US Senate Candidates Forum

Very little mudslinging, a good bit of humor, and plenty of respect for physicians marked the first forum for all six prospective candidates for the 2010 U.S. Senate race in Texas. Hosted by the Texas Medical Association’s political action committee, TEXPAC, and moderated by former Lt. Gov. Bill Ratliff, the forum gave the four men and two women the chance to share their views on health system reform, Washington politics, and other key issues. The race will be to replace Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, who is expected to resign soon to campaign full-time for governor. All six candidates who have filed campaign committees with the Federal Election Commission participated in the event.

• WHAT: 2010 U.S. Senate candidates’ forum
• WHEN: Saturday, Oct. 24, 2009, 7 pm
• WHERE: Westin Stonebriar Hotel, 1549 Legacy Dr., Frisco, Texas

Each candidate was asked to present his or her qualifications and positions on health care reform and other key federal issues of interest to Texas voters. The six candidates who participated were:

• Texas Railroad Commissioner Elizabeth Ames Jones
• State Sen. Florence Shapiro (R-Plano)
• Former Texas Comptroller John Sharp
• Texas Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams
• Former Texas Secretary of State Roger Williams
• Houston Mayor Bill White

TEXPAC speaks on behalf of more than 44,000 Texas physicians and medical students, and nearly 8,000 alliance members. Organized in 1962, TEXPAC is one of the oldest political action committees in Texas. TEXPAC also is one of the largest bipartisan PACs in the state and ranks first in size among other state medical association PACs.

Go to the link for video in thirteen short segments of the entire forum. Part 13 (at the top) picks up with some jokes by John Sharp.

The Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance is ready for the start of the World Series, and it presents to you its weekly highlight reel as we await the first pitch.

quizas of South Texas Chisme wonders about the US detaining a Mexican human rights activist.

WWJD on Carter Avenue? TXsharon wants to know if Chesapeake Energy or anyone in Fort Worth government has stopped to consider the answer to that question. Bluedaze: DRILLING REFORM FOR TEXAS.

Bay Area Houston wonders if the Hispanic community will dump their endorsement of Gene Locke.

WhosPlayin lost a fight with the Lewisville ISD, whose board voted unanimously to define media as print and broadcast only and give itself permission to shut out bloggers (includes video of meeting).

Not sure how to green up your life? Lucky for you, there's a whole series of tips to that topic at Texas Vox, the Voice of Public Citizen in Texas. This week's suggestion: Start a compost pile! Even in your freezer ...

The Texas Cloverleaf picks up on the "pay to play" system, alive and well with Rick Perry and the TABC.

Problems for the Democrats in 2010? Harry Balczak at McBlogger uncovers something that says that's exactly where we're headed.

Dembones at Eye On Williamson posts on Rep. John Carter's latest hypocrisy: Carter's income disclosure problem spoils GOP tactic.

Progressive Coalition candidates for Houston city council (and a Socialist running for mayor) are the subject of PDiddie's post at Brains and Eggs.

Neil at Texas Liberal also suggested that voters in Houston consider the Progressive Coalition candidates running for Houston's city council. It is hard to see how voting for Democrats year-after-year in city elections has been of great benefit to the people of Houston.

Over at Texas Kaos, libby shaw provides a public service by providing a Republican hypocrisy scorecard. Check out her Texas GOP Hall of Hypocrites. You can't tell the hyprocrites without a program. Wait, you can. Almost. If there is an "R" beside their names, the odds are better than even ...

Off the Kuff notes that a settlement has been reached in a lawsuit between Democrats and the Harris County tax assessor's office over allegations of voter suppression.

Sunday Funnies

The Progressive Coalition slate

Neil and Charles have both posted about the three Green Party Houston council candidates running as the Progressive Coalition. I was unable to attend their events here this past weekend -- a fundraiser on Friday and a film screening of Robert Greenwald's "Rethinking Afghanistan" on Saturday, both hosted by 2008 Green Party presidential nominee Cynthia McKinney.

(l-r) Don Cook, Deborah Shafto, and Alfred Molison

It's notable that Houston has an active community of liberals and progressives that refuse to be aligned with the corporate conservatives that too often represent the Democratic party.

So if you are also one of those, consider supporting these candidates with your vote (and volunteer support and pocketbook, if you can manage it). Note that while Cook and Shafto are on the ballot, Molison is a write-in candidate, and there are specific instructions for how to do that in e-Slate (.pdf, page 2 of 4).

Houston also has a Socialist Party mayoral candidate, Amanda Ullman. Though I am a strong supporter of Annise Parker, it would have been valuable to Ms. Ullman's alternative campaign -- as Neil has also noted -- to have at least put up a website.

I'll follow with interest these candidates' vote tally.

Minority on Houston council wants to play Nail the Ill Eagles

(A busy week plus another touch of the vertigo kept me away. Let's play ketchup with this local flash ...)

A rare special council meeting scheduled for Wednesday (October 28) comes as a direct response to last week's announcement by federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials that Houston no longer was in consideration for the 287(g) program, which deputizes local law enforcement to assist ICE agents in identifying illegal immigrants in the jails.

But the effort to revive the city's chances is likely to bump up against stiff resistance on council, as many members are planning to skip the meeting, a step that effectively would kill any chance of forcing a vote on the matter.

Houston city council members were previously scheduled off next week, it's the middle of early voting, and the three who want to play hot potato with a political football are all mad-dog Republicans.

Easy to see how this meeting gets denied a quorum.

Political machinations potentially could raise the stakes of the meeting, as several council members are just days away from an election. (Mayor Bill) White, who made an urgent request to join the program in the spring before backing away after negotiations with immigration officials broke down, is actively campaigning for a not-yet-vacated U.S. Senate seat. Councilwoman Toni Lawrence, the leader of the three that called for the special meeting, has begun campaigning to become the next Harris County Precinct 4 commissioner. One of her potential opponents has been running advertising on conservative radio attacking the city for backing away from the program.

Lawrence said she decided to call the meeting after feeling unsatisfied with plans White proposed to her that included further studying the matter. White instead favors having the city participate in another ICE program, dubbed Secure Communities, that gives local law enforcement access to a massive immigration database.

The other two ...

Council members Anne Clutterbuck and Mike Sullivan, who also signed the petition to schedule the special meeting, said the policy should be openly discussed and debated by council, not set by mayoral edict. The procedural move is the first in the history of White's administration, which was marked by rosy relationships among council members for the first five years, but has met with more resistance this year.

Clutterbuck, who supports the 287(g) program, said she plans to attend Wednesday's meeting, but is not optimistic about seeing the issue come to a vote. In addition to Lawrence, Clutterbuck and Sullivan, mayoral hopeful and Councilman Peter Brown plans to attend.

More covering of his right haunch by Brown. Early polling and other circumstantial evidence suggests that Brown is capturing a majority of conservative municipal voters due to his playing both sides of the street and calling it 'independent'. (Or it may be because he's the white guy.) Seriously, this demonstration of solidarity with the one conservative issue responsible for the loudest screaming likely puts him in the run-off with Annise Parker.

Democrats and liberals supporting Peter Brown are in for a very rude awakening.