politics in Harris County and Texas
The Fourteenth Court of Appeals has made their ruling on the lawsuit filed by Jonathan Day, Charhonda Williams, and Eva Castillo against Harris County Judge Ed Emmett in the “Early to Rise” matter:
(click here if viewer does not open)
As you can see, Judge Emmett won the case and the attempt to increase the Harris County Department of Education’s tax rate will not be on the November ballot.
A big THANK YOU to Judge Emmett for leading the fight against this measure.
You do remember the Douglas Karpen case, right?
Since the Harris County District Attorney’s Office has done nothing with the case, almost four months after it went public, six months after being notified about it, it is time to move on. It is time to appoint a Special Prosecutor to the case and let the chips fall where they may. If the guy is innocent, then we should know that. And if not, well, he needs to be locked up.
Former Judge Belinda Hill has been in charge of the office since the complaint was lodged. Why has she done nothing on this case?
The Houston Chronicle editorial board has said that she is a shoo-in to take Mike Anderson’s place. I wouldn’t be so sure of that but understand why the liberal e-board of the Chronicle would support a pro-abortion person. But when was the last time Gov. Rick Perry appointed a pro-abortion candidate to any position anywhere, much less District Attorney – the very place that is charged with stopping abortion abusers? Why would he start now?
Let’s hope he doesn’t. And let’s hope that a Special Prosecutor is named to investigate Mr. Karpen.
What the heck is going on with the Houston Chronicle’s editorial board in this years Houston Mayor’s race? It looks like they’ve become an extension of Mayor Annise Parker’s re-election campaign team. And before you dismiss that statement as the ranting of some right-wing nutjob, keep in mind that I supported Parker in her runoff with Gene Locke – she touted that on her website. Plus, I’m not the only one noticing this – check out the takes of two Democratic Party bloggers:
From Marc Campos:
The Chron E-Board spanked Ben Hall again Saturday. I’m thinking the E-Board has their mind made up on who they will endorse in the mayoral contest.
and
It is just politics. Some supporters of The Mayor held a press conference yesterday to ask Ben Hall to get out of the race because he hasn’t been in H-Town long enough. Ben Hall said he would take it under consideration – NOT REALLY!
Check out the Chron.com report here.
I am surprised the Chron E-Board wasn’t a participant at the press conference.
From Nancy Sims:
However, this year’s Houston Mayor’s race has entered into the “absurd” zone. The Houston Chronicle on Sunday editorialized that Ben Hall should back-off from his claims about the Mayor and tone down the rhetoric. It was titled “Guess Who Needs to Stop Attacking?” Click here to read more.
…
The Mayor’s team keeps talking endlessly about the “negative” campaign that Ben Hall is running. Most of the public has not been privy to much from Mr. Hall except some biographical, introductory political commercials. He has been a broken-record calling for a debate.
In fact, the most negative campaign moves have been visibly presented by the Mayor and her attacks on Mr. Hall’s residency and release of his tax returns. Her campaign has been aggressive in defining Mr. Hall.
Don Hooper picked up on this after the first hit piece on Ben Hall by the Chron E-board:
I woke up on Wednesday morning and read the Houston Chronicle editorial that mockingly suggested debate topics for Ben Hall. After reading the editorial, one would have to believe that Houston’s financial condition is the result of Ben Hall’s previous residency in Piney Point.
…
The City of Houston is in debt because Annise Parker and other elected officials spend more money than the City of Houston receives in revenue. This is a relatively easy concept to understand and anyone who has looked at Houston’s financials would agree, except for the Houston Chronicle. The numbers are now in the billions in debt. Parker has been in Houston leadership for 16 years: an elected city councilmember for six years, city controller for six years, and mayor for four years. So, as a decision maker for 16 years, Parker has approved 16 city budgets – all included deficit spending.
The Chron’s E-board even undermines the work of their own reporters. Mike Morris did a nice job in this report of outlining the raises that Parker gave her inner circle at the same time she laid off 747 city workers. But the E-board came back two days later saying it was no big deal and attacked Hall for bringing it up.
