The Democrats are heavily campaigning for local seats on city councils and school boards. Unfortunately, many voters who call themselves conservative either don't vote, or don't do enough research to realize who they're voting for. This puts liberals into elected positions, giving them influence over our cities and schools, as well as with our State Reps and Senators. Not only that, they often run for higher office down the road and already have name recognition built up from serving on the school board or city council. The local government has the most taxing power over your wallet. We need to pay closer attention to these races!
Early
Voting: Apr 28-May 6
Election Day: May 10
Here are my thoughts and recommendations for various Tarrant County races...
GRAPEVINE City Council:
Deverick Jordan
There are 4 candidates in this race. Two of them have a history of voting Democrat (LuAnn and Duff). Two of them have loose ties to the tea party (Deverick and Mark). I chose Deverick because he has a better chance of winning.
GCISD:
Troy Greisen and
Mark Assaad
The challengers to Greisen and Assaad are both incumbents. They are very nice guys, but they are part of the problem. They are also both endorsed by the Democrats.
COLLEYVILLE City Council:
Chris Putnam
Chris is running against incumbent Stan Hall. He has been endorsed by Empower Texans and me, among others. His opponent, Stan Hall, has a pretty long list of votes that are not conservative. He is also endorsed by the Democrats.
EULESS City Council:
Darl Easton and ???
Darl is a long-time member of the tea party. He also serves on the Board of the Ft Worth 912. He has a solid record of fighting for conservative principles in Euless, Tarrant County, and Texas. He is endorsed by me, State Rep Jonathan Stickland, Empower Texans, and others.
As for the other seat, there are no good options. Jeremy Tompkins is the Establishment guy. Gary Jones has not really participated in the campaigning. Many are just not even voting in this race.
BEDFORD City Council:
Patricia Nolan and
Mark Pflaum
Nolan is not a conservative and not a tea partier. In fact, she said she hates the tea party and that her husband will divorce her if she works with the tea party. However, she is running against someone even worse, Steve Farco. Many have said they are just not voting in this race since there are no good options. It's too bad nobody good stepped up to run because the liberal vote would have been split. Come on, Bedford! You can do better than this!
Mark is a wild card. He is courting the conservative vote. He has some stuff in his past that makes us skeptical, but at the same time, we want to give him a chance. After all, how do we make converts and grow our numbers if we hold everyone's past against them and don't allow them to change. I'm hopeful we can see good things out of Mark with a little guidance. His opponent, Roger Fisher, is the hateful fool who ran against Jonathan Stickland in his first run at State Rep (which Fisher lost by 20 percentage points!).
Bedford Propositions: YES to 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 10; NO to 1, 6, 7, 8
HURST City Council:
Joel Downs
Joel has a strong reputation as a conservative fighter in Tarrant County. He has been endorsed by myself and many of the conservative people and groups you trust, such as Empower Texans and State Rep Jonathan Stickland.
Keller City Council:
Pat McGrail, John Hoffman, Ken Lewis
I am not all that familiar with Keller politics, so I have to rely on the input from friends, and this is one of the rare instances when the support seems to be going to all the incumbents. BUT, then again, many trusted resources are saying exactly the opposite. The incumbent mayor apparently voted for a tax increase, which normally makes him automatically no good for the tea party. But there are some key decisions being made in Keller about what direction to take the city. The incumbents want to maintain the status quo, while the challengers want to only move forward with $350,000 homes and up. In the end, I'm siding with the incumbents, but the choice isn't mine. I don't live in Keller!
KISD:
JoLynn Haussmann and
Ed Allen
JoLynn and Ed are both endorsed by State Rep Giovanni Capriglione and other conservatives in the area. JoLynn is a long-time member of NETTP and has held numerous volunteer roles. She has been endorsed by Empower Texans as well. Though Ed has not been an NETTP activist, we love him more and more as we learn more and more about him.
Watauga City Council:
Michael Steele and either
Griffin or Clements
Steele often works with NETTP and provides insight. That's an easy one. But for the open seat, we have two good options, from what I understand... Griffin or Clements. Some feel Clements is a little TOO far right and are going with Griffin. The choice is yours. If I was voting, I'd go with Clements because I know him and trust him, and yes, he is extreme, but that would help balance out any that are extreme to the left. Clements will certainly make you think.
Southlake City Council:
Shafi and Fawks
Southlake politics can get pretty dirty, and I learned a while back to stay out of it. I have friends supporting both sides in these races. After interviewing 7 trusted conservatives, six of them were supporting Schelling and Muzyka, so I thought the answer this time was obvious. I posted my recommendations for them. Then I started hearing about the dirty stuff coming out of their camp and more of my friends came out for Shafi and Fawks. At this point, my resources are split pretty much 50/50, and now I'm leaning towards Shafi and Fawks myself. But I don't live in Southlake (thank God) so you decide.
Richland Hills City Council:
Lisa Skier
My source is pretty sure both candidates are Democrats, but has not confirmed that. Lisa seems less likely to be a puppet for the rest of the council -- more of an independent thinker -- than her opponent. She is, however, quite inexperienced.
Haltom City City Council:
Brent Weast
Again, I'm trusting fellow conservatives here, but I hear Weast is the one to go with. He is green but has the right ideas in terms of fiscal conservatism, transparency, clinging to our guns and our Bibles, etc. And better yet, he seems to have no personal agenda.
Northwest ISD:
Devonna Holland,
Andrew Bennett, and
???
Nobody seems to know much about these races. I'm told definitely not Jerry Burkett, so that leaves Devonna Holland, though I know nothing about her. Andrew Bennett contacted me to push for his race, and his blog looks pretty good. He says he's the only conservative running for his seat, so you can mark off Durham, Fraser, Mergenthal, Rauch and Wade. For the 3rd race, I don't know who to choose between Mel Fuller or Doug Smith. If anyone has any input, please let me know.
North Ft Worth: There are no city council races for this area, but there are several propositions. My recommendations are to vote yes to Prop 1 CCPD, and no to all the rest (Props 1-7). Prop 1 CCPD and Prop 1 are two different things.
Mansfield:
Kory Watkins and
Wendy Burgess
This isn't in NE Tarrant, but I found the right candidates for a friend and decided to go ahead and include it here.
Crowley ISD:
Rusty Norton,
Misty Whitley and
Jerry Nugent
This isn't in NE Tarrant, but these folks are running against Battleground Texas candidates and therefore need to be promoted!
