UPDATE NOTE: Several posters have put up different things about Don Hooper's financial and court dealings in the comments section since I put this article up yesterday. I have allowed those that I have posted because I think they illustrate to potential voters who meet Hooper that he is not who he holds himself out to be. In my opinion, given the trash that Hooper seems to feel so free about spewing out regarding others, this will allow those who meet him to consider the source.
Yesterday, Brian Rogers ran a story in the Houston Chronicle regarding the District Attorney's race "heating up." In the early morning hours, this relatively benign story suddenly got a flood of comments on it from a "group" of Chronicle commenters who mostly seemed to have generated their profiles the day before. The names such as "Dinkit", "KevinPadrick", "Tort_king", "LibelLuci", "Mike420" and (my personal favorite) "BaldUglyDefenseAttorney"all preached a very similar message to those spewed out over on Big Jolly's Blog under the name of "JJones", "Snapped", "Ted's Conscience", oh, and the name Don Hooper.
Don Hooper, as you all know, is Rachel Palmer's husband, and he has had a very "interesting" storyline ever since he and Rachel first got together several years ago. Per his recent testimony in Rachel's Motion to Recuse hearing against Judge Susan Brown, Don is a 50-year-old "energy trader" who is politically active along with his friend, Gary Polland, in the Republican Party. As a matter of fact, he and Gary have been working very hard to find opponents to run against Judges Marc or Susan Brown. (NOTE: Gary, if it isn't really your policy to be rounding up opponents to run against incumbent Republicans, you might want to have a chat with Mr. Hooper. He is throwing your name around. Just FYI.)
Many people who work at or around the CJC are of the opinion that all of these different "identities" on the Chronicle blog, as well as those on Big Jolly's, all belong to the same poster -- Don Hooper. The comments usually have the same trademarks that lead us to believe that. They are usually crude and nasty, attacking those he perceives to be against Pat Lykos (and thus, by extension, Rachel Palmer). The attacks are usually childish to the degree that he is openly accusing people of everything from alcoholism to adultery (which in the big scheme of things is kind of ironic). The comments come in the mornings on the Chronicle blog and are usually deleted as soon soon as someone from the Chronicle reads them and sees how libelous they are. His commenting identity is usually banned, and a new one or two springs up immediately thereafter.
All in all, it is a foolish and frustrating endeavor by the person doing it.
It is frustrating because there is probably no one more susceptible to some negative publicity than Don Hooper. I know that he and Rachel think that I have attacked them both on a personal level, but I think if one were to go back and read what I have written about them, the themes have been based on things that are relevant to the jobs done. Rachel's treatment of her subordinates and her lack of honesty and knowledge of the law are relevant in the job she does. Don getting special treatment by the Pat Lykos Administration when he harasses his neighbors with Rachel's badge is very telling when one tries to figure out the abuses of power going on at the District Attorney's Office under this administration.
But, Don and Rachel (believe it or not) should be VERY thankful for those things that I don't put on this blog.
Trust me on this one. I have been contacted by people who have known Don Hooper for a very long time. I know things about him that would make Kitty Kelly blush. Hell, I even had one person send me a copy of a booking photo. My "Rejected Comments" box on the blog has many many things about both of them that I would never publish because they are truly personal and have nothing to do with the work at the CJC. I guess that is just my own definition of the Rules of Engagement when it comes to this blog and what I will or will not publish.
Sadly, Mr. Hooper seems to have no such rules. The comments that were spewed on the Chronicle article yesterday were beyond vile and will not be repeated on this blog. Suffice it to say that if you go to the Chronicle article and see where a comment has been removed or a commenter has been blocked, that was one of the many many things taken down by the staff at the Chronicle. They were bad things with accusations of people who aren't even running for office but ones that Don and Rachel might perceive to be their enemies.
The author of those comments clearly had no Rules of Engagement, and in my opinion, no honor.
I give safe-harbor to commenters here who want to post their names anonymously, but I police the content of what is written. It is true that sometimes the comments get more vulgar and more childish than I would prefer, but what happens in people's homes is off-limits. Some may argue with my Rules, but I at least have some.
Hooper's methodology in campaigning either for or against someone is devoid of morals, ethics, and any semblance of integrity, in my opinion. Not to mention the fact that this 50-year-old "man" seems to be doing so much damage to the causes he purports to support.
Do you really think that you are helping Pat Lykos' campaign with your multiple personalities on the Chronicle? You insulted numerous Republican Party leaders and supporters? Your very actions are disgraceful to the minimal presumptions of dignity that come along with a democratic election.
With your wife under such scrutiny for taking the 5th Amendment to the 185th Grand Jury, is it really to her benefit that you write posts as if you were the foreperson of the Grand Jury? Do you really lack such a mental capacity that you think that your behavior is in anyway prudent?
My hope would be that Pat Lykos or Jim Leitner or somebody would sit down with Hooper and Palmer and tell them that this juvenile behavior needs to stop. It does nothing more than fuel the fires against an Office whose reputation is already in the toilet. If the fake identity attacks don't stop, then the Office should terminate all contact with the Hooper-Palmer family immediately.
The Republican Party, especially its leader, Jared Woodfill, should disavow everything done in such a juvenile and hateful manner. Otherwise, you are condoning politics by intimidation, blackmail, and extortion.
The voters who vote in the Republican Primary should know what is being done by one of their own, and do everything in their power to stop him -- starting with voting against every candidate he supports.
We all feel passionately about those issues that affect us at the CJC. We can disagree and even dislike each other, if need be. What is happening on the Chronicle blogs takes things to a level that humiliates us all. Sadly, it becomes the perfect example of that old saying about never wrestling with a pig. You both get covered in mud.
The only difference is that the pig likes it.
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