carol@stormzero.com – Page 3

Know Before You Go

There’s an election coming up on March5. Early voting starts February 20. How will you choose which candidates align with your beliefs?

Find your sample ballot.

You can do that on BastropVotes.org. Enter your last, first names and your birthdate. You’ll get this screen:

If you were to choose the Republican ballot, and IF you live in Precinct 1, you’d get this ballot. If you live in a different precinct or choose a Democrat ballot, your ballot will have different choices. Depending on your printer, choose “print to fit”, black & white printing, and print single sided (turn off duplex).

Sample Ballot 2024 Primary Page 2 — Sample Ballot PG 1

Sample Ballot 2024 Primary Page 1 — Sample Ballot PG 1

Go through the ballot and check off or circle those races where you already know who you’ll be voting for.

Did you know you can take the sample ballot into the polls with you? You can. Just don’t leave it behind after you vote.

I typically do not pay attention to a candidate’s materials. Many candidates hire political consultants who design their websites and mailings. They sometimes do polling to see what issues resonate with voters. Then they “wordsmith” every line and every sentence. It’s important to “watch what they do, not what they say”.

Follow the money.

County & Local Candidates

Case full of money The first thing I want to know about a candidate is who has donated to them.

County and local candidates file their finance reports with the County Elections Administrator. You can find them here: https://www.bastropvotes.org/elected-officials/campaign-finance-reports/ Candidates must report all donors over $110 from any one individual in the reporting period. You’ll get a pretty good idea of the source of their campaign funding.

Sometimes, though, candidates fail to file these reports. That’s a violation of law, totally refutes any comments they make about transparency (in my opinion).

The Texas Ethics Commission sets the required dates for finance reports: quarterly were due January 16, the 30-day prior were due February 5, and the 8-day prior are due February 26. ALL candidates must meet these filing deadlines.

State Candidates

State candidates file with the Texas Ethics Commission. Reports are public. Finding and viewing reports is a bit daunting at first, but doesn’t take long to get the hang of it. You use the simple search to find the candidate’s “filer id”. Once you have that, you can do an advanced search for all contributions for that “filer id” or candidate. You can download them as a spreadsheet and from there sort by donor. That will give you a very clear picture of whether a candidate is getting his/her money from out of state, from PACs, which PACs, or from individual donors.

Federal Candidates

Federal candidates are required to follow the rules set by the Federal Election Commission. They are different than state rules and have different filing deadlines. You can see a federal candidate’s donors by visiting the FEC Campaign Finance Data page online.

Generally…

Try OpenSecrets.org. This independent non-profit website will show you donations to state and federal candidates, or you can search by donor. The advanced search allows a more detailed “deep dive” into the data. OpenSecrets has launched a new lobbying data section. If you want to know who is influencing the elected officials that represent you, and those in leadership positions, spend some time looking around this website.

Money is important in politics. Races are expensive. But how much influence will large donors have over a candidate if elected? Once you know who the PACs are, do some research on the PAC. Who runs it? What are their goals? What other candidates receive money from them?

It takes some time, but isn’t your community, your state, your country worth it?

Conservative? Maybe not.

Online Research Often Exposes The Truth.

MAGA matters and those running for office know it. That’s why candidates, mostly Republican but frankly of both parties, claim to be “conservative”.

Football player tossing a football labeled conservative But, voter beware. Just because they say they’re conservative, they aren’t. They easily toss around the word “conservative” knowing that low-information voters are swayed by it. So, become a high-information voter using online resources!

They hope you don’t do your homework. I hope you do. There are many places to get information about a candidate. Campaign literature and websites are not places to go except to learn what the candidate wants you to know. To get to the truth, you must do some research.

Watch what they do, not what they say. I’ve said this for a long time about candidates, something I’ve learned through my 35+ years involved in political campaigns. People can say anything, but they can’t change the record.

Candidates can modify their social media posts, but few are likely to do that unless their comments become big news. Think of candidates and/or office holders that have been caught by salacious or offensive posts. You can learn a lot by a quick scan of someone’s posts. If they’re on X (formerly known as Twitter), that’s the best place to take a quick scan.

