A half-cent increase in the sales tax could be used on a local option basis to lower property taxes, according to the head of the governor's task force on appraisal reform.

Tom Pauken, speaking to the Texas Association of Realtors, couched the idea as his own and said he hasn't sought approval of it from the rest of his task force or from Gov. Rick Perry.

With that caveat, he said the sales tax income could replace revenue from property taxes on a dollar-for-dollar basis, apportioned to each of the local governments in a participating county. Voters faced with that swap would find two other things in the package, as Pauken envisions it: A five percent cap on appraisal increases in a given year, and an increased homestead exemption (he didn't specify the size) for homeowners.

A spokeswoman for Perry said Pauken's job is to come up with some things for the public to talk about when they're beefing about appraisal reforms, and said the Perry hasn't seen or signed off on anything. (In the past, Perry has supported lowering the annual allowed increase in taxable property values to 5 percent from 10 percent.)

Pauken said the idea is one of several his panel is considering. They're looking at mandatory sales price disclosure, a requirement in most other states but an idea that's been batted down in Texas by Realtors, brokers, developers and landowners in years past.

Randy Jeffers of Amarillo, the chairman-elect of TAR, said the trade group doesn't like that as a standalone idea, but might be able to swallow it as part of a package of reforms. The Realtors are also opposed to appraisal caps, which they say distort market prices for real estate. Jeffers didn't say whether he liked Pauken's tax proposal, but said it appears on first glance to increase the complexity of the property tax system.

Pauken also said he'd like to change the school finance formulas, which he said reward districts for manipulating property appraisals, but he said that's outside his task force's charter. He likes the idea of revenue caps on local governments and said they shouldn't hide spending increases behind property value increases, but should raise taxes when they need to so voters can see what's going on. At the same time, he said local governments have a point about the state pushing spending upon them, and said the state ought to track and fund the mandates it forces onto cities and counties.

He said Realtors and other groups would find things they don't like in any proposal. The trick is to follow the example of the tax task force that worked out the property tax—business tax swap earlier this year: A majority liked the package in spite of components they opposed. "As a standalone, much of this would fail," Pauken said.

Debate Analysis Made Easy

Nothing that happened during the single gubernatorial debate made news, beyond the perfunctory stories everybody has to run simply because they staffed an event with reporters and photographers. Remember: Where you find a gaggle of reporters, you will later find stories, whether or not news was committed.

Normal Texans who watched might be a bit more educated about the candidates, but probably didn't see much they were still talking about 24 hours later. The debate didn't jump outside of its box. After the first round of stories, nothing that happened at that forum got repeated on the news, and talk of it — even in political circles — was fairly muted (that said, the sponsors claim the ratings were pretty good for a Friday night, topping competing programs in Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, and San Antonio). 

Mark it as a win for the incumbent, Gov. Rick Perry. He didn't make news with a mistake. And neither Chris Bell, Kinky Friedman, nor Carole Keeton Strayhorn buried arrows into any meaningful target. Bell came off best of the three challengers. Strayhorn appeared nervous and her answers to questions wandered, except in cases where she could fall into the words and rhythms she's been using in stump speeches and ads. Friedman rambled and seemed both overwhelmed and unprepared for the hour-long appearance.

Had Friedman or Strayhorn entered the debate as the frontrunner — with the expectations that attend that position — their performances would have made news and their campaigns would have taken a hit. As it stands, they both missed a chance to catch the attention of voters. Bell, on the other hand, looked serious and didn't blow it. He outdid the other challengers.

The Other Candidate Forum

Texas Monthly and the state's PBS stations got squeezed out of the debate (they usually take part, but the Dallas-based Belo Corp. scored an exclusive this time). But they might have the last laugh. All four candidates agreed to sit down — separately — for hour-long interviews on Texas Monthly Talks, a show produced by KLRU-TV in Austin and aired all over the state. The format — each candidate talking to TM Editor Evan Smith — got a little more out of each of them than the debate did. Tapings were open to the public (though attendance was light) and the shows will air between now and November 2. Since it's PBS, they'll be replayed several times, we're guessing; the schedule and, eventually, clips, will be on their webpage.

• Gov. Rick Perry defended his record and said he's running for reelection because he doesn't want the state to lose ground gained while he's been in office. He called Democrat Chris Bell his "principal opponent." Perry said he wants to focus on higher education if he's reelected, that he wants to lower the cap on annual growth in property tax appraisals. He defended the high-stakes testing in public schools and said students performance is responding to it. He said school finance is always a difficult issue: "It's your children and your money — the two things you care most about." He said his Trans Texas Corridor will eat up less private property and land than the alternatives to it. "There is not an asphalt fairy out there that comes and builds highways." He'd sign a "trigger" bill that reinstates the state laws that were in place in 1973 should the U.S. Supreme Court overrule its Roe v. Wade decision. He said he doesn't have anything personal against Carole Keeton Strayhorn, but called said, "her performance as comptroller has been really problematic." He said he's opposed to letting gay and lesbian couples adopt children, calling it "a less-than-appropriate situation." He said inviting Katrina evacuees to Texas was proper: "It could have been Houston, Texas, sending people to Louisiana. My hope is that they would have been as gracious." Asked about past and present utterances from Kinky Friedman, he said, "Words matter. It doesn't matter if you're standing on stage making money or running for governor. Words matter."

