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Robert Miklos 
Wed Aug 19, 2009 at 01:29 PM CDT
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State Representative Robert Miklos received an encorsement from the Combined Law Enforcement Associaitions of Texas (CLEAT) today, in honor of the work he did as a Freshman Demcorat on behalf of law enforcement in the 2009 Legislative Session. From the press release: “Robert had a successful session and proved that he is a great friend to law enforcement,” Charley Wilkison, CLEAT’s Director of Public Affairs said. “We look forward to next session so he can continue to help keep Texans safe.” Representative Miklos served on the Criminal Jurisprudence and Urban Affairs Committees. These two committees were responsible for bills pertaining to law enforcement. Because of this, Miklos worked closely with CLEAT to ensure their concerns were raised and addressed in committee. In addition to committee work, Representative Miklos authored two bills that directly affected Texas Law Enforcement officers and their families. - HB 1545, involved a police officer’s ability to return back to work during the appeal of a mediators ruling.
- HB 2145, allowed for one family member of certain deceased peace officers to make an oral statement regarding the terms of a plea agreement. Both bills were passed out of committee.
- Representative Miklos was also the House sponsor of SB 11, the omnibus anti-gang bill.
Rep. Miklos also received word this week that he'd be getting an official challenger in his general election campain. The Mayor Pro Temp of Mesquite, Texas, has resigned to challenge Rep. Miklos. From the Plano Star Courier: Mesquite Mayor Pro Tem Greg Noschese resigned from his seat on the city council on Monday as he announced intentions to run for the Republican nomination for Texas House District 101. [...] Noschese, who works as an attorney, hopes to win the house seat so that he can better serve the local community which includes Mesquite, Balch Springs and Sunnyvale. Noschese has served on various boards and committees over the last several years, including being a founding member and past president of the Mesquite Quality of Life Corporation, which he served on from Aug. 1999 to Feb. 2008, and chairman of the Mesquite Chamber of Commerce in 2005.
Rep. Miklos is going to be challenged in this race -- but his strong support from law enforcement groups, and the recognition of the excellent work he did in his first term (he won recognition as Freshman of the Year from the House Democratic Caucus) is going to give him a clear advantage against any Republican challenger. It's still August, and our State House races are still taking shape. We'll be sure to continue updating you on the latest news about this race and others as we move through the fall.
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Sat Jul 18, 2009 at 01:48 PM CDT
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With the recent release of campaign finance reports, it is a good time to take a look at how some of the incumbent House Democrats likely to be targeted by the Republicans faired in fundraising. There are many months ahead, but here is the current financial outlook for 10 incumbent House Democrats likely to face comeptitive races next year. House District 2 Mark Homer raised $4,699 and ended the reporting period with $5,982 on hand. His campaign spent $20,676 during that time. House District 11 Chuck Hopson raised only $5,750 but has an impressive $66,563 on hand, with expenditures of slightly over $22,900 for the reporting period. House District 47 Valinda Bolton reported raising $14,800 and ended with $23,532 on hand. Two years ago at this time, Bolton had $13,704 on hand, so the two-term incumbent has almost $10k more than she did at this same point last election cycle. House District 52 Diana Maldonado raised $18,950 and ended the reporting period with $35,817 in the bank. The Williamson County Democrat and TexBlog PAC endorsed candidate spent a little over $18,000 during that time. House District 78 Joe Moody of El Paso reported raising $16,950 to end the reporting period with $27,955.82 on hand. Moody, a TexBlog PAC endorsed candidate, won by just over 3200 votes in 2008. House District 96 Chris Turner reported raising $45,251.24 and had slightly over $102,000 on hand. Great to see huge numbers from a TexBlog PAC endorsed candidate. House District 101 Robert Miklos, a freshman House member from Mesquite and another TexBlog PAC endorsed candidate, raised $18,340 and has $20,656 on hand. House District 102 Carol Kent, who defeated incumbent Tony Goolsby in 2008, raised $32,170 and ended the filing period with just over $51,000 on hand. House District 107 Although he raised only $1,157 during the reporting period and spent more than $60,000, incumbent Democrat Allen Vaught has more than $86,000 currently on hand. House District 133 Kristi Thibaut, who defeated Republican incumbent Jim Murphy by 497 votes in 2008, has $45,655 on hand. At this point two years ago, as she prepared for a rematch with Murphy after losing in 2006, Thibaut only had $6,851 on hand.
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Thu Feb 12, 2009 at 04:00 PM CST
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My gut reaction was, this seems fair.
Republicans control the House so there should be a Republican slant in the committees and with Republican chairs. Seems logical.
Texas Insider has a story outlining exactly where the Gang of 11 were put:
- District 7: Rep. Tommy Merritt - Chair of Public Safety
- District 10: Rep. Jim Pitts - Chair of Appropriations
- District 15: Rep. Rob Eissler - Chair of Public Education
- District 17: Rep. Byron Cook - Chair of Environmental Regulation
- District 44: Rep. Edmund Kuempel - Chair of Licensing & Administrative Procecures
- District 60: Rep. Jim Keffer - Chair of Energy Resources
- District 65: Rep. Burt Solomons - Chair of State Affairs
- District 66: Rep. Brian McCall - Chair of Calendars
- District 83: Rep. Delwin Jones - Chair of Redistricting
- District 99: Rep. Charlie Geren - Chair of House Administration
- District 121: Rep. Joe Straus - Speaker of the House
That means the gang of 11 control the three most important committee's Calendars, Appropriations, and State Affairs.
