In seven of the state's 31 Senate districts, more people voted in this year's Democratic primary than voted in the 2006 general election.

Another way to put it: This year's Democratic primary outdrew the most recent contest for governor of Texas in seven of the state's Senate districts.

The overall numbers have been known since March, when the primaries were held. But it takes a while for the state's number-crunchers to produce district-by-district numbers. Now that they're available, those figures reveal details that weren't apparent after the first round.

In five of those seven districts, Hillary Clinton smothered Barack Obama with between 64 and 70 percent of the vote. (Statewide, she got 50.9 percent of the popular vote to his 47.3 percent.) All but one of those districts elect Hispanics to the state Senate: Mario Gallegos of Houston, Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa of McAllen, Judith Zaffirini of Laredo, Eddie Lucio of Brownsville, and Eliot Shapleigh of El Paso. Obama won in the two districts dominated by African American voters, getting about 73 percent of the vote there. The senators from those two districts, Rodney Ellis of Houston and Royce West of Dallas, are the only two Blacks in the state Senate.

Obama's election map looks better when you look at Senate districts than when you look at counties. Clinton won the state overall, defeating him in 230 of the state's 254 counties. But he won 13 of the state's 31 Senate districts (U.S. Senate candidate Rick Noriega, for comparison, was getting 51 percent of the state vote while winning 18 Senate districts).

On the Republican side, Mike Huckabee beat John McCain in four districts, while McCain was getting 51.9 percent of the statewide GOP vote and Huckabee was getting 38.3 percent. Huckabee's four wins came in Senate districts held by Kevin Eltife, R-Tyler, Bob Deuell, R-Greenville, Brimer, R-Fort Worth, and West, D-Dallas. But the former Arkansas governor's margins in those districts were thin, and he didn't break 50 percent in any of the state's 31 Senate districts. Huckabee won in 50 counties in the primary — getting bigger numbers in the counties close to his native Arkansas.

Republican primary turnout fell short of the 2006 general election in all 31 Senate districts. And the Republicans outvoted the Democrats in only two Senate districts in the primaries (both held now by Republicans: Troy Fraser of Horseshoe Bay and Kel Seliger of Amarillo).

If you add the votes from the two primaries, turnout in March outdid the 2006 governor's race in ten Senate districts — each of which is currently represented by a Democrat.

Three Senate seats are on everyone's list of hot races, all three held by Republicans. Two of those were Obama country in the primary; he won the majority in Kim Brimer's Fort Worth district and in Kyle Janek's Houston district. Clinton won, narrowly in Mike Jackson's La Porte district on the coast.

The primaries aren't directly comparable, since the Republican contest was all but over and the Democrats were pitching cannonballs at each other. But out of curiosity, we compared McCain's numbers with those of the two Democrats whose fight drove the turnout. McCain got more raw votes in the Republican primary than Obama got in the Democratic primary in six Senate districts. The Republican got more votes than Clinton in two. In all of those cases, the districts in question are currently held by Republican senators.

What It Didn't Cost You

Property tax relief might not have put cash in your pocket, but without it, you'd have spent more money, according to a business group that studies tax issues.

The school property tax cut that legislators paired with increased business taxes lowered taxes for some, but not for everyone. What it did do, according to the Austin-based Texas Taxpayers and Research Association, was a combination of actual cuts and property taxes that would lower than they would have been otherwise.

Taxpayers might feel they were promised a pony, only to get a puppy instead. The message here: Count your blessings — it could've been a stuffed animal.

The $7 billion in tax relief, by their calculations, includes $2.3 billion in tax cuts and $4.7 billion in taxes that would have been owed without the swap. And their estimate is that the average Texan's total property tax bill — including school and other property taxes — would have been 20 percent higher without the Legislature's 2006 changes.

That's the amount those taxes would have gone up without the state-ordered cuts, according to TTARA. They built a spreadsheet you can use to look at property taxes in particular districts.

A couple of examples:

The owner of a $200,000 property in the Dallas ISD, according to TTARA's calculator, "saved" $920 in 2007 school taxes — the difference between the actual $1.20 tax rate and the $1.66 that would have been the tax rate without the Legislature's swap. That property owner would have spent $3,319 in taxes instead of $2,399.

The Houston numbers are similar for a property worth that much; TTARA says the taxes foregone amounted to $987.

In their write-up on the tax bills, TTARA noted a couple of reasons Texans didn't get the property tax cuts they were expecting. School property taxes only account for half of the average tax bill (the rest is for counties, cities, hospital districts and the like). And the property tax for business tax swap didn't include appraisal reforms that might have leashed the other big variable in property tax bills: The values of the properties being taxed. That's something lawmakers are working on now in anticipation of next January's regular legislative session.

Small businesses didn't get any break at all, according to the trade group NFIB/Texas. They didn't do a study, but say members they've polled are paying higher taxes on the business end and didn't get enough break on their property taxes to offset that new tax. Only 1.3 percent, according to that group, said they came out ahead.

Still Red

Texans aren't happy with the direction of the country or the economy, but remain conservative and favor Republicans over Democrats in both the presidential and U.S. Senate contests.

