Fun With The Perry Family/ Battleground Texas Starts Here UPDATED!
Okay, sometimes the best way to tell a story that’s as complicated as calculus with Roman numerals is just to tell it.
We have a school board race in my community that’s hotter than a $5 pistol. Four seats are up for grabs in an election to be held on May 11th. Early voting is underway.
Scroll back two months ago. Everything was going pretty smoothly until the Tea Party and a paid Republican political consultant recognized that this particular race is the hotbed of turning Texas blue – the next area of Fort Bend County to flip Democratic. Once this commissioner’s precinct flips, the county will flip and once the county flips, Texas will flip. Fort Bend County, on the edge of Houston, is the most diversified county in America. This is the petri dish of Texas becoming a Democratic state. I live here.
And this school board race is in the Hispanic part of the county that needs energizing. We elected a county commissioner here in 2008 and he kept his seat by a frighteningly slim margin in 2012. If Texas truly is a battleground – it starts here and it starts now.
This school board race began getting ugly back in April, when a local man named Rodney Vannerson, who is bail bondsman, formed a PAC and named it the deceptive “Whistle PAC“. He says they are whistle blowers. He named it that because “We Don’t Want To Pay Our Taxes or Have Our Kids Go To School With All Those Diverse Kids PAC” was already taken.
They cloak the racism by calling it “attendance zone issues.” Cute, huh?
Rodney has a sister named Karen Vannerson. She’s a Republican paid consultant. And a little nuts. Okay, a lot nuts. The day of the filing deadline she looked like she was trying to thread a sewing machine while it was running, looking hysterically to find candidates. She was calling and sashaying all over Richmond/Rosenberg looking for someone, anyone. It’s not easy finding people who want to join hands with folks who spend their lives doing deceptive stuff … and get paid for it.
Rodney the bail bondsman started getting some newspaper noise about his Whistle PAC. Still claiming they were about beating the “good ole boys,” they neglected to tell people that they ARE the good ole boys. He proudly announced that they were going to raise “more money than has ever been spent in an LCISD election to back new candidates.”
“We have a substantial amount of money that is available for these elections,” said Vannerson. Currently the Texas Ethic Commission shows the PAC has raised $6,050, but Vannerson says that amount was part of the initial funding, and the next report will reflect a much larger amount.
He wasn’t kidding. At their last accounting to the Texas Ethics Commission, they had raised $27,200. Which sounds impressive until you realize that $20,000 of it came from one man. (Click the little one to get the big one.)
Ding, meet Dong. The bell going off in your head asks, “why would someone who lives in Tomball, Texas, care about a school board race in Rosenberg, Texas – at least 15 school districts away?” Perry Homes … hummm, I’ve heard of that.
Bob Perry died last month and by all reports is still trying to explain to Sweet Jesus about the whole Swift Boat Veterans for Truth thing, but his name lives on – as does his money and political philosophy.
This whole thing is nothing but a front for Perry Homes money and political philosophy.
Battleground Texas, indeed.
A couple of weeks ago, we began to notice that the political signs of the “good guys” were getting stolen. That happens everywhere. However, this is a small community and we were watching pretty closely. Our candidates don’t have a Perry Homes Sugar Daddy with a political agenda financing their signs. They have to raise money for them one house party at a time.
We had seen trucks belonging to some local political hacks leaving the scene of stolen signs but we weren’t able to catch them. Enter the Richmond Police Department.
The man behind a Fort Bend County-based political action committee supporting candidates for the Lamar Consolidated ISD Board has been charged with criminal mischief over the removal of political signs of a rival.
A Richmond police report says Rodney Vannerson, 48, of Sugar Land admitted pulling up the signs belonging to Board member Frank Torres because they were placed in the City of Richmond’s right-of-way.
The officer informed him he did not have that authority and that he would be charged with criminal mischief.
Vannerson was the only one charged, but he was not alone. LCISD Board member Darab Hakimzadeh and another man were with him.
Oh, but wait. The evidence mounts.
A day earlier just after 10 p.m., police also got a call about a political sign being cut down in the 1100 block of Lamar Drive. Vannerson was found in the area – on foot – and questioned by police.
A witness told police the suspect was in a white pickup truck with two other men. Police found a white truck parked on Elm near the intersection with Winston Drive. Police stopped two men walking near some political signs also in the area. Those men were Hakimzadeh and Michael Ross.
They told police there were just checking on other political signs in the area.
Yeah, officer, we’re just strolling around the neighborhood at 10:00 at night “checking signs.” There’s signs missing? You mean like the ones a witness saw me throw in the gully? Noooo … we’re just walking around.
Dar Hakimzadeh is an incumbent board member who is so heavily rightwing that he tilts toward the ground. He’s not up for election this time. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with a school board member being found at the scene of a crime after dark two times in a two day period, but … holy crap, what am I saying? I wouldn’t buy that story from a 15 year old and I ain’t buying it from you. Sign Stealing ain’t what we mean by participatory democracy, Dar. You jerk. I’m gonna make it my mission in life to embarrass you in front of children. It’s a worthwhile endeavor on my part.
So, the election is May 11th. We’ve got a Perry Home builder from Tomball financing a thieving PACman, a criminally suspicious school board member, and four completely unqualified candidates for the school board.
That’s about par for Texas, Honey.
There’s gonna be more on this story. Ole Bubba and his friends are out at the Hispanic Heritage Society’s Cinco de Mayo party today to get people to the polls for early voting. I wouldn’t try to steal something off of them. They never throw the first punch but they will thrown the second 17 punches.
