02.09.10
Posted in 2010 Primary, Around The State, Commentary, Democratic Events, Election 2010 at 12:29 pm by wcnews
It was good to see at least two of the the Democratic candidates, Farouk Shami and Bill White, get some free media on statewide TV last night. Let’s hope people watched. (If anyone missed it it can be viewed online here). It was not a contentious debate, which usually makes for better TV, but it was one where those watching were able to get a good sense of both candidates.
It’s clear that White will lean heavily on his experience bringing people together as Mayor of the fourth largest city in the United States, and Shami will lean heavily on his success as a self-made business man. Because of the non-contentiousness of the debate there really wasn’t a winner/loser situation. Both had certain things to do and, of course, each voter has certain things they want to hear. White was trying to get his name out and not make any gaffes, he did that. Shami too was trying to get his name out and also show he can be a credible Democratic nominee for the governor of Texas. And that last part is what I’m still not sure about with Shami.
I’ve never been one who thinks that just because someone can run a business, they can run a government. I don’t think it translates to good government most times. Some of the answers to his questions, and the harping on the governor as CEO, seems naive and seem to imply a top down type of management style. That’s not likely to work very well with the legislature. That being said there are many areas where I agree Shami on the issues.
White for his part has a very good command of the issues and where he stands on them. Spent a good amount of time attacking Perry, and some time attacking TxDOT. His answers on education, health care, and job creation/training were good. While White made a few good comments on transportation, hopefully he will come around to to raising the gas tax sooner, rather than later.
AAS, HChron, Burka, have some analysis. The Texas Tribune has it’s analysis including post debate Q&A’s with both candidates.
I agree with Martha that the first few questions were straight from the GOP Primary – School vouchers, abortion, gay marriage, and Voter ID. Texas Liberal’s comments are very good – debate moderation was not good, Shami came off as sincere but not credible on certain issues.
There could have been much better questions, delving deeper in the budget, health care, and education. There certainly should have been something on the Texas Enterprise Fund, on Perry’s cronyism and the the governor’s appointment power in general. The bottom line is at least two Democrats go to debate and they both did good for themselves and the Democratic Party in Texas.
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02.05.10
Posted in 2010 Primary, Bad Government Republicans, Election 2010 at 12:01 pm by wcnews
It’s taken a while but we’re finally getting to the fun part of the Kay vs. Rick embroglio, Hutchison’s lobbyist ties could hurt attack strategy. They’re fighting over who is the bigger lobbyist shill.
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison has blasted Gov. Rick Perry in recent debates and television ads as driven by the desires of lobbyists, but at least 23 former Hutchison aides have gone onto lucrative lobbying careers in Washington, according to Senate records.
And last year, Hutchison hired a former lobbyist for data company Choicepoint as a senior adviser in her Senate office.
In an ad that began airing Thursday, Hutchison’s campaign says lobbyists loom over Perry’s office, influencing major policies such as compulsory vaccinations for young girls and toll road contracts.
The senator’s attacks are hypocritical, Perry’s campaign aides argued, because of her longstanding association with lobbyists. Hutchison’s aides say that unlike the governor, she has never been unduly influenced by them.
In this corner, Rick:
Hutchison’s team highlights two former aides who lobbied for proposals that are Perry hallmarks: The Trans-Texas Corridor toll road plan, and a controversial executive order requiring young girls to be vaccinated against the human papillomavirus, which can cause cervical cancer.
“This mandate was driven by lobbyists and special interest in Austin,” Hutchison told a Dallas Republican women’s group Tuesday. “It was no coincidence that a former Perry chief of staff was a lobbyist for the company that manufactured the vaccine.”
Hutchison was referring to Mike Toomey, a former Perry chief of staff who was a top Austin lobbyist both before and after he worked for the governor, represented Merck, which makes an HPV vaccine.
Perry aide Dan Shelley met with state transportation officials on behalf of Spanish construction firm Cintra before going to work for Perry. Cintra won some of the state’s biggest road contracts, including for the Trans Texas Corridor, which has since been dropped.
“This is about having ethical standards so that the revolving door doesn’t start to affect policy in a way that hurts Texans,” said Jennifer Baker, a Hutchison campaign spokeswoman. “There are strict ethical guidelines in the Senate. She has fought for them, and she’ll bring those standards to Texas when she’s governor.”
