Burnt Orange Report
News, Politics, and Fun From Deep in the Heart of Texas
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Burnt Orange ReportNews, Politics, and Fun From Deep in the Heart of Texas |
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July 31, 2005Crude AwakeningBy Karl-Thomas MusselmanForwarded to me from a friend for those that are interested here in Austin. A group called Crude Awakening is holding a town hall meeting on Friday, August 5, on the subject of: "The End of Cheap Oil and What It Means for Austin." A brief presentation on peak oil will be followed by a panel discussion among Austin community leaders and energy experts: Bill McLellan of Envision Central Texas, Councilman Brewster McCracken, Michael Osborne of Austin Energy, and author Robert Bryce. July 30, 2005Honorary Texan: $2,050.25 - UpdateBy Karl-Thomas Musselman Thanks to two more BOR Contributors who pitched in $40 to the cause and a $50 donation from someone who came from a comment of mine over at the SwingStateProject, we've now exceeded the $2,000 mark with 52 contributors. In this MyDD post, you can see that on Thursday, Hackett registered the most blog posts in a day to date. That also happened to be the same day we launched our Honorary Texan Project, so all of you who wrote about it, that's you. Everything's bigger with Texas... New Totals... Richard Morrison - $1385.20 And now after long last, we thank Greg, the originator of the idea, for donating $25.00. We look forward as well Greg getting back to Texas politics next week. Conservative Legislative Group ALEC To Meet In GrapevineBy Vince LeibowitzThe ultra-conservative American Legislative Exchange Council will meet in Grapevine next week for its annual meeting with several high-profile Republicans--including two Texans--slated to address the group. In addition to former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Texan Dick Armey (former House Majority Leader) and Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings--also a Texan--are slated to address the group. According to its website, ALEC was founded, "morethan a quarter century ago, a small group of state legislators and conservative policy advocates met in Chicago to implement a vision: A bipartisan membership association for conservative state lawmakers who shared a common belief in limited government, free markets, federalism, and individual liberty..." eith the mission of "advancing the Jeffersonian principles of free markets, limited government, federalism and individual liberty among America's state legislators..." You can check out the agenda for the annual meeting here. Note that some of the topics include "Disorder in the Courts—Litigating Public Policy," and "Charter Schools and Beyond." No wonder they decided to hold it in Texas. No word on what legislators from Texas will be attending the convention. In spite of the special session, I suspect quite a few Texans will be making the trip up to Grapevine. Vince Leibowitz is County Chairman of the Democratic Party of Van Zandt County. He may be reached at Vince_Leibowitz@bluebottle.com. Texans for Hackett- Update!By Karl-Thomas MusselmanWow. I honestly didn't expect our Honorary Texan project to be this successful and was hoping that at least the awareness of Paul Hackett's race would get to more Texans because of the effort. UPDATE: But in the past two days, as of this writing, NOTE: Totals for SaveTexasReps corrected and moved to Richard Morrison for credit due to a refcode error. Richard Morrison - Thanks to all of those below who have posted about this effort and to all those I haven’t caught yet. Remember, it's not too late to donate. And be sure to check out the DCCC's ad which just went live in the district, it's a good one (if you realize that Gov. Taft there has approval rating less than 20%). And keep up with the Swing State Project for the latest on the ground news. Save Texas Reps (And in this case Ohio too!) National Journal Blogometer --Added-- Plus, look what happens when you search for Honorary Texan right now. And here are the results of our own blogburst for Honorary Texan Paul Hackett. Site OutageBy Karl-Thomas MusselmanJust before midnight I noticed that the database lost connectivity for BOR. It appears that the access setting changed for some reason but has been corrected. There does not appear to be a loss of data. Though we will finally be reconnecting www.burntoragereport.com as the domain here this weekend, I am slightly irritated with the little quirks that keep popping up, which for the most part have been restricted to us on the back end. With the new Beta Test of Movable Type 3.2 it is to be expected, though long term I am becoming less pleased with our current state of affairs. So I have two questions... 1) Have you had problems being able to comment or otherwise use this site that have appeared recently? 2) Please list any and all systems you know of, as obvious as they may seem, that are out there for blogging. I'm looking for more community oriented tools if possible but may settle for less if MT 3.2 is not up to par. I know many Texas blogs use MovableType and I personally use WordPress for other projects but what else is out there? Leave a comment or e-mail if you can't (link to the right). July 29, 2005Congress Ups State's Share of Transportation FundsBy Vince LeibowitzIn an interesting move, Congress today passed a six-year surface transportation bill which will reportedly give the state back at least 92 percent of the money it [we] pay in gasoline taxes. Right now, Texas gets back 88 cents on the dollar. According to the Denton Record Chronicle, $40 million is earmarked in the bill to build new I-30 and I-35 bridges over the Trinity River in Downtown Dallas, with more than 12.8 million set aside for West Texas projects including the LaEntrada Al Pacifico trade route from Mexico's western coast through Persidio and to Lubbock, Amarillo, Wichita Falls and D/FW. The measure passed the House handily, and