Phil's story about the changeover in rooms at the Capitol was classic, and I take particular schadenfreudesque pleasure in that the office used to be that of Carter Casteel, my former hometown representative and 2005 Texan of the Year.
It reminded me though of a wonderful post by Paul Burka titled "the Revenge of Carter Casteel". I'll except the relevant point below.
[Carter] Casteel's loss was a different story. She was a solid, well respected member, albeit a bit on the crusty and theatrical side. A former teacher who was a strong defender of public education, she had friends on both sides of the aisle. But her opponent, a political unknown, had so much money available that on election day, aircraft were circling over polling places with anti-Casteel banners. She lost by 46 votes.
The consequence of these races was to scare the hell out of Republican members who might entertain the idea that they were entitled to vote in a way that represented their districts. The message was clear: Tom Craddick cares more about his supporters outside the Capitol than he cares about his supporters inside the Capitol. If you don't toe the line on issues that matter to Craddick, this could happen to you.
Fear alone does not make a rebellion. It has to be accompanied by a sign of weakness. When the Republicans lost five House seats to Democrats on election day 2006, to go with a seat in Austin that had been lost in a special election earlier in the year, the scent of blood was in the water. Craddick had to fight to hold onto the speakership, and it was Democrats who provided him with his margin of victory.
But the speaker's race did not end with Craddick's election on the first day of the session. Republican members who entertained thoughts of independence still faced the same threat. They knew that Craddick's ties to Republican donors enabled him to amass a huge warchest to be used against Republican members. They knew that Craddick would not hestitate to use that money, even against talented members like Casteel. They knew that Republican donors and friendly PACs would be afraid of contributing to Craddick targets, for fear of retribution. And so, they realized that they couldn't afford to wait until the next election of the speaker, in January 2009, to unseat Craddick. They had to do it during the session, before the 2008 primary elections, before Craddick could bring his nuclear arsenal of big money into their races. The closer it got to the end of the session, the more imperative it became to make the move, and that is why, on that amazing night in late May, they sought to move to vacate the chair, only to have Craddick flee from the podium and return three hours later, with new parliamentarians and his claim to absolute power. But at a price: By turning on his own members, Tom Craddick has become THE issue. This is the revenge of Carter Casteel.
As popularized by Star Trek: Wrath of Khan, the phrase "revenge is a dish best served cold" is equally accurate here. As wikipedia notes, It means that to be successful, revenge should be a considered and planned response enacted when the time is right, rather than a hasty and 'hot-blooded' action which will increase the chances of failure.
Over two and a half months later, one-term Republican representative Nathan Macias, who defeated 2005 Texan of the Year Carter Casteel, has finally given up his endless series of pointless court challenges. Republican Doug Miller has won by 17 votes.
Herald-Zeitung: The close Dist. 73 Republican primary drew recounts and double checks as the original 38-vote margin for challenger Doug Miller dwindled to 17 votes. Accusations of double voting and voter fraud emerged as Macias sought to overturn Miller's victory margin. And Macias' attempt to get the lawsuit judge replaced - just because, rather than for a specified reason - was rejected by the Texas Supreme Court last week.
The incumbent's decision to drop the lawsuit is the best decision for the Republican Party, which stands divided in the four counties of District 73, where more than 29,000 voters split their allegiances between Miller and Macias. This process already has been expensive and stopping the lawsuit halts that expenditure, particularly for Comal County taxpayers where the case was to be heard.
And this post would not be complete without reminding you to read this from Karen Brooks over on the Trail Blazers Blog..
At any rate, Macias is not giving it up without one last dig at, well, everybody. And I mean, everybody. In a long concession statement sent to us this afternoon, he blasts:
The courts: "With the Supreme Court denying our request for a new judge and understanding the potential for this litigation to cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, only to have a judge rule against the facts, is not my idea of a good investment."
Doug Miller: "Let's not forget the extremely suspicious irregularities that occurred with Doug Miller's sister-in-law counting the ballot box ...."
The media: "It is a shame that most, not all, of the local/regional media appear incapable of reporting the news in an unbiased manner to allow the voters to decide an election."
The "cross-over" Republicans: "For all the conservatives who crossed over and voted in the Democratic primary, the reality is that it had a profound impact on our State Representative race."
He even managed to take a shot at Rep. Carter Casteel, whom he beat in the 2006 primary: "Unlike your previous State Rep, I will contact Mr. Miller and make myself available to him."
And as Brooks points out, $5 million later... "this makes Rep. Wayne Christian the last Leininger man standing."
