There's about an hour and a half in the Q2 campaign contributions period, so if you're reading this before midnight (wherever you may be), you can still help some fine folks' quarterly numbers. The Jeffersonian has a pretty good starter's list for you. And if you don't see this post until July 1 or later, fear not - it's never too early to help out with the Q3 totals. Give now, give later, give what you can.
If you're not ready to commit yourself to any particular candidate, an excellent alternate choice is the Texas Democratic Party's Turn the Capitol Blue campaign, which is going on now through the end of this special legislative session. Andrew D has more on that one.
I confess, I don't pay all that much attention to soccer, so I haven't been keeping up with this story.
The Astrodome might recover some of its faded glory if a Mexican club interested in bringing a professional soccer franchise to Houston has its way.Club América, the Mexican First Division franchise that hopes to bring a Major League Soccer team to the Bayou City, has told city and county officials it would like its prospective Houston club to play at the former home of the Astros and Oilers. Officials with the Mexico City-based team, which is looking to buy MLS' San Jose Earthquakes from the Anschutz Entertainment Group and relocate it to Houston, met this week with Mayor Bill White and officials with the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority and the Harris County Sports and Convention Corp.
MLS officials have expressed a preference for soccer-specific venues, such as a $45 million, 20,000-seat stadium and sports complex proposed in conjunction with the Houston Independent School District at the site of the current district-owned Delmar Stadium. But the 40-year-old county-owned Dome seems to be feasible for Club América.
"It certainly makes sense before you invest a penny in a new stadium to look at what's already built, what's available," said Harris County-Houston Sports Authority head Oliver Luck, one of several city and county officials working to bring MLS to Houston. "I think it's a smart idea to at least look at whether the Astrodome is a good short-term venue."
Well, yes, the Dome is sitting there empty, waiting to be turned into a casino or a convention center/hotel or a space-themed theme park or whatever. That's certainly cheaper than building a new stadium from scratch. Having attended the last rodeo at the Dome a couple of years back, though, I'm not so sure that you wouldn't have to spend a few pennies to make it amenable to soccer fans. The old place had clearly seen better days since it got jilted by its former tenants. How much you'd have to spend, that I couldn't say.
Anne, who was up in arms at the idea of HISD paying money for a stadium that a professional team would use, also wonders about the potential cost of sprucing up the Dome. It clearly doesn't make a whole lot of sense to put much money into what is clearly a stopgap solution, but let's not forget, the Dome is currently costing Harris County one point five million bucks a year as it is. Given that, it's not outrageous to me that spending a little money in order to generate some regular revenue and offset those costs a bit might make financial sense. Thus, I'll wait to see what actually gets proposed before I worry about it.
It is curious to me that MLS turned to Houston after San Antonio shot them down.
Major League Soccer has pulled out of talks with San Antonio to locate a team in the city, saying local officials were not bargaining in good faith.
The Wednesday move came shortly after incoming mayor Phil Hardberger said at a news conference that the proposed deal with MLS didn't make financial sense for the city."Goodbye. That's what I would tell MLS," Hardberger said.
But MLS officials said goodbye first in a terse letter to outgoing Mayor Ed Garza, a strong proponent of bringing pro soccer to the Alamodome.
[...]
Hardberger and several city council members criticized terms of the proposed deal, among them that the MLS team would get rent-free use of the dome.
Garza and MLS said an anchor tenant for the dome would help cut its operating costs and its annual deficit.
Garza questioned the abruptness of Hardberger's decision to end negotiations. Garza said the 10-member city council also should have some say in the matter.
"What are the alternatives?" Garza asked. "To continue to lose money (on the dome) or to try to find a major league sports tenant that creates opportunities to make money."
The Alamodome is an even bigger white elephant than our Dome, and it's much younger to boot. You'd think there'd have been room for a deal there. Any San Antonians want to comment on that?
Last but not least, kudos to Lair for his prognostication skills. You called it, dude.
Everybody's linked to the SurveyUSA 50-state approval ratings poll for President Bush, for which Garance has the best take, but what interests me is the results for Texas, where Dubya is pulling anemic (but not Perryesque) 50/47 numbers. Inside that is the total for Harris County, where Bush is in negative territory - 43% approve, 54% disapprove. I wish I could see earlier results, to get a feel for any trends there may be, but they're not available. I wouldn't draw any conclusions from this, especially not for the small Harris County sample, but I think it bears watching. File it away for later when we have more monthly data points to look at.
If you've been feeling lost and adrift since the House Ethics Committee went silent, fear not for their return may be imminent.
A partisan dispute that stalled a House investigation of Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land, moved closer to resolution Wednesday as Republicans dropped their insistence on a new staffing setup for the ethics committee, top Democrats said.House Ethics Committee Chairman Doc Hastings, R-Wash., bowed to Democrats' demands that the committee hire a chief of staff who has bipartisan support and does not have partisan connections.
Hastings had sought to install his top aide as staff director, a plan that drew opposition from Democrats who alleged the move would violate rules adopted in 1997 that the committee be overseen by a "professional nonpartisan staff" approved by a majority of the panel.
[...]
After meeting Wednesday with Hastings, the ranking Democrat on the ethics committee, Rep. Alan Mollohan, D-W.Va., issued a statement saying the two leaders had "reached an agreement in principle" regarding the hiring of a chief counsel-staff director.
The statement said that both Hastings and Mollohan also could appoint their personal staff to the committee but that those employees "would have no managerial or supervisory role over that professional nonpartisan staff."
Mollohan added that "although we have made significant progress, our agreement is not final, as some issues require further discussion."
There's still a push in some quarters to install an outside counsel to investigate Tom DeLay's global gallivanting, since committee chair Doc Hastings has his own issues to deal with in those matters, but that's not one of the sticking points that Mollohan is referring to. The Hill has more on the agreement in principle, which sounds like it's more or less in practice as well from their account.
Sam Rosenfeld makes a good point about this latest retreat by the Republicans.
It's worth mentioning that over the course of the entire struggle over ethics procedures in the House, Democrats have managed to win, completely, every fight they've picked, forcing the Republicans to back off of every single endeavor they've attempted to water the rules down. Republicans retreated on the party rule change shielding indicted leaders; then they retreated on the proposed ethics committee change revoking the 30-year-old rule requiring that House members behave in a manner that "reflects creditably" on the institution; they passed and then reversed the rule changes allowing for legal counsel to represent multiple targets of an ethics investigation and requiring a committee majority, or both the chairman and ranking member, to greenlight an investigation. Now they're backing off their attempt to politicize the committee's staff. This kind of victory is one Democrats will want to savor.
Nicely done, ladies and gentlemen. Now keep at it.
(End note: I'm quite certain that The Stakeholder has a wealth of links on this subject today, but for some reason bringing up their blog has crashed by Internet Explorer the last two times I've tried it. I'll check later when I'm at home and can use Firefox.)
Texas Lottery Commission chairman Reagan Greer was in the hot seat today as the House Licensing and Administrative Procedures Committee looked into the expanding scandal over inflated jackpots. Among the latest revelations is an admission that they believe in killing the messenger at the TLC.
A former lottery official who was fired this month shortly after warning superiors about a projected jackpot shortfall said Wednesday that his termination came with no explanation and only about seven months after he received a positive evaluation and a 4 percent raise.Lottery officials testified before a Texas House committee Wednesday that Lee Deviney was fired over a lack of confidence in his performance as the financial administration director, not the recent flap over inflated jackpots for the Texas Lotto game.
"The timing of this is very bad, and it's unfortunate," said Mike Fernandez, who supervised Deviney. "His release from the agency had absolutely nothing to do with this issue."
Fernandez, the commission's administration director, said he verbally warned Deviney about his job performance but never documented his concerns.
But Deviney said his June 14 termination came with no warning and soon after a June 3 e-mail message he sent alerting superiors that projected sales would not meet the planned jackpot estimate.
"I can't say it was as a result of this, but I can't say it wasn't," Deviney said in a telephone interview while vacationing in Colorado. "They didn't say anything. I was handed a piece of paper by Mike Fernandez, and then he ran out the door."
When he asked a human resources official why he was fired, Deviney said the official told him she couldn't discuss it.
Deviney said he wasn't shocked by his termination because firings aren't uncommon in what he called a "generally hostile atmosphere" at the commission. He said he expected some repercussions after top officials learned of the shortfalls.
"I felt my job was just to alert them that we had a problem," said Deviney, who was with the lottery for more than two years. "I was very concerned that someone's head would roll and, in fact, somebody's did."
It was the wrong person's head, unfortunately, but we'll get to that in a minute.
OK, minute's up: Reagan Greer has clearly demonstrated why he was unqualified for this job.
Executive Director Reagan Greer, who signed off on the overstated jackpots based on staff recommendations, reiterated his apology during testimony Wednesday before the House Licensing and Administrative Procedures Committee.Greer said he'd become comfortable in his position and stopped asking hard questions, but he maintained he never intended to deceive players.
Sure must be nice to have a job like that, where you can just settle in and coast after you've made yourself nice and comfy. This is all a nice way of saying Greer was lazy.
Deviney said he called lottery Executive Reagan Greer late in the afternoon of June 3 -- a Friday -- to express his concern that the $8 million jackpot estimate for the June 8 drawing would be off by $1.5 million. Because Greer had already left for the weekend, Deviney said, he put his concerns in an e-mail to Greer and other top lottery executives.Officials could have pared down the estimate because advertisements for the June 8 Lotto drawings would not hit the billboards until after 10 p.m. on June 4.
At a contentious hearing before the House Committee on Licensing and Administrative Procedures, lottery executives acknowledged that Deviney had aired those concerns.
Greer also said that he did not read Deviney's e-mail or hear about it from any other lottery executives until Monday, June 6.
Can we please make sure that the TLC has enough in its budget to buy its next director one of these?
Once Reagan Greer did get around to reading his email, he went ahead and approved the deception.
[TLC] Chairman C. Tom Clowe was asked by members of the House Licensing and Administrative Procedures Committee who specifically had deceived lottery players by advertising phony estimated jackpots four times since last fall.Mr. Clowe answered: "The person who made the decision [to sign off on the estimates] ... Reagan Greer."
"The commissioners think this was deception and that it was wrong," Mr. Clowe testified. "If those were my employees in the private sector ... I would take the appropriate action and consider it a wrong act."
Mr. Clowe stopped short of saying that Mr. Greer should lose his job over the issue.
Mr. Clowe knows what the right thing to do here is, but for some reason he can't quite bring himself to say it. Alas, he's not the only one to fall short.
State Rep. Ismael Flores, D-Mission, chairman of the committee that oversees the Lottery Commission, said he is not calling for Greer’s resignation, but reminded him sternly that other state employees have been fired for lesser mistakes.“I know of a lot of employees that are doing something else because they made one, two, three mistakes,” Flores said. “I mean, I’m not asking for your resignation - but think about people doing something else.”
How many more mistakes does Reagan Greer have to make before he's held accountable for them?
"If there is one agency that needs oversight, that's the one," said Rep. Corbin Van Arsdale, R-Tomball, who is not a committee member but sat in on the hearing and questioned officials. "I think the mismanagement in there is far more substantive, far more pervasive than any of the news stories have led me to believe."
If so, maybe that'll finally be enough to get Governor Perry to take responsibility for hiring Reagan Greer and do what needs to be done.
Have we achieved consensus yet?
The House Ways and Means Committee passed a tax plan Wednesday with a steep hike in the sales tax that many senators oppose.The plan closes loopholes in the corporate franchise tax without imposing additional business taxes that the House passed earlier in the year and that Senate leaders insist are essential to any new school finance plan.
Disputes between the House and Senate about how to pay for property tax cuts led to the failure of a school finance bill during the regular legislative session that ended Memorial Day.
[...]
Senate Finance Chairman Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, said the Senate likely will substitute its own tax plan.
"The Senate is going to want to have a broad-based business tax in lieu of a 1-cent sales tax (hike)," said Ogden.
Lawmakers then would try to work out differences in a conference committee before the session ends July 20.
"It's better to have a bill over here to discuss than have it blocked in committee," said Ogden.
I admire your optimism there, Steve, but all I'm saying is this: Other than the passage of time, what has changed that would make these ongoing philosophical disputes easier to resolve?
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Craig Biggio, the undisputed modern day king of the hit by pitch.
Craig Biggio's arm guard is headed to the Hall of Fame.The way Houston Astros manager Phil Garner sees it, the player won't be far behind.
Biggio set the modern record for being hit by pitches and added a solo homer, helping Roy Oswalt win his fourth straight start in Houston's 7-1 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday.
"When you look at where he stands [with] offensive numbers, he's pretty impressive," Garner said. "The guys that are ahead of him are baseball icons that live forever. The guys that he's passed and he continues to pass are baseball icons too. So he's in high cotton he deserves to be there."
Biggio was hit on the left elbow in the fourth inning by Byung-Hyun Kim, breaking Don Baylor's post-1900 record of 267 times hit by pitches. Biggio calmly turned and trotted to first as he had so many other times, but this time he pointed to the ball and asked the ball boy to send it back to the Astros' dugout as a keepsake for his years of pain.
"Anybody that's been hit that many times, you have no understanding about how many times that is and how painful it is over the years," said Biggio, who had two hits to move into 52nd place with 2,718.
Many of the fans at Coors Field gave Biggio a standing ovation, and Cooperstown asked for his arm guard. As for the ball, it's headed home to his kids.
"My kids collect a bunch of stuff, it's amazing," Biggio said. "We have a rotation going on, I don't know if it's my daughter's or my oldest boy's -- somebody is going to get it. They treat everything with respect, they respect the game."
Baylor, now a Seattle Mariners coach, complimented Biggio.
"It was an honor to watch him play," Baylor said before the Mariners played Oakland. "I've always liked his style. When he became a free agent, I tried to lure him to Colorado."
He didn't mind Biggio breaking the record wearing protective gear.
"It's all right. I had a lot of close calls," Baylor said. "Body parts are not going to Cooperstown. I got hit in the elbow, the back, the head, the shins. You play and prepare for the next at-bat. I never missed a game or an at-bat because of it, but I charged the mound a few times."
Naturally, Plunk Biggio is there to celebrate. He also commemorates Biggio's record-tying plunk from Tuesday, which represented the first time Bidge got dinged in Colorado.
Congratulations to Craig Biggio for your most endearing record-setting feat. Now go apply some Absorbine and get a good night's sleep.
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison is scrambling to cover a hole in the Veterans' Affairs budget.
The Veterans Affairs Department will ask for an emergency infusion of cash to meet its health care expenses this year after pressure built in Congress to fill a $1 billion funding shortfall, a senator and other officials said Wednesday.Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, said the VA and White House agreed to seek emergency money after Senate Republicans moved quickly to add $1.5 billion to this year's veterans budget.
[...]
The maneuver cut off Democrats preparing to pounce on the shortfall with their own spending amendment, demanding a $1.4 billion injection into veterans programs.
"I warned my colleagues that what was an emergency would become a crisis if we didn't work together to address the problem," said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. "That emergency has indeed become a crisis."
[...]
Democrats called the shortfall a symptom of President Bush's mismanagement of the war in Iraq, as the president appealed for the nation's patience for "difficult and dangerous" work ahead in Iraq.
"It's distressing because our veterans deserve better than an administration focused on cutting corners and hiding costs while engaged in a war abroad," said Rep. Sam Farr, D-Calif.
[...]
About one-quarter of this year's shortfall can be traced to an unexpectedly large number of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan, but overall enrollment by veterans of all combat eras has exceeded the department's estimates.
The department said it used figures from 2002, before the United States went to war in Iraq, to project is 2005 budget needs, citing the federal government's long budgeting process.
[VA Secretary] Nicholson told lawmakers the VA also needs $1.5 billion to fill expected health care needs next year.
That includes $375 million to refill the cushion that would be depleted this year; $700 million for the department's increased workload; and a $446 million error in estimating long-term care costs.
Hold some of those thoughts for a moment.
VA Secretary Nicholson and Sen. Hutchison will be visiting Waco to see its VA hostpital, which is currently threatened by closure due to budget issues.
Waco VA Hospital advocates say the tour could be key to winning Nicholson's support for the 73-year-old complex which has previously been marked for closure. Many say former VA Secretary Anthony J. Principi's visit almost 18 months ago played a role in Principi's decision to order additional review rather than closing or downsizing the hospital and hope the same will hold true for Nicholson's tour."When Secretary Principi visited the VA at the request of Senator Hutchison and myself, it made a significant difference in his thinking," said U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco, who will join Hutchison in hosting Nicholson's visit. "You have to see the Waco VA facilities and meet the employees to fully understand what a world-class facility we have."
The VA and private contractors are considering downsizing several expensive hospitals including the Waco site and expanding others in growing veterans populations as part of a nationwide effort to improve veterans health care services.
[...]
Hutchison and Nicholson will arrive in Texas for a naming ceremony at a VA clinic in Lufkin for former congressman Charles Wilson, then fly to Waco for an afternoon stop, agency spokesman Ozzie Garza said.
The visit comes during a tough period for veterans healthcare, as Nicholson recently announced the agency is facing a $1 billion shortfall in the current fiscal year and could need an additional $1.6 billion in 2006.
Edwards, the Waco congressman, is concerned the shortfall could lead the agency to advocate downsizing the Waco hospital to save money.
"It would be the wrong reason, but if the VA is too underfunded, it would provide a rationale for shutting down or dramatically cutting back the Waco VA Hospital," Edwards said.
Now, if we had some real coverage of the campaign for KBH's Senate seat in 2006, we might have seen something like this in the newspapers.
US Senate Candidate Barbara Ann Radnofsky called on Kay Bailey Hutchison to do her homework. The Houston, Texas mediator and lawyer challenging Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) for her Senate seat, analyzed Sen. Hutchison's June 23 claims concerning funding shortfalls for veterans, "after learning that the VA is approximately $1 billion short in 2006.""We've researched the issue on what the American Legion and others were explaining in terms of an even larger shortfall earlier this Spring", said Radnofsky, 48, who is a practicing mediator and lawyer in Houston, Texas. "I call on Sen. Hutchison to explain why she ignored vital information explaining the crisis much earlier. Texans deserve a senator who will do her homework."
"Sen. Hutchison is chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs. In a floor speech on April 12, 2005 opposing Sen. Murray's Amendment for Emergency Supplemental Appropriations this year, she confessed to relying on the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (Congr Record S3457, 3465 et seq), while major organizations had already uncovered the truth in terms of needs." Radnofsky continued, "Had the issue of funding for veterans been presented to me as a sitting Senator, I would have vigorously done my homework. We expect our Senator to be an independent voice for Texans, not a rubber stamp for the administration."
"The National Commander of the American Legion (which does not take sides in political races, nor endorse candidates, but rather is a voice for veterans and drafted the original GI Bill), Thomas Cadmus, issued a detailed statement on March 18, 2005 from his office in DC as follows: 'The Senate's budget resolution also ignored my funding recommendations for FY 2006. Every major veterans' service organization that deals with the VA health care system every day recommended more than $2 billion in additional funding than offered by either chamber - without any budgetary gimmicks. Those young men and women at Walter Reed and Bethesda that I have visited did not shirk their duties and responsibilities, nor did the veterans of our earlier wars.' "
Here's some more info on the Murray Amendment. One of the ways in which we've been shortchanged by KBH's unchallenged reelection bid in 2006 is that we haven't had any kind of critical look at her performance as a Senator. As with the moderate thing, she's pretty much gotten a free ride since 1994. Well, I know that Barbara Radnofsky will do her part in holding up KBH's record for scrutiny. The question is whether of not the media will take her effort seriously. If they keep up with this "everybody loves KBH" story line, we'll all be the losers for it.
My sincere condolences to Lair on the death of his cat, Edloe. May he find many treats in kitty heaven. I'll give Harry an extra Milk-Bone tonight in Edloe's memory.
I confess, I've sort of lost touch with the ongoing Enron Broadband trial. Like Tom, who provides us with a nice update on the case, I thought it would be closer to finished by now. Those poor jurors - I just hope they can get a few minutes of fame out of this when it's all said and done. Anyway, Tom says things aren't going as well as you might have thought for the prosecution. If they can't bring this one home, what does that say about the upcoming Skilling/Causey/Lay trial?
KTRK's Michael McGuff interviewed yours truly plus Kevin and Anne for a pretty spiffy article on the local blog scene. Reading through it, I'm reminded that I apparently haven't lost my touch for giving colorful quotes:
"If there's one way that I'd like to see blogging change the media landscape, it's to provide some real competition for the professional pundits, many of whom in my opinion are partisan hacks and out of touch drones of conventional wisdom," Kuffner said.
Guess I won't be getting invited to any Professional Pundits Association dinners in the near future.
Regarding the sidebar links, I really do hate to give a list of favorite bloggers. Even restricting myself to only Texas blogs, there were easily another ten or twenty I could've included had I been permitted to do so. There's a reason my blogroll and Bloglines subscriptions list are so long. The tips for new bloggers and message about copyright are also worth reading. Check it out.
Oh, I hope someone liveblogs this.
Texas lottery officials could face tough questions and some nasty wrist-slapping today when they testify before lawmakers about inflating several Texas Lotto jackpot estimates.But they would face more scrutiny under a bill filed Tuesday that forces the lottery to comply with laws against deceptive trade practices.
Sen. Jane Nelson said recent revelations that lottery officials advertised bigger jackpots than they could afford to pay out jeopardize the integrity of the game and the government that sanctioned it.
"It was deceptive. How can you put up a billboard that says you've got $8 million in the jackpot when they only have 6.5 in the kitty?" said Nelson, R-Lewisville. "If the public is not confident that what we're advertising is accurate, you will see, I think, sales will drop to a much greater extent. People have to have confidence, and if their government isn't being honest, then we're in bad shape."
[...]
The lottery's executive director, Reagan Greer, and several other lottery officials and staff members were expected to testify about the jackpots and other issues in today's meeting of the House Licensing and Administrative Procedures Committee.
Speaking of the unqualified Reagan Greer, I just now realized that I'd overlooked the fact that the jackpot overstatement was not a one-time incident.
Nelson's measure, Senate Bill 52, was filed just days after the three-member Texas Lottery Commission took Executive Director Reagan Greer to task for advertising the June 8 Lotto jackpot at $8 million even after it had become apparent that ticket sales would not support a grand prize of more than $6.5 million.Under sharp questioning from the commissioners, Greer and other lottery executives acknowledged that they had inflated jackpots on at least three other times. The acknowledgement drew a stern rebuke from the commissioners, who said that lottery players have the right to demand truth in advertising from the agency.
And of course, it's even worse than that:
Texas lottery officials were explicitly warned last year that ticket sales might not be enough to fund advertised jackpots, but they took no action to prevent it.Months later, the warnings proved true, and the lottery's executive director, Reagan Greer, nonetheless approved advertisements for inflated jackpots.
A March 23, 2004, memo shows that Mr. Greer and other top officials were given specific notice of the looming problem.
"This puts the agency in a position where we are advertising a jackpot amount (e.g. $8 million) that we may not be able to support," wrote Robert Tirloni, the lottery's online product manager.
[...]
In his memo, Mr. Tirloni proposed a number of measures to firm up finances. One suggestion – allowing for up to eight jackpot increases to be guaranteed by the agency's budget, rather than ticket sales – could pose a "precarious public relations situation," he wrote.
Currently, four straight increases can be funded by agency money. After that, a winner is guaranteed a percentage of ticket sales.
Mr. Tirloni also suggested cutting the size of jackpot increases between drawings with no winner, but he noted that might push lotto sales down even further.
Between Nov. 3, 2004, and June 11, 2005, the underfunding scenario Mr. Tirloni warned of occurred in four jackpots, though none featured a winner.
[...]
At a Jan. 7 Lottery Commission meeting, concerns about underfunded jackpots in other states were raised, according to a meeting transcript.
Mr. Greer has discretion to set jackpots. At that meeting, he and other top agency officials rejected a "hard-line" formula by which jackpots would rise or even fall depending on ticket proceeds.
"The advice that I have gotten up to this point has been very good, and, again, this has not been an issue," Mr. Greer said, even though by then, a November jackpot had been inflated. "I do have a comfort level with what the rule is now and appreciate the fact that in my position as executive director, I have that discretion."
I think it's long past time for Mister Greer to be shown the door.
If executive director Reagan Greer doesn't resign, the Texas Lottery Commission should fire him. Only a change in top leadership can properly send the message that the state of Texas stands for honest and fair games.[...]
Hat in hand, Mr. Greer admitted to surprised lottery commissioners – his bosses – last week that he approved four inflated jackpots since the fall. He conceded that he should have "more closely" examined staff recommendations to routinely boost jackpots after nonwinning drawings to generate interest in the game. Yet the same Mr. Greer also said top officials knew more than a year ago that lagging sales eventually would fall behind jackpot needs.
[...]
The attorney general's office is juggling a hot potato in this case – an allegation of fraudulent advertising by the state itself. If fair is fair, state officials need to be held as accountable as a grocer with the habit of deceiving customers by putting his thumb on the scale.
The lottery also faces tough questions today at a House committee meeting called to look into these shenanigans. Here's a suggestion for panel members: Ask Mr. Greer if he would patronize a business that made false claims in its advertising.
Amen to all of that. I'd just add one thing: When is Rick Perry going to demand an acceptable level of accountability from his hand-picked Lottery chief?
If you're wondering how the whole consensus on school finance reform thing is going, here's a clue: The House just passed the same plan it had put forward during the regular session.
House Bill 2 would cut school property taxes by 40 cents per $100 of valuation and spend $2.5 billion for teacher pay raises, new programs and technology.It would delay the start of school until after Labor Day and replace the 11th-grade standardized test with subject exams.
The legislation also would institute state and local incentive-pay programs for teachers and allow struggling schools to be turned over to private companies. Teacher and education groups are opposed to the measure, which is substantially the same as one passed by the House during the regular legislative session earlier this year.
"This will do more to improve education in the state of Texas than literally anything we've done in the last half century," said bill sponsor Rep. Kent Grusendorf, R-Arlington.
The bill would lower the maximum school operations tax from $1.50 per $100 property valuation to $1.10 in 2006. With voter approval, districts could impose local enrichment taxes up to 15 cents per $100 of valuation.
It also would limit, but not eliminate, the amount of money that property-wealthy districts have to send to less wealthy districts under the so-called "Robin Hood" provisions of current law.
School districts would be guaranteed an increase of at least 3 percent, an amount critics said would barely cover inflation and doesn't meet the education needs of the state's 4.3 million schoolchildren.
"It is arguable whether the money has kept pace with the students, the tests, the mandates," said Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Houston.
Next up is a tax reform plan, which is where the real bones of contention between the House and Senate exist. The Senate was originally inclined to spend more on education, but eventually gave up and bowed to Craddick's will on the subject.
What the House very nearly did was pass the Democratic alternative, which to say the least would have livened things up a bit.
Rep. Scott Hochberg, D-Houston, said the Democrats' plan would provide more money to three out of four school districts than offered by HB 2. It would provide greater funding for urban districts that have large populations of low-income students.The Democrats proposed cutting the school operations tax rate by only 20 cents but increasing the homestead exemption from $15,000 to $45,000.
The Democrats said their plan would provide greater tax relief to owners of average-priced homes while the Republican plan would benefit owners of higher-priced homes.
Craddick said last week that he was opposed to the Democrats' plan because it would not provide a significant tax break to business property owners.
Hochberg's amendment would have given teachers a $3,200 raise phased in over two years, compared with an average raise of $1,500 in Grusendorf's bill.
I'm glad that the differences in priority are so clearly defined. While the national Democrats are still figuring out what it means to be an opposition party, the folks here seem to have a pretty decent grip on it. What's more, they've got some traction - twelve Republicans voted for their plan, which forced Speaker Craddick to cast a tiebreaker against it.
Unfortunately, you have to go to the Statesman story to learn a key feature of the Democratic plan.
Rep. Scott Hochberg, D-Houston, said the Democrats' plan would give larger tax cuts to the average homeowner in 144 of the state's 150 House districts. He also said three-fourths of Texas school districts would see more money under his plan than under the GOP plan.
I'm thinking that may have been a part of the reason that a dozen Republicans crossed over.
More commentary from Greg, Houtopia, Nate, PinkDome, Dos Centavos, and Aaron Pena. Latinos for Texas discusses a different Democratic alternative.
UPDATE: There is a story on the accompanying House tax plan as well. Like its sibling, this is another warmed-over rerun.
A revised tax proposal, similar to Gov. Rick Perry's plan for property tax relief, surfaced in the House on Tuesday, as Ways and Means Chairman Jim Keffer tried to break an impasse on the tax-writing committee.The plan includes an increase of 1 cent per dollar in the sales tax, a slightly bigger increase than advocated by Perry, but it incorporates the governor's more limited approach to business tax changes. It would close loopholes in the corporate franchise tax rather than impose a broader business tax, which the House approved in March.
It also would reduce local school taxes by about 30 cents or 35 cents per $100 valuation over the next two years, the goal sought by Perry.
Keffer, R-Eastland, said the revised plan was a potential "avenue" to a tax agreement during the special session, which the governor called after the House and Senate were unable to agree on a tax overhaul before the regular session ended May 30. The proposal may be discussed by the Ways and Means Committee today.
Keffer said he was trying to "mix and match" ideas to win enough votes to advance a tax bill to the full House for debate. Tax bills must originate in the House, and the special session must end by July 20.
The plan is still in committee. That 1 point increase in the sales tax was a nonstarter in the Senate, and I doubt it will be any more well-received this time around.
I'm relieved, yet a little bit disappointed, to hear that George Steinbrenner has named his successor.
With his 75th birthday approaching next week, Yankees owner George Steinbrenner made it official Tuesday: Son-in-law Steve Swindal will follow him as head of baseball's most storied team.Steinbrenner did not say when Swindal would take over. At a news conference on June 15, Steinbrenner mentioned in passing that Swindal was "going to carry on."
"Yes, Steve will be my successor," Steinbrenner said through spokesman Howard Rubenstein in an e-mail response to questions from The Associated Press. "I also have other sons, daughters, sons-in-law and daughters-in-law coming along and they will remain involved. As I have said many times, 'You must let the young elephants into the tent."'
Swindal, 50, is married to Steinbrenner's daughter, Jennifer. He said there was no way he would be as hands-on as his father-in-law.
"I think that's impossible. My inherent style is more delegation," Swindal said Tuesday during a telephone interview from Tampa, Fla. "I don't think there could ever be another George Steinbrenner. He is Mr. Yankee and has represented them for 32 years. I could only could only hope to surround myself with the best, brightest baseball minds and do a lot of listening."
Swindal said Steinbrenner had told him he would be the successor.
"We've discussed that all the kids would be involved at some point in running the team and everybody would contribute," Swindal said. "It just happens at this point in time my kids are further along, and I can spend more time in New York. The other boys have younger children, and they have to stay closer to home."
On the one hand, as a lifelong Yankees fan, I'm glad to see that there's an orderly plan for succession when George is no longer around. There's more than enough chaos surrounding my favorite team - we really didn't need an ownership fight on top of it all, whenever that might have happened.
On the other hand, I must admit, this could have been the mother of all reality TV shows. "Who Wants To Be A Megalomaniac?", "George's Apprentice" (that Trump guy has nothin' on King George when it comes to firing people), "Survivor: The Bronx" - the possibilities are endless. Oh, well. Maybe next time.
Dwight reports on the city's downtown WiFi-enabled parking meters. That may sound silly, but there's a purpose for it - the wireless networking will allow the meters to accept and verify credit cards for payment. My main reason for parking downtown these days is Comets games at the Toyota Center. The options I currently have are paying cash for an overpriced lot, or carrying a pile of coins for the long-term meters. Thankfully, at the last game I attended, my friend Andrea had $1.50 in quarters on her. I'd just as soon whip out the plastic, since I'm much too likely to be without the needed currency.
There's a potential beneficial side effect to this, too:
If the city decides to open up the parking-meter network, by fall, downtown could be a big WiFi hot spot.There are still plenty of details to be worked out, including how and whether WiFi users would pay for access.
