Incumbent Democratic candidate Diana Maldonado will again face a candidate well=funded by the special interests and corporate interest in November. Newcomer Larry Gonzales handily beat long time Williamson County resident John Gordon in the GOP runoff on Tuesday.
The person, Bob Perry, who has so far bankrolled Maldonado’s opponent is well known for his anti-consumer actions. Mainly making a shoddy product and not wanting to fix it when held accountable. Last session with Diana Maldonado in the legislature the wretched Texas Residential Construction Commission (TRCC), aka the Builder Protection Agency, which Perry was instrumental in createing was done away with.
It’s and advocate for ordinary working people in House District 52 that we risk losing if Maldonado is not returned to the legislature. With a serious budget fight coming next year we need someone who will be there to protect the working and middle class of HD-52. Not someone who will be doing the bidding of wealthy donors and the corporate special interests. Diana Maldonado has represented HD-52 well and will continue to so when returned to the legislature.
Also see Kuff’s Runoff wrapup for all of yesterday’s runoff action from around the state.
The end of this week marks a new beginning for us. Today we officially launched our new website, DianaMaldonado.com. I couldn’t be more pleased to have a modern Internet presence that should be an enjoyable site to browse and a valuable resource for the constituents of Texas House District 52.
I hope you’ll take just a moment to visit DianaMaldonado.com, look around, and let me know what you think. We’ve accomplished so much together during my time in the Texas House of Representatives. I know that we’ll effectively face our challenges and improve our community only if we continue to communicate. Please use this new site to stay informed and in touch. DianaMaldonado.com is my website — and yours.
Sincerely,
Diana Maldonado
P.S. We have an eventful year coming up! Stay networked by joining me on Facebook and Twitter.
A couple of things have become pretty clear in the GOP runoff in HD-52so far, these two candidates (Larry Gonzales and John Gordon) don’t like each other very much (hopefully is political and not personal), and the issues that matter to voters in the district don’t seem to be playing much of a part in either candidates effort. They attack each other, one saying the other is a meanie, the other saying his opponent is a shill for a rich corporate donor. And that’s where the conundrum comes in for the voters it seems. Do they go with the guy who’s going to run the same campaign Diana Maldonado’s losing opponent ran two years ago, or the guy with long ties in the county and an colorful record?
News 8 Austin has a report where one candidate accuses the other of attacking his wife, while the other denies he’s been bought.
Maldonado was running 4th out of 28, but in the past two days the other Representatives have been working hard. You will need to give up your email address to vote, but Sen. Watson assures us these addresses will be shared only with Maldonado. The whole point is to show off the great organization and grass roots support of the Maldonado campaign. Show your support and start getting involved in Maldonado’s re-election campaign in any way you can.
State Farm has announced that they will raise homeowner insurance rates by 4.5 percent in May. This comes on the heels of an 8.8 percent increase in October. 1 Texas homeowners already pay the second highest insurance premiums in the country; such a steep rate increase hurts Texas homeowners financially as they navigate through the worst recession in a generation.
Unfortunately, this is not the first time that Texas homeowners have been charged excessive premiums. In November, State Farm was ordered to repay its customers $310 million for overcharging homeowners for coverage dating back to 2003.2 This sum was actually $700 million less than what consumer advocates and the state’s Public Insurance Counsel recommended.
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Since no legislation that gave such regulatory power to the Department of Insurance passed, insurance companies are free to continue raising rates. The Commissioner has been left only with the ability to write a disapproving letter to companies.
I’m sure a disapproving letter really scares an insurance corporation like State Farm. State Rep!? Diana Maldonado (D-Round Rock) says it’s time for “meaningful” reform.
“Forcing rate increase after rate increase on Texas homeowners is unacceptable and it is past time for the legislature to reverse course on this loophole that became law in 2003,” Rep. Maldonado said. “Hard working Texans deserve a level of stability and accountability in this volatile economy. Texas homeowners already pay the second highest insurance premiums in the nation, and I will work to eliminate this loophole to ensure that Texas homeowners are treated fairly and that insurance agencies are not allowed to continue unjustly raising rates in Texas.”
It’s doubtful either of her potential “conservative” opponents care much fore regulating the insurance corporations, and helping hardworking home owners.