Candidates and office holders likely have to file financial reports with either the local election office or the Texas Ethics Commission or the Federal Elections Commission. Visit BastropVotes for local candidates. Visit the Texas Ethics Commission for district, judicial, or statewide candidates. Texas Ethics also has contributor information about Texas Political Action Committees (PACs). Visit the Federal Elections Commission for all federal candidates. A non-governmental source to “follow the money” is opensecrets.org where you can search by candidate, committee, or by donor. Open Secrets also has information about “dark money” groups, Super PACs and more.

If a candidate is an incumbent, their votes will tell you whether they’re actually a conservative or not. For Texas legislators, Texas Legislature Online is chock full of information. For a Texas legislative ranking, visit Mark Jones’ analysis in the Texas Tribune or The Freedom Index where individual legislators can be searched. For US Congressmen & Senators, visit FreedomWorks for an analysis of their voting records.

For example, my Texas legislator received one 50% ranking. How good is that? Prior to casting my vote, I’ll compare it to other rankings and any opponents. My US Representative has a session ranking of 100%, and a lifetime ranking of 94.4%. I doubt any opponent can beat that!

For those running the first time, keep an eye on their financial reports. “Follow the money” is always true in politics. Search online, especially LinkedIn for bios which will include volunteer and employment histories.

Always look at a candidate’s past voter history. See if it’s published on one of your local GOP club websites. If you can’t find it online, then ask your local GOP chair for the information.

If you can find the name of a candidate’s treasurer or campaign chair, search them as well. People typically take these roles for candidates who are like-minded and who the treasurer and chair want in office. You won’t find too many Republicans serving as campaign chairs or treasurers for liberal democrats, and vice versa.

Your vote is critical to the survival of our nation. If you, like me, consider yourself a conservative and vote accordingly, then do your job. Do your homework. Know before you go!

The Man Who Would be King

There are those who choose to work together cooperatively. Typically, those are people who have a goal and understand that others share that same goal. They understand that it takes many ideas and many hands to achieve the goal. They are inclusive, good listeners, and incorporate others’ ideas into a strategic plan. And, they understand that those working for the goal all have talents that are needed to achieve the goal, like individual puzzle pieces creating an entire picture.

Then there are those who want to control everything. To these types of people, having control is as important as (or more important than) accomplishing the goal. They want to pick the players and control the strategy. They will determine, on their own, the road to take to achieving the goal. They will exclude free thinkers, new ideas, and different ways of looking at the steps needed to accomplish the goal. To them, power is everything.

In the end, king-makers fail, just as in the Rudyard Kipling novella and 1975 movie of the same name “The Man Who Would be King”.

Political leaders often fall into these categories as well. There are those who are quite willing to work together with other political organizations to achieve the common goal: winning elections. They understand “strength in numbers” and that everyone has something to offer, some talent in which they excel.

Then there are those who refuse to work cooperatively, sometimes to the point of attempting to sabotage and snuff out related groups working for the same goal.

We call individuals who do this bullies. We identify them as insecure people who are threatened by others’ successes. We say they don’t “play well in the sandbox”. The same can be true of organizations. As Patrick Henry so well stated in 1799, “Let us trust God, and our better judgment to set us right hereafter. United we stand, divided we fall.”

The unfortunate result of this refusal to work together, especially in the political world, is disharmony, distrust, dissension. Participants become disillusioned and stop participating. When that happens, the goal becomes unachievable. In the political world, that translates to losses at the polls.

As in the Bible, Matthew 12:25, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand.”

As per the novella and movie, “The Man Who Would be King” won’t recognize that until it’s too late and the opposing political party has seized control.

The SREC Speaks

I’ve been watching this weekend’s SREC meeting (9/23/23). They just voted on a resolution calling for Speaker Dade Phelan to step down as Speaker and to resign. There were only 2 “nay” votes.

Sad to say, one was our SD-5 member, Bill Fairbrother. I submit that had he talked to the various county parties before casting that vote, he would have found nearly all in agreement that Phelan should step down.