[Richard Lewis, Houston's chief technology officer] said using this system to spread public WiFi throughout the city would be tricky, as there aren't parking meters all over town.
Lewis said the city's been "going to school on this technology for a year and a half," and there's been a benefit to the delay. The costs to create a downtown hot spot have dropped dramatically — from an initial estimate of $1 million to $250,000.
And there's good news on the municipal WiFi front, as a bipartisan bill to protect the rights of municipalities to offer the service to its citizens has been introduced in the Senate. Save Muni Wireless has the scoop.
Finally, though Governor Perry has said he will not add anything to the special session agenda until such time as a school finance deal is worked out, both chambers are holding hearings on various things telecom.
On Monday, witnesses packed a Senate committee hearing on legislation that would affect residential phone rates and the ability of phone companies to get into the television business.Senate Bill 21 would lift state controls on residential phone rates in Texas cities larger than 30,000 people, starting in January.
SBC Communications Inc. would have to cut the rates it charges rivals for access to its network, a significant source of revenue. SBC and other dominant phone companies also would have to offer the same prices to everyone in those cities, except for six-month promotional deals.
That prompted the San Antonio-based phone giant to testify against the proposal, an unusual move for the company, which normally criticizes legislation in private.
"If you are deregulated, you have more flexibility than you do today," SBC lawyer Tim Leahy testified before the Senate Business and Commerce Committee. However, "this (proposal) goes in the opposite direction."
The measure also would authorize the Public Utility Commission of Texas to study the $640 million Universal Service Fund, which subsidizes phone service in rural areas, and to propose changes for the next regular legislative session. SBC and Verizon Communications Inc. get more than half of their subsidies from the fund.
The proposal also would deputize the PUC as the agency in charge of issuing a new statewide franchise for video services. It would require SBC and Verizon to match the level of in-kind services, such as public access channels, which are standard in cable franchise contracts with Texas cities.
For now, the testimony is academic; Gov. Rick Perry called the special session to deal only with school finance. The governor has said he would add other items only if a deal is reached on how the state pays for schools.
In anticipation of that happening, Sen. Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay, introduced SB 21 and is going ahead with hearings.
On Monday, Fraser rejected SBC's suggestion to diminish the PUC's role in revamping the Universal Service Fund.
"May I remind you SBC hired 200 lobbyists to try to impact the process," Fraser said. "If there is not a hammer in place of the USF, they will hire another 200 next session and kill any legislation there will be."
That USF is quite the cash cow for the telcos.
Fraser's counterpart, Rep. Phil King, will be doing similar things in the House to try to resurrect his godawful telecom bill from the regular session. Apparently, he hasn't read the letter he received from his hometown mayor on the subject.
One of the things I missed last week while gadding about in Colorado was how the Kelo decision affects plans in Freeport to build a marina on the Old Brazos River.
"This is the last little piece of the puzzle to put the project together," Freeport Mayor Jim Phillips said of the project designed to inject new life in the Brazoria County city's depressed downtown area.Over the years, Freeport's lack of commercial and retail businesses has meant many of its 13,500 residents travel to neighboring Lake Jackson, which started as a planned community in 1943, to spend money. But the city is hopeful the marina will spawn new economic growth.
"This will be the engine that will drive redevelopment in the city," City Manager Ron Bottoms said.
Lee Cameron, director of the city's Economic Development Corp., said the marina is expected to attract $60 million worth of hotels, restaurants and retail establishments to the city's downtown area and create 150 to 250 jobs. He said three hotels, two of which have "high interest," have contacted the city about building near the marina.
"It's all dependent on the marina," Cameron said. "Without the marina, (the hotels) aren't interested. With the marina, (the hotels) think it's a home run."
Well, maybe. I confess, I'm not really familiar with Freeport. I've no idea if building all this stuff will revitalize the area or not. I can't offhand think of anything touristy in Freeport - well, okay, maybe there's one thing. I do know that what Loren Steffy says on the subject makes a lot of sense to me.
Therein lies the flawed logic that too often creeps into economic development programs: Success is assumed. Build the marina and the hotels will be a "home run."It ignores questions developers don't ask, but cities should. What if they strike out? What if, even with a marina, no one stays at the hotels? How long will the hotels stay in business if occupancy rates trail their forecasts?
Is a shuttered hotel development preferable to a waterfront of small, if aesthetically unappealing, businesses?
I'm not predicting failure for the Freeport development. But developers by their nature are optimistic. Every project will succeed until it doesn't.
Local opponents of the Freeport land grab have a couple of websites up which document their grievances. Banjo has a more nuanced take on the subject. My sympathies lie with the opposition, but I admit it's possible that I might get swept up in the "build it and they will come" optimism if I lived in Freeport.
I also admit that I'm a bit leery of calls to amend the state constitution to limit eminent domain powers.
Rep. Frank Corte Jr., R-San Antonio, said he would seek "to defend the rights of property owners in Texas" by proposing a state constitutional amendment limiting local powers of eminent domain, or condemnation.[...]
The [Kelo] opinion said states concerned about excessive use of condemnation were free to pass laws restricting it, and Corte said he intended to do just that.
Corte said he would ask Gov. Rick Perry to add the condemnation issue to the agenda of the special legislative session now under way so that the proposed constitutional amendment could appear on the November ballot.
Perry spokeswoman Kathy Walt said the governor would consider requests to add items to the agenda, but probably not until legislators resolve the school finance issue. She said Perry supports property rights and was concerned about the Supreme Court ruling.
Corte said in a news release that his proposed amendment would "limit a local governmental entity's power of eminent domain, preventing them from bulldozing residences in favor of private developers."
If Corte's amendment is limited to restricting eminent domain for private development, then I'd favor it, but he's not a legislator whose motives I trust, so I'll wait and see what he produces before I make any judgment. I do support the concept of eminent domain, so I don't want to see it pushed back beyond the Kelo boundary.
(Chron story links via blogHOUSTON, Freeport links and impetus for this post via ttyler5.)
I've posted a couple of updates recently on the situation in Midlothian, where residents are trying to prevent cement maker TXI from circumventing environmental regulations. Yesterday I got an email from Julie, my regular Midlothian correspondent, who sent me a link to this DMN story from June 7, which says that the residents of Midlothian are now in mediation with TXI over this issue. There's supposed to be a ruling soon, so maybe, just maybe, the folks up there can get some relief. I'll try to keep an eye out for it.
In the meantime, a subsequent DMN editorial asks why this is a debatable point at all.
Under EPA rules, the company's only justification – that the controls are too costly – is no justification at all. Because the entire Dallas-Fort Worth area fails to meet federal standards for the deadly pollutant ozone, cost is not a factor the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality can consider when determining how much pollution each industry is allowed to emit.Things would have been different for TXI if the EPA had opted last year to exclude Ellis County from the D-FW ozone "nonattainment" area. (It didn't.) Or if TCEQ had granted the company's request before last June 15, when the area's new boundaries took effect. But on that day, TXI's request became invalid.
"If this permit is not issued prior to June 15, 2004, the facility must withdraw its [pending] application and submit an application ... subject to ... more stringent permit requirements," an EPA official wrote in May 2004. Nevertheless, TCEQ has allowed TXI to proceed as though the deadline had not passed.
Never underestimate the power of Smokey Joe.
At least elsewhere in Texas, there's some moderately good news for those of us who prefer to breath real air.
Texas will stop evaluating the public health risk of toxic air pollution using 30-year-old guidelines long criticized for being more lenient than other states' and based on questionable science, according to a Texas Commission on Environmental Quality proposal.Instead, the state plans to use more scientifically valid, and in some cases more stringent, federal risk levels to analyze the health and environmental hazards of the air pollution data collected at monitors across Texas.
The TCEQ also will no longer base its guidelines on standards used to protect industrial workers, a practice that has been criticized by some toxicologists and environmental groups as outdated and scientifically inappropriate.
The changes will be the most significant made to Texas Effects Screening Levels — guidelines to assess air pollution's effects on people, plants and odors — since the levels were first drafted in the 1970s.
"It's a total departure" from what we've been doing, said Michael Honeycutt, manager of the TCEQ's Toxicology Section, which began the review in October 2003.
This update isn't perfect - there's still controversy over risk levels - but it's way better than what we had before. Kudos to the TCEQ for taking a step in the right direction.
From the story on Kay Bailey Hutchison's official announcement that she's running for reelection to the Senate:
No prominent candidates have announced plans to challenge Hutchison.
How nice of the reporter to decide for us who is a "real" candidate and who isn't. And how nice of the Chronicle, who outsourced this task to the Associated Press, to leave that bit of editorializing in place despite the fact that Hutchison's announced opponent, who's been on the campaign trail for a year now, lives right here in Houston. Hey, everyone's gonna vote for that polite moderate KBH anyway, so what does it matter, right?
It's bad enough that Congress has held hearings into the vitally important issue of steroids in baseball. Now they want to have a say in who does or does not get to own a piece of a baseball team. Does this really need to be politicized? If nobody cares about owners who make big contributions to Republicans, can we please not care about a potential owner who makes big contributions to the Democrats? Sheesh.
Last week, the NCAA socked it to Baylor for multiple infractions committed under former coach Dave Bliss.
The NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions on Thursday placed Baylor on probation for five years and barred the men's basketball team from competing outside the Big 12 Conference for one year.The NCAA started its investigation into the program following the murder of basketball player Patrick Dennehy by his teammate Carlton Dotson in the summer of 2003.
The committee discovered widespread violations that included tens of thousands of dollars paid to student-athletes and prospects, more than $100,000 in impermissible donations funneled to amateur teams comprising prospects and the failure to follow procedures for reporting banned drug use.
Though some writers think the punishment Baylor received was appropriate, Richard Justice does not.
The problem with the punishment is that the people guilty of wrongdoing already have departed.Instead of punishing the people who are guilty, the NCAA is punishing the people brought in to clean up the mess. The NCAA is punishing players who've never met Dave Bliss.
If you're arguing that Bliss is being punished, forget it. Any school hiring Bliss for the next 10 years is subject to sanctions.
That's punishment? Any school that even considers hiring Bliss should close its doors.
Why punish Drew? Why punish the players who came to Baylor hoping to clean up the program? Why punish people who've been dedicated to doing things right?
The NCAA should reward schools that step up and acknowledge mistakes and that don't try to hide what they've done wrong.
Maybe the NCAA was trying to send a message. Maybe the NCAA wanted to remind the world what it will and won't tolerate.
Yet when the NCAA sends a message, it always sends it to schools like Baylor. The NCAA considers Baylor a nuisance. The NCAA loves to make examples of schools like Baylor.
Would Michigan have been treated as harshly? Of course not.
Yes, Baylor came clean only after Dennehy's murder, only after the program's failings already were being exposed. And Baylor had been in trouble before. NCAA officials could have given Baylor the death penalty.
Why not use some logic?
Baylor is guilty of one thing: trusting Dave Bliss.
This is a common argument that I hear when the NCAA cracks down on a program. It has some merit, for all the reasons Justice gives. What I never see, though, is their idea of an appropriate remedy. I mean, surely no one would claim that the resignation of Dave Bliss is sufficient to wipe the slate clean, right? The point here isn't just to punish Baylor, after all, but also to serve as a deterrent to other schools and other coaches. Given that, what would Richard Justice or any other advocate of this line of thinking suggest?
Since it's usually a now-departed coach that was the real cause of the mess, it seems to me that the NCAA might consider making some changes that would enable them to punish those coaches more severely, thus reducing the need for them to take it out on the programs they leave behind. How about a rule stipulating that any coach whose program is found guilty of major infractions can be made to forfeit some or all of their salary for the seasons in which those infractions took place? I'm thinking Dave Bliss might have paid a bit more attention to the finer points of the rulebook if he'd known that his $500K annual paycheck was on the line. Make that a part of the standard contract, and as needed get a court order garnishing past wages as necessary. I think this would help put the responsibility for compliance where it belongs.
Now, this isn't perfect, of course. You can just imagine the lawsuits that would result over interpretations of "major" infractions. It's not clear to me that such a rule could be enforced against a coach whose contract didn't already stipulate the possibility of this kind of sanction. There'd be a huge amount of pushback at the very mention of this concept. All that said, I think this is an idea worth exploring.
As for Dave Bliss himself, it's hard to look at all the sleazy things he did and not agree with Justice that he's getting away essentially unpunished. Here I think there's a simpler and more direct way to extract a bit more redress: Baylor should file a civil suit against him for the amount of ticket and other revenues they stand to lose this year for the nonconference games they are barred from playing. I think they could make a pretty solid case that he was the primary cause of those lost revenues, and could probably get a settlement in reasonably short order. It doesn't change the fact that Scott Drew and his players are suffering for Dave Bliss' sins, but it's something.
Other states may have an unofficial speed limit that's 5-10 MPH above what's posted, but not Texas. Well, sort of.
The Texas Department of Public Safety, the Harris County Sheriff's Department and the Houston Police Department said they will write a ticket even if the driver is barely over the speed limit.[...]
The DPS, HPD and the Sheriff's Department say they have no policy that give drivers a speeding cushion.
"Our officers write tickets for just about anything," HPD Capt. Dwayne Ready said.
Lt. John Martin, a Sheriff's Department spokesman, acknowledged that writing a citation for driving just barely over the speed limit is unreasonable.
As a matter of practice, individual officers don't pull people over for going 2 or 3 miles over the speed limit, Martin said.
It's that matter of practice that's key. As I said before, traffic cops pretty much have to pick their spots, and we the public like it that way. Being just a little too fast isn't a defense, nor is it a guarantee, but the odds are in your favor.
I read with great interest this front page story about a homeowner in my neighborhood who's drawn both praise and flak for her wild yard.
For a stranger, approaching Kelly Walker's house on Arlington Street is a lesson in navigation. One almost needs a map to find the front door.On a recent Friday afternoon, the plants were so tall by her blue Saturn station wagon that they appeared to have grown up around it. A funnel full of sunflower seeds hung from a wooden fence.
An orange Gulf fritillary butterfly hovered around her mailbox. And on the porch sat three glass jars with spiky caterpillars inside, a basket with gardening gloves, seed packets and clippers, and numerous pots with the seedlings of milkweed — the plant that monarch butterfly caterpillars like to munch on.
"Welcome to the jungle," she said as she opened the door.
You need to see the photo to get a real appreciation of what we're talking about here. For my part, this house is between where I live and where I take Olivia to day care, so I'll be doing a drive-by later today.
I have a fair amount of sympathy for Kelly Walker. I don't believe one must have a manicured lawn to be a good neighbor. If you've ever visited the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, you'd probably agree with me that there are better uses of one's soil than another plot of Saint Augustine grass. And with all due respect to the Houston Police Department's Neighborhood Protection Division, I'm not greatly impressed by their case:
"You just can't let everything go wild," said [Jodi Filva, a spokeswoman with the Neighborhood Protection Division]. "It is a safety issue. Neighbors get very concerned when they live next door to a property with high weeds, because they are scared and they have children."
I'm sorry, but unless she's harboring Audrey II in there somewhere, I'm not sure why weeds are a safety issue.
That said, Filva did bring up the issue of vermin earlier in this article. My previous house in the Heights was across the street from a woman whose yard was also an overgrown tangle of mostly weedy foliage. In this case, it was due to neglect rather than a conscious choice. Though it was ugly, it didn't really bother me until the woman who used to live next door there told me that the place was a haven for rats. If the same is true with Walker's yard - and the article never says anything like that - then it's a serious concern.
This, however, isn't:
"We've tried everything," said Margaret Warner, 84, who lives two houses down. "I think it's terrible. In the back, they have snakes. I'd like to see it mowed down and cleaned up like a decent person's yard."
Unless we're talking about one of these, the presence of snakes is a good thing, if for no other reason than they'll likely be eating any rats that may also be there. Ophidiophobia isn't enough to move me.
Walker has a court case pending to resolve the fines she's been levied for her noncompliant yard. I'll be very interested to see what happens.
I'm sure you remember the travails of Nooky's, Sugar Land's premier erotic baking establishment. Well, you'll be glad to know that all of the huffing and puffing by some of Fort Bend County's bluenoses (as chronicled by Juanita as only she can) has been for naught. Rich Connelly brings us an update.
[W]e asked the gals at Nooky's if they'd been raided lately. Safe so far, [co-owner Charlotte] Daingerfield says."All these poor little ladies are all a-twitter," she said. "One came in three or four times. She comes in, frowns, looks at stuff and shakes her head but doesn't buy anything. I think she's trying to get a petition."
Three or four times? She knows pornography when she sees it, but you have to be certain.
Not all the locals are upset, though. Daingerfield noted that 80 percent of her customers are from Sugar Land.
"A lot of people see the sign as they drive by, slam on the brakes and come on in," she said.
None, so far, with petitions.
Thank God for that. As for Juanita, she was treated to her very own, very special Nooky's cake for her birthday last week. You can read about it here (scroll down to June 24), or you can just marvel at the picture, which I'd call not safe for work if I weren't laughing so hard. Happy belated birthday, Juanita!
Governor Perry's veto of HB2193 was bad enough, but he didn't stop there.
As of last week, Texas prisons are officially full and must contract to rent space for all new prisoners from county jails. Unbelievably, though, it turns out Governor Perry line-item vetoed funding in the budget for those beds. Since he also vetoed HB 2193 by House Corrections Committee Chairman Jerry Madden strengthening Texas' probation system (which would have partially stemmed the overincarceration crisis), as of right now Texas officially has more prisoners than the state can afford to incarcerate, with the problem getting worse every day into the foreseeable future.
Way to be tough on crime, Governor! Best of all, as Grits notes elsewhere, this shortsighted decision will hit Harris County harder than most.
I find it a bit sad that a story like this gets reported on by a Chicago newspaper and not a Texas one, but at least it's been picked up by the Chron.
MIDLOTHIAN - The neighbors introduced themselves hesitantly at first, not by name or street address but by their various ailments."I've got breast cancer," said one woman.
"Oh, my husband has a brain tumor," replied the woman sitting next to her.
"My son has Down syndrome," offered a man standing nearby.
"My daughter died last month from an abdominal tumor," a woman said softly. "She was only 19."
Similar introductions rippled through an auditorium in this southwest Dallas suburb one evening earlier this month as more than 500 residents, some in wheelchairs and others with portable oxygen tanks hanging from their shoulders, gathered to ask a question most had only dared whisper: Is something in Midlothian's air or water making them sick?
The evidence is largely anecdotal, and few epidemiological studies have been done. But many residents say they know too many neighbors with cancer, birth defects and lung ailments for it to be a coincidence.
It's a depressing and underreported story, which I've blogged on in the past. Maybe some day we'll get some real answers. However good advice this may be in Midlothian, though, I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for them.
Rick Casey laments Kay Bailey Hutchison's decision to sit out the Governor's race next year.
Kay Bailey Hutchison had an opportunity to destroy a myth that is crippling Texas.It is the myth that the only way to win the Republican primary — and therefore to win any statewide office and many regional ones — is to appeal to social conservatives and starve-the-government ideologues.
Hutchison had a chance to show something only a candidate with her profile and credibility, and not least of all her budget, could show: that given a credible choice, a Republican could win a Texas primary by appealing to moderates.
Let's talk about myths for a minute, shall we? There's a much bigger myth here, and it's staring Rick Casey right in the face, but he doesn't see it. The myth I'm referring to is the myth of Kay Bailey Hutchison's moderation.
There are a number of definitions of "moderate" these days that the media likes to use. Bipartisanship, dealmaking (witness the slobbering lovefest that was visited on the Senators who brokered the anti-nuclear option deal), publicly rebuking one's own party on this issue or that, voting against one's party on this or that controversial and high-profile bill - doing any or all of those things will usually get you the sometimes-coveted label of "moderate". Can anyone think of a single example, especially in the last four years, of KBH doing any of these things? She's never said a cross word about Gitmo or Abu Ghraib, she was perfectly willing to go nuclear on filibustering, I can't think of any nontrivial legislation she's cosponsored with a Democrat, and as far as I know she's never once voted against George W. Bush's wishes. Correct me if I'm wrong here - maybe she's just so demure and well-mannered that I've never noticed when she's misbehaved. All I'm saying is that all the evidence I can see indicates she's a good, disciplined, down-the-line Republican, and by any reasonable measure these days that makes her what we now call a "conservative".
I say there's two reasons why KBH has been given the "moderate" label: She's not a rhetorical bomb-thrower, and she didn't have to campaign for her re-election in 2000. On the first point, her generally quiet style stands in contrast to the gloryhound Phil Gramm, the obnoxious John Cornyn, and the ever-pandering to the base Rick Perry. If that's all it takes to be a "moderate" these days, then the term truly has no meaning. And even when KBH shows her true colors, such as when her office said she agrees with Karl Rove's recent statement about liberals and 9/11, nobody in the Texas media picks up on it. (Hey, Rick! There's a column for you!) And since she had no real opposition in 2000, she never had to run any attack ads. What little presence she had on TV back then was mostly gauzy soft-focus stuff with messages like "Kay Bailey's your buddy. You like her, don't you? Sure you do."
My point is that nobody's really seen her act like a partisan politician. That doesn't mean that she isn't one. It's instructive to compare how the media treats her with how they treat Comptroller Strayhorn, who's as big a gloryhound as Phil Gramm ever was but who has been advocating some actual moderate ideas. The difference is mostly Strayhorn's fault, what with all that "tough grandma" nonsense, but it shows again that it's all about style and perception. What you actually do, and what you say you stand for, doesn't much matter.
Now I admit I'm being a little unfair to Casey. He doesn't say that KBH is a moderate, he simply says that she has appeal to moderates. Which is certainly true, and it's true for the reasons I've given. You have to give KBH credit for being able to say one thing and do another without getting called on it - that's certainly been the secret of George W. Bush's success. I have many hopes for 2006, and among them is the wish that Barbara Radnofsky's campaign will at least help alter the public's perception of KBH. It's well past time that reality caught up with her.
May was my busiest month of the year so far, with about 57,000 hits. Links from Atrios and Crooked Timber helped boost the numbers a bit, but things were pretty steady overall.
Every once in awhile, I look at the referral log numbers that my webhost generates and I see something that I hadn't noticed in the Sitemeter referrals. Sometime in May I got over 200 referrals from this discussion thread on Poe News. The thread is called "ACLU Wants Cross Removed From Cemetery", which seemed odd to me at first when I clicked on it to check it out, since I had no idea what they were talking about. Then it hit me - the original poster had linked to this picture I took in France, which he presumably found via a Google image search. It doesn't have anything to do with whatever he would have been writing about, but it is a nice photo if I do say so myself. Here's the post that goes with the photo, in case you're curious.
Anyway. Thank you as always for visiting. Top referrers and search terms are beneath the fold.
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Here's our first look at the contribution records that the Texas Association of Business didn't want us to see.
Documents released in a civil lawsuit Friday show that Texas Association of Business officials were trying to influence the outcome of state House races when they ran a $1.7 million "voter education project" paid for with corporate money."Of the nine incumbents ... we went after, seven were defeated. This is huge news," a TAB executive said in a 2002 e-mail the day after the group helped Republicans win control of the Texas House for the first time since Reconstruction.
TAB officials have claimed that their corporate spending was meant to educate voters, not affect elections.
[...]
The records were released in a lawsuit brought by losing Austin Democrat James Sylvester. TAB had fought release of the records, and the Texas Supreme Court sat on the appeal for 17 months before ruling against TAB on June 10.
TAB lawyer Andy Taylor said the organization did not violate the state law banning the use of corporate money to influence elections because none of its direct mail or television advertising ever advocated the election or defeat of a candidate.
He said the fact that TAB executives wanted to influence the elections is irrelevant to the case.
"On no occasion did we ever use words of 'vote for' or 'vote against' in these ads," Taylor said. "It's the content of the speech, not the intention of the speaker, that counts for First Amendment purposes."
Taylor said TAB was trying to "shed light on candidates' positions on the issues."
But plaintiff attorney Randall "Buck" Wood said the documents show TAB was, under the law, acting like a political action committee.
"The real test is whether a citizen of ordinary intelligence can determine whether they (the ads) were meant to elect or defeat a candidate," Wood said.
[...]
The names of the donors were kept secret. Wood said he will go back to court to seek the names. The corporations can be subject to fines of double the amount of their contribution if it is found to have been made illegally.
The largest contribution was $250,000 from a corporation that was not a member of TAB; $480,000 in corporate cash came from companies that were not members of TAB.
That is significant because organizations such as TAB have additional First Amendment free speech protections if they are taking political action just among their members.
This certainly does nothing to dissuade me from my long-held opinion that TAB basically ignored existing election law. It's the only explanation I can think of for their up-is-down insistence that they never advocated for or against any candidate, as well as their statements that paying for polling and electioneering counts as administrative overhead.
What do they say doesn't count as advocacy? Here's an example.
One mailer targeted voters in Bexar County, where Rep. Ken Mercer, a Republican, was running against Democrat Raul Prado and would ultimately defeat him."The Texas Association of Business is committed to fighting for free enterprise," the mailer said. Then beside a picture of Mercer, the ad reads: "Ken Mercer stands with us in promoting the principles that will ensure that Texas remains a leader in jobs, economic development, quality education and improving transportation."
It also mentioned Mercer's positions on jobs and the economy, health care and corporate responsibility.
If you can read something like that and not conclude that the Texas Association of Business wants you to vote for Ken Mercer, then all I can say is that it's a good thing you finished school before there were TAKS tests.
There were some 20,000 pages of documents released by the TAB, and it's been just two weeks since the original court ruling which compelled them to do so, so I imagine there'll be more of this soon. With a resurgence of the rumors that more indictments are coming soon, we may be in for a fun month of July.
In a previous entry on Janette Sexton, I promised to pass along information on her first fundraiser. I got the scoop last night, so here it is - click the More link for the details of the event, to be held on July 14 at Gilley's in Pasadena. If you want to help unelect Robert Talton (and you know you do), here's your first chance to do something.
Please join Janette Sexton on Thursday, July 14, from 7:00-8:30 PM at Gilley's, 6777 Fairmont Parkway, as she kicks off her campaign for State Representative in District 144.
The restaurant (formerly Ernie's) is located on the north side of the street, between Red Bluff Road and Beltway 8 East. For your convenience, you can access a Mapquest map via this link.
Janette Sexton Capaign
P. O. Box 7709
Pasadena, Texas 77508-7709
Among the stories that I wasn't able to read last week was this one which contained some poll numbers for the KBH-Perry primary matchup that we won't get to see.
U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison would have been a strong front-runner among likely Republican voters if she'd challenged Gov. Rick Perry one-on-one next year, according to a survey conducted by a firm hired by her campaign.A memo summarizing the April survey and obtained by the Austin American-Statesman says that, at the time, about 59 percent leaned toward Hutchison, with 33 percent favoring Perry.
The numbers might dampen speculation that Hutchison avoided running against Perry out of concern that he'd steeled support among GOP activists. It likewise leaves in question why she didn't try and suggests that Perry has ground to cover with voters.
I'm one of those people who has believed that Perry has mostly locked up the GOP primary vote, since just about everything he's done lately has been aimed towards those voters. There's not a lot of data about this survey here (sample size? margin of error? question wording? etc), so I can't say definitively that this has debunked those beliefs, but surely a poll conducted by her campaign for the primary would have at least tried to identify likely primary voters. You do have to wonder how big the horsehead was that someone put in her bed to dissuade her from this race. The idea that her change of mind was simply good manners on her part is ridiculous to me (link via PerryVsWorld).
Lance Tarrance, who conducted the survey, said Wednesday that a smaller sampling conducted last week showed 24 percent definitely favoring Perry and another 21 percent probably favoring Perry over a new Republican.[...]
Tarrance said: "Not knowing more than we know today, she would have beaten the living fire out of Perry. I don't think there's anything else to conclude. Perry ought to be very lucky that she stayed out."
It's only one poll, it's a long way to next March, and Rick Perry had not yet begun to crank up the slime machine, but yeah. He should feel lucky that she chose a different path.
Now the question becomes "Can Carole Keeton Strayhorn win by being the not-Rick-Perry candidate?" This poll suggests that maybe she can. PinkDome and BOR add their thoughts. I still make Perry the favorite here, but let's just say that I'll be awaiting the next poll very eagerly.
And they say "We screwed up".
"We're just looking for answers and see what they have to say," assistant committee clerk Cynthia Venecia said Friday.At the lottery commission's meeting Friday, officials acknowledged that they knew estimated ticket sales would fall about $1.3 million short of the advertised $8 million jackpot earlier this month, but that they inflated the jackpot to encourage ticket sales.
The lottery intentionally advertised a jackpot that staffers knew it couldn't pay for on at least two other occasions, spokesman Bobby Heith said.
"At the time that we did these estimations, I felt that it was critical for the long-term health of the game for the jackpot to increase if there was no jackpot ticket sold," Product Manager Robert Triloni told commissioners.
"In hindsight, I would have left the jackpot amount at the same amount."
The June 8 shortfall prompted lottery officials to freeze the advertised June 11 jackpot for the first time in the game's history.
[Reagan] Greer, the executive director, said he approved the inflated jackpots that staffers recommended because he trusted them and didn't carefully review their reports.
Greer said his staff will base future jackpots on their most conservative sales estimates and will consider holding jackpots at the same amount more often if sales don't support an increase.
"I'm going to take a much clearer, more micro approach to this process in the future and try to ensure to you that it's not going to happen again," he told the commission.
Yes, well, that's what can happen when an unqualified person is named to head a commission.
Rep. Burt Solomons, who has tried to pass legislation to reform the lottery commission, said he was amazed lottery officials would intentionally try to deceive Texans."Somebody needs to be fired, and quite frankly, we need to investigate it," said the Carrollton Republican. "It's bad government, it's poor public policy and it deflates the trust that we in the Legislature have for the lottery commission, for God sakes," Solomons said.
You said it. Let the firings begin!
We made it all back home in good shape today (have I mentioned what a boon it is to have a baby who sleeps on airplanes?), and amid the laundry and unopened snail mail I'll be doing my usual stint on BizRadio 1320 AM tomorrow morning. I'd like to apologize in advance to the FCC and any listeners with delicate sensibilities in the event that the word MoFo escapes my lips during the segment. No one ever said punditry would be pretty, you know.
I've been a bit remiss lately in posting links to MP3s of previous segments. I'll get on that this weekend, but for now, blogHOUSTON has them all up - look for the "On the Radio" box in their right sidebar.
Sometimes it takes a middle-aged white guy to put things into perspective.
This week, the Texas governor got caught saying "Adios, Mofo."This line will follow Perry around like a dog after a ham sandwich. Patrick Henry said, "Give me liberty, or give me death." John F. Kennedy said, "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country."
Rick Perry? Best he could do was, "Adios, Mofo."
[...]
I expect to see Rick in a pair of those big baggy shorts, break-dancing in an alley off Sixth Street.
[...]
This was such a startling remark that the day after the story broke, there was a line of clothing for sale online honoring Perry's gaff. On cafepress.com you can get your Rick Perry "Adios, MoFo" T-shirts.
Although I'm not sure where you'd wear one. Wait. You could wear one to a Carole Keeton Strayhorn gubernatorial rally. One tough grandma might take Perry over her knee and give him a spanking, if she knew what "Mofo" meant.
I can hear it now. "Mo who?" She probably thinks it has something to do with the Three Stooges.
[...]
The good news is that Perry says he wasn't directing his remark at Ted Oberg, the TV reporter who interviewed him. The bad news is that he said he was speaking to Robert Black, his deputy press secretary.
Too bad for Black. For the rest of his life, he'll be known around these parts as Robert "Mofo" Black. But I suppose it beats being known as Robert "Jive Turkey" Black or Robert "Gettin' Jiggy Wid It" Black.
I give Kelso a 9.5 - it would have been a 10 if he'd managed to work in a reference to KBH or Tom Craddick. Check it out. Via Carl Whitmarsh's mailing list.
I can't wait to hear this.
