Rep. Gene Seaman and his wife have houses in Austin and Corpus and have homestead and elderly tax exemptions on both of them. Rep. Rob Eissler pays rent from campaign funds for a condo in Austin he purchased years before he became a legislator to house his sons while they were students at the University of Texas. Sen. Kim Brimer and Rep. Vicki Truitt each use campaign funds to rent Austin living spaces from their spouses.

And we know all of that because of a defensive remark made by another lawmaker asked about his housing arrangements in the state capital.

When local reporters asked Rep. Toby Goodman, R-Arlington, about property owned by his wife and rented by his campaign, he replied that it was legal, that he wasn't enriching himself with political money and that he'd checked to make sure he was on the right side of the law. And then there was his response to WFAA-TV about the practice, a whiff of catnip for political researchers and reporters: "If they're going to file an ethics complaint on me, then they better file it on an awful lot of other people."

Those other people include the four lawmakers at the top of the story. In Goodman's case, the property in question is owned solely by his wife. But the mortgage on the property has his name on it. The Texas Values in Action Coalition — a gang of Dallas Democrats that dug up the story on Goodman (who's in a battle for reelection against a candidate the group supports) — complained to the Texas Ethics Commission that his name on that loan tainted the campaign expenditure. In effect, they've accused Goodman of using campaign funds for personal benefit, to pay off what he owes the mortgage holder. He says its kosher if the property belongs, as it does, to his wife. And he says the money's for rent, not for mortgage payments.

The Ethics Commission doesn't comment on complaints, and it appears unlikely that they'll weigh in on this before the election. But in 1996, they were asked about lawmakers renting separately owned properties from the spouses, and they were pretty clear about it. That 1996 opinion from the Ethics Commission didn't address mortgages on properties, but it settled the property question: "A legislator’s use of political contributions to make a rental payment to his spouse for the use of her separate property does not constitute a payment to purchase real property and does not violate section 253.038 of the Election Code. Nor is such a payment a conversion to personal use as long as the payment does not exceed the fair market value of the use of the property."

Other lawmakers who turned up after the Goodman-inspired search include Sen. Kim Brimer, R-Fort Worth, and Reps. Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands. Gene Seaman, R-Corpus Christi, and Vicki Truitt, R-Keller. Each has a different story.

• Seaman has a problem the others don't have: He and his wife are claiming homestead and over-65 exemptions on properties in both Nueces and Travis Counties. Seaman didn't return our calls himself. Mac McCall, a campaign consultant to Seaman, says the double-exemptions are a mistake that the couple didn't even know about until we asked. And he puts the blame squarely on the candidate's wife: "Ellen owns the property. She made an honest mistake and was totally unaware of it until you raised the question. This is not a Gene Seaman mistake."

The Seaman property in Austin is next to I-35, in a waterfront condo development called The Towers on Town Lake on the south end of downtown. It's valued at $234,345, though caps on property tax growth keep the taxable value at $163,152. The exemptions lower the taxable value even further. Seaman pays $1,000 rent each month from his campaign account to Austin Land Co., listed at the condo's address. The Texas Secretary of State has no recent record of such a corporation, but McCall acknowledges the payments go to Mrs. Seaman.

According to the Travis County Appraisal District, Ellen Seaman claims homestead and over-65 exemptions for the 1,459-square-foot condo. The Nueces County Appraisal District's online records show Gene Seaman has the same two exemptions on a $316,369 home on Ocean Drive in Corpus Christi. The Austin property is on the rolls in her name only. His name is the only one on the Corpus property.

McCall says the couple "is taking corrective steps" on the exemption in Travis County and will pay any back taxes they owe as a result of the two property tax exemptions taken there. They're still sorting out how long they've been on the tax rolls that way and how much money they might owe as a result. But McCall insists the candidate wasn't at fault: "This had absolutely nothing to do with Gene Seaman or his campaign or his campaign office."

Seaman is in a reelection battle with Juan Garcia, a Democrat seeking office for the first time. It's one of a handful of races considered competitive by both the Republicans and the Democrats.

• Eissler owns a place in Austin and pays his wife, Linda Eissler, $500 "reimbursement for rent" monthly from his campaign account. He also pays her $1,000 monthly from the campaign for what's described in his reports only as "services." He says she does the books for his political accounts and takes care of related work.

Eissler doesn't claim any deductions on the Austin property, a 1,200-square-foot condo in the Hyde Park neighborhood north of the University of Texas campus. The appraisers put the value of the property at $187,795. Unlike other lawmakers who are paying spouses for properties in Austin, Eissler's place is on the books in his name — not his wife's.

He says he bought the property before he ran for the Lege, so his sons would have a place to live while they went to college. One still lives there. Eissler said the mortgage payments on the condo are "$1,600 to $1,700 a month" and that condo dues have to be paid on top of that. He pays the $500 rent out of his campaign to cover utilities and other expenses while he's staying there. And he says he asked around informally when he was elected about how to handle it, coming away with the impression that "you can pay rent, but you can't buy stuff [real estate]. If that's incorrect, we'll fix it," he says.

Eissler has two opponents in the general election but is in a seat generally considered safe. He'll face Sammie Miller, a Democrat, and Brian Drake, a Libertarian, in November.

• Truitt pays her husband, James Truitt, $1,700 a month from the campaign account for an Austin property. Their 1,218-square-foot, $199,364 condo is a few blocks north and west of the state Capitol. They claim no property tax exemptions there.

The TEXVAC group that started on Goodman this week (while we were in progress on this) issued a press release detailing Truitt's campaign payments for real estate.

She, too, had a political consultant return our call. Their version: Her husband owns the property and his is the only name on the mortgage. They've legally partitioned the property and the loan, and the money he collects in rent doesn't accrue to her benefit.

Truitt's only opponent in November is Jacob Glatz, a Libertarian.

