Larry Joe Doherty: Past and Present

"This of course is an issue" (5.00 / 1)

why is it an issue?  If I'm not mistaken last year John Courage's Austin office was in Lloyd Doggett's district.  Did you think it was an issue then?

For the record, I'm not a Doherty supporter, just trying to figure out your thinking on the issue.

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by: Lauren @ Thu Sep 13, 2007 at 00:56:56 AM UTC

Coordinated Campaign (0.00 / 0)

John Courage's campaign headquarters was in San Antonio just blocks away from Lamar Smith's San Antonio residence.

His Austin office was based out of the Travis County Coordinated campaign office so the campaign could also help organize its volunteers to assist down ballot candidates and ensure Democratic victories for JP, State House, and help in the Court of Appeals races. I am speaking on this issue not as a blogger but as a former Courage Campaign staffer.

It is a great question and I am more than happy to clarify my thinking.

Like I said in the post update though, it does appear that the LJD Houston office could be the finance team.  I have e-mailed LJD's campaign but have not received a response yet.

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by: Matt Glazer @ Thu Sep 13, 2007 at 01:24:07 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Sounds like a double standard. (0.00 / 0)

Whether or not you knew it was the finance team or a campaign office that was just outside the distrcit, you don't seem to have much room to call them on it, since you admittedly worked on a congressional campaign in an office not in the district.  (Really you were using YOUR volunteers to work on OTHER campaigns? sounds kinda silly to me)

I don't particularly have an opinion on where campaign offices are located.  I just think we all should practice what we preach.  And preach only what we practice.

I'm just sayin.

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by: Lauren @ Thu Sep 13, 2007 at 16:31:13 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

More on the Courage Campaign (0.00 / 0)

First the campaign headquarters was in San Antonio and in the district. That part was completely missed in your response.  Second, we officed out of the Travis County Coordinated Campaign office in order to help and assist the coordinated efforts to get Democrats elected, this is slightly different than opening up shop intentionally out of the district.

This helped other campaigns because we were able to support down ballot races.  The best example of this would be when Travis county wide blockwalks and phonebanks were going on, the Courage Campaign could call "dibs" on precincts that were in our district so Mark Strama, Valinda Bolton, Bree Buchanan, John Coronado, etc., etc. would not have to do those precincts.  If a person was going to vote for John Courage, there is a pretty solid chance they were going to vote for the down ballot D's too.  Since, Mr. Courage was a federal candidate, we also got a lot of volunteers, more than say Susan Steeg or Mina Brees did. It would be safe to say, all the Democrats we contacted and mobilized helped get Susan Steeg elected and helped Mina Brees get with in 3,000 or so (she had a 24 county race to worry about).

By campaigning out of the Travis County Coordinated Campaign office, we were able to help the party, down ballot candidates, and the Courage Campaign.  Now if we tried to office in say, CD-23, in San Antonio were there was no coordinated campaign office, who does that help?  That would be a horrid strategic and tactical mistake.

You are comparing apples to hubcaps.  If LJD or Ciro Rodriguez or Nick Lampson or any other candidate officed out of a county-wide coordinated campaign office, that is a tactical decision I can't evaluate with out being in the room when the choice was made.  If a candidate doesn't office in their own district but creates a stand alone, independent operation, that strikes me as a mistake.  LJD's campaign, who has still not returned my attempts to contact them, may or may not have done this.

This would move volunteers further away from the district.  Limits or eliminates volunteers who wander in to help.  Most importantly, it begs the question of, "why did he chose not to office in the district he is running in?"

In the Courage Campaign made the decision to have two offices, our headquarters in our district in San Antonio, and the other one in Austin in a coordinated campaign office.

Before the coordinated campaign started and before re-re-redistricting happened in late summer, our Austin office was in the center of the Travis County and in the center of the Travis County half of our district right off Congress.  I believe that by the end of the campaign, because of the Supreme Court ruling, that office was not in our district anymore.  Unlike LJD, Courage actual ran in two completely different districts because of the unconstitutional redistricting-- another important fact to remember.

Back to the Austin office being in a coordinated campaign office. Would you have preferred we stay there or help Valinda Bolton get elected? I would say that is a little different than this.

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by: Matt Glazer @ Thu Sep 13, 2007 at 19:18:37 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

not that different (0.00 / 0)

it's early on in the campaign season.  I'm guessing he doesnt have staff to work out of an office.  My understanding is that he will have Headquarters in Austin.  So, actually quite similar to the Courage situation. 

Interesting that you brought Valinda Bolton into it, My understanding is that she didn't have a campaign office in her District. 

