If you get a negative piece of information (mailer or robocall) on an opponent in the first week of Early voting, here are some serious things to consider:

• The information was delivered in this timeframe SPECIFICALLY to prevent a response of the opponent; therefore, it is very likely without merit or there is a perfectly logical and acceptable answer for the issue.
• The candidate who had the piece sent knows this – and does care.  Their concern is winning, not ethics, nor any sense of fair play.  That speaks volumes about the character of the instigating candidate, NOT the target candidate.
• This is often a hallmark of the ‘Powers That Be’- and specific consulting groups that they utilize to support their candidates.
• You might consider the targeted candidate in a better light.  It may not be enough- one way or another to change your support (never support someone simply out of sympathy!), but it is one overall factor.

We are not aware of all the negative communications delivered this week, but we are aware of some  We just wanted to warn our membership generally.

• Jim Lantroop in the Panhandle- accused of wanting to double taxes (yeah right; with a 96% conservative rating)
• James White in Lufkin: he was ‘admonished ‘ for using improper language on 2 occesions over 2 years 6 years ago in a classroom- on performance review that listedn him as ‘expemplary’
• Mathew Krause, accused of moving into the district just to run for the office.  He’d bought his residence long before the boundaries were even fixed.

Folks; this is a pattern- and show the consistent grimy fingerprints of the Austin ‘Powers That Be’.  Reason alone to support EACH AND EVERY ONE of these candidates.

Apparently a robocall is going around from  Texans for Life (a pretty lonesome Pro-Life group in that it is backing Joe Straus for re-election this term; few are) that has some pretty nasty things to say about Jeff Leach.

These are the facts:  An individual- on their own volition and NOT directed or even notifying the Leach campaign- put out a handful (20-25) flyers in their neighborhood and mis-identified the group that IS endorsing Jeff Leach (Texas Right to Life) as Texans for Life.  This error by someone else not even associated with  Leach campaign, resulted in several thousand robocalls going out, essentially calling Jeff himself a liar.

There are those who wonder why we TeaApproved who we did in this race.  This is why; we have in Jeff someone better in terms of not only solid conservative values, but also a tendency refrain from using distasteful and/or somewhat unethical negative tactics in things like campaigning.  And, since three other solid conservative groups who actually put in a great deal of time in vetting this race (including interviews and background research) are in agreement, we feel quite confident Jeff Leach is the candidate who will not only bring vitality and solid conservative values to representing House District 67, but will also consistently conduct himself in ways to make his constituents proud.

We would also question John Pitchford’s continual antics in the House District 67.  We’ve NEVER seen someone less interested in actually running himself and more interested in attacking a SINGLE opponent.  It has gotten unseemly, to say the least, trying  to turn these molehills of Jon Cole into the Himalayas.  We did not TeaApprove Jon but we certain condemn this political vendetta, whatever its source.  We might question some of Cole’s campaign tactics, but we firmly reject Pitchford’s.

We would also like to commend the attitude of Ryan Dry, representing Bob Dry at the polls (UPDATE; NEVER write posting at 1am after 18 hour days: it takes a special kind of brain-death to misspell a thee letter name repeatedly!  Corrected).  Despite a difference of opinion in that race, he was gracious and accommodating to both our representative and to Angela Tucker herself.  It speaks well of Bob to have his supporters ‘play well with others’ in this venue. A starker contrast we cannot imagine.

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One thing the process of vetting candidates does, is it challenges you to determine the real character of the candidates.  And character is never more apparent during adversity (which my orphan kids in Uganda have taught me so much about) or during rejection.  How a candidate handles being told our committee (and, folks; it IS a committee- of about 10.  This is NOT a one-man show.) has decided to TeaApprove others says a lot. Some seem to shrug it off, actually understanding there is NOTHING personal in what we do.  I will single out Jeran Akers for being a class act in dealing with it.  I really like Jeran, probably because he HAS handled great adversity (a double-lung transplant, no less!) and good character was forged because of it.  The issues we had with Jeran were again minor policy ones (District 67 is TOUGH; but our pick- Jeff Leach- is a GREAT choice and wonderful character, with youthful enthusiasm and a stabilizing family- nothing like changing a few diapers to get you feet back on the ground.)

But there are others- who shall remain nameless- take such rejection as a deep personal affront.  They nearly ooze with the feeling of entitlement for the position they seek.  They belong to the right clubs, they know the right people, they’ve done the right volunteer work.  So the office BELONGS to THEM.  How DARE we say it doesn’t!  Sometimes this is the candidate, sometimes it is a supporter; but normally, it starts and continues with the candidate.

