Eye on Williamson beat me to the analysis of this article on the pointless sixty-five percent rule, but there are a couple of things I'd like to add.
Standard & Poor's analyzed data in Texas and eight other states considering instituting a 65 percent classroom spending requirement. It found no significant positive correlation between the percentage of funds that districts spend on instruction and the percentage of students who score proficient or higher on state reading and math tests."Interestingly, some of the highest-performing districts spend less than 65 percent, and some of the lowest-performing districts spend more than 65 percent. Student performance does not noticeably or consistently increase at 65 percent, or any other percentage spent on instruction," concluded the report.
Education Commissioner Shirley Neeley is trying to decide how to define "classroom spending" for Perry's rule. Districts will start phasing in the requirement during the 2006-07 school year.
Superintendents opposed to the 65 percent rule have focused on the Standard & Poor's report as another argument against the initiative.
"There's a danger inherent in adopting rules that sound good but have no statistical basis or significance," said David Anthony, superintendent of Cypress-Fairbanks ISD, which spends more than 65 percent on classroom instruction.
Neeley's former school district, Galena Park, is an example of one that spent less than 65 percent in 2003 — the latest figures available from the Texas Education Agency — but was top-rated at the time.
"The 65 percent rule is an arbitrary figure. That percentage has no meaning on how effective a school district is," said Mark Henry, current superintendent of Galena Park. "Some school districts have to spend more on social services and security and those items might not be figured into the 65 percent rule."
What might possibly be useful is to compare the outliers, the schools that are more than two standard deviations away from whatever the mean value is, and see if there's a statistically significant difference between their levels of performance on whatever standard you care to measure against. Maybe if there's a gap between the 60 percenters and the 70 percenters, or the 55s and 75s, there's an angle worth pursuing. I say "maybe" because there may be a legitimate reason why one school spends that much less on classroom instruction than another, such as a higher percentage of special-needs kids. It would all depend on how you define "classroom expenses", of course. It's my guess that even at the extremes, other factors such as the actual dollars spent per student and the students' overall socioeconomic markers would have a much greater correlation to good test scores. But who knows? Show me I'm wrong and that there is something to this and I'll change my mind. What are the odds Governor Perry will ever say that?
And secondly, a reminder of where this is all coming from:
The idea of spending 65 percent in the classroom has been embraced by the business community and is gaining steam nationwide. It is being pushed by Patrick Byrne, the president of online retailer Overstock.com Inc. of Salt Lake City.Byrne's money helped launch First Class Education, a nonprofit group that is spending millions of dollars to promote the issue through legislation and voter initiatives.
Tim Mooney, a spokesman for the group, said 65 percent spending mandates could be on the ballot in as many as 10 states this year.
"We anticipate this will be a multi-million dollar campaign nationally and perhaps a multi-million campaign in most of these states," said Mooney.
He would not disclose any other donors of the group. Byrne also supports school vouchers, but Mooney said classroom spending is First Class Education's only issue.
Business groups often support educational reforms as a way to avoid higher taxes to pay for schools.
Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, initiated the idea in Texas last spring when he added it to an education reform bill. The legislation failed.Wentworth said San Antonio businessman Red McCombs, former owner of the Minnesota Vikings football team, suggested the requirement.
"It looked like a good idea from a policy standpoint," said Wentworth. "I hear complaints from people about these Taj Mahal campuses and football stadiums. At the same time, superintendents say they don't have enough money to pay teachers more."
Sigh. More special sessions than you can count, and this is the only thing we have to show for them. Says a lot about our priorities.
Coretta Scott King, widow of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr, has died at the age of 78.
"We appreciate the prayers and condolences from people across the country," the King family said in a statement. The family said she died during the night. The widow of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. suffered a serious stroke and heart attack in 2005."It's a bleak morning for me and for many people and yet it's a great morning because we have a chance to look at her and see what she did and who she was," poet Maya Angelou said on ABC's "Good Morning America."
"It's bleak because I can't — many of us can't hear her sweet voice but it's great because she did live, and she was ours. I mean African-Americans and white Americans and Asians, Spanish-speaking — she belonged to us and that's a great thing."
Former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young, the civil rights activist who is close to the King family, broke the news on NBC's "Today" show: "I understand that she was asleep last night and her daughter (Bernice King) went in to wake her up and she was not able to and so she quietly slipped away. Her spirit will remain with us just as her husband's has."
Nothing like a hearty diet of eating your own, as the Quorum Report describes.
For months now, rumors have swirled around the capital that operatives of Dr. James Leininger were recruiting primary opponents for House voucher opponents, specifically Carter Casteel, Charlie Geren, Delwin Jones, Roy Blake and Tommy Merritt.However, on January 10th of this year, Dr. Leininger appeared on a panel about school vouchers at a Texas Public Policy Foundation event in Austin.
When quizzed by reporters afterwards, Dr. Leininger seemed to distance himself from efforts to unseat House Republicans. He told Associated Press, "For 15 years I've tried to support people who support school choice and I guess that means opposing people, in a sense, that are against school choice. I'll focus more on open seats, it's hard to beat incumbents, is a lot more productive to focus on open seats and hopefully protect incumbents that believe the way you believe, and oppose people that don't believe what you believe"
Nevertheless, a newly formed General Purpose PAC appears to be the vehicle for organizing the challenge and promoting pro-voucher Republican candidates.
The Texas Republican Legislative Campaign Committee (TRLCC) was formed on October 18th. It's report identifies only two contributors, Dr. James Leininger for $50,000 and John Norwood of Midland for $100.
Leininger's PAC made only three expenditures during the reporting period. The largest was to consulting firm Anthem Media for $20,000. Anthem Media is owned by Republican consultant Jeff Norwood from Midland who may or may not be related to the Norwood in the report.
Although Anthem Media has not yet appeared on Contribution and Expenditure Reports for the five challengers, we have verified that the company is working with media buying firm Crossroads Media in the Nathan Macias race against Carter Casteel. Crossroads has also surfaced doing the media buys for Mark Williams who is running against Tommy Merritt.. There may be more. The media buys took place after January 1, so they will presumably appear on the next report.
On a more positive note, Katy Hubener got the Texas State Teachers Association endorsement. Here's the press release:
The Texas State Teachers Association (TSTA) today announced its endorsement of a strong advocate of public education and public school employees, Katy Hubener, in the February special election for the District 106 seat vacated by the resignation of Ray Allen."I appreciate the support of Texas teachers in this special election," Hubener said. "They work hard and expect their elected representatives to work hard, too. I will."
Hubener, who has an undergraduate degree in education from Texas Tech University and is a certified Texas classroom teacher, said the special election should focus on one issue: who will represent the mainstream values of the community in this spring's special legislative session on public school finance.
"It's critical that we stabilize the current tax system so that we can afford to pay teachers what they're worth," Hubener said. "I know firsthand that no profession is more important to our future."
TSTA President Donna Haschke urged voters who value public schools and their children's education to turn out for Hubener in the February 28, special election.
"Katy will continue to be a strong voice for improving the salary and benefits of active and retired public school employees," Haschke said.
"We need someone who will fight to stop those who want to take our tax dollars away from public schools to pay for the private education of a privileged few to attend private schools," Haschke said. "Katy will work to provide our public schools the funding they need to give all our children an opportunity to succeed."
I've been remiss in noting that the nominations for the 2005 Koufax Awards are rolling out over at Wampum. This year, they're starting with the comments closed, to give everyone time to check out as many of the nominees as possible before casting ballots. One of the joys of the Koufaxes is discovering blogs that you didn't know about, so take advantage of the opportunity. You'll be sure to find a new favorite or two.
Anyway, currently up for your consideration are nominees for Best New Blog, Most Deserving of Wider Recognition, and Best Local and State Blogs. You may note that I'm among the nominees in that last batch. If you're inclined to cast a vote for me when balloting opens, that would be way cool. And if anything "happens" to me between now and then, it's Jack's fault.
Finally, while you're over at Wampum perusing these fine blogs, do consider giving them a little donation to cover their bandwidth costs, which ran into four figures last year. And click on the Barbara Radnofsky ad, too. I'll post an update when voting begins.
UPDATE: Here's the Best Post list. You'll definitely need some time to read through them. And who knew Lydia Cornell was a blogger?
Rep. Chet Edwards has some bad news for college students and their parents: A massive cut in student financial aid is buried in a reconciliation bill that could be voted on in the House as soon as Wednesday. Take a look at what's coming, and call your Congress member if you think this is as bad an idea as it sounds.
I have to agree with Tom - this column by Richard Justice about how Drayton McLane and Jeff Bagwell should settle their differences is just plain ignorant. I mean, among other things, a little thing called the Collective Bargaining Agreement would prevent Bags from agreeing to give up money that's contractually owed to him. You Red Sox fans, you remember why the Manny-for-A-Rod trade fell through? That was the CBA in action. Seems to me that a professional sportswriter ought to have at least a passing familiarity with this sort of thing.
What's not surprising is Justice's attitude that Bagwell needs to give some money back. There's a distressing tendency among sportswriters to believe that professional athletes are somehow undeserving of the money they're paid. The runup to the CBA agreement of 2002, in which a strike looked likely for much of it, featured some particularly egregious examples of this kind of thinking. You want to make the argument that society would be better if athletes earned less while teachers, nurses, social workers, or whoever earned more, that's fine. But the next time I see a sportswriter cop that same attitude about a team owner, it'll be the first.
The crazy thing is, Justice isn't necessarily out in left field here. I'm not a CBA expert, but perhaps Bagwell could agree to give back some money this year in return for more in the future. Say, in return for giving up $10 million this year, which ought to help the Stros with any remaining payroll quandaries (*cough* *cough* Roger Clemens *cough* *cough*), Bagwell could agree to get paid $7 million in 2008 and 2009. Or something similar, as long as Bagwell gets future value for present. Maybe that would be appealing to both sides and maybe not, but at least it's not a clearcut violation of the CBA. Too bad Justice couldn't get past his preconceived notions and see that for himself.
Jury selection for the trials of Kenny Boy Lay and Jeff Skilling is underway, and if Judge Sim Lake has his way, it'll be all over today as well. Here's some background on the process.
The Chron is gearing up its blog machinery for the event. There's an Enron Trial Watch blog, which is mostly being written by reporter Mary Flood and which seems to be staging ground for some stuff that will wind up in news stories. There's a lawyer-written group blog called Enron Legal Commentary that appears to be serving the Tim McCarver role to the Trial Watch's Joe Buck. And of course Loren Steffy is there, too.
I have no idea how this trial will resolve itself. After the prosecution's fumble in the Enron Broadband case, I'd have to make the defense a slight favorite, their whines about biased jurors notwithstanding. (They can renew their change-of-venue motion after jury selection is complete, as my dad the former judge reminded me this weekend.) One thing I do feel confident about is that no matter what does happen, Kenny Boy will not reclaim his reputation. How could he? Even if the defense proves that everything he did was legal, in the end his company wound up in a ditch, and it happened on his watch. At the very least, no one is ever going to think of him as a dynamic CEO any more. And if he wants to be thought of as a great philanthropist/humanitarian again, I say actions will speak louder than words. Let him donate a big chunk of whatever wealth he's got left to charity, and find himself a project that he can dedicate himself and his time to, like Jimmy Carter and Habitat for Humanity. That's how you fix a broken reputation: Penance.
I've written several times about the issue of toll roads, and the passionate resistance their implementation has spawned. I believe, and I continue to believe, that it's an issue that will change how people vote this fall. I don't know how many people - I wish someone would take a poll! - and I admit that I may well be overestimating the effect. But this is an issue that gives common cause to urban and rural voters, and unlike school finance (where those two factions also have commonality) there are few ideological distractions to wedge them apart. I feel like a lot of this is below the radar - and really, it should be until school finance is resolved - but it's there, and it's an opportunity for an underdog candidate to make some headway.
The Chron reported over the weekend on some of this activity in San Antonio, where a proposal that includes converting some existing roads to tollways has people up in arms.
Anti-tollway rhetoric turned caustic at a recent roadside rally where politicians joined 200 residents in denouncing state plans to build tolled lanes amid the city's clogged far-northside freeways.Comptroller and independent gubernatorial candidate Carole Keeton Strayhorn said that if she's elected, the Texas Department of Transportation "will not do whatever the hell they want to do."
"We're not going to roll over and have them railroad a tollroad down our throats," added Bexar County Commissioner Tommy Adkisson.
The initial plan calls for tolled lanes on U.S. Highway 281 for the few miles just north of Loop 1604, but later the lanes would be extended into Comal County and north to the Blanco County line. Parts of Loop 1604 and Interstate 35 also are targeted for tolled lanes.Six weeks into their work, crews stopped clearing trees from right-of-way along U.S. Highway 281 North on Jan. 12 after the Federal Highway Administration demanded a new environmental survey. Impact studies done in 1984, 2000, 2004 and last year were no longer adequate, officials said.
That move nullified a citizens lawsuit demanding a halt to the project. Aquifer Guardians in Urban Areas had joined an anti-tollway group, People for Efficient Transportation, in pressing the suit, which was dismissed Jan. 17.
"When you have these two groups coming together, it just shows the depth and the strength of our cause," said Texas Toll Party regional director Terri Hall.
"It's a nonpartisan issue. It's about highway interests hijacking our freeways and turning them into tollways. It's an outrage and that's why the public is galvanized on this," she said.
Houstonians, who use 83 miles of tolled highways operated by the Harris County Toll Road Authority, "got to vote on their tollways. That's a big difference," Hall said.
Both sides are honing their strategies during the hiatus. Some toll opponents are calling for a "regime change" in Austin, targeting Gov. Rick Perry and other elected and appointed officials who advocate this and other tollways.
And would that same idea translate to downballot races? Larry Stallings has been writing quite a bit about toll road issues in his race for HD122. If there is an issue that can crack a solid-red district like that, I'd say it's toll roads. Once again, some polling would be nice.
Finally, Carlos Guerra reminds us of a situation to watch out for.
As is now promised here, Californians were told they could keep taking the free — and perhaps, slower — lanes if they chose to not pay tolls. And so many drivers took that option that the state started preparing to widen the free roads and better maintain them.But the state was stopped because the investors had exacted a non-compete clause that prevented California from building or improving state roads within 1 1/2 miles of the toll lanes. In the end, the state bought the toll lanes that cost $125 million to build for $207.5 million, which was raised with bonds that will be repaid by —you guessed it — toll-lane revenues.
Christof follows up on the announcement of a potential Intermodal Transit Center north of downtown by speculating on what it might end up looking like. Having read the forum discussion, I think doing this in pieces makes a fair amount of sense, as does possibly splitting it into two locations, with the other one down at Wheeler. Good stuff there, so check it out.
The Red State has a report from the Juan Garcia campaign kickoff rally in Corpus Christi, with Gen. Wes Clark and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bob Gammage in attendance. So were a couple of prominent local Republicans, though I daresay their purpose for being there was a tad different.
There are also some pictures from the event. I love the An Army of Juan shirts. Here's the local paper's coverage of the event. I'm sure we'll be hearing more soon.
UPDATE: TRS adds a postscript to the event.
Fascinating article about Snapper lawnmowers, and the reasons why they pulled their products from the shelves at Wal-Mart. Definitely worth the read. Link via RC3.
A number of lawsuits by various candidates who were knocked off of primary ballots were resolved in recent days. In Austin, former State Rep. Terry Keel will not enter the Court of Criminal Appeals on a TKO, as the Texas Supreme Court has ruled in favor of his previously-disqualified primary opponents.
[T]he court, declaring that the ballot is not reserved for candidates with perfect clerical skills, gave incumbent Judge Charles Holcomb and Dallas District Judge Robert Francis extra time to correct the petition mistakes."The public interest is best served when public offices are decided by fair and vigorous elections, not technicalities leading to (victory by) default," Justice Scott Brister wrote for the majority in twin 5-3 rulings. Justice Don Willett recused himself.
Holcomb resubmitted his corrected petitions to the Republican Party on Friday, and Francis said he will do so Monday. Both previously had collected extra signatures from voters in hopes of a court victory.
Keel said he did not expect the ruling to damage his campaign because the pertinent issues extend beyond petition problems.
"But I still think the first rule for a judicial candidate should be that they should follow the law," said Keel, a retiring state representative from Austin. "They are seeking positions in which they intend to hold others to the letter of the law."
But Buck Wood, Francis' Austin lawyer, predicted that Keel would feel repercussions from Friday's ruling.
"When potential clients come in and say, 'I want my guy knocked off the ballot,' I say, 'You better win then,' because the voters do not like being gamed out of a choice," said Wood, an election-law specialist.
The winner of the March 7 primary will face Libertarian Dave Howard of Round Rock and no Democrat in November.
On a dozen petition forms, Francis had failed to list that he was seeking Place 8 on the court. Holcomb's petitions contained duplicate signatures. The problems left both short of the required 50 signatures from each of the state's 14 judicial districts.
The Supreme Court ruled that the Republican Party of Texas erred when it examined and approved the Francis and Holcomb petitions. Had the mistakes been pointed out, both candidates easily could have corrected the problems before the filing deadline, Brister wrote. Justice Dale Wainwright's dissent, joined by Justices Harriet O'Neill and Phil Johnson, faulted the majority for infringing on the Legislature's duties by extending election deadlines. In addition, the election code insists that candidates bear primary responsible for filing legal petitions, Wainwright wrote.
Another candidate getting good news was Democrat Jim Sharp.
The court decided Friday that even though Sharp's application to be on the primary ballot had a "technical defect," it could be corrected by party officials. Sharp's attorneys, Geoffery Berg and J. Beverly said a notary at the state party headquarters had forgotten to put her official seal on Sharp's ballot application.Sharp plans to go to Austin and have his application notarized, his attorneys said.
Two candidates got bad news. One was Edward Smith, who had sought to run in the March GOP primary election in HD106 to replace the outgoing Rep. Ray Allen.
A district court judge Friday ordered Edward Smith Jr. removed from the March ballot for the state House District 106 Republican primary because he doesn't meet residency requirements.Republican candidate Kirk England filed a petition in the court this week questioning whether Mr. Smith satisfied residency requirements for the office held by Ray Allen, who resigned last week.
[...]
State representative candidates must reside in the district they wish to represent for at least 12 months before the election, and in Texas for at least two years.
On his filing application, Mr. Smith indicated that he had lived in Texas and the district for six months. He also listed his permanent residence as being on Normandy Way, which is in the Tarrant County portion of Grand Prairie and not part of District 106. The district includes most of the Dallas County portion of Grand Prairie and parts of south Irving.
Voter registration paperwork at the Dallas County Elections Department shows Mr. Smith lived in Dallas at the time of his filing for the District 106 office. He filed updated paperwork with the Elections Department on Thursday listing a Grand Prairie address that is in District 106
But the temporary injunction granted by visiting Judge John Ovard eliminated Mr. Smith's name from the March 7 primary ballot.
Finally,the saga of Fort Bend County District Clerk Glory Hopkins has come to an ignominious end for the longtime incumbent.
On Friday, Hopkins lost her bid to be on the ballot when the Texas Supreme Court denied her motion to be on the March 7 primary ballot. Hopkins, 62, failed to meet the filing deadline because she used an incorrect ZIP code obtained from an e-mail sent by Fort Bend County Republican Party Chair Eric Thode. The certified mail with her filing papers never arrived.[...]
Earlier this month, Hopkins had asked the 14th Court of Appeals to allow her name to appear on the ballot for a sixth term, claiming she made a good-faith effort to file before the deadline.
The appellate court denied her request twice. The Supreme Court issued its ruling without an explanation.
The appeals court said the law allows a deadline extension in order to correct a violation of law made by the party chairman. However, the court ruled Hopkins' failure to file her application in a timely manner was not caused by such a violation. [Hopkins' attorney Richard] Tate also argued that Thode has a statutory duty to provide candidates with the correct address.
Thode did not oppose Hopkins' request to be placed on the ballot and wrote in an affidavit saying Hopkins' name to the ballot would not impair the election.
"It's disappointing that everyone who wanted to be a candidate won't be on the ballot," Thode said.
However, Thode has said Hopkins could have given him the filing application when they had lunch several days before the filing deadline.
First, I'd like to thank everyone for the kind words of condolence that I've received in the comments, email, and by phone. I really appreciate it. Having the whole family in town was a great comfort for all of us. Everyone was at our house last night. We ordered a ton of takeout from Berryhill in the Heights, enjoyed each other's company, and talked some more about Uncle Ken. The occasion that brought us all together was sad, but it's never sad when we are all together.
This is Uncle Ken, with each of his grandchildren. The one on the bottom right was born eight weeks premature in November and is still in the NICU after several surgeries to relieve intestinal problems. The good news is that he'll be home in two weeks' time. We're all glad that Uncle Ken got to meet little Ryan before he died.
Uncle Ken was a patent attorney. He worked for a number of years with the Houston office of Arnold, White & Durkee, which has since merged with another firm. The biggest case he was involved in was the landmark patent infringement suit Two Pesos, Inc. v. Taco Cabana, Inc. (1992), in which the Supreme Court ruled that Two Pesos had copied enough individual elements of Taco Cabana's overall look to infringe on its uniqueness. That's the reason why there are no more Two Pesos restaurants in Houston. I know that when I arrived here in 1988 from San Antonio, which was definitely a Taco Cabana town, I was amazed at how interchangeable Two P's was with TC's. Sorry to disappoint any remaining Two Pesos fans here (having cut my teeth on Taco Cabana, I always thought Two P's was inferior), but Uncle Ken was on the winning plaintiff's team for that one.
Uncle Ken was still consulting on patent issues, as well as doing mediation work, when he died. My cousin James, who cut short a business trip to Tokyo to fly in yesterday and take part in the memorial, told us that he had retained Uncle Ken's services for some IP work in recent years. He said he got great advice, and was always gratified to know that he was working with a lawyer he knew he could trust.
The next time the whole family will be together is in July, for a family wedding in Portland. We have a longstanding tradition at family weddings in which the Kuffner men, led by the uncles, sings "Nothing Like A Dame" from South Pacific to the bride. Each of the uncles has a little solo part in it. Uncle Ken's was the bridge that begins "Lots of things in life are beautiful, but brother". They'll have to reassign that part, either by giving it to another brother or by transitioning it to one of the nephews, for the first generational shift since they took over the role from their uncles at the first of my cousins' weddings in 1987. I've no doubt that will stir up a lot of emotions and memories, but in the good way, I think. It'll certainly provide a lot of fodder for reminiscences of Uncle Ken.
Rest in peace, Ace. Your legacy is in good hands.
My uncle Ken passed away unexpectedly this week. Pretty much the whole extended family is in town for the funeral, which was today. I'm a little wrung out from helping people make travel and hotel arrangements and from picking people up at the airport, not to mention the actual wake and funeral. So, this is all I've got for today.
As I said at the memorial service on Friday night, my uncle Ken was my family in town when I first arrived in Houston in 1988. He was very generous with his time and hospitality to a poor grad student, and he remained kind and generous to me ever since. Every time I met someone in Houston who knew him, they would inevitably say to me "Your uncle's a really great guy, you know that?" Yes, I did know that. We all did. And we'll all miss you, Uncle Ken.
I've reprinted his obituary beneath the fold. See you tomorrow.
KENNETH EDWIN KUFFNER, SR. died Monday, January 23, 2006 in his home in Houston, Texas. Born on April 10th, 1941 in Staten Island, New York, he was one of six children of Charles A. Kuffner, Sr. and Jesse McLaren Kuffner, having four brothers and an older sister. Mr. Kuffner was a practicing Intellectual Property attorney in Houston. He graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York and Georgetown University Law School. He was principal law clerk for a Justice of the Patent court in Washington, DC; on the faculty of Southwestern Texas Law School; a senior partner for Intellectual Property Law firm Arnold, White and Durkee for 15 years, and a member of the American Bar Association, the Texas Bar Association and an active member of the American and the Houston Intellectual Property Law Association. He was most recently working Of Counsel for Osha Liang, Houston, Texas. A devoutly spiritual man, Ken has for years been a strong member of the Catholic community, frequently serving as lector and usher at St. Vincent de Paul. Ken was also an active member and elder leader of the Mankind Project. Through his work he led retreats and meetings, opening hearts and minds with his words of wisdom, love and peace. He touched many lives through both his personal and spiritual endeavors. He is survived by his 4 children, Kate, Kenneth, Mary Kuffner Chelline and Elizabeth Kuffner Nealis; his 5 grandchildren. His extended family and siblings have remained close throughout their adult lives and mourn his loss deeply. The family of Mr. Kuffner will receive visitors from 4:00 p.m. 8:00 p.m. Friday, January 27, 2006 at Earthman Downtown Chapel, 2420 Fannin, Houston, Texas. A Rosary will be recited at 7:00 p.m. A Mass of the Resurrection will be at 10:00 a.m. Saturday, January 28, 2006 at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church, 6800 Buffalo Speedway, Houston, Texas. In lieu of flowers, a contribution may be made in his name to the Blessing Bear Foundation, a scholarship program that will be established through the Mankind Project Houston, www.mkphouston.org.
Mayor White gave his State of the City address yesterday. Tory was there, and he has some of the highlights. The Chron also has an audio link for the speech, so you can hear the whole thing yourself.
The anti-DeLay TV ads get another day in the news cycle, but not in a way that I'd have preferred.
The Public Campaign Action Fund and the Campaign for America's Future said they used the nonprofit arms of their organizations to buy about $80,000 worth of broadcast time. Such organizations, unlike national political action committees and other campaign groups, do not have to list their contributors for the federal government.Nick Nyhart, executive director of the Public Campaign Action Fund and a nonprofit affiliate called Public Campaign, said it is reasonable that lawmakers, but not his groups, must fully disclose their donors.
Elected officials "have the power to make laws and affect policy that private organizations don't," he said. "There is no material benefit that a donor can get by giving money to us, other than passing campaign finance laws and educating the public."
Roger Hickey, co-director of the Campaign for America's Future, said the group "discloses exactly what is required."
Its tax returns show how much was received in contributions, but not donor names or what they gave.
The groups denied the Chronicle's request for a list of top contributors.
[...]
The tax-exempt status of the nonprofits could be in jeopardy if the groups engage in too much political activity, according to watchdog groups.
"They are allowed to do a substantial amount of political activity, but they are not allowed to make it their primary purpose," said Craig Holman, campaign finance lobbyist for Public Citizen, which has evaluated the political efforts of several U.S. nonprofits.
He said activities of the Campaign for America's Future could be problematic "because the only time I hear about them is when they are getting involved in election activity."
Hickey of the Campaign for America's Future, said the group does not veer too far into the political realm.
"We have more recently been involved in this government corruption issue," he said. "We have a track record of educational work that we are very proud of. Our activity around DeLay is simply an extension of that. We are not worried at all."
The Campaign for America's Future is well within its rights to keep its list secret, as current law stands. I think they've done good work here, but I also think that law should be changed. I expect that I will have plenty more opportunities to blog about this before that ever happens.
UPDATE: Forgot to say when I first wrote this that I have no problem with anonymity for small donors. We can argue over the definition of "small" here - $100? $1000? More? - but there's definitely a point of diminishing returns in there. I'd be happy with a simple accounting, as in "X percent of the funding for this ad came from people who gave Y dollars or less" for that. It's really only the big donors, the ones who can make ads happen out of thin air, whose identities have probitive value and should be made known regardless of the vehicle they use.
Though I may be annoyed at how much Carole Keeton Strayhorn has bamboozled certain segments of the Democratic Party lately, I will not deny that she does have her uses.
Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn, responding to a report in the Houston Chronicle, said Thursday that she will audit payments made by the state's Washington office to a private lobbyist to see if the money was misused for political purposes.[...]
Strayhorn, whose office issues all state checks based on warrants from state agencies, said she will audit the payments to Cassidy & Associates for any signs of political misuse of state funds. "If during my audit I find that Cassidy & Associates inappropriately used tax dollars, I will immediately suspend all future payments and take the necessary steps to make sure these dollars are returned to the state," Strayhorn said.
One more thing:
Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and Speaker Tom Craddick oversee State-Federal Relations. Dewhurst and Craddick have said the decision to hire an outside lobbyist for the first time was Perry's.The governor's staff has distanced him from the hiring of Boulanger and the state's other contract lobbyist, Drew Maloney of the Federalist Group, saying the choice was made by OSFR Executive Director Ed Perez. Maloney is a former top congressional aide to DeLay.
Just Another Matt introduces us to Kathi Thomas, who is running as a Democrat against State Sen. Jeff Wentworth in SD25. Matt promises a further entry later on her stances. Check it out.
UPDATE: Here's part 2, on Kathi Thomas' platform.
The date for the HD48 special election runoff is February 14, with early voting beginning on February 6. Democrats are united behind Donna Howard. If you want to know more about how badly Ben Bentzin did in the initial race, check out these two articles, all from the Austin Chronicle.
Don't get too relaxed after that, because the HD106 special is just around the corner, on February 28. If Howard and Katy Hubener can prevail, that would increase the Democratic caucus from 62 to 65 since the last sessions (the Dems were down one after the tragic death of Joe Moreno). As it happens, it would also increase the number of women in the Lege by three. Stay tuned.
Where your tax dollars are going, thanks to the benificence of Governor Perry.
Two weeks after the state made its first $15,000 monthly payment to a contract lobbyist in Washington, D.C., the lobbyist and his firm spent $7,600 to host a fundraiser for U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay's Americans for a Republican Majority.Texas Office of State-Federal Relations lobbyist Todd Boulanger and his firm, Cassidy & Associates, put on the fundraiser on March 2.
Cassidy Vice Chairman Gregg Hartley, registered as a member of Boulanger's Texas lobby team, later that month also made a direct contribution of $5,000 to the DeLay leadership political committee, according to Federal Election Commission records reviewed Wednesday by the Houston Chronicle.
[...]
Texas House Democratic Chairman Jim Dunnam last week accused Maloney of "laundering" his state payments into Republican political donations.
Dunnam said Wednesday he is not surprised to learn Boulanger held an event for DeLay within weeks of getting his first state payment.
"It's clear these guys are turning taxpayer money into political donations," Dunnam said. "The timing is too coincidental. It speaks for itself. It doesn't need any political spin."
[...]
The Austin American-Statesman reported Wednesday that the Office of State-Federal Relations hired Boulanger and Cassidy over firms that met more of the office's selection criteria and cost less.
The newspaper reported that Cassidy got the edge because of Boulanger's ties to important officials in Washington, including presidential adviser Karl Rove.
This is pretty straightforward, right? Texas already has fulltime staff in DC to advocate for its issues, not to mention a senior Senator and until recently the House Majority Leader, which raises the question why an outside firm was needed. Whatever the merits of hiring such an outside firm may be, hiring one that spends lavishly on political donations, especially to a single party, raises more questions about whose interests are actually being represented here. This Statesman editorial puts it together nicely:
Apparently, no governor prior to Perry found it necessary to hire beltway lobby firms, which adds to the smell emanating from these contracts. The circular connection of large amounts of taxpayer money, Republican cronies and the K Street lobbyists is not coincidence. Nor is it a matter of "everybody does it." According to Democratic critics, no other state hires lobbyists to supplement their governmental relations staffs.Democrats have a right to complain. All that money went to lobbyists who never bothered to contact the Democratic members of Congress from Texas. It was a partisan effort, like the K Street project itself and this state's 2003 congressional redistricting fiasco.
A Perry spokeswoman said the firms were paid to lobby members from other states, but that's not what the records show. Boulanger's firm, for instance, was paid to organize a luncheon for Texas House and Senate legislative directors.
Largely under DeLay's direction, the Republicans created a continuous loop of power and influence. It was as simple as directing lobbying firms to hire former staff members if they wanted access to congressional leadership, and as complicated as channeling campaign funds through several different entities to wash it.
DeLay's influence was so intense that he demanded the Texas Legislature redistrict the state in mid-census to increase GOP power in Washington. And on his whim, Texas Republicans complied.
