(I'll be posting Joaquin Casto's list of Austin supporters here shortly. It's only fair that both campaigns battling each other over a Congressional District that's not going to exist in 2 weeks have their equal time on the front page. - promoted by Karl-Thomas Musselman)
We now also know that Joaquin Castro is raking in a lot of money from traditionally Republican donors. Of course, in the past he's accepted checks from Altria (Big Tobacco), J.P. Morgan Chase, and Wal-Mart. But now, in his race to unseat progressive champion Lloyd Doggett, deep-pocketed GOP donors are throwing their $$$ at Castro. And he’s accepting it.
Castro’s Republican donations have been talked about in a San Antonio blog (http://plazadearmastx.com/index.php/politics/98-news/1536-castro-and-doggett-battle-for-fundraising-dollars) that said: Castro did receive $5,000 from Lionel Sosa, a prominent GOP advertising consultant who’s worked for Republican presidential candidates ranging from Ronald Reagan to John McCain, and $500 from District 8 Councilman Reed Williams, a declared Republican. But neither of those contributions came out of the blue. Sosa served as treasurer for the 2005 mayoral campaign of Castro’s brother, Mayor Julián Castro, and Williams has worked closely with the mayor over the last two-and-a-half years.
Castro also received more than $25,000 from political action committees, much of it from groups that skew conservative. Valero Energy Corporation PAC gave his campaign $5,000 and NuStar chipped in $2,500. Over the last decade, Valero has contributed $17,500 to the Americans for a Republican Majority PAC. They’ve donated $59,000 to Texas Republican Congressman Joe Barton, $45,500 to former Republican Congressman Henry Bonilla, and $7,000 to GOP presidential candidate – and Tea Party favorite – Michele Bachmann.
It also comes up in a lot of the discussion of this race here at BOR. Although it is easy enough, nobody’s shown the who and where of this Republican giving. Who are those staunch Republicans who oppose our values but are voting with their money on Castro?
Over 50 separate donors, who have given to Castro in just this last three-month reporting period, have also given to Republicans. How much? These donors have given over $3.5 million to Republicans since 2006. They’ve also given over $800k to Governor Rick Perry. They’ve funded Eric Cantor’s leadership PAC, Senator John Cornyn, the RNC, the RNCC, unsuccessful presidential candidate John McCain, and a host of other hardcore Republicans working to undermine progressives. Add Joaquin Castro to these efforts.
Here are just a few of the more prominent names among the 50 that are recognized as being big Republican donors and what they’ve given to Republicans since 2006:
John Hurd- $65,000
Lloyd Denton- $64,000
Alan Dreeben- $259,000
Peter and Julianna Holt -Together, they’ve given over $1.5 million dollars!
Red McCombs- $521,000
H..B. Zachry- $117,000
William Kaufman- $24,000
50 folks. That’s a lot of people. Just a coincidence? Hardly.
In one of the articles I mentioned above, it’s noted that these folks are business people and business people tend to be Republicans. They argue that Julian Castro has done a good job of convincing the business community that the Castros are middle of the road people.
Some (Joaquin Castro among them) would have us believe that the problem right now is refusing to meet Republicans half way. Ridiculous! Jim Hightower got it right: There’s nothing in the middle of the road except yellow stripes and dead armadillos.
I don’t want a so-called middle of the road person, who can smile and take these fat cat GOP donors' money, representing me in Congress. The dialogue in Washington has shifted so far right that the middle of the road is tax cuts for millionaires and job losses for teachers. It’s cutting Social Security and slashing our investment in our roads and schools. I don’t want someone representing me that wants to make nice with the intransigent, middle class-killing Republicans. I want someone who stands up and fights Republicans, not someone who lines his pockets with their lucre.
Giving Castro their money (and his acceptance of it) is just is another way Republicans are trying to get rid of Lloyd Doggett. Remember the memo from Tom DeLay’s staff in 2003 that said “A map that returns Frost, Edwards, and Doggett is unacceptable and not worth all the time invested into this project”? That map became law and Doggett is now the last targeted Dem left standing. He ran and won in a district that went to McAllen. Now, Republican mapmakers, with the help of Castro, have drawn a district that links San Antonio to Austin (and is anchored in San Antonio) (http://www.burntorangereport.com/diary/11458/why-i-am-now-even-more-dogged-for-doggett). Republicans have not given up on targeting Lloyd. A Democrat should not be helping Republicans do it.
I don’t want these Republicans influencing a Democratic primary. I don’t want anybody who shakes their hands, headlines their names on his fundraiser invites, and then pockets their money, winning the Democratic primary and being the Democratic nominee for Congress. Joaquin Joaquin, why don't give the money from the donors I listed back to them, and state that you don't share their values? That’s true, isn’t it?
Following is the text of a fax I just sent to the office of my Congressman, Michael McCaul:
January 29, 2009
BY FAX: 202-225-5955
Congressman Mike McCaul
United States House of Representatives
131 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC
Dear Congressman McCaul,
As constituents and voters, we are expressing our dissatisfaction with your vote against the economic stimulus package. Making the unanimous Republican vote obviously partisan is the ludicrous proposal by the House Republicans of trying to stimulate the economy with nothing but tax cuts.
Speaking as a business owner and successful investor and as a family who has paid ample local, state and federal taxes, being over-taxed is not the problem. People are losing their jobs. People are losing their investments and their homes. People are losing their capital that in better times might be invested with a certain amount of tax incentive. This is not such a time.
Stop playing partisan games while the country is going down the drain. Your actions and your fellow partisans' actions are outrageous and disgraceful.
Joining me in signing are my wife and son. All of us are registered voters in District 10.
After a few weeks of a fairly quiet blog, the recently voted down bailout bill has finally reawakened the sleeping giant and actually spawned a few fights.
