Category: news

Power and Control

Let’s be clear. I don’t live in the City of Bastrop. I can’t vote on City matters. City elections are non-partisan so there aren’t primaries where my positions in Republican politics would come into play.

But, I did spend ten years in elected office: six on a Town Council and four as the Mayor of a town of 16,000 people under a strong mayor, weak council form of government. So, I know how the game is played.

People who live in the City of Bastrop should rise up in anger at what’s happening in their City. A voting majority of the City Council can meet in private according to their current charter.

That voting majority is trying its hardest to keep that power, to be able to decide issues away from the public view, to run government in private. This is completely opposite of government “of the people, for the people and by the people”.

Frankly, who do they think they are? Do they think that they are smarter or more privileged than any other resident of the City of Bastrop? Who said they had all the ideas? How did they learn what they could and couldn’t do as Council members? Were they born with this knowledge and others weren’t?

First, they came after Mayor Nelson. He had an affair. Not good, but not illegal, and not a rationale for overturning the will of the voters. John Kirkland said citizens asked him if there was a way to recall the mayor, yet the petition submitted has 96% of the signatures collected by 3 Council members, a former Council member, and their families. No one has any idea what people were told at the door when asked to sign this petition, but my guess is it wasn’t that an audit and investigation found no wrongdoing on the part of the Mayor. I’ll bet they didn’t tell people that the mayor had the legal right to keep his private cell phone data private. Did they tell people that there was no subpoena for that cell phone data? One would think if there was a criminal investigation into the Mayor that his private cell phone would have been subpoenaed.

From this former mayor’s perspective, this is an attempt to get rid of Mayor Nelson and install a mayor of their choice and one they can control.

Now, they’re going after the City attorney. Monday night’s Special meeting now includes an Executive Session “to discuss the duties of the City Attorney.” My guess is he won’t play ball with them, won’t support their shenanigans, won’t muddy the legal waters to give them the power they so desperately desire.

I’ve seen this movie before. If the citizens of the City of Bastrop don’t pay attention, get involved and stop this, they’ll end up living in a city they don’t like and they don’t recognize.

Stolen Valor

I’m frankly surprised that this video hasn’t been scrubbed by YouTube. Until then, it’s well worth watching. Command Sergeant Major Thomas Behrends, the Command Sergeant Major who took Tim Walz’ place when he abruptly retired, tells the story how that happened.

And, he shows the actual military record showing Walz did not retire as a Command Sergeant Major, but rather an E8 Master Sergeant. Claiming otherwise is “Stolen Valor”.

Heck, why not just claim he retired as head of the Joint Chiefs? He quit when it came time to serve in Iraq. No matter how many years he put in prior to that, when the chips were down, he ran and hid.

Government Behind Closed Doors

In 1989, I ran for Township Council on a platform that included Open Government. We elect representatives, and other than those items allowed to be discussed in executive session by law, majorities of governing bodies should ALWAYS discuss government business in public.

I was shocked to learn that the City of Bastrop Charter allows a voting majority to meet in private because of its definition of a quorum. Currently set at 4, that means 3 City Council members can meet in private. The voting majority is 3. So any and all public business could be discussed in private.

Mayor Nelson supports changing this to a quorum of 3 so no more than 2 (less than a voting majority) can meet in private. Those trying to recall him want it to stay the way it is. No wonder they want Nelson recalled.

Please read this article on indytexans.org. If you signed the recall petition and now realize why its happening and no longer want to support it, you can have your signature removed. This article explains how to do it.

Remember: WE THE PEOPLE are the government. WE THE PEOPLE have the right to know what our representatives are doing and discussing. WE THE PEOPLE will be kept in the dark if a voting majority can meet in private, contrary to the principles on which this country was founded.

The Court System is Rigged

No surprise here. It has been for years.

Deliberations in the NY Trump trial lasted a total of 9.5 hours on 34 felony counts over the course of two days: 4.5 hours the first day and 5 hours the second day. 

Do the math. 

(9.5 hours X 60 minutes) / 34 counts = 16.76 minutes per count

With time for readbacks of the judge’s instructions twice, plus some other testimony, that’s barely 15 minutes per count.

This can’t be called deliberations.  Fifteen minutes per count isn’t enough time to discuss anything, and barely enough time to actually conduct a vote of the jurors.

This is just another example of how this trial was rigged.  The time calculation says these jurors discussed the counts as a group and voted on them as a group when they should have considered them one at a time.  Had they done that, they’d still be deliberating.