Those findings are from a poll conducted by the government department and the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin. Poll Co-Director James Henson (with UT prof Daron Shaw) posted the findings — with all of the internal numbers and crosstabs and such — on UT's Texas Politics website if you want details. Some highlights:

• Two-thirds of Texans think the country is on the wrong track. They rated the economy the top issue facing both the country and the state — ahead of gas prices and energy. A huge majority — 81% — said the country is in worse economic shape than a year ago and 48 percent said they were personally less well off than a year ago.

• They favor John McCain over Barack Obama by 10 percentage points in the presidential contest, and John Cornyn over Rick Noriega by 13 percentage points in the race for U.S. Senate.

• In spite of those splits on the races, and their answers to issue questions, slightly more of the respondents identified themselves as Democrats: 23% as "strong Democrat," 12% as "not very strong Democrat," 18% as "strong Republican," and 12% as "not very strong Republican." Asked a different question about their views, 39% IDed themselves as conservatives, 41% as moderates, and 20% as liberals.

• U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, Gov. Rick Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and House Speaker Tom Craddick — as well as McCain and Obama — all outdid President George W. Bush when people were asked how they feel about various politicos. (Dewhurst and Craddick weren't as well known as the others, but their positive-negative ratings were relatively high.)

• Texans are split on public education — about as many give it good ratings as give it bad ones. Call it a C. Asked about improving education, Texans favor more accountability for educators over more spending on education.

• Almost three-quarters think funding for higher education should be increased to make it more affordable for students.

• They overwhelming support (70%) photo ID cards for voters.

• Texans strongly support the death penalty.

• More than half think it's unlikely that Iraq will be able to establish a stable, Democratic government. And they think the U.S. should withdraw, with 27% favoring immediate withdrawal and 38% saying the U.S. should begin a gradual withdrawal.

• They're split on illegal immigration. Asked what should happen to illegal immigrants who've lived and worked in the U.S. for two years, 49% said they should be allowed to stay and apply for legal status. But 46% said they should be deported to their native country.

• More than half think the state government works best when the governor and the Legislature are controlled by the same party, but they're split when asked which party they prefer.

• More than half — 51% — say they can trust state government to do the right thing "only some of the time."

• A slight majority — 52% — opposes abortion, with 35% saying it should only be allowed in cases of rape, incest, and to save the life of the mother, and 17% saying it should never be legal.

• They're split on whether transportation is best handled by the government or by the private sector.

• Almost half say an independent commission should handle redistricting, but a large number — 35% — have no opinion about it.

This is the first in what the pollsters hope (these things cost money, you see) will be an ongoing series of quarterly polls. The survey, conducted online, included 800 Texas adults. The margin of error is +/- 3.4%. And questions asked of the 667 registered voters in the survey group, the margin of error was +/- 3.7%.

Bank Shot

Texas Republicans are trying to hit local Democrats with ricochets from the John Edwards scandal.

Edwards admitted conducting and then lying about an extra-marital affair during his presidential campaign. In the wake of that announcement, his campaign finance chairman, Dallas attorney Fred Baron, told The Dallas Morning News that he paid to move the woman, Rielle Hunter, and Andrew Young, another Edwards staffer who says he fathered a child with Hunter, to help them escape media scrutiny and pressure. Edwards and Baron have both said Baron did that without talking to the candidate.

The Texas angle?

Baron and his wife, Lisa Blue, jump-started Democratic political funding in Texas four years ago and are among the party's most generous donors. And in Texas, Republicans pounced on the Edwards/Baron news to try to poison Democratic causes and candidates they've helped fund.

Few were direct contributions; the attacks from GOP candidates are of the "Baron gave to a group who gave to a candidate" variety. And so far, no Democratic candidates have felt the need to run from the money. Hector Nieto, a spokesman for the Texas Democratic Party, dismisses the whole line of attack, saying all Baron did was "help a friend (Hunter) who was being hounded by the press and others." He violated no laws, Nieto says, and there's no reason for anyone to return any money.

Baron and Blue have contributed $713,446 to political committees this year. In 2007, their total state political contributions, according to the Texas Ethics Commission, were $999,078. They gave $1,778,620 in 2006, and $332,201 in 2005. That's $3,823,345 over the last four years. Most went to Democrats, though the couple supported Republican-turned-independent Carole Keeton Strayhorn before switching to Democrat Chris Bell in the last gubernatorial race.

The lion's share of that money — $3,465,701 — went to the Texas Democratic Trust, which in turn pays a phalanx of Democratic consultants, gives the Texas Democratic Party around $50,000 monthly, supports a research group called the Texas Progress Council, and contributes to the House Democratic Campaign Committee. Baron and Blue also gave $55,000 to Annie's List, a PAC that supports pro-choice women running for statehouse spots, $40,000 to the Texas Values in Action Coalition, and $20,000 to the Texas Democratic Party.

Few of their contributions went directly to Democrats on this year's list of Republican statehouse targets. Two exceptions: Joe Jaworski, challenging Sen. Mike Jackson, R-La Porte, got $2,500 (and has now given it back; details here — WHOOPS, now he says he didn't), and Carol Kent, challenging Rep. Tony Goolsby, R-Dallas, got $10,000.

