Monday, December 16, 2013

The Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance calls on Congress to deal seriously with the plight of the long-term unemployed as it brings you this week's roundup.

Off the Kuff previews the upcoming hearing on Texas' ban on same-sex marriage with a bold prediction of how it will likely play out.

Horwitz at Texpatriate recaps the recent runoff election in the city of Houston.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme is glad Wendy Davis and Leticia Van de Putte are running to support public education. Too bad all of the Republican candidates for lieutenant governor are running to teach the Bible in place of science. Psst: The earth is not flat, nor does the sun revolve around our planet.

The first in a series of profiles of the candidates appearing on the 2014 statewide Democratic ballot appears at Brains and Eggs.

Eye On Williamson has the the list of Democratic candidates that filed for 2014. They give us reason for hope in Williamson County in 2014: Williamson County races with Democrats on the ballot.

Neil at All People Have Value wrote that a picture of a Christmas wreath on a door is as good as the real thing. Friendly and flexible people know that it is the shadow that sells the substance. All People Have Value is part of NeilAquino.com.

=========================
And here are some posts of interest from other Texas blogs.

LawFlog asks if George P. Bush is padding his resume.

Rep. Mike Villarreal celebrates the increase in health insurance enrollments by Texans on the federal exchange.

Egberto Willies analyzes the exchange from yesterday's This Week between Robert Reich and Newt Gingrich regarding who and what is responsible for the vast income equality gap.

Megan Randall documents her experience with Healthcare.gov, which got her a better policy than what she previously had at a lower price.

Grits for Breakfast argues that state fire marshall Chris Conneally should be named Texan of the Year by the Dallas Morning News.

Offcite explores the Houston townhouse as "a formal expression of laws that make no explicit claims to form".

Progress Texas crowns the Ten Worst Texans of 2013, though how they narrowed it down to ten remains a mystery.

Paul Kennedy looks at how corporations take money from taxpayers to pay executives a king's ransom.

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Sunday Funnies


"Wal-Mart announced this week that the best-selling item on Black Friday was a pack of towels that sold for $1.74. So heads up, kids: Christmas is gonna suck."

-- Seth Meyers

Megyn Kelly: For all you kids watching at home, Santa just is white.

Stephen Colbert: Yes. Thank you. For all those kids watching Fox News at 9:40 at night, Santa is white. Besides, a black Santa is a terrible idea. If a homeowner in Florida sees a black man coming down their chimney, he is going to get shot. 'Officer, I was only defending my milk and cookies!'"

-- The Colbert Report



"Santa is just white? Who are you actually talking to? Children who are sophisticated enough to be watching a news channel at 10 o'clock at night, yet innocent enough to still believe Santa Claus is real, yet racist enough to be freaked out if he isn’t white."

-- Jon Stewart


President Obama shook hands with Cuban dictator Raul Castro. Or as Fox News reported it: "Foreign communist shakes hands with the leader of Cuba."

-- Conan O'Brien

Incumbents bounced in H-Town

With voter turnout failing to reach 30,000, 37,000, a significant anti-incumbent sentiment ruled the day (and night).

Two Houston City Council incumbents and two incumbents on the Houston Community College board lost their seats Saturday, according to unofficial runoff election results.

With all precincts reporting, controversial first-term council incumbents Helena Brown, in northwest Houston's District A, and Andrew C. Burks Jr., in At-Large Position 2, fell to their challengers, as did HCC trustees Yolanda Navarro Flores and Herlinda Garcia.

Brown lost her rematch with Brenda Stardig, the incumbent she defeated to gain the seat two years ago.  [...]

Burks fell to challenger David W. Robinson, a civic leader and former city planning commissioner. Robinson raised far more campaign cash than did Burks, who had run unsuccessfully numerous times before winning his seat two years ago.  [...]

In the At-Large 3 runoff, bail bondsman and civic activist Michael Kubosh, best known for leading the charge against Houston's red-light cameras, topped former Harris County Department of Education trustee and former mayoral candidate Roy Morales.  [...]

In south Houston's District D, lobbyist Dwight Boykins bested businesswoman Georgia D. Provost. Boykins had thumped the 11 other candidates in fundraising heading into November. Term-limited District D Councilwoman Wanda Adams was elected to the Houston ISD board.

