Nearly three months after the election, Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal has finally issued a report which clears Texans for True Mobility of lawbreaking during the runup to the rail referendum.
Texans for True Mobility violated no state campaign laws when it concealed the identity of contributors who underwrote advertisements bashing Metro's transit expansion plan before the Nov. 4 referendum, Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal said Friday.However, with a civil court lawsuit and a complaint to the Texas Ethics Commission pending against the group, it was unclear whether Rosenthal's finding clears the way for other groups to enter the political arena with unidentified sources of money.
Voters narrowly approved the Metropolitan Transit Authority's $7.5 billion regional transportation plan. Its centerpiece calls for constructing 73 more miles of rail by 2025 and issuing $640 million in bonds to help fund the next 22 miles.
Texans for True Mobility's nonprofit corporation ran advertisements saying the plan "costs too much, does too little." The group is believed to have spent about $1.5 million.
Rosenthal said his Government Affairs Bureau's investigation, prompted by a Houston Chronicle complaint, found that the campaign involved educating the public rather than calling specifically for a "no" vote on the referendum.
Only if the corporation had specifically taken a position on the referendum would Texans for True Mobility be subject to the Texas election code requiring political groups to disclose their contributors, Rosenthal said.
The district attorney, a Republican, said the investigation was not affected by the fact that he got political contributions from Texans for True Mobility members for his election campaign in 2000 and his re-election campaign this year.
You all know my position on this. I completely fail to understand how TTM was not advocating defeat of the referendum. Maybe there is no way to "educate" without "advocating", I don't know. If so, it seems to me that what we need is consistency in the law, and to me that means full disclosure of donors. I'd be willing to compromise and allow anonymity up to a certain level of donation, say $200 or $500. Anyone who gives five figures to something like this, though, should not be allowed to hide about it. Not that I'll be holding my breath in anticipation of new laws, mind you.
Ah, show business. So glamorous. Here's what my MTV Rock and Jock Super Bowl experience was like.
The MOB arrived at the site at 9 AM. The flag football field, which was 50 yards in length though it was striped as though it was a regulation gridiron (every 10-yard line actually represented five yards), is on Kirby between the front entrance to Reliant Stadium and the Texans' practice dome. We were split into two groups, one each to serve as pep band for each respective team (the "Rock Stars" and the "Beat Downs"). After playing a few tunes as warmups, we were herded onto the field to rehearse the halftime and pregame activities.
Pregame stuff first. We were told by the MTV people that the watchwords of the day were "enthusiasm" and "charisma". Basically, they wanted us to cheer wildly, act like we were having fun, and generally not look like a deer in the headlights when the cameras panned us. We lined up on two corners of the field for the introductions of the teams' coaches (The Rock and Warren Sapp) and ran through that a couple of times, with stunt celebrities taking the place of the real deal. They then ran through the opening "run-off", a standin for an opening kickoff in which the two team captains (Nelly and Nick Lachey) would line up on the 20 and run the 50, where the first one to touch a football there would get the first possession for his team. They did several variations on this - both on the same side of the field, each on opposite sides, one or two footballs, first to "touch" versus first to "possess" - with the stunt celebs, then finally settled on one for the game.
The MOB is well-known as a halftime performer, but we were not there to play our instruments on the field. We were there, in full uniforms and carrying our instruments, to serve as backdrop dancers for Chingy and his rendition of his rap hit, Holidae In. They also had the Houston Texans cheerleaders for that purpose, which makes one wonder why they bothered with us, since we weren't really adding a whole lot from an aesthetic perspective. Whatever. For this rehearsal, we had the actual Chingy sing his song while we worked out a little basic choreography for ourselves so we wouldn't look completely random.
After that, at around 11:30, it was time to break for lunch. For the crew, anyway. The MOB's pizza lunch hadn't arrived yet. On Thursday, when the MOB (not including me) was there for more pre-celebrity rehearsals, the pizza arrived promptly and everyone ate at about the same time. After an hour had passed and several increasingly annoyed conversations with the MTV people had been made, we got an apology and a promise that the pizza was unavoidably delayed but would be there Real Soon Now. It finally arrived at about 12:50, by which time most of the people who had lined up to see the Chingy performance and flag football game had arrived and filled into the stands. Some of them weren't too happy about not getting any of that pizza, but we were too hungry to pay any attention to them.
The crowd that filed in to watch was interesting. Many of them chose style over warmth for their clothing. This was a bad choice in my unfashionable opinion, as Friday was cold, overcast, and windy. After four hours outside in that in our band uniforms, we MOB folks were amazed at how many spectators showed up barelegged and/or without outerwear, though not quite as amazed at the half dozen or so men who had been paid or volunteered to play the part of the shirtless fans with various things painted on their chests.
Filling the seats and passing out souvenir foam fingers in the respective teams' colors (silver and yellow) took over an hour. The "stadium" announcer kept reassuring people that we were almost ready. Crowd wranglers did their thing to get everyone pumped up (handing out freebies like T shirts and coozies almost always works) , while mascots from various NFL teams pitched in. I don't know how many Segways have been sold to the general public, but the sports team mascot market is fairly well saturated - there were three Segways among the ten or so mascots.
Since this was going to be a taped event, when we finally got started we did the halftime performance first. By this time, the Texans cheerleaders had changed into their costumes for the day, which included midriff shirts, Daisy Duke shorts, cowboy boots, and belt buckles that said either "Rock" or "Jock". We all felt a little guilty complaining about the cold when we saw what they were wearing, but hey, such is show biz. They lined us all up around the stage, then brought a big chunk of the crowd out as well. Why they spent so much time getting them into the stands only to move that many of them back out still mystifies me. We ran through Chingy's song twice to ensure we got good video. In case you happen to be watching, I'm stage right next to a guy holding a plastic Nimbus 2000 - I didn't ask, but if it was the naughty vibrating version, it didn't appear to have any batteries in it; the guy next to me used it like an air guitar.
They cleared out the spectators and removed the stage, then did the coaches' entrances. The Rock came in via a Hummer, while Warren Sapp rode a motorcycle. They did some faux posturing midfield, then did the "run-off" for first possession. All of the rehearsing done that morning didn't make it go smoothly. First, the "refs" awarded the runoff to Nick Lachey even though it looked clear to everyone else that Nelly had won. Then they changed their minds and gave it to Nelly, then they finally decided it was a tie and did it over. After the second try, they decided the rules were that the first person to "possess" the ball, not just touch it, was the winner, so they had to do it again. Lachey finally won fair and square.
Each team featured three NFL players and five celebrities. Dan Marino and Warren Moon were the quarterbacks. Marino had Tony Gonzalez and Deion Sanders on his team, while Moon had Dante Hall and Shannon Sharpe. Besides Lachey and Nelly, the only recognizable celebrities to me were Tara Reid, Nicole Ritchie, and Matthew Lillard, the guy who played Shaggy in the "Scooby Doo" movie. Chingy showed his versatility by also playing in the game.
The game itself was no great shakes. Each team got four possessions per half. They started on their own 20 and had four downs to score. The play itself was reasonably fun to watch - imagine if there'd been a flag football event in the Battle of the Network Stars and you've got the right idea. Unfortunately, they took forever between each pair of possessions, and midway through the first half, the audience started slowly trickling out. By the time they started the second half, after a break for a rib-eating contest and a mechanical bull-riding contest to add points to each teams' totals, they had to condense the crowd in the stands so it wouldn't look like a December matchup between the Arizona Cardinals and the pre-2003 Cincinnati Bengals. In the end, there was a one-on-one between the team captains for an additional 50 points, which essentially allowed the whole game to be mooted. I won't reveal who won in case you care to watch, not that you're likely to get caught up in the tension.
We finally got out of there at 5, and had to wait about 20 minutes for our buses to arrive. After eight hours of mostly standing in the cold - if your only sitting option was a metal bench, you'd have mostly stood, too - we were pretty bedraggled. I'm glad I didn't bother to take Thursday off to be there for the earlier rehearsal, but I'm glad I attended. If there is a shot of me shaking my booty (such as it is) that makes it in the final cut, I'll save it from TiVo to videotape so I'll have future blackmail material for when my daughter starts dating. There's always a silver lining, you know.
UPDATE: I still haven't watched the show on my TiVo yet, but will soon. At the Rice-San Jose State basketball game this afternoon, our director said that the MTV crew was very complimentary towards us, as we maintained that good level of "enthusiasm" and "charisma" throughout the day. This was especially appreciated because the crowd, whether because of the cold or the slow pace of the action, was rather lame.
During the game, our drum minor (who was conducting the half-band I was in) got excited over Chingy's uniform number, which was 314. "His uniform number is pi!", our DM exclaimed. I almost didn't have the heart to point out to him that 314 is the area code for Saint Louis, which I'm told is Chingy's hometown.
UPDATE: OK, I've watched my recording now. First, that wasn't Chingy wearing uniform #314, it was someone named Murphy Lee, also known as the "Skoolboy". He's also apparently from St. Louis - in any event, he was wearing a Cardinals hat.
There were two clear shots of MOBsters dancing during the Chingy performance, and amazingly enough, I'm visible in one of them. If I can figure out a way of downloading an image of that off the TiVo, I'll post it. I believe this counts against my Fifteen Minutes Of Fame Clock.
You have to hand it to the Chron, they take their job as Houston boosters seriously. What else can you think about their overview of Houston strip clubs for visitors, complete with capsulized reviews of seven specific clubs? I suppose one could quibble a bit, since after all this feature would have been more useful to visitors earlier in the week than on the day before the Super Bowl itself, but what the heck. And of course, it's really strange to see everything you need to know about these clubs displayed on Page One of the Lifestyle section when their paid ads are restricted by Chron policy to the bowels of the Classified section (they used to appear in the sports section, but were banished from there some 10 years ago). But who cares? The Super Bowl is in town! It's party time! Expense-account lap dances for everyone!
Anyway. If I thought the State of the Union Drinking Game was going to draw angry letters to the editor, I ain't seen nothing yet. I'll keep an eye open for you.
Last year, it was Texas v. New Mexico in a border dispute smackdown. Now it's a trademark tussle with Wyoming.
The silhouette of a bucking horse with lowered head, kicking rear legs and a hat-waving cowboy aboard is everywhere in Wyoming: the license plate, University of Wyoming gear, the carpet in the governor's office.But if you're not authorized to display the bucking horse, beware.
Secretary of State Joe Meyer and Gov. Dave Freudenthal have asked the Legislature to front $1 million to wage a legal battle with the Texas Stampede, a Dallas organization that holds an annual rodeo for children's medical charities, if it does not stop using the logo. Lawmakers will consider the proposal when they meet next month.
"It represents Wyoming," summed up Meyer, a former attorney general and University of Wyoming roommate with Vice President Dick Cheney.
"There is such a pride of ownership in all the citizens of this state. UW has used it forever. Certainly our troops over in Iraq have it on their uniforms. It's simply us."
The Texas Stampede filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office a few months ago for ownership of the logo. Wyoming opposed the filing and the Texas Stampede, which was established in 2001, responded by saying Wyoming had abandoned the mark.
The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board is not expected to rule on the matter for another six months. Wyoming could take the matter to federal court if it disagrees with the ruling or before then, in which case the board would likely defer to the judge in the case.
The Texas Stampede and Wyoming logos are virtually identical. The only difference is the Texas Stampede logo faces left and the Wyoming logo right, and the Texas Stampede cowboy wears chaps.
A Texas Stampede spokeswoman declined to comment.
Someone get Jerry Patterson on the line and see if he wants to make the same settlement offer to Gov. Freudenthal as he did last year with New Mexico. That seems to be the best way to utilize his talents.
I'm about to take off to perform with the Rice MOB in some kind of Super Bowl-related thing that involves MTV and a rapper named "Chingy". No, I have no idea who that is - I mean, c'mon, I'm a 38-year-old guy who listens to Classic Rock. Anyway, I presume that what we'll be doing will find its way onto television this weekend. I'll report on that later tonight after we're done. Let's hope it doesn't rain like it did yesterday.
UPDATE: The event is called the "Rock and Jock Super Bowl" and will be televised on MTV tomorrow (Saturday) at 2 PM Eastern time. We were there all freaking day and I'm really tired. More on this tomorrow.
Another one for the I-never-would-have-guessed files: Kids in the suburbs drink and screw as much as kids in the evil cities.
Two-thirds of suburban and urban 12th-graders have had sex; 43 percent of suburban 12th-graders and 39 percent of urban 12th-graders have had sex outside of a “romantic relationship.”74 percent of suburban 12th-graders and 71 percent of urban 12th-graders have tried alcohol more than two or three times.
22 percent of suburban 12th-graders and 16 percent of urban 12th-graders say they have driven while drunk.
More than 40 percent of 12th-graders in urban and suburban schools have used illegal drugs.
20 percent of urban 12th-grade girls have been pregnant; 14 percent of suburban 12th-grade girls have.
Hey, it must be bad if I had to reach for Rush lyrics for the title of this post. Jim D. calls this the "Plano-ization of America".
The study itself is here. Honestly, I don't think it's exactly groundbreaking stuff, but a little quantification never hurts.
Very nice article on Wayne Graham, coach of your 2003 National Champion Rice Owls baseball team. The season kicks off on February 10, and it's going to be different this year as The Defending Champions instead of some Cinderella story. I can't wait.
Hey, guess what? That godawful Medicare bill is gonna cost more than the President promised it would, and in doing so will push the deficit to over half a trillion dollars.
The White House will estimate the cost of creating prescription drug benefits and revamping the mammoth health-care program for the elderly and disabled at $534 billion for the decade that ends in 2013, the officials said. The number will be in the 2005 budget Bush proposes Monday.While muscling the Medicare package through Congress in November, Bush and Republican leaders won pivotal votes by reassuring conservatives that the cost over that period would track the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office's estimate of $395 billion. The measure passed both chambers narrowly, giving the president one of his top legislative triumphs since taking office.
The new figures represent the first time the White House has released its projections of the bill's costs.
Looks like there's some conservative buyers' remorse, too.
"No one vote has caused me more angst in my short political career,'' said Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas. "I hope this will embolden conservatives and others'' to control spending.Hensarling was among several conservatives who voted for the measure after being told by Bush, House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., and others that the costs should fall within the Congressional Budget Office estimate.
Rep. John Shadegg, R-Ariz., a conservative who voted against the bill, said he never believed the $395 billion cost estimate because such long-term forecasts are "meaningless.''
Poor Jeb Hensarling. I'll bet the bruises on his neck from the hammerlock that Tom DeLay had on him still haven't healed. For those keeping score at home, this is what they mean when they talk about "lying down with dogs and getting up with fleas".
[C]ongressional officials said Bush's budget will project a federal deficit this year of about $520 billion. That would easily exceed the $375 billion total for 2003, a record in dollar terms.
Anyone remember when Republicans could claim to be the party of fiscal responsibility? Boy, those were the days.
When I first read that Kinky Friedman was thinking about running for Governor as an independent in 2006, I thought he was kidding, even though he insisted otherwise. Well, he's still talking about it, and I have to say, he sounds more and more like a plausible candidate to me.
However ambiguous his public monologue is, a recent conversation at his modest home in Bandera revealed that Kinky had been mulling over the idea of a political career for some time."The answer to that question is [political commentator] Molly Ivins' answer, 'Why the hell not?' I ran into her at the Texas Book Festival in November and told her I was running. She said, 'Why are you running?' And I said, 'Why the hell not?' She said, 'That's beautiful, that's your campaign slogan.'"
A near-death experience several years ago also prompted him to rethink his life. "I was caught on this cliffside in Cabo San Lucas one night. I spent the whole night there and I didn't know if I'd survive or not," he says in a serious tone. "I was thinking about what I'd do if I lived. So, this race is not really against Rick Perry. It's against the system and the stagnant status quo and all the politicians who've been there so long they forgot why they're there. It was during that time I decided - I didn't decide specifically to run for governor - but I decided that there might be something more to my life than what I was doing. And later I realized that we have a very colorful state, we should have a very colorful governor."
Friedman has one run for public office in his past. If he gets back in the saddle, partial credit - or blame, depending on your perspective - goes to Howard Dean for the inspiration.
In 1986, he ran for elected office for the first time, when he campaigned for Justice of the Peace in Kerrville. He lost. "I don't know why I lost that election, but my fellow Kerrverts returned me to the private sector. I'm not bitter about that."Although he had long thought about challenging career politicians, the 2003 political climate confirmed what Friedman had recognized for a long time: Voters are ready for change. Inspired by Howard Dean's rise from unknown doctor/governor to initial frontrunner and Arnold Schwarzenegger's dethroning of California Governor Gray Davis, Friedman feels the political arena is ready for a candidate like him.
The next gubernatorial election is in 2006, and by March of that year Friedman will need to have collected 45,000 signatures to run as an independent candidate. With the support of friends ranging from George W. Bush to Molly Ivins to Willie Nelson, he is confident he can pull it off. "Now I'm not saying that a big Pat Green concert or a Willie Nelson concert is gonna translate to votes any more than Dennis Kucinich is gonna benefit from Willie. But, I do think there's more of that happening now. I think there's a Howard Dean effect that's already taken place. It energizes the base, which is something you certainly can't say about the current situation. There's nobody out there energized, just a bunch of sheep pulling a lever on a voting machine."
Obviously, it's not unprecedented any more for an unconventional candidate like Friedman to win a statewide office. Looking at some of the things he's saying, I can see he's picked up some hints from the recent Schwarzeneggar campaign, even if he doesn't say so himself. He's got his idealistic vision, which always sounds more genuine from a non-politician, and he's very coy - a more charitable word would be "reserved" - about his views on controversial topics.
Friedman has ideas that could materialize into programs, without the consent of the Texas legislature, and he has the celebrity friends who could make his ideas possible. "I have a program, which Pat Green's mother, Nancy, has come up with, called the Texas Peace Corps, and that is not an oxymoron." Friedman's Texas Peace Corps would mobilize the Texas music community, Kinky says, making role models of popular musicians like Pat Green and Jerry Jeff Walker.Aside from building his Texas Peace Corps, Kinky says he would use his connections with friends Johnny Depp, Robert Duvall, and Billy Bob Thornton to further define Texas' role in the filmmaking industry to aid the state's economy. But outside of the arts, Kinky is reluctant to talk about the issues. "There are some subjects - like abortion, like gun control, like the death penalty - which I could give you a really articulate discussion on. I could take either side and all I'd do is lose 50 percent of the people. And furthermore, the governor has very little impact on any of these issues. What I think of Iraq is irrelevant. What Rick Perry thinks of Iraq is meaningless; he can do nothing."
Given the governor's lack of power, Friedman would focus on softer programs like the Texas Peace Corps. "There will be more ideas like that," he says, "The lieutenant governor does the heavy lifting, everybody knows that. The governor should do the spiritual lifting."
[...]
In addition to being compared to other political dilettantes, Friedman will have to prove that he can compete with Perry and other candidates. What he lacks in political experience, he compensates for in his colorful and varied life. "The human experience I've had is much broader than the other candidates, if Kay Bailey [Hutchison] runs. Her experience is very narrow, very political, and it's loaded with Washington crap. Rick Perry has Gray Davis potential, enormous Gray Davis potential."
I want a Democrat elected Governor in 2006. That said, a Friedman for Governor campaign is in no way a bad thing. I think if he really gets serious about it, he'd be a force to reckon with. And let's face it, he'd be really fun to watch. Can you imagine him in a televised debate with Rick Perry?
The special runoff election for the two vacant State Senate seats has been set for February 17. Republican candidate Kevin Eltife, who trailed Democrat Paul Sadler by about three percentage points in the open election to replace the retiring Bill Ratliff, has gotten a couple of boosts to his campaign, the biggest of which was Ratliff's endorsement, albeit a qualified one:
In District 1, Ratliff endorsed former Tyler Mayor [Kevin] Eltife this week, after praising both candidates as "intelligent, principled, and honorable." Ratliff said he was endorsing his fellow Republican as closer in "basic political ideology," although he conditioned his support on Eltife's rejection of "personal attacks" by "third party organizations." In the first round, both [Paul] Sadler, a former state representative from Henderson, and current state Rep. Tommy Merritt, R-Longview, were targeted in attack ads funded by the Texans for Lawsuit Reform and Americans for Job Security. The latter is an insurance-industry front group with ties to Austin GOP operatives and, through them, Gov. Perry. Sadler was portrayed as an unscrupulous "trial lawyer," and Merritt – who, like Ratliff, opposed the GOP leadership on congressional redistricting – was attacked for supposedly supporting tax hikes. Eltife said he had no connection to the ads and that he'd asked that the governor use his influence to have them pulled down.Ratliff said that he was as offended by the attack ads "as I was when I took on FreePAC and its unscrupulous campaign tactics a few years ago." In the 2000 legislative campaign, the hard-right FreePAC political action committee attacked moderate Republicans – including both Ratliff and Merritt – as soft on gays and abortion rights. Ratliff said he had received assurances from Eltife that he would join Ratliff in defending Sadler against any new attacks. "The choice is between two good and honorable men," said Ratliff, "both of whom would devote themselves to the citizens of Northeast Texas." The winner will serve out the remaining two years of Ratliff's term.
Interestingly, this story would seem to contradict Eltife's claim that he took action to stop the attack ads:
In the earlier race, Eltife’s staff said they knew nothing about attack ads against Sadler and state Rep. Tommy Merritt, R-Longview, until they saw them on television. They claimed no responsibility for the ads.Eltife spokesperson Chuck Anderson said that Eltife did not care for the ads but had made no attempt to get the organizations to pull them.
The groups responsbile for those ads say they have no plans to disappear.
"The Texas Senate is about this close right now, and the balance of power is at stake," Texans for Lawsuit Reform consultant Chuck McDonald said Wednesday. "And the trial lawyers think they have a good candidate."The two candidates in a Feb. 17 runoff to replace retired Sen. Bill Ratliff, R-Mount Pleasant, are Republican Kevin Eltife and Sadler, the sole Democrat in the race and overall winner with 27,300 votes to Eltife's 24,900. During the regular campaign that ended with the Jan. 20 election, Sadler came under heavy fire — there were TV and radio commercials and direct mail — from McDonald's group.
That third-party incursion, and an attack on Republican candidate Tommy Merritt by a Washington-based group that sparked a criminal complaint, led Ratliff to make one condition to his endorsement of Eltife as his successor. That condition was that Eltife denounce any third-party organizations that launch personal or unfounded attacks.
McDonald and Texans for Lawsuit Reform communications vice president Ken Hoagland said their ads were neither personal nor unfounded. The ads criticized Sadler's voting record while in the House from 1991 to 2003, the two told the Longview News-Journal editorial board.
"We respect Bill Ratliff, and we're going to really try to honor what he said," Hoagland said. "We're going to have more stuff in this campaign."
McDonald added, "I guess the only answer is it's our intention to remain active in this campaign in the interest of our local and statewide supporters who care about some of the issues at stake. We're a statewide organization, and we have support in every county that's in the district. And we do have a responsibility to our membership."
Getting back to the Ratliff endorsement, Sadler says he was surprised that Ratliff endorsed anyone.
Sadler worked with Ratliff on major education reform when the two lawmakers chaired education committees — Ratliff in the Texas Senate and Sadler in the Texas House of Representatives.“I was surprised because Sen. Ratliff had told people he would not endorse a candidate,” Sadler said, “and I was surprised a week or so ago when Sen. Ratliff told me he was going to be a lobbyist.”
“Those are the two biggest surprises I have ever had,” the Democrat said.
Sadler said he appreciated Ratliff’s comments about his qualifications as well as those about third party negative campaigning.
“But I wonder where he (Ratliff) was three weeks ago when the attack ads about me came out,” Sadler said. “I had asked Kevin Eltife then to disclaim them, but he would not, and I think it is a little opportunistic to do so now.”
Eltife also picked up the endorsement of third-place finisher Tommy Merritt.
Merritt's endorsement was far more succinct than Ratliff's and did not mention Sadler."I think that's not really relevant," Merritt said of the attack ads. His campaign had earlier suggested Eltife and Gov. Rick Perry, who endorsed Eltife, "knew where the ads were coming from" - a reference to Americans for Job Security, a group that attacked Merritt in radio ads.
"I'm working and will continue to work to elect Kevin Eltife to the Senate," Merritt said Wednesday. "I have no comment about any other person, what they may say or think."
In a letter to Eltife, Merritt wrote that he was "proud" to endorse his former opponent and praised him for "great leadership" as Tyler mayor. Merritt is running in the March primary to retain his seat in House District 7, which includes Gregg County and part of Smith County.
As these stories also indicate, there's a lot of money pouring into this race, so it will be very visible.
I'll close by noting that Texas Democratic Party chair Charles Soechting has charged Governor Perry with favoring Eltife in the first election. Soechting wrote the following in an open letter to Perry:
There is compelling evidence that your favored candidate in the first round of voting was aware well in advance of other candidates and the general public that you had decided on January 20 as the date. Direct mail on behalf of your candidate began arriving in voters' mailboxes fewer than 48 hours after your public announcement. This was an impossibly short time to have designed, printed, and mailed the pieces under the schedule that pertained to all other candidates -- including those from your own party such as Tommy Merritt and Jerry Yost.
Stay tuned for more.
The Texas Lottery Commission is planning to roll out self service lottery machines. Let me say that again, because I'm still not quite sure I believe what I've just written. The Texas Lottery Commission is planning to roll out SELF SERVICE LOTTERY MACHINES.
AUSTIN - Texas lottery officials plan to install about 1,000 self-serve units at retail outlets across the state to dispense tickets for games like Lotto Texas, Mega Millions and Cash Five.The ATM-like machines will also be able to scan tickets from previous drawings and tell players whether they have won money.
"We think the players will like them," lottery spokesman Bobby Heith told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. "You can purchase your tickets and check to see if you have a winner without taking up the retailer's time."
In an open letter to players on the lottery's Web site, Reagan Greer, the Texas Lottery Commission's executive director, said the self-service terminals should be up and running by August.
The terminals will be similar to the instant ticket, or scratch-off game vending machines in use at some lottery retail locations.
"Players will have the option of using a play slip or a touch screen to quickly and easily choose specific games, pick the numbers they want or play Quick Picks," Greer said in his letter. "Customers will be able to use cash bills to purchase tickets for the exact amount."
The machines will sell tickets for all the lottery's online games -- those where players can choose their own numbers.
Well, hell. Why stop with retail outlets? Put them in every airport terminal in the state, so that we can shake down tourists and business travellers one last time. There's a reason they have slot machines at the Las Vegas airport, you know.
Good news - telemarketers can no longer obscure their identities via blocking Caller ID.
Telemarketing firms must begin complying with new federal rules that require them to display their name and a phone number where they can be reached.The Federal Trade Commission regulations were set up as part of the national do-not-call registry, which prohibits unwanted pitches from some telemarketers.
More than 56 million numbers are now on that list, which took effect in October amid protests from the industry.
Calls from telemarketers frequently show up on Caller ID as "unavailable" or "blocked call" and do not include a call-back number.
Now, every solicitation must transmit the name of the seller or company making the call, plus a number that will be answered during normal business hours so the consumer can contact the business and request not to be called again.
Telemarketers continue to fight the constitutionality of the federal no-call list in court, saying it violates free-speech rights.
But the industry backs the Caller ID rule.
"We felt it would go a long way toward helping improve trust and use of telemarketing among consumers," Louis Mastria, a spokesman for the Direct Marketing Association, told the Associated Press. "It gives consumers the trump card: If you don't want to do business with this guy, you don't have to."
Similar rules already exist in Texas, according to a spokesman for the Public Utility Commission, and subject violators to penalties of up to $1,000 per day when not compliant.
Huh. I was all set to pounce on a stupid quote by a DMA lackey about this rule stifling their free expression or something, and the guy goes and crosses me up by agreeing with it. I swear, you just can't trust these guys. Anyway, cheers all around for this small step forward.
Pete suggests a few targets for the Bush Administration whose eradication would make us all better off. I for one can't find anything to argue with. Check it out.
You can add this to the total cost of reredistricting in 2003: Lawyer Andy Taylor will bill the state for over $700,000 of legal work.
Andy Taylor, a Houston-based attorney, has charged $400 per hour of his time, $200 per hour for work by another lawyer and assorted expenses for travel and payment to expert witnesses, according to state documents examined Wednesday by The Associated Press.A total of $444,437 in bills from Taylor's law firm have been paid by the state, according to Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott's office.
Some $290,960 of the bill is expected to be paid in early February. It was charged for work in December, when Taylor defended the state at trial in a lawsuit alleging the redistricting plan violates minority voting rights.
[...]
Abbott, through his spokeswoman, said it was the right decision to hire a private lawyer to represent the state.
"Redistricting is one of the most complex areas of the law. The Attorney General's Office felt it was prudent to have the most experienced Texas lawyer on redistricting to lead a team of state legal experts, in order to defend the state of Texas," said spokeswoman Angela Hale.
[...]
Among the details outlined in Taylor's bills is time spent in court, on legal research, in telephone conferences and attending depositions for witnesses such as U.S. Rep. Martin Frost, D-Arlington and state Rep. Ron Wilson, D-Houston.
Some bills are for expert witnesses or court reporters, although the vast majority are for attorneys' fees. Billing records show 18 or 19 hours worked by Taylor per day during the December trial.
Taylor said he expects state-employed attorneys to work on the appeal. "I don't envision any more costs at this point for my firm," he said.
Frankly, I think he ought to get paid out of one of Tom DeLay's slush funds - it shouldn't take more than one of his corporate shakedowns to raise that kind of cash. For those keeping score at home, by the way, Taylor's bill would pay for 294 Teacher Excellence Incentive awards, with a few bucks left over for certificates.
Nice to see that former Rockets head coach Rudy Tomjanovich is doing well after retiring from coaching due to health problems. Among other things, he's attending basketball games as a fan and a scout.
"Everybody likes to have some kind of purpose. When I was a coach, I loved this kind of stuff. I never got a chance. Even when I was scouting for (former Rockets coach) Bill Fitch, once in a while during the Tournament, I would go and watch games, but I never got a chance to do it like this. Now I have a history on players. I never had that luxury to have the time to see how guys have developed. This is fun."I've been doing 90 percent college. I did my first NBA game since I've been out. The people in the NBA arenas recognize coaches. The people around the arena were completely different. I loved going in (to college arenas) and nobody knew me, maybe one or two fans say, `Aren't you a coach?'
"In the NBA arena, it was different. The officials checked in and saw me, Bennett Salvatore, Blane Reichelt and Marc Davis. And they were really good. (Mike) Dunleavy threw a balled up piece of paper at me. Glen Rice gave me a thumbs up. It was good.
"I just love basketball. There's so many jobs around sports, around basketball. There's so many people working in the arena, the stat people, the announcer. It's a good job being around sports. The worst job of all is being head coach. Everybody else can go home after a game. There's disappointment, yeah. But the head coach is spending the hours in agony, feeling the responsibility of turning the thing around.
Speaking as a partisan Rice Owls fan, I'd love to see Rudy T make an appearance or two at Autry Court. He wouldn't get to be anonymous, but I think that'd be OK with him.
The Mandatory Punditry Act of 2003 states that I must offer my opinion on the New Hampshire Primary within 48 hours of its conclusion, so I may as well get it over with. First, congratulation to John Kerry for another win that I never expected him to get. Whether it was buyer's remorse or some kind of electability karma, he shot past Dean and won convincingly.
I have no idea how the horse race will play out from here. Atrios, Kos, and The Poor Man, to name three, have some thoughts that are worth checking out. What I want to do is try to figure out if Kerry-the-favorite is a development that I like or not.
I've never quite been able to get enthusiastic about Kerry as a candidate. Don't get me wrong, I'll do my share to help him if he carries the flag for the Democrats, but I've had reservations about him since day one. As I said after Iowa, Kerry has all of Dean's cultural negatives (save for his veteran-ness, which I'll return to shortly) without being the kind of candidate that gets people (me, anyway) excited. Further, up until his shocker in Iowa, he didn't exactly run the kind of campaign that gave me confidence in his ability to withstand the usual Wurlitzer attacks. Already, I can hear the nattering nabobs salivating at the prospect of beating us all senseless with ruminations on Kerry's hair and Jewish roots, and it's making me want to make an illegal left turn in front of a light rail car.
On the other hand, Kerry seems to have mostly recovered and gotten stronger from his early stumbles, and has hit a groove. Being a veteran may well get him more support from independents and red staters than his "rich New England elite" status would suggest, though it's surely not a Get Out Of Attacks On One's Patriotism Free card. And there is that poll which shows Kerry slightly ahead of Bush nationally. All in all, not too shabby.
Though I doubt it will make any difference, I'm still not sure if I want to push the button for Kerry on March 9. If all things were equal, he'd be my fourth-favorite candidate (with a three-way tie for first among Dean, Clark, and Edwards). But all things don't appear equal right now, and I need to figure out how much weight that gives him. I like that the spirited primary race is giving the Dems some much-needed media exposure, but I don't like it so much that I want to see the nomination be decided at the convention. I'll vote for my own Miss Congeniality if it helps to avoid that.
I can't help myself. I'm caught up in Local Family Hosts Jimmy Kimmel Mania!
The satellite feed was fuzzy in Los Angeles when Jimmy Kimmel announced the Houston-area family he would be staying with during Super Bowl week, so the talk show host couldn't make out the winners."Don't be alarmed," Loretta Moutra quipped during Monday night's telecast. "We're Negroes."
It is that kind of spontaneous humor that endeared the Moutras of Missouri City to producers for Jimmy Kimmel Live. They selected the family over 4,000 Houston-area applicants to house Kimmel as a overnight guest and serve as the Friday venue for his edgy late-night talk show.
I gotta admit, it's hard not to like someone who'd introduce her family on national television in that fashion. I'm not quite at the point of contemplating the possibility of programming my TiVo to pick up a couple of those Kimmel-in-Houston shows, mostly because I shudder to think what sort of programs the TiVo would start to record on its own as a result ("My TiVo thinks I'm a light-beer-swilling lout!"), but I'm thinking about contemplating it.
Boy, if this is any indication, the special session on Robin Hood reform that Governor Perry has promised to call is going to be a big frigging catastrophe. There's almost too much here to chew on.
Gov. Rick Perry on Tuesday proposed establishing a $200 million fund to reward teaching excellence, but a requirement that local districts match the bonuses was greeted with laughter by school superintendents.The Texas Excellence Incentive would provide up to $2,500 in matching funds per qualifying teacher in conjunction with a school district-initiated teaching excellence program. Effective teachers could receive an additional $5,000 state stipend if they teach in a struggling school.
"We should not be afraid to single out our top educational professionals for additional financial stipends out of fear of bucking the status quo," said Perry.
