There had been talk for a long time that the Republicans had been looking for another candidate to run as a Democrat in the SD17 special election, in hopes of peeling off just enough support from Chris Bell to force a runoff. It looks like they succeeded.
Republican candidates are Houston businessman Austen Furse, Houston lawyer Grant Harpold, former Harris County felony court Judge Joan Huffman and Lake Jackson engineer Ken Sherman.The Democrats are former U.S. Rep. Chris Bell of Houston and Stephanie E. Simmons, who could not be reached for information about her candidacy.
I am, of course, jumping to a conclusion here. I know nothing about Ms. Simmons, so I can't say for sure that she's a stalking horse. But I do know, from multiple sources, that the Republicans were looking for someone they could recruit to run as a Democrat. I do know that the Democrats as a whole are excited about and united behind the Bell candidacy, unlike the Republicans and their deep split over Austen Furse and Joan Huffman. And I do know that anyone who enters a race like this at the last minute with no buzz, no obvious means of support, and no contact with the media, is not someone who's in it to win it. So while I may be jumping to a conclusion, it's not exactly a flying leap.
And speaking of that Furse/Huffman split, here's the latest example, an email exchange between former Harris County Sports Authority chair Jack Rains and candidate Huffman. It's quite similar in tone and style to the previous exchange between Steven Hotze and State Rep. Dennis Bonnen. I'll just note that I'm puzzled by Rains' accusation that State Sen. John Whitmire is soliciting support for Huffman. Whitmire, along with Sens. Mario Gallegos, Rodney Ellis, and Kirk Watson, is hosting a big fundraiser for Bell this Thursday, September 4 - you can buy a ticket for it via ActBlue. But then Rains always was a blowhard, so I wouldn't be surprised if he's just making stuff up. I'm happy for him to keep this up, though. The more division now, the less likely the Republicans would win that runoff they're so desperately trying to engineer.
One of the nasty things about living near the Gulf of Mexico is the conundrum one faces when a hurricane comes this way. While fervently hoping that said storm will not hit your hometown and maybe force you and your family to flee before it, you are acutely aware that you are rooting for it to wreak its havoc and devastation on somebody else. You wind up expressing a lot of hope for the hurricane to be less than advertised, as well as a lot of sympathy for those who will feel its fury, and walk away carrying an odd mixture of dread, relief, and guilt. Let's just say that I don't enjoy the summertime the way I used to any more.
All those feelings are magnified now when the cone of uncertainty has New Orleans as its bullseye. Which is one of many reasons I'm grateful and hopeful that SciGuy is right, and that New Orleans may be spared the worst of it. Does anybody know a good wind shear dance?
To everyone who may be in Hurricane Gustav's path, stay safe and know we've all got you in our thoughts and prayers. Here's some useful information for those who may need assistance. Let's be ready to help as soon as we can.
Here's another opportunity to show some support for Larry Joe Doherty in CD10 and bring a little money back into Texas.
Today's the first day of a week-long Blue America contest, I'd like to invite you to participate in.Some of our candidates have been endorsed by the DCCC's Red to Blue program, which makes it easier for them to access institutional Democratic money-- big donors, labor unions, single-issue groups, incumbents, etc. And some haven't.
Blue America wants to spotlight nine of our House endorsees this week who may eventually wind up in the program but who need campaign cash to compete effectively now.
[...]
We're counting votes at a just launched new ActBlue contest page. Whether you donate a dollar or $20 or $2,000 to the candidate of your choice, it counts as one vote-- although you can certainly vote for as many candidates as you'd like. The candidate who gets the most votes gets a $5,000 Blue America check.
The winner will be announced on Saturday, September 6th. Vote!
Please give Larry Joe a hand if you can. Thanks very much.
That headline sounds more apocalyptic than I intend for it to be, but it's just a reference to the fact that U.S. District Court Judge Sam Lindsay entered a final judgment striking down Ordinance 2903, the law in Farmers Branch that required landlords to verify a potential renters residency status before renting a house or apartment to them. He had previously issued a permanent injunction against Ordinance 2903 in May.
[Judge Lindsay's] action triggered the 15-day countdown to the city's enactment of the newer version, Ordinance, 2952. [Farmers Branch attorney Michael] Jung said the new ordinance is scheduled to take effect Sept. 13.Ordinance 2952 contains revisions that the city made in an attempt to answer legal challenges to Ordinance 2903. But, like the earlier version, Ordinance 2952 is expected to draw a prompt legal challenge. And Judge Lindsay signaled in May that he would be inclined to strike it down, too.
"The new ordinance is yet another attempt to circumvent the court's prior rulings and further an agenda that runs afoul of the United States Constitution," he said at the time.
But of course that won't stop them from going ahead with this charade and wasting however much more money in doing so. On the other hand, since the guy who pushed through these laws was elected Mayor by a wide margin this year, apparently the people there approve of using their tax moneys for this folly. So much for good policy being good politics.
One more thing:
Ordinance 2952, by contrast, would require prospective renters to pay $5 to the city and declare their citizenship or legal U.S. residency to obtain a license to rent a house or apartment.
Is it just me, or does that sound like a tax on apartment renters to you? I thought people who called themselves "conservative" opposed that sort of thing. Guess it's different if the tax doesn't apply to you.
After nearly a decade of delays, construction on a bike-and-hike trail from the Heights to downtown Houston is to begin in September, expanding area residents' recreational opportunities and providing them an alternative mode of transportation.The MKT/SP Trail is a Rails-to-Trails conversion project that will provide a 10-mile-wide multi-use trail stretching 4.62 miles along the old Missouri, Kansas, Texas Southern Pacific railroad corridor, connecting to downtown destinations.
It will run from Nicholson at 26th Street to Seventh Street, and from Shepherd along Seventh Street to Spring Street, ending at Hogan Street and Interstate 45 under White Oak Bayou.
There it will connect to the existing Heritage Corridor West Trail that leads to the University of Houston and other downtown destinations and bikeways, said Alvin Wright, spokesman for the city's Public Works Department.
The project of the Texas Department of Transportation and city's Bikeway Program is expected to take about 18 months to complete and cost an estimated $5.1 million.
I've never been a bike rider, at least not since I was a kid. But with Olivia talking about wanting a real bike, which she may get for Christmas, I'll follow suit so I can ride with her. I look forward to checking this out some day.
The bad news comes courtesy of bike aficionado Peter Wang, via email, about a step backwards for bike riders on the west side of town. I've reprinted his email beneath the fold, so click on to check it out.
Eldridge Parkway is an important bicycle commuter link between the TxDOT FM-529 bike lanes, the Clay Road bikeway, and the Energy Corridor District. This connection will cease to exist, however, should Harris County Precinct Four carry out plans to eliminate road shoulders used by bicyclists and convert the roadway to curb-and-gutter drainage without installing bike lanes or a wide outside lane. Precinct Four has been aware of the importance of these shoulders to bicycle commuters for years, but appeals to save them have fallen on deaf ears. They claim that cycling on the road is too dangerous, and they are too busy trying to accomodate cars. The former is simply not true. The latter indicates a worldview where users are divided and pitted against each other based on their needs. Other agencies throughout the Nation and even some in Texas somehow manage to plan and build "Complete Streets" for all users. Why not Harris County? The main point, however, is not what happens to this particular stretch of roadway. The main point is that Eldridge Parkway is symptomatic of a failure of Harris County and most other H-GAC member governments to plan for all residents. Our local counties and cities fail to plan for bike commuters, pedestrians, transit users, children, the disabled, and the elderly. The notion of a Complete Street seems utterly foreign to our elected officials and their engineers. Fewer people can afford to drive these days, school districts are cutting bus service, and unincorporated areas are beyond the reach of METRO. What do County Commissioners and Mayors expect people to do? Stay home and not go to work or school? The Houston-Galveston area is running, not walking, into an energy brick wall. Oil reservoirs worldwide are maturing, major producing basins are in decline. Contrary to popular belief, Texas does not even produce enough energy any longer to meet its own internal needs; we and California and Oklahoma used to power the entire world, but in 1991 Texas became a net energy importing state. What will the price of gasoline be in five years? It's impossible to predict, but I can say one thing with certainty... we will be wistfully thinking back to the "good ol' days" when gasoline was "only $4 per gallon". H-GAC and all member governments, Harris County included, must implement plans for building a diverse, energy-efficient, carbon-limiting transportation system featuring Complete Streets for all residents. Energy will be more expensive in the future, and both Presidential candidates, McCain and Obama, intend to limit our carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels. Unfortunately, we needed to make these investments starting twenty-five years ago. At least we should stop digging the hole we are stuck in and making it deeper. Peter Wang Bicycle commuter, Geophysicist, BikeHouston Advisor, and Citizens' Transportation Coalition Board Member
Via Sandra, I see that one of my childhood TV staples, the Banana Splits, are on their way back to the small screen. Those of you who are children of the 70s will cheer or shudder as the case may be. Those of you who are too young to remember this foolishness, I recommend watching the video at Sandra's post. And for those of you who now have their theme song permanently wedged into your brain, I offer my sincere apologies.
These blogs were made for linking, that's what they're gonna do...
Obama-McGarry '08. It's more real than you might think.
Texas Criminal Justice By The Numbers.
Obama and economic clarity. Put simply, don't confuse selling with installing.
The worst owners in the NFL, via Ta-Nehisi Coates. You will be pleased and not very surprised to learn that Bob McNair is not on the list.
The Bush Presidency: The first business cycle during which median household income in America falls from peak to peak.
Catblogging, Bloggess-style.
What does John McCain have in common with Pamela Anderson and Dr. Phil?
Charles Barkley is making sense.
Don't know what I'd do without SciGuy during hurricane season.
So what's Gustav up to, anyway?For starters, it's now an 80 mph hurricane with a distinct eye and showing signs of further strengthening, as expected. The official forecast track has remained centered upon Louisiana, and has edged only slightly westward, reflecting the most recent model guidance.
Since this afternoon the models have come into somewhat better agreement, with a handful swinging east from Texas and the GFDL coming west from New Orleans. In effect they met in the middle.
Looking at the models now, a lot of them show a southwestern curve that takes Gustav into Texas after plowing into Louisiana. Presumably, it would be a greatly diminished storm by then, at least as far as wind intensity goes, but it could still dump a boatload of rain on areas northeast of here. And it wouldn't take much of a wobble to more directly threaten us as opposed to New Orleans or central Louisiana. So keep those contingency plans - for evacuating or sheltering in place - at hand.
Poor internal communication and complicated procedures caused a $1.1 billion blunder that forced Texas transportation officials to pull back on construction projects earlier this year, according to an audit released Thursday.Texas Department of Transportation officials actually discovered the accounting error six months earlier, the report said.
The accounting error occurred when bond proceeds were counted twice when the department developed the fiscal 2008 contract award schedule. As a result, $4.2 billion in planned projects was reduced to $3.1 billion.
This resulted in a reduction of $161 million worth of construction and maintenance in the Houston area and a $71.5 million deduction in the San Antonio region.
Auditors faulted department officials for failing to immediately communicate the error to the Texas Transportation Commission, lawmakers and the public.
"Although the department asserts it briefed all commission members individually, no briefing documents, specific dates, or calendars were provided to auditors to verify these briefings," the report said.
Auditors recommended that TxDOT develop a formal process for reviewing money available for projects, keep commission members informed in open meetings, post updates on the agency's Web site and alert legislators when funding in their areas change.
At this point, I think we've gone beyond a competency problem and have entered the realm of a cultural problem. TxDOT, as it is, is completely dysfunctional and needs to be torn down and rebuilt from the ground up. I don't have any faith in the agency's ability to fix itself. Texas Watchdog, the new kid on the blog block, has more.
Your pop culture train wreck of the day.
It probably wasn't his most important decision ever, but a Harris County judge on Wednesday weighed in on a case that will set celebrity bloggers buzzing: the fate of pop star Hilary Duff's lavish 21st birthday party.It's the latest chapter in a bitter divorce between the parents of pop stars Hilary and Haylie Duff. The 2½-year-old case deteriorated so much that Wednesday's hearing in family court ended with the young celebrities' father in handcuffs after Judge Thomas Stansbury found him in contempt of court.
During the tense hearing, Bob and Susan Duff sat on opposite ends of the courtroom, surrounded by posses of lawyers and paralegals. They never spoke and rarely even looked at each other.
Their attorneys exchanged heated words, accusing each other of lying and acting unethically.
"I get very annoyed when he accuses me of lying," Bob's lawyer, Robert Piro, shouted at one point, pounding the judge's bench with his fist.
"Well, then, he should stop lying!" growled Susan's attorney, Marshall Davis Brown Jr.
I just want to take a minute here and say Thank You to my parents, who recently celebrated their 44th anniversary, for not being anything like Bob and Susan Duff. That's pretty much all I wanted to say about this.
I don't spend a whole lot of time writing about national elections, as there are so many other fine sources for that analysis, and I don't intend to spend too much time on today's Presidential race news. But I do have a few thoughts to get off my chest, so please bear with me.
- I still can't get over how after months of criticizing Barack Obama for his alleged "lack of experience", John McCain goes and picks the greenest Vice Presidential nominee ever, one who had earlier said she didn't even know what the VP does. (Admittedly, a lot of people would share that thought.) Among other things, what this says to me is that McCain really will say whatever he thinks he has to say to get elected, and if what he's saying now isn't helping, he'll turn around and say the exact opposite shortly thereafter. It's another flipflop in a long, long line of them for McCain.
- Remember how Obama was supposed to pick a VP that bolstered his weak spots? McCain has done that in spades here. He's old; Sarah Palin is young. He's a longtime Beltway insider; she's literally about as far outside the Beltway (at least geographically) as you can get. He's awful on issues women care about; she's a woman. (Who's as awful as he is on those issues, but hey, it's a start.) He's out of touch; I don't know about Palin, but as a working mother of five children, it's safe to say she's more firmly grounded in the realities of life than the guy who doesn't know how many houses he owns. Not a high bar to clear, I admit, but she does do it.
- Having said all that, I do have to congratulate McCain on successfully changing the topic from Obama's awesome speech last night. Well played.
- If McCain's chief objective was to satisfy the right flank of his party, he seems to have done that. I still think they're deluding themselves about his choice appealing to disaffected Hillary Clinton supporters. I don't know about you, but what I recall about most Hillary Clinton supporters was that they were for Clinton first and foremost because of her experience, not her gender. Remember "Ready On Day One"? Anyone want to say that about Sarah Palin?
- Beyond that, who knows? She's got a good personal story, but then so do McCain, Obama, and Joe Biden. She's a risky choice, but one with upside. I figure either McCain must have really disliked his other options, or he felt he was better served by going for broke. (How many times do you think the phrase "Hail Mary pass" have been uttered or written today?) You just don't know how she'll do. And at the end of the day, we're still talking about the Vice President. People still vote based on the person who gets the top billing, not the co-star.
That's all I've got. What do you think about the Palin choice?
So John McCain has made his choice for Vice President: first-term Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.
John McCain tapped little-known Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be his vice presidential running mate today in a startling selection on the eve of the Republican National Convention.In an announcement, the campaign said that Palin, who has been governor less than two years, "has the record of reform and bipartisanship that others can only speak of."
"Her experience in shaking up the status quo is exactly what is needed in Washington today," the campaign said.
I guess he's still trying to woo the so-called PUMAs. I think the pool of unhappy Hillary Clinton supporters is considerably smaller after this week, and after last night, but hey, dream big.
McCain has had months to consider his choice, and has made it clear to reporters that one of his overriding goals was to avoid a situation like the one in 1988, when Dan Quayle was thrown into a national campaign with little preparation.
I'm thinking any time the name "Dan Quayle" appears in the same story as Sarah Palin, it's not a good thing for her or McCain.
The main thing that strikes me about this is that by choosing a first-term governor of a small state as his running mate, John McCain has essentially conceded the "experience" issue. I have to think that this means he really didn't like his other choices, because I'm not seeing what this one does for him. Well, okay, she's probably the first VP candidate to have appeared on the cover of Vogue.So she's got that going for her. I'm really curious to see the reaction she gets at the Republican convention. What do you think?
Oh, and given the Gustav threat looming in the Gulf, I love Muse's suggestion that maybe McCain should be announcing his choice to head up FEMA today instead. Maybe we'll get a twofer once he does the official unveiling.
UPDATE: OK, that Vogue cover is a Photoshop. Guess I missed the issue on the newsstands. But she was in Vogue, just in a more appropriate way.
Gov. Rick Perry issued a disaster declaration Thursday as Tropical Storm Gustav -- which is already blamed for as many as 67 deaths in Hispaniola -- appeared likely to strengthen into a major hurricane and threaten the Texas Gulf Coast."I urge Texans along the coast to monitor this storm closely, heed warnings from their local leaders, and take necessary precautions to protect their families, homes and businesses," Perry said.
Louisiana and Mississippi also declared states of emergency in advance of the storm.
The National Hurricane Center forecast Gustav to strike anywhere from Texas near Port O'Connor to the Florida Panhandle by early next week, possibly as a Category 3 hurricane.
"These storms sort of have minds of their own," said Francisco Sanchez, spokesman for the Harris County Office of Emergency Management.
Gustav could become a hurricane as early as today. The storm battered Jamaica on Thursday and is expected to target the Cayman Islands later today.
Half of me is filled with dread and uncertainty about the possibility of the storm coming our way, and the other half is filled with dread and worry for the people of Louisiana and Mississippi, especially the places like New Orleans that took the full brunt of Katrina's force three years ago. I wish I could wave a magic wand and make the damn thing go away. We don't even really know where it's likely to go at this point. Great way to spend a holiday weekend, no?
With the recent ruling by the Third Court of Appeals that seemed to give validation to the "checks aren't cash" defense, I wanted to see if my impression of the ruling was shared by anyone else. Towards that end, I had a conversation with one of the people who helped bring TRMPAC's activities to light, attorney Cris Feldman, who represented several plaintiffs that successfully sued TRMPAC and its treasurer, Bill Ceverha, on the grounds that it had illegally spent corporate money on Republican campaigns in the 2002 elections. You can get some background on that from this 2006 op-ed Feldman wrote for the Washington Post shortly after Tom DeLay cut and ran from that November's election. Feldman had some provocative things to say about that ruling and other related items, which you can hear in this interview I did with him, as always in MP3 format. Let me know what you think.
*slaps forehead* Who knew that the whole people-without-health-insurance thing could be solved so easily?
Texas once again led the nation with the highest percentage of residents without health insurance, a U.S. Census Bureau report showed Tuesday, although the same study also reports a slight dip last year in the percentage without coverage across the nation.Almost one of every four Texas residents - 24.8 percent - were uninsured in 2006 and 2007, based on an average of the rates for those two years. That's up from 23.9 percent for 2004 and 2005.
[...]
But the numbers are misleading, said John Goodman, president of the National Center for Policy Analysis, a right-leaning Dallas-based think tank. Mr. Goodman, who helped craft Sen. John McCain's health care policy, said anyone with access to an emergency room effectively has insurance, albeit the government acts as the payer of last resort. (Hospital emergency rooms by law cannot turn away a patient in need of immediate care.)
"So I have a solution. And it will cost not one thin dime," Mr. Goodman said. "The next president of the United States should sign an executive order requiring the Census Bureau to cease and desist from describing any American - even illegal aliens - as uninsured. Instead, the bureau should categorize people according to the likely source of payment should they need care.
"So, there you have it. Voila! Problem solved."
Brilliant! And so widely applicable. With a similar wave of the magic semantics wand, *poof*! No more unemployment or poverty, either. Why didn't we think of this before?
Hilariously, the McCain campaign is now claiming Goodman is not an advisor, which appears to be not fully true, as well as the part where they claim his views are different from McCain's. That kind of whining is quite unbecoming, fellas. Thanks to Kevin Drum for the initial link.
The rich are different than the rest of us.
He is said to be the richest man in Texas politics. But voters might have a hard time figuring that out from the information that Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst has disclosed to the state ethics commission.Nowhere does it say that the former CIA agent is a major shareholder in a Houston energy and investment company through a privately held trust. Nor is there a word about the hedge funds, stocks, bonds or publicly traded fuel distribution company that he acknowledges are or have been part of a trust fund that is estimated to be worth as much as $200 million.
It just says the David Dewhurst Trust is valued at "$25,000 or more."
Some ethics watchdogs question whether Dewhurst, a Republican who has contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to help elect GOP candidates in Texas and beyond, has complied with disclosure requirements. Either way, they say, the lack of transparency about his wealth and personal dealings makes it impossible to determine if the lieutenant governor has conflicts of interest.
"It certainly flies in the face of the spirit of financial disclosure," said Edwin Davis, director of research at nonpartisan watchdog group Common Cause in Washington, D.C.
I'll spare you any of Dewhurst's lame and self-serving rationalizations for this. He's pretty much free to thumb his nose at us over this, since he knows full well that the Texas Ethics Commission will have his back. Clearly, what we'll need is for a David Dewhurst edition of the Bill Ceverha bill to make it through the Lege. Ironically, Governor Perry would likely be a champion of such a thing, since it would screw with his potential rival for the governorship in 2010. Lon Burnam, please pick up the white courtesy phone. Thanks to Banjo for the link.
Joe Klein visited a focus group:
"Change" as a theme is over. Too vague. And Obama's rhetoric has begun to seriously cut against him. "No more oratory," one woman said. "Give us details."
I always wonder about this stuff. I mean, it's inconceivable to me that this woman is genuinely yearning to learn more about the details of Obama's policy agenda. If she actually wanted to know, she could, you know, look into it. She could learn all about the differences between auctioning emissions permits and giving them away, about the implications of having the federal government provide reinsurance for catastrophic medical expenses, about the case for a permanent R&D tax credit, etc., etc. But all indications are that most people find politics boring, and policy details duller still. And swing voters, which is what this was a focus group of, are least interested of all.
I cite this partly because I strongly agree with the sentiment, and also because it gives me a reason to link to this article by Christopher Hayes in which he writes about his experience talking to undecided voters in Wisconsin in 2004. It's one of the best pieces of political writing I've ever read, and if you haven't seen it before, I highly recommend it. You'll never think about "swing voters" the same way again.
I wish them luck with this.
Car sharing. Two words that still sound a little foreign when used together in Texas.Yet on Tuesday, a Massachusetts firm called Zipcar made its debut in the state with a car-sharing service at Rice University.
The service is similar to a traditional car rental business but is underpinned by a broader mission: to get Americans to change the way they think about owning and driving cars.
"We envision a world where there are more car sharers than car owners," Zipcar spokeswoman Kristina Kennedy said as she stood in front of a sign-up table on the Rice campus.
The service works like this: Rice students pay $35 for a yearlong membership, which allows them to reserve a car at $7 an hour or $60 a day.
At the reserved time, a swipe of a membership card across a sensor on the windshield unlocks the door. Keys are inside. Insurance is paid for, and members can buy gasoline at no cost using a charge card inside the car. But drivers pay a penalty if they return the car with less than a quarter tank.
Formed in Cambridge, Mass., eight years ago, Zipcar has had success with the service in metro areas including Chicago, Washington, Boston and San Francisco.
After dropping its minimum renting age from 21 to 18 last year, Zipcar is moving aggressively to contract with college campuses.
If you're going to try something like this in Houston, which doesn't have the same transit infrastructure as those other cities right now, aiming for a campus like Rice makes a lot of sense. Most students on campus there don't need a car most of the time, and some of those who are currently paying however much for the limited parking that's available could probably be persuaded to leave the car at home and try this instead. Don't know how big the market will be beyond that in the near term, but it's worth a try on that scale to see what's possible.
Note: This entry is part of a series of written Q&As with judicial candidates who will be on the ballot in Harris County. I am also doing recorded interviews with non-judicial candidates.
1. Who are you, and what are you running for?
Judge Jim Jordan and I am running for Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court.
2. What kind of cases does this court hear?
The Supreme Court has statewide appellate jurisdiction in civil cases, which include contract, personal injury, family and juvenile cases. (The Court of Criminal Appeals is the high court for criminal cases.)
The Court's jurisdiction is discretionary; that is, the Court decides what cases it will take. Parties do not have a right to have their cases heard by the Court. Instead, they petition the Court to review their cases, and only about 10% of the cases are granted review.
A justice must review dozens of petitions every week while keeping up with the more in-depth review of causes by writing opinions and hearing oral argument.
The Court also administers the Texas judiciary. Those duties include promulgating rules to govern court cases, lawyers, and judges,
3. Why are you running for this particular bench?
Because I am very concerned that the court has become ideological, pursuing its own policy agenda and thus threatening our constitutionally guaranteed right to a jury trial. Many members of the bar share my concern.
4. What are your qualifications for this job?
Judicial Experience: Judge 160th District Court; former judge 44th District Court
Leadership Experience: Elected by my fellow 39 District Court Judges as the Local Administrative District Judge of Dallas County, Texas; Former President, Garland Bar Association
Legal Experience: Board Certified Civil Trial Law since 1984; Served two terms District 6A Texas Bar Grievance Committee; teacher of trial advocacy skills at Southern Methodist University & Louisiana State University law schools and at the National Institute of Trial Advocacy (NITA)
5. Why is this race important?
There is a growing concern that the court is pursuing an ideological agenda rather than following its historic duty of protecting constitutional rights and applying the law. Partisanship should never enter into a judge's chambers. A judge's robe is black -- not blue or red.
The court's backlog has been well documented. I want to establish procedures that encourage timely disposition of case, including identifying judges who are behind in their work and eliminating judicial filibustering -- the practice of allowing a judge to pull a case from consideration when that judge is in the minority in the hopes of gaining votes as the court changes, or as other judges are simply worn down.
6. Why should people vote for you in November?
I bring a wide range of legal experience and leadership to the highest civil court in Texas. I have served as a trial judge for the 44th and 160th District Courts in Dallas County. I am and have been since 1984 board certified in Civil Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, a distinction earned by less than 2% of Texas attorneys. Before going on the bench, I had more than 25 years experience in representing a wide variety of clients, including small business men and women, police officers, individuals, and businesses as both plaintiff and defendant, in both trial and appeals courts. I am a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates, an organization that recognizes only the most experienced attorneys representing both plaintiffs and defendants whose purpose is to protect the right of trial by jury for all citizens, and the William Mac Taylor Inn of the Court, the purpose of which is to mentor younger attorneys and to support the Constitution. Because the Texas Supreme Court hears a variety of different types of cases, my broad experience makes me uniquely qualified to serve.
I have prior judicial experience on the bench, which my opponent did not have prior to his appointment by Gov. Perry. As a trial judge, I have encountered firsthand the legal issues that the Supreme Court ultimately reviews, including the frontline reality of the application of the rules and decisions handed down by it. My service in leadership positions for both attorneys and judges gives me the experience to take on this leadership position with confidence.
PREVIOUSLY:
Dion Ramos, 55th Civil Judicial District Court.
Shawna Reagin, 176th District Criminal Court.
Al Bennett, 61st Civil Judicial District Court.
Ready or not, here comes instant replay for Major League Baseball.
Umpires will be allowed to check video on home run calls starting Thursday after Major League Baseball, guardian of America's most traditional sport, reversed its decades-long opposition to instant replay."Like everything else in life, there are times that you have to make an adjustment," baseball commissioner Bud Selig said following Tuesday's announcement. "My opposition to unlimited instant replay is still very much in play. I really think that the game has prospered for well over a century now doing things the way we did it."
The 74-year-old Selig, who described himself as "old fashioned" and an admirer of baseball's "human element," softened his opposition following a rash of blown calls this year.
For now, video will be used only on so-called "boundary calls," such as determining whether fly balls went over the fence, whether potential home runs were fair or foul and whether there was fan interference on potential home runs.
"Any time you try to change something in baseball, it's both emotional and difficult," Selig said. "There's been some concern that, well, if you start here, look what it's going to lead to. Not as long as I'm the commissioner."
I think this usage of replay is appropriate. I'm more open to the idea of expanding it than I was at first, but there's no rush. If we can see that this works well, and we can figure out a way to restore equity in situations where a call would need to be overturned - something that's easier to do in a more discrete game like football - then we can consider other ways to use this. For now, let's see what this system can do.
Video from available broadcast feeds -- not every team televises every game -- will be collected at the office of Major League Baseball Advanced Media in New York, where it will be monitored by a technician and either an umpire supervisor or a retired umpire. If the crew chief at a game decides replay needs to be checked, umpires will leave the field, technicians at MLBAM will show umpires the video and the crew chief will make the call, overturning the original decision only if there is "clear and convincing evidence."Leaving the dugout to argue a call following a replay will result in an automatic ejection. Replays of the boundary calls will not be shown on stadium video boards, MLB executive vice president for baseball operations Jimmie Lee Solomon said.
MLB said replay delays will be offset by fewer arguments.
This guy thinks that the fans at the games should be able to see the same replays as everyone else. I don't think it's that big a deal, but I can't argue that more transparency is better than less.
Let's all try to keep a sense of proportion about this. The situation for which replay might be used is so limited it might not even come up during the rest of the season. The amount of time spent bitching and moaning and appealing to tradition and the majesty of human error will be orders of magnitude greater than the amount of time games are delayed by replay review. Basically, I think this guy has it right. This is not a bad thing. It may not be perfect, and we may ultimately decide it's not worth it, but it's not bad to give it a try.
UPDATE: Joe Sheehan is blunt:
Baseball games should be decided by the players, not by low-paid middle-management functionaries of dubious competence and excessive self-worth.
Yeah. If we're going to talk about the "human factor", let's let that be about the players, and not the arbiters.
After dangling the idea of running as a write-in candidate against U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, who supported Hillary Rodham Clinton for president, Houston restaurateur and prominent Barack Obama supporter Marcus Davis said today that such a candidacy would distract too much from the Obama effort."The price is too heavy to pay," he said, about 80 minutes before the deadline for filing a candidate application with the Texas Secretary of State's Office.
However, Davis also said that after the Nov. 4 election, he and other Jackson Lee constituents will make strong demands of her to improve her representation of the 18th Congressional District.
And he will help make contingency plans for a candidate to run against her in the 2010 Democratic primary, Davis said.
I heard about this possibility a long time ago, but never really gave it much thought, mostly because there were too many other races to worry about. For what it's worth, I don't have any particular complaints about Rep. Jackson Lee, who is my representative in Congress. She votes the way I want her to vote, and that's really all you can ask. I have noticed that she's been more visible at campaign events and the like than I recall her being in the past, and she's definitely been a strong supporter of Barack Obama at those events. I've said before that I think this sentiment will largely fade in the event of an Obama victory, and I still believe that. But if I'm wrong, the name that' I've heard being floated as a 2010 challenger to her is City Council Member Jarvis Johnson from District B.
I don't think a write-in challenge to Jackson Lee was ever going to be more than a distraction. But we don't really need any distractions this year, so I'm glad to hear that it won't happen.
Are we really sure this is a good idea?
With highway construction slowing because of red tape and budget woes, Texas' top three leaders -- Gov. Rick Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and House Speaker Tom Craddick -- on Thursday proposed sweeping policy changes to jump-start and pay for new road projects.In a letter to Texas Transportation Commission Chairwoman Deirdre Delisi, the three proposed significant changes in how Texas pays for the roads it builds and said they have "agreed to work together" to make changes.
Otherwise, they said, the state's "ability to fund needed transportation projects in the future is limited," due to cutbacks in federal highway funding, limitations of existing state funding programs and population growth that continues to outpace infrastructure planning.
One prong of the plan would create a Transportation Finance Corporation to allow state investment funds -- including the state employee and teacher retirement systems, among others -- to directly invest in state transportation projects. Combined, the two state systems manage $135 billion in assets.
State pension officials took a cautious view of investing in state projects in testimony this year before the Senate Finance Committee, saying a mandate to invest in Texas infrastructure could conflict with their duty to find the best return on investment for retirees.
[...]
Britt Harris, the chief investment officer of the Teacher Retirement System of Texas, said infrastructure investing could make sense if the deal was "equal to or better than something we can get in another (investment) vehicle."
The pension fund's "ultimate loyalty is to the members," Harris said, not to target investments based on geography or politics.
Paul Burka lays out in detail the problem with this plan.
[T]oll road projects are risky investments. They are risky for two reasons. One is that they are subject to economic fluctuations that affect people's driving habits, such as the price of gasoline or the pace of development. The second reason is that, when government is involved, they are vulnerable to political pressure and favoritism. Google "toll road defaults" and you will find a trove of stories with unhappy endings. The Camino Columbia toll road in Laredo, which was rife with political intrigue over which landowners would benefit from having a road go through their property, opened in 2000 and defaulted in 2004. Cost: $90 million. Auctioned off for: $12 million. Tx-DOT bail out acquisition payment: $20 million. The Dulles Greenway toll road to Washington's Dulles Airport defaulted on its bonds within a year of its opening in 1995. The private owner, Toll Road Investors Partnership II, have lost money every year since the road opened. When toll roads lose money, tolls go up-in this case, to $4.80 by 2012. That works out to an astronomical 35 cents per mile. There are similar stories in Orange County, California (where the state had to buy failing toll lanes), and along Florida's west coast, and near Richmond, Virginia, where the 8.8-mile Pocohantas Parkway, financed with tax-free bonds, has suffered around a 50% shortfall in projected toll receipts; the state has had to maintain the road because the private owners don't have the money. Bond ratings have been lowered to below investment grade. To pay off the bonds, the toll was increased by 50%.
Funny how you never seem to hear that sort of story when toll roads are touted as a cure for what ails us, isn't it? Eye on Williamson and McBlogger have more.
I feel pretty confident that John McCain will announce his pick for Vice President shortly - maybe tomorrow, maybe not - timed to distract as much attention from Barack Obama's speech at the Democratic Convention as possible. But whether he does that or waits till it's his week, I don't put much stock in this.
Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's long-shot prospect for vice president is getting a push from conservative and other pundits in the lead-up to next week's Republican National Convention.The latest flurry of speculation online and on cable television constitutes at least a third or fourth wave of chatter about Hutchison, whose name surfaces occasionally as a possible Republican vice-presidential candidate.
Hutchison, a delegate to next week's convention, will address the gathering in Minneapolis-St. Paul on the subject of energy independence on Sept. 3, her office announced Tuesday.
The speaker slot would seem to douse the veep-talk, but no one would say for sure. A spokesman for Hutchison declined to comment, and the McCain campaign did not return a call about McCain's colleague from Texas.
"She is female, which addresses the novelty of the opposition; she is smart and well-respected; she is knowledgeable on key issues, especially domestic policy," said Bruce Buchanan, a University of Texas at Austin government professor. "I still think it's going to be Mitt Romney."
[...]
The short odds for McCain's vice-presidential picks include Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, former White House budget official Rob Portman of Ohio and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
"The conservatives could probably stomach (Hutchison) a lot better than a Tom Ridge or Joe Lieberman," said University of Houston political scientist Richard Murray. "She is a woman and their strategy seems to be to go for disaffected Clinton voters. But I would say this is more like the Chet Edwards boomlet -- it raises the profile, there is no downside to being mentioned, but Hutchison at this point looks like a last-minute ploy, not a considered judgment."
