Developer funds three Helotes candidates
May 3, 2007
HELOTES — The amount of money contributed this year to municipal election campaigns here is markedly higher than in previous years, due in part to $10,000 in contributions made by an area developer.
On March 19, Alfred “Tom” Rohde gave a total of $10,000 to three candidates who are running against three City Council incumbents. Tom Schoolcraft is challenging Mayor Jon Allan, Jeff Ellis is running against Place 3 Councilwoman Linda Boyer-Owens and Rich Whitehead is seeking to unseat Place 5 Councilman Stuart Birnbaum.
Rohde contributed $4,000 to Schoolcraft’s campaign and gave $3,000 each to Ellis and Whitehead. Their most recent contribution reports indicate Schoolcraft received a total of $5,460.28, while Ellis and Whitehead each received a total of $3,355.14.
“I felt it was time for a change,” Rohde said when asked about his contributions. He added he won’t contribute any more money to the races.
If you live out in Helotes, this is information you need before you go to the polls. Given that Helotes candidates usually don’t receive more than $1,000 total per election season these are huge contributions. Do you want your public servants beholden to a developer?
Technorati Tags: Heltotes, Alfred “Tom” Rohde, Tom Schoolcraft, Jeff Ellis, Rich Whitehead
Posted in Helotes
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May 3rd, 2007 at 7:01 pm
This pretty much sums up politics in Helotes. The residents figured out what was going on two years ago. Let’s hope they haven’t forgotten what it was like to have the pawns of developers running City Hall.
May 3rd, 2007 at 8:46 pm
I have received information from several sources that the red/white group have received a huge sack full of money…10’s of thousands more that the $10,000 received earlier. I have requested Editor Renfro of the Helotes Echo to investigate this and determine if it is fact or fiction. Thus far, he has refused. It makes one wonder about the quality of the only news paper in Helotes.
Hopefully the HELOTES citizens will stop the developers in their tracks and not allow them to BUY the election. It is difficult to imagine why anybody would back a group that promotes uncontrolled development and spreads untruthful information about a 24% tax increase. Worse yet, they are in the pockets of developers that could care less about the Helotes or it’s citizens. They care about one thing…MONEY!!
May 3rd, 2007 at 10:44 pm
Any interested party, look and see, the “red” team,is all saddle and no hat. We know their kind in Texas, even before the Alamo. We are here to protect Helotes from the buzzards that would pick our bones to fatten their wallets. Helotes ain’t for sale!We are all about local control, just like the defenders of the Alamo, and like those few, outnumbered souls, we won’t give in, only this time, there are a lot more of us, and we are adding to our ranks every day…This is our home, and we aim to keep it that way.No matter what happens in the future, we will never stop.Helotes, from where the sun now stands, will never be the same.Now that we have a Mayor and a Council who cares more from the people of Helotes than the developers who want to profit from Helotes. Helotes is a traffic quagmire because the people who support the “reds”, who controlled Helotes once upon a time, did not consider the harm they did by not planning for the future. For instance, Tom Schoolcraft was Fire Chief 26 to 21 years ago, AND help plan the current facilities for the City Hall and the Police Department.Yet, here we are in 2007, having to do his work over. 20 years ago, the Fire house was not in much better shape than it is now, and when it rains, it rains INSIDE the current Fire house! Now, I would like to ask each and every citizen of Helotes to ask Tom Schoolcraft, why he, as Fire Chief, not notice that the damn fire hydrants were put on the wrong side of Hwy 16, so that we had to close down the entire Hwy 16 in order to get water to the shopping center fire? Did Tom Schoolcraft even ask the owners of the shopping center to put fire walls in the attic of said shopping center? No, he did not, or did he, if he respects the people of Helotes, he would tell us, and all Helotes would all like to know that answer. Our current Chief did request such a fire wall, and thats why half of the shopping center is STILL THERE!!Does Tom Schoolcraft not care about the very Fire Dept. he once led? Where was he when we planned the Fire and Police buildings?No where to be seen! He was Chief when it could have made a difference,like he could have the first time we built City Hall in 1992, but now the current Council and Mayor has to correct the gross and obvious “miscalculations” of the previous administrations, and guide Helotes into the future. But of course, and sadly, Tom Schoolcraft, like any skilled “scapegoater”, has tried to turn his failure into a cudgel to beat up people who can do what he cannot do, which is honestly and truthfully lead ALL the people of Helotes without regard to special interests. David Galvan, Helotes Forever!
May 13th, 2007 at 12:50 pm
If the buzzards who won want to ruin Helotes, just see how quickly your tourist dollar coffers get so dry it will be like stage fifteen water restrictions. What draws people to Helotes will not be a Walmart. You can get bad soda pop and stale chips at HEB. The sad thing is that you start over developing the place, then you will realize it was a mistake, and won’t be able to go back. I don’t live in your town, and it is a darn shame, because I know about two hundred people, all SA residents, that feel the same.
September 18th, 2007 at 1:45 pm
Best wake-up, Helotes residents. There are people already fighting developer Rhode over at Babcock and 1604. The tactics and $ involved are a clear picture of how things are done (And worse yet, this is deeded land from his father !) Save yourselves while you still can !