(For those who haven't been by in Austin, this is your last chance to patronize Glen (hah) at his Obama Store on East 11th before it closes Tuesday night. - promoted by Karl-Thomas Musselman)
On Tuesday, March 21st, "The Obama Store" will close its physical location in East Austin at 1111 E 11th Street. It has been quite an experience. Come by before Tuesday to grab some memorabilia before we pack it up. Open 11 am to 7 pm!
Before the November 4th election, I really had no intention to become proprietor of a retail establishment. But as the excitement and pride in Barack Obama's historic victory settled in on election night, I wondered if that energy would continue.
The answer was waiting at about 9 am on the morning after in the person of dozens of people standing outside the Travis Count Democratic Party HQ. I had driven over to pick up my phone and some other personal things from the office. The staff had not planned to be there after a full night of celebration, but no one told the community,
When I got out of my car, I was almost mobbed by folks who wanted "stuff". And at that moment, "The Obama Store" idea was born. I found a location, called all the vendors I knew and ordered merchandise, and set up shop.
The original idea was to stay open through Christmas and the Inauguration, but we extended our lease for two additional months.
Not only was the store idea a great business proposition, but it also was an amazing venue to watch people express their happiness about the change that Barack Obama represented.
Thousands of people have been through the store. From the beginning we permitted "non-Texans" to sign our wall with their message about Obama. People representing over 40 US states and as many foreign countries have visited us.
I'll cherish the memories of elderly African American grandmothers shopping with their great grandchildren. There were hundreds of kids field buying their button or shirt about their new hero--- one who wasn't on a music stage or a sports field. And the pure joy on everyone's face when they walked through the door. How exciting to hear little kids say as they left the store, "I'm going to be President, too."
While the physical store will close, we'll continue peddling our "history" at events and festivals. Look for us at First Thursday on South Congress and other events throughout the year! You can also still visit us at www.TheObamaStoreOnline.com.
(Glen Maxey is a BOR endorsed candidate. - promoted by Burnt Orange Report)
For political observers of Travis County, it comes as little surprise and even less of a shock that our friends at the Austin American Statesman declined to endorse me in my race for Tax Assessor Collector & Voter Registrar here. While candidates and political observers can debate the relative importance of newspaper endorsements until the cows come home (especially in a year when a boatload of the non-newspaper reading public is turning out to vote for the first time in a primary), the very least we should expect is some valid, well-reasoned commentary from the paper of record.
On that front, I think we need to clarify some issues raised in the Statesman's editorial, beginning with a large, rather obvious, factual error in the opening of their editorial.
It would not be too surprising to see a Republican make a run against Spears, 61, but none is running for the office this year.
Pardon me? You'd think the editorial writer would read the news section of their own newspaper or check out this nifty webpage on the Austin American Statesman.
You'll see there that the local Ron Paul for President chairman, former candidate for State Representative in District 50, and leader of the folks who opposed creation of the Travis County Hospital District, Don Zimmerman, is filed and running as the Republican candidate for Tax Assessor-Collector.
Instead, the challenger is a fellow Democrat, former state representative and political consultant, Glen Maxey, 55.
Well that's wrong, too. My birthday was Saturday so I'm 56. But that's an error that I won't raise too much of a fuss about.
Maxey has tried hard to explain just what it is beyond personal ambition that prompted him to run against Spears.
It's not too hard to explain if one just tried a simple check of my campaign website. There you can read about my reasons for running based upon serious concerns on Voter Registration, Collecting Delinquent Taxes, and on Voter Protection. If I was after personal ambition, I think I'd be running for something a bit more glamorous than Tax Assessor.
Maxey asserted that Spears was too harsh in seizing the homes of the poor in East Austin to satisfy unpaid taxes, but that isn't true. The foreclosures were filed largely against absentee owners.
Spears says she's not foreclosed on a single homestead in her time in office. Check out this website (it would be her office's official site).
You can look through the last year's foreclosure sales. Those who are redeemable for 24 months are those that are homesteads. I found a bunch during the last year. I don't know how Spears defines "homestead", but the law is pretty clear: You own it and reside in it to file for a homestead exemption.
A simple data match I did between the voter list and the property rolls, shows that over 5% of the folks in East Austin who own a home and are registered to vote at that same location don't have a basic homestead exemption. An activist leader would be finding out why that many folks are missing this benefit. And an active Tax Assessor would be educating them about obtaining it.
