Saturday, February 23, 2008

Billy Allen Fletcher has a Snit (updated)

Appropo of absolutely nothing I suppose, but word of an interesting exchange reaches my ears. It is interesting because it shows the sort of personality that Billy Allen Fletcher has and how he reacts to people in authority.

Fletcher arrived at the Tomball early voting place Tuesday the 20th with a stack of pizzas for the poll workers. That in of itself is a good thing, poll workers are only paid 7 dollars an hour and work their tails off. But Poll workers must also take an oath to protect the sanctity of the election process too. Accepting food from a candidate is verboten. What makes it worse, he waltzed into the polling place with "vote for me" buttons on his jacket. That also is not allowed by state law. It is called electioneering. No one may electioneer inside the 100 ft markers. Yes, that means Billy Allen Fletcher too. The election judge, which on election day has the same power as a district court judge, asked him to either remove his buttons or depart the exclusion zone. He turned and left in a huff but he did not leave the exclusion zone, he camped out at the front door, prompting the election judge to have to ask him to leave AGAIN. After that second confrontation in which Fletcher reportedly was quite belligerent and the election Judge was concerned that he would need to call the Constable's office to remove him, he finally left in a cloud of tire smoke as he left the parking lot. It would seem Fletcher has a small problem with following the law and how he interacts with people in positions of authority.

Update:
Court Koenning, Fletcher's campaign manager, sends the following clarification of what happened:
Fletcher went into the polling location with pizza and no campaign material or buttons (heck, he doesn’t even have a “vote for me sticker”). After delivering the pizza he went outside to leave the facility. He ran into a neighbor whose kid is also going to Iraq and the two struck up a conversation. The neighbor had already voted and was also departing the facility. A Corbin campaign staffer snapped a picture on his cell phone of the two conversing in the parking lot and then went in to tattle to the election judge that electioneering was taking place. The election judge came outside to tell the men that someone had complained and that they should take their conversations past the markers. The men complied respectfully with the election judge’s request and immediately left the parking lot. No heated exchange, no requirements to leave the building, etc., etc., etc. One of our supporters went into the facility later to make sure everything was ok and the election judge said “the complaining campaign staffer was blowing things out of proportion, but I felt a need to go break up the conversation since there was a complaint.” Further, I have called the County Clerk’s office to see if there was an incident reported at the Tomball EV center (as judges are required to report such incidents), but none was reported. Sounds like to me you have a desperate campaign trying to create an incident.


I leave it to you the reader to come to your own conclusion as to what happened. Just as an aside, I am an election judge myself. You do NOT have to report cases of electioneering to the clerk's office. The Election judge has the authority to handle it himself and the clerk's office only needs to be notified if things get out of hand.

23 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

WOW, someone else noticed Billy's little problem with authority. Seems that he has been in the "cage business" too long to know how to interact with people, especially those in authority and those that he must represent. Even my children know better than to "poll Loiter" and especially within the 100 foot signs.

It just brings real concern as to how he would handle being on the bottom of the totem pole in Austin in the lowly House? Will he bite the other members or maybe destroy their offices? Throw a fit? It seems that his behavior has a pattern, just ask his former partner........

It is sad of the alternative in this race, and yet the actions of the one that claims he wants to do something, makes it hard to know exactly what he will to do.

Changing chairs on the Titanic won't help here and especially if the one being replace has no seat bottom, or should I say head.... or a head that is too hot to handle.

February 23, 2008 11:34 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

If ya read LST, you're supposed to believe this joker walks on water (like Reagan?) Ha. Obviously, clothes don't make the man, and I'm disgusted that Dan Patrick thinks he needs to support someone who believes he's above the law.

Absolutely serves the jerk right to be run off. He's lucky he didn't get arrested on the spot. What a total arse.

February 23, 2008 1:31 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"former partner"?

February 23, 2008 8:32 PM  
Blogger american woman said...

Fletcher is better than no show Van Arsdale and his vote for the business tax. Maybe Fletcher isn't an ideal candidate. Van Arsdale has had his chance. He needs to go. If Fletcher doesn't do a good job, he goes too.

February 24, 2008 4:19 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think a lot of people have fallen into the trap of believing that everything Dan Patrick says is gospel.

Between the non-stop commentary that you hear on KSEV and the push polls that Benzion conducts and then posts it on LST, you would think that Corbin has done everything 100% against his constituents (even though he is in line with the voting records of other 2 representatives that are within Dan's district 7)

Dan's got a conservating record that's worse than Corbin. On top of that, he's voted for some things that actually work AGAINST grass roots organizations, such as placing additional restrictions on FOI requests. He practically endorsed the CFISD bond with his "I'm inclined to believe this is a good bond" comment.

Maybe it's Dan who needs to go.

Don

February 24, 2008 8:14 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Amen, american woman! I hadn't heard about Mr. Fletcher's actions at the voting location, but I've heard a LOT about Van Arsdale's untruths. I won't knowingly vote for a liar.

