Bio:
Katherine Haenschen is an organizer, activist, and blogger in Austin, Texas, where she has managed successful candidate, issue, voter registration, and GOTV campaigns. She is active with Democratic clubs and NARAL TX, and is UCONN's #1 fan in Texas.
Today is the last date to vote early in the 2012 primary. If you haven't voted yet, go today. If you are here in Travis County, check out our map of locations below.
Remember: only the Travis County Clerk's office at 5501 Airport Blvd. is open until 7:00 p.m. tonight. Most other Early Voting locations close at 6:00 p.m.
Well, with election news coming fast and furious, it's time for another update.
Vote for A Texan: Joaquin Castro, Nick Lampson, and Pete Gallego are in a contest with other DCCC candidates to win a fundraising email. Vote for them here. The winner gets a sweet fundraising email.
Ron-Paul-Supporting SuperPAC supporting... Michael Cargill? Yes, the crazy gun nut in the Democratic primary for Travis County Constable in Precinct 2 has picked up support from the "Liberty for All" SuperPAC. The SuperPAC was started by John Ramsey, a 21-year-old college student from Nacogdoches, and apparently has substantial cash in it -- they spent a half-million in a Kentucky Congressional race and won an open primary. Yikes.
CD-21: Some of the Anti-SOPA folks have organized to buy a billboard outside of Internet freedom-hater Lamar Smith's office, which reads "Don't mess with the Internet." There is also a kick-ass tee-shirt.
CD-23: The national League of Conservation Voters is going hard against Ciro Rodriguez in the CD-23 primary. First they spent $95,296 on a mail program, and now they're spending $100,000 on TV. Here's the ad:
Harris County Board of Education: Diane Trautman was endorsed by Democracy for America. Trautman previously ran for Harris County Tax Assessor Collector.
SD-11: Democratic donor Steve Mostyn has donated $275,000 to one of Larry Taylor's Republican primary opponents, Dave Norman, in the open race for SD-11. No surprise, since Larry Taylor's main funders are Texans for Lawsuit Reform, who have given Taylor $800,000. Taylor is basically a wholly paid subsidiary of TLR, as he helps the group their efforts to fight consumer-focused insurance reform, gauge insurance purchasers, and not pay insurance claims. While it may be surprising, remember that given our gerrymandered state and basic lack of competitive general election districts, often the only way to get rid of bad Republicans is to knock them out in the primaries. The Texas Tribune has more.
Do This Thing: Last reminder, go vote in the DCCC contest!
Lots of press releases and news stories coming in with election day only one week away.
Democratic Primary:
CD-33: Tensions have flared in the Metroplex after former State Rep. Domingo Garcia attacked State Rep. Marc Veasey and former Congressman Martin Frost for conducting a press conference with men and women who work at the General Motors assembly plant in Arlington. Garcia accused Veasey of standing with "Wall Street Corporations," while Veasey and other Metroplex media organizations have pushed back against Garcia for attacking a major area employer. Today, Veasey sent out a release asking his opponent to stop mudlinging and focus on educational opportunities:
"Working families in North Texas have neither the time nor the desire to wade through all this mudslinging," said Veasey. "Schools in DFW are literally closing down, the ladders of education opportunity are being pulled out from under our children. I would rather talk about how we reverse course and focus on improving our schools rather than engaging in petty political attacks."
US Senate: In the UT/TT poll released yesterday, Paul Sadler led the field with 29%. Sean Hubbard came in second with 25%. Addie Allen had 19% and Grady Yarborough had 11%. 15% said they don't know. Results here.
HD-90: Lon Burnam's campaign is touting a poll showing him with a 54%-27% lead over challenger Carlos Vasquez. The poll was conducted by Jeff Smith of Opinion Analysts. Vasquez seems to be coming apart on the trail in the last few weeks of campaigning as he has lashed out at Burnam and apparently exhibited some odd behavior at candidate forums.
HCDP: At the Harris County Democratic Party's BBQ event last weekend, attendees participated in a straw poll in a wide range of races, from President to County Chair. Click here to see the results!
SD-14: Not really primary news, but congrats to Preston Watson, son of Senator Kirk Watson, who graduated from UT last weekend with a degree in history.
