JAB

JAB Signing Off

2006-08-28T14:10:00.000-07:00

I have been meaning to write this for a while. In the past months I have moved to Austin and started writing at DriveDemocracy.org and Burnt Orange Report and the combination of the two has left me to leave my beloved blogspot.

I started this site as a way to vent and never thought it would turn into what it did, and I thank you all for that.

Without your support and you reading daily and weekly, I would not be writing at other sites and for that, thank you. However, I am still writing and I would encourage you all to read DriveDemocracy.org and Burnt Orange Report. Come harass me over there.

I have a soft place in my heart for San Antonio and my first blog.

Thank you all so much. Your friend,
Matt

San Antonio Loves Their Mayor

2006-07-12T07:38:00.000-07:00

The latest Survey USA poll shows that Mayor Hardberger is sitting pretty with a 60% approval rating.

It is widely known that potential candidates for the 2007 municipal race are waiting in the wings to see if Hardberger will run for re-election. This recent poll shows why it will be hard to beat Hardberger next year if he decides to run.

Playing Games with Our Right to Vote

2006-07-10T09:46:00.000-07:00

The Republican Party has been playing a manipulative shell game with American’s right to vote and there is no end in sight.

The Republican Party has been at odds with itself since the 1960’s when the Voting Rights Act passed.

The landmark legislation eliminated many prevalent discriminatory practices like a literacy test and created Department of Justice oversight for any state that was at least 5% African-American.

American’s are use to the idea of the “Right to Vote”, but until the 1965 voting rights act and three subsequent constitutional rulings, there was no right to cast a ballot for any person. Reynolds vs. Simms clarified the rule set in the case Baker vs. Carr, and one justice wrote, “the right of suffrage is a fundamental matter in a free and democratic society. Especially since the right to exercise the franchise in a free and unimpaired manner is preservative of other basic civil and political rights, any alleged infringement of the right of citizens to vote must be carefully and meticulously scrutinized”.

Since the late 60’s the US has even dictated foreign policy based on the rules of voting by dictating a just society gives every citizen the right to vote.

Why then has the United State stalled on renewing the Voting Rights Act?

According to the Miami Herald:

The renewal of the act was delayed weeks ago after some House Republicans questioned the validity of the `60s-era legislation, particularly some Southern states that argued federal oversight was no longer necessary.

Other Republicans questioned the need for language assistance for voters, among them Rep. Cliff Stearns, an Ocala, Fla., Republican who unsuccessfully pushed a provision that would have ended a federal mandate requiring foreign-language assistance. In Miami-Dade County, it involves providing ballots in Spanish and Creole, and in Broward County, ballots in Spanish.

With a recent ruling by the United State Supreme Court on Texas redistricting it is clear that federal oversight is needed and the rights of the minority are still at risk.

Republican leadership and Texas Congressional officials like John Carter think there is no racism anymore even when the Supreme Court has ruled that they have oppressed the rights of more than 100,000 voters. Lamar Smith wants to wait to vote until AFTER he has been elected chair of the House Judiciary Committee and has the ability to rule on the interpretation of the VRA.

Our nation and Congress has ruled to protect the rights of EVERY voter since 1965, and four decades later this Congress wants to renege on their promise to protect our voice in this democracy. Contact your Representative today and tell them to renew the Voting Rights Act today.

Glenn Smith: On the Sparks Ruling

2006-07-06T10:20:00.000-07:00

Judge Sam Sparks today ruled with Democrats, ordering that Tom DeLay remain on the ballot in his congressional district.

Sparks' language is powerful and unambiguous:

"Political acumen, strategy, and manufactured evidence, even combined with a sound policy in mind, cannot override the Constitution."

In other words, DeLay and his GOP co-conspirators had concocted a political scheme to have DeLay declared ineligible to serve in Congress. This was all a ploy to save the GOP from embarrassment due to DeLay's indictments and many ethical black marks.

The importance of the ruling goes beyond DeLay. The Court has put the freedom to vote and the integrity of the Constitution and election law ahead of partisan schemes.

Ultimately, the Democratic Party's greatest success in this case is their steadfast support for the rights of voters, for free and open elections. This is a win for popular democracy, for too long under assault by the right wing.

Here is the full opinion.

Sparks Rules With Democrats

2006-07-06T09:09:00.000-07:00

From the Lone Star Project:

Federal Judge Agrees with Texas Democrats
on DeLay Ballot Challenge

Federal District Court Judge Sam Sparks just ruled in favor of Texas Democrats who sought an injunction to prevent Republicans in Texas Congressional District 22 from replacing Tom DeLay on the congressional ballot.

Texas Democrats argued that the U.S. Constitution, not State law, defines eligibility to serve in the U.S. Congress. Judge Sparks agreed.

More details to come.

Vilma Luna Resigns

2006-07-05T09:16:00.000-07:00

Nueces County State Representative Vilma Luna has resigned. At the Capitol, Luna is well known to vote with Republican leadership and ignore the D next to her name which has made her a Craddick darling and an enemy of the party.

The rumor on the street is that she will be offered a job at HillCo and cash out while the going is good.

The real question that arises is what happens to that seat for November? Luna was unchallenged in the Democratic primary and she had no opponent in the November general. Luna, has said that this will allow voters pick a candidate to serve a full two year term. Which makes it sounds like there will be a primary election before November, but I am not sure about the law on that.

No matter what, this district is overwhelmingly Democrat and I view this as a victory for the party. Like Al Edwards being beaten by Boris Miles or Carlos Uresti defeating Frank Madla... Democrats have picked up yet another D vote for January.

Anyone want to make the natural speakers race comment? A moderate Republican or rural Democrat might seem substantially more appealing now that Craddick is down another vote.

UPDATE:
Philip Martin at BOR has the legal info.

The the county executive committee (CEC) will meet to replace Rep. Luna on the ballot. The CEC is made up of the precinct chairs from House District 33 (all 46 of them) and the County Chair in Nueces County. Solomon Ortiz Jr. is expected to announce by the end of the evening, and Danny Noyola Sr. is expected to announce as well.
Since the Republican Party did not field a candidate to run against Rep. Luna, they will not have anyone on the November ballot, and the seat will remain Democratic.

UPDATE:
An "Unnamed Source" has done some fantastic analysis on who might replace Luna.

BREAKING NEWS: KEN LAY FOUND DEAD IN ASPEN

2006-07-05T07:19:00.000-07:00

There are few details, but it appears Enron found Ken Lay was found dead in Aspen. CNN has more on the story.

UPDATE:
First reports are saying that Ken Lay has passed away of an apparent heart attack in his vacation home in Aspen.

Kathi Thomas on Toll Roads

2006-07-05T07:09:00.000-07:00

Kathi Thomas, Democratic candidate in Senate District 25, had a letter to the editor published last Friday in the Statesman.

Instead of publishing her full commentary, the online and paper addition only used parts. Here is the piece in full.

I agree with Rep. Rodriguez that putting all toll roads in East side of Austin, where more people are less likely to be able to afford them, is unfair, However, to force the 290/71 Y to be a toll road when the Fix 290 group's plan would save millions in construction, impact the environment much less (including Williamson Creek which contributes to the Edwards Aquifer) and eliminates tolls just because the West side "deserves" toll roads isn't a wise use of public money.

Instead, I propose that we don't need the toll roads at all. Instead of forcing some people to pay for roads, a wise legislature would raise the gas tax by the 2 cents per gallon that is widely reported to be the amount that it would cost to keep from tolling roads. At 2 cents per gallon, we'd all be paying less than we would for tolls, and it would be a much more fair and equitable way to fund roads.

Currently, we have a governor who touts his "tax cutting" while upping "fees" to middle and lower income people as a routine way of life, while his rich supporters get off with nice big tax breaks. People need to wake up. No tolls- and no one who supports tolls should elected on November 7.
Kathi Thomas

How Patriotic Are You Open Thread

2006-07-03T11:48:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is THE day of our countries independence. Some would call it Independence Day. Some say call it July 4th. Yet others call it the day of BBQ and beer. All of these people are right.

Dos Centavos has found a great test to find out how well you know your country.

Take the test and let us know how you did.

I got a 95%, how did you do?

UIW Supports 1st Amendment After All

2006-07-03T10:17:00.000-07:00

After national pressure, the University of Incarnate Word has reinstated its subscription to the New York Times after canceling it last week. The Express-News reported the story Saturday, one day after the story broke.

Sadly, Dean of Library Services Mendell Morgan did not admit that he was censoring the press at the University when he announced either the cancellation or the purchase of the NYT subscription.

"In retrospect, I made a personal decision perhaps in too great haste and did not seek other input," Morgan said, speaking in front of the university's library. "I wanted to send a message in protest."

Mendell added, "I do abhor censorship and its implications."

It is good to see Mendell acknowledge that the cancellation is tantamount to censorship and that those that objected to the rash and sudden behavior had legitimate grievances.

But those who opposed Morgan's decision to remove the Times, including library staffers Jennifer Romo and Tom Rice, argued it was wrong to deny students access to the newspaper because of a personal disagreement with its coverage. Romo and Rice criticized the action publicly.

Though the campus was nearly empty Friday, two students who stumbled on the news conference said they strongly disagreed with the cancellation.

"What disturbed me is that Morgan didn't seem to realize there was anything wrong with his decision," said Joan Braune, a recent graduate and president of the campus chapter of Amnesty International. "Our tuition and fees pay for his salary and library services and he decided to speak in our name without any input."

After all is said and done, Morgan needs to be applauded for listening to the students, faculty, and community. However, it is sad to see a Dean act in a political way instead of consulting others and working in the best interest of the students.

Chris Bell Endorses John Courage as a MapChanger

2006-07-01T16:12:00.000-07:00

Here is the e-mail in full:

With your help over the past two weeks, we smashed our online fundraising goal and advanced to the finals of Mark Warner's Map Changer contest. We also asked you to join is in supporting the other Texas campaigns in this contest, and you came through by sending John Courage into the finals as well. It's a great example of what Texas Democrats can accomplish when we work together.

Now as we start the final round, there are ten candidates from across the country vying to win a fundraiser with Governor Warner. Voting runs through July 10th, and you can only vote for one candidate. It's a testament to the strength of the Texas netroots that we have two Texans into final ten, and we'll need every bit of that strength to bring Mark Warner to Texas. That's why we need to work together to make sure we do not split our votes.

I've talked with John Courage and we've decided that, in the spirit of Texas unity, and on behalf of all Democratic candidates and activists across Texas, we will ask all of our supporters to join together:

Please vote for John Courage in this contest.

http://www.forwardtogetherpac.com/mapchangers

John is a great Democrat and a great candidate, and he finished the second round only a handful of votes shy of being the leading vote-getter nationwide. We believe that if we can pull together and get all of Texas behind John Courage and take him to victory, that we can accomplish a much greater victory for all of us across the state

Our new field director, Glen Maxey, is working with activists and campaigns all across the state to build a website at TrueBlueAction.com that will offer netroots organizing tools that will help Democrats win in November and beyond. If we can put John Courage over the top, he has agreed to use the first $15,000 raised at the Mark Warner fundraiser to underwrite the development of these tools and this website. These tools will help us across the state for years to come, and they will only get better as we build and improve on them.

The TrueBlueAction.com web site is under construction and is being developed as a open access site with lots of organizing tools for candidates and activists to use to register and turn out Democratic votes. It will be open for the use of local, state and federal candidates. It will be open for the use on any individual wanting to help the Democratic ticket or a candidate.

That's why winning this contest is bigger than John Courage or me. It's about what all Texas Democrats can accomplish if we work together. By voting for John Courage in the Map Changer contest, you will be helping all Democratic candidates in Texas.

Vote today: http://www.forwardtogetherpac.com/mapchangers

Vote for Texas. Vote for Courage.

In unity,
Chris Bell

P.S. I need to thank you again for helping us smash our goal on our online fundraising drive. We set a goal of raising $25,000 through our website in the last two weeks of June. With your help, we ended up bringing in more than $40,000 from grassroots Texans. The momentum keeps building as we get closer to November, and I'm glad to have you at my side in this fight.

Courage Campaign Receives National Accolades

2006-06-30T10:55:00.000-07:00

Forty-eight hours ago John Courage was one of a handful of well-known congressional candidates inside the lone star state and around the Texas blogs.

In the past day things have changed for the Courage camp.

National recognition has begun to swarm around the congressional candidate. He won 2nd place in the Warner MapChangers contest (putting him in the finals with fellow Texan and future Governor Chris Bell), He has received the prestigious netroots endorsement with 15 other amazing Democrats.

MyDD, Burnt Orange Report, and the Democratic Party have all done profile pieces on Courage in the past day.

Impressively, the Courage campaign will be attending over 14 events during the July 4th weekend. In addition, the Courage camp is launching an aggressive ground campaign in order to have real conversations with every voter.

Today is the final day to give to the candidate before the June 30th deadline. Support a rising star! Part with a little cash and volunteer to put Courage in Congress.

University of Incarnate Word Cancel NYT Subscription in Protest

2006-06-30T07:40:00.000-07:00

This comes from the Mitch Hedberg's "I am against protesting but I don't know how to show it" file.

UIW has canceled their subscription to the New York Times after the paper exposed a secret government program that monitors financial transactions in the hopes of finding suspected terrorist.

"Since no one elected the New York Times to determine national security policy, the only action I know to register protest for their irresponsible action (treason?) is to withdraw support of their operations by canceling our subscription as many others are doing," Mendell D. Morgan Jr. wrote Wednesday in an e-mail to library staffers. "If enough do, perhaps they will get the point."

Good thing Morgan took an immediate and calculated action. NYT will now receive $100 less in revenue and the UIW has officially censored students by holding back information from them. To any UIW student or faculty that needs their NYT fix, here is the website.

Texas Redistricting Shows Importance of Voting Rights Act

2006-06-28T11:19:00.000-07:00

(cross posted at The Agonist, Kos, MyDD, Burnt Orange Report, and DriveDemocracy.org)

Hours ago, the Unites States Supreme Court released their ruling in the Texas Redistricting case. It was a strong statement in support of hundreds of thousands of voters in the most diverse parts of the state.

In a time where less Texans are insured, education is failing, and the culture of corruption is sweeping our nation, it is troubling to have the court rule FOR an incumbent protection plan. With no test in place and no restrictions, state legislatures can legally choose to ignore the plight of children and seniors, teachers and doctors, veterans and first responders, and waste time by constantly changing the boundaries of a political district.

The High Court made it clear that political gerrymandering is legal and acceptable as long as voters have their rights protected. The court was troubled by the simple fact that in Congressional District 23 over 100,000 Latino voters were thrown into a new district to protect the incumbent Republican and weaken the voting power of the minority.

Currently the Voting Rights Act (VRA) is in jeopardy and the House of Representatives has refused to protect the civil rights of every American.

Today's decision shows the importance of this law by requiring that people have an equal say on who governs them. It is imperative for our representatives to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act and protect the vote of every Texan.

Instead elected Republican's like John Carter R-Round Rock says it should be a requirement for us to go back to oppressive laws of the segregated south by requiring literacy tests before people vote. What's next, a poll tax?

Lamar Smith (R-San Antonio) has made it clear that he will be running for House Judiciary chair. This is the committee that will interpret and implement the Voting Rights Act even though he has stood in firm opposition to the one person, one vote philosophy upheld by the Supreme Court.

Now with serious opposition in one of Texas' four redistricted areas, Smith has decided to play it both ways by voting for VRA in committee and planning to vote against it on the floor.

The Supreme Court made it clear today, without the Voting Rights Act the voice of hundreds of thousands of Hispanics in south Texas would be silenced every November. Imagine the perilous affects if Congress refuses to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act? This is a risk we cannot take. Contact your elected officials today and tell them to vote FOR the Sensenbrenner bill which has garnered 152 co-sponsors, including House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and every member of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC).

Make sure to vote for John Courage and Mary Beth Harrell as MapChangers so they can defeat Smith and Carter.

Supreme Court Rules on Texas Redistricting

2006-06-28T08:05:00.000-07:00

The courts ruled on League of United Latin American Citizens et al. v. Perry, Governor of Texas, et al. Also known as, the Texas Redistricting case.

SCOTUS Blog has some details and the 132 page decision.

On a first reading, it appears the districts will generally stay the same with a possible redrawing of CD 23 creating a possible Ciro Rodriguez vs Henry Cuellar rematch. It also appears to be legal for political mid-decade redistricting as long as it doesn't violate the voting rights act.

More to come afer I go to law school.

UPDATE:
Doing some extra work, check out TexasKos and the debate over there and here is some good info on how this will affect the TX-23 and TX-28.

Councilwoman Guajardo Hosts Town Hall Meeting

2006-06-27T09:05:00.000-07:00

District 7 City Councilwoman Elena Guajardo will be hosting a Town Hall meeting today.

The meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the SBC Technology Center at St. Mary's University at One Camino Santa Maria.

Code compliance issues and new procedures at Municipal Court will be discussed.

Expected at the meeting are City Manager Sheryl Sculley, various municipal court judges and representatives from the code compliance department.

