The campaign's largest funder was recorded threatening the fire district over an elected board: “If that doesn't happen will get a jihad…”
Investigative outlet Dolcefino Media reported on September 6, 2024 that an audio tape captured Robert Tiemann — the developer who supplied the largest share of the Vote Yes campaign's money — threatening Travis County ESD No. 2 if it would not ask the legislature for an elected board. The quotation Dolcefino published is: “If that doesn't happen will get a jihad…” Tiemann did not return the outlet's calls.
- Speaker
- Robert Tiemann — rendered “Tieman” by the outlet
- Quotation as published
- “If that doesn't happen will get a jihad…”
- The demand behind it
- That ESD 2 ask the legislature for an elected board
- Reported by
- Dolcefino Media, “Firefight in Pflugerville”
- Published
- September 6, 2024
- Video
- 13 min 47 sec — youtu.be/kUSFfhusRaY
- Passage located at
- About 11:53–12:07
- Tiemann's share of the campaign, per Dolcefino
- $80,100 of $135,450
- Tiemann's response to the outlet
- Did not return calls
What was reported
Dolcefino Media published “Firefight in Pflugerville” on September 6, 2024. Its written report states that an audio tape captured Robert Tiemann threatening ESD 2 if the district would not seek an elected board through the legislature, and quotes him: “If that doesn't happen will get a jihad…” The same report identifies Tiemann as the largest single funder of the Vote Yes campaign — $80,100 of $135,450 — and says he did not return the outlet's calls.
- Outlet
- Dolcefino Media, Houston
- Report
- “Firefight in Pflugerville”
- Date
- September 6, 2024
What is in the video, precisely
At about 11:53 the narration says an audio tape “details a threat Tieman made against the ESD if they don't ask the legislature for an elected board,” followed at about 12:05 by recorded audio beginning “that doesn't happen.” The word “jihad” appears in the outlet's written report. It does not appear in YouTube's automatic transcript of the video, which commonly drops words on low-quality recorded audio of exactly this kind. The 50-second passage has been clipped and is held with this entry so a person can listen and settle it.
- Narration
- About 11:53
- Recorded audio begins
- About 12:05
- “Jihad” in the auto-transcript
- Not present
- “Jihad” in the written report
- Present, as a direct quotation
- Resolved by
- Listening to the clip
The same report corroborates the payments
Dolcefino's report independently states that Pflugerville councilman David Rogers received “more than $21,000 in labor reimbursement and paid petitioners” from the developer-funded group — arrived at separately from our own $21,626 total drawn from the committee's filings. Two sources reaching the same figure by different routes is the strongest corroboration on this site. Note the wording: “paid petitioners” is not the same as reimbursement, which is the open question on C-063.
- Dolcefino
- More than $21,000 — labor reimbursement and paid petitioners
- Our figure from the filings
- About $21,626 across five payee records
- Arrived at
- Independently
Rogers' answer, on camera
The video opens and closes with his response to the allegation that developers were paying him to file lawsuits: “I'm sorry that's a fucking lie. You're a liar, go to hell.” It is a denial of that specific allegation, it is already public, and it belongs beside anything published about the payments.
What this does not assert
- does not allege that David Rogers said this — the remark is attributed to Robert Tiemann, and conflating the two would be false
- does not allege the remark carried any religious meaning; in ordinary American usage “jihad” in this construction reads as an all-out campaign, and that is the likelier reading
- does not allege any threat of violence
- does not allege that Tiemann broke any law
- does not allege that demanding an elected ESD board is improper — it is a policy position many people hold
- does not assert the recording is unedited or complete; we hold the outlet's report and its video, not the underlying tape
- the underlying audio tape has not been published in full, and its provenance is not disclosed by the outlet
- Dolcefino Media is an investigative firm that takes positions; this report is advocacy journalism, not a neutral account
Sources
- Dolcefino Media — “Firefight in Pflugerville”, written report — Published September 6, 2024. The only source in which the word “jihad” appears as text, quoted directly.
- Dolcefino Media — “Firefight in Pflugerville”, video — 13 min 47 sec, published September 6, 2024. Passage at about 11:53–12:07.
- Passage clip, 11:40–12:30 — The 50 seconds containing the narration and the recorded audio. Extracted from the downloaded video; the full-resolution master is archived outside the repository.
- Full audio of the report — Complete 13:47 audio track, for context around the passage.
- Automatic captions, full transcript — YouTube ASR. Does not contain the word “jihad” — held so the gap is on the record rather than discovered later.