Tag Archives: Tommy Merritt

Endorsement watch: DMN goes Kinky

Since pretty much every newspaper endorsed Hugh Fiztsimons for the Democratic nomination for Ag Commissioner in the primary, they now have the choice of picking a new candidate for the runoff or ignoring it and hoping it goes away. The … Continue reading

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Endorsement watch: None of the above

The Texas Farm Bureau is unhappy with its choices in the Ag Commissioner runoffs. The political arm of the Texas Farm Bureau, the state’s largest farming organization, will refrain from endorsing a candidate in the GOP runoff for agriculture commissioner … Continue reading

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The case for Kinky

The Trib sums up the reasons for voting for the Kinkster in the runoff. The race for agriculture commissioner is far down the list, both in terms of voter interest and the interest of people who write checks to political … Continue reading

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Primary results: Statewide

So Wendy Davis and Greg Abbott won easily. They never had to sweat their primaries, so on Tuesday night Attorney General Greg Abbott and Democratic state Sen. Wendy Davis turned their attention to a fall election that is shaping up … Continue reading

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Texas Farm Bureau unhappy with anti-immigrant Republicans

It’s an opportunity for Democrats, assuming they actually mean what they’re saying. When Republican agriculture commissioner candidate Eric Opiela appeared on television sets across Texas recently to declare “No amnesty under any circumstances,” he was no doubt attempting to appeal … Continue reading

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Chron overview of Ag Commissioner race

It’s mostly about Kinky and pot, because what else is there to talk about? Democrat Kinky Friedman is attempting to add a little spice to the crowded agriculture commissioner race by being the lone candidate to advocate legalizing marijuana and … Continue reading

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Cut education now, pay later?

That’s the question for Republican legislators, isn’t it? GOP legislators didn’t budge this session from their commitment to reduce Texas’ education spending even in the face of protests, negative ad campaigns and reams of criticism. The outcry didn’t faze them … Continue reading

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Election results: The Lege

There are way too many races to recap here, and since the Trib has done such a thorough job of it, I’ll leave the heavy lifting to them. A few highlights: – Steve Ogden easily won re-nomination in SD5, and … Continue reading

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Campaign finance bill passes the House

I’ve had plenty of harsh things to say about House Elections Committee Chair Todd Smith this session, but he’s always been one of the good guys on campaign finance reform. Texas could start regulating how political parties use corporate and … Continue reading Continue reading

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High school registrars

We know that the Republicans like voter ID. We shouldn’t be too surprised that they don’t much like voter registration. [The House] barely passed a bill Monday night that would allow high school principals to appoint four deputy registrars to … Continue reading

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Smith caves in to the Browns

No surprise, really. Rep. Todd Smith, the Republican chairman of the House Committee on Elections, confirmed today he’s intending to have the committee vote Monday on a voter ID plan. The twist: Smith is backing off his attempts to rewrite … Continue reading Continue reading

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The voter ID “compromise” bill

Here we go. The voter identification bill likely to reach the House floor would allow Texans to cast ballots if they can show two forms of non-photo ID, despite pressure from many Republican members to require picture identification for all … Continue reading

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The Speaker speaks, and a Voter ID update

So how is Speaker Joe Straus doing? Three months into his first term leading the 150-member chamber, Republican Speaker Joe Straus is emerging as a bipartisan compromise-seeker, rejecting much of the power that his predecessor so coveted. Straus still faces … Continue reading

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Craddick’s cleanup

I’m amused by this. Before the House voted Speaker Tom Craddick out of his powerful job, state officials wiped his computers clean and deleted scores of electronic files, raising concerns that important public records may have been destroyed. Files on … Continue reading

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