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Greg Abbott 
Thu May 23, 2013 at 10:00 PM CDT
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The Dallas Voice is reporting today that Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins has endorsed marriage equality.
According to the article, Watkins supports a domestic partner registry. In an interview with the Voice, Watkins made this argument for equality:
"This is America, and we shouldn't discriminate against anyone for whatever reason, and so I think it's a disservice for us as Americans to say that just because you are a certain lifestyle, that you can't have the same rights as someone else," Watkins told the Voice. "I think it goes towards, you know, when we were going through the civil rights movement, issues that we dealt with back then, which, basically, I can understand very clearly because of who I am. ..."
"It goes back to quality of life issues, and as a DA, I'm responsible for improving the quality of the lives of all of the citizens I represent," Watkins said. "I'm the lawyer for everybody in Dallas County, and so I can't be against something that will make your life better. So I'm for whatever we need to do in Dallas County to make the quality of life better, and in my opinion to have that - marriage equality and the registry - it makes lives better for citizens of Dallas County."
While gay marriage is as yet not recognized in Texas, currently, several jurisdictions in Texas recognize domestic partnership benefits. They include Austin, San Antonio, El Paso, Dallas, and Fort Worth, as well as El Paso County, Travis County, and the Pflugerville ISD. The issue was brought to the fore nearly a month ago when Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott issued a non-binding, advisory opinion that political subdivisions in Texas could not recognize domestic partnerships and notably, Austin City Manager Marc Ott volleyed with a perfunctory: "[W]e do not intend to change domestic partner eligibility for our benefits program at this time."
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Mon May 06, 2013 at 00:00 PM CDT
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 Texas Lunch Links is a lunchtime buffet of interesting Texas News and Views with a heavy emphasis on happenings at the Texas Legislature.
OBAMACARE:Texas will probably get a mere $8 million from the federal government to spend on enrolling about 5 million uninsured people. That's less than $2 per uninsured resident, compared with about $31 per person in Maryland.
OUR BROKEN POLITICAL SYSTEM: The Last week, the Houston Chronicle Editorial Board wrote, "if we, as a people, are serious about finding common ground on guns and other divisive issues, it will behoove us to make changes in our political system far away from those battles that turn us into sworn enemies and tie us in knots."
GUNS: A number of bad Gun bills are headed to the Texas Senate after the House approved them this weekend.
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Tue Apr 30, 2013 at 04:40 PM CDT
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The fallout from yesterday's opinion on domestic partner benefits by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott continues. Equality Texas this morning issued a press release arguing that the opinion letter had, in fact, given a domestic partners and their public employers a way forward - a roadmap for how to achieve their aims while complying with the laws of the state of Texas.
This afternoon, Marc Ott, City Manager for the City of Austin, responded with a resounding "whatever." In an open memorandum, Ott stated:
"While we will continue the evaluate the Attorney General's opinion, it continues to be our belief that the City's domestic partner group benefits program is not prohibited by the Texas Marriage Amendment, and that the Texas Legislature did not intend the Amendment to have that effect when it was placed before the voters in 2005."
"The Attorney General's opinion does not require the City to take any specific, action, and we do not intend to change domestic partner eligibility for our benefits program at this time."
Notably, the City of Austin and its domestic partner eligibility program had been one of the specifically enumerated programs in State Sen. Dan Patrick's request for an opinion to the Attorney General. The full text of Marc Ott's response can be read here.
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Tue Apr 30, 2013 at 02:30 PM CDT
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In the wake of yesterday's watershed opinion on domestic partnerships by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, Equality Texas has taken an intensely practical, glass half-full approach. Equality Texas Executive Director Chuck Smith today released an analysis of what the Attorney General's nonbinding opinion letter means, and what persons in domestic partnerships and their public employers can do. That analysis is below.
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Mon Apr 29, 2013 at 04:54 PM CDT
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April can be the cruelest month. In a defeat for civil rights and home rule in Texas, Texas Attorney Greg Abbott scaled back rights for same-sex couples in cities such as Austin, Pflugerville, El Paso, Fort Worth, and others.
In November, State Senator Dan Patrick sent a request for an official opinion to Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, asking this question:
"Does Art. 1, §32 of the Texas Constitution that defines marriage as one man and one woman and prohibits government recognition of any legal status identical or similar to marriage preclude political subdivisions of Texas from providing so-called domestic partnership benefits to their employees?"
Today, in a six-page opinion , Greg Abbott struck down advances in civil liberties for same sex couples in Texas, and answered Patrick's letter stating that it does.
Patrick had been upset that insurance benefits were offered to members of same-sex couples in Travis County, the City of Austin, Pflugerville ISD, El Paso, Fort Worth, the City of San Antonio, and El Paso County.
Abbott's letter first argues that Section 32 - the section in question - applies to Texas cities, counties, and school districts (no word yet on municipal utility districts or MUDs). It then asks whether these political subdivisions have created or recognized a legal status, and, if so, whether that legal status is identical or similar to marriage.