The Republicans have fired at two candidates (that we're aware of) so far: Hubert Vo, D-Houston, who's being challenged by Republican Greg Meyers, and Diana Maldonado of Round Rock, who's running for an open seat currently held by a Republican. Both got money from groups that got money, indirectly, from Baron and other Democratic financiers.

Political Notes

Gov. Rick Perry will be in Big Spring next week toasting a restoration of the Settles Hotel, a historic structure owned and fixed up by G. Brint Ryan. The political trick here is that Ryan, founder of a Dallas-based tax-consulting firm, was a major supporter of Carole Keeton Strayhorn's challenge to Perry in the 2006 governor's race. He was also Democrat John Sharp's boss, both before and after Perry and Sharp ended their long political feud.

• You might remember the "Forgotten Children" report issued by then-Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn in 2004, detailing abuses at facilities for troubled kids. The owner of one such facility — the Woodside Trails Therapeutic Camp in Bastrop County — sued and won $300,000 from the state for errors it made in the report and in closing her facility. Betty Lou Grimes beat the state in court, though Strayhorn had long since been dropped from the lawsuit. The report and a follow-up to it are still available online at the state comptroller's website. It includes allegations of abuse from a child at the camp who recanted before the report was released.

• Republican Joan Huffman's latest list of endorsees includes three state representatives: Mike Hamilton of Mauriceville, Wayne Smith of Baytown, and Beverly Woolley of Houston. Huffman's one of four candidates (including three Republicans) running for Kyle Janek's former seat in the state Senate.

A couple of snarly emails wound through that campaign this week. Conservative activist Steven Hotze sent an email attempting to associate Huffman with "gambling, liquor, and nightclub" interests, and promoting the candidacy of Austen Furse. He pulled out contributions from Huffman's husband, Ken Lawyer, to Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, and ended with a swipe at state Rep. Dennis Bonnen, R-Angleton. Hotze said Bonnen's sponsoring a funder for Huffman "to raise money from the Austin liquor, gambling and union lobbyists."

Bonnen shot back, calling Hotze a surrogate for Furse. He noted contributions from Furse's wife to Democrat Barack Obama and her votes in past Democratic primaries. He wrote that Huffman is "unequivocally opposed to gambling" and won't vote for it as a senator. And he noted contributions to Furse from the Texas Lobby Group, which has gambling promoters on its client list.

Both writers accused the other campaign of making things easier for Chris Bell, the only Democrat in the race.

• The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has recently been giving good marks to U.S. Rep. Nick Lampson, D-Stafford, is against him in the election. That group endorsed Republican Pete Olson in the CD-22 race.

• U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison will headline a fundraiser for Texas House candidate Ralph Sheffield. Keep your eyes peeled: This is one way to build support for a state race, if she's serious about running for governor in 2010. Sheffield is running against Democrat Sam Murphey in HD-55. That election's a two-fer: Dianne White Delisi, R-Temple, resigned early. And Gov. Rick Perry put the special election on the same day as the general election.

• NFIB/Texas let one of their endorsements out of the bag: They like Republican Greg Meyers over Rep. Hubert Vo, D-Houston, in HD-149. They plan to announce more endorsements in the next few weeks.

• The El Paso pitch to Democrats, short form: Vote a straight ticket. Two-thirds of the straight-ticket voting there in 2004 was Democratic, according to Rep. Norma Chavez, D-El Paso. And they're trying to increase the number of voters from 174,000 to 200,000. That riff accompanied a trip to El Paso by Juan Sepulveda, Obama's Texas director.

Political People and Their Moves

Catching up on Gov. Rick Perry's appointments:

There's a twist to the appointment of Andres Alcantar to the Texas Workforce Commission. Alcantar will be the "public" representative, and TWC Chairman Tom Pauken will serve as the employer representative on that board. Alcantar worked in the governor's budget, policy and planning commission before taking this job.

• Victor Kilman to the Texas Council on Purchasing from People with Disabilities. He's the director of purchasing and contract management for the City of Lubbock.

• Former Texas Supreme Court Justice Craig Enoch will get another term on the Judicial Districts Board that redraws those political territories.

• A dozen names for the Texas Health Services Authority: Manfred Sternberg, founder of Bluegate Corp. in Houston, will chair that board, joined by Alesha Adamson, head of health informatics integration at the UT Health Science Center in San Antonio, Fred Buckwold, medical director of Unicare in Houston, Raymond Davis, who works for Perot Systems in El Paso, Austin surgeon David Fleeger, Matthew Hamlin of Argyle, a regional veep with Quest Dynamics, Edward Mark, CIO at Texas Health Resources in Euless, Kathleen Mechler of Fredericksburg, COO of Texas A&M Health Science Center Rural and Community Health Institute, Darren Rodgers of Dallas, president of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas, Stephen Yurco, a partner at Clinical Pathology Associates in Austin, Dee Porter, COO at the Texas Department of State Health Services, and Luanne Southern, deputy commissioner at that agency.

• J. Michael Bell of Fredericksburg and Patsy Nichols of Austin got new terms at the Texas Growth Fund. He's a venture capitalist. She's an attorney with Fulbright and Jaworski.

• Three attorneys — Peter Munson of Pottsboro, Rodney Satterwhite of Midland and Karen Roberts Washington of Dallas — to the Commission on Uniform State Laws.