February 24, 2008 9:41 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

conservative, guess you won't be voting for Fletcher. Watch the debate. Watch him lie about being registered to vote in Harris County for the last election. Watch him lie about sending out a mailpiece on Corbin mocking his name and say he's never seen it...but he did see it, just not THAT exact one...Watch him stand by his mailpiece that lies about votes in the House (saying Corbin killed bills like HB13, which Corbin voted on and which passed out of the House). And now, watch him lie about his integrity, based on his three decades in law enforcement, as he turns about at a polling place and resists the authority of the election judge (at which point they almost had to call in law enforcement???). Name one lie that Corbin has told. One "untruth" as you call it.

February 24, 2008 9:48 PM  
Blogger The Dude said...

"I think a lot of people have fallen into the trap of believing that everything Dan Patrick says is gospel."

I think that's true in a lot of cases. Not that I'm anti-Dan Patrick, but I think that a lot of KSEV listeners tend to place way too much trust in what they hear on the radio. Even when I disagreed with Corbin Van Arsdale during Dan's campaign (via email), Corbin was never anything but respectful of my opinion and conducted himself very professionally. I think that says a lot about a politician and even more about the human being that is the politician. Of course, I think the inverse is true as well.

February 25, 2008 7:10 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Billy Allen Fletcher; Come clean about your past, you only spent the minimum at HPD and then left or was your welcome mat pulled?

Exactly where did you live for the past 10 years? And why is there no Harris County voting record, attendance at Political clubs, memberships and participation in the political process?

How many legislative sessions have you attended and do you even have a clue as to what is going on? Have you ever testified about any legislation in the Legislature?

We need to move forward, but someone needs to be at the helm, or behind the wheel that knows where to go!

February 25, 2008 8:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

As an Austinite who makes it a point to keep tabs on the Capitol goings-on let me just cast this vision before you NW Houston folks: your SENATOR is becoming a laughing stock because of his bizarre intrusion into a HOUSE race between TWO REPUBLICANS??

The thought around here is definitely not "better representation".....it is actually "man....Dan got his panties in a big ole wad didn't he???"

A senator acting like a spoiled brat/bully on the playground is most unbecoming AND, let me tell you, will render your senator even MORE ineffective in the upcoming session.

All that PLUS you are even considering sending to the House some Dan-Patrick-talking-head i.e. Fletcher? Why on earth would you willing give up effective representation that you have in Austin now: Van Arsdale? Like everything he did? No. Appreciate his work for you verified by much legislation and FOUR committee assignments? Absolutely. Committee assignments = "this is a strong worker who is able to make things happen" (....that would be for YOU).

Billy Allen Fletcher? Goodness....

February 25, 2008 9:54 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

It's a good thing Dan is a talk show host because he is all talk. I urge you to look at his "accomplishments" on his website where he mentions that he was able to get "In God we trust" on the Senate wall. Wow! Earth shattering legislation! He even mentions that he met great resistance in Austin. Duh, with his arrogance he will never pass a bill especially since he has basically condemned everyone in Austin.

Dan is duping everyone in this election. He is after Van Arsdale because Corbin is smarter than he is and knows how to get things done in Austin.

And Dan is the liar---not Van Arsdale. If Dan just wanted another conservative in Austin why didn't Fletcher run in his own district instead of moving into 130? And Fletcher is Dan's second choice-----Google Michael Kubosh and you'll meet his first choice.

February 25, 2008 3:44 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This is better than "Desperate Housewives!" wow let's have some mud wrestling here and some "one hand tied behind my back" knock outs. Pretty soon we going to see fine pointed Ethics Complaints filed and claims of Black Hawk Helicopters flying through the night and taking small children and programming them to vote.

When someone picks out of thin air a third stringer to run the ball, and he knows nothing or very little about the game, it make me wonder... if I am to be taken as an intelligent voter, then let's see the facts and try to convince me that this is an election on principles and not a Vendetta to wet someone's ego....

I would guess that by now the line is forming to run for SD 7 in 2010, and I can't wait for that mud slinging to start, all one would have to do there to win is remain silent and let the gladiators hash it out....

I am having a hard time finding anything that the new comer, green ex-cop has done for conservative political causes..... I have never seen him until Felix Michael Kubosh did not catch any interest, and I'm told that Kubosh was #2, I don't know #1. Seems that Billy Fletcher is #3. OK so show us your metal and your ethical past, tell us about your business and why you left the HPD at an early age?

Vendettas have not been real successful, and this one is being fought on personal reasons and not on principle....

February 25, 2008 4:08 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Per the "clairification" of the voting place incident:

Please; when nothing is going on, nothing is going on. Why not just keep in mind where you are, what the situation is, and manage to do your visiting?, politiking?, WHATEVER?, within the proper allowances.

Can this possibly be too difficult? Can a candidate who cannot even pull THIS off R E A L L Y be effective in Austin??? Yikes?

If it's Fletcher who goes to Austin I sense a disaster. After all, Senator Dan can't be on the floor and in committee meetings with Billy A. holding his hand.