I think Dr. Murray has it right, but you never know. On the other hand, it would be funny to see Rick Perry campaign for a ticket that contains probably at best his third choice for President, and his biggest in-state rival. Would he manage to refrain from gloating about how he psyched her out of the Governor's race yet again? We may never know, but I get a grin just thinking about it.
Wish I'd known about this, I'd have loved to have been there.
Candidates for three of Harris County's top elected offices promised Tuesday to reduce the number of mentally ill or drug addicted jail inmates by providing more community services through partnerships with advocacy groups.Harris County spends an estimated $87 million a year to incarcerate and treat mentally ill inmates.
Speaking at a forum on behavioral health and the criminal justice system, Republican and Democratic candidates for county judge, sheriff and district attorney offered ideas meant to divert the mentally ill from jail to treatment.
There's not much detail about their statements in the story, so it's a little hard to offer a cogent critique of any of them. The good news is that everyone seems to be taking the idea that using the jails to warehouse these folks is not a good use of public resources. There's a real need for reform here, and a lot of opportunities to do better. I'm glad to see that we've started this discussion without having to argue that point.
Gustav swirled toward Cuba today after triggering flooding and landslides that killed at least 22 people in the Caribbean. Its track pointed toward the U.S. Gulf Coast, including Louisiana where Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc three years ago.Oil prices jumped above $119 a barrel as workers began to evacuate from the offshore rigs responsible for a quarter of U.S. crude production.
"We know it's going to head into the Gulf. After that, we're not sure where it's heading," said Rebecca Waddington, a meteorologist at the Miami-based National Hurricane Center. "For that reason, everyone in the Gulf needs to be monitoring the storm. At that point, we're expecting it to be a Category 3 hurricane."
[...]
Friday is the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's strike on Louisiana and Mississippi, and Gustav's tentative track raised the possibility of a Labor Day landfall there. But the average error in five-day forecasts is about 310 miles (500 kms) in either direction, meaning the likeliest targets could be anywhere from South Texas to the Florida Panhandle.
[...]
Gustav is raising concern particularly because there are few surrounding wind currents capable of shearing off the top of the storm and diminishing its power, the hurricane center said. "Combined with the deep warm waters, rapid intensification could occur in a couple of days."
All we can do now is wait and hope for the best. I suspect no one is going to be snarking about the hurricane forecasters overestimating the season after this.
I've been a fan of Diane Trautman since she ran for State Rep. in HD127 last time, where she significantly outperformed the rest of the Democratic slate in that red district. I'm thrilled that since she's running countywide for the office of Harris County Tax Assessor I'll be able to vote for her this time around. I hope she and the rest of the Democratic Party can build on the inroads she made in the far northeastern reaches of Harris County. She was the featured speaker when the Harris County Coordinated Campaign opened its Crosby office. I figure there wouldn't be a Crosby office if it hadn't been for Trautman's voter outreach from 2006. Yeah, I'm a fan.
The interview is here. One minor correction, which the Trautman campaign emailed me after the interview to make: The Harris County Tax Assessor is a voting member of the HCAD board. That's not the case in general - it's not so in Galveston, for instance - but HCAD, at its discretion, has made the Harris County Tax Assessor a voting member of its board.
PREVIOUSLY:
Vince Ryan, Harris County Attorney
Chris Bell, SD17
Loren Jackson, Harris County District Clerk
Brad Bradford, Harris County District Attorney
Diana Maldonado, HD52
Eric Roberson, CD32
State Rep. Juan Garcia, HD32
Ernie Casbeer, HD59
Joe Moody, HD78
Chris Turner, HD96
Robert Miklos, HD101
State Rep. Dan Barrett, HD97
Wendy Davis, SD10
Texas Politics brings the news.
A 1973 state law banning organizations or "groups of persons" from contributing "anything of value" to influence the election of Texas House speaker is unconstitutional, a federal judge said today.Read the ruling from U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks.
A coalition of groups from the political right and left joined to filed the suit earlier this year.
"While the ACLU, the Free Market Foundation and the Texas Eagle Forum disagree on many issues, we are delighted that our united opinion on this unconstitutional law prevailed," said ACLU of Texas Legal Director Lisa Graybill in a news release.
"This victory secures the rights of every citizen in Texas to be free to speak their mind about the speaker of the House race without the fear of being thrown into jail," said Kelly Shackelford, president of the Free Market Foundation.
Some background on this can be found here and here. As I said before, while we may as not have this law if we're not going to enforce it, I think it's a bad idea to not have it. I think the free speech argument is absurd. The only entity that is interested in this is the lobby, and their ability to express themselves is just fine, thanks. I hope the next Lege takes another shot at this.
There are many experiences I look forward to sharing with my girls as they grow up. Homework is not one of them. I'm kind of hoping for this attitude to catch on.
The Spring Branch school board has ordered a committee to review the district's homework policy to make sure students are benefiting, rather than burning out, from the extra assignments.In school districts across the country, educators and parents are debating the value of homework as schools face growing pressure to meet state and federal testing standards and to prepare students for college.
While most students still can expect a backpack full of spelling words to memorize, math problems to solve and maps to label, a few schools nationwide have gone as far as banning homework.
"There was this trend where the amount of homework was equated with how rigorous your program was," said veteran teacher Steve Antley, president of the Congress of Houston Teachers. "What you're seeing in Spring Branch and in other places is a backlash to that."
Spring Branch's current homework policy spells out time limits for homework at the elementary school level -- no more than an hour for grades 2-5 and half that for younger students. But some board members want to place stricter rules on what teachers can and cannot assign.
"I'm not a believer in sending home 25 algebra questions as homework when five would let the teacher know if the student gets it," said trustee Mike Falick, who has two school-aged children. "Homework, to be useful, has to be graded and has to have prompt feedback. It can't be done for completion only."
I think trustee Falick hits the nail on the head. I don't see any value in homework as busy work. Quite the reverse, in fact. Kids are smart enough to know when they're doing something useful, and they're smart enough to figure out ways around it if they're not. I don't think that's the lesson you want to be teaching.
Awhile back, some McCain surrogates were floating the idea that the Republican Presidential nominee would make a pledge to serve only one term in the White House. Whatever the merits of that idea, it appears to now be inoperative.
John McCain stated unequivocally in an interview with Politico on Wednesday that he would not pledge to serve only a single four-year term, rejecting a suggestion that some allies believe would allay questions about his age and underscore his nonpartisan message of putting country first."No," McCain said flatly, "I'm not considering it."
I never saw the sense in that, so I'm not surprised by this. I guess trial balloons get floated for all kinds of crazy things because hey, you never know what might catch on. Even this.
This was a more interesting thing for McCain to say, I think:
[H]e declined to outwardly criticize Bush and flatly stated that he wouldn't do anything as president to underscore his difference with the unpopular incumbent."I don't have any need to show that I'm different than President Bush," McCain said when asked if he'd take any steps after being elected to demonstrate where he'd diverge from his predecessor.
Four more years? I'm thinking that's not the best slogan this time around. If this incident was any indication, we'll see the reversal in another week or two.
One last day in court for State Sen. Kim Brimer.
The 2nd Court of Appeals in Fort Worth is scheduled to hear oral arguments in the lawsuit filed by Texas Sen. Kim Brimer, R-Fort Worth, to keep Democratic challenger Wendy Davis off the November ballot.Both side have submitted briefs outlining their positions. The court is set to hear oral arguments on Sept. 18 at 9:30 a.m.
Judges are not bound to any timetable for rendering a decision. The court already let pass a deadline for ineligible candidates to be removed the ballot.
As we know, the Supreme Court has already turned Brimer down. I suppose the 2nd Court of Appeals could, in theory, just not get around to issuing a ruling till after the election. I don't seriously think that will happen, but who knows, maybe they'll want to mess with us.
What happens if this court rules Davis is ineligible, given that the deadline has passed?
Last week, a spokesman for the Texas Secretary of State said that candidates can still be declared ineligible before voters hit the polls in November, but that if an ineligible candidate wins a race that seat would be left vacant pending a special election.
And I imagine if that were to happen here, Davis would win the special election handily. It'd save us all a lot of time and money if the court would just leave this alone. Let's hope they do the right thing.
I've been hoping for this for a long time, so I'm really glad to see that Hillary Clinton will come to Texas to campaign for Barack Obama.
New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton will return to Texas Sept. 21 to campaign for Barack Obama and Texas Democrats.Mrs. Clinton will make stops in Hidalgo County, according to Hidalgo County Democratic Party Chairwoman Dolly Elizondo.
Barack Obama is struggling with some Clinton backers, including Texas Hispanics.
"The people who support Hillary, when they hear from her, I don't think they will have any problem supporting Obama," Ms. Elizondo said.
Excellent. About the only way this could be better would be if she were to headline a fundraiser for Rick Noriega while here. Now maybe we'll start to see less of this and more of this. Ten weeks to go, y'all.
BOR has the news.
According to a new poll done by Cooper & Secrest, SD-17 looks great for Congressman Chris Bell.A poll done August 14 and between 16-18 of 404 likely general election voters in Texas' 17th Senate District shows Bell with huge numbers.
* In the 4-way trial heat for Senate, Bell dominates: 42% Bell, 8% Huffman, 5% Furse, 4% Harpold, and 41% undecided.
* Chris Bell is the best known and best liked of any of the candidates in the field (75% i.d. 44% positive, 26% negative).
* In this district where fully 61% give President Bush negative job performance ratings, as do 67% in regards to the state legislature as a whole, Chris Bell is a clear voice for change.
* Despite the fact that the 17th District is plurality Republican (50% Republican, 33% Democratic), fully 71% REJECT the notion, "It is very unlikely I would ever support a Democrat for State Senator."
* And fully 61% concur, "The Republicans in Austin simply haven't been effective enough; Texas really needs new leadership to solve challenges like the crisis in school funding and ethics in state government."
There isn't a link to a poll memo, so I don't know what the crosstabs looked like. Bell's level of support in this poll is almost identical to that of a poll done in May testing a two-way matchup with Austen Furse. I don't think there's any question that Bell is the frontrunner here. It's just a matter of if he can clear 50% or if he'll need to win a runoff.
Here's a nice little can of worms.
Harris County District Attorney Ken Magidson has asked the state's top lawyer if he can legally stop his assistants from taking handguns into courtrooms despite a new law removing most restrictions on where prosecutors with gun licenses can carry their weapons.Magidson requires members of his staff, even those with concealed handgun licenses, to obtain his permission, as a condition of employment, before they can carry a firearm into a court.
He is seeking Attorney General Greg Abbott's opinion on whether he can continue his policy, despite a 2007 law that allows prosecutors with handgun licenses to pack their pistols anywhere except jails or prisons. They also are prohibited from carrying while intoxicated.
Pet peeve time: I do not understand why, in the year 2008 when so many people will read this story online - something the Chron obviously encourages thanks to its Del.ico.us and Digg and Technorati and Yahoo! Buzz links - the story does not include the relevant bill number and Texas statute information. Why not provide that information, so the readers may look up the bill and statute in question and see for themselves what they say and what they think about DA Magidson's actions? You might even include the links in the online version of the story, because once you have those pieces of information, it's only a small extra step to take. Why wouldn't you want to do this?
Now that I've gotten that out of my system, I will tell you that as far as I can determine from searching the Texas Legislature Online, the relevant bill was HB2300, which amended Section 46.15 of the Penal Code to exempt "an assistant district attorney, assistant criminal district attorney, or assistant county attorney who is licensed to carry a concealed handgun under Subchapter H, Chapter 411, Government Code" from the prohibition in Section 46.03 against possessing a firearm "on the premises of any government court or offices utilized by the court, unless pursuant to written regulations or written authorization of the court". Note that "a district attorney, criminal district attorney, or county attorney" was already exempt from this prohibition - the new law merely extended that exemption to ADAs and the like.
Now that we're all clear on that, the question is whether or not a DA can implement, or in this case maintain, a policy of restricting ADAs from packing heat in the courtroom unless said ADA meets some kind of training standard. This seems a reasonable thing to me, but it won't shock me if AG Greg Abbott says no, the law doesn't allow for that. I'd be interested to know what any actual lawyers think of that.
And it would be interesting to know what the two people who hope to inherit the DA's office from Mr. Magidson think as well. He had said, upon taking over the office, that he expected to make "small changes" during his tenure. I don't know that this counts as such, but then it looks like he may have been forced to take some action. I may try to track down a response from C.O. Bradford and Pat Lykos; if I succeed, I'll add an update.
Note: This entry is part of a series of written Q&As with judicial candidates who will be on the ballot in Harris County. I am also doing recorded interviews with non-judicial candidates.
1. Who are you, and what are you running for?
Alfred H. "Al" Bennett, Democratic Candidate for the 61st Judicial District Court, Harris County, Texas.
2. What kind of cases does this court hear?
District courts are generally courts of general jurisdiction. In short, the district courts have concurrent jurisdiction with the statutory county courts in civil cases where the amount in controversy exceeds $500 but is less than $100,000, and exclusive jurisdiction where the amount in controversy is $100,000 or more.
3. Why are you running for this particular bench?
The 61st Civil District bench is a very historic bench for Harris County. Created in 1903, it has had several judges of note, including Judge Walter Monteith (later Mayor of Houston) and Judge Shearn Smith (architect of the modern day jury service system). I want to continue the fine public service tradition established by these notable jurists as the next judge of the 61st District Court.
4. What are your qualifications for this job?
After graduating from the University of Texas School of Law, one the finest law schools in the country, I immediately started practicing law at the firm of Fulbright & Jaworski. I later worked at the litigation firm of Solar & Fernandes for several years before starting my own practice, Law Offices of Alfred H. Bennett, in 1998. Also, since 2003, I have served as an Adjunct Professor of Law at the Thurgood Marshall School of Law teaching second-year law students how to try lawsuits. Additionally, I am a Certified Mediator, having received my training at the A.A. White Dispute Resolution Center located at the University of Houston Law School in August 2007.
5. Why is this race important?
The 2008 judicial races in general are important because the citizens of Harris County finally have the opportunity to restore fairness, balance, and integrity to our judicial system. Currently only Republicans sit on Harris County's twenty-five civil district benches. When elected, I and my fellow Democrats will treat each person who enters the courtroom with the courtesy, dignity, and respect they deserve and administer justice even-handedly.
6. Why should people vote for you in November?
I believe the experience I've gained in the courthouse during seventeen years of practice and out in the community as an involved citizen will allow me to bring a fair and balanced prospective to this important and historic civil bench.
PREVIOUSLY:
Dion Ramos, 55th Civil Judicial District Court.
Shawna Reagin, 176th District Criminal Court.
I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around the idea that the notorious "checks aren't cash" defense might have gotten enough of a boost from the appeals court ruling on Friday to make it actually viable in a real courtroom, but it may have done so. At least, that's what DeLay's defense attorney would like you to believe.
Money-laundering charges against former U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay and two indicted co-conspirators may be dismissed because the 2002 campaign finance case involved checks and not cash, a lawyer for DeLay said Sunday night."We win," said Dick DeGuerin, DeLay's lawyer, "because there's nothing but checks in the case."
The state's 3rd Court of Appeals on Friday actually upheld the money-laundering indictments against DeLay's two campaign associates, John Colyandro of Austin and Jim Ellis of Washington.
But the ruling contained a silver lining for the trio's lawyers because it concluded that the state's money-laundering statute -- written in 1993 to combat illicit drug activity by focusing on the cash in the criminal transactions -- did not apply to checks at the time DeLay is accused of laundering corporate money into campaign donations. The Legislature changed the law in 2005 to include checks.
Lawyers for the three defendants have included the check-versus-cash argument in other legal motions. But it was not part of the constitutional challenge that was before the 3rd Court of Appeals, so the appellate court could not dismiss on those grounds, DeGuerin said.
[...]
Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle said the check-versus-cash argument is absurd: "The court's reasoning is like saying that you can get away with murder if you pay the hit man with a check."
Prosecutors can file a motion for a rehearing before the appellate court.
DeLay is technically not a part of Friday's opinion because he was indicted a year after Colyandro and Ellis. But the ruling could effect all three.
DeGuerin said he would take the appellate court's opinion back to Pat Priest, the trial judge in San Antonio, who has dismissed the check argument previously. Armed with the opinion, however, DeGuerin said he expects Priest to reconsider DeLay's motion to dismiss the charges because only checks -- not cash -- were involved in the transactions.
The Chron is also on this story. One of the main drivers behind the whole "tuff on crime" movement has been a fervent belief that lots of criminals get off on so-called "technicalities". You know, things like not being advised of their rights, not being given access to an attorney, not being informed about exculpatory evidence - that sort of thing. In this case, they would be right. If DeLay gets off based on this, either by a dismissal of the indictments or a not-guilty verdict, he will have won on a technicality.
Last summer the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals confirmed the dismissal of a separate indictment against DeLay and his associates on a charge of conspiring to violate the state election code. The court ruled that conspiracy did not apply to election code violations until 2003 -- a year after the $190,000 exchange -- when the Legislature changed the law.On Sunday night, DeGuerin noted the similar circumstances for the money-laundering indictment.
"If this is how it ends," DeGuerin said, "it means every crime Ronnie Earle indicted Tom DeLay for was not a crime."
No, they'll all still have been crimes. He'll just have gotten away with them. In some sense, that doesn't really matter any more. DeLay is out of power, his style of politics has largely been discredited, and he's borne a big part of the blame levied by his fellow Republicans for the party's current woeful state of affairs. He's a footnote to history now, and in a practical, if not a moral, sense he's already been punished enough. But still. As with the Kim Brimer ballot lawsuits, if this is how he wins, we'll all know the reason why.
I found this front page story from yesterday about how various City Council members spent leftover funds in their budgets a little puzzling. For one thing, it lacked a certain amount of context. Why is it that some members had thousands of dollars left to spend? This is one reason, but given that the Members' budgets have to cover staff salaries, another possible reason is that some Members are tighter on staff compensation than others, or maybe that some had a vacancy in their office for awhile. Point being, having extra money at the end of the year is not necessarily a virtue, or the result of strong financial stewardship. Without knowing all the expenses in a given office, we can't really say.
For another thing, there's really nothing unusual about any of this. I've been in the corporate world for a long time. Your department gets a budget at the beginning of the fiscal year. You spend it on the things you must have, then if there's anything left, you spend it on the things you'd like to have. That's how it works. Why should it be different here?
Finally, while there's certainly value in keeping an eye on these kinds of expenditures, I fear sometimes it overemphasizes the small stuff. The budget for fiscal year 2009 is four billion dollars. The City Council office budgets - $362K times fourteen Council members - is five million bucks, or a smidge more than 0.1% of the total. The bits and pieces left over that got spent on TVs or whatever is obviously much less than that. Calling it chump change is an overbid. Sure, let's make sure it's not being spent foolishly, but let's not lose perspective, either.
It's Democratic convention week, and whether you're still holding out hope for a last minute switch to Hillary by the superdelegates or are just ready to put the primary to rest once and for all, there'll be something we can all agree on in the Texas Progressive Alliance blog roundup for the week. Click on for the highlights.
refinish69 explains why Travis County and Texas doesn't need another Keel at Doing My Part For The Left.
Two White guys in Houston want each others' jobs. Former Gov. Mark might run for for mayor, and current Mayor Bill may run for governor. PDiddie at Brains and Eggs has the Frick-and-Frack report.
Prepare yourself for a shock when you visit Bluedaze and see the BILLIONS in handouts given to Big Oil. TXsharon shows how these handouts, paid with our taxes, enable Big Oil to buy influence, work against our best interest, blatantly ignore laws and keep the US dependent on hydrocarbons rather than moving forward.
Mayor McSleaze at McBlogger wonders why, if Washington is broken as McThuselah's campaign says, McThuselah himself hasn't done something to fix it since he's been there more than, you know, 25 years.
The major media outlets may be arguing about whether experience, the war or the economy is the most important issue in this year's presidential election, but jobsanger says there is only one issue that matters , and it's not any of those three.
The Texas Cloverleaf exposes the plan by Congressman Michael Burgess and the Bush DOT to make I-35 from Dallas to Denton a toll road!
BossKitty at TruthHugger is concerned about WATER and what our fearless leaders plan to do about it: "Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink."
Justin at AAA-Fund Blog wonders when Houston will find good leadership - in government, in corporations looking for good PR, anywhere - for recycling.
Off the Kuff criticizes State Sen. Dan Patrick and State Rep. Frank Corte for their request for a ruling from AG Greg Abbott that the Lege can require cities to enforce federal immigration laws.
Texas Liberal says that he is not a bridge builder.
Before she took off for the DNC convention in Denver, and the Big Tent, Texas Kaos frontpager SCCS took a look at the state of the Central Texas Congressional races.
The rich get Visas while the poor were asked to self-deport notes CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chimse.
WCNews at Eye On Williamson posts about Perry, Dewhursts, and Craddick's new toll road plan, Texas GOP Leaders Want To Use Public Pension Funds To Build Corporate Toll Roads.
Vince from Capitol Annex takes a look at Republican State Representative candidate Van Brookshire's stupid press release about immigration and the incorrect facts he based it on.
North Texas Liberal shares a stunning tribute to Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, penned by a great friend of the late Congresswoman.
That Andy Taylor. What a kidder.
Metropolitan Transit Authority officials were jubilant Thursday on learning that a lawsuit aimed at keeping the planned University light rail line from being built, even partly, on Richmond Avenue had been tossed out of court.The brief ruling by state District Judge Levi Benton said the plaintiff, Daphne Scarbrough, "has no standing to pursue the claims asserted."
"The real winners are this region's commuters who will benefit sooner rather than later from improved mobility," Metro CEO Frank Wilson said in a statement that also referred to "specious lawsuits."
It was good news for Metro, but it was also just one round in the fight. Scarbrough's attorney, Andy Taylor, said he would appeal.
[...]
A few hours before Benton's ruling, Taylor said that if the decision came down in favor of his client, he would beseech Metro publicly to forgo its right of appeal and allow a trial to go forward "so we can know the answer before we start digging dirt and spending taxpayer dollars."
That may sound reasonable, but it would be a roll of the dice for Metro, which has a responsibility not to risk the taxpayer dollars already spent, by putting the project's future in the hands of 12 random strangers.
Of course, Taylor was never going to forgo his client's right to appeal in the event of a ruling in Metro's favor. Now, I don't expect him to do anything that isn't clearly in his client's best interests. He shouldn't expect Metro or its lawsyers, acting on behalf of the voters who approved the 2003 referendum and who want and expect the light rail network to be built, to do any differently. Nice try, though.
Remember the West U school zone cellphone ban? Well, today is the first day of school, and not everyone remembered.
Police in West University Place, a small enclave city within southwest Houston, chose to issue warnings this morning to help drivers adjust to the new ordinance.Lt. Charlie Deily said the two drivers who were stopped were "probably the only people in West University who didn't know about it."
"I think you're always going to have some people who aren't paying attention or just forget," Deily said.
The ban is in effect from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Violators could be liable for a fine of up to $200 for the first offense and up to $500 for repeat offenses.
Officer Merle Stewart issued a warning to a man who was using a BlackBerry while driving in the school zone in a silver Mercedes.
"It was a courtesy, and next time through, it'll be a ticket," she said.
"I saw it in his hand and I saw him manipulate it," Stewart said. "It surprised me because he saw me and he didn't put it down until I made him roll down the window. So he legitimately may not have been aware, but with the signs and everything, he should have."
Hey, there are people in this country who don't know who the President is. We shouldn't be surprised a couple of people didn't realize there was this new law in effect, however much it's been publicized. Frankly, the fact that only two warnings were issued should be taken as a positive sign.
Meanwhile this morning, at Lantrip Elementary, parents snapped pictures of their children -- dressed in fresh white or red polo shirts and navy pants -- in front of the newly renovated campus.
As long as they weren't using their cellphones while in their car to take the pictures, it's all good.
The Harris County District Attorney race may be the second highest profile race locally after the one for President. It's been a little quieter since former DA Chuck Rosenthal slunk off the scene in disgrace and since the contentious Republican primary to replace him on the ballot, but it's still a race that has garnered and will continue to garner a lot of attention. Former HPD Chief C.O. "Brad" Bradford, the Democratic nominee for the job, may be the best known candidate on the local ballot. Not all of that is for positive reasons, of course. There are a number of people who have reservations about him, which he'll have to overcome in order to win. I can say that having had several opportunities to speak with him and discuss issues with him, he's impressed me. I really like the themes his campaign has highlighted. It would have been easy, in a Bradford/Rosenthal matchup, to simply piggyback on the overall "we want a change of direction" feeling of this election season and make the campaign about not being Chuck Rosenthal. The much harder task, especially with Rosenthal now gone, is to talk about who you are and what you want to do and why your way isn't just a change but an improvement. I think he's done a good job of that (A Harris County Lawyer has also liked what he's seen), and I hope if you've had your doubts you'll listen to the interview (MP3 as always) and see if they get addressed.
PREVIOUSLY:
Vince Ryan, Harris County Attorney
Chris Bell, SD17
Loren Jackson, Harris County District Clerk
Diana Maldonado, HD52
Eric Roberson, CD32
State Rep. Juan Garcia, HD32
Ernie Casbeer, HD59
Joe Moody, HD78
Chris Turner, HD96
Robert Miklos, HD101
State Rep. Dan Barrett, HD97
Wendy Davis, SD10
Mimi Swartz looks at the city of Houston's journey to becoming a more environmentally-conscious place.
After years of dismissing as whiners the small minority who suggested that pollution was doing damage not just to Houston's image but also to its economic future, community leaders finally got their wake-up call. "It really had a negative impact on employers and employees moving here," said Deborah January-Bevers, the executive director of Houston's Quality of Life Coalition, who works closely with the Greater Houston Partnership, the city's version of a chamber of commerce. In bygone times, she would have been the enemy. That was before civic leaders finally realized that the bargain they had made--to accept an ugly, polluted city in return for a booming business climate--was a losing one in the twenty-first century. If Houston didn't change, new businesses wouldn't come here, old businesses wouldn't stay, and the city's collective dark fears--that it would end up poor, backward, and, worst of all, ignored--would come true.[...]
Rice University sociology professor Stephen Klineberg, who has tracked the city's economic and demographic changes for 27 years, regards mid-October 1999 as the local equivalent of Pearl Harbor. During a six-day period, USA Today ran a story bearing the headline "Houston (cough) . . . we have a problem (cough)," while the Los Angeles Times was celebrating the news that Houston had surpassed L.A. as the U.S. city with the worst air quality. "Everyone began to realize Houston had no chance of making it in the new economy if the perception was that it was not just flat and hot, but also ugly and dangerously polluted," Klineberg said.
One of the most influential--and most surprising--advocates for environmental change was the Greater Houston Partnership. Eight members, including future mayor Bill White, formed the Quality of Life Coalition, and they settled on four things that could make the biggest difference in the shortest amount of time: planting trees and landscaping; removing billboards; improving parks, bayous, and trails; and cleaning up litter, graffiti, and vacant lots. Soon, 85 businesses and organizations had endorsed their plan. White's election as mayor in 2003 ensured that Houston's nascent green movement would become official city policy. He spoke the language of the business community: enlightened self-interest. He was a highly successful trial lawyer-turned-CEO of a global energy corporation and a former deputy secretary of energy in the Clinton administration--the embodiment of all Houston wanted to be. White preached that the green movement should be the pro-business agenda for Houston.
It's a good read. We have come a long way from then - frankly, I think just the fact that green issues are a priority at all speaks volumes - but we have a lot to make up for, and there's a lot more to do. Check it out.
Yes, the appeals process in the matter of the indictments against Tom DeLay and his cohorts Jim Ellis and John Colyandro are still ongoing. And yes, the defendants keep on losing.
An appeals court has upheld money-laundering indictments against two of former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's political associates, finding that the Texas law is not unconstitutional vague or overbroad."The challenged statutes give constitutionally adequate notice of the conduct prohibited and sufficiently determine guidelines for law enforcement," said Third Court of Appeals Justice Alan Waldrop in a 46-page opinion issued late Friday.
The ruling was handed down exactly two years from the date the case was argued. The three judges on the panel that heard the case are all Republicans.
You can read the opinion here. This is the "checks aren't cash" appeal, for which DeLay himself is not a party. As long as it remains unresolved, however, the joint trial of DeLay, Colyandro, Ellis, and Warren RoBold (assuming he hasn't turned state's evidence) will remain on hold. I fully expect this will be appealed one more time, to the Court of Criminal Appeals. That almost surely means that Ronnie Earle will be retired when (if) the case finally comes up on the calendar. Which means I may need a ruling from one of these judges as to the disposition of my wager with Anti-Corruption Republican. Do I still win if the case goes to trial but someone other than Ronnie Earle is at the helm? You'd think so, but then we're still arguing about whether checks are materially different from cash in the law, so I wouldn't want to take anything for granted.
Boy, where was all this back in 1986 when the drinking age was being raised to 21?
UT says maybe. Texas A&M says not now. And a West Texas school says sign it up.Colleges in Texas are debating whether to join a national lobbying effort that believes the minimum drinking age of 21 is not working and needs to be re-evaluated.
The campaign, known as the Amethyst Initiative, is composed of college presidents from more than 100 universities, including two Texas schools, who say the current drinking age has created a culture of dangerous binge drinking on campuses. The presidents are calling on lawmakers to consider new policies, which could include lowering the drinking age to 18.
University of Texas spokesman Don Hale said the school's president received a letter about the effort last week.
"We're going to have a meeting of the vice president's council next Thursday, and we're going to talk about it," Hale said. "We're going to pull in some of the people on campus who really are familiar with the issues."
The catalyst behind this is the Amethyst Initiative, about which you can read more here. As I suspected, this grew out of a study that was written up in Inside Higher Ed last February (link via Chad Orzel). I like the approach they want to take, which is to grant a "drinking license" to those between the ages of 18 and 21 who first pass a class in alcohol awareness and safety. Among other things, I believe treating these folks like adults and giving them straight factual information so they can make their own decisions is much more likely to be effective than the same old scare-and-punish tactics. I also think Grits is onto something when he talks about "broad cultural changes", such as the rise of the "designated driver", as a factor that reduces the effect a lower drinking age has on auto accident rates. In any event, it's an idea that I think deserves more discussion. What do you think? Leave a comment and let me know.
I'm not in Denver or going to Denver. I'm not that big on the national conventions, though I'm sure I'll tune in for a couple of speeches. If you're someone who wants wall-to-wall coverage of it, especially from a Texas perspective, let me recommend that you check out a few of my colleagues for that:
Burnt Orange Report - see also here.
Para Justicia y Libertad.
Dallas South - see also here.
MOMocrats.
Asian American Action Fund blog.
Texas Observer blog, featuring Rachel Farris.
And of course, Poll Dancing, where Eileen Smith is already busy working the crowd.
Just an update in the ongoing legal battle.
[N]early five months after winning the right to keep sexually oriented businesses at least 1,500 feet from residential neighborhoods, the city's officials have yet to close a single establishment.The businesses have continued operating through a series of loopholes, claiming to be legitimate bookstores or "bikini bars" that do not need to be licensed.
So after more than 11 years defending its ordinance in various courts, the city is heading back to the courtroom -- this time suing four businesses caught up in police stings, and hoping to shut them down for good.
The change in tactics was needed, city officials say, because police enforcement has not proved enough. Working undercover, Houston police have made numerous arrests. But because the charges often are misdemeanors, city officials have lacked the power to close the businesses.
"It's not like stopping somebody for speeding," said Patrick Zummo, an outside attorney the city has hired to help enforce its ordinance. "You have to do a lot of groundwork before you can proceed. It's frustrating that a lot of people seem to think this is all a fun-and-game business and the city is out there trying to shut down bachelor parties.
"We're talking about drugs and violent crime, all next to a residential neighborhood."
I think one reason why I've always been skeptical about this particular issue is that I've always had doubts about the claimed links between the clubs and violent crime. In all the time I've been following this story, I can't recall seeing any hard data bolstering those assertions. Is there really more violent crime in the vicinity of the SOBs? Is there evidence to suggest that the SOBs themselves are the cause of at least some of that crime? I mean, some of those clubs are in bad neighborhoods to begin with. Can we say for certain that if the SOBs were some other type of business, say a regular bar, that crime in the vicinity would decrease? All this may be true, I don't know. I'd just like to not have to take someone's word for it.
The Penthouse Club [...] is among those the city is suing to close. In a petition filed in state district court, the city alleges the club is operating without a required license for sexually oriented businesses.The city also contends that the club has been the scene of 15 offenses in the last 18 months, including drug-dealing, prostitution and aggravated robbery. Not all of the alleged crimes, however, resulted in arrests or convictions.
Well, those are numbers, at least. But there we are taking somebody's word for it again. How many of those alleged crimes did result in arrests or convictions? Seems to me if most of them did, that'd be the number you'd want to tout. Otherwise, it feels like fluffing to me.
But I'm not the one who has to be convinced. There's a hearing for September 5. That'll tell us what we need to know.
A little weekend video fun, courtesy of Rindy Miller Media:
I just want to know, where'd they find the bobblehead? Did they buy it, or was it a souvenir item from some event? Because I want one, too.
I just have one question about this:
After a barrage of consumer complaints, the government is banning phone calls of recorded sales messages unless consumers agree to receive the calls.The Federal Trade Commission also announced that by December all recorded calls must provide an opt-out selection to make it easy for consumers to stop getting those calls. Effective Sept. 1, 2009, sellers and telemarketers may place recorded calls only to consumers who have provided signed and written agreements to receive them.
The FTC said the rules will not affect informational recorded messages, such as messages to notify consumers of appointments and cancellations, because they do not attempt to sell goods or services.
So will this finally stop those recorded calls I've been getting telling me that it's my last chance to do something about my car's expiring warranty? Which I've received multiple times, with different caller ID originations, on my personal cell, work cell, home and work numbers? Because I'm pretty sick of them by now. I realize December 2009 is a long way off, but at this point I'll take any reason to hope.
These links were not generated by a special effects master.
Newt Gingrich, fighting the good fight against Big Air.
I vote for Galactus.
Bobby Jindal is the new Kirk Watson.
Gay Street will apparently remain Gay.
The excitement thing? They're feeling it in Fort Bend, too.
Stephanie Stradley's Texans preview.
People who cheat on their spouses and go to great lengths to cover it up really should be drummed out of public life. Right?
I think I speak for a lot of guys when I say we wish you had, too, Jennifer.
I want Pluto to be a planet again, dammit!
Three words: Hot Blogger Calendar. That sound you hear is The Fonz splashing back into the water after his majestic leap over the shark. Don't blame me for that link, blame Pink Lady.
Life without health insurance.
