If you've watched TV or listened to the radio at all these past couple of days, you're probably aware of several ways in which you can do something to help (bearing in mind that donating to the Red Cross is still tops on the list). You can also volunteer with the Harris County Citizen Corps, as noted here. Kevin has some other suggestions as well.
I've gotten about a half dozen email solicitations for giving to relief efforts, from Richard Morrison, Nick Lampson, Chris Bell (who's also been touting the Houston Food Bank), the Texas Democratic Party, Jay Aiyer, and Constable May Walker, in whose Precinct 7 the Astrodome lies. There are certainly many other such pleas out there as well.
Finally, frequent commenter ttyler5 has set up this blog as an "effort to integrate the blogosphere into our local emergency and relief operations". Galveston County Tax Assessor-Collector Cheryl E. Johnson has contributed this post with information about donation dropoff points down there.
UPDATE: Add Mike Fjetland to the list - he was actually one of the first to send out an email promising to give al his donations for a period to Katrina relief.
UPDATE: And Brian Cweren, and Carol Alvarado, and David Harris, and undoubtedly many more.
My friend Andrea forwarded me the following email from County Judge Robert Eckels on behalf of the Harris County Citizen Corps:
Harris County Citizen Corps Members,Today we are going to help those who have been impacted by Hurricane Katrina who are currently located in the Super Dome in New Orleans. Up to 25,000 citizens are going to be relocated to the Astro Dome. We need your help.
We are requesting volunteers to assist in setting up the dome with cots and other basic necessities. This needs to be completed by 1700 or 5pm CST. We need for you to forward to anyone who can help through your businesses, churches, and organizations.
We will also need volunteers to assist in the documentation and check in of all who arrive. CERT Teams will be needed to assist citizens from the buses to the check in locations.
Logistical information with locations and staging areas will be sent out shortly. Please respond to this e-mail and let us know how many people you have that can assist, include time frames, as this will be a 24/7 operation.
This task is unprecedented and can be completed with the support of our citizens.
Thank you for your continued support,
Harris County Judge Robert Eckels
Chairman Harris County Citizen Corps
May be a little late for today, but I'd bet there'll be a continuing need for help while the Astrodome is being used as a refugee shelter. Here's the form to volunteer for the HCCC.
I noted earlier this week that the Texas District and County Attorneys Association (TDCAA) had outlined a scenario in which "Texas doctors who perform abortions without parental approval or after the third trimester could face capital murder charges" under the new laws. As it happens, Ellen is friends with Diane Beckham, the staff counsel and head of publications for the TDCAA, and thanks to her, I have the following response from Ms. Beckham for clarification:
After each legislative session, TDCAA attorneys read through all the bills that passed and put together various books as well as a three-hour legislative update presentation that we present in about 20 cities in Texas. While reading over bills from the 2005 session, our lawyer who's in charge of coordinator our legislative efforts noticed the change to "lawful medical procedures" as part of a very large sunset bill for the medical licensing profession.We all remembered that last session, the legislature passed a law called the "Fetal Protection Act." Among other things, that bill changed the definition of "individual" in the Texas Penal Code to include fetuses. What that meant is that the existing definition of capital murder for killing someone under the age of 6 now applied to fetuses (assuming all the other elements of capital murder were met). The same bill, however, set up a two-part defense: (1) for the mother for any reason; and (2) for doctors performing a "lawful medical procedure." (The wording of that defense does not mention abortions specifically -- just refers to "lawful medical procedure.")
Now fast-forward to 2005, when the legislature -- in a bill unrelated to criminal prosecution -- changed the list for what constitutes "lawful medical procedures" (under the Occupations Code, not the Penal Code). Because the legislature changed the definition to make partial-birth abortions and abortions on minors without parental consent (or court order) no longer "lawful medical procedures," this has an effect on that defense for doctors.
Did the legislature intend to make this change? Who knows?? I guess us speculating about whether they meant to or not would be pretty pointless -- we'd have to ask each of the members and the bill sponsor what they intended. Or didn't.
This is not a bill that TDCAA or any of its members were consulted about, and we've never gotten involved with legislative policy decisions about abortion. Nor can I imagine that we ever would.
Our mention of this legislative change in the series of legislative update presentations that we're making around the state is merely to advise the audience (usually a mixture of prosecutors, defense lawyers, officers, and judges) that the change happened. Definitely not to advocate that prosecutors go out and start looking for doctors to prosecute for capital murder. In fact, at each of the four legislative updates where I've co-presented, we make note of the potential constitutional problems with prosecuting doctors for this version of capital murder.
Whether the legislature intended to do it or not, we believe that the 2003 and 2005 changes have changed the law in the way that I described it. But believe me, our books and presentations are meant only to tell audiences about the change -- not to advocate action in response. If the legislature really didn't mean to make that change, it should be simple enough for them to fix it in 2007.
Let's hope that they do, and that they manage to avoid confusing things further when they do.
Before I get into today's Katrina links, I want to pass this along to my fellow Houstonians.
The Rod Ryan Show and The Buzz present the Hurricane Katrina Request-athon!Starting at 6 a.m. Wednesday, we'll be taking song requests for cash to help residents of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. We're dusting off ALL our records, 'cause anything goes!
Here's the price list:
$30 - Buzz Songs
$60 - Non-Buzz Songs
$80 - Way off The Buzz Path (example: Barry Manilow)
$200 - Local BandsYou say it ... and pay it ... we'll play it!! Call 713-212-KTBZ to place your request.
That's 94.5 on the FM dial here. Ted emailed me a heads-up about this earlier today (they have since changed the request line phone number to what I've displayed here). I tuned in on my way to work and heard them say that the money is going to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund, so consider that your plea for the day to help out. And as an extra added inducement, anyone who gives $100 or more can get a free custom-burned CD from Ted.
The top story in the Chronicle is that the refugees currently being housed in the Superdome will be coming to Houston.
As Army engineers struggled without success to plug New Orleans' breached levees with sandbags and water continued to rise, Texas officials have worked out a plan to bring more than 23,000 refugees from the Superdome to Houston's Astrodome.The Houston Chronicle has learned refugees trapped in the Superdome will be bused to the Astrodome in Houston under plans being put together by state and local officials, a spokeswoman for Texas Gov. Rick Perry said today.
Kathy Walt said Texas still hasn't received a formal request from Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco, who also could be seeking alternatives to the Astrodome. But, Walt added, the Louisiana secretary of state requested Texas's help in a phone call late last night or early this morning.
Walt said arrangements were being made for more than 400 buses to transport the refugees, who have been without power or adequate sanitary facilities since the hurricane struck New Orleans on Monday.
Officials from both states and Harris County were discussing logistics in a conference call early this morning, Walt said. She said that the governor's office has been told the Astrodome's events schedule has been cleared through December.
Texas officials also have been talking with Jefferson County officials about using the Ford Center in Beaumont for longterm shelter for refugees, Walt said.
I've cracked my share of jokes about what should become of the Astrodome, but whatever its future may bring, I can't think of a better purpose for it right now. Kudos to Governor Perry, Mayor White, and the Harris County Commissioners Court for making this happen. More details at blogHouston, which notes that Banjo had suggested this before the news was made public.
Complete Katrina coverage from the Chron is here, along with an RSS feed. The Chron's SciGuy blog has also been a great resource.
Two items in closing: One, I agree wholeheartedly with this NYT editorial (via Atrios):
Those of us in New York watch the dire pictures from Louisiana with keen memories of the time after Sept. 11, when the rest of the nation made it clear that our city was their city, and that everyone was part of the battle to restore it. New Orleans, too, is one of the places that belongs to every American's heart - even for people who have never been there.Right now it looks as if rescuing New Orleans will be a task much more daunting than any city has faced since the San Francisco fire of 1906. It must be a mission for all of us.
And two, sooner or later we're going to need to confront the questions about whether or not what has happened this week could have been ameliorated (links via MyDD).
Carl Whitmarsh is reporting to his email list that Rep. John Davis, who has gone unchallenged in each election since the 2001 State House redistricting, will not be unopposed next year.
Glad to report the impending announcement of the candidacy of Sherrie Matula for the Democratic nomination for State Representative, District 129, in and around the Clear Lake/NASA area. The district is currently represented by Republican John Davis.Sherrie and her family are long time resident of the area (since 1974), long time active Democrats and she is a retiring educator who has her degree from UH while her husband and two daughters all have mechanical engineering degrees from Texas A&M. Sherrie is a third generation educator and as a topper, she served an elected four year term on the Clear Creek Independent School District Board of Trustees. She's been involved in all sorts of community affairs from local sports leagues to the community symphony.
I've heard good things about her from BAND's John Cobarruvias. Like many State House districts, this one will be a formidable challenge, as the average Republican candidate got about 66% of the vote last year. With one big exception: Tom DeLay only got 60% there. That's why I'm excited that someone is stepping up - HD129 is entirely contained within CD22, so anything which can help add a point or two to the overall Democratic performance there is huge. I look forward to hearing more about Sherrie Matula.
No Nonsense In November has itself a blog, so you can easily keep up-to-date on what's going on with this important campaign. Bloglines didn't automatically pick up their RSS feed for me, so I'm giving it here in case you want it. If these guys can get a good response in Hays County, there's more hope than I first thought. Check it out.
Tom DeLay's buddy Jack Abramoff has begun one of his tours through the criminal justice system.
Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff, a key figure in ethics investigations involving U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, pleaded not guilty Monday to charges he defrauded lenders in a casino cruise line deal.Abramoff, charged along with a New York business partner in an alleged scheme to defraud lenders in the $147 million purchase of SunCruz Casinos, did not appear at his arraignment.
Neal Sonnett, Abramoff's attorney, obtained a waiver so the Baltimore-area resident did not have to make the trip. Abramoff is out on bond.
"Our defense is that he committed no fraud," Sonnett said outside of court.
That's a pretty good defense if it happens to be true. I'm not holding my breath.
Note this:
According to court records, [Abramoff and business partner Adam Kidan] siphoned off some of SunCruz's income to collect $500,000 salaries and pay for private boxes at FedEx Field, MCI Center and Orioles Park at Camden Yards to entertain Republican donors and politicians. Among them: DeLay, R-Sugar Land.
I highlighted that because DeLay has lately been claiming that he cut Abramoff loose as a friend and business associate in 2001, after the murder of former SunCruz owner Konstantinos "Gus" Boulis. As Josh Marshall has shown (repeatedly), that's a bald-faced lie on DeLay's part.
And finally, as I said above, this indictment isn't the only thing Abramoff has to fear from the law right now.
Indicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff claimed in e-mails sent in 2002 that the deputy secretary of the interior had pledged to block an Indian casino that would compete with one of the lobbyist's tribal clients. Abramoff later told two associates that he was trying to hire the official.A federal task force investigating Abramoff's activities has conducted interviews and obtained documents from Interior Department officials and Abramoff associates to determine whether conflict-of-interest laws were violated, according to people with knowledge of the probe. It can be a federal crime for government officials to negotiate for a job while being involved in decisions affecting the potential employer.
Such a busy boy, wasn't he?
If you haven't yet, I commend you to read this post on the Chris Bell blog on what it means to run as a "reform" candidate. Greg and The Jeffersonian have commented on it already, and my reaction is more or less the same as The Jeff's. In fact, I don't think I can improve on what he says:
Our vocabulary should begin, and very nearly end, with one word- Reform.We live in a state that can't pass school finance reform, but can find a way to kick off 150,000 children off of CHIPs. A state where fifty lobbyists can get into a room and decide how we're going to fund our schools. Not teachers or parents or legislators - Lobbyists. A state where one man single-handedly gives nearly $3 million to various candidates and then has the gall to have his press secretary tell us he expects nothing in return. A state that can remove any and all caps off of tuition increases, and give tuition-setting power to unelected, unaccountable Boards of Regents whose only main qualification is giving Rick Perry, Inc a whole hell of a lot of money. A state where one US House Majority Leader's PAC can, for example, accept X numbers of $250 checks from corporations and then three days later send out X numbers of $250 checks to State House candidates; knowing full well that corporate donations to state government candidates are prohibited by state law. And we can go on and on and on.
I've said before and I'll say again that one advantage Bell will have in this race is that Carole Keeton Strayhorn will be sounding some of these themes as well between now and March. She has to because she can't win by out-Republicaning Rick Perry. She's cast her die with the new-primary-voters strategy, and that means she has to look different. When she loses, it will be natural for Bell to reach out to the people she managed to bring in, and what he'll have to say to them - what he'll have been saying all along - will feel right to them. Good sense doesn't always make good politics, but here I think it will.
Christof Spieler of the CTC has a new blog called Intermodality that will be of interest to anyone who cares about how Houstonians move around. I found it via Tory, and I second his recommendation. Check it out.
If you've ever wondered why there are so-called "activist" judges who "legislate from the bench", here's one reason.
Texas doctors who perform abortions without parental approval or after the third trimester could face capital murder charges because of a new law that takes effect this week, a prosecutors group says.The Texas District and County Attorneys Association has outlined that scenario in its new book updating the Texas penal code and in public presentations around the state. The group says such charges could occur under the new law because of the 2003 fetal protection law.
Key legislators said Monday that wasn't their intent.
Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Lewisville, who pushed the parental consent measure, said in a prepared statement that her legislation was strictly limited to giving parents the right to consent when a minor is considering an abortion and to preventing late-term abortions.
"There were no discussions about the death penalty during our legislative discussions of this issue," Nelson said.
A capital murder conviction can result in the death penalty.
Rep. Ray Allen, R-Grand Prairie, who sponsored the 2003 bill defining an embryo or fetus as an "individual," said the law may need clearing up in a future legislative session.
"I don't see the Legislature wanting to charge doctors with capital murder based on a technical legal issue over whether parental consent was properly documented," Allen said.
In other words, do what we mean and not what we say. Brilliant.
Sometimes even when a law gets clarified, it's still not clear what it means.
Motorists arrested for carrying pistols in their cars without a concealed handgun license will continue to be prosecuted in Houston, despite a new law that purports to give them a legal defense, Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal said Monday.Although the sponsor said the law should reduce the number of arrests for unlawful handgun possession, Rosenthal said it won't change enforcement practices in Houston after it goes into effect on Thursday.
"It is still going to be against the law for (unlicensed) persons to carry handguns in autos," the district attorney said, adding that the new legal defense can still be challenged by prosecutors.
[...]
"The intent of the law is to keep innocent people from going to jail," said the sponsor, Rep. Terry Keel, R-Austin, a former prosecutor and former Travis County sheriff who now is a candidate for the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.
[...]
Keel said he hoped the law will prompt police officers to think twice about arresting motorists who meet the new legal presumption and spare them the expense and "indignity" of arrest and prosecution.
Otherwise, he said, "They basically are going to arrest innocent people and make them prove their innocence."
Rosenthal and Rob Kepple, executive director of the Texas District and County Attorneys Association, disagreed.
Rosenthal said the new presumption about "traveling" doesn't define what constitutes traveling and can be challenged in court by prosecutors, leaving it to juries to decide verdicts "based upon the facts of the case."
A prosecutor could summon witnesses to successfully argue that a defendant wasn't traveling because he was simply "driving around the corner for a carton of milk," Kepple said.
"I really don't think (the law) should affect how police officers respond in arresting somebody," he added.
Houston Police Department spokeswoman Johanna Abad indicated Houston police were going to take their advice from Rosenthal's office.
"A law means what I say it means, nothing more, nothing less." Are we all ready for a dose of Maalox yet? Can't help you with that, but at least Scott has a little good news to help this all go down.
The destruction that Hurricane Katrina brought is incredible, and we've yet to get any real idea of how bad it is. What's more amazing is that no matter how bad it turns out to have been, it still could have been a lot worse.
For all the justified worry about New Orleans being wiped out, it appears that Mississippi got the worst of it. A couple of reporters from that state's Sun Herald newspaper have a blog going called Eyes on Katrina, which has a lot of information about what's happening there. Go read, then go give some money to the Red Cross. Thanks to Nate for the link.
UPDATE: This is just awful.
Jefferson Parish, which sits just to the west of Orleans Parish and the city familiar tourist landmarks, has declared martial law today.If you live there you can go home next Monday, but only with photo identification, and only for a short time to collect clothes and other essentials. After that, you've got to leave again.
For a month.
There's no way to spin this. That's just horrible, horrible news. It's so bad there, Parish officials have asked the public to donate boats to help with the rescue and clean-up efforts.
I'm speechless.
Well, what do you know? Someone in the media has discovered that Kay Bailey Hutchison is not running unopposed next year. See how it's done in this piece on base closings in Texas.
The state's losses provided Barbara Ann Radnofsky, expected to be Hutchison's Democratic opponent next year, with an opportunity to hammer the senator on her record.Texas as a whole didn't benefit from her seniority, Radnofsky said. I think this is going to be one of the major issues in this race.
Radnofsky, a Houston attorney and partner with the law firm of Vinson & Elkins, is making her first bid for office.
She noted that Hutchison, who was elected in 1993, was in office when the last BRAC round, 10 years ago, pummeled San Antonio and surrounding communities with the closure of Kelly Air Force Base.
I believe it was on her watch that many thousands of jobs were lost at Kelly in 1995, she said.
Very nice, and high time Senator Hutchison got her free pass revoked. Now let's see someone press her about the Waco VA Hospital report. She's a grownup, she can handle a few questions.
For more news on Radnofsky, here's the report of her recent visit to Kerrville.
School superintendents from around Texas continue to fight back against some of the things said about and done to them in the wake of Special SessionPalooza. From Lufkin:
Lufkin ISD's deputy superintendent says he suspects that Gov. Rick Perry's recent executive decision requiring that at least 65 percent of education dollars be spent on direct classroom instruction is another example of political grand-standing.At best, while the order's intent may be well-intended, its wording is vague, Roy Knight said.
If the TEA decides to go with the definition of "direct classroom instruction" that briefly surfaced during the 79th Legislature, some school districts may be forced to cut things like building maintenance, security, custodial services, transportation, librarians and counselors out of their budgets, he said.
"How do you define direct classroom instruction?" Knight asked Friday. "What has people like me so anxious is that the first 65 percent proposal that was discussed in the Legislature was so narrow that school districts, especially those that are property poor, would be forced to cut essential services like building maintenance, security, basic custodial services and transportation. "
[...]
Giving an example of a way Lufkin ISD may be forced to cut transportation costs, he pointed to the school board's recent decision to allow Lufkin Middle School students who live on the west side of Timberland Drive to ride the bus to school, even if they live within the two-mile limit. He said school officials chose to go that route because of concerns about the safety of students having to cross a busy street.
Who cares about that when you've got the wisdom of a dot-com CEO to rely on? Surely we know who knows better. Link via Eye on Williamson.
And an op-ed from Jacksonville:
Regarding the failure of the Legislature to pass anything - the last time I looked, educators didn't have a vote on the floor of the capitol. If we did, we would have voted for the Hochberg amendment, or the Eltife/Ellis plan. While neither was perfect, they would have been beneficial to ALL students and educators in our great State, instead of providing unfair benefits to a few districts and adding millions of dollars of unfunded mandates as HB2 would have done.While some misguided and misled legislators were calling for more accountability, our staff was going through the mounds of paperwork and test results from the 48 tests we are required to administer to our students. These data are broken down by grade level, subject area, learning objective, ethnicity, economic level, etc., and we must "hit the mark" in ALL areas or else we are deemed failures by people like [Rep. Leo] Berman.
Two weeks later, we got another report letting us know whether or not we made "Adequate Yearly Progress" as part of the No Child Left Behind project...again, more mounds of data to digest and more plans to produce to address areas of concern. We have TAKS tests, SDAA I and II tests, Performance Based Monitoring, Transportation and Food Service audits, TPRI results, LPAC's, ARD's, LEP's, IEP's, AEP's, PEIMS reporting and many more state and federal programs that we must account for on a daily basis. In addition, we receive the Financial Integrity ratings and our yearly financial audit. And some in the legislature say all we want is more money with NO ACCOUNTABILITY? That is a ludicrous statement made by people who obviously do not know or care what we do on a daily basis.
Via BOR, which has more editorial examples here.
I see that Dwight has called me a wuss for my embrace of old technology. OK, I confess - guilty as charged, Your Honor. I appreciate all the tips about iPods and downloading, but I have a question for all you digital music fans, one whose answer I'd need to weigh before I ask Santa for that particular new toy. What kind of time investment am I looking at to migrate my CD collection to MP3s? I have something like 200 discs, not all of which I'd feel compelled to rip. As you might imagine, I already spend a ton of time at my computer. How long does it take to get an iPod up to speed?
July had a slight downtick to 49,000 visitors (August has already exceeded this). I continue to think that's just randomness, mostly due to fluctuations in search engine referrals. The holiday week is also a slow time.
July featured the appearance of some guest bloggers for the first time in this space. I think they did a great job - they certainly let me relax during my time away, knowing that the place was in good hands. Having decided that a little time off now and again is beneficial, I figure I'll do something like that once a year or so.
July also featured the unfortunate reappearance of referral log spam, which is still the stupidest use of spammer resources that I can imagine. I guess it's marginally less annoying than comment or trackback spam, but still.
Top referrers and search engine terms are beneath the fold. As always, thanks very much for coming by.
Aggregators, collections, indices, etc ====================================== 239: http://www.bloglines.com 201: http://blo.gs/Weblog referrers
================
1993: Daily Kos
478: Pink Dome
465: In the Pink Texas
333: TAPPED
252: Greg's Opinion
249: The Burnt Orange Report
187: Atrios
Top search terms
================
#reqs search term
983 diane zamora
831 real men of genius
204 schlitterbahn galveston
152 budweiser real men of genius
130 beer bong
126 off the kuff
117 women of enron
114 tim mcglashen
107 thong contest
95 largest rat
87 walton and johnson
85 american idol try outs
85 reagan greer
78 kiol
73 ugly people
69 american idol tryouts
67 real men of genius lyrics
65 david graham diane zamora
64 david graham and diane zamora
62 texas cheerleaders
It's almost September, and that means it's time for all those newly enacted laws to take effect.
Most of the 700-plus new state laws going into effect Thursday, products of last spring's legislative session, will create hardly a ripple in most Texans' lives, but others will be noticed.Teenagers proud of their new driver's licenses and new cell phones better not use both at the same time, because it will now be against the law for teens to talk on the phone while they are driving, at least during the first six months after they get their licenses.
People, meanwhile, who like to drive around with pistols in their cars but never got around to getting a concealed handgun license may appreciate new clarifications to an old law that allows law-abiding Texans to carry pistols while "traveling."
On a larger scale, some of the major laws that got extensive media attention during legislative debate early in the year also will go into effect Thursday.
They include an overhaul of the system for compensating workers injured on the job, a law designed to strengthen the state's system for protecting abused children, a law addressing shoddy work in crime labs and a law that will give Texas juries the option of sentencing capital murderers to life without parole.
Previously, capital murderers who were sentenced to life in prison instead of the death penalty were eligible for parole after serving 40 years.
Also beginning Thursday, minors will have to get parental permission before they can get an abortion unless a young woman can convince a judge that she is sufficiently mature to make the decision or that her parents' involvement would put her at risk of physical or emotional abuse.
Let that be a reminder not to let the school finance reform failures obscure the fact that this was a crappy legislative session even wihout Special SessionPalooza.
Oh, and one more thing:
Although its citizens espouse a variety of political viewpoints, after Thursday, Texas officially will be "proud to be the home of President George W. Bush."That is what still another new law directs the Department of Transportation to say on those "Welcome to Texas" signs on highways near the state's borders.
Isn't it reassuring to know that the money can always be found for the truly important priorities, no matter how tight the budget may otherwise get? And to think I once considered the Sexy Cheerleader Bill to be the biggest waste of legislative time this session. Silly me.
On a side note, another new law taking effect this Thursday is Austin's controversial anti-smoking statute.
Across Austin this week and just outside it restaurants and bars, bowling alleys and pool halls are bracing for the impact of the smoking ban that voters narrowly approved in May. Ashtrays will go the way of spittoons. Nonprofits are bolstering their quit-smoking resources. And a handful of area joints that are exempt from the ban are opening their doors a little wider to draw in smokers.The cigarette machine at the Continental Club will still function, but if you're catching Toni Price, you'd better stand at least 15 feet outside the door or on public right of way. Don't bother trying to stub out your cigarette in an ashtray.
And if you're allergic to smoke, you might want to avoid City Hall. Some opponents of the ban especially some bar owners who fret that the onus is on them, not smokers, to keep up a smoke-free atmosphere are planning to light up on the steps and leave Mayor Will Wynn or City Manager Toby Futrell "the proprietors" facing a smoking complaint.
I pity the judge who'll have to sort that one out.
As I read this article about the decline and eventual fall of the CD as a format for delivering recorded music, I take a moment to ponder all of the ways in which I'm becoming demographically obsolete. I like baseball. I drink beer. I read newspapers. And all my music is on CDs.
Gads. I didn't need to have a kid to realize the extent of my dinosaur-like nature. The evidence is all around me.
Sigh. Thanks (I think) to John for the pointer.
How happy I am to see a story about Lost - especially one which does not involve lawsuits - in the news. How very happy I am to see that the season premier is a bit more than three weeks away. I'm so ready.
The debut of 24 is farther away, but (via Mac), here's some news about its upcoming season.
Katrina has made landfall just east of New Orleans. There's hope that it won't be the apocalyptic catastrophe it had (and still has) the potential to be - indeed, damage estimates are dropping - but it's still very early.
The last storm of this magnitude to hit the Gulf Coast was Camille in 1969. Here's a report about Camille on the 30-year anniversary of that storm. Found via Chris Mooney and Making Light, which has a number of other useful links as well.
This is as good a time as any to say that the best thing you can do to help is to give to the Red Cross, and the best thing you can give to the Red Cross is money.
I had the opportunity over the weekend to sit down and have a conversation with Nick Lampson at his campaign office in Clear Lake. I didn't do this in formal interview fashion, we just shot the breeze for an hour or so.
When I asked if there had been any negative reaction to his moving into the district to run in the race, Lampson said no, quite the contrary. His roots run deep in Fort Bend County, and people there have responded to the story of his background in Stafford, which is where he's now living and where his 90-year-old aunt lives. His history in the area goes back farther than DeLay's - "There are things about the history of Fort Bend County that I know that he couldn't possibly know."
Much of the Harris and Galveston County parts of the district are already familiar with him. Lampson represented the Clear Lake area before and was the ranking member on the subcommittee that oversees NASA (the exact name of which escapes me). Patty Gray, a former State Rep from Galveston, once said of him "I see Lampson more often than I see my City Council member".
What he's been doing so far since becoming the de facto nominee is concentrating on fundraising and meeting people. The first part we know about - as has been widely reported, he'd raised about $500K by the end of the second quarter this year. This is a dead time of year for raising campaign cash, but Lampson tells me he continues to meet and exceed every goal they've set.
He's also had a busy schedule of attending neighborhood meetings and introducing or re-introducing himself to the district. This was something he thought he could improve on from 2004, when much of his constituency changed via redistricting. His responsibilities as a sitting member of Congress at that time meant that he couldn't spend as much time in the area as he wanted to, which was an advantage for his opponent. He notes that this advantage is his now, and he's using it.
You can't talk about Tom DeLay without talking about scandals. Lampson has told me before that he doesn't intend to spend a whole lot of time emphasizing that on the campaign trail, and he reiterated that in this conversation. You can't avoid the subject - people bring it up to him all the time - but he is focusing on the needs of the district and his past record of service. The Chronicle did a survey on constituent services for the area Congressional offices a few years back, and his came in first. "I have been, and I will be, an effective member of Congress," is how he puts it.
We talked about DeLay's recent "suggestion" that Houston police round up suspected illegal aliens and hold them in tents for the National Guard. Lampson pointed out that DeLay has voted against increased funding for Border Patrol agents and equipment, and now he's trying to pass the buck to cities to make up for that failure. (Along the same lines, DeLay voted against adequate funding for the Coast Guard after 9/11, which led to coastal counties having to pick up the slack.) Lampson opposes revoking the citizenship of US-born children of illegal immigrants, and he opposes the bill to allow arming the self-appointed Minutemen, which he said would put lives (their own and others') at risk. Lampson called for the federal government to do its job by properly funding its responsibilities.
Lampson says he would have opposed the CAFTA bill because it was not fair to American workers' interests. "We need a fair playing field, with comparable conditions - environmental and labor - for all sides," he said. He spoke at length about shrimp fishing in the Gulf versus imported farmed shrimp from Asia as an example. Imported shrimp are supposed to be tested for certain chemicals, but often aren't because of a familiar problem - inadequate funding for the agency responsible, in this case the FDA. Make the importers play by the same rules that the Americans are subjected to and the Americans will be able to compete.
We talked about other races and candidates, and demographics in various areas of CD22, but I've gone on long enough. His campaign website is about to undergo a relaunch with a new design - I had a preview, and it looks pretty slick - so stay tuned for more on that. In the meantime, andybody who wants to help can contact his campaign at campaign@lampson.com. Volunteers are always needed, whether you live in the district or just know someone who does.
I love this opening paragraph to today's entry in the Why Special SessionPalooza Was A Miserable Failure sweepstakes.
The Legislature's failure to pass property tax cuts this summer was largely the result of a breakdown in behind-the-scenes negotiations among powerful business lobbyists that had been going on for nearly two years.
Every once in awhile, it's a good idea to be reminded who really runs things in Texas.
A series of meetings was held of 40 to 50 lobbyists and trade association directors representing a variety of business interests, including electric utilities, the petrochemical industry, hospitals, lawyers, electronics and retail sales.Utilities and the petrochemical plants, with sprawling facilities that rack up huge property tax bills, wanted some relief, just like homeowners.
Companies with high-dollar investments such as utilities, the petrochemical industry and the insurance industry wanted the state's business franchise tax expanded to cover all businesses at a lower rate.
Businesses such as Dell, SBC and several Texas newspapers that avoided the franchise tax through loopholes and partnerships that had never been taxed were either reluctant partners in expanding the franchise tax or outright opposed it. The partnerships started fighting to stay out of the tax bill in the regular session after the House and Senate offered proposals to broaden the franchise tax.
By the end, most groups had lobbied their way out of the tax legislation this summer. And the petrochemical industry, which had pushed the hardest early on for property tax relief, was left holding the bag to pay it for everyone.
So it lobbied to kill the bill.
"There were a lot of people who wanted property tax relief, but at the end of the debate it was not the same party they sent invitations to," said the state's highest-paid lobbyist, Rusty Kelley, whose clients include partnerships and chemical companies.
This is a pretty good behind-the-scenes look at stuff that went on without much reportage at the time. Here's another thing that I'd say was underpublicized these past eight months:
The impetus for Perry's special sessions in 2003 and 2004 came from GOP primary politics: Republican voters in Houston and San Antonio wanted property tax cuts, and those in the Dallas area wanted to eliminate the share-the-wealth "Robin Hood" school finance system. Those voters typically make up about a third of the Republican primary turnout.Bill Allaway, president of the Texas Taxpayers and Research Association, said talk radio drove a "homeowner property-tax frenzy" in Houston and San Antonio.
"There never was a statewide drive for lower property taxes," he said.
Just something to keep in mind.
As long as we're talking about lobbyists, I found this story about how totally unfair it is that the schools got to have a few of their own to be hilarious.
Peggy Venable, director of the 27,000-member Americans for Prosperity-Texas, said it is "outrageous" that school taxes are being used to oppose legislation that she said could ensure better use of those tax dollars."Taxpayer-funded lobbyists killed any opportunity for property tax relief, taxpayer protections, education reforms and property rights legislation," Venable said.
Poor baby. Maybe if the schools thought they weren't about to get shafted, they wouldn't feel the need to ensure their interests were being fairly represented.
And just as another reminder:
After testifying about the bills, Sarah Winkler, a board member for the Alief Independent School District, tried to get people in her community to contact their representatives."I don't think it's fair to blame the education community for taking these bills down. Legislators followed what their constituents wanted," she said.
Sometimes there's more of them than there are of you. Funny how that works.
By the way, as I sat down to write this, our doorbell was rung by a neighbor girl out selling catalog merchandise as a fundraiser for her school. I so look forward to the day when Olivia has to do that.
I don't really have much to say about Hurricane Katrina that hasn't been said elsewhere, so let me join in with everyone else and say if you're in that area please get out and stay safe. This is going to be awful.
My webhost now has a blog, which strikes me as the sort of thing that webhosts in general ought to have. This post about how they deal with fraud made them worth the effort to add to my Bloglines subscriptions.
Here's a new-to-me blog on "Southern politics, media and public life" - SouthNow. They've got an entry on an interesting development in the Virginia Governor's race that I don't think I'd heard about before.
