As they say, all publicity is good publicity. Right? Yeah, why not? So when Apostle Claver T. Kamau-Imani of Raging Elephants sent out an email critical of me for endorsing and voting for State Rep. John Davis, I laughed about it and Tweeted this:
I see that Claver has decided to attack lil’ old me. Dude, what’s up with that? @SpeakerStraus rules. @RagingElephants #txlege
Claver didn’t appreciate the humor, because I poked at him with the “Straus rules” thing and for whatever reason, Claver can’t handle the fact that Joe Straus is a conservative Speaker of the House. After a little back and forth, the Apostle tweets this:
@dpjennings @VoteBeebe @SpeakerStraus #txlege Tx political culture is corrupt and u ain’t helping!!! So just keep nibbling his jock strap.
Sigh. They don’t make Apostles like they used to. Saying something vulgar like that simply because I support Speaker Straus and the Apostle doesn’t.
I got to thinking, I wonder who is paying the Apostle these days? So I log onto the Texas Ethics Commission website to find out. Guess what? Turns out that Raging Elephants PAC (#00066148) hasn’t filed a report since September 12, 2011 and that report only covered their activities from July 1, 2011 through August 31, 2011. But they have continued to receive funds:
And both of their websites, RagingElephants.org and StampedeTX.com have donation pages for political purposes. But no reports have been filed in over 7 months, missing at least three deadlines. Shame, shame. Glass houses and all.
Although the Raging Elephants still has a mission statement that claims they are recruiting minorities, most of the Apostle’s work the past year or two has centered on “ousting Straus” and recruiting secessionist candidates like Daniel Miller and Cary Wise.
Back to the original subject, anyone that says that Rep. John Davis isn’t a conservative politician is nuts, of the fruitcake variety. I’ll proudly vote for this man of integrity and honesty. I have nothing against Mary Huls and in fact supported her in her original bid because of her hard work as a candidate and pushing John to be a better rep. But this is now her second campaign and we differ on issues and on Joe Straus. Mary does what the Apostle does, blasts Joe Straus anywhere and everywhere – I saw her recently at the Downtown Pachyderm Club and she said her number one priority was getting rid of Joe Straus. And getting rid of property taxes but when someone asked her a question about that in relation to a sales tax of 20+{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986}, she had no answer.
As a reminder, Speaker Straus has presided over two very conservative sessions and is supported by the two major pro-life groups in the state because of the strong pro-life session last year.
So the Apostle can vote for whomever he chooses (except that he doesn’t live in our district) but I’m voting for Rep. John Davis, who will support Speaker Joe Straus as they face hard choices on the budget next session.
True to form, being the RINO hack job that you can’t help but being — picking and choosing WHICH tweets you want to make public. I guess everything said to you has been taken as being “on the record” even when it’s PERSONAL CONVERSATION? So big of you to leave out the compliments I gave you. So big of you to leave out your self-righteous tweets. You’re no different that any liberal amateur. I would expect that if your going to publish a story, that you tell the ENTIRE truth. I guess that’s not in your nature?
So to offer a difference of opinion on your endorsements is classified as an “attack”? A little hyper sensitive, “Jolly”? To insist on consistency in your endorsements is an “attack”?
As for RE.org we have three objectives in our “Mission”: Make it easier for Repulicans to win elections; make sure the “right” Republicans win elections: and, make sure the “right” laws are being passed and the wrong laws are being defeated and repealed. I wonder who would have a problem with that? “Big Folly”!