In a very low-turnout race in the East End's District I, Harris County jailer and civic activist Robert Gallegos beat Graci Garcés, who is chief of staff for the term-limited James Rodriguez.

Political analysts had pointed to a larger rivalry in the race, given that Gallegos served eight years as an aide to former eastside Harris County commissioner and now-state Sen. Sylvia Garcia, and that Garcés worked for former council member and now-State Rep. Carol Alvarado. Alvarado and Garcia waged a bitter campaign earlier this year for the post Garcia now holds. [...]

In the Houston Community College contests, District 1 incumbent Flores lost to challenger Zeph Capo, a vice president of the Houston Federation of Teachers. In District 3, Adriana Tamez, an education consultant, beat incumbent Garcia, who was appointed to the post after the resignation of the prior trustee. In the runoff for the open District 5 seat, businessman Robert Glaser topped commercial real estate agent Phil Kunetka.

Sorry about all those ellipses; I'm just not as fond of Mark Jones' opinion as the Chron is.  But he does get one thing right: the Sylvia Garcia-Carol Alvarado dynamic is now the one to watch in the East End (Sylvia's team is 2-0).  Who aligns with whom in the future may make the biggest difference in who wins, which is far more interesting than seeing who raised the most money.  But the worst news is that some of these downballot races didn't have 5000 votes in total cast in them.  Positively dismal.

Noah live-blogged the evening and has the vote tallies by race as Clerk Stanart slowly managed to get them counted  -- an hour after polls close before the EV comes in ?!? -- so you can see that the largest trend that Election Day reversed was Capo's win in the HCC 1 contest.

No disrespect intended to tonight's victors, but if Mayor Parker just traded Helena Brown for Michael Kubosh, then there are no real winners or losers.  But if you look it as Melissa Noriega traded for Kubosh...

Friday, December 13, 2013

Corporate Super PACs now allowed in all Texas elections

I rail on about the poisoning influence of money in politics for many reasons.  This is one of them.

The Watchdog wants you to know how Texas government and politics are about to change in a fundamental way. A little-noticed lawsuit has cleared the way for a historic switch. For the first time, corporations can make direct contributions to super PACs to influence state, county, local and school board elections in Texas.

You mean like that U.S. Supreme Court Citizens United decision that did the same for federal races?

Exactly. In lawyer talk, this aligns Texas with the federal ruling.

Cut the lawyer talk. What does this mean for the average voter?

In the darkest scenario, a millionaire donor from out-of-state could chuck gobs of money into a school board race and overthrow a board. Woe to a town mayor who upsets a big company. Small-town races could suddenly see a massive influx of corporate money handled through what state officials call “direct campaign expenditure only committees.”

I don’t get it.

Corporations were not allowed to donate to Texas elections through committees or any other way. Now they can pool their money with individual donors in these new political action committees. And these super PACs, although not allowed to make direct contributions to candidates, can spend unlimited amounts to campaign for one side or another. They will supposedly operate independent of the candidates.

How did this happen?

A group called Texans for Free Enterprise filed a federal lawsuit against the Texas Ethics Commission. The state lost. Dallas lawyer Chris Gober is the winning lawyer.

What does he say?

He says, “It’s very controversial. Some people certainly take the position that the more money in politics, the worse. What this particular decision represents is us requiring the state of Texas to recognize the bounds of the First Amendment that have been established by the U.S. Supreme Court.”

Corporations still cannot donate directly to candidates, Gober says. “What the law still does is prevent corporations from actively engaging with candidates and giving direct money to candidates in ways that create the danger of quid pro quo corruption.”

Do you think that’s true, Watchdog Man?

We’ll see. What we do know is that corporations will have more power to influence Texas elections than ever, and they were no shrinking violet before this. Gober says, “A lot of people believe that corporations are affected by government policies more so than individuals, that they have the right to engage in the debate to determine how the people are going to be governed.”

Are there limits to the donations?

No limits.

What does the losing party, the Texas Ethics Commission, say?

Officials are changing state election law. TEC general counsel Natalia Ashley says, “It’s hard to know how it’s going to impact races since this is the first time it will be allowed.”

Watchdog, did you talk to a political expert?

I did. Cal Jillson, the SMU political science professor, says that since individuals could already donate unlimited amounts to Texas races, this won’t have a dramatic effect. He suggests that some corporations will be hesitant to get involved in races: “Their customers are on both sides of divisive issues.”