In this corner Kay:
Perry’s campaign aides say his decisions weren’t influenced by lobbyists. They say the governor has enforced his own policy that prohibits former aides from lobbying his office for one year. Federal law places the same blackout period on former Senate staffers.
Earlier this week, Perry’s team tied Hutchison’s vote for the 2008 bank bailout program to lobbying by a former chief of staff, Dick Ribbentrop, who now works for Swiss bank UBS and lobbied on that issue, according to Senate records.
“It’s a clear connection,” said Mark Miner, a Perry spokesman. “The senator is being hypocritical in making accusations when the fact of the matter is her own staff is leaving to become lobbyists and she is hiring staff members who were lobbyists.”
Senate records show that Ribbentrop lobbied for the New York Stock Exchange for three years before he became her chief of staff in 2005. He left her office in 2007 to join UBS, where another former Hutchison aide, John Savercool, is a senior lobbyist. Lobbying laws don’t require lobbyists to indicate which lawmakers they contact on an issue. Ribbentrop didn’t return a message seeking comment.
In 2009, Hutchison rehired a former aide, David W. Davis, as senior adviser after he spent four years as vice president for government affairs at Choicepoint. She rehired another former aide, Lisette Mondello, whose husband once worked for Hutchison and now lobbies for Southwest Airlines and the Port of Houston Authority.
Baker said Davis never lobbied Hutchison when he worked at Choicepoint.
She added that Hutchison has supported laws that prohibit former Senate aides from lobbying the Senate for a year after leaving office.
That’s too close to call. Probably best we don’t elect either one of them as Governor of Texas. The pro-Rick blog put it this way:
More than cronyism… people hate hypocrisy. Kay is an amazingly huge hypocrite on this issue. It seriously amazes me that she would go down this path…
Better the lobbyist shill, than the hypocrite it seems.
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01.28.10
Posted in 2010 Primary, Cedar Park, Commissioners Court, Election 2010, Hutto, Precinct 2, Precinct 4, Williamson County at 2:08 pm by wcnews
There have been three new voting precincts created, and several more adjusted, in Williamson County for 2010. The changes occur only in commissioner precincts 2 and 4, Cedar Park and Hutto respectively. From the Elections page on the county web site.
January 1, 2010 Redistricting changes are effective. Early in 2009 we identified three voter precincts that had over 5000 registered voters to reduce the number of voters we began the redistricting process. Three new precincts were created 201, 402 and 403 additionally boundary adjustments were made to precincts 254, 273, 277 and 293. [Emphasis added].
They have links to the new maps and orders of the changes too, [All links are .pdf files].
More on this from the Round Rock Leader, Changes to election precincts approved.
According to Rick Barreon, Williamson County Elections administrator, changes to precincts were made as a result of Precinct 426’s violation of Texas Election Code because it contained more than 5,000 registered voters as of May 12, 2009, when the changes were adopted by Hutto.
The document states that after consultations with Precinct 4 County Commissioner Ron Morrison, and the chairs of the Republican and Democratic parties, Bill Fairbrother and Richard Torres, recommendation was made to adjust the boundaries to election precincts 420, 424, and 426 to create precincts 402 and 403.
The county states that new voter registration cards were mailed late last year reflecting these changes. There is a conflicting message regarding a mailed notice to all affected voters. The county web site states, ” voters will also be mailed a notice the first week of January notifying them of the change and their polling place”. While Candi Zaccheus, county Elections Geographic Information System analyst, in the RRL article above states that “..a notification would be sent out to residents about precinct changes”.
It’s highly recommended that anyone that lives in the Cedar Park, or Hutto areas double check their precinct and voting location if they plan to vote on election day. These changes have no effect on where or when anyone can early vote.
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01.20.10
Posted in 2010 Primary, Around The State, Election 2010, Employment, The Economy, Unemployment at 4:19 pm by wcnews
Great column in the FWST today by Mitchell Schnurman, Politicians like to slam government, but it’s been Texas’ big job creator for the past year.
A Twitter report on last week’s Republican gubernatorial debate might have read something like this: Candidates say jobs good, government bad, Texas great.
Gov. Rick Perry spent much of the hour bragging about Texas’ job creation. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison countered that the state actually lost jobs in 2009. And activist Debra Medina pointed out that government accounted for the gains Perry was citing.
“That’s not economic prosperity,” Medina said. “That’s a greater burden.”
No one challenged her conclusion, not when government-bashing is a reliable GOP applause line. All three criticized the feds, ranging from Perry’s swipe at the Postal Service to Medina’s suggestion of doing away with the Environmental Protection Agency.
