Government Official Bullies Private Citizen Exercising Their Free Speech Right

"My son, if sinners entice you,
Do not consent."
Proverbs 1:10

Ahem?!?

A campaign sign in Central Texas this week drew the scorn of an elected state official — and then it was confiscated by police.

At issue in the small community of Hamilton was a homemade yard sign featuring an elephant decorated in red, white and blue with its trunk up the skirt of a female saying the word “Help.” The sign said “Your vote matters.”

Other signs promoting Democrats from U.S. Senate candidate Beto O’Rourke to Agriculture Commissioner candidate Kim Olson were in the background.

This “is supposed to be Judge Kavanaugh’s young daughter,” Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller posted along with the photos on Facebook this week. “The Democrat sleaze knows NO bounds!”

....

Miller’s Facebook post drew attention to Stanford and her sign, prompting countless reactions, including those that called for her to be arrested.

Police did show up at her home.

Some say she was told to remove the sign or it would be confiscated. City officials said police visited Stanford’s home and she asked them to take the sign, the Dallas Morning News reported.

....

Miller posted again on Facebook that he’s happy with the result.

“I’m glad that I called out this offensive campaign sign and am pleased that hundreds of others did so as well,” he said. “It’s vulgar and just plain wrong and it had no place in someone’s yard visible from the street.

[Note: Emphasis added.]

 Miller's Original Facebook post:



Obviously, we don't agree with her characterization.  The Republican Party of Texas has the best record of any state-level party in the country at dealing with this garbage.  Ms. Stanford might want to research the fate of former Congressman Blake Farenthold and soon-to-be former Congressman Joe Barton.  She also might want to contrast RPT's record with how the Texas Democrats have handled Carlos Uresti and Borris Miles.

But, that being said, Ms. Stanford is a private citizen.  Sid Miller is a statewide elected official.  This is an obvious, clear-cut, case of constitutionally protected free speech.

To review, Sid Miller:

• Posted a picture of a private citizen's yard to a Facebook page with over 700k followers.

• Lied about the content in the picture.

• Ginned up an angry mob against a private citizen; said mob subsequently called cops on a afore mentioned private citizen.

• Tried to dictate what kind of political speech private citizens can display on private property.
• [Note: Do you even property rights, Sid Miller?!?]

This is outrageous.  It's no different than what Maxine Waters and Sheila Jackson Lee are doing nationally.  If anything, it's worse because Miller is calling for the mob to go after a private citizen.

We didn't vote for him in March and, after this, we doubt we're voting for him in November.

Bottom Line: Private citizens have free speech rights.  Private citizens also have private property rights.  Sid Miller doesn't get to direct how those rights are exercised.

Farenthold (and Barton), Uresti, and why the Texas GOP now controls ALL their seats

"Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit."
John 15:2

[Note: You can read our call for Barton to go here.  You can read our call for Farenthold, Miles, and Uresti to ALL go here.]

By now you've heard:

Republican Pete Flores defeated Democrat Pete Gallego on Tuesday night in the special election runoff for Senate District 19, a major upset in a Democratic-friendly seat with implications for the balance of power in the upper chamber.

With all precincts reporting, Flores beat Gallego by 6 percentage points in the race to replace convicted former state Sen. Carlos Uresti, D-San Antonio. Flores had 53 percent of the vote and Gallego 47 percent in unofficial returns.

Gallego conceded to Flores around 9 p.m., according to both campaigns. With the victory, Flores will become the first Hispanic Republican to serve in the Texas Senate.

There's a lot that could be said.  Obviously, Pete Flores ran a flawless campaign.  Obviously, the Texas GOP did as well.

But there's another aspect: For the second time in three months, there was a special election to fill a seat vacated by an elected official amidst a cloud of VERY sketch sexual activity.  The GOP won both.  They're also expected to hold onto the seat being vacated by Joe Barton in November.

Why is that?!?

In late November, the public learned that soon-to-be former Congressman Joe Barton had been sending lewd photos of himself around the internet.  Barton was given a chance to defend himself.  When no defense was forthcoming, the County GOP, Republican elected officials, and prominent grassroots organizations all called for Barton to go.  Then, Barton was gone within 9 days.

Within a week, the Blake Farenthold saga kicked into gear.  Once again, Farenthold was given a chance to defend himself.  Instead, it got worse.  Farenthold announced his retirement within two weeks.  Eventually, in the special election for which Farenthold stuck taxpayers with the bill, the Republican candidate won.

By contrast, the first (recent) report about Carlos Uresti came out in early November (ie. two weeks BEFORE we heard anything about Barton).  The second report came out in early December.  This, of course, is on top of video evidence from 2015:



The Democrats chose to rally around Uresti.  Not a single Senator called on him to resign.  What makes this more astonishing is that Uresti was already up to his eyeballs in financial corruption charges.

So Uresti limped forward into his corruption trial.  During that trial, we learned there was yet another sleazy sexual component to Uresti's activity.  Eventually, Uresti was convicted.  It was only at that point that Democrats called on him to resign.

