Burnt Orange Report

I sure wish Max was still in Congress...:sigh:

Is this not the same firm that the super
lobbyist Jack "Paythemoff" worked at?

Yes, this is the same one. However, Greenberg has approximately 1,400 attorneys.

Personally, I'm not a big fan of former members of Congress going to work as lobbyists. I realize that most lobbyists are not Jack Abramoff-types ripping off their clients and bribing officials, but even the many legal activities of the current system are ethically questionable. Insider wheeling and dealing tends to corrupt the integrity of our democracy. And the revolving door of Congress and lobbying makes members of Congress and their staffers see their job as just a pit stop or selling point to their future new lobby firm employers. Lobbying shops like Greenberg Traurig hire former members of Congress because of the privileged access they have to the House or Senate floors and congressional gym.

However, just to be clear, my beef's with the system not with Sandlin necessarily. But with the Republicans tainted by the corruption being uncovered, Democrats need to wise up and offer some strong reform solutions to the problems of lobbying in DC. Strengthening revolving door rules would be one proposal that I definitely think should be made.

So, can anybody make any sense out of Steve Stockman's "I'm running for Congress to attack Nick Lampson" strategy?

I'm sure this is why Stockman failed to make a second career out of political consulting.

Heavy Darth Vader breathing....
Deep bass notes indicating dramatic entrance by bad guy...

My guess is that Max Sandlin has chosen to lobby as the odds of his returning to congress aren't very great, even if TXUSCD1 reverts to the previous boundaries via the current SCOUS case.

I've been reviewing the county by county break down from the 2004 election. Of the counties that were in the old district 1 Wood went into TXUSCD5 where Jeb Hensarling carried it with 70% of the vote. Except for Marion which Sandlin carried with 56% of the vote all the other counties that wholly carried over from the previous iteration of TXUSCD1 into the current iteration were carried by Gohmert. In those counties that went into the current TXUSCD4, Ralph Hall carried all of them except Camp, and Morris.

Cass is a special case as a fragment went into the current TXUSCD1 while the majority of Cass County went into TXUSCD4. If you combine the Dem. votes, and the GOP votes from all of Cass County the GOP votes end up the majority.

Should lightning strike and the TXUSCDs revert to previous boundaries either Gohmert; or Hall are, but a county line away form the former TXUSCD1, and either would hold the advantage of incumbency in new elections.

Gohmert could move to say Mineola and claim native son statuses as he is originally from Mount Pleasant. He would likely carry Wood County with no problem, along with those carry over counties from the current district 1 that he won in 2004. Hunt is almost a sure bet to goto Gohmert. The only three counties that Sandlin might be able to rely on would be Marion, Morris, and Camp. Hall would of course campaign for Gohmert in those counties unfamiliar with Gohmert. Given the resent voting patterns in Lamar, Delta, Red River, and Bowie counties it's quite likely that Gohmert would carry those counties also.

On the other hand Hall is well known in both Harrison, Upshur, Wood and Rusk counties due to those counties being in the Tyler/Longview media market. Given that those are the three largest counties that Hall has never represented he ought to be able to do quite well in them. The aggregate of these counties plus, the carry over counties that he currently represents, and won in 2004 along with Wood County would likely insure that Hall would win against Sandlin.

While there may well be some changes in the central, or perhaps in the western parts of Texas a reversion to previous USCDs is unlikely to produce a climate that would be advantageous to Max Sandlin.