Additionally, all candidates on the ballot would like to urge you to vote early this week. Early voting ends Friday. Election Day is next Tuesday, but since it's right after the three-day Memorial Day weekend, you might forget. Vote now!
Republican Primary:
There's lots of muck on the other side of the aisle and plenty of money to sling it with.
US Senate: Sarah Palin endorsed Ted Cruz, then apparently sent a robo-call to voters in Florida and Kansas to tell them about it. Ah, it makes me think back to four years ago, when Republicans -- or at least the one they nominated for the Presidency -- wanted her to be one heartbeat from the Oval Office.
Railroad Commissioner: Roland "Don't Pee on the Electric Fence" Sledge claims to have earned the endorsement of primary opponent Beryl Burgess, which should certainly shake up the race. Sledge is also touting a long list of conservative blog endorsements. Pfft. Blog endorsements.
CD-4: The Campaign for Primary Accountability is spending $100K on mail, TV, and radio against Ralph Hall in the 4th district. Hall has two challengers, Steve Clark and Lou Gigliotti. Will it be enough to force a run-off or unseat the incumbent?
HD-19: Republicans James White and Mike "Tuffy" Hamilton were paired together in redistricting and are now fighting a brutal primary against each other. Last Friday, Hamilton released records showing that White was "admonished for inappropriate sexual references" while he was a teacher at Livingston HS. He was reprimanded and later resigned. From Quorum Report:
According to the documents obtained by the Hamilton Campaign through Open Records requests, White was first notified of the student and parent complaints in August of 2006. Both he and the principal of Livingston HS signed a letter documenting their conversation about his behavior that resulted in student complaints including, "What is more intimate... sharing your credit scores or having sexual intercourse." And "other comments such as 'girls are used as a utility for guys.'"
"Further discussion took place in regard to student/parent complaints about comments such as 'after a man and a woman have sex... then their undergarments are mixed together in the same washing machine."
In his response, White called the attacks a "desperate lie."
White, the African-American Tea Partier, is considered the favorite over Hamilton. It kind of cracks me up that Tea Party wackos are about to elect someone who lost their job for making inappropriate sexual comments about large household appliances.
Referendum on Hawaii Statehood: In case you missed it, BOR PAC released a poll of likely Republican primary voters, which asked them if they believe the President was born in the United States. 60% said no. 21% "aren't sure." And these are the folks who are deciding the eventual winners in our statewide races. Yikes.
Miscellaneous:
PACS, Man! The Texas Tribune put together a really handy interactive guide to the various PACs that have endorsed. Scariest is probably the YCT's endorsing in SBOE races. That can't end well. And by "well," I mean "with educated Texans." But hey, all the better for the YCT membership drive, I suppose.
As the acrimonious race for Travis County District Attorney heads to the finish line, the campaigns of incumbent Rosemary Lehmberg and challenger Charlie Baird seem determined to illustrate whether or not each candidate possesses the discretion and temperament required for the job as our county's top prosecutor. With the start of early voting last week, Baird's campaign has gone extremely negative with a series of live phone calls that verge on a push poll -- according to the Austin Chronicle, three separate voters reported receiving calls asking what they would think if they knew Lehmberg had taken money from people in return for not prosecuting them, i.e. did she take bribes. Baird claims it wasn't a push poll and that the callers are remembering it incorrectly.
Lehmberg's campaign has pushed back against Baird's accusations in an ad in this week's Chronicle that states, "Charlie Baird has sent out 2 dishonest pieces of mail... Baird has no factual basis for any of the charges he has made. A District Attorney has to make decisions based on real facts, not what serves his political interest. Charlie Baird is rapidly proving he is judgmentally unfit to be District Attorney." Lehmberg's response points to an issue that has long simmered in the DA's race: whether Baird has the temperament and discretion to handle the role of Travis County's top prosecutor.
The role of district attorney is a challenging balance between making sure that county prosecutors have enough to convict violent offenders while also looking for ways to rehabilitate people and prevent recidivism (and hopefully not clogging up our criminal justice system and jails with minor drug offenders). Baird has largely been running on the need to make justice work for "everyone," tied to his reputation as a staunch advocate for defendants' rights.
