There's so many lawsuits and investigations relating to TRMPAC's activities from 2002 that it's sometimes hard to keep track. John Colyandro, the indicted former executive director of TRMPAC, now has one less lawsuit to worry about.

On Tuesday, a federal judge dismissed him from a lawsuit filed by two losing candidates alleging that Colyandro and the Law Enforcement Alliance of America violated the Texas Election Code by using corporate funds to influence contests for Texas attorney general and an East Texas legislative race.

U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel said the losing Democrats, Kirk Watson and Mike Head, "failed to allege any facts that Colyandro intentionally or even knowingly violated the applicable sections of the Texas Election Code."

Buck Wood, who represents Watson and Head, had argued that Colyandro, executive director of U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay's Texans for a Republican Majority political action committee, coordinated with the law enforcement group to use $1.5 million in corporate contributions to run ads favoring Republican candidates. Texas law bans corporate donations to political candidates.

Wood said the suit will proceed against the Virginia-based law enforcement group which ran ads criticizing Watson for being a personal injury lawyer and praising Republican Greg Abbott as a respected Supreme Court justice. Abbott won.

In other TRMPAC news, Texans for Public Justice has joined in with State Rep. Pete Gallego in calling for former TRMPAC treasurer Bill Ceverha to step down from the board of the Employee Retirement System of Texas.

“Those overseeing the pensions of Texas public servants should have the highest personal and financial integrity,� said Texans for Public Justice Director Craig McDonald. “Bill Ceverha does not meet these standards after his recent declarations of moral and financial bankruptcy. Mr. Ceverha’s participation in the 2002 Texas election scandal ought to disqualify him from public service—especially from a position that owes a fiduciary duty to retired state employees.�

Figured out what the sidebar-display problem was about: my use of a fixed-width font in this post. I could swear that it displayed correctly on Wednesday when I posted it, but I just realized today that it was the cause of the main body being too wide - it needed the space. I've shortened the offending text, and things seem to look better now. Refresh your broswer and see if that's true for you, too.

The funny thing is that this post was about to scroll off the bottom of the page. I'd have come back in tomorrow, hit Refresh, and everything would have been magically restored, had I not come to my senses and figured this out. No wonder tech support people chug Maalox every day.

As for the weird appearance of the Euro symbol where bullet points should have been, Michael left a suggestion for a template tweak that will hopefully work. I'll know for sure the next time I do a copy and paste from an external source into a post. Thanks, Michael!

If there are any lingering problems, let me know. I appreciate the feedback.

The MLB Hall of Fame ballot for 2006 has been announced, and it's remarkable in two ways: One, there's no slamdunk newcomer on the list, and two, it's curtains for Pete Rose until and unless the Veterans Committee takes up his cause.

Pete Rose's eligibility for the baseball writers' Hall of Fame ballot expired Monday when the 2006 candidates were announced, a group that includes Cy Young Award winners Orel Hershiser and Dwight Gooden.

Albert Belle, Will Clark and Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen were among 14 first-time candidates on the 29-man ballot. Bruce Sutter is the holdover who came closest to election, falling 43 votes shy last year.

[...]

First-year candidates include pitchers Rick Aguilera, Alex Fernandez, Doug Jones and John Wetteland and infielders Gary DiSarcina, Gary Gaetti, Gregg Jefferies, Hal Morris and Walt Weiss.

Albert Belle is an interesting case. In terms of career arc and reputation with the press he strongly parallels Dick Allen, who's getting a bit of career rehab these days. Belle has two slugging percentage titles, three for RBIs, and one for home runs to compare to Allen, but no MVP award. Looking at them side by side and considering the context for offense that each played in, I'd go with Allen slightly before I'd go with Belle, but I don't feel particularly compelled to vote either of them in. Belle will get less support than he deserves due to his bad-boy reputation, and I think Jim Baker is correct to say that the writers will "use [the context of his numbers] as a bludgeon with which to knock him back from election". I expect to see at least one truly egregious piece bashing Belle based on both of those things.

The complete ballot:

Rick Aguilera, Albert Belle, Bert Blyleven, Will Clark, Dave Concepcion, Andre Dawson, Gary DiSarcina, Alex Fernandez, Gary Gaetti, Steve Garvey, Dwight Gooden, Rich Gossage, Ozzie Guillen, Orel Hershiser, Gregg Jefferies, Tommy John, Doug Jones, Don Mattingly, Willie McGee, Hal Morris, Jack Morris, Dale Murphy, Dave Parker, Jim Rice, Lee Smith, Bruce Sutter, Alan Trammell, Walt Weiss, John Wetteland.

Also up for consideration are 39 Negro League and pre-Negro League players, who will be voted on by a committee of scholars, chaired by former MLB Commissioner Fay Vincent. Minnie Minoso and Buck O'Neil appear to be the leading candidates there.

The nine pre-Negro Leagues candidates are Frank Grant, Pete Hill, Home Run Johnson, Jose Mendez, Spot Poles, Dick Redding, Louis Santop, Ben Taylor and Sol White.

The 30 Negro Leagues candidates are Newt Allen, John Beckwith, William Bell, Chet Brewer, Ray Brown, Willard Brown, Bill Byrd, Andy Cooper, Rap Dixon, John Donaldson, Sammy Hughes, Fats Jenkins, Dick Lundy, Biz Mackey, Effa Manley, Oliver Marcell, Minoso, Dobie Moore, Alejandro Oms, O'Neil, Red Parnell, Alex Pompez, Cum Posey, George Scales, Mile Suttles, Candy Jim Taylor, C.I. Taylor, Cristobal Torriente, JL Wilkinson and Jud Wilson.

UPDATE: Here's Linkmeister's ballot.

I installed Movable Type 3.2 over the weekend. When I came back to the office on Tuesday, I noticed that my main page displays incorrectly on my PC here. Though my stylesheet did not change, it appears that the main body of the blog is wider now, which means there's not enough room for the sidebar. As such, all the sidebar contents, such as the archive and blogroll links, show up at the bottom of the page instead. This doesn't happen at home on my XP machine, where I've tried it in both Firefox and IE. It's only here on my Win2K box with IE6 that it looks this way.

So, I'd like to know: Does this page look any different to you today than it did last week? If so, please leave a comment or drop me an email, and tell me what OS and browser you're using. Thanks!

Early voting begins today for the City of Houston runoff elections, which will be held on Saturday, December 10. If you live in the City of Houston, you have a vote to cast, for the City Council At Large #2 race between Jay Aiyer and Sue Lovell. You may have one or two other choices to make, depending on if you live in City Council Districts B or C, HISD trustee districts 1 or 9, or HD143.

Locations and times for early voting are as follows:

EARLY-VOTING HOURS

7 a.m.-7 p.m. today-Saturday
1-6 p.m. Sunday
7 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Tuesday

LOCATIONS

Inside Loop 610

Downtown: Anderson-Clayton Building, Annex 44, 1310 Prairie, 16th floor
Moody Park area: Moody Park Recreation Center, 3725 Fulton
Kashmere area: Kashmere Multi-Service Center, 4802 Lockwood
Southeast Houston: HCCS Southeast College, 2524 Garland at Rustic.
Palm Center: Justice of the peace-constable entry, 5300 Griggs
Astrodome area: Fiesta Mart, 8130 Kirby
Neartown: Metropolitan Multi-Service Center, 1475 W. Gray

Outside Loop 610

N ortheast Houston: BeBe Tabernacle Methodist Church, 7210 Langley
Galena Park: Galena Park Branch Library, 1500 Keene, Galena Park
Hobby area: I.B.E.W. Hall #66, 4345 Allen Genoa
Sunnyside: Multi-Service Center, 4605 Wilmington
South Houston area: Power Center, 12401 S. Post Oak
Southwest Houston: Bayland Park Community Center, 6400 Bissonnet near Hillcroft
Near West Side: Tracy Gee Community Center, 3599 Westcenter
Spring Branch: Harris County Courthouse Annex No. 35, 1721 Pech, second floor
Acres Homes: Multi-Service Center, 6719 W. Montgomery, second floor

Outside Beltway 8

Kingwood: Fire Station 102, 4102 Lake Houston
Clear Lake: Freeman Branch Library, 16616 Diana, Clear Lake
Alief: Alief Regional Library, 7979 South Kirkwood
West Houston: VN Teamwork, 11210 Bellaire, Suite 118
Far West Houston: Courtyard by Marriott, 12401 Katy Freeway at Dairy Ashford

Fort Bend County

22. Rosenberg Annex, 4520 Reading, Rosenberg
23. Chasewood Clubhouse, 7622 Chasewood, Missouri City

After I posted a roundup of reactions to the Texas Supreme Court's ruling in the school finance lawsuit appeal (also known as Neeley et al. v. West Orange-Cove et al., No. 04-144), I received an email from one of the attorneys in the case, Mark Trachtenberg of Haynes and Boone, who represented the West Orange-Cove plaintiffs. He said that contrary to the mostly negative tone in the reactions that I linked to, there were many positives to draw from in the Court's opinion. To prove it, he sent me a detailed analysis of the opinion, which was written as a memo for the plaintiffs and other interested parties, which I've posted here. It's a ten-page PDF, and having read through it, I have to agree.

I'll give you one excerpt to highlight why there's a lot to be optimistic about. One issue in the case was the question about whether or not the Court even had the power to tell the Lege what to do with school funding. Here's how that got resolved:

The State raised three arguments for why the Court should not even reach the issue of adequacy: (1) adequacy is a "political question" that is exclusively within the province of the Legislature, (2) the constitutional provision at issue is not "self-executing," i.e., it does not provide a district the right to enforce the duties contained therein unless the Legislature first passes legislation authorizing such a suit, and (3) the districts lack "standing" to bring an adequacy claim, because the constitutional right is conferred only on students, not districts.

The Court unequivocally rejected each of these arguments. The significance of these holdings - particularly, the rejection of the political question argument - cannot be overstated. At least six state supreme courts previously had rejected adequacy challenges under the political question doctrine. Had the Texas Supreme Court followed their lead, as the State urged, the issue of adequacy would have been permanently off the table. The Legislature would know that its duty to provide an adequate education would be meaningless because the duty would not be enforceable in court. Instead, the Legislature now knows that the duty assigned to it in the Constitution is real and has teeth. Further, in any future round of litigation, the "sagebrush" will have been cleared. There is no longer any doubt that districts have the right to bring adequacy claims and that these claims are justiciable - permitting future litigants to proceed directly to the merits of their claims.

Here's the bottom line:

[W]e believe that HB2/HB3, if implemented, would not survive judicial scrutiny today. As Scott McCown correctly observed, "[I]f the school property tax is an unconstitutional state property tax at $1.50, it does not become constitutional merely because it has been compressed to $1.20. Adding 3% more money to the system over two years does not create 'meaningful discretion' at the local level. To begin with, it doesn't cover inflation, and in any event, would have to be spent on the new mandates in HB 2."

The special election for HD48 to replace the outgoing Todd Baxter has been set for January 17.

The January race will be a prelude to the March primaries and November general election, in which voters will choose someone for a two-year term that starts in January 2007.

The winner of the special election is expected to serve in a 30-day legislative session next spring that will focus on changing the state's system of paying for public schools. The state Supreme Court ruled last week that the tax structure that pays for education violates the Texas Constitution and gave lawmakers until June 1 to fix it.

Republican Ben Bentzin, a former Dell executive, is expected to run in the special election. On the Democratic side, lawyer Andy Brown, former Eanes school board member Donna Howard and former Austin school trustee Kathy Rider are looking at the race. Kelly White, who almost beat Baxter last year, also has considered a run.

Bentzin, who can tap his own fortune to pay for a quick campaign, quickly positioned himself as the Republican frontrunner for the nomination. Local Democrats have debated whether to unite behind one candidate to take him on, but the candidates who were planning to run before Baxter quit have been unwilling to step aside.

Several candidates from one party can run in a special election. If nobody grabs a majority of the vote, the top two vote-getters will meet in a runoff.

Karl-T and Rip Avery do some analysis of the upcoming election, while KT also provides a look at one potentially wild scenario for HD48:

The January Election is an open free for all election. All Republicans and Democrats run against each other. The top 2 go to run off in February. The winner of all that then is the State Rep for the Spring Special session that will likely be called for March-June because of the school finance ruling that set the June 1 deadline or else schools shut down.

BUT

There is still the regular primary in March which will decide the nominees for the November general election.

SO

Say it is Bentzin (R) Howard (D) Brown (D) & Rider (D)

They duke it out in the open special, winner wins. They all could potentially run again (and have new challengers) in their party primaries in March. So given that, the following is actually a possible scenario.

January Open Special Election: Bentzin & Brown go to run-off
February Run-off: Brown wins, serves as elected Rep for any Spring Special Session
March Primary: Bentzin wins the Republican nomination, Brown goes to run-off with Howard for an April Run-off, forcing him to campaign during the middle of the special session
April Run-off: Howard wins Democratic nomination and campaigns against Bentzin for November election, while Brown serves out the rest of the term as the elected lame-duck rep, while the session is still going on!

I've mentioned that a fellow named Larry Stallings has taken the task of challenging State Rep. Frank Corte in HD122. It hasn't taken him long to get his campaign into gear. He's also got a campaign blog up, and judging by this post from his wife, he's got a good idea of how to use it.

Speaking of [Rep. Corte], our daughter asked me why he introduced a bill to give, specifically, $6,000.00 a year in school vouchers. She wondered where that specific amount came from, since it is generally more than our local districts spend per child anyway. I didn't know why, so she set out to find out where that specific amount came from. Why $6,000.00? Why not $7.000.00? Why not $4,368.00? Well, she called last night at about 10 PM with an answer. Evidently, Mr. Corte used an amount fairly familiar to him - the tuition, plus $100.00 (for uniforms?) at his own kids' school matches that proposed amount.

David Harris made his appearance on the weekly Fighting Dems portion of Majority Report Radio tonight. Here's the writeup from Daily Kos. There should be an audio file on the Majority Report site shortly, if you weren't able to tune in this evening.

Harris has officially filed with the FEC, according to this article in the UT-Arlington paper (Harris is an Assistant Professor of Military Science and Training Officer for the Department of Military Science there). He's looking to collect the 500 petition signatures instead of paying the $3000 filing fee. Annatopia is looking to help get him that $3K anyway. You can chip in here to help her help him reach that total.

Check out the links in the Annatopia post, or head over to the District Sixer blog, to learn more about David Harris. And if you like what you see, please chip in.

There was another rally in support of embattled former Majority Leader Tom DeLay yesterday, and another protest outside of said rally. Two items of interest from the story: One is that you can't actually tell from the AP wire piece, which is all there is anywhere you look, where the rally was held - all they give is "a southeastern suburban Houston hotel", which covers a lot of ground. Thanks to an email I got from the Bay Area New Democrats, I happen to know that it was at the Nassau Bay Hilton, which is a stone's throw away from the Johnson Space Center. I bring this up to point out that unlike the last rally, this one was actually held in DeLay's district. It's always nice to know that he still gets there from time to time.

And two is this good quote from Nick Lampson:

DeLay's likely Democratic opponent in 2006, former U.S. Rep. Nick Lampson, said today's rally was a failed attempt by the former majority leader to show he still has voter support.

"Tom DeLay is losing support here by the day. The crowd is booing, the hook is out and Tom DeLay is trying to shuffle his way out of trouble just like Bugs Bunny in one of those old cartoons," Lampson said.

UPDATE: PinkDome gets in a jab.

State Rep. Mary Denny, one of the Texas Monthly Ten Worst Legislators for 2005 and a dedicated foe of letting people vote and ensuring voting system integrity, will not run for reelection next year.

The District 63 representative is not running again because of her husband's failing health, she said.

"My husband's health is not what it should be," said Ms. Denny, 57. "I've decided that it's time for me to retire to devote myself to him and our pursuits."

District 63 covers the majority of Denton County, including northern, western and southwestern portions.

Ms. Denny said her decision had nothing to do with either a stressful legislative session troubled by school finance issues or with the prospect of a contested election.

Two Republicans had already announced plans to run for her seat.During Ms. Denny's seven terms, she has worked on election, campaign and ethics reforms, according to a news release. She is also the chairwoman of the Texas House Elections Committee and a member of the Texas House committees on criminal jurisprudence and House administration.

Denton County Republican Chairwoman Dianne Edmondson said that Ms. Denny's announcement could bring out more candidates, though they would be getting a late start.Candidates can file for primary races between Saturday and Jan. 2. The primary election is March 7.

Denton County Democratic Chairwoman Edra Bogle said Monday that her party has a candidate who has been debating whether to run for the state Legislature or Congress. She said she hopes that candidate will run for the District 63 seat.

UPDATE: The Red State piles on.

The Stakeholder notes that Tom DeLay was ready to spring into action to regain his Majority Leadership had Judge Pat Priest done what he wanted and dismissed his indictments. From a Roll Call article, which I've reproduced beneath the fold:

DeLay and his aides have already drafted a letter to House Republican Conference Chairwoman Deborah Pryce (Ohio) informing her that he is ready to return as Majority Leader, several Republican sources said.

The letter was written in anticipation of the possibility that Priest, during last Tuesday's hearing on the DeLay allegations, would dismiss the case. It was never sent to Pryce because Priest asked for more time to consider motions from DeLay's legal team and Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle.

[...]

According to a source close to DeLay, the Texas Republican planned to inform Pryce on Tuesday that the charges against him in the Lone Star State had been dismissed. That would lead Pryce to respond that the Sept. 28 letter announcing his decision to temporarily withdraw as Majority Leader was withdrawn. Finally, Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) would issue a statement confirming that DeLay was back as Majority Leader.

Given all that's going on with the Abramoff investigation, especially now that former DeLay staffer Mike Scanlon has flipped, DeLay may quicky go right back to "embattled" status if he gets his wish. That'd be fine by me. Have fun wrestling with that contingency, fellas.

Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas) is positioning himself to immediately reassume the post of House Majority Leader if a Texas judge dismisses allegations that DeLay violated state campaign finance laws back in 2002.

DeLay, who was indicted on state money laundering and conspiracy charges in September, is not expected to hear until this week at earliest whether Senior Judge Pat Priest will dismiss the charges or hold a trial. But DeLay and his aides have already drafted a letter to House Republican Conference Chairwoman Deborah Pryce (Ohio) informing her that he is ready to return as Majority Leader, several Republican sources said.

The letter was written in anticipation of the possibility that Priest, during last Tuesday's hearing on the DeLay allegations, would dismiss the case. It was never sent to Pryce because Priest asked for more time to consider motions from DeLay's legal team and Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle.

DeLay has vehemently denied the charges brought forth by Earle, and his lawyers have offered numerous motions not only to quash the indictments but also to have Earle charged with prosecutorial misconduct.

According to a source close to DeLay, the Texas Republican planned to inform Pryce on Tuesday that the charges against him in the Lone Star State had been dismissed. That would lead Pryce to respond that the Sept. 28 letter announcing his decision to temporarily withdraw as Majority Leader was withdrawn. Finally, Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) would issue a statement confirming that DeLay was back as Majority Leader.

DeLay's office characterizes the letter- writing effort as "contingency planning" by the Texas Republican as he awaits Priest's ruling. "These were preliminary discussions about how the process should be handled," said Kevin Madden, DeLay's spokesman. "It was all hypotheticals based on ifs - if a decision was rendered [by Priest] or if a decision was made to go to trial."

Though the plan has not been activated, the episode clearly demonstrates DeLay's eagerness to return to the Republican leadership, even as some within the GOP Conference lobby for January leadership elections. Those close to DeLay say the Texas Republican still enjoys wide support within the Conference, with a solid majority continuing to back his claim to the No. 2 post in the GOP hierarchy.

"It makes sense, if DeLay's judicial situation is coming to a head, that they would be preparing to discard the temporary status of stepping aside" as Majority Leader, a House GOP leadership aide said.

Despite his overall level of support from rank-and-file Republicans, an anti-DeLay faction in the Conference appears to be growing, however, with some senior Republicans privately estimating their ranks at around 60 lawmakers. These Members have not yet united around any one alternative candidate, and many are not enamored with Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), who has been handling both the Majority Leader and Whip roles since DeLay stepped
down.

While not all of those Members are personally unhappy with DeLay, they worry that DeLay's history of ethics problems will be a political liability in 2006, especially when combined with the ongoing federal investigation into former Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff and the recent indictment of ex-White House aide Scooter Libby.

The plea deal between the Justice Department and former DeLay aide Michael Scanlon last week only added to these lawmakers' concerns. Although no Member is specifically named in the plea document, House Administration Chairman Bob Ney (R-Ohio) seems to have become a major target for federal investigators, who believe Ney traded official actions for campaign contributions, trips, meals and other gifts.

With rumors of potential indictments for lawmakers close to Abramoff, including several in DeLay's inner circle, circulating on Capitol Hill, the idea of the Texas Republican resuming his old leadership role makes some GOP insiders nervous.

Several lawmakers, including moderate Rep. Charles Bass (R-N.H.), do not believe that DeLay should return as Majority Leader, no matter what happens in Texas.

"There's a lot of people who think [the GOP Conference] should be in no hurry to bring DeLay back," said a veteran House Republican aide who requested anonymity. "The Abramoff thing is hanging out there, and no one knows what is going to happen next."

However, a number of political and logistical hurdles remain for those who do not want DeLay back as Majority Leader.

Even if Priest rules against DeLay's motion to dismiss the charges prior to a trial, he still could emerge victorious in a legal contest before new leadership elections can be held. DeLay would then be able to back up his oft-repeated claim that Earle's prosecution of him was politically motivated, strengthening his hand with the conservative Republicans who dominate the Conference.

After the House comes back for an expected two-week session in December, Members will be scattered around the country until the House returns in late January for President Bush's State of the Union address. For new elections to happen, at least 50 GOP lawmakers must request a special conference. During that meeting, a majority of Republicans would have to vote for elections to occur, something that DeLay could prevent if his support remains solid until then.

Kriston Capps announces a cool thing: Eye Level, a blog about the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Capps, who does a lot of artblogging over at his Grammar Police site, is the main blogger at Eye Level as well. Don't know of anything like this being done at other museums, so it ought to be interesting to see what it can add to the experience. Check it out.

David Harris will get his first real national exposure tonight when he's featured as this week's Fighting Dem on Air America's Majority Report. His segment is set to begin at 8:34 PM Texas time, and there's streaming audio available, so be sure to check it out.

UPDATE: Corrected time of David's appearance.

Remember Bill Ceverha, the onetime treasurer for TRMPAC who declared personal bankruptcy last month so he wouldn't have to pay a portion of the plaintiffs' legal fees as ordered by the court? Apparently, he's on the board of the $19.9 billion Employees Retirement System of Texas. State Rep. Pete Gallego thinks that recent events should be cause for Ceverha to resign, and he's sent him a letter to that effect. Click the More link to see it. Thanks to reader K for the scoop.

November 28, 2005

Mr. Bill Ceverha, Board Member
Employees Retirement System of Texas
18th and Brazos Streets
P. O. Box 13207
Austin, Texas 78711-3207

Dear Mr. Ceverha:

I write to ask that you immediately resign your position as a board member for the Employees Retirement System of Texas. This would be in the best interests of all current and retired state of Texas employees.

As a trustee of the Employees Retirement System, you have fiduciary responsibility for the management of a $19.9 billion portfolio. Yet, you have now declared personal bankruptcy. It is unreasonable to ask Texans to trust their financial futures to a man who has shown himself unable to manage his own fiscal affairs - and admitted it in a court proceeding.

Your credibility as a board member has been irreparably damaged. You have squandered the confidence of both current and retired state employees. After all, how can these employees be confident that you will protect their retirement and health benefits when you have proven to be ineffective and incompetent in governing your own personal finances?

There are more than 64,000 retired state employees and more than 132,000 active state employees participating in the Employee Retirement System of Texas. A number of these Texans reside in the district I represent. As a fiduciary for all of these individuals, you would best do your duty by resigning your position.

In addition to the fact that you have declared personal bankruptcy, I note also that you served as treasurer for an organization under criminal indictment. As the treasurer of Tom DeLay's political action committee (TRMPAC), you were responsible for many of the activities found by a Travis County Grand Jury to violate state law. Again, how can Texans rest assured that you will protect their health care and retirement funds when you have shown such blatant disregard for the law?

Finally, a state district judge ruled in a civil case that you violated Texas' campaign finance and elections laws while acting as the treasurer for Mr. DeLay's indicted political action committee (TRMPAC). The judge issued a $196,000 judgment against you; the first judgment against any single individual regarding the same allegations that resulted in the criminal indictments of Tom DeLay, three of his top lieutenants, his political action committee (TRMPAC), and the Texas Association of Business.

Felony indictments against an organization in whose governance you participated. A personal judgment for violating state law taken against you in an amount nine times the average income of most Texans. A personal bankruptcy. These are not the mistakes of youth. And, though one mistake might be overlooked, three strikes always makes an out.

Texas asks its public servants to lead by example. Clearly, this behavior is not the type Texas seeks. Your behavior makes it impossible for you to continue in the fiduciary governance of a $19.9 billion portfolio. I ask that you put Texas' interests ahead of your own and resign your position as a trustee of the Employees Retirement System of Texas.

Sincerely,

Pete P. Gallego

Republican Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham of San Diego has pleaded guilty to a variety of counts of conspiracy to commit bribery, mail fraud and wire fraud, and tax evasion for underreporting his income in 2004.

In a statement, prosecutors said Cunningham admitted to receiving at least $2.4 million in bribes paid to him by several conspirators through a variety of methods, including checks totaling over $1 million, cash, rugs, antiques, furniture, yacht club fees and vacations.

"He did the worst thing an elected official can do - he enriched himself through his position and violated the trust of those who put him there," U.S. Attorney Carol Lam said. The statement did not identify the conspirators.

The case began when authorities started investigating whether Cunningham and his wife, Nancy, used the proceeds from the $1,675,000 sale to defense contractor Mitchell Wade to buy the $2.55 million mansion in Rancho Santa Fe. Wade put the Del Mar house back on the market and sold it after nearly a year for $975,000 - a loss of $700,000.

How bad was he? Check out his allocution:

"Between the year 2000 and June of 2005 in our district, you conspired to accept bribes in exchange for performance of official duties. Did you do that?" [U.S. District Judge Larry A.] Burns asked Cunningham.

"Yes, your honor," Cunningham replied.

"Did you take both cash payments and payments in kind?"

"Yes, your honor," the congressman said.

"Did you follow up by trying to influence the Defense Department?"

"Yes, your honor."

Josh Marshall sums it up.

You know that when the casino boat line SunCruz was owned by Jack Abramoff and Adam Kidan, the company paid the men who blew away SunCruz founder Gus Boulis.

Now it turns out they also had the company pay the National Republican Congressional Committee (the House GOP election committee) $10,000 on behalf of Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH). That was in exchange for Ney's putting anti-Boulis remarks in the congressional record that helped Abramoff and Kidan pressure Boulis to sell them SunCruz.

The guy who helped arrange Ney's anti-Boulis-trash-talking and the later pay-off was none other than Mike Scanlon, who later did public relations work for SunCruz, in addition to going into the Indian gaming bilking biz with SunCruz owner Abramoff.

Scanlon is the guy who just agreed to testify against, well ... everybody in the Abramoff cases.

Complicated? Hey, don't blame us! We didn't tell them to go out and live an Elmore Leonard novel.

UPDATE: Mark Schmitt gives some background and context to Ney's fellow scandalmates.

Many years ago, I turned off a Giants football game with a few seconds left and the New Yorkers safely ahead, and headed outside to play. I got to the front yard (I left through the back door), where I was greeted by my friend and next-door neighbor Neil with the news that the Giants had lost. Something about a fumble and a fellow named Herm Edwards. It wasn't until I read the Daily News the next morning that I believed him.

Yesterday, I turned off the Texans-Rams game with about 40 seconds remaining. Later in the day, I caught the final score and nearly fell off the couch. Somewhere, Joe Pisarcik and Larry Csonka are shaking their heads.

So the lesson here is clear. If you ever catch me watching a football game, especially one involving a team you like, don't let me stop watching until it's really over if your team is in the lead. If not, well, you see what can happen.

The New Orleans Hornets are doing way better than anyone expected drawing crowds in their maybe-temporary home of Oklahoma City.

After Hurricane Katrina made landfall along the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29 and then the levees broke and New Orleans was flooded, no one could have expected this for an NBA franchise that was already sinking. In a matter of just weeks, the citizens of Oklahoma City reached out to the Hornets, provided a temporary home, a sense of belonging and, in the process, vaulted themselves into the picture for major-league sports.

The 45th-largest television market in the country, Oklahoma City has filled its shining new $90 million basketball arena with an average of 18,666 fans (97.4 percent of capacity) through the Hornets' first six home games. The team will play 35 games here this season and has an option to return for next season, if necessary.

What everyone from the Hornets' front office to city officials to the local business community hoped for was a warm, charitable reception for the displaced slam dunkers. What they got immediately was rabid support in the form of 10,000 season tickets sold in the first 10 days, putting the team in the top third in the league.

"My expectations were lofty, but we've exceeded them," said Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett, a former local television sports anchor.

[...]

Long before Katrina devastated New Orleans, Cornett had been like a hungry terrier gnawing on the cuff of NBA commissioner David Stern, who took to calling him "The mayor who wouldn't go away."

"He was persistent, he was thorough and he was passionate about his city," Stern said. "He got my attention and made us begin to examine the market. Before he came to see me and make his case, Oklahoma City was not on our radar screen."

Neither was it in the sights of Hornets owner George Shinn in the days after Katrina struck and he was trying to find a safe landing spot.

"When I talked to the commissioner, he suggested I take a look here, and I said, 'Where?' I had been to Oklahoma once in my life, many years ago," Shinn said. "I was more interested in Las Vegas. But David told me, 'You owe it to yourself to take a look.' So I did and the more I checked it out, the more positive I became."

