Best GOP wedge issue ever, and they can't do a thing with it

Chris Ladd, GOPLifer.

Republicans are being handed the kind of wedge issue that comes along once in a generation and they are utterly oblivious to the gift. The last great Democratic Party constituency, African-Americans, is pitted against the party’s last great organizational bulwark, public employee unions. The waves of protests over police brutality that ignited nationwide over the killing of Michael Brown have focused on race. Protestors so far have failed to appreciate why police, like so many other public employees, are consistently shielded from accountability to the people they serve.

No one seems to have thought to combine the protests over an unaccountable police force with the protests by some of the same people in some of the very same neighborhoods, over the failure to provide a decent public education to poor and minority communities. Both problems have the same root cause – unions that shield their members from accountability.

This nails it, but the lack of accountability is powerfully enabled by the grand jury system.  This does not happen to the degree that it actually does happen without well-connected, wealthy, white conservative grand jurors.  It also doesn't explain why police officers are predominantly Republican voters, and police unions now predominantly endorse Republican candidates in Texas and elsewhere, but let's not quibble.  Especially with this.

All of the major officials involved in the Ferguson case, from the Governor down to the local DA are Democrats. The officials investigating the Tamir Rice case in Cleveland (keep an eye on that one) are Democrats. Only in the Staten Island case are there any Republicans in decision-making roles.

Debates over urban access to effective public safety or effective public education are exclusively intraparty fights among Democrats. Despite the black community’s importance as a Democratic voting bloc, African-Americans always lose that fight with the unions. Every. Single. Time.

When the Democratic Party is faced with a conflict between a public employee union and a black urban population desperate to gain access to the public services that union is supposed to deliver, the union wins. This is the civil rights logjam that has blocked black communities from access to the prosperity that they deserve. Republicans do not own this problem and they should not help perpetuate it.

Unions provide workers with higher incomes and job security. They impose costs not only in wages, but in inertia, making it difficult for a unionized industry to adapt to changing conditions and serve its customers. A union collectivizes power, but along the way it also collectivizes accountability, creating an inherent incentive toward mediocrity and shielding the worst actors from the consequences of their actions. It is very hard to fire a worker who is protected by a union.

In four paragraphs, you've got the trouble with LEO accountability, the trouble with unions (notwithstanding the many valuable things accomplished for middle-class Americans), and the trouble with the Democratic Party (too indistinguishable from the Republicans in too many ways) gutted, filleted, and laid bare.  And it gets worse for Democrats from here.

In an old-fashioned labor union for coalminers or steel workers, the costs of a union are born by wealthy capital owners. The benefits flow to lower income workers who otherwise have little access to power and limited opportunities to support their families. That’s an outdated vision of a union’s mission which died a long time ago.

Now turn those conditions around. What happens when the beneficiaries of the union are college educated, white professionals and the people bearing the cost of unionization are politically powerless and economically exploited? Try to fire an incompetent or crooked police officer and watch what happens.

An institution that collectivizes the benefits and accountability of factory workers imposes some moderate, but generally tolerable costs. An institution that collectivizes the pay and accountability of police officers gets people killed.

African-Americans and other low-income, under-represented constituencies find themselves on the losing end of a carefully structured racket. More-affluent white citizens can flee to suburbs that have been structured to limit the power of public employee unions. Smaller municipalities and school districts combined with well-connected, well-educated voting population help level the playing field for white suburbanites with money. Meanwhile back in the city center, those most in need of public services to enable upward mobility find themselves at the mercy of institutions with far more political muscle than they can match.

And now, the reveal (well, half of it anyway).

This is an historic opening for Republicans to profit by doing the right thing. We could defend the basic civil rights of an oppressed community. Along the way we could we undermine a policy we generally loathe, mandatory unionization of public employees. In the process we would further our goal to broaden the opportunity for all to seize opportunities in a market economy. 

B-B-But...

We haven’t been able to recognize, much less exploit this opportunity due to some very serious problems we are unlikely to address.

That's right; I almost forgot.  You're Republicans.

Louisiana Republican Congressman Steve Scalise made news over the holidays when his deep, old ties to white supremacist organizations surfaced. This is important because it is the rest of the story.

We are all supposed to pretend that the Republicans won the South because Southerners coincidentally discovered some fresh interest in low taxes and “liberty” at the same time that the Federal government started enforcing Civil Rights legislation. It’s a lie and everyone knows it’s a lie, but it has taken on a Santa Claus quality as a sort of public myth necessary to maintain the basic legitimacy of our political order.

This is so perfectly demonstrated in the Twitter back-and-forth I had with Greg Aydt over the past weekend, and it is a lie he has worked hard, long hours to perpetuate.  It even came up in a conversation Bill O'Reilly had with David Duke.  But let's not quibble with that, either.

Republicans now control Congress, something that eluded us across most of the 20^th century. Almost half of that majority comes from Dixie. Sixty percent of it comes from places that failed to outlaw slavery prior to Lincoln. None of it comes from a major urban area. The party isn’t going to do anything substantive about Steve Scalise because it lacks the leverage to free itself from white supremacist ideology. And that brings us back to our problem.

There are too few Republicans who possess even the most distant understanding of the concerns of the black community to even recognize the shape of this opportunity. And if they did, it would be monumentally difficult to muster a core political bloc inside the GOP that cared. For Republicans, white supremacy will not pay the bills forever. Somehow the party will have to find a broader base on which to build a political appeal. Despite the sugar-high of the 2014 election, the clock is ticking and the outlook is miserable.

An opportunity exists and there are a few Republicans in the North with some potential to tackle it. New Gov. Bruce Rauner in Illinois could be particularly well-positioned to win on this issue if he has the insight to even recognize it. That remains to be seen. Most Republicans seem content to respond to this historic political opening by keeping their backs turned.

Like Ladd, like Grits, I see an opportunity squandered by the GOP.

Indeed, pandering by Democrats to police unions is the main reason significant criminal-justice reform didn't begin in Texas until Republicans took over the Legislature in 2003 for the first time since Reconstruction. While Dems were in charge, police unions had virtual veto power on criminal justice bills, whereas Republicans feel little need to pander to them.

Grits doubts Republican pols will seize the opportunity Ladd identifies, in part because the party contains too many elderly ex-Dixiecrats who flipped sides in the Reagan era and have little interest in civil rights or appealing to black constituents. But it's absolutely correct that the GOP has been presented with a "once in a generation" opportunity if its leaders possess the boldness and foresight to seize upon it.  

They just can't hide the hoods, white sheets, and burning crosses fast enough to capitalize on it.  There's going to have to be a massive die-off among the Republican base before they can manage to moderate themselves enough to attract more than one Mia Love.

