Fort Bend Rep. Gary Gates evicted over 100 tenants during the pandemic

[RandySF]

hroughout the coronavirus pandemic, state Rep. Gary Gates has worked hard to let constituents in Fort Bend County know he is there for them in a moment of crisis.

The freshman lawmaker, a Republican who won a hotly contested runoff election in January and is on the ballot again this fall, began buying up hand sanitizer and protective gear and handing them out at high schools and through home deliveries. To date, he says he’s distributed about 15,000 kits across the district, all of them paid for out of his own pocket.

But as the November election nears and the economic fallout from the pandemic deepens, Gates has played another, less visible role for some of those hardest hit: evicting tenants from his local empire of low-income housing.

Since the governor issued a disaster declaration in mid-March, Gates has filed at least 104 evictions across 34 apartment complexes in and around Houston, according to an analysis of eviction records by Hearst Newspapers. Nearly three-fourths of those have ended in judgments against tenants, meaning they were likely evicted.



https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Fort-Bend-Rep-Gary-Gates-evicted-over-100-15568074.php

[walkingman]

1. Texas hillbillies think they are JR Ewing and just love to show their nastiness as a badge of honor.

[Gothmog]

2. Gates is an asshole

There is some good oppo on this person from the prior campaigns texasscorecard.com/local/yes-gary-gates-may-be-a-child-abuser/

In a 2008 decision upholding summary judgment against Gates, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals recited a number of disturbing claims from the Gates’ children.

During the interviews with the children, TDPRS learned that Gary’s punishments included sitting against the wall in the chair position, running, moving bricks and boards across the driveway, doing push-ups, and being spanked with a hand, belt, or board. Travis and Alexis had been given “throw-up” medicine (ipecac) for eating food they should not have eaten, and children were required to skip their next meal if they stole food. On occasion, Gary taped newspaper around a child’s hands to keep him or her from stealing food.

Timothy stated that Gary threw the older children against the wall and that “dad hurts Travis and the big kids.” Timothy also stated that he was afraid of his father because “he hurts them.” Cynthia stated that after Gary found out about Travis stealing food, he kicked out Travis’s chair while Travis was sitting on it, causing Travis to hit his head on the floor; ?Gary then hit Travis, kicked him in the stomach, and pushed him into a wall. Marcus corroborated this story. Cynthia also stated that Gary had hit Cassandra and Andrew the previous day and that she is scared to live at home because her dad gets so mad. Andy confirmed that he had been spanked the previous day and had a bruise on his leg as a result.

Further, according to a TDPRS employee, when Gary arrived home that day, he told his children, “These people want to talk to you, they think mom and dad are bad people.” Timothy then responded, “Well dad you are bad, you slammed them [sic] up against the wall and made his head bleed.” Alexis and Marcus agreed with Timothy.

[DFW]

3. He sounds like a good, upstanding Republican

No wonder the Texas Republicans like him. Their kind of guy.