Tag Archives: lina hidalgo

Today is Election Day 2022!

Posted on November 8, 2022 | Comments Off on Today is Election Day 2022!

Well, it all comes down to today. If you haven’t voted early, then please get it done today!

  • Find your sample ballot by clicking here.
  • Find a polling location anywhere in Harris County by clicking here.
  • VOTE FOR ALL OF THE DEMOCRATS

Here are some truths.

Vote to Re-Elect Judge Lina Hidalgo. She has served us well through disasters, a pandemic, and especially through the day-to-day affairs of the County. She shows up for work, which cannot be said about Republican commissioners, like Jack Cagle and Tom Ramsey. If you want our county services left intact, if you want the Sheriff funded, and if you want to ensure our medical services still exist next year, then we must keep the Democratic majority. And that means re-electing Judge Hidalgo and electing Lesley Briones for Pct 4 Commissioner.

The local furniture guy does not support the best interests of the people of Harris County. He puts on a good show, but he falls short of caring for anything that doesn’t get him a tax dodge or hedge his business risks, like betting on the Astros to pay for all of “free” furniture. He’s a tax-dodging, MAGA-supporting, election-denying gambling addict, and Alex Mealer doesn’t fall far from those descriptors. Don’t tolerate whiny Republicans who will gamble away your rights and your own livelihood to enrich themselves.

And what about “Democrat Judges”? They have served us well, ensuring fairness and justice in the criminal and civil courts. The money for all of those anti-Democrat Judge ads is coming from a a few donors who do not care about your safety. Corporate groups like Texans for Lawsuit Reform (they have nothing to do with crime), Las Vegas Sands Company (which probably gets a lot of money from at least one local gambling addict, Trinity Equity Partners, Don McGill Toyota, and some other millionaires who don’t care about your safety, but care about buying civil court judges for their own benefit and that of their rich buddies. Vote for the Democrats if you want your best interests guarded.

We need Beto O’Rourke, Rochelle Garza and the Democrats at the top of the ballot to end the political career of Greg Abbott, Ken Paxton and the rest of the Republicans who threaten our livelihoods everyday. So, vote accordingly.

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Posted in Accion, Cultura, Democratic Stuff, Elections, Harris County, Local Politica, Media, Texas Lege, Voting Rights

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2022 Early Voting Begins Monday 10/24

Posted on October 24, 2022 | Comments Off on 2022 Early Voting Begins Monday 10/24

Today is the first day of Early Voting for the 2022 General Election. Here’s the important info:

FIND YOUR SAMPLE BALLOT HERE

FIND YOUR EARLY VOTING LOCATION HERE Or Print a PDF EV Location Sheet

VOTE EARLY! VOTE FOR ALL OF THE DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES! And vote for all of the Harris County Bond Propositions!

This is a very important election from the top to the bottom of the ballot. Vote in every race.

Personally, though, I’ll be skipping over Democrats who failed to endorse our County Judge Lina Hidalgo. Kudos to Mayoral candidate Chris Hollins for pointing out that one particular Democratic officeholder who has failed to endorse a couple of Latina candidates.

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Posted in 2022, Cultura, Democratic Stuff, Elections, Harris County, Local Politica, Media

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Thoughts on Viernes 04152022

Posted on April 15, 2022 | Comments Off on Thoughts on Viernes 04152022

Still With Judge Lina

Speaking of political performance art, the local DA seems to be going too far in the use of her office to wage a political vendetta against Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo.

While local purveyors of sensationalist reporting are having a field day while reporting whatever the local DA tells them, which mostly serves as porn for anti-Latina right-wingers, it is other news sites that report more of the story, such as Texas Monthly.

Beyond its potential legal consequences, the contract investigation reflects long-standing tensions between Hidalgo and Ogg, the Democratic district attorney who has found an alliance with the two Republicans on the five-member commissioners’ court, chaired by the county judge. In recent months, the Republicans, Jack Cagle and Tom Ramsey, have generally supported Ogg’s requests for funding beyond the annual increases her office has received, while the three Democrats—Hidalgo and Commissioners Adrian Garcia and Rodney Ellis—have resisted her entreaties. Ogg also increasingly finds herself estranged from the progressive wing of her party, which has faulted her for not embracing reform of the cash bail system.

