Monday, May 8, 2017

The Mike Rawlings Train Wreck Express

Last week was an entertaining week in a warped-watching-a train-wreck-kind of way.

It was especially fun watching Mayor Mike Beelzebubbing Bamboozling Rawlings (let’s just call him BB Rawlings for short) implode last week as the Texas House of Representatives handed him a stunning defeat by unanimously approving the pension bill.

Angered by the vote, Rawlings said state legislators and first responders took “the citizens out in an alley and just pistol whipped them.”

First responders—and even legislators—gasped across this great state. But even though offensive, such remarks were a win for us because Rawlings' true character bled outside his crafted public persona in an ugliness that was plain for everyone to see.  At the end of the day, there’s no getting around that comment.

I, along with most active and retired first responders, closely followed the Dallas City Council elections. And while I was disappointed that Candy Evans was unable to unseat Rawlings’ Henchman Kleinman, I do not believe this was a vote against first responders. Kleinman told The Dallas Morning News that he targeted specific votes to “make sure we were taking to the right people.”

Based upon the feedback I’ve received from those who walked the neighborhood for Candy and who worked the polling sites, I believe Kleinman targeted the older folks—folks who live in a fact-vacuum. These older citizens rely solely on mainstream news media for their information sources, and we all have seen the campaign of lies disseminated there. He also targeted them with mailers containing misleading information. Obviously, this group  were not Internet or Social Media savvy. 

Time and time again, those folks said they supported Kleinman because The Dallas Morning News did. They also cited former Chief Brown coming out in support of Kleinman.  To them, that meant police officers supported Kleinman. (Don’t even get me started on that one.) You mix all of that in with his your-taxes-will-be raised-if-I-don’t-get-elected lie, and well, you can pretty much predict the unfortunate outcome. It was just too much for Candy to overcome.

So you probably are wondering where the bright spots are. I found Robert Wilonsky’s political commentary particularly enlightening.  From it, you’ll note three more stunning defeats for BB Rawlings:

*Councilman Kingston won re-election despite a huge fusion of cash into his opponent’s campaign coffers from a PAC run by BB Rawlings’ campaign consultant and BB Rawlings’ campaign treasurer.  Talk about getting pistol-whipped.

*Councilman Scott Griggs won re-election. Another win for us.

*Councilwoman Tiffinni Young is in a run-off. She’s the one who supported without question BB Rawlings attempt to basically hand over Fair Park to one of his cronies.  According to the column, Young also has received campaign money from that same political PAC.

Then there's two other promising tidbits…

*Councilwoman Monica Alonzo will also face a run-off. She also had received campaign money from that same political PAC.  It was a very tight race, and that election is currently under a criminal investigation for voter fraud, so we're not quite sure who will ultimately be on that run-off ballot.

*And finally, in what turned out to be a rather bright and unexpected (for me) ray of hope was the return of Councilman Dwaine Caraway. He wore a t-shirt supporting Dallas police and fire on election night, and immediately after winning the election, proposed a first responder-friendly amendment to the pension bill before it goes to the state senate for final approval.  His proposal takes away the mayor’s appointments to the pension board and instead places those appointments in the hands of the city council.

Talk about another pistol whipping.

And, during all this hullabaloo, BB Rawlings screeched to anyone who would listen that his continued fight in the Texas State Senate  against first responders may be his Alamo.  He dared to compare himself to William Travis.


Hmmm… Try George Custer and the Battle of Little Bighorn.

#backthepension #savethepension #peoplebeforeproject 

1 comment:

Candy Evans said...

Yes it was an uphill battle, but so many people have taken note it was not a bad loss: I got 37% of the vote with a horribly low turn out, only about 4500 voters. That means one third of the district voted for me. Spot on about the elderly who still trust the Dallas Morning News. I needed to churn out the younger voters, which is so hard,but next time, if we have to hire party buses for the voters, we will. Too many people have asked me to run again!

Also take note that the "bailout" is going on as scheduled this week in Austin, which Kleinman fought so hard for and told everyone would happen if I were elected. Funny I lost and we are bailing out?

I remain committed to helping my precious men and women in blue, and will follow up shortly to see what I can do to lead the charge to change the taxpayer's hearts and minds. To be continued...