Austinites, be sure to stop by The Dogwood on West 6th tonight from 7:30-10:00 PM for the Texas Democratic Party's Young Professional Council's Political Costume Party & Contest.
YPC members get in free and those who dress up get in for $10 (general admission is $20). Judges include Becky Moeller, President of the Texas AFL-CIO; Andy Brown, Travis County Democratic Party Chair; and yours truly of MeanRachel.com.
It should be a spooktacular time and admission goes to helping move Texas forward.
Because if Rick Perry gets re-elected, things will really get scary.
Last night in Las Vegas, Linda Chavez-Thompson not only lit up the auditorium in front of a crowd of 2000 eager progressives, she also lit up the currents in which online activism thrives, becoming a trending topic on Twitter and earning the attention--and money--of anyone paying attention online. Also paying attention was Politico, who quoted her this morning in their Netroots Nation wrap-up as saying, "The old way of doing politics is done. This is the new thing. If you don't embrace it, you lose out on a whole new way to get your message out."
The old way is done, indeed. Chavez-Thompson didn't just deliver a speech last night, she delivered a leader. In an unhurried, eighteen minute speech, Chavez-Thompson took her time, weaving the tale of a come-from-behind underdog who now has the power, drive and (my words, not hers) cojones to make it better. It was the making of a super hero--actually, make that heroine--in a time where both Texans and those squinting toward our state thinking "What the hell is going on down there?" are so desperately in need of one.
Want to know what your favorite State Rep had for breakfast? Looking for pictures of that county judge doing the chicken dance? This weekend, be sure to follow tweets from everyone at the TDP State Convention to stay up to date on all convention happenings, from points of order to dolphin shows!
All tweets and photos from the convention will be aggregated live here, so even if you can't make the convention you can still stay up to date. If you're on Twitter can follow along by saving the #TDPSC hashtag in your smartphone's Twitter application!
If you're headed to the Convention, be sure to stop by the official TDP State Convention Tweet-Up on Friday from 12-1 PM at the American Bank Center in Room 104. Representative Aaron Peña, everyone's favorite twittering politician, will be emceeing the event -- in 140 characters or less!
Be sure to RSVP here and don't forget to use the #TDPSC hashtag in all your tweets and TwitPics. See you in Corpus!
Head down to the South Steps of the Texas Capitol tomorrow (Saturday) at 4 PM to hear Democratic nominee for Lt. Governor, Linda Chavez-Thompson, speak at the Marcha por los Derechos de Inmigrantes, a march for immigrants' rights.
In the wake of Arizona's stripping of citizens' freedoms this week, our collective strength is crucial in order to preserve our rights -- after all, we are all immigrants living in a nation founded by immigrants.
After the rally, join Linda Chavez-Thompson for a fundraiser at The Old School just down the road from the Capitol (on East 11th), hosted by Rep. Lon Burnam. If you believe in strong women candidates who will fight everyday Texans like you and me, this fundraiser is a must!
For more details on Linda's speech and to RSVP to the Facebook event, click here.
Need to quench your passion for water conservation efforts? Larry Joe Doherty, 2008 Democratic nominee for CD-10, is inviting activists and anyone who drinks water to the South Central Texas Water Conservation Convention (SCTWCC). The convention will address the question of "What Are We Gonna Do When the Well Runs Dry?"
Admittedly, this is a topic I feel like I know very little about. The schedule opens with a seminar called "The Coming Texas Water Shortage" which sounds like a great briefing on the issue, and closes with "What You Can Do Now." I appreciate any event that offers tangible solutions. Speakers include Dr. Dan Hardin from the Water Resource Planning Division of the Texas Water Development Board and Jim Blackburn, Professor of Civil Engineering at Rice University, who will be speaking on the "Ike Effect - Too Much Water."
From an email I received from Doherty:
Without adequate water supplies Texas' future will look much different than you may have planned for our children. If you are interested in understanding and helping deal with that coming problem, sign up soon.
South Central Texas Water Conservation Convention
When: Saturday, October 3, 2009
Where: Washington County Fairgrounds Event Center
1305 East Blue Bell Rd., Brenham, TX
Cost: Before September 15 - $25 and includes lunch and conference materials. After September 15 - $35.
Are the property taxes in Florida on the upswing? If so, it might begin to explain why Texas Democrats are currently staring down the barrel of two primary candidates (three if you count glory campaigner Mark Thompson) who most accurately could be described as political snowbirds. Wikipedia defines snowbirds as Northerners who seek winter warmth somewhere south of the Mason-Dixon line. In the case of Former Ambassador Tom Scheiffer (really, Texas?) and The Artist Formerly Known as an Independent, Kinky Friedman (Purple Drought - one of his classic little-known hits), the two are hoping to bask in the warmth of the new Texas Democrat. Oh, and to become Governor of Texas. Do we know how to pick 'em or what?
On second thought, don't answer that.
One or both of these men have spent a little too much time in the humidor. The Texas Democrats that picked up Texas House seats, flipped a Texas Senate seat, and voted for Barack Obama are not looking to elect someone who's running for Governor as a retirement plan (try my self-employed dad's approach - bank on the heart-attack). And, as much as the establishment fantasizes about one or both of our milquetoast big spenders luring the disenchanted Republican vote, we can't lose sight of what happens after they become Governor. We've learned that one the hard way.
