Barton's vainglorious campaign has managed to upset some of his erstwhile east side supporters for leaving the Pct. 2 county commissioner seat exposed to a possible Republican takeover
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Kathi Thomas at the State
Democratic Convention in Ft. Worth
Democratic Convention in Ft. Worth
Note: In a long shot challenge against Republican State Sen. Jeff Wentworth, District 25, in 2006, Thomas received a respectable 37 percent of the vote. She served a short stint as Hays County Democratic Party treasurer, serves on the Dripping Springs Democratic Action leadership team and is a candidate for precinct chair in her own Precinct 443.
By Bob Ochoa
RoundUp Editor
Kathi Thomas of Dripping Springs knows her way around politics and politicians as good as anyone.
Yet she can't quite figure out why Pct. 2 County Commissioner Jeff Barton decided to challenge a fellow Democrat – incumbent County Judge Liz Sumter – in the upcoming March 2 Democratic primary. The challenge has exacerbated an uneasy split in the party, along east-west lines.
"I wrote to him about this (Barton)," said Thomas. "You only get a primary opponent if the person has done a really terrible job or is really corrupt. I think it was wrong and he should not have done it . . . I can't see any reason other than ego. She (Sumter) has been a good judge; she's protected the people who live here and has protected the environment."
Close observers have noticed Barton on the stump feigning sincerity and saying he wants to heal the rift. Some suggest a good place for Barton to start the healing would be to withdraw from the race – not a likely event. An e-mail flier sent around by his campaign says, "we need everyone's help as we work hard to cross the finish line." The same flier announces a Feb. 17 fund raiser in Barton's honor at the Headliner's Club in Austin, the ultimate venue for schmoozing with political big wigs and powerful interests. Not a good harbinger for the average citizen in Hays County.
Jeff Barton
Barton's vainglorious campaign has managed to upset some of his erstwhile east side supporters for leaving the Pct. 2 county commissioner seat exposed to a possible Republican takeover. Win or lose the primary contest against Sumter, Barton must vacate his commissioners court seat at the end of the year. The thinking is that the Republican commissioner candidate, Kyle Mayor Mike Gonzalez, has a good shot at winning the seat.So far, the Barton campaign seems not to be receiving red carpet treatment from west side Democrats. Audience members at a candidates' forum held Sunday at the Canyon Grill in Dripping Springs questioned Barton's veracity after he made a statement that Judge Sumter had sought to indict Pct. 1 Commissioner Debbie Ingalsbe.
"That was sheer nonsense," said one attendee. Another later suggested that Barton himself tried to oust Ingalsbe by backing her opponent in the Democratic primary of 2008.
"Hard core Democrats over here are not going to vote for him," said Thomas.
Barton is receiving a cool reception as well from many long time activists around Wimberley and Woodcreek.
Steve Klepfer, a prominent local businessman, former Wimberley mayor and a candidate for Pct. 3 county commissioner in 2008, said this: "I have worked with Commissioner Barton, and very clearly for the interests most important to me – meaning groundwater, surface water and reasonable growth management in western Hays County – I will be supporting Judge Sumter strongly."
Barton and his political strategists may have believed the March 2 primary against Sumter would be a cake walk, and that he would be the candidate most able to defeat the Republican opponent in November.
But Barton's base of support in Pct. 2 is crumbling. Political miscalls by Barton and his gang has led to a drop in support among San Marcos Hispanics. His "win big on the east side and grab a few votes from the west side" strategy was not an inclusive strategy from the beginning. It could all very well backfire and leave a lot of Democrats picking up the pieces for a long time to come, no matter the outcome of the primary. Barton should get a grip and withdraw from the race before more damage is done.
20 comments:
Barton is too grandiose and self-involved to drop out.
Honestly, I think he should continue to run against Judge Sumter because he will lose and also so that he will be ousted as Commissioner in the next election.
I have always been against Jeff Barton's aggressive and hostile political style and methodologies, especially as he continues to pit east against west.
He is NOT lacking in "chutzpa", I'll give him that.
Despite what Barton thinks, Hays County would be better without him as one of our leaders.
here's a few numbers on Barton co-campaigner:
Rose is losing his self proclaimed battle against checkbook politics! (poor boy?)
8 years times 365 days = 2920 days
Over 8 years young Mr. Rose has raised donations of between $250 and $50,000 totaling $3,687,108.12.