Reaching out to African Americans -- while undercutting the stranglehold the Democratic Party has on municipal unions -- is really Scalise they could do.  But they won't, because they can't.  It's just too much cognitive dissonance for their lizard brains to process.

This week in police abuse news, Texas style

*As this post was composed, two more NYPD officers have been shot, and are expected to survive. Their two assailants escaped on foot.

It's hard out there for a cop, as we all know.  Life on the thin blue line and all that.  Some make it hard on themselves, however.  Our local version of Bad Cops on Parade has us in Victoria, near Corpus Christi, as the 23 year-old policeman who Tasered a 76 year-old man -- twice -- for having an expired inspection sticker has been terminated.  From his job, I mean.

Victoria Police Chief Jeff Craig placed Robinson on administrative leave and ordered two separate investigations: a criminal investigation conducted by the Texas Rangers and an internal administrative investigation conducted by the Victoria Police Department's Internal Affairs Division.

This follows on the heels of three other Victoria cops who punched and kicked a woman, resulting in black eyes and broken ribs, then arrested her for "vulgar language".

Mary Frances Jones told the Victoria Advocate that the three police officers woke her up early in the morning on Dec. 22, 2013 over reports that a truck that she had purchased the day before had been seen driving in a local creek.

Jones said that she had been unaware at the time that her sons borrowed the truck while she was sleeping. After officers claimed that she was lying about owning the truck, Jones said she tried to go back inside her home, and that’s when they forced her to the ground.

She's suing the VPD for assault and false arrest.

Medical records will support Jones had two black eyes for two months and was put on a ventilator after she was diagnosed with pneumonia due to her broken ribs. She's visited the hospital about six times since her arrest, Jones said.

The lawsuit claims the officers used excessive force in violation of the Fourth Amendment and its "reasonableness" standard and falsely arrested and imprisoned Jones.

Gale, of San Antonio, said he took on the case because he thought it had merit.

"I think the police, while they're trained in the concepts of law enforcement, they are not trained in regards to the application of them," he said. "When you express your opinion in any form or fashion with any kind of words and walk away from them, that's a sign of disrespect. ... It's completely and utterly constitutional to walk away from somebody. They're just going to make you pay the price. That's concerning. This is not a police state."

What we are fast approaching in the United States today is not just a loss of respect for police but outright disrespect.  And they have brought it upon themselves.

Read this account from Remington Alessi of Houston, as he led the HPD on a wild goose chase around the Galleria parking lot in a protest last month against police abuse.  There are thousands of recent examples of law enforcement overreaction much worse than this of course, and not just in Ferguson or New York or Chicago or Los Angeles or even Victoria, Texas.  There will be more incidents today, and tomorrow, and the next.

And it is the responsibility of those whose job is "to serve and protect" to discontinue rapidly escalating interactions with the public into beatings, Taserings, and shootings.  Or else these situations are just going to keep occurring with more frequency.

The police are NOT supposed to make things worse when they arrive on the scene.  Thankfully a new generation of Houston activists has made improving these instances for better outcomes their cause.  Part of the reform effort must include the grand jury system, as far too many cases of excessive use of deadly force by LEO are no-billed.

These are all good steps in the right direction, but now -- as in right now -- it's on the cops to figure out their part in lessening public tensions.  So far, they are failing at that effort also.

The insurrectionists in the House

The various campaigns to unseat John Boehner as House Speaker are -- as most all Republican threats, but notably internal ones -- blustery and meaningless.

"Boehner will be reelected overwhelmingly. There is no precedent in the history of the House of a Speaker's party exceeding expectations in the election and then dumping its Speaker," (GOP consultant John) Feehery told CBS News. "All of these guys who are complaining about Boehner have nothing to lose because the Speaker has made clear there will be no retribution. So he is giving them a free shot."

You know that old saw 'if you strike the king you must kill the king'?  Well, Louie Gohmert and his ilk can't strike a match.  This time the frothing goons of the Tea Party won't get any red meat.  Apparently they won't even get any crumbs.

You've been had again, 'Baggers.

Update:

Reps. Jim Bridenstine, R-Oklahoma, Paul Gosar, R-Arizona, Steve King, R-Iowa, Dave Brat, R-Virginia, Marlin Stuztman, R-Ohio, Thomas Massie, R-Kentucky, and Walter Jones, R-North Carolina, round out the nine members who have publicly said they plan to vote against Boehner. Bridenstine is calling the group the "gang of nine." Some of these members like Yoho and Massie voted against Boehner for the speaker's job in 2013. Brat is the newest voice in this bunch -- he upset then-Majority Leader Eric Cantor in a special election late last year and appears eager to hang on to his his rabble-rouser reputation.

Yoho and Bridenstine both voted for Cantor for speaker in 2013. Massie was the sole vote for Justin Amash, R-Michigan; Gohmert voted for then-Florida Congressman Allen West; Jones voted for former comptroller general and fiscal responsibility advocate David Walker. Stutzman is particularly aggrieved about the misunderstanding over his switched shutdown vote, and King is upset over immigration.

"Hold on to your asparagus and keep an eye out for terror babies".

Update (1/7): After coasting to re-election, the Orange Man takes his revenge.  Feehery was wrong about something after all.

The Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance is still waiting for someone to invent the hoverboard as it brings you this week's roundup.

Off the Kuff published special election candidate interviews with Diego Bernal, Trey Martinez-Fischer, and Ty McDonald.

Libby Shaw, writing for Texas Kaos and Daily Kos learned important lessons from her volunteer work with Battleground Texas: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

WCNews at Eye on Williamson says there may still be hope for Battleground Texas. But the strategy will have to change. It's all about the base.

Police departments all over the country have deep roots in slavery and racism, as PDiddie at Brains and Eggs reminded.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme wonders why the Port of Brownsville is so dismissive of the Sierra Club opinion on liquefied natural gas terminals. Don't they care about the health of the people and the environment?

Neil at All People Have Value said policymakers on both sides of the aisle knew years ago that automation and changing facts threatened blue collar jobs. Yet instead of helping everyday people, public policy was geared towards the rich. Neil says the work of freedom is up to each of us. APHV is part of NeilAquino.com.

Texpatriate asks, "What's next for Texas Democrats?" and answers: "give up".

Dos Centavos wants to know why there aren't a couple more issues Wendy Davis should take back.

McBlogger also piles on Davis for backtracking on open carry.

Bluedaze notes two more Texas earthquakes in Irving and in Snyder.

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

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

The Anti-Media reported on HPD's fruitless and prohibitively expensive efforts to stifle a single anti-police abuse activist.