The laughter was an unexpected moment during Perry's speech to the Texas Association of School Administrators Mid-Winter Conference. Perry knew he faced a tough audience in TASA, which long has called for the state to spend more on per-pupil funding.
Brock Gregg, director of governmental relations for the Association of Texas Professional Educators, said "the laughter in the audience was based on the fact that school districts don't have any more money to contribute to any incentive plans."
Education Commissioner Shirley Neeley said districts can find money for matching funds if they prioritize their budgets.
"We're going to stop the unfunded mandates and focus on funded incentives. Those are very sweet words for Texas public schools," said Neeley.
Where's that $200 million going to come from? Perry's "economic development" slush fund? A Special Session bake sale? We had a $10 billion shortfall, remember? How is it that all of a sudden we've got an extra $200 million lying around to be used for a reward fund? The fact that this was greeted with laughter says all you need to know.
Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn also tossed some cold water on Perry's plan, saying she feared some of his proposed incentives would create more inequity in funding among school districts. She also repeated earlier assertions that the state needs to increase overall funding for public education."I am afraid that this governor's plan leaves too many children and too many teachers behind," she told reporters. "I obviously have not met with the governor about his plan, but it appears -- and I'll certainly want to look at it in detail -- but it appears that it widens the gap, the equity gap."
Strayhorn, who has been feuding with the governor for months over budgetary issues, wouldn't say how Perry's proposal would increase inequities in the public schools. But a staffer explained later that the comptroller was concerned about the financial incentives Perry is proposing for improved student performance. She fears wealthier schools will find it easier to improve test scores and performance and thus get more state money than poorer districts will receive.
Scott McCown, a former trial judge who presided over the Edgewood school finance case which required equalized funding for all districts, agreed that the incentive plan could lead to inequities. Perry and other state leaders want to cap local property taxes and replace the "Robin Hood" school finance plan in which money from wealthy districts is shared with poorer districts.
"When you offer an incentive system in lieu of an equitable and adequate system, it's a disaster," said McCown, now executive director of the Center for Public Policy Priorities.
I think their fears are well-founded. But hey, I'm willing to be openminded. Propose a system of school funding that the less-wealthy districts are happy with, and this issue becomes a nonstarter. Easy, right?
Perry said he rejects the argument that lower wealth districts won't be able to qualify for the incentives. He pointed to Neeley's record in leading the blue-collar Galena Park district to exemplary ratings.Robert Black, a spokesman for Perry, said critics of the incentive proposals need to explain why they believe some Texas students cannot achieve a high level of excellence.
"To say that one particular group of students can't compete is truly the hard bigotry of low expectations," said Black.
Er, that's the soft bigotry of low expectations. Get your sound bites straight.
The governor also proposed paying school campuses $100 for each student who passes the Algebra I end-of-course exam, and $200 if the student is classified as at-risk.Another program would give schools $100 for each student with limited English proficiency who passes the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills, and an additional $100 for each student who scores 90 percent or higher.
On Monday he proposed rewarding school districts based on improved graduation rates, high performance on the TAKS and completion of an advanced course of study. The entire package of incentives is expected to cost $500 million.
I presume that $500 million includes the $200 million teacher-reward stuff, which brings me back to my original question: What money will be used to pay for all that? And what happens if teachers and students have a really good year? Is that $500 million the theoretical maximum payout, or is it a projected amount based on current performance?
Actually, we do have some numbers here. According to each of the downloadable PDFs, the amounts that schools would have gotten under these proposals in 2003 are:
High School Advancement Incentive = $154 million
Commended Performance Incentive = $12 million
Distinguished Achievement Program Incentive = $14 million
Algebra Incentive = $20 million
LEP Student Success Initiative = $10 million
Teacher Excellence Incentive = $200 million fund established, no 2003 projected amount specified.
The total is $410 million, so there's nearly $100 million in slack. I suppose that may mean there's room to handle a better-than-expected year. I note that nowhere is the concept of funding sources discussed. I guess Perry intends for that to be the Lege's problem.
Also Monday, a leading business group rejected a suggestion that higher taxes are needed to fund education. Bill Hammond, president of the Texas Association of Business, called for relief from class-size mandates and easing restrictions that make it difficult for districts to fire bad teachers.Perry said he doubted the Legislature would repeal the law mandating no more than 22 students per teacher in kindergarten through grade four.
Well, at least you can always count on the TAB to inject a little dose of hilarity into things. It'd be even cheaper if we relaxed standards to the point where homework written in coal on the back of a shovel was acceptable, but we may not get enough bang for our buck that way.
UPDATE: Via the YDB, I see that my concerns about funding sources are merited.
[Perry] gave no timetable for passing the reforms and declined to say how he would come up with the money for them.
At least someone asked him.
UPDATE: Greg takes his swipes, and notes that the GOP's corporate overlords will make proposing revenue enhancements, such as the "business activity tax" that former Gov. Bush left undone, dicey.
Got the following in an email tip. Looks to me like his Democratic colleagues in Washington are doing what they can to help out Rep. Chris Bell in the primary:
Texas redistricting has proven a major distraction for most incumbent Democrats, but House Democratic leaders in the past week have only added to freshman Democratic Rep. Chris Bell's legislative responsibilities.House Minority Leader Pelosi announced Monday she is recommending Bell's appointment to the Financial Services Committee. The recommendation follows an announcement last week from Minority Whip Hoyer that he had named Bell as a senior whip to his vote-counting team.
"Chris will be a strong voice on the Financial Services Committee for Texas and the nation on affordable housing and consumer issues," Pelosi said in a statement.
If approved by the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee, and the full Democratic Caucus, Bell would replace Rep. Charles Gonzalez, D-Texas, who left the committee to assume a seat on the exclusive Energy and Commerce Committee, which belonged to party-switching Rep. Ralph Hall, R-Texas.
A Bell spokesman said the appointments are recognition for Bell's party loyalty and work on issues such as the child tax credit and Medicare prescription drug law.
Thanks to JD for sending this to me.
This story about women in executive positions with NFL teams is quite interesting. I knew about the Raiders' Amy Trask - there was a Sports Illustrated profile of her awhile back in which she was described as "Al Davis in a skirt" - but I had no idea that so many franchises may someday soon be owned by women:
Charlotte Anderson, daughter of Dallas owner Jerry Jones, is a vice president/director of charities and special events for the Cowboys. She and her brothers -- executive vice president and chief operating officer Stephen Jones and vice president/general counsel Jerry Jones Jr. -- are active in the day-to-day operation of the team.Two of the other most influential women in the NFL are San Diego's Jeanne Bonk, vice president and chief financial and administrative officer, and the New York Jets' Dawn Aponte, who as manager of football administration oversees the salary cap. Both are examples of women who worked their way up the corporate ladder within one organization.
Lisa Bogdan, daughter of Bills owner Ralph Wilson and a corporate vice president involved in long-term planning for the team, has spent many of her 17 years in the organization as a scout. Personnel is her passion, and she is the only woman in the league actively involved in scouting games. She scouts college games in the East as well as bowl and all-star games and the combine at Indianapolis.
Marsha McCombs, daugher of Minnesota owner Red McCombs, doesn't have a title with the Vikings but is a familiar figure at the team's training camp and at NFL meetings. She is being groomed by her father to eventually take over the team.
Rita LeBlanc, a finance and business executive, is in her third full season with the Saints. The granddaughter of New Orleans owner Tom Benson, she also is being groomed to take over the franchise.
[Katie] Blackburn, [daughter of owner Mike Brown,] who eventually will take over the Bengals, is involved in contract negotiations, the salary cap and radio and television negotiations. She played a key role in the negotiating, planning and building of Paul Brown Stadium, which opened in 2002. She also watches film and attends the Indianapolis scouting combine.
"The fun part of the business is football, like knowing the personnel and who all the draft picks are and how they're playing," Blackburn says. "My feeling is that they tie together, especially if you're doing contracts, and you really have to know a little bit about the personnel side and be involved in order to be negotiating and understanding where they're coming from."
That's three future female owners, not counting Georgia Frontiere, Denise DeBartolo York, and the mostly-retired Virginia McCaskey. There's a separate profile of native Texan and A&M graduate Rita LeBlanc as well.
There's a lot of Super Bowl excitement south of the border as well. This bit confuses me, though:
Houston's team might not yet be an attraction in Mexico, but Sunday's game will be. Hundreds of Mexicans have purchased package deals costing as much as $8,500 for hotel rooms and tickets. Plans offering Houston hotels and nose-bleed seats in the end zone for more than $3,500 have sold out, travel agents say.
Where'd all those available tickets come from? I thought the teams and the corporate sugar daddies sucked up the vast majority of them.
Finally, the next time someone tells me that football is way cooler than baseball, I will note that the opening ceremonies to SB XXXVIII were headlined by Yanni.
"I hope (the audience) gets goose bumps," Yanni said before taking the stage. "This is emotional. This is not about logic. I'm hoping people leave inspired, feeling great about their city."The stage was set for a night at the symphony, but the banners of the Patriots and Panthers that hung between two large overhead screens definitely screamed, "Are you ready for some football?"
Yanni's backing bows and strings on Enchantment introduced video footage of Texans players working in the community and signing autographs. The melodies burbled like songbirds harmonizing before getting scared by the metallic clang of cymbals. Standing In Motion was a more progressive pop number, allowing Yanni to take center stage at his multi-keyboard control center with an assist from a salsa-inspired trumpeter.
As Yanni led his ensemble through regal arias with Houston's greatest sports legends looking on, the meshing of fluegelhorns and football suddenly wasn't as odd as one might expect.
"A Houston Salute" was a celebration of pro football and a tribute to the city's sports history. A pep rally with an all-star audience that gave locals a chance to say, "Put your smiles on. Company's coming ... but Yanni is already here."
'Nuff said.
I know this is really short notice, but Aziz and I are going to get together for lunch tomorrow at the Chipotle's on Dryden and Fannin (conveniently located at a light rail stop) in celebration of my impending fatherhood. Houston-area folks are welcome to join us - please leave a comment or drop me a note if you'll be there so we'll know to look for you. Hope to see you there!
UPDATE: Sheesh, I haven't stayed up all night with a crying baby yet and I'm already losing it. Lunch is at 11:30. Sorry about that.
From the Quorum Report:
APPEALS COURT REJECTS TAB PETITON WITHOUT OPINIONOn to the Texas Supreme Court
The 3rd Court of Appeals has just rejected an effort by the Texas Association of Business to avoid turning over documents in their civil suit filed by Buck Wood on behalf of former Democratic candidate James Sylvester.
Wood is seeking amounts and numbers of contributors to TABs campaign a year and a half ago. He is not seeking names of contributors.
Taylor said "The 3rd Court of Appeals yesterday afternoon denied TAB's writ of mandamus without opinion. This afternoon, TAB is filing a writ of mandamus with the Texas Supreme Court and requesting a stay of a lower court decision that TAB produce certain information about its public information activities prior to the November 2002 general election. This is the first time the Texas Supreme Court has been asked to rule in this matter."
A new site called Clean Up Texas Politics has an article that explains why the TAB is a perfect oh-fer in its quest so far to keep its dealings a secret.
With the installation of a fulltime blogger on the Yellow Dog Blog, the Texas Democratic Party is now focusing on its main web page. They're going to do a site redesign and are asking for contributions to help get there. I got the following email from Nathan Wilcox, who's been brought on board to build an effective online communications program, in which he specifies what they plan on doing:
* Build an attractive, professional looking and easy to use site modelled on the best state party Web Sites in the country.* Make a concerted effort to grow the TDP's email list and build an online community by adding forums, conducting surveys, and generally giving Texas Democrats a platform to talk to their party leaders and each other. We'll also require registration to use these features so more folks will sign up for the email list and we'll minimize trolls and trouble makers.
* Create a comprehensive downloadable resource kit for local activists -- everything someone needs to get involved in the poltical fray will be at their fingertips -- voter registration, primary and caucus information, contact info for local party officials, posters, talking points, etc etc.
* Set the site up with a bare bones content management system so their staff can make updates quickly and easily and won't be dependent on consultants or outside technical help.
* Initiate a much improved email program -- new enewsletter template, better email server and list management, and most importantly training on how to use email to increase site traffic, raise money and build the online community.
* Assistant Communications Director -- they've already brought on the very talented Andrew Dobbs of the Burnt Orange Report blog to help develop content, run the newly launched www.yellowdogblog.com (which we'll also revamp as part of this project), help with site updates and generally keep things buzzing. He's still in college but will be a great asset to the staff at 20hrs a week.
I look forward to seeing how it turns out. Please consider dropping them a few nickels to make it happen.
The headline in the print edition of the Chron for this story is "Golden Globes glow".
Directly underneath it is this picture:
So you tell me: What am I supposed to think?
I think the race in CD 02 will be the hottest one locally, at least after the primaries. Rep. Nick Lampson surely won't go quietly, and he did represent a fair amount of the newly-drawn district. If former judge/huckster Ted Poe survives the GOP primary, there will also likely be a certain level of lowbrow entertainment.
The Press has a piece which notes that Poe, who was nototious for injecting shame into his sentences, may have some shame in his past.
In 22 years as a Harris County district judge, Lloyd "Ted" Poe garnered gallons of ink and miles of videotape from a fawning local media with his zany so-called shame sentences for defendants in his court. They all had a common theme: In addition to jail time and fines, the convict must own up in public to his or her misdeeds. That could be by marching outside the scene of a robbery wearing placards with hand-scrawled apologies or shoveling horse manure in an HPD stable to atone for stealing the Lone Ranger's guns."That's Ted Poe's claim to fame," sneered GOP political consultant Allen Blakemore back when Poe was considering running for district attorney in 2000 against Blakemore's candidate, eventual winner Chuck Rosenthal. "He makes folks wear sandwich boards and walk around the street."
Now it seems Poe may have been inspired to create his judicial trademark at least partially from his own personal experience.
The 55-year-old former prosecutor resigned his judgeship in October to run for the freshly drawn Second Congressional District, after years of toying with campaigns for higher office and then backing off at the last minute. Rumors have long circulated among GOP politicos and courthouse veterans that something in Poe's personal background was making him gun-shy of the intense media scrutiny that inevitably accompanies a high-profile campaign.
According to sources -- two of whom say they are eyewitnesses -- the skeleton in the candidate's closet may be a dramatic apology they say he delivered in the late '80s at an evening meeting at the Kingwood Church of Christ. According to some of the congregation, Poe had been threatened with expulsion by elders after they caught him having an extramarital affair with an unmarried female church member. They demanded their own version of shame sentencing: public self-flagellation in front of congregants.
Even after the alleged apology, the situation remained a volatile issue within the church, and Poe soon departed for another Church of Christ in the Humble area, where he and his wife, Carol, reside.
Candidate Poe refused to confirm or deny the account, saying as far as he's concerned his private life is not a campaign issue.
"I've never made it a policy to talk about my personal life…I'll talk about anything about the campaign, being a judge, issues -- but I don't want to get into any personal issues."
Well, if another candidate brings it up, and frankly I'll be surprised if no one does in the primary, then you'll have to talk about it. I'd rather see personal issues kept out of campaigns, too, but it's not outrageous to say that Poe's history has made his character an issue.
If Poe makes it to the general election, I don't know if Lampson should use this issue or not. As fun as the prospect of a Democrat bashing a Republican for being immoral may be, my gut says it would backfire on him.
What I'd like to see, or at least what I'd like to see someone do some polling on, is for the utter fiscal irresponsibility of Bush and the Republicans to be stressed. I'm quite certain that the nominee in CD 02, as with all of the other Democrat-incumbent-killer districts, will run at least in part on a message of "send me to Washington so I can work really really closely with President Bush". Seems to me that a Democrat might do well to say "We've got Republicans in all three branches of government and all we have to show for it is a half-trillion dollar deficit and a plan to maybe cut that in half in five years. Maybe what we need is someone who won't just be a rubber stamp for the President - maybe what we need is someone who'll challenge him when his policies cost too much." The Stenholm message, in other words. This probably won't be enough to overcome hardcore party identity, but I think it would have an effect on people who generally vote Republican in November but not in March. In any event, I think it would be worth it to try to find out.
Anyway, Rob thinks Poe will have a fight in the primary and that whoever wins will have a tough matchup with Lampson. Greg is pessimistic about Lampson's chances, certainly more so than I am.
One more thing from the Press story:
The pulpit minister of Kingwood Church of Christ at the time was Carl Power.He disputed the accounts of Poe's making a public apology.
"I don't have any recollection of it," Power told The Insider. "I know of no such meeting with the elders, and I'm sure I would have known."
Rob also highlighted this passage, and concludes that if the "unnamed sources" are telling the truth, the minister is not. I guess it's possible the minister could have been out of the loop, but that seems unlikely. If so, then Poe has a defense if he needs it: Who are you gonna believe, the pastor or a couple of "unnamed sources"?
Jimmy Kimmel has made his choice, and he'll be broadcasting from the 'burbs.
A Missouri City family has been chosen to house television talk show host Jimmy Kimmel when he comes to Houston for a live broadcast Friday night.Johnnie and Billye Moutra and their children, Loretta, 24, and Johnnie Jr., 20, were selected from 4,000 Houston-area applicants who offered to let Kimmel stay in their home during Super Bowl week. The family got the news during a telecast of Jimmy Kimmel Live on Monday night. The program airs weeknights at 11:05 p.m. on Channel 13.
"We thought we might get 100 or 200 offers," executive director Duncan Gray said. "This is great. The people in Houston have responded to the show."
Gray said the Moutras were chosen "because their family dynamics are fun. They have a TV presence. I think you'd like to spend an hour in their company."
Kimmel will spend two nights with the Moutra family. He will leave Los Angeles late Thursday and return on Saturday.
Well, they did say that proximity to Reliant Stadium was a secondary consideration. Hope the traffic on US-90A isn't too bad for you, Jimbo.
Oh, good lord. The Chronicle has started a Super Bowl blog, just exactly the thing I was looking for to combat my ennui about the whole thing. As with their previous foray into blogging, they still haven't quite grokked the whole permalink thing. On the plus side, I do enjoy reading Dwight Silverman, and though you'd think they'd want a sportswriter and not a tech writer on this beat, given how mediocre most of their sportswriters are, I'd say they've made the right choice. On the other hand, this sort of thing just screams for Ken Hoffman, but no. sigh Maybe next time.
Thanks to Erica, who was also the first person to spot the Crawford weblog, for the catch.
Having listened to Atrios and Andrew Sullivan on the Blogging of the President radio show (you can hear it here), I agree with Atrios about Sully's "challenge" to him. Kudos to Atrios for keeping his cool on the air - I can't say I'd have done as well - and for recognizing this for the fool's errand it is.
As for the anonymity charge, Sadly, No makes quick work of it.
Finally, just for the record Atrios criticized me once. Take that, Sullivan!
I swear, this isn't going to turn into a DaddyBlog, but given that I announced my impending fatherhood today, I figured I could note this story.
Mark Tatara is his company's "First Dad," a title he earned in October when he became the first father to use the firm's benefit that allows parents to bring their infants to work.Tatara is senior graphic designer and Web design manager of Health Newsletters Direct, an Evanston, Ill.-based company that produces magazines and newsletters for hospitals and managed-care organizations nationwide.
His wife, Katherine Hood-Tatara, is an educator.
She took a three-month leave after Jonathan's birth in August.
Tatara, who took off three weeks for his son's birth, took him to work from October to the end of December.
Thirteen other parents — all mothers — of 24 "office" babies had taken their infants to work before him.
"Being the first dad felt natural," said Tatara, who has been with the firm for 11 years and saw firsthand how well the arrangement can work.
"My wife and I wanted as much time as possible to bond with Jonathan, and she wasn't able to bring him to work when her maternity leave was up. It's wonderful to be able to do your job and not have to worry about your child — because he's right there."
Jonathan often slept in a bassinet secured on his father's desk.
Each day, Tatara brought to his private office diapers, hand wipes, a car seat for Jonathan to sit in, toys, activity centers and bottles of expressed breast milk so his wife, who went back to her full-time job, could continue nursing.
As it happens, this sort of arrangement could work for me if it were an option. I spend the vast majority of my time at my desk and am more likely to be in a telecon than a real meeting. Plus, I have a feeling that one way or another I'm going to become an expert at computing with one hand while holding/feeding/rocking a baby with the other. But it's not going to happen, and that's probably just as well. Still, it's nice to know someone can do it.
OK, I admit it: I have a soft spot for those Budweiser "Real Men of Genius" ads which have migrated recently from radio to TV. Apparently, there were a lot more of these spots on the radio than I knew (this is the first negative side effect I can think of for my policy of changing stations whenever the music stops) - this page has downloadable MP3s of all of them.
One thing I didn't know, which is noted in a St. Louis Post-Dispatch article reprinted at the bottom of that page, is that the singer in those ads is a somebody:
The 30-second spots feature an over-the-top, 1980s-style rock ballad sung by David Bickler, the former lead singer of "Survivor." Bickler's rendition of "Eye of the Tiger" was the anthem of the popular movie "Rocky III."[...]
As for the music, [ad agency] DDB Chicago approached Sandy Torano, a musician and producer, to write a "cheesy '80s song." Torano immediately thought of Bickler.
"David Bickler is a friend of mine," said Torano, who owns Scandal Music in
Chicago. "I told them, 'If you are going do an '80s parody, why don't you get
the real thing?'"Bickler, he said, was a good sport.
Um, not to be a big meanie or anything, but of course Bickler was a good sport. I mean, what else is the former lead singer of "Survivor" doing to generate income these days?
Link via Off Wing Opinion.
The Yellow Dog Blog, one of only two official state party blogs in the US, now has a fulltime blogger. Congrats to Burnt Orange member and brand-new Assistant Communications Director of the Texas Democratic Party Andrew Dobbs, for whom part of his responsibilities include regular YDB posting. He promises daily updates, so make checking YDB part of your daily routine.
From the Left Hand Does Not Know What The Right Hand Is Doing Dept.:
When the Downtown Entertainment District Alliance invited Jeff Towns and other art car owners to park their art on wheels on Main Street Friday, no one expected any hassles.Instead, Towns was wrestled to the ground, handcuffed and detained by police officers who were unaware he had permission to park on Main Street.
Main Street, from Prairie to Texas, was closed to regular traffic Friday for the Main Event, but arrangements were made to let the art cars to park in front of bars and clubs.
Word apparently didn't make its way to officers on the street.
Metro Sgt. Curtis Holloway said he knew about the art car event, but had not briefed officers.
"I probably should have informed (the officer)," Holloway said. "(Towns) could have avoided it by simply providing his ID and permits to be there. That would have been the end of the situation. I'm certain of that."
Gosh, Sergeant Holloway, whatever gave you the idea that you screwed up by failing to give the officers proper information? Was it perhaps this?
Towns said he was approached by a Metro officer when he parked his "Accessorod" on Main Street.The Metro officer, unaware of the art car event, asked Towns why he was parked illegally and demanded to see the Conroe resident's driver's license.
"The officer has a flashlight in my face and says, `What are you doing on this street?' ... to which I respond, `I'm part of the event here, sir,' " Towns said.
Towns, surprised and annoyed by the officer's demands, told the officer he should speak with Libby Weathers, entertainment alliance director.
When Towns did not immediately produce his license, the officer told him to get out of the car.
Donna Dommel, another art car owner, had just parked directly behind Towns' car as the confrontation took place.
"We had just pulled up, and I see the officer come at the car and throw (Towns) to the ground," she said.
Dommel co-owns the art car "R U Game?" with friend Kevin Munson, who was also detained when he began to argue with police during the incident.
Towns said the Metro officer threw him against the car and began to handcuff him.
When Towns noticed a Houston police officer approach, he thought the situation would be quickly resolved.
"But then, the (Houston) officer grabbed me by my hair and threw me to the ground," said Towns. He said his head hit one of the large white road bumps along the Metro rail line during the scuffle.
You know all that stuff about smiling to impress the out-of-town folks? Well, nothing will make them think we're a savage backwater faster than a little excessively zealous police work, especially when the root cause was trivially avoidable. At least no one got hurt this time, and the streets aren't full of Super Bowl visitors yet. Let's not mess up the easy stuff, OK?
Write down the date and time: I'm officially tired of Super Bowl XVIII and all the hype surrounding it. If I never read one more story about fabulous celebrities and exclusive parties it'll be too soon. And the next visiting "journalist" on an expense account whose agenda for the week is to attend those parties, visit strip clubs, and eat till they explode before going to see the game in person who bitches about having nothing to do in this town is gonna get hunted down and given a wedgie.
So you're officially on watch, Bill Simmons. And for Pete's sake, if you're going to call it a blog, get yourself some permalinks. (Via War Liberal).
UPDATE: I see that Pete, freshly back from Sundance, is feeling the hate as well. His post reminds me of the large uptick in Excessive Inanity on our local HappyTalkNews broadcasts. If there's a goofier sight than Shern-Min Chow in a Texans uniform jersey and wearing a headset that looks like Bob McKenzie's earmuffs with a microphone the size of a basketball sticking out of it broadcasting live from the NFL Experience, please don't tell me what it is.
It's somewhat past time for me to make an important personal announcement. I'm not sure what is the proper way to do it in a forum such as this (Miss Manners would probably frown on it, but I'll take my chances), so I'll just come out and say it:
My wife and I are very pleased to announce that we are expecting our first child in May.
Last week, when I wrote about my first ride on the light rail system, it was to get to St. Joseph's Hospital near downtown, where Tiffany was scheduled for the Big Sonogram. Best as we can tell after ten minutes of poking, prodding, and peering is that we're getting a girl. Given that we had settled on a boy's name but not yet a girl's, this was to be expected.
Obviously, we are very excited and are getting everything ready for the baby's arrival. We're still working on the nursery, which began life as the extra bedroom in which we stored all of the stuff that had no other good place to be. This includes all of our power tools, which I've pointed out to Tiffany technically don't have to be moved until the kid is self-propelling. Hopefully, by then we'll have figured out a good alternative.
As with most new and exciting experiences, I've already learned quite a few things. One of the more useful items I've learned was courtesy of my old college roomie David, who discovered during his wife's first pregnancy that he could justify almost any purchase by saying it's "for the baby". I parlayed that into the TiVo - that "pause live TV" thing sure will come in handy when the baby cries, after all.
In the meantime, I plan on storing up all the sleep I can between now and the end of May. Thanks to my disreputable past as a graduate student, I have plenty of practice looking sleepy and disheveled, so on that score at least I'm ready for fatherhood. After that, I'll be making it up as I go along. Wish me luck.
If you're wondering what kind of message some of the redistricted Democratic Congressional incumbents might try on their new, more Republican constituents, Charlie Stenholm provides a glimpse.
I have always attempted to do what I believed was right for the people I was elected to represent, regardless of pressure from either political party, special-interest groups or even the White House.As a conservative Democrat, I have not agreed with the Democratic leadership on a number of occasions. At such times, I have expressed my views and voted accordingly.
An honest assessment of my voting record throughout my career will demonstrate that I have not hesitated to cross party lines and vote with Republicans when I agreed with them.
In addition, I have served five presidents, supporting them when I thought they were right and opposing them when I believed their policies were wrong, regardless of party.
[...]
[T]he Concord Coalition, a bipartisan organization that holds both parties accountable on fiscal responsibility, placed me on its honor roll in 2003 for the sixth consecutive year. Likewise, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has awarded me its Spirit of Enterprise Award for my strongly pro-business voting record throughout my career.
The fact that some special-interest groups have given me lower ratings than they have in the past says more about these groups than it does about me.
I have continued to represent the same moderate-conservative viewpoint that I have always brought to issues, while many groups have shifted -- at the instruction of the House leadership -- dramatically to the right.
Some of the groups that had praised me in the past for my vocal opposition to extreme liberal proposals now criticize me for staying with the same middle-ground, common-sense solutions. They would prefer that I follow the ideological political winds toward the extreme right.
And some criticize me for not blindly supporting the right-wing agenda of the Republican leadership in Congress.
I will not be a rubber stamp for economic policies that have produced a national debt that is soaring out of control, leaving our nation ill-prepared to meet our growing commitments to Social Security and Medicare.
I have consistently taken a conservative, common-sense approach to all issues that have been considered by Congress. By the same token, I have avoided taking an inflexible, ideological approach, keeping an open mind on all issues.
I feel quite certain that Stenholm would have been reelected with a message like this in his old district, which was about 2/3 Republican. I can't say this message will enable him overcome party differences among people he's never represented before, but it seems to me that if any message can resonate, it's one of fiscal responsibility and common sense. The Republicans may come to regret putting one of their own incumbents up against Stenholm. Via Greg Wythe.
Meanwhile, in San Antonio, Rep. Charlie Gonzalez faces an entirely different kind of opposition - his ex-wife.
She helped him get elected to Congress in 1998, but now Becky Whetstone wants to replace Democratic U.S. Rep. Charlie Gonzalez.For an ally to turn foe is hardly unusual in politics, but Whetstone's role reversal is noteworthy because she was married to Gonzalez for five years, until their bitter divorce a few months ago.
Amid the breakup, Whetstone began writing a book and publishing stinging criticisms of Gonzalez on her Web site. This week, Whetstone began arguing her case as a candidate at www.beckyforcongress.com as she transforms from wounded former spouse to upset-minded political challenger.
The independent candidate for District 20 bristles at Gonzalez's suggestion that she's motivated by revenge and greed in her uphill campaign. Whetstone asserted she's trying to "right a wrong" by challenging Gonzalez, who took the seat long held by his legendary father, the late U.S. Rep. Henry B. Gonzalez.
Whetstone, a counselor, said she's compelled to point out flaws in what she calls Gonzalez's "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" personality. And the sheer novelty of her effort has grabbed national media attention, adding an unpredictable dimension to what might have been a dull campaign for the three-term incumbent.
Before Whetstone made her intentions known Jan. 2, Gonzalez's Democratic re-election bid was shaping up as a nominally competitive post-redistricting matchup between the entrenched San Antonio Democrat and Republican candidate Roger Scott.
Whetstone must gather 500 signatures by May to be listed as an independent on the November ballot, and she was busy trying to do so at the Martin Luther King Jr. Day March on Monday in San Antonio. Her offbeat candidacy quickly set off a buzz in Washington, D.C., and has sparked overtures from movie producers.
But some local pundits predict Whetstone won't unseat Gonzalez in a made-for-Hollywood climax.
"Becky Whetstone has very little, if any, understanding of the issues of domestic affairs or foreign affairs, really only private affairs," said University of Texas at San Antonio political science professor Richard Gambitta.
An editorial in the San Antonio Express-News called her candidacy "merely pathetic" and a "sad soap opera."
"Her qualifications for the job are lacking, and ill will toward her former spouse is a weak reason to run for Congress," the newspaper opined.
Whetstone is a former Express-News reporter.
"Charlie is one of the most popular politicians in San Antonio, extending back to the days when he was a district judge," editorial board member Bruce Davidson said. Gonzalez also has a huge fund-raising advantage and can use incumbency to tout new committee assignments, Davidson said.
Personally, I'd rather face a bunch of Republicans. We'll see what happens here.
With the Fastows headed to the pokey and Skilling and Lay not yet in the crosshairs, the biggest Enron target right now is Rick Causey, about whom I know little. Here's a story that gives some background on the former chief accounting officer and how he wound up in federal custody.
In The Woodlands, his neighbors, friends and priest speak glowingly of him."I have nothing but praise for him. If there were more parents like the Causeys, America would be better-served," said Francis Alleman, who managed one of Causey's sons on a Little League team.
Some who knew him at Enron say it was that very desire to please others, particularly bosses, that led Causey to sign off on dubious accounting practices that caused the company's downfall. For his role in Enron's collapse, he was indicted Thursday on six counts of securities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities fraud.
In the indictment, Causey was described as "a principal architect and operator of the scheme to manipulate Enron's reported earnings" to fool investors and inflate the company's stock price.
When Enron executives created dubious off-the-books partnerships to hide debts, Causey, 44, helped them pull it off, former colleagues say. When asked to pressure the Arthur Andersen auditors to go along with the partnerships, they say, he picked up the phone.
Behind his back, some Enron workers called Causey "the Pillsbury Doughboy."
"It was about his appearance and because he was such a softie," an Enron executive said. "He was pretty pliable, especially by (then-CEO Jeff) Skilling. He wanted to do what the company needed, and especially what Skilling wanted."
Enron Task Force prosecutor Sam Buell said Causey was one of several executives who trumpeted the company as being in "robust health and growing rapidly" when it was really "propped up by accounting schemes and, in many areas, was failing."
[...]
Causey was born in Houston in 1960 and has lived here most of his life. He was one of three children in a family living in southwest Houston. He attended elementary and Johnson Middle School before moving to Connecticut. While he was in high school, his family returned to Houston, where he went to Lee High School. He was a standout student, easily mastering even difficult subjects such as trigonometry and calculus, said Paul Haefner, who was on the cheerleading team with Causey and drove with him to school.
"That's how you know somebody is smarter than you — when they take calculus and enjoy it," said Haefner. "He was the most mature senior in the group I ran with. He was a little bit prim and proper."
Yes, well, as a math major, I'll try to remain modest.
At Andersen, Causey and Sherron Watkins, who has been widely hailed for her memo warning that Enron could "implode in a wave of accounting scandals," were colleagues, along with a host of others who later worked on the Enron account for Andersen or joined Enron.One of them was David Duncan, the Andersen executive who oversaw the Enron account. He pleaded guilty two years ago to obstruction of justice for his role in the shredding of Andersen documents on the Enron account.
Causey rose to manager, but not partner. In 1991, he was hired as assistant controller in Enron's fledgling natural gas trading operation, Enron Gas Services, Skilling's brainchild. He began helping review accounting for off-the-books partnerships, a skill the company increasingly relied on.
He rose rapidly, even though he didn't have the abrasive, aggressive Enron personality typified by Fastow and Skilling.
Colleagues viewed him as "the anti-Fastow," a source close to Causey said.
"Causey is a great guy, one of the nicest people," the current Enron executive said. "He's not aggressive or arrogant, none of the things you associate typically with Enron employees. He and Dave Duncan were cut from the same cloth: Boy Scout types."
After Skilling became Enron president in January 1997, he made Causey, then 37, his chief accounting officer. Causey usually reported to Skilling and Lay, he told Enron internal investigators.
"Causey was certainly one of Skilling's guys," said a lawyer who represents a former executive who doesn't face investigation. "He was very close to Skilling, in Skilling's inner circle."
[...]
Several former and current executives said Causey's problem was not the advice of Andersen's accountants, but his unwillingness to buck superiors.
"He was intimidated by Fastow," said a former Enron executive. "He was a good person and didn't have that Machiavellian side that Andy has. He didn't have the experience or fortitude to deal with management and say, 'I know what Wall Street is looking for, but I think what you're asking of me is irresponsible.' "
Another former executive said, "He wanted to please. That may be his downfall. You need a strong moral compass."
