Clunky as it is, "Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District Number One" is a familiar name in election law circles.
Full StoryA TV news story on ghost voting in the Texas Legislature is making the national rounds -- proof that nothing ever goes away once it's on the Internet.This video was hot, briefly, in Texas when the story ran. Now, via You Tube, it's getting national play, pushed by voting groups and blogs around the country.
Texas bloggers are indignant over President George W. Bush's recent veto of the State Children's Health Insurance Program. They're also buzzing about U.S. Senate campaign contributions and the balance of power between Republicans and Democrats in Texas. And there's a bunch of reports on random races.
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Oh, SCHIP!
Last week, the president exercised his fourth presidential veto to nix a reauthorization and expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP. Texas Observer Blog has some background and analysis here.
Chronic, the Austin Chronicle's blog, has reactions from Texas Democratic Party chair Boyd Richie and state Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio. Via Walker Report, here's a statement from state Rep. Mike Villarreal, D-San Antonio.
Walker also relays remarks from a disappointed U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez, D-San Antonio. On the other side of the aisle, Republican challenger Jim McGrody gives reasons why the SCHIP bill isn't all it's cracked up to be, and U.S. Sen. John Cornyn speaks out here.
In an op-ed piece on Capitol Annex, Dan Grant, a Democrat challenging U.S. Rep. Mike McCaul, R-Austin, in CD-10, says his opponent's "values are upside down" and chastises Bush for "talking out of both sides of his mouth at once." Meanwhile, state Rep. Ellen Cohen, D-Houston, describes Bush's veto as "frustrating." And state Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, posts a scathing statement from the Texas Legislative Black Caucus, which she chairs, on her blog, The Little Dog Report.
It struck Off the Kuff as kind of odd that the liberal Americans United for Change is pressuring U.S. Rep. Kay Granger, R-Fort Worth, to help override the veto, instead of swing-seat holders like McCaul, Round Rock Republican John Carter or Dallas Republican Pete Sessions. Kuff then remembers that Granger is third in the GOP power structure, and so guesses that it kinda makes sense. Kuff also has something from the Center for Public Policy Priorities.
"Desp[i]te what feels like a political lemming train [ed.—what the heck?], Cornyn steadfastly refuses to stop drafting George W. Bush in a race to the bottom, following almost every policy edict the President issues," says Texas Blue. Elsewhere, Blue announces, "Congressmen and women, start your schmoozing!"
Texas Kaos has a pro-SCHIP list of arguments and rebuttals, just in case anyone asks, as well as a photo of a protest outside Cornyn's office. They're circulating a petition urging Cornyn to help override the veto, here.
Brains and Eggs rounds up some other blog postings on SCHIP (so we don't have to).
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Matters of Size
Observer says it's hard to compare Democrat Rick Noriega's Q3 fundraising total of $570,000 to Democrat Mikal Watts's $8.6 million in cash, at a minimum ($1.1 million in donations in one month, plus $7.5 million in his own money, with the Watts campaign yet to report Q3 totals) -- "It's like the difference between getting great seats at a ZZ Top show and hiring them for a private party."
Eye on Williamson chides traditional media for not being impressed as they should be with Noriega's fundraising, saying, "Noriega's goal was not to raise as much or more money than Watts, but to show that he can raise significant money." Continuing: "But as far and the traditional media is concerned, all they care about is the money race."
Burnt Orange Report echoes this spin on the U.S. Senate challenger's fundraising totals. So does Annex, while giving bloggers a hearty pat on the back, too. Noriega's numbers give hope to Dos Centavos. "Not bad," says Houtopia. McBlogger says, "they are, in a word, great."
Half Empty says Noriega's fundraising total is "whopping" and also emphasizes the comparison between Noriega and '06 Senate candidates, rather than between Noriega and Democratic opponent Mikal Watts. Kuff's take is, "But while money is necessary to win a race, it's not sufficient. We'll see how far it can take Mikal Watts." More of Kuff's thoughts here.