approval is expected in the Senate and by President Bush. The bill covers expenditures from 2004-2009. For more on background, read the Record Chronicle story. Join The Alliance!!By Damon McCullarThe Campus Alliance Against Inequality was formed last night during an organizational meeting. We are seeking out like-minded campus groups to join our alliance. University Democrats and Stand Out are the only two members of the alliance, but we encourage any and all campus organizations to join us. Please Email the Campus Alliance Against Inequality with a point of contact from your group if you are interested. Campus Alliance Against Inequality is a coalition of students, staff, and facualty at the University of Texas that are taking a stand against the Marraige Inequality Proposition that will be on the ballot in November. This is the offical name of the group that was referred to before as Alliance for Social Justice: UT Brigade. Turns out that was only a working title and this will be the offical title of the group. Educators Blamed For Finance Bill's Failure??By Vince LeibowitzScrolling through Google News's most recent stories on the Texas Legislature tonight, I ran across this one from the Houston Chronicle. It discusses the Senate's plan to try and salvage something from this special session with a revised education bill. Of particular interest, though, was this phrase in the story [in bold, with a couple of other paragraphs included for context]:
You've GOT to be kidding me! School superintendents and educators now deserve the blame for the tax-phobic, over-partisan Texas Legislature's failures? What's next? Blaming Texas public school students? Let's be serious: public school educators and administrators don't deserve the "blame" for the failure of the Legislature to come up with a new school finance plan, of for "thwarting" the Legislature's progress. The obvious reason educators and administrators have lobbied heavily against previous legislative packages is because they aren't what's best for Texas public schools, students, teachers, administrators or taxpayers. Although I hate to play the "partisanship" card on this issue, it simply must be thrown down. The fact of the matter is that Republicans are more concerned about passing a school finance measure that looks good on paper and that is better for business and special interests than for schools. Of course, for the sake of the voters back home, this is done in the name of "tax relief." I'm not saying that some property tax relief isn't necessary, but clearly, if tax relief was the only real issue on the table, a consensus would have been reached by now. The GOP's actions on school finance have gone beyond "tax relief" and allegedly improving education. Clearly, the GOP has something else on its mind aside from tax relief and schools, and I suspect it has a lot to do with who signs their campaign contribution checks. Vince Leibowitz is a (sometimes) regular contributor to Burnt Orange Report. He is County Chairman of the Democratic Party of Van Zandt County. Where To See Your 2006 Democratic HopefulsBy Damon McCullar
Chris Bell Chris is going to be up in North Texas on Friday, July 29 for the Cooke County Democratic Party Rally! The rally is being held at the Leonard Park Pavilion in Gainesville between 6PM and 10 PM on the 29th. Directions: Take the FM 51 (496b) exit off I35, turn (west) and go one block to the Leonard Park entrance. For more information contact Sylvia Bayer at 940-665-4851 or by email at sacbayer@yahoo.com.
Barbara Radnofsky July 27, 2005 Barbara Ann Radnofsky attended the Mexican American Bar July 27, 2005 Austin: Field Director Robert Andrews represented Barbara Ann at the monthly meeting of Keep Austin Blue on July 27th, and reminded the crowd Barbara will be in Austin on August 3rd for the monthly DFA meetup at Mother Egan's on Wednesday August 3rd. Tuesday August 2nd Barbara Ann Radnofsky will be attending a meeting of the CWA Legislative Committee in Houston. On August 3rd and 4th Barbara will be in Austin and in Bastrop County. She will be speaking at the Monthly Austin DFA meetup at Mother Egan's on Wednesday August 3rd at 7:00 On Thursday she will participate in University Baptist Church weekly meal for the Austin homeless community along with members of the UT chapter of Hillel, which is involved with UBC in this ministry beginning at 4:45. This event is part of Barbara's ongoing dialogue with the critical mainstream religious community across Texas as the campaign progresses. After the meal she will be speaking to the Bastrop Thursday morning Barbara is meeting Burnt Orange Reporter Damon McCullar who will join her for a run on Town Lake and an interview, along with a brief but healthy breakfast.. John Courage Nick Lampson Charlie Thompson Andy Brown Andy Brown will be blockwalking this weekend. Come meet Andy, talk to West Austin voters, and work on your tan! Contact Marc at 636-4345 or at marc@voteandy.com for more information. That's it for this week folks. If any of your other 2006 Democratic Hopefuls would like to have your events featured in this weekly post or on Burnt Orange Report, please contact me or via email with your schedules or any campaign announcements. July 28, 2005Keeping Wynn WeirdBy Karl-Thomas MusselmanWell, the otherwise neutrally bland Austin Mayor Will Wynn scored a PR coup today as he gave Austin, and himself, some flavor.  And here's the actual strange, but true video, though maybe Mayor Jumps Off Bridge isn't the best title. The Future?By Karl-Thomas MusselmanThough we can certainly smirk like schoolchildren at this comment left over at In the Pink Texas's post on Bell's Announcement, it makes me a bit sad because there are a lot of the WDs that I really respect. So I would like to ask you? What or who do you think is the future of our Texas Party? Do we have any Paul Hacketts around this state? (Remember to donate to our Honorary Texan today, BOR has already given $105 of the total so far!)