Socratic Gadfly picked a Person of the Year, and guesses that you won't know his name.

The WAWG Blog explains how income inequality is much worse than we think.

Juanita Jean challenged us to come up with a title for Ted Cruz's book.

LGBTQ Insider has a caveat about the FDA's change in policy towards gay men donating blood.

Unfair Park previews the Fifth Circuit court hearing on the same sex marriage appeal.

Texans Together reviews the San Jacinto River Coalition's accomplishments for 2014.

Nancy Sims tells the story of her transitioning daughter and her own unconditional love for her.

The Bloggess pens an open letter to the Girl Scouts.

Jonathan Guajardo asks new Bexar County DA Nico LaHood for a serious inquiry into the case of Cameron Redus, a UIW student who was fatally shot by a UIW police officer outside his apartment off campus.

Scott Braddock calls 2014 the year of Tom DeLay's permanent Republican majority.

Fascist Dyke Motors is putting her best foot forward in the New Year.

Finally, Texas Politics has the story of the worst Cialis commercial ever the group hug in the Dallas Cowboys' owner's box.

Gohmert for Speaker

And so it begins. Via Alan Colmes, PJ Media breaks the (Fox) news.

The Texas congressman explained that Boehner and the GOP leadership deceived the American people when they went to Obama and Pelosi to get the votes for the Cromnibus, they told the people they would fight tooth and nail against amnesty…it follows a number of years of broken promises. Gohmert also referenced the recent poll that came out showing that 60% of Republican voters and Republican leaning voters want someone other than Boehner on the job.

This is going to be so much fun.

Gohmert said that after “years of broken promises, it’s time for a change.”

And here we have all been led to believe that change was a bad thing.  Or was that hope?

Sunday Funnies, GOP's Resolve edition

Scattershooting -- resolutions

-- Mario Cuomo's passing is being properly eulogized by many; I can still see his keynote address at the DNC in 1984 as his defining, thrust-onto-the-national-stage moment, but what I seem to recall the clearest is his declining to run for president in 1992.  And what I remember is being disappointed.  I was just coming out of my own Republican darkness after more than ten years of supporting Ronald Reagan and George HW Bush, the shock and disgust of Iran-contra, the noticeable feeble-mindedness of the old actor, followed subsequently by the disastrous Mondale '84 and Dukakis '88 campaigns.  (For the record, and out of sheer revulsion for the ineptitude for the Democratic nominees, I was still a Reagan Democrat at this time.  I voted both for RWR twice and GHWB the first time.  I take full responsibility for my errors, and have since resolved never to make those mistakes again.)

I am certain now that the seed of dissatisfaction with the two political parties I hold today was germinated in that environment.  And when Cuomo bailed in December of '91 -- see, we used to wait a year after the midterms before launching ourselves into the next round of presidential mock drafts -- the Democrats panicked.  Bush the Elder was winning a war with Iraq (so we all thought), his approval ratings were 89%, and no one of seeming consequence really wanted to be the lamb at that altar.  This was before anyone outside of Arkansas knew much of anything about a fellow named Clinton beyond an ignominous DNC keynote four years earlier.  The frontrunners in '92 post-Cuomo were Tom Harkin, Paul Tsongas, and Jerry Brown, all of whom were well to the left of the eventual nominee.  Thus goes history.  National Democrats simply couldn't unite behind a progressive, and a centrist moderate won the prize.  See any parallels?

Another declination during Clinton's term led to the Notorious RBG landing on the SCOTUS.  So in my book, Mario Cuomo is much more famous for what he did not do than for what he did.

-- Via Charles, Battleground Texas and by natural extension Wendy Davis get the Texas Monthly treatment from the Texas Observer.  Spleens are still full of bile, still being vented.  This is likely to go on for some time.  I'm thankful I don't have to participate in the piranhas gnashing themselves to feel better about the 2014 debacle.

-- Syrian and Iraqi refugees are crowding on to leaking rustbuckets headed for Italy -- arrangements made by human traffickers -- to escape the Islamist civil wars being waged in those countries.  Germany's Angela Merkel recently pleaded with her citizens to disavow the growing hatred of fleeing Muslim immigrants.  See any comparisons?

-- In ten years, Cuba might end up looking much like Puerto Rico today.  Is that a good thing?  One excerpt:

The advent of Obam-apertura, the great “opening” that the U.S. neoliberal narrative holds as a form of liberation for a suffering people, is also something its internal corporate banking cabal sees as a way to recapture a lost market.  [...] the opening creates the possibility of a sudden windfall of previously unexploited consumers and a workforce accustomed to even lower wages that are foisted on places like Mexico, India, and Vietnam. For an American economy that has been largely stagnant—aside from a recent spurt sparked by falling gas prices and temporary holiday season hires—the opening up of Cuba has the look of a last-ditch opportunity to stave off looming worldwide economic disaster.

Happy 2015

TPA's Texans of the Year: Frack Free Denton activists

From our presser...

Texas Progressive Alliance taps

Denton's "fracktivists" Texans of the Year

In one of the organization's more closely contested votes, the Texas Progressive Alliance -- the state's consortium of liberal blogs and bloggers -- named Frack Free Denton and its diverse group of activists 2014's Texans of the Year.

"The biggest win for progressives in the Lone Star State on Election Night happened in Denton, Texas," said Charles Kuffner, president of the Alliance.  "The people showed the powerful who is still in charge.  No matter that the Texas Railroad Commission or the state's Legislature may try to undo the will of Denton's Republican, Democratic, and independent voters; for one day in November of 2014, those North Texans came together and said, 'No more. No more polluting our air and water and poisoning our children for profit without accountability'.  The people together spoke, and they were heard."

There were also three Honorable Mentions for the coveted award.  Finishing a close second: the medical staff of Dallas Presbyterian Hospital, who were at the front lines of the nation's Ebola crisis, notably Dr. Kent Brantley and nurses Nina Pham and Amber Vinson, who all contracted the virus and lived to tell about it.  In addition, two other large groups of Texans on either side of the political spectrum were selected: the 33% of Texans who turned out to vote in last month's midterm elections, predominantly Caucasian male Republican voters; and the Democratic volunteer army of deputy voter registrars, blockwalkers, and those who spent long hours on their phones calling prospective voters to urge them to cast their ballots.

"To the victors go the spoils, someone famous once said," noted Kuffner, in reference to the GOP base vote.  "But no one worked any harder than the folks in their precincts, neighborhoods, counties, and across the state to turn back the tide, at least a bit," he added.

The TPA's member bloggers salute all the Texans who were nominated this year, which included several candidates, some elected officials, and other activist groups.

