At Core Far-Right Houston Councilmember Helena Brown Is Wasting Our Time---A Woolly Mammoth's Perspective

The Houston Chronicle reports that far-right Houston City Council Member Helena Brown may have altered the time sheets of her City Hall staff so they would not be paid for all the hours they worked.

From The Chronicle—

“Houston City Councilwoman Helena Brown subtracted hours from employees’ timecards in apparent violation of federal law, according to records obtained by the Houston Chronicle. The first-term councilwoman shorted an employee by more than three hours in a day in several cases. At least six times, Brown deleted enough hours from employees’ reported workweeks that it cost them overtime by bringing their weekly total under 40 hours.”

Ms. Brown had previously  said that she would not allow her staff to work a full work week so that the city would save money on benefits for these staffers.

Sure.

I was not going to write Ms. Brown and this issue because it is so depressing and so stupid.

Ms. Brown is a far-right extremist elected in a low turnout race.  I expect little of her. There are so many hopeful things that we can respond to in life. And yet here are these people elected for no other purpose it seems but to harm the public welfare. I get tired of it.

Ms. Brown thinks the United Nations is directing City of Houston policy.

Also, many Top Houston and Texas political bloggers have written about this issue already. Brains & Eggs, Dos Centavos, Bay Area Houston and Off The Kuff  all have something useful to say about Ms. Brown. What could I add?

But as I thought about it, I recalled that I have my own Helena Brown material. I do try to use my own stuff.

The blog reading public merits no less.

Below is a picture I took of Ms. Brown last April reading a proclamation at a parade in Downtown Houston honoring Iraq War Veterans.

(The woman in the red dress to the right of Ms. Brown is my terrible State Representative Sarah Davis. Ms. Davis has done all she can to work with Rick Perry to decimate educational and environmental funding in the  Texas state budget. Ann Johnson is running against Ms. Davis in 2012 to represent Texas House District 134. Here is the link to send Ms. Johnson a few dollars.)

How about that flag shirt Congressman Al Green is wearing!

The Chronicle story was not the only news about Ms. Brown this week.

The Houston Press ran a story about Councilmember Brown and a man named William Park.

The Press says that this Mr. Park is an advisor to Ms. Brown who exerts a great deal of influence on Ms. Brown and her right-wing agenda.

Here is the Press story.

Read it and make of it what you will.

Here an excerpt from the Press story—

“Park circulated business cards…with the City of Houston seal. The cards advertised Park as Brown’s “chief adviser.” City Attorney David Feldman later stopped Park, saying the city emblem couldn’t be used on a volunteer’s business cards.”

I found this interesting because I once briefly met Mr. Park. Councilwoman Brown and I ran into each other at the Iraq veterans parade. We had met once before.  She said she’d like to to meet with me again sometime soon because she felt that I had not accurately characterized  her in previous posts I’d written. Mr. Park was with her and he gave me his business card.  I recall Mr. Park as a tall man with a cowboy hat. (Ms. Brown and I  never did have that conversation.) 

Below is a picture of the business card that Mr. Park handed me that day. The card is being shown here by Extinct. Extinct is a Woolly Mammoth and is a member of the Texas Liberal Panel of Experts.

You see that this may be one of the business cards that Mr. Park was handing out after he was told to stop using the City of Houston emblem.

I really don’t know where we get all these people.

Extinct says that it never has been any different.

A Woolly Mammoth is very good at taking the long view.

He says that trouble never stops coming, and in the end the issue will be did you make your case in the time that you had and with the resources at your disposal.

All we can do is stay the course.

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