I’ve done jury duty.  I have first-hand knowledge of how deliberations are done. 

This was a rigged trial, start to finish.  It will be overturned on appeal, but that will take years.

Imagine if this were you.  Are you a billionaire?  How much money do you have available to defend yourself against charges like this in a rigged system?  You’d settle because you can’t afford the bleed of money to lawyers and experts, with the possibility that you won’t win anyway. 

How do I know?  I fought a politically motivated traffic ticket where clearly I had not violated the law.  When the legal bills climbed higher than what I could possibly justify spending, I caved.  I stood in front of a judge and pled out.  I wanted to throw up after I did that, basically lying to the court because I was not guilty.  But when I balanced my innocence and depleting my kids’ college funds, I couldn’t bring myself to spend their futures on my lawyers and court costs.

So yes, it can happen to you.  When Trump says he’d doing this for you, yes he is.  It’s why anyone who has experience with the broken court system will vote for Trump.  He has exposed this rigged system.  He has now lived this rigged system.  I’m sad for his family and what they’re going through, but so proud to have cast my vote for him twice already.  And, in November, I’ll proudly cast my vote for patriot Donald Trump once again.   

Are you a voter or a lemming?

Is a list of endorsements from an organization an end point for you or a starting point? Do you vote in a primary from a list provided by one organization or do you research endorsements from several organizations and see where they overlap? Do you do your own research?

Bunni Pounds from Christians Engaged has great advice. Read below or watch this clip.

“In 20 minutes you can research your ballot and go in much more prepared than anybody else. Look at the races. Look at their Facebook pages. Look at their website. Read out of their own mouth what they say about their qualifications. Check out their resumes. Google their names. See who else is supporting them in your community. See if they answer some of the questions that are important to you about these non-partisan races. And, then check around people in your communities to see who they are supporting and why. […] Check out public forums and anything they are hosting to get to know the candidates in your city.”

  • Did the organization print a transcript, or at least a summary, of the interviews with the candidates on which they based their recommendations?
  • Did they ask the candidates for written answers to a common set of questions and publish those answers?
  • If they didn’t interview a candidate, did they tell you that?
  • If they have an affiliation or prior business relationship with a candidate, were they transparent enough to tell you that?
  • If one candidate is a member of their organization and the other is not, do they reveal that?
  • Did they provide any rationale at all for why they chose one candidate over the others?

Never be a lemming. Just because this group or that says “vote for our list of candidates” or worse yet, “take our list to the polls with you”, that’s not what you should do in a primary, runoff, or uniform (May non-partisan) election.

Expect information. Better yet, demand information or refuse to be a lemming. Your vote is yours, not theirs.

Oh, the Irony

Cell phone photoYesterday, the City of Bastrop Ethics Commission voted unanimously to issue a letter of reprimand against Mayor Lyle Nelson for allegedly “interfering” with an investigation by refusing to turn over his private, personal device data.

Oh, the irony.

This happened at the same time that members of Congress scuttled FISA 702 over the issue of warrantless searches of Americans’ digital data. Our Congressman, Michael Cloud (CD-27), voted against the current iteration of FISA 702, stating “The Constitution is not a set of recommendations or suggestions,” said Rep. Cloud. “It is the limit on our government. Our first job in Congress should be to protect the peoples’ liberties from government intrusion, and allowing for warrantless spying on American citizens is a grave violation of those liberties. This is a red line for me and should not be a partisan issue. If you need to surveil someone, get a warrant.“

Nelson’s lawyer stated “Even as a public official, people have their right to privacy and the minutiae of their private lives are not fair game just because a City Council seeks to pry into their lives.”

No warrant was issued for Nelson’s private device data. While the original allegation was misappropriation of VisitBastrop funds, which are predominantly taxpayer funds, no action has been taken against the former executive director of that organization, the person with the authority to make financial decisions. (In fact, effective January 1, 2024, she officially joined the board of the national DI organization.) Nelson was not a VisitBastrop board member, City Council member or mayor at the time of the allegations.

Based on the Ethics Commission decision, who in their right mind would want to serve on any board or commission in the City? Who would put their name forward knowing that, at any time, the City Council can demand their personal data be provided to an investigator without a warrant; and a refusal to provide that data, demanded without a warrant, would result in a public reprimand or possibly loss of office?

