People – Page 5 – The Other Side Dallas

August 20, 2021June 21, 2022

Indie Centrist Candidates Coming

Two North Texas Democratic incumbents may be facing indie centrist candidates in the upcoming 2022 election after gerrymandering says two sources close to Austin decision makers.

US Representative Colin Allred and State Senator Nathan Johnson may face not one, but two, candidates in the 2022 general election.

Indie Centrist Candidates

Allred has benefited from official administration visits like Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh’s summer visit, but may still be gerrymandered into a tougher district making his progressive voting record harder to defend.

Nathan Johnson, similar to Allred won in 2018 riding an anti-Trump wave, that may not exist in 2022 with Trump off the ballot.

Since 2020, many local Republicans have been associated with QAnon and the GOP voting losses of suburban women voters to Democrats over the past four years. The most recent in North Dallas is probably Barry Wernick.

The Republican Party currently has four candidates running for office in Texas Congressional District 32 per Ballotpedia. They are Montgomery Markland, Brad Namdar, Ricardo Salazar, and Gary Slagel.

No candidates are listed for State Senate District 16, but the Dallas County Republican Party, suffering from its own dysfunction, currently lists candidates who lost their primary races back in 2018.

Additionally, Don Huffines, who lost his re-election bid against State Senator Johnson four years ago, is aggressively running for Governor taking swings at Greg Abbott over the border and the electric grid failure. It is not obvious who would be running for his old seat, but his brother was Dallas County Republican Chair.

August 9, 2021August 9, 2021

Successful Dallas Youth Sports Event

There was a successful Dallas Youth Sports Back To School event on Saturday which put school supplies into the hands of hundreds of students and families.

One participant noted the event was more than just school supplies.

Information was passed out about the Texas Dental Plan and more than three hundred toothbrushes were given out also.

Additionally, several families received full meals.

Successful Dallas Youth Sports Started Early

People were lined up before 9:00AM when lines started for what would be a full day of fun.

Dallas Youth Sports, in conjunction with Dallas Youth Athletic Association, a 501 (c) non-profit organization, works to provide affordable recreational sports programs to the youth of the Dallas-Oak Cliff area.

August 3, 2021August 3, 2021

Steven Monacelli Out At Dallas Observer

Steven Monacelli out at the Dallas Observer per a tweet he sent out seems to indicate he was fired after breaking news about Dallas Justice Now.

Less than a month ago, Monacelli was speaking about the growing influence of QAnon in Texas politics.

Steven Monacelli and Dallas Justice Now

Last week Monacelli did an article for the Observer noting a flyer from a group reportedly from Dallas Justice Now. The article stated that the flyer urged parents in Dallas’ wealthy — and largely white — Highland Park and University Park suburbs to not send their kids to Ivy League schools. The parents needed to make space for students of color, the statement said.

The article insinuated it was a false flag operation put up by Keep Dallas Safe (KDS).

Yesterday a correction went up on the Observer website noting KDS was not connected to the Dallas Justice Now campaign.

As information becomes available we will update this story about Monacelli and the Dallas Justice Now story.

June 29, 2021June 29, 2021

Ruel Hamilton Convicted

Ruel Hamilton was convicted Tuesday of three of four counts of conspiracy and bribing two former Dallas City Council members, the late Carolyn Davis and Dwaine Caraway. Caraway is serving a nearly five-year prison sentence for accepting bribes and kickbacks.

A federal jury convicted Hamilton, the president of AmeriSouth Realty Group, of one count of conspiracy and two counts of bribery of an agent of a local government receiving federal funds.

Ruel Hamilton Case

From 2013 to 2015, Mr. Hamilton paid tens of thousands of dollars in bribes to Carolyn Davis, who was then serving as chair of the city’s Housing Committee.

Ms. Davis supported Hamilton’s Royal Crest housing project, voting to authorize a real estate development loan in a quid pro quo situation, despite the project not meeting the city’s housing priorities for multifamily units.

“The people of Dallas deserve true public servants, not those bought and paid for by the city’s elite. By using money to bend elected officials to his will, Mr. Hamilton betrayed the communities he purports to hold dear,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Prerak Shah.

He continued, “The U.S. Attorney’s Office will not allow a kickback culture to fester at City Hall. To anyone considering this sort of unscrupulous behavior: Think twice. Our prosecutors are tenacious, and we are determined to root out corruption wherever we find it.”

Dwaine Caraway’s conviction was also connected to the Dallas County Schools scandal. Carolyn Davis was killed in a DWI auto accident in 2019.

June 23, 2021June 29, 2021

Clean The Block

Clean The Block Initiative is an outreach program that tackles the disproportionate environmental effect on lower income communities.

The main objective is to clean up loose trash/litter, fight illegal dumping, educate community members on urban environmentalism, and reverse the effects of environmental racism that historically effects socioeconomically challenged neighborhoods.

Clean The Block Initiative

The iniative was started by Calvin Johnson, former candidate for D7 City Council in Dallas, and Brian Hesson. That race which attracted endorsements from numerous elected officials and participation by groups such as Keep Dallas Safe.

The area’s socioeconomic status, climate change and increased pollution has had a negative effect on the health, cognitive development, education, economic status, and overall pride in the community in the area. CBI plans to combat several environmental issues that plague local Dallas communities.

June 15, 2021June 15, 2021

Huffines: June Rolling Blackouts Ridiculous

Texas Governor Candidate Don Huffines says June rolling blackouts are “ridiculous.”

Huffines has announced for Governor and the gloves have already come off over issues such as border security, government spending, and now what Huffines describes as a “track record of failure.”

June Rolling Blackouts Come To Campaign 2022

Huffines campaign goes on to say “current leadership failed to properly address our power grid issues, and as a result countless lives are at risk once again.”

