(There's a lot to remember today, and leading into tomorrow, about where we are as a nation. What kind of culture to do we celebrate? What characteristics of our own politics do we ignore? And when it comes to memorials and holidays, what is it that we look at? Today, I think it's a little less about the man as we saw him, and a little more about the man as he saw the world. To that end, I welcome this guest post about public service and issues from John Sharp, and ask that everyone think about the policies put forth here, and how those policies can play a part of our culture. - promoted by Phillip Martin)
Today we mark the 80 eventful years since the birth of Martin Luther King Jr. in then-segregated Atlanta. It's a fitting moment to rekindle the spirit of public service that he embodied. As a new administration takes office in Washington, a new Speaker takes the gavel in Austin, and a new hope for partnership takes hold around the world, the time is especially right to reignite his faith in the power of education and the courage of his commitment to economic justice.
We can champion those two priorities of Dr. King's with a new initiative to pay the college tuition of any young person who gives one year of his or her time working at a neighborhood school, a community hospital, a housing program, an environmental clean-up operation, or another approved public service project.
This isn't a new idea, of course. President Bill Clinton created Americorps (http://www.americorps.org/) in 1993 to engage volunteers in direct service activities. Before that, President John Kennedy inspired a generation of Peace Corps recruits to fan out across the globe. Earlier still, President Franklin Roosevelt put the unemployed to work on everything from building bridges to promoting the arts as a means of lifting America out of the poverty of the Great Depression.
But we need to promote public service now more than ever in the midst of the current financial collapse and historic shakeup of the global economy - a new G.I. Bill that pulls together the energy of those previous efforts with the can-do innovation that can be found in every Texas college and community. Today's challenge is to prepare for the competition coming from China, India, and other emerging economies.
That means strengthening our educational and economic infrastructure to keep us ahead of the technology that serves as the foundation of our future progress and prosperity. We need to raise our game in education especially, starting with universal pre-K programs and basic elementary school skills so that we can do a better job of feeding our universities, which are still the best in the world. If we raise the number of American workers with high-school diplomas and college degrees, we will also raise incomes across the board.
It means shoring up our economic and cultural foundations, too. The U.S. lags behind leading Asian nations in high-speed broadband connections, even though my friend Al Gore may have invented the Internet right here in America. Cell phone technology also trails Japan, Korea, and much of Europe, where more reliable networks are facilitating new jobs and cutting edge services.
Given the enormous costs of the current financial crisis, a G.I Bill for public service won't be easy to fund. But we can't afford to wait too long. Jump-starting the neglected area of environmental clean-up, for example, will cause a massive increase in demand for scientists and technicians to help China implement its state goal of purifying its water and air.
One thing most college graduates have in common is parents who talked to us from an early age about studying hard for a university education. It was an expected goal. But too many parents these days don't talk about college with their children because they're not sure they'll ever be able to afford it. With this college program, every child in America will know from birth that college is an affordable goal if they're willing to do a little public service in return.
The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., whose vision of change we celebrate today, knew that public service is the heart and soul of our communities. Let's rekindle his spirit and make sure everyone can participate in our national recovery.
John Sharp, the former Texas Comptroller, is a financial expert and a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate.
It's official. I am tired of reading that Republicans have an advantage in low turnout or special elections.
The facts simply do not support the bold claim.
Since 2005, Democrats have won or over performed in nearly every special election in Texas.
The obvious and best example of this is House District 97. In the December, "low turnout" special election, Dan Barrett won. In the November general election, Dan Barrett lost. Barrett saw a 10 point erosion in his numbers while Shelton saw a nearly 8 point gain.
House District 97 Special Election Dan Barrett (D) - 52.18%
Mark M. Shelton (R) - 47.81%
House District 97 General Election Mark M. Shelton (R) - 55.33%
Dan Barrett (D) - 42.75%
Nothing changed. Barrett was out spent in both elections. Shelton was cozy to Craddick in both elections. The only major difference is the turnout numbers. Barrett won the low turnout election, Shelton won the high turnout election.
