Monthly Archives: September 2018

Weekend link dump for September 30

Posted on September 30, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

New flash: George R.R. Martin takes his own sweet time when writing books. “With scooters, cities have a fresh shot, and they don’t intend to waste it.” “What’s surfacing in these comments is something that has, up until now, mostly … Continue reading →

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Sarah Davis’ balancing act

Posted on September 30, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

As it will be for many of her Republican colleagues, especially in Harris County, 2018 is a challenging year for Rep. Sarah Davis. To understand how Republican state Rep. Sarah Davis plans to survive a possible Democratic blue wave in … Continue reading →

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Planning to fail

Posted on September 30, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Big surprise. Anti-abortion activist Carol Everett had no experience running a family planning program when the state of Texas awarded her millions in taxpayer funds to help rebuild a network of low-income women’s health providers. The state knew that. So … Continue reading →

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Have a Coke and a toke

Posted on September 30, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Dude. Aurora Cannabis Inc. led pot stocks higher after Coca-Cola Co. said it’s eyeing the cannabis drinks market, becoming the latest beverage company to tap into surging demand for marijuana products as traditional sales slow. Coca-Cola says it’s monitoring the … Continue reading →

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SD16 poll: Johnson 45, Huffines 42

Posted on September 29, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox: A new poll conducted by Public Policy Polling shows challenger Nathan Johnson leading Don Huffines in the race for Texas Senate District 16, which covers most of northern Dallas County. Johnson has 45 percent of the vote, … Continue reading →

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What about Neal?

Posted on September 29, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Ross Ramsey reminds us there is a third person in the Texas Senate race. Libertarians and other third-party candidates have never won state elections in Texas and rarely make a meaningful difference in election results, with one big exception: As … Continue reading →

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We need to talk about the robot sex brothel

Posted on September 29, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

I can’t avoid it any longer. In a surprise reveal last week, a Toronto businessman announced that he would be opening the nation’s first robot sex brothel in Houston. The business, set to open its doors later this month or … Continue reading →

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Interview with Alex Karjeker

Posted on September 28, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

We conclude our tour of Harris County legislative districts with a trip to the southern end of the county into HD129. Alex Karjeker grew up in Clear Lake and attended public schools there before heading to UT for degrees in … Continue reading →

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Lots more voters registered statewide

Posted on September 28, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Always good to hear. The Texas voter rolls have grown to 15.6 million people, a new record, Texas Secretary of State Rolando Pablos confirmed. That is nearly a 400,000-person increase since March and a jump of 1.6 million since the … Continue reading →

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ACLU reminds counties to provide voting materials in Spanish

Posted on September 28, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox: With weeks to go before the November 6 election, the ACLU of Texas has sent advisal letters to 36 counties across Texas that may be in violation of the Voting Rights Act. The letters urge the identified … Continue reading →

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Judicial Q&A: Richard Hightower

Posted on September 27, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

(Note: As I have done in past elections, I am running a series of Q&As for Democratic judicial candidates. This is intended to help introduce the candidates and their experiences to my readers. I am running these responses in the … Continue reading →

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The AG race and the lawsuit to kill Obamacare

Posted on September 27, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

I feel like this is a better issue for Justin Nelson than it is for Ken Paxton. Of course, on the down side, for it to really be salient millions of people will have lost health insurance. Not that Ken … Continue reading →

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Schwertner update

Posted on September 27, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

He has amended his statement. In the face of a sexual harassment allegation, state Sen. Charles Schwertner, R-Georgetown, has hired two Austin attorneys and denied sending “any inappropriate texts as alleged” — “Period.” — in a new statement Wednesday from … Continue reading →

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Interview with Michael Shawn Kelly

Posted on September 26, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

We continue with our tour of Harris County legislative districts. It’s already the case that a majority of the Harris County legislative caucus is Democratic; in 2016, 13 of 24 members of the State House from our county were Dems. … Continue reading →

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CD32 “live poll”: Sessions 48, Allred 47

Posted on September 26, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Another on of these polls, another close result. Incumbent Republican Pete Sessions and Democratic challenger Colin Allred are in a dead heat in the much-anticipated race for Dallas County’s 32nd Congressional District. According to a New York Times/Siena College poll … Continue reading →

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The firefighter pay parity proposal sure seems like it’s going to pass

Posted on September 26, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

What are ya gonna do? Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner is holding town halls to try to convince voters that the city can’t afford Proposition B, a ballot measure that would tie firefighters’ pay to that of police. It’s turning into … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2018 | Tagged , , , , , | 49 Comments

UT investigating sexual misconduct case against State Sen. Schwertner

Posted on September 26, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Noted for the record. The University of Texas is investigating an allegation that state Sen. Charles Schwertner sent a sexually explicit image and text message to a graduate student he met at an on-campus event this summer, three senior UT … Continue reading →

