Interview with Sean Teare

Posted on February 1, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Sean Teare

We wrap up the week with the other half of the as-noted high profile District Attorney primary. Sean Teare is a Houston native and graduate of UH and UH law school. He served as a prosecutor with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office for 11 years in two different stints, including 6 years as the Division Supervisor of the Office’s Vehicular Crimes Division. The latter was in Kim Ogg’s tenure, from 2017 until last May when he resigned to run in the primary. He has also worked in private practice for a couple of local firms, handling both civil and criminal matters. Here’s what we talked about:

PREVIOUSLY:

Karthik Soora, SD15
Michelle Bonton, SD15
Molly Cook, SD15
Rep. Jarvis Johnson, SD15
Todd Litton, SD15
Beto Cardenas, SD15
Annette Ramirez, Tax Assessor
Danielle Bess, Tax Assessor
Jerry Davis, Tax Assessor
Desiree Broadnax, Tax Assessor
Claude Cummings, Tax Assessor
Amanda Edwards, CD18
Pervez Agwan, CD07
Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, CD07
Christian Menefee, Harris County Attorney
Umeka Lewis, Harris County Attorney
Kim Ogg, Harris County District Attorney

On we go from here into legislative races. I will have some for the Legislature and for Congress, aiming to wrap up at the start of early voting. You can keep track of all my interviews and judicial Q&As on the ever indispensable Erik Manning spreadsheet.

Posted in Election 2024 | Tagged , , , , , | 12 Comments

Judicial Q&A: Lema Mousilli

Posted on February 1, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

(Note: As I have done in past elections, I am running a series of Q&As for judicial candidates in contested Democratic primaries. This is intended to help introduce the candidates and their experiences to those who plan to vote in March. I am running these responses in the order that I receive them from the candidates. Much more information about Democratic primary candidates, including links to the interviews and judicial Q&As, can be found on Erik Manning’s spreadsheet.

Lema Mousilli

1. Who are you and what are you running for?

My name is Lema May Mousilli, a committed Democrat seeking the position of Judge for the 125th Judicial District Court in Harris County. Beyond my role as a seasoned trial attorney practicing nationwide, I am a proud single mother to a precocious 12-year-old who brings immense joy to my life. In addition to my legal expertise, I also serve as an Adjunct Professor,
instructing courses in Business Law and Constitutional Law. My passion for human rights is reflected in my pro bono asylum work, contributing to a broader commitment to fairness, equity, and thevalues that define our democratic principles.

2. What kind of cases does this court hear?

The 125th Judicial District Court in Harris County handles a variety of civil cases, including commercial litigation, personal injury cases, complex commercial litigation, and other civil matters. Given my 17 years of experience in civil trial practice across the nation, I am well-equipped to handle the intricacies of these legal issues.

3. Why are you running for this particular bench?

I am seeking this bench because of my unwavering commitment to the fundamental principles of justice and fairness. My extensive legal background, spanning civil trial practice, service as an Assistant District Attorney, and appellate law experience, affords me a comprehensive perspective for the effective administration of justice. I firmly believe that my experience and dedication uniquely qualify me for this judicial role.

4. What are your qualifications for this job?

In addition to my degrees and extensive legal experience representing individuals and businesses in various different areas of law across the country. I also have a unique skill set that allows me to bring diverse perspectives to the bench.

Education:

• BA, English/Political Science, The University of Houston Honors College, 2003
• JD, The University of Houston Law Center, 2006
• MBA, Texas Tech University, 2014

Legal Experience (17 Years):

I have had the privilege of serving as a trial and appellate attorney with a diverse practice, gaining invaluable insights into various areas of law. For the last five years, my law practice has been dedicated to intellectual property litigation and commercial litigation, in state and federal court, at both trial and appellate levels across the nation.

My prior experience includes roles in criminal prosecution and defense, counter-terrorism litigation, family law, immigration law, civil rights litigation, and personal injury, both as a plaintiff’s attorney and defense counsel.

Additionally, I have handled cases involving health law, real estate, mass torts, and pharmaceutical and medical device litigation.

Language Proficiency: I possess native, professional proficiency in Arabic, with the ability to speak, read, and write across multiple dialects. This proficiency allows me to engage effectively with Arabic speakers from diverse countries across Asia and Africa. Furthermore, I have a working knowledge of Spanish, broadening my ability to communicate and understand the needs of a diverse community.

Teaching Experience: Over the past five years, I have served as an Adjunct Professor, teaching Business Law and Constitutional Law to university students. This role reflects my commitment to legal education and the development of future professionals. It also demonstrates my ability to convey complex legal concepts in a clear and accessible manner.

5. Why is this race important?

This race is of paramount importance as the 125th Judicial District Court plays a crucial role in delivering justice to the residents of Harris County. Decisions made by this court have a direct impact on individuals and businesses in our community. It is vital to elect a candidate with a proven track record, a strong commitment to justice, and a comprehensive understanding of the legal system.

6. Why should people vote for you in March?

People should vote for me in March because I bring a unique combination of legal expertise, a commitment to justice, and a diverse background that reflects the multicultural fabric of Harris County. My extensive experience in civil trial practice, civil appellate law, and criminal prosecution, coupled with my dedication to fairness and integrity, makes me the ideal candidate for this judicial position. My ability to speak, read, and write in multiple Arabic dialects with native fluency adds an extra layer of cultural competence, which is valuable in a diverse community. I am ready to serve the community with impartiality, integrity, and a steadfast commitment to upholding the law.

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SCOTx has its hearing on gender affirming care ban

Posted on February 1, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

I don’t know what to expect.

The Texas Supreme Court heard a legal challenge Tuesday to a new state law banning doctors from prescribing gender-affirming care for transgender youth, a prohibition that a district court judge said was unconstitutional.

After Gov. Greg Abbott signed the measure barring transgender Texas youth from accessing puberty blockers and hormone therapy, some of their families filed a lawsuit seeking to block the law from going into effect. They argued the new law violates their parental rights by stopping them from providing medical care for their children and it discriminates against transgender children on the basis of sex.

After a Travis County district court temporarily blocked the law from going into effect, arguing that it infringed on Texas parents’ right to make medical decisions about their children, a state appeal to the Texas Supreme Court enabled the law to go into effect in September.

Kennon Wooten, a partner with Scott, Douglass & McConnico who argued on behalf of the families, said that Senate Bill 14 uniquely strips away a parent’s right by narrowly targeting a specialized form of health care for a distinct group of people.

“In this case, what we have is the state defining the rights so specifically … we risk death by a thousand cuts of the fundamental right under the Constitution that parents have to make decisions about the care for their children,” Wooten said.

The state reasserted its stance that it has a vested interest in protecting the well-being of Texas youth, which it claimed the law does by preventing children from taking medications that have long-lasting impacts.

“Minors, generally, cannot get tattoos,” said Natalie Thompson, an assistant solicitor general for the state, referencing limits the state places on children compared to adults. “Minors, of course … cannot have alcohol or nicotine and even in medicine there are examples.” Thompson cited ephedrine, a medication used to treat low blood pressure that Texas law states can only be sold to individuals older than 16, among other restrictions.

The justices spent just under an hour probing each side’s arguments, asking why the state would restrict health care supported by all major medical associations and where the line must be drawn when it comes to parental rights.

[…]

While the justices did not hand down a decision, they considered the option of ruling on the constitutional merits of SB 14, or sending the case back to the Travis County district court for a full trial. The high court is still considering the case and did not provide a timeline of when a decision will come down.

The state hoped that the all-Republican Supreme Court would make a final decision in their favor. Legal groups advocating for the families asked the high court to kick the case back to the district court so more evidence could be reviewed.

“It’s important for people to be able to tell their stories,” Lynly Egyes, legal director of Transgender Law Center, one of the law groups representing the families, said to reporters after the hearing. “We want the families heard. We also want the doctors heard because it’s really important for everyone to have a better understanding of the impact of SB 14 on people’s lives.”

See here, here, and here for some background. I would note that while state law may forbid the sale of ephedrine to people over the age of 16, it does not forbid a parent from buying it for their child, which is exactly what SB14 does do. I hope the justices are smart enough to realize that.

Like I said, I don’t know what the Court will do. It would be ideal if they just upheld the lower court’s ruling, but as that was for a temporary restraining order, I don’t think that’s on the table. Sending it back to the district court for the trial on the merits while restoring the TRO is probably the best case. Keep your fingers crossed, and remember that what this Lege did another, better, Lege can undo. The Chron has more.

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Texas blog roundup for the week of January 29

Posted on February 1, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

The Texas Progressive Alliance is rooting for Taylor Swift to continue to annoy troglodytic football fans regardless of the outcome of any single game as it brings you this week’s roundup.

Continue reading →

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Today’s Ken Paxton whistleblower trial update

Posted on February 1, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

He’s basically a professional defendant now.

A crook any way you look

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton could face a potentially expensive and uncomfortable jury trial to defend himself against former deputies after a Travis County judge declined Wednesday to end the case in the whistleblowers’ favor without a trial.

The decision by Judge Catherine Mauzy means that Paxton, who announced that he won’t contest the facts behind the case, may have to be questioned on the record in open court about the allegations made by four former top deputies — something he would have avoided had Mauzy ruled in his favor.

It also means that the deputies’ attorneys could be allowed to present their evidence that Paxton improperly fired them — which they have yet to do in the three years the suit has been litigated.

Attorneys representing Paxton declined to say whether they’d appeal the decision, nor did they offer any additional comment Wednesday.

[…]

On Wednesday, Paxton’s attorneys argued that it was within his rights to avoid a lengthy, costly trial by asking for it to be over, declining to argue over the facts presented by the plaintiffs, accept whatever damages the judge decides, and declining to appeal or contest the final ruling.

And he’s allowed by law to do that while denying the allegations at the heart of the the case, attorney Bill Hefland told Mauzy during the 40-minute hearing.

Given that, he said, there was no reason for the lawsuit to go forward — unless the plaintiffs wanted to either run up attorneys fees or use the lawsuit for their own investigations.

“We’re totally through the looking glass,” Hefland said in the hearing. “You don’t need a trial, you don’t need evidence. I’m here to tell you my client concedes to the entry of judgment today, and my client waives any right to appeal that judgment. So what in the world would a trial do? What is the legitimate reason for pursuing this lawsuit and not taking the judgment? I would submit there is no legitimate reason.”

One reason, plaintiff attorney TJ Turner responded, is that it would be impossible for the judge to even determine the damages without hearing any of the evidence in their case.

Another, he said, is that Paxton is trying to “have his cake and eat it, too” by vigorously denying what the former deputies are alleging while also trying to avoid any public airing of their arguments by suggesting he won’t argue with them about it.

“We still have to put on our case,” Turner said. “This is just the latest parlor trick in Office of the Attorney General’s quiver so that they avoid what the A.G. fears the most, and that’s testifying under oath.”

See here, here, and here for some background. I’d be inclined to agree with the plaintiffs in this case almost regardless of what anyone said, but I strongly agree with them here. Paxton’s arguments are completely self-serving, in that he’s essentially pleading nolo contendere for the purpose of not having to say anything on the record while still enjoying the privilege of denying everything that he’s implicitly admitting to everywhere else. If you’re going to concede the fight, then what exactly is it you’re conceding? What are the facts that you’re not disputing? I Am Not A Lawyer, but this isn’t how it works. Right?

Also, too, if Paxton just gets to wave away admitting to anything specific, then what’s to stop the judge from saying basically “OK, then, you owe the plaintiffs one billion dollars. Each.” Remember, this lawsuit is against Paxton in his official capacity as Attorney General, meaning that he’s not on the hook for a dime. He doesn’t care what the taxpayers get stuck with.

Anyway. I notice that this ruling was made by Judge Catherine Mauzy, while the rulings about Paxton having to be deposed were made by Judge Jan Soifer. I’m a little confused as to why there are two judges involved – is the litigation over whether or not he must sit for a deposition different than the litigation over how much he owes the plaintiffs? How does that work? In my years of being a blogger who is not a lawyer I feel like I’ve learned a lot about the legal system and its various weird artifacts, but this is a new situation for me. Any of you lawyers out there, please feel free to weigh in.

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Interview with Kim Ogg

Posted on January 31, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Kim Ogg

I think we can agree that the race for District Attorney is the highest profile primary race this cycle; there are some great legislative and Congressional races but they’re not countywide and they haven’t generated as much news coverage. There’s a lot of political drama to go along with the high stakes of the race. Incumbent DA Kim Ogg, running for her third term, doesn’t need much introduction, but as a reminder she began her career in the DA’s office in 1987, serving as a chief felony prosecutor during that time, she was appointed Houston’s first Anti-Gang Task Force Director by Mayor Bob Lanier in 1994, and she served as the Executive Director of Crime Stoppers of Houston from 1999 to 2006. I have interviewed her multiple times, most recently in 2020 when she ran for re-election the first time. You can listen to that interview here and you can listen to this one below:

PREVIOUSLY:

Karthik Soora, SD15
Michelle Bonton, SD15
Molly Cook, SD15
Rep. Jarvis Johnson, SD15
Todd Litton, SD15
Beto Cardenas, SD15
Annette Ramirez, Tax Assessor
Danielle Bess, Tax Assessor
Jerry Davis, Tax Assessor
Desiree Broadnax, Tax Assessor
Claude Cummings, Tax Assessor
Amanda Edwards, CD18
Pervez Agwan, CD07
Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, CD07
Christian Menefee, Harris County Attorney
Umeka Lewis, Harris County Attorney

I will finish my interviews with the candidates for County Attorney and District Attorney tomorrow, and then after that I get into legislative races. You can keep track of all my interviews and judicial Q&As on the ever indispensable Erik Manning spreadsheet.