Great moments in framing, via Chad.
August has been a really lousy month for beloved pets. Rest in peace, Mischka the cat and Relampago the dog. Don't click that link if you're not someplace where you can shed a tear.
At long last, we have an answer.
Barack Obama has ended an intense and highly secretive search for a vice-presidential nominee by settling on Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware--a choice calculated to offset some of the weaknesses in Obama's own resume and produce a ticket that marries messages of change and experience.
Obama announced the pick on his Web site in the wee hours of Saturday morning with a photo of the two men and an appeal for donations. The much-awaited text message went out shortly afterward, reading: "Barack has chosen Senator Joe Biden to be our VP nominee."
As I said before, I'm perfectly fine with this choice. I know there's going to be a lot written about Biden's foreign policy/defense credentials, which are formidable, and how they fill a gap for Obama, but there's another facet to him: he reinforces the recent narrative about the economy - he was born in Scranton, still commutes home daily via Amtrak, and is apparently the least wealthy person in the Senate. Imagine the contrast if McCain picks Mitt Romney as his running mate, for instance. Finally, Biden has a pretty strong record on progressive issues, and he's the kind of attack dog any Presidential candidate would like to have at his back. So, while not the most exciting pick ever, a pretty decent one.
Now who does McCain pick, and when does he make the pick? Speculate away in the comments.
ZZ Top says "Come visit Houston, y'all."
The trio, who grew up in Houston and calls themselves the "little ole band from Texas," was recruited by the Greater Houston Convention & Visitors Bureau to promote the virtues of visiting the city.With their 1983 hit song Sharp Dressed Man playing in the background, the three classic rockers extol "H-town's" restaurants, universities and golf courses in the 60-second video, which was unveiled Thursday at the bureau's annual meeting.
As ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons put it: "It always seems to come back to music and Mexican food."
The video is part of the bureau's "My Houston" campaign, which features print and broadcast ads featuring other local celebrities talking about their favorite Bayou City haunts. The list includes Grey's Anatomy star Chandra Wilson and Dan Workman, president of the recording studio SugarHill Studios, where Chantilly Lace and other hits were recorded.
The video is not on the GHCVB's video gallery page yet, but you can see the transcript here, and more such testimonials here.
The bureau is planning to show 10 spots on network and cable television in Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin, San Antonio, Corpus Christi and Beaumont as well as on Fox Sports in Louisiana, Arkansas and Oklahoma, said Lindsey Brown, director of marketing for the bureau.The spots are aimed at encouraging visitors to come to Houston, Brown said. The bureau plans to spend about $200,000 to buy time this fall and at least that much next spring.
The bureau, which is Houston's sales and marketing arm, reported it has booked 579,995 hotel room nights for future conventions and meetings. That represents a 2.8 percent gain compared with a year ago when it booked 564,000 future room nights.
That's nice, and certainly better than the alternative. I don't know that these ads have anything to do with it - I doubt event planners watch these things and say "Houston! That's where we'll have our next convention!" - but I suppose they can't hurt.
And here's an update on the CityPass tickets that went on sale in May:
In May, bureau officials said they hoped to sell 30,000 passes a year, aiming them at Latin American tourists who visit to shop and go to appointments at the Texas Medical Center as well as to regional visitors and even locals looking to save money.Brown said reaction has been stronger than expected. In June, the first full month of sales, Houston sold 2,594 CityPasses, putting it ahead of CityPass sales in Hollywood, Calif., Philadelphia and Boston, she said.
At that rate, they will indeed exceed 30,000 sold in a year. Nicely done.
Star-Telegram: "Hutchison definitely considering 2010 governor's race". Um, so like what else is new?
U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison backed away from announcing that she is going to run for governor on Tuesday, but said that she hopes to take steps following the November election that will allow her to do so in 2010.Hutchison said during a press conference at the Trinity River Vision Authority offices that she definitely is considering it but that she doesn't want to encroach on the candidates running during this election cycle.
"Of course, I'm considering it, I think everyone knows that," Hutchison said. "I would love to have the opportunity to run for and serve as governor of Texas."
"I am absolutely beginning to see what would be necessary to take those steps ... When this election is over, then I will begin to take the steps that I hope will lead to my ability to run for governor."
I'd just like to take a moment to say that I too am considering a run for Governor, and that I'd love to have the opportunity to run for and serve as Governor of Texas. Hey, I sensed an opening. May as well grab it while I can.
For crying out loud. The news-to-newsworthiness ratio in this continuing non-story is just off the charts. She might run. She's thinking about it. She'll tell us later what her decision is. We get it. Let's move on, okay?
I just don't know whether to laugh or cry when I see a headline like Doctors: Lawsuits help guarantee drug safety.
Top doctors who run one of the most influential U.S. medical journals are giving the U.S. Supreme Court some unsolicited legal advice about a major case.Lawsuits can serve as "a vital deterrent" and protect consumers if drug companies do not disclose risks to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration before it approves medicines for use, the editors of the New England Journal of Medicine said in a friend-of-the-court brief. The FDA "is in no position" to guarantee drug safety, the brief said.
Yeah, we all know how much doctors love lawsuits. At least, as long as it's someone else getting sued. Sheesh.
You wouldn't know it from reading the headline to this story about Metro CEO Frank Wilson, but that lawsuit filed by anti-rail activist Daphne Scarbrough to block construction of the Universities line on Richmond has been dismissed.
On Thursday, State District Judge Levi Benton ruled in favor of Metro, which argued that plaintiff Daphne Scarbrough, a Richmond resident and merchant, lacked legal standing to sue the agency.Scarbrough's attorney Andy Taylor said he will appeal, but expects that may take months or years to resolve. If Metro begins construction on Richmond before then, he will seek an injunction to block it.
Not a whole lot of detail in that, unfortunately, and I can't find a copy of the decision online, so that and this Metro press release are all we've got. The latter does say "METRO is working to complete an environmental review on the University Line and expects to begin construction in mid-2009 and to begin operation in 2012", so that at least is news.
Beyond that, assuming someone is still picking up the tab for Andy Taylor's services, I do fuilly expect there will be an appeal and an attempt at an injunction circa mid-2009. Without seeing the decision and getting a feel for the matter of standing, which was the reason for the dismissal, I can't say how much better their chances will be at that time. But certainly they will have the potential to slow things down. I hope that doesn't happen, but I'm not counting on it.
McCain not sure how many houses he and wife own. Don't you hate it when you forget stuff like that?
John McCain may have created his own housing crisis.Hours after a report that the Republican presidential nominee-in-waiting didn't know how many homes he and his multimillionaire wife own, Democratic rival Barack Obama launched a national TV ad and a series of campaign stops aimed at portraying McCain as wealthy and out of touch.
With the economy ranking as the top issue in the race, Obama sought to turn McCain's gaffe into one of those symbolic moments that stick in voters' minds.
Think John Kerry sailboarding or the first President Bush wowed by a grocery store checkout scanner, Michael Dukakis riding in a tank or Gerald Ford eating a tamale with the husk still on.
"I think -- I'll have my staff get to you," McCain told Politico when asked Wednesday how many houses he owns. "It's condominiums where -- I'll have them get to you."
Later, the McCain campaign told Politico that McCain and his wife, Cindy, have at least four in three states -- Arizona, California and Virginia. Newsweek recently estimated the two owned at least seven properties.
Actually, The Politico now puts the count at eight, possibly more. Maybe the second beach condo got lost in the shuffle. But as Texas on the Potomac suggests, once you get past four it's easy to lose count.
Which is probably why Barack Obama stopped counting at seven:
More here. Interestingly, the AP story has changed, including the identity of the reporter, from when it was first posted. Not sure what's up with that, but either way it's not a good story for McCain.
John Culberson talks about his credentials as a fiscal conservative.
"I've voted against $345 billion in new spending in this Congress, and since 2001, I've voted against over $1 trillion in new spending," Culberson said. "I have always co-authored a Balanced Budget Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and my starting answer for all new spending requests is 'no,' and 'yes' is very hard to earn."He said he also returns to the U.S. Treasury an average of $145,000 a year from his office budget.
[Democratic candidate Michael] Skelly on Monday listed the Iraq war as a spending item that imperils the nation's finances.
"I think we cannot afford to stay in Iraq," the challenger said after the news conference.
Skelly pointed out that Iraq is running a budget surplus thanks to the sale of its oil while the U.S. continues to spend on military operations there.
Congress has authorized $859 billion for the war in Iraq and Afghanistan and Homeland Security efforts since Sept. 11, 2001.
All of which John Culberson voted for, with the vast majority being spent in Iraq. It's sweet of him to return that spare change he doesn't spend from his office budget, but as that represents 0.0000017% of what has been spent in Iraq and Afghanistan and Homeland Security efforts since Sept. 11, 2001, he'll have to do a lot more of it to make up the difference.
It's very simple. The federal budget would be in vastly better shape now if we had not chosen to invade Iraq over five years ago. Anyone who still supports and enables that decision today does not have an "anti-spending record".
In the weeks since Immigration and Customs Enforcement director Julie Myers revealed in a TV interview that officials were planning to offer a new "self-deportation" program, the story has been picked up by media outlets worldwide.ICE paid for newspaper and radio ads in test cities, trying to entice the estimated 457,000 fugitive immigrants in the U.S. to turn themselves in with promises they could "avoid detention" and "manage your own return." Since the program's launch Aug. 5, Operation Scheduled Departure has attracted a half-dozen participants.
Yes, six.
Undeterred by the 0.0013 percent participation rate so far, ICE officials said they're holding out judgment on the program's fate until it ends Friday. The agency budgeted $50,000 for radio and print ads for the five-city program, which works out to about $8,333 per participant so far.
Nobody could have foreseen that nobody would want to do this to themselves. In completely unrelated news, the American Brain Surgery Association has decided to keep its Home Do-It-Yourself Lobotomy Kit on store shelves despite lackluster sales. "We think our upcoming ad blitz will turn things around," a spokesperson said. "We just need to give it some more time."
Hair Balls updates us on Regent Square, the development that will eventually replace the departed Allen House.
Although final approval is pretty much final approval, there are still steps to be taken, says the planning department's Suzy Hartgrove.There's the "recordation" of the plat, for one.
"I've seen [developers take] two to three weeks between final approval and recordation, or it could be a year before recordation," she tells Hair Balls. "Sometimes it's quick and sometimes it's slow; it just depends on what the developer wants to do."
A spokesman for the Boston-based GID Urban Development Group, says groundbreaking is scheduled for November.
We'll see how close they come to that. Here's a reminder that things don't always go as planned:
The summers are long around here, but they're not long enough to make that sign come true.
For what it's worth, by my count Allen House was all gone as of last October, so if they do break ground in November this year, they'll have gone from demo to pouring concrete in 13 months. Given that the Robinson Warehouse was fully disappeared by March 2007, that the Sonoma site was demolished in October and is now in financial limbo, and that the Ed Sacks site was fallow between January 2006 and October 2007, that's not too shabby.
Mayor White would like for Harris County to pick up part of the tab for Dynamo Stadium.
Mayor Bill White has asked Harris County to join the city in a Dynamo stadium deal, hinting that a $10 million contribution by the county may be the final step needed to finalize a deal with the soccer franchise."I'd say the most important issue is how might the county participate," White said.
County Judge Ed Emmett confirmed that Commissioners Court support could be crucial: "I think there's a $10 million shortfall somewhere in their negotiations, and they're looking for a way to do that."
Given the current cost estimate of $105 million, with the Dynamo kicking in $80 million and the city having already contributed $15 million thanks to the land purchase, I'd say that's exactly the case.
Emmett said the county could participate by joining the city's East Downtown Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone at the stadium's proposed site. White suggested the county join the TIRZ in a letter he sent to Emmett last month.Under a tax increment reinvestment zone, property tax revenues generated within the boundaries are frozen at the level when the zone was created. As development occurs and property values rise, tax revenue above that level -- known as the increment -- is funneled back into the zone to pay for improvements to help attract more investment.
City officials are proposing that Harris County join in the East Downtown TIRZ, forgoing $10 million of its share of property taxes from the area.
That money would be combined with the city's share and funneled to the stadium project. The county later would make up the money after the stadium is built and the economically invigorated neighborhood starts generating more property taxes, Emmett said.
Sounds reasonable in theory, anyway. I presume someone will come up with a report that projects how the area develops post-stadium and the new tax revenues that can be expected as a result. It'll be a matter of how plausible it all sounds. Doesn't seem like that big a risk for the county - I'll be a little surprised if Commissioners Lee and Garcia don't sign on. But who knows? Nothing in this long-running story has been easy to predict.
It's never too early to get started on bad legislation.
Some Texas lawmakers could launch a new effort to crack down on illegal immigrants by punishing businesses that employ them or cities that give them sanctuary, if the ideas get the legal go-ahead from Attorney General Greg Abbott.Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, and Rep. Frank Corte, R-San Antonio, asked Abbott this week for his legal opinion with an eye to the legislative session that begins in January.
The legislation would spark a fiery debate in a state where illegal immigrants have a significant impact on the economy and have roots going back many generations. The state has roughly 1.6 million illegal immigrants and a foreign-born population of nearly 4 million.
If Texas approved anti-illegal immigration laws, it would join a growing list of states that have enacted such proposals in recent years.
"I would move forward on legislation to end sanctuary-city policies, if Abbott says such a move would be legal," Patrick said.
[...]
Patrick didn't offer specifics of repercussions cities might face, but he acknowledged that one option would be a loss of funding to cities. A measure last year would have affected federal security funding for cities that don't fully enforce immigration laws.
Bill Hammond, president of the Texas Association of Business, said his group opposes the idea of the state revoking businesses' licenses for immigration offenses "primarily because we believe this is a federal issue that needs a federal solution."
That's the same Bill Hammond and the same Texas Association of Business that wanted a Republican majority in the Legislature so badly it got itself indicted for violating campaign finance laws in accomplishing that task. Be careful what you wish for, I guess. Will they do anything about this? I kind of suspect the answer is No. I didn't see any donations from TAB to either Patrick or Corte in the latest campaign finance reports, so cutting them off isn't an option, though I suppose they could try to put the arm on the other PACS that support these guys. Both are in safe Republican districts, so even if TAB would consider supporting a Democrat it wouldn't matter. They could finance a primary challenger, but I doubt they'd go out on a limb like that. Nasty little problem you've got for yourself there, Bill.
Of course, it's not just their problem. If Patrick and Corte get their way, it'll be much broader than that.
The definition of sanctuary city is imprecise. Police departments may set policies focused on what officials see as their primary responsibilities.Houston Police Department officers aren't authorized to detain people solely on the belief that they are in the country illegally. People arrested for criminal violations are asked their legal status by Harris County Jail personnel.
The Houston Police Department says Immigration and Customs Enforcement will be contacted if people are confirmed to have a deportation warrant, for example.
Houston Mayor Bill White has said emphatically that this isn't a sanctuary city, and White spokesman Frank Michel echoed that sentiment Wednesday.
"Clearly and demonstrably, Houston is not a sanctuary city," Michel said. "Our police department cooperates fully with federal immigration authorities, and the ICE officials have confirmed that repeatedly."
Patrick disagreed: "We may not have billboards up that say, 'Welcome, illegals, to Houston,' but it's clear we have a 'Don't ask, don't tell, don't look, don't apprehend' policy."
For a guy whose district barely overlaps Houston, he sure does want to tell us how to run things. Perhaps he should consider running for Mayor next year, so he can mold the city in his image.
And speaking of the Mayor, I wish he'd take off the gloves and go on the offensive against the likes of Patrick and their demagoguery, much as Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon did. What Patrick wants to do would be deeply harmful to many people, especially children, would be harmful to law enforcement, and would be harmful to business and the economy. But he's going to keep driving the debate on this until someone his size or bigger takes him on. I don't know who that might be, but someone needs to do it.
Note: This entry is part of a series of written Q&As with judicial candidates who will be on the ballot in Harris County. I am also doing recorded interviews with non-judicial candidates.
1. Who are you, and what are you running for?
My name is Shawna L. Reagin and I am the Democratic candidate for the 176th Criminal District Court.
2. What kind of cases does this court hear?
This is a felony court. It has jurisdiction over all felony proceedings, from death penalty capital murders on down to state jail felonies, such as possession of less than a gram of cocaine or theft involving value of more than $1,500 to less than $20,000. Other felonies include robbery, sexual assault, murder, various types of theft and most drug offenses.
3. Why are you running for this particular bench?
The incumbent has had a long history of refusing to follow the law with regard to assessing probation for eligible offenses and setting bonds, leading to several recusals and eroding confidence in the impartiality of the bench. I believe this behavior stems, in part, from the complacency born of years without meaningful challenge, so I decided in the Spring of 2006 that I would run for this court as a Democrat. The past several years of Republican hegemony in the trial and appellate courts of this county and state have spawned a pro-prosecution judicial activism that has greatly reduced accused citizens' rights to a fair trial and due process of law; the rule of law needs to be restored.
4. What are your qualifications for this job?
While still in law school, I served an academic internship with the Harris County D.A.'s office and I have been a solo practitioner of criminal law since I was licensed in 1989. I have handled thousands of felony cases at both the trial and appellate levels, from death penalty capitals on down. I have spoken at seminars throughout the state and have published numerous articles on criminal law issues. I am a former Associate Director of the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association and Chair of the Criminal Law and Procedure Section of the Houston Bar Association. I have been the Editor of the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association's quarterly magazine, The Defender, since 2005.
5. Why is this race important?
The judiciary actually has more of an impact on most people's daily lives than the majority of other elected offices, yet judicial races tend to be ignored by everyone except lawyers. The race for the 176th District Court is important because it offers the opportunity to choose change, to end the years of problems that caused complaints without action and to elect a qualified individual who is committed to fairness, courtesy and justice for all. The judicial races in general are important because the citizens of Harris County finally have the opportunity to restore fairness and balance to a system that has been corrupted by an undue emphasis on being "tough," to the exclusion of all other concerns.
6. Why should people vote for you in November?
People should vote for me for all of the reasons stated above: I am the most qualified candidate for this bench, I have more legal experience than any judge currently sitting on a felony trial bench had before taking office and my life experience enables me to understand the issues confronting working people and those whose lives have been marked by poverty, abuse and lack of education. I love the law and I have devoted most of my adult life to the struggle of protecting individuals' constitutional rights. I look forward to continuing to uphold, preserve and protect our Constitution.
PREVIOUSLY:
Dion Ramos, 55th Civil Judicial District Court of Harris County.
Some new homeowners whose houses may be in the path of the proposed new Grand Parkway segment are saying they wish they'd been told about that little detail earlier.
Nobody told [Spring homeowner Tracy Martin] that their brand-new neighborhood was in the footprint of the Grand Parkway, a planned highway encircling Houston. Or that most of the nearby houses would likely be bulldozed when construction began on the four-lane tollway that would be her future next-door neighbor.Now she and her neighbors are asking why the Lakes of Avalon Village subdivision was built and why they had to find out about its future in a postcard from the Grand Parkway Association, the nonprofit group organized by the state to facilitate the highway's development, rather than by the home builder, Lennar.
"Lennar or the developer should have disclosed this to us, and we would have went to another neighborhood and tried to start our new life," Martin said. "I planned on leaving this house to my grandchildren. But who wants to raise children next to a freeway?"
[...]
Robert A. Hudson, a Spring developer who partnered with Lennar on the project, said builders knew the highway might come through the subdivision.
"We are not up there on a daily basis to make sure that the builders make it clear to everybody else," he said.
[...]
The current F2 alignment was chosen in 2005 and was included in a draft environmental impact study the association published the following year, [David Gornet, executive director of the Grand Parkway Association,] said. The developer applied to the Houston Planning Commission for the plat in late 2005 and received approval in 2006, he said.
Gornet said he met early last year with representatives from the Friendswood Development Company, a Lennar subsidiary that bought all the lots from Hudson, and told them the Grand Parkway would pose a problem for homes being built in its right-of-way.
However, neighbors said Lennar was building homes on an affected cul-de-sac as recently as a couple of weeks ago. The builder's Web site was still advertising homes for sale in that subdivision on Tuesday.
Hudson, the developer, said it would be wrong to bar building when there is no guarantee this segment of the Grand Parkway will be built at all, let alone in that specific alignment.
"Do they have their funding approved through TxDOT or through the Federal Highway (Administration)? The answer to that is no," Hudson said. "All they are doing is making a statement that they want to come through there."
That's a pretty weak rationalization. The bottom line is that the builder knows something the buyer may not know, and that thing may very well affect the price and the decision to buy. I don't think it's unreasonable to require the builder to disclose this piece of information. If that means buyers will become less likely to buy, well, then maybe the builder shouldn't be building in that particular location, at least not at that time. Sorry, but my sympathies are with the homeowners here.
UPDATE: neoHouston asks a good question: "What the hell is Harris County or the City of Houston doing issuing building permits there!?!" You got me, dude.
UH-Downtown wants a new name.
"UH-Downtown has undergone a dramatic transformation ... but we're still referred to as a branch campus," President Max Castillo said. "We are not."UH-Downtown, located in the shadow of a freeway overpass on the northern edge of downtown, was founded in 1974. It is part of the University of Houston System but is a stand-alone university, as is the University of Houston-Clear Lake and the University of Houston-Victoria.
Those schools haven't suffered as much name confusion as UH-Downtown, Chancellor Renu Khator told university regents Tuesday, partly because they are farther away. UH-Downtown is less than five miles from the UH central campus.
University campuses with "downtown" in their names are traditionally branch campuses, Khator said.
[...]
Regents voted to allow the school to pursue a new name, although any change would have to be approved by regents and legislators. Regent Dennis Golden opposed the plan, saying he wasn't convinced it was a good idea.
Castillo hopes to have a new name selected by December. A Web site listing all suggested names should be up by September, spokeswoman Sue Davis said.
Among the suggestions so far: Houston International University, Gulf Coast University and Houston University.
Anyone want to help them get started on that? Leave your suggestions in the comments.
Really interesting cover story from the Press about the bottled water industry and its effects. Some of it, like the relative cost per gallon compared to gasoline, has been covered before, but there was quite a bit that was new to me, and the inclusion of an analysis of Houston's tap water was fascinating. Lots in there to think about, and definitely worth your time to read if you haven't already.
One thing to comment on, since this has become a hot topic lately:
Last year Americans tossed over 22 billion plastic water bottles into the trash. It is estimated that only 15 to 20 percent of these get recycled -- and probably even less here in Houston. According to the trade magazine Waste News, Houston residents are the worst in the country, recycling only 2.6 percent of their waste."I have seen those newspaper articles talking about the sheer amount of plastic that is thrown away from water bottles, and that is a staggering number," says Karl Pepple, director of environmental programming for the city. "You know, we have more pressing issues right now, looking at our air quality. Bottled water hasn't boiled to the top yet. It's something that we haven't spent a lot of time looking at."
Marina Joseph, the city's Solid Waste Management spokeswoman, says that unless people recycle their water bottles, they get tossed into the landfill, which is not where the city wants them.
Easier said than done. Almost all of the restaurateurs that the Press spoke with said they do not recycle water bottles.
"We do consider ourselves a green company," says Kevin Haagenson, general manager at Voice, located inside Hotel Icon, "but unfortunately there still is the bottle that's wasted at the end. We are throwing them away right now..."
[Heath] Lagrone at *17 says the same thing.
"We do try to do our part," he says, "[but] I don't really pay a lot of attention to it."
[Jason] Kerr says that when he worked under [chef Monica] Pope, recycling "eventually got to the point where it was so much work." Plus, he says, "there's no money in it."
I wouldn't expect many restaurants to achieve the standard greenness that Monica Pope sets, but getting them to separate out plastic bottles, which ought to include things other than water bottles, and steel or aluminum cans shouldn't be that big a deal. The city doesn't want these things in its landfill, and even with the restaurants paying for their own waste disposal, it's still costing the city money for those items to be in the landfill. Given that, it's got to make sense to provide some kind of financial incentive - a tax credit or rebate or something - to get them to do this. Or maybe offer the incentive to the waste management companies, since you'll need them to do the pickup anyway, if they'll haul the stuff to a city recycling center. I've no doubt there are plenty of details to work through, I'm just saying I think this is doable and desirable. The fact that there are other pressing issues doesn't mean some thought can't be given to this.
Hope you've got your "Hail to the Chief" ringtone in place for that special text message from Barack Obama, because he'll be naming his VP real soon now.
Barack Obama and his newly named running mate will campaign together Saturday at the place where the Democratic presidential hopeful formally launched his White House bid.A senior Obama adviser told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Tuesday that the Illinois senator and his choice for vice president will appear in Springfield, Ill., at the former state Capitol where Abraham Lincoln once served.
The last time Obama appeared there he announced he was running for president.
Obama strategist Anita Dunn sidestepped the question of whether the event would be Obama's first appearance with his vice presidential pick, but suggested the two wouldn't necessarily be related. The campaign's announcement Tuesday said only that Obama would begin the trip to his party's national convention at Saturday's event. The Democratic convention begins Monday in Denver.
"We could pick up the VP. any time," Dunn said.
At which point we can get back to the usual business of not caring all that much about who the Vice President is, present administration excepted. For what it's worth, I think Sam Nunn is a bad idea, I'd rather have Chet Edwards in Congress (and I don't think anyone wants to spend the next ten weeks saying "no, not John, CHET!"), and I see no good reason to hand Evan Bayh's Senate seat to the Republicans. Beyond that, I'm at peace with whoever Obama wants to pick. And may I just say, this may be the best comment anyone has ever made about the whole Veepstakes thing.
Missed this from last week:
As county officials and the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo haggle over how best to make use of the Houston Astrodome, a new group has emerged with a novel idea. They want to turn the 8th Wonder of the World into a world-class movie studio."It's absolutely the least amount of change to this historical structure that you could possibly do and give it a new lease on life," said film and TV veteran Cynthia Neely. "Texas really needs a large-scale production facility, and I mean large, to be competitive."
[...]
The idea to convert the Astrodome is similar to one in Austin where the city helped turn the old Mueller Airport hangers into a cutting edge studio. Filmmakers Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez filmed portions of "Grindhouse" at the Austin studio.
The subject first came up in May; there isn't anything new in this story, so I can't say if the concept has advanced any since then. Like I said then, I don't have any particular preference among the various save-the-Dome schemes. As long as it's private money being put up, and the County is off the hook, it's all good by me. Let all the interested parties make their pitches, and may the best one win. Link via Houstonist.
Next up in the interview series is Loren Jackson, who is running for the office of Harris County District Clerk, one of two "extra" offices on the ballot this year thanks to GOP incumbent resignations (Harris County Judge is the other). District Clerk is a fairly low profile office, but it serves a useful and important function, primarily for the district and county courts. I admit I knew very little about the office before this year, but thanks to this race and a little research, I feel like I know something about it now. It's more a more interesting job than I would have thought, and I hope you'll listen to the interview, as always in MP3 format, and agree with that.
PREVIOUSLY:
Vince Ryan, Harris County Attorney
Chris Bell, SD17
Diana Maldonado, HD52
Eric Roberson, CD32
State Rep. Juan Garcia, HD32
Ernie Casbeer, HD59
Joe Moody, HD78
Chris Turner, HD96
Robert Miklos, HD101
State Rep. Dan Barrett, HD97
Wendy Davis, SD10
If you work downtown and have an interest in urban design, check this out:
The event showcases the work done by a group of summer interns in architecture. Super Neighborhood 22 covers, among other things, the rapidly changing Washington Avenue corridor roughly between Memorial Park and Montrose. Take a look at the exhibit and see what some designers envision as the possibilities for its future.
Marc Campos comes to Council Member Peter Brown's defense after the Annie's List smackdown.
Commentary wants to know if Annie's List will really lay off of Peter if he does say I'm sorry. I doubt it. This is the second time Annie's List has dropped into the 2009 H-Town Mayoral race and probably won't be the last.Just an FYI - according to the Texas Ethics Commission, in the past few years, Peter has doled out over 30 grand to Dem candidates including writing a number of checks to women that have been supported by Annie's List. I wonder if Annie's List will tell the Dem office holders and candidates to give Peter his money back if he doesn't apologize. I doubt this too. (He's probably given more if you add what he's given to federal candidates.) This is all about H-Town mayoral politics in 2009 and not about the election in November of 2008. Personally, I think the criticism of Peter, who is a good Dem, was a little too harsh.
So I guess the standards and litmus tests for 2009 H-Town Dem city candidates are now being developed. I get where maybe a Dem shouldn't be at a fundraiser where W's Brain is being featured. How about taking money from folks that raised a ton of money for W? How about taking money from folks that think W's doing a good job? Commentary would like to know where the line is and more importantly who's in charge of drawing it and while you are at it, could you send it to me in writing - please!
I would hope we can all agree that someone who wants to be elected as a Democrat to any office should avoid at all costs attending a Republican fundraiser at which Karl Rove is the honored guest. I mean, talk about a minimum requirement! Bipartisanship, reaching across the aisle, all that good stuff has its place and its uses, but this isn't how you should be doing it. Especially in any context that includes Karl Rove. If you don't understand why, go Google the name "Max Cleland", and then come talk to me.
How much farther out the line should be drawn, and what the penalties for encroachment should be, isn't something that really interests me. Politics is a complex thing, with an awful lot of extenuating circumstances and strategic decisions and "it depends" situations. Your answers and mine will surely vary with the scenario, and that's fine. But since he asked, let's see how Marc Campos himself might answer those questions:
We have us a local, errr loco Dem group that needs to be put on probation. Area 5 Dems endorsed Carol Alvarado's opponent despite the fact that the opponent has voted in the last 4 GOP primaries - huh! Carol Alvarado (Commentary's client) has been campaigning for Dems her entire life. She's traveled on her own dime to places like California, Colorado, Illinois, and New York campaigning for fellow Dems. Her opponent has been touting the likes of W, Guv Dude, and Big Dick Cheney, and DeLay. Area 5 Dems are a joke - period. According to the Campaign Skipper, they need to be shipped to Area 51.
It's all fun and games till your own ox gets gored, I guess. Draw those lines where you want to, but let's not pretend one's own choices are superior to anyone else's.
Sugar Land wants to be a more entertaining place than it is now.
Sugar Land City Council is considering a measure to create an entertainment district that would include among other things, a concert hall, minor league baseball stadium and a hotel-convention center.If council approves the item at its regular meeting today, the measure would be put on the November ballot.
Council did approve this measure.
The proposed district is similar to what is being done in other Texas cities, particularly in the Dallas area.Sugar Land leaders say the district offers a place where locals can go for fun and entertainment without having to leave the city.
"The goal we have always had is to try and create a community where people can live, work, play and be educated and do all of those things within that community," said former Sugar Land Mayor Dave Wallace, co-chairman of the committee studying the project.
However, city officials also want to attract nonresidents to the venues to bring in dollars and thereby boost the local economy.
If The Woodlands can accomplish that, I don't see any reason why Sugar Land can't. It'd take something pretty special to get me to drive all the way out there, but there's plenty of people closer by that they can aim for. And since I mentioned driving, I should point out that in the longer term, some form of rail can and should be an option for this. I hope someone involved in this project has considered that.
The district will feature five basic parts, said Joe Esch, executive director of the city's business and intergovernmental relations office.Esch said plans call for an indoor concert hall of about 6,500 seats, the baseball stadium, a hotel-conference center, a festival site and a cultural arts facility. The entertainment district would adjoin a park that is being constructed along the banks of the Brazos River. The complex would be be erected on land owned by the University of Houston-Sugar Land.
Esch said the size of the stadium would be determined by what type of team plays there.
But before the city moves forward on attracting a team, much work has to be done with the Houston Astros.
Wallace said the city cannot talk to a major league baseball team about locating an affiliated minor league club in Sugar Land without first discussing it with Astros management.
The Astros' territorial rights cover Fort Bend County and Sugar Land, and a minor league team that was affiliated with a major league club could not be located there without the Astros' approval.
I don't know how open the Stros are going to be to this idea. I suppose it depends to some extent on what level of minor league we're talking - I'm guessing low-A or rookie ball, especially in a short season league, would be less threatening to them - and how much of their audience they draw from this area. I know they want a baseball team, but I'm thinking it would be a good idea to have a Plan B as well. Are they still talking to the Houston Dynamo? Their situation is still unresolved. Hair Balls has more.
Good riddance if it goes away.
An agency created to resolve disputes between homeowners and builders is "fundamentally flawed" and should be abolished, the Sunset Advisory Commission staff said today."It's really doing more harm to homeowners than good," said Joey Longley, executive director of the commission. "It's not something that we felt could be fixed without some massive overhaul. We think Texas is really better served without it."
The Texas Residential Construction Commission must be reauthorized by the Legislature next year as part of the state's sunset review process.
This is the agency's first review since it was created in 2003 with support of home builders who wanted a system to resolve disputes before homeowners could go to court.
Since its inception, consumers have griped about costs and delays in trying to resolve complaints through the agency process.
A state audit last year faulted the construction commission for sloppy record-keeping that made it difficult to determine how well complaints were being handled.
The staff review found problems with the regulatory processes, including the requirements to register as a builder, the way bad builders are handled and the difficulties for homeowners trying to complete the dispute resolution process before filing a lawsuit.
"No other regulatory agency has a program with such a potentially devastating effect on consumers' ability to seek their own remedies," the report states.
The fix on this travesty was in from the beginning when Governor Perry appointed one of Bob Perry's right-hand men to the commission. What were the odds an aggrieved homeowner was ever going to get a fair shake from that?
The report will be considered next month by lawmakers and public members of the commission.Home builders, a powerful source of campaign donations to legislative candidates, are likely to fight to retain the agency.
I like the way one Chron commenter put it: "If this commission was of benefit to consumers, why would builders want to keep it so bad?" Because it's a lot easier to draw a winning hand when you have full control of the deck. Let's hope this is indeed the end for this useless agency. The Observer has more.
The State Supreme Court has rejected Sen. Kim Brimer's latest attempt to knock Wendy Davis off the ballot in SD10.
That leaves one more appeal pending in the 2nd Court of Appeals in Fort Worth for Brimer's petition to have Davis, a former city councilwoman, disqualified and kicked off November's ballot."We will continue to campaign aggressively while the court continues in its process to ensure all candidates in this race are eligible," a statement released by his campaign said.
Davis campaign officials said they are encouraged by the ruling.
"I think Kim Brimer has gone around and tried to shop this to different courts," said Matt Latham, campaign manager. "He'll have to abide by the process. Kim Brimer waited until July to file this. . . . That's like creating your own emergency and calling an ambulance."
Friday is the deadline for a candidate's name to be removed from the ballot, so I figure we'll get an answer by then. Apparently, Brimer could get Davis ruled ineligible after then, at which point she'd still be on the ballot but would be ineligible to serve if she won. That's a little weird, but this is Texas.
Burka echoes his editor's sentiments about how this all looks.