• Brimer's property is in the Westgate building across the street from the Texas Capitol, a favorite location for members and lobbyists for years. The condo is on the tax rolls in the name of his wife — Janna K. Brimer — and she claims no tax exemptions on it. The place is small — 903 square feet — but the location is valuable, and Travis County's appraisers say it's worth $258,216.

From his campaign account, Brimer pays $2,975 monthly to JKB Realty in Fort Worth — her company. "Why should I pay rent to some liberal Austin landlord?" he says.

Brimer thinks it was his query to the Texas Ethics Commission that cleared the practice of renting from a spouse, so long as it's done in a particular way. "It just has to be totally arms-length," he says. He and his wife had separate property before they were married, and they still do. He says they've lawyered the Austin deal to make it clear that she owns the condo and the mortgage on it. She charges full market rent, too, he says: "She is my landlord and she can kick my butt out anytime." He isn't up for election this year.

Ignore the Frontrunner

To beat the incumbent in this year's race for governor, all a challenger has to do is win about two-thirds of the anti-Rick Perry vote. In a four-person field, that's not as easy as it sounds. But unless one of the four challengers to the incumbent can amass a supermajority among voters looking for change, Perry will coast into his second full term in the Pink Building's middle office.

Most of the money is in the hands of an independent candidate — Carole Keeton Strayhorn — who's running as a non-Republican for the first time since she jumped into partisan politics.

The grass-roots support of a major political party is tied to a Democrat — that'd be Chris Bell — who's never run for office outside of Houston and Amarillo and who hasn't yet gained significant support from party loyalists with money.

The middle-finger candidate trying to attract the votes of Texans who want some change and want it from someone who hasn't been playing politics all those years, has the celebrity and the mouth to attract free media coverage. But author-entertainer Kinky Friedman is counting on support from people who generally don't bother to vote (increase your skepticism about any enterprise if its success depends on something happening which has never happened before; see Sanchez, Tony, and a 2002 gubernatorial campaign premised on a groundswell of support from Texans who'd never voted).

And there's James Werner, the Libertarian in the contest. His party has never mustered more than a small percentage of votes in a statewide race with candidates from both other parties. Nevertheless, even a small number of votes denied to another candidate could spell the difference. And conventional wisdom is that Libertarian candidates poach on conservative voters who'd otherwise vote for Republicans.

If he can hold onto the support of the 35 to 40 percent of voters who tell pollsters they're for Rick Perry, and if none of the three main challengers can break out of the traffic jam for second place, the incumbent will get another four years.

The money leader going into that four-person race for second is Strayhorn. It's not even close. She had $8.1 million at mid-year, compared with $654,501 for Bell, $491,372 for Friedman, and $1,330 for Werner.

Got base? If the built-in support for the big political parties is important, Bell's got the edge. He'll get the support of anyone who pulls the Democratic lever and leaves the voting booth. This is one for the political scientists: You'll find knowledgeable people who will tell you any Democrat will get a minimum of 30 percent of the vote in any statewide race in Texas.

Friedman's a wild card in every sense. If people are both sick of politics and willing to participate in politics at the same time, he might be onto something.

But none of the challengers has a shot if more than one of them does even moderately well. They'll split the "change" vote and Perry will glide into another four years in office.

Waiting for a Breakaway in Second Place

A survey done for Texans for Insurance Reform — a PAC loosely affiliated with the Texas Trial Lawyers Association — has Rick Perry in front of the pack, followed by Carole Keeton Strayhorn, Chris Bell, and Kinky Friedman.

The second-place position in that poll belongs to "undecided," at 20 percent. They had Perry at 41 percent, Strayhorn at 14 percent, and Bell and Friedman at 13 percent each. The polling was done before the current round of television spots were on the air. In a memo to TTLA's 2,000 members, the group's political director, Russ Tidwell, wrote that Strayhorn is the "most favorably known" of the three main challengers and that Friedman is seen unfavorably by more voters than see him favorably. Usually, you have to be in office for a while to get that result.

Asked for their second choice in the Guv's race, the 600 people polled by Austin-based Opinion Analysts said: Strayhorn, 20%; Bell, 14%; Perry and Friedman, 10% each.

Their conclusion: Perry's not beatable at 41 percent, but would be at 36 percent or less. And Tidwell is advising the individual members of TTLA to stay out, waiting to see whether TV ads and other noise shows the top race turning into a two-person contest in a month or so.

Up and At 'Em

Gov. Rick Perry is opening the heavy two months of the election cycle with a spot that says "we can't have homeland security without border security." Carole Keeton Strayhorn — the best-funded of his opponents — is starting out with two spots reminding voters of who she is and asking them to help her "shake Austin up."

The two gubernatorial contenders each bought statewide television time and plan to remain on the tube until Election Day on November 7. Kinky Friedman, who like Strayhorn is running as an independent, bought a small amount of TV time for a new ad that hasn't been previewed for reporters yet. Democrat Chris Bell and Libertarian James Werner don't have an on-air presence at the moment.

Perry and Strayhorn were first out of the chute (in this round; everybody but Werner ran ads at some point earlier in the year). Perry's going at border security, an obvious enough target at a time when immigration is at or near the top of issues that show up in polls of Republican voters in Texas. Strayhorn, an Austin native who's been in politics since the 1970s, is running as an outsider who wants to jangle the status quo.

In his ad, Perry is shown poking around on the Texas-Mexico border in jeans and a jacket with a local official, also in jeans. On a split screen, the ad shows a military helicopter patrolling farmland, a shot from the air of traffic backed up at a border checkpoint, someone loading a truck at night, and then an unidentified person getting handcuffed, also at night. The last shot is of Perry on a bluff over the river, next to a patch of prickly pear cactus. (Click on the titles to see the spots.)

Border

Perry: "If Washington won't protect our border, Texas will. Here along the Rio Grande, we're funding a border-wide crime control effort. Led by local law enforcement."