In terms of recognizing the standout newsmakers, what you have seen from other blogs recently does reflect the discussions we had this year, and that they were a little more, shall we say, spirited than usual.  Typically this is a pretty easy choice to come to consensus on; 2014 was, as we all know, exceptional.  And not in the cheeriest of definitions.  But the city of Denton's residents were the noteworthy positive exception.

Christi Craddick in particular stands in defiance, as do the Big Gasholes, and the Lege will likely make every effort to roll back the drilling embargo early next year (thanks, Phil King and ALEC!), so the war isn't over.  But a significant battle was won, with far-reaching ramifications inside and outside Texas.

Hats off to the fractivists.

The roots and evolution of municipal police departments

More to it than you thought.  From A Brief History of Slavery and the Origins of American Policing, written by Dr. Victor E. Kappeler.  Bold emphasis is mine.

The birth and development of the American police can be traced to a multitude of historical, legal and political-economic conditions. The institution of slavery and the control of minorities, however, were two of the more formidable historic features of American society shaping early policing. Slave patrols and Night Watches, which later became modern police departments, were both designed to control the behaviors of minorities. For example, New England settlers appointed Indian Constables to police Native Americans (National Constable Association, 1995), the St. Louis police were founded to protect residents from Native Americans in that frontier city, and many southern police departments began as slave patrols. In 1704, the colony of Carolina developed the nation's first slave patrol. Slave patrols helped to maintain the economic order and to assist the wealthy landowners in recovering and punishing slaves who essentially were considered property.

Policing was not the only social institution enmeshed in slavery. Slavery was fully institutionalized in the American economic and legal order with laws being enacted at both the state and national divisions of government. Virginia, for example, enacted more than 130 slave statutes between 1689 and 1865. Slavery and the abuse of people of color, however, was not merely a southern affair as many have been taught to believe. Connecticut, New York and other colonies enacted laws to criminalize and control slaves. Congress also passed fugitive Slave Laws, laws allowing the detention and return of escaped slaves, in 1793 and 1850. As Turner, Giacopassi and Vandiver (2006:186) remark, “the literature clearly establishes that a legally sanctioned law enforcement system existed in America before the Civil War for the express purpose of controlling the slave population and protecting the interests of slave owners. The similarities between the slave patrols and modern American policing are too salient to dismiss or ignore. Hence, the slave patrol should be considered a forerunner of modern American law enforcement.” 

You should also keep in mind that the Second Amendment was ratified in order to preserve the South's slave patrols, whitewashed with use of the word "militias", and specifically to secure the Commonwealth of Virginia's support.  And that Texas is one of just seven states in the Union that doesn't allow open carry (yet) because they did not want the slaves shooting back at the guys in white hoods.

So when Joan Walsh points out that the NYPD's racial problems extend back to the '60's, you can now point out to her that it goes back a lot farther than that. 

W's Fifth Circuit judges to rule on abortion, more diverse trio on gay marriage

Nice draw, if you're a conservative extremist.

The latest review of Texas's tough new abortion law will be conducted next week by a trio of federal judges who have been largely supportive of the law in the past, according to case assignments revealed Monday.

A hearing the same week on the constitutionality of the state's same-sex marriage ban, on the other hand, will get a more unpredictable bench.

The random selections will force opponents of the abortion law and same-sex marriage ban to hope for a long-shot victory, said Edward Sherman, a Tulane University Law School professor who has followed the court for years.

"It's a pretty conservative lineup," Sherman said. "If political ideology is still at the heart of both of these issues, I would expect pro-defendant decisions."

Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Judges Jennifer Walker Elrod and Catharina Haynes, who both voted earlier this year to uphold the abortion law, known as House Bill 2, will join Judge Edward Prado on the panel that next Wednesday will hear oral arguments on the latest challenge from abortion providers, the court announced.

All three were appointed to the bench by President George W. Bush.

There will be more variety on the panel slated to hear the same-sex marriage case next Friday, with Judge James Graves Jr., a President Barack Obama appointee, serving alongside Judges Jerry E. Smith and Patrick Higginbotham, who were both appointed by President Ronald Reagan.

The Dallas News has more on Higginbotham, who might be the swing vote.

Once considered solidly conservative, Higginbotham has irritated some conservatives with his rulings critical of Texas judges’ handling of death-penalty cases and a recent decision in which he wrote an opinion upholding the University of Texas’ race-conscious admission policy.

In 1976, former President Gerald Ford, a Republican, selected Higginbotham to serve as federal district judge in Dallas. Higginbotham moved up to the appellate court six years later, amid speculation he was Supreme Court material.

The talk has faded. Higginbotham, 76, is on senior status.

“He’s probably right in the middle of that court and well-regarded,” (University of Richmond law professor Carl) Tobias said. “It’s just hard to know where he might be on this issue.”

Lone Star Q  has more, linking to the Wikis of the judges on the gay marriage case.  Let's take note of Higginbotham's reveal.

Last summer, Higginbotham told The Texas Lawbook’s Mark Curriden that the New Orleans court has shifted considerably to the conservative side during his 32 years as a member.

“When I joined the 5th Circuit, I may have been the court’s most conservative judge,” he said. “Now, I’m probably left of center, even though I don’t think I’ve changed my views at all.”

Not exactly breaking news, just potent for its candor.

Both cases will make their way to the Supremes irrespective of how the appellates decide them, so we'll note for the record that predicting their outcomes -- perhaps predicting the outcome in the gay marriage case, I should say -- will be 2015's first legal parlor game.

One last Wrangle before 2015 gets here

The Texas Progressive Alliance is making the usual New Year's resolutions to exercise more and eat less as brings you the last blog roundup of 2014.

Off the Kuff stays on top of all of the legislative special elections that are going on.

Libby Shaw republished a diary she posted last year on Texas Kaos on Daily Kos in order to remind us about what happens in a state with so little oversight. GOP Texas: Where state funded cancer research can become a slush fund for politicians.

WCNews at Eye on Williamson points out that there's no telling what will happen in the next legislative session, but some think it won't be so bad. Don't buy it: Let's Not Get Ahead Of Ourselves.

The blood lust of the Texas Republicans will not be sated with just five doses of execution drugs available. CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme wonders what Greg Abbott will do.

Some recent national conversations seem to reinforce the premise that an independent progressive movement might be valuable to affect the kind of change that would attract the vast majority of non-voting Americans. What it might look like and where to get started remain the primary hurdles. PDiddie at Brains and Eggs found some justification in his efforts to work within and without the Democratic Party simultaneously.