Uresti still held on until June.  Even then, he only left to lighten his sentence.  For those keeping track at home, that's eight months (or two years and eight months) between the first credible reports of misconduct on Uresti's part and when he left office.

Then the GOP won the special election.  The ironic this is that, had the Democrats cut Uresti loose when the first reports emerged, they wouldn't have been on the hook during his trial.  But they didn't.

The contrast speaks for itself.

This is not to say that the Texas GOP has been fully cleaned out.  More work remains.  But there's a different between persistent rumors and actionable evidence.  And the Texas GOP has the best record of any state level political party in the country of cleaning house once actionable evidence emerges.

While we're on the subject of the party contrast, let's not forget who else is still running around the legislature like nothing ever happened:

I'm in Austin today for a Natural Resources Committee hearing to fight for Houston's share of dollars to combat illegal dumping. I'm also seeking answers and solutions to the problems with the Blue Ridge Landfill in Fort Bend County. #txlege #sd13 #fortbend #houston pic.twitter.com/FPP7KZiGeb

— Borris Miles (@BorrisLMiles) September 5, 2018

Bottom Line: The contrast speaks for itself....

#TXLEGE: The Calhoun Port Authority is a cesspool that should be abolished

"It is a joy for the just to do justice,
But destruction will come to the workers of iniquity."
Proverbs 21:15

We discussed Blake Farenthold's bizarre denial over the reasons for his departure from Congress the other day, but the Victoria Advocate's ongoing lawsuit/investigations have revealed so much more:

Investigation findings

• Calhoun Port Chairman Randy Boyd contributed to Blake Farenthold's campaign after the congressman arranged a meeting for him with the Army Corps of Engineers. The meeting concerned Boyd's dredging business.
• Experts say this meeting was ethically questionable and a dredger should not serve on a port authority board.
• It was Boyd's idea to hire Farenthold as the port's lobbyist after the congressman resigned amid an ethics investigation.

There's a lot to unpack from the Advocate article.  We do recommend reading the whole thing.   Suffice to say, it's sleazy from end to end and has been for at least a decade.

But another reality stands out: The legislature has the authority to shut this nonsense down once and for all.

That's not to say that they will.

But they should.

Bottom Line: Hiring a disgraced, pervert, ex-Congressman at taxpayer expense is bad enough.  But the conflicts of interest and financial shenanigans go far beyond that.  Get rid of it.

Farenthold keeps on giving (just like herpes)....

"Rebuke is more effective for a wise man
Than a hundred blows on a fool."
Proverbs 17:10

Oh my:

WASHINGTON ― Four months after abruptly quitting Congress amid a sexual harassment scandal, former Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-Texas) still doesn’t think he did anything wrong.

In fact, the former GOP lawmaker says he “took a bullet for the team” by resigning. He insists he’s right not to repay $84,000 in taxpayer money he spent on a sexual harassment settlement. He ripped the House Ethics Committee for not caring about facts. And he blames “f-tards” and the Me Too movement for driving him out of a job.

Yeah, it’s a lot. And that’s just a sample of Farenthold’s comments in an Aug. 1 deposition he gave in a lawsuit over his new job at a Texas port authority. The Victoria Advocate, a local newspaper, sued the port authority in May for not giving required public notice that it was hiring Farenthold and creating a $160,000-a-year lobbyist job for him.

....

Farenthold claims he would be breaking the law if he repaid the taxpayer money he spent to settle a 2014 sexual harassment lawsuit by a former aide, Lauren Greene, who alleged he told her she could “show her nipples” and that he had “wet dreams” about her. When the lawsuit became public in December, Farenthold promised to repay the money immediately. He later changed his mind.

....

Farenthold, who is worth millions of dollars, once said he would donate $84,000 to a charity focused on sexual harassment. Now he says he won’t do that because there’s a bill in Congress targeting sexual harassment by lawmakers that would potentially authorize the government to take the $84,000 from his retirement plan. He doesn’t want to risk paying that amount twice.

....

Farenthold announced his resignation on April 6, and a friend, Matt Woolbright, texted him to say he was sorry to hear the news. Farenthold responded, “The f tards won.”

What does “f-tard” mean and who is he talking about?

Farenthold says in his deposition that he was referring to people in the media and that it means they are all A-S-S-E-S.

The whole report it BONKERS, and we suggest reading the whole thing for yourself here.

Bottom Line: With ethical standards like these, he belongs in the Texas Legislature....

Abbott Endorses Cloud in CD-27 SPECIAL ELECTION

"Keep your heart with all diligence,
For out of it spring the issues of life."
Proverbs 4:23

We didn't realize election day was tomorrow:



Highlights:

• Cloud was county chair in Victoria county.

• Need a representative to advocate for the district post Hurricane Harvey.

• Takes shot at Farenthold: "Restore integrity to the office."

Bottom Line: A clean win for Cloud tomorrow would allow him to get a head start on shaking up the Texas Delegation before the re-enforcements arrive next year.