However, Baird's own record on the 299th District Court, one of Travis County's felony courts, suggests that this advocacy manifested itself into an alarming tendency to put serious, violent offenders back out on the streets via personal bonds.
Before we get into why this matters, some explanation is in order. Defense attorneys can seek a personal bond, or PR (personal recognizance) bond, which gets the defendant out of jail until their trial without paying their bail. Before a judge grants a PR bond, the Pretrial Review Services review department looks at the defendant's past criminal record and recommends whether the judge should grant the PR bond or not. Factors include past criminal history -- a defendant with no prior arrests, no violent offenses, or small drug charges is likely to be recommended for a PR bond. However, a person with a history of arrests or violent crimes is likely to be recommended against.
In his four years on the 299th District Court, Baird led our district courts -- felony and misdemeanor courts alike -- in his granting of PR bonds against the wishes of pre-trail services, by an overwhelming margin. His record amongst felony judges is even more alarming. Several of the people Baird released would go on to commit additional crimes that could have potentially been prevented with a more judicious use of PR bonds by Baird.
PR Bonds approved by Travis County's state District Court felony benches after initial "no" recommendation by Pretrial Services, FY 2009
Wilford Flowers:
26
Mike Lynch:
66
Charlie Baird:
408
Bob Perkins:
42
Julie Kocurek:
35
Brenda Kennedy:
11
Melissa Goodwin / Jim Coronado:
61
District Court Magistrate:
76
A study by the Austin American-Statesman of fiscal year 2009 demonstrates the discrepancy between Baird and the rest of our felony benches here in Travis County. The chart reproduced at right accompanied a lengthy article about Baird's use of PR bonds.
There are plenty of folks who would argue that this was the right decision by Baird, that too many people are in jail, it costs us money, etc. But remember that this is a felony bench where judges heard cases involving murder, rape, kidnapping, aggravated assault, arson, fraud, grand larceny, and other serious offenses. This isn't Baird putting a bunch of dope smokers or frat boys accused of public intoxication back out on the streets. This is Baird deciding that people who plead guilty to armed bank robbery are perfectly safe to be walking our streets.
A search through the archives of the Austin American-Statesman brings up dozens of cases in which Baird actively chose to personal bond violent felons, many of whom went on to commit further crimes while back on the streets thanks to Baird. He gave other serious criminals -- people charged with sexual assault of a child, armed robbery and homicide -- the lightest sentence allowable by law.
Learn more about several specific cases below the jump.
Believe it or not, an end is in sight for the primary season that has been dragging on since last June, when candidates started filing, soliciting support, friending you on Facebook, etc. Our primary candidates got a lot more than they bargained for in the three-month election delay caused by Greg Abbott and the Republicans in the legislature due to their redistricting over-reach. Thanks to all of them for hanging in there and gamely campaigning on, and a special shout-out to the families, co-workers, and friends of the candidates themselves (and their doting staffers) who have put up with this much more than any of them might have imagined!
In any case, Early Voting is going on this week and ends Friday. My colleague Karl-Thomas prepared this handy GoogleMap of early voting locations in Travis County, so find one near you and get to it.
Here's a quick round-up of all of the endorsements meted out this year. Information was culled from candidates' websites and organizations' websites and Facebook pages. Some are incomplete due to the organizations' lack of websites, Facebook pages, or external communication. Fill in the blanks in the comments and I will happily update.
What do these abbreviations mean? DNE: Did not endorse. Some clubs don't endorse in races that aren't in their geographic purview (Circle C, WAD, etc.)
n/a: No endorsement, usually because a candidate failed to meet a threshold within a group for endorsement.
Blank spaces: I can't find a full list an organization's endorsement, or cannot get confirmation that a specific race was not considered OR no candidate met the endorsement requirements.
We have a stellar crop of Democrats running for Congress here in Texas. From newly created Democratic districts to swing seats that can turn blue this November, we've got strong, progressive advocates for our values on the ballot across the state. Last weekend, we endorsed in 10 of our Congressional primaries here in Texas, urging voters to support the candidates who we feel will best represent their districts -- and our progressive, Democratic values -- in Congress. Now, these candidates need your help to win their primaries.
