I’d imagine most Big Jolly readers, and voters, along with the opinion of Mr. Jennings via twitter were not in favor of the Houston Professional Firefighters early and outward support for Councilman Dwight Boykins.
Every article I have had the privilege of getting posted in Big Jolly reflects the same core values. Firefighters are shocked when confronted with disloyalty, and will fight against those that prove themselves disloyal. From the decimation of our pension, and promised benefits for the 125th highest paid department in the country, to the current push by Sylvestor Turner to demote 450 members of our department who have tested up and are making life or death decisions when it is your family member.
Supporting Dwight Boykins is natural to us because loyalty is all we have in our profession. When you find yourself inside someones burning house, almost every time you cannot see. You are a liar if you say that it does not scare you a bit. But, you will always have someone there with you. Firefighters follow a rule called 2 in, 2 out. You do everything in your power to stay with the man next to you. If you separate, a lot of times you die.
If you die, its firefighters that raise your family from the depths of tragedy. We take care of our own. They will send your children to college, walk your daughter down the aisle at her wedding, attend your son’s sports events. We do this job for the citizens, but we do not always expect them to revere us as heroes. We want fair pay and a retirement. Everything else is an added bonus.
Councilman Boykins has stood beside us through the depths of tragedy. At firefighter funerals, riding with us daily at stations. He took on a rogue vindictive Mayor that has bankrolled our tax revenue in Houston to spend where he deems necessary. This is a man who cares less about more homes flooding, or the possibility it can happen again, picking up your trash, fixing infrastructure, and providing core city services. Almost every deal he has done involves a family member or friend taking our money, and fighting anything he opposes, even if it was voted in by a larger margin that the vote that elected him.
Houston Firefighters are Bipartisan. We crossed the aisle to get a firefighter cancer bill, SB 2551, passed this state legislative session. A majority of support came from the right.
If you know a Houston Firefighter, you may know his political views, many including myself are conservative. Candidates King and Buzbee will undoubtedly receive voting support from some of us who are Houston voters. I HOPE everyone here votes. and if you are drawn to either of those candidates, I like many other firefighters support the decision you will make for yourself and your family. Both of these candidates support Firefighters and we will have a good relationship with either one. I like both of their platforms. One thing that ALL who read this must realize is that if you support either of these candidates you MUST vote in this election. I am not just talking about firefighter issues, but I can say convincingly that i cannot imagine the financial ruin, increase in taxes, and further ruin of our core city services under this current mayor. 15 years as a city employee and 37 as a resident of Houston, I have never seen it this bad.
Our support for Councilman Boykins comes from a proven track record of both promised and backed up support for us and our families. He is running a campaign on the priorities of 1) Public Safety and 2) Infrastructure over vested personal interests like Sylvester Turner. He has stood by us during our darkest days, and more so day to day. We owe him support because, like it is when you find yourself in the middle of a House Fire, the person who has stood next to you is all you have. This is not intended to sway anyone here, this is just the facts. Houston firefighters support the will of you, the voter. I hope all of you vote for your favorite candidate, and recognize the consequences of 4 more years of this current mayor.
(Editor’s note: the writer of this post did not want his/her name published. We have verified that this person is a captain in the fire department.)
Boykins is looking to wrest control of a corrupt political machine from Turner. He is not looking to reform it. For proof, look no further than how he voted to allow 2 muds to build entire neighborhoods in the flood plain. Cash talks. Dwight wants his own developer cash that has already been paid to Turner.
Sorry, but this is not even a question. Hard pass. Bill King and his blog of policy solutions cannot get elected quick enough.
We have probably all done this, including myself – voted based on a relationship and not who was the best man (or woman) for the job, based on principles and values. (It’s what the entrenched to all the time though. Cornyn endorsed Cruz now Cruz has to endorse Cornyn (and maybe he really supports him) when we need someone that will do a better job than Cornyn.) Not the best thing to do.