Sounds like a political vendetta to me and quite the political performance. It’s not a secret that the local DA has even supported a slate of anti-reform assistant DAs to defeat incumbent judges. From what I hear, she was even part of the failed attempt to primary the County Judge. Her failure in playing political games has resulted in her using the office of the DA to pursue and finish this vendetta, it would seem. Where is the local reporting on this?

Given her office’s failure to prosecute a killer cop who assisted in the choking murder of a man, or failing to indict other killer cops who murdered an emotionally unstable man by shooting him 22 times, or her railroading of a local doctor accused of stealing COVID-19 shots that were about to expire only to fall on her face, voters were given plenty of reasons to defeat her. Now that she is using her office for political vendettas, it is high-time that Democrats did something about it and stopped living in fear of her actions.

Abbott’s Border BS

Greg Abbott is also pretty good at performance art as he increases state inspections of trucks delivering fruits and veggies from Mexico in the name of anti-immigrant policies and Texans’ thirst for Fentanyl, thus causing trucker protests (that actually work), supply chain issues, and cost rises at the grocery store. We’re talking about food that is rotting as soon as it is cut off the vine, so it needs to get to the warehouses and stores ASAP. And people are freakin’ out and politicians are doing their own bit of performance art in showing how inept Greg Abbott is.

But let’s talk about a better reason to increase prices of food being imported on trucks from Mexico. Did you know that farm workers make on average less than $200 a month (acc to The Wilson Center) to pick the fruits and veggies that we’re freaking out about right now? Is it any wonder prices are actually cheap as profits are going to corporate farmers and shipping magnates? I mean, who’s doing the complaining on TV if it isn’t the corporate types who are affected by Abbott’s idiocy?

Imagine paying a living wage to poor and indigenous farm workers. Would people be willing to pay more for fruits and veggies from Mexico if workers were paid more? Because, let’s face it, trade deals do more to ensure profits for corporations, rather than pay people fairly for their work. Thanks to NAFTA and other trade deals, Mexicans are really screwed, while we Americans benefit from cheaper prices. And people wonder why we have migration issues? We need trade deals that ensure fair pay for workers. Unfortunately, when the trucks start rolling again, people just enjoy whatever is normal.

I guess I want to see how the pro-Ukraine, “I’ll pay extra for gas to save democracy” folks react to paying more for food to save a family from poverty and violence that causes them to escape to the US.

Happy Easter

Enjoy your Easter holiday.

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Posted in Accion, Elections, Local Business, Media

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Isabel Longoria Resigns As Elections Chief

Posted on March 9, 2022 | 1 comment

After County Judge Lina Hidalgo made it clear that she preferred someone else in charge of elections, Isabel Longoria submitted her resignation, effective July 1.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Houston Chronicle reported that Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, a Democrat, said she wanted a change in leadership and intended to replace election administrator Isabel Longoria. Shortly after, Longoria announced she would step down on July 1.

Her resignation came after Harris County Democrats called for a comprehensive post-election review, while Republicans — regular adversaries of the county’s Democratic leadership — simultaneously sued the county and demanded Longoria’s resignation.

Also…

Ultimately, the county commissioners court voted to bring in a third-party consultant to review the county’s elections operations and make recommendations for improvement for the remaining 2022 elections.

I guess that the consultant will work double-time so the office can be ready for November. That’ll be a nice vendor contract.

County Commissioner Adrian Garcia supported Longoria’s resignation and defended the creation of an election administrator’s office stating the current system allows for accountability. Also, that an elected official running the elections would have an unfair advantage in their own race.

County Commissioner Rodney Ellis expanded on the fact that Longoria had to face an “unprecedented amount of obstructions aimed at her office and Harris County voters.” That would include anything from frivolous lawsuits to SB1 to no guidance from the Secretary of State. Ellis also stated that the real threat to voting rights are barriers to voting and other voter suppression tactics.

Back when the office was created, I defended our Democratic majority doing so since we elected them, and despite opposition from the Tax Assessor-Collector to the idea. What I did prefer at the time was a lengthy discussion on how it should be created and run and that a national search be done for someone to lead the office. Someone who knew the new voting system and could hit the ground running. Something that would not have taken two years, as Garcia mentioned in his statement. And look at where we are now.

Like Kuff, I was happy with the choice of Longoria because I knew her as a hard-working, open-minded person who would get the job done, if given the freedom by all sides. So, I appreciate Isabel Longoria’s commitment to remaining for the next two elections in May, though, I do remind her that this is a right to work state and loyalty is a two-way street. Whatever errors occurred happened within the entire office, so, I hope that all those involved are held accountable. That’s if all the hubbub wasn’t “political,” right?

