Charlie Geren is NOT living in HD99
Beginning around 2005, Charlie Geren divorced his second wife and began seeing an Austin lobbyist named Mindy Ellmer, and in 2017 they married. At some point between 2005 and 2017, Charlie Geren moved to Austin, where he continues to reside with his wife. Property records indicate that he and his wife bought a condominium prior to their marriage. They have lived at The Austonian at least since 2014.
The condo is located in the heart of downtown Austin just a few minutes away from the Texas State Capitol on Congress Avenue. In an interview about their wedding, Charlie Geren admitted that “instead of living together, we’re married.” There is no record of his wife, with whom he admits he lives, ever residing in District 99. Public records clearly show they both live in Austin.
According to the Texas Ethics Commission, the Secretary of State’s Election Division would have jurisdiction over this issue. We reached out to that division and was told the only way to litigate such a matter is to take him to court.
Charlie Geren is NOT trustworthy
Charlie Geren frequently posts on Facebook taking credit for things he does not deserve. He will often exaggerate his accomplishments, tell half-truths, or omit details important for context. Below are two examples.
Lie #1: Keep Landfills Away From Silver Creek
The problem with Charlie Geren’s claim that he is fighting to keep a waste facility from creating a landfill in Silver Creek is that he is the one likely responsible for this in the first place. In 2015, Geren filed HB 1794, which capped the amount that cities and counties can collect from companies that contaminate the environment.
If you want to know why a waste facility can build a landfill in a residential area near water sources, look no further than Geren’s own bill. It modified the Water Code in such a way that it limits the civil penalty amount which may be assessed to between $50 and $25,000 total per day. It includes a provision that any civil penalty sought must be brought to the attention of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. The special counsel with the Harris County attorney’s office at the time, Terry O’Rourke, described the bill as “a polluter protection bill.”
The suggestion that Charlie Geren is fighting to prevent this landfill after he submitted a bill that would limit the civil penalties of those that contaminate families’ water supply is hypocritical, to say the least.
Sorry, Charlie. No.
Lie #2: Charlie Geren is Protecting Texas' Children
In this most recent legislative session, the house passed HB 1898, “a grant program to fund the provision by children’s hospitals of mental and behavior health services to children” in Texas. Before the House voted on it, Representative Tony Tinderholt (HD94) offered an amendment that would prevent awarding a grant “to a children’s hospital that provides services, medications, or procedures for transitioning a child’s biological sex.” His amendment was killed by point of order raised “on the grounds that the amendment is not germane.” The point of order was raised by Charlie Geren himself and sustained by House Speaker Dade Phelan.
The Texas Senate added language to the bill that a “grant recipient may not use a grant awarded under the grant program to . . . provide mental health services, including treatments or procedures, to a child that affirm the child’s perception of the child’s sex if that perception is inconsistent with the child’s biological sex.” The distinction between the language here and Rep. Tinderholt’s amendment is significant. Wherein Rep Tinderhold’s amendment would have precluded any grant money from going to a children’s hospital that transitions a child’s gender, the Senate language simply precludes the hospital from using the grant money specifically for that, but the hospitals are still free to use other money to pay for it.
When given the opportunity to actually protect children, Charlie Geren chose instead to put them at risk from the very “radicals . . . forcing their ideas onto our kids” he wants credit for protecting them from.
Sorry, Charlie. No.
Charlie Geren is NOT ethical
Between 2005 and 2017, Charlie Geren dated Mindy Ellmer, culminating in their marriage in 2017. Ellmer has been named by Capitol Inside as a top “Hired Gun” on its highly regarded annual list of “Texas Lobby Power Rankings.” Because of their relationship, there have been a number of allegations regarding conflicts of interest and unethical behavior. Here are a few.
- As mentioned, in 2015, Geren filed House Bill 1794, a bill that would place a cap on the amount that cities and counties can collect from companies that harm the contaminate the environment, and added a five year statute of limitations on all such claims. The bill was pushed by a client of his wife’s, the Texas Civil Justice League, and opponents claimed it was Geren’s relationship to Ellmers that lead to him filing the bill.