The good apostle is a fruitcake, who just so happens to also be an accomplished speaker. Send a couple of jars of fruits and nuts to a Toastmasters club or a mail-order “divinity” school and this is what you end up with. Look at his endorsement for Jack Lee in HD149 where he says that he despises “identity” politics (a thinly disguised crypto-word for racial politics which he gladly decodes for you in almost the next sentence) and then exhorts us all to “play the same game until it disappears”. Unbelievable.
http://myemail.constantcontact.com/-Let-s-Be-Smart-in-HD149-Race.html?soid=1102478510852&aid=8urzs6s2jQw
why not – he was bought by debra medina. have it on good faith that the good “apostle” approached members of governor perry’s staff in his 2010 gov race about getting his “endorsement” ala straight from the playbook of terry lowery, hotze, the like…and that he was going to go medina unless ‘RE’ got a 10K contri from perry. can you believe it, by golly big jolly – political extortion(!)…of the governor of texas? obviously on this one perry was smart enough to stay away or just simply laugh and still handily win the office…this apostle guy has no real fight except to not have a real job and make money off of his own egotistical, self centered version of the doom/gloom the GOP is facing w/o his ‘unique’ services. i wish ppl would stop reading into his nonsense and that he would just move away to st louis or wherever he is always talking about needing your money to take ‘his message’. look dude – s*it or get off the pot…or in this case, s*it or get ethics charges filed against you…bet the dudes real name is just like steve or something.
Apostle Claver;
I heard you speak a few years ago at a Tea Party rally in The Woodlands. You were nothing short of riveting and you sure did stir up the crowd. Including myself. I spoke highy of you since then. What I’m reading now frankly, doesn’t do your cause any favors as far as I can see. Big Jolly does provide specific examples of his position on a regular basis. Agree with him or not, he is very consistant in providing details to support himself. Simply calling him names like ‘Big Folley!!!’ isn’t very moving and I’ve et to see anything as to why you want Joe Strauss out. Perhaps you can leave the name calling alone for a bit and provide specific examples as to why Joe Strauss should get the boot. Big Jolly’s already made his case in favor of Strauss and why he’d support John Davis who’ll support Joe Strauss.
that’s mainly the problem darren – dude had one good weekend in ’09, mostly cuz nobody knew of this guy. i see it as a combo of coincidence, timing and capitalization – so he’s black and as a group of mostly republican non-blacks, we were looking for an answer to the black guy recently elected president. we wanted anyone of color to tell us it was alright not to support obama and that you were not a racist because just you didnt vote for him (remember that was the implicit sentiment of democrats, independents, media / the rest of the country coming off the election from say 08 to mid ’09) – im just being real. and he is smart (or at least seemed to be) and fed off that sentiment, id call it a more modern form of ‘white guilt’…and folks like you allowed that 1 day feeding frenzy back at that Mattress Mack event to become a 3+ year long gravy train. nothing against his race, after all am pointing out that he was very smart to basically find this niche, take the lead and turn it into a money maker; its about him but he damn sure used race to his advantage to pull one over of more than a few folks. now its just very plain to see that he’s nothing but a charlatan. an emperor w/o clothes. a wolf in sleeps clothing, etc. etc. is it the message or the messenger you’re focused on? beware of cult mentality.
To “Turth Hurtz” — You are very free to offer your opinions about my intentions, purpose, etc. I understand that. It’s part of being in the public domain and the beauty of free speech. Nevertheless, if you don’t have hard evdience of the “Truth” of my relationship with Debra Medina or Gov. Perry, I’d suggest you refrain from spreading libelous rumors.
Oh, that’s right… You’re writing on a blog under a pseudonym. That has a way of making one “courageous”. Next time you see me in public, introduce yourself and make your statement of “truth” to may face.
To Darren — I thank you for your constructive criticism.
The list of objectionable positions and actions of Speaker Joe Straus have been so well chronicled and this format really doesn’t allow to re-explore all the offenses against conservatism.
But, we could start with some very recent actions. For instance, the family horse track in San Antonio was bailed out by an anonymous casino when it was on the verge of going out of business. Straus is a huge proponent of gambling expansion in Texas. Personally, I think the issue should be put on the ballot and let the voters of Texas decide whether they want gambling expansion. But to have the 3rd most powerful elected official in the state have a personal stake in the outcome – and to be actively working for that expansion – in which he stands to make tens of millions of dollars, or more, seems to be a conflict of interest that should not be tolerated.