#RPTCon18: A DEVASTATING end to an otherwise great Convention

"It is an abomination for kings to commit wickedness,
For a throne is established by righteousness."
Proverbs 16:12

[Note: You can read Olivia Messer's original 2013 piece in the Texas Observer here.  You can read her 2017 reports here and here.  You can read the Texas Tribune's reporting on the subject here.  You can read the Austin Chronicle's reporting on the subject here.]

We still can't believe that it happened.

Assuming it survived the vote by the delegates, we expect plank 187 of the 2018 Republican party of Texas platform to read:

Sexual Harassment: RPT supports a zero tolerance policy for sexual harassment.

The good news: This is the first time in history the RPT platform has addressed it.

The bad news: It's a weak, toothless, unenforceable position.  It doesn't mention why the plank is in there in the first place.  It's the Texas Alliance for "Life" of sexual misconduct planks.

We moved to amend the plank to instead read:

Sexual Misconduct:  RPT supports a zero-tolerance policy for all forms of sexual misconduct in the Texas Legislature.  We furthermore call upon the Legislature to create a credible system of due process to adjudicate complaints within two weeks.  In the event complaints are found to be valid, we call upon the legislature to create tangible penalties including, but not limited to, loss of committee chairmanship and dismissal.

Our amendment was designed to give teeth to the existing language.

Unfortunately, and inexplicably, the delegates voted it down.  It wasn't close.  Two thirds/one third.

[Note (11:48 pm): We're trying to edit this post to get it up before midnight...and we still can't believe we read that last paragraph.]
.
We don't get it.

The Texas Legislature is a disgusting cesspool.  Whatever the excesses of the national "hashtagMeToo" movement, the Texas Legislature is a legit case.  The Texas Legislature is Harvey Weinstein, not Aziz Ansari.

And, to be honest, some of the behavior we saw the past few days confirmed our worst fears.

We saw a Texas house Committee Chairman get into an elevator at one in the morning with a woman who wasn't his wife.  We saw another member of the Texas house at the hotel bar gettin' real grabby with any hot young thing that would move.  By themselves, neither is proof of anything...but let's just say that the circumstantial evidence is strong.

Also, this is not one of those "allegedly" cases.  We saw this with our own eyes.  We dare either of the legislators in question to sue this author.  We have witnesses.

[Note: We wanted to get video, but there was no way to film in a way that wouldn't have been obvious.]

-------

The worst part is that the objections during floor debate didn't make sense.

One person spoke against who he made vague comments about political correctness and lack of due process in Title IX investigations.

Here's the thing: WE.  LITERALLY.  INCLUDED.  THE.  PHRASE.  DUE.  PROCESS.  IN.  OUR.  AMENDMENT.  LANGUAGE.

-------

In hindsight, our biggest mistake was not taking the time to educate the delegates (we should have literally used the phrases "adultery" and "prostitution").  There was limited time to discuss platform amendments. We were trying to be a team player.  We were trying tosave time.  We assumed that if we mentioned Olivia Messer by name, delegates would take our word for it and do their own research later.

We all know what they say about the word "assume."

Our other mistake was not forcing a discussion on this topic in the legislative priorities committee.  To be honest, the taxpayer funded lobbying/union dues stuff was going so well that we didn't want to annoy the committee by asking for more.  We assumed we could get the language we wanted in the platform, and that that would be good enough.

Once again, everybody knows what they say about the word "assume."

[Note for future legislative priorities committees: If we had had seven legislative priorities to work with, instead of five, this author wouldn't have felt that pushing this issue would be perceived as selfish.]

-------

Note to this website's left-of-center readers: The real reason for today's result was the backlash to the national "hashtagMeToo" movement.  They went too far.  And, obviously, the results speak for themselves.

Imagine a world where the Republican Party of Texas adopts strong language condemning sexual misconduct by elected officials...and know that the only reason we're not currently living in that world is because an ambitious feminist blogger went after Aziz Ansari.

[Second note for this website's left-of-center readers: Even though RPT just face-planted on cleaning up the state legislature, given the cases of Joe Barton and Blake Farenthold, RPT still has the strongest record of ANY state level political party in the country at getting our own elected officials to leave office once the evidence becomes undeniable.]

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Note for this website's right-of-center readers: You don't understand the opportunity you just missed.

The saddest part is that we just re-read our blog post from the day Joe Barton left office.

-------

Republicans like to waste time holding pointless meetings about "millennial outreach."

News Flash MORONS:  THE.  AMENDMENT.  LANGUAGE.  WAS.  AN.  ACT.  OF. MILLENNIAL. OUTREACH.

And you just whiffed.

-------

Bottom LIne: A very small improvement on the status quo...but it could have been so much more.

Blake Farenthold: Gift that Keeps on Giving (Kinda Like Herpes)....

"It is an abomination for kings to commit wickedness,
For a throne is established by righteousness."
Proverbs 16:12

Oh good grief:

The Calhoun Port Authority hired a separate lawyer to handle the Texas Open Meetings Act violation lawsuit the Victoria Advocate filed against it.