- Charlie Geren was the driving force for Senate Bill 1004. Critics say the bill could save the telecommunication giant AT&T hundreds of millions of dollars while taking needed tax revenue from city coffers around the state, revenue that would have to be made up with higher taxes on Texas city residents. Geren’s wife holds a contract from AT&T worth up to $99,999 to try and influence lawmakers to vote on issues favorable to AT&T.
- Charlie Geren successfully pushed to permanently allow restaurants to sell alcohol for pickup and delivery orders after filing the legislation. House Bill 1024 benefitted another client of Ellmer’s, The Texas Restaurant Association (TRA). The TRA, which is backing the legislation, paid Ellmer between $25,000 and $49,000 for lobbying work from September through December.
Additionally, Charlie Geren also admitted to gutting House Bill 504 in 2017, an ethics reform bill. The bill would have implemented a “cooling off” period before an ex-lawmaker can return to the Texas Legislature as a lobbyist, but Geren replaced the bill with one that
- reduces punishment for legislators who misuse official information during the two years following their departure from office;
- decreases the application of an existing ethics statute that prohibits the abuse of non-public information for personal gain;
- changes the violation from a third-degree felony to a misdemeanor; and
- grants former lawmakers a lower penalty for violating that law.
In an interview, Geren said, “You can say I gutted it.”
Geren also introduced House Bill 1585 despite opposition from the National Association for Gun Rights. The bill would classify issue driven non-profits (501c4) as electioneering organizations. According to the President of Texas Gun Rights, “Politicians in Austin clearly don’t want their constituents to know what they are up to.”
Charlie Geren is NOT conservative.
You do not have to take my word for it.
- Young Conservatives of Texas rank him among the least conservative out of 84 Republicans in the Texas House (excluding the speaker).
- Charlie Geren was the lowest-rated Republican in Texas Family Project’s legislative rantings for this last session with 52 percent out of 100 (a grade of “F”), a mere 4 percentage points higher than Democrat State Rep. Eddie Morales.
- Texas Values Action’s Faith & Family Scorecard gave him the lowest score of all Republicans in the house.
- Texans for Fiscal Responsibility gave Charlie Geren a grade of “F.”
- Texas Right to Life gave him the 3rd worse score of any Republican in the house.
- In 2018, Texas Right to Life also ranked Charlie Geren a “pro-life fraud” and a “disappointment,” arguing he had “failed the pro-life movement, prioritizing power over principle.”
- He was ranked as the 4th least conservative Republican in the Texas House by the Rice University professor Mark Jones and published in the Texas Tribune.
- Of the top 10 House members Charlie Geren voted contrary to, 9 of them are Republicans.
- Of the top 20 House members he voted contrary to, 16 of them are Republicans.
Source: Texas Legislature Online via grassrootspriorities.com
Prior to the 88th legislative session, the Republican Party of Texas (RPT) voted to ban Democrat chairs to ensure that all legislative Republican priorities are given a fair opportunity to become law. Early during the last legislative session, a lawmaker proposed changing the rules of the House to disallow minority party members from holding committee chairmanship positions. Per the Texas Scorecard:
“On the first day of the legislative session in January, two Republican state representatives called on their fellow conservative lawmakers to listen to their constituents and pass a rule aligned with the RPT’s priorities.
“On the second day of the legislative session, a lawmaker proposed changing the rules of the House to disallow minority party members from holding committee chairmanship positions.
“However, a point of order made by State Rep. Charlie Geren (R–Fort Worth) was sustained by House Speaker Dade Phelan (R–Beaumont), which killed the proposal before a vote could be taken.”
Dade Phalen later appointed eight Democrats to chairmanships.
Here is another example of Charlie Geren proving he is NOT conservative. CSHB 3782 was a bill that created a Border Security Advisory Council. In committee, it was amended by Rep. Ryan Guillen (D-HD31) to make the Advisory Council an equal split of Democrats and Republicans. Rep. Tony Tinderholt (R-HD94) attempted to restore the original intent of the bill, which would have allowed appointments regardless of party affiliation. Shockingly, only 28 Republicans voted for this. Charlie Geren was among the NO votes. (See the journal and search for “1399.”)
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