• Bell said he's running to "help move Texas in a positive direction" and because he sees a difference between what the state is and ought to be. He said Perry has brought to Austin the Washington style of politics. He criticized the decision to redo congressional districts after Republicans took control of the statehouse, a redistricting that cost Bell his post in Congress. He said the state should end its heavy reliance on the TAKS test and should give teachers a $6,000 pay raise, while also tying legislative pensions to teacher pay. He's against "militarizing" the Texas-Mexico border. He said he's opposed to same-sex marriages, but would allow gay and lesbian couples to adopt kids. Bell said Perry's transportation plans are "a misuse of the eminent domain process," a "multi-billion land grab," and said the Legislature ought to take another crack at it. He said he's against fast-tracking coal plans to make more electric energy available in the state. Bell said a "very vocal minority has seized control of the argument" over abortion and choice, and said the state needs to give kids more information so they'll avoid pregnancies in the first place. He said he favors the death penalty, but wants to review how it's administered. He called publicly funded vouchers for private schools "the greatest cop-out in American history. He's against them.

• Strayhorn started off by saying her campaign is timed to "go off like a Roman candle" right near Election Day, and said her timing is on track to overtake Perry. She repeated her criticism of his property tax cut and said it won't produce the $2,000 average savings he promised in his ads. "This governor has proposed the largest tax increase in history and left the largest hot check in history." She said the new tax "pushes into the service sector that's driving the economy" and contended that it includes a personal income tax (she added that provisions that make the tax due even when a business has no income is "a first in Texas"). She disputed Perry's claim that voters approved the Trans Texas Corridor, saying that wasn't at all clear when they voted. She reiterated her strong opposition to that project. She stumbled over a trivia question (see next item), and she said she has a "great schools plan" to raise teacher pay and improve schools. She'd get the money, in part, by allowing electronic slot machines at tracks where gambling is already legal. She'd backtrack on the new tax bill, and would use the recent increase in tobacco taxes for health care. Strayhorn, once a backer of vouchers, said she is "absolutely opposed" to them now. She said she would appoint consumers to the Public Utility Commission, but said a moment later she would merge that agency with the Texas Railroad Commission and let voters pick the commissioners. She said the state should have an independent commission to handle redistricting. She gave a very careful answer to Smith's abortion question, and she gave it twice, word for word: "As a mama and a grandmamma, I believe in the sanctity of life. But I recognize that there are difficult situations where those heart-breaking decisions have to be made." She said "marriage is between a man and a woman," but said she's opposed to discrimination and left the door open to civil unions.

• Friedman talked about Bell's wish that he get out of the race and said it illustrates "an arrogance in the two-party system, that they own the votes. They're not really his votes." He said Bell can't win with him in the race and that's why he wants Friedman out. He told Smith (his former editor) that if the turnout in November is small, the election will go the way the pundits think. He'll win if it's big, he said. "I think it's going to be huge." He interrupted the interview to introduce a documentary crew that's been following him around, and then he launched an attack on political correctness and stories about things he's said and written recently and in the past: "You don't apologize to people who are trying to intimidate you." He blasted Perry for criticizing him, calling the governor "a man in a $5,000 suit giving me a morality lesson" and reminded Smith of Perry's own gaffes with a TV interviewer and a state trooper he tried to stop from writing his aide a speeding ticket. Friedman got agitated, saying the old show now being used against him was similar to what comedian Chris Rock does now: "The purpose of the show was to offend everyone in the audience... it's truth-telling." He said the sound bites that were lifted weren't put in the context of the whole show they were a part of. "Everyone who's ever known me knows I'm not a racist. That's bullshit. It's B.S. Just B.S." Friedman talked about his work in the Peace Corps and in civil rights protests in Houston and said his "is not the resume of a racist... it shows that these bastards will stop at nothing." He said the state should give $100 million to law enforcement in Houston and elsewhere to combat crime, and again attributed much of that to Katrina evacuees from Louisiana. He'd undo this year's tax bill and allow casino gambling to help pay for education. He said he would decriminalize marijuana and would solve the prison crowding problem by increasing education and treatment for nonviolent criminals and getting them out of there. Asked about abortion, he said, "I don't think a committee of men should decide what a woman does with her body." He said he could deal with legislative leaders: "I can charm the pants off those people."

High Finance

Gov. Rick Perry's 30-day campaign finance report says he raised $3.1 million during July, August and September and that he got to the end of last month with $9.2 million in his campaign account. He got 84 contributions of $10,000 or more, 25 of $20,000 or more, and eight of $40,000 or more. Houston builder Bob Perry (no relation) gave $100,000, the biggest single contribution.

Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn says she raised $1.2 million during the three months and got to the end of it with $5 million in the bank. Her biggest chunk came from Ryan & Co. and some of its top execs. The Dallas tax firm's PAC and its execs gave $425,000 during the 90-day period. Two dozen of her contributions were for $10,000 or more.

Writer-musician Kinky Friedman raised $1.6 million, spent nearly $1 million, and got to the end of the month with $827,830 in the bank.

Former U.S. Rep. Chris Bell raised $1.5 million during the three months, spent $1.7 million, and ended with $197,718 in the bank. The Houston Democrat's campaign says it raised another $40,000 in the days after the gubernatorial debate (that won't be on the report, as it occurred in October), and said that money and a promised contribution of $1 million will finance an expanded schedule for one of Bell's ads. What had been running only on cable is now also on broadcast TV.

Bell's biggest contribution before the end of September came from Harold Nix, the well-known trial lawyer from Daingerfield. That was one of 14 contributions of $10,000 or more to Bell.

John O'Quinn's promise to give $1 million or more to Bellcaught the ire of some of the trial bar's natural enemies. Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse of Central Texas said the "eye-popping sums" should prompt voters to ask what the givers want from the candidates, and it encouraged scrutiny of other candidates, too, saying voters "should openly inquire about who fills a candidate's campaign war chest — and why."  The Texas Civil Justice League, a lawsuit-limiting group that has endorsed Perry, also called on Bell to reject the donation.