Neil at All People Have Value said we have the right to elect liberals to public office in big cities without the police rebelling and undermining the democratically elected choice of the people.  All People Have Value is part of NeilAquino.com.

Uncle O'Grimacy at McBlogger, in a post-election spurt of frequent blogging, catalogued the butthurt of Battleground Texas.

Egberto Willlies pounced on a truth inconveniently uttered by Sunday Talking Head Chuck Todd.

Bluedaze would really like to know exactly who Chris Faulkner of Breitling Energy is.

And the Lewisville Texas Journal has the city's answers to questions about Ferguson Plaza.

-------------------

And here's some great posts from other blogs across Texas.

Grits for Breakfast has a question for incoming Bexar County DA Nico Lahood about post-conviction case reviews.

TransGriot updated the (still-delayed) status of Houston Metro's newest light rail lines.

jobsanger thinks it's bad news that six of the most powerful eleven committees in the House of Representatives will be chaired by Texas Republicans.

Texas Politics reports that the TXGOP won't be moving their primary from March 1 in order to create a "Super Southern Tuesday" primary with six other Dixie Republican strongholds.

Socratic Gadfly bids a hasty lumbago to Rick Perry.

The Dallas Morning Views makes the case for a national child day-care system.

Texas Observer Radio has an interview with founder Ronnie Duggar.

Fascist Dyke Motors tells a story about faith.

Unfair Park posted that Flower Mound's "Year of the Bible" was a flop.

Texas Vox warns that too many Americans underestimate the effect of climate change on their health.

SciGuy tells the tale of retrieving the Orion spacecraft from the Atlantic Ocean after splashdown, as related by someone who was there for the Apollo spacecraft in the 1970s.

Ten-year-old Hadi Tameez explains the allure of Minecraft to us old folks.

Former Texan Elise Hu shares what she has learned about miscarriages.

The Great God Pan Is Dead recapped all the art books he read in 2014.

Juanita Jean has some fun at the expense of people who use Glenn Beck and Ron Paul as their financial advisors.

Last, Free Press Houston has the account of the hideous cyberstalking of Houston's anti-police abuse and First Amendment activist, Evan Carroll.

2014's Final Funnies

"Of the many things I'm grateful for this year, I feel truly blessed that ISIS never got around to invading us from Mexico and spreading Ebola everywhere." -- Andy Borowitz

An independent progressive movement

Like most people, I tend to seek out sources of information that reinforce my existing point of view.  This is a habit of Fox viewers and Limbaugh listeners just as it those who are mad about Maddow, wild about Jon Stewart, and still mourning the recently deceased "Steven Colbert".  

I have found a lot of reinforcement lately and thought it was time to share it.  First, this from the publisher of Harper's, under the header "The Left Must Derail Hillary Clinton in the Primaries".

As a presidential contest between Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush in 2016 appears ever more likely, it’s a good moment to ask what alternative exists to lying down and letting such a campaign drown the body politic.

Time is short. The queen of cynics, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, already has pronounced her gorgon’s judgment on the inevitability of Hillary versus Jeb. “The looming prospect of another Clinton–Bush race makes us feel fatigued,” yawns the perpetually bored Dowd, who, on the contrary, relishes a future of easy columns mocking America’s two leading political dynasties.

What about the rest of us? Is it inevitable that we swallow the nomination of the neo-liberal Clinton, whose support of Bush’s Iraq madness (not to mention Obama’s Afghan and Libyan stupidity) and her husband’s recklessly pro-“free trade,” pro-banker, pro-deregulation politics ought to send reasonable liberals fleeing? Is it predestined that principled conservatives accept the anointment of the thoroughly fraudulent Jeb, whose support of his brother’s interventionist folly, along with his own outrageous meddling as governor of Florida to “rescue” brain-dead Terri Schiavo, should give pause to even the greediest oil baron seeking patronage from a Republican administration?

[...]

Nevertheless, a straightforward, nationwide electoral strategy is required if the left wants to reverse the rightward trend of both parties over the past three decades. The tea party has had much success moving the Republican Party to the right through primary challenges that should be the envy of frustrated Democrats...

Stop right there.  That's the best expression of a point I have been emphasizing for a long, long, time: before there was a Tea Party, there was a Progressive Populist Caucus of the Texas Democratic Party, and it was the largest one in the party.  That was less than ten years ago, and it does not exist at all today.  The Tea Party not only co-opted populism; more importantly they have constructed a successful model for establishment political party revolution, working inside and outside the GOP to do so.

Let's read this now from Bill Curry, a former White House counselor to Bill Clinton (and a twice-nominated Connecticut Democratic gubernatorial candidate).  Its title? "Let’s abandon the Democrats: Stop blaming Fox News and stop hoping Elizabeth Warren will save us":

The Democrats’ conduct since the midterm debacle is as sad and sorry as the campaign that caused it. The party’s leaders are a big problem. A bigger one is the closed system of high-dollar fundraising, reductionist polling and vapid messaging in which it is seemingly trapped. Some say a more populist Democratic Party will soon emerge. It won’t happen as long as these leaders and this system are in place.

Nancy Pelosi says it wasn’t a wave election. She’s right. It was the Johnstown Flood; as catastrophic and just as preventable. One year after the shutdown Republicans scored their biggest Senate win since 1980 and their biggest House win since 1928. Turnout was the lowest since 1942, when millions of GIs had the excellent excuse of being overseas fighting for their country.

Every Democratic alibi — midterm lull, sixth-year curse, red Senate map, vote suppression, gerrymandering, money — rings true, but all of them together can’t explain being swept by the most extreme major party in American history. Citing other statistics — demography, presidential turnout, Hillary’s polls — they assure us that in 2016 happy days will be here again. Don’t bet on it.

It took more than the usual civic sloth to produce the lowest turnout in 72 years. It took alienating vast voting blocs, including the young and the working class of both genders and all races. The young now trend Republican. Voters of all ages migrate to third parties or abandon politics altogether. It’s the biggest Democratic defection since the South switched parties in the 1960s. If Democrats don’t change their ways, their 2016 turnout will be a lot harder to gin up than they think.

So many sharp points that my fingers are bleeding.

The vital task for progressives isn’t reelecting Democrats but rebuilding a strong, independent progressive movement. Our history makes clear that without one, social progress in America is next to impossible. For 100 years progressive social change movements transformed relations between labor and capital, buyers and sellers, blacks and whites, men and women, our species and our planet. But in the 1970s progressives began to be coopted and progress ceased. Their virtual disappearance into the Democratic Party led to political stultification and a rollback of many of their greatest achievements.

There's much more, but let's skip to the end.

