We've already had an exciting and eventful 2009 legislative session, and it's still 2008. The release of the Democratic list of 64 has moved things forward, starting with an admission by Team Craddick that they really aren't in such good shape after all.
House Appropriations Chairman Warren Chisum said his side became angry over the fact he told me House Speaker Tom Craddick is "five or six" votes short of winning re-election. Chisum is a key Craddick lieutenant in the House.Chisum said he made his comment based on his own beliefs of where House members stand in the election. Chisum said he hasn't seen Craddick's list of supporters.
"They (Craddick's close advisers) said they weren't any shorter" after state Rep. Dan Gattis, R-Georgetown, announced as a speaker candidate, Chisum said.
Chisum said without seeing the list he will have to take Craddick's nose counters at their word.
But Chisum said with three other Craddick Republicans announcing support for Gattis it was hard from his point of view to see how Craddick could not have lost some votes. He said that is why state Rep. John Smithee, R-Amarillo, is calling members to find out whether Craddick can win re-election.
"If Tom's got the numbers, he's got them. If he doesn't, we need to know," Chisum said.
That's actually a much softer version of Chisum's earlier comments, in which he estimated Craddick's committed supporters in the 50 to 53 range. Democrats are openly pressing Craddick on this point, as witnessed by a "Dear Colleague" letter from Austin Rep. Eddie Rodriguez, who calls on Craddick to step down and let a successor emerge peacefully. I don't think that's going to happen, at least not without a larger number of current Craddick supporters publicly breaking ranks, but it's out there. And for the first time, we get an indicator that Craddick himself is genuinely worried.
Over the weekend, there were some telephone calls made by Tom Craddick in which (according to the report from one of the people on the receiving end of a call) the Speaker sounded 'worn out, tired, and despondent' and that for the first time in several months, the Speaker was calling on others to ask them to report what that members were hearing, rather than the Speaker himself being the provider of news as to the current state of battle between the Speaker and the ABCs. It sounded like Tom Craddick for the first time in a long time, actually found himself to be somewhat out-of-the-loop and truly unaware as to who the ABCs plus the Dunnam D's would unite their support behind on January 2nd and what it would mean to Craddick's future it they are able to actually pull it off.The report I received was that the Speaker felt unsure as to how best to move forward between now and January 2nd because he has no credible intelligence to suggest who the consensus candidate might be. The Speaker did discuss additional filers for Speakers coming in the next few days. Further, both Chisum and Swinford had spoken to Smithee to see if the reports they were hearing were true and Smithee responded by saying that he was indeed seriously thinking about entering the Speaker's race. Dan Gattis's entry on Saturday means one fewer R vote for Craddick, while Smithee getting into the race would mean the dam is getting ready to bust the flood gates wide open and that Craddick is in serious jeopardy of losing dozens of current supporters. Craddick seemed unsure how to react--a unique position for a Speaker who is always operating from a well orchestrated script.
In theory, we will all find out who that consensus candidate is early next week, at which point we can either start singing "Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead" or lamenting what might have been. I'm hopeful that this time the insurgency will hang together, but I'm going to maintain low expectations until it actually happens. In the meantime, enjoy what remains of 2008, and get ready to hit the ground running in the new year.
UPDATE: Chisum tells the Quorum Report that he was misquoted.
Chisum said, "Last night, I was misquoted on the Fort Worth Star-Telegram website as saying that Speaker Craddick had 53 votes. That number is a misinterpretation of what I said, and certainly not what I intended to say. The speaker carries all the Republicans except for the ABCs, and his position remains very strong."
Make of that what you will.
Press release from my colleague Vince Leibowitz, the chair of the Texas Progressive Alliance:
The Texas Progressive Alliance Tuesday announced that the Harris County Democratic Party Coordinated Campaign had been named its "Texan of the Year" for 2008.Also earning honors from the Alliance were Texans for Obama, TexBlog PAC, and the late Jim Mattox, who were each named "Gold Star Texans" for 2008.
Winning 27 of 34 countywide races in Texas' most populous county didn't happen overnight, and the Harris County Democratic Party's Coordinated Campaign managed not only to win seats with quality candidates, but to increase Democratic voter turnout and revive the Democratic Party in Harris County.
"The Harris County Democratic Party Coordinated Campaign is a shining example of what is possible with the help and support of thousands of grassroots Democrats and a well-run party infrastructure," said Texas Progressive Alliance Chair Vince Leibowitz. "Every person who knocked on doors, made phone calls, and volunteered in Harris County should be very proud of what they accomplished in 2008," he continued.
The Harris County Democratic Party Coordinated Campaign is the Alliance's fourth recipient of its "Texan of the Year Award." The campaign joins former State Rep. Carter Casteel of New Braunfels, who won the award in 2005; Carolyn Boyle of Texas Parent PAC, who took home the honor in 2006; and the trio of State Reps. Garnet Coleman, Jim Dunnam, and Pete Gallego who shared the honor in 2007.
Also honored this year were the organizations Texans for Obama and TexBlog PAC along with the late Jim Mattox, the former Texas Attorney General who passed away on November 20.
The Texan of the Year Award is voted on annually by the members of the Texas Progressive Alliance, the largest state-level organization of bloggers, blogs, and Netroots activists in the United States.
You can read more about the honorees here. Congratulations to all, and especially to the HCDP08 coordinated campaign for their hard work and dedication to turning Harris County blue.
Short answer, probably not. But they may at least not take any backward steps, and they may take some grudging action to head off future federal requirements. That counts as progress around here.
Oh, Drayton. You must think we're all a bunch of idiots.
Astros owner Drayton McLane is one of the wealthiest men in the country and is accustomed to hearing about multimillion-dollar deals being made in any of his numerous business ventures.But even McLane finds himself astonished at the kinds of cash the New York Yankees have been throwing around this winter. So much so that McLane said he would be in favor of Major League Baseball adopting a salary cap.
"We would love to have a salary cap, but the (players') union has been very resistant to that," McLane said this past week.
I just love how sports team owners, who are otherwise some of the most vocal advocates of an unregulated free market economy you'll ever encounter, quail and cower at the idea of a free market for their employees' salaries. It's as if they don't trust themselves to spend their money wisely without the firm hand of regulatory restraint. Or maybe it's just that they think the fans are gullible enough to believe that if the owners can finally get that cap on player salaries they've always wanted, it will somehow translate to lower costs for themselves, and not millions more in profit for the owners. Either way, it's all pathetic. I mean, even Richard Justice can see this for what it is. Do us all a favor and give it a rest, dude.
UPDATE: The reason for the wide spectrum of MLB payrolls isn't that the Yankees spend too much. It's that too many teams spend too little. Odd how seldom that comes up in the conversation, though again, even Richard Justice realized it. Thanks to Dan Drezner, who notes that if American corporations were acting like the Yankees we'd be well on our way out of the current economic downturn, and LGM for the pointer.
Remember Texas Voices, the fledgling advocacy group that seeks to ease some of the registration requirements for sex offenders? They now have a champion in the Legislature.
"Some offenses don't rise to the level" of needing registration, Rep. Roberto Alonzo, D-Dallas, said recently.He's filed a bill, HB190, that would give certain first-time sex offenders the ability to petition the courts to shorter their registration periods, or to have their registration completely waived . The vast majority of sex offenders in Texas must register on the state's Department of Public Safety website for life.
The bill is being hailed by Mary Sue Molnar, the mother of a convicted sex offender who is one of Texas Voices key organizers. "I have to tip my hat to him," Molnar said of Alonzo. "It's a very good start."
Molnar and her group have spent months meeting with lawmakers in an effort to find someone willing to carry a bill that would roll back some of the state's toughest sex offender laws.
The group never met with Alonzo. Alonzo said he filed his bill at the request of a Dallas judge who was fed up with low-risk offenders brought in on technical violations tying up the court's docket.
Good on Rep. Alonzo for taking this up. I still don't see any such legislation having a chance of making it out of the Lege, but at least now the issue will be debated. If there is to be any hope, I'd say this is the right approach, pointing out how much money and effort is spent on people who aren't dangerous. It's still going to be a tough sell, but it's got to be done. Good luck, Rep. Alonzo.
Just not so important that it will get anything more than another Band-Aid, but you take what you can get, I guess.
"Are we going to start school finance from the ground up? I don't think so," said Rep. Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands, who chairs the House Public Education Committee. "But we'll certainly look for a way to be more effective."In 2006, the Legislature revamped the school funding system when it ordered districts to lower their property tax rates. While the move granted relief to some homeowners, school officials complain they are strapped for cash since the state essentially capped their funding.
Rep. Dan Branch, a primary author of the 2006 legislation, said he has several bills in the works that would bring more money to school districts. One proposal, which he has yet to file, would raise the minimum level of per-student funding that districts receive. Under the current system, some districts end up with around $12,000 per student while others get closer to $3,000.
Branch, who chairs a special committee that has spent the last year studying school finance, said his per-student funding change would affect between 200 and 250 of the state's 1,000-plus school districts.
The Dallas Republican also is working on a plan that would give all districts more money for middle school reform.
Two years ago, the Legislature targeted the upper grades, giving districts an allotment of $275 for each high school student.
"We're doing well in the elementary grades. There's evidence of that all over the state," Branch said. "Where are we slowing down? Middle school."
The state's two largest districts, Houston and Dallas, also would get relief under Branch's bill to slightly revise the so-called Robin Hood formula, which redistributes money from property-wealthy districts to poorer ones. His plan would remove the two districts, which serve large numbers of poor, at-risk students, from the wealthy category.
State Sen. Florence Shapiro, who chairs the Senate Education Committee, said she expects that any financial fixes adopted this session will be "a bridge to get to that major overhaul that's necessary."
"It does need to be restructured," she said of the state's school funding system, "but that is a very large undertaking. You prepare for that change a year-and-a-half before you go into a Legislative session."
Always put off till next session that which you're not under a court order to fix today, that's their motto.
The city of Houston has now released its own red light camera study, and to say the least the numbers are interesting.
The number of crashes at Houston intersections with red-light cameras doubled in the first year after their installation, according to a city-financed study released Monday.But Mayor Bill White argued that the cameras' presence prevented even more collisions and that the study proves the monitoring program is keeping drivers safe.
[...]
The analysis examined crash data at intersections that had a camera monitoring at least one of the four or more traffic signals in an intersection. Most intersections had a camera installed in only one direction, meaning that there were three other signals at that intersection without cameras.
Interestingly, it was those unmonitored points in the intersection that saw the greatest increase in accidents. Where there is a camera, the accidents remained relatively flat or showed only a slight increase.
"Collisions are going up all over the city," said Bob Stein, a Rice University political science professor and one of the report's authors. "But red-light cameras have held back that increase at approaches where they have been installed."
But they supplied no data other than the examination of the non-monitored directions of the 50 intersections to support the conclusion that accidents are up citywide. Stein acknowledged that data from the Houston Police Department shows accidents have declined in the city since 2004, although he said the data is problematic because police officers no longer file reports on every wreck.
If that's the case, then I'm not sure how any study based on accident reports can paint an accurate picture. Right off the bat, it seems you're working with incomplete data. Maybe that means there were more crashes at the monitored approaches than what was studied, but it seems unlikely there would have been that many more to make the spike at unmonitored approaches look less aberrational. About the only thing I get from this is that we'll need to see at least another year's worth of data before we can try to draw any real conclusions about the cameras' effects, if any exist.
The report itself is here (PDF). Cory says it has "some of the most convoluted prose I've ever seen". I actually thought it was the tables that were indecipherable, and as a numbers guy, that's saying something. I have no confidence in my ability to interpret the figures and charts this thing contains, so you're on your own.
Study authors -- who include Robert Dahnke, Benjamin Stevenson and Stein from Rice University's Center for Civic Engagement, and Timothy Lomax from Texas A&M University's Texas Transportation Institute -- plan to analyze insurance industry data in the coming months. They believe that will more definitively prove their supposition that accidents have increased so dramatically. The results of that further research are expected to be completed sometime around August.
I think that's a good idea, and assuming I'll be able to make head or tail of it, I look forward to reading it.
I've been wanting to see a study like this for awhile. I thought it would show some decrease in accidents, as well as a decrease in the severity of the accidents that do get caused (that issue is not explored in any detail in this survey), as that appears to be the usual experience elsewhere. Unless the police reports are greatly understating the situation, I don't see how this result can be taken as evidence for that here. It may well be that the spike in accidents at unmonitored approaches is a one-time fluke, though even if that is the case, it doesn't really enhance a claim that the unmonitored approaches saw any improvements. Maybe we'll see something different next year, and maybe the study of insurance data will clarify the picture, I don't know. All I can say is that this study raises a lot more questions than it answers, and it's far from a triumph for the cameras.
One more thing:
Last week, several attorneys who have opposed the program previously in court filed a lawsuit to force disclosure of a draft copy of the study, attempting to gauge whether the conclusions were somehow changed to suit White's support of the program.Stein has repeatedly denied this was the case, noting that although some language has been revised, the substance of the study has remained consistent for months and did not change.
As I said before, I see no compelling reason to withhold the earlier versions of the study. Just make it all public and be done with it.
Here's the Chron story about the list of 64 Democratic House members who say they won't vote for Tom Craddick for Speaker under any conditions.
"We need a new direction in the Texas House because the status quo means gridlock, and we cannot afford gridlock with the issues staring us down in the upcoming session," said Rep. Dan Gattis, R-Georgetown, who declared his candidacy Monday.Gattis, a former committee vice-chairman under Craddick, said a bipartisan leadership style is needed now that the Republicans hold a thin advantage in the House. The Democrats' election gains last month left House Republicans with just a 76-74 edge. By contrast, Craddick was elected speaker in 2003 when the Republicans controlled 88 seats.
"He doesn't have the members behind him well enough for him to be able to lead a 76-74 House," Gattis said.
Several Craddick supporters -- including Rep. Mike Hamilton, R-Mauriceville; Rep Patricia Harless, R-Spring; and Rep Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham -- have switched sides and are now backing Gattis.
"It's pretty evident that Tom doesn't have the votes," Hamilton said.
That's three more Republicans who have at least expressed a willingness to vote for somebody other than Craddick for Speaker. The Statesman, which notes that current Craddick supporter John Smithee of Amarillo is also contemplating a run for Speaker, adds it up and says there's 79 (or 80, if you count Smithee), anti-Craddick votes. Burka notes that it's a bit more complicated than that.
[E]vents may have overtaken the Democrat-ABC coalition that has 75 votes against Craddick. Gattis's candidacy for speaker provides members with a chance to realign in coalitions FOR someone instead of merely against. Suddenly the timing is off for the ABCs. Their announcement of a candidate won't come until the end of the week, and in the meantime Gattis can be adding to his list of supporters.
In the meantime, both the Morning News and the El Paso Times note that at least one Democrat on the list of 64, El Paso's Rep. Chente Quintanilla, had only just recently said that he hadn't ruled out a vote for Craddick, so that list may not be rock solid. On the other hand, while Team Craddick is busy denying the claim of majority support against him and making their own claims about having 70+ supporters (not a majority, you'll note), they haven't made any lists public. I'll say again, if this were a retention vote, Craddick would lose. But until there's one consensus candidate to oppose him, he hasn't lost anything yet. I feel we're getting closer to that point, but that's not good enough. One opponent plus 75 more votes for that person, that's what I want to see.
UPDATE: From Rep. Aaron Pena on Twitter:
The Speaker's race appears to have narrowed to a few candidates. The end is in sight. Look for the smoke from the Sistine Chapel in days.
Pena was a Craddick supporter in 2007, and was not on the list of 64. Make of that what you will.
UPDATE: And Burka says the next Speaker will be Smithee, Gattis, or Burt Solomons. Does that count as white smoke?
2008 was a heck of a year for Texas Progressives. The Presidential Primary came to Texas (for real), we caucused, conventioned, challenged, credentialed, voted, elected, counted, re-counted, brought Netroots Nation to Texas, watched Tom Craddick fight for his life, said farewell to legends, got a head start to on the race to replace Kay Bailey Hutchison and more. A lot more.
It is in that spirit that we bring you the final round-up of 2008. Enjoy.
jobsanger has posted on a variety of subjects, including the popularity of George Bush in 11% Of Americans Are IDIOTS, the Ku Klux Klan in The Klan Is Still Stupid, a plan to steal water from the Panhandle in The Coming Rape Of The Ogallala Aquifer, the fall of a county sheriff in Potter County Sheriff Indicted On Felony Charges and Potter County Sheriff Convicted, and the 2010 governor's race in Who's The Dem In 2010 Governor Race?
John Coby at Bay Area Houston has blogged on a number of issues concerning Bob Perry's home building industry, the Texas Ethics Commission, insurance deregulation, electricity deregulation, and including some humorous posts. One of his favorites series is Spending Campaign Cash which has resulted in a number of stories in the news and contributed to a bill to be filed by State Representative Senfronia Thompson.
South Texas Chisme covered such entertaining South Texas stories from the original DA Hissy Fit to his poor imitation, various ethics problems including a few felonies to helping Republicans recover and Democrats to prosper. And, we never forget about that Republican monument to racism and fear otherwise known as that d*mn fence!
As he approaches his seventh anniversary as a blogger, Off the Kuff decided to look forward rather than back on the year. My thanks to my TPA colleagues for all they do, and my best wishes to all for a great 2009.
The Texas Cloverleaf looks back on 2008, as it's first full year on the blog scene comes to a close. The DNC kicked off the year by picking the Jewish named donkey over the black one for it's mascot, in what would become the ultimate irony of the political season. Adding to ironies, cash strapped TxDOT gave away $20 million for a Dallas park. We were introduced to GOP family values: 16 US Senators, including our own from Texas, voted against funding for HIV/AIDS prevention, leading to more deaths, and the Palin clan popped out more replacements as part of God's will. Don't forget to carve the backwards B on your face for posterity. 2008 was a whirlwind and couldn't have been more dramatic. Here is to a 2009 with the same kind of flair!
Neil at Texas Liberal wishes everyone good luck in the New Year. Here is my post on controversy regarding what may or may not be the world's largest potato. Please visit Texas Liberal in 2009. I work hard to make the blog worth reading.
As 2008 comes to a close, circumstances have limited Refinish69's access to his own blog, Doing My Part For the Left. He's nonetheless written a compelling series hosted on various national and local blogs that shares what it is to be homeless in Austin. Homeless in Austin-An Insider's View is a four part series so far and Refinish69 wants to thank all those who've helped him get this story more attention. Part 1 at Momocrats. Parts 2, 3, and 4 at Texas Kaos.
Texas Kaos frontpagers have covered a wide variety of issues both national and Texan. Krazypuppy wrote a cautionary tale of how far Republican hubris can go inAll Southerner's Should Know Don Siegalman's False Imprisonment Story" Refinish69 shared one man's story of unexpected impact of the historic Democratic extended primary in A Trip to the Gas Station: No it's not a Curious George book Lightseeker reported on the convention for SD 15 and the contrast between previous years. He also gave great pointers on political discourse with the neighbors. SCCS did a series on the congressional races all over Texas, and was our correspondent in the Big Tent at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. Txsharon's contributions keeping us abreast of what Big Dirty Oil and Gas are up to are so valuable it's hard to pick only a few, but proving that a picture is worth a thousand words, Barnett Shale Sludge Pond Pictures is a must see (and read).BossKitty at TruthHugger sees no other options ... Retirement or Exile, Show Bush The Exit.
At Eye On Williamson this year the election took up much of our time on the blog. From candidate filings, to the massive turnout for the Williamson County Democratic Party primary and convention, all the way through to electing the first Democratic state representative in Williamson County since 1992 - Diana Maldonado. There were still the same local issues popping up like road projects that are bad deals for the taxpayers, the county landfill, and the T. Don Hutto family prison in Taylor.
It's been a year of excitement at McBlogger. We've looked deeply at medical tourism and James Dobson's fear of homos. We've also, occasionally, talked about the meltdown in the financial sector. And Mr. The Plumber.
WhosPlayin shared his experience working the Democratic Primary and then the Denton County Democratic Convention back in March. In May, the Earth
opened up and swallowed part of Daisetta, TX. In September, WhosPlayin suggested how a financial industry bailout could work and be transparent. Over the Christmas holiday, WhosPlayin rolled out a new Congressional Campaign Finance research website.
Over at Capitol Annex, Vince Leibowitz had a difficult time trying to select his favorites out of 2,470 posts published (so far) during 2008, but finally settled on a few. After a long PrimaCaucus season and hair-raising state convention, he posted some Random Thoughts on the 2008 TDP Convention. As the election cycle went on, he pondered why anyone would want to re-elect State Rep. John Davis (R-Clear Lake), and told the world about a racist mailer that had been sent out against State Rep. Allen Vaught. After the election season, he memorialized "The People's Lawyer," Jim Mattox, and noted that Tom DeLay's wife was trying to quash a subpoena in a civil lawsuit related to the now-defunct Americans for a Republican Majority.
Mean Rachel started off 2008 with An Open Letter to Whom She Was in 2007, and proceeded to write open letters to just about everyone, including Mark Strama and Elliot Elliott Naishtat. She met Barack Obama, got Obama license plates, and subsequently had her tires slashed because of them. She also wrote for the Texas Observer in Denver and daydreamed about Republican pornography. Finally, in June, Mean Rachel asked for serenity now, and wondered if Americans would ever have the wisdom to change. By November, she had her answer.
The House Democratic Caucus has promised a list of 64 members who will not vote for Tom Craddick for Speaker. Via PoliTex and BOR, who lists the ten Dems not among them, here it is (PDF). As there are 12 known Republicans who oppose Craddick - hell, there's at least that many Republicans running for Speaker - that ought to give the advantage to the forces of good. A few thoughts:
- It's great to see the names Marisa Marquez and Tara Rios Ybarra among the signees. Many people, myself included, thought they were Craddick candidates. I'm thrilled to have been wrong about that.
- Perhaps this will satisfy Burka's condition that the Anybody But Craddick Republicans produce a list of solid supporters. Maybe it will get some of his more obnoxious commenters to tone it down a notch. Or maybe not. I don't think anyone can say the ball hasn't been advanced, and that's a fine thing.
- If the handwriting really is on the wall, then we should see some more Rs jumping ship, once they have some assurance they won't be exiled under new management. The same is true for the ten remaining Craddick Ds. We could easily go from 76 anti-Craddicks to 85 or more in a hurry.
- Finally, if the GOP grassroots wants to try to vent its wrath on the ABCs for teaming with so many Democrats on this, I say have at it. As I've said before, guys like Geren and Merritt have already withstood big punches from Team Craddick. Being an effective member is a strong defense against this kind of attack. There's a reason some Dems got knocked off over their Craddick support while others never even got challenged.
So there we have it, for now. Tune in tomorrow and see if any long-lost twins resurface, if someone loses or regains their memory, or if a secret affair gets revealed. That and some cheesy organ music is about all that's been missing from this.
UPDATE: Team Craddick says "Nuh uh!" to the Democrats' list. They do not, however, release a list of their own, which is both a reversal from prior years as well as something that Burka described as a no-no for the ABCs. Who's bluffing whom?
Last year, I asked for help buying music from the iTunes store, as I'd been given a gift card for Christmas. I scored some more gift cards this year, so I'm back asking for more help. You've got a decent idea of my taste in music from the various Friday Random Ten postings I've done, but please don't feel constrained by that. Tell me what you like, what you think any idiot with some semblance of taste ought to have, whatever. If you can find a link to a video of the song in question so I can give it a test drive, that'd be awesome. Any and all suggestions are greatly appreciated.
And as long as I'm asking for help...Some months ago, I heard a song called If You Steal My Sunshine, by a group called LEN, on the local Jack station, and I liked it. I went looking for it on iTunes, but all they had (and still have) was the video. Since I can see that for free on YouTube, I declined. I've tried Amazon and LEN's MySpace page, but cannot find that version of the song available anywhere. I don't want to buy a full CD, and I don't want to take a chance on a cover version without a solid recommendation - I've been contemplating making a request at Coverville, just to see what I might get - so I'll throw the question out here: Anyone know where I can buy a copy of this song, the one performed in that YouTube link? Thanks.
The idea of separating the function of voter registrar from the office of Harris County Tax Assessor has come up before in the wake of Paul Bettencourt's departure, and it is still being discussed.
State law allows Commissioners Court to assign that responsibility to the county clerk, who already conducts elections and counts the votes, as long as the county clerk and the tax assessor-collector sign off on the plan. The court also can create an independent elections administration office to handle all election-related duties.Seventy-three of Texas' 254 counties have established separate elections offices, including every large, urban county but Harris and Travis. Nineteen other counties have assigned the voter registration role to the county clerk.
Earlier this month, Republican precinct chairman Jim Harding proposed moving the rolls to the County Clerk's Office, saying that would "streamline all of the voter activity from initial registration to final certification of an election under county clerk leadership."
Republican County Judge Ed Emmett and Democratic Commissioners Sylvia Garcia and El Franco Lee have said the idea of moving the rolls is worth discussing, though little consensus has emerged over how that should be done.
Emmett said he would be open to shifting those duties to the county clerk but opposed the creation of a new elections administration office. Garcia said she prefers the idea of an elections administrator because that person would be prohibited by law from making political contributions or endorsing candidates or ballot measures. Lee said he is not sure either change would do enough to make the voter registration process more transparent and user-friendly.
For her part, Republican County Clerk Beverly Kaufman said she is not interested in adding voter registration to her many responsibilities. And newly appointed Tax Assessor-Collector Leo Vasquez said he believes the current system is very efficient.
That Vasquez doesn't want the job he just inherited to be reduced in responsibility isn't a surprise. Having said that, I remain agnostic on the issue. Until demonstrated otherwise, I believe the problems we saw this year had more to do with Bettencourt than with the office itself. As such, I'm reluctant to call for a change to something new at this time. Had Beverly Kaufman been willing to take on the task, I might feel more positive about it. For now, let's see if the change at the top is the answer. At least we know there's more attention being focused on the problem.
By this time next week, City Council Member James Rodriguez in District I will be the only Latino member on Council.
"For many people, I will be the only Latino voice on the City Council, and that's something I take very seriously," he said in a recent interview. "I want to do a very good job to represent District I and also Latinos as a whole."A host of candidates already have lined up to replace [Adrian] Garcia in a special election for District H expected to be held in May, and most political observers expect that a Hispanic ultimately will win the seat.
But for many, six months with only one Latino council member is far too long in a city in which at least 42 percent of the population -- more than 850,000 people, according to census figures -- is Hispanic.
Underrepresentation, they say, has become something of a rallying cry.
"There's kind of a discussion beginning to percolate within the Latino community," said Marc Campos, a political strategist, who long has worked to broaden the reach of Hispanic candidates in Houston and Harris County. "We need to step it up in terms of political empowerment. James will be the only Latino on the Houston City Council. ... It's kind of challenging. Something's not right with that picture."
Rodriguez said he hopes to work with other Hispanic elected officials in the area to host a Latino summit next year, where they can discuss the potential impact of the 2010 Census on redrawing district lines and how to field more candidates for school board, community college and citywide office.
I think those last two words are the key, as we've discussed before. Even with another Latino in District H, that's still under-representation in a city with such a large Latino population. But you can't have candidates only competing for those two seats. More Latinos need to run citywide, and as Joe Trevino could tell you, they need more support when they do run. For that matter, I don't see why more Latinos don't run in some other Council districts - surely, District F would be winnable for a good candidate. The eventual expansion of City Council will likely help, but only in a limited way. There's no good reason things have to be this way.
Christof notes that according to its original schedules, Metro should be a lot farther along its 2003 rail expansion plan than it currently is.
The North and Southeast Lines, for which a public design process had already been completed by the time of the 2003 referendum, were to start construction in 2006 and 2007, respectively. Today, the North Line would be open, the Southeast Line would be halfway through construction, the East End line would be underway, and the University Line would be beginning construction shortly.Instead, the only construction we've seen is utility relocation on the East End Line, and there's no final construction contract in place. The Southeast and North lines do not yet have federal funding in place (though all the prerequisites are done.) The University Line still does not have a Final Environmental Impact Statement, which means it's still several steps short of funding. Five years after the Main Street Line opened, and five years after the voters approved light rail expansion, we still don't have much to show for it.
As he notes, it took a lot of things going wrong to get us to this point. The good news is that the overall design is now better, and economic conditions plus a change in the federal political structure should make getting all this work started a lot easier. It may even wind up being less expensive than we once thought. So let's get cracking already.
Hope Santa was good to you this year.
Like Yglesias, I'm happy that the mainstream position in the Democratic Party has moved away from gun control. That said, the NRA is still full of douchebags.
My sis-in-law suffers through a Santa scare.
Three branches of government are enough, thank you very much.
And the winner for Most Inane Punditry of the 2008 presidential campaign is...
Some day, people like Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe will be universally reviled as liars and fools. That day cannot come soon enough.
Read to your kids! It's one of the many unsung pleasures of being a parent. As much as I know I'm going to miss Olivia and Audrey being little, I can't wait for them to be old enough for me to start reading chapter books to them. If nothing else, it'll be a great opportunity to finally actually read a lot of classic children's literature that I managed to avoid reading when I was a kid. And may I just say, reliving one's childhood in a myriad of ways, such as that, is an even bigger unsung joy of parenthood.
Yes We Can (Hold Babies). Looks like it has serious time-wasting potential. And it must be noted, not all of us are so capable.
Yeah, yeah, Pottersville may well have been a more happening, and ultimately more long-term-financially-sustainable place than Bedford Falls. I still love "It's a Wonderful Life".
The inner workings of the North Pole, via Unqualified Offerings.
The Star Wars Holiday Special. Need I say more?
The war on Christmas, the early years.
Hair Balls talks to Greg about politics, high school football, and goofy videos. They should have asked him more questions about cheesy 80s hair bands, but you can't have everything.
Today's entrant: Dan Gattis.
The Georgetown Republican is the twelfth candidate challenging Speaker Tom Craddick, a Midland Republican seeking a fourth term as House leader.Gattis was one of Craddick's lieutenants during the 2007 session but has been uncommitted since the November election.
Via BOR. Hard to see how this changes the existing dynamic of many anti-Craddicks but no emerging consensus on an alternative. Really, at this point you'd prefer to see the number of Speaker candidates shrink, not expand. Who knows what's going on? Burka has more.
A number of signs point to possible success for rail advocates, who for years have been talking up the merits of so-called multimodal transportation planning, but to a mostly unreceptive audience among Texas transportation policymakers.This month, the U.S. Department of Transportation called for proposals from states and businesses to develop any of 11 federally designated high-speed rail corridors. Proposals are expected across the country, and two of the specified routes run through Texas. One, the Gulf Coast Corridor, enters the state from the southeast and finds its terminus in Houston.
The other route comes in from the north, and runs through Dallas, Austin, San Antonio and more.
No proposals have been made to develop those corridors yet, but U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters was in New York City in recent weeks to urge investors to consider doing just that. The government's vision is to have private firms partner with state and federal governments to jointly develop the rail lines. Proposals are due by September 2009.
Texas ought to start moving if it wants to take advantage of the federal funds, said Peter LeCody of Texas Rail Advocates, a passenger-rail lobbying group. The federal government is promising an 80-20 match with local or state funds - a nearly unprecedented move for rail, which usually requires a 50 percent contribution from local sources.
Hard to say what if anything may come of this. Certainly, the Obama administration is going to be more interested in exploring and incentivizing transportation initiatives that aren't just road building and widening. Texas may not be anywhere near the forefront of such thinking, but the allure of federal dollars can make pragmatists, if not converts, of most rail skeptics. And even the Lege seems to be on board with this.
One first step may be as near as January. When lawmakers gather for the 2009 Legislature, one of the many questions they'll be asked to decide is whether to create a new rail division within the transportation department that could oversee the development of passenger rail lines between Texas' biggest cities.Meanwhile, Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas, has introduced a bill that would call a vote next fall on amending the state constitution so that high-speed passenger rail facilities could be exempted from property taxes, another sign that the momentum is rolling in passenger rail's favor.
So the environment is about as favorable as it's ever been. If we do wind up with a real Governor's race, maybe we'll even have a debate on the issue. In the meantime, I'm glad to hear of the possibilities.
I love the story of Pancho Claus.
Santa has a cousin named Pancho.He loves kids. He passes out gifts.
And he's a barrio folk hero with as many faces as there are guys across Texas willing to pull on a red suit and get into the act.
In Houston, Richard Reyes' version of Pancho Claus wears a red zoot suit, fronts a swing band, and keeps an entourage of "elves" and lowrider cars. His Pancho, designed to appeal to at-risk kids, grew out of his Chicano version of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, which he wrote and turned into a play in 1981: "When what to my wondering eye should appear, but eight lowrider cars all jacked down in the rear!"
In San Antonio, Rudy Martinez dons a red sombrero, a Christmas poncho and a jet-black beard to play Pancho Claus. When children ask, he explains that Pancho drives a team of burros led by a special burro named Chuy. If pressed, Martinez might tell them the legend of Pancho Claus: Two children were standing in a field in Mexico. A fairy godmother appeared and granted them one wish for Christmas. The children said they wished to make all the children in the world happy. Impressed, the fairy godmother created Pancho Claus, Santa's cousin from the South Pole.
[...]
Despite the inconsistencies of origin, Pancho Claus is every bit as dear to some kids as Santa.
Rudy Martinez says most of the children he visits want electronic games for Christmas. More poignant is when one sits on his lap and asks if he can get his dad out of jail or another asks him to heal an ailing abuelita, or grandmother.
All the Panchos agree that whatever the costume, dressing up like the barrio hero is utterly transformative.
"You're a totally different person," Reyes says. "You're like Batman."
I'll bet. This to me is a big part of why I love Texas, what gives our state such vibrancy and color and reasons to be proud of it. So if you're like me and you feel that way too, do yourself a favor and avoid the mistake I made, which was to go past the end of this story and see some of the hateful, racist, yet sadly predictable reader comments attached to it. Because apparently, to some small-minded mouth-breathing morons, the only acceptable Santa Claus is the one that Coca Cola helped popularize. No other variations are allowed, as far as those people are concerned. What a sad world they must live in.
A letter to the editor yesterday from Terry Beiswanger makes an interesting point.
In response to Wednesday's City and State cover article "Vasquez takes charge of county tax office / Commissioners vote 4-1 to fill recent vacancy": With a new individual in the tax assessor's office, is it truly necessary to list his name on everything his office generates?We pay our taxes to the county, not to an individual. Will we need to spend more on letterhead, names on doors, etc.? Is it really necessary or is it an ego trip?
Good question. I've written my share of checks to Paul Bettencourt, and Carl Smith before him, and off the top of my head I can't think of another example of making a check for some government fee or tax payable to a person rather than an entity. When I've had to deal with a traffic ticket, I didn't pay the judge, I paid the city or county in question. I make my income tax payment to the IRS, not to Douglas Shulma. (Though I do recall Dave Barry joking about his close personal friend Roscoe Egger back in the day.) Point being, why should we make our checks out to whoever the Tax Assessor is, and not simply to "Harris County Tax Assessor"? And if that's always been a valid option, why aren't we told to use it on the auto registration and property tax forms? And finally, if a change is needed, who needs to make it happen? Can Commissioners Court order it, or would it take an act of the Legislature, assuming Leo Vasquez doesn't decide to do it on his own? I have no idea.
The red light camera study is less than a month old, and already it's the subject of a lawsuit by a couple of longtime camera critics.
Houston lawyers Paul Kubosh and Randall Kallinen, who have fought the program in courts before, are asking a state district judge to compel the city to release what they say was an August 2008 draft of the report by Rice University professor Bob Stein.They say the public should see the previous version of the report, as well as the final version to be released next week, so the conclusions can be trusted. The city has said that earlier copies were in draft form, and, therefore, not subject to disclosure.
"A city cannot label a document 'draft,' and thereby make it not available to the public," said Joe Larsen, a media law attorney and open-records advocate who represents Kubosh and Kallinen. "Otherwise, any governmental body would be in a position of taking out a rubber stamp, putting a stamp on any document, and excluding the public from taking a look and forming their own conclusions."
Kubosh and Kallinen announced the suit, which uses a Texas Supreme Court decision against the city of Garland, in a Friday news conference.
Mayor Bill White's office attacked the lawsuit as a publicity stunt.
"He's obviously doing some self-promoting," mayoral spokesman Frank Michel said of Kubosh, who defends motorists in Municipal Courts. "We can only assume this is a P.R. exercise by someone who makes a living defending in traffic court."
Michel said the report originally was due in late summer, but city officials found flaws in its data based on recordkeeping anomalies. Some wrecks on freeways, for example, were coded as though they happened at the monitored intersections below the freeways.
I don't know what the case law looks like here - I don't know what the lawsuit against Garland was about, but I recall one from a time before SB1119, which expressly condoned cities' usage of red light cameras; maybe that's what this refers to - so I don't know who may or may not have a leg to stand on. In general, I'm very sympathetic to the idea that "draft" reports should be public as well. For sure, if Rick Perry were making the claim that earlier versions of the report needn't be disclosed, I'd be highly skeptical of it. I suspect this is a lot of fuss over nothing, and that releasing the earlier version would demonstrate that as well as being the better course of action.
On the other hand, when you're being accused from the beginning of making stuff up, it's not hard to understand why there might be some resistance to giving these guys what they want.
Both Kallinen and Kubosh said they would drop their objection to the camera if both versions of the study showed a safety increase, provided that the researchers factored in both broadside collisions and rear-end collisions. The pair suggested in their news conference that city officials could have massaged the data.Kubosh reacted strongly when challenged on whether there was evidence of such manipulation.
"If they give us the report, then we'll shut up," he said. "We're here because the city wouldn't give up the information. They hold on to it like it's their information and not the public's."
"Massaging the data" is a pretty strong charge to make, and it seems clear from Kubosh's response that they have no evidence to back that up at all. That's irresponsible, and it damages their otherwise meritorious claim that the draft report ought to be public information as well. I already thought the Kuboshes were cranks, so I can't say I'm surprised by that, but this has done nothing to improve my opinion of Randall Kallinen. There's plenty of legitimate grounds on which to criticize the TTI study. Making claims like this without any apparent evidence to support it just makes you look desperate.