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Judicial Q&A: Juan Aguirre

Posted on January 31, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

(Note: As I have done in past elections, I am running a series of Q&As for judicial candidates in contested Democratic primaries. This is intended to help introduce the candidates and their experiences to those who plan to vote in March. I am running these responses in the order that I receive them from the candidates. Much more information about Democratic primary candidates, including links to the interviews and judicial Q&As, can be found on Erik Manning’s spreadsheet.

Juan Aguirre

1. Who are you and what are you running for?

My name is Juan Jose Aguirre and I am running for Judge of Harris County Criminal Court at Law #16. It is the only misdemeanor court that is up for election this year. All the off the other 15 misdemeanor courts are up for election on the governor’s cycle. This Court was created in the 2015 legislative session and therefore is not on the governor’s cycle

2. What kind of cases does this court hear?

This court hears Class A & Class B Misdemeanor, and appeals from Justice and Municipal Courts. Class A misdemeanor are arrestable offenses for which the punishment may be up to one year in the county jail and/or a fine not to exceed $4000. Most common examples are Assault Bodily Injury, Assault Family Member, Driving While Intoxicated as a second offender or having a breath/blood alcohol content over 0.15, and Resisting Arrest or Detention. Class B misdemeanor are also arrestable offenses for which the punishment may be up to 180 days in the county jail and/or a fine not to exceed $2000. Most common examples are Thefts over $100 but less than $750, Driving While Intoxicated as a first offender or with a breath/blood alcohol content less than 0.15, or criminal trespass.

3. Why are you running for this particular bench?

This bench is going to be an open bench as the incumbent is not running for re-election. I do court appointed cases and have cases pending in almost every one of the misdemeanor and felony benches. Since I have cases pending in those courts, I did not want to run against an incumbent Judge. This is the only County Criminal Court at Law that is up for election this cycle.

4. What are your qualifications for this job?

I have been licensed as an attorney for a bit over 22 years. Almost every single day of that time, I am at the criminal courthouse. I only practice criminal law. I was a prosecutor for almost 5 years and have been a defense attorney for 17 years. I have 103 jury trials and numerous bench trials as well. I have earned the trust and respect of fellow attorneys, prosecutors, judges and staff throughout the years. I believe that every one must be treated fairly and with respect, no matter what the race, sex, nationality, and socioeconomic status of the person. I grew up poor along the border with Mexico, and acquired my love of the law helping my father clean up the courthouse; he was a janitor for Val Verde County for over 30 years. Every thing that I have achieved has been through hard work and have a firm belief that everyone can achieve their goals, if given a chance and treated fairly.

5. Why is this race important?

Having been in criminal practice for so long, I see that most of the accused and detained are people of color; black and brown. On any given day, you can walk into the courtroom or more importantly the holdover cell of a courtroom and most of the people are minorities. Harris County is a bit over 45% Hispanic and yet the elected Judges represent barely 25% of the judiciary. It is important that this demographic be changed so that it can more accurately reflect the population of the county, but more importantly, the make up of those arrested and charged with a criminal case. Having grown up and worked in city government for 7 years prior to law school, I know the importance of knowing more than one language and being intimately familiar with their culture. I spoke Spanish before I spoke English and many of my existing clients do not speak English.

6. Why should people vote for you in March?

First of all, experience. While I have not been a Judge in the past, I have been practicing criminal law, at the courthouse for over 22 years. I am down there every day and know what the charging process and criminal law procedure that the accused and victims face. I have tried over 100 jury trials, which is not an easy task to achieve. I have practiced in all of the criminal courts, whether felony or misdemeanor and have tried cases from traffic to murder.

Second of all, knowledge. With age and practice, comes the knowledge. I mentor third year law students from Thurgood Marshall School of Law, and teach them the process from arrest, to client interview, to dealing with prosecutors, judge and staff, to trial. I have trained many a young prosecutors into what they can and cannot do and have earned their respect and admiration, as they have progressed at the office. Additionally, I have volunteered to sit with other attorneys in trial to share my knowledge and experience in trying cases, and to provide another set of eyes and ears during trial.

Lastly, being bilingual and bicultural brings a needed perspective to the bench that is needed in the changing demographic of the population in Harris County. My mother was from Mexico and all of my grandparents were from Mexico. I know the history and culture of Mexico and of several other Latin American countries. I believe that it is important to bring that additional perspective as a presiding judge.

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SCOTx pauses Paxton deposition

Posted on January 31, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Delay, delay, delay…

A crook any way you look

The Texas Supreme Court has halted depositions that were scheduled to begin Thursday in the whistleblower case against Attorney General Ken Paxton.

The all-GOP court issued an order Tuesday staying the depositions and giving the parties until Feb. 29 to respond with their broader legal arguments. The decision was made public within hours of Paxton’s top political ally — former President Donald Trump — calling on the court to end the case.

Earlier this month, a district court judge in Travis County had ordered Paxton and three top aides to sit for depositions starting Thursday with the attorney general himself. Paxton’s office fought that order up to the Supreme Court, asking the justices to at least put the depositions on hold.

[…]

The Supreme Court did not explain its ruling Tuesday. It said one justice, Evan Young, did not participate.

Three of the nine justices are up for reelection this year, though only one, John Devine, has a primary challenger.

See here for the previous update. There will be a hearing today in the Travis County court to argue about Paxton’s motion to declare that the case is resolved because of his announcement that he will no longer contest the allegations made by the whistleblowers. I’m going to guess he will lose on that motion, and there will be more appeals after that. Like I said, what an absolute weenie this guy is. The Chron, which notes that if Paxton is ever forced to provide testimony, “anything he says could be used by federal criminal investigators and could put pressure on state lawmakers to revisit the impeachment allegations”, has more.

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Endorsement watch: Menefee and Gonzalez

Posted on January 31, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron has begun their process of endorsing candidates for the primaries. They kicked things off by recommending Sheriff Ed Gonzalez for another go-round.

Sheriff Ed Gonzalez

Gonzalez, a 54-year-old former city councilman and Houston Police Department homicide detective, is a well-liked and generally well-respected lawman known for his fair-minded approach to fighting crime. He depicts the situation at the jail as both unacceptable and untenable: “Anytime anyone dies in our custody, I take it very seriously, I take it very personally,” Gonzalez told us in a candidate screening with his Democratic challengers. “No one wants that to happen. I’ve learned in this line of work that sometimes despite one’s leadership, unfortunately, there’s going to be some unfortunate outcomes that come with that.”

Leadership, though, is what his opponents say is missing. Some say Gonzalez’s ‘nice guy’ persona isn’t assertive enough to get a handle on the crisis.

Gonzalez argues he’s doing everything within his power and has made some progress: He noted that suicides in the jail have decreased dramatically. He said that some of the in-custody deaths were categorized incorrectly and that some inmates had pre-existing health conditions that worsened while detained. He has indeed taken swift action in certain cases where jail guards were abusive, holding them accountable by suspending or terminating them.

Evidently, county commissioners agree with Gonzalez that more funding would help address some of the problems: after Gonzalez appealed for more resources in August, the county adopted a budget that includes an $80 million increase for the sheriff’s office, including an additional $20 million for the jail that would go toward staffing.

Should voters view those additional monies as a taxpayer-funded bet that Gonzalez can right the ship over the next year by reducing the number of in-custody deaths, bringing the jail in compliance with state standards and boosting morale among detention officers and deputies? We think so. The sheriff’s office has already made one step in the right direction, announcing last week plans to require all detention officers at the jail to wear body cameras by the end of the summer in an effort to increase transparency.

For all our frustration with Gonzalez’s failure to get the jail under control, our reporting and interviews with his opponents didn’t persuade us that any of them could do much better. Their ideas and in some cases experience were lacking.

One could read this as “if there had been a better opponent this would have been a tougher choice for us”, but they had more nice things to say about Sheriff Gonzalez later on. Maybe there was someone who could have made this a real contest, but the Sheriff still has a lot of accomplishments even as the jail continues to be a big problem. The Chron seemed to be impressed by Glenn Cowan on the Republican side, which could make their choice for November more up in the air than I’d like. But that guy has to win his race first.

They had a much easier choice for County Attorney, and they gave a robust endorsement to incumbent Christian Menefee.

Christian Menefee

We believe Menefee is carrying out his duties diligently. With just one term in office, he’s backed up his progressive credentials and then some. Menefee came in on a promise to expand the environmental enforcement and he delivered, growing the office from four to 11 full-time attorneys and bringing the fight to some of the most long-neglected communities.

In a state that produces the most ready-mix concrete and a county with scores of concrete batch plants, Menefee’s commitment to neighborhoods choking on the dust of this multibillion dollar industry has been unwavering. In Fifth Ward, he’s been instrumental in finally getting the federal government involved in the testing and potential cleanup of creosote contamination. In Carverdale, he helped stop the expansion of a landfill. Along I-45, he’s joined the city to push back against plans for a massive highway project that hadn’t sufficiently heard community concerns. And he’s struck important wins for the county, from tightening safety standards for construction companies working with the county to standing up for voting rights and starting a paid summer legal academy for underserved high school students.

“When I was growing up, I didn’t know any lawyers,” he said. “I didn’t even know anybody who went to college.”

Menefee has combined his legal and personal experience to create a competent, effective and equity-minded office.

You can and should listen to my interview with Christian Menefee here. The Republican primary for County Attorney is unopposed, so no endorsement given there.

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Interview with Umeka Lewis

Posted on January 30, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Umeka Lewis

Challenging incumbent Christian Menefee in the primary for Harris County Attorney is Umeka “UA” Lewis, who is a civil rights attorney and partner in a local law firm who got her law degree at TSU. There isn’t much biography on her website, but you can get a feel for her professional career via her profile on the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association website. She has been in the news for a false arrest lawsuit she filed and won against the city and for a run-in with a notorious federal judge. To learn more you’ll need to listen to the interview, which conveniently enough is right here:

PREVIOUSLY:

Karthik Soora, SD15
Michelle Bonton, SD15
Molly Cook, SD15
Rep. Jarvis Johnson, SD15
Todd Litton, SD15
Beto Cardenas, SD15
Annette Ramirez, Tax Assessor
Danielle Bess, Tax Assessor
Jerry Davis, Tax Assessor
Desiree Broadnax, Tax Assessor
Claude Cummings, Tax Assessor
Amanda Edwards, CD18
Pervez Agwan, CD07
Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, CD07
Christian Menefee, Harris County Attorney

I will run interviews with the candidates for County Attorney and District Attorney this week, and then after that I get into legislative races. You can keep track of all my interviews and judicial Q&As on the ever indispensable Erik Manning spreadsheet.

Posted in Election 2024 | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Judicial Q&A: Jill Yaziji

Posted on January 30, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

(Note: As I have done in past elections, I am running a series of Q&As for judicial candidates in contested Democratic primaries. This is intended to help introduce the candidates and their experiences to those who plan to vote in March. I am running these responses in the order that I receive them from the candidates. Much more information about Democratic primary candidates, including links to the interviews and judicial Q&As, can be found on Erik Manning’s spreadsheet.

Jill Yaziji

1. Who are you and what are you running for?

My name is Jill Yaziji. I am the democratic challenger running for the 165th Civil District Court, Harris County. I am a Longhorn three times over, graduating from the University of Texas School of Law, and previously earning an M.A. and PhD in Comparative Literature at UT-Austin.

I grew up in Damascus, Syria, and moved to Texas to attend UT as a graduate student. I have lived in Texas for more than 30 years, and moved to Houston in 2000 after I graduated from UT Law. I am married to Darrow Zeidenstein, an executive at MD Anderson Cancer Center, and have two sons, Julian and Anderson.

I am the sole proprietor of Yaziji Law Firm, PLLC. I started my firm after working at two major law firms in Houston. I represent clients in civil cases, and greatly enjoy the practice of law.

2. What kind of cases does this court hear?

The 165th is a civil district court, which hears the types of cases that involve everyday people, such as contract and other business disputes, personal injury cases, tax cases, property disputes, and the like. Typically, it does not hear criminal, family, or probate cases as these cases are heard in their own specialty courts.

3. Why are you running for this particular bench?

Judges serve the people of Harris County, and they must ensure the cases are timely heard and motions promptly decided. The incumbent, the Honorable Ursula Hall, has been consistently late in ruling on cases pending before her, as evidenced by over thirty mandamus actions to the courts of appeal against her. A judge must be timely and decisive in conducting the business of the court because justice delayed is justice denied. In many of these cases, the parties were forced to seek relief from the higher courts, which raises the costs of litigation and delays resolution of the cases. It also results in wasting judicial resources and taxpayer money when the court of appeals must intervene in ministerial actions.

I want to emphasize that I have nothing against Judge Hall as a person. In fact, I found her to be kind and highly intelligent. But delayed justice can erode the public trust in the judiciary. An example is the Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct’s October 28, 2020, decision, which found the Honorable Ursula Hall’s lack of timely rulings to be inconsistent with the proper performance of her duties, issued a public warning, and ordered her to take additional judicial education. See, CJC No 19-1652. Harris County citizens deserve a fair judge who can listen and rule and that’s why I am running for this particular bench.

4. What are your qualifications for this job?

I have 22 years of trial experience, representing hundreds of individuals and businesses in civil disputes. Among the cases I have handled are contract disputes, claims for breach of fiduciary duty, personal injury claims, construction disputes (involving general contractors, owners, and lien holders), employment disputes, and more.

I also know the struggles of attorneys with protracted discovery battles and will provide restructured procedures for fair and effective adjudication of the cases. I have worked on both sides of the docket and have enjoyed amicable relations with opposing counsel. I will listen fairly to all sides of an argument and rule objectively and based on the relevant law and facts.

My personal life experience provides an additional perspective that I can bring into this job. I came to Texas from a country without working courts or respect for the rule of law. I saw how a weak legal system compromised the people’s trust and produced all sorts of social ills. This unique perspective further motivates me to serve, foster trust, and implement the huge potential of our justice system.