That’s a daily fund raising average of $1262.71 or for an average (eight hour day workday) hourly rate of $157.84.
That’s everyday for the last 8 years, seven days a week, 8 hours a day.
These are Rose’s campaign figures with the donations from the little guys left out. Do you get the picture?
We do in Hays county.
If you want to accomplish fair and balanced reporting (or commentary), why don't you get some quotes from the Pct 2 area that Barton has served over the last few years rather than from Sumter's hometown.
Your inability to understand the real state of affairs is made evident by your belief that Mike (or is it Miguel) Gonzalez has a chance of winning the Republican primary. What a joke....
First Anonymous:
Not that I am disputing you, but where did you get your numbers. What document(s).
Seems to me that when you throw such numbers around you should also present the source. Otherwise, you are just asking people to take your word --- and you know how that goes in today's world.
Why the concern of splitting east and west? And why the concern of campaigning in Austin? Are you a hypocrite?
Karen Ford campaigns in Austin, and draws a large base of her financial support from Austin liberals. Does that mean the same as you try to make it mean for Barton?
Liz Sumter and Karen Ford both tried to divide east and west with the road bond package a couple of years ago. The east side of the County wanted it, the liberals on the west side didn't. Doesn't that mean that Karen and Liz are dividers as well?
as for being too aggressive, let's remember how this present Judge's tenure began. Attempting to revoke a legally issued septic permit for a restaurant owner in San Marcos because one of Liz's supporters in the neighborhood didn't like it. They revoked it illegally, most likely violated open meeting law,and then when sued in court lost. Sounds quite aggressive for a rookie; and one that cost the County plenty.
Am I for Barton? Not necessarily, but I wouldn't say I am for Liz either. She is just as corrupt as Judge Jim was with her groupies as he was with his.
I am glad to see that this publication has finally admitted that it is nothing short of the public relations arm of the Hays County Democratic Party.
The numbers are from your State of Texas Ethics Commission as reported by the candidates. The Texas Tribune has further compiled the numbers into excel files that are quite remarkable and easy to use. Public information is a wonderful thing and the intent of the this information is for the voters to be better informed concerning the habits of the elected officials, especially the ones that are less than transparent.
You may not want to trust the numbers but remember who reports these numbers to the commission - the very candidates that are under review. Ro$e's numbers are probably a bit untrustworthy but that's the boy's problem.
$1,262.71 every single day, think about it. Why would anyone need that kind of money for a state representative race? A congressional race maybe but not for a three county rural district. It should raise questions and so far not a peep from the richest candidate in these parts. You may want to doubt it but shining a light will usually scatter the roaches.
Signed
Les Carnes
Democrat Precinct 448
Driftwood, Hays County, Texas
Why do you think we have "the concern dividing east and west"?
Do you think such a division is in the best interests of the entire Hays County community?
I am not for Sumter or Ford, but they did NOT try to divide the community as did Barton and often also Conley.
As stated many times on this "Democratic" blog, Ford seldom stands-up for an issue, so let's not go there. She also kept her mouth shut publicly about the road bond package while Barton and Conley spoke up for and/or wrote pro-road bond articles. They wanted it badly for the wealthy campaign contributors.
Sumter also did NOT speak out publicly for the road bond package.
Who cares "where" they campaign or get their campaign money more than "WHO" they get their dollars from.
Since you say that only the "liberals" in the west side did not want the road bond are you saying that only the right wingers on the east side wanted it? If so, you are a bigger fool than you sound.
As for bringing up that ridiculous permit issue again, GET OVER IT!!!
Just because the previous administration was "prompted" to give that disturbed "person" a permit does NOT mean it was the right thing to do.
The judge tried to get it reversed because that permit should NOT have been provided, nor would it be provided under today's guidelines or bylaws.
I am 100% with the Judge on that issue.
However, all the commissioners approved the outrageous road bond package and it took 2 times for it to get approved by the voters even though it is too big and costly for our budget and during this economic chaos we are going through.
I agree that these roads need improvement, but NOT the way the proposal was written and for the extreme cost of all that road work.
If east and west leaders can not get along, then let the Barton crowd file to be a new district like Salt Lick owner Roberts did with Rose's help and support.
I'm sure that Republican Rose will opt to help Republican Barton do so, for the good of the right wing community!
