DeLay: Marianas dealings may be his worst crimes

Jesse Lee at the Stakeholder, via Josh Marshall, links to the Marianas Variety, which reports that the recently-elected head of state has turned state's witness:

Governor-Elect Benigno R. Fitial says he will cooperate with federal authorities in the ongoing investigation of Rep. Tom Delay and former Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff, whom he once described as his “close friends.”

You should go here and read the entire, tangled, complicated thing, but here's the moneyshot:

As Jesse points out, interference by Congress in the internal elections of territories such as the Marianas Islands is illegal. Rep. George Miller (D-CA) took an interest in DeLay's involvement in the Marianas some years ago, and as ranking Democrat on the House Resources Committee repeatedly asked Republican Chairman (and Abramoff implicatee) Richard Pombo to investigate. Pombo stonewalled but eventually co-signed a letter to the Department of Justice asking them to expand the Abramoff probe to include the Marianas Islands. The following excerpt -- one of the letters Miller wrote to Pombo -- summarizes:

I wrote that in 1999, two men associated with then-Majority Whip Tom DeLay - Ed Buckham, a one-time chief of staff who later became the head of ARMPAC, and Mike Scanlon, a DeLay spokesman - were reportedly involved in an effort to influence the election of the Speaker to the CNMI House of Representatives. I have since learned of additional evidence to suggest these two men may have traded political favors to sway the election in favor of a candidate most likely to renew a contract with lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

There's more, naturally.

Popcorn?

(Corrupt) business as usual

Yesterday Rep. Mike Conaway, of the 11th Congressional district of Texas, hosted a fundraiser for Tom DeLay at the Petroleum Club in Midland, Texas.

I don't have any report on how it went, but I do know a little about the Petroleum Club, as I went there a few times when I lived in Midland and in Beaumont as well. As you might imagine, it's the dining room for the captains of industry, and not just oil barons but cattle barons too, and also bank presidents and newspaper publishers and corporate executives and independent businessmen. Emphasis on 'men'. Extra emphasis on 'white'. The waiters in both cities where I attended functions were all black, but that was it. Don't know if any of that has changed; this was in the mid-'80's to early '90's.

The Houston Business Journal describes the Petroleum Club as one of the "most prestigious and influential organizations," with "a roster of members who are on the forefront of the Texas and global oil and gas industry." (A history on the club's website says the original conception was for "an exclusive, handsome club of and for men of the oil industry.")

"This is a very secure, comfortable place where our members can do their business without having anyone in their business," said Anna Schmidt, the Houston club's director of membership development.

DeLay certainly feels comfortable there. In fact, according to the Washington Post, it was at the Petroleum Club that DeLay received the corporate contributions at the center of his (alleged) money-laundering scheme:

Some corporations were careful to specify that their contributions were solely meant to defray legally permissible administrative expenses. TRMPAC solicitations being investigated did not mention the restrictions. For example, DeLay was the featured “special guest” at a fundraising luncheon for TRMPAC at the Houston Petroleum Club, where donors were asked to contribute $15,000 to be considered a co-chair and $25,000 to be listed as an underwriter.

“Corporate checks are acceptable,” the invitation stated, according to a copy obtained by The Post.

That event took place on August 19, 2002. A few weeks later, TRMPAC official John Colyandro wrote this check, (allegedly) funneling corporate cash to the Republican National Committee, which is now at the heart of the indictment against DeLay.

Is there anyone who would like to hold accountable the Republicans who represent them in the US Congress for this in-your-face corruption?

David Murff, Democrat for the 7th District of Texas

I spent a few minutes earlier this week with David L. Murff, who will challenge DeLay flack John Culberson for the right to represent the 7th Texas Congressional District in Washington.

Murff is a family and criminal law attorney in private practice; he served in the U.S. Army (2nd Armored, 1st Brigade, Fort Hood). He’s a graduate of Western Kentucky University and the South Texas College of Law, a member of the Houston Bar Association and the Texas Center for Legal Ethics and Professionalism, and has routinely donated his time as an attorney ad litem to Children’s Friend in Court, a non-profit organization providing legal service to indigent children.

My transcript of our conversation follows.

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

Q. Why are you running for Congress?

A. As simply as I can put it, I find myself perplexed by the partisan agenda of the people currently in office, and I’m concerned about the direction our country is headed while that narrow agenda is being served.

