Considering the policy's importance, I'm appalled that a Central Texas state representative does not have an opinion on water supply policy. Representative Tim Kleinschmidt, already having sold his own water rights, has made clear his opinions on his own water, but what about his constituents?
Democratic opponent Pati Jacbos hand-wrote a letter that was delivered 12 days ago:
While I am currently a candidate for the office you currently hold, today I am writing as a citizen and resident of Bastrop County. The purpose of this letter is the same as my motivation for running for public office - I am a concerned constituent of your district.
Water is very important to our district and, as I am sure you know, the latest recommended plan coming out of Region L is a 52-mile, 5 foot diameter pipeline to transport water from Lee and Bastrop counties to the San Marcos area.
As a rancher who owns and uses a shallow well, I understand that the large amounts of water proposed for transport are likely to affect my future ability to access the water under my land. I am very concerned, therefore, that such massive withdrawals of water could affect my neighbors and the surrounding rural communities.
It is for these reasons that I wholeheartedly stand opposed to the pipeline as a public policy issue which stands to disrupt the lives of our neighbors, and the economic base of our region.
I cannot find in your public statements an indication of where you stand specifically on this crucial issue. Could you tell me if you are for or against this project, and why?"
House District 17 is one in which water reclamation is on the minds of other public officials and citizens. It's also here in Central Texas, where almost every summer after summer we hear about the lack of rain. Except House District 17, which includes Bastrop but none of Austin proper, thrives a lot on ranching and farming. The need for water, therefore, might exceed even our own.
As some observers may remember, a Texas forest fire that matched those in California happened there just last year.
And Representative Kleinschmidt can't articulate a water policy? Or at least a position on the currently proposed plan? No wonder Texas Monthly listed him as Texas Lege furniture.
Ed. note: The following is one of twenty races we are featuring in the Texas Political Report. Annie's List provided research and analysis for this race.
District 17 stretches across all or part of six counties (Bastrop, Lee, Burleson, Fayette, Colorado, and part of Brazos) in between Austin, College Station, and Houston. Though a largely rural district and often strongly Republican – Obama lost with 37.5% of the vote – no Democratic State House candidate has lost this district in a mid-term election in the last 15 years. In fact, until 2008 it was represented by longtime Democratic House Member Robby Cook, who chose to retire then.
The biggest issue in the district involves water reclamation, an issue one-term representative Kleinschmidt has working against him. He’s sold off his own water rights to water hustlers, a move that plays poorly in this rural district. Jacobs has made the issue a central part of her campaign. Jacobs owns and runs a family farm, and owns and operates Bastrop Cattle Company, a grass-fed beef ranch.
Why Jacobs Could Unseat Kleinschmidt
Kleinschmidt, a one-term representative, has little to show for his time in the legislature and was dubbed "furniture" by Texas Monthly. Democrats have been strong in past off-year elections in this district. Jacobs' home county, Bastrop County, is becoming more populous as part of the Austin metro area and provides her an organizing base. Rancher and businesswoman Jacobs is a serious candidate with serious money and hard-working team with an aggressive and well mapped-out field plan to cover the large territory. This is a tough but winnable race, and Jacobs knows her stuff. Her values and positions, as well as her background, fit well with the district that’s her home.
Back in August, I wrote a blog entry about an stifling hot day when I blockwalked for Democrats running in Bastrop County, including Larry Joe Doherty, Chris Duggan and Donnie Dippel, the Democratic nominee for State Representative, District 17. The volunteers all met at a local precinct chair's house, and the candidates gave a quick pep talk before we hit the streets of Elgin. Shortly after the talk, Dippel and Duggan were good-spirited enough to pose for a photo with my OBAMA license plates, which I then posted on my blog.
Imagine my surprise yesterday when I received a scanned copy of an attack ad against Donnie Dippel, mailed out by his opponent Tim Kleinschmidt, featuring cropped-for-con artist version of my own copyrighted photo, showing only Donnie Dippel posing with my plates -- with no photo credits or permission from me.
House Speaker Tom Craddick's disastrous handling of challenges to his leadership has heightened House races across the state, including several in Central Texas. Whether voters know it or not - and certainly most don't - House races on the Nov. 4 ballot are a referendum on Craddick's heavy-handed rule.
The Austin American Statesman sums up this election cycle perfectly. Tom Craddick is a failure in leadership. As November 4 approaches, Texans have a unique opportunity to get rid of the self proclaimed dictator of the Texas House.
With the Statesman's honest assessment on Texas legislative politics, its no surprise they endorsed three qualified Democrats- Donnie Dippel, Diana Maldonado, Patrick Rose.
District 52 Though both candidates are strong, we believe Democrat Diana Maldonado would best represent the district. Maldonado is a former president of the Round Rock school board and was an employee in the state comptroller's office until she was forced to resigned to run for this seat.
Maldonado, 45, has a reputation as a budget hawk who understands accounting. And she can be counted on to be an effective voice for education issues and public schools. She supports the law that grants college admission to the top 10 percent of the graduating class in Texas high schools and wants to reconsider having the Legislature set college tuition rates.
[...]