What about Allan Saxe, over at the University of Texas at Arlington?

Saxe tells The Watchdog: “I’m for free speech. It may be unfair, but the First Amendment doesn’t talk about fairness. It talks about freedom, and that’s what the case is based on. In our society, everybody is trying to be fair and make everybody equal. … Money is not fair. But as long as people earn their money honestly and legally, I have no quarrel with it.”

What can the rest of us do, Watchdog?

My suggestion: Voters must pay attention to where political money comes from, why donors are giving and what they hope to get out of it. Contributor information and PAC registration will be available for free viewing on the Texas Ethics Commission website.

Obviously there are far too many people invested in the status quo -- all the way down to university political science professors -- for this development to be slowed down, stopped, or rolled back any time soon.  The efforts of organizations like Move to Amend simply can't keep up.  Of all of the recent developments suggesting that the tide is turning in Texas, this one law will see to it that the corporate politicians on both sides of the aisle will hang on much longer than we the people want.

To paraphrase Jesse Ventura, they're already dug in like an Alabama tick.

What they taught me in Boy Scouts about how to remove a tick was to light a match, blow it out, apply it to the tick's backside, and when he releases, grab him and crush him.  Trust me, it works.

That's the only way we're going to get rid of these blood-sucking insects attached to our democracy.

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Houston municipal election turnout anemic, and other local updates

-- Early voting concluded Tuesday, and a bit more than 20,000 Houstonians have cast ballots.

The total number of early voters was lower than the 2011 runoff elections for city council seats. More than 23,000 people voted early that year.

How embarrassing is that?  Forty thousand votes is going to be a stretch for this runoff.  The total will probably be closer to thirty.  Update: Charles' spreadsheet makes it look as if 50K might be reachable.

This Saturday is your last chance to be counted.  Kuff has the info you need, including the links to the runoff particulars, if you still need help deciding.  Just keep in mind that money doesn't matter, no matter how many times the political consultants say it.  All that counts is you.

-- Annise Parker opposes the attempt by the Houston historical commission to designate the Astrodome as an historical landmark.  Even though the Dome is outside the city's juridiction -- it's always been the purview of Harris County -- the Dome needs friends in high places and this doesn't help.

After all the good she'd done lately, she was bound to disappoint me in some fashion.  There was no need for her to weigh in publicly on this small detail, whether she supported the effort or not.

-- City council members are furiously and repetitively tagging (delaying via parliamentary procedure) the payday lending ordinance.  Once the elections are passed, you start to see the real people and their priorities.  Al I can say here is: 'remember their names'.  Stace and Noah have more.  Update: And also Burnt Orange.

-- The most-watched television station in Houston (by number of viewers in the coveted 18-49 demographic) is... the local Univision affiliate.

Univision 45 announced this week that it is now the No. 1 station in the Houston market beating out local ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox affiliates.
With two days remaining in the November 2013 sweep period, KXLN Univision 45 is Houston's No. 1 broadcast station among Adults 18-49 in major dayparts including: daytime, early news, primetime and late news, regardless of language.

The tide has already turned, and (almost) no one noticed.

-- Finally, there's going be a great documentary next week about the tumultuous 1993 football season experienced by the Houston Oilers.

“A Football Life: Houston ’93,” which airs at 8 p.m. Tuesday on NFL Network, begins with audio/visual doom and gloom: a shot of the deserted Astrodome and, amid NFL Films composer Dave Robidoux’s ominous musical score, the voice of narrator Josh Charles recalling the team that broke the collective spirit of Houston football fans 20 years ago.

“It sits crumbing in the Texas sun, dwarfed by Reliant Stadium,” Charles says. “The Houston Astrodome, once dubbed the Eighth Wonder of the World, now looks like a practice bubble.

“Trapped inside this portal to the past are the ghosts of the Houston Oilers. Here in 1993, they were one of the most talented teams in NFL history – and, perhaps, the most dysfunctional.”

That was the year that two of their coaches got into a fistfight on the sidelines, that an offensive lineman missed a game to attend the birth of his child and was criticized by the team's owner, and that a defensive lineman shot and killed himself after he wrecked his car, killing his childhood friend.  I can still remember hearing the 911 tape, with the sound of the gunshot.

Makes this year's Texans travails seem piddling, doesn't it?

Keystone XL finds new life

Remember what I wrote last month?  Back from the dead.