Texas Politics, the Houston Chronicle's blog, has a post on Noriega's totals, but the more interesting item can be found in the comments at the bottom of the page: "Noriega's press release is sloppy and wrong (at best) or deliberately misleading (at worst)," says someone claiming to be a "Precinct Chair in Refugio."
Annex and Half Empty pick up on a San Antonio Express-News story linking Watts to a pseudo-lawyer who, donning a bathrobe and flashing a sheriff's deputy badge, once chased a nude 25-year-old woman into a Corpus Christi convenience store.
And if that wasn't bad enough, Annex and Kaos draw comparisons between Watts and Republicans, here and here. Greg's Opinion retorts, "Seriously, is logic now completely out the window with the TexRoots?... sorry, TexRoots(tm)."
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Party Time
Burnt Orange relays a letter by state Rep. Jim Dunnam, D-Waco, in which he alleges dirty tricks by House Republicans. (We took a look at the unfolding saga here.) Here's the take from Postcards from the Trail, the Austin American-Statesman's blog.
"Texas politics ain't pretty and it ain't nice. If you need friends while in the Lege, may I suggest a nice bartender?" advises McBlogger. In a different matter in the same vein, Postcards says there is no evidence that state Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, and Gov. Rick Perry engaged in a little quid pro quo recently.
Rio Grande Valley Politics examines rumors of two more Republican House members crossing over to the Blues, and what that might mean for Speaker Tom Craddick, R-Midland. If the rumors are indeed true, says Texas Politics, the gossipmongers aren't talking about Rep. Pat Haggerty, R-El Paso.
In the case of an equally divided House, Burnt Orange thinks Sylvester Turner, D-Houston, might be a pretty good darn choice for speaker. McBlogger laughs.
Brains and Eggs posts an essay on political conventions and what they could mean for Texas Democrats, while Houtopia takes a look at the GOP's "brand erosion."
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Campaign Briefs
An account of an appearance in Longview by Supreme Court hopeful Judge Susan Criss, a Democrat, by Burnt Orange.
An endorsement of CD-10 candidate Larry Joe Doherty, a Democrat, by Burnt Orange.
An item on races in the Fort Bend area, by Chronic. Another, by Texas Politics. And another, by Half Empty.
Some cartography of House District 137, by Greg.
Continuing coverage of Houston City Council contests, by Kuff, also here, here, and here.
An update on the CD-22 field of candidates, by Kuff. And some snickering by PinkDome.
An interview with state Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth, by Texas Blue.
A roundup of East Texas Congressional campaigns, by Kaos.
Cost-efficiency statistics, by Republican McGrody in CD-23, via Walker.
This edition of Out There was compiled and written by Patrick Brendel, who hails from Victoria and finds Austin's climate pleasantly arid. We cherry-pick the state's political blogs each week, looking for news, info, gossip, and new jokes. The opinions here belong (mostly) to the bloggers, and we're including their links so you can hunt them down if you wish. Our blogroll — the list of Texas blogs we watch — is on our links page, and if you know of a Texas political blog that ought to be on it, just shoot us a note. Please send comments, suggestions, gripes or retorts to Texas Weekly editor Ross Ramsey.
The state has $1.5 billion more in its general revenue account than predicted, according to Comptroller Susan Combs. That's on top of $7 billion she forecasted earlier this year.In her annual cash report to the Legislature, the comptroller said the stat ended the year with an $8.5 billion balance in GR. At the beginning of the year, Combs projected a balance of $7 billion. The state brought in more tax money than she expected, and spent less, she said her in letter. State sales taxes — the backbone of Texas state finance — increased by 10.9 percent over the fiscal 2006 mark. Combs said the state's Rainy Day fund (officially, the Economic Stabilization Fund) will total $4.6 billion when she makes a required deposit later this year. Experts who've been watching weren't surprised at the final balance, but can't quite put their fingers on the reason the state's economy is acting this way. Whatever the reason, they say it's good news. "it means the state has some wiggle room," says Dale Craymer, economist with the Texas Taxpayer and Research Association. "If the margin tax doesn't make its estimate [next year], legislators will have some room." The state's new business tax — sold as a way to pay for cuts in local property taxes — is due for the first time next May. Both the comptroller and legislative number-crunchers say the local tax cuts will cost more than the new tax will bring in. Lawmakers, with an eye on that, kept their mitts off billions that were available for current spending last session as a hedge against those projections. Even if the money's not needed for that, there are other things to worry about. "This could give us a bigger cushion as a state than other states will have if the economy tanks," Craymer says. "There'd be less chance of a tax increase." The size of the treasure chest already made it possible to "certify" a pay raise for state employees (two percent in the current fiscal year; two percent in the next one, totaling $242.7 million). A spokesman for Combs said lawmakers also appropriated about $300 million for transportation, contingent on the comptroller's certification that the money will be there. It will be. Combs' letter:
Texas Comptroller Susan Combs will be state chairman of Rudy Giuliani's presidential campaign.
