She drew two opponents, so I decided to look into her time as my State Representative. Darn, the first thing I ran across was not flattering; I am being kind.
And then there’s the flowerpot incident, a story nearly every lawmaker with whom I talked during this session had heard some version of. In March 2021, representative Shawn Thierry, a Democrat from Houston then serving her third term, had two small, decorative flowerpots delivered to her office. According to D. Powell, Thierry’s former legislative director and senior policy analyst, who for privacy asked that her first name not be published, Thierry was displeased that staffers did not immediately inform her of the flowerpots’ arrival. She began to yell, multiple former staffers say, and then, according to Yisel Covarrubias, her then–legislative assistant, Thierry threw the pots across the room, aiming one at her. “She always wanted to know everything that happened as soon as it happened—every phone call, every email, every person who came into the office, every letter,” Powell, who was sitting outside the interior office and recalled hearing the pots shatter, said. “I don’t know what about the flowerpots in particular was so inciting.”
Though rumors of the allegations spread across the Capitol, staffers say the General Investigating Committee ultimately did not act on their complaint or even interview them about it. But this session, after Capitol insiders not associated with the office began circulating rumors about the incident on social media, some of Thierry’s former staffers—none of whom still work in the Legislature—came forward to tell Texas Monthly about their experiences working in Thierry’s office.
Apart from the flowerpot incident, most of what Covarrubias and two other former staffers who spoke to Texas Monthly described occurring in Thierry’s office ranged from extreme micromanagement to daily invectives. Covarrubias said Thierry’s office was “the most abusive environment I’ve ever worked in.”
Some said the pressure was so high that their mental health deteriorated. Covarrubias recalled that a fellow staff member suffered anxiety attacks on a couple of occasions, including once when Covarrubias found her curled up under her desk in the fetal position. Another former staffer who declined to be named said that a stressed-out coworker “lost so much weight over the course of three months, she needed me to help her safety-pin her skirt.” Source of above.
“I’m not surprised,” Thierry said of the allegations, identifying specific staffers she thought might be surfacing them, some of whose names Texas Monthly is redacting to protect their privacy. “I mean, [redacted] is gay. Yisel was bisexual. I think [redacted] may have been bisexual. I think [redacted] told a consultant that came into the office that she was bisexual.” She added, “I really just feel a lot of this is retaliatory for my vote on SB 14.” Same source as above.
My thoughts this morning before I decided to write on the race was her vote on book banning, which I oppose. After all, When I was in school, one of my favorite series was Tarzan, a series written by a racist. The entirety of Tarzan is about how a white man becomes lord of the Jungle. Why not have a white man as the king of the Blacks? After all, that is the world I was born into here in the United States. The White man was also lord over us lighter brown-skinned folks.
How did Thierry defend herself? She attacked her accusers. It seems to be the norm since Trump’s campaign for president.
Shawn Thierry is not the most conservative Democrat as a State Representative. She is close to the middle of the Democratic pack. Just slightly to the right of Mary Ann Perez, HD 144. Even the most conservative Democrat is much more liberal than the most liberal Republican.
Her opponents are Lauren Simmons and Ashton Woods. Mr. Woods needs to have a website up; while Facebook is fine, it does force one to join Facebook. I personally only recently returned to Facebook after years of not posting or using Facebook.
Lauren Simmons is standing up for our children and against the state takeover of our school district.
Ashton Woods
Meet Ashton P. Woods, the millennial Black Lives Matter activist running for Houston City Council-At Large
I am fairly sure I know who I am going to vote for, I may decide to endorse one of the candidates as a precinct chair of state house district 146. Did I mention that I am, also, the president of my Civic Club.