Again, not a LarryJoe supporter and I could come up with a lot of negatives to spit out right now -- And, i am not trying to attack Courage or Bolton for their office situations, I just don't think we need to be attacking D's on an issue when we supported (or worked for) other candidates that did the exact same thing and we didnt have a problem with it then.

Hypocrisy only makes you lose credibility.

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by: Lauren @ Sat Sep 15, 2007 at 18:23:09 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Matt (0.00 / 0)

You should be careful about how you phrase your response.  Federal candidates cannot coordinate with any campaign.

This could sound like candidate coordination to the wrong ears.

thejeffersonian.blogspot.com

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by: Cincinnatus @ Thu Sep 13, 2007 at 19:23:24 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

That is not the case (0.00 / 0)

Hopefully my longer comment below helps clarify what we did and the subtle difference. We worked with the party and the coordinated campaign, not specific campaigns or candidates.

Thanks for the concern.

Help build a progressive movement in Texas. Join Progress Texas.

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by: Matt Glazer @ Thu Sep 13, 2007 at 20:05:24 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Now you know where to send the check. (0.00 / 0)

The Houston address is indeed the office of Lone Star Strategies, a company which receives checks, and prepares the appropriate reports for the FEC.  Most of you know we moved to Austin from the middle of District 10, 80 miles to the east.  Changing our home is an even more serious commitment to Austin than placing an office. 

I enjoyed seeing the late Anna Nicole and Larry Joe video.  After so many years of fighting lawyers who committed malpractice, and teaching ethics to lawyers, Larry Joe really had fun promoting his show. 

If you want to see him this Saturday, he will be the master of ceremonies at  an event for children who  are physically challenged.  http://www.ci.sat.tx...

I am sure that you will not mind that these children are not in District 10.

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by: jjdoherty @ Thu Sep 13, 2007 at 13:52:53 PM UTC

nice guy who is working hard (0.00 / 0)

I've met Larry a couple of times and found him personable and engaging.  He still needs to perfect the art of retail campaigning, but he should get much better, very quickly, as he is attending lots of events.

As most of you know, to run for Congress you don't even have to live in the district. I'm not sure that where your office is or isn't located in a major metro area like Houston will resonate with the voters...but you never know.

Please refer to KT's signature.

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by: colin @ Thu Sep 13, 2007 at 15:22:43 PM UTC

When I read this, I had assumed the address (0.00 / 0)

was probably Lone Star Strategies who office on Woodway just west 610.  I get loads of invitations to poliitical fundraisers, where the RSVP is the Lone Star address.  In fact when the last Democratic State Convention was in Houston in 2004, I was getting e-mails and snail mail almost daily for fundraisers and non-fundraiser parties, requesting RSVPs to Lone Star.

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by: merci_me @ Thu Sep 13, 2007 at 15:58:01 PM UTC

And ActBlue is up thar with the YANKEES (5.00 / 1)

I'm not in CD 10 either, but I did what I could for Ted Ankrum last time. Stuff like this isn't really productive.

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by: George @ Thu Sep 13, 2007 at 18:05:41 PM UTC

It's NOT his campaign office (0.00 / 0)

It's Heidi Kirkpatrick's office. Lone Star Strategies. Judge Larry Joe is raising money to run a professional campaign. But nice try linking him to Anna Nicole. Hope that works for you.

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by: Tejana @ Fri Sep 14, 2007 at 18:01:46 PM UTC

Scaaaaary (0.00 / 0)

"Trying to link" him with Anna Nicole?  It is right there on the video!

I'm not in CD 10, but the idea of having the Texas Justice guy represent Texas is kind of embarrassing.  Well, not kind of...very.

If Democrats are bringing up Doherty's video clips, the Republicans will have a field day if Doherty wins the primary. 

"He that takes truth for his guide, and duty for his end, may safely trust to God's providence to lead him aright." --Blaise Pascal

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by: Pascalini @ Tue Sep 18, 2007 at 16:42:14 PM UTC

Way to go Larry Joe (0.00 / 0)

I think it's great to have "the Texas Justice guy" representing Texas.  Anyone smart enough to vote democrat knows you can't judge a book by its cover.  When I watch "the Texas Justice guy" on TV, I see someone caring enough to take the time to listen to the litigants instead of grandstanding like the New York or California judges.  Larry Joe Doherty, makes me proud to be a Texan.

On the exact location of an address listed as a campaign site being important, that sounds like something a republican worry about.  Are we going to complain when Larry Joe Doherty moves to Washington DC after he's elected because he's no longer a resident of Texas?

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by: countrycoder @ Mon Sep 24, 2007 at 14:23:43 PM UTC

[ Parent ]