Reacting to the latest controversy about his office in recent months, Sheriff Tommy Thomas today apologized in person to a local Muslim group for religiously insensitive e-mails sent by members of his staff.Monday's appearance before the Islamic Society of Greater Houston was Thomas' second apology in recent days over staff e-mail, including one message from a top commander that mocks some of the Islamic faith's core tenets.
"If anyone was offended, I sincerely apologize," Thomas said. "I hope it's not systemic of the department."
Thomas said he planned to discipline the commander, Chief Deputy Mike Smith, who heads the office's detention command. Thomas said he did not know when that suspension would begin or how many others may also receive similar punishment.
[...]
Smith said today that he regretted forwarding an e-mail he received with religiously insensitive cartoons. He said the sheriff docked a week's pay.
"It was stupid for me to forward that. It was just cartoons, regarding Muslim terrorists," he said. "I certainly have a great deal of respect for the Muslim community. They are a very law-abiding community. I regret that that's being viewed as anti-Muslim because it's anti-terrorist.
You can see the emails in question here and here. It's not at all clear to me that Deputy Smith understands why his actions were offensive. Perhaps a little diversity training would be in order here, lest the lesson that gets learned is "only forward nasty stuff from the personal email address".
The e-mails were revealed after KTRK-TV (Channel 13) sued to stop their deletion. The station reported last week on several e-mails that could be considered racist, insensitive or off-color.
The Sheriff spoke to KTRK as well, and though he whined about being "treated unfairly" by them, I give him credit for doing so. He's got way more to answer for than this, and finally agreeing to talk to a reporter doesn't come close to doing it. But it's a step forward, and we're the better off for it.
Remember David Beckwith, the campaign consultant for "Big John" Cornyn? Apparently, he's been a busy boy at the Burnt Orange Report.
When a staffer for Lt. Col. Noriega made a dumb mistake and falsely represented himself as a blogger to the Cornyn campaign, he was rightfully excoriated. When a Democratic consultant created an anonymous website, he was rightfully questioned. In 2007, user Buck Smith began posting on this and other sites, mainly on threads involving Lt. Col. Rick Noriega or Sen. John Cornyn. He attacked diarists and commenters and provided pro-Cornyn spin on many items. In the interest of full disclosure, and in order to keep everything fair, and since Buck Smith has not disclosed who he is, we thought we would clue you in that he is David Beckwith, John Cornyn's senior staffer.We found out his identity because Mr. Beckwith's email on file with the site is the same email listed on the webpage for his high school reunion class. (We also have a screenshot in case the site is removed soon.)
You know who we are and who we work for. You know who the Democratic consultants and staffers that comment on the site are, and who they work for. Now you know who is the Republican operative, and who he works for. Keep that in mind every time he leaves comments attacking you for supporting Lt. Col. Rick Noriega. Keep that in mind every time he takes to the site to spin for Senator John Cornyn. Keep that in mind when you realize that all of the staffers for Lt. Col. Rick Noriega have disclosed their day jobs, while Senator Cornyn's staffer lurk in the shadows, using age old dirty whisper campaigns in an online forum.
In fact, Cornyn's own staffers commented directly on this issue:
"If you're going to misrepresent yourself, be aware of caller i.d." Walsh said. "I don't think misrepresenting yourself is in line with Texas values. I just find it somewhat ham-handed."
Interestingly, it was Buck Smith who kicked the story off online on an unrelated BOR post. Beckwith linked to no outside material but did get the ball rolling using his deceptive user name with this comment.
After the Cornyn campaign gave an amazingly juvenile response to BOR's request for a comment about this, Beckwith admitted thr truth to the Chron's Peggy Fikac. As noted in the comments on the BOR post, Beckwith/Buck Smith even commented on the earlier post about his rumored firing. That would be the definition of sock puppetry right there. Way to go, dude.
On a much nicer note, Rick Noriega is the latest addition to MyDD's Road to 60 group. Since I posted yesterday, Noriega has gone well past 10,000 contributors and $900,000 on ActBlue - by my rough calculation, he's raised over $40K on ActBlue since yesterday. Not too bad. And you can move him farther along for the quarter if you hit the link before midnight tonight. Go ahead, do it for Buck Smith.
The chairman of the Upper Kirby TIRZ writes a letter in defense of the Kirby storm drain/street widening project that was recently criticized by Trees for Houston.
On the Kirby Drive Storm Drainage and Mobility Improvements Project, however, Trees for Houston is making a mistake using the issue about the trees along Kirby to obscure two more critical issues: street flooding and mobility and safety along one of our busiest and most vibrant residential and commercial streets.Just last week, a 30-minute summer rain storm caused street flooding in the neighborhoods along Kirby Drive. If we had a sustained storm, let alone a catastrophic storm, like Tropical Storm Alison, most people would quickly trade the present trees along Kirby for the cars they would have to abandon or the homes they would have to pump out. We didn't create this drainage problem, but we are here to improve it.
The number of cars traveling on Kirby in both directions has increased beyond anyone's expectations, and the new developments currently under construction will only add more cars to the road. It is unsafe for both cars and pedestrians. The new design for Kirby will increase the mobility and safety of this important street. Period.
We are undertaking this project so that we can create a model thoroughfare for the next 50 years. Indeed, the existing trees will be replaced in greater number. We are un-dertaking this project because when we balance all of the goals that this project must address, we realize that we need to replace trees in order to accomplish all objectives. The remaining right of way will be much more pedestrian-friendly, the power lines will be buried underground and there will be more trees along and in this important boulevard. Approximately nine out of 10 landowners along Kirby Drive agree.
We applaud Trees for Houston and the worthy contributions it has made to our city over the years. We hope that we can continue to work with it in Houston's best interest. In the meantime, we are moving forward with a plan that takes a larger view and is the right thing to do.
BUDDY BAILEY
chairman, Upper Kirby TIRZ (Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone) No. 19
I don't know that I agree with all his assertions, and I'd love to see a citation for that "nine out of ten landowners along Kirby Drive agree" statistic he pulled out, but as he and his group appear to have won the fight, I'm not sure that it matters much. I will say, however, that while is statement about the number of cars travelling on Kirby increasing beyond expectations (and, I'd argue, sustainability) is true, it really points out the need for alternatives to driving in that area. Traffic flow may be improved by the Upper Kirby project, but no capacity is being added. I've harped on this subject before and I'll say it again: Traffic conditions on streets like Kirby can only get worse, and the only real option we have to mitigate against this is transit. That's not on any blueprint or long-range plan right now (at least, none that I know of), but I say it needs to be, before Kirby becomes undrivable.
On a related note, the subsequent letter raises an interesting point:
Think outside the curbs and shift some of the traffic load from Kirby to South Shepherd. If South Shepherd Drive from Richmond north to where it comes together with Kirby at Allen Parkway were slightly widened and improved, improvements to Kirby can be done without losing trees. It is a rare instance where two parallel streets come together, so the through traffic is indifferent to the actual street taken. At the southern end, both streets connect directly to the freeway access roads, giving motorists essentially identical outcomes.If it is done my way, the storm sewers get built, the trees stay put, Shepherd moves up in quality and the redundancy means that a problem on one route does not totally shut down the north-south flow.
BRUCE ANDERSON
Houston
As someone who regularly drives on Shepherd, I can tell you that the biggest problem is the lack of any kind of turn lane. Every left turn on Shepherd causes a backup and lots of lane-changing. Given that a big part of the reason for the imminent demise of Kirby's trees is the conversion of its Darwinian turn lane into a wider median-with-pocket-turn-lanes, I don't see how you can accomplish what this guy suggests on Shepherd without needing to widen it a lot, and I don't see how you can do that. It was bad form, obviously, to have built Shepherd in such a narrow way, but we're stuck with it now. Nice try, but not gonna happen.
If you've been itching to make a public comment about the new commuter rail study, your opportunity is here.
The first public meeting on a new Regional Commuter Rail Connectivity Study will begin at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Houston-Galveston Area Council offices, 3555 Timmons.Recommendations in the study, by H-GAC staff and consultants Kimley-Horn and Associates, differ from those in Metro's 2003 transit referendum in several ways.
- The referendum called for commuter rail out U.S. 90A (S. Main) and U.S. 290, but only the latter is in the study. To keep costs down, the study recommends sharing existing low-traffic tracks with freight railroads, but Union Pacific says those on U.S. 90A are too busy to be shared.
- The referendum map also showed potential routes along the Katy Freeway, Westpark, Hardy Toll Road, Texas 3 and Texas 249 (Tomball Parkway), but only the last two are in the study. The other three are shown as possible extensions of Metro's light rail service.
- The study recommends starting with a "baseline" system of five routes: U.S. 290, Texas 3, Texas 249, Texas 35 to Pearland, and -- as an alternative to U.S. 90A -- a route running south along Almeda (FM 521) and turning west through the middle of Fort Bend County.
- Although the study shows four lines continuing to downtown, Harris County Judge Ed Emmett said they ought not duplicate Metro's light rail service. There also is resistance on City Council, and from neighborhoods such as the Heights, to more inner-city trains.
- Both the study and Metro's plans include an Intermodal Terminal on the north side of downtown, but the study recommends putting the main commuter rail terminal outside the West Loop, between Northwest Mall near U.S. 290 and Metro's Northwest Transit Center on the Katy Freeway. The Eureka rail yard just across the Loop to the east would be used for maintenance and to store trains between rush hours.
I'm not sure how much it matters that the study differs from the 2003 referendum. Some of what the referendum called for, like a line going west on the Katy Freeway, is no longer an option; some of what the study calls for are things that we probably would have gotten around to anyway regardless of the referendum. I suppose there's always the potential for someone to sue.
We can dance around issues like that all we want, but the bottom line is going to be this:
Kimley-Horn consultant Sam Lott estimated the cost of the five lines and the hub terminal at $2.9 billion.
That's a lot of money, though perhaps if we just think of it as being the equivalent of the Katy Freeway expansion, it doesn't seem that bad - I mean, for the price of one freeway expansion, you get five new commuter rail lines. Not a bad swap, really. And with Park and Ride buses full to capacity, increasingly needed. The point is that this isn't going to happen without federal funds, and that isn't going to happen without broad consensus, especially since as that Rad Sallee column notes, it's going to take more than Metro to make this happen. So if you have questions about this plan, like Christof does, now would be a good time to start asking them.
Now here is a more tangible manifestation of the Obama strategy for Texas: Raising a bunch of money for State House races.
Alexa Wesner caught Obamania before it became fashionable.The West Lake Hills woman, who's known Barack Obama since he ran for the U.S. Senate four years ago, has slogged through the snows of Iowa, exceeded her goal of raising $250,000 for his presidential campaign (she's got a similar target for the fall election), hosted a couple of local Obama fundraisers and dined with the candidate's wife last fall on a trip to London.
Now Wesner, 36, has turned her sights on what Texas Democrats hope will become the next big thing: winning back the Texas House of Representatives.
[Saturday] Wesner is hosting a high-dollar fundraiser in Wimberley for her new political action committee, Blue Texas, dedicated to spending money on state legislative campaigns. (Tickets are $5,000 a couple to $50,000 for a host committee for an event headlined by Jerry Jeff Walker and Kelly Willis and Bruce Robison.)
As of Friday, Wesner said, she had raised $1 million in tickets for the event. To put that in perspective, Texas Republicans, with Gov. Rick Perry and U.S. John Cornyn headlining an event in Weatherford this weekend, expect to raise $600,000 for statewide get-out-the-vote efforts this fall, according to Roger Williams, who leads the GOP's Texas Victory '08 effort.
Texas Democrats spent $21.5 million, from all sources, on Texas House races in 2006, when Republicans outspent them with $38 million.
State Rep. Jim Dunnam, a Waco Democrat who heads the House Democratic Campaign Committee, says he has no illusions that Democrats will outspend Republicans in Texas this year. But he welcomes Wesner's help: "We never had a million-dollar event before."
Wow. That's mighty impressive. And if you're wondering why you've never heard of Ms. Wesner before, consider this:
Ask Wesner why she's set her sights on the Texas House as well as the White House, and her answer shows how new to politics she is."It was amazing to me how close we are. We just need five seats," Wesner said of the Democrats' chances of winning a legislative majority in the Texas House, where Republicans hold a 79-71 majority. "I'm talking to a lot of people who don't realize how close it is."
Wesner's enthusiasm and a younger network of high-dollar donors has the Texas Democratic establishment excited.
"She's so refreshing," said Jack Martin, founder of Public Strategies, an international business consulting firm. "Not only does she not know who's been mad at one another (in the Democratic Party), she doesn't care."
Martin said Wesner called him last fall to attend an Obama fundraiser.
"She didn't know big shots like me are supposed to be wooed to attend," Martin quipped. At the event, Wesner was "taking Obama around the crowd like he's running for the school board," Martin said.
Martin, a political wunderkind when he worked for U.S. Sen. Lloyd Bentsen a quarter-century ago, said he didn't recognize anyone at the fundraiser except biker and cancer-fighter Lance Armstrong.
"Everyone was 20 years younger," said Martin, who is 54.
That's a lot of new blood getting involved in a meaningful way for Democratic politics in Texas. I keep saying this year is like no other election year. I'd count this as one more reason why.
The Blue Texas website is here - you have to sign up to see most of the content. Turns out one of the founders was my freshman week orientation mentor in college - he sent me that Statesman story, as well as a copy of Alexa Wesner's remarks at the Saturday event. I look forward to hearing more from these folks in the near future.
The Chron's Nancy Sarnoff writes about the Heights highrise, and makes it sound pretty reasonable.
[C]alling it another Ashby high-rise may be a stretch.For one, the proposal is for an office building.
And the rendering is old. A newer plan is being considered with only nine stories -- six levels for office and three for parking, according to Tim Cisneros, the building's architect.
The developer hasn't even gone to the city for a construction permit.
"We're just looking at who's interested in doing the deal with us," said Ed Rizk, a real estate broker and developer who's pre-leasing the building.
Those involved in the project said there's a need for office space in the Heights, where area businesses operate out of rundown strip centers, outdated office structures and historic homes.
"The options for Class A office space in the Heights are virtually nil," said Cisneros, who sees the market as small law firms, accountants, architects and other small businesses whose owners live in the Heights.
Residential units were, however, considered for the site.
But condos would generate a lot more traffic than an office building operating just during business hours.
And a shopping center would require loads of parking.
"We're trying to envision if it's an appropriate building type," Cisneros said.
It's still not clear to me that there's that much demand for office space in the Heights, but whatever. I still think nine stories is a bit on the tall side for the area, but as I said before, beyond that there's not much to object to.
The proposed office building would be built on a 25,000-square-foot parcel at 3110 White Oak, just west of the popular Onion Creek restaurant and bar.It would replace a house and small shopping center and could contain 50,000 square feet of office space and just enough ground-level retail space to support a bank or restaurant.
Land owner and developer Geoffrey Vaughan couldn't be reached, but his architect thinks the project could serve as an example for acceptable urban development.
"Is it ambitious? Yes. Potentially controversial? Yes," Cisneros said.
"But I think maybe it could sensitively set the model for some development patterns in Houston."
I took a couple of photos of the lot where the highrise would be. Here they are:
You can see the entire space from this view. Onion Creek is just on the other side of that telephone pole on the far right.
A view from Oxford, the crossroad immediately to the west of the lot. It's not very deep, which is why a lot of people were puzzled by this at first. Between this new development and the presence of Onion Creek, I can foresee a traffic light at this intersection sometime in the future. Note the lack of sidewalks on Oxford, which will be an impediment to anyone who wants to walk to this new building.
The misnamed Montrose Skate Shop, on the other side of Oxford, will be the highrise's other neighbor on White Oak.
Barring any new information, I don't think there's much more to say about this until such time as permits start getting pulled, and the neighborhood reacts. In the end, I think it won't be too contentious, but let's see what the specifics are before we get too confident.
This is one of those "why didn't we think of this sooner" kind of things.
City Hall has gotten a little hotter, and not because of a sudden gust of political rhetoric.Officials adjusted the air conditioning in 100 municipal buildings, hoping that a 2-degree increase in air temperature -- to 74 -- will help save money. And relieve a most peculiar Houston phenomenon: having to wear a sweater indoors in summer.
"Now that I think about it, I can get away without that thick sweater I used to wear," said Linda Layton, agenda director for Councilwoman Jolanda Jones. "It's tolerable now, comfortable."
Jon Newport, another council staffer, said he feels warmer than he'd like but he can live with the change.
"Whatever we have to do to save the taxpayers money, that's what we'll do," he said. "It's noticeable, but I wouldn't say it's uncomfortable. I haven't been forced to go out and buy a fan."
The city budgeted $159 million for its electrical bill in the coming year. Since 2004, it has reduced its energy consumption, in kilowatt-hours, by 5.8 percent, said Issa Dadoush, the director of General Services.
The city doesn't know how much it'll save by raising the temperature, but it hasn't ruffled any feathers, he said.
"We have not received any complaints, and we've had some really hot days over the past three weeks," Dadoush said.
Talk about a simple thing you can do to save the planet. I've worked for the past two years in a cubicle that has a west-facing window. When I first got there, all the windows on that floor had these old, ratty, and completely ineffective coverings that did nothing to block the afternoon sunlight. It got mighty warm around there, and I say that as someone with robot-like heat tolerance. As a result, there were many complaints to facilities folks to crank the A/C, something that would not be appreciated very much these days. They eventually replaced all that with miniblinds, which do a much better job of keeping things temperate, presumably including the utility bills. It's a win-win all around.
So what's the temperature at your office? Based on this MeMo video, I suspect that article got mailed around quite about at the Chronicle.
Well, this is a relief.
The most powerful atom-smasher ever built could make some bizarre discoveries, such as invisible matter or extra dimensions in space, after it is switched on in August.But some critics fear the Large Hadron Collider could exceed physicists' wildest conjectures: Will it spawn a black hole that could swallow Earth? Or spit out particles that could turn the planet into a hot dead clump?
Ridiculous, say scientists at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, known by its French initials CERN -- some of whom have been working for a generation on the $5.8 billion collider, or LHC.
"Obviously, the world will not end when the LHC switches on," said project leader Lyn Evans.
David Francis, a physicist on the collider's huge ATLAS particle detector, smiled when asked whether he worried about black holes and hypothetical killer particles known as strangelets.
"If I thought that this was going to happen, I would be well away from here," he said.
Of course, that's exactly what they'd want you to think, isn't it? It's all fun and games until someone activates the doomsday machine.
Critics of the LHC filed a lawsuit in a Hawaiian court in March seeking to block its startup, alleging that there was "a significant risk that ... operation of the Collider may have unintended consequences which could ultimately result in the destruction of our planet."One of the plaintiffs, Walter L. Wagner, a physicist and lawyer, said Wednesday CERN's safety report, released June 20, "has several major flaws," and his views on the risks of using the particle accelerator had not changed.
On Tuesday, U.S. Justice Department lawyers representing the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation filed a motion to dismiss the case.
The two agencies have contributed $531 million to building the collider, and the NSF has agreed to pay $87 million of its annual operating costs. Hundreds of American scientists will participate in the research.
The lawyers called the plaintiffs' allegations "extraordinarily speculative," and said "there is no basis for any conceivable threat" from black holes or other objects the LHC might produce. A hearing on the motion is expected in late July or August.
In rebutting doomsday scenarios, CERN scientists point out that cosmic rays have been bombarding the earth, and triggering collisions similar to those planned for the collider, since the solar system formed 4.5 billion years ago.
And so far, Earth has survived.
"The LHC is only going to reproduce what nature does every second, what it has been doing for billions of years," said John Ellis, a British theoretical physicist at CERN.
The guys who filed that suit strike me as being nuts, but I'd still kind of like to see the matter go forward, if only to see how a non-scientist judge deals with it. There's a lot of entertainment potential in that.
Monday is the quarterly reporting deadline for campaign finances, and if you haven't been buried under an avalanche of emails soliciting donations, you probably don't follow politics that closely. If you are at all inclined to donate to a campaign, sometime before midnight tomorrow would be best. If you've got a few bucks burning a hole in your pocket and need someplace to send them, here are a few recommendations. This is nowhere close to a comprehensive list, just a couple of suggestions.
- Rick Noriega - ActBlue page. He's approaching 10,000 online donors, and $900,000 raised via ActBlue, both mighty impressive numbers for a first-time statewide candidate in Texas. You can help move him past those milestones.
- Congressional candidates Michael Skelly (CD07), Larry Joe Doherty (CD10), or Eric Roberson (CD32).
- State Senate, a usually quiet arena for competitive campaigns, has a bounty this year with Wendy Davis in SD10, Joe Jaworski in SD11, and Rain Minns in SD16 (ActBlue page here). And that's before we consider the possibility of the SD17 special election.
- There's way too many good candidates to list in the State House. You can give to the TexBlog PAC (ActBlue page here) as a proxy, or browse ActBlue for a candidate near you, physically or issues-wise. If you believe in rewarding moxie, consider helping out the guy who's running against Tom Craddick, Bill Dingus, whose brand new ActBlue page is here. I can't say that's on any list of truly competitive races, but you've got to admire the courage.
- And of course, your candidates for county offices, all of whom you can find here for Harris County.
Every little bit helps. Thanks very much.
I'm really rather amazed at how long this has been in the news.
Is U.S. Sen. John Cornyn's Big Bad John campaign video a big black eye for him?His staff says absolutely not, painting the attention-getting video as a "winner." But Democrats are reacting with glee to the video, which includes Cornyn in a cowboy hat and fringed jacket, plus a rewrite of the song to include lines: "He rose to the top in just one term, kept Texas in power, made lesser states squirm. Big John. Big John. Big John. Yeah, Big Bad John."
Rep. Rick Noriega, the Houston Democrat challenging Cornyn, posted his own version of the video on his campaign Web site as a fundraising tool.
[...]
Political scientists don't think it's a turning point.
"My guess is this is all going to turn out to be much ado about nothing," said political scientist Bruce Buchanan of the University of Texas at Austin.
Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, said it's likely "a blip" and thinks Cornyn is heavily favored to win but added, "I don't think it was especially good for his reputation, either. ... It will stay with him."
While I agree that the original Cornyn video, as ridiculous as it is in a Dukakis-in-a-tank kind of way, is unlikely to sway many voters, it has had the effect of raising the profile of this race nationally, and I daresay has helped Noriega's fundraising, which is a critical matter for him. The bad news about this being such a great year to run for office as a Democrat is that there's a lot more competition for buzz and funding. On that score, given how widely these videos have been linked, often by bloggers who'd had no previous interest in the race, it's definitely been a boon for Noriega.
Texas Republicans reacted with outrage after Matthew Miller of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee distributed a link to The Daily Show segment and said that Cornyn, in donning the fancy jacket, "appears to have raided the wardrobe closet for the Kilgore Rangerettes."State GOP spokesman Hans Klingler described the moves as "ethnic and racial assaults," and Texas Republican Hispanic Association President Reggie Gonzalez called the remarks insensitive because, the party explained, Cornyn was wearing a "Tamaulipeca jacket ... designed in the Hispanic tradition" at a Charro Days celebration in Brownsville.
Miller said he'd let The Daily Show defend its own humor and added, "No one is making fun of the clothes. They're laughing at how silly Rhinestone Cowboy John Cornyn looks in them."
(Stewart did question how Cornyn found the jacket in an adult size.)
Of Beckwith's suggestion that those who don't like the video are anti-Texan, Miller said, "I grew up in Amarillo and went to school in Austin. I don't know a whole lot of Texans who would look at that ... and think that it helps John Cornyn."
I've no idea if the claim about a "Tamaulipeca jacket" is true or not. What I do know is that this is exactly the sort of imagery most of my high school classmates in New York City had in mind when they heard I was going to college in Texas. As a lifelong urbanite, as well as a naturalized Texan, the whole cowboy-mystique thing has never moved me. Texas is an increasingly urban state, populated more and more by people who weren't born here or who were born to people who weren't born here, so I have to think there's a lot of folks here for whom the same is true. Maybe I'm wrong about that - Lord knows, the automotive industry still drowns us in rural/cowboy motifs as it tries to sell pickup trucks and Suburbans - but I'd bet this is more true now than ever before. All I know is that the "Big John" video strikes me as an anachronism, like it was made by people from one coast or the other based on their limited perception of the state of Texas and its people. Oh, and that the fringey attire looks silly and completely out of place on Cornyn, authentic or not.
Anyway, here are the videos, in case you haven't seen them. Here's the original:
And the Noriega response:
Rumor now has it that David Beckwith, the consultant who made the "Big John" video, has been fired by the campaign. That would not be the first time he's gotten himself in trouble with Big John. Some people never learn, I guess. Anyway, seeing as how the quarterly reporting deadline for campaign fundraising is tomorrow, now would be a good time to contribute to Rick Noriega. There's more than one way to measure the impact of a campaign event, after all.
Just some interesting links from other folks to check out...
Deadspin has a new executive editor. To no one's surprise, it's not a woman.
The Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell says that James Dobson does not speak for him.
The Top Ten Ways to get yourself discriminated against at the Department of Justice.
Will first-term City Council Member Jolanda Jones draw a serious challenger in 2009? Maybe, but you'd have to do a lot better than that to impress me.
It's taken him a long time to work through the first of the "Left Behind" books, but Slacktivist's take on them is still some of the best writing on the Internet.
If you insist on "teaching the controversy", then by God, teach the controversy!
Hey, did you know that Norbizness was blogging again? Well, now you do.
No castration without representation!
The East End (Harrisburg) rail line had its official kickoff on Thursday.
As streamers and fireworks shot into the sweltering air and opponents picketed outside, elected officials and East End community leaders today celebrated the impending start of construction of a light rail line in their historic neighborhood."It may have been said in the past, but it can't be said now that the city of Houston is overlooking the East End," Mayor Bill White said to applause from about 200 supporters.
[...]
State Sen. Mario Gallegos said his grandfather had ridden a trolley on Harrisburg and he looks forward to having rail there again.
Councilmen Adrian Garcia and James Rodriguez thanked Metro and fellow council members who grilled the agency about its plans before voting June 18 to allow it to build on city streets.
"Thanks for making sure we pay attention to detail," Garcia said. "Let's make sure we keep construction moving fast and effectively."
You can insert your favorite cliche here about there still being a long way to go, but it's still nice to acknowledge how far we've come. May we have many more reasons to celebrate soon.
Michael brings me some good news.
[I]t was with great surprise and pleasure that I heard from [Tom Beard, lead singer for Houston's strangest blues bar band, Feo Y Loco]. Feo is in the studio working on re-recording old classics and new songs. Politically Incorrect is on iTMS (and amusingly not marked Explicit Lyrics), it's on CDbaby, and the web site makes current and impressive promises:
We are re-mastering the original Feo cassette album, released in 1992. Along with the original songs on the cassette will be 3 new "surprise" tunes Feoheads everywhere will enjoy. This will also be available as a CD on cdbaby.com, or at gigs. This should happen in June, and probably sometime in July, this CD will be available for download on iTunes and the other music download services.We will also be releasing a live CD, as well as at least 2 more CD's of material never before recorded, before the end of 2008. There will also be videos available as well. And you thought Feo Y Loco was lazy! Shame on you. Check back often for updates.
I actually already own a digitized version of the original cassette, thanks to Michael and Ginger, but I'll be downloading the new one, because whatever that new music is, I need to have it. I
Those Texas Lyceum folks have been busy lately, first with their Senate poll, and now with an early peek at the 2010 Governor's race.
Robert Black, spokesman for [Governor Rick Perry], dismissed the Texas Lyceum Poll results, saying, "Any poll that tries to forecast any kind of results two years from an election isn't worth a whole lot."[...]
Perry has said he wants to continue his streak by winning another term in 2010, but the poll for the non-profit Texas Lyceum group gave a strong advantage to Hutchison, who's expected to run for governor.
Among all respondents, 35 percent said they were likely to support Hutchison in a GOP contest, and 22 percent backed Perry, with other possible candidates dividing the rest. Among a subgroup of GOP voters, Hutchison drew 50 percent to 23 percent for Perry.
The poll shows "how difficult it is to be a governor," said Daron Shaw, poll director and associate professor in the government department at the University of Texas at Austin. "Perry has to take lots of positions and get out in front on public policy issues. Senators can be a little more selective."
The poll of 1,000 Texans has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
You can see the poll memo here (PDF); they also did a poll on transportation issues, which you can see here (PDF). For once I have to agree with Robert Black (and also with Greg, though that's not unusual). It's just not possible that this poll can tell us anything very specific at this early date. Now a straight-up "Do you want to see Governor Perry run for re-election in 2010" question, that would have been something. This, not so much. All I'll say about the Bill White numbers is that much closer to the 2003 election than we are now to 2010, lots of people - myself included - were comparing him to George Greanias. Never underestimate someone who can raise funds and hire good people.
In my earlier post about that Texas Lyceum poll, I wondered about the partisan ratio that the pollster used. I see now that Harvey Kronberg is on the case.
In response to our query, Lyceum pollster Daron R. Shaw sent us the following explanation:
"We use a likely voter screen consisting of the following:
1. self-reported registration
2. interest in the election (somewhat or extremely)
3. voting behavior over past two years (almost all or every election).
"This gets the 1,000 person sample down to 478. The party breakdown for the LV population is 42%R-42%D. Democrats are more prominent in this estimated electorate than they have been in recent years due to their relatively high levels of interest and self-reported recent voting. We could have weighted this to a 6-8 point Republican advantage, but judged it best to simply report the numbers and be clear about the underlying party breakdown. Do we believe Democrats will maintain their "enthusiasm" edge over the Republicans and make these elections close in the fall? History is against them. But given recent trends nationally and the engagement attitudes expressed in the poll, it seems imprudent to weight the data back to expected party turnout.
"Let me be clear; the internals show little to no cross-over voting. Obama (and Noriega) are not getting Republicans. They have locked down almost all Democrats, though. This is a snap-shot whose predictive value is highly contingent. Democratic candidates need to have a huge Democratic turnout, along with lukewarm Republican turnout, to get the numbers we show here on Election Day."
Very interesting, once again showing the potential for the Obama strategy in Texas. We know he's capable of turning out non-traditional voters; if that pattern is maintained for the general election, we will wake up in a very different world on November 5. It also makes me wonder what the raw numbers are that Baselice is getting. Is he weighing things to get the partisan gap he expects, or is he still seeing that gap without any tinkering? Maybe he'll address that in a future poll.
The Lone Star Project highlights another bit of funny bookkeeping from State Sen. Kim Brimer:
Campaign finance records show that Republican State Senator Kim Brimer (SD10 - Fort Worth) has again used campaign contributor funds for personal gain. A complete review of Kim Brimer's campaign finance forms from 1987 to the present shows that Brimer skimmed at least $37,953 from his campaign account for his personal use. The Lone Star Project discovery of Brimer's improper, and possibly illegal, repayments resulted from an earlier investigation (PDF) into the Republican Senator's improper use of campaign cash to purchase a luxury condominium in Austin.Facts: Phony Loan Scam
Documents filed with the Texas Ethics Commission show that during Brimer's campaign for the Texas State House in 1987 and 1988, he bilked his campaign for more than $37,000.
- Brimer loaned his campaign $46,000 during 1987 and 1988
- Brimer family members loaned the Kim Brimer Campaign an additional $10,000
- Brimer made a series of payments to himself totaling at least $83,953, reported as "loan repayments," from 1988 to 1992
- As a result, Kim Brimer received at least $37,953 more than the amount he loaned himself.
(Source: Texas Ethics Commission) See Documents Here
Brimer Scandal File GrowingThis Brimer campaign loan scam comes on the heels of a Lone Star Project report and Fort Worth Star-Telegram article detailing how Kim Brimer used donations to his campaign to make bogus "rent" payments to his wife. The "rent" payments and the profits from the sale of the luxury condo netted Brimer more than $357,000.
You almost have to admire the entrepreneurship needed to come up with a scheme like this. If only such creative thinking were used to solve the school finance problem. Or rising insurance rates, which have gotten Brimer's attention somewhat belatedly. See the extended entry for a press release from the Wendy Davis campaign for more on that.
Meanwhile, the Texas Conservative Review has a long article on the "real reasons behind State Sen. Kyle Janek's resignation" in SD17. This is not an unbiased source, as TCR publisher Gary Polland lost to Janek in a GOP primary for the SD17 seat in 2002, but it's an interesting read, and offers a further clue that the seat is ripe for a Democratic pickup this year with the right candidate in the race. Check it out.
The political winds howling through 20 year-incumbent Kim Brimer's backyard forced him to use his position on the Sunset Advisory Commission to talk tough about the insurance industry in the state of Texas. However, his actions speak much louder than his words. According to the Institute for Money in State Politics, the insurance industry is one of Brimer's chief contributors having given him over $133,000 in the last ten years. Brimer, an insurance company executive and owner, has clearly felt the pressure of recent polls released showing that Wendy Davis, former Fort Worth City Councilwoman and his opponent this November, is in a prime position for victory. Her campaign has focused on highlighting consumers' struggles with escalating premiums while insurance companies have seen extraordinary profits.
"The consumers deserve a State Senator that puts them first and not political special interests or politician's pocketbooks. They deserve more than election year rhetoric," commented Davis. "I look forward to standing up for what is right in Austin and making sure that in Texas, we hold the insurance industry to a higher standard."
In his 20 years in office, Brimer has compiled a long voting record that embraces the insurance industry and he has often championed their causes. Among his long list of insurance industry friendly votes are:
- Kim Brimer voted with the insurance industry to implement the "file and use" system that has allowed companies to raise their rates with virtually no oversight. He also voted to prevent the legislature from outlawing the unethical practice of using credit scoring as a guideline for underwriting insurance coverage. (2003, SB 14)
- Kim Brimer voted to kill an antitrust amendment that would have prohibited anticompetitive insurance practices where companies share information such as expense data, profit data, trend factors and other information that helps them control prices. (1989, SB 255)
- Kim Brimer voted against a temporary rate rollback on homeowner's insurance that would have returned rates to more reasonable levels, easing the burden on the average Texan. (2003, SB 14)
- Kim Brimer voted against a measure that would prohibit insurance companies from the unfair and deceptive act of discouraging a claimant from hiring an attorney to represent them in a claim against an insurance company. (1999, HB 1553)
"I think it is clear at this point that Kim Brimer is willing to do or say anything to get re-elected. Unfortunately, Kim Brimer has shown us time and again as an insurance man he is not going to go against his profession, his pocketbook or one of his largest sources of campaign cash," said Matt Latham, Davis campaign spokesperson.
The Chron's Lisa Gray makes a pitch for saving at least some of the doomed trees along Kirby Drive.
The street is a major thoroughfare, a big deal in and of itself. And even more important, it presents the kind of challenge that Houston has to learn to deal with. It's obvious, driving past Kirby's current spate of high-rise construction, that we're becoming a different kind of city: tighter packed, more urban than suburban, a city with light rail and pedestrians.A different kind of city needs a different kind of street -- a street that we're not used to designing.
She wrote this column after Trees for Houston made a public appeal last Friday to change the plan for Kirby Drive.
Founder of Trees for Houston William Coats told the media Friday morning his organization probably made a mistake in endorsing a compromise to make Kirby Drive 73 feet wide before seeing engineering plans.As a result, he said, only speedy action on the part of the city of Houston can save about 135 trees standing between Westheimer Road and Richmond Avenue from being removed when construction on the Kirby Storm Drainage project begins, probably in July.
"Good people correct mistakes," Coats said, gesturing from the patio of Beck's Prime in the 2900 block to several trees the group had marked with red X's to symbolize each would be removed.
Coats comments came almost three weeks after he told a group attending the Upper Kirby District TIRZ 28 that Trees of Houston wanted the width of the proposed street surface reduced by a foot on either side.
[...]
Coats said Friday half the trees along the disputed stretch of street could have been saved in a 73-foot configuration, if the engineering plans had been drawn "in any way that is sympathetic" to the trees.
"Most of the time, we don't say a word," he said of trees lost during city projects. "In this case, the citizens will pay for taking the trees down unnecessarily."
Coats said trees the size of the larger ones in the area would cost at least $25,000 to replace but that would be impossible, because there would be no room for the root balls to be planted.
"We want to have shade as we are enjoying here today," he said.
It may be too late, but if you feel strongly about this, it's never a bad idea to contact your City Council member and let him or her know that you'd like to see more of an effort made to save these trees. Contact info is here.
The political action committee of the Texas Medical Association, furious about a Thursday night vote on a Medicare-funding bill, is going to rescind its endorsement of Sen. John Cornyn's reelection bid, association spokesman Brent Annear said.Cornyn and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison voted to stall a bill that would have prevented a 10 percent cut in Medicare funding for physicians, prompting an unusually harsh reaction from the medical association, which has 43,000 members and is one of the most powerful trade groups in Texas politics.
The two Republican senators say they wanted a 30-day extension that would have prevented the cuts, which are scheduled to take effect July 1.
Background here. The TMA's unendorsement of Cornyn does not equate to an endorsement of Rick Noriega, though of course you can't have the latter without first getting the former. BOR has more.
UPDATE: Meant to include Noriega's statement on Cornyn's vote - it's beneath the fold.
Republican incumbent John Cornyn's deciding vote against cloture last night on H.R. 6331 the "Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008" is another example of Cornyn's misplaced priorities - putting special interests over Texas seniors - said Rick Noriega today."Today's vote is simply unconscionable. John Cornyn's vote has jeopardized access to health care for thousands of elderly Texans," Noriega said. According to the Texas Medical Association, 58 percent of Texas physicians will have no choice but to limit the number of new Medicare patients they treat. Noriega said Cornyn's actions will force more and more physicians out of the Medicare program.
"Instead of standing up for Texas' patients and physicians to fix Medicare's flawed payment system, Cornyn has once again put partisan politics and the profits of private, for-profit Medicare HMOs ahead of the needs of Texas seniors."
The legislation which passed the House of Representatives on an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote of 355 to 59, would grant an 18-month reprieve from the 10.6-percent Medicare physician payment cuts scheduled to take effect on July 1, 2008. The bill would pay for the reprieve by eliminating subsidies to for-profit Medicare Advantage plans. Cornyn's vote single-handedly killed the bill last night in the Senate.
"Why would Senator Cornyn defend the practice of paying more money for a medical service to a private HMO than to the physician performing the service?" said Holly Shulman, press secretary of the Rick Noriega campaign. "This vote proves once again that John Cornyn is nothing more than a shill for the big insurance companies that are funding his campaign."
Noriega added, "Senator Cornyn has shown a consistent pattern of callous disregard, voting against the health of Texas' Veterans, Texas' children and Texas' elderly. Texas needs a Senator who will fight for access to quality health care and stand up against the health insurance companies and special interests."
This is a pretty remarkable letter to the editor in today's Chron.
The type of sheriff we needRegarding Tuesday's Page One article "Sheriff aims to polish his star / Thomas takes the heat for mistakes but blames 'politics' for some criticism": In response to Sgt. Richard Newby's comment, he is either quite misinformed or totally out of touch with his membership. While it is true that the Harris County Deputies Organization has mailed letters to the membership requesting their choice in the upcoming sheriff's election, Newby incorrectly stated that our deputies are siding slightly with Adrian Garcia. The truth is, the members of the union are picking Garcia 3 to 1 over Thomas.