Shinn's team that fled Charlotte after averaging 11,286 fans in 2001-02 languished at the bottom of the NBA with an average of 14,221 last season in New Orleans. Though he says he's committed to returning to New Orleans, right now Shinn is positively beaming about his port in the storm.

[...]

There have been no promises to Oklahoma City. But for a league having trouble getting arenas built in Orlando, Seattle and Sacramento, Stern said Oklahoma City sits at the top of a potential franchise relocation list.

The fans are buying tickets and jerseys and T-shirts and hats. They're turning out in droves for personal appearances the players make around town. They're coming early to games and they're staying late, even through losses.

"When we go back to New Orleans, this city will get a franchise," Shinn said. "I don't know if it will be NBA or NFL or hockey. But somebody's going to come here. This area is too good, too right, too ready. Oklahoma City has been a secret and the secret's out."

Still, as things stand now, the Hornets and George Shinn are saying all the right things about returning to New Orleans, which is a sharp contrast to the Saints and owner Tom Benson, despite the fact that the Saints have an actual history in New Orleans, while the Hornets have two mediocre seasons there. The Jeffersonian has covered that story well, so I'll point you there for linkage. It's a little hard for me to believe that at the end of the 2006-2007 season, when the Hornets will likely be finishing up a second wildly successful year in OKC, that Shinn will be singing the same tune. Given the financial incentive and the relative lack of bad blood that would result from relocating, I've got to think he'll be taking the matter under long advisement.

I have just completed the long-overdue upgrade of my system to Movable Type version 3.2. Far as I can tell, everything is working, but on the not-completely-unlikely chance that you run into an odd error commenting or sending a Trackback, please drop me a note to kuff - at - offthekuff - dot - com and let me know. Including the full text of any errors you get would be most helpful. Thanks very much.

Has enough time passed since this past Tuesday's The Amazing Race that I can rant about it? I think so, but just to ensure complaince with the National Anti-Spoiler Act of 1997, I'll put the rest of this post beneath the fold. Click on at your own risk.

What, exactly, is it going to take to eliminate the damn Weaver family already? Twice they've been Yielded, twice they should have been dead meat, and twice they've escaped by the thinnest of margins.

The first time, they had the good fortune that the task immediately after the Yield, which was the last task before the pit stop, was the kind of thing that was determined more by pure luck than anything else. Poor Mamma Gaghan just couldn't find the damn red bean, and that was curtains for that hard-luck squad. Almost any other task, short of the mud-jeep racing, would have finished them off.

Like the ski jump from this last episode, which took the same amount of time for everyone. Having made a stupid navigational error on top of getting Yielded (again!), they should have been toast. But no, Phil gives the never-before-so-dreaded not-an-elimination-round spiel, along with a pep talk, and they live to bitch and moan about how much better they are than everyone else for another day. Gah!

How bad are these people? They had me cheering for the bickering Paolo family, that's how bad. Some people are obnoxious because they don't care how others perceive them (two words: "Boston Rob"). Some people never recognize what effect their behavior has on others. I strongly suspect that as the Weavers watch these shows air now, they are saying to themselves that they still don't know why everyone hated them.

And why does everyone hate them? Well, if you've been watching (and you're not a Weaver), you probably already know. If you haven't been watching, I'm not sure why you've read this far, but for the sake of postponing my carpal tunnel for another day, I'll let Heather Havrilesky explain it.

Speaking of whiners, let's award a big, fat "Boooo!" to the Weaver family of CBS's "Amazing Race" (9 p.m. Tuesdays) for shamelessly whining to host Phil about how very hard the race is for them, since none of the other families like them. None of the other families like them because they're about as socially inept as 17-year-old boys (for a refresher course on what they're like, tune in for the next "Laguna Beach" marathon on MTV). The Weavers have proudly stated that they didn't intend to make friends, but they've been showing the progressive effects of this bad decision every week, as they become increasingly alienated from the other families. Remaining aloof was a big mistake, and it probably explains why Mommy Weaver appears to be losing her mind.

The best part, though, was when the little Weaver claimed that what was really, truly breaking her heart was the fact that the other families have "no class" and that her mom and siblings are the only ones trying to be good Christians. What the hell is she talking about? Apparently all it takes to be a good Christian these days is to ask Jesus for favors every few minutes.

I feel better now. If that's not enough Weaver-bashing for you, try here, here, here, and most especially here.

According to The Jeffersonian, there may soon be a fourth contender in the Democratic primary for CD28 next year: once and former candidate for Senate and Congress Victor Morales. That's based on a comment apparently left by Morales' brother Joe, who has a history of contacting bloggers. Left unaddressed is Victor's announcement after the 2002 Senatorial primary that he was through running as a Democrat for anything.

I have my doubts about this, but I suppose you never know. I underestimated Victor Morales in 2002, but I'll go out on a limb here and say that if he runs, he fails to make the runoff. I just don't see him having much of a base here. But hey, I could be wrong. Eddie? Andre? You guys are much closer to the ground than I am. What do you think?

Good for you, Ray.

Radio personality and political activist Ray Hill will receive a lifetime achievement award from the Houston chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union on Friday for his advocacy on behalf of prisoners and of homosexuals and other sexual minorities.

Hill, 65, who earlier this year announced his retirement from gay activism, said he will accept the award "with caution."

"They normally give these awards to people they think are about to die," Hill said. "Or they're encouraging you to go off in a corner to be quiet. In either case, they're destined to be disappointed. I'm going to be the old man my mother wanted me to be."

Poor Tom DeLay. He won't be able to blame this on Ronnie Earle.

The Justice Department's wide-reaching investigation of former lobbyist Jack Abramoff has entered a highly active phase as prosecutors are beginning to move on evidence pointing to possible corruption in Congress and executive branch agencies, lawyers in the case said.

Prosecutors have told one lawmaker, Rep. Robert Ney, R-Ohio, and his former chief of staff that they are preparing a possible bribery case against them, according to two sources knowledgeable about the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The 35 to 40 investigators and prosecutors on the Abramoff case are focused on at least half a dozen members of Congress, lawyers and others close to the investigation said. The investigators are looking at payments made by Abramoff and his colleagues to the wives of some lawmakers and at actions taken by senior Hill aides, some of whom went to work for Abramoff at the law firm Greenberg Traurig, the sources.

Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land, now facing separate campaign finance charges in Texas, is one of the members under scrutiny, the sources said. Others include Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., Rep. John Doolittle, R-Calif., and several members of Congress involved with Indian affairs, one of Abramoff's key areas of interest.

Prosecutions and plea deals have become more likely, the lawyers said, now that Abramoff's former partner — public relations executive Michael Scanlon — has agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy and to testify about gifts that he and his K Street colleagues showered on lawmakers, allegedly in exchange for official favors.

The events in 2000 that interest investigators are connected to the purchase by Abramoff and business partner Adam Kidan of SunCruz Casinos, owner of a fleet of Florida gambling boats.

Ney twice placed comments in the Congressional Record about SunCruz, first criticizing its former owner when Abramoff and Kidan were in difficult purchase negotiations, then, in October, praising Kidan's new management. Abramoff and Kidan are facing trial in January on charges they defrauded lenders in their purchase of the casino boats.

Investigators also are gathering information about Abramoff's hiring of several congressional wives, sources said, as well as his referral of clients to Alexander Strategy Group, a lobbying and consulting firm run by former senior aides to DeLay. Financial disclosure forms show that the firm employed DeLay's wife, Christine, from 1998 to 2002.

[...]

Alexander Strategy Group is run by former DeLay senior staffers Edwin Buckham and Tony Rudy. Rudy served as DeLay's deputy chief of staff until 2001, when he took a job with Abramoff, and later moved on to join Buckham.

Richard Cullen, an attorney for the DeLays, said Christine DeLay was hired by Buckham, an old family friend, to determine the favorite charity of every member of Congress. She was paid $3,200 to $3,400 a month for three years, or about $115,000 total, he said.

This is going to be a gift that keeps on giving. The Stakeholder and Josh Marshall will be your best bet for all the relevant links as it progresses.

I suppose if one must spend the day on the couch recovering from a cold, the least the universe could do for you is to provide seven hours of nonstop football to help pass the time.

It's always fun to watch the Aggies lose. Not so much because I like Texas - I just like A&M a lot less. I guess it's all right by me that Mack Brown is in a position to have his team play for the championship after so much Oklahoma-induced frustration, but speaking as a Rice fan, I don't have that much sympathy for anyone else's woes. Believe me, I know the feeling better than you do.

Normally, a Nebraska-Colorado matchup is bad news for me, since I don't like either team, but it's almost not as much fun hating the Cornhuskers these days. Almost. Thankfully, there were two factors that helped me tip the scales in this one: One, I always like to see a Big XII team get knocked out of their title game, and two, the classless display the Buff fans put on at the end. I think the refs should have been flagging CU for unsportsmanlike conduct after the second instance of debris-throwing, not that it would have mattered in the game. Hopefully, the jerks who injected themselves into the action will be caught and punished.

In the last minute or two, one of the ABC announcers said something like "I wonder what the bloggers will be saying now" about embattled Husker head coach Bill Callahan. Well, this blogger doesn't really give a darn, but if Nebraska were to fire him two years after firing Frank Solich and deliberately going in an entirely different philosophical direction, it would be proof to me that they no longer care about winning. Let the guy get a senior class of his recruits, then judge him. Same is true for A&M's Franchione, who is rumored to be headed to Kansas State. I can't stand the guy, but three years ain't enough time to judge him, and speaking as a taxpayer, eating $10 million of his contract isn't exactly sound fiscal policy.

I'll close with an evil thought: If UT stubs its toe in the Big XII title game, will that finally be enough to convince people that a playoff is necessary? Discuss.

Apparently, the Texas Ethics Commission's clearing of two Katy ISD officials of charges that they used district computers to urge employees to vote for incumbents in a school board election is not the end of the story, for the Fort Bend County DA has taken action by referring new complaints to the TEC.

Fort Bend County District Attorney John Healey filed complaints involving 42 Katy Independent School District employees who may have violated election laws by using district computers to send campaign messages via e-mail.

The complaints, which allege potential violations of civil law, were filed with the Texas Ethics Commission on Wednesday, Healey said.

The action comes a week after the commission dismissed complaints against two high-ranking Katy ISD officials accused of using district computers to urge employees to vote for incumbents in a school board election. All three were re-elected in the May 7 election.

Texas law prohibits using district resources to distribute political advertising.

However, Healey said 77 e-mails from 42 other Katy ISD employees might have violated the election code and are being forwarded to the commission for further investigation. Healey didn't reveal the names.

The probe started in May when Healey's office received information that Katy ISD employees sent campaign messages on district computers. The investigation was handled by the Texas Rangers.

Healey said that after he reviewed the results of the investigation he did not think criminal sanctions were warranted.

Instead, Healey recommended district employees and administrators be trained on election law.

Meanwhile, in other Fort Bend electoral news, the Department of Justice is coming to town to clarify the county's efforts to provide non-English-speaking citizens with an equal opportunity to vote. Bob has been following this story from the beginning, so to catch up on things go here, here, and here.

You know that any story that refers to "the French Spider-Man" is going to be worth reading, right?

The man known as the French "Spiderman" was foiled in his attempt to scale a downtown high-rise just moments after he dashed by police officers and leaped onto the side of One Houston Center on the 1200 block of McKinney.

"Had we been three or four seconds late, he'd have been history" on his way up the building, said Sgt. K. Perkins of the Houston Police Department special operations unit. "He's an excellent climber. He moves so swiftly."

Alain Robert, 43, was arrested at the building about 9:45 a.m.

Known for scaling more than 70 tall structures around the world without a safety net and often with his bare hands, Robert has touched the top of the Eiffel Tower in France, the Sydney Opera House in Australia and the world's tallest building, the 1,667-foot Taipei 101 in Taiwan.

He has also scaled some of the most famous structures in the United States, including the Sears Tower in Chicago, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and New York's Empire State Building.

"He's been doing it all across the country," Perkins said. "But you just can't come here and violate the law in Texas."

One nice thing that local Classic Rock station KKRW does is play Alice's Restaurant every Thanksgiving at noon. Since I distinctly recall San Antonio's KZEP doing the same thing while I lived there, I got to wondering: How many other stations play this Thanksgiving classic on the appointed day, and do they do it at noon? Leave a comment if you know of this happening elsewhere.

Who was the genius that first decided to let Happy Talk Local News readers do the play-by-play and color commentary for Thanksgiving Day parades? If forced to watch a local news broadcast, I'll usually choose KHOU, but Greg Hurst and (to a slightly lesser extent) Lisa Foronda are making me question that wisdom. It's bad enough that they're both moronic nonstop chatterboxes, but faithfully shilling every corporate float by referring to them as "our friends with MegaCorp" is more than I can take. Here's a hint, you two: We can all see the logos for ourselves. Tell us which high school marching band or drill team is currently performing, and beyond that just keep it zipped. Thank you.

Via Amanda, the world's ugliest dog has passed away. His story was indeed one of triumphing by wit and charm over appearance. Rest in peace, Sam the ugly dog.

There's one point of interest to me in the latest Houston radio ratings, which Banjo kindly pointed to. Look at the numbers for erstwhile rocker-turned-Latino station KLOL:

Station  Group Owner   Format          Fa04  Wi05  Sp05  Su05  Fa05

KLOL-FM  Clear Channel Hispanic Urban   2.3   3.6   3.7   2.9   2.5

Well, guess what? After two strong quarters, KLOL is back down to the same ratings it had when it was the rock and roll station it had always been. What happened? Have they failed to hold their audience, or have other stations recaptured what they lost when KLOL first switched? I'd love to hear Ken Charles' explanation for this one.

Now that the Texas Supreme Court has ruled that the state's current tax system is unconstitutional but the level of funding to achieve "adequacy" in schools is okay for now, what's next? Since nobody expects Governor Perry to call another special session prior to the March primaries, there will be a lot of time to analyze the impact of the ruling and play out the various scenarios for the upcoming fight over changing who gets taxed for what. Here's a roundup of reactions from around the blogs:

Burnt Orange Report

State Rep. Aaron Pena, who points to this statement by Retired Judge F. Scott McCown, the jurist who presided over the public school finance cases from 1990-2002. McCown notes that "The Court did not rule that "Robin Hood" or "recapture" is unconstitutional", though I think everyone expects this to be its death knell.

Common Sense

Drive Democracy

Eye on Williamson, who also looks at task ahead for the tax reform commission.

PinkDome, who also has reaction from State Sen. Leticia Van de Putte.

PerryVsWorld

Rio Grande Valley Politics

Dos Centavos

It's from before the ruling, but via Latinos for Texas, State Sen. Kevin Eltife (R, Tyler) thinks that the current status of school finance reform is "an embarrassment".

Chris Bell

Last but not least, the Texas Civil Rights Review is all over this. Try MALDEF's reaction and their summary of Justice Brister's dissent for a flavor of what they've got.

UPDATE: Houtopia weighs in.

Judge Pat Priest did not take my advice (at least for now), and will make us all wait two more weeks for a ruling on the DeLay motion to throw out his indictments.

Senior Judge Pat Priest said he had been prepared to rule Tuesday on DeLay's motions to quash the indictments against him. But after three hours of legal arguments from defense attorneys and prosecutors, Priest said he was "a little bit confused."

Priest gave lawyers another week to file briefs and said he would rule the following week. Priest told DeLay's lawyer Dick DeGuerin he realized DeLay wanted a quick trial but that the case was not the only one pending before him.

"If I rule against you (on the motions to quash the indictment), I doubt very seriously we're going to get the case to trial before the first of the year," Priest said.

[...]

The key arguments centered on whether the state conspiracy laws and money laundering laws applied to the state election code during 2002, the year of the alleged offenses. The men are accused of engaging in a scheme to get around state restrictions on the use of corporate contributions in campaigns for elective office.

Prosecutors argued that changes in state law after 2002 clarified that the conspiracy and money laundering statutes applied to the election code. DeLay's lawyer Richard Keeton said changes in law made by the Legislature in 2003 and 2004 clearly show the statutes did not apply to the election code in 2002.

The defense also argued that the corporate money raised by the DeLay-founded Texans for a Republican Majority, TRMPAC, was legal. They said state law restricts only how the money can be spent.

Assistant District Attorney Rick Reed argued that state law defines expenditures and contributions to a political committee differently. He said a corporation can legally make an expenditure for the administration of a committee, but he said the $600,000 in corporate money raised by TRMPAC was in the form of contributions prohibited by law.

The crucial money involved a $190,000 donation of corporate money TRMPAC made to the Republican National Committee shortly before the RNC gave $190,000 in money from individuals to seven Texas House candidates.

Priest frowned throughout the prosecutors' presentation and peppered them with questions, but he gave little indication that he was favoring DeLay's side.

Priest later spoke with the lawyers about future hearings and a trial, as if that was likely to occur.

The judge said if he rules against DeLay, Colyandro and Ellis, he will hold another hearing in December on motions involving allegations of prosecutorial misconduct and DeLay's request to move the trial out of Travis County.

Priest did not put a gag order on lawyers, but he told them he would report them to the State Bar for discipline if he read about them speaking ill of the citizens of Travis, Fort Bend or any other county in Texas. He said he did not want the lawyers "poisoning" the potential jury pool.

The Hotline blog said yesterday that "a variety of sources close to the majority leader are leaning into the idea that it's quite possible judge Pat Priest will throw out the felony indictments against him". Apparently, their optimism was misplaced. Today, the word is that potential successors to DeLay as Majority Leader are marshalling their forces in anticipation of battle. Poor Tom. Even if he wins, he may well lose.

On a side note, the Daily DeLay reminds us that this story is not the only one to feature The Hammer's name in its headlines. That other story is even worse news for DeLay and other Congressional Republicans, especially Bob Ney.

Sean-Paul Kelly will be guest-hosting the Jack Riccardi show on 550 KTSA Talk Radio from 7-10 pm in San Antonio tonight. Here's the lineup:

7-730 Intro segment, introduce the night's guests, main topic etc . . .
730-800 Comedienne Margaret Cho.
800-830 Congressman Chris Bell (and candidate for Texas governor) to talk about Senator John Cornyn's links with Abramoff and Scanlon.
830-915 Don Henry Ford Jr. Author of Contrabando, Confessions of a Drug Smuggling Texas Cowboy
915-1000 Elaine Wolff, Culture Editor of the San Antonio Current, to talk about the media, Judy Miller, Bob Woodward and the role alt weekley's can play in politics.

The Freakonomics Blog suggests a traffic-enforcement mechanism that would be (in the city of Houston, at least) both highly lucrative and deeply satisfying.

I was in New York City the other day and my taxi cab driver bypassed a long line of cars exiting the freeway to cut in at the last second. As usual, I enjoyed being an innocent bystander/beneficiary to this little crime. But what happened next was even more gratifying to the economist in me. A police officer was standing in the middle of the road, waving every car that cut in line over to the shoulder, where a second officer was handing out tickets like an assembly line. By my rough estimate, these two officers were giving out 30 tickets an hour at $115 a pop. At over $1,500 per officer per hour (assuming the tickets get paid), this was a fantastic money making proposition for the city. And it nails just the right people. Speeding doesn’t really hurt other people very much, except indirectly. So to my mind it makes much more sense to go directly after the mean-spirited behavior like cutting in line. This is very much in the spirit of Bratton’s “broken windows” policing philosophy. I’m not sure it cuts down the number of cheaters on the roads in any fundamental way since the probability of getting caught remains vanishly small. Still, the beauty of it is that (1) every driver that follows the rules feels a rush of glee over the rude drivers getting nailed, and (2) it is a very efficient way of taxing bad behavior.

So, my policy recommendation to police departments across the country is to find the spots on the roads that lend themselves to this sort of policing and let the fun begin.

The long-awaited Tax Reform Commission, appointed by Governor Perry and chaired by John Sharp, is finally getting down to business, and already they're making me question why they're bothering.

At its first meeting Monday, the governor told the commission to focus on lowering school property taxes, ensuring greater tax fairness and providing a long-term, reliable source of funding for public education.

"The way in which Texas chooses to construct a new tax system will have a tremendous impact on every aspect of our future, from our ability to attract jobs and economic growth, to the prosperity of our families, to the quality of education our children receive in tomorrow's public school classrooms," he said.

The commission was appointed in anticipation of a pending Texas Supreme Court ruling in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the current school finance system, which is heavily dependent on local property taxes. The high court decision is expected any week now.

Much of the commission's work is likely to center on a new, broad-based business tax, since Perry and Sharp have removed a personal income tax from consideration.

"We're not considering an income tax because it's a bad tax," Sharp said. "An income tax ought to be labeled for what it is, a tax on the middle class."

I can't think of any reasonable purpose for this commission if it is unwilling to consider all viable options. Don't tell me that an income tax is an impossible sale. The evidence from our endless legislative summer should make it clear that any substantive overhaul of business taxes was impossible as well, and yet here we are with two dozen bidnesspeople talking about how best to tax businesses. You think whatever scheme this group comes up with is going to sail through the Lege without a fight, even if it's a clear win for most everybody? Dream on. Changing the status quo is always a battle. If this commission is going to do a thorough job, it needs to focus on the numbers, and let the politicians worry about the ensuing sales pitch. Otherwise, we're just buying new lipstick for the same old pig.

I've mentioned before that folks like State Rep. Garnet Coleman have expressed concerns about the makeup of this commission. Chris Bell is taking a similar tack by pointing out that most of the panel's members are Perry campaign contributors. This is a legitimate thing to worry about, but I think we need to see what direction these guys go before we get into that. For now, at least, I think Marc Campos is correct: This is the only game in town, so let's make sure we're in it for as long as it's being played fairly.

Rico Politico attended this meeting and liveblogged it. In doing so, he points out another way in which this panel could have been more representative:

11:15AM - Demographics in Texas - Since the 2000 census, Texas has grown about 8%, the Valley being one of the fastest growing areas in Texas.

[...]

On a side note, there is a member on the Committee from the Valley; Mr. Alonzo Cantu. He only introduced himself and his profession but offered no questions for the panel or for the committee itself.

UPDATE: Naturally, as soon as I hit "Publish", I refresh the front page of Chron.com and see this.

The Texas Supreme Court today struck down a key part of the state's public school funding system and gave the Legislature until June 1 to correct the problem.

The ruling, which partly upholds and partly reverses a state district court decision issued last year, means Gov. Rick Perry will have to call still another special session of the Legislature to tackle the problem.

Most likely, the session will be held after the March party primaries, when he and many lawmakers will be on the ballot in contested elections.

[...]

The high court held 7-1 that the $1.50 per $100 valuation cap on local school maintenance taxes amounts to an unconstitutional statewide property tax because many school districts are at or near the limit.

In the majority opinion, Justice Nathan Hecht noted that the Supreme Court, in a previous school finance case, ruled that an "ad valorem (property) tax is a state tax ...when the state so completely controls the levy, assessment and disbursement of revenue, either directly or indirectly, that the authority employed (by local districts) is without meaningful discretion."

The court noted findings by state District Judge John Dietz, after a trial in Austin last year, that districts statewide are spending more than 97 percent of the revenue that would be available if every district taxed at maximum rates, up from 83 percent in 1993-94.

It also noted that only about one-third of the districts with about a fifth of the student population exceed minimum accreditation standards, a marked declined from 2001, when more than 60 percent of districts exceeded the minimum standards.

Justice Scott Brister dissented, while the newest member of the court, Justice Don Willett, who joined the court while the litigation was pending, abstained.

The high court's ruling was less far-reaching that Dietz's decision. Dietz also had held the school funding system inadequate and cited a widening inequality between wealthy and poor districts.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has filed a lawsuit against Sony for violating the state's new anti-spyware law.

Attorney General Greg Abbott said he filed the lawsuit under a new Texas state law forbidding such hidden tracking tools, and predicted tens of thousands of Texans might have been hurt by Sony's anti-piracy software.

Sony has said the tracking technology was designed to prevent unlimited copying and unauthorized distribution of music and does not track personal information about computer users, he noted.

But Abbott said his suspicions about its real purpose were heightened by his investigation's findings that the hidden technology remains active at all times.

Citing Sony BMG's Web site, he said the software was placed on 52 music titles by artists ranging from Celine Dion to Flatt & Scruggs.

"Sony has engaged in a technological version of cloak-and-dagger deceit against consumers by hiding secret files on their computers," Abbott said.

"Consumers who purchased a Sony CD thought they were buying music. Instead, they received spyware that can damage a computer, subject it to viruses and expose the consumer to possible identity crime."

[...]

The CDs do not create problems if used in a compact disc player, said Abbott's spokesman Tom Kelley.

However, any consumer attempting to play the discs on a personal computer must first sign a user agreement, which Abbott said secretly installs the tracking software without the consumer's knowledge.

"The file it is implanting into your system is possibly going to damage the unit plus expose you to all kinds of hackers, viruses, ID theft — you name it," Kelley said. "The consumer had no way of knowing whatsoever that this phantom file was being installed on their computer to gather information about them presumably."

Abbott's lawsuit seeks to determine what purposes Sony might have had in placing the software on computers, which affects Microsoft Windows folders, beyond merely tracking piracy violations.

The lawsuit as filed seeks $100,000 for each violation in damages to the state under the Consumer Protection Against Computer Spyware Act of 2005, a law filed by Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo.

Abbott also plans to amend the lawsuit to seek damages for individual consumers under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, said Kelley.

Via Kirk at BOR, two Democrats are preparing to challenge Rep. Pete Sessions in CD32: Dallas lawyer Will Pryor and 2002 candidate Pauline Dixon. This is of course a good thing, as the goal is to run everywhere. CD32 is one of the less red districts among those designed to elect a Republican - it was drawn with a 60.3% GOP index; only CD21 is that purple, with CD02 slightly more crimson.

The bad news, of course, is that although he beat the spread by five points, then-incumbent Martin Frost couldn't win there last year. A challenge by a relative unknown, who's sure to have much less money, is highly unlikely to do any better than that. On the other hand, my analysis of CD32 suggests that it underperformed slightly from a GOP perspective - the overall partisan split was 59.1%/40.9%, or 59.8%/40.2% if you remove the Frost-Sessions race. Frost outdid every other Democrat in this district, with the exception of Katy Hubener in HD106, who beat him by a half point in the precincts they shared. The second best performance in CD32 was by Lupe Valdez, who scored 42.2% there.

Dallas County is clearly trending Democrat, and because of that CD32 is going to get more competitive each cycle. Getting candidates in all available races, which the Dallas County Democratic Party seems to be on its way to doing, will help. The one race that's still unchallenged is the one where the Democrat did worse than John Kerry, in HD108 against Dan Branch. There's room to grow here, and while this race may not attract as much attention as some others this year, it's going to be top-tier again. If Pryor or Dixon can match or exceed Frost's percentage, look out in 2008.

District totals can be found in this spreadsheet. Guess maybe it's time for me to finally revisit the Frost Effect question. If I have time this weekend, I will.

Remember how, when I made my endorsements for the 2005 elections, I advised skipping over City Council At Large #3 because neither incumbent Shelley Sekula Somethingorother nor challenger James Partsch-Galvan was worth a vote? Well, Galvan's recent "endorsement" of Sue Lovell in the At Large #2 runoff illustrates better than I could ever explain why he didn't even merit a protest vote. Here's the full text of his email, via Carl Whitmarsh's list, with all the naughty words replaced by dog breed names to maintain my PG rating:

No wonder the City of Houston is all poodled up! No wonder The Houston Astros did not even win one World Series Game!

Houston is the most Corrupt City in the USA! The Houston Chronicle Editorial Board is made up of nothing but White Old Corrupt Men with a few Nasty Jack Russell Terriers & a couple of House Norbottenspets who will go along!

This new makeup of Houston City Council is the most Corrupt Set of Political Pyrenean Mastiffs that Houston has ever had! Houston is not only the most Corrupt City in the USA, but also the most Racist City in the USA! Schnauzer the Houston Chronicle! Vizsla Mayor Bill White! Xoloitzcuintli Jay Aiyer!

Please galvanize and vote for Sue Lovell! Yorkipoo Jay Aiyer! I also encourage everyone to help clean up Houston and go around and remove all Jay Aiyer Political Signs! I have already removed some myself and burned them!

Lovell, to her credit, swiftly disavowed Galvan's words:

We did not ask for this endorsement from Mr. Galvan nor will we accept it. The tone and language are vile and offensive and certainly not in keeping with our campaign which has brought together a broad cross segment of Houstonians to work for our city. We find Mr. Galvan's words despicable and hateful. Our campaign is not going to be highjacked and used as vehicle for this type of contemptible message. Mr. Galvan should apologize to everyone who received this loathsome e-mail.

Jaime Castillo has more on attempts by the state GOP to purge itself of members who committed heresies on school finance reform (see here for some background).

According to the El Paso Times, the border city's biggest GOP muckety-mucks are "abandoning nine-term state Rep. Pat Haggerty and throwing their political muscle and money behind his GOP challenger."

The same story also quoted state Rep. Carter Casteel, a moderate Republican from New Braunfels, who said she has been the subject of a push poll designed to gauge how deep her support is in the district.

The calls, which she said were received by some constituents, including her husband and one of her sons, were an automated effort from the Texas Republican Party.

[...]

"For those of us who helped build the Republican Party, we hope that whoever is behind these efforts remembers that we did so by addition, not subtraction," said state Rep. Joe Straus, R-San Antonio.

"If those reports are accurate," he said, referring to Haggerty and Casteel, "then it would appear that some people in our party need to go back to elementary school to re-learn simple arithmetic."

Straus, who hails from one of San Antonio's most prominent families, should know.

