Tag Archives: Railroad Commission

More redistricting lawsuits filed

Posted on May 16, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

And to think, we don’t even have a Congressional plan yet. A federal lawsuit filed Monday by some Texas House members blasts the use of “inaccurate” 2010 Census data in the remapping of state political jurisdictions. The lawsuit by the … Continue reading →

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Senate says “good-bye” to Railroad Commission

Posted on April 9, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Something like this has been talked about for a long time, now we’ll see if it actually happens. The Senate approved a bill [Monday] that would change the name of the Railroad Commission to the Texas Oil and Gas Commission … Continue reading →

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Ames Jones jumps in, Williams to follow

Posted on January 27, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

I don’t really think Railroad Commissioner Elizabeth Ames Jones has much of a chance in the race to replace KBH in the Senate. She was a fairly nondescript State Rep who got appointed to the RRC by Rick Perry then … Continue reading →

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Williams will step down from the RRC

Posted on January 20, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Michael Williams makes it official. Texas Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams says he has sent Gov. Rick Perry a letter telling him he will be leaving the commission on April 2 to concentrate on a race for the U.S. Senate. Williams … Continue reading →

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RRC Commish Williams to leave his post

Posted on January 17, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams, a ten-year incumbent who has nonetheless managed to claim the mantel of “outsider/insurgent” in the race for the 2012 GOP Senate nomination, will reportedly resign his post so as to actually be an outsider of some … Continue reading →

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Blast from the past, RRC edition

Posted on October 27, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

TPJ tells me something I didn’t know about Republican candidate for Railroad Commissioner David “My party is my qualification” Porter. Porter has been the treasurer of the Texas Republican Legislative Campaign Committee (TRLCC) since 2006. That’s when school-voucher activist James … Continue reading →

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Overview of the Railroad Commission race

Posted on October 20, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s the Chron overview of the race for Railroad Commissioner between the highly qualified and universally endorsed Democrat Jeff Weems and the “I have an R by my name” Republican David Porter. Weems is a Houston oil and gas lawyer … Continue reading →

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Endorsement watch: Sweep

Posted on October 14, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

A clean sweep of the big five for Jeff Weems. Weems, 52, who has worked in the oil and gas industry onshore and offshore, is bright, aggressive and attentive, with a keen knowledge of the various aspects of the business … Continue reading →

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Endorsement watch: Statesman and Express News for Weems

Posted on October 10, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Three for three. Commission Chairman Victor Carrillo suffered a stunning upset in the March primaries, setting up a contest between candidates who represent the state’s two major parties but who are also unknowns: Republican David Porter, who wrested the nomination … Continue reading →

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Interview with Jeff Weems

Posted on October 4, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

As we head into the last two weeks before the start of early voting, it’s time to turn attention to the statewide candidates. First up is Jeff Weems, the Democratic candidate for Railroad Commissioner. Weems is a Houston-based attorney whose … Continue reading →

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Endorsement watch: Chron for Weems

Posted on September 25, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Score two for Jeff Weems. There is one race for a Railroad commissioner’s seat on this fall’s statewide ballot to fill the seat currently held by Victor Carrillo, who lost to a challenger in the Republican Party primary. We commend … Continue reading →

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Endorsement watch: DMN for Weems

Posted on September 23, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

The Dallas Morning News is almost always the first out of the chute with most election endorsements. This year is no exception, as they’ve already issued recommendations for most statewide offices. They’ve gone mostly Republican – Keith Hampton for CCA … Continue reading →

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UT/TT poll: Perry 39, White 33

Posted on September 13, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Another poll result. Republican Gov. Rick Perry leads his Democratic challenger, Bill White, by 6 percentage points — 39 percent to 33 percent — in the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll. Libertarian Kathie Glass has the support of 5 … Continue reading →

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Fundraising: Other statewides

Posted on July 18, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Bill White kicked butt in the fundraising department, but how did the other statewide candidates do? Not nearly as good, unfortunately. Here’s a look: http://www.ethics.state.tx.us/php/summary.php?rn=458383&form=COH Totals From Report For Linda Chavez-Thompson Filed on: July 15 2010 Covering the Period February … Continue reading →

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Let’s call it what it is

Posted on July 9, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

I do not understand the resistance to renaming the Texas Railroad Commission to reflect what it actually does. The Railroad Commission is the state’s chief regulator of oil and gas production. The agency no longer deals with railroads yet still … Continue reading →

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The Commissioners

Posted on March 12, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s a look at how the candidates in the three Commissioner races did across Texas. – In the Democratic primary for Land Commissioner, Bill Burton won a majority in an astonishing 193 counties; of those, he scored better than 70% … Continue reading →

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Carrillo’s message to supporters

Posted on March 4, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Ousted Railroad Commission Chair Victor Carrillo sent a sharply-worded email to his supporters about how he lost his race on Tuesday. Early polling showed that the typical GOP primary voter has very little info about the position of Railroad Commissioner, … Continue reading →

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January finance reports for statewide candidates

Posted on January 23, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

It almost seems a bit silly to look at the January campaign finance reports, since the 30 days out report is due in two weeks, but I’ve created a Google spreadsheet with summaries for the statewide candidates. A couple of … Continue reading →

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Hector Uribe files for Land Commish

Posted on January 4, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

We have one more contested statewide primary on the Democratic side as former State Sen. Hector Uribe has filed for Land Commissioner. (Bill Burton of Athens is already in.) Here’s Uribe’s press release: Former state Senator Hector Uribe filed to … Continue reading →

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Filing season opens for 2010

Posted on December 3, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Today is the first day to file for the March 2010 primaries. BOR is following the action from Travis County. No surprises yet – those usually happen later in the period – so far it’s mostly incumbents filing for re-election. … Continue reading →

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In case you were wondering why we have bad air quality in Texas

Posted on September 24, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Ever wonder why we have such lax enforcement of environmental regulations here in Texas? One reason is because the people who head up the agencies that have the power to enforce those regulations are mostly charlatans and industry apologists. Go … Continue reading →

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Jeff Weems

Posted on June 30, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

We’ve been hearing plenty about the top of the ticket for Democrats in 2010, but there are still several slots to fill. One of them is the Railroad Commissioner seat held by Victor Carrillo. Via email to Carl Whitmarsh, here’s … Continue reading →

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Legislative wrapups

Posted on June 3, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

With sine die in the rearview mirror, tis the season for legislative wrapups. Here are a couple I’ve come across. – First, from Bike Texas, which had the fairly easy task of just following one bill: The final version of … Continue reading →

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Extending the deadline

Posted on May 31, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

The deadline for finishing up conference committee work was supposed to be last night at midnight. There was too much work to do for that, so the deadline got pushed back for 24 hours. That means the Senate on Monday … Continue reading →

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RIP, statewide smoking ban

Posted on May 19, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

I thought it still had a chance after it finally passed out of committee in the Senate, but the statewide smoking ban is officially dead. [State Sen. Rodney] Ellis held a press conference to announce the death of the statewide … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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