In light of all that, Perry's lobbying contracts look like another sop to curry favor with the Republican power brokers. It's a shame that Texas taxpayers had to foot the bill for nothing more than tribute.
[T]he Democrats stepped on to a slippery slope when they claim that the state is sufficiently represented by the Office of State Federal Relations and the Texas delegation.Elected officials have their own agendas. Sometimes they coincide with the governmental institutions they represent. Sometimes they don't.
[...]
Some Republicans believe that cities, counties and school boards should be prohibited from using tax dollars to hire lobbyists to make their case to the Legislature. It is an effort to silence those with whom the GOP leadership disagrees.
The House Democrats cannot have it both ways. They can not categorically oppose state contracts to D.C. lobbyists yet support their cities and school districts when they hire lobbyists.
Secondly, while it is necessarily in the Democrats' interests to oppose the hiring of a lobby group by the state that funnels cash to Republicans, the alignment of the TML's interests with those of the Democrats (which has spawned those Republican complaints lately) is by no means a given. The TML lobbied against specific agenda items of the state's Republican leadership, in particular appraisal and revenue caps, plus the anti-municipal WiFi provisions of the telecom bill. That put them largely in alliance with the Dems, but there's no reason to believe that a future Democratic-controlled state government can't or won't do things that would get crosswise with the TML and its members (two words: "unfunded mandate"). Similarly, a Republican-controlled 80th Lege could easily take up items that the TML will support. This is a marriage of convenience, and it will eventually end.
This doesn't of course mean that one cannot raise legitimate questions about the use of public dollars for TML's services. Same thing with school boards and their lobbyists. But there is simply no equivalence between TML's lobbying contract and the Cassidy Group's. Pretending otherwise is disingenuous at best.
One last thing to note in this story is this:
The contract was approved by an advisory board made up of Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and House Speaker Tom Craddick.Dewhurst and Craddick have both said Perry was the official who wanted to hire outside lobbyists.
State-Federal Executive Director Ed Perez was appointed to the job by Perry, and serves at the governor's pleasure.
Thanks to Eye on Williamson for the Statesman and Kronberg links.
Philip Martin keeps up his string of candidate interviews by getting answers from Frank Madla and Carlos Uresti for the SD19 primary. It's good stuff, so check it out. Folks have had a little fun at Madla's expense recently, so here at least is a good chance to evaluate him more objectively.
And when you're done, check out Damon McCullar's interview with Juan Garcia. Nicely done, guys.
Not really much to say about the Jeff Bagwell saga, in which the team is attempting to claim he's physically unable to play in 2006 and thus claim over 90% of the $17 million salary he's owed from their insurance carrier. Bagwell, of course, insists he's fine and will report to spring training to try to win his starting job back. The Astros' stance makes perfect financial sense. Even a healthy Bagwell would be unlikely to be worth $17 million this season. That's a sum that was given to him for past performance, not for genuine market value. Bagwell, like most athletes, isn't ready to let go. Why should he be? He wants to leave on his terms, and his injury-marred 2005 wasn't what he had in mind.
I'm sorry this has soured Bagwell's relationship with the team, but at least so far no one has said anything that can't be forgotten about. There's no other solution that I can think of to this that doesn't involve Bagwell agreeing to take less money this year, and as he's perfectly within his rights to demand that the Stros live up to what they contracted for, I don't see that happening. You're stuck with each other, fellas, so make the best of it. Far as I can tell, that's Bagwell being healthy enough to be at least a positive contributor. Don't know how likely that is, but good luck with it.
I've noted before the development of a downtown park/retail/entertainment area, to be called Houston Pavilions. The Chron now reports that it will contain a big music venue as a key component.
A proposed $200 million real estate project near the convention center has landed its first big tenant, moving the project a step closer to reality.The developers of Houston Pavilions, a shopping, entertainment, office and residential complex to be built on three blocks of prime downtown land, planned to announce at a news conference today that House of Blues has signed the first major retail lease in the project.
Developers Geoffrey Jones and William Denton, who set the wheels in motion for the Pavilions more than two years ago, said they expect to begin construction this spring.
Actually, perhaps the Hard Rock Cafe, next door to the Verizon, ought to be worried, since now there's another music-themed eatery in the neighborhood. We shall see.
This will be the first Houston location for Los Angeles-based House of Blues Entertainment, a national chain of venues famous for its blues, rock and jazz concerts and Sunday gospel brunches.Liam Thornton, the company's senior vice president of development, said House of Blues often chooses changing inner-city areas for its outlets.
"We like to go into urban areas," he said. "We like to be pioneering."
With its roughly 3,700 residents, downtown Houston still doesn't have the critical mass of residents that some retailers typically require to open locations. But Thornton said he's not worried.
"Because we're destination entertainment, we're basically a traffic generator," he said.
Indeed, the developers said the venue will attract customers from far beyond the city center, which will help bring in additional retailers.
House of Blues is expected to open by the fourth quarter of next year, when the developers said the Houston Pavilions will be completed.
Houstonist has more.
From an anonymous comment on a blog post to hooking up a person in need of assistance with an expert in the field, all in under 24 hours. That's blog activism in its idealized state. Read how it happened at Grits for Breakfast.
Eye on Williamson has been doing a great job following all the school finance news. Check out this post on what the upcoming special session won't fix, and this one on the first meeting of the Senate Select Committee on Education Reform & Public School Finance. As you can see from the following quote, the Senate is more on top of things than their House counterparts:
The House education committee has not scheduled meetings."We've spent almost ... the last two years full time on this issue. There's not a lot of new ideas," said Arlington Republican Rep. Kent Grusendorf, who has led House education overhaul efforts. "What we need is to get a consensus and move forward, I think that's possible."
Meanwhile, at the meeting of that Senate committee, Texas Soliciter General Ted Cruz continues to remind everyone that cutting property taxes is not a fix for the problem.
"Lowering the cap is moving backwards," said Cruz, referring to previous plans considered by the Legislature."What as a policy matter this body may deem attractive is not helpful legally for responding to this claim," said Cruz. "All of the claims brought by the plaintiff school districts were at the end of the day about more money."
Even if lawmakers enact new business taxes to pay for lower property taxes, school districts will need extra state revenue to meet a Texas Supreme Court requirement that they have "meaningful discretion" in their budgets and tax rates, he said.
Cruz, who represented the state before the high court, outlined the tough choices as lawmakers face a June 1 deadline to write a new school finance law.Other options would be to lower educational standards, raise the tax cap so districts can increase rates or ask voters to amend the Texas Constitution to allow a statewide property tax.
One wonders what Rick Perry will eventually advocate, now that the state's lawyer is telling everyone that the much-derided tax swap schemes from last year are essentially out of the question. The idea of the Texas Tax Reform Commission is to build consensus for a business tax that actually taxes businesses, which can then be used as a better vehicle for school funding. What happens when one or more of Perry's corporate sponsors rebels at the idea of being taxed? The only way this works is if everyone buys into the idea of sharing the burden equally, or at least equitably. Once you start letting this guy or that off the hook, everyone wants the same deal. I think Perry will have some unpleasant (for him) decisions to make.
Finally, via Dos Centavos comes this Carlos Guerra column, which explains why school districts that are within military bases in San Antonio do so well. Here's one reason: They get more money to spend per pupil. Funny how that works.
If you're in Houston, you've surely seen the massive, high-in-the-sky expansion to the I-10/Loop 610 interchanges. A lawsuit has now been filed by activists who say that the design of these interchanges does not follow federal laws to abate road noise from them.
Federal law says Memorial Park is entitled to strict protection from noise coming from federal highways. But some Houstonians say the Texas Department of Transportation found a way around the regulations and they are going to court to prove it.Bill Ware and his wife, Carol, have filed a lawsuit against TxDOT and the Federal Highway Administration.
"This is a massive deception. What it ultimately is, it's a massive deception
The lawsuit said the 610 project should have never received a federal environmental exclusion which allows construction without a noise analysis study.
The exclusion came 15 years ago, when the project only involved repaving Loop 610. But with the widening of Interstate 10, the plan changed drastically and called for a huge overpass.
[...]
Because of the lawsuit, in 2004 TxDOT performed a noise analysis study along North Post Oak Road and Memorial Drive, but not one near the park.
The lawsuit is calling for an immediate halt to 610 construction near Memorial Park so that an independent noise analysis can be performed.The Citizens Transportation Coalition, along with those who filed suit, are collecting signatures to show the judge there is public support.
For more information on how to sign the petition, visit www.ctchouston.org or call (713) 680-2500.
The CTC has more information about noise and strategies to reduce it, which is worth your time to read. If you want to help them in this effort, you can also download and sign a statement of support for a proper noise analysis, which is available here. Thanks to Houstonist and blogHOUSTON for the links.
The new Houston MLS franchise has a name.
How does Houston 1836 grab you?No, it's not a spinoff of Beverly Hills 90210. For better or worse, it really is the name chosen for the city's Major League Soccer team.
In case you're scratching your head, wondering where on Earth such a name came from, you're not alone.
[...]
Most popular in Europe, particularly Germany, the style of naming a team after a year is considered a soccer staple. German teams such as Hannover 96 (1896), Bayer 04 Leverkusen, FC Schalke 04 (both 1904) and FSV Mainz 05 (1905) are among the most popular in Europe. The style migrated to other parts of the world, including Latin America, in the early 1900s.
Houston's name would have a different connotation. It would not make reference to the year the team was founded, as do most European names.
Mike Hensley, who manages KICKS, said the name was not the most popular choice among patrons.
"A lot of people weren't familiar with the historical aspect of the year," said Hensley, who nonetheless added that 1836 was among his top choices. "I think it's a perfect fit. I think once the why and the root of the name is explained, people will be excited about it."
Candidates included the Apollos, Generals, Lonestars and Toros.
UPDATE: As predicted, Rob approves. Liberty is more concerned about the future stadium deal that the Sixers (see, isn't that a nice, simple nickname for them?) will eventually get.
Since 2000, James Leininger, a major donor of the voucher movement, has made four contributions to Mrs. Strayhorn totaling $100,000. In addition, he secured a loan of $950,000 to then-Carole Keeton Rylander’s first campaign for comptroller. In return, she supported a 1999 voucher measure and signed a letter using the Comptroller’s state seal to raise money for a Leininger-founded, pro-voucher think tank.Then last Friday, Mrs. Strayhorn attacked Rick Perry because he supports publicly funded, private-school vouchers, saying, "We're either going to have public education or we're not, and Rick Perry looks to vouchers as the only solution to a public school system that he has doomed to failure." (Associated Press, Jan. 20, 2006)
"It’s not enough to be right about Rick Perry being completely wrong about vouchers," said Bell. "What Texas needs is a leader it can trust to never support what I believe would be the biggest cop-out in American history. She says, ‘Vouchers are off the table.’ Vouchers were on the table in the first place in part because of her support, and anyone who claims to be a friend of teachers should have the conviction that vouchers will never be part of the solution."
UPDATE: Here's the Chron story on this. A little Google news searching tells me Bell's gotten some mileage out of his criticism. One interesting bit:
TSTA spokesman Richard Kouri said the group's leaders believed Strayhorn, but added, "Time will tell."
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bob Gammage picked up his first major endorsement on Monday, from House Democratic Caucus Chair Jim Dunnam. He trails Chris Bell by a wide margin in that department, but this is a nice one to have.
More important to his campaign right now, I'd say, is the upcoming fundraiser with Wes Clark, which ought to boost his coffers by a decent amount. Clark will also be at an endorsement rally for Gammage at the U.S. and Vietnamese Soldier Memorial in Houston on Thursday, January 26, at 2:30 PM. According to the press release I've got, State Rep. Hubert Vo will also be there. Whether that means he's endorsing Gammage or not I can't say. I'm guessing not, since the release doesn't mention that. But I thought I'd pass it along.
From there, it's off to Corpus for Clark and Gammage, where they'll stump for Juan Garcia in HD32. Eddie from The Red State will be liveblogging it.
UPDATE: And chalk up another endorsement for Bell, this time from Houston's State Rep. Garnet Coleman.
Mary Beth Harrell gives the latest edition of the run against Tom DeLay chronicles with her current Kos diary. I wish we had some better data on DeLay's name recognition and approval ratings in districts like CD31, but at least we do know one thing: As with John Culberson, John Carter isn't ever going to run away from The Hammer, so if he does wind up getting convicted, Carter will be stuck with it. Anyway, check it out.
The Skilling/Lay trial will stay right here in Houston.
As expected, U.S. District Judge Sim Lake ordered late Monday that the request from ex-Enron chairman Ken Lay and ex-CEO Jeff Skilling to move the case be denied.The pair face charges of conspiracy and fraud.
Lake said in this week's order that in 2005 he set out the law regarding moving trials and why he thought there were not sufficient grounds to undergo the cost of moving this case when so many people around the country also knew a lot about Enron.
[...]
Lake sent out 400 questionnaires to potential jurors asking what they knew about the case, how they felt about Enron and the defendants and what contact they've had with legal and financial matters.
Upon receiving responses from the vast majority of the 400, the judge then dropped some potential jurors for hardship. Then the lawyers agreed to drop another 109 people who appeared too biased. The lawyers also agreed to drop additional possible jurors for more hardship problems -- like being in college or taking care of a child or sick relative.
About 150 people were left in the pool after all the cutting and they been called to appear in court Monday.
The defendants have acknowledged that about 70 of those have said nothing that could even suggest any bias or feelings about Enron. But the defendants worry there could be hidden bias.
Late last year, the Harris County Commissioners' Court got the bright idea to consider selling off its toll road system to a private operator (see here and here for more). Apparently, the folks up in Travis County now think that's just swell.
Officials here in Austin, including state Rep. Mike Krusee, R-Williamson County, say they are open to the idea of selling the 66 miles of toll roads under construction on Austin's north and east sides. And, oh yes, the original plan for expanding Capital of Texas Highway (Loop 360) involved a long-term concession agreement with a private operator.And that's just what we know of now.
"Texas is open for business," said the opening slide in a Texas Department of Transportation workshop put on last week for an overflow crowd of industry contractors, including toll road companies. The Texas Transportation Commission makes no bones about it: It wants companies to come to Texas, wallets open, and build or buy toll roads.
"We're prepared to make sure you're rewarded for taking on that risk," commission Chairman Ric Williamson told the crowd.
That potential reward is the nub.
One of the primary sales points for toll roads has been that once the turnpikes are in place, with forevermore toll charges, the profits would be plowed back into the road system. The turnpikes would become unceasing fountains of transportation cash that would allow Texas to close what Williamson says is an $86 billion funding gap over the next quarter-century, and maybe build some passenger rail systems to boot.
So, if we sell the fountains now, we'd be flooded with transportation cash for projects, but we'd lose the future cash flow. The toll road operators, meanwhile — no fools they — would certainly do everything they could to pay Texas less than what those roads will eventually generate in revenue.
That margin, the profit, is money that would go to their stockholders, not Texas roads.
"That could go both ways," Krusee said, noting that the roads might underperform and thus swing the transactions to Texas' favor. And if the state gets big money now, Krusee said, more roads could be built faster, and the state would see an economic development benefit from that acceleration.
I'm sorry, but I just don't see how it's a better idea to sell off assets to raise a boatload of cash to finance capital spending instead of borrowing against the future revenue of those assets and the investment-grade bonds they help generate. Am I missing something here? How exactly does this make sense? Link via Eye on Williamson, who's as skeptical as I am.
UPDATE: sigh
[Harris] county agreed today to pay investment banks $1 million to study the toll road system, including a plan to privatize it.Commissioners Court voted to study three possible scenarios for the Harris County Toll Road Authority: keeping the 83-mile system as is; selling it outright; and leasing the long-term rights to operate it.
[...]
Financiers worldwide have begun viewing busy toll roads that draw hundreds of thousands of daily users as investment opportunities.
Investment houses and private toll-road operators have inquired whether the county is interested in privatizing, saying it might be able to lease its system for $2 billion to $7 billion.
An outright sale might net $2.7 billion to $4.4 billion, concluded First Southwest Co., the county's financial adviser.
But First Southwest and the investment banks have provided only preliminary estimates of how much the county could make. The studies will try to determine more exactly how much the county could reap by selling or leasing.
UPDATE: In the comments, Steve says:
[T]here is a possibility that the prices are inflated right now -- Macquerie, a big Australian investment bank, has been plowing money into this sort of project all over the globe because Australia, for a variety of reasons related to their pension reform laws, is desperate for bonds; a 50-year or 99-year right to operate a toll road can be securitized and sold to the pension funds. It pretty much seems like a seller's market, so it is possible that buyers are prepared to pay more than the roads would be objectively worth.
I haven't previously blogged about the patent-infringement lawsuit against Canada's Research In Motion, Ltd, the makers of BlackBerry handhelds and servers, but since I administer a BlackBerry infrastructure in real life, seeing stories like this always makes me clench my teeth a little bit. None of us are freaking out over it - we're all as confident as one can reasonably be that an acceptable settlement will be reached - but it's still one more damn thing for me to worry about during the day. As if I needed that. So consider this my plea to all parties involed: Settle, already, so I can go back to worrying about other things. Thank you.
Do you know what network neutrality is, and and how a change from that policy could affect the operation of the Internet? Read about it and keep an eye on it in the future. It looks unclear at this time how the successor to the 1996 Telecom Act will go, but you can be sure sides will be taken shortly. Link via Josh Marshall.
This disussion thread, in which a Ron Paul fan tries to convince members of the Libertarian Party of Texas to get their candidate in the 14th CD to drop out of the race on the grounds that it will improve Paul's chances against Democrat Shane Sklar is pretty darned funny, if a bit painful for all of the Nader/Gore flashbacks it keeps bringing up. The idea of a Libertarian candidate running against Ron Paul in the first place is humorous enough - it's like the Greens running someone against Barbara Lee. Read, enjoy, and maybe drop a few dimes on Sklar when you're done.
I had the pleasure of attending the official campaign kickoff for Ellen Cohen last Thursday evening in Bellaire at her headquarters. The place was packed - people were lining up outside the door because there wasn't enough room inside. Lots of energy, lots of fundraising potential, and a candidate with credentials that just can't be beat. I've said this privately to several people, and I'll say it publicly here: If the Democrats can't beat Martha Wong with Ellen Cohen, they pretty much can't beat her. Things can always go wrong, of course, but if you went off to a lab and asked them to build you a candidate, they'd give you Ellen Cohen. I don't know how much news coverage this race is going to get, but it'll be well worth watching.
I've got copies of the introductory remarks, plus Ellen's speech, if you're interested. They're all Word docs:
David Mincberg, former HCDP chair and the emcee for the evening.
Jim Postl, retired President and Chief Executive Officer of Pennzoil-Quakerstate and present chairperson of the United Way campaign.
Lisa Malosky, former Channel 2 sports reporter and Houston Rockets halftime show host, as well as honorary chairperson of the Houston Area Women’s Center 5k run.
Ellen's speech, of which this is my favorite bit:
I know this race will require a great deal of stamina and energy and let me assure you I am the beneficiary of a great maternal gene pool. My Mother is joining me from Tucson and while very supportive of my efforts, she had to cancel one of her twice weekly gym classes to make it here tonight. Two hours a week of cardio and weight lifting is pretty darn good for someone who, and I know she doesn’t mind my saying this, will be 91 in May.
As for me, I was lucky enough to get my picture taken with Lisa Malosky. Take her advice and get to know Ellen Cohen. She's the real deal.
Super Bowl XL - not such a hot ticket.
With the NFL's first cold-weather Super Bowl in 14 years, and only the third one in the event's 40-year run, just three weeks away, many of the firms that arrange Super Bowl hospitality trips report that clients are not as eager to go this year.The tepid response is largely due to the expected cold weather, with the average high termperature in February in Detroit at 36 degrees. That combined with the city's lackluster reputation, have led some clients to depart for other locales such as Vegas and the Caribbean for viewing parties, or simply taking a pass and booking early for the 2007 game in south Florida.
And on a special note to Bill "The Sports Wimp" Simmons: The average temperature in Houston in February is a balmy 54 degrees. Be sure to bring your longjohns to the Motor City, bubbelah.
Hat tip to Tom for the link.
Unlike Jim, I'm happily engrossed in the current season of 24. It could all fall apart at any time, of course, and as Heather Havrilesky observes, "even when it's firing on all pistons, it's also uneven and dorky and campy and leaden and obvious." Like Heather, I think that's why I like it. It's pure guilty pleasure.
And I think Kevin is on to something here:
In seasons 1 and 2 we watched in order to find out just how comically farfetched the "Kim in peril" scenes could get. Last season we were spellbound by the bizarre and ultimately unfathomable torture fest. This season we have....No, not datamining, although we do have that. What we have this season is President Charles Logan, possibly the most worthless excuse for a fictional leader of the free world ever. Just how much of dink will they make him into? Will he eventually panic and order the assassination of Jack Bauer? Start rolling around on the floor and chewing the carpet? Or will the scriptwriters chicken out and allow him to redeem himself with some unexpected act of moral bravery at the end?
That's what makes this season worth watching: basking in the utter worthlessness and steady emotional deterioration — on Fox! — of Republican President Charles Logan.
I can think of at least three other reasons to watch as well. Since they're spoilerish, they're beneath the fold.
1. Do the bad guys have an actual reason for wanting to hang a frame on Jack Bauer, a man whom only four people even knew was alive, or was that just a convenient plot device to bring about a shocking opening scene and get Jack back in the game? Why frame him and not simply kill him, assuming they knew where to find him? And how did they even know he was still breathing?
2. What did David Palmer want to tell Mrs. Logan? If it really was a matter of national security, and Logan himself had (understandably) shut Palmer out, why not try contacting Mike Novick? Surely Novick, whose political compass far outstrips his moral one, would at least take his call.
3. Will Chloe's boy toy turn out to be evil? It wouldn't be the CTU if there weren't at least one mole, right?
Answers to these and other burning questions coming up in the next 20 weeks. I hope.
UPDATE: Looks like I called #3. Poor Chloe.
Keir Murray responds to criticism of the recent survey of CD22, expanding on what the Chronicle's James Campbell wrote on Sunday. Check it out.
DeLayVsWorld still has some issues with the survey. One point he raises that I don't think has been fully addressed:
28% of district voters voted straight ticket Republican in 2004. Those who study voting know that voting is a habit, and voting habits are very difficult to break. Thus, the Chronicle's reported poll result of 22% for DeLay would indicate that one in four straight ticket Republican voters won't vote straight ticket this election cycle, and that no one else would vote for DeLay. While I suppose that there are some scenarios that this could happen, they all involve DeLay being in jail.In other words, this part of the poll doesn't reflect real-world realities. Good pollsters think long and hard about these issues before they put a poll into the field, because when a poll does not reflect real-world realities, then the poll is worthless.
There were five contested races that appeared on every ballot in CD22 along with DeLay's: the Presidential election, the three statewides, and Justice, 1st Court of Appeals District, Place 4, which covers a 14-county area that includes Brazoria, Fort Bend, Galveston, and Harris. Tom DeLay picked up 150,000 votes. Railroad Commissioner Victor Carillo had the next lowest total among the other Republican candidates, with 159,000. As such, this means that some 9000 people in CD22 voted for each of these Republicans, but not for Tom DeLay.
Note that in 2002, even though DeLay underperformed in the district as a whole compared to his fellow Republicans, he was not the low man on the totem pole. He got more votes than Jerry Patterson, David Dewhurst, and Steven Wayne Smith. There probably were some people who voted for all other Republicans except for DeLay, but based on numeric totals alone, you can't affirmatively conclude that.
So the question then becomes "How many straight-ticket Republican voters overrode their choice in the CD22 race?" And the answer is...I have no idea. I'm not sure there's any way to tell, or at least I'm not sure if the relevant data is publicly available. It could well be that all or almost all of the straight-ticket voters left their selections unaltered, and that the dip in DeLay's total comes exclusively or almost so from the people who made individual choices. If, however, we assume for the sake of argument that all 9000 Republican-but-not-DeLay voters were of the straight ticket variety, meaning they pushed the straight-ticket button then went to the CD22 race and chose someone other than DeLay to override the selection in that race, then he tallied about 65,000 votes from these people. That's a hair under 25% of the total vote. By DVsW's calculation, if the CD22 survey in question is accurate, that could mean that as few as one in eight of DeLay's hardcore supporters would have changed their minds.
Now of course, I have no way of knowing whether the number of fickle straight-ticket Republican voters in CD22 is closer to 1000 or 8000. The number crunching above is strictly a hypothetical construct. There is a point to this, though, and that point is that DeLay's fortunes in CD22 are not just tied to his trading more Republican turf for areas that are less so in the 2003 redistricting, but also due to fewer Republican voters pushing the button for him in 2004. I think we all agree that for DeLay to lose in 2006, that set of non-DeLay-voting Republicans will have to increase further. We can still disagree as to whether or not this survey gives evidence of that occurring. I think it'll take more polling of the district before any firm conclusions can be made; even if there was no dispute over the methodology here, any single poll is just one data point. You can't infer a trend from one point. Whatever the case, I find the discussion has been pretty enlightening. Hope you have, too.
From the Sunday Chron: Mixed feelings from former Enron employees regarding the upcoming trials of Jeff Skilling and Kenny Boy Lay.
Some former employees harbor more sympathy for Lay, who was widely regarded as a fatherly figure in Enron's halcyon days, than for Skilling, the whip-smart and hard-charging Harvard MBA.Tracey Michel spent six years in Enron's information-technology department and has always seen Lay as undeserving of the charges the federal government brought against him, though she adds that "might be naive."
"But if they do find them guilty, I hope they serve time," she said of both men.
Michel, though, keeps in touch with a number of former colleagues and said many remain bitter.
"The majority feeling is they're guilty and they're going to get them, especially with Rick Causey now folding," she said of Enron's former accounting chief who recently reached a plea deal. "Plus, just the plea bargain with (former chief financial officer) Andy Fastow, they must have some information — definitely something for Skilling, if not Ken Lay."
Skilling still does have fans, although some don't feel they can be public about it.
One former Enron employee questions what standard is being used to call Skilling "one of the bad guys."
"Where's the $6,000 shower curtain? Where's the $15,000 umbrella stand? This wasn't Tyco. These guys didn't enrich themselves in that way," the ex-worker said of Lay and Skilling.
Fastow, he said, was enriching himself on the side, "but he gets a deal."
Rod Jordan, who founded the Severed Enron Employee Coalition to support employees and retirees in efforts to recover money they lost, said he talks to former workers often. Their feelings on the upcoming trial vary.
"There's a few that I've talked to before that are still very interested, and there's some that don't want to hear about it," Jordan said. "They're more interested in, 'Are we going to get any money out of the class actions?' "
Four years of investigations and intense news coverage have made Enron a synonym for fraud and sleaze. But when the trial of former top executives Jeffrey Skilling and Kenneth Lay begins Jan. 30, defense lawyers will make a bold argument: Everything their company did was legal.
Via Houstonist, Metro has requested a preliminary design on an intermodal transit center north of downtown.
The board agreed to a $1.6 million contract with New York-based Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn Architects to provide a preliminary design for a massive transit station north of the University of Houston-Downtown and Interstate 10."The issue is if we are going to do this, we want to enhance the community and make a real landmark," Metro board chairman David Wolff said.
Metro officials envision the station becoming the hub for many of Metro's services, serving as the starting and ending point for bus routes, rail lines, bus rapid-transit lines and commuter rail. Riders could transfer and catch a bus or train to their ultimate destination.
The project's estimated cost is about $150 million, and the building would not be completed until 2011 or 2012, Wolff said. Metro officials said federal money would be sought.
Christof provides a wealth of additional data on this proposed transit center. One point of interest:
The ITC is also the heir of a vision Downtown groups have been pushing since at least 2003: a new transit center where light rail, commuter rail, Amtrak, local buses, and long-distance buses come together. This would solve several problems:* the Greyhound station, which Midtown interests feel discourages development, would be removed.
* the Amtrak station and its rail line, which stand in the way of redeveloping the Downtown post office and the Buffalo Bayou Partnership’s plan for a new bayou channel , could be removed.
* local buses could be rerouted from downtown streets.
* The Houston Airport System could address congestion at the airport by building a sattelite temrinal with parking, transit access, and baggage check-in counters, connected to the airport by shuttle bus.The ITC is also a redevelopment opportunity. The adjacent Hardy Yards, once a major Southern Pacific Railroad locomotive maintanance facility, has been sold to private developers. So have the Missouri-Kansas-Texas yards on the other side of Main Street.
I think there's a lot to like about this, though there are some concerns, as Tory points out. His argument about putting it where people want to go instead of where it's convenient to build is a cogent one. We'll see how it develops.
The CTC has a forum topic devoted to the ITC if you're interested in discussing it further.
On the one hand:
Lobbyist for state tied to Abramoff
Todd Boulanger, who once worked closely with confessed influence peddler Jack Abramoff, now heads a group lobbying Congress for Texas under a $330,000 state contract.Boulanger and his firm, Cassidy & Associates, were hired by the Texas Office of State-Federal Relations under a contract approved by Gov. Rick Perry, House Speaker Tom Craddick and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst.
This is the second time the state has hired as a congressional lobbyist someone with connections to the lobbying controversies surrounding former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land.
The state's Washington office previously had hired former DeLay chief of staff Drew Maloney, the Houston Chronicle first reported last year. Maloney has not been connected to Abramoff's activities, but he was a key figure in 2002 fundraising that brought DeLay a reprimand from the House Ethics Committee.
"It's cronyism at its worst," said Texas House Democratic Caucus Chairman Jim Dunnam of Waco. "All these guys are connected to one another."
The combined Boulanger and Maloney lobby contracts will have cost Texas taxpayers $1.1 million by the time they expire on Aug. 31, 2007.
House Democratic Chairman Jim Dunnam said lobbyist Drew Maloney had made $250 in political donations before Gov. Rick Perry hired Maloney's Federalist Group for $180,000 a year to lobby Congress for the state.Dunnam said that since that time, Maloney has given $75,000 to Republican congressional committees — including $750 meant to help defeat an incumbent Texas congressman.
Maloney appears to be "laundering" taxpayer payments into Republican campaign contributions, Dunnam said, adding that Perry should immediately terminate Maloney's contract.
Perry has primary responsibility for overseeing the national lobby office. Perry spokeswoman Rachael Novier called Dunnam's complaint a "baseless partisan attack."
Most of Texas' Democratic congressmen Friday told Gov. Rick Perry he should cancel the $1.1 million contracts of the state's outside lobbyists because they've never contacted any of them.U.S. Reps. Gene Green, D-Houston, and Charlie Gonzalez, D-San Antonio, wrote a letter to Perry saying they are worried that the two lobby groups employed by the state are linked to convicted influence peddler Jack Abramoff and the fundraising scandals involving U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land.
The letter, signed by seven of the 11 Texas Democratic representatives to Congress, said employing outside lobbyists is a waste of money because the state already has the Texas Office of State-Federal Relations working with Congress.
"In our view these lobbying contracts appear to be a poor use of state taxpayer money," they said. "It should be unnecessary for the state of Texas to pay private lobbyists $1 million to lobby the Texas congressional delegation when it employs 12 state workers to do the exact same work."
Partisanship creeps back into City Hall
At issue was an agenda item to pay the Texas Municipal League $68,000 for Houston's membership in the organization. TML represents cities at the state Legislature on issues ranging from wi-fi to pension plans. But it also lobbied against appraisal caps in Austin during the last session, contrary to the direction of city of Houston officials. When TML staff refused to meet with two council members to discuss it, a group of council members decided to withhold Houston's annual membership fees to the organization.The tax appraisal cap is the clarion call for Texas conservatives and an issue on which Republican elected officials at all levels dare not err.
[...]
Harris County Republican Party Chairman Jared Woodfill sent out the call to grass-roots Republicans on Tuesday to notify councilmembers that a vote for TML was a vote against the base, and that paying TML dues was tantamount to a tax increase.