WHEREAS, Speaker Dade Phelan voted for the impeachment of Attorney General Warren Kenneth Paxton and through his leadership team pressured other House members to vote for the impeachment as well, and continues to defend this action despite the weaknesses of the case as demonstrated in the Senate trial that resulted in General Paxton’s acquittal;

WHEREAS, Speaker Dade Phelan appointed nine (9) Democrats to chair important legislative committees, in direct defiance of the wishes of Republican voters and the Legislative Priorities of the Republican Party of Texas; and

WHEREAS, Speaker Dade Phelan ignored or actively undermined several GOP priorities during the regular session, failing to prioritize legislation to secure our borders and elections; and

WHEREAS, new leadership is needed in the House of Representatives for the upcoming special session, and potential subsequent special sessions, to ensure that conservative priorities are achieved and members are no longer pressured to act and vote contrary to the platform, principles, and priorities of the Party they represent and its voters; now

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Republican Party of Texas calls on Speaker Dade Phelan to step down from his leadership role as Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, and to allow a new Speaker to be elected after a caucus vote in accordance with the Republican Party of Texas Platform; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that should Speaker Dade Phelan fail to step down from the Speaker chair for this upcoming special session, the Republican representatives should vote to vacate the chair and allow for a new Speaker who has pledged to honor and support the priorities and principles of the Republican Party to be elected.

Paxton Impeachment Trial

Ken Paxton was acquitted of all charges. I watched or listened to almost every minute of this trial in the TX Senate.

Here’s what I wrote to my State Senator, Charles Schwertner, the last day of the trial.

Probably unlike most of your constituents, I have either listened to or watched almost every minute of every day of the Paxton hearings. I’ve been waiting for proof of the allegations against him, and even now that the House managers rested, I’ve not heard it.

It is very clear to me that there were lots and lots of assumptions made, and then actions taken in support of those assumptions. Example: the “apoplectic” reaction to subpoenas being issued, and the witness had no knowledge of the second referral at the time he went “apoplectic”. Reaction without knowing the facts. Actions, including the meeting with the FBI, taken as a result without knowing the facts.

One of these employees acknowledges that he sent documents to Johnny Sutton. Thus, documents could have been taken to the FBI. Claiming they couldn’t take internal documents externally is BS since they DID send internal documents to Johnny Sutton.

I’m not going to take the time to go through each and every Article of Impeachment. Suffice it to say that the case has not been made. A bunch of innuendos have been thrown against the wall to see what y’all will vote for to get rid of the most effective AG Texas has had.

The House Managers claim they brought these charges because Ken Paxton asked for the funds to settle all this. OF COURSE those have to be public funds. It was the OFFICE that was sued. Under the statute ONLY the office can be sued, not him personally. Isn’t it in everyone’s best interest to settle this and get back to work? As a mayor in the past, we settled many suits that were without merit because it was cheaper to do so than to go to trial.

I urge you to vote to exonerate Ken Paxton on each and every allegation.

Here’s how the Texas Senators voted:

2023-09-16PaxtonImpeachmentVotes

My thoughts on this whole thing:

Thank you to the senators, including mine, who saw through this sham of an impeachment. Thank you for listening to your constituents, representing them. Thank you for upholding our votes.
Dade Phelan should resign. He should resign because he was drunk on the floor of the House. He should resign because, when called on it by Ken Paxton, he did exactly what they accused General Paxton of doing: he retaliated by rushing through a bogus impeachment.
Dade Phelan, if he doesn’t resign, should never again be considered for TX Speaker of the House. He doesn’t deserve a leadership position. He didn’t serve the people of Texas. He served himself and his cadre of compatriots, exactly what he accused AG Paxton of doing.
House legislators who voted for this sham should be very circumspect about future votes. And, if they took money from Phelan, they should return it or face defeat at the ballot box.
The cost of this fiasco should be made public.
If there is any settlement for those alleged “whistleblowers”, the cost of this debacle, both houses of the legislature, should be deducted from it. If there isn’t enough, Dade Phelan should pay the rest out of his campaign funds.
AG Ken Paxton has hopefully repaired his relationship with his wife. He, and any other cheating elected official, should remember this is a job they’ve been elected to do, not a party or a social gathering. If you fit that category, clean up your act.
Ken Paxton should clean house in that Attorney General’s office as best he can subject to HR laws. As an elected official, you can’t work with people who refuse to support you or your agenda.
Ken Paxton needs to remember to pick his friends and associates carefully. As an elected official, it’s hard to know who to trust and who is blowing smoke… well, you know. Learn to cut ties quickly and completely.
Ken Paxton needs to find trusted, truly trusted, advisors outside his realm of business. As Ronald Reagan used his beautiful ranch to ground himself, Ken Paxton needs to do the same… find a grounding place and a couple of people who have no ties with government to give him perspective.

