(Today's case would not have happened without the Voting Rights Act. Matt does a good job at pointing out the connections and why we must fight Texas Republicans that stand in the way of getting the VRA renewed. - promoted by Karl-Thomas Musselman)
Hours ago, the Unites States Supreme Court released their ruling in the Texas Redistricting case. It was a strong statement in support of hundreds of thousands of voters in the most diverse parts of the state.
In a time where less Texans are insured, education is failing, and the culture of corruption is sweeping our nation, it is troubling to have the court rule FOR an incumbent protection plan. With no test in place and no restrictions, state legislatures can legally choose to ignore the plight of children and seniors, teachers and doctors, veterans and first responders, and waste time by constantly changing the boundaries of a political district.
The High Court made it clear that political gerrymandering is legal and acceptable as long as voters have their rights protected. The court was troubled by the simple fact that in Congressional District 23 over 100,000 Latino voters were thrown into a new district to protect the incumbent Republican and weaken the voting power of the minority.
Currently the Voting Rights Act (VRA) is in jeopardy and the House of Representatives has refused to protect the civil rights of every American.
(John Courage is running against Lamar Smith in Congressional District 21, and has been kind enough to write a piece on how Lamar Smith's policies aren't even accepted by his own party. We all know how Smith is wrong, but Courage gives us some more details. For more information about the Courage campaign, visit his website and sign up for his updates.)
My opponent Lamar Smith (R) was noted in a recent Austin American Statesman news article as supporting the proposed “wall” or system of double barrier fences across Texas’ 1200 mile border with Mexico. Smith was one of the cosponsors and strong supporters of the legislation. Smith however recently stated:
“Texas has worked with the federal government’s border security entities, collaborated with Mexico and Central America, and created a “smart” border – using advanced technology, multidisciplinary research and communication.”
(Lamar Smith on the wrong side? No way. That's why we are going to elect John Courage. - promoted by Karl-Thomas Musselman)
With the debate heating up on restricting immigration through out the United States, Lamar Smith was one of only 23 other Republican’s to tell President Bush that his policies are not conservative enough.
Currently a fight over HR 4437, a joint resolution to amend current legislation focused on Border Protection and Immigration standards, has begun to spill over into the economic and public arenas.
Yesterday over half a million people protested the resolution in Los Angeles and workers rights groups are calling this bill what it is… malicious and ineffective.
I am tired. I am tired of listening to people say that my city is different than yours. I am tired of hearing excuses made about why Austin is Blue and the rest of the state, well, isn’t.
(I hope that this is a sign to Democrats to take the iniative to change our Party for the better, than to hope that it will sort itself out over time. - promoted by Karl-Thomas Musselman)
During the run up to the primary it was long speculated that Carlos Uresti would not be the only one challenging Frank Madla in Senate District 19. Now Uresti is being called the Democrat to watch in Texas and Pete Gallego and Robert Puente are second guessing their decision not to run.
Jaime Castillo’s editorial discusses the political hangovers both State Representatives are experiencing. While Uresti took the hard road and ran against Madla, Gallego and Puente hoped to be crowned the successor in four years.
Puente, like Gallego, believed Madla would be serving his final term in office had he emerged victorious this election cycle. According to Puente's plan, the seat would be open in four years and he would have just as good a chance as anyone to win it.
While Puente and Gallego deferred to Madla, Uresti took the gutsy route and it paid off. He still has to get through the November general election, but most, including Puente and Gallego, believe the seat is Uresti's for the foreseeable future unless he stumbles during a probable first term.
In the end, Gallego and Puente may have “lost” their chances for a promotion, but Texas won on Tuesday. The two representatives have served their districts well for many years, and the fact that they will continue to do so is great for the party. The Democratic Party has a deeper bench for later elections, and has the ability to net more D’s for the 2007 session because of their presence.
After some concerns about whether San Antonio would be able to legally hold a primary election on March 7th a judged ruled to keep the Democratic primary intact.
This past Friday, Senior District Judge Pat Priest ruled that a committee appointed by current County Chair Rudy Casias has the authority to oversee the election.
"For (an executive committee-appointed panel) to take control now would have been disruptive to the primary," said attorney Lauro Bustamante, who's representing Casias.
The temporary order also gave the executive committee the final say over the hiring of election judges and the selection of voting systems — tasks the county election department already had carried out. Worried that the order could throw the primary into chaos, county officials intervened in the case.
There were some concerns that plaintiff in the case against Casias would make an effort to seize control of the primary elections. .
With all the recent talks surround Elena Guajardo and the Ellebracht recall threats. Here is the statute for a recall effort in San Antonio's single district council set up.
Article 4, Section 26 of the city charter, requires for a recall proposal to be placed on the ballot, 10% of the qualified voters who cast ballots in the last election in the district sign petitions. That would amount to 1625 registered District Seven voters who would have to sign the petition in order to get the matter on the ballot.
The Elena Guajardo saga continues as organizers are asking for San Antonio citizens to show their support to attend tomorrow’s council meeting.
Last week, Allen Ellebacht lobbied the council to force Guajardo to step down. He gave a week before he initiated a recall effort. The San Antonio City Charter does not seem to allow for a recall effort but with city council members only serving two years before the municipal elections, this could affect Guajardo’s chances for re-election.
The saga of the Democratic Chair in San Antonio continues. Now the problem is case of the law of unintended consequence. Last fall 30 Democratic Precinct Chairs, including Carla Vela and Dan Ramos who are running for the Chair position, won a temporary restraining order that put them in control of the party.
Now there is a slight problem. Because the plaintiffs are now in control of the party, Rudy Casias is not allowed to spend party money nor is he allowed to act unilaterally on any party action (this includes scheduling and funding primary elections).
I am going to step out on a limb and say we can all agree on one thing… Tom DeLay did some bad things.
Well now it looks like Lamar Smith in CD 21 is supporting him.
“I believe in our system of justice that we have in America that you are innocent until proven guilty. Tom DeLay, like anybody, is entitled to a good defense,” Lamar Smith said.
Ok, maybe I am blowing this out of proportion but how about the fact that he has donated $5,000 dollars to the DeLay defense fund not once but twice?
Smith said a $5,000 donation to DeLay was made in 2000 for legal defense of a charge that was later dismissed.
A second donation of $5,000 was given before a Travis County jury handed up an indictment charging DeLay with money laundering in a campaign finance scheme.
What he doesn’t say is that the $10,000 donation to DeLay was the same $10,000 that put Lamar Smith on the House Ethics Committee. He was put there to stop the committees continuous admonishment of DeLay.
A Republican committee member had voted twice to slap DeLay’s hand and that was two too many times. Lamar Smith… welcome to your new committee placement.
What did John Courage have to say about this?
“He's a close associate of Tom DeLay,” Courage said of Smith. “I don't think a friend of Tom DeLay is a friend to the 21st Congressional District.”
Sadly, Lamar Smith is up to these dirty tricks again. He is pledging $500,000 (aka half a million dollars or a whole lot of social assistance for his district) to aide at risk Republicans in their re-election in exchange for being selected as House Judiciary Chair.
Smith is already no friend of the law, ethics, intellectual property, teachers, workers, small business owners, or his district. If he gets his way, well he will only help interpret the legal statute of laws created in congress and assist in Congressional investigations.
We only need 15 seats nationwide to take back the House, and Lamar Smith must be retired.