OfficeMax Must Stop Destroying Our Endangered Forests

2006-06-27T08:09:00.000-07:00

A good friend of mine from Dogwood Alliance talked to me about this a while back, and now they have began working in Texas to protect our southern forests.

According to Dogwood Alliance, OfficeMax, the third largest retail office supply store in the US, threatens forests of the South by doing business with the most irresponsible logging company in the region.

OfficeMax board member and Texas A&M professor Dr. David Syzmanski must make a commitment to the environment and Southern Forests. Texans must demand that OfficeMax stop sourcing paper from endangered forests. Our Southern forests are being rapidly wiped out to meet surging demands for office copy paper and paper packaging. Unless consumers insist that such throwaway products be produced from recycled fibers instead of trees, beautiful forests throughout the Southeastern U.S. will continue to be needlessly destroyed.

Tell OfficeMax to stop sourcing paper from endangered forests.

The Southern forest region of the U.S. contains some of the most biologically rich ecosystems in North America. It is home to hundreds of forest and aquatic species -- especially amphibians, reptiles, snails and trees -- that are found nowhere else on earth.

Dogwood Alliance has already worked with OfficeMax’s two largest competitors, Staples and Office Depot. Both have already committed publicly to increase recycled content in the paper they sell and avoid sourcing paper from endangered forests.

It is time to urge Office Max to follow suit and do the responsible thing.

Hammas and Fatah Recognize Israel-ish

2006-06-27T07:52:00.000-07:00

According to two main AP stories circulating, an implicit agreement between Israel and Palestine has opened the door for long term negotiations.

The rival Hamas and Fatah movements agreed on a plan implicitly recognizing Israel, a top Palestinian official said Tuesday after weeks of acrimonious negotiations aiming to lift crippling international aid sanctions.
Moderate President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah has been trying to coax his Hamas rivals into endorsing the document, which calls for a Palestinian state alongside Israel, in effect recognizing the Jewish state. He has endorsed the plan as a way to end sanctions against the Hamas-led Palestinian government and pave the way to reopening peace talks with Israel.

This good news for Palestinians who have seen the assets frozen and funds cut off, and a strong development for long term peace talks.

The one major strike is while Palestinians want a state, their government will not simply say that Israel exists.

Baby steps though...

Democrats Go to Court to Protect Voters Rights

2006-06-26T15:18:00.000-07:00

There was no word from the Supreme Court today on redistricting, but there were some interesting developments in a Texas Courtroom.

The question today was whether the Democrats would have standing in court in order to maintain a temporary restraining order in the Republican appointment in the 22nd Congressional District.

Judge Sparks not only said their was standing, he also heard the witnesses and has left the door open for a ruling as early as Friday.

According to the Texas Democratic Party and Chairman Boyd Richie, the message is clear

“Obviously, this makes clear that the Republican Party cannot conclusively establish from any record, either today, tomorrow, or in October, that Tom DeLay will not be an inhabitant of Texas on Election Day,” Richie added.

“Tom DeLay’s actions this weekend confirm that his cut and run scheme is just a charade. If the DeLay-Republican charade is allowed to stand, DeLay could conceivably return to Texas after he is “replaced” on the ballot, re-register, and actually vote in the election he hopes to abandon,” observed Richie.

The most striking proof for a defacto withdrawal was the fact that when DeLay was served a subpoena it was it has house in Sugarland and the former majority leader was there.

“The fact that Tom DeLay was served at his home in Fort Bend County supports what the Texas Democratic Party has known all along, that Tom DeLay has been and continues to be an inhabitant of the State of Texas,” said Texas Democratic Party Chairman Boyd Richie.

The most damaging testimony came from DeLay himself as he stated he may be present in Fort Bend on Election Day.

“Tom DeLay and the Republican Party of Texas have failed to provide any proof that DeLay is not and will not be an inhabitant of Texas on Election Day. DeLay himself testified under oath that he did not know where he will be on Election Day.

No matter what the outcome, Democrats remain optimistic in the TX-22 and are confident in Lampson’s chance to pick up one of the 15 seats needed to take back the house.

The most important fact is that the Democrats are working hard to ensure that the people have a chance to pick their candidate and that a primary election means more than anointing the incumbent every year.

Lost but Not Forgotten

2006-06-26T05:40:00.000-07:00

I have been working tirelessly to get the Texas 5 elected as MapChangers and I have been doing extensive research that will show how Chris Bell will win- I have not forgotten about JAB.

I am holding off on posts until we hear what is going on with the Texas Redistricting Case and the Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) filed to keep the Republican Party from allowing voters to select their candidate.

Sit back, relax, and watch some World Cup for me.

One Democrat, One Republican, and Two "Other" Republican's

2006-06-22T13:32:00.000-07:00

According to Quorum Report Kinky and Strayhorn are on the ballot. Here is the story:

WILLIAMS CERTIFIES STRAYHORN AND FRIEDMAN TO BE ON BALLOT Full text of press release below Secretary of State Roger Williams today notified candidates and minor parties who filed for a place on the general election ballot if they met the statutorily prescribed qualifications. By state law, candidates were required to submit an application for a place on the ballot accompanied by petitions with the required number of signatures. "Texas has a process for verifying the eligibility of independent candidates for a place on the ballot and today we have finished that process," Williams said. "Our method of verifying every signature is the most accurate, has been upheld by the courts and was done faster than in years past."

Williams notified the campaigns of Richard Kinky Friedman and Carole Keeton Strayhorn today that they had met the requirements for a place on the ballot in the upcoming gubernatorial election. Both Candidates exceeded the 45,540 signatures required by state law. After a preliminary review of the 170,258 petitions submitted by Mr. Friedman, Secretary Williams' office has certified that 137,154 met the requirements. Similarly, Secretary Williams certified that 108,512 of the 222,514 signatures submitted by Ms. Strayhorn were valid signatures that met all statutory requirements.

Texas Five- $25k and All it Takes is You

2006-06-21T21:00:00.000-07:00

I have been working around the clock today on work and making sure the Texas 5 WIN the Warner MapChanger's vote.

After two days, we have Chris Bell at number 2, and sources close the Warner camp have Courage bouncing between 6 and 7.

If you haven't voted... go vote!

You may have also seen these posts on TexasKos and BOR:

Some may not realize this, I sure didn't, but the order of your vote makes a huge impact!
The system is done in an instant run-off ballot!
If you are like me and live in John Courage's future district and want to make sure he is on the ballot, then you should vote him first.
If you are working for Mary Beth and Chris Bell, vote them first.
Wanna play some strategy? Then feel free to vote Bell 4 or 5 because he is already in second.
The fact that it is instant run-off voting means that we can play some strategy to ensure all of our great Democrats win $5K.
Can you imagine the Texas 5?
Vote and make it happen... and spread the word!

So vote and vote strategically. We can $25K in Texas but he means voting across the state, telling your friends, and voting strategically. If you want to make Texas Blue and make a huge impact before the June 30th deadline, this is an easy way to do it. The deadline to vote is June 29th.

Vote the Texas Ticket and raise $25K for the State

2006-06-20T14:31:00.000-07:00

The Courage Camp just sent this. How great would it be if Warner sends all of his Western money to Texas?!

Thank you! Because of you, John Courage is now in the secondary phase of the MapChanger race. The top 5 vote-getters in a field of 20 receive $5,000 per campaign, and then compete for the grand prize of a fundraiser with Governor Mark Warner.

While we ask for you to go vote for John Courage, there are four other Texan candidates in the race, more from a single state than any other in the competition. By voting “Straight Ticket Texan,” you can help not only bring $5,000 to Team Courage, but you can also send $5,000 to other Texas races, which in turn help candidates on the statewide level due to money being spent locally.

The Straight Ticket Texan lineup:
TX CD 21 – John Courage
TX GOV – Chris Bell
TX SEN – Barbara Ann Radnofsky
TX CD 10 – Ted Ankrum
TX CD 31 – Mary Beth Harrell

Many people have commented on the amount of strong Democratic support in the state of Texas, and it is generally with a vibe of surprise. Now, once again, we have an opportunity to speak loudly and clearly to our nation.

Please join us in voting Straight Ticket Texan, and help us bring $25,000 to Texas.

Tuesday Morning News

2006-06-20T07:48:00.000-07:00

According to Vince at Capitol Annex, caucus leader Jim Dunnam and Rep Lon Burnam "tell it like it is".
Charlie mentions it first, but today is World Refuge Day.
Dos Centavos says former Senator Edwards won the first Iowa straw poll, and Kos adds that right now the Democratic field is larger than the pundits think.
Mark Warner's MapChangers list came out and Texas did very well (Go VOTE!).
Apparently there are two Courage campaigns now, but only one matters to me.
Roger Williams' office should let us know tomorrow whether Kinky and/or Strayhorn are on the ballot.
SCOTUSBlog has two pieces to read. It seems the pundits (and bloggers) were right. Justice Kennedy has moved to the center and saved the clean water act from being completely gutted.
The rumor mill says we might have a ruling on redistricting Thursday, but I will believe it when I read it.
The Mavs are in dire straights and the US World Cup team has a shot.
Two sites for you to check out. Drive Democracy has re-launched a new sexy site and law students are getting organized to help the party.

What did I miss?

Police Chief McManus to Address Stonewall

2006-06-19T09:19:00.000-07:00

Stonewall Democrats of San Antonio would like to invite all of you to meet William McManus, the new SA Police Department Chief. He will be the guest speaker at the upcoming Stonewall Democrats meeting on Monday, June 19, 2006, at 6:30 p.m., at Grady's BBQ, 6510 San Pedro Ave (at the intersection of San Pedro Ave. & Jackson Keller).

The Stonewall Dems of San Antonio are honored to have Chief McManus as their guest speaker. Chief McManus took office April 17, 2006. He has promoted himself as being a different kind of police chief, one who is open and accessible to the community. For the first time, the LGBT community in San Antonio has a liaison at the SAPD, Cpt. Larry Birney (who was the Stonewall guest speaker last month).

Take the time and hear McManus speak tonight.

Mayor Hardberger Lovefest

2006-06-19T07:51:00.000-07:00

Mayor Phil Hardberger won in a close election to term limited Julian Castro just one year ago, and the city seems to have forgotten that they anointed Castro the heir apparent in 2005.

Much to his credit, Harberger has won over the city, seen stellar approval numbers, and has courted and won over the San Antonio press. It is impossible to see Harberger’s name not associated with good news or novel thinking, but is it too early to write this chapter in the history of San Antonio politics?

Yes.

Harberger has attempted much and achieved little. San Antonio has the lowest pay and toughest term-limits out of any major city, and this makes it hard or nearly impossible to get things done. Citizen advisory commissions, lobbyist, and citizen groups make the wheels turn either with lightning speed or a nice… slow…. methodical…. grind.

Hardberger has tried to get a baseball team and a football team. He has tried luring business and said no to conventions. He has made the actions inside city council more professional, but he has refused to take a stand on controversial issues or defend members of the council.

By no means is this a negative critique to the current mayor, but it is a critique of the early praise. One of my favorite writers for the Express-News, Greg Jefferson has this to say:

Hardberger so far has no sweeping, high-impact initiatives to his credit, and he's not without a few failures and disappointments. On the other hand, he's spent a good deal of time courting council members, forging a coalition and piecing together what he considers an A-team of city administrators.

This is by far the most concise summation of this mayor. In one year we as a city have gone from announcing the 2007 rematch of Castro vs. Hardberger to hailing Hardberger as the best Mayor in San Antonio history. Has he been a bad Mayor? No. But, what has he done to deserve so many column inches and so much praise?

Saturday Democratic Fun Day

2006-06-16T07:39:00.000-07:00

What are you doing this weekend? Here are just a few ideas for your Saturday:

Precinct 3 War Room Coordinated Campaign 2006
Precinct 3 War Room. We meet at the Northeast Service Center
10303 Toolyard from 10:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m.

SAAPAC
San Antonio Area Progressive Action Committee meets at Grady's off of Jackson-Keller at 1 p.m.

World Cup Soccer
Watch Team USA play Italy at 2 p.m. CST

Drinking Liberally San Antonio
An Inconvenient Truth at the Bijou at 7:30 p.m.

Will You ActBlue for Texas?

2006-06-15T16:18:00.000-07:00

In Texas we are on top of our game. The Progressive NetRoots has created a network of ads, communication, and an entire progressive alliance. We have improved communications and now we want to help our candidates raise some cash.

As many of you know, ActBlue is the federal clearinghouse for donations to Democratic candidates, having channeled over $5.5 million to Dem contenders so far. But did you know, that with your help, you can activate it for Texas... for statewide, state house, and state senate candidates?

Together, Texas bloggers have agreed to help activate ActBlue for our state's non-federal candidates by asking our readers to put us over the top. Normally, ActBlue asks each state to raise $10,000 before moving forward (Texas being at $4,500 so far). But we've got some good news for you from the people at ActBlue.

However, in doing some more preliminary research Texas turns out to be similar to some other states we've already done -- so if we could break $5000 we'd be ready to move ahead with it. Would the texroots be able to help us out with the remaining $1000 by the end of the month?
As far as timeline, my aim would be to have everything ready to go as early in July as we can.

So we ask you, will you, the TexRoots get us over the $5,000 mark and activate ActBlue for all our state non-federal candidates? Do it here- donate today!

This is the most important thing you can do for the John Courages, Joe Farias's, Hank Gilberts, Juan Garcias, and Kathi Thomas's of Texas as we move forward in unity to support our TexRoots candidates to be announced in the coming months by the Texas blogosphere.

We don't fundraise for JAB, but we do need your support to ActBlue, Texas style.

Thank You TDP

2006-06-15T13:42:00.000-07:00

Amber Moon, Communications Director
Hector Nieto, Deputy Communications Director
Texas Democratic Party
707 Rio Grande Street
Austin, Texas 78701

Dear Amber and Hector:

Over the past few months, you have done tremendous work to bring the Texas Democratic Party and the surging Texas netroots community together.

Specifically, we want to commend you for the accommodations you provided at the recently completed Texas Democratic Party Convention in Fort Worth. From the front row seating to free wi-fi access, you gave us tremendous access to an excellent convention. Most importantly, you treated us with the same respect you gave our older step-parents, the traditional media.

The Texas blogging community may not be the classiest bunch of folks, nor the best looking. We don't write for major dailies, and we can't guarantee thousand dollar checks. We do, however, work tirelessly -- as volunteers, as activists, as organizers, and as bloggers -- to fight for the candidates and the people of our Texas Democratic Party.

Thanks, again, for all the work you did helping make the 2006 TDP convention a success, and we are eager to continue working together to help move Texas forward.

Sincerely,

The Texas Progressive Democratic Webloggers

A Capitol Blog
Rep. Aaron Pena
www.acapitolblog.blogspot.com

The Agonist
Sean-Paul Kelley
www.agonist.org/

Annatopia
Anna
www.annatopia.com

Brains and Eggs
Perry Dorrell
http://brainsandeggs.blogspot.com
Burnt Orange Report
Karl-Thomas Musselman, et. all
www.burntorangereport.com

Capitol Annex
Vince Leibowitz
http://capitolannex.com
Common Sense
Nathan Nance
www.commonsensetx.com

Dos Centavos
Stace Meddelin
dos-centavos.blogspot.com

Eye on Williamson County
wcnews and dembones
www.eyeonwilliamson.org

Greg's Opinion
Greg Wythe
www.gregsopinion.com

Jobsanger
Shannon & Ted McLaughlin
http://jobsanger.blogspot.com

Just Another Blog
Matt Glazer
www.justanothermatt.blogspot.com

Marc's Miscellany
Marc Gault
www.marcsmiscellany.blogspot.com/

McBlogger
Trey McAtee
www.mcblogger.com

Musings
Martha Griffin
http://muse-musings.blogspot.com

Off the Kuff
Charles Kuffner
www.offthekuff.com/mt

The Red State
M. Eddie Rodriguez
http://theredstate.typepad.com

Texas Kos
http://soapblox.net/texaskos

CC: Boyd Richie, Chairman, Texas Democratic Party
Ruben Hernandez, Executive Director, Texas Democratic Party

Rove Visits New Hampshire, Talks 08 Run

2006-06-13T21:17:00.000-07:00

He might not be on trial... but the idea of President Rove is not something I want to think about.

Races to Watch

2006-06-13T16:13:00.000-07:00

There are a lot of races that look good in Texas right now. The House Democratic Campaign Committee and the Texas Democratic Party should have smiles on their faces. To borrow a sentiment from West Wing, if Democrats win the top of the ballot it will be on the coat tails of our house races.

Why do I feel so confident? Simply put, there are a lot of races we can win. On the state level it is doubtful the Democrats will take back the House this year, but we will cut the margins.

Here are the races I am watching across the state (in no particular order).

Let’s start locally. Joe Farias is a race to hold. After Carlos Uresti soundly defeated incumbent Senator Frank Madla, District 118 is a seat that the D’s need to win in November. Farias has been involved in the community and is a veteran. His opponent is a man right of the district and is fishing for Leininger support by coming out as a pro-voucher candidate.

This combination of George Antuna being awful for the district and Joe Farias as the next generation Uresti, 118 is getting all the attention in San Antonio.

