Good Friday mid-day --
You have only two more chances to do the single most important thing to improve public safety here locally: Vote against Travis County DA Jose Garza in the Democratic primary.
I am a lifelong Democrat, a Biden and Obama supporter, a former probation officer, an advocate for victims of violent crime, and the co-founder of Save Austin Now.
From the beginning, my Republican co-founder Matt Mackowiak and I agreed never to do anything that we both didn't agree with -- and that is why Save Austin Now is truly nonpartisan.
In that spirit, we have announced that Save Austin Now PAC is supporting both DA challengers: Democrat Jeremy Sylestine (JeremySylestine.com) and Republican Daniel Betts (BettsforDA.com).
We are asking every Travis County resident who cares about public safety and the rights of crime victims to support these candidates.
ANYONE WHO IS A TRAVIS COUNTY REGISTERED VOTER CAN VOTE FOR JEREMY TODAY OR TUESDAY.
Voting in the Democratic primary does not effect how or where you can vote in any future election (including the November general election). It also means you can vote in either primary in 2026.
You can vote for Jeremy today and if he is the nominee, choose between the two of them in November. If Jose tragically is renominated, you can support Daniel in November. You can also support Jeremy and Daniel both financially now -- and you should.
Your first opportunity to fire Jose Garza is nearly over: There are only two voting days left in the Democratic primary for Travis County DA. That's today and Tuesday. Turn out has been historically low. Your vote (and the vote of your family and friends) matters a ton.
All voting locations locations are open until at least 7pm tonight, with some open until 10pm. On Tuesday, the polls are open 7am-7pm.
Information on locations, hours, and wait times are available at VoteTravis.com.
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I would like to list some of the many reasons why Jose Garza must be held accountable by voters and removed from office.
Here are a few:
1) Jose Garza is ignoring the wishes of violent crime victims and there are thousands of examples.
Crime is rapidly worsening in Austin. Every person that lives there knows it.
DA Jose Garza denies this, but he lies about nearly everything (examples shown lower down).
One of the most appalling public safety trends is the rapid increase in the murder rate in Austin, which you can see here.
As it turns out, when you do not hold thousands of violent criminals accountable or take them off the streets, habitual offenders increase and violent criminals commit more violent crimes, including murder.
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Our partner organization, the Combined Law Enforcement Association of Texas (CLEAT), who fights for law enforcement statewide with ferocity, commitment and toughness, recently researched statistics in DA Garza's office.
Look at these stats over a 4 month period from Sept. 2023-Dec. 2023:
> Sexual assault
Dismissal: 67%
Confinement: 20%
Diversion / probation: 13%
Post is here.
> Aggravated sexual assault of a child
Dismissal: 71%
Confinement: 18%
Diversion / probation: 11%
Post is here.
> Crimes against law enforcement / corrections
Dismissal: 71%
Confinement: 23%
Diversion / probation: 6%
Post is here.
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Meanwhile, Jose Garza got caught shamelessly lying about his own office's statistics on prosecution.
These two stories detail the deception:
KEYE 2/28/24: "DA Garza cites years-old data to say Austin is 'one of the safest cities in America" CBS Austin
KXAN 2/21/23: 'We are attorneys, not statisticians.' Travis County DA reviewing conviction data after KXAN reporting" KXAN
The stories about how disrespectfully his office has treated violent crime victims are many. I talk to violent crime victims EVERY SINGLE DAY.
Here is one recent story with many victims quoted directly:
Daily Mail 2/19/24: "Texas victims' families slam Soros-backed Austin DA Jose Garza for letting killers and rapists walk free: How can you be pro-criminal!'" Daily Mail
There are more I have posted about or shared here, here, and here. Matt posted some here and here.
>> SUPPORT OUR EFFORTS TO HOLD JOSE GARZA ACCOUNTABLE <<
2) Jose Garza is incompetent -- Our District Attorney has never prosecuted a case in Travis County. Ever. Read that again. He has absolutely no idea how to try a case.
As KVUE's Tony Plohetski reported yesterday:
BREAKING: A judge in the trial of Javier Ambler II has cited multiple violations of state and federal law by prosecutors regarding evidence and is now considering what the penalties for the state will be. She has denied a request by deputy defendants to drop the charges, however.
This matter is being tried by DA Garza's office.
His incompetence extends to management of the office. Fully 2/3 of all lawyers have left the Travis County DA's office since he was hired. Hundreds of years of experience are gone, and in its place he has hired radical left attorneys, many of whom came from outside our community, to enact a radical policy of ignoring violent crime through generous P.R. bonds, sweetheart plea deals, denying prosecutions by the thousands and reducing felony charges to misdemeanors (again by the thousands).
3) Jose Garza has 7,000+ felony cases that have not been indicted -- Justice is being denied: The saying goes, 'Justice Delayed is Justice Denied'. In the Travis County DA's office under Jose Garza his management has been so incompetent that they are not processing arrests and securing indictments in a timely manner, effecting thousands of cases, thousands of victims and leaving arrested criminals free to roam our streets.
4) Jose Garza hired a #2 official who is targeting police officers -- A radical New Yorker named Trudy Strassberger was hired as the #2 official in the office after Garza won in November 2020. She was found to have posted on left wing message boards a post to recruit progressive lawyers who wanted to move to Austin to "go after police officers', not seek justice.
Their policy has been to ignore criminals and prosecute cops.
After three years, they have not secured one conviction against a police officer and recently Garza dropped felony charges against 17 APD officers (!) he indicted for re-establishing order in response to a riot.
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In addition to all of these reasons (and many more), it has been inspiring to see Travis County residents of every background unite to hold Jose Garza accountable.
One of the most compelling presentations anyone has made it Daniel Lubetsky, an Austin resident and successful business persona and moderate / independent voter.
His post and accompanying first person video has now been viewed more than 7 million times.
I hope you will read / watch / share it.
You can find it here.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
You can do five things to help right now:
1) Vote for Jeremy Sylestine today or Tuesday in the Democratic primary. We will then see who the nominee is and we may have two acceptable choices in November. Or maybe just one. Find your voting location and hours here.
2) Contribute to one or both candidates right now.
Donate to Jeremy here.
Donate to Daniel here.
3) Forward this email to every Travis County resident that you know.
4) Contribute to our efforts to hold Jose Garza accountable here -- https://secure.anedot.com/save-austin-now-pac/c256eee684ec4a4d310ab. You can also make a check to "Save Austin Now PAC" and mail it to: Save Austin Now PAC, 807 Brazos Street, Suite 702, Austin, TX 78701. If you require wire instructions, please email Matt.
5) Share our posts on Twitter (@cleopetricek and @MattMackowiak, as well as Jeremy and Daniel).
We must restore public safety in our city.
This is urgent.
Thank you for joining this effort.
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As we have said before, we have only begun to fight!
Thank you!
-Cleo Petricek
Co-founder, Save Austin Now PAC
> Questions? Email Cleo. Or Email Matt.
> Learn more: http://www.SaveAustinNowPAC.com
Will you please support our efforts now?
You may donate to our efforts to hold Jose Garza accountable here: https://secure.anedot.com/save-austin-now-pac/c256eee684ec4a4d310ab.
You may donate to our legal effort here to force full enforcement of Prop B here: https://secure.anedot.com/save-austin-now-pac/save-austin-now-pac-legal-fund-c4cfa533f8ab98c9da232.
POLITICAL AD PAID FOR BY SAVE AUSTIN NOW PAC. Leland Bickers, Treasurer. SaveAustinNowPAC.com