Filing news: SD7 and more

A gentleman named Michael Kubosh has filed to run as a Democrat in the open Senate District 7. Don't know much about him right now (I understand that a campaign website is forthcoming), but I hope to hear where he stands on the Grand Parkway extension soon so that Anne will have someone to vote for after Dan "Let me study that and get back to you" Patrick gets the GOP nomination.

Mary Beth Harrell made her official filing for CD31 today and kept up her promise to stay in touch with the netroots by writing about it at Texas Tuesdays and Daily Kos. I'll say it again - if you haven't met MB Harrell, you need to.

Over in CD28, Victor Morales says he's in for the now-again three-way Democratic primary.

"What is the problem of giving the people of District 28 another choice?” the Pleasanton native asked during a swing through San Antonio. "Let the people make their choice and if it's not meant to be, I can live with it.”

The two primary combatants in the race – Rep. Henry Cuellar and Ciro Rodriguez – have been politicking for the position since Cuellar won the seat in a disputed 2004 election.

And both should have significant fundraising advantages over Morales, who plans to commute from his North Texas home during the primary campaign. There is no residency requirement for congressional candidates.

After two failed bids for Senate and one unsuccessful try at a Dallas-area House seat, Morales, 56, said he's ready for the inevitable questions that he's merely a carpetbagger who is consumed with political office.

But he says he has strong ties in the 11-county congressional district. His 82-year-old mother still lives in Pleasanton and he has a sister in Poteet.

The clincher, he said, came when his wife came to him a couple of months ago proposing to move to South Texas now that their children are all out of high school.

"I didn't know that my wife wanted to move,” said Morales, explaining why he didn't get into the race sooner.

Whatever. The Jeffersonian catches the story and notes that he was the first to have it. The Red State adds on.

Via Texas Tuesdays, we have another State Rep contender, longtime teacher Sharon Cade Davis in HD08. Says she:

"I am dedicated to cutting property taxes while establishing an equitable system of funding that adequately supports quality public education for all Texas children. I also support guaranteeing access to quality healthcare, promoting economic development, providing sufficient resources to maintain our infrastructure and protecting public safety."

"I believe in the American Dream; that our generation should live a better and richer life than that of our parents and that our children should live a better and richer life than we have. In the past few months, I have talked with many Texans who are concerned that our children might not realize that dream. Public education in Texas is under funded and lags behind most other states. Working families are struggling to meet rising health care costs. Our jobs are being outsourced and off-shored. It is time for new leadership."

HD08, currently held by Republican Byron Cook, is roughly a 65-35 district, so this is a challenge. As Cook ran unopposed in 2004, though, it's especially good to see the message being taken to places where it hasn't been heard all that much lately.

Along those lines, read Greg and Eye on Williamson. I like the way Greg says it: "I'm not looking for the next Ellen Cohen, I'm looking for the next Andrew Tran." Read his post and you'll understand.

Stace has some updates on HD127's Diane Trautman. And what would a roundup like this be without a link to the Larry Stallings blog? Go ahead, you know you want to click on it.

Finally, via the Quorum Report and the Donna Howard campaign, an interesting revelation about one of the candidates in the HD48 race.

In an email now available on the Senate Indian Affairs Committee website, it appears that political consultant Ralph Reed developed a campaign plan for Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff to impact 2002 Texas legislative elections. Their goal was to ensure that the Tigua Indian casino was closed and remained so.

In his email, Reed actually recommends spending $90,000 per Senate district and $55,000 per House district in addition to several million for a statewide effort to help Rick Perry.

In a track apparently separate from Texans for a Republican Majority and the Texas Association of Business, Reed developed a campaign plan to try and help defeat Democratic Senators Gonzalo Barrientos, David Cain and John Whitmire. Similarly, he developed a plan to beat Democratic House candidates Bob Glaze, Debra Danburg, Jaimie Capelo and Ann Kitchen while helping House Republicans Sid Miller, Rick Hardcastle and Wayne Christian.

The overall budget for the entire campaign including statewide television, radio and direct mail to help Governor Perry totaled $3 million.

It is unclear whether the effort was ever funded.

However, on July 24, Reed sent Abramoff another email declaring "total victory". Abramoff brushed off Reed however, writing to his office staff, "forget about Ralph" and urging them to contact another lobby firm and crow about the victory.

Was there a pot anywhere in America in 2002 that didn't contain these guys' fingers? Read more here.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on December 19, 2005 to Election 2006 | TrackBack