• Mark Jones, president of First State Bank in Brady, and Thomas Kelsey, a Houston attorney, to the Texas Farm and Ranch Lands Conservation Council.

• Zoe Milian Barinaga, a chemical engineer with ExxonMobil Chemical Co. in Houston, and Randy Jarrell, an insurance agent from Crystal Beach to the Gulf Coast Waste Disposal Authority Board.

• Add six to the Trinity River Authority's board, including Jess Laird, president of First State Bank in Athens, Nancy Lavinski, a retired teacher from Palestine, David Leonard, co-owner of Liberty Dayton Chrysler, Barbara Nash, an Arlington real estate investor, Jim Neale, president of Quorum Energy Co. in Dallas, and Carol Spillars of Madisonville, file manager at Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson.

• Vandy Anderson and Sally Prill, both of Galveston, to the Board of Pilot Commissioners for Galveston County. Anderson is a part-time captain at the Texas Seaport Museum and a former radio station owner. Prill is retired from the U.S. Department of Commerce.

• To the Texas Medical Board's district review committees (they make recommendations on investigations of doctors and other health professionals): David Baucom, a Sulphur Springs insurance agent, Carlos Gallardo, manager of recruitment and selection at Texas Woman's University, Hari Roddy, a Fairview doctor, and Melissa Tonn, a Dallas doctor. A second district panel also gets new members, including Noe Fernandez, president of Dos Rios Textiles Corp. in McAllen, Chevy Lee, a McAllen ophthalmologist, Richard Newman, a San Antonio surgical oncologist, and Russell Parker, an Austin land developer.

• At the Texas State Board of Social Worker Examiners, Timothy Brown of Bryan will be the new presiding officer, joined by Gandace Guillen of La Feria and Nary Spears of Houston. All three are social workers.

Quotes of the Week

Former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, in an interview with ABC News about an extra-marital affair during his campaign: "In the course of several campaigns, I started to believe that I was special and became increasingly egocentric and narcissistic. If you want to beat me up, feel free. You cannot beat me up more than I have already beaten up myself. I have been stripped bare."

Chris LaCivita, a Republican strategist, quoted in the Washington Post about plans of liberal counterpart Tom Matzzie with "Accountable America" to intimidate donors to conservative causes and campaigns: "They're not going to be intimidated by some pipsqueak on the kooky left."

GOP consultant John Weaver, assessing his party's chances in an interview with Texas Monthly: We're sailing into a hurricane in a wooden boat."

Martine Apodaca, spokeswoman for U.S. Senate candidate Rick Noriega, after her boss was temporary knocked out of commission for work on an abscessed tooth: "It's not so much that he's incapacitated as it is he's incomprehensible."

Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, telling the Pampa News he expects the Legislature to look again at eminent domain legislation vetoed last year by Gov. Rick Perry: "I voted for it last time, so I guess I'll vote for it again. I guess this governor won't last forever."

---

Texas Weekly: Volume 25, Issue 31, 18 August 2008. Ross Ramsey, Editor. Copyright 2008 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.

The state agency that regulates homebuilders should be abolished, according to the staff of the Sunset Advisory Commission, which says the Texas Residential Construction Commission's regulatory structure is worse than no regulation at all.The TRCC "was never meant to be a true regulatory agency with a clear mission of protecting the public," the staff report says (here's a link to the full report). "... Current regulation of the residential construction industry is fundamentally flawed and does more harm than good." That got a quick and negative response from Duane Waddill, the executive director of the agency, who said it would leave the state's homebuilding industry unregulated. Builders want to keep it, too, according to their trade group. The Texas Association of Builders called the recommendation "short-sighted." But Texas Watch, a longtime critic, applauded the idea of killing TRCC. The Sunset panel periodically reviews most state agencies, but those reviews rarely recommend — or result in — abolition of the agencies in question. That's the first recommendation for TRCC. The report — not yet made public — says that would result in the layoffs of 80 state employees. It would also cost about $300,000 annually. That's the amount by which fees charged to builders outpaces the costs of running the regulatory agency. The report is critical of the agency's regulatory setup, which requires homeowners to navigate through its procedures before going to court to sue a builder. "No other regulatory agency has a program with such a potentially devastating effect on consumers' ability to seek their own remedies," the report says. "... Sunset staff did not trust that the commitment exists to establish the true regulation needed for the protection of the public." The full commission will take its first public look at the report next month, and is slated to make its official recommendations on TRCC at its December meeting. TRCC's commissioners will meet in early September to talk about an official response. Their first response? Sunset has a bad idea. "The Texas Residential Construction Commission ardently disagrees with the Sunset Commission staff recommendation to abolish the agency," Waddill said via press release. "Accepting Sunset’s staff recommendation would free nearly 28,000 builders from regulatory oversight. Nearly 600,000 homes have been registered since the commission’s inception. Those Texas families will be left to fend for themselves if an issue arises with their home. "The commission has stripped or denied the right to operate from nearly 500 builders/remodelers in the state. Repealing this legislation would turn back the clock and allow these builders to return and compete in the receding housing market. With the downturn of the market and the ongoing crisis among lending institutions, eroding consumer confidence in the housing industry by deregulating the building industry could be strike three to a fragile economy." Texas Watch, a longtime critic of the agency, hailed the Sunset report and said TRCC should be replaced with something that regulates builders instead of regulating homeowners. "Lawmakers should replace the feckless TRCC with real reforms that ensure builder accountability, quality building standards, and true oversight and regulation of the homebuilding industry," said Alex Winslow, that group's executive director.