It may seem like an overstatement, but looking back to 2005 the Republican special election not only appears to be a fallacy, it appears to be nonexistent.
2006 was a very good year for Democrats who ran in supposedly Republican favored special elections.
U. S. Representative District 23 Henry Bonilla (R) - 45.71%
Ciro D. Rodriguez (D) - 54.28%
State Representative District 48 Ben Bentzin (R) - 42.38%
Donna Howard (D) - 57.61%
In 2006, Democrats won every special election they ran in with the exception of House District 29. House District 29 hasn't elected a Democrat since 2000 and no Democrat has received more than Tom Uher did in 2002 when he got 42.59% of the vote after 9/11. Before that, Uher represented a totally different district than what is now HD-29. Before the census and redistricting, Uher's district was a democratically favorable district, and since, it has been carved in a way to help elect over 100 Republicans in Texas (as was Tom DeLay's goal at the time).
You have to go back to February 2005 to see a special election contest where a Republican had a definitive win.
State Representative District 121 Paul Silbert (I) - 3.09%
Rose Spector (D) - 33.58%
Glen S. Starnes (R) - 1.38%
Joe Straus (R) - 61.93%
As Kuff wrote in 2005, House District 121 was and continues to be a Republican district. House District 121 in northeast San Antonio and stretched from Olmos Park northeast to Windcrest and north past Loop 1604.
Although Spector lost, she still did better than the Democratic challenger did against Elizabeth Ames Jones in 2000.
State Representative District 121 Elizabeth Ames Jones (R) - 68.24%
Michael G. Zapper (D) - 28.68%
J. (Jay) Moore (L) - 3.07%
While it didn't win us the seat, Democrats saw a nearly 5 point increase during the 2005 special election. In a competitive race, a 5 point swing would be the difference between victory and defeat.
In fact this phenomenon extends beyond urban districts. On February 17, 2004, Democrats were only 3.5 points away from winning the rural Senate District 1 in a special election.
State Senator, District 1 (Unexpired) Kevin Eltife (R) - 51.86%
Paul Sadler (D) - 48.13%
The truth is, Democrats do well in special elections. The reasons differ. The politics and finances differ from year to year and campaign to campaign, but the empirical data remains consistent.
As we move rapidly towards December 16, it is more important than ever for us to elect Congressman Chris Bell. The data shows it will only get harder.
(for more information about the Senate District 17 special election click here.)
The muffled drumbeat of Texas Democratic grassroots efforts is music to my ears, rising ever so faintly for the coming Municipal elections. Throughout the state, thousands of clubs are conducting candidate endorsement screenings, volunteers are gathering, and a vigorous effort to uphold nonpartisan election requirements is underway.
In Dallas, no less than 20 candidates have entered the mayoral race.
One Houston Candidate that has caught my attention lately is Melissa Noriega. Vince posted a good intro article about her over at Capitol Annex.
Melissa Noriega, who is running in the special election for Place 3 at-large on the Houston City Council (the seat vacated by Shelley Sekula-Gibbs in her run for Tom DeLay's seat) is one of those progressive candidates that deserves some notice from this blog.
Most of us are familiar with Melissa Noriega because of her tenure in the House of Representatives. She served as a State Representative while her husband, State Rep. Rick Noriega (D-Houston) was in Afghanistan in 2005 and during the Special Session last year.
The daughter of an educator and writer, Melissia Noriega has lived most of her life in Houston and graduated with a BS in Psychology from the University of Houston, where she was president of Phi Mu Fraternity, and Vice-President of the Pan-Hellenic Council. She also earned a masters in Education and Counseling from the University of Houston.
A longtime Houston ISD staffer, she has worked in the Education and Research Departments, district administrative offices and Professional Development, and Parent Involvement, Leadership and Community Engagement areas of HISD.