Marc Veasey, CD-33: This distinguished legislator has fought for education and voting rights in the State House, and is the best choice to represent the new minority-opportunity district in the Metroplex.
Taj Clayton, CD-30: This inspiring young leader wants to bring new opportunities to this south Dallas County district so that all kids can have the same chances he did. He is an exciting breath of fresh air in this district.
Pete Gallego, CD-23: Gallego, a long-term legislator representing a sprawling west Texas district, is running to take on Republican Quico Canseco this November. Gallego is the strongest candidate in the primary and the best choice to pick up this swing district for the Democrats.
Nick Lampson, CD-14: This distinguished statesman has already served most of this southeast Texas district, and is the only Democrat who can win this open seat. Support him today and help him run hard all the way through November.
Lloyd Doggett, CD-35: This long-time progressive hero is running hard in a new district designed specifically to draw him out of Congress. He's always had our back on issues that matter to progressive Texans, so stand with Doggett now and help send him back to D.C.
Silvestre Reyes: This El Paso public servant is a leader on veteran's issues and works hard to deliver for his district. Help him win a tough primary battle.
Candace Duval: This young woman is running a spirited campaign, and is the best choice to take on Lamar Smith in the fall. She's better suited to capitalizing on the anti-SOPA fervor that surrounds the incumbent. Support her today.
KP George: George is a Democrat with an inspiring life story, running to prevent a LaRouchie from making the ballot on the Democratic ticket. He needs your support to spread the word about his own qualifications and his crazy opponent.
Joaquin Castro, CD-20: Last but certainly not least, Castro is already a star in the Texas Democratic Party and the kind of leader we need to turn this state blue. Support him today!
May of our endorsed candidates have already been working hard for you in the State House or in Washington D.C., advocating for improved access to education and affordable healthcare, championing women's rights and equality, and working hard to fight back against Republican majorities. Our endorsed candidates include some of the leaders who will be working to provide a better future for Texans.
Support their campaigns today, and keep them running strong in the primaries and all the way through November.
Praise the Lord, the primaries are only 11 days away. In accordance with FEC reporting rules, Congressional candidates all filed 12-day reports with the FEC detailing their raising and spending in the period of April 1 through May 9.
Wondering why some candidates have no numbers, or aren't here on this list at all?
Candidates who didn't file, filed late, or filed on paper won't be here. Want thorough blog posts on fundraising reports? Encourage your candidates to file electronically, and file on time!
It's the May general election date, which means a host of municipal, ISD, bond, MUD, and other local non-partisan elections are on the ballot across the state tonight.
Here in Austin we've got four City Council races on the ballot: Mayor, Place 2, Place 5, and Place 6. Only the municipals are on the ballot since the AISD and ACC boards voted to move their elections to November to save costs and enjoy higher turnout. The Austin City Council voted against such a move. (Leffingwell and Martinez voted to move the elections; Spelman and Cole voted to keep it the same. We'll see how that works out tonight.)
Polls are open until 7:00 p.m. tonight in Austin. Just after 7:00 p.m. the Early Voting and mail ballot numbers will be released and we'll update the chart below. We'll then begin updating as the E-Day results come in throughout the night, noting our time of update so you can keep track.
Don't forget, primary early voting begins Monday!
Morning-After Analysis:
* Huge thanks to Karl-Thomas Musselman who updated the GoogleDoc above throughout the night. This was totally a team effort in terms of data analysis. We look forward to doing this again for the primary! (KH)
* All incumbents win. The similar percentages for Lee, Mike, and Bill suggest that while there's still frustration and some anti-incumbent angst in the electorate, it wasn't strong or deep enough this year to knock any of them out. (KH)
* We've decided to call Place 5 and Place 2 for the incumbent. Spelman is only increasing his margin and Dr. Flouride Laura Pressley is not doing much better either. (KH)
* As we wait for the 4th and potentially final update, several big boxes are still out, including Tarrytown, Cherrywoods / Wilshire Woods, Barton Hills, Hyde Park. and Travis Heights. Tarrytown should go big for Lee. Most of the others went for Lee narrowly in the Early Vote. It's hard to see how Shea guts it out given that boxes that went HUGE for Kathie Tovo last year over Randi Shade aren't going big for Shea tonight, if at all. (KH)
Update 9:05 p.m.