This focus brings money, volunteers, and county campaign structure intent to claim victory in November. Farias also benefits by having his district overlap with the feisty Courage campaign. It doesn’t hurt that a Republican has never won in this district.

Next, lets go south. Juan Garcia had Wes Clark show up at his announcement. The Supreme Allied Commander showing up for a State Rep candidate seems good.

Garcia has a look and swagger that few first time candidates have. He is a JFK grad, a veteran, and connections to boot. District 32 is a moderate district and in 2002, Seamen won by a modest 2,400 votes (53% to 47%).

Garcia’s charisma and connections to national figures like John Kerry, Gen Clark and former roommate Barack O’Bama could mean a lot as November gets closer. Do you think any of these guys are good for a high dollar fundraiser or 10?

Lets go urban again.

Paula Hightower-Pierson. District 93 has been described as a future Democratic district. It seems the future is now.

According to the campaign:

In both 2002 and 2004 the democratic candidate for state house received this percentage. Strategically, it is the 2002 race that we must look at for determining success in 2006. The democrat who garnered 45% in 2002 spent less than $500. That will not be the case this year. Paula will have raised close to $130,000 dollars by the end of June. She is dedicated to making the calls and visits it takes to reach some extremely high fundraising goals.

Pierson served eight years on the Arlington City Council and has won 4 out of her 5 races. On Friday night at the blogger’s bash she vowed she didn’t like the way the loss felt and won’t ever do it again. The conviction was enough for me and the stats on the district make me want to agree.

In a recent Fort Worth Star Telegram article, “Power Players”, O.K. Carter says, “Then there's Paula Hightower-Pierson, who has been involved with a multitude of fundraising events in Arlington over the years. Virtually all of her endeavors historically have some element of political connection -- her particular niche. Her contact system is computerized, but she relies heavily on a phenomenal ability to recollect names and personal details.”

All this combined should make for a fun race to watch.

Let’s end with two more women. How much fun would it be to have a completely blue county? Valinda Bolton wants to do her part to make that dream a reality. Not a single house position is held by a Republican, but one is open and that is HD 47.

Bolton has the unique pleasure of a strong coordinated campaign, solid field campaign, being the only seat not controlled by a Democrat in a Democratic town, help up and down the ballot (another part of John Courage’s campaign), and on top of this laundry list of good news… this district defeated prop 2.

Seems like nothing but good news for a district that has an Radical Republican running too.

The pressure for Bolton is that she is on every must list out there.

Finally, there is Ellen Cohen who has the same list of characteristics but in Houston. Cohen has the money (in the last January report Cohen has already raised over $150,000), the support of groups like the Houston Equal Rights Alliance, and a build up of resentment towards Martha Wong.

With great candidates like these it is hard not to feel confident this November.

Tuesday News Round Up

2006-06-13T07:23:00.000-07:00

With all this convention stuff it is hard to imagine that actual new was going on. Here is a run down for ya.

Karl Rove won't be indicted because of PlameGate, but that doesn't mean he is out of the clear. More importantly, it doesn't mean I have to like him... right?
Lamar Smith hates judges and your freedom of speech.
Senator Byrd (D-West Virginia) is now the longest serving Senator ever. Like everyone else, he is thinking of running for President and becoming the longest serving executive next. Our favorite Strom Thrumond falls to number two on the list.
San Antonio's big debacle right now is going on downtown at Main Plaza. Hardberger wants to modernize it, but the voters want to update Hemisphere Park instead. Roddy Stinson is just poking the Council with a stick.
Coffee is saving my liver.
Animals really are eating their young.
The United States got killed by the Chucks (Czechs) yesterday 0-3. That leaves two must win games or elimination.
The Mavs are up 2-0 over the Heat, but since the Spurs aren't playing I don't care.
And one last Convention piece, Kuff has some great interviews with Courage, Harrell, Farias, Melancon, etc, etc, etc. Go Listen!

Did I miss anything?

Courage Campaign: Tell Lamar Smith that You're Not Stupid

2006-06-11T20:02:00.000-07:00

The Courage Campaign is already back to work after the convention. Straight from the inbox to you:

Tomorrow morning at 9 am, Lamar Smith will be conducting a press conference at Austin City Hall where he will try to pretend that he is an ally of the environment. We have already seen the same type of election-year pandering across the country this year, and we would like for you to stop by City Hall at 9 am to be a part of our rally. Please pass this message along to anyone you know who is concerned about the environment.

Earlier this month we launched a new website, www.ConservationWithCourage.com that outlines John’s stances on various environmental issues, ranging from ANWR to renewable energies/peak oil and global warming. John Courage is a true supporter of the environment, and I would ask for you to please forward this website to anyone who would be interested. For those who feel that perhaps Smith is “taking steps forward,” I invite you to take a look at these basic facts and realize that this is nothing more than obscene election year pandering:

Smith’s environmental voting score for the period 1994-2005 was a dismal 4.5%, according to the League of Conservation Voters. That puts him down toward the bottom even among Republicans across the country. His 2005 LCV score was zero.

The Texas Environmental Watch Alliance scored area Congressman on ten of their votes in 2005. Smith got a zero.

The Sierra Club scored Congressional reps on five major environmental issues for 2005. Again, Smith got a zero.
In 2005 Smith voted for the Energy bill (HR6) which provided billions of dollars in tax breaks and other subsidies to the oil, gas, and nuclear industries but very little funding to renewable energy industries.

In 2005 Smith voted against Amendment 73 to the Energy bill (HR6) that would have raised the CAFÉ standards for cars and light trucks to 33 mpg and saved 1 million barrels of oil/day by 2016.

In 2004 Smith voted for an earlier energy bill (also HR6) that would have “slighted clean, efficient energy technologies and left the currently weak automobile fuel efficiency standards in place” (LCV 2004 National Environmental Scorecard, p.19)

In 2003, Smith voted against the Boehlert-Markey amendment to 2003’s energy bill (again HR6) that would have reduced the amount of oil consumed by U.S. automobiles by 5% by 2010.

In 2001 an earlier Boehlert-Markey amendment was proposed to the 2001 House energy bill (HR4) that would have required both cars and light trucks to meet a 27.5 mpg standard by 2007. Smith voted against this amendment.

From 1994 through 2005 there were 10 bills introduced into the House that addressed global climate change. Smith voted against addressing global warming 9 times out of 10. Is this the record of someone who has consistently backed safe, clean renewable energy alternatives? Heck no! This is the record of a guy who is sucking up to Austin environmentalists just before an election where he faces rather worrisome competition from a genuine environmentalist. Please join us tomorrow morning at 9am for a flash rally to let Lamar Smith you're not stupid, and please forward this message to everyone you know.

Nick Lawrie
Campaign Director
TEAM COURAGE

P.S.--Don't forget to vote for John Courage as the first Mark Warner Mapchanger. Voting ends Tuesday!

State Chair is STILL Boyd Richie

2006-06-10T15:11:00.000-07:00

It was a floor fight that has literally not been seen in over two decades. It was spirited, positive, and good for the party.

Boyd Richie barely lost the first ballot capturing 47% of the vote. Glen Maxey garnered 37% and Charlie Urbina-Jones did well with 13%.

After a stirring speech and a near victory for Richie, Jones released his delegates and encouraged them to "vote for change, vote for a difference". The room burst into chants of "Maxey-Jones" with the hope that all of the delegates would move from one to the other.

Instead, Maxey and Richie split Jone's delegates almost 50:50, and before a final tally could be given Maxey conceded to Richie. It was begining to shape up to about a 53% to 47% race.

Maxey's concession was as graceful as his nomination speech. He announced that he was "ready for duty" after reading off his campaign literature saying he was ready to build the party county by county and precinct by precinct.

Some tempers flaired and egos swelled during this debate, but the party is stronger today than yesterday.

More party work will go on tonight. We will elect a vice-chair and push through resolutions and a platform, but we now have a chair to lead us for the next two years. Ya Basta.

State Party Chair Vote- Live Blog

2006-06-10T10:59:00.000-07:00

We have just been told to sit in our delegation. The vote is about to occur. Hank Gilbert (candidate for the state Agriculture Commission) it speaking now, but clearly the vote is about to occur.

1:16
The round of speakers is Richie, Maxey, Urbina-Jones, and then Rogers.

1:17
Richie is being introduced by the second youngest rep Anna Hernandez. A benefit being mentioned is his devotion to the party and the fact that his wife will make a good "co-chair".

Richie is being mentioned as unifier.

Richie filed this race when former chair Charles Soechting was still in office (last October), and the "good work" done by Richie are being listed as updated voter files, a new site, etc.

1:22
Mark Veasey is now up to second Boyd Richie's nomination. He is highlighting the "vision" Richie has and his ability to listen to others. Rep Veasey is also highlighting the opportunity we have with the current list of Republican failures.

1:25
Nominee Boyd Richie is now talking. He is asking for us to unite behind our ticket, beat Republican's, and make the changes to make it happen. In 6 weeks he is touting the work done by Soechting and ED Ruben Hernandez before the SDEC named him interim chair.

Richie has just announced $300,000 in new funds and a 70% increase in funding. We now have 60,000 e-mail addresses and during the legislative session the TDP targeted key Republican districts to talk to voters about how Republican leadership has hurt children and families.

The question we need to ask ourselves, according to Richie, is who will unite our party. Who will be the one to win in November and beyond.

1:32
Now we are moving into Maxey speakers. Maxey speakers are highlighting his character and his statewide organizing skills.

The loud Maxey supporters have made it hard to hear all of the speeches in support for Maxey. He has had former party leadership, state reps, student supporters, and unions supporters.

1:40
As Maxey approaches the crowd has now erupted into chants of Maxey and there is a modest standing ovation.

Maxey begins with the Kelly Fero quote on how irrelevant the party has become. Maxey responds with a list of why the party is relevant and how he would work to make our party stronger and more relevant.

He is focusing on the valley, El Paso, etc, and how a 254 County strategy will make a difference. According to Maxey, it is time for small donors, community outreach, and an articulation on our successes. It is time to empower the youth.

As Maxey announces his plan and leaves, the chants and far louder than before and the whole place is on its feet. Before this speech it was Richie's to lose... it looks Maxey has made this a very close race.

1:48
Charlie Jones supporters are up now. The crowd has calmed down a lot as the support speeches occur. As Nancy Russell announces her support for Jones, Eddie from The Red State says "hi all."

1:58
The battery is getting low. We have Jones' speech and the Rogers round up. If I lose the battery I will get an update as soon as I can find a plug.

On that note, here comes Charlie.

Jones, lays out a plan for a bottom up rather than a top down party structure. His goal is to completely empower the grassroots to make changes.

Unlike Maxey and Richie, Jones wants to focus more on physical field work and less on technology that some may not have.

2:06
Rogers is up now, and I will not be writing about these speeches. However the chair has told the crowd we believe in free speech and I couldn't agree more.

2:19
The Delegates are now getting instructions from Ken Molhberg on voting process.

BAR Speech: Full Text

2006-06-10T09:31:00.000-07:00

BAR is speeking right now. Here is what she has to say:

Our Fathers and Grandfathers Understood
Sacrifice & Trust
Barbara Ann Radnofsky

My parents raised me to believe that we are here on earth due to service and sacrifice of others; we stand on the shoulders of others.

I'm the granddaughter of a WWI veteran who served as the commander of his American Legion post, and the daughter of a WW II prisoner of war.

When my father's B-17 was shot down over Nazi Germany, flak pierced his flak jacket and his parachute sprang open inside the plane.

As he lay bleeding on the floor of the plane, his bombardier took off his own parachute, strapped it to my father, and threw him out of the plane on a static line.

The bombardier went on to receive the Silver Star his heroism years later.

I know I am here because of the bravery and sacrifice of others.

My Grandfather was a great man, a boxer before the war when he was injured in his navy service, and then a postal worker who proudly served as Commander of his American Legion Post.

My father and grandfather knew what it was to Trust the man next to you.

When the Nazis came to my father’s POW camp, they mustered the men, officers from the air forces. They announced: all the Jews will step forward. To a man, everyone stepped forward. They risked their life to save their fellow man.

Today you will hear from statewide candidates, men and women who have stepped forward. They deserve our respect and support. They are courageous and trustworthy.

We are like you: mothers, fathers, teachers, ranchers, judges, lawyers, public servants, wives, husbands, children, grandchildren. And we love Texas.

Your state wide slate has courage and optimism Your state wide slate counts among our heroes a great man now gone on to his reward Sen. Lloyd Bentsen, a loyal democrat who flew combat missions, succeeded in business and in all levels of elected leadership and brought us economic prosperity. He knew and revered this country's democratic leadership in the early 1960s.

When Pres. Kennedy set goals for the nation, he united this country and caused great things to happen for Texans and the US. When he said we will put a man on the moon, that's what we did: ordinary people working together in extraordinary times.

And we know we did not get here on our own. I had brave men and women in uniform who saved my father’s life and a government which made college possible for my dad on the GI bill so he could become a NASA scientist, his dream of public service.

And a government provided good schools and teachers so I can contribute. I had a work study grant in college and I can thank my grandparents and my parents and my teachers and the government for helping me get where I am.

After 9-11, the people of this country lined up to give blood. They stayed in line long after they were told no more blood was needed or storable. They wanted to give of themselves. The leadership of this state and country missed the opportunity to call on the moral, good Americans who are willing to give of ourselves.

And I can thank the grassroots of Texas for getting me past the primary and the runoff
with sixty percent of the vote. Thank you.

People are ready to trust. Do Texans trust our state wide elected officials, every one of them an elected republican, who brag what they’ve done when:

Texas is forced by federal law which my opponent voted for to be a net donor of our federal gas tax dollars. Yes, Texas taxpayers subsidize the rest of our country with our gas tax dollars as gasoline exceeds three dollars a gallon.

Do we trust our state wide elected officials when:

Texas ranks last in federal bring home the bacon dollars. Last, while the federal government forgot about Hurricane Rita and its effects and we can't get our fair share of hurricane reimbursement dollars.

Texas ranks last in keeping kids in school. Last, while my opponent voted for massive cuts in educational programs which would help keep Texas schoolchildren from dropping out and given them loans. Massive cuts that would have provided vocational programs for students who aren't college bound and are ready to be vibrant members of society, not burdens.

Texas ranks last in uninsured adults and children by percentage. Last, while my opponent rubberstamped failed administration policies 95.6 percent of the time.

Do Texans trust our state’s senior senator who:
Calls perjury a mere technicality? Such a person should renounce perjury or resign.

Ignores letters and phone calls from her constituents and from non partisan groups for debate and issue discussion? Such a person should return her phone calls and come out from hiding and debate the issues.

Served as the hostess for Tom Delay's lobbying project which provided lists as to which cronies would be hired for lobbying jobs to buy favors and votes. Such a person should renounce her embrace of lobbying abuses and sell out to special interests.

And, in this day of three dollar a gallon gasoline, do we trust a senior senator who took more oil lobby campaign cash than any other congressperson and then votes for wasting our tax dollars on subsidizing Alaskan bridges to nowhere and subsidies for her big oil company contributors and record, obscenely subsidized profits? And when she advocates US oil dependence on foreign places like corrupt Azerbaijan, where her big contributors hold energy leases? Such a person should give back her nearly 2 million dollars taken in energy lobby money, give up her Enron money, give back her Exxon money, and she should give back her tribal money while she's at it.

Do we trust a Senator who runs for a third full term, after she was elected in 1994 by making a solemn contract with America, and repeating that solemn contract, that she would serve a maximum of two terms. Do we trust her? In her announced third term try, such a person should be held to her word. She gave her word to the voters and she broke it. Come November we will hold her to her word. This is the end.

Do we trust a senator who justifies the occupation of Iraq “for the credibility of America” and who promises “this war is going to last a long time”. Do we trust her with our national security? A senator who has deserted our veterans and turned her back on needed VA facilities, including a VA hospital south of San Antonio. These are the military personnel who risked their lives so that we may live free.

Towards the end of the War when Nazi Germany was in disarray, my father and several buddies stole a wood burning jeep, German uniforms and left the POW camp.

You don’t have to go far back in history to recognize that a country’s survival depends on energy independence. We’d cut off Germany’s fuel and she converted many vehicles to burn wood. Using my father's knowledge of German and the stolen German uniforms, they made their way to Allied lines and when they got to Allied lines they traded that Jeep for a plane ride to England, where they got themselves promptly arrested and put in jail, the safest place to be at the end of the war if you were in England and wearing a German army uniform.

And after getting out of jail and reporting back to his unit, my father was sent stateside to hospital. My big burly dad who weighed 210 pounds when I knew him, had been machined gunned as he descended and still had the bullets and flak in his back, my big burly dad weighed 135 pounds after the war and when he got to the hospital, knowing a little bit about my father, it won't surprise you to know that he left, in search of his childhood sweetheart, my mother.

But when they went to get married, they found out that they couldn't, because after all he
had been through he was too young to be married without his mother's permission.

Those were the men and women.... Those were the teenagers .... Who saved the world for democracy. Ordinary children in extraordinary times saved the world and we Americans can step forward and do it again. Ordinary men and women in extraordinary times, who saved this world for democracy; they were and are my heroes.