There are many reasons the deputies want a change at the top. However, the main one is they have lost faith in Tommy Thomas to lead the third-largest sheriff's department in the nation. They, along with a large number of the public, realize that Thomas cannot lead from the rear. We need a sheriff who will stand up for not only us but the public and lead from the front!
ED CHRISTENSEN
former president, Harris County Deputies Organization, Houston
Emphasis added. I confess, when I started reading this letter and got to the preceeding sentences, I thought it was going to say that the deputies were standing behind their Sheriff. Needless to say, this was a very pleasant surprise.
Meanwhile, Wayne Dolcefino has been poking through the Sheriff's department's emails, and finds a bunch of racist crap. And he makes a point that I am sure will come up again:
They are harmless jokes to some and racism to others. The sheriff's department prohibits inappropriate emails. Something that even top commanders seem to ignore. Of course we wouldn't have known that if the sheriff's office had gotten away with destroying them.[...]
And the sheriff remains silent.
"It is very much a concern in the community that he is silent on this," said Houston councilmember MJ Khan.
Friday, top commanders, racist and anti-Muslim slurs may be just the beginning. And why the email trail will lead to major new investigations of the Harris County Sheriff's Office.
I'm thinking the Sheriff won't be coming out of his bunker for more press appearances any time soon.
Ever wonder just what the heck Joe Cocker is singing when he covers the Beatles' A Little Help From My Friends? Well, wonder no more:
Just as you always suspected, right? Me too. And a better anti-drug PSA you're unlikely to find. Thanks to Julia and Avedon for the link.
The TexBlog PAC fundraiser last night was a big success, drawing in a crowd of over 50 people and raising more than $7000 to help take back the Texas House. You can see photos from the event, taken by Patty Pinkley, here. A couple of highlights from the event: One was the speech by State Rep. Garnet Coleman, in which he thanked the TexBlog PAC for its efforts and pledged his own support to them. Paraphrasing from memory, Rep. Coleman spoke about how the Democratic caucus showed up in 2003 as the minority party for the first time ever, and there was a lot of pressure on them to go along and get along. He noted that since committee assignments are made by the Speaker and the members themselves via seniority privileges, unlike the US House where there's a Majority Leader and Minority Leader and each side makes its own assignments, there isn't any leverage for imposing party discipline. Getting support from visible sources like us bloggers, who were very much in line with an agenda of opposing the Perry/Craddick regime, made it easier for them to do so because it demonstrated that this is what Democratic voters wanted. He also noted that by supporting challengers, the TexBlog PAC made it easier for other groups like the HDCC to protect the gains the Democrats have made in narrowing the gap in the House from 88-62 to 79-71, especially since many of those gains - think State Reps. Juan Garcia and Dan Barrett for two prime examples - came in fairly strong Republican areas.
The other big highlight of the event was the announcement of our third endorsed candidate, Sherrie Matula, right here in Harris County's HD129. We'll have a more formal announcement of this on Monday, but since everyone there knows about it I figured I'd go ahead and share it now. Sherrie ran a great race in 2006 on a shoestring budget, and she's been running hard for this November ever since. She's got a large and active volunteer base, the Apple Corps, and her campaign has been gaining a lot of traction. HD129 is in a very strategic location, being completely within CD22, SD11, and SBOE district 7, as well as Harris County, so having a great candidate running a strong race there serves many good purposes. It was my pleasure to introduce Sherrie as the third TexBlog PAC candidate, and she received a very warm reception from the attendees.
With the success of this event, the PAC is in a position to announce more endorsees shortly. We've got an event coming up in San Antonio next month, and we'll be doing some stuff at Netroots Nation, so look for more announcements soon. We can't do what we do without the support of many people, and on behalf of the Board I want to give our profuse thanks to all of the sponsors of last night's event, all of the attendees, and everyone who has given us support of any kind throughout our campaign. With your help, we're going to elect a Democratic majority to the State House, and send Tom Craddick to the sidelines where he belongs. Thank you all very much.
Just a reminder about this:
See you there!
Looks like Houston is going to get some form of zoning after all.
Zoning around Houston's three airports came a step closer to reality on Wednesday, as City Council approved the creation of an Airport Commission to finalize the affected areas and impose building restrictions on them.The Federal Aviation Administration has ordered the city to control development around its airports or risk losing future federal funding.
"These are provisional conditions for development, but compatible development," said Councilman Mike Sullivan, whose District E includes Kingwood and Clear Lake. "In short, land use that makes sense near an airport."
Airport officials have been careful not to use the word "zoning," preferring the phrase "land use regulations."
To-may-to, to-mah-to.
The Airport Commission will convene this summer and hold public hearings. But city planners already have sketched out preliminary boundaries for the three concentric "tiers" of land around each airport: George Bush Intercontinental, Hobby and Ellington Field.The innermost Tier 1 would be closed to new construction of homes, hospitals, schools, movie theaters and other noise-sensitive uses. Warehouses and other commercial uses would be OK.
Existing homes in Tier 1 could be renovated or enlarged if owners install soundproofing, at their own expense.
[...]
Tier 2, somewhat farther from airport runways, would allow new construction of many different sorts, if it includes soundproofing.
Tier 3 would encompass a large swath of land -- a total of 141 square miles around all three airports -- but officials say they are planning no restrictions on that land now. They will inform property owners or potential buyers, however, that the Tier 3 land is subject to the city's regulatory reach.
Well, okay. I'm not really sure what the purpose is, but whatever. I just hope someone is already planning to do some kind of study on the long-term effects of these "land use regulations", to see how the affected areas compare to the rest of Houston. Maybe it won't be as bad as it's always been claimed to be, and maybe it will be. At least now we'll have a way to try to settle that argument.
You have to admit, this makes a lot of sense.
For 24 long years, Houstonians swatted mosquitoes for law and order. They sweated for community solidarity. They turned out by the tens of thousands in the hottest part of the summer to join their fellow Americans in the crime-fighting National Night Out.This year they're putting it all on ice. Sort of.
City police officials have announced that this year Houston and all of Texas will observe National Night Out on Oct. 7 -- two months after the rest of the nation.
"You've been out at night in August, and you know what that's like," said police spokesman Jesse Martinez. "And you've been out at night in October, and you know what that's like, too."
[...]
Matt Peskin, executive director of the National Association of Town Watch, the Night Out sponsor, said his group agreed to experimentally reschedule Texas events after it received complaints about the heat from law enforcement agencies in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
"There are two trains of thought on this," he said. "It could be great, or it could be a total flop."
Well, yeah, those are your two main options. As I recall, NNO originated in the North, so it made sense for it to be a summer evening. I personally was never bothered by it being in August down here, but I'm a bit of a mutant when it comes to heat tolerance, so I can certainly understand the objection. Let's hope it turns out to be great.
Good news - Rick Noriega was the winner of the PAC For A Change contest, which will bring him some much-appreciated fundraising help.
In just one week, over 25,000 PAC for a Change community members voted in our "Choose a Challenger" contest. We're pleased to announce that Rick Noriega, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Texas, won the contest with 30% of the vote -- narrowly edging out Al Franken, who finished second with 24%.
My thanks to everyone who participated - he certainly couldn't have won without you.
Elsewhere, there's another positive poll result, this one from the Texas Lyceum (PDF).
Republican John McCain would beat Democrat Barack Obama in Texas if the race were held now. But a significant number of Texans said they haven't picked a favorite yet. Among likely voters, McCain had the support of 43% of those polled to 38% for Obama. Libertarian Bob Barr and independent Ralph Nader had about 1% each. One of every six voters -- 17% -- said they haven't decided who will get their vote in November.Freshman U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, a Republican, leads Democratic challenger Rick Noriega in the poll, but the margin is slim and a large number of voters haven't made up their minds. Cornyn had the support of 38% of the likely voters in the survey, to Noriega's 36%, with 24% saying they're not committed to either candidate.
Those are pretty good numbers, with a lot of growth potential. It's shocking to imagine Republican statewide candidates polling so poorly, and it's a little strange to see so many undecideds - I'd figure on "party ID" alone, the values would be higher.
Speaking of those party ID numbers, the reported totals are not what I'd expect:
We interviewed Texas adults during the June 12-20 period, talking to 1,000 adults, half of them male, half of them female. Eight out of ten said they are registered to vote.The highly contested presidential contest apparently has Texans more tuned into politics than they were a year ago. Half identify themselves as voters in "every" or "almost every" election, and 85% consider themselves "extremely interested" or "somewhat interested" in politics and public affairs.
The respondents come from a variety of places, 42% suburban, 28% urban, and 27% rural. Most -- 59% -- are married, and 43% have one or more college degrees. Most -- 54% -- identify themselves as White; 32% as Hispanic; and 11% as African-American. The party splits are 32% Republican and 44% Democrat -- but the ideological splits go the other way, with 42% calling themselves conservative, 34% saying they are moderate, and 19% identifying themselves as liberals.
I don't know what to make of that. I've been arguing that the Baselice poll results have been overstating the Republican advantage, but I would not have claimed that said advantage had disappeared, let alone reversed itself. I have a hard time wrapping my mind around that, yet the conservative/moderate/liberal splits seem right on. Maybe there's just a whole lot of people who don't call themselves Republicans any more, but still mostly vote like Republicans. Much as I'd like to believe this, I'll need to see at least one confirming result before I put too much stock in it.
Interestingly, Burka mostly nods his head at this poll.
The presidential poll seems credible to me. In fact, McCain by six points is exactly the number that a prominent McCain booster told me recently he thought that the actual outcome would be. Noriega [trailing] by two is more problematic, but overall, these numbers, with the people who have made up their mind in both parties representing about three-fourths of the respondents and the rest being undecided, seem a lot more credible to me than the earlier polls that showed over 90% of the electorate committed (48%-44%).
He didn't comment on the party or racial/ethnic splits, which is too bad. I'll just say that a final result of McCain by six - that is, something like 53-47 - would put Obama comfortably above the bonanza line, and might well mean Democratic wins in places we're not currently expecting. That makes his strategy for Texas, which we talked about at the TexBlog PAC event, loom even larger. BOR, Trail Blazers, and Texas Kaos have more.
Unless something changes in the next few months, this is going to present an unpleasant surprise for the next Legislature.
Texas' new business tax has brought in $4.2 billion so far, raising questions about whether it will hit the $5.9 billion in collections projected for this fiscal year.State Comptroller Susan Combs' office, which Wednesday announced the total collected since the June 16 deadline, cautioned final figures won't be available until November since businesses could file for an extension.
"I guess for a brand-new tax ... that's pretty good," said Rep. Jim Keffer, R-Eastland, chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee. "It's pretty well on target."
But Dale Craymer, chief economist for the Texas Taxpayers and Research Association who has worked for a comptroller, two governors and the Texas House, said, "I think it's unlikely we're going to hit the first-year target of $5.9 billion. It's too early to say how big a miss it is."
Still, Craymer said, Texas has billions unspent so even if the new tax is a bit short, "the state still has plenty of money to cover its needs." He predicted problems would be smoothed over as the tax is in place longer.
[...]
An estimated 500,000 returns have been filed so far, Combs spokesman R.J. DeSilva said. Some returns cover groups of businesses, so it's unclear how many entities are represented by the returns, he said.
Of those that filed, 133,000 made payments, including 46,000 that made a required payment in asking for an extension to pay whatever else they may owe.
Am I reading this right? Nearly three-quarters of the returns are for businesses that didn't have to pay anything? Help me out here, because that just sounds wrong.
Some lawmakers noted that state leaders, including GOP Gov. Rick Perry, said they expected the expanded business tax to bring in more money than projected, an idea they said appears unlikely given the numbers released Wednesday."They were telling us what they wanted people to believe so they wouldn't get upset about a massive cut in the amount of money available to fund the schools and other state priorities," said Rep. Scott Hochberg, D-Houston.
He and others expressed particular concern since the money needed to subsidize the cut in local school property tax rates is far more than the amount that will be brought in by the expanded business tax and a higher cigarette tax, both meant to help offset property tax relief.
Lawmakers last year approved a $14.2 billion property-tax relief package. About $8.3 billion of that was to be covered by new state taxes, leaving about $6 billion to be covered by other funds in the budget. Of the $5.9 billion that's been projected to be brought in by the expanded business tax in fiscal year 2008, which ends Aug. 31, $2.8 billion is projected to go this year for general revenue and $3.1 billion to offset local school property tax relief.
The bottom line is that at this point, up to another $1.7 billion will have to be found to cover the gap between what the business tax was supposed to pay for, and what it actually is paying for. And before you say the word "surplus", bear in mind that most of what constitutes said surplus is already accounted for. So we can either pray for more revenue from those business tax extension filers, or we can start thinking about what to do to make up for this shortfall. Have fun with that.
I had the chance to meet Eric Roberson, who is running for CD32 up in Dallas, while I was in Austin for the Democratic convention, but due to my short stay our schedules didn't allow for an interview. Fortunately, he was going to be coming to Houston shortly afterwards, and I took advantage of that to rectify the omission. Roberson is an attorney and Navy flight officer, and a veteran of Operation Desert Shield. A recent poll in the district, using the actual turnout data from 2006 as its model, showed him trailing incumbent Rep. Pete Sessions by only nine points; basically, this district is less Republican than it used to be, and could be within reach given the nature of this year's election. My conversation with Eric Roberson is here, as always in MP3 format. I'm working on gettting a few more interviews with candidates from other parts of the state, and will begin doing Harris County hopefuls shortly.
PREVIOUSLY:
State Rep. Dan Barrett, HD97.
Wendy Davis, SD10.
Robert Miklos, HD101.
Chris Turner, HD96.
Joe Moody, HD78.
Ernie Casbeer, HD59.
State Rep. Juan Garcia, HD32.
Today is the big day!
We endorsed candidate Chris Turner on Tuesday - he thanked us in this BOR diary - we'll endorse another candidate at this event, and if all goes as hoped, we'll be in a position to endorse candidate #4 shortly thereafter. The original goal was six candidates; I'm very hopeful we'll be able to surpass that. We greatly appreciate all the help we've received in achieving those goals, and I hope to be able to thank many of you for that support at this event. See you then!
Please join host Mustafa Tameez
and sponsors:
State Representatives Ellen Cohen, Jessica Farrar, and Ana Hernandez
Houston City Controller Annise Parker
Democratic Candidate for U.S. Congress Michael Skelly
Democratic Candidate for State Senate Joe Jaworski
Democratic Candidates for State Representative Carol Alvarado, Sherrie Matula, Joel Redmond and John McClelland, Kristi Thibaut, and Armano Walle
Houston area bloggers Martha Griffin, Stace Medellin, and Charles Kuffner
and and James Hernandez, Casey Jones, Jay Aiyer
as we come together to take back the Texas House
and announce another TexBlog PAC endorsementJoin the
TexBlog PAC
with special guest
State Representative Garnet Coleman
Thursday, June 26, 2008
5:30 to 7:30 pm
Rice Lofts, Room 203
909 Texas Avenue
$25 Contribution Suggested
Sponsorships available at the following levels:
$500 $250 $125 $50
Please make all checks payable to:
TexBlog PAC
501 E. Stassney Lane, Ste 1010, Austin TX, 78745
or contribute online by visiting:
http://actblue.com/entity/fundraisers/18185
Farther down in that HAIF thread about the Heights highrise is this entry from someone who appears to have inside knowledge:
A few notes of clarification on the building being discussed:a. The structure, as currently envisioned, will include first floor retail and parking, probably two floors of parking and six to seven floors of office/studio lease space. The top floor of the garage will be designed for an art gallery, or similar space, with the roof of the garage as outdoor terrace areas.
b. The project is in a very, very early design stage and will be a Class-A "green" structure with early 20th-century details. Equivalent-scaled structures might be the Lancaster downtown or The Plaza in Montrose.
c. Target tenants will be neighborhood small businesses and individuals currently doing business in homes, garages, guest rooms, etc...within walking or biking distance and not wanting a heavy commute routine.
d. Project is in commercial district and would only "border" the residential district of the Heights.
e. Since it is primarily an office building there are considerations for the parking to be utilized after-hours by the nighttime oriented businesses nearby for off-street parking which would limit the intrusion of parking into residential areas.
f. This is the only information available at this time. Further postings will come in the near future.
This sounds a lot better than what was being speculated based on the sign's picture. It's still a bit taller than I think is best for the area, but it's not ridiculous. Ground floor retail is good. I'm a little surprised there's that much projected demand for office/studio space in that area, but I've no complaint about it. Sharing their parking facilities with neighboring businesses during off-hour times would definitely be welcome.
Basically, if what's described here is what we get, I'll probably be okay with it, though I expect the folks closer by will have concerns. As this poster suggests, a public information meeting by the developer about the project would be appreciated. It'd be nice to get some sidewalk improvements along White Oak to complement this development, but I suppose that's a separate battle to fight. It would also be nice, if we're going to get dense development, to get some more transit options for the area, as right now there isn't much. That's the key to making density work, right? Those are matters for the city, of course, but I'd like to see a discussion on that get started, so that as more of this sort of thing comes along, those of us who already live here can take full advantage of it as well.
My friend Stephanie Stradley discusses matters relating to sexism and sports writing in a piece about Will Leitch's to-be-named successor at Deadspin.
Are Female Sports Bloggers Held to a Different Standard?On this I can offer an emphatic Yes. Whoever replaces Leitch will face a lot of scrutiny. A female offered that position would face additional pressures. To take an example from TV: if people don't like Skip Bayless, they call him annoying. If people don't like Kelly Tilghman, they may call her an annoying unqualified woman, disqualified either by her gender or an imagined affirmative action policy that supposedly placed her above more qualified men.
From my own experience: if I screw up, I know there are people who will attribute that screw up to the fact that I'm a chick. Even if I don't screw up, some cretins still leave repulsive sexist comments when they disagree with me.
When I do well, readers give me that feedback too but it usually has nothing to do my being a woman. (Rare exceptions include marriage proposals and female readers who appreciate how I represent female sports fans.)
I believe that anyone who wants to excel at a job that is typically not performed by people of their background often feels the need to do additional things. Deadspin has an enlightened readership, but I don't see any reason the usual dynamics wouldn't play out.
Good stuff, so check it out.
I like the sound of this. Mostly, anyway.
Barack Obama will focus his resources largely in 14 states George W. Bush won in 2004, his chief field operative said Tuesday, hoping to score upsets in places such as Virginia, Indiana and Georgia.But winning the White House won't be his only goal, deputy campaign manager Steve Hildebrand told Politico: In an unusual move, Obama's campaign will also devote some resources to states it's unlikely to win, with the goal of influencing specific local contests in places such as Texas and Wyoming.
"Texas is a great example where we might not be able to win the state, but we want to pay a lot of attention to it," Hildebrand said. "It's one of the most important redistricting opportunities in the country."
Texas Democrats are five seats away in each chamber from control of the state Legislature, which will redraw congressional districts after the 2010 census.
In Wyoming, Democrat Gary Trauner, running for the state's sole congressional seat, lost narrowly against an incumbent in 2006 and is now seeking an open seat.
"If we can register more Democrats, if we can increase the Democratic performance and turnout, maybe we can pick up a congressional seat," Hildebrand said.
"Texas is a great example where we might not be able to win the state, but we want to pay a lot of attention to it," Hildebrand said. "It's one of the most important redistricting opportunities in the country."
Texas Democrats are five seats away in each chamber from control of the state Legislature, which will redraw congressional districts after the 2010 census.
In Wyoming, Democrat Gary Trauner, running for the state's sole congressional seat, lost narrowly against an incumbent in 2006 and is now seeking an open seat.
"If we can register more Democrats, if we can increase the Democratic performance and turnout, maybe we can pick up a congressional seat," Hildebrand said.
Hildebrand's plans underscore the unusual scope and ambition of Obama's campaign, which can relatively cheaply extend its massive volunteer and technological resources into states which won't necessarily produce electoral votes.
In Texas, for instance, Obama's three dozen offices were overrun with volunteers during the primary; the campaign's challenge is, in part, to find something useful to do with all that free labor. But, while Hildebrand said Obama is unlikely to pay for television advertising outside a core of about 15 states the candidate thinks he can win, he will spend some money on staff. Obama's chief strategist, David Axelrod, reportedly told donors in Houston that he would send 15 staffers to Texas, and the campaign has committed to having some staff on the ground in all 50 states.
Julie Pippert was at an event in Houston that featured Axelrod, and I don't see any mention of a promise of staffers, so either that's new (and encouraging) or he just wasn't saying it publicly then. Either way, it's not as good as spending money here on advertising, but it's more than what we're used to getting. Now maybe if Obama uses some of the fundraising trips he'll be taking to Texas to help out a few of our fine downballot candidates - such as, oh I don't know, maybe Rick Noriega - then I think I'd be as happy as I can be with this arrangement. Of course, my wish list item here is unlikely to happen unless some of the people who'll be getting hit up for Obama donations at those future events make a little wealth-spreading a condition of their donations. For what it's worth, let me use this opportunity to recommend that course of action to these folks. Let's please invest some of that dough in Texas, okay? Thanks. Greg has more.
UPDATE: Naturally, as soon as I draft this, I see a Chron story on the same topic.
Obama's aides told the Houston Chronicle that the Texas expenditures could increase party turnout in targeted races such as Harris County district attorney, sheriff and county judge.The national campaign's presence in the state also could help Democrats in closely watched Houston-area congressional races for the seats of incumbent Democrat Nick Lampson and Republican Michael McCaul.
"It'll help us create a government majority," said [campaign manager David] Plouffe. "In a state like Texas, there's House races, there's state Senate races, and we're going to encourage people to get involved in their local elections."
The campaign, Plouffe said, intends to tap into the grassroots organization it built during the primary season, eventually using some of its volunteers to help in more competitive states such as Colorado, New Mexico, Virginia and Ohio.
"We have got a lot of volunteers from these states and want to make sure we have a way to use them," he said.
At a June 12 meeting of contributors in Houston, Obama's top strategist, David Axelrod of Chicago, said the campaign first would deploy 15 staffers to help with voter registration, according to Harris County Democratic Party Chairman Gerald Birnberg.
Among the many reasons for the deployment, Axelrod explained, is that the campaign wants to demonstrate its national appeal and presence.
[...]
Obama spokesman Josh Earnest said a staff director had not yet been selected for Texas.
A spokesman for the state Democratic party, Hector Nieto, said the decision by the Obama campaign is "obviously good news for us."
Cal Jillson, a professor of political science at Southern Methodist University, said that by sending professional staffers to Texas, the Obama campaign can supplement what he said was an improving Democratic party organization in the state.
"I think that the reason the National Democratic Party would be putting money into Texas is to continue the Democratic resurgence" in the state, he said.
The Democrats, he said, are not likely to win statewide contests but could prevail in areas where the party is on the upsurge, such as Harris County.
Again, good to hear. It could be better, but I know well it could be much worse.
The Supreme Court declared Wednesday that executions are too severe a punishment for child rape, despite the "years of long anguish" for victims, in a ruling that restricts the death penalty to murder and crimes against the state.The court's 5-4 decision struck down a Louisiana law that allows capital punishment for people convicted of raping children under 12. It spares the only people in the U.S. under sentence of death for that crime -- two Louisiana men convicted of raping girls 5 and 8.
The ruling also invalidates laws on the books in five other that allowed executions for child rape.
One of those states, of course, is Texas.
However devastating the crime to children, Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in his majority opinion, "the death penalty is not a proportional punishment for the rape of a child." His four liberal colleagues joined him, while the four more conservative justices dissented.There has not been an execution in the United States for a crime that did not also involve the death of the victim in 44 years, a factor that weighed in Kennedy's decision.
Rape and other crimes "may be as devastating in their harm, as here, but 'in terms of moral depravity and of the injury to the person and to the public,' they cannot be compared to murder in their 'severity and irrevocability,'" Kennedy said, quoting from earlier decisions.
The decision can be found here (PDF, via BOR). Adam B has some longer quotes from the decision. Grits has some linkage, plus a bit of background info from Texas District and County Attorneys Association spokesperson Shannon Edmonds. Here's a statement on the ruling from the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault. Both TAASA and the TDCAA opposed Jessica's Law during the last legislative session. None of this will stop the usual suspects from cranking up the outrage (see that Salon AP story for a few choice quotes) or from trying again, though the consensus so far seems to be that this is a definitive ruling. I just don't think this law's proponents will give up that easily.
Matt Stiles, who did that interview with Sheriff Thomas, adds a little extra to the mix.
Thomas said his department will now launch internal affairs investigations of deputies' conduct if defense attorneys raise questions. In the past, the office had required sworn statements to start inquiries, he said.The sheriff also said his office is working on a new e-mail policy that will be manageable for his technology staff, but also comply with retention requirements of the Texas Public Information Act. He previously decided to delete e-mails after 14 days, prompting Wayne Dolcefino at KTRK (Channel 13) to fight him in court.
Can't wait to see what that looks like, and how they explain how it will solve all the problems they once thought could only be alleviated by the 14-day purge. Stiles may ultimately post the interview as a podcast, which would be cool. Who knows what other pearls of wisdom we may get from our Sheriff?
Meanwhile, Rick Casey piles on:
The most important news in the interview (other than the fact that he granted it) came when he took "responsibility" for some of the mishaps. But politicians all over the country have been "taking responsibility" for problems, as though the term was a magical mantra that would calm the troubled waters and deflect any public anger.Unfortunately, the public has become somewhat inured to that response. They especially reject it when the surrounding rhetoric suggests that the officeholder doesn't really "take responsibility."
For example, Thomas said, "Unfortunately, some things happened that I'm not happy about."
That sounds like they were outside his control. But when those brothers complained about having their cameras confiscated, being roughed up, arrested, jailed and put on trial for taking pictures from their yard, he could have aggressively investigated the behavior of his deputies in the matter.
As far as I know, he still hasn't admitted his boys messed up, much less taken action to try to change the culture of his department by disciplining them.
Well, yeah, there is that. Maybe that's a subject for the next interview.
I'm told by a couple of different sources that Wayne Dolcefino has a story about the Sheriff prepped for tonight's newscast. You know that wherever WayneDo goes, hijinks is sure to follow, so tune in and see what he has to say. Finally, the Harris County Democratic Party put out a statement in response to Thomas' interview, which is here. I know it's "pure politics" and all, but that doesn't mean it's wrong.
At long last, construction for the Metro 2012 plan is about to begin.
The Metropolitan Transit Authority will host a ceremonial groundbreaking Thursday for the East End light rail line, the first of five scheduled to be completed by late 2012, and the first to start construction since the Red Line opened in 2004.Metro spokeswoman Sandra Salazar said the event will be on property owned by developer Frank Liu on Harrisburg Boulevard near Eastwood and will involve mostly public officials and community leaders.
Salazar said the actual site preparation and construction likely will begin between Milby and Lockwood next month, but the exact date was not available Tuesday.
Metro says it will build the future lines in 4,000-foot segments, completing each before work starts on the next to avoid the lengthy disruptions of traffic and business that marred construction of the Red Line.
[...]
Salazar said Metro also expects to break ground for the North and Southeast lines this summer, but only after it receives assurance that the Federal Transit Administration will pay half their cost.
Metro is planning to build the East End and Uptown lines out of its own revenues, but needs federal funding for the controversial University Line.
Salazar said construction of the Uptown line, which would run from the Northwest Transit Center to Post Oak Boulevard and end south of Westpark, probably will not begin until federal funds for the University line are assured.
So if all else fails, we'll at least get this line built, though we still need to get the freight rail overpass funded to make sure this line is truly complete. The North and Southeast lines shouldn't have any trouble getting federal funding, but you never know what might happen. And we all know about the Universities line. Speaking of which:
Metro said Tuesday that state District Judge Levi Benton has scheduled a hearing for Aug. 6 on Metro's request to have [Daphne] Scarbrough's lawsuit thrown out.Scarbrough's attorney Andy Taylor has said if Benton rules in Metro's favor, he will appeal.
I'll be amazed if ground gets broken for this line before 2009. The East End line may be near completion before this one gets started. But as long as it does get going, that's what matters.
It's true. He says so himself.
A bigger and broader sales tax is being kicked around at the Texas Capitol once again by legislators wanting to scrap the new business tax and further reduce property taxes."We need to return Texas to a business-friendly climate. We need to make home ownership affordable. We need to fund our schools for the long term, and the best way to do this is through sales tax," said state Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston.
He has called for repealing the business tax while boosting the sales tax 2 percentage points -- from the current total of 8.25 percent for both state and local taxes -- and applying it to some now-exempt items. That increase would generate an estimated $6 billion a year, about double the amount raised by the changes to the business tax.
Many Republicans, including Patrick, have long embraced the idea of relying more on the sales tax to pay for government services. At its convention this month, the Texas Republican Party included abolishing the school property tax -- to be replaced with the sales tax and spending cuts -- in its platform.
"The fairest way to tax people is on what they consume and their ability to pay, not on where they live," Patrick said.
[...]
Some taxpayers prefer the sales tax because it is paid incrementally, whereas the property tax is paid in a lump sum and can increase even when a property owner's ability to pay does not, experts say. But the sales tax hits some taxpayers harder than others.
"Lower- and middle-income families spend everything they have ... just to buy things that their families need," said Dick Lavine of the Center for Public Policy Priorities in Austin.
Color me shocked at this suggestion. As Rep. Jim Keffer says in the piece, we've been down this sales-tax-for-property-tax-swap road before, and it always leads to the same place: Most people wind up paying more taxes under such a scheme. Oddly enough, rich people like Dan Patrick tend to pay less. Funny how that works, isn't it?
One more thing:
Increasing the reliance on sales tax has its problems, said Robert Ward, deputy director of the Rockefeller Institute of Government at the State University of New York."A 10 percent sales tax is a very high sales tax," Ward said. "At some point, a high tax rate drives economic activity out entirely or at least underground."
Higher taxes and more crime! What's not to like? You da man, Dan. Thanks to Eye on Williamson for the catch.
Disappointing. Not surprising, but disappointing.
The Supreme Court on Monday gave the green light to the Bush administration to press forward with plans to complete a controversial fence along the U.S.-Mexico border.The high court, without comment, declined to hear an appeal from two environmental groups -- the Sierra Club and the Defenders of Wildlife. They had filed suit to reverse a decision by the Homeland Security secretary, Michael Chertoff, to waive environmental and other laws and regulations that would have slowed construction of 670 miles of border fencing by the end of the year.
I hope that we learn the lesson that it's a bad idea to give anyone unlimited powers - especially charlatans like Michael Chertoff - before it's too late. Assuming that it isn't already too late, of course.
The Texas Border Coalition, made up of border mayors and county judges from 10 Texas border communities from Brownsville to El Paso, filed a separate lawsuit in May against Chertoff's department, claiming the property rights of landowners had been violated.Eagle Pass Mayor Chad Foster said the lawsuit was filed because Chertoff had gone too far to build "this feel-good but ineffective Great Wall of Texas."
The Border Coalition's lawsuit is pending before a court in Washington.
Let's just say I'm not filled with hope about that. The Texas Observer and South Texas Chisme have more.
New item: Lawmakers debate how to help electric consumers. Sort of.
Anticipating a long, hot summer with record-high electric rates, members of the House Regulated Industries Committee on Monday said Texans are right to expect some sort of relief."Rates are up dramatically since 2002. They are unacceptable," said Chairman Phil King, R-Weatherford.
But the way forward was unclear as lawmakers and regulators expressed reluctance to impose new regulations on the competitive market, despite recent wholesale power market spikes that helped put four electric retailers out of business.
Actually, the way forward is crystal clear, if the goal is to actually help consumers.
What makes the Texas experiment with deregulation especially interesting is that a "control group" has survived--the municipal utilities and rural electric cooperatives. Nobody disputes that higher electric rates are partly due to the near-tripling in cost of natural gas, the fuel for 46 percent of Texas power generation. But the rates of still-regulated city-owned utilities and electric cooperatives, which also use natural gas power plants, are substantially cheaper almost across the board. A ratepayer in Austin--who must buy power from the city-owned Austin Energy--spends a little less than $95 each month for 1,000 kwh of electricity. In San Antonio, it's about $72. Austin and San Antonio have the advantage of owning their own power plants, but the statewide average bill for customers served by municipally owned utilities is a little over $100 and is $97 for cooperatives, according to the PUC.The cheapest service plan--one negotiated by the City of Houston--in the entire deregulated market is about 35 percent more expensive. What accounts for this difference? "[T]he energy being sold in the deregulated service areas didn't cost any more to produce than in the regulated areas," says [Carol Biedrzycki, executive director of Texas Ratepayers' Organization to Save Electricity, or Texas ROSE]. "The difference is in the way the pricing is established." In the deregulated market, economists and industry experts say, expensive natural gas-fueled plants generally act on the "margin" to set the wholesale price that retail power companies must pay for all power generation. Even though it's currently much less expensive to create electricity from coal and nuclear generators, costly natural gas plants control the market price.
"[O]wners of nuclear and coal plants have no incentive to charge anything less than the gas-based market price [to retailers]," as the Association of Electric Companies of Texas explained in a presentation to lawmakers recently.
That was from 2006. Here's the Chronicle in 2007 (blogged about here), from their sidebar comparing prices:
Electric rates per kilowatt hour are typically higher in deregulated parts of Texas than in electric cooperatives and cities like Austin and San Antonio with municipal utilities.Regulated
- Austin: 9.32 cents
- San Antonio: 8.62 cents
- Entergy-Texas (Woodlands/Beaumont): 11.33 cents
- Pedernales Electric Cooperative: 10.67 cents
Unregulated
Houston: Range 11.1 - 14.5 cents; average 12.65 cents Dallas-Fort Worth: Range 10.7 -14.3 cents; average 12.18 cents
September prices, based on 1,000 kilowatt hours monthly use, including fees. Unregulated prices are for 12-month fixed plans. Lower rates are available on month-to-month plans.Source: Public Utility Commission, utilities
Pretty much speaks for itself, doesn't it? And it would make for an obvious way forward if the goal were lowering rates. But if the goal is butt-covering for not having taken the obvious action to lower rates when the Lege was last in session, then I agree that the way forward isn't so clear. I hope we're at least clear about that.
You look like you could use a Top 20 list. So here you go, the Top 20 college football fight songs:
When you play NCAA '09 the background menu music includes most of the free world's college fight songs. If you log enough hours trying to build your dynasty or take your created player to the top of the draft class like I do then you know almost every important college fight song in the nation. Problem is, you may not know that you know these songs.I can't tell you how many games I've watched on ESPN on a Thursday night when Louisville is taking on Rutgers or some similar match up, when all of a sudden I hear said school's band strike up and I can hum every note. I never even realized I knew Louisville's fight song!
Honestly though, I probably know more than your average bear when it comes to school fight songs. So in order to kill time until NCAA '09 comes out I figured that I would weigh in with a Top 20 list of best college fight songs in order to create discussion, but more than likely just tick off about 80% of the people who read it.
It's a pretty good list, and I'm not just saying that because he picked the Rice fight song (MP3) as the second best such tune. (For the true Rice aficionado, that song features the now-sadly underperformed third ending. There's already a movement in the MOB to bring it back next year.) Anyway, check it out.
I am happy to pass along the following announcement:
TexBlog PAC Proudly Endorses Chris Turner
TexBlog PAC formally endorsed Democrat Chris Turner for State Representative today. Turner is running in House District 96, in southern Tarrant County, against Republican incumbent Bill Zedler.
Winning House District 96Donate to Chris Turner Today! Help Us Take Back the House!
House District 96 contains most of the southern areas of Arlington and Fort Worth, along with the communities of Crowley, Kennedale and Rendon and parts of Mansfield and Burleson.
In 2006, Republican Bill Zedler narrowly avoided a loss, managing only 52.46% of the vote:
Additionally, as Turner's website shows, Democrats turned out in the March primary at a rate almost 2.5 times higher than Republicans - a larger ratio than the statewide average. More Democrats voted in the HD 96 House District in Tarrant County than in any other House District in the County.
About Chris Turner - A Committed, Hard-Working Candidate
Donate to Chris Turner Today! Help Us Take Back the House!
Born in Sherman and raised in Dallas, Chris went to Dallas' Skyline High School and is a UT-Austin graduate with a degree in Government. Before launching his campaign, Chris Turner worked as District Director for Texas Congressman Chet Edwards (D - Waco). During his time with Congressman Edwards, Chris gained experience working across party lines to meet the needs of Texans from all walks of life.
Chris' experience with the highly successful Congressman Edwards campaign will come in handy as he runs for office in HD 96. From his website:
Chris has also managed Edwards' last four highly competitive and successful re-election campaigns, during which he was recognized for his leadership ability and organizational skills in the midst of challenging circumstances.
Donate to Chris Turner Today and Help Us Take Back the House!We will be writing more about Chris in the coming days, weeks, and months. In the meantime, please join our efforts and donate anything you can - $10, $25, or $50 - to help us take back the House as we do our part to turn Texas blue!
Chris Turner joins Diana Maldonado on the list of TexBlog PAC endorsed candidates. We will be announcing a third endorsed candidate at the Thursday fundraiser at the Rice Lofts, so please come out there and see who that will be. Finally, if you haven't done so, you can listen to my interview with Chris Turner here.
Last week, I said you could lend a painless hand to Rick Noriega's fundraising efforts by voting in Sen. Barbara Boxer's Choose a Challenger contest.
PAC for a Change is kicking off our 2008 "Choose a Challenger" contest -- an opportunity for you and our entire online community to decide which Democratic Senate Challenger our PAC will support next. The winner of our online contest will be featured in a fundraising email to our PAC for a Change community, potentially adding tens of thousands of dollars to his or her campaign war chest this fall -- going a long way towards helping us build a stronger progressive Senate majority in 2009 and beyond.
Voting is open till tomorrow - the site doesn't say specifically, so I'm assuming just until midnight tonight, and as of last report Rick was leading, but not by enough to take if for granted. So if you haven't done so, please visit the Choose a Challenger contest and cast your vote for Rick Noriega. All you need to provide is an email address. Thanks very much.
As I was taking the girls to preschool this morning, we passed by a woman riding a bicycle while talking on a cellphone. Not with one of those fancy hands-free devices, either - she had one hand on the phone, which in turn was up to her ear, and one hand on her handlebars. I'm amazed that between the traffic noise and her bike helmet, she was able to hear anything. And it got me to wondering when I'd see the first "Hang up and pedal!" bumper sticker. You know that as fewer people drive and more people bike, it's gonna happen sooner or later.