A true active leader would show up for more than 12% of the meetings since 2000 of the Travis County Appraisal District Board meetings. An active leader would be leading the conversation about what we need to do locally and at the Legislature to deal with inequities in appraisal policy.
Then he made a stink over some voter registration problems that appear now to have been resolved. It was the kind of administrative hiccup offices, public or private, occasionally experience.
A stink over some voter registration problems? It's stunning that the editorial board of the Statesman would dismiss denial of the right to vote of even a single voter, much less the thousands in question.
First, there was the purging of thousands of voters in the debacle of comparing the state voter list with the local one maintained by Spears' office. When it was discovered that many were inaccurately purged, Ms. Spears decided that these voters needed to register to vote all over again. Thankfully, lots have.
However, there are still many voters who were not notified of this bureaucratic mishap. Through no fault of their own, they are no longer registered after meeting all requirements. Ms. Spears seems to shrug her shoulders and blame the voters. Sorry, that's not good enough when dealing with the constitutional right to vote. She knows who was purged by the "system". She should have added them back on the rolls. I expect there are going to be some angry voters after this election.
Secondly, it has been discovered that over 1000 people who voted in the 2004 General Election were purged the month after the election. Over 225 people who voted in the 2006 General Election were purged one month after voting. These folks, once again, did what they were supposed to do, yet are no longer registered. And the American Statesman editorial writer blow this off as an "administrative hiccup"? The right to vote is sacred. It's not a hiccup.
[In the hopes that BOR will permit some news in favor of Nelda Spears on its lead pages, here goes:]
Endorsing Nelda Spears as "a quiet, dignified woman doing a quiet, dignified - and quite competent - job" the Statesman editors call out Glen Maxey for trying to create "manufactured controversy" just to get a steady paycheck.
The editorial lists just a couple of the bald-faced lies Maxey has used to try to explain why he's running against an incumbent Democrat who has created the best tax office in Texas and was Travis County's top Democratic vote-getter in 2004. Thank goodness more and more Democrats are realizing that Maxey is trying to trick them into voting for him even though he has no good reason to be running against Nelda Spears.
In short, it appears that Maxey is running because he wants a steady paycheck. It isn't up to Travis County taxpayers to provide him one, though. Maxey's résumé is not that impressive, nor is there anything on it to lead anyone to believe he would be effective in running an office whose principal job is to collect taxes.
The Statesman failed to mention that Maxey's campaign is now running robocalls with a new lie that Nelda Spears has failed to enforce a law that permits blocking vehicle license plate renewals for people who owe child support. But Maxey knows, or should know, that the only way a tax collector would know which license plates to block is when the tax collector is informed, through TxDOT, of which vehicles belong to people who are behind on child support. TxDOT depends on the Attorney General's office to get that information. The AG hasn't been reporting that information to TxDOT. No tax collector in Texas can stop renewal of license plates without this information. To make it sound like this is Nelda Spears' fault is outrageously deceitful.
Maxey has yet to explain why, if he's been thinking of running for tax collector for many years, he's been so quiet all these years--including during the raging, highly publicized battle that Nelda Spears waged in 2005 and 2006 to prevent privatization of tax collection. (In fact, from May to July last year, Maxey said he was neutral on that issue.) In all these years, not once did Maxey sit down with Nelda Spears and tell her his concerns or ideas or make any public comments about the office...until this campaign. Most likely, the answer is that Maxey's desperately trying to manufacture controversy where none really exists and values political craftiness more than good government.
Maxey's attempt to trick voters on the Eastside to vote him is especially ironic. As the Statesman reported:
Frank Ortega, a member of the State Democratic Executive Committee, says that when Maxey was directing the party's coordinated campaign in 2006, he budgeted no money to turn out East Austin voters. Money was put into the East Austin initiative only after Ortega and others confronted party leaders about the slight.
That is just one reason why real progressives, like Gonzalo Barrientos, Jim Hightower, Sam Biscoe, Sarah Weddington, Labor, the Women's Political Caucus, and lots of others have stood up against Maxey and for Nelda Spears. Here is what Gus Garcia has to say in his recent robocall endorsement of Nelda Spears:
This is Gus Garcia asking you to join me in supporting and voting for Nelda Wells Spears, one of the best public servants in Travis County.
Nelda has served Travis County as our tax collector for several years and has done so with great integrity and honesty. Now she is running for re-election and facing a political consultant who is waging one of the most negative campaigns in recent history.
I hope you will ignore these false attacks and join me, Gus Garcia in voting for Nelda Wells Spears for Travis County Tax Collector, a truly great public servant.
