Category Archives: Show Business for Ugly People

I nominate these ladies as the poster children of the voter ID debate. About 12 Indiana nuns were turned away Tuesday from a polling place by a fellow bride of Christ because they didn’t have state or federal identification bearing … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Boy, Monday’s Chron sure was full of head-slappers, wasn’t it? Suburbs have traffic! Professors are people! Tort “reform” hasn’t done squat about the high cost of medical insurance! In 2003 doctors, insurance companies and state leaders sold the voters on … Continue reading → Continue reading →

There’s slow news days, and then there’s slow news days. Texas university professors overwhelmingly favor Democratic candidates in their campaign contributions, a Houston Chronicle study of Federal Election Commission records has found. Faculty members have contributed $406,384 to Democratic candidates … Continue reading → Continue reading →

This is a disappointment, but not a surprise. The Supreme Court ruled today that states can require voters to produce photo identification without violating their constitutional rights, validating Republican-inspired voter ID laws. In a splintered 6-3 ruling, the court upheld … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Pretty good article today on the growth of Latino voting power in Houston and Harris County. As the babies born then turn old enough to vote in this year’s November election, politics in the Houston area has a much deeper … Continue reading → Continue reading →

This front page story about the longstanding battle between a group of homeowners who bought defective houses and the builders who built them largely boils down to this: The homeowners took photos of tell-tale brown stains under leaky balconies. They … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Quelle surprise. Nearly a year and half has passed since Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott launched an investigation into allegations of voting rights violations of Prairie View A&M students in Waller County. The lengthy investigation has left some students at … Continue reading → Continue reading →

This Texas Observer story about Attorney General Greg Abbott’s crusade to prosecute mostly minority Democrats on flimsy charges of vote fraud is a pretty good overview of the saga, and builds to some extent on the work that the Lone … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Here’s a nice little read about longtime Austin Democratic consultant Kelly Fero, who got himself into a spot of hot water in recent weeks. It’s so inside-baseball that even I don’t get all the references, but illuminating nonetheless. On the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

This time it’s over their at-large City Council system, which the plaintiffs claim dilutes Hispanic voting strength. Their attorneys, Rolando Rios of San Antonio and Domingo Garcia of Dallas, drew up a set of single-members districts that they contend would … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The Supreme Court of Texas Blog points out a little news item that likely won’t get much notice but really ought to: the hiring of a new Solicitor General, a man named James Ho. Why should anyone care about this? … Continue reading → Continue reading →

News item: Texas cities on top in population growth. The Houston metropolitan area ranked fourth in the nation for overall population growth between 2006 and 2007, according to new census data — an increase demographers attributed largely to the region’s … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Cool. Rick Noriega, the Texas Democrats’ nominee to take on Sen. John Cornyn this fall, gets to deliver the party’s weekly radio address on Saturday — the rebuttal, as it were, to President Bush’s weekly address. Noriega is a state … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Back in January, there was an article about how the State Supreme Court was extremely backlogged, and how that has gotten worse in recent years. How bad is it? Take a look at this report from Texas Watch (PDF) and … Continue reading → Continue reading →

As you know, Attorney General Greg Abbott has spent a lot of time and energy pursuing voter fraud cases, which as part of the push for voter ID legislation he claims are rampant around the state. Unfortunately for Abbott, while … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Here’s a brief interview with State Rep. Hubert Vo over on the Asian American Action Fund blog that I thought was pretty good. A sample: I think that your first election certainly reaffirms the motto “Every vote counts,” with something … Continue reading → Continue reading →

As you may recall, some of Governor Perry’s emails have been released for public inspection, thanks to the ongoing work of open government activist John Washburn. But not all of them. The Observer blog reports. Washburn said he received an … Continue reading → Continue reading →

As you know, I think Houston’s term limits law, which restricts municipal officeholders to three two-year terms, is a bad idea. But it’s still better than what they’ve got in San Antonio, which is two two-year terms. San Antonio’s popular … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The Chron has a long and thorough story on the financial woes of Supreme Court Justice David Medina, who may or may not face arson-related charges from the Harris County DA’s office some day. It bolsters the existing yet entirely … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I know the saga of the Governor’s purged emails feels like it’s been going on forever (see here and here for the last updates), but your wait has paid off. Via Elise Hu, we now have our first official peek … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Texas Watch goes for a threefer. A watchdog group filed ethics complaints today against two Texas Supreme Court justices alleging they illegally used political contributions to pay for personal travel. Justices Nathan Hecht and David Medina face complaints with the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I see that Justice Paul Green is trying to get a handle on the ethics complaint that has been filed against him. Texas Supreme Court Justice Paul Green said Tuesday that he would try to locate records showing that 272 … Continue reading → Continue reading →

What with all the Rosenthal stuff going on, let’s not forget about John Washburn’s efforts to keep Governor Perry’s office from routinely wiping out emails after seven days. (You have to admit, that policy is looking pretty shrewd for him … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Didn’t get to this last week, but Elise Hu is still on the email purge story (see here for the previous update). Thanks to the generous donations of people from around Texas and the country, John Washburn, who requested several … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Is this really necessary? The recent indictment of an Alief school trustee — and the revelation of his criminal record — has prompted the question: Should the state or local districts require the same background checks for board members as … Continue reading → Continue reading →

We’re going to have a lot of voters in Harris County this year, and they will all have one thing in common: The number of registered voters in Harris County is expected to hit a record high before the November … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Elise Hu has part eight of her series on Governor Perry’s email retention policies, which has come down to a contest between Perry and his minions against open-records advocate and all-around pit bull John Washburn – see here for my … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court in the Crawford v. Marion County Election Board case, which is about Indiana’s restrictive voter ID law. That brief, which you can see here (PDF), has … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Looks like we’ve got our first successful rebellion against electronic voting machines in Texas. On whether computerized electronic voting machines are reliable and secure, the Republican leadership in Wharton County votes “no.” Precinct chairmen in the county southwest of Houston … Continue reading → Continue reading →

In my previous entry on Governor Perry’s email retention policy, I noted that the strategy for dealing with John Washburn, the activist who’s giving the Governor a pain in the tuchus by making TPIA requests for his office’s emails, is … Continue reading → Continue reading →

More than 49,000 ineligible voters on Texas rolls, the headline blares. Sound scary to you? Consider this: More than 49,000 people on the Texas voter registration rolls in May may not have been eligible to vote, state auditors reported today. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Elise Hu has a fifth entry in her series called “The Purge”, on how Governor Perry’s office disposes of email, possibly in conflict with Texas’ open records laws. (See here, here, and here for background.) Along the way, Perry has … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I think Lance Armstrong did a good job in getting Prop 15 through the Legislature and then approved by the voters. He did the hard work necessary for such an endeavor, he leveraged his celebrity and his life experience, which … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Elise Hu continues doing good work on what she calls “The Purge”, about the email retention policy of Governor Perry’s office and how it relates to Texas’ open record laws. Turns out that at least one state office hasn’t had … Continue reading → Continue reading →