It's apparently a record-setter. Perry, Attorney General Greg Abbott and others on this year's ballot have contributors who've pitched in hundreds of thousands of dollars over time, but $1 million in one pop from someone other than the candidate (think of Tony Sanchez Jr.) is apparently unprecedented. There's a bit of irony, too: Bell's called for limits on campaign contributions, and says he'll try to get that put in law if he's elected. From his website: "On the Houston City Council, Chris Bell led the fight to pass reasonable contribution limits, and now we need those same limits in place at the state level: $5,000 for individuals, and $10,000 for PACs. In addition, a $100,000 aggregate limit per election would also work to limit the influence of the wealthiest donors."

• Oopsie: Perry's press staff emailed reporters to say the governor had raised $4.7 million and had more than $10 million on hand. That was true... in July. They accidentally resent their mid-year report and the press release that came with it.

The Weird Turn Pro

Chris Bell called Kinky Friedman to try to set up a meeting to talk about Kinky getting out of the race. Friedman apparently got the message while he was traveling with a reporter from The Dallas Morning News. Bell says he didn't intend for this to be public, but when the News got it, he came out into the open.

The Bell statement: "I had hoped to talk to Kinky privately, but now that it's been reported by the Dallas Morning News, I'm going to ask him publicly. Please join me in defeating Rick Perry. Kinky Friedman has done a lot in this campaign to energize voters. I am proud to count among my supporters many of his friends. Kinky and I both want what's best for the state, and Rick Perry and Carole Strayhorn are not what's best for Texas. They are the problem. Kinky and I agree on some very important issues and our supporters all have a lot in common; they want change. And now is the time for us all to unite and elect a new governor. So I'm asking for Kinky to join me, and be a good shepherd for the state of Texas."

Kinky's reply: "We don't negotiate with terrorists."

Games People Play

Carole Keeton Strayhorn booted another Trivial Pursuit question from a reporter, this time in a taping for Texas Monthly Talks. At last week's debate, the Belo Corp. questioners did a game show round with the candidates, hitting them with fact questions and giving them 15 seconds to answer. Strayhorn couldn't immediately recall the name of the president-elect of Mexico, but fumbled around instead of just saying so. Viewers saw and heard her say this: "The newly-elected president of Mexico won with a very narrow margin, and there's been a lot of anxiety about that. The Strayhorn administration will work with all our friends south of the border. And I will be delighted to sit down with." Her time expired at that point.

During her interview a couple of days later with Texas Monthly Editor Evan Smith, Strayhorn made a joke of it, dropping Felipe Calderon's name into one of her answers. Smith took the cue.

"Let me give you a chance to redeem yourself. Who is the governor of New Mexico?"

"The governor of New Mexico is Richardson. Bill Richardson," Strayhorn answered.

"Who is the governor of Louisiana?"

"The Louisiana governor is, uh, uh, it is, just a second, it is, uh. Oh. Give me two seconds. Janet, uh, Janet, uh. I'll get it for you in just one second… Henry is in Oklahoma… one minute… give me a second, I'll come up with it."

"We'll come back to it," Smith said. "I'll ask you a harder question. Who's the White House press secretary?"

One of Strayhorn's sons, Scott McClellan, was replaced at the White House by Tony Snow. She got that answer correct.

Louisiana's governor is Kathleen Blanco. Janet Napolitano (as Strayhorn pointed out a few minutes later in her conversation with Smith) is the governor of Arizona. 

Perry Ad: Jobs

Gov. Rick Perry's new ad touts the growth in jobs in Texas over the last few years and mixes in his proposal for limits on future government spending. The governor does all the voice work in the ad. While he's talking, he's seen at a chip plant, on a construction site, and standing next to a woman in a hardhat who's holding a sign that says "Thanks. You saved our jobs." The script:

Perry: "The Texas job climate's been ranked the best in the nation. We've created 600,000 new jobs in three years. I'm proud of Texas, because we're investing in jobs, cutting taxes, and controlling spending. And more Texans are working today than ever before. We can do more to protect taxpayers. Let's cap government growth and give voters the right to stop runaway spending. Texans deserve good jobs, fiscal responsibility, and unlimited opportunity."

Campaign Notes

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Barbara Ann Radnofsky did an interview/debate on Houston TV that's being touted by her campaign as "a brilliant demonstration of Barbara Ann's charm, intellect, command of policy, and debate skills." Get a look at the half-hour program at www.radnofskyvideo.com (one of the interviewers is former Harris County GOP Chairman Gary Polland.) The only debate between Radnofsky, a Houston attorney, and U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison will be taped next week in San Antonio and aired shortly thereafter.

• Remember that old Ronald Reagan line — "I'm from Washington and I'm here to help you"? It's different during campaign season than when the government rings the phone. Republican Shelley Sekula-Gibbs — who's trying to win in CD-22 as a write-in candidate to replace Tom DeLay in Congress — got some block-walking help from U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and U.S. Rep. Kay Granger, R-Fort Worth. They went knocking on doors in Pearland and Sugar Land to try to gin up support for Sekula-Gibbs.

• Add Diane Trautman to the Texas Parent PAC endorsement list. Trautman, a Democrat, is challenging Rep. Joe Crabb, R-Humble, in HD-127. She's a former teacher and school administrator and taught education at Stephen F. Austin State University. The group also endorsed Democrat Philip Shinoda, who's challenging Rep. Will Hartnett, R-Dallas, in HD-114.

• Always proceed with caution when a campaign shows you its own polls. That said, U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco, says he's 21 points ahead of Republican Van Taylor in an October 9-10 poll done for the incumbent's campaign. The margin of error is 4.9 percent, and the survey of 400 voters was done by Bennett, Petts, and Blumenthal, a Washington, D.C., firm that does research for Democrats.

• Republican Senate nominee Dan Patrick is so worried about his election that he's block walking... for Talmadge Heflin. Heflin is trying to win back the spot he lost two years ago to Democrat Hubert Vo.