When was the last time you read three simultaneously-published positive pieces about Houston in the national press? I'm thinking "never", but maybe my memory just doesn't stretch back far enough. Here they are:
Newsweek: Houston, We Have No Problems
Chicago Tribune: Houston doesn't have a problem
Washington Post: Houston's pipelines of prosperity
It's not all good - the Newsweek piece has way too much stereotyping, all three focus too much on how well luxury goods are selling, there's zero mention of Houston's many cultural amenities, and I could live a long time without needing to see the name "Halliburton" mentioned in an article like these. But it's much friendlier than what you usually see in the national media about Houston, even if it is a bit over the top. Lisa Falkenberg for one isn't quite as sanguine:
Compared with the dire reports of layoffs and foreclosures and food bank spikes in other parts of the country, Houston is a great story. Except for the few facts that keep getting in the way.Just last week, data released by the Texas Workforce Commission indicated a slowdown in key non-energy sectors, including construction, manufacturing, retail trade, and professional and business services.
While Houston-area employers created 58,300 new jobs -- or an increase of 2.3 percent -- during the past year, that's the slowest year-over-year increase since June 2005. Initial claims for area unemployment benefits were up 12.3 percent in May compared with a year ago.
While the half of Houston's economy dependent on energy is benefiting from a comfortable energy-based cushion, the other half is vulnerable to the same forces affecting cities elsewhere.
Fuel costs were among the factors that drove Continental to cut flights and jobs -- and into an alliance with United. Another Houston-based company, AIG, the world's largest insurer, is undergoing management changes after losing billions in investments linked to risky mortgages and other debt.
The idea that Houston is floating along in a protective, petroleum-filled bubble and is immune to the economic struggles the rest of the country is facing is flawed. Or, in the words of economist Barton Smith, director of the Institute for Regional Forecasting at the University of Houston, it's "wrong, wrong wrong."
"It bothers me," he said of the overly glowing media attention.
"The bottom line is we are slowing down. We have been slowing down for almost a year," he said.
Not everyone agrees with Falkenberg's dash of cold water, but I think she has a point. Barton Smith was sounding that alarm here over the weekend. He's quoted, though not saying anything like this, in the Post article. All three pieces give some mention to other, non-rosy things about the state of our fair city, but the tone in each is positive to the point of glowing.
But on the other hand, so what? We've gotten more than our share of bad press over the years, in ways that were equally overblown. Hell, the universe still owes us one for inflicting us with The Crooked E. So if we're the beneficiary of a few puff pieces, and if they make people want to move here - assuming they can sell their current houses, of course - that's fine by me. Whatever draws people here in the first place, they usually figure out pretty quickly there are plenty of other reasons to like it here.
So check these articles out, and send the links to your non-Houstonian friends. Then send them links to things like the Art Car Parade and the Catastrophic Theater and Pride Texas and whatever else you've got to make sure they know it's more than just the jobs. Houstonist has more.
Sheriff Tommy Thomas comes out of his bunker long enough to answer a few questions about all that nasty news about himself and his office. Looking at what he's got to say for himself, I'm thinking he'd have been better off staying quiet.
"I've been in this business nearly 40 years, and I've never had my integrity questioned. To have this happen, obviously, I think is pure politics," Thomas said. "Unfortunately, some things happened that I'm not happy about. But the responsibility lies with me. I understand that."[...]
Amid the controversies, and some internal questions about why he was not publicly defending himself or the department, the sheriff accepted a Houston Chronicle request for an interview. The 30-minute conversation occurred Monday, a few hours before activist Quanell X and other critics held a rally outside the jail calling for his resignation, a demand Thomas rejected.
[City Council Member Adrian] Garcia criticized Thomas on Monday, accusing him of "management through damage control, not good leadership."
"It's about time that Sheriff Thomas stopped hiding long enough to answer some questions," Garcia said. "But the fact remains that his lack of leadership has severely damaged the reputation of the good, hardworking deputies."
[...]
One by one, Thomas addressed the various allegations and widespread rumors swirling in political circles in recent months:
- Thomas said he did nothing wrong in accepting design services from Hermes, who he said was selected for county work by a committee reviewing at least three bids. He said he paid Hermes to redesign plans for a "retirement home" to save some oak trees. He declined to disclose the amount. "You'll just have to take my word for it," he said. "I paid him, and I paid him fair market value."
- The sheriff beat back the suggestion that he lives beyond his means, noting that his wife, Debra, makes a good salary at a software company. He said he no longer has a mortgage on a $200,000 home in Katy and noted that he bought the ranch land 15 years ago for $90,000. "I think it was a damned good investment," he said.
- Thomas also said information technology staffers prompted the decision to delete e-mails on a 14-day schedule, but he acknowledged the "bad timing" after controversy erupted over the e-mails of former District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal. "We were told by our technical people that we're about to shut down the system, we've got so many e-mails," the sheriff said.
- He declined to discuss much about the Ibarra case, citing the ongoing lawsuit. But he suggested their complaint was overblown. "As far as the surveillance goes, it was something that was a matter of a few hours. They were suing the county for millions of dollars," Thomas said. "They (deputies) didn't approach these guys or anything. They merely went by their house. I guess I don't see the real harm when we're being sued for that kind of money."
Where to begin? Well, it seems to me that if you're being accused of getting a sweetheart deal from a contractor who's done official county business, the first thing you'd do is disclose how much you're paying him to do your own stuff, so that anyone would be able to see that you're being charged a fair market price for his services. To do otherwise would just further the speculation that you got something that the rest of us couldn't get.
As for the email deletion issue, which was a crock from the beginning, how about the fact that a state district court judge ruled that the Sheriff's office violated state law by implementing that policy, and called its arguments in defense of it "not meritorious"? How about the fact that this policy led to the deletion of emails that were relevant to the Ibarra lawsuit, despite the HCSO's claim that that sort of thing would never happen, and the fact that the same judge chastised the HCSO for its lack of credibility and its reluctance to follow his orders? That's all a bit more than "bad timing", isn't it?
And then there's the Ibarra lawsuit - lawsuits, really. I don't know what to say, other than it's pretty easy to see why the first suit wasn't enough to get the message through. Does the Sheriff not know anyone familiar with the concept of public relations, or do none of those folks want anything to do with him?
Finally, there's this:
Sgt. Richard Newby, president of the 1,800-member Harris County Deputies Organization, said he was compiling a poll showing deputies siding slightly with Garcia.But he said many do not believe the negative allegations about Thomas.
"The sheriff has always worked behind the scenes, not in front of the cameras, and he's been very effective," Newby said. "Have there been problems and mistakes? Yeah. But they've been taken care of as they've come up. A lot of this we wouldn't be seeing if it wasn't an election year."
So, what, it'd all have been hushed up instead? Forgive me if I'm not terribly reassured by that.
Well, there you have it. I hope it won't be as long till the next time Sheriff Thomas speaks. The entertainment value along make the experience worthwhile.
Oh, good grief. Haven't we read this before?
Musician and author Kinky Friedman still wants to be governor of Texas and says he'll run in 2010 as a Democrat -- if he can raise enough money.Friedman, in a phone interview with WOAI Radio of San Antonio, said he'll run again if he's "got a war chest that is sizable enough."
Friedman today told KRLD Radio of Dallas-Fort Worth that he'd probably need three-to-five million dollars.
Yes, we have seen this before. I have three words: Not. Gonna. Happen. He won't get anywhere near that kind of money, and if he decides to run anyway, he'll get his ass handed to him in the primary. (Among other things, being called "Our guy in Texas" by Bill O'Reilly is unlikely to help.) Then maybe he'll finally go back to doing stuff he's good at, like making music. The world, or at least the state of Texas, will be better off when he does. Thanks to Muse for the link.
I finally had a chance to listen to this interview on NPR with Mayor White that the Houston Politics blog flagged. It's pretty good, though very general, on the topic of density, transit, and what Houston will look like in the future. I suppose it doesn't much matter, since he wouldn't be in office long enough to see any of it get started, much less come to fruition, but I'd still like to hear Mayor White spell out a vision for Houston's future in transit. Assuming nothing screwy happens in the courts, we should be well on our way to implementing the rest of the Metro Solutions 2012 plan, and we may be making some headway on those new commuter rail lines - at least, we may have answers to some key questions about them by then - and it'll be high time to get to work on what comes next. Obviously, whoever succeeds Mayor White will be the key player in that, but I see no reason why he shouldn't start the conversation. Who knows, maybe he'll be talking about some of these issues anyway when he makes his run for Governor. Anyway, give it a listen and see what you think.
It's now officially summertime, and whether or not the living is easy or the cotton is high, you can count on the Texas Progressive Alliance to help keep things cool. Click on to read the blog highlights for the week.
WCNews at Eye On Williamson takes apart the new GOP Business tax in Tearing At The Margins Tax.
Off the Kuff published the rest of his convention week interviews, with Joe Moody (HD78), Ernie Casbeer (HD59), and State Rep. Juan Garcia (HD32).
McBlogger asks why are the Republicans so ideologically driven on energy policy? Then he remembers that knowledge isn't so useful in the faith-based economy.
Something stinks about the Webb County Sheriff's election. CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme can't wait to find out who did what.
BossKitty at BlueBloggin points out that we have more than just McCain and Obama running for president. And Then Theres Bob Barr - Born Again Libertarian; one-time conservative Republican Bob Barr, the Libertarian Party presidential nominee, offered a scathing critique of Sen. John McCain today and predicted he would garner substantial conservative Republican support in a handful of battleground states critical to McCain in his campaign against Democratic Sen. Barack Obama.
Obama needs Texas to win the presidency, but only -- as with recent previous Democratic nominees -- for its money and not its electoral votes, claims PDiddie at Brains and Eggs.
WhosPlayin piles on after Joe Barton, Michael Burgess, Pete Sessions, and Kay Granger hold a press conference to blame Democrats for high fuel prices. It was so bad that even Fox 4 News called B.S. on it.
Lightseeker at Texas Kaos continues to keep an eye on Blackwater's shenanigans. The latest is that Erik Prince loves him some Sharia law-if it will quash a lawsuit for him.
Wonder how long it will be before the company dress code includes a burqa?
refinish69 reviews the GOP's Big Bad John at Doing MY Part For The Left. While the video is wonderful for a laugh and has wonderful production values, it is as full of crap as John Cornyn's career as a US Senator.
Vince at Capitol Annex takes down the new platform of the Republican Party of Texas.
When Tiffany tells me to blog about something, I listen, so with that in mind let me point you to this HAIF thread, and this post in particular, about what might be the future site of a highrise on White Oak, next to Onion Creek, between Studewood and Heights Boulevard. It's unclear at this point if this "mixed use development opportunity" on 25,000 square feet of land will in fact develop into something Ashbyesque, as the illustration on the real estate agent's advert implies - as of now, at least, no permits have been pulled. But just for the record, here's the case against anything like that:
Put simply, the same objections as Ashby exist. The scale is all wrong. There would be a big impact on traffic, mostly from ins and outs. It's already the case that you have to dodge people pulling into and out of the Onion Creek parking lot. This development would also be a stone's throw from the Viewpoint development (see here, here, and here for background on that), which would put even more pressure on not just the one-lane-each-way White Oak, but on the little side streets that surround these projects. Some of this could be mitigated by infrastructure improvements, but we all know how that goes.
This may wind up as much ado about nothing if the scale is reasonable, or it may turn into Ashby 2: The Wrath of Khan. The Heights Kids email list is already buzzing about it, so you can be sure that all relevant elected officials know about it by now. Who knows, maybe by the time there's a buyer we'll have had a comprehensive overhaul of our land use regulations, rendering the whole thing moot. Stranger things have happened.
UPDATE: Swamplot has more. Just to be clear, I agree with John in the comments that a midrise mixed-use development would be a good thing. White Oak has been in need of renewal for a long time, and something like that would be a good fit. But the scale matters. A 14-story tower is too much. I hope what's in the works, if anything is actually planned as of now, is more modest than that.
I suppose it shouldn't come as a surprise that Rep. John Culberson is not a fan of wind energy.
In a video chat with constituents from his Capitol Hill office, Culberson said on June 10:
These people in the wind energy business have made their fortunes because they are subsidized by you and me, and the Democrats passed a big energy bill late last year that jacked up taxes on the oil and gas industry by about $14 billion and then handed the money over to the wind energy folks and other industries. That's just dead wrong. We need to eliminate those subsidies. If they can't make it in the free market - particularly with oil at $130 plus - the alternative energy guys can certainly make money if it's a good idea.
[Challenger Michael] Skelly's campaign brought the video to the news media's attention today. You can watch the entire video here, with the quoted remark coming 20 minutes into Culberson's presentation.Not that Culberson objects to any and all subsidies. He sought $500,000 from Congress for start-up money for the privately funded construction of a John Quincy Adams Memorial Library.
I'm gonna take a wild guess here and postulate that Culberson has supported a bill or two in his day to hand some money over to the oil and gas business as well. I don't have the time to dig into that myself, but if you want to ask him about it, you can do so via Twitter. Culberson appears to have become a fan of online debating, so you may even get an answer from him. If you do, please add a comment to point to it.
A statement from Michael Skelly is beneath the fold.
Congressman John Culberson (TX-07) defended the failed energy policy status quo and argued against investing in renewable energy. The comments came about twenty minutes into a June 10th webcast conducted from Culberson's Capitol Hill office."The skyrocketing price of oil is the direct result of failed energy policies that John
Culberson has supported since the day he took office. Coming out against investment in
the renewable energy sector, which has encouraged job growth in Houston and helped
reduce our dependence on foreign oil shows just how out-of-touch Culberson is with the
people of Houston," said Michael Skelly, wind energy entrepreneur and Congressional
candidate (TX-07)."Why is John Culberson fighting so hard to keep our failed energy policies? In the face
of $4 gasoline and an ailing economy, Culberson is the poster-boy for 'more-of-the-
same.'""It's time we send someone to Washington who understands energy policy well enough
to know it needs to be changed," said Skelly."We can reduce our dependence on foreign oil and increase our use of clean renewable
energy, but only if we rid Washington of those who continue to defend the same failed
policies that gave us $4 gasoline and $140 oil," added Skelly.Skelly is a strong supporter of increasing all domestic sources of energy production, from
oil and gas, to renewable technologies. He recognizes that wind power and other
renewable sources of energy have been and will continue to be a boon to the Houston
economy, which has consistently been the world leader in the energy sector. As a result,
he is a strong supporter of the kinds of tax incentives that will encourage further growth
of the energy economy in Houston.
I really don't know what this story is trying to say.
The Metropolitan Transit Authority has loyal supporters in Houston's East End, whose voters approved Metro's transit plan in 2003 by a 14 percent margin.Bus ridership is also strong there, and many in the community look forward to light rail on Harrisburg Boulevard.
But some of that support has waned as Metro's plans have expanded to include a large bridge over freight tracks at Harrisburg near 65th Street, and nearby, build a service facility several blocks long for light rail trains.
Some residents and community leaders welcome the bridge, while others say the large Metro facility should find a different home.
The thing is, there's really nothing in the article to demonstrate that support has waned. There's a quote from the president of the East End Chamber of Commerce saying they can "live with" an overpass for the Harrisburg bridge, which is a compromise solution due to funding constraints, and some pro and con comments about the service faciltiy, and that's about it. No indication that anyone has changed their minds and decided to oppose the rail construction, nor any regret for supporting the rail referendum in the first place. No quotes from elected officials warning Metro to do or not do something. Maybe I'm just used to the decibel levels generated by the anti-Richmond folks, but this all seems pretty tame to me. I certainly don't want Metro to take anything for granted, but if this is as bad as it gets, the road ahead is pretty smooth.
Put me down as being skeptical of that much-ballyhooed Newsweek poll that showed Sen. Barack Obama now enjoying a 15-point lead over Sen. John McCain. It's not so much that I think the result is impossible, it's that it's clearly due to their methodology for determining party ID, and that makes it harder to compare to other polls.
Obama's current lead also reflects the large party-identification advantage the Democrats now enjoy--55 percent of all voters call themselves Democrats or say they lean toward the party while just 36 percent call themselves Republicans or lean that way. Even as McCain seeks to gain voters by distancing himself from the unpopular Bush and emphasizing his maverick image, he is suffering from the GOP's poor reputation among many voters. Still, history provides hope for the GOP. [Pollster Larry] Hugick points out that in May 1988 when the primaries ended, Democrat Michael Dukakis enjoyed a 54 percent to 38 percent lead over George H.W. Bush. But Bush wound up winning handily. "Those results should give people pause," Hugick says, saying that a substantial number of voters, about 5 percent, have also moved into the undecided column. A significant improvement in the economy, or continued advances in Iraq--an issue McCain has identified with strongly as the senator who championed the "surge" first--could alter the Republican's fortunes.
Boy, how many times do you think that Dukakis comparison is going to get trotted out? Five thirty eight dispenses with that, and also explains why state level polling, for which we've also seen some wildly different results based on different models for determining party ID, suggests a more modest bounce for Obama. MyDD, on the other hand, is more bullish. I'd like to see some similar results before I feel too comfortable with it.
The main question I have in looking at this is do we have any partisan ID models besides Mike Baselice's that are being used in Texas polls? He says Republicans maintain an eight-point advantage statewide; I think that's too high. We had a couple of polls in May that suggested a much narrower gap, one each by Research 2000 and Rasmussen, then Rasmussen's subsequent poll swung sharply away from that, and that's about it. There's just not enough data to make a judgment, and unfortunately it looks like we're not going to get much more, at least not on a regular basis. Like it or not, it's what we've got to work with.
Got this from a reader: Dallas City Council would like certain people to please zip their lips, and they plan to do something about it.
That's because time and again, council members (particularly Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway) have grudgingly tolerated or even openly battled with some of the same eight or nine people who speak before the council with regularity, if not every week.Sadly, most of these folks attempt to make points obvious only to themselves, using their allotted three minutes of open microphone time to jabber, patter, babble or drone. Often, these diatribes prove more impenetrable than a Fort Knox vault. Council members, in turn, leave the council chambers feeling as if they've just wasted half an hour. And arguably, they have.
So here's what the council is proposing to do about it:
- Eliminate the open microphone period at the beginning of voting agenda meetings. (Current practice: Five speakers are allowed to address the council before business starts.)
- Prohibit persons from speaking during an end-of-meeting open microphone period if they spoke, other than at a public hearing, at the last held regular council meeting. (Current practice: Anyone may address the council at the end of any full council meeting.)
- Require speakers to register in person, by phone, or by e-mail by 5 p.m. the day preceding council meeting. (Current practice: Speakers may register up to 9 a.m. on the morning of a meeting.)
- Allow the mayor or a majority of the council to restrict time limits when a large number of persons want to speak at public hearings and open microphone periods. (Current practice: This is often de facto procedure, although not necessarily.)
- Move to "clarify that ad hoc committees are not subject to the Texas Open Meetings Act unless otherwise required by state law." (Current practice: Reporters and the public have access to such meetings. Dallas Public Information Director Frank Librio says he's not immediately certain what would be considered an "ad hoc" committee under this new law.)
Of course, these council rules wouldn't just affect a handful of hapless agitators: They'd affect anyone wishing to address the Dallas City Council.
About five years ago. Harris County Commissioners Court tried something similar, apparently without effect. As then, I have some sympathy for the effort. It is a waste of time, not just for the Council, for whom such distractions are a part of the job, but more for the other citizens who attend these meetings in the hopes of addressing their concerns. If anyone has been discouraged or deterred from doing so because of these frequent flyers, then I'd argue their speech has been impeded. It's certainly possible that the proposed rules could make it easier for them to participate.
Having said that, I can't see these alterations, which are to be debated on Wednesday, going through. This is pushing the envelope of the Open Meetings law, and it's sure to result in some kind of legal action. I don't know that there is a good solution to this problem, which is roughly the equivalent of troll moderation in an Internet forum. Any suggestions?
Earlier this year, I noted that San Antonio Mayor Phil Hardberger, in his second and final two-year term, announced in his State of the City address that he wanted to change San Antonio's restrictive term limits law. He has now succeeded in getting an initiative on the ballot to do that.
It took the better part of two hours of debate before the council unanimously voted to adopt an ordinance that will put the proposal on the Nov. 4 ballot.Most of the speakers, council members and members of the public said it was for the good of the citizens that the current limit of two two-year years terms be expanded to four two-year terms. They said that keeping the two years reelection time table would still allow voters to dump an incumbent who was not performing up to his or her constituents' standards.
[...]
The mayor, who for months has been lining up the full council to take the step, stressed that this is not an effort to overturn the voter's wishes and that term limits will still be part of the city charter.
The language that will appear on the November ballot takes up one sentence, although it is a rather long one. And in possibly the only surprise, it will apply to current as well as former council members.
That means, for example, that if the proposition passes -- and the mayor is betting about $750,000 worth of a publicity campaign that it will -- former Councilwoman Elena Guajardo, who was defeated after one term, would be able to serve one more term, if she were to decide to run again.
That penultimate paragraph is a bit unclear. I think what it's saying, based on the subsequent graf, is that the current two-term limit law will remain in force for former Council members as well as current ones, so that no one who has been elected to their Council can take advantage of the extra allowable terms. That seems reasonable enough.
I'll be rooting for this to pass, and if it does, I hope it will spur someone in Houston to take a crack at changing our term limits law as well. Good luck, Mr. Mayor. Rhetoric & Rhythm has more.
Via Banjo comes this story about the oldest living Major League baseball player, and some of the many stories of the old days he has to tell. This was the one Banjo highlighted, about how Hall of Fame pitcher Lefty Grove impressed a visiting scout:
"The scout, Ira Thomas, goes out into the woods to look for him, and eventually, here comes this tall, rawboned guy. And he's got squirrel tails tied around his belt, with the heads hanging down. So the first question Ira Thomas asks him is, 'Are you Lefty Grove?'"And Lefty says, 'I be.'
"He said, 'Well, where's your gun.'
" 'I don't use no gun.'
"He said, 'Well, how do you kill the squirrels?'
" 'I kill them with rocks.'
"He says, 'I don't believe you.'
"And Lefty says, 'Well, you see that insulator on that crossbar?' And he takes one of the rocks from his pocket, and throws it with his right hand -- and the glass just shatters in all directions.
"And Thomas is amazed, but he says, 'I thought you were a left-hander.'
"He says, 'I am. But when I throw it left-handed, I tear them all up.' "
It's a great story. It's also one I read years ago in a book of baseball stories, circa 1949, by old-time sportswriter Arthur Dailey that we had at my parents' house, except that it was about Dizzy Dean. I figured it was a legend when I first read it 30 years ago, and seeing it repeated about a different pitcher just confirms that feeling. But it's still a great story, one that ought to be true even if it isn't. And it's another reason why I love the game of baseball. There's enough characters in its history that can be fitted into such a tale and still be believable. You gotta love it.
Rick Casey devotes a column to the HISD versus HCAD situation, and points to the obvious solution.
Texas is one of only five states that doesn't require that sales prices of real estate be reported to the state.The government knows what you earn. It knows what you paid for your car and your clothes. But in Texas it doesn't know what you paid for your house or your business property.
Because the middle class lives mainly in neighborhoods where all the houses are similar, appraisal districts are able to do a good job at guessing at the values. Studies show the houses tend to sell for close to their appraised values.
But very expensive houses and commercial properties almost always sell for considerably more than the amount listed on the tax rolls.
The gap was illustrated earlier this week when Dallas officials told a state Senate hearing they want to change the law to require price disclosure on real estate sales.
Support for the change swelled in Dallas after the city found itself having to pay about $42 million for a piece of commercial property listed on the tax rolls as being worth $7.3 million.
The change won't happen, though. The people who are paying more than their share are afraid to tell the state how much they paid for fear their appraisal will go from, say, $220,000 to $240,000.
We've discussed this issue before - as we know, legislation to require sales price disclosure came up last session and will surely be introduced next year as well. The thing is, I don't see the objection Casey raises as being an intractable problem. Far from it, in fact: it should be a fairly straightforward matter to do some math, estimate how much revenue could be raised this way, and then point out that with a more accurate method of appraising high-end properties, the tax rate can be reduced, giving some real relief to the homeowners Casey frets about. This really shouldn't be that hard to get public support. Getting it past the lobbyists is another matter, but then it always is. The first step, though, should be very doable.
From Friday's Chronicle: Housing analyst sees end to local slowdown.
From Saturday's Chronicle: Houston's jobs pace hints at economic slowdown.
So which is it, fellas?
Actually, the two articles themselves don't really conflict with one another. But it was amusing, in a whiplashy sort of way, to see these seemingly contradictory headers on successive days.
Football, baseball, and now cricket.
Major League Baseball take note, Indian cricket will experiment with TV replay.Players will be allowed to appeal against an umpire's decision for the first time in a challenge system on trial starting next month.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India said it had agreed to play the series under the experimental rules allowing cricketers to ask for a TV umpire to review decisions on the field by either of the two on-field umpires.
Each team will be permitted to seek the review, using TV replays, of three decisions each innings. Decisions can be overturned on the TV umpire ruling. A failed appeal will cost the team one challenge.
I don't know enough about cricket to reasonably guess how disruptive this is likely to be. Given how long matches can be, it's probably not that big a deal. Good luck with the experiment, y'all.
John Scalzi opens a can of worms:
[W]hat makes science fiction different than every other genre of film -- what makes it unique, for better or worse -- is that a strangely high percentage of the classics of the genre are not good films; some are structurally flawed in major ways, while others are just plain awful.
He goes on to list a few examples, including the beloved 1954 original "Gojira", a/k/a "Godzilla", which I probably saw a dozen times as a kid when they were doing "Monster Week" for the afternoon movie on Channel 9. I'll stipulate that it's perhaps not the finest example of the craft of moviemaking, but I loved it anyway, and Lord knows it was influential. I look forward to watching it some day with Olivia and Audrey.
There's some good discussion in the comments about the meaning of "classic" and why some of these films endure despite their faults, so check it out. What's your favorite example of a "classic" movie, from any genre, that's also an objectively crappy piece of film? Leave a comment and let me know.
Clinton plans to hit trail with Obama
Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton will campaign together next Friday, the first joint public event for the former rivals, as the senator from New York returns to the political scene following her defeat in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.Clinton has shunned most public appearances since her departure from the race on June 7. She resurfaced Wednesday to attend services for Meet The Press host Tim Russert, and she is expected to appear at a pair of events with Obama late next week.
On Thursday night, Clinton will introduce Obama to a group of her top donors at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, a bid to smooth relations between her supporters and the presumptive Democratic nominee. She is also scheduled to speak to the National Association of Latino Elected Officials earlier in the day.
Hagel would consider Obama VP offer
"If it would occur, I would have to think about it," [Sen. Chuck] Hagel [R, Nebraska] said in an interview with The Associated Press. "I think anybody, anybody would have to consider it. Doesn't mean you'd do it, doesn't mean you'd accept it, could be too many gaps there, but you'd have to consider it."Hagel said Friday that he and Obama also have differences.
"But what this country is going to have to do is come together next year, and the next president is going to have to bring this country together to govern with some consensus," Hagel said.
He hasn't endorsed Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the presumed Republican nominee, whom he calls a friend. Hagel said he hadn't thought about who to vote for in November.
Okay, look, I'm not really all that interested in the whole veepstakes thing, for Obama or McCain. In the end, I don't think it makes all that much difference one way or the other. But it seems to me that a certainty that one will vote for the nominee is the Mendoza Line of qualification criteria for being considered. Really, I think anyone who hasn't pledged by now to work his or her keester off to get the nominee elected should be dropped from whatever unofficial short list is being bandied about. I'm neutral on the question of whether or not an Obama-Clinton ticket is a good idea - having Hillary Clinton as the VP choice would have its pluses and minuses, just as any other choice would - but if that's what she wants, she's at least going about it the right way. Hagel, not so much. So please, national media, the next time Sen. Hagel talks about this, just say "That's nice, Chuck", and go about your business. Whatever his merits, he is not, and should not be, a genuine contender.
The bad poll news for Republicans keeps on coming.
Houston Republican insiders are buzzing -- with worry -- about an election poll conducted privately for their local party.Funded and designed by GOPers, the poll by Baselice and Associates essentially confirms findings by the Chronicle during the last six months that Republican candidates for judgeships and other Harris County offices have lost their built-in, 14-year-old advantage with voters. The survey showed a statistical tie between Republican and Democratic judicial candidates when voters were asked who they are likely to favor on Nov. 4. That's a slide from 1994 and 1996 when Republican candidates won with 56-58 percent of the county vote.
Mike Baselice recently acknowledged as much to the Chronicle's R.G. Ratcliffe, citing a current 1.5 percent edge for Republican candidates in Harris County, which is within the poll's margin of error.
If we assume that the 1.5 point advantage Baselice found is accurate - with no disrespect intended, that's almost surely not the case, since as noted in this post and acknowledged by Baselice himself in that Texas Monthly article on the Noriega campaign, nobody really knows what the turnout model looks like this year - then based on what we saw in 2004, some number of Democratic judicial candidates are virtually certain to win. The GOP would come away mostly victorious, but the shutout would be over.
That of course only considers the judicial races, where there's likely to be much less variance in the vote totals from one race to another.
According to three Republican activists who have seen the poll numbers -- they did not want to be identified because the results are supposed to be confidential -- their picture may be worse for non-judicial contests such as the one between Republican Ed Emmett and challenger David Mincberg for county chief executive. In these races, the poll indicates Democrats may have a slight lead, they said.
It's very nice to see them cite the County Judge race as a concern. I figure this means they've already written off the Sheriff's race, since if anyone is in trouble this year, it's got to be Tommy Thomas. For them to mention a different race suggests to me they've got bigger worries than that.
The forecast may be darker for Republicans if the poll did not take into account the anticipated huge turnout by minority voters with Barack Obama on the ballot. (The poll did show a statistically significant lead for John McCain in Harris County).
Let's just say I have a hard time believing that. I can imagine Obama trailing the average countywide Democrat, but not by enough to go from 1.5 to 5 or more, which is about what a statistically significant lead would need to be. Frankly, it wouldn't shock me if this year the donwballot candidates trail the top of the ticket on the Democratic side. I think a reverse Bush effect, in which there's more Dems who just come out to vote for the President this year. How much of that, I don't know, and if the coordinated campaign is successful it will be minimal, but it's a real possibility.
But hey, it's a long way off, and we haven't seen and Democratic polling yet. So let's just enjoy the "grumpy Republican" thing for now. May they stay that way for a long time.
Oh, and I've got to agree with Alan Bernstein: What in the world happened to Steven Hotze? Not that I'm complaining, mind you. Just wondering.
Last November, the Saint Arnold brewery voted to move its operations to a new, larger building just north of downtown. Now Kristin2Go has some more details on that.
The brewery expects to produce more than 20,000 barrels of beer this year -- a barrel is 31 gallons -- but could potentially produce up to 100,000 barrels at its new location.''It would have been easier and cheaper for us to get places that are outside the Beltway, but that's not really what I felt like we're about,'' Wagner said.
Last Friday, Saint Arnold's became the owner of a large, red brick building at 2000 Lyons Ave., just north of downtown and visible from Interstate 10, that was formerly a frozen food distribution center for the Houston Independent School District.
''It was perfect,'' he said. ''The parking lot across the street comes with it, and it's right by downtown. You can't get any closer.''
By June 2009, Wagner is hoping to have transferred all operations to the new brewery. Although some major changes are in store -- such as air-conditioning, nicer bathrooms, tours on weekdays and a newer, bigger brewhouse -- he wants the overall feel to stay the same.
''I never in my wildest dreams thought we would have 500 people showing up here on a Saturday,'' he said. ''I thought that 50 would be a huge success. I want the Saturday tour to continue on and be this special thing, just like it has been here.''
Wagner said that while he plans for this to be the brewery's one and only move, he anticipates a strong future for Saint Arnold's.
''When people drive by (I hope) they're compelled to say, 'That's where Saint Arnold is made.' That to me is really the goal, and something that will live on for a long time.''
Here's a Google map satellite view of the location. I've got to drive by and take a picture of it. And I can't wait for the first tour at the new digs.
One way or the other, this will lead to a bad outcome.
The Houston school board voted Thursday to sue the state comptroller's office if the school district loses its appeal over rising property values.The Houston Independent School District argues that Comptroller Susan Combs' office overvalues property and that the discrepancy is costing the district state funding -- an estimated $3 million last year, according to HISD.
Combs' office counters that the property in HISD, particularly commercial buildings and apartment complexes, is being undervalued by the Harris County Appraisal District.
The school district's appeal is pending before a state hearing examiner.
[...]
The discrepancy is wide. The Harris County Appraisal District put the value of property in HISD at $97.6 billion in 2007. According to the comptroller, the value is $110.7 billion.
Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector Paul Bettencourt said the problem stems from the local appraisal district using a different method than the comptroller's office. And, he added, school districts are penalized under the comptroller's system when property owners protest their bills and are granted relief.
[...]
The comptroller's office is charged with studying property values across Texas to keep local appraisal districts in check and to ensure school districts get the appropriate amount of state aid. To equalize school funding statewide, those districts with higher property wealth are supposed to get less state funding.
HISD already has appealed the comptroller's 2007 property assessment to the comptroller's hearing examiner. The preliminary ruling by the examiner, Michael Esparza, was generally favorable to HISD, said Houston attorney Robert Mott, who is representing the school district.
The comptroller's office and HISD have until today to raise exceptions to the ruling before the hearing examiner issues a final opinion.
As we've discussed before, I believe HCAD underappraises commercial properties, as do most appraisal districts, which means that homeowners are paying a disproportionate share of the property tax burden. Unfortunately, if HCAD were closer to the mark, the screwy school finance system would deem HISD a "rich" district and subject it to recapture. It's a nasty little problem, and one that doesn't really have a solution under the current configuration of our state government. Maybe with a better Legislature, we can make a genuine effort to fix school finance, and eliminate conundrums like this. You can help with that.
I am aware of all Internet traditions. Or, putting it another way:
See here, here, and here for way too much more. Be prepared to waste at least an hour when you do.
We've got a couple of polls in the SD10 race between Wendy Davis and Sen. Kim Brimer. From Politex:
In a poll conducted for Davis' campaign by Washington, D.C.-based Democratic pollsters Bennett, Petts & Normington, Brimer nabs 39 percent of voters compared to Davis' 35 percent if the election were held today. Results are based on 400 likely voters in the district. The poll has a margin of error of 4.9 percent.Austin-based TXPollWatch.com then released the results of an automated poll which has Brimer leading 44.27 percent to Davis' 35.35 percent. The results are weighted based on a sample size of 466. The margin of error is 4.54 percent. (Texas Poll Watch is a brand new site and has caught some serious flak for another recent poll (Word doc).)
More on that TXPollWatch poll here and here. All I'll say at this point is that TXPollWatch hasn't established a sufficient level of credibility just yet.
Bryan Eppstein, spokesman for Brimer, said, "There are two Democratic polls and both polls show Brimer winning. What does that tell you? It shows Brimer's going to win the race this fall."
That's one way of looking at it. Another way is to say that a 20-year incumbent who can't crack 45% - heck, 40% in one poll - isn't doing so hot. The Davis poll, whose memo is reproduced below, was a straight up "Who will you vote for?" ask, with no embellishments, and he got all of 39%. You tell me if that sounds like he's in a strong position.
Here's the Davis poll memo:
Wendy Davis, candidate for State Senate District 10, released today the results of a poll conducted for her campaign that verified that her record of leadership has positioned her for success this November. The poll revealed evidence that the failed record of her opponent, Senator Kim Brimer, has left voters displeased with his lack of representation and exhibiting an overwhelming desire for change.Confirming the results and showing a widening trend of an earlier poll conducted by the Lone Star Project (PDF), and turnout data from the March 4th, 2008 primary (below), the new data makes clear that Wendy Davis is extremely well-positioned to defeat Kim Brimer in November.
Among the May 2008 poll's most salient findings:
* When respondents were asked "If the general election were held today, for whom would you vote?" - without hearing any information, positive or negative, about the candidates - 20-year Republican incumbent Kim Brimer starts the race in a statistical dead heat with challenger Wendy Davis (39% to 35%).
* Only 41% of the electorate can identify Kim Brimer, a shockingly low number for an incumbent of 20 years. (The Lone Star Project poll had Brimer's recognition at just 49.7% when identifying him as State Senator Kim Brimer.)
* Only 25% of voters say that Brimer deserves to be reelected, while 42% believe it's time to elect someone new. (This corresponds to the Lone Star Project poll, which found that only 27.4% of voters surveyed wanted to see Brimer reelected.)
The poll was conducted by Bennett, Petts & Normington (BPN), a respected national polling firm, with a sample size of 400 likely voters in Texas's 10th State Senate District. The poll had a margin of error of 4.9%. BPN conducted polling for Paula Hightower Pierson in her successful bid against State Representative Toby Goodman in 2006 and for Dan Barrett's special election win in House District 97 last fall.
This poll also echoes the March primary results, when twice as many Democrats as Republicans turned out to vote. Looking specifically at this race, only 33,543 Republicans voted for Kim Brimer, while 62,574 Democrats voted for Wendy Davis. Both candidates were uncontested in their primaries.
It all sounds pretty good to me. If you haven't done so already, you can listen to my interview with Wendy Davis, done during the Democratic convention in Austin, here.
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It's Friday, right? That means it's the perfect day for stuff like this.
Today, Harris County Republican Party Chairman Jared Woodfill issued a statement taunting Democrat David Mincberg for having nothing under the "Issues" section of the Web site for his campaign for chief of county government.A while later Harris County Democratic Party Chairman Gerald Birnberg issued a statement pointing out that Mincberg's Republican opponent, County Judge Ed Emmett, has a campaign Web site that lacks an "Issues" section in which to discuss issues.
So Woodfill attacks Mincberg for something that Emmett is even more guilty of? Well, a serious discussion like this deserves a serious response. So here's my answer to Jared Woodfill:
I think that about covers it, don't you?
Among other things related to the budget Wednesday, City Council approved a request to identify more intersections for red light cameras.
Councilman James Rodriguez asked for the budget amendment, arguing that red-light cameras are good sources of revenue, and the money can be used to put more police on the streets.The administration agreed with the proposal, as did all council members except Mike Sullivan of District E (Clear Lake and Kingwood). The vote asked HPD to identify 50 new intersections, which would each have a few cameras. The total number of new red-light cameras would be about 125.
HPD should return to the council with the new locations within two months, according to the amendment.
Council Member Rodriguez had originally asked for 200 more cameras, so this is a scaled-down version of that request. As for the revenue question, we've already seen a decrease in the number of citations being given at the intersections that are currently camera-enabled. That's a trend I would expect to continue, and to occur at any new intersections as well, so I'd be very careful about basing any future expenditures on camera monies. The city of Dallas learned a harsh lesson about that recently; let's not follow that example.
Putting this another way: It's fine by me if the cameras generate revenue because of a large volume of red light runners. I'm perfectly happy to see those people get stung for putting other people in danger. If the revenue plateaus and eventually declines because people are running fewer lights than before, that's fine by me as well. If we wind up spending some money to maintain cameras at certain intersections, instead of the cameras paying for themselves, because they've demonstrated they have a positive effect on safety at those intersections, once again that's fine by me. What I don't want is for the city to game the system by reducing yellow light times or whatever in order to maintain a projected revenue stream that's now falling short because drivers have wised up. For that reason, I'd prefer that the city view any revenue they get from these things as found money, and not a reliable source. So far, I believe the city has acted properly.
As it happens, if the Kubosh brothers get their wish, that would be a moot question.