He got crosswise with the party leadership, particularly Gov. Rick Perry, in July by joining 12 other Republicans to vote against a major tax bill, known as House Bill 3.

But he is unapologetic, saying, "I'm going to continue to vote my conscience and my district as long as I'm in the Legislature."

Any more of these out there? We're getting close to filing time, so we'll know soon enough. Thanks to Aaron Pena for the link.

Check out Fixing Chron.com for some in-depth critiques of the look and usability of the new Houston Chronicle website. Dwight, I'd be very interested to know what you think of this fellow's ideas. His alternate front page and search suggestions are particularly interesting.

Laurence, of course, spots something that the rest of us overlooked. For what it's worth, the feedback to James Campbell is strongly negative. Some of that is to be expected with any change, but this is pretty vehement. I doubt that the pleas to "change it back!" will be taken up, but I daresay we'll see some tweaks resulting from all this in the coming days.

One thing I just noticed today is that the Op-Eds index page now has a "Blog Watch" section, in which there are links to a posts on a variety of (I presume) local blogs. I'd love to know who's in charge of that feature.

I didn't really have the time this weekend to write anything about this, but Jack Abramoff cohort and former DeLay staffer Mike Scanlon has apparently agreed to testify for the prosecution against his erstwhile partner in crime. Along the way, it's likely that the names of quite a few current Congressfolk will come up. This makes him, as Houtopia puts it, the most dangerous man in DC. Read more about it at MyDD, TPM, TPM again, and TPMCafe.

UPDATE: And of course The Stakeholder.

Meanwhile, back in DeLayville, tomorrow is a big day in court for The Hammer.

The core issue before visiting Judge Pat Priest on Tuesday will be whether the crimes DeLay is accused of committing were actually crimes in 2002 when they allegedly occurred. DeLay and his co-defendants — Jim Ellis and John Colyandro — have proclaimed their innocence and are asking Priest to throw out the case.

"This could be the end of the case. Frankly, there's no crime charged and the law is on our side," said DeLay lawyer Dick DeGuerin of Houston.

[...]

Among the three defendants, there are almost 20 motions to quash the indictments. Several claim the indictments do not adequately describe a crime or that state law is misapplied to the crime alleged.

There are also motions that say the men's actions were not a crime at the time they occurred. They say criminal conspiracy did not apply to the election code until 2003 and that checks were not covered by the state's money-laundering laws until this year. All the activities in this case occurred in 2002.

[...]

DeGuerin immediately raised questions about whether the indictment was valid because the conspiracy statute was not amended to include the election code until 2003.

Without specifically mentioning DeGuerin's argument, Earle has admitted in court filings that he sought a new indictment of DeLay on money-laundering charges because he realized there may have been "technical" problems with the first indictment on conspiracy to violate the election code.

But Earle also argued that the conspiracy statute applied to any felony in 2002, including those of the election code. Earle said the original conspiracy law was written when there was no separate election code and election law violations were included in the penal code.

"Clearly, as of 1907, the offense of criminal conspiracy covered a conspiracy to commit the felony offense of unlawfully making a corporate political contribution," Earle's brief said.

A second grand jury declined to indict DeLay on money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering. But a third grand jury did, on Oct. 3.

DeGuerin said a big problem for Earle in that indictment is that the definition of money laundering did not include checks until Sept. 1 of this year.

The provision was added to the money laundering statute unanimously by the House and Senate earlier this year at the request of the Texas District Attorney's Association. A House analysis of the bill said the language was needed because cases of money laundering could not be prosecuted when the funds involved a check instead of cash.

Earle has not yet responded on that issue. But the same point was raised by Ellis and Colyandro when they were first indicted in the case last year.

At that time, Earle said in the indictment that the money laundering involved "funds." He said the funds were the corporate money that was raised with the intent of spending it illegally on candidates.

Additionally, he said the fact that the penal code did not include checks in the definition of money laundering did not mean the code excluded money laundering by check.

The first judge in the case, state District Judge Bob Perkins of Austin, agreed with Earle and let the indictment stand. That is one of the reasons it was important for DeGuerin to have Perkins removed from hearing DeLay's case.

One of DeGuerin's first actions for DeLay was to get Perkins taken off the case on grounds that there would be a perceived political bias by the Democratic jurist against DeLay because Perkins had made political donations to national Democratic-leaning organizations.

Last April, several buddies and I visited David Adickes' sculpture studio for the purpose of photographing the Giant Presidential Head statues that he has there. (Adickes is the gent who did Big Sam in Huntsville and is now working on Big Stephen down in Angleton. You can see the pix I took here. There was some controversy over which five Presidents are in that last picture. Many guesses were made, but no definitive consensus was reached.

Well, guess no more. David Adickes himself left a comment on that post on Friday, and he tells us that the mystery quintet are, in order: Pierce, Polk, Harding, Wm Henry Harrison, and Andrew Johnson. Kudos to Patrick for coming the closest in identifying them, and thanks to David Adickes for dropping by.

Note to self: Obtain a copy of Frank McCourt's latest book, if for no better reason than to see if his description of life at Stuyvesant High School matches up with my memory of it as it did for Julia. Oh, and also to see if he confirms or denies those rumors about him and that cute blonde math teacher. Hey, gossip never has an expiration date, you know?

Unlike the November election, the Chron wastes no time in handing out endorsements for the December 10 runoffs. In half of the races, they get to stick with the person they touted originally: Jay Aiyer in City Council At Large #2, Ana Hernandez in HD143, and Daisy Maura in HISD9. In the others, their first pick didn't make it this far, so they made new choices: Jarvis Johnson in City Council District B, Anne Clutterbuck in District C, and Natasha Kamrani in HISD1. I hope they run a reminder of these recommendations when voting actually starts.

PDiddie has a request for Hittner and Clutterbuck supporters in District C: "All the good folks who voted for Mark Lee and Herman Litt might want to know who to vote for on December 10th. Would someone like to give them a reason to?" If you thought November was a lot turnout election, you ain't seen nothing yet. If you have a stake in who wins that race, it should be worth it to you to give your person a plug to anyone who's listening, because every vote really will matter. Leave a comment there or here for your preferred contender.

Early voting runs from November 30 to December 6. Don't miss out.

Via Eye on Williamson, there's a new progressive blog in Central Texas called Bell County Watch. I hope she can help keep us all up on what's happening in her county as EoW has done in his. Welcome aboard!

I'm not surprised that the Grand Parkway out in west Houston/Katy is spurring lots of new development. That was the whole reason for the Grand Parkway, after all. I'm just amused by this:

For now, the area lacks the level of development seen in more established communities like The Woodlands or Sugar Land: the so-called lifestyle center. Essentially big outdoor shopping malls, these projects typically consist of upscale shops lining pedestrian walkways and surrounding a parklike setting that's supposed to act as a gathering spot for the community.

"It's the wave of the future," [Lance] LaCour said.

Early next year, construction will start on LaCenterra at Cinco Ranch, a retail and office project designed with an "old town Texas" theme.

"It harkens back to when all activities were centered around a Main Street," said Woody Mann, president of Vista Equities, the firm developing the project.

After getting a promise to communicate with them better and to try to avoid taking new right-of-way, the Transportation Policy Council of the Houston-Galveston Area Council has given its approval to TxDOT's plans to widen I-45.

Resistance to the expansion came mostly from residents of historic Woodland Heights and other neighborhoods near downtown, who received support from local politicians.

Opposition switched to cautious support after Texas Department of Transportation officials said they would try to avoid taking new right of way, and would consider putting four of the additional lanes on the nearby Hardy Toll Road instead of the freeway.

"It's not that we changed our mind. It's just that we got enough information to make a decision," said Jim Weston, chairman of the I-45 Coalition and a Woodland Heights resident. Interstate 45 north of downtown is called the North Freeway.

But crucial details about the eventual width and design of the revamped freeway remain to be decided by TxDOT over the next two or three years.

I see that the Houston Chronicle has rolled out the new look for its online site. I had a sneak preview of it awhile back and thought it looked pretty snazzy, and I still do. Too early for me to say what I think of the interface in terms of ease-of-use, but right now what's got me excited is the changes to the archive search, which (to be blunt) used to suck on many levels. I've heard that archived stories will now be available in linkable form - I'll have to test that, because that would be excellent.

They've got (naturally enough) a blog to discuss some of the new features. Dwight will be taking a well-earned break now that this sucker is launched. Give the new site a try and see what you think.

UPDATE: Greg is not impressed.

Will we ever find out what those numbers mean on Lost? Maybe, maybe not.

Those mysterious numbers on Lost (4 8 15 16 23 42) may be a McGuffin, according to series creator Damon Lindelof.

"I think that that question will never, ever be answered. I couldn't possibly imagine (how we would answer that question)," he said on tvguide.com.

"We will see more ramifications of the numbers and more usage of the numbers, but it boggles my mind when people ask me, 'What do the numbers mean?' "

While the meaning of the numbers will never be known, co-creator Carlton Cruse and Lindelof do promise to reveal the reason the plane crashed.

"We're saving that for later (this season)," said Cruse.

By the way, the Wikipedia entry that I linked for "MacGuffin" says that for Lost, "the mysterious creature and the island's power can be considered MacGuffins". No word on the numbers, though. For what it's worth.

And as an added bonus, today's new-look Chron has an article on Jorge Garcia, the man behind the numbers-obsessed character Hurley. Check it out.

What the world needs now is a list of the greatest short dudes of all time.

Angus Young, lead singer-guitarist of AC/DC, tops Maxim's list of the "25 greatest short dudes of all time," standing tall at 5 feet 2 inches.

NBA guard Spud Webb, at 5 feet 7 inches, is No. 2, followed by Napoleon Bonaparte (5 feet 4 inches), Naim Suleymanoglu (4 feet 11 inches) and Yuri Gagarin (5 feet 2 inches).

The magazine, in its December issue, claims to be helping women "begin a long overdue fight against their genetically determined shallowness when choosing a partner."

Yoda, at No. 6, is the shortest on the list. His height is calculated at 2 feet 2 inches.

Other great short dudes: Martin Scorsese, Jon Stewart, Prince, Kurt Cobain and two of the Hobbits from The Lord of the Rings films — Elijah Wood and Sean Astin.

The tallest "short dude"? Pro football player Doug Flutie, at 5 feet 10 inches, who is ranked at No. 24.

I'm really glad I copied the Quorum Report 2006 master candidate list before it went behind their paywall, even though by now it's likely to be hopelessly out of date. One reason why is because it gives information about the partisan split in each district, along with the 2002 Lieutenant Governor percentages, which are considered to be an accurate measure of a district's real preferences.

After doing the earlier post about the differences that Reps. Pena and Gonzales face in their districts, I took a look at the Lite Guv splits for each of the 150 State House seats. Of the 87 GOP districts, 12 voted 70% or higher for David Dewhurst, with HD15 in Montgomery County topping out at 77%. Of the 63 Democratic slots, fully 26 gave 70% or more of the vote to John Sharp, with eight of them clearing 80%. Ryan Guillen's HD31 was the most Democratic, as Sharp garnered 87% of the vote there.

On the other hand, 39 districts supported Dewhurst with between 60 and 70 percent. Only 13 went to Sharp at that level. The remaining 60 spots vary between 40 and 60 percent for one side or the other.

Just a little illustration of packing and cracking to brighten your day.

State Rep. Aaron Pena has announced that he will kick off his reelection campaign on Monday. He also says that his legislative neighbor Veronica Gonzales announced her intentions to run again last night.

As Pena notes and as I wrote earlier, Gonzalez could be in a tough fight if the Republicans do run an opponent against her, something they did not do in 2004 when she knocked off one-term incumbent Roberto Gutierrez in the Democratic primary. Though I believe 2004 was a high-water mark for Republicans in many districts, this will still certainly be a race to watch, assuming someone does run on the GOP side.

Pena, on the other hand, is pretty much on easy street as far as GOP opposition goes. George Bush got 37% in his district last year, and he was the best performing Republican by several points. Assuming he has no primary challenger, his campaign to-do list will be a deservedly short one.

In today's column on the unpredictability of local runoff races, Kristin Mack notes a storm brewing in the Council At Large #2 race, now between Jay Aiyer and Sue Lovell:

The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) contributed $10,000 to Lovell's campaign and sent three mailings on her behalf. Aiyer said the mailings and automated phone calls by SEIU violate a city ordinance prohibiting "coordinated campaign expenditures" — direct work on behalf of a candidate by an organization whose expenditures aren't listed on the candidate's campaign finance reports.

Lovell's campaign didn't send any direct mail and she said it was not expecting SEIU to send mailings on her behalf.

"We were just as surprised as anyone else," she said. "They wrote a check for $10,000 and that was the last communication we had."

SEIU, the nation's second-largest union, is battling the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees to organize city workers. Aiyer's campaign says SEIU's effort fits its national pattern of trying to gain a foothold in local government.

"No one entity should be able to influence the outcome of a race like that," Aiyer said. "They effectively were trying to buy a council seat. It allowed her to use her resources in other places."

Well, okay, there is one thing. As someone who's voted in every Democratic primary race - including runoffs! - since, oh, I don't remember exactly, 1992 or so, what do I have to do to get on the mailing list for stuff like that? I got at least two mailers, not to mention two robocalls, from Poli Acosta, and nada from Sue (or Jay, for that matter). Just curious.

Earlier this week, FEMA announced it would stop paying hotel bills for evacuees who still have not been placed in apartments.

FEMA had planned to place families in longer-term housing before Dec. 1, but more than 53,000 hotel rooms remain occupied by evacuated families — primarily in Texas, Louisiana, Georgia and Mississippi.

Houston's hotel population of evacuees has decreased to 19,000 from about 60,000 in September, according to a city statement released Tuesday.

Mayor Bill White is asking FEMA to grant Houston extensions of the hotel emergency assistance being offered to Louisiana and Mississippi, where allowances are being granted because of a shortage of available housing.

"Today, I have talked with the senior FEMA official in the United States and the Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security. They have committed to review both deadlines for hotel reimbursement based on the hotel population and for acquiring needed apartments based on the supply and demand for apartments in Houston," White said in a statement.

Houston officials are moving more than 500 people daily into apartments.

"We may be asking for extensions of these deadlines based on market conditions and commitments previously made by FEMA, and we feel confident that FEMA will review those requests on the merits," White said.

Mayor Bill White chided FEMA officials Wednesday, saying they reneged on assurances to help with the relocation.

At issue, White said, were two agency announcements Tuesday: the plans to cut off evacuees' hotel payments beginning next month, and to stop by March 1 reimbursing the local housing task force that is placing them in apartments.

The decisions, he said, were inconsistent with the agency's previous statements about paying for six- or 12-month apartment leases. The task force's efforts to get evacuees into apartments, he said, will be hampered if landlords don't get long-term rent guarantees.

White, who praised FEMA's past assistance, said at a news conference that he believes agency attorneys in Washington are now "second guessing" pledges made in September. It was those assurances that prompted the task force to launch its massive effort that has placed tens of thousands of evacuees in apartments.

White expressed hope that the agency would change its mind. "Good countries, like good people, keep their word, and I'm sure FEMA will."

[...]

FEMA spokesman Don Jacks said that the agency wanted to switch from a housing system arranged by local governments to one where evacuees could apply directly to the federal agency for assistance. Evacuees then would be expected to enter into their own agreements with landlords.

Asked why the agency changed course after telling White and task force officials it would continue reimbursing for a year, Jacks said, "I can't address that. I was not privy to any conversations that might have occurred in the past where FEMA was encouraging any jurisdictions to put people in 12-month leases."

Sandy Coachman, FEMA's coordinating officer in Texas, said the agency was committed to helping people get help moving from hotels to apartments or other housing: "We will help them develop their own long-term plans."

White's strong comments came two weeks after he complained that FEMA officials were too slow to agree to tens of millions of dollars in housing reimbursements. A few days later, he met with top FEMA officials, and the agency agreed to reimburse the city $137 million for housing assistance.

"We won't allow it to happen," [Texas' emergency management coordinator] Jack Colley said. "We wouldn't allow it to happen to a Texan. We're not going to allow it to happen to anybody else. We'll do what we have to do to ensure no family is out on the street."

Colley doesn't know what the solution will be, but he said Texas officials are appealing the Dec. 1 deadline set by the federal government for stopping payment of hotels and motels for hurricane evacuees.

State officials reached a clear agreement with the Federal Emergency Management Agency for 12 to 18 months of housing for evacuees, Colley said.

A spokeswoman for Gov. Rick Perry said FEMA and the Homeland Security chief have been quoted as saying they were not going to put evacuees on the street, despite the Dec. 1 hotel deadline.

"We expect FEMA to live up to that promise," said Kathy Walt.

The city of Houston also is working to move back FEMA's deadline.

Mayor Bill White spoke Thursday with a high-level official of FEMA's parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security. The mayor's spokesman, Frank Michel, said the city remains optimistic that FEMA will relax its deadline but got no commitments Thursday.

Because of the three-month limit on leases, Mr. White said, the leasing for more than 19,000 people who are still in hotel and motel rooms in the Houston area was shutting down. The program, he said, has been placing up to 500 people a day, and he appealed to FEMA to rescind its order.

"We can't get leases for three months," Mr. White told reporters after a City Council meeting. "Landlords won't do that."

[...]

FEMA officials said it was time that evacuees moved out of emergency housing like hotels into more permanent homes, even if those would be temporary.

"We want to help people to get back on their feet, to become self-sustaining and to have some control over their destiny," a spokeswoman for the agency, Nicol Andrews, said. "It is just inhumane to leave a family stuck in a hotel room and not offer them an option that exists to move beyond that."

The three-month limit on leases, Ms. Andrews said, is part of an effort to phase out direct government-financed apartment rentals and instead provide evacuees with cash assistance to rent on their own. After the leases signed by the government expire as of March 1, she added, tenants would be able to take over the leases and use the federal aid to pay their rent.

"The occupants should be able to make the rent on their own with the federal assistance that is provided to them by FEMA," Ms. Andrews said, adding that the agency would pay costs associated with ending leases.

In Austin, another FEMA spokesman, Don Jacks, said that stopping the hotel subsidies would not force anyone to become homeless or lose a night sleeping in a bed.

"This is not an ending," Mr. Jacks said. "We're not forcing anyone out of hotels. Yes, we will stop paying for hotel rooms the night of Nov. 30, and on Dec. 1 these people will need to be ready to move."

Those unable to find apartments may be offered other interim accommodations, possibly even another hotel if necessary, he said, adding, "No one will be left on the street."

Justice of the Peace Betty Brock Bell was convicted on Wednesday of using her dead mother's name to obtain handicapped parking placards.

During a visit to the Harris County Tax Office last year, Bell signed her late mother's name on an application seeking to renew some handicapped parking placards. Bell told the part-time clerk who processed her paperwork that the parking placards were for her mother, even though her mother had been dead for nine months, testimony revealed.

After the transaction, the clerk remembered hearing from someone that Bell's mother was deceased and notified her supervisor of the incident.

That eventually led to Bell's indictment by a Harris County grand jury.

She was later charged with aggravated perjury after she was accused of lying to the grand jury investigating the handicapped-parking application.

In closing arguments Wednesday, Bell's attorneys claimed her prosecution had an underlying motive but did not elaborate. They also said the state's witnesses did not have "clean hands."

"Hasn't she already been punished? She hasn't been on the bench since this happened," Russell told the jury.

Goode countered that no one is above the law and claimed county tax office employees were placed in an awkward situation when Bell lied to them.

[Bell] claimed the undercover sting was designed to catch a Harris County Tax Office employee in an act of wrongdoing.

Bell's claims to the Harris County grand jury earlier this year resulted in her being charged with aggravated perjury.

[...]

Bell had appeared before the grand jury earlier this year to give her explanation of how and why she sought to renew her deceased mother's handicapped parking placards. However, she could not provide any tape recordings or evidence to support her claims of conducting an undercover sting, prosecutor Donna Goode said Thursday.

Bell also refused to sign a form that would have allowed her computer to be searched for any evidence of the undercover sting, Goode said.

Bell is probably the most controversial jurist in Harris County, going back over a decade. She certainly has her supporters - I have in my inbox a PDF of a letter from the Houston Lawyers Association that pleads for her "long public service record" to be taken into account before sentencing. Can't say how much weight their words will carry, though.

The first story references an admonishment Bell got in 1994 from the State Commission on Judicial Conduct. I think this will take you to a ruling from the 8th Court of Appeals that stemmed from that case, but the site isn't responding to me now so I can't say for sure.

I don't know much about Judge Bell other than what I've read about her, and most of that isn't very flattering. The crime she's now convicted of sounds awfully tawdry to me. I can't say I'll feel sorry for her if she's removed from the bench. I know there's already people preparing to run for her seat. They may have awhile to wait:

A judge is automatically removed from office when convicted of a felony. Once Bell's judgment of conviction becomes final, her office will be vacated, said Seana Willing, executive director of the state Commission on Judicial Conduct. However, that could take weeks or months, she said.

If Bell chooses to appeal her conviction, that judgment will not take effect until she exhausts her appeals, Willing said. However, Bell won't be paid her judge's salary while she appeals her case.

Otherwise, Bell's conviction will take effect after the allotted time to appeal has lapsed, Willing said.

Back in May, there were complaints raised about improper politicking in Katy's ISD elections. Today, the Texas Ethics Commission cleared the accused of wrongdoing, but that may not be the end of it.

Fred Hink, a 2004 school board candidate, filed the complaints against Ronald Jetton, executive director for campus administrative support, and Janine Phillips, executive director for elementary education, accusing them of violating the election code. The code prohibits using district resources to distribute political advertising.

[...]

The commission declined to comment on its decision, but district spokeswoman Kris Taylor said Jetton and Phillips had been "cleared."

Hink said he received confirmation from the commission that the e-mail messages did not show direct endorsement of individual candidates.

Jetton wrote in an April 20 memo to secondary principals, "Once again we find ourselves with several people running against our present board members. ... If the votes in some races get divided between several people it would be easy for someone we might not prefer to get elected."

In e-mail responding to a question about candidates opposing incumbents Eric Duhon and Judith Snyder, Phillips wrote: "We currently have a very positive, productive and supportive board."

Neither Jetton nor Phillips returned calls for comment.

Hink thinks the actions by certain administration officials and other employees during the school board campaign exposed a serious breach of public trust.

"Taxpayers should understand that it is apparent that rampant campaigning by KISD employees should be considered highly unethical at best and that the powers that be in KISD are very serious about keeping this current board intact," Hink said. "That reeks of the worst kind of slime, in my opinion."

All three incumbents were re-elected in the May 7 election.

So sorry I'm missing this event tonight, but we had to go grocery shopping.

High-profile lobbyists and Republican operatives will gather for cocktails and hors d'oeuvres tonight in hopes of raising more than $200,000 for embattled U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay's re-election campaign and proving that he still has powerful friends in high places.

They are hardly strangers. In fact, many are former DeLay aides.

"We thought it would be good to have an outpouring of support for Tom, and not just moral support, but to have an effect on his re-election" bid next year, said DeLay's former communications director, Stuart Roy, now a GOP consultant and a host of the fundraiser.

DeLay, a Sugar Land Republican, has been indicted in Travis County on charges related to campaign financing. The indictments forced him to step down as House majority leader, and now he faces possibly his most difficult re-election campaign.

Roy and the nearly 70 others on the organizing committee were required to either donate $2,000 themselves or raise $5,000 for DeLay. The 100-plus people invited were asked to contribute between $500 and $2,100, the maximum individuals can give to a candidate in each primary and general election.

Roy said the intent is to "get new money in the door that you wouldn't have otherwise raised," from people who often just donate to political action committees rather than candidates.

Speaking of money, I want to call your attention to a difference between the article above and this one in the DMN. First, from the Chron story:

Former Rep. Nick Lampson, who lost his seat after Texas' congressional district lines were redrawn under a plan orchestrated by DeLay, is seeking the Democratic nomination against DeLay in the 22nd Congressional District.

The DeLay campaign took in more than $2 million between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30, the latest figures available, according to PoliticalMoneyLine, which tracks contributions. Lampson raised about $690,000.

Mr. DeLay holds a wide financial lead over his likely opponent, former Rep. Nick Lampson. The Democrat, ousted a year ago after redistricting that Mr. DeLay helped engineer, has raised $826,000 so far to Mr. DeLay's $2.2 million. Mr. DeLay has also been busy raising money for his legal defense, bringing in $318,000 in the last three months.

It should also be noted that Lampson didn't start his campaign until May, so he's raised his total in less than five months, while DeLay's $2.2 million is for three full quarters. Neither paper made that distinction.

Anyway. Public Citizen has more on DeLay and his lobbyist benefactors. Check it out.

It's just so hard to keep up with all the wrongdoing these days.

The Republican Party of Texas avoided prosecution Thursday by agreeing to stop using corporate money in several ways being investigated by Travis County Attorney David Escamilla.

Escamilla's investigation, which is similar to allegations being pursued by Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle against U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay and the Texas Association of Business, is put on hold through March 31, 2007. In return, the Republican Party agrees to stop using corporate money the way it did during the 2002 election. The party's administrative expenses spiked five-fold to about $5.6 million that year.

State law generally prohibits corporate money being spent in connection with campaigns. The law allows political parities to spend corporate money to run their conventions and on administrative overhead. Escamilla had studied some 27,000 GOP documents, but his investigation in the end focused on three instances of using corporate money:

•To pay for political consulting.

•To pay postage for voter registration materials that include the slate of GOP candidates.

•To produce a mailer urging voters to cast ballots early.

Under the agreement, called deferred prosecution, the Republican Party of Texas agreed not to use corporate money for so-called issue ads that mention a state candidate; to follow federal campaign finance restrictions against using corporate money in the final 60 days of an election to aid a federal candidate; to file the party's campaign finance reports electronically; and to specifically describe every transaction on its reports.

I admit that I didn't know about this particular investigation. I'm also a little puzzled as to why it was conducted by the County Attorney instead of the District Attorney - looking at the laws that define the duties of DAs and CAs, it appears to be a question of what court the case is heard in. If someone with actual knowledge of the distinction here could clarify things, I'd appreciate it.

A statement about this agreement by Texas Democratic Party Chair Charles Soechting is beneath the fold.

On a related matter, this Statesman article gives an overview of who's charged with what in the TRMPAC business, and attempts to explain why some people are being charged and others (especially Tom Craddick) are not.

UPDATE: Houtopia is not impressed.

Texas Democratic Party Chairman Charles Soechting issued the following statement regarding the deferred prosecution agreement entered into today by the Republican Party of Texas regarding the illegal corporate expenditure practices.

"Both political parties have an ethical and legal responsibility to accept and spend corporate funds for a very limited set of administrative activities spelled out in the Texas Election Code, and by carefully following the law, the Texas Democratic Party has demonstrated that a political party can conduct its activities in a responsible, ethical manner."

"Unfortunately, we learned today that in 2002, the Republican Party of Texas arrogantly flouted and violated the law, following the footsteps of leaders like Tom DeLay to use corporate funds for blatantly political purposes, including paying for political consultants, postage for voter registration materials that included Republican candidates, and producing an early vote mailer."

"The activities engaged in by the Republican Party of Texas are strikingly similar to the political activities supported by corporate funds raised by TRMPAC and the Texas Association of Business."

"We encourage Tom DeLay to follow the example set by the Republican Party of Texas and save the taxpayers a lot of legal expenses by entering a plea and admitting his obvious violations of the law."

The NBA All-Star Game will be played here in Houston in two months. You know what that means.

The NBA All-Star weekend in Houston could inject as much as $79.6 million into the Texas economy, Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn said Wednesday.

Strayhorn predicts 25,000 out-of-state basketball fans will spend an average of $317 a day for eating, shopping and lodging during the Feb. 17-19 events.

Projected out-of-state visitor spending is $24.4 million, in addition to the NBA's organizer's expenses and promotions, another $9.7 million in direct economic impact.

Visitor spending projections include $6 million in lodging, $5.2 million at restaurants, $6.4 million spent on merchandise and retail sales, $4.7 million spent on booze and entertainment and $2 million on local transportation expenses.

Out-of-state visitor and support spending will result in a total direct economic benefit of $34.1 million for Texas.

Secondary effects on visitor-related industries, local earnings and household spending will bring the total economic impact up to $79.6 million, she said.

Counting fans coming to the Houston area from other parts of Texas, the local area economy will see 60,000 visitors from the All-Star weekend activities, she estimated.

I should also point out that this estimate makes Jordy Tollett look like a pessimist. Who'd have ever thought that would happen?

It is good to see Strayhorn get her name back in the papers, though, isn't it? I was afraid she was about to get desperate.

There's a key flaw in Strayhorn's numbers, however. The weekend of February 17-19 is also the weekend of my 40th birthday. Family and friends will be coming in from around the country to help me celebrate, which means we'll be drinking a lot of beer and eating way too much Tex-Mex. (Ooh, looks like there'll be some baseball at Reckling Park for us, too.) I figure we'll be good for a $10 million economic injection into Houston by ourselves, easy. And the best part is that since no one ever does a followup study on the actual impact of these events, to see how they measure up to the splashy estimates that we get beforehand, no one can prove me wrong about that. Party on!

Here's one way for a town of 125 people to put itself on the map.

Back in the 1950s, Hot Springs, N.M., was renamed Truth or Consequences, N.M., after a popular quiz show. During the dot-com boom of 2000, Halfway, Ore., agreed to become Half.com for a year.

This week, Clark, Texas, morphed into DISH in exchange for a decade of free satellite television from the DISH Network for the town's 55 homes. Residents in Santa, Idaho, meanwhile, are weighing the pros and cons of changing to Secretsanta.com, Idaho.

In a deal unanimously approved Tuesday by the two-member town council, Clark agreed to become DISH permanently, effective immediately. It's part of an advertising campaign for Englewood, Colo.-based EchoStar Communications Corp., which operates the DISH Network satellite TV system.