The board voted 5 to 1 to hire Bill Cobb, of Austin, for $400 an hour, board member Tony Holladay said Thursday.

“It’s not cheap, but a lot of them were higher than that,” Holladay said about others considered, such as law firms Bickerstaff Heath Delgado Acosta LLP and Olson & Olson Attorneys at Law LLP. “We liked Mr. Cobb’s attitude and his presentation. We also liked where he’s been in the past, so we think he has good experience and will be well worth what it costs us to defend ourselves.”

The Advocate sued the Port on May 21, asserting Port officials broke the law when they failed to specifically write on the Port’s May 9 agenda they were considering hiring ex-Congressman Blake Farenthold as a lobbyist at an annual salary of $160,000. The lawsuit seeks to void his hiring.

....

Holladay said he thinks Farenthold can’t be an effective lobbyist after reneging on a promise to repay taxpayers the $84,000 he used to settle a sexual harassment complaint brought against him while in office.

But he also thinks the Advocate’s lawsuit is without merit and costing the taxpayers.

To this, John Griffin, the newspaper’s attorney, replied, “The taxpayers aren’t paying the newspaper’s lawyers; the taxpayers are paying Mr. Farenthold $160,000 a year, and they are paying the Port’s lawyers to claim the public had no right to know of his hiring.”

Seriously, do read the whole thing here.

Bottom Line: Talk about the confluence of taxpayer-funded lobbying and sexual harassment....

Farenthold's New Gig Unintentionally Illustrates SEVERAL Problems with Texas' Good Ol' Boy Politics.

"It is an abomination for kings to commit wickedness,
For a throne is established by righteousness."
Proverbs 16:12

By now we assume you've heard about Blake Farenthold's new position as a taxpayer-funded lobbyist for some obscure port agency on the Gulf Coast.  We could say a lot about it.  Suffice to say, we share the disgust.

While we're tempted to wax emotional about the topic, it teaches several lessons.  While Farenthold's specific situation makes his case particularly appalling, the underlying conduct is not unusual.  It's not always this blatant, but the bad behavior is very common.

To wit:

• Taxpayer Funded Lobbying -- This biggest problem with this set up is that taxpayer funded entities are allowed to hire lobbyists (or "legislative liaisons" or "governmental affairs specialists" or whatever the euphemism this week) in the first place.  Taxpayer funds should not be used to lobby against taxpayers.  Period.
  
  Once that disgraceful practice is permitted, you shouldn't be surprised when it's used disgracefully.

• Obscure Local Governments -- Question: Had you ever heard of the "Calhoun Port Authority"?!?  Neither had we.  But it's there.
  
  Texas is littered with corrupt, obscure, entities back by the power of the state.  Nobody can keep track of them all.  But they all have power to tax.  And they can all hire lobbyists.
  
  And they all have employees (most of whom receive taxpayer funded pensions).
  
• The "Revolving Door" -- In both the Texas Legislature and the U.S. Congress, former members are allowed to lobby current members as soon as they leave the body.  That should be banned.  But, at a minimum, there should be a "cooling off period" of at least two (and, realistically, more like five) years.

• No Consequences for EGREGIOUSLY bad sexual behavior -- The financial stuff should be enough to condemn this arrangement, but questionable financial practices aren't the main reason Blake Farenthold left Congress.
  
  The main reason Blake Farenthold left Congress is because, as a married man in his mid-50's, he ("allegedly") made regular gratuitous sexualized commentary to female staffers in their 20's.
  
  Yet nobody cares.

Bottom Line: While Farenthold's case is particularly blatant, the underlying "business model" is common.

Abbott engages in "pro-taxpayer" publicity stunt (while TxDOT loses ANOTHER $5 Billion)

"A fool’s lips come with strife, and his mouth calleth for stripes."
Proverbs 18:6

LOL:

Gov. Greg Abbott is demanding that former U.S. Rep. Blake Farenthold "cover all costs" of the special election to fill his seat using the $84,000 the Corpus Christi Republican used to settle a sexual harassment claim years ago.

Farenthold, who abruptly resigned earlier this month, had promised to pay back the $84,000 — which came out of a taxpayer-funded account — after that settlement was made public last year but hasn't so far.

In a letter to Farenthold on Wednesday, Abbott said the former congressman should return the money to taxpayers by funding the June 30 special election to finish his term.

"While you have publicly offered to reimburse the $84,000 in taxpayer funds you wrongly used to settle a sexual harassment claim, there is no legal recourse requiring you to give that money back to Congress," Abbott wrote. "I am urging you to give those funds back to the counties in your district to cover the costs of the June 30, 2018, special election."

 At first glance, it seems like a decent enough gesture.  Farenthold is certainly a jerk [Note: Though it's probably worth pointing out that, while WE called for Farenthold to go at the time, Abbott never did].  Furthermore, Farenthold is also departing in the most obnoxious way possible.

