The next few days are going to be a remarkable moment in American history. There are increasing signs that a new tone in Washington DC is being ushered in--one built on bi-partisan cooperation between two Party's in order to meet the challenges that our nation faces.
Most Democrats and Republicans are marching to this new tune in DC, all except for the one we have come to know simply as "Big John." Yes folks, it would seem that Big John is desperately trying to make himself relevant by potentially delaying the appointment of Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State. This from Politico:
Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn, the incoming head of the GOP's Senate campaign committee, has penned a letter to the incoming SoS saying he's "deeply troubled that America's foreign policy and your diplomatic mission will be encumbered by the sweeping global activities of the Clinton Foundation."
Word in Washington is that Cornyn could object to a unanimous consent motion, which would delay Clinton's ascension to SOS by one day. That might not seem like much of a big deal, but what I take issue with is the incredible hypocrisy displayed by the increasingly irrelevant Big John.
Cornyn has apparently forgot about his own questionable ties to super global lobbyist Stephen Payne, a man who makes buckets of money off of allegedly ensuring individuals from foreign countries, some with questionable alliances, have access to influential figures in DC. You may recall that the Times of London ran a video of Payne suggesting to a Kazakhstan politician he can get him access to Vice President Cheney in return for a contribution to the Bush Institution of Re-Education on the Bush Presidency-better known as the Bush Library at SMU. The Houston Chronicle ran an interesting piece on Payne's questionable dealings too.
Globetrotter Payne ensured that he greased the wheels of Big John's Senate Re-Election campaign this past fall to the tune of thousands of dollars. Apparently Big John wasn't at all troubled that America's foreign policy or any diplomatic missions might be encumbered by Mr. Payne's sweeping global lobbyist activities. Bummer. I wish Senator Cornyn had held the same standards then that he claims to hold now.
Big John campaigned on changing the tone in Washington DC but it would appear he is interested in keeping the same partisan tune playing over and over again.
Do us all a favor Big John and dispense with the hypocrisy and allow Secretary of State-designee Hillary Clinton to get to work for the good of the nation. Your grandstanding is equivalent to pathetic.
Key Point: Legal standards for counting votes must be uniform across all voting systems. That is the legal argument that Democrats are making, and that is what the Secretary of State does not want to accept.
The Texas Democratic Party filed suit in federal court today to determine what the legal procedures are for counting ballots using different voting systems. From Chairman Richie's press release:
As a result of their partisan intervention in the HD 105 election, the Secretary of State’s office has forced the Dallas County Elections Office to change the election rules in the middle of the game, ignoring Department of Justice requirements that demand pre-clearance for changes.
Republicans on this site and others will claim that this is all about jockeying for whether or not a Democrat is elected from HD 105. Nope. As I wrote about last week, legal standards for vote counting must be uniform:
The Secretary of State is trying to uphold different legal standards for counting paper ballots vs. electronic ballots. Any vote, cast in any form and tallied by any voting system, should be counted the same way. That's state law, that's common sense -- and that's at the heart of what Democrats are fighting for in the recount. [...]
The "de-selection" of an electronic vote is not the same as a "cross over" vote -- plain and simple. The Secretary of State wrote a memo that tries to argue otherwise -- on Thursday. Not before the election started, or even as votes were being cast. This new and magical ruling that suddenly allows "de-selected" votes to be thrown out came out after the fact.
The recount started this morning because the District Court judge believed he did not have the authority to rule on the issue; however, he stated he was willing to consider it if he was granted authority to rule.
Is there a short-term fight? Of course. A 75-75 split in the Texas House is much more beneficial for Texas Democrats than it is for Texas Republicans. But beyond that is the bigger issue -- the processes of how we conduct our elections.
The Texas Democratic Party is fighting -- with every power granted to them through our state and federal constitution -- to ensure every Texan has their vote counted. The Republican Secretary of State is trying to change the rules in the middle of the game to protect their own power.
One party is trying to skirt the law; the other is fighting to uphold it.
One of Perry's top cronies, a Republican political operative named Phil Wilson, was working on the Governor's official staff while pocketing a little extra money on the side from a group called TexasOne. In addition to peddling Rick Perry's political agenda, Wilson was paid by TexasOne to wine and dine big corporate players at sporting events and fancy steakhouses, all in the name of bringing economic investment to Texas.
According to the Dallas Morning News, the same day that Gov. Rick Perry named Wilson Texas Secretary of State, he received an $80,000 check from TexasOne – the nonprofit economic development organization that he managed as the governor's deputy chief of staff. Yet another example of clear-cut cronyism from the self-righteous Republican Party.
It looks like this fund is functioning as a slush fund to reward staff," said Craig McDonald, director of Texans for Public Justice, which tracks the influence of money in state politics. "It's just another pot for the governor to play with.
