The Teabagger is the spokesman for the Texas Ethics Advisory Board, previously mentioned here and here.
Again, if MyLife is to be believed, he is 80 years old and lives in Huntsville, TX.
Once again Mr. Elmer has decided that he needs to spread his bigotry outside his home in Huntsville. See Mr. Elmer and his group are upset that their bigotry decreases every election. So since they can't win at the ballot box, they choose other means...like using the government to browbeat and scare their opponents into submission. Once again San Antonio is in their cross hairs, specifically the Stonewall Democrats of San Antonio.
If MyLife, along with official government documents are to be believed, Mr. Elmer's house is located within Sam Houston National Forest. Believe it or not, there is a section of Huntsville located within Sam Houston National Forest, and there is a housing edition located on Elkins Lake.
Again, if MyLife and government documents are to be believed, this is Mr. Elmer's house. Apparently he has Dish Network.
I've heard of this only through word of mouth, but now it's finally hit the papers here. According to the Express-News, Mayor Julian Castro and 8 of the members of the San Antonio City Council have had ethics complaints filed against them. A PAC by the name of Texas Ethics Advisory Board (sounds so official doesn't it?), is behind the complaints. So what do they claim is their reason:
progressive candidates, officeholders and political action committees
who have long been contributing to the runaway growth of government.
Of course their mission statement, if you can call it that, is a LIE. What was their reason for going after the Mayor and Council? From the Express-News:
Elmer said that after the council's 2011 vote to extend employee
benefits to domestic partners, it decided to audit the campaign finance
reports of all the council members.
They weren't going after expanded government, they were going after officials who they disagreed with.
Proof #2 it's LIE, from the Express-News:
Elmer said that when his group decided to take on the City Council, it vowed to offer equal scrutiny to all 11 members.
It found no issues with the campaign finance reports of the most right-leaning members of the council: Elisa Chan
and Carlton Soules. The group found only “de minimis” violations —
those lacking significance or importance — by Chan and Soules, he said.
Why is this a LIE:
But some of the allegations levied against Chan and Soules' colleagues easily could apply to the two North Side council members.
Elmer's
group alleged, for example, that Bernal, Taylor, Saldaña, Medina, and
Lopez each accepted contributions from “T.C. Frost.” The group claims
the council members failed to “fully disclose the name” of the person
making the contribution.
It also said that Bernal, Taylor and Castro accepted contributions
from “K.P. Ganeshappa” in violation of the same reporting requirements.
Campaign finance records show Chan accepted contributions from the same two individuals, and reported them in the same way.
They LIED. Did they file complaints against the two most conservative members on the council? Nope. This group was going to scrutinize all 11 council members, yet for some reason, they decided that the 2 most conservative members didn't need the complaints filed against them even though they had the exact same violations. You're not after bigger government, you're after people who disagree with you.
Like a bunch of other hateful, angry, and bigoted Tea Party conservatives, they can't win at the ballot box, so they try to intimidate and brow beat everyone into submission. Apparently they learned political skills from Torquemada. 5 will get you 10 if you asked this group their opinion on frivolous lawsuits, they'd be against them. Funny, they don't mind frivolous complaints. Maybe it's time for the Texas Ethics Commission to have a reverse fine policy. You file too many frivolous complaints and you start getting fined for each one. Speaking of Torquemada, you can't talk Inquisition with out Mel Brooks:
This group of Ozzie and Harriet enthusiasts are filing ethics "complaints" against numerous elected officials both Democratic and Republican. Apparently if you are an elected official who doesn't believe in their bigoted backasswards view of the world, you're likely to have your financial reports gone over and have a complaint or 20 filed against you at the Texas Ethics Commission. It's one thing to be a good government watchdog like CREW (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington) or the Sunlight Foundation. CREW has pointed out corruption ranging from conservative Republican to liberal Democrat. It's another to be going after officials because you disagree with them.
If you're pro-choice, you're in their line of sight.
If you think gays aren't an abomination, you're in their line of sight.
This same group doesn't just limit their targets to elected officials. Apparently they also spend their time trying to ban books and cover up nude statues. Next thing you know, Cotton Mather will be here and they'll have girls
claiming they've been afflicted by the apparitions of their enemies.
You don't even need to be pro-choice or not anti-gay. For Republicans, you just have to be not-too-crazy. Here's a question to progressives: when you think of progressive elected officials currently in office, do the following names ever come to mind:
State Rep. Allen Fletcher (R-Cypress)
State Rep. Jim Keffer (R-Eastland)
State Rep. Lois Kolkhorst (R-Brenham)
State Rep. Joe Straus (R-San Antonio)
It really is kinda sad. It's like watching a species go extinct. Their worldview filled with hate and bigotry is dying and they don't know what to do.
As an outsider looking in, I guess you can say the Tea Party is alive and well in Australia.
During the fight over the carbon tax in Australia, Opposition Leader, Tea Party Tony Abbott, said the enactment of a carbon tax was socialism. During the fight over the Affordable Care Act, the Tea Party and its Republican allies said it was socialism. Taxes = socialism = bad. Corporate welfare = capitalism = good.
Tea Party Tony and the rest of the LNP Opposition have done nothing but be the Party of NO. It seems that if Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Labor are for it, the Tea Party LNP are automatically against it.
Of course to be truly Tea Party, you have to have the Slaughter of the Moderates. That requires making sure moderates in the conservative party are denied renomination. One could argue the Slaughter of the Moderates began when Tea Party Tony defeated Malcolm Turnbull for leader of the LNP. Turnbull had supported the Labor Government's climate change proposal.
We have that slaughter taking place in Canberra. Moderate LNP Senator Gary Humphries looks to become the Bob Bennett in Australia. Flashback...Sen. Bennett (R-UT) was one of the early casualties of the Tea Party movement. Although reliably conservative, he was caught off-guard and defeated for re-election. Looks like Humphries is pulling a Bennett. Humphries has been caught napping and will likely be replaced by a much more ideological and conservative replacement.
God help Australia if Tea Party Tony and his brand of LNP conservatism get to be in power.
