of Travis County but a campaign is a campaign I guess.

White also mentioned a few things that he thinks are relevant to the office, such as border security, economic security and food security. I sort of understand how those issues are tangentially related to the office but I wish that he had talked more about the issues that the office directly affects. White’s website has no policy issue section.

I think that James White is a great candidate and he would be a very good commissioner. I also think that it is unfortunate that he is basing his campaign upon negative personal attacks on Sid Miller. There are a number of things that White could focus on regarding Miller’s performance. And he did mention some in passing, namely Miller’s huge budget request and then subsequent steep increases in fees to farmers and ranchers, but mostly focused on Miller’s ties to Smith. When I asked him if he had any direct evidence that Miller was corrupt, he couldn’t provide any.

James White is the Houston Chronicle’s choice for this position.

Dan McKaughan

Dan McKaughan is running for the district that Kevin Brady used to represent. I was impressed by his passion for conservative issues, particularly in the question/answer portion of the meeting.

I’m pretty sure but not certain that he said that he wasn’t using a campaign manager but I didn’t write it down. Whether he did or didn’t, whomever wrote his bio on his website is one heck of a writer. I urge you to go and read the whole thing if you want to be inspired and pumped up like I am after reading it. Here’s a snippet:

But while these East Texas values—these truly AMERICAN values—these basic fundamentals of a moral people—are still alive here and in most parts of this Union, they seem to be daily under attack by forces that want to see them destroyed and purged from the country.  These forces are not content to live and let live, not content to let Americans be Americans.

And a complicit government only aids their cause.

Brett Guillory

Brett Guillory is running in the new district that was drawn for establishment choice Wesley Hunt. Brett is a teacher who stressed that he is not running for a job (unlike Wesley Hunt) but is passionate about serving the people of the district. His teacher background show up on his issues page, where he has this interesting bullet point:

Critical Race Theory (CRT) is infecting our education system at every level. The indoctrination of our youth with this radical, Marxist agenda must be stopped. I will work to ban this ideology from our schools. 

During his remarks he said that he would do away with the Department of Education if he could. That’s certainly a good position from my point of view.

Mark Ramsey

Mark Ramsey is also running in the new district that was drawn for Wesley Hunt. Or, as Mark called him, Washington Wesley. Mark is familiar to anyone that has been involved in the Republican Party in Harris County and the Republican Party of Texas. He has represented Senate District 7 as the SREC rep, he chaired the platform committee for the RPT and he created and chaired the legislative priorities committee for the RPT. He also was a representative in the electoral college and cast his vote for Donald Trump. In other words, he is the antithesis of Washington Wesley.

Mark’s issues are standard fare for any solid conservative Republican. His issues page is boilerplate bullet points on those issues. Where Mark stands out from any of the candidates on the ballot is on what he called his references page. If you take a look at that page you’ll see a long list of precinct chairs that are supporting him. These leaders are the backbone of the Republican Party and know the work that Mark has done and how solid of a candidate he is.

Mark stressed that there are three things that voters need to consider when hiring someone to be their representative.

  1. Experience
  2. References
  3. Integrity

Without question, Mark has the most experience of the candidates in Republican Party politics. Without question, his “references” are the backbone of the Republican Party. I’ve known Mark for many years now and I’ve never heard a single person question Mark’s integrity.

If I were a voter in CD-38, I’d vote for Mark Ramsey in a heartbeat. I damn sure wouldn’t vote for Washington Wesley.

It feels good to get out and be with other Republican activists and leaders. It’d be great to meet you if you have an opportunity to attend a meeting of the Downtown Houston Pachyderm Club.

Commissioner’s Court to Discuss Circumventing the Heartbeat Law

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In September 2020 there were 4,313 abortions in Texas.  In September 2021 that number dropped to 2,164.  This is because of the Heartbeat law.  Later today Commissioner’s Court is set to take up ways to circumvent the Heartbeat law, courtesy of a request, “responding to the County Judge’s request to investigate opportunities to support individuals impacted by (SB8) or otherwise mitigate the law’s negative effects.”  Judge Hidalgo appears to be paving the way to use our tax dollars to pay to transport women who want an abortion out of state so they can have the abortion.

The “opportunity” not only says pay for transportation, but also for childcare and lodging for those seeking an abortion.

The timing of this action is especially puzzling if it is truly an attempt to combat the Heartbeat law.  Outside of the Supreme Court decision upholding the law as a matter of federal Constitutional law an attack against the enforcement mechanism is being waged in the state courts.  This attack is based on the Texas Constitution, and it recently had some success in Travis County.  The state constitution Article I, Section 13, in pertinent part, reads:

every person for an injury done him, in his lands, goods, person or reputation, shall have remedy by due course of law.

