Monthly Archives: August 2005

Abramoff indicted, ARMPAC slapped

Posted on August 11, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

Lobbyist tied to DeLay indicted on fraud charges Lobbyist Jack Abramoff, a key figure in investigations involving House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, was indicted today by a federal grand jury on fraud charges arising from a 2000 deal to buy … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Scandalized! | 1 Comment

Minority majority

Posted on August 11, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

Texas is now officially a minority-majority state. Fueled largely by the burgeoning Hispanic population, Texas joins the ranks of California, New Mexico, Hawaii and the District of Columbia as areas where minority residents as a whole have become the majority. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in The great state of Texas | 1 Comment

I-45 Town Hall on Saturday

Posted on August 11, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

I know I’ve mentioned before that there will be a town hall meeting regarding the I-45 expansion this Saturday at 2 PM, but it’s really important so I’ll say it again. The I-45 Coalition will host a town hall meeting … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | Comments Off on I-45 Town Hall on Saturday

Craddick, standing astride the Lege, yells “Stop!”

Posted on August 11, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

You kind of have to admire ol’ Tom Craddick. Once he decides on a course of inaction, by golly he sticks with it. “The House of Representatives will not be a party to passing legislation that does not contain meaningful … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Budget ballyhoo | 2 Comments

The Perry Slush Fund chronicles

Posted on August 11, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

I made a note to comment on this story about the $35 million grant from the Texas Enterprise Fund to biotech firm Lexicon on Monday, but managed to not get around to it. My bad. Let’s do a little catch-up. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Scandalized! | 3 Comments

The clueful fanboy podcasted on supersized chupacabras

Posted on August 11, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

Here are the latest additions to the Oxford Dictionary of English, many of which will be familiar to the blogreading crowd. I’m more than a little shocked that a piece of 1930s slang like “eighty-sixed” is just now qualifying – … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Society and cultcha | 3 Comments

Two points in the Run Every Race discussion

Posted on August 10, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

Greg points to this story about an ongoing effort to build the Democratic Party in Nebraska that encompasses one of the main points of the Run Every Race mantra that many of us have been chanting. Determined to rebuild their … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2006 | 3 Comments

Houston housing supply update

Posted on August 10, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

I have some followup information to this post, in which I linked to a Nancy Sarnoff column about a potential oversupply in the Houston housing market. After getting some feedback on it, I sent email to Sarnoff, Dmitry Messen of … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | 2 Comments

And the school finance action, such as it was

Posted on August 10, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

All right, now that we have the other items taken care of, let’s look at the school finance bills that were voted on yesterday. The Senate finished what it started by passing Senate Bill 8. The Senate bill, which would … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Budget ballyhoo | 2 Comments

As the Lege turns

Posted on August 10, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

I’m trying to make sense of what happened in the Legislature yesterday. Let’s start with the stuff that’s easy to figure out, like the Senate approval of the judicial pay raise that had caused such tumult in the last days … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in That's our Lege | 2 Comments

Courage and Fjetland

Posted on August 10, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

Via Karl-T, I see that John Courage, the Democratic candidate for CD21, has himself a nice spiffy new website, complete with blog, of course. Courage is out there raising money for his race against DeLay lapdog Lamar Smith, so check … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2006 | 2 Comments

Charges still stand against Ellis and Colyandro

Posted on August 9, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

The money laundering charges against three of Tom DeLay’s cronies have survived another motion to dismiss. Judge Bob Perkins denied arguments from John Colyandro and Jim Ellis that the charges were based on an unconstitutionally vague law and that the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Scandalized! | 5 Comments

Third time’s the charm

Posted on August 9, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

The much-dreaded telecom bill appears to be headed for passage on its third try though the Lege. The wide-ranging telecommunications bills, delayed most of the summer by the battle over public school finance, would allow phone companies to avoid the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in That's our Lege | 1 Comment

Father John moves on

Posted on August 9, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

He knew it was coming, and was fortunately able to make other arrangements: Father John has left the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (which is currently cutting 2900 jobs) to go work for the Office of the Attorney General. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Budget ballyhoo | 3 Comments

Senate still at it

Posted on August 9, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

Disregarding Tom Craddicks’ plea to pack it up and go home, the Senate intends to take a vote on its latest school finance package today. Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said Monday that he has been talking to senators since Thursday, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Budget ballyhoo | 2 Comments

More on “Draft Sharp”

Posted on August 9, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

I pointed out the DraftJohnSharp.com website last week. Greg did some sleuthing, discovered that the domain name was privately registered, and found some evidence of who might own it in the source code. Karl-T picked the ball up from there, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2006 | Comments Off on More on “Draft Sharp”

I-45 Coalition to ask City Council to reject TxDOT plan

Posted on August 9, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

The following is from the I-45 Coalition: The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) has proposed a massive expansion of IH-45 North. TxDOT’s “recommended alternative” for the IH-45 expansion project appears to require expansion from 225 feet of right-of-way to 392 … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | Comments Off on I-45 Coalition to ask City Council to reject TxDOT plan