Announcer: "Gov. Rick Perry ordered the Texas National Guard to provide border security support six months before the president requested it. And he's fighting for $100 million to stop illegal activity."

Perry: "We're increasing patrols. Using technology to stop terrorists from crossing our border. We can't have homeland security without border security."

Strayhorn is running two spots. In both, she's in front of a white backdrop wearing a suit and talking straight into the camera.

Carole

Strayhorn: "Why am I running for governor? Here's why: I'm 67 years old. My future isn't politics. It's my grandkids. And I want to protect their future from an Austin that doesn't listen, spends money we don't have and taxes us when they want more. We have underfunded schools, overtaxed homeowners, foreign-owned toll roads, and a Capitol full of politicians more worried about special interests than about us. I'm Carole Keeton Strayhorn. This grandma wants to shake Austin up."

Texans First

Strayhorn: "Partisan politics has let us all down. In Austin they are so busy yelling at each other they've stopped listening to us. Let's remember who we are. Before we were Republicans and Democrats, before we chose sides, we were first and foremost Texans. And we've got to learn to set aside our political differences and get something done. I'm Carole Keeton Strayhorn. This election let's do something serious. Let's make Austin listen. Let's shake Austin up."

The Continuing Adventures of Ciro Rodriguez

Ciro Rodriguez, D-San Antonio, remains on the ballot in CD-23, after telling supporters and reporters that he was out of the contest. He jinxed a union endorsement with that very public imitation of a Rainbow Trout on a sidewalk; what might have been neutral ended up as an endorsement (complete with ground troops) for Albert Uresti. The field includes the incumbent, U.S. Rep. Henry Bonilla, R-San Antonio; Democrats August "Augie" Beltran of San Antonio; Rick Bolaños of El Paso; Adrian De Leon of Carrizo Springs; Lukin Gilliland of San Antonio; and independent candidate Craig Stephens of San Antonio.

Former U.S. Rep. Nick Lampson will run for Tom DeLay's seat in CD-22, but he didn't sign up for the special election to fill that seat for the time between the November elections and what would have been the last day of DeLay's term, had the incumbent not resigned. Contestants for the stub term include Dr. Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, a Republican member of the Houston City Council; Republican Don Richardson, a Houston Republican who owns a computer store; Libertarian Bob Smither, a Friendswood engineer; former U.S. Rep. Steve Stockman, a consultant and Republican from Friendswood; and Dr. Giannibecego Hoa Tran, a Houston Republican.

Smither and Lampson will be on the ballot for the full term. Richardson, Sekula-Gibbs, and Joe Reasbeck of Lago Vista are certified write-in candidates for that ballot.

Sekula-Gibbs is touting a poll that shows her ahead of Lampson, but the pollsters didn't have a reliable way to ask voters if they'd be able to write in her name. In a straight horse race question, pollster Baselice & Associates says she's ahead 46-35. Most — 85 percent — know there's a write-in candidate, and over half know it's her.

Candidates signed up for two other stub terms for the statehouse. In SD-19, where Frank Madla, D-San Antonio, quit, Republican real estate broker Dick Bowen of El Paso will face Democrat Carlos Uresti of San Antonio for the last weeks of the term. That exactly matches the ballot for the full term in the seat.

In HD-33, where Rep. Vilma Luna, D-Corpus Christi, quit, two Democrats and a Republican will run: Republican Joe McComb of Corpus, a former county commissioner who runs a relocation business; Democrat Danny Noyola Sr., a Democrat and retired educator who lost a bitter insider contest to get on the ballot for a full term; and Democrat Solomon Ortiz Jr., the Democrat who beat him. Ortiz is a former Nueces County chairman of the party, and the son of the longtime congressman. McComb and Ortiz are the only two candidates seeking the full term.

All About the Money

The Texas Ethics Commission added a new whirligig to their campaign finance reporting website: A report of the cash on hand balances in all political accounts as of the latest reporting period.

We pulled it off, put it into our off-the-shelf number-mangler for reordering and popped out a list of the top accounts at the mid-year point. Some of this is known territory — your big-time gubernatorial candidates are here. But some of the entities that pop up on the list aren't among the usual suspects: The Association State PAC, for instance, or Texas Our Texas.

The list includes 1,865 political accounts holding a total combined balance of $96.6 million. Break it down: $39.2 million is in the top ten accounts; $57.9 million is in the top 50, and $67 million is in the top 100. Or do this: $96.6 million is about $4.22 for each child, woman, and man in the state. It took $1.1 million or better to get into the top 10. Half a million would rank you 23rd, and $250,000 would put you at number 54.

 

What you see here is a list of the top 50 accounts. You can download a printer-friendly list of the top 100 by clicking here or by looking in the Files section of our website.

Short Bits

Former Texas Railroad Commissioner Lena Guerrero and her husband Leo Aguirre, both staunch Democrats, endorsed Gov. Rick Perry for reelection over a bitter rival, Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn. Guerrero lost the RRC spot after a firestorm over her resume: She claimed a college degree she hadn't earned, and then bungled the explanation when the story came out. Strayhorn's camp — though they were out of the race by then — claimed credit for handing the damning information to Guerrero's opponent. Guerrero served in the House with Perry when he was a Democrat; they were both elected to that body in 1984. 

• Michael Esparza, a Republican running in for the Texas House in HD-35, got a relatively rare endorsement (in statehouse races, anyhow) from former President George H. W. Bush. Esparza is challenging Rep. Yvonne Gonzalez Toureilles, D-Alice.

• Rep. Hubert Vo, D-Houston, was endorsed by the Texas League of Conservation Voters. 

• Kinky Friedman always said he'd be unusual.

Now Friedman, a Jew, is preaching to political supporters from the New Testament's Gospel of John. Jews pretty much stick to the Old Testament, but Friedman somehow makes it work.