But come on...$84k?!?

That's not even a rounding error in government; that's not even a fraction of a rounding error.

Meanwhile, you'll never guess what landed in our inbox an hour ago:

Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom (TURF), Texans for Toll-free Highways PAC, and Grassroots America - We the People PAC contend the much-lamented funding shortfall is largely due to the Texas Department of Transportation’s (TxDOT) bloat and mismanagement of funds. While metropolitan areas scramble to re-allocate funds to advance projects without tolls, as Governor Greg Abbott and Lt. Governor Dan Patrick directed last November, the anti-toll groups argue TxDOT intentionally squandered the nearly $5 billion a year in new funding on low priority projects so they could force toll roads on urban commuters.

The grassroots groups say this is a systemic problem identified in the 2016 Sunset Commission Staff Report which states, “As currently structured, TxDOT’s project development process is not meeting expectations and is not prepared to effectively handle the influx of new transportation funding projected to double over the next decade. TxDOT has not met key on-time or on-budget measures for several years, indicating underlying problems with the department’s management of its project portfolio through complex steps including environmental review, design, and right-of-way acquisition.”

....

Hall and Fleming point out that the passage of House Bill 20 in 2015 should have addressed TxDOT’s perpetual failure to allocate funding to the state’s 100 Most Congested Roads by forcing the agency to implement project scoring and performance measurements that ensure objective data, not politics, guide the agency’s project selection process.

“The Transportation Commission’s current process for determining how much money to allocate to different statewide transportation goals tends to favor horse trading among various interests more than consideration of performance information…Existing project prioritization process validates status quo instead of advancing projects based on need or impact. TxDOT’s current approach to prioritizing projects does not actually serve as a tool to evaluate which projects are strategically best, but rather works backwards to validate projects that are already in development,” noted the Sunset Staff Report.

[Note: Emphasis in original.]

Bottom Line: Why fix transportation funding (aka. doing the job to which you were actually elected), when you can grandstand over the minuscule cost of a special election?!?

Farenthold Departs in Most Obnoxious Way Possible

"It is an abomination for kings to commit wickedness,
For a throne is established by righteousness."
Proverbs 16:12

Friday afternoon document dump:

WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Corpus Christi, resigned on Friday.

The decision marks the capstone of a tumultuous few months for the four-term congressman, who has been dogged by sexual harassment allegations and an ongoing ethics investigation.

"While I planned on serving out the remainder of my term in Congress, I know in my heart it's time for me to move along and look for new ways to serve," he said in a statement that offered no further explanation for why he was not completing the final eight months of his term.

To which we will add: We've heard rumors that Farenthold doesn't want to pay the legal bills that would accompany an official Congressional investigation.  We caution that that's speculative and unconfirmed.  But given the circumstances, it makes sense.

But the worst aspect of Farenthold's action is the timing.  We just had a primary election, and municipal elections in most parts of the state.  Either one would have been an easy time to hold a concurrant special election.  Unfortunately, because Blake Farenthold was so desperate to hang cling to power, we're going to have to have yet another election.

Bottom Line: Blake Farenthold is the political equivalent of herpes.  By the time you discover the outbreak, it's too late to avoid the consequences.  And those consequences last a long time.

CD-27 Runoff: Cloud Running Strong Campaign....

"And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart."
Galatians 6:9

In the race to succeed the disgraced Blake Farenthold, the Trib takes notice of Michael Cloud's surprisingly strong first round performance:

In December, U.S. Rep. Blake Farenthold drew national attention when, in the middle of a sexual harassment scandal, he announced he was not running for another term. Yet the race to replace the Corpus Christi Republican has been one of the state's most under-the-radar contests.

That was, in part, because many have assumed Bech Bruun, the former Texas Water Board Commission chairman and most prominent candidate in the 6-way Republican primary, was a safe bet to take over the seat.

But last month, Bruun just narrowly placed first in the March 6 primary with 36 percent of the vote. Close behind him was former Victoria County GOP Chairman Michael Cloud at 34 percent.

That margin surprised more than a few political insiders in the state, who assumed Bruun, who has ties to the state's GOP leadership and has racked up a string of prominent endorsements, would either avoid a runoff entirely or come much closer than he did to drawing the majority support needed to do so.

But Cloud is putting up a tenacious fight that is leaving more than a few Texas political insiders less sure of who might win the GOP nomination in the May 22nd runoff.

....

Cloud, a current member of the State Republican Executive Committee, had been running for the seat since early October, two months before Farenthold announced his retirement. And Bruun said that while he decided to run after Hurricane Harvey hit the region in late August, he held off from announcing his run for Congress until December, when his time at the water board was winding down.

....

Cloud is running as "a constitutional conservative," with an emphasis on border security and scaling back the power of the federal government. And he argued in remarks in Port Lavaca in February that his early bid suggests an added layer of sincerity in his campaign.

"If you followed the race, we got involved back in October," he said. "The landscape was completely different, and then news happened that shifted the race. That news happened a week before the filing deadline."

