Dumb Move

Let me start out by saying that I was rooting for Lefty to win the PGA Championship this past weekend.  It was exciting down to the final hole.

Commentary said this Friday about the bonehead decision from Land Commissioner George P. Bush on disbursing Hurricane Harvey flood dollars:

I guess George P thinks sticking it to Mayor Sylvester Turner and Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo scores him points against AG Ken Paxton in the 2022 GOP Primary.  I don’t think so. That’s not a smart political move.

Clear Lake, Kingwood, West Houston, and Spring Branch are in H-Town and provide a ton of votes in a GOP primary. These communities also took major hits from Harvey.  They need flood project dollars.

Here is a word in response from Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, a Democrat:

“unconscionable”

From H-Town Mayor Sylvester Turner, a Democrat:

“unfathomable”

From Harris County Commissioner Jack Cagle, a Republican:

“absurd”

From Harris County Commissioner Tom Ramsey, a Republican:

“sad”

Here is all of Comm. Cagle’s statement:

Dear Friends:

The Texas General Land Office (GLO) made the shocking decision this week to reject requests by Harris County and the City of Houston for approximately $900 million each in federal flood mitigation funding tied to Hurricane Harvey.

The GLO decision mocks common sense. I believe those flood relief funds should go to those of us who bore the brunt of the second-most costly storm in our nation’s history. Hurricane Harvey caused more damage in the Harris County region than in any other part of Texas. Dozens of our neighbors were killed, and many thousands of our friends and family lost their homes and businesses. It affected all of us, and we all continue the work toward recovery.

And yet we received NOTHING.

This absurd decision by the GLO prompted me to reach out personally to Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush, the elected official who oversees the GLO. Mr. Bush told me that recent changes in the application process and interpretation of criteria for awarding these funds forced the agency’s hand. I made it very clear to Mr. Bush that this decision created a gross injustice to my constituents and to our region as a whole. In response, Mr. Bush said that he could do nothing about this first batch of funds, but he promised he would not oppose Harris County and the City Of Houston receiving a direct allocation of other federal payments already headed to Texas.

Rest assured, I will continue to work with other city and county officials to recoup our region’s appropriate share of needed federal funds, and I will hold Mr. Bush to his commitment regarding future funding as well.

From the Chronicle this past weekend:

A General Land Office spokeswoman said the agency was required to use the criteria developed by federal officials at the Housing and Urban Development Department.

HUD disputed that Friday evening, laying the blame squarely on Bush’s team.

“HUD has not prevented Texas from awarding CDBG-MIT funds to Houston or Harris County,” agency spokesman Michael Burns said in a statement. “The formula for allocation was created by the state of Texas. They have full responsibility and jurisdiction over who gets the money that was allocated to the state for flood mitigation.”

George P is looking pretty stupid.  Pardon the pun – bush league. Both Ds and Rs called it a dumb move. Pathetic.

Commentary has pretty much called out Gov. Greg Abbott on his cowardice.  It is on full display once again.  His Secretary of State Ruth Hughs is resigning at the end of this month because she didn’t get confirmed by the GOP controlled Texas State Senate this session. 

She didn’t even get a hearing.  Why not?

In a confirmation hearing she would have disrupted the GOP’s racist voter suppression agenda this session.  The State’s Chief Elections Officer would have had to admit that Texas ran a fraud free election in Texas in 2020.  She would have had to say that the Secretary of State’s Office approved of drive-thru voting and 24-hour voting during early voting and it worked in an exemplary fashion.  She would have had to explain why the Secretary of State issued the April 2020 COVID Election Advisory that nudged voters to vote by mail using the disability excuse.

Don’t think for a second that the Secretary State ran the 2020 election on her own without the Governor’s Office’s knowledge.  Consultations were running between both offices when discussing and approving what I just mentioned as well as moving the primary runoff to July and extending the early voting period.

Now Gov. Abbott is hanging her out to dry.  That’s an act of a coward.  I don’t think any other former Texas Governor from Briscoe to Clements to White to Richards to Bush and to Perry would act in such a cowardly manner when it came to their Secretary of State.  Abbott didn’t have her back and that’s what is called cowardice.

My 97-year-old Dad had a fall over a week ago and bruised up his leg. I had to check him into Methodist Hospital at the Medical Center Friday night.  They put him up on the 12^th Floor of the Fondren Tower.  It turns out that floor used to be called the VIP Floor.  Why? They are the biggest hospital rooms I have ever seen. I think it is mostly older patients on the floor from what I can see.

We have a view of the Red Line on Fannin Street.  On Saturday, about 50 or so anti-vaxxers held a protest outside of our window 12 floors below.  They were employees of Methodist Hospital who were protesting Methodist’s mandatory COVID-19 vaccine policy for all employees.

My Dad’s medical care people said today my Dad could probably go home tomorrow.  Let’s hope so.

Huge crowds of maskless folks for the PGA Championship, MLB games, restaurants and so forth.

Methodist Hospital requires them.

We had a bad roadie in Arlington. We have today off.