(What's going on in Big D? James Van Sickle is here to tell us. - promoted by Katherine Haenschen)
While speculation and bargaining continue for how the 2012 maps for Congress, State Senate, and State House will look, I wanted to take some time to look at the contested Democratic Primary races in Dallas based on current filings. Once the maps are finalized, I will post another article discussing changes we get when the filing period reopens for a brief period of time. It should also be noted that this article will be discussing only races contained solely within Dallas County and not any statewide or multi-county campaigns. All tables in this article are sorted by Contributions in descending order.
United States Congress, District 30
Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson is currently serving her 10th term (20 years), and is actively campaigning for another term in office. So far two candidates have risen to challenge Congresswoman Johnson in Democratic Primary. State Representative Barbara Mallory-Caraway (HD-110) filed for a ballot position, along with Taj Clayton who is a litigator at international law firm Fish and Richardson.
It should be noted that only the below table only looks at reporting period totals between 10/1/2011 to 12/31/2011.
In theory, State House Districts 110 and 107 should be hot primary races. The ongoing issue regarding our maps is putting all of that into question, however. Regardless of how the maps come out, District 110 will be a hot race because it will be to replace Barbara Mallory-Caraway as she runs for Congress. HD-110 is a safe Democratic district with a large African-American population. Right now there are three candidates for HD-110, but this could easily change depending on how those maps lines come out. Once the maps for 2012 have been finalized, I will put together a follow-up article discussing who is and who is not running for each State House district in Dallas County.
District Judge, 162nd Judicial District
The 162nd Judicial District has been held by Lorraine Raggio since her initial election in 2004. Judge Raggio announced her retirement, several candidates have announced or filed for this seat.
Phyllis Lister Brown is currently a municipal judge in the City of Dallas. According to the city charter, city appointees and elected officials must resign their position when seeking higher office. Judge Brown has argued that she does not have to do so given past precedence of when municipal Judge Elizabeth Frizell ran in 2006 for higher office. Dallas City Council voted on January 18 to remove Phyllis from office. Phyllis' lawyers filed a restraining order against the removal, and the city attorney appealed this order. Now it appears that this will be going to court to decide whether Judge Brown gets to keep her seat on the municipal bench or be removed. (See Judge Phyllis Lister Brown Will Soon Get a Shove Off the Bench or a Day in Court)
In the interest of transparency, it should be noted that I am providing technology and communications support to Maricela Moore in this race.
Criminal District Judge, Count No. 4
John Creuzot is the incumbent judge for Criminal District Court 4, and has served since 2008. Judge Creuzot has indicated that he will be retiring and not seeking re-election. So far two candidates (JR Cook and Dominique Collins) have filed to run for this seat. Races for the criminal bench tend to be low dollar affairs compared to their judicial counterparts in Civil Court (i.e. 162nd Judicial Court).
In the interest of transparency, it should be noted that I am providing technology and communications support to JR Cook in this race.
Sherriff
In 2008, Lupe Valdez solidly won re-election in both Primary and General elections. Sherriff Valdez has remained very popular in local Democratic circles. In 2011, Dallas County Jails passed inspection for the 2nd year in a row, which was a top issue for Republicans and other opponents in 2008. An individual named Charlie J. Thomas has filed to run against Lupe in the Democratic Primary, but I have no information about his candidacy at this time.
County Commissioner, District 1
In 2010, Democrats gained majority on the Dallas County Commissioner's Court, and have subsequently redistricted District 1 to be a Democratic-opportunity district. This seat is currently held by Maurine Dickey who along with her husband owns the Dickey's BBQ franchise. Originally, it was rumored that there were over 7 potential candidates interested in running. Since the map was finalized, that number has now sized itself down to 3.
In the interest of transparency, it should be noted that I am providing technology and communications support to Theresa Daniel in this race.
County Commissioner, District 3
Commissioner District 3 had been held by John Wiley Price since 1985. On June 27, 2011, FBI agents searched Commissioner Price's offices and home, and were looking for documents relating to fraud, bribery, money laundering, and tax evasion allegations (See Commissioner John Wiley Price's Office, Home Searched). The investigation is still ongoing, and no charges have been filed against Commissioner Price. Commissioner Price has drawn three opponents in the upcoming 2012 Primary.
While Bennie Brown did file the required January 15 campaign finance report, they failed to mention the $1,250 filing fee paid to the Dallas County Democratic Party in the campaign finance report. According to Dallas County Elections Department, neither Betty Culbreath nor Micah B. Phillips filed their January 15 campaign finance reports. All candidates are required to file campaign finance reports on January 15 and July 15 each year as long as they have a treasurer appointment on file.