The company pegged the deal at about $4,500 per home in the rural patch of ranch land, which is about a half hour's drive north of Dallas-Fort Worth.

Beyond the lure of free TV service for the 125 residents, the renaming is a way for the town to attract businesses and residents, said Mayor Bill Merritt, who courted EchoStar to pick the town.

"We really look at this as kind of a rebirth for our community," Merritt said. "We want everybody to come here."

UPDATE: In the Pink beat me to this.

When I read this Chron story from yesterday about a new state database of insured drivers, my first reaction was "When exactly did that happen?" No matter how closely one tries to follow the Lege, they still manage to slip stuff through that later comes as a surprise. According to Scott, who kindly answered an email query I sent about this, the originating legislation for this was most likely the RFID in car registration tag bill, about which you can read more here, here, and here.

I can see some value in what this is intended to do, but without knowing more about what kind of data security measures they have in place, including the rules for who can access it, color me concerned.

Now having read all that, go read this and see if your head explodes. We live in very interesting technological times indeed.

An old, familiar name has surfaced as a candidate for the top job at the Texas Lottery Commission: Talmadge Heflin.

Heflin, a Houston Republican who served 22 years in the Texas House before being defeated in 2004, said Wednesday that he was asked to apply by C. Tom Clowe, chairman of the Texas Lottery Commission.

He said he applied Monday.

"I honored his request and turned an application in. I'll see what they do with it," said Heflin, a management consultant.

[...]

Clowe was not available for comment, but confirmed through Heith that he did ask Heflin to apply.

[...]

The executive director job description calls for a four-year college degree or management experience. Heflin does not have a degree.

Clowe had set up the search committee in July, saying that he wanted to "cast a wide net" with the goal to "find someone who is qualified, experienced and will do an outstanding job."

[...]

Heflin said he became familiar with the lottery's operation as a member of the House Appropriations Committee.

"I didn't vote to put (the lottery) in. But when the people voted to have it, I wanted it to be effective," said Heflin. "I haven't tried to undo what the people said they wanted done."

Heflin said he is mindful that several previous lottery directors have been fired or resigned over various controversies.

"It is a hot-seat job," he said, adding that he knows many of the staff members at the lottery. "I'm pretty familiar with their operation. It's not like it's something brand new to me."

[...]

The former lawmaker also has a part-time job with an influential think tank, the Texas Public Policy Foundation. The group, which advocates for limited government, has contracted with Heflin to lead a study of the state's budget.

Heflin and Byron Schlomach, chief economist for the foundation, are reviewing the budget in an effort to recommend cost savings in the next legislative session.

Heflin was chairman of the Appropriations Committee during the 2003 session when lawmakers were forced to cut $10 billion from the budget.

Schlomach said Wednesday that if Heflin were to get the lottery job, the foundation would need to take a look at conflict-of-interest issues.

"I hate to say flat out it would be a conflict, but it's something we'd definitely have to look at. My first instinct is it probably would be. There wouldn't be the objectivity there," he said.

He added it's not impossible that Heflin could continue, however, since there are always exceptions.

First, there's his lack of a college degree. Despite the follies of the previous head honcho, the also-degreeless Reagan Greer, this isn't that big a deal, especially if Heflin's management consulting experience meets the alternate criterion. It's important to remember, though, that one reason why college degrees are required for positions like this is to make it a little harder for unqualified cronies like Greer to get installed as a reward for political work. It would therefore be at the least a little unseemly to succeed Greer with another well-connected Republican insider whose resume also happens to not fully measure up to standard. The fact that Heflin was solicited to apply this late in the process doesn't enhance one's faith in the TLC's originally-stated desire to go a new direction.

Heflin may have been a critic of the Lottery's creation, but that's not the same as being a critic of its operations and culture. It's a little hard to picture a good ol' boy like him really making changes to put this dysfunctional agency on more solid ground. Obviously, I don't know what he's said in his interviews so far, but it would be nice to know what he thinks, even in just general big-picture terms, of the complaints made by current and ex-staffers about how things are run there. We have a pretty good idea what Dawn Nettles' top priorities at the TLC would be. What are Heflin's?

It goes without saying (I hope!) that Heflin would have to resign from the TPPF if he gets this job, but potential conflict of interest questions don't stop there. Has he ever taken campaign contributions from any Lottery-related vendor or contracter? Have any of his former staffers gone to work for any Lottery-related firms? It shouldn't be that hard to get the answers to this stuff, so let's clear it up now.

I keep coming back to Commissioner Clowe asking Heflin to apply. Have no other acceptable candidates come forward, or is it just that Clowe doesn't like the choices he now has? Did Clowe encourage anyone else to apply at the beginning of this process? I'm always suspicious of this kind of last-minute change.

Finally, there is one good reason to hope Heflin does not get this job:

Heflin said, if he doesn't get the job, he is considering a race to try and regain the southwest Houston seat in the House that he lost to Democrat Hubert Vo.

We now have two Democrats looking to challenge John Culberson in CD07. Joining David Murff is Lanier Middle School debate teacher Jim Henley, whose website should be up this weekend. From an email I got from Lamar High School student and Henley for Congress Committee member Michael Hurta:

On December 4th, Mr. Henley plans to make his intentions official at El Meson Resteraunt, 2425 University Blvd. Houston, Texas 77005. All potential supporters are invited to kick off a campaign with intentions to get a man on Capitol Hill who truly represents the people of District 7. At the kick-off, the candidate's sister, Susan McDougal, will speak.

Mr. Henley is currently the debate teacher at Lanier Middle School, leading a team containing over two hundred members. In each of the past three years, including one year which I am proud to have been a part of, Mr. Henley has coached the school's team to the national title in the field of Forensics.

Katy Hubener, who gave State Rep. Ray Allen a close shave in 2004, will run again for HD106, which is now an open seat with Allen joining the retirement brigade.

Hubener, made her first try for an elected office in 2004 and garnered 47.4 percent of the vote to Allen's 52.6 percent in the race to represent State District 106, which includes most of the part of Grand Prairie in Dallas County, except for a northeast portion, and southern parts of Irving.

"Grand Prairie residents care about schools, property tax relief and insurance reform," said Hubener, 35, a Grand Prairie real estate agent. "On school finance reform, the Legislature has abdicated its responsibility to the courts."

Allen, a 54-year-old businessman who was the first Republican to represent Grand Prairie, said he is not seeking an eighth term because he wants to spend more time with his family and perhaps find a new business venture.

Allen said he does not know who among Republicans will run for the seat.

"There's a whole bunch of people, but I'm not trying to anoint a successor," he said. "I'll be neutral in the primary."

Meanwhile Matt Glazer reports that someone other than he will take on Rep. Frank Corte in HD122.

Larry Stallings announced tonight that he will be challenging Frank Corte in House District 122. The announcement came before Howard Dean and the Democratic National Committee outlined their 50 state strategy at house parties across the country.

Stallings says he was inspired by Howard Dean and the idea that no race should go unchallenged. Not even an out of touch legislator who stalls and blocks education reform.

Corte has basically gone unchallenged since 1992 and has not faced a Democratic challenger since being first elected. There are countless reasons why this guy should be defeated, and Stallings says he is up for the challenge.

Stallings was in the military for 30 years and is currently a director at University Medical Center in north San Antonio. His background in the health care industry and military alone will make this an interesting race to watch.

Whenever an announcement like Stallings' is made, there will be some pushback from people who think running everywhere is a bad idea. Sure enough, they pop up in the comments on this BOR post. I think you all know where I stand on this, so I'll just let Karl-T respond to the naysayers, as he is speaking for me here.

Finally, I had the chance to hear HD133 candidate Kristi Thibault speak at the Houston Democratic Forum meeting last night. She's just completed her paperwork with the Texas Ethics Commission, so even though she doesn't have a website up yet you can start sending her donations. The thing she said that stuck with me is how excited she is to be running for that seat. I feel a little bit about what she's talking about, and I think there's getting to be a lot of that going around in Dem circles. Get to know your candidates, folks, this is going to be a fun year.

After running completely unopposed in 2004, US Rep. Ron Paul may be facing challenges in both the general and the GOP primary next year. You already know about Shane Sklar; now meet Greg Roof.

Greg Roof, an economics professor at Alvin Community College, plans to challenge incumbent Ron Paul for the Republican Party nomination to seek the 14th district congressional seat.

He had the option, he said, of paying a $3,175 filing fee or collecting the signatures of 500 registered voters to place his name on next year’s primary election ballot.

“Because I believe that all governmental power comes from the people and that representatives must remain close to their constituents, I have chosen the petition route,” he said.

“In short, I am asking the people of Galveston to put me on the ballot.”

In a letter announcing his candidacy, Roof said he had collected about half of the needed signatures.

“I’m only going to run if I can collect the signatures,” he said. “I’m not going to run if I can’t. I want it to be grassroots, and I’m going from there.”

[...]

Why is he running? Roof said he felt Paul’s representation had been lacking with regard to the war in Iraq and other issues, but he indicated he wasn’t ready to talk specifics.

“First I need to get on the ballot,” he said, “then I’ll talk about the issues.”

Assuming Roof gets his signatures, this is a mixed blessing for Paul. On the one hand, it'll force him to dip into his already-small campaign warchest a lot sooner than he might have liked. (Yeah, sure, he can fundraise, and I'm sure he'd get whatever he needed easily enough. Something tells me that's not what motivates him, though, which is why his coffers are so shallow to begin with.) On the other hand, it's never a bad idea to get out and campaign, especially in a new district, and this would certainly give him a reason to do so. We'll see if it comes about. Link via Banjo.

I first noted a story on how Kids Today were becoming an increasingly large share of the Classic Rock audience. Via John, I see that the WaPo has picked up this theme. It's a long and fascinating piece, and it left me wondering if this phenomenon may finally be the fulcrum for a few changes at the classic rock stations.

[R]adio stations that play "-rock" prefixed by blues, prog, psychedelic, folk, hard, Southern, acid, country, etc., are recording upticks in young listenership: The percentage of 12-to-17-year-olds listening to classic rock stations increased from 2 percent in the summer of 1999 to 2.4 percent during the same period this year, according to Arbitron, which gathers ratio ratings across the country. While that might not seem like a huge jump, an Arbitron spokesman says that 2.4 percent represents the format's highest level of teen listenership since the fall of 1998, the first period for which data is readily available.

"We've surpassed the level we ever thought we could get to in the ratings, and that's primarily due to younger people making this their music," says Bob Buchmann, program director for the New York classic-rocker WAXQ-FM (104.3). The whole thing happened swiftly, he says. "Five years ago, it wasn't cool for kids to listen to their parents' music. But now all of a sudden, it is."

Says Max Dugan, program director at the Arrow [in Washington, DC]: "It's really come to a head in the last three years or 24 months." He adds: "We're getting all these calls and e-mails, with stuff like, 'I heard a great song today; it started with a guitar and ended with piano and there was something about "Layla." Who is that and how do I download it for free?' " (For the 46 readers who don't know, it's a 1970 song by Derek & the Dominos, featuring Eric Clapton. But please consult your family attorney before pursuing an illegally downloaded copy.)

And the digital data are out there, too. Sort of.

Neither AOL Music, iTunes nor Rhapsody could provide any sort of meaningful demographic information about who exactly has been downloading "Back in Black," "Purple Haze" and "Behind Blue Eyes." But Yahoo Music, which claims more than 20 million users monthly, reports that teenagers, the majority of them male, make up about a third of the "active audience" that's listening to and reading about core classic-rock acts like AC/DC, Hendrix and the Who.

Yahoo cannot provide any historical context to show whether this share has or hasn't grown over the past five years. And online music consumers are generally young, anyway. But still, says Jay Frank, a Yahoo Music executive: One-third is hardly an insignificant fraction.

"When some of these [older] artists show teens reacting at rates of 30 percent or greater, it's quite out of the ordinary," he says.

[...]

Digital downloading, legal and otherwise, is among the keys to classic rock's resurgence, as the oldies are now a mere mouse-click away.

The recent resurgence of guitar rock has also helped, as young music fans who like the White Stripes might be compelled to check out the band's most obvious influences, such as Led Zeppelin -- in basically the same way their parents might have discovered Muddy Waters and Chuck Berry via the Rolling Stones.

Well, they're probably still too small a piece of that audience to make much difference, but you never know. In the meantime, I don't know how long this fad will last. It does have one thing in its favor, which is that the music itself is for the most part pretty darned good. There's a reason it endures, and it ain't marketing.

The runoff elections for the City of Houston municipal races that went into overtime will be Saturday, December 10, with early voting from November 30 to December 6 (all info courtesy of a phone call to the Harris County Clerk's office). There will be six races on the ballot, though the only one that everyone will see will be City Council At Large #2 - the others are Council Districts B and C, both HISD races in Position 1 and Position 9, and HD143.

Today's Chron covers the latter three races. For the HISD contenders, it's all about making sure the people who voted for you once get out and do it again.

Incumbent Houston Independent School District Trustee Larry Marshall is trying to fend off a challenge for his District 9 seat from retired Sterling High School Principal Daisy Maura, who finished a strong second with 43 percent of the Nov. 8 vote to Marshall's 49 percent.

[...]

Maura scored slightly more Election Day votes than Marshall, who built a strong lead in absentee and early voting.

Marshall's $36,000 campaign-finance report shows he spent $10,000 mailing absentee ballots and paying workers to call potential voters. Maura spent $10,000 on her campaign.

Maura drew the bulk of her support from the neighborhoods surrounding the two high schools where she has worked — Worthing and Sterling.

Maura said she has bought 500 more yard signs (she already had 1,000) and plans to send mailers to the 12,000 people who voted Nov. 8.

"If we could get those 12,000 back to the polls, that's going to be a chore," she said.

The race for an open District 1 seat pits lawyer and former teacher Natasha Kamrani against Anne Flores Santiago, owner of an ambulance service.

[...]

For Kamrani, the leading vote-getter in last week's general election, a Dec. 10 victory hinges on the Heights and Garden Oaks neighborhoods. High voter turnout in those communities gave Kamrani 39 percent of the vote Nov. 8.

A former Teach for America bilingual classroom teacher, Kamrani held a major financial advantage over Santiago because she still had more than $15,000 in unspent campaign funds as of Oct. 31.

Santiago had about $1,500 at the same point.

Santiago won twice as many precincts on Election Day as Kamrani, but turnout in those mostly Hispanic neighborhoods was much lower, giving her 31 percent of the overall vote and just enough to make the runoff.

She is also courting Hispanic voters who helped third-place finisher Richard Cantú finish within 63 votes of Santiago.

"We're going to reach out to all voters in the Hispanic community and everywhere else in the Heights and Garden Oaks area," said Jorge Mendoza, Santiago's campaign manager.

Here's an interesting one. Local Latino electeds supported Richard Cantu for HISD School Board. Cantu missed the runoff. The local Latino electeds don't like the only Latina that did make the runoff, actually, they don't like her momma. Do the local Latino electeds support the non-Latina that led in the first go around? I love watching folks squirm.

Over in HD143, there's no question about who's endorsing whom: All of the candidates who did not make the cut are siding with Laura Salinas over Ana Hernandez, who led the vote tally on Election Day.

At her news conference, the former candidates endorsing her characterized Salinas as a grass-roots candidate who would be an independent voice in the Texas House.

"Laura is a strong individual who will be able to make a difference in Austin," said civil attorney Rick Molina, who was joined by the three other eliminated candidates — corrections officer Charles George, construction- firm owner Dorothy Olmos and lawyer Al Flores.

All six ran as Democrats in the special, nonpartisan election Nov. 8.

The race in the east Houston and Harris County district has stirred up old rivalries among long-standing factions in the Hispanic political community and also has created some realignments. Hernandez is supported by state Sen. Mario Gallegos and his political allies. Salinas is supported by her aunt and uncle, former state Reps. Diana Davila and Roman Martinez, and their allies.

Gallegos and Martinez have been foes since they squared off in an acrimonious 1994 Democratic primary battle to represent Senate District 6 and become Harris County's only Hispanic senator. Gallegos won.

The four candidates who were eliminated from the competition last week have grumbled that Hernandez is an opportunist who hadn't been living in the district. They feel that Hernandez got an unfair jump on the competition by launching her campaign almost immediately after Moreno's death - and they've complained that Hernandez and her supporters have tried to steamroll a path to the statehouse with heavy-handed tactics and threats.

The accusations, which Hernandez supporters say are overblown if not fictional, are part of the political territory in a section of the state's largest city where Moreno and State Rep. Jessica Farrar emerged as key players in the machine run by ex-City Councilman and former legislator Ben Reyes before he went to prison on a bribery conviction on the heels of an FBI undercover sting. Hernandez, a corporate attorney for Conoco/Phillips, worked as an aide to both Moreno and Farrar, who has been a key force in the aspiring candidate's special election campaign. Moreno had also worked for Farrar - and the two lawmakers had remained close friends.

Salinas is the niece of former State House member Diana Davila, who served six years as the representative for the district that State Rep. Rick Noriega now represents. Davila is married to her former boss, ex-House member Roman Martinez, a one-time Reyes ally until being pit in a bitter 1994 primary battle in a Senate contest that State Senator Mario Gallegos won in a runoff after trailing in the initial election.

There had been speculation shortly after Moreno's death that Gallegos would support Salinas in the special election campaign. But he got behind the Hernandez effort instead.

On a side note, there is a connection between HISD1 and HD143, in that Anne Flores Santiago's "momma" is Yolanda Navarro Flores, who unsuccessfully challenged Mario Gallegos in the Democratic primary for SD6 last year. Make of that what you will.

Today is not the day for Kim Ng, as the Dodgers go old school by hiring Giants Assistant GM Ned Colletti.

Colletti was chosen over Kim Ng, the Dodger assistant general manager of four years and one of two women in the major leagues to hold a high-level baseball operations position.

A previous address in Northern California, however, might be the only similarity between Colletti and DePodesta.

Colletti, 50, has a reputation of being an old-school executive, having learned the trade under hard-bitten Giant General Manager Brian Sabean. DePodesta, 32, represented the trend of young Ivy League-educated executives who are making their way into front offices.

[...]

It is unclear whether Colletti plans to retain Ng or vice president of player development Roy Smith, who have been running the Dodger front office since DePodesta was fired.

Ng survived the transition between former general manager Dan Evans and DePodesta and knows the intricacies of Dodger baseball operations as well as anyone. Ng and Smith, who was hired by DePodesta, have three years left on their contracts.

As for Colletti, Dodger bloggers aren't so sanguine. Jon Weisman says "On paper, I don't see what Colletti offered that Kim Ng does not", though he vows to "give Colletti the chance that many did not give Paul DePodesta". 6-4-2 was not impressed with Colletti when he became the frontrunner, and he's still not impressed. Linkmeister? You're the resident Dodger Blue patron around here. What do you think?

Anybody wanna buy a lottery vendor? No felons or other people of low moral character need apply.

The Rhode Island company that operates many of the Texas lottery's most popular games is up for sale, and state officials are looking to hire an independent law firm to help them ensure that any potential buyer is committed to upholding the company's contractual commitments.

Lottery officials told a legislative oversight panel this week that Gtech Corp., which has been under contract to the state agency since the lottery was established in 1992, has received an acquisition offer from an unnamed group. The transaction could be worth as much as $4 billion, officials said.

"Realistically, we will want to know about this ownership change prior to the [sale] going through," said Gary Grief, the lottery's acting director. "And we will want to put Gtech on notice [if] we have a problem with potential owners."

Under state law, the lottery cannot enter into a contract with anyone who in the past 10 years "has been convicted of a felony, criminal fraud, gambling or a gambling-related offense, or a misdemeanor involving moral turpitude."

[...]

Grief and lottery lawyer Kim Kipling told the House Licensing and Administrative Procedures Committee that the state agency needs the expertise of an outside lawyer to monitor activities surrounding the proposed sale to ensure that Texas' interests are safeguarded. Because Gtech provides such a specialized service, Texas lottery officials would be hard-pressed to find a new game operator if Gtech were acquired by someone who could not meet standards covered under state law, they said.

"We'd be scared to death," Grief said, adding that Gtech's few competitors are experienced running games in smaller states. "Running Oklahoma is a lot different than running Texas," Grief said. "We know Gtech is an industry leader in being a lottery operator. They're the 500-pound gorilla."

Kipling said that the Texas attorney general's office has identified four Texas law firms that have the expertise to monitor the proposed sale.

[Gtech spokesman Bob] Vincent said he could not disclose any specific information regarding the proposed sale or on Texas' concerns.

"Needless to say, Texas is one of our largest clients and an essential part of our profitability," Vincent said.

Meanwhile, hearings about that disaster recovery center took place on Monday.

The Texas Lottery Commission would not be able to resume critical functions in a timely manner if its headquarters were destroyed because its disaster recovery site lacks important equipment, a former lottery employee told lawmakers Monday.

Shelton Charles, a senior lottery systems analyst who was fired Nov. 4, told the House Licensing and Administrative Procedures Committee that he warned his bosses that backing up data was useless if the agency didn't have the equipment to access it. He said his managers told him they didn't have enough money to buy the hardware.

[...]

Lottery Commission Chairman C. Thomas Clowe and Gary Grief, the agency's acting executive director, told the committee the site has been fully functional for years. But none of the half dozen lottery employees who testified knew the exact date it became operational.

Grief said creating the disaster recovery site was a massive undertaking done over a span of many months with different systems being brought online at different times.

"I think it would be disingenuous of me to try to tell you that on X date everything was done," he said. "I don't think I could do that and feel good about it."

He insisted, however, that lottery employees could quickly resume their duties at the disaster recovery site if necessary, and he invited the committee members to tour the facility.

Lawmakers plan to tour the facility after Thanksgiving.

Grief also pointed out that GTECH Corp., the contractor that runs the lottery's gaming operation, backs up its information in four places. He said that means a problem at lottery headquarters wouldn't affect wagering and prize claiming.

But Charles said there isn't enough bandwidth at the emergency facility for lottery employees to electronically communicate with either GTECH or retailers.

"If you get an analyst, a third party to review that, you're going to find out that I'm right on the money - no ifs, no ands, no buts," Charles said.

Feels a little funny to say that Barbara Radnofsky is making her official announcement of her candidacy for Senate, since she's been campaigning for well over a year now, but she is, starting in Dallas yesterday, in Fort Worth today, and Houston tomorrow. The following info is from her press releases:

Fort Worth—November 16: Radnofsky will officially announce her candidacy on Wednesday, November 16, at the Fort Worth Club, 11th Floor Library, 306 W. 7th Street at 11:30 a.m.

Radnofsky will be available for media interviews in both English and Spanish.

Campaign and Media Contact: Robert Andrews, 512-567-6518, randrews6@austin.rr.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Houston Press Conference

Media and supporters are invited to the Houston announcement tour press conference.

DATE: Thursday, November 17, 2005
TIME: Noon to 1:00 p.m.
LOCATION: The Monarch School, 1231 Wirt Road, Houston, Texas 77055
MORE: located on the campus of the Houston Mennonite Church

For more information - mailto:katie.floyd@radnofsky.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Houston Fundraiser Reception

Please join hosts Representative Sylvester Turner, Ramiro Orta, Leonel Castillo, and Matthias J. Adrogue and Barbara Ann for a fundraising reception at the home of Dr. Carlos and Rosanna Moreno from 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.

DATE: Thursday, November 17, 2005
TIME: 6:00-8:00 p.m.
LOCATION: 6629 Westchester, Houston

RSVP - mailto:kim.grout@radnofsky.com

UPDATE: Wow, the Chron actually has a story on this. Will wonders never cease?

The city of Houston is on its way to bringing a WiFi network to town, beginning with the downtown area.

The city of Houston will begin looking in March for a company to not only build a wireless Internet network that blankets downtown, but for that business to pay for it as well.

By having a private company behind the project, Houston Mayor Bill White believes he can avoid some of the battle cries from telecommunications companies opposed to municipal WiFi.

White said no tax dollars would be used to create a broadband wireless network. Instead, the city will issue a request for proposals seeking a company to build and operate it.

In turn, city government would have free access to a variety of broadband applications, like enhanced communications, a high-tech parking meter system and increased telecommuting for city workers.

It could also mean increased Internet access for low-income residents.

The company using Houston's many easements and right of ways for WiFi antennas and other equipment would then be able to sell its airtime to residents and businesses.

Telecommunications giants like SBC Corp. and Time Warner, which are locked in a tight battle in Houston and elsewhere to supply high-speed Internet services, have long fought such municipal projects, complaining that they create an atmosphere where government is competing with the private sector.

Such grumblings won't stop White, who, when announcing his support for Houston's WiFi project, told a recent gathering of technology leaders that the city would fight back against companies that try to interfere.

In a recent interview, he said companies like SBC or Time Warner have "no good reason to fight it unless we were going to try to finance the system with taxpayer dollars, which we're not proposing to do. We're not trying to compete with any private business, and we want to make this technology option available."

Time Warner and SBC said they are exploring ways they might join with the city on the project, such as providing the high-speed Internet connection. Both companies in general, however, still oppose government involvement in broadband and have supported legislation attempting to ban it.

"Broadband is best left to the private sector," SBC spokesman Steve Lee said. "But that doesn't mean we can't be engaged in the process."

Like SBC, Time Warner is watching closely as the project develops. The company said it is concerned that signals coming from a municipal WiFi network will interfere with its own wireless Internet products used in area homes and businesses.

"We see a citywide WiFi deployment as very problematic for whomever tries to operate such a network because of all the interference issues that will be encountered," Time Warner spokesman Michael Bybee said.

There's more to the story, and as exciting as it is to see plans to start soliciting bids in March, it could be five years before anything happens. Longer term, though, this could expand to the entire Houston metro area. It'll be fun to watch.

Dwight is soliciting comments on this; he's gotten some decent feedback, so take a look. Take a look also at this nifty interactive map of municipal broadband projects that are already in place or are in the planning stage around the US. It's no wonder the SBCs of the world have enlisted someone like Pete Sessions to try and keep this genie in the bottle, but based on what I see here, they may already be too late.

First, they came for Little Hipps. Now, they're coming for Earl Abel's.

Earl Abel's, the 72-year-old San Antonio restaurant known equally for retro decor and retro cuisine, likely will close its doors early next year to make way for a decidedly modern high-rise condo development.

Development group Koontz McCombs quietly put the Alamo City institution, located just north of downtown, under contract late this summer and could raze it as early as January to make way for a proposed 25-story, 80-unit condo tower, owner Jerry Abel said.

The developer wants to start construction on the 2.4-acre property, at the busy intersection of Broadway and Hildebrand Avenue, early next year and finish by 2008.

"Everything just came together perfectly," Abel said of his decision to end his restaurant's successful run.

"This building is old. I'm old. So, with that in mind, the proposal from Koontz McCombs made so much sense."

[...]

The sixty-something Abel wouldn't discuss financial terms of the deal but said he's "tired" of operating the restaurant his father started in 1933. Abel grew up working in the family business and has served as its president for 20 years.

Theater organist Earl Abel opened his first namesake eatery on North Main Avenue after the Great Depression put him out of work. He later opened a handful of other locations, including the Broadway restaurant — the chain's sole survivor.

Earl Abel's fried chicken, mashed potatoes and homemade pies have sustained generations of customers from thrifty downtown workers to Alamo Heights bluebloods.

Seemingly trapped in a time warp, the wood-paneled and red-wallpapered dining room has been the site of countless business lunches and family breakfasts. It gained further notoriety in 1986 as the place where U.S. Rep. Henry B. Gonzalez slugged a fellow diner for calling him a communist.

Koontz McCombs principal Bart Koontz said he talked with Abel for at least a year about the property before settling on a deal.

He wouldn't say how much his group plans to spend developing the high-end condos, which would overlook nearby Brackenridge Park and downtown San Antonio.

[...]

Councilman Kevin Wolff, whose district includes Earl Abel's, said he has known of plans for the condos for several weeks.

"It's kind of a neat layout," Wolff said. "The bad part is — are we going to lose an icon? Yeah."

Wolff, who last week attended a Mahncke Park Neighborhood Association meeting, said leaders there seemed to accept the redevelopment plans. Koontz McCombs officials have been talking to neighbors about the tower's design.

Before it can begin construction, the developer must ask the city to rezone the property so it can accommodate multifamily dwellings. Wolff said doesn't foresee significant resistance to the rezoning plan.

Joyce Felter, vice president of the Mahncke Park association, said the group doesn't know enough about the project to take an official stand.

However, she added, "if it's a high rise, there are individual members who are opposed to having a high rise in the neighborhood."

Another residential high-rise building is already located nearby at Hildebrand and North New Braunfels Avenue.

Real estate officials say Broadway south of Hildebrand — long a string of vacant car dealerships and storefronts — is poised to take off as the city's economy grows and its downtown business climate improves.

The planned condos likely would appeal to professionals looking to cut their downtown commute time, said Stephen Poteet of Broadway Developers, which is building an office complex a few blocks south of Earl Abel's. They also could be attractive to empty nesters looking to downsize their living space.

"I think it would be an especially good site because it's well-positioned between the downtown business sector and the northeast suburbs," Poteet said.

Oh, and one other thing that Broadway and Washington have in common: They both feature Pig Stand restaurants. How about that?

Anyway, if the demise of Earl Abel's leads to a renaissance along Broadway, it will (just barely) be a net positive for the city of San Antonio. As The Jeffersonian well knows, it'll take a lot to make up for losing Earl Abel's chocolate cake. The AusChron has a nice review and mini-history of the place, as does Texas Monthly. Earl Abel himself is a member of the Texas Restaurant Association Hall of Fame. They don't make 'em like that any more.

Farewell, Earl Abel's. You will be missed.

