I really didn't want to write something about Larry Millican. In watching the Council meetings his comments have been rather well thought out, calm, and collected, to the point that I wanted to believe he wasn't part of the "Green Team" machine. Yet after seeing so many things associating Larry with the rest of Pat Hallisey's puppets, I can no longer avoid commenting on Larry's platform. He has jumped in with both feet, and as Holly Shelden pointed out today, "When the character of a man is not clear to you, look at his friends." So, it's time to look at what's wrong with Larry Millican's platform. But before we get there, I have to question - as he put it, his wife is the activist, he's just been along for the ride, so why is Larry running now? Perhaps the question is - what's in it for Larry? Moving on - let's look at the four points of his platform.
1) "Restore respect and dignity to City Council" Now, I've seen our Council be plenty respectful and act with appropriate dignity, up until Pat Hallisey snuck into the Mayor's office, finally winning an election for the first time ever after countless attempts, by running in a special election that occurred with a ballot where the mayoral election was the ONLY contested position. Even then, Pat only won by less than 100 votes in a city of greater than 100,000 residents. Pat campaigned on a promise to fight the rest of council and oppose them at every step of the way. So one has to ask - with such a disrespectful position towards the will of the people who elected (by wider margins, in elections that saw a greater portion of the population vote) the rest of Council, how can one who has aligned themselves with Pat's Puppets actually restore "respect and dignity"? Pat Hallisey's wife is on Facebook "liking" comments that describe candidates for council and council members as "cougars" and "hogs", is that the type of "dignity" and "respect" we can expect with Larry on council? Pat's puppets are wasting their time attempting to get a recall election for councilman Dan Becker, and posting childish selfies at their coordination meetings, and seeking to waste our tax dollars on a special recall election - is THAT the kind of "respect and dignity" we can expect? To that, I say, NO THANK YOU. I'd much rather our city council respect the fact that I have worked hard to earn my money, and act responsibly by taking the necessary steps to reign in spending (more to come on that later) and attract businesses to our town so the tax burden can shift to retail and industrial instead of homeowners taxes.
2) "Restore open discussion and public decision making". Really, Mr. Millican? Public decision making? Like when you asked council to resist seeking public approval to spend $10million on a new Animal Shelter (your wife's pet cause) simply because you were afraid the public wouldn't approve it? Now you've aligned yourself with the Green Team, campaigning against the downtown revitalization effort, which is intended to increase retail sales tax through targeted investment in specific proposals that will increase the number of retail shops downtown while providing a public service with more parking available for events at League Park, that will skillfully bring in grant money to fund 80% of the cost (transferring federal tax dollars paid by our citizens from Washington back to League City). This same Green Team campaign against downtown revitalization uses the justification that the parking garage should be put to the public for a vote, yet you resisted doing this for your wife's pet project, an extreme expense. Now, I'm not saying I'm opposed to a new animal shelter, but the hypocrisy of this "restore open discussion and public decision making" plank in your platform is ridiculous. Which is it Larry, do you want public decision-making when it supports your positions, but don't want it when it might rain on your wife's parade?
3) "Intentional approach to long term economic growth" - Please reference my post on Greg Gripon's identical position (https://leaguecityoutsiders.blogspot.com/2016/10/league-city-council-candidate-greg.html ) Ultimately this is liberal centralized control at it's purest, and Larry claims to be a "conservative". Shame on him.
4) "City employees are our greatest asset". Really Larry? Is that why you support a Mayor who has driven away quality employees? Is that why your Green Team supporters are on a witch hunt to drive out our City Manager and City Attorney? Please explain this contradiction. Even if we ignore the way the Mayor has badgered and harrassed the city staff, at BEST, this line is a platitude, corporate-speak nothingness at it's finest. What aspect of our city's benefits package, pay scale, or work environment do you plan to change? Without specifics here, you're just paying lip service in an attempt to grab some votes.
I'm sorry, but I can't support a big-government, regressive, anti-growth, hypocritical Hallisey puppet for Council.
Monday, October 24, 2016
Sunday, October 23, 2016
League City - Vote for Rudy Salcedo (if you support a President Hillary Clinton)
The Green Team is going to try to hide behind the whole council-elections-are-nonpartisan line. The elections themselves may be non-partisan. This just means the city doesn't have to host a primary election, and we can have more than 2 candidates in the general election. It doesn't mean the candidates are non-partisan. The fact is, League City is a majority-conservative, majority-Republican region now. And the fact is, the Green Team will try to hide the fact that they are a liberal, big government, tax and spend, nanny-state supporting faction. But they're not very good at hiding it.
I haven't said much about Rudy Salcedo yet. After all, it's hard to criticize someone who has been largely checked out of this election. I've never seen a candidate attempt to say so little. His website lists the groups he volunteers with, and not much else. Even the Green Team Propaganda Wing (League City Politics is a Full Contact Sport) has been rather quiet, outside of Janice "Please keep my husband out of my hair by giving him an office at City Hall" O'Hallisey posting RUDY, RUDY, RUDY! along with images from the movie "Rudy". So it's rather hard to dispute anything he's said, when he's said nothing. But I figured out why he's been rather absent from the campaign here in League City...
It's because he's been busy on Twitter trying to get HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON elected as your President:
Folks, tell these big-government liberals that you don't want their regressive thinking damaging this great town by rejecting the Green Team. If you support HRC, then by all means, vote for Rudy Salcedo. If you want our City Council to roll over and implement any liberal policies that HRC dreams up, vote for Rudy. If you want a City Council that will push our police department to round up guns when HRC issues executive orders on gun control - vote for Rudy. If you want someone who will stand up to federal overreach and will instruct our police department to ignore un-Constitutional Executive Orders on gun control - vote against Hillary and vote against her supporter, Rudy Salcedo by voting for a proven, established conservative - Todd Kinsey.
I haven't said much about Rudy Salcedo yet. After all, it's hard to criticize someone who has been largely checked out of this election. I've never seen a candidate attempt to say so little. His website lists the groups he volunteers with, and not much else. Even the Green Team Propaganda Wing (League City Politics is a Full Contact Sport) has been rather quiet, outside of Janice "Please keep my husband out of my hair by giving him an office at City Hall" O'Hallisey posting RUDY, RUDY, RUDY! along with images from the movie "Rudy". So it's rather hard to dispute anything he's said, when he's said nothing. But I figured out why he's been rather absent from the campaign here in League City...
It's because he's been busy on Twitter trying to get HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON elected as your President:
Folks, tell these big-government liberals that you don't want their regressive thinking damaging this great town by rejecting the Green Team. If you support HRC, then by all means, vote for Rudy Salcedo. If you want our City Council to roll over and implement any liberal policies that HRC dreams up, vote for Rudy. If you want a City Council that will push our police department to round up guns when HRC issues executive orders on gun control - vote for Rudy. If you want someone who will stand up to federal overreach and will instruct our police department to ignore un-Constitutional Executive Orders on gun control - vote against Hillary and vote against her supporter, Rudy Salcedo by voting for a proven, established conservative - Todd Kinsey.