Of course we now have Chris Bell as another of our candidates in addition to Barbara Radnofsky and David Van Os, but my question is less about this year's statewides, more the back bench and the future. YDA Convention in San FranciscoBy Katie NaranjoAugust 3rd through the 7th young democrats will be congregating from all over the U.S. to discuss youth issues. Texas Young Democrats will be in attendance with 35 delegates from all over Texas. Programs will consist of chapter building, candidate workshops, and, of course, turning your red state blue. One highlight for Texans attending will be Chris Bell’s speech at the convention on Saturday. For those interested check out young democrats www.yda.org for more info on the events and issues to be discussed. I'll be attending the convention as part of the delegation and blogging when I can. Austin Chronicle Hypes Capitol BlogsBy Phillip MartinThe Austin Chronicle has a new story in tomorrow's edition about "The Blog Days of Summer." Click on the link to read. Our part is below though the Chronicle gets snarky with snarksters PinkDome and In the Pink Texas as well. And it's nice to see some of the newer groups including the Texas Kos group get recognized. Kudos to Naked Politics! -KT
The Leadership Stands at EaseBy Phillip Martin
--A Ben Sargent cartoon from May 5, 2004 LTG Dewhurst continues to insist he has the votes to pass SB2, but he has now pulled everyone behind a closed-door caucus meeting to make sure. Many people continue to believe he doesn't have the votes -- remember, Speaker Craddick also thought he had the votes, and we all saw what happened Tuesday. Everyone needs to start working from the center out, and not from the left/right in. Governor Perry can sign HB1 and schools can go on this year as normal. In the meantime, that majority of bipartisan lawmakers that want to get things right and aren't just looking for campaign cover should convince the leadership to step back. Let those willing to come together work out the school finance plan, and tell Perry, Dewhurst, and Craddick to stop playing politics with Texas' public schools. CHRIS BELL RUNNING FOR GOVERNORBy Damon McCullar
The formal announcement was made today by email:
To read the entire announcement, check out the Chris Bell Blog. The unique thing about this declaration was that there was no press conference. Average Texans were finding out the answer to whether Chris would run at the same time as the Austin power brokers and the mainstream media. Chris Bell, former Congressman from Houston is best known for breaking the "ethics truce" and bring ethics complaints against Rep. Tom DeLay. Chris has also served on the Houston City Council before running for Congress. More information about Chris Bell, his history in public service, and his vision for Texas can be found on his website. Texas Thursday: Paul HackettBy Karl-Thomas MusselmanInspired by Greg Wythe when he bestowed the title of Honorary Texan on Paul Hackett, Texas Bloggers, led by Burnt Orange Report, Off the Kuff, PinkDome, and Greg’s Opinion are calling today upon all Texans (and friends of Texas) to join ranks and donate towards the very cause we have been arguing for this past week- Run Everywhere, because it's what our Party and our Democracy needs. His success is our success, not just as Texas Democrats, but as Democrats period. "Paul Hackett is hereby granted "Temporary Texan" status from now and election day in the Ohio 2nd (August 2). I'm pretty sure I have no legal standing whatsoever to convey Texan-ship, but who am I to let that stop me?" Certainly not us Greg. So join us today, in a special edition, Texas Thursday, for Honorary Texan Paul Hackett. Let's roll. I'll be tracking the results through the day from various blogs as well as from Daily Kos contributors. July 27, 2005Chris Bell Announcing within 24 HoursBy Damon McCullar
The formal announcement will be made tomorrow by email and there will be an announcement on the Chris Bell Blog. Anyone wishing to receive the formal announcement can go to Chris Bell's Website and sign up for the email alert. Chris Bell, former Congressman from Houston is best known for breaking the "ethics truce" and bring ethics complaints against Rep. Tom DeLay. Chris has also served on the Houston City Council before running for Congress. More information about Chris Bell, his history in public service, and his vision for Texas can be found on his website. (Ed. Note: There was briefly a post up saying that Chris would not run. That was merely a mistake on my part. I was preparing multiple posts.) (Ed. Note: We then ran into some database and comment issues which should now be resolved. -KT) An Open Letter to Rep. GrusendorfBy Phillip MartinDear Rep. Grusendorf: In today's Dallas Morning News article, you said the following about what happened during debate on House Bill 2:
In a day filled with confusion and chaos, one thing remained strong: Democrats and many Republicans are for a better school finance bill that brings real reforms and billions of more dollars to Texas classrooms, and a better tax bill that delivers significant property tax relief to most Texas homeowners. The courageous Democrats and Republicans that passed the Hochberg amendment onto your bill did so for the children, teachers, and parents of their districts. That majority of House members are for lots of things. Here's a list, so you know in the future: They are for putting billions of more dollars into Texas classrooms. They are for giving an across-the-board teacher pay raise that won't disappear after taxes. They are for maintaining local control on such issues as the school start date, school board elections, and classroom management. They are for letting educators run public schools instead of companies. They are for increasing the homestead exemption, so that someone other than the richest ten percent of Texans could see some real property tax relief. But there is something else they are for, Rep. Grusendorf: they are for debate, and discussion, and a democratic government that allows for the majority to rule. You weren't for any of those things, Rep. Grusendorf, and neither were Speaker Craddick, Rep. Keel, and many of your other Republican allies. You were for shutting down debate on the single most important issue in the state. You are for doing the Governor's bidding, and that's not what the majority of lawmakers came here to do. I'm afraid you and the Republican leadership are going to have to live with that reality, and learn to compromise. And isn't it funny...that's been the Democrat's education plan all along, remember? It is called the Learn and Live plan. Tell your bosses to take notes. BORer Podcasts with Cate EdwardsBy Marcus CenicerosWhile in DC for the College Democrats of America convention, I was invited to participate in a podcast with VP nominee John Edwards' daughter Cate. I have to say this was one of the highlights of the trip. I've had a secret crush (secret no more) on Cate since she introduced her mom at the DNC convention in Boston. She was a really neat person and totally easy to talk to. (Plus, I got to sit right next to her!) For those who don't know what a podcast is, it's like a radio address but online. People can record their messages and other people can download them and listen to it like talk radio. John Edwards has been doing several podcasts of his website OneAmerica.com, which is where you can find the podcast I sat in on. I, along with Grant Woodard the College Democrats of America national president from Grinell College in Iowa, LaToia Jones- the CDA Executive Chair, and Megan Block from Mizzou, talked with Cate about the importance of being involved in the political system. Anyways, check out the podcast. Let me know what you think. July 26, 2005UDems Rock CDABy Marcus CenicerosLet me start by saying, I had an amazing trip to our nation's capitol this past weekend. As I posted a week ago, I went to DC to attend the College Democrats of America National Convention. It was the first time I attended, and unless anyone knows otherwise, the first time a UT kid has gone in a long time. I promise to post all about it very soon, but I wanted to let you know the big news first. The University Democrats of UT-Austin received the Honorable Mention in the category of CDA National Chapter of the Year!! Only one group was above us, the Brown University Democrats of Rhode Island, who won 2005 Chapter of the Year. CDA has over 1,200 chapters and is the official college outreach of the DNC. Brown had an amazing presentation and did a lot of great work. I was told the decision was very close and took almost two hours. It came down to the amount of community service hours put in by both groups. So, the bar has been set for President Alex Hunt and the rest of the group this year. Let's win it next year! The CDA recognition comes after being named "2005 Most Outstanding Organization" by the UT-Leadership Board. I can't begin to say how proud I am of all the members and how grateful I am to all the supports across campus and Austin. These recognitions go out to the people who worked hard for us, and we want to say thank you for that. I will update soon with some stories from convention (including finding a die-hard burntorange report fan from up east), video of Senator Hillary Clinton, and information about how to download a podcast I recorded with Vice Presidential nominee John Edwards' daughter Cate. Update: Texan article here, nice stuff Marcus. -KT No Nonsense In November Lauches WebsiteBy Damon McCullar
Former State Rep. Glen Maxey and Company have launched www.nononsenseinnovember.com. This is a website where folks can go to:
Glen will also be doing a radio special on Lamda Weekly, the nation's oldest continuous gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender talk radio show. The special will be on Sunday, July 31st at 1pm. Lamda Weekly can be heard on KNON, 89.3 on the FM band in North Texas or at www.KNON.org. Click "Listen Now" for live streaming audio. Alliance for Social Justice: University of Texas Brigade HB 3 Just FailedBy Karl-Thomas MusselmanAnd the House stands adjourned until Thursday at Noon. HB 3 fails with what appeared to be an 8-128 vote. Keffer who was carrying it announced he was voting no. Rep. Dunnam gave a short speech just before it all died expressing his displeasure at the process and that they had an chance today to make some real progress for the children of Texas but that it was apparent that today these bills were killed so people could go home. Phillip should have a round up later tonight on the lay of the