Political People and Their Moves

Add four new names to the Texas Women's Hall of Fame: Artist Amanda Dunbar, Texas Commissioner of Education Shirley Neeley, scientist and educator Ellen Vitetta, and Casa de Esperanza founder Kathy Foster.

Brooke Dollens Terry, formerly an aide to U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm and to Texas Workforce Commissioner Diane Rath, joins the Texas Public Policy Foundation as an education policy wonk.

Tamara Bell, a former newspaper reporter and legislative aide whose most recent posting was at the Texas Education Agency, is starting a two-pronged career move. She'll be teaching advertising and PR at the University of Texas and opening the Bell Media Group, which will specialize in legislative and political consulting.

Craig Smith, who worked in the Pink Building (House and Senate) until 2002 and left to get a degree in architecture, is back. He'll be senior policy analyst for Sen. Kip Averitt, R-McGregor.

Appointments: Gov. Rick Perry reappointed Judge B.B. Schraub of Seguin as presiding judge of the 3rd Administrative Judicial Region, which includes the state capital among its 26 counties.

Perry appointed Javier Villalobos of McAllen to the Texas Funeral Commission. He's the city attorney for four different small cities in the Valley: Donna, Elsa, Progreso, and San Juan.

Quotes of the Week

Former President Bill Clinton, talking to the Washington Post about the current state of politics and media: "All of this is a head game, you know... All great contests are head games. Our candidates have to get to a point where they don't allow other people to define them as either people or as political leaders. Our people have got to be more psychologically prepared for it, and there has to be more distance between them and these withering attacks."

Democrat Chris Bell, in the debate: "There is no term limit for Texas governor, and that's why people should be horrified."

Houston lawyer John O'Quinn, quoted in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram after saying he'll contribute $1 million to Chris Bell's campaign and will ask other Democrats to join him: "I'm going to say, 'Match me.' He's not going to lose because he lacks the resources."

Robin Sawyer, a University of Maryland public health professor, in the Washington Post: "If we taught driver's ed the way we teach sex education, we'd be saying things like, 'Stay away from the car. Don't stand next to the car.' Yeah, right."

Kinky Friedman, on Texas Monthly Talks, on barricading the border: "I was for the fence, but Jesse Ventura talked me out of it. He says, in ten years, we might want to get out of here."

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Texas Weekly: Volume 23, Issue 17, 16 October 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.

Cuts in the Children's Health Insurance Program and ties between the governor and the private company hired by the state to run CHIP are linked in a new attack on Gov. Rick Perry from Democrat Chris Bell.

The spot implies the hiring of Accenture led to precipitous drops in the number of kids enrolled in CHIP, and that Accenture was hired because it brought in Perry staffers to help sell Texas on its services. In fact, the CHIP cuts were made by the Legislature and Perry at the same time they were changing the law to privatize the program. Accenture was hired after that. Accenture's problems delivering service have raised questions about the firm; those aren't mentioned.

The spot opens a second front in Perry's reelection bid. Carole Keeton Strayhorn is running ads attacking the incumbent's transportation and road program. Perry, meanwhile, is running ads calling Bell a liberal who's relying on trial lawyers — one in particular — for support.

Both Perry and Strayhorn clearly have the funds available to keep the ads coming. Bell got a well-publicized infusion of $1 million from Houston millionaire John O'Quinn; whether he's drawn in more money to keep the air wars going is not clear. His campaign aides say they've got the money to run the ad, that they've received new contributions, and that they're not going to get specific about it until their next campaign finance report is due on the day before Halloween. O'Quinn said at one point he'd invest as much as $5 million in the campaign.

The script:

Male announcer: "Rick Perry gives the children's health insurance contract to Accenture — a Bermuda-based company represented by his former staffers — and a quarter-million children lose their health insurance. Our children's health, sacrificed for Perry's corruption. Democrat Chris Bell will fire Accenture and protect our children's health insurance."

Bell (in front of a Texas flag, talking to an audience of supporters): "When I'm governor, we're going to clean up the corruption and our kids will have health insurance."

A new commercial from gubernatorial candidate Carole Keeton Strayhorn is like every kid's nightmare — a report card from a teacher who really and truly doesn't like you.

This is the first of her run that doesn't have the candidate in it. Instead, a quintet of teachers and teacher representatives (from groups that have endorsed Strayhorn) scold Gov. Rick Perry on education issues. The folks in the ad are Jennie Anderson, Rita Haecker, Louis Malfaro, Lisa Maxwell, and Judith Miller. All five are identified in the ad as public school teachers. Malfaro and Haecker are president and vice president, respectively, of Education Austin. Malfaro's also a vice president of the American Federation of Teachers. Both are former teachers. The other three are current teachers in the Austin and Round Rock school districts.

The ad starts with an excerpt from a Perry spot that ran in early summer: "… and more money for our schools. We kept our promises to you."

Maxwell: "No, Governor, you didn't. State funding for education hasn't gone up."

Malfaro: "And you cut health insurance benefits for teachers."

Anderson: "Now, 37,000 Texas teachers are leaving our classrooms every year."

Haecker: "That's why Texas teachers are supporting independent Carole Keeton Strayhorn."

Maxwell: "Carole's been a teacher. She cares about our children."

Malfaro: "We've heard enough political promises. We need Carole Keeton Strayhorn to shake Austin up."

Miller: "So kids can learn and teachers can teach."

Air wars are well underway, making the Texas governor's race more interesting — or at least louder — every day. Down-ballot and up-ballot races are lighting up the blogs, like the congressional campaign in Waco and several Houston-area state House races. Oh, and watch out for Photoshop, especially in the hands of your critics.

* * * * *

The Goobs

Democrat Chris Bell asked independent Richard "Kinky" Friedman to abort his campaign, for the sake of their common goal of defeating incumbent Republican Rick Perry.