Well, we dare, because politics needs to shift from being a social game to one based on policy and principle.  And a sense of entitlement leads to arrogance in the legislature- and behind the bench (NEVER a good thing there!)  Our government system is, in many ways, broken and one of the reasons IS because some view it as a social club, not a responsibility to serve the people AND the future.

We are a small group who put in a LOT of hours to come up with our recommendations, based on Tea Party principles: we only ask people to take it for what it’s worth, considering how it was formulated.  We have done our first review of judicial candidates which include different vectors for those principles.  And one of those additional vectors IS personal demeanor; judge’s robes is a place where personal arrogance can be very harmful.  The more this election goes along, the more sure we are that our recommendations are good ones.  And, as voters see these candidates in the field, keep these aspects in mind when you pass your own judgements.  It will help improve governance.

So let’s make this clear.  our Committee performance Evaluation CANNOT be taken to stand on its own; it is to be used ONLY AS AN APPENDUM TO VOTING RECORDS.   It is EXTREMELY difficult for a freshman- especially one with the courage to stand up to the ‘Powers That Be’- to have significant committee impact. That is a function of the poor leadership of the House, and the Committee Chairs he selects (Note how many Committee Chairs ran screaming over the hill rather than face re-election this time.  Madden and Solomon in the House and Shapiro in the Senate are only the local ones.)

So, for a freshman in the House, one with a will of his own, anything but a ‘No impact’ would be a shocker.  It is their VOTING RECORD  that then carries the FULL weight of their score.  And freshmen like Jim Landtroop- who has an exemplary voting record at 96% and my (Michael Openshaw, Co-Founder of NTTP) personal endorsement- are EXACTLY who we need in the Texas House.

I’m almost surprised the ‘Powers that be’ didn’t search for every seventh word on our web site and try to use that to come up with a negative piece on solid conservatives like Jim.  It’s almost what I would expect.

UPDATE: And just to make things clear:  The NTTP Vetting committee has reviewed Jim’s record in office on an emergency basis and has unanimously extended TeaApproval to Jim Jandtroop based on his exceptional performance (putting him in the same category as our local Ken Paxton and Jody Laubenberg).  And, if the ‘Powers That Be’ want to continue to misrepresent our work, we say (in our best gravely voice): ‘Go ahead; make our day!”

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We created this Collin County flyer  and this Denton County flyer, listing the choices of NTTP and three other solid conservative groups, as well as a sample ballot.

The TeaApproved candidates are found here

UPDATE: another group has recommendations out there :  A seven member ‘Coalition of Better Government’. We don’t know their seven members are, they have NO web presence this year and we have no clue on how they define ‘Better’ government, nor even how conservative they are.  But they do have a process, so here is their abbreviated writeup , for whatever it’s worth with all the related unknowns.

Voting Dates & Times
Mon. May 14th   8 – 5         Mon. May 21th   8 – 5
Tue. May 15th   8 – 5          Tue. May 22th   8 – 5
Wed. May 16th   8 – 5        Wed. May 23th  8 – 5
Thu. May 17th   8 – 5         Thu. May 24th  8 – 5
Fri. May 18th   8 – 5           Fri. May 25th   8 – 5
Sat. May 19th   7 – 7
Sun. May 20th   1 – 6         ELECTION DAY  May 29th  7 – 7

Collin County Early Voting Locations

• Allen Municipal Courts Facility: 301 Century Pkwy, Allen
• Celina ISD Administration Building: 205 S. Colorado, Celina
• Renner-Frankford Library: 6400 Frankford Rd. Dallas
• Farmersville City Hall: 205 South Main, Farmersville
• Collin College – Preston Ridge Campus: 9700 Wade Blvd, Frisco
• Frisco Senior Center: 6670 Moore Street, Frisco
• Plano ISD Admin. Center    2700 West 15th Street, Plano
• Haggard Library: 2501 Coit Rd, Plano
• Maribelle Davis Library: 7501-B Independence Pkwy, Plano
• Harrington Library: 1501 18th Street, Plano
• Christopher A. Parr Library: 6200 Windhaven Pkwy, Plano
• Carpenter Park Recreation Ctr: 6701 Coit Road, Plano
• Collin College; Spring Creek,  2800 E. Spring Creek, Plano
• Collin College; Central Park 2200 W University Dr, McKinney
• John & Judy Gay Library: 6861 W. Eldorado Pkwy, McKinney
• Collin College; Higher Ed. Center: 3452 Spur 399, McKinney
• McKinney Fire Station #7: 861 S. Independence Pkwy, McKinney
• Collin County Elections: 2010 Redbud Blvd, Suite 102, McKinney
• Old Settlers Recreation Center: 1201 E. Louisiana St, McKinney
• Murphy City Hall: 206 N Murphy Rd, Murphy
• Wylie Municipal Complex Library: 300 Country Club Rd, Wylie

