Stefani Carter and Monty Bennett's "Buffoonery"

2013: Ringing Opening Bell on NYSE (Stefani Carter on left)

Stefani Carter is in the news again and not in a good way. Again, it's about Blackwells Capital LLC making a hostile attempt to install independent directors to the board of Monty Bennett's Braemar Hotels & Resorts Inc. The Wheel has followed Monty Bennett for his own behavior but mostly because of one of his company's directors, Stefani Carter ("What Has Stefani Carter Been Up To"). Carter is a former member of the Texas House of Representatives. She represented Richardson from 2011-2015. Or rather, she represented herself. She turned her service into a gig with Monty Bennett. Or, as D Magazine puts it, she "suckles at Bennett’s REIT" (Real Estate Investment Trust). Blackwells has now released a presentation titled "The Buffoonery of Monty Bennett" in which Bennett is featured and Carter, his lead director, is mentioned and not in a flattering way.

What Has Stefani Carter Been Up To

2013: Ringing Opening Bell on NYSE (Stefani Carter on left)

You may remember Stefani Carter. The former Texas state representative for parts of Richardson, swept into office in the 2010 tea party wave. The ambitious politician who attempted to climb to statewide office (Texas Railroad Commission) in 2014 only to discover that the moneyed interests had other candidates in mind. Who then scrambled back to her legislative race in north Texas but lost her seat when even GOP voters abandoned her in the primary for Linda Koop. The last time we checked in on her was in 2020. What has Stefani Carter been up to since?

City Council meets to revise zoning; discuss policing research, universal basic income

Source: June MacDonald.

"Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore."
— Dorothy, The Wizard of Oz

That's the feeling I had when I read that headline. Head snap. Spit take. WTF? I had the feeling I wasn't in Texas anymore. And indeed I wasn't. The story appeared in Ann Arbor's "The Michigan Daily", a student-run newspaper for the University of Michigan.

"Texas Woman Accused in Beating of State’s Former Lieutenant Governor"

Heavy.com

The headline says "Texas Woman Accused in Beating of State’s Former Lieutenant Governor." If that made you think of Stefani Carter, you should be ashamed of yourself. Either that or you know way too many details about the inside baseball of Texas politics. The woman in the headline is Leslie Ann Caron. If that made you think of Leslie Caron the movie star, well you'd be wrong again. But it would prove you don't know way too much about the inside baseball of Texas politics. Our woman of interest, arrested for "injury to an elderly person" (ouch), is Leslie Ann Caron, a political fundraiser. There is a connection to our Stefani Carter. Patience. We'll get to it.

Tapping the Paycheck Protection Program for $126M

2013: Braemar Rings Opening Bell on NYSE (Stefani Carter on left)

You may remember Stefani Carter. The former Texas state representative for parts of Richardson, swept into office in the 2010 tea party wave. The ambitious politician who attempted to climb to statewide office (Texas Railroad Commission) in 2014 only to discover that the moneyed interests had other candidates in mind. Who scrambled back to her legislative race in north Texas but lost her seat anyway when even GOP voters abandoned her for Linda Koop. All that was covered by The Wheel back in the day. Well, Stefani Carter is back in the news, or at least her business is.

What Has Stefani Carter Been Up To?

You remember Stefani Carter. The former Texas state representative for parts of Richardson. Swept into office in the 2010 tea party wave. The self-proclaimed "first black female GOP state representative" (which highlights how delinquent the Texas GOP was). The ambitious politician who campaigned nationwide for Mitt Romney in 2012. (How'd that work out?) Who attempted to climb to statewide office (Texas Railroad Commission) only to discover that the moneyed interests had other candidates in mind. Who scrambled back to her legislative race but lost her seat anyway when voters abandoned her for Linda Koop. All that was covered by The Wheel back in the day.

So, that Stefani Carter. What has she been up to? Spoiler alert: her activities in the private sector are raising eyebrows just as her activities in public office did.

Repeat Tweets: Blocked Punt for a Touchdown

Repeat tweets from September, 2015:

• Sep 3 2015: Blocked punt for a touchdown by Berkner with 30 seconds left sends this game to overtime. Naaman Forest 30, Berkner 30. #txhsfb @BerknerHS
• Sep 3 2015: Final in overtime: Garland Naaman Forest 30, Berkner 33. It's a great time to be a Ram! #txhsfb @BerknerHS
• Sep 4 2015: 173,000 new jobs in August. Unemployment lowest since March, 2008. Wait for @PeteSessions's statement blaming Obama.
• Sep 5 2015: Surprising and heartwarming reaction in Germany to refugees. Boosts my faith in humanity.
• Sep 7 2015: Dallas Morning News Defensive player of the week: Berkner's John Lewis. If you missed the game, sucks for you. dallasnews.com

After the jump, more repeat tweets.

