Another Democrat elected to the Texas House (from a formerly GOP district)

Harvey Kronberg:

IN A STUNNER, DEMOCRAT BARRETT CLAIMS HD 97 RUNOFF

Democrat Dan Barrett leads HD 97 runoff with 52.74 percent of vote. Holds a 538-vote lead over Republican Mark Shelton.

A few boxes remain to be counted, but the spread between Dan Barrett and Mark Shelton has held steady all evening.

Although Barrett was the top vote getter in the first round of the special election, few thought he would win the runoff against the GOP candidate who presumably would have the Republican base united behind him.

The Democrat takes the seat of one of the Speaker's most loyal backers, retired state Rep. Anna Mowery. Barrett won't have much time to rest as he will have to defend his seat in the November general elections.

Harvey manages to find the only downbeat thing to say about the outcome: Barrett may not ever get to sit in the chair in the Capitol unless Governor 39% calls a special session before January 2009, because he must stand again for election in eleven months. But the repudiation of Texas House Republicans and their leader continues to be demonstrated at the ballot box.

Burnt Orange called it early and had the superior play-by-play. Boyd Richie states the game plain:

"I congratulate our newest Democratic State Representative Dan Barrett on his victory in House District 97. In an election marred with dirty tricks and Craddick cronies, Dan ran as an independent voice, who could be trusted to stand up against Tom Craddick's special interest agenda and fight for the best interests of Texas families.

Dan Barrett won in a district drawn by Republicans to elect a Republican, and his victory is a slap in the face to Speaker Tom Craddick and the failed Republican leadership in this state. Voters have sent a message that they are tired of "business as usual" in Austin and want leaders who will replace the pay-to-play politics of the Republican Party with a state government that works for all Texans."

Update (12/19): Paul Burka was waaaaaaaaaaay wrong. And graciously admits his error while explaining how he made it, through large bites of humble pie. Be sure to read all the comments. Kuffner adds some more, including an excerpt from Bud Kennedy at the Startlegram that detailed the Shelton losing situation on the ground.

And about my local judicials

This past weekend I attended a workshop on "How to be a Delegate at the 2008 Democratic National Convention", at which several of my local judicial candidates were in attendance, working the room for support. Here's a bit about each of the ones I visited with:

Bruce Mosier, 190th civil district court. With forty years of experience as a litigator and mediator, a board-certified attorney in commercial and residential real estate law, and a long history of Democratic activism, Mosier tries again for the civil court place he barely missed in 2006. He counts as supporters Sheila Jackson Lee, state Sens. John Whitmire and Mario Gallegos, and state Rep. Jessica Farrar. Here's what my blog hermano Greg Wythe said about Mosier in 2004:

One of the comments John Kerry made in the debates about judges was a well taken point: the sign of a good judge is that when you read the final opinion or ruling, you don't know which party the author was .... you just know it was fair and well reasoned. Those two qualities, Bruce Mosier possesses in great abundance over the Rubber Stamp appointment of Governor Perry.

Martin Siegel, 14th Court of Appeals. Siegel is running for an associate justice position on the 14th, which covers Harris, Galveston, Fort Bend and seven more counties in southeast Texas. Siegel served as an assistant US Attorney in the Southern District of New York and as special counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee (where he worked on election reform, the McCain-Feingold campaign finance bill, criminal justice, immigration and other issues). In 2006, Siegel successfully represented the Texas Democratic Party in its suit to prevent the Republican Party of Texas from replacing Tom DeLay on the general election ballot for Congress following DeLay's withdrawal as a candidate. Siegel wrote the TDP's briefs in the Fifth Circuit on an expedited schedule and co-argued the appeal, resulting in the well-known victory for the TDP (which ultimately gave us Nick Lampson in the 22nd Congressional district).

Larry Weiman, 80th civil district court. Weiman is another of our returning judicial candidates, having garnered 48% in his 2006 run (just so you're clear on the size of Harris County's electorate, that 48% was 263,507 votes). Weiman's reputation as a potential jurist is so solid that Republicans recruited him to run in past elections, but with a long family history as a Yellow Dog Democrat, he declined to do so.