Denton County Early Voting Locations

• Carrollton Public library, 4220 N. Josey , Carrolton
• Argyle Town Hall, 308 Denton St., Argyle
• Frankford Town Homes, 18110 Marsh Lane, Dallas
• Lake Dallas City Hall, 212 Main St, Lake Dallas
• Denton County Admin Complex, 535 S Loop 288, Denton
• Carroll Admin Bldg, 401 W. Hickory, Denton
• Flower Mound Municipal Bldg, 4150 Kirkpatrick, Flower Mound
• Justin Municipal Bldg, 415 N. College, Justin
• Frisco Lakes Village Center, 7277 Frisco Lakes, Dr, Frisco
• Lewisville Municipal Annex, 1197 W. Main St, Lewisville
• The Colony Govt Center, 6301 Main St., The Colony
• Highland Village Municipal Complex,, 1000 Highland Village Rd.
• Copeland Govt Center, 1400 FM424, Crossroads

As a first step, we have created a Collin County-specific document, with a sample ballot on one side and the TeaApproval or endorsements of 4 good groups on the other: North Texas Tea Party, Collin County Conservative Republicans, Texans for Fiscal Responsibility and Young Conservatives of  Texas; all groups who take such endorsements quite seriously.  UPDATE:  here is a site to get Heritage Alliance’s  grades on the candidates for your address; another fine organization.

HERE IS A PDF FILE OF THE COLLIN COUNTY RECOMMENDATIONS AND SAMPLE BALLOT (UPDATED):  It prints double-sided on LEGAL paper if you chose to do so.  That is YOUR option (Individually driven campaigning- up to $200 in cost- is perfectly legal.)  Print it, email it, or otherwise disseminate it to your heart’s content.

UPDATE: here is the equivalent PDF for Denton County

Here is the information on early voting in Collin County; vote early, get your friends and family out to vote early- and spread the word on the conservative candidates.  Let’s send the RINOs to the retirement reserves.  This is where the rubber meets the road for the Tea Party principles.

I mean a group that lists Ken Paxton (TFR- A+) and Jodie Laubenberg (TFR- A+) at the bottom of the list, but put people like Rep. Dee Margo (TFR- F) and Rep. Beverly Wollery (TFR- D+) at the top???  (They still LIST Ken and Jodie, because such people left completely OFF a list would be too noticeable.)  The order of the list (by a group whose executive director is a David Dewhurst lackey)  is based solely on loyalty to the ‘Powers That Be’.  The carefully cherry-picked legislation that would sound conservative enough, but represent a PTBL  (Powers That Be Loyalty) Index.

So, if a State House or Senate incumbent touts his ranking on Texas Conservative Roundtable, be sure to hand them some toilet paper to clean their nose  of the brown stuff Joe Strauss and David Dewhurst must have left behind on them.

UPDATE: As suspected, the Texas Conservative Roundtable is a complete Straus front, one very poorly and ineptly disguised. Agendawise peels back the thin layers here.

And speaking of David Dewhurst and ‘grassroots’ support, the latest financial numbers that were released speak volumes as to the difference of the support base of David Dewhurst and Ted Cruz:

Meaning?   Dewhurst- all the money lobbyists can provide; Cruz- extensive grassroots support.

.  Here is the final group:

Texas State House District 70	Bracy Wislon
Texas State House District 115	Matt Rinaldi
Collin County Commissioner, District 3	Chris Hill
380th District Court Collin County	Ben Smith

Gail brings a different and highly analytical experience into the race and is not afraid to rock the boat and ask the probing questions necessary to get the SBOE thinking about the need for fundamental change.  the curriculum needs to be looked at, not only to roll back much of the social engineering content, but to add back some of the old styles of information-based education that originally put Americans in the lead.  Gail will be a strong dose of different insights and approaches, something the SBOE desperately needs.

The second TeaApproved Candidate for this race is Barnett Walker, whose service to this country is stuff of legends and who has a strong record as prosecutor and some great ideas on improving cost efficiency of courtroom activities.

Both men would make fine judges with a proper understanding of Constitutional law, fine experience and and excellent work ethics.