Well, this may be his chance to make amends for that. Stay tuned.
Lottery winner killed by truck
ELWOOD, Ind. -- A man who won $57,000 in an Indiana lottery game taped for television died hours later when he was hit by a pickup truck.The Hoosier Millionaire featuring Carl D. Atwood, 73, was broadcast Saturday night after his family said they wanted the show to go on, Hoosier Lottery director Jack Ross said.
The broadcast concluded with a photo of Atwood accompanied by text reading: "In memory of Carl Atwood."
Atwood won the money Thursday during a two-hour taping in Indianapolis.
"I am very thankful," he proclaimed. "I must admit that I never expected to be leaving the show with this amount of money. Now I can purchase a very nice car."
Hours later, Atwood was hit by a truck as he walked to the grocery store where he bought the winning ticket near his home in Elwood, about 40 miles northeast of Indianapolis. He died at a hospital.
The driver has not been charged.
Atwood would have been among those invited back to compete for a $1 million grand prize in three weeks.
"We will work with the family to make arrangements on how to handle the championship show," Ross said. "We will certainly have a place on that show for someone who the family chooses to take his place."
Talk about bad timing.
I always find it difficult to read articles about Andrea and Rusty Yates and their children. This is no exception.
It's been almost three years since [Andrea] drowned the boys and 6-month-old Mary in the bathtub in their home. Interviews with people close to the convicted murderer reveal that her life has become a hazy blend of grief, tedium, mental illness. Rusty says he feels as if he's imprisoned, too.Supporters say she should be detained in a psychiatric hospital, not a prison.
Those are fighting words in Houston, usually comfortable with its Wild West approach to crime and criminals. The Yates case, however, is different. Defense lawyers are pushing for a new trial, the case still is a cause célèbre among mental health advocates, and local debate is as divisive as ever.
One camp sees Andrea, 39, as a cold-blooded murderer. What could be worse, they ask, than a mother who holds her children, one by one, facedown in a tub until they quit struggling? She deserves her life sentence, they say.
Kaylynn Williford, one of the assistant district attorneys who prosecuted the case, thinks Yates deserves to be executed.
"If Andrea Yates had been a man, the public reaction would have been very different. Here were five beautiful children who didn't get a chance to grow up, five beautiful children who didn't want to die. Think about the fear those children went through at the hands of their mother -- the one person they expected to defend them."
First of all, it's bad enough that non-Texan reporters, whose impressions of this state are still apparently colored by the TV show Dallas, make Wild West references. It's beyond annoying when a Chron writer reaches for that tired stereotype.
Second, I continue to hold our DA's office in contempt for their treatment of Andrea Yates. If this woman isn't mentally ill, then the concept has no meaning. Justice isn't only about maximizing punishment.
[The possibility that] all Houstonians bear some responsibility for Yates' crimes is discussed in Suzanne O'Malley's new book, Are You There Alone? -- The Unspeakable Crime of Andrea Yates.The book was a sore point with some of Andrea's family members. Rusty Yates said he has found a few errors but generally is satisfied with O'Malley's work.
Small wonder, Andrea's immediate family thinks. Rusty, 39, is painted in a flattering light -- devoted husband, devoted father, devoted nurse to Andrea.
The Kennedy family believes Rusty and his decisions about how they would live are at least partly responsible for Andrea's downfall. Rusty was the one who met traveling evangelist Michael Woroniecki, admired his message and introduced him to Andrea. Though the two men have had a falling out, it's widely believed that the itinerant preacher inadvertently supplied Andrea with the framework for her psychotic delusions.
She told her doctors she believed Satan lived within her, her children were going to hell and she had to kill them while they were young so God would accept them in heaven.
Rusty, the leader and authority figure in the Yates household, is commonly blamed for other decisions -- such as to home-school the children or live in a converted bus -- that made life more difficult for Andrea.
At times Rusty is bitter about the criticism he has received from near and far. He was a devoted nurse. He desperately wanted his wife to get well. Early on, he was ignorant about her mental health problems, but most Americans are slow to recognize the signs and symptoms. He tried to work and juggle his responsibilities to Andrea and the children. That he couldn't do everything and be everywhere was no surprise.
Incompetent doctors, insurance companies more concerned about the size of the bill than the quality of treatment, a legal system seeking an eye for an eye -- those are the villains in the Andrea Yates story, he said, not him.
Publicly, the Kennedy and Yates families try to maintain a united front for Andrea's sake.
Rusty's a hard guy to sympathize with. Maybe he's not as bad as the media coverage has made him out to be, but it's difficult to avoid the conclusion that his lifestyle choices were major factors in Andrea's descent. Still, he's the one who has to face the public and go on with life. I surely don't envy him that.
While Rusty throws himself into his job at NASA, he ponders what to do with his personal life. He tries to get organized. He works on his Web site.A while back, Yates sold the family Suburban and bought a Suburu. He moved into an apartment and fixed up the family home on Beachcomber to sell.
It's still on the market. He says, wistfully, that another family may buy it and establish happy memories there.
He wants to be involved in the Yates Children Memorial Fund for Women's Mental Health Education, launched by the Mental Health Association of Houston and [defense attorney George] Parnham after the trial. The idea, Rusty said, is to educate new mothers about postpartum illnesses and to make sure his babies didn't die in vain.
"What happened in my family will always be with me and associated with me," Rusty said. "But I would like people to know we had a great family. I'd like people to know something good can come from all this, and I want to be a part of it."
Whatever else one may think of Rusty Yates, the Yates Children Memorial Fund for Women's Mental Health Education sounds like an unmitigated boon. I wish him a lot of success with that.
The nominees for all of the Koufax Awards have been narrowed down, and final voting is going on at Wampum. I'm surprised and quite pleased to announce that I'm a finalist in the Best Series category. Honesty compells me to state that my vote in this category would have gone to Slacktivist for his awesome review of the "Left Behind" books, but he didn't make the cut. Voting appears to be hot and heavy right now, and the Wampum page is loading slowly, so be patient and be sure to review all of the contenders. There's some really great stuff out there. Thanks to Dwight and Mary Beth for doing all the work on this.
UPDATE: Just finished voting. Some incredibly tough choices to make, and no one should feel bad for being a runnerup. The site is loading a lot more quickly now, so take a moment and make your voice heard.
A little good news for the weekend.
The timid German shepherd with warm brown eyes and a floppy ear was a familiar sight to commuters at the Metro Park & Ride on Interstate 10 and Texas 6.People worried about him, putting out food and leaving him blankets on cold nights. An e-mail group was created to keep tabs on his welfare, but despite repeated efforts to catch him, the pooch was too wary to be approached and too smart to be lured into a carrier.
But now, after four years of living off the kindness of strangers, "Metro" is no longer homeless.
Cedric Jenkins, a senior animal control officer for Houston's Bureau of Animal Regulation and Care, captured Metro with a tranquilizer gun Wednesday and turned him over to Citizens for Animal Protection, which had been trying to rescue him for 3 1/2 years.
Cynthia Shaw, CAP's coordinator of shelter operations, said the 5-year-old purebred will be in foster care while being treated for heartworms and will later be adopted by one of several families that want him.
"He's eating well and relaxing well, and he's come so far even in two days," she said. "It's just amazing."
Metro has a number of scars that Shaw said may have been caused by falling from the back of a pickup.
She said he likely belonged to someone before he became a stray.
There's a cute picture in the print edition of Metro and three of his caretakers, but it's not in the Chron online. Anyway, I'm always glad to hear about a dog finding a home. Here's to you, Metro.
I'm kinda sorry I missed Judith Steinberg Dean's coming out party with Diane Sawyer on Thursday night. She sounds like my kind of woman. Whether she's helped rehab Howard Dean's campaign or not, I can say that I personally am ready for a First Spouse who isn't a prop for the President. Have been for awhile now, actually. Maybe someday I'll get to see one.
This Salon article about her contains an insight into the press that's way more interesting than any insight into Dr. Steinberg Dean:
As eager as we all may be to turn Judy Steinberg Dean into a symbol of something -- to tattoo "cold careerist bitch," "feminist role model" or "passive-aggressive wife" onto her body -- it turns out that she may just be a boring, sweet, smart Jewish girl who loves her family and her work. Journalists like me and Jodi Wilgoren and Maureen Dowd -- people who obviously like attention and are fascinated by power -- cannot fathom why a woman wouldn't be thrilled to be in the center of a political lightning storm. We try to cast her and re-cast her, chew on this mystery meat until we can name her. But that exercise apparently reveals more about us than it does about our subject.
You think? Now if someone were to kindly tattoo that paragraph on MoDo's forehead, we'll all be better off.
You can't win them all: The Travis County DA has cleared State Rep. Joe Nixon of wrongdoing in his mold claim.
Prosecutors have concluded no laws were violated when Farmers Insurance Group paid more than $300,000 to an influential Houston legislator for mold-related claims on his house.In separate letters this week, Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle's office informed state Rep. Joe Nixon, R-Houston, and John Hageman, Farmers chief executive in Texas, that it had formally closed its investigation.
"We have determined that there is no evidence of criminal conduct," said Gregg Cox, director of the office's public integrity unit.
The investigation began in August following news reports about leaked company e-mail in which a Farmers executive complained that Nixon had received preferential treatment.
Isabelle Arnold, who then was Farmers national mold manager but later was fired, raised questions about how Nixon's claims were handled in general. And she complained specifically that the last payment to the lawmaker wasn't covered under his homeowner's policy.
That payment of $13,000 was made while the Legislature was in session last spring. It was paid to replace a driveway and landscaping damaged during work on the house, Nixon said.
In a letter sent Wednesday, Cox told Nixon that the legislator was "never considered a suspect," indicating that prosecutors had focused most of their attention on Farmers. Nixon, however, was interviewed during the investigation.
[...]
On April 30 last year, during the regular legislative session, Arnold, the former Farmers executive, complained in an e-mail to her boss about "strong-armed" pressure on company employees to pay Nixon "because he is a legislator."
"I just found out that the claim has been paid once more, without coverage, and without a release," Arnold said in her e-mail to Jim Daues, Farmers vice president for property claims.
Replying in an e-mail on May 4, Daues said other Farmers officials "wanted Mr. Nixon to be a friend of Farmers in the legislative session."
"Each one strongly suggested that an additional payment would be very helpful to the cause," Daues wrote.
It still all looks pretty sleazy to me, but apparently it was not illegal. Greg sums it up pretty well.
In the meantime, we can now all pull up our chairs and watch as the Travis County Attorney takes a look at Phil Gramm.
Travis County Attorney David Escamilla said Friday he will review a Democratic Party complaint that former U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm illegally lobbied state officials for changes to a state pension fund for schoolteachers.The complaint, filed by Texas Democratic Chairman Charles Soechting, alleges that Gramm, now a vice chairman with UBS Investment Bank, failed to register as a lobbyist with the Texas Ethics Commission.
Escamilla said the allegation, if true, is a potential Class A misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail and a maximum $4,000 fine.
"We're going to review the information to see what action, if any, is warranted," the county attorney said. He said the review wasn't a formal investigation but could lead to one.
[...]
Gramm, who joined UBS after leaving the Senate in December 2002, started lobbying state officials last year on a UBS plan to use life insurance, annuities and bonds to help the $80 billion Teacher Retirement System of Texas close a $700 million shortfall in its retiree health benefits program. The plan now is funded by state and individual contributions into an investment pool.
Under the proposal, which has drawn fire from teachers groups, the retirement system would buy annuities and life insurance policies on retired teachers and keep the proceeds when they die.
In a written presentation, UBS has said the state would need to make "large and small legal and regulatory changes" to adopt the plan.
Soechting, a lawyer from San Marcos, has called the proposal a "huge, get-rich-quick scheme on the part of Phil Gramm and his buddies" in the investment and insurance industries.
The Democratic chairman initially filed his complaint with the Texas Ethics Commission on Jan. 9 and later sent a copy to the Travis County district attorney's office. The district attorney forwarded it to the county attorney because the alleged violation was a misdemeanor.
The Ethics Commission won't confirm or deny that a complaint has been filed against Gramm. The maximum penalty that the commission could levy would be a fine of $5,000.
The original story was noted here. As always, stay tuned.
Bob Keeshan, aka Captain Kangaroo, has passed away at the age of 76.
Keeshan, who lived in Hartford, Vt., died of a long illness, his family said in a statement.Keeshan's "Captain Kangaroo" premiered on CBS in 1955 and ran for 30 years before moving to public television for six more. It was wildly popular among children and won six Emmy Awards, three Gabriels and three Peabody Awards.
The format was simple: Each day, Captain Kangaroo, with his sugar-bowl haircut and uniform coat, would wander through his Treasure House, chatting with his good friend Mr. Green Jeans, played by Hugh "Lumpy" Brannum.
He would visit with puppet animals, like Bunny Rabbit, who was scolded for eating too many carrots, and Mr. Moose, who loved to tell knock-knock jokes.
But the show revolved about the grandfatherly Captain Kangaroo, whose name was inspired by the kangaroo pouch-like pockets of the coat Keeshan wore.
"I was impressed with the potential positive relationship between grandparents and grandchildren, so I chose an elderly character," Keeshan said.
In a statement issued by his son Michael, Keeshan's family said: "Our father, grandfather and friend was as passionate for his family as he was for America's children. He was largely a private man living an often public life as an advocate for all that our nation's children deserve."
Rest in peace, Captain Kangaroo.
UPDATE: Avedon is correct - the obit you really need to read comes from Mark Evanier.
The worst-kept secret in college sports is apparently about to become official, as TCU is set to accept an invitation to the Mountain West Conference.
After months of deliberating and number-crunching, Texas Christian University will accept an invitation next week to join the Mountain West Conference beginning in the 2005-06 school year, high-ranking university officials said.TCU expects to receive a formal invitation as early as Monday, the sources said, adding that the school's athletic committee will recommend to trustees that the school leave Conference USA.
Such a move could bring the school millions of dollars more in TV revenue than it would make by staying in Conference USA. Also, although the Mountain West is not a Bowl Championship Series conference, adding TCU could put the league in position to replace the Big East, which is losing three of its strongest football schools.
Yeah, yeah. This "BCS inclusion is just around the corner" mantra is the same Kool-Aid that MWC members and wannabees have been drinking since the conference was founded. Maybe this time it'll finally be Moet-Chandon instead, but I wouldn't hold my breath.
TCU, by the way, no longer likes to be called "Texas Christian" or "Texas Christian University" - they just want to be known as "TCU". I suppose that makes them the KFC of college sports. Enjoy those road trips to Utah, fellas.
Here's the best Houston news you'll read today:
Houston's wacky Art Car Parade moved into the fast lane Thursday when Everyones Internet, a Houston-based Internet service provider, agreed to sign on as the May event's lead sponsor, a parade official said.The popular parade, which drew more than 100,000 spectators last year, was facing the prospect of offering smaller cash prizes, trimming travel allowances for out-of-town participants and reducing its promotional efforts after Pennzoil-Quaker State Co. ended its sponsorship.
The oil company had sponsored the Art Car Parade -- the nation's largest and oldest -- for five years. In 2003, it gave $125,000 to the event, which includes lectures and art car appearances at schools and nursing homes. The sponsorship was dropped after Pennzoil was acquired by Shell Oil Co.
Susanne Theis, executive director of the Orange Show, which produces the parade, said the Everyones Internet sponsorship will replace about three-fourths of the lost Pennzoil money. Theis said her group continues to look for secondary sponsors, who would be allowed to appear in the parade carrying corporate banners.
Everyones Internet CEO Robert Marsh said he and his brother, chief financial officer Roy Marsh, learned of the parade's financial difficulties last November when they read a Houston Chronicle story about the lost sponsorship and possible cuts.
"Normally we're yin and yang," he said. "When I'm hot, he's cold and vice versa. But on that morning at breakfast, we both had that story in our folders for discussion."
"Our relationship grew slowly," he said of his company's connection with the Orange Show Foundation. "But as we learned more about the Art Car Weekend, we found that it wasn't just a local event. It was one that receives considerable national exposure."
Marsh said his company has agreed to sponsor the event for at least three years but declined to specify the dollar amount of the commitment.
The parade will be called Everyones Art Car Parade, and the weekend of events will be Everyones Art Car Weekend. Theis said the event will begin May 7 with the annual art car ball. Last year, 250 vehicles participated in the parade.
This marks the first time that I'll be willing to use the corporate-sponsorship name of just about anything, mostly because it's fitting. Three cheers for Everyone's Internet!
A little amusing Flash animation that pokes fun at everyone's favorite exterminator, Tom DeLay.
Back when the Justice Department precleared the new Congressional map, the plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit challenging that map claimed that political appointees at Justice had overruled the career lawyers, and they pressed to get Justice to release internal memos which detailed its decisionmaking process. In a move that should surprise no one, Justice has denied that request.
The internal legal opinion, which includes a 73-page narrative and 1,750 pages of accompanying documents, is eagerly sought by 14 Democratic House members from Texas as part of their attempt to halt the GOP redistricting. The new voting map was enacted in October by the Republican-controlled Texas legislature after months of conflict, and Attorney General John D. Ashcroft cleared it in December.The Justice Department notified the Texas lawmakers last week that it would not release internal documents on the case because they contain "predecisional deliberative material" that is exempt from public information laws, according to a copy of the letter.
The Democrats' lead attorney, J. Gerald Hebert of Alexandria, responded with an appeal to the Justice Department yesterday, alleging that career attorneys had recommended an objection to the redistricting plan, but were overruled by political appointees. Democrats argue that the Texas map violates the Voting Rights Act of 1965 because it eliminates two districts in which minorities make up a majority of the voters.
"Clearly the Department of Justice is stonewalling this request to avoid the embarrassment that will surely ensue when the memorandum is made public," Hebert wrote in his appeal, which was filed with the department's Office of Information and Privacy. "Unfortunately, the political appointees of the Justice Department appear committed to dismantling the Voting Rights Act. They are hiding this report, because it will make their intentions clear."
Department officials have declined to comment on the details of the case, including whether the attorneys assigned to the case had raised objections to it. Sources say the team is under a strict gag order.
"These are internal deliberations, and we would not comment on deliberations that take place in these kinds of cases," department spokesman Jorge Martinez said.
Officials notified the Texas secretary of state in December that Ashcroft "does not interpose any objection to the specified changes" in congressional boundaries enacted by the Republican legislature. Under the Voting Rights Act, any changes to congressional districts in Texas and several other states, primarily in the South, must be approved by the Justice Department.
Well, it's consistent with the overall secrecy fetish in the Bush Administration. I'll give it that. As usual, it gives a where-there's-smoke impression, since after all if there's nothing there you'd think they'd want to demonstrate it. You have to admire their dedication to principle, even if that principle is "move along, nothing to see here".
One further item of interest:
Political analysts have said the map could result in a 23-9 edge in the state delegation for Republicans after the Nov. 2 elections.
Most of the stories I've read concerning the new map talk about a maximal 22-10 split in the delegation, but once in awhile you see 23-9. I don't know who these "politcal analysts" are, but I'd be curious to know which other seat they think is threatened. I'd guess the confusion stems from the fact that Rep. Lloyd Doggett's district was targeted for elimination and his district was dismantled, but in its place was created the 25th CD, which is (IIRC) about 70% Democratic and which is where Doggett is running for reelection. Doggett may lose in the primary, but the seat should be safe for the Dems.
Not that the GOP isn't shooting for it as well, even to the point of possibly bullying the "wrong" GOP primary contender to drop out.
Last week, as Doggett and his Democratic opponent, former State District Judge Leticia Hinojosa of McAllen, claimed dueling endorsements on each other's home turf in the district that stretches from Austin to the Rio Grande Valley, not much attention was paid to the lone GOP candidate, a Mission minister named Regner Capener.That all changed Friday, when [Austin Republican Rebecca Armendariz] Klein filed to run and Capener got a call from someone who told him he was working on behalf of the White House, asking him to step aside.
The White House denies it made the call, but Capener thinks it was an operative of the president's political adviser, Karl Rove. The caller told him that as a Hispanic woman, Klein would make a better candidate and would be favored with significant GOP donations, Capener said.
It made Capener angry, and with that, the race became even more enmeshed in ethnic politics and regional geography than before.
So who knows? I'm not lying awake nights worrying about CD 25, but it's a new world out there and anything can happen.
WaPo link via Atrios.
Now this is a great idea: The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) has a fabulous-looking blog called From The Roots, which will apparently include posts from various Senators themselves as well as Kos-like diaries, for which anyone can create an account and add content. They're still getting the hang of the blogging thing (Senator Stabenow's response to the SOTU is a bit thin, to say the least), but that's OK. They've got the right idea for this - insider information from the insiders themselves, the foundation for a community a la Blog for America, direct feedback from their target audience. Exactly the sort of thing I'd love to see more of on the Yellow Dog Blog.
And of course, they have the good taste to include yours truly and a rather stunned Greg Wythe on their blogroll. What's not to like? Check it out.
Another day, another former Enron executive arrested.
Rick Causey, Enron's former chief accounting officer, surrendered to the FBI in Houston this morning and was led in handcuffs to the federal courthouse.Charged with six counts of conspiracy and securities fraud, Causey is accused of illegally helping the company hide debt and fool investors. His indictment, unsealed this morning, suggests he concealed failures at Enron Services and Enron Broadband Services and made several false and misleading representations to investors. He also manipulated Enron's financial reports in connection with Enron's infamous Raptor side deals, the indictment says.
[...]
The indictment handed down under a seal Wednesday was a shoe waiting to drop for Causey, a 44-year-old from The Woodlands, who was fired from the top tier of the bankrupt energy trading company in early 2002 after refusing to testify before Congress.
Criminal charges against Causey have been expected since he was mentioned by job title, but not name, in the October 2002 complaint against Andrew Fastow. It alleged he aided in at least one of the schemes that helped topple the once world-renowned company.
Causey's title was mentioned again last week in an agreement Fastow, Enron's former chief financial officer, made with prosecutors when he pleaded guilty to two conspiracy charges.
Causey and Fastow were at the same high level in the Enron hierarchy, just below former Chairman Ken Lay and former Chief Executive Officer Jeff Skilling.
[...]
In the complaint against Fastow, federal prosecutors revealed they were looking at whether Causey illegally helped the company hide debt and fool investors. Enron put itself in a better light with investors, especially analysts, by putting some of its debt onto the books of independent partnerships, some of which enriched Enron insiders such as Fastow.
In his plea statement, Fastow confessed that he and Causey, whose corporate title was used, had an unwritten agreement that a Fastow-controlled side company called LJM would make a profit by helping Enron to hedge its assets.
Fastow also confessed that he and Causey back-dated documents to make it appear an Enron technology company investment was worth more than it really was.
[...]
He reportedly received an early copy of the now-famous Sherron Watkins memo warning Lay that Enron accounting improprieties could bring down the company. According to a congressman who investigated the memo, Causey told Lay there was nothing to worry about.
Causey was fired by the Enron board on Feb. 14, 2002, a week after he invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in refusing to testify before the oversight and investigations subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
No clear indication in this story that Causey is another steppingstone to Skilling and Kenny Boy, but it's early days. I'm betting he eventually cops a plea like Fastow did.
Via Burnt Orange, I see that Dallas' D Magazine has a blog called Front Burner - according to their archives, they've been at it since March, actually. It's a group blog in the style of the DMN Daily, and they list Virginia Postrel as a contributor, though I doubt you'll see her byline there very often. It's all a bit too Dallas-centric for me, but I confess I'll be checking back in February to read the promised article by Joe Bob Briggs on Dallas' War On Strippers.
If the weather around Super Bowl weekend is anything like it is now - mostly sunny, blue skies, in the low 60s - we won't need any fancy schmancy PR campaign to make the frozen-tundra-area newsies like us. Hell, we may have a hard time getting them on their planes home afterwards. Too bad there isn't some responsible agency we could petition for help.
Now, we'll have to figure out something else for the MLB All Star Game. At least it'll be in a stadium with a roof.
The beta version of Technorati looks really good. It's faster, it's got direct links to posts that cite whatever URL you're looking for, and it will index a lot faster. Read about it here. Via Sisyphus.
I don't quite get this technology you hate but can't live without thing.
An annual Massachusetts Institute of Technology survey, known as the Lemelson-MIT Invention Index, found that among adults asked what invention they hate most but can't live without, 30 percent said the cell phone.Alarm clocks were a close second, with 25 percent, followed by the television with 23 percent and razors with 14 percent. Microwave ovens, computers and answering machines also earned spots as detested technology.
The survey has been conducted for the past eight years to gauge public opinion toward inventions, inventors and technology.
"The interconnectedness you get from the cell phone is a very positive thing, and I think that's one of the most important things, the bringing together of people. The downside of that is that you sometimes want to be alone," said Lemelson Center Director Merton Flemings.
Umm, turn it off? Leave it at home? Am I missing something?
If what you're talking about is being forced by job requirements to carry a cellphone - or pager, or Blackberry, or what have you - then I sympathize. But if you're tired of getting calls from friends and family all the damn time, I'd say the fault lies with you and not your phone.
Norbizness has the best response to the "weapons of mass destruction-related program activities" threat that you'll see today.
UPDATE: Slacktivist has an appropriately cheesy take on this.
If we can just make it through the friendliness blitz over the next two weeks without grinding our teeth into dust, we'll be OK.
Drag a comb through your hair, shake out the rugs and, for goodness' sake, tell the cabdrivers to smile. We've got visitors coming from out of town.That's the message -- or something like it -- that Mayor Bill White and Houston's other top cheerleaders plan to promote for the next dozen days as football fans, dignitaries and media migrate this way from all over the world for Super Bowl XXXVIII.
And in a city that seems to sprout billboards as prolifically as Green Bay sprouts cheeseheads, a major part of Houston's new image blitz will hinge on -- what else? -- billboard advertising.
"There is no better PR for a city, no better way to change a city's image, than by word of mouth," White said Tuesday as he unveiled the campaign and its theme: "Put Your Smile On. Company's Coming!"
"We can always improve our image," the mayor said. "Houston can do a better job of showing itself for what it is: We are the friendliest big city in the United States."
OK, on the one hand, as a PR person notes elsewhere, I don't think Houston's problem is that we're thought of as a surly sity. Unattractive, polluted, car-centric, waaaay to eager to prove that we're just as good as anyone else, sure. But unfriendly? I've never heard of that.
On the other hand, it's hard to argue with the assertion that good word of mouth will do more to help Houston's image than anything else. All I'm asking is that we relax and quit obsessing so much about it. Not pounding visitors over the head with See How Nice We Are! messages would be wise.
Oh, and for the love of God, someone please send Elyse Lanier on a two-week trip to Pago Pago. The next reporter who calls her for a quote about Houston's image will forever be on my list.
There were two special elections in Texas yesterday, both to fill State Senate seats, and both of them will require runoffs to pick winners. In the SD 1 race to replace the retiring Bill Ratliff, Democrat Paul Sadler held a small lead over Republican Kevin Eltife.
Nearly complete returns showed Mr. Sadler, 48, a Henderson lawyer, in first place with 39 percent of the vote, while Mr. Eltife, 44, a real estate developer, had 36 percent. State Rep. Tommy Merritt, R-Longview, was well back in third place.[...]
In Senate District 1, Mr. Sadler attributed his showing to his experience in the Legislature, where as chairman of the House Public Education Committee he authored major school reform measures and passed the first teacher health insurance program in Texas.
"There are only 31 state senators, and the Senate is no place for a novice," Mr. Sadler said in a reference to Mr. Eltife, who has not served in the Legislature.
Mr. Sadler also said many voters rejected negative ads run against him by Texans for Lawsuit Reform, a group that favors Republicans and pushes for limits on civil lawsuits.
"A third-party group dropped about $400,000 worth of negative ads against me and we still maintained strong support from voters," he said. "We're very excited about where we are and where we're going in this race."
During the runoff, Mr. Eltife is expected to tout his endorsements from two of the state's top Republicans, Gov. Rick Perry and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst. He also led all candidates in the race in campaign contributions.
"We are obviously excited to be in the runoff," he said Tuesday night. "Over the last month, we have seen a tremendous response to our conservative record in the city of Tyler and our positive message for all of northeast Texas."
The Republican has pointed to his tenure as Tyler mayor – a period when the property tax rate and city expenditures were trimmed – as qualifying him for a seat in the Senate.
Competition in the race was fierce as Mr. Sadler, Mr. Eltife and Mr. Merritt spent heavily on television and radio ads to gain an edge in a contest that didn't start in earnest until after New Year's Day. Nearly a million dollars had been raised by the candidates in early January.
Mr. Eltife was favored by the state's Republican establishment and received hefty donations from some of the chief GOP contributors in Texas. His latest campaign finance reports showed contributions of nearly $640,000.
Because he was not targeted, he also benefited from the negative ads that were run by third party groups against Mr. Sadler and Mr. Merritt.
Mr. Sadler counted on support from teachers and other educators as well as Democrats in the area to push his vote total up. He raised $440,000 in campaign contributions, including donations from leading law firms in the state.
Responding to the attacks from Texans for Lawsuit Reform, the Democrat ran one television commercial that featured three Republicans – President Bush, Mr. Perry and Mr. Ratliff – praising Mr. Sadler for his work on public education issues.
All three candidates stressed their ties to Mr. Ratliff, one of the most respected officeholders in the area for more than a decade. Mr. Ratliff declined to make an endorsement.
Since Ratliff won reelection in 2002, the winner of this race gets to serve through 2006.
Out in West Texas' SD 31, the race to replace Teel Bivins, who resigned to accept the post of Ambassador to Sweden, was led by two Republicans, businessman Kirk Edwards of Odessa and former Amarillo Mayor Kel Seliger.
Seliger, spurred largely by overwhelming support in Randall and Potter Counties, surged to the head of the District 31 pack Tuesday night, claiming the lead spot by the end of the night."I'm very humbled and very excited by that result," Seliger said once a majority of precinct boxes had been counted.
His turnout, however, was not good enough to give him the majority needed to claim the seat outright. He grabbed 35.72 percent of the 69,410 total votes cast in the race, while Edwards claimed the runner-up position with 20.56 percent.
So the two candidates will meet in a run-off expected in late February.
Edwards, who on Monday was amongst the Midland-Odessa candidates predicting they would wind up in the run-off once votes were tallied, said he was nevertheless "tickled" by the results.
"We were just happy we ran the campaign exactly how we wanted to run it," he said. "We would have been pleased with whatever the turnout was."
Edwards, who won 44.24 percent of his hometown Ector County, buoyed his results by landing smaller counties like Howard, Andrews, Gaines, Crane and Cochran. He also consistently placed high in other counties, placing second in 11 counties -- including Midland. Overall, Edwards placed no worse in than fourth in any county in the district and placed third or higher in all but two.
"What I really believe is our message played well throughout the district, and that's important," Edwards said.
Since Bivins was up for reelection this year, the winner of the late-February runoff will still have to run for "reelection" in November, starting with the March 9 Republican primary. The lone Democrat in the race, Elaine King Miller, pulled about 8% of the vote and will be back on the ballot in November as she faces no primary opponent.
Another new and interesting entrant into the blog world: the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) now has a blog. I hope they use it to give us a good look at how an organization like that works and what kind of difference it can make. They still need a blogroll, but otherwise the layout looks good. Check it out.
New Mayor Bill White will get to make a very high-profile appointment shortly when he names a new police chief.
"I want a police chief who understands our diverse community," White said Monday, "and can communicate to the police force and the broader community that police will be just and that there will be no cover-ups and the organization will be accountable, from the police chief on down."Although speculation about candidates has been a popular subject around City Hall and the Houston Police Department, the new mayor said he hasn't narrowed his choices down to a short list. He said he hopes to name a chief by April.
Among those often mentioned are acting Chief Joe Breshears, Executive Chief Tim Oettmeier, Precinct 6 Constable Victor Treviño and retired U.S. Marshal Art Contreras. Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton's name also has come up.
[...]
The new chief will lead a department sharply criticized over problems such as the ongoing scrutiny of its crime lab. Breshears closed the toxicology lab in October after its supervisor failed a competency test, and the DNA division was shut down in late 2002 after an independent audit found widespread problems that included an undertrained staff, shoddy scientific methods and conditions ripe for evidence contamination.
Not mentioned is the K-Mart Kiddie Roundup fiasco, which may yet cost the city a boatload of money when the lawsuits get settled and/or litigated. Putting aside the PR disaster and the lowbrow entertainment value of Chief C.O. "BAMF" Bradford's potty-mouth prosecution, the case raised sticky questions about accountability and chain-of-command that the new boss will have to deal with. Good luck on that one.
Houston officers also were involved late last year in the fatal shootings of two Hispanic teenagers in circumstances that brought strong protests from the community.Speculation over the next chief also is focusing on the chances that Houston will get its first Hispanic in that office.
"Any time you get a new administration ... it's a natural inclination for the Hispanic community to hope and lobby for a Hispanic police chief," said political consultant Marc Campos. "I don't envy the Hispanic, if one were to be named, because the expectations and scrutiny are going to be off the chart."
That's the only mention of race in this article, which is either a pleasant surprise or a gross omission given that the outgoing Mayor and Chief are black and the new mayor is white. I sure hope it's the former.
Lower profile but still important will be White's choices for the city's Metro board seats as well as the new Metro CEO.
Shirley DeLibero, the Metro president and CEO wooed from New Jersey by former Mayor Lee Brown five years ago to get the rail line built, will retire at the end of April.White, in a recent interview, said he is working on his vision for the regional authority, which also includes 14 small enclave and suburban cities and a big chunk of unincorporated Harris County. The mayor said he expects to announce new board appointments before the Super Bowl (Feb. 1) and task them to immediately launch a search for DeLibero's replacement.
"Every day I work on this issue," White said. "I'm getting input from people who are stakeholders and understanding the future leadership we want."
Brown appointed the city's five current Metro board members. White would not say if he intends to keep any -- even for the sake of continuity.
"The people who have served on the board have worked very, very hard, and they deserve a lot of credit and appreciation for what they have been able to accomplish," White said. "I need to visit with each of those board members, and then I'll make some decisions."
[...]
The authority's farebox-recovery ratio, the percentage of operating costs paid by riders, needs to turn around from a current low, White said. Taxpayers, via a 1-cent sales tax, cover more than 80 percent of costs for most trips.
"We need to be getting the most out of our dollars," he said. "I do not want a situation where the cost per unit of bus service goes up faster. ... That is not a good trend."
Transportation and better fiscal management were the two highlights of White's campaign, so getting this right will ultimately have a bigger impact on how his tenure is judged. It'll be interesting to see the reaction to his choices.
