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Time is short to not just idly stand by and possibly let Dade Phelan get beat in a runoff election financed for mudslinger David Covey, the architect of perhaps the most dishonest political campaign witnessed in our lifetime. This campaign financed by billionaires – one of which co-owns 15% of TikTok with the Chinese government; the other, a lay preacher and oilman from west Texas, neither caring anything about Southeast Texas – is all a run from outsiders working to rid the Texas House of Speaker Dade Phelan so they can put a puppet in the Speakership. Make no mistake, Covey won’t be Speaker.
Aside from myriad misrepresentations about Phelan not being conservative enough and maligned reporting of Phelan’s voting record, Covey is campaigning with outright photographic fabrications, including the mass-shared forgeries of a photograph depicting Phelan hugging Nancy Pelosi.
If we are to allow any candidate for any public office to win using dishonest tactics like those that serve as the foundation of the Covey campaign, where will it end? Likely, it will end with any decent citizen not wanting to run for public office. Will this give better choices? I don’t think so. Are we going to reward this deception? Are we going to stand aside and let this type of campaigning change our lives for decades to come?
When this newspaper hits your email or is in your driveway, there will only be hours left of early voting Thursday and Friday with election day being Tuesday, May 28. Don’t reward bad behavior, and don’t assume your vote doesn’t count because it may well boil down to only a few votes making the difference between the leadership and support we have received from Dade Phelan, and a guy few of us ever heard of prior to this dirty campaign, one who rebuffs questions posed to himself and campaign staff on pointed matters and utters the mass of his mostly mud-slinging rhetoric on TV and radio ads where he is shielded from having to support his suppositions and critique.
Prior to crawling from under a rock to take on a man who has done more for this community than Covey could ever list, must less match, the candidate that boasts his support from community outsiders has done nothing for the community he is asking to represent. Covey continues to parrot party politics but fails to address issues common to Southeast Texans – you know, the people he’s allegedly seeking election to represent.
Instead of embarking on a platform of what he will do for our community if elected to office, Covey’s communication blathers on about matters far removed from the community we call home. Covey hasn’t given a single word on how he will secure funding to assist in higher education costs that mean the difference in securing a living wage or poverty for far too many children; there is no stated plan for the continuing mental health care crisis impacting our communities; mailers packed in boxes fail to address infrastructure needs or veteran services. Dade Phelan has, and will continue, working for the good of our community. If Covey’s commentary can be believed, his work is centered on the issues that matter to people not represented in Texas House District 21.
Don’t stand by and reward this corruption and dishonesty with apathy by not exercising your right to vote – the very right that so many fought for and gave their lives, as we recognize the ultimate sacrifice this Memorial Day. Show thanks to all their descendants this day of remembrance by exercising your right to vote in this immensely important election. As we remember those who gave their all for our freedoms this Memorial Day, remember this: They gave it all for our democracy and right to vote.