[A] much bigger lobbying "evil" in GOP eyes at the statehouse was the successful effort by school board members and other educators last year to help scuttle GOP efforts to pass an inadequate school funding plan and alleged education "reforms" that may or may not have lived up to their billing.Republican leaders also blasted the role that cities, counties and their lobbyists played in killing the effort to lower the cap on property appraisals.
Speaker Tom Craddick ordered a House committee to investigate how school boards and other local governments use tax money to lobby the Legislature.
Perry accused school districts of spending too much on administration and directed them to report how much they spend for various non-classroom functions, including lobbying.
While this dispute continued to simmer last week, more fuel was added with the revelation that, criticism of school board lobbying notwithstanding, Perry had seen fit to approve the expenditure of $1.1 million of taxpayer money through 2007 to hire two firms to lobby for the state of Texas in Washington.
This is in addition to several state employees already working in Washington for the state's interests, plus two elected U.S. senators and 32 members of the U.S. House from Texas.
Yet the state of Texas, which has two elected officials in Congress who do represent the state, and which also has several fulltime employees in Washington to act as lobbyists on the state's behalf, saw fit to pay $1.1 million to two outside lobbying firms. The principal of one of those firms, since being hired by the state, has made sizeable contributions to various Republican officeholders and even one Republican challenger to a Democratic incumbent. The governor, who has been one of the more vocal opponents of lobbying by school boards, sees nothing wrong with this and casts criticism of it as "baseless partisan attacks". Huh?
I don't see how you can object to the Municipal League and school board stuff but think that what the state is doing is okay as is. Frankly, even if you accept that the state needs lobbying support above and beyond what it already has, the fact of the political donations changes the nature of it. I suppose I should be surprised that this isn't obvious, but nothing Governor Perry does is surprising to me any more.
The two-week saga of the anti-Tom DeLay ad comes to something like a close today when it finally runs on the air.
A controversial ad linking Rep. Tom DeLay to former lobbyist Jack Abramoff will hit the airwaves in Houston today after local television stations had declined to show an earlier ad.The revised ad calling for DeLay to resign his congressional post is set to air on KPRC-NBC (Channel 2) and KRIV-FOX (Channel 26), according to Campaign for America's Future, one of two liberal public interest groups that joined forces last week to run the ad.
D'Artagnan Bebel, vice president and general manager of KRIV, said Saturday that his station will air the revamped ad, but representatives for KPRC could not be reached to confirm the station would show the ad.
"I've accepted the revised spot," Bebel said Saturday.
The ad, titled "Out of Sight," is to air during this morning's news programs.
What do you give the person who has everything? The naming rights to a Saint Arnold Brewery fermenter.
The specifics:* The tank will be named St. "you fill in this blank"
* It cannot be a company name and cannot cause offense
* Other than that, the sky is the limit. But the name cannot duplicate any of our existing tank names (so if your name is Idesbald, we apologize)
The special election to replace the outgoing State Rep. Ray Allen in HD106 will be February 28.
Gov. Rick Perry on Friday called a special election for Feb. 28 to fill the unexpired term of state Rep. Ray Allen, R-Grand Prairie, who resigned Thursday with a year to go on his term. Candidates for the special election must apply with the secretary of state by Jan. 30. Early voting will begin Feb. 13. House District 106 includes most of Grand Prairie and part of Irving. The election was declared an emergency because a special legislative session on school finance must occur before June 1, a deadline set by the Texas Supreme Court.
I want to make it clear that I'm not pessimistic about Katy Hubener's chances in this election. I think she'll have a pretty good shot at it, given that she's run for this seat before and garnered numerous endorsements in doing so. The point of my earlier post was just to make sure everyone realizes that the conditions in HD106 are not the same as they were in HD48. Hubener's job is tougher. Doable, to be sure, but tougher.
If you want to learn more about Katy Hubener, Eye on Williamson has a message from a campaign supporter with some good info. It'll be early voting before you know it, so let's get ready.
And to think, their run might have ended by now.
At least one Houston television station has agreed to air a reworked television ad linking Rep. Tom DeLay to disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff after refusing to air the first version of the commercial made by two liberal groups last week.Fox station KRIV (Channel 26) has agreed to air the spot, though Vice President and General Manager D'Artagnan Bebel declined to explain the decision.
The Campaign for America's Future and the Public Campaign Action Fund said KPRC (Channel 2) will run the ad, but station representatives declined requests for confirmation.
The new 30-second ad contains more detailed information about the connections between the two Washington insiders, said David Donnelly, national campaigns director of the Public Campaign Action Fund in Washington.
[...]
Peter Diaz, president and general manager of KHOU, said he will review the ad and its supporting material over the weekend and make a decision as early as Monday.
Representatives from KTRK said they had not made a decision as of Friday night.
Attorneys for Andrea Yates have filed a motion for a "reasonable" bond that would allow them to move her into Rusk Psychiatric Hospital.
George Parnham argues that Yates, who drowned her five children in June 2001, cannot afford the current $1 million bail recommended by District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal. The Associated Press reported that Parnham is asking a judge set a $50,000 bail.Yates, 41, is scheduled to be retried March 20. In the motion, Parnham argues that Yates "is a severely mentally ill individual" who would receive better care at the Rusk facility than in Harris County Jail.
Yates has been housed in the jail's mental health unit since she was transferred there earlier this month.
Looks like Smokey Joe Barton's Gravy Train got an appropriate sendoff.
About 50 people showed up at the train station Friday afternoon to protest U.S. Rep. Joe Barton's weekend campaign fund-raising trip to San Antonio for supporters on a chartered train.Holding a sign that read, "All Aboard the Gravy Train," Anna Brosovic said she was concerned because Barton, the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, seemed to be surrounding himself only with the wealthy and influential.
"Joe Barton's little trip epitomizes the culture of corruption that has taken over the Republican Party since they swept into power," said Brosovic, of Arlington, a Democrat who lives in Barton's district. "It's democracy for sale."
[...]
Iraq war veteran and college professor David T. Harris, the Democrat running against Barton in November for congressional District 6, said the trip was in poor taste in light of the federal bribery investigation stemming from the work of disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
"I don't think there's anything underhanded, but it's bad timing," Harris said.
David Barrett, who has wasted $21 million of your tax dollars in a decade-long pursuit of Henry Cisneros, has finally produced his report, which is long on accusations and short on evidence.
In a 474-page report, independent counsel David M. Barrett conceded that he was "not able to say with certainty whether any criminal laws were broken" by government officials in his inquiry of possible tax violations by Cisneros. But he alleged that officials in the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service "resisted our efforts to investigate" the possibilities.The report itself does not appear to include clear evidence of obstruction, however. Many officials named in the investigation angrily denied Barrett's accusations in written rebuttals attached to the document.
"Mr. Barrett conjured up a far-fetched theory of a wide-reaching government conspiracy to justify prolonging his tenure for another six years," wrote Susan J. Park, a trial lawyer in the Justice Department's public integrity section. "He has nothing to show for his efforts. If Mr. Barrett is serious about exploring the issue of integrity, he should examine his own."
[...]
Cisneros has remained silent since his guilty plea, but Barry S. Simon, one of his attorneys, criticized Barrett's investigation in a letter to the federal court that had jurisdiction over it.
"The materials that are now being publicly released are simply an effort to 'try' the case that [Barrett's office] could not win in court in an adversarial process," Simon wrote.
[...]
Lawmakers battled in recent years over whether to shut down Barrett's inquiry amid suspicions among some Republicans that Democrats were attempting to suppress embarrassing revelations about the Clinton administration. A three-judge panel advocated removing from the public report accusations related to Clinton administration officials but was overruled by congressional Republicans.
Despite these earlier controversies, yesterday's final report was greeted with virtual silence on Capitol Hill. The document, which was released with limited redactions, included no findings related to Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) or former president Clinton, as had been widely rumored in political circles.
Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), who has sharply criticized Barrett's office, said yesterday that he thinks Barrett was "delusional" in making the coverup allegations, and Waxman questioned the overall value of the investigation.
"He spent $21 million over a 10-year period, and half of it has been spent since Cisneros pled guilty to a misdemeanor," Waxman said. "This is an astounding sum of money, and I'm not sure what we got for it. . . . The taxpayers have been abused."
UPDATE: Jamie Castillo on what might have been.
There is a contested Democratic primary in Houston's CD07 for the right to take on Rep. John Culberson. The candidates are Lanier Middle School history and debate teacher Jim Henley, and attorney David Murff. In the interest of helping CD07 voters get to know their choices in March, I have asked both candidates to answer a few questions via email. They received the same questions, and I am printing their answers in consecutive posts so everyone can see where they stand on the same issues.
Both candidates will take part in a debate sponsored by the West Houston Democratic Club on Saturday, January 21, at the Tracy Gee Community Center, 3599 Westcenter Dr at 10AM. If you can, please take the opportunity to get to know these gentlemen better and to ask them a few questions.
I solicited questions from several people in preparation of this interview. My thanks to the following people who helped provide them: Perry Dorrell, Jim Dallas, and Catherine Santamaria. The interviews can be found here:
Hey, remember Joe Barton's Excellent Lobbyist Choo Choo Ride? It's taking off today from Fort Worth and arriving in San Antonio late tonight, with stops along the way. Why not take a moment to greet him and his close personal buddies as they chug through Texas? Annatopia has the trip itinerary. While you're there, why not ask him the question that Ruth Marcus posed last Friday?
[It's a hot ticket], even at the sticker-shock price of $2,000 per individual, $5,000 per political action committee -- hotel rooms not included. As of this writing, 132 attendees had signed up -- mostly from what's commonly referred to as the PAC community, as if they had a unifying belief in something beyond the efficacy of campaign checks.I write about the Barton fund-raiser not to single out the chairman -- though you could question the tastefulness of an event that features an after-hours tour of the Alamo, "shrine of Texas liberty," to help harvest campaign checks. Indeed, what's noteworthy about the event is, in part, its disturbing ordinariness. Lawmakers with enough clout and party committees have these sorts of getaways all the time: ski weekends in Vail, summer jaunts to Nantucket, Super Bowl outings, golf tournaments with this or that committee chair.
"It's a high-dollar fund-raiser like any other," says Barton consultant Craig Murphy, noting that the congressman had not previously hosted such an event. "Guess he's the last one on the train to do it." (Well, at least his train is a string of private rail cars.)
The Barton fund-raiser, first reported by Roll Call, is perfectly legal. The money he collects will eventually be disclosed in his campaign finance reports.
But no one -- no one who isn't on the train, anyway -- would be able to discern from the official paper trail that the $5,000 PAC check purchased a weekend with the chairman. Indeed, when I asked for the names of those attending, or even the identity of the PACs they represented, the Barton campaign demurred. That's its prerogative, but if there's nothing embarrassing about these private parties, why the squeamishness about making the guest list public?
Anyway, if you think this sort of thing is not what a representative of the people should be doing, just remember that you have a choice. You won't get any free martinis for donating to David Harris' campaign, but that's all right. They're probably watering down those drinks on the trainanyway to improve the net take.
My sincere thanks to Eye on Williamson for the best blog post title of 2006.
Caught your breath yet from the HD48 special election? Good, because another one is hot on its heels, this time in Dallas County.
State Rep. Ray Allen, a Grand Prairie Republican known for his support of gun rights and knowledge of the corrections industries, announced Thursday that he's leaving office immediately, in the middle of his seventh term.Mr. Allen had already decided not to seek re-election in November, ending a roller-coaster career that saw him co-author historic legislation to let Texans carry concealed guns but become embroiled in a still-unresolved investigation into his out-of-state lobbying practice.
Mr. Allen said he decided to resign early because he's tired of being broke, he no longer lives in the district and he wanted to give the governor time to call a special election to fill the seat before lawmakers meet this spring to deal with school-finance issues.
He was first elected in November 1992 and took office in January 1993.
State representatives make $600 a month, and Mr. Allen dropped his out-of-town lobby clients when questions arose about his lobbying practice.
The lawmaker said he has exhausted his savings, and while he has some income from teaching concealed-carry classes, he hopes to hang out a lobbying shingle in Austin.
"I couldn't hang on until June" through another special session, said Mr. Allen, 55. "Right now I could go down to apply for food stamps and be fully eligible to get them. And that's no hyperbole, that's truth. I can't afford to live like that anymore."
But, he said, he leaves with no regrets and is grateful for his time in office.
"It was the most incredible blessing to be able to sit where decisions are made, to feel like I've made a difference in the things I cared about," he said.
[...]
Mr. Allen also had faced some tough re-election battles recently, winning in 2004 with 52 percent of the vote after a battle with Democrat Katy Hubener.
Ms. Hubener is running again and has no opposition in seeking the Democratic nomination. Two Republicans, Kirk England and Edward Smith, are seeking the GOP nomination.
I kind of doubt he'd do that, and frankly it's probably better strategy for him to put the election in March, because the odds are better here that a Republican will hold the seat than they were in HD48. Unlike that Travis County district, which has trended strongly Democratic since 2002, HD106 has been fairly static. Counting all contested races from 2002 - and there were a boatload, thanks to many countywide campaigns - the GOP got 57.1% of the vote overall. Allen was unopposed, and was named on 63.5% of all ballots; for comparison, State Sen. Chris Harris was also unopposed on that ballot, and was named on 60.4% of them.
Looking at the 2004 totals, there was a little bit of movement in the Dems' direction, but not very much. For the six contested races other than Allen's, the GOP got 56.4% of the vote. Allen, of course, underperformed by four points, in part to Hubener's strong challenge, and in part to his own ethical woes. It's a little hard for me to say where the advantage lies right now. Hubener's the most experienced candidate, and the wind seems to be in the Democrats' direction - for sure, if she wins here, that's as clear a sign as you could ask for - but with Allen out of the race and with no obvious connection to the DeLay machine, the reform issue isn't so much of a factor. I think Hubener's a slight favorite, but this should be a tough race.
Assuming the election is in March, or in May just before a special session, the Democrats could have as many as three more representatives in Austin than they did for the last year's sessions. If that happens, things ought to be a lot more interesting. At the very least, cooperation from any recalcitrant Republicans, whether they survive their primary challenges or not, ought to cost Tom Craddick more in the way of concessions. And boy, will that be fun to watch.
So stay tuned. Hubener's statement on the upcoming special election is beneath the fold.
Statement from Katy Hubener on the Special Election in State House District 106
I am delighted to announce my candidacy for the Special Election in State House District 106 to fill the vacancy created by Representative Ray Allen's resignation. The vacancy will take effect at midnight tonight and the Governor is expected to call a Special Election in February.
I may not have been able to claim victory in the last election, but all of HD 106 can claim victory today as one more incumbent of this do-nothing Legislature heads for the door early.
The voters of this district have the opportunity to elect someone who wants to be part of the solution, not part of the problem. That’s the kind of Legislator I will be. I will work across party lines to help find common-sense solutions to the challenges facing our state.
Quorum Report contributor Ed Sills sifts through the results in the HD48 special election and comes up with some reasons why the vote went as it did.
A Republican businessman who lost to state Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos, D-Austin, four years ago, Bentzin was the choice of Gov. Rick Perry and the Republican apparatus running Texas. Perry chose a quick election date after state Rep. Todd Baxter retired in November. This was meant to allow Bentzin the maximum chance to deploy his very substantial money advantage -- he's a"Dellionaire" with support from the big Republican power players -- in what looks like a swing district on paper.But the quick date in the swing district galvanized Democrats. The contrast between the treatment of District 48, where Perry declared the district needs a representative in place for the upcoming special legislative sessions, and solidly Democratic District 143 in Houston, where Perry let seven months and two special sessions pass while voters there went unrepresented following the tragic death of state Rep. Joe Moreno, did not go unnoticed inside or outside Houston.
Conventional wisdom held that in the District 48 contest, two Democrats, Howard and Kathy Rider, would split the Democratic vote. But no one expected they would split nearly 60 percent of the vote, nor did anyone predict publicly that Howard would come within a half-percent of winning without a runoff or that Bentzin would be held to 37.8 percent.
The Bentzin campaign was predicated on an assumption of inevitable frontrunner status. The TV ads reflected this overconfidence, featuring a soft-glow biographical message trampled by the asinine and condescending image of a 6 foot, 6 inch politician deigning to bend down to listen to voters.
[...]
It was a low turnout, as Bentzin states. And it was a special election. But the evidence that the turnout was unrepresentative as of Jan. 17 beyond the usual margin of error is flimsy. In a district where Baxter put together majorities the last two elections, Democratic candidates had seized 60 percent. Translate even a piece of that improvement to other places in Texas and some Democrats will soon be kicking themselves for not running for office in 2006.
Now, the big question is what Howard tapped, why Bentzin faltered and whether some form of political alchemy can be performed on the pumpkin pieces from Bentzin’s first-round campaign. No doubt, the money will continue to flow disproportionately in the second round (though Howard may find fundraising somewhat easier) and no doubt Bentzin’s strategists are about to go negative in a big way. But Bentzin's big problem – and Howard’s big asset – is that in 2006, Bentzin may simply be on the wrong side.
After one nods to the structural rule that the sixth year of any presidential term is usually good for the party that is out of power, Howard showed a strong ability to exploit some elements specific to 2006.
In its literature, the Howard campaign successfully tied Bentzin to the swirl of ethics issues surrounding Republicans this year. This was easy enough to do, as Bentzin had used John Colyandro in his failed 2002 campaign against Barrientos. Colyandro is a political operative who is under indictment in connection with allegations related to the case pending against U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay. Bentzin has not been charged with wrongdoing, but his list of supporters reeks of the money that funded the takeover of the Texas House and the mid-decade congressional redistricting shoved down Texans' throats at the expense of schools, health care and other first-tier priorities.
[...]
[T]he evidence that 2006 is not a Republican year grows. The set-up for Bentzin could not have been better. If Tuesday's results are a reflection of a political shift in the district, it's a shift of seismic proportions. If the result portends a political shift in the state, more surprises are ahead. But in a state so Wyomingly Republican that Democrats are recycling 1970s-era politicians for runs at statewide office and hoping they’ll turn out like those astronauts in Space Cowboys, Howard’s supporters would do well to continue running against conventional wisdom.
Here's how things looked in 2002 for the non-judicial races in HD48:
Republican Votes Pct Democrat Votes Pct
================================================
Rylander 32,044 69.8 Akins 13,874 30.2
Combs 30,425 67.6 Ramsay 14,603 32.4
Perry 27,830 60.3 Sanchez 18,300 39.7
Williams 26,836 59.3 Boyles 18,092 40.7
Patterson 25,004 57.1 Bernsen 18,772 42.9
Cornyn 25,827 54.0 Kirk 21,890 46.0
Baxter 25,309 53.6 Kitchen 21,929 46.4
Abbott 23,273 48.9 Watson 24,288 51.1
Dewhurst 21,494 45.8 Sharp 25,428 54.2Total 264,596 57.3 Total 196,685 42.7
But that's not all. Check out the turnout figures for all two-party contested races:
Office Turnout
===========================
President 69,252
HD48 68,663
Ct of Appeals D3 Pl4 66,801
345th District Judge 66,587
Supreme Court 66,457
Ct of Appeals D3 Pl6 66,408
CCA 65,811
353th District Judge 65,253
Sheriff 63,696
RR Commissioner 63,284*
The point here is that with the exception of the two Democratic candidates that carried HD48, there's a much larger dropoff from Kelly White's vote total to those of the other Dems than there is from the other Republicans to Todd Baxter. On average in the four statewide races, Baxter got 1613 fewer votes, while White got 3940 more. How much more Democratic might this district have looked if the locals had cared enough to register an opinion in every race?
One last thing. If you add up my numbers from HD48 in 2002, you'll see that the totals are a bit off. That's because I omitted one race. Here it is:
Republican Votes Pct Democrat Votes Pct
==================================================
Bentzin 27,004 58.0 Barrientos 19,565 42.0
The rumor reported last night is true: Gubernatorial candidate Felix Alvarado is off the ballot for the Democratic primary because his filing fee check bounced.
The name of Felix Alvarado, a middle school administrator, will not appear on the March 7 party primary ballot, said Charles Soechting, the party's state chairman."The position I would have to take is, the filing fee wasn't paid," Soechting said. "It's sad. I hate to see that happen to anybody."
Thursday evening, Alvarado, 63, confirmed submitting his check for the filing fee without sufficient funds available.
"I take full responsibility for that. That's my mea culpa. I overplayed my hand," he said. "I'm disappointed."
In his campaign's contribution and expenditure report covering July through December, Alvarado reported no money in his treasury as of Dec. 31. The report shows that he's taken two campaign loans: $1,000 from a brother and $300 on a credit card.
Late Thursday, Irma Mathis, Alvarado's campaign manager, said Alvarado went to Democratic Party headquarters in Austin a few days after filing to notify officials that he was withdrawing from the race. Raising money to pay the fee without support from the party had proved too difficult, she said."He said he wasn't going to be able to cover the fee, so he was going to do the right thing," Mathis said.
But, she said, Alvarado was told that his name would remain on the ballot. So she was surprised Thursday to receive a copy of Soechting's memo, she said.
A call to a Fort Worth telephone number listed under the name Felix Alvarado was not returned Thursday night. Mathis would not provide his number.
"He's not going to do anything until he talks to the Democratic Party tomorrow," she said.
Other reactions: from PDiddie, South Texas Chisme, and Dos Centavos. Other related stuff from Aaron Pena, Common Sense, Just Another Blog, South Texas Chisme, and The Red State. There's some new Zogby Interactive poll numbers at Greg's place. The good news is that either Democratic candidate for Governor has plenty of room to gain ground on Rick "38%" Perry by getting Democrats to, you know, vote Democratic. The bad news is that this means the're currently in third place, and as noted before, neither is in a particularly strong financial position. If Strayhorn continues to make inroads into traditional Democratic support groups by fooling them into thinking she's the de facto Democratic nominee, regaining that ground could be awfully tough. Of course, even Rick Perry isn't calling himself a Republican these days, so it's no wonder everyone is confused.
And to think everyone once thought that the only statewide race of interest would be the GOP primary for Governor. We live in strange times indeed.
Meant to link to this before, but didn't quite get to it: Intel Dump has a nice interview with David Harris that focuses mostly on defense and homeland security issues. Check it out.
Over on the Quorum Report, Republican consultant Royal Masset is claiming that Felix Alvarado is the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination for Governor.
For reasons known only to themselves the Media have focused mostly on the Democrat gubernatorial primary race between *Chris Bell* and *Bob Gammage*. *Does anyone remember Victor Morales?* In the 1996 Democrat primary race for US Senate Victor easily defeated Congressmen *Jim Chapman* and *John Bryant*, Those Congressmen were a lot better known than the lackluster Bell and Vichy-like Gammage. There a lot more Hispanic voters in the Democrat primary today. It is possible Felix Alvarado, a school Assistant Principal from Fort Worth, will self-destruct. But if he doesn't I predict he'll win in the primary.
Doggett, of course, had a huge financial advantage, while Bell's finances are much more modest. On the other hand, Bell has racked up numerous endorsements from prominent Hispanic politicians, as Doggett had; Alvarado doesn't have an Endorsements page on his website, so as far as I know there's no one backing him. And finally, as The Jeffersonian points out, Morales had a compelling story to tell as a first-time candidate that carried him to an improbably close race against Phil Gramm in 1996. Alvarado has already run longshot campaigns for Congress in 2004 (against Kay Granger) and 2002 (against Smokey Joe Barton). He's not doing much campaigning, while both Bell and Bob Gammage are spending a lot of time in South Texas. Is there anything more to this thesis that Masset and now apparently Paul Burka are expounding beyond "Hispanic name = Hispanic voters"?
Finally, a few words about this SurveyUSA poll of favorable/unfavorable ratings for all the gubernatorial candidates. It seems to me that much of the criticism that has been levelled against the recent survey of CD22 would apply here. In particular, a survey of "registered voters" doesn't tell you a whole lot about the ballot preferences of Democratic primary voters. How do we know, for example, that much of Chris Bell's negative rating in that poll doesn't come from Republicans, who have reason to dislike him for his ethics complaint against Tom DeLay? I just don't see a whole lot of conclusions that can be drawn from this.
UPDATE: Forgot to mention that Felix Alvarado is from Fort Worth, while Victor Morales has actual ties to South Texas. Plus, looking at the county canvass report from the 1996 Democratic Primary, while it certainly is true that Victor Morales won big in places like Hidalgo, Cameron, Webb, Bexar and El Paso, he also won pluralities in Harris, Jefferson, and Travis Counties. John Bryant won big in Dallas and Tarrant but had little strength anywhere else, while Jim Chapman did well in rural areas. In short, Victor Morales was a strong candidate who had appeal everywhere in 1996. Would anyone say that of Felix Alvarado today?
UPDATE: Both Greg and PerryVsWorld are reporting that Felix Alvarado is now off the ballot, because the check for his filing fee bounced. Oops. No news link yet, I'll check in the morning. If so, we'll never know if Royal Masset was full of it or not.
To be clear about what I said above, I was simply asserting that the SUSA poll told us nothing about the upcoming Democratic primary, because the sample was not of Democratic primary voters. That's the only population that matters for this primary election, so polls of registered voters are meaningless on that scale. When we get such a poll, we can talk.
Wanna join the NSA? Move to San Antonio.
The NSA, the nation's largest intelligence agency, last April confirmed plans to establish a campus on the Far West Side with an estimated 1,500 new employees.It now appears the agency has expanded the scope of its operations, with plans to lease additional space.
The campus in San Antonio eventually could accommodate 5,200 employees, expanding from its current 2,200.
The NSA is one of the big projects San Antonio has landed recently along with Toyota's new pickup plant and Washington Mutual, said Mario Hernandez, president of the San Antonio Economic Development Foundation.
[...]
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has leased an old Albertsons grocery store near Interstate 10 and Wurzbach for a Defense Department client that economic development leaders report is the NSA. The site will be used for training.
Look at the included map on the story page. If you turn the other direction onto Wurzbach from I-10, you get to the huge USAA Insurance complex, home of about 10,000 employees. Just imagine what the traffic jams are going to be like at that intersection later this year when another 1500 NSA people will be passing through it to get to work. I thought it was awful in 1988 when I was a summer intern at USAA.
One reason the NSA chose to expand in San Antonio is because it already has a big presence here, economic development experts said.It also likes to have access to reliable power and the latest fiber-optic technology. The nearby headquarters of the nation's largest telecommunications company, AT&T, makes San Antonio an attractive place for intelligence work.
Jokes aside, this is a nice coup for San Antonio. These are highly-educated and well-paid people moving in, and there's already a lot of interest from auxiliary businesses as well. San Antonio doesn't get the buzz that a lot of other cities in Texas do, but if I were forced to leave Houston it would be near the top of my short list of preferred alternatives. Link via Victoria Kos and Grits for Breakfast.
How much do I love stories about David Adickes, famed local sculptor of giant Presidential heads? Enough so that two of my friends were kind enough to forward me that link (thanks, Ellen and Erica!).
Texas sculptor David Adickes looms large in the art world -- and for no small reason. His gigantic concrete statues of historical figures have become tourist attractions from South Dakota to Virginia to his home state of Texas.But as he celebrates his 79th birthday this week, Mr. Adickes is feeling mortal. "I don't have that many productive years left," he says matter-of-factly. So he is in a rush to round out his colossal legacy.
Near his studio in a warehouse on the edge of downtown Houston, he has bought several vacant lots bordering freeways, perfect for his very public style of art.
On one lot, he's erecting 36-foot-tall statues of the Beatles. On another, he plans huge busts of four Texas and national historic figures, which he'll call "Mount Rush Hour."
"You'll be able to see it coming and going for miles," he says with unabashed delight.
There's always someone to criticize a visionary:
Mr. Adickes's statues don't bring him much approval in the world of serious art. The sculptor's skillful, Titan-sized likenesses of historical figures may have a big "gee-whiz" factor, but they're of "minimal aesthetic interest," says University of Kansas professor of art history David Cateforis. He likens Mr. Adickes's statues to such artifacts of roadside Americana as the 80-foot-high Uniroyal tire outside Detroit.
State Rep. Peggy Hamric may have gotten a leg up in the GOP primary race for SD07 - she just got the endorsement of outgoing Senator Jon Lindsay. The Quorum Report has the press release (PDF), from which I'll quote one little bit:
Senator Lindsay also commented on the bitter tone some campaigns have taken recently, "Her positive campaign is refreshing to the usual "attack my opponent rhetoric" that we are hearing from her opponents."
Housing slowdown? Not in Houston.
There were about 48,000 housing starts in the Houston area last year, up 18 percent from 2004, according to consulting firm Metrostudy. New-home sales haven't been tallied yet, but they typically follow the number of starts."We've enjoyed a wonderful ride in the home building business, and it's not over yet," Mike Inselmann, president of Metrostudy, said at the annual Greater Houston Builders Association luncheon on Monday.
Still, rising interest rates could pull down home sales slightly this year. But even if mortgage rates reach 7 percent, Inselmann said, it wouldn't be that hard on the housing market.
"I think we can sell a lot of homes at that level," said Inselmann, predicting about 45,000 home starts for 2006.
What are nine words that any Democratic candidate should not want to hear? "You've just been endorsed by the Club for Growth".
I'm trying to think of an equivalent endorsement for a Republican primary. MoveOn, maybe.
What else can you say to that, other than "Support Ciro Rodriguez"? Even Cuellar won't embrace them, sort of.
"My strong support of better jobs and lower taxes for 28th District taxpayers is well known and recognized," Cuellar said, "and this is one of dozens of endorsements we anticipate receiving during the campaign from groups supporting teachers, farmers, working families and businesses."I find that with any endorsement you get half of their friends and all of their enemies."
Andre Pineda, South Texas Chisme, and Dos Centavos have more. Did I mention Ciro Rodriguez? I'll mention him again, just to be on the safe side.
It's Donna Howard and Ben Bentzin in a runoff for HD48.
Howard finished with 49.5 percent of the vote, narrowly missing an outright victory in the special election, according to unofficial final returns. Bentzin followed with 37.8 percent.Democrat Kathy Rider and Libertarian Ben Easton finished a distant third and fourth, respectively, in the race to represent House District 48, which includes parts of West Austin and northwestern Travis County.
Gov. Rick Perry has not set a runoff date, but it will probably be in February.
"We feel very positive about where we are," said Howard, a former Eanes school board member. "I think it's a real strong statement about this community caring about public education, caring about strengthening the community and being tired of the gridlock at the Legislature."
Bentzin, a former Dell Inc. executive, said he was thrilled to advance to the runoff.
"In the special election, I was running against a field of several other candidates," Bentzin said. "In the runoff election, now we have a clear choice between two candidates, and that's what we'll be communicating to voters."
He began that effort Tuesday night by pointing out that he, and not Howard, ruled out support for a personal income tax during a candidate forum last week. A campaign aide to Howard called the issue a "red herring" because state leaders have said an income tax will not be seriously considered in an upcoming special legislative session on school finance.
Political consultant and lobbyist Bill Miller, a close ally of some Republican leaders, described Tuesday's results as surprising because the seat was drawn in 2001 to elect a Republican. He said it could signal that good times are ahead for other Texas Democrats as they try to pick up seats in a Republican-controlled Legislature this year.
"She still has to win, and you have a runoff," Miller said. "But it's a big warning to Republicans to take a look at the issues that are surfacing in this race and how they play with the electorate."
As for the March primary:
Rider said Tuesday night that she will drop out of the March Democratic primary, which will determine who will face Bentzin in November for a full, two-year term that will start in January 2007."I think the Democrats are going to take the seat in the runoff, and we're pleased," Rider said.
Andy Brown, who signed up for the March Democratic primary but was ineligible for the special election because he has lived in the district for less than a year, said he would work vigorously for Howard in the runoff. But he would not answer whether he still planned to run in the March primary.
How many State Rep candidates can boast having a Presidential candidate come to town to campaign for them? As The Red State tells us, Juan Garcia can.