So I got on board at the Smithlands station at Greenbriar and Old Spanish Trail, just a block from my office, at about 10:10 to head towards downtown. I have no idea what Smithlands refers to - I'd have called it either "Greenbriar/OST" or "Medical Center Parking Lots". This is one of the busier stations because of its proximity to these huge parking lots that serve the Medical Center. I presume the buses that used to ferry people there still run, but from what I can tell most of the action is on the trains now.
Six other people got on board the northbound train with me. There's no turnstile or ticket-taker - you buy your ticket from a vending machine that takes coins, bills, credit and debit cards, and must present it if a cop or other Metro employee asks to see it. Most of the time, it's on the honor system.
As it happens, an ABC-13 reporter and cameraman boarded at the Dryden stop, which is the first Fannin/Medical Center stop on the northbound line. I asked him what story they were after, and he said they were looking for people who were riding without a ticket. They had just started, so they hadn't found any miscreants yet. Apparently, the reporter had ridden before without being checked and got curious. A woman sitting near me piped up to say that her husband had had his ticket checked yesterday, so it does happen. I figure it'll be like speed traps - some days they'll be checking and writing people up all day.
It took me 17 minutes from the time I got on to arrive at the Downtown Transit Center stop, right outside the brand-new Lee P. Brown Administrative Building, and almost exactly the same amount of time on the return trip. That's about as long as it'd take me to drive from my work parking lot to my destination's lot. Of course, I still have to walk to and from the stations, plus there's waiting time, so the overall trip took about 35 minutes. On the plus side, it was a nice day to walk and I enjoyed the ride, which was way more pleasant than the stoplight and construction-infested drive ever is. I couldn't do it if I were in a rush, but with a few extra minutes' padding, it's the better choice for me.
The train did stop at a few traffic lights, which I didn't expect, but not many - maybe two each way. The ride was very smooth, way gentler than any subway train, which admittedly goes faster. I'd estimate it'd take 30-35 minutes from the UH Downtown origin to my work location, so commuting on this thing, if there were an easy way for me to get to it from my house (such as the proposed commuter rail line along 290), I'd be looking at up to an hour each way. As noted before, though, that duration would include time for walking and reading, so it would certainly be worthy of consideration.
For the record, both trains were reasonably full, with people getting on and off at nearly every stop. At their fullest, each train had a few standees, though there were empty seats in both cases. Still, not bad for the middle of the day.
All in all, a good experience. I'll be happy to do it again.
As for the reason for my trip, that deserves a post of its own. I'll get to that shortly.
I'm about to take my first trip on Houston's light rail line. I'll post a report, plus the reason for that trip, later today. I should note that I wouldn't have gotten to see the fountain even if it were operational, since I'm not going quite as far as downtown. Maybe next time.
Man, I nearly choked on my Cheerios this morning when I came across the Chron's very own State of the Union drinking game. This would never have happened if Ann Hodges (who is no doubt lying down with a cold compress on her forehead right now) were still on staff, let me tell you! Thankfully, balance was restored to the universe when I realized that what they had come up with may be the lamest drinking game ever. Strip Cribbage sounds more exciting. I've still got a nickel that says someone will write an offended letter to the editor about this, though. Because, you know, children might have read it and fallen asleep in their oatmeal. Or something.
UPDATE: Ka-ching! Thanks to Lisa Adams of Humble for writing that letter to the editor I was looking for (look for "A bizarre game article").
Not what we all expected in Iowa, was it? My favorable impression of Howard Dean has come as much from his vaunted organization as from his passion, but if this is the best they can do, then he's gonna be a Tsongas-like footnote real soon. I don't think he's dead by any stretch, and in fact if his team learns from its mistakes (such as having inexperienced precinct captains in place, as described here and here, though things sound better here), then I think he'll be the stronger for it. If not, well, it was fun while it lasted, and I for one will give him a ton of credit for his innovations and his spark. Agree with him or not, we needed that. I don't agree with what Tucker Carlson says in that second Kos link, but it's the funniest line I've heard from the campaign so far:
"Rooting for Dean is fun, it's exciting, but in a way that adultery and drunk driving are fun and exciting - the next day, you're like, `What was I thinking?'," said Carlson.
Big Media Matt's hypothesis is that Wes Clark would have been best served by a Dean win, as that would have likely mortally wounded Kerry and Edwards. Now the two of them have the mojo, and Clark could get squeezed out in New Hampshire. I'm not so sure about that, since Clark has laid a lot of groundwork there, but who knows? I'll say this: of the four viable candidates left (sorry, Joe), Kerry's probably the least attractive to me. Other than his status as a vet, he's got all of Dean's cultural negatives without any of the outsider cred. He was also getting the full Al Gore media treatment from the get-go. Of course, the way the press has treated Dean and Clark lately, all that shows is that the media will do that to anyone.
Finally, I'm glad that John Edwards did so well. I liked him way back before I'd heard of Howard Dean, and I was always a bit sorry that he seemed to disappear without making an impression on this race. I'm happy that, for this one night, at least, that I was premature in that judgment. We'll see if he can keep it up.
There's a new version of Movable Type, version 2.66, which is apparently a stopgap to help deal with comment spam until Version 3.0 is released. It will allow you to require that a certain amount of time pass between the posting of comments from a single IP address. It also uses redirects to link to URLs in comments, as this will not boost Google page ranks, which is what comment spammers are looking for. Unfotunately, this new version currently does not play well with MT Blacklist, but Blacklist author Jay Allen says he'll have a fix soon.
I may or may not install that, since I'm pretty happy with things as they are now. I do strongly suggest that any Blacklist users reading this consider adding the following regexp to their master lists, which will block all .biz URLs (just copy and paste it in as is):
[\w\-_.]*\.biz
I say this because within the past hour or so, I've blocked about 50 comments containing such URLs, according to my activity log. I'm sure if this particular bot came after me, it'll come after you next. Even if you don't want to do this, or you don't have MT Blacklist installed (install it! really!), the IP address that this particular scuzzball used is 63.202.139.82, so do yourself a favor and block that.
UPDATE: Jay Allen himself suggests a more comprehensive regexp than the one above:
([\w\-_.]+)\.(ru|ro|biz|ag|ws|tk)
I don't think I've had any spams from those other domains, but that doesn't mean I won't. I'll make an update soon. Thanks, Jay!
UPDATE: Well, in testing Jay's bigger regexp, I discovered it wants to kill comments from Rob Booth, and anyone else whose personal URL starts with www.ro-something. That won't do, so I've added a word-boundary tag on the end. The regexp is now:
([\w\-_.]+)\.(ru|ro|biz|ag|ws|tk)\b
This properly ignores Rob's www.robbooth.net URL. Use it at your own risk. I suggest you try running a big de-spam after adding something like this to see what else you might catch. Among other things, I realized that my .biz prohibition would kill any link to a Yahoo! business story. I can live with that, but you may not like it. So caveat emptor, and drop me a note if you have any questions.
Great article in the Columbia Journalism Review on the fine art of avoiding the question. It sheds quite a bit of light on why we so seldom get any useful information from those who talk to the press on a regular basis. Here's an example:
Some media trainers counsel clients not to answer the question that’s asked, but instead to give a response that fits with the message they plan to deliver. Others insist that’s deceptive and urge clients to at least acknowledge or “satisfy” the question and then steer or bridge to their messages. Being asked if the sky is blue and answering that the grass is green is out of vogue, they say.“You don’t have to say what you don’t want to say. But you must acknowledge the question,” says Davia Temin, president of Temin and Company, a strategic-marketing and crisis-management firm. Saying “no comment,” though, is not advised since it’s seen as an admission of guilt. Nevertheless, says the longtime New York p.r. executive Richard Weiner: “There are twenty-seven different ways to avoid the question and twenty-seven ways to say no comment.”
When guests don’t want to answer, they use phrases such as: That’s such a complex subject . . . Your question is not relevant . . . You bring up an interesting point, but before I discuss it, I want to talk about . . . . Such dodges serve as a springboard to the message the guest wants to send. On Good Morning America in November Charles Gibson asked General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, if he had honestly expected so many soldiers to be in harm’s way more than six months after hostilities officially ended. Myers responded not with a yes or no, but with: “You know, the Iraqi situation was complex from the start. I think we knew it was going to be very, very tough. And we’ve got to take the fight to them.” The rest of his answer touched on Iraqis helping the U.S., intelligence, and a newly found weapons cache — a classic example of the satisfy-and-steer technique drummed into every person who undergoes media training.
Maybe it's just me, but just once I'd love to see an interviewer follow up a non-answer like that with "So you're saying the answer is no, you didn't expect that", just to see what would happen. I'm not holding my breath for it, and the article gives several reasons why.
Check it out. Via DIYMedia.
This Chron article is reasonably well done, even if I've read way too many "Are the comics getting too serious?" stories. There are a couple of points to discuss:
[S]ome newspaper editors -- including here at the Chronicle -- viewed the B.C. strip originally scheduled to run today as insensitive. It featured two cavemen discussing Asian brothers who failed at building a working airplane. "Two Wongs don't make a Wright," one caveman says.After some papers elected not to run it, Creators Syndicate supplied an alternative, which is printed in today's Chronicle.
"I wouldn't be surprised if most papers run the alternate strip," said syndicate president Richard Newcombe, who added, "I know Johnny didn't mean to offend anybody."
He was referring to Johnny Hart, creator of the 36-year-old strip which appears in more than 1,200 papers. Because of the combined circulation of B.C. and The Wizard of Id, on which he collaborates, Hart frequently is called the most widely read cartoonist in the world.
First things first. The comic in question can be seen here, though there's not really much to add to the description of it above. Yes, it's Johnny Hart again, fresh off the controversy of last year's "Islam" comic. Never mind whether or not the punch line of this strip really is an ethnic slur or not, I just want to know this: Was Hart completely unaware of the Abercrombie & Fitch T-shirt with a similar gag that caused an outcry in 2002, or did he knowingly crib that lame joke? Either way, the boy needs to get out more.
Second, the only people who call Johnny Hart "the most widely read cartoonist in the world" are people who can't do simple arithmetic, as Mark Evanier pointed out nearly three years ago. Not that it matters, since if something gets repeated often enough, it may as well be considered a fact.
"In the late 1980s, Johnny became what we call a born-again Christian," Newcombe said. "He asked me about whether he could put Christian messages into B.C."
"What we call a born-again Christian"? Maybe Richard Newcombe needs to get out more, too.
Unfortunately, the article cuts off before it gets into a discussion of why comics have always really been for adults, and that political content goes back at least to the time of Walt Kelly and Pogo. Too bad, because that was the best part of it.
Finally, in the Things You Can Learn About Your Spouse After Five Years Of Marriage department: While perusing the Sunday with our friend Matt, who used to work for the Chronicle, Tiffany told me that she actually reads Apartment 3-G, Mary Worth, and Rex Morgan. I never thought I'd meet a person who actually read "Mary Worth", let alone marry one. She said reading them takes the place of watching soap operas. I'm still shaking my head. Does anyone else out there read those strips? Why? Please let me know.
I've been wondering lately if immigration issues will cause a rift in the Republican Party during this election season. There's already some conservative rumbling over government spending, though I agree with Nick Confessore that it's a bit early to make anything out of that. President Bush will keep on claiming that he's fiscally responsible and that it's terrorists and Democrats who force him to spend more than he'd like, and he'll largely get away with it.
With immigration, though, there's two fronts that Bush has to worry about. First, as noted before, promising without delivering is worse than not promising. I'll believe that Bush will risk political capital to get Congress to do something it doesn't want to do when I see it. If Bush fails to get something on his desk, he'll certainly face a Democratic candidate who won't hesitate to point it out. That surely won't gain him anything with Hispanic voters.
The other danger to him is from the nativist flank of the Republican Party, which may be smaller than it once was but is still vocal and uncompromising. As Luis notes, one of the leading nativists, Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo, is looking into get an initiative onto the state ballot that would require state agencies to check for proof of legal residency before providing "non-emergency services". What exactly does that mean?
In an interview Saturday, Tancredo said that will require all state and county agencies to require proof of citizenship or legal residency from anyone seeking any public service. At a recent legislative council hearing, he said that could include programs administered by the state using federal money.The scope could be immense, and would include things like the incorporation of a company or getting a gun license, for which proof of legal residency isn't now required.
While basic K-12 education is exempt, many programs now offered in schools wouldn't be, including after-school reading programs or school health programs.
"Although (Tancredo) was vague about this at the legislative council hearing, the nightmare scenario for me would be that it could be interpreted to include police services as well," said Anna Sampaio, a specialist in immigration issues at University of Colorado-Denver. "If somebody is a victim of domestic violence or is being harassed by a neighbor, they would not be just deterred but in some instance barred from going to local police for help," she said.
Tancredo said that police investigations couldn't be construed as services under the amendment, but others disagree.
"It certainly seems to me that if you are the victim of a robbery, under this amendment the police could demand to see your identification before they investigate," [Denver lawyer Mark] Grueskin said.
"If you wanted to provide clarity, you'd provide a definition of what an emergency or non-emergency service is. As a lawyer, I can only conclude this lack of clarity is on purpose," he said, noting that the ambiguity could later be used in the courts to push for as expansive an application as possible.
"Every statutory city, every county and frankly even home rule cities are political subdivisions of the state of Colorado. I don't see those entities, particularly those that receive direct or indirect state funding can be treated any differently than the state itself," Grueskin said.
Won't that be a fun question to debate in a state that Bush won with 51% in 2000? I should note that Tancredo has another bill already out there, though it's one that apparently has some merit to it. (Via Ginger.)
Right now, the backlash against Bush's proposal seems to be coming from the truly loopy members of his party (and if you think that's frothy, try reading Part II). All I'm saying is that this element is out there, and if you think they've got no place else to go, then I'll remind you that Democrats thought the same thing about Nader supporters in 2000. Bush may yet pull all of this off, but I think it's trickier than it looks.
So does this mean that we can officially call a halt to any future Dean-is-like-McGovern articles?
Wesley Clark, seeking to make inroads among supporters of Howard Dean, was endorsed Sunday by George McGovern, whose opposition to the Vietnam War propelled him to the Democratic Party's nomination 32 years ago.[...]
"We are not going to lose this time," the former South Dakota senator said to rousing applause from an audience packed into the cinderblock cafeteria.
The endorsement comes just days after Dean publicly questioned Clark's party credentials and called him a Republican.
McGovern got two standing ovations in his remarks, which cast Clark as a "Democrat's Democrat" and a progressive politician with the best shot to break the GOP hold on national security issues and beat Bush.
"I think the best of the lot is Wesley Clark," McGovern said.
I'm not obsessively following the Iowa caucuses - tune in to Kos and Burnt Orange for good on-the-ground stuff there. It's a little too inside-baseball even for me, and besides, I'm for whoever the nominee is. For what it's worth, though, I'm liking Clark more now than before. He seems to be hitting a stride. I have some qualms about making the Presidency one's first run for public office, but they're not enough to sink him in my mind. I will say this - it'd be nice if our primary votes on March 9 matter.
There are two State Senate seats to be filled by a special election on Tuesday, as replacements for Teel Bivins and Bill Ratliff will be chosen. Bivins will surely be replaced by another Republican (though there is a credible Democrat running for that seat), but the Dems have a pickup opportunity in East Texas where Democrat Paul Sadler is among the top candidates running.
[O]bservers don't expect to see any candidate emerge with more than half the vote Tuesday. That outcome would mean a runoff election next month between the top two vote-getters.Leading candidates include:
• Kevin Eltife, 44, a Republican and the former mayor of Tyler. He is backed by Gov. Rick Perry and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, both Republicans. Mr. Eltife has raised the most money of any candidate, with more than $472,000 listed in his latest campaign finance report. He reported $168,000 more in donations in an earlier report.
• Tommy Merritt, 55, a Republican House member from Longview. He is one of the more colorful members of his party in the lower chamber and is considered somewhat of a maverick – so much so that several GOP leaders are working against him in the primary. He has raised only $64,000 in donations, but he is wealthy and is expected to match his opponents in campaign spending.
• Paul Sadler, 48, a Democrat and former House member from Henderson. As chairman of the House Public Education Committee, he teamed with Mr. Ratliff to author the 1995 school law that later was touted by George W. Bush when he ran for president. Mr. Sadler also sponsored the teacher health insurance bill passed in 2001. He has raised $440,000 in campaign contributions.
Polls show the three men running close in the race to succeed Mr. Ratliff, who has not endorsed any of the candidates.
It's not too late to donate to Paul Sadler and help him make it to the runoff. After all that happened in 2003, this would be a real nice win for the Democrats if Sadler can get elected.
What the hell is going on in Fort Bend County?
Fort Bend County Sheriff Milton Wright, the only Republican candidate for the office, was granted a temporary restraining order Friday, keeping the only Democratic candidate off his party's ballot.The Democrat, Richmond lawyer Tom Steinmeyer, said Friday he plans to withdraw from the race anyway, "because I don't have the backing of the Fort Bend Democratic Party."
However, his decision does not make Wright's action moot.
Wright's attorney Rick Forlano explained that Texas law says a candidate who withdraws from a race must do so 65 days before the election, which in this case is March 9.
"That deadline has already passed," Forlano said.
Steinmeyer filed for the office Jan. 2, the deadline, with a check for $1,250.
The bank returned the check, citing insufficient funds in Steinmeyer's account, Forlano said, so Democratic chair Felicia Farrar took Steinmeyer's name off the ballot.
Steinmeyer blamed the bank for the bounced check. "The bank has admitted it was their mistake," he said Friday.
Steinmeyer later gave Farrar a cashier's check, and she placed him back on the ballot, prompting the sheriff's lawsuit, Forlano said.
Wright contends Steinmeyer is ineligible to run because his filing fee was not paid by the deadline set by law.
The order keeping Steinmeyer's name off the ballot expires Thursday afternoon, and Wright and Forlano will ask state District Judge Brady Elliott that morning to grant an injunction keeping Steinmeyer from running.
"If he does not want to run, the party chair simply needs to agree to that injunction," Forlano said.
Farrar could not be reached for comment Friday.
Let me see if I've got this straight: Tom Steinmeyer paid his filing fee in good faith, but was thrown off the ballot when the bank bounced his check. When the bank admitted its error, he was reinstated on the ballot by Democratic Party chair Felicia Farrar, but Republican incumbent Milton Wright got a TRO to keep him off. Now Steinmeyer wants to withdraw from the race, but Wright's attorney, the guy who got the TRO that kept him off even though he was booted for something that wasn't his fault is saying he can't withdraw because it's too close to the primary.
I think I speak for many when I say "Huh?!?!?"
First of all, I don't think a candidate should be punished for a bank's error. That just doesn't seem fair to me. I strongly disagree with the judge that gave the TRO.
Second, if the law says you can't withdraw within 65 days of an election, then it seems to me that there ought to be more time between the filing deadline and the election itself. It also seems to me that an unopposed primary candidate ought to be able to withdraw a lot later in the game if he or she wants to, since if that candidate is determined to not run, he or she will just be dropping out after the primary anyway. I do actually understand Wright's desire for the TRO, I just think it shouldn't have been necessary.
Finally, I don't understand at all Steinmeyer's assertion that he doesn't have the backing of the Fort Bend Democratic Party. If a party can't support a solo candidate running against the other team's incumbent, then what the hell are they good for? I've heard a rumor that Felicia Farrar is on the outs with the state party - if this story is part of the reason why, then I'd say "Right on". So I'll ask again: What is going on down there?
December was my busiest month ever, with over 35,000 hits on the Sitemeter counter, thanks to several high-profile links to my Worst Movies list and my interview with Richard Morrison. Had there not been the usual lull for Christmas and New Year's, I would've easily topped 40,000. I seem to get about 1000 hits per day now, though admittedly a lot of that is search engine results. Still, I'm happy with the site's growth, and I look forward to another year of it. As always, I thank everyone for reading. Good feedback really makes a difference, and I appreciate all of the good feedback that I get.
Top referrers are below the More link.
Aggregators, collections, indices, etc ====================================== 287: http://www.kooqoo.com/ 129: http://blo.gs/ 127: http://www.bloglines.com 99: http://www.technorati.com/Weblog referrers
================
7872: Atrios
1583: Daily Kos
578: Crooked Timber
569: TAPPED
506: Cursor
404: Calpundit
310: The Volokh Conspiracy
210: Political State Report
162: The Burnt Orange Report
146: Liberal Oasis
122: Norbizness
100: Matthew Yglesias
97: A Perfectly Cromulent Blog
96: Greg Wythe
85: Rob Booth
83: Rhetoric & Rhythm
79: Seeing the Forest
Top search terms
================
#reqs: search term
-----: -----------
369: jon matthews
308: ugly people
188: diane zamora
144: american idol tryouts
97: prime number algorithm
92: offshoring
77: academia waltz
73: darlie routier
54: proposition 12
49: catholic high school girls in trouble
48: if you love something set it free
47: largest rat
45: andy pettite
43: schlitterbahn galveston
42: world's largest rat
42: off the kuff
41: australian whine
40: oxenhielm
38: gregg phillips
38: mo cheeks national anthem
If you're looking for a reason to expand your blogroll, check out the vast number of nominees in the Best New Blog category of the Koufax awards. The breadth and depth of the new voices out there is amazing. Cast your vote, but more importantly, check them out.
Oh, and if you want an early contender for Best New Blog of 2004, try the CJR Campaign Desk. That one's going on the sidebar now.
Yesterday was the filing deadline, and with the Supreme Court's refusal to grant an injunction against the new Congressional map pending an appeal to that court, the election will go forward under it. Let's see where we stand now.
In the Houston area, Rep. Chris Bell now has two primary challengers, while Rep. Nick Lampson filed in the new 2nd CD.
Lampson is unopposed in the Democratic primary for the new 2nd District that stretches from Beaumont to east Harris County. But it has a heavily Republican voting history, and six Republicans are in the GOP primary to run against Lampson in the Nov. 2 general election.Bell is running in a district that probably will stay Democratic, but he faces a strong primary challenge from Houston Justice of the Peace Al Green and lawyer Beverly A. Spencer.
No Democrat is running in the new 10th District, which stretches from west Harris County to Austin, but eight Republicans will battle in the primary that effectively will decide who goes to Congress.
[...]
Bell, a first-term white congressman, will face a stiff test in the Democratic primary from two black candidates -- Green and Spencer -- in a new 9th Congressional District that gives African-Americans a better chance of winning than in the 25th District Bell now represents. Under the redistricting plan, the new 25th stretches from Austin to the Mexican border.
The winner in the 9th will face the victor of the GOP primary between entrepreneur A. Hassan and lawyer Arlette Molina, both of Houston.
Republicans contended that the new 9th District and the altered 29th, represented by Democrat Gene Green of Houston, improved the chances for minorities to win election. Democrats responded that minority influence was weakened in other parts of the state and that the real Republican motive was to force white Democrats from office.
Green, however, did not attract a Democratic or Republican opponent in the 29th. Former state Rep. Diana Davila-Martinez, who had been mentioned as a possible Green challenger, did not file for the seat.
Green's largely Hispanic district was redrawn to move him out of it as well as increase the number of Hispanics living in it. But his existing district also is heavily Hispanic, and he has won it since it was created a decade ago. He has rented an apartment inside the new boundaries and has pledged to buy a home there if he is elected, as now appears certain.
Republican primary candidates seeking to take on Lampson in the new 2nd District are lawyer Andrew J. Bolton of Spring, businessman George Fastuca of Houston, businessman Mark Henry of Spring, businessman Clint Moore of Spring, police officer John Nickell of Houston and former state District Judge Ted Poe of Humble.
In the 10th District race, the GOP candidates are former state District Judge John Devine of Tomball, rancher Pat Elliott of Brenham, former Houston City Councilman John Kelley, former federal prosecutor Michael T. McCaul of Austin, attorney Dave Phillips of Cypress, mortgage banker Ben Streusand of Spring, public relations director Brad Tashenberg of Katy and banker Teresa Doggett Taylor of Austin.
FYI, Teresa Doggett Taylor is not related to Rep. Lloyd Doggett, though she did run against him once. The Baytown Sun has a long article on Rep. Gene Green, who is their once and former representative. Like Green, Rep. Ron Paul is unopposed in the 14th CD.
At the last minute, Rep. Max Sandlin filed for reelection in the 1st CD.
Incumbent Max Sandlin, D-Marshall, filed for re-election in District 1 within the last 30 minutes before Friday's deadline. However, in information from his campaign office, he said the decision was the "most difficult and heart-wrenching" of his career.[...]
The new map moved Longview and Tyler out of Congressional District 4 and into District 1. U.S. Rep. Ralph Hall, a longtime congressman from Rockwall who recently became a Republican, represents District 4. Sandlin represents District 1.
[...]
"When (U.S. Rep. Tom Delay) and his minions orchestrated this bald-faced redistricting power grab, they destroyed a 100-year-old community of interest in Northeast Texas," Sandlin's statement said. "They split the counties where I was born and raised away from the county where I built my career and currently live, and they put me in the position of having to surrender constituents that I deeply care about and who have honored me with their support and friendship.
"To the new residents of District 1, I want to assure them that I will work hard to give them effective representation. And to my dear friends who are no longer in the first district, I want to promise them that as long as I sit in the U.S. House, I will be your representative."
No Democrats filed to run against Sandlin in the March 9 primary.
However, the Republican race is more crowded.
Longview lawyer John Graves filed on Friday along with Larry Thornton of Cushing. The Republican Party of Texas' Web site listed Thornton's occupation as "administration," and there was no phone number to contact him.
The other Republican candidates in the March 9 primary are state Rep. Wayne Christian, R-Center; former appeals court Judge Louie Gohmert of Tyler; San Augustine business consultant Emily Mathews; and Nacogdoches ophthalmologist Dr. Lyle Thorstenson.
There's a lot of activity in San Antonio:
Four Republicans, including three from the San Antonio area, lined up in hopes of taking on incumbent U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez, D-San Antonio, in District 28.U.S. Rep. Charlie Gonzalez has a Republican challenger, Roger Allen Scott , 29, who works in marketing and business development. Gonzalez's ex-wife, Becky Whetstone, has announced her intention to run as an independent for the District 20 seat.
For the newly created District 25, which stretches from Austin to Hidalgo County, former Public Utility Commission Chairwoman Rebecca Armendariz Klein of Austin filed at the last minute against a fellow Republican and two Democrats already in the race.
A San Antonio native and Gulf War I veteran, she immediately drew a heavyweight backer: Gov. Rick Perry, who said, "I look forward to hitting the campaign trail on her behalf."
[...]
The reconfigured District 28 held by Rodriguez covers Eastern and Southern Bexar County and Guadalupe, Wilson and Atascosa counties. It also extends south to part of Webb and all of Zapata County.
Although considered a safe Democratic district where voting-age Hispanics and African Americans outnumber Anglos of voting age by more than 2-to-1, four Republicans filed to run.
They include Gabriel "Gabe" Perales, a retired federal administrative law judge who was the GOP nominee Rodriguez defeated in 2002.
He's joined by Chris Bellamy, a Helotes aerospace businessman; James Hopson, a CPA and tax attorney from Seguin; and Laredo attorney-banker Francisco "Quico" Canseco.
Rodriguez, seeking a fourth term, faces an opponent in the Democratic primary — Henry Cuellar of Laredo, a former Texas secretary of state Rodriguez backed in 2002 when Cuellar narrowly lost to U.S. Rep. Henry Bonilla, R-San Antonio.
Bonilla's sprawling District 23 extends from the Northwest Side southwest to Webb County and northwest to the outskirts of El Paso.
He had considerable help from GOP mapmakers last year who removed nearly 100,000 Hispanic Webb County voters, who generally support Democrats, and replaced them with predominantly Anglo Republican voters in Kerr, Kendall and Bandera counties.
Two Democrats filed for the right to challenge Bonilla anyway: San Antonio professor Joe Sullivan and Boerne attorney Virgil Yanta.
[...]
[Rep. Lloyd] Doggett decided to run in the new District 25, and he faces former State District Judge Leticia Hinojosa of McAllen in the Democratic primary.
Former PUC Chairwoman Klein will face Regner Capener of Mission in the GOP primary.
Everything else was pretty well known already, with Frost v. Sessions in Dallas, Stenholm v. Neugebauer in West Texas, and Edwards v. (most likely) Wohlgemuth in Waco. The Morning News has some more info, plus a handy chart that shows who's running where.
Finally, on an administrative note, this will be the last Killer D's entry that isn't about the court case. Future election-related stories, no matter how often the new map is mentioned, will go in the Election 2004 category.
Happy Furry Puppy Story Time has abandoned Blogspot for a new home. Update your bookmarks and drop by for a visit.
Yesterday I mentioned that a coalition of campaign-finance watchdogs had issued a press release in which they called on Deputy Attorney General James Comey to appoint an outside special counsel to investigate an illegal use of funds by John Ashcroft in his 2000 Senate reelection bid. Today the Washington Post picks up the story and throws in a bonus tidbit:
Another aspect of the case is the role of Jack Oliver, now deputy finance chairman of the Bush-Cheney '04 reelection committee. Oliver, who was executive director of Ashcroft's PAC, was deposed by FEC investigators last February because his signature appears with Ashcroft's on a controversial work product agreement under which ownership of the mailing list was transferred to the then-senator, according to documents released in December by the FEC.
The mailing list is a list of donors that was shared by Ashcroft's Senate campaign and his Spirit of America PAC, which was formed to explore a Presidential bid. Money derived from renting that list was given by Spirit of America to Ashcroft 2000, in violation of limits on such funds.
All I really have to add to this is to ask: Is the accompanying picture scary or what? Feel free to caption it if you've got the mojo for that sort of thing.
With the Fastows in the bag, Kenny Boy Lay is looking to cover his hiney by getting out in front of the Enron story.
"He'll be talking soon," attorney Mike Ramsey said during a news conference he called to discuss Lay's reaction to Andrew Fastow's plea bargain.Lay wants to express "the sense of betrayal that he feels relative to what occurred yesterday," Ramsey said, referring to Wednesday's court action.
Other than professing sadness about what happened, Lay has not publicly addressed the Enron matter. However, he's getting "restless" and wants to discuss the matter, the attorney said.
"I don't blame him," Ramsey added.
It's been nearly 2.5 years since Enron imploded into a pile of shredded memos and bogus transactions, and he's restless now? We will self-serve no whine before its time, I guess.
Ramsey reiterated Thursday that he doesn't believe any criminal charges will be filed against Lay, despite his being the subject of an ongoing inquiry since the company's collapse.Lay's public discussion of what occurred at Enron likely will begin with a "white paper," or a newspaper opinion piece, his attorney said.
The move appears to be part of a well-thought-out strategy by Lay's defense lawyers, former federal prosecutor Jacob Frenkel of Washington, D.C., said Thursday.
"Ken Lay's defense team, unlike counsel for some other high-profile defendants caught in the corporate fraud net, have so far adopted a textbook defense strategy," said Frenkel, now a defense attorney. "This is not a team that is likely to make a sloppy mistake at the 11th hour. So a decision to go forward with a white paper or whatever is certainly a well-planned and calculated move, in all likelihood to further distance Ken Lay from Jeff Skilling and Andy Fastow."
Translation: Lay is going to go on a charm offensive designed to make him seem if not warm and cuddly then at least not sinister and conniving, in the hopes that whatever jury he may eventually face has a smidgen of sympathy for him.
Ramsey said Thursday that Lay and the board had no way to know the company was being looted. Lay himself lost hundreds of millions of dollars, he said.
As noted before, the clueless-not-criminal defense does have some plausibility to it. Whistleblower Sherron Watkins also notes that Jeff Skilling thought Lay was clueless. I still don't understand how Lay and the board could not have known what was going on. What's the point of even having a board of directors if they're that shielded or deluded?
Meanwhile, Jeff Skilling, Darth Vader to Lay's Emperor Palpatine, shouldn't be making any long term plans at this time.
Defense attorneys involved in the Enron cases have expected for months that Skilling, 50, eventually would be charged. That could happen within weeks, sources close to the case say, now that prosecutors have secured the testimony of Andrew Fastow, who pleaded guilty on Wednesday.Testimony from the former chief financial officer will help in several prosecutions but his main value is what he can say about Skilling and former Enron Chairman Ken Lay.
Though Lay will undoubtedly be vigorously investigated now that Fastow is in the government camp, insiders say it's Skilling who seems most immediately in peril.
I await further news with bated breath.
Hope, whom I had the pleasure of meeting while up in Austin to play bridge, has a critical look at the recent initiative to promote marriage in the US. Not too surprisingly, the idea is one part conservative Lysenkoism and one part pandering to religious activists. Check it out.
Do you think that maybe this guy kept the photos that came with his wallet until he could get the film on his camera developed?
DENTON - A candidate for Denton County sheriff who posted faked pictures of "friends and supporters" on his campaign Web site has replaced them with pictures of animals.The original series of pictures on John Dupree's site showed people in various settings holding signs supporting the Republican candidate. They were taken from Web sites that offer generic photos of people holding up blank signs, Dupree said.
Dupree said his webmaster told him the fake pictures were being used as placeholders until they could be replaced with pictures of real supporters. The webmaster didn't think to include a disclaimer, he said.
"The site is still under construction," he told the Denton Record-Chronicle for a story Thursday.
Sheriff's Maj. Greg Leveling, who also is running for sheriff, said Dupree should consider dropping out of the race.
"It is an ethical issue that he needs to look long and hard at," he said. "If these allegations are indeed founded, I think he would have to give that due consideration."
Another candidate, Denton police Detective Benny Parkey, disagreed.
"I don't think it indicates anything about qualifications for sheriff," he said. "I don't believe it's a major issue; I believe he's trying to make an impression maybe a little too hard, and maybe he got bad advice."
I'd file that under Bad Advice From Your Webguru. All I can say to Candidate Dupree is that if your guy even mentions the word "Photoshop", put down the keyboard and slowly back away.
Rep. Nick Lampson has made up his mind: he's running in the 2nd CD.
Lampson, who has represented the 9th District since 1997, will run in the new 2nd District, which extends from eastern Harris County to Beaumont. The 9th District moved to south Harris County in the redistricting plan passed last year by the state Legislature and approved recently by a federal court.The existing 9th District, which includes a fraction of Harris County and all of Galveston, Chambers and Jefferson counties, gave a slight edge to Republicans in recent statewide elections while continuing to elect Lampson.
The new 2nd, which includes all of Jefferson and parts of Liberty and Harris counties, has voted 67 percent Republican. More than half a dozen candidates have announced in the Republican primary for the new district.
"For eight years I have had the privilege of representing Jefferson and Harris counties in the United States Congress and welcome the opportunity to also serve the people of Liberty as well as other Harris County citizens," Lampson said in his announcement.
He previously had hinted that he might challenge House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land, in the 22nd Congressional District. DeLay was the leader of efforts to redraw Texas districts in a manner expected to send more than 20 Republicans to the House from Texas.