Bail bondsman Michael Kubosh and his attorney brother Paul are looking to force a citywide referendum on the cameras."Let the citizens of the city of Houston decided whether or not they want this red light camera scheme," said Michael.
His brother calls the city's program dishonest.
"They're lying to the public. They're saying this is about public safety," said Paul Kubosh. "If they would just come out and say, "We want your money because we want to spend it the way we see fit."
"I wouldn't say fraud. But they're lying to the public."
It may not be until March before any referendum could be put before voters. A state law prohibits a measure that has failed in a previous election to be brought back before voters for 24 months.
The last attempt to let the voters decide the fate of red light cameras went in favor of those who support the program. This year's election falls on Nov. 4, just a few days shy of 24 months.
Well, they didn't get what they wanted from the courts, so why not go for a referendum? It's certainly possible they might win - I've not seen any public opinion data on the cameras, so this is very much an open question. I'd assume it would be next May for the vote, not March, since March is only a uniform election day in even-numbered years, but whatever. If they can get the sigs, then let's vote on this and be done with it.
Remember Darlie Routier, the housewife from Rowlett who is on death row for the stabbing deaths of her two young sons? She has maintained her innocence all along, saying that it was an intruder who killed her boys, and since the trial some strange facts - the court reporter was fired for committing thousands of errors in the trial transcript, her husband admitted that financial problems had led him to consider a plan to hire a burglar to steal stuff from the house to defraud their insurance company - have come to light, though an appeal for a new trial was denied five years ago. Now, however, the Court of Criminal Appeals has granted her request for new DNA testing on some of the evidence from her trial, on the grounds that it may cast doubt on her conviction.
The items to be retested:Blood stains on her night shirt that previous tests showed to be soaked in blood from her and the boys. She claims newer techniques may find another source of blood.
A blood stain on a tube sock found in an alley. The sock contained blood from both boys and a third blood stain that did not yield a result. The court agreed that newer techniques might yield a DNA result.
Dried flakes on a utility room door. Although the flakes were previously tested and found not to include human DNA, Routier alleges they are dried blood that should be re-examined.
Pubic and facial hairs. The pubic hair yielded no result and the facial hair was found to be from someone other than Routier or her husband. She maintains the facial hair is from the alleged intruder and hopes to connect it to the results from the other retested items.
The court denied retests of a bloody palm print on the coffee table and blood stains on a butcher knife, which investigators said was the murder weapon.
In granting the new testing, the court said the state's case against Routier remains strong, but if the new testing shows the results Routier alleges, there's a chance a jury would not convict her.
"There is at least a 51 percent likelihood that the jury would have seen her as a victim herself, or at least that it would have harbored a reasonable doubt that she was not," the court wrote.
It should be noted that this case is in Dallas County, home of numerous DNA-related exonerations. The Dallas County DA's office had no comment for this story, but it'll be interesting to see how they play this. Given that this was not a case of a conviction due to questionable eyewitness testimony or a coerced confession, they're on far more solid ground being in opposition to Routier. But DNA is DNA, and if more modern testing can corroborate enough of Routier's story to cast doubt on the result of her trial, then I think they've got to consider their options. I'll keep an eye on this.
You've met "free-range kids". Now meet their nemesis: "Helicopter parents".
It begins innocently enough. When our children are infants and toddlers, they need us to protect them at every turn. Babies are just walking (or crawling) catastrophes, and danger lurks in and around every corner. Parents are trained to worry about their children even as they sleep: Don't put your child on his stomach or he could die of SIDS! Don't sleep with your child in your bed, or they could be smothered! and eat: Don't feed your child anything before 6 months of age! Don't give your toddler grapes! Or hot dogs! Or popcorn! and play: Have you anchored all your furniture? Can that toy become a choking hazard? Is that covered in lead paint?But the truth of the matter is the anxiety-inducing messages begin before the child is even born: Don't eat soft cheeses! Don't eat tuna! But be sure you eat enough fish! Just not the kind with mercury in it! Don't drink! Don't smoke! Don't take hot baths! Exercise, BUT NOT TOO MUCH!
And the result is that parents in our information age are never without something new to wring their hands about, and are nearly suffocating their children with worry.
See, this is why I read about politics. It's much less worrisome.
Seriously, author Therese Odell makes a good case for chilling out and letting the kids grow up. Which I hope is what Tiffany and I are doing with our girls. At least, I can say I don't recognize ourselves in the description Odell gives, and that's reassuring. But kindergarten is looming around the corner for Olivia, so the opportunities to completely decompensate will grow rapidly. I'm hoping this will serve as a reality check for when that happens.
Storm winds toppled walls at a Rice University dormitory construction site Thursday afternoon, killing one construction worker and sending six others to hospitals, authorities said.The collapse occurred about 4 p.m., as rain and high winds whipped through the McMurtry College construction site at Sunset and Rice boulevards, southeast of downtown, said B.J. Almond, the school's spokesman.
The fallen second-story walls pinned down five men working atop a platform, including the one who was killed, said Houston Fire Department Assistant Chief Omero Longoria.
"Three other men were injured trying to dig their friends out of the rubble," Longoria added.
Houston firefighters were called at 4:06 p.m. to help rescue those trapped.
Four men were immediately taken to Memorial Hermann and Ben Taub hospitals with "multiple trauma-related injuries," Longoria said. None of the injuries are expected to be life-threatening, Longoria said late Thursday.
''Four masonry walls collapsed,'' said Asst. Chief Rick Flanagan of the Houston Fire Department. "The integrity of the walls gave way. ... We've got crews working to shore up the area so that we may conduct an investigation."
My sincere condolences to the family and friends of the worker who was killed in the collapse.
The new Catastrophic Theater show opens tonight, and it will have some familiar elements for longtime fans of the local scene.
The Catastrophic Theatre presents the world premiere of THE TAMARIE COOPER SHOW written, directed and choreographed by Tamarie Cooper. June 19 - July 19 at Stages Repertory TheatrePerhaps no other person in Houston theatre history has shared more - or more intimate or embarassing - details of her life on stage than Tamarie Cooper. And Houston audiences love her for it.
With her spectacularly popular Tamalalia series, Tamarie has spoken, sung and danced about her high hopes, her irrational fears, her wacked out dreams, her love life, her sex life, her unfortunate dating history, her unfortunate drug history, her love of bacon and her ass.
But a lot's changed since the last time you saw Tamarie - she's not the cocktail queen of regrettable hookups anymore. She got married, she bought a house and now she's contemplating motherhood. The Tamarie Cooper Show finds the 37-year-old Tamarie embarking on a brand new adventure as she tries, in her inimitable fashion, to negotiate her new-found domestic bliss.
[...]
The Tamarie Cooper Show opens Thursday, June 19, at Stages Repertory Theatre (3201 Allen Parkway) and runs Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm through July 19. Tickets are $20 Thursdays, $25 Fridays and Saturdays. For ticket information, call the Stages box office at 713-527-0123 or visit www.stagestheatre.com.
The Press has more. Enjoy!
In addition to the Metro vote, Council passed the budget yesterday.
In his fiscal 2009 plan, Mayor Bill White asked the council to approve a $105 million increase in spending for police, fire and emergency medical services. Included is money to fund seven cadet classes in an effort to expand the Houston Police Department to 5,194 classified officers by next summer, according to the spending plan.Council members passed amendments requiring additional anti-crime spending during the eight-hour debate. Police will get $1,225,000 more for overtime and $708,000 for hiring incentives, increases initiated by Councilwoman Melissa Noriega. At least $180,000 will be added to the budget for anti-gang initiatives.
The council also voted to add $270,000 for after-school programs and $50,000 to provide matching grants for neighborhood improvements.
"There's a record increase to public safety and a significant increase on initiatives on quality of life in our neighborhoods," White said, "and we did it unanimously."
The meeting, which ended at 9:20 p.m., allowed council members to draw attention to favored causes, even if they could not get the mayor to commit funding.
Instead, members tabled dozens of budget amendments in exchange for promises from White to study their pet projects. Among the ideas to be studied: expansion of curbside recycling, fines for those who falsify building permit applications, and culvert replacement in front of flood-prone homes owned by seniors and the disabled.
Just hours after council voted on an agreement with the Metropolitan Transit Authority for the light-rail system, Councilwoman Melissa Noriega offered an amendment to fund streetscape improvements around future rail stations.
"You must have some of these kinds of things to connect (the light rail) to a neighborhood," Noriega said. "Certainly, beautification is part of it, but functionality is really part of my primary concern. What we don't want is a box with people in it moving through a neighborhood."
Although no money was added to the 2009 budget, White said he would push for $6 million to be added to the capital improvement plan in the next two years.
I like that idea and I hope it gets picked up in the next CIP. Metro should be well into building lines by then, so the timing should be good. I'd like to see some concepts for what this should entail in the meantime, but I approve of the concept.
Some more details in today's paper on yesterday's City Council vote in favor of the Metro consent agreement.
Current plans call for the University line to run on Wheeler from Main to Ennis, where it would turn north alongside Texas Southern University. Metro said access to TSU was one reason for favoring Wheeler.Councilwoman Jolanda Jones and several residents with homes on Wheeler, a major thoroughfare of the old Third Ward area, told council Tuesday that rail would change the street's character and restrict vehicle traffic.
U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, asked Metro to rethink the route, saying Wheeler "has great history and is part of the fabric of the community."
Metro President and CEO Frank Wilson said council members would arrange a meeting, possibly Monday, among Metro, city officials and residents and businesses along Wheeler to hear their concerns and consider possible alternative routes.
Wilson and Jackson Lee would not say what alternative should be considered, but Metro's federally required environmental analysis compared the Wheeler route to others on Alabama and Elgin.
Another segment of Wheeler farther east -- running from Scott to Martin Luther King, and along the south edge of the University of Houston -- is part of the planned Southeast line. Metro is not planning to review it, Wilson said.
There was some negative feedback about the Wheeler alignment when it was announced, though it was less vocal and much less contentious than the anti-Richmond faction. I doubt Metro is going to change its mind about the route and risk further delays in getting federal funding, so I'm not sure what an acceptable outcome to all parties looks like.
Metro still faces a long road. Federal funding is not guaranteed, a lawsuit challenges the plans for rail on Richmond Avenue, and Metro has yet to agree to terms with a contractor to build and operate the system.
I don't think any of those things are showstoppers, but this is just one of many small steps. I hope they are able to break ground next month, but the finish line is far from visible yet.
A new national poll of Latino voters has some good news for Sen. Barack Obama.
The survey found that 60 percent of Latinos planned to vote for Obama, compared to 23 percent for [Sen. John] McCain, while 16 percent were undecided. Latino Decisions, a joint effort between Pacific Market Research and University of Washington political scientists Matt Barreto and Gary Segura, conducted the poll by telephone June 1-12.Workers reached 800 Latino voters in 21 states. Among Democrats, the survey found that during primary contests, 57 percent had supported Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton versus 35 percent who supported Obama.
[...]
Obama does well among Latinos across many states. In California, he leads 66 percent to 20 percent; in New York, 65 percent to 20 percent; in Texas, 61 percent to 22 percent.
There's nothing particularly surprising about this, though as Kos says, it's nice to see that bit of conventional wisdom about Obama having problems with Latino voters get the refutation it deserves. What interests me here in particular is the Texas result, since it stands in contrast to the Baselice poll from May. Now, the sub-sample here is likely to be in the 150-200 range, which means it would have a margin of error of seven or eight percent, but that makes it about the same as the number of Latino voters Baselice sampled (PDF). Here were the results he got then:
Obama 48, McCain 36, other/undecided 16
Clinton 57, McCain 30, other/undecided 13
This would represent a pretty significant shift towards Obama, presumably partly due to the post-primary unity effect. If you updated the Obama/McCain numbers to reflect this poll's result, it would change the outcome from a 51.9-36.4 lead for McCain to 49.8-38.5, which is still significant but not nearly as intimidating; it's also much closer to Poblano's projection of a 9.7-point win for McCain. Given that that projection is based in part on the May Baselice poll, the Democratic "bonanza" number of 45% looks better, too. I don't know about you, but I can't wait to see what numbers Baselice (and Rasmussen, who had a similar result from May) come up with for June.
Seems like a curious time to be expanding an airport, but if they need it, that's good for them.
Work is beginning on a $134 million passenger terminal at the San Antonio International Airport.The eight-gate Terminal B will replace the aging Terminal 2 at the airport and make way for another terminal to house five to 11 more passenger gates.
During the groundbreaking on the project on Tuesday, city officials said that the additional gates, which would bring the airport's total to 35, will be needed eventually.
[...]
In 2007, the San Antonio airport topped 8 million passengers and through March of this year had 4.8 percent more traffic than a year ago.
Terminal B is set to open in two years. Also, work is wrapping up this month on a 2,800-space parking garage.
For comparison purposes, IAH in Houston has 124 gates, and served 43 million passengers last year. And that doesn't count Hobby Airport.
I haven't flown into or out of San Antonio in 20 years, but it was actually a pretty pleasant experience, since it's so easy to navigate; it's also close to downtown - maybe a 10 minute drive from the Trinity campus - so it's very well-suited for those types who like to arrive as late as possible before boarding. I hope that aspect of it won't change too much.
Tory has an analysis of the proposed commuter rail lines that raises some good questions, including one that has come up before and undoubtedly will again:
Some of the connections will require all new track through residential and commercial areas (249 to 290, The Heights, 45S to Pearland). Always contentious. Just ask Metro...
As I understand it - and like Tory, I'm waiting for Christof to weigh in on this - there are a couple of options to get that train from 290 once it passes 610 into downtown. One of those options involves the existing line that runs alongside Center Street, then (I believe) turns up Old Katy Road. That would neatly bypass most neighborhoods, and should cause a minimum amount of fuss. There are other possibilities, and there will need to be a lot of engagement with all the stakeholders to ensure that what gets built is the best solution, but I do believe this can be done without too much contentiousness. At least, for that one line. The others, I couldn't say.
The celestial body formerly known as a planet Pluto gets an upgrade.
Pluto is finally getting its day in the sun, after being stripped of planetary status by astronomers two years ago.From now on all similar distant bodies in the solar system will be called "plutoids." That's the decision by the International Astronomical Union, which met last week in Oslo, Norway, and announced the decision Wednesday.
[...]
The same group raised a cosmic fuss when it demoted the once-ninth planet to "dwarf" status in 2006. The new policy allows Pluto to be the standard for a whole new category of dwarf planets.
Pluto is one of only two plutoids, the other being Eris. Both are objects that circle the sun and are too small to be considered planets, but big enough to have a level of gravity that keeps them in a near spherical shape. Plutoids also must be farther from the sun than Neptune.
It was the 2003 discovery of Eris -- a body bigger and farther from the sun than Pluto -- that eventually led to Pluto's demotion. But the astronomers expect more plutoids to be discovered in the future.
[...]
It was not enough to satisfy leading Pluto-as-a-planet advocate Alan Stern, a former NASA space sciences chief and principal investigator on a mission to Pluto. Stern said a rival group could be formed to the IAU, which he said was too secretive in its decision-making.
"It's just some people in a smoke-filled room who dreamed it up," Stern said. "Plutoids or hemorrhoids, whatever they call it. This is irrelevant."
Another Pluto supporter was at least partially pleased.
"It's going in the right direction," laughed Ralph McNutt, a planetary scientist at Johns Hopkins University. "I'd still rather have it just be known as a planet."
"I grew up with nine planets, I'm sorry," McNutt said.
SciGuy has more. I guess this is okay, but I'm with McNutt. Life was simpler when we had nine planets. And if we must call Pluto something else, I still like my idea better.
Want to lend a painless hand to Rick Noriega's fundraising efforts? Go vote in Sen. Barbara Boxer's Choose a Challenger contest.
PAC for a Change is kicking off our 2008 "Choose a Challenger" contest -- an opportunity for you and our entire online community to decide which Democratic Senate Challenger our PAC will support next. The winner of our online contest will be featured in a fundraising email to our PAC for a Change community, potentially adding tens of thousands of dollars to his or her campaign war chest this fall -- going a long way towards helping us build a stronger progressive Senate majority in 2009 and beyond.
Voting is open till Wednesday the 25th, and all you need to provide is an email address. So please go vote for Rick Noriega. Thanks very much.
As for Michael Skelly, he's caught the attention of the DCCC, which has him as one of their Emerging Races for the Red to Blue program. That doesn't mean any money directly, but it does mean that the DCCC will be pointing people to Skelly as someone to support, and it means there's a much better chance that they'll follow up with financial and other resources later on. Skelly is the only Texan represented on this list - it'd be nice to see Larry Joe Doherty on there in the future, given the encouraging poll numbers we've been getting - so this is a nice coup for him.
As predicted, City Council passed the Metro consent agreement by a wide margin.
The 13-2 vote, with Council members Jolanda Jones and Mike Sullivan opposed, paves the way for Metro to break ground next month, probably on the East End line. Metro says it can complete all five by 2012.Council's approval also came after two amendments requested by Councilwoman Pam Holm and Metro's statement that it would reconsider plans to build parts of the Southeast and University lines on Wheeler Avenue, a main thoroughfare in the Third Ward.
Jones said she had concerns about the Wheeler route and about Metro's credibility and allegedly favorable treatment of wealthy neighborhoods over less affluent ones. She cited Metro's decision to take the western University Line segment across the Southwest Freeway to avoid opposition from wealthy Afton Oaks, while choosing a route on Wheeler, in part because it would cost less than alternatives.
Sullivan was not immediately available for comment, but his district includes the Clear Lake area and Kingwood -- neither of which would be reached by the five planned light rail routes.
Metro President and CEO Frank Wilson said a meeting among Metro and city officials and stakeholders along the Wheeler routes will be held, possibly Monday, to hear residents' concerns and discuss possible alternatives.
Wilson said obtaining federal funding approval for any resulting route changes may be possible with only a few weeks' delay, but that was not certain.
I thought all of that was settled, but if there needs to be some more discussion, then by all means let's have it. I'd hope this would not run the risk of further delays; it would be preferable if there were some kind of assurance or accommodation Metro could make to residents that would avoid any need for rerouting. At least we have this piece in place, and can continue to move forward.
Speaking of moving forward, the most recent Metro email newsletter, from last week, gave an update on the Scarborough lawsuit that wasn't reported at the time:
Update on legal action against METROEarlier this week the plaintiff in Daphne Scarbrough vs. METRO amended her petition to drop all but one of her claims against the transit agency.
The initial lawsuit, filed approximately a year ago, claims that METRO violated the 2003 referendum in a number of ways, including issues related to:
- General Mobility payments to City of Houston
- Financing of the light-rail expansion
- Bus service expansion
- Technology of the guideway rapid transit (GRT)
- Construction of a portion of the light-rail alignment on Richmond Ave.
Now, the only claim remaining is the one related to light rail construction on Richmond Ave.METRO continues to vigorously defend itself from this claim and deny that such a violation took place.
Here's hoping we can move forward on this front as well.
Commissioners Court's "try, try again" plan for building a new jail is moving forward.
Harris County Commissioners Court may ask voters this fall to approve a bond proposal for a $144 million jail -- after the electorate rejected plans for a $245 million, 2,500-bed jail last November.County administrators suggested Tuesday that the county not issue bonds to pay for the proposed $144 million downtown jail. But Commissioner Steve Radack urged the court to consider seeking voter approval for bonds, saying he was concerned that money that otherwise would go for roads and bridges would be used to pay for the jail.
The court asked the county budget and management office to report back in two months on whether the county could float a bond for the new jail.
"I'm not going to support a new jail unless you put a jail bond proposition before voters in November," Radack said.
I appreciate Commissioner Radack's concern. And I won't vote for any such bond until there is solid evidence that everyone in county government understands why we're in this particular situation, and vows to do something about it. In which case, of course, I seriously doubt we'll need to be building more jail space. But if it turns out that we do, that once we stop routinely locking up people who don't need to be locked up because we think we're being "tuff on crime" by doing so, then I'll reconsider. I don't see that happening here.
Other building projects discussed at the county's annual capital improvements meeting include a new Family Law Center.The court voted to take the first steps toward obtaining a design of the $70 million courthouse on Franklin and San Jacinto, across the street from the current family law building. The project would require an additional $16 million for furniture and cables and $2.2 million to raze buildings now standing on the site of the future courthouse, officials said.
Commissioner Jerry Eversole said the court should wait until the budget and planning office reports back on whether the courthouse should be built on Franklin where the old county jail stands.
Voters approved bonds to pay for the family law center in November.
"The voters were clearly telling us to move forward," Commissioner Sylvia Garcia said.
They also pretty clearly said "No!" when it came to building more jail cells. I hope that message gets received and understood as well, but so far it's not looking like it.
Concluding my series of interviews from the convention in Austin is a short chat I had with State Rep. Juan Garcia. I hadn't made a prior arrangement with Rep. Garcia for this, and was fortunate to run into him in the byzantine labyrinth that was the outer hallway of the Austin Convention Center, and he was gracious enough to give me a few minutes of his time. It's a bit noisy, and I'm a bit clumsy asking the first question since I wasn't expecting this, but I hope you'll overlook that and enjoy the conversation anyway. Rep. Garcia won a tough race in a pretty red district (PDF), at least at the top of the ticket (Bill Moody got 46.3%), and is probably the Republicans' #1 target this cycle. As in 2006, when Garcia knocked off the ethically-challenged Gene Seaman, the GOP has another questionable character running, but he'll be a well-funded one, and Garcia has his work cut out for him. My interview is here, as always in MP3 format. I'm hoping to get a few more interviews with folks I met in Austin who'll be travelling to Houston, and I expect to get a few more while I'm there for Netroots Nation, and after that it'll be local candidates all the way.
PREVIOUSLY:
State Rep. Dan Barrett, HD97.
Wendy Davis, SD10.
Robert Miklos, HD101.
Chris Turner, HD96.
Joe Moody, HD78.
Ernie Casbeer, HD59.
UPDATE: There's a questionable poll that shows Rep. Garcia trailing his Republican challenger. See my comment on that post for why I have some issues with that result.
Texas Monthly writer John Spong spent some time with the Rick Noriega campaign around the primary, and writes a report that I've heard described as "tough love", a term Houtopia also uses. It's a pretty accurate description. It's also a tough article to quote from, since it covers a vast amount of ground, and some of the issues highlighted I know for a fact have since been addressed. So let me start by saying that I largely agree with Greg's take, that I'm cautiously optimistic about the Q2 fundraising numbers (the support of Senators Webb and Tester have been helpful and appreciated), and that when all was said and done with that article, I still came away feeling hopeful. There'd have been no point in writing it, as Spong admits up front, if none of it mattered. Read it for yourself and see what you think.
Matt Yglesias, in speaking about the relative merits of intercity train travel, makes the following observation:
Transportation is always a network phenomenon -- part of what makes taking the train from DC to New York appealing is that when you arrive car-less in New York, that's fine. Indeed, driving from DC to New York would becomes an expensive/annoying proposition when you consider the difficulty/expense of parking in New York and a car's limited utility in terms of getting around. Even if you live in the suburbs, it makes sense to take Metro to union station and take the train up to NYC rather than driving. But if you took the train from Tucson to Phoenix you'd probably wind up needing to rent a car anyway, so why not just drive?So in terms of what can be done, it's more a question of a thousand cuts than a single broad stroke. Every time any city anywhere does anything to make itself less auto-dependent, it's a step in the right direction. And then it's just a question of deciding that this is important to us. Building new high-speed rail lines is expensive. But it's not as if building new airport terminals or new freeways is cheap, either.
Now that commuter rail between Houston and Galveston is officially on the table, I think it's worth keeping this idea, which has been raised here before, in mind. I figure by the time that gets built there will be a more robust network here in Houston. There will certainly still be room for more, and the point is that whatever else gets built won't just be for folks who live here now.
13th Floor contemplates the death of Philadelphia's municipal WiFi service and wonders if there might be a better way to deliver the same thing.
Sipping my coffee and tapping out e-mails at Powell's Books, I couldn't help thinking about a proposal made last month by Esme Vos, the Wi-Fi evangelist who founded the MuniWireless blog. A few weeks back, she looked into a cup of cappuccino at a San Francisco coffee shop and saw a way that city could have gone about creating wide-reaching Wi-Fi network for its citizens:
"San Francisco could have required cafes to install Wi-Fi networks and also required them to offer Wi-Fi service free of charge to the public. Then, companies such as FON, could have offered these free (or cheap) FON access points. ISPs would have competed for their business or even done very interesting bundled deals that would have resulted in cafes getting cheap broadband service. Users could rate and rank the cafes based on the quality of their broadband service like they rate them today on the quality of their cakes, coffees, muffins, bagels, etc."If San Francisco had done this two years ago, there would be Wi-Fi in nearly every part of the city without going through the RFP process, the lengthy period of setting up access points, without a provider having to spend millions of dollars on equipment and installation."
My most creative ideas are generally coffee-fueled too. In this case, however, Vos's Wi-Fi mandate probably would not sell well in most U.S. towns and cities. Plus it would not bridge the "caffeine divide" -- the gap between those neighborhoods that have a Starbucks on every corner and those that do not.But the concept of tapping the desire for fast and affordable Internet access among small businesses, including plenty of mom-and-pop shops, as a way help spread broadband access in communities that need it is certainly worthy of a few stirs. And Vos might really be on to something with the idea of offering a tax credit, rather than a mandate, as an incentive for those businesses to share their connectivity -- as first suggested by Vos's friend and fellow blogger Andy Abramson of VoIP Watch.
An "enterprise zone" for wireless broadband? Hmmm... I'll order another cup and ponder that some more.
It's an interesting idea, one that deserves some consideration as cities like Houston plan their next moves in this space. It wouldn't cost anything up front for the city, and it could reach places that weren't originally on the priority list a lot faster than a city-directed rollout would have. Seems like a reasonably low-risk thing to study and maybe pilot. What do you think? Thanks to William Pate for the tip.
On a side note, it looks like the presumed-dead Philly WiFi experiment may not be dead after all.
A group of local investors will rescue the city's trailblazing wireless network from what seemed like imminent shutdown, with a new for-profit company that will replace Earthlink Inc. as the system's operator, according to multiple sources close to the deal.Although the details of the deal were unclear yesterday, the new company is said to be considering an advertising-based business model that would provide free Internet access to all, or at least in those places where the spotty network is available. Earthlink charged $20 a month for the service.
[...]
Though it remains to be seen if the new company can turn a profit, its business model is not at all like Earthlink's. In addition to advertising income, the company is likely to pursue paying institutional subscribers such as hospitals and universities. Those institutions could extend their own secure internal networks into the city over the wireless system, for a price.
I don't know how well this reboot will work, but good luck to them for trying. Link via Dwight on Twitter.
After you put the TexBlog PAC fundraiser on your calendar, put this one on next:
Houston Votes!
Benefitting voter registration in Houston
July 1, 2008
The Continental Club
3700 Main Street
6-8 p.m.
$20
Catering: Ragin' Cajun
Entertainment: Zydeco Joseph and the H-Town PlayersHost Committee: Collin Cox, Cris Feldman, Jim George, Kenny Friedman, Seth Kretzer, Todd Litton, Rita Lucido, Keir Murray, Pete Schenkkan, Alfred Stanley, Keith Wade, Emillee Whitehurst, Marlen Whitley
Campus Alliance for Progess
Equality Texas
NARAL Pro-Choice Texas
People for the American Way Fnd.
Sierra Club
Texans Together Education Fund
Texas Freedom NetworkRSVP: joy @ TexansTogether.org
I'd advise taking the train to get there if at all possible - the Continental Club is a great venue, but parking can be a pain. And be sure to stop at Tacos a Go Go next door for an after-fundraiser snack before you head home.
And we're one step closer to officially putting all the lawsuits that stemmed from the K-Mart Kiddie Roundup into the books for good.
[Houston City Council] on Wednesday will consider whether to settle one lawsuit brought by 59 people who were arrested that night. The full settlement amount is $474,117. According to the settlement, each plaintiff will get $4,000, except for one who will get $5,000. Their four lawyers will split $237,117.The other lawsuit had 43 plaintiffs. The proposed settlement is for $257,500. Each plaintiff will get $2,500 or $3,500. Their attorney, Paul Rosen, will get $125,000.
Eight other lawsuits stemming from the Kmart raid already have been settled. Four others were dismissed. The total cost to the city for all the settlements is $840,117. Senior Assistant City Attorney Robert Cambrice estimated that an additional $60,000 was spent on outside lawyers who helped defend HPD and worked to expunge the arrest records of those caught up in the sweep.
"We came in at less than $1 million," Cambrice said. "Some people said how many tens of millions this would cost the city. I would say justice was served, and the public purse was appropriately protected."
Randall Kallinen was one of the attorneys in the suit that may be settled for $474,117.
"The Kmart raid represented one of the most egregious mass civil rights violations in Houston history," Kallinen said Monday. "I believe it is a reasonable settlement under the circumstances, and all the clients will get some payment for the suffering they went through."
Well, it is less money than the Ibarra lawsuit, I'll say that much for it. The original agreement was reached in April, and if this subsequent story is still accurate, then there's still some action pending for Judge Nancy Atlas, which should be completed in another month. And then, that's all she wrote. Miya has more.
Next up on the interview list is Ernie Casbeer, who came out of nowhere to get 44.5% of the vote in a district (PDF) where no other Democrat topped 40% - Bill Moody scored 39.7% in HD59, with most other Dems running seven or more points worse than they did statewide. Casbeer is a veteran teacher, with 39 years' experience, and a self-described "conservative Democrat". We had a good conversation, which you can listen to here. As always, feedback is appreciated.
PREVIOUSLY:
State Rep. Dan Barrett, HD97.
Wendy Davis, SD10.
Robert Miklos, HD101.
Chris Turner, HD96.
Joe Moody, HD78.
CD10 candidate Larry Joe Doherty has released a poll memo (PDF) with some good and interesting news.
This district may have been gerrymandered to be a safe Republican seat, but it certainly does not look like one any longer. In the initial trial heat, [incumbent Rep. Mike] McCaul gets 43% of the vote to Doherty's 34% a scant nine percentage point lead that shows McCaul starting out well short of the 50% mark - and as the incumbent, he should be starting this race at or above the winning percentage. In addition, in a generic trial heat that just asks voter preference on voting for a Democrat or Republican for Congress, the generic Democrat gets 41% of the vote, and the Republican garners 45%, only a 4-point difference.
That's in line with an earlier IVR poll that showed McCaul with a 6 point lead. We knew from the 2006 result that this district was trending purple, so none of this should be a big surprise. And if you presume, not too unreasonably, that the Democratic part of the district, in Travis County, is more enthusiastic about voting than the Republican part in Harris County, it becomes easy to see how the gap can narrow further.
McCaul has failed to capitalize on the biggest advantages of incumbency: despite serving two terms in Congress, nearly half of all likely voters do not even recognize his name (47% don't recognize), the most basic measure of a politician's strength. His job rating is utterly anemic at 28% positive, 29% negative, and 42% unsure - and this is when McCaul is identified as their current Congressman.
This district encompasses some fast-growing areas in Harris and Travis Counties, so by its very nature there are a lot of people in CD10 who have never voted for Mike McCaul. It's amusing to think that this so-carefully-drawn district, which was thought to be so red in 2004 that no Democrat bothered to file for the primary, has changed so much from the original Tom DeLay vision of it.
Voters are moving to the center and more receptive to Democratic solutions to the nation's problems at the same time that McCaul has aligned himself solidly with a failed President. Bush's job rating is 70% negative here (in Texas) and 69% of C.D. 10 voters think the country is seriously off on the wrong track. Furthermore, the data shows that many of the tired, traditional attacks on a Democratic candidate will work no better in this district than they did in Mississippi or Louisiana. In addition, the economy and high food and gas prices, tough issues for incumbents, are increasingly the top concerns for voters.
We may not have much information about Bush's statewide approval rating, but if he's doing that poorly in CD10, you have to figure he's not doing too much better overall. Perhaps someone should notify Tina Benkiser of this fact.
BOR has more. Larry Joe is also a Blue America candidate, and you can learn more about him at his Firedoglake chat or my interview with him from the primary.
From last week, the Chron's Alan Bernstein notes a problem the Republicans will be have to deal with for November and beyond:
[Thursday], across Discovery Green from the downtown convention, two Democratic state House members and Democratic candidates for the state House used a news conference to bash the state margins tax on businesses -- the tax pushed by Gov. Perry and adopted by the Republican-controlled Legislature.Rep. Scott Hochberg, for instance, said the tax was supposed to a fair levy, but that in the end, "if you didn't have a lobbyist in the room, you didn't get your deal." He said the tax burden falls too heavily on small businesses. And many Republicans agree with him.
Dave Mann of the Texas Observer homes in on that:
The party platform, finalized yesterday, calls for repeal of what one delegate termed "Perry's unconstitutional business tax." Many believe the business tax is a de facto income tax and thus violates the Texas Constitution. "Gov. Perry and the Legislature broke their promise on taxes," said another delegate. "It's the largest tax increase in the history of the state."
Eye on Williamson provides some context:
If we can for a second hearken back to the special session(s) of 2006, it may help a little. Texas' GOP controlled government had to do something, no matter how bad the "fix" was, or schools wouldn't open on time. Because of a judge's ruling that a new funding mechanism had to be in place by June 1st of 2006, they were boxed. The margins tax was the best the fractured GOP legislature and a besieged governor - with three challengers nipping at his heals - could come up with. If schools didn't open on time that could have fatally damaged Perry's reelection and they may have had even deeper losses in the legislature. That many in the Texas GOP are now trying to run away from their plan, and put it in Perry's lap, is not surprising. Responsibility and accountability is not in the GOP's DNA after all. This was a short-term political solution, not a permanent long-term fix to the school finance problem, and they knew that back then. Shortly after it was passed the Lt. Gov. was already talking about "tweaking" it.
"We're going to look at tweaking, re-examining the tax," said Dewhurst, who holds out hope that instituting technical corrections in the tax package could solve imbalances without having to adjust tax rates. Unfortunately, long-running controversies involving school finance and tax reform in the state have shown that painless solutions are few and far between.
Put in proper context it's now easy to see how this is going to be Exhibit A against Perry by all his GOP cohorts that will try to unseat him in 2010 - Dewhurst, Hutchison, Patrick. This GOP-invented tax has become anathema to the GOP base. This new tax is hitting businesses, in particular small businesses, especially hard and the Republicans are responsible for it. Heading into the 2008 general election that's really bad timing and it's tarnishing the GOP brand even further.There were then, and still are now, other ways to fix this problem, permanently. But that would take leadership, which is lacking in Texas right now. At this point and time if we want to lower property taxes, permanently, and do away with the worthless tax swap of 2006, then we have two options. Jack up the state sales tax, which would increase the already large tax burden on the poor and middle class, or institute a modest progressive state income tax, which would reduce the tax burden on the poor and middle class, and increase tax fairness across the board.
I think there's going to be a lot of pressure to repeal the business tax and raise the sales tax to cover the lost revenue, rather fixing the problem with the business tax, which is that it hits smaller businesses much harder than big ones. While the opportunities to bash Governor Perry and the Republicans for this tax will be plentiful, Democrats are going to need to exercise some care in how they do it, lest they wind up making the case for a sales tax hike for Perry and Speaker Craddick, who has wanted to swap property taxes for sales taxes all along. Watch how the issue gets framed - see the extended entry for the full statement from Rep. Hochberg and his colleagues for a good example - and get ready for a fight in 2009.
Finally, it should be noted that yesterday was, at long last, the first day that the new business tax needed to be paid. Sherrie Matula put out a press release that made some sobering observations:
Small business owners in House District 129 have come to me, expressing their concern about this new business tax because of the increased tax burden they are facing. The owners of a Seabrook company that provides products for offshore drilling is seeing an increase in their business tax from $350 in 2007 to $3500 in 2008. An anchor company in Nassau Bay is facing an increase from $1800 to $38,000. A school architecture firm is seeing their business tax bill rise nearly $115,000 this year. A space industry firm is facing an increase of over $30,000.
Yeah, that sounds like a problem to me. Today's Chron has more:
The tax is bad news for thousands of business owners, said Will Newton, executive director of the Texas office of the National Federation of Independent Business.A survey by the group, he said, found that 84 percent of small-business owners saw their tax bills increase by more than 100 percent under the new levy. Many of the respondents didn't have to pay the old franchise tax, which the new tax replaced.
The new tax is 0.5 percent or 1 percent -- depending on the type of business -- of a company's gross receipts for 2007 minus certain deductions.
All sole proprietorships are exempt.
An estimated 900,000 partnerships and other businesses are subject to it, but businesses with gross receipts of less than $300,000 or a tax liability of less than $1,000 don't have to pay. According to some projections, only about one-third of the affected businesses actually had to pay the tax.
"Today, on the day this tax is being collected from hundreds of thousands of business owners, our state officials still don't know how much this tax will bring in, which sectors of the Texas economy will be hit the hardest, how many jobs will be lost or how many businesses will be forced to close," Newton said.
His organization wants Gov. Rick Perry, who lobbied for the new tax in the face of a Texas Supreme Court order for school finance changes, to call a special legislative session to revise it.
Spokeswoman Allison Castle said Perry wants to wait for the regular legislative session to convene in January before considering any changes.
"If this tax brings in more revenue than anticipated, then it may be tweaked," she said.
You can tweak all you want, but that's not going to fix the underlying problem. Have fun with that.
Democratic State Representatives Scott Hochberg (Dist. 137) and Ana Hernandez (Dist. 143) and legislative candidates Sherrie Matula (Dist. 129) and Joel Redmond (Dist. 144) held a press conference today to discuss the devastating affect of the Republicans' revised franchise tax on small businesses. On June 15th, businesses will be required to pay the new tax for the first time since its passage in 2006, and now that it's due, many small business owners are discovering that their taxes have grown exponentially, while big corporations were rewarded."At a time when small businesses are facing skyrocketing health care costs and record gas prices, this Republican tax hike may be the last straw for many small business owners," said Rep. Scott Hochberg. "Governor Perry and the Republicans in the legislature let lobbyists write loopholes to protect their big business clients, and left the tab for small businesses to pick up. That may be business as usual for this administration, but it's bad policy for Texas."
When the Legislature attempted to "reform" the franchise tax in 2006 as part of a school finance plan, the stated goal was to close tax loopholes on certain corporations to make everyone pay their fair share, but the Perry/Republican plan failed to achieve that goal, and now small business owners are the ones shouldering the burden. The overly complicated tax threatens the financial viability of small employers and is heavily tilted toward multinational corporations, Wall Street investment firms and big industries like oil and gas.
"Small businesses are a crucial sector of our economy, but as I travel around my district, I hear from business owners who are struggling to keep their doors open under this heavy tax burden," said Sherrie Matula, Democratic candidate in State House District 129. "Every one should pay their share, but we need a tax system that is fair, equitable and serves the public interest, not special interests."
The new franchise tax is also opposed by a number of business groups, including the Texas Chapter of the National Federation of Independent Business, Independent Electrical Contractors of Texas, the Air Conditioning Contractors of America Texas Chapter, the Associated Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors of Texas and the Texas Courier & Logistics Association.
