Big Jolly

Wow. Just wow. When Catherine Engelbrecht and a handful of people met in the back of that little pub to start a "different" kind of tea party a scant 18 months ago, I bet none of them dreamed that they would become the model for sustainablitity and effectiveness that King Street Patriots has become. Yeah, yeah, I know, Catherine is driven and a big dreamer but still, c'mon! No way. 

They've had to move again to a bigger place to accomodate their growth. They're having a Grand Opening party on Monday, May 16th, and guess who's coming to dinner? (click the image to expand)

How's about that? The Governor of the great state of Texas will be there! I'd suggest that you click this link right now and reserve your spot before it is all sold out!

And if I were one of the candidates for U. S. Senate (Glenn Addison, Andrew "CAS" Castanuela, Ted Cruz, Sean Hubbard, Elizabeth Ames Jones, Tom Leppert, Lela Pittenger, Michael Williams, or Roger Williams), I'd grab my cell phone right now and call Catherine at 713-401-3550 and ask her how you can help support  this event. Trust me, it will be well worth your time and money - you'll meet some great people and might even convince one or two or ten to work in your campaign. Most of the King Street people are workers, not just spectators.

Gotta love retail politics because it separates the wanna be politicians from the ones that are willing to work hard to get elected. I mean, seriously, would you want to speak at three or four meetings a day to groups that average 20 people? That is what it takes to win a primary race in Texas and U.S. Senate candidate Ted Cruz appears to understand this because his schedule is full of these types of meetings. Last night’s meeting of the Republican National Hispanic Assembly-Harris County was a perfect example of retail politics.

RNHA Chairman Eduardo Lopez de Casas kicked off the meeting with a few thoughts about the low attendance and his desire to change board members to try to increase the size of the group. He mentioned that he thought that the GOP had abandoned its effort to reach out to Hispanics when the Tea Party came along. I understand somewhat what he is saying but Jared Woodfill and the Harris County Republican Party did try and reach out to the Hispanic community, committing a lot of resources and time to the East Side office. I don’t think you can put the blame for the failure of that effort, if it was a failure, at the feet of the GOP – I think that Hispanic groups need to stop attacking each other and work towards a common goal. I also think that Republicans are wary of identity politics because of the way that the Democratic Party has used various minority groups to attack Republicans. The Republican mindset is that we should work towards common political goals regardless of skin color and heritage and that we do not need hyphenated Americans. I hope that we can reconcile these different views and do it soon. Just my two cents.

Then it was time for the featured speaker of the evening, Ted Cruz. Some people think that speaking in front of large crowds is hard but the truth is that it is much, much harder to address a very small group like the one assembled last night. Counting Mr. Cruz and his assistant, there were 16 people in the room. Mr. Cruz did an excellent job of outlining his campaign, from the “why I’m running” all the way to the “what you can do to help me”. 

He listed several reasons for the “why” and I don’t think that any Republican could argue with him. America is at a crossroads, a fundamental divide: will we return to the vision of our founders or will we become a nation of bigger and bigger government? We have a president that is a true believer in government as the answer and Mr. Cruz wants to lead the fight against him and his agenda. He did a good job of bringing the problem down to a level that people might understand by using an example of giving a teenager a credit card. He noted that the $1.6 TRILLION deficit this year and the promise to cut it next year is much like a teenager taking his parents credit card and charging $160,000 on it without having a job or a way to pay for it, then promising his parents that he will only charge up $156,000 next year, illustrating the futile nature of the “cuts” promised by the current administration. Pretty effective I’d say.

He thinks he can win this race because people are seeking new leadership and not just politicians that will vote the right way. Ain’t that the truth? Take a look at Washington and you will see a lot of politicians that do vote conservatively but do they accomplish anything? If they did, we wouldn’t be in the mess we are in now. I think he’s right when he says leaders should have fire in the belly and not rely on consultants feeding them talking points. To that end, he suggests that you visit his website and view his accomplishments for conservative issues (click here). He thinks that his accomplishments are unmatched by his opponents in this race and urges voters to visit each website and write down the five biggest accomplishments for each person, confident that he will win your vote if you do this.

The highlight of the evening for me was when he took questions from the audience. One of the questions was about free trade – the questioner obviously didn’t believe in free trade, claiming that we were sending all of our jobs overseas and would never get them back.  It was refreshing to hear a politician not suck up to a potential voter – instead, Mr. Cruz gave a quick lesson in free market economics that really showed the depth and breadth of his knowledge of economics. When was the last time you heard a politician talk off the cuff, accurately, about public choice theory and the economics of taxation?  Very, very impressive.

My takeaway? Mr. Cruz is going to be tough to beat in this primary. He has the conservative bona fides that it takes to win a Republican primary. He has the grassroots network – check out his Facebook page, he has more fans than any politician in Texas, including Gov. Rick Perry. He has fundraising ability, both in Texas and a network of groups throughout the country. He has the work ethic it takes, the willingness to visit groups large and small. And like it or not, he has the Hispanic heritage that the Republican Party so desperately needs, especially in Texas. In short, he has the entire package.

Can he deliver? Hey, that’s what elections are for!