A useful service that I should have posted about before is LeftyBlogs.com, which includes feed aggregators for progressive blogs from all 50 states. Here's the one for Texas blogs. There's also a good news aggregator blog called Texas Politics that's worth your time to check out.
Finally, the proprietor of the Galveston-based Liberty's Blog writes to tell me that he's back in business and at a new location, so update your blogrolls and subscriptions accordingly.
I should have guessed that the sixty-five percent solution didn't come out of nowhere. Just like the outsourced school finance plan, the genesis of Governor Perry's recent executive order is just more ideological nonsense which has nothing to do with current reality. Eye on Williamson has more.
As previously rumored, State Rep. Bob Griggs is retiring at the end of his current term.
Griggs' decision was not a surprise. His open displeasure over the lack of influence he wielded in Austin on school finance sparked speculation about his plans.In a written statement, Griggs said he never intended to serve more than two terms in the District 91 House seat and wanted to spend more time with his family. He did not mention his disagreements with fellow Republicans over school finance.
[...]
Three Republicans -- Kelly Hancock of North Richland Hills, a member of the Birdville school board; Pat Carlson of Grapevine, chairwoman of the Tarrant County Republican Party; and Charles Scoma, the former mayor of North Richland Hills -- said Friday that they plan to seek the GOP nomination.
The district includes North Richland Hills, Haltom City, Richland Hills, Watauga and a northern section of Fort Worth.
Griggs was elected in 2002, after nine years as superintendent of the 22,000-student Birdville school district. He expected to play a major role in the Legislature's school finance overhaul.
Instead, he openly broke with Republicans who wanted to link school funds to state mandates and repeatedly criticized Rep. Kent Grusendorf, R-Arlington, chairman of the House Public Education Committee. Legislative leaders did not reappoint Griggs to the education panel in the last session, further distancing him.
"We were disappointed that we had a person with the experience of Bob Griggs, and the leadership was making a decision that we have an all-American and we're putting him on the bench," said Jay Thompson, associate superintendent for staff and student services with the Birdville school district.
[...]
North Richland Hills Mayor Oscar Trevino said he and the mayors of several other cities in District 91 tried recently to persuade Griggs to remain in the Legislature.
Even though Griggs was at odds with legislative leaders, he did a good job of voicing the district's concerns about education and other issues, Trevino said.
[...]
Jillianne Johnson, executive director of the Tarrant County Democratic Party, said two Democrats who live in the district have also expressed interest in running but declined to give their names. The primary election is March 7.
Aaron Pena has the full text of Griggs' statement. Greg has an existential question about Griggs' departure:
Griggs' exit ups the ante on Craddick's future as the dominant question of said future becomes: do truculant GOP members lose out in 2006 or have a change of heart and go back to supporting Craddick for Speaker in January 2007 ... or does the current dissatisfaction with Craddick hold - and more importantly, will the Craddick Dems that survive 2006 come back home and support a moderate GOP Speaker if enough GOP support is out there?
Greg turns this into a question for Houston's Al Edwards, and suggests that speakership preferences ought to be a primary issue for Edwards' announced opponent, Borris Miles. I think that's right.
One last thing Greg notes is the 2002 partisan makeup of HD91 - it's pretty heavily Republican. I did a quick check on the 2004 results and it's no different - the high scorer for Democrats was JR Molina with 34.1%. Beyond the usual Run Everywhere cheering, the best reason I can think of to urge a Democrat to run there is to remind all the voters that Bob Griggs (who was the top votegetter in HD91 last year) wasn't satisfied with the Republican "solutions" for education. Especially if the GOP nominee is a likely rubber stamp such as Pat Carlson, the contrast might make some people think twice.
And as long as we've brought up the speakership, The Jeffersonian asks a good question: Is there any effort to recruit a Democratic opponent for Tom Craddick in his district? I think that would be a good little project for the caucus leadership - Dunnam, Gallego, and Coleman. What say you guys?
City Council member Mark Ellis, who is term-limited as of this year, has announced his intention to run for the open SD7 seat.
"I'm extremely irritated at what's going on in Austin. There are two issues that are important, school reform and property tax relief. We (Republicans) have a majority, and we still can't get things done," Ellis said. "Two distinguishing factors of my candidacy are my success at City Hall and the fact that I have not been a part of the last regular session."
Yes, but will he run on a platform of pushing the serially-failed Perry/Craddick plans harder, or on a platform of considering better alternatives? And will Harris County GOP Chair Jared Woodfill make good on his earlier threats by taking sides in the primary? Stay tuned.
You know that any article that features a photo of Tom DeLay standing next to an Elvis impersonator is going to be good reading, right? And so it is.
I've opined before that DeLay's actions so far indicate to me a desire on his part to not just win but win big. I'm gratified to see that I'm not the only person who thinks that.
"He needs to play it safe and come home and do the things you need to do," said Gloria Roemer, spokeswoman for Harris County Judge Robert Eckels. "He wants to win by a substantial margin."
Unlike me, Robert Eckels is in a pretty good position to know what Tom DeLay is thinking, so if he's saying this sort of thing, you can accept it as true. Just remember that you read it here first.
I find this quote, from Harris County Clerk Beverly Kaufman, to be even more interesting:
"He may have observed the experiences of others who took their districts for granted and lived to rue the day," said Harris County Clerk Beverly Kaufman. "It's always smart to dance with the girl that brung ya."[...]
DeLay's Democratic opponent is former Rep. Nick Lampson, who lost his seat after the redistricting. Lampson had raised more than $500,000 by June 30; in 2004, Morrison raised only about $643,000 for the entire campaign.
DeLay and Lampson each plan to raise at least $4 million.
"Tom Delay is anything but naive," Kaufman said. "It is not going to be a tortoise-and-hare situation for him."
Is Kaufman implying that DeLay was caught napping last year? We know that he didn't really do much campaigning until fairly late in the cycle. He's certainly being serious about his own fundraising, what with bringing in Big Time Dick for a little secure-undisclosed-location schmoozing. Make of this what you will.
One last item of interest:
[T]he parade of local appearances is a departure from past August breaks. In 2002, for instance, DeLay campaigned for eight House members from California to North Carolina. In 2003, he and other lawmakers addressed Israel's Knesset.On this break, he spent just two days away from the district one in Nashville, Tenn., to attend a Christian conservative rally and another at a Hilton Head golf fundraiser for Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C.
There's another reason, beyond DeLay's need to tend to his own backyard, why he isn't travelling around raising money for other people so much: Coverage like this tends to follow along with him.
I'll be returning to some of these ideas later on over the weekend. For now, just enjoy that Elvis picture.
The number ten national television market, that is.
Houston is now officially a Top 10 television market, Nielsen Media Research said Thursday.
Houston replaces Detroit, which dropped to No. 11.Nielsen lists Houston as increasing from 2,059,450 TV households to 2,097,220 for the 2005-2006 season.
"Theoretically we've become an A tier for most national advertisers," said D'Artagnan Bebel, general manager of Fox-owned KRIV here. "When movies, for example, are looking to advertise in the Top 10 markets which happens a lot now Houston will be one of those markets."
The Top 10 markets are now New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, San Francisco, Dallas-Fort Worth, Washington, D.C., Atlanta and Houston.
We promise we won't let it go to our heads.
This makes so much sense it's hard to believe no one had thought of it before.
[T]he Downtown Entertainment District Alliance, which includes downtown merchants, has come up with a parking alternative aimed at eliminating parking woes: Those going to restaurants and clubs can now park free, with validation, at the JPMorgan Chase Center garage and Market Square Garage. "It's a win-win situation all around," said Bob Eury, president of Central Houston."It's a way to promote more convenient parking and promote downtown establishments that need more business."
The program takes advantage of an underutilized evening resource: parking garages.
"Now you know where to go and what to expect. It's like having two beacons," said Joe Martin, owner of El Centro and M Bar and a member of the alliance's board.
Parking lots in prime locations have been charging from $10 to $30 on weekend nights, he said, and there is gridlock caused by drivers waiting to get into lots.
Using the validated parking program, on Friday and Saturday nights from 6 p.m. to 3 a.m., drivers can park at the Chase or Market Square garages for $5. Eighteen bars, clubs and restaurants will credit a person's bill with the $5 fee.
I didn't realize that surface lots were that expensive. We paid $10 to park for the Astros game last week, but that's a game-day thing, and parking for the game gets cheaper the farther west you go, which is to say the closer you get to the Downtown Entertainment District. And I know I've parked near Market Square for less than that. But whatever. Using parking garages is a fine idea, so kudos all around.
PinkDome and BOR report that rumors of a possible overthrow of State House Speaker Tom Craddick are intensifying. I don't doubt that, though as Paul Burka says, there's a ways to go between talk and action. There's another possibility to keep in mind here, and it's a lot less sunny to contemplate. The Jim Leininger/Bob Perry axis and its bottomless funding capabilities may make a concerted effort to pick off the Republicans who strayed from the preferred party line on school finance and other assorted moderate heretics in the primaries. If they succeeded in this, they could get a more orthodox Republican majority, one that is to Craddick as the GOP Congressional caucus is to Tom DeLay. That was the goal in 2002, and it worked pretty well with the 78th Lege. Things may have floundered a bit this time around, but that doesn't mean they can't aim to fix that. See what happens in the primaries and we'll have a better idea of what Craddick's fortunes may be in 2007.
Dwight gets a little nostalgic as he remembers the Windows 95 rollout a decade ago. The thing I remember is the Rice MOB doing a technology-themed show that was inspired by this. We actually set things up to be broadcast over the Internet (presumably, for all five people who at that time had a browser capable of watching video), though sadly various glitches killed it. My favorite gag from the script involved our Show Assistants using a huge slingshot to fling "packets" from one end of the stadium to the other. (Yeah, I know. What can I say? I love geek humor.)
There's apparently still a lot of people using WIndows 95 today. I admit, the only reason we finally upgraded our old computer (bought in 1997) to Windows 98 was so we could make it work with the cable modem when we got that in 2002. If we'd kept using a dialup Internet connection, we may never have changed it. So, however much I prefer XP these days, I can understand the reluctance to tinker with something that works.
As Greg has noted, State Rep. Joe Nixon is now officially a candidate for the open SD7 seat, joining fellow Republican Rep. Peggy Hamric in the race. I've got a press release from the announcement which touts Nixon's "11-year record" of "fighting for tax relief, defending traditional family values, and passing historic tort reform" - you get the idea. Suffice it to say that I wish the Democrats had run a candidate against him last year.
Greg also notes that CD10 GOP primary losers Ben Streusand and John Devine are mulling this race over. Be sure the Mute button on your TV remote is in good working order if they do.
In HD48, Donna Howard is officially in the Democratic primary to challenge incumbent GOP Rep. Todd Baxter, who won a squeaker against Kelly White last year. Karl-T reported a few days ago that White would be backing Howard, who will be up against Andy Brown and possibly others in the Dem primary. I have a press release on this one as well, and I'll quote a bit from it:
A former Eanes ISD board member, Howard was born and raised in Austin, graduated from Reagan High, and has spent her adult life working to help strengthen the community. She was a co-founder of Advocates for Eanes Schools, a parent organization that monitors the activities of the school board, and helped start the Texas Education Crisis Coalition, a grassroots group of parents and community leaders.Certified as a Master School Trustee by the Texas Association of School Boards, Howard has previously run as a Democratic candidate for the State Board of Education.
[...]
Howard earned a bachelor's degree in nursing and a master's in health education, both from the University of Texas. She has worked as a critical care nurse at Brackenridge and Seton hospitals, served as the first hospital-based Patient Education Coordinator in Austin history, and helped get the Seton Good Health School off the ground. She has also been president of the Texas Nurses' Association (District 5) and a Health Education instructor at UT.
Two good candidates there, hopefully whoever emerges in March can take out Baxter.
And speaking of close Travis County State House races, HD50's Mark Strama now has an opponent, Republican Don Zimmerman. Obviously, I'm a Strama fan, and I believe he'll win this race by a much more comfortable margin than he did in 2004 against then-incumbent (and TAB poster boy) Jack Stick, but I'll give Zimmerman credit for his role in defeating a bad anti-privacy bill from 2003 (thanks to Rob for the pointer).
For what it's worth, Zimmerman's announcement just about stands alone among Republican challenges to incumbent Democrats - other than this, State Sen. Frank Madla, and of course US Rep. Chet Edwards, I can't think of any others with opponents at this point. I'm sure that'll change, but for now at least the Dems are way ahead in the recruitment game.
Desis for Texas, a political organization of South Asian citizens, has given a very enthusiastic endorsement to Chris Bell for Governor. It's now mirrored on the Bell blog. Check it out.
PerryVsWorld recently got a bunch of Kinky Friedman-flavored comment spam. I'm sure it's just a fluke, but the thought has occurred to me that this sort of thing could be a tempting dirty trick for some upcoming Karl Rove wannabe. Spam a bunch of blogs with an opponent's campaign URL so that the blog owners ban the URL and bitch about it to their audiences, thus not only generating a lot of badwill for your enemy among some opinion leaders, but maybe even getting some regular press coverage out of it just for the sheer novelty factor. It shouldn't be too hard to cover your tracks - I'm pretty sure the originating IP address for comments can be spoofed. And so what if you eventually get caught? Who reads Correction notices in the papers anyway?
The more I think about this, the more I think it'll happen sooner or later. Then we'll know that blogs really have arrived as a campaign tool.
(Just so we're 100% clear, I'm not claiming in any way, shape, or form that what happened to the PvsW blog was anything like this. I just got to thinking as I read his post and this is what I came up with. It's no fun if you can't speculate, right? This is pure unadulterated speculation about something that may happen in the future, not something that has already happened here and now. So please, don't say that I'm making any accusations. I'm not.)
UPDATE: BOR has a different Kinky problem.
Govenor Perry may have talk radio hosts eating out of his hand, but the newspaper editorial boards continue to be unimpressed. I think we can add this Express News piece to the collection of Items To Save For Next Endorsement Season:
Talk about a desperate move. Gov. Rick Perry is telling the state's school districts how to spend their money.What happened to local control? Hasn't that been the conservative mantra?
The governor's pronouncement that he's taking this action because the Legislature did not fix the school funding problem is the latest effort by a major state official to shift the blame to his colleagues.
[...]
By executive order, Perry is telling schools to spend at least 65 percent of their tax money in the classroom.
While that might sound reasonable, some school superintendents are saying this could lead to damaging cuts in such areas as transportation, school nursing care and security.
A major issue is the definition of what directly affects the classroom. As Northside School District Superintendent John Folks pointed out, many personnel, such as librarians, counselors and speech therapists, are required by law.
"So we're complying with the law and then we're being penalized for it?" he asked.
[...]
Perry's action is a ploy to move discussion away from the failure of state leadership to address school issues, which Perry declared in January to be the most important problem facing the state.
Sorry, governor, that won't work. The people of Texas will see through this thinly disguised effort to change the focus and shift the blame.
Will the SAEN editorial board remember writing these words by the time next October rolls around? Stay tuned and find out. Via Aaron Pena.
There's also this DMN editorial, which is equally harsh.
This much positive you can say about Gov. Rick Perry's dictum this week that schools must spend 65 percent of their money on classrooms: He gave Texans a clearer understanding about why Austin can't get anything done on school funding.[...]
Meanwhile, it was odd to see a Republican governor telling local schools how they must spend their money. Only a few years back, then-Gov. George W. Bush made his mark arguing for local control of schools. Evidently, Mr. Perry doesn't share the same trust of them. His office says he's only calling for what those schools are saying themselves. But if that's the case, why give them one more mandate, particularly one that doesn't match the realities of managing a school district?
Buses face higher fuel costs. Health premiums keep rising. And there are the costs of personnel like librarians that don't directly connect to the classroom.
The best way to view the governor's move is through the prism of his re-election campaign. After four failed sessions on school funding, he wants to look like he's doing something about our schools. It's too bad he's out of touch with them.
Ouch. Via In the Pink.
A few days ago Daily KOS pointed to the monthly SurveyUSA Senate approval numbers, which among other things showed a slight downward trend for Kay Bailey Hutchison.
The campaign for Barbara Radnofsky jumped on those numbers, pointing out that Hutchison has recently flipflopped on several issues that Radnofsky has been highlighting, and that Hutchison has done more for the people of Alaska on transportation funding than she has for the people of Texas. Stina and John have the communication from Radnofsky's campaign.
I wouldn't go so far as to say that Radnofsky's campaign and Hutchison's recent adoption of some of Radnofsky's platform is responsible for the polling dip, however - I think John's analysis, which points to the attacks KBH came under from Rick Perry prior to her announcement that she wasn't running for Governor, is spot on. I say that not because I think BAR's campaigning has been without effect - it's not a coincidence that KBH has suddenly changed her tune on these items - but because the fact of KBH's abrupt embrace of her opponent's positions isn't getting reported. Hutchison may be a KayBee-come-lately on the issue of VA hospitals, for example, but she still gets full credit for it when she comes around. Which is a shame, but that's life.
There are some positive signs. Blogs, of course, pick up on this sort of thing - it is what we do, after all. There's starting to be some coverage of BAR in the regular press, at least when she visits places like El Paso and Lubbock. Not quite as compelling, perhaps, as this breathless tale of KBH's selfless sacrifice of her daily fitness regimen, but they'll do for now.
Missed this last week, but fortunately the Clean Up Texas Politics blog caught it.
A lawsuit against the Texas Association of Business has been expanded to include several corporate donors, most of them insurance companies, that financed the association's 2002 direct-mail campaign that's part of a grand jury investigation.Austin lawyer Buck Wood, representing three former Democratic candidates who were opposed by the association, now has named eight corporations as defendants: AT&T Corp., Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Co., Ace American Insurance Co., Aetna Inc., Connecticut General Life Insurance Co., United Healthcare of Texas, Cigna Healthcare of Texas Inc. and America's Health Insurance Plans.
More corporations might be added as defendants, Wood said.
[...]
Lawyers for the association have argued that the ads did not advocate the election or defeat of anyone because they avoided using words such as "elect," "support," "oppose" or "defeat." They said the ads educated voters about the issues.
In his pleadings, Wood argued that is disingenuous.
"Any person of ordinary intelligence would understand that these ads were intended to support or oppose a candidate and are sham issue ads," Wood wrote.
[...]
For almost three years, [Travis County DA Ronnie] Earle has investigated the association, and its officers have refused to disclose the identity of the donors.
However, 20 corporate donors were identified in documents that the association was forced to surrender last month as part of the lawsuit. The 20 are thought to represent about two-thirds of the corporations that gave money to TAB.
For sure none of these companies wanted any part of a lawsuit. It's possible, maybe even likely, that a judgment for the plaintiffs in this case could mean that at least some of them will review their policies towards political donations. I'm sure that's one reason why Andy Taylor fought so hard to keep that information secret, since it would have a disproportionally negative effect on Republicans. Cat's out of the bag now, though.
Wonder what Berkeley Breathed had on his mind while doing those Opus-in-jail-for-protecting-his-source comics? Find out in this brief interview. Via The Stakeholder.
Olivia's been the little social butterfly lately - last week she attended a blogger gathering, and the next evening she went to her very first baseball game.
We were in a suite thanks to some corporate largesse, which meant she could run around and be free. Those little bags of peanuts and Cracker Jack that were scattered around the place made excellent toddler toys, as you can see. Good to know for the next time, too.
Oh, and the Stros won, too. All in all, a fine night.
As a season-ticket holder for the Comets, I spend a fair amount of time in the vicinity of the Toyota Center, and I can attest that the area could use some upgrading. I'm therefore glad to hear that there's plans to develop a park and some retail space. It's a little hard to tell from these rah-rah articles if the plans are any more grounded in financial reality than the latest Astrodome scheme - well, okay, they almost have to be - and I'd have to understand the finances involved a little better to feel confident about any pronouncements, but at least it's a part of town where people have a reason to be. So call me hopeful, though a bit doubtful. We'll see if the TIRZ stuff comes through for the developers and go from there.
Can you picture the TV show "Lost" as a Sid and Marty Krofft production? That's what this lawsuit says.
A Los Angeles writer has sued ABC and producer Touchstone Television for allegedly appropriating his 1977 television concept "Lost" for the network's current hit.Anthony Spinner filed the suit Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court, seeking unspecified damages for claims including breach of contract and fraud.
Spinner claims that he was hired by Sid and Marty Krofft Prods. in 1977 to write, produce and develop a script for a TV program to be produced by ABC that was titled "Lost". It was about a group of airplane crash survivors who struggle to survive in a jungle where they encounter strange creatures and dangerous characters.
Spinner said the assignment was memorialized in a written contract among himself, Krofft and ABC. He said he was entitled to a "written by" and "created by" credit as well as episodic royalties, producing fees and a percentage of the profits.
I'll bet the depositions for this one will be a hoot. One minor nitpick: Unlike Mac, I say this means it'll be Sleestaks inside the mysterious underground chamber.
Governor Perry can't fix how schools are financed, but he can tell them how to spend the money they have.
Gov. Rick Perry issued an executive order Monday requiring schools to spend at least 65 percent of their tax money in the classroom because state lawmakers, he said, have failed to act.
Did someone remember to write down the date and time when the concept of "local control" was officially deleted from the Republican Party's list of guiding principles? You know, for posterity.
I'm not going to claim that there shouldn't be some regulations on how state money is spent. I do have to wonder why, after eight months of legislative activity, this order needed to be given now. If this is such an urgent need, why wasn't it given a higher priority? Think back on all the things that were loudly debated during Special SessionPalooza - property tax cuts, equity capture, teacher pay raises, textbooks, accountability, school board elections, uniform start date, etc etc etc. Where did this even come from?
Of course, maybe it's not such an urgent need:
Perry is giving school districts until the 2009-10 school year to phase in the 65 percent requirement. Schools that don't meet the threshold would face "tough sanctions," which have not yet been determined.
As The Jeffersonian points out, Rick Perry may not be governor in 2009, or if he is he may be a lame duck. How much support will this executive order have then?
That assumes, of course, that it even has the force of law to begin with:
[Richard Middleton, superintendent of San Antonio's North East School District,] called Perry's action "highly unusual" and expects that it will trigger a legal challenge.
Ah, what's one more school-related lawsuit at this point?
Got a phone message from Richard Morrison this morning. He called to give me the good news that his daughter Lauren Catherine made her appearance in the world yesterday, tipping the scales at eight pounds, one ounce. He reports that both she and his wife Allison are doing fine. Congratulations and best wishes to the Morrison family on their latest arrival!
Meant to post on this earlier but didn't get to it: Scott catches us up on the latest installment in the overcrowded Harris County jails story, which points a finger at the local judiciary for its role in the problem.
[T]wo new studies conclude that a major reason for the renewed crowding is a trend among the county's criminal court judges to circumvent or ignore a provision of the Alberti decision and a state law both aimed at reducing jail populations.
In one study, requested by the judges, the Colorado-based Justice Management Institute concluded that there may be a "significant" number of low-risk defendants in the county jail simply because they are unable to post bond.
"To the extent that defendants who pose no risk of nonappearance or danger to public safety remain in pretrial detention because of inability to post bond, the county incurs significant and unnecessary cost for the operation of the jail," the institute reported.
The report also states that Harris County judges "under-utilize" Pretrial Services an agency set up as part of the Alberti decision to gather information for the judges on criminal defendants eligible for free or low-cost bonds. The report also noted that Pretrial Services, operated by the county, is severely underfunded.State District Judge Caprice Cosper said the study will be on the agenda this week when the judges meet for training and to discuss judicial trends.
"The dialogue we will be having is that this is a world of limited resources," Cosper said. "And we have to make certain that we all understand that, and that we maybe (should) have more communication about how we are utilizing those resources."
As this Chron editorial notes, many judges here are former prosecutors, with a pervasive tuff-on-crime attitude that has led to locking up a lot of people without much consideration of the logic or expense involved. At least they seem to be recognizing the problem now. I'm sure that will be a spirited dialogue they'll be having this week.
From the comments on this post.
The Houston Equal Rights Alliance (currently the Houston arm of the No Nonsense in November grassroots campaign) is having a blockwalk this Saturday morning to recruit volunteers and talk to people about why they should vote against Constitutional Amendment 2.We're meeting at 10 am this Saturday, August 27th, at the GLBT Community Center at 3400 Montrose in Suite 207. We're in the building across from Kroger and in the same building as the SkyBar.
If you support equality for everybody in Texas, call 713-522-4372 to sign up for the block walk this Saturday, or e-mail me at goodland@rice.edu.
Please help them out if you can. For those of you in Austin, here's an update on what's going on there.
Dos Centavos brings the word that Peter Brown will have a grand opening celebration at his campaign headquarters tonight, with special guest Henry Cisneros. It's at 3907 Main, right at the Ensemble/HCC light rail stop and it runs from 6:30 to 8:30. Call 713.528.0049 for event details.
The radio wars continue:
The dust had hardly settled on Gov. Rick Perry's unsuccessful special legislative sessions to cut property taxes Monday when re-election challenger Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn launched radio commercials attacking him for wanting to raise taxes.Strayhorn's commercial criticizes Perry for proposing state tax increases without mentioning that they would have paid for local property tax cuts. Perry's campaign portrayed the commercial as an attack that offers no proposals to relieve rising property taxes.
[...]
"Some politicians think it is easier to tax than to lead," Strayhorn says in the commercial.
"Now, you might expect that kind of thing from a big taxing liberal in Washington, but here in Texas? From a Republican governor?"
Strayhorn says Perry raised state fees $2.7 billion in 2003 and then this year proposed "the largest tax increase in Texas history ... and not one penny for education.
"No wonder our Republican Legislature had to tell him no twice."
Harsh. A bit misleading, in that the Perry Plan was only a tax increase on 90% of the population, but this is about red meat, not subtle distinctions. And as In the Pink notes, it's not like Team Perry has been wearing kid gloves. It's also still the case that this is more substantive than I was expecting from a Hutchison/Perry primary. As long as the focus is on Perry's abject failures in Special SessionPalooza, I won't complain. We'll see how long it lasts.
You have to give Rick Perry credit, though. His talk radio presence is just masterful politics.
Since January, Perry has been a guest on more than 25 shows produced by radio stations in Austin, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Lubbock, Amarillo, Midland and the Rio Grande Valley.He jokes with drive-time hosts and talks as much sports as politics. Of late, he's been heard to say he's worn out from the Legislature's failure to advance school finance and tax plans despite his setting such a goal in three special sessions dating to April 2004.
[...]
On Aug. 2, Perry called Austin's KAMX-FM, in response to an assistant assigned to find someone from politics for the "JB and Sandy in the Morning" show.
"Hey, Autumn, how are you, girl?" Perry said to her as he came on the air from the Governor's Mansion. "Good show. What's happening?"
His hosts didn't inquire into legislative doings. Perry touched instead on his enjoyment of bicycling, his admiration for University of Texas baseball coach Augie Garrido and men's swimming coach Eddie Reese and his own adventures in the Air Force, where he said a big concern for him and other pilots spanning the globe centered on where they could cash a check once they landed.
Perry said he was calling from the mansion's conservatory, where the legendary Van Cliburn once tinkled the piano for Perry's wife, Anita, on her birthday. He invited the morning team to come by sometime for a "hands-on" personal tour.
The show's producer, Alex Franco, known as Digitz on the air, said later: "We expected five minutes max with him, but it ended up 15 or 20 minutes. He obviously was enjoying himself."
Nice to know he was keeping busy while the second special session crashed and burned at his feet. And boy oh boy does Perry know his pigeons.
Ricci Ware, who hosts an afternoon program on San Antonio's KTSA-AM, said Perry has been a plum of a guest, proving more radio-savvy than other governors in his nearly 50-year career as a radio personality."He's totally in tune with media and what people want to know," Ware said. "I'm one of those guys very, very upset about what hasn't happened" on school funding and taxes in the Legislature. "I'm really convinced he's as ticked off about it as I am."
Ware credited Perry with quickly calling him back on questions that bubble up during his show or having aides do so.
Jim Douglass, among hosts of "Fox Talk" on KJTV-AM in Lubbock, said listeners love to hear from elected officials.
Douglass, recalling Perry's call toward the end of this summer's first stalled special session on education and taxes, said: "You could feel the frustration in his voice. He feels that calling up here, he's calling friendly listeners."
Another host of the program, Chris Winn, said, "You feel honored that the governor would use your show as a conduit of getting his point of view out there."
You think Perry rubs their tummies before or after he goes on the air? Thanks to Eye on Williamson for the link.
Finally, on a side topic, Rob passes along some info on how Strayhorn is doing with some rank-and-file Republicans. I still think she doesn't have a chance, and that her reach out to new voters strategy is a proven loser, especially for a primary, but she could surprise me. What's not a surprise is the traction she's getting with anti-Trans Texas Corridor rhetoric. I continue to believe this is an opportunity for Chris Bell for after Strayhorn loses in March. We'll see how it goes.
Some updates on No Nonsense In November, the effort to beat back the Double Secret Illegal Anti-Gay Marriage amendment. First, they've having a kickoff fundraiser in Austin on Thursday. Karl-T has the details.
Second, I can stop typing the long name Double Secret Illegal Anti-Gay Marriage amendment if I want because it's now simply known by the innocuous moniker Proposition 2. I'm not sure what Prop 1 is, but the list goes on beyond those two:
Among the eight other propositions on this fall's ballot is one that would allow the Legislature to define interest rates for commercial loans and another that would authorize the denial of bail for a suspect who violates a condition of his or her release pending trial.
Remember, the one we really care about is Proposition 2.
Finally, here's No Nonsense Newsletter #3, where the big news is that they now have coordinators in the 25 largest counties in Texas. They've also hired two regional coordinators for the San Antonio area, and there will be house parties on September 30. Check it out for all you need to know.
It's easy to overlook downballot elections, especially in an odd-numbered year when the Mayor's race is likely to be uncontested. But every election matters, and oftentimes the ones near the bottom of the ticket are the ones with the most direct impact on your life.
Four HISD trustee positions are up for election in November. One of them, in District I, will be an open seat as incumbent Karla Cisneros steps down. There are three candidates running for this seat: Anne Flores Santiago, Natasha Kamrani, and Richard Cantu. I had the opportunity to hear all three of them speak briefly before the Greater Heights Democratic Club last Saturday. Since I live in HISD I and knew practically nothing about any of them, I took the opportunity to ask each of them if they'd agree to a short interview. I sent them all the same set of questions and promised to print each set of answers as I received them.
Richard Cantu was the first to return a set of answers to me. Here they are:
1. Tell us about yourself - your background, your experience, your qualifications for the job.
I am a native Houstonian and lifelong resident and product of HISD District One (Jeff Davis HS). I earned my Associates Degree in Government from HCC and my Bachelor's in Political Science from University of Houston. I also was recognized for my academic achievement, leadership potential and commitment to a career in public service in being appointed as a Truman Scholar (TX '92). I have worked in public service for 18 years, the last 13 years with the City of Houston. I spent eight years working for the Parks and Recreation department, where I served in various administrative/management roles involving the development and management of community programs and services, such as afterschool activities, youth intervention, team sports, cultural/performing and visual arts, special events, senior citizen activities, community involvement/education and general fitness, leisure and recreation services. For the past five years I have had the honor of serving our city as Director of the Mayor's Citizens' Assistance Office (MCAO), overseeing the team of Mayor's Community Liaisons. In this capacity, I have managed a 3/4 of a million dollar budget, wherein I have focused resources on frontline needs to improve customer service and facilitate the efficient delivery of city services.Community involvement activities (past and present) include: President - Hawthorne Place Civic Club, Precinct Chairman/Election Judge (Pct. 105) since 1996, Houston Food Bank - Board of Directors, HISD North District - Community Advisory Committee, HCC Northeast - Advisory Board, Northline Police Storefront - Advisory Council, MD Anderson YMCA - Board of Directors, Wesley Community Center - Board of Directors, HISD Volunteers in Public Schools, Project GRAD Walk for Success, and HPD - Citizens Police Academy Alumni Association. I also serve as a community advocate, youth mentor, Sunday School teacher, little league volunteer/coach, etc. I have been married for 17 years and have three daughters (two of them are HISD District One students).
2. If elected, what would be your top priority? What is HISD doing that you would most like to see changed, and what is HISD not doing that you would most like to see them take up?
My top priority for our district is to improve overall student achievement so that we increase our graduation and college attendance rates. I will work to increase funding for positive programs, like Communities in Schools and Project GRAD, not cut them. I will work to develop more Mentoring programs, so that every high school student who needs or wants the support and guidance of a volunteer mentor will have it.3. The Texas Legislature has tried several times to change the way public schools are funded. What is your opinion of the things they tried to do? What should they have done, and what should they not have done?
