Campaign Contributions For Many Local Politicians Available Online--
If you are concerned about the influence "big money" has on local elections you may be interested in this site posted below. These files are the actual copies in .pdf format of the ethics forms filed with the state from the politicians themselves. Usually it costs a small administrative fee to get these and they are never made this available. We'd like to thank the site administrator at brazosriver.com for this access.
Please visit http://www.brazosriver.com/locals.htm for the actual files. You will need adobe to read them.
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Committee for Responsible Development
Mo-City Group
Missouri City, TX
http://missouricitychatter.blogspot.com
posted by responsible_dvlpmnt at Thursday, September 15, 2005
21 Comments:
Did you all see who is on Owens list and what about Judge Heberts?
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Thanks for posting this link. Are you people going to get the other council members lists up too? It should be interesting to see who has the local financial backing versus the Houston corporate crowd.
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I'd like to know if special privileges are being afforded for the contributors?
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I found this link interesting off that site you posted:
http://www.brazosriver.com/boys_and_their_money.htm
That lady is a trip. I love that site!
This is what she has at: http://www.brazosriver.com/locals.htm
Here are campaign finance reports for your local politicians-- it's just another friendly free service we offer at the beauty shop.
Campaign Contribution and Expenditure Reports
Our county commissioners could put these reports online for everyone to see and so could our cities and our school boards, but they won't. To see these reports, you have to go to the proper entity during regular business hours and file an open records request.
I will do that for you. Not because I want to, but because it hacks them off for everyone to see open government.
I do not have time to do them all, but I will add a few when I have time. New reports are filed in January and July, and more often during election season. I cannot possibly scan them all myself.. If you are willing to get some and scan them, I can put them in PDF format and share them on my website.
Here's what I have currently ----
County Judge Bob Hebert - and see here
Commissioner Tom Stavinoha
Commissioner Andy Meyers
Commissioner Grady Prestage
Commissioner James Patterson
....... and more
FBISD Board Member Stan McGee
FBISD Board Member Ken Bryant
FBISD Board Member Lisa Rickert
FBISD Board Member Laurie Caldwell
....and more
Sugar Land Mayor David Wallace
Sugar Land City Councilman Tom Abraham
Sugar Land City Councilman Russell Jones
Missouri City Mayor Allan Owens
...and more
Here's are reports available at the Texas Ethics Commission
State Representative Dora Olivo
State Representative Charlie Howard
State Representative Glenn Hegar
Fort Bend Republican Chair Eric Thode
Fort Bend Democratic Chair Elaine Bishop
--or check this story out from: http://www.brazosriver.com/boys_and_their_money.htm
The Boys And Their Money
Susan DuQuesnay Bankston
It's that time again - campaign finance reporting! Twice a year, in January and July, our elected officials have to tell us who holds their lease.
I know that I may well be the only person on earth who thinks it's undignified, rude, and disgraceful for public servants to be for sell to the highest bidder, but this is my website and I'm gonna holler about it and if you don't like it you can leave.
Once again, I'll explain the ground rules. County Commissioners are the most corruptible political office in Texas. They control how every dime of your county tax money is spent. If the District Clerk, Glory Hopkins, wants to buy something, she has to get Commissioners' approval first. Same deal with Constables and the Sheriff.
Any money spent by the county for "professional services" - lawyers, engineers, consultants - is decided on a non-bid basis. In other words, Commissioners can give those highly lucrative contracts to whoever they want without regard for price or qualifications. Prepare yourself for some shocking news --- those contracts go to firms and individuals who give Commissioners the most money for their campaign warchests. It's legalized kickbacks, pure and simple.
These firms and individuals pass along the cost of doing business to you, the taxpayer, in the form of higher prices to the county. They figure-in their required political "donations" in their overhead.
Campaign warchests rarely have anything to do with actual political campaigns. The law says that elected officials cannot spend the money in their campaign accounts to enrich themselves. But, that's never enforced. At least not in my lifetime. And I'm older than most planets.