The politics of this maneuvering are very bad for Brimer. Political pros know the risks of asking the courts to knock your opponent off the ballot. Voters regard this as unfair play, and if it fails, they are very likely to punish the candidate who goes to court-and loses-at the ballot box. The Brimer camp had to know this before they went to court, so the logical conclusion is that they were sufficiently worried about the race that they were willing to take the risk-even after Brimer lost his case in the trial court. They also must have known that winning was a long shot, because courts strictly construe election laws against ineligibility.The game is not quite over, because the Supreme Court action was not a decision on the merits. The Court of Appeals could still come to Brimer's rescue. Don't bet on it.
The Supreme Court's decision is here. A press release from the Davis campaign about the ruling is beneath the fold.
UPDATE: The Texas Blue has more.
Fort Worth, TX - After repeatedly refusing to debate his November opponent, former Fort Worth city councilwoman Wendy Davis, or go on the record regarding campaign issues, Senator Kim Brimer hosted a campaign kickoff luncheon today to help raise more money for his re-election bid.Brimer, a 20-year state legislator, has repeatedly turned to the court system in hopes of avoiding a campaign, but his efforts to have Davis thrown off the ballot have been consistently unsuccessful. Today, the Texas Supreme Court denied Brimer's Petition for Mandamus and sent him back to the Court of Appeals.
"Each and every time we have proposed giving voters in this district a chance to hear us both speak on the issues they care about, Kim Brimer has refused while referencing his unsuccessful antics in court. However, when it comes to mingling with donors and ensuring that he has enough funds in his campaign account to continue to fund his lavish lifestyle, he conveniently forgets his excuses for not campaigning. So Mr. Brimer, which is it?" said Davis campaign manager Matt Latham.
According to the Tarrant County Republican Party website (www.tcgop.org), Brimer held his campaign kickoff luncheon at Joe T. Garcia's Restaurant today from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m..
"Mr. Brimer believes that Wendy's candidacy is enough to kick-off a campaign and to ask donors for money but not enough to warrant a discussion on the issues?" said Latham. "That mentality is precisely the reason that voters across Tarrant County are so hungry for a change in leadership."
I realize we're all focused on the 2008 elections, and rightly so, but if I may interrupt that for a moment to bring a bit of interesting news for 2009: According to a well-placed City Hall source, former Governor of Texas Mark White has been making phone calls about running for Mayor of Houston, and may have decided to do it. That's all I know at this point, so I can't say it's carved in stone, but I can believe that there's something to it. The why, I'm less certain about. I'm not really sure what he brings to a race that already features two over-fifty white guys - maybe he'd be a landing place for disillusioned Peter Brown fans. Governor White was an early supporter of Council Member Jolanda Jones, and he's certainly capable of raising a bunch of money, so all jokes aside he'd be a serious contender if this is for real. If so, you can say you heard it here first.
UPDATE: The Chron confirms it.
Former Texas Gov. Mark W. White is considering whether to run for mayor of Houston in 2009."It's a prospect," he said in telephone interview today.
The Democratic businessman, who grew up in Houston and served as governor from 1983 to 1987, added, "I have talked to a number of people (about running) and have been very pleased by their response."
[...]
White said he learned as Texas governor that solving the social problems of the state's largest cities would tremendously ease state services.
"We could reduce the prison population 60 percent" by further addressing urban problems, he said.
So there it is. And if that's his platform, I'll welcome him to the debate. Anybody else out there looking to jump in?
Let's get right to today's trivia: Who holds the Major League Baseball record for most career home runs by a player whose last name begins with the letter Q?For example, A is easy. It's Henry Aaron with 755 homers. B is simple, too. It's Barry Bonds with 762. R is, duh, Babe Ruth with 714. M is Willie Mays with 660. Z is a little tougher, Todd Zeile with 253. You get the idea.
Trivia answer: It's Mark Quinn, the former Rice University star, who hit 45 homers for the Kansas City Royals between 1999 and
2002.Why is this worthy of today's trivia? Because the other day, my 11-year-old boy came home and said, "Hey, the new coach of my baseball team (the fearsome Green Sox) is named Mark Quinn. Have you ever heard of him? He said he once played in the Majors."
Well, son, not only does Mark Quinn hold the Q-ball record with 45 home runs (edging Jamie Quirk's 43 blasts), he was the Sporting News American League Rookie of the Year in 2000. He is one of only three big league players in history to hit two homers in his first game (tying Bert Campaneris and Bob Nieman).
I hate to break this to you, Ken, but your answer is no longer correct. Meet Carlos Quentin of the Chicago White Sox, who has 34 home runs so far this year, giving him 48 total. He's only 25, meaning that barring a career-shortening injury like what Quinn suffered, he's likely to put a little more distance between himself and Quinn than Quinn did between himself and Jamie Quirk. Mark had the Q record for six years, but alas, he doesn't have it any more.
This sounds promising.
The U.S. transportation secretary will announce "good news" regarding expanding transit in Houston Tuesday, a spokeswoman said. Metro has asked the agency to pay for half of two planned light rail lines.The announcement by Transportation Secretary Mary Peters will be at 10 a.m. near the University of Houston-Downtown on North Main.
"We wouldn't be coming there to announce bad news," said the spokeswoman, declining to elaborate.
The site of Peters' announcement will be the northern end of the Metropolitan Transit Authority's Red Line light rail tracks. Metro's planned North Line would link to them and continue to Northline Mall.
[...]
Metro spokeswoman Raequel Roberts said she she does not know what Peters will announce.
It's after 10 AM now, so I presume this announcement has already happened, but as yet I can't find anything more current. When I do, I'll update.
UPDATE: Thanks to Christof in the comments, this is what it was all about.
Right now, it takes longer to get federal approval for local transit projects than it does to put a man on the moon.But if the Bush administration's reform proprosal passes, Houston, along with other cities, will be able to navigate a streamlined process to design and build new transit and highway projects.
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary E. Peters made those remarks at a METRO news conference today at the University of Houston-Downtown campus, on North Main St. and Rothwell. The photo here shows Peters talking to Frank J. Wilson, METRO's president & CEO, before the news conference started.
"Houston will no longer have to slice and dice every dollar. Indeed, it will have a level playing field....Does the project justify the investment of federal tax dollars? Local officials will be free to make investments based on their needs," said Peters, adding that economic merit, not political influence will determine if federal grants flow to local projects.
"Money won't get squandered on projects that do very little to improve transit," continued Peters. "That's bad news for those who build bridges to nowhere."
Not exactly what I had in mind, but not bad. The perhaps unintentional slam against Sen. Ted Stevens is amusing.
Note: This entry is part of a series of written Q&As with judicial candidates who will be on the ballot in Harris County. I am also doing recorded interviews with non-judicial candidates. This is the first such entry in the judicial candidate series for November; I did a similar series for the Democratic primary in March. The reason for this format in these races is that judicial candidates are limited in what types of questions they can answer. I hope you find these posts useful.
1. Who are you and what are you running for?
Dion Ramos, 20+ year medical malpractice defense attorney, running for Judge of the 55th Civil Judicial District Court of Harris County.
2. What kind of cases does this court hear?
This is a Civil District Court. It has unlimited jurisdiction, making it the highest civil trial court in Texas. Civil cases include business disputes, contract disputes, consumer rights cases, employment law, personal injury, injunctions, temporary restraining orders and real estate disputes among other things.
3. Why are you running for this particular bench?
I have been a civil trial lawyer for more than 23 years and feel its time to give something back to the legal community. I can have a positive impact on the litigants and their attorneys in this court because of my experience.
4. What are your qualifications for this job?
I am certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization in both Personal Injury Trial Law and Civil Trial Law. I have tried over 60 civil cases to jury verdict in district courts in Texas and have participated in at least 40 more that never made it to verdict.
5. Why is this race important?
The judiciary is the most likely place a person will come in contact with our political system - either as a litigant or a juror. I respect jurors, the jury system and understand the pressures of being a litigant. All three deserve to have a judge who knows what its like to have been in the courtroom dozens of times.
6. Why should people vote for you in November?
I haven't seen it all - but I've seen most of it. My experience will allow me to run this courtroom efficiently and fairly from hearings to trials. Remember, taxpayers are footing the bill for the judiciary. They deserve to have the most competent and qualified and judges running their courtrooms efficiently.
I spent a few months as a deputy vote registrar in 2004. It's pretty tedious work, and you don't really get to see a reward for it, since the folks you register won't cast their ballots for at least several weeks, assuming they make it to the polls at all. At least the current research suggests that voter registration drives do have a positive impact on turnout, so you have that going for you. It's not much, but it'll get you through the boring stretches.
Anyway, having done it before, I have a lot of respect for the folks who are out there doing it now, in the summer heat.
To find the most effective mass voter registration drive in Houston, check bus shelters, public hospital waiting rooms, job search centers and welfare offices.There -- as opposed to PTO meetings, art festivals, naturalization ceremonies and other typical sites for civic activity -- is where ACORN has been methodically signing up poor and working-class citizens this year.
In fact, the local chapter of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now has registered more voters in Harris County this year than the combined totals of all other local groups using deputized voter registrars, according to county officials.
[...]
About 40 percent of the 27,000 registration cards gathered by ACORN from January through July have been rejected or placed in limbo pending the gathering of more information, according to the county. About 6,600 were filled out by people already registered, and many others contained insufficient information.
But ACORN has worked with the voter registrar's staff under Tax Assessor-Collector Paul Bettencourt to whittle the error rate, officials said. In Houston, the organization has a "quality control" team aimed at making sure registrations are legitimate and accurate.
Of the new registrations that are expected to raise the county voter roll to 2 million for the November election, only 13 percent come via such registration drives and cards mailed by individual voters. More than 60 percent come from the Texas Department of Public Safety, which offers registration forms at its driver's license outlets.
We've covered some of this ground before, so I'll just say again that I think 2 million registrations would represent a dropoff in relative terms from 2004. I think in the end we'll do better than that, but I don't think we'll reach 2.1 million.
I didn't see a quote in the article from an ACORN official, so I sent an email to Catherine Blue, who is their State Political Director for a reaction. Here's what she said:
We're tremendously proud of the work ACORN has done to get voters registered in Harris County and elsewhere. But the work doesn't stop here - we are committed to getting as many eligible applicants on the rolls as possible, and we are dedicated to activating these voters for the fall elections on the issues that ACORN cares about most - foreclosure prevention, health care access, and improvement in education.
I'm glad they're out there doing this work, and I hope they see much success in November.
You have to give these guys credit for persistence, if nothing else.
Two men who claim to have stumbled across a Bigfoot corpse in the woods of northern Georgia indignantly stood by their story at a news conference in Palo Alto during which they offered an e-mail from a scientist as evidence and acknowledged they wouldn't mind making a few bucks from the "find" they have kept stuffed in a freezer for over a month."Everyone who has talked down to us is going to eat their words," predicted Matt Whitton, an officer on medical leave from the Clayton County Police Department.
Whitton and Rick Dyer, a former corrections officer, announced the discovery in early July on YouTube videos and their Web site. Although they did not consider themselves devoted Bigfoot trackers before then, they have since started offering weekend search expeditions in Georgia for $499. The specimen they bagged, the men say, was one of several ape-like creatures they spotted cavorting in the woods.
I'm not sure which video is theirs, but you can certainly find plenty of them on YouTube, including some pretty funny spoofs.
As they faced a skeptical audience of several hundred journalists and Bigfoot fans that included one curiosity seeker in a Chewbacca suit, the pair were joined Friday by Tom Biscardi, head of a group called Searching for Bigfoot. Other Bigfoot hunters call Biscardi a huckster looking for media attention.Biscardi fielded most of the questions. Among them: Why should anyone accept the men's tale when they weren't willing to display their frozen artifact or pinpoint where they allegedly found it? How come bushwhackers aren't constantly tripping over primate remains if there are as many as 7,000 Bigfoots roaming the United States, as Biscardi claimed?
"I understand where you are coming from, but how many real Bigfoot researchers are out there trekking 140,000 miles a year?" Biscardi said.
Sorry, but explanations for why no one has found convincing evidence of a Bigfoot are as weak and pathetic as ever. Plenty of dinosaur remains have been found by amateur enthusiasts. If they're out there to be found, someone will find them. Until then, they don't exist. Sorry, fellas.
I'm too in awe of Michael Phelps' gold record count to come up with a snappy intro to this week's Texas Progressive Alliance blog roundup. So please just click on for the highlights, and we can all get back to watching the events.
To kick the week off right, the TPA is unveiling its newly redesigned website where you can connect with the Alliance and our member bloggers via Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, DFA, Party Builder, Ning and other social networking tools.
Mike Thomas of Rhetoric & Rhythm looks at a week's worth of opinion columns from the San Antonio Express-News and determines there is a nearly three-to-one imbalance of conservative/Republican columns compared to liberal/Democratic ones.
On Bluedaze, TXsharon busts the myths that Natural Gas is cleaner, that shale drilling will make us safer, and that Domestic Drilling can make us Energy Independent.
There was no attempt of a citizens' arrest of Karl Rove while he visited Houston last week, raising money for Texas House Republicans. PDiddie at Brains and Eggs hoped it would happen, to no avail.
WhosPlayin is concerned about operators wanting to drill for gas in Lewisville's urban forest area near Central Park.
CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme wonders why sexual assault equates to perjury - wink, wink - if you're a person of power in Texas.
WCNews at Eye On Williamson posts on HD-52 Democratic candidate Diana Maldonado's opponent Bryan Daniel sharing his campaign office with a local charity, IRS Complaint Filed Against Round Rock Charity.
Off the Kuff takes a look at the possible effect Libertarian candidates may have on some close State House races.
Texas Liberal uses the ancient epic Gilgamesh to discuss reactions to vulnerability and innocence in both the ancient and modern world.
McBlogger takes a look at the latest Republican fundraising pitch and finds that it's only appealing only to the same geriatric patients who are McThuselah's base. And those elephants are very tacky.
This week jobsanger is outraged by an Arkansas city that's trashing the Constitution and a small Texas country school that's allowing teachers to carry guns.
refinish69 awards the Infamous Cheese Tray Awards over at Doing My Part For The Left.
Mean Rachel supports Obama but argues against Maureen Dowd's assertion that Hillary Clinton's appearance in Denver will "dampen the dreams of our daughters."
Libby Shaw puts the pieces together for us over at TexasKos in his dairy Military Contractors Charge U.S. Taxpayers $85 Billion. Not only are we NOT saving money by outsourcing military support functions, we are pissing off people worldwide. Worst of all? Eisenhower's worst fear has come to pass, the MIC is real , alive and in control....
Justin at Asian American Action Fund Blog marvels at the coming Charlie Wilson Chair at UT, which will become the first Pakistan Studies chair in the nation.
Vince at Capitol Annex takes a look at a scandal that links State Sen. John Carona (D-Dallas) to a condo development in Houston that is falling apart.
Just a reminder that today was the day Karl Rove came to El Paso to help his buddy Big Bland John and State House candidate Dee Margo raise some money. Cornyn and Rove, of course, go a long way back, thanks to hitching their wagons to George W. Bush's star and never letting go. But Cornyn also has some interesting connections to El Paso and some other Bush buddies, in particular Ralph Reed and Jack Abramoff. Here's a brief primer if this isn't familiar to you. Enjoy the money, fellas.
On a related note, the Rove event in Houston has caused a little political problem for Houston City Council member Peter Brown, who for reasons as yet unarticulated was in attendance at that fundraiser. Two of the beneficiaries of that event were State Reps. John Davis and Jim Murphy, who are opposed by Annie's List endorsees Kristi Thibaut and Sherrie Matula. In a press release I've received, Annie's List has called out Council Member Brown for his attendance.
"If Peter Brown wants to hob knob with Karl Rove, that is his prerogative, but attending a Republican fundraiser for the explicit purpose of defeating Democratic candidates is way over the line. At the very least he owes Kristi Thibaut and Sherrie Matula an apology and an offer to contribute or raise an equal amount of money for them," said Annie's List Communications Director Erica Prosser.Billed as a fundraiser for both Thibaut and Matula's opponents along with two other Republicans, the event was headlined by the architect of George W. Bush's administration, Karl Rove. Rove appeared even while he is ignoring a summons from the United States Congress to testify before them. Last week Congress voted to hold him in contempt, yet instead, Rove has been running around Texas raising money for state Republican candidates. In attending the Harris County event, Peter Brown helped legitimize this "fugitive fundraising tour," as termed by Texas Democratic Party Chair Boyd Richie.
Brown, a Houston City Councilman and 2009 candidate for mayor, ignored calls from the state party and thousands of voters around the state who signed petitions calling on Rove to heed his subpoena from Congress and return to Washington, D.C. to testify. Instead of joining these voters and his own party, Brown chose to attend a fundraiser for Republicans running against Democrats in his own area. Brown perhaps owes Democratic House Candidate Kristi Thibaut the biggest apology, as she was his campaign manager in his City Council race.
Brown needs to decide whose side he is really on and make that clear to his constituents. He can't have it both ways, and Thibaut, Matula and others deserve to know if he is really on their side. Annie's List calls on Brown to apologize to these Democratic women and other Democrats whose campaigns were hurt by this fundraiser and asks him to support his fellow Democrats at all levels between now and November and beyond.
I've heard quite a bit of grumbling from various Dems about this, many of whom have said they'll remember it next year. To say the least, I think CM Brown has some fences to mend.
This is rather dicey.
What's the best way for downtown workers to get to Beck's Prime restaurant in the Bank One Center on a scorcher of an August day?The downtown tunnel system, of course. But if you're a person with a disability, that's not always easy. Depending on where you work, the average pedestrian's air-conditioned stroll presents a daunting obstacle course for someone in a wheelchair.
Approaching Beck's from the north end of downtown, a person in a wheelchair could face as many as three sets of stairs -- including one connecting to the Houston Chronicle -- while trying to get a hamburger for lunch. Two of those hurdles can be bypassed via inconvenient detours of two or three blocks. But getting around one set of stairs requires exiting to street level and crossing at a stoplight.
Eighteen years after the Americans With Disabilities Act became law, several spots along the 6.5-mile downtown tunnel-skywalk system, used by more than 150,000 downtown workers, remain blocked or altogether inaccessible to those in wheelchairs.
These areas haven't been made ADA-compliant because it would be difficult or impossible to put in ramps and still leave enough headroom for pedestrians, said Bob Eury, director of the Downtown District, a public-private association that promotes and manages downtown development.
"In an ideal world, we would get it to the point where there would be no barriers," he said. "There have been complaints from time to time, but those have been modest."
I'm not exactly sure how installing ramps would affect headroom, but maybe I'm just not envisioning the solution Eury has in mind. My "I am not a lawyer" take on this is that the tunnels' noncompliance doesn't actually prevent anyone from getting from point A to point B downtown, since taking the street is a viable option. It's an inconvenience to be sure, but it's not the same as, say, a lack of wheelchair access at building entrances, or a lack of sidewalk ramps at intersections. I would venture to say that if after 18 years of the ADA's existence, no one has filed a formal complaint about the tunnels, it's not been a major barrier. But as I say, I'm not a lawyer. If any actual lawyers want to correct my naive legal reasoning, please feel free to do so.
That said, the spirit of the ADA surely argues for making the tunnels fully accessible for folks in wheelchairs. I'm a little ashamed to realize that after all the times I've been in them myself, I'd never thought about this before.
Going into 2008, Democrats knew they had a couple of opportunities to make gains in the State Senate, which has not traditionally been fertile ground for such pickups, at least outside of redistricting years. But Joe Jaworski and Wendy Davis both established themselves early on as contenders, with Rain Minns in the mix as well, making this year one of the more exciting ones for State Senate watchers in awhile.
And if that weren't enough, Sen. Kyle Janek announced his retirement in January, opening up his seat in SD17 for a special election. While Republicans have bickered among themselves, Democrats found themselves a great candidate in Chris Bell, whom an early poll identified as a strong frontrunner for the office. Bell is well known in the district thanks to his 2006 run for Governor as well as his term as Congressman for what was then CD25 and his time in Houston City Council. I chatted with him about this race and what he would hope to do as the next Senator in District 17. It's all here in the usual MP3 format. Let me know what you think.
PREVIOUSLY:
Vince Ryan, Harris County Attorney
Diana Maldonado, HD52
Eric Roberson, CD32
State Rep. Juan Garcia, HD32
Ernie Casbeer, HD59
Joe Moody, HD78
Chris Turner, HD96
Robert Miklos, HD101
State Rep. Dan Barrett, HD97
Wendy Davis, SD10
Back in June, there was a much-debated poll showing Democratic State Rep. Juan Garcia trailing challenger Todd Hunter in HD32, which runs from Corpus Christi up along the Gulf Coast. Now BOR brings word of another poll with a very different result:
48.4% say they will definitely vote Garcia with another 1.9% leaning that way. Hunter has a combined support of 39.7%.
The poll was by Jeff Smith's Opinion Analysts, but no further data is available in that post. QR fills in a few gaps:
The sampling of 400 likely voters by Democratic pollster Opinion Analysts, Inc confirms that 60.2% of HD32 voters have a favorable or very favorable view of Governor Perry. John McCain leads but has surprisingly weak numbers with only 52.7% support against Obama's 30.7%.Nevertheless, against that backdrop, 48.4% say they will definitely vote Garcia with another 1.9% leaning that way. Hunter has a combined support of 39.7%
[...]
The most interesting issue test question reported was a surprising 67% upset with the insurance industry and supporting an elected rather than appointed Texas Insurance Commissioner. With the Texas Department of Insurance under sunset review, that issue may have resonance in other races across the state.
The other surprise in the poll was the weakness in self-identified Republican numbers. In what is supposed to be a 60+% Republican district, only 32.7% identified as either a "strong Republican" or "not so strong Republican" vs. 35.2% "strong" or "not so strong Democrats". Nearly 24% called themselves independent, independent leaning Democrat or independent leaning Republican.
The poll reflected 71.1% Anglo, and 23.7% Hispanic numbers.
The bit about the insurance industry is important because Hunter has been a lobbyist for them, which suggests a pretty clear path for Garcia to take in attacking him. Beyond that, I'm a little skeptical of the Dem/GOP numbers, though the results of that recent Texas Politics Project poll, for which Burka adds his analysis, suggest they may be valid, and I'm a little skeptical that even including leaners nearly 90% of the voters have a preference this far out; it would be nice to see the result of the initial ask, pre-pushing. As this is a top target for the GOP, and as both sides will have a lot of money, I figure we'll see more polling as we go. But at least now, there's another data point to accompany that first poll.
I don't know about you, but I think Discovery Green is pretty awesome.
Houston's only major downtown park has settled into a rhythm four months after its April 13 opening. The enormous crowds of the first few weeks, which taxed the 12-acre park's capacity and necessitated hiring more employees to watch the swarms of kids, have subsided to consistently high but manageable levels, park officials said.Employees estimate that almost a quarter-million people visited the park between opening day and June 30, including more than 75,000 who attended concerts and other special events. The estimates were made by comparing the size of crowds with the police department's estimate of 30,000 people who went to the park on opening day, said Susanne Theis, programming director.
The girls love Discovery Green. We've been there several times, to play in the fountain and on the playground equipment. Every time we pass through downtown on the Pierce Elevated, Olivia says "that's where the downtown park is". There's people there, including plenty of kids, but it hasn't been too crowded, and we've always been able to find parking within a couple of blocks. Given how hard it can be to find cheap, kid-friendly stuff to do on a hot weekend, the place has come in very handy for us.
[T]he major concerns expressed by skeptics prior to its opening -- that hordes of homeless people would trash the place, that no one from the suburbs would visit, that interest would evaporate after the opening-day buzz faded -- haven't materialized.The continuous activity in the park seems to have discouraged homeless people from gathering in large numbers, though a few show up from time to time, said Guy Hagstette, Discovery Green's director.
Park employees have spoken to visitors from The Woodlands, Sugar Land and other locations throughout Houston and its suburbs.
What a shock to learn that the whiners were wrong. I haven't seen any homeless folks in the park in the times I've been. Tiffany, who's there every Thursday afternoon at the Green Market, says the same. It's just not been an issue.
(On a tangential note, one other nice feature of Discovery Green and Green Market is that any leftover produce from the market gets donated to The Beacon.)
Anyway, I think the place is a great addition to Houston's scene. Who else visited, and what do you think? Leave a comment and let me know.
UPDATE: What Jeff says.
I confess to being a little puzzled by the sound and fury over peanut allergies and the steps some schools have taken to deal with them. I understand that schools overreact to things all the time (two words: "zero tolerance"), and that they sometimes don't listen to reason about that. I definitely sympathize with any parent of a picky eater - if peanut butter is one of the three only things in the whole world your kid will consent to eat, then being told you can't send PBJs to school any more is not going to be good news. But we are talking about a situation in which a kid may suddenly go into shock, stop breathing, and maybe die. It shouldn't be too hard to understand why the schools want to err on the side of caution.
I suppose one reason for the backlash is that it seems like the hypervigilance to peanuts has come out of nowhere. It's true that more people these days, children especially, have peanut allergies, but no one knows why the number is increasing. Maybe over time people will be more sensitive to it, as public awareness increases. Or maybe we'll get a better handle on causes and treatments and we won't need the schools to take such a hard line. Either way, I don't see this as a long-term problem.
We had our first brush with the peanut allergy thing this week as we had a parents' orientation for Audrey's new preschool class, which she'll be starting next week. They're enforcing a peanut ban at the school, but if no one reports a peanut allergy for their kid in a given class, then it can be dropped for that class. Not a big deal for us - both our girls like peanut butter, but they eat a fairly broad assortment of things, so it's not a staple of their diet - but a lot of questions were asked when the point came up.
Has this affected you or your kid in some way? Leave a comment and let me know.
The best news in this story about some bridges that will be part of the construction plan for the east-west light rail lines downtown is this bit:
The Metropolitan Transit Authority's light rail plans now include an "elevated structure" over Buffalo Bayou west of downtown, where trains will switch from westbound to eastbound tracks.The structure, essentially a bridge that stops on the opposite bank, will lie between baluster-lined bridges on Capitol and Rusk and beneath the downtown "spaghetti bowl," already crisscrossed by several freeways and ramps.
Although technically part of the planned Southeast line, the structure would be shared by light rail vehicles on the East End line. Plans call for the two to merge east of downtown, where Harrisburg becomes Texas Avenue at Dowling. Together, their light rail cars would cross downtown westbound on Capitol and eastbound on Rusk.
Metro's East End project manager, Roberto Trevino, said this week that such a structure became necessary after Metro shifted its plans from Bus Rapid Transit to light rail last October.
[...]
Trevino and [Bob Eury, executive director of the Houston Downtown Management District,] also said the structure could serve as a link to future light rail connections into downtown from the west and northwest.
That would be a connection to an eventual Inner Katy line, which was approved along with the rest of the 2012 Solutions plan in the 2003 referendum, but was dropped from the 2012 plan when Metro scaled things down due to concerns about federal funds. I realize we have a long way to go just to get everything that's in the works now built. But I do want to see some discussion about what comes next, and how we can get there from here. The current projects aren't an endpoint, they're just a beginning. I want to keep that idea out there, so things can keep moving forward.
This has the potential to be a political earthquake.
Cameron Willingham never stopped insisting he was innocent of murder. Even as he lay strapped to a gurney awaiting execution, the burly Corsicana auto mechanic denied setting the house blaze in which his 1-year-old twins and 2-year-old stepdaughter were incinerated.Now, 17 years after the deadly fire and four years after the execution, a state commission charged with investigating negligence and misconduct complaints against forensic labs has agreed to look into allegations that Willingham was convicted and sentenced to die on fire officials' faulty testimony.
Meeting Friday in Houston, the nine-member Texas Forensic Science Commission unanimously authorized the investigation in response to a complaint filed by The Innocence Project, a New York City-based group dedicated to exonerating the wrongfully convicted.
The commission also agreed to investigate a 1986 West Texas arson fire in which two people died. Oilfield worker Ernest Willis, 63, was sentenced to die for the crime. But just months after Willingham's execution, a judge found Willis had been convicted on faulty scientific evidence and he was freed.
"These two cases in Texas are just the tip of the iceberg," Innocence Project co-director Barry Scheck said in an e-mail statement. "Across Texas and around the country, people are convicted of arson based on junk science that has been completely discredited for years."
This Chicago Trib article from 2004 goes into a lot of detail about the Willingham case, as does this peer review panel report (PDF) commissioned by the Innocence Project. I'll give you the Executive Summary so you can get a feel for it:
Neither the fire that killed the three Willingham children nor the fire that killed Elizabeth Grace Belue and Gail Joe Allison were incendiary fires. The artifacts examined and relied upon by the fire investigators in both cases are the kind of artifacts routinely created by accidental fires that progress beyond flashover.The State's expert witnesses in both cases relied on interpretations of "indicators" that they were taught constituted evidence of arson. While we have no doubt that these witnesses believed what they were saying, each and every one of the indicators relied upon have since been scientifically proven to be invalid.
To the extent that there are still investigators in Texas and elsewhere, who interpret low burning, irregular fire patterns and collapsed furniture springs as indicators of incendiary fires, there will continue to be serious miscarriages of justice.
Continuous (and in some cases, remedial) training and professional development of fire investigators is required. Additionally, participants in the justice system need to become better educated, and more skeptical of opinion testimony for which there is no scientific support, and need to ensure that defendants in arson cases are afforded the opportunity to retain independent experts to evaluate charges that a fire was incendiary.
In the cases of individuals already convicted using what is now known to be bad science (or no science), the Courts should treat the "new" knowledge as "newly discovered evidence." It was resistance to this concept that allowed the State to execute Mr. Willingham, even though it was known that the evidence used to convict him was invalid.
Links via Grits. What do you think might happen if and when the state of Texas is no longer able to claim that it has never executed a provably innocent person?
Look, I'm as much a believer in the mythology of criminal forensic science as anyone. There's a lot of good work done in crime labs, and they have been justly lauded for a long time because of it. But there are also a lot of problems with that business, and they need to be addressed, lest we create more Cameron Willinghams. Really, there are a whole raft of reforms that need to be put in place, for prosaic things like eyewitness identifications, evidence retention, and other problematic areas. I mean, do we want to feel confident that in general we're putting the right people away or not? Seems pretty simple to me. I'm not even sure I can tell what the argument against is. But I don't think the impetus to do anything is going to be there until something shakes people up. I think this may be it, so I'm very much looking forward to the Commission's report.
It's clear that this guy is a creep. It's somewhat less clear that he's a criminal.
From the perspective of park rangers, Phu V. Nguyen was obviously violating the state's improper photography statute when he was arrested at Hippie Hollow nudist beach in Austin last weekend.The Harris County man hid himself behind thick vegetation, was photographing two topless women with a long telephoto lens and ran when they spotted him, rangers said.
But some criminal defense lawyers say the case raises complex legal questions because the women were at a public nudist beach where no laws would prohibit photographing those clothed or wearing swimsuits.
"The trick with these laws is balancing First Amendment rights versus privacy rights," said Kathy Bergin, who teaches constitutional law at South Texas College of Law. "Courts are studying where that line is."
Kyle Lowe, Nguyen's lawyer, said his client likely isn't interested in testing the law's constitutionality and he could advise him to work out a plea-bargain deal with the Travis County District Attorney's office.
[...]
Patrick McCann, a Houston criminal defense lawyer and recent past president of the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association, said "The issue becomes whether you can have an expectation of privacy when you are swimming nude at a public place."
Bergin said courts are wrestling with such issues in part because cameras erected by employers and governments, cell phones and the Internet have made people aware that they could be filmed in public places.
"The concept of privacy is really diminishing. Technology is making privacy harder to come by," she said. "The courts are going to have to stipulate where the lines are going to be drawn between First Amendment concerns and privacy interests."
I'm glad that the guy is likely to take a plea rather than pursue this case to whatever legal end it might reach. I feel pretty comfortable saying that his behavior falls within the scope of the law, and that the intent of the law is within Constitutional bounds, and I'd just as soon leave it that way. But it is a good reminder that the concept of an "expectation of privacy" ain't what it used to be. When I was a kid, I knew I had to watch my step in public because a lot of people knew my family and by extension me, and if they saw me doing something stupid, it would eventually filter back to my parents. Now that I'm an adult, there are entirely different reasons for the same thing. I liked the old way better, but there's no going back.
Long the stuff of fantasy, practical invisibility shields have been brought a step closer to reality by researchers who say they have engineered materials that can hide an object by bending ordinary light like balloon animals at a circus.The researchers, led by Xiang Zhang of the Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center at the University of California, Berkeley, have created two composite materials that possess negative refraction indexes, meaning they bend light opposite to the way most natural substances do. If water exhibited negative refraction, fish swimming in a pool would appear to be in the air above the water.
"This is an important step toward creating a cloak," Zhang said Monday.
Cool! Now all we need is the Nimbus 2000 and the Marauders Map, and we'll be almost ready to replicate the Harry Potter experience. I'm seeing a very hot Christmas gift one of these years.
But he insisted the work was not aimed at shielding Federation starships from Klingon battle cruisers. A more practical application, he said, would be to create a so-called "super lens" that could image infinitesimally small objects, enabling the manufacture of still tinier computer chips.
Oh. Well, that's useful, too. Carry on.
Never gonna link you up...wait, that's not right...
Barack Roll. It had to happen sooner or later.
When identity politics backfire.
Gay Street and a Baptist church. Whatever you do, don't tell the American Family Association about this.
Once a straight-shooting maverick, always a straight-shooting maverick.
I may not know much about the situation in Georgia, but Greg Djerejian does, and he's not impressed with John McCain's reponse. By the way, you know that McCain's speech on the subject leaned heavily in Wikipedia, right?
The robot invasion comes to suburbia. I hope they remembered their stretchy rubber coverings
Is using Gmail as your business email solution a bad idea?
Rest in peace, Satchmo. Sadly, it looks like Unqualified Dog will meet you soon. Time to go give Harry a hug and a Milk Bone.
So glad that the missing snake has been found. Guess those lie detector testsweren't worth the effort.
Thank TiVo, I have never been forced to sit through one of these awful ads.
We as a nation are facing a serious shortage of Scandinavian sperm. Do either of the Presidential candidates have a plan to deal with this?
The True Story of Blackazoid. Have I mentioned how great it is to have Jesse Taylor back on the Internets? Because it truly is.
We may finally get a resolution to the question of Wendy Davis' ballot status in SD10, as Kim Brimer has asked the Texas Supreme Court for an expedited ruling to his appeal of the civil court ruling that she was eligible according to the law. Quorum Report has the court filing and the petition for writ of mandamus for those of you who are into that sort of thing. I can't tell what file types they are - almost surely PDF or Word Doc - as the links didn't include their extensions. Download them and try Adobe or Word, one of them ought to work.