Doing nothing is definitely not the answer. State school finance is the single most important issue that the legislature can deal with. The best proposals never had a chance of passing due to the politics of the State Legislature. Overall, the state must spend more on education and to accomplish this a broad based business tax will be necessary.4. How has the No Child Left Behind legislation affected HISD? What can HISD do to better comply with NCLB's requirements? What should be done with the schools that failed to meet NCLB goals this year (see here for more)?
Although there are a few schools that have struggled with NCLB, HISD overall has complied with it. As a matter of fact, HISD's Beliefs and Visions (the official mission statement and goals) are directly in line with the goals of NCLB. The schools that are struggling to meet these goals need a strategic improvement plan and perhaps some additional resources (financial and personnel) to raise them up.5. HISD Superintendent Abe Saavedra has promised policy changes that would lead to a reduction in the amount of classroom time students spend on testing (see here for more). What is the right amount of time for this? What changes would you like to see made?
I support the superintendent's plan to reduce the amount of time spent on testing. It is necessary and reasonable to adequately assess (test) the academic progress of our students, however we must focus on the ultimate goal of preparing our kids for graduation. Moreover, I would like to see a greater emphasis placed on the preparation of all our kids for college.6. What distinguishes you from your opponents in this race?
I am an example of what HISD is doing right. I will bring a unique perspective to the board. As a former student, volunteer, parent, mentor, community adviser, instructor and taxpayer, I bring the most well-rounded background to be an effective representative for District One on the HISD board. I also have the the most extensive experience in community and political affairs, and will bring with me long standing working relationships with our area (federal, state and local) elected officials, community groups and neighborhood leaders.
My thanks to Richard Cantu for his answers. When I receive replies from Natasha Kamrani and Anne Flores Santiago, I will print them.
I'm still trying to understand the arguments in favor of building a hotel/convention center complex out of the shell of the Astrodome.
The decline of the natural gas trading business, brought on by Enron's bankruptcy, also hurt hotels, said Joan Johnson, president of the Hotel & Lodging Association of Greater Houston.Downtown occupancy is at 58.3 percent this year, 3 percentage points higher than in 2004, and at 64.1 percent in the Houston area, 1 point higher than last year, she said. But those figures are still low by industry standards, she said.
At those occupancy rates, the area does not need another 1,200-room hotel that would be aimed at corporate travelers, Johnson said.
But she noted that Astrodome Redevelopment would not be duplicating downtown hotels' efforts and instead would go after conventioneers and tourists who view the hotel as a destination in itself, she said.
Don Henderson, vice president and managing director of the Hyatt Regency, acknowledged that the Hilton Americas has taken some business away from other downtown hotels since it opened two years ago.
But eventually the George R. Brown Convention Center will book more conventions because of the Hilton's proximity, and other downtown hotels will benefit from overflow that the Hilton can't handle, he said.
The same pattern would hold true for the Astrodome hotel and the conventions that it would help attract to Reliant Center, he said.
Willie Loston, director of the Sports and Convention Corp., said the Dome hotel wouldn't be able to accommodate all the attendees at every event, so other hotels would benefit.
Maybe I'm just being cranky, but how many people would actually view this thing as a destination unto itself? This isn't Las Vegas. Okay, so it'll have a fake Riverwalk inside. Wouldn't most people prefer the real thing? I don't understand this at all.
Second, "eventually" the GRB will book more conventions? When does that happen? Evidence elsewhere suggests that the convention center business overall is in decline, due in large part to oversupply. On what basis do we think the GRB is in for an uptick?
Finally, how many conventions that will require over 1200 hotel rooms does Willie Loston anticipate? And why wouldn't they be using the already-in-existence GRB/Hilton Americas?
The more I read about this idea, the more amazed I am that the Astrodome Redevelopment Corp. got funding for it. Has no one asked Heywood Sanders for his opinion on this?
For something that may never make it past the Powerpoint presentation stage, the proposal by Gonzalo Camacho to build a tunnel to replace the existing I-45 roadway from Beltway 8 to downtown sure is getting a lot of attention. Which is fine and dandy by me. I do have one concern, though:
TxDOT has neither endorsed nor rejected consideration of a tunnel. Its recently completed I-45 study phase addressed only general topics, said spokeswoman Janelle Gbur. The preliminary conclusions called for adding four lanes to the stretch of I-45 between Sam Houston Tollway and downtown, though it did not specify truck lanes, toll lanes or additional HOV lanes."We have not reached that point in the process. It's a graduated process and the goal is improved mobility," said Gbur, who expects the department will issue a report on all proposed improvements to I-45, including the tunnel, about this time next year.
"We'll give all the ideas a good review, and nothing at that point will be eliminated purely on the basis of cost-effectiveness alone," she said.
I don't think you need a PhD in bureaucratese to read that statement as saying TxDOT thinks a tunnel would cost too much. Maybe it will, maybe it won't, I don't know, though I do know that if they're using the current cost estimates as a basis for comparison, no alternate plan will look good. I'm just about sold on the tunnel idea, but I fear putting all our eggs in one basket, thus leaving TxDOT an easy way to make the default bulldoze-and-widen choice. Still, I continue to be impressed by the job that Camacho has done in telling people about his plan (which as always you can view here in its 8 MB PPT file glory) and in particular in getting them to take the idea seriously. I just hope that TxDOT is as willing to think outside the box as much as he has.
Some more linkage from the weekend that I missed the first time around...
First up, from Eye on Williamson, is a memo to RNC Chair Ken Mehlman from the Dallas Morning News.
Your party's leaders are brawling like gunslingers. If word gets out that Republicans can't govern in the reddest of red states, how can they govern anywhere?[...]
As head of the national party, you need to pay attention to Texas. It's not pretty, especially with 2006 elections on the horizon. You can hear the ads now:
Republicans can't even govern George W. Bush's home state.
We recommended some of these leaders for office, and we're beginning to wonder why. If something doesn't change, Republicans are going to have a tough time explaining why they should govern here and elsewhere.
I kinda like that ad slogan. Those of you from out of state, feel free to appropriate it.
More interesting to me is that bit about endorsements, something the Chron touched on a few days ago. I know both the Chron and the DMN endorsed Rick Perry for Governor in 2002. I'm filing away what they're saying now so I can compare them to the We Recommend pieces they'll be penning next October. Will their words next year give substance to their complaints here and now? We shall see.
Also via the Eye is another piece examining the potential electoral fallout from Special SessionPalooza. It's not unreasonable to believe that the voters for the most part won't stay mad for 15 months, but there is another way in which we may see higher turnover next year: retirements.
Some representatives could lose to strong opponents. Others, sick of spending so much time away from their jobs and families while fighting a fruitless battle in Austin, are simply burned out and considering retirement. Still others, including three House GOP committee chairmen, have announced plans to seek higher office.With more than six months until the primaries, at least 11 House members have already drawn primary opponents who are current or former school officials in a perfect position to beat the drum on school finance. In [Rep. Jim] Pitts' district, some superintendents are already showing support for his opponent, Duke Burge of Midlothian.
Dozens more members are certain they will draw opponents as well. And nearly a dozen House committee chairmen most of them Republicans are thought to be considering retirement.
Vague, to be sure, but given that the filing deadline for next March's primary is about four months away, if there's anything to this I expect we'll be hearing specific names soon. Remember, if Governor Perry signs the judicial pay-raise bill, legislators' pensions will also increase, and that will make retirement extra appealing to the Class of '93. If there are retirement announcements coming, look for a spurt of them immediately after that bill is signed.
Finally, via PinkDome, a school superintendent vents his spleen. Just one comment:
We can, however, thank the Legislature for passing legislation to put an end to the growing problem of out-of-control cheerleader routines. We dodged the bullet on that one.
Thanks, Al. Thanks a lot.
Some good news for Chris Bell: he's picked up the endorsement of Pete Gallego, who is also now serving as the chairman of his campaign. Getting early support from party leaders like Gallego, before any other theoretical opponents make an entry into the race, will go a long way towards solidifying Bell's position in the primary. I hope this isn't an isolated incident.
It's been a good weekend for Congressional candidate announcements. First Mary Beth Harrell in CD31, and now David Harris in CD06. Damon was first to press on this. Harris doesn't have a website up yet - his decision to run was made just this weekend - but you can get a good idea of Harris' background here.
Capt. David Harris, a resident of Arlington, Texas, who recently returned from a 14-month tour in Iraq, said he began to oppose the war after it became apparent that Iraq possessed no stores of biological or chemical weapons."There was a belief amongst the troops that we were going there to take down Saddam Hussein because he had weapons of mass destruction," said Harris, 33. "We're 16 months after the invasion, and still not a one has been found. That would put some skepticism in anybody."
The active-duty U.S. Army reservist, who served as a logistics officer in Iraq, said poor planning, training and resource allocation constantly jeopardized his unit. The 12-year armed forces veteran said he plans to submit his resignation to avoid a second call-up to Iraq.
"I was informed last Wednesday that I might be on the list...and put into a unit that's going to be deployed," Harris said. "My resignation is already typed up. After 12 years, it's hard to walk away from it. But I can't see doing another year in Iraq."
Harris teaches ROTC at the University of Texas at Arlington. According to information provided by the Veterans for Peace organization, his decorations include the Bronze Star and the Global War on Terror medal.
But Harris said: "I just don't agree that we should have this endless war on terror with no end. I don't think we can change the landscape or the people in Iraq in one year, five years or 10 years."
Yes, another soldier coming home from Iraq and running for Congress as a Democrat. This is going to be a wild election season.
Harris is looking for petition signatures to get on the ballot, and he's looking for donations to kick off his effort. Send email to FM2DC@aol.com or snail mail to Follow Me To DC, PO Box 1408 Fort Worth, TX 76102 to get involved.
A little Sunday reading for those who aren't quite ready to let Special SessionPalooza fade into history just yet.
'Robin Hood' Ratliff says money's the answer
Q: The governor and many Republican legislators say more money for the schools isn't the only answer. They insist on imposing various "reforms" in how schools are administered. What do you think?A:
I happen to think that it is mainly a matter of money. Maybe some more reforms could be done, but if the current accountability system is administered fairly, schools will put the money where it's needed. Many of these proposed changes would put the state back to micromanaging the education system, which we tried to get away from in 1995 (with another major education bill). At that time, the Legislature decided it was best for the state to set out what students should know and when they should know it and let school districts decide how to accomplish that goal. I still believe that's the right approach.
Clay Robison:
I believed and wrote in early June that it would be pointless (and risky) for Gov. Rick Perry to call a special session if House Speaker Tom Craddick didn't agree to it and, in essence, get to dictate the school funding and tax relief terms.Craddick already had warned the governor that he wanted to wait for the Texas Supreme Court to decide the state's appeal of a school finance lawsuit before requiring the Legislature to tackle the difficult issue again.
But Perry called one 30-day session and then another, and both failed, largely because Craddick never changed his mind.
The speaker was key because an increase in state taxes would be required to cut school property taxes, a goal more important to Perry and many Republican lawmakers than actually improving education. The state constitution requires the House take the first action on tax bills.
[...]
Perry tried. But the minimal plan he offered for education funding and property tax relief at the beginning of the summer didn't inspire success. It sold Texas short because it would have failed to provide the tax and revenue overhaul that the schools need.
Unlike the governor, Dewhurst and Craddick Dewhurst more convincingly have advocated a new, broad-based business tax to more adequately fund education and more fairly tap into the state's emerging 21st century economy.
But that idea, which would have made the effort worthwhile, wilted quickly in the long, hot, wasted summer.
Blame the PTA:
If state leaders must blame some group outside the Capitol, they can blame the Texas PTA and our 650,000 members. Parents who have written tens of thousands of e-mail messages and letters and placed hundreds and hundreds of phone calls to elected officials. You can blame the parents and taxpayers of this state for not allowing the Legislature to push through inadequate funding for our children's education and harmful regulatory changes disguised as "reforms."[...]
Why can't the Legislature pass something? You can blame PTA for that because parents told lawmakers that no bill is better than a bad bill and all the leadership proposed were bad school finance bills.
We are the Texas PTA 650,000 parents, teachers and others who care about children. And taxpayers. You can blame PTA if you want. But if you think there have been lots of calls, letters and e-mails in the past three years, just wait. Keep under-funding our children's schools, keep trying to disguise political agendas as "reforms," keep protecting the tax system that favors the business community, keep using textbook money for other purposes, keep squabbling amongst yourselves over your own petty agendas.
If you think you have heard from parents and taxpayers already, just wait. What you have heard before is a gentle spring rain of discontent compared to the ocean of disappointment and frustration that is ready to wash up on your shores.
Read 'em all.
I've been hearing the name Mary Beth Harrell as a candidate for CD31 for some time now, and I'm pleased to report now that she's officially in and has a nice campaign website up and running. I think she's staked out some strong positions on a number of issues, and I hope the questions she's asking get repeated frequently, both in her district and elsewhere. As with all of the DeLay-drawn districts, she's got a tough climb - incumbent John Carter was the best-performing Republican in CD31, with over 66% of the vote (Victor Carillo at 62% brought up the rear) - but I think there's a lot of room for improvement there. Williamson County is slowing turning more purple, and the Democrats have already got state rep candidates in place there. Get some more good things going in the Coryell and Bell County areas, and we can see some good things happen.
One other item to note is that Harrell is married to a retired military officer and the mother of two active-duty sons. She's from Killeen, site of Fort Hood, the departure point for Iraq of many Texas soldiers, reservists, and other personnel. She can speak authoritatively about service and sacrifice, and I think people will listen. For now, I encourage you to check out her website and consider donating or volunteering to help her win.
I'm still puzzling through this story from yesterday.
It's not the Super Bowl or the All-Star Game.But the big Enron trial coming up in January featuring former head honchos Ken Lay, Jeff Skilling and Rick Causey as defendants will draw scads of media attention, and Houston's civic leaders want to make sure the city comes off looking good.
Earlier this month, Houston's image makers from the Greater Houston Partnership, Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau, City Hall and county government met to begin forming a strategy to "tell the other side of the story," according to minutes of the meeting.
[...]
Frank Michel, City Hall's communications director, said the meeting was a brainstorming session that included some wild ideas that were thrown out pretty quickly.
He quickly dismissed as "ridiculous" the idea of tracking down reporters and TV crews, he said.
"I said we weren't going to stalk the media," Michel said Thursday.
He added that whatever approach is taken, it won't be a heavy-handed public relations operation to combat any ugly impressions. Instead, he said, the group will focus on how to help the media do their job.
That includes making parking available but not free for those covering the trial, setting up a tent near the federal courthouse so the media don't have to stand out in the rain, and meeting with TV stations to find out what sort of technical help they may need.
If that's what this is about, then I'm OK with it. These trials are going to take weeks, and there will be lulls with not much new to report. It's almost a certainty that there will be a few background/overview type stories filed at those times, where the whole Enron-as-microcosm-of-Houston thing will get rehashed. If the goal is to make sure the writers of those tales are in a decent frame of mind because they haven't gotten continually lost driving around or had to park a mile away from the courthouse, I guess it can't hurt.
As long as it's not so obvious that the attempt itself is a story.
On its face, there's nothing wrong with city leaders and civic boosters being logistically prepared, said Scott Libin, a faculty member at journalism's Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla. And he was glad to hear that the committee noted in the minutes that there is a "fine line" between hospitality and undue influence.But, he said, he hoped local leaders aren't trying to turn every restaurant server into a goodwill ambassador for the city. Local leaders shouldn't fall for the false dichotomy of "positive" or "negative" stories, because good stories are much more complex than that.
Just make it a little easier for a bunch of cranky, homesick people to do their job, and get out of the way. If that's all it is, then it's all right. I just hope that's all it is.
We have a new definition of "chutzpah": Rick Perry blaming lobbyists for anything.
Gov. Rick Perry on Friday said the Legislature failed to pass school finance reform and property tax cuts in two special sessions because it was too influenced by business lobbyists and lacked the will to act."Today I share the tremendous disappointment of millions of taxpayers, teachers, parents over the Legislature's failure to act on property tax relief and education reform," Perry said.
He's apparently gone to the Tom Craddick School of Blame Dispersal. Fortunately, he did get a consolation prize to help ease the pain of his disappointment.
This summer's two special sessions apparently did not crimp Perry's political style. His re-election campaign raised $2.5 million since June 21 while the Legislature was in session, including $100,000 each from Houston Toyota wholesaler Thomas Friedkin and Houston home builder Bob Perry, according to a report Perry filed Friday with the Texas Ethics Commission. A ban on fundraising during regular legislative sessions does not apply to special sessions.
'Nuff said.
This is almost too funny:
Perry blamed businesses that now can legally avoid paying the corporate franchise tax with opposing his plans to close two loopholes."The fact of the matter is we're trying to make a system that is fair, a system that treats everyone as fairly as we can," said Perry.
But Perry opposed plans to tax business payroll, saying that might hurt job creation. His opposition complicated lawmakers' efforts to broaden the business tax to service professionals such as doctors, lawyers and architects.
[Lt. Gov. David] Dewhurst said that "rich, greedy lobbyists" for the petrochemical and oil and gas industries brought tax reform to a standstill in the House. When pressed by reporters, he named Bill Messer and Rob Looney.
I'll spare you the through-the-looking-glass cliches. What's really pathetic about all this is that broadened-but-reduced business and sales taxes were not only the first things to get killed (with Perry leading the way), but they've actually got a fair amount of support from the Republican base. Look at items #4 and 5 on the Texas Conservative Review. I don't endorse most of what they stand for, but it seems to me there was pretty broad agreement on these two points. Someone needs to ask Governor Perry how it is they still failed despite that. (Here's a hint, in case you don't already know the answer.)
Oh, well. On the plus side, as Eye on Williamson and Loren Steffy remind us, SpecialSessionPalooza wasn't an abject failure for everyone - SBC made out pretty nicely with the telecom bill. I think Steffy's exactly right in that we won't see lower prices for cable TV - we'll just get more product bundles at premium rates. There's still no real incentive for anyone to do business any differently.
Of course, the telecom bill still isn't law just yet. As Save Muni Wireless notes, there's an effort to urge Governor Perry to veto it. I'd say there's about a zero percent chance of that happening, but you can still register your opinion on the subject if you wish.
Good news in the Star Bock copyrighttrademark case.
A Galveston bar owner whose house-brand Star Bock beer prompted a copyright battle with the worldwide Starbucks coffee chain can continue to sell the private brew in his bar but can't sell the beer regionally or nationally, a federal judge ruled today."It's a victory in the sense that Starbucks was trying to shut me out completely and they weren't able to do that," said Rex "Wrecks" Bell, owner of the Old Quarter Acoustic Cafe in downtown Galveston. "I imagine that Starbucks hates it that I can still sell my beer."
U.S. District Judge Sam Kent ruled today that Bell's sale of Star Bock beer or related promotional items sold from the Acoustic Cafe "does not in any way infringe, unfairly compete with, dilute or otherwise impugn Starbucks' brands or trademarks."
But Kent said any effort Bell might make to sell beer under the Star Bock name outside his bar "would likely cause infringement, unfair competition and dilution" to Starbucks brands and trademarks.
[...]
Although disappointed that he can't launch a regional or national campaign to sell Star Bock beer, Bell said he expects wide news coverage of his copyright struggle with Starbucks to make his beer more popular than ever.
"Now that a judge has ruled that you can only buy it in Galveston, my beer might become more of a local attraction," Bell said.
Bell said he is considering whether to appeal Kent's ruling to the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to find out if the higher court agrees that his beer can be limited to local sale only.
Take the win and run, Rex. Ask the Saint Arnold folks how tough it is to expand your market as a microbrew. Hell, ask the Shiner folks. You're right on the money about becoming more of a local attraction. I know I plan on coming by to sample the ware next time I'm down in Galveston.
UPDATE: Trademark, not copyright. My bad. Thanks to Azizam Jon in the comments for the correction.
What do you give the man who has everything? A contribution to his top secret legal defense trust fund, of course.
Since last year's indictments, [Jim Ellis, who runs DeLay's Americans for a Republican Majority, and John Colyandro, the executive director of Texans for a Republican Majority] have had their legal bills paid for by a trust that does not disclose the names of donors.The capitol newspaper The Hill reported this week that Washington lobbyist Mark Valente III has organized an Aug. 24 event to raise money for the defense fund at the Springfield Golf and Country Club in Virginia. Valente told the newspaper he set the event up because he is friends with Ellis.
"I think the world of him," Valente said. "He's a friend who I think is getting a raw deal."
Valente did not return calls from the Houston Chronicle.
The defense fund is administered as a trust by former Bexar County GOP Chairman Roy Barrera Jr.
Barrera said any questions about why the trust is set up to keep donations secret need to be addressed to Ellis and Colyandro. Barrera said he just administers the account.
"It is a trust that basically permits people who care to contribute to their defense to have their checks deposited into an account for their (Ellis' and Colyandro's) benefit," Barrera said. "The attorneys who represent them submit their legal bills to me."
We should all have a fund like that.
This bit is intriguing:
Professional fundraiser Warren RoBold of Maryland was indicted at the same time as Ellis and Colyandro. RoBold is accused of raising illegal corporate cash for TRMPAC. He says he violated no laws.RoBold lawyer Rusty Hardin of Houston said RoBold was not invited to participate in the legal defense fund. Ellis and Colyandro are mounting a joint defense, but RoBold is handling his case separately.
"When we checked into it (the defense fund) we were told there were no more funds," Hardin said.
There are many possible reasons why RoBold is handling his defense separately. One of them is that his interests and those of Ellis and Colyandro do not coincide, which is a fancy way of saying that his defense strategy could include pointing the finger at the other two. The same could be true for them. I've no idea how likely any of this is - at the very least, I can't recall any public statements by Rusty Hardin indicating such a strategy is in the works, so this may all be a bunch of twaddle. But what's the fun if you can't speculate?
Elsewhere on the Friends of Tom DeLay front, Kansas public utility Westar was fined by the FEC for making illegal campaign contributions to DeLay and other Republicans in Congress. The folks at CREW have a gripe about this punishment.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) is pleased that late yesterday, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) released its findings that Westar Energy Company made illegal corporate contributions to numerous federal candidates. Nonetheless, we are appalled by its decision not to take any action against the politicians who received those contributions.Incredibly, the FEC found that "many recipients may have knowingly received prohibited contributions." Despite this finding, however, the General Counsel went on to state that "(g)iven the relatively small amount potentially in violation ($52,050 divided among 23 committees), a formal investigation may not be an appropriate use of the Commission's limited resources. Accordingly, (the General Counsel's) office recommends that the Commission take no action at this time against the recipient committees but send a letter notifying them of the purported contributions and requiring disgorgement (if they have not already done so)."
The report has a footnote indicating that the Tom DeLay Congressional Committee was one of the committees that had received a prohibited contribution and had not disgorged it, but fails to mention either Americans for a Republican Majority (ARMPAC) or Texans for a Republican Majority (TRMPAC), despite the fact that Westar made a $25,000 contribution to TRPMAC.
Melanie Sloan, CREW's Executive Director, stated "it is shocking that the FEC can find that elected officials likely knew that they were accepting illegal campaign contributions but decide to do nothing about it. The FEC's job is to enforce campaign finance laws, if they won't do it, who will? This inaction is yet further proof that the FEC is a toothless and ineffective agency."
Business as usual, it seems. Via The Stakeholder.
Drew at BOR attended a debate in Floresville on Wednesday between former US Rep. Ciro Rodriguez and State Rep. Richard Raymond, both of whom are vying to oust US Rep. Henry Cuellar in next March's primary. Looks like Cuellar is in for a few long months of sustained criticism from two fronts. Maybe he ought to try to attend some of those debates as well so he can defend himself.
I'm so glad that Governor Perry has given us these two Very Special Sessions on school finance reform. Aren't you? Of course you are. And just think, in a few months when the Texas Supremes have ruled, we get to do it all again.
One last parting gift from the state leadership:
When Texas lawmakers end their second special session of the summer today, they will be leaving $1.8 billion of the taxpayers' money sitting in the state treasury.That's enough to cover the money legislators withheld from accounts dedicated to funding trauma care and subsidizing electric bills for the poor, as well as to give a nominal pay raise to public school teachers who are on the state's minimum salary schedule.
Or it's enough to pay for a 9-cent cut in property taxes a cut that would save a homeowner $135 a year on a house valued at $150,000.
[...]
Lawmakers had wanted to spend the leftover $1.8 billion on public schools. But when the school finance and tax cut legislation fell apart, the money became destined to sit in the treasury until the Legislature meets again.
Unlike money Perry vetoed from the state budget, this money cannot be spent by budget execution authority because it never was appropriated.
[...]
Rep. Scott Hochberg, D-Houston, said he thinks the Republican leadership is hanging onto the $1.8 billion to use in connection with the court's ruling.
"The reason they're holding back on all this stuff is to use it as political leverage instead of financial leverage," he said.
"All of those interests that want to lay claim to that money would be more interested in agreeing to something later if they hadn't already gotten what they want to get out of the package."
Hochberg noted the Republicans in 2003 withheld spending of $1 billion because they knew the state budget would be "in the ditch" again in 2005. He said Democrats had wanted to spend the money to fully fund the Children's Health Insurance Program and the Texas Grants higher education scholarships.
"I don't like the idea of us collecting money and having it sit in the treasury," he said.
Hochberg said there are numerous public school funding items that House and Senate lawmakers have agreed on, such as technology funding for schools. He said it would be simple to spend part or all of the $1.8 billion on those items now.
House Appropriations Chairman Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie, said the legislative leadership decided to reserve the money until after the court rules.
"If we spend that money now without knowing what direction the court is going to give us, it might be foolish spending," Pitts said. "Hopefully, we'll be back here, not next week, but in a couple of months and be able to do the right thing for our teachers."
I can't wait.
Editorial time: The Express News gives Tom Craddick a good spanking for all his blame-everyone-but-me fingerpointing.
First, he blamed his colleagues, launching attack ads on the radio in which he accused the Senate of watering down an early House version of a school finance reform bill.Now, he is going after school superintendents, saying they are more interested in funding than they are in reform.
"All they want is money," Craddick told the Express-News. "They are not interested in any reforms, any changes. ... They just want money, and they don't want any changes in the system."
With his accusatory finger pointing in all directions, one has to wonder who his next target will be. Why not blame the kids? After all, they are not even interested in the legislative process; all they want to do is go home every day feeling as if they learned something.
[...]
With lawmakers whimpering and pointing fingers, the only option is to await guidance from the Texas Supreme Court, which is reviewing a lower court ruling that the public education system violated the state constitution.
After expressing his frustration over the issue recently, Craddick said he might "go fishing."
If he fails to catch any fish, don't worry; he'll find someone to blame.
And from the Chron:
For once, partisanship can't be blamed for this debacle. All members of the state's triad leadership are Republican. Gov. Rick Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and House Speaker Tom Craddick come away from this session looking less like statesmen and more like Larry, Curley and Moe. Since taking control of the Legislature in 2002, for the first time in modern Texas politics, the main achievement of the Republican majorities in the House and Senate was the congressional redistricting battle of 2003.
Not the first time that comparison has been made, though I still think Shemp is the best counterpart for Perry.
Next year Texas voters will have the opportunity to grade the performance of their leaders at the polls. After leaving their major legislative assignment unfinished, officials from the governor on down have a lot of explaining to do as to why they deserve re-election.
Remember those words next year when it's editorial board endorsement season. We'll see if they really mean that.
You've seen my Texas Political Bloggers page, which I try but often fail to keep updated. One thing I haven't done with that page is distinguish between left-leaning and right-leaning blogs. Well, the folks at Lone Star Democracy Builders Association have done just that, and they've added geographical and other designations as well for your convenience. Check out their Texas Progressive Political Blog Directory, and if you see any errors or omissions, drop them a note at blog - at - lonestardemocracy - dot - org.
UPDATE: Sorry, I wasn't as clear as I could have been. THe Lone Star folks have picked out the Texas progressive political bloggers from my list and others, with various characteristics delineated for your convenience, and created a page for that listing.
Now this is how a blog conversation is supposed to go: From Greg to Stace, back to Greg and once more to Stace, on the subject of immigration and running everywhere, and how they pertain to SD7. Check it out.
You may recall that the VA hospital in Waco, despite an excellent reputation, is threatened with closure, something which has locals and area veterans very concerned. They're now also frustrated, because they've got a review of the facility coming up and they can't get the information they need to address questions concerning a funding shortfall.
Leaders of a group trying to save the Waco Veterans Affairs Hospital from possible downsizing or closure are frustrated that the Department of Veterans Affairs has not yet provided them with crucial data outlining the source of financial problems at the 73-year-old complex.Former Waco Mayor Linda Ethridge and U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco, said Wednesday that community supporters of the hospital need the information to learn what's responsible for the hospital's $10 million annual deficits.
Since VA officials began considering closing the hospital more than two years ago, Edwards and Ethridge say proponents of closing the hospital have pointed to its $10 million deficit without detailing what causes the shortfall.
Ethridge and Edwards said without sufficient time to review the figures, it will be difficult to propose alternatives and adequately defend the hospital before a federally appointed panel meets next month in Waco to take an important step in the closure or downsizing process.
What has Texas' senior Senator, who also happens to be the chair of the Veterans Affairs Committee, done to help?
A spokesman for Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, said she has been carefully watching the Waco case and said without the release of the data, it will be difficult to determine how best to serve veterans' health care needs in Central Texas.
I shudder to think how bad it would be if she hadn't been carefully watching the case. Thank goodness she's got such power and influence. Waco Trib link via Greg.
Meanwhile, Barbara Radnofsky, who's been pointing out the need for action on this for some time now, is on a tour of West Texas, where she's getting a great reception and some good press in El Paso. She'll be in El Paso and Lubbock for the next few days, then in Kerrville and Fredericksburg later next week - if you're in one of those areas, check her upcoming events and meet her if you can.
UPDATE: Anthony Gutierrez reports on Barbara from El Paso.
UPDATE: The good day for Team Radnofsky gets better as her recent BOR interview has impressed Stace.
Via TAPPED comes this piece in The Hill about the upcoming primary battle in CD28, which will make two straight cycles of contentious primaries there. I've got no great love for Rep. Henry Cuellar (though I admit that I'd feel differently towards him if he'd managed to knock off Henry Bonilla in 2002) and won't be unhappy to see either Richard Raymond or Ciro Rodriguez take him out. I'm a little worried about those two splitting the vote against Cuellar, but I think if one of them can get him in a runoff they'll prevail. I just hope we have a final declared winner sooner than we did in 2004.
Yesterday I saw a sticker of Stewie from The Family Guy on the back of a truck. Given that it was a poor likeness, and the fact that neither the name of the character or the show was a part of the image, I'm guessing that this was not an officially licensed product. I figure it's just a matter of time before I see a variation of this sticker where he's peeing on something and thus stakes a claim as the 21st Century Calvin. As I've said before, it's always nice to witness the continuing march of cultural evolution.
I've blogged about Dr. Eric Scheffey before, when he finally got his license to practice medicine revoked after a 20-year career of botched surgery and almost 100 lawsuits. This month's Texas Monthly has a feature article on Scheffey, available for the usual limited time only here, which gives a thorough look at his horrifying career. There were a number of factors which enabled Scheffey to do all the bad things he did - greed was the main one (not just his), along with some do-nothing bureaucracies that failed repeatedly to take the action needed to put him out of business - but some of it was sadly much more mundane.
Mary Tywater believed she was going into the hospital for a routine operation. On the Thursday before Memorial Day weekend in 1985, Scheffey operated on the 43-year-old Daisetta housewife to remove several disks in her back and fuse several vertebrae. He was in the midst of that surgery when he lost control of her bleeding. Some four hours into the operation, Tywater was dead. There was blood everywhere in the operating room. The anesthesiologists report is nearly illegible because it is smeared with Tywaters blood. Scheffey was 35 at the time, and this was the first fatality to take place in his operating room.[...]
Tywaters death was thus a logical outcome of Scheffeys incompetence. But it was also related to another of the doctors personal quirks. On the day after Memorial Day, a security guard at Montgomery Ward found Scheffey in green surgical scrubs, with shoe covers, a cap, and a lab coat crammed with $100 bills and reported that he was pacing real fast, swearing and cussing, pulling things off the shelves. Trailed by the security guard, Scheffey then went to the cash register and put eight toy dolls, four $100 bills, and his car keys on the counter and walked out of the store. Scheffey, as it turned out, was out of his mind on cocaine. Police later found thirty grams of the drugabout $3,000 worthin his Jaguar. He was arrested, pled guilty to criminal possession of cocaine, and received a ten-year probation and a $2,000 fine. The state medical board restricted his license and put him on its own ten-year probation, which included drug tests, counseling, and the requirement that he be monitored by other doctors. Shortly after the incident, Scheffey checked himself into a California drug rehabilitation center.
