Glad to hear it. A bill that would slash the number of days allowed for early voting is likely to be pulled after scathing testimony Monday from opponents who said the bill was discriminatory and retrogressive. House Bill 2093, by state Rep. Patricia Harless, R-Spring, would limit the early-voting period in Texas to seven days [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Election 2002’
The Lege does not need term limits
It’s a silly idea, and no time should be wasted on it. State Rep. Lyle Larson has filed a proposal to let Texans vote on whether to limit to 12 years the time state officials may serve in one position. “I’m a big believer that it’s good to have fresh blood and turnover in government,” [...]
It’s the vote spread that matters
I had an email conversation with Judge Mark Davidson regarding my post about straight-ticket voting and its effect on judicial races. He said I misunderstood the point he was trying to make in that Chron story. From his email, quoted with permission: Your analysis fails to look at what I call the “Straight Ticket Judicial [...]
Can you believe it’s been ten years?
Ten years (and one week) ago, four defeated Democratic candidates for the State House filed a lawsuit against the Texas Association of Business, claiming that TAB funneled illegal corporate contributions into state legislative races in the 2002 election. As you can see from what I wrote at the time – yes, I was blogging that [...]
Pity the poor judges
It’s hard out here on a judge. For longer than anyone remembers, you had to be a Democrat to be a district judge in Texas – or just about any other political office. When the Democratic Party split apart in the South over civil rights, Republicans gained the upper hand, so much so that by [...]
What next for Ron Kirk?
He’ll be moving on after President Obama’s second inauguration. We’re hearing that U.S. Trade Representative and former two-term Dallas mayor Ron Kirk has let the White House know that he intends to leave Washington and head back to Dallas. The U.S. Trade Representative, a cabinet-rank position, is the point person for coordinating and implementing U.S. [...]
Colyandro takes a plea
Missed this on Friday. It took five minutes for Capitol figure John Colyandro to end a decade-long saga that swept his boss, former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, out of Congress and politics altogether. Colyandro, the last individual with charges pending in the DeLay money-laundering case, pleaded guilty Friday to lesser charges of accepting [...]
DeLay argues his case before the appeals court panel
It’s an old, familiar argument. Former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay should not go to prison on money-laundering charges because the 2002 campaign transaction involved a $190,000 check and not cash, his lawyer argued before the Third Court of Appeals Wednesday. Houston lawyer Brian Wice said the Legislature later changed the money-laundering statute to [...]
Doesn’t he know that Valjean was French?
Poor, pitiful Tom DeLay. DeLay, and his attorney, Brian Wice, are hoping to get his convictions overturned. On Oct. 10, they will finally get a chance to make their case to the 3rd Court of Appeals, arguing the once-powerful Republican leader did nothing wrong and is the victim of a political vendetta, a claim that [...]
More DeLay trial news
Some other action on the Tom DeLay front this week. The Tom DeLay legal marathon inched forward Wednesday on two separate fronts. John Colyandro, a DeLay co-defendant who has been under investigation since 2003, found out his trial won’t start until next year. Meanwhile, DeLay, who is fighting his conviction and three-year prison sentence, finally [...]
Former DeLay aide Ellis pleads guilty
This was out of the blue. Tom DeLay’s chief political aide, Jim Ellis, pleaded guilty Thursday to a felony charge of making an illegal campaign contribution during the 2002 election. Ellis, who headed DeLay’s Americans for a Republican Majority political action committee, was the aide who negotiated an exchange of $190,000 of corporate money for [...]
On primary challenges
I bookmarked this Statesman story about State Sen. Jeff Wentworth and the primary challenge he faces back when it ran, not because I was terribly interested in that particular race (though some elements of it are quite entertaining) but mostly because it piqued my curiosity about a broader question. The seven-term senator, who represents parts [...]
When is a filing deadline not a filing deadline?
Answer: When there will be another filing period after the filing deadline, as will be the case in Texas, according to the Secretary of State. “Based on the federal court’s order handed down December 16, candidates will be permitted to file when the filing period reopens on a date yet to be determined and set [...]
Two more points about redistricting
First, go read what Greg has to say about the San Antonio federal court’s logic in drawing the districts that it did. I tried to get at some of this in this post, but he digs in and says it in greater detail and with more clarity. Check it out. Second, something I meant to [...]
“Checks aren’t cash” back before 3rd Court of Appeals
Sometimes when you least expect it, Tom DeLay pops up in the news. It would defy common sense to reverse the three-year prison sentence of former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay because his money-laundering case involved a check instead of cash, Travis County prosecutors are arguing. Their argument comes in a legal brief to [...]
Is there or isn’t there a Latino opportunity precinct in the new Commissioners Court map?
Many Latinos say No. “This map is an insult to the Latino community,” State Sen. Mario Gallegos, D-Houston, said at a public hearing Wednesday night. “The proposed map is full of the Christmas turkey.” Gallegos called on Commissioner El Franco Lee, in whose Precinct 1 the hearing was held, to help him alter the proposed [...]