He then implicitly criticized the other candidates who entered the race in that time period, including Bruun.

"We got in the race because I looked at what was happening in our nation, and I felt like we needed something to happen," he added. "And I felt like we needed to send people who had the courage, who had the conviction to stand up to a culture of corruption in Washington, D.C. So that's what got me into this race, that was the message from the beginning."

....

But Cloud had clearly built a following with his head start. He also has the endorsements of former U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, one of the country’s most prominent libertarian-leaning politicians; David Barton, an influential evangelical activist and author; and the four Republican candidates who did not make the runoff.

Farenthold, the scandal-tarred incumbent, has not endorsed in the race and neither candidate appears to be pursuing his support.

Bottom Line:  On the one hand, you've got a personal friend of Ron Paul.  On the other hand, you've got a Todd Hunter crony who's a key player in Texas' corrupt water polices.  This decision isn't difficult.

About Kendal Briles and Randy Clements: An Open Letter to [U of H Regent Chair] Tilman Fertitta

"Therefore by their fruits you will know them."
Matthew 7:20

[Note: Readers can ask Fertitta their own questions on Twitter -- @TilmanJFertitta]

Tilman J. Fertitta
University of Houston Board Regents
Chairman

Dear Chairman Fertitta,

Thank you for your time.  I'm an Austin based blogger who covers Texas politics.  Historically, I've been a fan of your performance as the Chairman of the University of Houston Board of Regents.  I applaud your effort to halt the University of Texas' Houston land grab during the 85th session of the Texas Legislature.

Today I'm writing over something much more alarming: The University of Houston's inexplicable decision to hire former Baylor assistant coaches Kendal Briles and Randy Clements in the Cougar football program.

Over the past several years Baylor Univesrty has been enmeshed in a slowly unfolding sexual assault scandal, the depths of which are almost too awful to plumb.  For everything we've learned in recent months, the Baylor scandals remain the most horrifying.  But even amidst the grotesque onslaught that's come out of Baylor, Kendall Briles' mendacity stands out.

According to books, lawsuits, and press reports Kendal Briles made the the following comment to a recruit about female Baylor students: "Do you like white women? Because we have a lot of them at Baylor and they love football players."

Seriously?!?

You just hired a guy who's been caught facilitating racially charged sexual assaults.  It's difficult to believe this could actually happen, but apparently this is how the University of Houston chooses to do business.  It's mind boggling.

I understand you're busy.  Between being CEO of Landry Restaurants, your casino interests, your CNBC show, and ownership of the Houston Rockets, you have a lot on your plate.  If the Kendal Briles and Randy Clements hires were an oversight due to a packed schedule, I encourage you to promptly rectify the situation.

As long as Kendal Briles and Randy Clements remain on the Cougar coaching staff, it's difficult to avoid the conclusion the the University of Houston condones the type of chilling abuses about which we've recently learned.

It should also go without saying that Big-12 expansion is a non-starter as long as Kendal Briles and Randy Clements remain on the Cougar coaching staff.

As Chairman of the University of Houston Board of Regents, the buck stops with you; choose wisely.

Sincerely,
Adam Cahn
Austin, TX

P.S. One recently relevant part of my background: In the past two months, I helped lead efforts to get both Congressmen Joe Barton and Blake Farenthold to retire.  While Barton's and Farenthold's respective conduct was reprehensible, either one of them is a fraction compared to Kendal Briles.  Like I said, choose wisely.

Party failing to address Miles/Uresti loses frivolous lawsuit to protect other party's pervert

"As a dog returns to his own vomit,
So a fool repeats his folly."
Proverbs 26:11

Update: They literally dropped the suit while we were writing the original post...

during an oral hearing Wednesday, a federal judge denied a motion to issue a temporary restraining order barring the GOP from removing Farenthold's name from the ballot. The Democrats then voluntarily dropped the case.

Obviously, that means this story is already over.  But the news broke while we were writing the blog post below.  So we're going to finish the original post because we think it makes some important points.

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LOL, so this happened:

Today, we filed a lawsuit against the @TexasGOP for failing to follow candidate filing laws. This is about protecting democracy, only voters have the power to choose who leads our state and nation. RELEASE: https://t.co/9510sCZICm #txlege pic.twitter.com/NmIEBtxeFz

— Texas Democrats (@texasdemocrats) December 20, 2017

No it isn't wasn't.  This is was about trying to milk Blake Farenthold for a few more bad headlines for the Republicans.  Everybody knows knew that.

But the amazing thing is that Borris Miles and Carlos Uresti continue to hide in plain sight.  No Democrats have called for them to step down.  The Democrats don't even seem to be willing to talk about them by name.

But they're were willing to file a lawsuit to keep Blake Farenthold's name on the ballot.

