05.17.12
Factions Are Forming Among Texas Republicans
икона за подаръкhttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/13/us/factions-are-forming-among-texas-republicans.html
05.15.12
More information on Early Voting and an endorsement
Over 2,100 voters turned out on day one in Williamson County, (.90% for those scoring at home).
Sample ballots can be found here, just enter first and last name.
And here’s yesterday’s post on when and where to early vote.
There’s not much up for grabs on the Democratic side of the ballot in Williamson County. But the one contested race is for US Senate. And EOW is in concurrence with BOR and Harold Cook, My U.S. Senate endorsement, in supporting Sean Hubbard for US Senate.
Both Hubbard and Sadler comported themselves very well. Both articulated values with which I, as well as most other Texas Democratic primary voters, wholeheartedly agree. I believe either would make a fine U.S. Senator.
But here’s the deal: both Democrats in the race are under-funded. And unless one of ‘em wins the lottery, there’s no particular reason to believe that each won’t remain underfunded, especially compared to the Republican nominee, who intends to buy this Senate seat.
To be sure, lightning does occasionally strike in politics, but it usually doesn’t. So barring some unforeseen circumstance which changes the financial game, the reality is that Texas is one of the most expensive states in the nation to get out a message, the Republican nominee will have the funding necessary to saturate that message, and the Democratic nominee won’t. And while that’s a terrible shame, it also makes it more likely that the Democrat won’t prevail this November.
This, in my view, makes who Democrats nominate no less important. We have a Party to build. It cannot be built without growing enthusiasm, and it cannot be grown without attracting new voters to us, while retaining the support we’ve maintained.
Paul Sadler
There’s no doubt Paul Sadler is a rock-solid guy, and always was. He has a deep understanding of policy details which I deeply admire. And the likelihood that he would attract few new voters to the Democratic column is more a reflection on the electorate than it is on him. During the debate, he was the quintessential policy wonk, explaining government to people, with deep knowledge and much wisdom. I’m the kind of dork who likes that stuff. Most voters’ eyes glaze over.Sean Hubbard surprised me at the debate. He is no less articulate than Sadler. He demonstrates an open-mindedness about new ideas, while simultaneously making clear that he would not turn his back on Democratic values. And mostly, he oozes enthusiasm and positive energy from every pore.
At 31, he looks younger than that, and he pointed out that he’s already older than Joe Biden was when Biden was elected to the Senate. Hubbard would be more likely to garner an excitement in a general election which is greater than the sum of its parts – not just because of his age, but because of his infectious enthusiasm and unapologetic zeal for the race. Isn’t that the kind of Democratic candidate that grows more voters than the “smartest guy in the room” types Democrats have already tried?
Here’s hoping lightning strikes. But even if it doesn’t, Sean Hubbard would be the kind of Democratic nominee more capable of attracting new folks to the Democratic column. It’s potentially important in that U.S. Senate race, it’s important in down ballot contests, and it’s important in future Party-building and elections.
To help you make your own decision, you can watch the Senate debate here. Also, while you’re listening to the Democrats, it’s also fun to watch the Republicans as they each explain why they’re totally for women’s freedom, even as they document why they’re not in favor of supporting any of those freedoms.
05.14.12
TPA Blog Round Up (May 14, 2012)
The Texas Progressive Alliance reminds everyone that early voting has begun as it brings you this week’s blog roundup.
Off the Kuff finished his interview tour of Texas with a conversation with Domingo Garcia in CD33.
BossKitty at TruthHugger will not weigh in, whether or not the truth was actually served in court, when a black lady fired a warning shot into a wall. Firing a gun in irresponsible ways is natural in Texas. But, Florida has contradictory laws that allow courts to pick and choose who gets punished for similar irresponsible behavior. You can decide for yourself how good a job of it they do.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry came to Williamson County this week, he endorsed John Bradley for DA. WCNews at Eye On Williamson has the rest of the story, Birds of a feather.