With all of the challenges we face, in every direction I look -- from the enormous budget deficits to healthcare to energy concerns to homeland security and on and on -- what I see is nothing but partisan conservative platitudes, which just seem to be disconnected from the concerns of the average American.

Q. What about Congressman Culberson? Any specific differences of opinion with him?

A. Sure, absolutely. In many ways John Culberson is actually worse than Tom DeLay, if you can believe it, and his statement today in response to DeLay’s indictment is an example of what I’m talking about relative to partisan politics overriding everything else. I would’ve thought that Culberson would try to distance himself from this growing scandal, or at least be mum about it, but instead he chose to attack (Travis Co. district attorney) Ronnie Earle, whose record clearly shows he’s gone after corrupt politicians regardless of party affiliation.

Regarding the DeLay matter, it will probably drag well into the 2006 election cycle, and frankly I’m not excited about the Democratic Party potentially being the beneficiary of the Republicans’ misfortune. I’m tired of the Republicans portraying Democrats a certain way, and the truth is that the party in power needs to clean up their house and start serving the people instead of the corporations, and maybe this will give them the incentive to do so. If they don’t, or won’t, then that’s a good enough distinction between us to give voters a clear choice.

Culberson voted to relax the ethics rules that enabled DeLay to continue as majority leader up to now, and he also voted for the 11th-hour Medicare provision before he got enough political cover to vote against it. He’s also expressed the opinion that the judicial branch is supposed to serve the will of the President and Congress; that judges should just rubber-stamp the laws passed by Congress and signed by the President. As I hear that, it sounds like he’s against an independent judiciary. That’s truly alarming.

I think it would be a good thing if the people of the 7th District had a congressman who actually listens to them, who gets to know them, who understands their concerns and who will look out for them, as opposed to blindly following the instructions of the Republican leadership.

Q. What issue(s) do you feel most concerned about?

A. I think we‘re squandering a tremendous opportunity from a national perspective, and a tremendous resource right here in Houston -- namely the brilliant minds of the Texas Medical Center -- by blocking stem cell research. That’s got to change.

I think we need to get serious about alternative fuels in this country, and I think there’s a lot we can do regarding biofuels.

Q. You served in the Army. What should we do now regarding Iraq?

A. You know, our soldiers didn’t deserve what they walked into over there. From everything that was known at the time, I would’ve probably voted to authorize the use of force, but the lack of an exit strategy going in is simply the best reason why it’s now time to get our boys and girls back home. And if Iraq then degenerates into civil war, then it may take a true national coalition, one built on real alliances, to restore order.

This administration may just not be capable of doing any of that, unless we the people can send them a strong enough message in 2006.

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

Murff will have a website up shortly; http://www.murff4congress.com/ .

He’s available to speak to clubs and groups throughout the district. Contact his office at 281-335-4777 or via e-mail at dlmurff at sbcglobal dot net .

Plucking Mom out of East Texas

Later today (hopefully).

As with almost all things Golden-Triangle-related, her house went under water.  First time water ever  so much as came up the street in 57 years; she probably took in 4 feet or so.

She evacuated to the local Methodist church, which lost power.  A Good Samaritan friend in Beaumont rescued her, but as you might know, that city lost its water supply for the foreseeable future, so she got picked up via jet ski and evac'd again to Livingston.  Highways between Houston and there remain problematic, but by tonight she should be here at a nearby hotel, and moving in with my wife and I for awhile while she decides where she wants to be.

Posting even lighter than usual ahead, and the environmental calamity updates I promised will appear on Twitter (if you don't have an account, get one).   Here's an excerpt about what's finally dawning on some people this morning:

What began as a story about flooding, environmentalist groups say, has become about preventable environmental disaster.

Coastal Houston is the site of a large concentration of chemical plants, refineries, Superfund sites and fossil fuel operations. Some have suffered damage from Hurricane Harvey, releasing toxic compounds into the environment, and environmentalists, in turn, are pointing the finger at politicians and industry leaders who have sought to ax regulations.

Specifically, they're criticizing the Environmental Protection Agency for delaying a chemical plant safety rule once President Donald Trump took office. In part, the rule would have ensured first responders knew what chemicals they may come in contact with and how to handle those chemicals in an emergency response situation.

The intention was to help prevent and mitigate chemical accidents.