Long as we're talking about Gubernatorial primaries, I (and several of my blogging colleagues) got an email about another potential Democratic candidate, a fellow named Bob Gammage. Karl-T has the text of the emails in question for you.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Any contender who thinks he or she has a case to be the Democratic standard-bearer in next year's election is welcome to do so. Like PDiddie, I'm a Chris Bell supporter, but as he says, a contested primary, especially given how boring the one across the aisle is shaping up to be, would be a good thing. Keep it clean and focused on the failures of the Capitol's current occupant, and I promise to keep an open mind.

All that said, Gammage is now the third such candidate to tease us with a will-he-or-won't-he campaign, from which nothing other than a defunct website has yet to happen. Like the other two, Gammage has a fine resume and would undoubtedly be a good candidate if he wants to be. If so, get off the pot and get in already so we can have a real debate and make a real decision about who we want to represent us instead of all of these breathless emails and fevered speculations that everyone forgets about two days later. If not, how about putting some of that energy into supporting the Democrat that's been doing the real work of campaigning for several months now? Time's a-wasting here, so let's get on with it one way or the other.

Hey, wasn't there supposed to be a contested GOP primary for Governor going on? Whatever happened to Carole Keeton Strayhorn?

Strayhorn has a lot of money in her campaign war chest, but lately, many political observers have noted that her momentum seems to be dwindling, just as Governor Perry is picking up steam.

On a sweltering summer day five months ago, the state's republican comptroller turned months of speculation into reality and ran full speed ahead at incumbent republican Rick Perry.

But aside from some radio ads, Strayhorn's campaign has barely made a peep since then. Perry has compiled an impressive list of endorsements, including the State Association of Firefighters, the Texas Public Employees Association and the Teamsters.

Strayhorn has scored no big endorsements.

[...]

Strayhorn is standing her ground, appearing as a keynote speaker at a Veterans Day ceremony at the Capitol. She says her campaign is going well, but did not want to answer questions about it on the holiday.

"I'll be delighted to talk about that any time any place anywhere I'll be delighted to talk about the issues, where we are going in this state but today, today is the day to remember to respect and to pray for our men and women who are still in harm's way," Strayhorn said.

She's got her work cut out for her. Rick Perry is a terrible Governor on many levels, but he's a heck of a politician, and he's done a great job setting the agenda lately. Long as he can resist the urge to call any more special sessions, he ought to be able to continue doing that. Too bad for the rest of us, but those are the perks of winning elections.

I seem to recall that one of the reasons we so desperately needed to Double Secret Illegalize gay marriage in Texas was that if we didn't, we might someday wake up in a society of polygamists. Therefore, I trust that this report of fugitive polygamist cult leader Warren Jeffs being in Texas will bring people like Warren Chisum, Cathie Adams, and Kelly Shackleford back to their bully pulpits to bring pressure on Schleicher County Sheriff David Doran and Attorney General Greg Abbott to help find and catch him. If it's their fear that gay marriage might lead to polygamy, I shudder to think what having polygamists in our midst might lead to. Surely if one considers oneself a protector of traditional marriage, then one must realize that the likes of Warren Jeffs are exactly what it needs protection from. So any minute now, I expect to hear from them as they answer the call to once again stand up for one man and one woman. Any minute now, I just know it.

Via PerryVsWorld and BOR, Chris Elam is reporting that State Sen. Ken Armbrister is going to retire. Armbrister has been around for awhile, he's one of a dwindling number of Democratic throwbacks who frequently does not go along with the rest of his party, and he's going to have some spirited competition next year in an otherwise strongly Republican district. As such, I can believe this, but it's all rumor now and you know how that can go. Read the linked posts and judge for yourself.

Shane Sklar will be in Galveston next week for a fundraiser. From his press release:

Building on his growing grassroots support throughout the 14th District, Democratic Congressional Candidate Shane Sklar will hold a fundraiser in Galveston next week.

Sklar’s fundraiser will be held in the Gulf Room at Gaido's, 3802 Seawall Blvd., from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., Tuesday, November 22.

A fourth-generation rancher from Edna, Sklar is committed to balancing the federal budget, holding down taxes, creating jobs, and protecting funding for NASA and UTMB.

In particular, Sklar has focused on the Federal Emergency Management Agency. After volunteering with Hurricane Rita relief workers, he called for overhauling FEMA and severing it from the Department of Homeland Security.

Meanwhile, his opponent, 8-term Congressman Ron Paul, was one of only six representatives -- and the only one from a coastal area -- who voted against funding for Hurricane Katrina relief.

I had the pleasure of meeting and talking to Sklar at the recent BAND party. I don't think he's really on anyone's radar right now (at least, he's not on SuperRibbie's), but keep an eye on him. This race may surprise people.

By the way, SuperRibbie has a companion piece of Democratic seats to watch out for next year as well; both those diaries are worth your time to read.

Finally, Karl-T rounds up what's going on in other Texas Congressional races. Obviously, there will be a lot more to be said on this subject in the coming months.

The Los Angeles Dodgers, the franchise that broke the color line in Major League Baseball in 1947, may be about to shatter another barrier, as they are interviewing Kim Ng for their open General Manager job.

"I've been out in the field with her, scouted. I've been in the back rooms with her, around the table. She's as qualified as any guy sitting in there around the table," said Ken Williams, GM of the World Series champion Chicago White Sox.

Ng, who turns 37 on Nov. 17, was the New York Yankees' assistant general manager for four years before becoming an assistant GM with the Dodgers in December 2001. Los Angeles GM Paul DePodesta was fired by owner Frank McCourt last month, and the team received permission to interview former Texas and Cleveland GM John Hart. Former Boston GM Theo Epstein might also be a possibility.

"The McCourts have asked the candidates basically not to discuss the whole situation," Ng said Tuesday at the annual general managers' meetings, where she is co-leading the Dodgers' delegation along with Roy Smith, the team's vice president of player development.

Only three women have risen to assistant GM. The first was Elaine Weddington Steward, hired by the Boston Red Sox in 1990. When Ng left the Yankees, she was replaced by Jean Afterman, a lawyer who had worked for agent Don Nomura.

[...]

Ng worked for the White Sox from 1990-96, when Dan Evans was the team's assistant GM, and Evans hired her when he became GM of the Dodgers. After she left the White Sox, Ng became director of waivers and player records for the American League for one year.

"Everybody here knows Kim, and they've known her for quite some time," said Yankees GM Brian Cashman, who hired her as his assistant in March 1998. "If she gets hired, whether it's for the Dodgers or anybody else, it's going to be because someone believes she has the ability to do that job.

"She's not going to get the job because she's a woman, and I don't think she's getting interviewed because she's a woman. I think she's getting interviewed because she deserves to have that opportunity because of that hard work she's put forth."

Cleveland general manager Mark Shapiro believes that a youth movement going on in front offices around the game heralds more open-mindedness that can only increase the chances of Ng or any other female candidate.

“I don’t think there are any limits on who can be GM,” Shapiro said. “What baseball has shown in the last few years is you can’t put superficial limits on the GM’s job, whether it’s gender, race, culture or obviously, age. If you can embrace change in this game, including change in types of leadership, you can be effective.

“It takes strong desire from women, to know the odds going in. In my eyes, there are opportunities for anyone to contribute. The only ceiling yet to be broken by women is pure evaluation, in a scouting type of role.

“Kim certainly has paid her dues, has worked hard and is worthy of consideration.”

Afterman, who replaced Ng as Cashman’s assistant and would like to be a GM “maybe one day,” says “I’m with Kim” on this current candidacy.

“The timing is right with Kim,” Afterman said. “She’s put nine years in as assistant GM – she’s certainly more qualified than others.”

Afterman also commented on the team for which Ng currently works.

“For the Dodgers, the team that had Jackie Robinson break the color barrier, hiring Kim would complete the circle if they’re trying to reach back into history for the glory days,” she said.

Dodgers president Jamie McCourt is currently the highest-ranking female in the game.

The “good old boy” network that has permeated baseball is clearly on the wane. According to Afterman, Ng’s competence has helped even the playing field.

“This is still an old boys’ network, but I see the way assistant GM’s and GM’s react with her and she has the respect of everyone, from all sides, she’s not treated any differently,” Afterman said. “It may have taken her longer to build that up because this business is dominated by men. She’s proven she’s a person of her word and in this business, that’s worth a lot. Those hurdles, she’s overcome, plus she’s very knowledgeable about the game. This group of executives, they can sniff out any weakness and it’s always possible of being blocked out of a group if they’re convinced you don’t know or have what it takes.

“I don’t suppose anyone is going to get a GM job because they’re a woman – I support people getting jobs because they’re qualified and Kim’s highly qualified. If she doesn’t get the job, it won’t be because she’s not qualified or that she’s a woman or an Asian or that they want someone with more experience.”

Former Dodgers general manager Dan Evans said he would "applaud big-time" if Kim Ng becomes the Dodgers' next GM.

"I hired her as an intern when I was the director of baseball operations for the White Sox in 1990 and then hired her as my assistant general manager in Los Angeles," Evans said Monday. "I have great respect for her and whatever happens with her down the line, it will happen because she has earned the opportunity."

[...]

"I am from the mind-set that if someone is qualified to do the job, it doesn't really matter what their background is, or what their race or gender is," Cubs GM Jim Hendry said. "Either you can do it, or not. My dealings with Kim always have been good and she obviously has a very good reputation wherever she has worked."

Evans recalled the first time he met Ng.

"She was recommended by the athletic director at the University of Chicago and was just one of the multiple interviews we had for the internship," he said. "I had one interview with her and it was just outstanding.

"I had the advantage of being married to a television producer who was a little bit of a pioneer herself and that was in the back of my mind. It made me think that there shouldn't be any barriers."

Ng got the intern job and worked on arbitration research.

"We didn't win all of them," Evans said, "but we were prepared. Kim is one of the hardest-working people I have ever met. She continues to ask questions and never asks the same question a second time."

The big question is how the other Major League general managers would react.

"She has been in this game for 15 years, and anyone in the game now will have dealt with her and will have respect for her," Evans said. "It's not about friendships. You don't have to be friends with the people you work against, but you have to respect her.

"She works as hard, or harder, than anyone. Whether they are ready, that's their problem if they are not ready. I know I couldn't have asked for a better person to work for me at the White Sox or the Dodgers.

"I have two teenage daughters who consider Kim as their role model, and that's pretty cool."

Her qualifications can't be questioned. She went to a top-notch school, the University of Chicago. She has worked for the White Sox under Ron Schueler and Dan Evans, the Yankees under Brian Cashman and the Dodgers under Evans again in an era that's starting to look like the good old days. She has helped negotiate contracts with the likes of Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera.

If stat-geek boys who didn't play the game or drive rental cars from minor league town to minor league town can grow up to be general managers, why can't girls do it?

Those who have worked with her say she's thorough and professional in everything she does. She might be undervalued publicly because she doesn't seek credit for things she has done, but that endears her even more to her associates.

And yet she'll face unprecedented challenges because she's an Asian woman. She already had to deal with a regrettable incident at the general managers meetings in 2003, when Met scout Bill Singer mocked her with an outlandish Chinese accent. (Singer was fired for his behavior.)

But this is a case where gender trumps ethnicity. Perhaps the biggest question is how she will be received in the clubhouse. One of the problems with Paul DePodesta was he wasn't at ease with the players. Will Ng be able to interact comfortably with them in that ultimate boys' room, when the players are in various stages of undress? Perhaps more important, would any potential employers have the confidence that she could?

[...]

I hope Ng can land her dream job … somewhere else.

She can do more for the Dodgers than they can do for her. Frank McCourt could be a modern-day Branch Rickey, letting Ng do for female executives what Jackie Robinson did for African American players. Ng has been around for four years, which would bring some much-needed stability to the team. She'd deflect attention from the rash of terminations.

It's such an opportunity for women, she would almost have to take it if offered. But she deserves better than this.

It's the wrong job for her to make history, because soon enough she'll be history, given the McCourts' penchant for finding scapegoats when things go wrong.

Then she wouldn't be known as the first female general manager. She would be just another ex-Dodger.

You never know what a team like that will do, and with the likes of Theo Epstein available as well, it's not like the Dodgers are limited in their options. Jon Weisman is reading the tea leaves and sees Ng as a backup choice right now. Even if she doesn't wind up knocking this door down, it seems to me she's certainly cleared the path to it. If today isn't her day, tomorrow surely will be, for her and for others.

Finally, I can't close this piece without noting that while Ng would be a trailblazer in baseball, she herself is walking in the footsteps of Oakland Raiders CEO Amy Trask.

The Chron returns to the issue of electing judges in Texas, which first came up during the recusal merry-go-round in the DeLay money laundering case. I'm still not convinced that the popular alternative of appointments followed by unopposed retention elections is any better, so let's go through the objections to the current system.

[State Sen. Rodney] Ellis noted that many Texas voters, particularly in urban areas with many judges and long ballots, don't even know who most of their judges are. Harris County has 59 state district judges plus additional appellate and lower-ranking judges.

"It's very difficult to convince voters that we should take away their right to elect someone, even if they don't know who they're voting for," Ellis said.

The only circumstance under which I could see a judge losing one of these suckers would be if he or she was very publicly caught doing something naughty, or if he or she became the target of a political party due to a controversial decision rendered (this is the Eileen O'Neill situation that Ginger alluded to last time). In either case, the retention election would almost by definition become a partisan campaign. Given that, I fail to see why it would be an improvement.

The real crux of the issue here, both in DeLay's motion to remove Judge Perkins and Ronnie Earle's subsequent filings to replace Judges Schraub and Jefferson, isn't so much their party affiliation as it is their campaign contributions, both giving and receiving. As I said before, you could solve that instead by simply limiting how much a judge or judicial candidate can give or get. Even if that's a good idea on its own, it's hard to see how imposing such limits will help the voters get to know who they're voting for or against. More campaigning would seem to be the answer to that, and less money will certainly not lead to that.

Really, since DeLay's original contention was that Perkins' contribution history amounted to a conflict of interest on his part, simply clarifying the rules of what constitutes such a thing would have sufficed. I mean, surely Perkins could have been an appointed-and-retained holdover from the Ann Richards era and have made the same contributions to MoveOn, right? If Texas Supreme Court justices were routinely forced to stand down from cases that even peripherally involved their campaign benefactors, I'd bet things would change. Beyond that, I again fail to see how having the appoint-and-retain system would have made a difference.

I'm not saying that the current process we have is the best. I'm a Democrat living in a county with an all-Republican judiciary, after all. I'm just nowhere near convinced that the alternatives presented so far are an improvement. The only way any system can really work properly is with a well-informed and involved electorate. Any ideas on how we can ensure that, I'm all ears.

The early poll in CD28 that I mentioned last week has been pikced up as a story in the Express News, with comments from all campaigns. Andre Pineda has the pointer and some further thoughts in response to what his counterparts have to say.

Doing the same for Richard Raymond is The Red State. One item to note:

Ciro Rodriguez will have to try to bring a message out with zero money. If the money loaned from his brother has to be returned and the cost of his campaign manager has been accounted for plus the cost of the poll, then Ciro Rodriguez does not have any money. The reality of politics is that money brings money. Conversely, no money brings no money.

This was homecoming weekend at Rice, but this time the Owls were joined by another school bringing together its alumni to celebrate and reminisce.

While Rice University celebrated homecoming Saturday, about 400 people with ties to hurricane-damaged Tulane University reunited beneath a green-and-white tent outside Rice Stadium. Over beers and barbecue, the students, alumni and faculty members talked of overcoming Katrina's wrath.

"This is the first time we have had a group this large, so it feels like a homecoming," said Alan Bern, president of the Tulane alumni association's Houston chapter. "I'm seeing people who I haven't seen in three or four years."

The passions run strong for Tulane, usually because of the highly acclaimed academics and sultry New Orleans, not football. Just last year, about 100 folks from Tulane watched the Green Wave play at the University of Houston.

Now, circumstances have turned the football team into a rallying point. With the hurricane scattering Tulane students and faculty members across the country — more of them relocated to Texas than anywhere else, including roughly 100 students enrolled at Rice — the games have become a place to reconnect.

[...]

Tulane's 11 intercollegiate teams are operating from four universities in Texas and Louisiana. The football team, based at Louisiana Tech University, has played nine games in nine different cities since the hurricane.

Before Rice's 42-34 victory dropped the Green Wave's record to 2-7, several students and alumni said they agreed with the decision for the university's teams to play.

"It would have been a sign of giving up," said Jared Caplan, a Houston attorney who graduated from Tulane in 1998. "It's important to show that the school is still alive and kicking."

Caplan and his college buddies pick one of Tulane's road games each year for a reunion. Months ago, they decided upon Rice, adding Houston to a list that includes cities in New Jersey, New York, Maryland and Louisiana.

Carey Loshbaugh, one of Caplan's friends and a New Orleans resident, said Tulane's turnout at Rice was larger than other places they have seen, probably because of the number of evacuees in Houston and the proximity to New Orleans.

Even Bern, the alumni chapter president, said he was surprised by the crowd.

Two months ago, alumni spoke in somber tones during a post-Katrina fundraiser in downtown Houston.

"Everybody is in a better mood now," said Bern, who wore Mardi Gras beads over a Tulane T-shirt. "It's different these days. People are saying the campus is in the best shape of their lives. Everything has a fresh coat of paint, and the grass is green."

The Agonist points to an AP wire story about some emails between Ralph Reed and disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who is currently under federal indictment for fraud as well as under investigation by the Senate Indian Affairs committee, which link to Texas Senator John Cornyn.

In 2001, Abramoff was working as a lobbyist for the Louisiana Coushatta tribe to prevent rival gaming casinos from siphoning off its Texas customers. He paid Reed as a consultant, and Reed lobbied to get the Alabama-Coushatta and Tigua casinos closed in Texas.

In the Nov. 30, 2001, e-mail, Reed told Abramoff that 50 pastors led by Ed Young, of Second Baptist Church in Houston, would meet with Cornyn to urge him to shut down the Alabama-Coushatta tribe's casino near Livingston, Texas. He said Young would back up the request in writing.

"We have also choreographed Cornyn's response. The AG will state that the law is clear, talk about how much he wants to avoid repetition of El Paso and pledge to take swift action to enforce the law," Reed wrote. "He will also personally hand Ed Young a letter that commits him to take action in Livingston."

Cornyn, now a Republican U.S. senator, had filed a lawsuit in 1999 to shut down a casino operated by the Tigua tribe in El Paso, saying it violated the state's limited gambling laws. In 2002, federal courts shuttered the Tiguas' casino and Cornyn used that ruling to shut down the Alabama-Coushuttas' casino.

Cornyn, who has not been accused of any wrongdoing, has denied knowing Abramoff. He also has said he was unaware of Reed's work with Abramoff. He said he did not remember receiving a letter from Young or Reed, or providing a letter to Young, although he acknowledged meeting with the minister.

"Their efforts were irrelevant to what I was doing," said Cornyn, who was elected to the Senate in 2002. "It's kind of eye-opening to me that apparently people make money claiming credit for something I decided to do under the law."

The Senate Indian Affairs Committee, led by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., blocked out references to Cornyn in the e-mails it released last week. But, in previous Reed e-mails released by the committee, Cornyn's name was not removed.

The previously released e-mails that showed in 2002 Abramoff and Scanlon secretly funneled millions to Reed to help fund the campaign to get the Tigua casino shut down. The lobbyists then persuaded the Tiguas to hire them to reopoen it.

[...]

Young said he met Cornyn for the first time at the pastors' meeting in late November 2001 and Cornyn spoke to about 15 to 20 pastors. He also said he did not remember any exchange of letters occurring at the meeting as Reed said in the e-mail.

Cornyn "told us the situation. He was filing affidavits. We said we support you" because of the pastors' concern about gambling, Young said.

Young dismissed Reed's suggestion that Cornyn needed him for support in the 2002 Senate race. He said he stays neutral politically because his church attracts Democrats and Republicans, including Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas.

A fairly comprehensive accounting of the recently released emails can be found here.

State Rep. Aaron Pena writes a wrapup of the march he and many veterans took from Edinburg to San Antonio to highlight the need for a VA hospital in South Texas.

For the moment the feeling is one of elation and success. Make no mistake, there is no delusion about the difficult and rocky road ahead. A moment's glory does not mean my people of Deep South Texas will garner the full respect they earned with their sacrifice and the loss of so many young soldiers. This does not mean a hospital will soon rise above the plains of South Texas.

Notice should be taken however that we are a determined people that will sacrifice all in order to achieve a goal. The fire that has always burned in these soldiers now burns in me and a multitude of others who now believe. It should be noted that the passion in these and many other veterans will not be extinguished. In the future I would hope that before we spend billions in constructing roads to nowhere in Alaska, that great caution will be taken before our veterans are passed over again.

I admit that I haven't been following the story of escaped-and-recaptured death row inmate Charles Victor Thompson very closely, but I was struck with a thought as I read this front-page story on how "lack of supervision" may have led to his escape. I'll get to that thought in a second, but first, consider this:

A Harris County jailer with a long career in law enforcement and a union lawyer described an atmosphere at the jail in which detention officers routinely leave their posts before the end of their shifts — a factor Thompson may have capitalized on during his brazen escape from the facility at 1200 Baker.

The jailer, who did not want to be named for fear of retaliation, said some jailers play video games and nap while on duty. The jailer also contends that many routinely leave their posts unmanned well before their shifts are up.

"All of these things, I have personally seen," the jailer said.

A department spokesman said policy dictates that jail employees remain on duty until they are relieved, and the same rule applies to supervisors.

"I don't have any direct knowledge of people leaving early. Especially if they haven't been relieved," said Lt. John Martin, a spokesman for the Harris County Sheriff's Office, which operates the jail. "If that is the case, of course, we need to take appropriate administrative action."

[...]

Harris County's four jails are manned by deputies who are fully certified peace officers and unlicensed detention officers, the jailer said. Detention officers serve as rovers or as pod and day-room watchers. Pod watchers are assigned to control centers, or guard stations, and are responsible for monitoring dozens of prisoners at a time.

Rovers move about the jail, responding to emergencies or relieving pod watchers during breaks. Sergeants supervise the rovers and pod watchers.

Sergeants, however, report for work 30 minutes before the detention officers they oversee and leave 30 minutes sooner, the jailer said.

The veteran jailer said some rovers take advantage of the lack of supervision by leaving shortly after their bosses. The jailer suggested that such a lack of supervision, as well as a shortage of deputies around a shift change, may have contributed to the conditions that allowed Thompson to escape.

[...]

Richard Cobb, a Fraternal Order of Police lawyer, said there weren't enough deputies on duty to escort Thompson to see the attorney. He said no one was available to escort Thompson to the booth, so one deputy, on his way out for the day, offered to walk Thompson to the booth.

The jailer who spoke on condition of anonymity said rovers frequently must be reminded to lock the visitor's booth doors after escorting inmates to and from the rooms. The jailer also said pod watchers do not have keys to the interview rooms.

"So, a day-shift deputy relieves him and (the rover) just goes home," said the jailer. "And Thompson's just left in there, and the door's not locked just because nobody bothered to lock it."

After his meeting with the attorney, Thompson remained in the unlocked booth where he changed into civilian clothes and shed his handcuffs.

When Thomas does get around to answering questions about this, I hope one of them is whether he thinks the unsafe and overcrowded conditions at Harris County jails was a contributing factor in Thompson's escape. Sure is a good thing for Thomas that he was up for reelection in 2004 and not 2006, wouldn't you say?

As it appears there will be a new trial for Andrea Yates instead of a plea bargain (for which the Chron editorialized today), this story covers the topics to keep in mind as things proceed.

Harris County prosecutor Alan Curry already has said the state will seek a new trial for Yates.

However, the criminal appeals court's decision last week means she cannot be retried on the same two capital murder charges because the jury did not recommend the death penalty.

Parnham said that a "non-death penalty" jury would be more likely to acquit Yates.

"Quite frankly, how many respected psychiatrists are going to be taking the witness stand and testifying that this woman was not legally insane on June 20, 2001?" Parnham said. "I can't think of one. ... There is the one that testified (during the first trial), but, of course, we know that in at least one respect he didn't tell the truth."

Parnham was referring to the prosecution's star witness, Dr. Park Dietz, a forensic psychiatrist and consultant for the Law & Order television series. During his testimony, Dietz said that shortly before drowning her children, Yates had watched an episode of that show about a woman who drowned her children, claimed insanity and was found not guilty.

No such episode of the TV show ever existed.

Jurors in the first trial were informed about Dietz's false testimony before sentencing Yates, but the 1st Court of Appeals said the judge erred in not granting Yates a new trial.

The 1st Court of Appeals wrote: "Dr. Dietz was the only mental health expert who testified that appellant knew right from wrong. Therefore, his testimony was critical to establish the State's case. Although the record does not show that Dr. Dietz intentionally lied in his testimony, his false testimony undoubtedly gave greater weight to his opinion."

[...]

Parnham predicted that Dietz will testify in Yates' new trial.

As I said before, the defense has one major advantage it didn't have last time, and that's two subsequent cases to learn from, each of which featured attorneys who based their cases in part on what they gleaned from the first Yates trial. I'm not a betting man, but I'd say that the odds are more favorable to Yates and Parnham this time around.

Bob Dunn reports that attorney and former Sugar Land Mayor Dean Hrbacek is "considering" a run in the GOP primary against incumbent State Rep. Charlie Howard.

“We’re evaluating it right now,” Hrbacek said Friday. “We’ve been meeting with people in the community about it. I’ve designated a campaign treasurer, but we haven’t made a final decision.”

Hrbacek said it’s no secret he has an interest in running for the post, adding, “I’ve told Charlie (Howard) I was considering it.”

He said he’s doing due diligence now, conducting some polling and attempting to determine interest in the district. “Are they content with their current representation, or do they think it’s time for a change?

Added Hrbacek: “I’m like the relief pitcher.I’m warming up, but I’m not in the game yet.”

One key issue, though, will be the Texas Legislature’s “inability to deal with school finance reform.” Hrbacek said he thinks state legislators need to spend “less time worrying about being re-elected” and more time directly addressing the questions surrounding the issue.

[...]

Meanwhile, Sugar Land businessman Ron Booker, founder of physician practice management company iMed Group, Ltd., announced on Nov. 1 that he intends to run against Howard for the District 26 seat in the Republican primary.

Catching up on some stuff from the week...Barbara Radnofsky was in Washington, DC, for a fundraiser/meet-n-greet with several Democratic Senators and Congress members.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison has the best poll numbers of any Texas politician, a huge campaign account and a safe job from a Republican state. Yet Tuesday night, the Democratic leadership of the Senate joined forces against her, co-hosting a fundraiser for her little-known challenger, lawyer Barbara Ann Radnofsky.

Why would top Democrats line up to help a long shot? Part of the answer stems from the string of GOP setbacks, from the war in Iraq to recent indictments of Lewis Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's top aide, and Rep. Tom DeLay, the former House majority leader.

"We believe that next year, there's going to be a very dramatic election campaign," said Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, who met Ms. Radnofsky two months ago and decided to give her a boost by recruiting colleagues for the reception. "We've told our incumbents and challengers to be prepared for a much different election cycle."

Ms. Radnofsky echoed that point Tuesday, saying that with an economy "careening toward shambles," the war and GOP scandals, "people want change."

At last count, Ms. Hutchison had nearly $7.4 million in her campaign account. Ms. Radnofsky, a first-time statewide candidate, had raised $584,000.

"I'm not worried," Ms. Hutchison said. "They have the right to support a Democratic candidate. I don't have any hard feelings at all."

Polls consistently show Ms. Hutchison is the state's most popular officeholder. And Jennifer Duffy, an editor at the nonpartisan Cook Political Report who tracks Senate races, found it hard to envision a national tide strong enough to unseat her.

"I feel like I'm watching a hurricane that's out there at sea," Ms. Duffy said. "If it's a Category 5, even people like Hutchison are in trouble, but 12 months out, it's hard to say how strong this is going to be."

Stephen Yellin was at this event as well, and he gives us a much fuller and KBH-free account of what went on. Story link via Texas Tuesdays.

The closing of Heights landmark Kaplan's-Ben Hur continues to generate stories of reminiscence.

Martin Kaplan has thrived on maintaining personal contact with his customers, staying out on the floor each day. The office work he must do is reserved for after the doors close.

"My customers are my friends," Kaplan said. "This is where I want to be, waiting on my customers, enjoying what I am doing. But the economics are very different now and that is not going to change. It's just time to hang it up."

Wilma Luedke of Shepherd Forest has shopped at Kaplan's for 50 years.

"Everyone in this area is so sad they are closing," Luedke said. "This was a real interesting store. This is where you went to get one-of-a-kind gifts. I got to talk to Mr. Kaplan each time I was here shopping and he was a delight."

Similarly sad is Ann Rideout, a Memorial-area resident who has patronized Kaplan's since 1941.

"Kaplan's was a part of my growing up in the Heights," Rideout said. "It was always a treat to go to Kaplan's with my mother. She would get dressed up, including gloves and a hat, and I would go shopping with her. I have so many fond memories of that."

Items she purchased years ago remain of great sentimental value to Rideout.

"My first purchase was at this store in 1941," she said. "I was a young girl and I bought a vase for my mother for Mother's Day. I still have that vase and a punch bowl I bought here, too."

Eva Jones, a former Heights resident who relocated to the FM 1960 and U.S. 290 area, continued to drive to the Heights to shop at Kaplan's.

"This is where I shopped through the 1950s and 1960s when I was decorating my first home," Jones said. "They have quality merchandise here. I still have a cookie jar I purchased in the 1950s, and when I look at it I think of the store. There is sentimental value in the things I have purchased here."

LaNell Benge moved to the Jersey Village area, but continued to shop at Kaplan's.