Vince Leibowitz at Capitol Annex (a former county Democratic Party chair) supported the maneuver: "Smart move for Bell. He's got Friedman on the ropes as the bad guy who will prevent another four years of the Perry era or, just as bad, Strayhorn."

Eye on Williamson County said, "Chris Bell's action of calling Kinky and asking him to step aside, Bell did what everyone in Texas has been thinking since the debate, It was fun Kinky, but it's over. Do what's best for Texas, step aside, and endorse the best candidate of the three left in the race."

Evan at Rick Perry vs. The World is amazed by people who think independent candidate Friedman will win. "It seems like Kinky Friedman is the gubernatorial Rorschach test, as long as they haven't paid that close attention. Conservatives think he's conservative; liberals think he's liberal. They see whatever they want to see. If he'd have kept his mouth shut about some things, he might've had a chance to win."

At In The Pink Texas, Eileen Smith sets new reaction records every time she mentions Friedman. Most recently, she blogged about Sen. Royce West and Rep. Garnet Coleman's radio ads encouraging Black voters to support Bell (after Friedman's past and present racial comments got some publicity). "Sen. West is a very large man who could probably knock Kinky over by pretending to punch him. If Kinky thinks he's so funny, perhaps he would like to perform a one-man show for West. Gives a whole new meaning to 'tough crowd.'"

In spite of all the challengers' efforts, Paul Burka of Texas Monthly's BurkaBlog says Gov. Perry's strongest opponent is voter apathy. "A significant drop in GOP turnout could reduce the Republican advantage by as much as 5 points. That's not all. Some Republican consultants have noticed that Libertarian candidates are polling better than usual. Maybe this is another sign of disgust with the GOP. So, 5 points lost to turnout, another 3 to 4 lost to Libertarians, and poof! The Republican advantage is about gone."

Eye on Williamson County thought Burka's analysis was lacking. "He didn't even mention the TTC (Trans Texas Corridor) and what that has done to change the politics of rural voters. Many of the people in the path of this disaster were reliable Republican voters and will not vote for Republican candidates, up and down the ballot, that are not against the TTC."

Meantime, independent candidate Carole Keeton Strayhorn unveiled several new ads, which were detailed on several blogs.

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Wacko Waco

In Waco's CD-17, incumbent Democrat Chet Edwards appears to be on his way to winning another election, in spite of a majority-Republican district and an Iraqi war veteran opponent.

Right of Texas, which has spent much of the campaign season promoting Republican congressional candidate Van Taylor, posted a photo of one of Edwards' interns with a desecrated flag. A few people responded that you can't judge a person by their interns (is that the same argument they used with Monica Lewinsky?).

Vince Leibowitz at Capitol Annex said, "… it illustrates exactly why Van Taylor is resorting to such filthy tactics as leaking photos they probably found on MySpace or Facebook of young campaign volunteers or Democratic activists who support Edwards and claiming they are 'interns' doing irreverent things to flags."

One man's desecration is another man's irreverance…

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Wong vs. Cohen

Rep. Martha Wong, R-Houston, is getting plenty of grief from left-leaning blogs that actively support her opponent, Ellen Cohen.

Perry Dorrell of Brains and Eggs offered up his review of a Wong-Cohen debate: "Ellen Cohen handled this affair the way Chris Bell managed his competition last Friday night: if it had been a prizefight, the referee would have stopped it at the halfway mark."

Kimberly at A Little Pollyanna gives a more detailed account of the event, what the candidates said, and how the audience reacted.

Wong's direct mail pieces have also garnered attention. Burnt Orange Report said, "More recently, Wong sent out a mailer listing a number of bills regarding crime. Trouble is, she didn't sponsor or author any of the bills." And Charles Kuffner of Off the Kuff said the Houston school district's superintendent was a little surprised to find something written in a private thank you note was turned into a campaign endorsement. "I'm really stunned that she hasn't backed down and moved on," Kuffner said. "Is she trying to force Dr. Saavedra into issuing a more strongly worded refutation of her endorsement claim? Maybe she thinks if she holds firm people will believe her, I don't know. Weird, just weird."

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Immigration

Rep. Aaron Peña, D-Edinburg, wonders if the Texas Legislature will follow some other border states in trying to address the federal issue of border security next session. On this blog, A Capitol Blog, Rep. Peña said, "Is this any way to run a country? Let's hope we do better in Texas!"

Scott Henson at Grits for Breakfast analyzes a story by the East Texas Review on ways the state might get involved in immigration issues.

Meantime, a Republican congressional candidate from Pennsylvania decided to visit the Texas-Mexico border to see what the fuss is all about. After watching several men swim across the Rio Grande, Lone Star Times reports, "…our imaginative candidate did what any of us would do. He hired elephants and a band to demonstrate the ease of crossing the border." Border Patrol agents must have been busy elsewhere because the elephants were never challenged. The candidate said, "If I can get an elephant led by a mariachi band into this country, I think Osama bin Laden could get across with all the weapons of mass destruction he could get into this country." We'll let them think about that argument in Pennsylvania.

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Backbreaking Humor

You have to have a good sense of humor or a thick skin or be provisioned like Willie Nelson when you're running for office, especially with all of the software that can be used to manipulate images. Pink Dome got some laughs this week by tinkering with a file photo of Gov. Rick Perry that originally ran in the Abilene Reporter-News. Yikes.

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Robyn Hadley cherry-picks the state's political blogs each week, looking for news, info, gossip, and new jokes. Robyn, a veteran of both journalism and the state Capitol, is the owner of Capitol Crowd, a networking site for people who work in and around state government. The opinions she quotes belong to the bloggers, and we're including their links so you can hunt them down if you wish. Please send comments, suggestions, gripes or retorts to Robyn at robyn@capitolcrowd.com, or to Texas Weekly editor Ross Ramsey, at ramsey@texasweekly.com.