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Judicial Q&A: Meg Poissant

Posted on September 25, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

(Note: As I have done in past elections, I am running a series of Q&As for Democratic judicial candidates. This is intended to help introduce the candidates and their experiences to my readers. I am running these responses in the … Continue reading →

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Three different views of how competitive Texas Congressional districts are

Posted on September 25, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

You are by now familiar with The Crosstab and its 2018 Congressional forecast, as I’ve referred to it multiple times in recent months. G. Elliott Morris, the proprietor of The Crosstab, now works at The Economist, and they have their … Continue reading →

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Dallas County gets the Harris County treatment in its bail lawsuit

Posted on September 25, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

We have a precedent, even if everything is still a work in progress. Taking a cue from the rulings on Harris County’s bail-setting practices, a U.S. district judge in Dallas issued a temporary order Thursday evening saying the county’s post-arrest … Continue reading →

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Interview with Jon Rosenthal

Posted on September 24, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

We move back to Harris County this week for conversations with more State Rep candidates. I talked to several such candidates who were involved in contested primaries earlier in the year, and you can find links to those interviews here. … Continue reading →

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Dallas lawsuit over candidate eligibility officially mooted

Posted on September 24, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox: On Thursday, September 20, 2018, the Fifth Court of Appeals issued an Order in Dallas County GOP v. Dallas County Democratic Party, stating that any relief related to the November election is moot, and that the appeal, … Continue reading →

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Now how much would you pay to fix Houston’s sewer system?

Posted on September 24, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

We may be about to find out. Federal and state authorities sued the city of Houston over its long-running struggle to limit sewage spills on Friday, marking the beginning of the end of a years-long negotiation that could force the … Continue reading →

Posted in Legal matters, Local politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Weekend link dump for September 23

Posted on September 23, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

When improvised slasher movies on Twitter become actual movies. “All this comin’ and goin’. Rookies flyin’ up the road and ol-timers flyin’ down and nobody in between but me an’ old John Mize, standin’ pat, watchin’ ‘em go by. I … Continue reading →

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The Dallas County House battleground

Posted on September 23, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Lot of seats in play here. [Julie] Johnson is among several Democratic candidates in Dallas hoping national and statewide talk of a blue wave will trickle down to several local state House races. A mix of Democratic enthusiasm this cycle, … Continue reading →

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When train companies fight

Posted on September 23, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Can’t we all just get along? A competitor of the company trying to build a Dallas-to-Houston bullet-train connection has blasted the notion that a high-speed rail line can be built without public money. “The whole thing is just a dream,” … Continue reading →

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“Viva Texas! Viva Beto!”

Posted on September 23, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

It’s been too long since the last time I posted a video. It all came from a love of the law and a shared dislike of Ted Cruz. It was a few bigwig local prosecutors, a capital defense attorney, a … Continue reading →

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Two from PPP (RV): Cruz 48, O’Rourke 45, and Cruz 49, O’Rourke 46

Posted on September 22, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Fourth in a series from PPP. A new Public Policy Polling (PPP) survey commissioned by Protect Our Care finds that 62 percent of voters in Texas say health care will be one of the most important issues they consider when … Continue reading →

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Harvey and the Congressional races

Posted on September 22, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

This was from a couple of days ago. A year ago this week, Dayna Steele was standing in 29 inches of water inside her Seabrook home. Her family had already made it through Hurricane Ike in 2008, when the water … Continue reading →

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Distributing the VW settlement money

Posted on September 22, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Good for some, less good for others. Texas cities will soon get millions of dollars to help clean up air quality, but Houston officials say the plan for distributing all that money isn’t fair. The money is coming from a … Continue reading →

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Interview with Jennifer Cantu

Posted on September 21, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

We wrap up our week in Fort Bend County with HD85, the district that was added to the county in the 2011 redistricting. HD85 extends out from the southwest part of Fort Bend to incorporate Wharton and Jackson counties as … Continue reading →

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CD07 “live poll”: Culberson 48, Fletcher 45

Posted on September 21, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s another of those NYT-Siena “live polls” of interesting Congressional races. Houston Rep. John Culberson holds a narrow lead over Democratic challenger Lizzie Fletcher, a poll conducted by The New York Times Upshot found Tuesday. Culberson’s 3-point lead is within … Continue reading →

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Voter ID lawsuit officially ends

Posted on September 21, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

That’s all there is, at least until the next atrocity. A federal judge formally dismissed the lawsuit challenging the Texas voter ID law Monday, the final step in a yearslong fight that will allow the state to enforce a weakened … Continue reading →

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Judicial Q&A: Chip Wells

Posted on September 20, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

(Note: As I have done in past elections, I am running a series of Q&As for Democratic judicial candidates. This is intended to help introduce the candidates and their experiences to my readers. I am running these responses in the … Continue reading →

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