While there are very spirited differences and passionate arguments on both sides, there are some important facts to consider as we approach the arrival and vote on the "new and improved" bailout bill.
Keep in mind that the defeated bill did absolutely nothing to improve the fundamental issues in our economy. And, in all honesty, would have exacerbated our long term economic problems by adding to the national debt requiring additional debt service and missed opportunities to invest in our infrastructure and our future.
It was literally a bailout...not the broad-based economic recovery plan that we need to get the economy back on the right track.
Had this bad deal passed, we would be ANOTHER $1 trillion in debt and not have changed the game...just bailed out 5 companies whose leadership took $3 billion over the last 5 years while running them into the ground.
What happens on Wall Street impacts us on Main Street, but Wall Street created this problem and Wall Street profited from this problem.
I don't remember a bailout bill for Pets.com, GovWorks.com, and every other failed dot com. Investors abandoned common sense and established business practices and lost a lot of folks a lot of money. The market corrected, the bad actors were dealt with and our economy moved on. We need more of the same.
Larry Joe Doherty, Democratic Nominee for Congressional District 10 of TX, speaking July 21st, 6pm-8pm, Travis County Democratic Issues/Policy Meet-Up
What: We'll network and present the issues and policies important to Travis County, important to TX, including Barack Obama's policy. We'll share, learn, frame, and market the issues. 1st hour is "Democratic Citizen Communication" where you present your issues important to you as a Democrat! 2nd hour Larry Joe is speaking about Veteran's issues and other issues important in his Congressional race!
When: Mon., July 21st, 6:00pm-8:00pm
Where: Travis County Democratic Party Coordinated Campaign Headquarters, 1107 N. I 35, Austin, TX (next door to CVS, in old Safeway Building at 12th and I-35)
Who: Anyone interested in networking with fun, cool, energizing, like-minded Democrats, and learning about the policies and issues important to our city, our state, and our nation heading into the November TX elections. 1st hour is a "Democratic Party Town Hall Meeting".
Cost: FREE
You're welcome to bring food/drinks to share and bring your laptop (Laptop not mandatory).
Best,
David Kobierowski
Travis County Democratic Party Issues Committee Chair
512-413-0286
Cleanair999@yahoo.com
Last week I posted a request on Burnt Orange asking for someone to step-up to run as a write-in candidate against Lamar Smith, US Congress District 21 in the Nov. election.
While attending the Lake Travis Democrats Pre-July 4th picnic, I ran into Trooper Keeton, cousin of Carole Keeton Strayhorn,
Trooper Keeton has agreed to run as a write-in candidate against Lamar Smith!
Please reach out to Trooper and support him in his effort. His contact info is listed at this Real Estate page, http://www.incredibleagents.co...
The interesting play here is since Trooper is related to Scott McClellan, and y'all know how Scott was treated recently by Lamar Smith during Judiciary Committe hearings at the Capitol, http://www.politico.com/blogs/... I'd expect Scott and family to support Trooper in his effort.
We're actively seeking "nominations" for a write-in candidate to compete against Lamar Smith (R) for Congressional District 21, US Congress. (District 21 includes part of Travis, Blanco, Kendall, Comal, Bandera, Kerr, Real...)
Regardless of anyone's opinions of the 2006 election cycle, a phrase that the Democrats' Gubernatorial Candidate often used seemed to stick in the memories of many. Personally, it was my favorite line of the cycle.
"Thank God for Mississippi."
I cannot be sure if Mississippi is worse than Texas on poverty issues, but the point of the statement was to highlight the failures of our Republican leaders to help Texans.
Texas has many claims to fame and much to recommend it. But among the Lone Star State's shames is its residents' high rate of poverty and the deprivations - from hunger to illiteracy to a lack of adequate health care - that go along with being poor. But rather than working in Congress to lift impoverished Texans into the middle class, the members of the Texas delegation in Congress were among the nation's least likely to support anti-poverty programs.
Every member, except Nick Lampson, of the Texas Democratic Congressional delegation receives an A+ (that means 100 percent). And Mr. Lampson, who is fighting for his life in a very Republican district, still received a B.
On the other side of the aisle, the highest Republican grade was a D (including both of our Senators).
Four Texas Republicans received an F-, meaning they voted for NONE of the proposals to help poverty. These disgraceful congressmen are Sam Johnson, Jeb Hensarling, John Culberson, and Randy Neugebauer.
Senator John Cornyn, up for reelection, received a D -- voting for only 21 percent of the studied measures. Today he is speaking at the University of Texas about his new high stance on Darfur. I am glad that Senator Cornyn for finally seeing the light on Sudan, but he remains hypocritical as the Sudanese are the only people in dire need he wishes to help. What about those Texans in dire need? They deserve help, too.
(While Grant has garnered more endorsements, Doherty has a wide lead in fundraising. This will be definitely be a race to watch. Here, Grant adds another impressive endorsement. - promoted by David Mauro)
State Representative Senfronia Thompson, the dean of women lawmakers at the Texas Capitol and one of the state's leading champions for civil rights, today endorsed Dan Grant in his race for the Democratic nomination for Congressional District 10, saying that Washington needs a fresh voice to help strengthen economic security for middle-class families, end the war in Iraq, and restore protections for consumers, children, senior citizens, and other ordinary Texans whose values have been largely overlooked by the current administration.
"Dan is the best candidate to get the job done in Washington," Rep. Thompson said. "His vision is broad enough to encompass the entire district, and he has the energy and expertise to represent us all, from Northwest Austin to Northwest Houston."
I come from a union family, so it has been a source of disappointment for me to observe the decline in union membership that's been underway for some time. There's a new bill up for consideration in the House which makes it easier for workers to unionize, and it is meeting expected resistance from business interests.
