David Bellow Running for Hardin County Judge to Stop Tax Increases and Wasteful Spending

Update: David Bellow has been endorsed by many conservative organizations and people such as Judge Paul Pressler, Pro Life Nation, American Gun Rights, Texas Home School Coalition, and many more!

Hardin County, Texas needs a new face instead of the insider tax and spend group currently in control. Hardin County needs someone who is not afraid to say no to tax increases. Hardin County needs a Strong Christian, conservative leader. This is why I, David Bellow, am running for Hardin County Judge. My opponent, Wayne McDaniel Jr., is a lifelong Democrat. He ran on the same ticket with Obama and Hillary in his most recent election. He recently switched over to Republican, along with all of the other county officials. Worst of all, in response to my campaign against tax increases, my opponent says he cannot say he will not raise taxes. The same Democrat, good old boy mentality is still here, even though everyone is Republican now.

Fact: Hardin County Raised Taxes this Year

Fact: Hardin County is spending millions of dollars more than it brings in.

Fact: Hardin County is spending money wastefully. Not everyone working for the County needs a new Chevy Tahoe (at the rate they are buying them it seems like they want everyone to have one), and the County should not be giving themselves pay raises by raising taxes on people who are not getting pay raises.

Fact: Hardin County is not financially transparent. None of their records are in digital formal for taxpayers to be able to look through the finances.

More facts and info can be found at www.BellowForJudge.com

Why I am Running For County Judge: Letter to the People of Hardin County

After spending many months in deep thought and prayer, I have decided to run to be your next County Judge of Hardin County now that Judge Billy Caraway has decided to retire.

I do not want you to consider voting for me because you like my signs or because someone you know told you to vote for me. I want you to really know me. I want you to know my heart. The most important thing you can know about me is that I believe in Jesus as my Lord and Savior and I put God first in my life.

As Judge, I will serve you with unwavering conservative values that will drive me to be an advocate against wasteful spending so that we can keep taxes from going up. I want you to know that I will strive for transparency in government because the people have a right to know what is going on behind the scenes.   I am a strong defender of our Constitutional rights. I am unapologetically pro-2^nd-amendment and pro-life.

Before I get into the issues facing Hardin County, let me introduce myself and my background.

My wife Courtney and I are residents of Hardin County and Lumberton.  We have one child, Michael, and next to God, my family is my number one priority in life.

My brothers and I operate a successful small business, Eden Pro Services, and the company serves customers from Lumberton to College Station and employs several people.

After graduating from Lumberton High School, I earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from Texas A&M University and a Master’s Degree in Theological Studies from Liberty University.

After college, I joined the military, rose up the ranks from Private to Sergeant, and was honored as “Soldier of the Year” twice. I became a law enforcement officer because I wanted to protect the community, graduating with honors from the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center. I worked my way up to be a Senior Officer and have always looked for ways to change policy to increase efficiency and better protect my fellow officers.

I am a lifelong Republican because I have always known that the conservative values of the Republican Party were the values I believe in. Long before Obama was elected I was working to promote conservative values and help Republican candidates win. My Christian, conservative foundation gives me the passion and desire to serve you and to work with you and the other elected officials to keep Hardin County an amazing place to live, work, and raise a family.

Hardin County is facing big challenges. The County has been spending more than it brings in. From October 2011 to October 2013 the County Spent $1.98 MILLION more than it brought in. Hardin County recently approved the budget for Oct 2013 to Oct 2014. In the new budget, the County wants a tax increase and more deficit spending of $1.04 MILLION.

This deficit spending is unsustainable and must be addressed now instead of just being pushed down the road. The go-along, get-along politicians don’t understand that this is taxpayer money and deficit spending is something that goes on in Washington, but should not happen here.

I will make the tough decisions based on solid conservative principles and with the best interest of the community in mind. I will work with the leaders and residents of Hardin County to cut the budget and to find ways to increase revenue such as attracting new industry and jobs to the County.

I was previously elected to be on the board that runs the Republican Party organization for the entire State of Texas. I helped manage and govern the multi-million dollar budget for the State Party. When I got on the board, the Republican Party was facing massive debt.

While on the board, I was part of the Republican leadership that bought the Party out of debt and into a surplus. From starting a small business to helping lead the statewide party out of debt and into a surplus, I am uniquely qualified to step in and help lift Hardin County out of the current financial crisis. I will fight to keep your taxes from going up.

We have such a great future ahead of us. Hardin County does not need the same gang of free-spending courthouse crony leaders to just continue to push the problems down the road. Hardin County needs new, forward-looking leaders to take on these problems and bring new ideas based on strong conservative principles.

Hardin County is our home. I am a lifelong resident of Lumberton, TX. Even through college and military service, I stayed VERY involved in Hardin County.

When the Kountze Cheerleaders had their religious rights attacked, I got involved and stood up for the constitutional rights of these innocent students.

When Obama signed Obamacare, I filed one of the first lawsuits against Obamacare in order to stop the unconstitutional mandate form being imposed on us all.