Saturday, October 22, 2016
League City Council Candidate Greg Gripon's Platform
Based on the Chris John Mallios sympathetic interview with Greg Gripon, we finally know what his platform consists of (besides #LeagueCityProud #HomeGrown). And it's got some serious flaws. Yes, it's time to get back to the issues as we analyze the PRIMARY reason Greg Gripon is wrong for League City's future. And it's because his only desire is to fight to keep us in the past by implementing regressive liberal policies of centralized control and misguided environmentalism run amok. Outside of talking about his dad and sharing stories of the good old days, Greg Gripon expressed his top 3 priorities for the city, as
With respect to maintaining support for the Police Department, outside of paying lip service in gratitude for the police union endorsing him, he said nothing else. Honestly, does this mean he plans to buy more new equipment, improving their benefits, increasing funding for training, what? It's really easy to say you're going to maintain support for something, but that's not a plan. That's a goal, at best, but most likely just lip service.
Now, onto the centralized government-mandated master-planning for development of the west side of the city. If this doesn't stink of liberalism run amok to you, then you lack a nose. Here's a few quotes and points from Greg on this topic:
Now, the city is already working on requirements that subdivisions that are built will have reclaimed water systems to irrigate common land, the entrance-ways, and parks. If that's all Mr. Gripon is talking about, then he's talking about changing nothing and taking credit for it. Now, if he's talking about requiring it for every single residential house, this is a MASSIVE cost increase. Byram Lass claims that Mr. Gripon isn't opposed to growth, but increasing the cost in this nature can be viewed as NOTHING but an opportunity to resist growth, and in Mr. Gripon's own words, this will, "control growth in League City". But let's look more into whether this reclaimed water system makes sense. First, Mr. Gripon claims that 80% of the water use in League City is for irrigation systems, and only 20% is used for bathroom and drinking water. First of all, that's not true. The city's own website states that it CAN be as high as 50-80% of residential use IN THE SUMMER MONTHS (reference: http://leaguecity.com/index.aspx?NID=1585 ). So, 25% of the time, it CAN be as high as 50-80%. The rest of the year, it's virtually none. But let's do the math more generous to Mr. Gripon, and say that summer is a full half of the year in League City and that the 80% figure isn't an upper bound but the average. And let's say it doesn't drop to zero the rest of the year, but let's say it drops to 50% of the use (even though that's likely VERY high). 50% of the year we're at 80%, 50% of the year we're at 50%, that would STILL cap our irrigation usage at 65%. Perhaps Mr. Gripon get's his figures from global figures from Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irrigation_statistics) which includes places that use FAR less water in bathrooms and kitchens, and has far less natural rainwater yet still needs to grow crops. But here in League City it's not 80%. Moving on to even more mistaken claims, Mr. Gripon stated that the water would be free of chlorine and fluoride, and this would make the grass happy. However, very few water processing facilities remove chlorine or fluoride from the water, and most still ADD chlorine to attempt to control bacteria in the "purple" reclaimed water system (we'll come back to bacteria in a minute). In other words, this claim is mistaken. Now the reclaimed water is usually going to be higher in minerals and salts, some of which are good for the grass, but the levels can get too high, and proper treatment of lawns will be difficult to manage. Additionally, the minerals and salts will make for very "hard" water, and this puts a much heavier strain on the valves, pipes, and other equipment in the systems, and reclaimed water systems require much more maintenance (reference: http://www.rainbird.com/landscape/resources/webinars/Reclaimed-NonPotable.pdf ) and on-going operational costs than our current water system (thereby decreasing some of the savings). Additionally, there could be impacts such as challenges in scheduling the early-morning youth sports at parks, as you need to limit human contact while the grounds are still wet from reclaimed water. And for those concerned about our environment, a lot of studies are starting to come out that reclaimed water systems are breeding grounds for anti-biotic resistant genes by passing on antibiotics in the wastewater and providing a breeding ground for bacteria due to lower levels of disinfectant. (reference: https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/bitstream/handle/10919/23863/Fahrenfeld%20et%20al.%202013%20Front.%20Microbiol..pdf;sequence=1) , so this system would be a safety risk for our community. And one final point on the reclaimed water mandate that is part of your platform - who is TRULY going to pay for it? You can say that it's going to be a mandate on developers - but they don't ACTUALLY pay for it. The end consumer of the work the developers do will pay for it. For one thing, running the water and sewer is usually funded by a MUD, which is a tax the homeowners will pay. If it's not, then the developer will pass the cost on with the price of lots, and the homeowners will be paying higher for their houses. In other words, people will stop choosing to build in League City, because Friendswood, Dickinson, and other areas will be most cost effective. But of course, your goal is to "control growth", so that's REALLY what this is all about, isn't it?
Mr. Gripon, sure some people come to League City for it's "green space". But the majority come here for the following: League City has safe neighborhoods with good schools, there's lots of job opportunities in the area, there is a reasonable cost of living and a high level of convenience. Your plans will increase the cost of living and decrease the level of convenience. You see, evidence from other cities that have created too many restrictions on growth and micro-managed the "master plan" to the level Mr. Gripon is proposing, have started to realize bipartisan criticism. Liberals lament that the plan has lead to an increasing level of segregation and a widening inequality between the "haves" and "have nots", as the restrictions on development create barriers that prevent the lower-middle class from being able to live in nice towns (reference: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/04/business/how-anti-growth-sentiment-reflected-in-zoning-laws-thwarts-equality.html). Meanwhile, the right has shown that zoning laws have limited the economic growth of our nation (reference: http://www.forbes.com/sites/timothylee/2011/09/19/zoning-laws-are-strangling-silicon-valley/ ). You see, Mr. Gripon, we need to shift our city revenue to be derived from retail and industry instead of homeowners. This will help keep our area with a reasonable cost of living. If we fight growth, we drive up our taxes on homeowners to find the infrastructure improvements. If we fight growth, we artificially drive up property values, pricing out the working class.
So, folks... it's about CONTROL. Do YOU want the control, or do you want to hand it over to the government? If you want your cost of living to increase while your conveniences decrease, vote for the Green Team (Gripon/Salcedo/Millican). If you want the control, and you want to LOWER your taxes, not increase them, vote for someone else who will support the City Manager and the rest of our City Council as they implement an ACTUAL plan that is seeking to diversify the tax base to decrease the burden on homeowners.
- Traffic
- Maintaining support for the Police Department so it remains "The Best"
- Centralized government-mandated master-planning of the development of the remaining 50% of League City he identifies as not built out on the west side of the city.
With respect to maintaining support for the Police Department, outside of paying lip service in gratitude for the police union endorsing him, he said nothing else. Honestly, does this mean he plans to buy more new equipment, improving their benefits, increasing funding for training, what? It's really easy to say you're going to maintain support for something, but that's not a plan. That's a goal, at best, but most likely just lip service.