In the meantime, Evan Smith has some free legal advice for the litigious Brimer:
Kim, dude: Do you know how incredibly weak you look in all this? If you can beat her at the polls, beat her at the polls. If the voters in the district want you back in the Senate, they'll put you there. Incumbents win nearly every time; that's the system of quasi-democracy that redistricting guarantees. But if you can't beat her at the polls and you instead beat her in advance in the courts, we're gonna know what happened, and your consistituents are gonna know it too. Stones, Kim. Stones. Show us you have them. Drop this legal nonsense and get on with the election.
The thing is, Brimer should be worried that she'll beat him at the polls. That's a pretty purple district, Brimer has some serious ethical baggage, and Davis is a strong candidate running in a good year for Democrats. I'm not surprised that he'd rather win on a technicality than die with his boots on. Maybe the Supremes will give him that one last chance to hang on, with the hope that the 2011 redistricting will save his bacon. But yeah, if that happens, we'll all know the reason why.
Gardner Selby asks an impolite question:
I may have exasperated an aide to U.S. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas the other day by asking if Cornyn did more than speak against senators taking a break.Cornyn's office had ballyhooed his stand against the Senate taking its traditional August recess without voting on expanded U.S. oil drilling.
You may have heard: Gas prices surged this summer.
And Cornyn, a Republican seeking re-election in November against Democrat Rick Noriega and Libertarian Yvonne Schick, evidently stood in the Senate chamber and told Sen. Harry Reid, the Democratic majority leader, that senators shouldn't leave without acting on legislation lifting a moratorium on drilling offshore and ending a ban on drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
[...]
Wondering what Cornyn otherwise did to deter the Senate from scooting, I asked if he'd circulated a letter to be signed by senators -- or anything other than speechifying.
Apparently not.
Cornyn's campaign spokesman later balked at my speculation that Cornyn and other senators opposing the recess were grandstanding.
Well, in all fairness, the Republicans as a whole are doing more than just grandstanding. They're also Twittering. In fact, it's fair to say that the Republicans are building a grassroots Twitter fighting (and fundraising) force of extraordinary magnitude. So there is that.
Oh, and he's also whining about how totally unfair the Chronicle has been to him. Click on to read the note poor pitiful Cornyn sent to his supporters. Now you know what else he's been doing, Gardner.
Friends:Since you are among our closest supporters, I want to make you aware of some problems Senator Cornyn is experiencing with the Houston Chronicle, and particularly its editorial board.
On Tuesday of this week, Senator Cornyn spoke to a Pachyderm Club meeting in Houston that was covered by the Houston Chronicle. The subsequent article focused on health care and led off with the sub-headline "Senator says state is a model for nation, despite having so many without insurance." Needless to say, the headline did not accurately reflect Senator Cornyn's views.
In his remarks, Senator Cornyn did not talk about health insurance at all. Instead, while relating several reasons why Texas's economy is in better shape than most other U.S. states, he mentioned the 2003 law reforming medical malpractice law in Texas. Since its passage, doctors and medical school graduates have been flocking to Texas, providing health care services in underserved areas and improving patient access in others. The development has made Texas the envy of the medical community nationwide, and several states are attempting to duplicate our accomplishment.
After his remarks, Senator Cornyn was approached by the Chronicle reporter, who raised the entirely separate subject of health insurance for the first time. Senator Cornyn did not disagree that there were too many uninsured in Texas, and added there were numerous steps that need to be taken to reduce that unacceptably high number. In fact, Senator Cornyn has pushed for a variety of solutions, including funding for community health clinics, enabling small businesses to pool their resources to offer group health insurance, increased outreach efforts to boost SCHIP enrollment, and more.
On Thursday, a Chronicle columnist took the inaccurate headline and used it to launch a negative column - "Senator, Listen to Those Without Health Care" -- based solely on selective parts of the Chronicle news story. Needless to say, the column contained nothing about Senator Cornyn's extensive efforts on health care, and the author did not seek comment or clarification from Senator Cornyn. By Friday, the Chronicle's editorial page took the matter even further, running an editorial entitled "Out of Touch." It said the Senator's "depiction of Texas's health care system as a national role model departs from reality." Of course, Senator Cornyn made no such claim about Texas's overall health care system.
The Chronicle's editorial page staff was asked for the opportunity to put forward Senator Cornyn's side of all this, but they flatly refused. They want their misleading column, and their even more misleading editorial, to be the only information available to their readers.
I suppose we should expect that a liberal newspaper would take overt steps to assist the Democratic candidate from its home town. But that doesn't excuse outright distortion. It also does not mean that we should ignore it, or pretend it's not happening.
Let me be clear on one point. Senator Cornyn is extremely accessible and helpful to all news media, including the Chronicle. He and his campaign have an excellent relationship with the Chronicle reporting staff, and on balance, we believe we are treated fairly. We also believe that newspapers have a duty to tell both sides of the story to their readers. And it's obvious that the Chronicle editorial board does not agree.
This unprofessional behavior from the Chronicle editorial board will likely continue through the campaign, and we intend to do what we can to call attention to it. We encourage you and your friends to check www.johncornyn.com for the facts on Senator Conryn's record.
Sincerely,
John CornynRob Jesmer
Campaign Manager
Governor Rick Perry continues to train his orbital mind control lasers at Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison over her stated intention to run for Governor in 2010.
Dave Carney, Perry's longtime political consultant, told me the other day that Perry, who has said he'll seek a third full term in two years, is focused on raising millions of dollars and crafting a strong plan for a general-election showdown against a Democrat."Fundraising is the least of our problems," Carney said. "I'm anticipating an aggressive general election. I'm not anticipating a problem in the primary."
Carney said that until Hutchison does something beyond privately telling activists she's inclined to run for governor, skepticism should reign.
"Until she actually does something real -- resigns or runs -- people will always be skeptical because we've been down this road," Carney said, a reference to Hutchison's looks at running for guv in 2002 and 2006.
When I reminded Carney that at least a few Capitol observers doubt Perry will follow through with his declared plans to run again, he replied: "The political chattering class has this inability to believe anybody would say what they believe or what they plan. He absolutely is going to run."
What can I say? You just have to admire the craftsmanship. Say what you will about Rick Perry, he knows how to do FUD. And if it turns out that Kay Bailey is also saying what she plans, he'll turn on a dime to a different line of attack, as if he'd been doing it all along. The man can't govern worth a damn, but he sure can campaign.
Julia Child and the OSS. Who would have guessed?
Famed chef Julia Child shared a secret with Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg and Chicago White Sox catcher Moe Berg at a time when the Nazis threatened the world.They served in an international spy ring managed by the Office of Strategic Services, an early version of the CIA created in World War II by President Franklin Roosevelt.
The secret comes out Thursday, all of the names and previously classified files identifying nearly 24,000 spies who formed the first centralized intelligence effort by the United States. The National Archives, which this week released a list of the names found in the records, will make available for the first time all 750,000 pages identifying the vast spy network of military and civilian operatives.
They were soldiers, actors, historians, lawyers, athletes, professors, reporters. But for several years during World War II, they were known simply as the OSS. They studied military plans, created propaganda, infiltrated enemy ranks and stirred resistance among foreign troops.
Among the more than 35,000 OSS personnel files are applications, commendations and handwritten notes identifying young recruits who, like Child, Goldberg and Berg, earned greater acclaim in other fields -- Arthur Schlesinger Jr., a historian and special assistant to President Kennedy; Sterling Hayden, a film and television actor whose work included a role in "The Godfather"; and Thomas Braden, an author whose "Eight Is Enough" book inspired the 1970s television series.
All I can say is that it's a good thing for them Karl Rove wasn't around in the 1940s. We'd have known all about them by now otherwise.
By the way, the post title is taken from the book The Catcher Was A Spy, about the life and times of Moe Berg. I hope someday we know as much about the exploits of Julia Child and the other OSS recruits as we do about Berg.
John Cornyn bragged to his buddies the other day about how awesome health care is in Texas.
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, representing the state with the highest share of population without health insurance, said Tuesday that Texas is a national model for improving access to health care because it limited lawsuits against doctors.Voter approval in 2003 of Proposition 12, which limited damage awards against doctors in malpractice cases, led to lower malpractice insurance rates, the senator said. In turn, more Texas doctors stayed in the medical field and others flocked to the state from elsewhere, the Republican said.
"We have created greater access to quality health care in Texas," he told the Greater Houston Pachyderm Club, a GOP group. "How did we do it? Well, we passed Proposition 12.
"So, you have to understand what I mean when I say I want to make Washington, D.C., and the rest of our country more like Texas (because), frankly, we know the policies that actually work."
Cornyn, seeking re-election this year, said after the speech that he is not proud that a record-high 26 percent of the state's population has no health insurance. He said he has promoted the creation of federally funded health clinics in Texas as a safety net for residents who lack access to health care.
The Chron takes him to task for that today. It's interesting to me that he'd save that bit for after the speech - I guess he didn't want to be a buzzkill. Regardless, having more doctors is not the same as having more and/or better access to health care. Think Progress rounds up the not-so-bright numbers:
- 25 percent: or 5.6 million Texans are uninsured, the worst rate in the nation.- 35 percent: of small businesses in Texas offer health insurance.
- 54 percent: of Texans under 65 have employer-sponsored coverage, "8 percentage points below the national average."
- 48th in health care quality and efficiency: on the Commonwealth Fund's State Scorecard "avoidable health costs" dimension - a measure that speaks to efficiency within the health care system.
- 1.8 percent: increase in direct care physicians between 2004 and 2006, "which is slower than it was pre-Proposition 12."
It should be noted that between 2004 and 2006 the population of Texas increased by 4.2% (Excel spreadsheet), so even if you concede that Prop 12 helped bring more doctors into the state, it wasn't nearly enough to keep pace with the overall population growth. And, as the Texas Observer pointed out last year, almost all of those new doctors are going to fast-growing suburbs. Rural Texas, which was promised more doctors as part of the package with Prop 12, has seen no increase at all.
Prop 12 was never about improving access to health care. It was always about sticking it to trial lawyers and helping the insurance companies. Maybe - maybe - if Republicans like Cornyn had ever lifted a finger to do things like broaden CHIP or strengthen Medicare, they could claim that Prop 12 was one piece of a larger package that as a whole made health care more accessible and affordable. But then, if they had done that, they'd have real results to trumpet, instead of the same old rhetoric.
Obviously, if you live in CD10, I'd like for you to vote for Larry Joe Doherty in November. But you can also vote for him before then, wherever you live, in the latest Progressive Patriots Fund election, the winner of which will receive $5000 from Sen. Russ Feingold's PAC. Given Texas' status as a net money exporter, I'm always happy to help bring a few outside dollars here to help one of our candidates. We tend to do pretty well in these votes, so let's do it again. Please take a moment and cast a vote for Larry Joe. Voting starts today and ends next Friday, the 22nd, at 5 PM Central time. Thanks very much.
You can always count on a member of the Hotze family to make an election more special. Alan Bernstein has an example, in this case an email by Austen Furse supporter Steven Hotze slagging SD17 candidate Joan Huffman, and a surprisingly measured response from State Rep. Dennis Bonnen. I think the whole thing can be summed up succinctly by Hotze's statement that "You can tell a lot about a person and her political philosophy by looking at the persons who support them." In Steven Hotze's case, at least, that sure is true. Click over for the full story.
Houston's Toyota Center was not among the eight venues selected Wednesday as finalists to host the NCAA Women's Final Four.The eight sites that remain in contention for the five-year cycle from 2012-16 are Dallas; San Antonio; Columbus, Ohio; Denver; Indianapolis; Nashville, Tenn.; New Orleans; and Tampa Fla.
The host sites will be announced in mid-November.
I hope we try again for after 2016. I still hope to take my girls to this event someday, and it would be cheaper and easier if it's here in Houston. Houston Roundball Review has more.
Awhile back, immigration-focused blog The Sanctuary (now at a new URL) sent a detailed questionnaire to John McCain and Barack Obama to ask them about their stances on immigration issues. What kind of a response did they get?
With a little under 100 days left in the campaign, John McCain has yet to tell the American people exactly where he stands on the volatile issue of immigration and immigration reform.Since securing his party's nomination back in March, McCain has toned down some of the more strident rhetoric that marked his noticeable shift towards the right on the issue during the primary contests, yet he still remains firmly planted on the fence when it comes to discussing the specifics of what his presidency would mean in terms of immigration reform.
[...]
In June, the editors of The Sanctuary, a multi-ethnic community of on-line activists concerned about migrant rights, human-rights, and immigration reform, asked the major presidential candidates to respond to a detailed questionnaire concerning their positions on the specific aspects of immigration policy.
After more than a month, the Obama campaign responded with a detailed response to the lengthy survey ...The McCain campaign has remained mum. ...Well not exactly mum:
"The first phone call I placed was answered cordially. I was told that someone would get back to me. I never heard back from anyone," said The Sanctuary editor Kety Esquivel of CrossLeft.org who has appeared on CNN to discuss the questionnaire. "The second time I called, the person I was speaking with hung up and the third time I called the line was disconnected."
Obviously McCain wants to stonewall as long as possible before being held accountable for his various positions on this issue.While those of us on the left, or representing the broader Latino community, deserve to know McCain's real stance on immigration prior to Election Day, so too do those on the opposite side of this debate. He can no longer continue to talk out of one side of his mouth to one important constituency while saying, or implying, the opposite position to another.
Given the weak response that eventually came from a campaign surrogate, I'd say don't hold your breath. The Sanctuary is still holding off on printing Obama's answers to give McCain a chance for equal time, but I don't think they'll bother waiting much longer. He's just not that into them, it seems.
...Kathy Stone. I know because I was there at the County Executive Committee meeting, as the newly-sworn-in chair of Precinct 003. I'm not going to say how I voted, just that between Patrice Barron, Martha Failing, and Stone, we had three well-qualified candidates from which to choose. The Republicans picked their nominee last month. You can now add this race and to the county Democratic judicial slate. On to November!
Mayor Bill White and County Judge Ed Emmett have sent out a letter to help find a buyer for the Houston Comets.
A copy of the letter received by the Chronicle, dated Aug. 11, states White and Emmett are working with the WNBA to find new ownership for the team. The deadline to find local ownership is November.The letter places the value of the franchise at $10 million.
The WNBA has taken control of the Comets for the remainder of the season, and the league is working with White and Emmett to keep the franchise in town. A WNBA official said all team operations are going through the WNBA and not Hilton Koch, who has owned the team since October 2006.
[...]
However, the letter to potential investors says Koch "has not been able to devote the resources needed to maintain the Comets' tradition of success."
Koch hasn't spoken about the change in ownership. He called a news conference for Wednesday but canceled it Tuesday night.
I wish they'd gone ahead and posted the actual letter, but oh well. This sure sounds like owner Koch is having financial difficulties, doesn't it? Maybe it's because the Comets have been a money sieve for him, and maybe he's just having a cash flow problem. Either way, it's never a good thing when the league has to take over a team's operations. I hope they're successful at finding a buyer quickly, and I hope said person is on more solid financial ground.
Many things to say about this UT-Austin Government Department and the Texas Politics Project poll of the Presidential and Senate races in Texas. Where to begin...
- Let's start with a nitpick: Ralph Nader is not and will not be on the ballot in Texas. There's no good reason to include him in any poll. It just adds noise to the result.
- Both Rick Noriega and Barack Obama have room to grow, as neither does all that well among Democrats, especially so-called "Not Very Strong Democrats". Both John McCain and John Cornyn do better among Republicans than Obama and Noriega do among Democrats, with far fewer undecideds. McCain's support trails off, with a fair amount going to Bob Barr, as you move from "Very Strong Republicans" to "Independent Leaning Republicans". That's somewhat counter-intuitive - you always hear it's the base that dislikes McCain while more independent voters gravitate towards him. In Texas, 90% of "Very Strong Rs" are on his side, while the "Independent Leaning Rs" go maybe 67% McCain, and almost 20% for Barr. I confess, I would not have expected it to be quite like that. Of course, these are pretty small sub-samples, so we shouldn't read too much into it.
- Oddly, the "Independent Leaning Ds" favor both Obama and Noriega more than the "Not Very Strong Ds" do. I'm not quite sure what to make of that. Both Obama and Noriega do decently among true Independents, with Noriega having a small lead over Cornyn, and Obama trailing McCain slightly.
- I have to agree with Evan Smith when he wonders how 17 percent of respondents - these are the registered voters, mind you - could express no preference in the Presidential race. I know it's still August and all, but geez.
- The full poll summary is here (PDF). Among other data points of interest: Right track/wrong track is 20/67; is the country better off/worse off/about the same from a year ago = 2/81/15; are you better/worse/same from a year ago = 17/48/34. President Bush has below average approval, while Rick Perry's numbers are surprisingly robust. Oh, and nearly as many people want Democratic control of both the Governor's mansion and the Lege as want Republican control of each.
So some surrogates for John McCain are floating the idea that he may take a one-term-only pledge.
Rick Davis, appearing on "Fox News Sunday," demurred three times when Chris Wallace raised the prospect that McCain may use the Republican convention next month to make such a promise.Wallace raised the prospect -- much discussed in political circles -- that McCain could combine the one-term pledge with a vow that he would run an apolitical administration.
"If you know John McCain, you know there's not going to be much politics in the White House," Davis replied, ignoring the matter of whether the Arizona senator, who turns 72 later this month, could limit himself to a single term.
Asked directly about the matter, Davis replied: "Chris, you're going to have to come to the Republican convention."
Putting the "apolitical administration" nonsense aside, I confess I don't see the appeal of this. While there are some folks who think it would gain him a lot of positive press, I have to agree with Isaac Chotiner's suggestion that the focus will be on McCain's age, which won't help him at all. Plus, as even McCain himself has noted, that would make him lame duck on Day One, and given the certainty of sizeable Democratic majorities in both chambers of Congress for at least the first half of that term, how would he hope to get anything accomplished? And finally, this would raise the stakes in his search for a Vice President, since that person would surely become the nominee in 2012. What do you think?
Of course, just because McCain would make such a pledge, it doesn't follow that he'd necessarily stick to it. The streets are littered with (mostly Republican) politicians who entered office having made pledges to voluntarily limit their terms, only to decide later that they're just too indispensible to step down when their self-imposed time was supposed to be up. Like Kay Bailey Hutchison, for example. Hey, maybe that's a sign she's still in the running to be his VP: She has prior experience with this sort of thing. VP selections have been made for sillier reasons than that, after all.
HCAD wants more money to do battle with those who don't like their tax bills.
Skyrocketing commercial property values have led to costly court battles for the Harris County Appraisal District, prompting its leaders to propose increasing its budget to nearly $65 million next year.If approved by the district's board of directors next week, the budget will have increased 35 percent from a comparatively modest $48 million just last year.
News of yet another increase prompted calls for belt-tightening from officials at the Houston Independent School District, which funds a portion of the appraisal district's budget along with about 900 other taxing jurisdictions whose property values are set by its appraisers. The school district's bill would increase more than $1 million to about $10 million under the proposed budget.
"It's quite a chunk of change for us," said Melinda Garrett, the school district's chief financial officer. "It's taking $1 million out of our classrooms."
Chief appraiser Jim Robinson said he has little choice but to ask for more money as the number of lawsuits filed by unhappy property owners increases yearly, and the state comptroller continues to fight for even higher commercial property appraisals.
"Certainly, I appreciate their concerns. The jurisdictions have to pay the bill. But, by that same token, we have to do what the law requires us to do," Robinson said Tuesday.
[...]
At least a dozen of those lawsuits will involve significant litigation expenses, Robinson said. For example, fighting one company over one year's appraisal for its downtown Houston office building already has cost the district $400,000.
"You either try the lawsuits or you settle them and give the people that brought them an unfair tax break," Robinson said, adding the number of lawsuits filed increased 70 percent from 2005 to 2006 and another 60 percent the following year.
I sympathize with HISD, but I think you have to give HCAD the money to deal with this. Then fight like hell for sales price disclosure legislation next year, which I think will kick the legs out of some of these suits. It's harder to argue your property is worth less than what it was appraised for if everyone knows how much you just paid for it.
Swamplot hears from a reader:
A reader notes that a sign offering "13,000 sq feet of restaurant/retail for lease" is up at the Alabama Bookstop, and asks if plans for the location have been announced.
There's no doubt that the space available is that of the Bookstop. Obviously, with the new Barnes and Noble coming and the old Borders nearby, this location is redundant as a book store. So the question, as posed by a commenter on that post is, what would you like to see there next? My answer, very simply, is "anything that uses the original Art Deco theater building", and not something that requires that building to be torn down. I just hope that Weingarten's utter indifference to the building's condition hasn't made that financially impossible to do.
Bill Gwatney, the chair of the Democratic Party in Arkansas, was shot dead in his office today by a lone gunman.
Chairman Bill Gwatney died at 3:59 Wednesday afternoon after a gunman entered his Little Rock office and shot him several times in the upper body, Little Rock Police Lt. Terry Hastings said.Authorities confirmed the news shortly after former President Clinton and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton released a statement expressing their condolences.
"We are deeply saddened by the news that Bill Gwatney has passed away," the former governor and first lady of Arkansas said. "His leadership and commitment to Arkansas and this country have always inspired us and those who had the opportunity to know him."
The shooting suspect, a white male in his fifties, also died Wednesday afternoon after a police chase ended in gunfire, Hastings said.
Authorities are working to confirm his identity, but Hastings said there was no indication that he was a former employee. He said police were investigating possible motives, as well as why the suspect went into the Arkansas Baptist State Convention brandishing a gun.
CNN affilliates KARK and KTHV identified the gunman as Timothy Dale Johnson, 50, of Searcy, Arkansas.
We don't know a lot about this crime right now. We don't know why Timothy Dale Johnson did what he did - we may never know, now that he too is dead. I hope this was nothing more than an isolated case of an unbalanced person doing something horrible and tragic for reasons only he understood. That would be more than bad enough. But given the times and the context, the possibility exists, for now at least, that there was more to this, and if so that would make this much worse. I really hope that's not the case.
My sincere condolences to Bill Gwatney's friends and family in their time of loss. A statement from the DNC is here. Rest in peace, Bill Gwatney.
Ready or not, here come the rules.
Under the proposal, motorists wishing to use the high-occupancy lanes would have to buy an EZ Tag or get a TxTag from the Texas Turnpike Authority.EZ Tags cost $15 and require a minimum account balance of $40.
Each time a motorist uses the lanes during rush hour, automated toll readers will detect a tag number registered to a high-occupancy vehicle, resulting in no charge. During non-peak hours, the usual toll will be charged.
Registered vehicles also would activate an alert, prompting a deputy constable to observe whether there was more than one person on board, while other deputies patrol the lanes, HCTRA says.
Metro estimates 11,000 vehicles a day use the existing HOV lane on the Katy Freeway. The proposed system should make it harder to cheat, said HCTRA deputy director Peter Key.
Color me skeptical of this. It still boils down to having a constable peek in vehicles' windows, doesn't it? I guess the difference is that now a constable can know ahead of time which windows he needs to peek in, assuming he can make out the license plates as they approach. Bottom line, I think people are going to cheat about as much as they did before.
Other proposals including a requirement of only two occupants to use the HOV lanes, and shorter hours for the free ride for such vehicles. Whether you like these ideas or not, you can give your feedback at the various public meetings, the first one of which is tomorrow night.
The last thing you'd want to have happen during the hot summer months is to have your electricity cut off.
Lawmakers and consumer advocates have asked the Texas Public Utility Commission to impose a moratorium that would prevent companies from disconnecting electricity this summer, especially for people more susceptible to the heat.A petition filed last week asks the commission to impose emergency rules similar to temporary measures enacted in 2006 to protect critical-care patients, low-income elderly and low-income customers.
"One message that we want to put out, especially to our seniors and those who are critical-care patients, and that is, 'Turn on your air,' " state Rep. Sylvester Turner said at a news conference in Acres Homes. "If you have air conditioning, turn it on and allow people like myself and others to work on your behalf in dealing with your bills."
I'm not much of a fan of Sylvester Turner, but this is an issue he's done a lot of work on. He tried, unsuccessfully, to safeguard the System Benefit Fund, which helps low-income folks deal with higher utility bills, from being raided for general revenue; though the bill he filed had broad support in the Lege but was delayed and ultimately derailed by a point of order by Robert "The Torpedo" Talton.
Though Turner focused on low-income and critical-care customers, the petition calls for a moratorium on disconnections for all customers unable to pay high summer bills. Turner said a deferred payment plan should be in place for people struggling to pay their full bills.The Harris County Medical Examiner's Office has recorded five heat-related deaths this year, said Matt Doyle, a senior forensic nurse investigator. In North Texas, the heat has been blamed for at least four deaths.
This is a big deal, as anyone who remembers the devastating Chicago heat wave of 1995 can attest. If we can make it through this summer, and hopefully get the System Benefit Fund fully restored next session, we'll be in much better shape going forward. In the meantime, taking this step now to minimize the likelihood of someone dying from the heat in their home is a good idea.
Well, it's not like the concept of the border fence could get any more ridiculous.
While many view the contentious border fence as a government fiasco, an animal rights group sees a rare opportunity.People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals plans Tuesday to announce an unusual marketing pitch to the U.S. government: Rent us space on the fence for billboards warning illegal border crossers there is more to fear than the Border Patrol.
The billboards, in English and Spanish, would offer the following caution: ''If the Border Patrol Doesn't Get You, the Chicken and Burgers Will -- Go Vegan."
''We think that Mexicans and other immigrants should be warned if they cross into the U.S. they are putting their health at risk by leaving behind a healthier, staple diet of corn tortillas, beans, rice, fruits and vegetables," said Lindsay Rajt, assistant manager of PETA's vegan campaigns.
Yeah, good luck with that. I'm thinking their diet versus ours is not the main attraction to crossing the border, though the idea of having more food available to eat is probably a lure. But hey, dream big.
[A] government spokesman in Washington D.C. said the request will be rejected because it would limit visibility through the fence. And Border Patrol does not allow advertising on its property or installations, the officials added.''The fencing being put in place is, in many cases, mesh fencing to allow our officers to see what's happening on the other side and to better secure the border," said Michael Friel, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which oversee's Border Patrol operations.
One property owner on the Texas-Mexico border laughed at PETA's proposal.
''I think it's ridiculous," said Noel Benavides, who is contesting the construction of a fence dividing his family's 145-acre ranch in Roma on the Rio Grande. ''I can't see the point of something like that."
Sure is a strange place for the Bush administration to get cold feet about selling stuff off. Hey, if we're going to have the stupid thing, I'd rather it be paid for by advertising dollars than by my tax dollars. I say bring it on. Set rates and open it up for bidding. Who knows how much this might make?
But Rajt said the rent money they'd pay would help offset the huge costs of the fencing -- and the advertising message ''might even be frightening enough to deter people from crossing into the U.S."
Guess that means we won't be seeing any of their anti-fur ads on the fence. Alas. Stace has more.
Even as I've reached advanced decrepitude a more mature age, I've never been one of those people who believes that kids today are somehow more apathetic/less engaged than they were in my day. I mean, I was there in my day, and to the best of my recollection, most of us were obsessed with things like parachute pants, Eurotrash music, and making money. There certainly were folks in my cohort who were selfless and dedicated and focused on making the world around them a better place, but most of us, and I certainly include myself in that, were pretty self-centered. Not that there's anything unusual about this - having small children at home now, I have a fuller understanding of the self-centered nature of childhood and youth - I just like to keep that idea in mind. I mean, complaints about how bad the current generation is goes back a ways, after all.
Anyway, I say all that to say that I'm never surprised to read stories like this about the achievements in volunteerism or activism by teenagers, college students, and twenty-somethings. It's always good to have one's basic faith in humanity affirmed. I'm glad to see stories like that, because we can all use the reminder from time to time. Kudos to the students in the story, and to The Professors for whatever credit they want to take for shaping them.
Just a bit from this story about hard times in the landscaping business that caught my eye:
Lately [John Catapano, who owns Houston's Western Horticultural Services, has] used more environmentally friendly products to help cut costs.Two years ago, he began converting his 30 vehicles to biodiesel, saving him about 5 percent on his fuel costs. More than three years ago, he began to use organic instead of synthetic fertilizers. And he plants drought-resistant greenery.
"Going green does save money," he said.
Well, since the point of "going green" is to use less energy, and using energy costs money, that would be a true statement. Sure, you may have some up-front costs, depending on the method by which you choose to go green, and some investments will show a return faster than others, but basically this is saying "if you use less energy, you'll spend less money". I hope by now that should be obvious to everyone.
I said yesterday that if Harris County GOP Chair Jared Woodfill wanted to go there on "tainted" campaign contributions that I'd be more than happy to engage in the discussion. There's certainly no lack of material for that conversation. I know others will be happy to join with me on that. Here's Sherrie Matula on the subject:
Sherrie Matula, Democratic candidate for State House District 129, called on her opponent John Davis to cancel tonight's scheduled fundraiser with scandal-plagued former White House advisor Karl Rove and return any of his tainted money. Rove, who played a role in the hiring and firing of Justice Department officials for political reasons, was cited for contempt of Congress for blatantly ignoring a Congressional subpoena to testify about his role in the scandal. Rove is also implicated in revealing the identity of covert U.S. intelligence operative Valerie Plame, risking her life and betraying his country."We need leaders in Austin who are going to stand up for fair taxes and quality education, rather than a Karl Rove-style partisan agenda," said Sherrie Matula, Democratic candidate for Texas House. "John Davis should tell Karl Rove to testify before Congress and come clean with the American people."
Both the U.S. House and Senate Judiciary Committees have voted to hold Rove in contempt of Congress for his refusal to testify about his part in politicizing the Justice Department. Even Senator Arlen Specter - the highest ranking Republican member of the Senate Judiciary Committee - voted to hold Karl Rove in contempt of Congress. And most recently, a Bush-appointed federal judge ruled that executive privilege does not exempt Rove from testifying before Congress.
"No government employee is above the American people. It is time for Karl Rove to tell the truth and be held accountable for his actions," added Matula. "Until that happens, John Davis should immediately cancel the fundraiser with Rove and return any money raised."
Over to you, Jared.
UPDATE: Kristi Thibaut joins in the fun.
Kristi Thibaut, candidate for Texas State House of Representatives District 133, called on incumbent Jim Murphy to return any funds raised for his campaign from an event this evening featuring GOP politico and former Bush White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove. Rove recently received a contempt of Congress citation for refusing to testify about his role in using the U.S. Department of Justice to advance a partisan political agenda that included the firing of nine U.S. Attorneys."I am troubled that my opponent would choose to associate himself with someone like Karl Rove who has been found in contempt of Congress," Thibaut said. "Rather than letting Rove fatten his campaign bank account, Jim Murphy should call on him to do the right thing and testify before Congress."
Both the U.S. House and Senate Judiciary Committees have voted to hold Rove in contempt of Congress for his refusal to testify about his part in politicizing the Justice Department. Even Senator Arlen Specter - the highest ranking Republican member of the Senate Judiciary Committee - voted to hold Karl Rove in contempt of Congress. And most recently, a Bush-appointed federal judge ruled that executive privilege does not exempt Rove from testifying before Congress.
"The American people have a right to know the truth about any illegal or unethical activity at the U.S. Justice Department," added Thibaut. "Jim Murphy should make that clear by refusing to campaign with Rove until he finally testifies before Congress and the American people."
Still waiting, Jared.
So to follow up on the whole Libertarian/Speaker thing from last week, I listened to the brief interview RG Ratcliffe did with Texas LP Chair Wes Benedict, who among other things spoke about the LP's growing influence on Legislative races over the past few cycles. That sounded like something quantifiable, so I went back through the election results since 2000, to see how often an LP candidate ran in a race with both a Dem and an R, and how often that LP candidate's presence had an effect.
First things first, between 2000 and 2004, there were a grand total of 24 LP candidates in races that had both major parties, with 2004 being a low point; only three three-way races that year. Of course, one of them was in HD50, where now-Rep. Mark Strama knocked off freshman Republican Jack Stick with less than 50% of the vote. Strama went on to win re-election in 2006 with over 60% in a straight-up two-way race. I think it's safe to say that he'd be in the House today one way or another.
2006 was a completely different story: A grand total of 46 races, nearly twice as many as the previous three cycles combined, featured a D, an R, and an L. Now, most of these races were not particularly close - the average winner had over 58% of the vote, and won by nearly 20 points. By my lights, 20 of these races could be considered close. Let's take a look at them, starting with the ones in which the winner achieved a majority of the vote:
Dist Winner PCT Margin Lib
========================================
11 Hopson 50.99 4.88 Y
12 McReynolds 55.58 13.51 N
35 Toureilles 52.69 10.72 N
47 Bolton 50.24 4.71 N
52 Krusee 50.44 6.24 Y
96 Zedler 52.46 8.17 Y
97 Mowery 55.93 15.11 Y
102 Goolsby 51.93 6.08 N
105 Harper-Brown 55.08 13.98 Y
107 Vaught 50.10 3.41 Y
114 Hartnett 55.58 13.28 N
133 Murphy 55.77 14.04 N
134 Cohen 54.53 11.27 Y
144 Talton 56.59 15.73 N
"PCT" is the percentage of the vote the winner got, "Margin" is by how much they won, and "Lib" refers to whether or not there is a Libertarian Party candidate this year. Some of these races aren't on anyone's radar as being potentially competitive now, such as HDs 105, 114, and 134. Yvonne Gonzalez Toureilles in HD35 is unopposed. The Lone Star Project identifies Hopson (HD11), Bolton (HD47), and Vaught (HD107) as Democratic incumbents to watch, along with Dan Barrett in HD97, who won a special election last year after Anna Mowery retired, but not McReynolds in HD12. The others - HDs 52, 96, 102, 133, and 144 - are all hot races.
The more interesting case is the races where the winner had less than a majority. There were six of these in 2006:
Dist Winner PCT Margin Needed Lib
===============================================
17 Cook 48.91 1.03 33.90 Y
32 Garcia 48.25 2.10 31.21 Y
85 Heflin 49.01 0.74 36.32 N
93 Pierson 49.60 2.66 11.33 Y
106 England 49.16 1.11 30.12 Y
118 Farias 48.24 3.96 23.57 Y
Here, "Needed" means the percentage of the Libertarian Party candidate's vote the winner needed to get a majority. By this measure, it's hard to say that Paula Pierson or Joe Farias were significantly helped by the LP candidate. Kirk England has switched to the Democrats. Pierson is on the Lone Star Project's watch list, but her opponent has little money. Neither Farias nor England are considered endangered. The others are all hot races, and along with Barrett's HD97 probably represent the top four Republican takeover targets. I'd say Joe Heflin, who had the closest win, and Juan Garcia, in whose race the LP candidate won 5.58% of the vote, were genuinely helped by the presence of the third-party candidate, the others not so much.