In "A personal message from Kinky" video on his website, he appeals to supporters for contributions ("Folks — send money!" is the opener) by telling the story of the Good Shepherd, saying he heard the story in a Presbyterian church at the funeral of a friend. Friedman's version has Gov. Rick Perry has the hired hand who doesn't take care of the sheep. He says he wants the other gig: "I want to be the good shepherd for Texas. It's time somebody was."

There and elsewhere on his website, Friedman has fundraising appeals to get him some TV time. One says the campaign has raised $192,000 since August 1. That's real money, but a week of saturation-level advertising across the state costs about $1 million.

• Want a Kinky Friedman yard sign? It'll cost you. Instead of giving them away like most campaigns do, the author/singer's campaign is charging 12 bucks for a sign, and 15 bucks if you want one with a stand you can stick into the ground.

Appointments, Made on the Eve of a Holiday Weekend

Just before the long Labor Day weekend, Gov. Rick Perry filled one of the prominent holes in his branch of government, handing the open spot on the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to Martin Hubert — deputy commissioner of the Texas Department of Agriculture.

By picking Hubert, Perry knocked back two bits of speculation: One, on who might get the appointment at TCEQ, and two, on who might follow Agriculture Commissioner Susan Combs if she wins the comptroller's job in November. Hubert's a lawyer from a South Texas ranching and farming family. Among other things, he was general counsel for a time to then-Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock.  He's the latest in a line of top Ag department people who went from there to TCEQ that includes, among others, Barry McBee and Geoff Connor, both of whom moved into bigger and better jobs when they left the environmental agency.

For the small group of people who follow this stuff — agency types, tax wonks, lawyers, lobbyists, political consultants and lawmakers — Hubert's been touted as a potential top assistant to the state's tax collector. The appointment doesn't make a job with the next comptroller impossible (assuming Combs wins), but it takes him out of the mix for now. He's appointed to a term that runs through 2011, which means he could stay that long; it doesn't mean he has to stay that long. Lisa Woods, who's been working on the Combs campaign, will take over some of the pre-transition work Hubert had been working on. She's the new deputy commissioner at Ag.

Hubert goes to TCEQ at an interesting moment. The three-member commission is due to decide the fate of a new coal plant in East Texas that Dallas-based TXU wants to build. Administrative law judges at the State Office of Administrative Hearings have recommended against allowing the plants, but the final decision is up to the three commissioners. With Hubert on board, there's no chance of a tie vote.

• Perry appointed Carin Marcy Barth of Houston to the Texas Public Finance Authority. She's the president of LB Capital.

• He named three new members to the Texas State Board of Pharmacy, including Rosemary Combs of El Paso, Alice Mendoza of Kingsville, and Jeanne Waggener of Waco. Combs, who is being reappointed, is former executive director of the El Paso Center on Family Violence. Mendoza and Waggener are pharmacists. Mendoza is director of pharmacy at CHRISTUS Spohn Hospital in Kleberg; Waggener is assistant manager of the Wal-Mart pharmacy in Bellmead.

Political People and Their Moves

He gets a free do-over at the beginning of the next legislative session, but Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst scooted some chairs around to fill behind Sen. Frank Madla, D-San Antonio. Madla resigned after losing the Democratic primary, leaving the Intergovernmental Relations Committee without a chairman. Dewhurst named Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, to chair the committee. In West's place as chairman of the Senate's Subcommittee on Higher Education, he named Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo. West will remain the vice chairman of the Senate's Education Committee; Zaffirini will keep the vice chair gig on the Senate Finance Committee.

Gov. Rick Perry named Jack McGaughey of Nocona the new district attorney for Archer, Clay, and Montague Counties. McGaughey has been the acting chief since the resignation (after drunk driving charges in Oklahoma) of District Attorney Tim Cole.

Brian D. Smith is hanging out a lobby/lawyer shingle in San Antonio and will be doing work there and in Austin. He ran the East Montgomery County Improvement District and was city manager in Vidor before jumping the rails to go to law school.

Patti Kilday Hart — half the writing team on Texas Monthly's list of best and worst lawmakers for the last nine legislative sessions — is leaving the world of journalism for a communications gig with Austin-based Strategic Partnerships, Inc. That's the outfit headed by former Railroad Commissioner Mary Scott Nabers.

Deaths: Nellie Connally, the state's First Lady for six years in the 1960s, wife of the late Gov. John Connally. She was 87.

Stanley Boysen, a four-term Democratic lawmaker from Yoakum who ran the Texas Optometric Association for 26 years, until 1990. He was 80.

Quotes of the Week

Democrat Chris Bell, on the trail and quoted by the Associated Press: "Jesus had the most radical social agenda in the world. Why don't Democrats ever invoke that?"

Rep. Gene Seaman, quoted in the Corpus Christi Caller-Times telling supporters to keep him in office: "It's important to save senior legislators, not me. Ellen and I can always do something else. For the $600 a month that I make, I could go back to selling insurance."

Dr. Steve Hotze of Houston, a conservative who opposed the governor's tax plan, telling the Fort Worth Star-Telegram who he'll support in the governor's race this year: "I'm staying out of it. When you have Republicans doing what Democrats used to do, which is tax us to death and spend money like drunken sailors, you know you've got trouble."

Al Cordeiro, with the Austin County Sheriff's Department, on rising crime, quoted by the Sealy News: "I've had to pull my gun out of this holster in this county this year more than I've had to since 1963. The sheriff hasn't taken Opie fishing in a long time, and Mayberry isn't here anymore."

American Idol singer Kelly Clarkson, after hugging U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, quoted in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram: "Keep wearing whatever you're wearing. That smells good."

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Texas Weekly: Volume 23, Issue 12, 11 September 2006. Ross Ramsey, Editor. Copyright 2006 by Printing Production Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission from the publisher is prohibited. One-year online subscription: $250. For information about your subscription, call (512) 302-5703 or email biz@texasweekly.com. For news, email ramsey@texasweekly.com, or call (512) 288-6598.