Commissioner Price wrote "N/A" under the Cash On Hand line item for his campaign finance report, which is why I left question marks under that section.
DCDP County Chair
In a previous article, I had mentioned that an individual named Lymon King was looking to run for County Chair. Mr. King has since decided against running in 2010, and made this announcement through a robocall to his supporters. No one else has indicated about a run for County Chair so it appears that Darlene Ewing will be starting a fourth term, which she announced will be her last as County Chair.
Unopposed Countywide Races
Here is the list of countywide offices up for re-election in 2012 that so far do not have a primary opponent.
So why is it such a big deal for Greg Abbott if he succeeds in keeping the primary on April 3, or as early as possible before the Republican presidential nomination is totally sewn up? Perry's not in the race anymore, so what does it matter? The answer lies in Abbott's own future ambitions here in Texas, and his desire to serve the wealthy big-money donors who fund pro-corporate Republicans here in Texas.
Abbott needs to keep a unified primary on the highest-turnout date possible, to make sure Dewhurst wins--as well as the incumbent Republican Congressmen and State Senators--to please the big-money donors that will likely back Abbott when Perry decides he's not running for Governor again.
The Texas Republican Party is primarily dominated by extremely wealthy corporate interests, who in turn want to keep Republicans in office that serve their wishes, rather than the whims of the Tea Party. It costs money to campaign in Texas, and whether you're playing by the FEC's rules or the TEC's, in a state this big if you can't raise real money you won't get too far. In the ongoing Senate primary, Dewhurst is clearly the candidate of the big-bucks donors who backed Rick Perry's gubernatorial and presidential campaigns. While Dewhurst and Cruz both raised similar amounts of money in the last quarter ($1.5M and $1.1M respectively), and both have raised close to $4 million overall, Dewhurst's average donation is over $2000 (and remember, donors are hampered by limits of $2500 per donor, meaning that most of The Dew's donors are maxing out). Meanwhile, Cruz's average donation is a much more modest $319. It's a testament to Cruz's support from the right-wing grassroots / Tea Party / YCT sector of the Texas Republican Party. The big donors are opening their wallets for Abbott as well, who has over $10 million in the bank and raked in $1.6 million during a 10-day period in early 2011, unfettered by individual donor contribution limits. The AG has made it quietly clear that he plans to seek the top spot in the state, but first he's got to dispatch with Dewhurst to be next in line.
So what does the primary date have to do with anything?
Wake up Texas Democrats. There is no real need to have our primaries before school lets out for the summer. There is no real need to have our primaries before the State convention. A case can even be made that there is no need to have our primaries before the National Convention. It is the Republicans who need to have their primary as soon as possible.
Due to Perrymandering by Republicans in the legislature that precluded Texas from being a part of Super Tuesday, Texas media outlets have lost out on untold millions in Super Pac campaign advertising. Even if the Texas Presidential Primary is held in April, it may be too late. The Republican nomination may be decided and Texas will have lost a chance to benefit from Citizens United. Do you really think GPS-Crossroads will sink money into the Texas General Election for the Republican Presidential Nominee? Hardly.
The Republicans need to hold their Presidential Primary as soon as possible; preferably before their State Convention. Democrats can wait it out. Here is a plan for the TDP to submit in lieu of an agreement on district boundaries.
County/Senate District Conventions will be held either May 12 or 19 without holding Precinct Conventions. Conventions will be open to all registered voters wishing to declare as Democrats for the election cycle. Those attending the Democratic Conventions would be precluded from voting in the Republican Primary.
The boundaries of the most recently implemented District Plan (as used in 2010) will be used. County Conventions will select a slate of delegates to attend the State Convention. If a new map is approved prior the State Convention, and a Delegate is in a new District, that delegate will be added to the slate of delegates of their new District at the same status (Delegate or Alternate). Should a conflict arise due to available slots, Delegates will be determined by those with the most consecutive cycles voting in the Democratic Primary, and if a tie still exists, then the delegate will be determined by a coin toss.
If maps are approved after the State Convention, then the slate of delegates to the National Convention will be adjusted using the same rule.
But wait, don't we need to determine our candidates for Senate, Congress, State House, Judges and other down ticket races? No. More than likely Democratic candidates will be out spent in the General Election. Why give that money more time to have an effect. Democrats should work to limit the General Election Campaign to the shortest time possible. This will go a long way to counter Super Pac spending.
Our candidates can use their Primary funds to raise doubts about the suitability of Republican incumbents and shed light on the Republican agenda. In races with several Democratic candidates, those campaigns should tag team the Republican incumbent; not attack fellow Democrats.