Repeat Tweets: Stefani Carter Says Goodbye

Repeat tweets from November, 2014:

• Nov 2 2014: "I lost my seat, partly because my consultants encouraged me to run for higher office." Stefani Carter, taking ownership for poor decisions.
  
• Nov 10 2014: Shouldn't Dallas Morning News say somewhere that Richardson Real Heroes is a product of a political action committee? yourrichardson.dallasnews.com
  
• Nov 10 2014: "Are The Concerns About Water Fluoridation Legit?" Short answer: No. fivethirtyeight.com
  
• Nov 10 2014: Headline: "The Chicago Bears are dead. The Green Bay Packers killed them." Almost as satisfying as a Super Bowl win. ftw.usatoday.com
  

After the jump, more repeat tweets.

Saying Goodbye to Stefani Carter

Tuesday, Linda Koop won election to the Texas House District 102 seat currently held by Stefani Carter. Koop defeated Carter in the GOP primary. Before the vote Tuesday, Carter made one last pitch to the voters -- not for Koop but for Greg Abbott, GOP candidate for governor. Carter wrote an opinion piece for the Texas Tribune making a case why minorities should support Abbott. Mostly it was standard GOP boilerplate (e.g., twisting opposition to public education into support: "providing quality public education"). Nothing about Carter in that part of the opinion piece. It was the rest that reminds voters what they don't like about Stefani Carter.

Texas House District 102: Koop vs Clayton

A candidate forum for Texas House District 102 was held on October 8, 2014, at RISD's Westwood Junior High School. Linda Koop (R) and George Clayton (D) answered questions from the audience.

After the jump, where the two candidates stand on a wide range of issues.

Repeat Tweets: We Want More Speech

Repeat tweets from May, 2014:

• May 1 2013: MT @SenTedCruz: "We don't need less speech, we want more." But Cruz doesn't want billionaires to have to put their names on their speech.
  
• May 2 2013: MT @SenTedCruz: "Religious liberty is under assault like never before." You do know who is denying wall between church and state, don't you?
  
• May 2 2013: MT @SenTedCruz: "We need policies that encourage job creation & growth." Then pass the Job Creation Act already. #wacko
  

After the jump, more repeat tweets.

Thank You, Linda Koop

I could post one item a day on the distortions and lies coming from the Stefani Carter campaign. That's because a new mailer hits my mailbox about that often with another load of you know what. Carter has reached high desperation mode in trying to hang on to her seat from Texas House District 102, in a GOP runoff campaign against Linda Koop... Integrity is something we look for in our elected officials, and we see not an ounce of it in Stefani Carter.

Source: The Dallas Morning News.

That's what Rodger Jones of The Dallas Morning News had to say about Stefani Carter, who represents parts of Richardson in the Texas House.

Here's a quote from a different source altogether. See if you can guess who said it and when.

It is these kinds of campaign shenanigans, personal attacks and dirty politics of which people are sick and tired.

Source: The Wheel.

If you guessed Stefani Carter back in 2010, give yourself 100 ironic points. Carter was prescient, but it took voters three elections to realize that the dirty politics were emanating from Carter's own campaigns. When they did, it was she who was voted out of office. Linda Koop defeated Stefani Carter in the GOP primary on Tuesday, winning 60% of the vote.

Who is Stefani Carter Carrying Water For Now?

What do exotic animal ranches, North Texas' need for water, money, and politics all have in common? Give yourself 100 points if you guessed Richardson's state representative Stefani Carter was at the center of that unlikely Venn diagram.

After the jump, connecting the dots.

Repeat Tweets: Really Dumb Column

Repeat tweets from March, 2014:

• Mar 2 2014: "Some really smart people have praised this really dumb idea." But not Steve Blow. Really dumb column. dallasnews.com
  
• Mar 2 2014: .@DMNSteveBlow, really dumb column. You say really smart people have praised this idea, but you don't address any of their arguments.
  
• Mar 3 2014: "Blow doesn't understand how traffic works." A good explanation for Steve Blow's really dumb column. frontburner.dmagazine.com
  
• Mar 3 2014: Blow to conventional wisdom: Texas "taxes the middle class at rates as high or higher than in California." washingtonmonthly.com
  
• Mar 3 2014: Blow to conventional wisdom: "Except NY, every major state has lower total effective business tax rate than Texas." washingtonmonthly.com
  
• Mar 3 2014: Blow to conventional wisdom: "Smaller share of people in Texas own their own business than in all but four states." washingtonmonthly.com
  
• Mar 3 2014: No surprise: Texas' "Robin-Hood-in-reverse system gives Texas the fifth-most-regressive tax structure in the nation." washingtonmonthly.com
  

After the jump, more repeat tweets.