Combs is the first and so far the only statewide elected official to endorse anyone other than former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson. Most of the statewides are staying out so far, but Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, Railroad Commissioner Victor Carrillo, and Attorney General Greg Abbott have all pledged to Thompson.
Patterson, meanwhile, says a funder for Thompson in Fort Worth — sponsored by Ramona Bass, among others — attracted $200,000 before the event. They're aiming at $250,000.
The seven people running to replace Rep. Anna Mowery, R-Fort Worth, in HD-97 filed their first money reports with a month to go before that special election.
In alphabetical order:
• Dan Barrett, an attorney who's the only Democrat in the race, raised $36,788, spent $21,820, and had $10,380 in the bank as of September 27.
• Craig Goldman, a Republican insurance salesman who used to work for then-U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm of Texas, raised $181,453, spent $17,129 and had $162,692 on hand at the end of the month. His campaign folk say he raised more money in the district than anyone else. That's a defensive move; his opponents pointed out that he raised a lot of his money outside the district, from other spots in Texas and from other states and Washington, D.C. He got $2,000, by the way, from the Friends of Phil Gramm PAC, run by his old boss, and $2,500 more from Gramm his own self. His biggest single contribution — $10,000 — was from Edward Netherland of Lancassas, Tennesee.
• Chris Hatch, a Republican accountant and Fort Worth school board trustee, raised $6,550, spent $15,498 and ended up with $5,680 in the bank. The accounting trick there? He spent $13,954 in personal funds — his own dough — on the campaign.
• Jeff Humber, a business development exec from Benbrook, loaned his campaign $50,000. He raised $3,620, spent $22,104, and made it to the end of the month with $31,143 in the till.
• Former Rep. Bob Leonard, an attorney, raised $47,320, spent $42,012, and had $113,169 in the bank at the end. He loaned his campaign $100,000. Point of interest: His campaign treasurer is Fran Chiles, a former National GOP committee woman from Texas. The biggest contributors were Mr. & Mrs. Charles Ringer, who gave $10,000.
• James Dean Schull, a Republican attorney from Benbrook, raised $2,800, spent $2,500 and had $300 on September 27.
• Dr. Mark Shelton, a Republican pediatrician, raised $37,700, spent $15,423, and had $30,786 in the bank at the end of the period. His biggest contribution — $10,000 — was from the Texas Medical Association PAC. And he loaned his campaign $5,000.
Republicans aren't the only House members targeting their colleagues from across the aisle.
Rep. Vicki Truitt, R-Keller, says the Democrats are doing the same thing. She doesn't particularly like the practice, but says Democrats who complain about it are "wimps, weenies, and whining yellow dogs," and accuses them of hypocrisy.
What apparently set her off was the exchange last week between Democratic Rep. Jim Dunnam and former Republican Rep. Arlene Wohlgemuth. Then she got wind of a fundraiser held by Tarrant County Democrats for a "100 for $100" fund that'll support Democrats challenging incumbent House and Senate Republicans. Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth, was at the kickoff (he's in the photos posted on the Mid-Cities Democrats website), and Reps. Paula Hightower-Pierson and Mark Veasey are listed as members of the host committee.