"I bought all of my granddaughters and great-granddaughters their collectible Madame Alexander dolls here, and would continue buying them here for great-great-granddaughters if the store wasn't closing," Benge said. "Many of the dolls are now antiques, like me."

Finally, I learn the answer to a question that's bugged me for years:

Beginning in the 1920s, the store was renamed Kaplan's and was moved to 2125 Yale, directly across the street from the original store. Kaplan's operated throughout the Depression era and expanded into a brick department store, selling name-brand and designer apparel.

After World War II, sons Bennett and Herman joined their parents in running the business. A brick extension was added to the original store, where home furnishings and kitchen items were sold by Bennett, Herman and Bennett's wife Dorothy, known as "D.D."

It was named Ben Hur to reflect the brothers' names.

The stores merged into the present day Kaplan's-Ben Hur in the late 1950s. Renovations to expand the building to 30,000 square feet were completed in the mid-1960s.

Since I never get tired of blogging about Lost, let me finally point out this piece in the Statesman about my favorite show.

"Lost" creators J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof started by plotting a "mythological roadmap" that answered the show's central questions, says Carlton Cuse, the show's co-executive producer. But he says the producers conceived the show as a character drama.

But as it became clear that the mythology had sparked fan obsession, Cuse says, the show began to adapt. Producers weren't sure, for instance, how viewers would react to the six possibly magical numbers that have showed up on a lottery ticket, in a transmitted radio message, and on the door to a buried hatch. But when the idea created a fervor "we spent more time on that aspect of the mythology," Cuse says.

This second season, loyal viewers say, they've noticed more deliberate nods to the audience base, acknowledgment that many are watching with DVR remotes at the ready, prepared to rewind, freeze-frame and slo-mo to home in on possible clues. The rewards for such intensity include the tattooed shark — which required a certain level of collaboration to spread through the fan base.

[...]

"I love to watch what a community does with information: what they do, where they take it, what kinds of things they enjoy and don't enjoy," [fan and Alternate Reality Game pioneer Elan] Lee says. "The Internet as a part of a TV show is something that is brand new, and there's so much to learn. Even the audience hasn't figured out who they are and what role they play yet."

Still, Cuse is aware of another risk of fan participation: The real right answer might not measure up to the audience's rich ideas.

"You have to watch because you're enjoying the journey, not because you are waiting for the endgame," Cuse says. "Your imagination is probably greater than whatever solution we'll give you."

Now with an official escort by the SAPD and representatives of Mayor Phil Hardberger's office, the band of veterans from South Texas have arrived at the Alamo, thus completing their journey. They succeeded at bringing attention to their cause, now they just need someone with the power to do something about it to take it from there. In the meantime, celebrate what you've accomplished, ladies and gentlemen. Happy Veterans' Day to you all.

The McAllen Monitor has more on the near-arrest story. I'll bet there are a lot of people in San Antonio who are glad that this got resolved before any handcuffs came out. Link via Dos Centavos.

State Rep. Mike Krusee was a big proponent of Propositions 1, 3, and 9, all three of which he authored or sponsored. So what does it mean then when one learns that all three were rejected by Williamson County, his home turf?

STATE AMENDMENT NO. 1

 FOR  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .    21,313   47.24

 AGAINST .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .    23,804   52.76




STATE AMENDMENT NO. 3

 FOR  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .    20,071   46.68

 AGAINST .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .    22,922   53.32



STATE AMENDMENT NO. 9

 FOR  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .    18,050   42.37

 AGAINST .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .    24,552   57.63

Meanwhile, via email from Sal Costello, it seems that the true believers in toll roads are not very happy about what happened to Prop 9 on Tuesday.

[I]n Texas the tollers are behaving arrogantly and with extraordinary political ineptitude.

They are over-reaching. Why six year terms for toll authorities? Four year terms would provide some insulation from sudden political change while constituting a more normal term of public office.

There's something sleazy too in that term "regional mobility authority"? It's a toll authority. Why run away from that? Only people without the courage of their convictions or who are too tongue tied to explain themselves resort to silly euphemisms. Does it fool anyone anyway?

Political support in TX has also been sapped by a bewilderingly unprincipled and unexplained intermixing of funding of projects by TxDOT. Wherever they go there's a furore because no one can figure out who's paying for what.

They talk privatization but so far it is all politics as usual.

Certainly the anti-toll groups there display a mean-spirited nastiness and are unreasonable about the alternatives, but TxDOT's promiscuous approach to raising funds and their promotion of projects without even a semblance of study has been the anti-toll groups' major recruiter.

Mary Beth Harrell, for whom Veterans' Day is a "family affair" in her home - she is married to a retired Army warrant officer, and she has two sons on active duty - just picked up a nice endorsement from a veterans group. Texas Tuesdays (yes! it's back!) has the details plus information about some Veterans' Day events in the Fort Hood/Killeen area.

Meanwhile, Iraq War veteran and Democratic candidate for CD06 David Harris has some thoughts on what all of us can do to say thanks to those who have served their country. Check it out.

The WaPo has a fascinating story today about the monthlong dance between Tom DeLay and Ronnie Earle that almost led to a misdemeanor plea on DeLay's part but instead wound up with the felony indictments against him.

A key question has long been whether DeLay was aware of or involved in [TRMPAC]'s most controversial action -- its transfer of $190,000 from Texas to the Washington headquarters of the Republican National Committee in a check dated Sept. 13, 2002, and the committee's subsequent payment from a different bank account of $190,000 to seven Texas candidates several weeks later.

Earle has charged that the transfers amounted to money laundering, meant to circumvent the state's long-standing ban on the use of corporate funds for election purposes.

To prove that, he has lined up what several sources described as solid testimony supporting the indictment's claim that when DeLay fundraiser James W. Ellis gave the RNC a check drawn on TRMPAC's account, he also turned over to the RNC a list of the Texas candidates meant to receive the funds. Ellis has said he denies Earle's "version of the story."

The sources said they also expect witnesses to say that the TRMPAC check was sent to Washington with the dollar amount blank and inscribed with $190,000 only after RNC officials determined they would be able to send back that amount to Texas.

But the trail of evidence surrounding the transfers and other key acts, based on documents and testimony from key corporate donors, DeLay's associates and even his daughter Dani Ferro, a campaign aide of his, did not lead directly to DeLay's door, according to those familiar with the case.

[...]

This picture of DeLay's remove from key events changed in August, when he met secretly with Earle for an hour and a half at the offices of Earle's public integrity unit in Austin. DeLay did not speak under oath at the meeting. He accepted Earle's request that the meeting would be transcribed by a court stenographer, and he was relaxed and garrulous, according to three sources familiar with the session.

Asked what his role was in creating TRMPAC, DeLay said it was his vision and his idea, the sources said. But he reiterated that he knew only in general terms about its day-to-day operations. DeLay said he was also generally aware of a plan to shift money between Texas and Washington. It called for pulling together $190,000, sending it up to Washington and getting the same amount sent back to Texas for state election campaigns.

According to matching accounts provided separately by the sources, DeLay was asked whether such a deal happened and responded yes. Asked if he knew beforehand that the deal was going to happen, DeLay said yes. Asked how he knew, DeLay said that his longtime political adviser, Ellis, came into his office, told him it was planned and asked DeLay what he thought. DeLay told Earle that he recalled saying, "Fine." He added that he knew it was corporate money but said it was fine because he thought it was legal.

Under Earle's reading of the relevant law, only one person involved in a conspiracy has to perform an overt act, such as turning over a check. Those who support or agree with the act -- even after the criminal activity is already under way -- are just as culpable. So Earle decided that DeLay's statements amounted to a moment of legal self-incrimination that made his link to the conspiracy clear. Earle decided he should present that evidence to the grand jury by Sept. 12, before the statute of limitations expired.

But after DeLay agreed to waive the statute of limitations for a month, Earle agreed to hold talks about the implications of DeLay's admission. That's why no mention was made of DeLay on Sept. 13, when the grand jury indicted Ellis and Colyandro for money laundering and conspiring to violate the state election law.

On Sept. 23, Ed Bethune, a retired FBI agent and former Arkansas congressman who oversees DeLay's legal defenses, met with Earle to discuss the possibility of DeLay pleading guilty to a lesser charge than Ellis, an idea that Earle was prepared to accept, according to the four sources. Earle said he wanted Ellis and DeLay to spend three to four months in jail if their appeals failed, an idea that DeLay's lawyers rejected. They then discussed letting a state jury decide the issue of punishment.

Asked for a comment, Jonathan D. Pauerstein, Ellis's lawyer, confirmed that Ellis's potential guilty plea was "a concept that was discussed" but added that it was "not something that anybody said they would do," because "there was never anything put on the table that would be worthy of consideration."

The principal reason the deal foundered was that DeLay's attorneys wanted to postpone his plea until after the Texas appellate courts had ruled on the validity of the state election law provisions at issue, the sources said. Under their proposal, if the courts agreed the law was invalid, then all charges would be dismissed and the promise of a plea forgotten. For the two years it might take to resolve the issue, DeLay would be able to keep his post.

Earle insisted instead that DeLay enter a plea with the court immediately. He was willing only to defer punishment until appeals related to the validity of the law were exhausted; striking any other deal would show undue favoritism to DeLay, several sources said he argued. But DeLay's defense team felt such a decision would gravely damage the majority leader's political standing.

"DeLay was at peace with not doing that. He is ready to fight about it," White said.

On the other hand, from DeLay's perspective, I'd be pretty eager to get some kind of resolution that allowed me to keep my leadership post and got my name out of the papers for awhile. Given the utter disarray that the current House leadership is in, I'm sure he's chafing about his inability to get things done any more. Even if he gets the ultimate vindication he seeks, how much will he have been damaged in the meantime?

Read the whole thing and see for yourself. Link via Atrios.

The story of State Rep. Aaron Pena and the band of veterans who are walking from Edinburg to the Alamo to highlight the need for a VA hospital in South Texas took a bizarre turn earlier today.

Around noon on Thursday the group reached San Antonio and were given a police escort through the city.

Late Wednesday night, city leaders met to discuss whether or not to escort them through the city.

[...]

At one point, the Bexar County Sheriffs Department called the group and told them they could not enter Bexar County or the city of San Antonio without a permit. If they did, they risked being arrested.

This morning both the mayor of San Antonio and the Bexar County Sheriff department denied having said that.

In the end, despite being briefly halted, everything was worked out, and the troupe will reach its destination around noon on Friday, Veterans' Day. I hope the mission that they set out to accomplish has as happy an ending as that.

The latest posts from Rep. Pena:

Day Five: Break the Chains That Bind You

Day Five: Crossing the Nueces River

Day Five: Dark Clouds Arrive As Veterans Threatened With Arrest

Day Six: Though I Walk Through The Valley Of Evil I Fear Not!

Day Six: San Antonio 22 Miles and Counting

Day Six: Confrontation and Imminent Arrest of Marchers Averted by Last Minute Call

Andre Pineda has something to say about the upcoming Democratic primary in CD28:

To all you Texas bloggers out there, I blame you. Between you and the San Antonio papers, you had me convinced that Richard Raymond was for real. If not exactly the second coming, at least the second coming of Cuellar. So, sitting in my remote Pasadena (Calif.) perch, you convinced me that if I did a poll of the 28th congressional district in Texas, Raymond would pull so much support from his fellow Laredan, Henry Cuellar, that Ciro Rodriguez would be at least close to the lead.

There is a case to be made for Raymond, which The Red State does well. Money is always an issue, and The Jeffersonian has pointed out that Raymond is doing the best of the three contenders at raising it. There was a time when I was happy to support Raymond for Congress (though I really wanted him to aim for a different target), but I have to say that especially in the wake of Tuesday's disaster, his two anti-gay votes during the Legislative session left a sour taste in my mouth. I'll support Raymond over Cuellar if it comes down to a runoff between those two, but given that I have a perfectly viable alternative choice at this time, I'll take my chances with Ciro.

And now a note from PinkDome:

What a long, strange trip it's been. The Texas Bloggers have banded together to ask our readers to nominate a Texan for our very own blogger version of the mainstream media's favorite attention grabber, the "Person of the Year" issue! Join us by nominating a Texan that has made the most impact this year, be it good or bad, evil or embarassing. We're all accepting nominations from you through November 23 and we'll post your Texan of the Year by December 1st. Email your nominations to: Texanoftheyear@gmail.com

Your favorite political blog is participating (Left and Right!). Each blog will write their own post about the person so on December 1st you'll have lots of different opinions but they'll all come from the same source, you..the smartest people in Texas.

**If you are a Texas political blogger not included in the email sent out about this, email me and I'll send you the details and button. If you are participating, I'll link to you shortly and send out a small 150 pixel wide button for your sidebar.**

As Greg says, you know the state's plan to privatize the Texas Health and Human Services Commission is way out there when the federal government is publicly questioning its ability to deliver services to those who need them.

Until this week, Texas officials were confidently moving forward with the private call-center plans with no federal approval, conditional or otherwise.

This month the state began shifting an existing call-center contract for the Children's Health Insurance Program to Accenture. In January, Accenture's new call center in Midland will begin processing applications for children's Medicaid.

The major impact of privatized screening will be felt between April and December next year, when officials close 100 eligibility offices, including Houston's Harwin office next summer.

Of the 211 eligibility offices that will remain open, only 167 will be open full time.

"Texas' project entails a major change in the configuration of service delivery that merits special oversight," William Ludwig, regional administrator for the U.S. Agriculture Department, wrote to Hawkins in a letter dated Nov. 7.

Ludwig called for very close federal oversight in the next three months and extra care to make certain the elderly and disabled are not disadvantaged by call centers. If remaining issues can be resolved in the next 30 days, the USDA will approve $23 million in federal administrative dollars for the first three months.

Ludwig stressed, however, that any future federal dollars for administration will depend on "demonstrated success" of initial phases of the call-center project.

"It remains to be seen whether this is going to be a real pilot or whether the state is going to get more money in three months," said Celia Hagert, an analyst at the Center for Public Policy Priorities in Austin.

What the heck. It's been a few months. Let's have some more State House hearings on bad mojo at the Texas Lottery Commission.

Texas Lottery officials were summoned Tuesday to testify before a legislative committee for the second time in five months, this time over allegations of mismanagement brought by a lottery systems analyst who was fired the same day the Houston Chronicle reported his concerns.

Shelton Charles, who oversaw much of the lottery's technical operations before his firing Friday, planned to testify Monday at a hearing of the House Licensing and Regulation Committee, which oversees the lottery.

The committee's chairman, Rep. Kino Flores, called the hearing after receiving e-mail from Charles last week accusing top lottery management of misleading lawmakers about an emergency control center that he said doesn't work, blocking open-records requests and bullying employees into keeping quiet about problems at the $3.5 billion agency.

"If this is the case, we'll get to find out and hopefully, we can try to come up with some remedies to fix the problems," said Flores, D-Palmview.

Flores said he felt he owed it to the state to air the concerns in public and to give lottery officials a chance to defend themselves against the claims.

[...]

Charles wasn't sure how much a hearing would accomplish.

"A hearing is a great thing, but unless they have some ability to do something, what good is a hearing?" he said. "You need a major investigation to clean up the Texas lottery."

Seriously, though I doubt anything will come of it, firing Shelton Charles was another egregious act in a long string of them at the TLC, and getting the facts of that firing into the public record is a good thing in and of itself. So gavel it to order and let's get going.

UPDATE: Well, maybe this hearing could be interesting after all.

Wednesday, the committee received a letter from the lottery's acting executive director, Gary Grief, pointing out the limits to what information could be disclosed publicly.

The letter was sent a day after Bobby Heith, the lottery's spokesman, said that Grief and other officials welcomed the chance to explain their side to lawmakers.

In the letter, a copy of which was obtained by the Chronicle, Grief agrees to provide information the committee has requested, but warns of the criminal penalties associated with disclosing information the commission deems "confidential."

"Please note that we have labeled the requested information 'confidential' and request that you keep it secure and that any copies which may be made or any notes taken will be destroyed at the end of their use," Grief wrote.

He also cites a section of the State Lottery Act that makes confidential "security plans and procedures of the commission designed to ensure the integrity and security of the operation of the lottery."

Milda Mora, the House committee's chief clerk, said lawmakers certainly respect security concerns but she wondered if the broad warning would restrict lawmakers' ability to discuss the matter publicly.

"It seems like they're trying to put some roadblocks up there and put some fear into the employees," Mora said. "We want to get to the bottom of it, but I don't know how much you're going to be able to talk about it if everything is confidential. I don't know if that's their way of hiding things."

Mora said she didn't think the secrecy would inhibit the committee from eventually getting to the truth, but that it would complicate the process and force lawmakers to speak in general terms during the hearing.

Even the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals occasionally gets one right.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals today upheld a lower court's ruling granting a new trial to Andrea Yates, the Clear Lake-area woman convicted of drowning her children in 2001.

The Austin-based appellate court refused to hear the state's petition for discretionary review after the 1st Texas Court of Appeals ruled in January that testimony from the state's expert witness, -- about a TV episode that never existed -- may have affected the jury's judgment.

"It's good news," said Wendell Odom, one of Yates' attorneys.

Odom said he and fellow attorney George Parnham will now have to meet with prosecutors and state District Judge Belinda Hill to set a new trial date.

"There are all kinds of logistics," Odom said.

Alan Curry, an assistant Harris County district attorney who handled the appeal, was in court this morning and unavailable for comment.

Curry, however, told the Associated Press that said the case would be retried or a plea bargain would be considered. Curry said he is confident that Yates would be convicted again if there is a new trial.

It's nice to know that the coldblooded destruction of local landmarks also happens outside the city of Houston. Today's victim: Gilley's.

The one-time Saturday night rodeo hotspot is being torn down this week by Kingwood-based Inland Environment Inc. at the behest of the Pasadena school district, which acquired the property through a tax default.

A fire claimed the club portion of Gilley's in 1990. The 60,000-square-foot arena was spared but has since been deserted.

The 13 1/2 -acre site is being cleared to make way for a middle school, school district spokesman Mark Kramer said.

[...]

The last go-round for the arena, which hosted a crowd of 10,000 for a George Strait concert and televised professional wrestling, attracted only a handful of onlookers Tuesday.

The demolition tumbled a holdover metal apostrophe and cursive S from the Gilley's lettering on the arena's facade. Moments later, after being struck by one of the excavators, the dusty marquee, bearing the words "WELCOME RODEO FANS," briefly hung in limbo before crashing in a heap of twisted scrap metal.

Inland Environment owner Jed Landrey, 36, said he and his employees scoured the arena for collectibles before the demolition started.

Landrey is keeping some of the items, including a calf-roping chute and a Gilley's sign, for a 20-acre farm he owns. Other signs and bull gates bearing the club's name, he said, will be sold online.

"I've always heard about Gilley's and watched" Urban Cowboy, Landrey said. "It was neat to get the job and see it in another way."

Lots of good news for Democrats around the country. Both governorships that were up for grabs remained in Democratic hands, as Jon Corzine won easily in New Jersey and Tim Kaine completed his comeback win in Virginia. (Note to Rick Casey: Kaine was once the Mayor of Richmond. Just a data point for you there.) Every last one of Arnold Schwarzeneggar's ballot initiatives failed, meaning the special election he called for a vote on them was nothing but a waste of time and money. Every incumbent member of the Dover, PA school board, which is currently involved in a lawsuit over its insistence on teaching "intelligent design", was booted out of office. And perhaps the sweetest of them all is this:

St. Paul voters punished Mayor Randy Kelly on Tuesday for standing with President Bush a year ago, denying the Democrat a second term in Minnesota's capital city.

Former City Council member Chris Coleman, also a Democrat, routed Kelly by a more than 2-to-1 margin in unofficial returns with most precincts reporting. Ahead of the election, independent polls showed voters were primed to fire Kelly, and most cited his 2004 endorsement of the Republican president as the reason.

No sitting St. Paul mayor had lost a campaign since 1974. Kelly had a personal election streak that spanned just as long, covering his quarter-century in the Legislature and first term as mayor.

"It may sound silly, but Kelly was for Bush and I'm not," said retiree Audrey Guith after casting her vote for Coleman.

Seven of the nine ballot propositions were ratified yesterday, with Props 5 and 9 going down and the others all winning, most easily. I'm actually a little surprised at Prop 5's defeat. It was a rare amendment that had some merit to it, and it was the only one besides Prop 2 for which I saw any advertising - there were several TV ads promoting it in recent days. Don't know who had it in for it, but they carried the day.

And of course, gay marriage is now officially Double Secret Illegal in the state of Texas. I look forward to the immediate and sustained drop in the divorce rate that this heroic and courageous effort to strengthen and protect traditional marriage will undoubtedly bring.

Let's take a look at what happened yesterday, starting with the Houston elections. Greg has a slightly early but essentially accurate picture of the city elections, while final results for Harris County can be found here. (Yes, the layout of that page sucks. Send your complaints to Beverly Kaufman.) There's a wee bit of Houston in Fort Bend County so the final official tally will be a little off from that, but it's not important right now.

Anyway, Mayor White cracked the 90% mark, which makes my projection of 82% look hopelessly pessimistic now. I'm fascinated that the non-White votes were not more or less evenly distributed among his token opponents. Is Gladys House's 4.18%, nearly double that of her next closest rival, a testament to something? You could probably wring a master's thesis out of that one.

All ten City Council incumbents were easily reelected, with District F's MJ Khan getting the lowest percentage at 69.31%. District I's Carol Alvarado, the subject of some controversy over the status of her UH graduation, was the big winner with over 79% of the tally. That's got to be sweet for her.

Three of the four open seats will head to runoffs. Peter Brown got a slight majority in At Large #1 to win there outright. In At Large #2, it'll be Sue Lovell versus Jay Aiyer, while Felicia Galloway-Hall and Jarvis Johnson will battle in District B, and Anne Clutterbuck and George Hittner survived the crowded field in District C. I have no opinion on the two district seats, but I'll note with some pleasure that two strong Democratic candidates combined for over 58% of the vote in At Large #2. I see that runoff having some parallels to the San Antonio mayoral runoff from June, in that supporters of the losing candidates will likely have a strong preference for one of the contenders. As Phil Hardberger overcame Julian Castro's lead with big support from Carroll Schubert's voters, I see Jay Aiyer being in a good position to pick up those who favored Poli Acosta and John Elford. If those folks stay home, I think Lovell wins; if not, I think Aiyer wins. Either way, it should make for an interesting dynamic.

The race for HD143 will also go to a runoff as Ana Hernandez and Laura Salinas led the pack. The one contested HCC Board of Trustees election was won easily by Richard Schecter.

Finally, both HISD races will have runoffs. Incumbent Larry Marshall will go against challenger Daisy Maura in HISD9, while Natasha Kamrani got nearly 40% of the vote to lead in HISD1. She'll go against Anne Flores Santiago, who nipped Richard Cantu by 63 votes for second place.

I'll have more to say about the runoff races, especially the two in which I'll be casting a vote, later. For now, congratulations to all the winners.

UPDATE: Here are the final tallies.

Rep. Aaron Pena and the band of veterans he's walking with from Edinburg to San Antonio to highlight the need for a VA hospital in the Valley have reached the halfway point. Here are the latest reports from the road:

Day Three: Our Pilgrimage to Mission San Antonio de Valero (The Alamo)

Day Three: We Reached the 100 Mile Mark, I Have Two New Companions

Day Three: Good Soldiers All

Day Four: Today We Reach The Half Way Point of Our Journey

Here's a story on the walk from the Corpus Christi Caller Times:

Army Sgt. Jesus Bocanegra of Weslaco said that when he seeks medical services, it isn't unusual to receive a letter from South Texas Veterans Health Care Services telling him his appointment is in several months.

"Three to four months for an appointment when you're sick is a lifetime," said Bocanegra, 23. "In the Valley, we have a lot of vets that are older that cannot afford to wait months for treatment or the trip to San Antonio. We need a hospital in the Valley."

Bocanegra and about 75 others left Edinburg on Saturday to march to San Antonio, the site of the nearest veterans hospital. About 15 arrived in Alice on Monday afternoon and plan to reach Three Rivers by 6 p.m. today. Their goal is to raise awareness and to challenge Congress to open a fully staffed, full-service hospital in the Rio Grande Valley.

[...]

According to the 2000 census, Texas had more than 1.7 million veterans, more than 197,000 of them in the Valley, and Nueces County has more than 31,800. Those figures do not take into account military personnel who have become veterans since 2000.

[...]

Cathy Travis, press secretary for U.S. Rep. Solomon P. Ortiz, D-Corpus Christi, said the march is bringing attention to the issue, but the Veterans Administration has said there are not enough veterans in the Valley to make a hospital cost-efficient.

"We're spending money hand over fist and the veterans have received a bad deal," Travis said. "It makes me sick. (Ortiz) is talking to the Veterans Administration and the folks at Audie Murphy about the number of veterans because that's what's keeping the hospital from the Valley."

If you're wondering how the chips will fall from the House revolt that led to the death of the Perry/Craddick-back school finance reform plans, consider this story from Capitol Inside (sent to me by reader DH):

Some of Governor Rick Perry's key supporters in the El Paso area have rallied behind local educator Lorraine O'Donnell as she prepares to challenge Republican State Rep. Pat Haggerty in the March primary election - less than two months after announcing plans to run against his brother for county commissioner next year.

O'Donnell - a school board trustee who runs the continuing education program at the University of Texas at El Paso - will be the featured guest Wednesday night at a reception that's being held to raise funds for her bid to unseat Haggerty as he seeks a ninth term in the House in 2006.

[...]

Pat Haggerty, who's compiled a moderate voting record since entering the Legislature in 1989, is a member of a group of House Republicans who GOP insiders are referring to increasingly as the "Hochberg 14" - meaning they voted to replace their own party's school finance plan with a Democratic alternative during the second special session this past summer. With the 14 Republicans' support, House Democrats effectively gutted the Republican school bill with an amendment that State Rep. Scott Hochberg of Houston successfully tacked on to the school bill. The Democrats' plan had more support from superintendents, school board members and other educators across the state than the majority proposal.

For the past three months, Republican conservatives have been threatening to field primary opponents against the GOP members who crossed party lines on the school bill vote. Two of the 14 Republican who backed the Hochberg amendment are not seeking re-election - and so far only five of the remaining 12 have drawn primary challenges. Two of those who face primary opponents - State Reps. Jim Pitts of Waxahachie and Elvira Reyna of Mesquite - have been members of Speaker Tom Craddick's team and haven't been viewed as "RINOs" - Republicans in Name Only - like others who broke ranks on the
school vote. There are no signs at this point that their primary foes were party establishment recruits.

But Haggerty has long been one of the most independent-minded members of the Texas House - and he's done little to try to change that reputation despite threats over the years of primary foes and party cleansing with GOP establishment support. Haggerty's maverick image didn't stop Craddick from backing the El Paso lawmaker's re-election bid last year. With Craddick's support, Haggerty buried former Republican Judge Peter Pecca in the 2004 primary election with more than 70 percent of the vote. Like Perry, Craddick so far hasn't taken a public position on the GOP contest in the state's westernmost city this time around.

Despite grumblings from conservatives over the years, Haggerty hadn't faced primary opposition in more than a decade until Pecca filed to run against him last year. Some Republicans, however, apparently think O'Donnell has a realistic chance to beat him.

PRESIDENT AND VICE-PRESIDENT

    *BUSH/CHENEY                     R        25,803   55.7%

     KERRY/EDWARDS                   D        20,512   44.3%


U.S. REPRESENTATIVE DISTRICT 16

     BRIGHAM, DAVID                  R        19,700   44.0%

    *REYES, SILVESTRE                D        25,042   56.0%

RAILROAD COMMISSIONER 3

    *CARRILLO, VICTOR G.             R        21,823   52.6%

     SCARBOROUGH, BOB                D        19,676   47.4%

JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT PLACE 9

    *BRISTER, SCOTT                  R        23,086   54.3%

     VAN OS, DAVID                   D        19,410   45.7%

COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS PLACE 6

    *KEASLER, MIKE                   R        22,236   52.0%

     MOLINA, J.R.                    D        20,559   48.0%

STATE REPRESENTATIVE DISTRICT 78

    *HAGGERTY, PAT                   R        30,114  100.0%

We all know what today is, right? And we all know where to go and what to do, right? (Assuming we haven't done it already, that is.) So therefore there's no need for me to tell you that you can find your precinct name and number for most major metro areas in Texas by going to Local Voter, or that you can find your polling place in Harris County by going here. And there's no need to reiterate what my recommendations are. In fact, there's no need for this post at all. So we'd better move on, then.

David Harris, the Iraq War vet who is running against Smokey Joe Barton in CD06 has his campaign website up now. It's pretty spiffy, not quite the usual design, but looks appealing to me. There may be a few bugs left in the system - Monday was rollout day - but overall, a very nice job. Check it out.

You can learn a lot more about David Harris via this MyDD diary, a Daily Kos diary (written by him; the MyDD diary is by Anna), and a series of interviews at the District Sixer blog:

Iraq & National Security

Education

Environment

Taxes & Economy

Trade & Human Rights

Health Care

Social Issues

If you like what you see, you can help by kicking in to his ActBlue page, and by recommending that he get support from Democracy for America. I've had the pleasure of meeting David and Michelle Harris, and I'll have plenty more to say about him and his campaign over the next year.

In regard to the long-awaited school finance reform committee, State Rep. Garnet Coleman has a few observations. The following is from a press release:

State Representative Garnet Coleman (D-Houston) today said Governor Perry and Tax Commission Chairman John Sharp should consider adding workers, consumers, and educators to the Texas Tax Reform Commission to make sure "tax reform" does not become yet another effort to increase taxes for the vast majority of Texas families without providing adequate funding for our children's schools.

"I'm sure the Commission members are fine people and I know many of them have solid records of service to the state and their communities, but there is not a single person on the commission who is worrying about paying the rent, making a car payment, or making a house payment this month," Coleman observed.