My husband and I grew up at a time when government leadership meant something and mutual goals were achieved by hard work and sacrifice. That is how Texas know-how put a man on the moon.

People believed that good could come. They trusted their leaders. Why do Texans trust Radnofsky v Hutchison on leadership: We’ve posted where we stand on the issues at www.radnofsky.com, in an issues chart with more footnotes than a church organ, and in more than 400 appearances statewide as I’ve called for:
- A VA hospital south of San Antonio

- Pay as you go spending and a balanced budget

- An independent ethics commission with subpoena power to truly stop our corrupt politicians wasting our taxpayer dollars

- Public financing of campaigns

- Passage of the Social Security Fairness Act to protect our educators, police officers, firefighters and other heroes

- A national energy policy focusing on energy independence

- Real health care reform including coverage for preventive care

- Withdrawal from the occupation of Iraq

- An end to foreign ownership of our ports. Use the U.S. Merchant Marine for port security combined with

- A comprehensive immigration and border security plan that targets illegal trade, including the drug trade, instead of targeting legal trade and wasting billions of our taxpayer dollars, unfairly burdening Texas taxpayers and

- A rational, respectful plan to target zero abortions and

- A debate for goodness sake A debate on the issues of the day... issues which affect every day of our lives, our children’s lives, our grandchildren’s lives

This is doable. Believe.

Rumors and Speculation

2006-06-10T09:27:00.000-07:00

Here is your time for rumor and speculation. As one writer put it, the propaganda is flying.

As I wrote yesterday, everything seemed calm and the positive campaign Glen Maxey and Charlie Urbina-Jones asked for seemed to be happening.

However, this morning there was a turn.

Rich Bailey was appointed as Co-Chair for the important Nominations Committee. The appointment was made three weeks ago and confirmed last night. This morning five minutes before the committee met, Bailey (a Maxey supporter) was pulled from the committee and replaced.

The committee ended up voting to endorse ALL four candidates as opposed to the expected Richie nomination. The other option usually taken is a resolution of non-recommendation.

Maxey and Urbina-Jones supporters seem to be staying positive, and the Lakesha Rogers supporters seem to be literally singing.

There are over 100 districts with no representation so there is no way to gage how the vote will go down.

With no single nomination and the hard campaigning being done by every candidate, the pundits are saying that there will 2 ballots (the second being a runoff).

Convention Floor Fun

2006-06-10T08:54:00.000-07:00

The convention has moved into an eventful second day. Traditionally the first day focuses on caucuses and cultivating single issue messaging.

The second day is training on grassroots, data, etc and then at 11 a.m. the floor convention starts.

The details are boring, so the long in short is, we vote to support the work of the committees and pick our internal leaders over the next two years.

Last nigh ended with Bell’s aggressive attacks on Strayhorn’s “Carole-Come-Lately” campaign style (Damon at BOR has the speech in text).

Quorum Report puts it simply:

In a fiery speech, former Gen. Wesley Clark challenges Texas Democrats to take back nation. Democratic gubernatorial candidate Chris Bell launched a broadside against Carole Keeton Strayhorn in his Friday night keynote speech to convention delegates in Fort Worth.
Bell portrayed the Comptroller-turned-independent candidate for governor as an ally of Gov. Rick Perry, saying the pair "are two sleeves of the same empty suit."

He added that "She is nothing more than a politician in search of a parade. And now she’s trying to be our buddy. You know what? We don’t need a Carole-Come-Lately. We need a leader to stand up today and tomorrow and the day after that, no matter which way the political winds are blowing."

STXC has a great round up of statewide news on the Democratic Convention.

This morning there will be a tribute to Bentsen, Speaker Laney, and speeches by statewide candidates like Radnofsky and Van Os.

SDEC Elections in SD 25

2006-06-09T14:37:00.000-07:00

Senate District 25 has just finished its election for State Democratic Executive Committee. Mike Wilson has just defeated incumbent Bruce Barrick and Zada Tru-Courage (wife of John Courage) was not challanged for a second term.

Conventions are Shockingly Fun

2006-06-09T14:04:00.000-07:00

Here are the fun events for tonight:

People-Powered Pachanga with Charlie and Glen
When: Friday, June 9th, upon adjournment
Where: Rahr Brewery 701 Galveston Ave Snacks, Soft Drinks and Bottled Water, Beer on Tap (small contribution appreciated) BBQ Sandwiches & Chips $5 (while they last).

THE PARTY OF THE YEAR: the 1st annual bloggers caucus!!
When: Friday June 9, 9:30pm-midnight
Where: Flying Saucer (upstairs party room) 111 E 4th St Ft Worth, TX 76102

YOUTH CAUCUS PARTY sponsored by Harris and Dallas County
When: 10:00 p.m. until ??? (heck they are young)
Where: Frizzi's at 500 Commerce St. Fort Worth, TX 76102

UPDATE: There are also parties for Chris Bell, Boyd Richie, and others. I do not have those details.

State Chair Race

2006-06-09T13:51:00.000-07:00

Today Tom DeLay is no more, (Ding Dong the witch is gone…. ) and now we are gearing up to take back the state.

Democrats have rallied in Fort Worth and are working together to elect their party leadership, meet their down ballot candidates, and stock up on enough Democratic garb to last until 2008.

The day has been relatively smooth. The Chair race doesn’t seem as heated as pundits and consultants had though (myself included), and it appears Charlie Urbina-Jones and Glen Maxey’s call for unity and a positive campaign has worked.

There is a strong Richie presence pushing stickers on anyone who moves walks and talks. The Maxey camp looks to be working the nominations committee and working organizational leaders, and I have seen little action from Urbina-Jones.

All four candidates (Lakesha Rogers included) have been getting supporters to give speeches at any and every caucus.

Boyd Richie was also able to turn out enough supporters to vote in the open election to win the Progressive Populist Caucus by a mere 2 votes.

The Coalition of Black Democrats did not make an endorsement, something that was expected to be a big deal endorsement.

At this point is seems like a floor fight is inevitable, but it seems to be a positive campaign about the many talents these men bring to the party.

UPDATE:
McBlogger has a take on the PPC endorsement.

Help Update JAB

2006-06-05T23:01:00.000-07:00

Well it is that time again...

It is time for me to update my links. Is there a local blog you like? Statewide? Heck, what about a national blog of merit?

I want to know what you are reading or who you are writing for. JAB is over a year old, and I can't even begin to mention how grateful I was when the sites I read were linking to me. So, it is time to return the favor.

All I need is the site name and URL. If you have an e-mail address so I can let them know I have linked to them that would be appreciated. You can either leave it in the comments or e-mail me at JustAnotherMatt-at-gmail-dot-com.

State Party Chair Race Recap

2006-06-05T09:11:00.001-07:00

This time next week we will either have a new chair or knock the term interim off someone’s title.

The initial goal was to get you the lowdown and recap the whole TDP Chair race, but alas after getting started there are over 1,000 posts from around the state on the whole race. My advice is to simply go to blogsearch and type in Glen Maxey, Boyd Richie, or Charlie Urbina-Jones, and search until your heart is content and make up your own mind on the race.

Over the weekend there have been some great pieces on the large and influential PPC numbers at Burnt Orange Report. Texas Kos has a great follow up story to mine on the 30-Day reports. T-Kos hits the 8-day financial statements with a magnifying glass, and most importantly for delegates, BOR has the schedule of the caucus.

Now that we are caught up, let’s go over where the race stands right now. I will source all my points in order to limit bias. Also comments will remain un-edited as always unless there are racial slurs or if there is unneeded language.

The race for State Party Chair began formally in December of 2005 when Boyd Richie had already committed to taking on then Chairman Charles Soechting. At that time Richie loaned himself $20,000 and began lining up endorsements from long time political insiders and candidates.

The beginning of the race started as anyone but Soechting, and after the April 22nd formal resignation of Soechting and appointment of Boyd Richie as interim chair of the state party the race took on a new face.

Charlie Urbina-Jones and Glen Maxey announced their intention to challenge Richie nearly three months after Richie had filed his loan. Maxey’s announcement came around March 3rd and Jones had no formal announcement but did file his first campaign report in March.

After being elected as interim chair, Richie activated the state party e-mail to hit once or twice a week and it’s press releases have been beefed up to nearly twice that until recently. Richie has also overseen a newly launched website that looks substantially better than the last but still is leaps and bounds behind our opponents across the aisle.

While Richie has been working in Austin, Maxey and Jones have been traveling the state campaigning for the position. Jones has focused his attention in West and South Texas and it appears as though Houston, and San Antonio have been his major urban focus.
Maxey has been traveling to El Paso, the panhandle, and large parts of rural Texas with an urban focus on Austin and Dallas/Fort Worth (see financial reports).

Going into the convention it appears it is a horse race between Richie and Maxey with Urbina-Jones a distant 3rd and Lakesha Rogers not even on the radar. There is also a whisper of a 5th candidate coming in last minute this weekend, but with the massive outreach done by all of the candidiates I doubt this will materialize.

Here is the over simplification of the three major campaigns and how they have self divided themselves: Boyd wants more of the current system with a major focus on field, Maxey wants to build the infrastructure through technology and broaden the field program outside of the urban areas, and Urbina-Jones wants field to focus on minority areas and generally wants new technologies but doesn’t think they will win elections on their own.

The candidates have done interviews on South Texas Chisme, Latinos for Texas, and Burnt Orange Report (Boyd Richie and Glen Maxey). STC seems to have endorsed anyone but Maxey, LFT has endorsed Maxey, and BOR is a group blog with Karl-Thomas Musselman being a stronger Maxey supporter.

As of today, Eye On Williamson County has a comparison on the amount of victories both Maxey and Richie have had over the past 30 years.

Based on the comments of this post I will do further research on the state party race, and JAB will be live-blogging the state party convention.

"W Wuz Hear"

2006-06-02T09:22:00.000-07:00

Courage Fights for Veterans’ Financial Security

2006-06-02T07:09:00.000-07:00

Candidate for Congress in TX-21 John Courage spoke of his support today for a piece of legislation aimed at helping veterans whose personal data was stolen from the home of a VA employee earlier this month.

Courage stated that “Democrats are offering a bill to address this egregious breach of privacy, along with calling for a full investigation so that the people in charge are held accountable. This is an outrageous, unacceptable violation of the over 100,000 brave men and women here in Congressional District 21 who have served our country. The revelation that the private and personal records of all of these veterans had been taken home by a VA employee and then stolen is appalling. Our veterans and their families deserve better.”

“It is not only wrong, it is a cover up,” Courage said. “It was two weeks before the Administration informed the FBI and 19 days before the Administration informed the veterans whose personal information was stolen. Much damage to veterans may have been wreaked in that period of time.”

This legislation, called the “Veterans Identity Protection Act of 2006,” will protect veterans from identity theft by calling on the VA to:

Provide veterans with one year of free credit monitoring -- to alert them of changes in their credit in order to stop the theft before it gets out of control.
Provide veterans with one free credit report each year for two years after the end of credit monitoring, in addition to the free credit report available under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
Authorize $1.25 billion in emergency funds for the first year of implementation.

“I stand with the Democrats in Congress who are sponsoring this bill and will vote for better privacy and security for our veterans when elected to Congress. This is yet another step in fulfilling our pledge to leave no veteran behind. Democrats have introduced the New GI Bill of Rights to make sure that veterans and military retirees get the benefits they have earned and deserve.”

While the FBI and the VA Inspector General’s office are looking into the matter, John Courage is informing veterans and their families to take proactive steps to protect themselves from misuse of their personal information.

HD 118- Antuna supports Leininger

2006-06-01T07:21:00.000-07:00

House District 118 has not voted for a Republican since before the dawn of man. Over time it has be redrawn to be a tight 54% Democratic district and pundits are saying George Antuna might just be the first Republican to win in 118 even though it took a runoff to become the candidate (unlike Joe Farias).

Yesterday the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce hosted a “Candidate Conversation” to ask a few questions and get a first hand look at the difference between Joe Farias and George Antuna.

Shockingly Antuna came out boldly and publicly for a state funded voucher program after a session that did nothing to help schools.

A source in the Farias campaign has this to say about Antuna’s questionable political call.

Now it's no surprise to any of us that a Republican candidate in Texas would be supporting school vouchers. Except Antuna has been described as a cross between Frank Madla and Joe Straus- a moderate Republican willing to work across party lines in a 54% Democratic district. Yet with Antuna's firm support for school vouchers, and believe me there was no wishy-washiness about it, it seems his mantle of 'moderate Republican' has been forsaken.

Conservative Antuna appears to be showing how far removed he is from the ideology of HD 118. By supporting a scheme that will “cripple our public schools”, Antuna, is saying he opposes teacher pay raises, new text books, increased funding for school facilities, and increases in property taxes to pay the difference. Why? It is impossible for the state to subsidies a $5,000 (or more) private education and still fix the problems caused by the education funding cuts created by Madla, Gov Perry, Lt Gov Dewhurst, and the rest of the Republican leadership.

Let’s say only 1,000 people want to use this program in the ENTIRE state of Texas (foolish I know). The increase in spending for private education would be $5,000,000. Would you vote for a candidate that would have paid me to go to Trinity University instead of helping your child? I didn’t think so. It is not the job of the state to fund private institutions.

The same source summed up their feeling on Antuna’s campaign.

As a matter of fact, Antuna's entire campaign seems to be centered around the fact that he (briefly) lived in the voter-rich, Democrat heavy Southside of HD-118 and that he's Mexicano. As if Democratic lifers will not only switch parties, but vote for a hard right-winger, just because the Republican running has a Latino surname.

Antuna’s public statement should be of concern. What usually happens when a radical conservative dictates a plan that would harm our children and schools? James Leininger funds their entire campaign in the tune of around six figures.

Again, the source:

Antuna's no moderate. That's why the San Antonio Police Officer's Association, the Texas State Teacher's Association, the Texas Federation of Teacher's, the Texas League of Conservation Voters and other organizations and individuals have already come out and endorsed Joe Farias.

The Cost of Running for Democratic Party Chair

2006-05-31T09:14:00.000-07:00

One week until the anticipated floor fight. We know that Glen Maxey, Charlie Jones, and Boyd Richie will all be nominated to be the chair of the State Party. We don’t know if there will be a dark horse or whether Lakesha Rogers will do more than stump for LaRouche.

The race for Democratic Party Chair has been engaging for the first time in over two decades and a quick look at a recent poll and the posted finance reports give a hint as to why.

Boyd Richie was named interim chair on April 22nd, a month after Charles Soechting resigned from the post and nearly 5 months after announcing he was a candidate for the position.

Boyd has run an aggressive campaign that focuses mostly on e-mail from both the party and his personal e-mail. In a poll released at BOR Richie was around 13%. The cost of that 13% has been $18,706.45 to one consultant. Peck Young has made more than I did my first year doing fieldwork across the country for environmental issues.

To put that into further perspective, Richie has raised approximately $11,645 and loaned himself $25,000. He has spent $26,913.84. Peck Young, a consultant, has received more than half of the total amount Richie has for the campaign and almost twice what individuals have given him. According to the financial records at the Texas Ethics Commission, Young’s services include e-mails, (no cost involved in production), postage ($ .20 a piece), printing (unknown), stickers ($.35 each usually), and flyers.

Will he spend the party money the same way if elected?

Charlie Jones on the other hand has raised approximately $3,925 and spent about 3,038.95. The filing was done by hand (paper record) and there is no digital record of who has donated or what he has spent money on.

Lakesha Rogers has filed, but as of May 8th has neither received or spent any money.
The Maxey camp has said they have filed with the TEC but no copy has been put online.

Richie is clearly the big money candidate and should have higher name recognition because of it. I now receive one to three e-mails from either his campaign or the party (which has triggered my spam filter for all party e-mails), but he still need 62% of the undecided delegates to win next week.

Jones and Maxey are running a conversation with all 254 counties and it shows. They are spending less money to do more with it. They are practicing what they preach by implementing new technology and empowering delegates and activist to change the party compared to the Richie plan of one consultant, $20,000, and few tangible results going into Fort Worth.

A Word from President Al Gore

2006-05-31T07:41:00.000-07:00

Tuesday Morning News

2006-05-30T06:31:00.000-07:00

John Snow is out at the Treasury and Goldman Sachs Chairman Henry Paulson is the new Sec of Treasury.

Canada has terrorist trained by al-Qaida. Do we need to raise more money to build the wall on the northen border or are we only concerned with people trying to better their lives? To bad this is a story that hurts Republicans.

Kinky is still a lousy independent because he is so Republican.

What did I miss?

2007 Speculation

2006-05-25T08:06:00.000-07:00

On May 10th the rumor began circulating, in mass, that Mayor Phil Hardberger would be a one-term kind of guy.

San Antonio has more restrictions on its council than any other major city. We don’t pay them for the hard work they are doing, we will not let them serve more than two, and two-year terms, and we have a spring election when only people like us are paying attention.

Hence, after only one full year as Mayor, the questions are swirling as to who will challenge Hardberger if he decides to run and who won’t run if Hardberger sits a re-election campaign out.

