According to Jason Embry at the Austin American Statesman, District Judge John Dietz denied Rick Perry and the Republican Governors Association push to throw out a lawsuit brought against them by Democrat Chris Bell.
Bell was the Democratic nominee against Rick Perry in 2006 and he has claimed Perry made concealed money Perry received in the final weeks of the campaign.
Bell has alleged that reporting errors made by the Perry campaign on campaign-finance reports kept the public from fully seeing the source of money that the governor received for his re-election in the final week of the 2006 race. He has argued that the governors' group did not follow proper state procedures in making the donation.
[...]
At issue is $1 million that came to the Perry campaign from the governor's group in the final month of the campaign.
Laylan Copelin described the lawsuit back in 2007 in more detail.
Gov. Rick Perry His office says delay was not intentional.
Gov. Rick Perry was trying to hold off three challengers, including Democrat Chris Bell, whose campaign was running out of cash despite a last-minute infusion of $2.5 million from Houston lawyer John O'Quinn.
As Texans were judging whether it was fitting for a would-be governor to accept so much money from one Texas lawyer, they had no opportunity to know who was behind $1 million in donations to Perry from the Republican Governors Association until weeks after the Nov. 7 election.
State law requires out-of-state political committees - and the candidates who take their money - to disclose information that will let voters determine who is behind the donations.
Neither the Republican Governors Association nor Perry did that.
Perry has claimed that the lawsuit is political in nature since late 2007. Judge Dietz's ruling yesterday keeps the lawsuit moving and keeps Perry's questionable campaign finance situation in the headlines going into the final days of the session and into the upcoming primary season.
The full background of the case can be found here.
For the last few weeks we have been listening to wall-to-wall coverage 24/7 about the flamboyant governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, and pay-to-play politics. As we all know by now the Illinois governor is charged with criminal conspiracy for attempting to sell President Elect Barack Obama's U.S. Senate seat. Rod Blagojevich is clearly another crooked and arrogant politician who thinks he is above the law. But at least this one found himself impeached by the Illinois House.
It is nice to know some states have lawmakers who have an ethical spine where such blatant corruption and beyond the pale pay-to-play politics are concerned. Too bad Texas is sorely lacking in this area. But one has to remember the Party that is running the state at this time, although not all Democratic politicians would receive A's in ethics and integrity departments either.
When the Blagojevich scandal broke, several of the cable TV talking heads and pundits appeared especially outraged by pay-to-play politics and so I promptly sent off an email to MSNBC and CNN and suggested that if they are so livid about pay-to-play, they ought to send their research staff down to Texas to see how it works in a state where purchasing elections and pay-to-play is business du jour. Apparently other folks from around the U.S. contacted the media with the same request. Chris Matthews of Hardball responded with a chart that listed the most offending states. Texas is among them.
The Texas Democratic Party doesn't stand for anything. To win, our candidates must offer a compelling vision of change.
It is not enough to have an excellent field staff, to have a good media campaign, to have a great yard sign campaign, to have attractive/experienced/qualified candidates. It is also necessary to make a strong case for change.
Texas Democratic Party Chairman Boyd Richie released this statement last night:
"I congratulate Chris Bell on running a great campaign in a tough district drawn by Republicans to elect Republicans. In district after district, Democrats have taken on Republicans on their turf and it's never easy - even for a top-notch candidate like Chris who never backs down from a challenge.
Hard-working Texas families are demanding real leadership and an end to cronyism and corruption, and Republicans are running scared. Despite running in a Republican district, Joan Huffman and her fellow partisans had to use every trick in the book to hold this seat. From propping up a bogus candidate, to limiting early voting hours and providing no early voting locations in Democratic parts of the district, to scheduling the election during the busy holiday season, Republicans used every tool available to suppress turnout to their advantage.
Each election cycle, more Texas voters are casting a ballot against failed Republican politics of the past to elect more Texas Democrats because we are ready and willing to reach across party lines to solve important problems. We expect that Democratic trend to continue in 2010, both in SD 17 and across our state.
Chris Bell's statement can be found here and Michael's initial reaction can be found here. Not to become too much of a broken record, but this loss stings. We aren't talking about a huge raw vote loss, we are talking about a small raw vote loss that became a large percentage.
I truly feel like we, the voters and activists of this state, let Chris Bell down. It was absolutely not the other way around.