The good news is there's no incumbent for him to run against, and none of the announced Republican candidates have a particularly high profile. The bad news, of course, is that the district is pretty well stacked against him. Nick Lampson is the first candidate I ever gave money to, back in 1996 when he was running against the raving loony Steve Stockman. His campaign website is here if you want to contribute or volunteer for him.
Former Austin Mayor Gus Garcia has decided against running in the new 10th CD. His odds would not have been particularly good, but it would have been nice to have a viable candidate nonetheless. The GOP primary winner here will likely face no more than token opposition.
It's still not official, but Rep. Martin Frost is looking like a sure thing to run against Rep. Pete Sessions in the 32nd CD.
There was considerable buzz at a Dallas Democratic event this week that Frost had decided to run against Sessions, said state Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth."Everybody was talking about it all evening long," Burnam said. As the crowd whispered, he said, "Martin was standing at the door greeting people."
[...]
Some political insiders say Sessions is the least insulated against a challenge by Frost.
While 57.6 percent of the voters in the new 32nd District are believed to be Republicans, Frost would be considered the favorite among blacks and Hispanics, which make up 39 percent of the district.
The 32nd District also contains Jewish and Islamic neighborhoods that Democrats hope would swing toward Frost. His name is already familiar in areas of the district that he has represented in the past.
"He knows what's going on. He understands the big picture. He knows this congressional district is the one in North Texas where he has the best chance of overcoming the odds," Burnam said.
Dallas County Democratic officials said they have lobbied Frost to run in their county, with hopes that his campaign's organizational resources would benefit candidates lower on the ballot. "I've been praying at night that he would run in the 32nd," said Susan Hays, chairwoman of the county's Democratic Party.
Art Brender, chairman of the Tarrant County Democratic Party, said he has asked Frost to run against Michael Burgess or Joe Barton, incumbent Republicans whose districts contain considerable chunks of Tarrant County. But even if it means leaving Tarrant County, Brender added, "I want to see him run where he can get elected, because he's been such a valuable member of the Texas delegation."
In Washington, some insiders are convinced that Frost will run against Sessions.
"Everybody here seems to think it's Sessions," said Jim Ellis, political consultant to House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land. "Sessions' people seem to think it's true."
And there's still no word on Max Sandlin. Today's the deadline for filing for Congress, so we'll know one way or another soon enough.
We were fixing to have ourselves a little mold dustup at Minute Maid Park yesterday.
A day away from Thursday's deadline to restore the $250 million ballpark's roof to its original white color, and 2 1/2 weeks away from the Super Bowl, the mold is mostly gone, but the roof still looks like coffee-stained teeth.Harris County-Houston Sports Authority officials, who viewed the roof from the Chase Tower on Monday, said parts of the roof still weren't clean enough. The roof's manufacturer, which is paying for the cleaning, is supposed to make it white, they said.
"The expectation is that the high roof will be cleaner than it is now. We bought a white roof, and we expect them to clean it with uniformity," said Oliver Luck, the sports authority's chief executive officer.
But the company washing it says the culprit now is dirt, not the fungus problem it agreed to fix.
"Everything out here has dirt on it," said Ken Barlow, owner of Fairfax Station, Va.-based Ken Barlow Cleaning Systems, which in an initial inspection in December noted only the mold that was growing on the 480,000-square-foot roof.
Barlow said recent tests collected since the cleaning started last week revealed a layer of dirt under the mold, including a stubborn red clay that he believes came from the baseball field.
Barlow now says it will take two times more money to scrub or power-wash the dirt, a technique that will require additional equipment and manpower than he was paid for in his contract with GenFlex Roofing Systems, the Maumee, Ohio, company that manufactured the plastic membrane.
The company agreed to pay for the roof's cleaning after the Astros filed a warranty claim, and independent tests showed a potpourri of molds growing atop the 4-year-old stadium.
"What I am going to do now, is I am going to remove all the mold from the smaller roofs, and then I'm done, and if they want to start a (spitting) contest, they can," Barlow said.
In the meantime, some of his workers have begun scrubbing parts of Minute Maid Park to remove dirt with brooms and a special formulation that contains bleach and an ingredient found in mayonnaise.
"They hired me to remove the black mold," he said, insisting that GenFlex pay up.
" I don't care if they get the extra money from Saddam Hussein's bank account," he said.
Tom Kaufman, an engineering services manager with the roof manufacturer who is overseeing the cleaning, said if Barlow did not remove the dirt it would be considered a breach of the contract, which is estimated to be worth about $50,000.
"Yeah, there is dirt up there," he said. But the contract, he said, called for it to be "all one color, with no color variations from panel to panel. The specification is to get the thing clean. From the GenFlex view, this is not acceptable."
Thankfully, cooler heads have prevailed.
A day after the company cleaning the park's roof of mold cried foul over a contract that it said didn't cover dirt, the company and the roof's manufacturer reached an agreement to scrub the remaining stains next week.Ken Barlow Cleaning Systems said it will be hand-scrubbing the roof with soft-bristle brooms, a job it expects to complete by Monday.
"It's a lot safer than power washing," said Ken Barlow, who estimated the cleaning would cost about twice as much as the $50,000 he was initially paid to remove black mold. As late as Tuesday, Barlow said he would leave town if he did not get more money.
"I'd be in Louisiana right now," if this deal didn't happen, he said.
The agreement marks the end of a nine-inning saga that began when the Houston Astros, who lease the $250 million ballpark, filed a warranty claim last year with GenFlex Roofing Systems, the Ohio-based company that manufactured the stadium's white plastic membrane.
It took nearly six months, a host of independent tests and the hiring of a lawyer before GenFlex agreed to pay for the 480,000-square-foot roof's cleaning. The company contends that it never guaranteed the roof would stay white in the 10-year warranty.
Then, days away from the deadline, which originally was set for today, officials with the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority noticed yellow streaks on the highest roof. GenFlex said it would be restored to its original white color.
I suppose that's one less thing for the outside media to dump on Houston during Super Bowl week, which ought to make Kevin feel, oh, maybe 2% better about the whole thing.
A group of public interest watchdogs have joined forces to pressure the Justice Department into appointing a special prosecutor to investigate charges that Attorney General John Ashcroft broke campaign finance laws in his unsuccessful run for reelection to the Senate in 2000. They've published a long letter addressed to Deputy Attorney General James Comey which lays out the evidence and urges him to make the appointment. Here's a bit of it:
FEC documents present clear and convincing evidence that Attorney General Ashcroft knowingly accepted, during his 2000 Senate re-election campaign, a fundraising mailing list, developed at a cost of $1.7 million, constituting an illegal, excessive campaign contribution of at least $255,000, in violation of 2 U.S.C. § 441a(f); that his leadership PAC illegally funneled $192,965 in rental income derived from that mailing list to his campaign committee, in contravention of 2 U.S.C. § 441a(a)(2)(A); that his campaign committee derived an additional $61,955 in illegal, excessive campaign contributions by using the mailing list to solicit other contributions, in violation of 2 U.S.C. § 441a(f); that his leadership PAC and campaign committee failed to disclose the transfer of the mailing list as a campaign contribution, in violation of 2 U.S.C. §§ 434 (a)-(b); that he committed a felonious act of criminal conspiracy by conspiring -- along with his leadership PAC and his campaign committee -- to defraud the government of the United States by disrupting and impeding its agent, the FEC, from carrying out its statutorily prescribed duties to enforce campaign financing and disclosure laws and to provide the public with accurate information regarding the source and use of contributions to federal candidates, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371; and that he filed false statements with the FEC, thereby committing a felony violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1001.
The writers note that although Ashcroft was fined by the FEC for these actions, that was a civil matter. These are criminal allegations, and could be punished by jail time of up to 5 years.
Anyway, we'll see if they have any effect. Thanks to Alfredo Garcia for the tip.
As of today, we know what the immediate plans are for Democratic incumbents Charlie Stenholm (running in CD 19 against freshman Republican Rep. Randy Neugebauer), Chet Edwards (running in CD 17, most likely against State Rep. Arlene Wohlgemuth), Lloyd Doggett (running in CD 25 with District Judge Leticia Hinojosa as a primary opponent), Chris Bell (running in CD 9 with Justice of the Peace Al Green as a primary opponent), and Jim Turner (not running, rumored to be gearing up for a statewide campaign in 2006). That leaves three threatened incumbents: Martin Frost, Nick Lampson, and Max Sandlin.
Frost appears to be the closest to making a final decision. According to the Associated Press, he's going to challenge Republican Rep. Pete Sessions in the 32nd CD.
"His mind is made up 99.9 percent sure," a Dallas-based Democratic political strategist, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the newspaper. "This is going to be a very tough race for him, as he's not considered a conservative Democrat. But if he runs a solid campaign and positions himself as a centrist, he's got a good shot."Two other Democratic strategists, in Austin and Washington, D.C., also said Frost is almost sure to run in the 32nd District.
A Democratic strategist in Washington, also speaking on condition that his name not be used, said he has also heard that Frost is leaning toward the Sessions district, noting it has a substantial minority base.
[...]
Sessions, R-Dallas, and Frost serve together on the influential House Rules Committee, but rarely agree on major legislation. Both are veteran fund-raisers, with Frost raising $1.7 million in the last election while Sessions amassed $730,000.
Frost's spokesman, Jess Fassler, said the congressman will make a decision on Friday.
"He's hearing from people all over North Texas urging him to run in their districts because they know how effective he has been," Fassler said.
Hyatt hotel officials confirmed that Frost has booked a room at Union Station in downtown Dallas beginning at 2 p.m. Friday.
"Once Martin announces, I'll be very happy to talk about it," Sessions said.
Sessions won the then-new 32nd in 2002 with 67% of the vote, after moving from the 5th CD, where he won in 2000 with 54%. Byron thinks Frost has a shot, while the Quorum Report says "CD32 contains a concentrated Jewish population with a long history of financial and political support for Martin Frost." All I know is that this ought to be one of the most (if not the most) expensive Congressional campaigns this year.
Nick Lampson has been rumored to run against Tom DeLay in the 22nd CD, and he's been reportedly thinking about the new 2nd CD, former home of Jim Turner. Now the Baytown Sun suggests a third possibility: CD 14, currently held by Ron Paul.
In the newly drawn 14th District, which now includes the eastern third of Baytown (including the Chambers County portion), only incumbent Ron Paul has filed so far. The Surfside Republican and one-time Libertarian Party presidential candidate has held the seat since 1997.No Democrats have yet filed for the district, although there has been speculation that U.S. Rep. Nick Lampson, D-Beaumont, may do so. The new 14th District includes much of the area covered by Lampson’s former 9th District. A representative of Lampson’s office did not return a phone call Tuesday.
Greg thought back in October that CD 14 is not insurmountable for the Democrats, and I think a Lampson candidacy would be a strong challenge to him. Hard to say, and Paul isn't anywhere near the top of my Least Liked GOP Incumbents list, but I'd take it if it happened.
As for Max Sandlin...Haven't heard a thing. There was some talk before the court ruling that Sandlin might take on Ralph Hall - this was also given as a reason for Hall's party-switch. We'll see what he does.
Hmph. According to this Houston Press article, those of us who want to know the secret identities of anti-rail group Texans for True Mobility's donors better be prepared for disappointment. Seems our DA, Chuck Rosenthal, isn't particularly eager to enforce the laws they may have broken.
The D.A. said there would be an investigation, but he wouldn't reveal the results until after the November 4 election. After all, that was only a few weeks away, and the last thing Rosenthal wanted was to influence voters.Since Rosenthal's announcement, however, nearly three months have passed. There's been no word from the D.A. and no accounting by Texans for True Mobility of the $1.4 million it claimed to raise: neither how it was spent nor who donated it.
But the group did file a report naming two donors who contributed $175,000 to what it calls its political action committee. Its Web site also includes a list of supporters.
And many of those names show up on an entirely different list: that of Rosenthal's contributors. The D.A.'s campaign records show that, since 2000, Rosenthal has received nearly $30,000 in donations from known TTM supporters. He's collected from eight of the 19 citizens listed on TTM's site. He also took $15,000 from developer Michael Stevens, one of the group's most outspoken leaders.
Those links -- as well as the D.A.'s hands-off stance during the crucial days before the election and his silence on the current probe -- have heightened concerns among TTM's critics.
I wouldn't be quite so cheesed about this if I had any faith that a real investigation had been ongoing all along, but between this Press article and last week's Chron story, I have to wonder if anything has been done yet. Look at this paragraph from the Press story:
Media coverage indicated that the D.A.'s investigation would be prompt, but the results would not be announced until after the voting. But last week, when the Press inquired about the investigation's status, Rosenthal said he didn't know. Only then did he say he would ask his government affairs chief for a report. He now says he expects to receive it soon.
And from the Chron story of January 9:
Don Smyth, the attorney leading the investigation, was gone for several weeks during the holidays, Rosenthal said, explaining why a decision on whether to pursue criminal charges has yet to be reached."I asked him Tuesday for a conclusion and to have it on my desk" in the next week or two, he said. "I need to have it come to an end."
Maybe I'm just being unreasonably impatient. These things do take time, and the holiday season puts a crimp on everyone's schedule. Things could be merrily perking along, with that final report due any day now. It's just that nowhere in either of these stories do I get any sense of urgency on Rosenthal's part. Given his overall track record, that's really put me in a negative frame of mind about the whole thing, so I have to ask: What's taking so damn long? Note, by the way, that Rosenthal asked for that report on Tuesday the 6th. We're now at Thursday the 15th. That "next week or two" deadline is rapidly approaching.
Smyth, whose name is spelled with an "i" in the Press story, says "There is an investigation going on, and we're going to try to resolve it." I sure hope so.
The Fastows have made their pleas.
Andrew Fastow, the ex-Enron chief financial officer, pleaded guilty at 2:30 p.m. today to two counts of conspiracy and agreed to accept a 10-year prison sentence and forfeit $23.8 million to the federal government.Fastow's wife, Lea, pleaded guilty at 4:15 p.m. to filing a false tax return.
Andrew Fastow will also cooperate with prosecutors in their investigation of wrongdoing at the fallen energy giant.
The property listed in Andrew Fastow's forfeiture agreement includes houses in Galveston and in Norwich, Vt.
Lea Fastow's deal calls for a five-month prison sentence and a year of supervised release, including five months of house arrest. U.S. District Judge David Hittner will decide later whether he accepts the sentencing deal.
The sweetest sentence you'll read in a newspaper this week:
Those close to the case expect [Jeff] Skilling will be charged soon and that [Ken] Lay will be under great scrutiny.
I can't wait. Neither can a friend of mine who used to work at Enron and who is still looking for another job. She sent me the following email, reprinted with her permission:
1) They'd better be giving up some pretty damning evidence against Skilling. Specifically, it had better be sufficient to put him away -- I care slightly less about getting Lay. My complaint against Lay is more along the lines of if he didn't know about the financial funny business, he certainly had an obligation to all Enron stakeholders to know and by not knowing he failed miserably in his duty.And,
2) Gee, if the Fastows give up enough, I'd be willing to let relatives take custody of the kids, instead of putting them into the foster system while both parents are in jail. Screw letting her serve time first and be out before he starts his sentence. After all, didn't Andy and Lea hide some of the money in accounts in the kids' names? I would construe that as child endangerment or somesuch -- in other words, as far as I'm concerned, they aren't fit parents.
I know, I know, it really isn't fair to punish the children for the sins of the parents and all that, but so many people lost their jobs, their savings, their sense of security and more; returning $23+ million dollars will not wipe them out (if it does they were incredibly poor managers of their personal finances).
No, I'm not bitter or anything.
The bit about the Fastow kids is on page 9 of the complaint, which is page 11 of the PDF file linked above.
Congratulations to Leslie Caldwell and her team of prosecutors. I'll be cheering you on as you set your sights on bigger fish.
Looks like former Texas Governor Ann Richards is about to endorse Howard Dean for President.
Like Al Gore, Richards, whose not-so-narrow loss to Bush in 1994 set the stage for his meteoric rise, helps Dean make a key argument about his '04 electability. The argument: Few people are more viscerally focused on beating Bush than Richards and Gore, so they presumably wouldn't back Dean unless they believed he could win.It was unclear whether Richards would issue her endorsement Thursday or Saturday. In any case, mark our words: she's with Dean.
She's no Deanie-come-lately, either, as this interview on Larry King (which I got via Kos) indicates.
Now, I haven't fully decided yet. I love what Dean has done with his campaign and will support him enthusiastically if he's the nominee, but I'm not totally sold. I've always liked John Edwards (though in my secret heart of hearts, I wish he'd stayed in the Senate), and I'm warming up to Wesley Clark, who I think will be the greatest asset among the Democratic contenders to Congressional and other down-ballot candidates around here in November. But I really have to hand it to Dean for snagging so many high-profile endorsements thus far.
Thanks to JD for the tip on this.
So we bought a new car just after Christmas, a Subaru Outback which in a less enlightened time would be called a "station wagon" but is now known by its more politically correct moniker, the "four-door hatchback". It's Tiffany's car - she wanted it, she researched it, she did all the legwork, I was just along to sign some paperwork - and she's thoroughly smitten with it. I'd like it too if I were its regular driver, but except for when we're going someplace together - given the choice between driving and napping in the passenger seat, Tiffany will choose the latter 100% of the time - she's the one driving it.
That gave us one more car than we needed for the two of us, which meant that my car had to go. It's older than her previous car and isn't in as good shape, so it made sense to do that. As of today, it's being borrowed by a friend whose parents are in town, then when we get it back we'll be selling it to our next-door neighbors.
In the meantime, I'm driving Tiffany's old car, and will do so until it's time to replace it, which won't be for at least two years if it doesn't break down. This has given me a bit of an identity crisis, because I still think of this car as being hers. In my mind, we have "her car" and the new car. There's no "my car".
Objectively, that's ridiculous. I'm driving it, so it's my car. Maybe I'll feel differently in time, but I think one reason why I can't bring myself to think of it as "my car" is because it doesn't feel right to me. The radio buttons still need to be set properly, there's no CD player, the driver-side seat belt doesn't retract properly (which annoys the crap out of me), the window and door-lock buttons are in the wrong place, etc etc etc. I feel like I'm in a loaner.
So. Any advice on how I can snap out of this? Maybe if I gave a name to the sensation - Displaced Car Owner Syndrome, or something like that. I could form a self-help group and come up with a 12-step plan. What do you think?
Rep. Chris Bell has officially filed for the new 9th CD, and one potential primary opponent has bowed out.
Bell will run in the new 9th District, which contains much of the south Harris County population Bell now represents but has a larger proportion of African-American voters.He has said he believes he can build upon the multiracial coalition that fueled his victories in 2002, including a Democratic primary win over then-City Councilman Carroll Robinson, who is black.
Bell announced his candidacy at Townwood Park in south Houston, site of a planned community center for which Bell said he secured federal funding.
One prominent black politician, Justice of the Peace Al Green, has announced that he also will seek the Democratic nomination in the 9th.
Another, Houston City Councilwoman Ada Edwards, ruled out her bid Tuesday. "I think I can be more effective staying right where I am," she said.
In the Republican Primary, Houston lawyer Arlette Molina has signed up for the 9th.
I suspect if Edwards throws her support behind Green, Bell will be in for a tough fight, but if not I'd call him the favorite to win.
Up north, State Rep. Kenny Marchant has filed for the 24th CD, the current home of Rep. Martin Frost.
Marchant filed for the 24th congressional district -- now held by Frost -- that was dramatically redrawn by Republican leaders who said they had Marchant in mind for the job.Marchant could not be reached Tuesday for comment. Frost, of Arlington, has said he will wait until Friday -- the deadline to file for the March 9 primaries -- before revealing whether he will seek re-election in the same district or seek another district he might have a better chance to win.
Although Frost is an incumbent, Marchant would have the edge if the two men faced off in the general elections in November, said Bryan Eppstein, Marchant's campaign consultant.
With its boundaries redrawn, "this district is one that overwhelmingly supports President Bush, his tax cuts and his conservative philosophies. Those are the same positions and philosophies shared by Kenny Marchant," Eppstein said.
Bill Dunn, a Haltom City businessman, has also entered the GOP primary for the 24th District.
Awfully sweet of Tom DeLay et al to look our for Marchant's future like that. He must be quite the golden boy.
Elsewhere in the same story:
In other developments Tuesday, veteran U.S. Rep. Charles Stenholm, D-Abilene, announced he will seek re-election in the newly drawn 19th congressional district. Stenholm now represents the 17th congressional district.[...]
In making his announcement, Stenholm lambasted the congressional redistricting move, pushed forward by the GOP in hopes of ousting several Democratic congressmen from Texas, including Stenholm and Frost, and gaining a majority in the U.S. House.
"I still believe that this new redistricting plan is wrong and could be overturned [by the U.S. Supreme Court]," Stenholm said in a written statement released Tuesday. "But as I learned as a high school football player, you have to abide by the decision of the referees, whether you agree with it or not."
Stenholm's comments drew the ire of the National Republican Congressional Committee in Washington, who called him an "embattled liberal Democrat."
Just out of curiosity, was there an actual person with the NRCC who called Stenholm a "liberal" (and if he's a liberal, I'm an anarcho-syndicalist), or was that quote automatically generated by a bot? Not that there'd be any difference, mind you.
In the That's Gratitude For Ya department, Rep. Ciro Rodriguez has drawn a primary challenge from State Rep. Henry Cuellar.
Henry Cuellar, the former Texas secretary of state, has officially filed as a candidate in the 28th Congressional District, ending any speculation that he might switch gears and take on U.S. Rep. Henry Bonilla of San Antonio for a second time.Cuellar, a former Laredo state lawmaker, will face incumbent U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez, D-San Antonio, in what will be one of the more closely watched contests of the March 9 primary.
“As a state representative for 14 years, I fought to bring improved funding for education, health care and economic development in the district I represented,” Cuellar said. “If elected to Congress in the 28th District, I will continue to work hard and produce real results in these same areas.”
Cuellar's decision to take on Rodriguez, who supported Cuellar in his credible but unsuccessful bid against Bonilla in 2002, was affected by the recent round of congressional redistricting. That process put half of Laredo in Rodriguez's district.
Finally, no word yet on Rep. Max Sandlin, but there's a lot of action on the Republican side up in CD1.
On Monday, San Augustine Republican Emily Mathews filed in the new district.The former marketing vice president for Energy Transfer Group, Mathews runs a business consulting agency and bills herself as a moderate Republican alternative to Democratic incumbent U.S. Rep. Max Sandlin of Marshall.
U.S. Rep. Ralph Hall, R-Rockwall, already had filed under the old map, but by filing under the new one officially departs from Gregg County ballots.
Longview and Tyler shift from Hall's District 4 to District 1, and Hall filed Monday under the new map.
Dr. Lyle Thorstenson, a Nacogdoches ophthalmologist, is scheduled to announce his Republican candidacy at 9:30 a.m. today in Longview at The Butcher Shop, 102 Lehigh St.
Longview Republican John Graves, who unsuccessfully challenged Hall in 2002 and filed to oppose him a second time, left any mention of specific districts off the yard signs that already dot Longview as he filed under District 4 but publicly announced intentions for District 1.
Others who have announced plans to file include state Rep. Wayne Christian, R-Center, and former appeals court chief justice Louie Gohmert of Tyler, a Republican.
I'm assuming Sandlin will eventually file here. I'll keep an eye open for it.
Ladies and gentlemen, we have a deal.
Andrew Fastow, the former chief financial officer, is expected to plead guilty in return for a 10-year prison term. His likely cooperation with prosecutors could start other dominoes falling -- and either clear or condemn ex-Enron CEO Jeff Skilling and Chairman Ken Lay.Andrew Fastow is set to enter his guilty plea in front of U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt -- at some time prior to his wife, Lea, a former assistant treasurer, pleading guilty before U.S. District Judge David Hittner. Lea Fastow's plea hearing is set for 4 p.m.
"It is no surprise. It was inevitable the deals would go through because they are too good to pass up for the Fastows and too valuable to the government," said Philip Hilder, a former prosecutor who represents several witnesses in the Enron criminal cases.
Andrew Fastow faces nearly 100 charges of fraud, money laundering and tax violations. He is accused of enriching himself in elaborate side deals at the expense of the company and its shareholders.
His wife faces six charges, four of them for filing false tax returns. Their arranged sentences, or something even close to the deals, are far lower than the exposure to longer prison terms either would have at trial.
The ex-CFO's addition to the prosecutorial witness stable might precipitate plea bargains from those already accused and could help the government greatly accelerate its continuing investigation.
Andrew Fastow's cooperation is expected to quickly lead to the arrest of Rick Causey, the former chief accounting officer of the company who was mentioned by job title in the original complaint against Andrew Fastow. Causey was set to surrender to the Federal Bureau of Investigation last Thursday and may now wind up doing so this week.
His lawyer, Mark Hulkower, has said Causey is innocent and will fight any charges.
Fastow is also likely to provide information to prosecutors about former corporate kingpins Skilling and Lay.
Both men have repeatedly proclaimed their innocence. Mike Ramsey and Bruce Hiler, lawyers for Lay and Skilling, last week said they welcomed Andrew Fastow's statements if he tells the truth and thus exonerates their clients.
Lea Fastow could still withdraw her guilty plea if she doesn't like the sentence that Judge Hittner ultimately applies. I don't expect that to happen, but you never know.
I'm glad to see that the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has gotten themselves a webpage, since I criticized them for not having one awhile back. They're doing a good job monitoring and raising a fuss over various scandals (and boy is it hard to keep track of them all these days), and I like the approach they're taking:
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) is a non-partisan legal watchdog group working to force our government officials to behave responsibly and ethically. CREW's mission is to use the legal system to expose government officials who betray the public interest by serving special interests.CREW aims to counterbalance the conservative legal watchdog groups that made such a strong impact over the past decade. These groups focused their attention on their left-wing adversaries, leaving the right relatively free from scrutiny. CREW focuses equal attention on misconduct by all, including the right.
CREW differs from other good government groups in that it sues offending politicians directly. There are already many fine organizations working to make government better. Their focus, however, tends to be on passing legislation or publishing information. There is no mainstream group dedicated to taking direct legal action against offending politicians. CREW fills that void.
Looks like they're pretty much a one-woman shop right now. If you want to give them a hand, you can click here and make a donation.
Thanks to Alfredo Garcia for sending this to me.
I can't tell if Robert Novak is blowing smoke here or not, but it's interesting nonetheless.
Republican joy over a federal court approving congressional redistricting in Texas was diminished by an opening in the decision that could give U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor a chance to reverse it.The Texas three-judge panel's warning of ''excessive partisanship,'' Republican lawyers fear, will give O'Connor the opportunity to join with four liberal colleagues for another 5-4 decision against conservative interests. O'Connor, a former Republican leader of the Arizona Legislature who was President Ronald Reagan's first nominee for the high court, was the swing justice on recent 5-4 rulings supporting gay rights and campaign finance reform.
A Supreme Court reversal could cost the Republicans eight congressional seats in Texas and perhaps another six seats in Pennsylvania, whose redistricting also might be affected by the same Supreme Court decision.
"Eight seats in Texas" is clearly an overbid, since Ralph Hall switched sides (no great loass there). I presume the other seat he refers to belongs to Republican Henry Bonilla, who was threatened but survived in 2002 against Henry Cuellar. I think that we can all agree that given the GOP's "aggressive partisan effort" defense in the federal lawsuit here, a win for the plaintiffs in Vieth v. Jubelirir, which challenges the constitutionality of aggressive partisan redistricting efforts, would be a big problem for them. I still remain unconvinced that SCOTUS will touch this, but it ain't over till it's over.
Thanks to JD for sending this to me.
I seem to have avoided the recent comment spam outbreak that infested a number of folks' sites, such as Teresa. Just lucky this time, but I will say this: If you're using Movable Type and you allow comments, but you haven't installed MT Blacklist, you're pretty much naked and defenseless out there unless you really know what you're doing. Seriously, run, don't walk, over to Jay Allen's MT Blacklist page and install it already.
Now then. Shelley is absolutely correct to note that a tool like this can only do so much and will sooner or later be defeated by the spammers. It's still a good enough solution for me for now, and it's surely better than nothing. I'm very un-thrilled about using the comment registration feature that's going to be in MT 3.0, but a feature or plugin that would allow me to require comments to be previewed before they're posted, as discussed in Teresa's comment thread, would be great. In addition to repelling spammers and allowing for a cooling-off moment, it would also ensure that people could catch their own HTML errors (such as not closing a HREF tag) before publishing. I preview just about all of my posts before publishing because of that.
As for closing comments on old threads, I'd prefer not to. Among other things, I'd miss out on the chance to be called a dumbass by local TV newscasters and other egosurfers. And isn't that what blogging is all about?
Some rule changes for Division III sports:
Eight Division III schools will be allowed to continue giving out scholarships for sports that compete in Division I, though no other Division III schools will be allowed to award athletic scholarships in the future.The NCAA had proposed ending waivers approved 20 years ago that allowed the eight schools to circumvent Division III's no-scholarship policy.
The NCAA Convention on Monday passed legislation allowing the scholarships by a 304-89 vote. It was passed with an amendment that said no more scholarship waivers will be granted for other Division III schools.
The eight schools field one or two teams that compete in Division I: Clarkson University (men's hockey); Colorado College (men's hockey and women's soccer); Hartwick College (men's soccer and women's water polo); Johns Hopkins (men's and women's lacrosse); Oneonta (men's soccer); Rensselaer (men's hockey); Rutgers-Newark (men's volleyball); and St. Lawrence (men's and women's hockey).
"We are extremely grateful for the support that we received from our partners in Division III," Colorado College president Richard Celeste said.
Several schools -- including Johns Hopkins, which has won seven NCAA titles in men's lacrosse -- said the tradition of Division I sports was important on their campuses.
Delegates who voted against the measure said giving athletic scholarships was inconsistent with the purpose of Division III.
As I recall from my college days, a DIII school was allowed one D1 sport. Trinity had a topflight tennis program, though sadly their webpage no longer has any of the old history on it. The time a group of students sitting on the roof of one of the dorms that overlooked the main court incited Stanford's John McEnroe into one of his trademark tantrums was legend back in the day. I was sad to see them drop out of D1 even if I never cared much about the sport.
Division III has been focusing on reform that keeps academics at the forefront and further distinguishes it from the big-time moneymaking sports of Division I schools.Not all of their reform measures passed, however.
Schools will not be allowed to redshirt athletes to save a season of eligibility, a practice prevalent in Division I.
As I recall from the old days, in DIII you had eight semesters of eligibility, and they did not have to be consecutive, though I believe that if you were a full-time student, then that semester counted towards those eight. There was a guy at Trinity during my time there who had dropped out of school and re-enrolled a decade or so later, and was on the football team. This was OK because his eligibility clock stopped while he was not in school. This differed from D1 where you essentially have five years to complete four years' of eligibility, which is where the redshirt idea comes in. At least, that was how I understood it. I'm not sure what if anything this changes for D3.
Rep. Gene Green, whose 29th CD is still a Democratic stronghold even if it no longers includes his house, will buy a house in the new district and file for reelection there. He may also have company in the primary.
Under a Republican-backed congressional redistricting plan, Green's residence near Bush Intercontinental Airport became part of the 10th Congressional District, which stretches to Jefferson County.[...]
U.S. representatives are not required to live in their districts, but Green said he has rented an apartment inside the 29th in east Harris County and will buy a house there if the new boundaries withstand the court appeal.
Green, a Democrat, is the only candidate who has announced so far in the district. The filing deadline is Friday.
Former state Rep. Diana Davila Martinez is considering running for the seat, which her husband, former state Rep. Roman Martinez, ran for when Green was first elected in 1992. Davila Martinez lost a December runoff to Adrian Garcia for Houston City Council District H.
The district has a history of voting strongly Democratic, and no Republican has filed or announced for the GOP primary.
Davila Martinez was most recently a runnerup in the Houston City Council elections, finishing second behind Adrian Garcia in my district, District H. I don't believe Green will have any difficulty winning the primary against anyone.
Over in Austin, Rep. Lloyd Doggett is poised to pick up support in his effort to win the new 25th CD.
Twenty elected officials from cities in western Hidalgo County on Monday endorsed U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett's bid for the newly configured 25th Congressional District, which the Republican-led Texas Legislature drew for a minority candidate to win.Various public officials from the cities of La Joya, Sullivan City, Granjeno, Palmview and Peñitas added their endorsement of Doggett, who faces former state District Judge Leticia Hinojosa in the "bacon-shaped" congressional district that stretches from east Austin to the Rio Grande Valley.
"I really appreciate the confidence you placed in me, and I assure you it will not be displaced," Doggett told a roomful of supporters and new endorsers.
Much of Doggett's support in the Valley has come from these small cities west of McAllen.
Many people from the area earlier had backed State Rep. Ismael "Kino" Flores, D-Mission, who once considered the race but pulled out due to a lack of campaign donations.
Flores, who attended Doggett's event in La Joya but remained behind the scenes, is considering endorsing Doggett for the open seat that Republicans maintain could be won by a Hispanic candidate.
"We're not quite ready to do that, but we've had several conversations," Flores said last week, adding that, "I have more in common with Doggett" than Hinojosa.
This could go a long way towards filling that 10,000 vote hole that we discussed earlier. It also blunts the impact of State Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos' endorsement of Judge Hinojosa.
Rep. Charlie Stenholm will make it official - he's running in the new 19th CD against freshman Rep. Randy Neugebauer.
Although Stenholm, D-Abilene, told an audience Thursday night he wasn't announcing his intentions yet, his venues for Tuesday left no secret. The 13-term legislator told the Taylor County Democratic Club he would announce at 10 a.m. Tuesday at Briarstone Manor in Abilene and that afternoon in Lubbock.''Now you can figure out where we're going to be running,'' he told the crowd of about 35. Lubbock and almost all of Abilene are in the 19th Congressional District, as drawn by the Republican-controlled Legislature in October after a fierce months-long partisan redistricting battle. Stenholm used to represent San Angelo and Abilene in District 17. The new map groups San Angelo, Midland and Odessa in District 11.
[...]
Stenholm had weighed the option of running in the 13th Congressional District, where he lived all of his life before his election to Congress and where he and his son still farm. The 13th District is anchored in the Panhandle and includes the Wichita Falls area and several northern Big Country counties.
The northernmost part of Abilene near Lake Fort Phantom Hill is in Jones County and the 13th District.
In his talk to the Democratic club, Stenholm also made public his endorsement of retired Gen. Wesley Clark for the Democratic nomination for president.
He said Clark as a candidate could ''play well'' in Texas, though he said he harbors no illusion that any Democrat can best Republican President George W. Bush in his home state.
Not announcing where he's running yet but also endorsing General Clark is Rep. Martin Frost. Make of that what you will.
