In response to today's ruling from the United State's Supreme Court Supreme Court, 10th district Congressional candidate Dan Grant issued the following statement, emphasis mine:
"With continued uncertainty surrounding primary dates, district lines and a time line for when we will have definite answers, one thing is still clear: Texans deserve a voice in Congress that understands and fights for them. For years Michael McCaul has failed to be that voice. Our campaign will continue to work hard reaching out to Texans who want better than the status quo and who demand more than the self-serving politics of Michael McCaul."
Dan Grant, an Austin-based foreign policy expert, is a candidate for U.S. House of Representatives in Texas' 10th Congressional District against Rep. Michael McCaul.
Michael McCaul is one of the richest individuals in Congress, and represents the 1% more than the people of his Central Texas district. As we've previously reported, McCaul is on the most recent list of biggest water-wasters in the Austin area. McCaul is so out of touch with working people he didn't even seem to notice that his water bill had skyrocketed to almost 20 times that of the average Austin resident. McCaul previous made the list in 2009, ranking seventh of all utility customers for the water consumed by his 1.9-acre mansion. He claimed at the time that it was a leak in his sprinkler system, and that he had it fixed immediately. City records show, however, that the McCaul household water use had averaged around 100,000 gallons a month. The average Austin home uses 10,000 gallons a year.
While McCaul's neighbors continue blame leaky pipes, I don't know too many people who could just passively afford to keep paying so much, let alone squandering our most precious resources.
Dan Grant: won't waste all of our water and watches his own utility bills. Put that on a tee shirt!
Big news: today Dan Grant filed his paperwork to run for CD 10, the Central Texas congressional district currently held by Michael McCaul. Grant filed with the TDP for the iteration of CD 10 drawn by the San Antonio federal court. That district, which no longer includes uber-conservative Tom Ball Tomball in Harris County, is a pick-up opportunity for Democrats, who need to regain only 25 seats nationwide to retake the House of Representatives.
Grant's campaign released a statement today detailing his experience on foreign policy and national security, and his commitment to give working Texans a real voice in Congress. From the statement (reprinted in full below the jump):
Grant said he felt compelled to explore a run for Congress because the people of Central Texas need a Congressman who understands and who will look out for their best interests.
"Central Texans deserve a real voice in Congress. We deserve a voice that speaks up for our needs above the demands of wealthy special interests and Wall Street mega donors. For years it's been clear that millionaire Michael McCaul, the single richest member of Congress, is unable and unwilling to be that voice," Grant said. "I'll make sure the things that matter in Washington are the things that matter to families here in Texas."
They also put together this great video from an emphatic Grant, touching on the populist themes resonating nationwide:
Grant had previously announced that he was forming an exploratory committee for the previous incarnation of CD-25, which stretched from East Austin to Tarrant County, and had drawn 9 Republican primary candidates, including Michael "Bowtie" Williams. Once the San Antonio court redrew the maps, Grant began looking at CD-10, and decided it was worth contesting again, as he did in the 2008 primary.
Clearly, Grant isn't afraid of an uphill fight, and it's great to see the vigor and energy in him as he prepares to take on McCaul. While no one knows what incarnation of CD-10 Grant will be able to contest -- or when the maps will be set or primaries will be held -- the main question is whether a grassroots, citizen-driven effort to take back this seat can trump McCaul's millions of dollars. Michael McCaul's father-in-law is Lowry Mays, founder of Clear Channel Communications. McCaul is worth at least $287 million, and is currently the richest individual in Congress.
(I do not look forward to redistricting, but this is possible. - promoted by Karl-Thomas Musselman)
In the Wednesday, Oct 20 edition of the Houston Chronicle, there is a front page article on the upcoming redistricting battle in Texas. Buried in the continuation on page A-14 is the first public indication I have seen about the situation I have been talking about ever since I entered the race.
Texas Republican Michael McCaul, the ranking member overseeing the ethics inquiry of Representative Charles Rangel of New York, failed to disclose stock transactions valued at millions of dollars on his annual financial report dating back to 2008.
A Roll Call analysis of McCaul's annual reports found the Texas Republican did not fully detail the 2008 sale of Clear Channel stocks owned by his spouse, including the date of the transaction.
McCaul spokesman Mike Rosen said Friday that the lawmaker believes he has filed accurate forms. But after his office reviewed the version of the story that appears in Monday's newspaper, McCaul released a statement Sunday that acknowledged the forms were wrong but blamed the errors on the accounting firm that prepares his report.
Amazing isn't it? Whenever these elected officials get caught having done something questionably unethical it is always someone else's fault and never their own. Congressman McCaul and his staff forget to mention of course that members of congress are required to certify their disclosure statements by signature. One would think that if you were going to put a signature to ethics forms that you would want to ensure that your forms are 100% accurate.