The Express-News had a piece by Greg Jefferson on May 21st outlining the clearly ambitious that will be term limited in 2007.

Jefferson’s analysis is right on but fails to think of any office past Mayor. The candidates mentioned in the article are Richard Perez, Roger Flores, Chip Haas, Art Hall, Kevin Wolff, and Julian Castro.

The candidates most likely to run for Mayor are Perez, Flores, Hall, and Castro. Before going any further, let me say that I think Hardberger runs for re-election virtually unopposed and Roland Gutierrez, Kevin Wolff, and Julian Castro run for the open seat in 2009.

Of the term limited city council members, Perez and Flores are great candidates for state office and should consider running for either state senate or house depending on the 08 landscape. If state senator Leticia Van De Putte or state representative Mike Villareal keep voting with Republican leadership, either Perez or Flores may challenge them. In the off chance that Joe Farias doe not win in 118 then either men would be a strong and viable candidate for the legislature.

Haas should be setting his sites on the slew of offices in the Northeast side of Bexar County- SD 25, HD 121 and 122, and a possible Congressional race.

Hall has the appeal to run for a county position or again look to state house races. His appeal in district 8 cannot be over estimated.

While we as pundits are trying to be more prophet than professional, realize we are making assumptions about 07’s local race and 08’s presidential cycle before this election cycle has really started.

Whether Harberger runs or everyone else does let’s keep our eyes on the ball and win this November.

$250,000 and the State Party Chair Race

2006-05-23T07:56:00.000-07:00

$250,000. That was all the talk yesterday.

During the end of Molly Beth Malcolm’s term as Party Chair or at the beginning of Charles Soechting’s, the party was given a substantial gift in order to develop party infrastructure. The State Democratic Executive Committee (SDEC), voted to set aside the funds for a permanent office for party use.

Needless to say, the money was used for election purposes and general office upkeep instead.

This has always been a very public point of friction with certain activists, campaigns, and SDEC members. While Soechting publicly and privately apologized for his disregard of the SDEC vote, he was able to net house seats for the first time since the Democrats lost control of the Texas legislature. Something often overlooked in Soechting’s tenure as party leader.

Dennis Speight, vice-chair of the finance committee and vocal Boyd Richie endorser, send out an odd memorandum to “2006 Delegates, Alternates, and Activist” titled “How Boyd Richie fixed Charles Soechting’s money problem”.

In late 2004 and January 2005, Sub-Committee Chairman Boyd Richie called a meeting to study the books with the Comptroller of the party both with the presence of the State Chair and without. The sub-committee discovered the party was clearly in bad financial shape after the 2004 elections. We also discovered that the $250,000 that was voted to be set aside for a future home for the TDP had been spent. It had been spent on normal everyday expenses at the party like payroll, telephones and rent. The party also spent nearly $100,000 on campaign activities like mail during the 2004 election cycle on House races including Hubert Vo, David Lebowitz and Mark Strama, all races that we won. These expenditures had no over-sight from the SDEC, except by the State Chairman himself.

Now here comes the disclaimer. I am a Glen Maxey and Charlie Urbina-Jones supporter and enjoy their vision. I appreciate the hard work and extensive traveling that both men are doing in their quest to rebuild the party.

However, Interim Chair Richie’s “fix” was the simple fact that he did the job he was appointed to do and doing it AFTER the money was already gone. He stepped up the fundraising and edited rules that were already in existence.

Where is the fix? As chair of the committee, how much did he raise and why was fundraising not originally written into the plan? Do we only need $250,000 to win back the legislature, the US Congressional delegation, and the dozens of statewide offices?

Rule changes are a necessary and often boring part of any statewide political machine. Vision and foresight to check on our budget more than once a year and to fundraise regardless of how much is in the bank is crucial for success.

Vacation Style Open Thread

2006-05-18T06:38:00.000-07:00

I am recharging my battery and recovering from the exhausting legislature. It is better to have a happy Matt for the campaigns and convention, than a grouchy, tired, angry Matt, right?

Let's talk about what you would like to take a vacation from. Where you would want to go? Best vacation ever?

Heck, let's just keep the place fresh while I am gone for the weekend.

Building, Building Everywhere

2006-05-17T07:47:00.000-07:00

Construction is on the minds of the ACCD Board and Mayor Phil Hardberger. While Mayor Hadberger is giving it to a “substantial minority”, the ACCD Board is just trying to set some guidelines for on how to spend the money San Antonio voters gave them.

Mayor Hardberger has clearly tried to transform the city in his first term. From ensuring that the Texas A&M satilate campus is established, to getting Washington Mutual in town, going all the way to the extravagant New Orleans Saint and Florida Marlins proposals.

Now it is remodeling a downtown plaza.

The first proposal would have closed down Dolorosa and Commerce (two main downtown roads).

The biggest concern for opponents was Commerce, which handles up to 18,000 vehicles per day and is the busiest street bordering the plaza. Dolorosa, for its part, takes on 13,800 vehicles a day.

The new compromise has appeased some but not Frost Bank’s Tom Frost, Mark Penner, and other local businesses.

The votes in city council is expected in mid-June and it few are expected to notice.

The ACCD board is more boring and twice as confusing. Some say we are eliminating competition while others think we are getting contractors involved in the process earlier.

Jim Rindfuss reminded his colleagues that the method, construction manager at-risk, played a role in a bribery scandal three years ago that ended with the indictment of three former board members. In that case, trustees used the method to award architect Louis Cruz a $14.4 million contract based on questionable criteria.

"We are returning to the very thing that put ACCD in the hole," Rindfuss fumed.

No one else on the board or on the citizen’s advisory panel has public agreed with Rindfuss, but some are concerned with the bid delivery method that could favor larger contractors and individuals with ties to the bid.

The first round of contracts has an estimated cost of $22 million, and it should be a good test case to see how easy it is to bribe the board again. The question is how easy does the board want it to be… again…

Sine Die, Sad Day

2006-05-16T09:33:00.000-07:00

Oh how 29 days flies when you read fiscal markers and map strategy. Yesterday the legislature wrapped a 30-day call with 24 hours to spare.

Some are hailing Sine Die as an accomplishment of bipartisan cooperation. Others, point to a $10.5 Billion deficit already in place for 2008.

April 17th marks the date that Warren Chisum filed his self proclaimed "get out of dodge bill" that would buy down property taxes with the unused education funds and appease the Supreme Court until the January regular session. The original fiscal note of the bill is about $2.4 billion for the next two years. Once the legislation was enrolled and sent to the Governor’s desk, the two-year marker was estimated at nearly $4 billion dollars.

In 29 days the fiscal marker jumped nearly 100% to buy down property taxes, and this is were the argument of the tax cut comes in.

Three days later, Speaker Tom Craddick institutes a rule vote that will require the House to ignore education funding and forces the focus entirely on property tax reduction. With this rule in place, tax hawks, teachers groups, and education supporters are playing with an uneven deck.

This rule vote made HB 2 increasingly likely to pass and forces all revenues to go to property tax. The shell game starts.

HB 2 mandates that the tax on your car, your tobacco products, and the increased tax on businesses that do not own their property, will all be shuffled over to HB 1. All the low hanging fruit taxes are gone. In order to ensure the property tax level is reached in HB 1 groups are suggesting that a sales tax will be inevitable in the 2007 session, and this will still only resolve the property tax issue and not the education issue.

HB3 and the franchise tax is the most interesting piece of the “tax legislation”. It created an interesting windfall for large corporations. Your apartment complex owners, strip mall owners, and mega corporations like Exxon-Mobil will get tax breaks. In 2007, Utilities will see a net tax break of $90.4 million, Insurance/Finance/Real Estate will get $227.5 million, and Manufacturing will see $114.6 million. This is close tot eh $400 million originally budgeted for education.

In the wave of record-breaking profits, I am glad the state found some time to give them tax cuts.

On the other hand, your local dry cleaner, family restaurant, farmers market, or corner store will be paying the same rent while their landowner is paying less.

The worst part is that in 2007 HB 3 will lose about $2 million and in 2008 it will net about $3.3 billion-- $700 million less than the fiscal note on HB1.

HB 4 and 5 are merely attempts to find $700 million somewhere. HB 4’s enrolled fiscal note (liar’s affidavit) is only $30 million and HB 5 (tobacco tax) is only $432 million.

Even the House estimates do not match up to the most conservative estimates in HB1. There is already a gap between the tax increase and the property reduction.

This November legislators will campaign on property tax reduction and legislative success, but they have put the burden on the next session and the future of the state. We don’t have extra cash lying around now, and we have a commitment to buy down property taxes to a $1.

Yes it is true that property owners will see a reduction in their property taxes, but business (especially small and family firms) are getting hit with one of the largest tax increases in history. If you plan on selling your car and grabbing a pack of smokes, I hope you own your house or you just paying for someone else to get a tax break.

ITPT has the articles to what the largest papers in the state are saying, but the legislature took the easy way out now for a much harder road tomorrow.

Watching Washington: Diversion Style

2006-05-16T07:26:00.000-07:00

PEAR Analysis on the Legislative Windfalls

2006-05-15T08:19:00.000-07:00

Public Education Advocates' Report (PEAR) has more to say on how the special session went down. I wish I had been receiving these the whole session, but it is good to see the infrastructure is now in place for January.

Mondays Bottom Line

Buyers Remorse is Already Setting In.
That Giant Sucking Sound You Hear is the Future.

The Legislature has dug itself into a huge hole. As the respected political newsletter Texas Weekly says, “The most important program in Texas state government is now local school property tax relief. … Job One next session will be to make sure there's enough money going to that relief; other state programs will be in line.”

Lets review the math: The cost of buying property taxes down to the $1.00 level will be $31 billion over five years. The revenue from the new menu of taxes adopted by the Lege this session is a little over $18 billion over five years. The gap between the two is $13 billion.

As the session ends, the message to our legislators, our members and allies, and the general public must be clear:

This plan does almost nothing for schools, and makes adequate, equitable funding from the State even more precarious in the future.
Because it focuses on local property tax cuts instead of necessary education funding, it will accomplish neither in the long run. Property taxes will have to increase as schools struggle with enrollment growth, inflation, old textbooks, technology needs, higher transportation costs, and crumbling infrastructure.
This plan is a budget-buster for the future, and will force the Legislature to drastically cut services or increase taxes in all areas of state government.

Bush to Address Public on Immigration

2006-05-15T07:03:00.000-07:00

President Bush has decided to grace us with his presence in a TV rare appearance tonight at 7 p.m. Bush will lay out plans on immigration from inside the oval office of the White House.

Traditionally, Bush has only discussed terrorism and war from inside the oval office, and tonight will likely be no different. Bush has already given into radical hardliners and will be sending approximately 10,000 National Guard troops to patrol the frontier border between Mexico and America.

Tonight's press stunt appears to show the public and Congress that the Bush administration is still relevant. Congressional leaders and the majority have been drifting away from the President as his poll numbers have fallen, and now that he is barely cracking the 30% mark the communications staff is just trying to show that Bush is doing something.

Mexico's President Vicente Fox has already told Bush that he is nervous about militarizing the 2,000 mile border between US and Mexico, and the Democrats will likely make this yet another issue to discuss during Gen Michael Hayden's hearing to take over the CIA.

Legislative "Successes" Harm Texas

2006-05-12T08:48:00.000-07:00

Tax Holiday for Big Oil, Big Insurance, Big Utilities

We came here to help the school children of Texas. Instead, we are giving big oil companies, big insurance companies, and big utilities the Texas 2007 Year-Long, $400 Million Dollar Tax Holiday.

By cutting property taxes immediately but delaying the new business tax plan until 2008, these big businesses will save about $400 million in taxes next year. $400 million.

Is it just coincidence that $400 million is the amount we have cut from our $1.8 billion promise to Texas schoolchildren, a promise already in the state budget?

Like bullies on the playground, we are taking $400 million from our children and giving it to the oil companies, the insurance companies, the utility companies and others.

Those are the very industries making record profits by charging $3 for a gallon of gas, by making car, home and health insurance unaffordable, by forcing many in Texans to turn off their lights so they can buy food.

[Note: The $400 million tax holiday windfall for 2007 is based on the LBB’s tax equity note on HB1 as engrossed by the House.]

Schools Promised $1.8 billion – We Shortchanged them by $400 million

HB 1 gives our school children a moldy old hot dog and awards big business a thick, juicy steak, baked potato, salad and martini.

Our current appropriations bill locked away $1.8 billion for education. Mr. Pitts reassured us right here on the House floor that we were putting a fence around that money. We are tearing down that fence and breaking into that lockbox. We are stealing $400 million for the governor’s friends in big business. We are telling teachers and school children to be happy for their hot dogs.

In HB2 We Will Slam the Door on Future Spending for Education, Health and Other Critical Needs

If it’s not bad enough to break promises and steal from school children, we’re going to pass HB2 that prohibits the use of business tax revenue for schools, CHIP or any other critical need. We are slamming the door in the faces of our school kids. We are telling businesses that don’t have any responsibility for educating our future workforce.

We Are Taking Way Local Control, Privatizing Schools, Changing School Board Election Days

And, hoping no one is looking, we are using a property tax bill to authorize private companies to take over public schools. We are changing school board election dates for no good reason except some extremists want to. We are dismissing local control.

Here’s a question. What tax category will these new multi-billion private school companies fall into?

And does it make any since to shortchange our schools, guaranteeing that some will fail, and then turn over those schools to private companies who will be held to lower standards?

PEAR Responds to Senate Vote

2006-05-11T13:10:00.000-07:00

SPECIAL EDITION
WHY WHAT’S HAPPENING NOW MATTERS TO ALL PROGRESSIVES

To all progressive leaders and activists in Texas:

Progressive leaders (that’s you) might be excused for not paying careful attention to the special session on property tax reduction. After all, education issues – and particularly school finance – are intricate and, frankly, boring. More importantly, they really do not affect (INSERT YOUR INTEREST HERE – environment, hunger, CHIP, higher education, criminal justice, etc.) at all – OR DO THEY?
The Perry Plan dedicates all revenues from the new sources of state income (the business margins tax, the used car sales tax, and the increased cigarette taxes) to property tax reduction. Period. Since the business margins tax replaces the franchise tax, which means there’s already $4 billion a biennium less available for all the needs of the state.
The Perry Plan also promises property tax reductions down to $1.00, regardless of whether the new revenues are adequate to pay for them. And, according to the Comptroller, the gap between the total cost of the property tax reductions and the revenues from the new sources will be $13 billion over the next five years! Look at Nifty Chart #1 from Representative Garnet Coleman’s office at the end of this memo. Nifty Chart #2 shows the year-by-year gap in the state budget under the Perry Plan.
Here’s the bottom line: Beginning next session, you will be competing for resources with a smaller pool of available revenues, and against a hungry, multi-billion dollar monster called “property tax reductions.” Where will any money come from? You’ll be asking your allies in the Legislature to raise sales taxes to pay for your priorities.
What you can do: Get off your ass. Now. The critical vote may happen tonight!

Contact your State Representative and ask him or her to vote NO ON CONCURRENCE WITH CSHB 1.
Contact your organization’s leaders and members, asking them to contact their representatives to vote NO on concurrence with CSHB 1. We will be sending you talking points for your communications very soon.

Special Session Run Down

2006-05-11T07:38:00.000-07:00

Good news, we have a stronger equity system; Philip can tell you all about the bad news. I warn you, it is not for the faint of heart.

Last night was busy for the Senate and while nobody was watching, HB 1 passed with some horrid effects, however it did pass unanimously so we can only blame everyone.

The Express-News has an article that glows with the achievment of the Senate. It reads like the Dewhurst/Craddick Campaign Committee wrote it.

The deal on equity was reached among key senators and assured Senate passage of the bill — part of a package of tax cuts designed to meet a Texas Supreme Court ruling and a June 1 deadline to change the state's school funding system.

"I'm getting thumbs-up from all of San Antonio," said Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, after phone calls from her Senate floor desk to superintendents in the Northside, North East, San Antonio and Edgewood school districts.

Craddick is pushing for it to stay out of conference committee and go straight to the governors desk. This would give him more time to twist arms on HB 2.

HB 2 is in conference committee today, but should still make it to the Governor's desk by tomorrow. Democrats are uneasy about the fact that a sales tax might be on the way, but the concern in conference is whether HB 2 properly dedicates all the money raised from new taxes to buying down property taxes.

According to the Quorum Report:

The bill’s author, Rep. Jim Pitts (R-Waxahachie), said that questions remained as to whether the Senate amendments were in keeping with the will of the House to dedicate all of the revenue growth from HB 3, HB 4 and HB 5 toward property tax relief. Speaker Tom Craddick said he shook hands about noon Wednesday with Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst on an agreement to remove language reallocating tax revenues after the tax rate gets below 75 cents.

The move was questioned by three Democrats, Pete Gallego (Alpine), Garnet Coleman (Houston) and Sylvester Turner (Houston). They criticized the Republican leadership for not providing for future growth in spending on public education. Democrats are also concerned that so much revenue is being dedicated to property tax relief that the Legislature will need to raise the sales tax to meet other current needs.