Politics is a contact sport and Democrats need to start playing hardball or get out of the game.
The Obama campaign sent out this email to supporters today, highlighting the clear upward trajectory of job growth during Obama's presidency.
Of course, the Republicans are dismissing the positive growth, which makes it all the more important to share this chart with your friends.
SUBJECT: Seen our jobs chart?
On Friday, the new monthly jobs numbers came out. We've officially had 23 consecutive months of private-sector job growth, and seen 3.7 million private-sector jobs created under this President.
In response to the news, Mitt Romney cynically claimed President Obama has "prevented a true economic recovery." He's even falsely said President Obama "has not created any new jobs," and told ABC News earlier this year that the President has "lost 2 million jobs."
The Republican candidates are banking on people not knowing the truth about the President's record.
We need to get the facts out there -- so we put together this chart where you can Facebook it, tweet it, or send it on a postcard for free.
Tens of thousands of supporters have already shared this jobs chart online. Now, we want to make sure it's out there in the offline world, too -- in people's hands, on their refrigerators, or on a message board in a public library. You can share it either way.
We still have a long way to go, and this month's numbers are just a snapshot in time. But stats like this shouldn't be missed.
Make sure people know the truth about the President's record on jobs -- spread the word to your friends today:
Here’s something I hadn’t realized about the Travis County District Attorney. In addition to investigating and prosecuting state level corruption cases (including everyone’s favorite former House Majority Leader), the Travis Co DA’s office has also been responsible for prosecuting criminal environmental cases across the state since 1994 under the Texas Water Code and Texas Health and Safety Code.
Rosemary Lehmberg, the current DA, has been particularly effective at going after large industrial polluters. Since 2009, a special prosecutor, Patty Robertson, has been assigned to the investigation of these cases through a grant from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the state agency responsible for granting environmental permits and handing out fines for non-compliance. Since the creation of the environmental crimes unit, the DA’s office has opened 51 cases, handed down 12 convictions and collected over $3.2 million in fines.
The biggest case they’ve tried so far was against Gulf Chemical and Metallurgical Corporation and its former Environmental and Health Services Manager, Rajani Vadlamudi, for the unlawful discharge of a pollutant into state waters. Gulf Chem was ordered to pay a $2.75 million fine and Vadlamudi was additionally fined and placed on deferred adjudication.
In an interview with the Austin Chronicle, Lehmberg described the strategy behind these cases.
I really do believe that even though sometimes we go for an individual - like it might be the main engineer or the president of the company for individual responsibility - mostly what these folks recognize is where it hits them in the pocketbook. And I think that we’re going to end up being more and more aggressive about that. The more we do these, the more we learn that we can assess bigger fines, because that’s what’s punitive to a big company.
Lehmberg will be facing a tough re-election campaign against former Texas Court of Criminal Appeals judge, Charlie Baird. Her commitment to environmental justice is definitely worth noting in the lead up to Democratic primary (if it ever happens that is).
The 2012 Republican primary for U.S. Senate has begun.
There are four main candidates: Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert, former Solicitor General Ted Cruz, and ESPN sports analyst Craig James. With the ongoing Texas district maps court battle, there has not been a primary date set yet. This week, however, the four candidates plan to debate at the Texas Association of Business's annual conference. It's not unsurprising that the candidates chose that venue for their first debate. They are all corporate robots with no core conviction other than "profits for my donors."
According to the most recent poll, Dewhurst has the support of 50 percent of Republican primary voters, followed by Leppert at 9 percent, Cruz at 5 percent and James at 3 percent. The race is starting slow, but there is already notable movement.
Fundraising
This Tuesday, Tom Leppert announced that he put in another $500,000 of his money on top of the $2.6 million he had previously loaned to his campaign. With the $387,000 he brought in during the last quarter, he now has about $3.5 million to spend.
Dewhurst has brought in $6.1 million, a third of which is his own money.
Cruz took in $1.1 million in the last quarter, bringing his total to more than $4 million.
Tax Returns
On Thursday, Craig James, who entered the race in the last few weeks, released his tax returns and called for the other candidates to do the same. James' showed an adjusted income of $257,000 in 2010 and $1.1 million in 2009.
On Friday, David Dewhurst released his returns, which showed that his investments exceeded $225 million in 2010.
This week, Leppert released his returns, which showed adjusted gross income of $1.5 million in 2008, $1.28 million in 2009 and $443,194 in 2010. In all three years, he paid effective tax rates of more than 21 percent.
Cruz reported an adjusted gross income of more than $2 million in 2010.
This primary is a primary of the 1% doing battle for who gets to represent the 1% in the Senate.