"The rules that were delayed were designed to reduce the risk of chemical releases," said Peter Zalzal, special projects director and lead attorney at Environmental Defense Fund. "This kind of situation underscores why we shouldn't be rolling these rules back."

Earlier this year, legislation was introduced in both the House and Senate that would repeal an EPA rule.

A report in the International Business Times noted the bill was cosponsored by a hefty handful of Texas Republican House members, and the companion bill in the Senate had the backing of both Texas Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz.

Many who cosponsored the legislation, IBT noted, have accepted donations from the chemical industry, the American Chemical Council and Arkema, Inc.

About that EPA rule:

In June, about 10 weeks before explosions and fires would begin erupting at a chemical plant damaged by Hurricane Harvey near Houston, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt placed a 20-month delay on the implementation of rules designed to prevent and contain spills, fires and explosions at chemical plants.

In a public comment filed with the EPA in May, an association of emergency response planning officials asked that at least one portion of the rules be spared the delay and implemented immediately: a section requiring hazardous chemical facilities to coordinate with local first responders and planners in case of an emergency.

"Save for the act of coordination and providing certain information, if it exists, this provision simply and directly requires people to talk to each other," wrote Timothy Gablehouse, president of the National Association of SARA Title III Program Officials, an association of state and local emergency response commissions. "It is fully appropriate for regulated facilities to understand what local responders can and cannot accomplish during an emergency response."

Pruitt delayed implementation of the rules in response to complaints about the rulemaking process filed by chemical companies and industry groups, according to the EPA's filing in the federal register. States with large industrial chemical sectors, including Texas and Louisiana, also requested that compliance dates for the rules be delayed.

The industry complained that the emergency response requirements in particular did not specify limits on the information that emergency planners and first responders could ask for, and the EPA agreed to delay those provisions to allow for additional public comment, despite warnings from Gablehouse and environmental groups.

The decision to delay the rules -- particularly the section on sharing information with emergency planners -- is under intense scrutiny as environmental disasters unfold in the wake of Hurricane Harvey.

"It's offensive that they refuse to share information with police and firefighters who have to risk their lives to go into those disaster [areas]," said Gordon Sommers, an attorney at Earthjustice, an environmental group that opposed the delay. "They risk their lives because they don’t know what risks they face … because the industry does not want to share information."

Do you remember when Greg Abbott said, "drive around"?

Bryan Parras of T.e.j.a.s. was on Democracy Now earlier this week detailing first-hand accounts of the air quality near the Houston Ship Channel and Manchester neighborhood, and the Superfund sites along the San Jacinto River, that he has long strived to call attention to.  Transcript here.

It's bad, our Texas Republicans lie at the root cause, our Texas Democrats can't stop them or even slow them down (even the ones that actually want to), the Trump administration is enabling all of it, and our local air and water is only going to get worse.  If you're working for an oil company, like Houston's allegedly leading blogger, you're not going to see much of this news (you will get your weekly video break and link dump, though).

If you're driving a car to work, you need to start rethinking that.  If you're raising children here ... think about living somewhere else.  And if you're poverty-class or homeless, you're fucked.

Thanksgiving Leftovers Wrangle

Turkey sandwiches? Turkey tetrazzini? Turkey enchiladas? The Texas Progressive Alliance hopes you got your RDA of l-tryptophan last week as it brings you the blog highlights.

Off the Kuff celebrates the DeLay verdict.

Bay Area Houston has a visual suggestion to the judge in the Tom DeLay trial regarding the sentencing.

Did employers or their representatives provide 'assistance' to their employees as they voted in La Joya? CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme would really like to know.

Public Citizen over at TexasVox is getting ready for the sunset hearings on the TCEQ and Railroad Commission, coming up December 15-16, by looking at a national report which gives Texas' regulatory agencies a D-.

Lightseeker at Texas Kaos raises a red flag over the morphing of the MSM coverage of Tom DeLay's conviction. In his piece entitled The DeLay verdict - Politics as usual? Crime and Punishment? Why it Matters he argues that this is simply a case study in why we find it so hard to get our message out. Either out of boredom or malice or laziness or simple lack of time or understanding, the MSM often carries water for the other side in how they cover/frame important issues. And he wonders what can be done about that.

Republicans in the Texas Legislature filed a series of anti-immigrant bills, so Stace at DosCentavos asks: Are You Willing to Boycott Texas? It's a serious question that will come up as these bills go through the process and quite possibly get to the floor.

