Big Jolly Politics

politics in Harris County and Texas

Never Bet Against Trump

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MOON TOWNSHIP, PA - JUNE 11: Republican candidate for President Donald Trump arrives in his plane to speak to supporters at a rally at Atlantic Aviation on June 11, 2016 in Moon Township, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jeff Swensen/Getty Images)

This was the most interesting election of my lifetime. One hundred years from now scholars and political pundits will be writing and talking about this particular Presidential election. Donald J. Trump was not only a most unusual candidate, he also had an uncanny ability to read the electorate. You see the left completely imploding and many on the center or moderate right still in bewilderment that someone could be elected without their money or help. I would make the argument that the fact that Trump’s campaign repudiated the establishment was the reason he succeeded. Two years ago, we had an election in Harris County in which establishment Republicans led by Paul Simpson wrestled control of the Harris County Republican Party from social conservatives. Simpson’s election two years ago had a direct impact on Trump’s race in Harris County, which resulted in the largest defeat of the modern Harris County Republican Party. I wanted to look at the presidential race in Harris County because the establishment Republicans who fund and support Paul Simpson did not want Trump to succeed.

I started looking at the canvass and made a few calls. I always check in with Ed Johnson (PCT 440) because technically Ed knows how to move the needle in his precinct. I, of course, had a theory that the #NeverTrumper precinct chairs did worse than those that supported him.

Looking at Ed Johnson’s precinct, a DJT supporter, you can see a result that differed from the overall county result. Ed supported DJT and his results reflected his desire to support him. Ed has always run the numbers for the Harris County Republican Party and we have known each other for more years than either of us are willing to admit. Ed’s resources are very different as a precinct chair. Ed has the ability to track who has and has not voted in his precinct and can use an auto-dialer to call those who haven’t voted. Ed’s software is very sophisticated. Understand that he has lived in the same home for many years and knows many of his voters through school, church, community, and political activities. Let’s look at what he did for DJT in his precinct.ed-johnson

Now, look at Joe Pelati’s precinct. I do not know whether Joe supported DJT or not but it is a different result than Ed’s precinct. Here is someone without the resources of Ed Johnson to message or communicate with his voters in the way Ed does. I know both of these gentlemen and use them as examples because of their involvement in the Harris County Republican Party and the proximity of their precincts.  Obviously, Ed Johnson’s messaging in his joseph-pelatiprecinct made an impact on the results for DJT. These are “close in” Westside Republican precincts and what I consider to be the heart of where I look for Republican election results. You can tell what is going to happen to Republican voting in Harris County by watching this area.

Let’s look a little further west in Katy. Another party activist and someone engaged in local party politics is Kelly Horsley. Again, Kelly’s GOTV ability is nowhere near Ed’s; but, I do think it is interesting to look at her precinct. Keep in mind that Kelly’s neighborhood is much newer than Ed’s and I suspect that her longevity of knowing her neighbors is vastly different. Although she lives in a Westside Republican stronghold, the results are vastly different than Ed’s precinct. I do want to know if Kelly actively campaigned for Trump or towed Simpson’s party line and chose to not mention Trump and focus on down ballot candidates.kelly-horsley

So, let’s look at some more precincts.

The workhorses of the Republican Party are our women’s clubs. We have had some amazing Republican women involved with the Harris County Republican Party. Judith Jones used to have the highest turnout of any precinct in the City of Houston – precinct 289. There were others: Pat McCall, Louise Wing, and, of course, Ann Lee. These women ran their precincts and delivered votes. They met, traded strategies, and competed with each other on voter turnout. They were friends and competitors during a time when the Democrats controlled everything. They turned our county red and kept it that way for years and few know their names. The history of turning our county red is a history every precinct chair should know.

The Harris County Republican Party did not do anything without consulting these women first ann-lee– the party’s version of local control. Every politician in the state darkened their doorsteps. It is an anachronism of times past. The local community-oriented precinct structure was a successful model for years. I say all this because, of course, in a sea of blue, Ann Lee won her precinct for Trump. Ann Lee’s precinct is just west of Meyerland by the Jewish Community Center and dominated by Clinton precincts on all sides. Ann Lee was a strong Trump supporter and a convention delegate. We sit next to each other at the Downtown Pachyderm and never do I fail to learn something from her and her great spirit.