Mr. Rose and Mr. Conley and Mr. Barton have always been nice to me. I don't know why they are disliked by so many people. If I were Mrs. Sumpter, I would try to be nicer than she is. When guys are nice, they do better running our government than females who are not as nice. I say vote for the Republican men above.
Texas is a conservative state. Why is everyone so pissed off that Democrats act like Republicans and Republicans act like business owners who want to use your taxes to make them richer?
Overall Texans don't give a damn about the environment -- and most Texans strive to live in some white gated subdivision with a cheap ass golf course, restrictions against anything that is different from the masses, and private security guards driving around looking for criminals - particularly minorities.
Wimberley doesn't necessarily want that lifestyle but Buda and Kyle and to some degree the non-student residents in San Marcos fit that insipid paranoid mode.
If you don't think this is true just look at I-35 from the top of the Hay County line to the bottom of Hays County. It is antiseptic corporate America.
This is what Rose, Barton and Conley tries to get for the people that votes for them because that is what the voters want. It is as simple as simpleton can be.
I find it incredibly ironic that the same group that chastises Barton for running against an incumbent Democrat 100% supports Backus' run against Rose. Nothing like being a hypocrite.
As for the claim that this blog is the PR arm of the Democratic Party - it seems pretty clear that's its only seeking to serve Sumter and Backus and not an entire party.
I love that statement, “Wimberley doesn't necessarily want that lifestyle”. I live outside Wimberley and it looks like Wimberley doesn’t have a lifestyle. Someone once called it a, “white trash version of Fredericksburg” and I think it somewhat fits. This is what you end up with when an area is primarily populated with liberal hillbillies and lower middle class retirees.
The Kyle and Buda area have really improved with a nice selection of stores and good roads. Both towns are benefiting from the improved job market and overall economy. Kyle/Buda are in between Austin and San Marco in more ways than one. Think about it.
Wimberley and San Marcos have pretty much stayed the same tired old towns, maybe a bit dirtier. Neither has grown much for different reasons. San Marcos won’t grow because of the students drinking/driving and the crime rate. Such a beautiful river, but it is ruined as a place to visit much less live there. The south part around Wonder World Drive shows some hope.
Wimberley residents don’t want to change and are happy with their little piece of (fill in the blank). Market Days turns it into a garage sale with out-of-towners all over the place. The Square (although not square) is a dangerous piece of real estate that looks like downtown Beirut with junk stores everywhere. The town has severe problems with sewage disposal and lacks the tax revenue to fix it. They are begging the County, State and Feds for funds since they can’t pass a property tax because the people have threatened to disincorporate the city if they do. Did I say they don’t want to grow? I don’t know what kind of politics you would say Wimberley has, but it ain’t working.
The last Anonymous makes some very good and hilarious points about Wimberley. Touche.
However, his/her vision of Buda, Kyle, and south San Marcos is somewhat flawed in that not everyone wants to be like everyone else. I am what you would call upper middle class and I would only live in Wimberley because I like its "minimal change" government and hillbilly liberals.
In my view Wimberley has its historical "old guard" generation along with back to the earth hippies that makes Wimberley fun, with intelligent people who can talk about things with some degree of diversity. And fortunately, they are trying to create a sustainable way of life in the Wimberley Valley.
Sadly, it is the Houston transplants with "burglar-paranoid" flood lights surrounding their houses that are changing Wimberley's sleepy and trusting character. When Houstonians try to convert their one-half acre plot into a city "ranch," they ultimately change the attractive attitude of Wimberley.
Kyle, Buda, and south San Marcos, on the other hand, are largely populated by conservative hillbillies who falsely believe they are middle class because they have corporate strip malls surrounding them. Yikes! Have fun with that.
The crux of the Hays County lifestyle issue is "how does one want to live." For me, I CHOOSE Wimberley. I would be bored to tears or mad with monotony anywhere else in Hays County. In fact, I wouldn't live anywhere else in Texas. Luckily, I can make that choice.
What Hays County officials must realize is that we need planned growth because of our water, and in west Hays County, terrain that should be kept beautiful without endless subdivisions. The only people who want Wimberley to be like the rest of Hays County are some irresponsible developers, some greedy real estate agencies, free markets extremists who will sacrifice anything for a buck, and misguided elected officials who think expansion is what they are supposed to do.