Coleman said that during three legislative sessions earlier this year, every plan the Governor and the legislative leadership put forward would have increased taxes on 90% of all Texans, adding that most Texas families are already paying more in the form of higher tuition, higher fees, higher property taxes, and toll roads.

"The Tax Reform Commission should refrain from recommending any increase in the state sales tax or other consumer taxes unless consumers and workers have a seat at the table," Coleman said.

"Although the Tax Reform Commission is supposed to find agreement on a broad based business tax to help fund public education, the absence of consumers and workers on the panel raises serious concerns that we may see yet another attempt to raise the Texas sales tax to the highest in the nation," Coleman said.

Coleman also questioned the fact that neither this commission nor any other broad based public forum will address how the money from a reformed tax structure would be distributed to pay for our children's schools.

"If tax reform is supposed to provide a stable source of education funding, why not address education and include educators so we'll know if the product we're being asked to pay for is worth the cost?" Coleman asked.

So far this afternoon, we've received four robocalls advocating a vote this way or that. The elections may not be on the airwaves for the most part, but that doesn't mean they're not out there. I have a feeling we'll be letting Call Notes do the work this evening. How are things in your household?

UPDATE: Five calls as of 8:15 PM.

Now that we're all done playing Judge Roulette, it's time to move on to the next game for Team DeLay: their change of venue motion.

Defense attorneys argue that DeLay has been vilified and wouldn't get a fair trial in liberal Travis County, which was split into three different congressional districts as a result of a redistricting map DeLay engineered. They've asked that the change of venue request be handled quickly by semiretired San Antonio Judge Pat Priest, who was assigned to the case last week. Priest scheduled the hearing for Nov. 22.

2004 Presidential Election returns


Travis County

George W. Bush/ Dick Cheney     REP     147,885 41.99%

John F. Kerry/ John Edwards     DEM     197,235 56.01%



Fort Bend County

George W. Bush/ Dick Cheney     REP      93,625 57.37%

John F. Kerry/ John Edwards     DEM      68,722 42.11%

Prosecutors said the change of venue wouldn't be necessary. They filed an affidavit today by longtime criminal defense attorney Betty Blackwell, who says Travis County is not overly opposed to DeLay.

"There is not so great a prejudice against the defendant, nor is there a dangerous combination of any sort, that will interfere with him receiving a fair trial in Travis County," Blackwell stated in the affidavit.

2004 Presidential Election returns


Dallas County

George W. Bush/ Dick Cheney     REP     346,246 50.34%

John F. Kerry/ John Edwards     DEM     336,641 48.95%

DeLay's attorneys also have asked that his trial be separate from his two co-defendants. That issue also could be decided during the upcoming hearing.

So we come to the end of another election season, with the usual grassroots campaigning going on over the weekend. Though there's always hope, at least until the early returns are announced, pretty much everyone expects the loathsome Prop 2 to pass. I have a question for those of you who support this particular piece of legislation: Is there a specific effect you hope will result from its passage? For example, since Prop 2 is being touted in some corners as being needed to "strengthen" and "protect" marriage, are you hoping that its passage will lead to a decline in the divorce rate? If not that, then are there any other quantifiable outcomes we should look for? And if there aren't - if there are no behaviors which we should expect this legislation to alter in any measurable way - then please tell me what the point was. Besides this, I mean.

For those of you who have not yet voted, please remember that just because ballot propositions are technically non-partisan, that doesn't mean that it's legal for anyone, even an election judge, to hand you a pamphlet about one or all of them, even if that pamphlet is billed as being informational. This is called electioneering, and it's illegal within 100 feet of a polling place, which is why you generally only ever see this or that candidates' supporters outside in the parking lot or on the sidewalk. If this happens to you, complain about it until someone listens.

Finally, there are a lot of other elections going on around the country. Here's a brief guide to what else is happening tomorrow.

State Rep. Aaron Pena is currently on a 200+ mile walk from Edinburg to the Alamo along with a number of veterans to highlight the need for a VA hospital in South Texas.

Gray hair and weathered skin offsetting his green fatigues and black POW beret, Vietnam veteran Jose Maria Vasquez began a six-day, 225-mile trek Saturday to protest the distance he must travel to reach the nearest veterans hospital.

Vasquez was joined by about 100 others, a few trailing on horseback, others driving vehicles laden with plastic bottles of water and other supplies for the trip from the Rio Grande Valley in deep South Texas to Audie L. Murphy Memorial Veterans Hospital in San Antonio.

The protesters planned to spend nights at Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion halls along the way, ending with their arrival in San Antonio on Veterans Day.

Some state and local officials donned sneakers and pledged to walk at least part of the way.

"This is a march, walk, crawl, ski club jump ... whatever way we can, we're going to make it over there," Vasquez said. "Veterans are being left down here. We're the ones that give the most war contributions yet we're the ones that are getting less. We're angry. We want to show the nation that this is it."

The lack of a veterans hospital in the four-county region along the Mexican border has long been a point of local contention. With the Rio Grande Valley population now pushing one million and the region continuing to send young people to fight wars, veterans say situation is even more dire now.

Largely poor and overwhelmingly Hispanic, the part of Texas south of San Antonio counts more combat veterans than anywhere else in the nation, Hidalgo County Judge Ramon Garcia said.

Sylvia Handy, a county commissioner, said the region has more than 60,000 veterans and counting.

"Today our Valley veterans are getting killed and wounded in Iraq," Handy said. "Where are they going to be treated?"

Area veterans seeking care in San Antonio are reimbursed by the government for the trip and there are a buses leaving at least weekly. However, no lodging is offered to relatives, and treatments such as chemotherapy can mean weeks away from family.

Honey! I'm Off to Join the Veterans For A Little Walk

"Little Joe" and Dignitaries Send Us Off Into The Wild Horse Dessert in Search of a Veterans Hospital

First Leg of Today's Veteran Walk a Success

The AP Reports On The Walk

Day Two: Veterans March to the Alamo Continues

Day Two: 15 Solid Soldiers And A General

Day Two: General Marc Cisneros Walks The Veterans to Hometown

My hat is off to you, sir. I'll be following your trip from here with keen interest.

(Oh, and by the way, one candidate for Senate has been a consistent supporter of bringing a VA hospital to the Valley. Just so everyone knows.)

According to Sal Costello, David Stall, the founder of Corridor Watch, will be announcing a run for SD18, currently held by Democrat Ken Armbrister. Before the Quorum Report hid its all-encompassing candidate list behind their paywall, they had a fellow named Gary Gates listed as a Republican contender there, so this will apparently make for a contested GOP primary in that district.

Armbrister is nobody's idea of a stalwart member of the Democratic caucus, and he's got a lot of lousy votes and bills on his record. He's also holding a seat that's likely to stay Republican for awhile once it flips, and given how efficiently the rest of the Senate boundaries are gerrymandered, it'd be a tall order to make that up elsewhere. I expect Armbrister will be well-funded, and he's the favorite to win against either contender, but put this down as a race to keep an eye on.

On a side note, this points out once again that running against the monolithic expansion of toll roads - especially the Trans Texas Corridor - represents an opportunity for Democrats to reach voters in places that aren't very friendly to them. Talk this issue up, people - it will reap rewards in 2006, I'm convinced of it.

Tory Gattis had an op-ed on commuter rail, which he compares unfavorably to the Park-and-Ride/HOV lane bus system in Houston, in Sunday's Chron. He's reprinted it reprinted it here on his blog for future reference, since Chron op-eds vanish into the ether in fairly short order. I don't currently have anything to say about his claims for Houston commuters (I'd love to know what the CTC crowd has to say, though), but I do have one nit to pick with what he says here:

None of this is news to older transit-based cities. Lower Manhattan is struggling to build and fill office space.

Why? Because most of the commuter trains arrive at Penn or Grand Central stations in Midtown, and nobody wants to make the additional subway transfer and slog to downtown.

This doesn't invalidate the point Tory was making about express buses bringing people closer to their destinations. I'm just saying that the comparison to the New York metro area is a weak one. It's also the case that buses in New York are subject to much worse street traffic than they would be here, which is another reason why a commuter train/subway linkup is way more viable there than he makes it seem. You don't know "sluggish" till you're ridden a bus in Manhattan.

Anyway, none of this is meant as a criticism of Gattis' main thesis; I'll need to give that one some more thought. Off the top of my head, it's not so obvious to me that it's a clear win for buses that travel farther away from HOV-enhanced freeways and into other employment hubs like the Medical Center. That's not a question that can be resolved until routes for one or the other get proposed, however. Like I said, I'm interested in hearing what the rest of the wonks have to say about this.

City Controller Annise Parker is running unopposed for reelection, so the profile on that race didn't appear till today and really isn't about her campaign anyway.

Parker, a lesbian who became Houston's first openly gay elected official when she won an at-large City Council seat in 1997, is working against Proposition 2, which would put a ban on same-sex marriage into the state constitution.

"I've never had so much free time during an election season," she said, noting that she had expected opponents might try to ride anti-gay votes drawn to the polls by the proposed constitutional amendment.

"With Proposition 2 on the ballot, I thought it would be a repeat of 2001, where fringe candidates used the opportunity to make personal attacks," she said.

That year, when she won her third term on the council, a measure prohibiting the city from offering benefits to city employees' unmarried domestic partners was on the ballot. It passed. Parker retained her seat.

"I am who I am, and these are the issues I care about," she said, acknowledging that it will be almost impossible to defeat Proposition 2 statewide.

"I hope Houston defeats it and sends a message that at least here, that kind of thing doesn't get play."

Given that Parker is now in a comfortable position to end her terms without any serious negatives on her record, one wonders what's next for her.

The controller's office sometimes has been a political stepping-stone. Kathy Whitmire went from controller to mayor in 1982, and Sylvia Garcia left the controller's office to become a county commissioner in 2003.

Parker, widely mentioned as a potential mayoral candidate in 2009 if White serves the six years permitted under city term limits, left the door open.

"I want to stay involved in politics and like local government," she said. "If you start looking beyond the job you have, you don't do a good a job."

Kristin Mack mentioned in Friday's column that Bill White will have a live webcast at 12:30 PM on Election Day, November 8. Part of this webcast is intended to be interactive, with Mayor White responding to feedback from any interested participants. Details are on BillWhiteForHouston.com - you will need to register to get a direct link to the webcast. If you've got a question for the Mayor, here's your chance to ask it.

Though it's sadly a little late to affect early voting, the Citizens Transportation Coalition has put together a nice questionnaire for local candidates regarding various issues of mobility, including public transportation, toll road accountability, regional planning, and more. Check it out and see how your candidates answered (not all of them did - there are a lot of questions here). I hope the CTC tries to do something like this for the 2006 elections as well.

TxDOT's plans for renovating I-45 have undergone some revision since the big town hall meeting at Jeff Davis High School in August, but due to a request from the I-45 Coalition for more time to study data on arterial road traffic, the latest version will be delayed for three more weeks.

At an Oct. 28 meeting of the Houston-Galveston Area Council's Transportation Policy Council, TxDOT withdrew from the agenda a vote that would have likely allowed it to move forward with the next stage of its plan.

The withdrawal came after the community group the I-45 Coalition asked for three weeks to study data about the feasibility of making improvements to arterial roads near I-45 that may lessen the impact of the freeway expansion.

The item, which was withdrawn after lengthy debate by council member and TxDOT district engineer Gary Trietsch, will now be placed on the council's Nov. 18 agenda.

State Rep. Jessica Farrar, D-Houston, addressed the council on behalf of the I-45 Coalition, stating that — given the rocky relationship between TxDOT and the community regarding the expansion — the request to put off the vote for three more weeks was a valid one as citizens try to gather all of the possible data regarding the project.

"The relationship between the I-45 Coalition and TxDOT expands back several years," Farrar said. "This year marked a serious breakdown in communication and trust. Suspicions began to arrive about TxDOT's motives, because we felt that TxDOT was trying to go around the community with this.

"TxDOT did not engage in direct and ongoing dialogue. There have been hurt feelings."

[...]

At last week's meeting, Janet Kennison of Carter-Burgess, TxDOT's consultant in the project, presented changes that were made to the revised report following discussions with community members.

Among those changes was a new cost estimate of $2.1 billion for the preferred plan. TxDOT has also agreed to consider a number of alternatives that could ease the burden on residents who live near I-45, including adding lanes to the Hardy Toll Road along with or instead of I-45, and the possible implementation of a tunnel for portions of the freeway.

TxDOT also agreed to consider improvements to arterial roads like Fulton, Harper and Yale to take some pressure off the main highway, and has agreed not to consider any alternatives that would expand the freeway beyond 12 lanes.

The I-45 Coalition's request at last week's meeting was for data regarding potential improvements to arterial roads and how they fit into the overall plan to expand the freeway.

The coalition requested delaying the H-GAC vote on the TxDOT report so it can analyze data on those arterial roads.

[...]

The Transportation Policy Council has the authority to approve proposals for federal road projects in the area. The council was initially expected to vote on TxDOT's preferred alternative in July, but that vote was delayed after public outcry at the July I-45 Coalition meeting.

On Oct. 21, TxDOT's preferred alternative was approved by another arm of the H-GAC, the Technical Advisory Committee.

TxDOT officials at the TPC meeting said that while they have worked with the I-45 Coalition and other community members regarding issues with the preliminary report, it's now time to let the council make its decision.

"Due to the significant community objection at that (July) meeting, we've put this off," said Pat Henry, director of project development for TxDOT. "I think we've agreed to everything that's been requested. I think it's time to let us move on."

[...]

TPC member Art Storey, executive director of Harris County Public Infrastructure, agreed with the delay.

"A delay of 30 days at the behest of elected officials is a recognition of how important this is," Storey said. "I'm for it. I think the end result is going to be the same, and I don't see how waiting three more weeks hurts."

Farrar assured the council that come Nov. 18, the I-45 Coalition will not seek any further delays in the TPC's vote.

Following TPC approval of its plan, the next stage of the I-45 project will be a feasibility study to determine exactly what can be done along the I-45 corridor, a process that is expected to take at least three years and that Trietsch said would involve significant community input.

For example, I have a relatively frequent need to drive to places on or near the North Loop - to the Lowes and Home Depots up there, to a branch of my bank, etc. I can take I-45 to the Loop, or I can jog over to Yale of Shepherd and take them to the Loop. The latter is more direct, since I have to go east to get to I-45, then head back west to my destination, but outside of normal crunch times the former is usually faster. I'm sure there are others like me who do this sort of thing; the question is how many and what might make us choose the local route more consistently. That's what the Coalition wants more time for - to finish analyzing that data.

The reasons why this is important are twofold. One thing that greatly affects traffic on I-45 (and on I-10) is that a lot of it comes not from commuters but from area residents making short trips. That's why these roads are never really empty during the day - they're always in demand because they're almost always the fastest route to wherever you're going, even if they're not the most direct route. Having better non-highway alternatives will surely ease the pressure on them.

Also, roads like Yale and Shepherd provide fairly direct access from points north of 610 to downtown, with alternatives like I-10, Memorial Drive, Allen Parkway, and West Dallas as the last step. We know some people already use these routes when they commute each day. How many more might do so if these roads were better suited for that purpose?

So the question is, would improving arterial roads be enough to mitigate the need for as many extra lanes that are being proposed? And if it is, is there enough trust to believe that TxDOT will do that as an alternative, or would they improve those roads while pushing I-45 out to 12 lanes anyway? As Anne notes, there are still plenty of reasons for anyone to be suspicious of TxDOT. Hopefully, we'll learn the answers on November 18.

All that said, TxDOT deserves praise for working with the I-45 Coalition and other stakeholders on this process. I feel a lot better about the likelihood of a result that won't be detrimental to my neighborhood now than I did last year. I'm also pleased to see that they've recognized reality regarding the price tag of this sucker. If anything will dampen enthusiasm for wielding eminent domain powers, that ought to.

After we closed the door on the last Trick or Treater on Monday night, I said to myself "So when does Christmas season start?" I was only joking, but the joke's on me.

No, it's not your imagination. The advertising and marketing assault that marks the beginning of the holiday buying season has already begun.

Christmas catalogs are already filling mailboxes, and Wal-Mart's holiday marketing campaign was in place several weeks sooner than usual.

It may be the earliest jump on the season ever.

[...]

Wal-Mart's early start on the holidays didn't surprise Ken Bernhardt, professor of marketing at the Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University.

The holiday shopping season is getting longer every year and is turning into "a well-before-Halloween until a well-into-January" event, he said. Consumers are starting earlier and shopping later, knowing they can be rewarded with big discounts if they wait, he said.

[...]

Meyerland Plaza was putting up its decorations Thursday, about a week early. Shopper Estella Jenkins liked the oversized glittery Christmas ornaments.

"It's a little early, I think," Jenkins said outside the Target store. She half joked that they might get blown down with almost two months left before the holiday. Jenkins, 53, does not plan to cut back on holiday spending this year but said she won't be going overboard.

Jay Lee lists his Top Ten Indispensible Computer Utilities. It's a rather sad statement on current affairs that the first five are anti-virus and spyware tools, but there you have it. I need to check a few of these things out. Take a look and see what you might need for yourself.

John Sharp, America's loneliest committee chair, won't be lonely for much longer. PerryVsWorld has the list of folks who are supposedly filling out the panel. Ladies and gentlemen, start your search engines.

Oh, and I believe the answer to the last question here is "Yes. In fact, she's had her press releases ready to go since August."

UPDATE: It's always good to know that some things never change.

Texas Weekly is reporting today (subscription required) a sneak preview of the roster that Perry is planning to announce in the next few days. And to the surprise of absolutely no one, it looks like a number of big-time campaign contributors are being rewarded with invitations to join the panel.

In fact, a review of the names on TW's preliminary list reveals eight individuals who have donated a combined $413,509.56 to Rick Perry since 2000, including two that have given more than $100,000 in that time.

UPDATE: It's in the news now.

Today is apparently Release Embarrassing Emails Day. Next up, the Texas Lottery Commission, an agency that ought to be pretty accustomed to embarrassing revelations these days.

The House committee that oversees the Texas Lottery is investigating claims by a senior lottery systems analyst that agency management misled lawmakers about an emergency control center that doesn't work, blocked open record requests and bullied employees into secrecy at the $3.5 billion agency.

Shelton Charles, a network analyst who oversees much of the lottery's technical operations, made his claims in an e-mail he sent Wednesday to state Reps. Corbin Van Arsdale and Kino Flores, who chairs the House Licensing and Regulation Committee.

"I have been at the lottery for almost 10 years," Charles wrote. "I have reached the point where I want to speak out on these issues. I hope that there are still people who want to give the Texas Lottery back to the PEOPLE of Texas."

[...]

Charles' first accusation is that the lottery's disaster recovery or business resumption site — a concrete bunker — which the Legislature required state agencies to develop in the mid-1990s, "has never been operational."

"Management has been hiding this fact through their lies and manipulation of information," Charles wrote. "Employees have been threatened with their jobs if (they) spoke about this to anyone."

Charles' comments on the site echo those of several former employees interviewed by the Chronicle in the past few months.

The Austin site, which cost more than $1.3 million to build and maintain, includes a steel-reinforced concrete bunker-like structure with walls 3 feet thick, according to several employees who have seen or helped develop the site.

"It could probably take a nuclear blast," said Bill Hensler, a former network services manager for the lottery. "It was overkill. It was purely overkill."

Hensler and Charles both say computer equipment was installed at the site, but it didn't properly receive data that would have enabled lottery employees to carry out their duties if a disaster destroyed the lottery's downtown Austin headquarters.

"Millions have been spent on the site and the cover-up continues," Charles wrote.

Charles said he hopes his letter will inspire an "open investigation" into his claims.

He wrote that he made the assertions at the risk of losing his job, but that he decided to go public when he received a negative evaluation, which he took to mean that that the agency was going to fire him.

UPDATE: This should come as no shock at all.

Shelton Charles told The Associated Press he was fired this afternoon for insubordination after he refused to answer lottery officials' questions about the emergency operations center unless they put them in writing.

Lottery spokesman Bobby Heith said he couldn't discuss Charles' allegations and couldn't confirm or deny his firing because both are personnel issues.

Charles' Wednesday e-mail to state Reps. Corbin Van Arsdale and Ismael "Kino" Flores, chairman of the House Licensing and Regulation Committee, was made public in today's editions of the Chronicle.

[...]

Charles said he wasn't surprised he was fired, adding that he decided to go public with his concerns when he received a negative job performance evaluation, which led him to believe he was going to be fired anyway.

"When I made the decision, I made it with the understanding that this could happen," he said.

Charles, who is black, said he recently filed an employee discrimination lawsuit with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, citing unequal salary, treatment and advancement opportunities at the lottery.

[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.

Oh, and to answer Nick's question in the comments: Hey, we'll need some kind of revenue stream in the event of a disaster.

UPDATE: Fuller story on the firing is now up.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the email correspondence of Mike "You're doing a heck of a job, Brownie!" Brown.

Even as subordinates warned him that the flooding of New Orleans was a matter of life or death, Michael Brown, the now-dismissed head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, remained strangely detached from the crisis, e-mails show.

He mused about his future, joked about a new shirt and wondered how he looked on TV.

On Aug. 31, two days after the storm flooded the city, a FEMA regional director sent Brown an urgent e-mail about patients dying "within hours," a lack of food and water, hundreds of rescues and a situation "past critical."

Brown's response? "Thanks for update. Anything specific I need to do or tweak?"

The e-mails were released Wednesday as part of the ongoing congressional investigation into the federal response to Hurricane Katrina. Members of Congress said the e-mails show that Brown was not focused on the rescue and relief efforts he was supposedly leading.

The e-mails "reveal that Mr. Brown made few decisions and seemed out of touch," said Rep. Charlie Melancon, a Louisiana Democrat who pushed for the e-mails' release. "They depict a leader who seemed overwhelmed."

The e-mails indicate that Brown had intended to leave the FEMA job before Katrina hit. In one dated Sept. 2 he tells a colleague of his plans: "Last hurrah was supposed to have been Labor Day. I'm trapped now, please rescue me."

Here is verbatim text of some of the e-mails released Wednesday:

"My eyes must certainly be deceiving me. You look fabulous - and I'm not talking the makeup!" - Cindy Taylor, FEMA deputy director of public affairs, to Brown, commenting on Brown's TV appearance on the morning of Aug. 29, when Katrina hit.

Brown's response: "I got it at Nordstrom's. Email (FEMA spokeswoman Lee Anne) McBride and make sure she knows! Are you proud of me? Can I quit now? Can I go home?"

You can see the rest of the correspondence here (PDF). That link comes from Michelle, while the AP story comes via Julia.

On the home front and on a more serious topic, the City of Houston is working to get the remaining evacuees who are still in hotels into more permanent housing.

To meet the Federal Emergency Management Agency's deadline, the Joint Hurricane Housing Task Force will be sending teams throughout the area to stress to these evacuees that now is the time to move into apartments and other housing.

The city is offering evacuees a housing voucher good for one year of free rent, gas and electricity during the "Hotel Customer Service" campaign. The effort so far has helped lower the number remaining in hotels from 60,000 at the height of the Katrina and Rita evacuations. About 50,000 evacuees have moved into 12,000 apartments with the help of vouchers, Mayor Bill White said Thursday during a press conference outside City Hall.

Another 4,500 units remain eligible for the voucher program, and 7,000 could be made available if FEMA provides additional funding, White said.

"The competition for the remaining apartment units is picking up," added task-force coordinator E.A. "Buddy" Grantham. "Now is the time to act in order to get into the apartment complexes that accept these vouchers."

[...]

Both local and state officials, including White and Gov. Rick Perry, publicly complained to lawmakers in Washington this week about the federal hurricane response. White has said the pace of federal reimbursement to the city for taking care of Katrina evacuees has slowed.

But on Thursday, White said the mobile action teams are rolling out the program "with great cooperation from our brothers and sisters at FEMA."

White said the city proceeded with its housing program and forming the Joint Hurricane Housing Task Force because it relied on the direction from FEMA and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

"The biggest concern that we have is that it not be business as usual," White said. Otherwise, he said, "the wheels will fall off, but that's not the kind of attitude we expect from FEMA.

"We just want to make sure that momentum is not lost," he added.

You may recall last year's Propositions 1 and 2, which were revenue cap measures on the City of Houston ballot. Both passed, with establishment-backed Prop 1 getting more votes. The city says that means that by the Houston charter, only Prop 1 gets enacted, as it conflicts with Prop 2. Prop 2 backers cried foul and filed suit to force its acceptance. Yesterday, their suit survived a motion for summary judgment.

State District Judge Tad Halbach's ruling kept alive an effort by a group trying to force the city to curtail its spending by limiting revenue from property taxes and other sources.

The one-page ruling doesn't address the merits of the case, which arises from last year's referendum on two competing revenue measures: Proposition 1, supported by White's administration, and Proposition 2, pushed by advocates of limiting government spending.

In denying the city's motion for summary judgment, a common pretrial request by defendants in civil cases, the judge said there are enough questions about the facts in the case that a trial is necessary to resolve the dispute. The judge also denied the city's effort to get the case dismissed under the argument that the plaintiffs didn't have legal standing to bring their suit.

"What this means is, we'll go to trial on the merits," said Andy Taylor, an attorney representing the Proposition 2 backers. "We remain very confident, and we're very eager to try this case and look forward to victory."

I'll say this for Tom DeLay: The man knows how to travel in style.

Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX) "filed a report with the Clerk of the House of Representatives indicating he received free travel valued at $13,998.55 from Fox News Sunday for 'officially connected travel' on October 1-2, 2005, from Sugarland, TX to Washington, D.C. and back to Sugarland, TX. Rep. DeLay appeared on Fox News Sunday on October 2, 2005, the weekend after his indictment on September 28, 2005."

I've been so busy with the goings on of the trial in Austin that I've not paid much attention to the Senate Indian Affairs Committee hearings into DeLay's buddy Jack Abramoff lately. Fortunately, Jesse Lee is up to the task, as is TAPPED. And for extra added fun, be sure to read what former DeLay staffer and Abramoff co-scandalee Mike Scanlon thinks of the Republican base.

Kristin Mack writes about the Bill White buzz.

Mayor Bill White says he is not running for governor in 2006. Well, he doesn't say that exactly. What he says, when asked, and it has come up lately: "I intend to be mayor for the next two years if that's what the citizens want me to do."

That leaves the door open, since the people who almost certainly will elect him to a second term as mayor on Tuesday also could speak in a draft-White-for-governor move.

[...]

As for the mayor seeking the Democratic nomination for governor, [White's campaign manager Mustafa] Tameez says White is not encouraging support, although he has been asked to consider running.

"Just because people want it to be, doesn't mean it's going to happen," Tameez said.

If he did decide to run in the March primary, White would not have to give up the mayor's job, according to the city's legal department.

Former U.S. Rep. Chris Bell, the only announced Democratic gubernatorial candidate, said he thought enough of the rumor to ask White if it was true. The mayor responded in writing.

"He said he felt like being mayor was a full-time job, and he absolutely had no plans to run," Bell said. "I took that to be a pretty definitive answer. I don't get the impression that he has done anything to give people the indication that he is running. I don't think he's trying to be clever or leave an opening so he can surprise everyone at the 11th hour. It would be contrary to the way he does things."

While it is technically true that White could serve as Mayor while also running for Governor, in practical terms it's nearly impossible to imagine. He'd need a travel schedule that would make Lee Brown look like a homebody. I just don't believe he - or anyone - could manage to run both the city of Houston and a statewide campaign in Texas effectively.

Finally, much as Ed Koch discovered when he listened to the press clippings and entered the 1982 Democratic primary for Governor in New York against Mario Cuomo shortly after winning reelection as NYC Mayor by a wide margin, voters don't often like it when a person who has pledged to them to do a job starts hunting for a bigger and better one before finishing the task at hand. I guarantee you that the fastest way to dent Bill White's approval numbers in Houston is for him to announce that what he really wants right now is to be Governor. Not only will some of the people who just voted for him to be Mayor take that as a rebuke, but it will also bring everyone's partisan feelings back to the surface. Obviously, if and when White decides to run for a higher office, he'll have to remind people that though he may play well with Republicans, he really is a Democrat. There's no way to do that without losing a few votes.

Now, there's no question that Bill White would make a hell of a candidate for Governor. He'll have the big mandate from Houston, the well-deserved plaudits for all his good work during Katrina and Rita, an enviable campaign war chest, and the ability to raise a lot more dough quickly. If someone were to take a poll now, I wouldn't be surprised if he were at least within margin-of-error distance from Rick Perry, if not leading him outright. If he were to decide to run, it would be the most exciting thing to happen in Texas Democratic politics since Ann Richards' come-from-behind victory over Clayton Williams in 1990. It's really easy to see where this buzz is coming from.

But let's keep some perspective here. Bill White for Governor effectively means no more Bill White as Mayor. If he were planning to run, there'd be a lot more detectable activity towards that end than one suggestive domain name. Because of that, I don't see this happening. 2010 and beyond? The sky's the limit. Now? I could be wrong, but I don't think he's going anywhere.

And we have a new judge in the DeLay money laundering trial: Pat Priest.

A Democratic judge was named on Thursday to preside over the money-laundering and conspiracy case against U.S. Republican Rep. Tom DeLay in an appointment made by the chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court.

Senior Judge Pat Priest of San Antonio will replace state District Judge Robert Perkins, who was forced off the case on Tuesday after DeLay's attorneys complained he was too staunchly Democratic to give their client a fair trial.

Priest was appointed by Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson, a Republican endorsed and aided by DeLay's Texans for a Republican Majority, or TRMPAC, a political action committee at the center of the criminal charges.

Jefferson made the appointment after a Republican judge in a lower court, B.B. Schraub, recused himself earlier on Thursday after prosecutors charged he was too staunchly Republican to make a fair choice.