The story, in all of its lurid detail, made the newspapers in Baytown and Houston. Though reporters never drew a direct connection between Scheffeys arrest and the death of Tywater four days earlier, the two events were connected. In a later deposition, a doctor who had worked with Scheffey testified that the staff at the hospital where Tywater had died believed that Scheffey was taking drugs and that nurses had struggled to wake a drugged Scheffey in the doctors lounge just before he operated on her. Scheffey admitted in a medical board interview in 1986 that he had been using cocaine for eighteen months prior to his arrest.
When I read that, my first reaction was "Did it ever occur to those nurses (or anyone else in the operating room) that maybe it would have been better to let him sleep it off and reschedule the surgery for a time when he was sober?" As the article makes clear, the main enablers of Eric Scheffey were the Texas Board of Medical Examiners, the Texas Workers' Compensation Commission, and in the end the hospitals who depended on his heavy surgery schedule for their bottom line. But others played a role, too.
Also noted is a lawsuit that Scheffey filed against the Houston Press over an article they wrote in 1992 about him; the suit was settled out of court. Not too surprisingly, I can't find that article in their archives, but I did find this one from 1998, which tells the tale of another Scheffey victim and her avenging husband. Read them both and hope that this time he really has been put out of business.
I'm not sure what surprises me more - that there's a plan to turn the Astrodome into a make-believe village of things that mostly don't exist in Houston (the reason being in some cases that we've bulldozed them to build something more modern), or that the Astrodome Redevelopment Corp got nearly a half-billion dollars in funding to make it happen.
An investment company has obtained financing for a $450 million project that would transform the Reliant Astrodome into a 1,200-room convention hotel with a winding indoor waterway, county officials said Wednesday.The county, which owns the 40-year-old landmark that once was called the Eighth Wonder of the World, has yet to greenlight the project. But by obtaining financing and providing renderings and economic studies , the investment company convinced the Harris County Sports & Convention Corp. that its plan is viable.
"If they can get it financed, that goes a long way toward saying that it can work," said Willie Loston, director of the Sports and Convention Corp., which oversees Reliant Park.
The developer's proposal calls for nine acres of the Astrodome's interior to be reserved for trees, walkways, mill wheels and the waterway, which would be plied by tourist boats similar to the ones on San Antonio's River Walk.
Astrodome Redevelopment Corp., the investment company, said the project's theme would be the Best of Texas, and it would feature buildings that evoked the state's past. A building designed to look like a historic Texas courthouse would be at the interior's center.
"It literally would be a village under glass," Loston said.
Truly, I am at a loss for words.
Here's the Chronicle report of the I-45 Town Hall from this past Saturday. There's some more details and a full description of the TxDOT preferred plan for the freeway. I'm disappointed to note that the I-45 Coalition page still has no information about this meeting. Hopefully, that will change soon.
The Jeffersonian points to this story about some friction between Bexar County Commissioners Court and the Texas Department of Transportation over funding for a regional toll road authority there. The war of words that County Judge Nelson Wolff and County Commissioner Lyle Larson are having with TxDOT is pretty entertaining.
The subject of toll roads continues to be a controversial one, as both Chris Bell and Carole Keeton Strayhorn have made a campaign issue of them and more online activists keep popping up to express their opposition. I think what bothers me as much as anything in the push for toll roads is the disingenuousness of the case in favor of them. I've touched on the funding issue before, but I continue to be annoyed at how lazy some public officials seem to be about doing the math:
But with gas taxes drying up and newer vehicles getting better gas mileage, toll roads might be the best answer to tackle traffic congestion, Wolff said. So it's important for San Antonio to work with the state in an effort to share profits and keep an eye on toll rates and other details."I don't know of any other way than toll roads," he said.
Dammit, the reason that gas taxes are "drying up" is because they haven't been raised in 14 years. Texas' gas tax rate of $0.20 per gallon is 36th highest among the 50 states, which just doesn't make sense. Raising it by a dime, which would still leave us with a lower tax than other high-population states, would generate over a billion dollars a year for transportation (and over a quarter billion for education, as 25% of your state gas taxes go to education funding), without being an excessive burden to the vast majority of people.
How can I say that? Well, suppose you're a two-SUV household that drives 600 miles a week combined. At 15 MPG, that's 40 gallons of gas a week, so a dime increase in the gas tax would be an extra $4 a week, or $208 per year. Compare that to what you might pay in tolls - the folks who drive the spiffy Westpark Toll Road from Katy to 610 and back home again pay $6.50 a day for the privilege, which is $32.50 a week (assuming no weekend toll driving) or $1690 per year. Which sounds better to you?
Now, given where I live and where I work, I don't anticipate being put in a position where a toll road might seem an attractive alternative for my regular driving. I'm just mystified that more of the people who are in that position haven't made a bigger fuss about it.
I started to blog something about these two LA Times stories on the tort "reform" movement, but never managed to put together something more substantial than a link and an exhortation to go read. Thankfully, there's people like Dwight to pick up the slack and add some value to the proposition. He's got the goods, so go check it out.
You may recall that I strongly opposed any attempt by the Lege in its multiple attempts to pass a telecom bill to ban cities from providing free wireless networking services. Why is this such a big deal? Andrew Rasiej provides a great answer.
Yesterday, I was interviewed by CBS local TV and was immediately asked the question "Why is Wi-Fi such a central part of your campaign for Public Advocate?" the reporter went further and asked "How is Wi-Fi going to make a difference in any New Yorker's life?"I answered: Is giving public school students access to a 21st Century education about Wi-Fi? Is giving firefighters the ability to get blueprints of a burning building on their way to a fire about Wi-Fi? Is having EMT workers be able to get real time medical information about a patient at the scene of an accident about Wi-Fi?, Is being able to dial 911 on the subways so you can actually "Say something when you see something" about Wi-Fi? Is giving commuters the ability to know when their next train or bus is actually coming about Wi-Fi? Is being able to get timely information about cheaper prescription drugs, or school test scores, or job opportunities, or apartment rentals about Wi-Fi?
To me, Wi-Fi is just a metaphor, or shorthand, for connecting our selves and our infrastructure to the potential that the Internet offers. By recognizing it as such it will help us to solve our own problems in our own neighborhoods. It will allow us to demand that government be more open and accountable and when it fails to be so, it will give us a tool to punish the system for failing to listen to us. (And by the way, I think we can get ourselves a universal lowcost wireless system, operated by private companies using city infrastructure, covering all eight million New Yorkers for about $80 million--far less than the $350 million in tax dollars our Mayor wanted to shower on a football stadium in Manhattan, and far far less than the nonsensical $1 billion figure that conservative lawyer Bruce Fein used in a letter to the Times on Sunday.
More details here.)
Now that's forward thinking. Thanks to Greg for the heads-up.
Another nice article on State Rep. Rick Noriega, just back home after a year in Afghanistan with the National Guard. Don't have much to add other than he's deserving of every laudatory word of it. Welcome back, Rick Noriega.
When you stop and think about it, this really was the only way the latest (and hopefully last for at least a little while) special session would end.
The Legislature could have adjourned before its mandatory end at midnight Friday. But in a final showdown between House Speaker Tom Craddick and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst that will cost taxpayers $23,000 a day, the two leaders refused to have their chamber be the first to quit."Nobody wants to be the first going, I guess," said House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jim Keffer, R-Eastland.
"The governor called it for 30 days, and that's when it ends," said Craddick.
He took heat two weeks ago when he called for lawmakers to quit early, saying they were wasting time and money.
Priceless. In the Pink delivers the Craddick/Dewhurst dialogue, which if isn't how it went is how it should have gone.
Dewhurst did manage to twist the knife a little:
Dewhurst insisted he wasn't engaging in a "blame game," but noted, "I can't help but say I'm disappointed with the lack of action in the House."He also pointed out that the Senate had approved education legislation but couldn't act on a tax bill unless the House approved one first.
Translation: "I'm not going to play the Blame Game, but if you are, I have some helpful hints for you so you can play it more effectively."
With the end of the session comes analyses and editorials. From the Chron:
"It's baffling to me. There's a total lack of leadership down there," said former Texas GOP Chairman Tom Pauken. "Lobbyists are driving the train rather than having a philosophically driven, policy-driven plan."[...]
"It's not that we're not trying. It's just that the interests are so different it's hard to find common solutions," said state Rep. Beverly Woolley, R-Houston, who lives in the Robin Hood-paying school district of Spring Branch. "If there were an easy answer, we would have done it a long time ago."
The complexities of public school finance are beyond most average voters, though. The failures are adding to citizen frustration that could translate into election problems next year for Gov. Rick Perry and legislators.
"You could see a real change next year and some people get defeated," Pauken said.
Pauken said Perry could be "vulnerable" in the Republican primary to the challenge Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn is mounting against him, even though she is perceived as a "mini-Ann Richards."
"It's going to be an anti-Perry vote," Pauken said.
Conservative activist Jim Cardle of the Texas Citizen Action Network said he thinks this summer's two special sessions have been "a plus" for Perry because he will get credit among voters for trying to get something done. Cardle said it is legislators who need to be running scared.
"These younger sophomore and freshmen legislators ran on one thing and one thing only: to kill Robin Hood, the Robin Hood school finance system, and they haven't done it," Cardle said. "They need to be held accountable."
But interviews with some Republican county chairs across the state indicate that the Texas Capitol is now regarded much like Congress: Voters hate the Legislature but not their local legislator.
"I don't see any major upheaval, like throw the baby out with the bath water and wipe the slate clean and start over without legislators," said John DeNoyelles, the Smith County chairman.
Harris County GOP Chairman Jared Woodfill said the biggest issue locally is appraisal caps.
"Our particular legislators, with respect to the appraisal-cap reduction, have not only led on that legislation but voted the right way," Woodfill said. "What we're trying to do now is get the rest of the Republican delegation, i.e., state reps in the Dallas area, to get on board."
Collin County GOP Chairman Rick Neudorff said he sees a lot of voter "frustration" but not with his local lawmakers, who include Senate Education Chair Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano. Neudorff said Shapiro worked hard on the biggest issue in his area, ending Robin Hood.
"There is frustration on the lack of ability to get some tax relief. At the same time, there are people who don't want the business tax. So it's a big melting pot," Neudorff said. "But that doesn't mean they won't draw primary opponents."
From the Waco Trib (thanks, Nate!):
Peter Rusek, president of the Midway Independent School District, recently sounded off on school finance against the Legislature.You hear the politicians say they want to do what's best for schoolchildren and then they go down there and can't get anything done. They can't put politics aside, Rusek said. It doesn't make any sense.
It's not like we're talking about ... a political hot potato. We're talking about educating the students of the state, Rusek said.
State Sen. Kip Averitt, R-McGregor, said he is mindful of that view and hears feedback from a network of more than 100 constituents on a regular basis during the Senate's debate over school and tax plans.
(The public's response) is on everybody's mind as a legitimate concern, and it is a legitimate concern, said Averitt, who faces his first re-election bid in the Senate next year.
[...]
With many seats drawn to be safely in Republican or Democratic hands, it's also questionable how much power voters still wield.
State Rep. Charles Doc Anderson, R-Waco, said he knows how important the issue could be.
The folks out there are watching. We're very interested in getting the problem solved and it's our responsibility to do that, Anderson said.
[...]
I'm not a political pundit, said Pat Atkins, Waco ISD board president, but I think for two years, Governor Perry and the legislators have told folks they were going to make a concerted effort to reduce property taxes and adequately fund public schools, and they haven't accomplished that goal.
I think the voters are going to be frustrated and I think it's clearly going to be an issue come primary times, but I don't think you can simply say sweep all the scoundrels out, Atkins said.
[...]
[Rep. Jim] Dunnam, a leader of the House Democrats, said voters should be angry and make their frustration known, but he doesn't think they should be judged on passing something. They should be judged on passing a good plan.
I think it should have a political cost, Dunnam said.
He has made stopping Republican-led education and tax reforms a key focus of his work over the past two years. Like other lawmakers who voted against leading school finance plans, Dunnam said opposition can sometimes be what the voters want.
I do believe that my position and my votes down here have been about 100 percent about what's best for my district, Dunnam said. I think there is a cost for people who didn't vote for their districts.
Statesman editorial:
Indications are that Gov. Rick Perry won't call a third special session to advertise his and the Texas Legislature's inability to reform the state's school finance system. Clearly, there's no reason to believe that another special session would do anything but waste $1.7 million more of the taxpayers' money.Perry decided to gamble early this summer by vetoing the public education budget and calling the Legislature back into special session to reform the school finance system, which a state court has ruled is unconstitutional. But his gamble failed. From the beginning, the veto was seen as just a political stunt, not a serious warning shot, and so it proved to be. Once it was apparent that the Legislature would not enact reforms, the governor wasn't about to run the political risk of shutting down the schools; he quietly agreed to sign a bill restoring the funding.
[...]
[N]o court ruling will make it easier for Republicans who ran for office promising no new taxes to vote for a bill that, no matter how they slice and dice it, raises taxes for most Texans. Just as President Clinton and many Democrats finally had to face the need for welfare reform in the 1990s, so Republicans in Texas must eventually face the need to raise some taxes to meet the needs and demands of a growing state.
To do that, some Republican leaders are going to have to take on the business community to recognize that what's best for businesses' bottom lines doesn't automatically translate into what's best for the people of Texas. The state's tax structure is clearly out of whack with the state's economy. Even if lawmakers continue to refuse to consider a state income tax, there's a need for a broad-based business tax to help carry the budget load along with property and sales taxes.
Unfortunately, for now, there's no sign of such effective leadership in Texas. So lawmakers might as well go home.
More as I find them.
If you have a stake in the future of stem cell research, here in Texas or elsewhere, you should know that there's a political action committee that's on your side. One of their advisory board members is Democratic gubernatorial candidate Chris Bell. Bell advocated stem cell research in his campaign kickoff speech on Sunday, which naturally enough drew a warm response from StemPAC. I'm sure we'll be hearing more about this over the next 15 months.
Sorry for the short notice, but this may be of interest to you:
Invitation to LULAC Town-Hall Meeting in
Fort Bend County addressing Tom Delay CommentsDate: August 18, 2005
Time: 7:00 pm 9:00 pm
Location: Rosenberg Civic & Convention Center
3825 Highway 36 South, Rosenberg, TX 77471-9117Your presence and your participation will be greatly appreciated at the LULAC District VIII Town-Hall Meeting. We will be addressing Tom Delays comments regarding the confinement of undocumented immigrants in tents, the retraction of educating undocumented children, and the retraction of the natural-born citizenship to children of undocumented immigrants. His agenda may be in violation of existing civil rights laws.
LULAC will present the existing laws and the impact his efforts may have on the community at large. We will open discussions after presenting the facts and statistics directly related to the undocumented immigrant community.
In conclusion, LULAC will present a Non-Partisan Resolution in which we as community leaders and officials agree to unite in the protection of the civil rights of all human beings while being cautious of the impact our efforts may have on all communities. Please RSVP by calling the LULAC District VIII Office at 713-695-5980.
Thank you for your participation.
Jose Luis Jimenez Jr.
Deputy District Director
LULAC District VIII
Greater Houston Area
I can't make it, but if you attend, please drop me a note and tell me how it went. Thanks.
Via Dwight, Chron Help Line columnist and well-regarded local musician Jay Lee has joined the ranks of Chronicle bloggers. This is an excellent use of the form by the Chron, for as Jay notes in his initial post, it will allow for more interaction on his part as well as a more easily searchable archive. Welcome to the blog world, Jay!
I have a very hard time understanding the values that would lead to this.
It's the end of the day at Plano West Senior High School, and teenagers are pouring into the parking lot.One jumps into a BMW M3. Another takes off in a Jaguar X-Type. A Land Rover joins the pack.
Senior Jodi Payson drives a black Hummer H2. She carries a Louis Vuitton purse and a credit card with no limit.
Last year, Jodi was among the privileged class at Plano West that sets the unspoken benchmark that many other students and therefore their parents strive to attain.
Plano West stands out for its students' affluence and their academic achievements, but it is as representative as any Collin County school in that parents say they feel pressure, from their children and their surroundings, to meet the highest lifestyle standards.
Competition starts early. Parents try to outdo one another on birthday parties with limousine chauffeurs and costumed characters.
By the time they're teenagers, children can shop on their own, which takes the spending to a whole new level.
They want bigger toys, including cars, and they won't settle for the type of jalopy their parents drove when they were 16.
This area is one of the wealthiest in the country, and it is also among the youngest. About three in 10 residents of Collin County are younger than 18.
Parents from all income levels say the urge to spend is most powerful when it comes to their children.
They might be in debt up to their eyebrows, but their child will have a cellphone and a Blackberry and a luxury car, said Mia Mbroh, a parent educator for the national nonprofit counseling organization Practical Parent Education in Plano.
"They do it out of love, and they don't want their kids to be the odd man out," she said. "Adults want to fit in as much as children."
It sounds more like desperation than love to me, but then I think that the best way to love your kid is to teach her to be self-sufficient rather than give her everything she ever wanted and more. I don't know what else there is to say.
The Morning News has a whole series called The Price of Prosperity that's got some eye-opening stuff in it. Like this one, which I fear will be the fate of too many of those Plano West students. Check it out.
We know that changes are coming at the Texas Lottery Commission after its summer of scandal. Now there will also be changes to the Lottery itself as the TLC struggles to reverse bad sales trends.
The Texas Lottery is on track to contribute $13.8 million less to the public school fund this year because of sluggish revenue from jackpot games, according to an analysis presented Monday that frustrated commissioners and led one to demand "decisive action" to reverse the trend.Early estimates presented to the three-member lottery commission showed sales increasing slightly over the past year, from about $3.3 billion to $3.4 billion. Final numbers were due at the end of the month.
But net revenue to the state is expected to drop from $930 million to $916 million, largely because players prefer instant ticket games, which pay back a larger percentage than Lotto Texas and Mega Millions. Those jackpot games produce a higher return for the state.
"If I was the sole shareholder, I wouldn't like the way I see this going," said commission Chairman C. Tom Clowe. "We're working hard, we're wearing out our equipment and our people. We're selling a lot and we're moving a lot of dollars, but the bottom line is receding."
[...]
On revenue woes, Clowe said he feared lottery executives were "asleep at the switch" when it came to developing innovative sales and marketing ideas that would draw new players.
"My concern is we keep going back to the same players and asking them to spend more money," Clowe said. "I don't think that's a healthy trend."
About 74 percent of the lottery's total $3.4 billion sales came from instant ticket games this past year, according to the early figures for 49 weeks of the current fiscal year, ending Aug. 6.
Only 8.4 percent of sales came from Lotto, 7.8 percent from Pick 3 and 4.8 percent from Mega Millions. Cash Five and Texas Two-Step made up the rest.
[...]
About one-third to one-half of Texans don't play the lottery, Clowe said, and he estimated that about a quarter of Texans aren't too fond of legalized gambling.
"When fewer people buy more tickets, that's not good," Clowe said. "We really got to do a premium, first-class sales and marketing job to see this thing, as it moves through its various maturities, do what the Legislature has told us they want it to do for the schools."
Personally, I think they're shovelling sand against the tide. I see it as very unlikely that any kind of marketing job, first-class or otherwise, will convince a significant number of people who don't already play the Lottery in some form to give it a try. If you have moral objections, or if you can do the math, a slick TV ad isn't going to sway you.
That said, I suppose there isn't any harm in trying to lure the existing customer base from back to the higher margin lottery games. Making a pledge of no monkey business with jackpot amounts is a step in the right direction.
"Full speed ahead for a major overhaul of the game," said Gary Grief, acting director of the Texas Lottery Commission.Under proposed rule changes the three-member commission that oversees the agency must still approve, any jackpot would be guaranteed. If funds from ticket sales and agency reserve funds run shy of covering a jackpot, the commission would now be authorized to tap other sources such as vendor license and application fees and other funds credited to the lottery's main account.
Players "will know the jackpot amount, at a minimum, is the advertised jackpot," a summary states.
More on that in a minute. They're also tinkering around the edges of the format of the game itself.
Grief said staff are also studying changes centered on changing the mix of numbers that would need to be matched for someone to win a jackpot, though no formal proposal has been made.Jackpot winners must now match five of 44 numbers plus a "bonus ball" from one of 44 numbers. Grief said the agency is looking at suggesting a jackpot requiring players to match six in 52 numbers, six in 59 or six in 54, the mix in place from mid-2000 until May 2003.
He said the bonus ball feature could be eliminated.
Grief is quoted in this Star Telegram story saying that players "don't seem to like the bonus ball". Maybe some of them realized it lowered the odds of hitting the jackpot, or maybe they didn't like the idea that the bonus ball could be the same number as a regular ball, I don't know. It'll be interesting to see if they use this as a way to abandon the longer odds/higher prize approach that they have consistently employed each time revenue has lagged, for which they've been strongly criticized by Lottery watchdog Dawn Nettles.
Speaking of Nettles, that S-T article has an odd quote from her regarding the jackpot guarantees.
Although commissioners said the proposal, which is now subject to at least 30 days of public review, would help restore players' confidence in lotto, a vocal critic of the lottery called the move unnecessary. Dawn Nettles, who registered a complaint with the Texas Attorney General's Office over the falsified June 8 jackpot, said savvy lotto players understand that jackpots are estimated."I don't think you should ever guarantee something you don't have," Nettles said.
Since it was Nettles who blew the whistle on the earlier shortfall, that quote seems out of place. Going back to the original story, there's a bit more context to what she's saying:
Nettles, whose Lotto Report tracks trends for the Texas lottery and those around the nation along with stating her criticisms of the Texas Lottery Commission's policies, said players might expect the estimate to be off by a few thousand dollars, but not by more than $1 million.
One more piece to add, from the Chron story:
If sales are too low to support the advertised jackpot, the lottery could dip into other funds, including a reserve prize fund, and, if necessary, the lottery's general account appropriated by the Legislature.
That reserve stands at $35 million right now, according to the S-T article. I think what Nettles is saying is that dipping into reserves when sales are sufficiently slow that you've got a gap of $1 million or more is unsustainable, and for smaller differences it's not worth the extra accounting. I wish there'd been more to her quote, but that's what I think. In any event, I share that concern about the reserves. I suspect the TLC is banking on conjuring up a magic bullet to reverse the sales slide so that they won't need to worry about draining their reserves. All I can say is good luck with that.
Sometimes it's easy to forget that there's a special session going on out there, and it's coming to a close.
The end game shaped up Monday when the House didn't schedule floor debate for today on either its education funding bill or its tax bill to pay for cuts in local school property taxes.Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, the Senate's presiding officer, said if the House doesn't pass its tax bill today, it's too late for the Senate.
"Procedurally it would be very difficult for us to receive and be able to act on a tax bill at this time," said Dewhurst. He noted that it would take a four-fifths vote to suspend rules to allow the bill to move more quickly, a "pretty high hurdle" for legislation as controversial as raising taxes.
Gov. Rick Perry, who declared school finance an emergency for the regular session that began in January and twice called special sessions on the issue, also sounded pessimistic about the chances of salvaging a school finance plan before the mandatory end of the session at midnight Friday.
Perry said legislators were closer to an agreement on school finance at the beginning of the second special session than they are now, four weeks later.
"We've got textbooks, fortunately, that are headed to the classrooms now because of action that was taken in this building," Perry said. "We've still got property taxpayers who have not seen any relief and some school funding and reforms that need to be addressed. So that's what's important, and that's where anyone who has the state's best interests should stay focused."
Perry wouldn't say whether he would call yet another session if this one fails.
It's hard to predict what Perry will do since he's so consistently said one thing then done another about school finance. The only other tidbit on this is David Dewhurst's obvious but reasonable suggestion, stated in this Express News story, that Perry will wait until the Texas Supremes make their ruling, as Speaker Tom Craddick has wanted all along.
Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, said the school finance plan has been flawed all year because it would raise taxes on 80 percent of Texans while not spending enough to improve student performance."My disappointment is that over the 60-day period of time new proposals were not looked at," said Coleman. "This is the same proposal from last year that didn't have any legs then."
He added, "In the final analysis, it turned into a 'he said-she said' blame fest with the governor starting the fight by calling these special sessions with no solutions."
Sounds right to me. Aaron Pena and The Red State have more.
UPDATE: More from Houtopia.
CenterPoint Energy continues to catch flak for its aggressive tree-cutting policy, a topic which has drawn the Mayor's attention recently.
CenterPoint has adopted a new zero-tolerance policy for any trees taller than 10 feet under its high-voltage transmission lines. The policy is based on new guidelines by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission requiring electric utilities to better manage "trees and vegetation" near such lines.The federal regulatory agency suggested that utility companies cut trees away from power lines at least every five years. CenterPoint now trims trees under its lines on a four- to six-year cycle, said Kenny Mercado, an area manager for the company.
The agency issued the guidelines in response to findings about the massive Ohio blackout on Aug. 14, 2003.
Investigators concluded that trees touching power lines began a series of failures that caused 263 power plants to shut down. An estimated 50 million people were without electricity, some for several days.
Mercado said the 2003 blackout shows the importance of keeping transmission rights of way clear.
"In order for us to have a highly reliable system, it has to be maintained with the utmost focus on tree clearance," he said.
A power failure is especially troublesome during Houston's blazing summer, when air conditioning is key to residents' comfort and lack of it may affect their health.
I'll stipulate that power failures are bad, and avoiding them is good. That said, there are many reasons to be sensitive to trees. On an individual level, a good shade tree can help keep your own power bill down while adding value to your property - I've heard that a mature oak tree can be worth upwards of $8000 to the asking price of a house. On a macro scale, trees help dissipate Houston's heat and they're good for overall air quality. Trees are a quality of life issue, the sort of thing that can sway the do-I-want-to-live-here question, which everyone can agree on. There's got to be a compromise position somewhere between "let nature take its course" and clearcutting that will be acceptable to everyone. Let's find it. And give Trees for Houston a look to learn more about this.
State Rep. Pete Gallego has sent the following letter to House Speaker Tom Craddick in response to the radio wars.
August 15, 2005The Honorable Tom Craddick
Speaker, Texas House of Representatives
Texas State Capitol, Room 2W.13
P.O. Box 2910
Austin, Texas 78768Dear Mr. Speaker:
I write to express my concern about radio ads critical of the Texas Senate which aired in Alpine and across the state this weekend. The ads indicate they were paid for by your campaign. To my knowledge, this is the first time a presiding officer of one legislative chamber has purchased advertising directly attacking the presiding officer and members of the other legislative chamber.
Frankly, I question the wisdom of this decision. All legislation must pass through both chambers in order to become law. As such, it is critical that both the House and Senate - as well as their presiding officers - work together. No difficult problem has ever been solved by negative ads attacking a colleague. On the contrary, problems are solved by negotiating with your colleagues in good faith.
The radio spots you purchased loudly advertise the Legislatures failure. And, more importantly, they poison the well of good will from which every member of the Texas Legislature must inevitably drink. I never expected any member to work so diligently or act so decisively to destroy any hope of cooperation between the House and Senate - especially at a time when cooperation is so very crucial to our success. I particularly never thought that person would be the presiding officer of our chamber.
In addition to undermining your own relationship with the Lieutenant Governor, your ads also place every other legislator in an awkward position. Each resident of Texas is represented by both a House member and a Senator. Imagine the difficulties both will have when they appear together at any public forum in their respective districts. I hope it was not your goal to force each to defend himself or herself against the other.
Texans are quite used to campaigns and advertising during the political season, but election season is still far off. By running ads now against fellow legislators (not to mention fellow members of your own party), you have elevated politics above both practicality and public policy. Unfortunately, that also means that Texas politics has sunk to a new low. Public confidence in our institutions of government is sure to follow.
Our time is better spent building bridges - not burning them. I respectfully ask that you withdraw the radio advertising now running and apologize to your fellow legislators for any offense your highly irregular actions may have caused.
Sincerely,
Pete P. Gallego
Damn, that's good. Would someone please print this out and tape it to Rick Perry's desk? You know, for the next time he asks for an example of that "leadership" thing he's heard so much about.
On a related issue, it appears Craddick has won the war of attrition over this special session. PinkDome reports that legislators have been given permission to go to Seattle for a national conference, while QR says that there's no House calendar posted for tomorrow. As Harvey Kronberg puts it, "Game over. Time to bury Bernie."
Any casual glance at polling data would have suggested that this would be Carole Keeton Strayhorn's strategy for winning the Governorship.
The call came from a listener telling Carole Keeton Strayhorn he'd eagerly vote for her for governor in November 2006.Strayhorn shot back Tuesday on Austin radio station KVET-FM: "November is great, but first I need you to vote on March 7. I want Republicans, Democrats, independents. All are welcome," Strayhorn said.
"And bring all your friends with you."
Strayhorn, the Republican state comptroller who is challenging GOP Gov. Rick Perry, has made few campaign forays since announcing her candidacy June 18, a tack that her office attributes to lawmakers remaining in special session to deal with school finance and tax issues.
But the former Austin mayor is well along in testing an unusual message: The March Republican primary is voters' only real chance to choose the next governor.
Her pitch asks voters to assume that the Democratic nominee will not prove to be a serious fall contender. Neither of the only announced Democratic candidates, former U.S. Rep. Chris Bell of Houston and educator Felix Alvarado of Fort Worth, has run statewide. And no Democrat has won statewide since 1994.
There's many reasons why this is an unlikely strategy, starting with the fact that "bringing new voters into the process" has a pretty unblemished record for being a loser. Another one is that most Democrats I know think that their best shot at winning next November will be against Rick Perry. Finally, as the article notes, there will be some high profile Democratic primaries on the ballot, in places like Travis County and CD28 in the Valley, all of which will contribute to keeping the flock in the fold.
It's not like Strayhorn has many options, of course. Given the lengths the State GOP went through to keep KBH out of the Governor's race, CKS can count on one hand the number of endorsements she's likely to get, and she'll have fingers to spare. Her policy positions, from toll roads to CHIP to gambling, are generally at odds with standard GOP dogma. What else is she gonna do?
Perry's pollster, Mike Baselice, hailed Strayhorn's crossover message as helping Perry."As soon as I hear my opponent is relying on the nontraditional vote, I am dancing in the streets," Baselice said. "Their interest (in voting) isn't there. And the Republican primary electorate is more establish- ment-oriented, more likely to stay with who they know. All she's done is stir up the pot."
[...]
Baselice said Perry polls favorably against Strayhorn among the 1.5 million Texans who have voted in at least one of the four most recent GOP primaries, so Strayhorn has little choice but to glean support elsewhere.
"Waste those resources," he said. "Go. Do it. I wouldn't be surprised if she turns tail and runs as a Democrat."
That's just smoke. I'd be very surprised if she changed at this point. The time for that was well before she announced her intentions. Had she made a public renunciation of the Republican Party, with the usual "I'm not leaving the party, they left me" speech, she'd have had a chance with Democratic voters, and might have been able to cobble together enough of a coalition to win against Perry in the general. Now she'd be a pariah. She's going to run as a Republican, and she'll lose as a Republican.
(If she wants to consider an endorsement of the eventual Democratic candidate after she loses, then we can talk. Till then, she's made her bed.)
The story is not without its moment of high comedy:
Jeff Fisher, executive director of the Republican Party of Texas, said Republicans represent mainstream values. He accused Strayhorn of "courting liberals," which he said the party will monitor and combat. Perry's campaign has stressed that Strayhorn is drawing contributions from trial lawyers traditionally aligned with Democrats."It's one thing when a candidate tries to invite like-minded conservative Democrats and independents to make a lasting commitment to the Republican Party," Fisher said. "It's quite another to encourage liberals to vote in the primary like a one-night stand."
Such naughty language. It drew a swift and sourpussed response from Team Strayhorn.
In a letter sent today to members of the State Republican Executive Committee, Strayhorns campaign manager, her son Brad, states he called Fisher and demanded he apologize for the inappropriate and degrading comment.I am sure that, as a member of our State Republican Executive Committee, you do not condone the use of such offensive language. Mr. Fisher would certainly be forced to apologize had he made a similar comment about Gov. Rick Perry, the Republican being challenged by Strayhorn.
"And let me tell you, as One Tough Grandma, if I ever get my hands on Jeff Taylor I'm washing his filthy mouth out with soap," she did not add.
Bill Crocker of Austin, one of the states two members of the Republican National Committee, laughed upon hearing Fishers comment, adding he sees no reason to say sorry. Denise McNamara of Dallas, the other committee member from Texas, declined immediate comment.Crocker, a Perry supporter, said: Im not offended by the analogy.
If you actually think you're going to get an apology from this crowd, Carole, then you really are out of touch with your party. If you want a snappy comeback at a level of discourse they're more likely to understand, In the Pink has a suggestion for you. Thanks to ttyler5 for the Statesman link.
We may have a new contender for Lite Guv - Galveston attorney Tony Buzbee.
A little-known outsider with a sizable personal fortune and a central-casting resume says he's giving serious consideration to mounting a challenge against Republican Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst next year.Tony Buzbee, a 37-year-old lawyer and former chairman of the Galveston County Democratic Party, said the state's GOP leaders are spending too much time fighting among themselves and too little time solving problems like school finance. So he was receptive when some Democratic elders approached him a few weeks ago encouraging him to run for statewide office.
"I'm looking seriously at it, but I haven't said yes or no," said Buzbee, a former Marine Corps captain who led troops in combat during the Persian Gulf War. "I really don't like the way our state is being run right now, and I believe that those of us who have made something in our lives need to be willing to give something back."
The son of a butcher and a school cafeteria worker, Buzbee has made millions of dollars representing injured workers suing big companies and was named one of the top five commercial litigation attorneys in the state in 2003 and a "rising star" in 2004 by Texas Monthly.
Via PinkDome, with Andrew D chiming in. Buzbee lost a 2002 race for HD24 to Larry Taylor. He got 41.5% of the vote in a 39% Democratic district, which is decent enough. Maria Alvarado has already declared for this race. As always, I say the more, the merrier.
Lite Guv is a pretty tough nut to crack. David Dewhurst doesn't have anywhere near the baggage of school finance failure that Rick Perry has, though he's at least as responsible for it since his role is much more direct. There's been some rumors lately of discontent in the Senate over some of Dewhurst's tactics in trying to force a finance plan. That wouldn't have much if any effect on a race for his office, but it might help drum up a donation or two. Long term, given Dewhurst's well-known desire to run for something else (Gov or Senate) down the line, it'd be nice to ding his armor a bit lest he get turned into another soft-focus media "moderate" a la KBH with a daunting approval rate. I hope Buzbee is in, and I hope he makes a serious effort at it.
Just a quick check of coverage around the state of the Chris Bell announcement/rally yesterday. It looks mostly pretty good, with specifics from his speech without too much time on horse race stuff. See for yourself:
Other papers carried the AP wire story. We'll see how it goes from here.
UPDATE: Via Eye on Williamson, here's the text of Bell's speech. And for those of you here in Houston, you can meet Chris Bell on Wednesday at the Houston Democratic Forum gathering. It's 6:30-8:00 PM at the Quattro Lounge at the Four Seasons Hotel, 1300 Lamar, Downtown Houston. Cash Bar, valet parking is only $3 with validation, and there is ample self-parking in area. I'll be there, and you should be, too.
Houston isn't the only Texas city with a booming medical center - San Antonio has a pretty good one, too. It's even surpassed tourism as the city's biggest industry, not too shabby considering it's a fairly recent artifact.
When Henry Cisneros became mayor in 1981, with military spending waning, he and other leaders began the first initiative to promote the biomedical industry. Two decades later, the former Clinton administration housing secretary has reignited that campaign.As chairman of the economic development council of the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, Cisneros helped launch the Healthcare and Bioscience Development Corp. to lure medical enterprises and strengthen the local industry's four "pillars" medical services, biomedical research, medical education and biosciences.
In 1992, health care and bioscience had an estimated annual impact of $6.4 billion, half the current level. By the end of the '90s, experts began noting a sea change.
A 2003 chamber study verified that medicine had supplanted tourism, which brings in about $7 billion a year, as the city's strongest industry.
"We're proud of our tourism base, and we've always relied on the military. Toyota represents a new manufacturing opportunity for us. But we think the long-term, lead engine for San Antonio's future are these four pillars," Cisneros said.
"When the BRAC process is finished, this will be after the Walter Reed and Bethesda complex in the Washington, D.C., area the lead complex for military medical education in the country," Cisneros said.
Henry Cisneros. sigh What could have been, what could have been...
OK, I'm back. Cisneros is referring to Brooke Army Medical Center and Wilford Hall Medical Center, the former of which I was quite familiar with back in my days at Trinity - such are the side effects of having a roommate and best friend who is both a military brat and accident prone. We were also quite familiar with Fort Sam's PX and liquor store, but that's a tale for another day.
Anyway. It's a good story, so check it out.
At the time we did the municipal candidates' meetup, quite a few transportation related questions and issues came up. Christof Spieler and Robin Holzer of the CTC were doing much of that asking. Here in their forum you can find a few questions we can all ask of the candidates for City Council. If you get the chance to attend a forum or other event at which one or more prospective Council members is in attendance, you might want to consider posing one of these.
The brew crew at Saint Arnold's has a blog. Truly, we live in wondrous times.
Stace points to this nice article on the tag team of Rick and Melissa Noriega. Rick Noriega is a Houston State Rep, who's been serving with the National Guard in Afghanistan since last August. In his absence, his wife Melissa has replaced him in the Lege. The situation has caused a lot of upheaval in their lives, and they've come through with grace and class. Check it out.
I haven't yet made note of No Nonsense In November, the group led by former State Rep. Glen Maxey to beat back the hateful Double Secret Illegal anti-gay marriage amendment, so let me say now that it's precisely the sort of thing you ought to look into if you're a progressive and you can't wait till 2006 to Do Something to get things right in this state again. Karl-T has posted their first two newsletters here and here. Sign up with them to get on their list and do what you can to help. NNIN is an underdog on many levels, but with nothing besides some constitutional amendments and mostly low-key municipal races on the ballots this fall, anything can happen. The good guys are organized, the bad guys are confident in themselves. Here's your chance to catch them napping.
Greg, Damon, Eye on Williamson (with pictures), Rawhide, and The Red State have the action from the official Chris Bell campaign launch in Austin. We'll see how the "official" stories compare tomorrow. Check it out.
Yesterday I attended the I-45 Town Hall at Jefferson Davis High School, and it was a very useful two hours. I'm waiting on a couple of links to the presentations that were used, as they have much of the main data for consideration, but in the meantime will summarize what I can.
Before I begin, I note that the only media coverage of this event so far is from KTRK. I know I saw a news camera from KPRC, but either they didn't run anything or I just can't find the link. No idea if KHOU sent anyone, but again I couldn't find anything. Barring anything extraordinary, I expect there to be a full writeup in the This Week section of the Chron on Thursday.
I also note that KTRK estimated 800 people in attendance. I think that's an overstatement - I did a quick count of seats in the auditorium before things got started and came up with 400 for the downstairs portion, plus probably another 100 or so for the balcony. The downstairs was full, and people were in the balcony, so I'd peg the total as being around 500. Still pretty impressive for an August Saturday afternoon, which one speaker after another commented on.
(UPDATE: I've thought about this since seeing more than one reference elsewhere to 800+ people, and I've come to the conclusion that I blew the math. I think I forgot to add in one of the side sections in the lower seating area. Doing so, and recalculating the upper deck size based on the lower being 60% bigger, gets me to about 800. My apologies for the error.)
The meeting was divided into five parts: introduction of and brief remarks by elected officials, current status of the project by TxDOT and its consulting partner Carter & Burgess, a summary of the I-45 Coalition's concerns with the project, a look at Gonzalo Camacho's tunnel option, and a Q&A session. The middle three were done with Powerpoint slides (the first two are the links I hope to have later).
Most of the notes that I took were about what the elected officials had to say.
- US Rep. Gene Green, who noted that though this project did not pass through his district, he was still concerned about it as a native of the area (he's an alum of Jeff Davis High). He mentioned the doubledecking of I-35 in Austin as an option to consider.
- State Rep. Jessica Farrar spoke about the need to raise funds for a study of alternates not currently being considered by TxDOT, as the folks who persuaded TxDOT to go below grade with US59 instead of above grade did.
- County Commissioner Sylvia Garcia stressed that this was not a Harris County project (apparently, her office has gotten quite a few inquiries from residents about it) but said that as a resident of Lindale Park, she was personally affected by it.
- City Council member Adrian Garcia expressed his concern with how public opinion had been recorded at previous meetings - in particular, the town hall meeting from April and the Woodland Heights Civic Association in February are not part of the public record for this process. He was also very concerned about neighborhood impact: "The plans as proposed will do nothing but erase the North Side as we know it, and that's not right."
- City Council member Gordon Quan thanked the I-45 Coalition for speaking to the Council meeting on Thursday (see the end of this post for more on that), and introduced Mike Marcotte, the city's Director of Public Works, whom he said would be taking a more active role at this point.
- State Rep. Garnet Coleman, who represents the Old Sixth Ward, reminded everyone that there will still be severe bottlenecks on I-45 at the Pierce Elevated and the US59 junction.
- US Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee was a bit late in arriving, and asked to speak after the TxDOT/Carter & Burgess presentation. As this project mostly affects her district, she spoke the longest, and she brought the house down. I'll give the highlights:
- There will be a steering committee formed to study the alternatives that are not currently on TxDOT's radar.
- US59 is still congested despite a longterm project to widen it (this was one of many applause lines she got).
- Thanks to H-GAC for putting a hold on the project in response to community feedback.
- Wanted TxDOT to be more specific about how each neighborhood would be impacted by each of the alternatives they did consider.
- Stressed that this is all about mobility, with a continued emphasis on light rail which she still strongly supports. Emphasized that METRO and others must make good on promised made to the voters when the 2003 referendum was passed.
- Pointed out that the I-10 construction is more than $1 billion over initial cost estimates, "and we can't even get a lousy billion for a METRO transit system."
- "We don't want another Katy Freeway." These words were spoken by several people in the course of the meeting.
- Promised to bring US Transportation Secretary Norm Mineta down to Houston if it would be helpful.
- Reminded everyone not to take the heat off of METRO as well.
There wasn't a whole lot to the TxDOT/Carter & Burgess presentation that wasn't already well known. One of the reasons why I really want to get my hands on that presentation is because whoever was advancing the slides wasn't keeping in sync with the C&B person (whose name escapes me now). (UPDATE): Her name is Janet Kennison. My apologies for the oversight. Thanks to Robin Holzer for the correction.) A couple of slides were barely onscreen at all. In that person's defense, she was reading from a prepared text and gave no cues at all as to when to advance it. The main points:
- We're still very early in the process.
- All the alternatives they considered involved extra lanes, going from 9 to either 10 or 12, with varying numbers of "managed" lanes.
- There was a "no build" alternative, which doesn't mean "do nothing", it means simply bring the existing freeway up to current legal standards.
- All alternatives were graded on various aspects, with the 12 lane/4 managed lane alternative scoring the highest overall.
- "Some" right of way acquisition would likely be needed at North Main and at the Shepherd Curve at North Shepherd.
The I-45 Coalition concerns were presented by John Wilson of GHASP, who is also part of the Regional Transportation Planning committee at H-GAC. I also hope to get his presentation shortly, but for now here is what the neighborhoods are asking of TxDOT:
- Rerun your highway capacity models under the assumption that arterial roads like North Shepherd and Yale have been improved to the point where they can handle more of the local traffic that is currently a big part of I-45 usage.
- Give us some idea of what kind of right-of-way acquisition would be needed under each plan. One big piece of missing data right now is access roads. I-45 is currently about 75 yards wide. Based on what we know of existing standards for shoulders, access lanes, and medians, the preferred 12-lane alternative would be about 121 yards wide. That just doesn't square with the assertions of "only North Main and North Shepherd for ROW acquisition" unless they have some kind of doubledecking and/or cantilevering in mind; if they do, they've never said anything about it.
- Related to this was the issue of highway interchanges. Wilson pointed out that the exchange at 45 and 610 would have to be like the one currently under construction at 10 and 610, and that this would also require use of eminent domain.
- Explain the cost estimate. The North-Hardy Corridor study (PDF) covers 30 miles from US59 to SH242 in Conroe, and the current cost estimate is $400 million. When compared to the current estimates for the Katy Freeway - over $2.5 billion for 25 miles - that's really hard to believe.
- Make their final recommendations public and available for community study 60 to 90 days before bringing it to the regional authorities for approval.
Wilson stressed that the community can and will get behind a good plan, once one exists.
Last up was a fellow named James, pinch hitting for the out-of-town Gonzalo Camacho to give a very brief overview of the I-45 tunnel plan, which is now being referred to as the I-45 Parkway. The tunnel itself would have limited access and would be for express traffic; there would also be an Allen Parkway-like surface road for local routes. This was a much smaller presentation than the big one (8 MB PPT file), which I still haven't seen Camacho give in person, but we were nearing the two-hour mark at this point, so it was just as well.
I left before the the Q&A session was over, since my experience is that TxDOT never has much more to say than what it's already said. If any of the other 500 attendees want to add to what I've said here, please feel free. I'll add in links to the presentations when I have them, and will look for the Chron story later this week.
In closing, here's a transcript by Robin Holzer of the CTC meeting with City Council last week. Click the More link to read it.
UPDATE: Here, in PDF form, is a more detailed version of the C&B presentation. Still waiting on the other presentation.
UPDATE: A brief version of Robin Holzer's notes from the meeting are here - scroll to the bottom to see them.
Thursday night, I watched most of the rebroadcast of Tuesday's I-45 Coalition outing to Houston City Council to listen again to what Mayor White told us. I'm including highlights from the end of the discussion below. (If you missed it, the session will air three times Saturday on the Municipal Channel (TWC-16). We're up approximately 2 1/2 hours in, so that will be ~8:30am, 2:30pm, and 8:30pm on Saturday, I think.)
Please note that I didn't get all of what was said on this first pass, but I was particularly struck by several of Mayor White's comments:
----------
Council member Edwards asked for a comprehensive view of what TxDOT is proposing around the city since many projects were proposed in the 1960s but those residents don't live here any more.
Mayor White said "Get someone in my office and Dr. Lewis... get this full report that Robin got this out of. Will be on plane during [Saturday's] meeting but want to take this with me so I can read it on the plane. You're doing the right thing. One of my deals. TxDOT could easily reallocate money out of the urban center and create these rings and rings and reduce density in the urban density because the district has so much money.. [something to the effect of: people who say don't build it and TxDOT takes the money somewhere else. What I really like about this proposal is the idea of investing differently in the urban center]. What I really like is people getting into the details and getting into the details early.
Council member Khan asked: "How does City of Houston let TxDOT know what our preferences are? The TPC is one way; is there any other formal way to let them know what our wish list is and what we want investments to be because it affects City of Houston more than anybody else?
Mayor White said, "I think when we come to what the formal input should be under the sort of law and charter and common sense. The very best way is to build a consensus within the community of what we're for that addresses the need. because it is a congested corridor. that is highly thought out and professional. and I believe that the TxDOT commissioners and the district director would be persuaded by that. But we don't want to allocate 10 or 15 million. I'm trying to figure out how much engineering resources we should devote as a city to alternative . to TxDOT.. so far we're focusing TxDOT's issues on where we think you should start the process. so you know Dr. Lewis and I do meet with Gary Trietsch. I'm not sure there's a way. We do have an opportunity here. as I thought about the institutional configuration here I think that's the way to handle it"
Council member Khan agreed that "consensus is a hallmark" of the Mayor's style, said the Mayor is the one who can get consensus, and asked him how he plans to get it.
Mayor White said: "Where we are . we're in the stage of people sharing information. TxDOT. citizens. people talking to people about what we're trying to accomplish and the criteria we should use"
Robin interjected to address two points: Consensus - I had a conversation with Gary Trietsch after the TPC meeting and he said this is not a money issue but they need a statement from the city. and a sense of consensus. as to timing - in TxDOT's formal process, they have done a travel demand model that says they've determined they need 12 lanes. and they're looking to get formal approval from the Policy Council in the next two months or so. But there are serious flaws that folks like John Wilson. David Crossley.. are looking at and would love to talk to folks like Dr. Lewis about. if we want TxDOT to do this differently we've only got ~2 months
Mayor White responded "I'm listening to what Robin just said. they're right. we do need to have some. to direct professional resources you need to have some direction and have resources. we need a team that is interdisciplinary that's working with TxDOT to understand what the criteria are. it's heavily congested. we don't want people idling in their cars. that's a tax on . we want to protect. I'll get a recommendation from Dr. Lewis.
Council member Quan asked Mayor White whether anyone from the Administration was committed to attend the town hall this Saturday who can report back to the Mayor, because without the Administration present we could be spinning our wheels
Mayor White mentioned Michael Marcotte (Dir PW&E) and Dr. Lewis (Chair Planning Cmsn)
----------
So it now seems we're really getting somewhere!
Janette Sexton has a new look for her campaign webpage. She tells me that the campaign kickoff event in July was a big success - a picture from the event is here. Check it out, and look for an opportunity to meet Janette for yourself if you haven't yet had the pleasure.
Scott has a three-part answer to the question "Why are Harris County jails so overcrowded?" The main culprit is a lack of common sense in the pursuit of being perceived as "tuff on crime". Read for yourself:
Bail blunders boost bulging Harris jail population
Extra bail conditions: When tough on crime means tough on taxpayers
Should county government subsidize bail bond companies?
On they go again with the school finance bills.
A House committee Friday kicked out two bills that could revive flagging efforts to rewrite school finance laws, but major hurdles remain to passing the plan before the special session ends Friday.As early as Tuesday, the full House could again be voting on a major education overhaul as well as a tax swap plan to raise sales and business taxes in order to lower local school property taxes.
"Irregardless of what the press may say and what everybody's going on about, we are trying to work this (tax) bill out," said Rep. David Swinford, R-Dumas.
[...]
Swinford said he is working with Senate Finance Chairman Steve Ogden to make any needed changes to the tax bill on the House floor so it can move quickly if it reaches the Senate.
Ogden, R-Bryan, said the tax bill passed by the select committee is "fairly close" to legislation that was agreed on by Senate and House negotiators at the end of the first special session last month.
"The dynamics are changing. The session is no longer dead, it's basically breathing again. It's a race against time now to get this done," Ogden said.
[...]
"I fully expect us to be able to pass this bill out of the House," Swinford said.
With all due respect, fellas, we've heard that before.
This is just more of the same - there's nothing new, just different pieces moved around. I was at the Greater Heights Democratic Club meeting this morning, where Rep. Jessica Farrar was one of the speakers. I asked her if Rep. Scott Hochberg was going to introduce his amendment again, the one whose adoption a couple of weeks ago changed the dynamic of this session. She said the Democrats' legislative study group was still plotting its strategy. Personally, I'll be more than a little surprised if it doesn't get brought up.
[House Education Chairman Kent] Grusendorf said there's not time to have a conference committee on the school funding bill and held out the idea that it may take yet another special session possibly after the Texas Supreme Court rules on the school finance lawsuit before it becomes law."I feel fairly confident if it does not pass next week, we'll be back in the not-too-distant future," he said.
God help us all.
UPDATE: More from Aaron Pena and Dave McNeely. Rawhide notes a timing issue, while In the Pink observes a natural law.
Stories like this make the weekend a little brighter.
A group that had hoped to build two museums to rebut the displays at the Clinton Presidential Library is folding."I'm giving up," said Houston businessman Richard Erickson, who established nonprofit Counterlibe Inc. last year to fund construction of a Counter Clinton Library in Little Rock and another in Washington.
Erickson said in an e-mail to The Associated Press that he had been naive about fundraising procedures. He said the project's Web site also would be shut down soon.
In a separate e-mail Wednesday, Erickson informed one of his key supporters, former U.S. Rep. Bob Barr, R-Ga., that he couldn't raise enough money to continue.
"Nearly every dime raised has gone to professional fundraisers and lawyers," he said.
Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch.
Take that, you smug Austinites.
Nice going, People's Republic of Dallas.The home of America's Team and the Texas School Book Depository is, by a long shot, Texas' liberal bastion, according to the Bay Area Center for Voting Research.
The nonprofit think tank based in Berkeley, Calif., (a town that knows liberals when it sees them) ranked 237 U.S. cities on the liberal-to-conservative spectrum, based on results from the 2004 presidential election.
The group named Austin the 93rd most liberal city in the land, just slightly bluer on the electoral map than Virginia Beach and Salt Lake City.
Dallas was 32nd, two slots more liberal than Madison, Wis.
Um, okay. One little thing:
2004 General Election Results - Dallas CountyBush/Cheney 346,246 50.34%
Kerry/Edwards 336,641 48.95%2004 General Election Results - Travis County
Bush/Cheney 147,885 41.99%
Kerry/Edwards 197,235 56.01%
I'm just saying.
The full study, in all its goofiness, is here. Houston managed to finish 177th, just ahead of San Antonio (#175). I'd comment further, but it's too silly to bother. Via Kimberly.
UPDATE: OK, OK, I recognize that they went by city data (which, alas, isn't so readily available online) instead of county data, though I note that the Associated Press made the same comparison I did. I suppose the city of Dallas could go 75% for Kerry, which would mean the rest of Dallas County would have gone for Bush by about the same margin. I find it a little hard to believe that the city of Houston (a bit more than half the population of Harris County) went for Bush with over 53%, though. The last three times someone ran for Mayor as a Republican (Orlando Sanchez twice, Rob Mosbacher before him) they lost, while Annise Parker easily won a runoff to be City Controller in 2003. Mostly, since Harris County overall went for Bush by a 54.75% margin, this would imply that the non-Houston portion of Harris is a lot less Republican than it gives every other indication of being - in contrast to the city of Houston, all Harris countywide offices are held by Republicans.
So, while I concede this isn't as silly as I first thought it was, until I can see their source data I remain skeptical. Towards that end, I've sent them an email enquiring about this. If I get a response, I'll print it.
You don't think all this sparring between Tom Craddick and David Dewhurst over whether the remainder of this special session is a waste of time or not is getting personal, do you? Nah.
House Speaker Tom Craddick, who last week said lawmakers were "wasting time and money" trying to break an impasse on school finance, is taking to radio airwaves to blame the Senate.Craddick used campaign funds to record an ad stating that the House passed "strong school and tax-reform measures" but that the Senate "watered down or eliminated those reforms."
Craddick also says the Legislature "will make the necessary adjustments" if the Texas Supreme Court issues an opinion about the constitutionality of the current school finance system that requires action.
"However, we will not continue to put more money into a system without the reforms to fix it," says Craddick.
The ads signal increasing tension between Craddick and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst. The Senate ignored Craddick's call for immediate adjournment of the second special session and passed an education-overhaul bill Tuesday.
"Speaker Craddick's time and energy would be better spent on solving the state's educational needs than on unprecedented and misleading advertisements," said Mark Miner, a spokesman for Dewhurst.
"The Senate's bill, SB 8, is a good bill that provides real reform in our schools, additional pay for teachers and puts additional funds in classrooms which are tied to accountability."
Here's the full text of the ad, via the Quorum Report.
"Recently, I acknowledged the Legislature's impasse on school finance and tax reforms. I wanted to level with all Texans concerning our difficult struggle in Austin.The House passed strong school and tax reform measures early in the regular and first called special sessions. The Texas Senate, however, sent a bill to the House that watered down or eliminated those reforms. As Speaker, I don't believe the House should be a party to passing legislation that doesn't contain proper education reforms such as more local control and accountability.
"In the event that the Texas Supreme Court issues an opinion requiring some action, the Legislature will make the necessary adjustments. However, we will not continue to put more money into a system without the reforms to fix it.
"I promise you: Any school reform bill that passes the Texas House will contain real reforms."
"Not like what those jokers in the Senate might do," the script does not go on to add. Yeah, it's just business. Nothing to see here.
Craddick's reason for airing the ad is priceless.
Craddick spokeswoman Alexis DeLee said the speaker decided to run the spots, paid for with his campaign funds, because people throughout Texas have expressed confusion about the status of the school finance debate.
Sure can't imagine why they might feel that way, Lexi!
One last thing, going back to the Chron story:
Gov. Rick Perry also has used campaign funds this summer to run radio ads supporting his tax plan to lower school property taxes. Tobacco giant Philip Morris has run spots against Perry's plan, which includes a $1-per-pack cigarette tax.
And right here in Houston, Rep. Garnet Coleman has also run ads denouncing the Perry tax plan. Let's not overlook that.
The Chron appears to be the only outlet reporting this latest development in the school finance battle.
A tax bill that received only eight votes in the Texas House last month was re-filed Thursday and could come up for floor debate next week."We're going to give it a shot," said Speaker Tom Craddick, who quickly added that if internal House polling shows insufficient support for the bill, it won't be called up for a vote.
"I'm willing to work and push ahead, but I'm not going to bring anything to the floor that I don't know we have the votes," Craddick said.
His comments were a change from Wednesday, when he said the House had no interest in trying to draft a tax bill by the mandatory Aug. 19 end of this summer's second special session on school finance.
Keep flipflopping like that, Tom, and people are going to start mistaking you for David Dewhurst.
Craddick said he doesn't think last month's 124-8 vote against a similar tax bill was a "true vote." It came shortly after the House killed an education funding bill, which had been heavily amended during floor debate.
I'm sure that's true. But given that this bill is similar in many respects to ones that previously tried and died, what makes anyone think this one will do any better?
Here's a brief description of the bill from the Quorum Report.
Rep. David Swinford (R-Dumas) admits House Bill 8 is not ideal, but it is enough to get the Legislature through the court challenges and to the next session, when a full tax overhaul can be considered, he told the House select committee on public education tonight.Swinfords bill is a combination of various taxes already proposed on the floor of the House. Elements include a Ύ cent sales tax increase and some expanded taxation on auto and computer repairs, plus a $1-per-pack cigarette tax increase, the liars affidavit and the closure of the Geoffrey and Delaware loopholes. Language perceived as double taxation has been deleted and a $7,500 homestead exemption option added.
I believe that this particular bill will get us out of the courts as far as a statewide property tax, and that is the main purpose I bring it to you today, said Swinford, who also added, I also believe this is not the best bill that we can do.
The Geoffrey and Delaware loopholes are related to the state's ineffective franchise tax - this is what would make about 10,000 more businesses have to pay it, though many more businesses would still be unaffected. I confess I don't know offhand what the "liar's affidavit" is.
Also, as noted by Nate and Rawhide at PinkDome, there's another version of Rep. Kent Grusendorf's school finance bill HB71 is also up for consideration. QR again:
HB 71, the new education reform bill, is not essentially the same as the HB2 that passed to engrossment as we first reported. Rep. Scott Hochberg (D-Houston notes that it is much more like HB2 as filed before it went through the committee process.
Once again, why anyone thinks one more try with the same old same old will work is beyond me. There's a week to go, though, so who knows what will happen.
Actually, the venerable ice cream franchise is already here, with plans to expand quite a bit in the near term.
Before Linda Eppolito opened her ice cream shop in west Houston, a stranger knocked on the door and asked, breathlessly, "Is this really Carvel? The Carvel from New York?"Since opening less than a year ago, Eppolito has seen many East Coast transplants walk in. Currently, they comprise three out of 10 of her customers. Initially, the percentage of East Coast natives was much greater.
"You'll know it when they'll come in," she once told her employees, referring to the transplants. "They're very excited."
Maybe it's the taste of the soft-serve ice cream, or maybe it's the memories. Something makes ex-East Coast residents go ga-ga when they discover a Carvel in their neighborhood.
Currently, Eppolito's store in the 1500 block of Eldridge is the only Carvel franchise in town, but in a few weeks, a second location will open in the FM 1960 area at Windermere Lakes Plaza.
Carvel plans to open 25 to 30 more stores in the Houston area in the next two or three years, according to a company spokesman.
Like Kyrie, I grew up with Carvel ice cream. Well, sort of. Though there was a Carvel store a half mile or so from our house - I passed it by every time I walked to my buddy Anthony's place - we just about never went there when I was a kid. (It was at the corner of Forest and Bard Avenues, for those of you familiar with Staten Island's geography. Anyone know if it's still there?) I remember my dad snorting derisively whenever a Carvel commercial, narrated by old Tom Carvel himself of course, came on the TV. Never knowing the genesis of his distaste, I emailed to inquire after seeing this story. Turns out a couple of his lawyer pals regularly butted heads with Tom Carvel back in the day, and they had many stories of what a hardnosed SOB he could be. So we kids ate ice cream at home, not that this was a bad thing since my parents' preferred brand was Breyer's. But I digress.
Anyway, having been ignorant of all that, I confess I stopped at that neighborhood store a few times on the walk back from Anthony's, and as I have a weakness for soft serve ice cream, I've no doubt that I'll pull in for a cone the first time I drive by one of these new franchises. I'll pass on Fudgie the Whale, though - I liked Baskin Robbins ice cream cakes better. Sorry, Kyrie.
The official launch of Chris Bell's campaign is this Sunday in Austin, at the UT campus. If you want to come up from Houston you'll have to drive yourself because their official campaign bus is full up. If you're a blogger and you're going to be there, look for the liveblogging table being set up by BOR's Damon McCullar - email dcmccullar@gmail.com for more info. Should be a great event, so be there if you can.
Lobbyist tied to DeLay indicted on fraud charges
Lobbyist Jack Abramoff, a key figure in investigations involving House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, was indicted today by a federal grand jury on fraud charges arising from a 2000 deal to buy casino boats.The indictment, returned by a grand jury in Fort Lauderdale, charges that Abramoff and an associate, 36-year-old New York businessman Adam Kidan, used a fake wire transfer to defraud two lenders out of some $60 million to finance the deal for SunCruz Casinos.
Abramoff and Kidan are charged with five counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud. Each count carries a penalty of up to 5 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
[...]
The partners bought SunCruz, which runs a fleet of gambling boats, from entrepreneur Konstantinos "Gus" Boulis for $147 million in 2000, but the deal soon fell apart. Amid bitter legal fighting over the sale, Boulis was shot to death five months later in 2001 what police called a hit. The Fort Lauderdale killing has never been solved.
The indictment against Abramoff charges that he used income from SunCruz to finance political fund-raising activities, including events at private boxes at Washington-area sports venues such as the MCI Center and Oriole Park at Camden Yards.
[...]
DeLay, R-Texas, was not mentioned in any lawsuits involved in the SunCruz deal.
DeLay has asked the House Ethics Committee to review allegations that Abramoff or his clients paid some of DeLay's overseas travel expenses. DeLay has denied knowing that the expenses were paid by Abramoff, whom he once described as "one of my closest and dearest friends."
Abramoff collected more than $100,000 for President Bush's 2004 re-election campaign and raised thousands of dollars for DeLay and other Republican members of Congress. He also was friends with former Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed, now a Republican candidate for lieutenant governor in Georgia.
This is totally separate from the investigations of Abramoff and Mike Scanlon into charges that they defrauded various Indian tribes out of millions in excessive lobbying fees, a scheme in which they allegedly colluded with Reed. Josh Marshall is a great resource on all this stuff: see here, here, and here for starters.
FEC Finds Misreporting by DeLay Committee
A political committee founded by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay may have improperly spent unregulated "soft money" on get-out-the-vote and fundraising activities, the Federal Election Commission says. A DeLay attorney said Thursday the money has been reimbursed.Americans for a Republican Majority Political Action Committee "potentially" spent about $203,000 in soft money from its nonfederal account to pay for the political activities and administrative expenses, the FEC found in an audit.
ARMPAC has federal and nonfederal accounts that shared certain expenses. The federal account could contain only money subject to federal contribution limits and from individuals and PACS. The non-federal account was not subject to federal regulations and could include soft money, which can include contributions from corporations and labor unions.
The FEC audit also found that DeLay's committee failed to report more than $300,000 in debts owed to 25 vendors and erroneously reported its finances. DeLay attorney Don McGahn said debts were paid but not in the time prescribed by the FEC. The expenses including spending on eight fundraising events, two each held at Four Streams Golf Club in Bealsville, Md., and Puerto Rico and others in Orlando, Fla., California, New York and Hackberry Creek Country Club in Irving, Texas.
[...]
Watchdog groups said the FEC audit raises questions whether similar activities were occurring with the Texas committee, which also had an account for limited, individual contributions and one for corporate, unlimited money.
"Is this the tip of the iceberg? We don't know," said Tom Fitton, president of Washington-based Judicial Watch.
The groups also questioned whether ARMPAC soft money assisted Texas campaigns. ARMPAC contributions totaling $24,000 were given to Texas Republican legislative candidates in 2002. The checks sent to them included DeLay's name and title as the PAC's chairman.
Here's the report (thanks, JesseLee!). There sure is an awful lot of questionable activity - not to mention dishonest people - around our boy Tom, isn't there?
Texas is now officially a minority-majority state.