A Texas lottery chief is expected to detail today why the state advertised an $8 million jackpot this month when available prize money fell short by more than $1 million.The error, also slated for legislative scrutiny, was followed last week by the firing of Lee Daviney, the commission's director of financial administration. Commission spokesman Bobby Heith declined to discuss Daviney's departure, calling it a personnel matter.
Heith said Daviney on June 3 signed off on declaring an $8 million jackpot for the June 8 Lotto Texas drawing, but later the same day expressed concern to colleagues that ticket sales would fall short of yielding that much prize money.
[...]
Reagan Greer, executive director of the Texas Lottery Commission, has remained silent since the commission conceded after the drawing that the jackpot ran $1.3 million to $1.5 million short of the advertised amount.
But Greer might be asked to explain a recent breakdown in the Pick 3 game at the Lottery Commission's meeting, scheduled for 8 a.m. today at its Sixth Street headquarters. The commission suspended ticket sales for the game June 16, citing "computer code" problems. Sales resumed the next morning, Heith said. An investigation of contractor Gtech Corp. continues.
[...]
State Rep. Kino Flores, D-Palmview, has called a hearing Wednesday to explore the jackpot and Pick 3 concerns.
An agenda drafted for the House Committee on Licensing and Administrative Procedures, which Flores heads, covers more than a dozen topics, including previous instances when jackpots ran below advertised amounts and whether rising gas prices have affected ticket sales.
Flores said the committee also might inquire into price-fixing charges leveled in 2002 by an Austin businessman against a Nevada company that manufactures electronic bingo machines used by Texas charities to raise money.
Go for it, Kino. Make something good come out of this session. Stay tuned.
Scott went to a panel on bloggers and blogging at a seminar put on by Campaigns and Elections magazine in D.C., and he came away with some very interesting informaiton. I'm going to try to blog this in some more depth after I return home, but for now, go read. Thanks to Nate for the catch.
Perry's plan helps rich at others' expense
Gov. Rick Perry's plan for property tax relief would provide a windfall for the wealthiest families in Texas, but for lower-income renters the governor's plan would be a financial drain on the family budget, a Houston Chronicle analysis showed.And after more than a year of legislative wrangling over property tax relief, the tax savings for the median family in Texas would amount to about $150 a year under Perry's plan — a savings of about $12.75 a month.
The real winner of the school property tax cuts would be business, which pays about 54 percent of all the school property taxes in Texas.
Same stuff, different day. Quelle surprise. Got any new ideas, fellas?
One thing to keep in mind here, and it's a fallacy that I've fallen prey to before, is that it really is (or at least should be) a question of when, not if, a new school finance plan passes. This is because Governor Perry can call as many special sessions as he sees fit, and given the smell of toast already wafting about him, he's sure to be bullheaded on this point. Unless the Lege basically tells him to drop dead, or unless the Texas Supreme Court comes riding to his aid in the immediate future, don't expect this session to be the end of it (barring an actual agreement, of course).
Which is why Rep. Scott Hochberg is dead on right when he says Make sure the fix isn't worse than the problem. We don't need a plan, we need a better plan. Rick Perry doesn't have one. Let's not lower our standards even further to accomodate him on that. Link via Greg.
It's pretty rare that I side with Rehquist/Scalia/Thomas on any Supreme Court decision over Ginsburg/Stevens/Breyer, but this is one of those times.
The Supreme Court ruled today that local governments may seize people's homes and businesses - even against their will - for private economic development.[...]
The 5-4 ruling represented a defeat for some Connecticut residents whose homes are slated for destruction to make room for an office complex. They argued that cities have no right to take their land except for projects with a clear public use, such as roads or schools, or to revitalize blighted areas.
As a result, cities now have wide power to bulldoze residences for projects such as shopping malls and hotel complexes in order to generate tax revenue.
Local officials, not federal judges, know best in deciding whether a development project will benefit the community, justices said.
"The city has carefully formulated an economic development that it believes will provide appreciable benefits to the community, including - but by no means limited to - new jobs and increased tax revenue," Justice John Paul Stevens wrote for the majority.
He was joined by Justice Anthony Kennedy, David H. Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen G. Breyer.
[...]
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who has been a key swing vote on many cases before the court, issued a stinging dissent. She argued that cities should not have unlimited authority to uproot families, even if they are provided compensation, simply to accommodate wealthy developers.
The lower courts had been divided on the issue, with many allowing a taking only if it eliminates blight.
"Any property may now be taken for the benefit of another private party, but the fallout from this decision will not be random," O'Connor wrote. "The beneficiaries are likely to be those citizens with disproportionate influence and power in the political process, including large corporations and development firms."
She was joined in her opinion by Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, as well as Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas.
I can appreciate Stevens' logic, but I think O'Connor nails it. This is a bad, bad decision, and it's going to affect a lot of people.
Rick Perry, hipster? Hey, it could happen.
Perry's open-mic gaffe caused a lot of people to take notice. Some were outraged, some pretended to be outraged, and some said, "Dang, who knew our governor knew such a raunchy term?""I think it's hilarious," said Robert Lanham, author of The Hipster Handbook (Anchor, $10.95), who wants a T-shirt.
Lanham recalls the term from 1980s hip-hop slang. Today most people use it for camp value, Lanham said, but he hasn't heard any Republican governors saying it.
"It doesn't strike me that (Perry) has the self-awareness to know that maybe that term is a little bit silly. But who knows, maybe he's cooler than I think," Lanham said.
"I'd be worried if he started answering reporters' questions with 'word up.' "
I believe that would count as an official sign of the apocalypse. Speaking of which, Jim D has given us the Rick Perry Remix. Consider yourself warned.
The NBA managed to come to a six-year labor agreement on Tuesday, thus avoiding a lockout and possibly having to cancel games next season. I don't much care one way or the other as to the fine points of the deal. All I know is that it shouldn't have taken this long to forge one. If I could have done so, I'd have locked David Stern and Billy Hunter into a room and played a recording of the words "National Hockey League" over and over until they both cracked. I'm just glad it wasn't necessary to do so.
Oh, and the Game Seven tonight is the first in the Finals since 1994, when the Rockets won their first of two consecutive titles. Those were good times.
Apparently, Tom DeLay has been taking the same stupid pills as Rick Perry:
"You know, if Houston, Texas, was held to the same standard as Iraq is held to, nobody'd go to Houston, because all this reporting coming out of the local press in Houston is violence, murders, robberies, deaths on the highways," DeLay said.
I'm still on vacation, so I'm going to outsource this one to Pete. There's a fruity rum drink with my name on it out there waiting for me.
Ginger has tagged me with a book meme, so let's dive in.
1. How many books do you own?
I've never counted, but we have one bookcase's worth upstairs (plus an overflow box) and three more cases downstairs, not to mention 20 or so books in Olivia's room and some cookbooks in the dining room. So, maybe a couple hundred all together. I'm under strict orders to throttle back book purchases because we don't have the space for them, and both of us regularly dump used books at Half Price or whatnot.
2. Last book read.
"Turncoat", a thriller by Aaron Elkins. I do a lot of my pleasure reading now while travelling, as there's often too much to do at home, but this one was read while not on the road. I'm most of the way through Peter Robinson's "Close to Home" now - it's a British police story - which I started on the plane to Colorado. Mysteries of all stripes are my main reading passion.
3. Last book purchased.
My in-laws give me a $100 gift certificate to Murder by the Book every year as a birthday present, and that's most of my bookbuying these days. I used about $65 worth of it in March; the haul included the two books mentioned above.
4. Name five books that mean a lot to you.
I've never been much for Literature, so this list may seem a little weird.
- The "Enclyclopedia Brown" mysteries. My love of the genre didn't spring from a vacuum, you know. My parents saved all my old EB books, so they'll be Olivia's some day.
- The Baseball Encyclopedia. Hey, back in 1979 when the Internet didn't exist, this book was the Holy Bible for statistics-obsessed baseball fans, which was a pretty good description of my 13-year-old self.
- "Illusions", by Richard Bach. Didn't everybody go through a Richard Bach phase in college? I admit it was a bit of a comedown to reread "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" a few years afterwards and realize that it's the same book, but disappointment can be a good learning experience.
- "The Mystery of the Aleph", by Amir Aczel. As a math major, the concept of infinity, and different types on infinity, is one of the most challenging and bedevilling things to grasp. This is the best book I've read on the subject - it's mostly a biography of Georg Cantor, who revolutionized how we think about it. He also went mad, which lends some poignance to it all.
- "Planet Ocean", by Brad Matsen and Ray Troll. The book we all should have read as kids during the dinosaur-fascination phase most of us go through. It's a beautifully illustrated guide to the wonderful and strange creatures that walked and mostly swam the earth hundreds of millions of years ago. It's a book I plan on reading with Olivia in a few years, though we'll start with their more kid-oriented "Raptors, Fossils, Fins, and Fangs" first.
5. Five people to tag.
Like Ginger, I say anyone who wants to do this should give it a shot. I'd go ahead and tag Hope, Julia, Perry, Sarah, and Christina. Have fun, y'all.
The Harris County Commissioners' Court did hear complaints about its stealth hearings on toll road plans, then went ahead and approved those plans anyway.
Art Storey, head of the county's Public Infrastructure Department, said the county has not given a green light to any new toll road projects, noting that all of them have been discussed publicly for years.The Harris County Toll Road Authority's critics, he said, mistook the county's commitment to study the feasibility of building five toll roads or segments of toll roads for actual approval of the projects.
The court approved spending $192,000 to study five potential toll road projects on Beltway 8 East, Texas 288, the Grand Parkway, the Hardy Toll Road and Hempstead Road.
Robin Holzer, a member of the Citizens Transportation Coalition, told the court that residents didn't know the county was going ahead with the projects until it released its five-year capital improvements plan Friday. She couldn't get a copy of the plan until Monday, she said.
"A Harris County resident might get the impression you don't want them to participate in the toll road planning process," she said.
She and other speakers said the court should delay voting on the plan for 30 days.
Yeah, well, it's good to be the king. Or "czarina". Your choice.
Anyway. Anne has some more coverage. You can find some in-depth discussion at the CTC discussion forum. Finally, Rorschach has an open letter to AG Greg Abbott in which he asks for the following:
I would like a state website set up to act as a clearinghouse for public notifications such as hearing announcements and such searchable via zip code so that you don't have to worry about the notification being on a bulletin board in some county courthouse on the other side of town that nobody ever sees. Even better would be a voluntary sign-up system so that notices concerning specific zip codes would be automatically e-mailed to you. I would also like to see this clearinghouse show open record requests that are pending and whether they have been approved or denied and reason for denial.I would like the notifications to be prompt and with enough forewarning that interested parties can attend or respond instead of being caught flat footed or worse, never even knowing the hearing has happened until too late to do anything about it. Ideally, hearing notices should be posted to the above proposed website at least 30 days in advance.
Seems reasonable to me. If anyone takes up his call to write AG Abbott and ask for something like this, please let me know if you get a response.
This is more funny than anything else - Rick Perry said a naughty word to a local reporter.
We were trying to get the governor to give us details about his education plan. He's releasing it today, and he didn't want to give out details a day early."You'll have to wait until tomorrow. I hate to let you guys in on it and no one else," Gov. Perry insisted.
So we said goodbye, thank you and thought the interview was over.
"You're welcome," Gov. Perry signed off. "So long."
Our questions were not recorded on tape, but in saying goodbye I told the governor, "Try as I may, Governor, I guess I can't win this one."
Eleven seconds after he said goodbye, the camera crew was getting ready for the next interview with another station. That's when Gov. Perry repeated what he thought I'd said, and added a few words of his own with his microphone on and tape still rolling.
"Try as I may, Governor, I'm not going to wait that long," Gov. Perry said. "Adios, Mofo."
Those last words aren't exactly part of the seven dirty words, but it isn't something you want to say to your mother or use in good company. Tuesday morning, Governor Perry called me personally. He apologized and said his comment wasn't directed at us.
He agreed it was just one of those times a politician is caught by an open mike saying something embarrassing. He tells us he was just trying to get a reaction from the camera crew and it wasn't said with any malice or intent.
You'd think a guy who's been in politics for as long as Perry has would've taken some training in media relations by now. Clearly, it's time for a refresher.
Best reaction goes to PinkDome:
The question the reporter asked was, "Governor, what do you think the voters will say to you come next election once you fail to fix school finance yet again?"
Heh. And if you like the quote, you can buy yourself the t-shirt.
So the special session has started. Call me crazy, but the tone of this article shouldn't give anyone much hope.
The initial focus of the new session will be on Republican Speaker Tom Craddick and the GOP majority in the House, which, under the state constitution, must act first on a tax bill.And one Republican House member, Rep. Carter Casteel of New Braunfels, warned the new session was shaping up as "a mess."
She said many GOP House members, who got elected campaigning against higher taxes, are worried they will lose their re-election bids next year if they vote again for higher state taxes, as they did in March, and then fail to reach a compromise with the Senate on property tax relief.
"It (the special session) is going to put the icing on the cake. The icing may taste good or a little sour," Casteel added.
Some lawmakers, it was reported, were angry at being called back to Austin on short notice and having summer plans disrupted.
The tax bill passed the House in regular session by a margin of five votes, with more than a dozen Republicans voting against it. Craddick on Monday said he does not yet know whether he has the votes to pass a tax bill again.
"That concern is always there," Craddick said. "We're just going to have to get the bills put together and poll, as we've always done."
Sounds compelling to me, no? I'm short on time for analysis here, so I'll point you to BOR, In the Pink, and PinkDome, for starters. Also, the Dems got out in front of this by re-releasing their plan. See beneath the fold for more.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Ben Hallmark
June 20, 2005
(512) 463-0524
House Democratic Leaders Propose Real School Finance Solution
Key Legislators Seek Bipartisan Support for Plan that Offers More than Politics,
More Funding for Schoolchildren and Lower Taxes for More Texans
Austin -- Texas House Democratic leaders today proposed a school finance and property tax cut plan which puts more new resources in our children's classrooms -where they belong- and gives greater property tax reductions to millions of middle class Texans.
The plan closely tracks the "Learn and Live Plan" House Democrats proposed during the regular session as a responsible public policy approach that rises above politics to do what's best for our schools and the vast majority of Texas homeowners. The plan earned bipartisan support on the House floor, despite lacking support from the Republican leadership at that time.
"Just as we did during the regular session, we have worked to develop a responsible school finance solution that is better for all Texans," said Rep. Scott Hochberg (D-Houston). "Our plan would provide more resources to Texas schools and greater tax savings to the vast majority of Texas homeowners than the bills that passed the House and Senate."
"Like most Texans, we are tired of listening to our leaders blame each other," Rep. Jim Dunnam (D-Waco) said. "During the past regular session, we saw evidence that a bipartisan coalition exists on the House floor that wants to do what's best for our neighborhood schools, and it's time to open up the process to let a bipartisan legislative majority craft a school finance plan that is worthy of our school children and local taxpayers."
"Absent partisan political pressure, a plan that is better for both public schools and homeowners in 90% of house districts should pass with overwhelming support," said Rep. Pete P. Gallego (D-Alpine).
Rep. Hochberg said the plan outlined by House Democrats will be filed as legislation and encouraged legislators and Texans, regardless of political party, to examine the details of a plan that would:
* Provide a responsible, equitable school finance system that approaches 100% equity and would increase state education funding to cover at least 50% of the cost of our children's education;
* Raise teacher pay from 38th nationally to the national average and restore the teacher health care benefits cut in 2003 by the Republican leadership;
* Increase funding for Comp. Ed. programs for at-risk students and bilingual education, mentoring programs, Pre-K and 9th grade initiatives to help children who need help the most stay in school and graduate;
* Provide funds for up-to-date textbooks and technology essential to learning;
* Reduce class sizes with new facility funding for classrooms;
* Continue funding for gifted and talented programs;
* Provide across-the-board property tax cuts and additional targeted tax cuts for Texas families by tripling the homestead tax exemption to $45,000 and lowering the maximum tax rate from $1.50 to $1.25 per $100 valuation.
Dwight reports that Houston has shelved for now a plan to install a bunch of Wi-Fi hotspots around town. No details as yet, so I can't say why, but it is a shame. Hopefully this will get revived soon. I'll post an update when there's a story to link to.
I'm not seeing anything in the news on this, but apparently the Harris County Commissioner's Court has announced plans for five new toll road corriders. There's a public hearing this morning (oops, sorry about that, well, these things always go more smoothly when they're not well-attended anyway, right?). At the time I post this, Commissioner's Court is supposed to be voting on the plan.
The Citizens' Transportation Coalition and blogHOUSTON have more on this. I've reproduced a CTC press release beneath the fold. I really hope there will be more to be said on this.
CITIZENS TO DEMAND RECONSIDERATION OF VOTE
ON 5 NEW HARRIS COUNTY TOLL ROAD PROJECTS
(Houston) - CTC has learned that:
. Last Friday, June 17, Harris County published the new 5-year Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) which identifies the next 5-7 priority toll road corridors. The document is available on paper at the county offices downtown, but is not yet available online.
. This Tuesday, Harris County commissioners are expected to vote to approve the plan, without public notice at an unpublicized meeting -- Tues June 21 at 9:00 am.
. Commissioners are then expected to vote an hour later at the 10:00 am Commissioners' Court meeting to authorize $192,295 for traffic and feasibility studies for the 5 new priority toll roads.
This is a remarkably fast process with no public notice. How were neighborhoods supposed to learn about new toll roads? When were citizens supposed to weigh in with their county commissioners? CTC will bring neighborhood leaders from Westbury and other Houston neighborhoods to ask Harris County commissioners for meaningful participation in the toll road planning process.
What: Harris County Capital Improvement Plan meeting Neighborhood leaders to address Commissioners' Court
When: Tuesday, June 21, 2005 at 9:00 am (followed by Court session to approve the plan at 10:00 am)
Where: Harris County Commissioners Court 1001 Preston, 9th floor chamber, Houston, 77002
Under current state law, county toll road authorities (including HCTRA) are NOT required to provide public notice of new plans, hold public meetings in affected neighborhoods, or conduct full environmental reviews for new toll road projects. Harris County's new 5-year CIP identifies $2.16 billion of toll road projects, but highlights five feasible projects as the next ones to be considered:
1. Beltway East Mainlanes.
2. Brazoria County Toll Road from City of Alvin to SH 288 to IH 610, and potentially to US 59.
3. Grand Parkway, Segment E from I-10 to US 290.
4. Hardy Toll Road Extension from IH 610 to downtown.
5. Hempstead Road Managed Lanes from Jones Road to IH 10.
In addition to the above five projects, the plan shows two other projects that could become priorities:
6. Fort Bend Connector from US 90A along Post Oak Blvd to the IH 610 Loop, and
7. Fairmont Parkway/Red Bluff Tollway from SH 146 to Beltway 8.
Houston City Councilman Gordon Quan has announced that he will not run for the Democratic nomination in CD22. He also formally endorsed Nick Lampson for the race.
Quan, who had formed an exploratory committee for the 22nd Congressional District in April, said he wanted to avoid a "costly, divisive and lengthy" Democratic primary.He said he conducted polling that showed DeLay has lost support among constituents and that he and Lampson had nearly equal support.
[...]
Quan must leave the council in six months because of city term limits.
Quan, who is of Chinese ancestry, made the announcement at Kim Son restaurant in Stafford, and said he plans to help bring out the Asian vote for Lampson. Asians make up about 10 percent of the district.
Lampson, who served four terms in the U.S. House from Beaumont before losing his seat following redistricting orchestrated by DeLay, attended the news conference and said he was pleased to have Quan's endorsement.
I don't think this is the last we'll hear from Gordon Quan. He may yet run in CD07, and there'll be countywide offices to consider (in 2008 if not next year) as well. But whatever he chooses, I wish him well and hope to be able to support him in a future campaign.
Juan Garcia, onetime announced candidate for Senate, disappeared off the radar a few weeks ago with a note saying his site was down for maintenance. Bogey McDuff wondered what he was planning now that we know KBH's Senate seat will not be open. Here's the response he got from Garcia. All I can say is that if you're looking for "another chance to serve", sir, I've got a suggestion for you. Check it out.
Among the bills that Governor Perry has chosen to veto this time around is HB2193, a bipartisan effort to do some much-needed reform of the probation system. Grits has the details and a little venting about Perry's shortsightedness and (yes!) flipflop on the issue. Campaigns for alternatives to Mr. Perry in 2006, please take note.
All right, I've got a few minutes of computer time, so let's look at three stories from yesterday's Chron about the Metro plan changes. Here's a better look at what these Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) things are all about.
Las Vegas is one of a growing number of American communities embracing what transportation wonks call "bus rapid transit." It's a hybrid system that combines the flexibility and lower cost of bus travel with speed similar to train service. Another appealing aspect: The Federal Transportation Administration will provide start-up funds for bus rapid transit in an era when it questions the high cost of building rail.[...]
On a recent weekday afternoon, MAX rider Mike Tamblyn, 38, was headed to work. He used to ride the old local bus along the same route to the downtown transit center, but says the service on MAX is much better.
"It's real quick. I can be home from work within an hour," Tamblyn said, adding that's half the time it took him on a traditional bus.
"Watch how quick this stop is," Tamblyn said as the MAX bus eased into the station. "There could be 15 people on the platform and they'd be on in no time."
A woman in a motorized cart was waiting at the station. The handicap ramp lowered in about 10 seconds, she rolled aboard, the driver helped her buckle in and the bus cleared the station in about a minute.
Bus driver Sigifredo Villa said he usually stops for about 30 seconds at each station. Because people buy their tickets from a vending machine, and are not required to show them when they board, they don't have to queue up at a fare box.
"We don't have to wait for people to dig for change," Villa said.
MAX is powered by a hybrid engine that automatically switches between electric and diesel. The buses include an automatic system that reads lines painted on the roadway to guide the vehicles as close as possible to the curb at stations built almost a foot off the ground. This allows passengers to enter the bus at the platform level, without stepping up.
Having the BRTs in dedicated corridors where they don't directly impact traffic flow themselves is the main thing for me. I'm happy to give this idea a chance.
Here's Metro explaining itself to the communities that are upset with the changes.
[Metro Vice Chairman Gerald] Smith told the audience of about 100, including several City Council members and legislators, that after Metro's board meeting Thursday several prominent residents — whom he described as "fully engaged" and "rather upset" — met with him and Metro staff."It's kind of awkward to be in this position. There were some things that probably could have been communicated better," Smith said.
He said the plan was changed to improve Metro's chances of getting federal dollars for future lines and that the guided buses would run on light rail roadbed, separately from cars, so that a changeover to rail could happen when ridership increases.
"The same type of infrastructure that was done for the Main Street line will be done in every single segment," he said. "This is not a regular bus. This is a million-dollar vehicle that looks like rail, operates like rail, and actually has more flexibility."
[Community of Faith Church Bishop James] Dixon apologized on behalf of Metro "that this community was not informed early on."
"This was a mistake," he said.
Yeah, it was. Metro really is its own worst enemy sometimes.
And finally, here's Rick Casey on the underlying politics.
One of the first things White did when he became mayor last year was to replace bad blood between Metro and the congressmen with new blood.Metro President Shirley A. DeLibero, who had already announced her resignation when White assumed office, had never fully repaired her credibility after having been found to have falsely claimed two college degrees on her résumé.
White also replaced Metro Board Chairman Arthur Schechter, whose relations with Culberson were particularly strained.
Then White and the new Metro leadership, President Frank Wilson and Chairman David Wolff, set out to learn what it would take to get Culberson and DeLay on board.
The new plan dealt with DeLay's call for Metro to "think outside the box," and addressed cost concerns. The majority leader last August praised Metro after it scheduled a technology conference to explore alternatives to light rail.
And it is presumably no accident that the new plan includes commuter rail to Missouri City in DeLay's district, and out Highway 290 to Culberson's, and light rail to the Galleria, in Culberson's as well.
No wonder John Culberson thinks so highly of Mayor White.
We're off for a few days in Colorado, where it's warmer than you might think. It's a business trip for Tiffany; Olivia and I are along for moral support and a little sightseeing. I'll have limited access to the Net during this time, so expect less than my usual level of output. Hopefully, this week will be less newsful than last week was. Back Friday, see you then.
Today is also Juneteenth, the 140th anniversary of the day that the slaves in Galveston received word of their emancipation. Julia has a family connection to that event, and tells us a little about it.
Now that Carole Keeton Strayhorn has confirmed what we thought we knew when we first heard about today's hotdog social, it's time to think about the dynamics of a GOP primary matchup between Strayhorn and Rick Perry, instead of a KBH-Perry or three-way battle.
My first thought is that this development is good for the Democrats, at least in this race. I say that because I believe a Strayhorn-Perry primary will be different than a KBH-Perry primary. If the race were between Hutchison and Perry, it would be about who's the bigger, badder Republican, since there's so little to distinguish them from a policy perspective. We've already seen a preview of what it would have been like with the who loves Hillary more? silliness. Democrats certainly had hopes that Hutchison would land some blows on Perry in this fashion, and that the nine-month panderfest to the far right wing of the Republican Party would turn people off. Some of that would surely have happened, but I think a lot of people would have tuned it out. By the time the general rolled around, I think for many it would have been just another distant memory of another forgettable negative campaign.
Strayhorn won't run that kind of campaign. She has specific points of disagreement with Perry, on items ranging from cigarette taxes to the Trans Texas Corridor to slot machines to CHIP funding. Where I believe KBH would have tried to draw distinctions in personality and style between herself and Perry, Strayhorn is going to argue for doing things differently. She's doing it already.
"You know that Texans cannot afford another four years of a governor who promises tax relief and delivers nothing," she said."Now is time to replace this do-nothing drugstore cowboy with one tough grandma," Strayhorn told a cheering crowd.
Strayhorn specifically criticized Perry for his decision today to veto the state's $35 billion education budget and call a new special session without having a plan on how to overhaul public school finance.
"A leader does not call a fifth special session — costing taxpayers another $1.5 million dollars — when he does not have a plan," she said. "A leader does not hold our children's education hostage and certainly would never even allow a discussion about schools not opening on time."
Strayhorn offered two specific suggestions on what she would do as governor. One is to pass her proposed program to pay for two years of college for every high school graduate. And the other is to legalize video lottery terminals with the revenue going to pay for a teacher pay raise.
Now, I don't think much of what she's proposing actually resonates with GOP primary voters. Gambling in particular is a no-no in the GOP platform, which is why Perry eventually flipflopped on the issue after championing it in 2004. Just about everything else mentioned here and elsewhere involves higher taxes (okay, on cigarettes) and more spending. How do you think that's going to go over with the masses?
What this just might be, however, is a decent strategy for winning a general election for Governor. More to the point, there's a lot of overlap (CHIP funding and TTC issues especially) between what CKS will be advocating and what Chris Bell already is talking about. Strayhorn's criticisms will amplify what Bell (or perhaps John Sharp) is saying. Since this race will get a lot more attention over the next nine months than anything else, that will be a boon to the Democrats when the focus shifts to include them, because what they'll be saying is stuff people have already heard. And maybe, just maybe, it'll sound as good coming from a Democratic mouth to those who voted for Strayhorn as it does now coming from hers.
It certainly doesn't have to play out this way. Perry will want to run the same kind of Republican-credentials campaign against CKS as he would have against KBH, and he may very well set the tone of the race, forcing her to respond more than attack. Similarly, there may be a divisive Democratic primary in which attention is not focused on the shortcomings of Rick Perry. There are probably other scenarios which don't go according to plan as well. But this could happen, and if it does, I at least will feel good about Democrats' chances from there.
Save Texas Reps says that Al Edwards may get a double-barreled primary challenge, from businessman Borris Miles (whom I've mentioned here before) and from attorney Marlen Whitley. Greg thinks a multi-candidate field serves the Edwards opposition well, and I tend to think he's right. I've had the pleasure of meeting Borris Miles and hope to have the same opportunity with Marlen Whitley soon. Best of luck to you both in your shared quest, gentlemen.
I'm not there, but you can pretend you are by reading about what other folks are up to at DemocracyFest in Austin. Here are some accounts by Karl-T, Hope, and PDiddie. The Radnofsky for Senate blog has several posts full of pictures from various caucuses at the event. And of course there's the official Kos at DemFest blog, which features some BlackBerry blogging (near and dear to my professional heart). So check 'em out and console yourself with the thought that at least you're inside where it's air conditioned.
It's been linked around elsewhere, but here for a limited time is the Texas Monthly Best and Worst Legislators of 2005 list. One thing to keep in mind as you read this: in general, they're measuring effectiveness, not ideology. Look at the Republican failures - Bohac, Grusendorf, Keel, King, and to a lesser extent Harris and Denny, all got dinged due to inability to do what they were supposed to do. The same is true for Gallegos and Barrientos on the Dem side. The one exception for each party, Talton and Edwards, are there to prove that stone craziness is always a qualification. Maybe it's a good thing that there was more incompetence than insanity this time around, though to be honest for some of these guys there were days where it was hard to tell the difference.
Anyway. The blurbs are served with the usual wit and occasional nastiness that we've all come to expect from this feature. Read and enjoy.
Republican Gov. Rick Perry today vetoed the state's $35.3 billion public education budget and called lawmakers back to the Capitol to finally find a solution to the school finance dilemma."I recognize this is a bold step, and frankly one I wrestled with," Perry said.
"Ultimately, I determined this action was necessary to ensure we fully fund our schools, provide needed reforms in the classroom, and pass real and substantial property tax relief," he said.
Without state funds, K-12 schools will struggle to educate Texas' 4.3 million students when the new school year starts in August.
Such a scenario could give lawmakers who have been uninspired to find a school finance solution the impetus they need to get the job done.
The special session, set to begin Tuesday, will mark the Legislature's fourth attempt to take up school finance in the last three years, including the last two regular sessions. Perry called a special session last spring, but it ended in failure.
Perry had said he would only call lawmakers back if House and Senate leaders were ready to agree on a plan.
House Speaker Tom Craddick said in an interview Friday with a Midland television station that leaders "have no agreement or no plan that we've agreed upon at all at this point."
This feels more like brinksmanship than boldness to me. We've talked about the concept of "as Craddick goes, so goes school finance reform" before, and we see here that Craddick hasn't changed his tune. Maybe Perry is determined to outmuscle him, or maybe he thinks he can get some of the same "for the good of the Party" help he must have gotten to get KBH to change her mind. Maybe Craddick is saying different things to Perry than he is to the newspapers. I don't know. I do know that Chris is right when he says "Perry better have consensus, or he's toast." I just don't see how he survives another failure. And just to make things more interesting, merely solving school finance reform probably isn't enough to satisfy some folks.
It's gonna be a fun 30 days, that's all I know. Oh, and just out of curiosity, what's the record for most special sessions called by a Texas governor? This one's #5 by my count.
That sound you heare is an awful lot of Republican dominoes not falling down.
Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison announced Friday that she will seek a third term in the U.S. Senate, declining to wage a difficult battle against Gov. Rick Perry in next year's GOP primary.Ms. Hutchison decided only Friday to stay put, ending months of speculation that she would challenge the incumbent in a fractious campaign for governor. She scheduled a news conference for June 27 to explain her decision.
"She's doing it because she thinks it's best for Texas," said spokesman Chris Paulitz.
Ms. Hutchison, who would be expected to cruise to re-election with little opposition, could rise to the No. 3 position in the GOP leadership in the Senate, said one person familiar with her thinking said was a factor.
[...]
Ms. Hutchison's decision has implications for a number of other Texas Republican politicians, whose plans depended on the domino effect a run for governor would have set in motion.
For instance, Rep. Henry Bonilla, R-San Antonio, has been raising money and rounding up support for months to run for Senate if she left the seat open. Mr. Bonilla instead will seek re-election.
So then. It's late and I'll have more to say tomorrow. For now, two thoughts:
1. Carole Keeton Strayhorn won't beat Rick Perry in the gubernatorial primary, but she will beat him up, and she'll do better than you might think.
2. Barbara Radnofsky is highly unlikely to get any more competition for the Democratic Senate nomination (at this point I'm not sure what Juan Garcia is up to). KBH hasn't really ever been challenged for reelection before, but I think she too is in for more of a battle than you might think.