DNC Hispanic Summit reports

Posted on August 9, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

From Rep. Aaron Pena, Toni Medellin, The Red State, and Latinos for Texas. Stace wasn’t there, but he has pictures, courtesy of his sister, and Karl-T has some additional info. Looks like a good and productive time was had by … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Show Business for Ugly People | 1 Comment

Gallego to Craddick: Let’s not adjourn

Posted on August 8, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

Some of us may think that it’s high time for a sine die motion in the House, but State Rep. Pete Gallego does not. He’s hand-delivered a letter to Speaker Tom Craddick imploring him to let the House get back … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Budget ballyhoo | 1 Comment

DeLay’s dilemma

Posted on August 8, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

Like Greg, I’m interested in this WaPo blurb on the CD22 race for next year. Democrats are pushing donors big and small to help former representative Nick Lampson (D-Tex.) raise $1 million before the end of the year to fund … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2006 | 1 Comment

The firings will continue until morale improves

Posted on August 8, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

Today is a good day to be glad that you don’t work for the Texas Lottery Commission, where regular firings for no apparent reason appear to be business as usual. According to documents obtained by the Houston Chronicle and interviews … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Jackpot! | 1 Comment

The local housing bubble

Posted on August 8, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

Paul Krugman writes about the national housing bubble. Many bubble deniers point to average prices for the country as a whole, which look worrisome but not totally crazy. When it comes to housing, however, the United States is really two … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | 9 Comments

Storey and Raycraft

Posted on August 8, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

Yesterday’s Chron had this interesting overview of the two most powerful people in Harris County that you’ve never voted for and may have never heard of, Art Storey and Dick Raycraft. They’ve been a bit more prominent than usual in … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Local politics | 1 Comment

Fighting back against Fred

Posted on August 7, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

If there’s a more repugnant person in America today than Fred Phelps, I don’t want to know who it is. Picketing the funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq to promote his hateful agenda is just sickening. I’m glad to see … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in National news | 15 Comments

Radnofsky interview

Posted on August 7, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

Damon McCullar went for a jog with Barbara Radnofsky and came back with a nice interview of her. One point to highlight: DCM: The President has had several controversial appointments in his second term. What do you see as the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2006 | Comments Off on Radnofsky interview

The Frost effect

Posted on August 6, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

One of the things that was hotly debated in the aftermath of the 2004 elections was whether Martin Frost’s campaign for the 32nd CD had a positive effect on downballot races, or if the resources he expended only benefitted his … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2004 | 11 Comments

Tejano Insider

Posted on August 6, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s a new blog on the block – Tejano Insider, the official blog of the State Tejano Democrats. They’ve got a nice piece on Howard Dean’s visit to the 2005 Hispanic Leadership Summit in South Texas today. I’ll be adding … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Blog stuff | 1 Comment

Hamric to run in SD7

Posted on August 5, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

Greg notes that HD126’s Peggy Hamric has joined Moldy Joe Nixon in the quest to replace the retiring Jon Lindsay in SD7. Good – that’s another open seat for a Democrat to run for next year. It seems to be … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2006 | 7 Comments

“Draft Sharp” website

Posted on August 5, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

I suppose this was inevitable. I don’t know what the main driver is in his run/don’t run decisionmaking process, but I kind of doubt that a “Draft John Sharp” website would have that much effect. I suppose it may give … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2006 | 10 Comments

Casey responds to Van Arsdale

Posted on August 5, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

Rick Casey has seen the correspondence between State Rep. Corbin Van Arsdale and the TX Friends of Time Warner Cable PAC, and he writes the response that Van Arsdale should have gotten. Bravo. Continue reading →

Posted in Scandalized! | 22 Comments

Harris County jail overcrowding: Worse than we thought

Posted on August 5, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

They just found another 600 inmates in the Harris County jails that were sleeping on the floor. Darned computer glitches. The Texas Commission on Jail Standards had found the jail in noncompliance last June, estimating that overcrowding had left nearly … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Crime and Punishment | 23 Comments

I-45 testimonials: Michael Catrett

Posted on August 5, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

I’ve been asked by the I-45 Coalition to do a few profiles on residents of the area that are likely to be directly affected by the proposed widening of this freeway. All of the neighborhoods that I-45 runs through are … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | Comments Off on I-45 testimonials: Michael Catrett

Do I hear a motion to adjourn?

Posted on August 4, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

Tom Craddick says what we’ve all been thinking. The special legislative session on school funding is a waste of time, Republican House Speaker Tom Craddick said Thursday as he urged leaders to pull the plug on the remaining two weeks. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in That's our Lege | Comments Off on Do I hear a motion to adjourn?

Dan Barrett in HD97

Posted on August 4, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

Moving back to Texas, Damon brings the news that Fort Worth attorney Dan Barrett will challenge Anna Mowery in HD97 in 2006. That district doesn’t stand out as being particularly swingy, but that’s all right. Tarrant is easily the most … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2006 | 11 Comments