Now, onto the centralized government-mandated master-planning for development of the west side of the city. If this doesn't stink of liberalism run amok to you, then you lack a nose. Here's a few quotes and points from Greg on this topic:
- The city needs a document that specifies roadways, zones for buildings, homes, schools, a complete plan
- Anyone who wants to build something must get approval from the city that it is in accordance with the plan
- This will "control growth in League City"
- Architectural restrictions must be in place, as the city, "...must control what's going to be built"
- The city needs to "Make that area grow the way you want it to grow"
- "People come to League City because they love the green space in this town."
Now, the city is already working on requirements that subdivisions that are built will have reclaimed water systems to irrigate common land, the entrance-ways, and parks. If that's all Mr. Gripon is talking about, then he's talking about changing nothing and taking credit for it. Now, if he's talking about requiring it for every single residential house, this is a MASSIVE cost increase. Byram Lass claims that Mr. Gripon isn't opposed to growth, but increasing the cost in this nature can be viewed as NOTHING but an opportunity to resist growth, and in Mr. Gripon's own words, this will, "control growth in League City". But let's look more into whether this reclaimed water system makes sense. First, Mr. Gripon claims that 80% of the water use in League City is for irrigation systems, and only 20% is used for bathroom and drinking water. First of all, that's not true. The city's own website states that it CAN be as high as 50-80% of residential use IN THE SUMMER MONTHS (reference: http://leaguecity.com/index.aspx?NID=1585 ). So, 25% of the time, it CAN be as high as 50-80%. The rest of the year, it's virtually none. But let's do the math more generous to Mr. Gripon, and say that summer is a full half of the year in League City and that the 80% figure isn't an upper bound but the average. And let's say it doesn't drop to zero the rest of the year, but let's say it drops to 50% of the use (even though that's likely VERY high). 50% of the year we're at 80%, 50% of the year we're at 50%, that would STILL cap our irrigation usage at 65%. Perhaps Mr. Gripon get's his figures from global figures from Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irrigation_statistics) which includes places that use FAR less water in bathrooms and kitchens, and has far less natural rainwater yet still needs to grow crops. But here in League City it's not 80%. Moving on to even more mistaken claims, Mr. Gripon stated that the water would be free of chlorine and fluoride, and this would make the grass happy. However, very few water processing facilities remove chlorine or fluoride from the water, and most still ADD chlorine to attempt to control bacteria in the "purple" reclaimed water system (we'll come back to bacteria in a minute). In other words, this claim is mistaken. Now the reclaimed water is usually going to be higher in minerals and salts, some of which are good for the grass, but the levels can get too high, and proper treatment of lawns will be difficult to manage. Additionally, the minerals and salts will make for very "hard" water, and this puts a much heavier strain on the valves, pipes, and other equipment in the systems, and reclaimed water systems require much more maintenance (reference: http://www.rainbird.com/landscape/resources/webinars/Reclaimed-NonPotable.pdf ) and on-going operational costs than our current water system (thereby decreasing some of the savings). Additionally, there could be impacts such as challenges in scheduling the early-morning youth sports at parks, as you need to limit human contact while the grounds are still wet from reclaimed water. And for those concerned about our environment, a lot of studies are starting to come out that reclaimed water systems are breeding grounds for anti-biotic resistant genes by passing on antibiotics in the wastewater and providing a breeding ground for bacteria due to lower levels of disinfectant. (reference: https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/bitstream/handle/10919/23863/Fahrenfeld%20et%20al.%202013%20Front.%20Microbiol..pdf;sequence=1) , so this system would be a safety risk for our community. And one final point on the reclaimed water mandate that is part of your platform - who is TRULY going to pay for it? You can say that it's going to be a mandate on developers - but they don't ACTUALLY pay for it. The end consumer of the work the developers do will pay for it. For one thing, running the water and sewer is usually funded by a MUD, which is a tax the homeowners will pay. If it's not, then the developer will pass the cost on with the price of lots, and the homeowners will be paying higher for their houses. In other words, people will stop choosing to build in League City, because Friendswood, Dickinson, and other areas will be most cost effective. But of course, your goal is to "control growth", so that's REALLY what this is all about, isn't it?
Mr. Gripon, sure some people come to League City for it's "green space". But the majority come here for the following: League City has safe neighborhoods with good schools, there's lots of job opportunities in the area, there is a reasonable cost of living and a high level of convenience. Your plans will increase the cost of living and decrease the level of convenience. You see, evidence from other cities that have created too many restrictions on growth and micro-managed the "master plan" to the level Mr. Gripon is proposing, have started to realize bipartisan criticism. Liberals lament that the plan has lead to an increasing level of segregation and a widening inequality between the "haves" and "have nots", as the restrictions on development create barriers that prevent the lower-middle class from being able to live in nice towns (reference: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/04/business/how-anti-growth-sentiment-reflected-in-zoning-laws-thwarts-equality.html). Meanwhile, the right has shown that zoning laws have limited the economic growth of our nation (reference: http://www.forbes.com/sites/timothylee/2011/09/19/zoning-laws-are-strangling-silicon-valley/ ). You see, Mr. Gripon, we need to shift our city revenue to be derived from retail and industry instead of homeowners. This will help keep our area with a reasonable cost of living. If we fight growth, we drive up our taxes on homeowners to find the infrastructure improvements. If we fight growth, we artificially drive up property values, pricing out the working class.
So, folks... it's about CONTROL. Do YOU want the control, or do you want to hand it over to the government? If you want your cost of living to increase while your conveniences decrease, vote for the Green Team (Gripon/Salcedo/Millican). If you want the control, and you want to LOWER your taxes, not increase them, vote for someone else who will support the City Manager and the rest of our City Council as they implement an ACTUAL plan that is seeking to diversify the tax base to decrease the burden on homeowners.
League City Politics at Its Ugliest
Intimidation, harassment, and assault are completely unacceptable. The beauty of our election system is that it allows all of us to have our "say" without the need for such tactics. I'm sure you've all by now read Justin Gripon's accounting of an alleged incident of harassment that borders on assault against his sister. I see three possibilities at play here.
1) Justin Gripon's story was completely and accurately presented to the public. If we assume this possibility, it is ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING. If you, like me, are opposed to the Green Team's election, KNOW THIS - the election will be decided by shedding the light of truth through to eliminate the spin from the green team. This election will be decided by properly spreading the word that this city needs a solid plan for the future with increasing the tax base to shift the burden of infrastructure improvement costs from the homeowner to the retail sales tax and hotel occupancy taxes. This election will be decided by showing the true colors of the green team. Should anyone who reads this website want to get involved, the right way to get involved is to share the message with your friends and neighbors and resist the spin machine that is League City Politics is a Full Contact Sport. I absolutely disapprove and am disgusted if anyone who thinks they agree with me and support what I am doing was involved in this incident. Do the right thing, and issue an apology, and stop with any such tactics. Now, if possibility 1 is really what happened, then there should be an actual investigation. There is absolutely no reason NOT to contact the police. Please do so, Ashley! Most grocery stores have cameras in the parking lot, please release the images/videos captured of this incident so that the public can help find the offender. There are crazy people on every side of an issue or election, and they need to be removed from the equation. After all, some of the Green Team supporters have threatened to open a "can of Texas whoop@$$" on yours truly, so I know it goes both ways, and it's completely unacceptable.
