Democratic Gubernatorial Field Likely to Swell

by: Todd Hill

Sun Sep 13, 2009 at 07:00 AM CDT

In a telephone interview, Earle, 67, said he hasn't set a timetable but will probably make a decision "sooner rather than later." Earle served as Travis County District Attorney for 37 years until retiring in December of 2008.  His office came under fire from Republicans for its investigation of DeLay, which ultimately resulted in DeLay's resignation from Congress after he was indicted in 2005 for violation of campaign laws.

In the same report, Earle claimed that because of his "deep roots" in Fort Worth that he feels he can compete in Tarrant County, which former Ambassador Tom Schieffer considers home base. Not only is Tarrant County Schieffer's home base, but he also feels he can compete and potentially flip it if he were the Democratic candidate.  

I'm not certain why Earle feels he could gain traction in Tarrant County.  The vast majority of Democrats that I socialize and work with here said, "who?" when I first mentioned to them that Earle was considering a run for governor.  Many of the movers and shakers in Tarrant County have already quickly lined up behind Tom Schieffer too.  

The fact that Earle made it a point to mention his Tarrant County roots indicates that he feels Schieffer is the man to beat early on in this primary campaign. It would appear Earle plans on defining himself as the anti-Schieffer candidate upon entering the gubernatorial race. This is a vastly different strategy than Hank Gilbert, who has entered the race and essentially ignored the other Democratic candidates and has effectively assailed the Republican candidates from day one of his campaign.  

Just as a side note, this past Thursday Kinky Friedman made an appearance at the Colleyville-Grapevine-Southlake Democrats meeting.  Friedman made a point to plug his book multiple times while he plugged his website zero times.  Nor did he pass out any campaign material, ask for money, or ask for votes. Considering this isn't Friedman's first rodeo as a candidate for governor I don't know how much more amateur you can get when you don't at least ask for votes.  Then again, perhaps his real motives were revealed in simply plugging books.      

Big Week for TX-Gov & TX-Sen Races

by: Burnt Orange Report

Fri Aug 21, 2009 at 11:32 AM CDT

Coming back from Netroots Nation, we've had an extremely busy week talking about statewide candidates. We wanted to take some time this morning to look back at our major stories, both to give everyone a chance to catch what they may have missed, and to put some context around larger stories that have developed recently:

TX-Gov, Republican Edition: Kay Bailey Hutchison Stumbles Into the Governor's Race

• Kay Bailey Hutchison Joins Rick Perry as Cheerleader for Right-Wing Politics
• Has Hutchison Gone From "Rocky Start" to Breaking the Law?
• Kay Bailey Hutchison Longs for the Days of Segregation
• Kay Bailey Hutchison Embraces "Master Scaremonger" Dick Armey
• Dog Day Afternoons: Kay and Rick On the Porch

Yes, Senator Hutchison's campaign announcement was the most dominant story of the week. But did anything get through? Rick Perry -- who has previously been described as a "cyborg" here at Burnt Orange REport -- stepped on every day of her campaign announcement. Moreover, it's hard to get excited about a candidate announcing, for the twelfth time, that she is going to run for Governor. Even the press started getting nit-picky this week with Senator Hutchison, proving her initial roll-out to be highly ineffectual and raising the question: does she even stand a chance against Rick Perry?

Whether it was her longing for segregation, her possible violations of the Texas Elections Code, or her out-and-out inability to do much more than appeal to the far-right arms of the Republican Party, Senator Hutchison waited for August to do little more than crap out.

TX-Gov, Democratic Edition: Tom Schieffer & Ronnie Earle

• Tom Schieffer's Other Campaign Problem
• Ronnie Earle: "I Am Not A Candidate, Yet."

Michael began the week discussing an issue with the Tom Schieffer that goes unnoticed among the general uneasiness of his support for former President Bush -- that is, his actual stances on policy. From Michael's well-written post:

The rate of current events convince me that the basics of a campaign infrastructure will materialize and improve.  But I'm not convinced that this will happen with all of the campaign.  I worry that a full-blown Schieffer campaign will not offer any true policy proposals to the people of Texas.