I believe in public service. Between 2011 and 2017, I served on various committees of the Houston Bar Association, where I gained insight into ways to facilitate access to justice, promote professionalism, and improve communications between the bench and the attorneys. Volunteering for LegalLine was a rewarding experience where a number of lawyers gathered in the HBA offices downtown over some pizza, and we helped answer basic questions of those in our community who could not pay for legal services. Recently, I was a volunteer president of the ACC, a nonprofit Arab American organization in Houston that fosters understanding and cooperation between Arab Americans and their larger community. In each context, I found serving others to have contributed to my vision of how to beat obstacles and realign diverse interests into meaningful experience.

5. Why is this race important?

The March 2024 Primaries are very important to Harris County and judicial races are especially important. It is good to have new, qualified people on the bench, promote diverse backgrounds, and problem-solve. I hope to inspire others by entering this important race, and to conduct it in an amicable and honest manner.

6. Why should people vote for you in March?

My candidacy is important because of the issues we discussed above. Our county is polarized, and we need people who are engaged and can restore the public trust in elected officials. In the March 2024 Primaries, Harris County must rely on candidates that can deliver. I will bring a high standard of professionalism to this Court and would be honored to receive the people’s vote to this important elected office. The choice is clear.

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I-10 elevation update

Posted on January 30, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

From the Woodland Heights Civic Association January newsletter:

I-10 Heights to I-45 Project Update: Community Advocacy Leads to Significant Changes

The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) has announced modifications to its $347 million plan to elevate a section of Interstate 10 in Houston’s Heights area, a direct result of public feedback provided in 2022. This project, stretching approximately 1.8 miles from Heights Boulevard to I-45 in Downtown Houston, aims to raise the I-10 main lanes above the floodplain of White Oak Bayou.

Key Modifications:

  • Detention Pond: A 26-acre detention pond will be constructed beneath the elevated I-10 main lanes between Studemont Street and Houston Avenue.
  • Reduced Impact: The project now includes slightly lower lanes and sound-dampening walls, addressing noise concerns.
  • Preservation Efforts: More of the wooded area near White Oak Bayou (Taylor Woods) will be preserved.
  • New Shared-Use Path: A path for cyclists and pedestrians will be added on the south side of the bayou.

These changes are a testament to the effectiveness of community advocacy. The revised plans, presented in a virtual session and discussed at an in-person meeting on January 17th, 2024, reflect the community’s concerns and suggestions.

See here and here for the background. The full TxDOT presentation about this is here, and an illustration of how the proposal has changed since 2022 is here. Pretty significant.

The Chron adds some details.

Revised plans to elevate Interstate 10 northwest of downtown along White Oak Bayou seem to have eased — but not eliminated — concerns from nearby residents.

Though some still question the need for the $347 million project by the Texas Department of Transportation to lift I-10 out of the floodway, slightly lower lanes and walls to dampen sound correct many of the problems people identified with the earlier plans.

“I am not going to say I like it, but I like it a lot more than what they proposed the first time,” Heights resident David Rawlins said after seeing the plans Tuesday night online.

TxDOT’s revised plan would elevate about 2 miles of I-10 west of I-45, between Houston Avenue and Studemont. The higher freeway lanes would reduce flooding risk from nearby White Oak Bayou but also place elevated lanes through First Ward and southern parts of the Heights, which alarmed residents when designs were unveiled mid-2022. Elevating the lanes also means elevating the HOV ramp into the central business district, which under the plans would be more than 115 feet in the air at its highest point near I-45.

After concerns from residents, TxDOT engineers refined the project, lowering the lanes where possible and committing to taller walls along the road to address noise pollution and plans for new trails along and beneath the freeway to improve bayou running and biking trails.

[…]

While some look to the sky, others are focused more on the ground level of exactly what an elevated freeway will leave. TxDOT has made commitments to keep trees and plant others in the area, while it uses the area beneath the freeway for stormwater detention. Officials also plan a biking and walking trail along the south side of the bayou, which will connect to the M-K-T Trail in three places. The trail additions would not add a lengthy route, but add options south of White Oak to access the broader and growing trail system along the bayou.

Despite multiple changes, residents remain wary of many parts of the project, in part because it is one of many in the area and it is difficult — some said — to get the full scope of what is coming. Work raising the lanes along I-10 could start in late 2024 or early 2025 but be closely followed by plans by Metropolitan Transit Authority for a busway along I-10 between Loop 610 near Post Oak and downtown. Those lanes could be as tall as the HOV lanes into downtown on the south side of the freeway.

TxDOT also has its own plans for elevated managed lanes along the center of I-10 within Loop 610, as well as the massive I-45 rebuild that replaces the current interchange with I-10.

All the projects converge at White Oak Bayou, making understanding each of the projects in concert with the others important, [Fred Lindner with Save White Oak Bayou] said.

“Since TxDOT elects to treat all the project separately, it makes messaging the effects of the project difficult,” he said in an email. “We will be asking TxDOT to provide a comprehensive view of all their projects along I-10 so that there can be a public understanding of their totality.”

See here for more on the Metro piece of this, which as far as I know is dependent on that other elevated portion of I-10. I agree with Fred Lindner that there are a lot of disjointed pieces making it hard to keep up with the big picture, and with David Rawlins that this is better but I’m still leery because you can’t ever fully trust TxDOT.

The Leader News has a good wrapup with some informative pictures, as well as this timely reminder:

The public can continue to study and react to the proposal online or by writing:

TxDOT Houston District Office

Attn: Advanced Project Development Director

P.O. Box 1386

Houston, Texas 77251-1386 or emailing HOU-PIOwebmail@txdot.gov

All comments must be received by Feb. 1.

Questions can also be directed to Grady Mapes, TxDOT district program director, at 713-866-7040, or by email at Grady.Mapes@txdot.gov.

Make your voice heard while you can.

Posted in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Interview with Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee

Posted on January 29, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Christian Menefee

We will be doing two races again this week, Harris County Attorney and Harris County District Attorney. Christian Menefee was elected Harris County Attorney in 2020 after knocking off three-term incumbent Vince Ryan in that year’s primary. The youngest person and first African American to be elected Harris County Attorney, Menefee came in with an agenda to be more aggressive in protecting voting rights and enforcing environmental laws. His office has been busy filing lawsuits, often against the state, on those matters and others, from facemask bans to the “Death Star” and beyond. There’s sure to be more of that in the future, and we talked about what the past four years have been like as well as what we have to look forward to. Here it is:

PREVIOUSLY:

Karthik Soora, SD15
Michelle Bonton, SD15
Molly Cook, SD15
Rep. Jarvis Johnson, SD15
Todd Litton, SD15
Beto Cardenas, SD15
Annette Ramirez, Tax Assessor
Danielle Bess, Tax Assessor
Jerry Davis, Tax Assessor
Desiree Broadnax, Tax Assessor
Claude Cummings, Tax Assessor
Amanda Edwards, CD18
Pervez Agwan, CD07
Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, CD07

I will run interviews with the candidates for County Attorney and District Attorney this week, and then after that I get into legislative races. You can keep track of all my interviews and judicial Q&As on the ever indispensable Erik Manning spreadsheet.

Posted in Election 2024 | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Judicial Q&A Judge Julia Maldonado

Posted on January 29, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

(Note: As I have done in past elections, I am running a series of Q&As for judicial candidates in contested Democratic primaries. This is intended to help introduce the candidates and their experiences to those who plan to vote in March. I am running these responses in the order that I receive them from the candidates. Much more information about Democratic primary candidates, including links to the interviews and judicial Q&As, can be found on Erik Manning’s spreadsheet.

Judge Julia Maldonado

1. Who are you and in which court do you preside?

I am Julia Maldonado, and I am the presiding judge of the 507th District Court in Harris County, Texas. I was first elected in 2016 and have served the people of Harris County continuously for the past seven years. Before being elected to the bench, I practiced law in Texas for eighteen (18) years, with my practice primarily focused on family law. I became Board Certified in Family by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization in 2012, was re-certified in 2017 and in 2022. Beyond my legal career, I am a lifelong resident of Houston, the mother of two wonderful sons and the grandmother of two incredibly energetic grandsons.

2. What kind of cases does this court hear?

The 507th Family District Court hears cases involving divorce, marital property disputes, name changes, enforcements, child custody, child support, adoptions, termination of parental rights, cases involving the Texas Department of Family and Protective Service, and other family related cases. While most cases are disposed of with rulings from the bench, occasionally there are issues which are tried before a jury.

3. What have been your main accomplishments during your time on this bench?

During my time on the bench, I have worked assiduously at reducing the backlog in the court’s docket and streamlining the process for matters to be heard and disposed of in a reasonable amount of time. This allows for parties to have their matters heard quickly and reduces the amount of time and money that parties may needlessly spend on attorney’s fees. I also instituted a weekly continuing legal education seminar and mentorship program, “Cafecito with the judge,” where everyone is welcomed, and many family law practitioners attend. We cover topics in family law that better prepare lawyers to address issues that they may face in assisting their clients throughout the family law process. We analyze the Texas Family Law Handbook, reviewing sections of the law that may impact their practice and enjoy legal discussions regarding current appellate holdings and trends. It has been a fulfilling experience to open the doors to my court and provide a way for attorneys to earn a free, weekly .75 CLE credit and brush up on the law.

4. What do you hope to accomplish in your courtroom going forward?

First, I hope to continue to serve the people of Harris County with a learned judicial mind, continue to develop and explore ways to build the court’s connection with the community, that includes both attorneys and litigants, and continue to interpret and apply the law as it is written. Secondly, it is my goal to continue fostering a fair and positive experience in contentious cases while treating parties and their lawyers with empathy, courtesy, and fairness, and to make rulings that are based solely on the law, irrespective of party, lawyer, or political affiliation.

5. Why is this race important?

This race is important because the person who serves on this bench has the responsibility of deciding issues affecting children and families of Harris County. This election cycle highlights the importance of preserving and protecting the foundation of family values for every resident in this county. Harris County deserves a person who is qualified based on their ability to understand and apply the law as written. Harris County also needs a person who has experience both as a lawyer and as a judge to make decisions that are evidenced-based and that are in the best interests of children, who are often the forgotten people in divorce cases. This court and the role it plays in people’s lives is too important to be put in the hands of a person who has little real-world family law experience and is not board certified in an area of the law that the court exclusively deals with on a daily basis.

6. Why should people vote for you in March?

People should vote for me because I am the most qualified candidate to serve the people of Harris County on the 507th Family District Court. I have legal experience as a former family law practitioner for over eighteen years with board certification in family law since 2012, and I have seven (7) years of judicial experience from having served as the judge of the 507th District Court since my election in November 2016.

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Paxton special prosecutor pay update

Posted on January 29, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Situation more or less the same as before.

A crook any way you look

Texas’ highest criminal court on Wednesday declined to intervene in the long-running battle over the prosecutors’ pay in the securities fraud case against Attorney General Ken Paxton.

After a trial court judge ordered Collin County to approve back pay to the prosecutors in November, they asked the Court of Criminal Appeals to force the county to pay them given its years-long resistance to doing so. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals said Wednesday it would not take up the issue.

The prosecutors, Brian Wice and Kent Schaffer, said they were disappointed by the decision but noted it was “not a ruling on the merits” and that the issue is still being debated in a lower appeals court.

The all-GOP court did not explain its decision, but this was not the first time it was asked to weigh in on the controversy. It struck down the prosecutors’ pay schedule in 2018, telling the trial court judge at the time to “issue a new order for payment of fees” consistent with a state statute governing compensation for court-appointed attorneys.

The pay fight is getting closer and closer to Paxton’s long-anticipated trial date, currently set for April 15. A pretrial conference is scheduled for Feb. 16.

[…]

Officials in Collin County — Paxton’s home county and where the case originated — have long balked at the prosecutors’ fee schedule and have not approved an invoice since 2016. But Harris County District Judge Andrea Beall sought to put an end to the stalemate in November, ruling Wice and Schaffer were owed the $300-an-hour rate they were promised when they started in 2015.

Earlier this month, with the Court of Criminals Appeals case still pending, Collin County went on the offensive, asking the Houston-based 1st Court of Appeals to overturn Beall’s order. That court has given the prosecutors until Jan. 29 to respond.

“Now that the First Court of Appeals has jurisdiction over this matter, we are confident that it will conclude that Judge Beall’s order was well within the heartland of her virtually unlimited judicial discretion,” the prosecutors said in their statement.

The prosecutors emphasized that the Court of Criminal Appeals did not rule on the merits of their request to force Collin County to pay them. The Court of Criminal Appeals only denied their motion for leave to file, which is a request for the court to consider something outside its normal procedures.

See here for the previous update. Not really anything more to add. Do mark your calendars for February 16 and April 15, though. Wouldn’t want to miss those occasions.

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Weekend link dump for January 28

Posted on January 28, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

“I unwittingly bought a 1980s racist horror at a garage sale”.

“Back in 1894, North American whaling crews — marooned up near the Yukon Territory’s Herschel Island in Pauline Cove, awaiting the ice to thaw out so they could get back out on the sea — started up the world’s coldest baseball league. A way to keep them from fighting each other, drinking too much and, well, simply being bored out of their minds.”

Casting for the Golden Bachelorette is now happening.

RIP, Dr. David Mills, inventor of Network Time Protocol (NTP), the reason your mobile phone and other devices are now able to update their own time as needed.

RIP, Mary Weiss, former lead singer of the 1960s pop girl group The Shangri-Las, best known for the song “Leader of the Pack”.

Canada has better streaming bundles than we do.

“Really the whole 2024 Republican primary cycle was the billionaires and the Republican professional class getting together to see if it might be possible to nudge Trump out of the way. But it became clear before it even began that it was impossible. Most of the last year was just rushing through a novel you’d already watched to the end in its movie version.”