After reading Morris’ blog post about Parker’s press conference yesterday, then one in which her “diverse” group of supporters called for Hall to step aside and let Parker get about the business of running the city, I’m starting to think that the real problem here is that some uppity black man dared to challenged a lesbian mayor. That’s a no-no for the “diversity” crowd. Former council member Bert Keller’s remarks were quite interesting:
“Business issues and financial issues are the problem that face the city of Houston. As a former councilman, I can also tell you that it’s complicated. I would ask Mr. Hall if he really knows what he doesn’t know,” said Keller. “I think he does not have the acumen to address the problems that are important to the C Club to west Houston, to Republicans and to our tax base.”
See, that uppity black man doesn’t have the “acumen” to run the city. Nevermind that Ben Hall graduated with honors from South Carolina University. Nevermind that Ben Hall has a Master’s degree and a Ph.D. from Duke University. Nevermind that Ben Hall has a law degree from Harvard University. Nevermind that Ben Hall was one of the most successful city attorneys that Houston has had. Nevermind that Ben Hall is an ultra-successful trial attorney.
Nope, none of that matters because a former city councilman says Ben Hall doesn’t have the “acumen” to run the city.
I’m beginning to understand what is happening here.
Last Thursday, I attended the Downtown Pachyderm meeting at the Spaghetti Warehouse. At the meeting, Judge Dan Hinde rose to painfully promote the upcoming judicial signing party sponsored by the Republican Party. As previously mentioned by David Jennings, the event is scheduled during Rosh Hashanah, which begins at sunset on Wednesday, September 4 and ends at nightfall on Friday, September 6. A quick reading of the Platform of the Republican Party of Texas shows that Texas Republicans believe that “America is a nation under God founded on Judeo-Christian principles.” Moreover, the platform affirms “the constitutional right of all individuals to worship in the religion of their choice.” Unfortunately, Harris County Republicans don’t think that it is important to allow those of the Jewish faith to attend the judicial signing party.
Every other year, the Harris County Republican Party holds a judicial signing party. This event allows incumbent judges to obtain the requisite number of signatures (750) and incumbent challengers are not welcome to attend. Of course, these rules are not finite and can change as party favorites are brought through the process.
Is this activity in the best interest of the party? Do voters blindly sign petitions without asking the candidates difficult questions? For example, are pro-choice judges allowed to participate without a screening procedure?
From past experience, there is a pecking order and that order is determined by one thing – the identity of the judge’s political consultant. The first row is prime real estate and those judges definitely get more signatures than those on the back row. Judges represented by Allen Blakemore will be in the front row and these Judges will obtain more signatures than those in the back. Of course, the event organizer is Jared Woodfill, Harris County Republican Party Chairman and he is a Blakemore client. All other candidates fight for position in the back rows and this is where you find the Jessica Colon and Mary Jane Smith clients. Capturing and obtaining valid signatures is the name of this game.
Each judge usually has a table that is manned by a few supporters – traditionally, court staff or practicing lawyers (not necessarily Republicans). Sometimes, the participants are criminal defense lawyers or prosecutors trying to curry favor or donate their time instead of donating money to the candidate. This can cause an interesting situation for the judge and the signer should trouble arise.
It is always interesting to watch the dynamics at this event and work to figure out why certain people are participating in this process. Democrats participate in this process although the petitions are exclusively for Republican primary voters. And, of course, an event like this just wouldn’t be the same without low information voters like Valoree Swanson and her aunt, Norma Jeter. I say “low information” because they simply do what they are told – kind of like aliens in cartoons. Each consultant has go-to folks who blindly endorse their candidates and these are simply two examples.
I cannot help but wonder how many people attend this event without understanding the event concept; so, I thought that it was vital to bring this material to Big Jolly readers. Do pro-choice candidates slip through year after year because the party allows them to? How many judicial bypasses have been signed by the judges wanting signatures from Republican voters? Many judges and judicial candidates claim that they cannot answer the judicial bypass question because the judicial canons forbid judges or judicial candidates from making promises of conduct. That language does not mean that judges or judicial candidates cannot hold an anti-abortion position. If Terry Lowry is at the event, ask him which judges and judicial candidates to avoid – start with Susan Brown.
There is also a judicial canon, number five, that prohibits judges or judicial candidates from using their name to endorse another candidate for public office. So, is this event prohibited by canon five? Certainly it would prohibit what has become common place – judges and judicial candidates co-sponsoring events.
In years gone by, the gathering of signatures was a way to build party unity, strengthen the party, increase voter turnout, and help judges waive the filing fee. Unfortunately, there is a tremendous downside. The only time that judges participate in party activities is when they need something from the members – signatures, financial support, or endorsements. Very few judges are involved in the party and this process surely does not encourage it.
