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Follow TURFSupporter of pro-toll Sheila McNeil tries to buy votes
McNeil voters were to be rewarded
By Gilbert Garcia
Express-News
A Sheila McNeil supporter who runs a youth football program sent a text message last week urging parents to vote for the Commissioners Court hopeful in exchange for a $125 credit on their children's football enrollment fees, according to multiple sources.
Fred Davis, 35, founder of Youth Advancement Initiative, a nonprofit organization with five youth football leagues and a cheerleading program, sent the offer Friday, according to three former East Side City Council members: Mario Salas, John Sanders and McNeil, the hopeful whom Davis sought to help.
In the text message, Davis told parents with children enrolled in his program that if they went to the Claude Black Center over the weekend and cast their vote for McNeil, one of two hopefuls challenging incumbent Commissioner Tommy Adkisson in the Democratic primary, he would reward them with a $125 enrollment credit. It's unclear how he would've determined whether the parents voted for McNeil.
Early Saturday, Davis sent a follow-up text message rescinding his offer, according to sources. But by then, the initial text had generated a buzz on the East Side.
Davis declined to comment.
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