General Wesley Clark will join fellow veteran and state representative candidate Juan Garcia for a formal campaign kick-off rally on January 26 at the Selena Auditorium."I am honored to have General Clark's endorsement and strong support in my campaign to set a new direction for the families and small businesses of House District 32," Garcia said. "His biography and his record of commitment to our country speaks for itself."
As Perry suggests, Clark will probably also be in state to plug Bob Gammage, who did a lot of work on the General's 2004 campaign in Texas. That'll probably get more press, but I'd say Clark's support of Garcia will have more impact.
David Harris, one of the many Fighting Democrat candidates for Congress, says:
There are 24.7 million Veterans living in the United States. Nearly 23 percent of homeless adults are Veterans and many more Veterans who live in poverty are at risk for becoming homeless. While the war continues in Iraq, many more families are left behind without the help they need when soldiers are deployed or killed in the line of duty. As part of our continued effort to further Veterans causes, we will be highlighting a new Veterans charity in this spot on our blog page every thirty days for the next year.
Alternately, you can pay $2000 to ride a choo choo train with Smokey Joe Barton. No, really.
The movie Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room, based on the book by the same name, is now out on DVD for your home viewing enjoyment. Good timing for them, what with the Lay/Skilling trial fixing to get underway and all.
A darkly comic dig into one of America's biggest corporate scandals, the film earned $4 million in theaters.Smartest Guys was also a huge hit with critics, scoring 97 percent favorable reviews on review tracking site rottentomatoes.com. It's also on the short list of documentaries vying for an Academy Award nomination Jan. 31.
[Director Alex] Gibney has moved on to other projects, including a documentary on gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson. But he also helped hone Smartest Guys' DVD, whose extras include his commentary track, a making-of featurette, deleted scenes, a look at Enron's in-house skits and a "Where Are They Now?" update on major players.
He and some colleagues even have "kind of an Enron self-help group. We get together and talk about how we can't get this story out of our heads. It's the story that will not die."
I like Gibney's take on the topic of the jury pool, which was in the news again today.
"I've always thought you're supposed to be tried by a jury of your peers," Gibney said. "Ken Lay has a Ph.D in economics, so you'd presume his peers would be very intelligent people, and why can't they find them in Houston as well as anywhere?"
Anyway. As noted in my review, I enjoyed the movie. It's worth putting on your Netflix queue if you haven't seen it yet.
Boy does this take me back, as in all the way to my freshman year of high school: Man Solves Rubik's Cube in 11.13 Seconds.
A 20-year-old California Institute of Technology student set a new world record for solving the popular Rubik's Cube puzzle, turning the tiled brain-twister from scrambled to solved in 11.13 seconds.Leyan Lo is part of Caltech's Rubik's Cube Club, a student group that hosted the competition at the Exploratorium museum in San Francisco. Lo's record-setting time came early Saturday, among his first five tries in the preliminary rounds.
The record-setting solve caught competitors and Lo himself by surprise.
"It's kind of scary now that I set it, because I have two more (attempts) to go," Lo said humbly afterward. His time of 11.13 seconds broke the previous record of 11.75 seconds, set by Frenchman Jean Pons at the Dutch Open competition last year.
The Internet, as you might imagine, has been a boon for Cube fans. You can find various computer algorithms for solving the Cube - it's believed that any scrambled Cube can be solved in a maximum of 22 twists, though the best method discovered so far takes up to 52 - or if that's too easy, try your hand at a four-dimensional Rubik's hypercube. Happy hunting. Story link via Hope, who I'm sure is now fully convinced that I'm a nerd.
Last month, I posted about a study done by the Galveston-Houston Association for Smog Prevention (GHASP), which contended that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) did a poor job of enforcement when chemical plants and refineries violate air pollution regulations. That study was finally reported in the news, albeit in the Brazosport Facts and not the Chron, despite their recent editorializing against the TCEQ and its enabling local legislators. Still better than nothing, however.
One thing to highlight from the story:
GHASP contends the biggest problem is lax enforcement of leak monitoring at plants, often classifying leak violations as record-keeping violations, which carry lighter penalties."They just treated that as if it were a trivial matter," said John Wilson, GHASP’s executive director. "I think for a number of years the TCEQ was sending the message that it didn’t matter."
[...]
John Sadlier said the agency has to prove violations before it can assess a fine.
He said the record-keeping violations are a perfect example of that.
"Often the only evidence that we really have is that you keep really poor records," Sadlier said. "Us making the allegation is one thing. Us successfully proving the allegation is another. Nine times out of 10, as we talk to the respondent, they’re not going to give us the case."
Remember:
Unfortunately, during the last Legislature, 20 of 34 state representatives in the eight-county region rejected five anti-pollution amendments. Those measures would have boosted TCEQ health screening levels, forced companies to provide continuous monitoring of emissions and fined violators who made repeated chemical releases near vulnerable communities. The legislators' votes split on party lines; all Republicans voted no. The five amendments went down in defeat.Democrats blamed pressure from the chemical industry. One of the amendment sponsors, Toby Goodman, R-Arlington, seconded that assertion. He also blamed legislators' stereotypical view that anyone who votes for cleaner air and water is "some sort of liberal activist."
Some legislators who voted no claim they support higher air quality standards but that the amendments were poorly researched and unfair to industry. If those lawmakers were really concerned about clean air, they would have researched and drafted amendments that they could have supported.
Those who must breathe the polluted air in our communities should remember such statements when they vote in the March primaries and the general election in November. A clean environment shouldn't be a partisan issue, but the Toxic 20 are doing their best to make it one.
The Chron notes that Democrat David Murff will be talking about a familiar name in his campaign against Rep. John Culberson in CD07.
Murff is attempting to connect Culberson to DeLay, R-Sugar Land, who represents the nearby 22nd District and is under indictment on criminal charges relating to campaign fundraising. Democrats hope to use DeLay as a symbol of Republican political corruption."Culberson is tied in with DeLay, as close as he can get," said Murff, a lawyer in private practice.
"It's a matter of time before constituents see who he is and the cronyism he is related with. It's time that we bring integrity and competence back to Washington."
Murff, an Army veteran, says he will focus on veterans' issues, citing the nearly 70,000 veterans who live in the district. And as a father of three young children, he also says he would devote time to education and health care.Murff does not live in the district, although his business is there and he is in the process of finding a house there. U.S. representatives are not required to live in their districts, though most do.
Murff will face Lanier Middle School teacher Jim Henley in the March 7 Democratic primary.
Whoever wins the Democratic nomination will face an uphill battle in a district that has voted 2-1 Republican in recent elections.
In any event, I have believed for some time now that a concentrated GOTV effort inside 610 plus a Democratic candidate with at least a semi-adequate level of funding could bring this district to the edge of competitiveness. Perhaps this year with Tom DeLay being a special guest star on the campaign trail we'll see.
UPDATE: To demonstrate the point about DeLay being featured in campaigns elsewhere in Texas, I just got an email from a Democratic primary contender for a countywide position somewhere. I'm not going to include names because I don't know the players well enough, but consider this quote from the email:
The past in this race is represented by [Incumbent X] [...] whose failed record and old-style political patron style are bogged down cronyism, controversy, and corruption.That's [Incumbent X]'s legacy -- [Nameless] County's very own version of Tom DeLay.
Today is the day that voters in Austin go to the polls to replace Rep. Todd Baxter.
Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. in House District 48, the seat that Baxter, R-Austin, held for almost three years. He resigned in November and now lobbies for the cable industry.Republican Ben Bentzin, Libertarian Ben Easton and Democrats Donna Howard and Kathy Rider are competing for the seat. The top two finishers will meet in a runoff election if nobody grabs a majority of the vote today.
Bentzin is a retired Dell Inc. executive, and Easton is a former teacher. Howard is a former nurse, and Rider is a clinical social worker.
The winner of the election will serve until Baxter's term expires at the end of this year. Normally, the Legislature does not meet in even-numbered years, but Gov. Rick Perry plans to call a special session, most likely in April or May, to address the state's school finance system, which the Texas Supreme Court has ruled unconstitutional.
Perry, a Republican, and U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin, joined Bentzin on Monday to air support for him. Perry, responding to a reporter's query, objected to criticism of Bentzin's support for a pilot program that would let students in failing urban schools attend private schools with government aid.
Any such critiques amount to a "red herring," a "scam" and a "con game" on voters, Perry said, because the high-performing Eanes school district in House District 48 would not be in a pilot.
The House district, however, also includes portions of the Austin, Leander, Lago Vista and Marble Falls school districts. Perry said school vouchers most likely will not be taken up by legislators until at least 2007.
Kids today and their love of plastic.
[Y]oung consumers so consistently reach for debit and credit cards that Visa USA has anointed the age group "Generation Plastic," or "Gen P."Their habits are driving even more merchants to accept debit and credit cards, fueling legal battles over the fees underlying the cards and raising more concerns about the nation's shriveling savings rate.
Plastic payments — including online commerce — now account for 50.4 percent of the spending among consumers ranging from 18- to 24-years-old, with cash and checks making up 41.1 percent of their spending. Consumers 25 to 34 years old spend about 45 percent either way, while everyone older still uses cash and checks at least half the time, according to Visa, the nation's largest payment network.
"All paper-based payments are in retreat," said David Robertson, publisher of The Nilson Report, a newsletter that's been following spending trends since 1970. "People of a certain age don't even know where their checkbook is."
Judy Jostedt, Erica's 55-year-old mother, isn't so sure that's a good thing. Although she uses debit cards more frequently, Judy still writes about a dozen checks each month, partly because she feels her canceled checks help her monitor spending.
"I guess I'm a dinosaur," she said. "I worry that kids today don't even know where all their money is going every month."
It's cash transactions that are easy to overlook, unless you're the anal retentive kind who writes them all down. I sort of track them on a macro level by being vaguely aware of how often I'm hitting the ATM. More than two or three times a month and I know I'm overspending.
Shameful Confessions Department: My first credit card was a Gulf (now ChevronTexaco) card that I got as a first-year grad student in 1988. I didn't get an honest-to-goodness real credit card until I was 25 years old. That led to a few moments of high comedy on a business trip in 1991 when the hotel at which our firm's marketing manager had reserved me a room claimed not to know who I was - you haven't lived until you've wandered the streets of Los Angeles at 2 AM after a late-arriving flight in search of a cash machine - but it all ended well and I learned my lesson about the value of plastic.
Not to go all David Broder on you, but I think both sides have a point here in their reactions to the recent survey of CD22.
"The numbers I saw were encouraging," [Democratic candidate Nick] Lampson said. "They show that the people of this district want a representative who will make headlines for the right reasons, like improving homeland security, fiscal discipline and education."There is a long time between now and Election Day, and we're going to continue working hard for every vote."
I don't believe, by the way, that the outcome of DeLay's money laundering trial in Austin will be the determining factor in this race. Sure, if he's convicted he's toast, though if that happens what it really means is that Lampson will wind up running against someone else. But even if he's acquitted, he's still not necessarily in the clear electorally. Beyond the possibility of the feds turning to him in l'affaire Abramoff, it's also possible that too many people have already given up on him. He may well win back the people who have moved from supporters to undecideds, but that may not be enough. Too early to tell on this, of course, and there are too many variables in play. All I'm saying is that there's more to this election than what happens in Travis County.
Meanwhile, once you get past the puffery here, there is a point to consider:
In the face of those challenges, DeLay's spokeswoman Shannon Flaherty said, "from fundraising to grass-roots volunteers, Congressman DeLay is seeing more support than at any time in his 20 years in Congress.""He is proud to run on a record of faithfully representing conservative Texas values, and voters in this district will take this into consideration more than any media poll," she said.
Finally, on a side note, The Daily DeLay has some feedback from folks who called the local TV stations to complain about their extreme wussiness in refusing to run the anti-DeLay ads.
You may recall from last year several stories about overcrowded jails in Harris County. Well, it turns out that Bexar County has similar problems. As he did for Harris County, Scott at Grits for Breakfast takes a look at what it sunderlying causes are and how they can improve matters. Check it out. Link via The Jeffersonian.
With jury selection in the Lay/Skilling trial imminent, the Chron asks will they get the presumption of innocence?
"As a practical matter, we all do have opinions of whether someone famous has done something wrong or not," University of Houston Law Center professor Robert Schuwerk said. "But presumption of innocence has nothing to do with what goes on outside the courtroom."Lawyers for defendants Lay and Skilling are deeply concerned that come Jan. 30 when 100 potential jurors are seated in a federal courtroom, the presumption of innocence might not be there with them. Several outside observers also share this worry.
[...]
U.S. District Judge Sim Lake and Enron Task Force prosecutors are confident an unbiased jury can be sworn in in Houston. The judge says it can be done in one day.
Schuwerk is one of those who believes a fair jury can be found in this case or just about any case that comes through our judicial system.
"I don't think the presumption of innocence is dead or that it will be hard to find people who will indulge the defendants in this case," Schuwerk said.
There is a big difference between the snap decisions people make day to day and what jurors do when they take a solemn vow to consider only the evidence in court, he said.
''I think people who end up sitting on juries can do it. Lots can't; that's why they have (jury selection)," Schuwerk said.
But Steve Sheppard, a University of Arkansas School of Law professor who has written on the presumption of innocence, thinks pre-trial media coverage makes finding open-minded jurors increasingly difficult.
''One of the most fundamental problems is that though the law demands the presumption of innocence, the culture generally presumes" otherwise, Sheppard said.
''A lot of people are working hard to create presuppositions; the jurors may not even be aware of it," he said. ''All the media attention in the Enron case makes this one harder still."
This won't be an easy case to prove, and the Idiot Defense will be compelling. Whatever happens, don't be too surprised. Link via Tom.
Looks like the Family Feud primary down in HD39 will have to wait until 2008. Rio Grande Valley Politics notes a subscription-only Rio Grande Guardian story that says Jessica Reyes-Martinez has ended her efforts to get on the ballot against her soon-to-be-ex-husband, Rep. Armando Martinez. You'll have to go elsewhere for your dose of political theater, folks.
And according to Greg, there may be some shenanigans a-brewing in the GOP primary for the open HD133, where HCC trustee and municipal management district executive Jim Murphy is running into some friction from people who'd rather he not be on the ballot. Check it out.
Just a few quick thoughts before the 24 premiere. I'm always happy to see bad news for Tom DeLay, but this poll (survey, really - if I understand the distinction correctly, a poll would be weighted by partisan ID and other factors) was taken at a bad time for him, and there's a lot of events to be played out between now and November. I disagree with the notion that an acquittal in Travis County will be his ticket to reelection - among other things, there's still the Abramoff matter, and even an acquittal may be too late to undo some of the damage against DeLay. He's clearly toast if he gets convicted, but as long as l'affaire Abramoff is hanging over his head, he's not out of the woods.
I want to discuss Cragg Hines' column about Steve Stockman and the possible effect he could have on the race. Here's Hines:
At first glance, the presence of archconservative Stockman in the race would seem to be yet another blow to indictee DeLay's chances of hanging on for a 12th term. But if you narrow your eyes just a touch, that's not how a multicandidate race necessarily looks.Not to bring "stalking horse" into the debate, but suffice it to say that Stockman's main target is former Rep. Nick Lampson, who has shifted his political operation a bit to the west and will be the Democratic nominee against DeLay. Stockman confirmed in a Fox News interview last week his intention "to go after Lampson like a pit bull." (The transcript was provided by a Democratic source after Fox proved unaccommodating.)
[...]
Stockman would have an improved shot with a seemingly nonviable DeLay candidacy wrapped albatross-like around the Republican Party's neck. But if DeLay, say, shifted his legal residence to his Washington-area address (or any other beyond the Texas line), the State Republican Executive Committee would likely, until the Aug. 25 cutoff, replace him. It would probably pick some GOP up-and-comer rather than urge a vote for the politically snakebit Stockman, who, if elected, could associate with the Republican House contingent and reclaim old party ties.
[...]
Stockman currently is director of the Campus Leadership Program of a right-wing outfit with headquarters in Arlington, Va., a Washington suburb. A receptionist put me through last week to Stockman's office, where I reached his voice mail and left a message that was not returned.
The CLP is a branch of the Leadership Institute, whose Web site says the group "prepares conservatives for success in politics, government and the news media." It's the brainchild of Morton C. Blackwell, a member of the Republican National Committee from Virginia.
Are you getting a whiff of something funny?
Let's back up a minute. Will Stockman, now 49, really get in the race? So far, all he's done is file a declaration of intent with the Texas secretary of state. It was a spectral enough development that Houston-area bloggers wondered whether it was "the Steve Stockman."
If DeLay is still on the ropes, May 11 is a day Republicans will await warily, fearing the presence of any non-Democratic candidate to whom conservative voters can throw an anti-DeLay vote.
Democrats are more interested in Aug. 25, which, according to the secretary of state's office, is the last day on which a candidate can withdraw and be taken off the ballot.
Those two dates could give Stockman more than three months as a candidate to slam away at Lampson and then possibly withdraw, to DeLay's benefit.
Ultimately, there are three ways Stockman can achieve his goal of pounding on Lampson in an effective way. One is via the right-wing press, including blogs. It's free, but I can't see him reaching many potential swayable Lampson voters that way. Two is by spending money on ads and mailers. If that's his intention, I still don't understand why he wouldn't just form a 527 to do it, and thus avoid any possible ballot confusion. And three is getting mainstream press attention, which his status as a former Congressman and full-time kook may allow him to do. I hope that once the novelty wears off that Stockman will be treated like the sideshow freak he is, but I've no doubt that he'll say or do whatever he has to in order to ensure that he can't be ignored.
All right, I think 24 is starting, so I'm going to end this. If Stockman can pull 11% in a poll taken in, say, March, then maybe he needs to be taken more seriously. Until then, I hope this is the last I'll feel compelled to write about him.
Rick Casey looks at the anti-DeLay ad that the wussy local stations declined to run, and agrees with FactCheck about its veracity. One more day in the news cycle for an ad that would have been remarked on once had it aired as planned. Good strategic move, there, Tom.
This was not a good day to sleep in if you live in my neighborhood. The 2006 Houston Marathon ran through the Woodland Heights early this morning, with the first runner speeding past me on Michaux at about 7:15 AM. Here are a couple of pictures for those of you who missed the action:
The Norhill Esplanade, which was on the back end of the trip through the Heights. These folks are a couple of blocks from making the long run down Studewood/Studemont/Montrose all the way to Mecom Fountain. Here's a PDF map of the whole course.
Michaux Street, which is the entrace to the Heights for the runners - after crossing I-45 on Quitman, they curve around Buffalo Bayou on White Oak, then turn onto Michaux. This picture was taken from Norhill, a block away. By this time, the vast majority of the pack had passed through.
The mandatory Olivia picture. She got the shirt from our friend Al Neil, who did the marathon in about 3:05 (they don't have his finish time yet, but that was his pace).
Congratulations to everyone who completed the Marathon!
I'd heard a rumor on Friday about an upcoming Bob Stein/Richard Murray poll of the 22nd Congressional District. Here it is, and it ain't pretty for Tom DeLay.
Only half of those who cast ballots for DeLay in 2004 said they will do so again. And while a fourth of the 2004 DeLay voters still aren't sure whom they will vote for this year, almost 20 percent have defected to other candidates.[...]
DeLay may be able to win back the undecided voters, Stein and Murray said. "When people lose faith in their previously supported candidates they go to a midpoint. They are parking themselves in the undecided column," Stein said.
In trying to get them back, DeLay starts with the disadvantage of a 60 percent unfavorable rating in the district he has represented for 20 years. Only 28 percent view him very or somewhat favorably, according to the poll.
That's barely half of the 50 percent favorable rating DeLay received in a poll conducted for the Chronicle last spring by Zogby International.
[...]
According to the new poll, 38 percent have changed their opinion of DeLay over the past year. And of those, 91 percent view him less favorably.
Only about half of likely GOP Primary voters now rate DeLay favorably, and only 39 percent are committed to voting for him in March.
When he last faced Republican Primary opposition in 2002, he won 80 percent of the vote.
His opponent that year, lawyer Michael Fjetland, is one of three candidates challenging him for the GOP nomination March 7. The others are former schoolteacher Pat Baig and lawyer Tom Campbell.
So far, the lukewarm support for DeLay among likely primary voters is not benefiting his Republican opponents, who together poll under 10 percent with the rest undecided.
[...]
There's no evidence that DeLay's dwindling support represents a tarnishing of GOP strength in the 22nd District, Stein said.
Forty-two percent identify themselves as Republicans, 27 percent as Democrats and 23 percent as independents. Republican President Bush enjoys a 55 percent approval rating in the district.
Stein and Murray said DeLay is likely to win the Republican primary, but not unscathed.
In the general election, he would face former U.S. Rep Nick Lampson, who is unopposed in the Democratic primary and polls highest among the probable November candidates. DeLay also may be challenged by former Republican Rep. Steve Stockman, who has filed as an independent. Stockman will need to petition for a place on the ballot.
If the general election where held today, DeLay would get 22 percent of the vote, Lampson 30 percent, and Stockman 11 percent. The remainder are undecided or support other candidates. The ballot also will include a Libertarian Party nominee and possibly another independent.
"Any vote Stockman gets is going to come out of Tom DeLay's hide," Murray said. "DeLay's November fate depends on what happens in the real world. He has to be acquitted."
Anyway. I'll have more on this later. The Houston Marathon goes right past my front door this morning, and we've got a family friend running in it, so I'll be back after it's over.
UPDATE: More poll info here - thanks, Juanita.
UPDATE: I drafted this last night before DeLayVsWorld had an analysis of the poll written. He's got one now that you should read.
And as I thought, the rejection of the anti-DeLay ad by Houston's wussy local TV stations has kept it in the news.
"We find that DeLay's lawyer mischaracterized what the ad said, and that the ad contains nothing that is strictly false," said Factcheck.org, a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. "The worst we can say of the ad is that its ambiguous wording" could mislead viewers about the details of DeLay's interactions with former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who has pleaded guilty to corruption charges and is cooperating with a federal investigation of lawmakers and their aides.The review came after a lawyer for DeLay's re-election campaign, Don McGahn, this week contacted four Houston television stations that had sold airtime for the ad. McGahn called the spot "reckless, malicious and false" and hinted that the stations could face legal trouble if they ran it. They didn't.
[...]
With Factcheck.org's analysis in hand, the sponsoring groups are now encouraging Houston residents to contact the stations — KTRK (Channel 13), KRIV (Channel 26), KHOU (Channel 11) and KPRC (Channel 2) — and demand that they air the ad, which has appeared on cable stations in Houston and on the Internet.
The spot "contains important information about what Tom DeLay does in Washington and we think people in Houston need to know," said David Donnelly, national campaigns director of the Public Campaign Action Fund. The stations either did not return calls seeking comment or, when reached, declined to speak about the ad on Friday.
[...]
Factcheck.org said, "The ad's wording was ambiguous ... The ad didn't say DeLay got the money directly, only that it 'allegedly' was to influence his vote. And the Post did in fact state just such an allegation."
The reference to Russian tycoons "could certainly give viewers the impression that DeLay is being accused of worse things than the Post actually reported. But the words are hardly 'the opposite' of the Post's reporting, as DeLay's lawyer claimed."
It started with the demolition of the American Rice silos on Studemont at Washington a decade ago, which gave rise to the construction of townhomes, apartments, and some retail space on the southernmost strip of Studemont, between Allen Parkway and Washington Avenue. Now, with the demolition of the old Ed Sacks Waste Paper Company at 440 Studemont and the inevitable construction of more townhomes, the transformation of this city block from empty/industrial to densely-packed high-end residential is almost complete. The Sacks site, which had looked abandoned to me since I first laid eyes on it in 1989 or so, apparently closed its doors in mid-2004. I was driving by earlier this week when I noticed the big empty space, and figured I ought to take a few pictures before the building starts. They're kinda big, so I'll just link to them:
The entrance gate to the now-empty lot. There's some brochures available for pickup to the left, but I didn't bother getting one.
A closer look at the lot. The construction you see in the background on the left is on the south side of Allen Parkway, just east of the old brick warehouse that fronts onto Montrose. I can't help but think that that's not long for this world. Which is a good thing, considering what an eyesore it is. The housing you see stretches all the way to West Dallas Avenue, and appears to be the last phase of that project, modulo whatever happens to the warehouse.
The agent of change for the waste paper company. The housing behind it is part of Memorial Heights.
Should be interesting to see what winds up there. I'll try to remember to take more pictures as it progresses.
So what exactly was John Carter doing when he was supposed to be at the town hall meeting he scheduled for his constituents? Why, lunching at DFW Airport with his fellow Texas Republican Congressmen trying to decide which horse to back in the scramble to replace Tom DeLay as Majority Leader. So if you live in CD31, now you know where you rate with your representative. Link via Eye on Williamson, who already knew where he stood with Carter.
The Statesman brings us a good story on Tom Campbell, the late entrant into the CD22 GOP primary.
DeLay was popular in his 22nd Congressional District, which covers the southwest suburbs of Houston, until his latest legal troubles. A recent CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll showed 53 percent of registered voters want someone other than DeLay to represent them.Nevertheless, DeLay still enjoys institutional support in Fort Bend County, the Houston suburb that holds most of his district and includes his hometown of Sugar Land. The county Republican Party has adopted a resolution supporting DeLay and the chairman is in DeLay's camp.
"Tom Campbell at least has Republican credentials," Fort Bend County GOP chairman Eric Thode said. "Having said that, it doesn't translate into one iota of support or money. He is 100 percent absolutely unknown in this county."
Campbell's stump remarks gloss over specific issues, focusing instead on his promise to bring "honesty, civility and decency" back to Congress.
Campbell, 50, said after "having a hard time voting for Tom DeLay" in the 2004 election, he looked for someone to challenge DeLay in 2006, but found no GOP career politician willing to take him on. So Campbell, who's never held a political office, decided to run himself, figuring it was an act of Republican loyalty to challenge the party's troubled standard-bearer.
"If we don't clean house in March, we'll lose the House in November," Campbell said. "Sugar Land, Texas, is the epicenter of the national debate on how we conduct politics."
Campbell, a 12-year Sugar Land resident who has put his own money into the race, has less than $100,000 so far after announcing his candidacy in December, said campaign manager Mike Stanley, former general counsel to the Harris County GOP. DeLay had raised more than $1 million by the last reporting deadline in September.
DeLay also faces lawyer Mike Fjetland and retired teacher Pat Baig. The primary winner will face former U.S. Rep. Nick Lampson, a Beaumont Democrat who represented a district next to DeLay's for eight years until DeLay's redistricting plan put him in a new, less Democratic district. Lampson lost in 2004 to longtime Houston judge Ted Poe, a Republican.
While DeLay's campaign spokeswoman, Shannon Flaherty, has dismissed Fjetland and Baig with disparaging quips, she said DeLay welcomes Campbell to the race and to hearing his ideas.
"But he's going to have a tough time with local GOP support," Flaherty said. "He's got more than 30 years of catching up to do."
First, Fort Bend County does not hold most of CD22. It barely holds a plurality, based on votes cast in the 2004 election:
County Votes cast Pct
=========================
Fort Bend 109,829 40.3
Harris 109,565 40.2
Brazoria 31,053 11.4
Galveston 22,173 8.1
As for DeLay's support in Fort Bend, I don't question the assertion that the FBGOP is in his corner. We'll see what the primary voters have to say - it sure would look bad if DeLay doesn't win going away after all this tough talk and all these pro-DeLay resolutions, wouldn't it? - but sure, the establishment there is still holding Tom's hand. Getting past the primary, however, DeLay didn't fare so well in his home county:
County Votes cast Pct
=========================
Harris 64,590 58.9
Brazoria 18,159 58.5
Fort Bend 58,444 53.2
Galveston 9,193 41.5
The Harris County portion of CD22 is also partly where Nick Lampson once served; he also represented part of the Galveston area. Which brings me to DeLayVsWorld and a couple of points I want to make. First, from DvsW:
It's worth pointing out: Lampson lost two years ago in a LESS Republican district as the incumbent, gaining only 43% to now-Congressman Ted Poe's 55%. Further, that district contained Jefferson County, which Lampson had represented for years as Congressman and county tax assessor.
And while it's true about CD02 containing Lampson's home turf of Jefferson County, there's a little context that needs to be added to that:
County Poe vote Poe Pct Lampson vote Lampson Pct
=======================================================
Harris 103,244 70.35 40,809 27.80
Jefferson 28,125 30.97 61,893 68.15
Liberty 8,582 59.25 5,454 37.65
So how did the 2002 version of Lampson compare with DeLay in 2004 in the precincts that overlap the two districts?
2002Candidate Office Votes Pct
==================================
Lampson CD09 12,467 49.9
Sharp Lt Gov 11,256 45.1
Kirk Senate 10,792 42.9
Watson Atty Gen 10,097 40.7
Sanchez Governor 10,099 40.3Dem total - Lampson 42,244 42.3
2004Candidate Office Votes Pct
==================================
Bush Pres 25,810 57.5
Brister Sup Ct 23,581 55.0
Keasler CCA 22,883 53.6
Carillo RR Comm 22,397 53.3
DeLay CD22 21,813 50.6GOP total - DeLay 94,671 54.9
A few days ago, The Red State noted that there will be a Libertarian candidate running along with Democrat Juan Garcia against incumbent Gene Seamon.
In the last contested race for this district, Gene Seaman underperformed by about 4%. In 2002 Libertarian House Races where there were 3 or more candidates, they averaged 3.34% of the vote. If you include races where they were the only challenger, they took 5.92% of the vote. In 2004, it was 2.64% and 7.79% respectively.
Overall, this is a banner year for the Libertarian Party of Texas, at least in terms of ballot coverage.
A record 187 candidates have filed with the Libertarian Party of Texas to run this year for federal, state and district offices across Texas, party officials said.That surpasses the mark of 110 candidates in 2002 and doesn't include Libertarians who have filed for county-level offices.
Libertarians have filed to run in 30 of the state's 32 congressional districts, 11 of the 16 state Senate districts and 97 of the 150 Texas House districts. Libertarians also have filed to run for all statewide elected offices except presiding judge of the Court of Criminal Appeals.
HD11 - Hopson (D)
HD12 - McReynolds (D)
HD17 - R Cook (D)
HD32 - Seaman (R)
HD35 - Gonzales Toureilles (D)
HD45 - Rose (D)
HD47 - Open (R)
HD48 - Open (R, for now)
HD50 - Strama (D)
HD69 - Farabee (D)
HD85 - Open (D)
HD93 - Goodman (R)
HD102 - Goolsby (R)
HD106 - Open (R)
HD118 - Open (D)
HD133 - Open (R)
HD134 - Wong (R)
HD149 - Vo (D)
While I do think that a Lib candidate is more likely to pull voters from an incumbent Republican than a challenger Democrat, I'm not so sure that this is true for a Republican challenger to an incumbent Democrat. As such, I'm not going to make any broad statements about what effect the Lib candidates may have in these or any other contested races. I think this is bad news for Seaman, just as I think it was good news for Mark Strama in 2004 when he took out first-term GOP Rep. Jack Stick, but it's all pretty fuzzy. Worth watching, but fuzzy.
Finally, the true Lucky Duckies who have no primary or general opponents at all, not even a Libertarian:
HD21 - Ritter (D)
HD30 - Morrison (R)
HD40 - Pena (D)
HD41 - Gonzales (D)
HD44 - Kuempel (R)
HD56 - Anderson (R)
HD67 - Madden (R)
HD74 - Gallego (D)
HD77 - Moreno (D)
HD80 - King (D)
HD82 - Craddick (R)
HD92 - T Smith (R)
HD115 - Jackson (R)
HD119 - Puente (D)
HD128 - W Smith (R)
HD135 - Elkins (R)
Sixteen out of 150, or a smidge more than 10%. Not too bad from a pure democracy standpoint, I suppose.