I've been aware of the issue for some time now, but it seems to me that this Chron story about electronic waste recycling fails to explore a pretty basic question.
It's Christmas morning, and there beneath the tree was your new television, sleek and digital. Or maybe it was a new computer. Or the newest electronic gee-whiz gadget. All well and good, but what are you going to do with the old equipment it replaces?Most people -- about 88 percent according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency -- simply toss so-called e-waste into the trash.
Given the heavy metals and other toxic substances such equipment contains, that's obviously a bad idea, says the Electronics TakeBack Coalition, a national consortium of environmental and consumer groups. But, in some cases, doing the seemingly responsible thing -- hauling outmoded equipment to a recycler -- is as bad as junking it, warned Barbara Kyle, the group's national coordinator.
Often, she said, "recycled" electronics are shipped to processors in developing countries, who use primitive techniques to extract valuable metals.
"All of these plastic casings of TVs and computers contain brominated flame retardants," Kyle said. "When they are exported to these Third World countries, plastics typically get burned. And when burned, they emit dioxins, one of the most potent toxins. This often is done right next to where people are working and living."
[...]
Kyle said her organization advocates television and computer makers taking the lead in providing recycling services for e-waste.
You know, there's another entity involved in the recycling process that's a pretty big player, and which could exercise some real influence on practices like these. I'm talking about cities, which run large-sized recycling programs that often include electronic waste. The city of Houston, for example, collects e-waste at the Westpark Consumer Recycling Center as well as the South and North Environmental Service Centers. You would think that in an article like this, one would want to mention what happens to the old TVs, computers, stereos, and whatnot that people bring in for recycling, but you would apparently be wrong. I don't know the reason for the oversight, but I do know that I'd like an answer to the question. Are we contributing to the problem by taking our old electronics to the city service centers or not? I don't think that's too much to ask.
As the start of the legislative session draws near, various entities gird for battle.
Much like corporations, Texas cities and counties plan to spend millions on lobbyists to push their agendas and protect their interests during the next legislative session.When the lawmakers convene in Austin next month, the city of Houston and Harris County, for example, will have more than a dozen hired guns to help track bills that might affect their operations.
They are among a group of the state's largest cities and counties that have hired at least 42 individual lobbyists or firms, costing about $3 million, records show. Officials say it is money well-spent, given that lawmakers could file more than 1,000 bills affecting local governments' revenue, rules and residents.
"Cities are essentially regulated industries, just like companies," said John Hrncir, governmental relations director in Austin, which hired 10 lobbyists for more than $800,000. "Virtually everything a city does ... can be impacted by the state Legislature."
Though officials in Dallas and Tarrant counties do not plan to hire outside lobbyists, Travis, Bexar and Harris counties have contracts worth more than $600,000 with at least six firms.
"Counties are administrative units of the state. There is nothing that a county can do without the approval of the Legislature," said Deece Eckstein, intergovernmental relations coordinator for Travis County.
The list of issues local governments must monitor during the session is long, including bills that affect unions, land use, public safety, liability, utilities, transportation funding and control, taxes and criminal justice issues.
The city of Houston plans to spend roughly $500,000 this fiscal year on the state level, hiring Johnson & Johnson, of Austin, to manage nine lobbyists.
I've discussed this question before. I don't see anything wrong with this practice, since there's nobody in either chamber of the Legislature who is there specifically to represent a given city, or for the most part a given county. That differentiates it from the Congress, where each state has two Senators to represent its particular needs. Like it or not, lobbying is the most effective way for cities and counties to protect their interests. I wouldn't call that optimal or even necessarily desirable, but it's what we've got.
I don't have a whole lot of Christmas music in my collection, but I do have enough for a Friday Random Ten, and if this isn't the time for a Christmas random ten list, then when would it ever be?
1. "The Conventry Carol" - Alison Moyet
2. "Joy To The World/For Unto Us A Child Is Born" - Amy Grant
3. "Gift of the Magi" - Squirrel Nut Zippers
4. "It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" - Brian McKnight
5. "Red Nosed Reindeer Blues" - Asylum Street Spankers
6. "I'll Be Home For Christmas" - Tony Bennett
7. "Jingle Bell Boogie" - Asleep At The Wheel
8. "Snow Day" - Trout Fishing In America
9. "Winter Wonderland" - Ella Fitzgerald
10. "Go Tell It On The Mountain" - from "Christmas On The Border"
Happy Boxing Day!
I've been saying that a statewide smoking ban would be on the legislative agenda next spring. Well, here it comes.
State Sen. Rodney Ellis , D-Houston , and state Rep. Myra Crownover, R-Denton, said they plan to file a bill in the legislative session beginning Jan. 13 that would ban smoking in indoor workplaces, including bars and restaurants. Though opponents say a ban would violate personal liberties and hurt their livelihoods, 24 states have passed a similar measure."You shouldn't have to choose between your job and your health," Crownover said.
Crownover and Ellis filed the same proposal in 2007; a watered-down version passed the House, and the Senate proposal stalled in committee. Since then, Dallas and Corpus Christi have strengthened smoke-free laws, and the Lance Armstrong Foundation has made a statewide ban its top priority in Texas.
Dallas joined cities including Austin, El Paso and Houston in passing bans that advocates for smoke-free workplaces consider comprehensive. Dallas' expanded policy -- which bans smoking in bars and other indoor workplaces but exempts outdoor patios and some existing tobacco shops -- will go into effect April 10; Corpus Christi has a ban starting April 15.
With some major Texas cities becoming smoke-free, the time is right for a statewide measure, Ellis said. "All of those doomsday prophets have been proven wrong. There has not been a mass exodus of clubs and bars to the suburbs," he said.
[...]
Though Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, who presides over the Senate, has supported a statewide smoking ban -- in an unusual move, he testified in favor of the proposal during the 2007 Senate committee hearing -- Ellis said trying to pass his proposal will be an uphill battle.
One thing that could help him is that since the 2007 legislative session, a powerful ally -- the Lance Armstrong Foundation -- joined Smoke-Free Texas, a coalition that includes the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association and the American Lung Association.
Armstrong and his Austin-based foundation were instrumental in getting support for a $3 billion cancer research measure that Texas voters approved in 2007. And in 2008, the cyclist and cancer survivor supported the ban in Dallas by sending letters to City Council members and writing a newspaper column, said foundation President Doug Ulman.
Having Lance Armstrong on board certainly couldn't hurt. I think the experience of the big cities that have passed their own bans will be more persuasive, but you can't have too many things working in your favor with the Lege. I won't predict success, because it's always easier to stop a bill than to pass one, but I'd say Ellis and Crownover's odds are better than they were in 2007.
This hurts, but it could have been worse.
Panic ensued at the Innocence Project of Texas when a powerful Wall Street investor was arrested this month and accused of swindling investors out of $50 billion.One of the organizations that had invested with Bernard Madoff was the JEHT Foundation, which funds post-conviction DNA tests for Dallas County inmates who claim they are innocent. Without the funding, the Innocence Project would be faced with trying to raise capital in a bad economy and those seeking tests could face indefinite delays, if the testing could be done at all.
But after a few days of concern, Innocence Project officials realized the money received so far - about $400,000 - was theirs to keep, said the organization's executive director Natalie Roetzel. And while additional money promised for computers, staff and investigations won't make its way to the Innocence Project, Ms. Roetzel said, "I think it's going to turn out OK."
Both Ms. Roetzel and Dallas County First Assistant District Attorney Terri Moore said there probably are enough funds to complete all the DNA testing. If not, Ms. Roetzel said, they will seek other grants and hold private fundraisers.
"The money should get us through what needs to be tested," said Ms. Moore.
The demise of the JEHT Foundation was reported last week. I'm glad this part of their work will be able to run to completion. I hope something new will arise to continue with that work going forward.
Bill White, meet Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert, who is issuing non-denial denials about his potential interest, along with everybody else in the state, in Kay Bailey Hutchison's Senate seat. Leppert's a Republican, so the field would be even more crowded from his perspective, and perhaps his entry into the race would be a step in the direction of the Rick Casey scenario, where too many Republicans split the vote too fine, thus allowing White and John Sharp to finish in the money for the runoff. Still seems unlikely to me, but hey, nothing about this so far has followed any script. Found via Greg's sidebar.
By the way, it seems fitting to mention here that Al Franken's apparent victory in Minnesota, which puts the Democrats at 59 total members (counting the two independents), might be a factor in this race as well. As Evan Smith noted a few days ago, this will put extra pressure on KBH to stay put, at least through the November, 2010 election. If that's the case, then as I've said before, it's got to make sense for at least one of Bill White and John Sharp to reconsider which race they want to run. Why not take a shot at Governor, with a 2011 or 2012 Senate race in reserve? All I'm saying is that I hope someone - in particular, someone with Bill White's ear - is thinking about the various scenarios.
The University of Texas-San Antonio will be getting itself a football team.
The University of Texas System Board of Regents today approved UTSA's plan to add a football program.The plan calls for UTSA to develop an $84 million athletic complex, to add a Football Championship Subdivision football program and to advance all sports teams to a Football Bowl Subdivision conference.
Under the plan, UTSA could hire a football coach or a program administrator by February.
UTSA would sign its first class of recruits in 2010, would sign another class in 2011 and then would kick off as an FCS team at the Alamodome in the fall of that year.
The school will need to raise $15 million in a capital campaign for the football program.
Another $62 million is needed to complete the athletic complex.
[...]
UTSA will fund the initiative through student fees, corporate and private support and other revenue streams that do not draw from the institutional academic budget.
In September 2007, UTSA students overwhelmingly supported a referendum to expand the athletics program and double the athletic fee over the next five to seven years.
I realize that college football is a hugely expensive undertaking, and that most schools spend millions more per year than they take in, but I think UTSA might be in a position to do a lot better than that, for one simple reason: They'll have almost no competition in the area for bigtime sports. The only major league team is the NBA's Spurs, and all of the other colleges in San Antonio are NAIA or Division III. Other than Austin and UT, the same is largely true in a fairly wide area around San Antonio, especially to the south and west. UTSA has a decent-sized alumni base, which is mostly local - the story says that "80 percent of the university's 76,000 alumni continue to live in the immediate area" - and the marketing opportunities for a Roadrunners football team ought to be pretty lucrative, if they approach it aggressively and creatively enough. Keep an eye on this, they could come out of nowhere and be a consistent bowl attendee in a decade's time or so, like the University of South Florida.
Currently, UTSA sports teams play in the Southland Conference. The Southland is affiliated with the FCS, formerly Division I-AA.Eventually, after several years, UTSA hopes to join a conference in the FBS, formerly Division I-A.
The Big 12, with Texas and Texas A&M, plays in the FBS. But UTSA isn't in talking about taking its teams to that level. Instead, Conference USA, the Sun Belt and the Western Athletic Conference are being mentioned as potential destinations.
C-USA is probably the best geographic fit, but let's not put the cart before the horse. Ask me again about this in 2015 or so. Thanks to Stace for the tip.
Not gonna happen here in Houston, but no matter. Merry Christmas to all anyway. Thanks to Mark Evanier for the link.
If this story, which is the best example of Jesus' commandment to love thy neighbor as thyself I've seen in a long time, doesn't make you tear up a bit, especially today, I don't know what would. God bless you, Kris Hogan. Thanks to Grits for the link.
How "Twas The Night Before Christmas" should be read:
Like the title says, happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night.
It's time again for a link to my favorite Christmas story, involving Mel Torme and his classic tune "The Christmas Song". Whether you've read it before or not, go read it now. It's always worth the time. Merry Christmas, Mel Torme, wherever you are.
Harris County Commissioners El Franco Lee and Sylvia Garcia have tentatively agreed to contribute $10 million in public money to the Dynamo stadium project, provided the team and the city agree to certain conditions, city and county officials said Tuesday.The proposal the commissioners sent the city late Monday states the money would have to be used to build the public amenities and infrastructure serving the stadium, rather than the physical structure itself, Garcia said. That might include the water and sewer lines for the stadium, or the parking lots and tree-lined plazas surrounding it.
Other conditions include guaranteeing that Texas Southern University will be allowed to play home games at the stadium and agreeing that 15 percent of the seats will never be sold for more than than the average price of a movie ticket.
"We want to make sure that that's included in the agreement so we won't see a situation where the stadium is built and they focus on suites or club suites and their prices double or triple in the first few years," Garcia said.
If the city and the Dynamo agree to the terms of the deal, Lee or Garcia would submit it for approval by the entire Commissioners Court as early as Jan. 13, Garcia said.
White spokesman Frank Michel said the offer is a "good, positive step."
"But it's just one of a number of steps that will have to happen before any final deal is done," he added.
It's a pretty big step. Approval from Commissioners Court should be a formality, since the stadium is in Lee and Garcia's precincts. Assuming there's no gotchas in the conditions they've stipulated - and they don't look particularly onerous to me - this hurdle ought to be officially cleared. I hope the Dynamo still have financing lined up. The good news is that the price tag for construction has apparently come down a bit. Sometimes, a weak economy works in your favor.
Lots of people keep migrating to Texas, from all over.
Between July 2007 and July 1, 2008, nearly 141,000 people moved to Texas from other states, compared with about 92,000 international migrants, the bureau said.The data provide a fresh indicator of how longstanding immigration patterns into Texas are changing.
In the early years of this decade, international migration into Texas was two to three times as great as domestic, but the trend reversed starting in 2006.
Much of Texas' international migration historically hails from Mexico and Central America, where immigrants fled poor conditions. But the surging domestic migration into the Lone Star State is now likely to come from economically depressed states such as Michigan, which lost about 46,000 residents between July 2007 and July 1, 2008.
Texas gained 484,000 residents last year, more than any other state. In percentage growth, Texas' 2 percent tied for third with North Carolina and Colorado behind Utah, 2.5 percent, and Arizona, 2.3 percent.
Domestic migration in Texas last year was almost three times what it was in 2005. It peaked in 2006, when an influx of Louisiana residents displaced by Hurricane Katrina contributed to about 220,000 Texas domestic migrants.
Karl Eschbach, the state demographer, said Texas has continued to produce jobs while employment declined in many other states. He said this was the key factor driving the increased domestic migration.
"For the past several years, job growth in the United States means Texas," Eschbach said. "The Texas economy has so much outperformed the rest of the country."
One of the effects of this population surge is that Texas will get as many as four new Congressional seats in the 2011 reapportionment (see here for more). I've blogged about this before, so let's just say that this is, or at least ought to be, a powerful incentive for Democrats to be competitive at the statewide level in 2010 (as I'd always thought they planned to do), since four of the five seats on the Legislative Redistricting Board - lieutenant governor, attorney general, comptroller, and land commissioner - are statewide offices. We may be thisclose to electing a Democratic Speaker, but let's not put all our eggs in one basket. A little wiggle room would sure be nice.
If you want to go deeper into the weeds on this (and who doesn't?), Greg games out a few scenarious. If I could add one wish list item to what he's conjured up, it would be the reconstruction of a Congressional district that basically captures most of the central Houston area, much like the old CD25 but without the bit that jogged over into Deer Park. Not gonna happen, for the reasons Greg cites about desirable fundraising areas, but it's what I'd push for if I had a say in it.
Anyway, back to the story:
Eschbach cautioned that Texas' role as a magnet for job seekers could diminish as the state's economic troubles begin catching up to the nation's.University of Houston economist Barton Smith said last month that Houston, Texas' most populous city, was losing its "energy cushion" and moving toward an economy that resembled the rest of the country. He predicted that Houston would lose between 11,000 and 37,500 jobs in 2009.
Without the draw of new jobs, Eschbach said, people tend to move for different reasons, such as a desire to be closer to their families.
"You're going to see slowing rates of movement" into Texas, Eschbach said. "I would predict less domestic migration."
So let's not get too smug about this. And as many people, including Eschbach's predecessor Steve Murdock have warned, unless we start doing things to really improve schools and health care in Texas, the long-term trends for this state are not good at all. It'd be nice to think we'll take some steps in that direction next spring, but I'm not going to hold my breath on that.
That didn't last long. Losing HD11 candidate Brian Walker has withdrawn his election challenge to State Rep. Chuck Hopson.
State Rep. Chuck Hopson says he's home free. Hopson, D-Jacksonville, says he was notified by Speaker Tom Craddick's office [Monday] afternoon that his November opponent, Republican Brian Walker, has withdrawn his election contest."We are pleased that this election has come to a conclusion," said Hopson, first elected to the Texas House in 2000.
One less source of drama for the upcoming session, which didn't need any more of that. Thanks to BOR for the heads up.
The Woodlands, which installed red light cameras last year, is set to add more of them.
"The number of violations has decreased," said Precinct 3 Commissioner Ed Chance. "It appears the reduction of red light runners is down 20 percent."Chance said that prior to the cameras' installation, drivers ran red lights at the two intersections 14-15 percent of the time.
[...]
In addition to making the roads more safe, Chance said the cameras were also intended to improve traffic flow.
"(Before) the first camera was installed, south bound on Woodloch (Forest) going east on Woodlands Parkway, people would run that light so bad they would delay the westbound green eight or nine seconds," Chance said.
"I think they're an absolutely necessary tool that's cost effective versus having an officer issuing citations," Chance said.
That's a point I don't think I've seen made before. I'd say in my experience in certain locations, mostly on the West Loop, there'd always be a car or two blowing through the red light, often from the left turn lane, which would necessarily make the vehicles that just got the green light have to wait. In the end, I'd say it all balanced out, since the traffic that direction would end up doing the same thing, and the cycle would perpetuate. Not optimal, of course, and more dangerous, but it's hard to say there was a net gain or loss one way or the other.
Chance said that eight other intersections have had traffic studies conducted on them this past year, and a committee is expected to meet this week to discuss possible future locations for new cameras. All of the intersections under consideration are along Woodlands Parkway, Lake Woodlands Drive and Research Forest Drive.The determination of where to install additional cameras will be made based on engineering studies of the intersections, accident reports, traffic counts and physical observations at each, Chance said.
Those of you who live or work in the area, you have been notified.
Seems to be a growth industry in that town.
A former Farmers Branch City Council member filed a lawsuit against the city Wednesday, asking a state district judge in Dallas to order the city to turn over invoices for legal bills associated with the city's anti-illegal immigrant ordinances.Carol Dingman has filed eight open records requests with the city. Her suit alleges the city failed to turn over invoices from Strasburger & Price from January through August 2008, even after being directed to do so by the state attorney general's office.
According to her suit, the city has turned over invoices from the law firm for other dates. Her suit states that Farmers Branch officials have filed a lawsuit against the attorney general's office seeking to prevent disclosure of the invoices for the period in question.
Michael Jung, with Strasburger & Price, said the city is asking an Austin court to rule that the invoices in question are protected by attorney-client privilege because they reveal information about the attorney's strategy in one or more lawsuits the city is facing over its illegal immigration efforts.
You think maybe they might be just a wee bit embarrassed at how much they've had to spend on this folly? They ought to be, that's for sure. Thanks to Texas Watchdog for the tip.
Harris County Commissioners Court today appointed Republican businessman Leo Vasquez to fill the vacancy left by resigning tax assessor-collector Paul Bettencourt.[...]
Vasquez said he first will focus on customer service and efficiency and plans to meet with each department and with community stakeholders during his first 100 days in office.
He said he has enjoyed working behind-the-scenes in Republican politics and is looking forward to the opportunity to "see if I could do some more to help improve efficient government, smaller government and better government for Harris County."
This is the early version of the story, so it doesn't indicate whether Commissioner Sylvia Garcia pressed him on the subject of voter registration, and if so what answers she got and whether they satisfied her enough to vote for his confirmation. I presume a later version of the story will have those details, and I'll update accordingly when it does.
I don't know what else there is to say about Leo Vasquez except that I hope he's an improvement over Paul Bettencourt - the alternative is too hideous to contemplate - and that I hope he gets a serious challenger in 2010. I predict he'll get a Republican challenge for the 2010 primary, as that seems to be the norm for the appointed replacements like him - Ed Emmett, Theresa Chang, and all three judges filling unexpired seats drew competition this past March. He'll probably survive, unlike Willie Alexander, but you never know.
And at long last, we can now be told what the greener pastures Bettencourt sought out really were:
Bettencourt said Tuesday he is leaving the county to open a property tax consulting firm in southeast Texas."I'm going to do my passion in life which is to run a mid-size start-up and help people save some money on their expenses for next year," he said as he bid farewell to the court on Tuesday.
Yeah, and he just happened to finally give in to the urge for that passion right after Election Day, and not a minute before. Makes perfect sense to me. All I can say is that to give up a cushy government job for a startup when you've got two college-age kids, you must have a lot of confidence in your ability to make it work.
UPDATE: Here's the updated story.
Commissioners Court voted 4-1 to appoint Vasquez to fill the first two years of Bettencourt's four-year term. He said he plans to run for the seat in 2010, when a special election will be held for the remainder of the term.Democratic Commissioners El Franco Lee and Sylvia Garcia first nominated Diane Trautman, Bettencourt's opponent in the November election, saying half a million voters wanted to see her take the job. All three Republican court members voted against her appointment without comment.
Lee said he voted against Vasquez's appointment because he had not met him.
"I can't vote on somebody I haven't met," he said.
So Commissioner Garcia ultimately voted for Vasquez. She isn't quoted, so I can only presume her questions about him were answered satisfactorily. I'm glad she and Commissioner Lee nominated Diane Trautman, even if the politics of it were doomed.
While Bettencourt used the office to champion conservative causes, earning scorn from the left and accusations that he let politics bleed into his duties as the county's voter registrar, Vasquez said he expects the office to take on a different tenor under his administration.He said he eventually may speak out on some political issues, such as appraisal caps. And he hopes to be an ambassador for the Republican Party in the Hispanic community and an ambassador for Hispanics in the Republican community.
But for now, at least, he said his main focus will be on meeting with employees and constituents to craft a strategic plan for making the office even more user-friendly and efficient.
"The politics will come in due time, but let's focus on efficiency at the office," he said.
[...]
He said he would try to make voter registration a year-round effort, not just a last-second push shortly before an election. For example, he proposed requiring all county employees to ask people submitting address changes if they also have updated their voter registration.
"I believe that the tax assessor-collector's duties and operations are truly a nonpartisan issue," he said. "It affects everyone in Harris County. Not just Republicans. Not just Democrats."
Nice words. We'll see if they mean anything. Good luck with the job, Mr. Vasquez.
Harvey Kronberg reports on a meeting of Republican representatives in Austin about the fate of Tom Craddick.
If the Dems can deliver their promised 64 votes, there are now 75 declared votes against Craddick's re-election as Speaker.Today a group of House Republicans met in Austin and, along with some of their colleagues participating by telephone, mutually affirmed their support for a new Speaker other than Tom Craddick.
Sharing the sentiments in the room, Rep. Rob Eissler (R-The Woodlands) said, "I don't have a problem with Tom Craddick. I don't think he has the votes. I think we need to look for a new Speaker." His colleague, Rep. Joe Straus (R-San Antonio) added, "We affirmatively agreed that it was time for selecting a new Speaker from the group in attendance."
Rep. Charlie Geren (R-Fort Worth) said that in addition to those present today, there are other Republicans who will be coming forward when the group announces its consensus candidate on Jan. 2.
That's the first time I've seen Rep. Eissler's name among the anti-Craddicks. If he has defected, then Craddick's core support, as documented by Phillip Martin, is in decline. Even Burka is getting on board with the idea that Craddick's days are numbered. More encouraging still is Rep. Geren's statement about a consensus candidate coming forward soon, which as you know has been the stumbling block for me. When and if that happens, that's when we'll know if the Not-Craddick sentiment will really translate into positive support for an actual alternative. As Brandi Grissom shows, that may still be dicey.
[Rep. Chente] Quintanilla, D-El Paso, said if a Democrat could win, he would vote for that candidate in a heartbeat. But with the GOP still on top, he said, the House leader is likely to be a Republican.Of all the Republican candidates, Quintanilla said, Craddick is the one who knows best what El Paso's needs are.
But, he said he's not ready to publicly endorse any speaker candidate yet.
"I'm still looking for whoever is going to be amenable to helping El Paso," he said.
Rep. Jim Dunnam, please call your office. This is probably just intended by Rep. Quintanilla to make sure that he'll end up supporting the winner, and thus not get left out in the cold when committee assignments are doled out, but nobody should be taking anything for granted right now. On the plus side, there does appear to be some pressure being applied to Craddick D's to abandon ship. No way Craddick can win without them - he couldn't have won without them in 2007 - so if that argument gains headway, it really will be all over. But until we have one alternative candidate with a list of pledges 75 names or longer, I'm going to sweat this out. It's like that old adage from comic books and horror movies: You don't assume the villain is dead until you see its decapitated corpse with your own two eyes. That's what I'll be looking for here as well.
I've said before that I fully expect there to be a push for an expansion of legalized gambling in Texas in the next legislative session. Here's further evidence of that.
Casino gambling is increasingly seen by some as a way to revive this island city, which is reeling from Hurricane Ike and 3,000 layoffs by its largest employer.The Strand Merchants Association believes gambling would bring in tourists with more money who would patronize the downtown historical area shops, many still struggling to reopen after being inundated with as much as 10 feet of storm water Sept. 13.
The increased tourism could help replace the patrons who won't be coming back because they were laid off by the University of Texas Medical Branch last month, casino gambling supporters say.
They point to Biloxi, Miss., where casino gambling contributed $22.5 million to city coffers in fiscal year 2008.
Opponents fear casinos would resurrect an era when Galveston was infamous for its gambling, bordellos and corrupt public officials.
Casino gambling was endorsed by a majority in an informal poll taken by the Galveston County Daily News, whose publisher, Dolph Tillotson, is a vocal advocate of taking a hard look at gambling as a possible economic boon.
A Daily News online poll found that 81.7 percent of respondents believed casino gambling should be part of the island's economic recovery plan.
I don't think Galveston's situation or apparent desire will change the mind of any staunch opponent to gambling, but it might be persuasive to someone who is otherwise ambivalent. Whether it could survive a veto from Governor Perry is a pertinent question; I don't see that happening, but you never know. I tend to agree that a casino won't be the balm that the merchants are hoping for, but I can understand why they're willing to take their chances anyway. Keep an eye on it once the Lege convenes.
The Texas Faculty Association has a question about UTMB.
One would think that any outfit pleading $710 million in damages due to Hurricane Ike would instantly cut out bonuses and such, particularly $3 million worth of bonuses, eh?
They tell the story of their efforts to document the bonus payments, which got disappeared once light started to shine on them. Anyone still wondering about the "end game" in that lawsuit they filed that alleged the Board of Regents violated state open meetings laws when they voted to lay off 3,800 UTMB employees? Nice work, fellas.
The Morning News notes the trend of fewer vehicle miles travelled (VMT) in the US.
All across the country, Americans began driving fewer miles on average as far back as 2005, and they may have crested as early as 2002, according to a national study by the Brookings Institution in Washington."As a nation, we may be reaching a saturation point in terms of just how many miles each American driver can tolerate," said Adie Tomer, a co-author of the report and a research analyst with Brookings' Metropolitan Policy Program. "We may have actually reached a peak."
Long before gas prices began shooting up in 2008, per capita miles driven in many of the nation's 100 biggest cities had begun slowing, the report says. Drivers logged fewer miles in 2006 than in 2002 in 26 of the 100 cities. Since 2006, the trend has accelerated, according to the report.
Nowhere has it been more noticeable than in some of Texas' fastest-growing cities, including Dallas, Houston and especially Austin, where per capita miles driven fell 12 percent, the biggest decline among the top 100 metro areas in the country.
I've blogged about this before. The story discusses Dallas' mass transit system, in particular its rail lines, and its trend towards suburban office parks, which has helped reduce the commute lengths for folks living outside the urban core, as the main factors in Dallas' decline in VMT. For Houston, which has a much smaller rail system right now, the latter plus an increase in park-and-ride usage is likely the cause, though the story doesn't get into it. The report is here (PDF, link via Yglesias) if you want to explore it in more detail.
Just hear those sleigh bells ring-a-ling, jing-ting-ting-a-ling, too.
Come on, it's lovely weather for a blog roundup together with you.
OK, needs work. But the links are fine as they are. Click on for the weekly Texas Progressive Alliance roundup.
At TruthHugger The crystal ball in BossKitty's head has instructed me to share its opinion on how the final month of a pretentious Bush Administration contributes to the destruction of the America we knew. And, Bush wondered aloud, "How did we get here?"
The Texas Cloverleaf looks, ever so briefly, at Governor 39%'s longevity record.
This week CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme offers unsolicited advice to Democrats: Texas may follow the rest of the country and turn blue, but only if we truly are inclusive and offer value for taxpayer dollars.
Donna at Happinessanyway talks about defending her uber-liberal job to putative uber-liberals.
John Coby at Bay Area Houston details how much money Bob Perry has donated to the members of the Sunset Commission that shockingly spared his home builder commission from being abolished.
Vince at Capitol Annex notes that the United Auto Workers are going to be chasing some jobs to Texas--which were lured from another state by Texas Governor Rick Perry and millions from his personal slush fund, the Texas Enterprise Fund.
jobsanger looks to the future and wonders Who's The Dem In 2010 Governor Race? There is a dearth of well-known candidates with both White and Sharp opting to run for the senate, but he has a suggestion -- although that suggestion may not be well-received by some TPA members.
Neil at Texas Liberal says there is no such thing as a bridge to nowhere. Everything in life connects. Neil also says have a happy holiday.
Off the Kuff considers the possibilities for 2010 if neither Bill White nor John Sharp runs for Governor.
Devon Energy says they are "passionate" about clean air. TXsharon says: Okay, Devon: Here is your opportunity to prove it. Spend that $60 million--2 percent of your last quarter's profits--and help Wise County stay off non-attainment list.
This week, McBlogger's kinda irritated at the President-elect over his decision to have Rick Warren lead the invocation at the Inauguration.
WhosPlayin published what may be the first quantitative statistical analysis of pipeline incidents - by Jerry J. Lobdill. Hey Fort Worth, are you ready for a significant "incident" with gas pipelines every 6 months?
Dallas-area auto dealers who took out credit life insurance policies with Texas Congressional Republicans have suddenly figured out that they wasted their money.
PDiddie at Brains and Eggs has it.
All they want for Christmas is to keep jailing innocent children. The Williamson county commissioner's court is set to vote Tuesday, just in time for Christmas, on two more years of jail time for immigrant families awaiting hearings. Wcnews at Eye On Williamson reports that the court has rescheduled a vote to renew its contract with Corrections Corporation of America to operate the T. Don Hutto immigrant detention center for Tuesday, December 23, in order to avoid publicity. In addition to the distractions of the holidays, commissioners are counting that voters will have forgotten about it at the next election 22 months away.
The Texas Health and Human Services Commission is extending Medicaid coverage for about 34,000 children in the Houston-Beaumont areas because Hurricane Ike may have disrupted families' ability to get and return the forms to renew their coverage, the commission announced Monday.The Health and Human Services Commission automatically will extend the children's coverage for 90 days in Southeast Texas, and will send out new packets to help the families complete the regular renewal process by April, the commission said in a news release.
The children's coverage would have ended Dec. 31 without the extensions.
Stephanie Goodman, a Texas Health and Human Services Commission spokeswoman, told The Enterprise last week that the commission discovered January enrollment for Medicaid coverage was unusually low in Southeast Texas.
The commission attempted to call nearly 600 families over the weekend, and received responses from more than 100 families, according to the news release.
One in four families said they did not receive a renewal form, according to the news release. Among those who received the renewal form, almost 80 percent said they returned the form - most by mail.
A full list of the affected counties is in the Chron story. I'm still not sure why someone didn't think about this before now, but that's a minor quibble at this point. The main thing is that the people who need this coverage will continue to get it. Kudos to HHSC for getting this done. Thanks to Vince for the catch. A press release from State Rep. Sylvester Turner is beneath the fold.
St. Representative Sylvester Turner announced today that the state has agreed to extend Medicaid to local children whose enrollment forms apparently went missing following Hurricane Ike.Turner learned this week that the Texas Health and Human Services Commission was reporting that thousands of children would lose their Medicaid coverage at the end of December or January because they had not re-enrolled. Because so many children were in the area affected by the hurricane, Turner asked HHSC to extend their coverage.
Today, HHSC told Turner's office that children in the Houston and Beaumont regions will have their Medicaid coverage automatically extended three months beyond their current enrollment period since Hurricane Ike may have been the cause for their applications never being processed.
The number of children affected is 34,000 in the Houston and the Beaumont regions. The two regions include 28 counties.
"I am pleased that the Health and Human Services Commission has agreed to this extension," Turner said. "With all the problems facing many of our citizens in the Houston and Beaumont areas due to Hurricane Ike and the general economic downturn, this was certainly not the time for children to lose their health care. I applaud HHSC for taking quick action on this issue."
HHSC officials say the Medicaid applications were re-routed to different processing centers because some facilities were closed following Hurricane Ike. They do not know if the applications were delivered but they were not logged into the state system.
I realize that I'm as guilty as anyone in jumping ahead to the 2010 Governor's race and who-knows-when Senate race, so let me give Phillip a chance to tell us what he really thinks.
Did I miss the filing deadline for the Governor's race? Did we fast forward to October 2010? Or aren't we still in the year 2008?
All true. And frankly, not inconsistent with my own writing. There's time for this to work itself out. Not as much time as you might like to believe, since the filing deadline will be next January 2 or so, but time. As long as someone - ideally, many someones - is thinking about it, there's hope.
Having said that, this is a legitimate concern.
Bexar County Democratic Chair Carla Vela said: "For the last year, I thought for sure that Bill White was the one ... I haven't heard anybody else mention the governorship, and I wish they would. We can't just hand it over to Kay or Perry again."The only other oft-mentioned Democrat for governor, former Comptroller John Sharp, also announced earlier this month that he will run for Senate.
Another potential Democratic candidate for the Senate seat, state Sen. Leticia Van de Putte of San Antonio, said the vacuum in the governor's race is caused by the fact Democrats don't know who the Republican nominee will be.
"If people knew it was going to be a Rick Perry, you'd see folks willing to put their name forward," Van de Putte said. "People understand in a general election that Kay Bailey Hutchison is such an intense brand, it's hard to get market share on that one."
[...]
"People ask me all the time who's going to run for governor," said Vela, the Bexar County Democratic chair. "I don't see any shining stars who come out saying, 'I want to be governor!' "
A little buzz for somebody wouldn't hurt. Again, we can't afford to be psyched out by KBH - repeat after me: "Those guys have been in charge for 16 years, it's time for a change" - and we have to recognize that KBH, or at least the nice warm-and-moderate KBH that we have today, may not be on the ballot once Rick Perry and his machine get through with her. There's a long way to go for the Republicans as well.
There's one more thing that needs to be considered, and that's the possibility that KBH won't resign before the November, 2010 election. RG Ratcliffe estimates the odds of that at 45%. I think that may be a bit low now, especially if more Republicans join in with Rep. Pete Sessions in puhlicly entreating her to stay put, at least until then.
So, while Ratcliffe believes (correctly, in my view) that it would be highly questionable for a candidate to file for Governor in 2010, and also for a May 2010 Senate special election, a slightly different scenario comes to my mind: Run for Governor in 2010, and if you don't succeed, run for Senate in the special election of May 2011. Nobody would hold it against Bill White or John Sharp if either of them changed course now, and having made a sincere run for Governor in 2010 and established a statewide presence and fundraising base, it would be easy to turn around and gear up for the special election that would follow if it were KBH to whom they had just lost. Barring a voyage-of-the-damned gubernatorial campaign, he would then be the clear Democratic frontrunner for the Senate seat. If you want to maximize your chances of winning something statewide, this seems to me to be the way to go. Assuming, of course, that KBH heeds the call of those who are asking her to run as a sitting Senator rather than as an ex-Senator. You might even get to run against Rick Perry instead of a cast of thousands. Who knows? All I'm saying is that it looks like a decent shot to me. What do you think?
Lisa Gray gives the latest Weingarten controversy a look.
Up until now, the building had angered people. But neighbors now say Weingarten is violating a city ordinance. They say the company not only crossed the line, it crossed the line by 10 feet.The protrusion in question is a porte-cochere, the sort of sheltered area where a car could be left with a valet. On its roof would be a patio for an open-air wine bar run by the Vallone Restaurant Group.
The bar seemed likely to rattle quiet River Oaks with noise from late-night drinking, but Chapman hadn't heard of any public meetings to discuss an exception to the setback rule -- because Weingarten hadn't asked for an exception.
More than many neighborhoods, River Oaks, a place full of lawyers and real-estate experts, is able to wage a credible battle against a developer. Chapman and other east River Oaks neighbors quickly put together a petition and a Web site (www.stopshepherdnoise.org), and they contacted the city's planning department.
Called about the controversy, Weingarten made no one available for comment.
Neighbors allege that the company, one of the largest mall developers in the nation, either is unfamiliar with setback rules or it knowingly broke them. Tom Horan, whose backyard abuts the building's garage, takes a dark view of the matter.
"Weingarten would rather beg for forgiveness," he says, "than ask for permission."
Lynn Edmundson, who also lives near the project, thinks the city should have red-tagged the project, stopping construction entirely.
"If the neighbors weren't watching," she says, "it would be a done deal."
After the complaints, the city stopped construction on the porte-cochere and will now consider whether to grant Weingarten an exemption to the setback rules.
Two things. One, as I said before, this to me is about the rules and processes we have in place for construction and development. We don't have a whole lot of them as far as I'm concerned, so we really ought to be able to enforce the ones we do have in place when they get violated. Accidentally or deliberately, Weingarten apparently broke the rules. If that's true, there ought to be some consequence for that.
And two, it is possible that Weingarten had, or at least thought they had, a legitimate reason for doing what they did. We don't know, because they won't talk. That's been their MO pretty much throughout this battle, and it makes it a lot easier to demonize them and to believe that their motives are bad. I don't know if they care about such things, or if they feel, perhaps justifiably, that public opinion is irrelevant and not an impediment to their goals. It sure would be nice if they engaged the public once in awhile. But they don't have to, and they apparently don't want to. And so this is what we get. Keep this in mind the next time you hear someone complain about how responsive (or not) Metro is being about something. It could be worse.