Now the Democratic Party of Texas is asking a simple question, have you wanted a “job” where you could go to the Super Bowl, fly around in chartered helicopters, stay at the finest resorts, and receive an $80,000 parting gift when you quit? Good news-a job like that just opened up, and if you have the right stuff, you just might land a position as Rick Perry's newest crony.
Texas Democratic Party will deliver your crony job application, signed only with your first name and hometown, to Rick Perry's office. Who knows--you just might end up with the cushiest part-time job in Texas!
It will be good to see if the party will take this application and story on the road per say. Reaching out and doing blog posts across the country and state talking about how corrupt our Republican “leaders” have become in Texas.
Phil Wilson is bad for Texas. Instead of doing what is right, Rick Perry continues to put personal loyalty over good public policy. Republicans continue to do what is best for their pockets and not fulfill the needs of people like you and me.
Have some fun, fill out the application and watch what happens when 100’s or 1,000’s of applications hit the Governor’s desk.
Earlier this year, the Texas Democraric Party sued then-Secretary of State Roger Williams in his capacity as the state's chief election officer, alleging that the eSlate touch-screen voting machines manufactured by Hart InterCvic and certified by the Secretary of State were defective and inaccurately tallied voters' intentions, depriving them of their voting rights as protected by the U.S. Constitution. Specifically, the suit alleged that the machines mis-counted so-called "emphasis votes." (For more on "emphasis voting," check after the jump.)
Yesterday, federal ditrict judge Sam Sparks granted summary judgment and dismissed the lawsuit. Chad Dunn, the TDP's General Counsel and the lead lawyer for the plaintiffs, had this to say:
“We’re disappointed in the judge’s opinion. We’re taking the time to analyze it thoroughly and we’re considering our options on how to proceed. The Texas Democratic Party continues to believe that the eSlate machine fails to record the intent of voters in a significant number of instances.”
The bottom line is this: the eSlate STILL inaccurately counts certain straight-ticket votes, but neither the courts nor the Secretary of State will, for now, do anything about it.
The frustrating part of this is, this problem with the eSlate machines would be relatively easy to fix. A little reprogramming, some clearer instructions on the touch screen, and a voter education campaign (read: new Secretary of State Phil Wilson doing a media flya-around before the next election) and -- poof! -- the problem is gone. But, if the Secretary of State will certify its machines despite their defects, and the Attorney General will argue that inaccurate vote counts do not have an constitutional significance, why should Hart do the right thing?
Last week, I wrote about the study ordered by California Secretary of State Debra Bowen, taking the various voting systems in use in California and examining their security. She examined both DRE and optical scan systems manufactured by Diebold, ES&S. Hart Intercivic and Sequoioa, and determined that all had weaknesses in their security which, unless addressed, could allow hackers to alter vote totals, violate the privacy of individual voters and delete audit trails, all without being detected during or afterwards.
On August 3, she dropped the hammer. She kicked one verdor out and gave the others 45 days to improve the security of both their source code and their handling protocols for the technology. Her order affects voting technologies made by Diebold, ED&S and Hart InterCivic which are ubiquitous in Texas.
Based on Bowen's action, Kentucky Attorney General Greg Stumbo has called for a review of voting systems in that state. But no word yet from our Secretary of State. Phil, what's up?
According to the Statesman, Rick Perry will name his Deputy Chief of Staff, Phil Wilson, Secretary of State.
Roger Williams announced his resignation Sunday June 10 and speculation has been swirling as to Williams replacement.
Wilson watches over the $200 million Emerging Technology Fund and the $185 million Texas Enterprise Fund to recruit business to the state. On his watch, the governor's office says, Texas has leveraged $10 billion in capital investment and 45,000 jobs.
Early this year, he was Perry's point man on a failed legislative proposal to sell the state lottery and invest the proceeds in endowments for public schools, health care and cancer research.
Wilson worked previously as state director for former U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, and as director of communications for Charles Matthews, then a member of the Texas Railroad Commission.
Wilson has publicly stated he will not take a stand on the Republican voter suppression strategy of requiring multiple ID's in order to vote.
Wilson believes that it would not be his role as secretary to take a position on identification proposals.
The jury is still out on Wilson and we will have more as the story develops.
(Sec. of State williams has close ties to the Republican political establishment as high up as Bush Jr. As of January, he has an office holder account with nearly $200,000 that doesn't stay with the office. This is a man we need to keep our eye on. - promoted by Matt Glazer)
Texas Secretary of State Roger Williams is going to resign, CBS 42 learned exclusively Sunday night.
The official announcement is set for Monday morning.
Williams' communication director Scott Haywood says the secretary is leaving office to pursue other opportunities.