Ellen Cohen, running to oust State Rep. Martha Wong in HD134, will have her campaign kickoff at her new headquarters, 4950 Bissonet, Suite 100, in Bellaire, on Thursday, January 19, from 6 to 8 PM. Apparently, former Houston Rockets broadcaster Lisa Malosky will introduce her, according to the press release I got. Now that's what I call icing on the cake. I'll be there if I can.
Eye on Williamson brings a first-person account of the Texas Tax Reform Commission's Monday meeting in El Paso. The one worthwhile regular media account that I can find is here. Next on the schedule is January 18 in Temple.
Last month, a lawsuit was filed by a collection of pro-environment and anti-toll road forces to halt construction on a toll road being built alongside US 281from north San Antonio into Comal County. On Wednesday they scored a victory when the Federal Highway Administration pulled their environmental clearances on the projects.
In late November, crews began clearing trees and putting up silt fences to prepare for construction of a three-mile segment of frontage roads and toll lanes — 16 lanes at the widest points — on the Edwards Aquifer recharge zone just north of Loop 1604.Construction was supposed to start Monday but didn't. TxDOT officials said they were ready to make an announcement Tuesday but have been waiting for their statement to be approved by the state Attorney General's office.
Aquifer Guardians in Urban Areas and People for Efficient Transportation Inc. filed the lawsuit Dec. 2 in federal court, saying a proper impact study hadn't been done. That was followed weeks later by a motion for an injunction, which is now moot.
The groups say TxDOT should have done a better job evaluating effects on the aquifer, wildlife, air pollution, businesses, motorists who will pay tolls or fight increased traffic congestion, and residents facing unhealthy noise levels.
The Highway Administration sent a letter signed by Assistant Division Administrator Achille Alonzi and dated Jan. 11 to TxDOT Director Michael Behrens to say that new environmental evaluations need to be done.
Nothing was wrong with the previous assessments, the letter says. However, it acknowledges:
"We can see that a portion of the public may not agree with our decision."
The letter indicates that TxDOT has agreed to redo the environmental assessments. But now just one will be done for both U.S. 281 projects.
When the assessments are finished, federal officials will then decide if there are no significant impacts, as they did last time, or whether a full impact study should follow as called for in the lawsuit.
That's where the fight could resume.
"We continue to believe that a full environmental impact statement is required," said Annalisa Peace of Aquifer Guardians.
The GOP primary challenger to State Rep. David Swinford won her court case to get back on the ballot.
The court directed Tina Benkiser, chairwoman of the Republican Party of Texas to certify Anette Carlisle as a candidate for the 87th District seat against incumbent David Swinford.The GOP had said her position on the school board disqualified her under the Texas Constitution from seeking a legislative seat.
The court said an opinion would follow its order.
"We're very appreciative of the court's judgment," said attorney Don Dean, who represents Carlisle.
[...]
Carlisle sought the court's intervention Wednesday after she was disqualified by the state GOP. Benkiser cited a provision in the Texas Constitution that prevents any person holding a "lucrative office" from running for the Legislature.
Though school board members by state law cannot be paid, Carlisle was allowed to collect per diem for travel. The Republican Party argued that any payment beyond a member's actual expenses becomes pay.
In her petition to the court, Carlisle said that her actual expenses greatly exceeded any reimbursement she receives.
Dean said the ruling appears to put to rest the issue of whether members of non-paid school boards can run for the Legislature without resigning as trustees. Six other active school board members are running for the House in the March Republican primary.
Common sense has moved to the top of the Republican Party hit list, the place where intelligence no longer matters.Anette Carlisle, an Amarillo school board member who also wants to run in the Republican Party primary for the Texas House of Representatives, at this moment is a candidate without portfolio.
The Texas Republican Party has removed Carlisle from the March 7 primary ballot because, the GOP says, she cannot run for the Legislature while holding another "lucrative" public office.
[...]
At issue is a provision in the Texas Constitution that bars officeholders from seeking another public office. The state GOP seems to believe that Carlisle receives a per diem payment for her service, when in fact she is reimbursed only for expenses - such as food and lodging - she incurs while on school district business.
And that, says the GOP, constitutes a "lucrative" public office.
What utter nonsense.
[...]
The court should act immediately to get this matter resolved, hopefully in way that restores common sense to this messy issue.
If the court acts correctly, then the Republican voters of House District 87 can focus their attention on more important things, such as which of these candidates - Swinford or Carlisle - is better suited to represent their interests in the next Texas Legislature.
Also in the story, a Montgomery County candidate gets restored, a Democrat stays on the ballot in Tom Green County, and Carole Keeton "Why ask Y?" Strayhorn will not be disqualified for her spelling errors. As PinkDome notes, at least they kept their sense of humor over this one.
The Democratic primary for SD19 just got more interesting.
State Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, is taking the unusual step of publicly opposing a colleague by endorsing a challenger in a Texas Senate district reaching from San Antonio to El Paso.State Rep. Carlos Uresti, D-San Antonio, is challenging 12-year veteran Sen. Frank Madla in the March 7 Democratic primary.
Madla is not a reliable vote for the interests of the district that tilts heavily Democrat, Shapleigh said.
"After 30 years in Austin, the people need to ask Frank, 'Who owns your heart?'" Shapleigh said.
Shapleigh's involvement in Madla's race raises some eyebrows because senators, who consider themselves members of an elite club, seldom directly involve themselves in a colleague's political contest.
"That's highly unusual," said Joe Garcia, a longtime Capitol lobbyist.
Madla has done a good job for his district, and his reputation as a swing vote makes him an important member of the Senate, Garcia said.
[...]
Because of Senate tradition and rules, 11 senators from the 31-member body can block legislation. But Democrats can't count on Madla, Shapleigh said, citing Madla's support for debate on such bills allowing school vouchers, cutting children from Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program or shifting taxes from wealthy Texans to middle-class families.
"The first vote that the (Senate) Republicans go to get is Frank Madla's," Shapleigh said.
A state representative who shares nine counties with Madla said the senator does a good job representing their common constituents on water, economic, transportation and funding issues."How he plays the game and whether he's a hard-core right-wing guy or a hard core left-wing guy, I don't think folks where I live care," Rep. Pete Gallego, D-Alpine, said. "They want somebody who gets the job done — where they can see a difference."
By voting with Republicans to allow debate on certain controversial issues, Gallego said, Madla "allows the process to move forward."
"I know that he's motivated by the right thing," Gallego said.
For sure, Shapleigh's endorsement is a hit among the local bloggers, plus of course PinkDome. I don't live in San Antonio, but I like this as well. We'll see if any other incumbents take Uresti's side on this one. Shapleigh's full statement is beneath the fold.
(EL PASO) - Democratic State Senator Eliot Shapleigh of El Paso today endorsed challenger Carlos Uresti in the March 7 primary for Senate District 19, saying the district needs "a new energy and a new direction" to meet the challenges facing it.
"Carlos will bring a new energy, and put people first when it comes to votes in Austin," Shapleigh said. "He will be an independent voice, one who asks what does this bill do to our families, not just a rubber stamp for the failed leadership in Austin. Over the years that Carlos and I have worked together, he has been a strong voice for our children and our families."
Shapleigh said that incumbent senator Frank Madla is a friend and colleague, but he has crossed the line on a series of critical votes on water resources, children's health, and other important issues.
"Frank voted to cut 500,000 children from CHIP and Medicaid," Shapleigh said. "He voted to hike taxes on 94 percent of the people I represent, then cut taxes for the wealthiest 6 percent. And he voted to privatize public schools and hand them from elected school boards to distant corporations."
"But Frank Madla really crossed the line when he filed and fought for a bill that ended the right to vote for 75,000 of the people I represent in El Paso's Water Improvement District," Shapleigh said. "I understand that he likes to get along with the Republican leadership. But no vote, no trade, no chairmanship is worth the harm to our children and our future. His voting record is a declaration of war on the children of Texas."
In backing Uresti, Shapleigh is endorsing a former Marine who has served in the Texas House since 1997, where he led the effort to reform the state's Child Protective and Adult Protective Services. Uresti co-founded the Bexar County Blue Ribbon Task Force against child abuse and neglect, and has served as chairman of the House Committee on Government Reform, the House Veterans' Coalition, and the powerful Ways and Means Committee.
Uresti said Shapleigh's endorsement adds to the momentum of his campaign throughout the district, which stretches through all or part of 23 counties from San Antonio to El Paso.
"Eliot Shapleigh embodies the kind of independent spirit and bold leadership that is reshaping our region," Uresti said. "He is a strong champion for great schools, healthcare for children, veterans, and our elderly. He heads our state's BRAC effort. His support for my candidacy sends a strong signal that voters are looking for change, not the status quo, and a new direction, not just the same old failed politics."
The next best thing to having an advertisement run on TV is having its cancellation by scaredy-cat station managers turn into a news story, especially one that may last multiple days. Heck, if the stations refund your money for not running the ad, you may come out ahead this way.
Liberal groups Public Campaign Action Fund and Campaign for America's Future bought a week's worth of time slots for a commercial highlighting ethical questions about DeLay's close dealings with lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who pleaded guilty to corruption charges last week and is cooperating with a federal investigation of his contacts with congressmen and their aides.DeLay has denied wrongdoing and has not been charged with any crime in connection with the case.
DeLay attorney Don McGahn implied in a letter Tuesday that the stations would be legally responsible for airing falsehoods about DeLay if the ads ran as scheduled.
KTRK (Channel 13) decided Tuesday to withhold the ad. KPRC (Channel 2), KHOU (Channel 11) and KRIV (Channel 26), which provide local news programming, decided Wednesday against starting the commercials that day.
McGahn's letter served to "alert me that there may be inconsistencies in the ad," said KHOU President and General Manager Peter Diaz, but he would not specify what elements of the ad were inconsistent.
The other stations declined to discuss their decisions.
[...]
Dallas attorney Joe Chumlea, who has handled several libel and defamation cases, said McGahn likely would not have had a strong legal case against stations running the ad because the Supreme Court provides broadcasters with the highest level of protection when it comes to political ads.
Broadcasters can only be liable for damages if they air something that they know is false or recklessly ignore the fact that it could be, he said, but someone such as McGahn telling a broadcaster that an ad is false doesn't meet the standard.
Shorter Chron story: When Tom DeLay suffers, we all hurt with him.
[W]hen embattled Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land, stepped down permanently as House majority leader Saturday, Texas found itself without a rainmaker in a top congressional leadership role."It has been essentially a Texas right to lead one house of Congress or the other for most of the 20th century," said Cal Jillson, an expert on Texas politics at Southern Methodist University.
[...]
[W]ith DeLay's departure from the leadership, the top ranks of the House and Senate are void of Texas twangs, and there aren't any custom-made cowboy boots parked under a committee chairman's seat other than [Smoky Joe] Barton's.
[...]
In an interview with the Houston Chronicle on Saturday, DeLay made no bones about the likelihood that his absence from the leadership would hinder his ability to help the region.
"The majority leader controls what comes to the floor, and the Houston-Galveston area has benefited from that. That changes now," he said. He pointedly added that critics who "never gave me an even shake ought to think about that."
And if we're going to whine about lost influence, let's not forget this:
Having DeLay in place was vital when federal money was needed for the space program, relief for Hurricane Katrina victims, the Texas Medical Center and other local projects, said Bob Stein, a Rice University political scientist and pollster.But, Stein said, the Texas leadership void is in large part one of DeLay's legacies to the state since he spearheaded the controversial 2003 redistricting effort that placed so many freshman members in Congress from Texas — and booted out Democrats with decades of seniority.
The redistricting led to the loss of seats by two high-ranking Texas Democrats, Reps. Charlie Stenholm of Avoca and Martin Frost of Dallas.
The Chron notes an impeding court case resulting from a primary ballot disqualification.
An Amarillo school board member who was disqualified in a bid to challenge a powerful House member took her fight to get on the Republican ballot to the Texas Supreme Court on Wednesday.Anette Carlisle was disqualified from the March primary ballot last week by state GOP Chairwoman Tina Benkiser, who cited a provision in the Texas Constitution that prevents any person holding a "lucrative office" from running for the Legislature.
Though school board members by state law cannot be paid, some are allowed to collect per diem for their travel. Benkiser referenced the Amarillo district's policy allowing trustees to be reimbursed for lodging and meals at the rate established by the state for key officials.
In her petition to the high court, Carlisle argues that reimbursement for expenses alone does not render an office lucrative.
"Even if there is evidence that (Carlisle) received some sort of flat rate or per diem to cover travel expenses, the actual expenses greatly exceeded any reimbursement she received," the petition states.
There's also a question of consistency.
Several members serving in the Legislature ran from positions as school board members. Rep. Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands, said he was a member of the Conroe school board when he ran for the House in 2002.He said lawyers advised him he would not be disqualified because the only money he had received from the district was reimbursement for actual expenses.
"It's a gray area," said Eissler, who resigned from the school board in November 2002 after winning election.
Adding to the confusion, the state and Montgomery County Republican parties reached opposite conclusions concerning two legislative candidates who serve on a groundwater conservation district board.
The Texas GOP disqualified Conroe-area businessman David Kleimann from the race for Senate District 3, but county Chairman Wally Wilkerson Jr. said he decided that Brandon Creighton could remain on the ballot for House District 16.
"After speaking to lawyers over the weekend, no one lawyer agreed with the other. For that reason, I gave the benefit of the doubt to the candidate and ruled he was eligible," Wilkerson said.
Amusing side note:
In another strange candidate filing story, an attorney for Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn misspelled her last name twice when submitting a declaration of her intent to run as an independent candidate for governor. Prominent Austin lawyer Roy Minton said he was responsible for dropping the "y" in Strayhorn on the paperwork.
And finally, another court case:
Ballot challenges also have been used in judicial races this year. Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Charles Holcomb was disqualified in his bid to seek re-election because he failed to get sufficient signatures on a petition to place his name on the ballot for another term.Holcomb said Wednesday that he will go to court to try to keep his candidacy alive.
His GOP opponent, state Rep. Terry Keel, challenged Holcomb's petitions as well as defects in petitions submitted by another candidate for the same seat, state District Judge Robert Francis of Dallas. A state district judge in Travis County ruled Tuesday that Francis should not be on the ballot.
Some candidates complained that ballot applications for Texas' judicial races have become so long and unwieldy that the possibilities for error are endless. On each page is a litany of blank spaces and boxes that require signatures, office names and numbers, dates and notarized stamps. Candidates must gather signatures from at least 50 voters in each of the state's 14 appellate court districts.The ballot application submitted by Texas Supreme Court Justice Don R. Willett was 373 pages. Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson's ran 204 pages.
Didn't anyone ever tell Rep. John Carter that it's tacky to schedule a town hall meeting and then not show up for it? I'm sure Mary Beth Harrell wouldn't do that. Maybe Carter should choose his friends more carefully.
I've mentioned before that the GOP declined to challenge two of the State House Democratic leaders, even though they live in fairly red districts. One such leader, though, Rep. Garnet Coleman of Houston's HD147, does face a challenge in the March Democratic primary. He could use a little help, and I've got a post on Texas Tuesdays that says how you can give it. Please take a look and give a hand to one of the good guys.
Dot Nelson-Turnier is running in north Harris County's HD150 against incumbent Rep. Debbie "Pit of Hell" Riddle. She's the first Democrat to make a run for that seat since at least 1990. Perry did a brief email interview with her, which you can read here. Check it out, especially if you're in that area and have been looking for someone other than a Republican to wage a campaign there.
The coelacanth, an ancient fish that was thought to have disappeared with the dinosaurs until one was discovered in 1938, is feared to be in danger of extinction for real thanks to a thoroughly modern predator: deep-sea trawlers.
It was in August 2004 that the local fisheries authority first received a phone call saying fishermen in Kigombe had caught a 'strange' fish. Officials went to check and to their amazement found two specimens of Latimira chalumnae - the coelacanth. Over the next five months 19 more were netted - weighing between 25kg and 80kg. Another appeared last January, then there was a gap until the fish again turned up as The Observer visited.The numbers are perplexing officials of the Tanga Coastal Zone Conservation and Development Programme, which has a long-term strategy for protecting the species, with the help of Irish aid. They see a connection with trawling - especially by big Japanese vessels - near the coelacanth's habitat, as within a couple of days of trawlers casting their nets coelacanths have turned up in shallow-water nets intended for sharks.
Hassan Kolombo, a programme co-ordinator, said. 'Once we do not have trawlers, we don't get the coelacanths, it's as simple as that.' His colleague, Solomon Makoloweka, said they had been pressuring the Tanzanian government to limit trawlers' activities. He said: 'I suppose we should be grateful to these trawlers, because they have revealed this amazing and unique fish population. but we are concerned they could destroy these precious things. We want the government to limit their activity and to help fund a proper research programme so that we can learn more about the coelacanths and protect them.'
Lost returned from holiday hiatus last night (it's still on my TiVo - I was at the Rice-UH basketball game), and its creative team had some interesting things to say about the show's existential future.
"Basically, Lost is one of those things," says executive producer Carlton Cuse, "where you have to appreciate the journey and try not to worry about the endpoint. We're not in control of the endpoint."[...]
"The reality is," [co-creator Damon] Lindelof says, "that Carlton, myself, J.J. (co-creator J.J. Abrams), the creative brains behind the Lost universe, we could all band together and say, 'We're ending the show after three seasons because that's the arc. They get off the island, and we reveal all the things we want to reveal.'
"And the network would say, 'No, you won't.' They will hire somebody and do Lost, with or without you."
[...]
[I]f you're a dedicated fan of J.J. Abrams' other ABC show, the spy drama Alias — which has a plot so convoluted that explaining it could cause a cerebral hemorrhage — you've long since learned not to sweat the small stuff.
"We suggest you do the same on Lost," Lindelof says. "That's between the lines here. If you're watching the show because you're waiting for the big answers to come, you have to understand that by the nature of what it is — it's not a movie, it's not a series of movies, it's not a trilogy, it's not a miniseries — it's going to be on the air for as long as ABC wants to keep it on the air.
"How can you ever possibly think that Lost will end in a satisfying way? Carlton and I can almost guarantee you that it will not."
Thought for the day: In a world that contains Go Fug Yourself, do we still, cosmically speaking, need Mister Blackwell and his annual list? Maybe it's a generational thing that will eventually pass, I don't know. You have to give the old boy props for continuing to get this kind of publicity out of an annual press release and some admittedly still decent snark. But why wait for a year when you can have stuff like this or this or especially this any blessed day of the week? It's a mystery, I tell you.
Relief pitcher Bruce Sutter is the lone inductee to baseball's Hall of Fame this year.
Sutter, the first pitcher elected to the Hall with no career starts, was listed on 76.9 percent of the ballots cast by 10-year members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America. The split-finger pioneer collected 400 of a record 520 ballots."It was a call that you always hope for, but you never really expect it to happen," Sutter said, adding that he cried when he received the notification. "I didn't think it would affect me or hit me as hard as it did."
Players needed 390 votes (75 percent) to gain election. Boston Red Sox slugger Jim Rice fell 53 short, finishing second with 337 votes (64.8 percent), one ahead of reliever Goose Gossage.
[...]
Andre Dawson was fourth with 317 votes, followed by Bert Blyleven (277), Lee Smith (234), Jack Morris (214), Tommy John (154) and Steve Garvey (135).
[...]
Sutter said fellow relievers Gossage and Smith also should be in the Hall.
"I just think sometimes that the voters try to compare us with the starting pitchers," he said. "We can't compete with their statistics, their innings or their strikeouts. I think if you compare us against each other, I think you'll see we're all pretty equal. ... Without us, it's tough to win."
Let's try something here. Sutter threw the fewest innings, by far, of the three pitchers. Let's use Sutter's career as a baseline, then subtract it from the careers of Gossage and Smith to see what they did above and beyond Sutter's performance. Come on, it'll be fun!Same:
W L G SV IP H R ER HR BB SO ERA
Sutter 68 71 661 300 1042.3 879 370 328 77 309 861 2.83
Smith 68 71 661 300 1042.3 879 370 328 77 309 861 2.83
Gossage 68 71 661 300 1042.3 879 370 328 77 309 861 2.83
Different:
W L G SV IP H R ER HR BB SO ERA
Sutter 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---
Smith 3 21 361 178 247.0 254 105 106 12 177 390 3.86
Gossage 56 36 341 10 767.0 618 300 277 42 423 641 3.25
Do you see the problem here? Sutter's career value isn't just behind that of the other two; it's so far behind them that to induct Sutter is to set the bar in a place that forces you to vote for Gossage, Smith and a whole hell of a lot of other guys in the next 15 years. Smith, who no one really takes seriously as a candidate, vote totals aside, had Sutter's career and then three whole seasons on top of that of league-average relief pitching. Gossage had Sutter's career and another ten seasons of work. Each was, at minimum, 20 wins more valuable than Sutter in their careers.
It's not that Sutter is a bad choice for the Hall - as Jay Jaffe says, there are worse players currently enshrined. It's that Sutter wasn't the best player on the ballot, and it's not really close - besides Gossage, there's still Bert Blyleven, who at least had a nice jump in his vote total this year. The writers tend to err on the side of not electing anyone questionable instead of letting everyone in a la the Veterans Committee. This time, though, they blew it.
A district court judge has issued a summary judgment in favor of last year's City Proposition 2, which was a revenue cap measure that was passed by the voters but not implemented because a different proposition got more votes.
The city had argued that a limited cap backed by the mayor, called Proposition 1, took precedence because it received more votes. Backers of Proposition 2, put on the ballot by resident petition, said the city had to put both caps into effect, and sought a court order.In a summary judgment issued late Monday, state District Judge Tad Halbach agreed with the Proposition 2 plaintiffs.
The city will appeal the ruling, which the mayor and controller say has no immediate practical effect on city revenues since this year's budget was written to allow for both revenue caps.
"We will work through this and straighten it out," White said. "I don't think it will be a problem in the next fiscal year. So long as Prop 2 is out there, and if we don't get this cleaned up in the courts or in the charter, it could threaten our bond rating."
Under Proposition 1, the city caps annual increases in property tax revenue and water and sewer rates to the combined rates of population growth and inflation. Proposition 2 would limit annual revenue increases from all sources — including aviation and convention money — to the combined rates of population growth and inflation.
White maintains that implementing Proposition 2 could lead to restrictions in the city's ability to invest in police and public safety, meet the needs of the water and sewer system, and expand airport service.
Bad news for Fort Bend County District Clerk Glory Hopkins: The 14th Court of Appeals denied her request to be added back to the GOP primary ballot.
"Basically, they (appeals court) take the position that there has to be a statutory violation by the election official before they can grant the relief we are asking for," [attorney Dick Tate, who is representing Hopkins,] said.The justices concluded that Hopkins' failure to file her application in a timely manner was not caused by any violations made by Republican Party Chairman Eric Thode.
The opinion was issued by Justices Wanda McKee Fowler, Richard H. Edelman and Eva Guzman.
Hopkins, 62, filed a writ of mandamus Friday asking the court to place her name on the ballot because she made a good-faith effort when she mailed the application.
She used a ZIP code obtained from a Dec. 5 e-mail newsletter that Thode sent to several hundred people in Fort Bend County.
However, the ZIP code was wrong, and Hopkins' registered letter was not delivered before the Jan. 2 deadline.
"It never would have occurred to me to check on his ZIP code," Hopkins said last week.
Thode also said he was disappointed the court did not order Hopkins put on the ballot.
"It is good for voters to have a choice," Thode said Tuesday.
Tate hoped the appeals court would grant the writ, saying recent legal decisions have shown that Texas courts have been interpreting the election code to avoid unreasonable and unfair results.
According to an affidavit by Fort Bend County Elections Administrator Steve Raborn [...] ballots must be printed and ready for use at least 38 days prior to election day. And, Raborn said, he needs three days more to finalize ballot proofs. That means the ballot cannot be changed after Jan. 25.
At least Hopkins will have a convenient scapegoat for when she cries in her beer about this. Some would-be candidates don't even have that. Take Aaron Pena's advice, people: Use cashier's checks.
Elsewhere, Rio Grande Valley Politics has a couple of related items. First is an update on the Family Feud Primary in HD39, where Jessica Reyes-Martinez is threatening to stir up trouble for a different officeholder, State Rep. Kino Flores, whom she alleges had a similar filing application oversight as she. And then there's HD42, where State Rep. Richard Raymond is attempting to get Mercurio Martinez, Jr. kicked off the ballot for (you guessed it) an improper filing. The fun never ends, at least not until all the lawsuits are decided.
Finally, former State Rep. Terry Keel appears to have won a seat on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals the old-fashioned way: by eliminating the competition. In the Pink has the story and a photo of Keel that's sure to appear on the dust jacket of his first novel. Check it out.
Grits explores the economics of fines levied for misdemeanor offenses and the methods used to collect them. Check it out.
Remember the Texas casino that then-AG John Cornyn shut down with a lawsuit? The one where Jack Abramoff and Ralph Reed were playing both sides of the fence and getting a handsome payoff for it? What was the one name missing from all this up till now? You guessed it.
Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay tried to pressure the Bush administration into shutting down an Indian-owned casino that lobbyist Jack Abramoff wanted closed — shortly after a tribal client of Abramoff's donated to a DeLay political action committee, The Associated Press has learned.The Texas Republican demanded closure of the casino, owned by the Alabama-Coushatta tribe of Texas, in a Dec. 11, 2001 letter to then-Attorney General John Ashcroft. The Associated Press obtained the letter from a source who did not want to be identified because of an ongoing federal investigation of Abramoff and members of Congress.
"We feel that the Department of Justice needs to step in and investigate the inappropriate and illegal actions by the tribe, its financial backers, if any, and the casino equipment vendors," said the letter, which was also signed by Texas Republican Reps. Pete Sessions, John Culberson and Kevin Brady.
Sessions' political action committee received $6,500 from Abramoff's tribal clients within three months after signing the letter. A spokeswoman for Sessions said he considers gaming a state issue. She said the tribe was circumventing state law and Sessions signed the letter in defense of Texas laws.
Ashcroft never took action on the request. The Texas casino was closed the following year by a federal court ruling in a 1999 lawsuit filed by the state's attorney general, John Cornyn, now a U.S. senator.
If that article isn't long enough for you, read this analysis of this whole thing, including the harsh words that Sen. Cornyn has for his former colleague Ralph Reed. Whoever runs against Cornyn in 2008 will not lack for campaign material, that's for sure. Link via The Agonist.
How much less should you be paying in property taxes? John Sharp says thirty-three percent less, but there's a catch.
Sharp said it would be a mistake for the Legislature to impose a permanent, lower cap on school taxes because it could soon land the state back in court over school funding.[...]
Sharp predicted the high court ruling will finally motivate lawmakers to agree on a new, broad-based business tax as a major revenue source. Disagreement over a business tax was a major stumbling block against efforts to change the school funding system during three sessions last year.
"The devil is always in the details. ... But I think that, in order for this to work, you cannot have a situation where only one in every 15 or 16 businesses in the state of Texas pay anything at all into a business tax. It's going to have to be something that everyone participates in," Sharp said.
"I think the Supreme Court deadline goes a long way and maybe is the crucial link in getting this to pass," he added. "The worst that could happen in this situation is that all of a sudden you wind up with schools shut down, and I think that's going to be an impetus in making it work."
[...]
Sharp said he hopes the commission will recommend enough funding to the Legislature to cut school maintenance taxes to $1 per $100. Paying for those cuts would cost the state $5.2 billion to $5.5 billion a year, he said.
But, he added, it would be wrong, based on the Supreme Court's ruling, for the Legislature to impose another arbitrary cap, even a significantly lower one, because eventually it too may limit districts' options.
"If you're going to cap it, you've got to do it in different ways," he said, suggesting the Legislature, instead, could reward districts with more state money for keeping their property taxes low.
"That would put a burden on the state, but then that's kind of what we're talking about anyway, making sure that it (school funding) doesn't go back to where the state is the minority player," he added.
Simply lowering the cap won't make the system comply with the Texas Supreme Court's opinion on what would be legal, Cruz said.The tax cap was intended to be a locally levied tax. But the Texas Supreme Court ruled that school districts no longer have discretion to set their own rates because they are required to fund state and federal education mandates - which eat up much of the property tax revenue - and still not tax above the cap.
The rate has become both a minimum and maximum taxing level, the court ruled. That amounts to a prohibited statewide property tax, which makes the system unconstitutional.
Until districts have discretion to set their own rates, the tax remains illegal, Cruz said.
As a reminder, the TTRC is still holding meetings across the state. Here's their schedule. If you attend one of these, please let me know how it goes.
Had enough of the Draft Vince Young hype in the last week or so? Here's a little cold water for those who've decided that Reggie Bush isn't good enough any more, courtesy of the statheads at Football Outsiders. I tend to agree with the conclusion, that Young has a huge upside but is also a huge gamble, while Bush is almost certain to help the team right away. Read it for yourself and see what you think. I'm just glad I'm not the one being paid to make that decision.
Banjo and Scott are Young partisans, while John Lopez and Kevin stick with Reggie. You can count me - for the first time in my life, I might add - as a Bush supporter. Now watch the Texans screw it all up by trading down for a bunch of fungible picks. It'd be the fitting thing for them to do.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bob Gammage kicked off his campaign yesterday in Sugar Land.
Gammage began his "Set the Record Straight" campaign tour in Sugar Land — part of the district he represented in Congress and the home of U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay, whom Democrats hope to use as a poster boy for Republican political corruption.Gammage, 67, a former legislator, congressman and Texas Supreme Court justice, had a 25-year public career before leaving office 10 years ago. Chris Bell, a former congressman and Houston city councilman, is Gammage's most prominent opponent in the March 7 primary.
But Gammage says he is not running against Bell or his other primary opponents, Felix Alvarado and Rashad Jafer.
"I don't intend to say anything derogatory about any Democrat," Gammage said in Sugar Land. "Anyone of us is better than what we've got."
Instead Gammage focused on what he said is the "corrupt political machine that has betrayed the public trust and turned its back on hard-working Texas families."
Gammage has quite the ambitious schedule for the next few days. He's getting some decent press coverage along the way. As Vince notes, many stories pick up on Gammage's role in the cleanup of the State House in the wake of the Sharpstown scandal from 1973, often mentioning fellow "Dirty Thirty" candidates Ben Grant and Fred Head as well. It's not too shabby a narrative for them to have. It'll be interesting to see how long that lasts, especially if Gammage loses the primary to Chris Bell. For now though, it's good to see.
Rasmussen is first out of the gate for 2006 with polls in the Texas Senate and Governor's races, and the results are a bit odd. Let's start with the Senate poll, where they have Kay Bailey Hutchison leading Barbara Radnofsky by a 64-25 margin, with 4% for "other" and 6% "don't know". This contrasts with an earlier Zogby Interactive poll that had it as 52-34 for Hutchison. Like Greg, I could maybe see KBH win 64% of the vote in November. She did it in 2000, though that was against a candidate who spent no money and did no campaigning. I think she's unlikely to do that well against someone with a pulse and a purpose, but it's not impossible. What I have to ask is this: Is it likely that Hutchison in January is polling almost ten points better than George Bush did in June of 2004? Look at this. Rasmussen had Bush at 55% in May and June, and at 57% in August. Do you believe that KBH is that much more popular now than Bush was then, or do you think, as I do, that maybe the pollster goofed and oversampled Republicans this month? These things do happen. Remember, a 95% confidence interval means that one time in 20 you get a bogus result. This could be the one.
If you believe it's a goof, then there's no real need to dissect the Governor poll numbers, which, depending on if you believe Zogby or the Texas poll suggests that Strayhorn got all her support from Bell and Kinky but none from Perry, or all from Bell and Perry but none from Kinky, all the while having almost no effect on the level of undecided voters. Does that make sense to you?
So, color me still waiting for polling information. If SurveyUSA or some other outfit agrees with these numbers, then I'll change my tune. For now, I don't buy it.
The retrial of Andrea Yates begins with her not guilty plea.