The conferees from the House are Pitts, Warren Chisum (R-Pampa), Lois Kolkhorst (R-Brenham), Patrick Rose (D-Dripping Springs) and Beverly Woolley (R-Houston).

With that conference, I have little doubt Craddick will get his way. It looks like schools, teachers, and students are going to lose out again. My hat goes off to the leadership who was able to pass the largest tax increase in history and still didn’t find a way to help out the average Texan.

Just to put it into perspective: our schools are no better off and the average Bexar County homeowner with a house valued at $117,300 would save about $174 next year.

BREAKING NEWS: One Term for Mayor Hardberger

2006-05-10T14:15:00.000-07:00

The rumormill site, San Antonio Lightning, is reporting that current Mayor Phil Hardberger will not seek a second term.

This puts Julian Castro as the favorite for the '07 election with current city council members Roger Flores, Richard Perez, Art Hall, and Chip Haas all in the hunt. I wouldn't be surprised if Roland Gutierrez gets in so he can improve his chances instead of running against an incumbent.

If the rumor pans out, expect immediate analysis. The site says there will be more news at 9 p.m. tonight.

UPDATE: Matt Flores has Christian Archer's response and The Jeff has their thoughts.

UPDATE: Shenanigans, here is TJ trying to explain what happend.

Afternoon New Round Up

2006-05-10T09:51:00.000-07:00

So much news going on, and so many good writers. Here is a brief round up of some recent headlines. If you aren't reading Capitol Annex or getting Vince's from the blog's round up, there is something missing in your life and you never knew it.

TexasKos has a perspective of the new unity in Bexar county post CEC Meeting.
Eye On Williamson County has great coverage on the break of unity among teachers groups on HB 1.
Strayhorn is on the ballot now, and Lamar Smith has a challenger he is afraid of.
John Carter is another member of the repugnant hypocrisy club.
Sen Shapiro is being a hawk in the Senate and you really don't want to see her angry.
The Express-News reminds people that depend on the Edwards, yes it has rained but it isn't enough to end the drough yet.

Did I miss anything worth reading?

One Man's Advantage is Another's Speaking Event

2006-05-10T08:08:00.000-07:00

I am officially offering my service to Klein High School in Spring or Trinity University in San Antonio. My resume includes on-going political experience and no job title of merit. If you would like me to speak at either graduation cermoney please contact me and

Sounds crazy? Well apparently merely graduating and working a short time in a political office is enough to be able talk to a full room of graduates. Republican candidate George Antuna doesn't have much of a resume, but he was the keynote speaker at the Texas A&M satellite school in San Antonio-- launching the future generation of leaders into the world.

Antuna is been garnering a lot of press lately and been given some odd and advantageous opportunities. I can’t figure it out either. Why is the FORMER political staffer and currently unemployed candidate (a man who has told voters he is a butcher) talking to college graduates in an economically disadvantageous area? Time to inspire them George. Tell them your success story.

Democratic candidate Joe Farias has shown true integrity during this. The Express-News’ blog Strange Bedfellows quote Farias saying, "Nothing surprises me or upsets me," Farias said. "I feel more for the elected officials of that area that should've been invited to speak but weren't."

The most striking thing is that the district has close to 50% of the CPS retirees, has a largee veteran population, and has schools in need of leadership like Carlos Uresti.
I have been told Farias has worked with and for CPS, he is a veteran, he has served three terms as a Harlandale Board member. Most importantly, Farias won out right in a four man primary, while Antuna had to go to a runoff.

With a resume like Farias, Antuna could use all the help he can get for the November election.

What PEAR is Saying Today

2006-05-10T07:12:00.000-07:00

Wednesday’s Bottom Line –
Senators should get the message: no backpedaling on equalization as negotiations continue.

Highlights:

The conference committee report on CSHB 4 was adopted by both houses Monday. CSHB 4 is the “liar’s affidavit” bill that changes the way used car transactions are treated for sales tax purposes. The House and the Senate had each modified the original bills to address an issue over insurance valuation of “totaled” cars, and were not able to resolve their differences. The CCR does not mention that issue.
The Senate debated CSHB 2 Tuesday. The bill had been returned from the House on a point of order. Senator Williams offered an amendment to flow a portion of funds generated through the guaranteed yield rather than the basic allotment which, after some sound and fury, was adopted. The amended bill passed the Senate 20-10 and now goes back to the House.
The Senate Finance Committee has reported out CSHB 1, and the battle over recapture moves from the committee to the full Senate. After two days of negotiations, the differences are still unresolved.

The Duncan-Staples amendment allows equalization but endangers recapture. It does that by allowing wealthier districts to keep the revenue from additional tax effort (up to four cents) and having the state kick in money to equalize for poorer districts.
Here’s the problem: If CSHB 1 survives the Senate and goes back to the House, then recapture will be on the table in conference. So it’s important for Senate members to insist that no bill comes to the floor of the Senate until there’s a guarantee that the Senate version, and specifically the state-funded equalization enhancements, survives any conference committee process.
If Dewhurst, Shapiro, et al. cannot make that promise, then CSHB 1 deserves to die. Remember, many of the Senate “add-ons” are problematic:

The Magical Disappearing Pay Raise. CSHB 1 promises a pay raise to teachers, but does not give them enough to recover from cuts over the last three years. Plus, it takes away health benefits from 300,000 school support staff like cafeteria workers and janitors.
Hey, buddy, wanna buy a school? CSHB 1 proposes to turn schools over to private, so-called “not-for-profit” companies that will manage the schools. If you think HMOs have made your health care better, you’ll love this idea!
Support real accountability. Focus on student achievement, not on teaching to the tests. For instance, eliminate the provision tying a school’s funding to English immersion programs, which sacrifice overall education for “gaming” yet another standardized test.
Local control. CSHB 1 mandates a uniform start date for the school year and makes it harder for school districts to set tax rates without expensive, time-consuming voter approval.

Message to Senators: Equalization is non-negotiable, and their voters will let them know that if they allow it to be undermined.

Why Can't They Take a Joke?

2006-05-09T10:09:00.000-07:00

C-Span is getting in on the act. It is time to rain on the parade of those who got the joke. C-Span is asking EVERYONE to take down the video of Stephen Colbert at the press club dinner because they have a copyright on the material.

While everyone is saying "Thank You" to Colbert (if you know what is good for you, you will click on that link!), C-Span is saying "pay me" to the interested public.

I wonder if Bush's approval was anything higher than the ghastly 31% (Gallup) to 34% (CNN), would C-Span care? I doubt it. Colbert has a national audience in the millions and the buzz around the roast is huge. It is possible that the copyright of the event will double the budget for C-Span for the year.

Check out the "Thank You" site before it is too late.

San Antonio is NO Austin

2006-05-09T08:32:00.000-07:00

With all this focus on the legislature, I didn’t realize just how busy our elected officials have been in the city of San Antonio, and unlike Austin, they are accomplishing something.

What started as just a proposal in February has become a policy in May. The city council passed a policy that allows hybrids to park for free downtown. With the recent gas spike and relief is a good one. This will also give an incentive for San Antonians to buy a hybrid instead of a huge SUV.

The city has also started floating a bond proposal that would not increase taxes, raise $550 million for road and drainage improvements and would generally help the cities infrastructure. Recently appointed City Manager Sheryl Sculley was quoted in the Express-News saying:

"We need to set up a public process because I strongly believe the citizens should be involved for it to be successful," Sculley said. "The real key is having citizens involved in identifying projects and prioritizing those projects."

Sounds good. No new taxes and improving the notorious roads and sewers of San Antonio? All we need now is a football or baseball team.

I think I know where they might be getting this money though? The city sued online hotel booking agents because they aren’t paying taxes in the Alamo City. Oops, now they will have to answer to City Attorney Michael Bernard.

Senate Clears Hurdle

2006-05-08T16:33:00.000-07:00

From Capitol Annex, the Senate has now passed out the remaining bills. The House is planning to extend the call tomorrow to actually talk about funding education.

They have a little over a week to pay teachers, fund facilities, and get text books, and they have to do it all knowing they will be running historic deficits as soon as 2007. Where will they find the money? Your guess is as good as mine.

Repugnant Hypocrisy

2006-05-08T11:39:00.000-07:00

(originally inspired by Karl-Thomas at Burnt Orange Report)

There are 31 Democratic Congressional candidates out of 32 seats and how do the incumbents stand up against their Democratic challengers?

Let’s start with the new leader of the Texas Republican Congressional caucus, Smokey Joe Barton.

Barton represents lobbyist, corporation, and special interests more than his constituents. As Vince Leibowitz showed us today, his conflict of interest with the oil companies is creating a “love-hate relationship”. It is important to note, that Barton receives a large chunk of change from the oil and gas lobby and at the same time he serves on the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Conflict of interest? No way, Barton very clearly supports higher gas prices over losing his lobby money.

While Barton loves money, he hates free speech. Barton is the congressional official championing the fight on restricting the internet and making opinions like mine and yours illegal. Net neutrality is complex debate, but like so many complicated things… a lobbyist is behind its inception and the lobbyist found a champion like Barton to lean on.

But what about the people of Texas? How does Congressman Barton feel about them? Simple, if you have $2,000 lying around, you can sit on a train with him. This is Barton's idea of getting in touch with the people.

All in all, Barton loves money. His vice is his love for green and the perks of Congress (Barton is the longest serving member in Texas), and the people of his district are the ones paying for this vice.

Barton is being challenged by David Harris.

Joe Barton isn’t the only bad apple in the bunch, there is also Henry Bonilla. Bonilla is a man of conviction. He opposes immigration reform and disagrees with letting undocumented workers in the United States. Bonilla went on Meet the Press to announce his support for HR 4437 which makes any person who aides, employs, feeds, or clothes an undocumented worker a felon.

A concerned citizen of San Antonio brought up that Bonilla has a Zoe Baird problem. Under the law he is supporting, Bonilla would have made himself a felon by hiring an undocumented British nanny. Another clear example of do as I say, not as I do.

Bonilla is being challenged by Rick Bolanos.

Finally, my favorite hypocrite, Lamar Smith. Smith bought a seat on the House Ethics committee so he could make it more favorable for Tom DeLay. Smith was also a key roadblock on getting lobbying reform past the house. Instead, the house only has to announce who is buying them off 4 times a year instead of once. They can still take trips, meals, money, and favors. Good thing Smith is on the House Ethics committee and is running to become the chair of the house judiciary committee (the group that investigates congress)

Smith, the second longest serving member of the Texas Republican Caucus, has lost touch with his constituents by saying that the national anthem and items of national unity should be in English only. English only? Interesting statement when you district includes over 33% of San Antonio.

It didn’t stop there. The new TX-21 includes one of the largest universities in the nation- the University of Texas. Smith has failed students time and again by reducing pell grants and leaving child behind, that recently more students at UT protested Smith’s visit than attended his lecture.

Smith is being challenged by John Courage.

Why is it that these three Republican’s represent the worst of our current leadership. They talk the talk, but don’t walk the walk. They vote for restricting rights for American’s to work, have a family, use the internet, become educated, and have open government. They are bought by the highest bidder and bail out their friends like Tom DeLay when they get in trouble.

It is time for our elected official to do more than lecture about the moral degradation of America. It is time for them to help try and fix the problem, not be the problem.

Monday Morning News Round Up

2006-05-08T07:16:00.000-07:00

Are you tired from the weekend? It seems like there was more going on this weekend then the whole special session! Here is a quick run down some interesting news.

The session gears up again with added pressure.
Those close to CD-22 have been writing with a fury about the possible DeLay replacements. There are 7 possible selections and Kuff, Vince, and Jack have the details along with fun photoshop. It is good to see the republican party wants to avoid an election at all cost by having precinct chairs and republican insiders pick the candidate and not the same voters that will go to the polls in November.
A Cinco de Mayo baseball game causes a ruckus.
Vince selected the best blogs on the right and left this weekend and did an amazing guest post over at Dallas Blog. Thanks Vince for the amazingly kind words! It is a great read and a great way to find new sites.
Burnt Orange Report did great analysis on the Shane Sklar and John Courage races and the importance of the netroots.
Democrats are on the proactive side of legislating today in Washington as they announce a plan to prevent price gouging by oil companies.
The Bush administration wants to play defense today as they announced Gen Michael Hayden to be the new chief of the CIA. Democrats and Republicans are uneasy about a military official is right for spy agency.
In sports news, fans are uneasy with Giants' slugger Barry Bonds getting within one swing of the timber to a tie with Babe Ruth's homerun numbers. With two, Bonds becomes second on the all-time career homerun record.
The best news of all, the Spurs are up 1-0 over the Mavs in the second round of the playoffs.

What did I miss?

Bexar County United?

2006-05-07T15:36:00.000-07:00

North versus South sounds like a civil war story, but for the past decade it has been the two major segments of the Democratic Party of San Antonio. It has been a feud in every sense of the word.

The northside democrats were widely ignored by “consultant” and the political establishment and the southside democrats typically picked the countywide leaders or were blamed for a bad turnout.

It finally seems like change is in the air.

Last night I attended the Northeast Bexar County Democrats dinner, “Dining with Democrats” and the crowd of 125+ were joined by the party chair Carla Vela, Congressional candidate John Courage, Attorney General candidate David Van Os, State Rep Ruth Jones McClendon, Lt Gov candidate Maria Luisa Alvarado, Land Commissioner candidate VaLinda Hathcock, candidate for HD 122 Larry Stallings, and many more.

Of course there were tons of judicial candidates and sitting incumbents. County Commissioner Tommy Adkisson graced the 125 democrats with a stirring speech on the Democratic Revolution currently going on. Katelyn Werner and Jeremiah Rigsby were shown a moment of appreciation for their hard work in putting together a primary election in a time of conflict and the long time advocates and soul of the party (the women of the Bexar County Democratic Party) were given a round of applause.

It was a night of unity. Something that I have never experience in San Antonio. Larry Balser and Ian Straus put together an evening that is more than a symbol, it was the first sign in a decade that we are truly a united party.

It is true that some consultants want the party to focus on just the south. It is true that some want to rely on the blueist precincts to elect Chris Bell and Barabara Radnofsky and the numerous judicial candidates, but Carla Vela and the Northeast Bexar County Democrats put an event together that shows a larger network.

It is time the party finally becomes more than the 19 individual clubs and two parts of town. It is time that the candidates are not required to pay over priced and ineffective consultants to win. It is time for new leadership to “crash the gate” and unify the party, and last night was the first sign of that in the past decade.

Now it is a matter of the old guard consultants who only work in one part of a huge city to change their ways. It is time for a county wide strategy and a unifed party, and Carla Vela understands that. Let’s sweep the old way and the old losing consultants under the carpet and start winning.

Come See John Courage!

2006-05-07T06:34:00.000-07:00

John Courage Campaign Open House

www.courageforcongress.org

THE NEW SAN ANTONIO CAMPAIGN OFFICE OPEN HOUSE
Sunday, May 7th
1:00pm to 5:00pm
8107 Broadway
For info call 210-602-4213

It Just Doesn't Make Sense

2006-05-06T09:34:00.000-07:00

Watching the legislature last week was as confusing when I was a lil lad and watched the Usual Suspects while sick.

ITP says Rep Brian McCall has the votes to become speaker in January. This adds one more name to the list of possible candidates of Pitts, Kefer, Krusee, and Craddick all say they have the votes. If Craddick does feel challenged, I would expect him to step down for family reasons and throw his support behind Krusee.

You have to wonder if this newly found support is due to the wheels falling off the bus.

Craddick put together a very smart rule that limited the debate to just property taxes. Lt Gov Dewhurst, however has been oscillating like a fan... going back and forth between wanting to treat HB2 like a Christmas tree hanging on cuts and additions of every kind and wanting nothing on the bill at all.

Now all the pressure is on the Senate to get HB 2 back to the house without Rep Williams' amendment that would divide the new taxes (2/3 for a property tax buy down and 1/3 to education). As long as that amendment is on it, the House will not consider the new bill, but Sen Shapiro has threatened to scuttle the bill if the amendment is taken off or if the Senate refuses to consider education reform.

Shapiro tried to logic and reason, and like all good legislator... they didn't get it. From the Quorum Report:

Shapiro declared that, yes, she was willing to pull down her substitute and give up all of its proposed education reform measures if it meant passing the Duncan-Staples amendment. The House version proposed current law for the entire enrichment tier. Shapiro said she would prefer to withdraw her bill if she knew that the money being spent in CSHB 1 would not be spent for the good use of all the children of Texas.

Shapiro produced a chart from the Legislative Budget Board that estimated the net cost to CSHB 1 using three scenarios with different percentages of equalization and different amounts of enrichment, by pennies, over the next five years. According to the chart, equalizing up to the 96th percentile, at 16 cents, would be $2 billion in 2011. During discussions, Shapiro referenced a two-year cost of $3.6 billion for the enrichment tier, which would have been the combined 2010 and 2011 costs, according to the chart.

To take the problems one step further, tax hawks in the Senate have gone one step further. According to Philip Martin at BOR the Senate passed a bill that would get property taxes to $1 by 2008.