2) Justin Gripon's story was slightly exaggerated. This is very likely, and isn't meant to say anything wrong was done or said by Justin. After all, in the rather charged atmosphere of this election, it's very easy to misinterpret the statements and questions from people who disagree with you. Perhaps the factual timeline of events has been misinterpreted as the story passed from Ashley to Justin, then from Justin to Facebook. Perhaps someone waving her down and asking rude questions was interpreted differently by Ashley. Perhaps there wasn't any appendage from the alleged harasser that actually entered her vehicle, and the person just leaned against the truck as they asked questions. Again, security camera footage should help resolve this. But ultimately, there is ZERO reason for anyone who is opposed to a candidate to engage in direct confrontation with anyone associated with that candidate. The opposition would be FAR better served by helping spread the message of how candidate Greg Gripon is wrong for League City's future instead of confronting him, his friends, his family, or his "surrogates" directly.
3) Wagging the dog. In light of all of the discussion surrounding Greg Gripon's inability to manage a budget and failure to keep up with his taxes (we'll ignore whether all levels of government have been paid for all taxes, liens, and judgments, and focus on the fact that at the bare minimum he didn't keep up with it for many years), Justin and or the Green Team in general devised a plan to divert attention away from Greg's poor management of his business and finances. Taking a page out the playbook for many liberal causes, they crafted a victimization story, one so disgusting if it is true that anyone who dares challenge the narrative is automatically branded an insensitive jerk at best. Now, I want to be able to take Justin and Ashley at their word, like Chris John Mallios takes Greg Gripon at his word. However, I, and most of the 100k+ people in League City don't personally know these people. So instead, I have to look at the story of the alleged harassment, and I'm hard pressed to understand how it happened. See, unless Ashley happened to be wearing a Greg Gripon for Council shirt (in which case, the story makes a LOT more sense), then the person only had two reasons to think Ashley Gripon is affiliated with Greg Gripon - 1, she was driving a Lynn's Landscaping truck, or 2, the person recognized her as Ashley Gripon. Now I think we can rule out 2, as anyone who knew her to be Ashley Gripon wouldn't need to ask her, as the story alleges, if she is one of Greg Gripon's "surrogates", they would already know that she is his daughter. This leaves 1, and I just don't see how anyone would make the leap to thinking someone in a Lynn's landscaping truck is a political "surrogate" for Greg Gripon, as the logical assumption would be that the truck is driven by simply an employee. In other words, this entire scenario seems VERY unlikely, and the conversation doesn't seem remotely like one that someone would actually initiate.
Now, I wasn't there, so I'm not assigning a likeliness to ANY of these 3 possibilities. I've already made a statement assuming that it's case 1 - that I find any such action taken to be completely disgusting and will not be associated with anyone who does such things. But I truly hope that it's simply a matter of case 2. However, it should be rather suspicious if the Gripon family does NOT contact the police for an official investigation to be launched, as simply releasing the security camera footage should indicate which case occurred, and point the finger at case 3 being the most probable.
1) Justin Gripon's story was completely and accurately presented to the public. If we assume this possibility, it is ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING. If you, like me, are opposed to the Green Team's election, KNOW THIS - the election will be decided by shedding the light of truth through to eliminate the spin from the green team. This election will be decided by properly spreading the word that this city needs a solid plan for the future with increasing the tax base to shift the burden of infrastructure improvement costs from the homeowner to the retail sales tax and hotel occupancy taxes. This election will be decided by showing the true colors of the green team. Should anyone who reads this website want to get involved, the right way to get involved is to share the message with your friends and neighbors and resist the spin machine that is League City Politics is a Full Contact Sport. I absolutely disapprove and am disgusted if anyone who thinks they agree with me and support what I am doing was involved in this incident. Do the right thing, and issue an apology, and stop with any such tactics. Now, if possibility 1 is really what happened, then there should be an actual investigation. There is absolutely no reason NOT to contact the police. Please do so, Ashley! Most grocery stores have cameras in the parking lot, please release the images/videos captured of this incident so that the public can help find the offender. There are crazy people on every side of an issue or election, and they need to be removed from the equation. After all, some of the Green Team supporters have threatened to open a "can of Texas whoop@$$" on yours truly, so I know it goes both ways, and it's completely unacceptable.
2) Justin Gripon's story was slightly exaggerated. This is very likely, and isn't meant to say anything wrong was done or said by Justin. After all, in the rather charged atmosphere of this election, it's very easy to misinterpret the statements and questions from people who disagree with you. Perhaps the factual timeline of events has been misinterpreted as the story passed from Ashley to Justin, then from Justin to Facebook. Perhaps someone waving her down and asking rude questions was interpreted differently by Ashley. Perhaps there wasn't any appendage from the alleged harasser that actually entered her vehicle, and the person just leaned against the truck as they asked questions. Again, security camera footage should help resolve this. But ultimately, there is ZERO reason for anyone who is opposed to a candidate to engage in direct confrontation with anyone associated with that candidate. The opposition would be FAR better served by helping spread the message of how candidate Greg Gripon is wrong for League City's future instead of confronting him, his friends, his family, or his "surrogates" directly.
3) Wagging the dog. In light of all of the discussion surrounding Greg Gripon's inability to manage a budget and failure to keep up with his taxes (we'll ignore whether all levels of government have been paid for all taxes, liens, and judgments, and focus on the fact that at the bare minimum he didn't keep up with it for many years), Justin and or the Green Team in general devised a plan to divert attention away from Greg's poor management of his business and finances. Taking a page out the playbook for many liberal causes, they crafted a victimization story, one so disgusting if it is true that anyone who dares challenge the narrative is automatically branded an insensitive jerk at best. Now, I want to be able to take Justin and Ashley at their word, like Chris John Mallios takes Greg Gripon at his word. However, I, and most of the 100k+ people in League City don't personally know these people. So instead, I have to look at the story of the alleged harassment, and I'm hard pressed to understand how it happened. See, unless Ashley happened to be wearing a Greg Gripon for Council shirt (in which case, the story makes a LOT more sense), then the person only had two reasons to think Ashley Gripon is affiliated with Greg Gripon - 1, she was driving a Lynn's Landscaping truck, or 2, the person recognized her as Ashley Gripon. Now I think we can rule out 2, as anyone who knew her to be Ashley Gripon wouldn't need to ask her, as the story alleges, if she is one of Greg Gripon's "surrogates", they would already know that she is his daughter. This leaves 1, and I just don't see how anyone would make the leap to thinking someone in a Lynn's landscaping truck is a political "surrogate" for Greg Gripon, as the logical assumption would be that the truck is driven by simply an employee. In other words, this entire scenario seems VERY unlikely, and the conversation doesn't seem remotely like one that someone would actually initiate.
Now, I wasn't there, so I'm not assigning a likeliness to ANY of these 3 possibilities. I've already made a statement assuming that it's case 1 - that I find any such action taken to be completely disgusting and will not be associated with anyone who does such things. But I truly hope that it's simply a matter of case 2. However, it should be rather suspicious if the Gripon family does NOT contact the police for an official investigation to be launched, as simply releasing the security camera footage should indicate which case occurred, and point the finger at case 3 being the most probable.