As to the legal issues: While this website has never claimed legal expertise, preliminary discussions with legal sources suggests the legal argument is thinner than a wet Kleenex.  Furthermore, this lawsuit opens the Democrats up to discovery.  Speaking of discovery, we strongly suspect that's why the Democrats will ultimately drop this lawsuit.  They were so weak that the lawsuit didn't even survive the time it took to write this blog post.

Make no mistake: The Republican response to what we've learned recently about the culture of chronic sexual abuse at the Capitol remains woefully inadequate.  The Senate has been, at best, lethargic.  The house, meanwhile, has been the house.

But at least the Republicans, no matter how slowly or clumsily, are trying.

That's more than we can say for the Democrats.

Bottom Line: To attempt a stunt like this reveals an unsettling lust for power.  To lose said stunt in less than four hours reveals a comical lack of competence.  If you're looking for a textbook example of why Texas won't turn blue any time soon, this is a good one.

Latest on the Perverts in Texas politics

"It is an abomination for kings to commit wickedness,
For a throne is established by righteousness."
Proverbs 16:12

[Note: That we even have to write that headline.]

We've been at City Hall all week, but several noteworthy developments the past few days:

• Farenthold finally throws in the towel -- We had resigned ourselves to having to remove him electorally, but yesterday Farenthold finally demonstrated the good sense to leave on his own.  Following Joe Barton, this is the second scalp this website has helped to collect over this garbage.  And yes, we are fully prepared to promote our record of actually doing something against any of the loathsome hypocrites (be they of the "Christian" or "Feminist" variety) selectively manipulating this issue for political purposes.
  
  As to Farenthold, he clearly has psychological issues related to both anger and sex; we hope he gets help.

• Straus' hypocritical comment about Roy Moore -- Following the U.S. Senate race in Alabama, Joe Straus made the following comment Wednesday "Last night in Alabama, something very important happened: Decency trumped tribalism."
  
  Coming from Joe friggin' Straus, that is a particularly noxious comment.
  
  Obviously, this website did not support Roy Moore's candidacy (at least at the end).  We kept our mouth shut because there was nothing we could do about it, but we doubt anyone familiar with our sentiments on this topic is surprised.  See our comment in the previous item about our record.
  
  But for Joe Straus, of all people, to attempt to lecture anyone on the subject of "decency" as it relates to sexual matters is revolting.
  
  Joe Straus has witnessed members of the Texas House committing sexual assault.  Joe Straus quite possibly appointed a pervert to chair the public education committee during the 85th.  Finally, while we're not prepared to level formal accusations (at this time), let's just say that there are bad signs related several other Texas House committee chairs on sexual matters.
  
  Then there's the fact that, even at this late date, Joe Straus has appointed a man who has had a decade long sexual relationship with a lobbyist to oversee the new "sexual harassment" policy.
  
  So please, Joe Straus, spare us any detestable little lecture on "decency" as it relates to sexual matters.

• Texas Senate Finally Shows Up -- The Texas Senate held its first hearing on the matter yesterday.  This is, literally, the first time they've even attempted to do anything on this subject.  This despite the fact that the first two people to be named in this unfolding scandal are both sitting Senators.
  
  The Texas Observer asked for comments from every Senator related to Miles and Uresti.  Only 13 even had the guts to respond.  And none of them called for Miles and Uresti to leave.
  
  We've been in conversation with Senate sources all day, and they assure us that this is being taken seriously behind the scenes.  Furthermore, the Senate has concerns about creating a "lynch mob" mentality.  We understand that the Senate has its way of doing things (and that it's usually a more effective strategy to just let the Senate be the Senate), but this is still weak.  And we will be making this point in significantly stronger language if we don't see action soon.
  
  And, for the record, if Miles and Uresti don't present a very compelling defense between now and January 2019, then the Texas Senate needs to expel them.

Ron Paul endorses Michael Cloud (in the Blake Farenthold district)

"As iron sharpens iron,
So a man sharpens the countenance of his friend."
Proverbs 27:17

We had intended to do a deeper investigation of Blake Farenthold's challengers but, from the inbox, this certainly clarifies:

Ron Paul Endorses Michael Cloud in Congressional Race

Lake Jackson – Ron Paul, a long-time Texas Republican congressman and three-time presidential candidate, has announced his endorsement of Michael Cloud, who is running for Congress in the 27th District of Texas.

“I worked with Michael when he served in the Victoria Young Republicans Club, and again when he was Chairman of the Victoria County GOP. I know him to be a man of his word, principled, trustworthy and hardworking,” said Paul. “I hope my former supporters will get behind him because our country desperately needs leaders with integrity, courage and moral character. Michael Cloud is that kind of leader.”

Paul represented Texans in Congress for 24 years, retiring in 2013. He is widely considered the leader of the modern-day Liberty movement.

Cloud announced his candidacy in September 2017, vowing to “fight the culture of corruption in Washington.”

Cloud, a business owner, currently represents 21 counties as a member of the State Republican Executive Committee. He was elected to four terms as chair of the Victoria County Republican Party and has served on staff at Faith Family Church in Victoria, Texas. Cloud and his wife Rosel have three children.