UPDATE: Bullet, meet foot. Hal over at HalfEmpty found a fabulous video of Karen Vannerson (her name was Pearson at the time), the paid Republican political consultant, lecturing her fellow Republicans about how stealing signs is “very childish, very immature.” She pitched a ft about someone simply moving a sign. “If it’s not your property, don’t touch it,” she growls.
I always wanted to retire to a charming rustic quiet civilized small town but I think the one I want, after reading this, is in Canada.
1You gotta love local Texas politics. Its like the wild wild west
with yard signs.
The signs in my neighborhood get stolen too—by drunk coeds—-who commence to put ALL the stolen ones in the front yard of their house on the corner. But they are proud Democrats, so we don’t complain too much. Hopefully they’ll stop the thieving before they one day become future school board members.
2Classic Susan. You and Bubba are treasures.
3Another example of the many ways the Rethuglicans attempt to steal elections. So much for “Christian family values” eh?
4Maybe exploding dye packs could be put on the signs like they do with stolen bank money? What I’d really like is to give ’em a little shock like the electric fence that keeps your critters corralled. But I restrain myself. Here in Austin County they not only steal signs, they’ll smash your mailbox if they don’t like your politics.
5You mean all those lily white old guys are palling around with someone named “Darab Hakimzadeh”? I thought they didn’t like furriners. Are they sure he isn’t an illegal immigrant?
Good luck to Bubba and friends.
6If you have a friend in the tree trimming business, have him use his truck with the cherry picker to hoist those signs high enough to be out of reach, but still visible. Then coat the poles with something tacky which will mark bodies and clothes. Might even be worth staking one out with a camera to
7catch them in the act and post the picture or video on youtube. I would love to see that video. Turn Texas blue!
You have to remember that politics is a ‘war’ to the right-wing fanatics, especially in the State of Texas. Everything and anything that can be done to thwart the opposition is permissible, and indeed encouraged, up to the point of getting caught in the process. Then, plausible denial takes over. When having a virtual unlimited war chest, courtesy of the Perry home building empire, doesn’t win it for you then just go to Plan B: voter suppression and intimidation.
8All the years I have spent working on issues and for candidates, I have had folks say to me, “isn’t politics boring?”, or “I don’t understand why you spend all that time hanging around political-types”. Reading your story is why. It is a freakin’ ball to be part of the dramas and traumas that arise around signs, door hangers, and GOTV efforts. Nothing funner. Keeps the juices flowing.
9Are the white guys sue their bud isn’t a member of the Muslim Brotherhood? Is he studying Spanish? Does he fit their profile?
10Sounds to me as though the “Whistle PAC” are indeed whistle blowers… dog whistle blowers.
11Eyes on the prize. GOTV trumps sign stealin’ cold!
12Bubba and I were at the Silver Democrat booth at the Fort Bend County Cinco de Mayo event. The booth next to our booth was one of the tea party backed candidates who tried to tell people that she and her slate were non partisan. The tea party lady got upset with me for talking about who was funding her campaign. The tea party candidate or tea party funded candidate cried to the event sponsor who asked us to move over one space next to the booth of a candidate who is not funded by the tea party. The tea party backed lady was really mad that someone read the ethics reports and knew who funded her campaign.
Later another democrat asked the tea party candidate about the news paper story discussed above and the tea party lady again ran to the event coordinator to complain that her feelings were hurt. This tea party lady is ashamed of the fact that.people know who is funding her campaign and that her sponsors were caught committing a crime
13Maryelle, I coat the sign with petroeum jelly then I plant it, nice and deep, in a fire ant mound. You must do the last quickly and carefully.
Of course at 10 or 11 they won’t see any ants cause they’ll be too busy with the petroleum jelly on their hands and clothing.
14Sorry I’m missing all the FUN!!
15Thanks for this post, JJ. Please fill us in on May 12 as to what the election results were.
16Maggie, according to my friend Claire, who lives in a small rutal town in Canada, their government has fallen off the right side of the mantle too and she’s planning to move somewhere else.
There is no place on earth safe from these buzzards. Gonna have to get rid of ’em, not run from ’em.
17For these folks, Democracy is great – as long as everyone agrees with you.
18Kate: Of course, the old vaseline and fire ant ploy. Sounds delicious!
19I heard Dar say that by rezoning River Park to attend George High School they were going to make the property values go way up. I wonder if that is why Perry Homes is interested in helping them further their agenda.
20I can see the headline now. “POLITICAL TERRORIST CELL DISCOVERED” Sheik Dar and the Whistlenuts PAC (Political Atrocities Committee) Wage Election Jihad!
21Here’s a slogan for Dar Hakimzadeh next time he runs for the board: Educating is lame, stealing is my game.
22Just finished speaking with my brother. He says that when he was working for Fort Bend ISD a few years ago some people from River Park were trying to get Fort Bend ISD to rezone them away from Lamar ISD.
23Oh oh oh, what a tangled web we weave!!!
I keep waiting for the Republican sugar daddies to wake up and realize they’re throwing their money into a bottomless pit, but I guess when you’ve got so darn much of it, you don’t really care.
Job creators, my eye. This is what tax cuts buys you: a dirty political battle.
24Gee, I thought that only happened in Victoria! We had a very long time Dem official try to pare down the competition by removing her opponents’ signs. She, her adult son and others were caught at 2:00 AM with the opponents’ signs in back of the official’s pick up, but, luckily for them, they were able to explain to law enforcement that they were putting out the signs, not picking them up.
Of course.
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