Thursday, October 20, 2016
Candidate Greg Gripon - Let's make this simple for you.
Please print this, put a line through each of these liens and judgments which show as outstanding on the county's website, then sign the bottom of the page saying that you have, in fact, paid off all of the crossed out items. See, I'd love to take you at your word, but you spoke some seriously slippery words when you said you'd taken care of Clear Creek [ISD] and Galveston County (which surprisingly left out the State and the Federal Government). Here's the problem, as I see these are all still outstanding. I've determined them to be outstanding by searching on http://www.galvestoncountytx.gov/cc/Pages/RecordsSearchCCO.aspx for Lynn's Landscaping and Greg Gripon. See, previously, I'd forgotten to search for your business name, but since you talked about it SO proudly today, I figured I would search for that as well. Then I removed anything that was neither judgment nor lien, then I removed any of those which had a corresponding release. These are the ones that remained:
Lynn's Landscaping:
2013027212 - A OF J - 5/13/2013 - $8,253 - Owed to County/City
2014039640 - ST TAX LIEN - 7/15/2014 - $7,232 - Owed to the State
2015025907 - FED TAX LIEN - 4/28/2015 - $5,340 - Owed to the Federal Government
2015034338 - FED TAX LIEN - 6/1/2015 - $56,701 - Owed to the Federal Government
2015045121 - ST TAX LIEN - 7/16/2015 - $5,058 - Owed to the State
2015062700 - FED TX LN - 10/2/2015 - $45,532 - Owed to the Federal Government
2015065582 - A OF J - 10/16/2015 - $29,382 - Owed to CCISD
Greg Gripon:
2016012635 - FED TAX LN - 3/7/2016 - $43,139 - Owed to the Federal Government
So between the suspicious delay in responding, and now the half-answer you gave Mallios in your interview today, and the fact that all these still show as outstanding, that doesn't look very good. But perhaps you did pay all of those recently, if so... one has to ask HOW? And even if you have a VERY good explanation for all of that, given the extensive history of liens and unpaid taxes, please tell me how we can trust you with any sort of oversight of taxpayer money?
And just so I don't have to make a separate post just for Marc Edelman, because that would only feed his arrogance (and really, he should seriously work on his hubris), allow me to clear things up for you. As flattered as I am that you think I'm the City Manager (which clearly indicates just how spot-on and accurate you acknowledge my posts are), and despite how much I'd just hate to disappoint you, I am NOT, in fact, Mark Rohr. In fact, I've never set foot in the state of Ohio, much less attended a university there. And as for readership, you're welcome to assume nobody else is reading this blog. However, I can confirm that Chris John Mallios, Bill Heins, and yourself are reading it (which is already more than you claim), and unless y'all have a serious obsession with my blog to the tune of >4500 page hits in under a month, your estimation skills are "piss poor".
Lynn's Landscaping:
2013027212 - A OF J - 5/13/2013 - $8,253 - Owed to County/City
2014039640 - ST TAX LIEN - 7/15/2014 - $7,232 - Owed to the State
2015025907 - FED TAX LIEN - 4/28/2015 - $5,340 - Owed to the Federal Government
2015034338 - FED TAX LIEN - 6/1/2015 - $56,701 - Owed to the Federal Government
2015045121 - ST TAX LIEN - 7/16/2015 - $5,058 - Owed to the State
2015062700 - FED TX LN - 10/2/2015 - $45,532 - Owed to the Federal Government
2015065582 - A OF J - 10/16/2015 - $29,382 - Owed to CCISD
Greg Gripon:
2016012635 - FED TAX LN - 3/7/2016 - $43,139 - Owed to the Federal Government
So between the suspicious delay in responding, and now the half-answer you gave Mallios in your interview today, and the fact that all these still show as outstanding, that doesn't look very good. But perhaps you did pay all of those recently, if so... one has to ask HOW? And even if you have a VERY good explanation for all of that, given the extensive history of liens and unpaid taxes, please tell me how we can trust you with any sort of oversight of taxpayer money?
And just so I don't have to make a separate post just for Marc Edelman, because that would only feed his arrogance (and really, he should seriously work on his hubris), allow me to clear things up for you. As flattered as I am that you think I'm the City Manager (which clearly indicates just how spot-on and accurate you acknowledge my posts are), and despite how much I'd just hate to disappoint you, I am NOT, in fact, Mark Rohr. In fact, I've never set foot in the state of Ohio, much less attended a university there. And as for readership, you're welcome to assume nobody else is reading this blog. However, I can confirm that Chris John Mallios, Bill Heins, and yourself are reading it (which is already more than you claim), and unless y'all have a serious obsession with my blog to the tune of >4500 page hits in under a month, your estimation skills are "piss poor".
Greg Gripon's Best Clinton Impression Yet!
Comments on Chris John Mallios's radio interviews:
Welcome aboard Mr. Heins, appreciate you joining the discussion! Here's the thing... much like the Republicans had a problem with having debates on NBC networks, much like they complained about the biased moderaters from CNN, why would actual conservatives go into unfriendly territory to be interviewed by the Proud Democrat Chris John Mallios? His handling of discussions and rules on the Full Contact Sport Facebook Group show he's completely incapable of being an impartial interviewer. The fact that he removes people for being non-residents when they disagree with his Green Team propaganda, yet allows obvious non-residents like Holly Shelden (of La Grange) and Gordon Vest (of Louisiana) to continue to comment shows his bias. Furthermore, the fact that the only place he sought out questions for the candidates was from the Green Team Progaganda Wing (Full Contact Sport Group), why would anyone besides the Green Team show up for his show? Furthermore, it wasn't a debate, there was zero one-on-one with any candidates, it was one-on-one with Chris John Mallios, who lofted such softball questions to Greg Gripon, I'm not entirely certain that Pat Hallisey didn't script the entire thing (the show is called Political Theater, after all). Please tell me how YOU define qualified? I sure haven't seen anything out of the semi-literate comments written by Greg Gripon that indicate he's remotely "qualified" to serve on city council. And I particularly enjoyed his Clinton-esque evasion of the topic of his taxes. When Mallios asked about them, Gripon stated that he'd had some tax troubles, but they were "taken care of". When Mallios, in the toughest question he actually asked of Gripon, followed up with, "So the lien is paid?", Greg answered, "Clear Creek and Galveston are..." Greg Gripon has YET to state that he's cleared the FEDERAL tax lien. He's had his friends give vague responses that things are okay, and he's had a very carefully sculpted response ready to avoid discussing the federal tax lien. Until he clearly says he is fully current on ALL taxes at ALL levels of our government, I'm going to consider him completely unqualified to run our city. After all, how can we trust he'll manage the city's finances any better than he's managed his business and personal finances? And I'm not buying his boohoo hard times sob story, QUALIFIED people come through those, and the last thing they fall behind on is their taxes. After all, if you want to "serve" the people, you should pay your "fair share", right Mr. Turski? And if he DID manage to pay off the >$60k in outstanding taxes, where did that money miraculously come from all of a sudden now that he is running for office? Mighty suspicious. (And sorry, Mr. Heins, for answering with a new post instead of a reply, but I wanted my followers to be able to link to it directly.)