Fred Cook, 215th civil district court. Cook is also a Democratic activist, having served as chair of his precinct and election judge for the past four years. But it's his 25 years as a litigator, a past director of the Houston Bar Association's litigation division, and the AV rating from Martindale Hubbard -- the highest possible peer rating for ethics and legal ability -- that distinguishes his candidacy.

Harold J Landreneau, Justice of the Peace 1-1. Landreneau is running for the JP position that represents my area, having served the court as chief clerk for the past 8 years. In addition to being an attorney he's also an ASFCME member and formerly a vice-president for the Heights Area Democrats. A lifelong Democrat, he traveled to New Hampshire in 2000 to volunteer for Al Gore's presidential campaign there.

I'll be profiling more of my favorite judicials running in 2008, from Susan Criss to Leslie Taylor to Mike Englehart to Chuck Silverman to Al Bennett to Goodwille Pierre.

Dale Henry for the Texas Railroad Commission

In more favorite candidate news today, one of mine from the 2006 cycle announced his bid for the TRC: Dale Henry.

“The (Texas Railroad) Commissioners have just stuck their head in the sand when it comes to public safety and our environment. As a result of their failure to use their statutory authority to require gas companies to replace faulty couplings in the Dallas area, two elderly Texans have died. And, the commission has simply looked the other way as saltwater injection wells have polluted the water supply up and down the Barnett Shale region in North Texas and in other areas of the state,” Henry said.

My blog hermana TxSharon has covered the topic Barnett Shale pollution extensively. More on the oil and gas man who's concerned about the environment:

“It is pretty hard to properly regulate the oil and gas industry when you are taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from their political action committees and executives,” Henry said. “The Railroad Commission doesn’t rule for the public anymore, they rule for the people lining their campaign warchests. I will work to get legislation passed to prohibit Railroad Commissioners from taking money from the industries the Commission is supposed to regulate,” he said.

Here's Dale speaking at the Texas Democratic Party's 2006 convention:



Henry is by far the best choice for progressives in the March 2008 Democratic primary for the Texas Railroad Commission.

Michael Skelly for Congress, 7th District

My district.

Ever since Mrs. Diddie and I moved into CD-07 earlier this year, we've searched for the candidate to to take on John Cumbersome. I asked Barbara Radnofsky at a meeting of Cy-Fair Democrats if she was was going to run, and she said, "No. Are you?"

Very funny, Bar.

I kept hearing that Jim Henley, the challenger in '06, was in, then out. I took a lunch meeting just last month with a fellow who said he was running; he still is, just not as a Dem. And I had heard something about an executive with a wind energy company who was born in Ireland, who served in the Peace Corps and spoke fluent Spanish, and who was capable of self-funding a run for Congress, but I couldn't figure out who it was.

Today, in my inbox (and in the Chronicle) I got my answer:

Skelly, of West University Place, is chief development officer for Horizon Wind, which investor Michael Zilkha of Houston and his father, Selim, bought about seven years ago for $6 million. This year a Portuguese utility company bought the firm for about $2.2 billion.

Brought to the United States as a child after being born to Irish parents in England, Skelly would not discuss how much money he will put into his campaign. Candidates can spend an unlimited amount on their own behalf, and in past Houston-area campaigns some have laid out more than $3 million to get elected.

He obviously is familiar with his opponent:

Culberson, he said, has "never met a problem he couldn't make worse." Skelly said the congressman has failed to work with local government officials to help solve mass transit problems, for example.

Which naturally can't be said of the incumbent:

"Who?" Culberson said today when asked by telephone about Skelly's candidacy for the November general election. Moments later he said Skelly's remarks are "pretty standard boilerplate Nancy Pelosi liberal Democratic spin."

Culberson, 49, said he never takes an election victory for granted, but "will continue to stay focused on doing the job I have done for the people of District 7 which they clearly approve of."

Clearly not. Just read the comments at the Chron link. Then again, Congressman Culberson is molded in the image of his idol, Tom DeLay; he's ignorant, ideological, and built to stay that way.

It sure will be nice to have some actual representation in DC in about a year. Charles Kuffner's post from last year is instructive as regards the math associated with a successful Democratic challenge in the district. I'll let Skelly finish the introduction of himself: