Remember when an elephant urinated across the George R. Brown Convention Center floor during the Texas Republican Convention, as detailed in the Houston Chronicle report, “Texas GOP’s surprise elephant takes giant pee at convention”?

There is more to the story. Following that report, I reached out to our City Council member to inquire whether the Texas GOP and the elephant handler, Trunks & Humps, had submitted all required permits and paperwork to the Houston First Corporation—the entity that manages exhibits at the GRB. Their website’s “About” section states:

A local government corporation formed in 2011, Houston First’s responsibilities include the development of the destination brand strategy, promoting the city worldwide, driving tourism and convention business, operating numerous facilities, producing events that serve the community, collaborating with commercial and industry partners and much more.

City Councilwoman Sallie Alcorn’s staff received the following response from Houston First:

Please be advised that every facility license agreement issued by HFC requires that the event client “strictly comply with all applicable laws, ordinances, codes, and regulations”. Relatedly, we further include a statement that the event client “shall acquire any federal, state and/or municipal permits or licenses required for the event”.

An open records request was submitted to review the facility license agreement, emails, and related correspondence. Unbelievably, the records yielded no agreements, applications, or receipts for the $25,000 Governor Greg Abbott paid to Trunks & Humps. The file contained only a couple of brief emails between Abbott’s staffer, Grayson Freeman, and Brenda Wharry of Houston First Corporation. It seems impossible that this represents the full record required to bring a large, possibly dangerous, animal into a crowded facility.

Either someone provided inaccurate information to our Council member, or the response to the open records request was incomplete. Or maybe Houston First was doing a favor for Abbott which I would not doubt one bit. For those who haven’t seen the footage of the elephant at the convention, the video is linked below, along with the official open records response (which incurred a $1.50 fee).

More updates on this story will follow.

In the words of Matthew McConaughey, all white, all white, all white.

From the back row, left to right:

Senator Money Mayes Middleton running for Texas Attorney General. Middleton is a multi millionaire. He is self financing his campaign, again. So far he has put $20 Million of his own money into his race. He spent $5 million for his Senate seat and $2 million for his House seat. Middleton is a Christian Nationalist. He has also posted racist comments about members of the Legislature. His main goal as AG is to stop Sharia Law (that doesn’t exist).

Senator Don Huffines running for Texas Comptroller. Huffines is a billionaire. He is self financing his campaign as he did for his run for Senate. As comptroller he has pledged to stop Sharia Law. (that doesn’t exist)

Bo French running for Texas Railroad Commissioner. French is a millionaire and a Texas certified bigot. His comments about Muslims and Jews earned him well deserved criticism from other bigots of the Republican Party. “He has embarrassed us.” He too will fight Sharia Law from attacking crops in the State.

Dawn Buckingham running for Land Commissioner. At the very least she is a normal millionaire.

Ken Paxton running for US Senate. Paxton is a millionaire investing wisely from his $150,000/year salary. He has multiple mistresses and was cheating on his wife way before it was considered a Republican value. He has over 10 homes across the State. He was impeached overwhelmingly by the Texas House.

Nate Sheets running for Texas Agriculture Commissioner. Nate is another millionaire and has used his money from a Honey business to self finance his campaign. He upset Commissioner Sid Miller an extreme far right MAGAt. Nate has said he has “zero tolerance for criminality.” LOL. Jan 6.

Dan Patrick running for Lt Governor. Patrick is a millionaire. Patrick led the effort to acquit Ken Paxton after 8 days of trial and damning testimony. He is a walking billboard for term limits.

Greg Abbott running for Governor. Abbott is a multi-millionaire funded by his lawsuit settlement. He was crippled by running under a tree being cut down. After 12 years in office the State is in ruins except for flooding our state with new businesses driving up home costs and traffic.

Speaker Burrows. He is there just for the photo op with billionaires, millionaires, bigots, racists, and adulterers.

This is your Republican candidates, as popular as herpes at a hot tub party.