Meanwhile, another possible candidate -- Ronnie Earle -- met in Austin with the Texans for Obama group. Katherine was in attendance, and wrote strong reviews of Earle in her post -- going so far as to say that "it appears that he's already considering the shape of a potential bid: a strongly-grassroots, supporter-driven campaign with an emphasis on personally connecting with the voters." However, that didn't make him immune from the same policy concerns Michael had raised about Schieffer, as Katherine wrote:

Earle enumerated several key issues on which this prosperity-push would focus, namely education, jobs, health care, transportation, and the environment. However, he demured from offering specific policy proposals, repeatedly stating that he wasn't a candidate yet. 

No one really likes to talk about policy specifics in August of an off-year, and if given the choice, we'd prefer -- right now -- a candidate with a strong narrative that was able to go out and persuade donors that his or her campaign is serious enough to be investing in. But speaking broadly about public education and law enforcement isn't going to be enough -- and we encourage our candidates, our progressive organizations, our readers, and ourselves to begin forcing more specific discussions on policy in the coming weeks and months leading up to the filing deadline.

TX-Sen: Bill White & John Sharp

• TX-Sen: Bill White, John Sharp Build Support in El Paso
• Energetic Outreach By Senate Candidate Bill White at Netroots Nation
• Get off Bill White's Back and Get on John Sharp's

The U.S. Senate race is about to get serious -- especially now that Hutchison is officially in the Governor's race, and that she's announced her semi-sort-of-maybe-waffle-not-sure-can-I-take-a-rain-check-on-ever-making-a-decision candidacy, we are going to turn our attention not only to exposing her and Perry's horrific records as politicians, but also to the U.S. Senate race. This week, that conversation centered predominantly around Bill White.

Last Friday at Netroots Nation, White met in Pittsburgh with Texas and national bloggers to discuss his candidacy. Katherine's report on the event included the following positive outlook on the race:

Texas should take pride in having sent one of the most engaging and motivated Democratic candidates to Netroots Nation this year. That would be Houston Mayor Bill White...The Mayor came up to Pittsburgh during the annual gathering to address national bloggers and make the case as to why Democrats can and will win statewide in Texas.

David also wrote about the efforts of each candidate in the El Paso area (where White has won an impressive number of endorsements), and Todd raised a counter-challenge to one press narrative, suggesting that it should be John Sharp (and not Bill White) that should move to another race.

Get off Bill White's Back and Get on John Sharp's

by: Todd Hill

Thu Aug 20, 2009 at 01:07 PM CDT

Some are pressing for White to switch races. With the momentum of a successful tenure as mayor of the state's largest city, the moderate White appears to be the best thing going for Texas Democrats in 2010.

I want to know who these people are that continue to "press" Houston Mayor Bill White to get out of a potential senate race and get into a gubernatorial race he doesn't want to run in.  Who are you?  Get off his back!  The man you should be "pressing" to get out of a potential senate race and get into a gubernatorial race that needs a serious injection of excitement is John Sharp.  

I believe it would be good for the Democratic Party to have more than one person in the gubernatorial race.  As we sit right now only one serious candidate, Tom Schieffer, has declared, but former Travis County District Attorney, Ronnie Earle, appears to be revving up his political engines for a statewide campaign too.  I think Sharp is better qualified, and in a better position politically, to change the dynamics completely of the Democratic gubernatorial primary.

Sharp's campaign doesn't appear to be raising the funds necessary, outside of personal loans, to remain competitive in a potential U.S. senate race.  I suspect that is because those donors who thought Mayor White would run for governor versus the United States Senate suddenly found themselves choosing between Sharp and White.  Many people, including myself, believe that Bill White is the brightest star we have in the Democratic Party, and donors and grassroots supporters do too.  Those who committed to Sharp assuming White would run for governor suddenly switched allegiances upon his announcement that he would run in an eventual special election senate race.  White's fundraising numbers prove that is the case.  That doesn't mean those donors don't support Sharp, they just don't support him in a head to head race with Bill White.