These rate hikes require no prior approval of any kind. It might be important to mention, the Texas Insurance Commissioner is also appointed, not elected. This means the only person who can reprimand the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) Commissioner, Mike Geeslin, is Rick Perry. Geeslin, has served as the Commissioner since 2005.
If Texas have to wait for Gov. Perry to help them in their fight against insurance corporations that help will never come. This means, at the current time, there is no regulation of homeowners insurance in Texas.
In HD-20 of the three viable candidates – Dr. Charles Schwertner, Milton Rister, and Stephen Thomas – Schwertner was the only one who didn’t receive large contributions from GOP Sugar Daddy Bob Perry. He self-financed his campaign. And for that reason he was probably the best of the bunch. At least he’s not beholden to a fat cat donor or special interest.
Round Rock Democrat Diana Maldonado is going to have to wait a little while longer to see who her Republican opponent is going to be in the House District 52 race.
With all GOP primary votes counted by 12:30 a.m. Wednesday, John Gordon and Larry Gonzales are headed for an April 13 runoff.
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Throughout the primary campaign [John] Gordon, 63, touted his long history of involvement with Williamson County and the Republican Party. On Tuesday night he said voters recognized that experience and it paid of for him at the ballot box.
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[Larry] Gonzales, 39, is a Round Rock resident and owner of Lazarus Graphics. He’s making his first run at elected office but, like Gordon, has previously worked as a behind-the scenes political foot soldier.
Other than the age difference between the two candidates this race sets up a lot like the run off in 2008. Gordon, like Dee Hobbs in 2008, is a long time Williamson County resident with deep roots here. He is also largely self-funding his campaign like Schwertner. Gonzales, like Bryan Daniel, is the slick newcomer to the county who is favored by the statewide money – with ties to the Perry’s, Bob and Rick, and the deposed Craddick faction in the Texas House.
According to the eight day out reports, home builder and right-wing sugar daddy Bob Perry is making his presence known, contributing a total of $95,000 to his candidates in two local House GOP primary races. The largest single political donor in Texas tapped Larry Gonzales and Milton Rister for largess as they seek the Republican nominations for House districts 52 and 20.
In HD-52 it looks like a two candidate race between Larry Gonzales and John Gordon. Gonzales in the current filing raised over $83,000, $70,000 of that from Bob Perry ($40,000) and his wife Doylene ($30,000). Gordon is largely self-financing his campaign and spent just shy of $48,000 over the last filing period. The two other candidates, Alyssa Eacono (raised $7,000/spent $16,000) and Stephen Casey (raised $1,200/spent $2,300), are lagging behind in the money race.
In HD-20 there are three candidates spending and raising significant money – Milton Rister, Dr. Charles Schwertner, and Stephen Thomas.
Milton Rister raised just over $46,000 this filing period. Perry gave him $25,000 of that. Also giving to Rister were former GOP candidate for Governor Clayton Williams ($10,000), James Leininger ($2,500), and a variety of Oil interests – KOCHPAC ($1,000), Conoco Phillips ($1,500), and Chevron ($1,000).
Often when I peruse a write up of the like-minded candidates lined up against state Rep. Diana Maldonado (D-Round Rock) it reminds of how fortunate we are to have her representing us. Case in point, House candidates take the podium. It’s likely that race will come down to a runoff. Best bet at this time would be that it’ll likely come down to the two best funded. One, a local activist and a “Godfather” of the WCGOP, is largely self-funding his campaign. The other is largely unknown, like the candidate Maldonado defeated last time; but favored by the Texas GOP and corporate interests that will be able to bankroll a fall campaign.
Many voters in District 52 can still remember the more than a decade of tone deaf, and sometimes embarrassing (see Krusee charged with drunken driving [AAS, 5/01/2008] ), GOP representation we endured. The party whose plan for transportation was to have the government take away Eastern Williamson County farmland, (some of the most fertile in our country), owned for generations by local families, and give it to corporations, foreign and domestic, in order for them to profit from ever-increasing tolls.
Voters in District 52 got wise, electing Rep. Diana Maldonado, who in her first term worked hard and earned the respect of voters; giving them no reason to revert back to the previous representation that favored powerful corporate interests. Maldonado has shown that good policy can be good for business too. The desperation of the local GOP, and those powerful moneyed interests, to unseat Maldonado is palpable, often leading to screeds of misinformation.