Some progressives will spend 2015 trying to lure Elizabeth Warren or some second or third choice into a run for president. Some will make their peace with Hillary. Some will take other paths. A public debate among progressives will unearth some disagreements on policy and a more fundamental divisions over strategy.

Some say the Democratic Party is beyond saving. Others say it’s our last hope. I see progressives taking leave of Democrats not as abandonment but more like tough love. In the end it may be the only thing that can save Democrats or for that matter progressives, whose reputation has been tarnished by the party that betrayed them. In any event it’s better for both parties for all future business to be conducted on an arms’ length, cash-for-carry basis.

Nails it.  This next, however, is the hammer hitting the thumb.

My guess is that if you can’t take over the Democratic Party, you can’t take over the country — and that a declaration of independence should be followed by an actual rebellion. The Tea Party has shown you can work within a party and yet be highly independent. But whether to work within, against or apart from the Democrats is a call for later. Building a strong progressive movement is work we must do now.

That went right off the rails for me.  The author built up all of that inspirational momentum only to cultivate a popcorn fart.  I think it's pretty obvious that progressives have abandoned the Democratic Party -- most certainly in midterm elections -- for the comfort and convenience of apathy.  The result shows up as capitulation, or if you prefer, utter domination by those who do vote: old, white conservatives.  (Please note that these are the same people who predominantly serve on grand juries.)  And I gravely doubt whether progressives are going to be lured back to the Democratic Party in sufficient numbers, and I include the 0% probability premise of Elizabeth Warren running for and winning the party's nomination in 2016 in that assessment.

Also note that the article does not mention Bernie Sanders or the Green Party even once.  It references, as emphasized, an "independent progressive movement", whatever the hell Curry thinks that means.  But I don't know what that looks like and apparently neither does he.  I call myself an independent progressive but can tell you straightforwardly there is no such movement I am aware of.  Not nascent, not latent.  I can at least agree with Curry that there needs to be one, however, and to be fair he points out the hurdles for independent candidates and parties like ballot access (which Greens have much of) and -- short of a Citizens United repeal -- competitive financing of campaigns (which Greens have nearly none of).  So any movement he envisions has a tall, rocky mountain to climb without so much as the bare bones infrastructure of the Green Party.  My question is: why re-invent the wheel?

The good news for those Democrats who can't go Green is that there are plenty of places to start a revolution within the Democratic Party if you think that's your only option.  And the Tea Party has demonstrated how it can be done, quickly.  Candidly (pathetically, maybe?), theirs is the model: electoral revolution inside AND out.  Simultaneously.  Turn out the vote in the primary.  Find yourself some kindred spirits and get going.

Let's start wrapping this up with news today about Bernie Sanders. 

Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders says he'll decide by March whether to launch a 2016 presidential campaign and, if so, whether he'll seek the Democratic nomination. Either way, Sanders says he wouldn't run just to nudge the debate to the left.

"I don't want to do it unless I can do it well," he told The Associated Press. "I don't want to do it unless we can win this thing."

That's as far as we need to go.  Bernie Sanders is not going to run as either a Democrat, a Green, or a progressive independent.  He just said as much.  What he isn't saying -- his nonverbal communication -- is saying the same thing.

So where does that leave an independent progressive movement?  Same place it's been for awhile: sitting at a standstill.  So what options remain for a progressive revolution?  Let's begin at the beginning: progressives must vote.  Period, full stop.  They also have to cast ballots in the Democratic Party primary occasionally, for the kind of candidates they want to see nominated by that party.  And when the Democrats fail to nominate those candidates, then independent progressives have to vote for Greens -- or Socialists, or independents who are aligned with the left -- on every single ballot line they appear.  That's the only way that there will ever be a progressive revolution in the Democratic Party.   There will be no change made otherwise.

Let me say clearly that if there are Democrats who rationalize voting in the Republican Party primary as the best way to get the least worst option, there ought to be a lot more Dems that can vote for Greens in a general.  Unless you're just the Bluest goddamned Dog imaginable.  But more to the point, Democrats can't take your vote for granted if you're not casting one at all.  They will start paying attention, however, as their electoral share goes down and the Greens' goes up.

I am perilously close to not caring whether a progressive revolution ever happens for the Democratic Party, national or state.  If they continue to devolve into some transmogrification of moderate/socially liberal Republicans and conservative Democrats, I can let that go like a hot potato.  I would, hand to heart, rather see the renaissance of a global political party with clearly stated goals which represents what Democrats in the 1940s and 50s came closest to being: Democratic Socialists.  (But Harry Truman's and even John Kennedy's belligerent Cold War neoliberalism would have to be excepted.  The party, and the country, could have had Henry Wallace in 1944, after all.  And the nation had two chances to elect Adlai Stevenson instead... his overt cautiousness on civil rights notwithstanding.  Alas, the Red Scare was just too much for Americans to overcome.  Historical precedent that The Home of the Brave really isn't).

The strongest argument for a progressive movement, independent or third-party, remains that the two corporate political parties are still essentially one; half of the duopoly is just meaner and more cruel than the other.  Do ya really think the disparity between Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush makes up enough of a difference to motivate the 2/3rds of Americans who did not vote in 2014 to storm the ramparts supporting one or the other?  Is the Democratic slogan going to again consist of  "we're not perfect but they're nuts" ?  I can already hear the complaining from low information voters about their 2016 choices.  We can either stand around and look at those people as they sit out yet another election, or give them some real options.  Whether they decide to choose is still up to them, of course; many won't.  Some folks will watch teevee no matter what gets televised, even if it happens to be a revolution.  But there are still many left-leaning, working-class Americans waiting to be motivated again, as they were by Occupy, as they were at the Texas Capitol in the summer of 2013, as there are now against the worst and continuing examples of racialized police abuse and criminal justice applied as an elitist commodity.

I'm a big fan of anarchists personally, but not as big a fan of anarchy itself, and I'm no longer healthy enough to fight in an actual revolution -- you know, with guillotines and things like that-- so I'm left agitating for one at the ballot box.  But what's it going to take, exactly?  Your guess is as good as mine, but I'm going to keep doing what I've been doing: working inside and outside the system.

Update: Eye on Williamson adds some thoughts.

Sleepin' Heavenly Peas

Tinsel Toons

Merry Xmas from Ayn Rand

Twenty more, if you can stomach them.  Too late as a season's greeting for all my Republican friends this year, but next year...

The conservo-libertarian goddess also has some reviews of family movies.

