Republican Rep. Debbie Riddle announced her intention to file another Voter ID bill in the 2011 session. Maybe it will include a poll tax to help fill the $18 billion budget shortfall.
The EPA is taking over permitting of some Texas manufacturing and refining plants because the state isn't doing its job to meet the Clean Air Act.
Via Quorum Report, word from Republican Party of Texas chair candidate Tom Mechler that sitting Chair Cathie Adams is running up debt at the state party.
It appeared that Adams has been misrepresenting the Party's cash on hand by treating money raised for the convention as though it were operating money. Of the $230,000 the Party has raised for the convention, only $110,000 has been paid out; the rest is already obligated, but Adams' is acting like it isn't. Furthermore, the convention is expected to cost nearly $600,000, and Adams has raised only $230,000. If she can't raise the rest in a matter of weeks, the RPT will not be less in debt, but more in debt than ever before. And it doesn't look like she will, as she's already had to cancel major fundraisers due to lack of support from big dollar donors.
Cathie Adams responded...
"Everything in that release is a lie. Mechler does not have the access to the books to be able to make those claims. It's Russ Duerstine (an SREC member) who is running his campaign and feeding him this information."
Democratic Rep. Mike Villarreal has been honored as a Man of the Year by San Antonio magazine.
The Austin Chronicle has a great, if depressing, story on the state of higher education and where UT-Austin is headed given the upcoming budget environment.
Governor Rick Perry is going to be releasing a book this fall right before the election titled "Fed Up".
A Formula One racetrack is set to come to Austin as announced today by Mayor Lee Leffingwell. The city will also host an annual race from 2012-2021 and will involve the construction of a world-class racetrack, the first to be built in the United States. The deal should provide a economic shot in the arm for the city both in the construction and racing phases to provide a unique sporting event for a unique city.
Austin Community College is going to buy a big chunk of land and space formerly occupied by Dillard's at Highland Mall in Austin. Good news if you are hoping for the mall in it's current form to die, bad news if you are hoping for the mall to be bulldozed and turned into something more useful.
CAMPOadopts their 25 year plan on a 17-2 vote which includes SH45 which was opposed by Travis County Commissioner Karen Huber and the Mayor of Sunset Valley.
The Texas Ethics Commission has issued some smart guidelines that you can truncate and link to pages that contain a full disclaimer when using online advertising. In many cases, the disclaimer text would eat up valuable characters or space. This is a good move.
Rep. Paul Moreno's sweet revenge. I love Schadenfreude.
Temporary art in Austin covers another art project that no one knows is actually an art project (aka, the blue sign things under the Lamar bridge at the river). Yarn wins.
I did not know that Bill White had a brother, that he was gay, and that he passed away in 2004.
A debate over the median Texas voter as it relates to Bill White's campaign strategy. It's right and wrong. The analysis is wrong in saying that Bill White should or would worry about his left flank as he goes after middle of the road voters- the left flank needs a win more than it needs a champion in my view. Rick Perry vs the World is right in the sense that White may have not strayed much from Barack Obama- but he's wrong in saying that this makes him a liberal. I mean, come one, Barack Obama is not a liberal champion so White's pretty in line with the middle of the road. Update: A reply to my reply to his post is now up.
Want to get 94% census participation like Yale did? Then you need to return former Austinite David Broockman to the UT campus to do it right. I guess there is value with teaching the next generation the ways of the wise when it comes to organizing. Instead, UT is sitting at around 40% in its census response rate.
More population trends by county from Charles Kuffner which of course, with the census, affect redistricting.
It's kind of like what Mike Dahmus would say about taking CapMetro Commuter Rail over the 2000 light rail plan. Sometimes taking the quarter loaf instead of holding out for the real thing, really does just make you more miserable in the long run even if you are hungry now. At this point, Austin traffic is so fucked up I'd rather just live through a little more misery now and do it right late by rejecting this sad compromise of a plan.
Outgoing UT-Austin Student Government President (and a former student of mine) Liam O'Rourke made a poor choice in vetoing an Assembly resolution in support of the Cactus Cafe... on his last day in office meaning the newly seated assembly can't simply override his veto, they'd have to draft and pass a resolution all over again. I had higher hopes for his leadership- that's disappointing.
And totally unrelated to anything in Texas politics- the 4 murderers killins America's Gayborhoods. A sneak peek- it's The Internet, Heterosexuals, Homosexuals, & the Man.
BONUS: Early Vote file just came in for Travis County. 3,001 total votes now in the Democratic runoff.
Have you voted in Sen. Kirk Watson's Monopoly Busters- Round 2? You should and can do so here. Help a deserving State Representative earn $10,000.