More below the fold

Earle Won't Run for Attorney General

by: Michael Hurta

Mon Aug 10, 2009 at 08:09 AM CDT

Earle, who didn't seek re-election last year, said, "People are really tired of a culture of corruption, and I think that any Democrat is going to have a pretty good opportunity."

Earle and Watson didn't criticize Schieffer, who has put some personal wealth into his bid, though Earle said: "Some people at the top of both parties think that only a rich person has a chance. I'm offended by that idea."

Earle, who earlier said he might run for attorney general, said that he's no longer eyeing that possibility; he's had a law enforcement post. (emphasis mine)

He said he's trying to resolve his personal desires before sounding out consultants and activists.

"The big question is whether I just want to do it or not," he said. "I just got out of a big job that I was very fond of. I just mostly have to be sure in my own mind that this is something I want to do, that it's in my best interests and the best interests of the people of Texas to do this."

Barbara Ann Radnofsky is already in that AG race, and an exclusion of Earle now leaves Royce West as probably the most well known Democrat actively mulling this race.

Ronnie Earle Files Papers to Run Statewide

by: David Mauro

Fri Jul 03, 2009 at 07:50 AM CDT

The Austin American-Statesman has reported that former Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle has filed paperwork with the Texas Ethics Commission to run for statewide office in 2010.

Earle, who has been the subject of a recently launched Draft campaign for Governor and is also seen as a potential Attorney General candidate, did not specify which office he will run for.

Earle designated himself as campaign treasurer and will now be allowed to begin fundraising. With Texas Sen. Kirk Watson not planning to announce his statewide intentions until the end of the summer, the move may be designed for Earle to begin to build a campaign warchest while waiting for others like Watson to decide before he makes a final decision.

Against the current Democratic gubernatorial field of Tom Schieffer and Kinky Friedman, Earle would have a good chance to win. Although he is not very well known outside of Travis County, his name ID is certainly higher than that of Schieffer and Democratic activists like him for filing charges against Tom DeLay. Neither Schieffer or Friedman have anywhere close to the Democratic credentials that Earle has.

Prior to his 32 years as District Attorney, Earle was a State Representative from Austin. Ironically, Earle and Schieffer, who could be on the verge of running against each other for Governor, were in the same freshman class in the Texas House almost 37 years ago.

Earle's prosecutor past could hurt him in a possible match up against Kay Bailey Hutchison. In 1993, Hutchison was indicted by a grand jury but was eventually acquitted because Earle did not have sufficient evidence. 

Former Travis District Attorney Ronnie Earle Considering Statewide Run

by: Karl-Thomas Musselman

Thu Jun 25, 2009 at 05:22 PM CDT

Former Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle said Wednesday he is "leaning more toward running for governor. I'm just trying to figure out where I can make the greatest contribution," he said.

Ronnie Earle Considers a Statewide Run

by: David Mauro

Sun Apr 26, 2009 at 10:54 AM CDT

Former Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle told the Austin American-Statesman that he is considering a statewide run. Earle told the Statesman he has been approached to run for either Governor and Attorney General.

Earle, who was Travis County's DA for 31 years after serving in the Texas Legislature, did not give the Statesman an indication of when he expected to make a decision.

Democrat Barbara Radnofsky has filed papers to run for Attorney General and both Tom Schieffer and Kinky Friedman are exploring runs for Governor as Democrats.

What do you think of Travis County's former top prosecutor running statewide? Which office would better suit him: Governor or Attorney General?

Justice DeLayed

by: Glenn Smith

Wed Sep 24, 2008 at 10:21 AM CDT

The sewers have backed up into Texas courtrooms. They need draining and cleaning. Sadly, it's not the special interests or their bought-and-paid for judges who are drowning in the unethical effluent of one-sided rulings that make a mockery of impartial justice. It's the people of Texas who suffer.

Before going on, let me say quickly that that not all Texas judges are lost in this swamp. There are good judges. There are courtrooms where fair trials still take place. God bless them. They know who they are, and the lawyers who practice in their courts -- and the citizens who seek justice there -- they also know fairness and impartiality when they see it.