Democrats in Williamson County know how to fight back as evidenced by this retort in the RRL, Sweep the Republicans out.
The difference in the candidates could not be more striking. Though in the minority in the House, Maldonado was very effective in her first term and was named Freshman of the Year by the non-partisan Legislative Study group.
Hard work, intelligence, an ability to work across party lines, and an emphasis on education and infrastructure mark Maldonado’s first term. Voters in District 52 have been well served by this up-and-coming leader.
The sloganeering of Hansen aside, we have serious issues that must be addressed besides 2011 redistricting. None of the Republicans in the primary running for their party’s nomination to go up against Rep. Maldonado are willing to fight for us to improve education, rebuild our infrastructure, and care for our children and elderly.
The message the voters in Massachusetts sent to incumbents doesn’t appear to have reached the ears of Republicans in Texas. Every incumbent Republican on the November ballot will continue to ignore voters with impunity unless we sweep them out of office.
This state has been run by the Republicans for too long. Our misery endures on their watch. The national Republican Party may have a brief breath of life, thanks to Scott Brown, but here in Texas it is the same gray face of wealth and privilege.
One party in Texas knows that you pay more and work harder for less. Oppose the Republican incumbents and their wads of lobbyist cash, and vote Democratic in November.
It’s key to remember that the challenges facing Texas and Williamson County today were brought about by the Texas and local GOP who have been in charge. Diana Maldonado has begun to show the type of leadership we need in our district in the Texas Legislature. No matter which GOP candidate emerges from the primary, none of them can replace what Maldonado has done and will continue to do for District 52.
Now is not the time to go back to the failed policies of the past.
Via Williamson County for Bill White, they are hosting a “Kick Off” event:
Williamson County For Bill White Kick off WITH MAYOR BILL WHITE!!
Please join State Representative Diana Maldonado as she hosts Mayor Bill White for the Williamson County for Bill White Campaign Kickoff!
Date: Saturday, February 6, 2010 Time: 10:30am – 1:00pm Location: Williamson County Democrats Office, 110 North Interstate 35, Suite 170, Round Rock [MAP]
Gordon and attorney Roy Minton, who is defending [Alyssa] Eacono in the lawsuit Gordon filed earlier this month, each confirmed Thursday that the third and possibly final round in this GOP slugfest will be played out in front of a jury.
“We decided we had to go to a jury trial,” Gordon said, recalling the unfavorable ruling he received Jan. 19 from visiting District Court Judge James Clawson. “We’d rather stand our chances in front of a jury of citizens.”
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Gordon and Minton each said that due to scheduling and time needed for preparation, the case might not go to trial until after the primary has already been held.
How all this will affect primary election results remains to be seen.
Grits has a wrap-up of Friday’s Forensic Sciences Commission in Harlingen where Williamson County DA continued his delaying tactics in the Willingham case.
That was really quite a display. I’ll give him this. John Bradley came into Harlingen with an agenda; he was on his A-game when other commissioners were back on their heels and didn’t know what to expect; and as a result he got what he wanted out of the meeting: Delay discussing anything substantive about flawed forensic science and a new “process” in which he can bury the Willingham case in committee until after the November election.
It was a pretty brazen performance, but judging by minimalist MSM media coverage, the Williamson County DA clearly made a good bet that – by moving the meeting to the Rio Grande Valley on a Friday and waiting to produce the rules until the last minute – he would get away with such bold hectoring of the commission. It’s not a great start to Bradley’s relationship with his fellow commissioners, but he’s obviously not there to make friends. He’s there to delay the commission’s work and to impede the Willingham investigation by hook or by crook. And he’s succeeding.
And last Rep. John Carter is still running around taking credit for projects he voted against. From an LTE from The Cameron Herald.
Congressman John Carter ought to be ashamed of himself. He showed up in Rockdale last week brandishing one of those larger-than-life “checks” from the federal government, as if he personally made sure struggling and laid off Alcoa workers would be able to get the jobs training they need.
The funny thing is, Rep. Carter voted against the legislation that authorized the $2.5 million that funds the jobs package for our area. He actively campaigned against it and now the hypocrite wants to take credit for legislation he voted against.