Fueled largely by the burgeoning Hispanic population, Texas joins the ranks of California, New Mexico, Hawaii and the District of Columbia as areas where minority residents as a whole have become the majority.Based on estimates from the 2000 Census, about 50.2 percent of Texans are considered minorities compared to about 47 percent when the census was taken. A report last August noted the Anglo population has slipped to slightly less than 50 percent for the first time.
Here's that report from 2004. I guess I'm a little confused as to what's changed - if it was the case that as of 2003, "non-Hispanic whites" were 49.5% of the Texas population, then wasn't the other 50.5% made up of non-whites? I'm not sure how the classifications break down, so I assume there's another piece to the puzzle.
Anyway, here's what the state demographer says:
State demographer Steve Murdock said Hispanics and blacks historically have low levels of educational attainment and high rates of poverty.He noted that in 2000, about 30 percent of the state's Anglo adults had a college degree, compared with 15.3 percent of blacks and 8.9 percent of Hispanics. During the same period, the incomes of blacks and Hispanics were two-thirds of Anglos, and two to three times more Hispanics and blacks lived in poverty.
"If we don't change those kinds of socioeconomic differences, clearly Texas will be poorer and less competitive than it is today," Murdock said. "The challenge is really to ensure that all Texans have the education and skills they need to be competitive in the increasingly international marketplace."
While Murdock said the state has made "some progress" in narrowing the gaps, there is a "substantial way to go."
"Without it (improvements) we will be a state with lower consumer expenditures, which is important to the private sector, and fewer resources to spend in the public sector," he said.
"While at the same time we'll have a population with increasing ... needs for state services."
Sort of makes you wish the Governor and the Legislature were more serious about school finance reform, doesn't it?
I know I've mentioned before that there will be a town hall meeting regarding the I-45 expansion this Saturday at 2 PM, but it's really important so I'll say it again.
The I-45 Coalition will host a town hall meeting on Saturday regarding the Texas Department of Transportation's plans to expand Interstate 45 between I-10 and Beltway 8.The meeting will be held at Jeff Davis High School, 1101 Quitman, beginning at 2 p.m. A number of local politicians are expected to attend, including U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, State Sen. Mario Gallegos, D-Houston, State Rep. Jessica Farrar, D-Houston, and Houston City Councilman Adrian Garcia.
[...]
Jim Weston, president of the I-45 Coalition and a Woodland Heights resident, said Saturday's meeting is designed to present the public with as much information as possible regarding TxDOT's plan.
"TxDOT will be there to present its report, much the same as it did to the H-GAC committee," Weston said. "Then, John Wilson (executive director of the Galveston-Houston Association for Smog Prevention and a member of the H-GAC's Technical Advisory Committee) will go over what he thinks are the good and bad aspects of the report."
Following Wilson's presentation, Gonzalo Camacho, a Heights-area engineer, will present his alternative plan for the I-45 corridor, which includes building a tunnel in place of the highway.
The public meeting will end with a question-and-answer session for residents.
"The goal is to get as many questions as we can on the record for both TxDOT and the politicians who will be in attendance," Weston said. "We need to bring to the table specific concerns that have not been addressed."
I'll be there, and I hope you will be, too.
You kind of have to admire ol' Tom Craddick. Once he decides on a course of inaction, by golly he sticks with it.
"The House of Representatives will not be a party to passing legislation that does not contain meaningful property tax relief and proper education reforms," said Craddick. "We should not pass a bill just to present the appearance that some action has been taken."His comments make it likely that this summer's second special session on school finance will sputter to an end on or before Aug. 19 without any action on teacher pay raises, new programs for students or less reliance on local property taxes.
Aaron Pena is predicting the sine die motion will come on Tuesday the 16th. We'll see if he's right.
Meanwhile, Jonathan Gurwitz raises a point about Craddick and his do-nothing style that I haven't seen mentioned before anywhere else.
Many can share in the blame for this predicament, but few can claim more of it than Speaker Craddick, who has acted as a political impediment to Perry and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and is now leading the legislative retreat in Austin. By Craddick's lights, the Legislature should just go home and let the courts settle this nettlesome school issue.There could scarcely be a belief that demonstrates more lack of fidelity to conservative, Republican principles or less leadership.
At the heart of the Texas GOP and millions of conservative voters lies an issue that derives it potency from a high court usurping the legislative process. Craddick, with regard to education, would willfully hand that process over to the court.
I'm not sure if Craddick at this point is hoping the Texas Supremes will simply rule that there's no need for school funding to have any equitableness or adequacy to it, which would let him finally deliver that much-needed tax relief to the long-suffering citizens of Highland Park (assuming, of course, that his traitorious minions in the House can push it through), or if they'll give him and the rest of the Lege the political cover to raise everyone's taxes.
Gurwitz might, of course, have noted that neither Perry nor Dewhurst, nor anyone else in a position of leadership in the Republican Party for that matter, has made this criticism of Craddick. On many counts, it's hard to see what kind of leadership, conservative or otherwise, that those two have demonstrated lately. But one can at least give them credit for doing something to ensure that the issue is addressed legislatively. I just wonder why Craddick has gotten off so easily on this point.
(Thanks to Carl Whitmarsh for the pointer to the Gurwitz piece.)
I made a note to comment on this story about the $35 million grant from the Texas Enterprise Fund to biotech firm Lexicon on Monday, but managed to not get around to it. My bad. Let's do a little catch-up.
First, the basics of the deal and the reason why it's newsworthy:
The $50 million grant is for a joint project between Lexicon and Texas A&M University to expand the genetic research being done by the company. The money will establish the Texas Institute for Genomic Medicine, with $15 million going to A&M and $35 million to Lexicon.[...]
The grant, announced July 16, equals the largest ever made by Perry's Texas Enterprise Fund for economic development. The $300 million fund makes grants at the governor's discretion. Democrats have called it a political "slush fund" designed to make legal but politically beneficial investments for the governor.
[...]
Some of the major Lexicon investors who have held a controlling interest in the company are Houston businessmen who have been top financiers of Perry's political career.
They are Houston Texans owner Robert C. McNair, businessman William A. McMinn and the estate of businessman Gordon Cain and his family. They own 16.5 percent of the company, according to Securities and Exchange Commission records, making them the largest group of stockholders.
McNair has donated $175,301 to Perry's political fund since he has been governor, and McMinn has given $100,000. The contributions include $25,000 each McNair and McMinn gave Perry in June. Cain contributed $50,000 before he died in 2002.
McMinn also was one of three businessmen who guaranteed a $1.1 million loan for Perry's campaign when he was elected lieutenant governor in 1998. McMinn and Cain were business partners in Sterling Chemicals.
McMinn is a past chairman of the Lexicon board of directors and served on the board from 1997-2003. McMinn, Cain's widow, Mary, and stepson, James Weaver, earlier this year held joint control of 7.2 percent of the company's stock, according to SEC records. In a filing Friday, Mary Cain reported selling almost half her Lexicon stock on July 26.
Gordon Cain was the company's founding investor, according to SEC records.
[...]
Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, a frequent critic of the Texas Enterprise Fund, said the deal shows Perry is using "the treasury as a private bank account."
"These are folks who are very supportive of him," Coleman said. "It's a pretty good trade: I give you hundreds of thousands of dollars and you give me back millions, millions of the taxpayers' dollars."
Applications for Texas Enterprise Fund grants are reviewed by the governor's office and are subject to approval by House Speaker Tom Craddick and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst. But Perry promotes the fund and usually announces the grants.
So basically, Rick Perry is saying "Trust me, I'm awarding this grant based on merit, and the fact that a bunch of my buddies stand to gain from it is just a coincidence." But of course, Perry has a long and established record of using his office to reward his benefactors. From John Krugh to Marty McCartt to Reagan Greer, Perry has put backscratching ahead of the public good. Why should we expect this time to be any different?
This editorial in today's Chron suggests that taking away granting authority from the Governor's office and giving it to an impartial board of scientists and business analysts would be an improvement. I agree it'd be better than the current system of patronage, but there's another item to bring up, which Loren Steffy does.
The $35 million that is Lexicon's portion of the state grant requires the company to add more than 1,600 jobs over 10 years. If it doesn't, it may have to pay back as much as $14.4 million, according to the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.So if the deal turns out to be a flop, and no jobs are created, Lexicon gets a $20.6 million gift and a $14.4 million interest-free loan.
Let's see: some time in 2015, Lexicon will either have to prove that they've created 1600 new jobs since 2005, or give some of them money back; the remainder will apparently be a gift. How will this determination be made, and by whom? What happens if there's a dispute in how Lexicon adds up "new jobs" - for example, would contractors count? What happens if they go out of business - will the state of Texas sue them in bankruptcy court? What happens if they get bought out - will "new jobs" created by the parent corporation count? What happens if the Lege succeeds in killing the Texas Enterprise Fund between now and then?
I'm sure there are other questions besides these. Does the Governor have any answers?
Here are the latest additions to the Oxford Dictionary of English, many of which will be familiar to the blogreading crowd. I'm more than a little shocked that a piece of 1930s slang like "eighty-sixed" is just now qualifying - either the term is back in vogue, or it's one heck of an oversight - and rather abashed that "overdog" had never occurred to me before. Check it out. Via MeMo.
Greg points to this story about an ongoing effort to build the Democratic Party in Nebraska that encompasses one of the main points of the Run Every Race mantra that many of us have been chanting.
Determined to rebuild their party after a decade of decline, Nebraska Democrats are embarking this week on an ambitious 93-county grassroots strategy.A regional training session for Democratic activists and candidates in North Platte this weekend is the marker jump-starting a determined bid to create a two-party state.
"This will be a concerted effort to build a structure in all 93 counties (and) compete in areas that now may be considered hostile," said Barry Rubin, the Nebraska Democratic Party's executive director.
One of the main goals we have in mind for the idealized 254-county strategy here is improving (in some cases, building from scratch) the Democratic infrastructure in Texas. I say it's much easier to get people involved, especially in a way that makes them want to keep at it after the election is over, if they're directly supporting a friend and neighbor instead of some far off person they'll likely never meet. Once you've got that going, then you can integrate into the larger whole. Obviously, involvement and assistance from the state party is key to ensure that integration takes place.
Next is this LA Times piece on the push from grassroots and blog activists for a more aggressive effort to recruit and support candidates in the Congressional elections. The usual nattering about why supporting longshot candidates is there, and I think this comment by Mimikatz sums up my feelings on the subject about as well as anything. We're still capable of prioritizing where our scarce recources go, and to get back to Item #1 in this post for a moment, one of the tasks we'd ask of the pioneer candidates is to assist in the party infrastructure building out there by getting people involved, tapping into previously ignored donor populations (again, it seems to me that people will be more likely to throw a few coins at someone they know or can get to know than someone they don't), and delivering the message to places it isn't now going. It's two sides of the same coin, and the goal, even more than hitting an unexpected electoral jackpot, is to grow the base and eventually turn some of these longshot races into more competitive ones. We won't succeed everywhere, of course, but we'll certainly do better than we would have by doing nothing.
I have some followup information to this post, in which I linked to a Nancy Sarnoff column about a potential oversupply in the Houston housing market. After getting some feedback on it, I sent email to Sarnoff, Dmitry Messen of the Houston-Galveston Area Council, and Dr. Barton Smith of the University of Houston. Here's what I learned:
- Sarnoff did not have an answer at hand to my question about whether or not household growth was keeping up with the growth in new simgle-family housing starts. She did, however, say that after she wrote the story two months ago about growth in the far-flung exurbs (see here for my blog post on it) that she wants to do a story that investigates that question. I responded that I'd be very eager to read such a piece.
- Messen pointed me to the 2025 H-GAC Regional Growth Forecast, for which there is a large-PDF executive summary here. What I gleaned from that is that their "aggressive scenario" projects approximately 1 million new households in the greater Houston metro area (more on that in a moment) by 2025. You can do the math from there and conclude that in that scenario, we'll be adding 12,500 new households per quarter for the next 20 years, which is a fair amount less than the 14,500 new homes that were built last quarter. That's a big simplification, one which doesn't take into account a whole bunch of things, but I think it provides some context. Long-term, obviously, a new house build rate at that level is too high. Even in the short term, you probably can't have too many months like that, at least not right now. It's my opinion that if we hear the same news about record-breaking numbers of new houses being built over the next couple of quarters, we will see a slowdown in that market shortly thereafter.
- Sarnoff confirmed to me that the new housing growth was for the Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Area (CMSA), which consists of Brazoria, Galveston, Chambers, Fort Bend, Harris, Liberty, Montgomery and Waller Counties. This is the same area for which H-GAC did its household growth projections.
- A question which I haven't asked anyone yet is how apartment complexes fit into this. There's two being built near where I work - one at Old Spanish Trail near Greenbriar, the other at Kirby and Braeswood - and I know there are many others out there. I don't think they're being counted in the numbers Sarnoff cited on Sunday. How many new apartments are coming online each quarter? What effect will that have on the new house market?
- Via Colorado Luis, there were over 12,000 foreclosed homes on the market in the state of Texas just last month. How many of them are in the Houston CMSA? Foreclosed homes tend to be cheap - what effect might this have on the new house market? And on a side note, how many interest-only mortgages have been written recently in Houston? Is that number increasing? If so, is that a sign that we're running out of new potential house buyers?
That's it for now. More when I get it.
All right, now that we have the other items taken care of, let's look at the school finance bills that were voted on yesterday. The Senate finished what it started by passing Senate Bill 8.
The Senate bill, which would cut school property taxes by 30 cents per $100 valuation in 2007 and boost state school spending by $2.8 billion, is dependent on passage of a tax bill.But the fate of the school measure without major changes was uncertain in the House, which must initiate action on any tax bill.
[...]
The Senate bill would give teachers an average $3,000 pay raise in the next two years, including converting a $1,000 health care stipend to salary. It would allocate $100 million for incentive-pay programs, including rewards for successful teachers in at-risk schools.
The bill also would fund textbooks but doesn't include as much technology funding as the House bill.
Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, author of Senate Bill 8, said it would help districts with transportation costs and programs to boost test scores for bilingual and poor students.
"This is an honest and a good attempt at what we consider to be reasonable and meaningful education reform and property tax reduction," said Shapiro.
But school superintendents say the bill's spending mandates outpace the extra money, leaving them worse off than under current law.
"We tend to forget the fundamental reform we've got to put more money in the system," said Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston.
The Senate passed its bill 20-9 with two San Antonio Democrats, Sens. Leticia Van de Putte and Frank Madla, absent.
Ellis failed to get approval for an amendment that would have used $1.8 billion in unbudgeted funds for teacher raises, textbooks and school support personnel's health care costs. Calling it the "get out of Dodge" plan, Ellis said it would allow lawmakers to salvage something out of this summer's second special session if there is no tax bill passed.
Sen. Eddie Lucio, D-Brownsville, succeeded in amending the bill to require a uniform school start date of the first Tuesday after Labor Day. Lucio said school districts would save millions in air-conditioning costs, families would have more time for vacations, and the tourism industry would benefit with a more stable labor force.
So: the Ellis-Eltife bill failed, and the uniform school start date, which was one of the items to which school superintendents had strongly objected, is now back.
Senator Van de Putte's absence has caused some hard feelings among her constituents. I have a lot of sympathy for her - there were enough votes to bring SB8 up for debate whether she was there or not, and I'm sure when she first planned this vacation she had every right to believe the Lege would not be in session - but in the end, she wasn't there, and she's going to have to explain that to the voters.
Other items from the story: the House passed a much smaller bill, which authorized buying new textbooks, and Governor Perry finally signed the re-passed HB1, which contained the original school spending measures that he'd line-item-vetoed back in June in order to force the school funding issue.
The Senate also apparently took action on the Ogden joint resolutions, but I can't find much about it in the new. This is about all there is.
The Senate attempted to bypass the rule on new taxes by adopting a measure that would write a reduced maximum school property tax rate into the state constitution. The constitutional amendment would be contingent on a vote from Texans and would mandate a future tax bill to replace lowered taxes."The House will not send us a tax bill at the present time," said Republican Sen. Steve Ogden, who introduced the measure. "This is another way to provide property tax relief to the people of the state of Texas.
"We have no other choice right now."
I guess that means all three of them passed. Beyond that, and what their prospects may be in the House, I couldn't say.
I also can't say what the deal is with this story, which I found while searching for news on the Ogden JRs.
Senate Education Committee members approved an amendment by state Sen. Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, after public hearings ended last week.They put this in at the last minute without allowing any debate, Superintendent Paul Trull told Paris Independent School District trustees Monday.
It will greatly hurt equity and could do away with the small and mid size funding formulas, which our schools depend on to survive, Trull said. I am devastated by this move.
Ogdens amendment removed $500 million from the bill, which reduces equity among public schools and creates a year-long delay of property tax relief, an ATPE e-mail states. He offered the amendment because the bill did not contain enough funding for all the new provisions and reforms.
An amendment by Sen. Ogden was quickly and quietly added after public testimony closed last week, the alert issued at 7:21 p.m. Monday states. There was no opportunity to offer concerns about the amendment, and it has major consequences for funding equity.
One observer, a former legislator, described the amendment as potentially the most destructive re-write of school funding to be voted out of a legislative committee in 30 years, the TASB alert states.
The amendment would give three senators and three representatives (a majority of each sessions appropriations conference committee) the ability to re-write or individually fund, or not fund, several of the key school funding provisions, the TASB alert states.
By careful manipulation, they would reward their own districts or punish the districts of other members, the TASB alert alleges. They could do this by using formulas that are intended to reflect cost differences districts must pay or that partially equalize the ability of school districts to fund their programs.
The only defense of changes like this would be to vote down an entire general appropriations bill, an action many legislators would be reluctant to take, the e-mail concludes.
Ogdens amendment language makes SB 8 a radical change from the current system and represents a giant step backwards in assuring necessary support for our public schools, the TASB alert states.
This is the first I've read of any of this. Based on the later quotes from Sen. Kevin Eltife, I'm guessing that Ogden's amendment did not make it into the final version of SB8, but without knowing what it was, I can't be sure. Anyone have more information on this?
UPDATE: Edited slightly for clarity in light of estiv's comment. I think the Paris News story is about an amendment Ogden added to SB8, and not about his separate joint resolutions for constitutional amendments. I'm still not sure what that amendment was about, though.
I'm trying to make sense of what happened in the Legislature yesterday. Let's start with the stuff that's easy to figure out, like the Senate approval of the judicial pay raise that had caused such tumult in the last days of the regular session.
A bill sent to Gov. Rick Perry would increase state district judges' salaries, plus legislative pensions, tied to judicial pay.By raising judicial salaries, a lawmaker with 12 years in office would get nearly a $6,000 retirement pay increase, jumping to $34,500 a year from $28,068.
"This will be the first meaningful pay raise in seven years (for Texas judges)," Sen. Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock, said.
[...]
Senators voted 23-5 for the raise, without discussion. The House approved it earlier.
House Bill 11 would increase a district judge's pay from $101,700 a year to $125,000 if Perry signs it. The bill also would increase Texas Supreme court justices' pay from $113,000 to $150,000 and appellate court justices from $107,000 to $137,500.
Before I move on, I love this quote from David Dewhurst, who's apparently feeling a little touchy these days:
When asked what Texans might think of the Legislature approving pay raises without completing work on school finance, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said, "I don't think there's anybody in Texas ... that doesn't understand how hard we worked."
Yes, well, hard work with little to show for it isn't exactly virtuous, is it?
Moving on. As noted last night, the Senate has approved Senate Bill 5, which is the current version of the telecom bill.
It took the Senate less than 10 minutes to pass Senate Bill 5 by an overwhelming majority Tuesday night.The House is expected to take up the measure today.
[...]
With hope that the Legislature will pass some version of school finance legislation in this special session, legislative leaders have moved ahead with telecom changes as well.
It's not certain whether Gov. Rick Perry would sign telecom measures if there's no deal on school finance.
"There are issues out there that are not resolved that the governor would like to see resolved," Perry spokesman Robert Black said. "Telecom is one of them."
But he added, "The situation is so fluid on a number of issues. It's best if we take a wait-and-see" attitude, and see what happens "in the next 24 to 48 hours."
That's a bit of an unexpected twist, but I'll be surprised if Perry actually winds up vetoing this bill. Lobbyists' influence aside, if he really cared about other issues being resolved before stuff like this got approved, he could have not added this to the special session call until he'd gotten the resolution he wanted. To bring it up and then shoot it down on that basis makes no sense.
Next, we have eminent domain.
Responding to a wave of anger over a recent U.S. Supreme Court private property decision, the Texas Senate on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a bill limiting the government's ability in Texas to seize land for purely economic development."We made the language tougher," said a jubilant Sen. Kyle Janek, R-Houston, who authored Senate Bill 7. "It's clearly better than the law we have."
Legislators from both houses, along with Gov. Rick Perry, have vowed to limit the effects of a June Supreme Court ruling stipulating that the city of New London, Conn., was within its rights to seize property from private individuals and give it to other private individuals as long as the city could show it was in the public interest. Perry on Tuesday called the issue of protecting property rights "a very important one to Texans" and has said before that he hoped lawmakers would send him legislation to sign.
The two chambers did pass different versions of an eminent domain legislation during the first special session, but that session concluded before a final bill could be hashed out.
[...]
Janek's bill, which passed the Senate 25-4 just after Perry allowed it to be considered during this year's second special session, would bar governmental entities from taking land for strictly economic development purposes.
[...]
Among the bill's detractors was Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, who argued that the bill would actually weaken eminent domain laws in Texas; virtually all a governmental entity had to do, he said, was prove that property to be seized would be turned into public infrastructure.
"What we've done is make it easier for the government to come and condemn property," Shapleigh said.
Janek's bill now is headed to the House.
It was philosophical differences between Janek's bill and that of House sponsor Frank Corte which led to its demise during the last special session. There's no indication in the stories I've read that those differences have been worked out (and if so, in which direction), but Aaron Pena posts the following:
Today, SB 7, will be presented in the House of Representatives by the joint sponsers of the bill: Wooley, Corte, Pena, Kolkhorst and Edwards and should pass though easily.
This leads me to believe that the differences have been resolved, at least if what's being put up for a vote in the House really is SB7. We'll find out today, I guess.
Finally, there's the school finance stuff. I'll put that in a separate post to keep my categories in order.
Via Karl-T, I see that John Courage, the Democratic candidate for CD21, has himself a nice spiffy new website, complete with blog, of course. Courage is out there raising money for his race against DeLay lapdog Lamar Smith, so check him out and throw him a few bucks if you like what you see. This race isn't on the national netroots radar yet, but with some decent luck on the fundraising trail, it could be.
In related news, Mike Fjetland is also working to raise money to make another primary run at DeLay. He's got the promise of support from Pete McCloskey and his Revolt of the Elders group if he can make a little headway first. His exploratory campaign page is here, so have a look and see for yourself.
The money laundering charges against three of Tom DeLay's cronies have survived another motion to dismiss.
Judge Bob Perkins denied arguments from John Colyandro and Jim Ellis that the charges were based on an unconstitutionally vague law and that the indictments were improperly worded.Lawyers for Colyandro, who worked for DeLay's fundraising committee Texans for a Republican Majority, and Jim Ellis, who worked for Americans for a Republican Majority, have said they would appeal, likely delaying any trial for several months.
[...]
Another defendant, Warren RoBold, a Washington consultant who helped raise money for the committees, also has been indicted on charges of accepting illegal corporate contributions. RoBold was not part of Tuesday's court proceedings.
Draw it out as long as you like, fellas. The piper will be waiting at the end of the road for his payment.
The much-dreaded telecom bill appears to be headed for passage on its third try though the Lege.
The wide-ranging telecommunications bills, delayed most of the summer by the battle over public school finance, would allow phone companies to avoid the thousands of local cable TV licenses that cable companies must acquire.The Senate tentatively passed its version Tuesday night. The House, which debated its nearly identical version for several hours, delayed a vote until Wednesday when it could take up the Senate version. Ultimate approval by the House was expected, which would send the issue to Gov. Rick Perry for his consideration.
[...]
Rep. Phil King, R-Weatherford, the sponsor of the House bill, said he expects phone companies offering cable-like services will want to reach as many customers as possible.
"I think we're going to be amazed how quickly this takes hold," King said. "The real effect is going to be competition. It's a bill allowing more companies to allow more choices to consumers. That's how competition works."
Cable companies dominate TV service now but phone companies are trying to get into the business by offering video service over fiber-optic networks that could also carry voice and high-speed data transmission.
The bill has had widespread support in both the House and Senate. It failed in the summer's first special session that ended in July when it couldn't break out of the legislative logjam created in the battle over public school finance.
It may be popular inside the chambers, but there's pretty widespread opposition on the outside. Looks like double overtime was too long a period to defend against it, though. On the plus side, as noted before, the municipal wireless ban appears to be out of the picture. Story link via Rep. Pena.
Also via The Rep, eminent domain is back on the agenda. I've said before that I think this is an issue which should be addressed, but also as before I'm afraid we're going to get a rush job that won't give all affected parties a chance to be fully heard. I suppose once Craddick's call to adjourn was ignored, it was inevitable there'd be a push to Do Something before the clock ran out.
He knew it was coming, and was fortunately able to make other arrangements: Father John has left the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (which is currently cutting 2900 jobs) to go work for the Office of the Attorney General. I join in his skepticism that the new privatized system will be any cheaper or more efficient than what it is replacing, but for the sake of the people who will be most directly affected, I hope we're both wrong. Good luck with the new gig, Father John, and I hope you'll still have some insider dirt to pass along.
Oh, and by the way: Accenture, the outsourcer handling this contract for the state of Texas, got some bad legislative news recently.
US lawmakers rejected a lobbying effort by Accenture Ltd., the worlds second-largest consulting firm, to ensure that it obtained an exemption from tax penalties on companies that incorporate in havens such as Bermuda. A legislative package of so-called technical tax corrections introduced by the leaders of the House Ways and Means and Senate Finance committees and endorsed by the Treasury Department omits the exemption Bermuda-based Accenture had sought.Its just not in there, Christin Baker, the spokeswoman for the Ways and Means Committee said when asked why it was omitted.
House Democrats had objected to the change to benefit Accenture.
A provision in last years $145 billion corporate tax bill designated companies that move to Bermuda and other tax havens as US-based for tax purposes, denying them tax breaks. The law exempts companies that completed a move prior to March 4, 2003.
The omission of the change Accenture sought may be a setback for the company, which said in public filings it is concerned the Internal Revenue Service may not recognise its overseas incorporation in the same way the tax agency does for Tyco International Ltd. and Ingersoll-Rand Ltd., which also are based in Bermuda. Accenture spokeswoman Roxanne Taylor didnt immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment.
In regulatory filings, Accenture said it didnt believe it was subject to the provision maintaining US corporate taxes on companies that move to tax havens.
However, we are not able to predict with certainty whether the US Internal Revenue Service will challenge our interpretation of the legislation, the company said.
Nor are we able to predict with certainty the impact of regulations or other interpretations that might be issued related to this legislation. It is possible that certain interpretations could materially increase our tax burden.
My heart bleeds for you, fellas. You can pay your fair share just like the rest of us who don't have access to lobbyists do.
Disregarding Tom Craddicks' plea to pack it up and go home, the Senate intends to take a vote on its latest school finance package today.
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said Monday that he has been talking to senators since Thursday, when Speaker Tom Craddick called for an early adjournment of the session, the second of the summer, in which the House already has killed school finance and tax bills."We've got a consensus of senators who want to go forward. They hope that this will act as a catalyst in the House to help them come together," he said.
He admitted that Craddick's position makes it more of a challenge to have a successful outcome to the session, which has to end by Aug. 19.
"In any game, whether it's baseball or football or politics, if the coach on the other side takes his team off the field, it's kind of hard to move the ball," Dewhurst said. "I know we've got some frustrated legislators, but we were elected to do a job."
I didn't think moving the ball was an objective in baseball, but those are the risks one takes when applying sports metaphors to politics.
How are we doing on the consensus front?
Craddick said it was unlikely the House would approve the Senate's education bill because the measure has been stripped of several "reforms" important to House members.Those include a provision that would move school board elections to November and a limit on the tax revenue that the wealthiest school districts are required to share with poor schools.
"We're not going to pass a bill just to pass a bill," Craddick said. "We want reforms in there."
Dewhurst said the bill contains significant reforms, including a requirement that districts spend a certain portion of their revenue on classroom instruction and intervention for low-performing schools.
"Over the last week our Senate members have been talking to their colleagues in the House. The provisions that were taken out ... were controversial ones that in their conversations with leaders over in the House they didn't believe were critical for passing," said Dewhurst.
The school board election provision was one of the things that school boards and superintendents strongly opposed, while the tax revenue sharing limit is the sop to Highland Park that refuses to die.
Too bad there's no one in the Senate trying to push through a companion bill to the Hochberg Amendment. If that actually passed, I think it would actually put a little pressure on Craddick to do something, since we already know such a thing can pass in the House.
Of course, whatever the Senate does, there's still the matter of paying for it. On that score, Sen. Eliot Shapleigh is pushing for a state income tax. I know, I know, it's heresy and it'll never happen, but consider this:
Mike Baselice, an Austin-based pollster who includes the governor in his clientele, has been commissioned twice in recent years to gauge public opinion on an income tax.The first poll asked respondents whether they would support a flat 3 percent income tax. Only 22 percent said yes.
The second poll threw in the fact that it's federally tax-deductible and would be dedicated to education and property tax relief. Support jumped to 55 percent.
We may not be ready to debate this just yet, but I believe that day is coming. Link via ItPT.
UPDATE: I thought I'd heard that the telecom bill will once again be taken up today, but I couldn't find anything in the news. Save Muni Wireless has the information. I swear, I looked there as well, but apparently I looked too soon. Thanks, Adina!
I pointed out the DraftJohnSharp.com website last week. Greg did some sleuthing, discovered that the domain name was privately registered, and found some evidence of who might own it in the source code. Karl-T picked the ball up from there, and found some more evidence of who created the site. It's all pretty heavy-duty inside baseball stuff, but interesting nonetheless.
Meanwhile, Postcards from the Lege reports that Sharp himself hasn't looked at the Draft Sharp site. Make of that what you will.
The following is from the I-45 Coalition:
The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) has proposed a massive expansion of IH-45 North. TxDOT's "recommended alternative" for the IH-45 expansion project appears to require expansion from 225 feet of right-of-way to 392 feet. However, TxDOT's study fails to disclose possible right-of-way requirements for any of the alternatives studied.Further, the report claims the project might cost only $395 - $455 million, or $13.2 - 15.2 million per centerline mile. In contrast, the IH-10 Katy Freeway expansion project is now estimated to cost $2.67 billion - or more than $106 million per mile. At 30 miles long, the IH-45 project will rival the Katy Expansion project in scope and may cost as much as $3.18 billion. Neighborhood leaders are calling for TxDOT to fix the "alternatives analysis" study and let the public review the revised plan for 60 days prior to approval.
On Tuesday, I-45 Coalition members will ask Houston Mayor Bill White and City Council Members to reject TxDOT's plan and ask the Transportation Policy Council to require TxDOT to revise their study and ensure both citizens and elected officials have access to the revised report prior to approval.
What: Houston City Council - Public Session
Neighborhood leaders to address Mayor and CouncilWhen: Tuesday, August 9, 2005 at 2:00 pm
Where: Houston City Hall, 2nd floor chamber
901 Bagby, Houston, TX, 77002The I-45 Coalition represents approximately 90,000 residents in the neighborhoods on both sides of I 45, primarily between I-10 to the south and 610 to the north. These residents live in neighborhoods like Old Sixth Ward Historic District, First Ward, Woodland Heights, Near Northside B.O.N.D., Brooke Smith, Lindale Park, Houston Heights and others. Coalition members are concerned about losing their homes, neighborhoods, and quality of life to an ever-expanding I-45.
The Executive Summary of TxDOT's report is online here.
Just as a reminder, the next Town Hall meeting with TxDOT on the I-45 plans is this Saturday at 2 PM, Jefferson Davis High School, 1101 Quitman.
From Rep. Aaron Pena, Toni Medellin, The Red State, and Latinos for Texas. Stace wasn't there, but he has pictures, courtesy of his sister, and Karl-T has some additional info. Looks like a good and productive time was had by all.
UPDATE: More from Latinos for Texas.
Some of us may think that it's high time for a sine die motion in the House, but State Rep. Pete Gallego does not. He's hand-delivered a letter to Speaker Tom Craddick imploring him to let the House get back to work. Click the More link for the full text of his letter.