Peter Wang brings the bad news.
Despite letters from Judge Ed Emmett, all four Republican and Democratic Harris County Commissioners, and other public officials, METRO is going to place orders for the new trains on Christmas Eve 2008... without any in-cabin racks for bicycle. Our contact at the FTA, the funding agency for the trains, is extremely concerned, but FTA cannot compel METRO to order trains with bike racks.It looks like we've failed at this point.
If the cycling community cares enough about this, then you can make one final effort on Monday or Tuesday next week. Call METRO CEO Frank J. Wilson's office at (713) 739-4832. Don't send an email. Make someone pick up the phone and spend the energy to talk to you. Also call the VP of Procurement, Paul Como, at (713) 739-4887. Tell him to not order the trains without bike racks.
I presume there's an issue with cost here, but it seems to me that this is something Metro should want to do, and that anyone who cares about mass transit in Houston should want Metro to do. Peter notes that the city of Phoenix will be debuting light rail cars with bike racks in them next week. Why them and not us? Make the calls as he suggests and ask.
I heard a rumor last week that HISD trustee Diana Davila, a prospective candidate for City Council District H, was dropping out of the race. I've since heard a stronger version of that rumor, from more sources. I'm not sure what precipitated that, but if true it reduces the presumptive field down to four: Ed Gonzalez, the current Chief of Staff to outgoing District H Council Member Adrian Garcia; realtor Karen Derr; Francisco Sanchez, the Public Information Officer for the Harris County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management; and Hugo Mojica, who has held several positions in local government, including Chief of Staff for former Member Michael Berry. As Garcia has not yet formally resigned, the City Secretary has not yet called the election, so consider any possible lineup to be tentative until the filing deadline has passed.
One other rumor of recent vintage was that Maverick Welsh, the chief of staff to Council Member Peter Brown and a resident of District H, was considering a run for that seat. I sent Maverick a message via Facebook over the weekend, and his reply was that he was "not planning on running for City Council at this time" but would in the future. I've reproduced his answer beneath the fold for those who may be interested.
Finally, on a different note, term-limited City Council member Pam Holm in District G is apparently thinking about a run for City Controller next year; other reported possibilities are her fellow final-term members MJ Khan in F and Ron Green in At Large #4. No surprise there - in 2003, three of the four candidates were sitting Council members (Annise Parker, Bruce Tatro, and Gabriel Vasquez). We may not have a Republican candidate for Mayor, but if Holm and Khan run for Controller the GOP will at least have some representation on the citywide ballot.
UPDATE: Francisco Sanchez emails to say he is not a candidate:
It is flattering, but erroneous. I believe in public service. It is a noble profession and I wish those who seek any elective office well.I am blessed to serve from my current post and will stay put for some time to come, or as long as I am welcome. Any help in informing your readers of my intent (or lack thereof) is appreciated.
My apologies to Mr. Sanchez for the error, and my thanks to him for the clarification.
UPDATE: I don't know where I got the idea that Ed Gonzalez is Adrian Garcia's chief of staff, but it is in error. Gonzalez is an HPD officer and a close ally of Garcia's, but he is not the chief of staff. My apologies for the error.
Maverick Welsh's response to my inquiry about the rumor he was considering a run for District H:
Charles,Many friends and neighbors have asked me if I would run in District H because of my experience and what I stand for. Before working for Council Member Brown I served first as Historian then as President of the Norhill Historic District and Proctor Plaza Neighborhood Association. I also taught History at Davis High School for 4 years and Reagan High School for 2 years after that. I know and love this neighborhood and can't imagine living anywhere else in Houston.
I am not planning on running for City Council at this time, but I assure you that I will run at some point.
I must say that I really love my job as Chief of Staff for Council Member Peter Brown. I have gotten to learn so much about the inner workings of the City and how to get things done. This experience has allowed me to build great relationships with the Mayor, other Council Members, and City officials. As you know there will be a steep learning curve for anyone who is elected in District H. City governance is a complicated process that requires an understanding of best practices in other cities, good relationships with City officials, and a passion for Houston.
I am really concerned that the person elected for District H be the type of Council Member that supports Historic preservation and protecting neighborhoods. This is why I work for Peter Brown; he gets it about neighborhoods.
Best regards,
Maverick
Stace has the sad news.
Tragedy has struck the family of Texas State Representative Roberto R. Alonzo of Dallas. While details about the accident and final funeral arrangements are still rather sketchy, what is known at this time is that Rep. Alonzo's older brother, 58-year-old, Mr. Ramon Alonzo and his 4-year-old grandson Elisha T. Alonzo (Rep. Alonzo's nephew) were on a family fishing trip Saturday afternoon, Dec. 20, in Crystal City, in South Texas. The grandson accidentally fell in the water, the grandfather jumped in to try to save him, and both tragically drowned. Autopsies have been ordered and the family is waiting those results before continuing with further funeral arrangements."While there is never a good time to prepare for the loss of a loved one or loved ones in any family, it is especially more difficult to deal with circumstances like this when they happen so tragically and so unexpected just a few days before the Christmas Holidays. Having lost my mother Maria almost 3 short years ago (on April 2006), right in the middle of a special legislative session, I am confident that my family will once again come together in peace, prayer, and with the strong faith in God that binds us all, will always remember the many wonderful times and memories we shared with my brother Ramon and nephew Elisha," said Rep. Alonzo. "I appreciate the numerous telephone calls, e-mails, and other gestures of kindness and condolences that I have received from friends, colleagues, and other citizens in the community in the last 24 hours after learning about my brother's and nephew's passing. We are still in shock over the ordeal. I ask that you hold them both in your thoughts and prayers, as my family comes together to deal with this tragedy, during this time of grief and sorrow," continued Rep. Alonzo.
As of press time, funeral, mass, and rosary services were still pending awaiting family confirmations and other arrangements. Funeral arrangements will be under the care of Castle Ridge Mortuary (formerly Leonard Funeral Home), 303 East Kinney Street in Crystal City, Texas, 78839, telephone (830) 374-3413. The funeral mass and church services, which are also pending, will take place at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, located 618 East Zavala Street in Crystal City, Texas, 78839, telephone (830) 374-3148. In addition to Rep. Alonzo, Mr. Ramon Alonzo is survived by a wife and 4 grown children - 3 sons and a daughter. [More final details forthcoming soon].
My sincere condolences to Rep. Alonzo and his family. My thoughts and prayers are with you.
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...
Spot the math errors! Here's a hint: Dividing by zero is a bad idea. Oh, and "square root" is not singular. That about covers it. Link via Chad.
Twas the night before Inaguration.
Discover the Star of Bethlehem.
It's been too long since I've included a link to The Bloggess in these roundups, hasn't it?
I don't know who designs Rep. Loretta Sanchez's Christmas cards, but I do like them.
Foreign automakers won billions of dollars in subsidies from various Southern states. Whose Senators then voted against the bridge loan to the Big Three in Detroit. Because giving taxpayer dollars to prop up businesses would violate their free-market principles, or something.
Speaking of automakers, Honda is pulling out of Formula One, blaming the world economic crisis for plans to sell its team.
I'm a big fan of Harry Carson, the great Giants linebacker from the 70s and 80s. But he should be ashamed of himself for this.
If there had been color commentary for Casey at the Bat.
My nine-year-old brother and I were on a trip to Orlando to visit Disney World with my grandparents when Adam Walsh was found. I never thought there would be closure to that case. I sincerely hope it helps bring peace to his family.
Where The Wild Things Are Jewish.
A guide to understanding flow charts, in flow chart form.
Who cares where the Southerners are?
It may have cost $8.5 million, but the city now can safely say that the Water Wall near the Galleria is safe from being razed and potentially turned into another high-rise or shopping center.Within the past year, that was far from a certainty. Officials with the Uptown Development Authority and the city had been negotiating to buy the 3-acre plot that houses the 64-foot wall and the surrounding park before it was put on the market last year.
Eventually, the land was acquired along with the Williams Tower by a subsidiary of Hines Interests, one of the Houston-based companies that originally helped develop it. Hines has agreed to sell the wall and park to the city. The deal still requires approval from City Council.
"I'm sure the number of Houstonians and tourists is over a million who have visited the water wall, had dates and picnics and many weddings," Mayor Bill White said. "This is now a landmark of the city and if we waited to make an offer until the land was sold and bulldozers came in, the taxpayers would have to pay an exorbitant amount to preserve it."
We sure we didn't need another strip center? Maybe a nice new Barnes and Nobles to go with it? I hear they're so much better for us than those boring old historic structures.
The city of Fort Worth is taking steps towards installing streetcars.
The task force and city staff recommended hiring a consultant with transit experience to help with the project. The plan recommends starting with a limited system:
- A loop in downtown Fort Worth
- A route along West Seventh Street to the Will Rogers Center and the University of North Texas campus
- A route down South Main Street with a spur to Evans Avenue and Rosedale Street, and a connection to the medical district along Magnolia and Eighth avenues.
The plan has broad support among the City Council -- whose members inspected similar systems in Seattle; Tacoma, Wash.; and Portland, Ore., earlier this year.[...]
Councilman Joel Burns said it's important that the different systems work together.
"It's got to be right outside the door. That's the way you get a nurse who lives in Bedford to ride the TRE, get the streetcar and take it to his or her job at the hospital," he said.
The main advantage to streetcars is that they're relatively cheap - $250 million for the whole thing, about 12 miles of track. Fort Worth already has about 75% of the funding in place for it. They're also quicker and easier to build than light rail tracks, and since they gnerally share a lane of traffic with motor vehicles, there's far fewer right-of-way issues. That's also the biggest drawback, since unlike light rail it's not really adding to the street capacity. If they do supplement buses (as opposed to replacing them) and encourage people who currently could take the commuter rail to work but don't because they can't get around in town otherwise to leave the cars at home, however, that will aid mobility overall. I like that Fort Worth is thinking along these lines, though without knowing more of the specifics I can't say if this particular plan is a good one or not. Any locals care to offer an opinion? Thanks.
Hair Balls has initiated a weekly get-to-know-your-local-bloggers feature, and they started it off by interviewing me. After all these times interviewing other people, it's a little funny to be on the other end of the questions. Thankfully, I made it through without saying anything silly. Check it out and see for yourself.
Here's the full Chron story on Leo Vasquez, who appears to be the favorite to be selected by Commissioners Court as Paul Bettencourt's replacement for Harris County Tax Assessor. Just a couple of points to note. First, since I was curious how the Democrats on Commissioners Court might react to his name:
Democratic Commissioner Sylvia Garcia said Vasquez probably would be the most-qualified person the county has ever had in that position. But she said she will not decide whether to vote for him until she hears more about how he plans to handle some of the challenges facing that office, especially when it comes to voter registration.
Good to hear that. It would be very nice to get a commitment from Vasquez that he plans to run the office like a professional and not a partisan. I hope Commissioner Garcia presses him on that point.
Since the subject of qualifications came up, I'm glad to hear that Vasquez is well-qualified for the office. Let's turn the clock back ten years to see how that matter was handled the last time this office came open.
The local Republican Party nominated its own vice chairman for Harris County tax assessor-collector Monday, rejecting the current officeholder - an African-American who promised to widen the party's appeal - and other contenders.A vote by the party's precinct chairmen gave the nomination to business consultant Paul Bettencourt, who has been the local party vice chairman since May. He promised to modernize the county tax assessor's office and push for tax cuts.
[...]
A few precinct chairmen said Monday night their vote was not against [Willie] Alexander and his campaign outreach idea, but against his installation by the county commissioners before the party awarded the nomination.
"This was a vote against (Commissioner) Steve Radack and his Bill Clinton arrogance toward the Republican Party," precinct chairman and Bettencourt supporter Mike Dugas said.
I point this out because a few people have been pushing the patently silly claim that Democratic candidate Diane Trautman was not qualified to be Tax Assessor. The only factors that mattered in Bettencourt's selection as the Republican nominee in 1998 were his broad popularity among Republican precinct chairs plus a disagreement over Commissioners Court's decision to act before the Republican Party did. Whatever qualifications Bettencourt may have had for the job had nothing to do with it, and since 1998 was a GOP sweep year in Harris County, it wasn't a factor in the general election either. Funny how these things work, isn't it?
Harris County Republican Party Chairman Jared Woodfill said selecting Vasquez would show the commissioners are "serious about growing the party in the Hispanic community."
Like I said, some things never change. If Vasquez is who we're going to get, then I wish him well at the job. We'll see how it goes on Tuesday.
Stephanie Goodman, a spokeswoman for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, said more than half of the 72,000 children statewide who did not re-enroll in Medicaid are from the Houston and Beaumont areas -- both hit by Hurricane Ike."We expect to see some swings in enrollment, but this was bigger than normal," Goodman said. "Seeing a higher percentage from one area also raised warning signs that we need to stop and take a look at this."
Children will have coverage through the end of the year as agency workers call families to find out why they did not submit applications.
"In the aftermath of Hurricane Ike and a worsening economy, it is critical that safety net programs are operating as efficiently as possible so that struggling families can get the help that they need," said Barbara Best of the Houston-based Children's Defense Fund Texas office.
[...]
Goodman said many families did not return application renewal forms that were mailed to their homes. The agency is trying to determine if mail and other disruptions caused by the hurricane prevented families from completing paperwork.
Yeah, that may be a problem. I just want to know, how is it that we're only figuring this out now? Why wasn't someone paying attention from the beginning to Medicaid recipients in the affected areas so that something proactive, like getting them automatically re-enrolled for another six months, could have been done? I mean, I realize that question answers itself, but still. This did not have to happen.
The Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center now has a blog. Here's some of what you can expect from their blogging efforts:
Conversations on how we can work together to save lives
Personal stories from blood recipients and their families
Success stories of blood drive groups and volunteers
An inside view of what it's like to work at The Blood Center
Updates about Commit for Life benefits and promotions
You can also learn about their new Baytown location. The GCRBC is on Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace. Check it out, learn more, and above all, give blood.
Swamplot is doing a bunch of year-end awards, and I think my favorite may be the Best Project Cancellation or Delay, which includes four different projects that I've been following. I think Sonoma, the infamous Hippie Bohemian Attorney project, is the clear choice, but I'm feeling some pity for Archstone Memorial Heights, which is getting skunked so far, and may vote for them just to avoid the shutout. Go check it out and see what might have been this year in Houston real estate.
In honor of the airport karaoke setup, here are ten songs that I have belted out back when I did that sort of thing.
1. "Mack the Knife" - Bobby Darin
2. "What's Your Name?" - Lynyrd Skynyrd
3. "Keep Your Hands To Yourself" - Georgia Satellites
4. "Still Rock 'n' Roll To Me" - Billy Joel
5. "Bad Moon Rising" - Creedence Clearwater Revival
6. "You Can't Hurry Love" - Phil Collins
7. "Summer Loving" - from the "Grease" soundtrack (done as a duet, naturally)
8. "Stop Dragging My Heart Around" - Stevie Nicks and Tom Petty (ditto)
9. "Chattanooga Choo Choo" - Glenn Miller
10. "Na Na Hey Hey Goodbye" - Steam
I sang tenor in the choir in college, but my range is really more baritone-ish. You'd be amazed - or at least, I was amazed when I first discovered this - how many rock songs are done for a guy with a real high tenor range. Which I can do, in falsetto, which needless to say is teh suck when karaoke-ing. (No, you can't sing them down an octave. It just sounds wrong when you do. Trust me on this.) Other than the last song, which was an object lesson for me in knowing which arrangement of a tune the DJ has on hand - I was familiar with the rendition done by the a capella group The Nylons, which is nothing whatsoever like Steam's version - all of these numbers fit my vocal capabilities nicely. If we were travelling this Christmas, I might be tempted to check out the catalog at IAH while we waited. Thankfully for all involved, even if my daughters are too young to be properly embarassed by such paternal antics, we're staying at home.
In yesterday's post about the looming Bettencourt deadline, a commenter noted that the agenda for Harris County Commissioner's Court would be posted this morning for next Tuesday's meeting. Here it is (PDF), but it doesn't tell us much:
Discussion and possible action regarding a replacement for the Tax Assessor-Collector of Harris County for a partial term ending at the completion of the November, 2010 election certification.
So who knows who our appointed tax person will be? I still think we'll have a name floated before the meeting begins as the person to watch for, but the possibility exists that no action will be taken. If you hear any rumors, by all means please let me know.
One other Bettencourt-related item on the to-do list:
Request for approval of a letter of engagement to name Andy Taylor & Associates, P.C., as special counsel to represent Paul Bettencourt in his capacity as Tax Assessor-Collector in connection with a lawsuit in U.S. District Court.
Which means we the people of Harris County will be writing that leech a nice fat six-figure check at some future point. Thanks again, Paulie!
UPDATE: A name gets floated.
Leopoldo Vasquez, a corporate finance professional who serves on the Texas Department of Criminal Justice board, appears to be the leading candidate to replace Paul Bettencourt as Harris County tax assessor-collector.Calling the Yale and Columbia-educated Vasquez "very respected and very intelligent" Commissioner Steve Radack said Friday he planned to nominate Vasquez at Tuesday's meeting.
Neither Radack nor County Judge Ed Emmett officially would confirm his selection because court members are barred from polling one another outside of meetings.
But Emmett said Vasquez is definitely on his short list.
"I would call him a very, very great choice," Emmett said.
I wonder what Sylvia Garcia and El Franco Lee will have to say about it. Thanks to PDiddie for the catch.
The Sunset Advisory Commission agreed Tuesday night to recommend that the Texas Residential Construction Commission be reviewed again in four years, instead of the usual 12.But it said the agency must resolve disputes more quickly and recommended that a recovery fund be established to help compensate homeowners when a builder goes out of business.
The Sunset Commission, a panel of 10 lawmakers and two public members, rejected a staff review that said the agency is ''fundamentally flawed'' and should be abolished. The staff report said the agency is doing more harm than good for homeowners, who must go through the agency's dispute resolution process before they can file lawsuits against builders.
The Legislature, in the session that begins in January, ultimately will decide the future of the agency it created in 2003 at the behest of homebuilders who wanted a process to resolve complaints against their members outside of the legal system.
Sen. Glenn Hegar, a Republican from Katy who is on the Sunset Commission, proposed the streamlined process as a way for homeowners to get to court more quickly.
The Sunset Commission rejected calls from consumer advocates to allow homeowners to bypass the TRCC and go directly to court.
Alex Winslow of the consumer group Texas Watch said compressing the time it takes for the agency to investigate claims is a ''step in the right direction.''
''However, it needs to be coupled with making the process voluntary, so consumers have choices," he said. "For us, that's the bottom line."
Previous entries are here and here; be sure also to read the Observer and John Coby. I stand by the staff review and its declaration that the TRCC is more harmful than beneficial. If it really were good for consumers, they would choose it over going to court. Given that it is compulsory, I cannot accept the claim that the TRCC serves anyone's needs other than the builders who lobbied for its creation. Bad decision, Sunset Committee.
I don't think this will end well.
Convicted last year of intoxication manslaughter for the death of her boyfriend, the 21-year-old daughter of a state district judge is suing the truck driver she ran into during a drunken driving crash.Elizabeth Shelton, the daughter of juvenile judge Pat Shelton, is accusing truck driver Lance Bennett of negligence in the Oct. 23, 2007, wreck that killed her boyfriend Matthew McNiece.
Shelton had a blood alcohol concentration more than three times the legal limit, two tests showed. She was sentenced to eight years' probation and had to serve four months in jail.
Shelton, along with her family and the family of the boyfriend who was killed, are suing for $20,000 for the destruction of the Lexus SUV she was driving and an undetermined amount for mental anguish, pain and suffering.
Sometimes it's just better to put these things behind you and move on. That's all I've got to say.
ACR has the scoop. It's kind of amazing to me that after all this time, there's still a lot of unfinished business surrounding the now-defunct DeLay empire. At what point will we get resolution, and DeLay get what's coming to him, whether it's redemption or a prison sentence? Heck if I know.
Brian Walker, the losing Republican challenger to State Rep. Chuck Hopson in the second closest election of the year in HD11, has filed paperwork for an election contest in the House. From the Quorum Report:
After the recount, Hopson beat Walker by more than 200 votes.In his statement, Walker said, "The petition contains allegations of improper election procedures in Cherokee County that may have compromised the integrity of the election process. According to the Walker Campaign, an election contest is the only opportunity left for East Texas voters to get honest answers to some very troubling questions that were not answered before or during the recount process as well as a few that have arisen since. The allegations in the Petition for Election Contest are based on information provided by third parties to the Walker Campaign, first-hand observations by Walker campaign volunteers on Election Day, and first-hand observations by individuals overseeing the recount process in Cherokee County. The campaign is in the process of investigating each of the allegations individually to determine their level of merit."
At first blush, this would appear to be Speaker politics games. However, law and precedent would have Hopson sworn in on the first day along with his colleagues. The only vote he would not be able to participate in would be on the Walker election contest challenge if it actually made it to the House floor many weeks down the road..
[...]
Attorney Buck Wood said, "With Walker down more than 200 votes they have absolutely no chance on this. I think it was purely defensive because they thought we might seek to contest the Linda Harper-Brown election and I would have if we had pulled ahead after re-considering the de-selected votes. But we didn't."
"I doubt they will even pursue this," Wood said. "It would require proving systematic fraud."
You'd think if that were the case they'd have gotten AG Greg Abbott and his crack staff of vote-fraud-sniffer-outers on the job. Be that as it may, the main point to note is that this will not have an effect on the math for the Speaker's race. At least, assuming the Speaker's race doesn't drag out past the first couple of days or so, it won't.
Vince notes that this is the first election challenge in the House since Talmadge Heflin tried to overturn Rep. Hubert Vo's victory in 2005. I'd add that there were at one point a total of three election challenges in that cycle; the others were by Eric Opiela against Rep. Yvonne Gonzales Toreilles in HD35 and by former Rep. Jack Stick against Rep. Mark Strama in HD50. Stick dropped his challenge shortly thereafter, and Opiela followed suit before it got underway. My suspicion is that Walker's challenge will dissolve before it begins, but you never know. Trail Blazers has more.
Hair Balls brings the news.
Harris County Commissioners Court has to appoint a replacement. The trouble, County Judge Ed Emmett tells Hair Balls, is that there's a deadline fast approaching that has to be met or the entire office may be thrown into chaos.County tax-assessors and collectors have to be bonded, and Bettencourt's bond expires December 31. Whoever the court appoints has to be approved in time to get himself or herself bonded before January 1.
"It's a monumental pain," Emmett says.
"The box we're in is we have to get it filled by the 31st," he says. "We have to have someone with a bond, or the tax office shuts down."
Thanks for all you've done for the taxpayers of Harris County, Paulie! We really freaking appreciate it! Go enjoy that lucrative private sector job now!
Anyway. I recall from earlier coverage that Commissioners Court wanted to get this done by the 23rd, which is to say next Tuesday. I hope they've at least informed the folks on the short list about their status, so that the bonding process can get started as soon as possible.
Still, I wonder. Do we really have to be in this position?
There's no vice-assessor-collector with a bond? "No, although we're still researching all that."
Well, a little research told me the following. From a Chron story dated July 29, 1998, which announced the death of longtime Tax Assessor Carl Smith:
[Commissioners] Court appointed Loretta Wimp, Smith's chief clerk, as temporary tax assessor-collector. Later it will appoint an acting assessor-collector to serve until a replacement is elected in November.
So, um, did Bettencourt not have a chief clerk who can keep the office running in the meantime and in the event that the political appointee to replace Bettencourt runs into an issue with his or her bonding? Just asking.
By the way, this story from two weeks later, in which Commissioners Court did its official appointment of a successor, was amusing to me:
Rejecting pleas from some of Harris County's top Republican leaders, Commissioners Court voted 4-0 Tuesday afternoon to appoint former Houston Oiler and businessman Willie Alexander as the county's tax assessor-collector.County Judge Robert Eckels, who opposed appointing a replacement to Carl S. Smith until the Republican Party could nominate a candidate, abstained by voting "present."
[...]
Alexander's appointment ensures that he will serve at least until January.
But it sets up a difficult and controversial contest between Alexander and businessman Paul Bettencourt, the vice chairman of the Harris County Republican Party, for the GOP nomination in November. Bettencourt appears to be the leading choice among party precinct chairmen, but Alexander now has the advantage of incumbency.
In addition, several observers noted that it could be politically awkward for the party to replace Alexander, a black Republican, when it is trying to reach out to black and other minority voters.
Boy, some things never change, huh? Obviously, Bettencourt ultimately got the nomination, and the rest you know. As for the current mess, I assume the speculation machine will crank up again on Monday, and we'll have a good idea of who will draw the golden ticket.
Evan Smith asks the question that has been on my mind as well.
Anybody else think the entrance of the former Comptroller and the current Houston mayor -- the only two big Democratic brands in a state where "big Democratic brand" is defined super-generously -- into the theoretical race for KBH's Senate seat dooms the Ds to an historically crappy year in 2010? Who's going to run for the top-of-the-ticket statewide offices if not one of these guys? Haven't the Dems just conceded the next governor's race -- and the lite guv's race, and the AG's race, and the Comptroller's race? They may be pining for the relative power and possibility of the 2006 ticket. Ugh.
Well, as I've been telling myself, we're still a full year away from the 2010 filing deadline, so anything can happen. In theory, anyway. Beyond the obvious possibility that John Sharp or Bill White changes his mind and his target, a few other scenarios come to mind. One is that someone like a Paul Hobby recognizes the possibility that KBH's road to the Governor's mansion isn't yet guaranteed and takes the bet that the GOP nominee will once again be Rick Perry. Hey, you never know. Another is that the people who are currently considered to be the Democratic statewide candidates of the future - such as El Gobernador, just to pull a name out of the air - decide that they may as well make the jump to the big leagues now, in the hope that they'll at least expand their fundraising base and name recognition for when their day does come, if it isn't right now. Finally, a self-funding first-time candidate could emerge. I know this will make you think of Tony Sanchez, but I'll float another name for you: Bill White, who was that candidate in Houston in 2003. If nothing else, it'll be much easier for such a candidate to craft a message now than it was in 2002 - "We've had these guys in charge for 16 years, and it's time for a change".
So there's still hope. But Evan's concern is a real one, and the chances that the Dems will get a bunch of no-name, no-resources candidates are far from zero. The question is how bad that will be for the rest of the ticket. The good news there is that Democratic State Reps have done an outstanding job of making the case for themselves, as the Hill Research Consultants poll has shown, aided in part by Tom Craddick and his reign of terror in the House. Dems made gains in 2004 with George Bush at the top of the ticket, and in 2006 when there was no coordinated statewide effort. Most of the seats gained in those years have gone on to become fairly solidly blue, and as such I don't think they would be in much danger even in a year of no heft at the top. Certainly some of the 2008 pickups, most notably Kristi Thibaut, Diana Maldonado, and Robert Miklos, whose districts are trending Democratic but probably not enough to withstand a down-turnout year, would be in great danger. Beyond that, though, there really aren't that many targets for the Republicans to aim at, so the risk of loss is relatively small.
I'd be concerned in this scenario about a backslide in Harris County. I think the needle has moved enough that Democratic judicial candidates are in general no worse than 50-50 to win, but it's probably close enough that a couple thousand votes here or there could be the difference between a near-sweep for and a near-sweep against. I've heard there will be another coordinated campaign in Harris County, though in a year like this it's hard to say what the fundraising and volunteer energies might look like. Perhaps action at the top of the local ticket will drive some of this, or it may be as big a nothingburger as the state slate. The biggest casualty from a bad 2010 is likely to be the Appeals Court candidates, who need to do well in Harris County even as their fortunes improve elsewhere in order to have a shot. That would be a real lost opportunity, especially given how one judge timed her resignation to allow her appointed replacement the chance to run in 2010.
One last thought: Even if the top of the ticket is uninspiring, it's still possible for the Democrats to aim for the bottom of the ticket. The top performers in each of the last few cycles have been judicial candidates, with Sam Houston and Susan Strawn coming within 6 points of victory last month. A strong slate of judicial candidates, especially for the Court of Criminal Appeals, could sneak through some wins, without needing that much money and without being that dependent on the rest of the ticket. Worth keeping in mind, if all else fails. Burka has more.
On a side note, as long as Bill White is running for something, it's good to see him spend time in the Valley. I think he'll get a good reception wherever he goes.
Huge, gaping bags of it, apparently.
An estimated $313 billion will be needed to meet Texas' transportation needs through 2030, a special panel appointed by Transportation Commission Chairwoman Deirdre Delisi said today.The figure takes into account the investment required to maintain pavement and bridges, to keep congestion from getting worse in urban areas and to provide for mobility and safety in rural areas, said Michael Walton, who holds the Ernest H. Cockrell Centennial Chair in Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin.
Walton heads the 12-member committee named by Delisi to come up with the estimate of transportation needs. Among other members are H-E-B executive Ken Allen of San Antonio and Harris County Judge Ed Emmett.
The panel's study did not include revenue sources for meeting the needs.
[...]
A past transportation cost estimate by TxDOT that showed an $86 billion funding gap in highway construction was questioned by the State Auditor's Office, putting a shadow on its claims of accuracy and fueling legislative concerns about the information coming from the agency.
Delisi said the current 2030 Committee had a broader scope and, importantly, was composed of outside business and civic leaders.
"TxDOT didn't produce this number," she said. "This was done by an esteemed panel of experts. That's the most important thing to remember."
Well, you have to admire their gumption in releasing this so soon after their Sunset review, I'll say that much for them. Look, this study may be completely gold-plated, but it still bears TxDOT's imprimatur, and it's very much in TxDOT's interest to tout a need for all kinds of transportation-related money. It would be bizarre if the report they commissioned concluded anything else. I'm sure they had top men on this - I do respect Ed Emmett, for example - but until I see an analysis by someone with no stake in the outcome, this sounds like a big ol' wish list to me.
Info about the 2030 Committee is here, and the draft report can be seen here. Anyone out there attend one of their public meetings?
Why in the name of common sense is Cynthia Dunbar on the State Board of Education when she despises public education so intensely? She is not there to improve public schools but to undermine them, and says as much in a recently published book she wrote.[...]
It's just too much. Anyone with Dunbar's animus toward public schools should never be in charge of them or have an important voice on what is in our students' textbooks. It's a travesty that the state's top officials aren't attacking the problems created by this dysfunctional board and demanding that Dunbar step down.
But we will. Dunbar should resign and leave the governing of this state's public schools to people who use them, serve them, care about them and understand that they are the future of Texas.
Yes, it is a travesty that there has been complete silence from our state's leadership over this. Of course, given the attitudes many of them have towards public schools, it's hardly surprising. I appreciate the Statesman taking a stand on this, but we all know Dunbar isn't going anywhere. If she had the capacity for shame necessary for a resignation, she wouldn't have written her atrocious book in the first place. This is a problem that will need to be solved at the ballot box. I hope that when that time comes, there will be sufficient coverage of the race for Dunbar's SBOE seat, to help remind people of just what's at stake. It would be an even bigger travesty if the cover of darkness that usually surrounds the SBOE works to Dunbar's advantage again.
Oh, and by the way, Dunbar (and for that matter David Bradley) isn't the only nut on the SBOE. Meet Ken Mercer, from San Antonio. There's just no end to these clowns.
Finally, I see that State Rep. Donna Howard (D, Austin) plans to introduce a bill that would make SBOE elections non-partisan, among other reforms. From her press release on the subject, it's clear she has Dunbar in mind. While I can see the merit of this, it's not clear to me that removing the partisan labels will make it easier to vote Dunbar out. I'll want to learn more about this before I consider supporting it.
Sammy Baugh, one of the all-time great football players, has died at the age of 94.
Sammy Baugh, who set numerous passing records with the Washington Redskins in an era when NFL teams were running most every down, died Wednesday night, his son said. Baugh, who was 94 and had numerous health issues, died at Fisher County Hospital in Rotan, David Baugh said.David Baugh said his father had battled Alzheimer's and dementia for several years. He had been ill recently with kidney problems, low blood pressure and double pneumonia.
"It wasn't the same Sam we all knew," his son told The Associated Press. "He just finally wore out."
Sammy Baugh was the last surviving member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's inaugural class.
After starring at TCU, "Slingin' Sammy" Baugh played with the Redskins from 1937 to 1952.
While he was noted for his passing, Baugh was one of the best all-around players of his day. One season he led the league in passing, defensive interceptions and punting. In one game, he threw four touchdown passes and intercepted four passes. He threw six touchdowns in a game -- twice -- and kicked an 85-yard punt.
[...]
Baugh still holds Redskins records for career touchdown passes (187) and completion percentage in a season (70.3). His 31 interceptions on defense are third on the team's career list. He still owns the league mark for single-season punting average (51.4).
Baugh was to the NFL what Babe Ruth was to baseball - a revolutionary player who did things no one else had ever done before, and changed the game forever. To me, his punting record is the most amazing thing about him, though the single season completion percentage is close. Prior to this year, no one had averaged fifty yards per punt over the course of a season. That record may never be broken. Truly, a one-of-a-kind player. Rest in peace, Sammy Baugh. Thanks to Banjo for the heads up.
It probably won't mean much, as I have my doubts the Lege will take up this recommendation, but it's still a shot across the bow from the Sunset Commission.
Describing the Texas Department of Transportation as "a mess" that must be transformed to restore public trust, a legislative panel Tuesday recommended keeping a tight rein on the agency, removing some of its duties and whittling its oversight board from five members to one.
One of those duties that would be removed is vehicle registrations and the like.
Under the recommendation, responsibilities including vehicle titles and registration, motor carrier oversight and auto theft prevention would be moved to a new Texas Department of Motor Vehicles.The motor-vehicle department would be overseen by a seven-member board appointed by the governor to include two auto dealers, a county tax assessor-collector, a motor carrier industry representative, a law enforcement representative who's not a state employee and two members of the public.
Rep. Ruth Jones McClendon, D-San Antonio, who offered the proposal with Rep. Linda Harper-Brown, R-Irving, said the proposal for a new agency had been worked out with all stakeholders including Gov. Rick Perry.
I think this makes sense. Let TxDOT focus on what it actually likes to do, and move this stuff to a different agency. The devil is always in the details, but on the face of it I approve of the concept.
Back to the story:
Under the recommendation, the single commissioner still would be appointed by Gov. Rick Perry.Sunset panel member Rep. Ruth Jones McClendon, D-San Antonio, plans to file her own bill that would allow for the commissioner to be elected.
More details are here. While I wouldn't mind electing the transportation commissioner, I'm wary about reducing TxDOT down from five members to one. I'm not sure that solves anything, and I agree with the criticism that it would eliminate TxDOT's diversity. From the Sunset vote, this likely won't get anywhere in the Senate, so I'm not too worried about this.
The Commission's report is here (PDF). I think if the Lege adopts the recommendation about creating a Department of Motor Vehicles, that would count as a success. What do you think?
UH-Downtown has officially voted to change its name, but its regents haven't decided what that new name ought to be just yet.
UH regents today voted to pursue a new name for the 34-year-old school, with a majority agreeing that too many people confuse the downtown campus with the flagship University of Houston campus less than five miles away.They considered Houston Metropolitan University, but dropped that at the last minute after many people -- including faculty members from UH-Downtown -- opposed it.
Regents said they will choose a proposed name by Jan. 30.
"We need a name that faithfully and appropriately reflects who we are," Akif Uzman, chairman of the department of natural sciences at UH-Downtown, told regents. "Houston Metropolitan University does neither."
In the academic world, "metropolitan" often is used for vocational or technical schools, he said. And it also risks the school being confused with the local transit system, he said.
"It does not carry the gravitas that UH-D deserves," Uzman said.
Houston Metropolitan University was the name I liked. So much for that. Y'all are on your own from here on out. Stace has more.
Here's the full version of the Chron story. It's mostly background and reaction stuff as you'd expect, but this bit is worth mentioning:
[Sen. Kay Bailey] Hutchison, who formed a state campaign committee and put $1 million into it earlier this month, has indicated she will resign from office late next year if she ultimately decides to run for governor. Gov. Rick Perry, who already has said he intends to run for re-election, would appoint a temporary successor to her seat. Voters likely would choose her replacement in a multi-candidate special election in November 2009 or May 2010, depending on when she steps aside.That could eliminate the bruising primary seasons that often focus on party dogma, potentially elevate the importance of fundraising and name recognition and possibly minimize the built-in GOP advantage in Texas. Republicans still carry statewide office by six to eight percentage points, strategists said.
Geography also will play a key role, sources said. Since special elections often feature a gaggle of candidates, anyone with a strong advantage in one area has a greater ability to win enough votes to make a runoff. For White, who was re-elected in 2007 with more than 86 percent of the vote, Harris County could be that base. And because a handful of candidates who have expressed interest in running are from the Dallas-Fort Worth area, the strength of any one of them could be diluted, political operatives said.
Other factors include President-elect Barack Obama's performance during his first year, the turbulent economy, and, in Texas, an unusually long period of political jockeying while candidates across the state position themselves for the special race.
"It's the Wild West out there, and I think that's particularly true in the next few months," said James Henson, who directs the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin. "A lot of the normal rules don't apply. ... It's gonna be nuts."
Vince left an interesting comment on my earlier post. According to correspondence he had with the Secretary of State's office, if Hutchison resigns her seat between January 1, 2010, and the 62nd day before the 2010 primary, then the Republicans and Democrats would get to choose a nominee in the primary, with Libertarians picking one at their convention (as they normally do) and the usual process for filing as an independent applying. There would then be a spot for this election on the November 2010 ballot. That's not much of a window - it'd be something like a week or so - but it is there, so the possibility does exist.
Assuming that strange situation doesn't happen, this would be a standard special election, with however many entrants. (You can add one more as a second Railroad Commissioner, Michael Williams, has announced his candidacy.) A lot of the "normal rules" may not apply, but the one that surely will is that this race will go to a runoff. The big question - really, the only question - to me is how does Bill White - or John Sharp, or State Sen. Letitia Van de Putte, or any other Democrat - win that runoff? Having sufficient amounts of money, strong name ID, and a good showing in the general election mean nothing, as we have just seen. You could persuade me that a June runoff following a May special election might be less unfavorable to a Democrat, but my question remains. What's the plan for the runoff? If it were me, I'd prefer to take my chances in a head-to-head matchup against KBH for Governor (with the happy possibility that either she doesn't run after all or gets beaten by Rick Perry in the primary), with a shot at the special election winner in 2012 in reserve; my 2010 gubernatorial campaign will have given me statewide name ID by then, and I'd feel confident about my chances in a primary. But that's just me, I guess.
