Bio:
Actively working in the campaigns of Hank Gilbert, David Van Os, Fred Head and Dale Henry in the Dallas /Fort Worth Metroplex. Contact me at 817 795-2519
By Faith Chatham - March 2, 2008 Crossposted from Texas Campaign 2008 Tarrant County was Clinton Country Saturday when Senator Hillary Clinton arrived at the Fort Worth Stockyard. The crowd has been estimated between 10,000 to 14,000.
Young, old, healthy, frail, all races stood in line for hours to be screened and admitted to the rally area on Exchange Avenue near the Stockyard's Hotel. Secret Service and the Fort Worth Police Department controlled access. Swat team snipers were positioned on all the roof tops. Attendees, including the handicapped, entered behind Billy Bob's, through the cattle walks and allies before they were screened to enter the rally grounds. Organizers grossly underestimated the size of the crowd. Most attendees never got close enough to see Senator Clinton, yet the enthusiasm was not dampened by the long wait.
Accompanied by Henry Ciscernos and the Mayor of Los Angeles, with former Speaker Jim Wright in attendence, Senator Clinton charmed the crowd with her warmth, straight talking and deep comprehension of what truly challenges us. She speaks straight to the people. Her stump speech is not littered with slogans or platitudes. She doesn't place herself on some loftier plane than the people. She has poise and confidence which comes from years of hard work and preparation and service.
Photo by Lydia Foster - used by permission. Copyright 2008
ENDORSEMENT OF VALINDA HATHCOX
FOR U.S. CONGRESS, DISTRICT 4
by Maria Luisa Alvarado
The people of Texas and America will gain exceptional representation in Washington D.C. from VaLinda Hathcox as the next United States Representative for District 4 of Texas. Let me explain. I believe my campaign experience in 2006 afforded me an opportunity to get to know the heart of other candidates on the campaign trail. As candidate for Texas Land Commissioner, VaLinda Hathcox was an inspiration to me in that the truth to her was not to be compromised for popularity. The people and the land of Texas are vast in diversity but for the most part they are solid and true. That is the character of VaLinda Hathcox, and is the desperate need in Congress.
However, it is not enough to rely solely on the character that our elected officials take to our Nation's Capitol. VaLinda Hathcox takes to Washington D.C. a proven record of public service as an attorney in the defense and protection of health services for the poor, as well as administration of legal judgments and education on tax matters. There is much work ahead to restore this nation that her hands?on experience on solving issues will be an advantage for us all.
Why I'm in this race: My roots in this district go back generations. My mother's family settled in Collin County in the 1800s. My parents settled in Wood and Hopkins Counties. I was born, educated, have lived and worked in the Texas 4th District all my life (except when in Law School in Austin or working for the people of Texas in as Deputy Attorney General and Director of Public Affairs, at the Texas Land Commission, or as Director of Legislative Affairs for the State Bar of Texas and for the Texas Association of Counties.)
VaLinda on the family's ranches (Hathcox Farms and Big H Ranch) with part of their herd of Texas Longhorns.
VaLinda's parents inherited only 20 acres of their 1000 acres. They worked and paid for what they acquired, but want to pass it on to their children.
For me, my family and most of my neighbors, Texas is more than just a state or an address -- it is part of us and we are intrinsically tied to it through more than just the land or where we work.
· Texas is a culture where we carve better opportunities and more just, fairer practices for successive generations.
· Texas is a culture where folks don't expect better to be easy.
· Texas is a place where hard work and diligence means incremental advancement for most folks, incredible success for some and where we work together to help prevent others from falling through the cracks.
· Texas is where we look at what we have realistically, face what got us where we are while figuring out better, more just, fairer laws, regulations and "ways of doing things" for the future.
By Faith Chatham - DFWRCC - Oct. 17, 2007
Crossposted from About Air and Water and Texas Kaos and Epluribus Media and Daily Kos.
