Category Archives: Show Business for Ugly People

Hill Research Consultants, the group that did that poll I mentioned earlier, is also the employer of David Benzion of the Lone Star Times. He’s got some more info about the poll, including the full poll memo, which clocks in … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Burka was the first one to report on a survey of Texas voters done by Hill Research Consultants, a Houston-based Republican polling firm, which contains some not so good news for the state GOP. Here’s a quick summary of some … Continue reading → Continue reading →

We can only hope. Texas risks becoming a national joke if state educators insist on clouding the teaching of evolution, scores of scientists, science teachers and concerned residents Texans told the State Board of Education on Wednesday. They pleaded with … Continue reading → Continue reading →

File this under “Privatization Blues”. The $863 million IBM Corp. contract to consolidate the computer data centers of 27 state agencies offered the promise of doing more for less. IBM and its partners — the Team for Texas — would … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Back in September, Texans for Public Justice filed a complaint with the Travis County Attorney’s office, which handles misdemeanor criminal cases, including those involving state officials, alleging that Dewhurst was insufficiently forthcoming about his trust fund in his financial disclosure … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Nice. For years the Texas Legislature has resisted calls to publish politicians’ personal financial information on the Internet. But the modern world caught up with state lawmakers today, when a fledgling watchdog group posted the disclosures online. Texas Watchdog, a … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I for one am glad to see Tom DeLay do his best to get back into the public eye. DeLay — the most powerful Republican on Capitol Hill four years ago when the party gathered in New York to re-nominate … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Remember Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst’s too-cute non-disclosure of his trust fund? Well, Texans for Public Justice have filed a complaint with Travis County Attorney David Escamilla over the Dew’s lack of forthrightness. From their press release: Under Texas law public … Continue reading → Continue reading →

In at least this respect, Alaska Governor/Republican VP nominee Sarah Palin is a typical Republican officeholder. E-mails from the Palin administration are being withheld from the public and the governor is citing executive privilege. With subject lines like “Fagan,” “Andrew … Continue reading → Continue reading →

R.G. Ratcliffe takes a cue from me. One politician whose name is floated for almost every statewide office is former Comptroller John Sharp, who lost runs for lieutenant governor in 1998 and 2002. Former Party chairs Bob Slagle and Molly … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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 … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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 … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Good. 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 … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I guess it hadn’t occurred to me that there were any class of public offices left for which campaign finance reports were not available online, but apparently there are. Taxpayers can find out with the click of a mouse who … Continue reading → Continue reading →

And here we have another push to make a currently-appointed statewide office an elected office instead. It’s almost as if legislators want to send a message to Governor Rick “39%” Perry or something. Lawmakers should look at allowing voters rather … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Clay Robison floats the possibility of another elected office for state government. For the first time in years, the Texas Department of Insurance will be up for sunset review, thus assuring that proposals for strengthening Texas’ weak regulatory system will … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Governor Perry makes like a vending machine: Money goes in, policy comes out. Gov. Rick Perry’s request for a waiver of federal corn-based ethanol production mandates was prompted by a March meeting he had with East Texas poultry producer Lonnie … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Dan Wallach, who is an expert on electronic voting machines and their security, sums it up succinctly: Texas’ [direct-recording electronic (DRE) voting machines] are simply vulnerable to and undefended against attacks. That’s the last sentence of a long post about … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Got this from a reader: Dallas City Council would like certain people to please zip their lips, and they plan to do something about it. That’s because time and again, council members (particularly Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway) have … Continue reading → Continue reading →

While the state GOP convention going on right now in Houston will surely present plenty of opportunities for snark, I think this is the most noteworthy thing I’ve seen so far. Texas GOP Chairwoman Tina Benkiser said Bush still is … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The revolving door in the Secretary of State’s office spins again. Texas Secretary of State Phil Wilson is stepping down to work for a Dallas-based energy company, he announced Thursday. His last day will be July 6. He’ll begin his … Continue reading → Continue reading →

My friend Max Cardenas is in a contest called Crash the Parties in which Si TV and Voto Latino are looking to select two reporters to carry the Crash the Parties mic and represent their community at the national conventions. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Now that the Democratic convention is over, it’s the other guys’ turn. After a decade of political dominance, the Texas GOP is opening its party convention in Houston this week with a troubling prospect: Grumpy Republicans may not turn out … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Among other things done at the convention, Texas Democrats decided to keep the prima-caucus system for the time being. The state Democratic convention ended Saturday with no decision about whether to abandon the “Texas two-step” system of awarding most nominating … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Mere words cannot hope to capture the awesomeness of this (via Julie Mason: Former House Republican Leader Tom DeLay (Texas) called Barack Obama a “Marxist” on the Mike Gallagher radio show Thursday. Explaining that Obama clinching the Democratic nomination is … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Just wanted to note this interesting discussion at TAPPED about how political converts are viewed and accepted by party stalwarts. I hope given current trends it’s a topic we Democrats will have cause to contemplate quite a bit in the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

KTRK political reporter Tom Abrahams has a long interview with DNC superdelegate and Rules and Bylaws Committee member Jaime Gonzalez, Jr., in which they discuss issues such as what to do with Florida and Michigan. Those of you who can’t … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Good news, from the Lone Star Project: Events unfolded in dramatic fashion today in Marshall, TX. As the case was set to go to trial, the Plaintiffs, including the Texas Democratic Party and Democratic activists, were approached by lawyers for … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Are you going to be in Austin for the Texas Democratic convention next week? If so, then this is the party to attend while you’re there: The Texas Progressive Alliance Proudly Presents The Third Biennial Blogger’s Caucus Thursday, June 5, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Given that at least our last three Attorneys General made runs for higher office – it may be more than that, but that’s as far back as I can recall offhand – it should be no surprise that our current … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The Morning News has a nice writeup on the efforts by Attorney General Greg Abbott to root out “vote fraud” in Texas. More than two years ago, Republican Attorney General Greg Abbott pledged to root out what he called an … Continue reading → Continue reading →