Not really on point here but I didn't feel like doing a separate post for it: Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison is raising money for an as-yet-announced candidacy in 2006, despite $5 million in the bank and no obvious opponent should she run again for the Senate.
She hasn't drawn a serious challenger since before the turn of the century. She's not sure what government job, if any, she'll want when her current tour of duty ends in 2006.Nevertheless, Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, already sitting on more than $5 million in political money, is riding the fund-raising circuit this week.
In Houston on Monday night, in Dallas tonight and in San Antonio and Austin on Thursday, supporters are toting their checkbooks to events called "A Special Evening with Our Senator."
How does a safe incumbent with no election in sight and who is unsure about her own political future manage to get money from people?
Simple: She asks, said Larry Noble, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics, which monitors politics and money.
"She is a powerful senator, and so she is going to draw the money in as long as she keeps asking for it," Noble said. "If she believes she needs it, they have to give it."
GOP consultant Ray Sullivan of Austin offers the positive spin on the phenomenon.
"Reliable Republican donors will almost always support a George W. Bush or a Rick Perry or a Kay Bailey Hutchison because they support what they've done in their respective offices," said Sullivan, a former Bush and Perry aide.
Hutchison said Monday that she always raises money long before an election "so I would not have to do everything at the end."
"I never do put goals on it," she said when asked how much she hopes to raise this week.
And, she added, there is "no pressure whatsoever" on potential donors.
Most of the money will sit in her campaign account as she decides on her future. Some will be used to raise money for Republican senators and candidates running this year.
Although this week's checks will be made out to the Kay Bailey Hutchison for Senate Committee, there is no guarantee the money might not wind up used in a Kay Bailey Hutchison for something else -- perhaps governor -- campaign.
Hutchison has made no decision about seeking re-election in 2006 and has left the door open to challenging Perry in the GOP primary for governor.
"I just haven't thought about it at all," Hutchison said about the issue everyone else in Texas politics has thought about. "I just haven't decided. But the last thing I want to do is decide to run (for Senate) and not be fully prepared."
For Hutchison, there are multiple choices. She'd be a shoo-in for re-election. She'd be a strong candidate for governor, even against Perry. She'd be a can't-miss for making big money if she opted for the private sector.Hutchison's fourth option, which could dictate decisions on the others, is more fascinating. Assume President Bush wins re-election. Assume New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is the Democratic presidential nominee in 2008. Assume the Republicans feel the need to put a woman on the ticket.
Condoleezza Rice. Elizabeth Dole. Kay Bailey Hutchison. Know any others?
And, gender politics aside, any powerful senator from Texas is always going to be on a midsize list of potential running mates.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Many assumptions, many years to go. It's all soft-focus-lens stuff on KBH from there, with a note that Governor Perry will be washing his hair during all future Hutchison events. Wake me when she makes up her mind.
Evil megacorporation Clear Channel is trying to convince critics that it's not hopelessly out of touch with the markets that it "serves":
In a move to tune into what its critics are saying, radio giant Clear Channel Communications on Monday announced the creation of a local advisory board for San Antonio and other cities nationwide.The first board will kick off next month in San Antonio, where the company is based, and will be made up of critics, music makers, community leaders, and heads of local businesses and charities.
"Local-community and customer sentiment have always played an enormous role in our decentralized business model, and we continue to believe our industry leadership in local market research is an important reason for our business success," Clear Channel Communications President Mark Mays said in a news release.
Through the advisory boards, Mays said, Clear Channel hopes to help its managers identify local market needs, concerns and opportunities, and quickly address them.
Clear Channel also plans to begin meetings in the next few months in Cleveland and Sarasota, Fla. Local management from the company's radio, entertainment, outdoor and TV divisions will run and participate in the boards.
So, like, am I a hopelessly idealistic dreamer, or is this the sort of thing they should've been doing all along? You know, giving the customer what they want and all.
The advisory board announcement comes a few weeks before the Federal Communications Commission is set to meet in San Antonio to discuss how local media is serving its audiences. The hearing will be from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. Jan. 28 in City Council chambers and is expected to draw a large crowd.FCC Chairman Michael Powell is to attend the meeting with Commissioners Kathleen Abernathy, Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein. Clear Channel executives are expected to speak at the hearing.
Coincidence? I think not.
Continuing the Blog Trend of the Year for 2003 as determined by Jim Henley, there's a new group blog in town, The American Street. Has a nice, albeit work-in-progress look about it and a good cast of contributors. Check it out.
This article on President Bush's immigration reform proposal and its possible effects on Hispanic voters contains good news and bad news for both major parties.
Many political analysts who watched the president unveil his immigration reform package said it was clearly aimed at the Hispanic community."There is absolutely no doubt that one of the reasons for this is to attract the Latino vote for President Bush," said Jorge Gonzalez, an expert on illegal immigration and chairman of the Economics Department at Trinity University in San Antonio.
"He needs to get about 40 percent of the Latino vote in the next election, and Latinos in general are in favor of a more relaxed immigration policy," he explained.
Gonzalez said that even though Latinos are skeptical that immigration reform can be accomplished, Bush is charting a path in territory once owned by Democrats.
And Democrats should be worried that a portion of its base "is slipping away," Gonzalez said.
[...]
Many of the proposals sought by Bush — including a guest worker program that allows undocumented immigrants to remain in this country legally — are strenuously opposed by many lawmakers in the president's party.
"Gradual amnesty for illegal aliens rewards those who have broken the law and encourages more illegal immigration," said Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio, a member of the House Judiciary subcommittee on immigration.
[...]
Cecilia Muñoz, vice president for policy at the National Council of La Raza, said Bush might score points with independent swing voters and Latinos without suffering a backlash from social conservatives, who have no where else to go.
"It is smart for the White House to stand up to the xenophobes in the party to impress Latino voters," Muñoz said, "because I don't think the xenophobes are going to vote for Howard Dean."
I dispute the notion that social conservatives have "nowhere else to go". For one thing, as Clarence Page noted in a column about Democrats and black voters, they can always stay home. For another, it's also not out of the question for there to be a far right challenge to Bush, though of course it's hard to say what kind of effect such a thing would have.
The president's step to the middle of the political spectrum will have a backlash only if the independent swing voters and Latinos perceive that Bush's offering is an empty promise, Gonzalez said.A poll released last week shows more than half of Hispanics nationwide think Bush is doing a good job.
But the poll for the Pew Hispanic Center also found that 47 percent of Latino adults surveyed said they would vote for a Democrat, while only 37 percent preferred Bush.
The pollsters emphasized that the surveyed queried Hispanic adults and not Hispanic probable voters.
"If Bush does not deliver on immigration reform, this could be a good issue for a Democratic candidate to take him on," Gonzalez said.
"It won't be hard for a Democrat to tell Latinos that President Bush promised this in 2000 and didn't deliver. And promised this in 2004 and didn't deliver," Gonzalez said.
In my opinion, Bush will have to put some political capital on the line in order to get any kind of immigration reform passed, something which he has never really done before. I don't think he's willing to take on the Lamar Smiths of his party, even for the brass ring of more Hispanics voting Republican. It's not what he does. He likes to get the accolades for suggesting things like this, then letting someone else work out the details. If he does that here, as I believe he will, no bill will get passed. As such, I'm not particularly worried about this.
Meanwhile, Byron points to articles about voting preferences of Jewish and Muslim citizens. In short: good for Democrats. The swing in opinion of Muslims is astounding:
A 2004 presidential straw poll conducted at [the Muslim Public Affairs Council]'s annual convention showed President George W. Bush trailing four Democratic contenders, led by Howard Dean, largely because of the former Vermont governor's staunch criticism of the war in Iraq.Dr. Dean polled 67 percent, followed by Rep. Dennis Kucinich with 17 percent, retired Gen. Wesley Clark with 8 percent, and Sen. John Kerry with 4 percent. Mr. Bush garnered a meager 2 percent of the straw ballots cast by the 800 Muslims at the late December convention held in Long Beach, Calif. Not even a convention appearance by the White House's Muslim liaison, Ali Tulbah, appeared to help.
Mr. Bush's dismal showing came less than four years after MPAC joined other leading American Muslim groups in issuing their first-ever presidential endorsement: the Republican Bush. But then came the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, all of which has impacted immensely the political fortunes, and thinking, of American Muslims.
In the current climate, "90 percent of the community is now dead set against the Republican Party, not to mention Bush," said the Los Angeles-based Al-Marayati, who backed Bill Clinton before switching parties in 2000.
Even Muslim Republican activists say Mr. Bush has little hope of repeating his 2000 success among Muslims.
"I hate to say it," said Khalid Saffuri, who runs the Islamic Institute, a Republican support group in Washington, "but right now very few Muslims will vote for George Bush again, or support the Republican Party. They're that angry."
Which ought to make Michigan, a state with a large Muslim population, a lot safer for the Democrats this year, something that Kos has noted several times.
I guess reports of his retirement were greatly exaggerated.
Astros owner Drayton McLane has done it again, persuading future Hall of Famer Roger Clemens to put off retirement for a year.McLane acknowledged the deal, but he preferred to withhold further comment.
The deal will be announced at a press conference on the field today at 2 p.m.
"Out of fairness to everybody, let's just wait until we make the announcement," McLane said. "The fairest way is to wait until the announcement."
Asked if he was excited, McLane chuckled and decided to withhold comment until the official announcement. A month and a day after McLane signed Clemens' former Yankees teammate Andy Pettitte, the Astro further fortified their starting rotation.
McLane gave the hard-throwing righthander the parameters of a one-year contract offer on Dec. 23, and he worked out the rest of details on the deal with agents Randy and Alan Hendricks. After that, Clemens gave his decision to the Hendricks, who hammered out the deal.
"He told me he had decided to play and to get a deal done, so we did on Sunday," Randy Hendricks said. "I think a big factor was the outpouring of affection from the Astros fans all over Texas. His family is supportive and the Astros have been terrific throughout the process. Ultimately, the desire to help the hometown team was what made the decision (and Andy being here was extremely important as well)."
Clemens, 41, will now try to add to his 310 career victories. He will join Pettitte, Roy Oswalt and Wade Miller to throw at the National League Central champion Chicago Cubs' talented rotation of Mark Prior, Kerry Wood and Carlos Zambrano.
To quote my mother, "This is so bogus". Actually, I'm not so bothered by it. If he wasn't going to pitch again in New York, then the Yankees didn't lose anything. I suppose I'd feel a little self-conscious after accepting all of those going-away presents, but that's just me. Or, as someone once sang, "How can we miss you if you won't go away?"
One minor correction to note. I'll just update the story's text myself:
Clemens will also be a major box office hit, which is why McLane doesn't mind raising the payroll despite claiming to lose $15 million last year, a claim he has made repeatedly and we've printed uncritically despite the fact that he's never opened his books or explained why he's such a bad businessman for not being able to turn a profit in that nice shiny new ballpark the taxpayers gave him for free. But hey, what do you expect?
There. Much better.
I don't have a whole lot of faith that the Supreme Court is going to offer any relief to the losing plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the new Congressional map, but this Statesman article suggests a way it could happen.
The court is already considering a Pennsylvania case challenging the partisanship of redistricting in that state. An appeal from Texas could be bundled with the Pennsylvania case if the high court wants to write new limits on partisanship.Texas lawmakers' creation of a new map when a legal plan -- drawn by three federal judges after the Legislature failed to draw a map in 2001 -- was already in place might add weight to the argument, [Nathaniel Persily, a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania] said.
Challengers argue that allowing lawmakers to redistrict at will, instead of just once every 10 years, opens the door to chaos for voters. However, that argument went nowhere with the three-judge panel.
"There is no question that the set of facts in the Texas case is more hospitable (than the Pennsylvania case) to those who would like the courts to intervene to rein in partisan gerrymandering," Persily said.
Larry Sager, a constitutional law professor at the University of Texas, said he thinks the court will feel forced to step in and set ground rules for how often lawmakers can redistrict and how partisan maps can be.
"Does the sound functioning of democracy place restraints on the manipulation of voting districts?" Sager asked. "That question is just beginning to come to the fore because of the extreme behavior in the state of Texas. I think eventually the (Supreme) court will be provoked into putting the brakes on this process."
The second front where the high court might choose to weigh in, experts said, concerns the legal standing of "influence districts," where minority voters may not make up a mathematical majority of the vote but are influential enough to influence elections.
Whether, or how much, such districts must be protected is unclear in light of recent Supreme Court rulings.
That Pennsylvania case is of course Vieth v. Jubelirir, which I've mentioned before. Background on it can be found here, here, and here. Seems like a longshot, but it's not as if there are any better options at this point.
Over in the Chron, the long term effects of the new map are studied.
When combined with the state legislative redistricting plans adopted in 2001, the new congressional map gives the Republicans a stranglehold on congressional and legislative majorities that Democrats will be unlikely to break before 2011 at the earliest.Few races will be competitive in the general election, according to testimony in the redistricting trial. Whoever wins the Democratic or Republican primaries in the 32 districts likely will become a member of Congress. The lines are drawn to strengthen areas of Republican voting and weaken Democratic areas.
That Republican lock on higher offices will make it difficult for Democrats to build a farm club of potential candidates among the ambitious politicians holding local office.
And more than a million African Americans and Hispanics, who vote heavily Democratic, now will live in districts dominated by Republicans.
Minority group leaders say this will drive down minority voter turnout at a time when Democrats are counting on Hispanic population growth to spur a party comeback.
Additionally, by targeting Frost for defeat, the Republicans are hoping to cut off one of the state's top national money raisers.
In the past several elections, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee that Frost once headed has put about $4.5 million into Democratic voter turnout operations. That turnout machine helps state candidates as well as federal candidates.
The good news is that this may turn out to be a relatively short-lived victory for the GOP, according to one of its own experts.
Rice University political scientist John Alford served as an expert consultant for state Republicans on redistricting in 2001 and as an expert for the Texas Democratic congressional delegation last year. He said voting trends in Texas made it clear that Republicans deserved a redistricting victory."The Republicans should have a majority of the congressional delegation," Alford said. "It's not a fluke. The Republicans have won every statewide office."
But Alford said the Republican leadership's decision to build an extreme gerrymander will hurt the party in the future.
"In the next 10 years, the real story is going to be not what happened to the Democrats in Texas, but what happened to the Republicans," Alford said.
He said the first effect of the congressional map was not only to defeat Democrats but also to push moderates like state Sen. Bill Ratliff, R-Mount Pleasant, out of the party. Alford said the congressional map was drawn to ignore rural and swing voters so that suburban social conservative Republicans will be elected.
"It wasn't just about getting Republican seats. It was about getting a certain kind of Republican seats," Alford said.
Alford said there also was an important shift in the Republican leadership's approach to congressional redistricting last year.
Alford said GOP leaders initially tried to win support from Hispanic and African American lawmakers with promises to increase minority representation in exchange for 20 solid Republican seats. He said when the political decision was made to go for 22 seats, it ended any attempt at coalition building.
The only way to get 22 Republican seats, Alford said, was to draw a map that limited minorities. It also had the effect of creating a congressional delegation that likely will be mostly Anglo Republicans and African American and Hispanic Democrats.
Alford said most Republicans just wanted partisan gain but "there is a small element in the Republican Party who believe in a cynical way that if you eliminate the Anglo representatives you will marginalize the Democratic Party."
He said that could backfire on Republicans in the next decade as the Hispanic population grows.
"The danger is that if you marginalize a party by making it a party of minorities in a region where minorities are becoming the majority, it's a pyrrhic victory," Alford said.
Alford touches on something that's been on my mind lately, which is that for all the bloviating I've read about the national Democrats surging leftward, no one seems to note how monolithically conservative the GOP has become. There are still plenty of examples of conservative Democrats in Congress and in statehouses around the country. How many liberal Republicans can you name? Hell, how many moderate Republicans are there in Congress? Somehow, this doesn't seem to get as much attention.
Finally, it's not online yet, but the January issue of The Atlantic, in addition to having all sorts of juicy Iraq-invasion-screwup stuff, has a brief article about the mathematics of redistricting. I'll link to it once I can find it.
UPDATE: Tangential to my latter point about monolithicness (if that's not a word, it should be), Greg critiques an op-ed about Charlie Stenholm, as prime an example as one can find of a conservative Democrat. I agree with Greg - Stenholm hasn't changed, but both parties around him have.
Not at all on point but irresistable to me anyway is this blurb from that op-ed piece.
The 17th Congressional District is a textbook example of rural and small-town conservative West Texas. Its makeup is 85 percent Anglo, 4 percent black and 20 percent Hispanic.
Gotta love fuzzy math. I've heard of giving 110% before, but this is ridiculous. Get me rewrite!
UPDATE: Here's one I missed from the Express News. It contains more quotes from the same experts as in the Statesman article, though this time they're asked the question "how likely is it that SCOTUS will grant an injunction against the new map pending its last appeal?" (answer: not bloody likely). It also contains this choice bit:
But while most said they are doing to Democrats only what Democrats have done to them for the past half century, at least one longtime member of the GOP says his party went too far."Yes, there is no question at all. Of course we overreached," San Antonio Republican Sen. Jeff Wentworth said.
"Just do the math: 56 percent of the vote translates into an 18-14 Republican majority, not a 22-10 majority," Wentworth said. "Unfortunately, this just proves a reality of political human nature: Grab as much as you can, while you can. That's wrong. I don't approve of that."
For a decade, Wentworth has unsuccessfully pushed for the creation of a bipartisan citizens redistricting commission aimed at taking most of the bitter political infighting out of redistricting.
"Having competitive races means the voter, the taxpayer, wins, because competition will bring out the best caliber candidate," Wentworth argued. "Without that competition, the majority party can just say, 'To hell with the independents and the minority party.' That is both a dangerous and unfortunate nationwide trend that is not good for democracy."
Mighty big of you to say so now, Jeff. I'm just in awe of your courage.
Some more evidence from Richard Justice's column that Pete Rose badly miscalculated with his non-contrite admission of gambling on baseball after so many years of denial.
The Chicago Tribune surveyed 159 Hall of Fame voters, and only 45.3 percent of them said they would vote for Pete Rose if his name was placed on the ballot. That's far short of the 75 percent required for induction."Absolutely not," said Jerome Holtzman, the former esteemed Chicago baseball writer who serves as Major League Baseballs official historian. "I was against the idea from the very beginning.
"As you can see now, he wasn't a very admirable fellow."
ESPN's Peter Gammons put it even more bluntly.
"The release of this book has reminded me that Pete Rose does not like baseball; he likes himself," Gammons told the Tribune.
Once again, I must tip my cap to David Pinto for calling this one correctly.
Rose did about the same in the highly unscientific sample of fans who write letters to the sports page. The tally was four in favor of Rose' reinstatement and three against. I need to take issue with one of the no-Hall-for-Pete advocates:
Rose was a career .280s hitter with no power and little speed. He bounced around from position to position throughout his career and distinguished himself defensively at none of them. He was a member of a great Cincinnati team and undoubtedly made a contribution to that team's success, but he was surrounded by much greater players than himself -- Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan, George Foster, etc. His career hits record is strictly a product of longevity.There has been a steady erosion in the quality of player inducted into the Hall over the last 20 years or so. Pitchers like Phil Niekro and Gaylord Perry were notable for their longevity only and have no place with the likes of Sandy Koufax and Warren Spahn. Robin Yount and Paul Molitor were good players, but do such players belong alongside Stan Musial, Ted Williams, Mickey Mantle, Henry Aaron and the other true greats?
This same contention came up in the comments to an earlier post, and as I said there, this recapitulation of Rose's stats is unfair to him. Rose batted below .300 only once from 1965 to 1979, a very nice achievement in a low-offense era, he is second alltime in doubles, and he had a lifetime .375 OBP. He's clearly Hall-worthy from a stats perspective.
As for the claim in the latter paragraph that the quality of the Hall has degraded over the last 20 years, this is standard things-were-better-in-my-day claptrap. Looking at the list of inductees, in my opinion there have been exactly two marginal players voted in by the writers since 1984 - Don Drysdale and Tony Perez. (The last one before that is Red Ruffing in 1967.) It's also incorrect to characterize the Hall of Fame as being about "Stan Musial, Ted Williams, Mickey Mantle, Henry Aaron" and players like that, for the Hall is just as much about the likes of Rube Marquard, Ross Youngs, Frank Chance, Jim Bottomley, and Dave Bancroft. Yount, Molitor, Niekro and Perry may not be the best players ever enshrined, but they are nowhere close to the worst.
Last but not least, anyone who thinks George Foster (!) was a "much greater player" than Pete Rose has been sniffing a little too much pine tar. Foster did have a great run from 1975 to 1981, but he was washed up at age 33 and didn't actually have his best seasons until after the Big Red Machine had been knocked off its NL West perch.
Getting back to Rose, the final nail in his coffin may come from the man whose report on his rulebreaking activities helped put him in the position he's in today. Read this editorial from John Dowd and see for yourself.
After a month of investigation, I had all the evidence now memorialized in my 225-page report. The evidence was overwhelming. He had violated one of baseball's most sacred rules -- rules meant to preserve the integrity of the game, rules intended to assure its fans that the competition on the field is free of taint. I shared all the facts with Rose's lawyers. Then Bart directed me to lay out the evidence directly to Rose in a deposition. Bart wanted Pete to see and hear all of the hard evidence. Bart instructed me not to confront Pete, but simply to present the evidence and get his responses to it. Pete lied and denied. It was a hard two days for Pete Rose.Following the deposition, with the facts in hand, Bart directed me to find a resolution. I spent an entire month meeting with Pete's lawyers. Bart and I agreed on the fundamental points of such a resolution: Pete would have to reconfigure his life. He would have to stop betting. He would have to make a candid response to all of the hard evidence. He would have to explain his association with all of the characters in the betting operation. He would have to submit to, and complete, a full rehabilitation. During his rehabilitation, he would be removed from the game of baseball.
If he had agreed to these terms, and paid all taxes, interest and penalties due, he could have avoided prosecution on tax evasion. Upon successful completion of his rehabilitation, he would have been readmitted to the game of baseball and could receive all honors that come with achievement and good conduct. He would have been eligible, if chosen, for admission to the Hall of Fame.
I worked for a month with Pete's counsel. They tried but could not get Pete to admit the truth. They asked if I would meet with him alone and talk to him. They believed I could bring him around. Bart approved and I agreed to talk to Pete. But Pete's agent vetoed the meeting.
We were at complete loggerheads. Pete's criminal counsel wanted the resolution we were working on, but his agent would not budge. Bart, then-deputy commissioner Fay Vincent and I met with Pete's agent. He told us that Pete was a legend and would not admit to any of the allegations. It was a short meeting. I then asked Bill White, the president of the National League, if there were friends of Pete's -- Reds teammates -- we could call upon to help him in his obvious time of need. Bill told me that Pete had no friends in baseball.
As Pinto suggests, this surely deals a blow to the parallels Rose has tried to draw between himself and players who've had drug problems. Unlike Rose, Paul Molitor and Dennis Eckersley got help for their problems. If only Rose had gotten help for his.
It's nice if somewhat quaint to read that old fashioned vinyl albums still have a share of the music market, even if it is a tiny one. The reason why is clear to audiophiles.
For sound purists, the distinction between vinyl records and digital CDs is all about math and science.Digital music re-creates a sound. Analog music is sound.
In a digital recording, a wave of sound is sampled at a rate of 44,100 cycles per second. That sample is copied in digital bits. A vinyl record is imprinted with grooves that actually create a sound wave similar to the original performance.
The result, audiophiles say, is that vinyl produces a more complete, more authentic sound.
"The sound you hear on vinyl records is truly what the artists intended you to hear," Sara Childress, of UsedRecordAlbums.com, another Internet LP site, wrote in an e-mail interview. "It is the preferred media for the connoisseur of recordings because it was recorded exactly the way the artists performed it (with or without errors); and without someone else adding their interpretation through digital electronics."
Music companies have tried to address the shortcomings of CDs. New formats, such as Super Audio CD and DVD audio, have improved the sampling rate and sound. But, as has been the case before, neither of the conflicting formats has taken off.
"They've made a lot of improvements to digital sound," said Galen Carol, a home audio dealer and consultant in San Antonio, "but a lot of people still feel digital will never sound as good as analog."
For most people, the difference isn't significant. But for audiophiles, it's noticeable.
Carol cited as an example a violin note that's struck in a recording session. In a digital recording, because there are a finite number of digital bits defining that sound, it will abruptly end. But with an analog recording, that sound will trail off more gracefully and actually disappear.
Those nuances allow an analog recording to better re-create a concert setting, Carol said. With a top-notch turntable, running $3,000 and higher, and correctly tuned and placed speakers, it's possible to replicate the sound exactly.
I've never had a turntable anywhere near that good. Hell, I haven't had a turntable of any kind for several years now. My stereo doesn't even have an input labelled for a turntable. All I recall is hisses and pops and skips. The only thing I really miss about albums is cover art. Call me a heathen, but I'll be keeping my CDs.
And to complete my Sunday Scandals Trifecta, state Democrats are asking that former Senator Phil Gramm be investigated for breaking a lobbying law.
AUSTIN -- Texas Democrats have asked Travis County prosecutors, as well as the Texas Ethics Commission, to investigate allegations that former U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm has lobbied illegally for policy changes affecting retired schoolteachers, state Democratic Chairman Charles Soechting said Saturday.Soechting told a meeting of the state party's executive committee that a copy of a complaint filed late Friday with the Texas Ethics Commission was sent to Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle's office.
The Ethics Commission complaint alleges that Gramm broke a state law requiring him to register as a lobbyist before seeking changes in state law or rules necessary to get the new retirement scheme adopted.
Gramm, a vice chairman of UBS Investment Bank, has declined to comment. He joined UBS after leaving the Senate in December 2002 and last year started helping Gov. Rick Perry and other state officials promote a UBS plan to put more money into the Teacher Retirement System of Texas.
A check of Ethics Commission records indicated that Gramm hasn't registered as a lobbyist in Texas since leaving the Senate.
Should the Ethics Commission act on the Democratic complaint and determine that Gramm broke the law, the maximum penalty would be a civil fine of $5,000.
Earle was unavailable for comment Saturday.
Under the UBS proposal, the pension plan would buy annuities and life insurance policies on retired teachers and keep the proceeds when they die.
In a written presentation, UBS has said the state would need to make "large and small legal and regulatory changes" to adopt the proposal.
Soechting, a San Marcos lawyer, said the plan was a "huge, get-rich-quick scheme on the part of Phil Gramm and his buddies" in the investment and insurance industries.
Quite the busy week it's been, hasn't it?
Now that November's election is safely over, Harris County DA Chuck Rosenthal is finally getting around to finishing up that investigation of anti-rail group Texans for True Mobility.
Texans for True Mobility is believed to have spent about $1.5 million waging an advertising campaign against the Metropolitan Transit Authority proposal, which 52 percent of voters approved Nov. 4.The group established itself as both a nonprofit education foundation and a political action committee, but nearly all its spending went through the foundation. The nonprofit arm said it was not required to disclose its donors because it engaged in educational advertising, not political advocacy.
TTM's secrecy drew complaints from the Houston Chronicle, Common Cause of Texas and Pro-Rail Houston, a political action committee formed specifically to challenge the group's refusal to divulge its funding sources.
Citizens for Public Transportation, a political action committee that spent almost as much money as TTM campaigning in support of Metro's 2025 transit plan, also objected.
District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal said this week he has instructed the head of his government affairs division to complete the inquiry into whether TTM violated state ethics laws that require any organization spending money for political purposes to file disclosure statements.
Don Smyth, the attorney leading the investigation, was gone for several weeks during the holidays, Rosenthal said, explaining why a decision on whether to pursue criminal charges has yet to be reached.
"I asked him Tuesday for a conclusion and to have it on my desk" in the next week or two, he said. "I need to have it come to an end."
No rush, big guy. I'm sure you have plenty of other important things on your plate. This is pretty much what I expected from you.
Background on this story can be found here, here, and though it's not directly related, here.
I suppose I should I should be all snarky about the fact that hotshot Chron columnist Rick Casey is just now writing about some of the various recent Tom DeLay scandals, including the now ten-month-old grand jury investigation into potentially illegal corporate campaign contributions. And I suppose I should be indignant about the fact that he didn't mention the recent admission by a GOP consultant that she did in fact solicit campaign money from corporations. In the end, though, I decided to just be happy that there's any coverage of this at all in DeLay's hometown newspaper. Sometimes one muct accept what one can get.
I have to say, I'm a bit surprised by this.
Texas A&M University President Robert Gates on Friday ended the school's legacy program, acknowledging that giving preference to applicants with blood ties to alumni is inconsistent with an admissions policy based solely on merit.Gates' decision, effective immediately, ends a controversy that flared up in legislative hearings in past years and prompted minority politicians and activists this week to threaten a lawsuit if the policy wasn't changed.
"I had intended that legacy be addressed in an ongoing review of our admissions procedures," Gates said in a statement. "However, public perceptions of the fairness and equity of our process clearly are important and require prompt action to deal with an obvious inconsistency in an admissions strategy based on individual merit."
Gates said he made the decision after consulting with each Texas A&M University System regent.
A&M may be the first major university, public or private, to dismantle a full-fledged legacy program, national experts said. The University of California System eliminated a program in 2000, a limited one that gave children of out-of-state alumni a boost, granting them consideration along with in-state applicants.
A&M's legacy program gave preference to in-state and out-of-state children, grandchildren and siblings of school alumni. They received four points on a 100-point scale that also took into account high school class rank, test scores, extracurricular activities and other factors. It was the only legacy program among Texas public universities.
I'm surprised because of the extremely high level of loyalty that Aggies and Aggie graduates have for their school. There's no such thing as an A&M alumnus - there's only former students. You're an Aggie for life, and I know any number of Aggie grads who want nothing more than to send their kids to their alma mater. Honestly, I thought they'd either go back to considering race, or given that they've got a former student in the Governor's office, brazen it out until the story moved off the front pages.
So, A&M is now consistent in their approach, which is satisfactory to at least one critic:
"A&M's decision is good news for those of us who believe in merit-based university admissions," said Edward Blum, a senior fellow with the Center for Equal Opportunity, a Washington-based group that opposes affirmative action. "Now it's time for the University of Texas-Austin to follow A&M's example and eliminate both racial and legacy admissions preferences."
To other critics, it's just a good first step.
"This is a win for every student whose parents didn't attend A&M," said state Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston. "But I'm disappointed that race and ethnicity have not been reinstated as one of many factors in the admissions process."The same sentiment was voiced by state Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, who said "most right-thinking people still should be appalled because A&M is so overwhelmingly white and is not using one of the tools -- the consideration of race in admissions -- that could help it diversify;" and by Bledsoe, who said A&M has taken "a small step in the right direction, but eliminating the program won't repair the wrong done."
Here's why Coleman and Ellis aren't satisfied:
A&M's undergraduate population is 82 percent white, 9 percent Hispanic, 2 percent black and 3 percent Asian-American.
Compare those totals to the 2000 Census numbers:
White persons, not of Hispanic/Latino origin, percent, 2000 52.4%
Persons of Hispanic or Latino origin, percent, 2000 (b) 32.0%
Black or African American persons, percent, 2000 (a) 11.5%
Asian persons, percent, 2000 (a) 2.7%
It'll be awhile before the underlying issue goes away.
There's still no deal for a plea bargain involving Andy and Lea Fastow, thanks to the judge in the Lea Fastow case imposing some conditions that she isn't willing to accept.
On Friday, the deals stalled when Lea Fastow was not willing to accept the uncertainty implicit in U.S. District Judge David Hittner's refusal to commit to a sentence for her.The attorneys haven't stopped trying though, said Mike DeGeurin, Lea Fastow's lawyer. Enron Task Force prosecutors and defense attorneys will keep talking long-distance over the weekend to find a way to resolve the cases.
Last Monday, the lawyers expected a series of legal dominoes to fall: Lea Fastow would agree to five months in prison; ex-Enron CFO Andrew Fastow would agree to 10 years in prison; the couple would forfeit tens of millions of dollars, and the government would get key testimony to implicate others in Enron's top management.
But Friday afternoon ended in disappointment after Hittner refused to approve Lea Fastow's five-month sentence and left the couple gun-shy by indicating he thought the sentence too low but would order a pre-sentencing investigation before deciding.
"But the importance of Andrew's cooperation to the government and family conditions for the Fastows means that a deal still must happen," said Jacob Frankel, a Washington, D.C.-based defense lawyer and former federal prosecutor.
[...]
Hittner had given Lea Fastow until noon Friday to decide whether to accept his terms -- a guilty plea but no decision on length of sentence until he received a pre-sentence investigation. Otherwise, her not guilty plea to six counts of fraud, money laundering and making false tax returns would stand and she'd be headed to a Feb. 10 trial date.
The silence at noon led Hittner to issue an order, a mere formality with no legal weight, saying the 225 written jury questionnaires could be picked up by lawyers on Friday afternoon and the trial is on.
"We're a little disappointed," said Enron Task Force director Leslie Caldwell as she left the Houston federal courthouse Friday on her way to the airport. She said prosecutors were not counting on the plea deal for sure and are prepared to go forward with their investigation.
But it's clear the plea deal could be revived at any time.
"The risks are too great for both sides. The Fastows would be foolhardy to pass up such generous dispositions, and the government has to want to be free to prosecute its other cases and conclude its investigation," said Philip Hilder, a Houston lawyer and ex-federal prosecutor who represents several witnesses in the Enron cases. "The problem now will be that the new compromise may be significantly less palatable to one or more sides. But that's how it happens."
Though there was frustration among some legal experts that Hittner did not accept the plea, they said the judge was within his rights to reject the government's offer and ask for the typical background investigation, which could take about 60 days.
A plea bargain is a three-pronged agreement. Consensus must be had among the defendant, the government and the judge.
The judge appears to be the least moveable part at this point.
The prospect of dismissing the case against Lea Fastow does not appear to be on the table. But the government may have leeway on how it requires Lea Fastow to serve the five or more months -- in prison, a halfway house or even house arrest. With a guarantee that her children would not be without a parent, it seems possible she could agree to a longer term.
"There are a number of things that could solve this. But in the end, Lea Fastow may have to take a leap of faith when it comes to the judge," Hilder said.
The biggest hurdle is likely fear that Hittner will not guarantee a sentence now and she could wind up withdrawing a guilty plea and heading to trial anew in two months when the judge finally names a number.
Not much else to say. Stay tuned.
No, this isn't a feeble attempt to imitate Friday Cat Blogging. We finally got a digital camera, so I figure now's as good a time as any to show off the current star of our household. It's a hard life that our Harry leads, but by God he's just the dog for it. Sadly for him, today is bath and a haircut day. Fortunately, he won't remember the experience by the time he gets home.
It's not just that we're a state in which a Republican candidate can get into a pissing contest with an oil tycoon. It's that they do it in public that makes this state so special.