Instead, the party rents a very expensive galleria hotel and charges the candidates a fee (so the candidates can get signatures in lieu of the filing fee). If we are the party of fiscal stability and common sense, I must say that this is not a logical approach. The candidates should ask their congregations to sign their petitions. Talk to the parents in their child’s class at school. If the Harris County Republican Party is truly interested in outreach, they are not setting a good example by hosting an event for regular party folks at an expensive hotel on a religious holiday. Wouldn’t it save time and money to simply allow the candidates to bring their petitions to a Harris County Republican Party Executive Committee Meeting?
Make no mistake, if Wendy Davis runs against Greg Abbott, the down ballot races will be in real jeopardy. All Republican judges should be out building party unity during elections and this process does not encourage that growth. Those judges rumored to have opponents are out spending money and campaigning at Republican events now. Republican judicial candidates running for open seats are on the campaign trail. Most judges will never be seen outside of the judicial signing event. Naturally, these judges will be the first to jump to the Democratic Party at the first sign of trouble, and trouble is coming.
Another post in Raul Torres’ series on improving Texas
I want to talk to you about what I believe are some of our state’s most critical areas of concern looking forward.
First, Texas has an education problem. Our public education and higher education systems are not working for thousands of students. The evidence come from a report titled, “2012: Texas Public Higher Education Almanac” released by the Texas Education Coordinating Board. The report states that Texas ranks 35th out of 50 states in graduation rate at a 4-year institution. Only 57 {997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} of all
students at a public university graduate within six years. Meanwhile, only 27{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} graduate from a 2-year College. The report also shows that 54.4{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} of students are not college ready when they enter a Texas 2-year college program and only 29{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} of these ever graduate or remain in college after three years. Finally, Texas continues to lag far behind of its 2015 goal of graduating 630,000 students.
Every day Texas fails to fix this issue we can almost guarantee that thousands of our Texas students will fail to be future productive employees and instead could possibly become a financial burden upon society. Yet, despite these alarming statistics only some moderate reforms have been recently adopted. I believe these moderate reforms will do very little to solve our education problems. We must do better if we are to lead the nation as the “Texas model.”
Second, Texas has a very serious infrastructure problem. According to a report released by Texas Good Roads in June, 2012 titled, “The Cost of Doing Nothing,” Texas is faced with a bleak future if our state’s transportation needs are not properly addressed. Texas needs an annual investment of $9.9 billion a year to maintain road and bridge conditions and congestion at 2010 levels. Texas is only spending $8.2 billion. The Texas Legislature failed to solve our state’s water problems. Instead they chose to put a band aid solution to this very important issue. As long as the Legislature continues to put band aids on big problems we will never solve them. We must do better if we want Texas to have a strong economy.
Finally, we have a future water supply problem. According to the “2012 Texas Water Summit Report: Securing Water for Texas’s Future,” if Texas does not plan for and fund the acquisition of new water sources our state’s future is endangered. This could possible lead to Texas losing thousands or perhaps millions of jobs.
According to the Texas State Water Plan, we will need to spend $231 billion over the next 50 years to ensure sufficient water supply for our state. The Legislature failed to provide a long-term solution to adequately solve this critical issue. Instead they chose to kick the can down the road. We must do better to secure a brighter future for the people of Texas.
I believe we can solve these problems quickly and without raising new taxes if and only if we are bold enough to hold the line on spending, reduce the size of government, and reduce as many of costly and burdensome regulations that we can. The problems we have will not be solved using the same kind of thinking that has been used for the past 15 years. We must think differently and we must act differently.
You see I believe God had a divine purpose when he created this great land we call America. He did it so that those people who had a hunger for freedom and the courage to leave their homeland only to face unknown dangers just so they could have the opportunity to be free men. Well, I believe we haven’t lost that desire. I believe people continue to want to be free to enjoy life, liberty, and to pursue the American Dream.
From our forefathers to our modern-day immigrants, we’ve come from every corner of the earth only to be called Americans. My grandparents came from Mexico so they could become Americans just like your ancestors. Everywhere I travel on the campaign trail I see people from all walks of life busy at work, getting an education, or starting a new business all in the hopes that one day their dreams will come true and they do so despite the interference and hardships placed upon them by government. They are not ready to give up on their dreams and neither am I.
