Tag Archives: Pete Gallego

January finance reports: Congress and Senate

The last batch of finance reports to come in are the federal reports, which for the most part don’t get posted till a full month after they’re due, which in this case was February 1. I’ve created a Google spreadsheet … Continue reading

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Sizing up the opportunities

This Chron story about the new Congressional map and who’s looking at what (which ran in the Express News last week) has a lot of things we’ve been discussing, and a couple of things to point out. First, a theme … Continue reading

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Hochberg bows out, Gallego makes it official

I am totally bummed out by this. The Legislature’s foremost expert on school finance and one of its top public education advocates, state Rep. Scott Hochberg, D-Houston, confirmed this afternoon that he won’t seek re-election next year. Hochberg, who took … Continue reading

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Rep. Charlie Gonzalez to retire

As the story says, it’s the end of an era. Rep. Charlie Gonzalez said Friday he will not seek re-election, a decision that will end the congressional tenure of a Democratic family whose name has been synonymous with the city … Continue reading

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Third quarter Congressional fundraising

The Trib has the highlights from some of the contested Congressional primaries that are shaping up. Texas congressional incumbents raised more than $4.7 million during the third quarter of the year, but some of them face challengers who also displayed … Continue reading

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Gallego to run for CD23 and other updates

State Rep. Pete Gallego has decided to run for Congress in CD23. Gallego first won election to the Texas House in 1990 and has chaired various committees and also been part of the Democratic leadership, doing time as head of … Continue reading

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Another entrant in CD23

The Democratic field in CD23 has gotten bigger, and may grow again. Manny Pelaez, a trustee of VIA Metropolitan Transit, has filed a statement of candidacy for Congressional District 23, a seat held by U.S. Rep. Francisco “Quico” Canseco, R-San … Continue reading

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Who’s running for what where?

Chris Cillizza notes an old familiar face who’s back on the scene. Former Rep. Ciro Rodriguez (D-Texas) is running again after losing his seat to businessman Francisco Canseco (R) last fall. Rodriguez won the seat in an 2006 special election, … Continue reading

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House eyewitness ID bill passes

Another step forward. The Texas House, aiming to reduce the number of wrongful convictions, approved legislation Wednesday that would require law enforcement agencies to begin standardizing the way eyewitnesses identify criminal suspects. The unanimously approved bill would require police to … Continue reading

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Eyewitness ID bills advance

Grits: Sen. Rodney Ellis’ eyewitness ID bill passed out of committee unanimously, with an an inconsequential cleanup amendment from Sen. Joan Huffman, just as Chairman Pete Gallego’s companion bill passed out of House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee last week. Since that … Continue reading

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Keeping track of innocence-related bills

From Grits: The House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee has posted an agenda which includes three important pieces of innocence legislation carried by Chairman Pete Gallego: HB 215 Relating to photograph and live lineup identification procedures in criminal cases. HB 219 Relating … Continue reading

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More on Combs v. Perry over Amazon

The Trib has a good story that explains the background of the Perry-Combs smackdown over Amazon. There’s another player in this fight, and they’re on the Comptroller’s side: Retailers who charge sales taxes employ thousands of Texans, and some of … Continue reading

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The softer side of Sharon Keller

The Trib lets us know that there’s more to Sharon Keller than willful indifference to death penalty appeals and rigid fealty to the prosecutorial perspective. For nearly as long as she has led the state’s highest criminal court, Keller has … Continue reading

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Sometimes, government really is run like a business

And that’s not such a good thing, as former deputy state comptroller Billy Hamilton pointed out in testimony before the House Select Committee on Government Efficiency and Accountability. Don’t expect savings anytime soon. Check out other states that tried the … Continue reading

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Bradley and the Texas Open Meetings Act

Rick Casey finds another way in which John Bradley, the Chair of the Texas Forensic Science Commission, is a failure. Friday started badly for John Bradley, the Williamson County district attorney selected last fall by Gov. Rick Perry to ride … Continue reading

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Budget heads to the Governor

In the end, thanks in large part to the stimulus package and its infusion of funds that prevented the need to dip into the Rainy Day Fund, the budget process was relatively uncontroversial. Yesterday, it was passed by the House, … Continue reading Continue reading

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More on Radnofsky for AG

Barbara Radnofsky talks to Gardner Selby about her intent to run for Attorney General in 2010. Radnofsky said Thursday she’s going to run next year for attorney general, starting with an Austin fund-raiser Tuesday featuring nine Democratic state representatives (all … Continue reading

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No Tigua casinos

We may still get some form of expanded gambling in Texas, but at least one form of it is off the table for this session. The Tiguas hopes to restart lucrative gambling operations on their reservation are dead for this … Continue reading

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Craddick’s cleanup

I’m amused by this. Before the House voted Speaker Tom Craddick out of his powerful job, state officials wiped his computers clean and deleted scores of electronic files, raising concerns that important public records may have been destroyed. Files on … Continue reading

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