Maldonado knows the district and has served as an effective leader in her five years on the Round Rock school board. She should be elected in District 52.
District 17
This is another open seat, left vacant when Democrat Robby Cook decided against seeking re-election. Cook won a close victory in 2006, and Republicans are campaigning hard to win the district, which covers Burleson, Lee, Bastrop, Fayette and Colorado counties.
[...]
We believe Dippel would be best for the far-flung, largely rural district.
Dippel, 57, a consultant who worked for the Texas Department of Agriculture for 14 years, opposes voucher programs for schools, selling water to buyers outside the district and the Trans-Texas Corridor. He supports more vocational education and is concerned about health care, particularly in rural areas.
The Statesman also endorsed Patrick Rose in his bid for re-election. The paper summed up Rep. Rose's legislative history.
Rose has voted his district, and his list of accomplishments includes road improvements, funding for Texas State University and support for local schools. In a district of independent-minded voters, Rose has gained their support by voting their interests, not either party's.
In the tightest open race in Texas, Democrat Donnie Dippel is trying to hold onto the race left vacant by retiring Democrat Rep. Robby Cook. Kleinschmidt narrowly lost to Cook in 2006.
For this race, we actually have several diaries from our readers that provide excellent coverage:
The long and short of the race is simple: this is a race where a considerable amount of the vote is in Bastrop County, where Democrats are well organized and poised to over-perform. The remainder of the district is, like Bastrop, very rural -- but Dippel has the expertise:
Meanwhile, long-time Fayette County rancher and ag consultant Donnie Dippel (who would the cows really support, Tim?) is running on a sound platform that speaks to the actual issues affecting working families of the 17th District: fully funding our public schools and bringing back vocational training programs(strengthening the rural labor force), support for rural health care services like CHIP and local hospitals, support for volunteer fire departments and rural law enforcement, repealing the Republican-enacted small business tax, (back to those "small town values" again) , protecting our water resources (as Kleinschmidt sells his water out of the District!) and encouraging economic development in HD-17, with it's mix of rural and exurban communities.
It is a close race because of Kleinschmidt's previous campaigning in the district in 2006 and his fundraising totals. But Dippel is running a smart campaign, and at the end of the day he has a much more concrete plan on where to get the votes to win.
Here are some other links that previous coverage of the race on Burnt Orange Report:
Democrats Diana Maldonado and Donnie Dippel received endorsements in their open races for the Texas House from the Austin American-Statesman. I'm surprised -- pleased, and surprised to see the Statesman give the nod to the two Democrats.
Maldonado, 45, has a reputation as a budget hawk who understands accounting. And she can be counted on to be an effective voice for education issues and public schools. [snip] Maldonado knows the district and has served as an effective leader in her five years on the Round Rock school board. She should be elected in District 52.
Dippel, 57, a consultant who worked for the Texas Department of Agriculture for 14 years, opposes voucher programs for schools, selling water to buyers outside the district and the Trans-Texas Corridor. He supports more vocational education and is concerned about health care, particularly in rural areas.
[Kleinschmidt] is not a sure vote against the disreputable GOP leadership in the House. Dippel wins our endorsement in District 17.
(This is a seat we need to hold. - promoted by Karl-Thomas Musselman)
While the Presidential race continues to suck a lot of the air out of the Texas political atmosphere, vitally important down-ballot races are kicking into high gear as early voting approaches. The race for HD-17 (Bastrop, Fayette, Lee, Burleson, Colorado counties)is heating up as the GOP looks to pick up the seat vacated by Robby Cook (D-Eagle Lake) and Donnie Dippel works hard to keep it in the Democratic column.
Rick Perry tool Tim Kleinschmidt has been spending gobs of PAC and lobbyist money (much of it from the likes of TLR, TX Oil and Gas PAC, and Bob Perry) trying to discredit Dippel and press hot buttons like he's done with his insidious mailers. The latest one I received (thanks, Tim!) touts his "plan to secure our borders" by spending state funds on border enforcement and requiring photo I.D. to vote. Apparently the cookie-cutters who designed his campaign neglected to tell Tim that border security is a FEDERAL issue and that photo I.D. for voting is an unconstitutional imposition akin to a poll tax.
Needless to say, Tim is not the sharpest knife in the drawer. Kleinschmidt was recently busted for paying his daughter with campaign funds in direct violation of state election laws, and also apparently tried to film his campaign commercials during a non-partisan public forum in Bastrop recently. Later that week, at another candidate forum in Colorado County (in which the parties had agreed to no candidate cameras), Kleinschmidt failed to even show up and sent a surrogate instead. Clearly he's not interested in talking about the issues, since he's apparently confused about a number of them: Kleinschmidt mentions "supporting local schools" but also supports private school vouchers (which is it, Tim?), and claims to oppose toll roads and the TTC ( a new position from 2006...) while having fundraisers hosted by the Godfathers of the Toll Road Lobby like Perry and Mike Toomey. But despite his many ties with big insurance, big oil, and various other anti-labor and anti-working family forces that have made the Capitol and Guv's Mansion their personal playground for the last 10+ years - Tim claims he's an "independent voice" for rural Texas "values" !