I ask you, Mr. Anonymous, if Wimberley is so "tired", why are you living here and not in Kyle, Buda, or south San Marcos?
Good luck Buda, Kyle and San Marcos. Keep on adding to your I35 commercial strip, SO BORING, and cookie cutter subdivisions. Soon you will all become Stepford robots, choking in your own traffic and tail pipe smog. You can keep it. Just don't bring your cancerous-style growth to our still relatively clean air and open spaces in the western part of the county. Anybody advocating your kind of growth in my part of the county will NOT get my support!
The difference with backing Backus is that Rose simply sucks for the community as a whole. Sorry, but that's the truth.
Whereas Sumter is trying to do what she can to aid the wealthy campaign contributors AS WELL AS the rest of the community. It's tough doing that, but worthy of the effort.
I will vote for Sumter and against Rose, and if Backus is the one I vote for, so be it.
It is hardly the same issue.
If someone worthy was running against Karen Ford and Debbie Ingalsbe, I would vote for them as well.
What EXACTLY did Liz Sumter do that warrants another "Democrat" running against her?
I don't seem to comprehend the argument for that, rather, it seems to confirm the comment of the person who said that Jeff Barton is a Republican and NOT a Democrat.
Since Barton and Rose are now a pair, here's a look at where team Ro$e spends it's money.
It’s been said that all politics are local, shopping on the other hand is another matter. You can tell a lot about a person by where he shops. Patrick doesn’t shop in District 45 very much, only 7 % of his expenditures were in the district.
Consider the following:
$3,687,108.12 - Rose’s donations from $250 to $50,000 over the last eight years
$2,823,605.31 - Total Expenditures over the last eight years
$199,076.95 - Total expenditures inside District 45 Blanco, Caldwell and Hays counties over the last eight years
Or 7.05% spent towards economic development and jobs in Blanco, Caldwell, and Hays counties over the last eight years
Blanco county $415.00 - 0.21 % (this is one newspaper add)
Caldwell county $5,607.15 - 2.81 %
Hays county $193,070.80 - 96.98 %
So, when Caldwell county is told by Rose that he is for economic development and opportunity in Caldwell county – he really means not with his money.
When Hays county is told the same thing, again he means not with his money.
In writing about or acknowledging Blanco county, I just did more for this county’s economic development than Rose has in the last 8 years. He doesn’t really know that this county exists.
(All the numbers are from his reports to the Ethics Commission)
Let’s vote for our neighbor Andrew Backus and spare “visiting guest” Patrick the difficulty of being in District 45. Patrick can’t seem to find District 45 93% of the time – heck he didn’t even buy any barbeque in Lockhart!
Call it not dancing with those that “brung” you, bad geographical skills or maybe he just doesn’t like the district. His real supporters and merchants can’t vote in the district.
You decide and you can vote in district 45.
Wow, such controversy for little difference. I think the Democratic primary elections come down to these bottom line issues: If you want more growth with very little planning and more crony favors, vote for Rose and Barton. If you want controlled growth with more planning and less cronyism, vote for Sumter and Backus.
When the general elections come around, if you want unlimited growth, no planning and nothing but cronyism, vote Republican. If the latter doesn't appeal to you, keep Hays County Democratic as much as possible.
In the national elections in November, if you want a repeat of Bush-Cheney - which includes 1) state sponsored torture, 2) an internationally despised imperialist foreign policy (which allowed the 9/11 attack), and 3) politicians who insult their voters with hate and hypocrisy -- vote Republican. And don't forget the thousands of Americans who died and the tens of thousands of Americans who were maimed, the domestic spying on citizens, and the veritable collapse of the US economy in 2007-2008.
Americans have a very short memory when we are angry and disappinted. Just remember, by the end of 2008 the US was in total chaos. And Obama wasn't even in office until January, 2009. Don't make the same stupid mistake again. The Republicans have the same "solutions" they had between 2000 and 2008.
The Republicans have shown that they would rather see Americans fail than work with the Democrats. They have become traitors to our country just because they lost the national elections.
Look at the truth. It will set you free.
Liz did speak out against the road bond, and that's the point. She opposed it knowing full well that there were parts of the County that not only needed road improvements, but also had voted overwhelmingly in favor of it. When reading comments on it, it was overwhelming in favor of it on the east side, and the liberals from the west side opposed. When the second vote occurred, and those in favor won the day, it was a sad day for the liberal fringe nuts on the west side of the County because they didn't get their way the second time.