UPDATE: Rick Casey floats a sunny scenario:
Assuming no financial disasters hit Houston, White is likely to get into a runoff, and there is an outside chance that it could be with Sharp.That would involve the two of them splitting about 40 percent of the vote while at least four or five major Republicans split 55 percent of the vote, with 5 percent going to various candidates representing "none of the above."
Since I had recently suggested the possibility of an all-Republican runoff, I thought that deserved equal time. I think it's highly unlikely, partly because I expect some more Democrats to jump in, mostly of the Gene Kelly variety, partly because White might get 25% to Sharp's 15, and partly because one of those five Republicans splitting 55% might still get to 20, but I suppose it could happen.
More evidence, as if we needed it, that things are tough all over.
The ailing economy could make it more expensive for Texas school districts and their taxpayers to borrow money as the state has temporarily postponed its school bond guarantee program, which helps lower interest costs for construction projects.About 20 Texas school districts -- none in the Houston area -- are immediately affected. More districts potentially could feel the impact as they consider selling bonds for various school construction programs already approved by voters.
[...]
David Anderson, general counsel for the Texas Education Agency, emphasized that school bonds could be guaranteed again as soon as next month.
Identifying the bond guarantee capacity requires precise calculations to determine the limit on the bond guarantee program, he said. Those limits are based on Internal Revenue Service regulations and are tied to 2.5 times the lesser of cost, or market value of the Permanent School Fund.
The wretched economy has dragged down the value of the Permanent School Fund from a high of $26.6 billion in 2007 to about $17.6 billion today. The number of school districts applying for the bond guarantee combined with diminished value of the fund has temporarily impeded the state's ability to guarantee school bond issuances.
"We're too close for us to be comfortable saying we know that we have capacity," Anderson said.
There's a vicious circle at work here, since things like school bonds and the construction they generate are economic stimulants. Scaling back on this sort of thing is exactly what you don't want to do during hard times. It's totally understandable, given the state of the credit market, but still. I just hope programs like this will be within scope of President-elect Barack Obama's stimulus package so that the school bond election process can continue normally.
News item: Governor Perry is among those pushing to spend more money to bring filmmakers to Texas.
Perry is proposing making $40 million available in the coming two-year state budget to improve incentives for productions in Texas. He plans to throw his support behind a film incentive bill once the Legislature convenes Jan. 13.[...]
In Texas, feature film production spending was $25.6 million for fiscal year 2008, which ended in August, an improvement over the less than $1 million spent in 2007, the governor's office said.
But in 2006 it was nearly $59 million, and in the heyday of 2003-04 spending to make feature films in the state was nearly $95 million and $80 million, respectively.
Hair Balls has more on this. I'm basically agnostic on this question, but I do have two things to note. One is that despite the assertion of the Hair Balls entry, there is an opponent to this proposal. Texans for Public Justice has been shopping an op-ed that comes out against it, a copy of which is in my Inbox. I'm reproducing it beneath the fold for your perusal. Two, any time during this next session that Governor Perry says we don't have enough money to support some other proposed spending, I plan to bring this $40 million item up. As long as it's still viable, it won't be a matter of available funds but of spending priorities. Which, frankly, has always been the case with our Governor. This is just a nice clear example of that.
TPJ: Texas Taxpayers Can't Afford to Make MoviesBy Lauren Reinlie, Texans for Public Justice
Imagine that you've got a big budget to film a documentary epic about contemporary Texas. The script contains inspirational stuff worthy of the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum but also delves into Texas' No. 50 ranking in state spending on infrastructure, parks, healthcare and education. Interviewing people to put a human face on the Lone Star's dark side, the job suddenly becomes uncomfortable. You wonder why you feel responsible for these sick, hungry kids. Then it hits you. Once your film is shot, you will dun Texas taxpayers to pay 5 percent of your production costs. With so many human needs requiring state assistance, what entitles movie producers to cut to the front of the soup line? And why are film lobbyists in Austin demanding an even bigger handout?
Texas lawmakers first authorized subsidies for producers of films, television shows, TV ads and video games in 2007. Texas taxpayers now pay 5 percent of anything that qualifying production projects spend in the state. The Texas Film Commission has approved $10 million in subsidies to date, dedicating 60 percent of these funds to big-ticket feature films and TV programs. Nonetheless, three-fourths of the 160 projects that the state has approved for subsidies are to shoot TV commercials. In fact, more than 50 of the commercials subsidized by Texas taxpayers promote such corporate behemoths as AT&T, Bayer, Hyundai, Sony, Shell and Wal-Mart.
Re-igniting the Land Rush in 2001, Oklahoma was one of the first states to offer film subsidies, which at least 40 states now dole out. Subsidy fans say they create jobs, attract out-of-state investment and boost Texas tourism. But they also say that Texas' two-year-old program already is inadequate, spurring producers to chase bigger bounties in other states. In the legislative session that opens in January, the Texas film industry plans to press lawmakers to triple Texas' subsidies. Yet even if it agrees to pay 15 percent of a film's budget, Texas still won't be competitive. Massachusetts now offers 25 percent subsidies and recession-reeling Michigan pays 42 percent of film budgets.
Significantly, the fattest-subsidy states are experiencing buyer's remorse. Some estimates project that Michigan's record film subsidies may cost $200 million a year. The Massachusetts Revenue Department recently estimated that for every tax dollar given to producers the state recoups no more than 23 cents. Texas cannot afford to compete in the race to give producers the most tax dollars with the fewest safeguards. Rather than woo producers who roam the globe in search of the biggest taxpayer handouts, Texas should invest in social programs that help the millions of Texans who have a greater claim to this state's meager assistance.
(Texans for Public Justice has released an in-depth report on taxpayer film subsidies, which is available at our Watch Your Assets page at www.tpj.org)Reinlie is director of the Watch Your Assets Project at Texans for Public Justice.
Smokey Joe Barton finally introduces a bill I can support.
Rep. Joe Barton, R-Arlington, might have graduated from Texas A&M, but that didn't stop him from announcing a plan to put an end to college football's Bowl Championship Series."I'm introducing legislation today because despite every effort to fix the problems of BCS, college seasons still end in sniping and controversy, rather than clear winners and losers determined on the field," he said Wednesday. "This year, we again have two teams with one loss each playing for the 'championship' while two undefeated teams and four additional teams with only one loss will play in bowl games, but none can become 'champion.'"
[...]
Barton's bill would prohibit the BCS from billing itself as a national championship. Under the bill, any attempt to market the BCS as a championship would be treated as unfair or deceptive trade practices under the Federal Trade Commission Act.
Barton doesn't know what system would replace the BCS, but said the legislation "will prohibit the marketing, promotion, and advertising of a post-season game as a 'national championship' football game, unless it is the result of a playoff system."
Works for me. Remember, what was once called Division IA football is the only NCAA team sport that doesn't decide its champion via some sort of playoff. All other flavors of NCAA football have playoffs, and we all know how popular the basketball and baseball tournaments are. Going to a playoff system won't end all arguments - we do still quibble over "bubble" teams, after all - but it's the only way to ensure that all the teams that have a legitmate claim that they should be playing for the championship get that opportunity to do so. I just don't understand the arguments against this.
Alas. The Democrats had the votes in November, but thanks to the Republican ringer, that wasn't good enough. My sincere thanks to Chris Bell for all he did. He deserved better. Congratulations for Sen.-elect Joan Huffman on her victory. May she be unlike so many of her fellow Republicans and respect the people who voted for her by serving her full term in office.
UPDATE: Here's Bell's statement:
"I entered this race because I truly believe it is vital for us to change the overall direction of our state. Though we came up short tonight, I am very proud of the campaign we have run - a campaign that focused on the issues that matter to the people of Texas and Senate District 17.I traveled across this district and visited with so many of its residents about the concerns they face. It only reinforced my belief that in order to create a brighter future for our kids, we must act now to implement real education and health care reform.
I want to thank all of my supporters and campaign volunteers who worked tirelessly to bring real reform to the Texas Senate. We could not have made it without your time, energy and commitment to this campaign and to the future of Texas."
Bill White for Texas. Just a video file of his announcement and a place to give your email address for updates. I understand a formal announcement is coming tomorrow. So there you have it. Miya and the Chron have the story now. I've got his press release beneath the fold. You know what my preference was, so I'll just note that "billwhitefortexas.com" can be easily re-purposed for a gubernatorial campaign if things change and leave it at that. In the meantime, I'm happy to support White for whatever he wants to run for. Stace has more.
UPDATE: SocNet time - Twitter, Facebook, and a newly-formed Facebook group for Houston-area folks. Get on board!
HOUSTON MAYOR BILL WHITE ANNOUNCES CAMPAIGN FOR U.S. SENATE
Houston Mayor Bill White today announced that he intends to seek election to the U.S. Senate from Texas.
"Working for my neighbors as mayor has been a great honor," said Mayor White. White was re-elected as mayor of the nation's fourth largest city with 91% and 86% of the vote.
"Texas needs a new voice in decisions that will be made in Washington, and my business experience and administrative expertise will ensure utilizing fiscally responsible means to get our economy moving," White added. During White's five years as mayor, Houston added more jobs than any other city in the United States.
"Representing Texans in the Senate will allow me to work for energy policy which is more secure and affordable," said White, who has decades of experience in energy business and policy, including service as U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy.
Under White's leadership, the City of Houston expanded parks, libraries and health clinics, while cutting the property tax rate and raising the property tax exemption for our senior citizens every year. The FBI presented Mayor White with the FBI Director's Community Leadership Award, noting that "Mayor White made public safety one of his highest priorities, as evidenced by Houston's decreasing crime rate."
Mayor White is known for his work in promoting energy efficiency, fighting pollution, and redeveloping blighted neighborhoods.
Mayor White received the prestigious Profile in Courage Award after Hurricane Katrina "in recognition of his political courage in leading a compassionate and effective government response to the disaster."
Before serving as Mayor, White led businesses in the energy, real estate, and engineering and construction industries.
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison has told other senators and many constituents that she does not intend to seek re-election or serve out her current term. Mayor White has filed a campaign treasurer.Mayor White will make a formal announcement tour around the state in early 2009.
Well, this is it. Today is officially the last day of the Election 2008 cycle in Texas as Chris Bell goes up against Joan Huffman for SD17. I caught one of Huffman's ads on the tube last night. It's more than a little precious of someone who's essentially a wholly-owned subsidiary of Texans for Lawsuit Reform to talk about "standing up to the lobby", but there you have it. If you live in SD17 and haven't voted for Bell yet, what are you waiting for? You can find your polling place here. Get out there and bring some friends. This is going to be a low-turnout affair - surely fewer than 40,000 votes, maybe fewer than 35,000, for something the size of a Congressional district. Your vote will never mean as much in SD17 as it will tomorrow. So please go vote for Chris Bell, and let's make it a lucky number 13 in the Senate. Thanks very much.
Oh, and if you're in a partying mood, Team Bell will be gathering tonight starting at 8 PM at Jimmy Wilson's Restaurant, 5161 San Felipe in Houston. Have fun!
The Hill has a story about Houston Mayor Bill White's apparent decision to run for the Senate seat that will presumably be vacated by Kay Bailey Hutchison. By my count, it has three errors in it.
The three-term mayor, who won reelection in 2007 with 86 percent of the vote, gives Democrats a top recruit in the Lone Star State, something the party lacked this year when Sen. John Cornyn (R) won reelection by a wide margin.
They misspelled "gives Democrats a candidate the DSCC is actually willing to support in the Lone Star State".
White's entry into the race comes after a prolonged courting period by both national and state Democrats, who had hoped to coax the mayor to run for either Hutchison's seat or for governor. White's Senate bid gives the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee its first major recruit of the 2010 cycle.
Of course, we don't know that this race will actually be in 2010. It could take place any time between May of 2009 and May of 2011, depending on when KBH decides to tender her resignation. If I had to bet, I'd put my money on May of 2010. This would be part of the 2010 cycle, even if it winds up being a post-2010 election, but the way this is written it sounds like the race will be in November of 2010 like everything else, when that's almost surely not going to be the case.
Though White would begin as an underdog in a state that remains solidly Republican, the open seat and the prospect of a bloody GOP primary give Democrats hope they may be able to snag a Senate seat in advance of the 2010 elections.
Given that this will be a special election, which means everybody into the pool all at once and thus no primary at all, that's a pretty questionable hope. On the plus side, they did at least note the uncertain timing of the race, so maybe I was too harsh on them in the previous paragraph. Overall, though, color me unimpressed with this particular piece of journalism. Miya has more on White's still-unmade decision.
El Paso joins the lawsuit brigade against the border fence.
In asking the court to review a lawsuit previously dismissed by a federal court judge, lawyers for El Paso County contend that U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff overstepped his legal authority when he waived 37 federal laws that could have slowed or blocked construction of fencing along the border.Attorneys for the county also allege that Chertoff violated the 10th Amendment, which grants states the right to enforce laws neither prohibited by nor delegated to the federal government.
Congress authorized the fence to help secure the border and slow illegal immigration, and then gave Chertoff the power to waive the federal laws in 2005.
Previous legal challenges to the waiver authority, which includes a lawsuit by several environmental groups in San Diego, failed to gain traction in courts. The Supreme Court also declined to hear border fence challenges.
El Paso County Attorney Jose Rodriguez said Wednesday he believed the 10th Amendment protects the county and other jurisdictions from Chertoff's action.
"From our point of view, we think that we have made some compelling arguments about why the Supreme Court should take up our case," Rodriguez said. "This case is a much more significant case than (the San Diego) one. That involved fewer laws. It wasn't anywhere near the 37 laws. The secretary also waived any state and local laws that are derived from or related to those statutes."
Okay, I guess I can see the reasoning behind that, but at this point I think the odds are much greater that a lack of desire to push this any further by the Obama Administration and Congress will be what actually stops the fence. Take your shot in court - hey, you never know - but pushing for a change with the new administration seems like the more effective way to go.
No shoes were thrown in the making of this Texas Progressive Alliance weekly roundup post. Click on for the highlights.
BossKitty at TruthHugger is amazed that today's America is repeating the 1930s era of Economic Depression and Prohibition. America's Second Biggest Waste, War on Drugs Prohibition of Medical Marijuana keeps profiteering Big Pharma and the greedy Military Industrial Complex in the money, while hurting legitimate patients. Keeping Medical Cannabis illegal hurts everyone.
Joan Huffman's campaign for Texas Senate reached new lows during early voting last week, notes PDiddie at Brains and Eggs. First she violated election law by holding a campaign rally down the hall from an EV polling location, and then her campaign made smear robocalls to Democrats in the middle of the night. Let's put an end to this kind of politics and elect Chris Bell.
John Coby at Bay Area Houston has the top 10 reasons Paul Bettencourt quit.
jobsanger discusses America's Broken And Bloated Healthcare System, and decides the best solution offered to date is Rep. John Conyers' National Health Insurance Act (HR 676).
Some unsolicited advice for Republicans from CouldBeTrue of South Texas
Chisme.
WCNews at Eye On Williamson discusses the likely federal stimulus and it's implications on infrastructure in Texas, Possible stimulus money for infrastructure creates debate on spending priorities.
This week, Mayor McSleaze at McBlogger takes on Kay Bailey and speculates on who is best positioned to take her on in 2010.
Off the Kuff finishes up his series of precinct analysis posts with a look at CD10.
The Texas Cloverleaf looks at what could have been contained in Rick Perry's suspicious envelope.
Neil at Texas Liberal posted about Houston Mayor Bill White and Harris County Judge Executive Ed Emmett writing in the Houston Chronicle about cuts in emergency care and job reductions at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. These cuts, impacting the uninsured and a small city reeling after a hurricane, are a classic Texas story of kicking the little guy while he is down.
Vince at Capitol Annex notes that sources are denying that State Sen. Leticia Van De Putte (D-San Antonio) will be leaving the Texas Senate for a position in the Obama administration.
WhosPlayin took a look at some of the chemicals used in fracturing gas wells.
From the Inbox:
Texas State Employees Union / CWA Local 6186News Release
Rally to Rebuild and Restore UTMB Galveston
Wednesday, December 17, 4:00 pm
Market St. between 10th and 11th Streets, GalvestonContact: Myko Gedutis, TSEU, 713-661-9030
Dr. David Smith, College of the Mainland, 832-692-2306UTMB employees, community members call on regents to rebuild, restore full services
Galveston, TX- Texas State Employees Union, and the Coalition to Save UTMB will hold a rally and press conference that will call on the UT Board of Regents to rescind their decision to close much of the UTMB hospital in Galveston. Speakers will call for the UTMB hospital to be rebuilt, and for full services to be restored.
The rally message will also be taken to the U. T. Board of Regents at their meeting in Austin on the following day.
Speakers and a full press packet will be available to the press at the rally.
Organizational members of the Coalition to Save UTMB:
Texas State Employees Union
Texas Faculty Association
Mainland Ministers Alliance
Galveston County AFL-CIO Central Labor Council
The TFA is the plaintiff in that lawsuit that was filed against the UT regents over the mass firing of UTMB staff. The point of all this - one point of it, anyway - is to put political pressure on UT and the State of Texas to reverse that decision and come up with the funds to keep UTMB and its associated hospital open and serving the needs of the community. (Another reason is to ensure that the laws regarding open meetings were in fact followed, as they should have been.) The thing to keep in mind is that what's happening in Galveston isn't just affecting Galveston.
With its 11 staff members holding back their tears, the popular Cervical Dysplasia and Cancer Stop Clinic in McAllen closed its doors for the last time on Friday.In the morning, it was business as usual. Dr. Edward Hannigan, a visiting gynecologist from the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) at Galveston, met with 15 women who needed specialist treatment.
Then, at 1 p.m., the front doors closed. But inside there was plenty of activity. Three workmen showed up and loaded medical equipment, computers and patient records into a U-Haul.
"We are all so saddened," said Cecilia Hinojosa, clinical director at the cancer clinic. "We are sad to be losing our jobs but we are primarily saddened for the patients. They received a service here they are not going to find anywhere else in the Rio Grande Valley."
Virginia Alaniz, an RN who has worked at the Cervical Dysplasia and Cancer Stop Clinic for 15 years agreed. "Some of the patients seem lost. They cannot understand why the clinic is closing. It is a great loss," Alaniz said.
Asked if there was anywhere else the patients could go, Alaniz replied: "I have done their case management for 15 years. I know there is nowhere else they can go. We were it."
The Cervical Dysplasia and Cancer Stop Clinic opened in McAllen in 1972. It has primarily served low-income women who do not have health insurance. According to UTMB, the clinic served 4,000 women over the last year. There was the breast cancer screening program, a Cancer Stop Shop where women, if they qualified, could get a pap smear, physical exam and mammogram at virtually no cost. There was a dysplasia service for cervical cancer patients. And there were cancer survivor support group.
No longer. The University of Texas System and UTMB decided to close the cancer clinic as a cost-cutting measure. They blamed Hurricane Ike, which struck Galveston this summer but not the Valley.
Health care in Texas is already substandard for millions of people. Can we afford to let it get worse? That's what this is all about.
The Wall Street Journal reports some bad news for supporters of Net Neutrality.
The celebrated openness of the Internet -- network providers are not supposed to give preferential treatment to any traffic -- is quietly losing powerful defenders.Google Inc. has approached major cable and phone companies that carry Internet traffic with a proposal to create a fast lane for its own content, according to documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. Google has traditionally been one of the loudest advocates of equal network access for all content providers.
[...]
The developments could test Mr. Obama's professed commitment to network neutrality. "The Internet is perhaps the most open network in history, and we have to keep it that way," he told Google employees a year ago at the company's Mountain View, Calif., campus. "I will take a back seat to no one in my commitment to network neutrality."
But Lawrence Lessig, an Internet law professor at Stanford University and an influential proponent of network neutrality, recently shifted gears by saying at a conference that content providers should be able to pay for faster service. Mr. Lessig, who has known President-elect Barack Obama since their days teaching law at the University of Chicago, has been mentioned as a candidate to head the Federal Communications Commission, which regulates the telecommunications industry.
Sounds bad, right? Only problem with the story is that Lawrence Lessig says they totally misrepresented his position.
Missing from the article, however, is the evidence that my view is a "shift" or "soften[ing]" of earlier views. That's because there isn't any such evidence. My view is the view I have always had -- whether or not it is the view of others in this debate.
For that matter, Google is saying the same thing.
Google has offered to "colocate" caching servers within broadband providers' own facilities; this reduces the provider's bandwidth costs since the same video wouldn't have to be transmitted multiple times. We've always said that broadband providers can engage in activities like colocation and caching, so long as they do so on a non-discriminatory basis.All of Google's colocation agreements with ISPs -- which we've done through projects called OpenEdge and Google Global Cache -- are non-exclusive, meaning any other entity could employ similar arrangements. Also, none of them require (or encourage) that Google traffic be treated with higher priority than other traffic. In contrast, if broadband providers were to leverage their unilateral control over consumers' connections and offer colocation or caching services in an anti-competitive fashion, that would threaten the open Internet and the innovation it enables.
Despite the hyperbolic tone and confused claims in Monday's Journal story, I want to be perfectly clear about one thing: Google remains strongly committed to the principle of net neutrality, and we will continue to work with policymakers in the years ahead to keep the Internet free and open.
P.S.: The Journal story also quoted me as characterizing President-elect Obama's net neutrality policies as "much less specific than they were before." For what it's worth, I don't recall making such a comment, and it seems especially odd given that President-elect Obama's supportive stance on network neutrality hasn't changed at all.
Wired goes through the story point by point, and comes up with a pretty good explanation of what this is all about.
Consider the web as we know it: the vast majority of it is text, which doesn't require a tremendous amount of bandwidth. But then there are video and streaming services which do require massive amounts of bandwidth. Without edge caching, the video traffic would, as the joke goes, "clog the tubes" and effectively slow down the web.Defenders of Google's plan argue that the company is doing nothing different that what Akamai does.
But there is a difference. Akamai has no content of its own and therefore it's always in Akamai's best interest to ensure that all its traffic is treated the same. Google, on the other hand, does have its own content and, obviously, it has a vested interest in making that content faster and more accessible than its competitors.
Google caches within an ISP's network could make Picasa twice as fast as Flickr, Orkut faster than Facebook and so on.
Of course, keep in mind that Microsoft, Amazon, Yahoo and others also have various deals with ISPs to speed up their content through edge servers. In fact, Amazon recently launched CloudFront, a pay-as-you-go [Content Delivery Network].
Google hasn't said much about its goals for OpenEdge, but it wouldn't be a stretch to imagine the service will eventually lead to some APIs that create a Google competitor to Amazon's CloudFront service.
So is the WSJ right? Well, while it seems logical to argue that edge caching gives those that use it an unfair fast lane on the web, the reality is that, without edge caching, the whole web might be quite a bit slower.
Well, at least I feel like I understand the issue better now. Hope it helps for you, too.
UPDATE: Firedoglake has more.
I blogged about this earlier, and now there's a Chron story about the controversy surrounding HISD magnet schools and the costs of transporting students to them.
In recent weeks, HISD Superintendent Abelardo Saavedra has proposed limiting busing to magnet schools as a cost-cutting measure, and, behind the scenes, his administration has discussed ending the Vanguard magnet programs for gifted elementary and middle school students.The thought, Saavedra said in an interview, is that the advanced students could attend gifted programs in their neighborhood schools.
Saavedra's ideas have set off a fiery debate about the role of magnet schools three decades after their launch.
The magnets, whose themes range from fine arts to math and science, draw money away from neighborhood schools, and the free bus rides cost the district $16.6 million annually.
That's about $1 million more than the amount spent on the magnet programs themselves.
[...]
About 39,000 students, or 20 percent of those enrolled in HISD, attend magnet schools. And nearly 12,000 of them take advantage of the free transportation.
Saavedra, during a sparsely attended school board workshop last month, presented four options to reduce magnet busing costs, which represent about 1 percent of the district's $1.6 billion budget.
One plan would have eliminated the busing entirely, but trustees immediately killed the idea.
Saavedra's other proposals would end busing for students who live more than 10 miles from their magnet school or set up bus stops closer to the magnet -- meaning parents would have to drive farther.
"I'm concerned for working parents," said Amy Tehauno, who drives her 6-year-old daughter to Lovett Elementary's fine arts magnet. "For those people that have no car, who are single parents, people need access to these programs."
I can see what Saavedra is getting at here. Even if this is a relatively small portion of HISD's overall budget, it is still costly, and is exactly the sort of thing that squeezes things when gas prices spike, as they did earlier this year. I can certainly understand the desire to reduce limit the exposure on this.
But on the other hand, we are talking about a one percent expenditure on nearly 20 percent of the HISD student population. Surely there are better ways to economize than making cuts in one of the district's most successful and popular programs. At the very least, Saavedra needs to make a better case for this, and needs to do more to assure people that what he has in mind really won't adversely impact the students who need this the most.
My concern at this point is that it's not clear to me that any savings that could be achieved by this kind of change would be worth it. In the end, I think Saavedra's statement that it would be better if the students who are being bused long distances to Vanguard and magnet schools had equivalent options closer to their homes makes a lot of sense. Of course, it'll cost a fair amount of money to make that happen. Maybe if we did a better job of funding school districts in the first place, we wouldn't be having this conversation. Nothing new about that, unfortunately.
It's all like a bad dream now.
Texas and Accenture LLP on Friday reached a final agreement on ending a controversial social services deal worth hundreds of millions of dollars.The settlement -- worth more than $100 million to the state -- caps negotiations begun when the two agreed to part ways in March 2007 .
[...]
Under the agreement, [Accenture] will waive $70.9 million in charges for services already provided to the state. Accenture subcontractor Maximus will pay the state $20 million in cash, and Maximus will also provide a $10 million credit toward future services, state officials said.
"We had two primary goals in winding down this contract, and we achieved both of them," said Health and Human Services Executive Commissioner Albert Hawkins . "We successfully transitioned the work to other vendors and back to the state without disrupting services, and we've negotiated a final agreement that protects the interests of taxpayers."
In all, the state has paid Accenture about $243 million , said Hawkins spokeswoman Stephanie Goodman.
You can see the settlement agreement here (PDF). Mighty expensive little experiment, if you ask me. I'd mind it less if I thought we'd learned a lesson from the experience, but it's clear that at least some of us remain untouched.
Kalese Hammonds , a policy analyst at the Texas Public Policy Foundation , which believes in limited government, said the experience "is not a failure of outsourcing" but shows the benefit of being able to hold companies accountable when they don't meet expectations.
Outsourcing cannot fail, it can only be failed, I guess. Must be nice to not have to be concerned about the effect this non-failure of outsourcing had on the people who depended on the service.
Burka suggests that the recent entry into the Speaker Sweepstakes by Rep. Ed Kuempel represents a realistic scenario for Tom Craddick to lose, since everyone likes Kuempel and he doesn't represent a threat to anyone. Hey, any scenario that involves someone else getting elected Speaker is fine by me. I'll still feel more confident about such a possibility when it's one consensus candidate against Craddick instead of a cast of thousands. One thing that occurs to me is that I'm not sure I buy the conventional wisdom that Republicans who vote for a non-Craddick Speaker, who will by necessity be elected with majority-Democratic support, are taking a big risk of a primary backlash. I mean, some of these guys - Geren, Jones, Merritt - have already survived Craddick's best shot to kill them off. Others who were openly opposing Craddick by the end of the 2007 session, like Pitts and Keffer and Byron Cook, had no primary opponents this year. I know the State Republican Executive Committee has come out firmly for Craddick, I'm just wondering how much teeth this threat has. Just a thought.
Breathless reports about people who are in the state's database of registered sex offenders living in residential neighborhoods are a regular and predictable staple of local TV news coverage. The question that doesn't often get asked in these reports is do those guys actually represent a genuine threat to their neighbors? Those who say they're not are trying to do something about it.
This unlikely political force, which dubs itself Texas Voices, vows to fight the state's -- and the nation's -- sweeping registration laws.The group believes community notification laws fail to protect the public, because they don't distinguish dangerous predators from otherwise harmless men and women who foolishly had sex with underage lovers, served their sentences and don't need a lifetime of public scrutiny.
Texas Voices hasn't yet turned anyone away but targets its message at those who committed nonviolent offenses that did not involve young children.
Selling the concept to the public may be difficult, however. Texas law stipulates that minors, defined as anyone younger than 17, cannot legally consent to sex with an adult.
Texas Voices is finding agreement in unusual places.
Ray Allen, the former Texas House Corrections chair who helped shepherd into law tough sex registration bills, said he and his colleagues went too far.
"We cast the net widely to make sure we got all the sex offenders. Now, 15 years on, it turns out that really only a small percentage of people convicted of sex offenses pose a true danger to the public," he said.
Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, the Senate Criminal Justice chair, said, "If we're not careful, we're going to have a sex offender registry that is so large and so encompassing, it's not much good."
Texas Voices members know their chances for success hinge on politicians risking their careers on a population with just about zero political clout.
Yeah, I don't think much of their chances to effect change either. But there's certainly merit in what they're trying to do. Whitmire's statement gets at the heart of the matter. Not all of the crimes that land a person in this database are indicative of a continuing menace to society. Treating them as though they are doesn't serve the needs of law enforcement, and doesn't make anyone safer. It makes a lot of sense to rethink this approach.
Note by the way that advocating this kind of change doesn't equate to approval of the original crimes that landed these people in the offenders database. It's a question of assessing risk, and of recognizing that there's a cost to overestimating those risks. We ought to be able, and willing, to make reassessments when it's called for.
PDiddie reports:
Some Democrats -- I am one -- are getting late-night robo-calls (11:00pm-2:00am) about ethics complaints against an unnamed candidate in the SD-17 runoff. Since this slime is NOT coming from the Chris Bell campaign, it's obviously the latest effort by the usual shadowy group of Republicans who used the same tactic of smear calls and websites on Huffman herself in the general election. The purpose is not to encourage support for Huffman but to simply discourage Democratic voters from going to the polls. The website mentioned in the call, www.texasethicsreport.com, is a poor ripoff of Drudge and is quite visibly shoddy and hastily thrown together. It contains a sham ethics complaint against Bell.
Several people who were at our house last night for Lights in the Heights reported receiving one of those calls as well. It's a crappy and cowardly thing to do - probably illegal, too, though no one will ever suffer any consequences for it, even if the callers are ultimately identified. Just know that if this happens to you or to someone you know that it's being done to Chris Bell, not by him.
Tuesday is Runoff Day for this race. Here's how the early vote went:
County Total EV % of EV
Harris 6,623 49.61%
Fort Bend 3,101 23.23%
Brazoria 2,006 15.03%
Galveston 676 5.06%
Jefferson 945 7.08%
Total 13,351 100.00%
Here's how those numbers compare to the November results:
County Total votes Vote %
================================
Harris 119,759 53.63%
Fort Bend 62,095 27.83%
Brazoria 21,218 9.50%
Galveston 9,209 4.12%
Jefferson 11,014 4.93%
Total 13351 100.00%
Bell dominated in Jefferson, where he won a clear majority, and Galveston, where he won a near-majority, so the early vote totals in those counties are good news for him. Huffman was the leading vote-getter in Brazoria, so that's good for her. Bell led in Harris and Fort Bend, so he would prefer to have those numbers get up a bit. Whatever the case, you still need to vote for Bell if you live in SD17, and exhort everyone you know who lives there to do so as well. You can also still make a donation or a phone call to help out. If not now, then when?
Nearly seven years of blogging and I still haven't been indicted by Patrick Fitzgerald. Yet.
Swear your way to better health.
Where the ticket-splitters are now.
Let's find a true progressive candidate to win back the Congressional seat that William "Freezer Man" Jefferson finally lost.
Homeless in Austin. Here's Part Two.
Top Ten list of people to unfollow on Twitter.
Four out of five Governors in Illinois have had trouble with the law. We who are in Texas salute y'all. Oh, and Larry Craig is still guilty.
Congratulations to Joe Gordon, the newest member of the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame.
The case of the profane baseball card has finally been solved.
Who are those people that respond to spam? That doesn't actually say, but some research on a botnet shows a possible way to put spammers out of business. We can only hope. Via ZDNet.
Staten Island Historians Piece Together Genealogy Of Wu-Tang Clan. My dad will be thrilled to hear that.
The ten worst predictions for 2008.
Changing the name of the Texas Railroad Commission isn't enough.
Would the 2008 Detroit Lions beat the 1972 Dolphins? This guy thinks so.
Seven gadgets that make you look like a jerk. I use two of them, though not as egregiously as described, so draw your own conclusions. Link via John.
Explaining the decline in Harris County death sentences.
Smoking will soon be illegal in Dallas bars, billiard halls and most other workplaces as the Dallas City Council [Wednesday] afternoon voted 10-5 to expand the city's municipal smoking ordinance.The vote came after a more than four-hour debate on whether to expand Dallas' smoking ordinance, with council members offering 11 separate amendments -- only one passed -- to the main expansion proposal.
The ordinance will allow existing tobacco shops, as well as established cigar and hookah bars, to continue operating unfettered. Cigar and hookah bars must earn 15 percent of their revenue from tobacco or tobacco product sales to be considered such under city law. Outdoor patios also remain exempt from the expanded law.
People or businesses found violating the city's expanded ordinance face a $200 fine.
Sounds awfully similar to Houston's law, and last I checked the world had not come to an end. I believe we'll see another push for a statewide ban in the next legislative session, and with more and more cities adopting their own ordinances, I think there may be the momentum to carry it through this time. Previous entry on this here.
The Texas Lege is going to take another crack at passing a bill to require booster seats in cars for children over the age of 3.
[In November], Texas was singled out by the National Transportation Safety Board as one of seven states lacking a booster seat law.The agency, which investigates transportation accidents, cited a booster seat law as one of the five things it would like states to either adopt or improve in 2009.
"We're urging states to take a number of actions to reduce the number of crashes and the number of deaths and injuries," NTSB Chairman Mark Rosenker said.
Currently, 43 states and the District of Columbia require use of booster seats, although only 21 states and D.C. require them up through age 7. In Texas, only children who are younger than 5 and shorter than 36 inches are required to be secured properly in child-passenger safety seats.
[...]
Without a booster seat, a seat belt can injure a child through choking or causing abdominal injuries during a crash.
The agency recommended that Texas and the other six states -- Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Minnesota, Ohio and South Dakota -- pass laws that provide protection for children over age 3, in the form of a booster seat.
State Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, wrote such a bill in 2007, but it died in the Texas House of Representatives because no action was taken on it before the legislative session ended. She has refiled the bill for the 2009 session.
I can tell you from my daily experience of strapping Olivia into the car that a seat belt wouldn't do her much good if she weren't in a booster seat. Without the booster, the seat belt would come across her neck, which would be dangerous to her if it were needed; more likely, she'd simply lift it over her head, leaving her with only the lap portion of the seat belt, because it was so uncomfortable. With the booster, the seat belt comes across her sternum like it's supposed to. According to the PSAs you hear on 89.7 KACC, she should use the booster seat till she's something like four foot six.
I think this is well-intentioned and a good idea. The fact that there was no opponent to the concept quoted suggests that perhaps it doesn't have any formal opposition. In which case, maybe this time it won't be a victim of inertia, though with all the drama in the House right now, I wouldn't count on that.
UPDATE: Grits has a different view of this.
The Galveston City Council has approved a study of a possible commuter rail line from Galveston to Houston.
The Federal Transportation Administration will use the analysis to decide whether engineering can begin and Congress will use it to decide whether to fund the project and if so, how much of it, said Barry Goodman, whose Goodman Corp. was hired by the city to shepherd the project.If all goes well, engineering could begin this summer and the first train could roll in 2012, Goodman said.
A 14-month study completed by Goodman Corp. last year said the rail line is economical, will reduce air pollution, ease traffic congestion and provide a hurricane evacuation method.
The commuter rail will cost between $380 million and $415 million, reviving passenger service on the 140-year-old Galveston-Houston and Henderson rail corridor that parallels Interstate 45.
The line would carry about 11,480 passengers per day when fully completed and would eventually run from Houston Metro's proposed light rail station at Harrisburg to the Galveston Railroad Museum with connections to the Port of Galveston and the University of Texas Medical Branch.
This was a part of the regional commuter rail proposal that came out over the summer, for which Tory and Christof had some additional suggestions. In addition to the other positive aspects of this plan, it would be a nice little bit of economic stimulus as well. I look forward to seeing the results of the study.
The construction has been going on for awhile at the River Oaks Shopping Center - you can really see the shape of the structure that will eventually be there. Problem is, it's not what property owner Weingarten Realty had gotten permits for, and only now that they've been discovered are they trying to get re-permitted. Swamplot has the scoop.
According to the [Greater Houston Preservation Alliance], Weingarten is now seeking a variance to allow it to keep changes it made to the approved plans for the building -- which have already been built. From a website referred to in a GHPA email:
The restaurant's balcony facing Shepherd encroaches into the mandatory setback, violating Houston City Setback Requirements. Once the City was notified of the encroachment, construction of the encroaching porch was stopped--temporarily. . . . Weingarten Realty has requested that the Planning Commission grant a variance to permit this encroaching porch. Without objections from concerned citizens like you, the City will likely grant the variance request.
Maybe they figured it'd be easier to ask for forgiveness than permission. The website in question is StopShepherdNoise.org, which has a petition and a Facebook group for those who want to know more. I've reproduced the mail they've sent out beneath the fold. There's going to be a hearing on this request for a retroactive variance on December 18, which is to say next Thursday, and they intend to argue against granting it to Weingarten. I don't know how likelt they are to be successful, but I wish them luck in getting Weingarten to act as though the rules did in fact apply to them. If you're interested in learning more or maybe joining in, visit StopShepherdNoise.org and click on to see their message.
