Constable Scandal

Happy Birthday to my sister Aida today!  She is younger than Commentary.  She also has one of the coolest names – Aida. How many Aidas do you know? I had one in my family most of my life. I always thought my parents got it right with her name and with mine with a C. I hope my sister’s Siete family gives her the special treatment today.

Commentary was shocked and disappointed to see this on the front page of today’s Chron.  I think we might need to go back and just let the constables serve papers and that’s it.  Let the sheriffs and the PDs chase the bad guys.  Here is how the Chron starts:

Untrained deputies picked for “undercover” vice assignments — only to be molested and traumatized by superiors. Prostitution stings devolving into “booze-fueled playgrounds.” And a concerned Precinct 1 Constable Office’s employee, fired after she reported the alleged misconduct to the department’s internal affairs division.

Those are among allegations laid out in a bombshell 40-page civil rights lawsuit filed Monday morning in federal court against Harris County, Precinct 1 Constable Alan Rosen, and two of his top-ranking superiors.

Here is the story that you need to read: Harris County constable leaders used ‘bachelor party’ stings to exploit female deputies, lawyer says (houstonchronicle.com).

Here is part of Kuffer’s take on the scandal:

There’s more, and there’s a copy of the lawsuit embedded in the story. It doesn’t get any better, and at no point is the question “why did anyone think that ‘bachelor party stings’ was ever a good thing to expend law enforcement resources on” answered. I’m basically at a loss for words here. Constable Rosen’s office hasn’t commented yet, and I suppose maybe there’s something they could say in their defense that might mitigate some of this, but offhand I have no idea what that might be. Here’s what I think should happen, assuming there isn’t some clear evidence to suggest these charges aren’t true: Constable Rosen and the two other named defendants should resign, and the Harris County Attorney’s Office should decline to take any legal action in their defense, other than to negotiate a very generous settlement. The rest of us should once again wonder what the office of Constable is good for these days, and why we still have them as separate elected offices with their own organizations, instead of folding them into the Sheriff’s office.

Here is all of Kuffer: Time for a new Constable scandal – Off the Kuff.

I said a few weeks ago that my pal Constable Alan Rosen would probably run for sheriff if Sheriff Ed Gonzalez was confirmed to run ICE. Constable Rosen now has a lot of explaining to do.  This isn’t good. Dem Primary voters in Harris County won’t like this. There will be other Dem candidates for sure including a female. Just got more interesting.

Royko sent me this on my take on George P’s dumb political moves:

My view is that Bush already took away funds that the Mayor couldn’t manage regarding the Harvey recovery, and why waste time repeating incompetence. Then there is the matter of dealing with the pequeña Comandante. Bush has little to gain letting her spend it feathering more Democrat nests.

Royko missed the comments on P’s dumb moves by Judge Lina Hidalgo’s colleagues on Commissioners Court:

“absurd” and “sad” from GOP Commissioners.

Congrats to State Sen. Carol Alvarado on her bill.   See this Chron story:

Gov. Greg Abbott signed legislation on Monday to help save Texas live music venues from the wrecking ball.

By approving Senate Bill 609, Texas will create a music incubator program to provide up to $100,000 in a year tax rebates to the small music venues that have given rise to countless pop, rock, country and hip hop stars in American music.

Starting in September 2022, dance halls, honky tonks and other live music venues will be able to apply for a portion of $10 million fund annually. The money will come from taxes on alcoholic beverages those places already pay the state.

“Great news,” said Randy Rogers, a Texas musician who is also the owner of Cheatham Street Warehouse in San Marcos.

Rogers said too many legendary music halls have been turned into parking lots over the years and said this could help prevent others from joining them.

State Sen. Carol Alvarado, D-Houston, said the program is not just preserving an important piece of Texas culture, but also smart economics. More than 200,000 people work in the music industry in Texas and tourists are drawn to visit the places where music icons like Willie Nelson and Selena got their starts.

There is no restriction on what kind of music genres would benefit. Tejano clubs, honky tonks and hip-hop clubs would all be eligible.

To be eligible for funding, venues would have to have an audience capacity of 3,000 people or less. Music festivals would also be eligible if they held are in a county with a population of less than 100,000. Those venues and festivals have to have been operating for at least 2 years to be eligible.

The venues and festivals would also have to show that artists are being compensated with a percentage of ticket sales or a guaranteed amount set in advance of a performance.

There are a number other restrictions for the funding to ensure that rebates go to true music venues and not just bars trying to cash in.

“This bill is an absolute game changer,” said Rebecca Reynolds, president of the Music Venue Alliance which has been advocating for the legislation for years. “We could not be prouder of all of the hard work that went into this first-of-its-kind legislation.”

jeremy.wallace@chron.com

I have spent 4 out of the last 5 days with my Dad at Methodist Hospital at the Medical Center. How is your week going?

The cry baby Dodgers are in town.  I hear there will be a lot of fans at The Yard this evening. Most without masks.