Her incarceration may be over, but Rosemary Lehmberg’s problems are far from it. Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg was released from jail early Thursday after serving half of a 45-day jail sentence for pleading guilty to driving while intoxicated. Lehmberg, who was sentenced April 19, served half of her jail term under a law [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Travis County’
What to do with a problem like Rosemary?
The Austin Chronicle has a great overview of the Rosemary Lehmberg situation. All speculation aside, Lehmberg has vowed that she will not resign. In a letter to Travis County residents (apparently dictated to friends from jail and posted to her official website and to her Facebook page), Lehmberg reiterated that she intends to stay in [...]
Cities generally ignore Abbott’s domestic partnership opinion
Good for them. Attorney General Greg Abbott’s opinion [last] week, while not binding, is the latest of several challenges to same-sex benefits across the country that so far have had mixed results in the courts and prompted changes after officials in other states took action. In Texas, local governments from El Paso to San Antonio [...]
Weekend legislative threefer
That sound you heard on Friday was Rick Perry stamping his feet if he doesn’t get his way. Gov. Rick Perry is warning state legislators that it could be a long, hot summer in Austin if they don’t pass his top priorities: funding water and transportation projects and cutting business taxes. With a month left [...]
Who resigns after a DUI arrest?
The Statesman asks the question and gets some answers. In 2006, District Attorney Tim Cole had a decision to make. The then-chief prosecutor for Montague, Clay and Archer counties had been arrested for drunken driving after a day of July Fourth celebrating at a lake across the state line in Oklahoma. It didn’t take him [...]
Lehmberg pleads guilty, gets 45 days
Off she goes. District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg has pleaded guilty to drunken driving, was sentenced to 45 days in jail and immediately taken into custody. Lehmberg’s blood alcohol level registered at 0.23 when she was arrested April 13, her attorney David Sheppard said. Sheppard said the the punishment is “without a doubt” the “harshest” sentence [...]
Should Travis County DA Lehmberg resign?
Perspectives on that are colored by politics right now. While Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg sought to put her weekend drunken driving arrest behind her, debate over her political future reached the State Capitol on Monday, where lawmakers weighed in on whether she should resign and how a replacement might be chosen. Some officials [...]
Travis DA Rosemary Lehmberg arrested for DUI
Oops. Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg, arrested and charged with drunken driving overnight, plans to remain in office and will not resign, according to a spokeswoman. According to county records, Lehmberg, 63, was arrested by Travis County deputies in Northern Travis County near RM 2222 and FM 620 and booked into the county jail [...]
On managing health care costs
Fascinating story in the Statesman on one approach they are taking to manage health care costs in Travis County. A new world of health care is unfolding for some chronically ill Austin-area residents like [Marshall] Kettelhut, who was a cook at Long John Silver’s before he became too sick to work in 2010. Health care [...]
More counties for Medicaid expansion
All of these are from last week. Bexar County: On a bipartisan vote, Bexar County commissioners Tuesday urged Texas lawmakers to expand the state’s Medicaid program and take advantage of federal matching funds under the Affordable Care Act. “From 2014 to 2017, expansion will bring $27.2 billion in federal revenue to Texas for just over [...]
As if you needed another reason to support Medicaid expansion
Even more data on why Medicaid expansion makes sense from Texas Impact. The study, by former Texas deputy comptroller Billy Hamilton, says Texas shouldn’t pass up the chance to insure up to 2 million of its more than 6 million uninsured people. Hamilton cited other benefits. Expansion of the Medicaid rolls would “provide relief to [...]
No injunction in state lawsuit for Planned Parenthood
Bummer. Travis County District Judge Stephen Yelenosky on Friday refused to grant Planned Parenthood’s request for a temporary injunction to be included in the Texas Women’s Health Program. “Probable injury is not really sufficient,” said Yelenosky, who ruled in favor of Planned Parenthood at a hearing in December, “… because it is unlikely that the [...]
Precinct analysis: Third parties revisited
Politico has a question. Is Austin’s Travis County the nation’s Libertarian Party stronghold? The co-founders of a Libertarian political action committee based there make that case, arguing that the Texas locale is the “most Libertarian large county in America.” Wes Benedict and Arthur DiBianca of Libertarian Booster PAC note that 31 Libertarian candidates were on [...]
What will Doggett do?
Does Rep. Lloyd Doggett want his old district back or not? The congressional and legislative districts used in this year’s elections were temporary maps drawn by panel of federal judges in San Antonio. The maps were designed to be used this year, while the courts continued to sort out various legal challenges to maps drawn [...]
Time for the biennial attempt to de-fang the Travis County DA
Same story, next chapter. The Texas Ethics Commission, long criticized for its lax enforcement of public officials, is considering a plan to take over all ethics enforcement from the Travis County district attorney’s office, which has a long history of prosecuting errant state officeholders. The eight-member Ethics Commission, meeting Thursday in Austin, is scheduled to [...]
Another reason why math is your friend
The Statesman asks the question whether the newly-drawn HD48 in Travis County might be easier for a Republican challenger to win, then never gets around to providing the simplest answer to that question. Starting in April and carrying on through the dog days of summer, Republican Robert Thomas has worn out the soles of his [...]