To echo so many of my friends and colleagues thank you for running and thank you for being such a great Democrat.
We are all disappointed. Obviously. On election day, Chris Bell and Democratic Decoy Stephanie Simmons combined for 53.2% of the vote. Most of us think, probably rightly, that if Simmons was not on that ballot, we would be calling Chris Bell a Senator-elect. Instead, he found himself going to a runoff near Christmas, and sadly, the day of the runoff might have had only minimal effect on the outcome. For practical reasons, I might be changing my voter registration to an Austin address soon, but I stayed with my permanent address for the 2008 elections. This may have been my last vote in SD17 in a significant period of time, and here are my first thoughts.
1. This may be just another race after Election Day that shows one thing: many Democratic voters became complacent with Mr. Obama's victory. This, in part, is a compliment to Barack Obama. His supporters have that much confidence in him. But this also says a lot about the presidency and a lot about Democratic voters. We had control of Congress, and now we won control of the Presidency, what more can we do?
Or so, many probably thought. In Georgia, while Jim Martin might not have stood much of a chance, he still fared significantly worse in his runoff than on election day. This is despite Obama organizers from across the nation flying in to help. The Travis County Democratic Party sent weekend busses to help Chris Bell, but Democrats fared worse tonight, too. I know some people who probably would not have voted tonight had I not given them a call to ask them personally. That says nothing of the campaign Chris ran -- they had been inundated with reminders about the election. The fact is, they thought they had done enough.
2. We may find ourself with a Senator in SD17 who is more conservative than her Republican predecessor. Considering Democrats' gains in the district, that will be a sad thought. I sincerely hope that she doesn't become like John Culberson, because then a lot of Democrats could become doubly screwed.
3. Tom Delay may have had some failures in rewriting state house district lines -- that is, Democrats have been gaining in the House A LOT. But he sure did a good job with the state Senate. It looks like the Democrats' only REAL shot to pick this seat up would have been the lack of a Stephanie Simmons on an election day with Barack Obama. Wendy Davis ran a great campaign, but won without a majority despite the presence of Obama and a non-Democratic decoy. It is looking THAT HARD to make these seats competitive. That's not how democracy is supposed to work, is it?
4. Chris Bell ran a good campaign, but this might be the end of his political career. No, he's still not the best campaigner out there. Some people, pointing to his other losses in his career, will say that he's just a bad candidate. That's not true. He ran well this time around, and I sincerely appreciate it.
Unfortunately, I don't know where he would go from here. It's his second political loss in a row, and voters might want to try someone else if he runs again. But I really hope he finds one way or another to stay involved. He was always a good public servant, and I would like it to stay that way, if possible.
5. Will Democrats contest this race hard in 2010? This election was only to finish two years of a term, and Joan Huffman will have to defend her seat pretty soon. One of the largest questions on my mind, concerning this district, is how tough will Democrats pursue it? Will big-name Democrats looking to move up a spot take their chances, or will they wait until the next time around, when a potentially more favorable district map will be in place? If you have any thoughts, feel free to comment.
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Once again, tonight was a disappointment for all of us. But the campaign was one where I was happy to see Chris Bell fighting for us some more. Thanks, Chris.
This is a sad loss tonight tempered only by the fact that we gave the GOP one hell of a scare at further eating into their Senate margin. We'll have to make do with a net +1 gain by Wendy Davis for a 19-12 Texas Senate.
Chris Bell's official statement.
"I entered this race because I truly believe it is vital for us to change the overall direction of our state. Though we came up short tonight, I am very proud of the campaign we have run - a campaign that focused on the issues that matter to the people of Texas and Senate District 17.
I traveled across this district and visited with so many of its residents about the concerns they face. It only reinforced my belief that in order to create a brighter future for our kids, we must act now to implement real education and health care reform.
I want to thank all of my supporters and campaign volunteers who worked tirelessly to bring real reform to the Texas Senate. We could not have made it without your time, energy and commitment to this campaign and to the future of Texas."
Chris Bell DEM 7,024 38.16% 19,104 43.88%
Joan Huffman REP 11,378 61.83% 24,431 56.11%
Precincts Reported 211 of 211
Precincts 100%
7:39 pm (Michael): This is all early vote numbers. I'm not sure if these come from all five counties, though. The Secretary of State's pages for Galveston and Chambers counties do not show any votes in, but the early vote totals from Fort Bend, Harris, and Jefferson do not add up to the totals you see here.