Hutchison and Perry are still in front, but the margins are smaller...

The monthly Zogby/Wall Street Journal Battleground States Poll has U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison under 50 percent but still ahead of Democrat Barbara Ann Radnofsky of Houston. The poll puts Hutchison at 45.2 percent and Radnofsky at 36.8 percent; a month ago, they had them at 61 percent and 31 percent, respectively. And this month's poll includes a strong showing by Libertarian Scott Jameson, the favorite of 7.1 percent of the respondents.

In the Guv's race, they've got Republican Rick Perry slipping to 30.7 percent, followed by Democrat Chris Bell at 25.3 percent, independents Kinky Friedman at 22.4 percent and Carole Keeton Strayhorn at 11.1 percent, and Libertarian James Werner at 2.6 percent. At one point earlier this year, they had Perry 20 percentage points ahead of the next-best candidate.

The poll's got a 2.9 percent margin of error. They did the survey from August 29 through September 5.

A new Rasmussen Poll on the governor's race has Perry at 33 percent, Strayhorn at 22 percent, Bell at 18 percent and Friedman at 16 percent. Perry's "favorables" fell under 50 percent, to 48; Strayhorn's, previously below 50, rose to 53. Detailed results are open only to their subscribers at the moment; they generally open the results to the hoi polloi after about a week.

The ads are on television, and the knives are sharpened. Press releases, interviews, photos and videos of campaign events are popping up everywhere on the Internet. Game on. Let's just hope the fans of this contact sport don't leave Austin as messy on November 8 as disappointed University of Texas tailgaters did after their defeat to Ohio State.

Kinky Thoughts

Independent candidate for governor, Richard "Kinky" Friedman, made waves all over the blog world this week. He admitted he'd used cocaine years ago, as a semi-apology after calling some Hurricane Katrina evacuees in Houston "crackheads."

Bobby L. Warren at Progressive Texan said, "I realize that there are politicians who have used illegal drugs in the past, but usually the admissions have been limited to marijuana. Cocaine, however, is a very different matter all together."

Charles Kuffnerat Off the Kuff noted, "Friedman is supposed to be this 'straight shooter' and 'anti—politician' who 'tells it like it is' (don't believe me — the man says so his own self). Yet when he says ugly, racist crap like this, we're told we need to get a sense of humor, because hey, he doesn't really mean it. He's the Kinkster! He's just joking!"

No site is more dedicated to the defeat of Friedman than the aptly named Stop Kinky! blog. This week it links to various news reports over the past year where Friedman says one thing and then the other.

But since Right Wing Sparkle appears to be charmed — "The more I researched Kinky, the more I loved him, I have to admit. He calls Democrats and Republicans "the Crips and the Bloods." That is just perfect" — perhaps it's true that Friedman is cutting into Gov. Perry's base.

* * * * *

Poll of the Week

This week's WSJ/Zogby poll — even if some folks think it uses questionable methods — gives hope to Democratic supporters. John Cobarruvias at Bay Area Houston thinks candidate Chris Bell is within striking distance now of Gov. Rick Perry. "... if the voters in this state would take this race seriously, stop drinking for a while, and quit thinking cute nicknames means good government, Chris (Bell) can make this a race. One thing is clear though, 68% of voters in Texas can't stand (Rick) Perry."

Houstopia said political consultants first thought Friedman would take voters away from Bell. Now, it appears he may be siphoning voters away from Gov. Perry. "If Kinky can begin to eat into Perry's base — even just 4 or 5% of it, and Bell can get desperately needed funding for TV down the stretch, there's a ball game folks. (Carole) Strayhorn, while fading as a candidate, remains very dangerous to her enemy Perry by virtue of her ability to savage him on television straight through Election Day. The situation is incredibly fluid right now and frankly fun to watch."

Karl-Thomas Musselman of Burnt Orange Report is keeping tabs on several public polls, Wall Street Journal/Zogby, Rasmussen, and Survey USA, and how they're tracking over time.

* * * * *

Rolling Out the Ads

Right around Labor Day, Gov. Perry and Strayhorn began running television ads. Paul Burka at Texas Monthly's BurkaBlog analyzed two from the Strayhorn camp, saying one "works," but the other is "boring." As for questions about exactly when Strayhorn, a former Austin mayor and school board member, became an Austin outsider, Burka said, "It was when she said that the state budget passed by the 2003 legislative session didn't balance and threatened not to certify it. From then on, she was anathema to the Republican leadership, and vice versa."

Rawhide at Pink Dome said, "Governor Perry's first ad has something for everybody — safety for the moms, border talk for the racists, a Hispanic for the Hispanics, an airplane for, uhh, flying enthusiasts, and a rugged, handsome governor for the closeted NASCAR types. Git 'R Done Governor."

* * * * *

A Different Kind of Governor's Race

Evan at Rick Perry vs. The World analyzes each candidate for governor's popularity on MySpace and wonders if friends translate into votes.

* * * * *

Joining the Ranks

State Rep./Speaker candidate Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, has decided to follow Rep. Aaron Peña's lead into blogging (his is called A Capitol Blog). Hers is called The Little Dog Report because she "believes that even 'little dogs' deserve a shot in their government." We'll be watching to see if that dog barks or bites.

* * * * *

Cruising in Texas

Photos of a celebrity baby have nothing to do with Texas politics, but that didn't keep Texas bloggers (or us) from finding a way to jump on the media bandwagon. And it didn't stop us: One funny line makes all the partisan blogging we read SO worth it.

PinkDome doctored the magazine cover photo of actor Tom Cruise, actress Katie Holmes, and their daughter Suri into something truly frightening.

And a regular contributor at In The Pink Texas, Lurkette, gave us what may be the pun of the year, regarding the baby's full head of hair: "Ok, if that is indeed her real hair, I'm sorry to say, that would make her a Suri with a fringe on top."