This argument was enough to have a court in Travis County find that parties could not petition the courts for enforcement since they did not have injury.  While the Texas Supreme Court is unlikely to agree the matter will still have to wind its way through the Third Court of Appeals, which will doubtless uphold the judge’s decision.  Even if ultimately unsuccessful, the ruling sets the pattern for judges across the state to temporarily halt the enforcement mechanism until the United States Supreme Court releases the Dobbs decision which will give clarity as to the future of abortion battles.

Judge Hidalgo’s request seems to be laying the framework to support abortion in a post Roe world should Dobbs go against the abortion providers.  This is especially concerning in light of the recent tax rate cut that has impacted the county health initiatives.  Indigent health care in Harris County is above average for the state, but it’s still woefully inadequate.  Every year I have clients die waiting on disability hearings that would be alive if better health care was available.  Rather than spend county resources to help those in need with healthcare Judge Hidalgo wants to spend tax dollars to pay for transportation, lodging, and childcare for those who want an abortion.

In a post Roe world, abortion doesn’t end.  Overturning Roe simply creates a logistical barrier to abortion since many states will still allow abortion.  The only inhibiting factor is how does the mother get to a state that allows abortions.  Judge Hidalgo wants to make sure that our tax dollars are used to overcome this logistical barrier.

55,848 defendants are out on felony bond from Harris County courts

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Back in March I wrote about the number of people Harris County courts had let out on felony bond. The district attorney’s office was kind enough to update those figures under another Public Information Act request.  This post looks at how the bond situation has changed in the past eight months.

By way of reminder, here is what the Texas Penal Code states the factors to consider are in determining bond:

Art. 17.15. RULES FOR FIXING AMOUNT OF BAIL.  The amount of bail to be required in any case is to be regulated by the court, judge, magistrate or officer taking the bail;  they are to be governed in the exercise of this discretion by the Constitution and by the following rules:

  1. The bail shall be sufficiently high to give reasonable assurance that the undertaking will be complied with.
  2. The power to require bail is not to be so used as to make it an instrument of oppression.
  3. The nature of the offense and the circumstances under which it was committed are to be considered.
  4. The ability to make bail is to be regarded, and proof may be taken upon this point.
  5. The future safety of a victim of the alleged offense and the community shall be considered.

So how have things changed?

To begin with, we now have 55,848 felony defendants out on bond (as of November 4, 2021) compared to 53,830 back in March, an increase of 3%.  No discernible pattern could be detected regarding the type of crime that was being given bond.  However, looking at the number of defendants out on bond by court revealed some striking data.

Looking at offenses shows not much has changed in the past eight months.  It’s noteworthy the number of defendants out for murder/capitol murder is increasing by just under 2 per week (66 defendants in 35 weeks.)  The number of defendants out on felony bond for prostitution has risen significantly, and likely is an artifact of the change in the state law and initiative by Councilman Pollard and Commissioner Ramsey dealing with the Bissonnet track.  I office in the middle of the track, and it does seem like “business” along the track has ticked down.

Consolidated list of crimes: March/November  +/- difference

Animal Cruelty 189/186 -3
Arson 84/79 -5
Assault 15290/14387 -903
Auto Theft 861/744 -117
Burglary 1938/1778 -160
Capital Murder 76/87 +11
Child Abandon/Endanger 276/282 +6
Child Pornography 63/74 +11
Controlled Substance (excluding marijuana) 7204/6566 -638
Criminal Mischief 1505/1666 +161
Deadly Conduct 131/186 +55
DWI 15186/15512 +326
DWLI/DWLS 263/108 -155
Environmental 137/146 +9
Ex parte 4/2 -2
Failure to ID 504/548 +44
Firearm 3776/4415 +639
Fraud 1594/1458 -136
Gambling 102/55 -47
Human Trafficking 187/172 -15
Interfering/Obstruction/Resisting/Evading 4034/3644 -392
Kidnapping 92/102 +10
Liquor 49/59 +10
Manslaughter 122/142 +20
Marijuana 316/389 +82
Money Laundering 94/90 -4
Motor Vehicle – Intox Assault 89/93 +4
Motor Vehicle – Non-DUI 1762/2408 +646
Murder 256/311 +55
Organized Crime 330/314 -16
Other 1605/1663 +58
Prostitution 413/611 +198
Retaliation 405/420 +15
Robbery 1570/1544 -26
Sexual Assault 1451/1635 +184
Solicit/Conspiracy 3/7 +4
Stalking/Harrassment/Threat-FV 1860/2018 +158
Theft 3842/3776 -66
Trespass 745/910 +165
Violation of Protective Order 642/844 +202
Weapon 907/936 +29

Looking at the number of defendants out on bond by court shows significant outliers both up and down.  Note: I’m not displaying data for the 482 since it was not available back in March.  The following courts had statistically significant increases in the number of defendants out on bond:

Court at Law: 3, 10, 13, 16 – with the 16th having a whopping 22% increase.

