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By Bob Ochoa
Editor
The much ballyhooed "High Noon Showdown" today in downtown Kyle started on time, but that's about all that appeared to go according to County Judge candidate Jeff Barton's campaign plan.
The showdown quickly descended into chaos.
People asked if it was a real showdown for a debate with critics or a political rally for Barton. Sam Brannon, the San Marcos resident who sent a signed email letter to Barton saying he'd be at the showdown with questions about Barton's public record was not given a chance to speak.Late last week, Barton issued a challenge to his anonymous critics to face him "in the light of day."
Plenty of folks showed up, but no one claimed authorship of an anonymous emailed letter from "Hays County Democrats." The widely circulated email a couple of weeks ago criticized Barton for taking a pay raise in 2008. The letter and the pay raise have become prickly issues in the campaign.
Barton today again blamed supporters of Dr. Bert Cobb, his Republican opponent, for the email. Cobb has denied any involvement.
See what happened in the video. Barton grudgingly admits he was not born in Hays County, San Marcos, as his campaign website stated before it was changed apparently some time today. It now says he was "raised" in San Marcos.
If the video is slow to load, let it play to the end then replay it without interruption
428th District Court Judge candidates Scott Courtney (D) and Bill Henry (R) got in some air time at the showdown
30 comments:
And there are people that seriously want this guy for County Judge? He couldn't even bribe me to vote for him.
I wrote one book about deception, and I'm in the process of writing another. I may have to include a reference to Barton and his lying about where he was born just because it is such a classic --- a classic example of someone who lies when they really don't have to lie.
The phrase that I frequently hear when I'm interviewing people who have dealt with big-time liars is that they "lied when the truth would serve them better." It strikes me that the phrase is appropriate in the case of Barton. At any rate ...
If you pay attention to Barton's statement, you find that he spends most of the time trying to minimize the lie. He doesn't say one word about why he lied. He doesn't apologize for having lied. He just works overtime to minimize the lie.
I suspect that I'm not alone when I say that it really doesn't make any difference to me where someone was born. It does make a difference to me, though, if someone lies about it.
I leave it to the voters to decide if Barton's lying is a big deal to them. My guess is that most voters will start to wonder why he would go out of his way to flatly lie about where he was born.
But Barton didn't lie. He was just "bending" the truth a little.
Big, bad Barton.
Yawn... very boring.
'But Barton didn't lie. He was just "bending" the truth a little.'
This is what Barton would say. "I didn't lie, I just bent the truth."
Is that a characteristic you want in your county judge? If he would "bend the truth" about where he was born, how likely is it that Barton would also bend the truth about spending our tax dollars?
More details on that latter.
just to be clear......BARTON TOOK THE PAY INCREASE!
But according to the letter posted earlier in The Roundup, he took the pay increase. Do his supporters not believe this fact? Did they drink the Kool-Aide, or are they all liars too?
Nice video. Enjoy the "raising the bar" effort to get away from what was pure yellow journalism to something on a more professional note. Without seeing the video, one might think the headline was a little sensationalistic. After viewing the video, it's apparent that the headline was just factual.
Barton calls for a debate but wants to be both the moderator and the sole speaker. Barton doesn't want to address the questions that were the basis for the "showdown" he called for in the first place. The Barton supporters came across as blind zealots. I appreciate Sam Brannon's comments. People learned quite a bit about Barton even if Barton refused to discuss the points Brannon set forth. Unlike Barton, Cobb doesn't have to continually "embellish" his credentials or his past.
cPerhaps Barton is vying to be the male Lena Guerrero.
Why is Barton so obsessed with these anonymous emails that he refuses to speak with real people who go to the trouble to show up?
I do not understand the way this man thinks, but sounds to me like neither does he.
This guy isn't credible and I wouldn't hire him. If a man lies about where he was born, he will lie about anything.
I will say I'm still on the fence when it comes to voting for our next county judge. Who knows what to believe. At this point I think I'll vote in all the other races and leave this race blank. I could be said that this Brannon fellow is bending the truth as much as Barton. Yes Barton has bent, lied or what ever you want to call it on where he was born, his education and about the raise. When Brannon claims to not be part of the Cobb campaign, I would say that's bending the truth. At all of the debates he wore a fancy Cobb name tag with his name (Sam Brannon) printed on it, did Cobb make those up for all his supporters county wide or just his campaign workers?
One more thing that has puzzled me about Brannon is the fact that earlier this year he was running for Congress, yet a quick look at the Texas Ethics Commission web shows no filings. His Facebook and Congress page show that he indeed asked for donations, whether he recieved any is a moot point because you can't ask/recieve donations without at least filing who your treasure is going to be with the State. Again no such filings on Brannon's part.
I believe who ever wins the County Judge race will be one and done. It's sad that both sides have turned this into a tit for tat baby fight. Regardless of who wins Hays County will suffer for the next four years.
U.S. Congress ≠ Texas Legislature....
When researching a candidate for federal office you need to refer to the federal election commission not the state ethics commission.
Perhaps you will find the information you are looking for here:
Sam Brannon registration
and here:
Sam's treasurer
It sounds like the last Anonymous is trying to find a way to justify Barton’s lies and his lack of character. He or she is probably a habitual Democrat trying to defend the defensible. I think it is plain to see the difference between the candidates. Dr. Cobb has not lowered himself to Barton’s level. The comparison with Lena Guerrero is appropriate.
I am told the Dr. Cobb didn’t want to run for the office if he had to get down and dirty with the likes some Hays County Democrats or Republicans for that matter. He is a man of character and will make a fine County Judge and we will all be better for it.
