What Color Is Harris County, Anyway?

You've heard it before; "Keep Harris County Red".   Or, "Turn Harris County Red."  Some others out there want to "Turn Harris County Blue".  What does all of that even mean??

Well, unless you're completely new to politics, you have probably already figured out that the colors that are being referred to are the colors of each party, red for Republican and blue for Democrat.  What about the 'keep' and the 'turn' part, though?  Glad you asked.

Lots of people that live here in Harris County  know that our county is a battleground for control between the two major parties. To those that say that they want to turn Harris County red, I say--it is!  The county is solidly under Republican leadership; County Judge Ed Emmett and three out of four of the county commissioners are Republican!  Republicans also hold more judicial benches than Democrats do.  So, YES, Harris County IS a Republican county.

So I'm obviously in the 'Keep' camp.  We've got to keep Harris County a Republican County and the only way we can do that is to challenge ourselves as activists and precinct chairs to get out and meet the voters face to face.  Block walking, phone banking and mailers, when they're afforded, can be great tools to help turn out Republican voters.  (More on that later)

Now the Democrats are obviously those who want to turn Harris County 'blue'.  We won't get much into the ideological differences between the two parties, but unlike most major cities and bigger counties, Harris County remains red while the City of Houston is most solidly blue.  Which brings me to the point of this whole article.

I'm a doer, and if there's anything that I can physically DO to make a change for the good, I usually try to do it.  In following the blue print of wanting to 'do' something, we as Republicans have a real, tangible opportunity to DO something!  What's that?  To begin to turn the tide at City Hall!

Remember that Democrat stronghold that the City of Houston has on it?  Raise your hand if you would like to be part of loosening that stronghold!  (You should have both of your hands raised at this point.)  Then join me and others to help elect a Republican to the city council seat in District K.  The late Larry Greene held this seat and there is a special election being held on May 5th to finish out his term. 

There are two Republican candidates along with a crowded field of seven Democrat candidates vying for this seat.   Gerry Vander-Lyn is one of two Republican precinct chairs running for this position and I'm supporting her candidacy.  I'm also leading the block walking efforts for her campaign, and I'd love for you to join me on one or ALL of the block walks we'll be doing up until election day.

Click the link found here to RSVP for the block walk that's happening this Saturday.  We could sure use your help!   For those of you who dismiss the idea of being able to make a real, substantive difference, then may I say that 'can't never did anything'.  Also, please don't come to me after the election and whine about how the party didn't do anything to get involved in local elections, because, remember:

WE ARE THE PARTY!  

It's often been said that, "As Harris County goes, so goes Texas, so goes the nation"  What do you want your county, your city and your state to look like? 

The Threat of Mayor Turner's Tax Increase Looms After Hurricane Harvey

"We're all in this together."  To quote Bill Lumberg from the cult classic Office Space, "I'm going to have to go ahead and disagree with you there."  Many of you know that Mayor Turner is proposing a temporary tax hike to help pay for the damage that the city incurred after Hurricane Harvey   Thankfully we have some conservative friends on Houston City Council, one being Councilman Mike Knox.  He's there to shed some light on what is going on.  Here is the information that he shared via social media a few weeks ago and his position on the tax increase:

"Tropical Storm Harvey created an unprecedented degree of damage in the Houston area.
The mayor says we need immediate funds to get the debris collected and removed, to replace city vehicles destroyed, to repair city buildings damaged, and to fix damaged roadways. His position is we cannot wait for FEMA to begin this process so we must raise the property tax rate, using the emergency clause contained in it."

"Okay, I can agree with all of these facts. Now here is the problem:  If the tax rate is increased the money it generates will not be available until way after January or February of next year. You see, the tax rate has to be approved by council, which cannot be accomplished until October 18th."

"The tax rate notification must then be forwarded to the County Tax Assessor/Collector who must then send out the tax bills and then we have to wait for the owners to send in their tax payments.
The maximum we expect from this tax increase is 113 million dollars more than we would get without the temporary tax increase."

