Wednesday, February 02, 2011

GOP's redistricting plans are pushed to the back burner

Kos notes that with too many irons in the fire -- repealing the Affordable Healthcare Act, killing Social Security, impeaching that damn socialist communist Obama --  the Republicans are letting redistricting slide down the priority list. Via the DNCC, Noah Rothman at Campaigns and Elections:

Having made significant state-level gains in the 2010 elections, the GOP appeared to be in a prime position to influence the decennial process of congressional redistricting. But, as the process gets underway in a series of first-round states, including New Jersey, Virginia, Kentucky, Mississippi and Louisiana, some party insiders are concerned that Republicans have failed to amass the funding necessary to capitalize on their advantages. 

In particular, the insiders point to the lackluster performance of Making America’s Promise Secure (MAPS), a Republican 501(c)(4) founded in 2009 in part by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott to assist in the GOP’s redistricting efforts. (Costs related to redistricting have in the past been covered by the RNC through “soft money” donations, though these were banned by the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reforms early last decade.)

On January 12, Nathan Gonzalez reported in Roll Call that MAPS has gone quiet in recent months. He quotes Brad Todd, a National Republican Congressional Committee consultant and founder of On Message, Inc., to the effect that Republican priorities shifted in 2010 to immediate electoral gains, leaving planning for redistricting in the lurch. “There was a conscious decision to win elections,” he told Gonzalez. “People got tired of paying lawyers.” With the RNC extremely short on cash, Republicans face a significant funding problem just as the redistricting efforts in first-round states are ramping up.

Reported also from June of last year by Politico ...

Outmaneuvered by the GOP during the last round of redistricting a decade ago, Democrats appear to have an early advantage as the two parties gear up again for the expensive and high-stakes battle over redrawing state legislative and congressional districts.

“I do believe that the Democrats are much better organized at this stage,” said Ben Ginsberg, a top Republican election lawyer. 

More recently -- as in a couple of weeks ago -- from Hotline On Call:

Even though Republicans made historic gains at the state level in 2010 that gave them unprecedented control over redistricting, they are currently lacking a unifying organization to lead the process.

And the absence of such a group is starting to cause alarm in Republican circles.

One such Republican is former NRCC Chairman Tom Reynolds. Reynolds is particularly invested in redistricting because he helped spearhead the GOP's efforts in 2010 that netted Republicans nearly 700 new seats in statehouses across the country at the Republican State Leadership Committee. Reynolds directly oversaw the RSLC's REDMAP program, the group's primary fundraising arm.

Despite those gains, though, Reynolds said the GOP is in something of holding pattern without an organization dedicated to raising money and focused on redistricting.

"I've been surprised that I didn't see the party yearning for some sort of outside effort to get the map-making up and going," Reynolds told Hotline On Call. "Normally instead of having the party pay for that, someone on the outside would take that initiative and I haven't seen that leadership."

It's more than just a money problem and a lack of focus by the national organization. They're also hamstrung by circumstances beyond their control. Here in Deep-In-The-Hearta redistricting is under mandatory Department of Justice review to assure that there are no deleterious effects to minority representation. And the difference between  the 2003 redistricting legacy of Tom DeLay and this year's is as vast as the gap between Eric Holder and Alberto Gonzales.

The Republican-dominated state legislature is also distracted with Rick Perry's emergencies, of course. Oh well, he can always call a special session.

But the red tide of 2012 swept so many GOP freshmen into office in Austin as well as Washington (Canseco, Farenthold) that there just aren't enough Republican voters to protect all of them. So some are bound to get screwed over by their new district maps. This inherently assumes, however,  that Democrats of all stripes -- young voters, disaffected progressives, and especially Latinos -- return to the polls in 2012 in numbers that can overcome a still-vigorous TeaBagger uprising. Sadly, that's no safe assumption.

With so much attention focusing on this rather glaring overlook, can they get it in gear and get after it on this project?