land and today's events. The archived feed of today's events will be here in a bit. House Bill 2 Just FailedBy Phillip MartinThe Speaker put every amendment onto the bill, without any debate. No one knew what got put on the bill, but because Grusendorf made the motion, no one had time to object. That left every member without a clue as to what was now in the bill, and all the Republicans broke and voted against House Bill 2. Now, the House has planned on voting for House Bill 3. As soon as anyone can make sense of anything, I'll update. Until then, I'm done posting for a while... Hochberg Amendment Passes!!!By Phillip MartinThe vote was 76-67, giving Democrats and over a dozen moderate Republicans the biggest victory over the leadership in several years. It just goes to show that when we work together with bipartisan support, anything can happen. BUT, as many have noted, we're not through yet. We must, must, must encourage all those who voted for the Hochberg amendment to make sure it stays in HB2, and then to pass HB2 on both second and third reading. There are also many other important issues concerning school finance reform that we have not addressed, including issues concerning privatization, the school start date, and the time of school board elections. Future amendemts will look at these issues, and, hopefully, they can build off of the momentum of the Hochberg vote so that we can continue to bring real education reform to our public schools. Stay tuned for more updates, including a detailed analysis of what's in the Hochberg amendment, as they develop throughout the afternoon. Also, per K-T's request, here are the 14 Republicans who joined with every House Democrat to pass the Hochberg amendment: Brown (Fred), Casteel, Geren, Goodman, Goolsby, Griggs, Haggerty, Hamilton, Hunter, Jones (Delwin), Kuempel, Merritt, Pitts, Reyna. Knaupe Not to RunBy Karl-Thomas MusselmanOne of the candidates that has grown on me in his time actually not running for anything, Gregg Knaupe (of City Council Place 3), appears to now be more or less officially out of the running for HD 47, Keel's open seat. Austin sources tell me that Knaupe, after spending a year on the trail away from his family and especially his two young kids, plans to not jump into this one for what are actual, honest family reasons (the traditional 'out' for many candidates). I respect Gregg more than he knows and certainly feel that he will be well received at some future point here in Travis County should he set his eye on some other race. Thanks for what you have brought to the table Gregg. Our party is grateful for sure, and I know that your children will be even more so to have you around as they grow up in these most amazing of times. Our inbox is always open to you, stay in touch. Republicans Fail to Shut Down Debate on HB2By Phillip MartinA motion by Rep. Keel to move to previous question would have entirely shut down debate on HB2, not allowing a single amendment to be presented for the bill. The motion failed 63-80. This was the sickest, most disgusting move Speaker Craddick and the Republican leadership could imagine. Speaker Craddick also ruled that motions of personal privlege, which have always superseded any other motion, were no longer allowed. This ruling showed that Speaker Craddick knows no bounds when it comes to force-voting. I will keep everyone updated as the debate continues... Why The Texas Democratic Party MattersBy Andrew DobbsThere has been a lot of talk about the nature of the Texas Democratic Party, all prompted by Damon’s posting of our most recent online fundraiser. I want to start out by thanking those of you who gave to this effort—it means a lot to all of us who are working hard down here. As for anyone else, I would like to address some of your concerns. To begin, I’m going to do something I never do. I never take credit for my work, because it isn’t about me, it is about the party and the people we are fighting for. The idea behind this campaign, the graphic and the text of the pitch were all created by yours truly. That’s what I do. I’ve also designed stuff for some of our candidates, I keep our website up to date, I do opposition research for many of our candidates, write press releases, speeches, Op-Eds and a whole host of other things. Some campaigns can’t afford a full-time press guy, and I am happy to help them out. By the way, I’m also a full-time student and I can say that the TDP is helping put at least one kid through college. Some people complain that we don’t do anything down at the TDP. I don’t know where this comes from because I’m here 40 hours a week and I know that is not true. Earlier this year we sent one of our field staffers out to Ector County for a County Commissioner’s race. Last year we had field staffers in every corner of the state. We send people out to campaigns all of the time to help them learn the voter file (which we provide to campaigns for free), develop a campaign strategy and raise money. We are also recruiting candidates for races all over the state right now. As for our consultants, we don’t have many and most don’t make a whole lot of money. Kelly Fero worked for the Party all last year, coming in almost every day, working constantly to help organize this state for the Democratic Party. For all of this his