All the details and bluster are at www.tlcv.org/blog (and, soon, on our nifty and gorgeous new www.tlcv.org), but the news is Texas' environment won on Election Day.
26 of 34 Texas House candidates and incumbents in contested races endorsed by the Texas League of Conservation Voters PAC won Tuesday night.
2 endorsees for the Senate move forward, 1 doesn't.
11 of the PAC"s top 14 priority races were victories - including helping return leaders like Rep Vo and Rep Frost (a dam hero if you ask me) to Austin, ejecting bad incumbents like Rep Goolsby (who lied to KERA about his clean energy voting record) for good challengers like Carol Kent, and snatching open seats away from anti-conservation candidates, like Joe Moody's victory over Dee Margo.
And as discussed, very much, elsewhere, the opportunity to elect a pro-conservation House Speaker depends on a recount in Irving.
Nationally, the League of Conservation Voters helped President Elect Obama win, along with lots of pro-conservation folks to Congress, like those Udalls.
Texas voters had lots of good choices to vote for in districts across Texas, and in a whole lot of the ones where the League's PAC was active, good people were elected and re-elected. Texas air quality may still be the worst, but I'm breathing easier now.
This morning Clay Robison wrote about Senator Dan Patrick's potential anger over the possibility of being left out of the Senate Finance Committee.
"If I am not on finance (next year), I will be upset," Patrick said.
He said Harris' appointment unfairly gives the Dallas-Fort Worth area a 5-2 edge over the Houston area on the 15-member panel. And one of the Houston-area senators, Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, represents only a small part of the city. Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, also is on the committee.
San Antonio, meanwhile, has no resident on the Finance Committee, although the panel's vice chairman, Democrat Judith Zaffirini of Laredo, represents part of the Alamo City. I am sure she believes she represents the city's interests very well.
Most legislators want seats on budget-writing committees so they are well-positioned to bring home the bacon - a new wing for a university building or additional grants for the local medical school. But not Patrick. He wants to be on the finance panel, he said, to cut back on spending.
He voted against the budget drafted by the Finance Committee last year, even though the panel has a 2-1 GOP majority. The committee needs, he said, a "strong Republican voice," a comment sure to warm the hearts of several Republican budget-writers.
Oh weep.
Perhaps Senator Patrick doesn't understand how this state's representation works. Each state Senator represents about the same amount of Texans. If we're going to base appointments on the cities of the state, that disenfranchises a good million or two voters.
So what Lieutenant Governors often use is their judgement on who would best fit in each committee. For Finance, that entails the Senators with the best knowledge on how to finance the Texas Government's spending. Perhaps if Dan Patrick suggested innovations besides cutting the budget, he'd receive more consideration.
As far as a "strong Republican voice;" if Dan Patrick is the only strong Republican voice in the Texas Senate, than the state's Republican party is in more trouble than even optimistic Democrats believe.
While the "Run Chris! Run" Diaries just keep popping up (here and here and apologies to others that I might have missed), let me add another one with some optimistic numbers.
The numbers below the fold show the congressional districts within SD-17. In all 6 races in 2004, Republicans contested the seats, so the Republican values in the table are the 2004 results. However, Democrats did not contest CD-14 and for practical purposes CD-10. Richard Morrison was also under-funded in CD-22. Hence, to estimate how the Democrats might have done in 2004 had they been highly-funded (estimation denoted by *), I extrapolated the values from the Democratic 2006 percentages based upon the Republican totals.
Now that repub State Senator Kyle Janek has officially (read: finally) resigned, we've got to get down to the business of making this a competitive race where we can begin our long journey back to majority in the Texas Senate.
Regardless of when Perry calls the special election (though it will surely be November 4th), it is imperative that Texas Democrats unite behind a quality candidate from Day 1 to maximize our opportunity to pick up this seat.
From the onset of the 2006 race for Governor of Texas, I have been openly harsh and critical of Chris Bell in public and in private.
But this is a race tailor-made for Chris Bell. It plays to all of his strengths, minimizes any chance for the exploitation of his weaknesses and is the type of district and constituency where Chris Bell has a proven record of raising money, building constituencies and earning election.
No Texas Democrat is better prepared from both political and public policy ends to pick up this senate seat and serve effectively in the legislature.
Tonight the Northwest Democrats of Bexar County held a dinner to honor our three Congressmen who represent Bexar County: Charlie Gonzalez, Ciro Rodriguez, and Henry Cuellar. The first time Bexar County has had three Democratic congressmen.
The event attracted over 350 Democrats from across the city. All three Congressmen spoke at the event.
In addition to the Congressmen, both of the major candidates for the U.S. Senate were also there; Mikal Watts and Rick Noriega. In addition we had:
The Texas Senate, which was suppsed to be back hours ago to debate and finish up the budget, is still in recess. The House just passed HB 1, the budget, with 114-35.
Update: The Senate is back considering bills. Specifics in the comments.
The Texas House and Senate will debate the 2008-2009 Texas budget today. Everyone in the Capitol is aware that the budget contains bribes paid to some lawmakers for their continued support of Tom Craddick. This is beyond pork barrel politics. This is criminal. It is bribery.
The budget process has been corrupted. This is a scandal worse than Sharpstown, and there are plenty of former legislators who lost their jobs in that scandal who were not directly involved. The public paints with a very broad brush.
Members who want to vote aye on the budget are at best ignoring the crime and at worst becoming accessories to the bribery.
Yes, pork is always part of the budget process. So are favors for favors. But this time there are lists of the budget items added to the budget, above either the House or Senate versions, that amount to a handy guide to bribery. Many will wish this wasn't so. There are important items in the budget, they will argue. They must vote for those things.
But that is excuse-making. Like a witness to a crime being paid to leave town for a few days so the authorities can't find them.
The House is out of session until tomorrow morning. But let's not overlook the Texas Senate which is still plugging away. The pace is much more laid back (so typical). If you'd like to join us here tonight, this thread is for you night owls who want to watch the Senate wrap up business.
