Classless Finish

Having a passing interest in history and appreciating opportunities to witness history as it occurs, I've gotten in the habit over the past few years of attending the last council meetings of outgoing council members and the first meetings of incoming members. As such, I went to see the last meeting with councilman Jim Nelson this evening. Admittedly though it is no secret that I have been displeased by some of his past actions and have not seen eye-to-eye with him at all times, I do respect his many years of public service and have learned much about community participation by his example. I expected this evening's history-in-action to be in the form of the typical salute honoring the career highlights of an elder statesman headed into retirement.

Was I ever mistaken!

For some reason, Mr. Nelson chose as his parting action to move for a proclamation of the city honoring past city administrator Chris Reed. This was handled poorly from the start and why Mr. Nelson wished to do so I find puzzling. The item was added to the last minute supplemental agenda, so obviously it was poorly coordinated to begin with. The real question though is why was it done at all? Anybody that has ever observed League City politics knows that Mr. Reed's tenure with the city began under questionable circumstances and caused numerous controversies through two mayoral administrations. Ultimately he was removed from office by executive action of council for reasons that to this day are held secret. Although I am personally aware of a number of Mr. Reed's misdeeds, I do not know the reason(s?) that ultimately forced council to remove him. I do know that whatever the cause for his termination, it was of sufficient severity and controversy that it was stupidly foolish of Mr. Nelson to reopen this old wound. Mr. Reed got an incredibly generous severance, landed a nice new job, and League City government has functioned better than ever. Mr Nelson should have known to leave well enough alone.

Given that Mr. Reed brought his attorney with him to the council meeting tonight, obviously he and Mr. Nelson knew that this move would be controversial and a lighting rod for trouble. Realistically, given Mr. Nelson's mostly contentious relationship with the mayor and most of council, this whole thing looked as though he had deliberately engineered this stunt as a parting poke in the eye at his enemies.

I've been content not knowing why council ousted Mr. Reed. It's old news, it's not my business, the city is running better, and we've all moved on. Except, apparently, Mr. Nelson. If the city is to make a proclamation honoring Mr. Reed, then it does become the business of the citizens to know why he was ousted. Either leave it be or tell it all.

Obviously, Mr. Nelson's fellow council members felt that his proclamation was inappropriate and moved to table it rather than dredging up the past. It was at this point that Mr. Nelson sacrificed the integrity of his legacy. Faced with determined opposition to his move by the rest of council, he threw a temper tantrum. There's really no other way to put it. He tried repeatedly to speak out of turn, even trying to shout down the mayor. When he failed to get his way, he walked out of the council meeting never to return and followed by Mr. Reed, his attorney, and his entourage.

Mr. Nelson's parting shot is particularly galling given that this council has shown him unprecedented latitude in forgiving his excessive absences from council this past term. By rights, he should have long ago been removed from office for failure to uphold his responsibilities and replaced by special election, but instead his absences were generously forgiven in order for him to finish out his years of service with the dignity of an elder statesman. In light of his antics this evening, he should have been give no such opportunity as there was nothing dignified about his parting actions.

Mr. Nelson's tantrum was one of the most embarrassing moments I've seen in politics. There is nothing dignified about a man in his 70's acting like a two year old.

Truly a classless way to finish his career. I am sorry he chose this way to make his exit and sorry I had to witness him do it.

A sad way for us to remember him, and a sad addition to our history.

Catch the re-runs on Channel 16 or here:

http://www.leaguecitycouncilvideos.com/

once the 5/11 meeting gets posted.

Jeff Hagen

League City 2010 Council Election Results

Tim Paulissen wins reelection to place 6 in a landslide victory of 100% to 0% against.... no opponent.

;-)

Congrats all the same Councilman Paulissen!

Joanna Sharp - Dawson wins election to the place 7 seat currently held by Jim Nelson (who is retiring).

Despite the crowded four-way contest with no incumbent, Joanna took it outright with no need for a runoff. (To be fair, it was really a three way race with Chris Stevens having withdrawn to endorse Joanna, but due to timing issues his name was officially still on the ballot.)

Congrats Councilwoman Sharp - Dawson!

The final numbers are:

Joanna Sharp - Dawson: 55.9%

Tommy Garland: 30.4%

Tim Hollway: 10.3%

Chris Stevens: 3.3%

The total turnout was 2,892 votes in the place 7 race.

With such a complex field of candidates, it is noteworthy that the winner took this race almost two to one (1.84 : 1) over the second place finisher. A remarkably strong victory.

As usual in recent history, precinct 5 (the east end) had by far the largest turnout. There is something surprising in the details though.