Dear Neighbor:Weingarten Realty Investors, who own the River Oaks Shopping Center and demolished the southern half of the center last year in order to replace it with a larger new center, have secretly and significantly altered the design shown last year to the neighbors and the community in order to build an even larger and taller structure that will tower over River Oaks and Shepherd Drive. They have started construction and are trying to finish as quickly as possible, although the construction has been halted due to a violation of city setback ordinances. Weingarten is not only violating the law, they are violating the promises they made to the community to honor the original design, and you can stop them by signing our petition.
In 2007, after loud and protracted public protests, Weingarten specifically promised that the new center "would honor the original curved design, but be two stories tall instead of one." That was the specific promise given to the neighbors, The Greater Houston Preservation Alliance, and The Houston Archaeological and Historical Commission. In early October 2008, however, Weingarten began erecting steel beams to a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT DESIGN. Without the knowledge of any of the parties they had talked to for their support, Weingarten simply changed the design, submitted it to the City for approval, and started construction. No one outside the City Planning Department had any idea of the changes until the steel beams started going up.
Compare the photos for yourself.
The attached images show what the shopping center looked like before it was demolished, and in the configuration Weingarten promised to build, and in the configuration they are actually building.
Take a look at the height of this building, and compare it to what used to be there, and what they promised to build! The building used to be about 17 feet tall. What they promised was about 30 feet tall. What they are building is 50 feet tall. That's FIFTY FEET TALL! And at the top is a bright rim of light going all the way around the top, which Weingarten has said is only there "for aesthetic reasons" - which is to say, to make the building brighter at night. There are also huge backlit letters of the restaurant name on two sides of the building.
But that's not all! If you look at the second floor of the building, you will see an outdoor porch extending over the sidewalk, towards Shepherd Drive. This entire end of the building has been leased for a large two story restaurant and wine bar. According to published articles, this wine bar and balcony will be rented out for private parties, causing noise to spread throughout the adjoining neighborhoods. An outdoor balcony at a wine bar can be a very loud neighbor, especially when bands start playing. Not only was the balcony not in the plans, but it violates City setback ordinances - it is illegal. When the setback violation was reported to the City, they agreed it was illegal and ordered construction to stop, which it has - temporarily. HOWEVER, Weingarten has merely filed for a variance, and set the hearing date for just a few days away, in order to make it difficult for opponents to get the word out or even to find out more about the project.
We need your help! The Planning Commission needs to know that Houstonians care about about historic preservation, visual pollution, and corporate honesty. Visit our website and click to sign our petition so they will know that you agree that the City should not grant variances to let developers violate the law.
And please pass on this link so that others can find out - quickly! The variance hearing is scheduled for December 18, 2008.
Visit StopShepherdNoise.org to learn more about this travesty and to sign a petition to stop it. We have very little time. Your community and especially your neighbors need your help.
Thank you for your help,
Concerned Community Members and Neighbors atStopShepherdNoise.org
Stop Shepherd Noise!
www.StopShepherdNoise.org
Sign the Petition at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/StopShepherdNoise/Join our Facebook Group at http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=39050073023
We have a winner in the Recycle Ike contest.
A team of Rice scientists and students won a city contest Wednesday to devise a new way to recycle tree debris.The winners of Houston's "Recycle Ike" contest accepted $10,000 in prize money, which they plan to use to build a research bioreactor on campus. The team of seven included students, graduate students and professors.
The research bioreactor is a type of kiln to heat biomass from shredded trees to 400-500 degrees Celsius, creating "biochar charcoal" that can be sold for soil enrichment. One byproduct would be methane gas, which could be sold for energy production. The charcoal also could bring in revenue credits if President-Elect Barack Obama institutes a cap-and-trade carbon market, as the Rice team anticipates.
"The city could actually turn a profit by doing something like this," said team member Jeremy Caves, a senior majoring in earth science.
Go Rice!
It's not what I wanted, and it's not what I'd have chosen had he asked me, but it looks like Mayor Bill White has his eyes on a Senate race.
Ending months of speculation about his political future, White plans to announce the plans at an event next week, according to two knowledgeable sources, who would only speak on condition of anonymity.White, a third-term mayor and former state Democratic Party chair, has been discussed for years as a possible gubernatorial candidate, in part because of his appeal as a moderate, popular leader from the state's most-populous city.
White declined to confirm his intentions this evening, saying it would be inappropriate to discuss his political future on the day the city buried a police officer. He said he plans to make an announcement next week.
He also said that it's "possible, but unlikely'' he will change his mind over the weekend.
In considering his future in recent weeks, White said a number of Texans have indicated he should ``try to shape policies that can result in secure and affordable and cleaner forms of energy, both for this community and for the country. That's been a big part of a lot of conversations.''
The mayor joins another moderate Democrat seeking the seat, former Texas Comptroller John Sharp, who announced earlier this week that he plans to get into the race.
Plus a host of Republicans, including (so far) former Secretary of State Roger Williams, current Railroad Commissioner Elizabeth Ames Jones, and State Sen. Florence Shapiro, with more sure to come. I mean, unless the election - whose timing depends on the effective date of KBH's eventual resignation - is specifically in November of 2010, it's essentially a free shot for any sitting office holder. Frankly, I think that's one of the better arguments against jumping into this kind of race - with so much competition, just making it to the runoff will be hard. The 1993 special election that eventually installed KBH featured 24 candidates, including Congressmen Joe Barton (who is mentioned as a possible candidate this time as well) and Jack Fields. It's hard to break through is all I'm saying, and John Sharp is out there already lining up support on the Democratic side for his bid.
Now, it's not that I doubt White's abilities as a campaigner or fundraiser. Quite the contrary, in fact. My fear, however, is that with two strong Democrats in the race among all those Republicans, you might wind up with neither one making the runoff. Nothing is impossible, of course, and we don't even know when - or for that matter, if - KBH's seat will come open before 2012. I'm just saying again, if it were up to me, I'd have pushed a governor's race.
Of course, the argument against that is the likelihood of facing off against KBH, who would be a very tough opponent. She's releasing a poll that shows her with a lead over everyone at this time. Of course, it's two years out, KBH hasn't withstood a sustained attack from Rick Perry or shifted any of her positions to accommodate GOP primary voters, White hasn't had a chance to introduce himself and make his case, etc etc etc. If we learned anything from this Presidential cycle, it should be that early polling means nothing. But if it was intended to scare off challengers and dampen opposition fundraising, it probably succeeded.
So after all that speculation, this seems to be where we've ended up. It's not what I was hoping for, assuming this is the final answer, but it's what we've got. We still need to know when this election will be, and we need to stay focused on a state slate for 2010. I hope there's a lot more to follow this.
I'll say this for the Genius feature - even as I've been critical of it for not being as broad in its scope as I think it should be, it's not always easy to guess what direction it will take when you feed it a song. For example, when I input "Spinning Wheel" by Blood, Sweat & Tears, I expected a blues-oriented list. Apparently, the Genius algorithm was geared more towards an era match than it was towards a genre match, so what I got was this:
As listed
1. "Spinning Wheel" - Blood, Sweat & Tears
2. "It's Too Late" - Carole King
3. "The Air That I Breathe" - The Hollies
4. "Kodachrome" - Paul Simon
5. "Rock and Roll Hoochie Coo" - Rick Derringer
6. "Jesus Is Just Alright" - Doobie Brothers
7. "That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be" - Carly Simon
8. "Casey Jones" - Grateful Dead
9. "Canticle/Scarborough Fair" - Simon and Garfunkel
10. "Morning Has Broken" - Cat Stevens
As played
1. "Spinning Wheel" - Blood, Sweat & Tears
2. "The Air That I Breathe" - The Hollies
3. "Long Distance Runaround" - Yes
4. "Blue Sky" - The Allman Brothers
5. "Goodnight Saigon" - Billy Joel
6. "That's All" - Genesis
7. "That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be" - Carly Simon
8. "Train, Train" - Blackfoot
9. "Sledgehammer" - Peter Gabriel
10. "Kentucky Rain" - Elvis Presley
With a couple of exceptions in the second list, most of these songs would be right at home in the soundtrack of a movie set in 1973 or so. That's not the direction I'd have chosen for matchmaking with a song like "Spinning Wheel", but hey, that's why it's the Genius and I'm not. Happy Friday!
This will surely ruffle a few feathers.
Two prominent Hispanic Democratic officials from Texas harshly criticized an arm of their national party today for skipping over the state when it provided funding muscle for U.S. Senate candidates across the country.State Sens. Mario Gallegos of Houston and Leticia Van de Putte of San Antonio objected to the fact that the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee collected contributions from Texans -- $1.1 million at an event in San Antonio, for instance -- without sending any to the campaign of outgoing state legislator Rick Noriega of Houston.
Noriega lost the Senate race in November to Republican incumbent John Cornyn, who raised $10 million during the campaign to $4 million for Noriega, according to federal records.
The Democratic committee's decision to spend the money outside Texas "is shameful and disgraceful, and we will do everything we can to prevent this disrespect from happening again," the two state senators wrote.
"For the face of the U.S. Senate to represent the true face of America, we must all work together to invest in quality candidates such as Rick Noriega, not take a walk when our candidate is not a member of the millionaires' club," they added.
Noriega, too, is Hispanic, and Gallegos and Van de Putte implied in their letter that ethnicity figured into the national Democratic strategy.
"Rick Noriega has an impeccable pedigree to run in Texas. He is an old-fashioned Democrat -- a family man, a man of faith, a combat-decorated veteran, a legislator, with an Ivy-league education and time spent defending the border," they wrote. "He has a heart for the people, impeccable Democratic credentials and is an awesome retail campaigner. To some who chose to sit on the sidelines in this election, those characteristics were apparently not enough -- he is not wealthy or white. We have always believed Democrats are better than that."
The pair also wrote, "The heat of election night had not cooled before the speculation began about DSCC support for several Anglo candidates in future races. This is not only disrespectful; it's shameful."
The full letter is here (PDF); it's also being discussed at BOR. That $1.1 million fundraiser was organized by Mikal Watts at Sen. Schumer's request on behalf of the DSCC.
There's a lot to be said here, and I think you all know how frustrated I felt this year at the lack of support outside the netroots for Noriega. There's plenty of blame to go around, not just to the DSCC. I think once the Obama campaign decided to focus its resources elsewhere and use the energy and dollars of its Texas supporters in other states, there was little chance that Noriega would get much attention from the state and national establishment. The DNC and its Fifty State Strategy have invested in Texas in recent years, but I think it's safe to say that other states have received a larger dividend. As described in John Spong's Texas Monthly article from awhile back, there were plenty of bigtime Democratic fundraisers in the state who did precious little to help Noriega, especially early on when better initial fundraising numbers would have given him some momentum. And yes, as also described in that article, Noriega himself could have done a lot better on this front. As with all unsuccessful campaigns, there's never just one reason for it.
And not to put too fine a point on it, but every Democrat in Texas who has given to a campaign or campaign committee outside of Texas bears some of the blame, too. What do you think might happen if the next time the DSCC asks for support here they're told "Not until we start getting a fair shake"? It's clear from reading Glen Maxey's account of that $1.1 million fundraiser that there was a belief this was a down payment on an investment in Texas by the national folks. Either that was a lie, or it was wishful thinking based on noncommittal statements. I understand that it's the DSCC's job to win Senate races, not to build state party infrastructure. They've done quite well at that job in recent years, too. It's our job to win races in Texas, and where that comes in conflict with what the DSCC and its brethren want to do, it's up to us to decide what we want to do about that. I hope that message is received as well as the one being delivered to Sens. Menendez, Salazar, et al. Stace has more.
The recount in HD105 is over, and now so is the legal wrangling, at least as far as the outcome of that race is concerned.
State Democrats will not seek a restraining order against Dallas County elections officials over votes they believe should have been counted in the tight state House District 105 race, a Democratic Party attorney said Tuesday. They also will not seek to have the election voided or a new one ordered.The decisions remove courtroom challenges to three-term Republican incumbent Linda Harper-Brown taking her seat when the Legislature convenes next month. Her district covers most of Irving.
[...]
State Democrats, meanwhile, still plan to pursue the lawsuit against Dallas County elections officials over electronic voting machines.
"What we seek is to fix it so everyone's votes count in the future, so the machine can't do what it did this time," said Clay Jenkins, an attorney for Mr. Romano.
He's talking about "emphasis votes" here. You know how I feel about that, so let me just say that whatever the merits of this suit are, it's not a bad idea to clarify the rules and make sure everyone knows what gets counted and what doesn't. I think that's the Legislature's job, but I don't mind them being spurred on by a lawsuit. I also think there's room for improvement and standardization in voting machine interfaces, which ought to help reduce any voter confusion about "emphasis" voting, and if that comes out of this suit, then that will be a good thing.
One last point:
Mr. Jenkins said poll watchers found several instances of "emphasis" or "deselected" votes during a recount in the race last week, but not enough to change the outcome of the race.
As it happens, I just received a spreadsheet from reader Blank, who did a thorough analysis of precinct data in Dallas and Tarrant counties. According to Blank, Barack Obama won HD105 with 52.1% of the vote. Rick Noriega trailed John Cornyn in HD105 by 24 votes, which is to say a margin almost identical to Harper-Brown's lead over Romano. Whatever you think about the whole "emphasis votes" thing, this was definitely a winnable seat. Maybe next time.
Byron Cook. Ed Kuempel. We are getting to a point where it will be easier to list the members of the State House who are not running for Speaker. I just hope they'll all still be on the same team when those with less support start dropping out.
Regardless of the current state of the Speaker's race, I think this experience suggests that explicitly codifying a procedure for removing a Speaker is a good idea. Whoever the Speaker winds up being this session, I hope the House takes it up.
Houston is moving ahead with a plan to replace the light bulbs at all 2,381 of its traffic stops with energy-efficient bulbs that could save more than $4 million a year in electricity costs.City Council approved a $16.4 million contract with Siemens Building Technologies Inc. on Wednesday.
Although the ''light-emitting diode," or LED, traffic signals will cost 16 times more than incandescent bulbs, they last six years longer, city officials said.
''We want to use energy-efficient lighting and make energy-efficient improvement for the same reason that Wal-Mart does, and that is to reduce costs and save money over the long run and to give Houston a competitive advantage," Mayor Bill White said.
The project is one of a handful of "green initiatives" in the works at City Hall, including establishing new energy-reducing building codes, installing solar panels, buying renewable power and hybrid vehicles and vastly stepping up city recycling programs.
We heard about this in October. I'm glad to see it going forward. I hope more such announcements will be coming soon.
Joan Huffman's campaign for state Senate appears to have broken the law against campaigning on property where voting is taking place, Harris County Clerk Beverly Kaufman said today.Republican Huffman, opposing Democrat Chris Bell in next Tuesday's state Senate District 17 runoff, hosted a barbecue luncheon for voters today inside the Tracey Gee Community Center in far west Houston. Early voting in the state Senate election is taking place through Friday in another room in the same building.
Commissioner Steve Radack, a Republican, said he attended the luncheon along with Huffman and urged people to vote for her. She is a former felony court judge.
Under state law, it is a Class C misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of up to $500, to campaign for or against a candidate "within 100 feet of an outside door through which a voter may enter the building in which a polling place is located."
You'd think someone who used to be a judge would know the law better than that. Especially since there are big signs posted everywhere telling you that beyond this line no campaigning may take place. On the other hand, she did have Steve Radack there telling her everything was kosher, and what could possibly go wrong with that? Anyway, there will be a complaint filed. I can hear Pat Lykos grinding her teeth already.
Tomorrow is the last day of early voting. If you have any time at all to spare, please consider doing a little virtual phonebanking to help Chris Bell. If Bell can do it, so can you. Thanks very much.
J. Goodwille Pierre, who lost his Harris County judicial race by 230 votes, has filed a lawsuit claiming that improperly rejected voter registrations and provisional ballots cost him that election.
[H]is lawsuit focuses instead on Harris County voting controversies being aired in a separate federal lawsuit brought against the county by the Texas Democratic Party.Both suits now allege that outgoing Tax Assessor-Collector Paul Bettencourt, a Republican who also serves as voter registrar, rejected legitimate voter registration applications.
Pierre's lawsuit also cites a non-partisan ballots board's rejection of about 5,800 ballots cast by voters who, according to records from Bettencourt's office and other agencies, had not been properly registered. The ballot board chairman said some of the ballots, after being processed by Bettencourt's staff, had information obscured by correction fluid.
"Had all persons who cast a vote in this race been allowed to have their vote counted; it would have changed the outcome of the election by providing Pierre with more votes than Joseph "Tad" Halbach," the suit said. "Moreover, various irregularities make it impossible to ascertain the true outcome of the election."
The case number is 200872747 - you can go here and search on that number to find the details of the suit. There were no associated documents when I looked, so there's not much to see right now. Somewhat ironically, the judge assigned to this case is Patricia Kerrigan in the 190th Civil Court; next to Halbach and his 230-vote margin, Kerrigan had the closest win among the incumbents, beating Andres Pereira by 2,440 votes. I have no idea how likely this suit is to be successful, but it's another arrow being aimed at Paul Bettencourt. Maybe he really did get while the getting was good.
On that note, the Lone Star Project takes a look at the Bettencourt business:
Less than six weeks after asking Harris County voters for another four-year term as Tax Assessor Collector, Republican Paul Bettencourt is bailing out on them - perhaps to avoid answering legal questions about pending litigation charging him with illegal partisan activity. Bettencourt's resignation comes just one day after a federal court was asked to schedule a deposition to require him to testify under oath about his involvement in alleged partisan efforts to avoid counting thousands of provisional ballots cast during the November General Election.In a press statement made very late Friday, December 5th, Bettencourt made no mention of the pending legal complaint, but instead said he was leaving office to accept a lucrative offer from the private sector. (Houston Chronicle, December 6, 2008) He refused, however, to identify his new employer and failed to comment on the terms of the offer, stating that providing the name of his new employer would violate conflict of interest statutes.
Using some very "creative" logic, Bettencourt rationalized that identifying his new employer now would create a conflict of interest, but that it was okay to meet with and negotiate an employment agreement with the employer while he was a county officeholder in the midst of an election campaign. Bettencourt's backroom deal deserves even more scrutiny after ABC13's Miya Shay speculated that Bettencourt will, "be fighting people's property tax hikes for a fee." ( ABC13 Political Blog )
Miya didn't so much speculate as write that "those in the know" say he'll be doing that. Maybe that's just speculation once removed, and maybe "those in the know" really do know something. It is kind of weird that Bettencourt won't say who he's going to be working for - as the LSP goes on to ask, if that constitutes a potential conflict of interest, then wouldn't the discussions he was having with this mystery firm, back when he still was the Tax Assessor, also a conflict of interest? And, something I'm unclear on, if he's resigned why does he have to stick around until a successor is named? Surely the office can run itself for a couple of weeks without him - I'm sure he's taken a vacation or two in his tenure, and there must be a contingency for situations where the Tax Assessor dies or is otherwise unable to serve. So why not just let him walk so we can finally find out who his new boss is? I don't get it.
Falling snowflakes glimmered in streetlights, so wide that they billowed to the ground like parachutes, and so tantalizing that even awestruck adults reached out their hands or stuck out their tongues to catch one.By Wednesday evening, the flakes were big enough to hold their shape for a moment on the street before melting into the pavement, and a dusting had collected on parked cars in some parts of town.
The flurries tied a record for Houston's earliest snowfall ever and warmed the hearts of winter weather lovers who have pined for snow since it last made an appearance on Christmas Eve 2004.
"I've got a pot roast in the Crock-Pot, and I'm going to go home, change into my warmest pajamas and eat pot roast and enjoy what may be the only real winter day we have all year," said Tina Arnold, an Illinois native who took advantage of the wintry backdrop to pick up Christmas presents Wednesday at The Woodlands Mall.
Since 1895, records indicate, snow has fallen this early just once -- on Dec. 10, 1944.
And now it's happened twice, though if you didn't see it last night you probably missed it altogether. In that spirit, here's a couple of views from my back yard, plus a picture from the last time it had snowed in Houston. Click on to see the images.
There was still a little ice on the windshield this morning. Took a few minutes for the heat of the car to allow the wipers to clear it off.
Tiffany said to me last night "I sure wish I'd covered the tomatoes and basil." Alas.
Our little Tigger Christmas ornament was more festive than usual.
And a blast from the past - Christmas of 2004, to be exact:
Olivia wanted to know where the snow was this morning. Sorry, kiddo, that's the way it is around here.
In addition to the possible HGLBT endorsement backlash effect, another thing I talked about before the election that I said I'd look at again afterward was the Libertarian effect on the State House. You may recall that an emissary for Tom Craddick spoke to a couple of Libertarian Party candidates to encourage them to drop out of their State House races, on the theory that this would give the GOP better odds of winning those races and thus maintaining Craddick's stranglehold on power. How did that play out in practice?
Well, as noted before, between 2000 and 2004, there were a grand total of 24 LP candidates in State House races that had both major parties. Those 24 candidates averaged 2.68% of the vote. In 2006, there was a huge jump, to 46 Lib candidates in three-way races, and they collected 3.56% per race. This year, there were 44 such candidates, and by my calculation their mean level of support was 2.75%. In other words, back to historic norms, and evidence for my suspicion that Democrats would do a better job of converting anti-R votes into actual Democratic votes.
(Further evidence: In the seven statewide campaigns this year excluding the Presidential race that were three-ways, the Libertarians got 3.01%. In 2006, in eight races with a Lib - not counting the Governor's race where there were other more viable options for a nonstandard vote - the Libs took 3.62%.)
In 2006, there were six House candidates who won with less than a majority of the vote. This year, despite the near-equal number of Libs running, there were only two such races. They are:
State Representative District 11Brian K. Walker REP 13,928 48.78% 25,928 49.07%
Chuck Hopson DEM 14,191 49.71% 26,030 49.27%
Paul Bryan LIB 428 1.49% 872 1.65%
That was the second-closest race overall, with only the weird HD105 contest in Dallas being narrower. It would be easy to say that the Libertarian candidate helped incumbent Rep. Chuck Hopson escape with his razor-thin win here. For what it's worth, I think Libs tend to hurt incumbent Republicans and Republican candidates in open seat races, but I think that effect is minimized in races with incumbent Democrats. I just think that if you're casting a "protest" votes, that protest is aimed at the party in power more than the challenging party. I could be wrong about this - it's just a hunch, I have no data to back this up - but that's how I see it.
Of course, in any race with a Libertarian, that Libertarian is going to get some votes on his own merits. In Harris County, 4017 people, or about 161 per State House district, cast straight-party Libertarian ballots. 6783 people voted for the Bob Barr/Wayne Root Presidential ticket; if you assume those folks who weren't straight-party voters nonethless pushed the L button when that was an option, that's 271 votes per district. Point being, some of the people who voted for Paul Bryan in HD10 would have always voted for him, and if there had been no Libertarian option, some of them would have skipped the race. As close as this one was, Hopson might have won it regardless of Bryan's presence.
The other House race:
State Representative District 52Bryan Daniel REP 23,110 46.43% 33,821 47.42%
Diana Maldonado DEM 24,993 50.21% 34,668 48.61%
Lillian Simmons LIB 1,670 3.35% 2,825 3.96%
That's a result more like what we saw in some key races in 2006, and it's much easier to see the L vote here in this formerly-Republican held seat as a non-vote for Bryan Daniel. Maldonado would have needed about 35% of Lillian Simmons' total to break 50%. I think she'd have been a favorite regardless, but it certainly didn't hurt her to have Simmons in the race.
As it happens, there was one more race that featured a Libertarian candidate and a non-majority winner:
State Senator, District 10Kim Brimer REP 102,185 46.58% 140,613 47.54%
Wendy R. Davis DEM 112,504 51.29% 147,561 49.89%
Richard Cross LIB 4,656 2.12% 7,584 2.56%
As it only would have required Davis to take 319 of Cross' votes to move over 50%, I think it's safe to say she had this won under any scenario. I present it here in the interest of completeness.
Finally, what about the three races in which the GOP tried to get the Libertarian candidate to drop out? They succeeded in HD47, where first-term Rep. Valinda Bolton wound up winning by a 2000 vote margin, 51.2% to 48.8%. The two races where they tried and failed were HDs 09, where Republican incumbent Wayne Christian cruised to re-election by a 62.7-35.4 margin, and 64, where Rep. Myra Crownover won 56.0 to 38.7. In the latter case, the Libertarian candidate got over 5% of the vote, which I'd probably chalk up to Republican dissatisfaction. Hopefully some day those votes will be pro-Dem and not just anti-GOP.
Reading this story about concerns over motorcycle safety rang a bell for me.
The rash of serious motorcycle accidents in Deer Park reflects a nationwide trend.It prompted the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Deer Park police and Harris County Assistant District Attorney Brent Mayr to call Tuesday for a multi-pronged effort to reduce the number of motorcycle crashes and fatalities.
[...]
Deer Park police Lt. Bryan Magee said lobbyists for his department and others will press state lawmakers in the upcoming session to require motorcyclists to wear helmets and take a safety and training course.
I just have one question: Has anyone told Sputnik about this?
The most effective lobbyist in the Capitol this year is a guy who drives a Suzuki because Harleys aren't tough enough, he says, and who got his nickname from a Russian spacecraft that scared the heck out of the entire Western world.He also sports a Mohawk hairstyle and five earrings.
But if Bill "Sputnik" Strain's appearance and background once gave state lawmakers pause, the 58-year-old biker today is regarded as one of the most effective lobbyists (he prefers the term "activist") this session.
His priority - a repeal of the motorcycle helmet law for adults - has passed the Senate and has a good shot at passing the House when it comes up for debate this week.
That 1997 law, which did indeed pass out of the House and was signed into law by then-Gov. George W. Bush, repealed a 1989 law that required motorcycle riders to wear helmets. And here we are about to head into 2009 with this effort to repeal the repeal. There's a metaphor in there somewhere, I'm just not quite sure what it is.
By the way, for those of you who've been reading the Chron for a few years, here's a little trip down Memory Lane for you.
So, you think Houston has expensive parking meters downtown? It could be worse.
If you plan to park at a meter anywhere in Chicago, get ready to carry plenty of change: rates will likely quadruple next month for most spots in the city.At most meters, where a single quarter now buys 60 minutes, the charge will spike to $1 per hour. And by 2013, it will cost $2 an hour to park at those same spaces.
The most expensive spots downtown will increase from $3 an hour to $6.50 the next five years under a lease deal Mayor Richard Daley announced Tuesday.
Despite the rate hikes, Daley hailed the parking meter plan as an innovative approach to surviving the city's deepening budget woes. A private company has agreed to give City Hall an upfront payment of almost $1.2 billion to run Chicago's parking meter system for the next 75 years.
Privatization, baby! Whatever else you may think of this, I'll bet it encourages more people to take mass transit. Subsidies come in many different forms, don't they? Add yes, there are good public policy reasons to charge market-based parking rates, as Yglesias notes. Link via Kevin Drum.
Vince does an overview of the jockeying for Kay Bailey Hutchison's eventually-to-be-open Senate seat, and in the midst of a thorough job makes a curious statement:
As for Democrats, John Sharp is, as we previously noted, a sure thing. Sharp has previously held statewide office, most recently as Texas Comptroller. He will have the cash, institutional support, and grassroots support to make the run. Plus, although more progressive than potential opponents like White, he has bi-partisan appeal which is necessary at this juncture to win in Texas--especially since a statewide victory will require inroads in conservative East and West Texas in order to boost expectedly blue numbers from the state's major urban metros.As for the rest, none, aside from White, are particularly well-known statewide as Texas Democrats' bench remains sparse since the party has been out of power statewide since the 1990s and hasn't controlled either chamber of the legislature since 2003.
Houston Mayor Bill White seems to be toying with the idea of running for Hutchison's seat, although he could decide to seek the governorship--something that people view as more likely. If there is a 2009 special election, White may throw his hat into the ring if for no other reason than to raise his name idea for a run for the governorship. It seems very doubtful, however, that White would beat Sharp in a Democratic Primary race if the resignation was timed to trigger one. And, in a special election free-for-all, he would only pull votes from Sharp. Although Sharp is by no means a liberal Democrat, he is more progressive than White. And, there are some things--like White's close relationship with a former Enron executive--that are causing some Texas Democrats concern.
I have no idea where the notion that the pro-life Sharp is more progressive than White comes from. I do recall, however, that being pro-life was considered by many to be a negative for Mikal Watts when he was looking at a Senate run. Be that as it may and with all due respect to Vince, someone is going to have to show me a detailed list of positions on which Sharp and White differ to get me to believe that Sharp is the more progressive of the two.
Now having said that, if Sharp wants to run as the more progressive option, then by all means please do so. If we're going to have more than one Democrat run for that seat - and for what it's worth I'm still rooting for White to run for Governor - I'd love for the debate to be held on that turf. I'll be more than happy to give Sharp a full hearing regardless, but he doesn't start out being associated with the word "progressive" to me.
As for Sharp's money-raising abilities, I'll just note that Burka has his doubts about that, and that I feel confident Bill White will more than hold his own in that department. Given Sharp's early announcement, we'll start getting progress reports on his success soon enough. There's more discussion of Sharp's announcement and candidacy at BOR, where his work on the business margins tax comes in for some criticism.
On the other side of the aisle, former Secretary of State Roger Williams is set to announce his own exploratory committee for Senate any day now. If he does enter, Williams would be the candidate with the best hair by a large margin. He'd also likely raise a bunch of money. Expect Sharp and Williams to have more company in this race soon.
UPDATE: Apparently, Sharp has his own fortune now, and is prepared to spend a chunk of it on the Senate race. That changes the calculus somewhat, but not the fact that Bill White (also a pretty wealthy guy) will be a formidable fundraiser.
We need to get a replacement for Paul Bettencourt soon, if only to stop the wild speculation about who that replacement might be.
The most intriguing scenario mentioned so far involves the possible nomination of Commissioner Sylvia Garcia, who would give up her seat to position herself to challenge County Judge Ed Emmett in 2010 or to run for a statewide office.Picking Garcia would give a Democrat control of the voter registration process, something that party has got to want. But Emmett would get to pick her replacement, likely giving the GOP a fourth seat at the table.
Garcia said the rumor is "absolutely not true."
It also doesn't make much sense, given that Garcia already has a better job than County Judge. If she wants to run statewide (this is the first I've heard of that, but it's at least a reasonable supposition), she's already in good shape, both in terms of her existing base and her fundraising capability. I have no idea who came up with that, but it's just too weird.
The swap would probably backfire on the Democrats anyway. The new Republican supermajority could just move the voter registration duties from the tax office to the County Clerk's office, headed by Republican Beverly Kaufman.
I'm agnostic on this question. The issues with voter registration had more to do with Bettencourt than with the office of tax assessor, in my opinion. If Harris were unique in having that power lie within the tax assessor's office, I'd support the move, but it's not. I don't necessarily oppose this, but I don't see the point, either.
That idea, apart from any Garcia chatter, is already being circulated by Jim Harding, a Republican who chairs the county's bipartisan ballot board.Last month, he blamed faulty work by Bettencourt's staff for delaying the counting process. Harding's comments triggered a bit of a brouhaha after Bettencourt left an emotional message on his answering machine.
There was also a lawsuit filed by the state Democratc Party, alleging that Bettencourt had been illegally rejecting voter registration applications. The TDP held a press conference today to say that Bettencourt's departure is not deterring them in that pursuit.
"Mr. Bettencourt's late-night resignation announcement is his attempt to avoid bringing to light the inner workings of his office over the past several years and still does not ensure that the problems surrounding Harris County voter registration will be resolved," the state party said today in a statement distributed by Houston lawyer Chad Dunn.Republican Bettencourt, the tax assessor-collector, said it was ridiculous to suggest he and his staff purposely foiled voter registrations or that his resignation was triggered by the lawsuit, which the party filed last month.
[...]
Dunn, the Democrats' lawyer, said the lawsuit was expanded to, among other things, include as plaintiffs four people whose voter registration applications were stymied by what the party calls the county's "unlawful and hyper-technical voters registration activities." The lawsuit alleges Bettencourt's staff has disenfranchised voters by using unwarranted technical reasons for rejecting their registration applications.
Bettencourt said the four were rejected for routine, justifiable reasons involving their paperwork, and that the registration system in the county works well.
"You are going to have mistakes made," he said. "What you do is fix them."
The bi-partisan ballot board that decided whether to accept provisional ballots cast by voters whose names were missing from the Nov. 4 rolls accepted some that Bettencourt's staff had classified as incomplete. His staff was unable to get thousands of registrations onto the rolls before the start of early voting.
Bettencourt apparently still will have to give pre-trial testimony in the lawsuit after this month and will be represented by the new county attorney, Democrat Vince Ryan.
Boy, what I wouldn't give to be a fly on the wall for their first lawyer-client meeting. I'd say all this is probably more saber-rattling than anything else, but it should be noted that Paul Burka had speculated that this lawsuit was a reason for Bettencourt's departure. I still disagree with his reasoning on that, but maybe he's right after all.
Are you in Austin wishing you could be in Houston to help Chris Bell?, Well, your wish has come true.
The Travis County Democratic Party and Education Austin are proud to help Congressman Chris Bell by providing a blockwalking bus from Austin to Houston this Saturday December 13.The free Bus trip leaves at 6:15am at AFL-CIO at 11th and Lavaca this Saturday December 13. Breakfast, coffee and a movie will be provided on the bus. Once in Chris Bell's district outside of Houston, we will meet with Congressman Bell and then blockwalk his district. We'll return to Austin by 7pm, enjoying dinner on the way back. Chris Bell's victory in the Texas Senate will help our fight for issues that matter to us--public schools, choice, clean air and clean water, and even the simple right to vote in Texas.
Call 477-7500 to reserve your spot on the bus today. Or click here to give us your phone and email and we'll follow up with you.
We promise, the weather here will be much better than what you're seeing in Austin today. No sleet or snow!
Meanwhile, here's an update on the money race:
TLR founder Richard Weekley and brother David Weekley each gave Huffman, a former judge, at least $100,000, as did Houston Texans owner Bob McNair. TLR supporter Bob Perry, of Perry Homes, and his wife, Doylene, gave Huffman a total of $125,000.Bell, a lawyer-lobbyist, has received at least $260,000 from Texans For Insurance Reform, which largely is funded by plaintiffs' lawyers who oppose tort reform. Bell also recently got $100,000 from lawyer Mikal Watts.
Democratic U.S. Reps. Sheila Jackson Lee, Gene Green, Al Green, Nick Lampson and Ciro Rodriguez each moved $4,000 or more to Bell's campaign treasury from theirs.
Both candidates are on the air, but as Huffman has more money, she can do more of that. Your effort is at least as important as your dollars, but your dollars sure do help, too.
In case you missed it, here's the transcript from that live chat the Chron did with Bell and Huffman yesterday. Kudos to them for doing this, it's a great idea. May we see more of it next year for the Houston municipal elections.
Finally, here's a little holiday-themed message for the runoff:
Early voting has two more days to go, with hours extended from 7 to 7. If you haven't voted yet, please make sure you do so. Thanks very much.
TxDOT to Congress: Stimulate me, baby!
Texas transportation officials have sent the state's congressional delegation a $6.2 billion list of ready-to-go road projects on the chance a stimulus package is approved, including nearly $677 million for the Houston area.Critics, however, are questioning whether the list, which is heavy on routine maintenance, would be the best use of an infusion of money, while experts debate how much government should do.
"What I want us to do is ... not act like we're getting a big ol' Christmas gift where the only issue is the money. We need to be sure we're going to spend any money well," said Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee vice-chairman.
Watson said officials should examine each proposed project to see what sort of economic benefit it would bring, whether the project is sustainable and how federal money could be leveraged. He said the Texas Department of Transportation's list includes older projects, some of which "may be old for a reason."
Projects in the Houston district, which includes Harris and nearby counties, range from road repairs to installation of new traffic signals to landscape development to adding lanes to some stretches of road.
You can read the list of ready-to-go projects here (PDF). I'm with Sen. Watson: While these are the sorts of project you generally want to be doing as economic stimuli, there's still the wee matter of TxDOT's ability to keep track of its money. A little oversight couldn't hurt is all I'm saying.
I've speculated that there won't be much Congressional action in Harris County in 2010. Certainly, CD22 is unlikely to be seriously challenged, and I doubt anyone will have the stomach or the wallet to make like Michael Skelly in CD07, even though he did move the ball forward a considerable amount there. Where I hope to be wrong in this prognostication is in CD10, and I hope that in being wrong, the focus of that district is right here in Harris County. I'm going to try to make a case for that in this post.
To see why this is, let's take a look at where the vote is in CD10. Here's the relative share of the vote from Travis and Harris for the history of this version of CD10.
Year Total votes Harris Pct Travis Pct
================================================
2004 286,376 113,873 39.8 116,698 40.7
2006 169,127 63,665 37.6 69,927 41.3
2008 323,212 141,970 43.9 122,418 37.9
2010* 190,881 79,374 41.6 73,355 38.4
I'm projecting 2010 based on the assumption that its ratio to the 2008 vote totals will be the same as 2006's was to 2004. The point to note here is that Harris is now the biggest component of this district. That would be very bad news if the Harris portion of the district was as red as it was in 2004; it was the thought of that bright crimson patch of real estate that scared every potential Democratic challenger away in that first year of this district's existence. But things don't always go as planned. Here's how Democratic performance has been since then:
High D Harris Pct Diff Travis Pct Diff
==================================================
2004 27,049 24.9 -54,657 68,163 61.4 25,242
2006 18,389 29.3 -22,451 42,845 62.7 17,366
2008* 52,481 36.4 -39,285 77,201 63.1 31,984
2010** 31,750 40.0 -15,874 46,947 64.0 20,539
"High D" represents the top Democratic performer for each part of the district; all numbers are for two-party totals only. For 2004, that was Kathy Stone in Harris and Margaret Cooper in Travis. (Charlie Baird actually had a higher vote total, but Cooper had the bigger differential.) For 2006 it was Bill Moody in each; I daresay Jim Sharp did a point or so better in Harris, but I've somehow lost his numbers, so Moody will have to do. And for 2008, it was Adrian Garcia (using the draft canvass) in Harris, and I've got Larry Joe Doherty's numbers for Travis since I don't have precinct data there, but he's likely to be near if not at the top. 2010 is again a projection, using the estimated turnout from before, and my own vote targets. I think if a Democratic candidate can meet those targets, he or she can get to 50% plus one.