I’ve served on many boards and commissions, both by appointment and by running for office. Luckily, that was prior to the personal proliferation of cell phones. This is why today many elected officials use encryption apps like Signal. Want the password to my Signal account? Get a warrant. Want my personal data? Get a warrant.

The Fourth Amendment of the US Constitution states, “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

While a majority of the US Congress stood for the Fourth Amendment yesterday, these City of Bastrop appointees and elected officials chose to ignore it. Oh, the irony.

Read Between the Lines

People collect things. I collect campaign literature. I have campaign literature going back probably 30 years. Some is good; some is awful; some is clever; some really, really boring. Some has colors that are just atrocious. Some was done with nary a thought for the low-vision user. Some is just evidence the candidate doesn’t know what they’re doing, or worse, why they’re running.

Campaign literature is sales literature. The candidate is selling you on why they’d be the best in the position. Here are my four rules when it’s campaign time: Don’t be fooled or swayed by photographs in the mailers; Know what the candidate can and cannot do in office; Read carefully; Find and research the legally required “paid for by”.

Rule #1: Don’t be fooled or swayed by photographs in the mailers.

Some candidates use photos of themselves with their families or children. Why? To tug at your heart strings… “Oh isn’t that cute!” Cute isn’t what you need from an elected official. Candidates need conviction and back-bone. They need to be strong, not sway the way the wind blows. They don’t need to be cute.

Carol Spencer with Monica CrowleyWhy do some of them use photos with famous elected officials? To make you think that person supports their candidacy. But do they? This is Monica Crowley and me a few years ago at a GOP event. Having a photo with her didn’t mean she endorsed my candidacy. The same is true of photos with Kellyanne Conway, Rudy Guiliani, Sarah Palin, Ken Paxton, Sid Miller, Governor Abbott and so many others with whom I’ve been photographed over the years. Photos with famous politicos, unless accompanied by the words “Endorsed by [name of person in photo]”, should be interpreted as manipulative, meant to make the candidate look important or to make the reader think that person has endorsed the candidate.

A list of endorsements by others, but not the person in the photo, when used together is pure deception. Back to top

Rule #2: Know what the candidate can and cannot do in office.

Someone running for a legislative position cannot do anything without a majority vote of the body in which they serve (city council, TX House, TX Senate, US House, US Senate). They cannot fix the border or cut government spending. And usually, the executive (mayor, governor, president) has to sign any passed legislation to make it law.

Someone running for an executive position can only do that which the charter or constitution allows. And, a great deal of what is allowed requires a vote of the legislative body: budgets, capital spending for example.

This is called “checks and balances”.

When an incumbent running for re-election says they accomplished this or that, no they didn’t. They cast one vote for legislation to make that happen. Perhaps they swayed colleagues to do the same. But in the end, without a majority vote and a supportive executive, nothing they support will ever come to pass.

And, remember what position they’re running for… a mayor cannot close the border, fund medicare or fix social security issues. A congressman can’t get local roads paved. Back to top

Rule #3: Read carefully

Beware the use of “conservative”. Does a true conservative support Democrat chairs in the legislature? Does a true conservative celebrate being endorsed by staunch Democrats? Does a conservative group endorse candidates who previously voted Democrat?

There’s a big difference between “voted to close the border” and “closed the border” but you’ll see both on campaign literature.

“Most experienced” is something else you’ll often see. If you don’t know what the requirements of the position include, how will you evaluate “most experienced”? If the person has always been a chief executive, but is running for a legislative position, that person probably does not have the requisite experience. A chief executive calls the shots. A legislator must count votes for bill passage and must sway a majority to his/her line of thinking. These are very different skill sets. Back to top

Rule #4: Find and research the legally required “paid for by”

All campaign advertisements must include who paid for them. This is critical to know. Did the candidate (well, actually, the candidate’s donors) pay for the mailer? Did some PAC (political action committee) pay for it?

If a PAC paid for it, ask yourself what that PAC expects to get for the expenditure of funds. Mailers are very expensive: design, printing, mailing costs. A county-wide GOP mailer can easily cost $5,000.

Do an online search for the PAC itself and see what it’s about. Go to OpenSecrets.org for Federal PACs and see who else got money from that PAC. Go to Texas Ethics Commission (TEC) for State PACs.

This is also true of the various emails requesting money. Where’s it going? Watch carefully. Sometimes something will appear to be for a candidate, but the money you donate is going elsewhere. Be careful! Back to top