I remember a friend told me that in the congressional race for CD02, he said he was voting for Roberts because he was a friend and he said he did not know who Crenshaw was. Kinda makes you look stupid, huh? I remember thinking that he ought to get to know Crenshaw so he could make a more educated decision at the voting booth.
I like the way Boykins has stood up to the dictator running our city today. I hope he wins, but more importantly I hope Turner looses. King or Buzbee will also help Houston recover from the good ol’ boy pay to play program we’re suffering from right now.
Turner must lose. The way he has corruptly run the city at the expense of fire fighters, flood victims, ordinary tax payers, etc has been awful to experience. We agree on that. The problem with this approach of supporting Boykins solely over his disagreement re the fire fighters is Boykins literally has no better clue on policy than Turner. Boykins votes to make developers and donors happy. He’s not looking to reform a corrupt system. He is looking to take over a corrupt system. BIG difference. I like Buzbee too but would prefer someone with more PROVEN policy expertise, and frankly that is Bill King.
I have already come out in support of Buzbee and think the firefighters are getting done wrong for vindictive reasons by Turner so don’t want to say much. However, as a Houstonian this type of reasoning is concerning. The guest post makes no claim that Boykins is the best choice for Mayor, or even a claim that he will be a good Mayor.
Loyalty is admirable, but it doesn’t follow that loyalty leads to good governance. A blind faith vote, to whoever it goes, is dangerous.
I agree with all the statements about the performance of the current mayor. We must have change this time around. Bill King is the one who addresses ALL the fiscal, infrastructure, flooding, and management issues of the city. He analyzes, studies, and comes up with the best viable solution, and shares his ideas with the public.
He has done this now for many years in an attempt to enlighten Houston residents to make good educated choices, and get the city on the right track. He will make the best leader for Houston at this critical time, And, of course, he will do right by the Firefighters.
I don’t care for Turner at all and wouldn’t vote for him if you paid me but claims that he invented city hall corruption or is significantly worse than the last 35 years worth of mayor’s we’ve had is just not true. Out of all the serious candidates running for mayor, only Boykins professes he wouldn’t cut any services and would find ways to increase city revenue via a garbage tax, increasing fees, or whatever. He’s exactly the kind of politician so many HFD employees rail about as the end of the world, but his failed liberal policies of tax and spend are given a pass because he has stated his intentions to support massive raises. He’s done nothing as a councilman to distinguish himself, except maybe attending some public events held by HFD’s union, and having a mayor indebted to unions is a bad idea for more reasons that I care to go into.
I support Tony Buzbee in this race. He has proven leadership skills and won’t be beholden to special interests like Turner, King, and Boykins. How many millions of campaign dollars to King direct to democrats to insure his law firm would get city contracts? I apologize if I appear overly skeptical at his recent conversion against pay for play but it is common for candidates to tell us what we want to hear. As far as claims that King has much special expertise in various fields, other than claims, the closer one looks at his proposals, the more you’ll see they are devoid of merit. It’s a good thing for King’s campaign that few firefighters live in the city given he is still on record for wanting to cut their pension benefits further, any claims that the union carries much weight with actual voters is just wishful thinking on their part.
Still, if it were down to Boykins versus King or Buzbee, at least there’d be clear choices. From Boykins own biography page: “Council Member Boykins made history by pushing for the creation of Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ) #26 for the Sunnyside community. He collaborated directly with former Mayor Annise Parker to identify the boundaries and recommend community and business stakeholders to serve on the Board of Directors.” And his other major listed accomplishment is claiming credit for getting an HEB grocery store to locate in his district by using city funds. If anything, we should be closing most of the TIRZ program and ending corporate welfare programs to multi-billion dollar companies, not increasing them.
I think all of your replies on here are spot on.
And believe me firefighters support both King and Buzbee.
A move like this digs into Turner supporters and his voting base.
There is only one goal.
Are Houston firefighters regretting their endorsement yet? https://nypost.com/2019/07/01/houston-mayoral-candidate-under-fire-for-telling-teens-to-keep-their-legs-closed/