Sen Jeff Wentworth pre-filed legislation for the coming session that eliminates straight-ticket voting. PDiddie at Brains and Eggs thinks he's a lone voice of reason on the right.

Reverend Manny at BlueBloggin takes an in depth look at freedom of speech. On the whole the September FBI crackdowns are symbolic, and a local reminder, of an international repressive wave against transparency, criticism and rational open dialogue. Read The Front Lines of Reality: An International Perspective on the Battle over Free Speech.

WhosPlayin brings you a video tour of a modern drilling rig that one company is using to drill in urban areas in the Barnett Shale.

Neil at Texas Liberal visited Austin this past week for Thansgiving dinner. He enjoyed the late night drive back home to Houston a great deal. Neil liked this ride so much he wrote a blog post listing seven reasons the ride was so enjoyable.

The TexProgBlog Wrangle, Part 2

Part 1 is here.

The COVID-19 pathogen will likely put off the US Census.

U.S. House Oversight Committee says Trump admin will move to extend #2020Census counting to October & ask Congress to delay delivery of redistricting data from 3/31/21 to 7/31/21 — which would require a #txlege special session (!!) https://t.co/S2nmh9BZAD

— Alexa Ura (@alexazura) April 13, 2020

TXElects parses the meaning of the delay for us.

The Trump Administration may be seeking to delay key Census deadlines as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Commerce Secretary Wilber Ross said in a call with several members of Congress that Census field operations would be suspended until June 1, according to a statement issued by U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), chair of the Committee on Oversight and Reform.

Maloney said Ross would seek federal legislation to delay the deadline to deliver apportionment counts to April 30, 2021, from December 31, 2020, and to deliver redistricting data to the states to July 31, 2021, from March 31, 2021. Those deadlines are set by federal law and would require congressional approval.

[...]

During the last redistricting cycle, the U.S. Census Bureau delivered its 2010 state population totals for apportionment on December 21, 2010, and the block level population data on February 17, 2011. In the prior redistricting cycle, the totals for apportionment were released on December 28, 2000, and the actual Census 2000 enumeration data was sent to the states on March 6, 2001. Only the first of those two events would occur during the 2021 regular session under the Administration’s proposed timeline.

If the total state population for apportionment is sufficient to trigger “publication” of the census, then the Legislature could take up redistricting in the regular session. If “publication” is triggered by the block-level detail, then the next regular session would be 2023.

Update: Scott Braddock at Quorum Report has some thoughts about this.  My best guess is that a special session to tackle redistricting in 2021, or waiting to do so until 2023, depends on whether the state's Republicans feel their opportunities to control the outcome are better sooner ... or later.  Expect litigation aplenty either way.

With respect to legal action ...

BREAKING: Gov. Abbott’s attempt to ban safe, legal abortion during the COVID-19 pandemic has experienced another significant defeat. #AbortionIsEssential https://t.co/iT5FrhDtbX

— Planned Parenthood (@PPGreaterTX) April 14, 2020

The Lone Star State is indeed a loner in one regard, according to an April 11 filing by Planned Parenthood in the US Supreme Court.

Texas, like other states, has declared an emergency due to the coronavirus crisis, halting nonessential activities. But it’s gone further than any other locale in limiting family planning services, leaving women with no choice but to remain pregnant or travel out of state instead of sheltering in place, even to seek nonsurgical abortions that simply involve swallowing “two pills.”

Over the weekend, the healthcare providers turned to the highest court in the land for help, saying that “Texas has exploited the Covid-19 crisis as a pretext to target abortion.”

Again, the only thing we can be sure of is more lawyers filing more lawsuits.

In spite of the shattered state (and national and global) economy, there are doubts as to whether restarting it now is the right idea.

Many question whether @GovAbbott's plan to reopen Texas is a good idea just a few weeks after announcing his #StayAtHome order. #COVID19 #coronavirus #txlegehttps://t.co/fJMTynHmgf

— Reform Austin (@ReformAustin) April 14, 2020

Coronavirus grifters are gonna grift.

