(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.
The Texas Independent has reported that executives from Taxmasters, a company charged by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbot in May with illegally defrauding customers seeking help for tax problems has contributed over $160,000 to State and Federal Republican politicians and political organizations. This includes the FEC maximum of $4800 to Michael McCaul, my republican opponent for Texas Congressional District 10 this November. Mr. McCaul is using potentially illegally obtained money to influence the electorate and he should immediately return it.
The Congressional newspaper "Roll Call" has just caught Texas Congressman Michael McCaul, representing the Tenth District running from the Houston suburbs to the Austin suburbs, under reporting millions of dollars in 2008 and 2009 income and assets. Representative McCaul is the ranking Republican on the trial of Democratic Representative Charles Rangel, to be held later this month, on charges of not reporting income from a rental property.
(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.
BOR recently featured a story based on a press release from the DCCC on Mike McCaul's "Vote against the troops before Memorial Day". I asked the DCCC why they made this press release in a race about which they have been largely silent since Jack McDonald dropped out. The answer: "WE SEND THEM OUT FROM TIME TO TIME IN ANY DISTRICTS THAT WE THINK COULD BE COMPETITIVE".
On a related note: On Memorial Day, I made the Keynote speech at the Burleson County Courthouse in Caldwell, a county I might have won in '06 except for Mccaul showing up just before early voting began with a $200K Homeland Security grant for the local Volunteer Fire Department. McCaul made his speech in hard Republican Washington County. When our campaign volunteer videographer gets back from his family summer vacation, we'll be posting a video contrasting the two speeches, and superimposing how McCaul voted, just three days before his speech. The contrast will be startling. It's what makes this district competitive: McCaul says one thing and does another. I need your help to expose this to the voting public!
"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?