It was a good week to be gay if you were Barack Obama and John Carona, and a bad week to be gay if you were Mitt Romney and Dan Patrick. And if you think that’s confusing, wait until you read what PDiddie at Brains and Eggs said about Greg Abbott’s rose petals and Joe Arpaio’s pink panties.
Lewisville Texan Journal looks at Republican candidate for HD 106, Pat Fallon’s residence, and addresses whether he committed voter fraud by voting from an address where he apparently did not live.
At TexasKaos, lightseeker asks Could the Education Cuts be the beginning of the End for Texas Republican? Check out the details.
Neil at Texas Liberal endorsed Sean Hubbard in the Democratic primary for the open U.S. Senate seat.
Early Voting for the 2012 Primary starts today in Williamson County
Dates, times and locations for early voting for the 2012 Democratic and Republican primaries in Williamson County. Here’s the information from the Williamson County Elections Department.
Primary Early Voting Schedule
Primary Election
Early Voting Map
Tuesday, May 29, 2012Dates & Times for Full-time Locations
8am to 6pm Monday, May 14 through Saturday, May 19
12pm to 6pm Sunday, May 20
7am to 7pm Monday, May 21 through Friday, May 25–
Primary Main Location
Williamson County Inner Loop Annex, 301 SE Inner Loop Georgetown, TX
**Limited ballot available at this location
–
Primary Branch LocationsAnderson Mill Limited District: 11500 El Salido Pkwy, Austin
Brushy Creek Community Center: 16318 Great Oaks Dr., Round Rock
Cedar Park Public Library: 550 Discovery Blvd., Cedar Park
Cedar Park Randalls: 1400 Cypress Creek Rd., Cedar Park
Cowan Creek Amenity Center: 1433 Cool Springs Way, Georgetown
Georgetown Parks & Rec Admin Bldg.: 1101 N. College St., Georgetown
Hutto City Hall: 401 W. Front St., Hutto
JB and Hallie Jester Annex: 1801 E. Old Settlers Blvd., Round Rock
McConico Building: 301 W. Bagdad St., Round Rock
Pat Bryson Municipal Hall: 201 N. Brushy St., Leander
Round Rock Randalls: 2051 Gattis School Rd., Round Rock
Taylor City Hall: 400 Porter St., Taylor–
Primary Mobile Locations
Hours for mobile 10am-6pmTuesday, May 15 Andice Community Center, 6600 FM 970, Andice
Wednesday, May 16 Seton Medical Center Williamson, 201 Seton Pkwy, Round Rock
Thursday, May 17 Jarrell Memorial Park, 1651 CR 305, Jarrell
Friday, May 18 Liberty Hill Annex, 3407 RR 1869, Liberty Hill
Saturday, May 19 Liberty Hill Annex, 3407 RR 1869, Liberty Hill
Monday, May 21 Thrall ISD Board Room, 201 S Bounds St, Thrall
Tuesday, May 22 Granger City Hall, 214 E Davilla, Granger
Wednesday, May 23 Florence VFD, 301 S Patterson, Florence
05.11.12
GOP would rather build bombs, protect wealthy, than feed the hungry
The Poor Should Not Bear the Burden of a Deficit They Didn’t Cause.
GOP leaders in Congress who can’t stop talking about family values are proposing an array of deep cuts to food stamps, child tax credits, healthcare for the poor, and even block grants that help states with daycare and adoption assistance. Left untouched are military spending that has ballooned over the last decade and tax breaks for the richest Americans. This isn’t courageous or pragmatic. It’s fiscally irresponsible and morally wrong.
[...]
We should not pit national security against economic security. An effective military and a responsive government that doesn’t turn its back on vulnerable families are both achievable if we move beyond false choices. The working poor struggling in minimum-wage jobs, the elderly, and a squeezed middle class did not cause our deficits. They should not be asked to bear the greatest burden.