Independent gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman is hitting the TV trail with two new ads they say they'll be showing on television in 14 cities around the state. The first of the two ads, called "Good Shepherd," shows Friedman inside and outside at his Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch in Medina. Here's the script, all read by the candidate himself while a guitar plays quietly in the background:

"Folks, I heard and old-time preacher read from the Book of John the other day. He said the Good Shepherd knows and recognizes his own and his own know and recognize him. And when the wolves come, the hired hands flee. But the Good Shepherd stays. Folks, we don't need a politician as governor anymore. We need a Good Shepherd. I want to be your Good Shepherd. I'm Kinky Friedman and that's why I'm running for governor of Texas."

In the second commercial, called "Clean Energy, Clean Government," Friedman is sitting in an idiosyncratic office. Again, he's the voice talent for the spot, and there's a soft guitar playing underneath his voice. The script:

"Look, I'm 61 years old. Too young for Medicare, and too old for women to care. But I care about what's happened to Texas. For the first time in history, Texas is importing energy. Now that ain't right. Folks, it's time for a change. Remember: There's a difference between a politician and a statesman. A politician's thinking about the next election. A statesman's thinking about the next generation. I'm Kinky Friedman, and that's why I'm running for governor of Texas."

The Friedman camp is quite a bit more open about their TV buy than the competition, saying the spots will run 5,000 times on cable and broadcast stations in 14 television markets in the state, including all but one of the big ones — Austin. Laura Stromberg, the campaign's press secretary, says that's because resources are scarce and the candidate is already well-known in the state capital. She didn't say what the campaign is spending on the ads or how long they'll run.

In HD-11, the Republican candidate is touting upcoming endorsement and fundraising visits from Gov. Rick Perry and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst while the Democrat is showing off a poll that says Perry's not popular enough there to offer the GOP's challenger a ride on his coattails.Pollsters for Rep. Chuck Hopson, D-Jacksonville, say he's ahead of Republican Larry Durrett, R-Jacksonville, by a 55-28 margin (or why would they show us the poll, right?). The Libertarian in the race, Paul "Blue" Story, of Henderson, wasn't mentioned in the poll memo.

Hopson, according to 300 people surveyed by the Florida-based Kitchens Group in mid-August, is better known and has a favorable-to-unfavorable ratio of 6-to-1. Durrett's, they say, is 2-to-1, which is respectable (particularly if you've seen numbers for the top four candidates in the race for governor).

Perry, they say, is the favorite of 40 percent of the voters in the district. The pollsters — again, we'll stress that this memo was written for persuasive purposes — contrast that with the popularity of the George W. Bush at the top of the ticket two years ago. To be fair, you'd have to blend in numbers (which we don't have) for U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, who'll be at the top of the ticket and is leading in statewide polls. She's been popular in that part of East Texas in past years.

Durrett's not laying down. Perry's coming in for an endorsement, and Dewhurst was listed as the headliner for a fundraiser this week (Thursday). Durrett touted that last one as Dewhurst's only appearance this year for a legislative candidate. Sen. Todd Staples, who's running for Texas Agriculture Commissioner and who used to hold that House seat, is also working for Durrett. Perry will drop in next week (Monday) to make an endorsement and to headline another fundraiser. The Dewhurst deal is in Cherokee County; the Perry deal is in Rusk County.

Texas colleges remain less affordable than those in other states, according to one report; another says the deficit in the state's prepaid college tuition program is half what had been predicted.

Texas colleges got an "F" on affordability on the latest biennial study from the National Report Card on Higher Education. Their diagnosis is scary: "Texas’ underperformance in educating its young population could limit the state’s access to a competitive workforce and weaken its economy over time." They say the state's dropout rates are improving but remain higher than in other states. And they say the higher number of high school degrees hasn't increased the flow of students going on to college.

The affordability is figured by taking the cost of college less financial aid and dividing it into average family income. The numbers are daunting: Four year public schools cost 30 percent of the average family income in Texas; private schools cost 66 percent of the average family income each year. National averages are about half that. And the average U.S. student borrows $2,619 annually to pay for school; the corresponding Texas number is $3,541 per year.

A separate report — the 2005 annual financials from the Texas Tomorrow Fund — partly illustrates the problem. Enrollment in the state's prepaid college tuition program has been suspended since 2003, when the Legislature deregulated tuition rates. The state continues to honor contracts already purchased, but doesn't sell new ones anymore. That's an indefinite suspension of new business, put in place because of the uncertainty over what to charge new entrants. The freed-up tuition rates are part of the formula for setting the price for the paid-in-advance system.

Between those fast tuition increases and the slow stock market at the beginning of the decade, the plan ran up huge liabilities. Those are shrinking, but as of a year ago (the latest number available), the program had "unfunded liabilities" of $107.7 million. That's the difference between what it'll cost to send contracted kids to school and what they paid for their contracts. Those families got a deal, but the state is on the hook for the difference, which you'd have to put down as one cost of deregulating tuition. It's getting better: The equivalent number from August 2004 was $222.8 billion. The actuaries had predicted that the deficit a year ago would be 241.3 million, an increase from the previous year; they didn't expect any improvement and they got a considerable one. The program's annual report credits stock market gains, lower than expected increases in tuition and fees, and an accounting change.

DeLay's charges fester in high court, a new legislative blogger, the Parent PAC is back, and Fort Worth might get a new park out of a state land sale.

• The state's highest criminal court will reconsider a decision to toss conspiracy charges against former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals will look at a district judge's decision to throw out one of two conspiracy charges against DeLay. Among other things, that'll delay DeLay's pending trial on the remaining charges. The charges stem from a $190,000 swap between state and federal Republicans; the guys on this end sent corporate money and received money from individuals in return. The sent money couldn't legally be used in state races here; the returned money could. DeLay and two others — Jim Ellis and John Colyandro — were accused of conspiring to violate state election laws. And the question for the courts is whether that was legal at the time, in 2002.