Website: TedCruz.org

Facebook: Ted Cruz

Twitter: @tedcruz

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On a clear Saturday night over thirty people came out to Clays restaurant in far west Harris County to meet Carl Pittman. Lesa Trapp, precinct chair of 0618, organized the event. Some of the many folks in attendance where Bob Price and wife, Eric Weinmann, Bill Kneer, Burt Levin and wife, Charly Padanilam the ever lovely Kelly Horsley looking refreshed, after just returning from vacation, and many others. The only other candidate was Henry Dibrell, running for a position on the KISD board. Of course Carl was accompanied by his ever supportive wife, Kristi Pittman. Running for a public office is truly a monumental task and having spouse support is critical. She truly is a major asset to his campaign.

Mr. Pittman hopes to be the next Harris county sheriff. Born in Fulshear, Texas in 1963. He served in the Marine Corps from 1981 to 1985 and then joined the National City Police Department in southern California where he became an expert on gangs. He has worked for the Harris County Sherriff office since returning to Texas in 2001. Carl moved into Harris County from Fort Bend County in April 2010.

The budget for the Sheriff's department is roughly four hundred million dollars. Five years ago it was two hundred and fifty million. At the same time the number of officers has not increased but over a hundred executive's spots have been added. Carl plans on starting with a zero based budget an cut some of those executive spots and hire more hourly officers for the field. He also told the crowd that the Harris County jail is the largest in the state and one of the largest in the nation. The jail is home to over ten thousand inmates on any given day. Much of this codling of prisoners has been forced on us by the left wing Democrat judges that have been elected in the past.

Carl Pittman is in touch with Sheriff Joe Arpaio and recently traveled to meet with Sheriff Arpaio who showed Carl how he is controlling his budget. One of the things Carl believes could save money is changing the fact that inmates in Harris County are taken better care of than the ones in the state run prisons. As Arpaio says "why should a prisoner live better in jail than they do out of jail?" Carl also looked at the tent jails and the chain gangs Sheriff Arpaio has set up and plans to duplicate some of them in Harris County. On June fourth Sheriff Joe Arpaio is coming to Houston for a fundraiser for Carl Pittman. I know I'm ready to go. More details coming soon at http://carlforsheriff.com/about-carl.html. I suggest getting your tickets early as this will most likely be a sale out.

Like many people in our great country, Carl wasn't involved in politics until recently. He first voted as a Republican in the 2010 primary in Fort Bend County. Carl clearly sees the money being spent by our government as not sustainable and believes if America falls there is no place left to go. Carl told me that he wants to give something back that will help make this a better nation for his children and grandchildren. Is Carl Pittman the man to win back the sheriff's office? With nineteen months to go before election I for one will be taking somewhat of a wait and see position. However, I haven't found anything that would make me not want to vote for him. Mr. Pittman certainly has all the qualities we are looking for in a sheriff. He has years of police experience, has run a small business, and seems to be forthcoming on any question he is asked. He has some great ideals for ways to cut the budget and raise the level of service to the public. My advice is to meet Carl and ask him yourself questions that are important to you. If Sheriff Joe Arpaio likes him, that's a pretty strong endorsement for me. The Sheriff's office without a doubt is one of the most important in the county. We truly need a person we can trust. Do yourself a favor and talk to Carl and form your own opinion.

Wow! I knew that Mike Huckabee was a man o' God but lordy, lordy, I didn't realize just how much of one he is! Think I'm kidding? Think again!

After months and months of insisting that "everyone pay their fair share" and "no one or no entity will be exempt" in regards to the ill-conceived City of Houston Prop 1 drainage fee, the Mayor reversed course today and exempted churches and schools from paying the tax. Via 2 on the Beat's Mary Benton:

Mayor Annise Parker today announced that she will ask City Council next week to approve a new Rebuild Houston funding plan that includes exemptions for churches and schools.

Forget that nonsense in her press release. This reversal had nothing whatsoever to do with townhall meetings, hearings, or discussions with council members. C'mon, if that were the case, she'd have announced this reversal weeks ago.

Nope. Only one person made this happen and that would be Huck. You see, Mayor Parker attended his speech Saturday night at the annual Harris County Republican Party fundraiser we call the Lincoln-Reagan dinner.

Ol' Huck put a whompin' prayer on her, asking the good Lord to stress to her that Second Baptist needed to renovate their bowling alley and this tax would be a major inconvenience. And BAM!, the Mayor drops to her knees and submits to the power of prayer!

Gotta hand it to Huck - he knows exactly what kind of prayers to recite in times of difficulty. And opportunity. Who'd a thunk Mayor Parker would be contributing to Harris County Republicans in the first place? Much less on a night when a former Baptist preacher was raining down the fire.

Maybe we need to look anew at the Huckster and draft him to run for President again.

Don't waste that power!

On March 9th I wrote in this post that the Miles Insurance Agency, owned by Texas State Representative Borris Miles, received over $1.4 million dollars of taxpayer money from the Houston Independent School District. Back in 2006 and most recently in February 2011, HISD approved the purchase of flood insurance from the National Flood Insurance Program through the Miles Insurance Agency.

Yesterday I learned more.... Texas State Rep. Miles is past due paying his Houston Independent School District taxes!

As of March 23, 2011 and according to HCAD records, Mr. Miles has failed to pay over $12,700.00 in Houston ISD taxes and failed to pay a remaining $15,400 in other City of Houston & Harris County taxes on a South Macgregor Way property. Further review of these tax records indicate Mr. Miles has accumulated over $2540.00 in lates fees.

Next time Borris tries to intimidate pollwatchers during elections, tell him to go pound sand and pay his taxes on time.