Refusing to be denied, TransCanada is "repurposing" the pipeline that has cost them so  much money and bad publicity in order to relieve the glut of oil being stored at the nation's midsection hub of Cushing, OK.

TransCanada is pleased to confirm that at approximately 10:04 am Central Time on Saturday, December 7, 2013, the company began to inject oil in the Gulf Coast Project pipeline as it moves closer to the start of commercial service,” company spokesman Shawn Howard told the Houston Chronicle.

The announcement was an indication that the $2.3 billion, 485-mile pipeline is another step closer to completion. The corporation previously said in a letter to regulators that the pipeline would begin service on January 3. It later retracted that claim, stating that it would not be in service before mid-January. 

More on that oil backlog.

Increased southbound pipeline and rail service has reduced a crude oil backup at the Cushing, Okla. pipeline hub, but has created a glut on the Gulf Coast—possibly presenting  opportunities for investment in transportation infrastructure.

Alembic Global Advisors said in a report this week that the smoother flow through Cushing has sent more crude to the Gulf Coast from prolific fields including the Bakken Shale in North Dakota and Permian Basin in West Texas.

James Sullivan, an analyst with Alembic, wrote that a resulting oversupply is depressing Gulf Coast  prices, and may increase enthusiasm for more investment in transportation from the Bakken and Permian directly to the east and west coast.

“We would expect to see the Bakken rail terminals to the east coast filling up again and renewed talk of a Permian-to-west-coast pipeline, which had been shelved due to lackluster shipper interest,” Sullivan wrote.

A whole new set of problems for our energy producers here in Texas and across the country.  Where's that tiny violin of mine?

Keystone XL (this time I'll condition it slightly) likely remains very dead for the transportation of tar sands oil, which was its original purpose.  Here's why I say that.

John Podesta's return to the White House could dim prospects for the Keystone XL pipeline's approval, environmentalists said Wednesday, as the Democratic Party elder and Keystone critic crafts policies to curb climate change.

Podesta, who was chief of staff under President Bill Clinton, will have the title "counselor to the president" and chiefly advise President Barack Obama on energy and climate change issues, the White House said this week.

In the past, Podesta has aligned himself with environmentalist foes of TransCanada Corp's 1,200-mile (1,900-km) pipeline that would carry 830,000 barrels a day of oil sands crude from western Canada to the Gulf Coast.

The $5.4 billion link between Alberta oil fields and Texas refiners is expected to spur production of a fuel that environmentalists say worsens climate change.

B-B-But, you say, Podesta has recused himself from input on KXL.  True enough.

On Tuesday night, the White House said that because of his pre-existing views on Keystone, Podesta would recuse himself from the matter. "In discussions with Denis," a White House aide told the New Yorker, referring to White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, "John suggested that he not work on the Keystone Pipeline issue, in review at the State Department, given that the review is far along in the process and John’s views on this are well known. Denis agreed that was the best course of action."

I'm sure he'll never offer an opinion, even if he is asked.  Right?  Let's go back to see what former EPA head Carol Browner said just a couple of months ago...

Speaking on a panel in October, Brown predicted “there will be some twists and turns” in the debate over the Keystone XL pipeline but “at the end of the day [Obama] is going to say no.” 

Now let's review.

Despite the fact that it is riddled with holes from shoddy welding, the Keystone XL pipeline will transmit oil south very soon.  Just not tar sands oil.  Tar sands oil will still get here (to the refineries in Houston and Port Arthur, the only ones in the country that can process it) by rail, however, and is probably doing so even as this is posted.

That's at least a lose-lose-lose by my count.

And as we learned above, oil is now backing up at the Gulf refineries, waiting to be produced into the various petroleum products the world depends upon, because the nation's refining operations are at peak capacity.  As a result, we (that is to say, the US) may begin exporting to other countries, since demand here -- due to improved consumption efficiencies, a sluggish national economy, and other factors -- is soft.  This was one of the original arguments against KXL; that the gasoline, etc. refined from tar sands oil, or even the crude product itself, would be sold to China.

The only thing that we might be able to point to as a 'win' is lower gas prices in the short term.  Which in the long term discourages weaning the nation off of oil in favor of alternative fuels and perpetuating the boom-and-bust cycles that benefit oil companies, oil traders, and market speculators.  And also punishes those who consume gasoline, those who must breathe the air made toxic by the refining, and those who live in the global climate made unstable by greenhouse gases from fossil fuel consumption and with the political instability created as wars continue to be fought over oil.