• Add Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, to your list of legislative bloggers. Thompson, who's also the only declared challenger to House Speaker Tom Craddick for the job of presiding officer, calls her blog The Little Dog Report and says she was inspired to start her online scribbling by Rep. Aaron Peña, D-Brownsville. He's been at it for a good while, writing A Capitol Blog.

• The Texas Parent PAC will back Democrat Joe Heflin in the race to replace former House Speaker Pete Laney in the Texas House. They came up with a weird statistic: He's got 24 public school educators in his immediate and extended family. And they took a swipe at the Republican in the race, Jim Landtroop, whose supporters include Dr. James Leininger, the San Antonio voucher advocate. Their guy, they say, " will not be beholden to big campaign contributors who seek to weaken public schools by using tax-funded vouchers to pay for private school tuition in Houston and Dallas." Landtroop got $5,000 from Leininger almost a year ago.

• Follow-up: Gov. Rick Perry announced the sale of 400 acres near Eagle Mountain Lake in Fort Worth, a deal that will give the state money to buy more parkland, that will leave the Eagle Mountain property's mineral rights in state hands and that will open the land up as a park. The prospective buyers — they still have to raise the money — include the Tarrant Regional Water District and the Trust for Public Land. Democrat Chris Bell contends Perry came around only because of pressure from locals and from gubernatorial opponents. The Guv's staff says the $10 million deal has been in the works but that negotiations prevented them from talking about it until now.

Rep. Glenda Dawson, R-Pearland, part of the Republican wave that put the GOP in the House majority for the first time in modern history in 2002, died at the John Sealy Hospital in Galveston. She apparently died from an infection.

Dawson, a teacher for three decades before running for the House, was 65.  She upset then Rep. Tom Uher, D-Bay City, one of the longest serving members of the Legislature, in that 2002 election. She won reelection in 2004 and was the favorite in this year's contest. She was part of a group of Republican candidates helped by a $190,000 swap between Texas Republicans and national Republicans, who allegedly exchanged that amount in non-corporate contributions for the same amount in corporate money. The corporate money was verboten in Texas elections; the money that came back in exchange was legal. And Dawson properly reported all the money she received.

House Speaker Tom Craddick and Gov. Rick Perry both issued statements of condolence. "She was a wonderful colleague, a warm friend and a great representative to the people of District 29," Craddick said. "She will be sorely missed by all."

She'd have faced Dr. Anthony Dinovo, D-Pearland, in November. The law allows a political party to replace a candidate who dies, but it's too late in the election year to do that in this case. Her name will remain on the ballot and if she wins, there will be a special election to fill the vacancy. In that case, the winner of the special election would take office in January.

Former Gov. Ann Richards, an iconic Texas Democrat who opened the most powerful offices in state government to unprecedented numbers of women and minorities and who was known for her lashing wit and her crown of white hair, succumbed to esophageal cancer late Wednesday. She was 73.

She was a trailblazer, a populist whose tenure shook the culture of state government and the people and outside institutions that were accustomed to having their way with it. Ethics reforms came unstuck and got into law, partly because of her support. Insurance regulation was briefly wrestled away from an industry that historically wins most of its battles with state government. Environmental regulators tightened up. And she appointed a string of women, Hispanics, Blacks, Asians and others to the state's boards and commissions who hadn't been there in big numbers before. Compared to her predecessors from both parties, she nearly doubled the numbers of appointments that went to people in those groups.

Richards was one of those rare people you know will be in the history books before you know everything that will go into their paragraphs in those books. Richards was the second woman elected governor in Texas (Miriam "Ma" Ferguson is usually characterized as a stand-in for her husband, James "Pa" Ferguson, for two terms in the 1920s and 1930s). She held off a Republican tide that eventually overtook Texas politics. And she was an inspiration to Texans — a personification of the state — even as she was turned out of office by voters.

"Ann Richards was the epitome of Texas politics: a figure larger than life who had a gift for captivating the public with her great wit," said Gov. Rick Perry in a statement. "She was an endearing and enduring figure in Texas politics. She paved the way as a leader and a role model for women who aspire to the highest levels of leadership. Anita and I are saddened by a loss that will be felt by many. Ann Richards left Texas a better place."

Richards was active in Democratic politics for years before deciding to run for county office in 1976. She won the state treasurer's job in 1982. She came on the national scene through the TV screen, where her speech at the 1988 Democratic National Convention was played over and over; a Texas woman taking apart a Texas presidential candidate — George H.W. Bush — with her quicksilver tongue. "Poor George," she cried. "He can't help it. He was born with a silver foot in his mouth."

Two years later, she was at the center of a whirlwind of a governor's race, with seven major candidates from the two major parties banging on each other for the right to head Texas government. Of the bunch, she alone had a national following.

Richards, then the state treasurer, battled former Gov. Mark White and Attorney General Jim Mattox through a rough primary, then defeated Mattox in a runoff that was remarkably rough even by the standards of remarkably rough Texas politics. Richards turned her recovery from alcoholism into a political asset, talking about it openly and deflecting attacks during that race — most of them from Mattox — that were aimed at personal problems she had left behind. He accused her of using cocaine; she answered that she had avoided "mind-altering" substances for ten years and wouldn't go beyond that.

Republican Clayton Williams of Midland had an easier time of it, besting Secretary of State Jack Rains, former U.S. Rep. Kent Hance and Dallas attorney Tom Luce without a runoff on the GOP side.

The resulting "Claytie and the Lady" race drew national attention, with two large personalities battling for control of an increasingly Republican state. The state had already gone for the GOP in presidential races, and it would, in 1990, elect two Republicans to statewide office, breaking the Democrats' hold on Texas government (they were Rick Perry and Kay Bailey Hutchison). A regular refrain in East Texas underlined Richards' problem. Voters, especially but not exclusively men, would say they weren't sure the state was ready for "a petticoat governor."