“But I wonder if there is more behind the fury over the Dobbs decision than just access to abortion, huge though that is.”

“[C]orporate profits drove 53 percent of inflation during the second and third quarters of 2023 and more than one-third since the start of the pandemic.”

“An anti-voting robocall that seems to use an artificially generated version of President Joe Biden’s voice is being investigated by the New Hampshire Attorney General’s office. The calls sent on Sunday told Democrats to avoid voting in the Presidential Primary on January 23.”

“The 10 Most Emmy-Nominated Shows Without Any Wins”.

ALERT! New Billy Joel single set to drop this week. We are excited.

Major congratulations to Tara VanDerveer, now the winningest coach in college basketball history.

This story about Soupy Sales made me want to look up and reread this story about Soupy Sales. It was a good decision. I think you will enjoy reading (or rereading) it as well.

“[Republican State Rep. Richard Holtorf, a candidate for Colorado’s 4th Congressional District,] did not appear to recognize the disconnect between his statement lauding the benefits of abortion access for his pregnant girlfriend and his staunch opposition to abortion rights, which led him to call abortion rights supporters “godless heathens” last year.”

“I realize I am painting a pretty dismal picture of the 2024 crawfish crop. But this is what I’m seeing.”

“Turns out, isn’t meant for 10-12 people. But it IS six sandwiches, stacked on top of each other. And it is 3 feet tall.” More, because I know you want more, here. Not all heroes wear capes.

RIP, Dexter Scott King, civil rights activist and youngest son of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

RIP, Norman Jewison, Oscar-nominated director and producer whose movies included In the Heat of the Night, Moonstruck, and many others.

RIP, Mark Stephen Wicks, co-founder and co-owner of Houston’s iconic Hot Bagel Shop, one of my personal faves since I first found it in the 90s. For many years it was on my preferred route to work, and let’s just say I’ve had my share of breakfasts there. Some combination of Mark, his brother Donald, their mother in the early days and their daughters now, were always there cheerfully slinging bagels. Houston’s food scene has grown and diversified and matured a lot since those days but there’s still no one that does bagels better than they do. My sincere condolences to the Wicks family.

“Although state transportation agencies put resources into quests for traffic puns, research suggests that their efforts are pointless. The federal recommendation against witty messaging boards—it’s not an outright ban—is overdue and welcome. In fact, it doesn’t go far enough.”

RIP, Charles Osgood, journalist and Emmy-winning anchor of CBS Sunday Morning.

“You are not a victim. You are not the object of a political prosecution. These are circumstances of your own making.”

“As Donald Trump and his campaign spend millions to try and win back the White House, some of his staunchest supporters are selling off property and pleading for money on the internet to defend themselves against charges that they broke the law to help him the last time he ran.” You know that picture of Grumpy Cat that has “GOOD!” for a caption? That’s me right now.

“Specificity means credibility. It makes things concrete. It proposes a straightforward transactional commitment, a specific, actionable promise. No vagueness. The specificity also allows constant messaging over the course of the election year as each senator lines up to pledge to do it. The Biden campaign’s new push is a big step in the right direction. But more specificity, a more concrete promise, is necessary to fully mobilize lopsided public opinion on this issue in favor of holding the White House and Congress.”

Posted in Blog stuff | Tagged | 1 Comment

How are the city’s talks with H-GAC going?

Posted on January 28, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Things seemed to be going reasonably well. The deadline had passed but no one seemed to fussed about it.

Despite a deadline set by Houston voters for early January, the process to increase Houston’s role in regional planning will take at least another month, as concerns from other local governments complicate negotiations.

Last November, Houstonians approved a ballot measure that aims to give the city more representation on the Houston-Galveston Area Council. Comprising over 100 local governments, the council makes key regional decisions and distributes federal funding in areas like flood protection, workforce development and large-scale infrastructure.

Houston, making up over 30% of the region’s population, has only two seats on H-GAC’s 37-member board. The recent ballot measure compels the city to leave any government council that does not apportion votes based on population, giving city officials 60 days to either renegotiate with H-GAC or withdraw from the group altogether.

Facing concerns from some representatives of smaller jurisdictions, however, H-GAC officials decided last week to spend an additional month educating members about the potential impacts of a revamped voting structure.

Waller County Judge Trey Duhon, leading an H-GAC committee in charge of reviewing the board’s voting structure, said the holiday season made adhering to the 60-day timeframe challenging, but assured the public that the team is working on the matter with urgency.

“There are some folks that still feel like they need a little bit more time to digest some of the legal ramifications, some of the impacts that this will have,” Duhon said at H-GAC’s monthly board meeting on Jan. 19. “Everybody wants to be very deliberate in this process.”

[…]

Having exceeded the 60-day deadline, the city of Houston now faces the possibility of legal challenges. But Smither said her group is so far content with the progress made by Houston and H-GAC officials.

“We see good faith progress,” [Alexandra Smither, spokesperson for the grassroots advocacy group Fair for Houston,] said. “I would say right now, we are fully living in the moment of being supportive of this process.”

H-GAC officials have crafted and presented proposals to amend the voting structure of both their own board and the board of their Transportation Policy Council.

The current proposals envision a two-layer voting structure for both the H-GAC board and the Transportation Policy Council board. In both cases, the existing board would handle everyday decisions, but members would have the option to invoke a second vote. This second vote would be done by a different board that takes into account each jurisdiction’s population size.

Houston, for instance, would have 5% of the vote on the H-GAC board in the first instance but 23% in the second. The aim, according to H-GAC officials, is to acknowledge population differences while also ensuring that Houston and Harris County do not monopolize every discussion.

Many H-GAC members, including Houston and Harris County officials, expressed support for the proposals at the latest board meeting last week. Several members, however, raised concerns. They resisted the notion of granting more power to Houston and Harris County and argued that the proposed system is overly convoluted.

“I personally am opposed to this whole process,” Montgomery County Judge Mark Keough said. “We didn’t create this problem…but we’re just kind of offering it up and changing how we do everything.”

Houston Council Member Sallie Alcorn, recently elected chair of H-GAC’s board of directors, emphasized the city’s desire to remain in the council but also highlighted the limitations imposed by the approved ballot measure.

“We’re kind of in uncharted territory,” Alcorn said. “I do think to honor the charter amendment, there would be at least some discussions of what that would mean for the city of Houston if we would have to leave. I don’t know how that plays out. I’m hoping we don’t have to get there.”

See here for the previous update. And then the Transportation Policy Council, which was also required to undertake similar reforms, had a meeting on Friday to discuss that and it all went to hell.

The Houston region’s transportation board stepped into uncharted territory Friday, with suburban members of the board nixing consideration of proportional voting to satisfy a Houston ballot measure.

The decision, which could have ramifications for regional planning and potentially funding, leaves Houston members of the board caught between the will of their voters and the unwillingness of their regional peers to adjust.

“We were hoping it would not come to this, but it did,” Houston City Council Member Sallie Alcorn said, after the Houston-Galveston Area Council’s Transportation Policy Council ended work on a proportional voting plan.

The goal here was to reform H-GAC in a way that better represented Houston. Leaving is the last resort. If Fair for Houston is content with how the negotiations are going, that’s good enough for me. According to the story we should see some action at the next board meeting in about a month. If things are still at an impasse then, we’ll see if that moves us closer to the leave option.

In ending work on the plan, policy council members also denied Alcorn’s request for another 30 days to work on compromises, saying a deal was unattainable.

“I have heard from my constituents, and they do not want to change the voting structure, period,” Pearland Mayor Kevin Cole said.

Alcorn, also chairwoman of the H-GAC board of directors, said she would consult with the city’s legal department about what options are available going forward. While the decision does not immediately halt projects or stop planning for new roads and transit, it casts doubt on how Houston participates.

[…]

Without Houston on the regional board, under certain scenarios, the region could begin to lose out on federal funding or become less competitive for grants when the Houston area cannot provide universal support for projects.

That risk, however, did not prompt officials to move ahead without voting changes. Calling the idea of proportional voting everything from a confusing plan to a power grab, the majority suburban members of the transportation council defended the status quo of every member of the 27-person board being equal.

“In every instance this body has come together and voted for what is best for the region,” Sugar Land Mayor Joe Zimmerman said.

Very few of those votes have been contentious, but rancor has been growing since a 2021 decision to support the planned rebuild of Interstate 45 in Houston, over the objections of transportation council members from Houston and Harris County.

Since then, suburban officials have lamented changes to both H-GAC policy and project rankings, arguing they are too advantageous for urban areas as opposed to growing suburban regions.

Transportation council members voted 20-6 to end any work by H-GAC staff on proportional voting. The vote was opposed by Houston’s three members of the committee and appointees of Harris County, Metropolitan Transit Authority and Gulf Coast Rail District.

The minority, however, had support from Fort Bend County Commissioner Grady Prestage, who pointedly called the refusal to even continue discussions “pretty disrespectful and disingenuous.”

“We are serving a half-baked cake right now, and I think we need that month,” he said in support of Alcorn’s request for time, though he later voted with suburban interests. “I don’t like the spirit of that.”

Prestage added that ending the discussions “won’t heal some of the wounds we are going to inflict right now.”

Don’t forget the screw job on federal storm mitigation funds, which wasn’t part of the TPC but was part of the overall complaint about H-GAC. I will stipulate that the overall record for H-GAC and its representatives has been reasonable and focused on the needs of the region as a whole. I don’t know what the specific complaints of the suburban areas are about the H-GAC policy and project rankings, but they have the majority of the power and we have seen clear examples of how their representatives in the Legislature and Congress think about Houston, so trusting them to do right by us based on historic performance is not a bet I’m willing to make. There were provisions built into the voting reform proposals to ensure that Houston and Harris County did not have an unassailable majority to force its will on the rest of the body. They could have kept the dialog going to see what kind of consensus could be reached. This right here is why it was possible to convince a large number of Houston voters why change was needed.

I don’t know what happens next. I’ve been concerned about that possibility all along, but I was hopeful that compromise could be reached. Maybe people will cool off over the weekend and want to give it another go. If not, well, we tried. A few statements from Fair for Houston advocates before we go, from the Yes on Prop B Twitter feed:

Fair for Houston hasn’t released their statement yet; I’ll update when they do. In the meantime, we wait and see what happens next.

Posted in Local politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Paxton harasses another out of state clinic

Posted on January 28, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Disgusting, but par for the course with our degenerate AG.

A crook any way you look

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is seeking medical records from a Georgia telehealth clinic that offers gender transition care to young people in Texas and other states where the treatment has been banned.

The request, confirmed by the clinic’s founder, is similar to one Paxton sent to Seattle Children’s Hospital last year. Seattle Children’s has sued to block the release. LGBTQ advocates have criticized Paxton’s effort as fear-mongering.

The attorney general has not discussed the Seattle inquiry publicly, and his office has declined to say how many medical facilities it’s targeting in total or why. The agency is seeking to withhold records of any other similar petitions, which Hearst Newspapers requested under the state’s public information law.

But the investigation appears to be broader than originally known.

Karen Loewy, a lawyer with Lambda Legal, which represents Texas families of transgender children, said she has spoken with a “handful” of people whose organizations have received demands similar to Seattle Children’s. She declined to name them or give an exact number.

The provider in Georgia, QueerMed, serves patients from nearly all states, including Texas. The group’s founder, Dr. Izzy Lowell, said she had consulted with her lawyers but couldn’t otherwise comment on how she plans to respond to Paxton’s request.

“I’m not breaking any laws,” Lowell said. “We are doing everything by the book according to state law.”

[…]

Legal experts and LGBTQ advocates say Paxton has little power to force hospitals outside of Texas to comply with his demands. The Texas ban, Senate Bill 14, only allows Paxton to sue providers in the state.

“There is nothing in SB 14 that authorizes this whatsoever,” Loewy said. “I don’t really understand how on earth this is anything other than a scare tactic of trying to stop families in Texas from lawfully traveling someplace else to obtain medically necessary care for their kids.”

Ricardo Martinez, CEO of Equality Texas, said Paxton was “grasping for power beyond the state boundaries.”.

He “ has no other motive than to intimidate and terrify law-abiding Texas families, Martinez said.”

Sharona Hoffman, a professor of law and bioethics at Case Western Reserve University, said Paxton’s requests could be blocked by a federal law restricting the release of medical information, known as HIPAA. The law contains an exception for criminal investigations, but it’s unclear what law enforcement role Paxton would be taking – or have the power to take – here.

“A government cannot just say, ‘We’re interested in this, we’re not going to do anything with this, spill the beans,” Hoffman said.

Paxton and the attorney general’s office have been unusually quiet about the inquiry. The agency declined to release records that would name other hospitals or providers targeted by the investigative demand letters, citing pending and anticipated litigation, including the Seattle Children’s case.

See here for more on the Seattle Children’s Hospital case. I’m not qualified to discuss the HIPAA implications of these requests – I Am Not A Lawyer and I know little about HIPAA. My ignorant layman’s guess is that there’s some kind of law enforcement exception that Paxton is using in these demand letters, but again I don’t know. I welcome someone who does know weighing in. Even in my ignorance, I feel pretty confident saying that patient privacy would be a reason why these hospitals would decline to respond. (In the Seattle case, a Washington has cited a law from that state that prevents Seattle Children’s from complying.)

A bigger question is how does Ken Paxton know to target these facilities? What evidence did he have to compel him to send them the demand letters? Again, not a HIPAA expert in any sense, but the fact that patients from Texas were being treated there – assuming, in fact, that they were – seems to me to be knowledge that he shouldn’t have. Are there informants of some kind out there? That sure would open a big can of worms. Or is he just going down a list of facilities that are known to provide gender affirming care to minors and targeting them all? In your televised legal dramas, this is what a judge would call a “fishing expedition” and deny the cops’/prosecutors’ request for a search warrant. How would this be different?