Abbott's letter answers "yes" to both questions, at the end stating that Section 32 "prohibits political subdivisions from creating a legal status of domestic partnership and recognizing that status by offering public benefits based upon it," but not before cautioning that the U.S. Supreme Court's upcoming rulings on DOMA and Prop 8 might make this very letter unenforceable.
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Tue Apr 16, 2013 at 09:00 AM CDT
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Kim Jung-un may have nuclear missiles pointed towards Central Texas, but Attorney General Greg Abbott is more concerned about the grassroots organizers pointing Democrats towards the voting booth.
At a Republican Club meeting in Waco, Abbott stoked the flames of partisan rancor by railing against the United Nations and emphasizing the threat that Battleground Texas poses to Republican dominance in Texas.
From the Waco Tribune:
Abbott also weighed in on Battleground Texas, a group formed by veterans of Obama's presidential campaigns hoping to make Democrats more competitive in Texas, where the party hasn't won a statewide election in nearly two decades.
"One thing that requires ongoing vigilance is the reality that the state of Texas is coming under a new
assault, an assault far more dangerous than what the leader of North Korea threatened when he said he was going to add Austin, Texas, as one of the recipients of his nuclear weapons," Abbott said. "The threat that we're getting is the threat from the Obama administration and his political machine."
Battleground Texas realizes Republicans can't win a presidential election without Texas' 38 electoral votes, which makes the state "the last line of defense" in protecting the country's future, he said.
Abbott's the likely GOP nominee for Governor in 2014 -- I don't expect Perry to run again, and given how much Perry's money men are donating to Abbott these days, it's clear the fat-cat cronies don't either. His comments are red meat tossed to the Republican primary electorate, which for the time being remains the voting bloc that determines every statewide official in Texas.
He clearly took a breath from suing the Feds long enough to realize that Republicans' hold on Texas becomes tenuous as Democrats get informed and turn out in greater numbers than they have in the past. Abbott has every right to be nervous -- the Houston Chronicle recently reported that if Texas Latinos had the same turnout rate as Anglo voters, the Lone Star State would already be a Battleground.
In case you've stopped keeping track, Abbott has sued the Obama administration 25 times, which has cost the state $2.58 million and more than 14,000 hours spent by staff and state attorneys as of September. He lost the Affordable Care Act decision, and has mostly been on the losing end of the stick in redistricting as well.
Battleground Texas has emphasized that the change in Texas elections won't occur overnight. However, their work will be a crucial part in not only making Texas competitive but also helping Democrats win -- and hopefully doom the electoral chances of right-wing partisan panderers like Greg Abbott in the process.
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Tue Mar 26, 2013 at 06:04 PM CDT
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Equality is on the march, despite the best efforts of elected Texas Republicans to prevent it.
According to polling by The University of Texas and Texas Tribune, a majority of Texans support either civil unions or full marriage equality. In February 2013, 37% of Texans surveyed supported marriage equality and another 28% supported civil unions. Only 28% of Texans surveyed oppose both. Heck, a majority of Republicans support one or the other -- 41% of Republicans support civil unions and another 13% support marriage equality, making for 54% on the side of some form of progress.
Today, the Vice President of the College Republicans (yes, the College Republicans) at the University of Texas published an op-ed yesterday in The Horn entitled A Conservative Case for Marriage Equality:
It is important for conservatives to get this right: allowing same sex civil marriage does not necessarily undermine the foundation of heterosexual marriage. Marriage in the public sphere is an institution that encourages social stability. ... If we desire a stable and prosperous nation, shouldn't we encourage responsible pursuit of stable, nuclear families, regardless of their gender makeup?
Unfortunately we don't see this movement towards LGBT acceptance in our elected Republicans here in Texas, who remain all too eager to use issues such as marriage equality as a political football with which to score cheap points from a far-right GOP primary electorate.
Attorney General Greg Abbott, who has turned his job as the "people's lawyer" into the litigation arm of the Republican Party of Texas, had this to say on the matter Monday night:
Some people forget that marriage is not man-made law. Marriage is God's law that man applied and adopted here in Texas and the United States, and man cannot rewrite God's law. Well Texas has stood firm on this issue, because we don't care how they define marriage on the East Coast or the West Coast because in Texas marriage remains a union between one man and one woman. But now, as we speak, marriage of course itself is being challenged. In the United States Supreme Court this week the definition of marriage will come under assault. I wish I could predict for you how the case will turn out but I turned out to be wrong in my prediction about Obamacare. But here is what I can predict for you. Regardless of how that case turns out, Texans will respond the way they always do. We will fight to ensure that traditional values of faith and family will be preserved, protected and defended in the state of Texas.
Abbott's cheap bigotry is out of touch with the people of Texas and increasingly out of touch with members of his own party. It's deeply unfortunate that he errantly assumes that a majority of Texans share his intolerance -- evidently folks like Abbott think hate is a Texas value.
Abbott's stance is also out of touch with the growing reality here in Texas: San Antonio, Houston, Dallas, and Fort Worth all have significant concentrations of same-sex couples who are raising children under 18.