Something else I said about the creation of a “non-partisan” elections office that would take out the politics from elections is that these offices are always political, no matter who is in charge. And with republicans continually tossing around voting conspiracy theories, it will be hard for anyone to run this office. And that’s exactly what Republicans want. So, best to keep a Democratic majority at Commissioner’s Court.

Kuff has his take and smacks the local news a bit for basically misleading viewers on how the “missing” votes could have affected the outcomes of some close races without context on the data. As Kuff (and many of us who follow vote counts as hobbies) expected, no outcomes were affected.

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Posted in Accion, Cultura, Democratic Stuff, Elections, Harris County, History, Las Mujeres, Media, Republinuttiness

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Y’all Suck! We Are Back At Orange!

Posted on December 20, 2021 | 1 comment

Looks like we are back at Code Orange in the COVID-19 threat level in Harris County.

“Due to the explosive growth of the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus across Harris County, public health officials are strongly urging all eligible Harris County residents, especially individuals 65 and older, to get their booster shots as soon as possible,” county officials said in a statement released Monday. “Residents who are not vaccinated are cautioned to do so immediately. Regardless of vaccination status, wear a mask and get tested before attending holiday gatherings.“

I don’t like to second guess leaders that I support, but the masking/testing suggestion for all should have continued, instead of going “Yellow.” Instead, we’ve seen so many maskless mass events attended by the unmasked, yet vaccinated, as holiday parties and graduations have been celebrated and, unsurprisingly, the numbers took a turn for the worse in a very bad and quick way. Some of our Democratic stars are getting breakthrough infections. My worry is also with workplaces who have “fully opened” and have gone unmasked as they follow Greg Abbott.

Let’s not forget that when we went to “Yellow” the other day, word of Omicron surfaced. And what we know about Omicron now is that we will have more breakthrough infections. And the worry is that many of those breakthrough infections will hit hospital and medical staff.

We should have remained careful. Hell, I did and continue double-masking and avoiding maskless crowds, but that’s because I have my own comorbidities and I have family members who are immunosuppressed that I’d much rather hang-out with than all other humans. I’m not going to risk them.

I know leaders want to provide citizens some sort of incentive or reward or relief from masks for bringing numbers down, but, with so many still unvaccinated and unmasked scoffing at our leaders who are trying to do something good, well, idiocy should not be rewarded. Certainly, the maskholes didn’t feel the need to vax and mask while those of us who have done our part were the ones who were actually being rewarded.

President Biden will speak on Omicron on Tuesday. While I hear chatter from some considered experts that “COVID-19 is here to stay” and that “we will all get it, eventually,” I hope leaders at the very top don’t listen to them and actually lead. Some of us just don’t want to get sick, no matter how “mild” the symptoms.

For more, here’s Kuff.

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Posted in 2021, Accion, City of Houston, Cultura, Elections, Harris County, Health Care

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Judge Lina Hidalgo Files for Re-Election

Posted on December 7, 2021 | Comments Off on Judge Lina Hidalgo Files for Re-Election

As I mentioned in my Thoughts on Viernes, HCDP has a running album of folks who have filed for the 2022 Primary. I mentioned that I prefer seeing candidates in the order of filing, rather than alpha-order, because I want to see who has their stuff together, who is dawdling, and who makes a grand entrance.

Well, County Judge Lina Hidalgo took a nice-sized group of supporters with her for her filing, exhibiting the grassroots support with which she began and that put her in office a few years ago. I don’t expect much to change as she has been able to strengthen that grassroots support by accomplishing much as the County’s top executive; especially during the pandemic.

DosCentavos will proudly support Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo for re-election. I supported her when she tossed her hat in the ring back in 2016 and never doubted she could take down a long-time incumbent. She has led well.

That said, as Kuff tells us, Judge Hidalgo has a couple of opponents. One is a perennial candidate and the other is a minion employee of a local wannabe kingmaker and bachelor party coordinator. The candidate also happens to be on the county education board. Anyway, I’m sure Kuff will be asking all the right questions in his interviews of all the candidates. As the candidate financial reports come out, we will find out who is funding the opposition and also who is feeding from that trough.

