Or if he was donating to the current DA while his case was still pending.Bryanisbest said:
Probably done in every contested DA race in Texas history. Not against law or ethical rules as long as there are no strings attached to the donation. You can try to convince unknowing lay people reading this that it's so so terrible. That would be the real deception.
Brazos County DA 2024 Election [Staff Warning]
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Last: 10 mo ago by befitter
I have literally seen exactly that happen in DA races before.
To believe that Mr Overbergen donated 25k to an inexperienced prosecutor who struggles with honesty and truth to run for DA in a town that his son keeps getting arrested in simply out of the goodness of his heart is naive, at best. Had he donated $1000, maybe. But $25,000 sends a VERY different message.
To believe that Mr Overbergen donated 25k to an inexperienced prosecutor who struggles with honesty and truth to run for DA in a town that his son keeps getting arrested in simply out of the goodness of his heart is naive, at best. Had he donated $1000, maybe. But $25,000 sends a VERY different message.
histag10 said:
Why does Overbergen have an extreme dislike for a DA candidate in an area that is not his home? (To the extent that he would donate 25k to an inexperienced candidate challenging that person)
I have no idea other than to speculate, just as y'all are, based on posts by several Parsons supporters posting here. I'm assuming the donation was actually made in the amount you say based on your posts here. I've not verified that.
$25,500 to be exact.
She's raised around $2,000 locally.
She's raised around $2,000 locally.
$25,500 verified by me, too.
Then click the link posted earlier and see it for yourself. I'd screenshot it but staff would take it down due to size.
histag10 said:
I have literally seen exactly that happen in DA races before.
To believe that Mr Overbergen donated 25k to an inexperienced prosecutor who struggles with honesty and truth to run for DA in a town that his son keeps getting arrested in simply out of the goodness of his heart is naive, at best. Had he donated $1000, maybe. But $25,000 sends a VERY different message.
Yes, it means some rich guy is mad as hell, righteously or not, about the way his son was treated.
Maybe his son shouldn't break the law.
Bryanisbest said:histag10 said:
Why does Overbergen have an extreme dislike for a DA candidate in an area that is not his home? (To the extent that he would donate 25k to an inexperienced candidate challenging that person)
I have no idea other than to speculate, just as y'all are, based on posts by several Parsons supporters posting here. I'm assuming the donation was actually made in the amount you say based on your posts here. I've not verified that.
So you are arguing on the basis that you didn't verify what we are saying is actually correct, so you refuse to acknowledge it? 3 of her 7 contributors aren't from Brazos County.
I don't know if staff will let me post a screenshot of the donor form, since it has addresses on it (even though it is 100% public record). The best option, if you want to stay fully informed (as you have so enthusiastically declared we should all do many many times) is to go look at her financial filings. It also includes some bizarre expenses.
trouble said:
Then click the link posted earlier and see it for yourself. I'd screenshot it but staff would take it down due to size.
I have taken the donor and amount to be true in order to further inform the reader about the situation assuming it is true.
trouble said:
$25,500 to be exact.
She's raised around $2,000 locally.
With 1000 of that coming from TB3
Edit- only $1250 was local, 1000 of that from TB3. The rest comes from Houston, Austin, and Waco.
My friend, throw in the towel. I say this as one who has spent years in discussion on this board.Bryanisbest said:histag10 said:
I have literally seen exactly that happen in DA races before.
To believe that Mr Overbergen donated 25k to an inexperienced prosecutor who struggles with honesty and truth to run for DA in a town that his son keeps getting arrested in simply out of the goodness of his heart is naive, at best. Had he donated $1000, maybe. But $25,000 sends a VERY different message.
Yes, it means some rich guy is mad as hell, righteously or not, about the way his son was treated.
I just skimmed the others once I saw the huge donation. My bad.
Bryanisbest said:trouble said:
Then click the link posted earlier and see it for yourself. I'd screenshot it but staff would take it down due to size.
I have taken the donor and amount to be true in order to further inform the reader about the situation assuming it is true.
Except you are the reader who seems to be ill informed here. You are refusing to acknowledge what everyone else is saying and brush off some of the sketchy aspects with "everyone does it"
trouble said:
I just skimmed the others once I saw the huge donation. My bad.
I mean, one would expect a candidate who is reported to have an overwhelming amount of support to have the bulk of their donations come from the place they are actually running for office.
Techno ag, I have respected you and your posts for a long time on Texags. I will consider your honest recommendation to at least stop for the evening. I'm tired anyway. To this point, I have sought to prevent some on here from leaving false impressions with voters who may know very little about campaign funding. I'm not inclined to ever throw in the towel on false impressions, however. Thank you for your comment nevertheless.
