The mother’s milk of politics hits Harris County

There is nothing inherently wrong with contributing large amounts of money to politicians or political groups to further your own political agenda. Much of the time, the results of someone putting a lot of money into politics is opaque and we don’t really know if the effort was worth it or not.

A rare exception to that opaqueness would be the contributions of Kathaleen Wall and her spouse, Holloway (Holly) Frost. The couple has contributed $3,249,976.39 to candidates and political advocacy groups that have to report their contributions to the Texas Ethics Commission.

The largest recipient of these contributions has been Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott, who has received $779,910 from the couple. And on Tuesday, Abbott endorsed Wall in her bid to replace Congressman Ted Poe, who is retiring. Abbott said:

“Kathaleen Wall has been a champion for the conservative cause for many years,” Abbott said in a press release. “From fighting for the unborn, to working to secure our border, to helping the greater Houston area recover from Hurricane Harvey, I have complete trust in Kathaleen to get the job done in Washington.”

I know, shocking isn’t it? I mean, Abbott would never consider contributions in his picks. Snort. It was funny watching the Texas political reporters tweeting about this endorsement as if it was a surprise. Does Texas have the worst political reporters in the country?

Like I said, nothing wrong with spending your money any which way you choose. And by all accounts, Ms. Wall has been active in grassroots Republican activities for a while now. I’m just sayin’, you know?

It gets even better if you look at a recent contribution. Prior to November 28, 2017, there is no record that the couple contributed to Empower Texans, the group funded mostly by oil billionaire Tim Dunn, who was recently joined by oil billionaire Farris Wilks. Of the $7,838,675 raised by Empower Texans since January 1, 2010, Dunn has contributed $5,220,500. Wilks joined the fold in 2015, contributing $1,547,000 since. The mission of Empower Texans is to purge the Republican Party of Texas of RINO’s, candidates and officials that don’t agree with them.

On November 28, 2017, Frost gave $50,000 to Empower Texans.

This is what Empower Texans President and CEO Michael Quinn Sullivan had to say about Kevin Roberts, also a candidate to replace Ted Poe, in October, 2015:

“Kevin Roberts is a principled, commonsense conservative who will fight for taxpayers in the Texas House,” said TFR’s president, Michael Quinn Sullivan. “Kevin Roberts is the kind of serious, reform-minded conservative that Texans want in public office. He can be counted on to put his constituents ahead of the Austin establishment.”

…

“Texans are looking for reform-minded, no-nonsense candidates willing to fight for their constituents rather than serve the corrupt crony-culture of Austin,” added Sullivan. “Taxpayers in House District 126 are supporting Kevin Roberts, and we’re excited to stand alongside them.”

This is what Mr. Sullivan had to say about Kevin Roberts in a letter mailed to voters in Congressional District 2 this week:

Do you and your neighbors want to add another alligator to the D.C. swamp that President Trump and conservative Republicans are trying to drain?

Heh. And this is now on the Empower Texans website:

Earlier this week, State Rep. Kevin Roberts (R- Houston) announced the endorsement of Harris County Judge Ed Emmett in his bid for Texas’ Second Congressional District underscoring the one-term state representative’s lack of conservative credentials.

It is to laugh, no?

But wait! There’s more!

On December 11, 2017, Mr. Sullivan decided to purge the Republican Party of sexual harassers.

“Some of the most powerful men in Texas need to explain why they knew sexual predators have been roaming the halls of the state capitol but have been doing nothing about it. Those responsible for horrible acts – and those who covered it up – must be exposed and punished.”

…

“They should do some serious soul-searching about why the chumminess of the Capitol club came before doing what was morally right.

Until those answers are provided, and individuals responsible for abuses and cover-ups are exposed and driven out of office, every woman is justified in feeling unsafe in the Texas Capitol.”

Sounds good, doesn’t it? Those responsible for such acts should be exposed and punished, right?

Now, take a look at the date that Mr. Sullivan wrote that. He wrote it roughly two weeks after he took $50,000 from Holly Frost. Why is that important?

In February of 2014, I wrote about Mr. Frost and his large donations to various Republicans and the Harris County Republican Party. You see, Mr. Frost was sued in Harris County for sexually harassing one of his employees. In that post, I included some of Mr. Frost’s behavior toward that employee. It wasn’t very nice.

A lot of people got very, very angry with me for doing that. I heard from some very respected people in the Republican Party, saying that it was wrong of me to, as Mr. Sullivan stated above, expose someone responsible for horrible acts. They said that I was simply spreading salacious gossip, even though what I wrote came straight from the court records for the lawsuit. I ended up pulling the post and have regretted it since.

The following is straight from the court records:

Employee:

• On “numerous occasions”, Frost approached Pappas-Blancas, hugged her, and “would then either shove his hands down the back of Blancas’ pants and undergarments, grab her butt, or brush his hands across Blancas’ breasts.”
• “In 2006, despite being married, Frost took Blancas in his office, closed the door and told her that he loved her and that he wanted to marry her, but not to tell anyone, Frost started rubbing Blancas on her leg. As Blancas got up to leave his office, Frost hugged Blancas and rubbed her back and butt. Blancas immediately pulled away and left his office.”
• While sitting in a parked car with Blancas, Frost “reached over, hugged Blancas, and asked for a kiss. Before Blancas could respond, Frost forcibly kissed Blancas. Frost then lean back in his seat, drove back to the office, and dropped Blancas off so she could go up to the office first by herself. Over the next few months, there were a number of additional instances where Frost hugged Blancas and physically groped Blancas including again shoving his hand down the back of her pants and undergarments.”
• Blancas’ lawsuit also stated that “Frost’s repeated assaults and the hostile environment those assaults created forced Blancas to resign in June 2007.”

Frost:

• But I was under the impression that you thought I was special. And I was completely wrong and that’s the reason I touched you – I was hugging and touching you and making you feel good. I thought you liked it. I thought you liked it.

Like I said, I regret taking that original post down but perhaps this will make up for it in some small way. If you would like to view the case, the case number is 200764034 and you can find it on the Harris County District Clerk’s website.

Please do not take this as an attack on Ms. Wall – it isn’t. I know that someone is out there attacking her about this because I received a flyer via email about it. As far as I know, Ms. Wall was as innocent as the employee that Mr. Frost attacked. Again, as noted above, by all accounts Ms. Wall is a solid conservative candidate and may well deserve your vote after you evaluate all of the candidates in that race. If I knew which candidate was behind that attack, I’d let you know because I hope they lose. It’s a shame that someone is doing that but it is the norm in politics.

The purpose of writing this is to remind voters to be skeptical of any and all claims by groups or candidates that take and spend money in large amounts. Vote for the candidate of your choice after doing your best to research each candidate and don’t believe the spin or rhetoric spouted by their paid supporters.