annual salary from the party was $7,200, the same amount a Texas legislator makes. He now does a lot of the same work pro bono. Oh, and the $9,200 a month someone keeps whining about was actually for a fundraiser, not a consultant, and she raised more money than her salary, so that was actually a net gain. Other consultants have done great work for us, some paid, but most for free. Philip’s dad, Ed, is one of them. In terms of communication, much of what you see in the news that makes the GOP look bad or us look good came from our office one way or the other. TRMPAC wasn’t a story at all until some TDP consultants started talking to reporters on background and giving them the info they need to get those stories out there. This is a service that you can’t see every day. But it is one of the most important things we do because the more our position becomes conventional wisdom, and the more people know about what the GOP is doing down in Austin, the better we’ll do in 2006 and beyond. As for finance, we do a lot to help out campaigns. We provide many campaign services for free and help campaigns raise their own money. Our indefatigable comptroller, Shelley Smith, also helps out many campaigns with compliance issues. We also gave out tens of thousands of dollars in cash and in kind over the 2004 election cycle, much of it to challengers who are laying foundations in communities that need Democratic outreach. We don’t make a huge deal when we spend this kind of money on campaigns. Maybe we should, but there is something to be said for keeping the emphasis on the candidate. The fact of the matter is that people are right when they say we should do more—and we are. We are developing new programs and tools all the time to help Democrats get elected. But to say that we do nothing now or that we are ineffective is unfair and untrue. We do a lot of good and we want you all to be a part of it. Come by our offices at 707 Rio Grande in Austin and we’ll put you to work. Call us up at (512) 478-9800 and we’ll help you get connected to your local party. Sign up for our email list so you can keep informed, and become a Sustaining Member so you can brag that you are a “card-carrying Democrat.” Most importantly, email me or leave a comment here telling us what we could be doing better. I hope this clears things up a little bit, because it is important that we start working together. Complaining won’t win any elections; coming down here or calling us and letting us know what you need where you are will. Let’s get started! US Returns to SpaceBy Damon McCullar
Congrats to NASA and the brave men and women on board Discovery as they return the US to manned space flight. May the thoughts and prayers of the BOR community be with these American heros as they embark on this perilous adventure. God speed! Turn The Capitol BlueBy Damon McCullarFloating this back up to continue the discussion while I write my next post on the subject. And I made a donation today to the TDP back when it jumped from $85 to $95, so I'm using that as my excuse for sustaining this debate. -KT  From the Texas Democratic Party Website: New Session, New Beginning!
July 25, 2005Blog TalesBy Karl-Thomas MusselmanGod, I love reading Kinky's Blog now that I've got the xml addy to read it (http://www.kinkyfriedman.com/blog/atom.xml) I can keep my eyes from getting color burned. Today's post was particularly... amusing? inspiring? P.S. I'm off to dinner on the East Side to eat with Kos and Jerome and some other Austin politicos to chat about technology, blogging, and such. We'll see what I have to report later. Local Post Becomes Statewide StoryBy Phillip MartinThis past Saturday, the Fort-Worth Star Telegram picked up the story about how the people in Rep. Joe Moreno's district have gone without representation for these two special sessions. The story, which echoes parts of a post I had previously written, leads with a strong condemnation of Perry's actions:
I know Governor Perry is no longer legally responsible to order an expedited election, but for Perry and the GOP to champion morality one moment and boast that they can barely crawl over the minimum requirements of the law the next is flat out wrong. The votes on the tax and education bill are within a single vote, and it's tough to fathom that Perry would have acted the same if the district in question voted a different way. The Brown ListBy Karl-Thomas MusselmanWhile we wait for Marcus's report this afternoon, I thought I might take a run though the Andy Brown public supporter list to see who he had lined up in this seemingly non-existant primary race (any supporters of Donna Howard or Hugh Brady and Duffy Keever, neither of whom I've heard anything about for quite a long time, please e-mail me at karltm-at-gmail-dot-com or tell them to Step Up.) I'm sure I'll miss certain people (and there is always the chance that some of these people have the same name as those I know) but here is a short list of who's who and why they may be important. Things to note? Strama crossover support is high, as are elected officials, and many of the people that have an interest in the neighboring HD 47 race. The info after the jump... The Honorable Ben Barnes Jeff Brooks Cass Robert Callaway Larkin Campbell Liz Carpenter Rick Cofer Mandy Dealey Matthew Dempsey David Holmes Lowell Lebermann The Honorable Lee Leffingwell The Honorable Garry Mauro The Honorable Glen Maxey Ambassador Stan McLelland The Honorable Ed Miller Bettye Nowlin Catherine Robb Ambassador Arthur Schechter The Honorable John Sharp The Honorable Rose Spector Dennis & Emily Speight Kate Volti Marc & Suzanne Winkelman Big News for UDems ComingBy Karl-Thomas MusselmanMarcus is on his way back from the College Democrats of America National Convention and will be getting his notes in order to tell us all about the goings ons there and I'm sure all the people he met. That and he'll have some big news related to the UDems-Austin chapter for us so keep and eye out for his post later today. July 24, 2005Seven Cheers for LanceBy Karl-Thomas Musselman