* With this latest update, Leffingwell pulls back into the lead in the E-Day vote! This update includes some of the Northwest Hills boxes that factor heavily in Austin Council elections. (KH)
* Meanwhile, Martinez, Spelman and Cole are only increasing their margins. Bad news for people who want to take flouride out of the water or vote all minorities off the City Council! (KH)
::
Update 8:44 p.m.
* The first E-Day boxes to come in slightly favor Shea, but they're predominantly African-American precincts, where she was expected to do better. This also includes the UT Campus box with a whopping .29% turnout. Yes, that's point-two-nine percent. 14 students voted today. Precinct 277, aka West Campus, had a total turnout of 1%. Expect it to get lower in the primary since they'll all be home. (KT)
* It's neck and neck to be Council Member in Lakeway! Related: no one cares. (KH)
* Precinct 275, southern Hyde Park, only narrowly went for Shea on E-Day. That was a box that went huge for Tovo, so it's hard to see how Shea's E-Day margins can overcome Lee's Early Vote lead. (KH)
::
7:51 p.m. Update:
* It would appear that in the Early Vote, a core of about 10K voters voted for all of the incumbents and are keeping them afloat. It is likely the same 10K voters (with some variation) that is voting for all four. Sheryl Cole has the highest percentage, as she did 3 years ago. (KT)
* In Williamson County, Laura Pressley is leading Mike Martinez 58%-42% in Early Voting. Only 400 votes cast, however. Also, another reason not to move to Williamson County. Heck, that's a reason to boycott the IKEA. (KH)
::
On the Ballot Elsewhere:
Dallas County: Elections in Addison, Balch Springs, Carrollton, Mesquite and other municipalities; various ISD trustee elections; etc. Hays County: Kyle, Wimberley, Dripping Springs municipal elections; various ISD's. Fredericksburg: Mayor Tom Musselman is up for re-election. Travis County: Lakeway council members and propositions, Manor council elections, Rollingwood council and bond elections, Webberville mayoral and commissioner elections, etc. Houston Area: Spring Branch and Katy board members; Spring Branch and Katy ISD elections; Brazosport ISD bond (that's southern Brazoria Co. if you're curious); Sugar Land City Council; Fort Bend ISD; etc. Galveston Co.: Mayor Joe Jaworski up for re-election.
(As we roll out endorsements in select Democratic primaries for the State House today, here's a preview of all contested races on the D side. - promoted by Burnt Orange Report)
Last week, we previewed all 150 State House races in Texas this year, with the names of the candidates on the ballot, basic voter returns in past elections, and a smattering of endorsements. You can read it here. With the primary election beginning Monday, it's time to take a closer look at the 22 Democratic primary races this year, most of which will decide who holds the seat come next session.
There's plenty of good news for the Democrats in the State House races this year. In our contested swing districts that will be a big focus in November, only one race first features a hot primary before a heated general election. That's great for saving Democratic resources and energy to channel into maximum gains. By and large, the winners of these Democratic primaries will have only token opposition (or none at all) come November.
On the Legislative level, the Democrats good going into the primary season that begins Monday. Due to redistricting, several seats in the Valley and the Metroplex were reconfigured, creating new Democratic seats that have brought back a few familiar faces. Additionally, the GOP's inability to protect Hispanic Republicans like Jose Aliseda, Aaron Pena and Raul Torres have given rise to some strong Democratic districts in South Texas, which have solid fields of candidates vying for a few open seats.
Democrats don't have a slew of nasty, internecine primaries pitting warring factions of our party against each other, unlike the Texas GOP. Part of that, alas, is due to the bloodbath Democrats suffered in 2010 and the fact that our party wasn't faced with trying to draw lines to hold 101 seats. But on the upside, we're poised to make significant gains this cycle -- somewhere between 10 and 20 seats depending on how all of the races shake out -- and we won't have to battle until July 31 to determine who our nominees are in the swing districts, unlike the GOP in many instances. And in a sign of long-term good news for Texas Democrats, many of our open seats have drawn multiple qualified, progressive, talented, and best of all young candidates who will be excellent representatives if elected.