The most interesting thing to me, though, is which of these races have LP candidates and which don't. I confess, I'm at a loss to explain why Suzanna Hupp would call the hopefuls in HDs 9 and 64 to ask them to stand down, but not HD17's Alan Duesterhoft or HD32's Lenard Nelson, just to name two. Maybe she hadn't gotten around to them by the time that story broke, I don't know. It just looks like a strange way to prioritize to me.
One last thing: The 24 LP candidates from 2000 to 2004 averaged 2.68% of the vote in these races, while the 2006 candidates garnered 3.56%. By that measure, I have to agree with Benedict's statement about their growing influence, though I think a combination of anti-Republican-but-not-yet-pro-Democratic feeling that year helped as well. My suspicion is that the Democratic candidates will do a better job this year of converting anti-R votes into actual votes for them. As with the Caucus endorsement backlash hypothesis, I'll be checking that later this year.
Hello, Barry, this is Drayton. Are you ready to be a champion?The Astros need a left fielder. I know the name of a good one. He's rested and ready. He'll bring a buzz to the ballpark, too. He would suddenly make the Astros baseball's most interesting team.
What's wrong with having a little buzz? Why should the Dallas Cowboys have all the fun?
Barry Lamar Bonds would be a perfect fit for the Astros. Is there one good reason not to sign him?
Actually, there is one I can think of, and it has nothing to do with steroids, controversy, clubhouse chemistry, or any of that other stuff. It's simply that Bonds would be unlikely to make a difference for the Stros this year. That's no knock on him - they're 8.5 games out of the wild card slot, with three teams between them and the Brewers and the Dodgers even with them. A full year of Barry Bonds in his prime, replacing a Darin Erstad type, could make up that difference. But a bit more than a month of Bonds, who at best would be able to make up for the loss of Carlos Lee but probably wouldn't be much of an improvement, isn't going to be a factor. He'd keep them from falling farther back, but he wouldn't propel them forward. If nothing else, there isn't the time for it.
That said, this surely wouldn't hurt. Bonds would keep the Stros offense from being any more pitiful in Lee's absence. He would generate some excitement and fan interest. He's not blocking anyone's progress. Who knows, maybe he'd stick around for 2009, and give the Stros some real lineup depth. That'd mean moving Hunter Pence to center field and having a somewhat brutal outfield defense, but you'd make up for it by taking plate appearances away from Michael Bourn, who has accomplished the impressive feat of being a bigger hole at the plate than Brad Ausmus. What the hell, it's not like the team has anything to lose. I say go for it, Ed and Drayton. Grab him before someone else finally does.
The Texas Observer has a useful piece on our junior Senator, John Cornyn. There's a lot of detail, but I think they captured his essence pretty thoroughly in these three sentences:
No one has done more to propel Cornyn's career than [George W.] Bush. In turn, Cornyn has offered near complete fealty to the president. No other U.S. senator has voted so reliably with the White House in the past six years.
Boy, what I wouldn't give for a $10 million advertising budget. The ad copy's just been written. Alas. Anyway, it's a good read, so check it out.
Olympics time! Are you an avid fan, a boycotter, or somewhere in between? Maybe you're just tuning in for women's beach volleyball, like President Bush. Whatever your taste, you can find medal-worthy material in the weekly Texas Progressive Alliance blog roundup. Click on for the highlights.
The Truth About Texas Republicans, a new blogger-powered website designed to expose the real truth about GOP Texas legislators looks at the stuff State Reps. Dwayne Bohac, Betty Brown, John Davis, Bill Zedler and State Sen. Mike Jackson don't want you to see.
Vince at Capitol Annex takes a look at the Texas State Teacher's Association lawsuit against the Texas Education Agency for giving public funds to private institutions.
Irony Alert: Mary McDaniels, Manager - Pipeline Safety, Texas Railroad Commission, who lied on camera about the Atmos Energy gas pipeline couplings, spoke in Ft Worth about pipeline safety, inspections and regulations, for Chesapeake Energy's Barnett Shale pipeline.TXsharon at Bluedaze.
Julie Pippert at MOMocrats asked, "Offshore drilling---whose issue is it anyway? The people's? Or the politician's?"
Women who enter the military know they may encounter danger along the way, just as their male counterparts do. Diarist Liberal Texas at Texas Kaos highlights an additional danger they face in Assault on Women in the Military, and calls on all of us to ensure that our fighting women are protected from sexual assault from the companions they should be able to trust.
WhosPlayin used to think John McCain was worthy of respect, even if wrong on issues. But mocking conservation and lying about Obama raising taxes show who John McCain really is.
jobsanger thinks Democrats should let Clinton's backers have their vote at the convention, and believes Barack Obama has a chance to win Texas this November.
Neil at Texas Liberal talks about AIDS and African Americans.
Due to purchase of McBlogger by a rival blogging firm, the regular writers are on strike. This week, we'd like to introduce you to a new McBlogger, Rose
Petal.
North Texas Liberal remarks on John McCain's anti-Obama ad comparing the Democratic nominee to Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, and also includes Hilton's response ad. Still waiting on Britney's energy policy...
Off the Kuff takes a look at The Queue behind KBH for her maybe-to-be-abandoned Senate seat.
YaGottaLoveIt of South Texas Chisme urges Barack Obama to have a fundraiser for money that stays in Texas while urging Hillary Clinton to campaign for Rick Noriega in South Texas.
WCNews at Eye On Williamson posts on the Williamson County DA's unwillingness to test DNA evidence in a almost 30 year old unsolved murder, Lawsuit Filed Against County For New DNA, Fingerprint Tests.
Tropical Storm Edouard was more like a decent rainstorm, but that didn't stop the media -- old as well as new, including madcap reporter/Congressman John Culberson -- from building it up to a height it could no more sustain than its winds. PDiddie at Brains and Eggs has the roundup of the hyperventilating in Houston.
BossKitty at TruthHugger is concerned about the economy "Purses Tighten, Small Business Suffers, Families Budget"
nytexan at BlueBloggin points out, as the Gerogia Russia war continues and Bush plays with U.S. athletes at the Olympics, Could The U.S. Get Pulled Into Georgia's War?
XicanoPwr discusses the immigration survey that was sent presidential candidates Obama and McCain put together by The Sanctuary, a web base grassroots community of pro-migrant, human rights, and civil-rights bloggers.
Speaking of new frontiers for text messaging, here's an email from the Barack Obama campaign of interest:
Barack Obama is about to make one of the most important decisions of this campaign -- choosing a running mate.You have helped build this movement from the bottom up, and Barack wants you to be the first to know his choice.
Sign up today to be the first to know:
You will receive an email the moment Barack makes his decision, or you can text VP to 62262 to receive a text message on your mobile phone.
Once you've signed up, please forward this email to your friends, family, and coworkers to let them know about this special opportunity.
No other campaign has done this before. You can be part of this important moment.
Be the first to know who Barack selects as his running mate.
More in the Chron. Anyone signed up for this yet?
I don't think it had ever occurred to me that you couldn't send a text message to 9-1-1, but then that's because it hadn't occurred to me that you might want to. They're working on it, however, and you will be able to do it in a few years.
In addition to text messages, you could be able to send photos of a purse-snatcher caught in the act or photos of a vehicle accident to 911.It's all part of what's called Next Generation 911, and 911 districts in the Houston area are gearing up for it. Basically, what it means is that you could use any communication device from anywhere to reach 911.
''We're all excited," said Sharon Counterman, deputy director of the Greater Harris County 911 Emergency Network, which includes Fort Bend County. "It's something that will increase what we do for the public and serve them much better. Many younger people believe they can do a text message today to 911, and they cannot," Counterman said.
Recent technology is driving the change. Mobile devices have altered the way people communicate, yet 911 networks haven't kept pace, say emergency communication officials.
[...]
Texas A&M University and Columbia University have received federal grants as part of the project to build an operational model, and researchers have tested it in five cities, including College Station, during the past five months.
During a demonstration last month in College Station, 911 officials from across the state got a chance to see the model receive text messages and live video.
Many 911 officials say this will be beneficial because operators will have more crucial information to pass along to police or emergency medical crews responding to an emergency.
For example, if someone witnesses a vehicle accident on the highway, they can take pictures and send them to 911. The operator can determine from the pictures the severity of the accident and determine whether they need to dispatch only an ambulance or an ambulance and a firetruck equipped with the Jaws of Life.
Also, now that many cars are being built with OnStar systems, the capability exists for those systems to share information with a 911 operator with Next Generation equipment, Brubaker said.
OnStar can relay information such as the location of the accident, the point of crash impact, the position of the vehicle, whether air bags were deployed and where people are seated in the vehicle, he said.
''All that information is immediately available to 911, and you don't have to be on the phone verbally describing it," he said.
I'm sure you've seen those OnStar ads where there's a crash and the Onstar operator comes online to ask the driver if he's okay, then connects to 9-1-1 to call for help. Well, why not eliminate the middleman and just have OnStar connect directly to 9-1-1 with all the relevant crash information? Seems like it'd save time and ensure that nothing got lost in translation. This is definitely an idea whose time has come.
Is there a downside to this?
Bobby Wright, executive director of the Galveston County Emergency Communication District, agrees. But his major concern with the new 911 is that dispatchers might end up with too much data to handle.''On a typical 911 call, you have one person dealing with a call," Wright said. "If you give them a lot of data, you have to give them a way to digest it all."
Or you give them a way to relay all that information directly to the responder's vehicle. That would not only save the time of having to describe it all verbally, but would again ensure that it is relayed accurately. Seems to me that would be a logical part of this progression. Police cars are generally already equipped with computers these days, so as long as they had Internet access, it shouldn't be that hard to extend this concept. I look forward to seeing it roll out in the real world.
As I noted two weeks ago, Tuesday is the day that Karl Rove slinks into town for a fundraiser in support of four Harris County Republican candidates for State House. Rove's a busy man these days, what with dodging all those subpoenas and appearing on teevee, so I guess maybe we should all feel lucky that he considered these races, plus Big Bad John's, worthy of his time and attention. Certainly, HD144's Ken Legler, who reported no cash on hand in July ought to be grateful.
If you'd like to give Rove an appropriate greeting during his "Fugitive Fundraiser Tour", you can meet up with the Sherrie Matula campaign tomorrow at their headquarters, 17300 Saturn (Suite 105), Houston, TX 77058 (map), tomorrow at 5 PM for some good old-fashioned blockwalking. Call the campaign at 281-282-1351 or email john@sherriematula.com to let them know or if you have any questions. You can also sign the HCDP petition calling on Rove to take responsibility for his actions, which will be delivered to his office at Fox News. I know, I know, not likely to have any effect on the guy, but what the heck.
Greg has more. And I see that the local GOP is kicking up a fuss about money raised by a guy involved in the John Edwards situation. Hey, all's fair in love and war, but I don't see them turning down Rove's money, and I think what he's accused of is a bit more serious than having an affair. If they want to talk about about what constitutes "tainted" money and when it should be refused or returned, I'll be more than happy to engage in that discussion.
There are a lot of local candidates this year, so I'm getting an early start on doing candidate interviews, to make sure that I'll have the time to do them all. My goal is to talk to all the candidates for Harris County non-judicial offices, plus candidates for federal and state offices who'll be on the ballot somewhere in Harris. If possible, I may have a few chats with folks running elsewhere, but that will depend on time and availability. For judicial candidates, I'll be sending a written questionnaire much like the one I did for the primary, since they can really only speak on a limited number of topics as candidates.
This round of interviews starts off with former Houston City Council member Vince Ryan, who is running for County Attorney. You may not know a whole lot about this office and what it does, though it's been in the news more than usual this year. Ryan, who spent several years in the County Attorney's office in the 80s, had some interesting things to say about the state of that office today. Give it a listen here and let me know what you think. Lots more to come soon.
However the election turns out this fall, I think it's safe to say that Barack Obama is a much stronger brand than John McCain.
Political T-shirts -- particularly those supporting presumed Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama -- are emerging in a big way this season, transformed from the uniform of campaign workers to a definitive statement of youthful, progressive cool.Paired with jeans or dressed up with a seersucker jacket and khakis for a night on the town, the shirts are turning up on city streets and retail shelves like never before.
Fashion insiders attribute the trend to an emerging young, casual voter -- one ready to mix politics with sneakers -- as well as professionals who've embraced the campaign and are slipping into Obamawear to make a statement as much about their political leanings as their hipness.
Obama, says one provocative shirt, is the new black.
"There's no question at all, the Obama campaign has crossed over to popular culture," says Brian Kirwin, a Virginia Beach, Va. political consultant who also advises would-be lawmakers on their image.
T-shirts for Republican rival John McCain, including those saying "Nobama," have cropped up among Web retailers such as Zazzle.com and CafePress but don't seem to have caught on in the same way. That may reflect Obama's greater appeal among younger, T-shirt-wearing voters.
Kirwin says years past saw such shirts more or less limited to the most politically plugged in. "I've seen candidates give away T-shirts for their campaign," Kirwin says, "I've never seen (consumers) from the bottom up latch on."
Isn't it interesting how the pro-McCain shirts have followed in the path of the McCain campaign itself by being way more about Obama than about McCain? That's some strong branding right there. When your campaign images have not only crossed over into pop culture but have also started spawning imitations and parodies, much like those once-ubiquitous "W" stickers did, you know you've got a winning product.
In the Anecdotal Evidence department, I've seen vastly more Obama bumper stickers than I have McCain ones. Yeah, I know, I live in the liberal inner core, but four years ago it was the reverse - far more Bush stickers than Kerry ones. Heck, I think I see more leftover "W" and "Bush/Cheney 04" stickers still on vehicles today than I do McCain stickers. Maybe it's different in the outer reaches of the county, I don't know. But it's clear who's winning the car wars around here. What are you seeing sticker-wise? Is it as imbalanced as I see it where you drive? Let me know.
It's early in the game, but there are proposals in the works to make various parts of Houston's inner core more pedestrian-friendly.
After two years of work, Houston's Department of Planning and Development has released recommendations that cover pedestrian zones, building styles, driveway spacing and other elements of development in corridors served by Metro's light rail lines.The goal is to produce urban environments where transit riders could walk to various destinations, reducing the need for driving.
Proponents of stronger local planning said the new policies would help the city accommodate population growth in its core without disrupting established neighborhoods or increasing traffic congestion.
"It's real progress," said David Crossley, president of the nonprofit Gulf Coast Institute. He serves on an advisory panel working on the proposals.
Some real estate professionals and organizations, however, said the policies could increase costs and create more problems than they solve.
"It would be a mistake to use mandatory building requirements as a means to force Houstonians out of their cars and onto hot sidewalks," said Kendall Miller, president of Houstonians for Responsible Growth, a nonprofit group that seeks to limit new restrictions on real estate development.
See, this is a good example of why I don't take Houstonians for Responsible Growth seriously. How would any of this "force" someone out of their car? Most of the focus of this study is downtown and Midtown, where walking is pretty common to begin with, and might be more so if it were a bit friendlier. I look at it this way: By making it more attractive for people to choose to walk a few blocks rather than drive from parking lot to parking lot, you're making more room on the roads for those who have to be driving. What's Kendall Miller's argument?
And before anyone starts up about the heat, I'm going to point to TxElectricRy's comment on the story, in which he says "Houstonians from ages past must have been made of tougher stuff." Eight months out of the year, Houston is a pretty nice place to be outside walking around. The other four aren't so pleasant, but some of us would still choose walking in the heat to walking in the snow; having done plenty of the latter growing up, where I didn't have a choice, hot days don't faze me. And hey, you can still choose to drive during those times, no matter what Kendall Miller says.
The recommendations fall into two broad categories: requirements for the "pedestrian realm," which would encompass sidewalks and related amenities, and rules or incentives to promote development styles that provide opportunities for transit riders to walk among homes, workplaces and entertainment.The new policies would apply to new development or redevelopment, but not to existing buildings.
The proposals encompass the existing Main Street rail corridor and the planned north, southeast, East End and Uptown corridors. Proposals for the University corridor, for which Metro only recently chose a final alignment, will be developed later, city officials said.
In all the corridors, the city would require a 15-foot pedestrian zone from the curb to the front of the building. Sidewalks would be on the 5 feet closest to the building, with the other 10 feet set aside for landscaping.
Also in every corridor, the city would enforce restrictions on the spacing of driveways so pedestrians would have to stop less often for cars pulling in and out of businesses. City officials haven't determined how far apart the driveways would have to be.
An area including downtown, east downtown and Midtown would be designated as the "core pedestrian zone," where the city's requirements would extend to design features such as bringing buildings close to the sidewalk and devoting a large share of the building facade to doors, windows or other features to avoid long stretches of blank walls.
In other corridors, the building design standards would be voluntary and generally would be limited to areas within a quarter-mile walking distance of transit stations, said Steve Spillette, a senior planning fellow. Developers who met these standards would be exempt from certain requirements such as parking or building setbacks.
The devil is always in the details, and whatever they eventually come up with is sure to need plenty of feedback-based alterations, and will never fully satisfy everyone - as David Crossley notes at the end, it's a lot of tradeoffs. But I think this is a necessary step to take to enhance transit and deal with the problem of increasingly crowded surface roads. I'm glad to see it happen, and I hope we don't get distracted by frivolous blather about forcing people out of cars.
Via Harold Cook, I learn of the untimely passing of Capitol insider and Renaissance man Jim Warren, better known by his nom de blog Billy Clyde and his nom de comment Noitall. He clearly knew where a lot of skeletons lay, might have been responsible for one or two himself, but had a sense of humor about it nonetheless. Here's a starting point to get a feel for that. Karen Brooks, who has another great example of Billy Clyde's wit, and Eileen Smith have remembrances, and his formal obituary is here. Rest in peace, Jim Warren.
One of the recurring themes of this election is the enthusiasm Democrats feel, locally and nationally, about their candidates and chances of winning this fall, and how that is translating into tangible effects. I got a pretty good taste of that yesterday when I took Audrey with me to the opening of the HCDP Coordinated Campaign Midtown headquarters on Travis at Alabama. The place was packed - I'd guess about 200 folks came out, many wearing T-shirts for various candidates, in preparation for subsequent blockwalking. The speakers, including Ellen Cohen, Michael Skelly, Sheila Jackson Lee, CO Bradford, and Gerry Birnberg, who was shown a lot of love from the crowd as he deals with the terrible tragedy of his grandson's death, got everyone fired up. Justice of the Peace Hilary Green introduced all of the local candidates present, and there were many of them; if nothing else, I can say that I see a lot more of the candidates, and a lot more evidence of them doing real campaign work, than I did for the 2004 or 2006 slates. They did a little fundraising, too - I plunked down $15 for an Obama/HCDP t-shirt on my way out - and promoted Dynamo Democrat Day.
Now, I know Midtown is Democratic territory, so maybe this isn't all that remarkable. But just a week ago, a similar size crowd showed up to open the West Side office, way out at Westheimer and Eldredge. Traditional Democratic turf that isn't.
Something one of the speakers - I forget who - mentioned: Do you think the Republicans are drawing 200 people to a campaign office opening these days? Obviously, I don't know the answer to that question, since I don't go to that kind of event, or even know if they're having them. But I suspect the answer is no, they're not.
So that's my observation for the weekend on the excitement factor. I see it, I feel it, and I know it will make a difference this fall.
UPDATE: Stace has some photos from the event.
Add this to the growing list of stories about how people are adapting to higher gas prices.
NuRide is one of several alternatives to single-occupant commuting that the Houston-Galveston Area Council is promoting during August -- traditionally designated Commute Solutions Month in Houston.The annual drive needs less promotion this year than usual. Since gasoline prices have hovered near $4 a gallon, for instance, Metropolitan Transit Authority ridership -- especially on the Park & Ride commuter routes -- is booming so fast that the parking lots are full and buses are often standing room only.
NuRide differs from most car pools in that participants can schedule rides online as needed and not be committed to the same trip and fellow riders every day. Program sponsors pay incentives to participants, including restaurant coupons, gift certificates and event tickets.
[...]
The Metropolitan Transit Authority has its own ride-sharing programs, including MetroVans that carry seven to 15 riders. The fare for these depends on several factors, including the length of the commute, but Metro says those who ride 12 times a month receive a $35 incentive, so the typical fare works out to $2 to $4 per trip.
The driver is responsible for fueling and cleaning the leased van and keeping the necessary records, while the riders contribute to the cost. Maintenance and insurance are covered by the van provider.
This year's Commute Solutions drive kicked off Thursday at Greenway Plaza, where a new TREK Houston bus and a Smart Car were on display.
TREK is a Park & Ride-type service from Sugar Land to Greenway Plaza and the Galleria.
Tiffany participated in a van pool for years when she worked in The Woodlands. It was a great deal for many reasons besides cost (where thanks to a company subsidy it was basically free) - it enforced a regular work schedule, it was an opportunity to get to know co-workers who lived nearby, and it was less stressful because she didn't have to drive. Obviously, not every can participate in a program like this. But there are options, maybe more than you think, if you want to drive less.
A little dishonesty can be good for your health. And no, I'm not talking about altering the bathroom scale to give more favorable readings.
Would you lie to your family to get them to eat healthier foods?It just might work, shows a study led by famed false-memory researcher Elizabeth Loftus, PhD, distinguished professor of psychology and social behavior at the University of California, Irvine.
In two experiments involving 231 college students, Loftus and colleagues were able to convince half the participants that, as children, they had loved asparagus -- even though these students at first said they were pretty sure this was not true.
[...]
The Loftus experiments were based on an elaborate ruse. Study participants were told that they were part of a study of food preferences and personality. They then completed a 24-item food-history questionnaire in which they reported how certain they were that they had various food experiences.
One of the items was "Loved asparagus the first time you tried it." Only those who were relatively confident this didn't happen were included in the study analysis. Participants were also given questionnaires in which they rated their desire to eat 32 different dishes (including asparagus), how likely they would be to order these dishes from a mock restaurant menu if they were out for a special dinner, and how much they would pay for foods in a grocery store. In a second, similar experiment, participants also rated how appetizing or disgusting they found certain photographs of foods (including a bunch of asparagus).
A week later, participants came back for "feedback" on their responses. They were told that a sophisticated computer program had generated an analysis of their early childhood food experiences. Half of the participants were told -- falsely -- that as children they loved to eat cooked asparagus.
Participants were then questioned about the settings and experiences they remembered regarding these childhood food experiences. In each of the two experiments, about half of the students falsely believed or falsely remembered they had loved asparagus as children.
"We got a number of people to buy into this suggestion and to elaborate on it, and those people now want to eat asparagus more," Loftus says.
I think you'd have to employ more advanced brainwashing techniques to get me to believe that I ever liked asparagus, but then I tried it again as an adult and confirmed my own earlier research, so perhaps I'd be the wrong subject. As it happens, there are a number of foods that I refused to eat as a kid that I tried again later in life and came to like - beans, bell peppers, and mustard are three that come to mind - so I do believe it's possible to change opinions, even if one must resort to deception. But with some foods - asparagus is up there, but broccoli is far and away Number One on this list - that just ain't gonna work. I hate 'em, I know I hate 'em, and you can't tell me otherwise.
So long, Edouard, it was not nice knowing you...
First Rush and the Rams, and now Ari and the Pack? It's almost enough to make you want to swear off football. How long before he blames the Vikings or the Bears for the Favre saga?
All real words started out as not-real words. If people know what you mean when you use the word, it's real enough for me.
Meet the Manic Pixie Dream Girls.
The Bloggess. What more need be said?
What makes a fight a catfight?
Testing energy plans in Austin.
Meet the man behind Coverville.
An afternoon with Michelle Obama.
Do you love the Texans? Peter King doesn't think you do.
Sadly, I can't say that this is a surprise.
Comets owner Hilton Koch is putting the WNBA franchise up for sale less than two years after he bought it.Donna Orender said in a phone interview Friday night that the WNBA is going to do everything in its power to keep the Comets in Houston.
"The Comets are one of the original teams and have been one of the most successful," Orender said. "They are really a part of that city now, and we want to see them remain there."
Orender did not give a specific date but said Koch recently contacted the WNBA about wanting to sell the team. He did not give specific reasons but has been involved in meetings and has plans to help with the process, Orender said.
While there isn't a specific buyer in mind, Orender said city officials believe the people of Houston will step up to keep the Comets around.
Other than beat the bushes to find some prospects for Koch to call, I can't think of anything the city (or the county; Ed Emmett was mentioned in the print version of this story, as well as in Jenny Dial's blog post, but oddly not in this version) could - or should - be doing to keep the franchise here. And I say that as a longtime fan and season ticket holder. I hate the idea of the Comets moving, but if they can't succeed here, then let them find someplace where they can.
The Comets moved to Reliant Arena this year and have sold out three of their last four games. They are on a seven-game home winning streak.
The crowds have been better lately, though those "sellouts" still come with a lot of empty seats. Personally, I think the move to Reliant was terrible for the team. It's a lousy facility with crappy amenities. Going to a game there just doesn't feel like attending a major league sporting event. If there's any way to get the team back to the Toyota Center, that would be great even if the crowds look smaller there. I just can't see how playing at Reliant is a long-term winner for the franchise.
I received an email from owner Hilton Koch about his plans to sell, which he sent to all season ticket holders. It's beneath the fold for you perusal. I sure hope this has a happy ending.
Dear Comets fans and supporters,As you may have heard, the WNBA, Mayor Bill White and I are working diligently to find a new owner or ownership group for the Houston Comets. I wanted to take this moment to express my sincere gratitude at having had the opportunity to be an integral part of this storied franchise and thank you for the continued support that has made the Comets such an integral part of the wonderful Houston community.
As a longtime Comets fan and season-ticket holder, I understand and appreciate the significance of this team to the city of Houston and the WNBA. Since the league's 1997 tip-off, the Comets have been core to the exponential growth of women's basketball. By winning the WNBA's first four titles, the team established itself as one of professional sports' great modern dynasties and became a point of civic pride for Houston.
The fact that the energy, passion and commitment of Houston's tremendous fan base no doubt ignited much of this success is something I was keenly aware of prior to purchasing the club. My tenure as owner has only served to enhance my longstanding admiration for the extraordinary atmosphere that takes over the stands at Comets games.
As we work to find an owner that will uphold the Comets' tradition and guide this organization to great heights once again, please be assured that absolutely nothing about the experience of attending Comets games will change. The team is in the midst of a winning season and will be back home after the Olympic break to deliver more thrilling basketball action. Your support to date has led to an 11-2 home record, the second best such mark in the WNBA. The players will be counting on your energy and passion to help them secure a playoff berth.
Thank you for all the support that you have given the Comets before and during my tenure. My experience owning this team has been a great thrill, and I will continue to sit alongside you in the stands and cheer on our team.
Sincerely,
Hilton Koch
The dispute between HISD and the Comptroller's office over the disparity between what the latter says Harris County's property values are and what the appraisal district collected has been resolved.
The Houston school board accepted a settlement Thursday with the state comptroller's office that places the district's property values at $97.6 billion -- about $13 billion less than the state estimated.HISD Inspector General Bob Moore applauded the settlement, saying HISD was prepared to sue Comptroller Susan Combs' office for overvaluing the district's property, costing the district about $3 million a year in state funding.
"It saves time and effort," Moore said.
State officials estimated HISD's 301 square miles to be worth $110.7 billion, while Harris County appraisals put the property at $97.6 billion.
The settlement is in the Houston school system's best interest because the state appraisal figures are used to determine whether a district is considered property wealthy, while the county appraisals are used for tax collection.
"You're paying on something you never collected," said Melinda Garrett, HISD's chief financial officer.
[...]
At this point, HISD's funding comes almost entirely from local property tax revenue. As values continue to increase, HISD will have to cut a check to redistribute some of its wealth to poorer school districts.
That upcoming payment is one reason HISD is so intent on fighting for lower values now, Moore said.
We've been over this ground before, so I won't belabor it. Given that HISD will be collecting local revenues based on $97.6 billion worth of appraisals, it's certainly better that they get state funding based on that same amount, so as far as that goes, I'm glad the Comptroller conceded. But I still think they're right on the larger question. If we're going to have a school finance system based in such large part on local property taxes, we should make sure we're appraising everything at an appropriate amount to ensure that everyone is paying a fair share.
So HPD misplaced fifty grand worth of sex toys. It could happen to anyone.
The Emperor is gone. So is Cyber Wabbit.Three years after Houston police seized these and hundreds of other sex toys worth $50,000 from the Adult Video Megaplexxx, the devices may be missing from the department's property room.
The discovery came to light when a lawyer for the adult-entertainment shop sought to reclaim the 564 items that the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently declared legal to sell.
After initially telling attorney Richard Kuniansky the sex toys would be returned, Houston police then said they were destroyed.
"They said no problem, you can send somebody by to pick them up, and then we get another call and it's 'Whoops, we don't have them,' " Kuniansky said.
Kuniansky said police told him they were destroyed, but he doubts that explanation.
"There is apparently no court order authorizing destruction of the property or any record of what happened to the property," he said.
[...]
Richard Segura, acting director of the Criminal Defense Clinic at the University of Texas School of Law, said Kuniansky has a right to ask for the devices back, but police shouldn't have to safeguard them forever.
"If I go over to your house and spend the night there and leave my shoes, can I expect my shoes to be there three years later?" he said. "What is the police department going to do with a bunch of (sex toys) ... keep them?"
Still, he said whether the items were destroyed and under what authority would likely be set by department policy.
No matter how much time had passed, the department can't destroy property without following regulations, Kuniansky said.
Ray Hill, who has been a consultant for adult businesses, said sex toys were too tantalizing for police to destroy.
"I think the cops stole them," he said. "We've got these gifts to give our girlfriends and friends, and as gags."
I think Ray has the right answer here. I mean, that was always the thing about the sex toy law, the one that AG Greg Abbott still wants to be able to enforce. You could have one or two toys for your own personal use. It was having more than five that made you a menace to society. Given that, if this is indeed what happened, you can view the cops' actions as beneficial, since by dispersing the sex toys, they diffused the threat of having them all there in one place. Yeah, I don't buy it either.
Surely no one is surprised by this.
JetBlue Airways Corp. said today it is now charging customers for pillows and blankets.The carrier has done away with the recycled blankets and pillows used on its flights, and has started offering an "eco-friendly" travel blanket and pillow that can be purchased for $7 on flights longer than two hours. The pair come in a kit with a $5 coupon to home furnishings retailer Bed Bath & Beyond.
The carrier claims the pillow and blanket feature a fabric technology, developed by CleanBrands LLC, that blocks pesky critters like dust mites, mold spores, pollen and pet dander.
I'm not going to make any jokes about what might come next. No matter how ridiculous, whatever I might suggest - pay toilets, cabin-pressurization fee, seat cushion rental - is likely to be tomorrow's announcement, if it hasn't happened already somewhere. Once again, I tip my metaphorical cap to the folks at The Onion for their continued ability to stay ahead of the ever-accelerating satire curve.
So with the recent effort by a couple of Republican judicial candidates to garner the endorsement of the Houston GLBT Political Caucus, some folks like me had speculated about the possibility of a backlash by Republican conservatives against them for their heresy.
Conservative commentator and publisher Terry Lowry said [civil court Judges Sharolyn] Wood and [Mark] Davidson probably will lose conservatives' votes."The agenda of the gay caucus runs contrary to the pro-family, pro-life agenda," Lowry said. "I will find it difficult to endorse any candidate who seeks the gay caucus endorsement."
University of Houston political scientist Richard Murray said the GOP judges indeed may lose votes, but for more than a single reason.
"For the 25,000 voters who get the (caucus) slate card, they are not going to be on it," Murray said. "And there will probably be some conservative slate cards that will leave them off,"
The judges, however, said they expect no conservative backlash for showing they respond to any community group that wants to hear their views. Wood said her Republican credentials are beyond question because she ran as a Republican when it would have been easier to seek the judgeship as a Democrat.
Well, it'll be an easy enough matter after the votes have been counted to see if Judges Wood and Davidson underperformed their colleagues. It won't be conclusive, since there always is some natural variation among judicial vote totals, but it will be suggestive. My guess is that unless the likes of Lowry push this idea of retribution between now and November, most folks won't even be aware of this story, let alone act on it. But hey, we'll know after we see the results.
We had a lot of recycling this week:
The total amount was more than usual - Tiffany had a pile of plastic flowerpots to dispose of (which we now can do), and we had extra paper this week because we'd forgotten to put it out the previous time - but overflowing the bin is not unusual. Almost every time, the bin is full before we bring the paper out. And even though we've got a kid in diapers at home, between recycling and composting we usually have no more in the huge garbage can the city supplies than we do in that green bin. If we could put out glass and more types of cardboard (currently, I haul glass to the city collection site on Center Street, and cardboard to All Saints Church, which collects all kinds of cardboard for recycling), the green bin would almost always win.
So from my perspective, at least, it would be nice if that green bin were bigger, and if we were allowed to put more stuff in it. I feel confident that day will come, I just hope it's sooner rather than later.
The last lawsuit pending against the Kenedy wind farm project has been dismissed.
A federal court in Texas has dismissed a lawsuit, clearing a path for Babcock & Brown to continue its plans for a wind farm on the Texas Gulf Coast. The wind farm is expected to be completed and operational later in the year. Once operational, it will consist of 118 wind energy turbines with a total output capacity of more than 283 MW.The farm, which will provide enough power for 80,000 homes, is located on property owned by non-profit organization Kenedy Memorial Foundation. The foundation will use royalties from the farm to support charitable purposes in South Texas
Lawsuits against the farm alleged that state officials and developers violated the federal Coastal Zone Management Act by building the wind farms without an environmental review or permit. The Coastal Habitat Alliance also claimed that it was denied an opportunity to intervene in hearings on transmission lines for the farm.
The McAllen Monitor and the Corpus Christi Caller-Times have more. There were two lawsuits filed originally, one in federal court and one in state court. The state lawsuit was dismissed a few months ago. There still may be an appeal by the Coastal Habitat Alliance, which once again seems to have forgotten to send me a press release about this, but that would be the only remaining obstacle for the Kenedy project. A press release from the law firm that represented the Kenedy foundation is beneath the fold.