I'm guessing they'll start making up some ground very soon. But they just won't have the kind of success securing their grip on rulership that they have in the past.

Monday, January 31, 2011

71% of TX political "insiders" say voter ID is a 'political issue'

According to the Texas Tribune's "insiders"...

This week, we asked our insiders about voter fraud — which was simultaneously being cussed and discussed in the Texas Senate debate over photo voter ID — to see whether they think it's a real problem (14 percent), a political issue (71 percent) or both (16 percent).

One of them commented:

"Legislative emergencies should be used for true emergencies, not the issues the Governor's pollster deems red meat. Also, answers to your first question will skew the voter ID debate -- many believe voter fraud is real, but the only kind of fraud voter ID legislation addresses is voter impersonation at Election Day polling places. That type of fraud has not been shown to be a real issue, despite the AG's best efforts."

Presumably their list of "insiders" -- the list is at the link above -- is fair and balanced (I'm tired of using italics in this post but they are certainly inferred WRT the previous phrase), so this represents a pretty embarrassing truism for Rick Perry, David Dewhurst, and the Senate Republicans: three out of four see through their BS, while the remaining insider is likely a Teabagging sycophant.

But I don't think the governor is going to be too embarrassed by this poll's results. Do you?

Update: The Chronicle's op-ed is withering in its criticism and reminds us of the legal hurdles VID must still clear ...

But the bill is by no means a sure thing. The U.S. Justice Department will be reviewing it to see that it complies with the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Texas is among Southern states with a history of discrimination against minority voters that must get clearance from that department before making such changes. Another hurdle to overcome is that voter fraud is not an issue at polling booths. If anything, voter registration and mail-in ballots are more of a concern, but neither of those activities requires a photo ID.

If the bill becomes law, it will cost about $2 million to implement — at a time when we’re watching every penny. No problem, says Dewhurst. We could get a federal grant to foot the bill.

From the same feds, we assume, who spend like drunken sailors and interfere in our state business.

This is a hasty, mean-spirited bill that could cause far more problems than it solves. We urge the Justice Department to give it their full attention.

The Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance is ready to retire the phrase "blue norther" for another year as it brings you this week's blog roundup.

Off the Kuff took an early look at fundraising for 2011 city of Houston elections.

The Big Gas Mafia says it's impossible but hydraulic fracturing causes gas to migrate, threatening lives... AGAIN. TXsharon puts 2 and 2 together at Bluedaze: DRILLING REFORM FOR TEXAS.

Bay Area Houston has a press release from the governor titled Rick Perry Asks Republican Voters to Quit Their State Jobs.

A Texas republican is at the forefront of the movement to kill Medicare. CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme is not surprised.

This week at Left of College Station Teddy calls out Congressman Bill Flores' health care hypocrisy for voting to repeal health care reform that ensures health care for millions of Americans while voting against repealing his own government health care. Teddy also covers the week in headlines.

The Texas Cloverleaf highlights the Texas House Republican vote against open government.

Ryan at TexasVox asks "Where's the outrage?" from TCEQ approving another polluting power plant despite local opposition, warnings from the EPA, and rulings from two SOAH hearings. The facility is ironically named Las Brisas plant in Corpus Christi.

During the voter I.D. legislation fight on the floor of the Texas Senate last week, a new problem emerged on the policy. And it's not what you think this time: potential problems for minorities, or the elderly, or rural Texans, or poor folks. This time, it's a problem with your right to vote. Yes, you. Letters From Texas explains why.

Eye On Williamson points out that the state GOP's proposed budget is asking for huge sacrifices from poor and working Texans, but little or nothing from the wealthy and corporations, in the Texas GOP budget proposal is morally bankrupt.

Ever been broken down on the side of the road and everybody in the car is arguing about who's going to get out in the rain and try to fix what's wrong? Well, that's where the state's highway fund is. And our Austin representatives are "ready to have a discussion" about it. PDiddie at Brains and Eggs double-checked, and no, nobody has a roadside assistance plan, either.