I’m sure there are other, probably better and more on-point questions that could be raised here. Towards that end, given the secrecy with which Paxton is operating here, I hope that both the media outlets that are trying to request this information from the AG’s office as well as groups like Lambda Legal file a lawsuit to force its release. That could obviously take some time, but the principle is too important to let that be an obstacle. Maybe the publicity will spur other providers to come forward if they have been targeted as well. We need a lot of sunshine here.

I’ll keep an eye on this. In the meantime, there’s another matter to discuss.

Civil rights organizations are calling on the United Nations to examine and publicly make statements against anti-LGBTQ legislation and statements from Texas legislators in what the organizations call a “concrete attack against LGBTQIA+” communities in the state.

The 37-page joint letter was sent to working groups at the United Nations. The letter mainly focuses on seven anti-LGBTQ bills passed by the Legislature in its 2023 session. More than 140 anti-LGBTQ bills were filed during the session, according to Equality Texas, which submitted the letter alongside the ACLU of Texas, GLAAD, the Human Rights Campaign and the Human Rights Clinic at the University of Texas at Austin School of Law.

“Together these laws are a systemic attack on the fundamental rights, dignities, and identities of LGBTQIA+ persons that opens the gates for discrimination by both public and private actors,” said the joint news release.

You can see a copy of the letter here. I admit, my immediate reaction on seeing this story, which I saw before the one I wrote about above, was that it was a futile gesture, since obviously there’s no way this will alter the stance of any homo/transphobic Texas Republican. But clearly the point here is to name and call attention to the problem, which the letter writers correctly identify as a looming human rights crisis. This second known example of Paxton seeking to extort medical information about children is as clear an indicator as there could be. We can’t do much legislatively right now and the courts are tepid at best, but we can make a case for political action and change in this election year. We’ve got to start somewhere. The Statesman, the Trib, and the Observer have more.

Posted in Legal matters | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Paxton harasses another out of state clinic

How should state agencies use artificial intelligence?

Posted on January 28, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

We’ve now got a committee for that.

When the Texas Workforce Commission became inundated with jobless claims in March 2020, it turned to artificial intelligence.

Affectionately named for the agency’s former head Larry Temple, who had died a year earlier, “Larry” the chatbot was designed to help Texans sign up for unemployment benefits.

Like a next generation FAQ page, Larry would field user-generated questions about unemployment cases. Using AI language processing, the bot would determine which answer prewritten by human staff would best fit the user’s unique phrasing of the question. The chatbot answered more than 21 million questions before being replaced by Larry 2.0 last March.

Larry is one example of the ways artificial intelligence has been used by state agencies. Adaptation of the technology in state government has grown in recent years. But that acceleration has also sparked fears of unintended consequences like bias, loss of privacy or losing control of the technology. This year, the Legislature committed to taking a more active role in monitoring how the state is using AI.

“This is going to totally revolutionize the way we do government,” said state Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, R-Southlake, who wrote a bill aimed at helping the state make better use of AI technology.

In June, Gov. Greg Abbott signed that bill, House Bill 2060, into law, creating an AI advisory council to study and take inventory of the ways state agencies currently utilize AI and assess whether the state needs a code of ethics for AI. The council’s role in monitoring what the state is doing with AI does not involve writing final policy.

Artificial intelligence describes a class of technology that emulates and builds upon human reasoning through computer systems. The chatbot uses language processing to understand users’ questions and match it to predetermined answers. New tools such as ChatGPT are categorized as generative AI because the technology generates a unique answer based on a user prompt. AI is also capable of analyzing large data sets and using that information to automate tasks previously performed by humans. Automated decision making is at the center of HB 2060.

More than one third of Texas state agencies are already utilizing some form of artificial intelligence, according to a 2022 report from the Texas Department of Information Resources. The workforce commission also has an AI tool for job seekers that provides customized recommendations of job openings. Various agencies are using AI for translating languages into English and call center tools such as speech-to-text. AI is also used to enhance cybersecurity and fraud detection.

[…]

As adoption of AI has grown, so have worries around the ethics and functionality of the technology. The AI advisory council is the first step toward oversight of how the technology is being deployed. The seven-member council will include a member of the state House and the Senate, an executive director and four individuals appointed by the governor with expertise in AI, ethics, law enforcement and constitutional law.

Samantha Shorey is an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Austin who has studied the social implications of artificial intelligence, particularly the kind designed for increased automation. She is concerned that if technology is empowered to make more decisions, it will replicate and exacerbate social inequality: “It might move us towards the end goal more quickly. But is it moving us towards an end goal that we want?”

Proponents of using more AI view automation as a way to make government work more efficiently. Harnessing the latest technology could help speed up case management for social services, provide immediate summaries of lengthy policy analysis or streamline the hiring and training process for new government employees.

However, Shorey is cautious about the possibility of artificial intelligence being brought into decision-making processes such as determining who qualifies for social service benefits, or how long someone should be on parole. Earlier this year, the U.S. Justice Department began investigating allegations that a Pennsylvania county’s AI model intended to help improve child welfare was discriminating against parents with disabilities and resulting in their children being taken away.

AI systems “tend to absorb whatever biases there are in the past data,” said Suresh Venkatasubramanian, director of the Center for Technology Responsibility at Brown University. Artificial intelligence that is trained on data that includes any kind of gender, religious, race or other bias is at risk of learning to discriminate.

In addition to the problem of flawed data reproducing social inequality, there are also privacy concerns around the technology’s dependence on collecting large amounts of data. What the AI could be doing with that data over time is also driving fears that humans will lose some control over the technology.

“As AI gets more and more complicated, it’s very hard to understand how these systems are working, and why they’re making decisions the way they do,” Venkatasubramanian said.

As someone who works in cybersecurity, I can attest that AI is heavily used in our field. (It’s probably more accurate to call it “machine learning”, but I’ll leave the taxonomy to those with more expertise on that matter.) This is because we handle absolutely mind-boggling amounts of data every day (like, multiple terabytes of incoming data to analyze each day) and this is the only way to get a handle on it. Whatever email system you’re using, your inbox has less spam and phishing in it because of AI. There are plenty of good use cases for this.

There are also legitimate concerns about hard-wiring biases into decision-making processes, and of course of replacing human workers with automated systems. I’m in agreement with the masses that some form of regulation needs to be in place for AI going forward, though what that looks like and how it will be enforced are very much up in the air. I’m also persuaded by the argument that a good countervailing force against the overuse of AI is with stronger protections for labor, with the SAG and WGA strikes and resulting settlements showing a good path forward. This new AI advisory council is due to present a report to the Lege by the end of the year, and I look forward to seeing what they come up with.

Posted in The great state of Texas | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Can we have a do-over on that impeachment thing?

Posted on January 27, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

What an interesting question.

Sen. Drew Springer

Republican state Sen. Drew Springer called for Lt. Gov Dan Patrick and the Texas Senate to consider reopening impeachment proceedings against Attorney General Ken Paxton.

In a letter to Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and the state Senate posted Thursday evening on X, Springer said Paxton’s recent decision to stop contesting a whistleblower lawsuit by former agency executives amounted to an admission of guilt to at least one of the articles of impeachment.

“At this stage, and the point of this letter, I am asking the Senate whether there is a legal mechanism to reopen the impeachment proceedings,” Springer wrote. “Failure to at least consider this possibility runs the risk of AG Paxton making a mockery of the Senate.”

Springer voted to acquit Paxton on all 16 articles of impeachment after a two-week trial in September. He said that at the time he believed it was the right thing to do.

But that, Springer wrote, was before Paxton announced last week that his office will no longer fight a whistleblower lawsuit by four former agency executives who say they were improperly fired in 2020 after reporting Paxton to law enforcement over bribery and corruption allegations.

Paxton said he had been vindicated by his acquittal in the impeachment trial but would stop fighting the lawsuit – and accept whatever damages were awarded to the former officials – to prevent further taxpayer resources from being spent on the case.

“He can’t accept the whistleblower’s claims against him while touting that he’s innocent against those very claims,” said Springer, who is not seeking reelection in November.

[…]

Springer said the Legislature “deserves a complete record” if asked to fund a judgment in the case, which Texas law requires if the state is found liable for more than $250,000 in damages.

“That record must include AG Paxton answering questions under oath so that the Legislature may determine whether to fund any judgment in this case,” he said.

Article 15 of the Texas Constitution, which sets the impeachment duties of the House and Senate, does not include a provision to reopen or reconsider impeachment proceedings.

See here for some background, and here for Sen. Springer’s post on Twitter. Gotta hand it to the guy, he recognized when he was being taken for an absolute fool. One can certainly argue that he should have shown this level of skepticism a few months ago, but I’ll still give him credit for taking this action now, as Paxton has indeed loudly contradicted his own claims of innocence; as the letter says, this is “an admission of guilt” and to “violating at least one – and potentially more – of the articles of impeachment”. Reporting at the time of the impeachment trial suggested that several other Senators at least considered voting guilty on at least one of the counts, but as there were never enough to convict on any count most of the Republicans that had considered voting guilty backed out. One wonders how many of them are thinking along the same lines as Sen. Springer now.

Of course, one key fact about Sen. Springer is that like nearly every Republican that has shown a milligram of courage against a certain other crime-loving overlord of theirs, he is fixing to retire. Paxton naturally homed in on that:

A spokesperson for Patrick, who served as judge in the trial, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

On Thursday evening, Paxton said in a statement to the Tribune, “Springer has to leave the senate because he was such a bad senator, wasn’t going to get re-elected, and needed a job. Why should anyone listen to his sour grapes.”

One also wonders if Dan Patrick is capable of noticing that Paxton played him for an idiot, too. Be that as it may, the answer to the initial question appears to be that no, there is no take-backsies provision for impeachment in the Constitution, though I suppose another batch of legislators could initiate a new impeachment process. Maybe the specter of that will prevent Greg Abbott from calling any further special sessions. At least we may finally get that sworn Paxton testimony/a> that Sen. Springer wants. This has the potential to be quite the little drama. The Dallas Observer has more.

Posted in Scandalized!, That's our Lege | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

More on why we need a split primary

Posted on January 27, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Votebeat fills in some blanks.

Some Texas election officials are running out of time before the March 5 primary to find sufficient polling locations, equipment, and election workers mandated by a new Republican-backed election law, and may not be able to meet its requirements.

The new law requires certain counties currently using vote centers for countywide voting to drastically increase the number of polling locations. Election officials say the new mandate is costly, and presents a series of new challenges for the counties that must comply.

In some counties, election officials are concerned about whether they’ll have enough money to purchase more equipment and pay rental fees for additional locations. In others, it’s unclear whether they’ll find enough election workers to staff more voting sites.

[…]

The new law, Senate Bill 924, took effect in September and prevents counties that use the countywide voting program from combining small voting precincts into larger ones. In other words, election officials in those counties — about 90 across the state, where voters can cast a ballot anywhere in their county on Election Day — were able to centralize voting across lots of precincts that due to redistricting have fewer than 500 voters. Some of those smaller precincts have only 10 voters and there are some with just one voter each. The flexibility of combining them saved counties money by using a single polling site to serve several voters in a high-traffic area or where it’s more convenient for them to cast a ballot.

Whether these counties will have to drastically increase their numbers of polling locations in November will depend on how many they already operate in general elections. Some already offer a large number of locations and would not need to add more to comply.

The bill wasn’t designed to have this effect.

Senate Bill 924, as originally written by a North Texas Republican, state Sen. Drew Springer, gave smaller counties that don’t use countywide voting the option to combine precincts. Lawmakers didn’t change that part. Those counties can now group precincts together, as long as such combinations don’t grow to more than 10,000 registered voters — double what was previously allowed.

But a last-minute amendment on the House floor in May introduced by state Rep. John Bucy, an Austin Democrat, changed how counties using the countywide voting program must calculate the number of voting sites they offer, forcing the minimum number of sites higher. The amended bill passed solely on Republican votes, with Bucy voting against it and without a public hearing.

Bucy told Votebeat in August that the purpose of his amendment was to protect voting access and prevent the loss of more voting locations.

Springer acknowledged the problems the new law had created. To fix the unintended problems, in the middle of last year’s third called special session, Springer filed more legislation, Senate Bill 76. The bill, which specifically strikes the amendment introduced by Bucy, did not get a hearing and died without a vote.

See here for the background. I skipped the recap of Harris County’s issues as that’s covered in my earlier post. The main thing of note there is that the Harris County GOP is going to ask for the law to be updated so we can have separate primaries again. Other counties are running into issues finding enough polling places, which is always a concern. You can read all that as you see fit.

I wanted to know more about why Rep. Bucy introduced that amendment, so I went and read that story from August, which I either didn’t see at the time or didn’t give much thought to.

As originally written, Springer’s bill gives smaller counties that aren’t in the countywide voting program the option to combine precincts. Lawmakers didn’t change that part. Those counties can now group precincts together, as long as such combinations don’t grow to more than 10,000 registered voters — double what was previously allowed.

In the bill’s House Election Committee report, Springer gave an example in Denton County — which does not use countywide voting — where a precinct comprising a pair of retirement communities had grown so large, it forced a split into two different precincts. One of those precincts, however, did not have an adequate facility for a polling location. Springer said those residents “would be better served if two voting precincts could be combined” so that one centralized facility could be used as a polling location.

Then, state Rep. John Bucy, an Austin Democrat, introduced a last-minute amendment on the House floor in May that changes the way counties using the countywide voting program must calculate the number of voting sites they offer, forcing the minimum number of sites higher.

Bucy told Votebeat the purpose of his amendment was to protect voting access and prevent the loss of more voting locations.

“In a state that’s already the hardest to vote, I didn’t want to see access to the ballot box shrink even more,” he said and acknowledged that some counties have a hard time finding adequate polling locations and the workers to run them. But he did not remember receiving any pushback on his amendment during the legislative session, he said.