District Court: 179, 232, 337, 338.

The following courts had a statistically significant decrease in defendants out on bond:

Court at Law: 7

District Court: 174, 178, 184, 209 with the 178 and 184 both seeing a greater than 20% decrease in the number of defendants out on bond.

Court at Law

001         2662/2841           +179      +6%

002         2605/2659           +54        +2%

003         1558/1771           +213      +13%

004         2583/2559           -24          -1%

005         2012/2196           +184      +9%

006         2507/2545           +38         +1%

007         2162/1867           -295       -14%

008         2697/2666           -31          -1%

009         2258/2316           +58         +2%

010         2216/2620           +404      +18%

011         2643/2735           +92         +3%

012         2368/2723           +355      +3%

013         2575/2851           +276      +10%

014         1733/1870           +137      +7%

015         2281/2326           +45         +2%

016         2384/2908           +524      +22%

District Court

174         1928/1605           -323       -17%

176         1352/1259           -93          -7%

177         973/909                -64          -7%

178         1388/1069           -319       -23%

179         1775/2078           +303      +17%

180         1997/2115           +118      +5%

182         1566/1487           -79          -6%

183         1298/1212           -86          -7%

184         1424/1018           -406       -29%

185         2064/2125           +61         +2%

208         1847/1681           -166       -9%

209         1521/1333           -188       -13%

228         1750/1672           -78          -5%

230         1930/1764           -166       -9%

232         2028/2232           +204      +10%

248         1919/1899           -20          -3%

262         2130/2037           -93          -5%

263         1634/1594           -40          -3%

337         1150/1321           171         +14%

338         2039/2255           216         +10%

339         2194/2058           -136       -7%

351         2163/2136           -27          -2%

It is troubling that the fifth prong in the factors to be considered when assigning bail, “The future safety of a victim of the alleged offense and the community shall be considered.” appears to not be given much weight by the courts.  We have just shy of 2 defendants per week who are alleged to have committed murder make bond.  Violations of protective orders and other family violence offenses are also being released at an alarming rate of a tick over 10 per week (combined 360 in 35 weeks.)

We are almost in the primary season, and it’s time we take a hard look at the criminal judges up for election and our candidates who want to replace them.  I will update these figures again when it’s close to the primary election.

Want Conservatives on the Cy-Fair ISD School Board? Vote Blasingame, Henry, and Scanlon

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mark mccaig
Mark McCaig

By Mark McCaig

The national debates over mask mandates, Critical Race Theory, and other issues involving public education have caused many conservatives to start asking questions about their local school boards. This is a welcome development, as most school board elections have historically received very little attention outside of those most actively engaged in politics or those with a particular interest in the public education system.

In Cy-Fair ISD, where I reside, a record number of challengers have filed to run against the three longtime incumbents seeking re-election. As these positions in Cy-Fair ISD are elected on a plurality basis, meaning that there is not a runoff and the top vote getter for each position wins, conservatives seeking to make an impact in this election must unite around a slate of challengers. Failure for conservatives to unify will result in a split conservative vote, which will only benefit the incumbents seeking re-election.

A consensus conservative slate for the Cy-Fair ISD school board has emerged consisting of Dr. Natalie Blasingame(Position 5), Scott Henry (Position 6), and Lucas Scanlon (Position 7). These candidates have been endorsed by the Harris County Republican Party, the Conservative Coalition of Harris County, and many grassroots conservative leaders and precinct chairs across Cy-Fair ISD.

Of the three positions on the ballot, the race for Position 5 is perhaps the most important. The 17-year incumbent, Dr. John Ogletree, is an active and vocal liberal Democrat who is running for re-election with the support of the AFL-CIO and the American Federation of Teachers. He has a long history of making offensive and racially charged social media posts, many of which have been documented at https://ogletreeisaracist.com. Replacing Dr. Ogletree with a conservative should be a top priority for voters.

The controversies surrounding Dr. Ogletree have resulted in five challengers signing up to run against him. Of these five challengers, three (Dr. Natalie Blasingame, Courtney Spradley, and Dr. Grace Horner) are running active campaigns as conservatives and are seeking conservative support.