Truitt thinks the fratricidal campaigning makes legislating more difficult because it's hard to work alongside someone who tried to knock you off in the last election cycle. "I think it's not a good idea for us to work against sitting House members — it causes ill will... But don't says it's a bad deal if you're doing it yourselves.
• U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Clute, will apparently have a primary opponent. Andy Mann, a Republican whose resume includes staff time with former U.S. Rep. Jack Brooks, D-Beaumont, plans to join that contest. He says he likes the incumbent, but doesn't stop there. From his website: "If you are like me, you like our current representative — and you might even agree with his basic message — but when you look at his whacky voting record as well as his recent comments while running for president, you realize that he doesn't really share our values."
• Minnesota U.S. Senate wannabe Al Franken will make two Texas stops — Dallas and Houston — to raise money for his challenge of U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minnesota. Franken's a Democrat (in case you weren't watching), and one of his Texas hosts is former gubernatorial candidate Chris Bell.
• Remember that set-to a few years ago about Mexico's water debt to Texas? The country to the south just closed the year — for the first time in 15 years — with no water debt to the U.S.
• The state chapter of the Sierra Club is officially opposed to fences and barricades between the U.S. and Mexico now, saying walls could be hard on the environment. They're afraid the barriers will keep critters from running around, whether they stop human immigrants or not. It would be hard on the ecosystem along the Rio Grande, they contend, and in turn, on eco-tourism in the state. They're asking the federal government for more time for public comment and a complete environmental impact statement before any walls or fences go up. The group once filed suit to stop a wall on the Texas border; that was settled in 2000, when the federal government backed off its building plans.
The comptroller dropped a crumb of news for budgeteers, saying she won't have a handle on the revenue from the new business margins tax until mid- to late-summer next year.
That means we won't know until then whether the tax will cover all or part of the school property tax reductions it's supposed to cover.
The assumption had been that Comptroller Susan Combs would have numbers in May, when the tax is due. That's the way it works with the current franchise tax. It's due on May 15, and within a matter of about three days, enough of the returns have been opened for the comptroller to tell how much money that tax will bring in.
She's got two obstacles to that. First, they haven't collected this tax before and don't know the collection pattern (if you've got this much money in the first three days, how much will you get in total?). And second, companies that have to pay it are expected to file for extensions, which allows them to pay 90 percent of what they think they owe or 100 percent of what they paid on the old tax last year.
Combs, speaking to a lunch crowd at the Texas Taxpayers and Research Association conference this week, said she won't have good numbers until, maybe, August. "I would rather not rush and give you half-baked information," she said.
The late date could make the tax a subject (if it's not already) of the 2008 elections. She's talking about dropping a number within 90 days of those elections. If it's really good, or really bad, it'll give the pols something to talk about.
Rep. Carl Isett, R-Lubbock, will head the Sunset Advisory Commission for the next two years.
He was on the panel before, but left it when he took leave of the Lege to serve in the Gulf War (he's in the Navy Reserve). House Speaker Tom Craddick appointed him, also naming Rep. Linda Harper-Brown, R-Irving, to that panel.
And Craddick reappointed Ike Sugg of San Angelo as a citizen member of Sunset.
It's the House's turn to name the chairman; until September 1, it was Sen. Kim Brimer, R-Fort Worth. Isett has the gig until September 2009. Reps. Vicki Truitt, R-Keller, and Byron Cook, R-Corsicana, are coming off the commission, to be replaced by Isett and Harper-Brown.
Three others are coming off, too, but Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst hasn't named their replacements: Howard Wolf, a public member, and Sens. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, and John Whitmire, D-Houston.
They've got some hot potatoes on their review agenda as they enter the next legislative session: the Texas Department of Transportation and the Texas Youth Commission lead the list, with their toll roads and their scandals, respectively, followed in no particular order by the Texas Department of Agriculture, the Texas Department of Insurance, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, the Texas Department of Public Safety, and the Office of State-Federal Relations.
The state's top criminal judge has inspired a parody website and a complaint from a group of lawyers that's dead serious.