It is a Grover Norquist proposal. Starve the states programs in order to force smaller ineffective government. Guess who is not happy with this idea? That's right.

Right now the special session is slated to end around May 18th, and it looked like legislators would be able to walk away solving the Supreme Court problems and increase education. However, if Lt Gov Dewhurst continues his failed leadership, Craddick fails to work with the Senate, and the Senate fails to compromise among it factions... schools just might not open next year.

HB 2 Down, But is it Out?

2006-05-05T09:06:00.000-07:00

Rep Garnett Coleman raised a point of order on the Senate version of HB 2, and won. Because of the House rule, the Senate's dedication of 1/3 of the new taxes towards schools and teachers is not germane and cannot be considered by the House.

This will send it back to the Senate and puts all of the pressure on Lt Gov Dewhurst to pass out the foundation for the special session. The idea is for them to simply strip off the amendment, but this will force bad votes in the Senate, re-activate the education lobby, and fuel a campaign issue for November (legislature and Perry fail schools).

If Dewhurst and the Senate cannot resolve this with the House and Governor’s office, then there will be no dedicated funds to buy down property taxes as mandated by the Texas Supreme Court.

No funds for property taxes means that HB 1 is meaningless and all the new taxes from HB 3, 4, and 5 do nothing more than tax more Texans.

If HB 2 fails, the house of cards comes tumbling down, and Perry, Dewhurst, Craddick, and Strayhorn will have failed teachers, students, public schools, home owners, businessmen, people who buy and sell cars, smokers, and the average Texan. The four horsemen will increase your tax and not resolve the Supreme Courts ruling.

The main problem is that HB 2 on the House side, cannot give money to anything by property taxes and the Senate cannot figure out a way to help schools and work with the fractured leadership in the House.

UPDATE: This has just come in from the Quorum Report:

OGDEN PUTS A CALL OUT ON THE ABSENT SENATE FINANCE MEMBERS Missing include Shapiro, Janek, Deuell, Williams, Nelson and Brimer.

Chair Sen. Steve Ogden (R-Bryan) says he is waiting for eight members to start a vote on CSHB 1. Sen. Florence Shapiro (R-Plano), angry at Ogden when he refused to let her pull her substitute of HB 1, stormed out of the meeting earlier. Ogden is using his maximum authority to return her to the room.

Public Education Advocate's Report

2006-05-04T07:11:00.000-07:00

Walked into work and was going to do a quick post on what happend yesterday (Eye On Williamson County did a great job yesterday and Philip Martin has a fantastic letter at BOR). As I was looking up all the foolish things the legislature I get an e-mail.

It appears Deece Eckstein and People For the American Way, spent some time and mapped out what they did wrong yesterday and what they need to do to help average Texans.

Today’s Bottom Line –
House members should vote NO on concurrence with House Bill 2 as it came over from the Senate.

Senate Finance Committee members need to fend off attacks on equity, sweetheart deals for wealthy school districts, and efforts to undermine local control and fiscal discipline by privatizing public education.

Highlights:

CSHB 2 comes to the House floor today. It dedicates all future revenues from the new “margins tax” on business, the “liar’s affidavit” fix on used car sales, and the tax on cigarettes exclusively to property tax reduction. It was a bad idea in the House. Even though it was modified in the Senate, it’s still a bad idea.
CSHB 2 ties the hands of future legislatures, no matter what emergencies or unmet needs may befall the state. If this had been in effect last summer, Governor Perry would not have been able to marshal Texas resources in response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
CSHB 2 leaves higher education, transportation, health care and other areas of the state budget starving for air while a miniscule percentage of Texans sees their property taxes drop even further.
Message to House members: vote NO on CSHB 2.
The Senate Finance Committee has taken House Bill 1, which was a bad idea and made it worse. Finance Committee members need to “fix it or kill it.” How do you fix it?
Preserve equity. CSHB 1 is a full-frontal assault on fairness and equity in our public schools. For years, our school finance system has been based on a simple principle: my dollar of taxes will buy the same education for my kids as anyone else’s dollar of taxes. The attack on equity is coming in two forms:

Under Senator Shapiro’s proposal, a small number of school districts will be able to keep excessive revenues generated from lower property taxes rather than contributing to the common good.

So-called “incentive” programs for high school enrollment, teacher pay, and the like will benefit a few school districts and leave most neighborhood schools underfunded.

Don’t play games with educators. CSHB 1 promises a pay raise to teachers, but does not give them enough to recover from cuts over the last three years. Plus, it takes away health benefits from 300,000 school support staff like cafeteria workers and janitors.
Maintain local control. CSHB 1 proposes to turn schools over to private, for-profit companies that will “manage” the schools. If you think HMOs have made your health care better, you’ll love this idea!
Support real accountability. Focus on student achievement, not on teaching to the tests. For instance, eliminate the provision tying a school’s funding to English immersion programs, which sacrifice overall education for “gaming” yet another standardized test.

Message to Senators: “Fix it or kill it.”

2008 Presidential Election in Full Swing?

2006-05-03T05:17:00.000-07:00

Former Senator Mike Gravel announced April 17th of this year (here is the video announcement) and now Rudy Giuliani is in Iowa to test the waters.

I am still way to focused on the 2006 mid-terms and the 2006 NBA championship to care much about what happens in 2008.

Senate Recap

2006-05-02T21:39:00.000-07:00

Here is something to sleep on, HB3 passed final reading today and is headed to the Governors desk. No big deal, right? Just a procedural vote, right?

Wrong.

The buzz is that Senator Mike Jackson voted with the Democrats the first time so he could pick up some favors in Congressional District 22. The quid pro quo of the Texas legislature.

After losing the vote to suspend the rules, Lt Gov Dewhurst called for a brief at ease call and asked the Senate reconveneene at 2:15. The second that happened Jackson was dragged to the Governors office so that leadership could talk some loyalty into him. Not the silliest thing I have hear, but this is.

Around 5pm, the Senate got back to work, and one Senator was nowhere to be seen and Jackson had a change of heart.

The journal isnt up yet and the vote isnt recorded, but the Senate archive is up. It is interesting to watch Jackson announce his discomfort in the business tax right after he suspended the rules and voted for it. This is one of the shining examples of politics not done well. Next up, Jackson will show us how to make sausages!

The Quorum Report has a few more details on the rest of the votes taken today and the plans for the rest of the week.

Senators on Tuesday also gave final approval to two other pieces of the overall tax package. Passed on third reading were HB 2, the property tax relief fund, and HB 4, the liars affidavit tax.

Senators plan to discuss HB 1, next years property tax relief bill, and HB 5, the increased cigarette tax, tomorrow in Senate Finance.

Want to Save Twenty Cents?

2006-05-02T15:34:00.000-07:00

San Antonio Representative Trey Martinez-Fischer wants to help you do just that. Well… not just that, but twenty cents per gallon every time you fill up your tank for the next 90 days.

Thinking outside the box, Martinez-Fischer got the idea to help his neighbor and every Texan pinched by the exploding price for gas. The idea is to call time out on state gas tax for 90 days during the summer and help families.

Martinez-Fischer hosted a conference call today saying, “this isn’t going to save a family from a financial crisis, but it will help them pay an a/c bill during a hot Texas summer.”

The proposal will use about $700 million dollars of non-appropriated funds, and may be supplemented close to $780 million from a federal government transportation payback.

If we can work this short term solution with long term taxes on industries that make it impossible to find drinkable water and give our kids asthma, we can help now and again in January when the legislature reconviens. Maybe extending the tax cuts for people that buy hybrid or zero emission vehicles?

Gas Tax Cut, the site developed for HB 120, outlines the policy, the facts, and offers some help finding the cheapest pump near you.

Senate is at Ease

2006-05-02T12:28:00.000-07:00

...And that's not a good thing.

The Senate is moving around trying to find a single vote as Democrats have stopped a suspension of the rules. Right now Lt Gov Dewhurst and the leadership are shopping for a vote to pass HB 3.

If it is this hard to pass the business tax, imagine how hard it will be to pass HB 2 and prevent education reform.

UPDATE: Strange Bedfellows has a few more details. Seems like someone is getting spanked by daddy.

"Day Without An Immigrant" Wrap Up

2006-05-02T08:39:00.000-07:00

Nationwide the results were as varied as the support. Going into yesterdays organized boycott, immigration leaders, media personalities, Hispanic leaders, unions, and business professionals formed two clear lines of thought—boycott and show what this country would look like with out immigrant workers (documented or not) or work and show the importance of immigrants through dialogue and the 250% increase in Hispanic purchasing power since 1990.

Both strategies occurred simultaneously and both worked.

Dos Centavos, a great site, and Kuff both have a Texas based wrap up and a full list of links for your pursuing. I highly recommend you check them out.

I started the day opposed to the rallies, but ended it with a new view on what was going on. I was skeptical that many cities would be able to recreate the magic in a bottle from the April 10th rally, but organizers captured the spark and were able to do it again yesterday. Over 15,000 rallied in San Antonio’s Milam Park, 75,000 in Denver, hundreds of thousand in LA and Chicago. First reports are saying there was a 90% decrease in trucking in LA and Denver may have seen as much as 3% loss in commercial sales and the service sector.

While some kept shops open, most allowed workers a day off if they wanted.

The most interesting impact from yesterday is the personal stories about legal immigrants across the nation. Stories on NPR include students talking about the struggles of simply living in America, Indian doctors who are treating patients in Iowa and get by on only a visa because the United States cannot issue enough green cards, and workers from African nations who come over legally but are forced to secondary service jobs because the government’s immigration policy loses people in the system.

The system is broke and instead of making it a felony to teach children, treat immigrants in hospitals, or give starving families food and water, why can’t we pass the legislation written by McCain/Kennedy?

In this reactionary time, Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee is trying to play dodge ball with the problem, by submitting a resolution for the consideration of the full Senate on “why the national anthem must be sung in English.”

Great way to address immigration reform Senator. Good way to NOT legislate some more.

I started out against the boycott because I was nervous about feeding unfounded stereotypes. I was hesitant to write about it because of the way it may be perceived. But truth be told, the rallies were well organized in Texas and across the nation, and the importance of the issue is only increasing.

President Bush said himself that, “mass deportation is not realistic.” Why no then work to create a path to citizenship and documentation. Allow workers and families to pay into taxes, get drivers licensees, and better themselves and the country.

For more stories on the immigration rallies visit here, here, and here.

UPDATE: Rep Pena has a birds-eye perspective on the Austin Event.

Meet Your Democratic Party

2006-05-02T07:27:00.000-07:00

HB 3 Clears Another Hurdle with Senate Vote

2006-05-02T05:08:00.000-07:00

If Only Carlos Uresti was already in the Senate! HB 3, the business tax, narrowly passed the second reading in the Senate with an 18-13 vote.

According to Quorum Report the stand out votes include:

Republican Sens. Kevin Eltife (Tyler), Mike Jackson (La Porte) and Kyle Janek (Houston) voted with 10 Democrats against HB 3. Democrat Sens. Ken Armbrister (Victoria) and Frank Madla (San Antonio) voted with the majority.

The Republican Party has now officially become the tax and subsidize party. This is like putting a band aide on an amputee.

Interestingly, Lt. Gov David Dewhurst is happy about the business tax hike, even though not a cent of the $3.4 billion will go to education.

Democrats Elliot Shapleigh and Gonzalo Barrientos attempted to fix education, resolve the issues with property taxes, and create a consensus, but leadership steamrolled the attempts to wait on voting on HB 3.

Sen. Eliot Shapleigh (D-El Paso) questioned the legislation, which he called "the great Texas tax shift," with winners and losers. He claimed the new tax was in essence a business income tax and that poorer Texans would not benefit from swapping the new tax for lower property taxes.

He also complained about how the Republican leadership passed the bill out of committee, bypassing the amendment process. Shapleigh pointed out that amendments were due in at 5 but the Chairman called for a vote at 3.

The real bill to watch is HB 2 to see if ANY money can be dedicated to a teacher pay raise/bonus or at least eliminates the provision that dedicate all future revenue from the taxes in HB 3, 4, and 5.

Day Without Immigrants

2006-05-01T12:21:00.000-07:00

Nationwide protests are gaining more momentum. While the Senate is still in deadlocked over what to do with HR 4437, workers and immigrant rights groups are showing what it looks like when there is a "day without immigrants"

San Antonio Isolationist Policies

2006-05-01T05:04:00.000-07:00

It happened again—my computer broke. I didn’t forget about you out there and definitely still had opinions to write, but my Dell broke for the last time. I kicked it to the curb and have become a Mac user.

While my computer was breaking down, it seems like a few things in the city were breaking too.

The two leaders of our city are pushing us in a new direction of isolationism. Popular Mayor Phil Hardberger announced that San Antonio is not interested in either the Democratic or Republican National Convention in 2008, and the famous (or infamous depending on your politics) County Judge Nelson Wolff may have lost us the Florida Marlin’s bid.

Is this the new goal of San Antonio?

After years of impressive growth and expansion, we have been able to acquire a Texas A&M satellite, Washington Mutual, and a PGA golf course.

Conventions are big in San Antonio and a major source of revenue for the city.

"San Antonio is an extremely popular convention destination, and we have many large conventions scheduled for the summer months of 2008," Hardberger wrote. To accommodate either convention, he said, the city would have to find new quarters for nearly 24 conferences, many of them booked by longtime customers.

To land either party convention would pump millions of dollars of revenue into the city, spur needed infrastructure growth, and create an expanded tourism base for the future. The fact that we would have been one of 11 cities in consideration for the Democratic Convention and one of 31 for the Republican Convention can’t be overlooked either. So why not submit a bid? Do we need not need the national press or money?

With press like this, San Antonio would be able to get a national sports team. With Wolff’s recent boondogal with both the Florida Marlins and New Orleans Saints, maybe it is time for a new chief negotiator.

Wolff imposed a May 15th deadline on the Marlins which forced them into talks with Miami-Dade. These talks seem to going well since Wolff hasn’t heard a thing from them since establishing the timeline.

It is starting to seem like the left hand doesn’t know what the right is doing. If this continues, San Antonio will move into more and more isolationist policies harming San Antonio and its residents.

The Norquist "Drown it in a Bathtub" Bill

2006-04-28T10:07:00.000-07:00

A message from Glenn Smith:

Speaker Tom Craddick's office has tried to downplay the consequences of HB 2, backgrounding the press and others that the bill only makes it clear that the new business tax is intended to offset the cut in property taxes.

In fact, HB 2 would dedicate future growth in business tax revenue to further property tax reduction. It says: You can't use this money for our school children, our teachers, or any other urgent need faced by the state of Texas.

Grover Norquist, the ghost in the current legislative machine, says he wants to shrink spending -- on education, on health care, on everything -- to a size that can be drowned in a bathtub.

Let's remember a simple safety tip for parents: We should never abandon our children when they're in the bathtub.

Craddick and others argue that it's just a statute that could easily be repealed. Really? How many recent legislatures would have been able to overcome the business lobby, the Norquist abolish-all-taxes zealots, the right-wing leadership, and the pro-gambling lobby and vote TWICE to raise taxes: first to eliminate the dedication to property tax reduction, and then to broaden the base or raise the rate of the business tax?

But if Craddick and his team really mean it when they say it's just a statute that could be easily repealed, why do they want it so badly?

Sad News from my Hometown

2006-04-27T17:52:00.000-07:00

Via Pink Dome. Who says racism and discrimination don't happen anymore.

Education and Citizen Groups Address Education Problems in HB 2

2006-04-27T13:19:00.000-07:00

Thirteen groups have just started circulating the following letter to the state Senators and capitol press. It is virtually unprecedented for such a diverse and large coalition to come together this quickly and unanimously agree on a complex topic like taxation and education.

Here is the letter:

The Honorable David Dewhurst
Texas Senate
P.O. Box 12068 - Capitol Station
Austin, Texas 78711

April 27, 2006

Dear Lt. Governor Dewhurst,

We the undersigned education and citizen advocacy groups urge the Texas Senate on a bipartisan basis to address the education crisis in our state – a crisis made worse by the package of tax measures forwarded to the Senate by the Texas House of Representatives.

Together, we represent the interests of millions of Texans, hard-working families. On their behalf, we urge you to:
Eliminate the provisions contained in HB 2, an anti-education measure which prohibits future revenue growth in business taxes from being spent on education, or anything else but property tax reduction. This effectively slams the door on future education funding.
Maintain full equity by flowing any new funds for education improvement through current equity-based funding formulas. Equity funding protects the great majority of our middle class students, especially those in rural areas, as well as those living in property-poor districts.
Raise annual teacher pay at least $3,000 and reverse the deep cut in the teacher health-care stipend.
Keep the promise to invest $1.8 billion in education that is contained in the current budget. That money disappears under the provisions of HB 1. Now that the state has an unprecedented budget surplus, that promise must not be forgotten. Restore the $1.8 billion.

Do not misunderstand us. Much more needs to be done for education than these few items. They are the minimum necessary. Many of us have more detailed priorities, and those priorities are just as important to the school children of Texas. But we have taken the step of communicating to you jointly because the bills before you take education in Texas backward, not forward.