We can only hope that people all over this county, especially in the university community of inquisitive minds, will see through the tricks and lies, and stand united with people from East Austin for Nelda Spears.
The tax collector should have a bond of trust with the voters and taxpayers throughout this community.
With the kind of deceitful campaign Glen Maxey has run, he has disgraced himself as much as Carl Rove has, and there will be little, if anything, he can do after this election is over to change that.
This morning I met our Travis County Tax Assessor/Collector, Nelda Wells Spears, for the first time. We'd never met and I asked to do so to gain a perspective for the upcoming primary. I was surprised to meet such an unassuming, quiet, strong and contemplative woman.
First, she's been a good tax assessor/collector and public servant for many years. The accurate picture of her performance is a best-in-any-Texas-county 99% collection rate and similarly best-in-any-urban-county 94% voter registration rate.
Since I moved to Austin in 1983, it's gotten easier to pay taxes, register to vote and register vehicles, especially these last 15 years. Turns out, we have Nelda to thank for all this.
Nelda, an Austin native, graduated from historically black Fisk University and returned to Austin. In 1986, her husband was murdered by drug dealers he'd chased off their East Austin property. Nelda was left a single mom with a 5yo daughter and an 11yo son.
She was appointed to fill an unexpired term as Travis County Tax Assessor/Collector in 1991. She was elected to that office in 1992 and in every election since.
She's since put her two grown children through college. Despite Glen Maxey's criticism for taking a part time job one season, I think it is very cool that she worked evenings and weekends part time just to make the extra $2,000 needed to pay her daughter's Dillard University tuition.
We discussed today's AAS article extensively re: the bill to require proof of citizenship to register to vote. She has received numerous calls and emails about this bill. She values the opinions of those who expressed reservations and opposition. And, she admits she could have been wrong (really, and she's a politician :) ) She's reconsidering her position and tells me she'd never support a bill, process or procedure which threatened anyone's right to vote or to even register. I don't think she considered the AusChron question in the broader context and simply thought whether her 80yo mother, or similarly aged two aunts, (all three for whom she cares) would have any difficulty if it'd been applied to them.
Nelda says she won't go negative. That's not who she is and she wouldn't want to keep the office if it caused her to compromise her principles or treat others as Glen Maxey is treating her.
Nelda Wells Spears is a woman who knows who she is, what's right, what's wrong and moves forward by working hard. She's exactly the type of person we need to keep in office.
Eugene Sepulveda
p.s. I've given money to Glen Maxey, voted for him, block walked with him, registered voters with him and strategized with him. Many of us owe Glen a great deal for what he's done.Though, for Glen Maxey to unfairly beat up on a well-performing, East-Austin-native, African-American woman, I don't think these are progressive, Democratic or Austin values.
Yesterday, Nelda Wells Spears put out a statementconfirming her support for the Republican Voter ID bill HB 626 in the last session.
As reported by the Austin Chronicle and Austin American Statesman, Ms. Spears is using the language of and siding with Tom Craddick and Texas Republicans in their attempt to disenfranchise thousands of minority, poor, and senior Texas voters.
As a reminder, Texas Senate Democrats heroically fought HB 626 including State Senator Mario Gallegos who was wheeled in on a hospital bed against doctor's orders to cast the deciding vote blocking the bill.
It is outrageous that a Democratic elected official would side with Republicans on this attack on our voting rights.
Glen Maxey has taken a stand not only oppose voter suppression bills, but as Travis County's chief of voter registration will lead a statewide effort to protect the rights of every voter.
We cannot allow the Republicans to go unchallenged another session as they chip away at our right to vote.
I will stand up and be a voice for the rights of Texans. As a 6 term legislator, I have a record of taking on the bad guys, standing up on civil and voting rights issues and for open and transparent government.
Glen Maxey is running as a Democrat for Travis County Tax Assessor Collector in the March 4 Primary.
"It is pretty much against the party line," Spears said. "Even though I consider myself a good Democrat, I also consider myself a person who can think for myself."
In a recent e-mail, former State Representative and community leader Glen Maxey shares an alarming experience during the Austin Chronicle endorsement meeting.
Nelda Wells Spears, the current Tax Assessor Collector and director of voter registration, was asked why she didn't go to the Capitol to speak against the Republican voter suppression bills. Her answer is stunning.
Ms. Spears response was shocking. She said she thought requiring ID and proof of citizenship when registering to vote was a great idea and something we needed.