Welcome aboard Mr. Heins, appreciate you joining the discussion! Here's the thing... much like the Republicans had a problem with having debates on NBC networks, much like they complained about the biased moderaters from CNN, why would actual conservatives go into unfriendly territory to be interviewed by the Proud Democrat Chris John Mallios? His handling of discussions and rules on the Full Contact Sport Facebook Group show he's completely incapable of being an impartial interviewer. The fact that he removes people for being non-residents when they disagree with his Green Team propaganda, yet allows obvious non-residents like Holly Shelden (of La Grange) and Gordon Vest (of Louisiana) to continue to comment shows his bias. Furthermore, the fact that the only place he sought out questions for the candidates was from the Green Team Progaganda Wing (Full Contact Sport Group), why would anyone besides the Green Team show up for his show? Furthermore, it wasn't a debate, there was zero one-on-one with any candidates, it was one-on-one with Chris John Mallios, who lofted such softball questions to Greg Gripon, I'm not entirely certain that Pat Hallisey didn't script the entire thing (the show is called Political Theater, after all). Please tell me how YOU define qualified? I sure haven't seen anything out of the semi-literate comments written by Greg Gripon that indicate he's remotely "qualified" to serve on city council. And I particularly enjoyed his Clinton-esque evasion of the topic of his taxes. When Mallios asked about them, Gripon stated that he'd had some tax troubles, but they were "taken care of". When Mallios, in the toughest question he actually asked of Gripon, followed up with, "So the lien is paid?", Greg answered, "Clear Creek and Galveston are..." Greg Gripon has YET to state that he's cleared the FEDERAL tax lien. He's had his friends give vague responses that things are okay, and he's had a very carefully sculpted response ready to avoid discussing the federal tax lien. Until he clearly says he is fully current on ALL taxes at ALL levels of our government, I'm going to consider him completely unqualified to run our city. After all, how can we trust he'll manage the city's finances any better than he's managed his business and personal finances? And I'm not buying his boohoo hard times sob story, QUALIFIED people come through those, and the last thing they fall behind on is their taxes. After all, if you want to "serve" the people, you should pay your "fair share", right Mr. Turski? And if he DID manage to pay off the >$60k in outstanding taxes, where did that money miraculously come from all of a sudden now that he is running for office? Mighty suspicious. (And sorry, Mr. Heins, for answering with a new post instead of a reply, but I wanted my followers to be able to link to it directly.)
Wednesday, October 19, 2016
If you email Jefferson Rothbard
be sure to check your spam folder for replies, anonymity comes at a price.
Thanks for reading, Chris John Mallios!
So within a few hours of my request that people post links to the league city outsiders on the League City Politics is a Full Contact Sport Facebook group, Chris John Mallios updated the description of the group to read the following:
"Anonymous postings (or links to such sites) will be removed"
Chris John Mallios, I challenge you to take the following action(s)
Either:
(1) Change the name of your Facebook group to one of the following
a. League City Democrats
b. League City Green Team Propaganda Discussion Group
c. Friends of Chris John Mallios
d. Pat Hallisey's puppets
e. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, we're all brainwashed here
or
(2) Change the description of your group to read the following: This is a group where people who think like me and agree with me are allowed to discuss how much we all agree with each other WITHOUT profane language (for the most part) and cheap shots (unless they're directed towards our opponents). Everyone has an opinion so respect the opinion we all collectively hold or you will be shouted down. Remember 3 Things 1. League City is a place for us oldtimers who grew up here and nobody else. 2. it's nothing personal unless we don't like you 3. Politics is not life and death, but if you cross us we'll threaten your livelihood and challenge your manhood. Please do not advertise or spam, except to advertise for Pat Hallisey's indoctrination sessions, Mel Kelley's delusional recall efforts, or Green Team recruiting events. Anonymous postings are not allowed, but feel free to drop innuendos towards our opponents all you like. You shall never question the following lies I have told: 1. I, Chris John Mallios can track IPs from Facebook users (even though it's impossible and I, Chris John Mallios wouldn't have the faintest clue how to do it), and 2. This group is for League City residents only (you know, unless we agree with you - Holly Shelden of La Grange, for example - or you went to high school with Pat Hallisey - Gordon Vest for example -, in which case, comment away, while I will silence any actual residents of League City who happen to not want their real name used, or anyone who agrees with that kind of person.
If you refuse to make one of these changes, then you are admitting that you, sir, are the true coward. You are the one afraid of ideas. You are the one who is pretending to offer up to the community a "safe place" (there's another Democrat buzz word for you) to "debate" issues that matter to our community, when in reality, you're simply attempting to convince the rest of League City (the people that aren't as completely immersed in local politics as you are), that your ideas, and those of your like-minded individuals are the voice of the will of the people in an attempt to influence this election.
In light of Chris John Mallios's update to the description for his Facebook group - please do NOT post links to this blog on the group. Instead, if you find a question I raise to be one worthy of seeking answers from the regulars on his group, or if you find one of the comments to be one that they need to see, just summarize the point with a post on his group, or copy and paste the actual text instead of pasting a link.
"Anonymous postings (or links to such sites) will be removed"
Chris John Mallios, I challenge you to take the following action(s)
Either:
(1) Change the name of your Facebook group to one of the following
a. League City Democrats
b. League City Green Team Propaganda Discussion Group
c. Friends of Chris John Mallios
d. Pat Hallisey's puppets
e. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, we're all brainwashed here
or
(2) Change the description of your group to read the following: This is a group where people who think like me and agree with me are allowed to discuss how much we all agree with each other WITHOUT profane language (for the most part) and cheap shots (unless they're directed towards our opponents). Everyone has an opinion so respect the opinion we all collectively hold or you will be shouted down. Remember 3 Things 1. League City is a place for us oldtimers who grew up here and nobody else. 2. it's nothing personal unless we don't like you 3. Politics is not life and death, but if you cross us we'll threaten your livelihood and challenge your manhood. Please do not advertise or spam, except to advertise for Pat Hallisey's indoctrination sessions, Mel Kelley's delusional recall efforts, or Green Team recruiting events. Anonymous postings are not allowed, but feel free to drop innuendos towards our opponents all you like. You shall never question the following lies I have told: 1. I, Chris John Mallios can track IPs from Facebook users (even though it's impossible and I, Chris John Mallios wouldn't have the faintest clue how to do it), and 2. This group is for League City residents only (you know, unless we agree with you - Holly Shelden of La Grange, for example - or you went to high school with Pat Hallisey - Gordon Vest for example -, in which case, comment away, while I will silence any actual residents of League City who happen to not want their real name used, or anyone who agrees with that kind of person.