Republicans must win the power hook to be successful in Harris County. This hook includes Sarah Davis’s Texas House District 134 and a large Jewish enclave located in Meyerland. Conservative Jewish voters are reliable Republican voters in national elections. Democrats mary-jane-smithhave become increasingly hostile to Israel and the country’s political leaders. Conversely, Evangelicals and the Christian right fight to protect Israel. Let’s take a look at the power hook and see what happened to some precincts headed by local party activists. Not surprisingly, Mary Jane Smith lost her precinct to Clinton. My guess is that MJS worked against Trump. The residents of Mary Jane Smith’s precinct can tell you what her message was for Trump. Experience has told me not to listen to her.

I also looked at precinct 133 led by precinct chair Kent Adams aka Mr. Sarah Davis. Kent’s precinct overwhelmingly supported Hillary Clinton and, I suspect, voted for Sarah. I imagine that Kent failed to support Trump believing that this would help his wife’s campaign. I think that it is important to note that Kent supported Devon Anderson’s campaign and Sarah endorsed and promoted Devon Anderson. Ironically, the Andersons supported Ann Johnson, Sarah’s 2012 uber-liberal general election opponent. I am sure that I will get an explanation someday.kent-adams

Republicans were crushed in the hook. Another #NeverTrumper in this area is Precinct Chair David Gratvol. Although David’s precinct is a little east of what I consider the hook, I am throwing his precinct in here because he is a big Sarah Davis and Paul Simpson supporter. Also, when the Access Hollywood tape was released, David bet me that Trump would go down in defeat. Had I lost this bet, David would have been eating at Tony’s on my dime.david-gratvol-1

Paul Simpson and the consultant advising him, Kevin Shuvalov, made a tactical decision to run against the President-Elect. Both men did this believing the polls showing that Trump would hurt the down ballot races in Harris County. They treated the entire county as a microcosm of HD 134 – Sarah Davis’s House District. The truth is that the entire county is not reflective of HD 134. Senate District 7, parts of West Houston, Kingwood, and the Clear Lake area voted Trump. The party messaging left little reason for social conservatives to come to the polls and vote down-ballot.

I believe there are a lot of reasons for this failure and the precinct chairs had little or nothing to do with the messaging decisions of the county party. These decisions were made by Simpson, Shuvalov, and their establishment financiers who did not like Trump. The establishment financiers like Norm Adams and Dick Weekley oppose Trump’s strong stand on illegal immigration because they need cheap illegal labor to operate their businesses.

Certainly, Ted Cruz and Devon Anderson were problematic to the local election results too. I do think that many precincts were winnable; but, Simpson’s messaging killed the party and down-ballot races. Understand these are my conclusions following a cursory review of the canvass and I write this for discussion purposes. We can have a well-funded party lacking principals or a principled party with few funds. It worked for Trump!

I have added some other precinct results I found interesting.

robert-hall meg-weekley john-baucum greg-aydt fred-blanton elizabeth-ingersoll david-jennings dave-smith charlotte-blakemore angelina-gooden

Slate Wars-Harris County Party Chair Race

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Star Wars Scroll

Paul Simpson claimed that he would eliminate pay for play slates. And he would use new technology for his GOTV campaign. The Simpson campaign was based on the bad pay for play slates. Simpson created and branded his own slates: Spring Branch Republicans, the Conservative View, and the Kingwood Tea Party. There were other minor slates too, Houston Realty Business Coalition (HRBC) and the C-Club, presumably the Conservative Club. The last two, HRBC and The C-Club, have been around a long time and have always been the Big Government Republican trough feeder slates.

“Beware – These for profit and dubious voter guides have a track record of supporting Democrats and taking money from and supporting unqualified candidates.”

Spring Branch Republicans

All of these slates new and old came together to battle the so called “bad” slates who were pay for play. The opponents were the Conservative Republicans of Harris County (Hotze), The Link Letter (Lowry), and The Texas Conservative Review (Polland). The Hotze, Lowry, and Polland slates have not lost an election when all three endorsed the same candidate in Harris County until Tuesday and their candidate was Rick Ramos. Rick is a former associate judge in the family law court of James Lombardino.

Now, if you look at the funding for these new slates, you see people like Dick Weekley and Norm Adams. Both men have fought efforts to oppose illegal immigration and have backed some of the most establishment rinoRepublicans in our area. This was the battle between Briscoe Cain and Wayne Smith in Pasadena and Baytown. Smith is an engineer and the darling of the Stephen Costello types. Smith contributors are a who’s who of Big Government pork barrel spending.