As for the septic permit that the
"As for bringing up that ridiculous permit issue again, GET OVER IT!!!
Just because the previous administration was "prompted" to give that disturbed "person" a permit does NOT mean it was the right thing to do.
The judge tried to get it reversed because that permit should NOT have been provided, nor would it be provided under today's guidelines or bylaws.
I am 100% with the Judge on that issue."
First, the previous administration DID NOT issue the permit, they did not vote on such things. The current court did because they thought that commercial permits ought to be voted on. However, what they failed to realize was that if a permit application and design complies with the rules, they CANNOT deny it. That was the illegal action that the Court took; and further violated Open Meetings Act issues by discussing it in Executive Session, and then coming out to vote on it after meeting, but not having it properly posted. The same thing that Molenaar was hounded for this group did the exact same thing.
Yeah, the recessions of the 1970's were overseen by the Democratic Congress, and the recession of the early 90's was overseen by a Democratic-controlled Congress. Let's see it was tax cuts that stimulated the economy in the 80's (Reagan's idea); tax cuts in the 60's (Kennedy's idea) would have stimulated growth (by his own admission). Tax cuts in the 2000's led to growth that was fueled and overheated by inane Democrats in Congress blocking regulatory reform - Barney from Massachusetts, and others who required that people be given loans who could not be qualified to get them previously - all in the name of diversity. Thanks Democrats for screwing up the economy.
As for than ol’ septic permit issue that keeps coming up, it does so because sh-t floats. This is a topic those still in County government who enabled it (why we shall never likely know, let’s hope it was negligence and not done for personal gain)would like to see buried like that mess in Ramus’s backyard.
For those so inclined to wade through this once again, official records show that:
1. Tom Pope, OSSF Program Manager, issued an Authorization to Construct to Ramus in 2005 without an approved design plan required by State and County OSSF Rules. That made both the commercial sized OSSF and Tom Pope’s action illegal.
2. Over the previous and the following five years, various design plans
appeared in the County files with each new open records
request. None of these plans complied with State and County OSSF Rules. The system Mr. Ramus took five + years to construct remains illegal today.
3. In September 2006, Tom Pope issued a permit for a commercial OSSF that wasn’t functional, which had in it two stolen compressors (according to Tom Pope), took up the better part of Ramus’s two acre residential lot (Rules at that time state an OSSF that size required 24 acres), and was hooked into a trailer home (not allowed by the State and County OSSF Rules).
4. At the urging of Commissioners Barton and Conley Ramus sued Commissioners’ Court after it voted to revoke Tom Pope’s illegal permit (Conley and Barton later supported Mr. Ramus as a Republican running against Pct 1 Commissioner Debbie Ingalsbe, a campaign in which the Texas Ethics Commission convicted Ramus of serious campaign violations).
5. Judge Pfeiffer awarded Ramus a summary judgment in the suit. Although flying in the face of extensive legal precedence, the ruling did not make your OSSF functional or legal. Nor did the ruling address Mr. Ramus’s claim of an open meeting violation. What the ruling said was that the County cannot enforce its OSSF Rules. A strange ruling. One cannot help but wonder why the Hays County Commissioners Court hasn’t appealed that ruling.
So when Mr. Ramus claims, “…that if a permit application and design complies with the rules, they CANNOT deny it” is quite correct.
The problem is that none of Mr. Ramus’s many designs comply with the Rules or reflect the actual system in the ground at his property, and despite it being hooked up illegally to a trailer home it still doesn’t function properly today.
And yet Judge Pfeiffer’s ruling holds that the County cannot enforce its Rules. Very strange indeed.
For any of you who actually waded through this, I applaud you. I know, this is old news to some, completely inane to others, but inside this issue live many questions about who County government works, who it works for and what you can do if you grease the right palms.
When Jeff Barton tries to accuse others of trying to harm Debbie Ingalsbe, how come nobody remembers how he and Conley and their gang actually ran Mr. Nasty Septic Debacle against her? I think Ms. Ingalsbe is very forgiving...or simply forgetful.
I also find it interesting that in this case, like in a few others, the Messenger is attacked rather than the Perpetrator.
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