How about those new Latino Congressional districts?
In the end, not so much. Originally hailed by Latino leaders as a way to boost opportunities for their community, the newly redrawn Texas congressional map has led to a pair of white Democrats claiming the nominations in districts that were crafted with Latino majorities. The result could be that five of the state’s 36 [...]
Can ban lawsuit moves back to Comal County
From last week: Travis County District Judge Scott Jenkins removed two state agencies from a lawsuit filed against New Braunfels by a coalition of businesses over the law banning disposable containers on the rivers — popular tubing routes. Jenkins dismissed the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the Texas General Land Office from the suit. [...]
Races I’ll be watching for tonight
As noted this morning, I will be participating in a live chat tonight beginning at 7 PM at the Chron election blog. I hope you’ll come by and ask some questions about what happened today. There are many races to keep track of. Here’s a brief guide to some of the one’s I’ll be watching [...]
Vote centers in Travis County
This will be interesting to observe. Come Nov. 6, Travis County residents can vote at any polling place in the presidential election, county commissioners decided Tuesday. County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir recommended the switch to the “vote center” system, which allows people to vote at any pollng place in the county on Election Day rather than [...]
Express-News overview of Romo versus Doggett
Some interesting tidbits in here. Despite the minority makeup of a newly drawn congressional district, a San Antonio Latina candidate faces a steep uphill climb against a white Austin liberal with a long tenure in the nation’s capital. Sylvia Romo, the Bexar County tax assessor-collector, and Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, are battling with political newcomer [...]
“Crazy” ants come to Austin
They’re on the move. There’s a new ant in town, and wherever it goes, fire ants start disappearing. It also doesn’t sting or bite. But don’t get excited yet. The Rasberry crazy ant which showed up in Travis County and Round Rock this fall swarms into homes by the hundreds of thousands in search of [...]
If it were good for Travis it would be good elsewhere as well
This article asks if Travis County is better off being split into five different Congressional districts. Seems to me that’s a question that answers itself, but I’ll play along. The voters and geography of Travis County are split among five congressional districts in the redistricting plan enacted by the Texas Legislature and now adopted in [...]
We have maps
From The Trib: Federal judges in San Antonio unveiled maps for the state’s congressional delegation and for the state House this afternoon, and they did it in time to allow the state to hold its delayed political primaries on May 29. The court also signed off on Senate plans agreed to earlier this month. Here [...]
Can ban lawsuit moves to Travis County
Some new plaintiffs, too. A group of river-related businesses has sued the City of New Braunfels, Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson and Mark Vickery , executive director of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, over a ban on disposable containers on rivers within New Braunfels city limits that went into effect this year. The suit, [...]
January finance reports: Harris County
January is a very busy month for campaign finance reports, since they are due for all levels of government. I’ve been busy updating the 2012 Primary Election pages for Harris County and elsewhere in Texas with reports as I can find them. Here’s an overview of some races of interest in Harris County. I’ll have [...]
2012 Democratic primary overview – Elsewhere in Texas
As I noted in my previous post about contested Democratic primaries in Harris County, I have also created a page for contested primaries elsewhere in Texas. Many of the same notes and caveats exist for this page as well: – This page is for contested Democratic primaries outside Harris County only. As with the Harris [...]
Austin rethinking its May election
Yeah, maybe that wasn’t the best decision. Austin City Council members are again discussing whether to move the May council election back six months a politically fraught question that led city officials to trade thinly veiled insults earlier this year. A [recent] U.S. Supreme Court decision revived the seemingly settled issue. The court blocked Texas [...]
Driver to take a plea
Whoa. State Rep. Joe Driver, who candidly acknowledged pocketing taxpayer reimbursements for travel paid by his campaign, will enter a guilty plea on abuse-of-office charges, a third-degree felony, a top prosecutor said Tuesday night. “He is going to plea to the third degree felony,” said Assistant Travis County District Attorney Gregg Cox, head of the [...]
Dan Grant forms exploratory committee for CD25
BOR: Dan Grant announced that he’s forming an exploratory committee for CD-25, the Congressional district that includes much of East and Central Austin. Overall, the new CD-25 includes all of Johnson, Hill, Bosque, Somervell, Hamilton, Coryell, Lampasas and Burnet Counties, and parts of Travis, Hays, Erath, and Bell Counties. Dan Grant previously ran for CD-10 [...]
The interim plans
Monday was the deadline for parties in the redistricting lawsuit being heard in San Antonio to file interim plans for the court to consider in the event preclearance is not granted in time for candidate filing. Texas Redistricting summarizes the various plans that were presented to the court: The Plaintiffs’ Interim Plans All of the [...]
Our gay state
Is getting gayer, according to the Census. It’s no secret that Austin and Central Texas have much appeal for same-sex couples, but new census data from 2010 underscore the depth and breadth of the attraction. Among the highlights from an American-Statesman analysis of the data: • Travis County has the state’s highest rate — 1.25 [...]