Never Go Back Bedford 2024

Never Go Back Bedford 2024 To help inform the public about the importance of the upcoming mayoral election.

Thank you to everyone who has followed this page or commented on it. We may not agree with everyone's opinion but we app...
05/04/2024

Thank you to everyone who has followed this page or commented on it. We may not agree with everyone's opinion but we appreciate that comments have mostly been respectful.

The goal has been to help inform the public about the importance of choices in the 2024 mayoral election. Thanks to all the candidates for their hard work during the campaigns.

05/04/2024

In the last hours before voting, we are seeing a barrage of negative comments against Cogan on other social media channels. In case you are seeing these -- no, Cogan doesn't want to bring drag shows to children in Bedford! Is this more of the work of Griffin's political consultants? Let's keep focused on issues like listening and responding to citizens, which didn't happen under former mayor Griffin.

Now it Comes Down to Who VotesNever Go Back is a citizen-funded effort that has tried to make a difference by helping ke...
05/03/2024

Now it Comes Down to Who Votes

Never Go Back is a citizen-funded effort that has tried to make a difference by helping keep the City on its current productive path. No candidate endorsed or sponsored this effort.

We have spotlighted concerns about what happened with past leadership, and we uncovered a case where a candidate funneled donations through two PACs to hide that he paid for a negative campaign mailer against Mayor Cogan.

Now it comes down to voter turnout. Turnout is regrettably small in City elections, so EVERY SINGLE VOTE counts. This election could be very close.

Please go vote on Saturday, May 4, and do your part to keep Bedford moving forward. Thank you.

Oldies But NOT GoodiesNostalgic for the Griffin years? Let’s revisit some of the greatest hits from the news back then:“...
05/03/2024

Oldies But NOT Goodies

Nostalgic for the Griffin years? Let’s revisit some of the greatest hits from the news back then:

“Library Closes in Bedford” (because of the tax “rollback” while Mr. Griffin was on City Council)
“Bedford Residents Want Performing Arts Addressed in Bond Package”
“Upset About Being Ignored, Arts Groups in Bedford Want Answers”
“Concerns About Wildlife at Bedford Boys Ranch Park”
“Ducks of Death” (Fort Worth Weekly)
“Bedford Residents Win First Round in Fight Against High-End Apartments”
“Scared-O’ Cats?” (re: council’s purging of Boards and Commissions, Fort Worth Weekly)
“Bedford City Council, Manager Clash Over Proposed Plans for Boys Ranch Park Makeover”
“Bedford City Manager’s Retirement Leaves Unanswered Questions”
“Bedford Begins Search for New Police Chief”
“Bedford Mayor is Target of Recall Effort” (watch the video)

https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/bedford-mayor-is-target-of-recall-effort/78644/

“Bedford Mayor Resigns to Seek Stickland’s Texas House Seat”

Paper trail shows lack of transparency in Griffin’s race for MayorA paper trail of donations to two Political Action Com...
05/02/2024

Paper trail shows lack of transparency in Griffin’s race for Mayor

A paper trail of donations to two Political Action Committees by mayoral candidate Jim Griffin was confirmed Wednesday via Transparency USA (transparencyusa.org). Transparency USA, a nonpartisan 501(c )3 organization, is a watchdog group that collects information from the Texas Ethics Commission.

It’s unclear if the tangled web of payments is illegal but it seems unethical, at the least, in a practice that some might call political money laundering. The product of the payments appears to be a negative campaign mailer.

According to financial filings required by the Texas Ethics Commission and election laws, Griffin made a donation for $3,724.30 to a Political Action Committee (PAC) called the Texans for Law & Order PAC, which uses the same address as Griffin’s political consultants, Neel and Partners of North Richland Hills, Texas. In turn, the Texans for Law & Order donated $3,724.30 to another committee, the Texans for Freedom PAC.

During the week of April 22, during Early Voting in the mayor’s election, the Texans for Freedom PAC sent a postcard to thousands of homes in Bedford alleging that Mayor Cogan had made improper hiring decisions, “opposed economic development” and took other actions that cannot be proved or corroborated. The mailer also attempted to introduce party politics into the election, labeling Cogan a “Democrat,” even though municipal elections in Bedford and most other Texas cities are deemed to be nonpartisan.