As economist Paul Krugman points out in the first chapter of his new book, economics is not just about money. There’s a human side to it as well. Providing those who want to work, and can’t find a job, with a job – the dignity of work – would go a long way to healing our long-term economic problems. How Bad Things Are.
Economists, the old line goes, know the price of everything and the value of nothing. And you know what? There’s a lot of truth to that accusation: since economists mainly study the circulation of money and the production and consumption of stuff, they have an inherent bias toward assuming that money and stuff are what matter. Still, there is a field of economic research that focuses on how self-reported measures of well-being, such as happiness or “life satisfaction,” are related to other aspects of life. Yes, it’s known as “happiness research”–Ben Bernanke even gave a speech about it in 2010, titled “The Economics of Happiness.” And this research tells us something very important about the mess we’re in.
Sure enough, happiness research tells us that money isn’t all that important once you get to the point of being able to afford the necessities of life. The payoff to being richer isn’t literally zero–citizens of rich countries are, on average, somewhat more satisfied with their lives than citizens of less well-off nations. Also, being richer or poorer than the people you compare yourself with is a fairly big deal, which is why extreme inequality can have such a corrosive effect on society. But when all is said and done, money is less important than crude materialists–and many economists–would like to believe.
That’s not to say, however, that economic affairs are unimportant in the true scale of things. For there’s one economics-driven thing that matters enormously to human well-being: having a job. People who want to work but can’t find work suffer greatly, not just from the loss of income but from a diminished sense of self-worth. And that’s a major reason why mass unemployment–which has now been going on in America for four years–is such a tragedy.
How severe is the problem of unemployment? That question calls for a bit of discussion.
Clearly, what we’re interested in is involuntary unemployment. People who aren’t working because they have chosen not to work, or at least not to work in the market economy–retirees who are glad to be retired, or those who have decided to be full-time housewives or househusbands–don’t count. Neither do the disabled, whose inability to work is unfortunate, but not driven by economic issues.
Now, there have always been people claiming that there’s no such thing as involuntary unemployment, that anyone can find a job if he or she is really willing to work and isn’t too finicky about wages or working conditions. There’s Sharron Angle, the Republican candidate for the Senate, who declared in 2010 that the unemployed were “spoiled,” choosing to live off unemployment benefits instead of taking jobs. There are the people at the Chicago Board of Trade who, in October 2011, mocked anti-inequality demonstrators by showering them with copies of McDonald’s job application forms. And there are economists like the University of Chicago’s Casey Mulligan, who has written multiple articles for the New York Times website insisting that the sharp drop in employment after the 2008 financial crisis reflected not a lack of employment opportunities but diminished willingness to work.
The classic answer to such people comes from a passage near the beginning of the novel The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (best known for the 1948 film adaptation starring Humphrey Bogart and Walter Huston): “Anyone who is willing to work and is serious about it will certainly find a job. Only you must not go to the man who tells you this, for he has no job to offer and doesn’t know anyone who knows of a vacancy. This is exactly the reason why he gives you such generous advice, out of brotherly love, and to demonstrate how little he knows the world.”
Quite. Also, about those McDonald’s applications: in April 2011, as it happens, McDonald’s did announce 50,000 new job openings. Roughly a million people applied.
If you have any familiarity with the world, in short, you know that involuntary unemployment is very real. And it’s currently a very big deal.
How bad is the problem of involuntary unemployment, and how much worse has it become?
The U.S. unemployment measure you usually hear quoted in the news is based on a survey in which adults are asked whether they are either working or actively seeking work. Those who are seeking work but don’t have jobs are considered unemployed. In December 2011 that amounted to more than 13 million Americans, up from 6.8 million in 2007.
If you think about it, however, this standard definition of unemployment misses a lot of distress. What about people who want to work, but aren’t actively searching either because there are no jobs to be had, or because they’ve grown discouraged by fruitless searching? What about those who want full-time work, but have only been able to find part-time jobs? Well, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics tries to capture these unfortunates in a broader measure of unemployment, known as U6; it says that by this broader measure there are about 24 million unemployed Americans–about 15 percent of the workforce–roughly double the number before the crisis.
