A few weeks ago, Houston City Council candidate Mary Jane Smith rolled in to the Downtown Pachyderm to tell us about her race for District C. Mary Jane is a longtime political consultant who pushed Paul Simpson into the Harris County Republican Party Chair position. Since then, Smith has pulled the strings of the party and driven it into the ground. Mary Jane had always wanted the keys to the car so she could play Allen Blakemore. Well, she has them. Let’s review.

Smith has fooled a lot of folks over the years. When Paul came in as county chair, he basically just gave the reins to Smith and Kevin Shuvalov. They pressed forward on a campaign against the slates [i.e., Hotze, Lowry, and Polland] claiming that these slates were pay to play. This was part of Simpson’s campaign even though Simpson bought ads in Terry Lowry’s Link Letter. Yet, somehow, Smith, et al. ignored the fact that she established her own slate and accepted money from candidates, including her own clients from her consulting business who were endorsed by her slate.

Simpson appointed Smith as a member of the HCRP Advisory Board, yet since Simpson took over the HCRP, all of Smith’s clients have been wiped out of office – absolutely crushed. The combination of the duo of Simpson and Smith has been disastrous for the local party. This culminated in 2018 with the defeat of every Harris County Republican in office. 2018 was a HCRP “Never Trump” campaign, the second one in a row, with Simpson leading the band of “Never Trumpers” over the cliff. Mary Jane was, of course, driving the bus.

With lies and deception, Smith, et al. have convinced well-meaning grassroots activists of her conservative bonafides. But, really, that just says how far the party has fallen. I have never seen Smith involved in any fiscal or social conservative causes. You need to look no further than her whipping the floor for Cindy Asche in the failed coup attempt at the state Republican Party convention in San Antonio. Mary Jane Smith attacked the grassroots in a coup attempt on behalf of the Establishment, “Never Trump” wing of the Republican Party. Looking at the “View” you cannot win elections without shoring up your base. Obviously, to win elections you must shore up the fiscal conservatives, social conservatives, and Trump supporters. This is the base of the Republican Party, which is not located in Sarah Davis’s district, HD 134. Smith’s moderate and “Never Trump” candidates cannot win elections and have cost us two countywide election cycles, so far.

For many years, Smith has operated a political consulting business where she represented mainly judicial candidates. She offered a full service business where she would fundraise for the candidates and complete their reporting requirements. It also helped that she was married to a judge on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which she trades on frequently. Most of her candidates are all gone now. The [Cindy] Asche heap of Harris County history.

Smith’s candidates often came in second to Allen Blakemore’s candidates. That happened for a few reasons. First, Allen developed a relationship with Hotze, which was evidenced by the fact that Blakemore was actually in attendance when candidates interviewed with Hotze. Most problematic were Smiths’s pro-choice, moderate candidates that were unsuitable for the slates, with few exceptions. So, for many election cycles, Smith supported HCRP Chair Paul Simpson in order to “trash the slates.” Meanwhile, Smith created her own slate – the Texas Conservative View – in order to confuse regular readers of Polland’s Texas Conservative Review.

Some time ago, I wrote a story titled “Father of the Slates” and I encourage you to read it for the history. The truth is that Hotze, Lowry, and Polland allow candidates to reach 500,000 Republican households at a reasonable cost for each candidate. Lowry’s Link Letter offers candidates the ability to buy an ad or advertise on his radio show. The cost is generally $15,000 per ad with the front and back cover going for more. The cost for any single candidate to reach 500,000 Republican voters is $250,000. The combination of all three slates is a very powerful force. Demonizing these slates and saying Mary Janes Smith’s slate is more virtuous is just preposterous. The argument has been disastrous for our local party.

Smith is angry about these slates because her candidates generally do not receive these endorsements. In truth, Smith and Simpson’s antagonistic behavior against Hotze, Lowry, and Polland has irreparably injured the party. Simpson, Smith, et al. have failed to come together for November success and I believe that Smith, Simpson, Shuvalov are responsible for this continued failure. Again, moderates cannot turn out the Republican base. This is especially true with the Never Trump campaigns.