Ken Paxton Impeachment

See below the votes as cast by Texas Senators regarding dismissal of various charges. Watching in plain view how Democrats stick together and Republicans do not. All Dems and 6 Republicans voted “nay” on every article moved for dismissal. Only 5 of 30 voting senators (all Republicans) had mixed votes, and of those, 2 of the 5 had only one “yea” vote which is really hard to characterize as “mixed”. Senators Perry, Schwertner, and Sparks were the only mixed votes.

Ken Paxton has not been convicted of any crime. Even if he is impeached, he will not have been convicted of a crime. Sound familiar? Sounds to me like the “Get Trump Any Way You Can” playbook. Impeach, then if that doesn’t work, indict. Oh yeah, that already happened to Ken Paxton in 2015 but it’s never gone to trial. Accuse, accuse, accuse, smear, smear, smear anyone in office on the GOP side who is actually effective. Sad Republicans can’t see this for what it is.

TX Senate votes on dismissal of various articles of impeachment

Gambling Reruns

I’ve watched this movie before: “Casino Gambling is Good for the State”.

I lived in NJ when casino gambling came to Atlantic City. I’m shocked as I watch issue after issue coming to Texas that first came to NJ, in pretty much the same fashion and using the same arguments. Casino operators had tried to get the question on the ballot in NJ and were unable to do so for a long time.

Atlantic City NJ casinos Finally, the legislature voted to put the question on the ballot. With so much pro-gambling advertising money pouring into the state, opponents couldn’t begin to compete on a level advertising field. It passed.

The sales pitch:

Casinos would be limited in location. (Sound familiar, Texans?)
No slot machines throughout the state. (Sound familiar, Texans?)
A percentage of the proceeds would go to seniors and the disabled (https://www.nj.gov/casinorevenue/funded/). (Sound familiar, Texans?)
Jobs would be created. (Sound familiar, Texans?)
The public should have a right to vote on the issue. (Sound familiar, Texans?)
Surrounding areas would benefit from a positive economic impact. (Sound familiar, Texans?)
Funds would be made available for those who suffer addiction (alcohol, gambling, etc). (Sound familiar, Texans?)
A Casino Revenue Fund Commission would be created. More government bureaucracy. Someone has to determine how much of the revenue should go where. (Sound familiar, Texans?)
A Casino Control Commission would be created. More government bureaucracy. Someone has to determine which companies get permits. The 2023 cost of that commission is nearly $8 MILLION dollars: $7,957,000. (https://www.nj.gov/casinos/about/budget/)(Sound familiar, Texans?)

Today, Atlantic City NJ is just as poor and crime ridden as it was before casino gambling. It’s not a place you’d take your family for vacation, in spite of being along the Jersey Shore. Many casinos are run down. What saves AC? Government conferences like the NJ Conference of Mayors and the NJ League of Municipalities (think Texas Municipal League). There isn’t anywhere else in the state for large conferences with sufficient hotel space. That’s not the case in Texas so when the casinos fail, conferences will go elsewhere.

Notwithstanding these government commissions allegedly running everything in Atlantic City, corruption runs rampant. https://newjerseyglobe.com/local/4-of-last-7-atlantic-city-mayors-faced-criminal-charges/ Prostitution runs rampant. Right off the boardwalk, drugs of any and all kinds are available. But, I’d caution you about going there, walking there, at night. It’s just not safe.

Search “Atlantic City drug raids” and you’ll see. Here are some examples:

And, then there’s the gun violence: https://247wallst.com/city/atlantic-city-nj-reported-one-of-the-highest-murder-rates-in-the-us/

So, our Texas elected officials are trying to stop 18 year olds from legally purchasing rifles, but they want to bring gambling here with all its vices and dangers.

My mother always said “If your friend stuck her head in a sewer, would you do it too?” I hear her saying that every time I hear a legislator say Texas has to have casinos because our neighboring states do.

Texans: Just because they stuck their heads in the gambling sewer, should we do so too? Because I’ve seen this movie before, I say “no”.