Looking at the vote totals, early voting continues to gain popularity with slightly more than half of the votes coming before election day. This trend held across precincts 1, 2, 3, & 4 which all did more than half of their voting early. The noteworthy exception is precinct 5, which actually saw more votes on election day than in early voting. Not sure it means anything; the statistic just catches one's attention a bit.

The official results summary can be found on the city web site here:

http://www.leaguecity.com/index.aspx?NID=1205

and details here:

http://www.leaguecity.com/DocumentView.aspx?DID=2967

Jeff Hagen

Postings of candidate forum recordings.

For the last week of the city council campaign, here are links to recordings of the Glen Cove and Clear Creek Village candidate forums. My apologies for the long delay - combination of personal health issues (resolved), work, & computer issues. The video of the live version of the GC forum is still on the ustream sight, but the following is a full length version with higher quality audio. The CCV recording is audio only.

http://gallery.me.com/jeffhagen/100516

Glen Cove candidate forum video

http://web.me.com/jeffhagen/Jeffs_League_City_info/CCV_

Clear Creek Village candidate forum audio

Jeff

The Ross Plantation

Does anyone have any pictures or information on the Old Ross plantation? I know that Mr. Ross was a local businessman and was the president of the School Board, However some individuals are looking for pictures and other information regarding that area. It has been my understanding that the Ross house was an accidental fire. I was told back in the day that vagrants or transients may have accidentally set it on fire. There was also a rumor going around that it was torched to hide some other evidence of other activities that may have gone on in there. I understand that a few individuals (names removed to protect the guilty) spent a night or two in that mansion. If you have some ideas, stories, pictures or leads please post them or if you wish to remain anonymous please give me a call @ 281-682-8873 (cell) or 281-332-5870 (Home).

Candidate stretching $7 for rest of campaign

By Hayley Kappes
The Daily News
Published April 23, 2010

FRIENDSWOOD — With about two weeks left until election day, city council Position 4 candidate Billy Enochs has $7 left in his campaign budget, and he is determined to make it last.

Enochs, an executive leadership consultant, promised to accept no campaign contributions and to spend no more than $500 of his money.

He set the limit to prove a point. Enochs said voters are frustrated with excessive campaign spending at every government level. He wanted to show a person could run a city council campaign on a limited budget.
______________________________

Please see Galveston Daily News front page for the entire story.

The following comments have been posted to the GDN article.

Luke Primrose (workorfish)April 23, 2010 6:34 AM
I applaud all candidates who have listened to the majority of voters tired of massive election spending and the "vote buying" scams it can spawn. Now if we can elevate this mentality to state level campaigns we may eventually get to the national level - not in our liftimes.

Paul Smith (paulsmith77565)April 23, 2010 8:50 AM
Luke, you stated my thoughts exactly. Not long ago League City voters were clueless as to who financed the campaigns for mayor and council members. It was not unusual for a single candidate to have multiple $5,000 contributions from individual developers and city contractors. More telling were the $10,000+ mega contributions from “special interest” PACs.

Times are changing in League City. In a written pledge to citizens, Joanna Sharp-Dawson, current candidate for council, proclaimed “I have not and will not ever accept contributions from developers, Political Action Committees (PACs) or any special interest group.”

Such commitments have become common and have been made by most of the recently elected city officials. I applaud Bill Enoch, Joanna Sharp, and others that publically pledge to forego the easy path of big money from special interest groups.
________________________

This article raises good questions for the Candidates Forum.

CCV Residents and West Side League City Residents Monday April 26'th 7:00PM Christus Victor Lutheran Church (Located in front of Clear Creek Village off 518)

Great opportunity to meet all the candidates and ask the probing questions.

Forum on the westside

CCV Residents and West Side League City Residents Monday April 26'th 7:00PM Christus Victor Lutheran Church (Located in front of Clear Creek Village off 518)

This forum is all about League City citizens. Join us, have your voice heard, and become informed of ballot propositions so you can participate by your vote in determining the future of our city.

At 7 PM promptly the Candidates Forum will begin. This forum is structured to give the citizens an opportunity to ask questions important to them. The three candidates for Position 7 will be in attendance.

Reference the article below for additional details about our Candidates Forum for CCV and the West Side including the Charter Amendment Propositions.

I want to let you know the format of the forum. It is a format was used on the West End in Galveston for a Mayoral forum a few weeks ago, and it was very well received--from candidates as well as attendees. At this time, it has been decided that Peggy Zahler will be the moderator.

The format is as follows:

Three questions from the CCV Board will be provided to you a few days before the forum. These questions will be asked first and will be answered by each of you.

Drawing among candidates for order of seating/speaking

Each candidate will be given 2 minutes to introduce themselves

I will ask each candidate the CCV Board's 3 questions

Questions from the floor will then be asked. There will be no debate or follow-on question until other attendees have a chance to ask a question. This will prevent one or two attendees from monopolizing the time.