Yet even this measure fails to capture the extent of the pain. In modern America most families contain two working spouses; such families suffer, both financially and psychologically, if either spouse is unemployed. There are workers who used to make ends meet with a second job, now down to an inadequate one, or who counted on overtime pay that no longer arrives. There are independent businesspeople who have seen their income shrivel. There are skilled workers, accustomed to holding down good jobs, who have been forced to accept work that uses none of their skills. And on and on.
There is no official estimate of the number of Americans caught up in this sort of penumbra of formal unemployment. But in a June 2011 poll of likely voters–a group probably in better shape than the population as a whole–the polling group Democracy Corps found that a third of Americans had either themselves suffered from job loss or had a family member lose a job, and that another third knew someone who had lost a job. Moreover, almost 40 percent of families had suffered from reduced hours, wages, or benefits.
The pain, then, is very widespread. But that’s not the whole story: for millions, the damage from the bad economy runs very deep.
The GOP wants to cut things like food stamps, Medicaid and Meals on Wheels, instead of the bloated defense budget, or by taxing the wealthy more. House To Vote On GOP Bill Framed As Guns Vs. Butter.
Republicans who control the House want to block some $55 billion worth of automatic cuts to the Pentagon budget next year. Instead, they want to cut funding for social programs such as food stamps, Medicaid and Meals on Wheels. It’s a choice that has been framed as guns versus butter, and this time, guns are expected to win.
[...]
Texas Democrat Lloyd Doggett says there would be less money for vaccinations, prenatal care and quality nursing homes for seniors.
“It’s shifting all the cost onto the most vulnerable people that don’t have a strong enough lobbyist to stand up for themselves, and I think it is a terrible wrong,” Doggett says.
Republicans on the Budget Committee approved the cuts to social programs, setting up Thursday’s vote in the full House. Texas Rep. Bill Flores defended the cuts in the name of fiscal responsibility.
“We talk about values. Deficit spending is not a value, ladies and gentlemen. Deficit spending is what’s going to bankrupt the future for the children that you say you care so much about,” Flores says.
But as Maryland Democrat Chris Van Hollen points out, Thursday’s vote isn’t really about the size of the deficit. It’s just about who bears the cost of government spending cuts: the military or the needy.
“The issue is not whether we should implement a plan to reduce the deficit in a steady, credible and predictable way,” Van Hollen says. “We should. The issue is how should we do it?”
The reality is that the best way to deal with the long-term deficit is to put people back to work. And the best way to put people back to work is by reversing austerity, raising taxes on the wealthy, and rebuilding our dilapidated infrastructure. The GOP in 2010 ran on jobs, jobs, jobs…remember?!
05.09.12
Birds of a feather
Today Texas Gov. Rick Perry was in Cedar Park campaigning today. He was again pushing his budget “suicide” pact and endorsing candidates,Perry pushes budget compact in Cedar Park.
Perry also threw his support behind Williamson County District Attorney John Bradley, who faces County Attorney Jana Duty in one of the most hotly contested races in the county’s history.
But the main purpose for Perry’s visit was to press his budget compact, a five-piece pact that calls for “truth in budgeting,” stricter constitutional limits on spending, no new taxes, preserving the state’s rainy day fund — made up of some tax revenue from oil and gas production — and cutting “unnecessary and duplicative” government programs and agencies.
To much applause, Perry told the audience — mostly made up of similarly minded local elected officials — that the “common sense” compact is necessary to keep businesses like Corvalent coming to Texas. He finished off by asking the crowd to take out their cell phones and text their support for the compact.
Perry’s Cedar Park appearance was the last of a handful of stops across the state where the governor gave similarly themed speeches this week.
That’s right Perry and Bradley go way back.