The key, as I see it, is Harris. Garcia set a pretty high bar, and you can argue that his circumstances were unique, but the point is that even without trying, Democrats improved significantly over 2004. Doherty got a smidge less than 31%, and Kathy Stone garnered 32%. All of this was done without much - if there was anything - in the way of a ground game. Basically, the district covers HDs 126, 130, 132, 150, and two strongly Republican precincts in 149 - in other words, two uncontested State Rep districts, and two that may as well have been. I don't think it's unreasonable to think that performance could have been improved had there been a concerted effort in that area.
Note, by the way, that I don't intend this as a knock on the coordinated campaign for the HCDP, or on Doherty's campaign, which focused more on Travis on the perfectly reasonable grounds that Travis had seen the greater share of the vote in previous elections. I hadn't realized the change in proportions until I started doing this analysis. The Democratic message did get out there in that part of Harris, and it was received by a bunch of those mostly new voters. Look at it this way: There were about 28,000 more votes cast in 2008 than in 2004, and 25,000 of them went to Adrian Garcia. Doherty's total in Harris of 43,624 still represents a 16,600 vote gain over Stone from 2004, which is plenty more than half the new vote total. None of that happened by accident. As I said before, I see Garcia's totals as what's possible, and what can be built on going forward. Perhaps it's a lofty goal, but I don't see it as unattainable. For sure, we'll never know unless we try.
My prescription, then, for someone who might want to take a crack at this, is to focus most of the energy on Harris. Start now by beating the bushes to find candidates for the four State House districts, with 126 and 132 being the top priorities. Prepare to spend some time in the smaller counties, especially Austin, Washington, and Waller; the first two should see a bigger drop in GOP turnout in the off year, and the latter has a chance of going blue for you. Even in the rosy scenario I've painted above, you could still lose the race by getting creamed in the smaller counties, so don't overlook them. Hope to ride some coattails in Travis unless you've really got a big budget. Put it all together, and I think you have a fighting chance. And if you fall short, well, you'll be in position for whatever happens after the 2011 redistricting. Even if CD10 morphs again, there'll be something out west in Harris County to run for.
Former San Antonio City Council member and 2005 runnerup for Mayor Julian Castro is running again for that city's top job, joining current Council member Diane Cibrian and local businesswoman Trish DeBerry.
"Like mayors past, I look forward to forging a strong partnership with our business community to create new jobs," said Castro, 34, an attorney and former two-term District 7 councilman. "If elected, I will be America's most tireless mayor in attracting new jobs and retaining the jobs of our city's large and small companies alike."He also pitched for a piece of President-elect Barack Obama's plan for massive federal spending on infrastructure projects to infuse the sour economy with new jobs.
"I have a friendly message for the Obama administration: San Antonio is ready, willing and able to take on its fair share of that stimulus package to create new jobs, fix our streets and reduce traffic congestion," he said.
Castro lost to Phil Hardberger by less than 4,000 votes out of the 129,831 cast in their June 7, 2005, runoff. Even before the end of Hardberger's first term, Castro wasn't coy about his intentions to run again in 2009.
Link via Stace, with whom I share 2005 support for Castro and a belief that current Mayor Phil Hardberger did a fine job. I'm glad to see Castro get back in, and I'll be rooting for him again. I just have one request: If twin brother State Rep. Joaquin Castro is dispatched to a campaign event on Julian's behalf, please make sure everyone is clear about which Castro they're getting at that event.
UPDATE: BOR has more.
It wasn't much of a surprise to hear that mass transit ridership was up when gas was selling for $4 a gallon. Now that pump prices are less than half of that, it turns out that ridership is still up.
The 6.5 percent jump in transit ridership over the same period last year marks the largest quarterly increase in public transportation ridership in 25 years, according to a survey to be released today by the American Public Transportation Association.Ridership growth began hitting record levels last year and continued through the first and second quarters of this year, spurred in large part by gasoline prices that topped $4 a gallon in July, the industry group said. But the third-quarter increase is notable, it said, because gas prices began falling and unemployment rose, trends that tend to drive ridership down.
Instead, ridership has gone up across the board nationwide. More than 2.8 billion trips were taken from July through September, rising 8.5 percent on light rail (streetcars), 7.2 percent on buses, 6.3 percent on commuter rail and 5.2 percent on subways.
[...]
Americans drove 4.4 percent less, or almost 11 billion fewer miles, in September compared with September 2007, the 11th straight month of declining driving, according to the Federal Highway Administration. In early July, the national average price for a gallon of gas was $4.11, but it fell steadily through the quarter, dropping to $3.63 at the end of September.
Even though pump prices continue to plummet, transit officials said riders are sticking to buses and trains. Preliminary data for October show the upward trend continuing. In Los Angeles, rail ridership jumped nearly 17 percent in October compared with the same period last year. Loudoun County's commuter bus ridership rose 25 percent in October over the previous year and more than 25 percent for the first 13 days of November from last year. The national average price for a gallon of gas was $1.73 yesterday.
If it's convenient and available, transit has a lot of advantages over driving, mostly in that you can do things while riding that you can't while driving, like sleep, read a book, or surf the web. You can read and respond to email so that's done before you get to the office. It helps if you have lunch options that don't require a car, and it helps if you generally don't have to worry about needing to leave for an emergency like a sick kid, but adjustments can usually be made if need be. I think as with most things, the way one commutes is a habit, and once you get into a new habit it becomes just as familiar and comfortable as the old one. It's making the switch in the first place that's hard, and often requires some external factor like a spike in gas prices.
For what's it's worth, third-quarter ridership for Houston's Metro was down for both buses and light rail (both PDF). That decline was almost entirely due to a steep drop in ridership for the month of September. I'll give you three guesses as to what might have caused that. There was a small drop in August for each as well, for which the cause is somewhat less clear, but if you assign 2007's number for this September, then the overall ridership for the year is up a bit. We'll see what happens in the fourth quarter. Link via Atrios.
There are no signs yet of a nationwide abandonment of recycling programs. But industry executives say that after years of growth, the whole system is facing an abrupt slowdown.Many large recyclers now say they are accumulating tons of material, either because they have contracts with big cities to continue to take the scrap or because they are banking on a future price rebound.
"We're warehousing it and warehousing it and warehousing it," said Johnny Gold, senior vice president at the Newark Group, a company that has 13 recycling plants across the country. Gold said the industry had seen downturns before but not like this.
The precipitous drop in prices for recyclables makes the stock market's performance seem almost enviable.
On the West Coast, for example, mixed paper is selling for $20 to $25 a ton, down from $105 in October, according to Official Board Markets, a newsletter that tracks paper prices. And recyclers say tin is worth about $5 a ton, down from $327 earlier this year. There is greater domestic demand for glass, so its price has not fallen as much.
The downturn offers some insight into the forces behind the recycling boom of recent years. Environmentally conscious consumers have been able to feel good about sorting their recycling and putting it on the curb. But most recycling programs have been driven as much by raw economics as by activism.
Well, yeah. Ever heard the expression "doing well by doing good"? A big part of the allure of recycling all along has been that it's not only good for the environment, but also for the bottom line of cities, neighborhoods, and so forth. If the latter isn't true, for however long, that's going to significantly change the calculus. Those concerned about this issue, and the potential environmental impact of more stuff being shipped to landfills because there's nothing else anyone wants to do with it right now, might want to think about pushing some kind of pro-recycling initiative as part of the overall economic stimulus plan that President-elect Obama is rolling out. Andrew Leonard has a more pessimistic take on it.
A few weeks back, HISD Superintendent Abe Saavedra wrote an op-ed that discussed the state of HISD's magnet programs and the costs associated with them. One item has caused alarm among parents and activists:
As we continue to move the district forward, we must remain diligent about addressing challenges that have clearly impacted our country. The school does not go untouched by the economic climate and crisis that have changed the financial foundation of small and large businesses in our nation, our city and even our own homes.The truth of the matter is that these are difficult financial times for all, including the school district. Resources are not unlimited, and it is prudent for the school district to explore more-efficient ways to provide services to all students. A discussion of magnet transportation is clearly one we must consider.
In response to this, a user who identifies him/herself as DoNoHarm wrote this blog post on the Chron.commons site. It runs through the various options for reducing magnet transportation costs, then concludes as follows:
We applaud HISD efforts to identify and implement cost savings strategies. Reducing magnet transportation services now, before magnet programs overall have been analyzed for their effectiveness, and in absence of a larger, more comprehensive strategy, is destructive to public education, undermines high performing magnet programs, scales down excellence, and ultimately increases costs to students, schools and communities - regardless of the good intentions. Any loss of students now due to transportation decisions is a financial blow for which HISD and the affected schools are not prepared for. Instead, we recommend waiting until after the overall magnet system is evaluated and comprehensive recommendations are developed. Then and only then can total cost savings and total efficiency be accurately determined.
I will note that according to the findings of the 2006 HISD Magnet PEER Review Committee, their first recommendation is "The District should provide HISD bus transportation to all qualified, enrolled Magnet students in all approved Magnet programs." I've uploaded a copy of this document (in Word format) here.
I was sent these links by an attorney and HISD parent named Amy Maldonado Tehauno, who also forwarded me the following email that's making the rounds among those who want to defer a decision at this time:
Today is the day to email, call, or write your HISD Trustee and tell them that cutting magnet transportation services without a comprehensive plan for real improvement is misguided and an idea that you want your Trustee to vote down. Dr. Saavedra can only pass his proposed plan for reducing magnet transportation services if he persuades five HISD Trustees. He is working as we speak to negotiate terms with his Trustees to pass this initiative this week or when the board meets in early January. A coordinated response successfully stopped his Carnegie-Worthing plan and is needed to stop this one, too.
Here are six reasons why we need you to email your HISD Trustee today:
1. HISD Proposed Transportation Cuts Will Increase, Not Save, Costs. Reducing Magnet Transportation Services will easily end up costing HISD more money than it will save. If 4% of the magnet population leaves HISD for private schools or charter schools any cost savings will be erased. With the State Board of Education considering an increase in the number of charter schools that can open in Houston, and the overwhelming public outcry at HISD's public meetings on magnet transportation, the district easily stands to lose far more than 4% of its magnet students.2. Fuzzy Math. New bus stop locations mentioned in the four HISD options, will not even be identified or finalized by the HISD transportation department until August, 2009. How can HISD possibly state that relocating bus stops will generate "cost savings" when it doesn't know where they are? This gap raises serious questions about the credibility and reliability of HISD's proposed "cost savings".
3. Transportation Tax on Economically Disadvantaged Families. HISD's preferred plan requires removing the three-mile bus stop requirement in order to be "more efficient". The three-mile rule prevents HISD from locating bus stops farther than three-miles from a student's home. By removing this restriction, HISD will shift responsibility to families and require them to drive farther or for students to walk farther than three miles in order to catch a bus. The $6.1 million in cost savings that HISD claims from removing this three-mile rule will now be loaded on the backs of families who can least afford it:
- 84% of the magnet students who live farther than ten miles from their chosen school are classified by HISD as economically disadvantaged; and
- 55% of all magnet bus riders participate in the free and reduced lunch program.
HISD claims that the greatest opportunity for cost savings (shifting costs) lies in those bus stops beyond ten miles. HISD has not revealed how much its cost-cutting options will cost these magnet families, nor has it explored whether the impact of this "transportation tax" will deny these children real school choice.4. Costs For Student Safety Not Factored Into Estimates. The proposed cost savings from cutting transportation services do not currently take into consideration the added security HISD will require in order for HISD to protect elementary and middle school students who will be waiting at high schools for their bus. It also does not account for the added police necessary to manage the added traffic congestion when hundreds of extra families and vehicles are dropping elementary school age children off at high schools and other campuses around the city all at the same time.
5. Less School Choice. All 119 elementary, middle, and high school level magnet schools will be put at risk for losing students and related funding if the transportation cuts proceed. The magnet program your child may want to attend in middle school or high school may no longer exist, contain similar levels of diversity, or perform at the same academic level, by the time your child is ready to apply. Money follows the child in public education. Schools are funded based on enrollment numbers. Limit student access to schools and you will reduce school budgets.
6. No Plan For How The Money Will Be Spent. HISD would like us to trust what Dr. Saavedra will do with the "cost savings". While nearly all Houstonians fundamentally support the idea of strengthening schools, Dr. Saavedra's recent proposal for a Carnegie-Worthing joint campus raises serious questions about whether we can believe what Dr. Saavedra promises. Given that there does not exist an overall plan or detailed strategy for improving schools, it makes it nearly impossible for Houstonians to hold Dr. Saavedra accountable for what he actually does with the money. This is a risk Houstonians can no longer afford to take.
Dr. Saavedra must persuade five Trustees to vote for his plan to slash magnet transportation services. We need concerned citizens to tell our Trustees that HISD cannot slash key services without a comprehensive plan for real improvement, nor sacrifice the interests of the most vulnerable children under the pretext of "cost savings". We need to send HISD a clear message that Houston will not tolerate any cost cutting schemes that deny children equal access to quality education.
To reach HISD Board of Trustees President Harvin Moore, or Trustees Diana Davila, Carol Mims Galloway, Natasha Kamrani, or Larry Marshall, send your email to HISD Board Services: [email protected].
To directly reach Trustee Paula Harris: [email protected], Trustee Dianne Johnson at [email protected], Trustee Greg Meyers at [email protected], and Trustee Manuel Rodriguez at [email protected].
Please, email your Trustee today.
Respectfully,
Mary Nesbitt
HISD District Advisory Committee Member
I confess, I had not been paying attention to this, so I appreciate the information. The folks like Ms. Tehuano who are advocating deferment make a pretty good case for it. I'm passing this along for those who might want to get involved.
Somewhat lost in the shuffle of the near-Democratic sweep of the Harris County judiciary this year was the near miss in the five races for the First and Fourteenth Courts of Appeals, which cover Harris and nine surrounding counties. Jim Sharp won his race on his third attempt at one of those benches, while four other Democratic candidates fell just short, winning between 48.38 and 49.35% of the vote. I have a Google spreadsheet that summarizes these races on a county-by-county basis, with their companion races going back to 2002. A few things we learn from this:
- Harris County is still the most important county in these races. In fact, it was the only county carried by any of the Democrats, though Fort Bend and Waller were very close. Earlier this year, I wrote the following:
As I see it, 51% in Harris County will require a strong effort elsewhere (Sharp had 48% elsewhere in 2006) to be competitive. A 52% showing in Harris puts you well within range. Win 53% in Harris, and you'll almost be surely be called Your Honor at this time next year.
Jim Sharp got 52.65% in Harris County, and 50.58% overall. Next in line was Martin Siegel, who got 51.73% in Harris and 49.35% overall. I'd say that was a pretty good projection on my part.
- Having said that, Harris wasn't the be-all and end-all to these races. Sharp's margin of victory in Harris was about 59,000 votes. That would have been enough to barely carry Siegel across the finish line, with Joe Beverly and Mary Markantonis falling just short. It still would have left Bert Moser and Leslie Taylor out in the cold by a few thousand votes. Where the Democrats needed a big win in Harris to have a chance, the Republicans rode big wins in Brazoria County to keep them at bay. In Moser and Taylor's cases, their deficit in Brazoria was bigger than their surplus in Harris, despite the fact that Brazoria's voter pool was one-tenth the size of Harris'. Brazoria was slightly bluer overall and for the most part at the Appeals Court level in 2008 compared to 2004, but with more voters, so the total gap got a bit wider. Holding down the margin in Brazoria looks to be as important as running up the score in Harris if you want to win as a Democrat.
- The other two big counties are going in opposite directions. Fort Bend was nearly 50-50 this year, after being a 55-45 Republican county in 2004. I believe the appeals court candidates can carry Fort Bend in 2010 and beyond, which will make their jobs easier. Even better, given Fort Bend's growth (193,000 votes cast in appellate races in 2008, compared to 154,000 in 2004), a blue Fort Bend means there's that much less room for Republican candidates to make up ground elsewhere. One of those places is Galveston, which has been trending away from the Democrats in recent years. Part of that this year was Hurricane Ike's effect on the island, but a big driver of it is growth in suburban-Houston areas like Friendswood. I believe Galveston will continue to redden, at least in the short term. Right now, its voting population plus Brazoria's is about equal to Fort Bend's. Even if Fort Bend goes blue next cycle, these three counties will be net red barring anything unusual for the foreseeable future. Again, minimizing the amount by which they are red will be greatly helpful to Democratic hopefuls.
- It's hard to draw a conclusion based on the results from 2006, but I think the turnout model will be favorable to Democrats in 2010. The small rural counties were considerably redder this year than in 06 - I don't know if this was an anti-Obama effect or just how it is normally, but the off-year status of the next election will lessen the Republican total. Brazoria and Galveston were a lot friendlier to Dems in 2006 as well. I think it's critical that the Dems ensure all these races have good candidates in 2010, because I believe they will be very winnable. Putting some resources into Brazoria, Fort Bend, and Galveston would go a long way.
It's time for Harris County Commissioners Court to start picking through the many hopefuls who want Paul Bettencourt's job and choose a replacement.
At least two dozen names were being floated, including potential Houston mayoral candidate Bill King, ousted District Clerk Theresa Chang and Republican political consultant Court Koenning, who was the chief of staff for state Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston.Diane Trautman, a Democrat who lost to Bettencourt in the Nov. 4 election, nominated herself as well, saying Bettencourt's decision "deprived the voters of an opportunity to decide who will lead the tax office at this critical time in our county's future."
The choice now falls to the five members of Commissioners Court, where the Republican Party's three-seat majority makes the selection of a Democrat unlikely.
The court is not expected to discuss the vacancy at today's meeting. The next regularly scheduled meeting is Dec. 23, though the panel could call a special meeting before then. Bettencourt said he is willing to stay on the job until Christmas.
Mighty selfless of you there, big guy. Always thinking of how his actions affect others, that's our Paulie.
Chang, whom the court picked to replace District Clerk Charles Bacarisse when he resigned to challenge County Judge Ed Emmett in the Republican primary, is the most prominent person openly campaigning for the position. Mary Jane Smith, Chang's campaign consultant, said Chang already has expressed interest to some members of court."I think the court and the people are looking for someone who has superb credentials and is just the epitome of government ethics, and that's Theresa Chang," Smith said.
Chang's loss to political newcomer Loren Jackson, however, may hurt her chances with the court's Republican members, who will be looking for a strong campaigner to hold the seat in 2010.
[...]
Commissioner Sylvia Garcia said she is backing Trautman, but knows there is little chance the education professor would prevail. She said she also has asked lawyers to investigate whether there is a way for the court to call an election before 2010. Barring either of those options, she said the court should appoint a "caretaker" who will promise not to run for re-election in two years.
"I think it is an affront to the voters, and I think the voters should speak loudly," she said. "We should really hear a public outcry about this and why we're being put in this position."
I suspect Chang is the frontrunner by virtue of having been picked once before by the Court. She's a less ridiculous choice than some of the other names being thrown around, like Bill King and Court Koenning, I'll say that much. I'm glad to see that Commissioner Garcia is in Diane Trautman's corner, and I agree with her that the next best option after that is a caretaker who won't run for re-election. I don't think that's particularly likely to happen, either, but at least it's out there.
UPDATE: The Chron urges Trautman's selection, reminding County Judge Ed Emmett of a promise he made during his campaign along the way.
Emmett campaigned for the position promising to govern in a bipartisan mode, making appointments to county positions without regard to politics."I don't even ask what party they belong to," he told the Chronicle. "It has nothing to do with it, I'm trying to find the best people I can to do the job." That pledge will now be put to the test.Just as it did in putting Emmett in his current position, Commissioners Court will select an occupant for Bettencourt's office until a special election is held two years hence to fill the remainder of his term. With the court evenly divided between two Republican and two Democratic commissioners, Emmett can indeed control whether the appointment is decided on the basis of politics.
The Chronicle believes the best candidate for the job is one who spent the last year campaigning for it and who received 524,558 votes. Diane Trautman, a career educator and Stephen F. Austin State University assistant professor, ran for office pledging to restore its status as "a service organization, not a political organization." Our endorsement praised Trautman as someone who "will clear the air of partisanship while offering able administration of the office's core duties."
Trautman has put in calls to the members of Commissioners Court and talked to several of them about her interest in receiving the appointment. "I would leave my political identity at the door," says Trautman of how she would conduct herself in the tax office. "You are an employee of the citizens of Harris County, not a political party. You do not use it for any kind of partisan pulpit where you give your views on a partisan agenda."
The spectacle of one county official after another asking voters to put them in office only to walk away from the job within weeks or months is a sad commentary on their regard for public commitment and service.
In resigning, Bettencourt effectively disenfranchised the more than half million people who voted for him. In appointing a replacement, we hope Commissioners Court recognizes Trautman's qualifications for the job and the fact that nearly half the county electorate recently voted to put her in that position.
This is a case where the runner-up has earned the title.
As I see it, the case for Trautman is clearer than the case for anyone else. What say you, Judge Emmett?
Today is Day Two of early voting in the SD17 runoff, which continues through Friday. As a reminder, you can find early voting locations for Harris County here, and for Fort Bend County here; locations for Galveston County are at the end of this story. If you just want to help get people to the polls, you can do virtual phonebanking. We can win this, but it's going to take a full-on effort. Please do what you can.
Big Jolly has an interesting analysis of the race so far.
Question is, will this election be decided by the so called 'critical middle' or by motivating and turning out the base of each party? Typically, it is the latter that decides runoff elecitons.Ms. Huffman seems to be focusing on the core conservative base. In a recent radio appearance, she focused on illegal immigration, property tax appraisal caps, cutting spending and abortion. When asked what she would cut, she replied something to the effect of cutting the waste from the bureaucracy.
Mr. Bell seems to be focusing on the 'critical middle'. His website features special pages on both education and health care, with detailed analysis of each. In an unusual move for a Texas politician, Mr. Bell wears his support for abortion rights on his sleeve, forcefully making his case for stem cell research and funding for Planned Parenthood. Recall when he and his wife Alison hosted a fundraiser for Planned Parenthood of Houston and South East Texas which raised $220,000.
In the HRC poll, abortion and illegal immigration are non-issues for the 'critical middle' but education and health care are major ones. They do care about property taxes, even more so than the conservative base (see the report, page 37, slide 36).
I've finally had a chance to read through the poll memo, which provides quite a bit of food for thought. That's for another day, but for now, I'll say that the Democratic base is fully engaged on Bell's behalf, at least if the nonstop flow of "We need to help Chris Bell" emails and Facebook messages I've been receiving is any indicator. If being right on the issues is a help in this kind of race, then that's in Bell's favor as well. I certainly hope so.
Speaking of issues, the Chron's Houston Politics blog will be hosting a live chat with Bell and Huffman tomorrow at noon - see here for details. I presume the chat link will be at the top of the page. Drop in and ask them some questions. And please, make sure you vote for Chris Bell if you live in the district. Thanks very much.
Early voting is going on now for the SD17 runoff. Have you done something to help Chris Bell yet? That doesn't have anything to do with this week's Texas Progressive Alliance roundup, but it needs to be said anyway. Click on for the highlights.
The long held assumption that Texas was safely red seems to be taking a few hits, notes Lightseeker at Texas Kaos, in Trouble in Red Paradise?
DosCentavos expands on comments from LatinaListaon the one tool that Latinos have failed to use to get ahead in politics, business, etc.
CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme warns us that Republican agitators are on the loose making stuff up for their wedge'em and hate'em crusades. Are there enough Hispanics in top roles? What will happen for Rick Noriega and Juan Garcia?
According to jobsanger, the War on Christmas is alive and well. Another Volley In "War On Christmas has been fired, this time from the heartland of America, as an Iowa publisher is selling christmas cards for atheists.
Off the Kuff takes a look that Hill Research Consultants poll that says the Republican brand is eroding in Texas.
John Coby at Bay Area Houston says Speaker Tom Craddick Can't have his cake and health care too concerning how Craddick fought for health care for his adult well to do daughter while fighting to deny health care to poor kids.
McBlogger's latest rant on the state of traffic in Texas prompted this little bit of comeuppance from Mayor McSleaze.
Vince at Capitol Annex notes that Houston Mayor Bill White is expected to announce his plans in regard to 2010 this week.
BossKitty at TruthHugger is angry that the Texas Republican Party, in general, has favored BIG Business, including Medical Corporations who see the sick as dollar signs. Texas looks like it leads the pack in putting dollars above life quality. Texas needs to reinstate the Hippocratic oath and throw out the Hypocritical oath it has been following. US Health Care Plunges, Texas Drops 9 Points
Dembones at Eye On Williamson analyzes the recent poll that's causing a stir Texas GOP In Panic Over Recent Poll.
The kinder, gentler Kay Bailey Hutchison -- with a little help from her pal Karl Rove -- is trotting out for display. PDiddie at Brains and Eggs has the revoltin' development.
We don't know when - or, indeed, even if - Kay Bailey Hutchison will resign her seat in the Senate. It's conceivable that she could remain in the Senate while campaigning against Rick Perry in the GOP primary for Governor, lost that primary, then decide she doesn't want to retire from the Senate after all. Or she could just stick it out through 2012. At some point, between November of 2009 and November of 2012, there will be an election for her Senate seat. And whenever that election will be, former Comptroller and two-time candidate for Lt. Gov. John Sharp says he'll be in the running.
Sharp, who lost for lieutenant governor in 1998 and 2002, said: "I will be a candidate whether the election is in 2012 or any time before then. Texans face tough challenges that call for innovative solutions, and that's what our campaign is all about."He said he will create a campaign committee with the state on Jan. 1 to begin raising money and campaigning.
No one has said so, but I suspect Sharp acted today to dissuade Houston Mayor Bill White from declaring his own aspirations for the Senate. White is widely expected to air his political plans soon--and speculation has centered on his leaping for governor or the Senate.
Sharp's sudden public declaration, after months spent privately telling Democrats he intends to seek the Senate seat, practically dares White to set himself up for a Sharp showdown. Alternatively, it encourages White to lean toward a run for governor.
All I know right now is that somebody had damn well better run for Governor, because I don't think it's a lock KBH gets the nomination, and I'll be sick to death of Rick Perry lucks into a free pass or a lightweight opponent. I figure if anyone is going to blink here it'll be Sharp, but since I'm rooting for White to run for Governor, I guess I ought to hope I'm wrong about that. And I suppose now that he's an actual declared candidate for something, I should quit making jokes about him being mentioned as a possible candidate for every office under the sun.
Financial crunch may stall effort on Astrodome hotel. Boy, nobody could have seen that one coming.
Before the financial markets tightened, Astrodome Redevelopment Co. was prepared to put up $150 million in equity -- much coming in the form of historic tax credits given for preserving the iconic building once known as the Eighth Wonder of the World.But the company likely will be required to raise as much as $225 million in equity because loan standards have become stricter during the credit crunch, said Astrodome Redevelopment president Scott Hanson.
"It's clearly more difficult to get credit at this stage," Hanson said.
[...]
Edgar Colon, chairman of the Harris County Sports and Convention Corp., which oversees Reliant Park, said progress continues to be made, and he is hopeful that Texans and rodeo's concerns can be addressed.
The county will let those discussions continue until the end of March before deciding whether an impasse has been reached, he said.
So we have a new deadline, of sorts. I'm not sure how much that means any more, given how long this has dragged on. At last report, the Texans and the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo had easied their opposition a bit to the Astrodome Hotel concept, for which a lease agreement had been reached in May. Also still out there is the Astrodome as movie studio, which presumably would also be affected by the credit crunch.
The Dome is hardly a top-notch facility these days. It was closed in July after the Houston Fire Marshal's Office found that its sprinkler system lacked enough water pressure and cited the building for nine code violations.SMG-Reliant Park, which manages the complex, and other Reliant Park companies moved more than 40 employees out of offices at the Dome, and it has been sitting empty since.
No events will be held in the Dome at the upcoming rodeo because of its building code violations, said rodeo chief operating officer Leroy Shafer.
On the bright side, maybe that means it's costing less to maintain the Dome, since presumably the air conditioning hasn't been turned on since then. Gotta find your positives where you can these days.
I've spent some time recently talking about what might happen - more accurately, what I'd like to see happen - in 2010 at the state level. In this post, I'd like to contemplate what might happen locally.
It's clear that the Harris County GOP is looking ahead with an attitude that without Obama on the top of the ticket, they'll be in much better shape. I think that's blinkered for a number of reasons, not the least of which being that Obama wasn't always an asset to the Dems, not to mention the Republican Party's image problems, but never mind that. On some level, I agree, in the sense that without someone at the top of the ticket to generate interest among Democratic voters, and without some kind of organized GOTV effort, there could be a step backwards, perhaps a big step backwards, for them. Let's assume that 2010 isn't a replay of 2006 in that sense, and go from there.
The Bettencourt resignation changes the landscape from where it was a week ago. I think it's clear that whoever gets the nod to replace him will be a top target, perhaps the top target, in two years. If it's a Republican, I hope Diane Trautman takes another shot at it. If it's a Democrat, hopefully Trautman, then I expect there to be a contested Republican primary to take her on. Beyond that, we'll have to wait and see who the replacement is.
The next question is whether or not County Judge Ed Emmett gets a serious challenge. After surviving the onslaught this year thanks in large part to voter approval of the job he did during Hurricane Ike, I think Emmett is a favorite to win re-election under most scenarios, barring some scandal emerging. I don't know (and I have not asked) if David Mincberg is up for a rematch, but if I had to bet I'd say no at this point. Beyond that, I have no idea. It would not surprise me if Emmett skates, though if the partisan shift continues I'd expect that to be a one-time-only event, as potential challengers look to 2014, when having the D next to their name might be enough.
If Emmett goes literally or figuratively unopposed, the next highest-profile local race will be for County Clerk, where current City Council Member Sue Lovell has been looking at a challenge to incumbent Beverly Kaufman. Expect to hear a long and contentious airing of the faults of the eSlate machines in this scenario. Lovell is a hard worker and a tough fighter, but as we saw last year she's got some enemies. All this makes for a potentially fascinating matchup.
Newly-elected District Clerk Loren Jackson will be one of a handful of Democrats defending their seats for a full term; the others are judges like Robert Hinojosa and Kathy Stone. I'm sure he'll draw an opponent, but unless the Dems take that big step backwards, I feel confident about his chances.
Last and least is Orlando "Just what exactly does he do all day?" Sanchez, our beloved Harris County Treasurer. I don't know if Richard Garcia will take another crack at him on an abolish-the-office platform, or if someone else will take a slightly less esoteric approach, since this looks a lot more like a winnable office now. I just know I will delight in voting his sorry ass off the public dime.
As for the judges - and there are many more benches up for election in 2010 than there were this year - who knows? Again, barring the big step aback I expect the Democratic slate to do well here, and there are a couple of names I'll be watching closely to see if they finally do fall. Of greater interest to me now is whether or not there will be another committee like there was this year, to screen and recommend (or un-recommend) various candidates for different jobs. As that committee started life with a mission of recruitment, I feel confident in saying its original mission is no longer needed. How many contested primaries will there be, and how many of them will produce oddball results? We'll know sooner than you think.
For legislative races, I've already said that I expect HDs 133 and 144 to be the top battles. The Dems make take a shot at a couple of other seats, like HD138, but I'll be surprised if there's much money in any races besides those two. If Chris Bell wins the SD17 runoff, I expect the Republicans to take a big swing at him; if Joan Huffman wins, I'm less sanguine about the Dems taking another shot at it, on the grounds that if you can't win with a candidate like Bell in a year like this, you probably can't win. The same type of thinking will likely mean no serious challenges in CDs 07 and 22; I think CD10 is more likely to be challenged, but that's just a guess.
One last race to contemplate: Given his legal issues, it seems likely that County Commissioner Jerry Eversole is serving his last term in Precinct 4. If so, that will surely mean a hotly contested Republican primary to replace him, with the possibility of some other seats opening up as existing officeholders seek to climb the ladder. I would hope the Dems field a decent candidate here as well. Precinct 4 isn't quite the opportunity for Dems that Precinct 3 is likely to be when it opens up, but how can you resist? For what it's worth, Jim Sharp got a bit less than 39% in Precinct 4 in 2006; I don't have the data for 2008, as the precincts aren't the same. Whatever the numbers are, though, it's an open County Commissioners Court seat. How can you resist?
It may be that Eversole steps aside, or is pushed aside, before then. If so, there would be an appointed replacement on the ballot instead. I've heard that HD138 Rep. Dwayne Bohac wants the job. Regardless of the situation, I hope the Dems find and fund a serious contender. And if it is Bohac, I expect that would add HD138 to the list of seriously-challenged seats. Either way, I see it as a great opportunity.
That's what I see at this time. What do you think?
Previously, I had noted a report that potential Mayoral candidate Bill King was thinking about dropping out of that race. Now it looks like he's contemplating a different race.
Bill King, once talked about as a definite mayoral candidate, may now be leaning toward a city council seat. Not only is he nervous about the city's fiscal health, but he told me today that he's getting behind-the-scenes "pushback" for not living in Houston long enough.The former Kemah mayor and councilman moved to Houston full time three years ago.
"There is some thought that you need to earn your stripes for a little bit before you can become mayor," King said.
King says that's not entirely fair, because for 15 years he's maintained homes both in Houston and Kemah. He was Kemah's mayor from 2001 to 2005.
Fair or not, I dunno how well saying "My second home has been in Houston for years" would go over on the campaign trail. It should also be noted that the City of Houston is pretty darned Democratic these days, so a relatively unknown Republican might not fare so well in a race that already features at least two prominent Dems. Make of that what you will. If he's in for a Council seat, King joins Noel Freeman in that regard.
Speaking of Council, Marc Campos has been bemoaning the fact that once Adrian Garcia is sworn in as Harris County Sheriff, James Rodriguez will be the only Latino on Council, pending the outcome of the special election in May to replace Garcia in District H. He notes that in 1996 there were four Latino members on Council. What I note is that two of them - Gracie Saenz and Orlando Sanchez - were elected At Large. Which leads me to this Dos Centavos post, in which Stace notes that "Latino and Latina candidates that are willing to take the leap and run "at-large" are few and far between--even locally."
Which made me curious. So I looked through the City of Houston election archives from 1997 onward to see how many Latino candidates had run in one of the citywide races - At Large Council, City Controller, or Mayor. Here's my list, with minor and perennial candidates edited out:
Roy Morales - 2007, 2005
Joe Trevino - 2007
Poli Acosta - 2005
Gabe Vasquez - 2003
Orlando Sanchez - 2003, 2001, 1999*, 1997*
Sylvia Garcia - 2001*, 1999*, 1997*
Andres Pereira - 1999
Gracie Saenz - 1997
Asterisks indicate winning candidates. That's eight people, in a total of 14 races (out of 42 possible), over six elections. (Morales also ran in the 2007 special election to fill At Large #3 after Shelley Sekula Gibbs resigned to be Congresswoman For A Day.) Half of those races were run by Orlando Sanchez and Sylvia Garcia. Seems to me that's not a whole lot of leap-taking. Will this next election be any different?
While I'm sorry that Rick Noriega will not get the job as Secretary of Veterans Affairs, I certainly can't argue with the selection of Gen. Eric Shinseki, who has displayed remarkable courage and foresight throughout his career. I'm glad to hear that Noriega is still in the running for several other possibilities - FEMA, anyone? - and I congratulate Gen. Shinseki on his new gig.
UH-Downtown, which has been pursuing a new name and a more distinctive identity, is getting closer to making a decision.
Leaders have proposed changing the name to give the 34-year-old university a stronger identity, saying too many people think it is a satellite of the University of Houston, rather than a stand-alone campus with its own ambitions.Longtime president Max Castillo will step down next year, leaving whoever is named to succeed him with all the promise and problems of a school designed to help educate the state's growing population of lower-income, minority students.
[...]
A new name could better reflect what the university offers and the students it serves, Castillo said.
The main campus is downtown, but it also offers classes through Lone Star College in Kingwood and Cy-Fair.
The UH governing board last summer authorized the school to explore a new name. A board committee will consider the options Friday, with a full vote possible the following week.
Among the suggestions: City University of Houston, Houston Metropolitan University, Southeast Texas State University and Hobby State University, a nod to the Hobby family's contributions to education.
A new name would help people to distinguish between UH-Downtown and the main campus, especially as UH pushes to improve its national ranking, said Madeline Johnson, a marketing professor at UH-Downtown.
Given that the Directional State convention seems to be falling out of favor these days, if those are my choices I'd probably pick Houston Metropolitan University. What do you think?
A little later than usual, but that's the kind of weekend it was...
The Ten Best George Bush Photos Ever. And just think, in 47 more days, we can all begin to forget that he ever existed. Link via PDiddie.
I'm livin' on the air in Cincinnati/Cincinnati, WKRP.
Hamster on a piano. Warning: major earworm. Blame Dwight if you must.
You know, I don't ask for much when I visit a restaurant. But I do ask for something better than this. Via She Eats and about a million people on Twitter.
If Olivia sees this, it will instantly go to the top of her wish list for Christmas.
May there be plenty more of this kind of housecleaning in January.
$10.5 million is spent annually on government and public affairs by TxDOT. You might think that some of the local bloggers who fulminate obsessively over the one fulltime PR staffer at Metro who also happens to run a blog might take notice of this rather novel use of public funds, but you would be wrong.
RIP, Tweeter. I saw a few days ago that the store on Kirby was having a going-out-of-business sale, but I hadn't realized at the time it was franchise-wide.
Karaoke violence. Has anyone informed the folks at Intercontinental Airport about this? Via Alison Cook.
Sorry, but this isn't a "bump". It's a dead-cat bounce.
Another look at Latino voting nationally and locally, from my blogging colleague at Para Justicia y Liberdad.
The Chron is finally able to reach Paul Bettencourt for a comment on his sudden resignation.
"I've had a wonderful 10 years of service with great people at the office who have done good things for the taxpayers of Harris County," Bettencourt, 50, said Saturday, a day after word of his planned departure was leaked to the media and broken on the late-night news."But there comes a time when you decide that further challenges await you and that you know you need to accept those challenges before maybe you get to the age where someone won't offer you the opportunity," he said.