Also, we have to trust them that what they are reporting is true. I don't trust them none at all. Nada. They lie. They break their promises. One of them even harasses women and makes us pay for it. On the whole, they're a slimy bunch.
The money they get in their campaign accounts is non-taxable. Politicians made that law. Cute, huh?
In short, they're stepping all over us and giggling about it.
As I explained in a snarky stuff, I go buy these reports and put them on the electric magic internet machine, open 24 hours a day. Commissioners could do that and in many counties they do, but our commissioners have one-half ounce of shame left about using you as a doormat. So, they only let you see them in county office during regular business hours - you know, when you work.
I'll put these online as I get them scanned.
First out of the box is County Judge Bob Hebert, the Mattress Mac of Fort Bend. In the past six months, Hebert has brought in $111,471 tax free dollars to his campaign account. You read that right - for the first time in the history of Fort Bend, we've moved into six-figures. He spent $57,908. He really didn't need to raise any money at all because he has $113,063 left in his account. Yes, he gives lots of money to charity so people will say nice things about how generous he is. That is just pure poopie del pollo!
Click right here to see County Judge Bob Hebert's record breaking hog trough.
Next comes Commissioner, Precinct 1, Tom Stavinoha, who is in Hawaii on "county business" this week. Tom raised $800 in the past six months, spent $9,314 and still has $7,247 in his campaign account. Tom takes his legal kickbacks in baseball and rodeo tickets. It's gotten so bad that vendors call him Ticket Man. We'll talk more about that later.
Click right here to see how Tom Stavinoha spends his tax-free money.
Andy Meyers is once again the genius of "creative finance reporting." He raised $62,175, spent $28,964, and refuses to use the new form that requires him to tell how much is in his account. Best I can figure, he paid around $6,000 in transportation/car expenses from his campaign account for the past 6 months. I hope he pimped his ride that that much money! You will also notice his country club dues and, like Grady, checks to himself or his credit card company for unspecified expenses.
Click right here to see Commissioner Andy Meyers' paid for a trip to California to see a "political consultant." You think he saw Ahnold?
... and just for fun, someone sent us FBISD candidate Ken Bryant's last two filings.
PLEASE NOTE: Commissioner Grady Prestage and Commissioner James Patterson have not filed their campaign reports yet. They were due July 15th and today is August 1st. Now you know why we have the one of the highest paid District Attorneys in the State of Texas. (Yes, county commissioners determine the DA's salary.)
Commissioners Patterson and Prestage have now filed their reports. They are posted on the LOCALS tab
When I get around to it, I'll set up a special page for campaign contribution and expenditure files. Okay, it's here --- click LOCAL STUFF over yonder on the left.
That's a great deal to take in.
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Here's my favorite section from Susan's article-
"It's that time again - campaign finance reporting! Twice a year, in January and July, our elected officials have to tell us who holds their lease."
For those of you who are fans of retail/commercial development here is a FB Sun article:
"Fort Bend Toll Road drives commercial activity near Sienna
09/20/2005
Burgeoning residential growth, coupled with the opening of the Fort Bend Toll Road, has intensified commercial real estate activity along Hwy. 6 between Riverstone Boulevard and Sienna Parkway, says Bob Graf, Missouri City's economic development coordinator.
Sienna alone will have 70,000 residents when the community is completed.
Eight years into a 20- to 30-year building program, Sienna Plantation, a 10,500-acre master-planned community at Hwy. 6 and Sienna Parkway, has completed 3,000 of the 25,000 homes that will be built, with 107 home sales in June alone.
Riverstone, a 2,800-acre community designed for 6,000 homes at Hwy. 6 and Riverstone Boulevard, has also experienced strong demand. The Johnson Development Corp. is involved in the development of Sienna Plantation and Riverstone.
LASCO Development Cor-poration's The Shops at Riverstone, a 400,000-square-foot retail center at Hwy. 6 and Riverstone Boulevard is now 75 percent leased, said LASCO's Tracy Sarver. The northernmost side of the shopping center is immediately adjacent to Kohl's, which opened in March 2002. The center will eventually extend as far as Home Depot and Super Target on the southern end.
