It’s no secret that politics has become quite divisive across the U.S. That’s prompted many people to become more politically active, taking time out of their busy schedules to canvass for the politicians they believe in. Typically, this involves getting a list of the registered voters in a certain neighborhood or community, and visiting those who are most aligned with your candidate’s views.
That may sound easy enough to do — after all, it should just entail visiting the homes of the people who are likely already planning to vote for your guy or gal. But one Texas canvasser found a wrinkle in the process while walking through South Central Lubbock, according to Lubbock Lights.
A homeowner’s doorbell camera reportedly caught County Commissioner Jason Corley tossing an empty liquor bottle into a planter on the porch of Albert Pereira while he waited for the homeowner to answer the door. The video was shared online, where it quickly went viral.
People weighed in with their thoughts on what happened online. Now, both the homeowner and Corley are talking about what went down, and each of the men seems to have very different takes on how things were handled.
Corley Explained What Happened During an Interview
Corley was walking the streets of South Central Lubbock to help the campaign of Ken Paxton, Republican candidate for U.S. Senate. The county commissioner can be seen walking up to the door, ringing the bell, and then waiting for the homeowner to answer. But while he was waiting for someone to come out, Corley appeared to pull a bottle of Fireball from his back pocket and then toss it into a nearby planter.
The video was posted on Facebook, where it immediately went viral. The 806er Media even played a clip from the doorbell footage for Corley when he was recently on their show, asking him to describe what happened. According to Corley, he was walking down the block and saw the trash sitting on the homeowner’s front lawn.
He Said He Was Doing a Good Deed
Describing the place as a “nice neighborhood,” he told the hosts of the show that he didn’t think they would want the trash sitting out in their yard, so he put it into his back pocket. Once he got to the door, he realized that he didn’t want to walk around with the empty bottle in his back pocket, so he said he put it into the planter where it would be a little more out of sight so the homeowner could deal with it.
While he says he thought the homeowner would get a laugh out of seeing it there, what he didn’t expect was the negative comments about his behavior.
People Joked About Why Corley Had the Bottle in the First Place
While the origin of the Facebook post featuring the homeowner’s doorbell camera appears uncertain, several accounts have reshared it, including Texas political advocate Kim Gonzalez. In the comments, people joked about everything from why Corley had the bottle in the first place — one person joked that they’d be drinking too if they were tasked with handing out Ken Paxton literature — to whether or not he read the “no soliciting” sign on the door.
Meanwhile, others worried about the dangers of drinking liquor while out in the triple-digit temperatures.
The Homeowner Is Finally Speaking Out
Lubbock Lights approached Pereira about the incident, asking the homeowner for his view of what happened. The outlet says that Pereira sent back a written statement about the incident, saying that he would’ve preferred it if Corley had communicated his intentions with him instead of just dumping trash in his planter.
“[He] could have easily said something to the tune of ‘Hey, I’m with Ken Paxton — just dropping by, picked this up from your yard, [and] I’ll just set it here,” Pereira wrote in his statement, later adding that the video made it appear that the person who was on his porch was “drunk, stupid or both.”
That being said, Pereira isn’t ruling out that Corley’s version of events could be true. “Quite honestly, it could be exactly what he said, and I’m willing to let it go and show grace,” his statement continued. “Not trying to hurt anyone’s career or way of life, I just want peace at my home and to not be disturbed constantly by door-to-door soliciting.”