To say Dallas oilman T. Boone Pickens and state Senate candidate Jesse Quackenbush disagree on water rights is an understatement.After Quackenbush — an Amarillo attorney and restaurateur — commented in the Odessa American newspaper about Pickens' attempt to sell Panhandle water, Pickens' attorney fired off a letter threatening a libel lawsuit.
Quackenbush, who considers the tone of the letter "threatening," is refusing to be muzzled.
"Tell Mr. Pickens I'll be his huckleberry. Please let him know that if I'm elected to represent the 31st District, the only water he'll leave the Panhandle with will be the urine I leave on his pant leg," Quackenbush wrote to Pickens' attorney, James A. Besselman, also of Amarillo. The letter is dated Jan. 5.
See what I mean? You can't buy this kind of entertainment anywhere else. I will of course prefer to see the Democrat, Elaine King Miller, win this race, but if it has to be a Republican (and it almost assuredly will), I'll be rooting for Quackenbush. May I suggest now that his Official Senate Nickname be Huckleberry Hound?
Jokes aside, the article is pretty interesting in its own right. Here's the nub of the dispute:
Quackenbush is making water rights a theme in his campaign and name-dropped Pickens in the newspaper story."The rapidly approaching special election should be about issues, not the popularity contest it's turning into," Quackenbush told the American. "T. Boone Pickens is closer than ever to stealing and auctioning off the 31st District's limited water supply."
In a letter to Quackenbush from Besselman dated Dec. 23, Besselman wrote that the water underlying Pickens' ranch and the ranches of a separate landowner group belong to them "as a matter of law."
Besselman also wrote that Pickens has put forth a "viable solution to the state's impending water crisis that should be debated as a public policy issue."
"Your public statement that Mr. Pickens is going to 'steal' water that somehow belongs to the 31st District's water supply is a libelous misstatement that is offensive to Mr. Pickens and appears to be a blatant mischaracterization and untruth published by you to gain some advantage in your election efforts," Besselman wrote.
"We view this known untruth and malicious lie, to further your own political ambition, to be a very serious error of judgment."
The letter stated it was Quackenbush's only reminder to never again refer to Pickens in any further "untrue fashion" about his proposed use or sale of his water.
"To do so will assuredly cause you to be a defendant in a libel lawsuit, and I can promise you that your time will be saturated with the prosecution of that case," the letter states.
Quackenbush said he doesn't agree with water being sold for profit and transported to other areas. He equated it to the sale and transportation of oxygen. He said he is trying to protect the interests of farmers in the 31st District, which goes from the Panhandle through counties along the New Mexico border to the Permian Basin. It includes Amarillo, Midland and Odessa.
"We don't think water should be treated as a commodity," Quackenbush said. "The people in the Panhandle do not understand the commodity that's about to be taken away from them."
Water rights are a big deal, and as more people move into and are born into the West and Southwest, you'll see a lot more of this kind of dispute, if perhaps with a bit less color. I believe Quackenbush is on the right side of this issue for the same reason that I believe development should be strictly controlled in the Edwards Aquifer recharge zone. I hope whoever wins this Senate seat will see it Quackenbush's way.
Our daily tour of the Congressional scramble continues...
Chris Bell has drawn a primary opponent for the new 9th CD.
Justice of the Peace Al Green, former president of the Houston NAACP, announced Thursday that he will run for the new 9th Congressional District -- giving himself a jump on at least one other prospective candidate, City Councilwoman Ada Edwards.At a hastily arranged news conference, Green, a JP for 26 years, said he will resign that position next week and file in the Democratic primary for the U.S. House seat.
[...]
At least one Republican, former University of Houston basketball player Lyndon Rose, is considering the race. He recently was appointed to the UH board of regents.
Green is the first black candidate to announce.
U.S. Rep. Chris Bell of Houston, the first-term white Democrat whose 25th District moved to south-central Texas in the redistricting, also plans to run in the 9th.
Edwards, an African-American community activist who just began her second term on City Council, said only that she is talking with constituents about running. The filing deadline is Jan. 16.
Green declined to discuss other candidates Thursday as he made his announcement standing in the foyer of his south Houston JP office. He said he wanted to focus on issues including Social Security, transportation, education, flood control and national security.
Among supporters present were the Rev. Bill Lawson of Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church and former Harris County Democratic Party Chairman David Mincberg.
"The diverse population of the new district needs someone in Washington who knows and understands them and who can serve as a strong advocate for them," said Green, who headed the Houston branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People for almost a decade until stepping down in 1995.
The article notes that Nick Lampson is still considering a run in the new 2nd CD. There are six Republicans so far in that primary, with former judge/eccentric Ted Poe being the only one known to me. Lampson might have a decent shot there on name recognition, but the partisan orientation of the area guarantees it'll be an uphill battle.
In Austin, State Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos will not run in the new 25th CD against Lloyd Doggett, but will back District Judge Leticia Hinojosa instead.
Hinojosa, according to Barrientos, has the background needed to represent the sprawling, diverse district."She knows Austin both in terms of its potential and its problems," he said, noting that she attended the University of Texas and its law school and worked for Legal Aid here for two years after earning a law degree in 1981.
"The fact that a qualified candidate has emerged from the most populated southern part of the district made my decision easier," Barrientos said.
Barrientos said nothing about Doggett until asked.
"I think he has represented Austin well," he said in a terse assessment of Doggett's five terms in the U.S. House.
Then why not back him?
"We've got to stand back and look at the fact that this is a district," Barrientos said. "It's not just Austin, Texas, folks."
Campaigning Thursday in Hidalgo County, Doggett said he was "disappointed but not surprised" by Barrientos' support of Hinojosa.
"Last year was a challenging time for some of us to support him, and I pitched in and did it," Doggett said in a reference to Barrientos' 2002 re-election campaign that came after he pleaded no contest to driving while intoxicated.
Doggett rejected talk by Barrientos and Hinojosa that she has the "experience" to best represent the district.
"If it's experience in challenging the power structure, that's what my life's work has been about," Doggett said, adding, "This election is a referendum on my life's work."
Hinojosa, at an event at an East Austin restaurant, said she knows the Travis County portion of the district from her time at UT and working for Legal Aid.
"I don't see myself as necessarily being from 300 miles away," she said. "I think geographically that might be the case, but I think when you look at my background and my experiences they are very similar to the ones of this particular portion of Austin."
I received a spreadsheet from reader Bill T which showed that in Democratic primaries from 1994 to 2002, Hispanic candidates have always done better than non-Hispanic candidates in the non-Travis counties in this district, by margins ranging from 7000 to 16000 votes. Based on that, Bill thinks Doggett starts out in a 10000 vote hole against Hinojosa, and he'd put his money on her. This could be a nasty race.
Chet Edwards will run in the 17th CD, which contains his hometown of Waco, instead of the 31st CD which now contains Fort Hood.
Mr. Edwards, a Democrat, went to Killeen to unveil his plans – an apparent attempt to underscore Republican efforts to thwart him under the new, GOP-backed congressional redistricting plan.Referring to normally supportive Fort Hood-area residents, he said, "I wanted to tell them in person" of the plans. With 17,000 local soldiers in Iraq, he said wanted to reassure voters that he will keep fighting for them in Congress – even if he can't court their votes or represent them.
[...]
"The Republican Party does not have a lock on these districts," U.S. Rep. Joe Barton, R-Ennis, said Thursday in Arlington while announcing his re-election bid.
He could face Rep. Martin Frost, D-Arlington, whose old district was splintered among six districts. Arlington falls within the new District 6, where Mr. Barton is running.
Citing personal ties, Mr. Edwards said he reluctantly was giving up representing the Fort Hood area. He is the ranking Democrat on a subcommittee on military construction spending but would have faced GOP incumbent, Rep. John Carter of Round Rock.
"I knew that we could win in both congressional districts but that each would be a challenging race. This was really a personal family decision," Mr. Edwards said. "My wife and I met in Waco, we married here, our children were born here and we're not going to let some map-drawers in Austin change our home."
The new District 17 stretches from Burleson to College Station. Mr. Edwards represents a third of that turf already, and he represented other parts as a state senator. He predicted a $2 million race. He spent $1.6 million in 2002, when he won by a few thousand votes.
Two Republicans have stumped for months for the right to face Mr. Edwards in November: state Rep. Arlene Wohlgemuth of Burleson and Dot Snyder, former Waco school board president. Ms. Wohlgemuth said she looked forward to contrasting his record with her own. She said the district – which includes President Bush's ranch in Crawford – deserves someone who will work with the president rather than against him.
"Chet Edwards has been a part of the Democrat leadership team looking to thwart the Bush agenda," she said.
The Waco Trib has more.
The new District 17 has no clear power base. Its most populous areas are in Johnson and Hood counties in the north, McLennan County in the center and Brazos County to the south.Edwards predicts state Rep. Arlene Wohlgemuth, R-Burleson, will win the GOP primary in a bid to face him in November. If so, he believes he can win the election by gaining 35 percent of the vote in her home county of Johnson and 58 percent of the vote in McLennan County.
As for the other end of the new district in College Station, the Texas A&M graduate believes he has enough standing in that community to sway voters there as well.
"I have never shied away from a tough campaign and I've never lost a November election," Edwards said. "And I do not intend, after 21 years in office, to begin doing that this year."
Wohlgemuth is of course famous for killing a whole calendarful of bills in 1997 in a fit of pique known as the Memorial Day Massacre. I think Edwards could have a shot against her, but as with all of these districts, it'll be tough.
Joe Barton, mentioned earlier, is not worried about a potential faceoff with Martin Frost.
Barton said he will seek re-election to District 6, which has been redrawn to include Arlington. He said he has amassed $850,000 toward his campaign.Frost is weighing his options after a new congressional map, drawn by Republicans and upheld by the U.S. Justice Department and a federal judicial panel, split up his District 24 and forces him to run in a district with far fewer Democrats.
[...]
Frost, who has $700,000 on hand and expects to spend as much $3 million in his re-election bid, declined to comment Thursday. But he has said he was waiting to publicly pick his opponent because "I'd like to see my Republican colleagues sweat a little bit."
During a news conference in Arlington on Thursday, Barton laughed off the notion that he, or any local Republican for that matter, is afraid of Frost, now that the congressional districts tilt in favor of the GOP.
A Barton-Frost duel, the Republican said, would be a "fun campaign ... because we've both been in Congress for a while and we're both hardworking."
"But I wouldn't trade places with him; I wouldn't trade my people for his people," Barton said.
And now for something a bit different: An emeritus professor at Texas Tech, Richard "Chip" Peterson, will run in the 19th CD as a Libertarian.
Peterson, who has a doctorate in economics and is finance professor emeritus at Tech, said he want to address important issues being ignored by the major parties.Peterson said he is an advocate for lower, simpler taxes, less wasteful government, less intrusive regulations and Constitutional rights. He also said he wants to fix Social Security.
"Under both major parties, the federal government has frequently ignored these Constitutional guarantees in recent years as it has increasingly intruded into people's private lives and ignored or overridden states' laws," Peterson said.
He has worked for the Federal Reserve, authored books on Social Security and finance and discussed with congressmen various facets of a gov ernment proposal to reform the country's financial system.
While a professor at Tech, Peterson received the President's Excellence in Teaching and Academic Achievement Awards.
Peterson said he was a member of the Lubbock County Republican Executive Committee, but realized Libertarian Party values were essential after writing his book on Social Security.
He believes in the Libertarian principles of low-tax, low-regulation and no wasteful spending, he said, and wants to fight growth in government spending and the outside influence on members of the two major parties.
He was the Libertarian Party candidate for the District 19 spot in last year's special election to replace Larry Combest.
Hey, if he peels off a few votes from Randy Neugebauer when he runs against Charlie Stenholm (who I'm presuming will run here), then more power to him.
Finally, on a housekeeping note, I suppose at some point I need to switch the category on this to Election 2004, but I think up till the filing deadline next Friday I'll keep these posts where they are. Such is the downside of categories.
Hey, Houston! Jimmy Kimmel wants to stay at your house during Super Bowl weekend.
Kimmel needs accommodations in the Houston area -- preferably with a view of Reliant Stadium -- while here to host a Super Bowl-themed show Jan. 30.Kimmel, whose show appears weeknights at 11:05 p.m. on Channel 13, lamented his plight Wednesday night and made a televised plea for a bed to rest his head.
The offers are flooding in -- 250 by mid-Thursday afternoon, according to executive producer Duncan Gray -- and Houstonians have until the end of the weekend to make their case.
"The idea is to find a great group of people who we'd have the most fun with and really try to make them part of the show," Gray said in a telephone interview from Los Angeles.
Anyone interested in offering Kimmel some Houston hospitality can apply on the ABC Web site (www.abc.com). Entrants, who must be 13 or older, have to tell about their house in 50 words or fewer and what makes it the best place for Kimmel to host the show.
Proximity to Reliant Stadium is important, but "that is a secondary consideration," Gray said. "It's really about who lives in the house."
I'm not all that close to Reliant Stadium, but I don't think I'd have much of a shot at this anyway. "Hey, honey, you know that guy who used to host the show that features women jumping on trampolines? Can he crash here for the weekend? He says he'll bring the beer." I don't think so.
The Kimmel team got the idea to come to Houston for the Super Bowl last month, but when they checked into accommodations, everything was booked. So they decided to depend on the kindness of strangers."Necessity is the mother of invention," Gray said."Also, creatively, it's much more of a fun idea."
The Kimmel team will narrow the finalists down to between three and five by next Tuesday, with the winner announced the week of Jan. 20.
The inhabitants of the winning house might receive a small honorarium to cover any wear and tear on the house. "But it's not like a big movie coming to town," Gray said.
Therre's yet another blow to the hopes of the Make Money Fast By Renting Your House Out For An Outrageous Amount Of Money crowd. Maybe next time.
In the comments to this entry on Pete Rose and the Hall of Fame, Mike says the following:
If we are going to start picking and choosing the ballplayers that we honor based on whether or not we liked them as a person, then how long will it be before other issues creep into consideration. I can see a time when great ballplayers fall short in the balloting because they were gay or because they were atheist or because they opposed some U.S. military action.By hiding our personal biases and dislikes behind ill defined buzzwords like "integrity," we open the door to all kinds of discrimination that has nothing to do with how well someone played the game of baseball.
With all due respect, I don't accept the premise that Pete Rose has been or may be kept out of Cooperstown due to distaste for him. I believe he has only his own actions to blame. However, I can see the larger point being made, where a worthy player's candidacy could be held hostage to a controversial personal matter, such as sexuality or a perceived lack of patriotism. So let's take a look at that.
Now, baseball has always had a "character" requirement for its Hall of Fame, unlike the NFL, which is why Lawrence Taylor's induction generated some outrage. In all honesty, though, I can't think of a single player who has been kept out for this reason. Rose and Shoeless Joe Jackson, who were banned from the game due to their breaking the gambling rule, don't count here. Their situation is akin to having a felony conviction and losing the right to vote as a result. I'm talking about someone who is officially in good standing with Major League Baseball but has been blackballed by the writers and the Veterans' Committee.
I can't say that the first openly gay player, or the first player to refuse to stand during the Star Spangled Banner won't run into resistance from the Hall voters some day. I can't say there won't be a spirited and probably acrimonious debate when we're presented with that scenario. I do think, or at least I hope, that in the end those responsible for voting will confine their decisions to the question of whether or not the player's actions were directly harmful to the game of baseball or not. In my mind, at least, that's the only real issue.
As such, if we were to shut Cooperstown down and redo the whole Hall of Fame from scratch, I'd unhesitatingly cast a vote for Ty Cobb's induction. Cobb was a notorious racist, misanthropist jerk and is often held up by Rose supporters as a "bad person" who nonetheless passed Hall muster. To the best of my knowledge, though, none of Cobb's jerky racist misanthropy directly harmed the game of baseball, and given that I say he'd qualify in a do-over.
The person whom I would shun for bad behavior is Cap Anson, who bears a large share of the responsibility for MLB's color line. By his actions, the majority of fans never got to see the likes of Josh Gibson, Cool Papa Bell, or Buck O'Neil, and these players never got a chance to prove themselves on a national stage. If that doesn't count as harming the game, I don't know what would.
Applying that standard, Rose and Shoeless Joe would still be on the outside looking in to my reconstituted Hall. However, given that he's under a "lifetime" ban, there's another way to deal with him, as suggested later in the comments by TK:
Put up a display/plaque/bust in the hall, detailing his on-field accomplishments, and including the reason his baseball career ended. But don't induct him as a member of the Hall of Fame, and don't do it with a big ceremony. And make it posthumous.Start with Shoeless Joe.
I can live with that.
I think my favorite response to that Club for Growth ad is Jim's, but then I'm a sucker for quantitative analysis. Would you have guessed that Texas is way more Starbucks-infested than Vermont? Not that I'd ever set my non-coffee-drinking self down in one of them.
I see that Hesiod and Alex Frantz are thinking along the same lines. If we had an inquisitive media in this country, perhaps we'd see someone in that media do some of this work as well. Why does all this remind me of the time that Poppy Bush called "Doonesbury" readers a bunch of "brie-tasting, chardonnay-sipping elitists"?
Of course, Atrios has a pretty good response, too. Did anyone notice the way that the Club for Growth used cultural stereotypes of Iowa people as well? Lucky for them those Iowans are all such salt-of-the-earth types.
Having finally gotten the map of his dreams, Tom DeLay says he's ready to spend whatever it takes to win the seats that the new map offers. One might hope that recent revelations will slow down the TAB spigot, but make no mistake: As long as DeLay has influence to peddle, he'll get whatever money he wants.
Over in Austin, the races of interest are in the 25th and 10th CDs. Lloyd Doggett is the early favorite in the 25th, but he will be contested in the Democratic primary.
Uncertain is whether it has been so good that he might scare off serious challengers.State Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos, D-Austin, has said he was leaning toward running and will announce his plans today.
Barrientos' entry could divide the important Travis County vote in the new district.
Also uncertain is whether state District Judge Leticia Hinojosa of Edinburg, who has indicated she will run, will actually jump in.
Doggett has used an early start, $2.1 million in the bank and name recognition from previous statewide races to become the front-runner in a district with hundreds of miles he has never represented.
"This is not a slam dunk; this race is not over yet," said Jerry Polinard, a political science professor at the University of Texas-Pan American in Edinburg. "But he has some very significant advantages as we move into the primary campaigning."
Even the potential opposition acknowledges the edge.
"The advantage he has, number one, is he's already a congressman (who is) high-profile. Number two, his name has been on the ballot, and he's well-known in the area," said La Joya Mayor Billy Leo, a Hinojosa supporter.
Hidalgo County Democratic Chairman Bobby Guerra, who respects Doggett but would prefer a local candidate, said Doggett's intense efforts in South Texas have paid off.
"Doggett has in the past had a very good voting record," Guerra said. "But yes indeed, we deserve our own congressman."
The Quorum Report is now saying that Sen. Barrientos will back Judge Hinojosa, so Doggett will apparently face a concentrated challenge in the north and south.
In the new 10th, which stretches from Austin to the Houston suburbs, the most likely outcome is a race decided in a GOP runoff.The GOP battle in the 10th is shaping up as something of an east-west civil war. About 43 percent of the district's population is in Travis County. About 41 percent is in the Houston suburbs. The rest is in a strip connecting the two.
Austin lawyer Michael McCaul, a former federal prosecutor, has worked to be the lone candidate from Travis County, a distinction that would put him in good position to get into a runoff with whoever prevails among four Harris County candidates who have announced for the seat.
"I've done everything I can to make that happen," McCaul said Wednesday prior to announcing his candidacy at the Dell Jewish Community Center in Northwest Austin.
Apparently, that effort will fail. Teresa Doggett Taylor, an Austin mortgage banker, will announce her candidacy in the GOP primary next week, said spokesman Adam Mitchell.
Though she's never held public office, Doggett Taylor is a known ballot name from her unsuccessful bids for state comptroller in 1994 and the U.S. House in 1996, when she ran -- as Teresa Doggett -- against Lloyd Doggett, to whom she is not related.
The Houston-area candidates seeking the GOP nomination in the 10th district are, so far: Cypress lawyer Dave Phillips; Spring businessman Ben Streusand; former Houston state District Judge John Devine; and former Houston City Councilman John Kelley. Former Washington County GOP Chairman Pat Elliott of Brenham also might run.
On the Democratic side in that race, the only buzz about a possible candidacy has come from former Austin Mayor Gus Garcia, who did not return telephone calls Wednesday.
Earlier in the week, Garcia told the Quorum Report, a political newsletter, that he is thinking about seeking the seat.
"Even though it is a Republican, Bible-thumping district, I think Democrats ought to have a presence," Garcia told the Quorum Report. "We should not just give up."
I certainly hope Garcia runs, quixotic though his effort may be.
Meanwhile, the Morning News suggests some hope for a few of the endangered incumbents.
"Come November, I'll still be a white Democrat," said Rep. Charlie Stenholm of Abilene. "The bunch on the other side are making a better Democrat out of me every day."But unless courts stop the highly partisan remapping, legislatures will continue "to balkanize American politics along [ethnic] lines," Dr. [Bruce] Buchanan said.
"There's something unsatisfying about it to most friends of the system who are not thinking about it in purely partisan terms."
He and SMU's Dr. [Cal] Jillson predicted that [Martin] Frost and Mr. Stenholm, both 25-year veterans, may survive, along with one or two others with strong name recognition.
WD-40s given the best chance of surviving are freshman Chris Bell and six-term incumbent Gene Green, both of Houston, and Austin's Lloyd Doggett, who is campaigning in a newly drawn district that stretches from his hometown to the border.
"WD-40s" refers to white Democrats over the age of 40, a term coined by several Killer Ds in Ardmore and used by them until the manufacturer of the lubricant by the same name sent them a cease-and-desist letter. Only in Texas.
As I noted on Polstate, Stenholm is ready to run and will file for reelection next week.
Stenholm's Abilene home rests in the 19th District, which is currently represented by [Randy] Neugebauer, a freshman. Stenholm's farm land lies in the 13th District, represented by [Mac] Thornberry.Stenholm, speaking from a cotton conference in San Antonio, said he will likely announce Thursday the district in which he intends to run.
Also noted was Mike Conway, runner up to Neugebauer in last year's special election in the 19th CD, who will run in the new 11th CD, the one that's based in Midland.
Finally, Ralph Hall's defection to the Republicans has turned into a boon for Rep. Charlie Gonzalez of San Antonio.
The Democratic leadership wants to hand Rep. Charlie Gonzalez, D-San Antonio, Hall's seat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has oversight of air standards, hazardous materials, telecommunications and public health.Gonzalez, 58, was nominated by House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
The nomination goes to the Democratic Steering Committee for approval.
He was the only candidate nominated for the position.
"Charlie will be a strong voice on the committee for consumers and joins a proud tradition of Texans serving on the Energy and Committee," Pelosi said.
Energy and Commerce is the oldest standing committee in the House of Representation.
"It is something that I sought earlier in the year. I am just grateful as can be. It's a wonderful opportunity," Gonzalez said.
"I don't think there is not a major issue in the United States that doesn't come before this committee," he said.
Gonzalez would be the first Hispanic from Texas to sit on the committee.
Good for him. I have no doubt he'll do a better job than Hall would have anyway.
Even if this is the only thing he does in office, Bill White will still be a success in my book.
City crews have begun a yearlong project designed to ease congestion -- and reduce those exasperating, one-block-at-a-time trips through some areas -- by adjusting the timing on traffic signals along 14 major corridors, White announced."It's a waste of time and energy of our citizens to be out there with traffic signals that aren't timed," the new mayor said, calling traffic congestion one of Houston's greatest aggravations.
The work already has begun in the Midtown area, where the lights along major streets should be coordinated by Jan. 15, said Wes Johnson, a spokesman for the Public Works and Engineering Department.
White said his plan calls for timing the traffic signals at 1,500 intersections by the end of the year.
"It's taken us awhile to get into this jam of a traffic nightmare," he said, "and it will take us awhile to get out."
I can feel our collective blood pressure going down already. Not having to listen to me swear at certain intersections is probably more than enough to get Tiffany to vote for White again in 2005. Hell, it's probably enough to get her to block-walk for him.
Councilman Michael Berry said White's choice of tackling Houston's problematic traffic signals is an "easy win.""It is a discrete piece (of the congestion problem) that is high-profile, that is fixable and can show immediate results that affect people's lives," Berry said.
The next time someone asks you why certain politicians have longer honeymoons than others, you can show them this article and that quote. I better stop here before I swoon.
There's more stuff to vote on for the Koufax Awards. For your consideration are the Most Humorous Blog, the Best Series, and the Best "Conservative" Blog. I put "Conservative" in quotes because it really should have been called Best Non-Lefty Blog, given the inclusion of libertarian bloggers like Jim Henley and Arthur Silber. Unlike nominee Roger Simon, whose graceless comment leads me to think he's been poaching campaign staffers from John Kerry, I don't think the nomenclature is a particularly big deal, but whatever. I do think that whoever nominated Al Gore fan The Talking Dog has misread it, though.
I was shameless enough to nominate myself for the Best Series award, but I cast my votes there for other folks. In all of these categories, one can easily make a case for everyone listed, but voting that way isn't particularly helpful, so one must narrow things down a bit. Not voting for a blog or a post doesn't mean it's not worthy. Not at all.
Seeing the nominations for Best Series and the links to them is in my mind an excellent endorsement of Movable Type or TypePad and their Category features over Blogger. Much easier to keep track of same-topic posts that way.
Still more to come (Most Humorous Post, Best New Blog, Best Group Blog, Best Writing), so check back soon.
First and foremost, congratulations to Paul Molitor and Dennis Eckersley for their well-deserved election to the Hall of Fame. I'm surprised Ryne Sandberg is still not in, though with Wade Boggs as the only deserving newcomer to the ballot next year, he shouldn't have to wait much longer. Nobody else really came close. The writers matched the Internet Hall of Fame voters, though both Blyleven and Sandberg came much closer in the IHoF ballot.
Both new inductees were a little put off by the timing of Pete Rose's Gambling Admission World Tour kickoff and the resultant attention that's been diverted from them as a result. In the end, though, it won't matter. The Hall of Fame is forever, while Rose's book will soon be a historical footnote. Hold your heads up, fellas.
As for Rose, it seems his apologyless admission may be backfiring on him. Peter Gammons has turned against him. Jayson Stark is unimpressed. Both George Vecsey and Richard Justice note that Rose's insistence that he never bet against his own team rings hollow when you consider that he didn't bet on his team all the time. Says Justice:
If you followed the Cincinnati Reds during the 1988 season, you're probably wondering if you were Charlie Hustled.You're probably wondering if you caught your favorite team on a night the manager had a big wad of cash riding on the outcome.
Or maybe you were one of the unlucky saps who took the kids to Riverfront Stadium for a game on which Rose did not place a bet.
At least now you understand why he rested his closer and gave that outfielder with the bum leg a night off.
At the time you probably thought your manager was a knucklehead. Now you're guessing he was resting two of his most important players because he had big money riding on the next day's game.
Makes you sick, doesnt it?
While Rob Dibble is still on his side, what should be troubling for Rose and his aspirations is the fact that quite a few Hall voters seem to be pissed at him.
A sampling of Hall of Fame voters and members shows some have questions about Rose's candidacy. Voting instructions say to consider integrity, sportsmanship and character.One voter, Frank Luksa of The Dallas Morning News, knows what he'll do if Rose is reinstated by commissioner Bud Selig and comes up for election to the Hall.
"He gets a flat 'No' from me," Luksa said. "I think he crossed the line from which there is no retreat. I'm a hard-liner on that. It's commandment No. 1 of baseball. You are messing with the integrity of the game."
[...]
"No!" said Tracy Ringolsby of the Rocky Mountain News. "He committed the biggest atrocity that can be committed against the sport, the worst crime that can be committed. I don't think anything can be done to disgrace the game more than what he did."
Hal McCoy of the Dayton Daily News covered Rose through all his years in Cincinnati. McCoy would vote for the player -- although he doesn't think Rose belongs on the Hall's ballot.
Tom Gage of the Detroit News was undecided.
"There are reasons to vote for him and reasons not to," he said. "There's no denying he was a great player. I don't like the fact that he lied for 14 years. Do I vote for the player or the person? I'm on the fence and I don't like being there."
Jack Lang, longtime secretary-treasurer of the BBWAA and a member of the writers' wing of the Hall of Fame, said he would not vote for Rose.
"I would sum it up this way," Lang said. "Does he belong in the Hall of Fame? Yes. Does he deserve it? No."
This sure lends a lot of credence to David Pinto's hypothesis that Rose may not get elected if he becomes eligible. I'm a lot less skeptical of that now.
Even the fans may not be as much in Rose's corner as I might've thought. The Chron has an unscientific but not utterly uninformative online poll alongside Justice's column, and when I checked in, the vote was 54%-41% against Rose's reinstatement, with 5% undecided. (Side note: Why would anyone pick "Undecided" in an Internet poll? Can't you just not vote? Sheesh.)
Finally, to get back to the HoF vote itself, Jay Jaffe of Futility Infielder has a long article on Baseball Prospectus that attempts to update Bill James' Hall of Fame Standards test with more modern metrics. By his reckoning, Alan Trammell, Ryne Sandberg, and Keith Hernandez should have joined Molly and Eck in the Hall. Unfortunately for Hernandez, whose candidacy I admit I never seriously considered, he got less than 5% of the vote and thus will be dropped from future ballots.
UPDATE: William Burton makes the useful point that there's more ways to bet than just win/loss, and that a manager who made various proposition bets would also degrade the game.
On to a more pleasant topic: Both Andy and Lea Fastow are reportedly in plea bargain negotiations with federal prosuctors that could net them jail time.
Federal prosecutors are discussing a 10-year sentence for Andrew Fastow, and the plea bargain offered to Lea Fastow in November for a five-month term is back on the table, sources close to the case told the Houston Chronicle.But the deals could still collapse, as Lea Fastow's did in November. Two federal judges, prosecutors and the defendants all must agree on the details for a plea to be finalized.
One of Andrew Fastow's San Francisco lawyers, Jan Little, was scheduled to arrive in Houston Tuesday night, and his lead lawyer, John Keker, is due here today. Enron Task Force Director Leslie Caldwell, who has spent little time in Houston in recent months, was at the Bob Casey Federal Courthouse downtown Tuesday.
Discussions with the two judges who must approve the deals are expected to take place beginning today.
U.S. District Judge David Hittner must agree to Lea Fastow's plea bargain. Despite the plea negotiations, the judge has not withdrawn his order that 250 prospective jurors be called to the courthouse Thursday morning to answer a questionnaire to see if they are fit to serve as jurors in Lea Fastow's Feb. 10 trial on six criminal charges.
U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt would have to sign off on Andrew Fastow's plea bargain. Andrew Fastow faces nearly 100 charges and has asked the judge to move his trial out of Houston, preferably out of the state.
[...]
It is unclear how much or whether the Fastows would be cooperating with the government, though it would be surprising if they did not do so.
Defense lawyers involved in the case have long assumed prosecutors consider Andrew Fastow the prize witness in their effort to charge former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling and possibly even former Chairman Ken Lay.
[...]
It is likely the Fastows would be forced to pay restitution.
Prosecutors have already frozen the proceeds from the sale of the Fastows' River Oaks mansion and some of the couple's bank accounts, saying they were financed with money taken from Enron.
Andrew Fastow's protegé [Michael] Kopper agreed to return $12 million he made from Enron-related deals.
Not much I can add to that other than an assurance that I'll be doing the Happy Dance if (and hopefully when) Andy Fastow starts singing to the feds about Skilling and Kenny Boy. We'll see what happens.
UPDATE: Well, that was quick. No deal for Lea Fastow, sayeth the judge.
A federal judge today rejected a proposed plea bargain that would have meant a five-month prison sentence for Lea Fastow, the former assistant treasurer at Enron and wife of ex-chief financial officer Andrew Fastow.U.S. District Judge David Hittner rejected the plea agreement reached between Lea Fastow's lawyers and prosecutors because it would have given him no leeway to increase the sentence, sources close to the case told the Houston Chronicle.
Lea Fastow had been expected to plead guilty to one of her six counts and could be subject to up to a 16-month prison term.
A plea could be reworked so the judge will accept it but that would likely entail Lea Fastow accepting a longer term in prison. If no deal is reached, she is scheduled to go on trial on Feb. 10.
It is unclear whether Hittner's decision will have any effect on the plea deal being negotiated by Andrew Fastow. That deal -- before a different federal judge -- calls for the former Enron CFO to serve 10 years in prison.
Back to the drawing board.
So the court has ruled (incorrectly, in my opinion, but they didn't ask me) to uphold the godawful new Congressional map. There will be an appeal to the Supreme Court, but frankly I'll be surprised if they even bother to hear it. The new map is reality and we may as well get used to it.
Newspaper coverage of the ruling was fairly similar across the board. You can find them here, here, here, here, and here. The ruling itself is here (PDF). Beldar has waded through most of it already and picked out the key points. In short, all three judges rejected the plaintiffs' claims, Judge Ward would have left the old map in place this year and required the Lege to redo CD 23, Republicans rejoiced and Democrats cried foul. The one bit I want to quote is this statement from Attorney General Greg Abbott, taken from the Statesman article:
"I think that when minorities learn . . . the real facts and the law about how their voting rights have been protected and about how there are new potential electoral opportunities for minorities, I think you will find minorities of all kinds in the state of Texas will be very appreciative for what the Texas Legislature has done," Abbott said.
I believe the phrase you're looking for is "Thank you, sir, may I please have another." Hope that helps.
The Statesman article, plus sidebar stories in the Chron and the Star-Telegram, examine some of the political fallout. The Chron considers the future of Rep. Nick Lampson, whose 9th CD was destroyed:
[I]ncumbent Democrat Nick Lampson of Beaumont is considering seeking election in the new 2nd District, which runs from eastern Harris County to Beaumont and includes all of his current Jefferson County constituency.Candidates for the GOP nomination in the district include former state District Judge Ted Poe of Humble, GOP party official Clint Moore of Spring and civic leader George Fastuca of Kingwood.
Lampson now represents the 9th district, which moves to southern Harris County in the map the court approved Tuesday. He has not announced whether he will run in the new 2nd District or take on U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay in the 22nd District.
DeLay was the force behind the Republican redistricting efforts, successfully working to elect a Republican majority in the state Legislature and then pushing the body to redraw congressional lines.
Although the candidate filing deadline was last Friday for other offices on the Democratic and Republican primary ballots, the congressional deadline was extended until Jan. 16 because of the court challenges to the new maps.
"I will make an announcement regarding my plans prior to the filing deadline on January 16th," Lampson said Tuesday. "In response to the many people who have been asking me if I'm going to run against Tom Delay, I will tell them this -- anybody that is going to run in any of these districts is running against Tom Delay."