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Posted in 2021, Accion, Democratic Stuff, Elections, Harris County, History, Local Politica

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Commissioners Go With Internal Astroworld Investigation

Posted on November 18, 2021 | 1 comment

Some have mixed feelings and others don’t know how to feel about it, but I think it was a bad move by county commissioners to keep things internal when it comes to investigating what occurred at Travis Scott’s Astroworld festival.

County Judge Lina Hidalgo’s vision for an investigation was about outcomes to make events safer. Given HPD and its chief’s press conferences soon after the tragedy, I don’t have confidence in their investigation being of any use to what needs to happen regarding event safety.

As far as Commissioner Garcia’s fear of lawsuits, well, they’re coming. They are already happening. And they will do a deep dive into things and they will be quite public in pushing out their version of the details. Hell, their intent is to win.

An independent investigator would delve deeper into the county’s and the Sports Authority’s affairs regarding events, perhaps getting ahead of the lawsuits. An independent eye would also not have political worries of investigating the people who are really in charge, including political appointees, who make the decisions (or as they call it “oversight”) regarding event safety and management. Grieder at the Chron seems to be thinking this way.

Anyway, there have been a few BS moves that placed the Democratic majority in a bad light and this is one of them. Not good during an election year.

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Posted in Accion, City of Houston, Democratic Stuff, Elections, Harris County, Local Politica, Media

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Code Orange = Strong Encouragement, Unfortunately

Posted on July 23, 2021 | Comments Off on Code Orange = Strong Encouragement, Unfortunately

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo elevated the county’s COVID-19 code to ORANGE as hospitals address a significant spike in cases. Orange means “minimize all contacts unless fully vaccinated,” but is that even enough, now?

As I stated previously, I felt uneasy about the Biden/CDC’s unmasking of the vaccinated. Things just looked too comfortable and it certainly didn’t encourage those who needed to mask. Maskholes are still maskholes and I didn’t feel society should be rewarded, yet.

Maybe I preferred the visual of people acting responsibly, rather than the one of unmasked mass (and smaller) events leaving me to wonder what the vaccination rate was in the room. Thankfully, Judge Hidalgo called for masking to return.

Hidalgo said by not wearing masks, even those who are vaccinated are “normalizing” not wearing masks for those who are unvaccinated. She also reminded the vaccinated they can still spread the virus to the unvaccinated, who can get sicker from the virus.

KHOU 7.23.2021

That last line may have been a mild reference to breakthrough cases.

Another unfortunate matter is the fact that all the elevated code does is allow Judge Hidalgo and other leaders to strongly encourage good behavior rather than mandating it, thanks to Greg Abbott’s lack of compassion. Re-opening with little to no precautionary guidance is what has taken us backwards. Schools are reopening soon, and some universities are already open as students get ready to return, and Abbott is allowing bad behavior to exist–no masking, light encouragement of vaccinations if one chooses, etc. These education systems have a responsibility to practice good behavior despite having a crappy leader.

Although right-wing misinformation clearly exists on the airwaves, I found it encouraging to suddenly see more people in my area of town masking and acting responsibly, at stores and even while walking outdoors. Although it was just a tiny moment and area, I hope it continues all over.

As Kuff mentions in his post about the color code change, COVID-19 testing may become an issue as testing has been scaled down. It became pretty obvious to me when I saw an actual line of walk-up clients at a tiny testing temporary building (think 8×8 converted container) in front of the Aldi on Westheimer.

Anyway, mask-up, wash hands, stay vigilant. And tell your unvax’d people to get vax’d or you’re cutting them off.

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Posted in Accion, Cultura, DC Promo, Democratic Stuff, Education - K12, Environmental, Harris County, Health Care, Higher Education

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Christopher Hollins Named Interim County Clerk

Posted on May 20, 2020 | Comments Off on Christopher Hollins Named Interim County Clerk

Late last night, I got the message that the Harris County Commissioner’s Court appointed local lawyer and Texas Democratic Party Finance Chair Christopher Hollins to serve as interim Harris County Clerk.

The court voted 3-2 along party lines to approve Hollins. Five public speakers urged court members to choose Teneshia Hudspeth, Trautman’s chief deputy. County Judge Lina Hidalgo and Precinct 1 Commissioner Rodney Ellis said Hollins’ pledge to serve only on an interim basis factored in their decision.

So, it will be up to the Party’s precinct chairs to select someone to be the nominee on the November 2020 ballot. Let the games begin.