I'm still basking in the glow of seeing my Yankees win a pair of games with my dad, so I don't have a snappy intro to this week's Texas Progressive Alliance blog roundup handy. So pretend I had something amusing to say and click on to read the highlights.
CoulldBeTrue hears Rick Perry's rally call against Mexican drug cartels hooking up with local gangs and fears coded words meaning 'Lets profile Latinos' yee haw.
Off the Kuff spent his time in Austin interviewing candidates for office. The first group of interviewees published are State Rep. Dan Barrett, HD97; Wendy Davis, SD10; Robert Miklos, HD101; and Chris Turner, HD96.
refinish69 of Doing My Part For The Left gives a review of his experience herding cats at the Texas Democratic Convemtion and a podcast version as well.
The Texas Cloverleaf wonders why we are getting yet another TX Secretary of State, as Phil Wilson is set to resign after only one year on the job.
PDiddie had some scenes from the Texas GOP convention posted at Brains and Eggs.
With four electric companies folding up shop over the last several weeks, it is going to be a difficult summer for Texas consumers. The failures underscore just how screwed up the retail utility business is in Texas. One commentator has called it a game of Russian Roulette, and so it is....
In a much-anticipated mega-post on transportation issues, McBlogger tells us that lawmakers are "doing it wrong" when it comes to transportation funding.
Vince at Capitol Annex tears apart the Republican argument for getting rid of property taxes and replacing them with a sales tax for funding public schools, which this week was promoted by Texans for Fiscal Responsibility.
This is a heads up to mark Thursday, June 26 on your calendar for the next TexBlog PAC fundraiser in Houston.
Please join host Mustafa Tameez
and sponsors:
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If there's another call to evacuate the Houston area because of a hurricane threat, this will be part of the reason why.
Imagine a Category 3 hurricane striking the western end of Bolivar Peninsula. The storm surge would raise water levels by 6 feet in Galveston Bay and along Galveston Island, according to computer models.Now, imagine the same storm striking a mere 20 miles down the coast, just past the Galveston seawall. The surge would push as much as 17 feet of water into Galveston Bay and 13 feet along much of Galveston Island, clipping it from behind even if the seawall buttressed the initial waves.
The two landfall scenarios just 20 miles apart would mean the difference between excellent surfing conditions in Galveston and monstrous, fatal waves of water.
[...]
For the most part, evacuations are intended to move people away from the storm surge. The question is whether the science of surge modeling can aid evacuation managers anytime soon.
The storm surge forecasting tool, known as the Sea, Lake, and Overland Surges from Hurricanes model, is accurate to within 20 percent if given perfect information about a storm's landfall time and location. But such information is rarely perfect.
Although the National Hurricane Center's tracking forecasts are now about three times better than they were in 1970, predictions made 24 hours before landfall still have an average error of about 60 miles.
Three days out -- roughly the minimum time needed to call a mass evacuation in the greater Houston area -- the error is about 150 miles.
"Can we ever be accurate to within 10 miles?" asked the hurricane center's chief, Bill Read. "Probably not within my lifetime."
Put another way, mass evacuations are here to stay -- at least for decades.
Just something to keep in mind. On the plus side, the early indicators point towards a relatively quiet hurricane season, though as one commenter noted, there were only four named storms in 1983, it's just that one of them was Alicia. So let's not get too cocky just yet.
There's a great job waiting for you here in Houston, if you can afford the move.
As houses linger on the market and prices continue to fall in many U.S. cities, some recruiters in Houston are wringing their hands.[Carole] Hackett understands better than most because she moved last year from particularly hard-hit Cleveland. It took about six months to sell her house there.
"My intuition is that the housing market crisis in the United States is greatly affecting labor mobility," said Barton Smith, director of the Institute for Regional Forecasting at the University of Houston. "But we may not get a handle on that until the 2010 Census comes out."
One reason Smith suspects something is afoot is that word is getting out that Houston is a job creation machine, yet some openings are going begging.
"In this stage of the countercyclical economy, you would expect mass migration to Houston," said Smith. But the city hasn't been flooded by out-of-state license plates, and one explanation is negative equity -- people owe more on a house back home than it's worth so they're stuck unless they're willing to eat a big loss.
I don't know what you can do about that, beyond hoping the economy and the housing market get better soon. I can't say I've noticed any political pressure from unexpected sources on this, but I'm sure it'll build if it's not already. Any good anecdotes out there to add to this?
Next up in my convention interview series is Joe Moody, running for the now-open HD78 seat in El Paso, which was held by Rep. Pat Haggerty until he was knocked out in a nasty GOP primary fight against Dee Margo, who was backed by a chunk of the Texas GOP establishment, including Governor Perry. Moody is the son of District Judge Bill Moody, whose campaign for State Supreme Court he managed in 2006. Judge Moody was the top Democratic votegetter that year, and won over 59% of the vote in HD78, so if his name means anything, it ought to be a boost for Joe Moody. The interview is here, as always in MP3 format.
PREVIOUSLY:
State Rep. Dan Barrett, HD97.
Wendy Davis, SD10.
Robert Miklos, HD101.
Chris Turner, HD96
There's so much heat and noise about immigration these days, it's good to see articles like this that break it down into something basic and understandable.
[A]lthough the immigration system is complex, the basic problem is simple: There are many more immigrants wanting to enter than the number of visas available each year under a quota and preference system implemented by Congress.Currently, the law gives preference to four categories of immigrants who are related to U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents, as well as to immigrants needed for employment.
However, except for immediate relatives of U.S. citizens, there is an annual limit for each category, as well as a quota for each country.
So those from countries that have historically sent large numbers of immigrants -- Mexico, India, China and the Philippines, for instance -- face lengthy waits for visas to become available for relatives.
"If your brother sponsors you, it's 20 years," said veteran Houston immigration lawyer Gordon Quan. "If an employer sponsors you and you have a bachelor's degree, it's three years. And for people from India, it's seven years."
The 4 million backlog includes an estimated 1.5 million relatives of Asian immigrants, said Karen Narasaki, president of the Asian American Justice Center.
The long waits to reunite families prevent many immigrants from assimilating, she said.
"That's not healthy for the family, for the community," Narasaki said. "It means it takes longer for a family to put money down for a house, because they're sending money home to a spouse."
Doris Meissner, who headed the Immigration and Naturalization Service during the Clinton administration, said untangling family immigration will require that Congress alter the existing system.
"So as long as you have a system that defines broadly what the family relationship can be that makes you eligible to immigrate, but at same time has very few (visa) numbers available, that's a recipe for backlogs," said Meissner, now a senior fellow at the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute.
Those who favor limiting immigration, however, say the family preferences are too broad.
Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, D.C., said family-related immigration should be limited to spouses and minor children of U.S. citizens.
"The problem ... is that we over-promise and underdeliver," Krikorian said. "We have this smorgasbord of different categories, and they all have numerical caps leading to huge waiting lists.
"Either you triple or quadruple legal immigration, or narrow the categories of who gets to come in."
You say that as though it were something bad. I see it as a simple supply-and-demand issue. Every year, some number of people want to emigrate here; right now, we allow far fewer than that to legally do so. We can face reality and triple or quadruple legal immigration, or we can keep our heads firmly planted in the dirt and continue to wail and gnash our teeth about the number of illegal immigrants we attract. Seems pretty straightforward to me, but then I don't see an increase in legal immigration as something to fear. That, unfortunately, will be a much dicier problem to solve.
Via Texas Politics, the Harris County Coordinated Campaign Lone Star Project has launched a new website called Texas Republican Rap Sheet, which lists the transgressions of various local Republican officeholders, plus the recently resigned former DA Chuck Rosenthal. It's pretty amusing, and an encouraging sign that the Harris County Democratic Party will be fighting to win on more fronts than we're used to seeing them engage on. I don't think I've seen anything like the coordinated campaign that's underway this year, at least on our side of the aisle. This is only the beginning, that much I know.
I'd just note that this effort is lacking a page for Harris County Attorney Mike Stafford, who's been in the news more than usual lately, and not in the good way. I figure that will get corrected eventually. Better would be sooner, given this week's Houston Press cover story about Democratic candidate Vince Ryan and his ongoing litigation against his former employer, Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson, LLP, the "behemoth delinquent-tax collector that services the City of Houston, the Houston Independent School District, Harris County and hundreds of other public entities throughout the country". Neither party came off looking particularly good in this piece; neither did Stafford, but he was only mentioned in passing. This doesn't have anything to do with the rest of this post, but I thought this was odd:
But Dale Linebarger and former firm attorney Bill King say that private firms are able to collect more, and more efficiently. They say this benefits those who pay their taxes on time -- which is about 95 percent of the people. The vast majority of delinquent property owners, according to Linebarger and King, are slumlords and absentee owners. The law firm itself isn't shoving grandma out into the street, forcing her to survive by her walker and wits.Structurally, say Linebarger and King, the cost of government collection comes out of an entity's general fund -- which ultimately means that it's taxpayer-funded. But private collection, they say, is solely deadbeat-subsidized. The delinquent taxpayer has to pay attorneys' fees along with the past due amount.
"The cost is being allocated to the person that caused the problem," King says, "instead of being spread out among all the taxpayers. Which seems to me to be a fundamentally equitable situation."
That's the same Bill King who is apparently running for Mayor in 2009. I found it curious that the story didn't mention that fact, as the Houston Politics blog did when they noted the suit's filing. I don't really have a point to make here, I just thought that was strange.
Anyway. As I said before, the County Attorney race is a little higher profile than it normally is this year. Even I didn't expect it to get this much attention. Once again, this is not a normal election year.
UPDATE: I had the wrong party responsible for the Republican Rap Sheet site. It's fixed now.
I'm currently serving on a committee for my 20-year college reunion, which is an event I've been looking forward to for some time now. So when I see articles like this one in which the author speculates that Facebook will make such things obsolete, I have to wonder if I'll be wasting my time.
Social networking has largely been a force for good, reconnecting grade-school classmates, creating a whole new approach to dating and enabling employers to check up on new hires. But it might just kill the college reunion.Historically, reunions have used voyeurism as a lure. Who lives where, who got hitched, who got fat--you had to show up to find out. But now the answers are all online. "Facebook has turned the idea of college reunions from an expensive necessity to just expensive," says Kevin Pang, who skipped his five-year reunion at the University of Southern California last week.
Matt Yglesias and Dana Goldstein both wonder about this. I think this comment sums up the argument against better than anything I could think of:
You can't get nostalgic and drunk with people you haven't seen in 10 years on Facebook. Nor can you hook up with the girl you had a thing for but never did anything about in high school. Face to face contact is still important for some things.
Can't beat that logic. For me, one reason I'm so looking forward to my 20-year reunion is to see my friends' kids, and to show off my own. Most - not all, but most - of my college chums were still in the pre-children phase the last time we all got together, in 1998. This year I figure there'll be a swarm of offspring along for the festivities, and I can't wait to see what the next generation looks like. There's just no substitute for the real thing.
And I must confess, this article isn't really aimed at old fogeys like me anyway:
So far, college administrators report no such decline. But they have reason to be nervous. Anyone attending a five-year reunion in 2008 was part of the last class for which Facebook was not an integral part of campus life; it began catching on in mid-2003. The class of 2004--next summer's reunion crop--will be the first real test.
Damn kids. Seriously, I kept in touch with a lot of college friends the old-fashioned way - that would be by email; I may be old, but I'm not that old - and even for those I'd heard from all the time, it was still better to see them in person, and remember why we were friends in the first place. I think even for the Facebook generation, that urge won't go away.
Part of me is just plain amused to read about the Clayton Williams kerfuffle, in which his infamous "rape is like the weather" joke from the 1990 gubernatorial campaign has caused some embarassment for John McCain, who cancelled a scheduled fundraiser at Williams' ranch in response. Part of me is sympathetic to Evan Smith's suggestion that "the statute of limitations on stupidity" might have run out by now, given Williams' contrition over his remarks. And part of me is just boggled by this:
Williams, 76, has made and lost fortunes in energy, ranching and other businesses over the past half-century, but is perhaps best known for his 1990 Republican race for governor. The Midland oilman's controversial campaign comments are widely known in Texas, but McCain aides told reporters they were surprised when they learned of them."These were obviously incredibly offensive remarks that the campaign was unaware of at the time this event was scheduled," said spokesman Brian Rogers. "It's positive that he did apologize at the time, but the comments are nonetheless offensive."
Was there really nobody on McCain's team who knew of this event and who knew about Williams and the blowback his name would cause? I realize that this is all part Kabuki dance, and that in general we'd all be better off if the outrage meter could get dialed back a notch or two when dealing with politicians' supporters, but come on. Anybody who knew anything about Texas political history could have seen this coming a mile away. Putting it another way, the Bush campaign never would have let this happen. Josh Marshall is right about the relative strengths of the McCain and Obama campaigns, based on the toughness of the paths they took to become the nominees. I was as ready as anyone to see the Clinton/Obama fight come to an end. But I can't deny that it's made Obama stronger. All things considered, I'd rather be where Obama is than McCain. This is just an example of why.
We have another contender for the SD17 special election.
Republican Joan Huffman, a former felony court judge in Harris County, announced her candidacy in the Nov. 4 election to fill the vacant District 17 state Senate seat once held by Kyle Janek, who resigned.Huffman joins Houston lawyer Grant Harpold and Houston businessman Austen Furse as declared candidates in the race.
Democrat Chris Bell, the former congressman who lost the 2006 race for governor, is among those who say they are considering running for the legislative seat.
The underlying dynamic of the race is unlikely to change by this. The Rs have three essentially unknown candidates, though Huffman at least can say she has run for and been elected to public office before; the Dems have a candidate with high name ID and decent poll numbers who right now would be a favorite to lead the pack and maybe win outright. It's not hard to imagine Bell finishing somewhere in the 40s or a smidge over 50%, with Furse, Harpold, and Huffman all getting in the 15-20% range. The entry of a better-known Republican, or Bell deciding against, would obviously change this equation, but that's how it looks right now.
State Rep. Hubert Vo, who made front-page news earlier this year when it was reported that some apartment complexes he owns were in violation of city electrical and structural standards, has now been certified by the city as being fully compliant on all points.
The inspectors say Vo cooperated in "good faith" with their demands to replace rotting wood, missing balcony railings and exposed wires.His properties now meet code requirements, said Susan McMillian, an executive staff analyst with the Department of Public Works and Engineering.
Vo, D-Houston, said Friday that he had done more than required, and he pledged to continue working with residents and managers to improve conditions.
"I want people to know that I kept my promise," he said. "I told the city that I would take care of their concerns, and I worked as quickly as possible to make all the needed repairs."
The municipal citations at the Courtyard Apartments on Villa de Matel, which alleged eight structural and electrical problems, were issued 10 days after a warning from the city to make repairs.
City officials only had to issue warnings at the other Vo property, the Northpoint Apartments on Lyerly, to get compliance.
Conditions at the Courtyard Apartments came to light when neighbors complained to District I City Councilman James Rodriguez, who called code enforcement officials for an inspection.
Rodriguez said he learned about the ownership after the city's initial inspection. He added that Vo later asked him to lunch to discuss the issue, and that he was impressed by Vo's sincerety.
"He gave me his word that he would fix up the property," the councilman said.
I'm very glad to hear that. As I said before, this is more like the Rep. Hubert Vo that I have come to know over the past four years. I felt confident he'd fix his problems, and I'm glad to see that he did so quickly and thoroughly.
Some background is here, and a statement from Rep. Vo is here. It might have been nice to give the follow up as much prominence in the paper as the original - it's on page 3 of the Metro section, with a small teaser on the Metro front page - but that's the way it is. The Chron also did a lot of subsequent reporting on similar problems at other Houston apartment complexes. May those landlords act as quickly and as conscientiously as Rep. Vo did.
Wow. This surprises me.
Instant replay might be coming to Major League Baseball in an instant.Moving faster than expected and coming after a rash of blown calls, baseball wants to put replay into effect by August for home run disputes in hopes of fine-tuning the system by the playoffs.
MLB and the umpires' union need to reach agreement before replay can be tried, and the sides have started talking. It was thought replay would get its first look in the Arizona Fall League and then the 2009 World Baseball Classic.
[...]
Jimmie Lee Solomon, MLB's executive vice president for baseball operations, is pushing for replay by Aug. 1; Rob Manfred, MLB's executive vice president of labor relations, suggested Aug. 15.
"It's all still premature," MLB spokesman Rich Levin said Friday. "A final decision has not been made."
As you know, I favor this idea, and I also never thought it might happen this quickly. Good on baseball for being so decisive.
"I don't think it's needed at all, to be honest," Cubs manager Lou Piniella said Friday. "How many times do you see players make errors? Baseball has talked about speeding up the game. It's all you hear. All of a sudden, they want instant replay? You're going to have slower games and more restless people in the stands."
Oh, please. First of all, if we're only talking about home run calls, then very few games will be affected. And second, given the amount of times that managers like Lou Piniella spend arguing these calls when they occur, it's not at all clear that checking a replay would slow things down any more. Admittedly, seeing Piniella blow a gasket is more entertaining; perhaps each stadium can keep a highlight reel of such antics to play on their scoreboards whenever a call is under review.
Anyway. I applaud the Lords of Baseball for giving this serious consideration. May they be as forward-thinking when the technology to accurately and consistently call balls and strikes arrives on the scene.
I alluded to this in the post on the new commuter rail plans here, but this MSNBC article makes it clear that demand for transit is booming across the country as gas prices rise.
Mass transit ridership is at its highest point in 50 years, according to research by the American Public Transportation Association. For many riders, it just got too expensive to drive."I do it to save gas whenever I can," said Cody Nunez, a student at Pasco High School in Kennewick, Wash. "I don't want to be paying $50 every week."
[...]
The story is the same everywhere: In Seattle, commuter rail ridership recorded the biggest jump in the nation during the first quarter, with 28 percent more riders than during the same time last year. Ridership in Harrisburg, Pa., rose 17 percent. In Oakland, Calif., it rose 15.8 percent.
Nationwide, Americans took 2.6 billion bus, subway, commuter rail and light rail trips in the first three months of the year, 85 million more than in the same period in 2007, the American Public Transportation Association said. But it's not clear that the nation's transit systems are able to handle the load.
While many major cities cities have invested heavily in mass transit over the past 15 years, many more have not. Now that people are demanding service, there isn't the infrastructure to provide it.
"We're seeing it in a lot of other metropolitan areas where there just [aren't] viable transit options -- places like Indianapolis, Orlando or Raleigh," said Robert Puentes, a transportation and urban planning scholar with the Brookings Institution, a public policy association in Washington. "They haven't put the money into it. They haven't put the resources into it."
Even those big cities with robust systems are struggling, Puentes said.
"There are major challenges in most of the older, established transit systems, places like New York or Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston -- places that are really starting to show their age," he said.
Houston is in the position of expanding its transit system, thanks to the commuter rail proposals and the Metro Solutions plan. It's a shame more of these pieces aren't already in place, but at least they're on their way, and hopefully more will come as Metro moves to the next phase beyond the 2012 plan.
Mass transit is supposed to get cars off the road, and it's working: For the first time since 1980, the number of miles driven fell last year, from 3.014 trillion to 3.003 trillion, according to the Federal Highway Administration. The drop continued by another 2.3 percent in the first quarter of this year, the FHA said.Meanwhile, 61 percent of drivers said in a poll by Quinnipiac University last month that they had cut back significantly on how much they drove because of high gas prices.
In the San Francisco Bay area, one of the most congested regions in the country, traffic has decreased while ridership on Bay Area Rapid Transit, ferries and buses has risen, said Bijan Sartipi, a district director for California Transportation Department.
Maybe, just maybe, it's time to stop thinking in terms of transit as a way to ease traffic congestion, and to start thinking of it as a genuine alternative to driving and a car-based lifestyle. People flocked to the far-flung suburbs and put up with long commutes and the need to drive everywhere for everything in part because it made economic sense: Even with the cost of all that driving factored in, the cheaper housing cost made it worthwhile. But with $4-per-gallon gas, that equation gets upended. The monthly cost of an automobile, even one that's paid off, can be several hundred dollars; it's certainly a lot more now than it was as little as a year ago. How much more mortgage could you afford if you had one less vehicle to gas, insure, and maintain? I'm guessing that the more-expensive real estate closer in would start to look a lot better to people if it meant they could downsize their garages.
Now of course, that isn't going to be a truly viable option for most people right now, because Houston's transit infrastructure is still lacking. But it will be more robust in five years' time, and it can be even more so in another five years. The transition may be painful, but doing the same old thing and hoping gas prices come down isn't going to help. The problem isn't going away.
There are plenty of challenges for the meantime:
[I]ncreased ridership means higher costs for transit systems. That's because it takes more fuel to move more passengers, and transit systems aren't getting a break at the pump.Wichita Transit in Kansas, which has seen a 22 percent increase in ridership, has raised its weekly fuel purchase to 8,000 gallons. One recent delivery cost 30 cents a gallon more than it had the week before, officials said.
That caused the bus service to ask the city council for $210,000 from a reserve fund, money it said was needed to keep buses on the street until July.
"The fuel prices have gone up so dramatically and drastically that even the dramatic increase in ridership is not making up as far as our fuel debt is concerned and our ability to purchase fuel," said Michael Vinson, the system's acting director.
Metro is in good shape for diesel fuel prices this fiscal year, but after that it gets ugly.
It all adds up to a conundrum for government officials -- high fuel prices send passengers to mass transit but drive down tax revenue and strain fuel budgets."With gas at this level, rail and public transit has got to be a bigger and bigger part of our future," Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine said.
Answers aren't expected any time soon, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty said. He added:
"We need a dramatically different energy policy for our country, and that's not going to happen overnight."
Well, Step One would be to redirect some federal highway funds to transit projects. The need is there and the trend is clear. And given that there are clear differences in policy ideas on this issue between the Presidential candidates, there's at least a good chance we'll see a change of direction soon (thanks to MOMocrats for the link). Ryan Avent has more.
Here's where I was last night, along with my dad, thanks to my friend Danil and a last-minute invitation of extra tickets:
Some thoughts from the game, in no particular order:
- Good decision #1: We parked a fair distance from the stadium, near Milam and Rusk, and walked. This enabled me to rationalize the beer I bought, it totally avoided traffic, and it was free to boot. What more could you want?
- The pedicabs were out in force. These have apparently been around since the Super Bowl, but I can't say I'd noticed them till this year. Lots of people took advantage, though we chose to hoof it.
- Rudy Giuliani was in town for the state GOP convention, and he threw out the first pitch. In a show of bipartisan unity, my dad and I reached across the aisle and booed him lustily.
- My camera has a pretty good zoom lens. Here's Derek Jeter leading off the game:
And here, pulled back a bit, is the first pitch:
There were a lot of flashbulbs popping when Jeter and Alex Rodriguez took their first turns at bat.
- There were quite a few fans wearing Yankee colors, but the Astros crowd was loud and proud.
- Good decision #2: Buying the 24-ounce Shiner beers, instead of the regular 12-ounce size. At the price ($9.50) for twice the beer, it's actually a pretty good deal. The beer vendors are going to rake in the tips this weekend, with all three games sold out.
- Who knew Shiner made 24-ounce bottles? I must not shop in the right stores.
- The Astros not only have recycling receptacles everywhere for cans and bottles, they also ran a PSA video pointing this out to fans, and explaining that every time you stick a bottle or can into one of them, you can win free tickets to upcoming games. The beer vendors were also recycling their glass bottles. Now that's how you do it!
- In the top of the 9th, the home plate ump called Jose Valverde for a balk; he apparently fast-pitched Jason Giambi with Hidecki Matsui on first. I don't think I've ever seen a pitcher called for a balk for not coming to a complete stop in the stretch before delivering before.
- Two people in our row actually left the game during the bottom of the ninth. What kind of baseball fan does that in a one-run game with the tying run on base? After Wiggington was nailed stealing second, some others joined them, and that I understood a bit more. But still. It was a one run game in the bottom of the ninth! Where's the fire?
- Best of all, we get to see tonight's game as well. Woo hoo!
Harris County Commissioners Court will be considering a number of thins for its Capital Improvement Projects budget soon, including a proposal to build a smaller jail in place of the bigger one that voters rejected last year. In doing so, the powers that be demonstrate that they still don't get it.
As they weigh each jail option, court members will need to decide how they want to control the growth in the inmate population and house the prisoners already in the system, county Budget Officer Dick Raycraft said Friday. Building space for more beds may be one priority, but working with judges and prosecutors to divert defendants from going to jail could be another, he said."There's different ways to look at this," he said.
The new downtown jail would serve almost exclusively as a central processing facility for Houston and Harris County under the revised plan. While that change drops the project's cost to $144 million, it also means there will be room for about 1,500 fewer inmates than originally planned. That is almost as many prisoners as the county currently plans to send to Louisiana.
Three hundred beds would be available for inmates with medical and mental health needs, about 500 fewer than planned. Another 672 beds would be assigned to inmates expected to be released within 72 hours, with 200 reserved for the city's short-term prisoners. A holding area also would be available for people jailed for just a few hours.
As with the previous plan, the city of Houston would be expected to contribute at least $32 million, Raycraft said. The county may seek additional money to cover the increase in building costs since the plan first was developed.
The county likely would finance its share by borrowing funds on a short-term basis and refinancing later, Raycraft said. However, county officials could take another stab at seeking voter approval to issue bonds.
It would cost another $43 million to build the 1,150-bed Atascosita jail and an accompanying sewage-treatment plant.
Sheriff's Office spokesman Deputy David Crain said the office will have to continue sending inmates to Louisiana until something is done to address the jail's population problems.
"Unless we're going to see a dramatic decrease in the jail population, we're going to have to have space," Crain said. "Exactly how that space is going to become available is going to be up to the governing fathers."
How many times do we have to say it? Harris County's jail overcrowding problems are the result of needlessly locking too many people up for things like drug possession, bail mismanagement, and overly burdensome probation requirements. We can solve this problem now and going forward by better utilization of our scarce resources, or at least not acting as though we can always build more jails to lock up however many people we feel like locking up. This is a problem of our own making, and if we do right at the ballot box this November, it's a problem we can solve as well. What's so hard about this?
For what it's worth, I can see the value in a separate facility to house ill inmates. But until county government, and the judges sitting on the bench, get a grip on the reason why our jails are overcrowded, I can't and won't support building any more jails. I will not enable those who are the cause of the problem.
While the state GOP convention going on right now in Houston will surely present plenty of opportunities for snark, I think this is the most noteworthy thing I've seen so far.
Texas GOP Chairwoman Tina Benkiser said Bush still is popular in Texas, but few convention speakers mentioned him by name.
I was all set to make a joke about how Benkiser is as out of touch regarding Bush as Pauline Kael was alleged to be about Richard Nixon, but it turns out to be surprisingly hard to find recent polling data that includes an approval or favorability rating in Texas for George W. Bush. The one result I found was from Rasmussen, which broke down as 40% excellent or good, 59% fair or poor; the "poor" total was 40% on its own. Beyond that, good luck with the Google - the majority of the results I got for "Bush approval Texas" were for national polls, and many of them were old anyway. SurveyUSA quit doing Texas approval rating polls last June, at which time it pegged Bush with 41% approval, 57% disapproval. Archive searches of the Chron and the Morning News came up empty.
So I suppose I should cut Benkiser a little slack here, since nobody seems to be all that interested in polling Texans about President Bush any more. Maybe we've all just moved on and nobody cares to ponder the question any more, I don't know. But if Benkiser and crew want to campaign this fall as if they actually believe Bush is still popular here, I say they should go for it. Mention his name all you like, it's fine by us.
The revolving door in the Secretary of State's office spins again.
Texas Secretary of State Phil Wilson is stepping down to work for a Dallas-based energy company, he announced Thursday. His last day will be July 6.He'll begin his new job as Luminant's senior vice president of public affairs the next day, July 7.
Luminant is a subsidiary of Energy Future Holdings, formerly TXU Corp.
Wilson, 40, was appointed secretary of state by Republican Gov. Rick Perry almost a year ago. Before that, he was Perry's deputy chief of staff.
The secretary of state is Texas' chief elections officer. The secretary of state oversees business and public filings, acts as the governor's chief liaison for border affairs, and oversees international protocol for the state.
According to Wikipedia, Wilson's successor will be the sixth SOS under Rick Perry; Roger Williams' 2.5 years in office is the longest any of them served, which appears to be pretty typical. Seems to me that's a pretty good argument for making this an elected office rather than an appointed one. Eye on Williamson is with me on this. What do you think?
The strip club owners haven't had much luck in court with the 1997 anti-SOB law, so I'm not sure why a strip club landlord thinks they'll do any better, but they''re giving it a try anyway.
The landlord of a topless club has sued the city for trying to shut down its tenant or force it to move to comply with an ordinance regulating sexually-oriented businesses.The suit, filed in state district court Thursday on behalf of DXB Richmond Inc., contends that by enforcing its ordinance the city is unconstitutionally taking away the firm's tenant, Legends Cabaret, without just compensation.
"The city of Houston should not be able to pick and choose tenants for any landlord," said Cory Krueger, DXB's attorney, who also has represented Legends Cabaret and other strip clubs.
Senior Assistant City Attorney Don Cheatham said the city had not been served with the suit by late Thursday, and he could not comment on it.
The suit seeks unspecified damages, including costs for finding a new tenant, remodeling the building for a new tenant and the difference in the lease amount should a new tenant pay less than what the club pays, Krueger said. The suit also asks for attorney fees and expenses.
[...]
Cheatham said several other suits remain unresolved in state district courts and deal with such issues as the businesses asking the city to allow them to recoup their investments.
I get the difference in what the suits are about, but it's still not clear to me why this plaintiff thinks it will get a different result. Any lawyers want to comment on that?
You've probably heard of this by now:
[A] misreading of the teleprompter led [Sen. John] McCain to sound a little bit more like a teetotaler fraternity president than a presidential candidate. Speaking about his use of the veto pen to eliminate wasteful spending, he declared, "I will veto every single beer, um, bill with earmarks."
Ever since I heard it, I've had this song in my head:
And now you do as well. You're welcome.
Consider this an open thread, in which you can discuss your favorite beer-themed songs. I'll open the bidding with this one, since otherwise people will ask me why I didn't mention it.
You might have heard (via Kos) that Democratic Oklahoma Rep. Dan Boren is not endorsing Sen. Barack Obama for President. Oh, he'll vote for him, he just won't endorse. This has gotten no small amount of press.
Meanwhile, there are fourteen sitting Republican members of Congress who aren't endorsing Sen. John McCain.
At least 14 Republican members of Congress have refused to endorse or publicly support Sen. John McCain for president, and more than a dozen others declined to answer whether they back the Arizona senator.Many of the recalcitrant GOP members declined to detail their reasons for withholding support, but Rep. John Peterson (R-Pa.) expressed major concerns about McCain's energy policies and Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.) cited the Iraq war.
[...]
Republican members who have not endorsed or publicly backed McCain include Sens. Chuck Hagel (Neb.) and Jeff Sessions (Ala.) and Reps. Jones, Peterson, John Doolittle (Calif.), Randy Forbes (Va.), Wayne Gilchrest (Md.), Virgil Goode (Va.), Tim Murphy (Pa.), Ron Paul (Texas), Ted Poe (Texas), Todd Tiahrt (Kan.), Dave Weldon (Fla.) and Frank Wolf (Va.). [Wolf contacted The Hill following publication of the article to correct his staff's error. His staff had said he has "yet to endorse McCain" and did not return follow-up phone calls this week].
Throughout his career in the House and Senate, McCain has been at odds with his party on a range of issues, including campaign finance reform, earmarks, immigration, healthcare, taxes and energy.
Some Senate Republicans were especially irked with McCain's role in the "Gang of 14" deal on judicial nominations.
Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.), who has been sharply critical of McCain on immigration, told The Hill in February, "I don't like McCain. I don't like him at all."
Tancredo spokesman Mac Zimmerman said Tancredo won't endorse McCain because he fears the senator would repudiate it like he did with the formal backing of controversial pastor John Hagee.
However, Tancredo told ABC News this week he will reluctantly vote for McCain.
Gilchrest and Hagel, who disagree with McCain's views on Iraq, have been mum on their endorsements. Kathy Hicks, spokeswoman for Gilchrest, said, "Since he was not reelected to public office, he's keeping his thoughts private." Gilchrest lost in a Republican primary earlier this year.
Jones, who has voted repeatedly with Democrats on Iraq, said he can't back McCain until he gets "a better explanation of the plans for Iraq and more discussion on the economy." Jones added that no one from McCain's campaign has reached out to him.
Hagel's position is pretty well-known, and of course Ron Paul hasn't given up the fight yet - indeed, he's planning his own convention in Minnesota even as he finally abandons his Presidential campaign - but there's a lot of names there I was unaware of. Ted Poe? Jeff Sessions? I'd guess Poe dislikes McCain's stance on immigration, but still, who knew? Not me, anyway.
Now this may not hurt McCain, in the sense that a little separation from the Republican brand would help him bolster his mavericky image for independents, but that's still a considerable amount of coolness towards him from his partymates. It's also pretty remarkable given how long he's been the nominee. Just more evidence of the enthusiasm gap, I suppose.
By the way, the last Democratic member of Congress from Texas to endorse has done so, as Rep. Nick Lampson has given his official support to Obama. That leaves Robert Strauss as the only holdout, but from the description given there, I expect that will change soon enough.
UPDATE: Evan Smith also wonders about Rep. Poe, and says he'll call his office to inquire. Good.
As we know, City Council had its turn with the 2009 budget. The Chron has a look at some of the members' requests, a few of which we've seen before, but I want to focus on this one:
Councilman Mike Sullivan of District E asked for as many fire inspectors are needed to inspect all common attics in apartment buildings across the city each year. This is Sullivan's first budget season. He presented the most amendments, 15. Among his requests:
- A next-generation "Jaws of Life" extraction device and a new set of high-intensity, portable rescue lights for each of the city's 21 fire districts.
- Installation of water-saving devices in all public restrooms in city-owned buildings.
- Doubling of annual funding to the Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership from $50,000 to $100,000 for the next five years.
- More officers for Kingwood and Clear Lake police stations.
"Even though I am well-known as a fiscal conservative, I am proud to be working hard for my council district, and to be sure they have the basic city services they are entitled to," Sullivan said.
I don't know what the term "fiscal conservative" means to Council Member Sullivan, or to anyone else for that matter, but to me it means basically being prudent with the resources you've got to work with. It doesn't, or at least it shouldn't, mean being a cheapskate, and it doesn't, or at least it shouldn't, mean oppose spending for the sake of opposing spending, especially when such opposition is more Kabuki dance than fiscal policy. To me at least, supporting an appropriate amount of spending on needed services, and recognizing when that means more spending is needed due to population growth, cost increases, or just the need to do more, is perfectly in line with the concept of "fiscal conservatism". It also means recognizing that sometimes it's better to fund multiple priorities rather than force a choice between equally worthy options. The flip side to that, of course, is that one must also support an appropriate level of taxation to pay for those services, and that includes the recognition that sometimes taxes need to go up, since there's nothing particularly prudent or conservative about needlessly running up deficits.
Your mileage may vary, as may Council Member Sullivan's, but that's how I see it. Sometimes the tough yet prudent choice is to find a way to pay for more rather than to hold fast to some arbitrary limit. This is all a longwinded way of saying that I find no conflict between Sullivan's remarks and his actions. You're not always going to be in a position to ask for more, of course, but doing so when it makes sense to do so is nothing to apologize for.
Indicted former referee Tim Donaghy's claim that the NBA told him and other refs to influence the outcome of some playoff games was met with skepticism by former Rockets head coach Jeff Van Gundy.
Van Gundy was fined a record $100,000 in 2005 for saying he was told by an NBA executive the complaints of Dallas owner Mark Cuban had led to extra scrutiny on Yao in Games 3 and 4 of that series and for refusing to reveal the source of his information.Cuban said at the time he had demonstrated nine examples of illegal screens set by Yao and Dikembe Mutombo in the series' first two games. Yao was called for a crucial offensive foul for an illegal screen late in Game 4 of that series, won by the Mavericks in seven games.
Donaghy's attorney cited that scrutiny of Yao as an example of the NBA's manipulating the results of a playoff series to increase revenue, a conclusion Van Gundy disputed.
"I don't think for an instant games were manipulated to extend the series or for financial reasons," Van Gundy said. "I told the truth then, so to me this has no impact. I certainly don't want to give any credibility to Tim Donaghy, because he lost his credibility the moment he started sharing inside information about the NBA game with people who could profit from it."
[...]
"Let's face it, how I went about it, that wasn't the right thing," Van Gundy said. "But I don't regret for an instant ... not sharing who told me. I still won't do it today.
"Dallas had every right to voice complaints to the league office. Every team does that. To me, what a better system would be, if you get complaints and you look into complaints, for the league to immediately contact the team complained about and tell them what the complaint was and whether it was right or wrong.
"To me, the transparency of the process could be much greater so both teams know the outcome of their decision about whatever plays were in question.
"I believe (the fine) was unjust then, and I believe it was unjust now."
Van Gundy is now a TV analyst for NBA games, and may well want to coach again some day, so if one were conspiratorially-minded, one could note that he has nothing to gain and much to lose by agreeing with Donaghy. Even still, I see no reason to doubt his sincerity. Donaghy isn't credible, and it's just hard to imagine that such a conspiracy could have been kept secret for this long. Unless someone less compromised comes forward to corroborate Donaghy's story, I don't think it's going anywhere.
As it happens, not only is no one stepping forward to agree with Donaghy, more people are disputing his story.
NBA referee Bob Delaney, one of three referees to work Game 6 of the 2002 Western Conference finals, told Bob Ley in an interview for ESPN's "Outside The Lines First Report" that he has never been contacted by NBA or federal investigators concerning allegations by former referee Tim Donaghy that two referees in that game intended to assure that series went seven games.Delaney, a highly-decorated former New Jersey State trooper, said: "This is not the first time a known or convicted criminal has lied about me before the judicial system. I have an extensive law enforcement background and still train police officers. I have dealt with criminals and informants, and I know full well they are capable of doing and saying anything. I cannot comment any further without permission from the NBA."
[...]
On Wednesday, [then-Sacramento Kings forwward Scot] Pollard dismissed the idea of a conspiracy among referees because it's too big a secret to keep for this long. And he portrayed Donaghy as a criminal willing to say anything to save himself.
"For a guy that wasn't at that game, didn't ref that game, to come out and say that, and in the situation he's in, I guess you could kind of say you could equate that to Charles Manson saying something about the Boston Strangler," Pollard said. "He's in the business, but he doesn't really have a lot of credibility. He wasn't there."
Lamell McMorris, head of the NBA referees union, also questioned Donaghy's motivation and credibility.
"Tim Donaghy has had honesty and credibility issues from the get-go," McMorris said in a prepared statement. "He is a convicted felon who has not yet been sentenced for the criminal conduct he has already admitted to. He may be willing to say anything to help his cause and he may believe these most recent allegations will help his agenda. I'm not aware of any improper conduct by any current NBA referee in the playoffs six years ago or any conspiracy by the NBA to affect the outcome of any game then or now. Frankly we're tired of Tim Donaghy's cat and mouse games."