Let’s take a look at who the Spring Branch Republicans endorsed; Paul Simpson, Mary Lou Keel, Wayne Smith, Gary Gates, and Brent Webster. First, why were the Spring Branch Republicans even involved in a race in Crosby, Texas? Let’s be clear, Wayne Smith is the quintessential establishment Republican.  Smith is a Straus henchman working behind the scenes in the legislature to feed the Republican, Big Government trough. Somehow, the McReynolds brothers forgot all about the fight with Metro where Smith worked to kill all of the bills concerning Metro’s rail on Richmond. As we fought to stop the Metro light rail funding on Richmond Avenue, Smith sought to line the pockets of his engineering buddies with indifference to Houston’s worsening road conditions. The Spring Branch Republicans took Smith’s money to propagate their slate. What do you think Joe Bob in Crosby, Texas did with a mail piece from the Spring Branch Republicans? If there was a question on whether this was a pay for play slate let’s put this to bed right now, of course it was. Look at the money transfers from the Mammoth Group, Simpson and Straus’ consultant to the Spring Branch Republicans. This is pay to play Joe Straus style.

The mailer accusing Smith’s opponent, Briscoe Cain, of being gay is a very typical Allen Blakemore hit piece. Senator Joan Huffman can explain all of this to you. Any slate that did not immediately repudiate Smith’s gay bashing hit piece and pull their endorsement speaks volumes about their credibility. Even Steve Hotze dropped Allen Blakemore in the grease. Hat tip to the Log Cabin Republicans who immediately withdrew their support of Smith and endorsed Cain, Hotze’s guy. Everyone needs to think real carefully about that. Paul did not disavow the mail piece. How could the party chair not speak out against this injustice? Was that because Simpson and Smith were on all of the same slates?

Unbelievably, the Texas Conservative View endorsed “Scott” Walker over Brent Webster. Walker’s candidacy is widely considered a  joke. Walker ran for this statewide position in an attempt to exploit his name, which he happens to share with the Wisconsin governor, a former presidential candidate. Walker is a Dallas-based attorney specializing in veteran disability cases and his real name is Richard. He knows nothing of criminal appellate law. You don’t get to call yourself a criminal lawyer for pleading someone to a parking ticket.

Mary Jane Smith knows better. Her husband is a member of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Yet, the Conservative View endorsed Walker for this important position. Walker’s opponent, Brent Webster, is a longtime prosecutor with years of criminal appellate experience. The Conservative View is taking thousands of dollars from Austin insiders to get their folks elected. Worse, Mary Jane Smith paid herself $15,000 out of The Texas Conservative View PAC. So, The Conservative View is the shoo-in for the Pinhead Slate Award for this primary season.

My friends at the Kingwood Tea Party endorsed Mary Lou Keel. They did so knowing Keel’s culpability in extending her grand jury that indicted David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt and not releasing the names of these grand jurors. It was a great disappointment because Robin and Jim Lennon stood with me on the courthouse steps on the day of Daleiden’s surrender. I know the Lennons deeply care about this injustice and the pro-life movement.

Paul chose to battle Hotze, Lowry, and Polland with more slates and funding from the Big Government establishment. As I stood at the polls for Briscoe Cain and watched many of Straus’ top lieutenants trying to protect Smith,  I wondered about the impact on the Harris County Republican Party. You have to ask yourself whether Paul’s pay for play, Big Government, RINO style slates is worse than what we had before. Congratulations to Briscoe Cain who won his race by 23 votes and will be in court this morning defending David Daleiden against Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson.

Briscoe Cain

Kelly Siegler and the Jiggery Pokery Gang

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Kelly Siegler Jiggery Pokery Gang

On Thursday, Judge Larry Gist issued 36 findings of prosecutorial misconduct against Kelly Siegler in the David Temple murder case. I wanted to give you a little background on Ms. Siegler so the Big Jolly readers can remain the most knowledgeable folks on Harris County criminal justice issues.

Kelly and the Jiggery-Pokery Gang united for Kelly’s unsuccessful DA bid in 2008. The gang existed in many forms long before 2008; but, Kelly’s 2008 campaign announcement provided the first opportunity for a public group photo. The gang photo clarifies their unification to the outside viewer.