I confess, I didn't think it was going to happen, but apparently it will:
Lawmakers will return to Austin Tuesday for a special session on school finance, state Sen. Florence Shapiro said today.Shapiro, a leader on the school funding issue, said Republican Gov. Rick Perry will announce the special session Saturday. Perry's office wouldn't confirm the announcement.
First things first: Why make the announcement on a Saturday?
The announcement would come on the same day Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn is expected to announce whether she will challenge Perry in the 2006 governor's race.
Rick Perry may be a lousy Governor, but as a politician he's not too shabby. If he's feeling any lower back pain right about now, it's probably because Strayhorn is sticking pins into a voodoo doll that looks like him.
Anyway. Here's Perry's gambit:
Gov. Rick Perry has told state leaders that he is prepared to veto all funding for public schools, forcing them to tackle the thorny issue in a special legislative session he intends to call, starting next Tuesday.Four people informed of the governor’s plans said that he is reacting to the inclination of the Legislature to act only under deadline pressure. They said he believes that wiping out education funding will spark real action.
By vetoing the section of the state budget dealing with public education – $33 billion over two years – Mr. Perry will force lawmakers to retool school financing, a goal that has eluded him for two years.
Mr. Perry will announce his decision Saturday, when he also will reveal his line-item vetoes in the state budget. The governor has pledged to whittle the spending plan from the nearly $140 billion that legislators approved.
Well, that's decisive, I guess. It strikes me as being roughly on par with the infamous zero-based budget Perry submitted before the 78th Lege began, in that it contains no clue as to what Perry wants, but it is taking action of a sort. I'll give him that.
It may well be, however, that the action he's taking is reckless.
Dewhurst and Craddick reacted coolly to the veto threat. A House source said House leaders are more willing to await a state Supreme Court decision on school finance, but two sources said Dewhurst believes legislative leaders are close to a deal on school finance.However, a Senate source said, "for three months, we've been telling you we're close. It's embarrassing."
A lobbyist familiar with the negotiations said Craddick is willing to wait.
"It's like two people living in a house. One wants to build a new house and the other is happy to continue living there until the place is condemned and they have to move," the lobbyist said.
We know what happened the last time a special session was called on school finance without there being a consensus of how to proceed in place. This sounds an awful lot to me like Tom Craddick hasn't seen anything to change his mind about compromising. Sure, if Perry gets an agreement out of this he looks great, but how big a loser will he be if it fails again?
Maybe Craddick's just playing coy. PinkDome passes on the rumor that "There is a 'fragile' deal on school finance in place, but the Gov. wants more time to negotiate with Craddick." Maybe there really is a deal almost in place and no one wants to say anything to jinx it, like a baseball team not telling a pitcher he's got a no-hitter going. I guess we'll find out next week.
The Chron picks up on the Sugar Land Kiddie Roundup story that we read about last week, and the main piece of news is that Sugar Land Mayor David Wallace is on board with the "it's not okay for a minor to be at a party when alcohol is present, even if they're not drinking" school of thought.
A parent, Rene Woodring, said she is fighting the charges because her daughter was not drinking."The police came in. They didn't check to see which kids were drinking. They just said everybody is getting a minor in possession" citation, she said.
Woodring went to the house in the 800 block of Sugar Creek shortly after the 10:47 p.m. raid and asked police to give sobriety tests to determine who had been drinking.
"They said, 'No, everybody is getting a ticket and you just have to go to court and we will sort it out there,' " Woodring said Thursday.
Woodring and other parents are also angry because those who received citations were not allowed to take part in extracurricular activities at school.
Sugar Land Mayor David Wallace said despite the view of defense attorneys and some parents, city officials think the officers had legal cause to enter the house and issue citations.
"We take a very strong stance on minors in possession and we take a strong stance on illegal and underage drinking," he said.
Wallace said some of the teens and their parents have filed complaints against police for what they call unprofessional or abusive behavior.
"We are working those and continuing to investigate those" complaints, he said.
Just one question, David: If your son or daughter had been at this party, and swore to you afterwards that he or she had not had anything to drink, would you agree that he or she deserved to be ticketed and to lose extracurricular privileges as a result? Being proximate to a crime is not the same as committing that crime. I don't understand why that point isn't uncontroversial.
The cases come to court on June 30. I'll be very interested to see what the judge thinks.
UPDATE: Here's what Jim Thompson thinks.
This parent sees two different issues there. First, the police behaved irresponsibly by simply issuing citations to all without trying to determine who had been drinking. In this situation I would fight the ticket on the grounds that there was no evidence of guilt.The other issue, though, would mean loss of privileges. My daughters know they are not to even hang around where alcohol is being consumed and no responsible adults are present to supervise. They know they are not to hang around where drugs are being used, period. (And if there was any doubt, Summer and Bryn, let there be no doubt now.) Breaking these rules would indeed result in loss of privileges. Period. End of story.
I agree completely. What punishment, if any, is to be handed out to the kids who were there but sober should be up to the parents, and that's because what they did might have been dumb, but it was not a crime. The police should not have gotten involved with those kids.
More bad news for the Texas Lottery.
The Texas Lottery Commission suspended sales of tickets for its Pick 3 game Thursday night after the lottery operator said there was a computer code problem associated with the game.Drawings for the game will continue and any tickets already purchased for Pick 3 drawings are valid, said lottery spokesman Robert Elrod. Drawings are held twice a day Monday through Saturday.
Elrod said officials don't know when GTECH Corp. will have the problem corrected. "We're hoping it is soon," he said.
He said he didn't know when sales will resume.
What problem did that "glitch" cause? How many tickets may have been affected? Are we sure that "glitch" won't affect other games? Sorry, this was all I could find in Google News at this time.
It sure has been a bad week for the Lottery, hasn't it? The Express News gave the Lottery Commission an editorial spanking on Wednesday, asking "Should the commission take some of the bucks it spends on high-priced television ads to prop up the prizes?" And Save Texas Reps says the problems are just beginning.
Now, with a special legislative session set to begin on June 21, House Investigations Committee chairman Kevin Bailey (D-Houston) is demanding more information about [Lottery Commissioner Reagan] Greer’s decision to tout make-believe jackpots in last week’s Lotto drawing. Kino Flores (D-Mission), chairman of the House committee that oversees the Lottery, is talking about public hearings into the latest Lottery scandals as well as the continuing controversy over a possibly illegal contract with a Las Vegas law firm.
(Special session? So far only the Express News is reporting this, though the Quorum Report mentioned it yesterday as well. Given that it's Friday and the 21st is Tuesday, I'm thinking there'll have to be a formal announcement today in order to ensure everyone can make it back to Austin on time. We'll see.)
Background on the Vegas contract is here. There's nothing that I've found in the news yet about any discord with Reagan Greer or calls for investigations, so who knows what may come of this. No matter what, though, it's been a lousy week for the Lottery.
The people who originally supported Metro's light rail plan the most strongly are not very happy with the new plan.
Two days after Metro's revised transit plan was announced, criticism was bubbling up in the minority communities whose votes for light rail tipped the scales in a close election."It's clearly a slap in the face," the Rev. William Lawson said of the Metropolitan Transit Authority's decision to begin with a guided busway system in his southeast Houston neighborhood and three others. Metro says these will be upgraded to light rail when ridership increases.
Four routes were designated for light rail in the November 2003 referendum that authorized the original plan.
The new plan, announced Monday, calls for only one immediate light rail route, from the University of Houston to near the Galleria.
"The largest percentage of Metro riders are people from the southeast quadrant," Lawson said, "and they needed the votes of those people to get the issue passed."
[...]
Minister Robert Muhammad, head of Nation of Islam's southwest region, who endorsed the 2003 Metro plan, said the change of plans "may be the straw that broke the camel's back politically. We can't trust anything that they say."
The referendum passed with 52 percent of the vote.
About 74 percent of low-income blacks and 80 percent of middle-income blacks voted for the Metro light rail plan.
So did 57 percent of Hispanics, compared with 45 percent of middle-income whites and 42 percent of upper-income whites.
It would not be at all difficult to spin a plausible conspiracy theory out of this, especially given (as Kevin noted in the comments here) that John Culberson has flipflopped on his support and now wants a re-vote. Culberson and DeLay tell Metro it can have their blessings to go forward if it'll agree to changes to its original plan which its biggest supporters won't like, then once that agreement is in hand they tell Metro it has to win another referendum because the original one didn't cover what's in the new plan. Brilliant, really, when you think about it. Of course, that would imply that such stalwart servants of the people's wishes as those two were being duplicitous, which as we know just simply cannot be.
Anyway. Politicians representing the now-overlooked areas are waiting to hear more.
"This is not helping Metro's credibility problem," said U.S. Rep. Gene Green, whose district includes the Metropolitan Transit Authority's North, Southeast and Harrisburg corridors.All three were to have light rail but are now scheduled for Bus Rapid Transit, with train-like buses riding on a future rail right-of-way until ridership increases enough to justify switching to rail. A new corridor, from the University of Houston to Greenway Plaza and the Galleria area, will get light rail from the start.
"None of us had an idea that there was a preference for one route over another," Green said. "We were told the North route was furthest along in planning and everything else."
A second Democratic congressman from Houston, Al Green, said he will reserve comment on the plan until he understands it more fully, but he added, "People are concerned that there may be some plan that is going to develop that would not be consistent with what they perceived it to be when they were casting their votes."
Frank Michel, spokesman for Mayor Bill White, said Metro President and CEO Frank Wilson will travel to Washington next week to brief the area's congressional delegation about the changes.
[...]
State Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, said it appears that "the west side of town won out over the right side of town.
"It's disappointing, but it's clear this is not the end of the discussion," he said.
Coleman is scheduled to talk to White, Wilson and Councilwoman Ada Edwards this afternoon, but said he wished that discussion had taken place before the plan was made public.
"I'm disappointed that people don't understand that you have to work a deal with everybody, regardless of the sticks people carry," Coleman said. "I hope that we can get some clarity on what the plan is."
Several area legislators, including U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, state Sen. Rodney Ellis, both Houston Democrats, and Commissioner El Franco Lee are all on the same page, according to Coleman.
We'll see what happens after these folks get briefed. If they're still unhappy, things could get ugly for Metro. This could be a test of how good a salesman Mayor White is.
There's a bit of a groundswell going on in the blogs for State Rep. Pete Gallego of Alpine to run for the State Senate seat currently held by Frank Madla of San Antonio - see Andrew D, In the Pink and PinkDome for more. I don't know what Sen. Madla's plans are, but I will certainly be happy to thank him for his many years of public service if he decides that those many years are finished. And if Sen. Madla decides to take a well-deserved retirement after those many years of public service, I will be more than happy to see Rep. Gallego, a dedicated and well-regarded member of the House Democratic Leadership team and the first freshman rep ever to be elected chair of the House Democratic Caucus, step up to replace him.
Gallego has apparently given at least some thought to this, as he recently attended a forum in San Antonio (Gallego is from Alpine in West Texas; Madla's district has most of its population in San Antonio but covers a vast swath of West Texas, including Gallego's district) attended by various business, education, and political leaders (including Sen. Madla) and according to an email I got from an attendee, "he was charming, he was charismatic and he left the crowd wanting more. The crowd laughed, they clapped, and they constantly nodded in agreement."
Gallego would have some competition for Madla's seat from San Antonio reps Carlos Uresti and Robert Puente (both of whom were also in attendance at that forum), but with all due respect to those gentlemen, Gallego is the best option. When I look down the road to 2010 or 2014, it's Pete Gallego whom I can see mounting a successful campaign for Governor or US Senator. But of course it all depends on whether or not Sen. Madla chooses to put a distinguished end to his many, many years of honorable public service. So I guess we'll just have to see what he does.
Nick Lampson is calling on supporters to send a message to the GOP Congressional leadership urging them to appoint an independent counsel to investigate current allegations against Tom DeLay. Ethics Committee Chair "Doc" Hastings has come under fire lately because of financial support he's gotten from DeLay minion Jack Abramoff. Basically, this is like asking a person to excuse himself or herself from a jury if he or she knows anyone involved in the trial. Seems straightforward enough, though I doubt it'll happen, since it's one of the reasons why the Ethics Committee is paralyzed, and that's a state of being which suits Tom DeLay just fine.
That doesn't mean you shouldn't complain about it, however, so click away and let your voice be heard. The Lampson press release on the subject is beneath the More link.
LAMPSON PETITION CALLS ON DELAY TO SUPPORT INDEPENDENT COUNSEL
Stafford, TX-Nick Lampson introduced an online petition today at (www.lampson.com) calling on Rep. Tom DeLay to support an independent counsel to resolve the controversy over DeLay's alleged fourth House ethics violation.
"Tom DeLay has repeatedly said he would like to move the investigative process along and get everything out in the open," Lampson said. "I agree, let's hear the truth and finally put an end, one way or the other, to the question over further ethics violations by Tom DeLay. The only way to do that is with a non-partisan, independent counsel."
The House Ethics Committee is at a standstill as DeLay ally Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Washington) tries to install his long time chief of staff, Ed Cassidy, as overseer of the investigation. Democrats on the committee have demanded an independent counsel be put in charge of the investigation. The rules of the House Ethics Committee stipulate that a non-partisan figure be placed in charge of such investigations. Rep. Doc Hastings is the man Tom DeLay chose to replace Republican Joel Hefley of Colorado as Chair of the Ethics Committee when Hefley angered DeLay by looking into the Majority Leader's alleged misconduct.
This petition (found at www.lampson.com
Lampson continued, "Independent counsels were called on to look into both former Speakers Jim Wright and Newt Gingrich when they had complaints before the Ethics Committee. If this process was good enough for them, it is good enough for Tom DeLay. I hope he will ask the committee to appoint an independent counsel so the residents of Southeast Texas can move forward with the issues, which are important to them rather than continue to feel embarrassment over these lengthy investigations and controversy."
TEXT OF PETITION: (Emails from petition signers are sent to website of Reps. DeLay, Hastings, and Speaker Hastert)
Dear
I urge you to support the appointment of an independent counsel to conduct the ethics investigation into Tom DeLay's activities. Clearly, the House Ethics Committee is compromised and cannot discharge its responsibilities fairly or objectively on its own.
If Tom DeLay is truly innocent of these ethics allegations, then for the good of the people of the 22nd District and for the good of the Congress, it's time for him to get the investigation underway. The only way to get to the bottom of this ethics investigation is to appoint an independent counsel, and to do it today.
Please restore honesty and integrity to Congress -- appoint an independent counsel to investigate Tom DeLay's ethics today!
I've noticed a common theme in the coverage of Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn's hot dog party this weekend. See if you can see what it is.
Strayhorn's chief political spokesman didn't return telephone calls Wednesday, but two sources close to the comptroller, who didn't want to be identified, said she plans to run for governor. There has been speculation she also is interested in the lieutenant governor's race should Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst seek another office, but the sources said she has decided to run for governor.
Morning News:
[O]ne veteran Republican operative said he expected her to announce a bid for governor. But others with close ties to the GOP said she could use the festive event Saturday to declare her candidacy for lieutenant governor.
Statesman:
A Strayhorn confidante and two political consultants in contact with advisers to Strayhorn said she intends to chase Perry in the March 7 Republican primary. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity, saying they didn't want retribution from Perry or Strayhorn for talking out of turn.And the confidante said Strayhorn could still shift her sights.
"It's no secret what she wants to say," he said. "She could change her mind 15 minutes before she stands up there."
Express News:
A consultant close to state Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn’s campaign said she intends to announce Saturday that she’s running for governor, making official her long-rumored challenge to incumbent Republican Gov. Rick Perry.The consultant, who is not in the campaign business and spoke on condition of being unnamed, said that based on what’s been conveyed by Strayhorn’s campaign, "I can say she’s going to announce for governor on Saturday."
Asked if there’s any doubt, the consultant said, "This might be a trial balloon. There is a remote possibility that this is a bait and switch, but that is not her style. There’s no coyness to what they do."
Yes, there sure are a lot of anonymous sources running around Austin these days. All I'm saying is would it kill them to compare notes before they go skulking off to leak to the press?
Well, I can speculate baselessly in print, too. And I say that regardless of her odds in the actual contest, there's no way Strayhorn announces for anything but Governor on Saturday. To do anything else, especially to announce for Lieutenant Governor, would be a major anti-climax, as in "We gave up an hour of our lives on a summer Saturday for that?" CKS hasn't been bashing Rick Perry for two years so she can run against David Dewhurst, or whatever second-tier Republicans jump in when Dewhurst announces he's running for KBH's open Senate seat. She thinks she's gonna win, and I think there's a small part of her that doesn't care if she doesn't. This is the race she wants, and it's the race she's gonna run. Period.
Of course, I could be totally wrong. That's the problem with baseless speculation. If everything I've just written turns out to be wrong, please pretend that it actually all came from an unnamed political consultant, OK?
(Idly amusing thought: Wouldn't it be funny if CKS announces that she's running for Senate?)
The Houston Press has a nice article on the proposal by local engineer Gonzalo Camacho to redo I-45 from Greenspoint to downtown as a tunnel. What impressed me in this article is how successful Camacho has been at getting skeptics to consider his plan on its merits:
Some of those challenges have been lived out in other U.S. cities, such as Boston, with its infamous Big Dig, the $14.6 billion undertaking completed in 2003 that was plagued by numerous delays and thousands of change orders."Big Dig" were the first words out of the mouth of Bob Eury, executive director of the Downtown Management District, when he heard of the plan, Camacho says.
"A lot of folks compare this to the Big Dig, which is preposterous," Camacho says. But, then again, "If someone wants to drop $14 billion in your backyard, you take it."
Eury met with Camacho and [tunnel expert Gerhard] Sauer and was impressed with the concept. He guardedly suggested such a concept could play a role in the future of Houston transportation. "What we might have thought was totally out of the question might not be as out of the question, maybe," Eury said. "That does not necessarily mean it's feasible, but turning it the other way around, it means it's something that could be explored."
With an outside-the-box proposal like this, simply not getting thrown out of the office and labelled a crank is a big deal. It'll take a lot more than that to convince TxDOT, of course, but just getting people to think that maybe this sort of thing really could be done is important.
What would it take to make it happen?
In the last few months, Camacho has shopped the tunneling idea to folks at the Hines Corporation, Metro, the Houston-Galveston Area Council and HVJ Construction. But his support has grown most noticeably where it is most needed: in the political sphere. Councilman [Adrian] Garcia has met with Camacho several times and even arranged the meeting with [TxDOT engineer Gary] Trietsch. State Representative Jessica Farrar provided the forum in April for Camacho to make his first public presentation. And the most recent neighborhood meeting had an aide to U.S. Representative Sheila Jackson Lee down front taking notes.Though most agree the tunnel concept's chances are slim to none, no one is writing off an upset, either. "Things like this tend to get adopted when a visionary elected official takes an interest in it," [executive director of Harris County's Public Infrastructure Department Art] Story says. "It needs a champion."
So who knows?
One thing I want to add to this story:
There's a little something for everyone in Camacho's solution. Sinking a portion of I-45 into a tunnel eliminates the need for more right-of-way, the primary fear of frontline homeowners. A tunnel could be constructed faster than a typical highway and more cheaply than a depressed or stacked system -- though a traditional flatland expressway is still the cheapest. Eliminating on- and off-ramps would make driving safer. And air treatment would help clean the skies by removing up to 90 percent of the solids in tunnel exhaust.
When I first read that paragraph, I stumbled on the bit about "eliminating on- and off-ramps". Surely this wasn't envisioned as an express route to downtown, right? I emailed Camacho about this, and also about what would happen above ground to the existing businesses that line the service road to I-45. Here's his response (taken from two separate emails):
Eliminating on/off ramps means that the tunnels will be "limited access" meaning that the tunnels will not have as many on/off ramps. Therefore traffic will have a clear path for longer distances without having the interference of vehicles getting off and on the tunnel.[...]
There are three segments along I-45 that have different environments: Downtown area, I-10 to 610 historic residential, and north of 610 which is commercial.
The basic idea is to turn the existing at-grade highway into a boulevard, two or three lanes in each direction which will provide as much access as there is now and probably at higher speeds. The design is fairly simple but complex to explain.
In any case, there could be three different design alternatives for the at-grade boulevard, depending on each area.
Cost is still a concern, and the pragmatist in me is kind of hoping for another, not quite as visionary, plan for TxDOT to consider in addition to this as an alternative its just-widen-the-heck-out-of-it approach, but I have to say, the more I hear about this concept the more I find to like. If you haven't already, check out the PowerPoint slide show on the tunnel (remember, it's 8.2 MB in size) and see what you think.
UPDATE: Sorry to post this so late, but the Art Official Intelligence show on 90.1 KPFT right now is talking about the tunnel, among other things. I'll try to see if I can find an archive to the show later on.
Well, well. A Republican candidate for the to-be-vacated SD3 seat has accused outgoing Sen. Todd Staples of asking him to drop out in favor of another candidate.
Saying that "back room politics are alive and well in East Texas," state Senate District 3 candidate David Kleimann, of Willis, claimed Tuesday that Sen. Todd Staples, R-Palestine, has asked him to drop out of the race because the seat has been promised to another candidate.Officials with the Staples campaign called the allegation "ridiculous."
During a press conference in the Montgomery County Commissioners Courtroom, Kleimann, standing with his wife Kim and daughter Meredith, read a prepared statement in front of approximately two dozen supporters and spectators, saying that he had been asked by many people in East Texas to run for Staples' Senate seat.
"However, last week, on Tuesday, June 7, at around 11:30 in the morning," Kleimann said, "I received a phone call from Senator Todd Staples. He asked me to drop out of this race. He said this Senate seat, and I quote, 'has been promised to another man.'
"According to Staples, who is not going to run for the Senate again, he and many in Austin have already hand-picked his replacement."
[...]
Kleimann stated that the man promised Staples' seat is Robert Nichols, of Jacksonville, who recently said he is considering throwing his hat in the ring if Staples runs for Agriculture Commissioner.
Speaking forcefully, Kleimann said, "We're going to let the people's voice be heard. Why are we a Republican-controlled House and Senate and still having tax increases?"
[...]
Kleimann was obviously angry by the alleged phone call from Staples.
"I've worked with him on many issues; we think alike on many issues," he said. "This is a stab in the back. I told him, 'How could I possibly back out?'
"I was shocked."
[...]
Nichols, appointed to the Texas Transportation Commission by then-Gov. George W. Bush and reappointed by Perry, is the owner of Robert Nichols Industries and has served as a Jacksonville City Council member and its mayor. He denied any knowledge of Staples promising him the SD3 seat.
"That's not a conversation I was privy to," he said. "I've never heard of elected seats being promised to anyone. That would definitely be an improper thing to say. It would be hard for one to believe Senator Staples would say that."
In a previous Courier story about Kleimann and SD3 candidate Frank Denton, a Conroe businessman, Staples' chief of staff, Shannon Rusing, said it would be "inappropriate" for Staples to comment on any SD3 candidate since he had not yet formally announced his candidacy for Agriculture Commissioner.
But in a recent story about Nichols published in the Jacksonville Progress, Staples was quoted as saying, "Robert Nichols has a distinguished record of accomplishment for Texas. ... His leadership on local and state issues would make him an extremely productive voice in the Texas Senate."
PinkDome picked this up from the Quorum Report, and they have a followup here. And you thought the GOP gubernatorial primary was going to be where all the action will be.
I have to admit, though all the recent talk about the Yankees moving to a new stadium has always given me hives, this plan strikes me as being not so bad.
The New York Yankees unveiled plans to build a $800 million ballpark next to their current home in the Bronx that would give baseball's most successful franchise the most expensive stadium.The proposed ballpark would have fewer seats than the 82- year-old Yankee Stadium and triple the number of luxury suites. The Yankees would pay for it with tax-exempt financing, and New York City would contribute about $135 million toward park land in the area and improvements to the building site.
[...]
The current Yankee Stadium, home to a team that won a record 26 World Series, will be used by youth league and softball teams after most of the stands are torn down. Built in 1923, it is the third oldest park in Major League Baseball. Only Boston's Fenway Park (1912) and Chicago's Wrigley Field (1914) are older.
The new stadium will look like the original Yankee Stadium, which was built in 1923 and renovated in 1976. It will have a limestone facade, no roof and would seat 51,800 to 54,000 and have 50 to 60 luxury boxes. The Yankees' current home seats 56,937 and has about 18 luxury boxes.
The state will pay $70 million to add 4,000 parking spots, and will keep the parking revenue, Bloomberg and Pataki said.
Plans also call for the development of a "Yankee Village" with a hotel, retail stores and restaurants in the area.
"Clearly their value is going to go up and their ability to drive new revenue streams from having 50 to 60 luxury suites from the 18 they have now," Gordon Saint-Denis, head of the Sports Advisory and Finance Group at CIT Group Inc. in New York., said in an interview.
There's a lot to like, or at least not a lot to hate, about this proposal. The team stays in the Brox where it belongs. The original field lives on in a way that gives back to the community. Most of the tab is paid for by the team. The new design is faithful to the old stadium. Maybe I'd feel differently if I still lived in New York and expected to attend games with some regularity, but at a distance, this plan doesn't seem to suck. Am I crazy to think this?
By the way, just an idle thought: George Steinbrenner turns 75 this July 4. The post-Steinbrenner era is coming, and whatever you may think of him, things will not be the same without him.
Regretfully, I will not be able to make it to DemocracyFest this weekend in Austin due to other commitments. Looks like there will be a lot of interesting stuff going on, and I personally always enjoy a little networking opportunity, but it's not to be. I'm hoping this isn't a one-off, so those of you who are attending, please make sure it's a success.
There should be some running commentary at the Kos at Demfest blog, so I'll be checking in there periodically. Friday afternoon is a candidates caucus, which ought to be fun. They're still hoping to reach a couple of other candidates, so if you're involved with a campaign and will be in Austin this weekend, check that out and get in touch with them. You can use me as an intermediary if need be, just drop me a note and let me know.
So I guess we'll find out if Phil Jackson can coach a team that isn't already playoff caliber. To be honest, I kind of think he will make a difference, though how much of that will be due to Kobe Bryant accepting the wisdom that a team consists of five players on the floor is unclear to me. I missed loathing the Lakers this year more than I thought I would. It's just too bad that the Celtics aren't what they used to be - now there was a team that was fun to hate. Anyway, either Zenmaster Phil gives us all a reason to hate the Lakers again (yes, pitying them was nice, but it gets old quickly), or the Jackson/Bryant remix implodes like a matter/antimatter collision. That's a win-win in my book.
There's more coverage today of the new Metro plan. I'm kind of amused by the calls, in the article and elsewhere for a do-over vote on the issue, if only because it would put John "Bill White is da man!" Culberson in an awkward position. You just can't vote on some things too often, I guess.
I'm sympathetic to the folks in Afton Oaks, who are worried about losing their trees and median on Richmond Ave. I feel reasonably confident that there's a way to avoid too much aesthetic damage. Westpark really is the best road to run this down, except for the inconvenient fact of it terminating at Kirby. I don't know what the answer is, but I'm sure there will be plenty of suggestions.
If I had one wish for this plan, or any plan, it would be to include a real option for north-south travel inside Loop 610. Look at any map of Houston, and you'll see that primarily due to the location of Memorial Park, there's only one road that goes all the way from the South Loop to the North Loop, and that's Shepherd/Greenbriar. Speaking as someone who lives in the Heights and works near the Astrodome, I have to do a lot of driving on Shepherd/Greenbriar and Kirby, and it's just hell, even without any godawful construction projects gumming things up. These roads are crowded, there's lots of stoplights to contend with, and there's no relief in sight because there's absolutely no room to do any widening. The only way to ease the congestion is going to be giving people non-car options. The Downtown/Galleria route is great for those going east-west - and make no mistake, the non-highway arteries there are clogged up, too, though at least there's more of them along with 59 - but we need more than that. I just hope we get it sometime soon.
Thus sayeth the Quorum Report:
Reliable sources tell QR that Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn will announce her candidacy for the Republican nomination as Governor this Saturday.We have not yet received direct confirmation from her campaign office but have enough confidence in our sources to run with this story.
Plans may change, but what we have confirmed are that calls are being made giving supporters a heads up about the pending announcement.
Who'd have thought Strayhorn would beat KBH to the punch? I suppose that's the downside to doing the world's longest political snakedance.
Lots of commentary already - Houtopia, Burnt Orange, In the Pink, PerryVsWorld. The consensus, and it's one I generally agree with, is that having both CKS and KBH in the race benefits Rick Perry, as the two women are going to be competing for similar voters. Still, though, as with the Kinky situation, both of them will be attacking Perry, and both of them will give any wavering Perry supporter an alternative that he or she wouldn't have had otherwise. And who knows, we might actually see a little substance in the debate now, since CKS has actual policy preference differences.
Does Strayhorn's entry into the race make KBH less likely to get in? I kind of doubt it - I suspect KBH thinks she can win against anybody - but as PerryVsWorld points out, she would be potentially leaving a fairly high leadership post behind if she comes back to Austin. I suppose there are worse problems to have.
In a way, I'm almost surprised that Strayhorn decided to run for Governor, even though she's been sort of running for it since 2003. All the KBH speculation has shunted her out of the spotlight, and even though she generated some buzz by being first to market, much of the chatter has been about how this benefits Perry and KBH. It's very much as if the spectators expect her to be nothing more than a spoiler. Either she knows something the rest of us don't, or she's in for a rude surprise.
UPDATE: Here's an early wire report.
Republican Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn has reserved a prime piece of downtown property for a Saturday event, fueling speculation she's preparing to announce her 2006 campaign plans for governor or lieutenant governor.An invitation to Saturday's outdoor event just north of the Capitol promises a "major announcement," complete with free hot dogs, drinks and music. Strayhorn, a 65-year-old maverick within the GOP, has long been considered a potential candidate for one of the state's top two posts.
Calls to Strayhorn's office by The Associated Press were not immediately returned.
I can't say whether that "governor or lieutenant governor" bit is mere speculation or more solidly grounded, but I suppose we'll find out soon enough.
Capitol Inside has a big overview of many potential state house races, some of which we're now familiar with and some of which are new to me. Here's the meat of it, with some comments at the end:
Dallas Democrat Harriet Miller, who's planning a rematch against [Tony] Goolsby, gave the veteran lawmaker an unexpected scare last year in a general election race that her party had not targeted. Lubbock City Councilwoman and former school board member Linda Deleon has been encouraged by Democrats to seek [Carl] Isett's seat and is reportedly taking a serious look at running. Democrats also think they have a potential winner in Ellen Cohen, who's prepared to take a leave of absence from her job as president of the Houston Area Women's Center in order to campaign full-time for [Martha] Wong's seat in west Houston.Former College Republicans of Texas president Andy Smith is weighing a possible campaign as a Democrat against Republican State Rep. Bill Keffer of Dallas. Refugio City Councilman Rene Mascorro may seek the Democratic nomination for the right to challenge State Rep. Geanie Morrison of Victoria in the fall of 2006. Democrat Morris Meyer, an Arlington high tech engineer, might seek his party's nomination in hopes of taking on State Rep. Bill Zedler of Arlington in an attempted comeback from a 2004 defeat at the hands of powerful Republican U.S. Rep. Joe Barton. Nacona Mayor Paul Gibbs might shift his sights to the House in a possible campaign for the seat held by Republican State Rep. Rick Hardcastle of Vernon after losing last year in a race against State Senator Craig Estes.
Karen Felthauser, a Round Rock educator who ran against State Rep. Mike Krusee as a write-in candidate last fall, plans to try again in 2006 as a candidate for the Democratic Party. In another potential Williamson County race, Democrat Jim Stauber of Liberty Hill is considering a possible rematch against Republican State Rep. Dan Gattis of Georgetown.