It is almost unheard of for an incumbent to resign before being sworn in to his new term, Rice University political scientist Bob Stein said. The timing of Bettencourt's decision was suspect, he said, because a lesser-known Republican might have struggled to win in a year Democrats so heavily dominated countywide elections.
Bettencourt said he first entertained the idea of leaving the county during the summer, well after the GOP primary, when it looked like he and every other Republican in Harris County were headed for defeat. But he insisted no serious discussions about the offer he chose to accept occurred before the Nov. 4 election.
"This business venture is something that took shape after the election and not before," he said.
"You can always think pie in the sky, what do I do if the election doesn't turn out your way. It's another thing to have a thought like that and be approached to have a discussion about a new business venture."
You know what? I've decided I don't actually care whether this job came along before or after the election. I just want to know, does the fact of his election and his presumed commitment to the people who voted for him not mean anything? I realize it's a quaint concept these days, but do the words "public service" not ring any bells for him, or for his predecessor in skipping out, Robert Eckels? Maybe the campaign theme for Harris County Democrats in 2010 ought to be "If Elected, I Promise To Actually Stay On The Job". I'll say again, I'm thrilled to see the back of Paul Bettencourt, but I remain stunned and appalled at the cavalierness and selfishness he displays here. Though I doubt he has the capacity for it, he ought to be ashamed of himself.
Bettencourt declined to discuss the job he was taking, saying the state Board of Tax Professional Examiners bars him from endorsing a business while he remains in office. He said he hopes to boost his salary of $141,000 a year but may not be able to if the venture is unsuccessful.[...]
Last month, the Harris County Democratic Party sued Bettencourt, complaining of his handling of about 7,000 provisional ballots cast in the Nov. 4 election and accusing him of illegally rejecting voter registration applications. He has denied any wrongdoing.
The controversy, he said Saturday, played no role in his decision to leave the county post.
I highlight this part of the story because of Paul Burka's comment in my previous post, in which he points out that Bettencourt might be thinking of the potential legal bills he could be faced with defending himself from that lawsuit. Given what we saw with the Nathan Hecht experience, I can certainly appreciate that concern. However, it sounds like Bettencourt is leaving for a potentially risky venture, which doesn't strike me as being consistent with that kind of concern. Further, I say there's no way that the state Republican establishment would have let Bettencourt hang out to dry on this, especially if the case turned into a project of the Obama Justice Department as Burka speculates it could. The GOP money people saved Bill Ceverha's bacon in a similar situation. They totally would have had Bettencourt's back, and I know he knew that. So while that's an interesting idea, I still don't agree with it.
The Chron re-endorses Chris Bell in the runoff for SD17.
With his commitment to bolstering public education, reining in college tuition increases, and controlling skyrocketing insurance premiums, the Chronicle believes that Chris Bell is the best candidate to represent the diverse district in the Texas Senate.Bell served two full terms on Houston City Council and one term as a congressman before losing to Al Green in a redrawn district. He was the Democratic nominee for governor in 2006, coming in second in a four-candidate field behind Republican Rick Perry.
While on City Council Bell chaired the ethics panel that drew up new guidelines regulating campaign contributions and the activities of lobbyists. While in Congress, he filed ethics complaints against then-Majority Leader Tom DeLay, presaging DeLay's eventual resignation.
[...]
Bell, a former news reporter and practicing lawyer, says his previous political experience has educated him about the concerns of Texans. According to Bell, "even before Hurricane Ike hit and even before the meltdown on Wall Street, people here in Texas were starting to feel a sense of insecurity, seeing school districts forced into crisis funding modes." He promises to make education issues a top early priority if elected, while working to create coalitions with members of both parties.
District 17 will benefit from being represented by a veteran elected official with statewide name recognition and a proven commitment to high ethical standards. The Chronicle urges constituents to make a special effort to go to the polls and cast their ballots for Bell.
Bell is clearly best on the issues, and the Senate will be a much better place with him in it. But this is a runoff, and stuff like that isn't what drives elections like this. It's all about turnout
Lawmakers designed District 17 to lean Republican. And low-turnout elections often provide Republicans with an edge. Democrats, pointing to the fact that Bell and Democrat Stephanie Simmons combined won a majority of the Nov. 4 vote, say change is afoot."This has been an unusual year, politically. I don't think there are any prior elections that we can use necessarily as a model to predict who will come out in higher numbers in this election," said Huffman, who lives in Southside Place. "I am working very hard and asking voters to come back out to vote for me."
Houstonian Bell, referring to his efforts cajoling Democratic voters to return to the polls, said, "It really comes down to who has a better 'ground game,' and I am willing to bet that we do."
Once again, you can help with that ground game. First things first, though - make sure that you yourself get out and vote if you're a resident of SD17. If you're not sure, or if someone who isn't sure about himself asks you, go to http://www.fyi.legis.state.tx.us/ and plug in your address to find out. And if you've got a little spare change that's burning a hole in your pocket, you can make a donation to Team Bell. Whatever you can do to help, please do it. Thanks very much.
Just call her Landslide Linda.
Republicans maintained their two-vote majority in the Texas House of Representatives on Friday after election officials completed a recount in a Dallas County race.Rep. Linda Harper-Brown, R-Irving, led her Democratic opponent Bob Romano by 20 votes after the Nov. 4 election. Friday's recount changed that margin to 19.
"I felt very confident this was going to be the outcome," Harper-Brown said Friday night. "I'm ready to come to Austin."
Well, it's bigger than the margin Rep. Hubert Vo wound up with in 2004 after the election challenge was resolved. And it's more than enough to count. Speaking of election challenges:
Romano's lawyer, Buck Wood of Austin, said his client is weighing whether to challenge the results. The Texas Democratic Party also has a separate federal lawsuit pending.
That's his right, but I don't see it changing anything. I think the lawsuit has a greater chance of affecting the outcome, and I think the lawsuit is a loser. But hey, what's a little more drama for this session? Thanks to BOR for the link.
I love the design concept of this thing.
Mayor Bill White on Wednesday unveiled plans for the "Tolerance Bridge," a $7 million project built with public and private funds that will connect pedestrian and bike trails along Allen Parkway with those on Memorial Drive near Montrose Boulevard.The bridge design features a visual sleight of hand: a twisted archway at its center that from afar, project officials told City Council members, will make it appear impossible to cross. However, when pedestrians or bikers are closer, they will see the bridge is easily passable. From one vantage point, the "twisted arc" will frame the Houston skyline.
"What we found with Discovery Green is that when we invest in these high-quality public places, that it improves the property values and the living environment and quality of life all around there," White said. "So, I think great art is part of a real city."
The $4.4 million in public funds that will be directed toward the bridge and trails will come from the Memorial Heights Tax Reinvestment Zone, a board that supervises growth and infrastructure improvements with a portion of city tax collections in that area.
An additional $2.5 million will come from private fundraising and will pay for the archway, which was selected through an international artistic competition that received 54 proposals.
I was just thinking the other day that we have a distinct lack of Moebius strips in the public square. I'm glad to see we're taking steps to rectify that. If we go from here to a Klein bottle, I'll be really impressed.
According to the map in the story, when constructed this bridge would be just east of the Studemont/Montrose vehicular overpass, right about here. That puts it next to the Legacy at Memorial high rise. It'll certainly be a striking addition to the skyline. What do you think about it? Stace and Texas Liberal has more.
PDiddie, Greg, and Burka all comment on the Bettencourt resignation, with the latter positing a reason for the sudden departure:
[I]f he had remained in office, the chances were that things would have gotten rather unpleasant for him. Democrats had filed a lawsuit accusing Bettencourt of illegally rejecting voter registration applications and have said they would pursue the lawsuit next year. A case involving civil rights with the Justice Department in Democratic hands may well have been enough to persuade Bettencourt that the time was right for a career change.
Maybe, but color me unconvinced. For one thing, it's easy enough to claim loudly - and he'd have plenty of backing voices on this - that the suit was just partisan griping. The beauty of that is you can claim it regardless of how things proceed through the legal system - if you wind up prevailing, you were right all along, and if you lose, it just shows how perverted the legal process has become. I have little respect for Bettencourt, but I don't think this kind of fight intimidates him. And even if he did see bad things on the horizon, given the usual velocity of this kind of suit, surely he had plenty of time before those bad things started to happen. Unless there's a huge shoe about to drop, I don't see this as a sufficiently motivating factor to quit now.
As far as Bettencourt's replacement goes, the more I think about it the more clear the case for Diane Trautman is. She's perfectly well-qualified. More than 500,000 people voted for her last month. Of the 47 races that appeared on every ballot in Harris County, the Democratic candidate won 40 of them. This was a strongly Democratic cycle in an increasingly Democratic county. The default choice to replace Bettencourt should be a Democrat, and the obvious Democrat is his opponent from the election he apparently didn't mean to participate in, the one who got the Chronicle endorsement, Diane Trautman. There's no Republican possibility who can claim any kind of mandate or justification to be handed this job for nearly two full years. If certain Republican factions don't like that, well, they're welcome to try and convince Bettencourt to change his mind. At least he had a viable claim to the position, before he chose to throw it away.
UPDATE: Stace adds on.
The updated version of the Bettencourt resignation story has his statement, a brief summary of his career, and a couple of statements from folks like Jared Woodfill (who not too surprisingly loved him) and Gerry Birnberg (who not too surprisingly was more critical). As Bettencourt himself was unreachable for comment (gotta love those late Friday stories), that's what we've got to work with for now. One point Birnberg made is worth noting:
Friday night, Harris County Democratic Party Chairman Gerald Birnberg said he expected Bettencourt to resign at some point, believing he had an interest in statewide office."So, I had expected him to resign to run for another office or to be more involved in the radio business," Birnberg said. "It occurs to me that Paul is too deliberate for this to have occurred 'day before yesterday.' It has got to be something he was thinking about more than 30 days ago, before the election, and I am disappointed he did not share his plans with the voters.
"I didn't agree with him on many things, but I have always respected his straightforwardness," he said.
I too have heard that Bettencourt wants to run statewide; I've also heard he wants Steve Radack's job when Radack retires. The thing is, I don't see how resigning now helps him achieve either of those goals. It can't help his name recognition outside of Harris County, and he's unlikely to do better at fundraising as a private citizen than as a fairly high-profile officeholder. Bettencourt would have to resign to run for something else, but he'd have a year before he had to worry about that. Maybe this is still his plan and maybe it's not, I just don't think resigning now makes sense if it is his plan. Am I missing something?
As for Bettencourt's replacement, PDiddie suggests in the comments to the previous post that former District Clerk Charles Bacarisse might be tapped, and that he wouldn't be an improvement from our perspective. I certainly agree that he'd be no less partisan, but I'm not convinced he'd be in the running. One presumes Ed Emmett owes him no favors, after all. Regardless, it wouldn't be a bad idea to let Commissioners Garcia and Lee know that you think it would be swell if we had a Tax Assessor who spent more time on the job than he or she did on talk radio. In the meantime, if you've got a rumor or a wild notion about who might draw the golden ticket, leave it in the comments.
UPDATE: As soon as I'd hit the Publish button, the following email from Annie's List landed in my Inbox:
In the middle of the night it has been confirmed by the Houston Chronicle that Paul Bettencourt intends to vacate his seat effective December 10th and that the Harris County Commissioners Court will now need to appoint an interim successor to fill his term."We strongly encourage Judge Emmett and the Commissioners Court to appoint Dr. Diane Trautman to fill this unexpected vacancy. She is an extremely accomplished woman who, after being a candidate for the position for over a year, understands the Tax Assessor-Collectors office and has a clear vision of how to move this office forward while removing the air of partisanship that has undermined it in the past" said Annie's List Political Director Robert E. Jones.
"With over 24 years experience as a teacher, administrator and college professor, Dr. Diane Trautman has demonstrated she has the experience and a track record of ethical leadership to run the Tax Assessor-Collectors office as a service organization that puts people over politics."
Needless to say, I would be delighted by that choice. I hope Commissioners Garcia and Lee, at the least, give it serious consideration.
Remember when there was some space between one election cycle and the next? Those were the days, my friends, those were the days.
U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison showed she's serious about running for governor in 2010 on Thursday by forming a state campaign committee and transferring $1 million to it from her federal account.Hutchison told the Houston Chronicle in an interview that speculation about her possible resignation from the Senate to run for governor is premature.
"If I did resign to run, it would be late next year. It's not going to be something very soon at all, because I do have a job to do in the Senate," Hutchison said. "It's a very important time. I want to do this when it's right for Texas. An early resignation would not be right for Texas."
"Plus, it's a lot easier to raise mountains of cash as a sitting Senator than as a private citizen, and I plan to bury that pretty boy's ass in money over the next few months," she did not add.
Perry spokesman Mark Miner dismissed Hutchison's campaign filing as a false start."Kay Bailout has been talking about running for governor and passing legislation for years, and neither has happened," Miner said. "Today continues her record of indecision."
Miner has been referring to Hutchison as "Bailout" because of her support of a $700 billion federal rescue of Wall Street. Hutchison's chief of staff last week said Perry supported the bill before he opposed it and that "is how you get 39 percent of the vote after six years in office," referring to the governor's 2006 re-election by plurality.
You can tell this is going to be a high-minded campaign about issues already. Are you well-stocked with popcorn yet?
In a way, you have to admire State Board of Education member Cynthia Dunbar. It can't be easy to establish oneself as the craziest person on that undistinguished body, given the fierce competition that exists for that title, yet she nonetheless manages to stand apart from the pack.
In her book, One Nation Under God, Dunbar argues that the country's founding fathers created "an emphatically Christian government" and believed that government should be guided by a "biblical litmus test."Dunbar endorses a belief system requiring "any person desiring to govern have a sincere knowledge and appreciation for the Word of God in order to rightly govern."
She calls public education a "subtly deceptive tool of perversion." The establishment of public schools is unconstitutional and even "tyrannical," she writes in the book, because it threatens the authority of families, granted by God through Scripture, to direct the instruction of their children.
Her book was not written for the general public, said Dunbar, whose 16-county area includes Fort Bend and Brazoria counties and part of Travis County.
"It's mainly an educational tool to the body of Christ," Dunbar said, adding that Christians appear to be targeted once they become active politically.
You know, I don't think it's too much to ask for someone who has power over the state's public education system to not believe that said system is a tool of Satan. I also don't think it's too much to ask for a few prominent Republicans to offer some criticism of Dunbar and her whacked-out worldview. Seems to me it's extremists like Dunbar who have done so much to give the Republican Party a bad name lately, and that a little public disavowal might go a long way towards keeping some of those "critical middle" types from straying further away. But hey, what do I know? Keep it up, Cynthia. The campaign materials for your future opponent are writing themselves as we speak.
Whoah. I did not see this coming.
Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector Paul Bettencourt has resigned, effective Dec. 10.Bettencourt, who was elected to his third term last month, turned in a letter of resignation to Harris County Judge Ed Emmett on Thursday, Emmett spokesman Joe Stinebaker said later Friday.
He said Bettencourt was leaving to take a job in the private sector, but was unable to elaborate.
Obviously not much detail to this now - I can't wait to see what the morning update looks like. That's an even faster post-election resignation than Robert Eckels. And as with Eckels, I have to ask: Did he not have any inkling of this before the election? I think if I were a Bettencourt supporter, I'd be a little miffed about this.
I presume his replacement will be chosen by Commissioners Court. Which leads to a question: Do you think he'd have resigned if David Mincberg had been elected County Judge, which would have meant a Democratic majority on the Court and thus (presumably) a Democratic replacement? Actually, come to think of it, he might have done the same thing, in hopes of getting someone named to take over before Mincberg got sworn in. Boy, there's a hypothetical for you.
Well, one more office for the Dems to try to win in 2010. I can't say that prospect makes me unhappy.
UPDATE: Here's his statement, from Miya:
"I have spoken with Judge Emmett and told him of my intention to tender my resignation before Christmas. I want to give the Court time to address the vacancy and ensure an orderly transition," Bettencourt said."Over the Thanksgiving holiday I have received an offer of a private business venture that I intend to pursue.
"I want to thank the good people of Harris County for allowing me the opportunity to serve. It has been an honor and a privilege.
"We have accomplished a great deal in the office, ushering in an era of smart government - a focus on customer service and technology," Bettencourt concluded.
A full statement will be issued next week.
Whatever. From a public service viewpoint, I think this timing is lousy, and newly-elected officials should be very reluctant to walk away from the commitment they made to the voters. From a political viewpoint, I'm more than happy to see him go. I hope we get someone who cares about voter registration in his place.
Your daily reminder that the runoff election for SD17 is just around the corner:
Early voting for the runoff starts Monday. You can help get the vote out for Chris Bell. Among other things, you can sign up for virtual phonebanking. Having twelve Democratic Senators is a big deal and will do much good, but having thirteen really moves the ball forward - it's a bigger cushion, it's more seats at the table, it's broader representation of progressive voices, and it's a truer picture of what the electorate in Texas is like these days. Please do what you can to help make it happen. Thanks very much.
And now for something a little different. I've generated a lot of Genius-created playlists in my iTunes lately, but every once in awhile, I am told by Genius that it doesn't have enough information to do its thing. Here then are ten songs for which Genius failed me:
1. "Knees of My Bees" - Alannis Morrisette
2. "Ladies of the World" - Flight of the Conchords
3. "Delirious" - Guy Forsyth
4. "Get Up Offa That Thing, Pt. 1" - James Brown
5. "Jenny Jenkins" - Lisa Loeb
6. "Don't Worry Baby" - Los Lobos
7. "Running Away" - The Polyphonic Spree
8. "When You Were Mine" - Shake Russell & Jack Saunders
9. "Cherub Rock" - Smashing Pumpkins
10. "One Night In Bangkok" - from "Chess"
Better luck next time, I guess. I'll have a genuinely random list again next week.
No surprise there. The good news is that it's not nearly as bad as it could be.
Sales tax revenue could be 3.4 percent lower than planned for this fiscal year, said Controller Annise Parker. That means a shortfall of $17.7 million from what was budgeted."I'd like to be proven wrong and see oil prices pop back up and the economy humming along, but we have to be prepared if it doesn't," Parker said. "If we are correct in our estimates -- and they are estimates -- then the administration will have to make changes and cut costs somewhere."
Mayor Bill White's finance director, Michelle Mitchell, had a slightly more optimistic estimate, predicting a drop of less than 1 percent in projected sales tax revenues for Houston.
That translates into a budget shortfall of less than $5 million. The city expected to spend $2.1 billion in operating funds in fiscal year 2009, which began in July.
Mitchell and Parker, the city's two financial gurus, usually match each other in their fiscal estimates. But not this month. Mitchell predicted that post-Ike rebuilding and reconstruction would make up for most of the recession-caused shortfall in other consumer spending. Parker disagreed: "We don't see (Ike reconstruction) as an add-on to holiday shopping; we see that as instead of shopping."
Both emphasized the city still will bring in more sales tax revenue than last year, but it will not be as much as anticipated when the budget was finalized in late spring. Since then, the city's economy has weathered a hurricane, credit and stock market woes, and the official announcement of a national recession. Oil prices also have dropped.
We'll know who's right soon enough. The good news, as I said, is that this really isn't that much in context. Even if Parker's more pessimistic estimate is correct, we're talking 0.8% of the city's budget. That's a gap that can be bridged without too much pain. The city's refinancing of the pension obligation, expected to save a few million bucks a year going forward, will help as well. Let's hope this is the worst of it.
We may as well operate on that assumption, anyway.
Comptroller Susan Combs said Texas government "is relatively still in good shape" from tax collections, but she noted lawmakers are likely to face immediate and unavoidable spending needs that will leave the state without much of a surplus."There are a lot of very significant needs that are unavoidable. So I would not assume there's going to be a very large pot of money at the end," Combs said.
She said lawmakers likely are facing the prospect of passing a $3.2 billion supplemental appropriations bill to cover the costs of Medicaid growth, Hurricane Ike cleanup and shoring up the state wind insurance pool.
The cleanup cost for Ike is estimated to be $15 billion.
Gov. Rick Perry has asked the Federal Emergency Management Agency to pick up the full cost, but FEMA wants to limit the reimbursement because of a projected state budget surplus.
That would mean the state would have to pay $2 billion toward the cleanup.
Combs said the state currently is expecting to end this fiscal year Aug. 31, 2009, with $2 billion in general revenue, $3 billion available but dedicated to local property tax reductions and $6.7 billion in the state's "rainy day" fund.
I wonder if we'll tap into the "rainy day" fund for that supplemental Ike spending. I don't know what the point of that fund is if this kind of emergency-need spending doesn't qualify for it. Combs won't say till next month how much revenue is available for the Lege to spend, so consider that $2 billion general surplus figure not to be written in stone.
The Texas Ethics Commission is getting set to act on an ethics complaint filed in 2007 against State Supreme Court Justice Nathan Hecht. (A more recent complaint against Hecht is still pending.) Something about this case really caught my eye:
The controversy stems from Jackson Walker's successful defense of Hecht in 2006 in a dispute with the Commission on Judicial Conduct.The judicial commission had admonished Hecht for promoting President George W. Bush's short-lived nomination in 2005 of Harriet Miers, a longtime friend of Hecht's, to the U.S. Supreme Court.
It said Hecht had violated a rule prohibiting Texas judges from publicly endorsing candidates for office. Hecht appealed and, represented by Jackson Walker partner Chip Babcock, won a dismissal of the admonition from a three-judge panel.
[...]
The justice said he received an invoice for $476,097 from the law firm in December 2006. On a separate line, he said, the invoice had a second figure, $404,682, identified as "less 15 percent discount."
"I understood that the 'discount' was not a contribution or gift to me but that it merely reflected a suggested reasonable fee for my particular case," Hecht said in his affidavit.
"Furthermore, Chip and I discussed that a portion of the legal services, perhaps around 25 percent, should be considered as having been rendered pro bono publico -- for the good of the public -- because of the ethical issues in the case that are important for all Texas judges and the First Amendment issues that are important to all judges in the United States," he added. "I understood that his firm (Jackson Walker) agreed."
Hecht said he and Babcock finally agreed on a $307,897 fee, which the justice paid in April 2007. He said he also paid additional expenses of $34,519.
Okay, I have to ask: Is it really possible that the legal work needed for this kind of case could have reasonably cost nearly a half-million bucks? I mean, I'm sure Jackson Walker charges a premium hourly rate, which is fine, but how many hours could this have taken them? I ask because I have no idea, but the possibility that it could add up to this much just boggles my mind. Any lawyers want to weigh in on this? Thanks.
Oh, and in the end, what Justice Hecht ultimately got out of all this was a $29,000 fine for accepting and failing to report an illegal political contribution from a law firm. Which he says he may appeal. I wonder how much that will cost him.
I'm not remotely qualified to pass judgment on these twelve possible remakes of "classic" sci-fi movies. (Pete Von Der Haar, please call your office.) But I will say one thing:
"Flash! Flash, I love you, but we only have fourteen hours to save the earth!"
I think that about covers it.
You'll be hearing more of this stuff through Runoff Day.
Early voting begins Monday in the Senate District 17 special election runoff, so join Team Bell this weekend to turn out the vote for Chris Bell! Each of our five Bell campaign headquarters offices across the district will be block walking and phone banking Saturday and Sunday, so contact the office closest to you to learn more. Those of you planning to join us at the Braeswood headquarters will be volunteering alongside our wonderful State Representative, Ellen Cohen! She will be block walking with Chris and his wife, Alison, at 2 p.m. Saturday, so sign up today to join them.We have been fortunate to receive such a generous outpouring of support. Your time and money will make the difference in this election, and we appreciate your efforts. It is crucial for us to continue to fill our offices to capacity with volunteers, but we also need a little help keeping up with the increased volume. Team Bell needs water, snacks, paper, and other office supplies, so please drop your donations at the campaign office closest to you.
If you're looking for other ways to help, we also need short-term housing for out-of-town volunteers and students who are making the trip to District 17 to help Chris. Contact Lindsay Hagans at 713-667-8990 or [email protected] if you're interested in housing a Bell supporter.
We have less than two weeks left until the Dec. 16 election day, so let's push hard to the finish!
As a reminder, here are the Early Voting locations for Harris and Fort Bend counties. Let's get this one across the finish line, folks. If we want to make some real progress on pressing issues like education and health care, we need the right people in government for the job. That's Chris Bell, and we can make it happen if we can get our voters to turn out. Thanks very much.
Hill Research Consultants, the group that did that poll I mentioned earlier, is also the employer of David Benzion of the Lone Star Times. He's got some more info about the poll, including the full poll memo, which clocks in at 179 pages. This may take awhile to read and digest, so I'll leave it at that for now. My thanks to David for the heads up on the links.
UPDATE: The Observer blog has screenshots from the PDF if you don't feel like wading through it just yet.
The good ship KBH For Governor 2010 has set sail.
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison today launched a committee to explore a run for governor in 2010.Hutchison's paperwork, filed at the Texas Ethics Commission, names Allan "Bud" Shivers Jr. of Austin as her campaign treasurer. Fetch the one-pager here.
Although the paperwork doesn't mean Hutchison has officially declared she's running, it allows her to raise money in anticipation of challenging Gov. Rick Perry, a fellow Republican.
Early chatter: She'll endeavor to raise millions of dollars by the end of the 2009 legislative session so that her state kitty looks as strong as the one held by Perry. The unconfirmed word is she's going to transfer $1 million up front from her federal campaign treasury to get the state effort rolling. And the special twist, for her, is that she may legally raise money during the session. State law forbids state elected officials including Perry, from doing so during the session.
UPDATE: Hutchison issued a statement mid-morning in which she reminded that she's not yet a candidate. She said she's transferring $1 million from her federal kitty to her state account "and will take further steps as they become appropriate.
Well, okay, it hasn't quite set sail yet, but it is thinking about raising its anchor. You've got to start somewhere. The full text of her press release can be found here. Links via BOR.
For what it's worth, I've come around to the notion that Hutchison won't resign from the Senate until and unless she absolutely has to. That may mean not until she's won election as Governor, which in turn means no special election until 2011. She's basically got a free shot at this, unlike 2006 when she had to choose between Governor and re-election to the Senate, and she's stepped down from leadership positions in the Senate. I think if she does resign at all, it will be later rather than sooner. But who knows with KBH?
UPDATE: According to Miya, Mayor White will announce his intentions next week.
UPDATE: Burka thinks it's sooner rather than later for KBH. Like I said, who knows with her?
Burka was the first one to report on a survey of Texas voters done by Hill Research Consultants, a Houston-based Republican polling firm, which contains some not so good news for the state GOP. Here's a quick summary of some of the findings.
Are you likely to vote for Republican or Democrat in the next election for governor?Republican, 31 percent Democrat, 44 percent
For state representative?
Republican, 31 percent Democrat, 45 percent
Parties' favorable/unfavorable:
Republicans, 47/45 Democrats, 59/29
Poll respondents also identified Republicans as more arrogant, racist and corrupt, while more said Democrats were innovative, smart and fair.
Overall job approval of Republicans in state government:
Approve, 45 percent
Disapprove, 50 percent
Have Republicans performed well enough to deserve re-election?
GOP deserves re-election, 32 percent
Give Democrats a chance, 54 percent
That's almost too good to be true, but as Rod Dreher writes, it is being taken seriously in some GOP circles.
"Every single person I've shown this to has said, 'Wow, I thought something like this might be happening,' " says David B. Hill, who ran the poll. "I don't think it's terribly surprising."The full report, which will be released today, knocks the legs out from under two principles cherished by the party's grassroots: staunch social conservatism and hard-line immigration policies. At the state level, few voters care much about abortion, school prayer and other hot-button issues. Immigration is the only conservative stand-by that rates much mention - and by hitting it too hard, Republicans lose both the Hispanics and independents that make up what the pollster defines as the "Critical Middle."
Who's in the Critical Middle? Mostly young males who see themselves as moderates and who lean slightly GOP. Clustering around Austin, they're largely unchurched and care little about social issues or immigration. They're open to a GOP appeal to overall spending cuts and credible promises to be good economic stewards.
"Republicans are going to have to win 70 to 80 percent of these voters if they're going to win statewide," Mr. Hill tells me.
You may ask, if things are so bleak for the Republicans, how did they manage to do so well statewide? Greg suggests a reason.
There's two ways of looking at this:One way is that these people are still voting for Republicans in Texas in the two worst climates thus far in the "Age of Bush".
The second way is that there really hasn't been a sufficiently-funded Democratic candidate to press the issue.
There's nothing to suggest the first point won't alleviate somewhat for the GOP. But there's also nothing to suggest that the second point won't be getting any easier in the future. The statewide judicials actually had a semi-respectable chunk of change to run with in 2008 and demonstrated that Texas was, intrinsically, a 51-45 GOP state. I don't know that there's anything terribly frightening about a 6-point hill to climb when you're used to having head handed over to you without benefit of a silver platter by 12-20 points previously.
Indeed. Just as a reminder, let's compare the 2008 statewide non-Presidential results to the 2004 versions. Here's 2004:
Railroad CommissionerVictor G. Carrillo(I) REP 3,891,482 55.46%
Bob Scarborough DEM 2,872,717 40.94%
Anthony Garcia LIB 252,497 3.59%
-----------
Race Total 7,016,696----------------------------------------
Justice, Supreme Court, Place 9
Scott Brister(I) REP 4,093,854 59.23%
David Van Os DEM 2,817,700 40.76%
-----------
Race Total 6,911,554----------------------------------------
Judge, Court of Criminal Appeals Place 6
Michael E. Keasler(I) REP 3,990,315 57.85%
J.R. Molina DEM 2,906,720 42.14%
-----------
Race Total 6,897,035
And here's 2008:
Railroad CommissionerMichael L. Williams(I) REP 4,003,789 52.13%
Mark Thompson DEM 3,406,174 44.35%
David Floyd LIB 270,078 3.51%
-----------
Race Total 7,680,041----------------------------------------
Chief Justice, Supreme CourtWallace B. Jefferson(I) REP 4,092,181 53.10%
Jim Jordan DEM 3,374,433 43.79%
Tom Oxford LIB 239,063 3.10%
-----------
Race Total 7,705,677----------------------------------------
Justice, Supreme Court, Place 7Dale Wainwright(I) REP 3,926,015 50.99%
Sam Houston DEM 3,525,158 45.78%
David G. Smith LIB 247,512 3.21%
-----------
Race Total 7,698,685----------------------------------------
Justice, Supreme Court, Place 8Phil Johnson(I) REP 4,018,396 52.31%
Linda Reyna Yanez DEM 3,428,179 44.63%
Drew Shirley LIB 234,092 3.04%
-----------
Race Total 7,680,667
----------------------------------------
Judge, Court of Criminal Appeals Place 3Tom Price(I) REP 3,949,722 51.64%
Susan Strawn DEM 3,482,718 45.53%
Matthew E. Eilers LIB 216,060 2.82%
-----------
Race Total 7,648,500----------------------------------------
Judge, Court of Criminal Appeals Place 4Paul Womack(I) REP 4,044,788 52.96%
J.R. Molina DEM 3,340,754 43.74%
Dave Howard LIB 250,672 3.28%
-----------
Race Total 7,636,214
Houston improved on Bill Moody's percentage from 2006 by nearly a point, while Wainwright was a fraction behind Don Willett. Basically, that's converting some of the "not-Republican" votes into actual Democratic votes. Bob Scarborough was down 14.5 points to Victor Carrillo for the "closest" race in 04. Everyone this year was within ten, with all but two within eight. That's still a hill to climb, but it doesn't sound that steep to me. These are gaps that can be realistically closed by a sufficiently funded candidate with a good message. You already know who I think that is, so I'll just note that Campos and BOR are on this as well. I look forward to seeing the full study when it is released.
An update on the Noriega for Cabinet story:
The Congressional Hispanic Caucus, frustrated that just one Latino has been picked for Barack Obama's Cabinet to date, is pushing Houston state Rep. Rick Noriega and 13 other prominent Hispanics for the eight remaining spots in the president-elect's Cabinet.Reps. Charlie Gonzalez, D-Texas, and Joe Baca, D-Calif., sent a letter yesterday to Obama's transition team on behalf of the Hispanic Caucus recommending that Noriega be considered for the Secretary of Veterans Affairs position. Noriega, a reserve Army officer who has served in Afghanistan, has met with the Obama team in Chicago, our Chronicle collegue Alan Bernstein reported last week.
My first thought for him was FEMA, but this would be a good fit, too. President-elect Obama says he's still working on filling out his Cabinet, so hopefully we'll know soon. BOR has more.
A Democratic activist filed a complaint Tuesday accusing House Speaker Tom Craddick of violating a state law prohibiting the payment of dependent children with campaign donations.The twist is that Craddick's daughter, Christi, is a lawyer in her 30s -- well beyond the minor child that the law targeted -- who has been paid a six-figure sum by her father from his campaign donations.
However, John Cobarruvias, the Houston lawyer who filed the complaint, said the speaker violated the law because he supplied a substantial part, if not all, of Christi Craddick's annual income by paying her $625,000 from his campaign donations over the past six years.
Plus, Cobarruvias said Craddick has his daughter on state-paid insurance because of a 1997 law that allows parents to keep a "dependent child" on taxpayer-paid health insurance "until they marry -- regardless of age."
Most adult children are dropped from state health insurance during their 20s or when they are married and become independent. Christi Craddick is not married.
"He needs to give up one or the other," Cobarruvias said Tuesday of Craddick paying his daughter with supporters' donations and the state-paid health insurance.
Who's Playin' has a copy of the complaint. The irony of Craddick's now-37-year-old daughter getting state-provided health insurance while he has been relentlessly hostile towards the Children's Health Insurance Program is, I trust, not lost on you. Eye on Williamson has more.
Lisa Gray writes about Market Square Park downtown and its unfulfilled potential.
The main reason people don't go there, says Project for Public Spaces, is that ... there's nobody there.So what attracts those first brave souls to linger in an empty park? Project for Public Spaces suggests that basically, those people need good reasons to be there -- and the more reasons, the better.
The group's report suggests lots of powerful attractions for a revamped Market Square Park. A food stand with lots of attractive seating. A playground. And special events: a tai chi class in the morning, maybe, or a farmers market in the afternoon, or a high school jazz band at dusk. A micro-branch of the city's public library where patrons could drop off and pick up books. And free WiFi for laptop-toting nomads.
But the strongest attraction of all -- one possibly able to bring Market Square Park a day-in, day-out core of regulars -- wouldn't cater directly to people. It's a dog run, a fenced area where downtown loft-dwellers could let their animals off the leash. Instead of feeling that dogs are unwelcome in the park, dog owners would feel invited.
Sounds an awful lot like Discovery Green to me. Not that there's anything wrong with that, as Discovery Green has been a smashing success, despite the best efforts of the usual nattering nabobs to convince us otherwise. The two parks are far enough apart, and there's enough of a need for useful public green spaces in Houston to support this, I think. But I hope that the folks who are working to make Market Square more of an attraction don't overlap too much with Discovery Green. Let's not cannibalize the audience if we can help it.
From my friend Stephanie:
The Texans are hosting a blood drive at all Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center neighborhood locations from December 2-4th. There are additional locations that will be hosting the blood drive until the 9th. If you donate or attempt to donate during these times, and use the Houston Texans' group account number Q934, you will receive a commemorative T-shirt and a chance to win an autographed football. For more information, please click here.Now is an especially important time to donate blood because people get busy during the holidays and there are often critical shortages. Unfortunately, the need for blood products doesn't take a vacation.
She goes on to tell the story of her sister Deb, who as we know has unfortunately suffered a setback in her fight against leukemia. Please make the time to give blood this holiday season, whether as a part of that donation drive or whenever and wherever works for you. Thanks very much.
I have three things to say about the red light camera study that was finally released yesterday.
Red-light cameras have sprouted quickly across Texas in recent years, sparking heated debates about whether they reduce crashes or simply bring easy revenue for the cities that install them.New data from Texas A&M University's Texas Transportation Institute could help settle the argument.
A statewide study by institute researchers shows that monitored intersections had an overall 30 percent decrease in collisions.
The state-mandated report, released Tuesday by the Texas Department of Transportation, examined data from 56 intersections across the state, including many in Houston, from July 1, 2007, to June 31.
The data and analysis are limited because some cities' cameras went online during the study period and their post-installation data were not complete. But the report states that the cameras could be changing driver behavior.
"While these results cannot conclusively determine that red light cameras are responsible for the overall reduction in crashes ... the presence of the treatment provided some effect on the frequency of crashes at the selected intersections for the limited time period of this analysis," the report states.
The study examined crashes at select intersections from 12 cities that were required to report accidents under a new state law. The data show that right-angle collisions were reduced by 43 percent, while rear-end collisions increased by 5 percent, mirroring the results of other studies across the nation.
The report details a methodology complicated by timing. Some cities did not install cameras until recently, so they reported limited post-installation data. Others, based on exemptions in the law, were not required to report all their pre-installation data.
To compensate, institute researcher Troy Walden "annualized" some cities' crash rates.
The full study can be found here (65 page PDF) if you're interested. I hope to have enough free time to wade through it.
While I admire Matt Stiles' optimism, I do not believe for a second that this study will settle the argument. The people who don't like the cameras will continue to not like the cameras, and I suspect most of them will continue to believe that it's all about revenue regardless of the impact on safety. If anything, I expect the complaints to become more bitter.
And while I'm encouraged by these results, which frankly are better than I had expected, I don't think the matter is settled, either. I'd like to see a few more years' worth of data, to see if the effects continue or if people eventually go back to old habits, before passing judgment. I'd also like to know if any effects can be measured at other intersections in the camera-enabled cities. It's been suggested that having cameras at some intersections can help reduce collisions at other intersections as well. Let's take a closer look at that and see if there's something to it.
Finally, let's remember that a portion of the fines collected from red light camera violations are supposed to fund trauma centers, but there's been some shenanigans over that. Any time a dedicated revenue stream is created by the Lege, there's the risk that it will get dipped into for other purposes. This money should be used as intended, and if the Lege needs to clarify that intended use, it should take that action next spring.