After the recount, Carter Casteel slipped a few more votes behind James Leininger funded Nathan Macias. I will take solace in the fact that Rep. Casteel will still be there to fight in the special session. Her official statement is included below the fold.
If you'd like to see some of the attack mailers from the Macias campaign, we have them online here. You have to right click and 'save as' to your computer to view them.
Two of four counties have finished their recounts and Macias has grown his lead by 5 votes to 51.
SAEN: Two of the four counties recounted their ballots Wednesday, and Macias' margin increased by five votes, from 46 to 51. Casteel picked up two more votes in Comal County and Macias picked up seven additional votes. The totals in Bandera County remained the same.
Gillespie County began the recount process but did not finish. The results are expected to be ready today, Gillespie County Republican Chairwoman Pauline Cusack said. She said the county's five largest boxes remain to be counted.
Kendall County is to recount its ballots Friday.
Gillespie County Chairwoman Pauline Cusack was a supporter of Casteel, but unless someone is willing to risk some Duval County type ballot stuffing, I don't expect the 52-48 Gillespie County to yield dozens of extra votes.
"I've dealt with it already and moved on down the line," Casteel said. "I only asked for the recount because my supporters were having a fit."
Macias said he was "delighted" by the recount results so far.
"We're definitely excited about the system and the quality of the system and the integrity of the system we vote under," he said. "We hope that will continue to play out and hopefully Friday we will have the final results."
My only question is, when they contact Macias for quotes, does the phone call get routed through San Antonio first? I just want to be sure that James Leininger approves of his message. Oh wait, he does to the tune of nearly one million dollars.
In SD-18, Democrats voted for a primary candidate who dropped out of the race a month before the election. So now the nominee is someone who isn't planning on campaigning. Then again, should we expect more from primary voters that give us a run-off with Gene Kelly? The worst part? This seat is currently held by (retiring) Democrat Ken Armbrister. So there goes the only potentially competitive State Senate seat this fall. Republicans +1 for a 20-11 edge in the Senate. Great.
Eye on Williamson County has a new site as well as a report on a Trans-Texas Corridor forum in which Strayhorn gets a standing ovation, Kinky gets laughed at, and Bell goes 'wishy-washy' in the eye of the reporter. Then again, what would you expect from a room full of Republicans.
Greg gives commentary on the TDP and Chairman Soechting's tenure coming to a close and makes the following point (besides the fact that Chairman Soechting has sadly endorsed Rep. Al "Sexy Cheerleader" Edwards in the primary with blogosphere candidate Borris Miles.)
link: Well, not unlike your own thoughts, I can't claim to really have any hard & fast opinion on what difference it makes who's in charge of the party at this point. We've tried the "up & coming star" model with Bill White. We've tried the "reformed Republican" model with Molly Beth. We've tried the "guy with deep pockets" approach with Soechting. And at the end of the day, none of them really seemed to have an answer.
At this point, I'm not entirely sure that Richie or Maxey do either. And I'm also not entirely sure what relevance it will make if either is in charge. There's no money for the State Party to really claim to be doing much for candidates. There's no real resources outside of basic data that they have to offer. So color me doubtful. I have some good friends who put in a lot of quality time doing their damnest with the TDP and I'd love to see their work make a difference and matter.
But the real question is whether the concept of a State Party is really relevant anymore. I think it's that point that Jerome and Markos really left only lightly touched on in "Crashing the Gate." Effectively, the state party chair now is Fred Baron. Like it or not.
Fred Baron being the head trial lawyer funding the entity known as the Texas Democratic Trust, which is responsible for paying the salary of most all the staff at the TDP, which consists of the old Martin Frost team headed by Matt Angle, also of the Lone Star Project. Got that?
In San Antonio, incumbent Oscar Kazen loses in the final recount to Laura Salinas in the primary for County Court at Law #9. The Jeffersonian has back story here and here.
Speaking of another recount... PD says we should know the results of Carter Casteel's recount tomorrow.
Looks like Leininger pissed off Tommy Merritt, who won his election against a Leininger clone. Rep. Merritt already won one defamation lawsuit, he's still finding more ways to pick apart the Leininger clone. Good. Now Merritt will face Patrick Franklin in the fall.
The HD 73 race between Rep. Carter Casteel and James Leininger Nathan Macias has been officially canvassed and Macias has increased his lead by 2 votes to 47.