LA Fitness, which recently entered the Houston market, will launch a 45,000-square-foot facility at The Shops of Riverstone in late November or early December.
A 30,000-square-foot Ross Dress for Less opened in June, a 29,000-square-foot Bed Bath & Beyond opened at the end of July, and a 19,000-square-foot Office Depot is scheduled to open in January 2006.
Other tenants include Famous Footwear, Johnnie Carino's Smoothie Factory, Malibu Tan and Copperfield Liquor.
Weaver, Davis & Jacob will break ground late July on The Crossing at Rocky Creek, an 8.5-acre mixed-use project on Hwy. 6 immediately south of Lake Olympia Boulevard. The first phase includes The Shops at Rocky Creek, a 16,000-square-foot retail center, and Rocky Creek Self-Storage, an 80,000-square-foot self-storage facility. Brookstreet Barbecue will build on a pad site within The Crossing at Rocky Creek and three additional pad sites will be available for professional offices.
At Hwy. 6 and Sienna Parkway, directly across from Sienna Plantation, a 16.9-acre tract is being developed for retail projects, says Kolbe Curtice of Curtice Commercial Realtors.
Frank Lee of Dreams Come True Realty is developing a two-phase, 50,000-square-foot shopping center on 8.3 acres. Sienna 29, LLC, has retained 2.6 acres for future institutional or high-end use.
On another six-acre parcel, Curtice is leasing 50,000 square feet in a neighborhood retail shopping center with two 5,000-square-foot ground lease pad sites intended for banks and/or restaurants. Curtice already has a commitment from a bank for space in the center.
Before the toll road opened, there was interest in the stretch of Hwy. 6 between Sienna Plantation and Riverstone, says Curtice. "Now interest now has been replaced by demand and clients are pushing to find sites."
On Hwy. 6, just west of Lakeshore Harbor, Brazos Lakes, L.P., is developing Brazos Crossing, a 28-acre retail development designed for retail, restaurant and commercial use.
On Sienna Parkway at Sienna Ranch Road, Weaver, Davis & Jacob Realty Group will develop a 19-acre mixed-use project adjacent to a new Fort Bend Independent School District middle school scheduled to open in 2007. The first phase - 12,000 to 15,000 square feet of retail - will break ground during the first quarter of 2006. The second phase - 10,000 to 15,000 square feet - will include 15 commercial build-to-suit professional office condominiums, says Scott Weaver.
"We're purchasing a 10-acre tract for mixed-use development at the southeast corner of Watts Plantation and Sienna Parkway," says Weaver, who also noticed a considerable increase in commercial activity during the second quarter of 2005. Weaver, Davis & Jacob Realty Group will close on the property in September and break ground in early 2006.
Also planned at Hwy. 6 and Sienna Parkway is a full-service healthcare facility of CHRISTUS Health Gulf Coast.
The hospital complex will provide services that focus on women's care, pediatrics, cardiology, orthopedics and sports medicine. Construction will begin in the winter of 2006.
The Dallas-based healthcare practice of RTKL Architects has been selected to design the facility, while The Irvine Team, a national design and construction strategy and project management firm, will spearhead the project with CHRISTUS Health Gulf Coast, which is comprised of hospitals, clinics and outreach ministries in the Houston area.
At Sienna Parkway and Sienna Springs Boulevard, Houston Community College System is building its main Missouri City campus, HCC-Southwest, which includes a Fort Bend County library, also slated to begin construction in 2006.
Fernando Brave, AIA, of Brave Architecture, is designing the campus."
©Houston Community Newspapers Online 2005
With a 20-30 year build out in Sienna scheduled you would think they could give 2 voting seats on the "residents association board" to homeowners of that community.
They don't believe in shared decision making (or constitutional government).
Here's one for conspiracy buffs:
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/2051205
After a three-year investigation, federal officials Friday arrested a former Kendleton police commissioner and a former captain on charges of pocketing traffic fines and misusing about $200,000 in federal funds.