The Financial standings in House races on our watch list...The chart comes from campaign reports that cover campaign activity from July 1 to September 28, the period when most campaigns really got busy on the general election. It's often a good idea to look at expenditures as well as cash on hand, since some campaigns buy signs and TV time and such in advance. You can't say someone's campaign doesn't have the money for XYZ based on their cash balance; they might have a big box of XYZ out there in the garage, waiting for the moment they'll need it.

Click on the image (or here) to download a .pdf version. And to look at a candidate's full report, go to the website of the Texas Ethics Commission, plug in the name you want, and off you go.

Gov. Rick Perry started his air assault weeks ago with spots about the Texas-Mexico border, and he's returning to that subject in his newest commercials.

Perry on a hill overlooking the Rio Grande, talking to a sheriff; a silhouette of someone loading a truck at night while someone looks on with a gun in hand; Zapata County Sheriff Sigi Gonzales on an overlook with the river behind him; Val Verde County Sheriff D'Wayne Jernigan on the river bank; a shot of a cop handcuffing someone; some quick shots the river, Perry walking with the sheriffs, a busy border checkpoint, and then a shot of Perry on the river overlook.

The spot also includes several headlines: "Drug war spreads fear along Mexican border"; "Security blitz along border... cuts illegal activity in five Texas counties"; "Perry sends more officers, equipment to battle border violence"; and "Perry commits money to border security plan." Here's the script for the ad called "Border Leader":

Announcer: "Rick Perry, working to protect our border."

Gonzalez: "We were overwhelmed by drug gangs. Thanks to Gov. Perry, we now have more vehicles, weapons, and additional manpower to protect the border.

Jernigan: "The governor's border security plan has resulted in a 60 percent drop in crime in our counties. Rick Perry is making a difference."

Announcer: "Gov. Rick Perry. The only one with a proven record of securing our border, and a $100 million plan to stop border crime. Rick Perry. Making Texas safer."

New polls: Perry and Hutchison still lead on the eve of early voting.

Rick Perry slipped a bit, Carole Keeton Strayhorn held her ground, Chris Bell pulled even with her, and Kinky Friedman dropped into single digits in a new poll done for Texans for Insurance Reform, a political action committee affiliated with the Texas Trial Lawyers Association.

The group attributes the changes from one poll to the next to television advertising by Strayhorn and Bell. But they conclude that Perry continues to benefit from the fractured race for second place; if no candidate breaks out of that pack — and in a dramatic way — nobody will overtake an incumbent who looks to bring in less than 40 percent of the vote on November 7.

In that survey, Perry got 33 percent (including those who say they'll vote for him and those who lean that way); Strayhorn got 18 percent; Bell got 18 percent; and Friedman got 8 percent. Strayhorn is the second-place choice of about a third of the voters, and the only one of the challengers who would beat Perry in a hypothetical head-to-head matchup.

Other tidbits:

• The percentage of people with an unfavorable opinion of Friedman rose to 48 percent, far and away the worst of any of the four main candidates.

• None of the candidates has left more than half the electorate with a favorable impression. Approval of Perry, at 46 percent, was highest, though his unfavorables, at 38 percent outdo everyone but Friedman.

• Bell is better known that he was even two weeks ago, but one in four voters said they haven't heard of the Democrat.

• George W. Bush remains more popular in Texas than elsewhere; 49 percent said they approve of the job he's doing (including 80 percent of Republicans), while 39 percent disapprove.

• Most of Perry's supporters — 67 percent — are Republicans, but a quarter of them are independents. Most of Bell's — 69 percent — are Democrats, but about a quarter come from the independent ranks. Strayhorn's gang is evenly distributed among Republicans, Democrats, and independents. And Friedman gets 49 percent of his vote from Republicans and 35 percent from independents.

• Slice it the other way, to see where the party folk are going (instead of what the mix is for each candidate). Perry's getting 58 percent of the GOP votes, with 16 percent going to Strayhorn and 7 percent to Friedman. Most of the rest are undecided. Bell, with 48 percent, is not quite getting half the Democratic voters. Strayhorn gets 21 percent and Perry gets 11 percent. Friedman gets 4 percent of the Democrats and the rest of that pack is undecided. Independents break this way: Perry, 26 percent; Strayhorn, 18 percent; Friedman, 17 percent; and Bell, 15 percent.

• TIR polled one issue, finding that the Trans Texas Corridor — a centerpiece of the attacks on Perry — has the approval of 17 percent of Texans, while 68 percent say they disapprove of it. Just over half of Perry's own supporters — 50.5 percent — disapprove of his transportation plan. (Here's how they asked: "The Trans-Texas Corridor is Governor Perry's plan to relieve traffic and help interstate commerce by building a massive toll road highway system across the State. This plan involves condemnation of 1/2 million acres of private property, which will be leased to a privately-owned company from Spain for fifty years. That company will build and operate toll roads, setting the price of tolls and determining who will be allowed to operate motels, gas stations and restaurants along the toll roads. Do you strongly approve, approve, disapprove or strongly disapprove of the Governor's plan?")

The survey was done by Opinion Analysts from October 11-15. They talked to 602 likely general election voters, and say the margin of error is +/- 4 percent. You can look at the entire poll, with questions and everything else, at TIR's website.

A new Wall Street Journal/Zogby poll (subscription required)has U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison comfortably ahead of Democratic challenger Barbara Ann Radnofsky on the eve of the only debate between those two candidates. By their reckoning, Hutchison has 60 percent, Radnofsky has 28 percent, and Libertarian Scott Jameson has 5 percent (that's a large number, historically speaking, for a Libertarian in a race like this). The surveyors were in the field October 10-16, and say their poll has a +/- 3 percent margin of error.

