(This is a huge event today, and an important opportunity to protect Texas water and lands. - promoted by Katherine Haenschen)
When was the last time you saw Jim Hightower and Debra Medina together at the same rally?
Today a broad coalition of local officials, property rights activists, religious leaders, and environmentalists will gather together in Austin at the U.S. Department of State public hearing to sound the alarm about the threat of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline that would transport dangerous tar sands oil across east Texas properties and wetlands. If this pipeline were allowed to be built, up to 1.7 million gallons of toxic tar sands oil could flow into east Texas drinking water and land before the proposed automatic shutoff valve would trigger in the event of a spill.
The U.S. Department of State needs to re-do its faulty analysis that did not include the heightened threat to water resources with exceptional drought conditions in Texas. At the hearing, Uris Roberson and the Mayor of Gallatin, TX will announce the formation of a '391 Commission' creating local authority to address the threat.
WHO:
Uris Roberson, East Texas 391 Commission
Neil Carman, Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club
Debra Medina, We Texans (Tea Party)
David Daniel, East Texas landowner and founder of STOP, Stop the Tar sands Oil Pipeline
Amanda Yaira Robinson, Texas Interfaith Power & Light
Jackie Joy, Sierra Student Coalition at University of Texas Pan-American
WHAT:
United States Department of State public hearing on a proposed toxic Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline
Prayer Vigil, Press Conference, Public Hearing and Rally
WHEN:
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
10:30am - Interfaith Prayer Vigil
11:30am - Press Conference
Noon - Hearing begins
6:00pm - Rally Featuring Jim Hightower, Debra Medina and Rep. Elliott Naishtat
8:00pm - Hearing ends
WHERE:
LBJ Auditorium,University of Texas at Austin, corner of East Dean Keeton Street.
This is our best opportunity to communicate directly with the Obama administration. Let's generate a good turnout and tell TransCanada: Don't mess with Texas!
The Texas Progressive Alliance announced on Wednesday the annual list of "Gold Star Texans" for 2009: Ramey Ko, Calvin Tillman, State Representative Elliott Naishtat, Texas Watchdog, and Hank Gilbert. This recognition is voted on annually by the members of the Texas Progressive Alliance, the largest state-level organization of bloggers, blogs, and netroots activists in the United States.
Ramey Ko Ramey Ko is an attorney and activist in Austin. He should be best known for his work in Asian Americans for Obama, but Republican stupidity assured us he will be best known as "the guy who held his cool while on the receiving end of a massive dose of both ignorance and racism from Betty Brown." With extreme professionalism, he tried to help Brown understand why it would behoove her and all Texans that voting rights for Asian Texans and all Texans not fall prey to bureaucratic errors creating name mismatches. Brown's ignorance/racism and Ko's cool reasonableness drew worldwide media attention. Watch the video of their exchange.
Calvin Tillman Calvin is mayor of a tiny town at the epicenter of the Barnett Shale. Several industry giants seized DISH land and installed a several huge compressor stations and processing plants right next to neighborhoods. They built a crisscross of pipelines all through the town and on private property. He has taken a hard line with industry, crafting a strategy to get the most bang for his press releases.
Calvin and the DISH City Council spent @ 10% of their yearly budget for a private ambient air study. This is the first such study where the results were made public so that all citizens in the Barnett Shale area might benefit. The levels of toxins were amazingly high and many DISH residents are seriously ill but they are poor and do not have health insurance. Calvin worked with TDSHS and finally got them to agree to test DISH residents. This is the first time a state agency has tested residents for drilling toxins. Calvin travels to other areas and speaks about these issues. He has offered to speak and assist others and refuses any compensation for travel or time.
Calvin is largely responsible for TCEQ's changed policy, announced today, in responses to Barnett Shale air emissions. Also, he is a blogger.
State Rep. Elliott Naishtat and his Capitol Staff While he may not be a native Texan, the work that Representative Naishtat has done for the State of Texas earns him a spot on the Texans of the Year List for 2009. Even with Voter ID putting a choke-hold on progress, Naishtat and his Capitol staff worked diligently to pass more legislation than any other member of the House during the 81st session. The Representative from Queens, who just completed his 10th session, has consistently proven himself to be an advocate for the sick and elderly, passing legislation that will create the Legislative Committee on Aging and ensuring Texas receives $15.2 million in Violence Against Women Act grants. We would be remiss in acknowledging Elliott Naishtat -- as the Representative is always quick to remind people -- without also recognizing his longtime staffers (Dorothy Browne, Nancy Walker and Judy Dale) who work tirelessly behind the scenes to help make Texas a better, safer place to live.
Texas Watchdog Texas Watchdog had a role in breaking stories in the just-completed Houston city elections. Though their work can, at times, be controversial, we welcome another online news organization to the Texas media landscape with our nomination of the group.
