"We've got enough facts to expose . . . we don't need to make up stuff."
Dr. Bert Cobb/RoundUp
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By Bob Ochoa
Editor
A scam email sent around over the weekend purportedly from the Hays County Democratic Party that lampoons Democratic County Judge candidate Jeff Barton for a pay raise he first refused then accepted in 2008 is stirring up some political dust.
Today, the real Hays County Democratic Party fired off an email letter signed by party chair Katie Bell Moore blaming Dr. Bert Cobb supporters for engaging in a "cheap, dirty political trick" and calls on Democrats to volunteer to "fight the GOP's dirty tricks."
Cobb, a San Marcos allergist and Barton's Republican challenger in the November elections, has told the RoundUp he saw the phony email but knows nothing about its origin.
"I have queried everyone in my camp and no one knows anything about it," Cobb said. "We've got enough facts to expose that we don't have to make up stuff. You can count on this, if I've got something to say my name will be on it."
Moore told the RoundUp, "I don't think anybody would think Dr. Cobb would do anything fraudulent and unethical like making up an email address and pretending to be the Hays County Democrats. However, I do believe that these are probably supporters of his and it's a shame they have gone to this point. We do call upon Dr. Cobb to disavow this."
The email from nowhere is titled "Important Announcement from Hays County Democrats," and says, "This notice is intended to alert you to the fact that Jeff's pants are on fire . . . So far, the biggest lie in the campaign is that he turned down a 14% pay raise back in 2008 . . . Here's the real story. In September of 2008, Barton made a big deal – we mean a really big public deal – about not taking a pay raise. Then, about two months later, Barton decided he did want the money, and he submitted a formal request for the raise, along with all the back pay."
The RoundUp clearly recalls the headlines Commissioner Barton collected from the local newspapers after he announced – with a flourish – from the Commissioners Court dais that he would refuse the pay raise.
Some time later, following up on a tip, the RoundUp contacted the county treasurer's office and confirmed that Barton had "slipped the treasurer a note" (our words, it was described as a "note") that he had decided to take the pay raise, after all. Barton says he took the raise only after a county salary committee found that commissioners' salaries were below par with similar size counties.
Barton did not publicly announce he had belatedly taken the generous raise, courtesy of the taxpayers.
12 comments:
I believe the Hays County Republican Party would send out such a sleazy email. But I don't believe Cobb would be behind it - given what my friends and colleagues who know him have said about him.
But then again, a lot of Dems dislike Barton. So who knows. Simply more sleazy politics in HC.
Don't discount Barton's folks, slippery as he and they are. Look at how the democrats are using the email to rally their troops to volunteer. Democrats all across the county are at their lowest point in years, completely demoralized.
Never let the details of the email get in the way of a good outcry. The message was title from 'Hays County Democrats', not the Hays County Democratic Party. I have no doubt at all that the scrivner is indeed a Hays County Democrat ands NOT the Hays County Democratic Party ('cause it said so). How do I know, I received the message and found it pretty entertaining. It still doesn't alter the historical/hysterical record of the lies that were documented and are owned by the little dude.
The love of truth lies at the root of much humor.
- Robertson Davies
Scout (as in Boy Scout?) ignores the reality that the Republicans nationwide are getting their heads handed to them by the Tea Party (with the very small ideas they had in those "heads").
When the ominous Tea Party - with their voodoo Christian worship and whitist "poor us" activism - are ousting mainstay Republicans, I would say it is the old guard conservatives that are really in trouble.
Also, any sensible person knows the cowardly centrist Democrats and the corrupt Bush era Republicans are both political dinosaurs, so Scout's argument is meaningless and insipid in the first place.
Let the Tea Party take over the country. Maybe hitting a poltical, economic, and cultural bottom is the only way US citizens will wake up to the fact that if we continue to let the mental patients run the asylum, we are all either insane or plagued with political dementia.
And if that ends up being true, we need to help our children move to another country.
Jefferson, it was partly a joke, OK? If your pants actually caught on fire when you lied, more politicians would be dead.
I, too, received the "email from nowhere". I knew the facts to be true then. So to me, it was a creditable email.
Would the sender of the "from nowhere" emails please continue to get them to me?
So what's the issue? Facts are facts...Barton took the raise he said he wouldn't take. Did the Democrat Party originate the e-mail? Most likely not. Did the Republican Party originate the e-mail? Most likely not. However, from the ground swell of people who are traditionally Democrat-leaning voters who are now giving serious consideration to Cobb, my guess is that one of them, appropriately named "Hays County Democrat", alerted or perhaps just simply reminded all of his like-minded cohorts of Barton's shenanigans of the past as a reminder of the leopard not being able to change his spots in the future.
Cobb? Nah, why would he do anything to cause a stink so close to the election when it is apparently his race to lose at this point? And besides, I believe his rancor of if "he has something to say his name will be on it". The fresh air that we will breathe come January will be the no holds barred statements against all parties when Cobb takes office and blasts all those who are corrupt or corruptible no matter the party. Go Doc!
I got the email. Since I know the difference between the phrases, Hays County Democrats and Hays County Democratic Party, I didn't for one minute think that it was from the formal party organization.
The person in the Chairman's seat of that party was way too quick to jump to conclusions. Bad leadership.
As to the heart of the issue, Barton either is lying or he isn't. It's as simple as thaty. We know that he still likes to talk about that raise he supposedly turned down, so he's the one who has made it a current issue. So back to the question. Is he lying or not?
I remember the news articles about how he reversed field and took the raise after he said that he wasn't going to take the raise. If that's not a lie, then what am I missing?
Thanks for the good reporting, Bob.
Words from an old Native American prayer to Mr. Barton: "I seek strength, not to be greater than my brother, but to fight my greatest enemy - myself."
Anyone believing that email is an idiot. It clearly was NOT from the Democratic Party. It was sent by some earthworm who had nothing better to do than to stir-up ignorant readers.
It is someone who knows us because they had our email addresses.
It would have been wonderful for the Hays County Dems to send out emails against some of its candidates; however, the party still supports the scumbuckets it always does, e.g., Jeff Barton, Patrick Rose, Karen Ford, Debbie Ingalsbe and that disgusting District Attorney. All of these people should be removed from office and the party turns its cheek re: how these candidates have voted and acted in the past. The party is disgusting and useless.
Scum buckets are not exclusive to Hays Democrats. Barton sure tops the list for the Dems but remember his biggest partner on the court and under the table has been Republican Conley. And who can forget former Mr. Hard Working County Judge himself Jim Powers and former Mr. Hear and See No Evil Local Political Corruption DA Mike Wenk. Same as it always was.
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