In the gubernatorial race, the same poll has Gov. Rick Perry at 38 percent, followed by Democrat Chris Bell at 26 percent, independent Kinky Friedman at 13 percent and independent Carole Keeton Strayhorn at 13 percent. James Werner, the Libertarian in that contest, got 4 percent from the respondents. The dates of the poll and the margins of error are the same as for the Senate poll.

Early voting in this election starts on Monday in Texas. That fact leads to this one: The ad wars are well underway now, led by the three gubernatorial candidates with money. Republican Rick Perry and independent Carole Keeton Strayhorn, as we've written, have the dough they need to remain in your living room until this is over. Friedman has a limited TV run on cable stations.

Chris Bell's running ads, too, as long as the money holds up. His campaign says they'll be on the air through the election. But they've rejiggered their schedule, cutting back on TV time they'd reserved in some parts of the state and leaving their commercials alone in others parts of Texas. The Perry camp hectored them for pulling down ads in South Texas, saying Bell was ignoring that part of the state. Bell's camp countered by saying their guy had been in South Texas for two days when the Perry camp popped off.

Bell's got a version of the same problem he's had all along. He's running an underfinanced campaign, even with O'Quinn's spigots opened all the way. But his aides say they'll be in front of voters through the end of this election.

Without Houston lawyer John O'Quinn, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Chris Bell wouldn't be on television during the last three weeks of this election cycle.

The $2.5 million he's provided for that campaign — whether Bell wins or not — will be the new answer to a standard question about Texas politics and the "no limits" policy for campaign finance. That question usually is something like, "Do you mean to tell me that somebody could give a candidate a million bucks and it's legal?" Instead of, "You betcha," we've got a new answer: "Hey, in 2006, a guy gave his candidate $2.5 million."

It's a serious hunk of money, and it almost washes the other gubernatorial candidates of the stains their big contributors left. But not quite. Kinky Friedman's campaign contributions are dominated by the giving of John McCall, a pal of the candidate who has donated $851,000 to that cause. Carole Keeton Strayhorn has received contributions of at least $1.4 million from Dallas tax consultant George Brint Ryan and other executives of Ryan & Co. and its affiliated political action committee. Gov. Rick Perry has a number of big donors, the biggest of whom is Houston builder Bob Perry and his wife Doylene Perry (no relation to the governor), who's given the governor $330,000 over the last two years. (The Perrys have contributed $15.9 million to various politicos in Texas since January 2000, and $6.1 million since the beginning of 2005.)

 

The Stars Over Texas PAC, set up by House Speaker Tom Craddick and Republican colleagues to protect GOP incumbents in the House and support Republicans in open seats, listed nine candidates on the protection list in its latest report and gave them contributions ranging from $8,000 to $25,000.

The beneficiaries include Gene Seaman of Corpus Christi and Bill Welch of Austin, $25,000; Kirk England of Grand Prairie, Toby Goodman of Arlington, Tony Goolsby of Dallas, Bill Keffer of Dallas, and Jim Murphy of Houston, $10,000; and Byron Cook of Corsicana and Martha Wong of Houston, $8,000.

The list of donors had some interesting names, too: Craddick, Houston builder Bob Perry, and the Ryan & Co. PAC that's affiliated with a high profile Dallas tax consultancy, all gave $50,000. The Heart Place PAC of Dallas gave $25,000, and Midland oilman and former gubernatorial candidate Clayton Williams Jr. gave $20,000.

• Gov. Rick Perry got to the end of September with more money in the bank than any other state candidate who's on the November ballot. He had $9.2 million in the bank. Next on the list: Attorney General Greg Abbott, $7.7 million; Carole Keeton Strayhorn, $5 million; Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, $2.6 million; Agriculture Commissioner candidate Todd Staples, $1.4 million; Senate nominee Kirk Watson, D-Austin, $1.1 million; Comptroller candidate Susan Combs, $1 million. See the whole list, derived from Texas Ethics Commission reports and sorted by dollar amount, in our Files section.

• El Paso Republican Dee Margo raised $194,204 for his challenge to Democrat Eliot Shapleigh over the last three months, and got to the end of September with $159,903 in the bank.

• If it was the price keeping you from buying a Kinky Friedman action figure, you'll find them on the candidate's website at a discount. The talking Kinky dolls were $29.95; now they're available for $20.

• Democrat John Courage — one of several candidates challenging U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio — is touting a poll that shows Smith has support from just 45 percent of the people in the district. Courage is well behind, at 30 percent, followed by five other candidates. Undecided voters made up 12 percent in the poll by Forensic Economics Data Consulting. The margin of error was +/- 5 percent.

• Rep. Gene Seaman, R-Corpus Christi, is under attack from the Good Government PAC and blames his opponent, Democrat Juan Garcia, for that third-party offensive. Garcia — he's quoted in Seaman's own press release — says he doesn't have any control over the political group's ads. The PAC's sole contributor in the last report — the Corpus-based Watts Law Firm — gave $100,000. The PAC then spent $58,670 on a "voter contact program" on Garcia's behalf. That report only covered sending through September 28. Seaman's complaint is about what's going on now, which could involve new spending (or could have been purchased last month for delivery now).

The one debate of this year's race for U.S. Senate didn't produce any real news — meaning it was a win for the incumbent.

U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison stayed on message and didn't make any mistakes, and she handled questions about Iraq, transportation funding and her broken term limits promise of 12 years ago without any fumbles. She said she'd have voted against the Iraq war if she'd known there were no weapons of mass destruction. She defended her record on transportation funding, saying the state's haul of federal dollars is second only to the one bigger state, California. And she called the question on term limits a fair one, saying she didn't stop at two terms, as promised, because senators from other states don't have to and she didn't want to put Texas at a disadvantage. She said she'd vote for term limits if they affected everyone.