So it's all about the invisible hand of the free market, and none of the long-range consequences.  Isn't capitalism wonderful?

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

The 2014 Democratic statewide ballot

This first in a series reveals a decent ticket for the Blue team. Not bad at all; just a few warts.  Where the candidate's name is hot-linked, you will find additional information, which may be a post of mine, their website or Facebook page, or some other online news.

First, the good...

US Senate
David Alameel
Maxey Scherr
Michael “Fjet” Fjetland

Kesha Rogers
Harry Kim

I think that list is representative, at least for today, of how the order of finish will be in March.  Alameel will put a substantial amount of his $50 million fortune into the race; Scherr will run a progressive populist campaign (she is already), Fjetland will stress his international experience and moderate Democrat background, and the other two candidates (appearing in 'ugly' and 'bad', respectively) will do whatever they will.

Any of these three should be able to acquit themselves honorably in November, and if Steve Stockman pulls off an upset of John Cornyn in the GOP primary, could actually have a hell of a chance to be the next senator from the Great State.  Wouldn't that be something.

Update: Be sure and read Ted at jobsanger's post: "Texas Democrats have 1 Progressive, 1 Unknown, 2 Blue Dogs, & 1 Nutcase Running For Senate".

Governor
Wendy Davis
Reynaldo “Ray” Madrigal


Lieutenant Governor
Leticia Van de Putte

Attorney General

Land Commissioner
John Cook

Agriculture Commissioner
Hugh Fitzsimons
Jim Hogan
Richard “Kinky’ Friedman


Railroad Commissioner
Steve Brown
Dale Henry


Supreme Court, Chief Justice
William Moody

Supreme Court, Place 6
Lawrence “Larry” Meyers

Supreme Court, Place 7
Gina Benavides

Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 3
John Granberg

This likewise is a reasonably strong slate.  With the non-filing of Maria Luisa Alvarado in the lite guv race, only Collier and Granberg have no prior experience as an elected official* (a qualification possessed even by gubernatorial challenger Madrigal, who is mentioned here as a magistrate judge from Sea Drift, near Corpus Christi).  The ticket is unfortunately bereft of African American candidates, save Ms. Rogers and Mr. Brown. From BOR, this with regard to Fitzsimons.

Hugh A. Fitzsimons has filed to run for Texas Agricultural Commissioner. He is from Carrizo Springs, Texas and is a fifth generation rancher. He currently raises bison with Thunderheart Bison. Mr. Fitsimmons (sic) currently sits on the Wintergarden Water Conservation District and has said water and responsible environmental protection will be some of the main issues behind his campaign. You can read more about Mr. Fitzsimmons (sic) in the following New York Times article on water fracking in Texas.

... and this on Granberg.

He is a lawyer from El Paso who practices criminal law at the state and federal level. He is licensed to practice in both Texas and New Mexico. Mr. Granberg had previously run for a Justice of the Peace position in El Paso many years ago. 

One of the things that stands out to me is that El Paso is ably represented on this slate, with Scherr, Moody, Cook, and Granberg.  More to come about candidates down the Harris County ballot, and other parts of Texas after that.

*Not quite. Some corrections appear in the comments.

Update: And read this also from Battleground Texas about Judge Meyers: The Switch.

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Texas Green Party fields over 50 candidates for 2014

Socratic Gadfly was first, and The Texas Tribune has left all of them off their brackets so far, but from the inbox...

The Texas Green Party has recruited more than 50 candidates for state and local office across Texas to occupy the ballot in 2014. This is historically the largest number of Green Party candidates that will appear on the ballot in Texas.

"We are very excited to be running so many principled progressive candidates throughout the state," said David Wager, co-chair of the Texas Green Party.

"Our goal is to provide a progressive alternative to the other two parties in Texas and offer voters more voices and more choices than they might otherwise have on the ballot," Wager said.

The most widely known candidate is food safety advocate and whistleblower Kenneth Kendrick of Wilson, who is running for Agriculture Commissioner.

Kendrick was a former manager of a Plainview peanut plant, operated by the now-defunct Peanut Corp. of America, where he alerted authorities and the public regarding alleged food safety violations. PCA went bankrupt after a nationwide salmonella outbreak that was traced to the Plainview plant. Seven people died and hundreds suffered from severe illness.

