#HouMayor @whitmire_john seems to have settled on a leadership style best described as governance by anecdote & whim.

His friends complain about a thing - zoo prices, church traffic - and he then takes action.

It’s a growing problem.
Here’s why.
🧵

#HouNews 1st - democracy is about making government accessible and accountable to the people.

He seems to be using his office to pay back some chits and help out his friends.

It’s anti-democratic.

🧵

And I have a BIG problem with how @whitmire_john accepted Groogan's reactionary anti-government framing for this hit job on pandemic American Recovery Act spending.

That $5M for art & culture stabilization?
Let me tell you how that DIRECTLY impacts life & safety issues. 1/8

https://twitter.com/GrooganFox26/status/1815573099347087578

Per @haatx & @Americans4Arts: Nonprofit arts and culture industry generates > $1.3 billion in annual economic activity in the greater Houston, supporting 21,378 FTE jobs & generating $251.7 million in tax revenue to local, state, and federal governments.
2/8

#Houston mayor @whitmire_john seems unwilling and unable to treat women with respect.

Exhibit A: Refusing to endorse Vice-President Kamala Harris.

Nearly every other elected Democrat in Texas has done so, including his former #txsen colleagues.
#WhichSideAreYouOnJohn
1/14 He's claiming it is b/c the process isn't over. That hasn't stopped almost every Democrat of consequence in Texas or around the country from endorsing her.

And saying there hasn't been a process, which he's saying, is simply repeating a GOP talking point. There has been. 2/14

Lots of people liked to mock Sheila Jackson Lee for always finding a spot on the front row, on the aisle during SOTU, in front of cameras.

I loved her for that.

She graduated from Yale in 1972 - it had only gone coed 3 years earlier & there weren’t many Black women. 1/x Next, she went to University of Virginia for law school. I’m guessing not a ton of Black women in that class either.

She spent a lot of her life being the 1st, the only, or 1 of a small group.

She knew what it was like to be excluded, to not see anyone like you. 2/

Annoyed Mealer got got voted on to the METRO board?

On May 4th, Harris County votes on 3 elected HCAD board seats, positions we’ve never filled by voting before.

Republicans are hoping you won’t notice & wont vote.

Curious?

A thread.

#HouNews #HarrisCountyHustle Notoriously shifty former Tax Assessor & now GOP State Senator Paul Bettencourt filed the bill creating these elected seats.

Until the bill passed & Abbott allowed it to become law, the board was filled by appointment. Low-key oversight role, no salary.

2/

OK so this #HB3998 proposed legislation to give a property tax break to "qualifying" married couples is hilariously bad. So, deeply offensive.

Ready for this? A thread on trying to use the tax code to promote a religious agenda. 1/?

#txlege It applies to 3 kinds of kids: (A) a natural child of both spouses of a qualifying married couple (QMC) born after the date on which the QMC married; (B) an adopted child of both spouses of a QMC adopted after the date on which the QMC married; or
2/

Ok #Houston we need to have a talk about gentrification v. revitalization. And while I hate to target a specific person, this example is egregiously bad. #HouNews 1/ Revitalization is being in new infrastructure while centering the community already in place, making sure legacy residents can stay in place, & local business are the norm instead of chains. 2/

Going downtown to protest the NRA & GOP in #Houston tomorrow? Please be prepared and take care of yourself. Allow me to offer tips based on my decades of experience as a lawyer (tho this is NOT legal advice), activist, and person who hates hot weather. A thread: Practically speaking, be prepared for the weather. Hydrate, wear sunscreen & a hat, sturdy walking shoes, have a minor first aid kit (bandaids, mostly), a soft plastic water bottle, and a couple of small quick snacks in case you have a dizzy spell.

If you've heard about the Texas Democrats who left the state in order to break quorum and stop some really bad legislation, & you think they are somehow 'not doing their job' or 'running and hiding,' you should know a few things that might change your mind. 1/ #txlege In the regular legislative session after a catastrophic power grid failure during a winter storm that killed hundreds of Texas, Republicans passed NO substantial regulations to fix to the grid or protect consumers. apnews.com/article/texas-… 2/

You can print it on paper and call it a poll but that doesn't make it true. A short thread about the specious assertion @ChuckDeVore just made to the Senate Ctte on State Affairs re: #SB1 in #txlege. 1/ We repeatedly heard lawyers from the state AG's office say they do not proactively seek out election fraud cases to prosecute - they only react to complaints they receive. 2/

Count Every Vote / Every Vote Counts: A Story About Commitment to Fairness and Democracy

This is a story about my friend @LongoriaTx, Harris County's new Elections Administrator, & her runoff election in 2019 for Houston City Council against the incumbent. Runoff election night, as we watch returns, the race tightens. At the evening's end, Longoria is losing by 12 votes to the incumbent council member. It's time for provisional ballots to be reviewed and cured if possible. We don't know which way those ballots will break.

Weird numbers being reported in #txlege #tx148 race - Harris Votes shows 91,593 registered voters total in the district. Their results have Penny Shaw, the Democrat, winning the traditionally Democratic district 38,158 to the GOP candidate's 21,780. Those Harris Votes numbers are in line with past elections in this same seat ~ usually around 50-60K votes cast. The district is entirely within Harris County, so all the numbers shown on Harris Votes should be all the votes there are in the race. Then, it gets weird.

We need to talk about institutional racism and ableism in Texas & Gov. Abbott's press conference just now about the #COVID19 phased response that will #OpenTexas starting May 1st. #txlege #hounews A thread - Abbott repeatedly urged that we must take care of vulnerable populations, which he seemed to be using synonymously with the elderly/people over 65. The elderly are not the only people more vulnerable to this virus. Different disabilities & health statuses can make ppl vulnerable