The spectre of Mitt Romney paying less than 14 percent in income taxes has horrified so many Americans that Republicans are trying their hardest to seem less sleazy than their frontrunning presidential standard-bearer. That's good news - and evidence that the Occupy movement is bringing income inequality into the national debate.
Overview
This primary race is playing out like every other Republican contest in America: a rhetorical battle for the mantle of "most conservative." Each candidate is advocating against essentials like the environment, strong public education, and reproductive rights, while advocating corporatist government policies. These are not unique candidates; they are four examples of what is so wrong with the Republican Party today. They are not here to represent Texans, they are here to represent the industry interests who pay them.
Hopefully in the general election, a majority of Texas voters will vote against any one of these corporate shills.
This November, Texans must choose someone to replace Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, who is (finally) retiring.
In the Republican primary, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst is running on the myth of a Texas economic miracle. Dewhurst is so dedicated to this strategy, which didn't seem to work with the Perry campaign, that they've put together an ad featuring Gov. Perry's praise for Dewhurst while campaigning in Iowa.
Dewhurst has collected the high-profile endorsements of former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, Michael Reagan, and the Texas Oil and Gas Political Action Committee (shocking).
Former Texas Solicitor General Ted Cruz is running against Dewhurst. Of course, he's angling as the "true conservative" in the race.
Cruz has collected the endorsements of Sen. Jim DeMint (R - SC), the Young Conservatives of Texas, social conservative James Dobson, George P. Bush and former Republican Party of Texas chairwoman Cathie Adams.
Right now, Cruz is slamming Dewhurst for missing several debates and candidate forums. The Cruz campaign has set up a website, www.DuckingDewhurst.com, with a memorable video calling Dewhurst a "political animal." There's even a "Ducking Dewhurst" duck costume that keeps showing up at Dewhurst's events.
The latest poll of the race shows Dewhurst sitting at 36% of the vote with 18% support for Cruz. However, Cruz leads among those who know who he is. Expect a bloody Republican primary...if the hilarious Fake Ted Cruz Twitter account doesn't end it before it even begins.
The Democratic primary has been much more quiet thus far, and is really just starting to get revved up.
There are six Democratic candidates so far, including Jason Gibson, President of the Houston Trial Lawyers Association,
Sean Hubbard, strategy director of Manny Molera's 2002 congressional campaign, and Paul Sadler, former state representative.
Tonight, Republican Representative Quico Canseco of Texas's 23rd Congressional district will be giving the Republicans' Spanish language response to the State of the Union address. Immediately following Canseco's speech, Mitt Romney will ask him to deport himself. Just kidding. But really, how many Republicans are going to listen to Canseco give a speech in Spanish? Alienating Latinos is practically a plank in the Republican party platform at this point. By the time he's done, Sheriff Joe Arpaio might be waiting on Canseco's doorstep with a shotgun to try and intimidate him into not voting.
If you're unfamiliar with the West Texas representative, here's a chance to learn more about Francisco "Quico" Canseco: tax cheat, firefighter defunder, crazy right-winger, and soon-to-be-former Congressman.
7 Things To Know About Republican Congressman Quico Canseco:
Despite record wildfires in Texas, Quico Canseco voted against increased funding for firefighters and first responders. He attacked Obama for not providing funding for Texas wildfires (which Obama did, in fact, provide) and then voted against increasing funding for FEMA firefighter assistance grants by $510 million. The new total funding would have given $390 million for firefighter assistance grants and $420 million for Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grants. Canseco was one of only 113 members of Congress to vote against SAFER. Source: Burnt Orange Report
Canseco is funded by Wall Street, and now serves on the House Financial Services Committee. The bulk of Canseco's fundraising comes from the financial industry, which kicked in over $100,000 to his election effort. Now, he's supposed to be writing the rules to help rein in the worst Wall Street abuses. Source: Sunlight Foundation
Canseco has reportedly had $715,000 worth of federal, state, and mechanics liens levied against him in the last three decades. The liens are to recover unpaid payroll taxes and contracting fees since the early 1980s. Source: Burnt Orange Report
Canseco is supported by the American Action Network, a right-wing organization that recently sent misleading mail to senior citizens about Democrats' efforts to protect Medicare Part D and save the government $112 million dollars. Source: ThinkProgress
During redistricting, Republicans in the legislature specifically looked to draw low-performing Hispanic precincts into the 23rd district to help "shore up" Canseco's re-election chances. By including low-turnout precincts and drawing out high-turnout precincts, Republicans made district look more Latino on paper based on Hispanic surname voter registration than it is based on voting performance. Source: txredistricting.org
During his campaign in 2010, Canseco was endorsed by Michele "Crazy Eyes" Bachmann and followed the Minnesota Republican's then-practice of refusing to debate, declining to meet with the San Antonio Express News' editorial board. Source: ThinkProgress
Canseco has avoided taking questions and talking directly with citizens during town halls. Maybe he's afraid to talk to senior citizens directly about why he supports cutting their Medicaid and Medicare benefits. Source: San Antonio Express-News
Here's the best news about Quico Canseco: he has a great Democratic challenger in State Representative Pete Gallego. Gallego was elected to the State Legislature in 1990 at age 28, and has spent his entire adult life fighting for the people of West Texas. His gigantic legislative district closely overlaps with CD-23, the district in which he's now running for Congress. Gallego is a great champion of the people. As a legislator, he has crafted and passed legislation to invest billions of dollars in public schools, secure our border, reform our criminal justice system, and support Texas veterans.