Many Green candidates, including Martina Salinas of Fort Worth, who is campaigning for a seat on the Texas Railroad Commission, advocate regulating, limiting, or banning the oil and gas extraction process known as hydraulic fracturing.

"With our state's future and the future of our families in mind, we need to hold all fracking operations, especially waste water disposal, to a high standard," said Salinas. "Even if it means stopping operations, we must ensure that our children's children and beyond can enjoy the beauty that is Texas."

Other Green candidates for statewide office include Emily Marie Sanchez of Del Rio for United States Senate; Brandon Parmer of Dallas for Governor; Chandrakantha Courtney of Houston for Lt. Governor; Jamar Osborne of Dallas for Attorney General; Deb Shafto of Houston for Comptroller; and Ulises Cabrera of Bryan for General Land Commissioner.

A full list of candidates will be released and a press conference held on Thursday in cities across the state. Details to follow.

Parmer ran against Joe Barton in CD-6 two years ago.  Courtney's husband, David, ran in 2012 for state Senate against Joan Huffman (garnering almost 9% of the vote without a Democrat in the race).  Shafto was the Greens' candidate for state representative against Garnet Coleman two years ago, and the party's candidate for governor four years ago.

No mention here about statewide judicial candidates, which would appear to be key to securing ballot access in 2016.  In 2012, two Greens cleared the 5% threshold for the party to acquire ballot access this election season; one was Charles Waterbury, who ran for state Supreme Court.  Texas Democrats left vacant the Place 8 slot on the SCOTX, and two positions on the state's Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 4 and Place 9.  If there is a Green running for those, then the absence of a D is usually enough for the GPTX to clear the ballot-access bar.

I'm also looking forward to the reveal of the Congressional candidates, as I heard some interesting rumors about a challenge to Sheila Jackson Lee.  According to my sources it's Remington Alessi, who ran against Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia in 2012.  Another intriguing campaign will be David Collins' bid for Harris County Judge.  The Democratic candidate in that race has been already been disparaged by the mighty Kuffner (scroll down to the third paragraph after the excerpt there).  I would expect Charles to vote for the Republican before he voted for a Green Democrat he didn't like, as he did in the last cycle in the DA's race.

More on the Democrats' filings, state and local, later today tomorrow.

Update: Via Indy Political Report, the Texas Libertarians.  They can also be found on the TexTrib's brackets at the top link.

Update II: Video of the Webb County Green Party press conference, en Espanol.  And the Laredo Morning Times...

Democratic incumbents U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, State Rep. Richard Raymond and State Rep. Tracy King were all expected to run unopposed.

However three candidates from the Green Party announced Monday that they plan to challenge each representative for their respective seats. Michael D. Cary of San Antonio will look to unseat Cuellar, who has held the office since 2005...

Both King and Raymond will be challenged by Green Party newcomers Marco Buentello and Nicolas Serna III for their respective district seats. King has represented District 80 for nearly 20 years while Raymond has been in office since 2001.

"I'm a little teapot"

I'm telling you, start ordering your popcorn by the boxcar...

Monday, December 09, 2013

Stockman will primary Cornyn

Get your corn popped now.

Stockman, 57, walked into the Texas Republican Party headquarters in Austin at about 5:45 p.m. — 15 minutes before the filing deadline — and withdrew his filing for his congressional seat, then filed a new application as a GOP candidate for the U.S. Senate, said Spencer Yeldell, a GOP spokesman. “Until then, it was a pretty laid-back day,” Yeldell said.

 Taegan Goddard links to WND for the exclusive (I won't):

Stockman blamed the incumbent GOP senator for undermining Sen. Ted Cruz's "fight to stop Obamacare."

Said Stockman: "We are extremely disappointed in the way he treated his fellow congressmen and broke the 11th commandment and undermined Ted Cruz's fight to stop Obamacare. And now, it looks like Cruz was right and Cornyn was wrong. He sided with the president, essentially, in making sure Obamacare became law while Cruz did everything possible to stop it."  

