ZAP! #55...May 7, 2011
$313,000………….$313,000…………..313,000
It’s official. The mayoral race is now completely out of control.
When we are wrong, we are wrong. And we will be the first to admit it. In an earlier report, we reflected that the incumbent mayor would probably spend around $250,000 on his re-election campaign. Boy, were we wrong. The second report figures are in and the incumbent mayor’s total is now $313,000!
Are you sitting down? It seems as if the Bag Man for the Entertainment Center’s vote-buying-effort (Billy Bob) is pulling out all the stops for the incumbent mayor. And this just goes to show that Billy Bob is not very astute when spending his or the city’s bucks. He could go to the Bunny Ranch in Las Vegas and hire one of the “ladies” to be mayor a lot cheaper. Don’t you think the results would be the same?
And the ridiculous comment by the incumbent mayor that all this money is needed to convey his message on the issues is laughable. The only issue the incumbent mayor has pushed thus far is his untruthful character assassination of Joe Putnam.
The top two money grubbers this mayoral campaign (Gears & VanDuyne) are bought and paid for by: Las Colinas Group (Billy Bob, etc.), J. Ralph Ellis, Heinz Simon, north Irving developers, and Dallas special interest groups. Electioneering assistance is provided to Gears by the Irving firemen’s union PAC (also funded by Billy Bob, et al).
The largest contributor listed in the campaign finance reports for the incumbent mayor is Billy Bob Barnett. He has chunked in a whopping $177,000. Anyone telling you this is acceptable is probably a part of the Kool-Aid sipping squad that is supporting the incumbent mayor. You don’t think Billy Bob wants something in return for his contributions, do you?
As previously mentioned in all of the CCR reports related to the mayoral campaign, the incumbent mayor is being bought by the Las Colinas Group (Billy Bob) and supported by the Irving firemen’s union PAC. It will be interesting to see how much money Billy Bob has donated to the firemen’s union PAC when they file their report.
One interesting side note. The latest mailing from the incumbent mayor did not use the term “slumlord lawyer” to describe his opponent, Joe Putnam. Either his highly paid consultant told him this sleazy tactic wasn’t working, or they decided that the incumbent mayor couldn’t defend this vile wording once the Dallas Morning News exposed the lie for his being untruthful in ads, mailers and TV commercials.
Not to outdone, Vanduyne seems to be playing the old “hide the bucks for now” approach to her campaign reporting. Of course, she attempts to portray herself as a simple “mom” only interested in what is best for Irving. Sure! Have you read her expensive pablum-fluffy mailings?
Look, when you have as many mailings, robocall sessions, big and small signs around the city, it is stretching the voter’s imagination to believe that she only has $64,000 to report at this time. She could be holding back pledges or loans in order not to appear to be as big a money grubber as Gears. This tactic is utilized so that the voters will not know the full extent of how much has been contributed by special interest to buy her the election.
To add insult to injury, VanDuyne has stated that “Irving voters are not for sale.” Right, but she fails to mention that she is. Wait, she has already been bought...we just don’t know the total price paid yet!
Come on VanDuyne...level with the voters and tell them what your Bag Man, J. Ralph Ellis, is prepared to spend in total. Your campaign finance reports are starting to look exactly like the Whale Rider’s reports when J. Ralph was purchasing and serving as her Bag Man. Will you soon be driving around town in a new Mercedes-Benz? Will you have hundreds of thousands of dollars in “loans” that seem to disappear if elected? What specifically is J. Ralph’s agenda for you? If Gears is reporting $313,000 now, we’ll revise our estimates for your total campaign cost too.
Guesstimate: Gears will spend $525,000 and VanDuyne will up her total cost to $425,000. Consider the city sold to special interest if either of these individuals is elected. And this would be a gloomy, black day in Irving’s history!
For fear of being repetitive, the staff of the CCR would once again reflect that if you are truly interested in a mayor who is honest, a mayor who has integrity and a mayor who has outstanding moral character, then the choice is simple: Joe Putnam.
It’s certainly not Herb Gears or Beth VanDuyne. Voters should have awakened to this fact by now.
..............Mark Holbrook