Nov. 6th (ELECTION DAY) the Texas Land Commission will meet to receive bids from private bidders for 9200+ acres of land in Brewster County (Christmas Mountain) which were deeded to the permanent school fund in the hope that they would be preserved for use by the citizens of Texas and managed environmentally.
Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson favors selling them to private bidders. Environmental groups such as the Environment Texas oppose selling the land to private bidders. Commissioner Patterson sent me an e-mail earlier this week with his reasons for favoring private ownership. He did not mention "hunting" in that e-mail. He stated that the National Park Service and Texas Parks and Wildlife had refused to accept the land. His email, sent on Oct. 15th, is misleading.
Last Friday (Oct. 12th) the National Park Service notified the General Land Office of Texas that they will consider making Christmas Mountain part of Big Bend National Park. Environment Texas reports that Commissioner Patterson objects to this plan on the basis that Federal Park lands are not open to hunters.
Commissioner Patterson's e-mail stated that the land will be offered for bid on Nov. 6th. It appalls me that this important hearing will occur on ELECTION DAY. Usually those most committed to our political life are "otherwise engaged" on election day!
Luke Metzer, Director of Environment Texas, wrote:
On Friday, the National Park Service announced they would like to add the Christmas Mountains to Big Bend National Park. Big Bend's superintendent asked Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson to delay the sale of the Christmas Mountains to private interests in order to give them time to put together a proposal.
Unfortunately, Patterson turned the park service down, saying he didn't want them to manage the property unless they changed their policy that prohibits concealed hand guns on the property. This is a completely unrelated issue and shouldn't stand in the way of the protection of the Christmas Mountains.
The good news is that Patterson is only one of three votes on the School Land Board, the body which will decide what to do with the Christmas Mountains. The other two members are appointees of Gov. Rick Perry and Attorney General Greg Abbott.
Please sign our petition to Gov. Perry and Attorney General Abbott asking them to direct their appointees to stop the sale of the Christmas Mountains.
By Faith Chatham crossposted on DailyKos and DFW Regional Concerned Citizens
Governor Rick Perry has used campaign contributions from his Texans for Rick Perry committee to fly to Istanbul, Turkey Friday to address the secret Bilderberg Conference, “a meeting of about 130 international leaders in business, media and politics.” Read more: Meanwhile, in Fort Worth, international leaders met at the Worthington Hotel in a NASCO conference hosted by TxDOT, Tarrant County, The City of Fort Worth and NASCO. Several leaders of the NCTCOG RTC are board members of NASCO.
Fred Head releases documents showing that SUSAN COMBS failed to disclose income or expenses or ownership of a small business. In her campaign TV commercials she states that she "has met payroll on time in her small business for 25 years."
Susan Combs' TV ads mention "always met payroll on time in my small business for 25 years."
We have been unable to locate a financial disclosure report for Agriculture Commissioner Susan Combs or Comptroller Candidate Susan Combs which shows either payroll expenditures for a small business. We have not found any income from a small business.
It is probable that she is referring to the farm her parents own. Her ads say it is her small business. Is she stretching the truth again? Is she referring to her parents small business cow calf operation or does she have one of her own?
This year we've been a little more selective than usual. Rather than endorsing in all contested races – since many of these are frankly walkovers without major party opposition – we've endorsed only in those races that either appear actually competitive, or that we believe have sufficient local interest to merit specific attention.
In the interest of supporting the return of the two-party (at least) system in Texas – and a more than usual necessity to "throw the bums out" – we briefly considered endorsing a straight-ticket Democratic vote, something we generally avoid. The overwhelming dominance of the Republican Party in Texas politics over the last several years, like its overwhelmingly Democratic predecessors, has been largely a disaster for public policy.
Upon reflection, however, in service to our readers we decided to address individually all the competitive races, to give a fuller sense of the relevant issues, as well as our logic in making these endorsements.