Meanwhile, long-time Fayette County rancher and ag consultant Donnie Dippel (who would the cows really support, Tim?) is running on a sound platform that speaks to the actual issues affecting working families of the 17th District: fully funding our public schools and bringing back vocational training programs(strengthening the rural labor force), support for rural health care services like CHIP and local hospitals, support for volunteer fire departments and rural law enforcement, repealing the Republican-enacted small business tax, (back to those "small town values" again) , protecting our water resources (as Kleinschmidt sells his water out of the District!) and encouraging economic development in HD-17, with it's mix of rural and exurban communities.
Just this past Wednesday we began looking at the enigmatic HD-17 race. Because I knew little to nothing about the race other than what I could find online and in old press clippings, I began doing some research on what is arguably is the must hold Democratic seat of 2008.
As one Democratic consultant put it, If Democrats are to have any chance of taking back the Texas House this cycle, we must hold HD 17. A loss in this rural/exurban swing district would set us back dramatically.
As I mentioned on Wednesday, two Democratic candidates are facing each other in the primary - Donnie Dippel and Latreese Cooke.
Dippel, to be sure, is not a perfect candidate. Some will certainly argue that Dippel's Democratic credentials could use some polishing. Okay, so he was hired to work at the Texas Department of Agriculture by Jim Hightower, but he also worked for Susan Combs and Rick Perry. And Dippel has a history of Republican primary voting - something that is sure to touch off the ongoing Democratic-purity vs. welcoming-new-people-to-our-party debate it seems like we're always having here at BOR and one I sometimes contribute to.
But Dippel is clearly qualified for the job. He ended his career at the Ag Department as an Assistant Commissioner, and has broad public policy experience. It also appears that he would make a strong general election opponent to Republican Tim Kleinschmidt. The Dippels have deep roots in the district, and are very active in their community. And Dippel's position on the Fayette County Farm Bureau Board ought to give him a leg-up on that key endorsement in this rural district.
Other than an eclectic voting history in a fair conservative, rural part of Texas, Dippel seems to right on most every major issue. A major example is TSTA endorsed Dippel in his race to be the nominee.
Looking into Latreese Cooke things got interesting quickly. In fact, during that same TSTA endorsement meeting, according to sources, Cooke announced she was pro-voucher. This of course made me look even more into Cooke and her background.
As one commenter pointed out, Latreese Cooke operates a non-profit called Minorities for Equality in Education, Equality, Liberty and Justice (MEEELJ). MEEELJ "serves at-risk and formerly incarcerated persons in Bastrop and Caldwell Counties, Del Valle and portions of Eastern Travis County."
In 2007, MEEELJ honored former state representative Ron Wilson at "Yesterfest" in Bastrop. At the time, Cooke wrote:
"Ron Wilson served 27 years as a Texas State Representative serving on numerous committees and being responsible for quite a number of significant legislation striving always to advance minority interests. His participation as one of the few Democrats who supported the Republican redistricting plan in order to provide an opportunity for more minority representation in the government cost him in the primary. At the time of his resignation, Mr. Wilson ranked 5th in seniority of 150 legislators. In 1997, Texas Monthly magazine named Ron Wilson 'one of the top 10 legislators' and portrayed him as 'revolutionary'. Thank you Latreese Cooke, Executive Director of MEEELJ for inviting him."
A source in the district informed of this passage and it appears it has now been removed from the website in the past week. This lead me to wonder what else Cooke may be hiding.
House District 17 is the single most interesting open seats this cycle. The Republican spin is that this is a lost cause. To those Republicans (read Hans) that want you to think Democrats should just write this one off, think about how different the 80th legislative session didn't include Joe Heflin, Juan Garcia, or Allen Vaught. Three lost cause races.
How about Dan Barrett's special election victory in House District 97 or Donna Howard's just two years earlier.
Our party has become particularly adept at targeting seats and winning hard races, and House District 17 gives us a lot to be optimistic about.
Rick Perry only received 2.4 percent more votes than Chris Bell did in HD 17.
The vast majority of local county officials are Democrats.
This is a race that can be won by Democrats with a little hard work.
The Austin American Statesman ran this brief description of who is currently running to replace Robby Cook.
In House District 17, which stretches along the Colorado River from Bastrop County to the coast, two Democrats and one Republican filed to replace retiring Rep. Robby Cook, D-Eagle Lake. The Democrats are Donnie Dippel, 57, a La Grange consultant, and Latreese Ann Cooke, an executive from Bastrop. The winner will take on Republican Tim Kleinschmidt, 51, a Giddings lawyer and rancher who lost a close race in 2006 for the same House seat.
Dippel's earlier press release states that he served as Assistant Commissioner for Pesticide Programs at the Texas Department of Agriculture for six years, and worked for fourteen years total at the TDA. He currently owns a consulting firm based in agriculture consulting and has worked to protect surface water and Texas endangered species.
Kleinschmidt ran against Cook in 2006 and lost. Other than that, there isn't much out there to easily find about him or Dippel's primary opponent Latreese Ann Cooke, but we will be looking into this race in more detail over the next week.