DeLay already faces Democratic opposition from Richard Morrison, a Sugar Land lawyer who so far is running his campaign mostly through a Web site that features a cartoon of DeLay as a gigantic gladiator with a bloody sword in his hand battling a much smaller and poorly equipped combatant.
The metaphor is appropriate, since the district has a history of voting 2-1 Republican and DeLay would be a formidable foe for any Democrat.
The Statesman only mentions the 22nd CD possibility for Lampson in its roundup of the Democratic incumbents' plans.
All but one Democratic incumbent vowed Tuesday to seek re-election, though several were still choosing in what district that will be.U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, has already committed to the new District 25, which stretches from South Austin to the Mexican border. He was campaigning in McAllen — about 350 miles from his current district in Travis County — when the court decision was announced. Doggett countered by announcing endorsements from six South Texas mayors and other Hidalgo County officials.
"I've been campaigning in South Texas since November and was here most of December," he said. "I'm here now, so this decision did not come as a surprise to me."
Doggett could be challenged by state Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos, D-Austin, who plans a Thursday news conference to announce his intentions. He would not have to give up his Senate seat to run.
U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco, is leaning toward running in a heavily Republican district that includes his hometown, though he may choose District 31, which includes Fort Hood. The new District 31, however, is based in Williamson County, a stronghold for Rep. John Carter, R-Round Rock.
"Waco is home, not a post office box," Edwards said. "I met my wife here; we married here, had our children here. But representing Fort Hood has been one of the greatest privileges of my lifetime."
At least one other Republican, Wes Riddle of Belton, is expected to run in the Williamson County district.
Doggett and Edwards were two of the GOP's targets in drawing the new districts.
Across the state, U.S. Rep. Nick Lampson, D-Beaumont, is weighing a "gadfly" campaign against DeLay, who has trounced all challengers since his first election in 1984.
Of the 16 Democratic incumbents, only Rep. Jim Turner, D-Crockett, has not committed to re-election. Turner's rural East Texas district was carved six ways, and he has noted that he would have an advantage in none of the districts.
Republicans hold all 27 statewide offices and control both chambers of the Legislature. Until Rep. Ralph Hall of Rockwall switched to the Republican Party last week, Democrats held a 17-15 edge in the state's congressional delegation.
U.S. Rep. Max Sandlin, D-Marshall, is now weighing whether to run in Hall's new district, potentially setting up a race between one-time compatriots.
The main Star-Telegram article suggests that Turner will not run again. This article discusses Martin Frost's future.
The redistricting map cuts into the heart of Frost's district, taking away sections of south and southeast Fort Worth and placing them in a district that includes affluent and Republican-leaning communities of Denton County as it meanders up to the Texas-Oklahoma border.Frost said he may run in that new district, now held by freshman Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Highland Village.
Other "interesting options," he said, would be to run against U.S. Rep. Joe Barton, R-Ennis, in a district that takes in all of Arlington; challenge state Rep. Kenny Marchant, a Coppell Republican whom the GOP recruited for Frost's heavily redrawn 24th District; or run against Republican Rep. Pete Sessions of Dallas.
Frost said part of his reason for not immediately announcing what he will do is because "I'd like to see my Republican colleagues sweat a little bit."
Finally, the Quorum Report had written before the ruling came down that outgoing Austin Mayor Gus Garcia was considering a run in the new 10th CD. The filing deadline is next Friday the 16th, so we'll know soon enough who is and isn't in.
In the editorials, the Star-Telegram called the ruling "unwise", while the Chron says that the argument that any dilution of minority voting rights was merely a side effect of partisan aims "resembles the idea that it is OK to trample on people for personal gain as long as you don't look down to see what's happening". Both the Statesman and the Express News called again for a nonpartisan redistricting commission. The Morning News boggled at the breakup of the 24th CD and said it's time to move on. Special props to the Waco Trib for consistently getting it right, as they do here:
Hailing a three-judge panel's ruling on behalf of congressional redistricting, Gov. Rick Perry announced, “The Legislature has fulfilled its constitutional responsibility."Maybe it did in 2003, in machinations that stretched through three special sessions and into 2004. But it didn't do its duty in 2001. That's when redistricting was supposed to happen. That's when judges did the Legislature's and Perry's job.
Mr. Governor, at the turn of the decade you turned up your nose at that opportunity — your constitutional obligation — as though the hors d'oeuvres were not to your liking.
Judges did your work in 2001, Governor. You took a hike.
[...]
This is an episode in which a Republican power broker, U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, at first skulked around in Austin trying to hide his involvement in the process. Then when Perry was out of town DeLay became a courier between the House and the Senate, a de facto governor.
During this process, lawmakers heard from local authorities like the Waco City Council, the McLennan county commissioners, the cities of Killeen and Lacy-Lakeview and more opposing redistricting. They ignored every word. In the case of the Texas House, a hearing wasn't even held in McLennan County.
In the upcoming election, and when Perry next puts his name before them, voters should remember this: The legislative process was hijacked. Partisans ignored the protests of citizens and local governments. And, contrary to Perry's spin, lawmakers only did their constitutional obligation when deemed profitable.
Amen. Finally, here's a FindLaw article which calls for the Supreme Court to find for the plaintiffs in Vieth v. Jubelirer, the Pennsylvania case in which the constitutionality of extreme partisan redistricting is challenged.
Ugh. The three-judge panel has upheld the new Congressional map, saying that the plaintiffs "failed to prove" the plan violates the Constitution or the Voting Rights Act. John Whitmire, I'm looking at you.
There will be plenty more on this tomorrow. I don't care to think about it any more right now.
Greg has you covered for the local and state races on the slate for 2004 (here and here). I have just a few things to add to his as always thorough analysis.
First, there's Harris County, which demographics and political scientists assure us is slowly but surely becoming more Democrat-friendly, no small thing when all countywide offices are held by Republicans. There seems to be a pretty reasonable slate of Democratic candidates for these jobs, but speaking for myself, there are only two that I really care about: District Attorney and Tax Assessor. I care about the DA's office because incumbent Chuck Rosenthal is an incompetent boob who won by a 55-45 margin four years ago, thus making him the most beatable Republican with any name recognition. Knocking him off would not only make the Harris County Democratic Party a viable contender again, it would be a boost for the party statewide. I know nothing about Reginald E. McKamie, but I do know this is a great opportunity. I can only hope Mr. McKamie has the funding, the organization, and the qualifications to give Rosenthal a run for his money.
As for the Tax Assessor, there's no real chance that John T. Webb or anyone else will beat Paul Bettencourt, who is by any reasonable measure pretty good at his job. He's also the loudest, most visible, and most doctrinal Republican outside of the County Commissioner's Court, and the one opposed Republican incumbent I'd most like to see lose. It ain't gonna happen, but if the HCDP can make him spend some money and sweat a little, I'll be happy.
The big news in the state House races is that Rep. Ron "As Bad As I Wanna Be" Wilson has drawn a primary challenger in State Board of Education rep Alma Allen. I think I speak for everyone who opposed redistricting when I say that I wish her well. I just have one question: If this godforsaken new map or a close facsimile of it does go through, will someone have to challenge Sen. John "Boogie This" Whitmire in the 2006 primaries, or will he do the honorable thing and resign before then?
Greg didn't mention this, so I will: Would it have killed us to run someone against Rep. Joe "Mold Man" Nixon? Criminy.
It's an unusual step to take, but I agree with HCDP chair Gerry Birnbirg's call to Bernardo Amadi to withdraw from the primary against Rep. Scott Hochberg, given Amadi's stated reason for entering the race. And I also like his suggestion to Amadi, which is to run against US Rep. John Culberson instead.
Here are two opposing views on the putative candidacy of Domingo Garcia to replace the retiring Steve Wolens in the state House, from the guys at Burnt Orange.
Finally, congrats to Rob Booth for noting that City Council member Marc Goldberg will run for a Justice of the Peace seat in West Houston before the Chron reported on it. Goldberg won reelection to his third and final term in Council easily this past November. If he wins his primary race, it'll be interesting to see if he steps down from the Council or is simply distracted.
I started to read this screed on Salon about mystery writers - the author claims that it's all been downhill since Ross McDonald - because I thought there'd be some good controversy to dive into. Instead, it was more of an old crank rant, along the lines of what you hear from aging ex-ballplayers - you know, "back in my day we played the game the right way, these kids now wouldn't have cut it on my team", etc etc etc. Fine, whatever, go read something else. I'm not going to argue about a matter of taste.
I will, however, express the desire to drive up to Delaware, where the author directs the University's journalism program, and slap him silly for including plot spoilers in Michael Connelly's "City of Bones" without any warning. Oh, he doesn't say who dunnit, but he does divulge what happens to the main character and one of the costars. Knowing Connelly's work, and knowing his main character, what is revealed can't be described as a shock, but it still would have been nice to find it out for myself. Thanks a lot, pal.
It's time to cast your votes for the Koufax Award nominees. If there's one thing I can guarantee, it's that Diebold will not be involved in the voting process. Well, that and there's a ton of good stuff to check out. So hie yourself over and vote for the Best Single Issue Blog, the Best Post, and the Best Blog, with more to follow shortly.
It's pretty much gotta suck to lose a winning lottery ticket worth $162 million.
CLEVELAND -- A $162 million Mega Millions lottery jackpot belongs to a woman who says she lost the winning ticket, even if someone else finds it, her lawyer argued today.Several people have searched through the snow in a convenience store parking lot where Elecia Battle said she lost the ticket.
Battle intends to make a case that the winning ticket for the 11-state game is her lost property, said lawyer Sheldon Starke.
"This is a question of lost property, not abandoned property," he said. "If there is one type of property that is not presumed to be abandoned, it's money ... Anyone who finds it is not the owner."
Battle, 40, of Cleveland, filed a police report saying she dropped her purse when she left the Quick Shop Food Mart last week after buying the ticket at the store in suburban South Euclid. She said she realized after the Dec. 30 drawing that the ticket was missing.
The Ohio Lottery confirmed that the winning ticket was sold at the store.
She seems credible and all, but good luck with that possession-is-nine-tenths doctrine.
After news of Battle's police report spread Monday night, people armed with flashlights trudged through the snow trying to find the ticket in the parking lot."I decided to come back to see if I could find the winning ticket," said LaVerne Coleman, 57, who said she would keep the winnings if she found the ticket.
Police Lt. Kevin Nieter said the family may be out of luck if someone else found the ticket.
"Whoever has the ticket has the right to stake the claim to the winning jackpot. You can file all the police reports you want, but it's not going to help," he told WEWS-TV on Monday.
Ohio Lottery spokeswoman Mardele Cohen said that if someone else came in with the ticket, Battle could try to get a temporary restraining order in court to block the winnings from being paid.
You know, I wouldn't want to admit in public that I'm the kind of person who would take advantage of someone else's misfortune like this. Whether I believe Ms. Battle's claim or not, I sure as heck know I didn't buy that ticket. I guess maybe I could convince myself that Battle's a liar and whoever really bought that ticket carelessly lost it and doesn't care about that, but it'd take quite a bit of work. It's a whole lot of money, and I suppose one can buy an awful lot of guilt alleviators with it, but I just have this vision of being haunted by the real ticket owner if I claimed the jackpot. (Is that a Catholic thing, or an I-read-"The Telltale Heart"-at-too-young-an-age thing? Help me out here.)
Anyway. I can't say this is high on my list of things to worry about, but for what it's worth, I hope Ms. Battle finds her ticket.
UPDATE: Well, it's just gotten more interesting, as a different woman has shown up with the ticket and claimed the prize. Looks like it'll be up to the lawyers to sort it all out. Thanks to Matt in the comments for finding this.
This article says that Metro trains were "mostly empty" during the first day of revenue service yesterday. For what it's worth, I drove past a southbound train that was approaching the Smithlands stop at Greenbriar and OST yesterday at about 4:30 PM, and it was sufficiently full that quite a few people were standing inside it. There were another six people at the stop, though they were probably waiting for the northbound train. We'll see how it goes from here. I'll have a pretty good view from where I work.
Damn.
Tug McGraw, the zany relief pitcher who coined the phrase "You Gotta Believe" with the New York Mets and later closed out the Philadelphia Phillies' only World Series championship, died Monday. He was 59.McGraw died of brain cancer at the home of his son, country music star Tim McGraw, outside of Nashville, team spokesman Larry Shenk said. He had been battling the disease since March when he underwent surgery for a malignant tumor.
McGraw participated in the closing ceremonies for Veterans Stadium, which will be demolished next month. During the program, he re-enacted his final pitch of the 1980 World Series, striking out Kansas City's Willie Wilson for the title.
[...]
A left-hander who threw a screwball, McGraw was a bit of screwball himself, a fan favorite in New York, Philadelphia and throughout the majors.
Once asked whether he preferred to play on a grass field or an artificial surface, he said, "I don't know. I never smoked any AstroTurf."
I've never been a Mets fan, but that didn't matter. You couldn't help but like Tug regardless of your team loyalty. He brought a zest to the game that just made you smile. Rest in peace, Tug McGraw.
Breaking news from the Quorum Report.
APPARENT DIFFICULTY IN REPAIRING MAP
Sources report problems with three districtsThere are only three possibilities for the three judge panel reviewing the congressional redistricting map:
1. Accept the map
2. Reject the map
3. Attempt to resolve the constitutional and legal deficiencies by redrawing the map.
The meat of the story is behind their paid firewall, so the best I can do for now is speculate and look for newspaper stories later. I'd say the districts in question are 23 (Henry Bonilla), 24 (Martin Frost), and 25 (the new one that stretches from Austin to Brownsville). Obviously, the fact that there may be problems doesn't mean the judges will take action, since they may decide it's close enough, or there may be a split amongst them, or they may just punt to the Supremes since those guys'll be getting it anyway. But perhaps there's hope. Stay tuned.
Meanwhile, back in the real world where people marry each other (or want to, anyway) as an expression of love and commitment, two sets of couples I know announced engagements on New Year's Eve. I'd like to extend my belated congratulations to my friends Christine and Mike, and also to Nicole and Brandon, for their happy news. Woo hoo!
I believe it was Ginger who said at the New Year's Eve party that according to etiquette, one is not supposed to say "Congratulations" to a newly-engaged woman. Apparently, doing so implies that one is really saying "Congrats on finally landing a husband! About time, too!" Instead, one properly says "Congratulations" to the man and "Best Wishes" to the woman. Of course, we all thought that was a load of shinola and offered our hearty Congrats to each of them anyway. Which I reiterate here, along with my Best Wishes. Mazel tov, y'all!
(Fixed to note that it was Ginger and not Christine who brought up the "Congratulations" thing.)
So sorry that my recent bridge commitments caused me to miss the Spears-Alexander nuptials last weekend. I have actually attended a Vegas wedding chapel wedding, back in 1991 while I was at Comdex, and it too ended with an annulment. In that case, the wedding was between a friend of mine and her boss, both of whom considered it a joke despite the repeated warnings from the attendees and the chapel folks that it was a legally binding marriage. (Their rationale boiled down to "Hey! We're in Vegas! Let's get married!") Thankfully for my friend, she knew a lawyer who was happy to do the annulment for her pro bono.
I have no idea if this was intended as a joke on the tabloids, or just another publicity stunt. I think Backword Dave's comment here sums it all up, though.
So Texas A&M's legacy admissions policy has come under fire (also noted by Byron).
A&M's program is drawing particular fire because university President Robert Gates recently announced the university, now free from a court ruling prohibiting racial preferences, won't consider race in admissions. Coleman and other black legislators cited a seeming contradiction between Gates' rhetoric that students be admitted strictly because of merit and a program they say perpetuates class distinction and white advantage.Gates, president for 1 1/2 years, said he doesn't have a gut-level feeling about legacies, much less a thought-out one, because he inherited the program and knows little about it. He said a task force will study its future.
There's another reason why A&M's policy is drawing fire from state legislators like Garnet Coleman and Lon Burnam, though as far as I can see it's only mentioned in the AP wire feed:
While nearly all selective private universities and some public universities around the country have some sort of legacy program to boost alumni support, A&M is the state's only public school with one.
Yes, that does change the dynamic somewhat, doesn't it? Remember, A&M has also announced that it won't consider race as a factor in its admissions. I'll get back to that in a second. In the meantime, let's look at the practical effect:
Typically, anywhere from 1,650 to more than 2,000 A&M applicants a year receive legacy points, so called because they reward the grandchildren, children or siblings of A&M graduates. Such applicants receive 4 points on a 100-point scale that also takes into account such factors as class rank, test scores, extracurricular activities, community service and others.Most A&M applicants admitted with legacy points don't need them to get in. But in 2003, 312 whites were admitted who wouldn't have been without their alumni ties. In 2002, that figure was 321.
The legacy program was the difference for six blacks and 27 Hispanics in 2003, and three blacks and 25 Hispanics in 2002.
A&M officials noted that minority legacies are usually admitted at roughly the same rates as white legacies. They also stressed that having legacy points is no guarantee of being admitted.
"I wish I had the numbers for how many applicants with legacy points don't get in," said Frank Ashley, A&M's acting assistant provost for enrollment. "There are roughly as many of them. I know because I hear from alumni parents when their kid's application is rejected."
Now then. I'm perfectly fine with A&M or any other school giving bonus points to legacies. Clearly, it's just one factor among many, and it's decisive in a relatively small number of cases. What I don't understand is how giving such a boost to alumni offspring is any different than giving a boost to racial or ethnic minorities. The argument is the same: one factor, small overall effect, and awarded due to the uncontrollable circumstances of one's birth. I'm not saying a school can't choose to have one type of preference and not another. I just don't understand why the two aren't considered equivalent.
I should note that I can corroborate Ashley's claim about legacies who don't get in. I have some cousin-in-laws who didn't get in despite having both a father and a grandfather who are Aggie graduates.
State Rep. Fred Brown, R-College Station, defends A&M's program but said he would like it better if it were amended to give legacy points to students whose parents went to Prairie View A&M, A&M-Kingsville and other schools in the A&M system. He said he will file a bill to effect that change at the Legislature's next regular session.
That's a reasonable compromise, and one that I might be willing to accept. I'd like to know how many current PVA&M and other A&M system students might have gotten into TAMU if this had been in place before I commit to it.
If you've watched any sports on ABC or ESPN recently, you've probably seen the teaser for the Pete Rose interview to be aired on Thursday night in which he's asked the question "did you bet on baseball?" To no one's surprise, Rose will finally admit the truth and answer affirmatively. In doing so, he is hoping to clear the way for his lifetime ban from Major League Baseball to be lifted by Commissioner Selig, and thus for enshrinement in Cooperstown.
I've written before about Pete Rose and the Hall of Fame - see here, here, and here. From what I'm reading here, I don't believe Rose is actually making a sincere and contrite apology. I believe he's doing what he always does, which is whatever he thinks is in his best interest, and that he's hoping it'll be good enough to get what he wants. Obviously, I haven't seen the interview yet, so of course I could be wrong. I will say this - if he doesn't specifically apologize to John Dowd and stipulate that everything in the Dowd Report is the gospel truth, then I don't believe it will amount to a hill of Skoal.
That said, I expect this will settle the matter from MLB's point of view, and as such I won't quibble with Rose's eventual election to the HoF. I've never disputed his inclusion on statistical grounds, just on procedural ones. I will say this, though - if I were in the BBWAA, I'd leave him off the ballot for the first year of eligibility. It took Pete Rose long enough to admit to his crimes. If he winds up having to wait a little longer for the reward he so desperately covets, that's fine by me.
UPDATE: Sometimes I forget that things can happen and people can write about them while I'm distracted from my usual routine. Anyway, Phil Sheridan thinks Rose isn't sincere and doesn't deserve mercy. Former Commissioner Fay Vincent notes that he can feel vindicated by Rose's actions while also doubting their sincerity.
So word is that Pete Rose finally admits in his new book that he bet on baseball. I guess I am supposed to feel vindicated since he spent the last 14 years calling John Dowd and me names. Mr. Dowd was the baseball lawyer who did the investigation of Mr. Rose and prepared a report we're now told was accurate. Next we're likely to have the spectacle of Mr. Rose being embraced by Bud Selig, the baseball commissioner, and, like the Prodigal Son, ushered to the front row of baseball's most honored citizens.Pardon me while I rise to urge some caution. Ever since St. Augustine set the bar pretty high, there has been a certain style to confessional tomes. Now we have a mea culpa by Mr. Rose and no saint is he. Augustine, having lived it up, saw the light and wrote with a sense of guilt and regret. He even anguished over having stolen a pear. Early reports are that Mr. Rose confronts his past with very little remorse. Between him and Augustine, there is little doubt whose book will live longer.
David Pinto, from whom I got these links, wonders why Charles Gibson is Rose's interviewer and not someone who's more baseball-knowledgeable or at least likely to ask harder questions. He also thinks Rose's Hall induction is not a sure thing.
UPDATE: Danil weighs in on the question of Rose's eventual induction into the HoF.
This article from the Sunday Chron is about the new international terminal at Houston's Intercontinental Airport. (I refuse to call it Bush Intercontinental for the same reason that I refuse to call the Astrodome the "Reliant Astrodome".) I don't actually have any useful commentary, I just wanted to note that Tiffany thinks that it's the world's ugliest international terminal. As an esthetic retard, I'm not qualified to judge that. As far as I'm concerned, it can be as ugly as it wants to be. The fact that there's no smoking allowed still elevates it above just about all of the non-American terminals I've been in.
Well, we made it to the finals, but we didn't finish in the money, so no free trip to Reno for me. I'll be back tomorrow with my usual posting, and a few hands of interest for those who like that sort of thing. Thanks to everyone for the good wishes.
I'm about to head up to Austin to play in the District qualifier for the North American Pairs event in Flight B. Unless you play tournament bridge, that probably means nothing to you, but the upshot is that the top three pairs in my flight will get sent to Reno in March to play for the national title. If we make it, you'll see my name here in the District 16 box.
It's a two-day event, with a qualifier on Saturday and the finals on Sunday, so depending on how we do tomorrow, I'll either be back Sunday afternoon or late Sunday night. That, and whether or not I can convince one of my Austin buddies to give me a few minutes on his computer, will determine when my next post will be. I'm fervently hoping that the federal court will hold off on its ruling in the redistricting case until Monday because of this.
In any event, please think happy thoughts for my cardplaying karma, and I'll be back soon.
Mark Kleiman recently asked about the status of the Poincare conjecture, which a Russian mathematician named Perelman claims to have solved. This Boston Globe article, sent to me by my buddy Matt, would seem to indicate that Perelman's work is gradually gaining acceptance.
"What mathematicians enjoy is the chase of really difficult problems," said Hyam Rubinstein, a mathematician who came from Australia to attend meetings at the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute in Berkeley and the American Institute of Mathematics in Palo Alto, Calif., hoping to better understand Perelman's solution. "This problem is like the Mount Everest of math conjectures, so everyone wants to be the first to climb it."[...]
As the foundation for his proof, Perelman used a method called Ricci flow, invented in the mid-1980s by Columbia University mathematician Richard Hamilton, which breaks a surface into parts and smooths these parts out, making them easier to understand and classify.
Although some mathematicians find it disturbing that Poincare's simple question could have such a complicated answer, Hamilton is not worried. After so many failed proofs, he said, "no one expected it to be easy."
Hamilton calls Perelman's work original and powerful -- and is now running a seminar at Columbia devoted to checking Perelman's proof in all its detail.
A mathematical blogger who goes by the excellent nom de blog Galois has a little more background and sounds a tad more circumspect than the folks quoted here. The article does note that it'll probably be a couple of years before Perelman's proof, if it is valid, is fully accepted.
As is often the case with these famous problems, the journey to the solution offers richer insights than the solution itself.
While working out the Poincare Conjecture, Perelman also seems to have established a much stronger result, one that could change many branches of mathematics. Called the "Geometrization Conjecture," it is a far-reaching claim that joins topology and geometry, by stating that all space-like structures can be divided into parts, each of which can be described by one of three kinds of simple geometric models. Like a similar result for surfaces proved a century ago, this would have profound consequences in almost all areas of mathematics.
Fantastic. Whether Perelman's proof is eventually accepted or not, he's clearly done some great work.
After three years at the top of Men's Fitness list of "fattest cities" in America, Clutch City dropped from first to second in the 2004 list. Detroit, with its colder climate and jump in television viewing, moved to the top spot.The end-of-the year news brought a sense of pride to civic leaders, who credited the accomplishment to initiatives created under Mayor Lee Brown's Get Lean Houston program and the work of fitness czar and former Mr. Universe Lee Labrada. Labrada, who was criticized for using the city's fitness Web site to sell his supplements, has a 28-inch waist and 6 percent body fat.
"This is one championship title I don't mind giving up to another city," said City Councilwoman Carol Alvarado. "Congratulations, Detroit."
Hot dog! What could be better than that?
Dallas ballooned from last year's ninth fattest city to third; San Antonio went from 13th place to fourth; and Fort Worth jumped from being ranked 16th to sixth. Perhaps the folks in Texas are just big boned.
I think I speak for all of Houston when I say that this is one ranking where we won't mind being behind Dallas. Go ahead, y'all, have seconds. You deserve it.
Looks like a whole lot of people wanted to kick the tires on the new light rail line. When they have to wait two hours, and in some cases get sent home emptyhanded, and yet they still sound positive, it's a very good sign for the future. And you can still ride for free between now and Sunday if you missed out yesterday.
Chron columnist Ken Hoffman took his ride and enjoyed it. He also thinks rail will work just fine here.
Several years ago, when light rail was the fierce debate in Houston, I visited six cities across America that had commuter train systems.In Denver and Cleveland, wherever tracks were laid, stores and restaurants and loft apartments sprung up.
In Portland, 37,000 people started leaving their cars at home and riding the train to work downtown.
In San Diego, the train goes all the way to the U.S.-Mexico border, where people jump off and walk to the party zone in Tijuana.
The train is nicknamed the Tijuana Trolley, and it's so popular it turns a profit. That's almost unheard-of in public transportation. The 3 a.m. Tijuana Trolley back to San Diego is a rolling designated driver.
Imagine if we had a light rail train to Galveston. We wouldn't have to fight impossible-to-explain traffic jams on Interstate 45. We wouldn't have to worry about Dad being too tired or too drunk to drive home. It would be fast and safe and dependable. I'd pay $10 for that.
When I wrote stories about light rail in other cities, I heard the same old criticism -- that Houston's light rail line was going to be from the Medical Center to downtown. That's a dumb route. Not enough people are going to take the train. It's a waste of money.
Sure, but in each city I visited, light rail was a success. And in each city it started as a similar short route downtown. So let's give light rail a chance here.
It's very simple where light rail eventually needs to go: from where people live to where people work.
That's from Sugar Land past Greenway, through the Med Center to downtown. That's from Katy to downtown. From The Woodlands, past the airport, through downtown, all the way to Galveston.
Thursday was first things first.
"Light rail" between here and Galveston, or for that matter between downtown and Katy or Sugar Land, isn't really what Hoffman means here, since those longer distances would require a heavier track, like what freight trains run on, but never mind. I can't say that a line between here and Galveston would be profitable, though I'd surely be more tempted to go to something like Dickens on the Strand if I didn't have to worry about parking, but who knows? I do know I've been stuck in the traffic he's talking about, and it's a pretty strong disincentive to drive down there.
I know I speak for Rice fans everywhere when I say that the best thing about the recent trade that sent Moochie Norris to the Knicks is that it installs Mike Wilks as the Rockets' backup point guard. This is not a knock on Moochie, who earned his rep as a fan favorite and did a decent job behind Steve Francis. It's just exciting to see the first Owl hoopster since Ricky Pierce get some real playing time in the NBA. Wilks did some good things in a brief stint with the Hawks last year, and now he's got a chance to do them here in front of at least some of the fans that he wowed for four years at Autry Court. We're rooting for you, Mike!
The Bill White Era has officially begun in Houston. He's got an awful lot on his plate, as you can see from his to-do list. Given the magnitude of his victory, the broad base of his support, and the current City Council lineup, he ought to have a decent honeymoon period, and if he knocks a couple of items off his list quickly, or at least makes good progress on them, he should be in for a good year even if the budget situation looks dire. I don't know how ugly things might get if he stumbles, and frankly I'd just as soon not find out. I feel pretty confident that I won't.
Tim Fleck posited that one possible bump in the road is White's relationship with new City Controller Annise Parker. Personally, I think that if it's true that both White and Paker also have an eye on their next job - Mayor for Parker and some statewide office for White - then they're both best served by working together and getting things done. If at the start of 2009, Bill White is set to leave office as beloved as Bob Lanier was, you'd think Parker would want his full endorsement as someone who helped make it all work. If White instead turns out to have the Lee Brown touch, there'll be plenty of time for Parker to become his archnemesis.
I've configured my MT Blacklist to reject any comment that contains a .biz domain in it, since it seemed to me that the only comments I ever saw with that in it were spam. If this causes you any hardship, please drop me a line. I'm thisclose to also banning anything that contains "info@", since a lot of spams also contain that string as part of an email address, but I feel there's a slightly larger chance that a real commenter may want to include such an address (I found one example in my most recent full export), so I'm not there yet.
Who says that President Bush isn't into recycling? The Austin American Statesman noticed an example recently.
See if you can spot a trend.Here's what Marc Racicot, chairman of the Bush-Cheney re-election effort, said recently in announcing the campaign's Texas leadership team:
"Texas will play a key role in this election. We are honored to have such a seasoned group of leaders at the helm of the Bush-Cheney '04 team in Texas. Their efforts will be crucial to our success."
Here's what Racicot said recently in announcing the campaign's California leadership team:
"California will play a key role in this election. We are honored to have such a seasoned group of leaders at the helm of Bush-Cheney `04 in California, and their efforts will be crucial to our success."
Here's what Ken Mehlman, the Bush-Cheney campaign manager, said recently in announcing the campaign's New Jersey leadership team:
"New Jersey will play a key role in this election. We are honored to have such a seasoned group of leaders at the helm of Bush-Cheney `04 in New Jersey, and their efforts will be crucial to our success."
We are all individuals indeed. Via Polstate.
The Political State Report is one year old as of December 27, and new editor Temple Stark has a report on the site's status and history. He's also looking for feedback and a few more contributors, if you're interested.
As you can see, I've contributed to Polstate since the beginning, usually but not always crossposting stuff from here - during the neverending redistricting saga, when new stuff was appearing every couple of hours, it was all I could do to keep up. It's amusing to me that there's now five Democratic contributors from Texas, but there's never been a Republican one. (There were a couple of self-proclaimed R's who signed up in the beginning, but they never posted and were dropped for inactivity after two months.) Newest contributor Vince has gotten off to a running start. I also see by following his links that there's another county Democratic Party blog, this one for Van Zandt County.
Polstate is a useful resource and should be a happening place in 2004. Check it out and drop Temple a note if you want to join in.
In the Flea-on-an-Elephant Department, here's a story about some GOP Primary opponents for President Bush.
There will be 14 Republicans on the New Hampshire presidential primary ballot besides Bush. Among them are [Dick] Bosa, the former mayor of Berlin, N.H.; bricklayer Michael Callis; and Robert Haines, who could safely be described as a colorful character.Each has a Web site, at least one die-hard supporter (wife, girlfriend, child, loyal employee), and $1,000, which is all you need in New Hampshire to file your bid (most states require a few thousand signatures).
Bosa showed up on the last possible filing date, Nov. 21, and paid his fee in coins, for reasons having to do with the hegemony of the Federal Reserve but also "because as a dark horse candidate, I have to make a splash."
"I'm more credible than (Wesley) Clark or Al Sharpton," he says, mentioning some of the Democrats running. "At least I was elected mayor."
Some of the candidates are on quixotic crusades that seem driven mainly by inner voices. Haines, for example, lists his issues as "national security," "the economy," "health care, of course." But after a while, he'll get around to the "Dark Side, OK ... the deliberate attempt by the Dark Side to infiltrate the church," he told the Dartmouth Review. (Haines was unavailable for comment, as he was serving time for a parole violation.)
For Callis, the central issue facing this nation is "Max Hugel," the CIA deputy director under President Reagan, and "the way the central intelligence agencies in this country have been conducting themselves."
Judged by effort, the most serious Republican candidates are Bosa and John Rigazio, a Rochester businessman who owns several variety stores that sell "cigarettes, alcohol, potato chips, juices, those kinds of things," says Claire Nugent, a cashier who moonlights as his spokeswoman and only campaign employee, because "I believe in everything he says."
For both, the central issue is the same: "Jobs, jobs, jobs," as Rigazio says; the loss of manufacturing jobs in New Hampshire and the nation, more broadly the neglect of the working stiff at the hands of "large worldwide corporations," more broadly still the triumph in America of a rich entitled blueblood class as embodied by Bush.
Sadly, none of them or any soulmates appear to be on the Texas ballot as yet. The filing deadline is tomorrow, though, so there's still time. I hope someone else does materialize, for unless a few more Democratic candidates show up as well, the temptation to cross over would be strong.
So, um, why are these guys running?
Underlying all these efforts is a certain seething irritation with Bush.David Gosselin, former chairman of the state Republican Party, ran ads and started a Web site this fall calling for a Republican to challenge Bush in the primary. He has substantive disagreements with the president -- about the war in Iraq, his treatment of big business.
But mostly it comes down to "character," an issue that crystallized for him when he caught a ceremony on C-SPAN of an aircraft carrier being named for President George H.W. Bush.
"Arrogant," Gosselin says. "I have something against this princeling succession. I'm just sick of sons of rich kids running the country, and it's about time someone challenged them," although he adds the current crop of challengers is not "credible."
We thank you for your efforts anyway.
The new year marks the opening of the light rail line in Houston, an event that will be celebrated more by some than by others. I'll be up front about this: The rail line stops a block from my office, and so I expect to use it at least occasionally when I need to get to downtown or the Medical Center during the day, because driving to and parking in those areas sucks. I look forward to the day when I can take rail - light, commuter, or other - all the way from my house to my job.
UPDATE: Aziz has a couple of suggestions.
Here's what these trains need to become useful for commuters:1. They must run from very early in the morning to very late at night. I think they have this covered, the Chron had a mention that they'd run from 4:30am to 1:00am. Train frequencies should never be longer than 5 minutes at peak times, 20 minutes at off-peak.
2. There must be direct/non-stop bus service to the downtown transit center from every Park N' Ride in town, at frequencies of every 30 minutes during peak times, one hour for off-peak. The bus needs to run at least as early as 5:00 AM and as late as 8:00 PM.
I believe trains are supposed to run every 6 minutes at peak times, and something like 12 or 15 minutes at off-peak, so that should cover point one. Point Two sounds like a good idea to me, since it would effectively extend the Park N' Ride option to people who work outside of downtown.