February 25, 2008 7:39 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This is a strictly personal vendetta by Dan Patrick. If you go through Fletcher's mail pieces and look up the information yourself at the Texas Legislature website you can see for yourself that the comments on KSEV and these pieces are total lies. KSEV is no different than a lot of the liberal media - just pushing for its own agenda. It is a sad day when a fine person and public servant is slandered constantly as has happened in this campaign. You have to wonder why anyone wants to go through this. Representative Van Arsdale is one of the hardest working legislators in Austin and very accessible to his constituents. That is why he has been assigned to some of the most demanding committees and extremely well respected. Maybe that is why Dan Patrick chooses to go after him. Make no mistake - this challenge is not from Fletcher - he is a puppet.

February 26, 2008 2:11 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I can attest to the Krap and mud dragging in a political campaign. There were stories made up by people that you would never in a million years think that they were capable... just look at the Hilderbeast. Prime example!

The vendetta is/was a waste and there are a hell of a lot of others that needed to be replaced. Take your pick.

February 26, 2008 8:03 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Let's keep the record straignt about the incident with Fletcher breaking the law at the polls. First, Court Koenning was not present at this particular poll, so he is taking Flethcer's word for it and simply trying to do damage control for his candidate's unethical conduct. However, I was at the polls and I did witness the incident, and it did not happen the way Court is trying to explain the infraction of the law. I can assure you that no staffer from the Van Arsdale campaign reported the infraction. However, the unethical misconduct by Fletcher was reported by a voter who was very upset that Fletcher was breaking the law and "getting away with it." Secondly, it is my understanding that it is considered trying to bribe a poll worker to give them anything. Had it just been one person Fletcher was talking to it might have been a different story, but twice I looked over and there were two different groups that had gathered around him. Also, one of Fletchers campaign workers also was talking to voters as she held the door open for voters to enter the voting area. Regardless of who reported the breaking of this law..the fact remains that Fletcher and one of his workers clearly broke the law. My question is if he is not aware of the laws of the election code, then how on God's Green Earth can he possibly know how to author a bill for the House?

February 26, 2008 8:36 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

There is an interesting concept in the House 130 Election:

KSEV, owned by a Hispanic California Company leased the station or contracted it to Houston Broadcasting, LP of which is not a corporation. Since It is not a Corporation it can give Billy Fletcher all of the advertising time as "In-Kind Contribution" and it is perfectly legal. Now the interesting part is that Corbin has to buy time on KSEV and any other station.

When you sum things up Corbin is literally "buying the bullets being fired at him." as You will note there are about as many against him as for him!

Just an observation.... and like hanging raw meat to attract more regulations.

February 28, 2008 9:23 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Per the voting incident..Posters should note that Court Koenning was not present at this polling location when Fletcher was caught electioneering..now Court can spin it anyway he wants..but I know what I saw..and unless Fletcher had 15 neighbors all having sons being deployed to Iraq then he was electioneering..besides rules are rules and they are in place for a reason...Fletcher wants to be Dist 130 Rep. If he does not know the election code rules ...then Have Mercy on all of us in District 130 if we send a man like that to Austin.

February 28, 2008 6:25 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I bet Corbin wishes he had a sugardaddy that owned a radio station. Billy Allen's behavior has been dispicable. Dan's has been worse. It makes me sick to my stomach to listen to the schoolyard comments from the radio station's hosts making fun of Corbin's ads - which, by the way - through my research have been 100% truthful while Billy Allen's have been nothing but statistical misrepresentations of reality. Grow up Dan. Go away Billy Allen.

February 28, 2008 7:08 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I was the person that complained about Fletcher. First, he had to be told 2 times and the election judge was on her way to do it a 3rd when he saw her coming and started for his Suburban. He did bring pizza because I interupted the campaign judge during lunch and there were several people eating pizza that I saw. He didn't leave in a cloud of tire smoke but he was visibly pissed. I was ask "what are you doing?" in a threatening and condesending way. He joked about the mailout about Corbin, after the debate, that he hadn't seen that particular mailout - obviously, this guy has a problem with how he handles the truth and from what I see, he's going to be nothing but a Dan Patrick puppet. We need people that represent us, not the "Patrick Agenda" ... dlc

March 03, 2008 7:20 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Another blog has an interesting take on this Circus:
http://www.jayhargett.com/

March 03, 2008 3:28 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wow...you mess with the establishment and the feathers fly dont't they!

I don't know Fletcher from Adam, however, he could be Donald Duck for all I care! The entrenched politicians in Austin have created a mess and its time that some common folks, (yes...horrors...even the great unwashed...who are "unfamiliar" with Austin) give it a try.

I laugh at those of you who say a person isn't qualified because he or she hasn't been to Austin and paid their dues. Screw that! This isn't rocket science as you would have us believe. You show up, you vote. All the rest is fluff and is created by the fat cats to protect their sorry a**es.

March 05, 2008 11:08 AM  
Anonymous Brandon said...

Just because a conservative forum says you are conservative, Allen Fletcher, doesn't mean you are effective.

I am voting for Joe Spencer.
http://spencerfortexas.com

February 14, 2010 6:43 PM  

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