Local political blogger indicted for attacking local businessman and campaign chair for Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee at his business office; subsequently files civil lawsuit
If you know anything about the history of politics, you know that it can sometimes get downright cutthroat and nasty. However, when things turn violent and get physical, in any circumstance, that is when you know things have gone entirely too far.
Gerald Womack, 66, is a longtime businessman who has served as the president and CEO of Womack Development & Investment Realtors—a full-service commercial and residential real estate brokerage firm—since 1985.
For over 15 years, Womack has owned the property that houses his corporate offices at 4412 Almeda Road near Wheeler Avenue, in Houston’s historic Third Ward. In addition to his well-documented business acumen, it is no secret that Womack has been actively involved in the world of politics for many years, namely as a longtime friend, supporter, and campaign consultant for U.S. Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, who has been in an intense battle to become the next mayor of the City of Houston.
While the status of Congresswoman Lee’s overall political future is uncertain, what has been certain is that she has faced tons of opposition in her quest to become the Houston mayor in 2023, which is expected to happen to nearly all candidates during most contested elections.
Shockingly, the contestants involved in the Houston mayoral race have not been the sole news story dominating the headlines in the Greater Houston community.
On the contrary, an extremely eye-opening incident involving Womack and a local political blogger named Aubrey Taylor has had the entire community talking for weeks.
For months, Womack, Congresswoman Jackson Lee, and many other elected officials have been subjected to countless blistering critiques from Taylor, who is the owner and publisher of Houston Business Connections Newspaper.
Paramedics prepare to transport Gerald Womack to the emergency room after physical altercation at his office, located at 4412 Almeda Rd.
Relative to his consistent critique of Womack and Congresswoman Jackson Lee, the Forward Times has received email blogs from as early as August 27, 2022, where Taylor has accused Womack of developing an alleged “absentee mail ballot harvesting ring” that he claimed helped Congresswoman Jackson Lee “constantly get reelected over and over again by any means necessary,” per his blog. To date, those allegations have not been proven.
The consistent barrage of email blogs targeting Womack and Congresswoman Jackson Lee continued for months, but then significantly intensified once Congresswoman Jackson Lee announced she was running to become Houston’s next mayor. Womack became an even greater focal point of the email blogs, where his character was questioned by Taylor and unflattering verbiage was used to describe Womack, such as these words shared from a February 3rd email blog that the Forward Times received which stated:
If Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee does decide to run, I hope and pray that she doesn’t allow Gerald Womack to run her mayoral campaign.
Gerald Womack is one of the sleaziest, dirtiest, slimiest people you would ever want to meet in politics or business. And on top of that, he doesn’t care about anything but trying to make a dollar for himself. This dude is bad news all the way around.
Then, in an email blog on April 21st, Taylor accuses Womack of some alleged ballot harvesting improprieties and then mentions that he had become aware that Congresswoman Jackson Lee had listed Womack’s office as the mailing address (4412 Almeda Road) for her potential mayoral campaign, stating:
Does anyone even realize that Sheila Jackson Lee has listed Gerald Womack’s office as the mailing address for her Mayoral Campaign? 4412 Almeda Road in Houston, Texas 77004 is the address for Womack Development & Investment Realtors. In case you don’t remember, Gerald Womack is Sheila’s campaign manager, and he’s also the clown who hired those “BLACK ABSENTEE BALLOT HARVESTERS” who stole the identities of dead Black voters and requested “ABSENTEE BALLOT APPLICATIONS” in their names back during the 2020 Presidential Election, in Harris County, Texas.
The scene of the October 23rd incident between Gerald Womack and Aubrey Taylor.
This is a significant factor, especially when trying to gain clarity on the physical altercation that occurred between Taylor and Womack on Monday, October 23rd at Womack’s corporate offices, located at 4412 Almeda Road.
On October 23rd, law enforcement officials arrived at Womack’s corporate offices—which had eventually become one of Congresswoman Jackson Lee’s mayoral campaign satellite offices—responding to a 911 call from Womack claiming he had been physically assaulted by Taylor, 56.
According to police reports, Womack states that he confronted Taylor for being inside his corporate offices at 4412 Almeda Road and told him to leave. It was then, according to reports, that Womack alleges he was attacked, struck in the face, and then subsequently knocked unconscious by Taylor as he fell to the ground, leaving him with a swollen head and bloody nose. The Houston Police Department (HPD) officers interviewed Womack to get his account of what occurred. Paramedics eventually arrived on the scene and took Womack to the emergency room.
Taylor had already left the scene when HPD arrived.
According to police reports, Womack alleges that because he was on the receiving end of many critical email blogs about him by Taylor for months prior to the October 23rd incident, he believes that could have been a possible precursor to the alleged attack.
The following day after the incident, the Forward Times was in receipt of an email from Taylor explaining his side of the story, in which Taylor claimed that he was not going to 4412 Almeda Road to visit the corporate offices of Womack Development & Investment Realtors, but rather to drop off a newspaper to another business—Advantage Communications Group, stating that:
On Monday, October 23, 2023, I was legally permitted under Texas law to use proportionate force to defend myself. On Monday, October 23, 2023, shortly before 10:00 AM, upon entering the lobby for Advantage Communications Group, which is located at 4412 Almeda Road, Houston, Texas 77004, to deliver the current issue of “HOUSTON BUSINESS CONNECTIONS NEWSPAPER” to Linda K. Brown, a local businessman by the name of Gerald Womack assaulted Aubrey R. Taylor and a good old-fashioned fist fight ensued.
“FOR THE RECORD.”
For several decades I have stopped by 4412 Almeda Road, in person to deliver my newspaper to Linda Brown, the owner of Advantage Communications Group. Last week, I stopped by 4412 Almeda Road, and dropped off newspapers for Linda Brown, without incident.
If you have any questions, my attorney is “DOWNTOWN” Oliver Brown, and he can be reached at (713)851-1110, or by email at oliver@theoliverjlawfirm.com
According to Linda K. Brown, owner of Advantage Communications Group—a full-service media communications agency, media/public relations, advertising and media placement, project management, event coordination and political consulting firm—she has not officed at the 4412 Almeda Road address since 2003.
Ten days after the alleged incident, Taylor was formally indicted by a Harris County grand jury and charged with felony assault of an elderly person, according to the Harris County District Attorney’s Office. The same day as the grand jury’s decision to indict, Taylor filed a civil lawsuit of his own, claiming that it was Womack who attacked him instead.
On November 3rd, the Forward Times was in receipt of another email from Taylor, in which he stated:
My attorney Jared Woodfill has filed a million-dollar lawsuit on my behalf against Gerald Womack, the owner of Womack Development & Investment Realtors.
On the civil side, my attorney of record is Jared Woodfill. And on the criminal side, my attorney of record is “Downtown” Oliver Brown.
The Forward Times reached out to attorney Oliver Brown to discuss the details of the case and to get an understanding of how he planned to prepare for the case, but in speaking with Brown, he informed the Forward Times that he was not representing Taylor on the case at this time, and that he was unaware of who might be working with Taylor as he deals with the recent indictment.
Taylor has since sent out various other emails about the incident with Womack and has gotten back to his typical political commentary about local politics, including a recent email blog received by the Forward Times on Election Day, November 7th.
It is never flattering to report on matters such as this, but this is an extremely serious matter.
As stated, politics can get ugly, and clearly in cases like this one, politics can get physically violent. The Forward Times will continue to follow this situation and keep our readers abreast to the happenings surrounding the criminal indictment and the civil case as we uncover them.