Texas voters reelected Sharon Keller last year for another six-year term as presiding judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. That panel's got the same juice as the Texas Supreme Court, only on the criminal side of the law. And it's become a lightning rod since Keller told lawyers for Michael Richards last month that she wouldn't keep the office open past five o'clock to receive their legal briefs.
With no legal papers in the works, Richards was executed that evening.
Keller apparently did that without asking her fellow judges, who contributed some of the most damning quotes in the news accounts that followed.
Keller has also inspired a parody website — SharonKiller.com— which includes links to, among other things, a parody MySpace page.
And something more serious, too: Now a group of prominent and not-so prominent defense lawyers is after her hide, sending a letter to the State Commission on Judicial Conduct that says her actions violated the judicial canons by denying a condemned man an appeal to which he was entitled.
"Judge Keller's actions denied Michael Richard two constitutional rights, access to the courts and due process, which led to his execution. Her actions also brought the integrity of the Texas judiciary and of her court into disrepute and was a source of scandal to the citizens of the state," they wrote.
The complaint was filed by the Texas Civil Rights Project; in their press release announcing it, they said it was signed by a group that includes former State Bar President Broadus Spivey, Houston criminal defense attorney Dick Deguerin, University of Houston law professor Mike Olivas, former appellate judge Michol O’Connor, legal ethics author Chuck Herring, Rep. Harold Dutton, D-Houston, Southern Methodist Law School clinical supervisor Eliot Shavin, and former Nueces County Attorney Mike Westergren.
The last time that agency tangled with an appellate judge — Supreme Court Justice Nathan Hecht — he fought them in court and won.
It's not time to file, officially, for the Texas primaries. But the campaign treasurer reports are steadily coming in...
This week's new campaign treasurer filings with the Texas Ethics Commission include Samuel "Sam" Murphey and Michael Pearce in HD-55 — where Rep. Dianne White Delisi is hanging up her running shoes. Murphey's a Democrat from Harker Heights and worked as a district guy for U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco. Pearce, a Republican, is a former teacher and now sells instruction programs.
Charles "Chuck" Randolph, a Democrat, filed a report showing his interest in HD-61, where the incumbent is Rep. Phil King, R-Weatherford.
B. Allen Fletcher, chairman of the Greater Tomball Chamber of Commerce, is looking at HD-130, where Rep. Corbin Van Arsdale, R-Tomball, is the current House member.
And Houston City Council member Carol Alvarado put in a treasurer report for HD-145, Rep. Rick Noriega's seat.
Refugio County Commissioner Raymond Villarreal plead guilty to tampering with government records during the March 2006 primary elections. He'll resign, spend 90 days in jail, pay a $1,500 fine and spend five years on probation, according to the attorney general's office.
Nick Dauster is the new director of government affairs at the Texas Department of State Health Services, moving up into a spot opened by Kirk Cole's promotion earlier in the year. Dauster's been at DSHS for several years, and worked in the Pink Building before that.
Dustin Lanier is leaving the Department of Information Resources to run the Council on Competitive Government.
Ray Martinez is closing his consulting shop and will be the new director of government relations at Rice University. He'll remain in Austin and shuttle between there, Houston, and Washington, D.C.
Gov. Rick Perry's latest round of appointments includes these hookups:
• San Antonio attorney Rolando Pablos of to the Texas Racing Commission. His company specializes in business development and international trade promotion.
• Richard Earl McElreath of Amarillo and Norman Parrish of The Woodlands to the State Pension Review Board. McElreath is a consultant with A.G. Edwards and Sons. Parrish is a retired consulting actuary.
• Tony Gilman of Austin to the Health Professions Council. His day job: executive officer of the Texas Health Care Policy Council and Perry's liaison to the state's health profession licensing boards.
• Irene Armendariz, an exec with Superior HealthPlan in El Paso, and Burnet County Judge Donna Klaeger of Horseshoe Bay to the Texas Commission on Jail Standards.
• Tracye McDaniel of Houston to the Texas Economic Development Corp. She's with the Houston Partnership now, but used to toil in the state's economic development office.
Retiring: Dr. Kern Wildenthal, the president of the UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, in September 2008. That'll end a 22-year tenure at the helm.