Former Commissioner Sam Jimmie Mann Jr., 63, of Missouri City and former Capt. Gerald Davis, 55, of Houston were indicted Wednesday on 52 counts of conspiracy to commit extortion, lying to a federal agency, wire fraud and money laundering.
Mann, who is retired, and Davis, a supervisor for a security company, posted $100,000 bond each.
During their initial court appearance, Magistrate Judge Calvin Botley asked a distracted Mann if he had a passport to relinquish, got no response and asked again. "I'm so stunned, shocked, I'm sorry," Mann replied.
Allan Cease, attorney for Davis, said, "Gerald Davis categorically denies he has taken any money from anybody."
The pair could receive five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each count of wire fraud and conspiracy and 20 years and a $250,000 fine on each count of extortion.
They allegedly extorted money from motorists along U.S. 59 in the Fort Bend County town of about 500 people about 40 miles southwest of Houston between November 1997 and May 2000.
"They treated that as their own private toll road," U.S. Attorney Michael Shelby said.
The indictment refers to "others known and unknown" to the indicting grand jury, and Shelby declined to rule out other arrests.
The indictment said the powers of the municipal court and judges, "aided by the use of various employees of the city of Kendleton," combined in the effort to extort money from motorists charged with traffic violations.
The alleged conspiracy used police officers, paid and unpaid, to patrol U.S. 59 "to write as many tickets as possible."
The indictment said Kendleton police added charges to the traffic violation, "including charges not supported by law or fact, to extort larger sums of money from these ticketed individuals."
Fines were assessed without the municipal judge's consent, the indictment said, and officers were ordered to threaten motorists who had outstanding warrants instead of arresting them.
Officers in the 15-member police department allegedly threatened arrest by warrant when none existed, used fake arrest warrants, visited and threatened people at their homes and work to collect money, and insisted on cash payments.
Officers used non-court-authorized payment plans and took people to banks and automatic teller machines in police vehicles to obtain cash immediately paid to the officer, the indictment said.
The money was often wired to the police department, sent by courier or through banks, it said.
Police officials allegedly failed to notify the Texas Department of Public Safety and the state Comptroller's Office of the number of tickets written and the fines collected and intentionally concealed and destroyed evidence.
The fines were allegedly deposited in a bank account separate from the city's account normally used to deposit fines. A system of "hand-drawn" ledgers was used to cover the diversion of funds, the indictment said.
Mann and Davis also are accused of diverting money from a U.S. Justice Department program for hiring police officers.
The program, Community Oriented Policing Services, or COPS, awarded the city $318,000 to hire six officers. Mann allegedly forged documents showing the positions had been filled and used about $200,000 in COPS payments to supplement his salary.
Mann and Davis lost their job three years ago when City Council disbanded the police department after allegations surfaced about misuse of federal grant money and theft of thousands of dollars in traffic fines.
The city declared bankruptcy a year later and has since agreed to a 10-year plan to work its way back to solvency, Mayor Carolyn Jones said.
Jones said Kendleton, whose population has declined by at least 100 from the last census, has no plans to restore a police department. The sheriff's department patrols the city, she said.
Great article for this site. Why didn't you all post it sooner?
Because the lawyers are watching our websites.--CRD
We found this one on FortbendNow.com:
DeLay Hit With Felony Charge; Steps Down As Majority Leader
by Bob Dunn, Sep 28, 11:15 am
U.S. Majority Leader Tom DeLay, congressman for most of Fort Bend County, was indicted Wednesday by a Travis County grand jury on a single charge of criminal conspiracy.
The felony indictment, which carries a punishment of up to two years in jail upon conviction, means the Sugar Land Republican will have to step down from his leadership role in the House, according to Republican Party rules.
DeLay said in a statement that he’s notified House Speaker Dennis Hastert “that I will temporarily step aside from my position as majority leader pursuant to rules of the House Republican Conference and the actions of the Travis County district attorney today.”
What fight?
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