Democratic strategists consider Goolsby and Wong to be among the top five Republican incumbents on their list of targets in 2006. The Democrats also list State Reps. Joe Nixon of Houston and Todd Baxter of Austin among Republican House members they believe to be most vulnerable in next year's general election. An Austin House seat represented by Republican State Rep. Terry Keel has also been declared a major priority for Democrats in the wake of the incumbent's announcement last week that he plans to run for a seat on an appellate court instead. The names of a half-dozen Democrats - including the sons of well-known fathers, Jason Earle and J. Pete Laney - have been tossed in the ring of possible candidates for Keel's seat. Jimmy Evans, the son of a former legislator and high-profile lobbyist, and real estate developer Bill Welch are among the Republicans with eyes on the open House seat in Austin.
Democrats have high hopes for Deleon in Lubbock if she decides to challenge Isett. Deleon, a concrete company owner who spent 30 years working for Southwestern Bell in Lubbock, is serving her first term on the city council after 18 years as a school district trustee. To have a shot at the five-term incumbent, Deleon would have to fare exceptionally well among minority voters in a district where about 44 percent of the voters are either Hispanic or African-American. But she would also have to attract a significant number of Anglo voters to have a chance against Isett, a CPA who has done reasonably well with minority voters and hasn't been held below 66 percent by Democratic challengers since his initial race for the seat in 1996. While the Hispanic population has been growing in Isett's district, Republican statewide candidates have still won two out of every three votes in the past two elections.
Goolsby and Wong, however, might have more cause for concern. Miller held Goolsby, a 16-year House veteran, to about 53 percent of the general election vote in 2004 without substantial help from the party machinery. An infusion of resources might help her narrow the gap even more in a district that's voted about 60 percent Republican in the past two statewide elections. In Houston, Cohen might have an even better chance against Wong in a district with the state's highest concentration of gay and lesbian voters. Wong, a former city council member, had a mixed record during the regular session on votes affecting that segment of the population.
Democrats also have fielded a potential candidate against one of their own - Houston State Rep. Al Edwards - who angered other Democratic legislators as the only member of the minority party to vote with Republicans on the school finance and tax bills this year. Edwards, who's been a member of the Legislature for 26 years, could face primary opposition from Houston businessman Boris Miles.
While potential Democratic challengers appear to have a head-start in House races, Republicans say they will have viable candidates in races against several Democratic House incumbents including three freshmen - State Reps. Hubert Vo of Houston, Mark Strama of Austin and David Leibowitz of San Antonio - who knocked off GOP incumbents last year. Republicans also expect to have well-armed candidates for several seats held by Democrats in East Texas as well.
My thoughts:
- Any Democrat who can win in Lubbock County (75% for GWB in 2004) is a star in my book. Isett won with 68% last time, so this is a steep hill to climb, but one that's worth trying to climb, especially if it's an increasingly non-Anglo district.
- If Goolsby's district really went 60% GOP in November, then I need to put it on my list for precinct data analysis. Whatever Harriet Miller did last time, I hope she can do it again.
- Speaking of analyses, I did one at Morris Meyer's request for Bill Zedler's district. You can see the spreadsheet here. Short version: This will be another tough challenge, as the district is at best 60/40, much as it was in 2002, with a lot less variance in performance levels for different candidates. On the other hand, Meyer now has campaign experience, good name recognition, and a much lower fundraising target. With a little luck and some shoe leather, this one can be competitive.
- Not mentioned here as they were before are some of the reps who are on Tom Craddick's leadership team. This may be because (other than Geanie Morrison) they don't have prospective opponents yet, or it may be because the Dems' focus has altered, I'm not sure. Morrison's district is pretty strongly Republican (70% for GWB in Victoria County, 61% GOP statewides in District 30 in 2002) and she hasn't had a Democratic challenger in the last two cycles, but hometown boy John Sharp won 56% there in 2002, so it's at least possible that someone could make a race of this.
- I feel pretty good about the three Democratic freshmen's chances in 2006. The East Texas reps, some of whom had close calls last year, are more of a concern to me. If things continue as they have been, I fear some of them may be the last Dem to hold those seats for awhile.
- No mention of Robert Pham, the purported challenger to Joe Nixon. I'm not sure what's up with that.
- According to the business card he gave me last Friday, there are two Rs in Borris Miles' first name.
I mentioned before that I recently had the pleasure of meeting Janette Sexton, who is running to unseat Robert Talton in HD144. I asked her to write a short introductory piece about herself for my audience, and I present it to you here now, reproduced beneath the fold. You can also consult this fact sheet (Word doc) that she's put together about herself, and if you like what you see, you can send her a donation to help her get up and running. She will be having her first fundraiser in July - I'll pass that info along when I have it.
I am a woman, a mother, and a grandmother. I consider myself an ordinary person who feels called to action during extraordinary times. My three main campaign issues are education, the environment, and affordable healthcare for all, but I also have strong convictions about campaign finance reform, insurance reform, a woman’s right to choose, an increase in the minimum wage, and equality for all Texas' citizens (proponent on all issues).
The bottom line is that my opponent is attempting to legislate his prejudices into law. He was a co-author of House Joint Resolution 6 (HJR 6), the Anti-Gay Texas Marriage Amendment, which would write unequal treatment for gay and lesbian Texans into our Texas Constitution by permanently banning marriage for gay and lesbian couples. It would deny thousands of Texas families access to health care, fair inheritance and survivor rights, and the ability to make medical decisions for loved ones, but I feel sure you are well aware of the details of this amendment.
On March 9, my opponent voted for House Bill 2, the abominable education bill that could have been the beginning of the unraveling of public education in Texas. Companion bill, House Bill 3, did little to mitigate the shortfall in funding for our children, their schools, and their teachers. The bill proposed raising taxes on those who could least afford an increase and protected the wealthy. We are fortunate that the education and school funding bills did not pass.
This was the year Republicans in Texas were supposed to have proved they could govern, but, instead, they failed miserably. We can do better, and we must do better. Our Democratic legislators in Austin need reinforcement. Each additional Democratic vote is crucial. I want to be on the front lines...voting to keep bad bills from passing and, hopefully, putting forth legislation that will benefit my constituents, as well as all citizens of Texas.
I am in this race to win, but it will be difficult to unseat an entrenched Republican incumbent. Talton is in a leadership position, and I believe he is a deacon in his church. If the Republican machine believes Talton is vulnerable--and he is-- it will pour millions into his race. I will need to raise a minimum of $100,000-150,000 to run a credible campaign.
I want to be the voice of the under-represented in my district and throughout Texas: the old, the infirm, the young, and the working poor. I want to be your voice!
You may have read on one of the other fine Texas progressive blogs out there that Chris Bell is hoping to raise $30K online by midnight tomorrow. (What's significant about June 15? It's the one year anniversary of his ethics complaint filing against you know who.) He's passed the $25K mark, so you can help him bring it home.
We had another Bell conference call last night, this time organized by his campaign. Some previous attendees and some new folks were on, and we had a good spirited conversation once again. Eileen has a good overview, fellow first-time caller StoutDem was favorably impressed by Chris' outreach, and the Panhandle Truth Squad got some followup answers on their education questions. I expect there will be more of these, and not just for Bell - if you've not gotten any emails about them previously, please drop me a note so I can make sure you're notified in the future.
Meanwhile, Barbara Radnofsky emails to say:
The second quarter of this Texas US Senate campaign is closing. As I reach this milestone and nearly 200 trips since the beginning of this journey, I've raised $450,000 towards my end of June goal of $500,000.Your contribution toward my half-million dollar goal will help me to run a strong and vigorous campaign.
Please help me with a donation to the address below before the end of June. The need really is urgent...
I've added the URLs to her online secure donation site, but if you prefer the old-fashioned kind of giving, send your checks to
Barbara Ann Radnofsky for US Senate Committee, Inc.
PO Box 550377
Houston, TX 77055-0377
In our last episode, we talked about the Texas Lottery's funding shortfalls, and how it had exaggerated a jackpot total because it didn't have the sales receipts to cover it. Today, the Chron writes that the shortfalls are ongoing.
The Texas Lotto jackpot has fallen short of the amount advertised on three occasions since November because of lower-than-anticipated ticket sales, a lottery spokesman said Monday.Sales are running almost 26 percent behind last year's pace, said spokesman Bobby Heith, blaming the problem on increased competition for the Texas gambler's money.
Overall lottery sales, including tickets for scratch-off games, are up almost 11 percent over fiscal 2004, he added.
[...]
Wednesday's shortfall prompted lottery officials, for the first time, to freeze the advertised jackpot at $8 million for last Saturday's drawing, which also went unclaimed.
Normally, estimated Lotto jackpots are increased when there is no winner.
According to Lottery Commission calculations, sales plus interest for last Saturday's drawing totaled $8.2 million, enough to have covered a winner. Heith said lottery officials also are confident the $9 million jackpot advertised for this Wednesday's drawing is solid.
"Once it (the jackpot) rolls to $9 million, we begin to see the sales increase," he said.
The lottery was created by the Legislature and approved by Texas voters in 1991. Total lottery sales, including the Lotto and scratch-off games, reached a peak of $3.7 billion in fiscal 1997. After declining, they climbed back to $3.4 billion in fiscal 2004 after the Legislature approved Texas' participation in the multistate Mega Millions game.
Sales for Texas Lotto alone, however, dropped about 9 percent from fiscal 2003 to fiscal 2004 — to $477.8 million. And Lotto sales for the first 40 weeks of fiscal 2005, which began Sept. 1, are down almost 26 percent, compared to the first 40 weeks of last year, Heith said.
He blamed the decline on increased gambling opportunities in neighboring states, including casinos in Louisiana and New Mexico. The multistate Mega Millions game also may be cutting into Texas Lotto.
My first reaction to all this is "boy, it sure is a good thing we don't actually rely on this for education funding". Beyond that, what did we all expect? The number of people who gamble is limited, and yes, they have many options to squander their money. Among other reasons, this is why we should all laugh at those who claim that slot machines at horse tracks will generate billions for the state. We're just resizing the pie slices, not growing the pie.
The Texas Lottery Commission has a long history of miniscandals and other questionable activities. Ken Rodriguez gives a taste, as does a recent Dallas Observer piece, reproduced here on Lotto watchdog Dawn Nettles' site. Even if I didn't think the Texas Lottery was a bad idea from the get-go, I'd be pretty skeptical of anything these guys say or do.
Which US Senator has the lowest approval rates of them all? Give it up for local boy and box turtle enthusiast John Cornyn and his anemic 40/36 ratings!
He's not a one-hit wonder, either. As you can see on this aggregate page, in the table at the bottom where the Senators are sorted by approval rating, he clocked in at 39% last month, where only Florida's Mel Martinez trailed him. Martinez obviously had a better May than Cornyn did, as he leapfrogged our junior Senator and two other colleagues in the rankings.
Oh, well. Like his equally unpopular buddy in Austin, Cornyn has never cared about his image, and it shows. Keep up the good work, Senator, and maybe 2008 will be as much fun as 2006 is shaping up to be. Survey link via Kos.
I've now read about the new Metro plan, and I think it's pretty good. At the very least, I think Mayor White deserves a lot of credit for getting Reps. Culberson and DeLay in harmony with the program. I hope we all remember later on what nice things Rep. Culberson had to say about Mayor White's fiscal stewardship.
I wish there'd be something along I-10 from downtown, as that would be the most convenient location for me to get on board (though the proposed commuter rail coming in along US 290 will pass relatively nearby), and I'm really sorry to see the proposed route to Intercontinental Airport get pushed back, but if there are now fewer political obstacles to overcome I can accept that. What I care about is that it gets done.
More Chron coverage can be found here, here, and here. Tory Gattis and Steve Bates both give it a qualified thumbs-up, while Kevin...well, let's just say he's not a very happy camper.
Via Matt, I see that John Courage is officially running for the CD21 seat currently held by Lamar "Lapdog" Smith. I am aware of rumors of other candidates, but for now, at least we know the Democrats will have a good person on the ballot.
Meanwhile, Max Sandlin's former campaign manager left the following comment on this BOR post about where he might run in 2006:
It is highly likely that Max Sandlin will be on the 2006 ballot. However, he will not be a candidate for State Senate.Max believes there are numerous excellent Democratic possibilities for each district including Jim McReynolds, Chuck Hopson and Mike Head in the 3rd and Tom Ramsay as well as Paul Sadler in the 1st -- just to name a few.
Personally, Max will continue to gauge the potential of a statewide race and he would certainly consider another run for Congress should the Supreme Court restore some sanity to the Texas redistricting process.
In any case he is certainly not through with public service or Texas politics and will continue to be a forceful advocate for Democratic candidates.
He asked me to thank all of you for your kind thoughts and inspired analysis.
If you're thinking statewide, Max, we could use someone in the Lt. Gov. slot. Just something to consider.
Elsewhere, there are names and rumors flying about all over the place. Here's the Democratic lineup so far as I know it. Feel free to make additions or corrections in the comments.
At the statewide level, we have two confirmed candidates (Radnofsky for Senate, Van Os for AG) and one all-but-confirmed (Chris Bell for Guv). Various others, including Max Sandlin as noted above, may or may not be looking at this race or that, though it's pretty much all the top tier races that get the buzz. I've heard nothing about any Supreme Court or Court of Criminal Appeals canidates, and other than a nascent grassroots effort to draft Charlie Stenholm for Ag Commish, nada on the Commissioner seats.
For Congress, we have a few entries.
- CD10: According to an email from Carl Whitmarsh, the Cy-Fair Area Democratic Club has a meeting on July 7 for which one of the speakers will be "Ted Ankrum, a local resident who is considering a possible candidacy for U.S. Congressional District 10". That's the first I've heard of anything here.
- CD14: I'd been hearing about a challenge here. The Quorum Report has a blurb that says "Independent Cattlemens Association Executive Director Shane Sklar is taking a serious look in the race."
- CD21: John Courage for sure, possibly others.
- CD22: Nick Lampson for sure, with Gordon Quan still contemplating.
- CD31: Mary Beth Harrell, an attorney from Killeen, is supposedly in.
It's unclear yet whether State Rep. Richard Raymond will take a crack at CD23, though I do feel confident that someone will run.
Not too shabby so far. We still need challengers in (at least) CD02, CD07, and CD32, but this is a good start.
Bupkis so far in the State Senate. SD17 is sure to draw someone, and SD03 is going to be open, but that's all I know at this time. Quite the opposite in the State House, where there's already a swarm of potential and committed challengers. I've already talked about many of them - you can browse the Election 2006 archive to see who I've mentioned up till now. Again, I think this is a great start, and I know there will be more.
So who am I missing?
UPDATE: Well, for one, there's Kevin Anderson in CD04.
To clarify: My intent here was to focus on Dem challengers to GOP incumbents, so I skipped CD28, which may or may not have State Rep. Raymond, former US Rep. Ciro Rodriguez, or both in a contested primary against Rep. Henry Cuellar. Obviously, I will have an interest in that race if it happens.
Here's a story from the weekend that deserves some attention.
Gov. Rick Perry is lending his endorsement to an organization established by two indicted associates of U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay that is promoting amending the Texas Constitution to ban gay marriage.Perry, who this week was quoted as saying that gay war veterans returning to Texas should live elsewhere if they wish to marry, touts the gay-marriage ban in a video link on a Web site operated by the Texas Marriage Alliance.
The Web site was set up by a Vienna, Va., consulting firm operated by John Colyandro and Jim Ellis, the DeLay associates under indictment in Texas on charges of violating campaign-finance laws during the 2002 election. Both are charged with money laundering, and Colyandro also faces 13 counts of unlawful acceptance of a corporate political contribution.
Luis Saenz, who heads the Republican governor's 2006 re-election campaign, said there is nothing improper about Perry's involvement with the organization.
"The governor was asked to help, and he helped," Saenz said.
It sure is nice of Rick Perry to help out a couple of guys like Colyandro and Ellis who are going through a rough patch, isn't it? After the last two legislative sessions, I was beginning to think he completely lacked the ability to empathize. I'm relieved to know that there really is some form of downtroddenness that tugs at Rick Perry's heartstrings.
Anyway. Marc Olivier has more on the cause that Rick Perry is helping to support. Check it out.
I can't believe I missed this story last week, but fortunately Jonathan (who can use words like "metaethics" in a blog post without looking silly) caught it.
Spurred on by Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" at the 2004 Super Bowl, county officials have fine-tuned policies in the hope that similar incidents can be prevented in the future.Commissioners Court was informed today that promoters will sign contracts that highlight phrases such as one requiring that performers not use facilities for any "immoral purpose."
Promoters will be required to carry at least $1 million in insurance to cover lawsuits that may result from a performer's actions, said Willie Loston, director of the Harris County Sports & Convention Corp., which oversees Reliant Park.
The Sports & Convention Corp. developed some of the slight policy changes in March and April, more than a year after Jackson bared her breast during a Super Bowl halftime performance at Reliant Stadium on Feb. 1, 2004.
Shortly after Jackson's performance, Commissioner Steve Radack called for adding a "morality clause" to the contracts of promoters who bring in acts to Reliant Park.
[...]
Loston said the Sports & Convention Corp.'s board and SMG-Reliant Park, a national company that manages Reliant Park and other sports and convention venues worldwide, chose not to impose a Draconian morality clause.
First, immorality, indecency and vulgarity are subjective concepts, and certain behaviors are protected under First Amendment freedom of speech provisions, Loston said.
Second, Reliant Park would lose business and some performers would choose to perform in another town or at another venue if the county imposed an extraordinarily strict morality clause, he said.
"We talked about how restrictive can we get and still be competitive," he said. "We would put ourselves at a competitive disadvantage to Minute Maid Park, Toyota Center and Cynthia Woods (Pavilion)."
It's nice to know that even the most perfervid fulminations for "decency" can still take a back seat to the almighty dollar. It's also nice to know that the reason this took so long to get implemented is that it was backburnered in favor of more pressing business. Apparently, Commissioner's Court can adjourn for the summer, since all of its real work must be done for now.
I can't wait to see the first litigation over the question of just what constitues an "immoral purpose" for the use of Reliant Stadium. Personally, I'd include any reunion tours by the Oak Ridge Boys, but I admit that I may be in the minority with that interpretation.
On the very day that I confess that The Night Stalker scared the bejeezus out of me as a kid, I discover that my TiVo has gone and recorded three episodes off of the SciFi channel for me. I'm pretty sure I won't be freaked out in the way that my eight-year-old self was back in the day, but hey, you never know. I'll report back after I've had a chance to sample these recordings.
I've found a story in the Chron archives which definitively answers the question about the existing cameras at certain intersections inside the Loop. Basically, Kevin was right - they're there to facilitate traffic flow along certain roads, though they're not specifically tied to the US59 roadwork. Here's an excerpt:
The city began using the Video Image Vehicle Detection System more than a year ago in the Reliant Park and Texas Medical Center areas. Since then, the number of cameras in the city has expanded, and Montrose, Westheimer and Richmond are three main roads where they are prominently featured."We have a few dozen of them around now and we'll be installing more throughout the coming months," said city of Houston Public Works spokesman Wes Johnson. "We've resynchronized all of the major corridors in Houston and as we get more money to install more of the cameras , we'll do so."
The city's Traffic Signal and Timing Optimization Program began in January as part of Mayor Bill White's plan to increase mobility throughout the city.
According to Public Works' Web site, the TSTOP program will affect more than 1,500 traffic signals in the city on 85 corridors, in areas including downtown, Midtown, Uptown and the Medical Center.
[...]
The cameras are used to count cars that go through light cycles at intersections during off-peak hours, so the city can potentially make programming changes at those intersections if they're needed.
The cameras can also prompt the traffic signals to change based on who is waiting at each light.
Four cameras are in place at each of the intersections, one monitoring traffic flow coming in each direction.
What the cameras do not do, Johnson said, is record what vehicles do at the intersections. The way they're set up now, he said, is such that even if the police or the city wanted to use them to monitor drivers' behavior, they couldn't.
"We haven't even gotten close to that," he said. "They've been set up intentionally so they don't pose any invasion of privacy. They can't see drivers, and they can't read license plates. When you get into looking at license plates or drivers, that's a gray area."
So there you have it.
Ray in Austin has an amusing tale of watching scary movies with his kids, something which began as a Halloween tradition a few years back. They called a temporary hiatus after both children were terrified by the 1936 Bela Lugosi classic Dracula, but recently his son wanted to get back in the saddle.
So I puzzled through a pile of movies at Blockbuster tonight. Almost all of them were either too gory, or rated R, or were black-and-white (I didn't want anything too similar to the Lugosi debacle), so after much hemming and hawing and talking it over with Gina and with the film geek at the Blockbuster store (who I incidentally turned on to The Warriors, which he's gonna watch tonight, heh heh), I finally settled on The Lost Boys and Killer Klowns from Outer Space. Lost Boys is rated R, and I knew there was one rather intense vampire feeding scene, but I was guessing the R must be just because of some bad words, so I figured "what the hell". We can always stop it in the middle. And both of these movies are horror-comedies, not straight scary.Right up until the feeding scene, Liam kept going "This isn't scary. When is it gonna get scary?" And right after the feeding scene, half of which he didn't see because my hands were over his eyes, he got up off my lap and went to sit with his mother.
And now he's in my bed. Head of garlic on my nightstand. Celtic cross over my side of the bed, my grandmother's crucifix over the TV, a little cross medallion hanging on the bedpost. Watching "That's So Raven". With all the lights on. I don't think I'll have to whip up any holy water, at least, which is good since I don't really know how to bless anything that hasn't sneezed.
On the way upstairs he said, "I think PG-13 should be my limit for a few more years."
So, OK. Oops. My bad.
The good news is that Liam actually liked the movie, and will probably get over the feeding scene when he sees it again in the daytime. It's when Ray mentioned the old Darrin McGavin series The Night Stalker, which was, hands down, the scariest thing I can recall watching as a kid, that I got to obsessing about what sort of psychic damage I may someday do to Olivia by accidentally exposing her to something too intense for her to handle. I don't think The Night Stalker caused any lasting damage - heck, I'm a bit excited to hear that there's a remake of it in the works - but I do know people who, years after seeing some Really Scary Movie as a kid, remain freaked out about it.
So I'm curious. What (if any) movie, or TV show, or book, or whatever, that you consumed as a kid still haunts you? What (if any) beloved children's story should I keep Olivia away from if I want to minimize the therapy bills later on?
Last week I linked to a Chron article about development farther and farther away from Houston's core. This article is a followup of sorts to that, and it's a nice discussion of some of the issues that way-out development causes, especially for those in between the new places and the big city, plus a look at what Houston is doing about some of this. Take a moment and read it.
One thing I want to highlight:
[T]he expansion of the Katy Freeway — cited by executives of two companies planning developments near Fulshear as one reason their projects are feasible — has required the condemnation and destruction of numerous homes and businesses. The city of Spring Valley, which lost 90 percent of its commercial tax base to make way for new freeway lanes, raised property taxes by 27 percent last year.Among the dislocated residents was Suzanne Wetzel, who had lived in Spring Valley for 17 years. She moved to a leased townhouse after all the homes on her block were razed for the freeway expansion. Wetzel said that because of rising area property values, the payment she got for her house wasn't enough for another of comparable quality.
This is exactly the sort of thing I was talking about when I said that the real cost of destroying an established neighborhood in order to enhance "regional mobility" far exceeds the dollar-and-cents total of the eminent domain process. Spring Valley may never recover from this. Who wants to put a price tag on that?
This is going to suck like a shop vac on steroids.
On an average day, about 50,000 vehicles traverse West University Place along the four lanes that are Kirby Drive.Sometime before the year-end holidays, though — and for at least the two years that follow — the definition of “average day” will be drastically altered by construction work that will systematically reduce the number of lanes by half, with no such reduction in traffic likely.
“West University is like an innocent bystander in this,” said project manager Martin J. Cristofaro of the Houston Stormwater Management Program. “Still, you’re looking at major impact in the community. Right around Christmas is when you’re really going to see something.”
The “something” Cristofaro referred to is the fallout from the Kirby Drive Storm Sewer Relief Project, as its crane and heavy equipment approach Holcombe Boulevard. The Kirby project is the largest of three systems that make up the $72 million Medical Center Drainage Project, which recently began at North Braeswood Boulevard and will move slowly north until at least late 2007.
During this period, each of the more than half-mile long project segments will require the closing of one lane in each direction of the street.
This project is already going on, at and near the intersection of Kirby and both Braeswoods. It's completely messed up my quickest route from where I work to most places that I go to eat lunch. I hadn't realized it was going to continue north on Kirby. That's going to be an unmitigated disaster from a traffic flow perspective. Kirby between University and 59 is a parking lot much of the day to begin with. You may have to be born north of 59 to get there once this kicks in.
In an attempt to minimize what he calls “cut-through traffic,” Cristofaro said efforts will be made to educate drivers about alternate ways to cross the area, such as Buffalo Speedway or Greenbriar Street. A Web site, www.swmp.org, will update construction progress.“We’ll try to time the signals on Buffalo to move traffic much quicker,” Cristofaro said. “We’re going to try to get the word out.”
Um, you do know that this section of Buffalo Speedway is in West University Place, right? Where anyone who's ever driven on it refers to it as Buffalo Speedtrap thanks to the vigorous efforts of the West U gendarmery to enforce its 30 MPH speed limit? Good luck with that.
If all goes well, paving will be completed in mid-2008.
Just shoot me now. Link via blogHOUSTON.
Like it or not, now that the Lege declined to ban cities from installing red-light cameras, Houston is set to roll them out soon.
"They are going up, you bet," said Mayor Bill White, during a recent news conference. "Every time that somebody is killed or seriously injured in an intersectional collision, where somebody was speeding through a red light, I and council members take that as a personal responsibility."The timetable isn't certain for setting up the cameras, which the City Council approved in December. The goal is to have some working by the end of the year, city officials said.
The city had planned to get cameras installed by April, but that was delayed while the Legislature considered the issue. The House approved measures to outlaw red-light cameras, but none made it through the Senate.
Precisely where the cameras might go isn't yet clear. The mayor, council and several city departments are working out the details of the plan before soliciting bids from prospective private vendors, who would install and maintain the cameras.
The mayor and the police department have said the city's most dangerous signal-controlled intersections would be first on the list. The initial rollout of the system could involve as few as 10 sites, eventually growing to as many as 50.
"Whether we do all 50 all at once, I'm not sure," said Councilman Adrian Garcia, whose public safety committee will discuss the issue today.
Like Grits, I'm concerned about the collection of biometric data and the possibility that it will eventually be used for things we won't like in the future. Before that happens, though, there's something I've been wondering about:
The city — which might give the vendor a cut of ticket revenue to save money on the installation — also is exploring the option of setting up decoy cameras in some places to serve as deterrents, officials said.
Maybe I'm paranoid, but I've noticed that there are already cameras at various intersections in Houston. Drive on Shepherd between West Gray and US 59 and you'll see what I mean. I'd never paid attention to this before, but I suppose all the talk about this made me start looking. Does anyone know who's operating these cameras, and what they're doing with the images they capture? I'm more than a little curious.
We all already knew this, right?
Authorities patrolling U.S. highways tend to give motorists a cushion of up to 10 miles per hour above the speed limit before pulling them over, says a survey by a group of state traffic safety officials.
I've always heard that the unofficial speed limit on the highways is 7 MPH above what's stated, but that's close enough for these purposes. For sure, the flow of traffic pretty much anywhere you go is faster than the posted limits.
This practice creates an unsafe comfort level at high speeds and is a potential safety hazard, according to the report being released today by the Governors Highway Safety Association. The group found that 42 states allow drivers to regularly exceed the speed limit before they are stopped."This cushion truly exists across this country and in some cases is more than 10 mph above posted limits," said Jim Champagne, the association's chairman.
"Law enforcement needs to be given the political will to enforce speed limits and the public must get the message that speeding will not be tolerated," said Champagne, who also is executive director of the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission.
On the one hand, it's hard to argue that it's okay to break the law a little bit. On the other hand, I seriously doubt that the political will Jim Champagne speaks of exists. Part of the problem, and again I daresay this is something we all experience regularly, is that while you may be crusing along at (say) 70 in a 60 MPH zone, there's always a steady stream of drivers zipping past you. We feel safe with this lesser kind of violation because we know that it's those real speed demons who are flushing out the cops for the rest of us. Those are the people we expect to get busted, not ourselves, and I think most people get upset when they get nabbed because of this.
At current levels of highway patrol staffing, enforcement of speed limit laws is pretty much a crapshoot. The reason I believe most officers let the 70 MPH drivers go by is because they don't want to be on the shoulder writing a ticket for doing 70 while half a dozen cars doing 80 or more zoom by. They pick their spots and try to catch the most egregious offenders.
Now of course, states could choose to spend a bunch more money to hire highway patrol officers and crack down on speeding. For sure, there would be benefits to this, both in terms of reduced accident and fatality rates, and also probably in finding folks who've been evading warrants for other criminal activity. Does anyone really think this is going to happen? Can you even imagine a candidate for governor somewhere running with this as a plank in his or her platform?
Until someone shows me polling numbers that say otherwise, I believe this situation exists because most people are more or less okay with how it is right now. As with tolerance for drunk driving, public opinion can certainly change, and perhaps we'll start seeing MADD-like grassroots groups spring up to agitate against too-fast driving. All I'm saying is that I'm not holding my breath.
As promised, I've done a fuller analysis of HD47, the State House district which has just been abandoned by incumbent Republican Terry Keel. You can see all of my data in this spreadsheet. Here's an executive summary.
Overall, as expected, this is a moderately Republican district. Here's the breakdown for the statewide races, including the contest in the 21st Congressional District:
GOP Cnd Votes Pct Dem Cnd Votes Pct
======================== ========================
Bush 40,955 53.31 Kerry 35,872 46.69
LSmith 39,020 56.20 RSmith 30,409 43.80
Carillo 38,173 53.87 Scarboro 32,685 46.13
Keasler 38,959 53.00 Molina 34,545 47.00
Brister 39,657 53.61 Van Os 34,318 46.39Total 197,797 53.73 Total 170,365 46.27
Note: Of HD47's 51 precincts, 46 are in CD21, and the other five are in CD25. The spreadsheet combines the CD25 votes with CD21 (overall totals are 40,053/32,945, or 54.87%/45.13%), but I'm just showing the CD21 result above. As you can see, about a seven point advantage to the GOP. Note that all results given here are for two-party totals. The data downloaded from the SOS website appears to only include the top two votegetters.
Things are a bit different at the county race level, though. The six races include four judgeships, Travis County Sheriff, and a Constable race:
GOP Cnd Votes Pct Dem Cnd Votes Pct
======================== ========================
PKeel 40,589 54.80 Yelenosky 33,475 45.20
Pemberton 37,145 50.35 Henson 36,634 49.65
Green 35,332 47.75 Patterson 38,660 52.25
Anastas's 34,291 47.00 Cooper 38,661 53.00
McNeill 37,139 52.08 Hamilton 34,168 47.92
ThKeel 31,787 50.01 McCain 31,768 49.99Total 216,283 50.34 Total 213,366 49.66
(Note: The Constable race between Thornton Keel and Richard McCain covered 44 of the 51 precincts.)
Now that's a swing district! I don't know what the dynamics were in these races, but the message should be clear: The right Democrat can win here.
There's one last factor to consider. Terry Keel ran unopposed in 2004. Since I can't do a two-party comparison, let's see how he did in terms of percentage of total turnout. I've included all the Republicans in this district who did not have a Democratic opponent; Lawrence Meyers and Cheryl Johnson, both Court of Criminal Appeals justices, had Libertarian opponents.
GOP Cnd Votes Pct
========================
TeKeel 49,075 62.22
O'Neill 47,203 59.84
Green 46,677 59.18
Johnson 43,749 55.46
Meyers 42,988 54.50
You want an illustration of why you need to contest races, there you have it. The best percent-of-turnout performance among the contesteds was Bush with 51.92%. Only Patrick Keel (51.46%) and Scott Brister (50.28%) reached a majority (the combined Lamar Smith/Becky Klein vote was 50.78% of turnout). All other candidates lost between 1 and 10 points from their vote percentages.