In what could only be labeled a coup, in 2009, Mr. Straus replaced the very conservative Speaker Tom Craddick with only 11 Republican votes and the entire support of the Democratic caucus. He appointed liberal Democrats to committee chairs. And, then used intimidation tactics in 2011 to retain the gavel. He stated that he didn’t seek the office.
In the election of 2010, he held fundraisers for Democrats and “embraced” some of those Democrat chairs that had conservative Republicans on the ballot to oppose them.
In 2009, Planned Parenthood honored him for his “tireless” work on their behalf. He has donated to Planned Parenthood, received donations to Planned Parenthood, and a “very close” family member set on the board for Planned Parenthood.
A conservative? Since 2009, as Speaker, he hasn’t had to cast any votes. But in 2007:
Heritage Alliance – 52{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986}
Empower Texans – 71{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986}
Eagle Forum – 68{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986}
Young Conservative – 62{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} (Career score of 67{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986})
Who would call these scores conservative?
With a super majority in 2011, not a single piece of legislation dealing with illegal immigration was allowed on the floor. He personal assisted in stopping the TSA bill. He advocated the drawing of redistricting maps that exacted retribution on the conservatives that didn’t vote for him for Speaker. The approved of dishonestly balancing the budget with accounting tricks that will have to deal with in 2013.
His surrogates then actively recruited opponents for the true conservatives in the House in this primary, has helped to fund those opponents, and then launched nasty smear adds replete with lies (even against private citizens who aren’t on the ballot).
Well , like David Jennings says, “Speaker Straus rules”. I suppose Jennings approves of these tactics since he’s essentially practiced the same “stab you in the back” tactics in this blog.
EmpowerTexans has listed 12 reasons to Oust Straus, who has a primary challenger that RagingElephants.org helped to recruit (per the Joe Straus surrogates). You can find the reasons at this link: http://www.empowertexans.com/features/top-12-reasons-to-oust-straus/
In my email blasts, I merely pointed out the inconsistency of Jennings supporting McCool for Senate as a man of the people. Yet, supporting Davis in HD129 with pathetic scores from the last two sessions of: 71, 62, 81, F, 77, 63, 79, and 32 from Heritage Alliance, Empower Texans, Young Conservatives of Texas, and Eagle Forum. Study the Jennings arguments for supporting Davis. Then refer back to these scores and his direct votes. You can find them at StampedeTx.com.
Now, with this extensive lists of reasons to not only oppose him as Speaker, but oppose him for public office, period, the question then becomes: Why would David Jennings be supporting Speaker Straus and his henchmen, like Rep. John Davis?
One last admonition: Don’t turn your back on “Big Jolly”. You may get the big knife.
Goodnight, saints and patriots. See ya on the battle field for life, liberty, and prosperity.
lolz l’ll give you my name the day you stop using your ridiculous pseudonym steve. just go away. you really want me to put proof out there that you were bought by media?! you really want that steve? 🙂
To “The Turth Hurtz” — Yep, I sure do. Let’s see if “The Truth Hurtz” has the truth or is just a typical rumor monger… BTW… My name IS my name and I’m posting under it in public. And I see that you learned a new word: “pseudonym”. Here’s YOUR new word for the day: Coward.
Character is what people say or do while thinking others aren’t looking. Apostles have undeniable character, self promoted apostles not so much.
Please, allow me to speak up for the fruitcakes! John Davis may be a man of integrity and honesty but he is certainly not a “conservative.” At least, not my kind of conservative.
It is clear from the voting history and record that John Davis is a moderate republican. Davis has been consistently ranked as a “moderate” by Texas conservative watchdog organizations, as well, as the nonpartisan Rice University Political Science Department. An article published earlier this year by the Texas Tribune (How Partisan are Texas House Members) cited the work of Dr. Mark P. Jones, chair of Rice University’s political science department, has updated his rankings of Texas state representatives based on their votes during the regular and special sessions this year.