“We’ll see how it goes,” Bucy said. “And we’ll continue to be open to adjusting [legislation] as we always need to be and as we see unintended consequences of legislation.”

The Legislature passed the bill solely on Republican votes in both chambers, with Bucy voting against the bill in the end. The law does not provide any type of additional funding for counties to pay additional election workers or to pay for expenses associated with finding new locations. If counties do not provide the additional locations or otherwise fail to comply with the new rules, they could be sued by candidates or advocacy groups.

The Bucy amendment itself doesn’t mention that formula, but I presume its existence has an effect on the original law that enabled the countywide voting program. I don’t have the energy to try to suss all that out, but the bottom line effect is what we have seen, that many counties had to increase the number of available polling places, which in turn led to the need for Harris County to do the joint primary. We’re using more locations for this election than we have done in the past, but we have used many more locations for general elections, so finding new places wasn’t our problem. We’ll see what the Lege does in 2025. I get what Rep. Bucy had in mind, I hope we don’t go too far in remediating it.

Posted in Election 2024, That's our Lege | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on More on why we need a split primary

Three new Hall of Famers

Posted on January 27, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Congratulations all around.

The Baseball Writers’ Association of America Hall of Fame ballot boom was back in a big way with the announcement of a three-person Class of 2024 on Tuesday night.

Masterful third baseman Adrián Beltré and decorated Twins catcher Joe Mauer both achieved entry into the National Baseball Hall of Fame on their first BBWAA ballot, while power-hitting Rockies first baseman Todd Helton was elected on his sixth try, in results revealed on MLB Network.

The BBWAA-elected trio will join Contemporary Baseball Era Committee electee Jim Leyland in an induction ceremony to be held on July 21 at the Clark Sports Center in Cooperstown, N.Y.

“It’s something I never even dreamed of,” said Beltré, who joked about letting the Hall’s call go to voicemail when he was given the news. “I can’t even believe I’m going to be on the same podium with those guys.”

Players must have their names checked by at least 75% of ballots submitted. Beltré had 95.1% support, Helton reached 79.7%, and Mauer, at 76.1%, made it by just four votes. Closer Billy Wagner (73.8%) fell just five votes shy of entry and will have his last chance in 2025.

Slugger Gary Sheffield (63.9%) was not able to get the requisite support in his 10th and final try. But two other players — center fielders Andruw Jones (61.6% on his seventh ballot) and Carlos Beltrán (57.1% on his second ballot) — finished above 50%, continuing to build support that could get them in on future ballots.

The election of Beltré, a member of the 400-homer club and one of the best defensive third basemen of all time, was seen as a foregone conclusion. But with several holdovers trending upward and Mauer also reaching eligibility and faring well in public ballot tracking, there was an influx of intrigue to a writers’ voting process that had netted a grand total of two new Cooperstown entrants in the previous three years (David Ortiz in 2022 and Scott Rolen in 2023).

“Very emotional,” Mauer said of his election. “Obviously leading up to today, you reflect on all the people who have an impact on your career and who you are as a man. A lot of emotions. It’s been a whirlwind, that’s for sure.”

Helton had to wait a while longer, having first appeared on the 2019 ballot. He pumped his fist when the awaited call finally came through.

“I was pretty nervous,” Helton said. “I really didn’t think the phone was going to ring. When it rang, I was still in shock.”

See here for more on Jim Leyland. I’m happy for the three honorees, sad that Gary Sheffield didn’t make it, and expect Billy Wagner to get there next year. And I’m ready for pitchers and catchers to report. Here’s the Hall of Fame’s own report, and Fangraphs has more.

Posted in Baseball | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Interview with Rep. Lizzie Fletcher

Posted on January 26, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Rep. Lizzie Fletcher

We’ve made it to the end of this weird week, which includes running this interview on Friday instead of Wednesday as I had originally planned. These things happen, and so we adjust. I still do have two days of interviews in CD07, which was the goal. Today we have the incumbent, Rep. Lizzie Fletcher. A Houston native and attorney, she was elected in the wave of 2018 and has been re-elected twice since then. She serves on the House Committee on Energy & Commerce, and chairs the Trade Task Force and sits on the Health Care Task Force as a member of the New Democrat Coalition. I’ve interviewed her a couple of times, most recently in 2020 when she first ran for re-election. That interview can be found here, and this interview is right here:

PREVIOUSLY:

Karthik Soora, SD15
Michelle Bonton, SD15
Molly Cook, SD15
Rep. Jarvis Johnson, SD15
Todd Litton, SD15
Beto Cardenas, SD15
Annette Ramirez, Tax Assessor
Danielle Bess, Tax Assessor
Jerry Davis, Tax Assessor
Desiree Broadnax, Tax Assessor
Claude Cummings, Tax Assessor
Amanda Edwards, CD18
Pervez Agwan, CD07

Thus endeth weird week. I will run interviews with the candidates for County Attorney and District Attorney next week, which looks to be more normal, and then after that I get into legislative races. You can keep track of all my interviews and judicial Q&As on the ever indispensable Erik Manning spreadsheet.

Posted in Election 2024 | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

We’re beginning to quantify the effect of the abortion ban

Posted on January 26, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Three stories from the Chron about abortion and forced births. The first one involves rape victims. Read carefully.

More than 26K rape-related pregnancies estimated after Texas outlawed abortions.

Texas saw an estimated 26,313 rape-related pregnancies during the 16 months after the state outlawed all abortions, with no exceptions for survivors of rape or incest, according to a study published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

That’s the highest estimate among the 14 states with total abortion bans, with Texas having the largest population, according to the study. The figure helps put the magnitude of the state’s laws into perspective, especially for those who can’t access abortion pills or travel out of state to receive abortion care, said one of the authors, Dr. Kari White of the Texas-based Resound Research for Reproductive Health.

Those estimates “are only going to increase while this total abortion ban is in effect,” White told the Chronicle. “And this really is impacting the people who have survived this experience in really profound ways.”

Following the June 2022 Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade, the researchers estimated there were 519,981 rapes associated with 64,565 pregnancies during the four to 18 months after states implemented total abortion bans. Of those pregnancies, an estimated 5,586 occurred in states with exceptions for rape and 58,979 in states with no exceptions.

In the five states with rape exceptions, strict gestational limits and requirements to report the rape to law enforcement make it harder for most survivors to qualify, the study said. There were 10 or fewer legal abortions per month in the five states with rape exceptions, the study said, indicating that survivors with access to abortion care still cannot receive it in their home state.

“Politicians use the idea of abortion exceptions to provide political cover, but those so-called exceptions don’t actually help pregnant survivors get the care they need,” the study’s lead author, Dr. Samuel Dickman, said in a news release.

[…]

Researchers at Harvard Medical School and The University of California, San Francisco, also carried out the study. They relied on several different sources for their analysis, including survey and crime report data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the FBI and the Bureau of Justice Statistics. They estimated the numbers of girls and women aged 15-45 who had survived rape that could result in pregnancy in each state after the bans took effect, then applied estimates of the pregnancy rate from rape.

The study has its limits. The researchers noted that such “highly stigmatized” experiences are difficult to capture accurately in surveys. They also used sources that contained data from before states implemented abortion bans. The researchers could not analyze trends over time, so it’s also unclear whether the estimates represent an increase from previous years.

Still, the estimates were not entirely surprising, White said, given that sexual assault is common and often goes unreported. “It’s happening in relationships where there is other kinds of reproductive coercion, where people aren’t necessarily able to get contraception,” she said.

I can’t find the press release mentioned above but the study is here and there’s an NPR story that goes into a bit more detail. We can certainly argue about the exact numbers, but there’s no question that the total number of rape victims, including those who are under the age of 18, that are now forced to carry their pregnancies to term is bigger than zero. It’s just a matter of by how much. And it’s likely just a matter of time before some of those rapists sue for custody rights. Oh, and I guess Greg Abbott’s plan to get rid of all the rapists isn’t going as planned. I’m going to say this more than once: This is what the authors of this law wanted. The law is working exactly as planned.

Teen birth rates in Texas rise for first time in 15 years amid abortion ban.

Teen fertility rates in Texas increased for the first time in 15 years in 2022, the year after the state implemented a six-week abortion ban, according to a report published Friday from the University of Houston’s Institute for Research on Women, Gender & Sexuality.

The state’s overall fertility rate, or births per 1,000 women ages 15-44, also rose in 2022 for the first time since 2014, with the sharpest increase among Hispanic women, the report said.

The data offers an early glimpse into the far-reaching effects of Texas abortion laws and helps further illustrate the disproportionate challenges that Hispanic women face when seeking reproductive health care, said Elizabeth Gregory, director of UH Institute for Research on Women, Gender and Sexuality. The report also raises important questions about how state laws might affect the workforce and income levels, she said.

“These are big issues that affect people’s lives in major ways,” she said. “It would be worthwhile having a conversation about it because it affects individual lives of the women, of the children, of their partners, but it also affects the wider economy.”

Fertility rates have been dropping in Texas and nationwide since 2007 due in part to increased access to contraceptives and birth control, the report said. In September 2021, however, Texas implemented one of the earliest and most restrictive abortion bans in the country, prohibiting the procedure after six weeks of pregnancy.

Using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, UH researchers found that Texas had 16,147 more births in 2022 compared with 2021. Adjusted for a population increase, that represented a 2% increase in fertility rates across all racial groups in Texas and a 2.9% increase in Harris County.

Hispanic women accounted for most of those additional births (13,503), for a fertility rate increase of 5.1% compared to 2021, the report said. The fertility rate among Asian women rose by 0.9%, while Black and white women saw their fertility rates drop by 0.6% and 2%, respectively.

[…]

Texas’ steady decline in teen birth rates also ended in 2022, with a slight uptick of .39% across all racial groups. Harris County’s teen birth rate increased by 1.8% in 2022.

The teen birth trend will have short and long-term effects on the regional workforce, the report said. Young parents may drop out of school, leaving them with lower education and skill levels. Many likely will be searching for low-wage jobs, the report said.

“This is potentially a precursor of what data we’ll see next year coming out in relation to 2023 fertility data that will reflect the Dobbs decision,” said Gregory, referring to the June 2022 Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade.

That study is here. There was an earlier story about this study that didn’t include the teen birth rate. Texas Republicans have also been waging an unrelenting war on access to birth control and women’s health care in general, and when you put it all together this is what you get. Again, working as intended. TPR has an interview with study author Elizabeth Gregory if you want to know more.

This Slate article about how red state Attorneys General, including of course our own Ken Paxton, have vilified pregnant women in court for daring to seek an exception to their state’s forced birth laws, is a couple weeks old now but this feels like the right place to include it.

For many years before S.B. 8 passed in Texas and was then swept into existence by the Supreme Court, and before Dobbs ushered in a more formal regime of forced childbirth six months later, the groups leading the charge against reproductive rights liked to claim that they loved pregnant women and only wanted them to be safe and cozy, stuffed chock-full of good advice and carted around through extra-wide hallways for safe, sterile procedures in operating rooms with only the best HVAC systems. Then Dobbs came down and within minutes it became manifestly clear that these advocates actually viewed pregnant people as the problem standing in the way of imaginary, healthy babies—and that states willing to privilege fetal life would go to any and all lengths to ensure that actual patients’ care, comfort, informed consent, and very survival would be subordinate.

You should read the rest, but be warned, it will make you very, very angry. I’ll say it one more time: These laws are working exactly as intended.

UPDATE: More from the Trib.

Posted in The great state of Texas | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on We’re beginning to quantify the effect of the abortion ban

No, really, Paxton ordered to sit for deposition

Posted on January 26, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Oh yeah.

A crook any way you look

Attorney General Ken Paxton’s efforts to end a whistleblower lawsuit against him has been dealt another blow after a Travis County judge denied his attempt to end the case without being deposed.

The ruling, which Paxton’s office publicized in an angry statement late Wednesday, means Paxton remains ordered to sit for a deposition on Feb. 1 in the wrongful termination suit filed in 2020 under the Texas Whistleblower Act. The lawsuit from four of Paxton’s former top aides allege that they were fired as punishment for reporting Paxton to the FBI on suspicion of bribery. The aides said they believed Paxton was misusing his office to help campaign donor and friend Nate Paul.

Paxton has previously sought to block his deposition and end the suit, but earlier this month, the 3rd Texas Court of Appeals and the Texas Supreme Court affirmed a lower court’s decision to force him to testify under oath. The deposition was set for Feb. 1.

Last week, Paxton tried to end the long-running dispute, when he said he would no longer contest the facts of the case and would accept any judgment. Paxton denied any wrongdoing, framing the move as an effort to end a costly and distracting lawsuit, not an admission of guilt.

Travis County Judge Jan Soifer’s latest decision means Paxton could have to answer questions about the case that led to his impeachment trial.

In a statement, Paxton condemned the judge’s decision, saying the court was “recklessly disregarding legal precedent, abusing the litigation system, and displaying shocking bias.”

See here, here, and here for the previous updates. What a fucking weenie this guy is. I’d like to have a more sophisticated bit of analysis here, but sometimes a bit of profanity is all that’s really needed. The article says that Paxton had not yet decided whether or not to appeal, but come on, we know he will. Delay, delay, delay, that’s the goal here. It would be very nice if the appeals court and the Supreme Court respond with promptness, since they’ve pretty much already answered this question. And then maybe, finally, we’ll see what Ken Paxton has to say for himself when he’s under oath.

Posted in Legal matters | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Texas blog roundup for the week of January 22

Posted on January 26, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

The Texas Progressive Alliance is still thawing itself out as it brings you this week’s roundup.