Like all gangs, there is a hierarchy. Ms. Siegler is the central figure and, generally, close proximity to the leader in the photo denotes a higher rank; although, a few things have changed since 2008. The judiciary members are not as obvious; but, they are certainly a very important part of this gang. Some judges, like Susan Brown, act as capos within the organization. The group also acts to protect other gang members or affiliates, not unlike most street gangs.

The gang’s name has changed over the years. More recently, I renamed the group the Jiggery-Pokey Gang after reading Justice Scalia’s Obamacare dissent. I think the term fittingly describes this group and their operations.

Jiggery-pokery: Dishonest or suspicious activity.

David Temple is a difficult case because so many have prejudged his guilt David Temple Murder Trialbased on Kelly’s facts. Heck, he was already convicted and sentenced. He was cheating on his pregnant wife and later married his mistress. It is easy to hate his behavior. But, the current issue is not about David Temple’s innocence. It is about fundamental fairness and justice. A rigged game is not justice.

When the wrong man is convicted, we are all to blame. It is the responsibility of every citizen, voter, and human being to learn about our criminal justice system and make sure that justice for all actually means something.

We, as Harris County citizens, need to take very seriously who we elect as DA and misdemeanor and felony judges. It cannot be a popularity contest foisted on the precinct chairs by the political consultants. The Jiggery-Pokery Gang has a history. Their affiliates have a history. And certain political consultants, like Allen Blakemore and Mary Jane Smith, are the promoters of these gang members.

Why is the gang designation important? It is crucial for citizens, particularly those outside of the criminal justice system, to understand that Kelly Siegler’s actions are not an isolated incident. Kelly intentionally and purposefully withheld exculpatory evidence in a criminal prosecution. Craig Goodhart, Kelly’s assistant on the Temple trial, has been accused of similar impropriety in the Linda Carty case.  Retired DEA Special Agent Charles Mathis alleges that Connie Spence threatened to question him about a fictional affair with Linda Carty.  Lance Long and Murray Newman, Kelly disciples, were accused of pressuring witnesses to lie in the Antonio Williams case.

“Mr. Long and the investigators pressured me to testify that Antonio was at the scene and was the shooter. They stated to me that if I helped them out, they would help out.”

Excerpt from an affidavit by Sharonda Cooper, a neighbor who testified against Antonio Williams.

This is just a sampling of the prosecutorial misconduct developed and perpetrated by the gang.

The Jiggery-Pokery Gang furthers their agenda in a number of ways. Remember, for the most part, these are lawyers and highly educated people operating in and around the DA’s office. Like all gangs, they use tools common to their surroundings. Here, the gang uses the grand jury system, media, courts, and certain judges to further their agenda.

The DA’s office is very similar to junior high or high school; so, it is very simple for the inner circle to use their popularity and cunning ways to get their way. The group treats Kelly like a deity or party-animal homecoming queen.

Nothing that has come out concerning Siegler’s prosecution of David Temple is new. Siegler employed the exact same methods used by Ken Anderson on Michael Morton, an innocent man wrongly convicted of murdering his wife in Williamson County. In the Morton case, the prosecutor lost his law license and went to jail.

The media is culpable in the gang’s rise to power. So often, the media relies on information used in their stories provided by gang members. This is an important fact because it allows the gang members to assert their narrative. Siegler carefully uses her minions to plant stories in the media, which are used to build her image and television career. Think about how often Chip Lewis, a Kelly crony, is quoted by reporters. It is a game and justice is not the goal.

The win-at-all-costs mentality flourished during the Rosenthal administration. Chuck Rosenthal allowed Kelly and others to run amok.

Devon Anderson promised to return the DA’s office back to the old days, which is code to the gang members for win-at-all-costs. Many members of Kelly’s crew also roll with Devon. The Lykos administration threatened to out this group and their misdeeds; so, they only had one choice: to destroy reputations. That is why, when Kelly ran for DA in 2008, Murray Newman, Kelly’s Minister of Propaganda, created a blog to perpetuate the Kelly myth.

It is high time for people to know the truth about injustice in Harris County. David Temple’s lawyers have asked that an attorney pro tem or special prosecutor be appointed. This would be a start; but, as in the Michael Morton case involving Ken Anderson and the Anthony Graves case, a Court of Inquiry was formed to investigate the misdeeds on a much broader level. If you have been a reader of this blog for any length of time, you are aware of lots of misdeeds reported here involving the District Attorney’s office. It is time for the Republican Party to join with others and lead the charge to clean up the courthouse and the District Attorney’s office.

Part One