Following is the text of a fax I just sent to the office of my Congressman, Michael McCaul:
January 29, 2009
BY FAX: 202-225-5955
Congressman Mike McCaul
United States House of Representatives
131 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC
Dear Congressman McCaul,
As constituents and voters, we are expressing our dissatisfaction with your vote against the economic stimulus package. Making the unanimous Republican vote obviously partisan is the ludicrous proposal by the House Republicans of trying to stimulate the economy with nothing but tax cuts.
Speaking as a business owner and successful investor and as a family who has paid ample local, state and federal taxes, being over-taxed is not the problem. People are losing their jobs. People are losing their investments and their homes. People are losing their capital that in better times might be invested with a certain amount of tax incentive. This is not such a time.
Stop playing partisan games while the country is going down the drain. Your actions and your fellow partisans' actions are outrageous and disgraceful.
Joining me in signing are my wife and son. All of us are registered voters in District 10.
I am focused on serving the people of the 10th Congressional District of Texas for a third term. I am humbled that so many people have encouraged me to run for Texas Attorney General. But as of right now that office is not vacant and I support Greg Abbott for re-election. If it becomes vacant, I will seriously consider whether that is the best way for me to continue to serve the state of Texas.
Of course, if McCaul does opt to run for Attorney General, the Tenth Congressional District, which runs from Austin to Houston, would be an open seat.
Selby lists 2008 primary candidate Dan Grant and Jack McDonald, a CEO of an Austin-based company, as two Democrats considering the race.
Update: Lorenzo Sadun, a former candidate for TX -10, wrote in the comments:
I know (and admire) Dan Grant, but don't know anything about Jack McDonald. Can anyone fill us in?
Dan Grant ran against Larry Joe Doherty in the 2008 primary and enjoyed the support of many Democratic activists in Austin.
I didn't know anything about McDonald, but judging from the biography on his company's website, he could be a formidable candidate.
Jack McDonald is chairman and chief executive officer of Perficient, a leading information technology consulting firm serving Global 2000 clients throughout the United States. McDonald joined Perficient in 1999, led its initial public offering (NASDAQ: PRFT) and built and led a team that has transformed the company from a startup to an award-winning industry leader with $240 million in annual revenues and 1,400 professionals in 19 major North American markets and global locations in Eastern Europe, India and China.
...
McDonald serves on the boards of several nonprofit organizations that provide economic, education and healthcare opportunities for Central Texans and work to protect our land, air and water ...
TEC reports show that McDonald contributed $3,000 to the campaign of State Rep. Chris Turner.
If McCaul does ultimately decide to enter the AG's race, expect contested Republican and Democratic primaries in TX-10.
It's not often that Republican incumbents or their staffs muse openly about being worried about their re-election changed. Especially not if they are Texas Republicans.
But that's what's happening in the 10th District according to the Statesman.
The campaign of U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin, wasn't exactly thrilled with the first few days of early voting.
McCaul campaign manager Jack Ladd told supporters on Wednesday night that, according to past primary history, Democrats in Harris and Travis counties outvoted Republicans two-to-one in early voting.
"This is very bad news," McCaul campaign manager Jack Ladd said in an email to supporters. "If you think your friends are volunteering, they are not. I know I'm not going to sit down and die, and I know you will not either. There are only 12 days left, and this is not a lifelong commitment, we are asking you just give part of a day or days and help keep CD10 Republican."
For a more in depth overview of the race, be sure to check out this article.
In addition a new Research 2000 poll has the race tightening with McCaul up just 46-42. As was noted in the write up...
McCain wins the district 48-41. Bush won the district 62-38 in 2004. That augurs well for Noriega, and maybe even Obama.
Stretching from north Austin and southern Williamson County along U.S. 290 towards Katy, the 10th Congressional District of Texas is one of the best chances for Texas to regain another Democratic member of Congress. Larry Joe Doherty is trying to make that happen.
After succesfully navigating his way through the primary against Dan Grant, Doherty found himself running a strong campaign against a relatively unknown incumbent. His poll numbers are within reach, the Cook Political Report switched the race from "Solid" to "Likely" over the summer, and the DCCC announced it as an "Emerging Race" to follow in mid-September. And the latest poll shows Doherty within 5 points.
We expect new information every week on the race; be sure to bookmark the tags below, and keep track of BOR for the latest on Doherty's attempts to unseat incumbent Republican Mike Mccaul.