I'm sure "his" son was just thrown to the wolves without even having a chance. As far as drug crimes go, the current DA gives addicts about as big a chance as anyone. They have drug court, where all you have to do is follow instructions and your case can be taken care of. This opportunity is given to all first time offenders if my memory serves me correctly. Meaning, for your son to get a conviction, he didn't fully complete the assignments of drug court (pass urine screens, go m to substance abuse counseling, conduct community service, etc) as evidenced by the re-indictment in Justiceweb, and he was held accountable.
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We have unlocked this thread in order for users to continue commenting on this race. Please be respectful toward each other and stick to posting information about candidates, candidate history, and the DAs office that is relevant to the race and publically verifiable by anyone reading this thread. Attacks on the personal character of candidates or users posting in this thread will be moderated.
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Maritza has received $75,335 in political contributions as of February 9, 2024. Mr Overbergen, a resident outside the county and whose son has multiple arrests including a felony, has contributed $46,500 of that. In other words, a person outside the county is responsible 61.2% of her contributions. That seems suspicious to me and makes me wonder what he's looking for with that kind of financial contribution.
As has previously been stated, current District Attorney Jarvis Parsons has a history of giving drug offenders many chances including deffered adjudication and drug counseling before jail time. If the son still did time after his drug arrests, it is likely he did not fulfill the requirement laid out for him. We have seen in the past where a person with money tries to throw that money around to get special favors for their children in a court of law. Jarvis has shown that he cannot and will not be bought. If that is what is happening here, Mr. Obergerden will be wanting something for his very generous donation. Even if that isn't what is happening, I'd be concerned voting for a new district attorney who is either unaware of the optics or ignorant of how this might be perceived to the average citizen.
[This has already been discussed on the thread. We have left that information up for people to check into. We are not going to allow this thread to get stuck on this one topic. We will leave this up, but we will start to take posts down if the discussion devolves any further into speculation of corruption and information that is not easy to verify using publicly available information. PSA to other users posting. Please also post links to where other readers can see what you are talking about if you are posting about campaign contribution numbers, etc. -Staff]
As has previously been stated, current District Attorney Jarvis Parsons has a history of giving drug offenders many chances including deffered adjudication and drug counseling before jail time. If the son still did time after his drug arrests, it is likely he did not fulfill the requirement laid out for him. We have seen in the past where a person with money tries to throw that money around to get special favors for their children in a court of law. Jarvis has shown that he cannot and will not be bought. If that is what is happening here, Mr. Obergerden will be wanting something for his very generous donation. Even if that isn't what is happening, I'd be concerned voting for a new district attorney who is either unaware of the optics or ignorant of how this might be perceived to the average citizen.
[This has already been discussed on the thread. We have left that information up for people to check into. We are not going to allow this thread to get stuck on this one topic. We will leave this up, but we will start to take posts down if the discussion devolves any further into speculation of corruption and information that is not easy to verify using publicly available information. PSA to other users posting. Please also post links to where other readers can see what you are talking about if you are posting about campaign contribution numbers, etc. -Staff]
I haven't delved into campaign finances too much until now. Is it common for private citizens to loan a campaign money? I have seen several where the candidate loans their own campaign money, but I have seen one where a private individual loaned a campaign money.
How does that even work? Seems like a potentially tricky situation where you are having to pay back a supporter?
How does that even work? Seems like a potentially tricky situation where you are having to pay back a supporter?
My goodness there is a LOT of Harris County $$$$ there for one of the candidates. Gotta ask myself why are they so interested???
Because the other candidate prosecuted their son for felony drug possession (just my guess)
There is also a decent amount of money coming to them from Austin, San antonio, and Waco.
There is also a decent amount of money coming to them from Austin, San antonio, and Waco.
It's pretty common for private citizens to make contributions. Don Adam, for example, gave to Jarvis Parson's campaign. However, in my experience, it isn't as common for one citizen to give over 60% of one candidate's donations. That one is new to me.
Interestingly enough, Travis Bryan III also gave to Jarvis but is Martiza's treasurer. That's interesting.
Interestingly enough, Travis Bryan III also gave to Jarvis but is Martiza's treasurer. That's interesting.
A Net Full of Jello said:
It's pretty common for private citizens to make contributions. Don Adam, for example, gave to Jarvis Parson's campaign. However, in my experience, it isn't as common for one citizen to give over 60% of one candidate's donations. That one is new to me.
Interestingly enough, Travis Bryan III also gave to Jarvis but is Martiza's treasurer. That's interesting.
Covering all his bases. Guaranteed backing a winner
I think my main concern is Maritza's lack of experience. She has only worked as an attorney for 8 years and in those 8 years was at the DA's office, the County Attorney's office, the DA's office again, and then was a defense attorney. I'm not sure how long she stayed in each of those positions but to be a member of the bar for 8 years and have had 3 different places of employment (and one of them two different times) raises red flags for me. I cannot find a record of her ever prosecuting a murder or sitting first chair for domestic violence (though she is trying to take credit for cases which raises another red flag for me). When I add the contributions to her lack of experience, it makes me think we have a person here who the wealthy think they can install and control.
I have spoken to a number of prosecutors in the DA's office and they have all said they have major concerns were she to be elected. Not for their jobs (though many told me they were not likely to work for her) but because they do not see her being able to keep control and it could easily turn into the inmates running the asylum.
After speaking with people who have known and worked with both Jarvis and Maritza, searching for both her and Jarvis' histories in the courtroom, and then who is contributing, I'm very much in Jarvis' court. And I am starting to really share the fear of what could happen if she is in such an important role in Brazos County. The last thing I want to see is us turning into Houston.
I have spoken to a number of prosecutors in the DA's office and they have all said they have major concerns were she to be elected. Not for their jobs (though many told me they were not likely to work for her) but because they do not see her being able to keep control and it could easily turn into the inmates running the asylum.
After speaking with people who have known and worked with both Jarvis and Maritza, searching for both her and Jarvis' histories in the courtroom, and then who is contributing, I'm very much in Jarvis' court. And I am starting to really share the fear of what could happen if she is in such an important role in Brazos County. The last thing I want to see is us turning into Houston.
Don is at least a member of this community. And for all his wealth, he donated a fairly normal amount.
Overbergen isn't part of this community. He doesn't vote here.
I'm still curious how it works for a private citizen to LOAN a campaign money. Not donate, loan.
Overbergen isn't part of this community. He doesn't vote here.
I'm still curious how it works for a private citizen to LOAN a campaign money. Not donate, loan.
I'm sorry. I misunderstood "loan" versus "contribution." I have no idea.
If you go to Maritza for DA FB page, you'll see a nice photo of her with several people, including Mr. Murray Newman, the criminal defense lawyer on record for the son of her biggest campaign contributor (photo posted 6 days ago).
This is easily searchable on her campaign FB page and Justiceweb, through the smart search function. Mr. Newman was the lead attorney in cause number 20-02405-CRF-85, where Mr. Parson's Office prosecuted the son of Maritza's biggest campaign donor.
This is easily searchable on her campaign FB page and Justiceweb, through the smart search function. Mr. Newman was the lead attorney in cause number 20-02405-CRF-85, where Mr. Parson's Office prosecuted the son of Maritza's biggest campaign donor.
histag10 said:
Don is at least a member of this community. And for all his wealth, he donated a fairly normal amount.
Overbergen isn't part of this community. He doesn't vote here.
I'm still curious how it works for a private citizen to LOAN a campaign money. Not donate, loan.
It's not common for a private individual to loan money to a campaign, but certainly legal. The forms used to report are created by the Texas Ethics Commission. I don't know that a bank can legally loan a campaign money as an entity. So a loan would have to be from the candidate him/herself or from another individual.
Thanks for the clarification. Yes, I have seen several other campaigns where the candidate loans themselves money, but this is the first where I have seen someone else loan a campaign money. It just seems like a loan from someone else starts getting into a weird predicament. Loans come with strings. Campaign donations don't (or shouldn't)
This was in the thread last night, so I'll add it here in case anyone else was curious.
It seems Maritza corrected her campaign finance forms. Originally, she listed both TB3 and her previous campaign treasurer as residing at her personal home address (does that count as falsifying a government form?). She has since updated TB3's address on her forms to reflect the correct information.
It seems Maritza corrected her campaign finance forms. Originally, she listed both TB3 and her previous campaign treasurer as residing at her personal home address (does that count as falsifying a government form?). She has since updated TB3's address on her forms to reflect the correct information.
I don't see much of a difference between the two, other than one is supposed to be paid back.histag10 said:
Thanks for the clarification. Yes, I have seen several other campaigns where the candidate loans themselves money, but this is the first where I have seen someone else loan a campaign money. It just seems like a loan from someone else starts getting into a weird predicament. Loans come with strings. Campaign donations don't (or shouldn't)
Donations are gifts, possibly with strings, possibly not. Sometimes a string is very apparent. From what I have read here, it sounds like the guy from Houston has a distinct distaste for Parsons and is donating not to support Maritza, but to oust Parsons. His son's case is closed it seems, so it doesn't appear to be a string related to his son. But no one really knows if a contribution has strings except the contributor and the candidate.
On the other hand, the obvious string to a loan is to pay the money back. And once the loan is paid back, the string is gone. Contributions may go on until the condition, if any, is complete.
Most candidates would be hesitant to accept a loan that may or may not be called
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