When Lumberton ISD was trying to pass a bond that was not completely needed and would have raised taxes 24% in a recession, I stood up and fought back and defeated the tax hike. I am completely for our kids and making our schools better, but a new school on 421 would not have provided better education and would have taken too much money away from families. LISD developed a better plan after the bond failed and the schools are doing great.

Speaking of schools, I stood with the majority of teachers and parents in Lumberton and in the area who did not like or want CSCOPE curriculum. This secretive, expensive curriculum made a mockery of our values. One lesson even referred to the Boston Tea Party patriots as terrorists. I helped defeat the curriculum statewide.

Many years ago, I wanted to promote patriotism and wanted to help out the American Legion in Lumberton. I went to them with an idea to raise money and promote patriotism at the same time. The idea was to line the streets in Lumberton with full size American flags and business would donate money each year to the project and the profits would go to the American Legion. The fundraiser was a success and happens every year in Lumberton. The Legion and the Boy Scouts do a great job of lining the streets with flags!

I want a better future for my wife and son. I grew up in a large family here. I mowed yards as a kid to make money and learned the value of hard work. My parents brought me up in Christ and taught me great family values.

I felt the horrible effects and devastation of the Hurricane Rita in 2005. I, like many others, lost everything. I had to leave college to help rebuild. My job was gone and the small business I started creating positive Christian youth events was destroyed.

I was young and bankrupt. I did not give up though. Falling to the bottom gave me the best lesson I have ever had. It made me strive to be better and smarter. It made me strive to be more fiscally conservative. I rose up and finished college and started a business. I served in the military and law enforcement and was an EMT. I got more involved in helping others because I know how it feels to not have anything. I decided to live a life of service to others. I especially want to make sure that the government starts being more fiscally conservative, does not overspend, and stops raising taxes on the already overtaxed people who might be struggling like I once did after Hurricane Rita.

Will you to support me for Hardin County Judge in the March 4^th Election? Please contact me with any issues, questions or comments at www.BellowForJudge.com

After posting this article, one of the County Commissioners contacted me today and said that Hardin County was making good financial decisions because they cleared their audit. BISD passed their audit. Does that mean Beaumont ISD's finances are good? NO. They have had multiple people stealing millions of dollars and have made very liberal tax and spend decisions. Passing an audit just means that no one is stealing money and the county has paid the bills (based on the records provided to the auditor). Passing an audit does NOT mean that fiscally conservative decisions are being made. Passing an audit does not mean that it was wise to spent a million on a dome that looks pretty and you vote in. Passing an audit does not mean that raising taxes on people is good. The commissioner also told me that the county was transparent because they posted the budget and audit online. That is not transparent. Those two things show very little. They just show the overall numbers but no one can really look into the breakdown of the finances. I can go to Lumberton ISD or the City of Lumberton and get a cd with all the daily financial transactions. Hardin County does not offer that level of transparency.  If you wanted to see all the financial transactions for the county you would have to pay the county to print out thousands of pages.

Ex Rep. Mike Hamilton Backdoor Deal to be Appointed Commissioner? Hardin County, Lumberton, TX

 Former State Rep Mike "Tuffy" Hamilton Backdoor Deal with Hardin County Judge?

(It was correctly pointed out to me that Mike Hamilton is not technically a former State Rep yet until after the November election when it becomes official so I wanted to make sure I let everyone know that my original article that said former state rep should really have said soon to be former state rep)


Multiple independent sources have informed me that Bobby Franklin, the Precinct 4 Hardin County Commissioner serving over Lumberton, TX, is planning to step down soon so that former State Representative Mike "Tuffy" Hamilton can be given the job. The Commissioner’s position will give Hamilton a political platform and a guaranteed source of income to set Hamilton up to run (again) against James White for State Rep in two years. The Hardin County Judge, Billy Caraway, is the person who would appoint someone to a vacant County Commissioner's seat. Billy Caraway and Mike Hamilton just so happen to be best buddies.

Mike Hamilton (a former Committee Chairman for RINO Joe Straus) recently lost his State Representative re-election after Hamilton moved to Hardin County earlier this year to run against Super Conservative, Black Republican State Rep. James White as part of a plan to hurt Republicans in redistricting who voted against Straus for Speaker. Hardin County is the most one of the most populated counties (most Republicans for sure) in House District 19 and Hamilton is very good friends with many of the leaders in Hardin County. Hamilton assumed that the support from Hardin County Politicians would help him win Hardin County with enough votes to win the State Rep. election even if he did not win any of the other less populated counties in the district.

Hamilton was wrong about the support he had and he lost the election to the Conservative Tea Party favorite James White. Hamilton's campaign had been plagued with information coming out about some of Hamilton's not so conservative votes (like voting with Trial Lawyers and trying to bring Casino Gambling to Texas for Chairman Straus), and also information about Mike Hamilton's ethic's problems (like alleged sexual harassment, ethics violation fines and tax liens.