But the thing to keep in mind about Perry and the GOP in Williamson County is they have much in common. Both would rather run up huge sums of debt instead of taxing the wealthy, and pay for our government as we go. That’s been the GOP way since Reagan afterall.
Further Reading:
Republicans, the Anti-Stimulus
05.08.12
Voter ID update
In the pre-trial phase leading up to the trial for Texas’ Voter ID law the State of Texas, aka Greg Abbott and the GOP legislators, are acting like they have something to hide. Via Texas Redistricting, Court not happy with Texas in voter ID case; says it will give State one last chance for July trial.
In a harshly worded order issued this afternoon, the court in the Texas voter ID case reprimanded the state for what it said were “well-documented” discovery violations “that can only be interpreted as having the aim of delaying the Defendants’ ability to receive and analyze data and documents in a timely fashion.”
The court said:
Texas has repeated ignored or violated directives and orders of this Court that were designed to expedite discovery, and Texas has failed to produce in a timely manner key documents that Defendants need to prepare their defense. Most troubling is Texas’ conduct with respect to producing its key state databases, which are central to Defendants’ claim that S.B. 14 has a disparate and retrogressive impact on racial and/or language minority groups. The record reflects that these databases are voluminous, complex, and essential to the preparation of the opinions of Defendants’ expert witnesses. Yet, according to Texas, the full production of such databases to the United States was only complete on May 4, 2012 – 35 days after they were initially due. The production to Defendant-Intervenors is still not complete.
The court told Texas that “[b]ased on the record to date, this Court would be well within its discretion to continue the July 9 trial date, to impose monetary sanctions against Texas, or to keep the July 9 trial date and impose evidentiary sanctions such as an adverse inference upon Texas.”
But the court is giving them one last chance to comply.
The conditions imposed by the court’s order include mandates that Texas not require subpoenas for appearance of any current legislators or state employees and that Texas not assert any additional claims of privilege other than those already raised with the court.
The order also directed that Texas complete database production by Thursday, May 9, and production of all other non-privileged documents by this Friday, May 11,
The court’s order can be found here.
It’s looked all along, as the state has been dragging its feet in this case, that they know if they released what the DOJ is asking for the law wouldn’t be found legal. This is just more evidence. It’s still likely that the state will, begrudgingly, comply. But it’s still unlikely the law will make it through legal scrutiny.
The Texas GOP enacted their dream voter ID law, having big majorities in both chamber in the legislature, and overreached. They could have passed a Voter ID bill that would have passed legal scrutiny, they chose not to. Voter ID has always been a fix for a problem that doesn’t exist.
See Kuff, Voter ID trial likely to be delayed, and, Brains and Eggs, Greg Abbott is either incompetent or defiantly ignorant.
Here’s the statement from the Texas Democratic Party:
The Court is getting tired of the State’s games on voter ID. The State of Texas continues to drag its feet and hide information on the effects of their voter suppression legislation. Texas refuses to furnish key data because it will prove beyond a doubt that the voter ID law violates the Voting Rights Act. The absolute intent of the Republican voter suppression legislation is to disenfranchise voters, and it will be difficult for the State to prove otherwise. The State of Texas needs to stop playing games on discovery.
05.07.12
TPA Blog Round Up (May 7, 2012)
The Texas Progressive Alliance thinks Mrs. Sarkozy would have been the better candidate than her husband as it brings you this week’s roundup.
Three more Congressional candidate interviews from Off the Kuff: State Rep. Joaquin Castro, the heir apparent in CD20; Bexar County Tax Assessor Sylvia Romo in CD35; and former Bastrop County Judge Ronnie McDonald in CD27.
BossKitty at TruthHugger is overwhelmed by the disgusting realization that everyone’s future will be determined by America UNDER THE INFLUENCE!
BlueBloggin sees Zombies everywhere. Zombies are disengaging Common Sense and promoting the Great Unlearning of America at the bidding of the Koch Brothers. Zombie Politics Desecrates Science Education and Economy.