Continue reading →

Posted in Blog stuff | Tagged , | Comments Off on Texas blog roundup for the week of January 22

Interview with Pervez Agwan

Posted on January 25, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Pervez Agwan

I said on Monday that this was going to be a slightly weird week schedule-wise, and so it remains. My intent was to follow with my interview with Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, but the schedule gods had other ideas. That is now in the works to run tomorrow. Today we have my conversation with Pervez Agwan, who is challenging Rep. Fletcher in CD07, which was substantially redrawn in 2021 to include a significant portion of Fort Bend and is now more racially and ethnically diverse. Agwan is the child of immigrants who grew up in Richmond and got degrees from Texas A&M and MIT. He is a renewable energy developer after previously working in oil and gas. As you likely know, there have been two stories published by the Houston Landing about a lawsuit filed by a former staffer on the campaign that accused Agwan and one of his campaign directors of sexual harassment. I asked him about that in the interview, and you can hear what he said about that and about numerous other topics here:

PREVIOUSLY:

Karthik Soora, SD15
Michelle Bonton, SD15
Molly Cook, SD15
Rep. Jarvis Johnson, SD15
Todd Litton, SD15
Beto Cardenas, SD15
Annette Ramirez, Tax Assessor
Danielle Bess, Tax Assessor
Jerry Davis, Tax Assessor
Desiree Broadnax, Tax Assessor
Claude Cummings, Tax Assessor
Amanda Edwards, CD18

So yeah, this week is a little weird. Look for the interview with Rep. Fletcher tomorrow. No further updates on scheduling an appointment with Rep. Jackson Lee for her interview at this time. I still plan to run interviews with the candidates for County Attorney and District Attorney next week. You can keep track of all my interviews and judicial Q&As on the ever indispensable Erik Manning spreadsheet.

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More NES schools coming

Posted on January 25, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Not a surprise, in fact entirely expected, but I do have a question.

As many as 40 schools will be added to Houston ISD Superintendent Mike Miles’ New Education System in the 2024-25 school year, the district announced Tuesday, bringing the state-appointed leader’s controversial reform program to nearly half the district and raising concerns among some school communities.

Miles’ announcement coincided with HISD’s release of campus accountability ratings, which have been delayed in court by at least 100 school districts that claim the Texas Education Agency’s new formula would unduly harm scores. The TEA, in response to the litigation, released its methodology and STAAR data directly to districts, allowing them to calculate their own ratings.

Rather than bring entire feeder patterns into the New Education System, as Miles did with the first set, the district used the state’s would-be accountability ratings to determine the batch set of NES schools. Twenty F-rated schools that weren’t already among the 85 NES and NES-aligned campuses in HISD will be folded into the system next year, along with six low D-rated schools.

Another 24 high D-rated schools, 14 of which will ultimately be accepted, have been given a choice to opt into the program. The 57 NES-aligned schools that volunteered for the reforms last summer will be fully enveloped into the system, as HISD will eliminate the “NES-aligned” distinction and bring the maximum number of NES schools to 125 campuses ahead of the 2024-25 school year.

Miles said that the district focused on D- and F-rated campuses, rather than entire feeder patterns, because one of the criteria for returning HISD to local control is that no school receive a failing grade two consecutive years.

“We need to get out of state intervention and we need to do it as soon as anyone could possibly do it. If we have F-rated campuses, we need to provide them with a different sort of education and different sort of supports so that they have a chance of getting out of intervention,” Miles said. “I feel pretty good that the NES program is going to get more schools growth and they will get out of D or F status, maybe not in one year but certainly in two years.”

The district’s 2023 accountability scores, based on the TEA’s updated methodology, saw many schools’ grades plummet. Out of 268 schools evaluated, 35 were A-rated, 58 received Bs and 52 received Cs. There were 65 D-rated schools, and 58 F-rated schools.

[…]

At Anderson, where the school rating fell from an A in 2022 to an F in 2023, several parents who spoke with the Houston Chronicle said they weren’t familiar with the New Education System or what it entailed. Most said they were happy with the education their kids were receiving but wouldn’t reject any changes out of hand.

“I’ve been satisfied with the school so far, my son is learning enough,” said Anderson parent Kely Dalmes. “But a little extra doesn’t hurt.”

Some parents at other soon-to-be NES schools were more skeptical. Adam Chaney, the father of a second-grader at Stevens Elementary in northwest Houston, said his school community has been bracing for the transition ever since their former principal, Erin Trent, was removed from the campus days before the start of the school year. Chaney questioned how the school could have fallen from a B to an F in the span of just a year, and was particularly frustrated with what he felt was the removal of parents’ agency in the process.

“We didn’t choose this; our elected board was swept away, and Miles was appointed by the state. These decisions are being made without parental input and they’re significantly shifting the culture of HISD,” Chaney said.

Chaney said he’s already noticed an uptick of teachers and families leaving Stevens and worries the trend will continue with the school’s introduction to the New Education System. He said he’s worried about certain aspects of the model — the removal of his school’s librarian and the daily quizzes among them — but that he plans to at least give it a chance next year.

“I believe you can only impact a system you’re engaged in, and somebody has to fight for these parents and teachers and kids,” Chaney said. “But my kid has to come first, and if my kid starts to struggle emotionally or academically, the next year might be a different story.”

I don’t have any problem with Miles’ strategy here. Given the requirement of no F-rated schools for two years in a row, it makes sense to focus on those schools and the ones closest to the edge. Whether NES gets us there or not is a different question, but if one believes that it is the way then this is how it should be deployed.

I also agree with quoted parent Adam Chaney that it’s weird how schools could go all the way from an A or a B to an F in a single year. One assumes that the students haven’t all gotten significantly worse and that the teachers haven’t all forgotten how to teach. I haven’t checked to see how many other schools suffered a similar fate, but unless these two are the outliers, the fact that this was even possible would make me question both the old rating system and the new one. To reach for a slightly odd comparison, the baseball stat sites like Fangraphs and Baseball Reference that have a formula for calculating wins above replacement (WAR) make changes to their formula pretty regularly, to account for new and improved available data and other factors. When they then apply the new formula to the players, it never has the effect of turning a Hall of Famer into a palooka. All of the changes end up within a fairly narrow band, which I say helps reflect and reinforce the underlying reality of the players’ performance. As with the school ratings system here, to do anything else would make you wonder if they’d been doing it all wrong before, or if it had been fine and now they screwed it up.

I could be wrong, I suppose. I’m not an expert in those matters. If there’s a reason why this could happen – other than the students and/or teachers suddenly becoming a lot less proficient at what they do – I’m open to hearing it. Until then, suspicion strikes me as the right course of action.

Speaking of tests and scores, we also heard this:

The announcement marks a major update in the rollout of Miles’ plans for Texas’ largest school district. When Miles was installed by Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath last June amid sanctions against HISD, he promised to overhaul 150 schools by 2030. Despite vocal opposition from some families and staff, he already has unfurled plans to expand the program to as many as 125.

It also comes a day after the HISD community received its first concrete datapoint on student learning at overhauled schools — numbers that appear to endorse the promise of Miles’ program.

Third- through eighth-graders at NES schools learned roughly 25 percent faster in reading and 50 percent faster in math than their peers at non-NES schools, according to results from a standardized test students took last week that HISD provided to the Landing. Miles said he was pleased with the scores, particularly for historically underserved students.

“For Black and Hispanic kids, if they were in an NES school, they did much better than a Black kid in a non-NES school and better than a Hispanic kid in a non-NES school,” Miles said. “That shows that the supports are there for academic achievement.”

What standardized test? What exactly are the scores? What does “learned faster” mean? I’m happy to hear about student improvements, but you’ve gotta tell me more than that.

The Press does have a bit more, but I’ve still got questions:

Encouraged by what he said were significant gains in the scores of students at NES schools on the Northwest Evaluation Association’s Measures of Academic Progress tests last week, Miles clearly feels this will help make his case to parents and educators that his system of more structured classes with a centralized, set curriculum is the way to go to raise test scores and better prepare students for careers and college.

“Preliminary results show that the kids did well on NWA in English and math,” He said this did not surprise him but, “The degree to which they did well did surprise me. They really knocked it out of the park.” This also means that the teachers did well. “The NES schools and the NESA schools did significantly better than the non-NES schools” in terms of growth, he said.

At the same time, he said: “One set of data does not make a trend. So we’ve got a whole bunch of work to do. This is a good set of data but we’ve only been in this transformation for four and a half months. We got a long way to go.”

Maybe I’ve forgotten some of the acronyms from my kids’ elementary and middle school experiences, but the MAP test is not one I recognize. If this is a real result, then great! That’s exactly what you want to see. The size of the improvement (25 percent? FIFTY percent??), the lack of any other detail (like, was everyone taking these tests, or just some kids), and my general distrust of Mike Miles all leave me feeling like I’m not ready to celebrate anything just yet. (The Chron story didn’t mention this at all.) So yes, one set of data isn’t a trend, we agree on that. Tell me more, and we’ll go from there.

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“Living at the office” residency lawsuit update

Posted on January 25, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Noted for the record.

A judge has allowed a Texas Senate candidate backed by state GOP leaders to keep campaigning amid questions about his eligibility. But she has also declined to dismiss the case, letting it move forward ahead of the March primary.

The mixed news arrived Monday for Brent Hagenbuch, one of four Republican candidates competing to replace retiring Sen. Drew Springer, R-Muenster. Hagenbuch, who has the support of Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, has been battling allegations for weeks that he did not meet the residency requirement when he filed for the office.

The latest ruling from Judge Lee Gabriel came in a lawsuit that one Hagenbuch opponent, Carrie de Moor, has filed in Denton County district court. With the litigation dragging on and the primary closing in, de Moor’s lawyers had sought a long-shot remedy from the judge: a temporary injunction to prevent him from campaigning.

The court told the parties Monday that Gabriel would deny that motion for a temporary injunction. But at the same time, she would deny Hagenbuch’s motion to dismiss the case under Texas’ anti-SLAPP lawsuit.

Hagenbuch’s campaign celebrated the ruling, saying the candidate won “another round” against opponents “who thought they could win this election at the courthouse.” Another Hagenbuch rival, Jace Yarbrough, unsuccessfully sought to get a state appeals court to intervene earlier this month.

But de Moor’s campaign emphasized that Gabriel allowed the case to proceed, clearing the way for depositions, subpoenas and a trial.

“We need Mr. Hagenbuch to come in and raise his right hand and put this to bed,” a de Moor lawyer, Mike Alfred, told The Texas Tribune on Tuesday. “He who has nothing to hide hides nothing, so why won’t he come forward, under oath, and answer questions?”

See here for the background. Again, I don’t have a dog in this fight. Nobody involved is worth rooting for. But I am very interested in the possibility that the court will address the featureless void that is our current definition and enforcement of residency requirements for office. The Constitution is clear enough on this point – candidates for State Senate have to reside in the district they are running to represent for at least a year before the November election. Local statutes covering local offices are similarly concise. The problem is that there is no consensus definition of what it means to “reside” in the district. Which is how we end up with candidates who claim offices, warehouses, bachelor pads, the domiciles of various family members, and any other place where one might semi-plausibly claim to eat and sleep as their “residence” for voter registration and candidacy purposes, even as their claim homestead exemptions elsewhere. Maybe in this case a judge will attempt to draw a boundary. Maybe this judge will just throw up her hands and blame the Legislature for not providing any practical guidance. Either way, I want to see how it turns out.

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Judicial Q&A: Judge Robert Schaffer

Posted on January 24, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

(Note: As I have done in past elections, I am running a series of Q&As for judicial candidates in contested Democratic primaries. This is intended to help introduce the candidates and their experiences to those who plan to vote in March. I am running these responses in the order that I receive them from the candidates. Much more information about Democratic primary candidates, including links to the interviews and judicial Q&As, can be found on Erik Manning’s spreadsheet.

Judge Robert Schaffer

1. Who are you and in which court do you preside?

I am Robert Schaffer and I preside over the 152nd District Court. I was first elected to this court in 2009 and have been re-elected in 2012, 2016 and 2020.

2. What kind of cases does this court hear?

There are 64 district courts in Harris County. They are divided into 4 divisions:

(1) Civil Trial Division with 24 courts
(2) Criminal Trial Division with 26 courts
(3) Family Trial Division with 11 courts
(4) Juvenile Trial Division with 3 courts.

The 152nd District Court is a court of general jurisdiction that is in the Civil Trial Division.

If a lawsuit can be filed for damages or a judicial declaration of your rights, the case would be filed in the civil district courts. This would include cases involving contracts, leases, product liability, medical or other professional negligence, motor vehicle collisions, slip and falls or other injuries that occur on someone’s property, job terminations because of some form of illegal discrimination, foreclosures on homes or other property or violating some statute that causes damages or other economic loss.

3. What have been your main accomplishments during your time on this bench?

During his time on the bench, I has served the citizens of Harris County in many capacities. In October of 2013, I was elected by the Harris County District Court judges to serve as Local Administrative Judge for the Harris County District Courts. I served in that position until 2021.

In 2010 I served as a Justice on the 14th Court of Appeals by special assignment.

The State Multidistrict Litigation Panel selected me to serve as the pretrial judge for the Toyota Unintended Acceleration Multidistrict Litigation in 2010, for the GM Ignition Switch Multidistrict Litigation for the state of Texas in 2015 and for the Texas Opioid Litigation in 2018.

I have also served as a member of the Harris County Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee.

In 2013 and 2019 I was selected as the Trial Judge of the Year by the Texas Association of Civil Trial and Appellate Specialists. This is a group of board certified civil trial and appellate specialists.

In 2014 I was honored to be selected as the Distinguished Alum for the South Texas College of Law Alumni Association.

4. What do you hope to accomplish in your courtroom going forward?

Continue overseeing the cases that are filed in the 152nd District Court to see that they are moved through the system efficiently and effectively so that the litigants are assured of having reasonable access to the courts. I also work to ensure that all litigants are treated with courtesy, dignity and respect.