"There is nothing quick about this process.  There is, however, a better and much faster way.
The city holds back 7.5% of its budget in the ready fund balance for emergencies. In our current budget that amounts to approximately 150 million dollars. In addition, we have approximately 50 million dollars over that amount for a total of around 200 million dollars available today to spend on the "emergency" items. A figure substantially larger than the amount we would receive from the increased tax."

"The mayor could place this request on tomorrow's agenda and be spending it on debris removal and other items by Friday. Without the need to raise anyone's tax rate.  It appears to me the Mayor is using everyone's emotion and desire to quickly recover from the horrible devastation to enact an increased tax rate for this coming year, when he must know the funds could not be available until the Spring of next year."

"The discrepancy in the stated nature of the emergency and the necessity for immediate funding, combined with the natural and unavoidable delay in obtaining the funds, gives me significant reason for pause. Especially when a faster and immediately fundable mechanism exists to accomplish the stated goals."

There have already been a few hearings on this and for all of the outrage on Facebook and elsewhere, only a handful of people actually showed up to speak against this tax increase, which is anything but temporary.  I've been in touch with Councilman Knox since he posted the above text and he said that there are a few more hearings to follow.  Monday, October 2nd at 6PM and Wednesday, October 11th at 9 AM.  The hearings will be held at 901 Bagby Street on the 2nd floor.  Thanks to Councilman Knox for keeping us informed of the situation. 

Government Overreach vs. Back to Basics

I love it when an organic idea or a Facebook post turns into a blog, don't you?  Well, that's what spawned this blog idea in particular.  Well, that and a city election that just happened this past Tuesday.  Mayor, comptroller and city ordinances as well as Texas constitutional amendments made an appearance on the ballot and trust me when I say there was no shortage of controversy on the ballot centered around one HERO ordinance.

The HERO ordinance, or Houston Equal Rights Ordinance went down in flames, only getting thirty-eight percent of the vote.  Say what you will about the ordinance, or the wording or the good or bad of it, I'm simply of the mind that this is not something that the city government should be dabbling in.  At. All.

So, on Saturday morning, I started thinking about it and here's my 'organic' Facebook post that I posted on my wall: "What is the world coming to? We're now fighting as a city and a nation over whether or not men and women should be using the same public restrooms and now contemplating the need for a transgender bathroom? I never actually made my opinion on the bathroom issue public, but I am glad that the ordinance was shut down on Tuesday. I also think that the City government shouldn't even be dealing in this kind of matter. I endorsed Bill King for mayor and like his slogan, "Back to Basics" seems to fit the bill. Infrastructure, pensions, drainage, is the business of the city. NOT a liberal, leftist agenda by a lesbian, soon to be ex-mayor. And, no, I don't believe that anyone should be discriminated against for whatever reason, but how do we take a small segment of the population and somehow elevate their rights over the rights of a majority? Oh, wait, I'll just go one step further and offend everyone today, you could apply that same logic to black lives matter. ALL lives matter! Is this still America?"

Back to basics.  I like the sound of that.  I'm sure it's been used before in other campaigns, but to me it resonates because we're facing a time when government overreach is at an all time high.  The overreach we see is at EVERY level of government; city, state, and federal.  Here's an idea, governing bodies, if it's not in your wheel house, then you don't need to get involved!  



Another question that we have to ask ourselves, or our governing bodies should be asking themselves, is "..how do we take a small segment of the population and somehow elevate their rights over the rights of a majority?"   It's true that most people overestimate the amount of the population that identify and gay or lesbian.  Most think that at least 20% of the population identify as gay, lesbian or transgender, when it's actually less than 4%.  Less than 4%. 

And speaking of back to basics, I think that Ted Cruz has it right when he refers to the United States Constitution as his 'touchstone'   To quote him, he says, "My touchstone for every question is the Constitution."  It's just too bad that more legislators and governing bodies don't put their own special interests on the back burner in order to better represent their constituents according to the Constitution.