Ironically, the Postal Service is one of the few government groups in Texas to actually shrink in the past year. It lost 3,300 jobs in the 12 months ended in November.
Despite that decline, government added 88,200 jobs in Texas over the same period, with the vast majority coming in education. Schoolteachers, administrators, bus drivers and the like accounted for almost 70,000 of the new hires.
In a state that perennially ranks among the lowest in education, that sounds like a blessing to me.
It’s a huge increase for Texas — the biggest year-over-year gain in education jobs in the past decade, and probably in state history. It’s three times larger than the increase in 2008, before the Texas economy was reeling from the recession.
“That’s likely due to the stimulus,” said D’Ann Petersen, business economist for the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. “It’s made a substantial impact.”
Of course it’s anathema to anyone running in the Texas GOP primary that the stimulus is working, much less that government can create jobs. There’s much, much more on how state’s can create jobs as the Progressive States Network, State Job Creation Strategies.
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Posted in Around The Nation, Commentary, Election 2010, The Economy at 12:19 pm by wcnews
It’s easy for some of us to see that trying to be “bipartisan” hasn’t worked. And if the President and his “people” think placating Joe Lieberman, et al.., is a good strategy than we will have a new GOP Speaker and Majority Leader in 2011.
There’s a lot, and I mean A LOT – (BOR, Dog Canyon,, Purple Texas, 538) – just to name a few, of opinion on what yesterday’s election in Massachusetts means going forward for Democrats in Texas and around the country. For me it’s simple, the people who voted overwhelmingly for Democrats in 2008 were expecting Democrats to come into office and help them – what Democrats have done in the past. So far the help hasn’t come. If Democrats want to win they need to start helping the people that voted for them – not the banksters. And that likely means they will have to make corporations and the wealthy folks in this country mad. But they can no longer have it both ways and stay in power.
One politician or one act, or non-act, is not to blame for what happened yesterday, or what’s been happening over the last year. It’s the inability of the elected Democrats, as a whole, to do what they were elected to do, help the people of this country that are struggling economically. Drew Westen has a great take on the situation, Obama Finally Gets His Victory For Bipartisanship.
The President’s steadfast refusal to acknowledge that we have a two-party system, his insistence on making destructive concessions to the same party voters he had sent packing twice in a row in the name of “bipartisanship,” and his refusal ever to utter the words “I am a Democrat” and to articulate what that means, are not among his virtues. We have competing ideas in a democracy — and hence competing parties — for a reason. To paper them over and pretend they do not exist, particularly when the ideology of one of the parties has proven so devastating to the lives of everyday Americans, is not a virtue. It is an abdication of responsibility.
What happens if you refuse to lay the blame for the destruction of our economy on anyone — particularly the party, leaders, and ideology that were in power for the last 8 years and were responsible for it? What happens if you fail to “brand” what has happened as the Bush Depression or the Republican Depression or the natural result of the ideology of unregulated greed, the way FDR branded the Great Depression as Hoover’s Depression and created a Democratic majority for 50 years and a new vision of what effective government can do? What happens when you fail to offer and continually reinforce a narrative about what has happened, who caused it, and how you’re going to fix it that Americans understand, that makes them angry, that makes them hopeful, and that makes them committed to you and your policies during the tough times that will inevitably lie ahead?
The one thing that’s I’ve thought over the last few day is that Obama’s problem is not that he doesn’t know how to work with Republicans to get things done. His problem is that he doesn’t know how to work with Democrats to get things done.
It’s easy to blame the President and I’ve obviously done some of that here. He deserves some, but not all of the blame. It’s no secret that I’ve wanted, not expected, more FDR from Obama. The illogical part in all of this is that the Democrats have done nothing to follow FDR’s blueprint that, as Westen said, created a “50 year” Democratic majority. And that’s the wake up call I hope all Democrats get from what’s been happening to them in election over the past 6 months. Start helping the people that need it and 2010 will be just fine. If not….
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01.19.10
Posted in 2010 Primary, Election 2010, HD-52 at 2:41 pm by wcnews
Incumbent HD-52 state Rep. Diana Maldonado (D-Round Rock) as of the January 15th filing deadline maintains just over $94,000 cash on hand (COH). Her biggest donations have been from Annie’s List (almost $30,000), as well as $5,000 donations from Texans for Economic Development PAC and Border Health PAC, and $2,500 from Charles Butt. What really stands out in Maldonado’s fundraising is the amount of small donor donations she’s received. Since Maldonado doesn’t have a primary opponent, she’ll be able to save her money for the general election.