The Texas Tribune looks at whether we may have a redistricting compromise on the table for Texas Congressional seats. While I generally think that if we gain 4 seats breaking those apart in a 2-2 partisan split for new seats is a good start- it ignores the fact that Texas has become more Democratic over the last 10 years and the existing gerrymander needs to be updated to reflect that. After all, if Democrats win any statewide seats in 2010 I think we can lay legitimate claim to an extra congressional seat or two.
Speaking of population gain, Texas's urban areas are driving that, including 3% growth in Austin in the last year alone. And before Republicans get all hot to trot about growth in Texas being synonymous to gains for Republicans I'll direct your attention to Off the Kuff's 3-part (so far) series that details quite clearly that those fast growing urban and suburban counties are also shifting Democratic. If you don't read anything else, read these- Part 1, Part 2, & Part 3.
Swing State Project has released their first round of competitive US House Race rankings. The only Texas districts to make the list are TX-17 and TX-23 (Chet Edwards and Ciro Rodriguez) in the Lean Democratic column.
I tend to think this becomes more true every year, and in politics, it's going to be less and less of an issue in terms of the stupid things people do. Because maybe we will start realizing that we are all human after all.
The Austin Women's Political Caucus has voted to restrict their endorsements to woman only. Can you imagine the uproar if a men's caucus voted to endorse men only? It's not like the Austin Lesbian/Gay political caucus only allows endorsements of GLBT candidates or the Mexican American Democrats only Hispanics, or Black Austin Democrats only blacks. What a disappointing move that makes AWPC less relevant and denies amazing supportive candidates who happen to not have ladyparts the opportunity to seek their endorsement. Constable Bruce Elfant said it best on Facebook and the vast majority of the comments in response are in agreement.
Boris Miles appears to have officially beaten Rep. Al Edwards, again, and by 10 votes after mail ballots were counted in.
I don't expect much from Cap Metro and it's fucked up Red Line commuter rail. But I didn't expect that it might make traffic congestion worse at certain intersections where it stops. I really hope that Austinites can separate real Urban Rail when it eventually comes up for a vote from the city from this craptastic commuter rail line which probably never had a chance to work well from the get go.
New BOR Registered User poll for the 299th runoff- vote here or in the sidebar.
Rep. Mark Strama has just opened the application period for his 2010 Campaign Academy. Having been both a participant and a manager of the program, I encourage you to spread the word to your high school and college friends. More info here.
In the University of Texas Student Government runoff, Scott Parks & Muneezeh Kabir did indeed come from behind and win the President/VP spots. What's impressive is that turnout only slightly under the turnout from the first election. And on top of that, Parks & Kabir went from 42% to 55% and gained about 1000 votes while their opponents lost 400. Of note, former Mark Strama Campaign Academy graduate and former UDems President Jimmy Talarico was largely managing their campaign. Just saying.
Poor Sen. John Cornyn. He's doing a terrible job at guiding his chosen GOP Senate candidates in various US Senate contests around the country. It's basically open warfare.
Democratic State Rep. Allen Vaught will appear in the upcoming movie Green Zone.
Sen. Kip Averitt, R-Waco told voters he didn't want to be re-elected and they did anyways. So now he's going to have to resign. Special election to commence in May for the unexpired terms. To note, Averitt has not resigned yet from the general election ballot.
Bill Whitewon Montague County after all. I always figured it was just a paperwork transcription problem.
The Texas Tribune looks at how much candidates spent per vote this primary season. The most was Democrat Farouk Shami at over $135 a vote. The least was Bill Burton in his narrow loss for Land Commissioner at $0.02 a vote.
Besides being an official state holiday Texas Government Code Title 6, Subtitle B, Chapter 662, Subchapter A, Section 662.003(b)(2), today is Election Day! So if you haven't voted, check out our endorsements and get yourself to a polling booth.
Small factoid, this year's runoffs will fall on April 13th, a full 6 weeks after the primary, which is the longest gap of time possible thanks to how the calendar falls this year, today being the earliest allowable "first Tuesday after the first Monday in March". So it's like Groundhog Day, except if Rick Perry can't win without a runoff then he's doomed to 6 more weeks of campaigning without any of Farouk Shami's CHI hair care products.
Here's what else is going on today.
The University of Texas-Austin Student Government elections are also today (and tomorrow). Voting is online here. I've placed the University Democrats endorsements below the fold. Also, vote for Lauren Winchester for Daily Texan Editor. The Daily Texan offers their endorsements in UT elections here. Also, UT students should vote FOR the Green Fund ballot initiative.
Turnoutis light so far in North Texas, but it is early. Parker County thinks there will be high turnout in general given that their early vote is more than the total votes cast in 2006.
GOP and Dem leaders share their thoughts on today's Texas primary over at Politico.
In any case, Early Vote numbers are indeed up over 2006 for Democrats. For Republicans, they may exceed the turnout in the 2008 primary (not that it was competitive in Texas for them).