UPDATE: More from Lose an Eye.
UPDATE: Grits has some substantive criticism.
Noel Freeman, who had previously run in the 2007 special election for Houston City Council At Large #3 race, sent out a press release announcing his intent to seek another At Large Council seat in 2009. Right now, there's one seat that will be open for sure - Council Member Ron Green in At Large #4 is term-limited - and one seat that most people expect to be open, as Council Member Peter Brown in At Large #1 is expected to run for Mayor. I've got Freeman's release beneath the fold. Though I was a big supporter of Council Member Melissa Noriega in that special election, I came away from the race with a very positive impression of Freeman, who I thought knew his stuff well. You can check out the interview I did with him back then and judge for yourself if you'd like. He also lives in the Heights, which certainly doesn't hurt from my perspective. I know he's been working on another Council bid since that race, so I'm glad to see him get an early jump. Stace has more. Click on for the release.
Houston, TX - City of Houston Public Works employee and small business owner Noel Freeman declared his intent to seek an at-large seat on Houston's City Council in the November 2009 general election. Freeman, who previously ran to fill a vacant Council seat in 2007 believes his many years of public service will bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to City Council that will make a positive difference for Houstonians."Houston is a tremendous city with a rich history and a bright future." Freeman said. "As Houstonians, we can all play a part in protecting what makes Houston great, and I believe I have the right experience to make a real difference for my fellow citizens."
Freeman's public service began at the age of 19 and includes four years as an intelligence analyst for the U.S. Air Force, as well as work for the National Archives and Record Administration and Congressman John Culberson's local Houston office. He has worked for Houston's Public Works and Engineering Department since 2004.
Freeman is also the owner of a consulting and commercial photography business and is actively involved in numerous causes and organizations throughout Houston. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in political science from Texas A&M University and will receive his Master of Public Administration from Norwich University in 2009.
The following comes from Houston Tomorrow, which is the new name for the Gulf Coast Institute:
Houston Tomorrow Distinguished Speaker Series DoubleheaderWednesday, December 3rd, 2008
Neal Peirce, Syndicated columnist
Topic: What does the Obama election mean for federal policy in metropolitan regions?Neal Peirce is a pulse-taker of change in how America governs itself. His column has repeatedly broken fresh ground in identifying vital new trends state and local governments and the dynamics of federal/state/local relations. Time magazine called Peirce "the only national chronicler of grass-roots America." His weekly column, syndicated through The Washington Post Writers Group since 1978, appears in over 50 newspapers.
Thursday, December 4th, 2008
Mark Winne, Author and food activist
Topic: Closing the Gap - Food security and policy in a fast-changing world.Mark Winne is the author of "Closing the Food Gap -- Resetting the Table in the Land of Plenty." From 1979 to 2003, he was the Executive Director of the Hartford Food System, a private non-profit agency that works on food and hunger issues in the Hartford, Connecticut area. During his tenure with HFS, Mark organized community self-help food projects that assisted the city's lower income and elderly residents. Mark's work with the Food System included the development of commercial food businesses, Connecticut's Farmers' Market Nutrition Program, farmers' markets, a 25-acre community supported agriculture farm, a food bank, food and nutrition education programs, and a neighborhood supermarket.
Details for both events:
United Way Community Resource Center
50 Waugh Dr., Houston, TX
reception 6:30
lecture 7:00 - 8:30Receptions and lectures are free.
Donations are appreciated.
RSVP to [email protected]
Enjoy!
If you've looked at a red/blue map of Harris County for this election, you've noticed that the Democrats by and large dominate the center, stretching south and southwest towards Fort Bend, whereas it's all red around the remaining edges. The Dems have been working their way outward, as the GOP's Anglo base has moved farther out and a more diverse population has filled in behind them, with the greatest inroads being made to the west of Loop 610 and the Beltway, as you can see by those big blue dots near Katy. I've talked about how this can and should lead to opportunities to win more State House seats, but there's more to it than that. The 2011 reapportionment will likely bring a new Congressional seat to the western part of Harris County. It's also conceivable that Harris could get more State Rep seats as well, if its share of the state population is sufficiently high.
But even if neither of those things were to happen, West Harris County is where the action will be in the coming years, and if I were an aspiring politician, I'd look hard at the population trends and figure out where the prime electoral possibilities will be in the next couple of cycles. One prize in particular I'd keep my eye on is County Commissioner's Court, Precinct 3, now held by long-term incumbent Steve Radack. Let's see what the numbers looked like in Radack's precinct this year:
Candidate Votes Pct
========================
Garcia 152,697 47.46
Sharp 137,327 43.53
Henley 135,406 43.48
Stone 135,208 43.26
Houston 134,911 43.20
Obama 142,251 42.90
Noriega 135,953 42.37
Handy 127,460 39.93
I didn't compute averages this time; the numbers cited are for the high scorers among the state, appeals, and county judicial candidates, plus the top countywide performer not named Adrian Garcia. It's not a surprise that Dexter Handy, a first-time candidate with little money running against one of the best-known and longest-serving incumbents in the county, didn't do as well as the rest of the slate. What should be a surprise is how well the average Democrat ran in this precinct, which has long been a Republican stronghold. I've talked about that at length, but the point here is that it's not just in the smaller districts where things are getting competitive. These things add up, and they're adding up in Precinct 3. We need to look at it in a different light now.
I don't think it's a stretch to say that how Adrian Garcia did in any given area is a benchmark of what is possible for Democrats there. I also don't think it's unreasonable to think that in four years' time, if current trends hold, his high-water marks will be more like the average. Now imagine that Radack finally makes good on his oft-stated desire to retire in 2012, and think about what an open-seat race to replace him might look like. Given that Ed Emmett has to be considered a favorite to retain the County Judge's office in 2010, this may be the Democrats' best chance to finally gain a majority on Commissioners Court; given the nature of the Commissioners' offices, it would be an enduring majority as well. Maybe it's time to start thinking about who ought to consider running for that office in four years. It can't be too early to start consolidating support.
While you're pondering that, consider the numbers in Justice of the Peace/Constable Precinct 5, which falls almost entirely within CC Precint 3:
Candidate Votes Pct
========================
Garcia 145,203 49.23
Sharp 130,912 45.27
Henley 129,135 45.21
Stone 129,200 45.08
Houston 128,927 45.05
Obama 135,308 44.56
Noriega 129,831 44.19
Pearson 125,477 43.18
Rene 123,752 43.17
The offices of JP and Constable aren't nearly as sexy as County Commissioner seats, but they too tend to be enduring, and as they cover a lot of ground and put you in contact with a lot of people, they can be springboards to higher offices, as former-JP-turned-Rep. Al Green can attest. I've no idea what incumbent JP Russ Ridgway's or Constable Phil Camus' future plans are, but they may well face a very challenging environment in 2012. Like Dexter Handy, 2008 candidates Peter Rene (who ran against Ridgway) and Sam Pearson (who garnered the Chron endorsement in his run against Camus) ran good races in a couple of overlooked spots, and showed what's possible out this way. Now that we know this, let's not forget it when the next chance comes along.
In addition to HD105, there was a recount in the HD11 race in East Texas, where incumbent Democrat Rep. Chuck Hopson survived by 103 votes. That recount was concluded yesterday, but it seems to have raised more questions than it answered.
A vote recount requested by his opponent, Brian K. Walker (R-Tatum) was held Monday and Tuesday in the four counties comprising District 11. Rep. Hopson (D-Jacksonville) gained nine votes in the recount, excluding Cherokee County.The vote recount in Cherokee County returned odd numbers that officials are at a loss to explain. Mr. Hopson lost 29 votes and Mr. Walker lost 121 votes.
And in a race that separated the two candidates by just 103 votes, the Cherokee County margin of error is significant.
Cherokee County Clerk Laverne Lusk, who was contacted at home at press deadline Tuesday, said that Mr. Walker lost 121 votes, and that Mr. Hopson lost 29.
"We are shocked that there were this many votes different," said Mrs. Lusk. "I don't know if this is from early voting or precinct voting. I won't know until we look at the reports from election night.
"Tomorrow, we will go over the numbers and see where it came from."
The recount in Cherokee County was overseen by a representative of the Secretary of State's office. Mrs. Lusk said the SOS representative agreed with the final number on the recount.
The recount process concluded after 5 p.m. Tuesday in Cherokee County was the only one which required two days. It is also the only county that returned results significantly different from the first count on election night.
Before the vote recount is official, it must be certified by county judges in Cherokee, Rusk, Houston and Panola counties and canvassed by Gov. Rick Perry.
The process could be concluded by the end of the week.
[...]
Mr. Walker carried Panola and Rusk counties during the General Election. In the Monday recount in Panola County, Mr. Walker's vote tally remained unchanged. Rep. Hopson's total was one ballot less than the machine count had originally indicated.
"Susan Potts, an attorney for Brian K. Walker, requested copies of the provisional ballot envelopes, rejected mail-out ballot envelopes, applications and rejection letters and 72 ballots that she had questions about," said Cheyenne Lampley, election administrator in Panola County. "In the majority of those ballots that were requested, the voter had voted a straight party but then voted in a different party in the district 11 race. All 72 ballots were counted and included in the recount."
In the Rusk County recount which concluded at approximately 4 p.m. Monday, Mr. Walker lost 14 votes during the recount. The vote discrepancy in that recount stems from "limited ballots." Kathy Wittner, election coordinator, explained that those ballots are designed to allow a voter who moves to a new county to vote during early on races that include only federal and statewide elections.
Ms. Wittner explained that state law does not require limited ballots to be counted by hand. If the paper ballots are scanned and if the voter marks local races, they are counted like regular ballots. Only a recount by hand can reveal this type of discrepancy.
The Houston County recount concluded at approximately 7 p.m. Monday. County Clerk Bridget Lamb said that in the recount, Mr. Walker gained four votes, Rep. Hopson had no change and the Libertarian candidate, Paul Bryan, lost two votes.
Weird. No word as yet as to whether the Walker campaign has conceded or will continue to fight. The next step would be an election contest, to be adjudicated by the House. Wouldn't that add an extra layer of drama on top of the ongoing chaos? Thanks to Trail Blazers for the heads up. The AusChron has more.
In case you haven't come across it yet, Keep Houston Rich is a blog about our fair city's diversity. From its About page:
Houston is a city rich in spirit and, thanks to the oil industry, home to plenty of millionaires. But that is not all that makes our city rich.Houstonians are a diverse group and some of the nicest people on the planet. Who better to demonstrate the city's rich diversity than its own citizens!
I don't know where he finds them, but the posts are all video clips, some from recent Houston history and some from present day events. Some of them bring back amazing memories, like the one about Hakeem Olajuwon blocking John Starks' shot to win Game 6 of the 1994 NBA Finals - go here, scroll to the bottom of the page, and remember what fun that all was. Scroll around the site for more cool stuff like that - you could easily waste an afternoon over there. And isn't that what the Internet is all about?
I suppose I shouldn't be surprised by this.
Former Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal will not face any criminal charges, his appointed successor announced today after an eight-month investigation.In a press release, Interim District Attorney Ken Magidson said he accepted an offer by the Texas Attorney General's Office to assist in the investigation to avoid any conflict on interest.
The investigation focused on whether there was prosecutable criminal misconduct in Rosenthal's use of government resources, including office e-mails, relating to political activities.
"After a careful and independent review of this matter, I have determined that there is insufficient evidence for prosecution," Magidson said.
The declaration effectively ends any possibility of charges for Rosenthal's actions during the downward spiral of his last months in office.
Which is to say it effectively and officially brings the Rosenthal era to a close. I feel like there should be a ceremony or something to mark the occasion, but I don't know what it should be. Any suggestions?
Background on the AG's investigation is here. Texas Watchdog has the full press release. And in case you missed it last week, Rosenthal was the cover boy and the 2008 Turkey of the Year for the Houston Press. Go ahead, indulge in a little Romancethal nostalgia. It may be the last good chance you get.
Lots of lawsuits in the news today.
A Galveston district judge should void a decision to fire 3,800 employees at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston because it was illegally made during a closed meeting, according to a lawsuit filed today.The lawsuit accuses the University of Texas regents of violating the Texas Open Meetings Act when they closed the doors to a Nov. 12 meeting and decided to authorize the layoffs to help stem financial losses caused by Hurricane Ike.
"Our lawyers believe we acted within the law of the Open Meetings Act," said Anthony de Bruyn, spokesman for the UT system. He declined to comment on pending litigation.
[...]
The lawsuit was filed by the Texas Faculty Association, which has about 1,200 members statewide, UTMB employee Kay Sandor, former UTMB employee and former Galveston City Councilwoman Dianna Puccetti, and Galveston businessman Allen Lecornu.
"Important public decisions are being made in secret for reasons nobody knows," TFA Executive Director Tom Johnson said about the regents.
"They meet in secret and are accountable to no one," Johnson said.
Galveston Attorney Joe Jaworski said he filed the lawsuit in Galveston County District Court at 8:22 a.m. The case has been assigned to District Judge Wayne Mallia.
I've got the press release from the TFA beneath the fold. They were originally going to file tomorrow but moved it up to today. Any lawyers want to comment on this one?
Galveston attorney Joe Jaworski will file a lawsuit on behalf of the Texas Faculty Assn. (TFA) and other plaintiffs alleging that University of Texas Board of Regents and other UT officials violated the Texas Open Meetings Act when they held a closed meeting and conference phone calls before they announced the layoffs of 3,800 employees of the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in the wake of Hurricane Ike."UTMB has proudly served the health needs of Texas for over a century. It is a first-class teaching hospital, research institution and Level-One Trauma Center. Hurricane Ike caused severe, but reparable damage; however, the UT System Board of Regents have shocked all Texans by choosing to dismantle the institution rather than rebuild with insurance, FEMA money and other available state and federal funds," said Jaworski.
"We don't know the basis of their decision since it was secretly deliberated in a closed session in violation of the Texas Open Meetings Act. This lawsuit seeks to shine some much needed light on the Regents' shocking decision," he added.
"This hasty, secret and ill-conceived decision by the UT Regents, UTMB officials and UT Chancellor Ken Shine is guaranteed to destroy Galveston's largest employer and render the recovery of this great city all, but impossible," stated TFA Executive Director Tom Johnson.
"It is a vicious, cruel, immoral and abusive attack on thousands of loyal UTMB employees who have already been traumatized by Hurricane Ike. The decision is guaranteed to render increasing illnesses and may even increase deaths among the non-insured Galveston population - a population that UTMB has been attempting to abandon for years as 'unprofitable.'
"TFA pledges to our members, UTMB employees and the citizens of Galveston and Texas that we will do everything in our power to see that this action is reversed."
As the official recount in HD105 gets underway, the Texas Democratic Party has filed a new lawsuit in federal court to require that so-called "emphasis votes" be counted.
The Texas Democratic Party filed a federal voting-rights lawsuit against Dallas County elections officials, accusing them of violating federal laws by not counting certain votes from electronic voting machines in the recount."Win or lose, this has always been about protecting Texans' votes," state Democratic Party chairman Boyd Richie said in a prepared statement. "We need to make absolutely sure that every legal vote is counted, as anything less amounts to disenfranchisement and cannot be allowed to stand."
Republicans accused their counterparts of manipulative legal maneuvering.
"Their motivation is not to have valid votes counted," said Wade Emmert, a Republican attorney. "Their motivation is to take away the voice of those who have already voted."
In the federal suit, Democrats ask for a temporary restraining order that would require county elections officials to count for each candidate the straight-party votes on electronic voting machines not tallied during the initial count. As an alternative, the lawsuit asks a federal court to void the Nov. 4 results and order a new election for the seat, which has statewide political ramifications.
The previous lawsuit was thrown out of state court by Dallas District Court Judge Jim Jordan, who ruled in response to a motion filed by the Republican Party that he did not have jurisdiction. I still disagree the TDP's arguments in this case. What I'd ultimately like to see result from this is better and more uniform standards for electronic voting machine interfaces, so that any confusion about the nature of straight party ballots can be minimized, and for the machines to be required to print out a paper receipt, with the allowance that you can still make changes to your selections after you've had a chance to inspect the receipt. That's up to the Lege, and it won't happen any time soon, if ever. I'm hoping this will be a catalyst.
Rep. Al Green has settled a nasty-looking dispute with a former employee.
U.S. Rep. Al Green has withdrawn a lawsuit he filed in September asking a federal judge to find that he never discriminated against an ex-employee.Green's attorney, Ben Hall, asked last week that the case be dismissed because Lucinda Daniels, without payment or promise of money, signed a written agreement dismissing and releasing all claims against Green.
Lawyers for the two sides released the following joint statement Monday: "Congressman Alexander Green and Lucinda Daniels have both resolved and settled their respective disputes without payment, promise or receipt of any money. They regret any circumstances that created this dispute. They do not wish to pursue any litigation against each other. And, they wish each other well."
More here. Looks like Rep. Green achieved his objective.
The following comparison comes out of a conversation I had yesterday with Greg and the realization that it hasn't gotten anywhere near the attention I think it deserves. I'm talking about the result out in House Speaker Tom Craddick's district, HD82, which covers Crane, Dawson, Martin, Midland, and Upton counties. This is, needless to say, one of the most Republican parts of the state. Look at the 2006 election results (PDF) for the district; at a quick glance, it's hard to tell the difference between races with a Republican and a Democrat, and the races with a Republican and a Libertarian. This year, Craddick, who had a Democratic challenger for the first time in forever in Bill Dingus, won with a smidge more than 62% of the vote to Dingus' 35% (there was a Lib as well). That may not seem very interesting, but consider this:
County Craddick Dingus McCain Obama
========================================
Crane 821 483 1,119 319
Dawson 2,483 1,283 2,906 1,152
Martin 711 893 1,389 314
Midland 28,526 15,798 36,155 9,691
Upton 661 413 898 288Totals 33,302 18,870 42,467 11,764
Call me crazy, but that looks like an awful lot of Republican voters - about 7 or 8 thousand of them - who crossed over to vote for Dingus. Remember, this is Tom "Speaker For Life" Craddick, arguably the most powerful politician in Texas, who has represented this district for 40 years we are talking about. And lest you think this is some skewed result that just shows West Texas antipathy to Barack Obama, here's a few more comparisons:
County Craddick Dingus Cornyn Noriega
=========================================
Crane 821 483 990 319
Dawson 2,483 1,283 2,742 1,064
Martin 711 893 1,252 343
Midland 28,526 15,798 35,514 8,798
Upton 661 413 830 255Totals 33,302 18,870 41,328 10,779
County Craddick Dingus Williams Thompson
===========================================
Crane 821 483 857 394
Dawson 2,483 1,283 2,366 1,214
Martin 711 893 1,142 371
Midland 28,526 15,798 34,736 8,857
Upton 661 413 716 294Totals 33,302 18,870 39,817 11,130
County Craddick Dingus Wainwright Houston
============================================
Crane 821 483 797 412
Dawson 2,483 1,283 2,275 1,275
Martin 711 893 1,056 394
Midland 28,526 15,798 33,032 9,752
Upton 661 413 671 305Totals 33,302 18,870 37,831 12,138
County Craddick Dingus Johnson Yanez
=========================================
Crane 821 483 834 398
Dawson 2,483 1,283 2,439 1,169
Martin 711 893 1,104 376
Midland 28,526 15,798 33,426 9,367
Upton 661 413 686 293Totals 33,302 18,870 38,489 11,603
No matter how you slice it, other Republicans get thousands more votes than Craddick. And the effect is by far the strongest in Craddick's home county of Midland, where apparently to know him is not necessarily to love him.
And just to prove that this is a recent phenomenon, here's Craddick versus Bush in 2004:
County Craddick Bush
=========================
Crane 1,121 1,314
Dawson 2,779 3,419
Martin 1,107 1,514
Midland 36,373 36,585
Upton 857 1,009Totals 42,237 43,841
Craddick was unopposed that year; Bush may as well have been in those counties. Ah, Midland. What did Tommy ever do to you?
Anyway. I point all this out, apparently just as the arm-twisting efforts on Craddick's behalf are being ramped up, so that the next time you hear a Craddick acolyte, like Rep. Will Hartnett or Burnet County Republican Linda Rogers, president of Texas Republican county chairmen, claim that opposition to Craddick is all about "liberals", you ask them to explain those good, solid Republicans in Midland and the rest of HD82 who voted to oust him from the House. Maybe, just maybe, it's possible to be a Republican and to think Tom Craddick is bad for Texas, too.
This ought to make for some lively debate.
More than a month before the legislative session starts Jan. 13, gun-rights supporters are asking state lawmakers to pass an "open carry" law to let Texans stop covering up the guns they carry and wear them openly.They are putting their message on billboards, on banners on cabs and in radio ads, asking others to sign on to the cause.
"We are targeting Texas," said Mike Stollenwerk, co-founder of www.opencarry.org, a champion of the growing nationwide effort. "Texas is probably the most pro-gun state, but doesn't have open-carry laws.
"As Texans realize how restrictive their rights are . . . there will be an awakening. Get ready for a showdown in Austin come January."
Texas is somewhat of an open-carry battleground because it is one of only six states where handguns cannot, in some form, legally be worn in plain view. Texas residents may carry concealed handguns if they have a permit.
More than 28,000 people have signed an online petition asking Gov. Rick Perry and the Legislature to make Texas an open-carry state.
[...]
Supporters say open carry is needed because under the concealed-carry law, gun owners can get in trouble for displaying their weapon even inadvertently, such as if a jacket covering it up blows back enough to show the gun.
"I want to be able to remove my suit jacket in the middle of a hot Texas August day without being labeled a criminal," said Ralph Carroll, who lives in Van Zandt County and works in Dallas. "I can drive east or west one state over, remove my jacket in the heat of the day and still be a perfectly legal citizen. But that same act in Texas will brand me a criminal -- for no reason other than I live in Texas."
Okay, I can see the value in that. As Grits and Injustice Anywhere have shown, gun carriers have been subject to petty harassment by law enforcement for exercising their rights. While I can't quite get this image out of my head for the open carry advocates, as someone who thinks we criminalize way too much stuff in Texas, I would support this effort. Vince and Hal have more.
Hurricane scientists meeting in Miami this week will discuss, and perhaps act on, a proposal to develop a new scale for classifying hurricanes that better accounts for storm surge."It is not an easy issue, but I believe a change must be made," said Gene Hafele, meteorologist-in-charge of the Houston/Galveston office of the National Weather Service who is proposing the modification.
"Bad decisions were made during Ike by both citizens and officials, based on the notion that Ike was a Category 2 storm and a feeling that 'I have been through a lot worse.' It is hard to convince people that they could face certain death when they see that a storm is not even considered to be a major hurricane."
The Saffir-Simpson scale -- developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s by civil engineer Herbert Saffir and Robert Simpson, then-director of the National Hurricane Center -- is simple and has gained wide public acceptance.
Based upon maximum sustained winds, the scale ranges from Category 1, the weakest hurricane classification, to the fearsome Category 5 with winds greater than 155 mph.
The problem, proponents of a change say, is that the scale fails to predict storm surge accurately, the most devastating component of a hurricane for coastal areas.
Storm surge is determined more by the size of a hurricane than its maximum winds.
Bigger storms have more energy, slosh around more ocean and produce much larger surges.
I don't know why you wouldn't want to add a dimension to hurricane metrics. It was obvious as Ike was approaching the coast that calling it a Category 2 storm was understating its destructiveness by a lot. More data is good, and giving local officials the tools to make better-informed decisions about evacuations sounds like a no-brainer to me. Muse has more.
There may be leftovers in the fridge, but there's plenty of fresh content from the Texas Progressive Alliance. Click on for the best of Thanksgiving week.
The Texas Cloverleaf looks at the large donors from DFW who supported Prop 8. Over $335,000 went to California from 59 individuals. Time to consider the DFW Black List!
John Coby at Bay Area Houston is giving thanks to the GOP .
jobsanger looks at the $7.5 million of sales tax money that Wal-Mart gets to keep every year here in Texas, and says it is time to cap the amount of tax money a business may keep to cover the cost of collecting the tax in I Learned Something New & I Don't Like It.
CouldBeTrue at South Texas Chisme wonders how hard can it be to elect someone other than Tom Craddick Speaker of the House? Geeez!
Stace Medellin at DosCentavos reminds us why guest worker programs will fail with a story on Braceros still trying to collect monies owed themby Mexico after decades.
Toni at WhosPlayin took some time off from political work to take in a bilingual performance of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" in Fort Worth by Teatro De La Rosa, and offers her review.
North Texas Liberal wonders why Democrats are so anxious to throw former President Bill Clinton under the bus.
The Burnt Orange Report takes a look at Austin activism and the Austin Prop 8 Blacklist.
If sometimes you feel like a nut, McBlogger reports you'll be right at home on the State Board of Education.
BossKitty at TruthHugger reflects how Bush tried and failed to show the world a morally superior nation, instead, he showed the world what hypocritical horse's asses we really are, and Why America Is No Longer THE Role Model - Op Ed
Off the Kuff continues his analysis of Harris County precinct data with a look at HD133, the microcosm of the county.
Neil at Texas Liberal is a big time player who drinks expensive scotch and gambles at first class casinos.
Dembones at Eye On Williamson takes Gov. Rick Perry to task for defending Texas polluters.
PDiddie gave thanks for illegal immigrants, the inanity of Jared Woodfill, and the life and memory of Jim Mattox at Brains and Eggs.
Over at TexasKaos, Txsharon explains how Cheney Helped Halliburton Hide Secrets About Dangerous Chemicals in YOUR Drinking Water. . As she reports,
The oil and gas industry is the only industry in America that is allowed by EPA to inject KNOWN hazardous material-unchecked-directly into or adjacent to underground drinking water supplies.
Vince at Capitol Annex notes that a state district judge has ruled that he does not have jurisdiction to rule on a case related to the House District 105 recount.
Despite early success and 11 seasons, the WNBA has decided to shut down the Comets.WNBA president Donna Orender said on Monday that the team could no longer stay afloat in the league.The Comets, who have been on a roller coaster ride the last two seasons, will suspend operations early next week. The league will hold a dispersal draft on Dec. 8 for the players under contract.
[...]
The team went up for sale midway through the 2008 season and the league took over operations. Orender said that several investors approached the league with interest to keep the team afloat before the November deadline, the league decided that there wasn't enough time to make a new ownership transaction.
What a sad and inappropriate end for the franchise. I've been critical of the move to Reliant Arena, and concerned about the future of the team, I really didn't expect this. Certainly, the communications I'd been getting from them gave no indication of anything amiss, not that you'd have expected such a thing. I'm just sorry to see this happen. Best of luck to the to-be-dispersed players, and thanks for all the good times at the court.
Ah, well. It was fun while it lasted.
A judge dismissed eight indictments Monday brought by a South Texas prosecutor against high-profile figures including Vice President Dick Cheney, former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and a state senator.The order by Administrative Judge Manuel Banales ended two weeks of proceedings that some courtroom veterans declared the most bizarre they had ever witnessed.
It also began to dim the lights on the rocky tenure of outgoing Willacy County District Attorney Juan Angel Guerra, who even in thorough defeat saw the outcome as confirmation of the very conspiracy he had pursued.
"I expected it," Guerra said immediately after the hearing. "The system is going to protect itself."
You know, a good conspiracy theory about why the indictments got tossed would not only raise the overall level of awesomeness about this whole thing, it would mean we wouldn't have to let it go, maybe forever. I say go for it.
Early voting for the SD17 special election runoff begins one week from today, and runs from the 8th to the 12th of December, with Runoff Day itself being two weeks from tomorrow, the 16th. Perry and Hal have early voting location information for Harris and Fort Bend counties, while Hal also has precinct voting locations in Fort Bend for the 16th. If you are in SD17, it is vitally important that you get yourself to the polls and cast that one last vote of 2008 for Chris Bell. They're not making this easy - early voting runs from 8 to 4:30 Monday through Wednesday in Harris County, 7 to 7 on Thursday and Friday. Consider that a little extra motivation if you need it, or remind yourself that while twelve is good, thirteen is better. Whatever moves you, just make sure you vote for Chris Bell. Thanks very much.
I think this assessment of Bill White's chances in a statewide race in 2010 is a tad bit too pessimistic.
Whatever plans he declares, a perhaps more burning question still looms large over his intentions: Can he actually win statewide office?Among the chattering classes in Austin and Houston, and even some White lieutenants at City Hall, no one is quite sure. But they do agree on at least one thing: Whether he runs to replace Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison next year if she resigns to run for governor, or whether he seeks the state's top job himself in 2010, White may have an uphill battle ahead.
The chances for a Democratic governor in the next election "are more bleak than any Democrat honestly wants to admit," said Mark Sanders, a Republican consultant who ran Democrat Tony Sanchez's 2004 campaign against Gov. Rick Perry. "It's not going to happen in 2010. There are just too many factors working against that."
Chief among the challenges, according to Sanders and more than a dozen strategists from both parties, is a significant GOP advantage laid bare by the Nov. 4 election results, even in a contest that saw historic statewide turnout for Democrats. Political handicappers all over the state are still parsing reams of data, but many are putting the divide at between 8 and 10 percentage points, a daunting deficit in the near term. Some have even wondered whether 2014 would be a more optimal year.
"In a positive Democratic climate with a good candidate like White, you might bring that down to the mid-single digits," said Cal Jillson, a professor of political science at Southern Methodist University. "Whether you could bring it down to zero in 2010 -- or in other words, win -- is a tall order."
I'm not going to argue that White would be a favorite in a statewide race, and I'm certainly not going to dispute that the Republican Party maintains a significant edge. But I think this deserves a little pushback. The fact remains that Obama did not contest Texas. While some national ads for Obama ran here for a little while a few weeks before the election, there was no targeted blitz. The Obama organization that was built up during the primary was not redeployed - indeed, the main use of their Texas email list seemed to be to find people who were willing to call or visit voters in other states. I believe this lack of engagement allowed persistent untruths about him to continue to flourish, and that this had a negative effect on his performance and that of other statewide Democrats. I believe that had Obama put some real effort into contesting Texas, even late-in-the-game effort like he had in Georgia, the final margin would have been closer. How much closer, we'll never know.
Another thing, as I suggested before, is that especially after ten years of Rick Perry, I believe that a message of "It's time for a change" would have some real resonance. A nasty primary between Perry and Hutchison would be helpful, but not strictly necessary. I'll grant that this is at least somewhat dependent on the national mood and the early performance in office of President-elect Obama; if he's had little success in getting things turned around, that message won't sound as compelling and the devil you know won't look as bad. If we've learned one thing from the current administration, it's that if you screw up enough, you'll (eventually) pay a price at the polls for it. That dynamic can work in Bill White's favor, too - if after the next legislative session people are still unhappy about things like property taxes, college tuition, and toll roads, they'll have a convenient way to vent that frustration.
I think this is a matter of perception as much as anything, and I don't see the glass as being half empty. It's still ridiculously early, of course, and the mayor still has a job to do in Houston. I just don't see any reason why we should be looking past 2010 yet.
I know I've said that there's little variation across the county in candidate performances (the races in which Republicans won excepted, of course), but there is at least one glaring example I can come up with: Rep. Gene Green in CD29. Here's how his percentages stack up:
Candidate Votes Pct
==============================
Green 79,543 75.76
Garcia 76,925 72.50
Noriega 71,886 68.64
State D 69,754 68.23
Appeals D 69,230 67.26
Judicial D 68,796 67.08
Obama 66,576 62.02
"State D" is the average total of the six statewide candidates other than Rick Noriega; "Appeals D" is the average total of the six candidates for an appeals court bench; "Judicial D" is the average total of the 27 candidates for a Harris County bench. Gene Green is the first Democrat I've come across who outperformed Adrian Garcia in any subset of Harris County. That's mighty impressive. He also garnered more votes (53,149 to 48,188) than Sen. Mario Gallegos in their shared precincts, giving him 77.10% to Gallegos' 71.48%. Note that I'm still working with the draft canvass data, so I'm going to be off by a handful of tallies here and there. But it's close enough for these purposes.
The spread between Green and Obama is remarkable, but not surprising given that Green's district covers the five State Rep districts in which Obama lagged the rest of the ticket. What this says to me is that Green appealed equally well to all different types of voters in his district, including presuably some who mostly if not exclusively voted Republican otherwise. You just have to salute that.
Now, I didn't actually set out to do an analysis of CD29, since that hadn't looked to me to be a particularly interesting subset of the county. I stumbled across this remarkable achievement by Rep. Green while I was taking a look at HD144, where Democrat Joel Redmond suffered a close loss to Republican Ken Legler for that open seat. HD144 is about 80% in CD22, and about 20% in CD29. Here's how Redmond stacked up against other Democrats in each of those parts of the district:
CD22Candidate Votes Pct
==========================
Garcia 15,595 49.65
Redmond 15,208 48.37
Lampson 14,527 46.97
Noriega 13,866 44.42
State D 13,397 44.23
Appeals D 13,348 43.72
Judicial D 13,091 43.08
Obama 12,897 40.14CD29
Candidate Votes Pct
==========================
Green 4,217 56.51
Garcia 4,044 53.36
Redmond 3,838 50.79
State D 3,542 48.59
Appeals D 3,550 48.11
Noriega 3,569 47.64
Judicial D 3,473 47.24
Obama 3,270 42.51
Redmond did about as well as you could want, but fell just short. For what it's worth, if he'd done exactly as well as Gene Green in the CD29 portion of the district, he'd still have fallen short, by less than 100 votes. I suspect we'd be knee-deep in a recount by now if that were the case. In any event, the disparity between Gene Green and everyone who shared the ballot with him just fascinates me. If I had a magic wand to wave, I would use it to commission a study of the voters in CD29 to try to get a better understanding of who these "Gene Green Republicans" are and what (if anything) could be done to get them to vote for a few more Democrats. This isn't a turnout issue - I hope I have sufficiently flogged the point that we did just fine on this score - it's a persuasion issue, and in this case I daresay a couple of judges and perhaps the DAs office hung on it. Let's not overlook potential avenues for improvement there.
No, not his future run for Governor, which I will continue to believe is Bill White's fate until proven otherwise. This is about the Mayor's last legislative session while in office and the things he'd still like to accomplish there.
State Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, said White's air quality agenda has a better chance than two years ago, and he attributed much of that to the election of Barack Obama as president. The new federal administration will have tougher clean-air standards, and states will have to scramble to comply, said Ellis, who chairs the Senate's Government Organization Committee."Those states that have done something in the area of ambient air standards will be rewarded under the package that's coming from the EPA," Ellis predicted. "In Texas, we need to do catch-up."
I presume at least some of that can be attributed to there being more Democrats in the Lege as well, since these things have largely broken along partisan lines as of late. There's nothing like the specter of being forced to take action to make the Lege do something it had strenuously avoided doing before (see "school finance reform" for Exhibit A), but if that's the motivating factor, then unless President-elect Obama gets those tougher standards implemented right away, I'd bet that the Lege will continue to procrastinate until at least 2011, when an actual deadline may be hanging over them. I appreciate Sen. Ellis' optimism, but I cannot embrace it just yet. As long as Tom Craddick is still Speaker, we're in for another 140 days of Rep. Dennis Bonnen as the Chair of the Environmental Regulations Committee, and as long as that's the case, ain't nothing happening.
White has added pawnshops to his list of industries that need some reform. The city has 139 of them, and police officials say it's still too easy for thieves to fence stolen goods at the shops. But the city can't crack down unless state law is changed first.Specifically, the city wants the shops to file information on pawned goods electronically, rather than by paper.
"Because it may take several days to enter the (paper) information into the database, that stolen material could be already pawned off again, or out the door," said Darrin Hall, a deputy director for governmental affairs.
The police department processes more than 1.2 million paper pawn tickets every year, Sgt. Joe McGee said. Electronic processing would be instant and would help the police match pawn data with police reports of stolen TVs, stereos and computers.
(Pawn tickets use serial numbers, so this only works if victims of theft have written them down elsewhere.)
In the information age, paper processing is outdated, White said. "People within the industry say they do not want to deal with stolen merchandise, so this is something that would be a real tool for law enforcement and citizens."
Now this is both a no-brainer and should be doable. The only argument against I can think of is the cost of purchasing a computer, an Internet connection, and maybe a bar-code scanner. Surely some kind of incentive, maybe a tax abatement, can be conjured up to help defray these costs for the smaller operators. If this one doesn't happen, I'll be surprised.
Lisa Falkenberg has a mostly humorous column about what local Republicans are thankful for these days. One bit just stands out like a sore thumb:
Nearly everybody said they were thankful for 2010. And 2012. And any election year that could lead to redemption for Republicans.If Democrats couldn't sweep in the midst of Obamarama, how are they going to do it in 2010, asked Clint Moore, a Republican precinct chair for 20 years.
"I guarantee you in 2012, the bloom is going to be off Obama's rose and he's not going to be the Messiah that a lot of them consider him to be," said Moore, a 52-year-old geologist.
If you really think that 2008 was an Obama-assisted fluke, then I doubt there's any amount of precinct data and comparisons to 2004 that can change your mind. So let me just say that I'm thankful for Republican precinct chairs who think like Clint Moore. If that's the prevailing mindset on their side of the aisle, I feel good already about what 2010 will be like.
The city of Dallas may join a long list to ban smoking in bars.
A bevy of fiery words - "communistic" and "Nazi." No expanded Dallas smoking ordinance proposal - yet.So it went Monday night, as a Dallas City Council committee studying whether to ban smoking in a variety of new city venues scheduled yet another meeting before bringing a proposed ordinance before the full council.
At this juncture, the six-member council committee is leaning toward recommending a smoking ban inside bars and billiard halls and within 15 feet of the entrances to publicly accessible buildings. (Dallas today bans smoking in most indoor workplaces, including restaurants.)
Council members, meanwhile, expressed little interest in banning smoking in tobacco shops, vehicles and most outdoor areas.
[...]
Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert said he believes all interest groups are receiving a fair hearing. But he added that he wants the smoking law expansion to be resolved by year's end.
The Dallas City Hall blog has a handy reference guide (PDF) to the approaches other cities have taken. I'll say again that I think this is a situation that will eventually be resolved by the Legislature. In the meantime, I wish Dallas luck in getting this done.