“…The analysis, which uses a methodology developed by scholars to track partisanship in the U.S. Congress, ranked members’ partisanship based on their voting trends…Within the Republican party, Aaron Peña stands out far and away as the delegation’s most moderate member, followed by Allan Ritter, R-Nederland; Chuck Hopson, R-Jacksonville; John Davis, R-Houston, and Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands. Peña has a voting record that is less conservative than every single one of his Republican colleagues, a fact best explained by his recent switch from the Democratic Party as well as the partisan profile of the electorate in his future district. Ritter and Hopson are also recent party-switchers, and like Peña have voting records which are significantly more moderate than an overwhelming majority of Republicans (87 and 85). Davis and Eissler also had voting records more moderate than most Republicans (81 and 79). While it is important to keep in mind that none of these five (or any other) Republicans can accurately be labeled as “liberals,” it is the case that their voting records are significantly less conservative than most other Republican legislators…”
Rice University Ranking History of John Davis (81st & 82nd Legislature):
2009/81st Legislature
(76 Republicans)
(74 Democrats)
88 out of 150 [Liberal (1) to Conservative (150)]
2011/82nd Legislature
(101 Republicans)
(49 Democrats)
52 out of 150 [Liberal (1) to Conservative (150)]
These ranking show that Representative Davis falls among the most moderate members of the Republican caucus. In the 81st Legislature, Davis was more moderate than all other Republicans except for 12 other Republican Representatives. In the 82nd Legislature, Davis was more moderate than all but two other Republicans. Remember that in the 81st Legislature, it was eleven moderate Republicans that ousted Republican Tom Craddick as Texas House Speaker. Looks like John just missed the cut then but has more than made up for it based on his ardent public support for the current Speaker.
In no way can a case be made that Representative Davis is a “conservative” legislator. The most conservative session John Davis had was during his first term in the 76th Legislative session (1999) where he received a score of 95{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} by the Young Republicans of Texas. Since his first term, Rep. Davis has steadily demonstrated a more moderate and liberal voting pattern based on established conservative watchdog ratings (e.g., YCT, Texas Eagle Forum, Heritage Alliance, etc.). I guess we fruitcakes are in good company.
Next, I appreciate your support for Mary last time. She was upset that as her Representative, Davis wouldn’t give her the time of day. Believe me unless you are “connected” regular folks still have a problem with constituent services from Davis. However, Mary and I wish that we had known that your support was not sincere but based on a desire to have Davis sharpen his claws on Mary’s campaign. I don’t think your plan worked based on Davis’ voting record in the 82nd Legislature.
If you think Mary worked hard before, then you haven’t been paying attention. Mary has worked this campaign 10 times harder than the last. She really wasn’t sure if she would run again but nothing has changed with Davis so she felt obligated to give District 129 a real choice in this election. You have not asked to sit down with Mary once to ask her questions or to explain her positions. Is it only her opposition to the Speaker that you would prefer Davis over Mary?
As for Mary not having an answer to a question at the Downtown Pachyderm Club, she stood before the group and answered every question asked. Just because you maybe didn’t like the answer doesn’t mean it wasn’t given. Mary’s support for ending property taxes and implementing a consumption tax is documented on her website. When asked if a 20{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} sales tax would do the job, she answered that it depends on what exemptions were made that would affect the overall sales tax rate to keep Taxes revenue neutral. On the other hand, John Davis does supports property taxes (just ask him) and at the last candidate forum with Mary he said that he wanted to look at increasing the gas tax because we haven’t raised it in 20 years.
Mary and I do not have a problem with David supporting Davis. It is his right to support whoever he wishes. But please do not make Mary out to sound stupid or uninformed. She is not. Or make her out to be an non-serious candidate. She is. If after the election she only gathers the 15{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} (anybody but John Davis vote, then go ahead and laugh and make fun of her. But if she does well or even upsets the 14 year 7 term incumbent, i would hope you would treat her with the respect she is due.
Dale Huls
Republican Precinct Chair 0655
Dale,
At no time did I say or imply, nor do I think, that Mary is stupid or uninformed. I understand that you are her spouse and feel the need to defend her but you don’t need to say something that isn’t true.