Appearing calm and wearing glasses and an orange jumpsuit, Yates stood next to her attorney before State District Judge Belinda Hill, who set a new trial date of March 20.Yet her attorney, George Parnham, said Yates was "terrified'' at the prospect of another trial and seeing evidence connected to her children's deaths, who Yates admitted to drowning in the family's bathtub on June 20, 2001.
[...]
Parnham said today that he would be able to offer additional evidence of Yates' mental illness since she's been in state care during a second trial. He added, however, that he hoped the case could be resolved before then so that Yates could receive the medical treatment she needs.
Parnham said he could not discuss whether a plea agreement is possible.
Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal said plea agreements are always possible and said he is considering "some things'' concerning such a possibility in the Yates' case. That includes whether Yates would be held in a prison psychiatric unit or in the general inmate population. But he added, he is "pretty far'' from making a decision.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys are expected to meet in "a couple of weeks'' and the state may make an offer then, Rosenthal said.
"I don't know the parameters of the agreement that might be worked out,'' said prosecutor Joe Owmby. "We don't have an agreement right now.''
I know it sometimes feels like we're in a neverending election cycle, but there is an election coming up real soon. The special election to replace the outgoing State Rep. Todd Baxter in HD48 (Travis County) is a week from Tuesday, January 17. Republican contender Ben Bentzin ran unsuccessfully for State Senate against Gonzalo Barrientos in 2002, and now some of the chickens from that race have come home to roost.
In 2002, during an unsuccessful run for the state Senate, Bentzin contracted with John Colyandro, a DeLay co-defendant facing money-laundering charges connected to the 2002 elections, to produce campaign mail for his run against Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos, D-Austin.Bentzin said this week that he was unaware that Colyandro also aided his 2002 campaign through his roles as executive director of Texans for a Republican Majority and as an unpaid adviser to the Texas Association of Business, two groups indicted on charges that they illegally spent corporate money in connection with campaigns.
With the business group, Colyandro was in a position to be sure that its mailer supporting Bentzin did not conflict with the campaign's message or the timing of its own mailers. At Texans for a Republican Majority, Colyandro hired a California polling firm to identify and turn out Travis County voters for three House races and Bentzin's Senate campaign.
"This is a surprise to me," Bentzin said of e-mails and other documents detailing Colyandro's efforts. "What you are suggesting is a level of focus on my race I was not aware of."
More of the "I don't know" game is played in this longer article.
Joe Turner, Colyandro's lawyer, said Colyandro did nothing wrong in his dual roles working for a campaign and working with a group that was supposed to steer clear of campaigns."He had a lot of different clients during that period of time," Turner said. "They were totally unrelated in most instances."
Indeed, in the world of politics, it's not unusual for a consultant to work for more than one campaign. But the state's largest business organization, through four years of criminal investigation, always insisted that it followed its lawyer's warning not to coordinate its mailings with any campaign.
That the association had an outside campaign consultant helping could undercut its defense that the mailers were protected free speech intended to educate voters about issues, not political ads for candidates.
[...]
Bentzin, who is currently running for an open state House seat and has not been accused of any wrongdoing, and association President Bill Hammond said they were unaware of Colyandro's dual roles.
"I had no idea at all," Hammond said.
[...]
The association's publicist, Chuck McDonald, who produced most of the mailers, testified in a civil trial last year that Colyandro was "part of the TAB team" that met frequently in McDonald's office to discuss the creation of the mail pieces.
"He had input on discussions. . . . All (in the room) would talk to me about the message and, you know, the strategy and those kinds of things," McDonald said.
[...]
Austin lawyer Ed Shack advised the association in a written memo to avoid conferring with campaigns on the timing, message or strategy of the mailers. On Friday, Shack declined to comment.
Austin lawyer Buck Wood, who is suing the business group on behalf of Democratic candidates whom the association opposed, said Colyandro was able to time the Bentzin's campaign mailers with the TAB advertisement for the maximum effect.
"Colyandro, in effect, is coordinating with himself," Wood said.
[...]
Initially, Hammond said only officials of the association worked on its mail campaign.
Then logos of other organizations, including Colyandro's Texans for a Republican Majority, were discovered on association-designed mailers.
The business group's lawyers then acknowledged that Colyandro, among others, met frequently to help create the mailers. They denied it was problem that a Colyandro lieutenant doubled as a campaign consultant for several campaigns because they said Colyandro did not share information about the association with the campaigns.
It was discovered that Colyandro, as head of Texans for a Republican Majority, paid for a project to identify likely voters and then turned that information over for the business group's use.
Finally, after lengthy and expensive legal battles, the association inadvertently revealed its corporate donors in documents that it handed over to the Democrats' lawyers before it was indicted last fall.
Now, Colyandro's dual roles with the association and Bentzin have added a dimension just a month before a pretrial hearing in the group's case.
Wood, who is suing the association, said Colyandro's dual roles are part of the "pattern of secrecy" to circumvent the public's right to know who is supporting or opposing the candidates. "It's all about what the public knows," Wood said of the four-year controversy. "That's why we have campaign finance disclosure."
There are two Dems running against Bentzin in this race, Kathy Rider and Donna Howard. Philip Martin at BOR is kicking off a new project to profile Democratic candidates in state races this week by covering the HD48 special election. The first chapter is here, with more to come each day this week. Check it out.
Poor Tom. Even the all-Republican Texas Court of Criminal Appeals doesn't love him.
Texas' highest criminal court today rejected U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay's request to throw out criminal indictments against him or order an immediate trial on a charge of money laundering.[...]
DeLay originally was indicted in September on charges of conspiring to violate the state election code. Under House Republican caucus rules, he had to immediately step aside as majority leader.
He was reindicted in October on charges of conspiring to violate the election code, conspiracy to commit money laundering and money laundering.
[...]
Senior District Judge Pat Priest in December threw out the charges involving the election code, but he let stand the money laundering charges.
Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle then appealed Priest's ruling to the Third Court of Appeals, and Priest stayed further proceedings in DeLay's criminal case until that appeal was decided.
DeLay's lawyers asked the Court of Criminal Appeals to intercede, accusing Earle of appealing Priest's ruling just to keep DeLay from coming to trial in January. Exoneration at a January trial had been considered to be his best shot at regaining the leadership position.
Or maybe not. Here's a little food for thought.
DeLay, who denies wrongdoing, had been trying to rush to trial in Texas in hopes of clearing his name and regaining the [House Majority Leader] position. His attorney, Dick DeGuerin, said they will continue to push for a quick trial because DeLay faces opposition in the March Republican primary."We'd like to get it over with before then, but it's not as crucial as it would have been if he were still in the running for his leadership post," DeGuerin said.
But DeLay's decision to abandon the powerful position in no way lessens his desire to clear his name, DeGuerin said.
"Tom DeLay's not going to plead guilty to anything, even spitting on the sidewalk," he said.
Of local interest only, but if you're a fan of detective fiction in Houston, you're probably acquainted with Dean James, manager of Murder By The Book, Houston's best source for all things mysterious. According to the email I got last week, James is leaving his post at MBTB:
It is with a sad heart that we announce that Dean James has left Murder By The Book after working here for two decades.Mississippi-born & raised, Dean James came to Houston in the 1980s to attend graduate school, and began working at Murder By The Book part-time. His extensive knowledge (his mind's the proverbial steel trap) and breadth of reading quickly made him a hit with our customers. Since coming to Houston & Murder By The Book, Dean has earned a Ph.D. in history from Rice, a Master's in library science, and as a writer, the Agatha & Macavity Awards for Non-Fiction. With co-author Jean Swanson, Dean wrote By a Woman's Hand and Killer Books; with Jan Grape and the late Ellen Nehr, he co-edited Deadly Women. On his own, he's the author of four Simon Kirby-Jones novels, one (so far) Wanda Nell Culpepper mystery, three other non-series works of suspense and several short stories.
In 1996 he began full-time work and became manager of the store. All of us - customers and staff alike - are really going to miss him.
But don't worry about never seeing Dean again... not only will he drop by the store often and work a few of the signings, he'll be teaching an eight-week course at Rice University's School of Continuing Studies, entitled "Strong Poison: The British School of Murder and Mystery", beginning next month.
The worldwide popularity of the works of Arthur Conan Doyle, Dorothy L. Sayers, Agatha Christie, and P.D. James raises the question: What makes the English novel of murder and detection so appealing and so distinctive from its American counterparts? Writer and historian Dr. Dean James will trace the development of crime fiction in England from Victorian times through the age of the "great detective" and the "Golden Age" of mystery writing, to the present day, when a new generation of English crime writers is emerging. Authors to be discussed include: Wilkie Collins, R. Austin Freeman, Margery Allingham, Reginald Hill, Gladys Mitchell, Anne Perry, Jacqueline Winspear , Peter Lovesey, Val McDermid, Ken Bruen, and many, many more! Book sales at the class provided by Murder By The Book.
For more information or to register for "Strong Poison," please contact Rice University's School of Continuing Studies at (713) 348-4803 or online at http://www.scs.rice.edu.McKenna Jordan, who has a Bachelor's in English Literature from the University of Houston, will work at filling Dean's shoes as Murder By The Book manager.
Looks like the Astroworld auction was a smashing success.
With about 500 people vying for AstroWorld mementos, participants were paying $300 and $400 for small directional signs that bore only the names of AstroWorld rides.Houstonian Robert Thomas wowed the crowd when he got in a bidding war with other potential buyers and ended up paying $12,500 for a huge Fiberglas longhorn that once adorned the top of the park's Western Smokehouse restaurant.
"I think he's crazy," Thomas' wife, Heidi, said after the bidding ended.
Thomas saw the bull Friday, the first day of bidding on the relics of AstroWorld, which closed its doors after 37 years in business.
Thomas said people soon will see his prize mounted on the roof of his Space City Hot Shot trucking service in the 14000 block of Reeveston in north Houston.
Melissa Dees paid $1,800 for the sign that stood by the famed Greezed Lightnin' ride and warned people of the "turbulent" nature of the ride, with its "high speeds, steep drops, inverted loops and sudden stops."
"I rode Greezed Lightnin' a lot of times and I was here for the millionth ride," said Dees, a Harris County employee and a former AstroWorld worker. "It's a very important ride for me, and it's the only description sign there is."
Lots of people moved to Texas in 2004 and 2005, and that's before you count hurricane evacuees.
According to recent U.S. Census Bureau figures, Texas saw an estimated net gain of 51,067 residents in the year ending July 1, 2005 — a 38 percent increase from the previous year for a total of 22.9 million. It was the second straight year that figure has increased and marks the highest net domestic migration for Texas this decade.Only four other states — Arizona, North Carolina, Nevada and retirement haven Florida — netted more newcomers from other states in 2005, the government said last month. Thirty states gained at the expense of the other 20 and the District of Columbia.
The survey was taken before hurricanes Katrina and Rita, meaning Texas was re-emerging as a magnet for other Americans even before the twin disasters.
"Absolutely, the number of domestic migrants is increasing, and domestic migrants are what demographers term as 'positively selected,' " said Steve Murdock, the state's official demographer who runs the Texas State Data Center at the University of Texas at San Antonio.
[...]
Arrivals from other states still comprise a smaller share of population growth than births and immigration, Murdock said, but that share is growing again after seemingly bottoming out in 2003.
Official figures that will count hurricane migration will not be out until next December, but Murdock doubts they will show watershed changes in Texas because the Census Bureau relies on Internal Revenue Service tax returns for its data.
"The problem will be, (Katrina evacuees) won't really be there next year," Murdock said. "Are these people who lost their homes really going to file their income-tax returns?"
In fact, Murdock is skeptical that Katrina will amount to much statistically for Texas, especially by the time the next official census is taken in 2010.
The likelihood many evacuees will return home or move elsewhere, coupled with the state's massive population, blunts their political, social and economic impact, he said.
"The Katrina folks are such a small part," he said. "The highest estimates may have had 250,000 (statewide) at one time. If we end up with 125,000 in the state, and we're projecting a total population of 25 million by 2010, think about that when people start talking about redistricting impacts of Katrina."
Murdock said the storm's impact on Texas population this decade ultimately will be dwarfed by domestic arrivals independent of the hurricane and, of course, continued high levels of immigration, particularly from Latin America.
I wanted to put this bit from the Chron story on the Governor's race in a separate post:
Dean Barkley: Friedman's campaign managerValid signatures come from registered voters who cast no ballots in either party's primary or runoffs. They also cannot sign both the Strayhorn and Friedman petition.
"A lot of people are going to be bugged to put their signature on a petition. Make sure it's the Kinky petition you sign, not the Strayhorn," Barkley said.
UPDATE: OK, § 141.066 covers it, and the answer is one petition per customer. My problem was that I only checked the section on independent candidates, and not the general section. Hey, I said I wasn't a lawyer. Would have been nice if § 142.009 had referenced the prohibitions from the more general law, but that's the way they're written. So now I know.
The Chron got some opinions from different perspectives on the four-way Governor's race. It's a good read, some of which you've seen before here and elsewhere, and some of which is new. Couple points I want to highlight:
Mike Baselice: Pollster for PerryBaselice said he thinks Strayhorn's decision to run as an independent increases Perry's chances of re-election.
"I don't know how this works. It's a Republican-leaning state," Baselice said. "There's only so many disenchanted party loyalists who are willing to take a stab at an independent candidacy."
Baselice said Texas has a base Republican vote of 50 percent and a base Democratic vote of 35 percent. He said if each party loses 5 percent of its vote and it is added to the independent, the swing vote just reaches 25 percent.
" If you gave it all to Strayhorn and none to Kinky, she's still woefully short," Baselice said.
[...]
Tom Pauken: Former Texas GOP chairman
Pauken said there is enough dissatisfaction with Republican voters about Perry's administration and inability to pass a public school finance plan than either Strayhorn or the Democratic nominee can defeat Perry in a multicandidate race.
"It's not a given that Perry will be re-elected," Pauken said. "He's alienated a lot of Republicans."
Jason Stanford: Bell's chief consultantStanford said Democratic nominee Tony Sanchez got 40 percent of the vote against Perry in 2002. He said that vote will be enough for the Democratic nominee to win in a multicandidate race against Perry.
"Everyone in this race is making a persuasive case to fire Rick Perry," he said.
Candidate Votes Pct
====================================
John Sharp 2,082,281 46.03
Margaret Mirabal 1,978,081 45.90
Ron Kirk 1,955,758 43.32
William Moody 1,860,251 43.23
Pat Montgomery 1,828,431 42.60
Jim Parsons 1,814,354 41.88
Linda Yanez 1,815,581 41.54
Sherry Boyles 1,821,751 41.48
David Bernsen 1,819,365 41.48
Kirk Watson 1,841,359 41.08
Richard Baker 1,774,242 40.50
JR Molina 1,725,065 40.00
Tony Sanchez 1,819,798 39.96
John Bull 1,692,773 39.14
Tom Ramsay 1,674,372 37.81
Marty Akins 1,476,976 32.92
Candidate Votes Pct
====================================
JR Molina 2,906,720 42.14
Bob Scarborough 2,872,717 40.94
David Van Os 2,817,700 40.76
Last point:
Normally, about 36 percent of the state's registered voters turn out in a governor's contest. But this one could push turnout to the levels of 1990, when half the state's voters cast ballots in an election that put Democrat Ann Richards in the Governor's Mansion in an upset over Republican Clayton Williams.
Here's some blog reaction to the decision by Hidalgo County Democratic Party chair Juan Maldonado to disqualify Jessica Reyes-Martinez from making a primary challenge against her soon-to-be ex-husband State Rep. Armando Martinez. South Texas Chisme notes a story from the subscription-only Rio Grande Guardian that says "Democratic Party activists want an emergency meeting of Hidalgo County Democratic Party’s executive committee to overturn the controversial decision to remove Jessica Reyes-Martinez from the Texas House District 39 primary ballot." Valley Politico is harsh on Maldonado and his decision-making process:
Mr. Maldonado lateral-passed the ball to the State Democratic Party this week, which in turn shoveled it back and said to him to show some cajones and make a decision on his own. He did, and for a brief moment it looked as if the estranged couple would battle it out in court and on the campaign trail.[...]
I think the real tragedy in this novela isn't Ms. Reyes-Martinez disqualification, it's Mr. Maldonado's ineptness that caused him to flip-flop. Whether Ms. Reyes-Martinez filed at the last minute on the last day which may have caused the oversight isn't the issue; it's the minor detail that should have been caught in the first place that could have prevented this mess.
I know the persons who unfortunately are involved in this whirlwind. They all deserve better. Nobody likes having their personal affairs published to the world. Nor should these individuals be forced to carry all of our projected grievances in the battle between the sexes. At its core, there are real people and an infant child who are likely to be forever scarred by this unfortunate turn of events.[...]
I lay blame at the feet of Democratic party leaders who over the years neglected issues and independent thought and focused on personality and dragging out the vote. The imposed South Texas patron system placed value on loyalty not independent thought.
[...]
I think all qualified candidates should be allowed to run if they want to. If Mrs. Martinez listed district 39 as the race she was running for that is sufficient notice to the party and potential opponents of her intentions. The document should be corrected and relate back to the original document.
Lastly, based on experience, ability, and position on the issues, Rep. Martinez is the person who should be returned to Austin as the State Representative for District 39. Unless Mrs. Martinez can say something more than I am divorcing the guy, it does not merit losing the experience and seniority Mr. Martinez brings to the office.
The good news is that under a proposal by the Texas Lottery Commission, your odds of winning the jackpot will increase. The bad news is, the payout for everything else will decline.
Currently, players can win the Lotto Texas jackpot by matching five numbers between 1 and 44 and one bonus ball numbered from 1 to 44. The proposal calls for players to select six numbers between 1 and 54 with no bonus ball.Adding the bonus ball worsened the odds of winning the jackpot from about 1 in 26 million to about 1 in 48 million. The odds will return to 1 in 26 million if the changes are made.
The proposal calls for devoting a larger share of ticket sales to the jackpot, which starts at $4 million and traditionally grows by at least $1 million each time no tickets match all six numbers.
That is expected to help the jackpot climb faster, and Lottery Commission spokesman Bobby Heith said research shows more players buy tickets as the grand prize grows.
But to keep the game profitable, smaller shares of ticket sales would be earmarked for prizes when players match three, four or five numbers.
Lottery watchdog Dawn Nettles said that will upset loyal ticket buyers who have come to expect a formidable payday anytime they match four or five of the six numbers.
I find the whole "America's Fattest City" thing to be silly and pointless, and yet I am compelled to blog about it.
Houston has been downsized from No. 1 to No. 5 on Men's Fitness magazine's annual list of the fattest U.S. cities.Houston traded its dubious 2005 distinction with Chicago, which was No. 5 last year.
Men's Fitness placed Las Vegas an inch behind Chicago, followed by Los Angeles and Dallas.
"I'm proud of you guys," said editor Neal Boulton. "You're down to five ... It takes an enormous effort to go down that much from that height."
[...]
Houston has the most fast-food restaurants per capita, earning the title of Junk Food Capital.
"Houston has 70 percent more fast-food places than the average city in our survey," Boulton said.
Mayor Bill White said the fitness magazine's methodology is flawed.
"They count Subway as a fast-food establishment," he said, "even though, in a city like New York, the neighborhood deli wouldn't be counted as fast food. We ought to be on the fittest cities list, not the fattest."
White was named one of the three fittest mayors in America by the magazine's editors.
"His involvement is something we gave Houston points for," Boulton said. "Mayor Bill White initiated Get Moving Houston, aimed at getting Houston off the list of the fattest cities. Well, Houston, you're moving."
Embattled Rep. Tom DeLay on Saturday abandoned his bid to remain as House majority leader, clearing the way for leadership elections among Republicans eager to shed the taint of scandal.In a letter to rank-and-file Republicans, DeLay said, "During my time in Congress, I have always acted in an ethical manner within the rules of our body and the laws of our land. I am fully confident time will bear this out."
At the same time, "I cannot allow our adversaries to divide and distract our attention," the Texas Republican wrote.
[...]
After repeatedly maintaining that President Bush continued to support DeLay, the White House pivoted abruptly on Saturday, issuing a statement that endorsed DeLay's move. "We respect Congressman DeLay's decision to put the interests of the American people, the House of Representatives and the Republican Party first," said Erin Healy, a spokeswoman for Bush.
[...]
DeLay acted hours after a small vanguard of Republicans circulated a petition calling for leadership elections and citing DeLay's legal problems as well as his long ties to Abramoff.
Republican rules permit an election to fill the vacancy, and aides to Reps. Jeff Flake of Arizona and Charles Bass of New Hampshire said on Friday that the lawmakers' petition would allow the rank and file to pick new leadership quickly.
"The developments with Abramoff have "brought home the fact that we need not just new leaders but a course correction," Flake said.
Rep. Heather Wilson (news, bio, voting record) of New Mexico, a perennial election-year target of Democrats, said she did not want DeLay to return as majority leader.
And GOP Rep. Jim Ramstad (news, bio, voting record) of Minnesota said, "It's clear that we need to elect a new majority leader to restore the trust and confidence of the American people."
Nobody likes me, everybody hates me,
Guess I'll go eat worms,
Long, thin, slimy ones; Short, fat, juicy ones,
Itsy, bitsy, fuzzy wuzzy worms.Down goes the first one, down goes the second one,
Oh how they wiggle and squirm.
Up comes the first one, up comes the second one,
Oh how they wiggle and squirm.
So what was it that finally got Republicans to revolt, and to ask for new Leadership? Was it the revelation of some action or behavior that took his corruption to new levels? Was it a spontaneous, collective crisis of the conscience?No. It was a plea bargain by Jack Abramoff. No new information came out about DeLay himself.
Oh, and by the way:
Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, is likely to be indicted in an ongoing public corruption scandal, according to a fellow Republican congressman, Jim McCrery of Louisiana.Ney has been linked by prosecutors to Jack Abramoff, a former lobbyist who pleaded guilty to charges this week that include mail fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy to bribe public officials. He also is linked to Abramoff's associate, Michael Scanlon, who pleaded guilty in November to conspiring to bribe a member of Congress and other public officials.
"He'll probably be indicted," McCrery speculated Friday.
My friend Ellen sent me a link to this WSJ article about quantifying political prognostication.
As 2006 approached, pundits performed the annual rite of making predictions for the year ahead. Scripps Howard's prognosticator expects the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq to begin. The Christian Science Monitor published a forecast that North Korea or Iran will acquire nuclear weaponry. On Fox News, Bill Kristol predicted another Supreme Court vacancy, while Brit Hume's crystal ball saw an acquittal for Lewis "Scooter" Libby. (The Wall Street Journal's New Year's Eve look-ahead to 2006 couched most of its political forecasts with the word "likely.")Such predictions are good fun. But in general, the prognostications of political pundits are about as accurate as a chimp throwing darts. At least that's the finding of "Expert Political Judgment," a new book by University of California, Berkeley, political psychologist Philip Tetlock. From 1987 to 2003, Prof. Tetlock coaxed 284 political experts of all stripes -- academics, journalists and think-tankers from across the political spectrum -- to make specific, verifiable forecasts. He looked at more than 27,000 predictions in all.
Prof. Tetlock's innovation was to elicit numerical predictions. As he noted in an interview with me, political punditry tends toward the oracular: statements vague enough to encompass all eventualities. But by promising confidentiality and relying on the "curiosity value of the project," he was able to get pundits to provide probability estimates for such questions as whether certain countries' legislatures would see shifts in their ruling parties, whether inflation or unemployment would rise and whether nations would go to war.
Without numerical predictions, "it's much easier to fudge," Prof. Tetlock told me. "When you move from words to numbers, it's a really critical transition." What he found is that people with expertise in explaining events that have happened aren't very successful at predicting what will happen.
He demonstrated this by checking their predictions against reality, and then comparing the humans' performance with that of several automated prediction schemes. The simplest type was chimp-like. No chimps were harmed in the experiment; Prof. Tetlock essentially used random numbers. More complex sets of predictions were based on the frequency of similar events in the past. The virtual chimps did about as well as humans, while several of the more-complex schemes exceeded the best human forecasters.
Prof. Tetlock wants to see elevated debate and improved punditry, and he has several ideas for how to make it happen. One is for pundits to hone their skill by playing predictions markets -- betting pools that assign values to future events such as a Republican victory in a gubernatorial election. These markets, like Prof. Tetlock's study, force prognosticators to make quantifiable bets and provide feedback in the form of monetary gains or losses -- if you back a losing outcome, you lose money (see more on this at Wikipedia). He found that the best forecasters operate in fields like meteorology "in which they get quick, unequivocal feedback on predictions."The recommendation with which he ends the book is the most far-reaching: Prof. Tetlock urges independent monitoring of experts' predictions. In the interview, he suggested either two media organizations -- he named The Wall Street Journal and New York Times -- or two respected think tanks join forces to get experts on the record with numerical predictions, and then regularly report the results.
"It would be a good thing" to do political punditry better, Prof. Tetlock told me. "It would be good for society, and it would be good for science."
I can't seem to find it now, but I distinctly recall Slate magazine publishing a list of Election 2000 predictions by a wide array of media types. It asked how many electoral votes Bush and Gore would get, whether Hillary Clinton or Rick Lazio would win the NY Senate race, and one extra prediction of the pundit's choosing. Someone - I think it may have been Peggy Noonan, but I can't swear to it - picked Bush to win over 400 EVs while carrying California. Whoever it was, I think it should be a part of their byline with every op-ed piece they write.
During the NFL season, the Chronicle sports section features a full-page ad by an auto dealership, which lists each of its salespersons' picks in that week's games, ordered by their record so far. I presume the winner gets some kind of award at the end of the year, while the poor sap who finishes last has to wash everyone else's car or something like that. If that kind of accountability is good enough for football fans, isn't it good enough for pundits?
DeLayVsWorld quotes from an interview in Human Events with Steve Stockman, the loony former Congressman now running as an independent in CD22.
"I'm not here to ensure a loss but to make sure that Nick Lampson is not elected," explained Stockman, referring to the Democrat who unseated him in 1996 and is now the likely Democratic opponent to embattled former Majority Leader DeLay.In an exclusive interview, Stockman emphasized that, in running as an independent rather than challenging DeLay in the Republican primary March 7, he would be free to attack old nemesis Lampson "like a pit bull."
[...]
Voicing his friendship for his former colleague, Stockman nonetheless expressed his concern that "this Abramoff thing is hurting the party and we could lose Tom's seat."
With DeLay voluntarily relinquishing securely Republican portions of his district in the redistricting process that permitted the GOP to make major gains in the House from Texas in '04, Stockman observed, "He won re-election last time with only 54% of the vote while George Bush was carrying the 22nd by better than two-to-one."
[...]
As to how running as an independent helps DeLay, Stockman told me that he would be free to keep attacking Lampson for his own "ethical lapses" while in local office before he came to Congress. "And that's something Tom can't do under the present circumstances," he added.
Other area Republicans have said that should DeLay abandon his re-election campaign in favor of another conservative Republican -- most likely Harris County (Houston) Judge Rob Echols [sic]. Stockman would almost certainly drop out of the race in favor of the new GOP candidate.
Stockman also said he tried to reach DeLay to discuss his strategy before announcing it, "but he never returned my call."
Minor point #2: Bush carried CD22 by a 64.4 to 35.6 margin, which is less than two-to-one, not greater.
Main point: Like DvsW, I'm not sure how Stockman can better accomplish his goal by running as an independent than he could have by not running and doing his promised "pit bull" thing from the sidelines. For one thing, who does Stockman think will vote for him - people who would've otherwise voted for DeLay, people who would've otherwise voted for Lampson, or people who would've otherwise not voted? Only voters in the second group help DeLay win, but how many such people does he think there are? I can't imagine any.
Secondly, how does Stockman expect to get his message out? If he's got the funds to buy advertising time or to send out mailers, why not just create a 527 group and blast away? He doesn't need to be in the race for that. The one possibility that comes to my mind is that he might get local news coverage as a candidate that he wouldn't have gotten otherwise. I concede that this may have merit as a plan, but what is he going to have to do to get that coverage, and will that really have the desired effect? If he thinks he'll get press just because of who he is, I think he's going to be disappointed. And yes, I recognize the irony of me writing that, but again, if this is what he had in mind coverage-wise, then he's loopier than even I thought.
I think the odds are much greater that Stockman will be either a footnote to this campaign, or that he'll prove more of a distraction to DeLay than he will an asset. But who knows? I'm not going to try to predict what a fool like Steve Stockman is going to do. We'll know soon enough.
The filing season has barely ended, but already there's some ugly stuff happening. Some jokers have attempted to smear David Harris up in CD06 by making false claims about him and his Army record. Harris has released a statement about these rumors:
Recent rumors on the internet have accused Democratic congressional candidate David Harris of being the subject of an adultery investigation conducted by the military. As fighting Democrats, we cannot and will not let these false allegations go unchallenged.Follow Me To DC and David Harris categorically deny that David is the subject of any such investigation now or during his enlistment. These accusations, originally made in responses posted on the Texas-based blog annatopia.com , are patently false. These attacks are being leveled by people with personal grudges who are determined to smear Democrat David Harris, thus ensuring the re-election of corrupt Republican Congressman Joe Barton.
For the past several months, supporters of the Barton campaign have been making inquiries about David to his former colleagues and friends in the military in a desperate attempt to dig up dirt on the next Congressman from TX-06. Joe Barton doesn't have a record he can stand on, so his supporters have created salacious gossip and attacks. Congressman Barton has done nothing to distance himself from these attacks, and seems to prefer a campaign run from the gutter and focused on baseless attacks, instead of new ideas and improving the lives of the people of Texas. David Harris is a veteran and defender of America who has nothing but pride in his record as a citizen, soldier, and family man. Joe Barton is a corrupt Washington insider who has nothing but negative attacks to offer the voters. Congressman Barton is running scared, finally facing a legitimate challenger, one he sneers at as "the guy in the army costume".
Michelle and David Harris would also like to acknowledge that, like many military families suffering under the stress of extended deployments of their loved ones, they have had personal issues with their marriage. Michelle and David honor their vows and commitment to each other and their children. Today their family is stronger than ever, and they are extremely disappointed that their political opponents have chosen to take the low road and make the personal political.
David and Michelle understand all the sacrifices a military family makes, and David has vowed to do everything he can to support our military families as the representative of the sixth congressional district.
The Harris family and Follow Me to DC will not follow Joe Barton into a campaign of negative attacks. Instead, Follow Me to DC will choose to focus on the real issues concerning the residents of the sixth district: rising health care and energy costs, failing schools, the war in iraq, and homeland security. We challenge the Barton campaign to do the same.
Thanks to PinkDome, I found a new-to-me blog called South Texas Chisme, which passes on a report from the subscription-only Rio Grande Guardian about the ballyhooed husband-wife primary battle in Hidalgo County. Apparently, Jessica Reyes-Martinez, the soon-to-be ex-wife of State Rep. Armando Martinez, is now off the ballot, because she didn't put her full address on the filing application. Since that left the possibility that she could reside in a different district, the Hidalgo County Democratic Party chair disqualified her. Yeah, it sounds fishy to me, too. Click over and check it out.
This Capitol Inside story will not do anything to quash the idea that State Sen. Frank Madla is more DINO than Democrat.
Republican Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst is scheduled to be the special guest at a fundraiser next week for State Senator Frank Madla - a San Antonio Democrat who faces a primary challenge from a Texas House member who's had key leadership posts since the GOP took control of the lower chamber in 2003.The Madla fundraiser, which is set for Tuesday evening at the Austin Club, is being sponsored by about five dozen lobbyists and professional organizations that represent a wide cross-section of business, legal and other interests with stakes in the legislative process in Texas. The who's who of lobbyists on the fundraiser's host committee includes 11 former state legislators from both sides of the political aisle.
Two former top aides to Governor Rick Perry - Mike Toomey and Patricia Shipton - are also listed on the host committee. Toomey, a former Texas House member, was the Republican governor's chief of staff for two years until returning to the lobby in late 2004. Shipton served as legislative director on Perry's staff. The list of sponsors on the fundraiser's invitation include the National Rifle Association Political Victory Fund, HillCo Partners and Texans for Lawsuit Reform.