The Republican Party of Texas responds, via web ad, to Barack Obama's latest commercial criticizing John McCain.This is Obama's ad, running on TV and online:

 

And this is the Texas GOP response, which is running only on the Internet:

Joe Jaworski got a contribution from Fred Baron, but has given it away in the wake of the John Edwards scandal. UPDATE: Now he says he didn't.Baron's $2,500 contribution to Jaworski was one of the Dallas attorneys few direct contributions. And now that Baron is tangled in the Edwards affair, Jaworski opted to give the money to the University of Texas Medical Branch breast cancer screening program. Baron was Edwards national finance chairman and has said he paid to move the woman with whom Edwards had an affair to help her avoid hectoring from the press and others.

Sen. Kim Brimer went to the Texas Supreme Court Monday to try to knock his Democratic opponent, Wendy Davis, off the November ballot.Time is short. Friday, August 22, is the legal deadline for taking someone off the ballot, whether they're ineligible or not, according to the Texas Secretary of State's office. And next week — Tuesday, August 26, to be specific — is the main deadline for adding people to the ballot. If the court were to declare Davis ineligible after Friday, her name would still appear on the ballot. And if they were to wait until say, a week from Wednesday, Tarrant County Democrats would find it difficult, if not impossible, to put up another candidate for the November election. A state district court ruled earlier this summer that Davis is legally on the ballot. Brimer's lawyers filed an appeal — still pending, with lawyers still making deadlines for briefs and such — with the Fort Worth-based 2nd Court of Appeals. Briefs from the Davis crew are due late this week — on August 28 — that's with a trial date coming after the SOS deadlines. But Brimer's team has now added a filing with the Supremes, asking the state's highest court to order Tarrant County Democrats to "do their ministerial duty" and take Davis off the ballot. Their argument is that Davis wasn't off the Fort Worth City Council in time to qualify for the state Senate seat. Here's a copy of their brief.

The media, mainstream and online, are drawing flack from political people this week. Bloggers are also talking about a new polling project by University of Texas professors, a couple of guys named Edwards, and then there's a list of items even more miscellaneous.

* * * * *

Stop the Press

KVUE's Political Junkie takes umbrage at allegations by Democratic candidate Rick Noriega that journalists are taking cues from incumbent John Cornyn's campaign. Lonnie Walker's Blog says the problem is the candidate, not the campaign. Meanwhile, Cornyn took his own shot at the media, specifically the Houston Chronicle, reports Trail Blazers, the Dallas Morning News's blog.

Liberal Texas bloggers aren't happy with recommendations by the Texas Ethics Commission to look into regulating blogs' political behavior, via Capitol Annex. And Democrats are righteously indignant over a visit to El Paso by media personality Karl Rove, according to Vaqueros & Wonkeros, the El Paso Times's blog.

Rumor has it that Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison is playing favorites with Austin American-Statesman reporters, according to Capitol Annex. And Texas Supreme Court justice Nathan Hecht didn't want to talk to any reporters at all after testifying before the state ethics commission, writes Junkie.

Texas Politics, the Houston Chronicle's blog, talks with former Houston TV journalist Jim Moore about being on the federal no-fly watch list. And radioman/Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, is purportedly interested in buying the Austin American-Statesman, says Trail Blazers.

* * * * *

Poll Positions

BurkaBlog talks about the Texas Politics project, a new quarterly poll by UT professors Jim Henson and Daron Shaw. Burnt Orange Report though it was blogworthy, too. Off the Kuff notes a few weird things he found in the results from the first survey.

Chronic, the Austin Chronicle's blog, examines the stuff concerning the U.S. Senate race. And here's the view from Panhandle's Perspective.

* * * * *

Edwards and Friends

The scandal over former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards and his mistress has hit state House District 52. According to Eye on Williamson, Republican Bryan Daniel wants Democrat Diana Maldonado to give up $25,000 she got from Annie's List because Dallas attorney Fred Baron (who allegedly bankrolled the cover-up of the Edwards affair) had given that same amount to the liberal PAC. Williamson Republic has three posts on the topic: here, here and here.

Hear what Southern Methodist University professor Cal Jillson told Texas Politics about Edwards's affair by clicking the link. On a fiscal note, the bad PR hasn't hurt business at Baron's law firm, says Tex Parte Blog.

And Burnt Orange suggests U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco-and-no-relation-to-the-dude-from-North-Carolina, is inching closer to the vice-presidential nomination. But Texas on the Potomac, the Houston Chronicle's blog, says don't count on it.

* * * * *

Political Fodder

Burka says Harris County Republicans are working hard to prevent a Democratic flip this fall. North Texas Conservative mocks Noriega for joking about having Paris Hilton's support. A Keyboard and a .45 analyzes the HD-96 race between incumbent Republican Bill Zedler and Democrat Chris Turner.