Half a Million people in Paris heard from now seven time Tour de France winner and Austinite Lance Armstrong. I can only imagine what Congress Avenue will be like when he comes home to us. Way to go Lance, you inspire us all. July 23, 2005Texas Education CrisisBy Damon McCullarGov. Perry is now into his 6th Special Session. Each special session cost somewhere in the neighborhood of 1.7 million dollars. Each one of these special sessions have had something to do with reference">public education. So what have Texans have to show for our 10.2 million dollars? We have a public school system that is near the bottom of the barrel in the United States when it come education. We are ranked 33rd in the country, tied with West Virgina and 48th in the country in SAT scores. On the issue of drop out rates, Texas has the highest. The administration would love to have you think that things really aren't that bad. They would point you to schools that have done wonderful things in Houston and Dallas. This "Texas Miracle", however, turned out to be a Texas mirage. Enron-style accounting practices turning out 100% completion rates and cheating on the TAKS test by school districts and students have reached such alarming proportions that out of state companies have been called in to investigate the allegations. There will be a detailed post on Monday about the shortcomings of the current HB 2 and 3 being considered in the current special session, so I won't go too much into detail here on it. That being said, the clear winners in HB 3 are business interest and insurance companies. They businesses don't have their burden raised outside of a few inconsequential loop holes being closed while whole segments of the economy have no tax burden what-so-ever. The insurance companies get a huge tax cut. I guess their investment in TAB (a pro-business political action committee) is paying off. The rich also make out in HB 3 with a cut in their property taxes. Those in the middle and lower classes get taken to the cleaners in several ways. First there is the raise the sales tax. This would give Texas the highest sales tax in the country. Also, those with the "vices" of smoking and drinking will see prices on cigarettes and alcohol go up as the taxes on these particular items go up as far as three-fold. In addition folks in the middle and lower classes get shafted on accessibility to education and quality of education. These bills do raise teacher salaries, but by a paltry sum. The best teachers our state has to offer are going to pack up and move to a state that will pay them what they are worth. Also, these bills do nothing to reign in the sky rocketing cost of tuition. The University of Texas system has seen tuition cost go up 37% since deregulation and Texas A&M has seen tuition prices go up four time the rate of inflation in one year. With combination of higher tuition prices and higher taxes on the middle and lower class, you have tuition prices going up, while family income is going down. These two conditions make it less and less possible for families to send their children to college. Couple that with the lower quality of education and you get a system where students can't afford to go to a state college and they aren't competitive for out of state colleges. This will begin a downward spiral that will squeeze the middle class to the brink of extinction with no hope of upward mobility. That's my take on it....what do you readers think? Stop or my mom will shoot!By Jim DallasI've always gotten a chuckle out of headlines like this one with multiple, plausible, meanings:
At any rate, expect new and bolder attempts to peddle Social Security privatization now that nobody is paying attention. Keep on your toes. July 22, 2005In Houston politics, money is always in StyleBy Jim DallasI'm currently in the market for a decent used cars with low miles and no accidents. But enough about me - let's talk about this week's edition of Houston Style, a local free publication which I was flipping through earlier on this wet and wild Friday evening. In this week's edition, Reverend Jackson asks, "would you buy a used car from President Bush?" To which the answer must surely be "no." Although the comparison makes me feel a lot better about the used-car salesman I've talked to recently. More interesting for y'all, though, is Burt Levine's roundup of campaign finance reports for Houston city candidates. Unfortunately, Style doesn't publish it's columns online, but it's good to know some one is keeping up with the money game besides city