Hank Gilbert For his continuing work to defeat infrastructure privatization schemes and working with Democrats and more than a few Republicans, he helped put a stop to CDA's this past session and handed Governor Perry and Commissioner Todd Staples a rare defeat.
When Leticia Van de Putte declined to run for Governor earlier today and instead threw her support behind the potential candidacy of Texas Sen. Kirk Watson (D-Austin), political observers in Travis County paid special attention.
Sen. Watson was already known to be considering running statewide, but the apparently orchestrated plug by Van de Putte makes his entry seem much more likely today than it did yesterday.
If Watson does decide to run, the Travis County Democratic primary will immediately become very, very busy.
Three local state representatives -- Elliott Naishtat, Eddie Rodriguez and Mark Strama -- are thought to be considering running for Watson's seat if he decides to run for Governor.
Naishtat would start off with a significant cash on hand advantage over any opponent and represents a vote-rich district. The Dean of the Travis County Delegation is the go to guy in the House on human services issues.
Rodriguez could mobilize small donors and has ties to activists countywide dating back to his days as Executive Director of the Travis County Democratic Party. Rodriguez is one of only two representatives who never voted for Tom Craddick for speaker and won a tough primary in 2002 in which he was heavily outspent.
Strama is a proven fundraiser and was Chairman of Technology, Workforce and Economic Development this past session. Though his voting record is more moderate than the other two, he has turned what was once a swing district into a Democratic stronghold.
All three are well respected by local party activists and have distinct bases of voters that make all three of them capable of winning the seat.
Assuming two of them do decide to run, that leaves two open House seats that are likely to be hotly contested as well. All of a sudden, what recently appeared to be shaping up to be a rather calm local Democratic Primary with a few contested judicial races, could be on the verge of dramatically changing.
Of course, as Watson has said he won't make a decision until later this summer, we will have to wait to see whether any of this speculation actually comes true.
Today the board members of the Legislative Study Group (LSG) unanimously reelected Representative Garnet Coleman as Chair. In addition, LSG also unanimously elected Representative Valinda Bolton to the position of Vice Chair.
Rounding out the returning officers are Representative Elliott Naishtat as Treasurer, Representative Lon Burnam as the second Vice Chair, Representative Dora Olivo as Legal Counsel and Representative Rafael Anchía as Secretary. In addition Representative Marisa Marquez was appointed as the freshman Ex-Oficio representative to the board.
The LSG board also consists of Representatives Roberto Alonzo, David Farabee, Pete Gallego, Terri Hodge, Scott Hochberg, Eddie Rodriguez, Mike Villarreal, and Abel Herrero.
Congrats to the board and to both the officers of LSG.
(Rep. Naishtat, Mean Rachel, ActBlue, and the internets... a winning combination! - promoted by Matt Glazer)
In Step 1 of getting Elliott Naishtat to start a website, I had to find out if Representative Naishtat was even on ActBlue for the contributions page. He is, however the results were dismal. One supporter and $25 dollars raised across all of ActBlue?
So I have set up a page to show him that people think he needs a website. The goal is 100 -- one hundred people, not dollars. Because it's not about the amount of money he needs to raise, it's about the amount of people he needs to connect with. I'm asking everyone today to take a moment to donate any amount to the Wired4Naishtat fund, and I'm kicking it off with my one vote.
Once you've done that, leave an idea for what his domain name should be (elliottnaishtat.com? elliottforaustin.com? ihearttacos.com?) in the comments section!
At Annie's List Watch Pary last night (Thurs., Aug. 28th, Belmont Downtown), TX State Representatives Eddie Rodriguez and Elliott Naishtat commented on down ballot races with Barack on top of the ballot in TX. Wells Dunbar, Austin Chroncle, captured the soundbites:
Eddie commented "fantastic speech" (Barack Obama Speech). "Barack said exactly what he needed to say and was great at attacking McCain". "For down ballot races it is great to have Obama at the top of the ticket, Obama won 60% in the TX Primary".
Elliott commented "Barack Obama made it clear - most of America is going to say 'that's our next president'". "This will bring Democrats back into power in the TX House and ultimately in the TX Government". "Having Barack Obama on the ticket is the most positive thing any of us could have wished for in terms of connecting all the wrongs we've suffered through since 2003 when Tom Craddick became the 1st Speaker of the House since reconstruction".
My take: I agree with both Eddie and Elliott. It's clear that TX will turn Blue on November. 8 is ENOUGH. It's time for a change and with Barack at the top of the ticket we will Turn Tx Blue!
You may or may not have been aware that Rep. Elliott Naishtat actually had a Republican opponent in the November general election.
Had is the operative word.
Today, Jim Hasik withdrew from the campaign for "personal reasons".
Naishtat's district is central Austin and represents the University of Texas. It is by far one of the most Democratic seats in the state of Texas. Hasik stood no chance to win, and that is probably why Hans Klingler is saying that the Republicans will not replace Hasik on the ballot.