The arc of justice is bending towards full marriage equality for all Americans, despite the efforts of folks like Greg Abbott. I don't expect our elected Republicans to change their tune any time soon -- but I do expect their views to become further marginalized, even within their own party.
Yet for the Americans who remain denied the special rights of heterosexual couples to have their love affirmed in the eyes of the state, the change can't come soon enough.
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Mon Feb 18, 2013 at 00:00 PM CST
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 The Republican primary is already getting spicy as donors choose between Attorney General Abbott and Governor Perry.
But what's happening on the Democratic side? With Battleground Texas swooping in to give our state the Democratic voter push it needs, the Democratic effort will be one to watch. There are a number of good candidates who may run, but little besides speculation to go on for now. We can expect to see candidate announcements in June, when fundraising commences.
Who's On Deck for 2014?
State Representative Mike Villarreal: Representing San Antonio in the Texas House since 1999, Mike Villarreal has gained a name for himself as a serious legislator with an appealing personality. After growing up in San Antonio, Villarreal went to Texas A&M and then Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and is now pursuing a PhD in public affairs at UT's LBJ School while teaching as an adjunct professor at St. Mary's University. He has spent the last three years focusing on education (a perfect issue to bring statewide) and budget transparency. Villarreal is young, a strong campaigner, and would certainly appeal to Texas's growing Hispanic voting population. The 123rd House District is safely Democratic, making Villarreal an even more appealing potential candidate for Texas Democrats.
Former Houston Mayor Bill White: The Democratic nominee for governor in 2010, Bill White has spent couple of years laying low in Houston while working in investments. White ran an impressive campaign all over Texas in 2010 that garnered national attention, and his loss is blamed in large part on the year's difficulty for Democrats nationwide. A poll released a few weeks ago by Public Policy Polling shows White leading Perry in a 2014 matchup, making a strong case for White's electability. White was a hugely successful mayor, and has a down-to-earth persona appealing to a broad swath of Texans. Earlier in 2010, White sought Kay Bailey Hutchison's Senate seat before she took back her promise to retire. So it's not impossible that White will seek Sen. John Cornyn's Senate seat in 2014. But no one knows what White will do yet - he hasn't said anything either way.
State Senator Kirk Watson: Austin's former mayor is a well-known, personable legislator who would appear to have the energy for a run at the governor's office. He ran for Attorney General in 2002, losing to Greg Abbott, but 2014 is a very different year. Watson might be able to capitalize on his ability to rev up Democrats, six years of experience in the Texas Senate, and plentiful ideas to make a serious run at the governor's office.
Longer shots include...
State Representative Rafael Anchia: Representing Dallas in the Texas House since 2004, Anchia is known as a likable, hard-working legislator. Anchia would certainly run a good campaign with his appeal to both Latinos and Texas's growing 18-35 year old Demographic. Any plans about future runs for office are not yet known.
State Senator Wendy Davis: An energetic and charismatic progressive who singlehandedly forced a special session in 2011 by filibustering the state's inadequate education funding, Davis would be a very good candidate for governor. She's been representing Fort Worth since 2009 and regularly makes lists of state legislators to watch. Even if she doesn't run in 2014, Democrats will be hoping she does soon. Texas Democratic Party Chairman Gilbert Hinojosa recently said of Davis, "From the perspective of electability, she's one of our top superstars in Texas. Her sensibility and approach to politics will just automatically propel her as a top candidate for statewide office."
San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro: San Antonio's mayor is the top Democrat in Texas and arguably the brightest rising star of Democrats nationwide. From his celebrated keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention to his upcoming autobiography, it's only a matter of time before Castro runs for higher office. But which office will that be? Castro just announced his re-election campaign in the 2013 San Antonio mayor's race, and says he's "not running" for governor in 2014. That's probably true, but he certainly deserves his place on this list - if only for all the buzz you'll hear about him around this race and others.
Whoever the candidate is, expect 2014 to be a year of energetic Democratic campaigning as Texas comes closer and closer to voting blue statewide.
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Tue Feb 05, 2013 at 10:00 AM CST
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On Monday Judge John Dietz of the 250th District Civil Court ruled that Texas' school finance system failed the ultimate high stakes test - the state constitution. This decision is a big win for students, educators, and parents and should help bolster Texas Democrats who have championed the education funding crisis since the cuts were made last session. Attorney General Greg Abbott is expected to appeal the decision. Defending the cuts he took a line from the anti-fed playbook and used it against local school districts, saying they don't always spend their money wisely.
The giant elephant in the room is that without an educated workforce there is no "Texas miracle" and Texas businesses and industry leaders are beginning to speak out. Texas Association of Business President Bill Hammond said, "I am pleased Judge Dietz agrees with me that our schools are not producing enough career and college ready students." We must act now, use this opportunity to fund enrollment growth, reinstate programs like Pre-K, the Student Success Initiative, and restore funding to the level it was before the unnecessary cuts were made to our current budget.
Check below the jump for a round up of how Democrats responded around the state:
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