A Perry adviser says Kay Bailey Hutchison is just bluffing about running for governor, according to Postcards from the Lege, the Austin American-Statesman's blog. KBH was voted one of the best moms in Congress, says PoliTex, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's blog

Texas Blue has the national Democrats' parody of Cornyn's "Big Bad John" video. PoliTex says Cornyn thinks it's great that the spot is getting so much attention.

* * * * *

Misc.-ing links

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality's Sajeewa Chandrasoma is Capitol Crowd's Person of the Week. The Texas Education Agency has OKed an online charter school that allows parents to skip teaching evolution, Observer says. And TexasSparkle will be writing a blog for the new Texas Magazine.

The Texas prison board named a Gatesville lockup after former chairwoman Christina Crain, says Postcards. Private prison contractor the Geo Group is opening up three new facilities in Texas, reports Texas Prison Bid'ness.

Blue Dot Blues urges readers to sign a petition in support of voter photo ID. Policy Spotlight is on the same page. Travis Monitor makes it a trend.

Mike Falick's Blog links to four interactive applications: a timeline generator, a quiz to compare yourself to an eighth grader, a William Shakespeare quiz and a future generator.

---

This edition of Out There was compiled and written by Patrick Brendel, who hails from Victoria but is semi-settled in Austin. 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 Texas Supreme Court won't take Wendy Davis off the ballot, at least not now. A day after he filed it, the court denied Sen. Kim Brimer's request that they declare her ineligible. There's not much poetry to their ruling, just the facts:

Orders Pronounced August 19, 2008 MISCELLANEOUS THE FOLLOWING PETITION FOR WRIT OF MANDAMUS IS DENIED WITHOUT PREJUDICE: 08?0651 IN RE KIM BRIMER; from Tarrant County; 2nd district motion for emergency relief and to accelerate the disposition of this original proceeding denied

That leaves the legal fight in Fort Worth's 2nd Court of Appeals, which has set a schedule that'll quickly make election law specialists of the consultants on both sides. Friday is the last day the Texas Secretary of State can remove someone from the ballot. Next Tuesday — a week from now — is the last day (with some technical exceptions) that someone can be added to the ballot. And the briefs from Davis' lawyers aren't due in the appeals court until the end of the week. That appeals court hasn't set a hearing date. But the deadlines could leave that court with the job of deciding whether she's eligible after the law has made it possible to take her off the ballot or to replace her with another Democratic candidate. The Supremes could still be involved later, if either side appeals whatever ruling comes from the appeals court in Fort Worth.

Only three-and-a-half times since 1960 has the national ticket for federal office not included a Texan as either the presidential or vice presidential candidate.

Chances seem slim that a Texan will make the list this year. Only a couple of Texans have won mentions this year, including U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison as a potential Republican veep candidate, and U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards of Waco, as a potential number two on the Democratic side.

So there could be a breather for Texas (from Texas?) for the first time in almost 30 years. And like the last time the state saw a drought on the national ticket, this one would follow a Texan's term as president.

Nobody from here made the major party tickets in 1968, 1972, or 1976, the three elections that followed Lyndon Johnson's term. Johnson was on the ballot in 1960 and then in 1964. Since that break, it's been Bush country, with George H.W. Bush on the ballot in 1980, 1984, 1988, and 1992 and George W. Bush on the ticket in 2000 and 2004. We're not even counting Vice President Dick Cheney, though he was living in Dallas when he got on the ticket as a candidate from Wyoming. U.S. Sen. Lloyd Bentsen was the Democratic veep candidate in 1988, and Ross Perot was, in 1992 and 1996, a high-profile third party candidate.

A federal judge stayed the execution of Jeffrey Lee Wood, saying Wood deserves legal help and time to show whether he is sufficiently mentally competent to be executed.

Wood was convicted under the state's "law of parties" for participating in a robbery and killing even though someone else did the killing. His requests for legal help were refused in the trial court, and that refusal was the basis for U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia of San Antonio to stay the execution and appoint a lawyer and a mental health expert to assist Wood in his appeal.

The judge said the evidence falls short of proving Wood is mentally incompetent, but said the state's system for letting him prove it is out of whack, because it requires him to do alone what lawyers are highly trained to do. "With all due respect, a system which requires an insane person to first make 'a substantial showing' of his own lack of mental capacity without the assistance of counsel or a mental health expert, in order to obtain such assistance is, by definition, an insane system."

Kyle Janek isn't in a political race this year, but his money will be. The Houston Republican resigned from the state Senate in mid-term and the special election to replace him is underway.

At mid-year, Janek closed his political accounts, spent some of the $510,957 on charitable and political contributions, political work, bonuses for employees and a last, large payment to his political consultant, Blakemore and Associates. Then he sent the $302,334 balance to a political action committee set up to keep the Senate seat in Republican hands.

The reports for both committees included statements that he's shutting things down. Janek has moved to Austin and signed on with a biomedical testing firm.

The mid-year report for the "Best for Texas PAC" recorded that contribution and five small expenditures for "political promotion: sponsorship." One, to Victoria Ellis of Houston, was for $25. The other four were for $5 each, and included separate payments to Mark and Stacey Clark of Houston, and to Joan Huffman and Keith Lawyer, also of Houston. All five were among the donors who started the PAC last October with token contributions, and each was refunded what they gave.