Patterson to run for Lite Guv
With Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst running for the Senate, everyone else in state government that’s been waiting for a chance to move up is undoubtedly making plans to do so. At the front of the line is Lanc Commissioner Jerry Patterson. Jerry Patterson confirmed Tuesday night that he will run for lieutenant governor in 2014, [...]
On challenging Ron Paul in CD14
Jason Stanford has a question. So why aren’t we targeting Ron Paul again? The Texas legislature drew him the reapportionment equivalent of a target on his back. They took away some of his red meat territory and gave him Galveston and Jefferson counties, something which failed to raise Kuff’s spirits. [...] Kuff’s not the only [...]
New map, new opportunities: Harris County
For our last stop on this tour we look at Harris County, which provided several pickup opportunities for Democrats last decade. How will they fare this time around? Republicans started the last decade with a 14-11 advantage – they intended it to be 15-10 after drawing Scott Hochberg out of his seat, but he moved [...]
More on Judge Priest recusing himself
We now have a reason for Judge Pat Priest recusing himself in the upcoming trial of DeLay associates Jim Ellis and John Colyandro. Senior District Judge Pat Priest , who sentenced DeLay to three years in prison for laundering corporate money into political donations, urged the lawyers for Jim Ellis and John Colyandro to consider [...]
Judge Priest recuses himself in DeLay associates’ trial
Didn’t see this coming. Two associates of former U.S House Majority leader Tom DeLay will get a new judge. State District Judge Pat Priest of San Antonio, who oversaw the month-long trial of DeLay last fall, surprisingly recused himself this morning on a motion submitted by the defense. John Colyandro of Austin and Jim Ellis [...]
The Hammer goes to the slammer
Wow. Judge Pat Priest sentenced Tom DeLay to three years in prison. The three-year sentence was on the charge of conspiring to launder corporate money into political donations during the 2002 elections. On the charge of money laundering, DeLay was sentenced to five years but that was probated for 10 years. He was taken into [...]
Rats of a feather
My schadenfreude-o-meter goes to 11. As convicted felon Tom DeLay prepares to find out Monday whether he will go to jail or get probation, his lawyer complained Friday that Travis County prosecutors offered immunity for testimony from two former DeLay aides who later worked for disgraced Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff. “They’ve offered to give immunity [...]
Some Garcia 2002 numbers
When I did an analysis of County Commissioner Precinct 2 for this year’s election, I said that I couldn’t include a comparison from 2002 because I didn’t have precinct-level data for that year. I got an email the other day from Robert Jara, in which he kindly included a spreadsheet of some of that 2002 [...]
DeLay convicted
Just in time for the holiday. Tom DeLay, the former U.S. House majority leader whose name became synonymous with the Republicans’ controversial rise to power in the Texas House, was found guilty today of laundering money in connection with the 2002 elections. Jurors sent a note on yellow legal paper that a verdict had been [...]
Still no verdict in the DeLay trial
Two days of deliberation, lots of questions being asked, but still no decision from the DeLay jury. They’ll try again today, and I’ll be a little surprised if they strike out again. Having said that, a hung jury is certainly within the realm of possibility here. I just wonder if the Travis County DA’s office [...]
DeLay jury deliberating
No verdict yet, and the jury has been sent home for the night. Prosecutors and the defense made closing statements to the jury about whether a $190,000 corporate money swap between DeLay’s Texas committee and the Republican National Committee actually amounted to money laundering and whether DeLay had command control over two political aides. They [...]
As goes Harris, so goes CC2
Just as HD133 was a microcosm of Harris County in 2008, Sylvia Garcia’s County Commissioner precinct was a miniature version of the county as a whole in 2010. Take a look at how Democratic candidates did in County Commissioner Precinct 2 (CC2) versus how they did countywide and see for yourself: Candidate CC2 Harris ========================= [...]
DeLay trial: Defense rests, summaries to begin
Thursday was a wrap, at least as far as evidence and testimony go in the Tom DeLay trial. This much both sides seemed to agree on: DeLay’s chief political aide, Jim Ellis, negotiated a deal with the Republican National Committee to donate $190,000 to seven Texas candidates from its noncorporate account. In exchange, Texans for [...]
DeLay trial: The prosecution rests
The prosecution has rested its case in the money laundering trial of Tom DeLay. Visiting Judge Pat Priest today denied former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay’s motions for a directed verdict of innocent in the political money laundering trial against him. Travis county prosecutors rested their case this morning. Defense lawyer Dick DeGuerin argued the [...]
Thibaut versus Murphy, third time around
We know that the story of HD133, which has now been won twice by Jim Murphy and once by Kristi Thibaut, is one of turnout. With sufficient turnout in the Democratic part of the district – that is, the precincts in Rep. Al Green’s CD09 – it’s a Democratic district. With dominant turnout in the [...]
On Latino turnout
I don’t know how to make more Latinos vote. But I do know these things: 1. Whatever it is that Texas Democrats have been doing, assuming there is something that qualifies as some kind of action in this area, it ain’t working; to be slightly more charitable, it ain’t working as well as it should [...]