I figure this story will blow over in a couple of days, though it will never really go away. As King Kaufman said, it's just plausible enough to make people think it could be true, and that's a real problem for the NBA. I hope they do more than just point out that Donaghy is a fraud.
I still don't know why it is that anything Tom DeLay says would be considered newsworthy, but given that he's going to get quoted, he's at least doing us all the favor of being amusing.
Tom DeLay will vote for John McCain but the former House Republican leader said his wife, Christine, is planning to vote for Libertarian presidential nominee Bob Barr."I'm trying to convince my wife not to do that," the Texas Republican told editors and reporters at The Washington Times on Friday. "She said it publicly yesterday."
Poor Tom. Even his wife doesn't listen to him any more. See what happens when the supply of lobbyist-funded golf junkets gets cut off? Link via Juanita and Texas Politics.
City Council has delayed for a week a vote on the consent agreement with Metro to build more light rail lines.
"I think we have a good agreement," said Councilwoman Sue Lovell, "and at some point in time we have to step up and take a vote."Councilman Peter Brown agreed, saying that when it comes to mass transit, Houston is "woefully behind Atlanta and behind Denver."
"Delay just sends the wrong message," he said.
Councilwoman Pam Holm said that after waiting so long for rail, council can afford to study the document another week before voting.
"This will be the backbone of a transportation system for the next 100 years," Holm said.
Councilwoman Jolanda Jones said she gave Metro a list of questions Tuesday and wanted to hear the answers before voting.
Councilman Ron Green said that although he supports rail, he felt like he was being asked to vote on "a blank sheet of paper."
"I want to get assurances from Metro that they have told us everything we need to know to make a decision and that everything they need is in the agreement, and that they won't come back later and want to change it," Green said after the meeting.
Metro CEO Frank Wilson said Metro will address council members' concerns. A week's delay would have no major effect on the transit agency's plans, he said.
I don't know if the fussing Council had done previously had an effect, but the comments here are pretty calm. As I said before, I expect this will pass overwhelmingly when it does come up for a vote, which should be next week.
Next up in my series of convention interviews is yet another Tarrant County candidate, Chris Turner, who is running against the egregious Rep. Bill Zedler in HD96. This is another purple district (the list of such district in the Metroplex that Blank left in the Miklos interview post is spot on), where Bill Moody got 47.2% and Zedler squeaked by with 54.2% against a candidate who I'm told did no campaigning at all. Turner is a former legislative director for Rep. Chet Edwards, who knows a thing or two about winning in and representing red areas, and like everyone I've ever met who has worked for Edwards is smart and on the ball. This is a top tier race for the Democrats, and you can listen to learn more about Chris Turner here.
PREVIOUSLY:
State Rep. Dan Barrett, HD97.
Wendy Davis, SD10.
Robert Miklos, HD101.
Are you looking for the opportunity to get into blogging, but aren't quite ready to pick a domain name and wrestle with stylesheets and whatnot? Consider joining the Texas Kaos team:
Now that we've all survived, more or less, the Democratic Presidential Primary and the Texas State Democratic Convention time to take stock and prepare for the run up to the general election.For us here at Texas Kaos, that includes filling some additional front page slots to flesh out our coverage of Texas news and politics more fully. We're looking in particular for bloggers in rural Texas, San Antonio and El Paso. Also, Latino, African and Asian-American writers may consider themselves actively being recruited.
If you're interested in joining us on the TK frontpage, please send an email to tk.frontpage at gmail with the following info:
1. Your name (or pseudonym that you blog under) and preferred contact method.
2. Your location and/or area of focus, including your home blog, if any.
3. At least 3 and up to 5 writing samples. If you have your own blog, links are fine. If you wish to use other writing samples, send those in the email with publication notes
All positions are unpaid. We ask that you post at least twice a week whenever possible.
If you have any questions about the position or TK in general, please feel free to ask them at the above email address.
Fire up those blogging fingers, y'all!!!
As Vince notes, bloggers from all over the state came out for the Bloggers Caucus last week - you can see a list along with a Google map of their locations here - and we in the Texas Progressive Alliance hope to forge some new connections and extend our network from that. We're also looking to connect up with bloggers who couldn't be there last Thursday. If you're a progressive who blogs about Texas politics and we don't already know who you are, leave a comment or drop me a line. Texas has one of the stronger blog networks in the country, and we intend to show it off a bit at Netroots Nation this year.
Finally, some additions to my own blogroll, thanks in part to the Dem convention:
Mean Rachel, yet another cool Austin blogger.
MOMocrats, who were well represented at the Bloggers Caucus and in the press room by Julie Pippert.
Charlie Lindahl, who took a lot of excellent pics in Austin.
There...Already, a talented African-American group blog with a Houston presence.
Texas Education, by a teacher/education activist friend of mine.
The Bloggess, who wasn't at the convention and isn't particularly political as far as I know, but who cracks me up, and Lord knows we could all use more of that.
BOR has an invitation for those of you in Austin tonight.
Bill Dingus is in town tomorrow at the historic Scholz Beer Garten, and this is a chance to talk to the man with the guts to take on Tom Craddick.June 12, 2008 * 5:30-7:00
Scholz Beer Garten
$20 Donation SuggestedBill Dingus is running for State Representative against Tom Craddick in House District 82.
Come have a cold drink with Dingus, who not only has the courage to stand up to Craddick but also a real commitment to bringing change to the Capitol.
Contributions are not required, but I am sure all donations will be deeply appreciated.
If you can't come by, please visit Bill's web site: www.billdingus.com
This race typifies why we need Democrats up and down the ballot. With Dingus in the race Craddick is required to filed TEC reports, spend time and the district, and answer to the press. In addition, Dingus is a former elected and stellar candidate. This is a year for change, and maybe the stars will align perfectly and Dingus becomes the first Democrat to represent HD-82 in over three decades.
Come by, talk change, and join us in meeting one of the most courageous candidates for the Texas House.
There was a challenge to Dingus' spot on the ballot, but as of this time he remains a candidate. I'd love to ask him a few questions about his race; maybe he'll come to Houston at some point.
My friend Max Cardenas is in a contest called Crash the Parties in which Si TV and Voto Latino are looking to select two reporters to carry the Crash the Parties mic and represent their community at the national conventions. He's leading in the vote total, but you can vote every day during the run of this contest, so he needs all the support he can get. Here's his pitch:
This is a contest sponsored by Voto Latino (one of the largest Latino voter outreach programs in the United States) to be a news correspondent for cable network SiTV. The contest is part of an outreach program aimed at young potential voters. It is my hope to get chosen to raise awareness among young voters and get them to move beyond the ballet boxes and involved in the Democratic process.I am still in 1st place but need your help to stay there. Please use this link to go vote for me.
You will be asked to register with the website to vote but it take about the same amount of time as it does to fill out a Voter Registration Card.
I've voted for Max and hope you will as well. Thanks very much.
Former NBA referee Tim Donaghy, who is under criminal indictment for betting on NBA games in which he officiated, is now claiming that a pair of playoff series, including one in which the Rockets played, were fixed by the league.
Disgraced former referee Tim Donaghy charged Tuesday that NBA officials encouraged league referees to influence the results of playoff series, including the Rockets' 2005 series against Dallas.Donaghy made the allegations in a letter filed with the court by his lawyer. He did not specify teams in the letter, but he described the situation of the series in which Dallas owner Mark Cuban complained of illegal screens set by Yao Ming.
Donaghy, 41, pleaded guilty to felony charges of betting on games and taking cash payoffs from gamblers in exchange for providing privileged information. He faces up to 33 months in prison, with sentencing scheduled for July 14.
In the letter to federal Judge Carol Bagley Amon, Donaghy's legal team argued that Donaghy "provided key information regarding game manipulation by referees." Donaghy's lawyer, John Lauro, has suggested his client deserves credit for coming forward before he was charged to disclose behind-the-scenes misconduct in the NBA.
In a statement, the NBA described Donaghy's charges as inaccurate and designed to lighten his sentence.
"According to Mr. Donaghy, all of his allegations have previously been made to the FBI and the U.S. Attorney, and they are clearly being disclosed now as part of his desperate attempt to lighten the sentence that will be imposed for his criminal conduct," NBA executive vice president and general counsel Richard Buchanan said. "The NBA remains vigilant in protecting the integrity of our game and has fully cooperated with the government at every stage of its investigation."
Neither Richard Justice nor Jonathan Feigen believes him, with Feigen making a pretty convincing case that Donaghy is full of it. King Kaufman, who examined the Lakers-Kings series of 2002, also agrees, but notes that the accusation, not its veracity, is the problem here:
Unless the NBA really is fixing games, it's biggest problem is that an accusation like Donaghy's rings true for the fan base. It does pass the sniff test, does sound plausible. That's a testament to just how bad, how inconsistent to the point of randomness, NBA officiating has been.[...]
This column has maintained for years that that's been the NBA's biggest problem. Not the supposed thuggishness of the players, not even the sludgy, defensive-minded play of the 1990s, but the capriciousness of the officiating. One set of rules for stars, another for rookies. The same contact being a foul one time down the floor but not the next, or a foul in the middle of a quarter but not at the buzzer -- like the no-call when Derek Fisher crashed into Brent Barry in the last seconds of the Lakers' Game 4 win over the San Antonio Spurs in this year's Western Conference finals.
The NBA's unwillingness or inability to clean up its officiating, to formulate clear explanations of what constitutes a violation and why and when that violation is called, to achieve consistency in the way calls are made, has left it vulnerable to accusations like those made by Donaghy.
Stern dismissed Donaghy once again Tuesday as a rogue liar who should be ignored. Donaghy may be a rogue liar. He probably is. But if Stern ignores him, doesn't move to fix that vulnerability, he'll be continuing a long-running mistake.
It's hard to argue with that, and I don't know what the answer is. I think at some point, video technology can and will be used to assist baseball umpires, though it may take a long time to overcome the resistance to the idea. But baseball is a series of discrete events, which makes it amenable to technology for things like ball and strike calls that a flowing game like basketball just won't be. Maybe the best answer is a complete re-working of the rules book, to make foul definitions more obvious, or less frequent, or something. I'm glad this isn't my problem to solve, I know that much.
By the way, the same charge can be made about collegiate refereeing, which is at least as random and unfathomable as the pro version. It's also certainly not immune to any Donaghy problems. Again, I don't know what they can do about it, but like the NBA they really ought to be giving it some serious thought, lest they find themselves in a similar situation some day.
Mayor White proposed his budget for 2009 last month, and now it's City Council's turn to have at it.
With oil prices on the rise and construction costs escalating, some council members plan to submit proposals they say could make city government more efficient.For example, Councilwoman Toni Lawrence wants the city to consider consolidating all grass mowing operations under the Department of Parks and Recreation.
But Houston's population continues to grow, along with demands for services. So, many of the proposed amendments, if passed, would cost money. They include calls for hiring more fire and neighborhood inspectors and increased spending on veterans, after-school programs and the homeless.
Councilman M.J. Khan will offer a number of proposals to save energy, such as studying whether some city workers could adopt a four-day workweek.
He also wants the administration to study whether outsourcing the crime lab could save money and increase accountability.
Khan, chair of the Flooding and Drainage Committee, also wants more money dedicated to flood control. Although the proposed budget would dedicate 0.3 cents of every $100 in assessed value to drainage projects, Khan said that was not enough.
He said he wants the administration to study other sources of funding, including a fee on new developments.
[...]
Lawrence and other council members may ask for more fire inspectors.
The Houston Chronicle reported Sunday that the Houston Fire Department's 10 inspectors are overworked. Fire barriers, intended to prevent flames from spreading through attics in apartment buildings, cannot be inspected more frequently than every five years, senior inspector Mike Thomas told the Chronicle. Six more inspectors could shorten the inspection cycle to three years, Thomas said.
Other council members want more inspectors to help neighborhoods enforce deed restrictions, and to crack down on nuisances such as overgrown lots and dilapidated vacant houses.
Councilwoman Melissa Noriega wants the city to get a head start on designing and funding light-rail stations.
To make sure the stations have proper sidewalks, landscaping and amenities, she is expected to introduce an amendment to make sure the city coordinates with Tax Increment Reinvestment Zones in neighborhoods through which the light-rail lines will pass.
As you might imagine, I like that idea, as does Stace. Houston is fortunate to be in a position where it can look ahead and invest in some future needs, and I hope that opportunity will be taken.
The full budget so far is here, for those of you who like to pore through such things. That comes via Matt Stiles, who notes that District I Council Member James Rodriguez is proposing a large expansion of the red light camera program, which he intends to use to fund some public safety initiatives. I'd have to see the specifics of that before I could comment on it, but that's a lot of cameras he's suggesting. Expect a lot of pushback on that one.
I suppose my main reaction to this story is what took them so long?
The Texas Department of Transportation said Tuesday it has abandoned plans to build part of the controversial Interstate 69/Trans-Texas Corridor through rural areas north and west of Houston.Instead, TxDOT said, it will stick to major highways -- principally U.S. 59 -- for most of the route. Through the Houston area, it could stay on U.S. 59 or go on Loop 610 or the planned Grand Parkway.
[...]
TxDOT officials had planned to publicly announce the change today after briefing reporters privately Tuesday.
The story broke early, however, after others, including state Sen. Robert Nichols, R-Palestine, spoke to news media about the change.
Nichols, a former member of the Texas Transportation Commission, said he sees the change as "a huge victory for the public," KHOU-TV reported.
"I believe utilizing existing infrastructure will be more cost efficient and have far less negative impact on family farms and small communities," Nichols said.
Harris County Judge Ed Emmett said the change would have little impact on Harris County "because we already have a fully developed U.S. 59 and they're not allowed to go in and toll. They can't lease a highway that's already been built."
The Harris County Toll Road Authority is eager to develop the northwest segment of the planned Grand Parkway, which was being considered as long ago as 2000 as the route for a future Interstate 69. That project was folded into Gov. Rick Perry's Trans-Texas Corridor plan, announced in 2002.
Under legislation enacted by opponents of the corridor idea, the county has first shot at developing the Grand Parkway if it can reach an agreement with TxDOT on its value.
Amadeo Saenz, the department's executive director, said Tuesday that TxDOT is "working closely with HCTRA" on the project. "They are just as interested in getting this built as we are," he said.
Saenz said a large share of the 28,000 comments received in 47 public hearings and 12 town hall meetings along the route expressed opposition to the project.
"A lot of them said, in essence, 'We don't want you, we don't want the route, and we don't want you across our farm,' " Saenz said. "And a lot of people said, 'Why don't you expand 59? You have a perfectly good road in 59.' "
Saenz said he will recommend to the Texas Transportation Commission, which sets policy for TxDOT, that only existing highways, principally U.S. 59, be considered for the route.
"Anything not on an existing highway will be set aside and not moved forward," he said, adding that in the distant future -- perhaps 50 years from now -- that may become necessary.
I suppose Judge Emmett's statement is the answer to my question. This is good news for HCTRA and its grand plans for the Grand Parkway. I'm curious as to what impact on 59's traffic this is projected to have here, given that it's already pretty darned congested and there's apparently no extra capacity for the Houston area in the revised plan. We may have a "fully developed 59", but we also have a very full 59, at least as you approach downtown. What are the plans for that? And no, routing it around 610 instead isn't a good answer.
While it certainly makes sense for TxDOT to change its thinking here, the move to 59 raises a lot of questions that now need to be answered. I hope they're more forthcoming this time around than they were when the TTC was first announced. McBlogger has more.
Continuing with my series of candidate interviews from the convention, next up is Robert Miklos, who is running for HD101 in Dallas County. Miklos is a former prosecutor with the Harris County DA's office (he worked under Johnnie Holmes) and with the city of Dallas, and he's now in private practice specializing in land use issues. The seat he's running for is one of several reasonably purple districts (PDF) in the Metroplex area - Bill Moody got 48.8% of the vote in 2006 - and will have its third representative in as many cycles after current Rep. Thomas Latham, who defeated Elvira Reyna in the 2006 GOP primary, lost in the 2008 GOP primary to Mike Anderson, so it's not averse to change. The interview is here, as always in MP3 format.
PREVIOUSLY:
State Rep. Dan Barrett, HD97.
Wendy Davis, SD10.
Get ready for some commuter rail proposals.
A commuter rail study for the Houston area, unveiled Tuesday, recommends starting with five lines -- but none would provide direct service to Sugar Land, The Woodlands or Kingwood, or to Bush and Hobby airports.Alan Clark, who heads transportation planning for the Houston-Galveston Area Council, where the plan was presented, said conflict with heavy freight rail operations would prevent commuter rail to those destinations in the near future.
But that does not mean the areas cannot be served by light rail or other transit such as dedicated bus lanes, he said.
The commuter rail plan would cost about $3 billion -- although no funding plan was included -- and the trains would share tracks that have light freight traffic, said consultants Sam Lott and Joe Wilhite, of Kimley-Horn and Associates Inc.
The five recommended routes are:
- U.S. 290, with a passenger terminal and maintenance facility near Metro's Northwest Transit Center. This would connect to Metro's planned Uptown light rail line.
- Texas 3 to Galveston
- Texas 249 to Tomball with "back door" service to The Woodlands
- Texas 35 to Pearland
- Almeda Road, later turning west and providing an indirect route to Fort Bend County
Harris County Judge Ed Emmett said he will push for commuter trains to start running as soon as possible on the U.S. 290 and Texas 3 routes, even though the overall plan may not be developed yet.
Lines to Galveston and along 290 have been in the works for awhile, and ought to have a fairly quick start if they get approval, since there are existing tracks that can be used. The story says it's not been determined who would operate these lines - Union Pacific says it's not interested. I'm pretty sure that there'd be some demand for this service, since commuter rail boardings are on the rise (via), thanks to the ever-rising price of gas. There'll be a public hearing at H-GAC headquarters on July 1, so we ought to learn more by then.
The wind energy industry is going strong in Texas, but the solar energy industry is working to catch up.
Solar advocates say high costs, a lack of incentives and resistant homeowners associations are clouding the nascent industry's future in the state.At stake is an opportunity for the state, already a major player in the oil and gas industry, to have a prominent role in the growing $10.6 billion global solar energy market, a May report by the state comptroller's office says.
Advocates concede solar is not the end-all solution for the state's energy needs. High costs still keep the technology inaccessible to many consumers, though opinions differ on just how long that will last, given the rapidly rising cost of conventional energy sources.
But incentives and rebate programs to help consumers realize a faster payback on their investments would help, solar advocates say.
A typical solar electric system for a home can cost between $20,000 to $29,000.
Consumers can take a federal tax credit of 30 percent of the cost of a system, up to $2,000, but the tax break expires at year-end. Federal lawmakers have introduced a bill that would extend the break beyond 2008, but Congress hasn't agreed on how to pay for it.
Some states -- but not Texas -- offer rebates funded by a surcharge on electric bills and cover about half the cost of solar systems.
Last year, state Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, introduced a bill that would create a similar program in Texas, but it never made it out of committee and faced opposition from the Association of Electric Companies of Texas.
Walt Baum, executive vice president of the association, said the group opposed the bill mainly because it would have put the money to fund the rebates in the same fund that helps low-income Texans pay their electric bills -- a fund that previously has been diverted for other uses by the state.
"It had nothing to do with us not supporting the solar industry," Baum said. "We had committed to legislative leadership to getting the fund to where it was supposed to go."
Coleman said he plans to reintroduce the bill next year.
"To me it's a no-brainer," he said. "I think it's doable. Almost every company that's a fossil fuel energy producer is investing in the manufacture and sale of solar panels. Shell is, BP is, and so are a lot of others. They understand that they have to diversify their business offerings for a day when fossil fuels are not going to be the biggest part of their business."
Solar seems to be more about end users than providers, as is the case with wind. I agree that making rebates available to mitigate the cost of installing solar panels on existing houses is a good idea. Doing something similar for new construction would also make some sense. I'll keep an eye on these bills in the next legislative session.
Being in Austin last week meant I got a chance to pick up a copy of the Austin Chronicle. I know, I know, I can read it online, but when you're traveling and don't have your usual access to the Internet, having some nice hardcopy stuff to read is a blessing. Anyway, a couple of things caught my eye in this edition, starting with a letter to the editor, in response to this story about Third Court of Appeals Judge Charlie Baird, in particular this passage:
Much to his dismay, Baird recalls, the district judges he appeared before not only didn't read the cases, but they didn't seem to care. To Baird, that meant they weren't following the law - "and I would not get a reason for them not following the law," he said. At first he thought he would be vindicated on appeal, but that didn't happen either. The cases wouldn't go anywhere, and Baird was left feeling like the courts weren't interested either in participating in the process or, indeed, following the rule of law. "It was just a high level of frustration," he said.By the beginning of the new decade, Baird had decided what to do about it. He'd run for a seat on Texas' highest criminal bench, the Court of Criminal Appeals. "I'll just run for the court," he recalled, "and I'll fix this problem myself."
He ran, from El Paso to Texarkana and everywhere in between, and won - due in part to the strength of the 1990 statewide Democratic ticket, with Gov. Ann Richards at the top - becoming the youngest judge ever to sit on the high court's bench. Over the next eight years, Baird developed a reputation as an independent-minded jurist. "Judge Baird has a national reputation for fairness and independence," says Stephen Bright, president of the Southern Center for Human Rights and a law professor at Yale, who met Baird while he was on the CCA. At the time, Bright was researching and writing about a "disturbing trend" of judges being voted off the bench for "standing up" for the Constitution, instead of gauging the pulse of political concerns before meting out justice. In Houston, for example, Bright said he found that if district court judges didn't "agree" with the positions taken and arguments made by the District Attorney's Office, then-Harris Co. D.A. Johnny Holmes would simply "run one of his prosecutors" against the offending judge in the next election. It was a sure way to keep the black robes in line. "In many courts, prosecutors are used to getting their way," Bright says. "Of course, that's not how it is supposed to work."
That drew this reply:
I worked in that office during the 1980s and 1990s, and I take complete issue with that statement. Under D.A. Johnny Holmes: 1) Any assistant D.A. who chose to run against an incumbent judge had to immediately resign from their job as soon as they filed for office or announced to run. 2) Assistant D.A.s who lost such election bids did not get rehired back into their former jobs. They had to go work elsewhere. 3) I never saw or heard D.A. Holmes publicly endorse any candidate for office. I never saw Holmes appear at any political event. 4) Nothing involving any politicking was allowed to go on in that office, and a nonpolitical culture was present throughout. It is not "simple" to run for election in Harris County. It is expensive and time-consuming. Couple that with the requirement of quitting your job and the decision to run against an incumbent judge becomes something less than "simple." I personally knew several assistant D.A.s who made their own decision to run against judges they thought should be replaced. Most of those people lost. I never had anybody tell me that D.A. Holmes was supporting them, or had asked them to run.
I was not following local politics very much back then, but this letter is certainly in line with Holmes' reputation. I've never heard anything to the effect of what Professor Bright claims, though I wouldn't consider my recollections here to be remotely authoritative. My question to those of you who were in a position to know these things back then is: Who's right? Was then-Harris County DA Johnny Holmes vindictive in that way towards judges he didn't like, or is that a scurrilous accusation? Leave a comment and let us know.
June is always a busy time for political fundraising, since there's a June 30 quarterly reporting deadline looming, and everyone wants to max out their totals for the quarter. Sometimes there's a little extra incentive to donate to a particular candidate. For example, this is from a recent email from Diane Trautman:
There is no better time to contribute to my campaign! Until June 15, 2008, Annie's List is matching, dollar for dollar, every contribution I receive. So if your write a check today for $20, $50, or $100, my campaign will receive double that amount! Please help ensure that I have the tools necessary to bring ethical leadership back to Harris County Government by sending in your contribution today.To contribute by check, simply mail a check payable to Diane Trautman Campaign along with your name and address to the following address:
Diane Trautman Campaign
P. O. Box 6067
Kingwood, TX 77325-6067Or you may contribute online here.
So, if you were inclined to donate to Diane Trautman's campaign - and as you know I think ensuring her campaign is sufficiently funded is a great idea - now is the time to do it. Thanks very much.
Rad Sallee has an update on the lawsuit filed last year against Metro by anti-rail activist Daphne Scarborough.
[Scarborough's attorney Andy] Taylor wants a jury to decide whether Metro is violating what rail opponents view as a promise, made in a 2003 transit referendum, to build the line solely on Westpark.Metro rejects that interpretation of the ballot language and says the routes described in the referendum were actually corridors in which specific alignments would be determined based on ridership, cost and other factors.
Metro has asked state District Judge Levi Benton to dismiss Scarbrough's lawsuit on grounds that she lacks legal standing to file it.
Metro lawyers said the agency is protected by sovereign immunity, which basically says government can't be sued for legally carrying out its duties.
They also contended that because construction of the line has not begun, Scarbrough has not been harmed.
Taylor asked Benton to deny Metro's request for dismissal.
If his client cannot bring suit until she is actually harmed, it will be too late to stop a possibly illegal rail line from being built, Taylor said.
Benton held off on a ruling, telling both sides to come back later.
But he said he intended to deny Taylor's request. That would open the door to considering whether Scarbrough had standing to sue.
Taylor said it would also enable Scarbrough to get a quick appellate ruling against Metro, and that, he said, could lead to a jury trial by September to determine whether Richmond rail is legal.
Locke said Benton had simply indicated he will rule as Metro asked.
As I understand it from speaking to Robin Holzer, who was at the hearing, what Judge Benton was going to rule on was Taylor's motion - a motion to abate, I believe is the term - to deny Metro's request to have a hearing on the issue of Scarborough's standing. The reason for the delay was that Taylor announced he had additional material for his motion, namely an amicus brief from Rep. John Culberson, a copy of which you can find here (1.2 MB PDF). Judge Benton handed out a draft copy of his ruling, which was to deny Taylor's request, but that will wait until after he reviews the amicus brief. I believe his ruling will come some time this week, at which point Taylor will presumably pursue an appeal, which be expedited. These are all small steps, to be sure, but they need to be taken to get anywhere.
Assuming Taylor gets no joy on his motion to abate, then the next step will be Metro's motion to dismiss on grounds of lack of standing. If Metro wins that - they also have a motion for summary judgment on the merits of the case in the queue - that would the end of this lawsuit. That doesn't mean Scarborough or someone else couldn't sue again once construction begins, or at some other point when they can claim they are being actively harmed by Metro's actions, but it would close this chapter. At least, that's my read of it - if any lawyer out there wants to set me straight, by all means please do so. If this thing does go to trial, based on what Taylor was saying in court it sounds like that might happen in September. One way or the other, we should have a clearer idea of what obstacles Metro still has to face pretty soon.
Along with their Presidential poll, Rasmussen has a result for June that shows Sen. John Cornyn with a 17-point lead over Rick Noriega. As they note, this is a huge swing from last month, where they had Cornyn up by four. It's highly unlikely that so many people changed their minds over this short period of time, so most likely at least one of these polls is an outlier. Burka thinks it was the May result; I want to see what they get in July. I'm also hoping we see more than just Rasmussen and Baselice doing polls - SurveyUSA was on the scene in February but hasn't given a result since then, and IVR Polls has been doing a variety of other Texas races. More data, so we can get some kind of aggregate picture, would be nice.
Next up on the interview list is Wendy Davis, who is running for State Senate in Tarrant County, in SD10. Hers is one of two - hopefully three - high profile Senate races this year, which is something we don't see much of. She has a pretty compelling personal story, she was a Fort Worth City Council member for eight years, and she's running against an incumbent with some ethical issues (second link is a PDF) in a purple district, all of which make her a serious threat to help reduce the GOP's numerical superiority in the Senate.
The interview is here. It's got more background noise than some others, as we were in a restaurant at the time, but you can hear what we're saying. As always, let me know what you think.
PREVIOUSLY:
State Rep. Dan Barrett, HD97.
Burka drops some early thinking on what Democratic performance in Texas might look like if the Obama campaign does some real work here.
Democrat (sic) numbers-crunchers believe that if Obama gets 42-43% in the state, Democrats will fare well in downballot races. If he gets 45-46%, Democrats will reap a bonanza.
Lots to consider in those two sentences. Let's start by noting that 42-43% represents a four or five point improvement over John Kerry in 2004, which I think is eminently plausible, for three reasons: It's not 2004, Barack Obama isn't John Kerry, and John McCain will never be as beloved here as the 2004 version of George W. Bush was. This is not a high bar to clear, and bear in mind that even in 2004, the downballot statewide Democrats were getting 41-42%.
A 42-43% performance would also produce a margin for McCain that is right in line with the Baselice poll. If that's where he thought the race was back before Hillary Clinton suspended her campaign and endorsed Obama, then I've got to feel pretty good about that, since there was definitely room to improve by consolidating the Democratic vote. There were also a lot of undecideds, about twice as many as that 2004 Rasmussen poll, in which nearly all of them eventually broke for Bush. To maintain the Baselice margin here, the undecideds would have to break roughly 50-50 for Obama and McCain, and that's without assuming a higher Democratic baseline. Again, I think that's eminently plausible.
(By the way, this should serve as one final nail in the "Hillary will save us!" coffin. She polled a point ahead of Obama in the Baselice sample, and by similar reasoning would likely have been headed for no worse than a 42-43% result in November. If Democratic strategists are telling Paul Burka now that this would mean good things for downballot Dems, then it cannot have been the case that Hillary would have meant doom to them. Yes, she could have wound up underperforming that number in the end, but the same factors I cited up front would be as true for Clinton/McCain as they are for Obama/McCain. In short, the whole thing was Republican FUD from the word go, aided and abetted by some fraidy-cat Dems who should know better than to buy into that crap, or at least to say for the record that they buy into it.)
There's now a Rasmussen result for Texas that has McCain up 52-39, which is his best showing in that poll. It too is a pre-Clinton dropout poll, and again it has room for Obama to improve among Democrats and independents. But still, if you assume it's an accurate reflection, you're looking at roughly a 43% showing for Obama. And if that's good enough for downballot success, we're already in good shape.
For what it's worth, Poblano, from whom I got the Rasmussn result, projects McCain as a ten-point winner in Texas at this time. That would put Obama in the 45% range, and I have to agree that would be very good for the slate as a whole. The question at this point is whether the Baselice/Rasmussen results are a trend, or if Obama's got a bounce in him. I suspect the latter, but I've no clue how much, or whether it will be permanent or temporary.
Finally, this is all of course very early, and we don't know yet what resources Obama will expend here. He may simply leave things to his existing infrastructure, or he may be serious about his fifty-state strategy and make a more serious investment. We may see him on TV in Texas, if only briefly. Frankly, even if all we get is what we've got now, it's still better than what we had in 2004.
I guess the way I see it is that in 2004, I never saw a realistic scenario under which John Kerry would be competitive, let alone in a position where he might win. This year, I can at least imagine some kind of favorable outcome. I don't know what the ceiling is, but I'm certain the floor is higher than it was. That's good enough for now.
This is just what school districts need to hear right about now.
Texas lottery officials are monitoring a decline in ticket sales that they say could reduce the amount of money the lottery sends to public schools if the trend continues."There's a lot of speculation that it's tied to higher gasoline prices," said Robert Heith, lottery communications director. "But we don't have any studies to confirm that."
Overall, lottery ticket sales statewide for this fiscal year are running 1.8 percent behind last year, according to a May 17 report.
In addition to the economy, Heith said the lottery could have been hurt this year because it hasn't had as many big jackpots, which increase ticket sales.
The state lottery has been transferring about $1 billion yearly to the Foundation School Program, a fund that goes to local school districts, since 2004, but the amount could slip below that number this year.
Through April 30, the Texas Lottery Commission estimated that it will transfer $621 million to the fund, but it had an additional four months in its fiscal year, which ends Aug. 31. If the trend holds, the money going to the Foundation School Program would be about $930 million.
The lottery's assistance is significant to public schools. The state has appropriated $19.8 billion to the Foundation School Program for next year.
[...]
The Lottery Commission is hoping to turn the sales numbers around.
"We're doing our best to improve sales," Heith said.
The lottery regularly introduces new games, and later this summer, it will unveil another $50 scratch-off ticket. Last year, a similar high-dollar ticket boosted revenue in the final quarter, and lottery officials are hoping for a similar effect.
I'll never understand the allure of high-priced lottery tickets, but if I have to hope they succeed so that the schools don't get short-changed, I will.
Still woozy from the Bloggers Caucus? Well, there's nothing like a little hair of the blog to cure what ails you. Click on to read the Texas Progressive Alliance roundup for the week.
BossKitty at BlueBloggin tell us about the Government Accountability Office's (GOA) revealing report to Congress on how tax preparers work in cooperation with banks to advance refunds which can greatly reduce your tax refund check in Refund Anticipation Loans, Rapid Refunds, Sleazy Tax Preparers
The live-blog of the contest for the state chair of the Texas Democratic Party was done by PDiddie at Brains and Eggs.
Off the Kuff conducted an interview with the Communications Director of the American Wind Energy Association on the state of wind energy in Texas and America today.
Kit of WhosPlayin thinks much of mainstream media coverage of late - especially with regard to the Democratic nomination is meant to distract us from the more important issues like Iraq, health care costs, and the mortgage market melt down.
Texas Kaos has extensive liveblogging and video from the Texas State Democratic Convention this weekend. Highlights include Chelsea Clinton's Two Messages for Texas Democrats, Sam Houston Makes The Case for Caring About the Judicial Races, and Senator Mario Gallegos Addressing the State Convention a little more than a year after he and the Texas Senate Dem Caucus held off David Dewhirst's grab for your voting rights.
McBlogger's Lovelie99 takes a look at a culinary craze that is sweeping the nation. And finds it, frankly, pretty gross.
The Austin Political report says that Chris Bell is set to officially enter the special election race for SD17.
Several sources report that former congressman and gubernatorial candidate Chris Bell is telling Houston lawmakers that he will run in the special November 4 election to replace retiring state senator Kyle Janek.
Well, one of those sources wasn't Chris Bell. I sent Chris an email asking him for a statement, and this is what he said to me:
He's incorrect. I have told no one that I am running for sure. As you know, I am considering it very seriously. If I had decided, I would have announced it at the convention since everyone and their dog was asking me about it and encouraging me to run. I greatly appreciate the interest and am not going to let this linger much longer one way or the other.
I certainly want Bell to run, and I believe he will have a very good shot to win the seat, given the recent poll numbers and scuttlebutt I've heard that the local GOP hasn't exactly coalesced behind Austin Furse. Between Bell, Joe Jaworski, and Wendy Davis, we could have a real shakeup in the upper chamber this year. But we'll have to wait a little longer to see if that's what we'll be getting.
Now that the Democratic convention is over, it's the other guys' turn.
After a decade of political dominance, the Texas GOP is opening its party convention in Houston this week with a troubling prospect: Grumpy Republicans may not turn out to vote this fall.Many of the grass-roots Texas Republicans see presumptive presidential nominee John McCain as not conservative enough. Others still support presidential candidate Ron Paul. Some are unhappy over immigration, high federal spending, a sagging national economy and rising gasoline prices.
"A lot of them, and rightly so in many cases, are mad. They're concerned," said Roger Williams, chairman of the Texas GOP's voter turnout efforts this year. "What we've got to do is alleviate those concerns and get them to vote."
"We're the underdogs, and anybody who tells you we're not hasn't been out and about," Williams said.
Williams has been sounding that theme for awhile now. I don't know if he actually believes it or if it's just a motivational device, but it's kind of cute.
Delegates on Friday will hear from former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former presidential contenders Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney. Romney is McCain's designated surrogate speaker at the convention.Cathie Adams, president of the Texas Eagle Forum, said McCain is not building bridges with the grass roots by sending Romney to speak to the Texas convention in his place.
"It would have been better if he had come himself," Adams said.
Adams said many delegates to the convention will want to be reassured about McCain on immigration. She said many are upset that he supports a process of granting citizenship to those who entered the country illegally.
Adams said McCain cannot win just by telling voters the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama is bad.
"Everyone I know is unhappy with the prospects of Obama," Adams said. "But they'll stay home rather than just go out and vote against someone."
Well, that answers that question about whether or not we'll hear about the Republicans' unity problems. I tend to think this sort of thing is as overrated for them as it is for the Dems, but it's not nothing, and it's nice to see it not get overlooked.
Similarly, some of Paul's supporters are upset with McCain and how the state convention is run. Some sued the Texas GOP last week in an effort to block the seating of some non-Paul delegates.Don Zimmerman, a Paul activist and candidate for Travis County tax assessor-collector, is vying to be a national delegate, even though that means supporting McCain, whom he does not like.
Zimmerman said many new delegates to the convention this year will be Paul supporters. He said he wants to get them focused on winning local races.
"Get over the McCain thing and work for your local Republican who you like," Zimmerman said.
It sure would be easier for them to do that if Paul gave as classy and rousing a speech endorsing McCain as Hillary Clinton gave Barack Obama, wouldn't it? Good luck with that.
Republican leadership is less worried about the elections of McCain and Cornyn than they are about the effect party disgruntlement may have on congressional and legislative races.Republican pollster Mike Baselice said half the Republican voters in Texas say the state and nation are on the "wrong track." He calls them "grumpy Republicans" who cannot be counted on to turn out to vote against presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.
"I'm concerned about the wrong-track Republicans opting not to vote," Baselice said.
Baselice said Republicans in 2002 had a 6 percentage point advantage in Dallas County voting and an 8 percentage point advantage in Harris County. He said neither party now has an advantage in Dallas, and the GOP holds an advantage of about 1.5 percentage points in Harris County.
He said that partisan shift could give Democrats a great boost if a large percentage of Republicans don't vote.
That's an interesting perspective, given the Democrats' sweep of Dallas County in 2006, and the average judicial race performance of over 48% for Democrats in Harris that same year. But if that's how he sees it, that would at least explain his atypical poll results.
While I wasn't in Austin for long during the convention, I did manage to achieve my goal of doing a bunch of interviews with various candidates and officeholders. I'll be publishing them over the next two weeks, and will continue with local candidates through the summer and fall. It's great to have such a broad slate, but it means more work for me. There are worse problems to have, of course.
First up is State Rep. Dan Barrett, who sent a shock wave through the political establishment last December when he won a special election for HD97, which some folks (not me) thought was too red to be won by a Democrat. Barrett was the first candidate to be endorsed and supported by the TexBlog PAC, so his win was extra sweet.
This was my first chance to meet and really talk to Barrett. I was happy to support him in December, on the enthusiastic say-so of others, as well as for strategic reasons. Having now met him and his charming wife, Debra, I feel even better for having done so. He's a good guy and a credit to his district, and I hope he gets the chance to serve in HD97 for a long time.
The interview is here, as always in MP3 format. Barrett will have a tough race to retain his seat this year, but he's working hard at it, and I figure he'll win over just about any voter he meets. Take a listen and see what you think.