Unfortunately, our freedoms are becoming less and less with each passing day. Today, government believes he is our master. It seems to me that government taxes everything that moves, and if it doesn’t then it finds a way to subsidize it. Just like slaves were treated over hundred years ago, government officials would have us believe that we are incapable of managing our own lives. Well, don’t you believe them.
The truth is that our government has grown in its practice of governing in secret. The Austin elites tell us only what they want us to know. Perhaps they think the work they do is too complex for our understanding. Perhaps that is why the state’s budget is so hard to read and understand even for many CPA. Perhaps that is why so many cities, counties, and school districts refuse to post their budgets on line for all the world to see. Why else would they act this way? Could it be that they truly believe that we might panic if we were to be told the truth? Could it be that if we found out they got us into these problems that just maybe, we would get mad and fire them? It makes me wonder.
I have a question for them? Why should we become frightened? History has shown us that there isn’t any problem that “We the People” can’t solve if government would just give us the facts, all the facts. Then, get out of the way and let us have at it.
I am convinced there is more common sense at a high school PTA meeting or at a farmer’s Co-Op meeting than in all the combine brain power found in government bureaucrats or career politicians. I am convinced that the private sector can solve all of our biggest problems if only government would invite us to do that.
Since the founding of our nation “We the People” have faced incredible challenges over the course of our history, and we have solved every one of them. A civil war, the move from an agricultural economy to industrial one, two world wars, slavery, discrimination, terrorism and numerous natural disasters. The challenges we face today are daunting, but these too will be overcome because that is just what “We the People” do every day.
As you can see real solutions will require a new approach, a new way to solve our problems. The next Comptroller must be wiser, more knowledgeable, a proven problem solver, and a consensus builder to provide the leadership that will be required to build a better Texas Tomorrow. Let me fight for you. I am the only candidate with the proven experience, training, and vision to get the job done.
That’s all for now. Next week I will present the final segment of “My Conversation with Texas.” I hope you tune in. To learn more about the Raul Torres campaign visit us on the web at http://electraultorres.com or http://www.txtomorrow.org
I just thought you should know.
For Texas and Liberty,
Heh, I thought about making the title of this post “Dannie does the Pachyderm” but figured the humor would be lost on some. Plus the SEO for Google would be all messed up. So I’ll just tell you about the day that Sen. Dan Patrick spoke at the Downtown Houston Pachyderm Club. Which was today. Roughly 100 people turned out to hear their hometown Senator tell them why he is the right person at the right time for the job.
For those of you that are not evangelical Christians or are squeamish with your Christian faith, please jump to the next section because you will either not understand this or you will be very, very uncomfortable.
I love Jesus. That is a fact. But it wasn’t always so. Raised as a preacher’s kid, I did what many preacher’s kids do – made sure that you knew Pop was the preacher, not me. So I wandered in the wilderness that people wander around in when they reject the faith of their youth and try to make their place in the world. Part of the wandering was becoming involved in politics, conservative politics specifically. And if you lived in Harris County in the 1990’s, that meant you listened to KSEV 700.
And Dan Patrick was the voice of conservatives. But it wasn’t just Dan. It was an entire cast but most significantly for me, it was a guy named Mike Richards. Mike also loves Jesus and isn’t afraid to say so. Day after day I listened to this guy talk about joy and love, even as he talked about politics. Never backing down from his faith, never afraid to discuss his faith, always striving to glorify Jesus.
Mike’s sheer audacity, his never ending proclamation of Jesus as Lord, changed my life. Forever. I didn’t just go back to the faith of my youth, I understood what it meant. For that, I will ever be grateful.
So when Dan told me today, “I can never figure out whether you love me or hate me”, I thought I’d make it clear. I love you. And that will never change, no matter what happens in politics. Thank you for the gift that you have given me and my family.
Dan started his speech by telling the crowd that he didn’t start the year with a plan to run for Lt. Gov. He had drawn a two year stick in the redistricting process and could have easily won reelection and then retired at the age of 68. And he acknowledged that he had three capable opponents.
He said that he is running because of the things we haven’t done as a state and that he sees the window of opportunity to do those things closing. If “it” (name your conservative legislation) hasn’t happened, it is because the leadership of the House and Senate didn’t want it to happen.
Dan decided to run the night of Wendy Davis’ filibuster. He said there was no reason whatsoever to make her a rock star, which is what happened when Lt. Gov. Dewhurst bungled the situation.