What conclusions can we draw? I think based on his actual 2004 performance that Terry Keel would have won reelection with something like 55 to 57% of the vote had he had a viable Democratic challenger. Also based on that performance, he'd be a solid favorite in 2006, but not quite a lock. His non-lockstep voting record would be on balance a plus for him, but his assassination of the campaign finance reform bill HB1348 plus his bizarre mini-meltdown over HB268 at the end of the session would provide some fodder for whoever took him on. Opening this seat up is a tremendous boon for the Democrats, and raises the profile of this race greatly.
Now that I've figured out how to extract this kind of data efficiently, I hope to do more of this sort of analysis in the coming weeks. If you've got any requests, let me know and I'll see what I can do.
Some sad news from Galveston.
Because of his wife's death, a Galvestonian in a trademark battle with the Starbucks coffee chain has temporarily closed the bar where he sold Star Bock beer.LeAnne Romano Bell, 58, died Thursday at the University of Texas Medical Branch, said Houston attorney John Egbert, who represents Rex "Wrecks" Bell, a musician and owner of the Old Quarter Acoustical Cafe in downtown Galveston.
[...]
In an e-mail message to Egbert, Bell said his bar will be closed indefinitely.
Bell issued an apology to the musical groups that were scheduled to perform at his bar in coming weeks.
"I don't know how long I will be closed," Bell said. "I promise all my fans, friends and customers that have supported us for the last nine years that I will reopen the OQAC if I can somewhere find the strength and somehow not die from a broken heart."
Egbert said funeral arrangements for LeAnne Bell were pending.
My sincere condolences to Rex Bell.
Long as I've posted some rumor-confirmations, I'll now link to another rumor: Katie hears that former Rep. Max Sandlin is thinking about running for the to-be-vacated Senate District 3 seat currently held by Todd Staples.
Now, I've previously advocated for some of the defeated Democratic reps to aim for the State Senate in 2006, so I approve of this. I had thought Sandlin underperformed a bit last year, but as Greg noted, he was running in a really unfriendly district. If he chooses to run in SD3, he'll have name recognition, some infrastructure in place, and as good a shot as any Democrat would have.
On the other side, the Quorum Report has a press release from TxDOT Commissioner Robert Nichols which indicates he may run for this seat.
"I have received numerous calls over the past two weeks encouraging me to seek the Senate District 3 seat should Senator Staples seek higher office. Our region has benefited greatly from Senator Staples’ vision and leadership. Without question, we must continue along a path of economic growth and development. I am flattered to be considered and will make a formal announcement next week," said Nichols.
Robert Lee Nichols is a friend of the family, so as much as this race interests me, I'll likely stay more or less mum on it. We'll see if he gets in or not.
Tiffany and I attended the HCDP Texas Heroes event last night. It was a great opportunity to hang with some folks I've come to know over the past couple of years, and also to meet some people I've been blogging about. On the blogging side, Stace was there taking pictures, while Marc Olivier, Lyn Wall, and John Cobarruvias were there representing the Houston Democrats. We walked into the event with Keir, who was there with CD22 challenger, former Rep. Nick Lampson. Lampson was one of many Democrats to say a few words during the event. He's a lot more fiery than you might think, something I'd experienced previously.
Quite a few of the Harris County State Rep delegation was there, along with US Reps Sheila Jackson Lee and Al Green. All of them exuded optimism for 2006. All of the state reps felt that they had done quite a bit to block bad legislation, and that the Republicans messed up badly by not delivering on school finance reform as they'd promised. They all expressed the belief that Democrats can and will make gains in the Lege next year.
Towards that end, I had the pleasure of meeting three candidates for the Lege: Ellen Cohen, Borris Miles (note the spelling), and Janette Sexton. Cohen and Miles you've heard of, and both of them confirmed that they are in the races for HD134 (against Republican Martha Wong) and HD146 (against Craddick Democrat Al Edwards, who was also there last night), respectively. Sexton, who is a precinct chair in Pasadena, is set to run against Robert Talton in HD144. I collected business cards from Miles and Sexton and had a bit more of a chance to chat with them than with Cohen. Both of them expressed great frustration with their current representatives, and both of them sound like they're ready to do what it takes to win. I told them both about Texas Tuesdays, and will be contacting them shortly to let them know what the online community can do for them.
One candidate whom I spotted but didn't get a chance to say hello to was Robert Pham, who is reported to be running in HD133. That means that four of the top five priorities for State Rep races in Harris County (the other being HD138, Dwayne Bohac) are set with candidates already. I don't know about you, but I think that's a great sign.
Other folks I spoke to: Barbara Radnofsky, who was showing off her new campaign manager (alas, I've forgotten his name), Chris Bell, whom I had not met in person before, City Council members Ron Green and Gordon Quan, and Council candidates Mark Lee and Jay Aiyer. I'm probably forgetting some others, and for that I apologize. One of my cousins now works in Gordon Quan's office, which shows that however big Harris County may be, Houston is still just a big ol' small town. I couldn't resist asking Quan if he'd consider running in CD07. He laughed and said basically that anything was possible. He and Lampson are supposed to be having a sitdown soon, so we may hear something more there shortly.
All in all, a good time was had. I wish I'd had more time to talk to people, but I think the time I spent was pretty productive. I'll follow up as I can.
UPDATE: Here's Stace's writeup.
UPDATE: Barbara Radnofsky's campaign manager is Andy Grout. Thanks to Robert for the reminder, and my sincere apologies to Mr. Grout.
Here's the Chron story on yesterday's ruling by the Texas Supreme Court that the Texas Association of Business must disclose information about how it raised money in 2002.
The Supreme Court, without comment, lifted a stay it had issued on Jan. 28, 2004."All the information we requested is due right now," said Buck Wood, who represents James Sylvester of Austin, a Democratic candidate who was defeated in the November 2002 general election for District 50 in Travis County. "I'm sending a letter giving them a week."
Sylvester, a Travis County deputy sheriff, was the subject of mailings from the business group that questioned his ethics in following Texas campaign laws.
Sylvester was one of several defeated candidates who sued the TAB after the election, accusing it of violating election laws by spending $1.9 million of corporate money on mailings to voters.
The business group has responded that its efforts were constitutionally protected voter education activities that did not urge voters to support or oppose any candidates.
Andy Taylor, a Houston attorney who represents the TAB and its president, Bill Hammond, said the court's ruling does not require the group to disclose donors' identities.
"TAB has refused to identify its donors in order to protect them from vilification and frivolous litigation," said Taylor.
Taylor said the TAB has not yet decided whether to ask the Supreme Court for a rehearing.
Wood is asking for communications that were used to raise the money, the number and amount of donations, the date donations were made and whether the donor was a member of the TAB. He said he believes the answers will show that the group should have formed a political action committee and disclosed its donors.
The TAB targeted 22 Texas House races, with its endorsed candidates winning 18 of those contests. The wins were key to the Republican takeover of the House.
More from the Morning News:
In ruling against the state's largest business group, the high court Friday directed the association to turn over information about its corporate solicitations used for 4 million mail pieces sent to voters that generally berated Democrats and touted Republicans.The information is also at the heart of a Travis County grand jury investigation. The grand jury already has indicted three associates of U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay in connection with the use of corporate money by a separate political action committee to elect Republicans.
Attorney Buck Wood had sued the association on behalf of three Democratic legislative candidates who lost.
In his civil suit against the group and its president, Bill Hammond, Mr. Wood has sought information about the number of corporations giving money, how much they gave and how decisions were made within the organization.
Mr. Wood said the court decision would trigger the first in a series of "falling dominoes" in his bid to prove the business group broke the law by running a secretly funded political campaign.
"This activity of soliciting money to support or defeat candidates made them, under Texas law, a political action committee," he said. "Once you are a political action committee, it has to be reported."
Andy Taylor, an attorney representing the Texas Association of Business, said the group "is prepared to release the information."
He noted that under the ruling, the identity of the corporate donors would remain secret.
The civil suit did not specifically seek the names of the corporate donors, only how many there were. Mr. Wood said Friday he's confident he will be able to identify the contributors once he reviews the material.
May I just say that I sincerely hope Buck Wood enlightens the rest of us once he's figured it out? Thanks.
There's a little bit more here, including some bravado from Bill Hammond that his group will Never! Ever! give up its secrets. He's so cute when he's losing, isn't he? Jesse noted my fear about how one can never be certain how plaintiffs against bidness will be treated by the Texas Supremes, but so far, so good.
(And boy howdy am I glad to have a working cable modem again. Thank you, AOLTimeWarner of Borg for not making me wait any longer to get this fixed.)
Also from the Quorum Report:
TEXAS SUPREME COURT DENIES BILL HAMMOND'S WRIT OF MANDAMUS IN 2002 ELECTION CIVIL TRIALHad sought to avoid answering specific questions about Texas
Asssociation of Business contributors posed by plaintiffs in civil discoveryQuestions must be answered. Documents must be turned over. A more complete story with attorney comments will follow.
Can't wait. Stay tuned.
From the Quorum Report:
TERRY KEEL ANNOUNCES RUN FOR AN APPELLATE COURT SEATLeaves open seat in HD47
This afternoon, Rep. Terry Keel (R-Austin) told reporters, "I am here today to announce my intentions for the 2006 election cycle.
HD47, which was already a potentially winnable seat for the Democrats in 2006, is now more so due to its sudden status as an open seat to be. Greg, in crunching the precinct data, tantalizes us by saying that Keel would have been very vulnerable, but he doesn't have the exact numbers up yet. I'll try to do that myself, but as my cable modem is currently DOA it won't happen until at least Sunday.
Nothing on the wires about this yet. Andrew D has some details, including a longer Quorum Report quote. Keel had a strange session - he's far from a monolithic partisan foot soldier. The judicial pay raise flap (nicely summarized here) is what he'll be remembered for, and may bite him in his new race as well. Oh, and he supposedly made this session's Ten Worst list in Texas Monthly, too. Keep an eye on this one, it ought to be fun.
Also in the This Week section is an article on the proposal by engineer Gonzalo Camacho to redo I-45 from Greenspoint to downtown as a tunnel. He gave a presentation on this at the I-45 town hall sponsored by Rep. Jessica Farrar. You can see his presentation here, but be warned - it's an 8.2 MB PowerPoint file, so be sure you have the right software and a fast Net connection.
Anyway. The story itself is a nice overview of Camacho's idea. Maybe it all sounds pie-in-the-sky, but look at the presentation for yourself before you make any judgments. More importantly, remember that TxDOT is going to demand alternates to its proposals in order to even contemplate the possibility of doing something else. If you don't like their plan to widen I-45 and you don't think Camacho's idea has any merit, then you'd better come up with something else for them to consider.
Rick Hasen reads the federal court decision from yesterday so you don't have to. He has some interesting thoughts on what it all means. Check it out. Thanks to Seth for the tip.
Local activist Ray Hill, the founding father of Houston's GLBT Political Caucus, is retiring from the activist life.
Hill's extended activist career irreverently will be celebrated today at "The Well Deserved Roast of Ray Hill," set for 7:30 p.m. at the 1415 Grill, 1415 California. Sponsored by the Stonewall Law Association of Greater Houston and the Houston GLBT Community Center, proceeds will benefit the center's programs for gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people."I'm just going to leave it to another generation to take on those responsibilities," said Hill, 64. "I've spent 40 years in the movement, first as the first openly gay political activist in Houston, then for years as someone who exercised more influence on decisions than anyone should."
Hill cited health concerns and a desire to develop his career as a monologuist and prison activist as reasons for stepping aside.
"I meant to do this a long time ago," he said earlier this week. "I raised a generation to take my place and they all died of AIDS. Now there's another generation ready to step in. Most of them are women. They are every color of the rainbow — black, brown, Christian, Jew, Muslim, nonbelievers, and they speak a cacophony of languages. They are better able to represent this diversity than I."
Hill's long and colorful career is nicely profiled in this story. I first heard of him in the early 90s when then-Council member Helen Huey pushed through tighter restrictions on sexually oriented businesses. Hill ran for an open Council seat (I forget the circumstances around this - what I recall was that it was a free-for-all) on a platform opposing Huey's new SOB laws. He lost, of course, but it was a fun campaign.
There was another story on Hill's retirement in the This Week section for the Heights/Montrose area. Ray Hill's retirement deserved a spot in the main paper, so I'm glad he got it. Enjoy the rest, Ray.
Yesterday, the Star-Telegram reported on a complaint filed by Lotto watchdog Dawn Nettles that the state Lottery Commission had inflated the advertised jackpot due to slow ticket sales.
Lottery officials re-jected the allegations but acknowledged that because of lagging ticket sales, for the first time in the game's history they would be unable to boost their jackpot estimate for Saturday's drawing even though no one won Wednesday night.Dawn Nettles, publisher of the online Lotto Report and a persistent critic of lottery commission policies, first raised the red flag that ticket sales were running far behind the estimated jackpot when she sent a letter to Attorney General Greg Abbott on Monday accusing officials of false advertising.
On billboards across Texas and on the lottery's Web site, officials had touted an $8 million jackpot for Wed-nesday's drawing.
"They only have enough to fund a $6.5 million jackpot at best," Nettles said.
Bobby Heith, spokesman for the lottery, did not dispute that the jackpot would have been less than advertised, but not because anyone was skewing estimates.
But a spokeswoman for Abbott said Nettles' concerns would be addressed.
"We will treat this complaint like we treat all complaints that come into the agency," said Angela Hale, Abbott's communications director. "We'll examine it and determine whether there is something [we need] to do about it."
Today's edition reports that the Commission has taken action, and that this has satisfied the AG's office, though not a different prominent critic.
C. Thomas Clowe, the commission chairman, said the three-member panel will discuss this month whether to guarantee the advertised jackpot or continue basing the grand prize on a percentage of ticket sales.Clowe said Thursday that he is concerned that miscalculating the lotto jackpot could undermine confidence in the game.
"We want the public to have confidence in the lottery," Clowe said. "This is the people's business."
The commission came under fire this week when it was accused of overestimating Wednesday night's jackpot even though the pace of ticket sales would not support the advertised $8 million payout.
The complaint brought calls from state Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Lewisville, for new legislation to compel the lottery to comply with the state's truth-in-advertising laws.
Nelson, who is vice chairwoman of the legislative panel that reviews the performance of state agencies, said that Texans must have full confidence in the lottery's integrity.
"Clearly, this is an example of the pitfalls associated with government-sanctioned gambling," said Nelson, an outspoken opponent of gambling. "We have to be absolutely sure that everything that goes on there is open and aboveboard. The public needs to know what's going on. I need to know what's going on."
[...]
Lottery officials have acknowledged that the jackpot was overestimated but said it was an honest miscalculation.
Lottery spokesman Bobby Heith said the chief reason for the miscalculation was that ticket sales did not increase as expected as the deadline for Wednesday's drawing approached.
To make sure that another overestimation did not occur, lottery officials did not advertise a higher jackpot for Saturday's drawing even though there was no grand-prize winner Wednesday.
It was the first time in the Texas lottery's history that the jackpot was not increased after a drawing without a winner.
On Thursday, Abbott spokeswoman Angela Hale said the attorney general's office examined the complaint and was satisfied that lottery officials "were addressing the issue raised in the allegation."
Clowe said that weak lotto sales can be attributed at least in part to the lottery commission's decision in 2003 to join the multistate Mega Millions game, which is similar to lotto but often generates jackpots that are far higher.
Yes, well, some of us were pretty well convinced that Mega Millions would cannibalize existing Lotto sales when we first adopted it back in 2003, but that's not important right now.
There's an under-the-surface story here that's not being reported sp far. Save Texas Reps has the details.
Rumors are flying around Austin that Reagan Greer, Executive Director of the Texas Lottery, is boosting jackpot numbers despite lagging ticket sales and the advice of his staff in order to make himself look good for future political office. That kind of self promotion by Greer would come as no surprise considering his name and signature was added to the back of all scratch-off tickets.But who is this Reagan Greer, anyway?
Prior to heading the Texas Lottery Commission, Greer was a District Clerk and Rick Perry’s Bexar County campaign coordinator in 2002. Following the election, Perry allegedly changed the official requirements for the TLC Executive Director so that he could appoint Greer - who does not have a college degree - to the position in a blatant move of cronyism.
There's more, so click over and read it. Or, if you prefer, Sarah connects the dots for you with pictures. Check it out.
The Quorum Report reports:
FEDERAL PANEL RULES IN FAVOR OF THE STATE ON REDISTRICTINGNext step would be a direct appeal to the Supreme Court.
Plaintiff Attorney Gerry Hebert has confirmed a federal three-judge panel has ruled in favor of the state in the Texas redistricting case, Henderson v Perry. The US Supreme Court remanded the case back to the three-judge panel last October, asking them to reconsider their decision in light of the recent Vieth case before the Supreme Court, which took up the broader issue of partisan gerrymandering.
Nothing on this that I can find in Google News, so check back later for an update when this hits the wires. As I wrote when the case was first sent back for review, I don't believe there was anything the court could do now to offer genuine redress if they felt it was warranted. Once the ousted Democrats lost the power of incumbency, they would become underdogs to ever win their seats back, even (in my opinion) with the original configuration of their districts. In short, this changes nothing and would have changed nothing had the decision gone the other way. What we have now is reality, and we have to deal with it.
(Thanks to Kimberly for tipping me to this.)
UPDATE: Here's the Chron coverage. There'll be an appeal back to the Supreme Court, but that has the feel of a formality to me. Note, however, that the federal court says there's no standard for what constitutes "excessively partisan" redistricting. I have to think it'd take federal legislation for there to be a standard. I can't see that happening any time soon.
County Commissioner Steve Radack says he will not run for reelection in 2008.
His decision will set off a political free-for-all typical on the rare occasions when an incumbent vacates one of the powerful commissioners' seats, Radack said.He plans to remain in office until the end of his term but will launch a second career before then.
He left open the possibility that he could go to work for a company that has done business with Precinct 3 and may seek future county contracts — matters that he said he would abstain from voting on while in office.
"I'm interested in business," he said. "Some of those businesses could be advising people on what I've learned about infrastructure. I'll use my expertise that I've gained during 16 years as commissioner."
Radack, 55, will be 59 by the end of his term, which would mark his 20th year as commissioner of Precinct 3, a vast area covering parts of southwest, west and northwest Harris County.
He then can collect a substantial pension, continue on with his second career and perhaps go into business with one of his four grown sons, he said. The commissioner's job pays $130,560.
Must be nice. Rick Casey just wrote about what a sweet deal being a County Commissioner is. If anyone can recall an actual contested race for a non-open Commissioner's seat in the last 20 or so years, leave a comment.
Radack, who lives in Hillshire Village near the Katy Freeway, has been re-elected four times.He said that Precinct 3 is a GOP stronghold and that his successor will be a Republican.
"In 2008, there will be a minimum of 10 people running," he said. "You're going to have some seasoned politicians try to be Precinct 3 commissioner."
I'm sure he's right. I expect this may open up a couple of State Rep seats, though unless someone like Dwayne Bohac runs they'll probably be in equally safe GOP districts. I'll bet there are wheels spinning on this already, even if it is too early to announce even the intention to think about it.
PinkDome is first to report a rumor of a challenger for Martha Wong in HD134: Ellen Cohen, Executive Director of the Houston Area Women's Center. Today the Houston Democrats blog gives what appears to be confirmation of this, in quoting from the Texas Democrats Yahoo group listserv:
Ellen Cohen, President and CEO of the Houston Area Women's Center,will be a candidate for the Democratic nomination for State Representative, District 134, in 2006. This is the seat held by Republican Martha Wong which includes large parts of Montrose and the highest number of pro-choice women in the state. Good news.The board of the women's center voted to give Ms. Cohen a leave of absence from her duties from January 1 thru November 2006.
I think Ellen Cohen is the kind of candidate that will give Martha Wong fits, especially after the anti-choice anti-gayfest that was the 79th Lege. She's certainly got some good connections to start off with. I'm excited about this.
In addition, both sites also report that a businessman named Boris Miles is considering a primary challenge to Al Edwards in HD146. This makes Greg happy, and it makes me happy, too. I look forward to hearing more about Mr. Miles.
Perry hopeful schools deal will surface
Gov. Rick Perry is optimistic about reaching an agreement on school finance after meeting separately this week with Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and House Speaker Tom Craddick."It's very fair to say he feels better today than he has since the end of the session," Perry spokeswoman Kathy Walt said Wednesday.
Is it just me, or is all this happy talk from Governor Perry beginning to sound a wee bit desperate?
But Craddick indicated the House may not be willing to pass a tax plan unless ordered to by the Texas Supreme Court, which hears arguments in a school finance case July 6."They met, and they are definitely negotiating," said Alexis DeLee, a spokeswoman for Craddick. "They are working very hard to reach an agreement on public school finance, property tax relief, truth in taxation and appraisal caps."
Remember: Until Tom Craddick says there's progress being made, don't believe anyone who tells you there's progress being made.
I'm a little late on the draw with this, but it's been a weird week for me. In the Pink and PinkDome both report on the rumor that two-time near-miss Lt. Gov. candidate John Sharp is about to throw his hat into the ring for the Democratic nomination for Governor.
I have a lot of respect for John Sharp. But for less than 70,000 votes and a couple million of James Leininger's dollars, he could have beaten Rick Perry in 1998, which among other things would likely have averted the re-redistricting fiasco of 2003. He had the strongest Democratic showing statewide in 2002. I've no doubt he'd be able to raise money and make a good run against Perry this time around. But like Greg, I don't feel that Sharp is the right person at this time.
I believe that in order to win in 2006, a Democrat will have to excite the base (which is something we really haven't had since what, 1994?) while still being able to reach out to folks who haven't been voting Democratic lately. Sharp has proven in the past that he can do the latter, but I don't believe he'll be able to do the former. I don't think he's oppositional enough to say something like "We need to do things differently because what this group and this Governor are doing now just plain doesn't work". Maybe I'm wrong, but I've never seen that as Sharp's style.
It still remains to be seen how well Chris Bell can do these things, of course. He's gotten some good traction among the faithful so far, and like Greg I think he's got the right message and the right resume for it. I feel pretty good about his chances to reach those he's reaching out to.
There's another factor to be considered, which is the Kinky Friedman effect. I've written that I think Kinky will draw more from Perry supporters than from Bell supporters. I'm far less certain that this will be true in a Perry-Sharp matchup, and that gets back again to my doubts about Sharp's ability to fire up the base. I think a nontrivial number of Democrats will see Sharp as the same old (losing) stuff, and will find solace in voting for Friedman on the grounds that at least he's forceful about criticizing Rick Perry.
Again, I could be wrong about Sharp. He could surprise me. Losing can have a tonic effect on candidates. I don't really expect that to be the case here, though.
As long as we're speculating here, Gardner Selby (via PinkDome) tosses out a couple of names in addition to Sharp's: former Austin Mayor and candidate for Attorney General in 2002 Kirk Watson, and former State Senator Ted Lyon. As with the Republican side of the equation, I expect to see a lot more action here once KBH officially tells us what we're pretty sure we already know.
I join with Stace in saying a sad goodbye to HCDP Executive Director Susan Gates, as she and her husband prepare to move to Portland next month. I haven't known Susan for as long as Stace has, but like him I've found her to be a warm, engaging, dedicated, and energetic presence within the Harris County Democratic Party. Among other things, she was the driving force behind the creation of the Houston Democrats blog, which has been a good and needed addition to the local blogging scene. Best of luck in Portland, Susan. I know I speak for many when I say we'll miss you down here.
Actress Anne Bancroft, known best for her iconic role as Mrs. Robinson in "The Graduate", has died at the age of 73.
Not only did the actress seduce Broadway, movie and TV audiences in roles ranging from the aging ballerina in 1977's The Turning Point to Israeli prime minister Golda Meir on stage in 1977's Golda.But the five-time Oscar nominee, who won a best-actress Academy Award for re-creating her stage performance as Helen Keller's teacher Annie Sullivan in 1962's The Miracle Worker, also managed to hang on to her handful of a husband, funnyman filmmaker Mel Brooks, for more than 40 years.
The couple, who met on Perry Como's TV show in 1961, were one of Hollywood's oddest yet most devoted pairings. He was the Borscht Belt spoofer who took comedy to delightful new lows in the bawdy Western satire Blazing Saddles. She was the Bronx-born daughter of Italian parents who won two Tonys (for 1958's Two for the Seesaw and 1960's The Miracle Worker).
"He makes me laugh a lot," she said, explaining their attraction to the New York Daily News in 2000. "I get excited when I hear his key in the door. It's like, 'Ooh! The party's going to start.' "
Bancroft was a great actress who will be long remembered. What really caught my eye in this obituary was this bit at the end:
Brooks, who is working on the film version of his hit Broadway musical version of The Producers — a project that was her idea — so revered his spouse that he always referred to her by both her names.
Making a movie out of "The Producers"! Who'd have ever thought of that?
Anyway. Here's Roger Ebert's eulogy. Rest in peace, Anne Bancroft.
My view on breastfeeding in public is pretty much the same as Hope's. If the sight of a woman feeding her baby makes you uncomfortable, then look somewhere else. Babies operate on their own schedule. When they need to eat, they need to eat. I'm sorry, but any problem you have with that is your own.
And if you think that the woman should take the baby to a bathroom before commencing, well, I invite you to eat your next meal in a public restroom. Sound appetizing? If not, then you understand why most nursing mothers (and their husbands, boyfriends, or partners) don't consider it to be a viable option.
Chris Bell has a question for Governor Perry: When are you going to get around to signing SB410, which would enable and assist Texans to buy cheaper prescription drugs from Canada? You'd think providing that kind of relief for Texans would be a priority, but apparently not for Rick Perry.
UPDATE: In the Pink says it with a picture.
You know how I've been agitating lately for Democrats, in particular State Reps, to talk about school finance and their alternative plan? This is the sort of thing I have in mind. Thank you, Rep. Garnet Coleman!
(And on a personal note, thank you to Tom Kirkendall for lunch and the loan of the laptop. The lack-of-connectivity withdrawals are going away nicely now.)
Karl-T gives a thumbs-up to the idea of John Courage re-challenging Lamar Smith in CD21. He also reprints an email from Courage outlining his reasons for considering the rematch, and his plan for proceeding. Check it out.
I should mention that I've heard of another potential contender in this district. I don't know where he stands on this (this was secondhand information), so I don't think I'm at liberty to say who it is. Sorry! I just wanted to note that CD22 isn't the only district that's generating Democratic interest for the next cycle.
Got a minute at a borrowed computer, so now's a good time to note that Phil Hardberger is the newly elected Mayor of San Antonio.
Retired Judge Phil Hardberger, a City Hall outsider with a storied past but no municipal government experience, clung to an ever-shrinking lead over foe Julián Castro on Tuesday and ended the night with a victory in one of the tightest mayoral races in recent history.In unofficial returns, Hardberger outdistanced Castro by about 3,800 votes out of about 130,000 cast.
That was about 15,000 more than the votes cast in the May 7 regular election.
[...]
"It is the beginning of a new day for San Antonio and there are so many things that we can do," said a jubilant Hardberger, donned in a double-breasted suit and addressing a large crowd of supporters at his Sunset Station election party just after midnight and right after receiving Castro's concession call.
"We have to stop the deconstruction and start the construction, and we'll start that right now," he said. "We will make a great, great San Antonio."
Castro, whose loss signals the end of his City Council career — at least for the moment — ran a strong grass-roots campaign but in the end couldn't overcome Hardberger's support, money and votes.
"Tonight we need to stand united behind Judge Hardberger as he becomes mayor, united as a city, united behind a common vision for progress, for economic development and growth, for neighborhoods that everybody can be proud to live in," Castro said at his campaign headquarters, flanked by his twin brother, Joaquin, and dozens of supporters.
"This just wasn't our time, but it will be someday," said Castro, 30, who is the outgoing District 7 city councilman.
As I said before, I don't think this is more than a bump on the road for Julian Castro. He'll have to find something good to do for the next couple of years, and he'll have to demonstrate that he's gained some age-earned wisdom the next time he appears, but neither of those should be at all difficult to do. And who knows, he may well already be the frontrunner to replace Mayor Hardberger in 2009.
Here's reaction from The Jeffersonian and Matt. The Red State liveblogged it to the wire. Get some rest now, y'all.
I'm about to head up to The Woodlands, which is where I'll be until Thursday morning. The good news is that I'll get to meet and have lunch with Tom Kirkendall tomorrow. The bad news is that since I'm laptop-challenged, I may be incommunicado until I return. (Yes, I know. Some kind of 21st century technocrat I am.) If I can get to a computer I will, but no guarantees. In the meantime, check out some of the fine blogs on the right side of the screen. See you later.
I'm sure Mary Denny is all aquiver over this announcement by State Attorney General Greg Abbott.
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott today announced his office's first indictments for alleged voter fraud in Texas, returned in separate cases by grand juries in Hardeman and Bee counties."My office takes seriously the one-person, one-vote philosophy that has been the backbone of this country throughout its history," said Attorney General Abbott. "When the activities of even one person would undermine the electoral process, we will hold that person accountable."
One of Denny's fans left a comment in this post saying how it's a shame Denny's anti-voter HB1706 (slipped in as an amendment to SB89 at the last minute) didn't become law. So what actually happened here?
Hardeman County Precinct 1 Commissioner Johnny Akers, 58, was indicted late Thursday on six counts of election fraud in Quanah. The Texas Election Code violations involve alleged unlawful methods for returning completed ballots during early voting by mail. During the April 2004 primary runoff and November 2004 general elections, the indictment alleges, Akers personally handled or mailed ballots for six persons unrelated to him over several days, a Class B misdemeanor punishable by a jail term of up to six months and a fine of up to $2,000 on each count.On May 27, Beeville resident Melva Kay Ponce, 53, was indicted in Bee County on a charge of illegal voting. She allegedly posed as her deceased mother during early mail-in voting in the November 2004 election. Illegal voting is a third-degree felony punishable by two to 10 years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine.
Ponce mailed an application for a mail ballot to the Bee County Clerk's office for her mother, Dominga Ponce, on Oct. 15, 2004, when her mother was still alive. Her mother died of natural causes on Oct. 20, and two days later the clerk's office mailed a ballot addressed to Dominga Ponce. Despite her mother's death, Melva Kay Ponce filled out the absentee ballot in her mother's name. She then mailed the completed ballot back to the clerk.
The Bee County Voter Registrar, Andrea Gibbud, contacted the Bee County Sheriff's Office about the suspicious ballot, knowing Ponce's mother had died before the ballot could have been completed and returned.
Emphasis mine. If anyone would care to explain to me how more stringent ID requirements at polling locations would have helped to avert either of these incidents, I'm all ears. Who knows, maybe next time Melva Ponce will include a photocopy of her dead mother's driver's license with any extra mail-in ballots she cares to submit.
Hat tip to Greg Moses, whose post on this served as a catalyst for me to mention it.
Well, a proposed stadium deal in New York has been killed by the State Assembly, meaning the City's bid for the 2012 Olympics are very likely dead.
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno instructed their representatives on the three-member Public Authorities Control Board to abstain on a vote to contribute $300 million in state funds for the stadium. Since the proposal required unanimous approval, it was defeated.[...]
Silver, who represents lower Manhattan, said he could not support the $2 billion stadium, to be built as an extension of the Javits Convention Center in midtown Manhattan, when the city and state have not completed plans to renovate the World Trade Center site in his district.
"Am I supposed to sell out the community I have fought for ... ?" Silver said. "Am I supposed to turn my back on lower Manhattan as it struggles for recovery? For what? The stadium? For the hope of bringing the Olympics to New York City?"
[...]
Brian Hatch, the former deputy mayor of Salt Lake City who tracks the New York bid at www.newyorkgames.org, said the stadium vote "was the right result for the right reason."
"When I started (the Web site) two years ago, I said the bid was going to create a new central business district and cripple the one that hadn't recovered (from 9/11)," Hatch said. "This is a clear victory for the city's interests."
Hatch supports New York hosting the Olympics but said the West Side stadium plan "was driving down our chances. Now maybe we'll recover and hope for 2016."