Just a little check to see how the reunification of the Democratic Party is going. First we have former DNC Chair and outspoken Hillary Clinton supporter Terry McAuliffe:
I've told all of the donors this week that we need to 100 percent get behind Senator Obama. We're going to do several events for Senator Obama. I had to get through today's activities and deal with all that.We're going to do whatever it takes. Listen, I'm a party man. I've been with this party for 30 years, for the last 15 years working as a pretty much full time volunteer. So we have to win this White House, so I'm going to work as hard as I worked for Hillary for Senator Obama.
And here's Texas AFL-CIO leader and Clinton backer Becky Moeller, in a statement emailed to me:
"I am confident an AFL-CIO endorsement in the presidential contest will arrive before long, but today I am personally and independently urging Democrats, union members and open-minded independents across Texas to rally around Barack Obama's historic campaign for the presidency.""Hillary Clinton's candidacy made a permanent mark on American political history. As a union activist and as a woman who has fought to break glass ceilings in my career, I joined millions of Americans who saw in Hillary the path to a better, more just society. Democrats in both camps worked to our utmost abilities in this campaign, and it is a tribute to Sen. Obama that he became the presumptive nominee against competition that touched a chord with so many Americans."
"Now is the time to look at the bigger picture and unite. The issues facing our nation are too important and the gap between the candidates too great to let even the greatest of political primary struggles linger. Sen. Obama has shown he, too, can lead us to a better, more just society. I thank Ron Kirk and all the Obama campaign officials in Texas for declaring that from here on, all Democrats are invited to walk together toward victory in November. At this new juncture, I proudly, wholeheartedly and optimistically support Barack Obama for president. "
"A new future is at hand for America. We know the path to positive change and we know the path to more of the same. By coming together around Barack Obama's candidacy, Democrats will write the next chapter in an election for the ages and in the history of our great nation."
So far, so good. Everyone is saying the right things. There will still be some people who need time to come to terms with Clinton's close loss, and some who will need more than encouraging words from folks like these two, but having that encouragement out there can only help. We still don't know how well the Clinton fundraising machine will perform for Obama, and nobody knows what Obama's Vice Presidential choice will do to or for the current sense of shared purpose. But we're off to a decent enough start, and given the concerns about this fight still being fought in Denver, we're well ahead of schedule as well. Keep it up, y'all.
Among other things done at the convention, Texas Democrats decided to keep the prima-caucus system for the time being.
The state Democratic convention ended Saturday with no decision about whether to abandon the "Texas two-step" system of awarding most nominating delegates according to the primary's popular vote and almost the entire remainder according to party caucuses after the voting ends. The system, often chaotic and heated at the precinct and district levels, allowed Barack Obama to edge Hillary Rodham Clinton in the contest for Texas delegates even though Clinton won the popular vote on March 4.There was no lack of debate Saturday about whether to trip up the one-of-a-kind two-step. But the convention essentially delayed a decision until 2010 or later.
In an effort to avoid a convention fight over changing the system, party Chairman Boyd Richie named a special committee headed by state Sen. Royce West, an Obama supporter from Dallas, to report any needed changes to the state convention in two years.
West said avoiding the fight this year is an important part of healing the party for a unified front for Obama in the fight against presumptive Republican presidential nominee U.S. Sen. John McCain in November.
"There's strong feelings all over the place about this issue," West said. "The issue is a visceral, divisive issue that would not be appropriate to take up at this convention."
[...]
Some said the caucus system brings neighbors together after the polls close and embodies the spirit of grass-roots democracy.
"It's good for democracy. Keep momentum going," said Irma Gutierrez of San Antonio. "We need to simplify things, but I really don't know what the answer is.
"I loved seeing the little grandmother, along with the 18-year-old voting for the first time, coming to the caucus and taking an active participation in being involved," she added.
But David Ross, a Houston precinct chairman, said he had deep misgivings about caucuses, even though the one he conducted went smoothly. He said some voters may leave a caucus demoralized about their candidate winning the popular vote but losing delegate strength after the statewide election ends.
"It's difficult to describe and explain the process to my wife, who comes from another country," he said. "As far as the justification goes, I admit it's half-hearted."
I lean more towards keeping the current system than scrapping it. The argument about it being chaotic is unlikely to be as resonant in future years where the Presidential primary is less competitive, and besides, logistical issues can be managed. The method of allocating delegates based on previous general election results in each Senatorial district can certainly be tweaked, and I'm sure there are other opportunities for improvement, but I found the process to be a positive one, and I think it does foster participation. So I'm happy to see it kept around for now.
For a more full-throated defense of the system, see this Observer piece by Susan DuQuesnay Bankston, a/k/a Juanita.
We should all have as cool a way to depart this vale of tears as this.
The man who designed the Pringles potato crisp packaging system was so proud of his accomplishment that a portion of his ashes has been buried in one of the iconic cans.Fredric J. Baur, of Cincinnati, died May 4 at Vitas Hospice in Cincinnati, his family said. He was 89.
Baur's children said they honored his request to bury him in one of the cans by placing part of his cremated remains in a Pringles container in his grave in suburban Springfield Township. The rest of his remains were placed in an urn buried along with the can, with some placed in another urn and given to a grandson, said Baur's daughter, Linda Baur of Diamondhead, Miss.
Baur requested the burial arrangement because he was proud of his design of the Pringles container, a son, Lawrence Baur of Stevensville, Mich., said Monday.
I suppose the only downside is that a Pringles can wouldn't be particularly attractive on the fireplace mantle, but since they're burying it that would seem to resolve that qualm. Rest in peace, Fredric J. Baur.
An early morning fire at the Governor's Mansion today was intentionally set, a state fire investigator said.State Fire Marshal Paul Maldonado declined to discuss further details but said there was no indication the fire was intended as a direct threat to Gov. Rick Perry.
No one was in the building, which has been closed several months for renovation, when the fire broke out. The governor has been living in a rented house in suburban Austin since last fall.
He and his wife, Anita, are in Stockholm, Sweden, finishing up a weeklong, trade-related trip to Europe.
The fire, discovered by security officers about 1:45 a.m., was under control by 6:30 a.m., but there were still hot spots in the building. Flames broke through a portion of the roof about 9:30 a.m. but were quickly extinguished.
The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms was assisting the state Fire Marshal's office in the investigation. Maldonado indicated security cameras posted around the building were helpful to investigators.
But officials declined to discuss more details, including how an arsonist could have gone undetected by Department of Public Safety troopers assigned to secure the building and its grounds.
Damage to the 152-year-old historic structure is "extraordinary, bordering on catastrophic,'' including a partially collapsed roof, said Perry spokesman Robert Black.
Millions of dollars worth of antique furnishings, portraits and other heirlooms had been removed from the mansion and placed in storage before renovation began. But Black said it was impossible to calculate the historic value of the building itself.
He said officials hoped the first floor could be structurally salvaged, but there was more uncertainty about saving the second floor.
[...]
Former Gov. Mark White, who lived in the Mansion from 1983-1986 and took office shortly before a fire heavily damaged the state Capitol, said he was devasted by the latest fire.
"We just must rebuild it,'' he said, urging state officials to use the occasion to fully restore the Mansion to its original structure, much as state government did to the Capitol following the 1983 fire.
I'm very glad no one was injured, I hope whoever did this is caught, and I join with Governor White in calling for a full rebuild of the Mansion.
UPDATE: Here's some video from KXAN, and also from KVUE.
Apparently, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has decided that the way to get the border fence done is to demonize the opposition.
Chertoff, speaking during an interview with the editorial board of the Houston Chronicle, pitted the safety of Border Patrol agents against the efforts of environmentalists to stymie Bush administration plans to complete a border fence before leaving office in January. Some 670 miles of pedestrian fencing or vehicle barriers are planned along the 1,947-mile U.S.-Mexico boundary.Chertoff, who has set aside some environmental restrictions to speed fence construction, said he didn't want to "get enmeshed in endless litigation" with environmentalists who he said opposed fencing, lighting and other improvements along the border that would help the Border Patrol seize undocumented immigrants, smugglers and drug traffickers.
"I've gone to too many memorial services where agents were killed in rollover accidents pursuing smugglers because there wasn't an all-weather road," Chertoff said. "I have to tell you in all honesty as between the sensitivity of an owl and having to look a family in the eye and say, 'I'm sorry you lost a loved one because we can't build a road.' I'm going with protecting the family and protecting the Border Patrol agent."
The Border Patrol lists eight officers who have died in the line of duty since Chertoff took office in 2005. Wayne Bartholomew, executive director with Frontera Audubon, a nonprofit conservation organization in Lower Rio Grande Valley, called Chertoff's comments "disingenuous, false and misleading."
Bartholomew said the federal government had short-cut the environmental review process with the border fence project, failing to fully consider the potential impact on other public safety issues, including air and water pollution.
"This isn't about building an all-weather road," Bartholomew said. "It's about following a process, and that process includes over 100 years of laws established by the United States Congress. He has put communities at risk by waiving these laws and unilaterally charging ahead without any oversight at all."
Where to begin? Well, let's start with the equating of an all-weather road with the fence, which is what people are truly fighting against. This fight is and has always been about the fence. If all Congress wanted to do was improve conditions for Border Patrol agents by doing things like building them a better road system, it would have passed without any noticeable opposition. But that isn't what this is about, and to claim otherwise is like saying the invasion of Iraq was about bringing democracy to the country after the WMD claims were debunked. It's completely dishonest.
Secondly, how exactly is a fence going to make Border Patrol's job safer? I suppose you could believe that its mere presence will be enough to deter immigrants and especially smugglers; if that describes you, I've got some property in Berlin I'd like to sell you. South Texas Chisme notes that "Some people think that the fence will endanger agents by trapping them". I have no idea if that's true, but I do know that we have some existing fencing in urban areas like San Diego - surely there's some way of evaluating these claims. But Chertoff doesn't come equipped with that kind of empirical evidence. He goes straight to the scaremongering, which suggests to me either the evidence is against him or he just doesn't care one way or the other. Either way, it's pretty reprehensible.
Finally, the subtext to what he's saying is anyone who opposes what he wants to do - which remember isn't just to build a fence, but to brush aside existing environmental regulations in order to build it as fast as possible - is putting Border Patrol agents' lives at stake. This is old-fashioned "you're either with us or you're against us" crap, through which large numbers of American citizens have been branded as America-haters by the Bush administration and its enablers. I don't really need to go into all the ways this is wrong and disgraceful, do I? I just hope that the Chron's editorial board, to whom Chertoff delivered these repugnant remarks, has the courage to call it like it is on their pages.
If you want to know more about what Chertoff has to say, you can listen to him in all his glory in this uncut interview by KTRK's Tom Abraham. I haven't gotten to it yet; maybe it's not as bad as I fear it is. Give it a listen if you think you can handle it and let me know what you think.
My photos from the Bloggers Caucus in Austin are here. There's fewer than I thought, but then I was so busy meeting and talking to people it's a bit amazing I managed to remember to take any at all. And I managed to not lose the camera afterwards. So I've got that going for me, which is nice.
More news and pics from the parties and the scene in general:
Mean Rachel, and again; she also has video. Rachel was one of many cool new bloggers I met in Austin, and now I have some blogroll maintenance to do.
Muse has photos of Chelsea Clinton giving her speech, and of her blogging buddies.
BOR reports that Boyd Richie easily won re-election as TDP Chair. My congrats to Boyd, who would have gotten my vote had I been a delegate.
Speaking of such things, my congrats as well to my blogging colleague Brian Hamon on his election to the Senate District 5 Executive Committee.
And finally, the Observer reports on Rick Noriega's speech and on the Texas Muslim Democratic Caucus, which is apparently the first of its kind in the nation.
Sooner or later, the subject always turns to bad movies, doesn't it? Well, movie badness is something Americans care deeply about. I'll just point you to my personal list of bad movies, which thanks in no small part to my subsequent parenthood hasn't changed much, though you might be able to talk me into adding the Send In The Clones episode of Star Wars, which to my mind made The Phantom Menace look like The Empire Strikes Back.
I will say this: If you don't have a ready list of ten or so bad movies you've sat through and lived to tell about, you haven't seen enough movies in your life. So leave your regrettable choices in the comments, and we'll all have a good cringe together.
I have two things to say about this story concerning some still-existing divisions within the Democratic Party after Hillary Clinton's exit from the Presidential race.
Obama clinched the Democratic presidential nomination Tuesday, and Clinton is supposed to endorse him today in Washington, D.C.But the wounds of their bruising battle were still obvious at the Texas convention, even though delegates spoke of the need to come together against presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain in the November election.
In the March Texas primaries, Clinton carried 60-69 percent of the Hispanic vote and more than 55 percent of the vote in rural white areas of the state. Obama carried urban black areas by more than 60 percent of the vote.
Many Clinton delegates Friday said they will not be satisfied unless Obama gives Clinton the vice presidential nomination or something of importance in his Cabinet.
"It would be totally awesome if Senator Obama would pick her as a vice president. We would really win hands down," said Rosalinda Pena Hinojosa of San Antonio.
Denise Barbour, an anglo Clinton delegate from Lubbock, said Obama doesn't have to name Clinton as his running mate to suit her, but she wants to make certain Clinton has an important role in an Obama administration.
"I want Hillary to be at the table. To not do so is to dismiss all of us. That's the feeling," Barbour said. "What's going to happen to us? Is our voice going to be carried on?"
Jack Whittington, 22, a delegate from Lubbock and recent graduate of Texas Tech University, said Obama will need to work harder to get rural people to vote for him in Texas and elsewhere in the country.
"Either he himself is going to have to change his strategy to reach out to those people or he's going to have to bring in a vice presidential nominee who can do that for him," Whittington said.
Whittington said he believes Obama also will have trouble getting some white voters to cast ballots for him.
"People are still stuck in a 1950s frame of mind. That's something he'll have trouble overcoming. I'm not sure he can overcome that," Whittington said.
Nolen Holcomb, 68, a Clinton supporter from Abilene, said he doesn't want to see Clinton as Obama's running mate.
"We think she may be more powerful as a person in the Senate or as a Cabinet member or even a Supreme Court judge," Holcomb said.
"That's why the Hillary folks are sticking together and not giving up on our support of her because we believe she has a major role to play in the new administration."
Clinton supporter Mike Martinez of Fort Worth said some Clinton supporters will be slow to embrace Obama.
"When you work so hard for a candidate, it's awfully difficult to let go right away," Martinez said. "A great majority of the Hispanic supporters will jump over and support Obama actively. I just don't know about some of her supporters because they are so passionate and so endearing of her. For some, it might take several months until some of these folks come around."
I'm already seeing plenty of signs of people moving past the primary and on to the general election. Most of the Clinton supporters I know were, very much to their credit, doing that as soon as the initial reports of her suspending the campaign were hitting the 'nets. While there will be some lingering emotions - perfectly understandable in such a close, hard-fought contest - I think the fact that Hillary Clinton herself will stop making a case for herself and will start making a case for Barack Obama will make a world of difference. People followed her lead when she was running to be the candidate, and they'll follow her lead now that she's supporting the candidate who's running. Some people will need more than that, and some people will never really be convinced, but I feel very optimistic about this. I think in a few weeks' time, we'll have forgotten most of what we were fighting about in the first place. There's nothing like a common goal to get people on the same page.
I also wonder if, when the Republicans get together for their convention, we'll see stories about how John McCain still has some work to do to convince members of his own party to unite behind him. McCain's been the nominee since March, yet he's had a hard time getting more than 75% of the vote running basically unopposed in his primaries. Ron Paul supporters aren't going anywhere, and the likes of Richard Viguerie are sounding an alarm about McCain's conservative credentials. Yet somehow it's the Democrats who are divided. Maybe that was true before this week, but it won't be so much longer. Will the story line change with that, or will it be more of the same through November?
Mere words cannot hope to capture the awesomeness of this (via Julie Mason:
Former House Republican Leader Tom DeLay (Texas) called Barack Obama a "Marxist" on the Mike Gallagher radio show Thursday.Explaining that Obama clinching the Democratic nomination is a good thing for John McCain, DeLay said Obama's "weakness" is that "nobody knows him."
"And if McCain does not define him as what he is -- hey, I have said publicly, and I will again, that unless he proves me wrong, he is a Marxist," DeLay said.
The radio host agreed with DeLay, who is facing money laundering charges, saying Obama is "desperately trying to cover up what seems to be the kind of old school Marxist radical liberal failed ideology."
"Absolutely," DeLay said. "No doubt about it."
Dear Jesus,
Please, pretty please, do everything in your considerable power to ensure that Tom DeLay keeps getting his name in the paper, his voice on the radio, and his face on teevee from now through November 4. I promise to be a good boy and eat all my vegetables in return if you do. Thank you very much.
Your friend,
Charles
(PS - Be sure to read the comments - they're pretty awesome, too.)
These are tough times for pickup trucks.
The pickup truck's ride as the dominant vehicle on the American roads has come to an end.For the first time in 16 years, a pickup is not the best-selling vehicle in the monthly industry sales report. Not one, but four cars -- Toyota's Corolla and Camry and Honda's Accord and Civic -- outsold the stalwart Ford-150 in the May sales report. The last time that happened was December 1992, when the Ford Taurus topped the F-series.
"It's a sign of the times," said George Pipas, U.S. sales analysis manager for Ford. "I was convinced and several others of us were convinced that this would be a watershed month."
There's a country/western song in that, I just know it.
Toyota, which invested $1.3 billion in a Tundra plant and supplier park in San Antonio, saw sales of its full-size pickup truck fall 31.5 percent in May from a year earlier."Given current market conditions, we know we're facing challenges in this segment," said Bob Carter, general manager of the Toyota Division. "All of our previous assumptions are off the table."
[...]
"One month doesn't necessarily mean a fundamental change in the entire industry," Carter said. "We're seeing some segment declines. Most of the consumers are reporting that fuel prices and housing are the primary factors as to why they're changing their buying patterns."
Carter said Toyota expects that once market conditions improve and the housing industry starts to pick up in 2009 and 2010, the demand for trucks will increase.
"The core buyer of a full-size pickup can't substitute with a Corolla," he said. "We know a core group of those buyers are delaying their purchases right now. We remain, in the long term, confident of where the full-size pickup truck is going."
There's two types of pickup drivers in the world: Those who drive them because they need to, and those who don't need to but drive them anyway. The former group is going to be pretty stable, the latter one less so. Which is fine by me - the fewer cowboy/cowgirl wannabees out there menacing the streets, the better. Bring on the Corollas, I say.
Washington avenue is a strange and rapidly changing mix of old working-class development, much with a strong Hispanic flavor, and new high-end condos and townhomes aimed mostly at urban hipsters and wannabees. I think this picture captures all that:
I've driven past this little taqueria and its imposing new neighbors a bunch of times, and figured I'd better document it before someone buys the land the taqueria is on for more townhomes. One of these days I'll get around to doing a photo essay on the state of Washington Avenue today, much like I did with Montrose/Studemont. That way, when I want to tell my girls about how things used to be around here, I can show them as well.
Today is Olivia's fourth birthday, so as pretty much everyone at the convention I talked to knows, I headed back to Houston early today, and thus missed much of the action, including Chelsea Clinton's keynote address and Rick Noriega's speech and press conference - you can get video of the former here and text here, with a recording of the latter here. But that's okay. I went to Austin with three things in mind to do, and I did all three of them: Have fun, meet lots of people, and interview candidates. I'd have liked to do more of the third one, but I'll get a second chance at some of them in July for Netroots Nation. The ones I did do, look for them to be published over the next two weeks or so.
I met way too many cool people to have any hope of enumerating them, but I'll give a few shoutouts to State Reps. Rafael Anchia, Trey Martinez-Fischer, Roberto Alonzo, Marc Veasey, and Veronica Gonzalez; fellow bloggers and activists Josh Berthume, Julie Pippert, Susan Shelton, and Steve Whichard; media folk like Elise Hu, Carolyn Barta, and R.G. Ratcliffe; and many familiar faces, also far too numerous to name. By far, this is the best part of the convention experience; had I done nothing else, it would have made the trip worthwhile.
Plenty of my fellow bloggers will be picking up the slack of convention coverage - see BOR, Capitol Annex, The Texas Blue, and the various media pros, like Brandi Grissom, the Trail Blazers, and PoliTex, among others, for all the details.
I'll try to have my pictures up tomorrow; in the meantime, Muse, Miya, PDiddie, and Charlie have theirs, while Karen Brooks offers her take. Last but not least, can someone spring for Pink Lady to get a pedicure? Thanks.
The third biennial Blogger Caucus last night was a ton of fun, and very well attended. I'll post some pictures later, but for now I can say that we packed the Cedar Door, mostly on the back patio, and a good time was definitely had by all. There were bloggers, officeholders, candidates, assorted convention-goers, a few mainstream media members, and a whole lot of meeting and greeting and drinking. Thanks to everyone who attended, and I look forward to doing this again in 2010.
UPDATE: Racy Mind is first to post about the party.
UPDATE: Elise Hu, Carolyn Barta, McBlogger, Boadicea, and Jobsanger check in as well.
UPDATE: Pictures! I knew The Walker Report would deliver.
I'm afraid I'll have to miss this event.
Build a Republican campaign for Tom DeLay's old congressional seat and Dick Cheney will come.The vice president is scheduled to visit Houston billionaire Dan Duncan's home in River Oaks on Friday for a private, campaign fundraising event for congressional candidate Pete Olson of Sugar Land and the Texas Republican Party.
Olson is running for the 22nd Congressional District seat held by Democrat Nick Lampson of Stafford. Cheney is no stranger to the local political turf.
When DeLay was entangled in campaign ethics charges in late 2005, Cheney was the main attraction at a fundraising event in Houston for the seasoned Republican lawmaker. After DeLay resigned in 2006, Cheney raised campaign cash here for Republican Shelley Sekula Gibbs in her unsuccessful write-in campaign against Lampson that year.
So he raised money for DeLay, and DeLay resigned in disgrace. He raised money for Shelley Sekula Gibbs, and she lost. Now he's raising money for Pete Olson. Trifecta, anyone?
Cheney will make no public appearances on his round trip from Washington; his voyage will be billed to the Olson and state campaigns, according to spokeswoman Meghan Mitchell.Cheney, who has extremely low approval ratings in voter surveys and was criticized in former Bush press secretary Scott McClellan's new book, is more of an asset for Olson as a money magnet than as a campaigner, University of Houston political scientist Richard Murray said.
"When he has a 20 percent approval rating, you don't shop the guy around," Murray said. "But presumably, he has some ability to draw out some of the faithful contributors who have been sitting on their wallets until now."
Harris County GOP Chairman Jared Woodfill said, however, "The vice president is very popular among Republicans, and these are Republican donors that he is talking to."
Yes, he does symbolize the modern-day GOP very well. Have fun talking to yourselves, y'all.
The folks at the Toyota Center want to bring the Women's Final Four to Houston.
Toyota Center is among 12 sites under consideration to host the women's basketball Final Four in 2012-16.Finalists will be selected in August, and the host cities for the five-year cycle will be announced in November, the NCAA said Wednesday.
The group of cities to submit bids includes seven past hosts: Cleveland (2007), Indianapolis (2005), Kansas City (1998), New Orleans (1991 and 2004), Philadelphia (2000), San Antonio (2002) and Tampa, Fla. (2008).
Cities besides Houston seeking to host for the first time include Dallas; Denver; Columbus, Ohio; and Nashville, Tenn.
Houston officials submitted a bid for each of the five years. Toyota Center has a capacity of 18,043 for Rockets games.
"It's certainly a marquee event in the college landscape," said Doug Hall, vice president and general manager of Toyota Center.
After finalists are determined in August, NCAA officials will visit each city in September and October.
Each finalist will make a presentation to the Division I women's basketball committee in November.
We first heard about this back in January. The experience with the Men's South Regional finals this year was positive, and we've got a men's Final Four coming to town in 2011, so it's not like the city of Houston is virgin territory for this. And by 2012, most of the light rail expansion, which will include two east-west lines that will stop near the Toyota Center, will be in place as well. So I feel pretty confident we'll come away with something. I'll start saving up to buy tickets for the girls and me now.
I don't need a reason to vote for Barack Obama against John McCain, but if you do, consider that a McCain presidency would mean putting this guy back in power.
With the U.S. economy now battered by a tsunami of mortgage foreclosures, the $30-billion Bear Stearns Companies bailout and spiking food and energy prices, many congressional leaders and Wall Street analysts are questioning the wisdom of the radical deregulation launched by [former Sen. Phil] Gramm's legislative package. Financial wizard Warren Buffett has labeled the risky new investment instruments Gramm unleashed "financial weapons of mass destruction." They have fed the subprime mortgage crisis like an accelerant. While his distracted peers probably finalized their Christmas gift lists, Gramm created what Wall Street analysts now refer to as the "shadow banking system," an industry that operates outside any government oversight, but, as witnessed by the Bear Stearns debacle, requiring rescue by taxpayers to avert a national economic catastrophe.While the nation's investment bankers are paying a heavy price for their unbridled greed (in billions of dollars of write-offs), Gramm has fared quite nicely. He currently serves as a vice president at UBS AG, a colossal, Swiss-owned investment bank, the post, no doubt, a thank you for assiduously looking out for Wall Street interests during his 23 years in public office. Now, with the aid of his longtime friend Arizona Sen. John McCain, Gramm may be looking at a quantum leap in power and influence.
Gramm serves as co-chair of the McCain 2008 presidential campaign. As one of the candidate's chief economic advisers, he is mentioned as a possible secretary of the treasury in a McCain administration. Their friendship was forged in the Senate as they worked against the Clinton health care proposal, and cemented when McCain served as national chairman of Gramm's own (ill-fated) 1996 presidential bid.
Scary enough for you? The last thing this country needs is a return tour of governmental duty by Phil Gramm.
You know the drill by now, right?
The Texas Progressive Alliance
Proudly Presents
The Third Biennial Blogger's Caucus
Thursday, June 5, 2008
8:30 p.m. - Midnight
The Cedar Door
2nd and Brazos
Austin, Texas
If you've ever wanted to know what my capacity for beer drinking is, well, you should have known me in college when I was much better at it. But if you want to know what the older me looks like when quaffing a few, this is your best chance. See you there!
I think everyone knew this was coming, but it was still a bit of a surprise to actually hear.
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has decided to end her historic bid to become the first female president while leaving her options open to retain her delegates and promote her issues, including a signature call for universal health care.Hours after Sen. Barack Obama sealed the nomination, Democrats coalesced around his candidacy, sending a strong signal to Clinton that it was time to bow out.
The former first lady told House Democrats during a private conference call Wednesday that she will express support for Obama's candidacy and congratulate him for gathering the necessary delegates to be the party's nominee.
"Senator Clinton will be hosting an event in Washington, D.C., to thank her supporters and express her support for Senator Obama and party unity. This event will be held on Saturday to accommodate more of Senator Clinton's supporters who want to attend," her communications director Howard Wolfson said.
Also in the speech, Clinton will urge once-warring Democrats to focus on the general election and defeating Republican presidential candidate, Sen. John McCain.
I voted for Barack Obama in March, and have considered myself a supporter of his since February, but I thought long and hard about supporting Hillary Clinton. She was very strong on many issues, she clearly inspired millions of people, she fought valiantly, often against a frequently disgusting wave of sexism and misogyny, and whatever I may have thought about some aspects of her campaign or some of its less-admirable advisers, I never doubted that Hillary Clinton would have made an outstanding President, one that I would have been proud to vote for in November. She made history, and the fact that she has fallen short of her goal does not diminish what she has accomplished in doing so. She deserves our thanks, and so I say "Thank you, Hillary Clinton, for your service, your ideas, and your dedication." May there be many more like Hillary Clinton in the future.
To cap off Wind Energy Week here, I've got an interview with Tom Gray, the Communications Director for the American Wind Energy Association for your listening pleasure. We covered a wide range of topics such as the need for transmission lines, the question of public input on wind projects, the effect of wind farms on birds, and the future of renewable energy in general. The interview is here, as always in MP3 format. Give it a spin and let me know what you think.
(Note to David S. - I did not as the question about HB1200, because Tom Gray was not in a position to answer it, as he is a national guy and not a Texas guy.)
Finally, here's the Day 4 newsletter from the WindPower 2008 conference, which has wrapped up its business for this year. If you prefer more visual stuff, try their Flickr or YouTube pages. They'll be in Minneapolis next year, for anyone reading this who may be living out that way.
The Galveston option for housing excess inmates is off the table.
Harris County officials effectively have ruled out the idea of leasing a vacant jail in Galveston to reduce the number of inmates sent to Louisiana, saying it would be too hard to staff the facility and bring it up to current jail standards.Instead, the Commissioners Court on Tuesday approved one-year contracts with three Louisiana parishes to house up to 1,000 inmates at a cost of up to $15 million. The county already pays a private facility in northeast Louisiana to hold up to 730 prisoners.
County Judge Ed Emmett floated the idea of leasing the Galveston jail last month when the Sheriff's Office first asked for permission to send more inmates out of state. He said he worried about how hard it was for families and attorneys to visit prisoners hundreds of miles away from Harris County.
On Tuesday, however, Emmett said the idea was well-nigh dead.
"We were hopeful that, maybe, the Commission on Jail Standards would say it was a wonderful place, but I have a feeling that that's not really the case," he said after the Commissioners Court meeting.
No surprise there. I figured the need to provide jailers would be a stumbling block.
County leaders will discuss options for permanently easing jail overcrowding at a meeting on capital improvement projects later this month and at its mid-year budget review in September, Budget Officer Dick Raycraft said.
There's been plenty of discussion about this already, so there's no excuse for Commissioners Court to not be cognizant of their options. (If they need a refresher anyway, Grits is happy to provide one.) It's just a matter of how committed they will be to actually solving this problem. Will they take the tried-and-true "form a committee and study it in hopes everyone eventually forgets about it" approach, or will they take real action? I make the former a slight favorite, but I'll be happy to be wrong about that.
While we're enjoying the Democratic convention in Austin this weekend, Rick Noriega is doing his annual two week duty with the National Guard. While he's busy with that, he could use a little help. From an email sent out from the campaign by his wife, Houston City Council Member Melissa Noriega:
This week and the next, my husband Rick Noriega will take leave of his campaign to perform mandatory National Guard Annual Training (AT).During this time, I will be joined by several prominent Texans in the effort to "Fill Rick's Boots" on the campaign trail.
Each of us has agreed to give several hours of our time to raise funds for Rick's campaign while he is away. I'm honored to fill in for my husband. And I am hoping you will join me and help us "Fill Rick's Boots."
We've set an ambitious $50,000 online fundraising goal for the 2 weeks that he's gone, and there are 2 ways you can help right now:
1) Make a donation -- every dollar counts in a race as competitive and in a state as big as ours. Rick may not be able to make phone calls or hold campaign events, but we can fill in for him while he's on duty so that he has the resources he needs to take on John Cornyn. Click here to contribute towards our $50,000 fundraising goal today!
2) Take just a few minutes to sign up as a Fill Rick's Boots Fundraiser and put up your own online fundraising page for our campaign. Then invite your friends and family to donate on your page. You'll be able to track your fundraising progress online. Not only will you be helping raise the funds we need to take on John Cornyn this fall, but you'll also play a key role in spreading the word about Rick Noriega. Creating your own page is easy -- just click here to get started!
Please help if you can. Thanks very much.
Is this a sign of things to come?
High gas prices are causing spot shortages of bikes in New York City, as commuters turn to pedal power.Many of these new cyclists are from areas not commonly associated with the "Bike Belt" -- neighborhoods such as the Upper West Side and Williamsburg in Brooklyn -- but are instead from Queens and other places where driving to work has long been common and affordable. With gas costing nearly $4 a gallon, these commuters are switching to bikes, leaving some stores short on fashionable brands and preferred colors.
The owner of Dixon's Bicycle Shop in Park Slope, Brooklyn, David Dixon, said that over Memorial Day weekend, his store sold all 25 of its Jamis hybrid bikes -- a cross between a racing bike and a mountain bike that sells for between $285 and $335 and is favored among commuters. Early this week, Mr. Dixon called Jamis to order about 50 more bikes and was told that a shipment wouldn't arrive until the end of the week. "They're all gone. It's wicked," Mr. Dixon said. "This isn't usual at all. The price of gas is affecting everyone."
"We ended up selling very heavily," the owner of Bicycle Habitat in SoHo, Charles McCorkell, said. "I thought there would be a shortage."
Peter Wang, please pick up the white courtesy phone...
OK, I don't actually think that Houstonians are going to make a run on the local bike shops. But if gas prices are leading to an increase in transit usage, it's not crazy to think that more people will consider even cheaper alternatives. Link via Yglesias.
Gov. Rick Perry today set the Nov. 4 general election day as the date for the special election to replace retiring state Sen. Kyle Janek, R-Houston, in Senate District 17.The winner will serve until Janek's current term expires in January 2011.
The filing deadline for the special election is 5 p.m. Aug. 29 with the Texas secretary of state. Early voting will run from Oct. 20 to Oct. 31.
Perry's choice appears to knock out state Reps. Scott Hochberg, D-Houston, and Charlie Howard, R-Sugar Land, because they would have to give up their legislative seats to run for the Senate on the same day they are seeking re-election.
Republican activist Austen Furst (sic) has said he will run for the seat.
Former Harris County Republican Party chairman Gary Polland also has indicated an interest in running.
Other possible candidates include former U.S. Rep. Chris Bell, D-Houston, and former state Rep. Brad Wright, R-Houston.
That's the first I've heard of Brad Wright. A fellow named Grant Harpold had tossed his hat in the ring a couple of weeks ago. It's almost surely the case that some folks will drop in and out of this; the Republicans would prefer to have one candidate, so as to avoid a runoff for a seat they believe they will win. As such, expect there to be some arm-twisting, at least if Furse gains enough traction among the powers-that-be, or conversely if they decide they can do better. And regarding Bell, I hope the recent polling numbers are enough to get him in the game. I believe he'd have plenty of support if he chooses to make the run.
This is well-timed.
A federal court judge said Tuesday he needs time to sort through a complicated legal challenge brought by the King Ranch and several environmental groups that want to stop a massive wind farm near the South Texas Gulf Coast.U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel will have to decide if a mid-1990s federal Coastal Zone Management Act requires the state to conduct public hearings before a wind farm can be approved -- if it affects private property and if the environmental groups have a right to sue.
"We are a private company building a private project on private property without federal funds," said lawyer Tom Watkins, representing Babcock & Brown, an Australian company building one of the projects.
Watkins suggested to Yeakel that operators of the King Ranch simply "don't want a wind farm put in next to them."
[...]
The Coastal Zone Management Plan created a partnership between the state and federal governments, and Texas can't shirk its duty to regulate such projects as the proposed wind farm, said Houston lawyer Jim Blackburn, who represents the Coastal Habitat Alliance.
Without public participation in hearings on the wind farm projects, "we believe our property rights were taken away," Blackburn said.
Lawyers for the wind farm developers said wind farms are not like electric utilities, which are subject to regulation.
I don't think the argument that wind farms should be subject to some kind of public hearings - yes, even privately-funded ones on private land, if they're big enough in scope - is unreasonable. I do think that such a process should be less onerous than they would be for traditional, environmentally-unfriendly utilities. That's not legally relevant for this suit, but I think it could provide a framework for a settlement. Perhaps that will happen if the suit is allowed to go forward, given how expensive and time-consuming it would be.
On a side note, here's the latest newsletter from WindPower 08. I'm going to have the opportunity to talk to a couple of AWEA staffers, and I'm looking forward to asking them about stuff like this.
This is what the bloggers caucus at the 2004 Democratic convention in Houston looked like:
Lots of quality, to be sure, but not much quantity. This year, building on our success in 2006, will be a whole lot bigger. If you're in Austin for the convention this week, you need to be there at The Cedar Door, 2nd and Brazos, from 8:30 to midnight tomorrow. See you there!
I'm ready for November. How about you?
PS: "Did we say Hillary will save us? We meant Obama will save us!"
Here's an update to the latest lawsuit filed by the Ibarra brothers and some other people against the Harris County Sheriff's Office.
Sgt. C.A. Sandoval has been named as a defendant along with Sheriff Tommy Thomas and other deputies in the federal case, which claims the sheriff's department retaliates against people who file civil rights complaints. Municipal court judge and law professor April Walker, husband and wife Lloyd and Loretta Henderson and brothers Sean and Erik Ibarra filed the lawsuit.Sandoval was originally not part of the lawsuit, but was added Monday after a friend of the Hendersons alleged the officer tried to put words in his mouth while questioning him last week about Lloyd Henderson.
The friend, Joe Burroughs, said he believed Sandoval was trying to make him say negative things about Henderson, who had complained of civil rights violations after a deputy threw him to the ground and handcuffed him last fall.
In another matter, the Harris County District Attorney's Office withdrew a subpoena ordering Walker to appear before a grand jury June 19 to testify about her actions leading up to her arrest on a charge of impersonating a public servant, her attorney said.
That charge was dismissed two days later after it was proved Walker is a judge. But after filing a civil rights complaint with the sheriff about her arrest, Walker received a subpoena last month ordering her to appear before a grand jury.
A district attorney's investigator notified Walker on Monday the subpoena has been canceled and said the investigation into her actions have been suspended, said Walker's attorney, Lloyd Kelley.
So here's a thought to ponder: Do you think it's possible that Tommy Thomas might resign sometime before November? He's battling multiple lawsuits, and having Wayne Dolcefino on your tail is never a comforting thing. Bear in mind that a resignation more than 74 days out - August 25, by my count - means that no Republican would appear on the ballot; after that, it'd still be Thomas in the R slot. See the relevant Election Code statutes for details, or just recall what happened with Tom DeLay in 2006. I doubt there'd be that much enthusiasm for a write-in candidacy, though I must admit that Shelley Sekula Gibbs is available as a candidate and is no doubt ready to serve her Party as needed.
Anyway, just something to contemplate. We now return to your regularly scheduled drumbeat of bad news for Tommy Thomas.
Marc Campos brings up a touchy subject.
There has been a debate brewing to bring instant replay into Major League Baseball. That's a very bad and dumb idea. I really don't think it is something that baseball fans want. We accept the fact that there will be blown calls by umpires. Was it fair or foul? Did it hit the yellow line? Did he make the tag? Did he trap the ball? I can't recall an instance in which an umpire's blown call help decide a playoff contender or World Serious champ.
Um, Don Denkinger? In Game 6 of the 1985 World Series? It's only one of the worst calls of all time, and it most definitely had an effect on the outcome; just ask any Cardinals fan, and wait till they stop sputtering and swearing.
Now while I agree that instant replay in general is a bad idea for baseball, I do think there are two specific situations where it could be reasonably used. One is for fair/foul calls on home runs, or in cases where a possible home run is ruled to have been in play. These are really tough calls for umpires, especially since they're often a hundred feet or more from where the ball is at the critical moment. An ump will ask a colleague for help when he didn't get a good view of a play; the only difference here is that since there isn't - and can't be - anyone else in better position to see what happened, we should consider letting technology help out. The same case can be made for some fair/foul calls; the reason why it's only for reviewing calls of fair is because once a ball is called foul, the play ends, so you can't really restore equity in the event of a reversal.