MySA.com: "That's a large number to overcome and it's probably not going to happen, but we're doing it and that will put it to bed. And then we can move on down the line, and that will be good for the district," said Casteel, who cited encouragement by backers as the main reason she will seek the recount for the District 73 seat.
Casteel gained five votes in the canvass, pushing her total to 10,136, while Macias picked up seven votes, bringing his total to 10,183, with the additional ballots mailed by members of the military and received by Monday.
It is unlikely that the recount will overturn the victor here, but keep in mind that regardless, Rep. Casteel will serve in the special session starting April 17th, and considering she is exiting politics for the short term, she may now be freer to work for solutions and be more independent than she already was.
I've transcribed two paragraphs from a 1/3 page 'letter' ad that appeared in the Fredericksburg Standard-Radio Post back on March 1 in the Casteel v. Macias race. I thought y'all might appreciate this (paid for by these folks)...
"A third issue we examined was Carter Casteel's claim that she was not against the ban on homosexual foster parents. While it's true that she voted for the final bill that included the ban, when the ban all by itself was up for a vote, she voted against it. Then she went on record stating that she was for the bill overall, but expressed reservations on the ban portion. Again, Ms. Casteel's literature portrays her completely opposite of how she voted. Furthermore, in researching the matter on the web, we found a number of pro-homosexual web sites speaking very favorably of her vote against the homosexual foster parent ban. Also, about 17 pro-homosexual and/or left leaning bloggers even voted her "Texan of the Year."
...
"Besides looking at individual issues, we also looked at some of those endorsing or supporting Carter. As mentioned before, we found the left leaning and/or pro-homosexual web sites (Pink Dome, for example said: "We all love Carter Casteel..."), and the liberal San Antonio Express News, to name a couple.
The liberal San Antonio-Express News. Hah- that's news to me. No wait, that's express news to me. And I think we are less pro-homosexual bloggers than we are anti-'send the SS in to root out same gender foster parents' bloggers.
Carter, even in likely defeat, you are still the Texan of the Year. Heck, maybe you've just been trying to win it two times in a row.
The overseas and military ballots were counted today in the Casteel vs. Leininger Macias race.
WOAI: 17 new ballots counted Tuesday, put New Braunfels Republican Carter Casteel 49 votes behind representative-elect Nathan Macias.
After the March 7th primary, Casteel was only 45 votes behind Macias. The new group counted today consisted of absentee and overseas military ballots.
Not the best direction those votes could have gone, but now the last step is the recount that Rep. Casteel has called for. At this point it's not likely that the results will reverse, but after a million dollar smear campaign, it's the least we could all ask for.
While most outlets in the state are reporting on Rep. Casteel's demise, some are coming around to the possibility that it's too early to write into the history books. The Express-News runs an article which you should go read in full if you want to know what is the latest.
Casteel is looking at a recount which she has until March 29 to call for. I got in touch with the campaign, and they have retained an election lawyer who is reviewing the situation. As to the ballot situation...
The 45-vote margin could narrow when mail-in absentee ballots sent to out-of-country military personnel are counted. They must be postmarked by election day but can be received until March 20.
Officials are awaiting 93 ballots that were mailed out, but not yet returned, including 79 from Comal County, Casteel's base of support. However, election officials expect relatively few of those ballots to come in. Four were delivered to the Comal County courthouse Wednesday, said Comal County Elections Administrator Linell Hinojosa.
There also were nine provisional ballots cast, seven from Comal County. Those will be checked by voter registration officials and counted if the voters registered properly.
I also received a pack of mailers and clippings from my parents last night from this race. I'll scan them and try to get some up in the next 24 hours so you can see the work of James Leininger. Speaking of him, I've taken the liberty of adjusting Leininger candidate Nathan Macias' quotes from the article for you below.
Macias said he's "telling everyone I'm victorious and will represent the district with [James Leininger's] strong, conservative values."
But he later added that with the number of ballots that still could show up and be counted, "I'm not sure anybody can claim victory, [but I'd need to call James Leininger to be sure of that.]"
...
Macias said his campaign stuck to the facts.
"I believe the voters chose the representation they desire and deserve, which is [the] conservative, Republican representation [of James Leininger]" he said, [while uncomfortably adjusting the puppet strings attached to his neck].
While I've put in a request to the campaign to find out how many ballots are in but uncounted, and how many are out and could potentially still come in by the mail ballot deadline... apparently the math works out that if the ballots break in the same pattern as the early vote, Carter would end up with a victory margin of 15 votes. And that doesn't even include the possibility of any recounts.
Still, a lot of unknowns, but the race for HD 73 is back on the table.