So this blog and it's commentators are upset that Barton's website says he was born in Texas but Barton was actually born in Colorado? That sounds like a mistake by the web designer to me. While I'm not a Barton supporter, this is a ridiculous issue. Some young campaign staffer probably made the honest error. If you can show me where Barton actually tells people he was born in Texas then I'll believe the liar claims. In the meantime let's move on to more important things.
Another "in it for himself and only for himself" politician, with a very large hat size. Looks like EGO is Barton's only qualification.
It was rude and arrogant not to allow the folks who showed up to "debate" Barton to even approach the podium. People took out of their day to come to that debate, only to be treated to a Barton campaign rally.
But this is Barton's style: "I don't have to let you speak" is what he said recently to citizens who came to address an issue in Commissioners Court.
How about we get somebody in office who is willing to allow a full range of ideas to be presented on every issue that involves our tax money, our water and our property.
We are ALL "Hays County Citizens", some regularly call themselves "Hays County Democrats", so I don't see what this fuss over those email names is all about.
This whole attack on his detractors is simply another way to deflect attention from Barton's own lack of good character and credibility.
Let's give Dr. Cobb a chance to bring honest government to Hays County. We have already seen the kind Barton promises.
I'm not sure I get all of this pay-raise hoopla. Barton has made it perfectly clear that he waited until a committee made up of citizens from all over Hays County evaluated his pay and then he didn't take a retroactive raise. He was the ONLY commissioner to do this, so we should actually be proud him. In fact, without Barton on the court, the commissioners would have just given themselves raise WITHOUT citizen input. The only people distorting the facts are his opposition, not Barton.
Barton lives more by political strategy than he does for the taxpayers interest. He made a big public, headline grabbing display of his refusal to take the pay raise. He then later very quietly without a peep to the media took it, retroactively.
Barton did NOT take the pay raise retroactively. Have you looked at the letter from the Republican Hays County Treasurer? Barton referenced it in your video clips and was passing it out at the showdown. Yes, he eventually took the pay raise but he was the only person on the commissioners court to refuse the retroactive raise. Get your facts straight. Maybe this blog should publish that document if you guys are really trying to be legit.
To that certain anonymous... I'm not part of the Cobb campaign. I do support Dr. Bert Cobb, but more by accident. I attend nearly every Comm. Court meeting, and the reason I support Dr. Cobb is because of what I see in court. And because he's a great guy.
As far as my "bending the truth", I'll stand by everything in my Open Letter to Commissioner Jeff Barton, and am still waiting for a response from him.
That "citizens" review committee, if I remember correctly was actually convened by a paid consulting firm and it cost the County plenty, something like $10K to get the "citizens'" input, just so Barton could justify his salary increase.
The right thing to do would have been to seek some kind of solidarity with the rest of us who are not getting raises at all and just say, "No, thanks, not in this economic climate."
But that is not what he did, he let us pay him a hefty increase so that our Commissioners' salaries would be up to other Counties.
Isn't is about time somebody did the right thing for a change?
Sam Brannon,
I think you got your response from Barton. He isn't interested in talking to you or any real people.
He only wants to talk to anonymous emailers.
Safer that way.
The real problem with Barton is that he is in the pocket of road and development companies that are poised to do big business in Hays County and they will be paid with your tax dollars.
These people support his campaign with their monetary contributions and expect to be paid back with lucrative contracts.
This is not always apparent, as employers "encourage" their employees to contribute under their own names, so the name of the company does not show up in the records.
Saying that "this is how government works" is just too cynical for my tastes. This is NOT how government ought to work and we need to hire people to represent us who will not run things this way.
All these details about little lies that Barton tells about his pay record, his education, even where he was born, these are just glimpses into the mind of a man who will lie when telling the truth would have served him just as well.
Let's get rid of Jeff Barton and elect somebody be in the Judge's seat who isn't on the take...and knows where he was born.
Vote Bill Henry for 428th District Court Judge
Oh, I missed the name tag comment of that certain anonymous.
The name tag has Dr. Cobb's name on it, not mine. I asked him for that. I wear it at the debates to show my support for what he's trying to do for Hays County.
To "Truth"
When a commissioner knows that their vote on an issue is irrelevant, then the commissioner can "vote" for show. If Barton knows that 4 other commissioners are going to vote "for" something, he knows he can vote however he wants to without any impact on the result. Looks good on paper to vote "for the people" while you are raiding the coffers of their tax dollars for yourself.
Barton didn't take the back pay at all! There was no "vote for show" and then taking the backpay after the other four court members took it. He refused the pay. Period. Look at the pay records for that year that our County Treasurer (who's a Republican) can provide you. You will see that all the county commissioners earned the exact same wages for that year except for Barton.
Somebody needs to rush Truth to Seaton or some other medical facility with an emergency room --- overdose of koolaide.
I guess Truth missed the publication on this website of the letter that Barton wrote to the County Treasurer --- the letter (December 22nd was the date) in which he said that he did want the payraise and that he wanted it effective from the beginning of the month. What is so hard to understand about that?
Barton didn't take the raise for September, October and November like the other court members did. Please just check your facts with the County. It's a pretty black and white issue.
As I recall Barton first said simply that he didn’t take the pay raise. Only recently did he add “retroactively” and add “approval by the citizens” to the mix. I just can’t understand why anybody would defend him; maybe it’s his good looks.
Seaton is spelled Seton, as in thank God we finally have a hospital in Hays County other than SM Medical Center.
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