Democrat Barbara Ann Radnofsky tore at Hutchison's record, saying the state should be doing better on transportation funding when measured on a per capita basis (Hutchison prefers total dollars, where the state looks better). She reiterated her support for a withdrawal from Iraq, and she said the state needs a senator "who is five-foot-nine and looks good in purple."

The Libertarian in the race, Scott Jameson, was less confrontational but had studied up. He answered a question on federal earmarks by citing statistics more dramatic than the questioner's, and answered another by saying the disconnect between rising congressional salaries and stagnant minimum wages dated to the mid-1950s.

But in the end, there wasn't much news in the one-hour public television forum in San Antonio. And without a goof by the front-runner or a remarkable performance by a challenger, that's a win for the incumbent.

Rick Bolaños, an El Paso Democrat running against U.S. Rep. Henry Bonilla, R-San Antonio, is getting out of that race and endorsing fellow Democrat Lukin Gilliland. Voting doesn't start until next week, but we're well past the point where a candidate's name can be taken off the ballot. Bolaños will still be on there. That CD-23 race is crowded, with the three already mentioned, Democrat Augie Beltran of  San Antonio, Democrat Adrian DeLeon of Carrizo Springs, Democrat Ciro Rodriguez of San Antonio, independent Craig Stephens of San Antonio, and Democrat Albert Uresti, also of San Antonio. It's a special election forced by court-ordered redistricting, so it'll take 50 percent to win, either next month or in a runoff a month or so after Election Day.

Out on the endorsement beat. . .

George W. Bush might be having popularity problems someplace, but not in Fort Bend County, Texas. The Republicans there are touting a Bush visit a week from Monday (October 30) for a Get Out the Vote Rally in what used to be Tom DeLay's congressional district.  

• U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison endorsed state Rep. Tony Goolsby, R-Dallas, for reelection. And she got some help, too — former First Lady Barbara Bush endorsed Hutchison at a Dallas Women's Luncheon.

• No legislator left behind: We left Rep. Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie, off our list of Republicans who went door-knocking on behalf of Rep. Chuck Hopson, D-Jacksonville. There, it's fixed. His opponent, Republican Larry Durrett, is getting help from Ag Commissioner Susan Combs (who's running for comptroller). She'll hit five towns with Durrett on the first day of early voting.

• David Van Os, the Democratic nominee for Texas attorney general, saved the big ones for the end. He's wrapping up his visits to each of the 254 counties in Texas with stops at the last five county courthouses: Fort Worth, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Austin. And he's added a new line, calling for constitutional limits to eminent domain (allowing it only for public security and safety) and a constitutional ban on toll roads unless voters first approve them.

• Joe Heflin, the Democrat running for Rep. Pete Laney's spot in the state Legislature, adds two more endorsements, one from former U.S. Rep. Charlie Stenholm, D-Abilene, and another from former state Rep. David Counts, D-Knox City. It's a Republican district on paper, and the GOP candidate, Jim Landtroop, is well financed. But Heflin, a former Crosby County judge, has Laney's backing — both in an endorsement and in $20,000 in contributions — and now the support of the other two former officeholders. Landtroop, meanwhile, got a district visit and endorsement from U.S. Rep. Randy Neugebauer, R-Lubbock.

• Out-going Sen. Ken Armbrister, D-Victoria, endorsed 3rd Appeals Court Justice David Puryear, a Republican, for reelection. That judicial district overlaps Armbrister's Senate district in three counties.

• The Houston Police Officers Union and the Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association both snubbed incumbent Rep. Martha Wong, R-Houston, and endorsed Democrat Ellen Cohen in HD-134. They claim 4,500 and 3,800 members, respectively.

• Democrat Valinda Bolton of Austin got the endorsement of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund of Texas — that PAC's first endorsement of the year. She's running against Republican Bill Welch for the seat currently held by Rep. Terry Keel, R-Austin, who didn't seek reelection.

• The Texas Association of Realtors PAC — TREPAC, they call it — isn't looking for much change this year. Their endorsements, with only three exceptions, went to either incumbents or to the candidate from the political party that's been holding a given seat. Where Republicans have been in office, they're with Republicans, and vice-versa. The three endorsements that break that rule: Nick Lampson, the Democrat running for Republican Tom DeLay's seat in Congress; Jim Landtroop, the Republican running for Pete Laney's statehouse seat; and George Antuna, the Republican running for Democrat Carlos Uresti's House seat. DeLay quit. Laney didn't seek reelection. And Uresti is running for state Senate.

The worst-kept secret in West Texas is finally out: Former U.S. Rep. Kent Hance will be the next chancellor of the Texas Tech University System. He's a Tech alum and, the school is hoping, a guy who can transfer his political fundraising skills to his alma mater. Hance started as a Democratic state senator from West Texas in 1974 and won three terms in Congress before losing a Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in 1984 to Lloyd Doggett of Austin. He switched parties and lost a gubernatorial primary in 1986, to Bill Clements. Clements appointed Hance to an open seat on the Texas Railroad Commission and Hance won election to that job in 1988. He lost another gubernatorial primary in 1990, to Clayton Williams, and has been a lawyer and lobbyist ever since.

Sonia Mohammed, the clerk for Rep. Fred Hill, R-Dallas, on the Local Government Ways & Means Committee, was selected for the 2007 American Marshall Memorial Fellowship, which means she'll get a three- to four-week trip to Europe to meet with political people and journalists there. It's an exchange program of sorts — the Europeans send people this way every year, too.

Deaths: Former Texas Rep. R.C. Nichols, D-Houston, who served for eight years and was one of the "Dirty 30" reformers who ousted then-Speaker Gus Mutscher, of a bone marrow disease. He was 78.