One potential candidate who has yet to decide whether or not to run has the opportunity to benefit Texan's future if elected Governor. But - and this is where it gets different - it's not her future. It's not even ours. It's our children's. And, incidentally, it's also her grandson's.
State Senator Leticia Van de Putte has been on the fringe of running since before local activists started lining up to work and volunteer for her. The San Antonio Current profiled her back in February talking about "Julian's Agenda," Van de Putte's future-planning proposals to make the world a better place for her grandson Julian. She spoke of marketing "education and green-energy programs to Republicans as economic, return-on-investment ideas rather than as moral or environmental imperatives," strategies that cross partisan lines in a different way than Scheiffer's of being buddies with the former President - those are strategies of a leader.
It's this very leadership with a conscience that Texans deserve - her mindset is not that of a divisive partisan focus or of a political high-risk investor, ready to gamble his millions on a run for the roses. Her leadership was developed through experience - leading a minority in the Senate, serving as co-chair at the 2008 Democratic National Convention - but a conscience requires a diverse, outward-looking perspective. Van de Putte's desire to benefit generations beyond her own reflects a life that wasn't lived promoting oneself in front of bright lights or in a board room. A mother of six grown children, a working woman for 28 years as a pharmacist before running for office after the encouragement of her husband, and the representative of roughly 800,000 Texans as State Senator, her constituency - the people and the life that she represents - defines her conscience.
Political snowbirds go Democratic when the weather gets good. But we need someone who's not looking to run because the sun's finally shining on Texas Democrats. Texas needs a Governor who will see her constituents through the storms.
What happens when the alternative becomes mainstream? As the city of Austin delves further into its live music and hipster vices, with $200 ACL-fest ticket and plethora of skinny jeans, suddenly grunge is luxe. In last night's Hustle for Mayor, hosted by the alternative weekly newspaper the Austin Chronicle, the two mainstream candidates Lee Leffingwell and Brewster McCracken sipped coolly on Lone Stars and Miller Lites while answering softballs in front of a youthful, sweaty crowd at The Mohawk.
Strangely absent from the stage -- but not the venue -- were lesser-known mayoral candidates David Buttross and Josiah Ingalls. Nevertheless, Buttross managed to distribute glossy push-cards to attendees and Ingalls, a janitor at the Downtown Hilton, stood awkwardly in a poorly fitting suit and tie at the back of the audience. He was, as one Chronicle staffer put it, "uninvited."
The Chronicle, representative of Austin perhaps now more than ever in its scenester popularity, seemed unapologetic for eschewing an alternative voice in its Austin mayoral debates. A questioning of senior staff writer Michael King resulted in him saying "I don't think he's a serious candidate - do you?"
(I haven't had a chance to write up anything about Cavazos's kick off last night so I'll promote Rachel's report of the event. Be careful though, I believe she ate some of the guacamole paid for by the campaign so she could be labeled a sell-out. (inside joke) - promoted by Karl-Thomas Musselman)
Disclosure: Perla is a friend of mine. I gave her $25. Sometimes we eat BBQ together. Crossposted at MeanRachel.com.
Last night the Perla Cavazos for Austin campaign got kicked off at Nuevo Leon, where Austinites packed into the East Austin establishment to get their hands on Perla Cavazos's pink & gold signs and hear her plan for the future of Austin's economy, affordability and healthcare issues.
Perla started off her speech by touching on the economic crisis, referencing the recent news that Starbucks was closing over 300 stores, the locations on South Congress and Stassney being two of them. Perla, who I first got to know when volunteering for Democratic candidate for Congress Larry Joe Doherty, admitted she was "not a Starbucks girl" (true: while blockwalking, we had a heated debate over Little City versus Progress) but that she "knows a lot of people who have jobs that pay even less than what baristas make, and their jobs don't come with health insurance."
Perla initially came to Austin to promote affordable housing, on a fellowship from the National Council of La Raza. She touched on Austin's affordability issues affecting not just coffee shop employees, but those recently laid off from tech companies or working in government jobs trying to pay the bills while saving money. Two of those Austinites happen to be her brother and sister, both in school and still working to get by.
The solution, according to Perla, is planning. She said that while serving on the Austin Planning Commission, her biggest frustration was that "we were constantly reacting." The concept of acting versus reacting, planning ahead rather than compensating later, is "what the city needs now...not just one more vote with the majority," Perla said.
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.
(Rep. Naishtat, Mean Rachel, ActBlue, and the internets... a winning combination! - promoted by Matt Glazer)
In Step 1 of getting Elliott Naishtat to start a website, I had to find out if Representative Naishtat was even on ActBlue for the contributions page. He is, however the results were dismal. One supporter and $25 dollars raised across all of ActBlue?
So I have set up a page to show him that people think he needs a website. The goal is 100 -- one hundred people, not dollars. Because it's not about the amount of money he needs to raise, it's about the amount of people he needs to connect with. I'm asking everyone today to take a moment to donate any amount to the Wired4Naishtat fund, and I'm kicking it off with my one vote.
Once you've done that, leave an idea for what his domain name should be (elliottnaishtat.com? elliottforaustin.com? ihearttacos.com?) in the comments section!