During the election, James White was endorsed by all top conservatives and conservative organizations, but most of the elected officials in Hardin County put politics over principle and got together to hold a press conference where they endorsed Hamilton. They wanted him to beat James White and they were not happy when Hamilton lost. I am certainly not speaking about all county leaders in Hardin County because some of them are good people who are not involved in this, but it appears that at least some of the leaders in Hardin County are desiring to get around a vote of the people that is normally required for elected positions and reward their friend Mike Hamilton with an extra income and good political position as an appointed County Commissioner.

It was not even a year ago that Mike Hamilton did not even live in Lumberton or Hardin County and yet he is to be given the position of a Hardin County Commissioner? He probably isn’t even eligible yet to even run for Hardin County Commissioner because of the time living in Lumberton that is required to run. How about an actual resident of Hardin County and Lumberton who is deserving of the temporary position getting picked to fill in until a special election? (And no I am not talking about me) Or how about Bobby Franklin finishing out his 4 year term? He just ran 2 years ago for re-election and told the people that he could and wanted to do another 4 year term, and it would be a disservice to the political process if he stepped down before the next election just so someone else could be put in without having to get elected. He could at least have the decency to step down now so that there is enough time for a special election this November instead of waiting to step down when it is too late to have a special election.

East Texas Corrupt Politics

What happens in East Texas when one of the people of the group in power is getting too old to keep doing the job but they don't want an open election because the group that has been in power for decades wants to keep the power? They get him/her to retire before the term is up so that there is not an election and instead one of their buddies gets appointed who then has the advantage in the upcoming election to fill the seat. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes appointing someone to fill a vacancy is necessary, cannot be avoided, or is not done as a dirty backdoor deal. This situation is not one of those exemptions. In this case, an early retirement serves two purposes. It keeps control of the power within their group of friends, and it also rewards their friend who they want to prop up until he can run for State Rep. again (or maybe it is possible that Hamilton wants to just try to stay Commissioner).

Hopefully this article will generate enough bad publicity to stop this dirty backdoor deal from happening...

I am not holding my breath though. This is the same group of good old boy county politicians who rigged the Justice of the Peace election when Judge Butch Cummings illegally coercing the new candidate to drop out or get fired from his job. This is also the same group of county good old boys who could only narrowly beat me when I ran for County Commissioner against the machine by telling people that I was a bad soldier even though I was the back to back soldier of the year for my Battalion. I did not expect to win. I was only 25 and ran because no one would ever run against these old Democrats, so I did. They had to play dirty to beat me though and I still nearly beat the good old boys and ended up going on to bigger and better things, like fighting bad politicians on a statewide level instead of just sticking with local issues. The good old boys have seen that they are becoming weak and they cannot afford to lose any more of their friends. If the decide not to give Mike Hamilton the job, the other name I have heard as a second choice would be Constable Wayne McDaniel. This would be just as shady of a pick because the constable just retired and the county appointed his replacement before an election for constable (Wayne McDaniel was also appointed when he first became constable a decade ago). Why can't people just finish their term so that there is a fair election to replace them when they do not run again? Does anyone new get elected anymore or does everyone just retire and appoint one of their friends to take the place? My word.... (Wayne McDaniel has responded that he thought about being commissioner but has decided not to because he wants to run for Sheriff when Ed Cain retires)

I sure do hope that Bobby Franklin and Hardin County do the right thing. This good old boy, East Texas, backdoor political network has to be broken. Hopefully people will continue to open their eyes in Hardin County and East Texas.

Lumberton’s Commissioner, Bobby Franklin, Employs Man, facing 3rd DWI, as County Truck Driver

By, David Bellow 

An anonymous source called me last week and informed me that Lumberton’s Hardin County Commissioner, Bobby Franklin, is knowingly employing a man to drive county trucks even though this county worker is facing his 3^rd DWI. This source informed me that this man, who goes to trial later this month for his 3^rd DWI, was never, and still has not been restricted from driving county vehicles. Even when his own personal vehicle had to have an ignition interlock system on it, the source says that this worker was still driving county vehicles without restriction.

After this call, I of course had to do some investigating and fact checking.

I found out that William “Bill” Roach works for Commissioner Franklin and Mr. Roach will be going to trial in Hardin County on July 25^th, 2011 for his 3^rd DWI arrest. Roach’s 3^rd DWI incident occurred in August 2009. Roach was indicted in January 2010 but had his trial date pushed back and pushed back until July 2011. Commissioner Franklin is still allowing Mr. Roach to drive County Vehicles and is very possibly putting the taxpayers of Hardin County in harm’s way, at the expense of those very same taxpayers.

It seems like someone is killed or injured every day in Southeast Texas because of a drunk driver. Just last week 2 road workers were hit right here in Lumberton by a drunk driver.

I have no sympathy for anyone who drinks and drives and I am shocked that the tax dollars of Hardin County residents are going to pay a man to drive county vehicles even though this man is facing his 3^rd DWI.