“101 Dalmatians”
A wealthy woman attempts to do her impoverished school friend Anita a favor by purchasing some of her many dogs and putting them to sensible use. Her generosity is repulsed at every turn, and Anita foolishly and irresponsibly begins acquiring even more animals, none of which are used to make a practical winter coat. Altruism is pointless. So are dogs. A cat is a far more sensible pet. A cat is objectively valuable. —No stars.

“Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”
An industrious young woman neglects to charge for her housekeeping services and is rightly exploited for her naïveté. She dies without ever having sought her own happiness as the highest moral aim. I did not finish watching this movie, finding it impossible to sympathize with the main character. —No stars.

“Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory”
An excellent movie. The obviously unfit individuals are winnowed out through a series of entrepreneurial tests and, in the end, an enterprising young boy receives a factory. I believe more movies should be made about enterprising young boys who are given factories. —Three and a half stars. (Half a star off for the grandparents, who are sponging off the labor of Charlie and his mother. If Grandpa Joe can dance, Grandpa Joe can work.)

Fifteen more, including "How the Grinch Stole Christmas".  (Three stars.)  Happy holidays!

Scattershooting lame ducks

-- So how about that Obama?  He's had a pretty good seven weeks since all the Democrats who ran away from him got trounced in early November.

You think he can keep it going in 2015?  Do you think Annise Parker can mimic his success strategy?  You know, ram through a few controversial initiatives, avoid losing some of them in court?

2015 is going to be a pivotal year for both Obamacare and HERO.  No bets taken yet.

-- Nothing lame whatsoever about the Texas Observer's Best of 2014.  They've had a very good year.  A good sixty years, for that matter.

-- Stephen Colbert taught us all a lesson in how to go out on top.  That duck sure wasn't lame.

-- Texas Comptroller Jethro Bodine Glenn Hegar has a report due in late January.  Since he's a farmer and not an accountant, I certainly hope Susan Combs has been doing his homework for him.  There's only the future of Texas riding on his predictions of what kind of money the state will have, revenue-wise.  And that will impact whatever Governor Greg Abbott has claimed he'll be able to do without raising taxes.

Boy, that Rick Perry was one dumb lucky bastard, wasn't he?

Lanier's legacy

I'm not joining the chorus of others in mourning the recent passing of former Houston mayor Bob Lanier.  He was certainly a man who made himself very wealthy as a real estate speculator (if you can call knowing where the highways were going to be built and then buying land there 'speculating').  And he spread that wealth around amongst his buddies, quietly tipping them off to potential deals.  That would be called 'insider trading' if someone investing in the stock market did it.  Used to be a crime, don't know if it still is.  If it is, a mostly white Harris County grand jury isn't likely to indict anyway.

Lanier set the standard for how Houston is now governed: of, by, and for the developers.  And in the early '90's, those guys didn't cotton to the idea of a monorail for mass transit -- no matter what the voters of Houston said -- so when Lanier decided to challenge five-term mayor Kathy Whitmire (after she had fired him from Metro), the race wasn't even close.  She came in third, and Lanier bested Sylvester Turner 53-47 in the runoff, with the city split precisely along racial lines.  Oh, and now we have term limits for Houston municipal offices.

Lanier took his 1991 election to run City Hall as a mandate to kill the monorail, and he diverted the money into road projects (surprise!) and large numbers of new police officers.  Though he angered suburbanites by annexing Kingwood, many locals were forgiving, bestowing plaudits on Lanier for the drop in Houston's crime rate as a result of his change in policy direction.  The facts are, however, that crime fell dramatically all across the United States during Lanier's tenure as mayor -- which coincided with the Clinton White House years -- and that drop was due to an extensive variety of social and economic factors, not just more cops on the streets.

It's worth footnoting that there is academic disagreement on precisely which causes may have produced the most effect.  And for the record, one of them wasn't Bill Clinton's economy, stupid.  Crime has continued to fall, worldwide, even as the economy has both worsened and improved over the past twenty years.

Lanier rode the non-partisan nature of Houston's municipal elections as far as anyone has.  He was the kind of conservative, pro-business, law-and-order Democrat that Republicans could love.  A neoliberal, in other words.  Annise Parker has carried on much of this fine Bayou City tradition.  A handful of 2015 mayoral wannabes from both sides of the so-called aisle are already lined up in the same queue.  I've identified some of them, but you're smart enough to know who they are without my reminding you.  The Ds and Rs behind their name mean absolutely nothing in the context of how we do City Hall elections, and that's how Houstonians have (apparently) always wanted it.  As we should know from recent history, all these armadillos bumping around in the middle of the road produces voter turnout in the low double digits.

So let's give Bob Lanier praise for shrewdly becoming a very rich man based on insider information.  And setting a local governmental standard that so many of Houston's 1%, uncontent with just being wealthy, now strive for.  And maybe a few nice parks in town.  And that's about it.

Three Shopping Days Left Wrangle

With the passage of the winter solstice, the Texas Progressive Alliance hopes that all your days are getting merrier and brighter as they bring you this week's holiday roundup.

Off the Kuff looks at the pro-discrimination bills that Republicans will be pushing in the Legislature next year.

Libby Shaw, writing for Texas Kaos and Daily Kos, insists that Texas will continue to have foxes guarding the public hen houses as long as the Republican culture of kleptocracy and crony capitalism persists. Texas investigates Medicaid fraud detection firm for corruption.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme is proud of Corpus Christi police chief Floyd Simpson for disciplining officers for use of excessive force. When officers act inappropriately, all too often there are no consequences.

WCNews at Eye on Williamson points out that as oil prices plummet, we're reminded of Texas oil busts past and the reality of the so-called "Texas Miracle". It looks like things are about to change.

Houston's city council gave a $17 million sloppy kiss to Valero as a Christmas present, and city attorney David Feldman left a flaming bag of poo on Mayor Annise Parker's doorstep. PDiddie at Brains and Eggs has suddenly realized that 2015's municipal elections can't come soon enough.

Neil at All People Have Value wrote about peace with Cuba. APHV is part of NeilAquino.com.

Texas Leftist takes a look at the rapid growth of the Houston Area Pastor Council. If Houstonians think think the fight over the Equal Rights Ordinance is over, they better think again. One of the country's most powerful hate groups is now in our back yard.

Bluedaze observes that the impact of fracking was glossed over at the Eagle Ford Shale Legislative Caucus meeting.

Some thoughts on Viernes from Stace at Dos Centavos included Valero's Christmas bonus.

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

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

Juanita Jean got in some snark on Texas A&M, Rick Perry, and the building to be named after him just before they called the whole thing off.

Grits for Breakfast acknowledges a sad statistic: deaths of Texas detainees in the Department of Corrections skyrocketed after the Lege cut healthcare benefits in 2011.