Gallego also on the DCCC's targeted Red to Blue fundraising list, which looks for the best pick-up opportunities as we fight to take back the House of Representatives. If you like Pete Gallego or you really don't like Quico Canseco, consider dropping Pete some coin here.
Republican Congressman Quico Canseco is failing the people of Texas. He votes against first responders, and wants to weaken medical coverage for senior citizens. He's a tool of the financial industry and backed by right-wingers determined to shred what's left of our social safety net. Let's hope voters sending him packing this November. Then Republicans will need to find another Spanish-speaking patsy to respond to Obama after the next State of the Union.
State Representative Jessica Farrar (D-Houston) asked Governor Perry to pay back the state over $2.6 million in tax payer funded security expenses accrued during his ill-fated run for the Republican presidential nomination. She has also requested he repay the $92,376 pension he earned last year for the simple reason that he is not (sadly) yet retired.
Here is the full text of her letter:
Dear Governor Perry:
I want to be the first person to welcome you back to Texas. We have a lot of work to do for our great state, and I know you are ready to get started.
I have a few ideas as to where we should begin our work, but first I want to make a confession to you, and it's a big one. Okay, here it goes: I... am a fiscal conservative. Yes, I admit it.
As a fiscal conservative, I believe government is supposed to be a wise steward of tax dollars. I believe that if the government must spend money, it should be for essential public services, like education, infrastructure, health services for the young and elderly, and disaster relief. I believe that unnecessary government spending is not just morally wrong, it is criminal. Tax dollars do not belong to the government or elected officials; tax dollars belong to taxpayers.
One way to protect taxpayers' money is by not spending it unnecessarily. But, if someone discovers tax dollars have been spent unnecessarily, it should be reimbursed either to general revenue or directly to taxpayers. With this in mind, I suggest you reimburse Texas taxpayers for the money you spent on travel expenses leading up to your withdraw from the GOP primary race. As of mid-January, you spent approximately $2.6 million of taxpayer money.
Additionally, because I know you take pride in being a fellow fiscal conservative, please also return the $92,376 in "retirement" pension you received last year, despite the fact that you have not retired.
Please submit to the Texas Comptroller's Office a check in the amount of $2,692,376, plus any other expenses related to your out-of-state campaign activity that you charged to Texas taxpayers.
Given that $2,692,376 million amounts to about ten cents for each Texan, direct reimbursement from the Comptroller to taxpayers does not seem like a wise expenditure of taxpayers' money - stamps are expensive these days. Instead, we could put that money back into classrooms, health services, or disaster relief services. I am open to your suggestions.
As a fellow fiscal conservative, I look forward to working with you during your final term as Texas governor to identify ways to eliminate unnecessary government spending. We have a lot of work to do, so let's get started before you leave.
Very sincerely,
Jessica Farrar
State Representative, District 148
Remember, a few things happened (wildfires, historic drought, etc) while Perry was embarrassing himself and our state while wasting taxpayers' money during his train wreck of a campaign.
Progress Texas has a petition up here to tell Perry to pay back Texas the taxpayer dollars he wasted “on on airfare, baggage fees, food and even parking during his failed 160 day Presidential campaign.”
Barack Obama's first TV ad of the election cycle highlights his record on ethics and energy policy. Despite Republican claims to the contrary, his record is extremely strong in these areas:
Over the last four years, US dependence on foreign oil has dipped below 50% of our total consumption for the first time this century.
US natural gas production has skyrocketed to historic levels.
Investment in sustainable energy research has created 2.7 million jobs under this administration.
Unlike certain former Presidents, Obama has not been a lackey of the oil and gas industry, and has taken strong steps to ensure offshore drilling is safe in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, and most recently shut down the dangerous Keystone XL pipeline
Watch the ad for yourself here:
For more on Obama’s energy record check out whitehouse.gov