Below we preview the 22 contested Democratic primary races on the ballot across the state in Texas. Early voting runs May 14 to May 25. Election Day is Tuesday, May 29. Any necessary run-offs are July 31.
Last night the Internet lit up with burnt orange outrage as University of Texas students and alumni reacted to the news that Governor Perry may be trying to force out University of Texas President Bill Powers, over Powers' opposition to the UT Board of Regents' tuition freeze.
Paul Burka posted late Wednesday evening that a source told him that the Perry-appointed Board of Regents chair had asked for Powers to be fired:
I do not have an official confirmation, but I was told that the situation is fluid and may be happening as I write. My understanding, based on what a source with knowledge of the proceedings has conveyed, is that Regents' chairman Gene Powell asked Chancellor Francisco Cigarroa to recommend that Powers be fired. Cigarroa refused. The next step will likely be a special meeting of the board to take action. I have no indication that notice of the meeting has been posted.
I will continue to make attempts to confirm this report. If it is accurate, the impact on the university's reputation could be devastating. UT will have to undertake the search for a new president at a time when top-grade candidates will be unlikely to be attracted to a position that is subject to political pressure.
The conflict started when the UT System Board of Regents met last week and denied the request of the University of Texas's flagship campus to raise tuition. By not raising tuition, the Board of Regents left the University with a several-million-dollar budgetary shortfall, which for two years will be made up with funds from the Available University Fund, the investment income from West Texas oil lands that are managed by the UT System. However, the Board of Regents made clear that this was only a two-year fix for the two-year tuition freeze, so the President of UT (whoever that is in two years) will have to go back and beg for more funding to help the University maintain its academic standards. Powers criticized the decision, noting that what the University needs is "recurring revenue," or money it can count on year after year to maintain and establish high-quality academic programs.
Every member Board of Regents has been appointed by Governor Rick Perry, and many of them are hefty, hefty campaign donors to his various electoral efforts. Perry has largely turned leadership of our university systems into a system of political patronage awarded to the highest bidders, so it's no surprise now to see the Regents potentially firing back at a widely respected administrator who has openly clashed with their anti-funding ideology. It is also worth noting that the Board of Regents approved an increase in tuition at other UT campuses. All of this tuition trouble -- both increases that impact student affordability and freezes that hurt faculty and academic quality -- stems from the basic fact that the state of Texas and the Republican legislature simply does not fund our public higher education institutions to the degree necessary to maintain their high standards. Without adequate public funding for the so-called public university, there aren't a lot of other options for the University of Texas to fund its faculty, staff, and programs to the degree necessary to maintain its status as a world-class, Tier 1 research university. And I'm sure the current students and alumni of UT don't want to see the value of their degree become worthless due to Republicans' efforts to destroy the quality of education at UT through refusing to fund it.
The news from Burka set off a social media firestorm, as the hashtag #SaveBillPowers quickly became a trending topic and the Facebook group I Stand With Bill Powers picked up thousands of members. It is definitely "going viral," as the kids say, and while there is some opposition to tuition increases in general most students appear to rally around their university president and defend him from what may well be a politically motivated firing.
If Powers can credibly stand up to the Perry-appointed Board of Regents, and stand up to the Texas Legislature's attempts to slash funding from higher education, it makes the entire Republican budgetary house of cards look all the more shakier. Powers is widely respected in the state and by many leaders in the Legislature, as well as on a national level. Should he be ousted by his unwillingness to keep quiet about the harm caused to UT by draconian anti-spending austerity measures, it will send a strong and sad message about the state of affairs on the 40 Acres.
There's plenty of good news for the Democrats in the State House races this year. In our contested swing districts that will be a big focus in November, only one race first features a hot primary before a heated general election. That's great for saving Democratic resources and energy to channel into maximum gains. By and large, the winners of these Democratic primaries will have only token opposition (or none at all) come November.