The attached documents confirm Griffin’s donation to the Texans for Law & Order PAC and that committee’s donation to the Texans for Freedom PAC, in the exact same amount ($3,724.30). The mailer attributed to the Texans for Freedom PAC is also shown.

Griffin has accused Cogan of running a negative campaign – all the while, hiding his own negative campaign through a convoluted paper trail of donations to PACs.

There’s a lot to like about Bedford as it is today and in the direction the City has been moving the past three years. ...
05/01/2024

There’s a lot to like about Bedford as it is today and in the direction the City has been moving the past three years.
1) increased sales tax revenue
2) the lowest tax rate in 7 years
3) Bedford Center YMCA up and running
4) a new fire station and Senior Center coming
5) the perceived "disconnect" bridged between the City and its residents, with increased accessibility of leadership.
What else can be added to this list?

If you’re wondering about the stuff in your mailbox…The candidates for Mayor in Bedford have filed their latest financia...
04/30/2024

If you’re wondering about the stuff in your mailbox…

The candidates for Mayor in Bedford have filed their latest financial reports and the numbers are surprising. Eight days before the election, Jim Griffin had spent $21,459 seeking the office. Mayor Dan Cogan had spent $8,936, or about 41 percent as much as Griffin. Eric Love reported expenditures of $468.

Cogan received many individual donations in small amounts (e.g., $5-$10) and received only a couple donations of more than $100. Griffin received less in small donations but offset that with large contributions. For example, Bedford city councilman Steve Farco gave $2,000, and an individual in Michigan, listed as Mark Diball, gave $2,500.

Having lots of small donations can indicate widespread support but it’s tough for grassroots campaigns to compete with bigger money. Some voters see self-funded campaigns, like Love’s, as a mark of independence.

Griffin has spent most of his funds with the North Richland Hills office of a political consultancy firm called Neel and Partners. The company’s website says they are connected to some high profile national politicians such as Gov. Ron Desantis and Sen. Josh Hawley. One of their clients is the Texans for Law & Order PAC, and Griffin contributed $3,724 to that PAC, according to his financial report. The PAC was founded in January 2024 and had no contributions or expenditures to report as of a financial filing in February 2024, so little information is publicly available about them except that they use the same address as Neel and Partners.

Griffin recently filed his final financial reports from previous
campaigns, and his filing with the Texas Ethics Commission on January 12, 2024, showed that he had an outstanding political loan of $100,000 on the books. Griffin ran unsuccessfully for the District 92 Texas House seat in 2020. The $100,000 loan was not included in his latest campaign filing so we don’t know its status or what the rules are for consolidating past and current campaign finances.

This information is all available and verifiable on public websites, but you'll only see it on the NGB page.

"Never Go Back" is an independent effort not associated with any candidate's campaign and is intended to be informative ...
04/24/2024

"Never Go Back" is an independent effort not associated with any candidate's campaign and is intended to be informative in nature. The goal is to keep Bedford moving forward with all the progress that's been made in the last three years. Looking at the three candidates running for Mayor, there is one who might take Bedford back to a time when public inputs were sometimes squelched and many people felt the City was languishing. Another candidate has no record in City government and it's unclear where he might want to take the City.

At the most recent candidates' forum, Dan Cogan summed up accomplishments during his term as Mayor and on the City Council: 1) increased sales tax revenue, 2) lowest tax rate in 7 years, 3) Bedford Center YMCA opened, 4) building a new fire station and opening the new Senior Center, 5) bridged a "disconnect" between the City and its residents.

"Let's not go back to the ways of the past," Cogan said.

WHY 'NEVER GO BACK'?A bipartisan group of citizens started an effort called “Never Go Back” because of concerns about t...
04/22/2024

WHY 'NEVER GO BACK'?

A bipartisan group of citizens started an effort called “Never Go Back” because of concerns about the 2024 Mayor’s race. Why do they care so much?

Follow “Never Go Back Bedford 2024” on Facebook to learn more between now and May 4.

04/22/2024

At the candidates' forum on April 17, Jim Griffin stated, "I don't know why everybody wants to keep bringing up apartments."

Really?

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Bedford, TX
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