Here are links to past coverage of the race on Burnt Orange Report:
New numbers from a new TX-10 poll: Democrat Larry Joe Doherty has gained 4 percentage points on McCaul in the latest poll. McCaul, meanwhile, has remained stagnant at 43%, while Doherty is now at 38%.
The poll was taken from Sept. 28-30, 2008. Four hundred registered, likely 2008 voters were interviewed.
A politician using his office to exploit Americans' fears about homeland security, radical Islam, and foreign intelligence. Sound familiar? We're not talking about George W. Bush this time, but instead Republican Congressman Michael McCaul. Since early July, McCaul has been misleading Americans about two young Pakistani-American boys who McCaul claimed were being "held in there against their will" at a international madrassa school, which McCaul says has Taliban ties in this FOX interview.
However, as CNN reported Sunday night, the media-hype surrounding McCaul's messianic quest to bring these children home is essentially just that: overblown hype about two children who were in fact not being held against their will and not being trained at a radical Islamic school at all.
Back in March, shortly after the Democratic primary and when for perhaps the first time he realized that he will have some serious competition in November, Congressman Michael McCaul decided that it was time to put on the pork patch and end his addiction to earmarks.
As the Houston Chronicle reported, McCaul sponsored or co-sponsored nearly $20 million in earmarks between October 1, 2007 and March 28, 2008 alone. The Chronicle also produced a full list of his McEarmarks, detailing the breakdown of the projects and names of the co-sponsors (fellow addicts like Congressmen Culberson and Sessions, equally-vulnerable Republican incumbents who will have some 'splaining to do in the fall). At the time, while also making it clear that he would not seek earmarks if elected in November, Democratic challenger Larry Joe Doherty told the Chronicle, "Michael McCaul has gone into rehab over earmark addiction."
Now, like most recovering addicts, McCaul is out of rehab and has been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
Over on The Texas Blue this week, Josh Berthume interviewed Larry Joe Doherty about his CD-10 bid against Bush rubber-stamp Congressman Mike McCaul. Berthume starts with a great question -- "So how'd you get started in politics?" -- which segues into Doherty's 37 years of malpractice law that allowed him to watch firsthand the unraveling of our Constitution as well as our civil rights, particularly for those who make up the misrepresented constituency of CD-10.
The interview highlights some of Doherty's comprehensive knowledge of and innate compassion for the environment. This to me has always been one of Doherty's major strong suits, since water and land conservation have been important to him since before they were an inconvenient truth.
Doherty also touches on the economic as well as societal factors of the quagmire in Iraq, and the travesty of the current CD-10 Congressman really hits home when McCaul's voting record comes into play.
If you happened to watching the proceedings of the U.S. House on Wednesday, what you saw wasn't a pretty sight--especially if your mother was watching, too.
Congressman Michael McCaul (R-Austin) voted against against H Res 1113 "Celebrating the Role of Mothers in the United States and Supporting the Goals and Ideals of Mother's Day. " Now this was a pretty stupid vote. Politicians often talk about how they won't vote against something because doing so would be like voting against mothers and apple pie. But this politician actually did vote against mothers! (His decision on apple pie is pending a higher campaign contribution from the apple pie lobby).
Sure it was just a vote on a ceremonial resolution, but it was emblematic of McCaul's atrocious voting record on the issues that matter to mothers, fathers, families, and children across America. For instance:
* McCaul voted AGAINST a resolution honoring the contributions of mothers and Mothers day.
* McCaul voted AGAINST a bill that would repeal the tax breaks given to big oil companies. Meanwhile, working mothers driving to work and moms driving their kids to the soccer game pay more at the pump while the companies make record profits.
*McCaul voted AGAINST expanding the State Children's Health Insurance Program.
*McCaul voted AGAINST beginning to bring our sons and daughters home from Iraq.
*McCaul voted AGAINST raising the federal minimum wage for working mothers across the country.
*McCaul voted to CUT funding for federal assistance for working mothers and student loans.
And the list goes on. McCaul managed to score a paltry 9 percent rating from the National Organization for Women, and scored 0 percent in 2006 from the U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce, a leading advocate for women on economic issues.
If these aren't reasons enough to support Larry Joe Doherty for Congress, I don't know what is. This Mother's Day, spend time with your mother, make her dinner, send her a card, or just let her know you love her. Then, donate $25 or whatever you can spare to Doherty, whose mother was a grocery clerk. Volunteer or tell your friends. Because one of the best things we can do for our mothers and our families is to make change happen and return responsible representation to Congress.
The candidate filing period opened today — and Dan was there to make it official, saying he hoped to signal his understanding of how eager Central Texas voters are to get started on changing Washington.