Still, the overall situation is so bad that the editorial writers of the Austin American Statesman must ask the question they asked in today's editorial:

Have judicial ethics in Texas fallen so far that it is considered proper for a judge to rule on a motion involving defendants he previously counseled in a case he criticized?

The answer is yes, judicial ethics have fallen that far. On Tuesday, as Laylan Copelin of the Statesman reported today, Travis County District Attorney formally asked Third Court of Appeals Judge Alan Waldrop to recuse himself from a money laundering case against two DeLay associates. Waldrop had represented Texans for Lawsuit Reform, a group implicated in the scandal, and criticized the criminal investigation and indictments in the campaign finance scheme. Now on an appeals court, he sits in judgment on the case

As we noted yesterday, Waldrop and his colleagues have received a good deal of money from people who'd like to see the criminal cases go away. After all, the alleged crimes -- the pursuit of which at least led to DeLay's resignation from Congress -- also led to the speakership of their errand boy, Tom Craddick, who hasn't been forced from office. Yet.

As we've seen, the corruption is not limited to the Third Court of Appeals. No, it's system wide. It's time for those who care about justice, who know that democracy depends upon it, to drain the swamp. Maybe, finally, DeLay will be pulled down the drain along with the rest of the ugly special interests who have nearly ruined our state.

DeLay-related Case Denied Rehearing

by: RBearSAT

Tue Sep 02, 2008 at 07:08 PM CDT

It appears the reason for denial is that at the time of the incident the Texas law applied to cash and not checks based on definition of money laundering prior to 2005.  In 2005 checks, electronic funds, and other forms of payment were added to the money laundering statute. In other words a technicality in how the law was constructed may force the prosection to dismiss the charges. Tom DeLay faces a siimilar case so the results of this case, especially along these lines, may result in his case being thrown out.

Interestingly enough the Court did uphold the Texas Election Code that Ellis and Colyandro challenged. So according to the decision they did violate the code but did so using financial instruments not covered under money laundering statutes at the time of committing the acts.

Earle is considering whether to ask for a rehearing or appeal the decision to the Court of Criminal Appeals.  Justice Dianne Henson, a Democrat, provided the dissent.

Absurdly it looks like that if this is upheld Tom DeLay will get off free on the charges without ever having to really deal with the matter. While the reason for denial of rehearing is a technical point the public can only see this as vindication of Tom DeLay.

TPJ Files Complaint Against Craddick Backed Texas Jobs PAC

by: Matt Glazer

Mon Feb 11, 2008 at 11:59 AM CST

According to Quorum Report the, "question has always been whether or not the PAC violated the Speaker Statute that says either contributing or withholding a campaign contribution based on support or opposition to a Speaker candidate was legislative bribery. The eleventh hour activation of the PAC as well as Craddick's seed money participation takes the questions another step."

The PAC in questions is the Texas Jobs PAC.  The PAC has been financed with $250,000 of Tom Craddick's money and the PAC's President and CEO is Republican operative Jim Cardle.

There have already been two stories surround the Texas Job PAC and Craddick D's Kevin Bailey (who accepted money from the PAC) and Dawnna Dukes (who is pledged to Craddick but did not take his bribe).

As the Houston Chronicle reported February 7:

Democratic State Rep. Dawnna Dukes considers her ties with Republican House Speaker Tom Craddick so sensitive that she turned down a $50,000 contribution from a political action committee tied to Craddick.

But Houston Democrat Kevin Bailey didn't.

Both were among a group of Democrats whose support for Craddick last year helped quell a Republican rebellion that sought to oust him from the speaker's post.

Both face opponents who charge that their ties with the conservative Craddick go against the interests of their low-income, heavily Democratic districts.

Brian Thompson commented on the Texas Jobs PAC last week and the possible quid pro quo saying:

"This sounds like Rep. Dukes is acknowledging that $50,000 was linked to a vote for Speaker of the Texas House," said Brian Thompson, the Democratic candidate who is challenging Dukes in HD 46. "Our ethics laws do not look too favorably on a $50,000 quid pro quo."

We will keep our eyes on this story as it develops. The full complaint can be found here.