At TexasKaos, Libby Shaw serves up a heaping helpin' of snark in Rick Perry Urges Republican Voters to Abandon Public Schools. By the reactions she got, she ruffled a few feathers. You go girl!

Neil at Texas Liberal had jury duty the past week. Neil dressed well for the responsibility and feels that you should do the same when you are called. What merits greater respect than our common society?

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Egypt collapses into revolution


Thousands of inmates have broken out of their prisons (some reports indicate they were let loose by authorities) and have joined the demonstrators in the streets of cities throughout Egypt. 'Looters' and 'criminals' carrying government identification are rioting. Warplanes are repeatedly buzzing the crowds in Cairo. Police and soldiers have demonstrated an unusual amount of sympathy for the protesters, and now even hundreds of judges have joined the outcry. All this according to as-I-type broadcasts from mostly foreign services including al-Jazeera and the BBC.

This follows the resignation two weeks ago of the president of Tunisia and unrest in other Arab nations including Yemen and even Jordan.

We have revolution, and some of it is being televised, and Tweeted and Facebooked, despite the Egyptian Internet switch being turned off.

Update: Follow the al-Jazeera live blog here.

Texas state highway fund is broke down on the side of the road

Texas soon will be shelling out more per year to pay back money it borrowed for road construction than it spends from its quickly vanishing pile of cash to build new highways.

Legislative leaders characterize the state's transportation funding as a crisis. Most Texans, they say, are unaware of its severity and must be educated before the state can find new ways to finance new roads.

The gasoline tax pays for road maintenance and construction but has not increased in 20 years. Gas tax revenue peaked in 2008 and likely will decline as vehicles become more fuel-efficient.

"It's not a crisis until everybody agrees that it's a crisis. Right now, people who don't understand it are saying, 'You're crying wolf,'" said House Transportation Committee Chairman Joe Pickett, D-El Paso. "Yes, it's a crisis."

Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee Chairman Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, agrees.

"The gravity of the situation is that in the absence of further action by the Legislature this session, we will literally be out of money for new construction in 2012 in the fastest-growing state in the country and in one of the largest states in the country," he said. "We need to begin to have a discussion about it."

Unfinished roads -- Roads to Nowhere? -- potholes, bridges broken down, then finally toll roads and Lexus lanes... but isn't this what a whole lotta Texans voted for in the last election?

What is everyone so upset about? Besides the ill eagles, as usual?

Remember: this is a financial issue mostly separated from the state's budget shortfall, which is also a crisis ... but not yet one of Rick Perry's emergencies, like voter ID, or sanctuary cities, or mandatory sonograms for women considering their reproductive options.

The transportation funding problem is separate from the state's projected $15 billion to $27 billion budget shortfall. The Texas Department of Transportation does not get any general revenue to build or maintain roads.

Legislative leaders generally agree that hiking the gasoline tax is not a viable option for several reasons, including the no-tax-increase pledge by Gov. Rick Perry and others. But Pickett wants that option on the table.

The proposed budget calls for the state to spend nearly $3 billion a year on road maintenance and nearly $800 million a year to repay debt. Less than $600 million, however, will be available per year for new road construction, which will not buy much pavement.

For example, the U.S. 290 corridor from Loop 610 to FM 2920 in Waller runs 38 miles and will cost $2.4 billion, according to TxDOT officials.

State lawmakers still have $3 billion left to authorize from a $5 billion road bond issue approved by Texas voters in 2007. Williams said he will push for that in the coming months.

The state began borrowing money in 2003 to pay for roads and now owes $11.9 billion. It will cost more than $21 billion to repay those bonds, Pickett said.

"We are trying to warn people," Pickett said, "Is this the way you really want to go? If you could get everybody around the table and put politics aside, common sense would say the conservative thing to do would be to limit borrowing capacity and put more cash in."

But hey, the Republicans elected in mass majorities just two months ago have a handle on it.