Texas GOP House Speaker Joe Straus and anti-abortion groups make nice. WCNews at Eye On Williamson has the skinny, The political calculus is changing in Texas.
CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme hopes the Valley recognizes Filemon Vela for the opportunistic a**hole he truly is.
The Libertarians selected former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson as their presidential nominee at their national convention in Las Vegas this past weekend, and then pushed all their chips in on the pivotal issue of 2012: weed. PDiddie at Brains and Eggs doesn’t think it’s a smokescreen.
Lightseeker explains, over at TexasKaos, how Texas has a shoot first law – Even the Sponsor Didn’t Know It. Give it a read.
05.05.12
The political calculus is changing in Texas
The AAS has an interesting article on the state of the tea party in Texas, Tea party evolves from protests to partisan politics.
These days, Texans associated with the tea party movement are spending a lot less time protesting and waving “Don’t Tread on Me” flags.
Tea partyers haven’t given up on rallies altogether — one is scheduled in Austin at 2 p.m. Sunday, when the national Tea Party Express bus rolls into town for a gathering at the Capitol. But the groups have evolved quite a bit since the 2009 protests against the bank bailout and economic stimulus packages.
Now the groups are emphasizing state and local elections and recruiting candidates to take on politicians who are not conservative enough for their liking.
Several tea party candidates in congressional and legislative races — including small-business owner Matt Beebe, who is challenging Texas House Speaker Joe Straus, and software engineer Richard Morgan, who is seeking to oust U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith in San Antonio — face uphill challenges against entrenched politicians.
But even if they and other tea party candidates fail to get elected, the movement has already had a grand effect on the Republican Party in Texas by making it more conservative and driving much of the political discussion to core tea party topics, such as small government, lower taxes and limited government spending, said Brendan Steinhauser, director of federal and state campaigns for FreedomWorks, a national tea party organization co-chaired by former U.S. Rep. Dick Armey of Texas.
The absorption of the tea party by the GOP is going to effect the political calculus in Texas. By making it harder for so-called “tea party” candidates to challenge incumbent Republicans, while it pulls the entire GOP further to the right. But there’s also a realization that things are going to be different in 2013, then they were in 2011, in the Texas Legislature. The right wing got darn near everything they’ve ever wanted in 2011. Gutting of public education, attacks on health care and the social safety net, anti-abortion legislation, to name few. While continuing their effort to demean government in general, it’s ability to help our neediest citizens, put off needed investments, all the while protecting the wealthy.
Now that the tea party candidates elected in 2012 are incumbents, they must defend what they’ve done, instead of just being able to attack, attack, attack. It’s a much different political calculus. It also makes it harder for “tea party” challengers ability to attack the government, since many in the tea party are now part of the government. They realize they’re unlikely to have as much success next session, and need to change their tactics.
This change in tactic is likely some of what this is about, Straus gets backing of anti-abortion group. While they didn’t endorse his for reelection to Speaker, they likely will when the time comes or at least stay neutral. If the right wing was unable to oust Straus with 100 plus GOP House members, it’s unlikely they’ll be able to do it with fewer GOP House members. This is unlikely to have any effect on Straus’ most vocal opponents on the far right. Those that still believe Texas is spending way too much on public education, health care, and the neediest among us.
With much of their wish list accomplished the GOP in Texas is now going to have to defend what they’ve done. And that’s a much different political calculus.
05.04.12
US Senate debate
Last night there was a “conversation” between 4 Republicans and 2 Democrats that are running for the nominations, of their respective parties, to replace retiring GOP Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison.
Click here to watch the video, via the Texas Tribune. [Also youtube videos in 4 parts here]
Brains and Eggs has this take on the debate, A couple of debates last night. He thinks Democrat Sean Hubbard did a good jobs
Links to the Democratic candidates.
Sean Hubbard
Paul Sadler