But Williams blew a big lead with ill-timed gaffes. He compared bad weather to rape and suggested a victim "lay back and enjoy it." He refused to shake Richards' hand, after his staff alerted reporters that "something was going to happen." He told reporters that in the contest, he'd "head her, hoof her, and drag her through the dirt" — terms familiar in the corral but not on the stump. And on the Friday before the election, the wealthy West Texan sealed it, volunteering a deadly answer to a softball question, saying he hadn't paid income taxes in 1986, when he was losing money in the oil patch. Richards capitalized on his goofs. That Friday night — just in time for TV news to catch it — she went in front of a union hall audience with this line: "Claytie didn't pay taxes in 1986. Did you?" What was left of his advantage disappeared. Richards ended up in front, with just under 50 percent of the vote (a Libertarian snagged the rest).

Richards had a real talent for tying government and politics to the lives of voters and citizens. For reporters, she was pure platinum, good for a quote even when she was dodging a question. She backed the lottery — originally a Mattox idea — to limit the size of a tax bill passed to balance the state budget. Richards scratched off the first Texas Lottery ticket at the now defunct Polk Feed Store in Southwest Austin, and captured the essence of the game (and made it an easy day for headline writers) when she saw the result: "Oh Rats." Another of her most famous lines came from that speech in 1988, when she encouraged women to get into public life. "Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did. She just did it backwards, and in high heels."

She was nuts about movies and Port Aransas, and always seemed available to talk to kids or do something for them. Austin's school district will open a school for girls next year — the Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders. She had hoped to be at the door when it opens a year from now to welcome the first class.

She was well-liked, but she was also tough. Enough so that people joked about it, after they recovered. An Austin movie chain runs a short film before movies telling people not to talk. It features Richards, a regular patron, tossing a loudmouth from the theater. The tagline: "Don't talk during the movie, or Ann Richards will take your ass out."

She had some losses in office, too. Her fix to the school finance system was rejected by voters. A couple of her highest profile appointees — Lena Guerrero and Bob Krueger — were disappointments. Guerrero lost her spot at the Texas Railroad Commission after admitting she'd lied about having a college degree. Krueger's political career ended in a special election for the U.S. Senate seat he'd been keeping warm: Kay Bailey Hutchison swamped him and remains in that office to this day. Richards warred with then-Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock, alternating alliance and enmity with a fellow Democrat who later became a mentor to her successor.

In 1994, she was knocked off by George W. Bush, who did six years in office in Texas before winning the presidency. She was more popular at the time of her defeat than any Texas governor had been in decades, but voters weren't as happy with the job she was doing. A couple of issues gave fuel to her opponents, especially her veto of legislation that would allow Texans to carry concealed handguns. Like the petticoat line of four years earlier, the gun line was everywhere. And it gave some wavering voters a reason to seek change. They voted for Bush.

After she left office, she lobbied for a Washington, D.C.-based firm and then signed on with Austin-based Public Strategies Inc., where she shuttled between Austin and New York City. She was a popular speaker and a frequent guest on TV talk shows, and an advisor to lots of political (and other public) people and to groups who sought her counsel.

Years after leaving office, she summed things up: "In looking back on my life, I could of course say the predictable thing — that the greatest thing I've ever done is bear my children and have grandchildren, and all that kind of stuff.

"But the reality is that the greatest part of my life was the opportunity to be in public service, to make a difference for the community I live in, for the state that I love, to be able to try to make things better, whether they turned out in the fashion I expected them to or not."

"Sometimes it's serendipitous. Good things happen accidentally. But they're not going to happen unless well-meaning people give of their time and their lives to do that."

Richards' body will lie in state this weekend in the rotunda of the Texas Capitol. Services are set for Monday at the Frank Erwin Center at the University of Texas — that's the basketball/special events venue, to give you an idea of the size of the thing. She'll be buried at the State Cemetery after a private graveside service.

Rep. Frank Corte, R-San Antonio, is back from an eight-month deployment to the Middle East. He's in the Marine Reserve and went as a colonel in the USMC. The tour of duty overlapped the special session on taxes and school finance; Valerie Corte served in her husband's spot during that session.

Jeff Rose is now the deputy first assistant to Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott. He's headed the agency's general civil litigation department, and was with Dallas-based Strasburger and Price before becoming a state employee in 2003.

Gary Johnson, the former executive director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, is joining the Austin staff of MGT of America, a policy consulting firm. Among others there, he'll join Wayne Scott, his predecessor at TDCJ, and Steve Robinson, former executive director of the Texas Youth Commission.

Claudia Russell signed on as an admin law and lobbyist partner at Austin-based Bickerstaff, Heath, Pollan & Caroom. She's a former staff attorney at the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and worked in several legislative offices before that.

Gov. Rick Perry named Vidal Gonzalez of San Antonio to the Finance Commission of Texas. Gonzalez is an exec at Jourdanton State Bank.

The governor named Laurens Fish III — who heads a chain of funeral homes in Austin — as presiding officer of the Texas Funeral Service Commission, which regulates that business.

One of the state's gubernatorial candidates is short-listed for the Thurber Prize for American Humor. Kinky Friedman, occupied mainly as a writer before running for governor this year as an independent, is one of three finalists for the award. He got nominated for Texas Hold 'Em, a book of essays.

Deaths: Former federal Judge James DeAnda of Houston, of prostate cancer, at age 81. He was a civil rights lawyer and one of the founders of MALDEF — the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund — before putting on the robes, and one of a quartet of lawyers who won a 1954 case that established constitutional equal protection rights for Hispanics.

Former Rep. Jake Johnson, D-San Antonio, who helped start the University of Texas San Antonio and once suckered his fellow legislators into voting against the Bill of Rights. He was 75.