In all honesty, I'm not opposed to the concept of replay being used more widely than that, but I can't see such a proposal having any chance of being accepted, and I think Campos' point about the time factor is a valid one. The argument about "it's always been this way, fans expect some bad calls", however, doesn't really move me. If we can do better, why shouldn't we try? Baseball used to have fewer than four umps in a game; two or three was the norm for a long time, and one was once the rule. We changed the way that was, and got better officiating as a result. Tradition isn't always a positive thing.
Frankly, once the technology has improved to a certain level, I hope there's a move to make ball-and-strike calls done by a video pitch tracking system, whose still-primitive ancestors are available now. Speaking as someone who's done it at a Babe Ruth League level, calling pitches is hard, almost impossibly so for Major League hurlers. Have you ever seen a game that didn't feature multiple questions about the strike zone? Again I say, if we can do it better, why wouldn't we want to? I have no illusion about the resistance to such a change, but I don't see how this doesn't happen some day. I just hope I live long enough to see it.
The Harris County Sheriff's Office has disbanded its surveillance unit, which came under criticism after it was revealed its officers watched two brothers who sued the county for civil rights violations.The Investigative Support Unit's image has become so tarnished that it cannot be repaired, said Chief Deputy Danny Billingsley, who dismantled the squad Monday after discussing the issue with Sheriff Tommy Thomas.
Its duties consisted almost entirely of surveillance requested by various sheriff's divisions, such as homicide, internal affairs, narcotics and vice -- as well as by smaller police departments asking for help, he said.
The squad -- which conducted surveillance of homicide suspects before their arrests and some sheriff's office employees suspected of illegally collecting worker's compensation -- was not supervised as closely as it should have been, Billingsley said.
But he denied its officers were deployed for political purposes as some have alleged.
"Contrary to what some may believe, this unit was not out going around spying on innocent citizens just trying to gather dirt," Billingsley said Tuesday. "We have enough real cases that come in with information that we just don't do that. There's no need to do that."
The unit drew criticism after it was revealed its officers watched Sean and Erik Ibarra for three days last fall before the brothers' civil rights lawsuit went to trial -- even though both already had been cleared of criminal charges.
[...]
State Sen. Rodney Ellis called the squad's disbandment good news, but said he still wants a full investigation of its activities -- who it investigated, why and at whose direction.
"There just ought to be a level of transparency there," Ellis said Tuesday. "There's a world of difference between an investigation in a worker's comp case and an investigation because somebody filed a civil rights complaint."
Billingsley, who said he has requested a full report of the squad's activities, said he believes much of the criticism is unfair. But he acknowledged the squad's reputation had become a problem.
"It gets down to perception. If people perceive these (deputies) are out doing stuff they shouldn't be doing, how do you repair that image?" Billingsley said.
I couldn't say it any better myself. Maybe someday, some kind of surveillance unit can be reassembled, with a more tightly focused mission and better oversight. Having it be under new management wouldn't hurt, either. In the meantime, I agree that a formal investigation, by someone who's been actually paying attention would be advisable, so we can clear the air and understand just what went wrong and how it happened, so that we can be sure it doesn't happen again.
There may or may not be a change of direction afoot at the Texas Department of Transportation, but there will be some changes coming whether TxDOT wants them or not.
Saying big changes are needed to restore trust in the Texas Department of Transportation, the Sunset Advisory Commission staff is recommending a revamp of its governing board, project planning, and dealings with lawmakers and the public.The commission's report, to be released today, comes in the wake of controversy over planned public-private partnerships on toll roads, the route of the proposed Trans-Texas Corridor transportation network and questions concerning agency funding figures. The Houston Chronicle obtained a copy of the report.
"The Sunset review of the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) occurred against a backdrop of distrust and frustration with the Department and the demand for more transparency, accountability, and responsiveness," the report says. "Many expressed concerns that TxDOT was 'out of control,' advancing its own agenda against objections of both the Legislature and the public."
The report says, "tweaking the status quo is simply not enough" to restore trust.
The report is here, in all its 157-page PDF glory. The Texas Politics blog has a brief bullet-point summary.
Among the proposed changes, the staff recommends replacing the five-member commission with a single commissioner, who would have a two-year term rather than the current six-year term. The shorter term would put the required confirmation before the Senate more often, giving lawmakers more oversight."We wouldn't have a problem with that," said Allison Castle, a spokeswoman for Gov. Rick Perry, of the proposal to change from five appointed commissioners to one.
The commissioner, however, still would be appointed by the governor, leaving room for concern by opponents of TxDOT's policies. That's because the policies pushed by the Texas Transportation Commission are in sync with those of Perry, who names the commissioners. Opponents of those policies would prefer an elected commissioner or commissioners.
"I wasn't as much of a stickler on whether there was one, three or five. The most important thing is that they're elected positions," said Sal Costello of TexasTollParty.com. "It gets right down to who's accountable."
Making the position of TxDOT Chair an elected one is certainly reasonable; I've seen similar and also reasonable proposals to make Secretary of State and HHSC Commissioner elected positions as well. It must be noted that the ability to make such appointments is one of the chief powers explicitly granted to the Governor; taking that away would significantly weaken the office. That may be appealing when the governorship is held by the likes of Rick Perry, but it may lose some of that luster when the office is occupied by someone who actually cares about good governance. That doesn't mean I wouldn't support this idea - I consider myself neutral on it for now - but it's not something that should be undertaken lightly.
On a related note, Burka thinks that TxDOT Chair Diane Delisi's recent statements means that the Trans Texas Corridor - by which he means "the grandiose plan conceived by Ric Williamson -- a network of privatized toll roads criss-crossing Texas with a 1,200-foot right of way, and funded by upfront payments" - is dead. I hope he's right.
Get ready for another fight over how we teach kids.
After feuding for months over how to teach schoolchildren to read, the State Board of Education soon will shift to a topic that could become more controversial -- the science curriculum.Science, after all, involves biology. And biology is built on the theory of evolution, raising fears among some observers that social conservatives on the 15-member panel will try to shade textbooks with religion.
"The issue is ... whether or not creationism will be taught alongside evolution as science, which will absolutely undermine our kids' science education and their ability to compete for the best colleges and jobs of the 21st century," said Kathy Miller, president of the Texas Freedom Network, an Austin-based organization that advocates religious freedom and individual liberties.
Those fears amount to hogwash, says board Vice Chairman David Bradley, R-Beaumont.
"I hate to take the air out of their balloon. They're going to be very disappointed if they come for a fight," said Bradley, a leader among the board's social conservatives. "The only thing that this board is going to do is ask for accuracy."
It's been 11 years since the state of Texas last updated standards for the science curriculum in its public schools. Things change. Pluto, for example, lost its status as a planet two years ago, but students in Texas still see it listed in textbooks as a planet in Earth's solar system.
The State Board of Education recently finished a three-year rewrite of standards for the English-language arts and reading curriculum. Some called the process tortured, with revisions slipped under members' hotel-room doors in the hours just before a final 9-6 board vote.
That was quite the fiasco. See Vince and EOW for more on that.
David Hillis, a biology professor at the University of Texas at Austin, predicted some board members would try to "replace real science with religious instruction." He warned that the "intelligent design" theory preferred by evolution skeptics, which holds that living things are too complex to be the result of natural selection, has no scientific support or basis."We should rely on scientists to establish the science standards, not nonexperts with a particular religious or political agenda to promote," Hillis said.
Board members say it is unlikely that intelligent design will even be considered. More likely is a fight over whether to keep an existing requirement that teachers present both the strengths and weaknesses of scientific theories, including evolution.
[...]
Bradley said he does not foresee any successful effort to remove the "strengths and weaknesses" requirement from the science standards.
"Evolution is not fact. Evolution is a theory and, as such, cannot be proven," he said. "Students need to be able to jump to their own conclusions."
It may sound like a good idea to require teachers to point out the weaknesses of scientific theories, but Hillis contends that when it comes to evolution, "its main purpose is to introduce religious ideas and anti-science ideas into the science classroom."
"The fact that biological populations evolve is not in question," he said. "Evolution is an easily observable phenomenon, and has been documented beyond any reasonable doubt. The 'theory' part of evolutionary theory concerns the experiments, observations, and models that explain how populations evolve."
Whenever you hear someone refer to evolution as "just a theory", you know they're speaking from ignorance. We need much better than that from the SBOE.
Commissioners Court will vote today on a plan to fast-track development of a segment of the Grand Parkway between I-10 and 290.
The long-standing plan to build a 180-mile parkway, a four-lane toll road also called Texas 99, is conceived as an "outer outer" loop around Houston and has drawn fire from environmentalists as a magnet for sprawl.Developers and other supporters say that growth will come anyway and that the parkway would be better than a hodgepodge of unplanned roads.
Precinct 3 Commissioner Steve Radack said Monday that he pushed to fast-track Segment E "because we have to figure out a way to help with the incredible traffic on U.S. 290.
"The short-term solution," Radack said, "is to get Segment E built and get them onto the Katy Freeway. It takes people almost two hours to get from Hockley to downtown Houston."
[...]
County Judge Ed Emmett said that under the county's proposal, the Harris County Toll Road Authority would build and operate Segment E while continuing to negotiate with TxDOT over rights to develop the rest of the parkway.
If the talks break down, he said, the segment would pass to TxDOT, which would pay HCTRA for its costs up to that point.
Emmett and TxDOT spokeswoman Raquelle Lewis said the idea had been broached informally between the two agencies.
The Grand Parkway as planned includes 11 segments through parts of seven counties. The only ones completed are the 19-mile Segment D, from the Southwest Freeway to the Katy Freeway, which is not tolled, and a 9-mile segment from the East Freeway to FM 1405 near Baytown that is scheduled to be tolled in the fall.
Although Segment E would begin at Franz Road in a fast-growing area of suburban Katy, the only major residential developments near the proposed 15.2-mile route lie near the two freeways and along Texas 6 to the east. Two-thirds of the road would go through mostly open country.
I'm going to outsource this one to Robin Holzer of the CTC, who sent out an email last night listing all the reasons this is such a poor idea:
We know that it's critically important to plan for our future transportation needs. So why wouldn't we want to build segment E of the proposed Grand Parkway? There are many reasons:Spend our tax dollars where the people are. Harris County must first and foremost serve the needs of current taxpayers. That means focusing on transportation projects that will benefit the majority of Harris County residents who live and work in our densest, busiest areas. It does not mean building a highway across largely-uninhabited areas to benefit a handful of spec builders.
There is almost no existing demand for this roadway. Further, the population growth models on which the travel demand models rely, assume (circularly) that this roadway will be built. The Gulf Coast Institute recently analyzed GIS census data for the this area. They found that in 2005, of the 80,420 people who lived within 3 miles of the proposed segment E route, almost 66,000 - 82% - of them lived within 3 miles of either IH-10 or US-290. The analysis reveals that fewer than 15,000 people lived along the proposed route of segment E. The Katy Prairie is not where the people are.
Invest in the priority projects instead. Even as a toll road, this project won't be free. Every County project poses an opportunity cost in the form of other projects the County is unable to take on. Reconstructing the congested US-290/IH-610 interchange which affects hundreds of thousands of current taxpayer-travelers, or extending the Hardy Toll Road to downtown, are more important projects.
Segment E would subject thousands to worse traffic congestion. This proposed roadway is expected to lure another 100,000 people or more to live in a far-flung area with inadequate infrastructure to serve them. Worse, an analysis by the Gulf Coast Institute revealed that in 2005 there were only a scant 2,257 jobs in the proposed corridor. That means that more than 97% of residents would be entirely dependent on cars for travel. Rather than relieving traffic congestion, segment E would create significant additional congestion on US-290 and IH-10.
Invest in local access instead. As the Houston Chronicle detailed last month, Harris County residents aren't clamoring for new highways; they need new ways to get to the store (May 5, 2008 "Suburbanites ran, but couldn't hide, from traffic pain"). Before we build any new highways, the County should invest in the local streets and sidewalks county residents need to live their daily lives.
Residential patterns are changing. With $3/gallon gas behind us and $4/gallon gas just ahead, Harris County residents are making different choices. Many people are choosing to live closer to where they work, and for most people, that means closer to central Houston. Investing in roads that assume people will continue to want to live ever-farther out just isn't a smart bet any more.
Harris County residents value Katy Prairie wildlife and habitat. The Katy Prairie is a world-renowned ecosystem for wildlife habitat, and hosts thousands of species of birds. Thousands of people annually visit northwest Harris County from all over the world to experience the birding opportunities available in this coastal prairie habitat. These visitors represent a small economic engine - ecotourism - that Harris County should develop and benefit from.
Katy Prairie includes strategic agricultural land. As fuel costs continue to rise, shipping food long distances will get less and less economical. As our region continues to grow, access to secure local food supplies will become more and more important.
To put it somewhat less delicately, who cares how long it takes to drive from Hockley into Houston? How is it possible that that is a substantial enough concern to warrant spending this much money on making it faster to get from Hockley into Houston?
[The Grand Parkway Association's David] Gornet said construction of Segment E could start in early 2009 and be completed in 2013 for about $450 million.
The argument that I always hear when I compare the costs of road building to that of transit is that we get more bang for the buck building roads. Putting aside the question of how true that equation will continue to be as gas prices continue to soar, how is it possible that Segment E of the Grand Parkway will do more for mobility than any piece of the Metro Rail expansion as of the year 2013? Maybe the people who would be living there twenty or thirty years from now will derive enough benefit to make this worthwhile, but then as Robin notes if we don't build it, maybe they won't decide to live out there. So why make this choice, when there are so many other things that can help people get where they need to go right now?
Commissioners Court will take up the matter this morning at 10 AM at the Harris County Administration Building, 1001 Preston, 9th floor chamber. If you want to express an opinion on this, that would be the time and place to do so.
UPDATE: As noted in the sidebar here, they voted for this. No surprise, unfortunately.
The Chron has an announcement from the WindPower 08 conference that's good news for Houston:
Dutch powerhouse Vestas Wind Systems said it will open its first U.S. research and development facility here. The office will open in 2009 and grow to about 100 researchers by early 2010, not including support staff, with more positions likely to come."Large-scale renewable energy has to be done in conjunction with major energy companies," said Ditlev Engel, Vestas chief executive. "There's no either-or with renewable and traditional fossil fuels. You need them all."
The announcement came during the American Wind Energy Association's annual Wind Power conference, which is in Houston for the first time this year and runs through Wednesday. More than 12,000 attendees have registered for the conference at the George R. Brown Convention Center. The conference features panel discussions, hundreds of exhibitors and a job fair.
Texas leads the nation in wind power, with 5,300 megawatts on line, enough to power more than 1.5 million homes, according to the Department of Energy.
In addition to BP and Shell's wind operations, Houston is home to Horizon Wind Energy, a wind developer that was acquired by Portuguese energy giant Energias de Portugal, as well as the wind development offices for international investment firm Babcock & Brown.
Munich, Germany-based Siemens, the third-largest wind turbine manufacturer, has maintenance staff and a training facility in Houston.
And the University of Houston is part of a consortium that will operate a wind blade test facility planned near Corpus Christi.
Houston Mayor Bill White noted Monday the city is already one of the largest public purchasers of wind power.
"Our goal is that Houston will not just be the energy capital of the world, but for renewables and energy efficiency," White said.
KHOU and Miya have more. I actually got a press release from the Land Commissioner's office about this last week, but it got lost in the to-be-blogged-about pile. I've reprinted that release beneath the fold, along with a release from Michael Skelly about his press conference with Gen. Wesley Clark; there's also a short story in the Chron about this. And finally, the newsletter from Day 2 of the conference is here. More to come as we go.
From the General Land Office:
Sunday marks the beginning of North America's largest wind energy conference, Windpower 2008 in Houston, where officials are expected to announce a historic new federal wind blade test facility will be built on the Texas coast. Governor Perry is scheduled to provide the conference keynote address."The Texas wind energy industry will reach critical mass with this announcement," said Jerry Patterson, Commissioner of the Texas General Land Office and leading proponent of wind energy. "Not only will Texas lead the nation in installed windpower capacity, we will be poised to be the one-stop shop for research, manufacturing and production of wind turbines."
To be built through an innovative public-private partnership led by the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the facility will test ind turbine blades for use in commercial wind farms around the world. The testing lab will be built in Ingleside near Corpus Christi on land donated by BP.
"Once we build this test facility in Texas, the wind turbine and blade manufacturers will come," Patterson said. "Just like when the federal government put the space center in Houston, this test facility will launch new wind blade research and manufacturing jobs in Texas. This facility will establish Texas as a worldwide leader in wind power for decades to come."
Patterson also noted a Texas-based test facility will give the U.S. an advantage in getting a bigger share of the projected $80 billion annual international business in designing and building turbines.
Under Patterson's leadership, Texas signed the nation's first six leases for the development of offshore wind power. Texas is primed for wind industry development, Patterson said.
"Texas has deep industrial know-how based on our history of oil and gas development. Texas has strong gulf winds, the political will and the infrastructure, like transportation and deep-water ports, to make our state the perfect site for this fast-growing industry," Patterson said.
And no coastal state has greater wind energy potential than Texas. Texas could generate as much as 10 gigawatts of offshore wind energy, according to resource assessments conducted by the University of Houston. The nation's cumulative wind power capacity is currently 9,971 megawatts, approximately half of which is installed in Texas. The booming growth of the wind industry in Texas makes the state a natural fit for the testing of the huge turbine components required for future wind farms.
From Michael Skelly:
Houston businessman and Congressional candidate Michael Skelly was joined by General Wesley Clark and a number of U.S. Military Veterans at the WindPower 2008 Conference on Monday to discuss the role of renewable energy in U.S. national security. Skelly, an energy entrepreneur, emphasized the need to focus on domestically produced renewable energy as a means to decrease U.S. dependence on foreign oil."As long as the U.S. relies on massive energy imports, we are, in a very real way, at the mercy of a small number of oil-exporting countries," Skelly said. "These countries use our dependence as a weapon."
General Clark reiterated the need for energy independence, citing a number of foreign policy issues that are impacted by dependence on foreign oil.
"We are more dependent on fossil fuels than ever," General Clark said. "But we have the technology to start making changes. The wind energy sector that Michael has been so pivotal in advancing is a perfect place to start. That's why we need people like Michael leading the charge in Congress."
Skelly argued that if we increase investment in homegrown energy sources, such as increased domestic production of oil and gas, and solar and wind, we will decrease the leverage that oil-exporting countries have over us and become significantly stronger as a nation.
General Wesley K. Clark is a former presidential candidate and was the Supreme Allied Commander of NATO from 1997 to 2000. He graduated first in his class from West Point and received a Rhodes Scholarship. General Clark has been a leading advocate for responsible troop deployment and sensible long-term military planning.
Michael Skelly is running for Congress in the 7th Congressional District of Texas. Skelly came to the U.S. from Ireland with his family when he was two years old aboard the S.S. America, arriving on American shores with only $200 to their name. He went on to graduate from the University of Notre Dame and Harvard Business School, and to become a leading innovator in his field. He built his energy company, Horizon Wind Energy, from the ground up. Nine years later, it is a multi-billion dollar operation, the third largest wind energy company in the country. By the end of the year, the Houston-based business will provide electricity to nearly one million American homes.
Michael serves on Mayor White's Green Building Advisory Committee and is a longtime member of the board of the American Wind Energy Association. He lives with his wife Anne and three children in West University Place.
The WindPower 2008 Conference was chaired by Skelly and sponsored by the American Wind Energy Association.
I've admitted my newfound interest in Twitter. It's a useful and oddly compelling toy service, but I hope someone puts me out of my misery if it ever comes to this:
With all the frustration, confusion, and support going towards Twitter this week, a break from Twitter might be just want the doctor ordered. This weekend users have been asking for alternatives to Twitter. In this post we answer that question in a variety of ways. Here's a look at several alternatives to Twitter both online and offline, that will help reduce Twitter's stress levels and temporarily minimize user frustrations.[...]
If you'd rather not make a switch to another service, try these offline alternatives to Twitter:
- Phone
- Events
- Parks
- Meetings
- Fairs
- Parties/Clubs
Found, naturally, via Twitter. As John says, I hope that's a joke. And if you're wondering what the joke is, then I'll remind you that my Twitterings can be found at http://twitter.com/kuff. Just try not to get too stressed out when you can't get to them.
It's time for another edition of the Texas Progressive Alliance's weekly blog round-up--the pre-Convention edition. Don't forget about the Third Biennial Texas Blogger's Caucus set for this Thursday at 8:30 p.m. at the Cedar Door in Austin. Joe Jaworski, Sherrie Matula, Melissa Noriega, and more will be joining us! Click on for the highlights.
WCNews at Eye On Williamson posts on A Texas Myth: The Citizen Legislator.BossKitty at BlueBloggin points out that Bush has been successful in preventing accountability and that Bush is at Center of an Intelligence Leak in The Leaky Bush - Probable Cause For Treason.
Captain Kroc declares that McBlogger now has a patron saint. That means we're protected so don't mess with us or we'll have our BFF, God, gut punch you.
PDiddie at Brains and Eggs had some questions for Boyd Richie.
Vince from Capitol Annex reviews the Texas Legislative Study Group's excellent recommendations concerning what the Texas Legislature needs to do to improve higher education.
North Texas Liberal thanks Michelle Malkin for letting us know why we should boycott Rachael Ray, the terrorist scarf-wearing daytime chef.
CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme crowns Victoria DA Steve Tyler the new DA Hissy Fit after the grand jury indicts the Victoria Police Chief and former City Attorney. Both may have used the Victoria Advocate newspaper to prod the child rape investigation of Tyler's chief of staff.
WhosPlayin? takes a humorous look at how Rep Michael Burgess (R, TX-26) missed the mark again with recent comments, showing how out of touch he is with his middle-class constituents.
The burning question at Doing My Part For The Left is will Republicans return Rev, Hagee's hate money.
Off the Kuff completes his early tour of the Harris County races with a peek at the race for Harris County Department of Education Trustee, which in a normal year would be a pretty low-profile affair. Of course, as we know, this is anything but a normal year.
The Texas Cloverleaf tells us how Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples wants to support the communist Cuban regime.
Texas Kaos gets into the nuts and bolts of coming events. If you're headed to Austin for the Texas Democratic State Convention this week, check out this Netroots Nation convention in Austin we're preparing for a great service event, Netroots for the Troops to prepare care packages for those who are putting themselves into harms way as our nation has asked them to do.
Rock pioneer Bo Diddley dies at age 79
Bo Diddley was a musical innovator who helped forge the sound and contributed to the style of rock 'n' roll. He sported a trademark fedora, played an iconic square-shaped guitar and from it he extracted a deep, rusty reverb and a peculiar playing style that influenced generations of players.Diddley died Monday of heart failure at his home in Archer, Fla.; he was 79. He'd been in ill health for much of the past year, having suffered a stroke and a heart attack in 2007.
Prior to those ailments, though, Diddley remained a vigorous performer, continuing to tour regularly, as he'd done since he began performing in the mid '50s, when he helped shape rock 'n' roll.
"He was by far the most underrated of any '50s star,'' says producer Phil Spector. "You listen to those (reissued box sets) and the rhythmic invention, the consistent high quality of imagination and performance, the excellence of the writing, the power of the vocals - nobody else ever did it better or had a deeper, more penetrating influence.''
Perhaps no guitarist was more influenced by Diddley's sound and style than ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons, who carries on Diddley's tradition of strange-looking instruments and full-bodied guitar riffs with prickly solos.
Gibbons called Diddley "the 'artiste.'
"He was the man who constructed the sound we all grew to revolve around,'' he said. "And a vision of simplicity delivered through effortless expression and sense of humor. Many times, Bo made a point to say, 'I'll always be around,' and we know he will.''
Or, to put it another way:
Rest in peace, Bo Diddley.
I tried, I really did, to work up some outrage over this story about public officials using a plane from the state's fleet instead of a commercial flight, but I couldn't quite do it. None of the examples cited are egregious enough to make me care; the ones that would have been so had they been funded by taxpayer dollars were paid for by the users of the plane. You can have a discussion about the purpose this thing and whether it's being used properly, but based on what I read it'd be mostly splitting hairs. There's bigger fish to fry than that.
Two points of interest to note:
Then-Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn and [Governor Rick] Perry talked about selling the planes during the 2003 budget crunch.[...]
The fleet, previously under the State Aircraft Pooling Board, was targeted by Strayhorn and Perry in 2003 when the state faced a $10 billion budget shortfall. Strayhorn then said selling the planes and associated property would yield $18.2 million. Perry vetoed the pooling board, but the fleet was transferred to TxDOT.
Perry spokeswoman Kristi Piferrer said Perry "doesn't really have an opinion one way or another" now about whether the fleet should be maintained. She said, "His main priority has always been that aircraft are used for state business and are operated on a cost recovery basis."
I'm just amused that for all of the Governor's privatization fetishes, from tolls roads to the Lottery, he drew the line at the state's fleet of airplanes. You'd think that would have been a natural fit, especially given the time when the idea was floated, but apparently not. Go figure.
[Michael Quinn Sullivan of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility] said $18 million is a small percentage of the state's $152.5 billion two-year budget but added, "It's not a small amount of money ... You take the richest person in Texas, and they notice when $18 million is gone."
Sullivan must have pitched this story, because he's quoted throughout. As is often the case when his name pops up, his math is a little funny. According to Forbes Magazine, the richest person living in Texas is Alice Walton, whose net worth is a tidy $19 billion. That means that $18 million represents less than 0.1% of her wealth, or less than a dime for every hundred dollars. She'd notice it, but I doubt she'd give it much thought. In terms of the state budget, which is eight times greater than that (when you count federal monies), it's a bit more than a penny for every $100. Like I said, there's bigger fish to fry.
For the most part, the wind power industry is doing well in Texas.
Wind power in Texas was mostly a curiosity in 2000 when the state first opened its wholesale electric markets to competition. About 300 turbines were spinning away in rural West Texas, creating a mere 200 megawatts of power.Today the state has 5,300 megawatts on line, 25 times more than in 2000 and enough power to light more than 1.5 million homes.
Texas topped ecofriendly California as the largest wind producer in the U.S. in 2006 and is on track to pass some countries in installed wind generation in the coming years, including giants China and India. With another 44,000 megawatts in wind projects on the drawing board, the forecast is for continued growth for years.
But challenges, both economic and environmental, may be looming.
The capacity to move power from West Texas' growing fleet of wind turbines to the state's energy-hungry cities is tapped out, leaving many turbines idle.
Solving the problem will require spending billions of dollars to build hundreds of miles of new transmission lines, the costs of which will be shared by all Texas electric customers.
I blogged about that in April. This is a drum I plan to bang next year when the Legislature convenes; it's also something I hope our Congressional delegation is working on. If there was ever a good time to fully utilize our capacity for wind power, it's now.
There are other issues, of course, including the continuing fight over the Kenedy Ranch wind farm project. Overall, though, I feel pretty optimistic about the future of wind power in Texas. As it happens, there's a big conference on wind energy going on at the George R. Brown Convention Center this week, the Windpower 2008 conference - you can see its first newsletter for the event here. Among the speakers will be CD07 candidate Michael Skelly, who knows a thing or two about the business; he'll be joined by Gen. Wesley Clark at 11:30 AM on the second floor of the GRB to discuss energy and national security issues. That ought to be cool. Details are here (PDF); other conference and speaker information can be found here. Check it out if you can.
My reaction to this Chron story about how Child Protective Services is just a well-intentioned but misunderstood agency that made a few mistakes that maybe we can now see in retrospect is pretty much the same as Grits' reaction.
We're still battling the effects of CPS' successful public relations campaign against FLDS group, including but not limited to their claims that:* 60% of teen girls were pregnant or mothers: To get that number, CPS included 26 adult women who denied they were minors and turned out to be telling the truth, but not until after the agency repeatedly called them liars in the press.
* 10% of kids had broken bones in the past: It turned out they didn't really know how many had broken bones, and anyway 10% would be less than the average for kids in the outside world.
* Male children were molested, although CPS never provided evidence in court for the assertion and dropped the allegation after it made media headlines.And those are just the lowlights. This disinformation campaign is why I cannot agree with Houston Chronicle columnist Rick Casey who writes, "CPS should and will follow the law. But it's not as though they willfully broke it."
I think they did. I think they knew the whole ranch shouldn't be considered a single "household." I think they knew the group's religious beliefs didn't meet the legal definition of abuse. Certainly they knew claims that 60% of teen girls were mothers were false at the time they made them (the agency added the caveat two days after the headlines ran to say most of those girls claimed to be adults, which turned out to be correct).
If CPS was acting in good faith, why were we subjected to a constant stream of misinformation? That's the part I don't understand. Certainly that behavior significantly colored my own reaction to the raid and its aftermath; once I become convinced you didn't tell me the truth, I start to doublecheck your statements, and CPS' never held up under scrutiny. At the end of the day, the courts found the same thing.
I am reminded once again of The D-Squared Digest One Minute MBA - Avoiding Projects Pursued By Morons 101, which posits that "Good ideas do not need lots of lies told about them in order to gain public acceptance". Someone ought to make a motivational poster out of that an display it prominently in CPS's offices. Maybe then something positive will come out of all this.
Swamplot has an update on the Regent Square development, which is what used to be the Allen House apartments. One bit of the developers' plans caught my eye:
They had originally asked the city to make W. Dallas one lane in either direction, with a shared left-turn lane, but have delayed it for a bit while the city analyzes all the streets over the next few years. Also mentioned further down the road would be a stoplight at Allen Pkwy & Dunlavy
I hate hate hate the idea of a stoplight on Allen Parkway at Dunlavy. I admit the intersection is not as safe as it could be, and that it will get worse once the new, much more dense, development is open, but I can't stand the thought of spoiling that deeply satisfying and largely unimpeded drive with a light. It's just wrong, and it's not something I want to be rational about. Please, City of Houston, don't give in on this!
On another matter:
The timeline was presented: they'll start in September with preliminary clearing and site work and start construction in October. They'll finish the north block in Sept 2010 and the south block around Dec 2010. They think they'll have to update some of the storm sewers around W. Clay and Dunlavy.
I note that the plans include a 22-story condo tower, in addition to the office space and other mixed-use development. There was a story in the Chron the other day about the boom in high-end high-rise development here, and how construction on these beasts usually doesn't start until about 30% of the units have been presold. I wonder therefore if this means the Regent Square folks are meeting their projections, or just telling us what they hope will happen.
Just wanted to note this interesting discussion at TAPPED about how political converts are viewed and accepted by party stalwarts. I hope given current trends it's a topic we Democrats will have cause to contemplate quite a bit in the foreseeable future. Check it out.
Olivia and Audrey and I spent a little time this afternoon at the public library grand reopening. It was fun for all, as they burned up some energy in the kids area that they otherwise would have expended at home, driving me crazy in the process. The only downer of the day was with the parking. We parked at the 1100 Smith Street garage, which was a very reasonable flat $3 fee for weekends, but almost didn't make it out of the lot. The exits are unattended on weekends, which is fine, but the payment machines didn't take credit cards or bills larger than $10. One poor woman had pulled over and was asking everyone if they could break a $20 - I think she finally got a taker as we were queued up.
Then it was my turn, and though I had a $5 bill, the stupid bill reader wouldn't take it. After several failed attempts, I got out and swapped bills with the car behind me. That one still wouldn't take, and I was contemplating how much it would cost me to just bust through the swinging arm when one last try finally worked. Oh, and it paid change in quarters; if there was ever a time to use dollar coins, this would seem to have been it, but no go.
So, my advice to you, the downtown weekend adventure seeker, is to avoid the 1100 Smith Street garage (located between Massa's and Pappas Barbecue) like the plague. If someone from that garage reads this and is offended by my characterization, all I can say is that I've spelled out what you can do to make this right. All I know is I'll be using the underground parking by Bayou Place next time. It may cost a bit more, but if so it'll be worth it.
UPDATE: For more about the library itself, here's Dwight's review.
The answer, if your house was built somewhere other than a city like Houston that actually enforces hurricane building codes, is probably not.
Since Hurricane Rita, the state's lack of attention toward its building codes, often characterized as a muddy patchwork of inconsistent regulations, has left hurricane experts stunned.Houston meteorologist Bill Read, new chief of the National Hurricane Center, called out local and state policymakers earlier this year for doing nothing. Former hurricane center director Max Mayfield expressed similar concern, saying better building is the country's only safeguard against rapid coastal development.
And disaster safety officials are equally incredulous that Texas, with nearly three years passed since Rita, and a new hurricane season beginning today, has done so little.
"Texas is an aberration," said Leslie Chapman-Henderson, chief executive of the Federal Alliance for Safe Homes, a nonprofit organization. "It's eerily quiet in the state. Why are they not having a conversation about codes?"
You already know the answer to that question, don't you? This is Texas, after all.
The state has quasi-mandatory codes for coastal residents, unevenly enforced codes in cities, and builder-enforced codes elsewhere. National advocates for stronger building codes say that's probably not the most forward-looking approach for a hurricane-prone state.Texas cities, such as Houston and Galveston, have statutory authority to set and enforce building codes, and for the last decade new coastal developments have been subject to reasonably strong codes. But counties have little authority to regulate building codes, leaving unincorporated areas something of a mystery, varying from finely constructed homes to well, who really knows?
[...]
Building codes are only as good as their enforcement, experts agree, but in a state like Texas, where there's no uniform code policy, enforcement is all over the map. A private analysis of the state's municipal codes bears this out.
ISO, an information risk company that primarily serves insurers, assesses the building codes and enforcement standards in local communities. ISO then grades a community on a scale from 1, exemplary, to 10. A good rating generally lowers a region's insurance rates, a bad rating the contrary.
Statewide, Texas has an average of about 5.5 on the ISO scale, which is worse than the national average, about 4.5, and considerably worse than the country's gold standard for codes, Florida, about 3.5.
For cities within 30 miles of the Texas coast, Houston, Baytown, Pearland and Harlingen do the best, each earning a rating of 4 for residential development. Galveston earned a 5.
[...]
Building codes do matter. In 1992, the strongest hurricane to ever strike the U.S. mainland, Andrew, brought 165 mph winds to the Miami area.
While pricier homes nearby were flattened, 27 homes built to a hurricane resistant code by Habitat for Humanity sustained no structural damage. A Miami Herald headline read, "Tally: Habitat 27, Andrew 0."
Andrew awakened Florida to the importance of building codes, and the state has adopted the most rigorous building protections in the country, requiring everything from storm shutters to metal roofs in the most vulnerable areas.
This has raised building costs between 0.5 percent to 5 percent, building code advocates say. But once the codes go in, and every developer has to play at the same level, market forces quickly drive down costs.
"Better building will not only help save lives, it will ultimately help save tremendously on insurance payments," said Mayfield, who is now a TV meteorologist in the Miami area.
A consistent code may also improve traffic flow during evacuations because residents outside storm surge zones would have confidence that their home could withstand winds associated with major hurricanes and not feel the need to flee, Mayfield said.
Chapman-Henderson, the safe homes advocate, said the first step toward creating a statewide code would be to hire engineers from the state's universities to assess the existing quality of homes and building code enforcement. That would provide information to begin developing a uniform code.
"This is one of the avoidable disasters," she said. "Not doing anything is the classic definition of insanity."
Yet the idea of a statewide building code appears to have little traction in Texas. Smithee, who is not unsympathetic to overhauling the codes, says it would probably be difficult.
"There's always been opposition to change from builders groups," he said.
Quelle surprise. But then, the public good has never been a priority for these guys. Shifting their financial risk to the consumer, that's what they're all about. Sadly, they have too many friends in the Lege for there to be any hope for change, but at least now we're talking about it. That's a start.
(By the way, hurricane season started a day early this year. Have you stocked up on bottled water and batteries yet?)
Meet the man who will decide what happens to the Astrodome.
Edgar Colon, a lawyer with a background in negotiating complex financial deals, has been nominated to serve as chairman of the Harris County Sports and Convention Corp.Colon would replace Mike Surface, who faces federal bribery-related charges stemming from efforts by him and associates to seek city business.
The chairmanship will be a high-profile post as the corporation's board tackles the controversial issue of whether a second life should be found for the Astrodome.
Colon, president of the Houston Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in 2006 and 2007, was nominated by County Judge Ed Emmett. Commissioners Court will vote on his appointment Tuesday.
Emmett, who has voiced skepticism about a plan to turn the Dome into a convention hotel, didn't extract from his nominee a promise to kill the hotel proposal, Colon said.
"If I am approved by Commissioners Court, the standard will be what is in the best interests of Harris County," he said. "With respect to this debate, I would like to read the proposal and make an informed decision."
[...]
Emmett said, "There is no question the most vexing issue facing the sports corporation is what to do with the Dome. I gave him one clear marching order: I want you to go in there and make the best decisions for Harris County. He is immensely qualified for the job."
I sure hope so, because I think Judge Emmett is correct in his assessment of the issue of the Dome. What decision Colon makes isn't that important to me, as long as it reduces the County's financial burden and doesn't expose it to substantial risk. I wish him the best of luck in that task.
Colin has an excellent BOR diary advocating Chris Bell as a candidate for the now-open SD17 seat. It's a bit hard to believe, but with some luck, we could pick up three Senate seats this fall, and that's without a serious opponent for Sen. John Carona. Just getting one would be huge, but having the chance to get more means a lot. On the assumption that the election will be November 4, and that State Rep. Scott Hochberg would prefer to keep his (uncontested this year) seat rather than resign it to run in SD17, I hope Bell takes up this challenge.
So one of the things I did while on vacation last weekend was finish reading Gregory Maguire's book Wicked, which I'd been meaning to do for awhile. It's a very interesting book, if a tad bit slow at times, and the chapter about the inevitable confrontation between Elphaba and Dorothy is excellent. But man, is the book nothing, nothing in any way, shape, or form like the musical. I mean, sure, you expect differences, and a dense 400+ page book is surely going to need radical surgery to be transformed into something stage-worthy, but really, the two things almost can't be compared. For one thing - I don't want to give anything away here, so I'll be brief - the musical takes place almost entirely during the college years of Elphaba and Galinda/Glinda; that same time period is maybe 25% of the book. Glinda hardly existed as a character after the Shiz years in the book, whereas she shares top billing in the musical. And though it hardly needs to be said, the endings are very different.
While there is of course nothing unusual about a stage/movie adaptation of a book taking a wide divergence from the source material, it's usually the case that experiencing one form of the story will give you some idea of what to expect when you experience the other form. That just wasn't the case here. Another example of this is the movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, which is completely different in just about every way than the book Who Censored Roger Rabbit?; whichever one you consume first, you will not be able to anticipate the action when you experience the other. What's your favorite example of this?
One thing that reading "Wicked" makes me want to do is actually read the original source version of "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz", namely L. Frank Baum's book. It was clear to me in reading that last chapter of "Wicked" that the movie version, from which I gathered almost all of my Oz-related knowledge, was not Maguire's inspiration for those scenes. I did read one of Baum's sequels, The Magic of Oz as a kid - I have no memory of how I came across it - but not the original. Time to fill that gap, I suppose.