While I applaud Ms. Spradley and Dr. Horner for stepping up and wanting to make a positive impact in Cy-Fair ISD, I believe that Dr. Blasingame is the strongest challenger and is best positioned to defeat Dr. Ogletree. Dr. Blasingame is a rare conservative who has worked in administrative roles in the public education system and knows how to most effectively make positive changes that are needed to improve Cy-Fair ISD.

In addition to her superior command of the issues facing Cy-Fair ISD, Dr. Blasingame has run for the board previously, giving her valuable experience as a candidate that she has built upon to run an even stronger campaign during this current election. With three conservative candidates challenging Dr. Ogletree, the risk of a split conservative vote resulting in his re-election is very real. Those wanting to replace the most radical liberal member of the Cy-Fair ISD school board must vote for Dr. Natalie Blasingame for Position 5.

For Position 6, 21-year incumbent Don Ryan faces three challengers. Of these three, Scott Henry is the only challenger actively seeking conservative support. Another of Ryan’s challengers, Ryan Irving, is an active Democrat who is running with union support.

For Position 7, 16-year incumbent Bob Covey also faces three challengers, Of these challengers, Lucan Scanlon is the only one running on a conservative platform.

Those seeking to learn more about the candidate for the Cy-Fair ISD school board should visit the candidates’ websites, as well as review questionnaires from the candidates. I personally found the questionnaires published by the Conservative Coalition of Harris County very helpful in learning more about these candidates.

The last day of early voting for these races is Friday, October 29th, and election day is Tuesday, November 2nd. If you live in Cy-Fair ISD, please get out and vote for conservatives Dr. Natalie Blasingame, Scott Henry, and Lucas Scanlon.

Mark McCaig is an attorney and Republican Precinct Chairman in Harris County.

Harris County Commissioners propose increase in property taxes

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All five members of the Harris County Commissioners Court, Democrats and Republicans alike, are proposing a property tax increase for the fiscal year 2021/2022.

Yes, you read that correctly, Republicans and Democrats. Of course, you won’t find that anywhere in the media. It’s incredible how poorly the media’s reporting is on local issues.

Here is the Houston Chronicle’s headline on Zack Despart’s report:

Democrats pitch Harris County property tax cut but Republicans want to go deeper

Complete and utter nonsense. Don’t believe me? Cool, but first take a look at the title of the Special Meeting of the Harris County Commissioners Court’s agenda:

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING ON TAX INCREASE

Mr. Despart’s report is fatally flawed. Here is his recap of the cost of the proposed tax increase:

Each year, Harris County sets the tax rate for the county government, flood control district, hospital district and Port of Houston; the first three together comprise an overall rate that is used to calculate each property owner’s annual tax bill.

Berry proposed an overall rate of 58.6 cents per $100 of assessed property value. This would save the owner of a home valued at $200,000 with the standard 20 percent homestead exemption $27 since their last tax bill.

The three Democrats on Commissioners Court have expressed support for that rate.

Cagle’s pitch of 57.5 cents per $100 of assessed value, which included lower county and hospital district rates, would save this same homeowner $48.

Wait a minute. A home valued at $200,000 is going to see a $27 (Democrat) or a $48 (Republican) DECREASE in taxes? Huh? Doesn’t the Public Hearing Notice state that there will be an INCREASE?

Yes it does. Because there will be. Mr. Despart conveniently ignores the increase in appraisals. The Public Hearing Notice does not ignore this. The average taxable value of a home in Harris County increased by 5.89%, so the taxable value of that formerly $200,000 home is now $211,780, which after a 20% homestead exemption leaves a taxable value of $169,424. The taxes owed on this amount will be $992.82 versus the old tax of $942.86, an increase of $49.96 or 5.3%.

Why did Mr. Despart say that there would be a tax decrease of $27 on the Democrat’s proposed rate?

The Republican increase would be $974.19 versus the old tax of $942.86, an increase of $31.33 or 3.3%.

Why did Mr. Despart say that there would be a tax decrease of $48 on the Republican’s proposed rate?

Why does no other media outlet report on the proposed tax increase?

Your guess is as good or better than mine.

More importantly, with the Republicans championing a proposed tax increase, it would be hypocritical of them to break quorum at the vote for a tax increase, as I suggested they do in 2019. Which they did and prevented a much larger tax increase. After all, now that we know they want a tax increase, it’s just a negotiation on how big it will be.

Even more importantly for anyone wanting a change in the balance of Commissioners Court, what does that do to the Republican campaign slogan next year of no new taxes? So much for that one.

Good luck guys. Hey, at least you have the Houston Chronicle on your side, right? Yeah sure, check back with me during next year’s elections.