https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/how-out-of-towners-are-moving-to-take-over-a-rich-west-texas-county/ar-AA1NhvRS
Crazy story. Tiny Permian Basin town with only about 100 residents but $60 Million in tax revenues projected in 2026 due to oilfield tax revenues. The little town has a history of political squabbles between residents and families leading to voting irregularities and lax rules around voter registration.
All that cash in the Town's coffers has attracted a shady individual, "Dr." Malcolm Tanner, who decided he is going to take over the town's government by relocating voters from all over the Country. He has a Facebook profile with almost 250k followers and he is promising people a free house and $5,000 a month if they move to his small acreage in Loving County and set up residence and register to vote. He doesn't explain anywhere how he intends to follow through on that promise but as you can imagine his Pied Piper message has encouraged crackpots and welfare queens to pick up and move to a worthless plot of land in expectation of cashing in. He already has almost 3 dozen registered voters and more coming in that will enable him to monopolize all of the local government seats in the next election. I think he plans to be Mayor and his barely adult daughter County Judge. If he is successful this guy will make Super Mayor Tiffany Henyard look like an amateur.
If Tanner can convince those folks to hang tight until the next election I doubt there is anything the locals can do to stop him.
[LONG THREAD HERE - STAFF]
Crazy story. Tiny Permian Basin town with only about 100 residents but $60 Million in tax revenues projected in 2026 due to oilfield tax revenues. The little town has a history of political squabbles between residents and families leading to voting irregularities and lax rules around voter registration.
All that cash in the Town's coffers has attracted a shady individual, "Dr." Malcolm Tanner, who decided he is going to take over the town's government by relocating voters from all over the Country. He has a Facebook profile with almost 250k followers and he is promising people a free house and $5,000 a month if they move to his small acreage in Loving County and set up residence and register to vote. He doesn't explain anywhere how he intends to follow through on that promise but as you can imagine his Pied Piper message has encouraged crackpots and welfare queens to pick up and move to a worthless plot of land in expectation of cashing in. He already has almost 3 dozen registered voters and more coming in that will enable him to monopolize all of the local government seats in the next election. I think he plans to be Mayor and his barely adult daughter County Judge. If he is successful this guy will make Super Mayor Tiffany Henyard look like an amateur.
If Tanner can convince those folks to hang tight until the next election I doubt there is anything the locals can do to stop him.
Quote:
In a video posted in July to TikTok, Tanner, who lists an Indiana address on Loving County appraisal records, summarized his longer-term intentions.
"Not too often do you see a brother that looks like me come into the county and take the entire county over," he said. "Well, I have taken the entire county over, out here in Loving County, Texas. When these elections hit in 2026, we're going to wipe the board. Everybody that I selected will be elected."
Quote:
Keionta Hinton, the owner of Fat Boys Cafe and known as Miss Kay, said her first contact was in June, when two women, two men and a girl entered the restaurant. She likes to talk to customers over Louisiana soul food, the diner's specialty.
" We're here to take over your county," she recalled one of the women telling her. "I'm going to be one of your commissioners."
"She was very serious," Hinton said. "Not playing around."
Moving voters into a community to gain control of its government might be considered a far-fetched strategy if it weren't for one fact: It is occurring in Loving County, which has a long tradition of doing exactly that.
[LONG THREAD HERE - STAFF]