Babcock & Brown, a leader in wind energy, today announced that a federal court in Texas dismissed a final lawsuit, clearing the path to bring wind energy to South Texas. Babcock & Brown's wind farm on the Texas Gulf Coast, which will provide enough clean and renewable energy to power 80,000 Texas homes, will be completed and operational later this year. The wind farm is located on the property of the Kenedy Memorial Foundation, a non-profit organization that will utilize the royalties to support charitable purposes in South Texas. "From the initiation of our development efforts with the Kenedy Foundation, Babcock & Brown has been committed to the responsible development of a world-class wind farm for South Texas," said Hunter Armistead, head of Babcock & Brown's North American energy group. "Our intention has always been to deliver the benefits of renewable energy while minimizing any impact to the environment. We were meticulous in the way we approached the development of this wind farm, which we believe will be used as a model for future wind farms around the country." "The winds of South Texas are one of the largest and most attractive renewable energy resources in the country, representing a tremendous clean and never-ending power supply," said John Calaway, Babcock & Brown's chief development officer for North America. "Our Gulf Wind Farm will provide critical power when it is needed most because the coastal winds in South Texas blow the hardest at the same time our state's demand for electricity peaks." The development of Babcock & Brown's Gulf Wind Farm has created approximately 300 construction jobs, in addition to approximately 20 ongoing permanent and maintenance positions. The wind farm will also provide significant annual tax benefits to the local area. Once operational, the wind farm will consist of 118 wind energy turbines with a total output capacity of more than 283 megawatts (MW).Babcock & Brown currently operates more than 20 wind farms throughout the United States, including one of the largest wind farms in the country, located in Sweetwater, Texas. In addition, Babcock & Brown has more than 25 wind energy projects across the country in various stages of development. In Texas, Babcock & Brown has offices in Houston, Austin and Dallas, where the company's 24-7 wind farm monitoring headquarters
Via Swamplot, I see that the Heights Theater on 19th Street is for sale. That's way too cool a property to sit idle, and that area is pretty hot, so I'm sure there will be a taker. I can only hope that it will be someone who'll aim to restore it rather than tear it down, especially for yet another overpriced luxury high-rise. The comment at that Bunny Bungalow post suggesting that Shade restaurant buy it would be welcome, as would the Swamplot suggestion of an Alamo Drafthouse (woo hoo, no need to trek way out west!) - the fact that the Heights is technically dry is something that can be worked around as needed. I'm just rooting for something good to happen, so at least one cool old theater in this town can live on in its true glory.
Sometimes, all you can do is point and marvel.
Twenty-six teenage cheerleaders tried to cram themselves into an elevator at the University of Texas to see how many would fit, but then they got stuck and had to be rescued.One girl was treated and released at a hospital and two others were treated at the scene after the Tuesday night prank, officials said.
The group of 14- to 17-year-olds were attending a cheerleading camp when they decided to stuff themselves into an elevator at Jester Residence Hall at UT. The elevator went down to the first floor but then the doors of the overloaded elevator wouldn't open, officials said.
After a few panicked cell phone calls, police and firefighters were called to the scene and it took a repairman about 25 minutes to fix the door, police said.
All I can say is that I can't believe I beat Harold Cook to this one. Thanks to Julie on Twitter for the heads up.
Joe Jaworski goes on the air.
Nice, positive, get-to-know-you first spot. At some point you've got to throw some punches at Toxic Mike Jackson, but there will be time for that later; if you're really lucky, third parties will do the heavy lifting there. For now, a good start.
Am I a bad sports fan if I admit that the whole Brett Favre saga has pretty much bored me to tears? I swear, I think ESPN is starting a new channel just to carry this story. If the coverage of the Presidential election were this broad, relentless, and in-depth...well, we'd all be sick to death of it and praying for UN intervention by now. Bad example. Anyway, I'm more than ready for the blather to end and the actual games to begin. At least then the news will vary a little from week to week. Texans Chick has more.
Some time in the next month or so, Harris County likely welcomed its four millionth resident. Assuming it hasn't already happened, that is.
The county's population as of July 2007 was 3.94 million, representing a 1.5 percent bump of 60,000 residents from the July 2006 estimate. A similar rise in the next year could push Harris County past the 4 million mark. Experts attribute the growth to ongoing immigration, high Latino birth rates and a healthy local economy.
If the rate of growth was exactly the same in 2007 as it was in 2006, then 3.94 million plus 1.5% = 3,999,100. Note that in Dr. Murray's recent calculations to determine the number of eligible voters in Harris County, he was assuming that 3.94 million figure as of January 2007, not July, which skews his current total higher. Performing the same calculations he did with this lower figure yields a bit more than 50,000 fewer eligible voters; we'll say a revised estimate of 2.45 million eligible voters, with a target of 2.05 million to be registered for the proportion to be the same as it was in 2004.
The biggest factor in Harris County's growth was a surge of 58,000 new Hispanic residents, bringing their estimated population to 1.5 million. The white population dropped by 5,500 residents to 1.4 million, while the number of African-Americans increased by 2,500 to 764,000.The county's Asian community added 7,200 residents, bringing its estimated population to 239,000.
The Census data reinforce the county's position as one of the most diverse regions of the nation.
Of U.S. counties with populations exceeding 1 million, Harris is now estimated to have the third-highest number of minority residents. They comprise 63 percent of the county's population, which is the ninth-highest percentage in the country. Texas counties ranking higher than Harris are Bexar County with 68 percent and Dallas County with 64 percent.
"It shows largely the continuation of important recent trends, which is that Texas is a state that is leading the nation in its ethnic and racial changes," said Karl Eschbach, director of the Texas State Data Center in San Antonio and a University of Texas-San Antonio professor. "There are a large number of counties in the state that are majority-minority, and the proportion of minorities in the state continues to increase."
Similar changes are going on in many Texas Counties. There was a good Swing State Project diary recently that summarized much of this. Among other things, this should result in at least one and maybe two or three of the new Congressional seats in 2011 being drawn to elect a Hispanic candidate, one of which will be in the Houston area. I fully expect that when Congress convenes in 2013, we'll finally have a real-life version of Matt Santos. And for what it's worth, I'd probably put even money on that person being a Maria rather than a Matt.
Alan Bernstein reports from last night's meeting of the Houston GLBT Political Caucus, where the process to endorse candidates for the November election was spiced by the presence and participation of a couple of Republican judicial candidates, which is something we haven't seen in awhile.
Pledging fairness and accountability, Republican civil court judges Sharolyn Wood and Mark Davidson visited the Houston Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender Political Caucus tonight and gave speeches asking for the group's endorsement in the Nov. 4 elections. But the organization endorsed their Democratic challengers instead, along with an all-Democrat roster of candidates for other federal, state and local offices.The two civil court judges' application for the endorsement in the last few weeks, and their personal appearances tonight, comprised the first time since the mid-1990s that any Republican contender sought gay caucus backing. The state GOP, along with key individuals and groups who make endorsements in the Republican primaries here, has denounced homosexuality.
[...]
The caucus' candidate screening committee rated Wood higher than her opponent, R.K. Sandill. But the fewer-than-100 caucus members who viewed that tacit recommendation voted behind closed doors for Sandill and Davidson's opponent, Mike Miller. The two challengers spoke to the group tonight also, in the public part of the meeting.
An hour so earlier, Davidson told the group he did not expect to be endorsed, but "to refuse to come here would be to give in to hate and prejudice." He urged the caucus to endorse with no regard to party labels because "partisanship must stop at the courthouse door."
"I seek the support of all citizens of Harris County," said Wood. "We treat all persons in our court with fairness and dignity."
Given Judge Wood's past behavior after receiving a Caucus endorsement, it's understandable that the membership was wary about giving it to her again. Nonetheless, as I said before, it's commendable and a positive sign that she and Judge Davidson sought the endorsement. May this be the start of a trend. The list of endorsed candidates, which needed to be updated at the time I posted this, is here.
Those of you who live in Fort Bend County will soon have a new option for commuting into the Medical Center.
Officials with Fort Bend County's small but expanding public transportation program have set a tentative start date of Aug. 18 for a new service that will take riders from Sugar Land to the Texas Medical Center.Bus service from Katy and the Missouri City-Stafford area will soon follow, said Paulette Shelton, director of the county's transportation department.
The new bus routes are the latest addition to a program that already features routes to Greenway Plaza and the Galleria.
While officials want to begin the new Medical Center service by Aug. 18, last-minute details or snags could push the start date to Sept. 2, Shelton said Tuesday.
The new route will begin at a University of Houston-Sugar Land parking lot on U.S. 59 with a stop at First Colony Mall. From that point, the bus will continue to the Medical Center along U.S 90A.
Shelton said the first bus will probably depart at 4:30 a.m. to accommodate those who work early-morning hospital shifts.
The last bus will leave Sugar Land about 7:45 a.m. The buses will drop off passengers at five locations in the Medical Center. The service will start up about 4 p.m., and the last riders will step off the bus in Sugar Land about 8:40 p.m.
[...]
As many as 14,000 of the 73,600 people who work in the Medical Center live in Fort Bend County, and Shelton said surveys have shown the buses could carry as many as 1,260 riders daily.
Planners believe the actual number of people who take the Sugar Land bus will initially be about 250 a day, Shelton said.
Ridership for the entire program will go up when the routes from Katy and Missouri City-Stafford begin operations.
Fares for the Sugar Land and the Missouri City-Stafford routes will be $3.50 each way. The Katy trip will cost riders $4 each way.
Couple thoughts here:
1. It'd be very interesting to get some kind of comparison of the travel times by car and by this bus. It's okay for transit to take longer than driving, since you can do things while on a bus or train that you can't - or at least shouldn't - do while driving, things like read, check your BlackBerry, nap, and so forth. But it has to be in the same ballpark, or people will go back to driving. Is there an HOV lane on US90A? That would give it an advantage over regular traffic, and would make up some of the time lost to the stops. If not, then the times may not compare very well.
2. A rail line along US90A out to Sugar Land and beyond is on Metro's road map - it was part of the 2003 referendum, but it's on the drawing board even if it's not part of the current commuter rail proposal. For a variety of reasons, that would serve a lot more people - more stops, more connections, and all-day service, to name three - but who knows when it will be built. Nonetheless, its future existence means this bus route will surely be a temporary service.
3. If demand for this bus service exceeds expectations, that may serve as a catalyst for the rail project. If not, the US90A line may slip down the priority scale. If you live out that way and want to see that rail line get built some day, it'd be in your best interest to see this bus service succeed.
When you see the headline Ballet will grow by leaps, bounds with $53 million move and your first reaction is "Good Lord, what has Commissioners Court done now?!?" because you read the first word as "Ballot", it's time to take a deep breath and think about baseball or "The Closer" or Paris Hilton or something. Well, okay, maybe not Paris HIlton, but you get the idea.
As for the story itself, while I'm glad to see the Houston Ballet doing well, I can't say I follow them much, though I have made a promise to take Olivia to see "The Nutcracker" this Christmas. One thing in the story did grab my attention:
The West Gray location, which the ballet has owned since 1982, also houses the ballet's wardrobe shop and offices for its music staff, while two townhouses on nearby Dunlavy are home to out-of-town academy students. They also would move to the downtown facility, while the ballet would vacate two studios plus office space it currently leases in the Wortham. The West Gray site would be sold.
They will make a buttload of money on that sale. It's right between a luxury midrise and a high-end Kroger, walking distance from the River Oaks Shopping Center and the Regent Square development. My guess is that it'll wind up as some kind of expensive multi-unit residential property, perhaps a highrise. If they don't already have a buyer lined up, I can imagine several developers licking their chops at the prospect. Keep an eye on this one.
I agree with Lisa Gray - the old Sears store on Main Street at Wheeler is pretty darned ugly. It's just that I don't think it stands out in its ugliness, any more than something its size would expect to stand out. That area is dominated by the overpass for US59. Ugliness and freeway overpasses go hand in hand in this town, which is why the pressure neighborhoods put on TxDOT to put more of 59 below ground when they renovated a few years back was such a good thing. It's just a shame that didn't extend farther north, up closer to the Pierce Elevated (speaking of concentrated ugly) where the three-freeway junction renders any other aesthetic consideration moot.
Now, if the preservationists can succeed in convincing Sears to restore the place to its original Art Deco look, that would be awesome and a huge improvement. But it would only be a beginning for the beautification of that area. And as long as that overpass is there, I daresay there will be only so much that can be done.
I give to you Rick Noriega's comprehensive immigration plan (PDF). It has a lot to recommend it, not the least of which in my mind is this:
Increase the Number of Annual Visas. To force immigration through legal channels, the Noriega plan will boost the number of visas available each year for both high- and low-tech, white-collar and blue-collar workers. Instead of education then expulsion, immigration policy should encourage the thousands of foreign students who take advantage of Texas colleges and universities to become vibrant contributors to the state economy after they graduate through increased access to H1B visas. Similarly, agricultural, seasonal worker, and NAFTA visas must be promoted as legal alternatives to attempted illegal border crossings.
Damn straight. This is a supply-and-demand issue, and we have control over the supply. That part of it should not be a problem, and I really hope this idea catches on. Bravo.
Anyway, it's a short but informative PDF. I encourage you to read it and see what you think.
UPDATE: Here's the Chron story.
The most significant obstacle to any kind of Astrodome hotel plan was opposition from the Texans and the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. It now looks like that opposition has softened somewhat.
"We will be pleased to work with the (Harris County Sports and Convention Corp., Astrodome Redevelopment Co. and the rodeo) in an effort to finalize agreements that protect the rights of all parties and allow for the successful redevelopment of the Reliant Astrodome," wrote Texans president Jamey Rootes in an Aug. 1 letter to the county attorney's office.Opposition from the rodeo has been even more fierce until now. But on Tuesday, Leroy Shafer, the rodeo's chief operating officer, said, "Last time, we were looking at a business proposal that violated our rights all over the place. Now, a lease is being developed to protect our rights."
Even if the Texans and the rodeo drop opposition to the project, Astrodome Redevelopment Co. still needs to obtain financing for the ambitious, $450 million effort to transform the building once known as the Eighth Wonder of the World into a convention hotel.
Astrodome Redevelopment president Scott Hanson said the company's efforts to obtain financing have been hampered by an inability to strike a lease with the sports corporation, which oversees Reliant Park operations, including the Astrodome.
"The (commercial lending) market is much tougher now. Quite frankly, we have been waiting on getting an approved lease before we go back out into the marketplace," he said.
The last update I had on this was from May, when Astrodome Redevelopment and the Sports Authority reached a proposed lease agreement.
The Texans and the rodeo previously opposed the 1,300-room, upscale hotel, saying it would siphon off revenue and possibly violate their deals with the sports corporation on naming rights and concessions.In their reviews of the lease, the rodeo and Texans said they continue to have concerns about naming rights, ambush marketing and violations of concession contracts, but are willing to negotiate with the county attorney's office on these issues.
The rodeo and Texans also wish to review where Astrodome Redevelopment would build a bridge from the Loop 610 frontage road to the hotel, a skywalk from the hotel to Reliant Center convention hall and a walkway from the Metro light rail stop on Fannin to the hotel.
Depending on where such additions went, they could interfere with rodeo operations and violate the rodeo's lease with the sports corporation, Shafer said.
It doesn't sound like anything concrete has been done to address the Texans' and Rodeo's qualms, but it does sound like they're willing to at least come to the table and discuss possible solutions. I'm not sure if this is the result of arm-twisting, or of them gaining faith in the Dome Redevelopment folks, but it's a big deal either way. I don't see any theoretical reason why this can't be worked out, so I suppose it's just a matter of how much the players are willing to bend, and on what. Given the pace of this saga, I figure we'll hear a new update around the end of the year.
Tropical Storm Edouard, now merely Tropical Depression Edouard, was basically a dud around here, but it will be welcomed fondly by other parts of the state.
For the thousands who suffered from power interruption -- or the travelers who had to deal with 255 canceled flights at Bush Intercontinental Airport -- the little storm that popped up out of nowhere to threaten the Texas and Louisiana coasts likely will prompt no fond memories. But for the rest of the region, and those still standing in its projected path across the midsection of the state, Fast Eddie was likely to provide some benefit.The anticipated downpours could significantly help areas most severely affected by drought this summer, said Texas Department of Agriculture spokesman Bryan Black. Most of Central Texas, from the heart of the state across the Edwards Plateau, is suffering drought conditions, from "extreme" to "exceptional," the worst possible ranking under the U.S. Drought Monitor, Black said.
"It really looks like the track of Edouard is heading right to that section," Black said as the storm pushed further inland. "As long as we could have some good consistent rain, that would really help us out. This could be a wonderful thing if we do not receive high winds or flooding in the area."
The one downside to Edouard's rapid disorganization as it moves northwest is that the rains probably won't reach the Midland-Odessa area, which is under "extreme" drought conditions -- just slightly less severe than exceptional. Midland has recorded only three-fourths of an inch of rain since May 1, just 15 percent of its normal rainfall, Black said.
I really hope it helps those areas. Houston, even after nearly three inches of rain yesterday, is still more than four inches below normal for the year, but we're nowhere near as bad off as they are. Whatever relief Edouard can provide, they can use.
In addition to that rain, what most of us got was an unexpected day off, which some of us used to good effect.
A few miles away in Woodland Heights, 14-year-old Grace Hartzell and three friends welcomed Edouard in a more direct fashion: by jumping in puddles."This is what we do in the rain," said Grace, blond hair plastered to her head and grinning face beaded with raindrops. "We love the rain."
Grace and her friend Claire Nobles, 13, wore colorful ponchos over flip-flops and pajamas. Their buddies Diego Martinez, 14, and Nathan King, 14, dripped in shorts and sneakers.
"My goal today was to get as wet as possible," Nathan said.
The four teens are best friends from elementary school. In a few weeks, they head off to different high schools. They described their rainy day antics as a last, whimsical fling of the summer.
"We might go to 11th Street Cafe and then probably just go jump in my pool afterwards, just for icing on the cake," Grace said.
But aren't they getting a little old for jumping in puddles? They seem aghast at the question.
"You can go running around in the rain as long as you want," Grace argued.
"Until you get a car," Diego said.
"And then we can go driving around in the rain," Grace said. "That would be fun!"
Claire is a neighbor of mine, so I was rather amused by these quotes. At chez Kuffner, we spent some time this morning at a neighbor's house, then Olivia went to a scheduled dentist appointment and got to visit her grandparents afterward. It was a pretty laid-back day, though feels like it left her a day behind on her routine, and I think we'll all be happy to have the girls back at preschool, but overall a pleasant enough experience, especially given the range of possible outcomes. How was your day yesterday?
UPDATE: Sadly, it looks like there won't be much drought relief from Edouard. A dud all around.
Dr. Richard Murray has two posts on Chris Bell's decision to run for the open SD17 seat and his chances of winning. The main bit of interest for me is in the second post:
Money. Bell got in the race only after assurances that his campaign would be well-funded. Unlike contests for federal office, contributions to state candidates are not limited, so a relatively small number of wealthy donors can underwrite a serious campaign. Bell did not have such underwriters in his 2006 gubernatorial race, save for Houston lawyer John O'Quinn at the very end of the campaign. This time he will have the money needed to contest the election across a sprawling, diverse district.
Do tell, Doc. As you know, I've harped on this from the beginning, and while I was pretty sure Bell would have declined to dive in had there been insufficient promise of funding, I'd still like to know how much there is and from whom it's coming. Joan Huffman seems to be lining up a fair number of ducks for her campaign, not to mention that half-million dollar loan she's secured. I've started to see a few signs for her candidacy - apparently, she's adopting the old strategy of littering as many empty lots and construction fences with them as possible. But that works pretty well as cheap name ID, so Bell will have to counter it.
He did get a nice endorsement recently. From an email I received Tuesday:
My name is Bob Kelly, and I am the Mayor of West University. When my state senator, Kyle Janek, retired recently, I knew that choosing the next state senator would have a huge impact on my town and the entire area. That's why I am pleased to tell you that I have decided to endorse Chris Bell and am writing today to ask you to help me elect him to the state senate.Chris is a Democrat. However, party affiliation does not matter. I have watched Chris' career over the years and know that we can trust him to do the right thing. I watched him stand up to insider deals at City Hall and pass landmark ethics reforms. And in Congress, I saw how he demonstrated unusual leadership for a freshman lawmaker by establishing the Port Security Caucus. With his experience and willingness to fight for reform no matter the odds, Chris is the kind of leader who will be able to step right into the Texas Senate and get things done.
Texas needs Chris in the senate to help our public schools, improve access to health care, promote stem cell research and fight for ethics reforms. I don't care if you're a Democrat or a Republican. The priorities that Chris has are the priorities that we all share around here. Chris' campaign is important to me, but what he wants to do in office is important to everyone in Texas.
Good to hear. Now I'd just like to know about the finances.
The Chron has a short story about that recent report that Railroad Commissioner Elizabeth Ames Jones is contemplating a run for Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's seat in the event KBH steps down to run for Governor in 2010. It doesn't really add anything to the original story, but I'm blogging it because it contains one of the most (presumably unintentionally) unflattering photos of a public official I've seen in a long time. I don't know whose idea it was to take an extreme closeup of Ames Jones, who normally looks like this, while using interrogation lamps as the lighting, but let's just say it didn't come off well for her. So there you have it.
With all the attention that the numerous high-profile DNA exonerations have brought to Dallas County and its current District Attorney Craig Watkins, what does it all mean for Henry Wade, the man on whose watch those unjust convictions occurred? Via Grits, the answer is that his reputation has taken a beating.
Nineteen convictions - three for murder and the rest involving rape or burglary - won by Wade and two successors who trained under him have been overturned after DNA evidence exonerated the defendants. About 250 more cases are under review.No other county in America - and almost no state, for that matter - has freed more innocent people from prison in recent years than Dallas County, where Wade was DA from 1951 through 1986.
Current District Attorney Craig Watkins, who in 2006 became the first black elected chief prosecutor in any Texas county, said that more wrongly convicted people will go free.
"There was a cowboy kind of mentality and the reality is that kind of approach is archaic, racist, elitist and arrogant," said Watkins, who is 40 and never worked for Wade or met him.
[...]
The new DA and other Wade detractors say the cases won under Wade were riddled with shoddy investigations, evidence was ignored and defense lawyers were kept in the dark. They note that the promotion system under Wade rewarded prosecutors for high conviction rates.
In the case of James Lee Woodard _ released in April after 27 years in prison for a murder DNA showed he didn't commit _ Wade's office withheld from defense attorneys photographs of tire tracks at the crime scene that didn't match Woodard's car.
"Now in hindsight, we're finding lots of places where detectives in those cases, they kind of trimmed the corners to just get the case done," said Michelle Moore, a Dallas County public defender and president of the Innocence Project of Texas. "Whether that's the fault of the detectives or the DA's, I don't know."
John Stickels, a University of Texas at Arlington criminology professor and a director of the Innocence Project of Texas, blames a culture of "win at all costs."
"When someone was arrested, it was assumed they were guilty," he said. "I think prosecutors and investigators basically ignored all evidence to the contrary and decided they were going to convict these guys."
The irony, of course, is that had Wade not been obsessive about maintaining evidence from past cases, many of these reversals would not be happening now. What skeletons do you suppose might be lurking in Harris County's closet, if only we had the way to investigate them?
I'll say again, I'm really glad to see the mindset that a DA's conviction rate is the most important measuring stick be challenged in such a forthright way. Every one of these bad convictions represents not just an innocent person in prison, but a guilty one left free to victimize others. We as a society need to be able to believe that the people we're putting behind bars are the ones that really belong there. Only by being dedicated to getting it right, rather than getting it done, can we do that.
Not that I'm complaining, mind you, but Tropical Storm Edouard hasn't exactly been the overwhelming force of nature you might have thought it would be based on the usual TV coverage up till today. It's been a steady rain since about 7 AM, more light than heavy, with the nearby White Oak Bayou still a few feet from capacity. I wound up taking Olivia to her dentist appointment today - no traffic, a few decent-sized puddles, reasonable visibility, not much wind. We've been through plenty of anonymous storms that were way worse than this. Things are a bit worse north and east of here, but so far it's mostly brought rain to places that needed it. Assuming no Allison-like switchback, it's no big deal.
Of course, hurricane season has only just begun, so let's not get too cocky. October is a long way off.
More storm stuff from John, EdT, Pete, PDiddie, Michelle, Julie, PoliSci@UST, and Laurence. Oh, and am I the only one who finds it amusing that on the same day a tropical storm/hurricane wannabee makes landfall in Texas, the Bush Legacy Tour bus also arrives? That just can't be a coincidence.
Yesterday I blogged at Kuff's World about a story in the Statesman in which retiring State Rep. Suzanna Hupp placed calls to a couple of Libertarian Party candidates in State House races urging them to drop out rather than risk tilting those seats, and control of the House, to the Democrats. Now here's a followup story about a meeting between the LP and House Speaker Tom Craddick.
Both sides described Monday's meeting, which the speaker's office arranged last week, as an effort to look for common ground. Both sides said they did not talk about specific legislative races during the 20-minute meeting."We were talking about issues where we have agreement," Craddick spokeswoman Alexis DeLee said.
Those areas of agreement apparently do not include the fall campaigns.
Pat Dixon, the Libertarian Party's state chairman, said he is urging the party's candidates to stay on the November ballot.
"We're committed to having our candidates do their best to grow the party," Dixon said.
The only Libertarian candidate to drop off the ballot in Central Texas so far is Alan Hultgren, who was running against state Rep. Valinda Bolton, D-Austin, and Republican Donna Keel.
Hultgren said Monday that he quit because he is starting a business and was worried that he might help Bolton by staying in.
"I can honestly say there was no external pressure," he said. "I just thought the lesser of the two evils would be the Republican Party."
Hultgren aside, I think in general the LP would consider their ability to swing a race to be a feature and not a bug. They can point to races where they had an effect and say, presumably to the GOP, "See, if you did stuff we liked, you might have won." As that's the basic argument Ralph Nader made to the Democrats in 2000, it's not one I put a whole lot of stock in, but that's beside the point. From their perspective, it's perfectly sensible and reasonable.
I will say that for Tom Craddick to take this step strikes me as just a wee bit desperate. I mean, these are the same legislative districts that were drawn in 2001 to elect 100 Republicans, and now they're wooing the Libertarian Party in order to hold onto a slim majority? How the mighty have fallen, that's all I can say.
Tropical Storm Edouard, whose sudden emergence from the Gulf of Mexico forced coastal residents and state officials to spend much of Monday making last-minute preparations, was expected to make landfall along the upper Texas coast around noon today, by which time it should be a strong tropical storm.Businesses, schools and government offices across Southeast Texas were closed, and people were urged to stay off the roads because of high winds and rising water. Although significant damage was not expected, power outages are a possibility and localized flooding is a potential problem, especially in areas experiencing the wetter side of the storm -- or if the storm slows as it passes through the area.
Residents also tended to their pre-storm chores, loading up on goods from tuna to batteries to water. Motorists also wisely topped off their gas tanks, but in doing so, left some stations dry. While drivers reported sporadic fuel outages at gas stations around the Houston and Galveston area, officials said there was no shortage of fuel.
Forecasters say Edouard is likely to hit the upper Texas Coast. This morning, the National Weather Service lifted the tropical storm watch to places south of Sargent, effectively giving an all-clear sign to Matagorda and Calhoun counties.
I just finished walking the dog, figuring I'd better do that sort of thing now while he's still willing to go outside; once the thunder and lightning starts, he won't budge from whatever safe place he'll have wedged himself into. At 5:30 AM, you wouldn't know there was a major storm out there - it's calm and cool-for-August, with clear skies. Enjoy it while it lasts - they're already feeling it in Beaumont.
It occurs to me that while I've lived in Houston 20 years and I've seen many a nasty storm, I've not been in Houston for a named storm in a long time. We bugged out for Hurricane Rita, enjoying a lovely 18-hour drive to Dallas along the way. We happened to be in Chicago the weekend Tropical Storm Allison hit in 2001 - I didn't even realize what was happening until our friend Andrea called to tell us our house was okay. Tiffany and her family lived through Hurricane Alicia in 1983; being without power for a week was no fun. I was a newly-arrived graduate student, living in a garage apartment, when a Cat 5 Hurricane Gilbert took dead aim at Houston. As I was completely unprepared for anything remotely like that, it was just as well that it wound up mostly missing here; my buddies in San Antonio had it much worse. I sort of don't know what to expect.
I hope everyone stays safe, I hope there's no major damage in the affected areas, I hope we don't lose power, and I hope some much-needed rain falls in drought areas. Connectivity permitting, I'll post updates later.
UPDATE: 8 AM. Everyone is awake. Looks like some light rain has fallen. Now to keep the girls occupied for the next 24 hours...
UPDATE: Here's SciGuy's morning report. More rain, maybe less wind. I can live with that.
Leo Gold, the KPFT radio talk show host who's been in the news and at City Hall to push recycling, had Mayor White on his show last week to discuss the topic. You can listen to it here, or download the MP3. It's a good discussion, one that gives the impression that the Mayor does want to move things forward in his last months in office. How much forward, well, actions speak louder than words, and we'll just have to see how much action we get. But give it a listen and see what you think.
I may be a Twitter user, but I would not claim to be a member of The Twitterati. But that's okay, because you don't need to be to use it. The Chron story is a pretty amusing piece of fluff about Twitter and its local addicts, but it left me scratching my head about one thing: How can the Chron, of all things, write such a story without ever once mentioning Dwight? Turns out, he was featured in the bonus photo feature, so all is well with the universe. If you haven't succumbed to Twitter's charms, I really can't explain it to you - use it and you'll (probably) get it, that's all I can say. You can even get SciGuy's updates there now. Just be aware that it can be a massive time suck, and adjust accordingly. Happy tweeting!
So, um, do you have enough batteries and bottled water and gas in your car, just in case? I'm afraid I can't help you with any of those things, but I do have the weekly roundup of Texas Progressive Alliance blog posts. Which I'd advise printing out, just in case you lose power. Click on for the highlights.
Last week on Bluedaze , Big Oil threatened TXsharon. In "Big Oil" Threatens Harm to My "Lovelies" and Me she calls out the abuser and includes a new PR plan that will save Chesapeake Energy millions of dollars and help clean up Big Oil's act.
Mike Thomas of Rhetoric & Rhythm is critical of a campaign to knock off Blue Dog Democrats , even if it means electing Republicans, all in an effort to punish Democrats for failing to hew the line on certain progressive issues.
refinish69 from Doing My Part For The Left has always heard that What happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas or does it for Pete Sessions?
Burnt Orange Report went on strike last week to raise $1000 for Chris Bell's State Senate campaign. 12 hours later, 15 donors raised $1,075 for Bell and the BOR team is back to blogging.
jobsanger opines about the lack of Democratic leadership from Speaker Nancy Pelosi in Pelosi: Where's The Leadership?, and lets us know the Nanny State is alive and well in The "Nanny State" Strikes Again.
The Texas Cloverleaf is on a strike for change! Help raise money for selected candidates. What do we want? Donations! When do we need them? Now!
Texas Liberal suggests that life is like a harbor where ships come and go.
Off the Kuff calculates how many eligible but unregistered voters there are in Harris County, and compares it to 2004.
Obama came to Houston but only for a few high-dollar fundraisers in River Oaks, a trend sadly that is repetitive of past Democratic presidential nominees. PDiddie at Brains and Eggs had the report, and the total take was $1.5 mill.
Mean Rachel gets a response from Rep. Elliott Naishtat to her modest proposal from last week, and at dinner discovers just how unwired the Yankee in the Texas House really is.
Over at TexasKaos, lightseeker makes the case for a Republican straight ticket ballot, for the Democratic slate (with Video)! It may be the only way to save the Republican Party from its present delusional masters!
CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme wonders which will come first - the death of the Republican Party or a full blown police state. CBT, ever the optimist, predicts the former.
Vince at Capitol Annex notes that Railroad Commissioner Elizabeth Ames Jones is going to run for U.S. Senate if and when Kay Bailey Hutchison vacates her seat to run for Governor.
Aimlessness at WhosPlayin got one too many email forwards about "Why Men are Republicans", and decided to retort with "Why Men Prefer Democrats".
McBlogger takes a look at the ability of DHS to snoop on you. And you thought the FISA stuff was bad...
BossKitty at TruthHugger wonders about "What is Adrenarche and Why Are America's Services Sexually Immature"
Lots of things will be closed tomorrow, including my office and most likely the girls' preschool. Oddly enough, Olivia's dentist appointment is still on the schedule. Check tomorrow and call if you don't want to drive, they said. Okey dokey.
Loose stuff is all in the garage or otherwise tied down - recycling bin, kids' toys, yard art, etc. We'll be taking down the porch swing and bungee-ing it to the balusters. I just helped a neighbor with a new baby and a husband out on a platform in the Gulf do the same at their house. She and the baby may be hanging out with us tomorrow. Husband is far enough out on the Gulf to not be in Edouard's path, but nobody's flying till it's past them.
I see via the KHOU news crawl that Harris County has canceled its celebration of National Night Out tomorrow. Good thing Houston had already rescheduled its observance till October.
I figure if we lose power tomorrow, we'll be playing several thousand rounds of Don't Break The Ice, Candy Land, and Memory. That's what they're for, after all.
What are your plans for tomorrow? Leave a comment while you still can.
A storm that appeared as a blip on the Gulf Coast radar late last week could reach hurricane strength before it bears down, possibly on the Southeast Texas coast, by Tuesday morning.Tropical Storm Edouard may intensify into a Category 1 hurricane by the time it makes landfall, meteorologists said.
The fast-building storm leaves residents and emergency officials little time to prepare for the high winds and heavy rainfall.
"Since it's come up so quickly and so close to the coast, it's not going to be like (Hurricane) Dolly where we were watching it for a week," said Chris McKinney, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service. "People need to take it seriously and allow the possibility that it could be a low-end hurricane."
I'm reminded of Hurricane Humberto from last year, which developed and then struck within 24 hours. That one mostly missed Houston, though Galveston and Beaumont weren't quite as lucky. This one appears to be headed our way, though it's impossible to say for sure.
Edouard is aimed directly at Southeast Texas, with a landfall likely somewhere between Corpus Christi and the Texas-Lousiana border. For now most computer models bring the storm straight into Galveston Island, but there's typically some error in forecasts 36 hours before landfall.The storm is expected to bring 2 or 3 inches of rain to most of the region - more in the coastal communities it hits the hardest - and considerably more if the system slows.
The storm's winds at landfall are much harder to project. On Sunday the system developed from a center of low pressure into a 50 mph tropical storm, and some computer models forecast Edouard to become a weak hurricane before landfall.
Hurricane forecasters typically have trouble projecting when hurricanes over the Gulf of Mexico's warm waters will rapidly intensify, as Hurricane Humberto did last year before striking Texas.
"Storms never do exactly what we expect. We always prepare for one level of intensity higher than it is," said Mark Sloan, coordinator for the Harris County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.
As with Hurricane Dolly, I hope that one effect of Edouard is to bring some rain to parts of the state that really need it. Beyond that, I hope it's more miss than hit. SciGuy has more.
Good for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission.
The commission, which oversees the state Parks and Wildlife Department, voted last month to essentially tell the feds to get lost, saying no thanks to an offer from the federal government to donate $105,000 to a nonprofit land trust in exchange for about 21/2 acres in the state-owned Las Palomas Wildlife Management Area in Cameron County. The federal government wants to build part of its border fence on the land.The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers now says that it will go to federal court to take the land.
"Construction of a border fence has impacts to fish and wildlife resources that could not adequately be compensated for by the offer of compensation," said Ted Hollingsworth, an official with the land conservation program at the state Parks and Wildlife Department, explaining the commissioners' decision.
