The Love God Ad

State Rep. James Talarico came out with another ad this morning. I will call it the Love God Ad. See the featured photo. The ad also features his grandfather. I am sure MAGA is going berserk on Rep. Talarico embracing, err stealing God. I love it.

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I pretty much think voters don’t really care what Harris County Judge Lina Hidlago has to say these days. The Chron hard copy has a front-page story on Judge Hidalgo’s recent Substack post on her Democratic colleagues on commissioners  court and the upcoming November election.

Here is the hard copy headline:

Hidalgo slams ‘blatant’ pay-to-play on court

Here is the online headline:

Lina Hidalgo warns Democrats could lose majority in November, says there is ‘blatant’ pay to play

Here is how the story starts:

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said her Democratic colleagues on Commissioners Court have abandoned the principles that swept them into office as part of the 2018 Blue Wave, and called on voters to scrutinize the court’s recent decisions in a scathing post made to Substack. 

The fusillade is the latest in an ongoing dispute between Hidalgo and her fellow Democrats that emerged after the party achieved a 4-1 supermajority on the court in 2023, and has produced bitter arguments between the county judge and two of her colleagues. The animosity shows no signs of abating as Hidalgo, who did not seek reelection this year, enters her final months in office.

Hidalgo said a combination of questionable relationships between her Democratic colleagues, their campaign donors and the contracts they approve, coupled with recent raises for county law enforcement and subsequent cuts to programs in other departments, are part of the court’s backslide into practices she said were common under the its pre-2019 Republican majority.

“Here we are again but this time, sadly, under the Democratic label,” Hidalgo wrote on Substack. “Members of Commissioners Court have campaign coffers so large there are no primaries to speak of. Blatant pay to play with No-Bid contracts awarded to donors. Catastrophic budgetary decisions with little public awareness.”

Pay to play, or exchanging government contracts for campaign contributions, is illegal. Commissioners have repeatedly said they are not corrupt. 

The bulk of Hidalgo’s criticisms were directed toward Commissioners Adrian Garcia and Lesley Briones, both moderate Democrats who are up for reelection this year and with whom Hidalgo has clashed over funding for law enforcement and other initiatives. 

None of Hidalgo’s fellow Democrats responded to a request for comment. The Harris County Democratic Party also did not respond.

I will not try to guess what Judge Hidalgo is thinking or what she is trying to accomplish. In a way it is sad. She has very little cred and relevancy. Sad.

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We lost last night, but we still have our half game lead.

After the game. Tags tweeted this:

At 61-60, the Astros’ chances of winning 100 games looking slim.

41 games remain.

We wrap up the roadie in San Francisco this afternoon.