I don't really have a dog in this fight, but I find the logic expressed by Hatch and Assemblyman Silver to be persuasive. Even more so is this Forbes article, which Ginger kindly sent to me, which makes the case that public money should not be used to develop one of the last sizeable patches of unused land in Manhattan, home of the highest real estate prices anywhere in the US of A.
The covered stadium was to have been built on a 30-acre site atop a rail yard owned by the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority. But if the land could be freed for other purposes, the question was why the stadium was the best use. Cablevision Systems, owner of Madison Square Garden, which stood to lose some business to the new building, had proposed late in the process, a plan to build housing and offices on the site. But for most of the time when the use of the rail yards was being discussed, the assumption was there would be a stadium or nothing. Many argued the stadium, which would have been the most costly to build in the U.S. by far, was worse than nothing as it would tie up one of the last two large tracts of land in southern Manhattan.New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg had sold the stadium proposal as an economic development plan because it would double as a convention center and supposedly draw new construction in its wake. Yesterday, he lashed out against the stadium's critics: "Those that were on the other side will have to explain why they were against jobs, why they were against economic opportunity and growth," he said at a press conference.
What's never explained is why New York needs the city to build on the site. In recent years, developers have grabbed every available site to build. If the rail yards were made available for other uses, developers would build there, too. Not a stadium, but someone would build something. Time Warner has built a huge mixed-use building near Central Park. Mayor Bloomberg's own company has completed a new headquarters, also a mixed-use building on the east side of Manhattan, which is intended to accommodate a Home Depot store. Every conceivable inch of Times Square is being built, with The Walt Disney Company, Conde Nast, Morgan Stanley and a host of law and accounting firms all taking space.
I can't argue with that. Any New Yorkers want to comment on this?
As is usually the case, the Chron article notes a possible Houston angle in this development:
NFL owners awarded the 2010 Super Bowl to New York, contingent on the stadium's construction. League officials did not return calls for comment on whether the game could be offered to other bidders, including Houston, which fell short in its bid for the 2009 game.
I can see two possibilities here. One is to throw open the bidding process for Super Bowl 44, as they just went through for SB43. Houston would presumably be a contender for that as they were before. Alternately, they could award SB44 to Arlington, in honor of the soon-to-be-built Eminent Domain Stadium. That assumes it's ready by then - they were originally in line for 2011, not 2010. Either way, one thing is for certain: regardless of the Olympics, no new stadium in NYC means no Super Bowl there.
I've written before that now would be an excellent time for Democrats to start talking about their proposed alternative for school finance reform. This Waco Trib article gives further evidence in favor of that thesis.
On the hottest partisan issue of the legislative session, House Democrats this session offered more traditional minority party opposition than in 2003. Democrats criticized the Republican-led "Roadmap to Results" school finance plan for not doing enough for education or average taxpayers and crafted a plan that emphasized their goals.Democrats said their plan offered more money, some of the same reforms and a smaller overall property tax cut that gave the largest tax cuts to owners of less expensive property, by tripling the homeowner's exemption on taxes to $45,000.
State Rep. Kent Grusendorf, R-Arlington, author of the Roadmap plan, quickly responded that his proposal was a better idea.
"Our plan puts $3 billion more into education and cuts spiraling property taxes by one third, and we get more education for each dollar by asking districts to spend money more efficiently. Their proposal calls for increased spending."
"They call their plan 'Live and Learn,' which must mean 'living beyond our means and learning to swallow a tax hike,'" Grusendorf said in a statement.
Grusendorf was an author of the Republican plan, so I don't take much from his criticism. This is more instructive:
[T]he Democratic opposition wasn't as effective on school finance as it had been on some proposals in the 2003 session, including tort reform, said state Rep. Dan Branch, R-Dallas. The Democratic school finance plan arrived without enough momentum or information for lawmakers to support it, he said, and many lawmakers did not know how it would affect their own school districts."Their plan came too late and . . . didn't get any traction in the House, really, so it just sort of got rolled over," Branch said.
The timeline pressure would cause the same problems as he and other Republican negotiators were ultimately unable to come up with a compromise on school finance between the House and Senate.
State Rep. Charles "Doc" Anderson, R-Waco, criticized the Democratic plan for coming too late in the process, without undergoing the same public scrutiny the Roadmap plan withstood for weeks as education groups and business groups offered comment and suggestions about the proposal.
Anderson said the House Republicans had already developed "a solid plan."
All of this can be addressed now, whether or not Governor Perry succumbs to pressure and calls a special session or not (link via PerryVsWorld). Get some analysis done on the plan, with an emphasis on how individual school districts (especially rural ones) would fare. Write op-eds to your local papers and/or ask for a meeting with their editorial boards and tout the plan. Talk to business and education groups and get their buy-in. You don't know when you'll be called back to Do Something, so get on it now. Don't let "they came in too late" and "we don't know what their plan does" be hindrances for next time.
I've been following the saga of Star Bock Beer since it first made the news after Starbucks hit it with a cease-and-desist letter for allegedly violating its trademark. See here, here, here, and here for prior bloggage on the case. Yesterday, a district court judge heard testimony in the dispute.
U.S. District Judge Sam Kent heard testimony Monday in the trademark infringement case between Rex "Wrecks" Bell, owner of the Old Quarter Acoustic Cafe here, and Seattle-based Starbucks.Bell maintains he got the idea for Star Bock beer in 2002 after a customer asked for one Texas beer, Lone Star, and changed his order to another Texas beer, Shiner Bock.
"I thought it was just a great name for a beer, especially for a Texas beer," Bell told Kent during a non-jury trial that lasted five hours Monday.
Bell served the beer in his bar, a side-street haunt for local folks and fans of alternative country musicians, from May 2003 until he ran out of the brew about a month ago.
Brenham Brewery, which produced the 100 kegs Bell sold, is out of business now, but Bell testified Monday that he's been talking to brewers large and small about reviving Star Bock and making it a national brand.
Colleen P. Chapman, Starbucks brand strategy director, told Kent on Monday that the company goes to great lengths to differentiate itself from competitors and protect its reputation for consistent high quality.
"We've learned that any injury to that reputation has a negative impact on our brand," Chapman said.
Bell testified he paid $355 to register the trademark Starbock after searching federal trademark records and finding that no one else had registered the name. He sold his beer under the two-word name Star Bock.
[...]
Bell said it's clear in his trademark application and in advertising he's done that his product is beer.
"It's not coffee," Bell said. "No one can own every word that comes after 'Star.' "
On cross-examination, however, Starbucks lawyers suggested Bell is well aware of how similar Starbock and Star Bock are to Starbucks and wants to cash in on the publicity the case has generated around the world.
[...]
Kent said he expects to issue a ruling in the case by Aug. 19.
I've been rooting for Rex Bell from the beginning, though I admit I've had my doubts that he could ever win. Hopefully, Judge Kent will rule that there is a difference between beer and coffee (even if some other companies are trying to blur the line), and Rex Bell can find another brewer and go back to doing what he wants to do. Stay tuned.
UPDATE: Jack criticizes Starbucks for pushing the issue.
Today's the day in San Antonio when the mayoral race gets settled once and for all. Phil Hardberger continues to hold a slight edge in the polls.
On the eve of the election, the race was too close to call, according to a final News 4 WOAI/Survey USA tracking poll among likely voters. The poll results released Monday had Hardberger with 52 percent and Castro with 47 percent — a virtual dead heat, considering the poll's margin of error of 4 percentage points."Either side could win it at this point, even though Hardberger's got the edge," said Richard Gambitta, a political scientist at the University of Texas at San Antonio. "The challenge to Castro now is to get out his voters."
As with the May 7 election, The Red State will be liveblogging today, so check with him for updates. The Jeffersonian feels pretty confident of a Hardberger win. On the other hand, Matt points to this Ken Rodriguez column which suggests some keys for the day, which points to a Castro win:
It would help if there were a City Council runoff on Schubert's turf. There isn't.It would help if there were no runoffs in Castro's backyard. There are two.
It would help if Castro had a weak grassroots organization. He doesn't.
It would help if Hardberger and Schubert were not political opposites. They are.
It would help if Hardberger could count on a heavy turnout of Schubert supporters. He can't.
The candidate who probably can count on a heavy turnout is Castro.
The last time there were runoffs in Districts 6 and 7, more people voted in Round 2 than in Round 1.
That's one reason I give Castro a slight edge in the runoff. There are others.
Everyone agrees this should be a close race. We'll see how it goes. Good luck to both candidates.
I've written about the cement plants in Midlothian before (see here and here for recent entries). Today I got the following press release:
(DALLAS) --- While the Dallas-Ft. Worth area struggles to find a way to reduce smog, the state environmental agency cut a backroom deal with TXI Operations, L.P., a Midlothian cement plant, to shut down its pollution control technology. The result will significantly increase emissions of toxic and smog forming pollutants. Outraged parents and environmental groups demand the state agency protect people over profits. A hearing to determine which is more important will be held June 7, 2005, City Council Chambers, 401 South Rogers Street, Waxahachie, Texas 75165. Parents and environmental groups will hold a press conference at 9 AM before the hearing.
"TXI thinks it is above the law," said Wendi Hammond, Blue Skies Alliance. "Even President George Bush's EPA has said TXI's request cannot be issued, but our state environmental agency is again caving to industry pressure while sacrificing the health of our children. Once again, it will be up to parents and environmental groups to ensure our environmental laws are enforced and our children protected."
"TXI's greed has gotten out of hand. Although TXI has enjoyed record profits while successfully operating the pollution controls, TXI claims the technology costs too much to operate because of increased natural gas prices," said Rebecca Bornhorst, Downwinders At Risk. "Everybody is dealing with fuel price increases, including other industries. It's a fact of life. But TXI thinks rules that apply to everyone else shouldn't apply to them."
TXI filed its application before Ellis County was reclassified as nonattainment for violating the Clean Air Act. Cost is no longer an excuse under the new classification. The shut down would result in significant increase of toxic emissions year round, including an almost 12% increase of smog forming emissions during the ozone season.
More information on the hearing and a press conference beforehand can be found at the Blue Skies Alliance and at the Midlothian Family Network. There's also a blog dedicated to TXI issues, but it unfortunately isn't updated all that often. Anyway, if you're in the area, check it out.
I'll see if there's any press coverage on this tomorrow - right now, a Google news search on "TXI" is pretty barren. Well, not completely. Look who's coming to Ellis County:
Erin Brockovich, an environmental crusader made famous by the movie that bears her name, is coming to Ellis County.Brockovich and a team of lawyers are researching the county's industrial pollution to determine whether it is affecting people's health.
If so, they say, they will sue the operators of cement kilns and other industries in Midlothian.
The group plans to schedule a public meeting next month in Midlothian to discuss its research and gauge interest in a suit, said Jim Ross, an Arlington lawyer who is working with Brockovich.
Brockovich said she is coming "to educate and make the community aware of the facts."
"We don't want to create a community scare. But if I can come in and create greater awareness of the issues, that's a giant part of my job."
[...]
State health statistics show that rates of cancer and chronic lower respiratory disease per 100,000 residents in Ellis County exceeded the state rates in 2002 — the latest year for which statistics are available from the Texas Department of State Health Services.
But so did the rates of those illnesses in other counties in North Texas, according to the statistics.
Kaufman County has a higher overall cancer rate than Ellis; five other area counties have higher rates of respiratory disease, with Denton County recording the highest.
Only the lung cancer rate in Ellis County exceeded the rates in the other metroplex counties in 2002.
The overall birth defect rate in Ellis County exceeded the state rate per 10,000 live births in 2001, the latest year for which statistics are available. But Collin, Dallas, Denton and Tarrant counties all exceeded Ellis County's rate.
However, several studies in the past decade have suggested that toxic pollution affects the health of Ellis County residents, say Ross, the lawyer working with Brockovich, and others.
One is a 1995 study led by Marvin Legator, an environmental toxicologist at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston.
Legator's study found three times more respiratory illnesses in Midlothian — home to most of the county's industries — than in Waxahachie a few miles away.
It also found that the rate of cancer deaths in Ellis County was consistently higher than the rate in neighboring Tarrant County.
A year later, researchers at the University of Michigan ripped a state health-risk assessment that determined TXI's cement-kiln emissions posed little health risk.
The study, commissioned by the American Lung Association and the regional environmental group Downwinders at Risk, said the state's scientific approach was severely flawed and its conclusions unfounded.
That same year, Peter Langlois, a senior epidemiologist with the Texas Department of Health, published a study that found an unusually high number of babies in Ellis County born with Down syndrome.
That story is over a week old, so I assume she's already there. Obviously, this is something to keep an eye on. Stay tuned.
This is a victory for transparency.
The Texas Attorney General's Office agrees with the Chronicle that citizens have a right to know how a private development group plans to build and finance a toll road from Dallas to San Antonio.On March 11, the Texas Department of Transportation and the consortium Cintra-Zachry signed a comprehensive development agreement for TTC-35, the first leg of the Trans-Texas Corridor. Eventually, the route could extend from Oklahoma to Mexico and include rail, utilities and other facilities.
The pact was signed with a good bit of fanfare, and — except for two key parts — it was made public. (See it at www.keeptexasmoving.org.) But TxDOT withheld the financial and development plans, saying they contained proprietary information.
Officials said releasing these details could harm Cintra-Zachry competitively and discourage companies who might seek to develop other legs of the corridor, such as TTC/I-69, proposed to run from Texarkana to Mexico past Houston.
The attorney general's opinion says TxDOT failed to show how revealing the plans would cause harm. It also says that because the agreement has been signed, the deal being negotiated is no longer protected by law from disclosure.
TxDOT and Cintra-Zachry may sue to overturn the ruling. Both are reviewing the ruling but have not decided what action to take, spokespersons said.
Good on the Chron for pursuing this, and good on AG Greg Abbott for making the right call. This is exactly the sort of thing that Corridor critics have been worried about. It's a lot easier to tell when fully public projects exceed cost estimates or otherwise don't meet their projections. We need the same sort of openness from the private firms who will be doing this kind of construction.
You can find the full AG's opinion at CorridorWatch.
Lea Fastow has Left the pokey, but she still has five weeks in a halfway house to go.
Hand-in-hand with her soon-to-be-imprisoned husband, Lea Fastow walked out of a downtown Houston prison before dawn today, then took a short ride to the downtown halfway house where she'll serve out the last five weeks of her one-year sentence for lying on her taxes about income from an Enron venture.The 43-year-old wife of former Enron CFO Andrew Fastow looked healthy in a white polo shirt and jeans, with a pink sweater folded over her arm, as she emerged from the Federal Dentention Center moments before 4 a.m., just as sprinklers started up.
She stopped briefly on the sidewalk at 1200 Texas Avenue to speak to a reporter and photographers before being whisked away in a private car to the halfway house where she'll stay until July 10.
"It's been a tough year, but it's supposed to be a tough year,'' said Fastow, a stay-at-home mom before going to prison. "I am going home to my family soon. That's exactly what I'm looking forward to.''
[...]
Although the federal halfway house she's settling into allows for varying levels of restrictions, Lea Fastow is likely to be confined to the facility for the remainder of her sentence, possibly allowed to visit an outside doctor.
At the Liedel Sanction Center, known as a "federal community corrections center," the idea is to let prisoners near release stay in a "structured, supervised environment'' that has counseling, job placement, and other services to help the inmates rebuild their community ties and readjust to freedom.
Somewhat more hospitable than a prison and offering more privacy, the Commerce Street halfway house is less than a mile from the federal detention center in a semi-industrial part of downtown. A guard was at the door Monday morning.
I guess that's one chapter of this saga that's about to end. She got a harsher sentence than she originally bargained for, but in the end she'll be back home before Andy Fastow heads off to the big house, and that was what they both ultimately wanted.
I present the following as an FYI for those who are into this sort of thing (you know who you are). Greg posted a couple of days back that precinct-level data was now available statewide for all elections from 1996 through 2004 via FTP. You can use anonymous FTP, but for some reason, you actually have to enter "none" as the password. I always thought anonymous FTP meant a blank password, but apparently not in this case.
Anyway. The data is in lovely CSV format (woo hoo!), though it's too big to bring up in Excel - I'm importing it all into Access for most of what I want to do, with some Perl scripting in reserve for anything that won't succumb to my query-writing skills. Look for some wonky number crunching in the (hopefully) near future.
There's enough grist in this story about an overzealous police raid on a parentally-unsupervised high school party to power about a half-dozen mills. What really dropped my jaw is this:
Static blares and bounces around the room of Gary Franks's first-floor law office. Franks, who represents several of the teens busted at last month's house party, stares at a black-screened monitor and listens intently.Through a public information request, Franks obtained copies of the video and audio tapes from the night of the police raid. They are mostly useless. But he suffers through them, picking up snippets of conversation amid vast expanses of white noise.
He forwards ahead to a scene in which an officer can be heard ordering the teenagers to go home.
"I don't want anybody driving if they've been drinking," the cop says.
Franks slaps the palm of his hand on his desk. "If!" he exclaims. "If they've been drinking!"
Franks wants to know why the teens were ticketed when the officers didn't even know if they were drinking alcohol. And why, Franks asks, were teens such as Tarantino busted for possessing alcohol and then handed back their car keys and told to drive home?
Sugar Land Police Chief Lisa Womack has publicly defended her officers several times. She says that the large quantities of alcohol found in the house, and the minors' proximity to it, is sufficient evidence to issue the MIP citations.
"It's not okay for a minor to be at a party when alcohol is present, even if they're not drinking," Womack says. "Essentially, if there's enough to go around, it doesn't matter whether or not they had alcohol on their breath."
The defense attorneys dispute this reading of the law, contending that a mere presence of alcohol is not enough. They will build their cases around the meaning of "possession," which is defined in the Texas penal code as having "actual care, custody, control, or management."
"If the police chief doesn't know the law any better than that, then the officers under her must be poorly trained," says Nina Schaefer, an attorney representing one of the students.
If it's really "not okay for a minor to be at a party when alcohol is present, even if they're not drinking", then it seems to me that the police forces in Sugar Land and elsewhere need to step up their enforcement efforts. I'm willing to bet that the vast majority of backyard barbecues that took place across Texas this past Memorial Day weekend featured both beer and minor children. Should they all have been busted? Okay, maybe there's an exception for when the minor's parents are also in attendance, but surely there were plenty of cases where a kid was present without a parent in tow. Where does Chief Womack care to draw the line?
I mean, if you really want to get technical, then the Womackian interpretation of minor-in-possession laws would put every professional sporting event in Texas in jeopardy. I attended Yankee games with just my friends before I turned 18. I'm sure teenagers today go to Astro and Ranger and other games by themselves. If it's really "not okay for a minor to be at a party when alcohol is present, even if they're not drinking", then should Minute Maid Park ban anyone under the age of 21 who doesn't bring a parent or guardian along, or should they just stop selling beer?
I feel pretty confident that the defense will prevail in these cases. Until that happens, though, I think I'd want to check with the local police before cracking open a brewski in Sugar Land. I wouldn't want to put any passing teenagers in danger of getting an MIP citation while I'm taking the pause that refreshes.
The Sunday Chron had this op-ed, which was written as a response to an earlier piece by former Gov. Bill Clements decrying the possibility of a bloody GOP gubernatorial primary. The central point of yesterday's piece is this:
Not just democracies but parties thrive on competition. It creates interest and forces candidates to define and defend their positions.
First of all, let me say that I agree with this premise. If nothing else, a primary gets a party some regular media attention, and it allows accepted conventional wisdom to be challenged. There were quite a few tooth-and-nail Republican Senatorial primaries around the country last year, and the winners who emerged seem to have done all right electorally.
That said, I wonder what kind of primary this author is expecting there to be if and when Kay Bailey Hutchison makes her entry into the race official. I don't really see a whole lot of difference between Rick Perry and KBH on the issues: Tax cuts good, school vouchers good, Robin Hood bad, abortion bad, gay marriage bad. Perry's more hard-edged than KBH on some of these things, but let's be honest - if KBH is our next Governor, we won't see any major philosophical shifts in the Capitol.
What this primary is going to be about is two things: What Rick Perry has and has not done as Governor, and who Kay Bailey Hutchison is. The case KBH will make for herself is clear: Rick Perry has a lousy record of achievement. He promised you property tax relief and a replacement for Robin Hood, and he's delivered neither. Worse, he's allowed these important issues to founder while he himself stands by and offers nothing in the way of leadership. In other words, she won't be claiming that she'll do different things, she'll be claiming that she'll do things differently, and thus will accomplish what Rick Perry had set out to do.
Perry's strategy is equally clearcut: Make KBH the bad guy. His greatest strength is with the religious conservative base, so he can tout things like the parental consent bill and the anti-gay marriage HJR6 while making KBH out to be Hillary Clinton's bestest friend. Unlike KBH, Perry actually will attempt to demonstrate philosophical differences between the two of them, but it will be strictly at the margins. Any response by KBH to this sort of attack will be basically of the "Am not!" variety. Maybe there will be some defining and defending of real positions in there, but I think it'll be the kind of non-substantial slagfest that reduces interest, at least among the non-hardcore.
If you really want to see a GOP gubernatorial primary with a robust debate about differences in approach, then I think you ought to be rooting for Carole Keeton Strayhorn to jump in. CKS has been a constant critic of Governor Perry's agenda since at least 2003. She's been a firm supporter of expanded gambling while Perry has flipflopped on the issue. She's pushed for a big increase in cigarette taxes, fought efforts to use one-time budget remedies such as the rainy day fund, and has called for funding CHIP at higher levels than we've done in the past two sessions. Whether you agree or disagree with any of this, it's issue-based and draws a clear distinction between CKS' goals and methods and Perry's.
So that's how I see it, and I believe that's why Bill Clements is nervous and Democrats are hopeful. Maybe there will be the kind of debate about ideas that our op-ed writer is hoping for, but given how both Perry and Hutchison's campaign manager have done things in the past, I wouldn't count on it.
One year ago today, Olivia Rose Kuffner made her appearance in our lives. Today, on her first birthday, she's given us a year's worth of joy and happiness. She's walking now, though she still crawls when she wants to get there quickly. She has a total fascination with all things paper, all things red (especially Elmo dolls), and the TiVo remote. She eats pretty much everything we put in front of her, with avocados and Cheerios being her favorites. Now that she's finally starting to cut teeth, we'll be able to expand her menu and see if her omnivorous tendencies continue. Like her mother, she prefers to wake up on her own time, and once she's set on a course of action it's hard to persuade her to do something else. Like her father, she has a terminal case of bedhead every morning, and has an all-absorbing fascination with the TiVo remote. She loves taking baths and seems to enjoy her swimming lessons as well.
I can't believe it's been a year already. The cliches about time flying are really true when it comes to babies. It's been a helluva ride, and it's just getting started. Happy birthday, baby girl.
(That's Olivia with her Grandpa Tim. We celebrated her birthday yesterday at their house.)
There's some good conversation going on around suburbia versus inner-urbia and the nature of mixed-use development - see Atrios, Kevin Drum, and Jim Henley. Taking the point closer to home, at least in some sense, is Ginger, who writes about this Chron article on the farther and farther reaches of Houston's outer limits. She's hit all the main points, so I'll just add in a few short takes.
One of the next outposts of suburbia is west of Houston near Fulshear. Jefferson Development has just started work there on Firethorne, a 1,400-acre master-planned community about a mile south of Interstate 10 between Fulshear and Katy, about 30 miles from downtown.The project, which promises "Hill Country atmosphere," is expected to have 3,500 houses when completed in 10 to 12 years.
That would be "Hill Country atmosphere" without all those annoying and inconvenient hills. Oh, there's a bit of a roll to the landscape - certainly anyone living in Houston, even in The Heights, should think twice about mocking anyone else's hills - but go and spend a weekend in Fredericksburg, or San Marcos, or Austin for that matter, and then compare it to the Katy prairie. You'll see what I mean.
"Houston is growing by leaps and bounds. And it's growing in all directions," said Mike Manners, president of Houston-based Elan Development.
At what point, if any, will we cease to think of this sort of development as being part of "Houston", for some value of that term? These developments aren't just 30 to 50 miles or more from downtown, they're in other counties - Fort Bend, Waller, Montgomery, Liberty, Brazoria, even Galveston. More to the point, as Henley talked about, a lot of these places depend heavily on the older, "classic" suburbs for their amenities. If you live in one of these new west-of-Katy or north-of-the Woodlands developments, you don't have to drive too far to shop or eat. That wouldn't have been the case a few years ago, as the cited example of Fairfield out on 290 shows.
My question is will we ever see these developments as being suburbs of Sugar Land or Kingwood or whatever? And if we do, is that good, bad, or indifferent for Houston?
Developers pick sites along the routes of big highway projects. Firethorne is north of the town of Fulshear, just south of the Katy line. What was once a farming town is in an area being transformed by three road projects: the Grand Parkway, Houston's outermost traffic loop, which is still under construction; Interstate 10, which is being reconstructed and vastly expanded; and the Westpark Tollway, expected to reach the Grand Parkway later this year.
Ginger's already talked about this, I just wanted to highlight it. The land speculation and buddy-system politics that has given rise to the Grand Parkway really ought to be a scandal, but it isn't.
Mark Wimberly, a commercial real estate broker who works in the Kingwood and Atascocita areas, said so much of the land on the west side of Lake Houston has been purchased that the next logical place for development is across the lake in areas near Crosby and Huffman, about 30 miles from downtown."When you jump the lake, there's a ton of farmland that could easily go for residential development," he said.
Wimberly expects residential developers will soon start buying parcels along FM 2100 just east of the lake.
Wimberly has a message for the area's residents who live in an almost countrylike setting: "They need to enjoy it because it's not going to last."
[...]
So far, the projects planned around Fulshear haven't changed the country feel of the place, according to Tammy Canton, who recently moved from Sugar Land to a new house on 10 acres. She and her husband, John, wanted a place where their son could go to a small school. She gets the impression people like the two-gas-station town the way it is.
"They don't want it to grow too much. I think they like it how it is now. You have to drive a little bit farther out to go the grocery store, but that's OK."
Enjoy it while it lasts, Ms. Canton. And don't come crying to me when you decide that Fulshear is no longer the idyllic small country town it was when you bought into it.
I think Richard Justice is very likely correct in saying that Roger Clemens is not going to get traded - apparently, he feels so strongly about this that he's said it twice. I think the main reason why Clemens isn't going anywhere, other than the psychological reasons for Drayton McLane, is that I don't think any of the named contenders for his services have the kind of minor-league talent that the Stros would need to get in return. For sure the Yankees don't, and I'm pretty confident the Red Sox don't, either.
Teams that I think might have the talent to give up and which almost surely will find themselves wanting to acquire a frontline starting pitcher later this season are Baltimore, San Diego, and the White Sox. I don't think Roger Clemens would agree to a trade to any of those teams, however, unless McLane and Tim Purpura came to him on bended knee and said that the return package would set the Stros up for long-term contention beginning in the near future.
Let's also not forget that Clemens has a one-year contract. That means that he won't be a financial burden when the Astros begin the rebuilding project. They don't have to consider unloading him in order to have the cash to shop around for next season. Of course, by the same token that makes the prospect of acquiring Clemens more attractive to the smaller market contenders, since they wouldn't be on the hook for any length of time.
So as things stand now, I think a Clemens deal is at best a longshot. What I want to know is when the speculation will begin about Andy Pettite getting shopped around. Pettite is, in my mind, the most tradeable commodity the Astros have. He's a lefty with extensive postseason experience, and when healthy is at least a #2 starter. Certainly, he's someone you could roll out against a Tim Hudson or Curt Schilling and feel you've got an even shot at winning. He's also got two more years on his contract, which ought to incentivize Houston to look for a suitor. His health is of course a big risk, but the market looks to be pretty barren overall for starting hurlers, so you've got to figure someone will find that risk to be within his threshhold. The only question is when.
Those of you who are parents can read what Julia has written and nod your heads. Those of you who aren't but plan to be can read and learn (and you should). Those of you who plan to remain child-free can read and feel smug or relieved, your choice.
Two things to comment on:
It's hard. It's really, really hard. It's really, really hard not because the work itself is all that difficult, but because you don't get to go home from it and it's not on a schedule you control.
Though establishing a schedule is not realistic, you can establish a routine. Routine is your friend. Watch Supernanny and see how installing a routine is often her top priority. There are more parallels than one might sometimes like to admit between having a baby and having a dog, and one of them is that both respond well to routine. Trust me on this.
Right now, you're probably wobbling from lack of sleep, you haven't had this little personal space since you were in diapers and you're probably wondering what in hell you were thinking. It's understandable. Certainly nobody told you about most of this before you were plunged in it.
There are lots of things they don't tell you about. My personal tote sheet includes ringworm, the constant need to trim baby fingernails (and the extreme reluctance of the baby to let you), and the endless list of things that one can learn to do one-handed if one is sufficiently in need. They also don't tell you just how much fun it can be. That can be hard to remember sometimes, but you'll get plenty of reminders at other times.
Olivia turns one year old on Monday, meaning she's just entering the toddler stage that Julia writes about. I expect I'll be reviewing this post again soon and often.
Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn has certified the state's budget as balanced, meaning it can go to Governor Perry without further intervention from the Lege. In 2003, Strayhorn initially refused to give her seal of approval, and that action, which came after months of Perry-baiting by Strayhorn about the budget cuts, was seen as strong evidence of her eventual intent to run for Governor herself. This year, the budget was mostly noncontroversial - hell, compared to the fights over HB2 and HB3, it was practically an afterthought - and Strayhorn has mostly been in the background as speculation swirls around Senator Hutchison. And speaking of KBH:
Referring to the legislative session that ended Monday, the senator said during a brief interview, "I was disappointed like every Texan that the key issue facing our state, which is school reform and a way to fund it that takes the burden off property owners, was not dealt with.""We have a situation in which the courts may be making the decision," Hutchison said. "I think elected representatives should be making those decisions."
[...]
Pressed on a timetable for her to announce whether she will challenge Perry, run for re-election or perhaps retire, a smiling Hutchison said only, "I will not be making an announcement today."
I imagine KBH's rebukes will become more pointed after that annoucement has been made. As for Strayhorn, I expect she'll keep us on our toes as usual.
Well, that's too long, as they say. Fortunately, you can rectify that situation at 10:15 AM on Saturday at the usual place, BizRadio 1320 AM. I'll be there, as will Kevin, who's presumably tanned, rested, and ready after his weekend in the wilderness.
Here's last week's show, featuring Anne Linehan pinch-hitting for Kevin, split into two pieces, since we both got to yak for longer than usual (okay, I yakked more than Anne did).
Rick Casey's column today is devoted to State Supreme Court Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson, who responds to the accusation of Rep. Terry Keel that Jefferson threatened to recruit an opponent against him when they spoke on the phone about the judicial pay raise bill.
Jefferson said he began by telling Keel it was a very important bill for the judiciary. Texas state judges haven't received a raise in six years, and, said Jefferson, "I think we're going to lose very talented judges.""Representative Keel went on at length into the detail of his dealings with Senators Duncan and Ellis," Jefferson said.
[...]
"I said many other judges across the state will find it difficult to run in 2006 if this is not passed," Jefferson said. It was a point he had made at length in his State of the Judiciary address in February.
Jefferson continued: "Representative Keel said, 'I'm shocked! How dare a Supreme Court justice issue this kind of a threat. I'm appalled! Good night!' And he hung up. I was shocked. I couldn't understand why he reacted that way."
Jefferson said he slept on the matter and, when he woke up, thought he understood.
"He was on the House floor," Jefferson said. "There was a lot of tension. It was noisy. A lot of representatives were not happy with him. I think he understood me to say a lot of judges would make it difficult for him to run."
I have to say, it's pretty gracious of Justice Jefferson to offer such a nice, face-saving way of explaining what Rep. Keel said. Not that it's done any good, mind you.
Jefferson said Thursday that Keel misunderstood what he had said in a late-night, intense phone conversation during the final hours of the legislative session and that Keel hung up before he could correct that impression.Keel disagreed with that version, saying, "It's not something I'd misunderstand."
[...]