On the GOP side, other than the court battle that’s going on, it’s clear that there are only two well-funded candidates. One candidate, Larry Gonzales, appears to have the backing of the usual GOP suspects/institutional money that funded Bryan Daniel in 2008. He’s raised over $44,000 and maintains $33,000 COH. Notorious GOP money man Bob Perry, and his wife Doylene have each given $10,000. He received $5,000 from Lawrence Bowman. He also appears to have the backing locally of John Avery and Jon Sloan. Also in for $1,000 are KOCH PAC, and Craddick-tied lobbyist Michael Toomey.
The other candidate who has significant money for the primary is perennial local candidate John Gordon. He raised just over $50,000 and maintains $18,000 COH. The only thing that stands out is that over $12,000 of his donations have come from people with the same last name as his, not that there’s anything wrong with it. He’s donated, or loaned, over $34,000 of his own money to the campaign. The rest of his donations are coming from small/local donors.
The other two candidates in the race, Stephen Casey and Alyssa Eacono, have raised little or nothing. It’s unlikely that either of them will do little more than force a run off between Gonzales and Gordon.
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01.18.10
Posted in 2010 Primary, Around The State, Central Texas, Election 2010 at 10:40 am by wcnews
It’s a introduction to some of the good work Bill White has done, Turning points for Bill White’s career numerous. Here are the three turning points.
Ask Bill White how he got where he is today, and he doesn’t talk about being elected Houston’s mayor, forging a lucrative career in law and business or raising buckets of money for Bill Clinton back in the day.
Instead, he talks about registering voters in Hispanic neighborhoods on San Antonio’s West Side as the teen-age son of schoolteacher parents. He segues to the 1973 oil embargo and its implications. He fast-forwards to the rush of evacuees that Hurricane Katrinasent to Houston, where as mayor he welcomed them with a “treat our neighbors as we would like to be treated” philosophy that sometimes put him out on a limb.
When I asked White to identify key turning points on a path that now has him seeking the Democratic nod for governor, he gave three – “besides,” he was careful to note, “marriage and kids.” They help form the case he presents to voters on the trail.
Interesting.
But he was also in San Antonio over the weekend, campaigning in his home town, White slams Perry at local event.
Taking square aim at Gov. Rick Perry, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill White and his San Antonio backers Sunday verbally smacked what they termed the political divisiveness and failed education policies of the Republican incumbent.
“People are much more interested in the state succeeding, for their kids’ futures’ sake, than they are in seceding from the union,” White said, referring to widely criticized comments last year by Perry, who appeared to suggest secession as an alternative to dealing with Washington.
That puts Perry’s earlier comments in perfect perspective. Only someone way out of touch would think bring up secession.
He also opened his Central Texas campaign office, Central Texas supporters kick off final push to the primary.
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01.15.10
Posted in 2010 Primary, Around The State, Commentary, Election 2010 at 11:56 am by wcnews
It’s hard for this Democrat to see much good there, it was like listening to Charlie Brown’s teacher. They’re all in essence saying they want more of the same only different. Oh and cutting and/or eliminating taxes will fix every problem.
It’s also hard to take Hutchison serious when she says that Texas is so great in one breath, and then says the state’s in the gutter elect me in the next breath. And if it’s hard for me, it must be even more confusing for GOP primary voters who mostly approve of Perry’s reign. (Her failure to answer the Roe v. Wade question probably lost her some votes.)
Medina probably did herself some good, but not sure if it gets her to double digits.
There was little, other than the unproductive back-and-forth over federal gas tax money, on transportation finance.
Perry will decimate the poor and middle class in the next budget cycle, as in 2003, if returned as governor.
Liked the format, with a little more actual debating, and the candidates addressing each other.
If you didn’t see it you can watch it here.
[UPDATE]: It looks like the Texas media has graduated to where the national media was circa 2000 – Bush v. Gore, before the Supreme Court got involved. It’s more about how they looked, and how they said it, then what they said on the issues, Was Rick “Condescending” And “Aloof” During The Debate?