5. Why is this race important?

It is important that the person elected to preside over this court is qualified based on background, experience and temperament.

6. Why should people vote for you in March?

People should vote for me because I am the most qualified person to serve on this bench. I have been a lawyer for 39 years and during that time I have tried cases as a lawyer and presided over cases as a judge. The lawyers who practice in this court have overwhelming stated in judicial evaluation surveys that I do an excellent job.

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The Woodfill/Pressler story keeps getting uglier

Posted on January 24, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Truly gross.

In 2017, a Houston college student wrote to the family of Paul Pressler, warning them that the former Texas judge and Southern Baptist leader was a pedophile.

“There is a serious issue at hand,” he wrote in an email, adding that Pressler had recently touched him and bragged about being naked with young boys. “I do not think Paul should be around small children or have male assistance of any kind.”

Then, the young man said he was resigning as Pressler’s personal aide, and asked that Pressler’s former law partner, Jared Woodfill, stop paying him to work out of Pressler’s Houston mansion.

“My conscience dictates that I step away,” he wrote. “Please take me off the payroll. If I am to continue receiving paychecks from Woodfill in the continuing weeks, I will send them back.”

The email was filed late last year in Harris County district court as part of a lawsuit that accused Woodfill and others of concealing decades of alleged rape by Pressler. It sheds new light on the role that Woodfill, a prominent anti-LGBTQ+ activist who is running in the Texas House with the backing of Attorney General Ken Paxton, played in providing Pressler with access to potential victims.

In March, The Texas Tribune reported that Woodfill had recently testified under oath that he was made aware of child sexual abuse claims against Pressler in 2004, when the two of them were law partners. Despite that, Woodfill continued to lean on the political connections of Pressler — who did almost no work for their firm but was compensated via a string of young, male personal assistants who worked out of his home. Three have accused Pressler of sexual assault or misconduct.

The newly-unearthed email shows that Woodfill continued to furnish Pressler with young aides until at least 2017 — 13 years after he was first warned that Pressler was a sexual predator, and less than a year after he was made aware of new sexual misconduct allegations.

Woodfill has denied any wrongdoing, and said in a text message this week that he had not read the aide’s letter, and does not know him or another man who said in 2004 that Pressler forcibly undressed and groped him. Pressler, 93, has not been criminally charged.

See here for the previous update. It gets worse from there, so read carefully. I’ve said that Harris County Democrats – hell, all Texas Democrats – should be piling on to this for the 2024 campaign, and that continues to be true. What I’m wondering today is at what point Rep. Lacey Hull, Woodfill’s target in the HD138 primary, will say something about it; she did not comment for this story. I suppose with Ken Paxton loudly backing Woodfill, Hull may be reluctant to paint a bigger target on her own back. I’m just saying, the opportunity is right there. If you don’t want to lose to a guy who’s been steadily supplying a child rapist with a source of victims, you have only so much time to make your case.

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On HISD’s budget issues

Posted on January 24, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

They’re Mike Miles’ problem now. It would be nice if he shared with us how he intends to deal with them.

Last fall, when Houston ISD’s new superintendent, Mike Miles, first laid out his expensive plans for Texas’ largest district, several key dominoes still had to fall regarding HISD’s financial future.

Would the number of students enrolled in the district change? Would HISD receive new funds from the state legislature? What would Miles’ overhaul plans look like past Year One?

Now, as HISD begins its process of budgeting for next year, some tiles have landed — and they haven’t gone HISD’s way.

A combination of lost funds, missed opportunities and new programs means HISD will have to find or cut hundreds of millions of dollars to balance next year’s budget if Miles wants to stick to his blueprint for overhauling the district, a Houston Landing analysis shows.

The size of HISD’s budget hole — which totals $250 million this year — raises questions about how Miles will ensure the financial sustainability of Texas’ largest district without cutting some of its roughly 24,500 employees. About three-quarters of HISD’s yearly spending, expected to reach $2.2 billion this year, pays for staff salaries. The other quarter goes to supplies, contracted services, building maintenance and other costs.

Miles has pledged to balance HISD’s budget, acknowledging cuts may be necessary. However, the state-appointed superintendent has declined to discuss which jobs or programs might be impacted. He has vowed student learning and classroom instruction would not be hurt by cost-saving measures.

“In order to expand in some of the areas and prioritize, that means some other areas are deprioritized,” Miles said in mid-December.

But achieving significant cost savings would likely require making significant staffing cuts, not just trimming other parts of the budget, said Bradley Davis, associate professor of educational leadership at the University of Houston.

“If you’re making fractional cuts there to what’s already a fractional portion of the overall budget, that doesn’t strike me as sufficient … to address these larger shortfalls,” Davis said.

The specifics of HISD’s spending plans will likely come into focus in May, when Miles has said his team will present a draft budget to the district’s board of trustees. However, many of the factors contributing to potential financial challenges have already solidified.

[…]

As HISD faces financial headwinds and simultaneously lays out plans for expensive programming, onlookers are questioning the long-term viability of the district’s direction.

University of Texas at Austin education professor David DeMatthews, who has criticized Miles’ leadership, said he worries the new programs will only be able to last a couple years before funding dries up.

“(If) a year later, two years later, you can’t sustain any of these changes, the investment is not going to be really wise,” DeMatthews said. “I think that needs to be a really big concern right now for everyone in the district.”

The story lays out seven areas of concern for HISD in its budget. Some of that Mike Miles inherited, some of it can be laid squarely at Greg Abbott’s feet for holding any public school appropriation increases hostage to his bizarre voucher mania, and some of it is Miles’ NES and other plans. As I’ve said before, I’m very much in favor of boosting teacher and staffer pay, and I’m very much in favor of boosting resources to the schools, but we do need to pay for it, the state is not helping at all, and Mike Miles has been considerably less than forthcoming about how he intends to pay for the things he wants to do. Let’s start with that last bit, and go from there. At least we have some control over that.

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Judicial Q&A: TaKasha Francis

Posted on January 23, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

(Note: As I have done in past elections, I am running a series of Q&As for judicial candidates in contested Democratic primaries. This is intended to help introduce the candidates and their experiences to those who plan to vote in March. I am running these responses in the order that I receive them from the candidates. Much more information about Democratic primary candidates, including links to the interviews and judicial Q&As, can be found on Erik Manning’s spreadsheet.

TaKasha Francis

1. Who are you and what are you running for?

I am TaKasha Francis, running for judge of the 152nd Civil District Court in Harris County. A Houston native, I graduated from Michael E. DeBakey High School for Health Professions in 1994, Texas Southern University in 1999, and Thurgood Marshall School of Law in 2003. Beginning my legal career in the public sector, I served as an Assistant Attorney General in the Child Support Division at the Office of the Attorney General of Texas from 2004 to 2011. Later, I founded The Francis Firm P.C., specializing in Family Law and Civil litigation.

In 2016, I shifted from private practice to public service as a mayoral appointee by Mayor Sylvester Turner. Confirmed unanimously by the Houston City Council, I became the Director of the City of Houston Department of Neighborhoods. In this role, I have played a key role in shaping strategic visions to improve the quality of life for over 2.6 million residents in Harris, Fort Bend, and Montgomery counties. Managing five divisions, I have delivered valuable services, initiated innovative community programs, and fostered strong partnerships within the community.

2. What kind of cases does this court hear?

The 152nd Civil District Court hears civil disputes, determining damages and establishing litigants' rights. Cases within its jurisdiction encompass a range of matters, such as contract disputes, lease conflicts, product liability claims, medical or professional negligence, car accidents, slip and fall injuries, job terminations due to illegal discrimination, property foreclosures, and violations of statutes leading to financial losses. This court does not hear criminal cases or other types of civil law matters in family, probate, or juvenile law.

3. Why are you running for this particular bench?

I am seeking this bench because it is another way to meaningfully serve communities and a natural extension of my role as a public servant. Judges, as public servants, play a vital role in our communities by making decisions that affect people's lives, resolving disputes, and upholding the law. My goal is to continue bridging the gap between the legal system and the public, fostering a better understanding of the law and the judicial process within the community.

My candidacy is driven by a deep commitment to justice, fairness, and the rule of law. My diverse professional background as an attorney and public servant uniquely qualifies me for this role. It provides me with a profound understanding of everyday people and their experiences. I bring a fresh perspective and innovative ideas to the bench, offering a different approach to addressing legal issues and improving efficiency for lawyers, litigants, and jurors.

4. What are your qualifications for this job?

In addition to meeting the statutory requirements for judges outlined in the Texas Government Code, I bring nearly two decades of extensive and diverse legal experience as a trial lawyer. My ethical standards are high, emphasizing fairness and an even temperament. With the ability to thoroughly analyze, interpret, and apply the law, I make well-reasoned decisions based on both legal principles and the facts presented in each case.

Recognized by my peers with awards such as the Mission Ally Award by the Houston Lawyers Association, and distinctions like being named one of the Top 40 Attorneys Under 40 by the National Black Lawyers Organization and Top 50 Black Attorneys in Houston by the D-Mars Business Journal, I have also been honored as one of Houston’s 40 Attorneys Under 40 to Watch by i10 media magazine. Serving on the Alumni board of Thurgood Marshall School of Law adds to my commitment to legal excellence.

My expertise extends to strong conflict resolution skills, demonstrated by successfully mediating cases in private practice, and currently mediating employee and neighborhood grievances as a city director. Beyond experience, I bring a fresh perspective and an innovative approach to the bench. This includes active participation in the community as an essential part of my judicial duties.

My demonstrated commitment to public service and community involvement gives me a unique understanding and appreciation of diverse perspectives and backgrounds. As the director of neighborhoods, I connected the legal community directly with neighborhoods by creating initiatives like the "Month of Service" program, offering free online legal workshops to enhance residents' quality of life.

Having facilitated the first-ever Memorandum of Understanding between the Harris County Dispute Resolution Center and the Department of Neighborhoods, I enabled dispute resolution services for Houston Super neighborhoods and civic clubs. The establishment of Complete Communities University, the city's first civic engagement leadership program, exemplifies my dedication to creating programming aimed at educating emerging leaders on local government and effective advocacy.

My commitment reflects the belief that judges are not detached legal authorities but integral members of the communities they serve, and I intend to continue this work if elected.

5. Why is this race important?

This judicial race is important because civil judges oversee the everyday decisions that impact ordinary people in their daily lives. It is crucial for individuals to have confidence that the judge overseeing their case sees them and recognizes and understands their concerns. They should trust that the judge will treat them and their issues fairly, ensuring equity and justice for all, regardless of their background. This aligns with the shared values that everyone, regardless of political affiliation, desires in judges: impartiality, integrity, fairness, legal knowledge, professionalism, courtesy, efficiency, and a commitment to serving the community.

6. Why should people vote for you in March?

Voters should choose me because I am the only candidate in this race with a diverse professional background as an attorney and public servant. This distinctive qualification uniquely positions me to comprehend the everyday experiences of people and make well-reasoned decisions grounded in both legal principles and presented facts in each case.

Beyond acknowledging the importance of experience, I bring a fresh perspective and an innovative approach to the bench, specifically through active community involvement as an integral part of my judicial duties. Serving as the current Director of Neighborhoods, I am a recognizable presence in the community, and my commitment will be ongoing beyond election season. Valuing diversity of thought, my commitment to upholding ethical standards and building public trust aligns with the principles of justice and the community's needs. I am dedicated to treating everyone fairly and with dignity, regardless of who they are. My legal expertise, temperament, and ability to adapt to an evolving legal environment guarantee efficient service while maintaining a strong emphasis on fairness, impartiality, and transparency.

I am committed to improving judicial efficiency by moving away from outdated processes and programming and maintaining engagement in community initiatives and education. This aims to enhance public understanding of the legal system, court procedures, and civic responsibility.

Voting for me guarantees the fresh perspective and innovative judicial experience that Harris County deserves, and I am eager to contribute to creating a better judicial process and experience for lawyers, litigants, and jurors alike.

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HISD Board declines the use of chaplains

Posted on January 23, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Good call.

Houston ISD’s Board of Managers voted unanimously Thursday to approve a resolution preventing chaplains from serving as hired or volunteer school counselors in the district.

Gov. Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 763 in June, which requires each school board to vote before March 1 on whether to authorize their campuses to hire chaplains to provide mental health support or allow them to serve as volunteers. Under the law, the chaplains do not have to be certified by the State Board for Educator Certification as counselors.

The Board of Managers voted during its monthly meeting to not allow chaplains to be hired for those roles unless they are otherwise qualified. The board members did not discuss their reasoning for voting in favor of the resolution, except to approve minor wording changes to the measure.

“The HISD School Board hereby does not permit hiring chaplains to serve in the capacity of counselors or mental health or behavioral health professionals, except that they, like all applicants, remain eligible for hire if they meet all qualifications for the desired positions and are deemed the best candidates,” the resolution says.

The law allows chaplains to provide behavioral health services, programs related to suicide prevention, intervention and mental health support in schools. The chaplains are also authorized to develop and implement programs focused on restorative justice practices and culturally relevant instruction for students.

State lawmakers passed the bill in 2023 to address a shortage of counselors on school campuses, although community members in certain districts and some chaplains have criticized the bill for bringing religion into schools and not requiring chaplains to be certified or trained.

See here for a bit of background. Please note that 1) people who are chaplains and are also qualified by the state to serve as counselors can still do so at HISD; 2) quite a few actual chaplains think this bill was a bad idea; and 3) the Lege, with a $33 billion budget surplus, chose to take this action instead of allocating more money to schools and school districts for the purpose of attracting and hiring more qualified candidates for the jobs. The HISD Board of Managers quite rightly decided that the status quo was better than employing this half-assed solution. Good for them. Houston Landing and Houston Public Media have more.

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