“I am very honored by this endorsement,” said Cloud. “And I thank the good doctor for his confidence in me.”

Based on Farenthold's lousy voting record, the choice between the incumbent and a Ron Paul supporter is easy on policy grounds alone.  But this is Blake Farenthold we're discussing.  So the incumbent's 'issues' obviously extend beyond policy considerations.

There's a third candidate in the race.  For now, we don't want to help him build name recognition.  Suffice to say, the third candidate is an ex-Todd Hunter staffer.

Bottom Line: The contrast speaks for itself.

Who does Blake Farenthold think he's kidding?!?

"It is an abomination for kings to commit wickedness,
For a throne is established by righteousness."
Proverbs 16:12

New developments over the weekend:

The new revelations, which Farenthold acknowledged to the Chronicle on Friday, bring to at least three the number of women who have complained of either sexual harassment, gender discrimination, or a hostile work environment in his office.

....

But Farenthold, 55, has since been hit with a new public account from another former spokeswoman, Elizabeth Peace, who left his office last March.

Although Peace came to Farenthold's office after Greene had left, she provided a similar account of a hostile and sexualized work environment. Neither accused Farenthold of improper sexual contact.

In her lawsuit, Greene, then 27, painted a picture of a socially awkward, hard-drinking, middle-aged man who reportedly had "sexual fantasies" and "wet dreams" about her. She also accused his chief of staff, Bob Haueter, of regularly belitting and humiliating her.

Peace, a former television news anchor, told the Chronicle in an interview this week that even after Greene had left, Farenthold "allowed the hostility in his office to continue. He allowed us to work in a place that was just emotionally damaging, and that should never be allowed in any office."

Peace, now 37, said that while Farenthold didn't sexually harass her directly, "his comments were inappropriate and his unwillingness to immediately take action to allow us to work in a safe environment is inappropriate."

Incidents of abusive behavior were not uncommon, according to another woman, former college intern Olivia de la Peña, who worked in Farenthold's office in the fall of 2015. Peña, now 23, said she experienced no sexually inappropriate behavior in the office, but instead learned to navigate what she called the congressman's "anger issues."

Bottom Line: Farenthold has multiple credible challegers. If we need to take this case to the voters, so be it.  But it sure would be nice if the Congressman would save everyone's time and leave of his own accord.

#TXLEGE (et. al): Farenthold, Geren, Miles, and Uresti ALL Need to Go....

"When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice;
But when a wicked man rules, the people groan."
Proverbs 29:2

On Monday, we held off on calling for Blake Farenthold's resignation because he was promising to release some bombshell new defense; what a week it's been since then.

Since then, we've seen:

• New sleazy revelations about Charlie Geren (alongside his raging hypocrisy on sexual matters).

• Another explosive Daily Beast report about repeated sexually predatory behavior from Boris Miles and Carlos Uresti.

• Nothing new or convincing from Farenthold.

When it rains, it pours.

But, given what we've learned in the past week, the next step is obvious: CAHNMAN'S MUSINGS CALLS FOR CONGRESSMAN FARENTHOLD, REPRESENTATIVE GEREN, AND SENATORS MILES AND URESTI TO RESIGN FROM THEIR RESPECTIVE PUBLIC OFFICES.

The links above should tell you everything you need to know about the respective conduct of the respective officials, but if you need more convincing spend some time on Google.

Bottom Line: All four of these scumbags need to follow Joe Barton's example....

Lecherous Pervert Blake Farenthold seems to think he's allowed to stay in Congress

"It is an abomination for kings to commit wickedness,
For a throne is established by righteousness."
Proverbs 16:12

When all else fails, change the subject:



"High"lights:

• Farenthold vows to "pay back" the federal government, as if that's any sort of justification of his own behavior.

• Claims to have been cleared of wrongdoing by the congressional "ethics" investigators, as if the fact that this is the one time Congress has actually paid out this sort of settlement doesn't already tell you everything you need to know.

This has to be the most convincing performance we've seen since Harvey Weinstein pledged to go after the NRA...or perhaps since O.J's vow to find the real killer.

Let's review Congressman Farenthold's behavior:

Greene said another Farenthold aide told her the lawmaker said he had “sexual fantasies” and “wet dreams” about Greene. She also claimed that Farenthold “regularly drank to excess” and told her in February 2014 that he was “estranged from his wife and had not had sex with her in years.”

We suppose there might be some theoretical defense that Congressman Farenthold could mount that might be compelling.  In the event such a defense exists, we suggest Congressman Farenthold make it quickly.  But the odds of such a defense emerging seem...low.

One personal note: Congressman Farenthold's district extends into Bastrop and Caldwell counties.  The district's western edge is less than 15 miles from where we're typing this blog post.  If Congressman Farenthold wants to make this race a priority, he's welcome to do so.

Bottom Line: Unless Farenthold comes up with a very compelling defense very quickly, he needs to go.  This week.  We won't have time to loop back to this until Wednesday, but 48 hours should be more than enough time.