[...]
One proposed wall route, for example, would separate the 557-acre Sabal Palm Audubon Center in Brownsville from the rest of the United States. The center is a haven for birders and attracts 10,000 tourists to the area each year, according to Audubon Texas.
"It's obvious that where the wall goes, wildlife and habitat will be affected," said Martin Hagne, executive director at the nonprofit Valley Nature Center in Weslaco. The fragmenting of land harms animals' ability to survive and thrive, he said.
"The government is looking at this as a piece of dirt and not as a whole ecosystem," Hagne said.
[...]
[A]t its July 17 meeting, the Parks and Wildlife Commission nixed the deal with a 6-0 vote. (Three commissioners were absent.)
"We understand the reasons that the federal government believes they need to build this fence, and we're certainly not in a position to make a decision whether that's right or wrong," Chairman Peter Holt said at the meeting. "But from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department's point of view, and for us as commissioners, our job is to look at the mission of Texas Parks and Wildlife and our constituency, which is the citizens of the State of Texas, and decide what's the right thing relative to our mission, what we at Texas Parks and Wildlife are supposed to do and not do."
Good for the TPWC. If anything has been clear about the border fence battle, it's that those who are pushing it really don't care about the real-life effects the fence will have on the people, wildlife, and environment along the Rio Grande. The Department of Homeland Security has been secretive, bullying, and completely unresponsive to the locals' concerns. They've earned every obstacle in their path.
If this episode of Waiting for KBH turns out differently than the others and she really does abandon her Senate seat for a shot at the Governor's mansion, there's no shortage of Republican wannabees lining up to replace her. DallasBlog reports:
DallasBlog has learned that Texas Railroad Commissioner Elizabeth Ames Jones definitely will run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison in 2010 or earlier. Sen. Hutchison is expected to be a candidate for Governor in 2010 even if Gov. Rick Perry runs for re-election. Sen. Hutchison has stated that she would step down from her U.S. Senate position early in order to make the race for Governor. That would allow Gov. Perry to make the interim appointment to the vacated Hutchison Senate seat. It is rumored that Railroad Commissioners Elizabeth Ames Jones and Michael Williams along with Victory 2008 Chairman Roger Williams all are seeking the Perry appointment if the Hutchison Senate seat is vacated.Republican Elizabeth Ames Jones is a former state representative from San Antonio who was appointed by Gov. Perry to the Railroad Commission and later elected to a six-year term in 2006. She comes from a prominent oil and gas family in the San Antonio area.
Sen. Florence Shapiro already has formed an exploratory committee for a prospective Senate race. Sen. Shapiro reportedly has been encouraged by Sen. Hutchison to make the race for the U.S. Senate.
That's four already, and I suspect that's not the end of it. Former US Rep. Henry Bonilla was reported to be ready to jump into a Senate race in 2006 if KBH had taken the golden parachute at that time; despite his subsequent loss to Rep. Ciro Rodriguez in a redrawn CD23, it wouldn't shock me to see him go for it. Ag Commish Todd Staples and Comptroller Susan Combs are both known to have their eye on bigger things, as is Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, though all three are usually talked about as Governor hopefuls. But who knows? We could go from never having a contested Republican primary for a statewide non-judicial office to a free-for-all in multiple races next cycle. Whether or not the Democrats have broken through, we'll likely see a very different state government in 2011 than we will next year.
On the Democratic side, it's a lot quieter so far. Rick Noriega could try again if he doesn't win this year; with a decent enough showing, he'd likely be the favorite for the nomination. Paul Burka has suggested that Houston Mayor Bill White will run for whatever KBH doesn't; I think he's running for Governor regardless (assuming he doesn't get appointed to something in an Obama cabinet), but it's a possibility. Former Rep. Jim Turner is still sitting on a million bucks in campaign cash that he must spend eventually. And of course, by law I must mention John Sharp's name, so there he is.
Getting back to Ames Jones and the GOP field for a second, there's really no one in that group that stands out as a frontrunner or a can't-miss prospect. The thought of Bonilla running in 2006 scared the crap out of me, but not as much now, especially after Noriega's candidacy this year. Shapiro may be the strongest of the bunch, and I guess if I had to choose I'd give her the best odds of winning the nomination, but it's not something I'd stand by if pushed. The thing is that unlike Ames Jones' run for Railroad Commissioner in 2006, I don't think any of them wins simply by being the Republican on the ticket. Even with an upheaval this year, any of them would be favored as "generic R" over "generic D", but 2010 is the year I expect there to be a lot of money available for a Democratic statewide effort, with the battle for the Governor's mansion leading the way. It ought to be a heck of a fight.
I'm sad to say that the war on sex toys is not quite over yet, though clearly a corner has been turned.
A federal appeals court turned down Attorney General Greg Abbott's attempt to reinstate a ban on the sale and marketing of sex toys Friday, upholding its previous ruling that the prohibition violated Texans' right to privacy.The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in February had struck down the Texas law, which made it illegal to sell or promote obscene devices.
The attorney general sought a rehearing on the matter, decided by a panel of judges. The state argued that the full court should have a chance to rule, but the court turned down the request and said any appeal would have to be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Abbott spokesman Tom Kelley said the state hasn't decided yet if it will appeal the ruling.
A state holds its collective breath while our Attorney General decides to continue his crackdown on dildo dealers. I really don't think I want to pursue that train of thought any further, so I'll just say link via BOR and leave it at that.
So I was driving out to Katy this past Saturday with my mother-in-law and Audrey, so I could install a new computer for my mother-in-law's aunt, and along the way my MIL asked me how the new managed lanes are going to work. "Let me get this straight: either you have multiple people in the car, or you pay a toll," she said.
"Right," I replied.
"How are they going to enforce that?"
"Beats me."
Well, I may not know, but the Houston-Galveston Area Council does know, and they want to tell you all about it.
The Houston-Galveston Area Council will hold five public meetings in August to explain the four new "managed lanes" that will open in October in the middle of the Katy Freeway.[...]
The meetings start at 6 p.m.:
- Aug. 14: Kendall Branch Library, 14330 Memorial, Houston
- Aug. 19: Katy Elementary School cafeteria, 5726 George Bush, Katy
- Aug. 21: Memorial Church of Christ, 900 Echo, Houston
- Aug. 26: Cinco Ranch Library, 2620 Commercial Center, Katy
- Aug. 28: Heights Branch Library, 1302 Heights Blvd., Houston
Mark your calendars accordingly.
Sometimes, as we know from last year, Gulf storms don't give much warning before they hit.
The season's fifth tropical depression has formed in the Gulf, according to the National Hurricane Center.Now that the depression has a center of circulation we need to follow it closely, as the models still bring the system very near to the Houston metro area by Tuesday morning. Although the depression now appears somewhat ragged, my guess is that it will become a tropical storm some time tonight or early tomorrow, with further strengthening possible.
In short, Tuesday's gonna suck. Be ready for it.
It's been too long since I've posted a picture of the girls. So here you go:
That photo was taken one morning as I was herding the girls into the car to go to preschool. Audrey was going through a phase of demanding to wear sunglasses before leaving the house. What can I say, some people are just born cool. We've just realized that later this month, Olivia will officially start pre-kindergarten. One more year, then she begins her journey at Travis Elementary. That was more than a little weird to contemplate.
Anyway, hope you like the pic. Enjoy the rest of the weekend!
Voters probably will not see a request to issue bonds for a new downtown jail on the November ballot, as Commissioners Court members voice reluctance over moving so quickly on a project the public already has rejected once.Although a bond proposal was discussed at last week's meeting and is on the agenda for Tuesday's session, County Judge Ed Emmett and two commissioners said Friday they are not ready to bring a new measure to the electorate. Voters rejected the original $245 million plan last November by a 51-49 margin.
Emmett and Commissioners Sylvia Garcia and Steve Radack each had their own reasons for wanting to delay a vote, from desiring further studies of the overcrowding issues at the jail to complaints over the city of Houston's contributions to the joint project.
But the reality is the county would have a difficult time getting the bond approved in an election where black and Hispanic voters are expected to head to the polls in droves amid intense scrutiny of the local criminal justice system, political analysts said.
Opposition from those groups was one major reason the proposal failed in 2007, they said.
"At this point, it is difficult to imagine how the county would sell the bond to the voters," said Franklin Jones, a Texas Southern University political scientist.
Given that the county hasn't done a thing to address the root cause of jail overcrowding, I don't see how they could sell this thing, either. Of course, if they do address the cause of the problem, they may find that the problem goes away without the need for more jail space. But if that's not the case, if a facility like this is still needed even with saner and more fiscally responsible arrest, bail, probation, and parole policies in place, then at least the sales job won't need to be a snow job.
Garcia said postponing a vote until the May election could give the county time to address some of the community's concerns about law enforcement, the courts and the jail. She has been advocating a top-to-bottom review of the criminal justice system and said embarking on one would show the public their complaints are being heard, possibly improving the chances they would sign off on a new jail.Rice University political scientist Bob Stein said avoiding the November election is a smart move but will not ensure victory.
"I think it's going to be almost impossible in November and very difficult in May," he said. "They need to get their act together and have a very united bipartisan front, and that's going to be hard."
I think it would depend to some extent on whether or not there are any city of Houston propositions up for a vote at that time as well. For instance, if the local anti-immigrant wackos finally succeed in getting one of their referenda on the ballot, it could certainly have an effect. Even without that, while I'm not as confident as Professor Stein, I think even a May election would be at best a tossup for a jail bond. Regardless of that, I hope the review Commissioner Garcia has in mind is well underway by then. That might finally be a step in the right direction for the jails.
Via Poblano, I see that Rasmussen has a new Presidential poll for Texas.
John McCain continues to lead Barack Obama by nine points in Texas. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in the state finds the Republican ahead 50% to 41%. When "leaners" are included, McCain leads 52% to 44%.McCain also had a nine point lead a month ago in the Lone Star State, after falling from a thirteen point lead in May.
Nationally, in the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll, the race between McCain and Obama remains very close.
In Texas, the race among unaffiliated voters is quite close. This month, McCain leads 45% to 42% among those voters. The Republican's lead among those voters has fallen significantly since the last poll, when he led 49% to 32%.
Remember that 44% number, since that's the threshold for Democrats to at least "consolidate their gains" in the Legislature, as Texas Monthly put it; actually, they say that's the case for Obama in the 42-44% range, so 44 is probably better than that. But what I notice is that 52 seems to be McCain's plateau in Texas polls. Look at the poll roundup for Texas on Poblano's page. Fifty-two percent is the best showing McCain has gotten, even in that super-favorable Baselice poll from May. Since then, McCain has held steady while Obama has climbed from 36 to 44. Given that this surely reflects Democrats "coming home", plus a continued strong showing among Latinos, this is more evidence of a statewide partisan shift towards the Democrats. It's modest, and it's not enough to put the state in play by itself, but it's there. Remember, in 2004 by this time George W. Bush was polling at 55% in Texas, and he wound up getting nearly all of the undecideds. Reaching 55% is looking like the best case scenario for McCain. That's a huge swing in four years, and it may well bigger.
Rasmussen also has a Senate poll result.
The United States Senate race in Texas continues to get tighter this month. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in the Lone Star State finds Republican Incumbent John Cornyn leading Democratic State Legislator Rick Noriega 47% to 37%. When "leaners" are included, Cornyn leads 50% to 39%.The incumbent senator is viewed favorably by 55% of voters and unfavorably by 31%. Noriega's numbers are 45% favorable and 33% unfavorable.
July marks the second straight month that support for the incumbent has dropped below 50%. Last month, Cornyn had a 48% to 35% lead. Incumbents who poll below 50% are generally considered vulnerable. Cornyn polled better in early June, when he led the democrat 52% to 35%.
Though Cornyn's lead has decreased this month, his numbers among unaffiliated voters have improved. The Republican now leads 41% to 24% among those voters. Support from his own party fell slightly this month, from 85% to 81%. On the other side of the aisle, Noreiga is now backed by 79% of Democrats, up from 68% last month.
The drop in Republican support for Cornyn is probably noise, though perhaps his recent spat with doctors has taken a toll; without seeing if there was a corresponding increase in Republican support for Noriega, I can't say. But note again that Democratic support is consolidating, and there's still room to grow there. The trend is in the right direction, in any event.
I sense an emerging meme here.
When gas prices surged above $4 per gallon earlier this year, it didn't take Nostradamus to predict that there would be a resultant rush to carbon-free commuting options--especially in a place like Portland, which is known for its ample network of bike lanes. Cyclists in "Stumptown" are spinning their spokes here in unprecedented numbers, trading in their fuel-guzzling SUVs for stylish 27-speeds.But the cycling surge has created conflict, as the new breed of commuters bumps up against the old, oil-powered kind.
The cases cited all seem to involve alcohol, red-light running, or both, so I'd be a little hesitant to apply the trend label too quickly. That said, having more bicyclists on the street is sure to lead to more confrontations and accidents, as these new pedalers are likely to do things that experienced bikers don't, and as more drivers do stupid things because they find themselves stuck behind a slow-moving two-wheeler. No surprise, right?
I will say this: I see an awful lot of bike-riders in my neighborhood blithely zip through stop signs as if they weren't there. They'll usually slow down for red lights, but heading through if the coast is clear is also common. I don't know if they're ignorant of the fact that bicycles are in general subject to the same traffic laws as cars or if they're apathetic to it, but I know it annoys me every time I see this happen. I'm sympathetic to the notion that bikes need only slow down at stop signs rather than come to a full stop, but that's not what I see. That's a problem, and it will be a bigger problem the more bicyclists there are.
Get yer links on...
Happy 12th anniversary, Mike and Cathy!
The football offense of the future. Not to be confused with the ice cream of the future.
If you're the type that cries easily, you probably shouldn't read this. It is a really touching story, though, so maybe you should. Via Good Mom, Bad Mom.
Who are independent voters, and what do they want?
Is it just me, or has the whole Ronald Reagan deification thing gotten ridiculous?
Rush and the Rams? Ew.
There's fancy pants, and there's fancy pants. But where would slapstick comedy be then?
Rappin' physics. Seriously. You might learn something. Both this link and the one before come via the HMNS blog, whose "Science doesn't sleep" link roundups are awesome.
The world's oldest joke, as only The Bloggess can tell it.
The Real Freedom's Watch, via The Stakeholder.
There's been talk for a long time now that neighborhoods that have poor participation rates with curbside recycling might lose the service, and now that day of reckoning is at hand.
Harry Hayes, the city's solid waste director, recently sent letters to residents in 43 Houston neighborhoods, threatening to stop collecting their recyclables.The roughly 23,000 households were told that they must improve their participation rates to prove that servicing their neighborhoods is worth the cost, particularly in light of high diesel fuel prices.
Participation in those neighborhoods, city officials say, has fallen below 10 percent, with some as low as 2 percent. Other areas see as high as 70 percent participation, according to a 2006 survey.
"In too many cases, the department's trucks must drive through entire neighborhoods to collect only a few bins," Hayes wrote in the letter to residents. "Those neighborhoods that do not improve their set-out rates will be dropped from the program at the end of this calendar year."
Hayes' department offers curbside service to about 160,000 households, or about 40 percent of Houstonians who get city trash service.
Given that the city does not offer curbside recycling service to all neighborhoods, that makes sense and is a long time coming. Of course, it would be vastly preferable to have recycling everywhere, with a better level of participation than what we have now, and that needs to be the long-term goal. But until we can get there, we should make sure that we're maximizing the use of the service in the limited places we have it. Who knows, maybe absence will make the heart grow fonder for those neighborhoods.
The city is only taking this step after a public relations campaign called Go Green Houston failed to get those neighborhoods and others to improve more dramatically.[...]
City Councilwoman Wanda Adams, a former solid waste department administrative staffer and a strong recycling advocate, said she is concerned some Houstonians may lose the service. She said the department should focus more on educating people to participate.
Adams suggested more public-service announcements, events at schools and more visible promotion. She also wants a special division focused solely on recycling.
"When you have a breakdown in education and no one is focusing on the recycling program, participation rates will drop," she said. "There has to be a consistency in education."
I don't know what the Go Green Houston campaign entailed, so I can't say why it wasn't more successful, but I agree with Council Member Adams that educating the public about the need for recycling has to be a big part of this. Of course, there are plenty of things the city could do to force people to reassess and hopefully change their behavior, from changing the respective sizes of the garbage cans and recycle bins to enacting a pay-as-you-throw program, among others. And I still believe that a partnership with businesses, who are not a part of the city's recycling efforts at all, would be a huge help. At my office, we used to have separate bins for aluminum cans and trash, but it hardly seemed to matter - any time I looked in them, I saw roughly equal amounts of trash and cans in each. They weren't well marked, and there was never any communication at the corporate level informing people about these bins. We don't even have such bins on my floor now; any time I have a can of soda or a bottle of water at work, I bring the empties home to toss into my bin. Yet people don't seem to have any problems tossing waste paper into clearly-marked recycling bins in the copy/print rooms. It's not that people won't recycle, it's that they need to be aware of it, and it needs to be apparent to them where to put recyclables. The potential for gain here is enormous if it's done right.
The Chron editorializes about this today.
Less service, higher cost," was the damning refrain last year when City Council considered imposing a garbage collection fee.The $42 annual fee per household would have raised as much as $19 million for recycling technology and other environmental projects. But the plan was quickly crushed.
By backing down, council helped seal Houston's place as the only major U.S city in which residents can generate outsized mountains of household waste and -- without further accountability -- somehow have it disappear. Council needs to revisit the collection plan, which all other American cities know is the cost of keeping solid waste under control.
Like Houston, other U.S. cities collect property taxes. Yet Houston might be alone in wholly depending on its general fund -- which pays for fire and police protection -- to bear the cost of garbage pickup.
There's some dispute about the figures, but a recent report by the trade newspaper Waste News alleges our city is the worst nationwide at managing its own garbage.
[...]
[C]ity leaders and taxpayers both bear responsibility for Houston's environment. Recycling isn't just some feel-good, millennialist fad. It shrinks the noxious landfills that no one wants in their backyards. It slashes the environmental and financial cost of creating plastic, glass and paper products.
It also forces households to be mindful of the waste stream they churn out every day. All that trash has to go somewhere. Someone has to pick it up, transport it and dispose of it.
Most Americans have got the hang of this notion. Austin, for example, charges a separate garbage fee. And its municipal trash cans hold 30 gallons of trash. Create more trash than that, and you pay extra for someone to dispose of it. Only in Houston do trash cans hold 90 gallons, to be emptied at no extra cost.
The obvious answer is instituting a separate trash-collection fee. But if "Houston culture" truly cannot muster the civic responsibility for its trash that every other city accepts, it's up to city leaders to find alternatives.
Many would protest at first, but genuine leaders, starting with Mayor White, should be able to explain and stand firm on questions of sound municipal management.
There's no question that the whiners will be out in force at any suggestion that the cost of some service might not be the same forever. But the case for this is abundantly clear, and really ought to be a straightforward pitch for the city to make. Such a program can always be designed so that there is no charge for a household that generates a minimal amount of trash and/or a high level of recyclables. What's needed now is the will to shrug off the naysayers and do what's right. We're at least talking about it. Let's take the next step and do it.
Tonight's the night for White Linen Night in the Heights. Here's a map of the area - note that there's shuttle service available as well as pedi-cabs and rickshaws. Parking is at a premium in this area, so if you're driving in, aim for a couple blocks away and hoof it from there. A full listing of events is here. Houstonist and Marty Hajovsky have more. Hope to see you there!
The Houston Chronicle and two other Texas newspapers won access to Gov. Rick Perry's travel records this afternoon after a district judge apparently found no evidence that their release would place Perry or anyone else in imminent danger."This is a very good day for public disclosure," said Matthew Baumgartner, an attorney for the publishers of the Houston Chronicle, the San Antonio Express-News and the Austin American-Statesman. "If a basic accounting document can be restricted on security grounds, there's no limit to what can be withheld."
The terse, two-page judgment by State District Judge Scott Jenkins comes eight months after the publishers of the three newspapers jointly filed suit against the Texas Department of Public Safety for refusing to release copies of expense vouchers filed by the Governor's security detail when they traveled with him last year and in 2001.
Reporters for the newspapers, hoping to show how taxpayer money is spent on trips taken by the Governor, had requested the information through the state's Public Information Act.
There was no immediate comment from officials with DPS or the Texas Attorney General's office, which is defending DPS. But an attorney with the AG's office insisted at trial Thursday that the information could endanger the governor, his family, and all those who travel with them by providing "a roadmap" to anyone who might wish to inflict harm.
"It's not the dollar amount, it's the logistical information, " said Brenda Loudermilk, chief of Open Records Litigation for the AG's office. That information, she said, includes numbers of people in the Governor's security detail, the places they stay and the manner in which they travel.
Baloney. This is about how the Governor spends public dollars. If Governor Perry is "the most security-conscious chief executive" in Paul Burka's memory, then I think it's more than fair to scrutinize how much money he spends on security, and on what. These are tax dollars we're talking about, not campaign funds. How could they not be subject to open records laws? And Grits notes another angle to this:
Greg Abbott's idea that elected officials shouldn't have to reveal travel voucher for taxpayer-financed trips flat out astonishes me and goes against almost four decades of AG interpretations regarding such documents. For an AG who in his early years appeared to be pretty good on open records and meetings issues, the use of these strained interpretations to protect the Governor's schedule strikes me as both unnecessary and unseemly.
Abbott is already in the tank on this; he's just diving deeper now. Between this and the email retention policy, I've got to wonder just what exactly it is that these guys don't want people to see.
A federal court agreement reached Thursday with the Department of Homeland Security removes the threat of an 18-foot fence splitting the campus of the University of Texas-Brownsville/Texas Southmost College.Instead, the federal agency agreed to accept the bolstering of an existing fence along the university perimeter and use the site to test and study technological alternatives to a physical barrier to curb illegal immigration.
"DHS will not build a fence on the university campus," UTB/TSC President Juliet Garcia said. "They will not condemn or seek to condemn the land."
Students and other protesters waiting outside the courthouse cheered the news on one of many battlefronts over the government's controversial effort to build border fencing.
The agreement comes weeks after U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen sent DHS back to the table. Hanen told the agency that it had not complied with his March order to exchange ideas with the university on both security and campus life.
[...]
The government's original plan would have lopped off about 180 acres of university land, putting remnants of a historic battlefield and the university golf course on the Mexican side of the fence.
Some critics asked if students or staff would have to show passports when they crossed the barrier to practice their golf game.
"There will be no impediment to the golf course," Garcia said.
"There will be no gate. There will no checkpoints. There will be none of that."
According to the proposed agreement, the university will be responsible for repairing the existing fence and raising it to 10 feet.
"It can be a very friendly fence," Garcia said. "I kind of see it with bougainvillea and vine climbing all over it."
It will be up to the Border Patrol to install surveillance technology along it and patrol it.
The agreement would also have DHS drop its eminent domain lawsuit against the school, as well as plans for a "floating" fence that could be moved should the university get approval to expand south toward the Rio Grande.
There's nothing that can be done to make the fence a good idea, but this will at least make it a less bad idea. I'm very glad to see Judge Hanen bring DHS to heel, not just for UT-B but also for many other landowners along the border. The Observer and South Texas Chisme have more.
I mentioned before that John Culberson has been whining about Michael Skelly trying to "buy" the election against him. That's a pretty silly claim, given that Skelly has attracted far more donors than Culberson has, but it is the silly season. In any event, Team Skelly is doing a push today to get as many new donors as it can to further demonstrate the ridiculousness of that argument. If you want to show Culberson how deep the doo-doo is, go give a little coin to Skelly. Any amount is fine, it's the number of the givers that really matters.
Meanwhile, Roll Call has paid some attention to the two hot Congressional pickup opportunities for Dems in Harris County.
Republican operatives who follow Texas Congressional races concede that neither the 7th district nor the 10th will be the easy ride they've been for the Republicans since being redrawn in 2003 as part of the redistricting of Lone Star State House seats engineered by then-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas).But these same GOP insiders say that both Culberson and [Mike] McCaul are taking nothing for granted, working harder to win re-election than they did in 2004 and 2006. Even the [Larry Joe] Doherty and Skelly campaigns predict that Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) will beat Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) in their districts in the presidential contest, acknowledging that their candidates can't win without attracting a significant bloc of crossover votes.
[...]
Culberson has represented suburban Houston in Congress since 2000. The 7th district in its current form is a mixture of social conservatives and practical, business-minded Republicans, and Culberson has never scored less than 59 percent of the vote, which he earned last cycle while spending just under $735,000.
Skelly's strategy is to parlay his background as an energy executive -- and the personal fortune he earned launching and running a wind-energy company -- into a November victory over an incumbent who hasn't committed a fireable offense and is a better political fit for the district.
As of June 30, Skelly reported $1.1 million in cash on hand, $200,000 of which were personal funds that he loaned to his campaign. He raised $412,000 during the second quarter. Culberson raised less during the same period, $394,000, to finish with $550,000 on hand. In a telephone interview on Thursday, Culberson said he now has more than $700,000 in the bank.
Culberson said he takes every race seriously, and is treating this contest no differently. The Congressman said he has an "extraordinary network of grass-roots volunteers," emphasizing that his campaign is already hard at work on the ground to ensure the voter turnout he'll need to overcome Skelly's financial advantage and prevail on Election Day.
"I always expect to be outspent when facing a multimillionaire like this," Culberson said. "But, they don't count dollar bills on Election night."
But Skelly's team believes a district whose economy relies heavily on the energy industry will respond favorably to a candidate with his background, and they predict that fiscal conservatives disappointed with Congress' record on spending and the deficit could help him win an unexpected victory. Skelly, on cable television with his second ad, is already courting voters; Culberson intends to wait until after Labor Day to launch his air war.
"This is the perfect year and the perfect district for a successful wind-energy businessman who has spent his career working on the issues that people care about most," Skelly campaign spokesman Dylan Loewe said. "I like our chances."
That 59% Culberson got in 2006 was a five-point drop from 2004, with support for the Democratic candidate up five points as well. The gap is big, but it's shrinking. And while Culberson may be The Most Important Candidate In The County for the GOP, even the Republican Party chair thinks his best case scenario is a ten point win, which would be half the margin he enjoyed in 2006. He'd better run some good ads after Labor Day, because he doesn't have the cushion he used to, and he knows it.
Previously, I had noted that Houtopia had reported that a couple of sitting Republican judges were seeking the endorsement of the Houston Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender Political Caucus, which would be an unusual turn of events. Now Alan Bernstein has identified the endorsement-seekers.
Mark Davidson and Sharolyn Wood, have applied for the endorsement and been interviewed by the caucus screening committee. So have their Democratic challengers, Mike Miller and R.K. Sandill, respectively.Davidson and Wood have seldom had opponents in their elections every four years. Other Republican judges have had opponents and, nevertheless, have stayed away from the gay caucus, which has endorsed mostly Democrats and expresses beliefs that run counter to the GOP state platform.
A difference this year is that the judicial elections, according to observers in both parties, may turn out to be cliffhangers, and any empowered group of voters such as the caucus could make the difference between winning and losing.
Davidson and Wood, however, said their main reason for the seeking the endorsements is that, in line with their official duties, they should be responsive to all sectors of the community, politics aside. And both said they do not think they risk a backlash from conservatives who always vote Republican.
"It would be hard for anyone to question my Republican credentials because I ran as a Republican when it was easier to run as a Democrat," Wood said.
But county Republican chairman Jared Woodfill said it would be inadvisable for a GOP candidate to seek the backing of the caucus or similar groups.
"Why would you solicit the endorsement of a group that is against us on every single issue?" Woodfill said.
And whose mere existence you and most of your partymates cannot abide, right, Jared? I'm sensing a backlash here. Hey, let's get it out in the open. It's better that way.
I don't know if Judges Davidson and Wood are sincere in their quest, and I don't know if they'll renounce the "Homosexuality tears at the fabric of society" part of the state GOP platform, which HGLBT Chair Jenifer Pool says they'd need to do to have a chance at securing the endorsement. But I applaud them for pursuing this, whatever their motives and chances are. I think we all agree that the world would be a better place if one's sexual orientation were not a political issue but a personal matter, one that raised no eyebrows and caused no controversy. The only way we're going to get there is for the party that staunchly opposes basic equality for GLBT folks - that would be the GOP - to stop doing that, and the way for that to happen is for more members of that party to reject that position. It's not much, but two Republican judges in Harris County is a start down that path. May there be many more like them in 2010.
UPDATE: Well, lookie here. Seems Judge Wood has indeed sought the HGLBT Political Caucus endorsement before, and then was a complete weasel about it.
The caucus invites candidates to be "screened" for its endorsements before each primary and general election. While the bulk of its endorsements go to Democrats, mainly because the group is heavily liberal, GOP candidates occasionally receive its backing, particularly if a rival Democrat chooses not to seek the endorsement. This year, 50,000 cards listing the HGLPC endorsements will be printed and distributed to voters. Two GOP judges, Sharolyn Wood and Mike McSpadden, received endorsements in 1990. Wood repudiated it, but waited so long to do so that her name ended up listed on the caucus push card, allowing her to receive gay support while placating conservatives. Another GOP judicial candidate four years ago, Rick Brass, won the endorsement and was then targeted by Hotze and others in campaign handouts because he refused to renounce it. He lost in the GOP primary.
Nice. Hope this came up in the interview. Keep it in mind anyway.
I somehow pictured John weeping softly into his morning coffee as he read this story.
The road rash on his left elbow was the mark of multi-tasking gone awry. With a phone in hand and a skateboard underfoot, 15-year-old Kenny Kitchen said he didn't see the bump in the sidewalk that tipped him down the stairs earlier this week. He was text messaging.He shrugs off the scrape on his elbow.
"It was nothing," he said Wednesday afternoon, taking a break from skateboarding with three buddies in downtown Houston.
Not enough to make him swear off text messaging while on his board, Kenny says he's taken a new precaution: "Now I don't look down at the phone."
Look on the bright side. Some day he'll be doing that while he's driving an SUV. Maybe between then and now, he'll figure out - likely the hard way - that that isn't such a hot idea.
Emergency doctors warn that pedestrians, bicyclists -- and sometimes skateboarders -- can face serious injury when text messaging distracts them from their primary purpose.The American College of Emergency Physicians issued an alert this week saying that injuries related to text messaging, particularly among young people, are on the rise.
In Houston's emergency rooms, doctors say they are seeing more sprains, scrapes and bruises from text-distracted stumblings than ever before. Most of the injuries are minor.
"They're bumps and bruises from where you walked off the curb you would have seen if you were watching," said Dr. James McCarthy, medical director for the emergency department at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center. "We had one person trip over their dog."
I confess, I have used my BlackBerry while walking - usually either walking the dog, or heading to or from my car in the parking lot at work. I don't think that puts me in any particular peril, mostly because these are pretty familiar surroundings and I know when I'm approaching a curb or crossing. But yeah, there's a risk I'll walk into something and look like an idiot. I figure it still makes me less of a menace than if I were operating something with wheels on it. At least I'm unlikley to injure anyone other than myself.
The University of Houston has big plans for its football stadium.
Like something out of Field of Dreams, the University of Houston is proposing a $38.7 million addition to Robertson Stadium.If it builds luxury suites and club seats, a new locker room, offices and classroom space, the school is hoping it can increase attendance at games, raise the school's profile and even boost it into a more desirable athletic conference.
It apparently, however, would not be enough to persuade the Dynamo, Houston's professional soccer team, to remain on campus and drop plans for a stadium of their own.
Athletic Director Dave Maggard said the new facility planned for the stadium's north end zone -- to be named after longtime civic leader Wilhelmina Robertson Smith -- is part of a larger effort to improve UH's national standing.
"If you look around the country and see the great universities, they all have good athletics," Maggard said.
"It's going to help with recruiting," he said. "I think our crowds will be bigger. This fundraising campaign is going to pull people in that have never given to the university before."
The plan will be presented to a committee of the school's governing board on Aug. 5 and to the full board of regents Aug. 19.
If they approve, fundraising will begin in earnest.
Of the $38.7 million cost, $18 million will come from private donations, said Dave Irvin, associate vice chancellor/associate vice president of plant operations. So far, $12 million has been pledged.
The university will kick in $5 million to cover 10,000 square feet of academic space, while the remainder will be raised through revenue bonds, to be paid with money from the sale of club seats and suites and rentals of a ritzy club area, Irvin said.
Well, objectively speaking, Robertson is a dump, so I certainly can't blame them for wanting to give it a makeover. And if you're going to do this sort of thing, you may as well pay for it with private donations and fat-cat luxury suite revenues. I think they're deluding themselves with the dreams of being swept up by a more prestigious conference, but hey, dream big. Maybe some day the Big XII will finally realize their mistake.
Side note:
The Dynamo have played at Robertson Stadium since 2006 but are eager to build a stadium designed especially for soccer east of downtown. Plans call for Texas Southern University's football team to share the space.Oliver Luck, general manager and president of the Dynamo, said he was pleased to hear about UH's renovation but does not expect it to change his team's plans.
Parking remains a problem at Robertson Stadium, he said. Midweek games -- such as Tuesday's 2-1 win over the rival Pachuca -- aren't bad in the summer, Luck said, because there are fewer students on campus. "In the school year, it's not easy to accommodate a professional sports team."
That's the first update of any kind I've seen on the status of Dynamo Stadium since May, when the TSU connection came up. Before that, there was a little tiff between Mayor White and MLS Commissioner Don Garber over the glacial pace towards a stadium deal. Apparently, nothing much has changed since then. Maybe the Dynamo will want to reconsider staying in Robertson on the grounds that it may be redone before any other new digs can be built.
Apparently the answer is "You don't need to know".
Attorneys for three Texas newspapers are expected to appear in district court here today in an attempt to force the Texas Department of Public Safety to release travel records of Gov. Rick Perry's security detail.Publishers of the Houston Chronicle, the San Antonio Express-News and the Austin American-Statesman are suing DPS, alleging that the agency that provides protection to the governor has violated the Texas Public Information Act by refusing to turn over requests for travel vouchers and expenses filed by members of the governor's security detail.
"These vouchers are manifestly public information, and there is no legal basis for withholding them from disclosure," attorneys for the newspapers said in court documents.
The Texas attorney general's office, which represents DPS, has said the documents should be exempt from public release because they could pose a security risk to the governor, his family, and others traveling with him, attorneys for the state said in court documents.
Bill Christian, attorney for the three newspapers, said Wednesday he did not see how the documents, coming months or even years after the governor's trips, would pose a security danger to anyone.
Has the man never seen any of the "Terminator" movies? Clearly, he is unaware of the threat posed by time-travelling cyborgs. Who, if they knew what Rick Perry's exact location was back in 2007, could wreak all kinds of havoc on the space-time continuum. Thank God our DPS and Attorney General have the foresight to consider this kind of scenario.