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01.14.10
Posted in 2010 Primary, Around The State, Election 2010, Media at 3:46 pm by wcnews
This morning the Waco Tribune reported that GOP state Sen. Kip Averitt (R-Waco) will not run of reelection after all. Of course it set off the usual Democrat bashing(?!) by the Texas punditocracy, The Democrats Muck Their Hand in Waco. But as the day wore on we learned that Averitt’s name will stay on the ballot, and quorumreport posted this on what would happen should Averitt win the primary:
DUELING LAWYERS! UPDATE ON HOW POST PRIMARY RESIGNATION WOULD WORK
Democrats would get to play we think
UPDATE: We received this after posting and believe it to be correct:
“If Averitt withdraws after winning the primary, then the Republican District Executive Committee (comprised of the County Chairmen from each of the counties SD 22, Sec 171.054) selects his replacement (not the SREC/SDEC); and the Democratic District Executive Committee also gets to nominate an opponent (Sec. 145.036). No litigation necessary.”
That essentially means that if the Democrats had a strong candidate in this race the GOP could, and still can, choose someone other than the current lone GOP candidate left in the race. All they have to do is vote for Averitt in the primary. So even though Run.Everywhere is always the best case, it’s been way overstated that this was some sort of gaffe by the Democrats.
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Posted in 2010 Primary, Around The State, Commentary, Education, Election 2010, Energy, Redistricting, The Environment at 12:43 pm by wcnews
Was yesterday’s Race to the Top announcement timed to keep the SBOE hearing out of the news? Just a thought, because there doesn’t seem to be much, if any TradMed/SCLM coverage of yesterday’s hearing. They’re all reporting on Perry’s move though. Almost, as if, the media is playing along on this issue as a setup for tonight’s debate. Which candidate is running against a “so-called” Washington insider again?
If you’re not going to tonight’s Williamson County Democratic Party meeting tonight then here’s where you can watch or listen to the debate tonight.
The Texas Freedom Network liveblogged the SBOE hearing yesterday – Part I and Part II. Evo.Sphere also has a write up on yesterday’s hearing.
GOP state Sen. Jeff Wentworth, (R-San Antonio), on redistricting in the upcoming legislative session, (key parts in bold):
[Wentworth] predicts the next session will be a disaster in one key area – the scheduled redistricting of legislative seats. As the sole Republican in the Travis County delegation, Wentworth gained widespread Democratic support last session for Senate Bill 315, his measure to create a nonpartisan Texas Congressional Redistricting Commission. It ultimately failed when Sen. Bob Deuell, R-Greenville, switched his yea vote to a nay, blocking the bill’s passage and leaving the old, flawed system in place. Wentworth is already predicting that, whatever the results of the November elections, “by June 1, 2011, we will have adjourned, and the Legislature will not have drawn lines for the Congress, the state Senate, or the state House. We will have failed.” He argued that the result will be like the abortive process in 2001 and that “a federal court will draw the lines for Congress, and the Legislative Redistricting Board, made up of five Republicans, will draw the lines for Senate and the House. Whenever you have one party – whether it’s the Democrats or the Republicans – totally in control of the lines, it’s never fair.”
Wentworth has been trying for while to try and make redistricting less partisan and more fair, and that’s a noble goal. Just not sure if either of those is needed, shouldn’t the majority rule? Anyway, with a Democratic Justice Department, the Democrats will get some say with pre-clearance still needed.
The AusChron also had an article on Bill White’s Environmental position. The article harps on the point that White never directly answers a question about reducing greenhouse emissions, but it also points our his great record on the environment while Mayor of Houston.
Is it politically possible to advocate statewide reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions while running for governor of Texas? Houston Mayor Bill White, now campaigning for the job as a Democrat, recently answered that question by … not mentioning greenhouse gases.
[...]
“In Houston, we’ve seen that being more energy efficient is good business,” he said. He cited his record as Houston mayor, which includes cutting the municipality’s energy consumption by 6% through energy efficiency, despite increased demand for services due to rapid population growth. The city of Houston also purchased 50 megawatts of wind energy, toughened green building standards, expanded bike paths and rail transit, and shifted to hybrid vehicles and buses. White said he also successfully persuaded the Environmental Protection Agency to more aggressively calculate pollution emitted from Houston’s large refining and chemical plants. “We can do the same types of things at the state level,” he said. “I have long advocated that Texas join most other states in setting higher fuel and efficiency standards.”
While it’s good to see that White is not getting a pass on the environmental issue, (and he shouldn’t) – he sees green issues maybe more from an “it’s good business and good for the environment” position – He will be a night-and-day difference from what Bush and Perry have been as governor.
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