7:45 pm (Michael): It turns out the Secretary of State's site made an error. Instead of Bell winning Harris County early votes 2-1, Huffman did.
8:28 pm (Michael): Galveston County's early votes are in, as well as some of their election day votes. Thanks to Byron LaMasters' comment, I now also understand that Chabmers County doesn't have any voters in the senate district. While Bell has gained a little since the last update, the numbers still do not look very promising.
8:49 pm (Matt): New numbers. Bell is closing the margins but the gap is still very large.
8:51 pm (Matt): Not to be too optimistic, but as of now, with 50% in, Bell is down approximately 3,300 votes. The percentage is about 11%, but the raw vote total is doable. This is my moment of cautious optimism.
8:58 pm (Michael): As more election-day results come in, Bell inches slowly closer to Huffman in this race. But that certainly doesn't mean anything, as a good chunk of the votes that came in are from the completed precincts in Jefferson county, which went about 84% Democratic in November and didn't change much here. Another chunk of votes are from Harris County, where Bell still isn't winning today's votes yet (although it is close.) If he doesn't win Harris County today I don't see how he can win the race. Brazoria County also finished their reporting, but they were expected to be strong for Huffman. She won there about 2-1.
More than half the precincts are in, and Bell still has a lot of ground to make up (at least percentage-wise.)
9:00 (Matt): This thing is over. With 64% of the vote in, there is no way Congressman Bell can catch Huffman. He is now 4,400 votes off and the friendliest boxes all seem to be in. The sad thing is, if it hadn't been for Ron Wilson and the Republican Party putting up a schill Bell probably would have won on November 4.
9:13 (Michael): Where is Fort Bend County? I'm not suggesting that there is much likelihood that Bell can come back out of Fort Bend, but the "Ds" didn't do horrible in those precincts on election day, and for all we know, the GOTV effort could have been heavier there? I think I remember calling a few numbers from that area. But, if there IS any way for him to come back, it would be a miracle from Fort Bend. I doubt it, but once again; I'd just like to see the results. I'm not sure what's taking so long.
9:15 (Michael): Right as I post the above update, Fort Bend starts giving us something to look at. Unfortunately, there's no help. Rather, quite the opposite.
9:51 pm (Michael): Only two precincts remain uncounted. This one's over, folks. I'll give some final comments on the day later tonight.
Today is Election Day in SD-17 where the special election between Chris Bell and Joan Huffman will finish up in 6 hours. We'll be back here tonight to cover the election returns but for right now, here's what you can do in the remaining time.
Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Click on your county to find a list of polling places, by precinct and by Zip Code:
Who? Vote for Chris Bell!: It's so very important for you to vote in this election and encourage everyone you know in Senate District 17 to vote for Chris Bell!
(All right folks! You passed the first match and are only $625 away from taking advantage of the full second match by Commissioner Garcia. So if we can scare up the remaining $625 will hit the total $5000 raised for Chris Bell this year via BOR! Last push for dollars for E-Day GOTV! - promoted by Karl-Thomas Musselman)
I've just recorded the video below to share some great news with you. As Matt announced this morning, we have received two matches for our Chris Bell fundraising effort for a total match of $2000! Roland Garcia of Houston and County Commissioner Sylvia Garcia of Houston have upped the ante and that means it's really time for you (yes, YOU) to step up for Bell.
There is one more election in 2008. Chris Bell is running for State Senate in District 17, and you can help.
Over the past week we have been raising money for the Congressman. Now Roland Garcia of Houston has made a generous offer, he will match our efforts and donate an additional $1,000 if we can raise $1,000.
Over the past week we have already raised over $600 for Congressman Bell. We are almost there. Now we need your help to maximize our efforts and take advantage of Roland Garcia's generous offer.
UPDATE: Harris County Commissioner Sylvia Garcia is adding to the generosity. She will add another $1,000 to the matching fund. That means if we raise $2,000 Roland Garcia and Sylvia Garcia will match it dollar for dollar. We need to raise $1,300 more take full effect of these generous matches. You will see we changed the goal. In fact, I am donating to Chris again as my holiday present to Texas. Now we need your help, donate today!