The event is designed to help Madla stave off a Democratic primary challenge from State Rep. Carlos Uresti of San Antonio in the veteran senator's bid for re-election to the seat he's held for the past 13 years. Uresti - a member of the House for the past nine years - has been raising money and expects to be on a level playing field with the Senate incumbent before they square off in the March 7 primary election. Madla, however, has the advantage of the so-called "friendly incumbent" rule that lobbyists tend to follow when sitting members are challenged in re-election campaigns.
Having looked at Democratic missed opportunities in the State House filings yesterday, it's time to take a look and see where the Republicans dropped the ball. I'm going by the candidate filings page on the state GOP website, which is still missing just about all candidates from Harris County but as far as I can tell is otherwise complete. If I'm mistaken in any of this, please let me know.
One thing to keep in mind is that there are just not as many seats for the Republicans to target. Why should there be? They've already won just about every seat they wanted - that's the point of being the map-drawer. By my count, and according to the Kronberg spreadsheet, while there were 40 GOP-held seats in which John Sharp scored at least 40% of the vote in 2002, there were only 24 Dem-held seats where Dewhurst scored 40% or better. As we saw yesterday, of those 40 seats, Democrats have challengers in 28 of them, leaving 12 uncontested, with five of those twelve being realistic opportunities and the others being at best longshots.
Overall, only 16 Dem-held seats have GOP challengers - 13 incumbents and 3 open seats. Those seats are:
Dist Incumbent 2004 % DD%
=======================================
03 Mark Homer 50.2 48
11 Chuck Hopson 52.7 52
17 Robby Cook 54.8 50
35 Y Gonzalez Toureilles 50.9 40
38 Open (Solis) 100.0 36
45 Patrick Rose 54.6 48
50 Mark Strama 50.5 48
69 David Farabee 53.0 59
85 Open (Laney) 58.8 52
111 Yvonne Davis 100.0 29
117 David Leibowitz 50.7 45
118 Open (Uresti) 56.8 43
125 Joaquin Castro 100.0 43
137 Scott Hochberg 56.6 48
143 Ana Hernandez 100.0 30
149 Hubert Vo 50.1 55
This also confirms my suspicion that the claim of 15 challenged incumbents isn't quite right. It's only 13 - add that to the three open seats and the 87 Republican-held districts, and you get the specified total of 103 GOP candidates. Given the spottiness of the GOP filings page, it's understandable that there could be a little confusion.
So then. Which seats did the GOP leave at the table?
Dist Incumbent 2004 % DD% GB% SW%
=============================================
01 Stephen Frost 52.8 48 62 54
21 Allan Ritter 100.0 51 63 55
23 Craig Eiland 100.0 45 50 44
33 Vilma Luna 100.0 41 54 46
34 Abel Herrero 55.0 43 55 48
41 Veronica Gonzales 100.0 46 57 51
57 Jim Dunnam 58.4 43 56 47
74 Pete Gallego 100.0 40 61 52
79 Joe Pickett 66.6 42 47 41
124 Jose Menendez 100.0 41 51 45
Again, some of these are better opportunities than others. Eiland, Pickett, and Menendez would qualify as stretches, with Luna and teh freshman Herrero being not far behind. Note the great disparity in some of these districts between the share of the vote gotten by GWB and that achieved by the other three Republican statewides. This is a big part of the reason why I believe 2004 represented more of a highwater mark for the GOP, especially in heavily Hispanic parts of the state, than it did a new plateau. I don't think you can adequately judge the partisan index of any House or Senate district by Bush's 2004 percentage alone.
I've already discussed Frost, Ritter, Gonzales, and Dunnam, so I'll just add that seeing Pete Gallego here was a bit of a surprise. Given the fairly strong Republican performance in HD74, and given than Gallego, like Dunnam, is a member of the House Democratic leadership, you'd think there'd be an extra incentive for the state GOP to target him. Confident as I am that he'd have withstood such a challenge, I'm glad he avoided it, as this will allow him to concentrate on getting his colleagues reelected and maybe helping a few challengers.
So there you have it. I think that about exhausts the subject of House filings for me, unless there's something you think I still need to look at. Hope this was useful for you.
Rob Booth has been my one-stop shop for all things related to the new Major League Soccer franchise that's set to come to Houston. He's obviously doing a good job of this, because I don't really care all that much for the sport, but I'm reading and linking to his bloggage about it anyway.
You may recall the rumored logo for the new team that was making the rounds. Turns out that was a hoax, which means that the naming contest is still operative. I don't quite share Rob's distaste for animal-themed sports team names, but given the choices presented, I'd vote for "Houston 1836" as well, and also for its sheer originality, at least as far as American franchises go. Unfortunately, given the lame-o nickname given to our town's other pro football team, I fear that either "Mustangs" or (gag) "Lonestars" will be the winner. One can only hope that the soccer fans in this town have better taste than that.
The odd story of escaped-and-recaptured death row inmate Charles Victor Thompson has taken another turn.
Citing X-rays conducted before Charles Victor Thompson left their custody, state prison authorities have concluded that the handcuff key Thompson used when he slipped out of the Harris County Jail did not come from death row as Sheriff Tommy Thomas and other county officials claimed.The Texas Department of Criminal Justice launched an investigation after Thomas said publicly that the key was smuggled from death row in Livingston during Thompson's transfer to the local jail to await court hearings. The investigation concluded X-rays would have detected any hidden contraband on Thompson or in his personal property.
"Our investigation did not determine the key came from Polunsky or any another TDCJ unit," said prison system spokeswoman Michelle Lyons. "Thompson has been adamant with prison investigators he obtained the key from Harris County. He said he simply told Harris County he got it from death row to expedite his transfer."
Based on Thompson's statements to them, sheriff's officials maintain that the key was hidden in the inmate's toothpaste tube among the personal items he brought with him from the Polunsky Unit, where Thompson awaits execution for the 1998 slaying of his former girlfriend, Dennise Hayslip, 39, and her new boyfriend, Darren Keith Cain, 30. Thompson had been in Houston for resentencing — a Harris County jury affirmed the death penalty Oct. 28 — and was waiting to be returned to Livingston.
"At this point, the only person who knows for sure is Mr. Thompson," Lyons said. "And he has told us he did not get the key from TDCJ."
I love math stories.
Researchers at a Missouri university have identified the largest known prime number, officials said Tuesday.The team at Central Missouri State University, led by associate dean Steven Boone and mathematics professor Curtis Cooper, found it in mid-December after programming 700 computers years ago.
A prime number is a positive number divisible by only itself and 1 -- 2, 3, 5, 7 and so on.
The number that the team found is 9.1 million digits long. It is a Mersenne prime known as M30402457 -- that's 2 to the 30,402,457th power minus 1.
Mersenne primes are a special category expressed as 2 to the "p" power minus 1, in which "p" also is a prime number.
"We're super excited," said Boone, a chemistry professor. "We've been looking for such a number for a long time."
The discovery is affiliated with the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search, a global contest using volunteers who run software that searches for the largest Mersenne prime.
I said in the last post that even though Democrats did an excellent job getting candidates to run in Republican-held State House districts, they did leave a few opportunities untaken. I'll take a look at those here.
What I did was I went back to the Harvey Kronberg candidate spreadsheet that I downloaded while it was still publicly available and sorted it by the "Dewhurst-Sharp" column, which gave the percentages for each district from the 2002 Lite Guv race. There were 40 districts where Dewhurst scored 60% or less. Of those, the following 12 do not have a Democratic candidate in 2006:
Dist Incumbent 2004 % DD% GB% SW%
============================================
30 Geanie Morrison 100.0 43 71 65
09 Roy Blake 56.9 48 66 59
05 Bryan Hughes 62.0 51 68 62
18 John Otto 54.6 54 69 62
72 Scott Campbell 57.2 56 77 66
101 Elvira Reyna 100.0 56 60 58
24 Larry Taylor 100.0 57 68 64
68 Rick Hardcastle 100.0 57 76 69
25 Dennis Bonnen 66.0 58 69 67
14 Fred Brown 100.0 59 71 69
13 Lois Kolkhorst 100.0 60 70 66
44 Ed Kuempel 100.0 60 72 67
Obviously, some of these are better opportunities than others. Geanie Morrison is a fluke - John Sharp is from Victoria, which is where her district is. Scott Campbell is out in West Texas, and he did so poorly because of drunken driving and indecent exposure charges hanging over him at the time. As it happens, his Democratic challenger from 2004, Jeri Sloan, is running against him again, but this time as an independent. Make of that what you will. Hardcastle, Bonnen, Brown, Kolkhorst, and Kuempel are not in districts that anyone would claim are competitive. I doubt there's much of a Democratic pool from which to recruit in Seguin (where Kuempel resides) or Brenham (Kolkhorst) anyway. It'd be nice to see that taken up as a project by the Democracy for Texas folks, if they aren't already working on it, but for now, I can't see any blame attaching here.
So that leaves Blake, Hughes, Otto, Reyna, and Taylor. Otto's a freshman who ousted Dem Jim Ellis. It's a shame to see him get a free ride, as it is for Blake after his relatively narrow win last time. Hughes won a bit more comfortably, but with that 51% score for Dewhurst you'd still like to see him challenged.
The one that surprised me here is Reyna. I hadn't ever thought of her as being in an even moderately competitive district, but she's in Dallas County, which has been trending Dem lately. The Dallas Dems did a pretty good job recruiting overall, though, so I'll cut them a little slack here and hope that they have better luck with this one next time.
(Note: I had an earlier draft of this post which included HD114's Will Hartnett as a missed opportunity. The Dems who have filed page still doesn't list a challenger for him, but the Dallas Dems page does. I'll go with the county folks and hope this is just an oversight and not a paperwork snafu.)
Finally, as for Taylor, his isn't all that competitive a district, but with the Galveston GOP making a stronger push for control of that county, it would have been nice to make them play a little defense there, especially since Craig Eiland did not get a GOP opponent. Maybe next time.
In the end, if this is all I have to complain about, it again speaks well for all the effort that went into getting people onto ballots. Assuming I can ever get a clear handle on what the full GOP lineup is, I'll do the same thing for them.
The Dems who have filed page is fully up to date now, and it shows that the strategy of building the bench by running for more Legislative seats is off to a good start. Greg quotes from an email from the state Democratic Party which tells the tale:
Incumbents with general election opponents
Democrat - 15
Republican - 40House Districts with candidates
Democrat - 113
Republican - 106
Republicans also failed to field candidates in several conservative, Democratic-held State House Districts where John Kerry was handily defeated in the 2004 presidential elections: District 1 (Stephen Frost), District 21 (Allan Ritter) or District 57 (Jim Dunnam).
So kudos to the Dems for convincing people that 2006 was a good year to run for the Lege. You can't make gains if you're not challenging their seats, and they've done that well. They could have even done a bit better, but that's a subject for the next post. For now, here's to a good start.
The Chron covers Steve Stockman's entry into the more-crowded-than-I'd-thought CD22 field.
Stockman and [Nick] Lampson are among eight candidates trying to unseat DeLay.The embattled former house majority leader, under state indictment alleging campaign finance improprieties, has three opponents in the March 7 GOP primary — political activist and former teacher Pat Baig and lawyers Tom Campbell and Michael Fjetland.
Libertarians Stan Norred and Bob Smither will seek that party's nomination at a June convention.
Stockman and Gabriel P. Owens filed as independents.
To get on the ballot for Congress, Stockman and Owens will have to collect 500 petition signatures each from registered voters who do not participate in this year's Democratic or Republican primaries.
Forty-one to thirty-eight. Well done, and well deserved. And to think the storyline could have been about two missed placekicks. Much better this way. Congrats, Texas.
By the way, does anyone else think it would be funny if after all the hype about the Texans needing to tank to get Reggie Bush, he decides to return for his senior year so he could have another shot at a BCS championship?
The Statesman has a good piece on how the Strayhorn independency may affect the gubernatorial race.
Although many analysts still see Perry as the favorite to win re-election, Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn's decision to challenge him as an independent instead of as a Republican changes what Perry must do to get there. Also having to revisit their playbooks are the field of Democrats seeking the gubernatorial nomination and writer/musician Kinky Friedman, who also hopes to make an independent bid."You'd have to say as of today (Perry) is still the favorite but a new dynamic was introduced," said Bruce Buchanan, who teaches government at the University of Texas. "The new dynamic is that Perry will have an opponent with relatively deep pockets and a relatively high profile for eight more months than he would have if Strayhorn had stayed in the Republican primary."
A candidate does not need a majority of the vote for victory.
[...]
"What somebody like Strayhorn has to do is capture all the independent vote, which is not much more than 15 or 20 percent, and then detach a significant number of Republicans and Democrats in order to get to a margin as great as the margin that Perry would get," Buchanan said.
Mike Baselice, a pollster who works for Perry, said the 2002 statewide elections indicate that about 50 percent of Texans are Republicans and 35 percent are Democrats.
"Give Strayhorn all the independent votes and give her 5 percent more from Republicans and Democrats, and she's up to 25 percent," Baselice said. "That's like the worst-case scenario for the Republican and Democrat and the best case for her. And what about Kinky Friedman getting some of the independent vote?"
In San Antonio, Strayhorn was joined by former Bexar County Republican Chairman Roy Barrera Jr., who was the GOP nominee for attorney general in 1986. Barrera said he is supporting Strayhorn over Perry because she is a friend and because Perry has failed the test of leadership as governor."I'm one Republican who does not want four more years of what we've had," Barrera said. "Texas is ready for a change."
Dallas County Commissioner Kenneth Mayfield, a Republican, joined Strayhorn at her Dallas event. Mayfield said Perry has failed the citizens of Texas on transportation and education issues.
Mayfield said a long campaign to the general election will allow Strayhorn to draw Perry into a real debate on issues rather than a contest of "just trying to out-Republican somebody."
Two major Strayhorn donors — trial lawyers Walter Umphrey of Beaumont and John Eddie Williams of Houston — applauded Strayhorn's decision to run as an independent.[...]
They each contributed $100,000 to Strayhorn in June, and Williams said he gave another $100,000 last month. Each said he plans to give Strayhorn more. Texas law doesn't limit individual contributions to a candidate except for some restrictions in judicial races.
[...]
Plaintiffs' lawyers traditionally have been major contributors to Democratic candidates. Umphrey was a key financial backer of Democrat Ann Richards' successful gubernatorial race in 1990.
But they have been giving money to selected Republican candidates in recent years because of the Democrats' inability to win statewide races. No Democrat has won a statewide office in Texas since 1994.
Another Strayhorn contributor, Tommy Whaley of Marshall, a former member of the State Republican Executive Committee, said he will continue to support her candidacy.
Austin criminal defense lawyer Roy Minton, a Democrat, said he also will continue to support Strayhorn. His law firm gave her $10,000 last year and $11,000 the year before.
"I've known Carole since I don't know how long. She's an old family friend. I've represented her through a divorce or two," he said.
Umphrey predicted Strayhorn's campaign will be adequately funded.
"She has quite a lot of money now she doesn't have to spend on a primary and can save for the general election," he said.
Back to the Statesman piece:
With Strayhorn and Friedman trying to play down partisan leanings, the election could hinge on whether Perry or the Democratic nominee can turn out more of their loyal party voters. Perry has a larger base to work with, but Democrats hope that advantage will be diminished because Strayhorn still calls herself a Republican.Democratic consultant Ed Martin said Strayhorn could attract voters who have supported Republicans since President Bush was governor but do not have the same loyalty to Perry.
"In the long term, this schism in the Republican Party will benefit a rebuilding Democratic Party," Martin said. "In the short run, Strayhorn's candidacy could accelerate that trend in this governor's race. She's not pulling our loyal Democratic voters off of us."
Dems who would have voted for Kinky in a field of three, might vote for a Dem in a field of four under the premise of "hey, we could win this thing." (This provides a direct answer to Kinky's campaign slogan "Kinky, Why the Hell Not?").
Richard Murray, who teaches political science at the University of Houston, said he expects Strayhorn, Friedman and Bell (whom he expects to be the Democratic nominee) to all focus their attacks on Perry."Perry probably ignores Kinky Friedman but will have to make some decisions based on how the campaign is playing out as to whether the greater threat is Strayhorn or Chris Bell," he said.
What I've just suggested may of course be a stupid strategy for B/G to pursue. It appeals to me, sure, but Bell or Gammage will have to decide for themselves what the path to vote maximization is. The point is that with four candidates in the race, each one of them will have to recognize that some particular group which may have been theirs in a less-crowded field may now choose to go elsewhere because they have a choice. Whoever guesses right about which groups to go after and which ones to concede will be in the best position to win.
PerryVsWorld has his own take on the Strayhorn Effect. One quibble I do have is this:
Who is the Democrats' base? It's white liberals and African-Americans. Now, is the Democrats base solid? Quite possibly not. Like Kuffner, I see significant numbers of cars with Kinky Friedman and KerryEdwards bumper stickers. These aren't African-Americans. I always check the ethnicity of the driver, and it is invariably white, and it is invariably an expensive car.
If you're not analysis'ed out yet, Karl-T points to another thought piece by consultant Dean Rindy on behalf of the Bob Gammage campaign. It was done to advocate for Gammage, but I think you could substitute "Chris Bell" in therer as appropriate and reach the same conclusions. In any event, it raises a lot of similar points and sheds light on the December polling that led to all this.
Her poll confirms the theory that Friedman will fade away into single digits with Strayhorn in the race as an independent. She simply sucks the air out of Kinky’s message, hogs the media spotlight, steps on his story line, and makes it very difficult for him to attract significant numbers of Perot type conservatives. Kinky will have to go after Democrats, and a strong Democratic candidate will make that very difficult. On the issues Kinky is a bland centrist who doesn’t offer much to a progressive constituency.
OK, enough for now. If you think I sound too pessimistic, I'm not trying to be. I have always thought that the Governorship was winnable for the Democrats, and I certainly still think that today. A lot of things have to go right for that to happen, though, and just because the dynamic of the race has changed doesn't automatically mean that it has changed in the Democrats' favor. This may be a honeymoon period for Strayhorn, who's long been a media darling but who's been down on her luck lately due in part to circumstances beyond her control and in part to her own handling of her change in status, but I'm starting to think that my previous skepticism of her potential as an independent was overdone. Have I mentioned that I can't wait to see some polling in this race? Yes, I believe I have.
Earlier, I listed a group of incumbents who were not listed on their state party's webpage as having filed for reelection. All of them have filed, and the one open seat is being contested, but it's still the case that some of these districts are listed as having no contenders on either or both of the parties' candidate filing pages. I'll get to that in a minute, but for now, here's what I've found about these seats:
HD24 - Larry Taylor (R): Filed for reelection, no Democratic opponent.
HD33 - Vilma Luna (D): Now listed on the Dems who have filed page. No GOP opponent.
HD34 - Abel Herrero (D): Now listed on the Dems who have filed page. No GOP opponent.
HD37 - Rene Oliveira (D): Apparently running for reelection, though this letter-writer has the incorrect district number.
HD38 - Open (D): Four Dems and one Republican are vying to replace the retiring Jim Solis:
Eddie Lucio [III, son of State Sen. Eddie Lucio, Jr.], D-Brownsville, is considered by many to be a front-runner because of his family’s wide political influence.Also running are Arnie Olivarez, an insurance agent from Harlingen; David Gonzales, first assistant to the Cameron County district attorney; and Alfredo Montano, an attorney from Harlingen.
Luis Cavazos, an independent businessman from Brownsville, is the lone Republican who in November will face the winner of the March Democratic primary.
The five Harris County GOP candidates (HD128 - Wayne Smith, HD130 - Corbin Van Arsdale, HD132 - Bill Callegari, HD135 - Gary Elkins, and HD138 - Dwayne Bohac) are all on the Harris County GOP candidates page.
All right, at least we have that settled. The next question to ask is where each party screwed up by not contesting a winnable district. For example, the Monitor story about HD38 also says this:
State Rep. Veronica Gonzales, D-McAllen, will not face a Republican challenger, despite efforts by Republicans to find an opponent. The district is arguably the most conservative in the Valley.Republicans hoped to challenge her with Roy Martinez, a former Channel 4 anchorman, but he and others decided not to run, said Hollis Rutledge, Hidalgo County Republican chairman.
As Jack Abramoff was pleading guilty today, Travis County DA Ronnie Earle took the opportunity to do a little more research for his money-laundering case against Tom DeLay by issuing more subpoenas.
Prosecutor Ronnie Earle is seeking correspondence among a number of parties, including DeLay, other TRMPAC officials, Abramoff and Ralph Reed, a political consultant and former Christian Coalition director.In a March 2002 e-mail to Abramoff available on the Senate Indian Affairs Committee Web site, Reed proposed spending millions of dollars to defeat Texas Democrats who might want to reopen the Tigua casino in El Paso.
DeLay's lead lawyer, Dick DeGuerin, said Earle is "simply trying to cash in on the Abramoff scandal." DeLay and two associates, John Colyandro and Jim Ellis, are facing criminal charges related to fundraising in connection with 2002 Texas legislative races.
DeGuerin said there is no link between the case involving corporate contributions that Earle is prosecuting and the federal investigation of Abramoff.
"Jack was a friend of Tom DeLay, and DeLay is not the kind of person who's going to abandon a friend in trouble," DeGuerin said. "Every connection between them is on the record."
He said the subpoenas "may serve to clear the air where Tom DeLay is concerned."
Earle also formally responded to the motion to dismiss as directed by the Court of Criminal Appeals.
In his brief, Earle said it would be unprecedented for the state's highest criminal appeals court to step in when an appeal is properly pending before a lower appellate court."This is a bold attempt to bully his way to the very front of the line simply and solely to serve his own political interests and ambitions," Earle said.
Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle issued four subpoenas that seemed to peg off the federal investigation. In fact, one of the four subpoenas was issued to Michael E. Williams, Director of Government Affairs for Abramoff's former law firm of Greenbert Traurig, LLP. The other three subpoenas were to Jonathan Blank, Managing Partner. Preston Gates Ellis & Rouvelas Meeds, LLP and Chairwoman Rhonda Welch Scalco Barona Band of Mission Indians and Don Kilgore, General Counsel Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians.The subpoenas request the witnesses provide records of any and all contacts with Texans for a Republican Majority and its principals suggesting that Earle is looking at the role played by Abramoff and the Indian tribes in attempting to manipulate the 2002 Texas elections. Linking Abramoff and the Choctaws to Texans for a Republican Majority would signal an escalation in the significance of the criminal case.
Quorum Report has already published documents describing a grass roots election plan developed by former Christian Coalition impresario Ralph Reed seeking to bolster anti-Indian casino forces in the Governor's Mansion and the Legislature.
Tom Delay is accused of laundering corporate funds in violation of the Texas Election Code.
In addition, the District Attorney's office today filed its pleadings to the Court of Criminal Appeals. The Court had asked for briefs from the State and the defendant before deciding whether or not to hear arguments on the dismissal of one indictment and DeGuerin's motion to dismiss the second.
The Court took the unusual step of inserting itself after the Third Court of Criminal Appeals declined to fast track consideration of Earle's Motion to revive the first indictment quashed by Judge Pat Priest.
It has been an article of faith among some Republican operatives that the Court of Criminal Appeals would be a sympathetic court to the criminal defendants. However, the political stakes for the Justices may be increasing as Earle injects the Abramoff scandal into the proceedings. Of the three Republicans up for re-election on the Court, only Charles Holcomb faces any primary opponents (including Rep. Terry Keel of Austin). Prematurely aborting the criminal case against Delay amidst the backdrop of the escalating Abramoff scandal may not be in the interests of the Justices.
The proprietor of the PerryVsWorld blog emails me to say he's got a new blog going, this one focusing on the DeLay-Lampson battle. The PvsW site is a good and useful resource, so I expect more of the same here. Here's a post about the voting patterns of territory that is now in CD22 versus what was there in 2002, and here's a post on the demographics of the district.
One thing I want to point out is that while everyone knows that DeLay underperformed in CD22 in 2004, he also underperformed in 2002, though by a lesser margin. It's my opinion that his troubles precede his well-known ethical issues, and that if he continues this slide he's in serious trouble in 2006. We'll see how that goes. Meantime, add this blog to your RSS feeds - it'll be worth your time.
UPDATE: The blog and its URL have been renamed to DeLayVsWorld, which makes more sense anyway from both a logistical and branding perspective. I've updated all the links in this post to reflect that.
Just as a reminder, the AstroWorld auction begins this Friday. Bring your checkbook, and make sure you've got a big enough balance in it.
The park already tested the waters by putting some of the memorabilia up for sale on eBay. The exit sign in Oriental script for the Ozarka Splash, the former Bamboo Shoot, went for about $100, said [auction coordinator Anthony] Piccola.So how much is a fiberglass steer worth?
"I'm thinking $1,500," said [auction attendee Robert] Thomas, who admits he really doesn't have a clue. It could bring $5,000, he speculated. Or $8,000. Or $10,000.
"You know how that auction stuff goes," he said. "It may go for more. I haven't seen many of those things on the market."
Neither has [auctioneer Kenneth] Dixon, who is also scratching his head over how much the giant fiberglass great white shark will fetch. The shark used to hang over the wave pool at WaterWorld.
"I've never sold a shark or a Tasmanian Devil," Dixon said, pointing to the orange fiberglass creature, also up for bids.
One thing is certain though, he said. People will surprise you.
When the dust settled after Monday's 6 p.m. filing deadline, seven Fort Bend County Democrats and 32 Republicans had filed for local races.Incumbent Fort Bend County District Clerk Glory Hopkins was not among them.
Fort Bend County Republican Party Chairman Eric Thode said Monday evening he hadn't seen Hopkins' filing papers. Later Monday night, he said he was told they were addressed incorrectly and never reached him. "It's not a valid filing," he concluded.
"I do not physically have it on my person," Thode said. "I have been told it was mailed to my work office certified upon receipt on the 27th of December. The return receipt is not back, and I am not in possession of the filing."
[...]
[Andy Meyers, Fort Bend County Commissioner for Precinct 3] said Hopkins told him that she was directed by Thode to mail her filing papers to his work office. She sent them via certified mail and also faxed them. Meyers said Hopkins told him she received confirmation at Thode's workplace that the fax had gone through.
Thode said he was at his office Friday for the "first mail run" and Hopkins' filing papers did not show up. He said there may have been a second mail run on Friday, and possibly a run on Saturday morning.
Thode said he was trying to make time to get to his office Monday night to check on Hopkins' papers. Later Monday night, he said he was on the way to the office when he received a call from Hopkins' daughter.
"The filing papers were returned to them as undeliverable," Thode said he was told. "The wrong zip code was on the envelope, and it was returned to them on the 29th."
Since Hopkins was on vacation, she apparently didn't realize the filing papers had been returned.
Thode intends to call the Texas Secretary of State's office to see if Hopkins can be permitted to run, but "I'm pretty confident I know the answer to that question," he said. "It's not a valid filing. That's fairly clear under the Texas Election Code."
Hopkins said Tuesday afternoon her attorney will file a writ of mandamus – a directive by a court of law – with the court of appeals in Harris County. The writ will direct Fort Bend Republican Party Chairman Eric Thode to place Hopkins' name on the ballot.[...]
Richmond attorney Libby King, Hopkins' daughter and campaign treasurer, said her mother's filing fee and application were sent by certified mail on Dec. 27 to a work address Thode provided in a Dec. 5 email sent to numerous candidates and campaigns. King said she has verified with another person who received the email that the address Thode provided included the incorrect zip code for his office.
[...]
"It's a horrible tragedy," Thode said. "They made a good-faith effort to get the filing papers in on time. If the court will direct that they be the ballot, that would be great."
Ironically, King said her mother faxed a copy of her filing papers and check to Thode's office on Dec. 27, and got confirmation that her fax had been received.
King also said her mother and Thode had lunch earlier in the month, and Hopkins tried to give Thode her filing fee. However, King said, Thode declined to accept it and said he needed the check and filing application to be mailed together to his office.
Thode said he sent "multiple emails" to known candidates and campaigns, but also acknowledged sending one out to precinct chairs that contained the incorrect zip code. "Apparently they went by that one," he said.
The text of Thode's email is here. Perhaps the fact that the same ZIP code was given for both a Houston and a Sugar Land address should have raised suspicions, but it's always easier to spot that sort of thing when someone points it out to you. We'll see what the judges say.
Has it really been 20 years since the Don't Mess With Texas campaign first rolled out? Yes, it has, and to celebrate there will be a new series of ads with new celebrities.
The slogan has all but become the state motto, emblazoned on countless T-shirts and coffee mugs, chanted by liberals and conservatives alike when they disagree with the Legislature and invoked by then-Gov. George W. Bush when he faced criticism on the presidential campaign trail.Because the Texas Department of Transportation has used different methods of counting litter throughout the years, it isn't possible to say how much littering has decreased since the campaign began, said Doris Howdeshell, director of the department's travel division.
But every time a study is done, less litter is found, she said. A study released earlier this month found 827 million pieces of litter had accumulated on Texas roadways in 2005, compared with 1.25 billion in 2001 — a 33 percent decrease.
[...]
The ad campaign that begins on Monday reintroduces celebrities and adds the phrase "Real Texans don't litter." Four different public service announcements will air throughout the state.
Howdeshell hopes the new commercials remind people about the true message behind "Don't Mess with Texas." The department registered the slogan as a trademark in 2000 and has stepped up enforcement to protect it, sending out cease-and-desist letters to groups such as the University of Texas, which sold T-shirts bearing the phrase.
While that led to some ribbing by Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" with Jon Stewart, Howdeshell said it's important for people to know "Don't Mess with Texas" is more than a macho motto.
"We're proud the campaign has produced such good results for Texas, and the fact that it's become a part of pop culture is just an added bonus," she said. "We just want to make sure everyone knows 'Don't Mess with Texas' means don't litter."
Despite the decline in litter, however, recent studies reveal that about 55 percent of 1,200 Texans surveyed in October admitted to littering and most of them were under the age of 25, according to the department.The survey also revealed that though most Texans have heard the slogan "Don't Mess with Texas," only 71 percent know that it means "don't litter."
Let's talk about something other than candidate filings, shall we? How about Jack Abramoff?
Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who is under criminal investigation, may agree this week to cooperate with federal officials in a move that former prosecutors say would put U.S. lawmakers in legal jeopardy.Abramoff's lawyers may tell a U.S. district judge in Miami as early as today whether they've reached a plea agreement with the government ahead of a scheduled wire-fraud trial, according to a person close to the investigation. Judge Paul Huck has scheduled a 3:30 p.m. conference call for a status report on the negotiations.
To get a reduced prison sentence, Abramoff would have to implicate lawmakers in a related probe of his lobbying activities, said Melanie Sloan, a former federal prosecutor and head of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
"I believe he has to be giving up members of Congress," Sloan said. "Otherwise, Abramoff is as high as you go."
[...]
Some 220 lawmakers received at least $1.7 million in political donations from Abramoff, his associates and nine tribal clients between 2001 and 2004, according to a review of Federal Election Commission and Internal Revenue Service records. Of those, 201 are still in Congress. Republicans received $1.1 million, or 64 percent of the total.
"When this is all over, this will be bigger than any (government scandal) in the last 50 years, both in the amount of people involved and the breadth to it," said Stan Brand, a former U.S. House counsel who specializes in representing public officials accused of wrongdoing. "It will include high-ranking members of Congress and executive branch officials."
[...]
Proving bribery requires evidence that lawmakers accepted gifts in return for official favors. Any such deal would normally be made orally in private, said John Kotelly, who prosecuted South Carolina Democrat John Jenrette, one of six congressmen convicted in the Abscam political corruption case in the 1980s.
"A lot of it depends on what kinds of conversations Abramoff had with members of Congress," Kotelly said. "Normally they're smart enough to just talk in generalities."