Of course, part of the reason Republican McCaul, the sixth richest individual in congress, might have wanted to keep his stock disclosure a bit hush-hush was because in 2009-2010 Clear Channel Media Holdings donated almost $35,000 dollars toward McCaul's congressional campaign coffers. Oh my, that's not good.
Roll Call also had this fascinating tidbit about McCaul:
The Texas lawmaker, who will rank sixth on Roll Call's upcoming annual survey of the richest Members of Congress with a minimum net worth of $73.75 million, has seen his fortunes sextuple since he filed his first financial disclosure report, which was for the 2004 calendar year.
So the Ranking Republican in Charlie Rangel's ethics inquisition has questionable ethics issues of his own. At a minimum McCaul should recuse himself from the investigation in light of this new information. Republican leaders should demand the same.
(For discussion. - promoted by Karl-Thomas Musselman)
Today's Wall Street Journal has an article entitled: "The End of Management". It is a very interesting article that posits that the management techniques developed in the 20th Century by people to run large corporations are being obsoleted in the 21st Century, just as Sloan, Durant, Ford, Drucker, et. al. obsoleted the 19th Century artisan model of management. The author, Alan Murray, says we still don't know what the new model will be, but there are intimations in the rapid change in communications and connectedness. He illustrates with the examples that it took 38 years for radio to reach an audience of 50 million, television 13 years, internet only four years, the ipod three years, and Facebook two years to do the same.
After a break in reporting, the MSM has noticed global warming, again. It also appears that the weather-related problems around the globe (and in NYC, in particular) have made the coverage much less of the "on the one hand vs. on the other hand" which, in the past, has given too much credibility to the deniers. I had my first one-on-one briefing about global warming from NASA's Dr. Jim Hansen in 1987.
(Ted Ankrum is the Democratic nominee in TX-10 against Rep. McCaul. - promoted by Karl-Thomas Musselman)
Many Americans believe that their politicians vote in response to campaign contributions, rather than in the interests of the ordinary people in their District. Representatives Rangel and Waters are about to be tried by a subcommittee of the House of Representatives for just this kind of activity. It seems their defense is "We all do it". My opponent in the next election, incumbent Republican Michael McCaul of Texas' US House of Representatives District 10, is the lead Republican on this "trial" and it would be interesting to test this assertion by looking at his campaign contributions and his votes.
This information is taken from the latest Federal Elections Commission report, ending June 30, 2010, on campaign contributions from individuals and political action committees; starting from the beginning of 2007, after Mr. McCaul's first reelection, when corporations and big donors start to pay attention. The totals are bare minimums because contributor's employment is listed by company name, and I don't claim to know the names of every financial firm, for instance. I've only tabulated contributions affilliated with those relatively well-known companies whose principal business is one I know.
"Your Congressman" Michael McCaul has been asleep at the switch, allowing the only defense contractor in the district to lose it's only contract, directly costing the district 5000 jobs.
We're printing these signs and posting them throughout the district. This is only a sample of what we'll be doing with your support.
This is a 100% volunteer campaign. We have a virtual office with zero overhead; no consultants or paid staffers. Every penny we raise goes right into the campaign.
We'll continue to create ads like this;
We've spent zero dollars on our website, graphics design or the ad you saw above and we've just begun.
Do you want to see these types of signs throughout the district, stretched down 290 between Austin and Houston?
Ted Ankrum, Democratic Party Candidate for Congressional District 10, congratulates Austin for bringing a Formula 1 auto racing event to the Central Texas area.
"Being an auto racer myself, I fully support this exciting racing event. This World Class auto racing series schedules events around the world. I attended my first Formula 1 race in 1959 at the Avus track in Berlin, Germany and also attended the 1960 race in Monaco and the 2002 race in Melbourne, Australia. This annual event will bring jobs and fans to Austin and the economic impact to the area will be like having the Superbowl in town every year." Ankrum said.
Until 2007, the US event in this race series was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Now Austin has stepped up to the plate and this race will again be held in the USA, starting in 2012.
Ankrum is an avid auto enthusiast, running his Nissan GT-R at track events at the Texas World Speedway in College Station, the GrandSport Speedway near Galveston, and most recently, was sponsored by Baker-Jackson Nissan in Cypress at the Texas Mile event at Goliad, Texas in March. "I set the fastest time in my class with a speed of 167.2 MPH and have a certificate to prove it."
Ted with Mr. Brad Baker, general manager of Baker-Jackson Nissan in Cypress, TX prior to the Texas Mile event
Ted running ahead of a Ford GT at the Texas World Speedway in College Station, TX in 2009