Hollins, though, seems like candidate material. He served the Obama administration’s Office of Presidential Personnel as a legal intern before embarking on his career. No doubt, he has some Democratic bonafides considering his current position in the Party.

After navigating the local Party website, I finally found out how to find my precinct chair. Unfortunately, they want all my information before telling me who publicly signed up to run for the office (or got appointed later). Anyway, if you want to lobby your precinct chair, I guess this is how you can start.

 

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Posted in 2020, Accion, Cultura, DC Promo, Elections, Harris County, Local Politica, Voting Rights

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Democrats Sweep Harris County!

Posted on November 8, 2018 | Comments Off on Democrats Sweep Harris County!

Most countywide Democratic candidates in Harris County knew they looked good after the early voting tally was released. But it was the race for Harris County Judge that had many on the edge of their seats until Lina Hidalgo was suddenly leading 11-year incumbent Ed Emmett by 6,000 votes. Things got a little more comfortable a little later, then, Hidalgo became the first Latina to be elected to the County’s executive post.

No doubt there were Democrats who were supporting the Republican, given that Hidalgo didn’t enjoy the extra percentage margin that some of the other Democrats enjoyed. Some of our Latino statewides were going through something similar for some reason.

Congrats to Lina Hidalgo. She came out strong when she announced her run, whether the issue was flood control and response, County services, bail and justice reform, or even immigration. So strong that she was left with no opposition in the Primary. Bottom line:  Hidalgo held progressive policy positions on these issues, while Emmett did not. So, Democratic naysayers, please stop insulting voters’ intelligence and that of the County Judge-elect. We know which political party is on the side of the people, especially locally.

The Harris County Commissioner’s Court now has a Democratic majority as former County Sheriff Adrian Garcia defeated incumbent Jack Morman by around 1800 votes. The outcome wasn’t final until the very end as Garcia was able to overcome a gerrymandering play that changed Precinct 2 to a Republican-opportunity district. A good and disciplined ground  campaign defeated Morman’s negativity and attacks-based campaign.

For those naysayers, a reminder that a Democratic majority at County will actually address the issues that are important to the people. We need action, not just a pat on the head during a hurricane to make us feel warm and fuzzy.

Kudos should go to Penny Shaw who turned Precinct 4 into a more palatable challenge against Republicans. Penny worked hard from Day 1 and deserves Democrats’ thanks for running.

Along with new faces in black robes on the bench and new administrators like Diane Trautman as County Clerk, Marilyn Burgress as District Clerk, and Dylan Osborne as County Treasurer, Harris County has two new Congresswomen in Sylvia Garcia and Lizzie Fletcher.

While Garcia’s road to victory was a little easier and more about ensuring turnout to bolster the bottom line, Fletcher’s team ran a strong field campaign to earn every vote to take out the Republican incumbent. Attacked often on immigration and Nancy Pelosi, Fletcher kept a disciplined message on health care and took it to the finish line.

No doubt, the Beto effect helped turn counties blue or bluer, but in races that were in tough to win districts, it was the field campaigns that put them over the top.

Other surprises included victorious finishes in HD132 (Gina Calanni) and HD135 (Jon Rosenthal) out in the ‘burbs. Adam Milasincic came up 80 votes short in HD138 (Spring Branch) which tells me that district can be taken in 2020. Adam didn’t run away from right-wing attacks on immigration and held his own against an entrenched Republican. Out in Pasadena’s HD144, State Rep. Mary Ann Perez won re-election in huge fashion due to another excellent field campaign.

Update from Milasincic campaign: Unofficial totals show us behind by 137 votes out of 48,000+ counted so far. We have learned that provisional and some mail ballots remain under review.

While Beto was the lead Democrat in the bunch, closer to the bottom of the ballot was Richard Cantu who soundly defeated his opponent by posting Beto-like percentages. So, I don’t know why some losers are complaining about being close to the bottom of the ballot. Richard did great!

It is pretty embarrassing that some would simply blame straight ticket voting. You know, people actually think about Party AND policy when they go into the booth. Most of us actually went back to check our selections since Stanart’s relic voting machines were switching Beto to Cruz, according to reports. To insult our intelligence after losing, well, folks doing that need to hunker down.

Congrats to the Party, the campaign pros, the volunteers, and the voters! Harris County is blue!

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Posted in Accion, Cultura, Democratic Stuff, Elections

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