Tag Archives: Governor

Dunnam to Perry: Give me some names

Posted on June 5, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

So as you know, there was a story last month about Rick Perry’s swanky and expensive rental mansion, which he and his wife have been using while the Governor’s Mansion is undergoing repairs. Turns out that the rather lavish lifestyle … Continue reading →

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The Rasmussen problem

Posted on June 3, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Jonathan Chait discusses the “Rasmussen problem”, which basically boils down to the fact that Rasmussen’s polls have become rather extreme outliers, and they all seem to serve a narrative about the country taking a sharp pro-conservative, anti-Obama turn. As Nate … Continue reading →

Posted in Show Business for Ugly People | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

It’s good to be the king

Posted on May 31, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the genius of Harold Cook: No coyotes were harmed in the making of that little film, as far as I can tell.

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The TxDOT audit

Posted on May 28, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

I’m sure you will be surprised to learn that TxDOT has a lot of issues. The Texas Department of Transportation should significantly alter its leadership structure, reshuffle its executive ranks and reduce the role engineers play in leading the sprawling … Continue reading →

Posted in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Here comes the EPA

Posted on May 26, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

No one can say they weren’t warned. Objecting to how Texas regulates air pollution, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday it is taking over the issuance of an operating permit for a Corpus Christi refinery and could step in … Continue reading →

Posted in The great state of Texas | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

White wants to “undo some of the damage” the SBOE has done to social studies

Posted on May 25, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Lord knows, there’s a lot of it to undo. Bill White wants to start with changing the Chair. Some Texans have called for a limited review to address some of the more controversial standards that will influence new history, government, … Continue reading →

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More on the UT/Trib poll

Posted on May 24, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

In response to my comments about the UT/Texas Trib poll, pollster James Henson was kind enough to send me the following: The number of independents is a function of how we present the results, not the methodology per se. We … Continue reading →

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Trib poll: Perry 44, White 35

Posted on May 24, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

We finally have a non-Rasmussen result to discuss. Republican Rick Perry leads Democrat Bill White by nine percentage points — 44 percent to 35 percent — in the 2010 race for governor, according to the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune … Continue reading →

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More Enterprise Fund failures

Posted on May 23, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

There sure are a lot of them. Gov. Rick Perry’s office has rewritten three more contracts for companies that are struggling to create the promised number of jobs after getting millions of taxpayer dollars from the Texas Enterprise Fund. The … Continue reading →

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AFL-CIO offers Perry cheaper housing

Posted on May 19, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

There’s some first-class snark in this press release I got from the Texas AFL-CIO today. The speaker is Texas AFL-CIO President Becky Moeller. In light of the state’s historically huge budget shortfall and new cuts that will place hundreds if … Continue reading →

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Perry’s rental crib

Posted on May 18, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

This AP story about the Governor’s rented mansion is certainly entertaining. With the state facing a budget shortfall of at least $11 billion, Texas Gov. Rick Perry has spent almost $600,000 in public money during the past two years to … Continue reading →

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Rasmussen: Perry 51, White 38

Posted on May 17, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Last month, Rasmussen published a poll showing Bill White trailing Rick Perry by four points. This month, they claim a 13-point advantage for Perry, giving him his highest level of support and White his lowest since they started polling this … Continue reading →

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White tells the SBOE to wait till next year

Posted on May 16, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

As we know, the SBOE is set to take a final vote on their proposed revisions to the social studies textbook standards. They’ve received a lot of mostly negative feedback so far, but have said they’re still considering specific suggestions. … Continue reading →

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White and Parker

Posted on May 15, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

I’m not particularly concerned about this. Gov. Rick Perry has found an unlikely — and apparently unwitting — ally in his effort to paint Bill White as a liberal spendthrift who left Houston in arrears: Mayor Annise Parker. As she … Continue reading →

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Who’s homeschooling?

Posted on May 13, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Are there a lot more home-schooled high school students, or are they just conveniently mislabeled dropouts? You decide. More than 22,620 Texas secondary students who stopped showing up for class in 2008 were excluded from the state’s dropout statistics because … Continue reading →

Posted in School days | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The unemployment tax and the Enterprise Fund

Posted on May 12, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

We know that unemployment insurance taxes have gone up, and we know that the increase is more than it would have been had Governor Perry not rejected $555 million in stimulus funds for unemployment insurance. But there’s another way in … Continue reading →

Posted in Budget ballyhoo | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Of guns and kittens

Posted on May 4, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Sen. Kirk Watson has the definitive response to the Rick Perry coyote incident. About all that’s missing is music by Ennio Morricone. Just go read it and you’ll see what I mean. Thanks to the Trib for the pointer.