This is going to be some funny shit.  Once Cornyn pinches off that brick, he'll get to work Tweeting some more insanity to the far right.  As for the Congressional seat Stockman leaves behind, there remain three Republicans who filed in CD-36: John Amdur, Phil Fitzgerald, and Kim Morrell.  (Update: This, from Texas on the Potomac, adds the additional names of Chuck Meyer, Doug Centilli -- who is believed to be the chief of staff for Cong. Kevin Brady -- and Dave Norman.  Unless these freaks start cannibalizing each other before next March, I won't post on them again until two of them are in a runoff.)

John Amdar, an attorney from Houston and city council member in nearby Nassau Bay, has filed for the seat. So has Phil Fitzgerald, who owns a construction business in Hull.

Also in the running is Kim Morrell, who ran for the seat in 2012. He’s a former city councilman in Seabrook who owns a printing and shipping company. Morrell says he’s pro-life, pro-gun, and against Obamacare. He’d been thinking about running again for a long time, he said, but Stockman’s Senate run convinced him.

“My sources told me Steve wasn’t going to run for the seat, and so I made a last-minute decision to run,” he said. He says he’s hired a campaign manager and hopes to have the rest of his team put together very soon.

And Michael Cole has filed, this time as a Democrat.

Meanwhile, Michael Cole has had his eye on the heavily-Republican district since 2012, when he ran as a Libertarian. He got about 6,000 votes in that election.

Now Cole, a 38-year-old teacher from Orange, Texas, is running again as a Democrat. He says he has a campaign team in place, has been crisscrossing the district, and is about to file his first report on fundraising to the Federal Elections Commission. He said he’d focus on getting things done and charged outgoing Stockman with wasting time on politics.

“I can listen to what my constituents want instead of just showboating against Barack Obama,” he said, noting that his major focus would be on middle-class job growth.

Cole explains his conversion from Lib to Dem hereUpdate: This Daily Kos diarist has written a few about a Cole, with some links and embedded video.

Things just got a lot more fun for those of us who track these things.

Update: So if anybody else wants to file as a Repuke in CD-36... you still have some time to do so.  Thanks, GOP!

CCA Judge Meyers switches parties, to run for SCOTX as Democrat

Burnt Orange, Quorum Report, and PoliTex appear to have it first.

Longtime Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Lawrence "Larry" Meyers announced Monday that he is leaving the Republican Party to run as a Democrat for the Texas Supreme Court.

Meyers, of Fort Worth, filed Monday on the last day of filing to seek Place 6 on the Supreme Court, currently held by Jeff Brown.


How long ago did I say that there would need to be a lot more of this sort of thing before the media people would start sitting up and taking notice?  About six weeks.

Meyers was rumored to have contemplated switching parties two years ago.  The significance of his flip today is that he will still be on the CCA as a Democrat even if he does not prevail in his bid for election to the state Supreme Court.  So the Dems just picked up a statewide officeholder.  More filing updates later.

The Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance is doing its best to stay warm as it brings you this week's roundup.

Off the Kuff highlights the introductory campaign video by Senate candidate Maxey Scherr, who vividly links her opponent Sen. John Cornyn to his junior master, Sen. Ted Cruz.

Texpatriate opened voting for its 2nd Annual Person of the Year contest. Please consider voting for who YOU think had the biggest impact on Houston and Texas politics by clicking on the link!

Eye On Williamson is still, yes still, blogging at our temporary home. Without any new ideas, the Texas GOP resorts to scare tactics: Fear and the Texas GOP.

Nelson Mandela and the life he lived taught us much about human rights and peaceful protest, observed PDiddie at Brains and Eggs, but the conservative response to his passing taught us almost as much about them.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme thinks that the GOP candidates for lieutenant governor are vying for king of the racist homophobes, aka the Republican base. Will David Dewhurst outdo Todd Staples?

Neil at All People Have Value posted a picture of the oldest structure in Harris County, Texas. The longstanding virtues of home and family are only strengthened when we add the more modern values of full inclusion for all our fellow human beings. All People Have Value is part of NeilAquino.com.

=======================

And here are some posts of interest from other Texas blogs.

Austin Contrarian explains the difference between "filtering up" and a general rise in rents.

Robb Fickman concludes that one of the biggest problems in our criminal justice system continues to be how we treat the poor.

Paul Burka eulogizes Texas historian T. R. Fehrenbach.

Zippidy Doo Dah gives an update on Rep. Steve Stockman.

Lone Star Ma criticizes the principal that forbade students from speaking Spanish at school.

The Bloggess promotes her annual holiday philanthropy project.