The main point of interest there is Huffman, one of several candidates vying to replace Janek in the state Senate; Lawyer is her husband. The Clarks are both listed among the sponsors of a Huffman fundraiser coming up early next month. Janek has been supporting another Republican, squiring Austen Furse through introductions to potential supporters and donors in both Houston and Austin.

And it looks like Furse will be the beneficiary of the Best for Texas PAC.

"I made the decision that I didn't want to hold onto the money. That money was given to me to campaign, but I'm through campaigning," Janek said. "I wanted to make sure the district stays in good hands. I suspect they'll use it to help Austen, but I have nothing to do with it."

The new PAC has the same Houston address and phone number that was listed on Janek's campaign accounts. The treasurer, replacing his father, Eddie Janek, is Joe Slovacek, a Houston attorney. The address and contact numbers listed on reports for the PAC and for the campaign match the contact information for Blakemore & Associates, the Houston political consulting firm that has worked for Janek in the past and is working for Furse in this year's special election.

A spokesman for Huffman says she and Lawyer didn't get an explanation for why they got their $10 investment in Best for Texas returned. Chances are they'd have eventually demanded it: Allen Blakemore says Slovacek, the treasurer of the PAC, is a Furse supporter. He notes Janek's support for Furse. And he says the committee's money "may well be spent in a way not supportive of Huffman."

The committee hasn't spent any money so far and Blakemore said he doesn't know whether it will donate to Furse, spend its money on his behalf, or what.

Another curiosity from Janek's last reports: He spent $27,170 on "research" from an Austin-based polling firm, Baselice & Associates. Put that on the calendar: Janek announced his resignation at the end of January, but paid for the polling on March 10. Opponents are wondering if that went to Furse's benefit, but Blakemore says Janek "wanted to get an eye on the landscape of the district and be apprised of what was likely to happen as he left."

Janek also gave $25,000 to the Twenty One PAC, set up to make sure Republicans hold at least 21 seats in the Texas Senate — the number it takes to control the agenda. It reported contributions to Sens. Chris Harris of Arlington, $25,000, Kim Brimer of Fort Worth, $100,000, John Carona of Dallas, $25,000, and Mike Jackson of La Porte, $100,000. Raise your hand if you think you know the address and phone number for that one. Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, is listed as the treasurer, but the address and phone are for Blakemore's office in Houston.

The race to replace Janek isn't limited to Furse and Huffman. Republican Grant Harpold is in, too, as is Democrat Chris Bell. Several of the Republicans we talked to while working on this think the infighting about their candidates will benefit Bell, the only Democrat in the race. Something like that happened in Fort Worth last year, when several GOP candidates in a special election for an open House seat cut each other up and lost the runoff in what looked like a Republican district to Democrat Dan Barrett.

State Rep. Bill Zedler, R-Arlington, flew too close to the bug zapper with a mailing inviting folks to a fundraiser featuring Republican U.S. Reps. Joe Barton of Ennis and Kay Granger of Fort Worth among the "honorary hosts." The September 9 fundraiser at Fort Worth's City Club also features House Speaker Tom Craddick as "special guest" and Attorney General Greg Abbott and Sens. Kim Brimer and Jane Nelson as honorary hosts. The invite asks supporters to sign on as hosts for the luncheon at the $1,000, $2,500, or $5,000 level.

If you're a campaign finance lawyer or a political nerd, you'll find the same violation in the previous paragraph that the Democrats at the Lone Star Project found: Federal officeholders solicit more money — even for an unregulated state candidate — than they're allowed to collect for their own campaigns. And for members of Congress like Barton and Granger, that's $2,300 per person.

That group — which supports Democrat Chris Turner in that House race — says Zedler should cancel the event. Jeff Fisher, the former Republican Party of Texas executive director who is now running Zedler's campaign, says it was "a layout mistake" in the mailer sent to supporters. Fisher says only 51 were sent. He says Barton and Granger should've been listed as guests. Asked whether he plans another mailing correcting the first one, he sighed. "I don't think sending a correction fixes it, necessarily."

State government's top three officials say they'll work to take state police funding out of the gasoline tax account that's also used to pay for highways and other roads, that they'll create a transportation finance operation allowing state investment funds to help finance highways, and that they'll put highway bonds approved by voters into the state budget. That's all in a letter to the Transportation Commission, and it includes instructions to get ready to sell $1.5 billion in bonds also approved by voters to get some money into the highway pipeline. The signatures at the bottom of that letter belong to Gov. Rick Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and House Speaker Tom Craddick.

• A legislative proposal to limit increases in property taxes has a flaw: It's unconstitutional. Sen. Dan Patrick and Rep. Dwayne Bohac, both Houston Republicans, say the state could effectively halve annual property tax increases by simply appraising properties biennially instead of annually. The thinking? The state limits increases in taxable property value to 10 percent from one appraisal to the next. If those appraisals were done every two years instead of every year, it would take two years for a property to increase — for tax purposes — by 10 percent. Credit the catch to former state district Judge F. Scott McCown, who now heads the Center for Public Policy Priorities in Austin. The state constitution, he points out, limits the property tax increases to 10 percent "of the appraised value of the residential homestead for the preceding tax year." To change it, the Lege would have to change the constitution. That requires a two-thirds vote in each House, and there weren't enough votes in 2007 to make a similar change by amending the constitution to limit increases to something less than 10 percent.