Property taxes – Dan brought up the signature issue that he ran on in 2006, capping appraisals on property. He told the crowd that during his time in the Senate, he had no chance of getting his bills on the issue out of committee because the committee chairs, appointed by the Lt. Gov., didn’t support them.
Border security – Dan stressed that he is not an open borders candidate.
Education reform – No one on the ballot knows more about education than Dan does and I would agree with that assessment. Dan has worked extremely hard, first as Vice-Chair of Public Education and then as Chair to learn the issues involved in Education and conservative ways to address them. If you look at the reforms included in HB5, they will be remembered as a seminal change in Texas education for years to come. Dan also fought very hard for school choice – we didn’t get what we wanted but we got more than we’ve gotten in almost two decades.
Dan made sure the crowd knew that he doesn’t wake up in the morning wondering what he stands for. He said that since he has been in the Senate, he has been ranked the most conservative. He touted Michael Quinn Sullivan’s naming of him as one of three Senators that received A grades for the session.
Dan made it a point to say that he will address and pass bills on these issues:
Dan stressed that he is not running just on some grand vision, but to get things done.
Committee chairs decide what legislation will pass. Republicans have great conservatives on the bench but they cannot be effective because the Democrat committee chairs block their bills. Although this theme doesn’t play well with me, it will play well among the majority of Republican primary voters. I’d hate to see Austin become as partisan as Washington, D.C., but I’m in the minority on that one.
This is about electing someone with an impeccable conservative record, someone that has demonstrated themselves to be a conservative and has proven he can get things done. In God We Trust in the Senate, Under God in the Texas pledge, cutting business taxes $172 million, passing the sonogram bill.
Dan says that we are the party of minority groups and need to get this message out to them:
The primary thing I was looking for today was how well the crowd reacted to Dan. This club is full of judges and lawyers, but also precinct chairs and grassroots activists. And because of the location, everyone knows or knows of Dan. He received a standing ovation when he was introduced, which is not common but not rare either. And during his talk, he received a lot of applause. At the end, he received another standing ovation, which is fairly rare with this group. There were a lot of SD7 folks in attendance, so that helped and but I still got the impression that he was on target and well received.
One other note, his energy level was back to normal. He had worked so many hours during the session passing the education reforms that he looked very fatigued. But a couple of weeks off seems to have refreshed and energized him.
HCRP Chair Jared Woodfill managed to extract a public promise from Dan to engage in and work hard in areas that are traditionally ignored by Republicans. It was not only an interesting move by Jared, it was bold. But the problem for Dan is that he has been in office since 2006, hasn’t reached out to these communities, and in fact has supported the very people that have made it virtually impossible for the party to reach these communities. And Jared has done the same thing even longer. How these two will accomplish what they promised today is unknown but I do hope that people hold them to their promises.
During the question/answer period, I asked him to address the theory that if Dan is elected Lt. Gov., the Senate as a whole will strip him of his power. Dan dismissed this out of hand, saying that it would take all 11 Democrats (assuming Wendy Davis’ seat turns Republican) plus 5 Republicans and Dan didn’t think that 5 Republicans would turn on a conservative Lt. Gov. because they would have to go home and face the voters.
Like I said above, I love Dan as a person. He didn’t address his tendency to bring his emotions into legislation – forced generators, state intervention in education, checkpoints, etc., so I remain skeptical about his candidacy. But I’m reminded of what I wrote in May of 2007 in the midst of his first fight on property appraisal caps:
From the very moment that Dan Patrick declared his candidacy for Senate District 7, he has faced overwhelming odds. Three polished, experienced and connected politicians ran against him in the primary. News media ridiculed him daily, laughing at the audacity of a radio talk show host daring to run for public office. There was no way, they said, that his “small” base of listeners could propel him to victory.
After crushing his three primary opponents, their message changed to “of course he won, he has the bully pulpit of a radio station every day”. And “even though he won, he’ll be a joke in the Senate, no one will listen and he won’t get anything done”. Or “Patrick is just grandstanding and won’t devote time or effort to legislation”.
…
All I can say is thank you Sen. Patrick. And thank you to the voters of SD 7 who put him there.
Ineffective freshman my arse.
Regardless of any reservations I might have, if Sen. Dan Patrick does make it to the top of this mountain, I’m certain that he will be an effective conservative Lt. Governor.
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