Repeat Tweets: Best Musical Ever

Repeat tweets from February, 2014:

• Feb 2 2014: Hairspray at BHS: '60s music and student activism, what more could you ask? Hilarious & inspiring. All voices owned the house! Best ever!
  
• Feb 3 2014: New 2014-2016 UIL District 10: Richardson, Berkner, Lake Highlands, Pearce, Highland Park, Mesquite, Mesquite Horn, North Mesquite. Wow!
  
• Feb 4 2014: MT @SenTedCruz: "If a President can choose which laws to follow, ..." Get local police to strictly enforce jaywalking while you're at it.
  
• Feb 4 2014: Our Lake Wobegon climate. Headline: "2013 Marked the Thirty-seventh Consecutive Year of Above-Average Temperature." grist.org
  

After the jump, more repeat tweets.

A Potential Problem in Denton Becomes Real

Mayor Laura Maczka:

One of the strengths that our city has is that we recognize potential problems before they become problems.

Source: neighborsgo Richardsone.

When I quoted the Richardson mayor last week, it was on the topic of farmers markets, which the city sees as a "potential problem," not an asset, and wishes to tangle in red tape. The city council has already devoted time in two meetings to look into how to restrict them. At least another meeting is needed for the council to formally adopt an ordinance. So, our city council is on top of this "potential problem."

All that set me to thinking (always dangerous). What other "potential problems" are out there that Richardson ought to be acting on before they become real problems? That's when I came across the city of Denton's clusterf*ck over gas drilling in residential neighborhoods (sorry, that's the word that came to mind, for obvious reasons). The story, after the jump.

Stefani Carter's Terrible Accident

First a confession. When I reported on the District 112 candidate forum, I buried the lede. No, that's not it. I missed the story altogether. Yeah, I showed why I am not getting paid for this.

I never mentioned Stefani Carter's opening remarks where she informed the forum audience that she had recently suffered a "terrible accident" that triggered a "moment of truth when you feel like your life could end." Turning to retired Captain Sam Brown, who actually did suffer exactly that, Carter said "I know that our colleague here, Sam Brown, understands that." In 2008, in Afghanistan, an IED blew up near Brown, burning much of his body. To this day Brown bears disfiguring scars on his face and head (and elsewhere, less visibly). Then Carter moved on, sounding extremely conservative and ambitious, pretty much like she has always sounded, pre-life-altering event.

I may have missed the story, but professional journalists Tim Rogers of D Magazine and then Tom Benning of The Dallas Morning News didn't. After the jump, catching you all up on what I should have caught.

Repeat Tweets: High School Basketball

Repeat tweets from January, 2014:

• Jan 3 2014: High school men's basketball final: Richardson 75, Lake Highlands 64. #txhshoops
  
• Jan 6 2014: Star Trek Into Darkness (2013): Starships swim, garbage trucks fly, Kirk struts. Safe, formulaic, campy, non-stop bloodless violence. C+
  
• Jan 6 2014: Headline: "US marks 4 straight years of slowing health costs." @SenTedCruz repeats his cry for #FullRepeal #wacko
  
• Jan 6 2014: Headline: "Health care shrunk as a percent of GDP for the first time since 1997." @SenTedCruz repeats his cry for #FullRepeal #wacko
  
• Jan 6 2014: MT @SenTedCruz: "I cannot support Janet Yellen's nomination to serve as Chairman of the Federal Reserve." This is news? Why? #Obstruction
  
• Jan 6 2014: MT @SenTedCruz: "Federal judge, nominated by President Obama, finds Chicago's handgun sales ban unconstitutional." Judicial activism.
  

After the jump, more repeat tweets.

District 102 and 112 Candidates: Your Pick

The six candidates for the GOP nomination for Texas House Districts 102 and 112 debated January 22 at a forum at the Canyon Creek Country Club. Vying to represent HD 102 were Stefani Carter (incumbent), Linda Koop, Adryana Boyne and Sam Brown. Vying to represent HD 112 were Angie Chen Button (incumbent) and Jared Patterson.

If you are a conservative Republican (is there any other kind?) you can safely take the rest of this primary season off. All six candidates were eager to make their case as the most conservative man or woman out there. All professed to be anti-tax, pro-life, anti-gay, and pro-gun. There are far more similarities than differences between these candidates.

But let's try to draw distinctions, anyway, shall we? After the jump, some highlights.

Stefani Carter's Friends are Few, But Rich

When last we looked, Stefani Carter appeared to be short of friends and money. Enough so that she decided to drop her bid for Railroad Commissioner and come back to Richardson to try to keep her District 102 House seat.

After the jump, a new look look at Carter's friend list.