Socratic Gadfly posted about the normalization of relations with Cuba, and the reaction from the Havana Ham, Ted Cruz.

Texas Watch introduces its Safe Texas agenda.

Dwight Silverman suggests that kids today will do just fine without "tech timeouts".

Andrea Grimes criticizes that Texas Monthly "Bum Steer Award" cover illustration of Wendy Davis.

The Texas Living Waters Project forecasts the 2015 oyster season in Galveston Bay.

Keep Austin Wonky summarizes the homestead exemption debate.

The Lunch Tray celebrates the exclusion of Chinese-processed chicken in school food and other child nutrition programs.

The Bloggess is running her annual Christmas gift and charity drive.

Fascist Dyke Motors teases her forthcoming novel, Vagilante Justice.

Swamplot revisits some of the old haunts and re-tells the tales of Fidel Castro's Houston-area gunrunner, Robert Ray McKeown.

Finally, and in the spirit of the season, we're including Republican blogger Big Jolly's call for a special prosecutor to investigate the vast corruption of Harris County GOP kingmaker Gary Polland.  If only Santa Claus could bring us this one gift...

Jingle All the Way Funnies

City attorney Feldman quits

This is a fairly large turd in a Christmas gift bag dropped on Mayor Parker's doorstep.  I suppose that's why she used such effusive praise in announcing his departure.

Sticking to the long-held practice of politicians releasing uncomfortable news on a Friday evening, Houston Mayor Annise Parker announced today that her top legal brain has tendered his resignation.

City Attorney David Feldman, who joined the Parker administration in 2010, will resign effective January 16, 2015, according to a release from Parker's office. "Dave has provided great legal counsel for me and the entire City of Houston since his arrival nearly five years ago," Parker said in a statement. "His legal acumen is unmatched. Without his assistance, we would not have been able to accomplish many of my administration's priorities. I wish him the best of luck as he begins this new phase of his professional life. He will be missed at my executive staff table."

Feldman became the second-highest compensated city attorney in the United States after he threatened to quit a year ago.  But it's never about the money, of course.

Feldman said he long had planned to leave by early 2015 but acknowledged the precise timing of his resignation was driven by the lawsuit against Parker's signature equal rights ordinance, set for trial Jan. 19. Conservative critics sued the city this summer after Feldman and Parker announced that the group's petition to force a referendum on the ordinance did not contain enough valid signatures. Opponents largely take issue with the rights extended to gay and transgender residents under the ordinance, which the City Council passed last May, banning discrimination among businesses that serve the public, private employers, in housing and in city employment and city contracting.

Feldman is a central figure in the suit. Opponents charge that he illegally inserted himself into the signature verification process when his office disqualified more than half of the 5,199 pages of signatures because of alleged notary errors. The suit contends that City Secretary Anna Russell, who originally counted enough signatures to verify the petition, should have been in charge of signature verification. 

I suppose we'll go ahead and buy the story that this helps both the former city attorney and the mayor in some shared-interests kind of way.  Time -- and the outcome of the HERO lawsuit -- will tell if that is true or if it is not.

Texpate seems to be in benign agreement that this isn't a good thing for Mayor Parker, but mostly from the 'lame duck' point of view.  I think that's an understatement, but we'll just have to wait and see.

Update: Texas Leftist speculates on what Feldman's leaving -- and the long-term impact of the I Stand Sunday rally last month -- means for HERO's future.

Year-end Houston council developments

-- Let's get the crap out of the way first.

A divided Houston City Council approved a tax break for Valero's eastside refinery on Wednesday that officials say will help the facility expand, despite concerns from some community leaders that residents had many unanswered questions about the agreement.

The deal means Valero's Manchester facility, the only refinery inside Houston city limits, will be considered outside the city boundaries for tax purposes. The rare move will let the energy giant pay lower fees than if it remained in the city and paid property taxes and, officials say, will ensure an $800 million expansion and the 25 permanent jobs that accompany it will happen here and not in Louisiana.

Manchester is the most polluted neighborhood in the city of Houston.  Allowing Valero to excuse themselves from the tax base for $17 million in exchange for 25 jobs is nothing short of an unconscionable act.

"There's absolutely no reason to jam this decision through the week before Christmas," said TOP executive director Ginny Goldman. "People deserve to have input, public dialogue and, more importantly, critical questions answered about a 15-year contract. Telling a community they should trust Valero, they should trust some lobbyist, they should trust political operatives at City Hall, doesn't fly for us."

Asked about community concerns, Mayor Annise Parker quickly noted that Valero informed Gallegos of the deal months ago.

[...]

Gallegos said after the meeting that he was "disappointed" in the mayor's comments, noting (city economic development czar Andy) Icken's staff had been negotiating the deal for a year and a half, long before he joined the council last January. Gallegos said he did not organize community meetings because Valero officials assured him they had cleared their plans with neighbors.

[...]

"I asked had they gone out to the community and notified the community, and they said yes," Gallegos said. "That's what brought my concern, is that according to the individuals that came to public session yesterday, they said they were not aware of this."

Houston attorney Beto Cardenas, who represented Valero in the talks, said the company began public outreach efforts related to its expansion plans many months ago but did not begin negotiating with city officials until June.

Looks like somebody's lying, don't it?  TOP had the best response.

Some of those are running for mayor, aren't they?  Many are certainly running for re-election.  Let's make sure this bad choice on their part does not go overlooked.

-- Speaking of city council elections, and as Charles and Noah and Stace and Wayne have all previously noted, Democratic county chair Lane Lewis is in for an at-large city council seat.  Lewis is a hard worker and a consensus-builder.  He's the fellow who put me on the Harris County Early Voting Ballot Board, a not-so-subtle move to keep me inside the tent pissing out instead of the other way around.  I have a lot of respect for everything he's done as county chair, particularly as an early doubter after he took over for Gerry Birnberg.

Jenifer Rene Pool and whomever else who has jumped early into AL1 are going to have to rethink those plans.

To answer a question that my fellow blogmeisters don't seem to know the answer to: the reason that all those folks started scrambling for AL1 is because it's an open seat held -- since 1998 -- by a Caucasian.  Look it up.  AL4 (Bradford, term-limited like AL1's Costello) is very quietly considered the black seat.  Since 1984, those holding the position include Anthony Hall, Sheila Jackson Lee, John W. Peavy Jr., Ronald Green, and Bradford.  And while it is accurate that Chris Bell and Michael Berry both held AL4 between 1997 and 2003, that should tell all you need to know about the African American community's lingering animosity toward both men.

It helps to have black friends who are willing to speak candidly and off the record to a pinkish-pale middle-aged white guy.