(Williams) agreed that the growing debt is a problem but said it is manageable given the size of the state, likening borrowing money for roads to buying a home with a 30-year mortgage.

A 30-year mortgage? Really, Tommy? In the current real estate market? You didn't sign us up for an ARM, did you?

Williams and Pickett agree that higher vehicle registration fees would help counter the immediate funding pressures. Current vehicle registration fees run about $60 a year in Texas.

Both said there's no benefit in assessing the state's long-term highway needs because that cost is so staggering that "you push the public away," as Pickett put it.

A report two years ago by the Texas Transportation Institute and others indicated the state's highway needs between now and 2030 would cost $488 billion.

Texans now pay 20 cents of state tax on every gallon of gasoline — a nickel of it goes to public education - which costs a person who drives 12,000 miles a year and averages 21 miles per gallon pays $7.14 a month. People who get better mileage spend less, Picket said.

A 5-cent hike in the state gas tax would raise about $575 million for roads and $190 million for schools.

"Is it OK to keep borrowing money, putting it on the credit card and paying high interest - or, should we raise the gas tax?" Pickett said.

Higher fees, more debt, and/or raising taxes are the choices. And "let's have a discussion about it" is what's coming out of the mouths of Republicans in the state legislature. I think I hear a Teapot squealing.

The Republicans have been in charge of Texas for almost 20 years now and this state is in the worst shape it has ever been in its entire history. Prior to 1998 the Democrats had been in control for about a hundred years and not once during the entire time have the state's financial consequences been this dire. Not once.

Rick Perry (and David Dewhurst, and everybody running for Kay Bailey's chair too, for that matter) has gone from boasting about the strength of the Texas economy during the campaign season to blaming all our troubles on Washington -- that is, when he can bring himself to admit we have any troubles at all. It's the same con game as his public persona; the drugstore-cowboy equivalent of bragging about how brave you are because you shot a coyote, even though nobody actually saw you do it and there's no dead coyote to be found.

The fact is that Republicans rule, and Democrats govern. I realize this is difficult to understand, particularly if you have been drinking too much tea for the past year.

Friday, January 28, 2011

Things to do in Houston this weekend

-- The Houston Auto Show, now through Sunday the 30th, is offering free test drives on dozens of different models -- GMC, Buick, Chevy (including the Camaro), Toyota, and Kia. There are also free gifts for test-drivers.

-- The Chevron Houston Marathon and the Aramco Houston Half-Marathon will run through the streets of H-Town on Sunday.


This lists the street closures, so whether you're spectating or avoiding you'll know where to go. If you need a reason not to go, click here.

-- Sam Houston Race Park's thoroughbred season gets under way with the Connally Turf Cup, a $200,000 affair attracting some outstanding entries.

-- And if that's not enough for you, check out Artopia, sponsored by the Houston Press.

-- In a more partisan vein, the HCDP Comedy Showcase will be Sunday evening from 6-9, in coordination with the Houston Comedy Union.


Recent post updates

Re: More Senate stirrings and The Bush family pushback against the Tea Party ...

-- Dewhurst does DC, so does Leppert (ew):

Texas Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, widely presumed to start the race for U.S. Senate as the favorite if he decides to run, was in Washington (last) Thursday to meet with members of the Texas delegation on a range of issues.

Dewhurst was spotted in a meeting with a group of GOP lawmakers over the lunch hour, and a spokesman confirmed that the lieutenant governor was on the Hill to talk policy. ...

Asked if his political future was a subject of discussion during the meetings, Walz would only say that Dewhurst "was encouraged by his meetings with members of the delegation." ...

Rep. Joe Barton, now infamous nationally for apologizing to BP during the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, told The Hill Thursday he likely would not pursue a Senate bid if Dewhurst does.

A GOP lobbyist also tells POLITICO that Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert was making the rounds in Washington Thursday.

Leppert, who recently announced he would not run for another mayoral term, is also toying with a Senate bid, but will face the challenge of being a regional candidate with little statewide name recognition.

-- Two Railroad Commissioners join the fray ...