August 8, 2005
The Honorable Tom Craddick
Speaker, Texas House of Representatives
Texas State Capitol - Room 2W.13
P.O. Box 2910
Austin, Texas 78768
Dear Mr. Speaker:
I read with interest on Friday your statements in the press wherein you suggest that the Legislature is "wasting time and money" by being in Special Session, and you declared it "unproductive to prolong this process." You suggested we adjourn sine die and punt the issue of school finance to the courts. I fundamentally disagree with this suggestion.
I respectfully write to provide notice that I object to any motion made to sine die prior to the end of the 30 day period set aside for the special session. If such a motion is offered, I hereby object and ask for a record vote with strict enforcement - each member casting only his or her own vote. As you know, pursuant to Rule 5, Section 1, the House cannot do business (or adjourn sine die) without a quorum.
The kids that I represent need textbooks. The teachers I represent need health insurance and a pay raise. The homeowners I represent would appreciate lower property taxes. It is unconscionable to give up and allow kids to go back to school while millions of dollars worth of textbooks sit unused in a warehouse. As someone with many conservative views, I believe it is the Legislature's duty to write a school finance bill, not the Court's.
Your intention to give up runs contrary to the wide support shown on the House floor for the Democratic alternative to HB 2. Our plan (offered as the Hochberg Amendment) is the only school finance plan to receive broad, bi-partisan support on the House floor this year. A clear majority (including every House Democrat and 14 House Republicans) supported this plan.
More and more House Republicans are suggesting privately that there are now 85 or 90 votes for this alternative. Many of us who support the Hochberg alternative continue to show up in Austin, with our sleeves rolled up, ready to work in good faith with any interested parties to solve the school finance mess.
The regular and special sessions have made it a long and grueling year for us all. While I also could use a break, the people I represent sent me here to solve problems, not to give up in despair in the middle of a school finance crisis.
The work we are doing on school finance is vitally important to millions of kids, millions of parents, millions of homeowners, and hundreds of thousands of Texas teachers. I do not believe it is good public policy to shun all of these Texans when the Texas House has already shown it can pass a bi-partisan school finance plan.
Texans expect us to work until we find a solution. Lieutenant Governor Dewhurst and the Senate continue to show up everyday to work toward a school finance solution. Governor Perry even cancelled a trip to Japan to stick around and work on school finance. The Governor has said if we "want to celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and Festivus here, that's fine" because we are "staying until we get it done." Taking the Governor at his word, why should we adjourn sine die if the Governor is merely going to keep calling us back "until we get it done"?
I ask that the House begin hearings on the proposal offered by Mr. Hochberg. I know that the equivalent of the Ellis/Eltife plan is also being filed in the House. These alternatives deserve to be heard and debated by the full House. With so much important work still left undone, it would be a mistake to admit total failure and simply adjourn sine die.
Thank you in advance for your consideration. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions. Should you have any questions or concerns, I will be in my Capitol office before we convene, and I will be on the House Floor at 2:00 p.m.
Sincerely,
Pete P. Gallego
Like Greg, I'm interested in this WaPo blurb on the CD22 race for next year.
Democrats are pushing donors big and small to help former representative Nick Lampson (D-Tex.) raise $1 million before the end of the year to fund his long-shot bid to oust Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), the House majority leader. Lampson, a victim of DeLay's redistricting effort in the 2004 races, is on target to pocket $750,000 by the end of September, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Rahm Emanuel (Ill.) said.But there DeLay has access to some kinds of money that his opponents can't match. He stuffed hundreds of millions of dollars into the energy and transportation bills passed last month to benefit projects in his suburban Houston district. He'll spend much of this month making sure the largess -- including $50 million to improve an interstate that cuts through his district and $324 million for Houston Metro -- does not go unappreciated. On Monday, DeLay will show a softer side, speaking at the opening of the foster care foundation he and his wife started.
In 2004, DeLay spent nearly $3 million to defeat attorney Richard Morrison (D), 55 to 41 percent. Emanuel sees DeLay as one of the top targets in the Democratic strategy to paint Republicans as ethically compromised and abusive of Washington power.
I have a pet theory about what DeLay is up to, since we've seen several out-of-character things from him lately, ranging from his ballot access petition to his sudden proclivity for pork. I think DeLay wants to do more than just win his race against Nick Lampson. I think he wants to get back above 60% of the vote. In doing so, he'll get the last laugh on everyone who ever wrote about him as being "endangered" electorally - he took the Democrats' best shot of a well-known, well-financed former incumbent and won handily. Having done that, he can go back to doing what he really wants to do, which is get other Republicans elected and keep the K Street money flowing.
Obviously, I have no connection to the man himself, and even if I did this kind of streetcorner psychologizing should always be taken with an appropriate measure of salt. But it's what I think, anyway.
I believe he'll have a very hard time meeting that goal (if it exists for him), and not because of who he's running against or the "culture of corruption" of which he is an integral part. I think he'll find that his district is becoming less hospitable to him over time, and if he wins in 2006 he'll still be endangered in 2008.
I've noted before that according to the Secretary of State report on CD22 had it going from a 33.0/67.0 Dem/GOP split in 2002 to a 34.1/65.9 ratio in 2004. That was based on 2002 results extrapolated to the new 2004 boundaries. Well, we have the actual 2004 results now, and I've finally started to do a full analysis of the new CD22. Here's what I've got so far.
First, here are vote totals and percentages for the non-judicial statewide Republican candidates from 2002 in CD22, along with DeLay.
Candidate Votes Pct
===========================
Rylander 116,592 74.29
Combs 107,018 69.27
Perry 107,586 67.73
Abbott 106,009 67.52
Patterson 100,465 66.87
Williams 101,535 66.65
Cornyn 103,239 64.73
DeLay 100,500 64.43
Dewhurst 98,739 62.38Total 841,183 67.42
Notice anything interesting? Here's the same thing for the statewide Republican judicial candidates, plus DeLay:
Candidate Votes Pct
===========================
Price 102,387 68.18
Cochrane 102,871 67.85
Phillips 104,753 67.70
Wainwright 101,848 66.72
Womack 102,187 66.68
Jefferson 101,836 66.19
Schneider 101,261 66.04
DeLay 100,500 64.43
Smith 96,452 62.59Total 831,595 66.49
That total excludes DeLay's numbers. The grand total of each, also not including DeLay's numbers, gives us the 67.0% total advertised.
The bottom line here is that in 2002, well before the TRMPAC and Abramoff scandals and the Ethics Committee admonishments, Tom DeLay lagged the statewide RPI in his district by two and a half points. He did better percentagewise against only David Dewhurst, who had the closest win of all GOP statewides, and Steven Wayne Smith, who drew establishment GOP ire for knocking off Perry appointee Xavier Rodriguez in the primary. He drew fewer votes than everyone but those two and Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson. All that against an underfunded and essentially unknown Democrat.
Fast forward to 2004. Only four statewide races last year:
===========================
Bush 177,378 64.37
Brister 165,392 63.16
Carrillo 159,309 62.04
Keasler 160,876 61.64
DeLay 150,386 55.16Total 662,955 62.83
Again, the Total does not include DeLay. Note two things: One, the SOS overestimated the RPI in CD22 by three points. Two, DeLay's underperformance is now almost eight points. Neither of these bodes well for DeLay. How much bigger will his performance gap be next year, after another cycle of pounding on him for the corrupt climate he enables? Will the pork he brings be seen as genuine constituent service, or a crass attempt to buy favor from the voters?
CD22 is still a Republican district - despite attempts to spin it as being more competitive due to DeLay's generosity to other Republicans, it lost only about four points of Republican-ness. But we've already seen that Fort Bend is trending Democratic, and that's a big chunk of CD22. Another two or three point drop in the overall RPI in CD22, as well as in DeLay's performance gap, and he won't have to worry about being considered an endangered incumbent any more.
Today is a good day to be glad that you don't work for the Texas Lottery Commission, where regular firings for no apparent reason appear to be business as usual.
According to documents obtained by the Houston Chronicle and interviews with more than a dozen former lottery employees and a current employee, the 325-employee Texas Lottery is plagued by deflated morale that has sent personnel fleeing to other agencies."If I were a lottery employee, I'd be scared to death," state Rep. Kino Flores, D-Palmview, told lottery officials last month in a hearing of the House Licensing and Administrative Procedures Committee, which oversees the agency.
[...]
Flores began investigating the agency's firing practices after learning that former financial director Lee Deviney was terminated a week and a half after warning Grief and others that Lotto sales couldn't cover the advertised June 8 jackpot.
Just eight months earlier, Deviney had received a positive evaluation and a raise.
Lottery officials insist Deviney's firing was bad timing and had nothing to do with jackpots. They gave no other explanation.
Flores says he thinks Deviney's firing and the inflated jackpot are symptoms of systemic problems.
"It's a direct link between the morale of the lottery and the product they're producing," Flores said. "It's affecting their day-to-day operations and their day-to-day decisions.''
[...]
Spokesman Bobby Heith couldn't address specific cases but said, "I don't get the sense that there's a culture of fear, or whatever, of being terminated for no reason."
Call me crazy, but if your spokseman has to specifically deny the existence of a "culture of fear", then you're probably not at a happy place.
[Lottery Commission Human Resources Director Diane] Morris defended her right to fire employees without warning or reason, saying due process was unnecessary. She acknowledged that the agency doesn't document employee problems in some cases.That shocked Rep. Corbin Van Arsdale, R-Tomball, who asked how the agency might defend itself against a discrimination lawsuit.
Sworn testimony, Morris replied.
"So," Van Arsdale continued, "he-said, she-said and you just hope the jury sides with you?"
Morris paused, then nodded.
"Wow," Van Arsdale said.
So just remember, when that inevitable wrongful termination suit eventually gets fired, the TLC could have taken action to minimize its risk, but didn't. There's more than one way to be profligate with taxpayer money.
Paul Krugman writes about the national housing bubble.
Many bubble deniers point to average prices for the country as a whole, which look worrisome but not totally crazy. When it comes to housing, however, the United States is really two countries, Flatland and the Zoned Zone.In Flatland, which occupies the middle of the country, it's easy to build houses. When the demand for houses rises, Flatland metropolitan areas, which don't really have traditional downtowns, just sprawl some more. As a result, housing prices are basically determined by the cost of construction. In Flatland, a housing bubble can't even get started.
But in the Zoned Zone, which lies along the coasts, a combination of high population density and land-use restrictions - hence "zoned" - makes it hard to build new houses. So when people become willing to spend more on houses, say because of a fall in mortgage rates, some houses get built, but the prices of existing houses also go up. And if people think that prices will continue to rise, they become willing to spend even more, driving prices still higher, and so on. In other words, the Zoned Zone is prone to housing bubbles.
And Zoned Zone housing prices, which have risen much faster than the national average, clearly point to a bubble.
In the nation as a whole, housing prices rose about 50 percent between the first quarter of 2000 and the first quarter of 2005. But that average blends results from Flatland metropolitan areas like Houston and Atlanta, where prices rose 26 and 29 percent respectively, with results from Zoned Zone areas like New York, Miami and San Diego, where prices rose 77, 96 and 118 percent.
Houston may be in "Flatland", and goodness knows we're busy sprawling out to new frontiers in exurbia, but that doesn't mean we can't be in danger of a collapse in the local housing market. The Chron's Nancy Sarnoff wrote about that just yesterday.
Houston home builders put up more new homes in the second quarter of this year than in any other quarter in history.The number of single-family housing starts which reached 14,335 in the second quarter was also higher than the total number of homes built in all of 1995, according to real estate consulting firm Metrostudy.
But this raises a question: Are we headed for an oversupply?
The total inventory of new housing is up from last year to a 7.1-month supply, meaning that's how long it would take to sell those homes.
Metrostudy President Mike Inselmann said a six- to seven-month supply is a healthy level.
Plus, most of the homes counted in the second-quarter study are under construction.
Inselmann said it would take only 2.2 months to sell the supply of finished homes.
There's more concern in the used-home market, he said.
"The resale market is characterized by sort of a gradual creep of inventory over the last three years," Inselmann said.
While insisting "it's a good time to be a home buyer," Inselmann wouldn't say it's a buyer's market.
"It's balanced," he said.
But if interest rates go up, first-time buyers could get priced out of the market, and inventory could really increase.
Of all the new homes that sold in the past year, nearly 59 percent were under $175,000, according to Metrostudy.
The question I have here is where is the demand curve? We know how many new houses are being built. How many new households were there in that quarter? What's the rate of growth for new households in the greater Houston area? In other words, do we have enough prospective buyers for all these new houses, and will we continue to have enough prospective buyers? If we wake up one morning and realize we've got a lot more houses than we do househunters, then you better believe prices will take a dive.
Unfortunately, I'm not really sure where to find an answer to those questions. I've noted before some growth numbers for Houston and some of its suburbs, but that's an incomplete picture. I'm trying to make sense of the state demographer's website, but it's slow going. If I figure it out, I'll post an update.
Anyway. Calculated Risk has some supplemental data for Krugman's column, and notes that rising inventory in the housing market is not an unusual phenomenon these days. I got the Krugman link from Atrios.
UPDATE: As suggested by Tom and Ellen, I've sent email to Dr. Barton Smith and to the Houston-Galveston Area Council, as well as to Nancy Sarnoff. We'll see if I get any answers.
Yesterday's Chron had this interesting overview of the two most powerful people in Harris County that you've never voted for and may have never heard of, Art Storey and Dick Raycraft. They've been a bit more prominent than usual in the news lately in stories concerning the Harris County Toll Road Authority and the overcrowded Harris County jails, so it's good to learn a little more about them. Check it out.
If there's a more repugnant person in America today than Fred Phelps, I don't want to know who it is. Picketing the funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq to promote his hateful agenda is just sickening. I'm glad to see that some people have thought of a way to use Phelps' grandstanding against him.
Phelps is highly outspoken against homosexuality. He believes God is killing America's soldiers because "gays are taking over the country." However, one woman says a group in Michigan has already dealt with the protesting pastor."He protested their bar, and they decided instead of counter-acting and counter-protesting him with signs, they decided to do a fundraiser," said Melissa Yoannon, the local fundraiser coordinator.
All these ladies are asking for is a nickel, dime or quarter pledge per minute that Phelps protests Taylor's funeral.
Yoannon asked, "I thought if we could do this and get some money for Sgt. Taylor's wife, to make up for this man putting such a stain on the last peaceful moment she has with him, why not?"
"That's already enough of a burden on the family to have to deal with that, especially with the kids. Then have some guy sharing his views on something that has nothing to do with the family," said Sanders.
Yoannon has set up a phone number and e-mail address where you can send your pledge.
"They can just e-mail me their name, phone number and what they want to pledge. I'll get back to them and give them the information where they can send the money to."
She said it's the least they can do in this time of grief.
"If he wants to spill his hate, we'll spill our love and money."
If you wish to make a pledge, you can contact Yoannon at (706)366-0945. To e-mail your information, send it to sgt.taylorfund@hotmail.com.
If you wish to make a flat donation, you can do so by stopping by or sending it to any Charter Bank location. In Opelika, you can call (334)742-0266. The mailing address is:
Charter Bank
114 S. 7th Street
Opelika, AL 36801Make your donation to the Sgt. Christopher Taylor Fund. There are two accounts, so you need to specify the one for which you wish to donate. One is set up for "wife and kids," and the other is just "kids."
I hope they raise a ton of money, and I hope this idea gets copied wherever Phelps brings his slimy sideshow. Thanks to Julia for the tip.
Damon McCullar went for a jog with Barbara Radnofsky and came back with a nice interview of her. One point to highlight:
DCM: The President has had several controversial appointments in his second term. What do you see as the role of the Senate in "advise and consent" and how do you feel about the Republican "Straight up or down" rhetoric?BAR: Well, I think we can talk about both Judge Roberts and John Bolton. The nomination of Judge Roberts caused people to immediately, and I mean immediately call on the Senate to confirm him. For example, KBH within minutes of the announcement called on her colleges in the Senate to "ensure" that Roberts would be in place by October". Now that's without regard to their investigation and their doing their constitutional duty of advising and part of advising means that you have to be informed. I take that seriously. I think Senator under the Constitution has a duty to advise the President and he or she shouldn't take it lightly. And I think it is an abandonment of your constitutional duty when you call on your colleges to immediately confirm somebody. He may be supremely qualified, but you have to go through the process.
I'm sure KBH would have been as concerned about a nominee if it had been John Kerry making it, don't you think? The Senate is not supposed to be a rubber stamp for the President. They have a job to do, and they ought to take it seriously. Otherwise, we may as well be honest about it and amend the Constitution to eliminate the Senate's confirmation process. Do your job, Senator Hutchison, or let someone else do it instead.
Anyway. It's a good interview, with a lot of substance. I see that BAR has been talking with the DMN, the El Paso Times, and the Statesman lately. I wonder when we'll get to see any stories from those conversations.
One of the things that was hotly debated in the aftermath of the 2004 elections was whether Martin Frost's campaign for the 32nd CD had a positive effect on downballot races, or if the resources he expended only benefitted his own totals. I think I have some data that may help answer this question.
What makes this tough to answer is finding an appropriate basis for comparison. Looking at turnout in a given precinct, even in a strongly Democratic precinct, isn't enough, since you can't say for certain based on higher than usual numbers who those people were actually voting for. Similarly, you can't just look at returns in a given precinct, since you don't know what the baseline performance would have been. What you need is to compare returns in precincts where Frost was on the ballot to those without him, and you've got to compare the results for a downballot candidate to a baseline result for each.
I got an inkling for how to do this while doing an analysis of Chris Harris' SD9, which was requested of me awhile back. What gave me the idea was noticing that within SD9 there were four contested Congressional races, and that there was a wide spread in performance among the four Democratic candidates.
Results in SD9CD26 - Michael Burgess versus Lico Reyes
Candidate Votes Vote Pct Vote Diff Pct Diff
========================================================
Burgess 38,709 78.90 +833 +4.45
Reyes 10,353 21.10 -2,643 -4.45Bush 37,876 74.45
Kerry 12,996 25.55
CD06 - Joe Barton versus Morris MeyerCandidate Votes Vote Pct Vote Diff Pct Diff
========================================================
Barton 22,824 52.54 -893 +0.03
Meyer 20,618 47.46 -780 -0.03Bush 23,717 52.57
Kerry 21,398 47.43
CD24 - Kenny Marchant versus Gary PageCandidate Votes Vote Pct Vote Diff Pct Diff
========================================================
Marchant 56,759 61.67 -3,210 -0.35
Page 35,278 38.33 -1,440 +0.35Bush 59,969 62.02
Kerry 36,718 37.98
CD32 - Pete Sessions versus Martin FrostCandidate Votes Vote Pct Vote Diff Pct Diff
========================================================
Sessions 13,104 52.87 -2,111 -6.65
Frost 11,680 47.13 +1,333 +6.65Bush 15,215 59.52
Kerry 10,347 40.48
"Vote diff", in case you can't tell, is the difference between that candidate's total and the corresponding total in the Presidential race. "Pct diff" is the same for the two-party vote percentage. An eleven point range between Frost, who got more votes than John Kerry, and Reyes, whose opponent got more votes than Bush. Clearly, Frost's campaign made a difference for himself. How can we translate this to other races?
What I decided to do what this: Within SD9, there were two Dallas County races, one of which you may have heard about. Those races were for Judge of the 303rd District Court, between Beth Maultsby (R) and Dennise Garcia (D), and for Sheriff, between Danny Chandler (R) and Lupe Valdez (D). Did Martin Frost help either of those two Democratic candidates get more votes than they otherwise would have?
The method I chose was this: Compare the performance of Garcia and Valdez to that of John Kerry in the precincts where Frost was on the ballot to those where he wasn't. The theory here is that since there was essentially no campaigning by Kerry in Texas, his performance could be considered a baseline, a minimum of what a Democrats should get (it's probably a little higher than that since there was some campaigning by Bush, but that's not really important for these purposes.) Only the Marchant-Page race covered any significant part of Dallas County in SD9 (there were two precincts in the Burgess/Reyes race, totalling about 50 votes), so we've got a fairly straightforward basis for comparison. Looking at the less-heralded judge's race as well helps us to filter out whether any differences are due to Valdez' well-known effort.
With that in mind, here's what we get:
Dallas County portion of SD9Candidate Votes Vote Pct
=================================
Bush 43,097 60.66
Kerry 27,950 39.34Maultsby 38,867 57.59
Garcia 28,627 42.41Chandler 39,113 57.29
Valdez 29,159 42.71
Sessions/Frost precinctsCandidate Votes Vote Pct
=================================
Bush 15,215 59.52
Kerry 10,347 40.48Sessions 13,104 52.87
Frost 11,680 47.13Maultsby 13,680 56.35
Garcia 10,597 43.65Chandler 13,865 56.41
Valdez 10,714 43.59
Marchant/Page precinctsCandidate Votes Vote Pct
=================================
Bush 27,846 61.28
Kerry 17,591 38.72Marchant 25,820 59.75
Page 17,397 40.25Maultsby 25,149 58.26
Garcia 18,021 41.74Chandler 25,211 57.77
Valdez 18,432 42.23
Both Garcia and Valdez clearly did better overall in the Frost precincts, but looking at how they did relative to Kerry in each area, there doesn't appear to be much difference - indeed, if there is anything significant, it's in Page's favor.
Differences in Sessions/Frost to Bush/KerryCandidate Votes Vote Pct Pct Ratio
============================================
Sessions -2,111 -6.65 0.89
Frost +1,333 +6.65 1.16Maultsby -1,535 -3.17 0.95
Garcia +250 +3.17 1.08Chandler -1,350 -3.11 0.95
Valdez +934 +3.11 1.08
Differences in Marchant/Page to Bush/KerryCandidate Votes Vote Pct Pct Ratio
============================================
Marchant -2,026 -1.53 0.98
Page -194 +1.53 1.04Maultsby -2,697 -3.02 0.95
Garcia +430 +3.02 1.08Chandler -2,635 -3.51 0.94
Valdez +1,035 +3.51 1.09
"Pct ratio" is the ratio of the given candidate's vote percentage to that of the corresponding Presidential candidate for those precincts. Another way of putting this is that Frost did 16% better than Kerry, while Garcia and Valdez each did 8% better in his districts; Page did 4% better than Kerry while Garcia was again 8% better and Valdez 9% better in Page's districts.
From this, it would seem fair to conclude that on a performance basis, it didn't matter to Garcia and Valdez if they were in Page's precincts or Frost's - they each did about as well relative to the national ticket in each. Therefore, if there was any Frost effect at all, it would have to come from turnout alone.
I didn't know what I was going to find going in to this. I do not consider this to be fully conclusive. For one thing, I've not looked at all of Dallas County; in particular, I've not looked at any of the other Congressional races there, including the precincts in which Eddie Bernice Johnson ran unopposed. More importantly, we only looked at some turf that was pretty hostile overall to Democrats; we'll need to see how things shake out in the more Democratic areas in these districts. I also don't have the relative turnout numbers at hand, so I can't say if there was a real benefit from an absolute vote total perspective in Frost's district. At the very least, however, this should cast doubt on the notion that Frost's tide lifted all boats. There's still more work to be done, but it doesn't look good at this point.
The full spreadsheet is available here if anyone wants to check my math.
Here's a new blog on the block - Tejano Insider, the official blog of the State Tejano Democrats. They've got a nice piece on Howard Dean's visit to the 2005 Hispanic Leadership Summit in South Texas today. I'll be adding it to the blogroll shortly. Check it out.
Greg notes that HD126's Peggy Hamric has joined Moldy Joe Nixon in the quest to replace the retiring Jon Lindsay in SD7. Good - that's another open seat for a Democrat to run for next year.
It seems to be compulsory whenever one of us Run Everywhere proponents talks about running a candidate in an unfriendly district like HD126 that some nervous nellie type pops up in the comments with one or more variations on the reasons why we should just stick to the nice, safe districts we're used to. The naysayer in that post turns up here with my favorite of these, the "Don't run against Republicans! It just makes them mad!" cavil. Perhaps as a public service, one of y'all could put together a list of places where it's OK for Democrats to put a candidate on the ballot, so we can quit wasting our time thinking that people like the 16,000+ who voted for John Kerry in HD126 matter. I know we're unlikely to win in HD126 or SD7. Hell, if we break 40% in either of those places, we're probably kicking ass across the state. That's not the point. We can either give up on those districts forever and watch them get redder and redder as everyone there eventually gets the idea that the Democratic Party doesn't care about them, or we can fight for them and work for a day - maybe not next year, but maybe 2010 or 2014 - where we will be in a position to win them back. It's as simple as that.
I suppose this was inevitable. I don't know what the main driver is in his run/don't run decisionmaking process, but I kind of doubt that a "Draft John Sharp" website would have that much effect. I suppose it may give him some inkling as to what kind of support already exists, depending on how widely known it becomes. Maybe.
That said, and speaking as a Chris Bell supporter, I say come on in if that's what he wants. Having a contested primary means news, and that means more coverage for the Democrats, who aren't in the position to generate it on their own for the most part. Ideally, it means one more person out there making the case against Rick Perry. Finally, if Bell isn't the candidate that I think he is, better I should find out now than next August. Sharp isn't my first choice to be the nominee, but he's still a million times better than Perry, and that's what it's all about.
Rick Casey has seen the correspondence between State Rep. Corbin Van Arsdale and the TX Friends of Time Warner Cable PAC, and he writes the response that Van Arsdale should have gotten. Bravo.
They just found another 600 inmates in the Harris County jails that were sleeping on the floor. Darned computer glitches.
The Texas Commission on Jail Standards had found the jail in noncompliance last June, estimating that overcrowding had left nearly 1,300 inmates sleeping on mattresses on the floor.Actually, the number sleeping on mattresses at the time of the report was closer to 1,700 to 1,900, said Terry Julian, executive director of the Texas Commission on Jail Standards.
Julian blamed the discrepancy on a "computer error."
All right, so now we know the scope of the problem. What are we doing about it?
The Harris County Commissioners Court is expected to approve nearly $1.5 million next week for staff to open more space and ease overcrowding in the county jail, county officials told the state regulators.Sheriff Tommy Thomas said he's asking county commissioners Tuesday for $700,000 to fund jobs for 60 new detention officers through the end of the budget year in March.
He said he's also seeking $750,000 in overtime pay between now and the end of September, although ongoing overtime needs are likely to run into the millions.
With more jailers on hand, the county will be able to open up more space for the burgeoning jail population, which a state official said is growing at a rate of 100 per month.
Doug Adkinson, deputy chief of staff for County Judge Robert Eckels, told Julian that county commissioners are expected to approve the funding.
It represents a first step in attacking the jail's overcrowding. County officials are also working on a more comprehensive long-term plan that they earlier said could cost as much as $8 million. The Commissioners Court is expected to take up longer-term solutions in mid-September.
So far, so good. Long overdue, but at least it's being taken seriously now. I'll keep an eye out for the next updates. Earlier stuff on this story is here.
I've been asked by the I-45 Coalition to do a few profiles on residents of the area that are likely to be directly affected by the proposed widening of this freeway. All of the neighborhoods that I-45 runs through are among the older ones in Houston, and they were all deeply affected by the original construction. The purpose of this is to give some personal perspectives to the process of freeway construction.
First up is Michael Catrett, who lives in a restored old house in Lindale Park. He sent me the following history of his home:
I first moved to Lindale Park about 10 years ago, after having a couple of houses in the Heights area. I had redone those old houses plus another in Galveston and wasn't really looking to do another just yet when the house at 417 Woodard caught my eye. It had a serenity about it that really struck me. It sat comfortably on its large lot, with oak trees wrapping their limbs around the upper stories. The crisp clean lines looked much like a prim old maid who had withstood time and changes.When I bought the house, I knew nothing about its history. However, neighborhood lore plus a little research turned up that it was built by the developer of the neighborhood, W.R. Reid, and his family resided in it during its early years, beginning in the mid-1930's. In the attic was an original abstract tracing the land back to the transfer from Mexico, along with extra rolls of wallpaper that must have originally been in the livingroom. An upright piano is in on the third floor with no idea how it could have ever been put there, given the treacherous steps to the upper story. An elderly resident recalled how when she was barely a teenager, she went to a Christmas party in the house and was quickly hustled to the third floor where the owner's son played the piano, and everyone danced the holiday evening away. Another elderly resident turned up an original sales brochure for the neighborhood which feature this house on the cover, in its original location.
I say original location because my house was moved in the late 1940's. It originally sat at the corner of Linder Avenue and Irvington. It would be hard today to find Linder Avenue because it now lies underneath 610. When they began right of way clearance for 610, a contractor bought the brick, three story house, and moved it to its current location, which had been a nine hole golf course. Yes, Lindale Park was a "planned" development, complete with its own golf course, swimming pool and clubouse. Now only the clubhouse remains. The golf course was subdivided to make room for veterans returning from the war. A series of owners resided in the house; a friend at the YMCA downtown remembers playing with his toy cars in the driveway when he was five years old; a late night knock at the back door revealed four sisters, now in their fifties, that had lived in the house and drove by when they had returned to Houston for a funeral. In the late 1970's, Larry Williams, active in the community, bought the house and brought it back from a sure death. I purchased it and again, breathed life into it with yet another restoration and renovation. The house continues sit comfortably with its large oaks, wrapping it for safety. It's a great house that has been saved once from the bulldozers of a freeway expansion.
About six years ago, the wheels of TxDOT again threatened the house. Although very quiet when they conducted their public meeting in our community, once they were at the meeting in north Houston, they rolled out their grand plan to "clear away all that mexican rental property" and build lanes of freeway that could stretch out blocks to the east. The service road would obliterate all the homes to the west of me, and bring the service road almost to the edge of my side yard. The prim maid of a house would be threatened again.
The neighborhoods, much as now, stepped forward to fight. Communities separated by the first construction of I45 joined arms against the TxDOT. Members both east and west of I45, north and south of 610 protested. METRO and city council joined in. An already existing transportation coalition, the North Corridor Coalition, headed by Jack Drake of Greenspoint Development, invited us to join them to develop transportation alternatives that addressed everyone's needs, not just the commuters or TxDOT. Plans were developed with community input and approved. TxDOT committed to remain within the existing right of way.
However now TxDOT seems to have been struck with bureaucratic amensia. They have forgotten their committment. They have forgotten the hours spent by community people to develop a consensus. They have forgotten their promise to remain within the right of way.
I wonder if my house is again at risk.
Thank you, Michael Catrett. Look for more of these stories in the coming weeks. If you live in the affected area and have something to say about it, please drop me a line.
As a reminder, the next town hall on the I-45 construction is Saturday, August 13 at 2 PM, Jefferson Davis High School, 1101 Quitman.
Tom Craddick says what we've all been thinking.
The special legislative session on school funding is a waste of time, Republican House Speaker Tom Craddick said Thursday as he urged leaders to pull the plug on the remaining two weeks."We have worked diligently to find a final compromise," said Craddick, who presides over the House. "At this point in the special session, neither chamber has been able to pass any legislation, and it does not appear that they will. We are wasting time and money, and it is unproductive to prolong this process."
Craddick issued the statement moments after fellow Republicans Gov. Rick Perry and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst expressed determination to continue working to find a solution to the vexing school funding dilemma.
Remember when some of us said that no real progress would be made on school finance reform until after the Texas Supremes made their ruling, because that's what Tom Craddick wanted? He was obviously toying with us this whole time. The Red State has the full statement, while PinkDome and In the Pink pile on. Aaron Pena gives the insider view.
Not everyone is ready to face up to reality, however.
"I'm disappointed by Speaker Craddick's statement and the apparent unwillingness of the House to continue considering school reform," Dewhurst said. "Because of today's comments by the Speaker, I will meet with Gov. Perry and senators to discuss our available options."[...]
"I don't think there's ever been a war won waving a white flag," Perry said shortly before Craddick's statement. "I think that we will work towards getting the absolutely best solution that we can given all the cards that they have to play with."
Yeah, well, when what you've got is a seven-high hand and everyone knows you're a lousy bluffer, your options are pretty limited. Just out of curiosity, if the House adjourns for the session, what can either of these guys do? I'm about as certain as I can be that the answer is "nothing".
My favorite reaction, which came before Craddick's plug-pulling, comes from our senior Senator and erstwhile gubernatorial prospect.
I thought when I bowed out of the governors race that it would take the politics out of the Legislature. Thats one of the reasons why I announced early, she said. I really thought that would help. I see no change, and Im disappointed."
"Take the politics out of the Legislature." I'm pretty sure the only way to do that is to make a sine die motion. Which brings us back to where we started. Thanks to Greg and ItPT for the pointer.
Moving back to Texas, Damon brings the news that Fort Worth attorney Dan Barrett will challenge Anna Mowery in HD97 in 2006. That district doesn't stand out as being particularly swingy, but that's all right. Tarrant is easily the most Republican of the six big urban counties, and it's going to need a lot of strong challenges by good candidates for that to change. Mowery won with 67% in 2002 and 63% in 2004, both times against Nancy Stevens, so at least the trendlines are pointed in the right direction.