Each candidate will have a chance to answer every question asked and will be given 2 minutes

At attempt will be made, within a reasonable amount of time, to address as many questions as possible

Each candidate will be given 2 minutes to summarize their position/closing remarks

The timer from the League City Chamber will be used to enforce time limits. It is our intent to strongly enforce time limits such that all candidates have equal time.

After the candidates panel, there will be a brief presentation by City Council representatives on the Charter Review Propositions. It is planned that two citizens will then briefly discuss their preferred form of government.

Neil Baron & Mick Phalen will speak on behalf of the City on the Charter Amendments.
Charter Review Member's Marc Edelman will speak why he supports Council Manager Form of Government and Chris Mallios will speak on why he supports Strong Mayor Form of Government.



The Candidates Forum will begin at 7 PM. Depending on the questions and the turnout, your part should last no longer than an hour.

We will do everything we can to encourage a large turnout, and we are including other West Side subdivisions in our invitation.

This will allow the Citizens to ask the questions that they want to get the Candidates position on and also help educate everyone on the Charter Review Propositions.

Any questions, please feel free to call me. All are welcomed.

Rusty Tidwell
281-923-4375

Forum Tonight

If you are looking for information on the candidates running for office, drop by the city council chambers at 200 West Walker tonight and listen to what the candidates say about the issues that affect our city at the League City Chamber of Commerce Legislative Affairs Committee Candidate forum. Or if you are not able to be there you can watch it live on channel 16. It starts at 6pm.

The Sign Brewhaha and Campaign Finance Reform

The Valero “Angel” Mart at Main and SH 3 had its few days of fame. However, its support for council candidate Tommy “G” is no longer posted on the marquee.  (Signs are retained at the corner)  Also gone are Marc’s Blog heading and comments about the sign.

Two issues puzzle me. 

First, why would someone pay $2.79 a gallon and prevailing prices are around $2.65??

Secondly, why has there been no discussion of the campaign finance reform?  Many citizens see this is a big deal but details have been sketchy.  Does this mean that candidates can no longer be funded by the homebuilder’s PAC and individual development companies? 

I watched the council meeting and sound quality was generally poor.  Mayor Randall’s mike was the worst!

Does someone have a link for the campaign finance ordinance?

The field Narrows

It appears the Chris Stevens has removed his name from consideration for position 7 in the League City council race. I found this at guidrynews.com

“Thank you to family, friends and supporters of my candidacy for City Council Position 7. Your encouragement is something I will always cherish. However, after careful consideration and thorough discussion I have decided that Joanna Sharp and I can work better together seeking the same bright future for League City rather than seeking the same position on city council. With the leadership of Mayor Randall and a fiscally responsible majority on council, League City is making tremendous strides in correcting inherited problems of the past, making careful plans for the future and building up "good government".

Therefore for the good of the city and a united conservative movement, I am asking all my supporters to embrace and vote for Joanna Sharp Dawson as their next city council member. Since the deadline to officially withdraw has passed my name will still appear on the ballot but my campaign efforts have ceased. However, my support and work for 'Joanna Sharp for City Council Position 7' has just begun!

God Bless,
Chris Stevens”

Third Annual League City Candidate Forum in Glen Cove Park

As of the close of candidate sign-ups this evening (Monday, March 8th), Tim Paulissen has signed up to run for reelection to Position 6, but JIm Nelson is not seeking reelection to Position 7.

No other candidate has signed up to run for Position 6, so Mr. Paulissen will be unopposed for reelection.

Joanna Sharp, Tim Holloway, Tommy Garland, and Chris Stevens have signed up to run for the open Position 7 seat, which will be the only race to be decided this year.

Once again we will hold a Glen Cove candidates forum in our park to give the residents of Glen Cove as well as our neighbors in nearby communities an opportunity to meet all of the candidates in an informal and intimate setting. All five candidates have agreed to appear.

Any interested persons in surrounding neighborhoods and throughout the city are also invited to join us in meeting the candidates at this forum.

What: Meet the candidates for League City offices

When: Sunday, March 14, 2010

Where: At the Glen Cove park (north end of Glen Cove St., on the lake)

http://www.mapquest.com/mq/1-3Bb7ebjMQhYZ

(A notice of rain-out location will be posted if necessary)

Time: 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM

The following link goes to my personal blog posting of this event, which has downloadable invitation flyers for this event, maps, election info, etc.

Please try to car pool as parking is rather limited.

http://web.me.com/jeffhagen/Jeffs_League_City_info/Jeffs_LC_Blog/Entries/2010/3/8_Glen_Cove_candidate_forum_for_League_City_2010_City_Council_election.html

Congratulations to all the candidates for entering the race and thank you for agreeing to attend this event.

Jeff Hagen