Texas Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams formally announced he would run for the U.S. Senate at a Texas Tribune forum Thursday morning.

During his announcement Williams told the Tribune's Evan Smith that he and former Texas Solicitor General Ted Cruz, who's also running, would probably attract some of the same supporters. He blasted the federal government for the Environmental Protection Agency "is sticking its nose in our business." He also said that he didn't feel that Dewhurst was the front-runner in contest.

He made a point of referring to himself as the "big dog" in the primary. He most certainly has the biggest head in the affair. Meanwhile, EAJ makes a little tiny ripple ...

Construction workers Jim Graf of Houston and Stacy Roberts of Conroe know barbecue, which is why they took a break from putting up a new Pizza Hut to chow down on brisket, chicken, beans and slaw at Goode Company Barbecue on Kirby. They didn't know Elizabeth Ames Jones, the Texas railroad commissioner who, coincidentally, was setting up in the parking lot out front on this chilly Tuesday to tout her candidacy for the U.S. Senate.

"State senate or U.S. Senate?" Graf wanted to know.

"Republican or Democrat?" Roberts asked.

Ah ha ha ha ha.  More:


Railroad Commissioner Elizabeth Ames Jones continued her U.S. Senate announcement tour at the Texas Capitol, showing up a bit later than scheduled this afternoon with an anti-Washington message she hopes will take her to Washington....

There wasn't a crowd to greet her, although there were some supporters on hand -- including her husband, two nephews and former Texas Supreme Court justice Craig Enoch -- plus a handful of reporters who asked questions afterward.

Even Big Jolly is less than impressed. Kuffner has a bit more.

Re: The Texas Budget Cluster ... let's just load up the linkage.

-- As Perry bashed Recovery Act, Texas relied more heavily on stimulus funds than any other state to fill budget hole (Think Progress)

... in addition to filling nearly his entire budget gap with Recovery Act funds, Perry also used the Build America Bonds program — created as part of the Recovery Act — to fund billions of dollars in infrastructure projects. He also grandstanded against — and then promptly accepted — federal funding meant to prevent teacher layoffs.

-- Senate Passes Voter ID (Austin Chronicle)

-- The first ten amendments to the Voter ID bill and their fates, and the 11th through the 24th, and the 25th through 38th.

-- What would veteran lawmakers do about Texas' budget deficit? (Dallas News)

Monday, January 24, 2011

The Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance congratulates the Green Bay Packers and the Pittsburgh Steelers on their advancement to the Super Bowl -- and notes the delicious irony in that they are playing the game in Dallas -- as it brings you this week's roundup.

WhosPlayin helped organize a cleanup for an historic African American cemetery dating back to about 1845 that had been the target of litterbugs and illegal dumpers. Respect for the dead, and respect for the land are still values that people from left and right can agree on.

Off the Kuff analyzed the initial Republican budget proposal and the utter havoc it would wreak on the state.

TXsharon at BLUEDAZE: Drilling Reform for Texas reported on two important developments on hydraulic fracturing: 1) the EPA is confident gas in Parker County water wells is from the Barnett Shale, and 2) the media took a lie about the EPA and regulating diesel fuel and repeated it without fact checking.

At Letters From Texas, Harold points out that Rick Perry keeps calling things "emergencies" that aren't, and continues to ignore emergencies that are.

Capitol Annex takes a look at a study showing that Texas gets an "F" when it comes to reporting outbreaks of food-borne illness and wonders why the media wasn't paying attention last year when candidates were making an issue of food safety in Texas.

There's a muddy, grunting scrum developing among the Republicans coveting the US Senate seat Kay Bailey is vacating, and PDiddie at Brains and Eggs posts an update at a safe distance from the bottom of the pile.

Exactly why does Governor Perry want to insist that you can cut spending and maintain services? McBlogger's pretty sure it's a case of cognitive dissonance.