Thank you for your consideration.

Signed,

Citizens Commission On Education Excellence
Fair Funding For School Kids Coalition
MALDEF
People For the American Way
Texas AFL-CIO
Texas Association for Bilingual Education
Texas LULAC
Texas Impact
Texas Freedom Network
Texas Federation of Teachers
Texas Progress Council
Texas State Teachers Association
William C. Velasquez Institute

CC: Members of the Texas House of Representatives

Kuff: Villarreal on HB 3

2006-04-27T04:47:00.000-07:00

Kuff has a piece on why our very own state rep Mike Villarreal broke ranks and voted for HB 3. Rep Villarreal's main argument is long term good and a lack of opposition. Interesting position to take since after 5 hours of arm twisting by leadership, 16 Republicans and 53 Democrats disagree.

Senate Bribe in Full Effect

2006-04-26T07:26:00.000-07:00

The senate is going to do something the House refused to do... talk about education. The Senate is going to add a teacher pay raise and other education measures, but the problem is the House dedicated ALL future revenue to buying down property taxes.

No matter what the Senate does, its a one time thing. Starting in January, Texas will be running a multi-billion dollar deficit with no way to fix the problem (unless they raise taxes on the middle class and poor again).

What the Senate is doing is a bribe. It is a one time thing. It can't last past January nor can it be maintained. And most importantly, it makes it were legislators either vote for the largest tax increase in history or against teachers. It's lose, lose.

The Frightening Impact of the House Tax Bills

2006-04-25T14:00:00.000-07:00

The tax bills passed by the House of Representatives on Monday are the Texas version of California’s notorious Proposition 13: the door is slammed forever on additional state funding for education.

HB 1 lowered property taxes for big business and wealthy homeowners.
HB 2 dedicates ALL future revenue growth from “new” business taxes to property taxes.
HB 3 is the new business income tax. None of that money will ever be spent on educating our school children, as directed by HB 2.

It is likely the state Senate will give public education some crumbs from the current budget surplus. However that will be a one-time, small appropriation. It’s not even a band-aid. It’s a bribe; it’s empty, election-year rhetoric. What these bill guarantee:

No future money for education;
The likelihood that vouchers will be heralded as the answer to a public school crisis CAUSED by the people backing school vouchers;
Continued deterioration of public schools;
Happy Big Business (taxes for companies like Exxon are cut dramatically);
Shock among small business owners, who had no idea Gov. Rick Perry and the legislature were cutting Exxon’s taxes while punishing the corner store and the neighborhood plumber.

Tuesday News Roundup

2006-04-25T07:31:00.000-07:00

Seems like a few Texans have been paying close attention to what has been going on in Austin, so, it felt like a good time for a national news round up.

It seems like the odd couple has gotten together as Bush and Senate Democrats are pushing for an immigration bill that gives workers the ability to eventually become citizens. Good thing because a mass deportation will not work and most support a long term legalization policy.

CNN.com is reporting that former White House speech writer and Fox News anchor Tony Snow will take over as Press Secretary. Maybe Snow can help with Bush’s horrid approval rating?

Snow is getting some good ammo to start as Bush has announced he will be diverting oil from the strategic petroleum reserve to consumers. Bush is also listening to Democrats and ordering a gas price probe to see about likely price gauging by big oil companies.

Most importantly, the Spurs are up 1-0 over the Kings and game two is tonight. Ron Artest of the Kings will not be playing tonight because of a one game suspension for hitting Manu Ginnobli in game 1.

Capitol Update

2006-04-25T04:46:00.000-07:00

It took a full day of legislating but house bills 1 through 4 are now ready for the Senate. It appears the legislature is going to just change the tax code and let the education system stay the way it is.

According to Quorum Report the final piece in the Republican plan hit a snag:

The final piece of the Perry-Sharp plan, the cigarette tax increase, hit a temporary roadblock late Monday when Rep. Garnet Coleman (D-Houston) said that the bonding authority created in committee was not germane to the original bill.

Speaker Tom Craddick sustained the point of order and sent the bill back to committee. Shortly after midnight, House Ways & Means met and unanimously passed it out of committee again. The bill will be considered again by the House on Thursday.

QR also points out that the vote on HB 3 was close. Originally the vote was suppose to happen early Monday morning, but after a few head counts, Craddick pushed the vote back until 1 p.m., and after 33 amendments HB 3 eventually passed.

In post-recess comments, Craddick confirmed that support for HB 3, the revamped business tax, had slipped to 60 votes by Monday morning. It took a concerted effort by the leadership to get the total back up to 80 votes, he said.

The procedure now is for the Senate to consider the bills, vote to accept, and if there are changes the bills will have to go through a committee to resolve those changes. After that happens, everyone goes home and tries to win re-election without fixing schools.

On a side note, Rep and blogger Aaron Pena did a great job and huge service keeping people in the loop with what was going on. If only we had a few open government laws to help out too!

HB 3 and 4 Pass

2006-04-24T20:54:00.000-07:00

It only took 5 hours or so but the legislature officially decided to tax businesses. HB 3 passed 80-69.

HB 4 passed (77-65) much more quickly. To start the debate on HB 5 (the increase tax on tabacco products) Rep Hamric has been surrounded by the women of the house with cigars. It's good to see they are still cracking themselves up at 11 p.m., because I am not amused. Well, not that amused. Ok, it is a little amusing, but only cause I am smoking my last pack of smokes before the new tax.

Charlie and Eileen are live-blogging and if it weren't for these two, tonights proceedings would be tragic and not funny.

If you are having a hard time sleeping or just a huge wonk like me, here is the video.

2 Down, 3 to Go

2006-04-24T15:53:00.000-07:00

Craddick has kept his promise and there has not been a recess yet for lunch or dinner, which makes this the first promise kept for the special session!

It has been a busy day at the capitol so far. HB 1 passed overwhelmingly (139-5), but because of the rule vote on Friday, of the $2.4 billion spent today not a cent will go to education.

HB 2 was a little closer (81-65) and again out of all the money raised from a tax on businesses and on cigarettes… not a cent will go to education.

HB 3 is on the floor right now and it is up in the air as Democrats and Republicans are debating on whether to raise taxes on business. That leaves HB 4 (the liar’s affidavit) and HB 5 (a $1 tax increase on cigarettes).

So far the highlights of the day have been a vicious debate on HB 3 by Rep Sylvester Turner and general bird-dogging by my favorites Rep Garnett Coleman, and Rep Senfronia Thompson.

The way it stands as of right now is there is a bill has passed that take billions away from our state education fund and a bill has passed that directs future revenues toward buying down property taxes. So far no bill has passed that funds the property tax in the long term and that means in January our legislators will have to come back, increase funding for schools (finally), and figure out how to make up the $8 billion that we have lost.

Rep Chisum says that we are funding schools by creating a non-voting standard for school districts up to three cents. The school districts can raise a tax up to five cents but a vote is required for that district.

So instead of funding education, they are creating a windfall for wealthy (chapter 41) school districts and will make up the difference when the courts get involved… again.

Big Day at the Lege

2006-04-24T04:50:00.000-07:00

Eye On Williamson County has a “primer” for today’s vote, Bay Area Houston Blog found a fantastic round up yesterday, and Common Sense breaks the story on a Republican rally opposing HB 3-5.

The House is meeting today to talk about 4 new ways to tax the state and one way to give increased funding for the wealthiest three school districts while ignoring the thousands of others. Not quite sure this is what the Texas Supreme Court had in mind when they sent the legislature back to work.

Aaron Pena puts it bluntly for a legislator:

Broadly speaking here are the bills and what they do: House Bill 1 would use $2.4 billion of the $8 billion [unused education funds] for a 12 percent property tax cut. House Bill 2 would dedicate all revenue from a new business tax and higher tobacco taxes to further property tax cuts. House Bill 3 would enact a new broad-based business tax. House Bill 4 tightens and clarifies motor vehicle sales rules, where some dollars were slipping through the cracks because consistent language was missing from sales documentation. House Bill 5 might mean an extra $623 million to school funding accounts, as it sets aside an increase to $1 on tobacco taxes.

Limits On Debate
These bills will be debated Monday and can be watched starting at 10:00 a.m. Unlike most debates on bills, Republicans on Friday passed rules that would limit amendments that would seek to spend the money raised by the tax-swap plan on anything other than property tax cuts. That would stop Democrats who would want to spend as much on school improvements as property tax relief.

If you notice, not a single one of the bills being voted on today will address public schools. Interesting?

The Democratic Caucus was proposing a 50:50 split last week. The split would have created a standard that said for every two cents raised one would go to paying down property taxes and one would go toward helping public schools. The Republican caucus led by Tom Craddick, Rick Perry, and David Dewherst lobbied against the proposal and have effectively taken the school out of school funding.

Now we are stuck with five proposed bills that are set up like a stack of cards. If one of these bills fails, then we won’t have enough money coming into our state to offset the loss of revenue. I could try to explain it with charts and math, but I am going to leave that to the pros.

It is good to see that the plan during this third special session is to pay off the debt with a credit card . At least they are only gambling with 99.9% of Texas students.

Impressive Update on Auto-Craddick, Alamo Heights Windfall Bill

2006-04-23T19:27:00.000-07:00

Bay Area Houston Blog has a great update on the tax bills being voted on tomorrow.

Craddick said on Thursday that legislators should bring a bag breakfast, lunch, and dinner because nobody is going home until they have voted on the 124 amendments offered and the 5 house bills. I guess after two years and four tries plan is to legislate until they drop. It's like watching a college student procrastinate on a final thesis and wonder why nothing makes sense.

Needless to say, tomorrow they will vote... the senate will receive the bills... and they will go home with out increasing teacher pay, funding textbooks or new school facilities, etc.

Tomorrow is a must pay attention to day at the lege and I will keep you updated. In the mean time, read Bay Area Houston!

MySpace Banned at Del Mar College

2006-04-23T15:28:00.000-07:00

Del Mar College has banned the popular website MySpace.com. The reason given was that 40% of the campus's daily bandwidth was used to go to the site and the community college prefers to have the ability to teach classes online.

Why not just hire more teachers and have more real classes? When I was in school, no teacher usually meant no me or me there but looking at MySpace instead of watching some 1970's film on duck and cover.

Sunday News Round Up

2006-04-23T10:43:00.000-07:00

There has been a lot going on, so here are some of the highlights.

Charlie and Eileen throw one heck of a party to kick off the session.

Boyd Richie was selected to run the Texas Democratic Party until at least June. Reports from Burnt Orange say that Urbina-Jones was nominated but withdrew his name for the full consideration of the convention in June— exactly like Glen Maxey. I am definitely looking forward to actually having a vote and debate in June.

Quorum Report, reports that 124 amendments have been filed for the five house bills and will be considered Monday.

HB1-37
HB2-8
HB3-76
HB4-1
HB5-2

Capitol Annex has a great break down on how the calendar rule vote that occurred Friday. The short story is the rule passed, the long story is here. In response to the Auto-Craddick reign in the House, Democrats have offered their own tax plan.

The San Antonio Current announced the “Best of 2006”, and while they forgot to name JAB as best local website they did hand over that award to The Jeffersonian. Hey Cincinnatus, write more, we miss you!

On a final note, I went to Oyster Bake last night and saw either Julian or Joaquin Castro. Ever since Twin Gate, I am not sure who is who so we will just say that they were “both” there.

TDP Responds to Auto-Craddick Rule

2006-04-21T11:34:00.000-07:00

Yesterday some realized that a rule vote this morning was more than that, it was a vote for education or a vote against it. Today, Speaker Craddick was able to push a vote that hurts teachers, students, and thousands of school districts.

Here is the TDP's response:

Today, House Speaker Tom Craddick and House Republicans passed sham “procedural” rules designed to prevent House Members from using any of the state’s surplus or new Perry tax revenue to improve our children’s schools. The rule essentially denies lawmakers the opportunity to offer amendments, or proposals of any type, that would use these funds for Texas schools.

“Tom Craddick and his Republican foot soldiers are working against Texas children,” said Texas Democratic Party Communications Director Amber Moon. “By voting for the rule that slams the school doors shut and denies even the discussion of much-needed school funding, Republicans have shown they care more about election year politics than providing our children textbooks.”

“The people of Texas have demanded that the legislature invest in our schools in addition to addressing property taxes, but Republicans are holding our kids hostage for a tax bill that doesn’t put one dime into their future,” said Moon. “Students are reading from out-of-date textbooks in over-crowded classrooms. Yet Republicans are refusing to even discuss the pressing needs of our neighborhood schools.”

Democrats in the House have developed the “Hochberg Plan,” which will improve public education and deliver much-needed funding to Texas schools in addition to providing meaningful property tax relief for homeowners. The Democratic plan would reduce class sizes, fund new facilities and technology, raise teacher pay and restore health insurance benefits for all educational employees. However, Speaker Craddick has refused to even allow a vote on the common-sense Democratic plan even though the House passed a similar plan with bipartisan plan last August.

“Democrats in the House are working hard to respond to the demands of all Texans and fix our schools. Unfortunately, the Republican leadership has turned a deaf ear to the message sent by voters in this year’s primary elections--that they are ready for a change from the failed Republican leaders who have turned their backs on the kids, teachers and parents in our state,” Moon concluded.

Highland Park Windfall Proposal Will End School Funding

2006-04-20T09:48:00.000-07:00

(cross posted at Drive Democracy)

A procedural rule will be introduced tomorrow in the House as the first frontal assault on teachers, schools, and school districts. The rule will dictate the procedure of the house and will regulate amendments, costs, and most importantly the required focus of the legislation.

The Texas Supreme Court recently ruled that the current property tax is an unconstitutional statewide property tax. Now, Austin is in a frenzy trying to fix the problem and “get out of dodge.”

If legislators vote for the proposed rule tomorrow, they will be voting for restricting House Bill 1 (The Highland Park Windfall Proposal) to only taxation issues and will not address school funding.

This will mandate that no amendment can be offered to increase teacher pay, no new textbooks, no funding for school facilities, no teacher health insurance, and no extra funding for transportation during these time of extraordinary gas prices.

It is time to hold the legislature accountable to teachers and students. It is time for our elected officials to focus their attention on school funding and not just creating huge windfalls for Highland Park, Alamo Heights, or Bellaire while forgetting Edgewood, Houston, Dallas, or the thousands of other school districts.

By voting for a rule tomorrow, they are saying no to education for potentially the next decade!

Immigration: First Shots Fired by Gov't

2006-04-20T08:05:00.000-07:00

The war on immigrant workers and their families claimed its first casualties yesterday. The Express-News has the full story, but the details are clear. In at least nine states authorities arrested seven current and former IFCO Systems managers and hundreds of workers.

Some of the raids were coordinated in San Antonio and Houston were more than a few dozen workers were arrested and facilities were shut down.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested seven current and former IFCO Systems managers on charges they conspired to transport, harbor and encourage undocumented workers to reside in the United States for commercial advantage and private financial gain, said Glenn Suddaby, the chief federal prosecutor in Albany, N.Y., where some arrests were made.

In San Antonio, ICE agents showed up in bulletproof vests at the IFCO Systems complex on the Northeast Side, near Interstate 35 and Rittiman Road.

Sadly, the arrests that tore families apart and shut down businesses appear to be almost entirely political and not for actual homeland security.

The arrests appear to be timed to an announcement expected today from ICE and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, laying out an immigration enforcement strategy that targets employers' disregard for immigration law.

The new policy will not be to enforce current border law or to support right to work laws, but instead ICE will begin enforcing a zero tolerance law.

"ICE has no tolerance for corporate officers who harbor illegal aliens for their work force. Today's nationwide enforcement actions show how we will use all our investigative tools to bring these individuals to justice, no matter how large or small their company," said ICE chief Julie Myers.

Last week, operators of three restaurants in Baltimore pleaded guilty to similar immigration charges, while nine people affiliated with two temporary employment agencies that do business in New Jersey, Ohio and Pennsylvania were charged in a $5.3 million scheme involving the employment and harboring of illegal aliens.

These sorts of enforcement policies will have huge impacts on the economic improvement of the country because there is no infrastructure to thoroughly check the documents provided by workers against a detailed national system. This lack of infrastructure doesn’t provide for a viable defense for employers because the “law is the law”. And, with HR 4437, it will be a felony to employ, transport, feed, shelter, etc any migrant worker—regardless if you are a business or a church.

There are more than business impacts to these raids and new ICE policy. Families are now being torn apart and will have to figure out new solutions to new government imposed problems.

Relatives of workers rounded up in the raid said they were shocked and blasted the U.S. government for treating hard-working people like violent criminals, lamenting that now dozens of families will be suddenly torn apart.

"I'm not sure what I'm going to do now," said one 29-year-old undocumented Mexican worker who escaped the local raid.

"But I know I have to find some kind of work, my kids have to eat," said the man, who declined to be named.

Lucia Andino said her husband had his papers ready when officials arrived, but a boy who has been living with them and worked for the company for 11/2 years didn't.
"This is an injustice, what they are doing," she said. "Why don't they look for real criminals? An American would never repair a pallet for 25 cents. They would rather be unemployed."