Pay to Play Comes to Montgomery County Pay to play is a practice that has long been the norm in Harris County. It has long been railed against by political pundits, none louder than David Jennings over at Big Jolly Politics. Those of us that follow politics closely have often wondered how long before such practices would creep into the local landscape of Montgomery County politics. Well the day has come and it is here. One of the most notable groups in Montgomery County that promotes their “slate” of candidates as the be all end all guide for conservatives is arguably the biggest culprit. Julie Turner and the Texas Patriot PAC lead the way when it comes to pay to play politics in Montgomery County. A quick look through their filings shows a couple of interesting things. The most glaring is the lack of money that they generate locally from voters and members. The majority of their money comes from one of two places…candidates they either have endorsed or do endorse and a single $75,000 donor from San Antonio. The money does not always come directly from the candidate, in some cases we find it coincidental that spouses, friends, and in some cases campaign workers have donated large sums of money to the Texas Patriot PAC either right before or right after an endorsement has been announced. The names that pop up, in most occasions consistently are the likes of Ryan Gable, James Noack, Mark Bosma, Cecil Bell Jr., Gordy Bunch, Wayne Mack, Brandon Creighton, Rob Harmon, and the list goes on… What is also worth noting is that in cases where the Texas Patriots PAC endorsed a candidate and then there was no subsequent “donation” made the candidate was not endorsed in their next bid for office or re-election. This is what seemed to be the case with Representative Kevin Brady and former State Senator Mike Galloway. In 2012, both of these candidates were endorsed by the Texas Patriots PAC yet in their runs in 2014 nether were. Coincidence? Probably not. Is this the way we want politics run in Montgomery County? Do we want our county to work more like Harris County? Most Montgomery County residents moved here to get out of Harris County, not to make it more like Harris County but to escape the liberal bully political climate and tactics that existed. MoCo Politics supports the right of any group to endorse as they see fit, but we do not support pay to play politics.
Posted on: Thu, 15 May 2014 06:38:19 +0000
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