It's interesting, by the way, to compare the overall giddiness and optimism that resulted from Paul Hackett's close loss to the pessimistic reactions in the comments of Damon's post to Barrett's announcement. The district's too unfavorable, the incumbent's not so bad, and (my favorite) the challenger's just an eeeevil trial attorney looking to raise his profile on campaign money. We Run Everywhere proponents still have some work to do, don't we?
Now that Paul Hackett acheived Very Serious Warning status with his close electoral loss in OH-02, what happens next? Let's start with the Charlie Cook view (as articulated by Amy Walter) of the current landscape:
Republicans in 49 states should take note that the "don't send a rubber stamp for President Bush to Congress" argument very nearly worked in an extremely Republican district, something that should be cause for concern. In Ohio, the lesson should be that virtually nothing is safe given the current climate, and that the climate is unlikely to change before the 2006 election. While it would be a mistake for Democrats to read too much into this special election result since things in Ohio are much worse for the GOP than elsewhere. At the same time, it would be a grave mistake for Republicans to read too little into what happened, as there are plenty of seats that they could lose in Ohio and that some of what happened can be reasonably extrapolated to the rest of the country.
I need to figure out how Team Cook calculates its Partisan Voting Index ratings, since none of those Ohio Congressional districts appears on its face to be particularly competitive. On the other hand, if OH-02 is any indicator, then pretty much all of the Republican-held seats there are potential pickups. One can only hope.
Newt Gingrich, a man who knows a thing or two about Congressional landslides, looked at what happened in Cincinnati and is sounding a warning to his fellow Republicans.
"It should serve as a wake-up call to Republicans, and I certainly take it very seriously in analyzing how the public mood evidences itself," Gingrich said. "Who is willing to show up and vote is different than who answers a public opinion poll. Clearly, there's a pretty strong signal for Republicans thinking about 2006 that they need to do some very serious planning and not just assume that everything is going to be automatically okay."
That article later on refers to a spat between Bob Brigham of the Swing State Project and John Lapp of the DCCC. Lapp posted this diary on MyDD, which generated quite a bit of feedback, some positive and some not, including a vociferous response from Brigham. I've got a lot of respect for the work Brigham did in this race and for the mission of the SSP overall, but I have a hard time taking seriously any argument that begins with an f-bomb carpeting and gets angry from there. Frankly, Lapp was a heck of a lot more civil than I'd have been in his position.
One of the voices of sanity in that thread was Archpundit, who gives a big picture look at the Illinois Congressional races for next year, and also notes that the DCCC dropped a reasonable chunk of change on a Midwestern media firm in the Hackett race. You can see the FEC filing for that expenditure, among others. Looking at it, I'm reminded that while the netroots can generate a very decent amount of money over a few weeks, it's nowhere close to being able to put $250K on a race all in a day. Can't we all just get along here, folks?
Anyway. Time to talk horse races. Here's one Kos diarist's view of the 75 best Democratic pickup opportunities in the House, and that same person's report on the 25 most Democratic districts that elected a Republican last year. The latest Democracy Corps memo (PDF) suggests voter groups to be targeted. And Josh Marshall has set up a thread to discuss vulnerable incumbents, if you just can't get enough. Happy reading.
You've got to give Sen. Steve Ogden credit - he's doing what he can to bring Meaning and Purpose to our endless legislative summer. Tax bills cannot originate in the Senate, but constitutional amendments can, and he's got a threefer for us.
Two property-tax measures try to address a state district judge's ruling that the current maximum property tax rate of $1.50 per $100 of assessed value for school operations is a constitutionally forbidden statewide property tax because local school boards have little choice but to set taxes at the maximum rate.One would authorize a statewide property tax to replace most of the local property taxes used to pay for schools, and the $1.50 tax rate would be cut by at least 35 cents. Or lawmakers could opt for a separate measure that would lower the $1.50 cap to $1.25 and would add language to the constitution saying it should not be considered a state tax.
[...]
The third amendment that Ogden proposed would allow a tax on business partnerships' income as part of the state franchise tax.
In an effort to broaden the base of a corporate franchise tax that most Texas businesses do not pay, Ogden and other lawmakers tried earlier this year to subject partnerships to the tax. But they ran into fears among lawmakers that doing so would violate the section of the constitution that forbids a personal income tax unless there is a public vote.
The property tax cuts that Ogden proposes would not take effect for two years, meaning lawmakers would revisit the tax-shift issue during their 2007 session to decide which taxes to raise to replace those dollars.
The first two are just more tax shifts, which is why there'd be a delay in implementing them, so the Lege could try once again to raise some other taxes to pay for it. The first proposal sounds like little more than just redefining terms: instead of an unconstitutional $1.50 local property tax, we'll have a perfectly legal $1.15 local tax and $0.35 state tax.
The third proposal is the one that actually holds hope for reducing the tax burden on most individuals. It's the limited liability partnership loophole that allows most Texas businesses to escape the franchise tax. (The other loophole, the "would add 10,000 businesses to the tax roll" loophole that would have been closed in earlier iterations of HB3, had to do (I believe) with firms that incorporated out of state.) Since it would affect so many more businesses, it would be sure to generate the most opposition as well. That doesn't make it a bad idea, though - quite the contrary. But it is the one I'd give the longest odds on getting adopted. Not that the others are terribly likely, either - the House has opposed the state property tax idea, and would probably not pass anything authorizing one.
But hey, at least he's doing something. May as well, since no one's made a sine die motion yet. How many more days left are there?
Remember David Manning, the fake movie critic that was invented by a couple of Sony employees to generate positive buzz for some bad movies? Shortly after that scam was discovered, a group of moviegoers filed a class action lawsuit alleging that such reviews violate California's truth-in-advertising law.
The complaints, filed Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court by a group calling itself the Citizens for Truth in Movie Advertising and four individual plaintiffs, targets 10 studios: Universal, Fox, MGM, Sony, DreamWorks, Warner Bros., Disney, Paramount, Artisan and Lions Gate.The suits seek to require studios to disclose the nature of junketeering and stop the movie houses from making "false, misleading and deceptive advertising" in violation of California law. The suits also ask for unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
"The reviewers are in bed with the studios," says plaintiffs' attorney, Anthony Sonnett. "If they want to promote a movie, let them do it honestly...but ultimately we want to bring this practice to an end."
Sonnett cited such reviewers as Jeff Craig, Ron Brewington, Maria Salas, Jim Ferguson, Mark S. Allen, Earl Dittman and the Los Angeles Times' Kevin Thomas as examples of how studios defraud consumers by making the aforementioned critics' glowing notices the centerpiece of print and television ad campaigns.
Yesterday, that suit was officially settled for a little over one million dollars.
The suit, filed in 2001, accused Sony of unfair business practices, including the "intentional and systematic deception of consumers," by using fabricated quotes attributed to Manning. Manning was identified as a critic for the Ridgefield Press, a Connecticut publication, and his quotes in praise of such films as "Hollow Man," "Vertical Limit," "A Knight's Tale" and "The Animal" appeared in studio ads and promotional materials.Attorney Norman Blumenthal, who represented the plaintiffs, said the final settlement amounts to $1.5 million. However, a preliminary settlement order, dated Dec. 15, 2004, approved a court notice that announced a settlement fund of $750,000 plus $500,000 in attorneys fees, for a total of $1.25 million.
Despite repeated calls, Blumenthal could not be reached for further comment. Sony, which did not admit liability as part of the settlement, declined comment.
Under terms of the agreement, moviegoers who bought tickets to any of the four films between Aug. 3, 2000, and Oct. 31, 2001, could file a claim that could return them as much as $5 for each ticket purchased. Unclaimed portions of the settlement fund are to be earmarked for charity.
One can only hope that possession of one's ticket stub from the movie in question is not a prerequisite for getting the refund.
I can't leave a story like this be without mentioning Earl Dittman, one of the so-called critics cited at the time the original suit was filed. There was a bit of a mania to learn more about Dittman, who never saw a movie he didn't love and want to be quoted about, back in 2003 - see eFilmCritic and Movie Poop Shoot for the details. The brief spurt of bad publicity didn't deter ol' Earl, however - he's still out there, hard at work offering breathless praise of movies like Robots and Guess Who. So be careful, and hold onto those ticket stubs, just in case.
Former Austin Mayor and 2002 Democratic candidate for Attorney General Kirk Watson wants to run for the State Senate seat currently held by Gonzalo Barrientos. For now at least, he's saying he'll only do it if Barrientos retires.
Watson, slated to become a partner Aug. 15 with the law firm of Hughes & Luce, said of Travis County's 20-year incumbent Democrat, Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos: "If the senator retires, I'm running."Yet Watson, 47, said he hasn't decided whether to make a direct challenge to Barrientos, 64, for the District 14 seat that covers much of the county.
"I would certainly want to talk to him first about that kind of thing. I believe the senator, having served as long as he has, and out of respect for the office and him, deserves to have room to make decisions on his own," Watson said.
Barrientos has said he won't settle his plans until after lawmakers finish special sessions on public schools and taxes. Members are nearly two weeks into a second 30-day session on the topics.
"After trying to do the work on these special sessions, perhaps I can have a little breathing room to make some decisions," Barrientos said last week, adding that he's thankful that voters have favored him for so long.
I suppose this puts at least a temporary halt to any talk of another statewide run by Watson, which is too bad. I don't have any strong opinions on this one, though all else equal I'd rather not see a nasty and expensive primary fight there. Rep. Elliot Naishtat has also cast an eye at this one, and I wouldn't be shocked to see Rep. Dawnna Dukes, who as In the Pink notes is currently defending Barrientos, jump in as well should this seat become vacant.
[Ben] Bentzin, a former Dell Corp. executive [who ran against Barrientos in the 2002 general election], said he has no plans to run next year. He and other Austin Republicans said they haven't heard yet of GOP candidates gearing up to run in the Democrat-leaning district."It's very important Republicans field a candidate in this race," Bentzin said.
I feel your pain, Ben. The GOP bench in Travis County must have a few people sitting on it after their widespread losses in 2004, and I can't think of a good reason why they wouldn't target this seat, open or not. Barrientos won with only 55% in 2002, and the overall Democratic index from that year was only 52.9% (I've not looked at precinct data from 2004; I'd be willing to bet the DPI is a bit higher). Admittedly, that figure may be a bit distorted by the performance of Austinite Carole Keeton Strayhorn, who racked up 59% against the placeholder Marty Akins, but she wasn't the only Republican to carry the district. Still, I'd consider this a no-brainer if I were a Republican, but hey, if they want to sit it out, I won't complain.
Oh, and the best vote-getter in SD14 in 2002? That would be Kirk Watson, just nosing out John Sharp. Food for thought if it comes to it.
Also spotted by BOR's Damon McCullar.
James Randi's Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural is now available online. It's everything you ever wanted to know about hokum and its hucksters, complete with Randi's snarkery. Check it out. Via Jim Henley.
Apparently, State Rep. Corbin Van Arsdale is one of those people who really can't take no for an answer.
Van Arsdale, R-Tomball, had requested a campaign contribution from TX Friends of Time Warner Cable PAC in a July 19 letter. That was three days after Van Arsdale had voted for Senate Bill 21, a telecommunications bill opposed by the cable television industry.Time Warner Regional President Ron McMillen's hand-written reply said: "Because of your vote in support of SB21 during the special session, our PAC committee cannot support you at this time."
SB21 died in the last special session, but an identical bill is pending before the House in the current special session.
Van Arsdale said the phrase "at this time" in McMillen's note made it sound like he might receive a contribution if he voted against the second bill.
"I don't want to attach incorrect intentions to this language, but the words struck me as Time Warner PAC hinging their campaign contributions to a particular official vote on a particular bill," Van Arsdale said in a letter to McMillan.
Van Arsdale sent copies of his letter to prosecutors in Travis and Harris counties, but he said he did not want to launch an official investigation. Officials in those two offices could not be reached for comment.
I just have one question: If TX Friends of Time Warner Cable PAC had sent him a check as requested and included a letter that said "Here's your boodle, and thanks a bunch for having our back on that telecom bill thing", would Van Arsdale have forwarded it along to the DA? If not, what's the difference?
Poor Kimberly. It can't be much fun being a reporter based in Austin right about now.
I mean, what is there to write about? That there's still no consensus on anything related to school finance, even on a bill that does nothing more than give teachers a modest raise and buy textbooks? We're approaching Seinfeldian levels of nothingness here, and we don't have Kramer to distract us. There's still no buy-in from the primary stakeholders in this undertaking. So once again, why are we here?
Harvey Kronberg explains how we got here. The why part is left as an exercise for the reader.
Well, Paul Hackett definitely beat the spread yesterday. Getting 48% of the vote in a district that went for Bush by a 64-36 margin is pretty damn good. In terms of positive media generated, setting a tone for 2006, proving the validity of the Run Everywhere concept, giving another example of netroots fundraising chops, and making the bad guys drop a half million bucks on a race that was supposed to be a formality, this campaign was a huge success.
Still, I don't want to overstate things. Jean Schmidt was an extremely unattractive candidate, while Paul Hackett was about as appealing as one can be. This race generated as much media as it did in large part because there isn't much else going on politically. The netroots fundraising was awesome, and really only drew contributions from a small portion of the liberal blog audience, but when there's a gazillion local and state races to go along with the Congressional and Senate contests, it's going to get stretched a lot thinner. And in the end, a close loss is still a loss. Symbolic value has meaning now, but not next year.
The bottom line is that a good candidate with clearly articulated values and enough funding to make his or her message heard is a force to be reckoned with, no matter where the race is. I hope Paul Hackett has inspired people to follow his lead as I hope those of us who supported him in this run will get another opportunity to do so next year, wherever he may choose to run. I really hope the energy he created will carry to other states, like, say, this one.
On a side note, it will be very interesting to see how other Democratic candidates who are also Iraq war veterans will fare next year. I'll be curious to see how many more will jump into races as well, and if they are on the receiving end of the same kind of sliming that was aimed at Hackett.
Finally, if you want to send a personal message of thanks to Paul Hackett, here's where you can do it.
I doubt I'll be awake when the final result comes in, but as I type this, Paul Hackett is winning by a 23,957 to 22,846 margin. That's with 305 precincts of 753 reporting. Apparently, turnout is double the projection - 100,000 is likely instead of 50,000.
You can follow the score here and here. For reference tomorrow, when it's time to talk about What It All Means, I refer you to Charlie Cook's analysis from before the race, and Jerome Armstrong's interpretation of Cook's numbers.
UPDATE: Final results are in:
US HOUSE Ohio 2nd Dist
753 precincts of 753 reportingJEAN SCHMIDT 57,974 52%
PAUL HACKETT 54,401 48%
Just a reminder of what Charlie Cook said before the race:
Bottom line: Schmidt, the Republican, is still favored to win the election, but don't rule out the possibility of an upset, given the vagaries of August special election voter turnout and the problems unique to Ohio this year. But even assuming a GOP win tonight, the margin of victory can give us some insight into just how radioactive the governor's troubles and the "time for a change" sentiment in the state will be for other Republicans in the Buckeye State next year. If Schmidt's victory margin is in double digits, this tells us that there is not much of an anti-GOP wind in Ohio right now. If the margin is say six to nine points for Schmidt, then there is a wind, but certainly no hurricane. A Schmidt win of less than five points should be a very serious warning sign for Ohio Republicans that something is very, very wrong, while a Hackett victory would be a devastating blow to the Ohio GOP.
So we got the "very serious warning" instead of the "devastating blow". No complaints here. Congratulations to Jean Schmidt on her hard-fought victory, and especially to Paul Hackett for his outstanding effort. I'm far from the first person to say this, but I so want to see Hackett run again next year. Cook again:
Special elections in 1993 and early 1994, for example, gave us a sneak preview of the storm clouds Democrats were headed for down the road.In Kentucky's 2nd District, Republican Ron Lewis easily won a special election in May of 1994 to replace longtime popular Democrat Bill Natcher -- an early sign of the beating Democrats were going to take that November in southern districts across the country.
In Wisconsin, a special election in May of 1993 to replace popular Democratic Rep. Les Aspin -- who had been tapped by President Clinton to serve as secretary of Defense -- proved to be a political canary-in-a-coal-mine as well. Democrat Peter Barca beat Republican Mark Neumann by just 675 votes in a district that Aspin had easily carried for 23 years. Just a few months earlier, Aspin had crushed Neumann with 58 percent of the vote. In 1994, Neumann beat Barca by 1,120 votes.
I got three word before I sign off: Run. Every. Race. More tomorrow.
Via Scott, the Harris County Organized Crime and Narcotics Task Force, which was headed up in Baytown, has been shut down. Given that their accomplishments include mistaking hibiscus plants for pot, I'd say on balance this is a good thing. And, as Scott notes, the Byrne Grant money that had been earmarked for them can now be put to use on drug treatment and probation services.
Usually, when the advertising industry gets hold of a popular song for its nefarious purposes, the result is mortifying. Every once in awhile, though, you get something truly inspired.
Target Corp. is advertising its back-to-school booty with a takeoff of a rap song that proclaims a proclivity for ample arses.
The "Baby Got Back . . . Packs" TV commercials are a sendup of Sir Mixalot's 1992 crossover hit "Baby Got Back."
The old-school rapper declares, "I like big butts, and I cannot lie" in his raunchy paean. The Target rap plugs backpacks - "I like backpacks, and I cannot lie . . ." - and other back-to-school buys.
Awesome. Now all they need is to translate the lyrics into Latin, and it'll be an all-time Hall of Fame classic in my book.
Might this be the beginning of the end for the cursed pop-up ad?
A new service Claria Corp. is launching this month will still deliver advertising to the computer desktops of Web surfers.Only this time, they won't be annoying pop-ups.
So-called personalization targeting surfers with ads based on their online outings and errands was always Claria's goal, says its co-founder and chief executive, Jeff McFadden.
Pop-ups delivered via adware, which is often criticized as sneaky in its installation, were merely a stepping stone as Claria waited for the technology to improve and the behavioral-targeting market to ripen, he said.
"It was never a destination," McFadden said. "There's a lot of people who aren't fans of the pop-up model."
Some might consider that an understatement from the head of a company whose name has become synonymous with adware, which many consider a cyber parasite, or worse.
No kidding. If there's anyone reading this who is a fan of pop-up ads, please leave a comment and tell us all why. I do try to make an effort to understand the unfathomable whenever possible.
Claria is the company that gave Dwight heartburn when Microsoft was reportedly sniffing around them. I suppose one could take the view that built-in adware is marginally preferable to adware delivered by stealth, but I'm glad I'm not being forced to make that choice.
What I want to know now is when will Mozilla/Firefox come up with an option to disable those new annoying ads that display over text without spawning another browser session. These things are appearing more and more on the Dallas Morning News site, among others. I know this sort of thing is an endless arms race, I just want to be reassured that the good guys are still working on their weaponry.
The lesson for today, kids, brought to us by Governor Perry: If at first you don't succeed, lower your standards.
Gov. Rick Perry on Monday indicated he would accept a scaled-back school finance bill with a pay raise for teachers and no property tax relief if that is all he can get from the Legislature this summer.[...]
While signing a bill establishing new renewable energy goals for Texas, Perry was asked about rumors that legislators want to give up on school finance reform and property tax relief and just pass legislation to pay for textbooks and a teacher pay raise before adjourning.
Perry indicated he might be willing to take such a better-than-nothing bill.
"If you can get half a loaf versus a full loaf, you generally take a slice or two, if you can get that," Perry said. "We understand how this process plays out here."
"Hell, even a few crumbs off the heel is still something, right?" he did not add. You almost have to feel sorry for the guy, if you can get past the fact that it's totally his fault that we are where we are.
Perry said he intends to sign into law the bill that would restore $33 billion in public school funding that he vetoed in June. Perry had eliminated the money from the state budget to give lawmakers an incentive to pass broad school and tax reform legislation.
You can tack on another $3.4 million to that amount, as that's the cost of the two failed special sessions that Perry called.
If the Legislature fails, Perry said he will make it an election issue."There's going to be an election in the not too distant future. The issue of appraisal caps and revenue caps and property tax relief is going to be a very high-profile issue. We can either do it now or we can talk about it in March and November of 2006," Perry said.
Funnily enough, some people have been talking about this all along, and no doubt will continue to do so all the way through March and November of next year. I rather doubt that any House member is quaking at the thought of Rick Perry campaigning against the Legislature. I don't think any of them will have too much difficulty explaining to their constituents why their opposition to the Perry Plan (average margin of defeat over two different sessions: 125-4) was in the best interests of their districts.
Elsewhere, Eye on Williamson points to this excellent editorial which unpacks the failure of the Perry Plan piece by piece. Check it out.
Well, today we get to find out just how effective the Paul Hackett campaign has been. I have no idea what will happen, but however much we've fought the good fight, I think winning is more likely to be defined by beating the spread here. Regardless, it will still have been worth that fight. Thanks for leading it, Major Hackett.
Norbizness points to this two-part story on ESPN about which active players will make the Hall of Fame. I don't care to go through the whole list, but I do have a few comments.
- I think Mike Mussina's chances are being undersold. The main difference between Moose and Bert Blyleven, to whom Moose is compared, is simply this: Blyleven had a .534 win percentage (he went 287-250), while as of the start of this season, Mussina won at a .639 clip, 36th best all-time. Every pitcher ahead of him who is Hall-eligible and who won at least 200 games is already enshrined. If Mussina gets to 260 wins as the author suggests, I can't see him as anything but a lock.
- One of the pitchers ahead of Mussina on the career won-lost percentage list but who got no mention at all, even to have his chances dismissed, is Andy Pettite. Pettite's career record is 164-89, with an above-average ERA and a 13-8 record in postseason play. He also has two 20-win seasons, something Moose was dinged for lacking. As with Mussina, if Pettite plays long enough to win 250 games - maybe even as few as 220 games - I can't see him not at least getting strong consideration.
- On the merits, Rafael Palmeiro has an easy case for induction. His suspension for a positive test for banned substances, whatever the reason for it, is likely to cost him some votes. I'm of the opinion that there's no proven link between steroids and performance, but I won't be the one casting a ballot in 2011 or 2012. He belongs, but the debate is going to be loud and uncompromising.
- Predicting future enshrinement for players with a long and distinguished resume is tricky enough; doing it for players with fewer than five years' big league experience is a one-way ticket to palookaville. Joe Mauer is a great catching prospect, but then once upon a time so were Terry Steinbach and Mitch Melusky. Bill James, in his 1994 classic The Politics of Glory, projected Hall of Fame classes for the next 25 years. Overall, he had a pretty decent list - Brett Butler and Al Oliver were the only obvious head-scratchers among the players with tenure - but among the then-younger generation his picks included Juan Gonzales, Jack McDowell (20-win seasons in 1992 and 1993, washed up by 1997 at the age of 31), and my personal favorite, Ruben Sierra. In 1999, Albert Belle looked like a shoe-in. Now he looks like Dick Allen, surly reputation and all. You just never know.
UPDATE: Regarding Palmeiro, I agree completely with Jayson Stark.
Coca Cola is tinkering with another icon - its classic 1971 commercial featuring the jingle "I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing".
Thirty-four years ago, a 60-second spot shot on an Italian hillside, with a cast of embassy workers in costume, lip-synching to a British pop band, became an advertising legend. It was known as "Hilltop," because of its location.The song shot up the charts. Fans wrote hundreds of thousands of letters.
Even its creators were taken by surprise.
"Every age liked it," recalls Harvey Gabor, art director for 1971 commercial. "Grandmas sang it. People were singing it in the office. And kids liked it."
Everybody knew the song, whose lyrics were, in part, "I'd like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony. I'd like to buy the world a Coke and keep it company."
[...]
"I think we look at it with almost revere and religion," says Katie Bayne, senior vice president of Coca-Cola Brands, North America.
She's leading the charge to promote "Coke Zero," a new, no-calorie brand that she says she sips constantly.
The updated lyrics say in part, "I'd like to teach the world to chill, take time to stop and smile. I'd like to buy the world a Coke and chill with it awhile."
It's the first new version of "Hilltop." Shot on a Philadelphia rooftop, this one is dubbed "Chilltop."
Anyone else seen this ad? I've caught it maybe twice, which makes it way less ubiquitous than "Hilltop" was back in the day (of course, there were only so many channels it could run on back then, too). It reminds me pretty strongly of the original, which I suppose is a win for the advertisers, but then I haven't tried Coke Zero yet, so you make the call.
The "Hilltop" ad actually has a pretty interesting story behind it, which I didn't know until I did some Googling to find a story about the current ad. You can find the lyrics to the non-commercial single that was later released here if you need a longer earworm to hum along to.
Anyway. In this summer of sequels, remakes, and old-TV-inspired movies, rehashing a classic advertisement seems perfectly normal. I'm not sure I want to know what'll be next, though.
As I mentioned before, I had the opportunity to meet with several candidates for City Council at Kaveh Kanes on Sunday morning. They were, in order of their arrival:
Jay Aiyer (At Large #2
George Hittner (District C)
Anne Clutterbuck (District C)
John Elford (At Large #2)
Mark Lee (District C)
Peter Brown (At Large #1)
Herman Litt (District C)
Brian Cweren (District C)
Sue Lovell (At Large #2)
We had between three and five candidates at Kaveh Kanes at any given time, so between them and the eight or ten of us bloggers and associated folks, the size of the group was just about optimal for keeping the conversation going. One of us would ask a question, then the candidates would respond. It wasn't moderated, and for the most part people managed to get their say without stepping on each other.
Lyn, PDiddie, and Margeurite have done a fine job of capturing what we talked about, so I'm not going to duplicate their efforts. What I'm going to do is give my overall impressions, along with some specific items. If I've misremembered anything, I hope that the candidate in question will leave a correction in the comments.
- First and foremost, I was genuinely impressed with everyone who came. Everybody there had substantive things to say about Houston and the issues they want to address as Council members. There was essentially no posturing, no toeing of partisan lines, no attempts at point-scoring, and as Greg observed to me as I was leaving, no hors-race talk. I certainly didn't agree with everything that was said, and I do have my preferences for these three seats, but the main thing I took away from this was a sense that the people applying for these jobs are qualifed for them.
- It was also quite apparent that all the candidates there hold Mayor White in high regard. I'm not sure what I had been expecting from Republican candidates like Hittner, Clutterbuck, and Elford (Cweren, like Democrats Litt and Lovell, came in around the time I was leaving, so I don't have as strong an impression on this score for him as I do for the others), but they all expressed a desire to work with Bill White. None of them raised any specific points of disagreement with what White has done so far. Jared Woodfill, take note.
- In fact, overall I got the sense that there's a fairly broad consensus about what the priorities are for Houston in the near term: More discipline in the budget, broadening the tax base by encouraging development inside of Houston instead of the far flung suburbs (more on this in a minute), and focusing on quality-of-life issues like transportation and the environment. It was interesting how often one candidate began his or her remarks by saying "I agree with
- One issue which was something I knew nothing about but which all the candidates had something to contribute to was streamlining the process for getting permits to build in Houston. Mark Lee suggested that we could improve one of the city's revenue streams if we made permits a little more expensive but drastically cut the turnaround time on granting them; he indicated that this is something builders have said to him they'd go for. He also talked about making updates on permits available on the web, something which is apparently in the works now. Jay Aiyer advocated allowing private firms to get involved in the permitting process, which would help move things along; this too is something that is in the works as an initiative from the Mayor's office. Anne Clutterbuck talked about simplifying what needs to be permitted; she cited Harris County's process as superior, as it only requires permits for three items (flood, fire, and I can't remember the third). Overall, a lot of useful discussion of an issue that most people probably don't think about.
- On the budget front, Aiyer talked about using the Houston Community College system for police cadet training (something which Greg noted in a guest post here last month). Both Hittner and Clutterbuck would aim for reducing the number of municipal emloyees - Hittner asserted that there's a lot of overlap between what the city, the county, and the state do and that consolidations could be achieved by looking at where we can avoid duplicating someone else's work; Clutterbuck specifically mentioned Parks and Recreation as an area to target for reduction. There was no talk of tax increases.
- Where I saw the most actual disagreement was on environmental issues. Everyone agreed that it was important, and everyone agreed that the rules we have in place should be enforced. Aiyer believes that we are at the point of needing to file suit against the remaining "bad actors" who violate environmental standards; it's the only way left to get them to respect the laws. Elford did not agree with that approach; he talked more about a regional approach and putting pressure on the state and federal authorities to step in. He also said that the state EPA office should be in Houston, not Dallas. Lee also disagreed, citing the bottomless resources that petrochemical companies have; he preferred using the bully pulpit to apply a little shame to them for not being good corporate citizens. Clutterbuck pointed out that it's not just Houston but an eight-county area that's in violation of the federal Clean Air Act, and that as of 2007 we stand to lose federal funds for existing transportation projects as well as new ones.
- Speaking of transportation, everybody agreed that the Kirby Drive renovation is going to suck. Hittner says he drives Kirby to work every day, so he's especially aware of the upcoming chaos. On other fronts, Elford called Metro a "poor steward of public funds". Aiyer talked about an idea of David Crossley's to gear the public transportation system towards linking Houston's seven "downtown" areas. I know there was a lot more discussion on this, including quite a bit after I left, so I'm going to punt this to Robin and Christof of the CTC in the hope that they will post something in their forum that I can link to.
- I had to leave before Cweren, Litt, and Lovell joined in on the main conversation, but I did at least get to talk to Cweren about his domain grab. He told me that what gave him the idea for this was discovering that a Google search on his name also returned a link to Anne Clutterbuck's site - apparently, his name is a keyword for her site. For what it's worth, I tried that this morning and only got a link to this news page, which as you can see also contains his name. I did, however, get a Sponsored Link to Mark Lee's website on the sidebar. Wheels within wheels...
- I want to stress again that there are only a couple of truly contested races this year - primarily District C and At Large #2 - but a lot of good candidates. Don't expect there to be much in the way of local media coverage of these races. Especially if you live in District C, if you want to know anything about the seven candidates vying for that office, it's going to be up to you to find out about them. If you belong to a neighborhood association or some similar group, I strongly encourage you to pester that group to organize a candidate forum, and to attend such a forum if one is in the works. If not, visit their websites and contact them yourself, or check their schedules and find some other event they'll be attending that you can crash. The two elected officials who are closest to you are your District Council member and your State Rep. Know who's doing your bidding (or not, as the case may be) and make an informed choice.
- Along those lines, as far as I could tell, everyone enjoyed this event and expressed an interest in doing it again. Greg and I are already talking about organizing another one, in late September. We'll aim for a wider audience next time. More details as we figure them out.
Questions? Comments? Let me know. And thanks again to everyone who came out to talk to us.
UPDATE: Here's Greg's take. Things apparently got a little feistier after I left.
Best of luck to Seth and Sarah Oldmixon as they leave to spend the next two years in Bangladesh with the Peace Corps. They're writing about the experience here. Bon voyage, you two!
Arnold Garcia, Jr floats the notion that Tom Craddick's Speakership could be a casualty of the endless legislative summer.
While some might sniff disaster in the air around the Capitol, others smell opportunity. House members bucked the leadership, and the Earth didn't fall off its axis.Craddick should worry less about "busting" [Jim] Keffer and [Jim] Pitts and more about 20 or so House Republicans teaming up with 62 Democrats to bust him. In case you've forgotten high school civics, members elect speakers, so 80 is more than enough to fire a speaker in the 151-member House.
You might have to listen closely, but rumbles are coming from members who might want to take on Craddick.
They don't owe him a thing, the reasoning goes. The speaker led the House to vote on a tax bill that would be a tough sell back home, only to have the whole thing blow up.
Although they might be criticized for doing nothing, lawmakers didn't call the special session; the governor did. Twice. And the individual members didn't try to ram a tax bill that spared businesses at the expense of consumers; the leadership did. Twice.
Better to look responsive to the folks back home than be perceived as the business lobby's hired help.
"Busting" refers to losing committee chairmanship - Keffer chairs Ways and Means, while Pitts oversees Appropriations, and both helped kill HB3 in the end. I don't know how loud these rumbles are, but I could see this happen, especially if the Democrats pick up a few seats next year. Garcia's logic makes sense to me.
Now, Craddick did claim to have enough pledges of support in hand at the end of the regular session to ensure his reelection as Speaker next time around. That was, of course, before the current unpleasantness took place. I don't know how binding those pledges are; perhaps we'll find out. Again, if a few people get knocked off next year, who knows?
The Red State has more on this, including his pick for Craddick's replacement if it comes to that.