The Fort Bend Democrats have offered their support for Mrs. Noriega, and will be hosting a dinner in honor of her and her husband on February 16th. More Info.
But what about where you live? Do you know who the Democrats are in your municipal elections? Which one do you think is the most viable candidate, and who do you plan on voting for? Have your city clubs yet joined in beating the drums of grassroots support? Let us know about it so we can help spread the word and work to turn Texas cities blue!
November 7, December 12, December 19. Three elections, six weeks.
In that time, Democrats across the state have celebrated picking up 6 House seats, holding on to every incumbent seat, replacing Tom DeLay with Nick Lampson, and the return of Ciro Rodriguez to Congress.
Not bad for a months work, but we have one more race to watch and work on in HD-29. The Texas Democratic Party, House Democratic Campaign Committee, and our very own KT are all working tirelessly to overcome the districts red nature to elect Dr. Anthony DiNovo.
Currently there are 5 TDP staffers on the ground in HD-29 (one of which has been in the district since December 3). The other 4 staff members were reassigned once the November and December 12 congressional election passed in order to maximize the effort on the ground and elect as many Democrats as possible.
One TDP staff member has been put on the ground to work on a GOTV effort that focuses on the usually disenfranchised Hispanic community and the others have been directed to do, "whatever the campaign needs done."
With the sudden passing of Glenda Dawson, the swift turn toward this unique opportunity has been interesting to watch. The possibilities of runoffs in the 5 congressional seats gave campaigns and the party time to get resources together. Unlike those races, this came suddenly.
Because of this sudden special election, former State Representative and Democrat Tom Uher was able to recruit convince Republican Mike O'Day to enter the race. O'Day has been artful in hiding his strong conservative ideology and frame himself as a moderate.
Interestingly Matagorda has only had 436 people vote at its only early vote location and Brazoria has had nearly 2,223 voters (close to 1,200 of which have come from east Pearland).
Amber Moon, spokesperson of the TDP had this to say about the recent string of elections.
The Texas Democratic Party has been working non-stop all year long to elect more Democrats to more offices across the state, and we've seen from Democrat's electoral success on November 7th and December 12th that the hard work is paying off. The TDP is channeling that momentum into the HD-29 race because we remain committed to supporting Democratic candidates in every area of the state. The Party is proud to be involved and lend support to the Anthony DiNovo campaign.
There has already been a discussion by HDCC about what can be done to maximize the campaign efforts in a runoff. This includes the use of targeted mail, paid phoners, and other parallel campaign activities.
Watch here tomorrow for the result, but in the mean time, phonebank using True Blue Action today and tomorrow!
Here is a bit of the number crunching going on in Austin. It is important to realize that this is an uphill fight that everyone agrees must be fought.
The Numbers
There are roughly 5,800 voters in HD 29 who voted in every one of the following elections: 2005 Constitutional, 2006 General, 2006 Primary, 2004 General and 2002 General.
For simplicity sake, these are the people that will wake up tomorrow and likely vote. Of these likely voters, about 60% are Republicans and 40% Democrats.
One source close to the campaign believes that total turnout could be as high as 7,000 to 9,300 based on the special election in HD 121 and HD 48. I tend to think the number will be closer to 7,000 than 6,000 because of the need to inflate the Democratic base in order to win.
On average, Democrats in statewide elections have received around 34% in HD 29. That means the hardcore voters in the district are slightly more Democratic than average voters, but there would still be a significant partisan hill to climb.
The Pearland Factor
Pearland is the biggest and fastest growing portion of the district. Representing a quarter of the population, the percentage of vote (over half of the Brazoria County vote), Pearland cannot be ignored. New construction over the past decade added over 20,000 voters with little to no voting history and with very shallow community roots.
The Census estimates already indicate 50% growth since 2000 in the total population of Pearland.