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Sixty thousand and counting

Posted on May 2, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

In March, the Dallas Morning News wrote about how Rick Perry was running a new kind of campaign. Rick Perry’s campaign has a radical approach that eschews traditional voter turnout efforts in favor of extensive use of social media networks … Continue reading →

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I shot a coyote in Austin just to watch it die

Posted on April 30, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

I believe that very little happens in politics by accident, so I feel certain there’s a reason that Rick Perry picked this week to tell us all about that coyote he killed in February. Something like this: WildEarth Guardians, a … Continue reading →

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Will Texas make like Arizona?

Posted on April 29, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

If there’s been one small positive thing about the ridiculous Arizona anti-immigrant law, it’s been to remind the rest of the country that states besides Texas do crazy, inexplicable things as well. And I do believe that there’s a reason … Continue reading →

Posted in La Migra | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Debating about having a debate

Posted on April 29, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

We will eventually have televised debates between Rick Perry and Bill White. But first we have to sit through the kabuki dance. Belo Corp., the company that owns WFAA and TV stations in Austin, Houston and San Antonio, sponsored a … Continue reading →

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White in West Texas

Posted on April 27, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

West Texas has not been friendly territory for Democrats lately, and won’t be any more so this year, but that doesn’t stop Bill White from seeking out support there. The Texas Panhandle town of Canadian, where morning weather reports include … Continue reading →

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From the “Tell us something we didn’t know” department

Posted on April 22, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

We don’t actually need the CREW crew to tell us that we have one of the worst Governors in the country. We’ve known that for a long time. But it never gets old saying it, and I must admit their … Continue reading →

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Rasmussen: Perry 48, White 44

Posted on April 20, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Just in time for his closeup, Rasmussen has a poll result that shows Governor Perry with a four point lead over Bill White. A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely Texas voters finds Perry with 48% support. His Democratic … Continue reading →

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The Trib interviews Rick Perry

Posted on April 20, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

It’s here, and there are links to audio snippets, if you just have to hear his voice. The interview was part of a Texas Tribune collaboration with Newsweek, and kudos to them for that. For those of you who have … Continue reading →

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No anti-health care special session

Posted on April 17, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Thank God for small favors. Gov. Rick Perry tamped out rumors today that he would call a special legislative session to consider whether Texas should seek to exempt itself from federal health care law. Harris County Republican Chairman Jared Woodfill … Continue reading →

Posted in That's our Lege | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Meet The Statewides and The Other 49%

Posted on April 16, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

The TDP is running a ten-week campaign between now and June 14 to promote the statewide slate. It includes a bio with 60-second video for each candidate, a discussion of the candidate’s race and the issues in it, and an … Continue reading →

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White and Perry argue about the dropout rate; White wins

Posted on April 8, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

See for yourself. The major-party candidates for governor on Tuesday waded into one of the oldest and hottest debates in public education — what’s the real high school drop-out rate? — producing the kind of fireworks that suggest the state … Continue reading →

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The enduring question of Latino voting

Posted on April 6, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

You can count on there being some number of articles about Latino voting every year. The Chron took its turn on Sunday. The numbers are formidable. Hispanics made up 31 percent of the Texas population in the 2000 census and … Continue reading →

Posted in Show Business for Ugly People | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

You know what they say about free advice

Posted on March 29, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Back when Bill White first got into the Texas Governor’s race, the Texas Tribune asked me to engage in an email debate with David Benzion about his tenure as Mayor. At the time, I said I would not presume to … Continue reading →

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Turns out we’re not actually destroying the world one textbook at a time

Posted on March 29, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Good to know. Though Texas has been painted in scores of media reports as the big dog that wags the textbook industry tail, that’s simply no longer true — and will become even less true in the future, as technological … Continue reading →

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Where the votes are going

Posted on March 26, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Matt Stiles looks at Census data and notes a political point. Seven Texas counties — Rockwall, Williamson, Collin, Hays, Fort Bend, Montgomery and Denton — are listed among the nation’s 30 fastest-growing areas, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates released … Continue reading →

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It’s the “I am rubber, you are glue” election

Posted on March 24, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron notes that some of the charges that the two gubernatorial campaigns will lob at each other could easily be lobbed right back at themselves. Perry slammed White for not ruling out new taxes, pointing to 2003, when state … Continue reading →

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Time for KBH to kick the can down the road again

Posted on March 23, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

The Senate is on the verge of passing the fixes to the health care reform bill that the House ratified on Sunday, but that’s not important right now. What really matters is that this means Senator Hutchison has a deadline … Continue reading →

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