Texas Insider aptly describes the committees as:
Calendars - controls the order and placement of bills on appropriate calendars.
State Affairs - oversees bills on hot button social issues such as abortion rights and Voter ID.
Appropriations - jurisdiction over all bills that request money to or from the state treasury.
That makes sense, the Gang of 11 chose Straus and with the Democrats, pushed Straus to victory. What doesn't make sense are the hyper partisan committee creations Straus made.
The best example is Criminal Jurisprudence which is filled with conservative Republicans who pushed for tort reform. Another committee that signaled how dismissive Straus was to Democrats is the Elections committee. As one lobbyist pointed out, the Elections committee under Todd Smith could produce some very scary legislation.
Phi has already aptly pointed out the structure of the Elections Committee virtually guarantees voter ID legislation gets to the floor.
Straus has marginalized key House Democratic leaders too.
After Rep Jim Dunnam secured nearly 70 votes for anyone to challenge Tom Craddick, he is placed on Environmental Regulation and Transportation. Dunnam did get a nice megaphone to attack Rick Perry's refusal to accept federal aide as Chair of the select committee on Federal Economic Stabilization Funding, but it comes with out a natural base of support unlike State Affairs or Regulated Industries.
Another good example is Rep. Senfronia Thompson. Thompson was a candidate for Speaker and an early endorser of Straus. She is currently serving her 17th term. What committee assignments did she receive? Insurance, Licensing & Administrative Procedures (Vice Chair), and Local & Consent Calendars (Chair). The Local and Consent Calendar Committee is were non-controversial bills go if they have received unanimous support in committee. This is a thankless job and is one of the weakest chair positions Straus could give out. Rep. Thompson is too good to be chair of this thankless committee.
Straus also showed that he was willing to be as partisan as past Republicans. He painted a nice target on freshmen Democrats giving them lower weaker committees. Democrats like Kristi Thibaut, Robert Miklos, Chris Turner and others will do incredible work in smaller committees. One Democratic freshman got some solid committee assignments-Diana Maldonado.
Maldonado was placed on the powerful State Affairs committee and Defense & Veterans' Affairs.
As the same lobbyist put it, this is because Williamson County is trending too rapidly to the Democratic Party. Maldonado won a tough election in an open race. Now she is an incumbent and Annie's List incumbent at that. With work from WilCo and Travis County Democrats, Diana should be fine.
On the other hand, Todd Hunter is being propped up.
After winning a close election against Juan Garcia, Hunter was given three committee assignments and one chairmanship. Hunter will be on the General Investigating & Ethics and Insurance Committees and will chair Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence. This is a double slap to Democrats. Garcia campaigns on reforming the Insurance Commissioner's office and making that an elected position and was backed by the Texas Trial Lawyers Association.
Now we know how Straus feels about both of those things.
Straus is better than Craddick. That is absolutely true. However, Straus as Speaker shows how important it is for us to take back the House. If we want to really stop Voter ID, reregulate tuition, or provide insurance for all of Texas' children, a Democrat needs to hold the House gavel.
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Tue Oct 14, 2008 at 01:15 AM CDT
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STATE OF THE RACE: Lean Anderson (Republican hold)
Candidate Page: Robert Miklos
Candidate Page: Mike Anderson -- an incredibly bare website
House District Map: District 101
District History: 2006 Election Results Click here to return to the Burnt Orange Political Report home page. 30-Day Out Campaign Finance Report: | HD-101: Miklos vs. Anderson | Contributions | Expenditures | Cash on Hand | | Democrat Robert Miklos | $68,215.92 | $25,964.44 | $10,504.43 | Republican Mike Anderson
| $90,748.48 | $90,686.06 | $52,789.18 | | Anderson's Advantage | $22,532.56 | $64,721.62 | $42,284.75 |
Democrat Robert Miklos -- another TexBlog PAC endorsed candidate -- is running against Mike Anderson in an open race (Anderson defeated incumbent Latham in the primary). The two have had some heated exchanges over the past few days, and it's only expected to get more intense. Miklos is a strong progressive, running well on the issues that resonate best with new Democratic voters -- lower utility rates, affordable college tuition, and no new toll roads. Anderson, on the other hand, has extensive experience in the community, having served as Mesquite's mayor for many years and now with the benefit fo the Dallas Morning News endorsement. Miklos is facing a small uphill battle in fundraising, as well. All those factors considered -- Miklos, along with Democrat Carol Kent, is running in Dallas County, where Democrats performed exceptionally well in 2006. He is also expected to get strong support from traditional Democratic donors, which should help him catch up in fundraising. For now, we categorize the race as "Lean Republican" due to Anderson's high name ID in the district -- but all that can change with an aggressive mail program. One should never underestimate the value of being right on the issues. Here are some other links that previous coverage of the race on Burnt Orange Report:
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