I said that I disagree with Mary on issues. I pointed out two of those issues, her priority one of “ousting Straus” and her position on eliminating the property tax.
We will never agree on Straus, so let’s remove that and talk about property tax elimination. While it does sound good and in theory I’m all for it, in practice it cannot be done without a complete structure change in taxing entities and jurisdictions. Forget for a moment that a sales tax in the neighborhood of 22{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} would create an underground black market. Forget for a moment that it would severely affect home sales, which would require a lower but still substantial sales tax – if you buy a home at $200,000, how would you like to pay an extra 20 grand or so? Basically frontloading the property tax. Forget all of that.
Cities like the one I live in couldn’t exist. Shoreacres, along with a lot of small municipalities in Texas, has no businesses (well, one, the Houston Yacht Club) from which to draw sales taxes. In fact this is mentioned in one of Debra Medina’s resources on eliminating property taxes. See page 90 in this report: wetexans.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Eliminating-Property-Tax-in-Texas-A-Detailed-Fiscal-Analysis-11-11-10.pdf http://bit.ly/KNT82T
More important, if a candidate, any candidate, not just Mary, tells a roomful of people that eliminating property taxes is second to “ousting Straus”, then the candidate should be prepared to answer hard questions. In my opinion.
Now, about Davis, I think you said all you needed to say when you said above: “At least, not my kind of conservative.”
I think that is a huge problem for Republicans, these “purity” tests that people use. John Davis is a conservative person in life and politics, that is a fact. But, he is not “your kind” of conservative. I’d much rather vote for someone that agrees with me 80{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} of the time than someone that agrees with me 100{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986}. You know why? I’m not always right and am willing to admit that. I think that a diversity of thought is good for our country, not bad for it. I suppose that makes me a “moderate” too in your eyes but that is okay. I know who I am, what I am, and I’m very comfortable with that.
If John thinks that we need to look at the gas tax, then I’m willing to listen to his reasons why, not just dismiss his thoughts out of hand. I like traveling on roads that don’t bust my front end or blow out my tires.
Mary is working hard and I wish her the best. I enjoyed seeing her with Tanya and Mary at the Downtown Pachyderm Club. Please don’t make the mistake of thinking that just because I disagree on issues that I don’t respect her.
Dave
David,
As far as property taxes go, neither Mary nor I have the absolute solution to end them. We would agree that it is a hugely complicated problem especially when it is entangled into local bonds and municipal governments. But when in hard times in which one cannot pay the multiple tax authorities their pound of flesh, they can simply come and take it all away no matter how many years and costs to make the land (or other property) their own.
Again, you allude to Mary not answering the “hard” questions. She gave an answer. It just might not be what you want to hear.
But I see that you do not have a problem with keeping an open mind on other taxes. You say that you want good roads to drive on, well so do I. The current State Gas Tax has enough revenue for new road construction and maintenance. However, a full 40{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} of the tax is diverted to other items. 25{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} of the State Gas Tax is diverted to education spending and the other 15{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} is diverted to the general fund. Instead of ending the diversions and reducing State spending, the increase the gas tax proponents what to take more of the taxpayers money. I do not find that the conservative stance.
And finally, with respect to “purity” tests. I never said that any candidate has to agree with me 100{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} of the time. I support and have endorsed a whole slew of candidates that I have differences with from the Presidential candidates on down to judges and local officials. You are putting words in my mouth. Just because you say Davis is a conservative doesn’t make it so. I have offered up information to back my claim that he is not the conservative he claims to be through published articles and conservative watchdog groups. I have yet to see any rebuttal, proof or rationale provided by you that says otherwise. I know I cannot change your mind and we will continue to disagree over how conservative Straus and Davis are, I do wish to remain civil in our discussions and will be happy to continue debating our opinions until either one of us gets tired of the matter.
Thank you for wishing Mary good luck in her run. I also know that you hold no animosity towards her. Nor we towards you. When we do agree, I am proud to support you and work together with respect to rooting out the corruption in the HCRP and the slate mailer scams.
Dale
Keep digging. There is a lot more…..