This is a follow up from January 10th when Spears said at the Capitol Area Democratic Women's forum, "People have to check that box that says they're a citizen. We have a lot of people from other countries. We need something, some way... to make sure they're all citizens when they register to vote."
After watching the debate around HB 218 and 626 unfold during the 80th legislature, I can say that the Craddick, Abbott, and Dewhurst lead charge to suppress minority voters is not the answer. It is troubling to hear a Democratic candidate echo the Republican talking points.
I received my notice and re-registration form in the mail last Friday, signed by Travis County Tax Assessor-Collector, Nelda Wells Spears.
I vote in every election including the most recent Constitutional Election, so I was very surprise to find myself on the suspense list.
The most infuriating part of this is that the form that Nelda is sending out to the thousands of purged voters REQUIRES THE VOTER to respond.
All of us who were purged have already done our part. We have registered to vote and it was a mistake of the Tax Office that took many of us off the list and put many more on the suspense list.
Either add us back to the active voter rolls or show us the part of Texas Statute that requires voters who have been accidentally removed to re-register.
Today is the final day to register to vote if you want to have your voice heard in the Democratic Primary. If you live in Travis County, you may want to double check to see if you voter registration has been "purged" or not.
A new website and youtube video are making their way around the net talking about Nelda's purging of the voter roll called simply-- "Nelda's Purges- 'It's a Mess'".
Don't forget to register to vote today. If you don't have a new orange voter registration card, register again and make sure your voice is heard March 4th.
(Dear Austin Statesman: In case you hadn't noticed, other "news" agencies have become aware of actual "issues" in the TAC race, like yet another batch of thousands of active voters that seem to have been deleted by the Tax Office. Check it out, here's a link! - promoted by Mark Duncan)
I've been researching wrongly purged voters since November 2006 and calling for better handling of voter documents and training of election judges/clerks.
Just recently, we broke a story about active voters who were suspected of having moved and purged. Many of them have not moved from their address on record. Many of those that had moved completed all required procedures and were nonetheless removed from the voter rolls.
I've seen sloppy data entry, and the removal of a voter simply based on his first and last name (not middle, not birthdate, etc)
The story has already gained the attention of two voting rights organizations outside of Travis County. The story has gained traction on local television, and local papers, but not at the Austin American Statesman.
This past week, the Austin American Statesman reported the possible cancellation of the voter registrations of many people on the voter database. Fingers are pointed from the incumbent Travis County voter registrar, Nelda Spears, to the Secretary of State and from the SOS to Nelda Spears.
But the pressing and real issue is the right to vote for the voters involved, while the bureaucracy reprograms computers and make their systems work.
This problem occurred when a statewide computer system developed by the Secretary of State matched the registrations of voters among the 254 counties in Texas. Until recently, there was no state database, voter registration was done in each county, and no reconciliation was ever done.
If a voter moved from one county to a new county of residence, they simply register in the new county. There was never a requirement to "cancel" your earlier registration.
Now, these old registrations are causing people to be purged from the voter rolls even when they've been actively registered in Travis County for years. Ms. Spears office currently does not know how many of the purged voters are really people who should still be on the rolls.
These voters are legally and accurately registered and should be eligible and allowed to vote in the 2008 primary elections. But because of a computer glitch and/or faulty data entry dates, they have been cancelled and deleted from the rolls.
Ms. Spears office's response to this is to hope people know if they have been deleted and to re-register before the February 4 deadline.
When it comes to our sacred right to vote, tossing your hands up and blaming the computer doesn't cut it.
Nelda Spears office knows exactly who was deleted. She can print a list of them, with their history in the other county, and simply determine which should be reinstated.
Failing that, it is a simple solution to create an addendum list of "undetermined" cancellations. If the voter appears at their polling location, finds they are not on the voter rolls, the election judge could check the addendum, allow the voter to vote a provisional ballot, and the ballot board could determine validity of the voter's registration after the election.
No voter in Travis County should be denied the right to vote due to a failed bureaucracy in the voter registration system.
I'm running for Tax Assessor-Collector and Voter Registrar because I have the experience, vision, and nuts-and-bolts know how to solve problems like this in the office. I will lead the effort to create a model Voter Registration division that we can export to counties across our great state.
Yesterday, Nelda Wells Spears put 
This problem occurred when a statewide computer system developed by the Secretary of State matched the registrations of voters among the 254 counties in Texas. Until recently, there was no state database, voter registration was done in each county, and no reconciliation was ever done.