Honestly, we almost always endorse Democrats, so that's not exactly an innovation. Never in the past, however, have we been so tempted to make a blanket-ticket endorsement as we were this time – which reflects far more on the fanatical partisan rigidity of the current dominant party than on us. Traditionally, we have had as many concerns over Democrats as Republicans, including any number of lesser-of-two-evils election endorsements. But the current GOP wrongheadedness and destructiveness to the very structures of our country – Constitutional, social, economic, and diplomatic – demands a redress, if only for the good of the country.
I find it especially refreshing for an editorial board to tell folks upfront that they are naturally slanted to one side. Instead most present very slanted endorsements and pretend to be unbiased!
Attorney General: David Van Os
The race for attorney general's office hasn't garnered one-umpteenth the attention of the tragi-comic governor's draw, despite the Texas-sized personality fighting for the public interest. With an omnipresent Stetson and bolo tie, Van Os is a striking figure, even before he opens his mouth. A specialist in constitutional and labor law, Van Os has targeted Texas oil barons and insurance and pharmaceutical giants, in his populist, anti-corporate, whistlestop campaign. The implicit contrast is that incumbent Greg Abbott has let such corporate wrongdoers run roughshod over the state – as indeed he has. Despite several splashy "cyber crime" initiatives (remember getting tough on MySpace?), Abbott has done little to make Texans safer, especially from the pollutant-spewing, scofflaw conglomerations drawing Van Os' ire. Abbott has also been a complicit servant to Tom Delay and Gov. Perry in the disastrous redistricting saga, never hesitant to defend another gerrymandered map on behalf of his bosses. Partisanship and hoary headline-hogging have defined Abbott's tenure, and we'd be happy to see him go; we're even happier his challenger is as strongly spined as David Van Os.
At Van Os's Tarrant County Whistle Stop Monday, Oct. 16th, truckers passing the venue and seeing the Van Os signs (and him on the court house steps) honked their horns in agreement with this endorsement. Aproximately 65 supporters from all spectrums of the usually divided Tarrant County Democratic party joined Van Os on the steps. It was incredible to see arch rivals (even enemies) standing together in unity with David Van Os and enjoying it! About every five or ten minutes another trucker would turn the corner, see the gathering, recognize Van Os's "BIG OIL I'M COMING AFTER YOU" and honk their horns. This message, is splattered all over the state on billboards financied by local contributors. Sometimes candidates spend money on polls. This year the entire budget has gone to reaching the people. In Tarrant County, at Van Os's Whistle Stop, we were able to tell that the message has reached folks who aren't just activists. His other bill board message is: "Insurance Gougers, I'm Coming After You!"
(That's sure to be a long walk... - promoted by Karl-Thomas Musselman)
The temperature was in triple digits in far West Texas Tuesday, August 8th as El Paso Judge Bill Moody began his 1000 mile walk across Texas. The Judge’s son, Joe, reported Wednesday that he couldn't keep up his dad's pace the day before. His dad has been training for six months, preparing to take his campaign on the road, literally walking across Texas. What motivates a Judge to walk across Texas? “It’s time we had Supreme Court justices who will be open and impartial, who will listen to both sides of an argument. We need to restore confidence in our Texas Supreme Court.”
– Bill Moody
Moody is a populist Democrat who agrees with Attorney General candidate David Van Os, (D-Attorney General) and Hank Gilbert (D-Agriculture Commissioner) that governmen must be returned to the people. Fred Head (D-Comptroller of Public Accounts) and Land Commissioner challenger VaLainda Hathcox are also bypassing conventional campaign media strategies to take their messages directly to the people. Lt. Gov. challenger Maria Luisa Alvarado and RR Commissioner challenger Dale Henry fit into the populist niche by having declared for office without seeking endorsements and support from powerful political and economic interest. These candidates, and Judge Moody, are waging direct to the people campaigns which involves continual travel, listening to citizens and speaking directly with people in eye-ball to eye-ball encounters across Texas.