If you refuse to make one of these changes, then you are admitting that you, sir, are the true coward. You are the one afraid of ideas. You are the one who is pretending to offer up to the community a "safe place" (there's another Democrat buzz word for you) to "debate" issues that matter to our community, when in reality, you're simply attempting to convince the rest of League City (the people that aren't as completely immersed in local politics as you are), that your ideas, and those of your like-minded individuals are the voice of the will of the people in an attempt to influence this election.
In light of Chris John Mallios's update to the description for his Facebook group - please do NOT post links to this blog on the group. Instead, if you find a question I raise to be one worthy of seeking answers from the regulars on his group, or if you find one of the comments to be one that they need to see, just summarize the point with a post on his group, or copy and paste the actual text instead of pasting a link.
Contact Information & Request
Should anyone wish to reach me, you can email me at jefferson.rothbard@tuta.io .
If any of you Green Teamers wish to address my questions or respond to my positions, or let me know where you feel there is factual information on which I've been anything less than 100% truthful, and you don't want your fellow Green Teamers to know that you actually engaged with the "deceiver" from "never never land", I won't even let anyone know that you contacted me if that's your desire.
I realize this will bring the wrath of Turski down on you; however, if anyone is brave enough to endure that verbal shellacking, please start posting links to the blog on the League City Politics is a Full Contact Sport Facebook group any time you see a new one up. I don't want anyone to have the excuse of ignorance when challenged as to why they didn't respond to my questions and concerns.
Also, please share links to the blog with as many Facebook groups as you can that have anything to do with League City and Galveston county - we need to get the word out to everyone that the Green Team is NOT the team that represents the will of the people.
If any of you Green Teamers wish to address my questions or respond to my positions, or let me know where you feel there is factual information on which I've been anything less than 100% truthful, and you don't want your fellow Green Teamers to know that you actually engaged with the "deceiver" from "never never land", I won't even let anyone know that you contacted me if that's your desire.
I realize this will bring the wrath of Turski down on you; however, if anyone is brave enough to endure that verbal shellacking, please start posting links to the blog on the League City Politics is a Full Contact Sport Facebook group any time you see a new one up. I don't want anyone to have the excuse of ignorance when challenged as to why they didn't respond to my questions and concerns.
Also, please share links to the blog with as many Facebook groups as you can that have anything to do with League City and Galveston county - we need to get the word out to everyone that the Green Team is NOT the team that represents the will of the people.
Tuesday, October 18, 2016
League City Politics - Real Context (Not Just History)
I had so many thoughts over the last 24 hours regarding what this post should cover. Initially I started with a desire to clarify a few things and thank a few people. Then I thought about criticizing the superior level of decorum displayed on the League City Politics is a Full Contact Sport Facebook group last night by Bill Heins. But then that all changed today... I decided to do all of that, but more importantly, to highlight what the City Council election this year really means. Because after all, genuine substance trumps the silly games that pass for politics over with the Green Team crowd on League City Politics is a Full Contact sport.
So first, let's get some clarifications and thank yous out of the way. Byram Lass - thank you for honestly pointing out how misguided Yvonne Tibai was with her whole Debbie Drury lives in Kemah mess. And yes, you ultimately did correct the rest of the clowns regarding Brenton Spry's address, but my post was still 100% correct in that Marc Edelman and Mick Phalen have been stirring up their own breed of half-truths and distortions. So, congratulations, you actually got something right for once. Of course, you still have YET to show ANYTHING that I've said to be a half-truth. Please do, or stop claiming anything I've said is anywhere short of the truth. Also, thanks for reading the blog! But seriously, if you're going to try to answer someones question about a specific factually correct or incorrect statement, you really should address that statement, not the merits of the author of the page where that statement was a comment by someone else. You mad, bro?
Now, let's just address Bill Heins quickly. You posted a less than exemplary photo of Debbie Drury. I'm sure you've done far worse things in your time, and I'm also 100% certain that that photo has absolutely NOTHING to do with how Debbie Drury would perform on City Council. It stinks of grasping at straws. Posting like that also showed poor judgment, and I'm certainly relieved to know that you are NOT on the ethics board any longer, as you clearly have a complete lack of personal ethics.
Okay, and now on to something that actually matters. Holly Shelden likes to claim that anyone who disagrees with her knows "nothing of LC politics, the players and history". Well, Holly, we don't need a lesson in history that goes back to the times when Bill Heins "studied girls at Texas A&M", we don't even have to go back to the last time Pat O'Hallisey actually had a full-time paying job. I've actually found a GREAT piece of writing that accurately and succinctly describes the two factions which are vying for power in League City with the election this fall, as it's the same two factions that went to battle back in the Spring. This website post (http://rrhelections.com/index.php/2016/03/16/league-city-mayoral-preview/) , written by Daniel Surman, who I assume is the same Danny Surman who has posted on the League City Politics is a Full Contact Sport page, clearly predicted the outcome of the mayoral election through analysis of the candidates support base. For those who don't feel like clicking on the link and reading, let me summarize, there are two factions in League City. In one corner, you have the Tea Party aligned with the Chamber of Commerce, interesting in attracting businesses to League City in an effort to shift the burden of funding the infrastructure and operations of this city to outsiders (through retail sales tax revenue increases) instead of the resident homeowners, and this corner holds most of the current City Council. In the other corner, you have the old-timers who are seeking to preserve their idealized, nostalgic image of League City from their youth by preventing progress and improvement. This group is currently headed up by the mayor, Pat Hallisey. The post then predicted that the anti-improvement group would likely win the special election for Mayor, as the old-timers are much more likely to turn out for a special mayoral election that has nothing else contested on the ballot. However, if you read his analysis of the current demographics in League City - there's ZERO reason for this group to expect a positive outcome in a YUUUUGE general election that has a Presidential race on the ballot. Moving beyond this analysis, the Green Team laughingly has made such claims as Justin Gripon's, "a overwhelming support from the community as a whole that support political change to steer our city towards a planned sustainable future." Ignoring that even the bulk of the support for the Green Team is really just anti-business and seeking to keep their oak trees around, and ignoring your party-line progressive Democrat terms like "sustainable", please keep in mind that y'all exist in an echo chamber. You are CONSTANTLY surrounded by the same group of ~20 people who all think like you. You've misinterpreted the echos of their single-minded comments as widespread support. You don't have that. But we'll let the election results explain that concept to you.
Now, how should one choose a side in this election. Let's start by explaining which side is which. The Green Team (Gripon, Millican, and Salcedo) are the anti-business old-timers. These people want to keep League City as they have idealized it. A small town, with a bunch of oak trees, them, their families, and their kind here. None of these new people who've moved in as the population doubled since the turn of the century, just the oldtimers. Much like the make-up of the national Democrat party, this faction is largely made up of the lower class and the upper class of League City residents. And that makes sense, the lower class is nervous about being priced out of the area as values will go up with additional development. The lower class is fine with the city being funded by property taxes, as they don't pay that much property tax regardless. The lower class loves getting the benefits of living in a nice area, as long as someone else is funding it. The upper class wants to preserve their green space at all costs, because they can afford it. But this city is mostly made up of the middle class and the upper-middle class. These are the people who will pay the costs for operating and maintaining this city, as they are paying the bulk of the property taxes. These are the people who will be benefited by attracting businesses to League City, which would increase the tax revenue from retail sales taxes, and enable the city to lower our property taxes. The faction that is supporting this effort to attract business, and accepts the reality that this area is GOING to develop, whether we like it or not, and is willing to address this by steering it along in a direction that benefits the residents (ALL the residents, not just the old-timers) is the faction that the Green Team opposes (Drury, Kinsey, Spry).