[...]
DeLay's lawyer, Richard Cullen, said he is "not at all apprehensive" about an Abramoff plea. "I would not expect it to involve Mr. DeLay in any way," Cullen said.
Since the Bloomberg story mentioned Abscam, you should read this analysis on Josh Marshall's site. Briefly, Marhsll's correspondent says Abscam wasn't continued despite the likelihood of continued success because to do so would have fundamentally altered the political landscape at the time. Since the Justice Department is about law enforcement, it backed off from what may have been perceived as a political mission. Will that same dynamic happen here with AbramoffScam? Good question. Stay tuned.
UPDATE: Here's the post-plea story. CREW does a little forensic work on the agreement.
I'm not going to dwell too much on the Strayhorn goes independent story, since I think by now we're all a little tired of it. The one thing I'll comment on is this:
The two top Democrats in the race — Chris Bell and Bob Gammage — praised Strayhorn's decision as a positive step for Texas and their own campaigns."The current Republican leadership has turned its back on the needs of our families and children," said Gammage. "Strayhorn's defection is just the beginning of an exodus of thinking and caring Republicans from the ranks of a badly served GOP."
Bell spokesman Jason Stanford said having two independents in the race against Perry will help a Democrat like Bell.
"All Chris Bell has to do to win is get Democrats to vote for a Democrat," Stanford said.
Bell spokesman Jason Stanford said the possibility of a four-way general election arguably works in his candidate's favor.Noting that Friedman ran as a Republican for justice of the peace in Kerr County in 1986, Stanford said, "If the race comes down to three Republicans and one Democrat, all Chris Bell has to do to win is get Democrats to vote for a Democrat."
Friedman spokeswoman Laura Stromberg said Friedman ran in 1986 as a Republican because Kerr County is so heavily GOP. She said Friedman "has ideas that span both parties."
Mr. Friedman's campaign director, Dean Barkley, said it would be up to voters to decide who is the true independent: "Kinky Friedman, who has never been a Democrat or a Republican, or Carole, who has been both."
Perry and The Jeffersonian are thinking along the 3-R-and-one-D lines, while Jack thinks Bell needs to be more visible for it to work. I believe this strategy could work, and maybe Perry's math is sound, but as long as I'm seeing cars with both Kerry/Edwards and "Why the hell not?" bumper stickers on them, I'm not going to take the Democratic base vote for granted. We'll know more when we start seeing poll numbers, but I'm not all that much more sanguine about this race than I was before. Perry's poor popularity makes this race winnable, but there are many hurdles to be jumped first.
Enough of that. The Morning News has a good story on the bottom-up game plan that the state Democrats are generally pursuing.
Outgunned at the top, Democrats are trying to revamp the party from the bottom up. Officials are focusing on state House races and developing ways to raise more money for the legislative campaigns this season."Democrats are working from the ground up to earn voters' trust, and we recognize the importance of local and state legislative offices," party Chairman Charles Soechting said Monday. "Democrats have a number of first-rate candidates in a number of state House districts, and we feel good about our opportunity to gain seats."
Republicans control all statewide offices, both the state Senate and House, and the congressional delegation. Analysts say Democrats are in for a long period out of power, though some Democrats hope to be back in mix before the Legislature's next regularly scheduled redraw of state and congressional districts in 2010.
"They have an uphill climb," said Andy Hernandez, a political scientist at St. Mary's University in San Antonio. "They are building for the future. They are developing a farm club, and one day their players will move up to the majors."
[...]
For some leading Democrats, rebuilding the party's infrastructure has a higher priority than trying to lure formidable candidates onto the ballot this time.
Dallas lawyer Fred Baron, a national fundraiser for Democratic presidential candidates John Kerry and John Edwards, has developed a political action committee, the Texas Democratic Trust.
The group already has paid to bolster the state party leadership by hiring about 20 staffers, including an executive director, communications director and field workers.
Mr. Baron said the effort could result in up to $3 million being spent to rebuild the party.
"It's an exercise in re-creating a vibrant, relevant Texas Democratic Party," he said. "It's not going to happen in a year, but Texas is beginning to become a very different state."
Other Democrats agree. "There is a real opportunity for Democrats at the state House level," said former congressional aide Matt Angle, who is helping in the rebuilding. "It must be if we're going to have a two-party system in Texas."
Here's the Chron's list of Harris County candidates. It's not quite complete - the info comes from the county party websites, so independents like Steve Stockman are omitted, plus there are still some oversights on the county party pages; Jim Sharp is running again as a Democrat for First Court of Appeals, Place Nine, for example. It's a pretty good list, though, so check it out.
Finally, make of this what you will.
Democratic state Rep. Armando "Mando" Martinez, a 13-year incumbent from Weslaco, faces a primary challenge from his wife, Jessica Reyes-Martinez. The District 39 seat covers part of Hidalgo County.Reyes-Martinez, 28, filed as a candidate in the March 7 primary only 30 minutes before the Monday deadline, The Monitor reported in its Tuesday edition. She's making her first bid for public office and is now a homemaker.
"I'm actually running for office, not against him," Reyes-Martinez told the McAllen newspaper. "It just happens he's in office right now."
The two live in separate houses in Weslaco, and did not speak with one another after making short speeches at the Hidalgo County Democratic Party kick-off on Monday night.
This is still subject to some change, since not everything is yet reflected on the filings page, but here for now is the top of the Democratic ticket:
U.S. Senator
12/5/2005 Barbara Ann Radnofsky, (713) 758-3846
12/6/2005 Darrel Reece Hunter, (806) 359-6206
12/28/2005 Gene Kelly
Governor
12/9/2005 Chris Bell, (713) 524-0009
12/15/2005 Bob Gammage, (325) 247-5577
12/29/2005 Rashad Jafer, (832) 277-2040
1/2/2006 Felix Alvarado, (817) 657-7369
Lieutenant Governor
12/30/2005 Benjamin Z. Grant
1/2/2006 Adrian De Leon, (830) 876-2486
1/2/2006 Maria Luisa Alvarado, (866) 281-0460
Attorney General
12/5/2005 David Van Os, (210) 225-1955
Comptroller of Public Accounts
1/2/2006 Fred Head, (903) 675-5111
Land Commissioner
1/2/2006 VaLinda Hathcox, (903) 438-1529
Agriculture Commissioner
12/8/2005 Hank Gilbert, (903) 871-2424
12/12/2005 Koecadee Melton, Jr.
Railroad Commissioner
1/2/2006 Dale Henry, (512) 564-1448
"Dirty Thirty" was the name given to thirty members of the 1971 Texas House of Representatives who grouped against Speaker of the House Gus Mutscher and other Texas officials charged in a bribery-conspiracy investigation by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. The coalition of thirty Democrats and Republicans, conservatives and liberals, has been given credit for keeping the Sharpstown Stock Fraud Scandal alive as a political issue. One member called for a resolution to make Mutscher and his associates resign from leadership positions while the SEC investigation continued, but Mutscher was still favored by a majority in the House, and the measure failed. Another resolution, for the House to make itself a committee of the whole to study the SEC allegation, also failed. The criticism by the Dirty Thirty of Mutscher's system of controlling legislation led him, finally, to agree to an investigation. But he appointed five of his closest House allies, all chairmen of other committees he had appointed, to do the job. This blatant use of appointive power to clear himself actually helped the Dirty Thirty's cause. On the next-to-last day of the session, Mutscher attacked the group, accusing them of irresponsible and partisan politics. In return the group called Mutscher a dictator of state politics, more concerned with private than public interests. This began the electoral battle, which Mutscher lost.In September 1971 a Travis County grand jury indicted Mutscher and two colleagues for conspiracy to accept a bribe and accepting a bribe. It also strongly recommended reform in the power of the speaker, although this recommendation was largely ignored; in 1993 minor reforms occurred. Mutscher was tried, found guilty, and sentenced to five years' probation. Although not brought to trial, Governor Preston Smith and Lieutenant Governor Ben Barnes saw their political careers effectively ended. The Dirty Thirty paid a price, also, for Mutscher blocked most of the legislation introduced by the members, and they found themselves isolated from other legislators.
Every Congressional seat save for Mike Conaway's CD11 is contested. Stace has some info on CD02 candidate Gary E. Binderim.
None of the late Congressional filings is as intriguing as that of former CD09 wackjob Steve Stockman, who got elected in a fluke in 1994 as a Republican, then got ousted in 1996 by Nick Lampson and is now running as an independent (PDF) in CD22. Vince caught that one, and all indications point to it being the same Stockman as before. Here's a little background on Stockman. Elam sent him an email to ask about this. I can't wait to see if he gets a reply.
Two Dems filed today for the now-open SD18, currently held by Ken Armbrister: Bret Baldwin and Henry Boehm, Jr. You know as much about them right now as I do.
At the State Rep level, there's still some gaps. The filings page lists 91 races with a Dem in them, which would leave 59 uncontested seats. The awful Tarrant County Democratic Party page confirms that Lon Burnam (HD90) and Marc Veasey (HD95) are in, while the Dallas Democrats page fills in Terri Hodge (HD100), Roberto Alonzo (HD104), Bob Romano (HD105), Katy Hubener (HD106), Eric Brandler (HD113), and Phillip Shinoda (HD114). I'm certain someone is running to replace the retiring Jim Solis in HD38 - I believe Eddie Lucio, Jr, son of the State Senator was supposed to be the one - but I can't find a page for the Cameron County Democratic Party to confirm that. The Republicans don't list a candidate, either, so I'll say there's a Dem and go from there. That brings us to 100 districts, which means 63 Dem-held seats, plus 37 of 87 GOP-held seats, leaving 50 uncontested. I counted 51 Republicans without a Democratic challenger in 2004 - Greg has it as 46 free rides this year, 54 in 2004. Like I said, there's still gaps. I'll get back to you on this one.
On a side note, Galveston blogger Liberty emails me to say that he's running as a Libertarian in HD23, against Democratic Rep. Craig Eiland. Liberty, who gives his real name as Raymond Lloyd, appears to be Eiland's only competition. Obviously, I'll be rooting for Eiland, but I wish Liberty well in his campaign.
Finally, there will be a contested race for Bexar County Democratic Party chair. Carla Vela is the only candidate listed right now, but I'm told via comments that a Dan Ramos is also in the race. Anyone care to add to this? Whoever wins the BCDP chair wil have his or her work cut out for himself or herself.
I'll have more as things clarify further. Good night.
The deadline has passed. According to the filings page, which was last updated at 4:45 PM and thus may yet be incomplete, all Congressional districts but one (CD11) have Democratic challengers. CD10 now has an amazing five candidatess (where were you guys in 2004???), and CD01 will also have a contested primary.
One new State Senate candidate, Dwight B. Fullingim in Jane Nelson's SD12. Another 70-30 district, but as always, my hat is off to those who take up that kind of challenge.
I'm counting 88 State Rep districts with at least one contender. Greg says there's 46 unchallenged Republicans, which (assuming that all the incumbents plus someone to replace Jim Solis in HD38 have filed) would make 104 contested races (63 Dem-held seats, plus 41 of 87 GOP-held seats). Until the State Party page is finalized, that's a guess.
That's the good news. The bad news is that at the statewide level, Comptroller, Land and Railroad Commishes, and as far as I can tell all Supreme and Court of Criminal Appeals seats will be decided in March by the GOP primary. I hope I'm wrong about that. There are now 3 Lite Guv candidates now, however, including Maria Alvarado. Feliz Alvarado is still absent.
More later. Off to the basketball game.
The announcement by Carole Independent Strayhorn (or is that Carole Keeton Independent? I can't keep track) that she'll be running as an independent is getting cheers from one corner of the electorate: the anti-toll road faction. That at least has a chance of chipping away at Governor Perry's base of support. The first batch of post-filing polls is gonna be interesting, that's for sure.
Not much new to report from the Dems who have filed page. There's a contender in Mac Thornberry's CD13, which is a West Texas district that is something like 75% GOP. Nonetheless, best of luck to you, Roger J. Waun, for taking the challenge. Some wag at MyDD thinks "Waun's the One" would make for a pretty good bumper sticker. Go for it, I say.
In the Get A Life Department, I'm about to got out to dinner with Tiffany and Olivia, then I'll be at Autry Court for the Rice-Yale basketball game. I'll have a rundown of who's running where when it's all over.
Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn ended speculation today by announcing she will run for governor against Gov. Rick Perry as an independent."It's time to shake Austin up," Strayhorn, who is now serving as a Republican officeholder, told reporters today, the filing deadline for the 2006 elections.
"Governor Perry may be doing the best he can, but after five years, we have learned he is not the strong leader we need to put Texas above politics," she added.
[...]
To get on the ballot as an independent, Strayhorn will need to collect the signatures of 45,450 registered voters who cast ballots in neither party primary or runoff. The signatures will have to be collected between March 8 and May 11.
Anticipating Strayhorn's independent candidacy, Perry spokesman Robert Black last week said it would demonstrate "the latest desperate act of a politician who has no core convictions or guiding principles."
What scares me is the possibility that Strayhorn's trail-lawyer benefactors will continue to throw their money at her for the rest of the campaign. Without that kind of financial support, I fear that Bell or Bob Gammage will get squeezed out monetarily. Strayhorn already has a bunch of cash, and Kinky Friedman says he's got close to a million bucks. Where is the Democratic candidate going to get campaign funding amid all that?
Of course, neither Strayhorn nor Friedman has a guaranteed spot on the ballot just yet. With Perry sure to cruise to an easy primary win, a clear win on the Democratic side for either Bell or Gammage would give the two indies the full timeframe for collecting most of their signatures. A runoff would hurt their chances, since they'd have to wait until afterwards. PerryVsWorld is right - many people will be holding their breath until May 11 to find out if either or both of these two makes it. And that's assuming there are no challenges to the collected signatures. Oddly, neither major party candidate may perceive it as being in his best interest to do that, but if both of them appear to qualify I could see CKS and Kinky going after the other's petitions. To say the least, the calculus is strange.
The Quorum Report was the first on the story. Greg, Rawhide, and Vince also comment.
UPDATE: Bob Gammage also thinks the Strayhorn news is better for Dems than for Perry. From a press release I just got:
"This is bad news for Rick Perry and great news for Texas. This guarantees that Rick Perry will have two strong opponents shedding light on his shortcomings all the way to November. There are plenty of decent Republicans out there who are fed up with Perry, Tom DeLay and the corrupt GOP Leadership."Texans understand that it is time for a change, that the current Republican leadership has turned its back on the needs of our families and our children and left then twisting in the wind. They are tired of the corruption, weakness and incompetence in the Governor's office. Strayhorn's defection is just the beginning of an exodus of thinking and caring Republicans from the ranks of a badly served GOP.
"This also reinforces our message that Perry, DeLay and the current Republican leadership are bad for all Texans, and we will carry that message to Democrats, angry independents and disaffected Republicans across Texas, through March and beyond."
David Murff made his filing this morning at HCDP headquarters, joining Jim Henley in the Democratic primary race to run against John Culberson in CD07. I can only hope that the Chron will cover Murff's filing as they did Henley's. They don't seem to be too aware of what contested primaries there are, though, so I won't hold my breath. I plan to send a questionnaire to both Murff and Henley in the next few days, so everyone who lives in CD07 can get a little more information about what they stand for.
Speaking of contested primaries, there's now a three-way race to be the Democratic candidate in CD10, the Houston-to-Austin district now held by Mike McCaul. Ted Ankrum has joined Pat Mynatt and Kyle Kincaid on the ballot. Texas Tuesdays has his announcement:
“I’ve spent my entire adult life in service to our nation,” said Ankrum. “I’ve witnessed first-hand what good government can accomplish. It can give an enlisted man’s son the opportunity to go to college. It can rise above partisan politics to expose corruption. It can balance a budget. It can inspire a generation to go to the moon. This is the greatest generation we have. We can end the war in Iraq, restore civil liberties to our own citizens, and make ourselves safer in the process. We can end our addiction to foreign oil and in the process create new industries for our working people. We can provide healthcare to all Americans and in the process make American business competitive in the world again. We can take care of our elderly without dismantling their Social Security benefits. We can end corruption in Washington and restore our nation to its people. Integrity, security, opportunity and freedom. That’s what this campaign is about”.Ted Ankrum’s qualifications for Congress are extensive: NASA – Special Assistant to the Director; Deputy Director of Facilities Engineering, Head of Environmental Compliance. EPA – Deputy Director of Superfund Hazardous Waste Cleanup. Carter Administration – Dept. of Energy Chief of Conservation and Renewable Energy; Chief of Program Evaluation for Unconventional Oil and Gas Programs. Chief Quality Inspector for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Director of the Congressionally-mandated Report to congress on what went wrong with the Commercial Nuclear Power Industry. Clinton Administration – Diplomat in Australia.
He is a 30 year veteran of the Navy – four tours in Vietnam – Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Navy Commendation Medal, Vietnamese Medal of Honor and Cross of Gallantry. Member of Nuclear Navy Personnel selected by Adm. Rickover. Retired as Navy Captain.
Ted is an engineer, BSEE from University of Colorado and MBA from Loyola.
He and his wife, Ann live in Cypress. Two of their four children and all of their grandchildren live in Cypress.
Where:
Tequila Willie's
1055 Bay Area Blvd (Near Bay Area and El Camino)
Houston, TX 77058
(281) 461-9666When:
Monday January 2, 2006
3:30 pmFood will be provided.
Dinner and social with members of Bay Area New Democrats will follow till whenever.
Just Another Matt has been corresponding with recently-filed SD25 candidate Kathi Thomas, and he's printed her answers to his questions. Check it out.
It's been three days since Ben Grant filed for Lieutenant Governor, and there's still nary a mention of him that I can find in Google News beyond the original story and the Star Telegram blurb. How long will the voters be kept in the dark about the fact that they will have a choice other than David Dewhurst for Lite Guv in November? I think I agree with Maria Alvarado, Grant's announced-but-not-yet-filed Democratic primary opponent here:
Presented with a primary opponent that, as he states, lacks of name recognition and funding might seem like a mutual disadvantage. To me, this is clearly not so. Nonetheless, an appropriate strategy to win a place on the November ballot must bring about the message that resonates with voters. That message will not get to all Texans by visiting a campaign website. That message still has to reach the listening range, and the doorsteps of those Texans that have seen how dollars, not votes, have shaped our government over recent years.Anyone for a debate?
Looking on the Dems who have filed page, I see that we've picked up a contender in CD12, a fellow named John R. Morris. Don't know a thing about him, but this Tarrant County seat held by Kay Granger was contested by announced-but-not-yet-filed Democratic gubernatorial candidate Felix (brother of Maria) Alvarado in 2004. It's a steep hill, to say the least, but as always I'm glad to see someone take on the challenge.
More exciting is the notice that Mike "Tuffy" Hamilton will not get a free pass in HD19. One Paul Clayton will go up against him in this East Texas district where Hamilton won by a fairly close 55.4-44.6 margin last time out. This is definitely a race that needed to be run, so welcome aboard, Paul Clayton.
Finally, I paid a visit to HCDP headquarters earlier today (where I witnessed the Murff filing), and heard a rumor about a Democratic candidate in HD128. If you know anything about this, please leave a comment. I also had the pleasure to finally meet and shake hands with Rep. Rick Noriega, who as far as I can tell is unopposed for reelection.
More as I hear it. Five hours to go.
Today's the official filing deadline, so we can resolve the Strayhorn Shuffle once and for all.
Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn has kept today's filing deadline for the 2006 elections alive with speculation about what she will do in the Texas governor's race.She announced in June as a Republican candidate, challenging Gov. Rick Perry's re-election. But now her campaign is refusing to dampen speculation that she will file today as an independent candidate for governor.
Today is the deadline for candidates to file for either the Republican or Democratic primaries; the Texas Libertarian Party, whose nominees are chosen at a June convention; or as an independent candidate for office.
Filing deadline day always holds the potential for some surprises.
A recent example was in 2002, when former Attorney General Dan Morales jumped into the Democratic primary for governor after indicating for months that he would run for the U.S. Senate. He lost to businessman Tony Sanchez and later was sentenced to federal prison on mail fraud charges stemming from some of his official actions while the state's top lawyer.
Strayhorn, obviously, is looking for a happier ending to her filing-day surprise.
Another thing we can be grateful for: A challenger to Rep. Dwayne Bohac in HD138.
Mark McDavid of Houston, Texas filed on the deadline, 1/2/06, to run in the Democratic Primary for Texas House District 138. The District encompasses near north and northwest Harris County neighborhoods including Garden Oaks, Oak Forest, Spring Branch, Cy-Fair, and Bear Creek.A graduate of Scarborough High School and the University of Houston, McDavid states that he feels the district is inadequately represented and needs a stronger focus towards stewardship of our air and water, a better commitment on the part of the Texas Legislature towards properly funding public education, and an increased focus towards ending a culture of corruption in campaign finance. An avid fisherman, McDavid is well aware of the degradation to Texas' fields, streams, and beaches, as well as the lack of proper attention and funding towards State parks.
McDavid will be taking on an incumbent in the fall general election, Republican Dwayne Bohac. Bohac, the incumbent, benefited from the 2001 redistricting as he had previously lost 2 other attempts at the seat. In addition, Bohac was one of 7 Republican candidates in 2001 to benefit from Tom DeLay's alleged money-laundering scheme, receiving approximately $ 20,000 from the Republican National Committee after TRMPAC, a state Political Action Committee designed to increase Republican representation in the Texas House, fronted $ 190,000 to the National Republican Party. DeLay and 2 of his associates are currently under indictment for allegedly breaking Texas law over the arrangement. "In addition to a thick ethical cloud hanging over Bohac's head for accepting campaign funds possibly money-laundered, Bohac has misrepresented the District by voting to hack funding for public education and to hack funding for insuring Texas children. He further undermined the health and safety of the 150,000 constituents in District 138 by voting against 5 separate amendments introduced in 2005 to strengthen air quality standards and clean up severe pollution problems in Harris County," says McDavid to a crowd of activists at the Harris County Democratic Party Headquarters.
A Materials Handler with a local manufacturing firm, McDavid grew up in District 138, more specifically in the Forest West subdivision of Northwest Houston. He currently resides in the Oak Forest neighborhood with his wife Ginny.
Rep. Pena says that now that Valley veterans have had a chance to digest the information about the expanded VA clinic in Harlingen, they have decided that it is inadequate. Says Pena:
At this point I would expect the Veterans administration office or one of our senators to provide an explanation to our Veterans why a Veterans' hospital is not an option.
By the way, Pena had his first blogiversary yesterday. Congrats, and keep up the good work!
Your last chance to make nominations for the Koufax Awards is tomorrow at 11:59 PM (presumably Eastern time). If you haven't done so already, review the categories, then go back to that first link and make your choices. When the time comes to vote, if you don't see your preferred options available, it's your own fauly if you never nominated them.
Jack brings us the DUMB@SS of the Year awards.
Since [June of 2003], the DUMB@$$ AWARDS have come to symbolize the breadth and depth of human stupidity…and if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that this barrel has no bottom. The stupid shall always be among us…
Finally, Jim Henley's Unqualified Successes are to my knowledge the longest-running blog awards going - this year's version is #5 in the series. Check it out.
UPDATE: It's not a blog thing, but the Dallas Morning News named the city of Houston as its Texan Of The Year, and that's worth linking to. Thanks for the luv, fellas.
The Chron takes a look at the new makeup of City Council.
After Tuesday's inauguration, the ideological makeup on the council will switch — from a slight edge of Republican members to one favoring those who, like White, are Democrats.This new council — which also is, for the first time, majority female — will work with the mayor to implement his far-reaching agenda during the next two years.
White said he plans to focus on several familiar issues: fighting a recent spike in violent crimes, improving traffic congestion, and protecting and revitalizing neighborhoods.
He'll set about doing this knowing that more than 100,000 Hurricane Katrina evacuees have changed the region's makeup — and that some of his time will be spent ensuring that the city receives "every penny" of reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
"We have a big city that's grown dramatically," said White, who is, weather permitting, set to be sworn in with City Controller Annise Parker and council members Tuesday morning at the Houston Police Officer Memorial. "And we have all the issues — infrastructure, public safety, housing — that we are going to have to deal with."
Here's an earlier piece profiling Jerry Wood, who did a lot of heavy lifting on the previous Council redistricting. Seems like the kind of person you'd like to have involved in something like this. Link via Houtopia.
The Red State is first out of the box to report some excellent news: Lt. Cmdr. Juan Garcia, who flirted with a run for Senate, will be challenging State Rep. Gene Seamon in HD32 (PDF map). Greg has the press release and the election analysis. Seamon underperformed by almost five points before getting a free pass in 2004. This is a winnable race, and even better it's a key part of CD14, which ought to help Shane Sklar as well.
Up in Longview, State Rep. Tommy Merritt has himself a challenger:
Patrick Franklin is racing against time in what he said is his bid to make history."As far as I know, I'm the first openly gay candidate to run for any office in East Texas," said the 29-year-old Longview resident, "and for that, I'm very proud."
Franklin needs about 300 more signatures or $750 before the Monday filing deadline to run in the March Democratic Primary for District 7 state representative. If he files and wins the primary, he would face Republican Tommy Merritt, who is seeking re-election to what would be his seventh term.
District 7 represents Gregg and northern Smith counties.
Franklin was a Republican, but switched parties after the Republican endorsement of Proposition 2, a constitutional amendment overwhelmingly approved in November that prevents state and local governments from recognizing civil unions and limits the definition of marriage to one man and one woman.
"My friends, they may have beaten us in one election, but they have not silenced us," he said Tuesday to the Longview chapter of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays. "I stood by and watched it one time. I will not watch it happen again."
Franklin, who opposes the death penalty because he said it's unfairly given to minorities, suggested an income tax to help solve the state's school finance debacle.
He said the current property tax system makes it difficult for those living in rental property to move to home ownership, and increasing sales taxes would be unfair to poor, working-class families.
"The whole process seems to be about avoiding coming up with a solution instead of solving problems," he said of school finance efforts in Austin.
Franklin also suggested bus transit systems to move Texans from their reliance on oil.
"There's no reason that, even in towns like Longview, Tyler, White Oak or whatever, that you don't have transit systems that go from city to city," he said.
Franklin, the assistant manager of Wilson's Leather at Longview Mall, is a graduate of Sabine High School and received an economics degree from Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia. He also announced the inaugural meeting of the Gregg County Stonewall Democrats at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 16 at the party's office at 211 W. Tyler St. in downtown Longview.
Finally, while I've no doubt that statewide elections will dominate government this year, I'd like to know if coverage of those elections will be up to the challenge. In particular, I'd like to know when the major dailies will notice that David Dewhurst is no longer unopposed for Lieutenant Governor. The Star Telegram seems to be the first to pick up on the story that was broken by the Marshall News Messenger.
Democrats have their first official candidate for lieutenant governor. Retired Appeals Court Judge Ben Z. Grant of Marshall, who also served for 10 years in the Texas House and was one of the reform-minded "Dirty Thirty" in the early 1970s, said he's willing to take on incumbent Republican David Dewhurst."I'm running uphill, there's no doubt about that," said Grant, 66. "But I strongly believe in the two-party system, and the voters need to have a choice in November."
Grant said he was encouraged to run for the state's No. 2 post by Bob Gammage, a Democratic candidate for governor who was also a member of the Dirty Thirty.
"We passed a lot of good reforms, like the Open Meetings Act, back then," Grant said. "And it looks like Austin could use another dose of that now."
The MOB will commence working on its Annual Salute To The New Coach script now that Tulsa defensive coordinator Todd Graham has signed on to replace the departing Ken Hatfield.
Graham served as assistant head coach and defensive coordinator for the Golden Hurricane for three seasons.Tulsa ranked 37th among 119 Division I-A teams in defense this season at 342.3 yards per game and 42nd in scoring defense at 23.4 points per game.
Before coming to Tulsa, Graham spent two seasons at West Virginia, serving as linebackers coach in 2001 and co-defensive coordinator in 2002.
The Mountaineers were ranked 33rd in defense in 2002 and beat nationally ranked Virginia Tech and Pittsburgh.
Before his first full-time college job, Graham, a Mesquite native, spent six years as head coach at Allen High School, leading the Eagles to five postseason appearances.
Graham, 41, is a 1986 graduate of East Central (Okla.) University, where he was a two-time NAIA All-America defensive back. During a three-year stint as defensive coordinator, Graham helped ECU win the NAIA title in 1993.
Graham was one of several candidates.
The list included: TCU's [Mike] Schultz; Texas Tech offensive coordinator Sonny Dykes; Texas A&M offensive coordinator Les Koenning; and San Diego coach Jim Harbaugh, who was offered the job but turned it down and stayed put with a multiyear contract extension.
Another casualty of Hurricane Katrina - Atlanta police say "No bead tossing!" during the pre-Sugar Bowl parade.
The ban was widely interpreted as an effort to head off the practice of women baring their breasts in exchange for Mardi Gras beads.Gayle Martin, who came from Lafayette, La., to see Louisiana State University play in the Peach Bowl on Friday, said it was absurd to think anyone would do that here. "It's too cold," Martin, 56, said, adding, "Atlanta's full of a lot of stuffed shirts, so what can you do?"
The police said the ban was prompted by unspecified public safety concerns.
The public was not buying it. "It's 'Laissez les Bon Temps Roulez,' Baptist-style," the Atlanta Journal-Constitution said in a cheeky front-page article — one of several articles marveling at the ephemeral inroads made here by Louisiana culture. An Internet poll of more than 2,500 readers was running nearly three to one in favor of tossing beads.
[...]
Barry Kern, a New Orleans native whose family has been in the float-building business for four generations and who is producing the Atlanta parade, said that "throws," as the beads and doubloons are called, added to the excitement and made spectators feel like participants. Kern said that he produced parades all over the world, and that Atlanta was not the first city to ban the throws.
"It always comes down to the same thing: it's a misinterpretation and a misconception," he said. "It's an uneasiness on the part of the city from the perspective of public safety."
That argument does have merit. Georgia has no statute that compares with Louisiana's "coconut law," named after the gilded coconuts tossed by the Krewe of Zulu. The law says anyone attending a Mardi Gras parade "assumes the risk of being struck by any missile whatsoever which has been traditionally thrown, tossed or hurled by members of the krewe or organization." And even since that law was enacted, lawsuits have marred many a Mardi Gras.
But to a Louisianian, a parade is just not a parade without beads. Molly Adkins, 17, of Baton Rouge, was strolling the streets of Atlanta with a purple and gold feather boa around her neck. Adkins said she knew of the bead-tossing ban: "We heard they were just going to pass them out. That just seems really strange."
Today marks my fourth anniversary of blogging. That's a little mind-boggling to me, since it just doesn't feel that long. My archives are right there on the sidebar, though, so I can't deny it.
It's been four fun years for me. When I started doing this, it was as an exercise to force me to write on a regular basis. It's become a bit more than that, but at its heart I still see this as a means of self-improvement, and I'm still ultimately doing it for myself. The day that I stop enjoying it is the day I announce my retirement.
It helps greatly, of course, that I have an audience that regularly provides me with insightful feedback and the more-than-occasional hot tip. I say I'm doing this for myself, but having such a great readership is both a reward and an incentive to keep pushing myself. You folks rock.
I got to branch out a bit this year by doing a little radio, both locally and earlier this week in San Antonio. That's been fun, and I hope to have more such opportunities in the future. I'm more comfortable with that than I thought I'd be, which is partly a tribute to the skill of the hosts who've had me on board, and partly a realization on my part that it's like blogging, just without a backspace key.
I can't let the old year pass by without noting with sadness that Ginger Stampley, the person who inspired me to start a blog in the first place, has hung up her spikes. She's still got a LiveJournal, but I know I'll miss her take on political happenings. Thank you, Ginger, for getting me into this gig. I hope to do you proud as a carrier of your blog legacy.
Happy New Year, everybody. Many thanks to all of you for reading and responding. Here's to Year #5.