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has not responded to multiple requests for comment about the situation or Huffines’ comments, but last week claimed that the ERCOT situation was fixed.

June Rolling Blackouts

The news of potential June rolling blackouts came yester day as ERCOT announced it was nearing energy production capacity just days after the Texas legislature adjourned without taking serious action on the February blackouts that led to millions being left in subfreezing temperatures for up to a week.

June 11, 2021July 5, 2021

Eric Swalwell Spies In Dallas

Eric Swalwell (Dem, CA-15) was in Dallas last night for an event with new Dallas County Democratic Party Chairwoman Kristy Noble.

The event may show the strength of Noble in bringing national attention to Dallas County’s party which has had a recent history of financial problems. Swalwell’s office would not comment on the current allegations or his work supporting local Democrats across the country.

In 2019 Swalwell was a candidate for President.

Eric Swalwell – Security Issue

In late 2020, Swalwell was accused by Axios of having ties to a Chinese spy through local fundraising efforts.

The suspected Chinese intelligence operative developed extensive ties with local and national politicians, including Congressman Swalwell. Officials in the United States believe this was a political intelligence operation run by China’s main civilian spy agency between 2011 and 2015 and resulted in a FBI briefing to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy.

Swalwell serves on the House Special Committee on Intelligence, a position McCarthy says he should be removed from given current allegations.

June 1, 2021June 15, 2021

Danny Defenbaugh Facebook Posts Cause Alarm

A Facebook account linked to Danny Defenbaugh had numerous posts linking the local private investigator with QAnon conspiracies and far right attack on President Biden, immigrants, minority Members of Congress, and the former FBI Director James Comey.

Defenbaugh retired as Special Agent in Charge of the Dallas Field Office. The posts come on the heels of a Dallas based QAnon convention where Michael Flynn, the National Security Advisor fired by President Trump, called for a coup at the Omni Hotel.

Defenbaugh is currently a Texas licensed Investigations Security Contractor and runs a security consultant company under his own name out of Kaufman, Texas. His website states their mission is to “provide senior management with comprehensive guidance relative to their security environment to promote and enhance the protection of personnel, assets, information, and business operations.”

The discovery of these and other posts come on the heels of open attacks by MAGA supporters in Dallas city streets.

Danny Defenbaugh – Chief Oklahoma City Bombing Investigator Hides Foul Ups

Danny Defenbaugh, was the FBI agent at the center of the Oklahoma City bombing investigation and a major foul-up over document production.

In Congressional testimoney, he told lawmakers that he waited for months to alert his superiors because he wanted to ascertain the magnitude of the document problem which could have jeopardized Timothy McVeigh’s execution.

Agent Defenbaugh, the lead investigator of the Oklahoma City bombing case who was in charge of collecting investigative documents per the FBI had an inkling that something was amiss as early as January. This was noted in the summary of a briefing Defenbaugh gave to members of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

McVeigh’s execution, originally set for May 16, 2001, was delayed by the Justice Department until June 11, 2001, after the FBI revealed that investigative records had not been turned over to McVeigh’s lawyers.

Defenbaugh has not returned an inquiry into these posts as of publish.

May 31, 2021June 21, 2022

Wacky Wernick Campaign All In For Trump Style Politics

The wacky Barry Wernick campaign continues emulating Donald Trump and his dirty tricks in a recently released video where his campaign team admits doctoring a Facebook photo to make runoff opponent Jaynie Schultz more liberal.

The video below makes clear the campaign knew it was doctoring a Facebook photo because they could not run on public safety effectively against Jaynie Schultz.

Schultz who has campaigned for increased accountability of Dallas Police also has said she supports increased interaction between Dallas Police, Richardson Police, and other first responders. She also tackles the growing issue of panhandling on the major thoroughfares through D11. Her website says she wants to “build trust and transparent communication to fight crime.”

Wernick Endorsements

Wernick was rumored to be an Eric Johnson/Keep Dallas Safe supported candidate, but one source says KDS is exasperated by the neophytes running the campaign and its general direction.

One person outside Keep Dallas Safe stated “the GQP has taken over Barry’s campaign with Brad Namdar preparing his Congressional run against Colin Allred and GOP State Chairman Allen West offering a low key endorsement to have a single Dallas City Council member viewed as “conservative.”

The source close to campaign discussions said, “Namdar thinks he is kingmaker despite him increasing the likelihood of Barry losing.”

He continued,” Their strategy is bewildering. In 2020, Biden won the district by almost twenty points, but here is Barry rushing to line up with the alt right instead of focusing on getting things done for the district.”

May 19, 2021May 19, 2021

Coin Operated Candice Quarles Campaigns For Democratic Chair

Candice Quarles is campaigning for Dallas County Democratic Chair just a year past allegations surfaced she took a Disney World vacation – mostly on the taxpayers dime.

A few months ago the Dallas County Democratic Party showed they had poor internal financial controls as an organization. It is unclear what has been done to overcome the shortcomings in that report.

Candice Quarles History on Desoto City Council

Dallas Business Journals recently honored Quarles as a Leader in Diversity, skipping over her ties to a forensic audit showing her family profited over $140,000 from her family’s connection to Desoto city leadership. Her husband, Jeremiah, served as economic development chief previously.

During that time, Quarles had thousands of dollars in local memberships and sponsorships paid for by a city credit card. These include the Urban League of Greater Dallas Young Professionals, a group Candice Quarles led.

Desoto Independent School District has also had recent issues with credit card spending by leadership leading to takeover talk early last school year.

One Dallas Democratic Party Precinct Chair exasperated said, “this is more of the same.”

The South Dallas representative continued, “While the party should be winning races across the board, we give too many away with pie in the sky candidates or we elect grifters.”