Unbelievably, during her presentation, Smith [wrongly] claimed that her slate does not take money from candidates. The records show otherwise. Smith’s slate – the “View” – was created to support her candidates while alleging that it is an unbiased publication. Then, Smith’s slate received money from candidates to circulate her slate. Even more outrageous is the fact that Smith receives money ($130,000) from the PAC that operates the slate. That is the definition of pay to play. In fact, I call this the Mary Jane Smith Double Dip, which is really a triple dip because she is also being paid consulting fees by the candidates. Smith is in a league all by herself in the pay to play world – all while perpetuating a “trash the slates” campaign against Hotze, Lowry, and Polland – one of the most disingenuous and hypocritical campaigns in HCRP history.

The story for Smith gets worse because she also pays herself to operate her slate. Let me make this clear. Smith gets paid as a political consultant by the candidates and then pays herself with PAC money as compensation to run her slate. Additionally, Smith acts as a consultant to the party. Smith allegedly created her slate as some sort of slate of virtue, but, in reality, her slate is worse than Hotze, Lowry, and Polland. Let me point out since the “trash the slates” campaign began, Harris County Republicans have lost every election. The idea that Smith’s slate is somehow different or more virtuous than the other slates is laughable.

This is a list of monies paid to the MJS Group by the Harris County Republican Party. Make no mistake, when you contribute to the party, you contribute to this failure.

Harris County Republican Party (CEC) ,	The MJS Group ,	15,000.00
Harris County Republican Party (CEC) ,	The MJS Group ,	15,000.00
Harris County Republican Party (CEC) ,	The MJS Group ,	10,000.00
Harris County Republican Party (CEC) ,	The MJS Group ,	9,800.00
Harris County Republican Party (CEC) ,	The MJS Group ,	20,000.00
Harris County Republican Party (CEC) ,	The MJS Group ,	40,000.00
Harris County Republican Party (CEC) ,	The MJS Group ,	30,000.00
Harris County Republican Party (CEC) ,	The MJS Group ,	10,000.00
Harris County Republican Party (CEC) ,	The MJS Group ,	13,000.00
Harris County Republican Party (CEC) ,	The MJS Group ,	10,000.00
Harris County Republican Party (CEC) ,	The MJS Group ,	1,500.00

During her appearance, I asked Smith about the largest African American, Hispanic, and Caucasian church in District C – Lakewood Church. Smith did not even know that the largest church in Houston is in District C.

Smith was asked about significant financial issues involving the city, but her answer was never to cut spending. She always came back to the fact that she was going to bring financial experts in to fix things. Boy, this sounds eerily similar to her “fix” for the HCRP. Not the candidate you want, who admittedly has no understanding of financial issues.

I asked Mary Jane Smith if she had spoken with Ray Hunt and Joe Gamaldi from HPOU about endorsing her. Her answer: “Yes.” While the results are not in on the Harding Street/Tuttle raid, it is clear that the Houston Police acted badly. And, the HPOU are involved in an active campaign against Kim Ogg, including the hiring of additional DA staff, to investigate this obvious corruption.

Rachel, my lovely wife, made a motion at a recent HCRP Executive Committee Meeting for a resolution to give the DA’s Office more funding. The only person to speak against the idea was, of course, Mary Jane Smith. In her soliloquy, Smith cited the “great work” of the Harris County Public Defender’s Office. This is the same Public Defender’s Office that has produced many of the democrat and socialist judges that we are currently living with in Harris County. That office is the incubator for wacky socialist views (read: let them all out of jail and free bonds for everyone). The simple fact that Smith is begging HPOU for their endorsement while also courting the HFD union is unbelievable, but classic MJS.

I cannot imagine what anyone thinks Smith brings to the table. Those supporting her candidacy really need to evaluate what exactly they are supporting.