After briefing Jefferson on the issues behind the stare-down, Keel said an agitated Jefferson threatened him, saying he and other judges "would see to it" that Keel and Ellis got opponents next year.
Keel said he was offended by Jefferson's remarks and told him so.
"I said, 'You are out of line. That is as inappropriate as me calling you about something pending before the court and making a threat,' " Keel said.
Keel and Jefferson agree that Keel then hung up on the chief justice. But Jefferson said Keel, under intense pressure, didn't hear him correctly.
"I said, 'It will be very difficult for me and many judges to run in 2006 if this bill does not pass,' " Jefferson said. "We couldn't clarify it because he hung up the phone."
The disagreement might have died with the hang-up, but Keel told the story to a Houston Chronicle columnist. Ellis told the Chronicle that he was unaware of any such comments by Jefferson.
On Thursday, Keel stuck to his story.
Jefferson was busy returning phone calls from reporters.
"I would never make that kind of threat," Jefferson said. "If any judge said what Rep. Keel thought was said, I would join him in condemning any kind of threat."
Jefferson said he had not tried to call Keel because "I didn't think he would take my call" after the way their conversation ended Sunday night.
I wasn't there, so I can't say who's right. I do know that Wallace Jefferson is very highly regarded, and based on comments I've seen elsewhere I doubt too many people who know him would think he'd say what Keel thought he said. One way or the other, the ball is in Terry Keel's court right now.
On a side note, Eye on Williamson County reminds me that there was another issue tied up in the pay raise bill, namely legislative pensions. That vote was taken in secret, and now it's just as well since none of them will get what they voted for anyway.
Cinty Controller Annise Parker has announced an audit of the SafeClear program in order to get a better grip on how much the free tows are costing the city.
Mayor Bill White admits there have been a lot of changes to Safe Clear, including the program's cost."There were some times where I was having a hard time getting a straight answer as to what the cost is," admitted Mayor White. "I think we have a pretty good idea now."
Since most short distance tows are now free. The Safe Clear program is costing the city money. City Controller Annise Parker announced on Thursday she's going to find out exactly how much.
She said, "We can show how much wrecker drivers paid for the privilege for the tow, how many tow slips have been submitted to the city, and what the outside expenses are to be."
Parker says the program's still too young for a full audit, but she will get a full financial review completed before city council members vote on next year's budget. In that budget Mayor White is expecting to spend $1.5 million on Safe Clear.
"Safe Clear has worked," insisted Mayor White. "It's the most cost effective thing we do in transportation and public safety."
The controller doesn't disagree, but she says even well intentioned programs need to be financially sound.
Parker explained, "We all as taxpayers have a right to know what it truly costs to provide what I think is a necessary service."
I'm cool with this. I think SafeClear has worked pretty well since the initial bumps were ironed out, but it still has to be cost-effective. We can't know if it is without taking a good look at it now and again.
The KHOU story puts a bit of spin on this at the end.
The mayor said that the controller's decision to conduct an audit was great, but there is clearly some tension. The mayor's staff thinks the controller is implying that Mayor White is somehow withholding information from City Council.
This would not be the first time there's been some tension reported between the Mayor's office and the Controller's. If that never happened, Parker would not be doing her job properly. I doubt this will cause any lasting fractures.
Via The Stakeholder, I see that the DeLay '06 campaign is already getting into gear.
With Democrats gunning for him and an ex-congressman already working to take his seat, Majority Leader Tom DeLay is wasting no time getting into campaign mode, rallying campaign volunteers and kicking off a ballot petition drive – seven months before the deadline.The campaign has invited volunteers for petition training tonight at his campaign headquarters in Sugar Land, aides said. The event is two nights after Mr. DeLay personally rallied the troops at a similar session in Clear Lake, at the other end of his district.
"Signing petitions is Politics 101, and our grass-roots operation is up and running, and it's a great way to highlight DeLay's support in the district," said spokeswoman Shannon Flaherty.
She said the campaign hadn't planned to collect signatures so early, but so many supporters offered to pitch in that it made sense to channel their energy.
Democrats called the early petition drive a sign of someone scrambling to survive.
"Tom DeLay is in trouble. His support at home is at a historic low," said Bill Burton, communications director at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, predicting: "He's in for the toughest fight of his congressional career."
[...]
To secure a spot on the March 7 primary ballot, Mr. DeLay must submit 500 valid voter signatures or pay a $3,125 fee. The Texas secretary of state's office says signatures can be collected at any time, although the filing window runs from Dec. 3 to Jan. 2.
"He knows that if he's in trouble, he'd better begin to organize earlier to solidify his base," asserted Tom Matzzie, Washington director of the MoveOn political action committee, which is running radio ads in the districts of seven vulnerable members – none in Texas – linking them to Mr. DeLay's "stench of corruption."
Carl Forti, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, dismissed assertions that Mr. DeLay's early campaign activity reflects anxiety.
"Look, whenever the campaign wanted to go out and collect signatures they could do it. I don't see how it can be considered a sign of weakness at all," he said. "If anything I think it's a sign of strength if he's got the kind of organization in place to combat all the third-party activity."
Somebody help me out here. Is it at all common for incumbent Congresspeople to gather petition signatures for ballot access instead of just paying the filing fee? I mean, $3125 is chump change, and not just for a moneybag like DeLay. If the petition route really is standard "Politics 101", then the only remarkable thing here is the early start, which at least means DeLay is taking nothing for granted this time around. If it's not, then why the change? In this case, I don't think it would be unreasonable to conclude that DeLay is taking seriously the allegations from last time that he's out of touch with the district.
As it happens, potential DeLay primary challenger Mike Fjetland has seen some of this petition activity already. Here's one report from a local GOP event, in which a resolution in support of The Hammer was read and approved:
Then they passed around a petition, saying it was "required" to get x number of signatures. That was news to me. I sat in the back. When it came by, I noticed it was a "Petition in lieu of filing fee" - something I had done before to avoid paying the $3,000 filing fee. Why circulate it? It isn't really required unless you want to save $3,000 by turning in 500 signatures from voters in the district. But for a guy like DeLay with millions of donations in the bank, why bother with it?My best guess is that it is a way of polling people. If so, the results should be of concern to the incumbent -- what surprised me was how few signatures the petition had, despite passing through nearly everyone else in the room before I saw it. It had maybe four or five signatures. When I did my own petition drive in 2002, I usually got nine signatures for every 10 requests I made.
Some people were asked more than once to sign, and refused, according to a friend of mine who was there and saw it happen.
Here's another from earlier, on a slightly different matter.
I went to a Hispanic Republican event last Thursday, May 5, for "Cinco de Mayo." I arrived late -- and noticed a couple of interns walking around with clipboards wearing "Tom DeLay" stickers.It turned out they were asking people to sign a "commitment" for Tom DeLay. From across the room, I watched them make their pitch to people at various tables, then I noticed a look of terror from the person approached, something like: "Oh my God, they want my signature! Egads!"
Maybe I was wrong about that look, but maybe not. When the young lady walked by me with her clipboard, I could not help but notice that -- despite her low cut dress -- that she had only about 3 signatures, despite a room full of party regulars (mostly non-Hispanic).
Since when do you need a commitment to run against a Democrat? What is DeLay afraid of if he is campaigning already -- nine months before the March '06 primary?
Make of that what you will.
You're going to continue to hear Governor Perry rattle his saber about calling the Lege back for a special session on school finance. Actually, from what I've seen, Perry will continue to push the notion that the Lege will quickly come crawling back to him and beg for another session to be called.
"When we see the commit- ment of the Legislature to come together on this," Perry said, "then there is a very good chance that we'll be back here and swiftly address it."Otherwise, he said, legislators "should make plans for a long and uncomfortable summer when they go home" to face constituents and tell them that they did not approve education reform or a swap of billions of dollars in state taxes for cuts in local school property taxes.
As Governor, Rick Perry can call a special session any time he wants, whether the Lege likes it or not. Obviously, he doesn't want to call a second doomed-to-failure session on school finance. He needs a deal to be brokered first, which is why he's putting pressure on the Lege, specifically on the House, to come back to the bargaining table and make something happen. Once it does, he'll call everyone back, the reforms will pass, everyone will throw rose petals at him, KBH will stay in Washington where she belongs, and we'll all live happily ever after.
Or not. As Chris Elam rightly points out, there's been no indication from Tom Craddick that he sees any progress in the negotiations. Craddick is also fully aware that the state Supreme Court will begin hearing the appeal of Judge Dietz's original ruling on July 6. Craddick has said all along that he would prefer to hear what the courts ultimately say before taking any action; it's hard to believe he'll change his mind when that last word from the judiciary is so imminent.
PerryVsWorld thinks that the Governor may be trying to pressure Craddick specifically. I can't imagine what leverage Perry thinks he has on Craddick. We already know that of Perry, Dewhurst, and Craddick, only the latter knows for sure that he'll be back in the same office in 2007, and now Craddick is even more secure in his spot:
The second-term speaker held a reception for House members through the midnight hour Monday, raising what he said were enough pledges from colleagues to assure his re-election as speaker of the 150-member body in the 2007 session.
Of course, those pledges would mean little if the Republicans lost control of the House next year, but as optimistic as I am about Democrats making more gains, even my wildest dreams don't stretch as far as 14 seats. You could target a few specific Craddick loyalists, more to make a point than anything else, I suppose, but the most likely outcome of that is a split GOP caucus and the return of Pete Laney as a compromise choice for speaker. Surely Rick Perry isn't that Machiavellian. In short, I don't think that's gonna work.
All this is to say that barring an unlikely change in Tom Craddick's rhetoric, don't count on any more sessions until after the Supremes have spoken. What you're hearing from the Governor is blame-shifting, nothing more.
Finally, on a tangential note, now would be an excellent time for the Democrats, who as Andrew D noted had a pretty decent session all in all, to start talking again about their alternate proposals for school finance reform and property tax relief. How many of you, like the commenter in that BOR post, never knew or had forgotten that there was a Democratic alternative? Listen up, Democrats: Get out there and talk about this. Tell your constituents about it, in email and snail mail and at any community event you can attend. Start submitting op-eds to your hometown newspapers touting your alternative. The point to emphasize, whether through delicate inference or crude sledgehammering, is that Democrats know what their answer is, and if Democrats were in charge we'd have solved this problem to everyone's benefit by now. Do it now, because you never know when it'll be too late.
Once again, Lou Dubose advances the ball on things scandalicious and DeLay-related, this time documenting a political fundraiser at the White House involving disgraced lobbyist and DeLay crony Jack Abramoff and should-be-disgraced conservative activist Grover Norquist. Read and enjoy.
Some of you may note this story, which says that Democratic efforts to make political hay out of Les Affaires Abramoff may hit a snag due to some fundraising Abramoff did on behalf of several prominent Dems. Perhaps it will, but I'll simply note that the story makes no claim that there was anything illegal, unethical, or even potentially questionable in this activity. If anyone wants to advance the notion that any dealing at all with Abramoff is prima facie evidence of wrongdoing, I say go for it. I feel pretty confident in stating that the Republicans will come out on the short end of that particular stick.
All that said, if there is actual evidence of wrongdoing by Democrats in association with Abramoff, then go right ahead and bring on the investigations. I'm not in the business of excusing malfeasance. Following the rules isn't (or at least shouldn't be) a partisan issue. I'm for active ethics enforcement, and if that means a few casualties on my side, then so be it. They should know better, and I expect better of them.
Not that I'm too worried. By his nature and how he got where he is, Abramoff will be far more damaging to Republicans. As an example of what I mean, and as an extra special bonus, The Stakeholder ties the Dubose story back to Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton. Jack Abramoff is a gift that just keeps on giving, isn't he?
How can you tell it's summertime around here? Well, beyond the onset of 90+ degree days whose monotony is broken only by violent thunderstorms? That would be the annual Sand Castle competition in Galveston, which is taking place tomorrow. Castle building begins at 10 AM, judging at 3 PM. If you're thinking about heading to the beach this weekend, that's as good an excuse for going as you're likely to get. Via Stina.
Man, KBH's much-awaited announcement is still more than two weeks away, and dominoes are falling already. We'll start with Ag Commish Susan Combs, who has formally announced that she's running for Comptroller.
Texas Agriculture Commissioner Susan Combs officially opened her campaign for state comptroller today without waiting for incumbent Carole Keeton Strayhorn to make her next move.Strayhorn has been eyeing a run for governor in next year's elections. Combs and Stayhorn are Republicans, as is Gov. Rick Perry, who plans to seek re-election.
Combs, a former state legislator before her 1998 election as agriculture commissioner, said she expects an open seat for the comptroller's office next year based on her previous discussions with Strayhorn.
“She has been aware that I was running for this office,” Combs said. “I'm in the race to stay. I'm in the race to win.”
Strayhorn would not speculate on her political plans.
[...]
Strayhorn remains coy about her own political future.
“The people of Texas are asking her to run for governor, and she is listening,” [Strayhorn spokesman Mark] Sanders said.
As is the case with the KBH and CKS Governor speculation, Combs-for-Comptroller has been talked about for months, so this is no surprise. Combs outpolled everybody (even Rick Perry) except Strayhorn in 2002, so she'll be a heavy favorite to win. More to the point, this will force CKS' hand to an extent, since Combs would also be a good favorite to win a primary battle between the two women. One scenario I've heard is Strayhorn running for Lt. Gov. in the event David Dewhurst makes a break for the Senate. Assuming she survived a primary there, Strayhorn could make a pretty compelling case for crossover support by continuing to run against, and promising to continue to be a counterweight against, Rick Perry.
Domino Number Two is State Sen. Todd Staples, who has announced his intent to replace Combs.
Subsequent to Combs’ announcement, state Sen. Todd Staples, R- Palestine, declared his intent to run for agriculture commissioner.Staples has an agricultural economics degree from Texas A&M. He is rancher and real estate appraiser.
Staples has served in the House and was recently elected to a second term in the Senate. He is a former mayor pro tempore of Palestine.
Staples has his GOP bonafides in order, as he was a leader in the redistricting legislation of 2003 and the Senate sponsor of the Double Secret Illegal anti-gay marriage HJR6 this session. He's picked up the endorsement of State Rep. David Swinford, who had previously been rumored to be interested in the Ag Commish job. And last but certainly not least, he has very good hair.
Staples' candidacy would leave his Senate seat open, which is a fairly rare commodity. His district is pretty solidly Republican, but an open seat is an open seat. Max Sandlin isn't doing much these days; maybe someone should give him a call and make a pitch about Senate District 3.
Thanks to Karl-T for the heads-up. More of this is sure to come soon, including (one hopes) some Democratic announcements for these offices. Stay tuned.
UPDATE: The Chron runs down various candidate possibilities.
George Mikan, the original dominating big man of the NBA, who led the then-Minneapolis Lakers to five titles in six years, died today just shy of his 81st birthday.
A superstar decades before the term existed, Mikan was the first big man to dominate the sport. No one before had seen a 6-foot-10 player with his agility, competitiveness and skill.When the Minneapolis Lakers came to New York in December, 1949, the marquee at Madison Square Garden read "Geo. Mikan vs. the Knicks."
"He literally carried the league," Boston Celtics great Bob Cousy said. "He gave us recognition and acceptance when we were at the bottom of the totem pole in professional sports. He transcended the game. People came to see him as much as they came to see the game."
College basketball instituted the goaltending rule because of him, and the NBA doubled the width of the free throw lane. Slowdown tactics used against him -- his 1950 Lakers lost 19-18 to the Fort Wayne Pistons in the lowest-scoring game in NBA history -- eventually led to the 24-second shot clock.
[...]
A statue of Mikan taking his trademark hook shot was dedicated at the Target Center in Minneapolis in April 2001 at halftime of a Timberwolves-Lakers game.
"We were in hiatus a long time, the old-timers," Mikan said at the time. "They forgot about us. They don't go back to our NBA days."
Timberwolves star and 2004 MVP Kevin Garnett knew of Mikan, though.
"When I think about George Mikan, I skip all the Wilt Chamberlains and Kareem Abdul-Jabbars and I call him the 'The Original Big Man,"' Garnett said. "Without George Mikan, there would be no up-and-unders, no jump hooks, and there would be no label of the big man."
[...]
Mikan coached the Lakers for part of the 1957-58 season, and was commissioner of the American Basketball Association in 1967, introducing the 3-point line and the distinctive red, white and blue ball.
In terms of dominance and elevating his sport in the public eye, Mikan was to the NBA as Babe Ruth was to Major League Baseball. Rest in peace, George Mikan.
Congratulations to Byron LaMasters, founding father of the Burnt Orange Report, for graduating college and landing a job. I know I'm not alone in saying that I'll miss his voice on BOR (he'll still post occasionally), but he's leaving the place in good hands, so have no fear. Austin's loss is Fort Worth's gain. Knock 'em dead, Byron!
Matt reports a rumor from the 21nd Congressional District.
The buzz is that John Courage may challenge Lamar Smith again. Courage is a San Antonio teacher and former challenger to Smith in 2002. In 2002 Smith received 73% of the vote and raised over $700,000 compared to Courage's 25% and a little over $150,000. Some view this as a long shot seat, and I couldn't disagree more.Last year Rhett Smith garnered 35% of the vote and was only 6,000 votes away from winning Austin. This is a candidate that was originally running for President and after his loss decided to run for the Mayor of San Antonio.
I agree with Matt's assessment of CD21. I think it's within reach, and I know there's talk about making it a target next year. Rhett Smith is a perennial office-seeker, and served as little more than a placeholder on the 2004 ballot. Lamar Smith essentially ran unopposed, and he got a relatively paltry 61.5% of the vote while nearly losing the Travis County portion of his district. A real candidate, with a reason to vote for him or her plus a decent bankroll, can make a race of this.
Is John Courage that candidate? He's affiliated with a good-government group called Citizens for Ethical Government - San Antonio, which should fit nicely into any campaign narrative he'd be likely to take against DeLay lapdog Smith. A little Googling around suggests to me that he ran a fairly decent campaign in mostly hostile territory against an incumbent who had no shame about exploiting 9/11 for his own crass purposes. The Secretary of State district report on CD21 in 2002 had the statewide split at 29.2D/70.8R, implying Courage underperformed slightly in 2002 (the 2004 split was 36.2/63.8, meaning Smith underperformed last year). So in short, I don't know for certain. But what I've read about him so far I've liked, so if John Courage goes for a rematch in 2006, I'll be happy to support him. We'll see what happens.
There's apparently some lingering bad blood from the past legislative session between State Rep. Terry Keel and State Sens. Robert Duncan and Rodney Ellis. Duncan was championing a bill to give a raise in pay to state judges, while Keel was trying to pass a bill to change the system in which indigent defendants in capital murder cases get court-appointed attorneys. Keel claims that Duncan and Ellis promised to support his bill in the Senate in return for Keel's support of the pay raise bill in the House, but then reneged after Ellis claimed Keel's bill would lower standards for defense attorneys enacted in 2001. Duncan and Ellis deny the charge.
There's coverage of the story here, here, and here. Rick Casey had a column yesterday which reported Keel's claim that Texas State Supreme Court Justice Wallace Jefferson threatened to help recruit opponents for himself and Ellis as a result of this squabble (Ellis says Jefferson said no such thing to him). One presumes Jefferson would have been referring to a primary challenger for Keel, unless he has more power in the Democratic Party that I'd have thought.
I'm kind of amazed that something as non-ideological as this would generate such heat, but I suppose that's the nature of the end of the session. Speaking as the son of a former judge, though, I'm sorry to see that the pay raise, which would have been the first in six years, died in this battle. Judges make a good living, but after six years of inflation almost any non-CEO salary can feel a little squeezed. It's tough having your compensation depend entirely on factors outside your control, and as Sen. Duncan said, it's sure to make private practice a lot more tempting to the more talented jurists. It's not clear to me from these stories how this was supposed to be paid for, but now it doesn't matter. Maybe next session, whenever that is.
The Oasis restaurant, an Austin landmark that sits on a cliff overlooking Lake Travis, burned down last night after an apparent lightning strike.
The main three-story building, with its treehouse-like decks jutting along a 450-foot cliff overlooking the lake, was badly damaged, Hudson Bend Fire Chief Bruce Watson said. About 25 of the 40 decks, the restaurant's main entrance and a courtyard were destroyed. Damage estimates topped $1 million.[...]
Hailed as one of Texas' top 10 tourist attractions, the Oasis drew an average of a million customers annually from all 50 states and several other countries. [Owner Beau] Theriot said he has seen people wearing Oasis T-shirts while traveling in Mexico City, Bangkok and Paris.
The restaurant hosted weddings, receptions and countless company parties. It also featured Sunday night salsa dancing and live music. Theriot likened it to a cruise-ship atmosphere.
On a given night, nearly 2,000 customers would pack the place, with crowds outside often waiting up to a couple of hours for a table.
"The Oasis is an icon of all the fun and entertainment and joy and life on Lake Travis," said Sherrie Hitt, one of dozens of loyal patrons who came to the lake early Wednesday to see the devastation. She stood near Mansfield Dam, peering across Lake Travis through binoculars.
Theriot had opened his first restaurant in 1973 when he was 26: the Brownstone Restaurant, which combined his love of food and antiques. He later opened his own gallery and launched Cafe Adobe in Houston's eclectic Montrose neighborhood.
He came to Lake Travis to build a weekend home. But after watching several sunsets from the edge of a nearby cliff, he decided he should build a restaurant there. Theriot said he bought the 500-acre tract for $1.5 million in 1979 with no particular plan.
By 1982, he had completed renovation of the ramshackle ranch house, the only structure on the property. Theriot said his initial plan was to offer a simple menu of hamburgers and beer to lake visitors.
After a couple of years, he decided to expand. He began adding decks on the side of the cliff, offering more visitors a view of sunsets over the nearby hills. Soon after it opened, restaurant workers began a tradition that continued through Tuesday: the ringing of a sunset bell followed by a standing ovation.
Theriot kept adding decks and expanded the menu to include Mexican cuisine, salads and other entrees.
I've eaten at the Oasis a few times. I can't say that I ever thought all that much of the food, but the view really is spectacular. There's nothing quite like it to cap off a day at the lake. I wish Beau Theriot and his employees well as they rebuild.
Now this is what I call an effective bit of political theater.
LAFAYETTE -- A 28-foot gorilla has begun stalking some of Louisiana's Republican congressman, starting Tuesday by menacing U.S. Rep. Charles Boustany Jr.'s office in Lafayette's federal courthouse.While it wasn't granting interviews, the bright red inflated gorilla did carry a sign stating its demand: "Don't monkey around with my Social Security. Say no to $131,458 benefit cut."
The mega-monkey spent part of the day camped out across from the courthouse at the behest of the Louisiana United to Protect Social Security group, which is calling for Boustany, R-Lafayette, to take a stand against the Republican thinking on reforming Social Security.
[...]
Louisiana United spokesman Ben Vaught said the inflatable represents the "800-pound gorilla" in the Social Security debate: the $131,458 that a study released by the group estimates Louisiana residents would individually lose in Social Security benefits over the course of their lifetimes under a proposal by President Bush.
Awesome. I say any opportunity to introduce a giant inflatable gorilla into the discourse should be taken. Besides, I'm pretty sure the Lege passed a resolution this session naming the gorilla the Official Giant Inflatable Animal of the State of Texas. Pretty darned good message, too.
Via Josh and Jesse Lee. And though I couldn't think of a clever way to work it in before now, I feel this post wouldn't be complete without a link to the Real Men of Genius salute to Mister Giant Pink Inflatable Gorilla Maker.
The Quorum Report gives an update to the Big Upcoming Announcement By Kay Bailey Hutchison story:
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison is certainly not tipping her hand about future plans. But rumors that she will announce her intentions on Thursday or Friday are not true. Months ago she indicated that any announcement of future plans would be within a couple of weeks of the end of the veto period. Despite all the end of session bar talk and rumors, nothing has changed that plan that we have been able to discover.
The Express-News has the story now.
The state's senior U.S. senator told her supporters in an e-mail message Wednesday to hang on as she contemplates what certainly would be a bruising GOP primary battle next year against Gov. Rick Perry.“Like many Texans, I am disappointed that, despite the hard work of our legislators, major problems facing the state failed to be addressed during the recent legislative session. It's particularly unfortunate that some problems will now be left to courts to define and resolve,” U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison told her supporters.
Thousands of the e-mail messages went out “to counter the rumor mill and to assure supporters that she's on her well-defined path in announcing a decision,” Hutchison spokesman David Beckwith said Wednesday.
But the senator will stick with her long-standing policy of not announcing her intention until the legislative process is finished, he said.
That means her supporters and Perry's camp will have to wait until at least June 19 — the last day for the governor to veto legislation.
More likely, Hutchison won't announce her intentions until early next month, Beckwith said.
All right already. I'm holding my horses. Just don't disappoint me when you finally get around to telling us all your plans, Kay Bailey. E-N link via The Jeffersonian.
Maybe I expect too much out of the summer schedule these days, but the TV landscape is looking like a vast wasteland between now and fall premiers. I'm glad to see that The 4400 is back, and the promos for The Closer have me just about intrigued enough to program the TiVo for the pilot, but that seems to be it. Nothing else looks even remotely appealing. I mean, Dancing With The Stars? What fresh hell is that?
So the question is, am I missing anything worthwhile? Note that I don't have premium cable, so stuff on HBO or Showtime is out. I don't need much, just something reasonably intelligent to decompress with after a long day. What do you say?
Say it with me: Governor Perry says he'll call a special session on school finance reform if those pesky legislators can ever agree amongst themselves on how to go about doing it.
"The final chapter is not written," Perry said. "There is a very good chance we'll be back here, and hopefully legislators will address it."Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said he is eager to start a new round of negotiations next week with Perry and House Speaker Tom Craddick.
"It's not rocket science," he said. "If America can send astronauts to the moon, the Texas Legislature can solve school finance."
Craddick said he's willing to meet but remained pessimistic, saying that the House and Senate are "universes apart" on writing a tax plan to pay for school property tax cuts. "I think we need to look at it," he said.
I'm aquiver with anticipation. I'll go lie down for a minute until the feeling passes.
Better now. What's the Leadership Sound Bite of the day?
The governor said he plans to continue leading negotiations in the next several weeks in hopes of reaching a compromise that can be passed by lawmakers in a special session."If they don't want to work to finish the job, then I think I may make, or I should say, they should make plans for a long and uncomfortable summer when they go home and they meet with those constituents and explain they did not act on education reform and property tax relief," Perry said.
Yes, well, as the Chron notes elsewhere, it's statewide officeholders like Governor Perry who are (or should be) feeling the discomfort. Tom Craddick, ensconsed in the world's safest district, can be as ornery and contrary as he pleases. It's no wonder Perry and Dewhurst have mostly blamed the House for the intransigence.
Perry grew testy when asked how the Legislature could find time to approve the purple sage as the official native shrub but not pass school finance."Anyone who thinks that passing a resolution to name the purple sage as the plant of the state of Texas is anywhere near connected to the difficulty and complexities of passing a public school bill, then I'd have to disagree with them," Perry said.
In a sense, he's right. This isn't a squabble about ancillary details, where a few extra hours here and there could have made a difference. You could have taken out all the purple sage and sexy cheerleader stuff and there still wouldn't have been an agreement on school finance. But let's not forget, the previous special session was called last April. We could have been having a dialogue on school finance all along if someone like, say, the Governor, had made it a priority. I keep asking the question "What's Rick Perry's vision for school finance?" because as far as I can tell, he doesn't have one. Oh, he has wish-list items, like property tax cuts and vouchers and merit pay for teachers, but it doesn't add up to anything. He doesn't have a plan that he can sell, so what we get instead is the collected views of a bunch of disparate individuals and groups competing with each other, and no progress is ever made.
Now, this is going to be a tough nut to crack even for someone with a vision and a mandate to implement it. No matter who gets sworn in as Governor in 2007, Tom Craddick will still be there, and he'll still not be much for compromise. And there's still the fact that the public never seems to want to pay for what it demands. But that's the task at hand, and if Rick Perry isn't up to it I'm sure someone else will be willing to give it a try.
I've not been following the HPD crime lab scandal as closely as I should - Grits and blogHOUSTON have generally been on top of it, so you can scan their archives or those of the Chron to get up to speed. There's another story today about falisified results, this time in the controlled substances section of the lab, and it's as outrageous as the rest of it has been. Take a moment and take a look.
The US Supreme Court has unanimously overturned the conviction against accounting firm Arthur Andersen for shredding documents related to the Enron investigation.
The high court found that the trial judge's 2002 jury instructions were so vague that jurors could have convicted the company of obstruction of justice for innocently destroying documents related to the Enron investigation.The case was sent back to Houston for a possible new trial.
[...]
It took the high court only a month to come to the decision Chief Justice William Rehnquist wrote it in an unusually short 11 pages. He said Houston U.S. District Judge Melinda Harmon erred when she told jurors they could convict Enron's accountants even if people at the company didn't know what they did was illegal.
The opinion focused mostly on the question of whether Arthur Andersen employees were "knowingly" and "corruptly" persuaded to destroy documents. Rehnquist wrote that jurors were not required to find that wrongdoers had "the requisite consciousness of wrongdoing. Indeed, it is striking how little culpability the instructions required." He noted jurors were instructed they could convict even if Andersen "honestly and sincerely believed its conduct was lawful."
During the trial, Arthur Andersen argued workers followed company policy for throwing away notes and drafts of documents. The firm maintained it never intended to obstruct a Securities and Exchange Commission probe.
I have no quarrel with the SCOTUS ruling. Jury instructions are critical, and the ones here were awfully broad. If this puts a crimp in the plans of the federal task force, then so be it. If they need friendly jury instructions to win, they should reassess what they're doing.
Tom, who's a longtime critic of the Enron Task Force, is happy if a bit bitter with this ruling. I can accept what he's saying and what the others he's linked to are saying, but there's something that's bugging me in all this. Nobody disputes that Andersen shredded documents that may have been material to the Enron criminal investigations. The argument, as far as I can tell, is over what an appropriate remedy for that should be. Loren Steffy puts his finger on what's bothering me.
It might be useful, in sorting out the court's decision, to remind ourselves of what jury foreman Oscar Criner said after convicting Andersen. The jury instructions, he said, didn't matter. It was [Andersen lawyer Nancy] Temple's memo [which "reminded" Arthur Andersen's audit team in Houston to shred Enron-related documents ahead of a government investigation the firm knew was coming] that convinced jurors that Andersen's leaders knew they were destroying evidence.It would be useful, too, to recall that Criner said the government used Andersen's abysmal track record of blown audits to show that its recidivist history motivated Temple in urging her colleagues to shred with gusto. More specifically, her mention of Enron in the memo sealed the firm's fate, Criner told the Chronicle at the time.
It's also useful to remember what Michael Odom, an Andersen partner, told 89 employees about the firm's document retention policy at a training meeting on Oct. 10, 2001:
"If it's destroyed in the course of normal policy, and litigation is filed the next day, that's great. ... We've followed our own policy, and whatever there was that might have been of interest to somebody is gone and irretrievable."
It might be useful to remind the IRS of that the next time you're audited. Then again, maybe not.
If we were talking about Arthur Andersen, sole proprietor and private citizen, who had shredded these documents, he'd have been busted for obstructing justice, and no one would argue the point. Instead, we're talking about a corporation, which had a perfectly reasonable but in this instance highly self-serving policy to shred this sort of document. If the former is criminal activity, then why isn't the other? And if it isn't, then what if any remedy should exist? Jumping around this blog, the answer given seems to be civil law and contract enforcement. Maybe that is a more efficient (in the economic sense) solution - I'm no expert in these matters, so I can't say with any authority. What I am saying, from my layman's perspective, is that it's not clear to me that the Task Force was wrong to try to make a criminal case out of Andersen's actions.
The Texas Legislature may have failed to ban municipalities from offering free wireless network services to its residents, but that doesn't mean that the US Congress can't give it a try. Naturally, the person behind this bad idea is a Texan, Pete Sessions. His bill is just as bad as anything Phil King tried to get passed. If he's your Congressman, please call him and tell him to knock it off. Thanks.