hall bureaucrats. Moreover, Levine's column reminded me that, in fact, we are having elections in November, despite the relative lack of coverage in the H-Chron recently. So what's up with political money in Houston? Here's a roundup: * Despite having no serious opposition, Mayor Bill White has spent over $700,000 since January. According to Levine, this should give White well over $2 million cash-on-hand, more than sufficient for a White-out if an opponent more serious than Jack "Josey" Terence appears. Terence's only campaign expenditures so far include a $37 tab (for stamps, one would assume) at the post office and an $8 bill purchasing campaign materials at a local Family Dollar outlet. Nonetheless, BOR will be certain to count all the votes before calling this election for the Mayor. * Peter Brown pretty much crushes the rest of the field for At-Large One. A good chunk of Roy Morales's campaign kitty (which, shall we say, is roughly the size of my car budget) comes from a self-loan. I was under the impression that the Republicans were going to be putting up a fight (this seat being currently held by Mark Ellis, who wants to be a state senator). Perhaps Peter Brown can breath a little easier? Unfortunately, I missed Brown's fundraising party this week, but he'll be speaking at the Harris County Young Democrats meeting on Tuesday of next week. * Jay Aiyer has a whole heck of a lot more money than Sue Lovell in At-Large 2. That Aiyer would have more money doesn't surprise me. We'll have to see if money translates into votes, though. UPDATE: Just after I noted that, in my humble opinion, the Chronicle had been awfully quiet, I got an e-mail indicating that Kristen Mack's latest column is about... campaign finance in city council races! I don't always get around to reading every page, but I feel really goofy about this. But not nearly as goofy as "diapers" (who knows, maybe it's part of a creative strategy). Run. Everywhere.By Karl-Thomas MusselmanI'm about to echo what has been said across the blogs the past day because it's an issue that has struck a chord with Texas Dems and needs to be set down as our standard for 2006. (Reference Kuff, Save Texas Reps, Eye on Williamson County, Et Cetera, and Greg) This conversation was initiated in large part because of comments made about SD 7 becoming an open seat and the reaction from "high powered consultant" Marc Campos who said this.
That's some "high powered crap" right there. A candidate running in SD7, regardless of what you may think the outcome may be, will give a reason for Democrats on the ground there to not only vote, but start to organize around whatever campaign is running and then going into the future, have ongoing organization that whalah!, builds our Party. Granted, there is a more limited pool of money on the Democratic side perceptually than there is over with the GOP. But the money raised for an SD7 battle, because of the nature of the district and any likely candidate, is going to come out of that district and not drain off of other Dems funding other targeted races. Let me give and example: much of the Texas Hill Country has been ignored for cycles. There has been little funding flowing out of it but in 2002 we had candidates run like John Courage in the old 21st and even a challenger to Carter Casteel back then, which spurred the first wave of new donors out of that area in a long time. And guess what, they're still around and may be willing to fund other races or the party like my family has for instance. And who are Chris Bell, and Radnofsky, and Van Os going to go out and see in Lampasas in early September? An 800 person picnic extravaganza with Democrats, organizers, and donors coming from the 21 counties of the Hill Country from Fredericksburg to Abilene, Menard to Killeen. Hell, I'm here blogging today because John Courage inspired me two and a half years ago to stand outside of the Gillespie County Courthouse on a chilly November night handing out his campaign material in the reddest of towns with my now elected father. And that happened without moving the Democratic totals from beyond that "severe ass whipping" 25% mark. If we are honestly worried about lost filing fees being the reason for defeat for other candidates, then we have some serious problems as a Party, because it shows a lack of vision beyond the parochial and a lack of foresight beyond the next election day. Letting grassroots candidates run in some of the more 'hopeless' districts is the cheapest way the Party can help build itself and push out its message to people who otherwise will never hear or see from an actual Party operative in the next decade. I think it's worth it. Let people run. Everywhere. P.S. Campos appears poised to tell all us bloggers to run for office if we're so hot on it. Note to Mr. High Powered Consultant, we already are. So remind me when you're filing again? Where To See Your 2006 Democratic Hopefuls This WeekendBy Damon McCullarTGIF folks! It's time for this week's installment of Where To See Your 2006 Democratic Hopefuls! Chris Bell |
TGIF folks! It's time for this week's installment of Where To See Your 2006 Democratic Hopefuls!
The Chris Bell Exploratory Committee has stated that Chris Bell will be running for Governor of the State of Texas on the Democratic ticket. 