Libby Shaw at Texas Kaos gets it dead right whem she tells Goodhair to Man Up Governor Perry. Of course he won't. He has already double-downed on completing the demolition of Texas public education according to everything coming out about the new state budget.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme wants to know why Republicans hate people so very much.

TexasVox welcomes guest blogger Jim Hightower as part of a one-two punch on the nuclear waste dump in West Texas: Hightower's Dumping on Texas for Fun and Profit and an expose of Harold Simmons' last-minute contributions to Texas politicians in 2010.

Neil at Texas Liberal wrote on the massive budget deficit in Texas, offering the view that Republican mismanagement of the state is not the only reason for the shortfall. Neil also cites poor citizenship by the many Texans who don't want to pay taxes in a state with no income tax, but who at the same time kick up a fuss when government services they use are cut.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Rick Perry's emergencies

If you had the slightest doubt about Governor Zoolander running for president, you can put that aside now.

Legislation requiring women seeking an abortion to first have a sonogram is an emergency that merits expedited consideration by the Legislature, Gov. Rick Perry told anti-abortion activists on Saturday.

A bill backed by Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and Houston state Sen. Dan Patrick will be granted emergency status, Perry told more than a thousand anti-abortion protesters at a rally. They had gathered at the Capitol on the 38th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion.

[...]

The governor has previously announced four other emergency items for legislators to consider: eminent domain reform, ending "sanctuary city" policies that don't require police to check the immigration status of people they stop or arrest, a voter identification bill, and calling for an amendment to the US Constitution that would mandate a balanced federal budget.

The issues that Perry has given emergency status are important to his base of conservative activists and to the tea party movement.

Harold Cook has the lightest response, but this is really no laughing matter.

Tomorrow the Texas Senate will take up his first "emergency" -- voter ID -- in a 'committee of the whole' session.

It will eventually pass, and the only question is the level of opposition the minority will be able to muster. Whatever that amount is, how intense it may be, it will still only be symbolic.

Voter ID has the sole intention -- no matter how loudly or often Republicans claim it is something else -- of stifling Democratic turnout. Even prominent Republicans say that it will place a likely-insurmountable hardship on many of the elderly. But then that's just how they roll.

Moving forward, Democrats in Texas will have to make sure their voters have proper identification according to the legislation that will be crafted. Voters, for their part, are going to have to accept responsibility for making certain they are "qualified" to cast a ballot ... according to the GOP's definition of the word.

This additional voting requirement still won't stop disqualifications at polls, particularly those run by GOP election judges, nor will it end the thuggish tactics of the King Street Patriot/True the Vote denizens.

But it's going to be the new reality, just like community colleges closing, a hundred thousand teachers across Texas hitting the unemployment lines, and Medicaid patients dying because the the state no longer wants to pay for their care.

This is what a majority of Texans voted for last November. How do you like it so far?

Update: Burka, on the governor's priorities ...

I suspect that most governors, like 48 or 49 out of 50, would be embarrassed to fast-track such proposals when their state was facing a $27 billion budget deficit that is partly the result of the governor’s own policies, but nothing seems to be too blatantly political to embarrass Perry. And I think the reason no one really is wringing their hands over the governor’s upside-down priorities is that we long ago ceased to expect anything more.

And Gary Denton, on the V-ID bill ...

1) The legislation does not provide any alternatives to photo identification examples of identification that will no longer be acceptable to voter include student id cards, Medicaid/Medicare cards, expired driver’s licenses, expired passports, expired military id cards, birth certificates, official government letters, and employer id cards even if issued by a governmental entity.

[...]

9) Implementing redistricting plans and extremely strict photo id laws right before a Presidential election is a recipe for disaster in voter confusion.

The people most impacted by this bill will be students, (those who have) recently married (or) recently moved, very low income, elderly, legal immigrants, handicapped, (and) mainly urban dwellers who don't drive a car. These groups all lean Democratic so the Republicans count this bill as a success, getting any edge possible for elections.

And John Tanner, on why the V-ID bill will not withstand a court challenge.