• Texas Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams is going to the other political party's convention. Williams, a Republican, will be in Denver to talk about energy issues, among other things.

As their State Senator, I have watched the Harrold ISD school board, administrators, faculty, and staff come together to improve the school for the benefit of the students. The actions they have taken have always been with the best interests of the students in mind. I have no doubt that their recent decision to allow qualified, licensed teachers to carry concealed handguns in the classroom comes from that same commitment to the best interests of the students and community they serve. Personally, I applaud the Harrold ISD School Board and the superintendent for their focus on school security and visionary approach toward student safety, and I believe other school districts should carefully review and consider this option. That is not to say every school district should allow their teachers to carry guns, but that each school district should make the decision they believe is in the best interests of their students, parents, staff, and community. State law grants our school districts the option to allow teachers and other school personnel to carry concealed firearms on school grounds, and I will oppose any attempt to take away these rights from our locally elected school boards. The state can set accountability standards, teacher requirements, even a school start date, but lawmakers in Austin cannot honestly guarantee the safety of the children in our public schools. Posting a ''gun free zone'' sign at the door does not stop a madman, and we should not be so naïve to believe that a law can keep a school gun free when criminals do not follow the law. I am not surprised, but no less disappointed, that the editorial boards have begun to gang up on Harrold ISD. I imagine it is easy for the editorial writers to question and even laugh at the decision of a small, isolated school district. But if a tragedy strikes this community like we have seen in too many other parts of the nation, the editorial writers will not be the ones looking into the eyes of a parent and trying to explain why they didn't do everything possible to protect these students and staff. The security of the students is the primary concern, but this is not just about security for the students, but security for teachers and staff who often come to work early and stay late. While intended to keep guns out of schools, the gun free zone also creates unarmed victims for those not deterred by a sign. My good friend Suzanna Hupp, a former legislator and survivor of the 1991 mass murder in Killeen, Texas, reminds us that a gun doesn't guarantee safety against evil, but it sure changes the odds. Harrold ISD school board members and administrators are responsible for the health and welfare of the students in their charge. That is a duty delegated by the state and a responsibility demanded by the parents. I trust that the leadership at Harrold ISD has made the right decision in their best interests, and I trust that if the parents and community agree with the editorial boards then Harrold ISD will be the first to know. Sen. Craig Estes, R-Wichita Falls, has represented SD-30 since 2001.

---

Texas Weekly's Soapbox is a venue for opinions, spins, alternate takes, and other interesting stuff sent in by readers and others. We moderate submissions to keep crazy people out, and anonymous commentary is ineligible. Readers can respond (through the moderator) to things posted here. Got something to submit? We're interested in everything from full-blown opinion pieces to short bits to observations or tidbits that have escaped us and the mass media. One rule: Your name goes on your words. Call or send an email: Ross Ramsey, Editor, Texas Weekly, 512/288-6598, ramsey@texasweekly.com.

Texas state police Major Stan Clark of Garland will take over as interim head of the Department of Public Safety. He'll hold the post while the board decides on a permanent replacement for Col. Tommy Davis, who resigned.

Mark Miner, formerly the press guy for Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, is moving from his present gig in the private sector to be communications director for Gov. Rick Perry, starting Monday. Allison Castle will be press secretary (she's been in the press office there for some time). That takes care of both of Robert Black's titles; he's leaving Perry's shop for the private sector. One more: Krista Piferrer is leaving to handle media for Baptist Child & Family Services in San Antonio. Katherine Cessinger returns as deputy press secretary in her place.

Wallace Jefferson, chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court, is on track to become president of the Conference of Chief Justices, which represents top judges in the top courts all over the country. He's first vice president this year and slated to be president-elect and then president after that.

In the works: John Sneed, who worked for Dewhurst at both the General Land Office and through his time (so far) as Lite Guv, will be leaving soon to take over at the State Preservation Board. Gaye Polan is retiring from that post. Sneed is Dewhurst's director of intergovernmental relations.

Phil Fountain, late of Rep. Dianne White Delisi's staff (because she resigned early), is joining the Senate Health and Human Services Committee as a policy analyst to Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Lewisville. But that new gig will wait until later this year. He's in the Texas Air National Guard and is up for a brief deployment to Iraq starting next month.

Name-calling: It's now called the Anita Thigpen Perry School of Nursing at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, after the First Lady. She took some classes at Tech, but got her undergrad degree at what was then West Texas State University and her nursing degree at UT Health Science Center in San Antonio.

Perry appointed James Matz of Harlingen and Bob McCan of Victoria to the Coastal Coordination Council. Matz, a property manager, is a former county commissioner and mayor. McCan is general manager of McFaddin Enterprises.

House Speaker Tom Craddick named Sarana Savage of Midland to the Health Disparities Task Force, replacing Dr. Hilton Perez, who quit. Savage is a former teacher and state health worker; she's now president of the Midland Community Healthcare Services board.