So, as Marc Edelman made clear, if you want to save some oak trees at all costs, and you're okay with high property taxes and hopey-changey sustainable liberalism, vote for the Green Team. Just know this - this area is GOING to grow, it's GOING to get developed, and at best you'll be delaying the inevitable, and I ask, at what cost?
If you support lower property taxes, you want to shift the costs of operating this city and improving our infrastructure to non-residents who come to our town to shop, and you want a city council that will be proactive to get ahead of the development and ensure our city remains competitive with surrounding towns at attracting the businesses that will drive retail sales tax revenue, then oppose the Green Team and vote for Drury, Kinsey, and Spry.
My apologies to Brian Brown, he isn't actually a member of either faction; however, the amount of brown-nosing of the Green Team cheerleaders he has done on the League City Politics is a Full Contact Sport Facebook group is shameful, so I guess he can be lumped in with that group by his personal choice more than for his actual positions.
So first, let's get some clarifications and thank yous out of the way. Byram Lass - thank you for honestly pointing out how misguided Yvonne Tibai was with her whole Debbie Drury lives in Kemah mess. And yes, you ultimately did correct the rest of the clowns regarding Brenton Spry's address, but my post was still 100% correct in that Marc Edelman and Mick Phalen have been stirring up their own breed of half-truths and distortions. So, congratulations, you actually got something right for once. Of course, you still have YET to show ANYTHING that I've said to be a half-truth. Please do, or stop claiming anything I've said is anywhere short of the truth. Also, thanks for reading the blog! But seriously, if you're going to try to answer someones question about a specific factually correct or incorrect statement, you really should address that statement, not the merits of the author of the page where that statement was a comment by someone else. You mad, bro?
Now, let's just address Bill Heins quickly. You posted a less than exemplary photo of Debbie Drury. I'm sure you've done far worse things in your time, and I'm also 100% certain that that photo has absolutely NOTHING to do with how Debbie Drury would perform on City Council. It stinks of grasping at straws. Posting like that also showed poor judgment, and I'm certainly relieved to know that you are NOT on the ethics board any longer, as you clearly have a complete lack of personal ethics.
Okay, and now on to something that actually matters. Holly Shelden likes to claim that anyone who disagrees with her knows "nothing of LC politics, the players and history". Well, Holly, we don't need a lesson in history that goes back to the times when Bill Heins "studied girls at Texas A&M", we don't even have to go back to the last time Pat O'Hallisey actually had a full-time paying job. I've actually found a GREAT piece of writing that accurately and succinctly describes the two factions which are vying for power in League City with the election this fall, as it's the same two factions that went to battle back in the Spring. This website post (http://rrhelections.com/index.php/2016/03/16/league-city-mayoral-preview/) , written by Daniel Surman, who I assume is the same Danny Surman who has posted on the League City Politics is a Full Contact Sport page, clearly predicted the outcome of the mayoral election through analysis of the candidates support base. For those who don't feel like clicking on the link and reading, let me summarize, there are two factions in League City. In one corner, you have the Tea Party aligned with the Chamber of Commerce, interesting in attracting businesses to League City in an effort to shift the burden of funding the infrastructure and operations of this city to outsiders (through retail sales tax revenue increases) instead of the resident homeowners, and this corner holds most of the current City Council. In the other corner, you have the old-timers who are seeking to preserve their idealized, nostalgic image of League City from their youth by preventing progress and improvement. This group is currently headed up by the mayor, Pat Hallisey. The post then predicted that the anti-improvement group would likely win the special election for Mayor, as the old-timers are much more likely to turn out for a special mayoral election that has nothing else contested on the ballot. However, if you read his analysis of the current demographics in League City - there's ZERO reason for this group to expect a positive outcome in a YUUUUGE general election that has a Presidential race on the ballot. Moving beyond this analysis, the Green Team laughingly has made such claims as Justin Gripon's, "a overwhelming support from the community as a whole that support political change to steer our city towards a planned sustainable future." Ignoring that even the bulk of the support for the Green Team is really just anti-business and seeking to keep their oak trees around, and ignoring your party-line progressive Democrat terms like "sustainable", please keep in mind that y'all exist in an echo chamber. You are CONSTANTLY surrounded by the same group of ~20 people who all think like you. You've misinterpreted the echos of their single-minded comments as widespread support. You don't have that. But we'll let the election results explain that concept to you.
Now, how should one choose a side in this election. Let's start by explaining which side is which. The Green Team (Gripon, Millican, and Salcedo) are the anti-business old-timers. These people want to keep League City as they have idealized it. A small town, with a bunch of oak trees, them, their families, and their kind here. None of these new people who've moved in as the population doubled since the turn of the century, just the oldtimers. Much like the make-up of the national Democrat party, this faction is largely made up of the lower class and the upper class of League City residents. And that makes sense, the lower class is nervous about being priced out of the area as values will go up with additional development. The lower class is fine with the city being funded by property taxes, as they don't pay that much property tax regardless. The lower class loves getting the benefits of living in a nice area, as long as someone else is funding it. The upper class wants to preserve their green space at all costs, because they can afford it. But this city is mostly made up of the middle class and the upper-middle class. These are the people who will pay the costs for operating and maintaining this city, as they are paying the bulk of the property taxes. These are the people who will be benefited by attracting businesses to League City, which would increase the tax revenue from retail sales taxes, and enable the city to lower our property taxes. The faction that is supporting this effort to attract business, and accepts the reality that this area is GOING to develop, whether we like it or not, and is willing to address this by steering it along in a direction that benefits the residents (ALL the residents, not just the old-timers) is the faction that the Green Team opposes (Drury, Kinsey, Spry).
So, as Marc Edelman made clear, if you want to save some oak trees at all costs, and you're okay with high property taxes and hopey-changey sustainable liberalism, vote for the Green Team. Just know this - this area is GOING to grow, it's GOING to get developed, and at best you'll be delaying the inevitable, and I ask, at what cost?
If you support lower property taxes, you want to shift the costs of operating this city and improving our infrastructure to non-residents who come to our town to shop, and you want a city council that will be proactive to get ahead of the development and ensure our city remains competitive with surrounding towns at attracting the businesses that will drive retail sales tax revenue, then oppose the Green Team and vote for Drury, Kinsey, and Spry.
My apologies to Brian Brown, he isn't actually a member of either faction; however, the amount of brown-nosing of the Green Team cheerleaders he has done on the League City Politics is a Full Contact Sport Facebook group is shameful, so I guess he can be lumped in with that group by his personal choice more than for his actual positions.
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