[...]

Priest was a respected judge in San Antonio for years, but no longer works full time on the bench.

UPDATE: Here's the latest.

"I don't know how this case landed on me," said Priest, 64, of San Antonio. "I hope it's because someone told them I'd be fair."

Priest said he has no idea how long he might last as presiding judge.

"You'll have to ask the lawyers in the case to see if they find me objectionable," he said.

DeLay's lawyer, Dick DeGuerin of Houston, said his first motion before Priest will be to ask him to move the trial from Travis County to DeLay's home of Fort Bend County.

DeGuerin said he did not think DeLay would find objectionable three $150 donations Priest had made to San Antonio Democratic state representatives last year. All three lawmakers were involved in a House walkout in 2003 that temporarily blocked DeLay's redistricting efforts.

Priest said he gave the money to the lawmakers because of an unusual situation in which judges who retired before him and after him received more pay. He said the lawmakers were "kind enough" to carry a bill to make his retirement pay the same as other judges.

Though officially retired, Priest remains active as a judge and said he is a Democrat.

Last month in Dallas, Priest took over for a judge who was removed in a criminal case because prosecutors claimed he was favoring the defendant.

In 2000, he presided over the corruption trials of county officials in Karnes and Atascosa county accused of stealing from their governments. He sentenced both to prison.

Priest's most high-profile case was in 1990 when he ordered a San Antonio TV reporter jailed for six months for refusing to comply with his order to turn over notes in a capital murder case.

Priest was elected as a district judge in 1980 and remained on the bench until he ran for the 4th Court of Appeals in 1994. He lost the Democratic primary to an opponent who accused him of being "soft on crime" for reducing the $1 million bail set for two murder defendants by another judge.

Since then, he has served as a senior judge, handling cases that are assigned to him by an administrative judge.

You know, for a guy who was completely disconnected from the school finance reform debate while it was happening, Governor Perry sure does like issuing executive orders after the fact to push through things that failed to pass the legislative process. In the interest of time management, I'm going to outsource further discussion on this one to Eye on Williamson (who's got the news roundup well covered as well), BOR's Philip Martin, and Chris Bell. Check them out.

I guess that sharply worded letter that Governor Perry sent to Homeland Security director Michael Chertoff got lost in the mail.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff came to town to talk about immigration policy, and had no public response Wednesday to local leaders' complaints about his department's hurricane relief efforts.

He didn't answer questions after his speech before the Houston Forum, which organizes lectures by public figures and sometimes includes questions from the audience.

[...]

Harris County Judge Robert Eckels echoed White's comments Wednesday, saying FEMA quickly paid an initial reimbursement for Katrina efforts, but has been slow in making subsequent payments. During a ride from the airport, he raised the issue with Chertoff.

"Everyone is frustrated at the pace of the reimbursements. ... All he could say is he'll try to get our money; he understands," Eckels said.

Fight fire with fire, I guess.

In an unprecedented move, Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle filed a motion Thursday asking a Republican presiding judge to remove himself from the decision about who will be the trial judge in the conspiracy case against U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land.

Earle, a Democrat, argued that Judge B.B. Schraub, the presiding judge for the 3rd Administrative Judicial Region, should step aside for the same reasons that state District Judge Bob Perkins, a Democrat, was removed from hearing DeLay's case: Both had given political donations.

In the retaliatory motion, Earle wrote that he was using the same rationale that DeLay's lawyers used to get Perkins removed from the case. He said Schraub of Seguin, like Perkins of Austin, is a fair and impartial judge with a "sterling reputation" of honesty and integrity.

But Earle wrote that's "unfortunately no longer the standard in our state for the judiciary." He argued that Schraub could be personally biased for DeLay and against Earle.

[...]

Schraub appointed a retired Democratic judge, C.W. "Bud" Duncan of Bell County, who ordered Perkins to step aside after a four-hour hearing Tuesday. That left Schraub to find a replacement. He told the Associated Press he was looking at retired judges outside Travis County.

The issue of whether a judge outside or inside Travis County hears the case could have a bearing on an array of pre-trial issues, particularly whether DeLay could get a fair trial in the heavily Democratic county that he had split between three congressional districts in 2003 to try and defeat U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin.

Schraub declined to comment on the motion. DeLay's lead lawyer, Dick DeGuerin, was not immediately available for comment Thursday.

According to Earle's motion, Schraub has given $5,600 — roughly the same amount as Perkins — to Republican candidates, including President Bush, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, Gov. Rick Perry, state Sen. Jeff Wentworth and state Rep. Ed Kuempel.

Earle wrote that the $1,500 to Perry was particularly troubling because Perry was a central player in DeLay's successful attempt in 2003 to have Texas congressional districts drawn to his liking. As governor, Perry called the special legislative sessions where the districts were redrawn to shift the balance of power in the congressional delegation from Democrats to Republicans.

The prosecutor also noted that Perry appointed Schraub as presiding judge and Schraub is up for re-appointment in January.

Earle suggested four options for breaking the partisan logjam over naming a judge to hear the DeLay case.

He asked Schraub to assign the case to another Travis County district judge; appoint a Travis County presiding judge to assign the case in the normal court rotation; to step aside voluntarily; or ask the governor to appoint the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to hear Earle's motion to force Schraub to be removed.

Second, according to the Quorum Report, Judge Schraub has recused himself and referred the matter of appointing a replacement judge to State Supreme Court Justice Wallace Jefferson. On the matter of substance, I doubt it makes any difference. Earle made his point, apparently.

Next, I sure do hope that there's a judge with no recent record of giving or receiving campaign contributions out there in the state somewhere, presumably in a hermetically-sealed environment, or maybe a basement bomb shelter from the 1950s. I was only joking when I suggested that we just move this whole circus to the World Court in the Hague, but maybe it's not such a bad idea after all.

And finally, I repeat what I said earlier about what the new judge should do. The first order of business should be to accept all that has gone on before, and move on immediately to new business. All in the interest of granting Tommy's wish for a speedy trial, you understand.

UPDATE: Here's the removal motion (PDF). And of course, as this story notes, the merry go round can keep on spinning if someone is inclined to keep turning the crank:

The administrative judge who was to pick a new trial judge for U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay withdrew today because of a challenge to his impartiality and turned the selection over to Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson — who was endorsed by the DeLay-founded Texans for a Republican Majority in 2002.

The Jefferson endorsement news release listed DeLay co-defendant John Colyandro as a contact for the news media. Jefferson also in 2002 actively campaigned with Texans for a Republican Majority, or TRMPAC.

One campaign trip Jefferson made on behalf of TRMPAC used an airplane provided by San Antonio lawyer James Jonas, who is law partners with another DeLay co-defendant, Jim Ellis.

Jefferson also shared a campaign treasurer with TRMPAC, Bill Ceverha of Dallas. Also, Bill Ceverha of Dallas in 2002 was the campaign treasurer for both TRMPAC and Jefferson's election campaign.

[...]

DeLay attorney Dick DeGuerin said Jefferson's connections to TRMPAC should not matter because his job of picking a new judge for the case is just administrative.

"What you've got to do is look at the judge he appoints" for potential bias, DeGuerin said.

I should note, by the way, that none of this should be taken as an insinuation on my part of anything untoward about Chief Justice Jefferson, who is held in high esteem by just about everyone. All I am saying is that Judge Perkins is also held in high esteem, yet he got the bum's rush. Everything that has followed flows from that.

Just when I proclaim that the Chron is really truly finished with its 2005 endorsements, they go ahead and cross me up by finally evaluating the last three Constitutional amendments on the ballot. I'm not sure what took them so long to announce their opposition to Props 3, 6, and 8 - none of these are the least bit controversial - but then I can't make any sense of their schedule to begin with. I mean, early voting ends tomorrow, and they're just now publishing the last of their endorsements. You would think that they'd prefer to maximize whatever influence these things have by making sure they're all written before the first vote is cast. Whatever. As a reminder, all the Chron's endorsement editorials are here - scroll down to see them.

For the record, I voted yesterday. Unlike last year, when you had to pick your early-voting time and place carefully in order to avoid long lines, I was in and out of the West Gray Multi-Service Center in five minutes, even though I showed up at 5:30 PM, usually a busy after-work time. Turnout will be light on Tuesday, but I still recommend voting now while it's really quiet.

UPDATE: Stace points to the early voting totals so far (Excel spreadsheet), and I confess it's heavier than I would have thought, with just over 45,000 ballots cast through Tuesday. Still, even the West Gray location, the busiest one so far, has seen fewer than 60 people per hour on the average. That's pretty darned slow.

When we get a new judge for the DeLay money laundering trial, he or she should deal with this in all due haste.

Retired District Judge C.W. "Bud" Duncan Jr., a Democrat, removed [Travis County Judge Bob] Perkins from the case Tuesday. Administrative Judge B.B. Schraub, a Republican, plans to choose Perkins' replacement this week.

Schraub told the Associated Press that he will pick from a field of retired judges outside Travis County, where DeLay was indicted on charges of money laundering and conspiracy in a campaign finance scheme.

"I'm going to try to do it this week if I can find a judge (who) has the characteristics we're looking for and will do it," said Schraub. He did not specify what those characteristics were.

Getting Perkins removed from the case was a major victory for DeLay because Perkins already had upheld earlier indictments that were returned against DeLay's co-defendants: John Colyandro and Jim Ellis. A new judge will give DeLay's defense an opportunity to challenge the indictments before a fresh eye.

The new judge also will take up motions to move the case out of highly Democratic Travis County.

DeLay's lawyers did not argue that Perkins would be unfair, only that his political donations would give the appearance of bias to average citizens.

I believe the proper response, upon reading this story of Earl Hickey of NBC's My Name Is Earl and Hugo "Hurley" Reyes of ABC's Lost as the slacker Everyman is "Dude. There's like a thesis or something in that." That is all.

(Will we ever learn how Hurley got his nickname? Leave your theories as to its origin in the comments.)

Seldom is the question asked "How much would you pay to go out on a date with a Congressional candidate?" According to PinkDome, one enterprising young fella from Grand Prairie thought $25 a pop for the privilege of having dinner and a movie with him, with maybe a little miniature golf afterwards, was a good way to get a campaign off the ground. The fact that he was hoping to raise cash to run against Smokey Joe Barton in a Republican primary takes the whole goofiness factor up a notch for me. Read it and laugh.

(Oh, and before anyone gets any funny ideas, the offer is no longer valid. Sorry!)

It's the same familiar story, but with two new voices in the chorus.

Gov. Rick Perry and Houston Mayor Bill White on Tuesday separately criticized the Federal Emergency Management Agency's continued hurricane recovery efforts in Texas and Houston.

In a sharply worded letter, Perry protested FEMA's decision to cut recovery funding to Texas, said tens of thousands of Hurricane Katrina evacuees soon will soon be evicted from temporary housing with no place to go and said FEMA has been slow to identify sex offenders and other violent criminals among Katrina evacuees.

He also said in his letter to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, sent one day before Chertoff is scheduled to speak in Houston, that FEMA was treating Texas victims of Hurricane Rita differently from Louisiana victims.

"As you know, natural disasters recognize no state boundaries, and neither should FEMA," Perry said.

[...]

In a visit to Washington, White complained that the pace of federal reimbursement for Houston's costs of caring for Katrina evacuees has significantly slowed.

He met with two lawmakers from Texas and Michael Jackson, deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.

"I think this should be treated as an emergency matter," White said.

"In early September, when Houston was on the front line for relief of dislocated Americans, the Texas congressional delegation and people in the (Bush) administration all agreed that this would not be business as usual," he added.

[...]

So far, FEMA has sent Houston $39 million to cover expenses related to housing, non-Medicaid health care, public safety and other needs. White estimates that the city will need $175 million to break even, spokesman Patrick Trahan said.

In his letter to Chertoff, Perry noted that FEMA denied his request to continue 100 percent federal funding for debris removal and other emergency measures in affected Texas counties for another 60 days. The denial means that Texas counties now must pay 25 percent of the clean-up costs, unless President Bush grants Perry's appeal.

The governor said the rural counties of East Texas already were "shouldering a heavy burden" of Katrina evacuees from Louisiana when Rita struck.

"The budgets of sparsely populated populations have limited flexibility, and these consecutive disasters have stretched them so thinly that funding for other basic services is affected," he said.

Meanwhile, he added, FEMA approved a Louisiana request for a 30-day extension of its emergency declaration, agreeing to pay 90 percent of recovery costs for that state.

"Texas should be afforded the same reimbursement structure as our Louisiana neighbors," Perry said.

I have no idea what took them so long, but the Chron has finally rectified its most puzzling (to me, anyway) omission of the endorsement season by giving its seal of approval to incumbent City Council member Toni Lawrence in District A. We may have gotten some indication of how their process works, but the schedule is still a mystery. Be that as it may, this should be the last of them until runoff time.

At long last, the final chapter in the Tulia drug bust case has been written.

More than two years after winning pardons from Gov. Rick Perry, a handful of former drug defendants walked out of the Swisher County Courthouse on Tuesday with records wiped clean of their 1999 arrests.

Visiting Judge Ron Chapman quickly expunged the records of 30 former drug defendants, an act that could not be pursued by attorneys until January's conviction of former undercover investigator Tom Coleman on a charge of perjury. Coleman was hired in 1998 to handle a sting in Tulia targeting the community's drug trade. What resulted was 47 arrests - 39 of them on black suspects.

"I anticipate that this should be the last event in this long saga," said Chapman moments after taking the bench.

[...]

Freddie Brookins, Jr, 28, posed for pictures outside the courthouse with the court documents showing the expunction of his pardoned conviction shortly after Chapman's order. On Feb. 18, 2000, Brookins was convicted on a charge of delivery of powder cocaine and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

"It's a lot better now," said Brookins. "Maybe now a lot of us can do a lot better at getting jobs."

Brookins' criminal record related to the Coleman charges disappears forever as part of the expunction.

Swisher County District Attorney Wally Hatch, who in an election defeated the sting's prosecutor, Terry McEachern, sat across from Lubbock attorney Jeff Blackburn and Washington D.C.-based attorney Jennifer Klar during the hearing, which lasted less than 10 minutes.

"The expunction was really a procedural matter to finish up the governor's pardon as far as I'm concerned," said Hatch. "I don't know that we had any grounds to oppose (the expunction)."

Klar argued for the expunctions based on Coleman being discredited, calling him a "devious and nonresponsive witness."

"The convictions were pardoned after they were substantially undermined in this court," said Klar, calling for the expunctions as an end to the process that has lasted more than seven years. "This is the last step for these folks."

[...]

For Klar, the Tulia case was her first after graduating from law school in 2002. She said having to wait through Coleman's trial was difficult but a necessary part of handling the expunctions.

"Otherwise, this whole issue would not have been able to be brought up. The evidence would not have been able to be presented," said Klar, who was present through Coleman's prosecution, often passing notes on to special prosecutor Rod Hobson, a Lubbock defense attorney.

And as long as we're talking about final chapters, Grits tells us that Nate Blakeslee, the Texas Observer reporter who first broke the Tulia story, now has a book about the case, which gets a nice review here. I'm going to need to get myself a copy of that.

So now that Team DeLay has gotten its wish to boot Judge Bob Perkins from the Hammer's money laundering trial, who else is there that can take over?

DeLay's attorneys, Dick DeGuerin and Richard Keeton of Houston, argued that their effort was not just a matter of trying to get a Democratic judge removed from hearing the case of a Republican officeholder. They said it was a matter of removing a judge whose contributions showed him to be a "staunch Democrat" presiding at the trial of the nation's "most partisan Republican."

[...]

DeGuerin said Perkins made other donations to people or groups who have opposed DeLay, particularly in regard to the Legislature's 2003 fight over congressional redistricting.

DeGuerin noted Perkins had made three $100 donations to state Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos, D-Austin, in 2002 and 2005. He said Barrientos was a leader in the Democratic senators' 2003 fight against DeLay and fled with them to Albuquerque, N.M., to halt Senate debate on congressional redistricting.

He also noted that Perkins gave $100 to state Rep. Patrick Rose, D-Austin in 2004. In 2002, Rose defeated state Rep. Rick Green, R-Dripping Springs, who is named in the indictment against DeLay as having received illegal money from TRMPAC.

Perkins made more political donations in the past five years than any Travis County judge except two: Judge Brenda Kennedy contributed $6,345 and Judge Wilford Flowers $5,560.

Perkins and Flowers were the only Travis County judges to make federal campaign contributions, and Perkins was the only one to give money to the Democratic National Committee and MoveOn.org. DeGuerin said those groups ran fund-raising campaigns using DeLay as a "whipping boy."

[...]

DeGuerin also noted that Perkins' donations at the state and local level outpaced most other Travis County judges.

Perkins gave $3,005 in state donations, including money to the Texas Democratic Party and the Travis County Democratic Party. Both have used attacks on DeLay to raise money.

Almost all of Kennedy's donations were to the Travis County Democratic Party, as were most of Flowers' local donations. Judge Mike Lynch donated $1,700 to local Democratic groups. And Judge Julie Kocurek, the only Republican judge in Travis County, made four donations totalling $625 to local GOP organizations.

Travis County Democratic Judge Jon Wisser, a Democrat, made no political donations.

Let's be clear about one thing: Making support for an opponent of the 2003 redistricting a litmus test, as DeGuerin implies with his statement about Sen. Barrientos, is an argument that should be rejected outright. If you were a Democrat in Texas in 2003 not named Ron Wilson, you opposed redistricting. Since that was DeLay's baby all the way, that meant you opposed DeLay. By the same token, any Republican judge who gave money to a fellow partisan that year could be said to be a supporter of DeLay. If we're going to go down that road, we may as well move this trial to the World Court in the Hague right now and get it over with, because there won't be anyone left here who can preside.

Which leads to the question that some people are asking if maybe the whole partisan election of judges thing is a bad idea to begin with.

"I think the DeLay case is drawing attention to the over-politicization of the system," [former Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice John] Hill said Tuesday after testifying for DeLay's successful motion to remove state District Judge Bob Perkins from his case.

[...]

Historically, most of the criticism of the Texas election system has revolved around the Texas Supreme Court, which hears only civil cases. Each election cycle, Supreme Court justices and candidates receive thousands of dollars from special-interest groups — businesses, insurance companies and plaintiffs' lawyers — with millions of dollars at stake in cases before the high court.

On two occasions within the past 18 years, CBS' 60 Minutes has aired programs questioning whether justice is for sale in Texas.

Bills to change the system are filed during each legislative session, only to die.

Rarely do partisan judicial elections become an issue in criminal cases in Texas because rarely is a high-ranking political figure, such as DeLay, on trial in a criminal courtroom.

[...]

One proposal for changing the judicial selection system in Texas would have judges appointed by the governor. Judges then would be required to run in periodic, nonpartisan retention elections but wouldn't have ballot opponents.

Voters would decide whether to keep a judge in office or unseat him. Unseated judges would be replaced by other gubernatorial appointees.

Hill, who has been campaigning for judicial reform since stepping down from the Texas Supreme Court in 1988, supports that proposal and said he will again urge the Legislature in 2007 to enact it, at least for appellate judges and district judges in large cities where candidates are lesser known.

If you want to make a change to eliminate or at least minimize this kind of potential conflict of interest, I say the answer is greater restrictions on campaign contributions to and by judges, plus more stringent rules on when a judge's giving or receiving requires recusal. Having such rules in place would have made the Perkins situation a lot simpler - either it wouldn't have been an issue because he wouldn't have given money to anyone, or it would have been automatic for him to recuse himself. I still don't think that Perkins' relatively modest contribution history is remarkable enough to make his sidelining obvious, let alone mandatory, but as I seem to be in the minority here I'd like to at least see more consistent guidelines come out of it so the next time we have this kind of situation it can be resolved with less shouting. This is the way I'd do it if it were up to me.

The Quorum Report has put together a nice page of candidates for all the various offices up for grabs in 2006. There's a few omissions and oversights, and with new candidates jumping in all the time it'll be a bear to maintain, but right now it's a pretty decent picture of how things are shaping up. Here's a quick peek at the legislative races:

For Congress, there's one Democratic primary challenge (CD28), two Republicans challenging an incumbent Democrat (CDs 17 and 20), and with the announcement linked above of entrants into CDs 03 and 04, ten Democrats challenging incumbent Republicans (CDs 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 14, 21, 22, and 31). There are no open seats or Republican primary challenges at this time (CD22 may yet have one). Looking at the Sharp/Dewhurst numbers from 2002 that were also included, CD23 is the district with the highest Democratic performance index that still lacks a contestant.

For the State House, we have:

- Fourteen Democratic challengers to Republican incumbents (HDs 20, 32, 52, 60, 68, 84, 88, 93, 96, 102, 107, 129, 134, 144).

- Four open seats currently held by Republicans which have at least one contestant from each party (HDs 47 and 48, which are cattle calls, 126, and 133).

- One open Democratic seat with only Democratic contenders (HD42).

- Four Democratic primary challenges (HDs 27, 39, 75, 146).

- One Democratic seat with a special election next week that will surely see a primary challenge in March (HD143).

- Five Republican challengers to Democratic incumbents (HDs 3, 50, 69, 85, 149 - that would be a Vo/Heflin rematch according to this).

- Three open Republican seats with only Republican challengers (HDs 54, 71 and 91).

- Six Republican primary challenges (HDs 2, 4, 10, 56, 72, 83).

HD16, held by Ruben Hope, shows two Republican challengers. As I understand it, Hope is in line for a judicial appointment, meaning his seat would be open and in need of a special election. I should really separate HD48 as well, since it will also see a special election, but I expect it will be challenged next November regardless of who wins it next spring.

From a Run Everywhere perspective, this is all looking pretty good. HD9, held by Roy Blake, is the most Democratic district without a Dem running as yet, and there are a few others where Sharp got at least 46% which still lack, but overall the Dems are in the much better position of candidate recruitment. It's only in the Senate, where there's all of two challenged seats so far - SD1s (Madla) and 19 (Armbrister) where so far there's not even a potential for gain.

Like I said, it's a useful resource, one which I hope they try to update as things change. Check it out and leave a comment if you know of a candidate who should be there but isn't; note that I've accounted for a couple of those above - follow the links as needed.

For now, at least, Tom DeLay has gotten what he wants: a new judge in his money laundering trial.

Travis County Judge Bob Perkins must step aside from presiding over the money-laundering trial of U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay, a visiting judge ruled this afternoon.

Retired Judge W.C. "Bud" Duncan of Bell County made his ruling after a half-day hearing in Perkins' courtroom. He did not issue any comment or explanation.

I will say this: Having made such a big deal over Judge Perkins' political donations, the replacement judge had better be pretty damn virginal in this department. If a judge who gave money to MoveOn is unacceptable, then a judge who's given to the Club for Growth (which, I remind you, ran numerous pro-DeLay ads in the 2004 election cycle) or any such similar group should be equally unacceptable. I just hope there are judges left when we're all done eliminating those who have tainted contribution histories.

The reconstruction of New Orleans has hit another snag: There's not enough housing, temporary or otherwise, for all the workers that are needed for the rebuilding as well as for the firms that are trying to get started again. And guess who's being blamed for it?

The housing problems, made worse by what some claim is the Federal Emergency Management Agency's slow response to install temporary trailers, have blocked many New Orleans residents from returning to jobs in businesses that are struggling to come back, local officials and business owners say.

"I've been trying to start up and run under the worst circumstances," said Elizabeth Turnbull, owner of Turnbull Bakeries Inc., a commercial bakery that before the storm had 80 people making Melba toast and fresh bread crumbs for customers around the country.

Many of her employees lived in the Irish Channel neighborhood in Uptown, where their homes were flooded. Today, they are scattered from Atlanta to Houston to Dallas.

"I have 29-year, 25-year, 20-year employees who want to come back, but they don't have homes," Turnbull said.

Nearly four weeks ago, she had a vacant lot at the bakery readied with power poles to accept a dozen trailers. And she applied to a state office working to dispatch trailers supplied by FEMA to businesses that need to house workers.

"I'm still waiting," she said. "They've been totally unresponsive."

Initially, officials worried that post-Katrina wages would be low. "That hasn't happened," said state Rep. Charmaine Marchand, D-New Orleans. "We have some of the best wages we've ever had."

Today is Dia de los Muertos. It is, as Stace notes, a largely Mexican and Mexican-American holiday that celebrates the dead and welcomes them home for the two-day period coinciding with All Saints' Day, today, and All Souls' Day, tomorrow. The Chron has several stories about this holiday and how it is celebrated:

Mexico town becomes chic place to celebrate

Ofrenda celebrates life by honoring the dead

Welcoming back the dead

Make your own ofrenda

I'm not much for visual displays. I'm more of a words kind of guy. That's what I've got to offer today, in remembrance of my two grandmothers, Jessie Mary McLaren Kuffner, and Ann Carasaniti Abbruzza Visco. If I could have one wish on this day, it would be for Olivia to know those two women as I did. Rest in peace, Nana and Red. You are always welcome in our home.

There's a lot of allegations and countercharges swirling around the motion by Team DeLay to remove Judge Bob Perkins from his money laundering trial, but what it all really boils down to is this:

DeLay has more at stake in today's hearing than just removing a left-leaning judge from overseeing his case.

It also is about removing a judge who has twice rejected many of the arguments DeLay, R-Sugar Land, will make about why the indictments against him should be thrown out.

[...]

Perkins, on indictments returned in 2004 against DeLay's co-defendants John Colyandro and Jim Ellis, has rejected arguments that the state election laws and money laundering statutes did not apply to the activities of the DeLay-founded Texans for a Republican Majority.

[...]

"Judge Perkins rejected our motions for dismissal as to the money laundering counts in the first two indictments, and is not likely to change his ruling on the pertinent issues as to the later indictments," J.D. Pauerstein, a lawyer for Ellis, said Monday.

"Accordingly, arguing the issues to a new judge would give us an opportunity to obtain a fresh look at the issues being raised as to the fourth and fifth indictments."

Back to the allegations and countercharges:

Earle said DeLay's lawyers had failed to cite any case that said "a judge should recuse himself or be disqualified from sitting in a case merely because he has previously exercised his constitutional right to make political contributions."

DeLay lawyer Dick DeGuerin of Houston filed a reply brief saying the dispute was not merely a matter of Democrat versus Republican.

"The state misses the point," DeGuerin said. He argued that Perkins' donations were "always in opposition to Tom DeLay and Tom DeLay's politics. ... He should not be the judge to preside over the trial proceedings relating to a person to whom he is opposed politically."

DeLay wants Perkins removed from his case because the judge has made more than $5,000 in political donations to Democratic groups in the past five years.

Late Monday, DeGuerin subpoenaed Perkins to testify at the hearing.

DeGuerin argues that Perkins is one of the few Travis County criminal court judges who give money to national Democratic organizations. Earle countered by saying public records are kept only for persons who donate $200 or more to a federal campaign.

"What this ultimately means is, none of the exhibits offered by (DeLay) purporting to compare the political contributions made by Judge Perkins with the political contributions made by other local judges can possibly be considered reliable," Earle's brief said.

They sure are casting a wide net, too:

MoveOn Executive Director Eli Pariser has been subpoenaed by prosecutors to testify at today's hearing.

[...]

Texas Democratic Party Chairman Charles Soechting on Monday filed court papers fighting a DeLay motion for all party fundraising materials from 2000 to 2005.

He said that the action would require retrieving documents from all 254 counties in Texas and would be overly burdensome.

Long as we're talking about donations, let's take a look at who's been giving to the Tom DeLay Defense Fund. What's interesting to me is that of the 136 listed gifts from members of Congress to their embattled colleague, by my count only 17 were made in the past quarter - look for dates that begin with "given on" to see what I mean. Maybe The Hammer's support amongst the membership isn't as broad or as deep as he'd like you to think.

Finally, as Roll Call notes, vindictiveness never goes out of fashion.

After reporting an eye-popping quarterly profit of nearly $10 billion last week, Exxon Mobil is catching flak from Congressional Republicans for a political contribution that, by comparison, amounts to chump change.

The oil giant recently reported that its political action committee had contributed $500 to the campaign of Nick Lampson, the former Democratic lawmaker who is challenging Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas) for his 22nd district seat.

The House Republican leadership noticed the donation — and it is furious about it.

“It clearly forms an overall opinion in Congressional leadership that this company is going to have big problems if this is the way they’re trying to play the game,” said a senior House GOP leadership aide. “They have priorities they want that could be impacted.”

Republicans are angry despite a $5,000 contribution the company made to DeLay’s campaign. Indeed, so far this cycle, the company has steered $180,000, or 91 percent of its political contributions, to Republicans.

[...]

An Exxon spokesman said the $500 contribution — roughly 1/20,000,000 of the single-quarter profit the company reported last week — was made by the PAC because it received a donation from an employee who earmarked it for Lampson’s campaign.

“An individual participant in our political action committee made an earmarked contribution to the PAC,” Dave Gardner said. He called the reaction from House Republican leadership “unfortunate,” and said the company has tried to explain itself.

A GOP aide acknowledged that the context might ultimately make a difference.

“If it’s a person who lives in Texas and works on an oil rig, that’s a different story,” the aide said. But despite the company’s assertions, “we don’t know where it came from, and our assumption is it’s coming from on high.”

And the damage may already have been done.

“What a bunch of political novices,” said one energy lobbyist. “Everyone on the Hill knows they’ve made this contribution. Everyone has taken note.”

The lobbyist added that Republican wrath over the donation extended beyond the ranks of leadership and into the House Energy and Resources committees. Spokesmen for the committees did not return calls for comment.

[...]

Ed Patru, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, wondered “why someone at Exxon would want to position the corporation on the wrong side of Tom DeLay and the Republican Party.”

“You’d have to ask them,” he said.