The Matagorda Effect
In the General Elections, Matagorda County usually accounts for 11 - 25% of the vote share:
2002 - 25.9% of voters in HD29
2004 - 11.7% of voters in HD29
2006 - 21.0% of voters in HD29
Interestingly, Matagorda makes up close to 90% of the total population of voters that vote in the Democratic Party with 3,668 total votes.
The need now is to ensure that all of these voters are contacted and informed that an election is going on. As one blogger on the ground put it, "voter contact with dems is showing a very low awareness that an election is happening."
Yesterday the Texas Democratic Party had some scathing (and accurate) things to say about Congressman Henry Bonilla.
Amber Moon stated clearly:
Despite being investigated by the U.S. Justice Department for employing an illegal immigrant, Bonilla continues to give employers who hire them a free pass. Voters in Congressional District 23 deserve a Congressman who stands up for the best interest of Texas families, not a Representative who skirts the law. Henry Bonilla owes it to his constituents to explain why he is talking out of both sides of his mouth. While he says he's tough on immigration, he votes to let employers, like himself, who seek cheap and illegal labor off the hook.
Why Amber, whatever could you mean? (Beware, all materials below the fold are wonky in nature and may be dangerous for children)
Henry Bonilla wants you to forget he had his own nanny problems too.
On October 24, 1994 a national AP story titled "Texas Lawmaker Joins Huffington in Nanny Problems" had this interesting point to make:
Senate hopeful Michael Huffington of California isn't the only lawmaker with a nanny problem erupting close to Election Day. Rep. Henry Bonilla, R-Texas, also found himself fending off trouble Friday after reports surfaced that he employed an undocumented British worker as a nanny for almost seven years.
[…]
In Texas, Bonilla has been a strong supporter of beefing up the Border Patrol to combat the flow of illegal aliens into the United States. In a Feb. 18 letter published in the San Antonio Express-News, Bonilla wrote: "Illegal immigrants are a tremendous drain on our society. They use our hospitals, our schools and our social services without paying the taxes to support them. "The Justice Department in April ended without prosecution a 10-month investigation of Bonilla's employment of the British nanny. Bonilla vigorously denied any wrongdoing in employing the woman from 1986 through early 1993. But he acknowledged not paying back taxes on the nanny's wages until early 1993. He refused to divulge how much he paid, saying it was a private matter.
Bonilla's hypocrisy is well documented. This is just another example of Repulican's leading with a, "do as I say not as I do" philosophy. During that same time, Bonilla scored a 48% from Americans for Better Immigration, a 17% score from the Committee on Border Control, and countless goose eggs from the American Immigration Lawyers Associations.
(Even John Courage realizes that giving money is the most important thing we can do to help Ciro in this race! Join John, and help Ciro today! - promoted by Phillip Martin)
I want to thank you again for your generous support of my campaign for the 21st Congressional District of Texas and to ask you to make another commitment of support for my friend Democrat Ciro D. Rodriguez, currently in a runoff against Republican Henry Bonilla in the 23rd Congressional District race in South Texas.
The great nationwide Democratic Party victories in the House and Senate, as well as the governorships and legislatures of a majority of states, have given us all something to celebrate, but I want you to realize that the 2006 Congressional races are not over. Here in Texas we still have one more Republican to retire and one more great Democrat to send back to Congress.
The same August re-re-redistricting that changed my CD-21 to favor the incumbent actually put Republican Congressman Henry Bonilla of CD-23 in a more precarious position. Now Ciro Rodriguez, who ably and honorably served four terms in Congress before losing his seat in the wake of DeLay's redistricting scheme, is now on the verge of beating Bonilla in a Dec. 12 runoff and returning to Congress to truly represent the people of South Texas! But he needs our help.
While we have to first elect Ciro to Congress and then Anthony DiNovo to the State House, the third Special Election to come up will be for Todd Staples' District 3 seat in the State Senate.(There is no special election in SD-3- see comments)
He wasn't challenged by a Democrat in 2002, but his 2000 result (which included 1 county no longer in his district) was