The @TXAG’s office has received more than 5,529 complaints from Texans over exploitative pricing on items like disinfectant wipes, toilet paper and hand sanitizer. #COVID19 #coronavirus #txlege https://t.co/n475QGGPhY

— Reform Austin (@ReformAustin) April 14, 2020

The cost of hand sanitizers and masks on Amazon have risen at least 50 percent higher than the 90-day average. https://t.co/AWdxXn89Lr

— San Antonio Current (@SAcurrent) April 7, 2020

Update: A Texas Railroad Commission hearing yesterday was, in Trump's words, 'a ratings hit', but once again Texas Republican elected officials chose to do nothing.  Quorum Report:

Texas energy sector appears to reject the idea of state intervention in production

All-day RRC hearing draws 20,000 viewers online; it became clear a Texas-only decision could lead the nation but without a national strategy the needle would only be moved marginally

Two of the state’s energy producers have proposed a return to a limitation on oil production in Texas for the first time in almost 50 years as a way to stem the economic hemorrhaging of the oil & gas industry.

The idea got a lot of attention.

Today’s virtual hearing of the Texas Railroad Commission – with only proration on the agenda – drew more than 20,000 viewers. Statistics were so startling that AdminTexas.com posted that the hearing -- still going (late last) evening -- had significant viewership from Korea, Canada and Russia.

The proposal, in short, would be to cut Texas energy production, by possibly as much as 20 percent, to push up the sagging price of oil. Pioneer Natural Resources and Parsley Energy want it. Marathon Oil Corp. and many others pressed against it even with the promise that the cuts on production would be limited to top pumpers.

“This crisis can be viewed as an opportunity to begin a responsible and managed decline of fossil fuel use,” says Public Citizen Texas office Director Adrian Shelley in testimony to @txrrc on cutting oil/gas production in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. #txenergy #txlege pic.twitter.com/YrdcJlmHX3

— Public Citizen Texas (@PublicCitizenTX) April 14, 2020

tl;dr (but you should read it) - the regulators didn't really signal how they'd vote. Could take the issue up at their meeting next week. For @CourthouseNews: https://t.co/2eJPH3T8LR

— Travis Bubenik (@travisbubenik) April 15, 2020

Kuff has an update to that weird "ghost candidate" story from the HD142 primary.

Nearly the entire Harris County Democratic legislative delegation is requesting a criminal investigation into the candidacy of a Texas House candidate whose existence was called into question after the March primary. #txlege https://t.co/HjOQy39ceY

— Texas Tribune (@TexasTribune) April 14, 2020

Housing news had several Texas bloggers' attention.

Right now, statewide protections against eviction are set to expire at the end of the month. They don't go as far in Texas as in many states. https://t.co/esGabA8Nhk

— Texas Standard (@TexasStandard) April 11, 2020

"A massive wave of evictions is coming":

(The COVID-19) crisis has struck the United States at a moment when millions of people were already living perilously close to eviction. Because of stagnant wages and rising rents, one out of four renters spent over half of their income on housing. Among rent burdened households -- defined as those that spend more than one-third of their income on housing -- half have less than $10 in savings.

Nearly a third of the American workforce -- some 41.7 million people -- earns less than $12 per hour and has limited access to health care, paid sick days and paid family and medical leave. The mandatory stay-at-home orders and forced closing of business will force much of this population, even with the help of unemployment insurance, to choose between paying rent or buying groceries.

Some landlords have delayed eviction and even canceled rent for their tenants. Others, however, have been less sympathetic. The Daily Beast recently reported on the case of a Las Vegas nurse who was evicted because her landlord worried she might potentially spread covid-19.

The problem is simply too consequential to be left up to landlord discretion. And if evictions are merely delayed, not permanently stopped, that could lead to a resurgence of the virus, after stay-at-home measures "bend the curve" of infection. Evicted families end up in homeless shelters, where people eat and sleep next to each other -- the opposite of social distancing.

People experiencing homelessness are particularly vulnerable to upper respiratory illness including to covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. Well before the pandemic, sprawling tent encampments had experienced outbreaks of medieval diseases like typhus and trench fever.

San Antonio’s West Side is in the embryonic stages of gentrification.

The Alazán-Apache Courts—the city's oldest and largest public housing development—are arguably the best defense against speculators.

The project could be demolished within two years.https://t.co/nuP2dVJpqm

— Texas Observer (@TexasObserver) April 13, 2020

Last year, the Current and the San Antonio Heron collaborated on a lengthy analysis of gentrification's sweep across the West Side, including the scheduled demolition of the Alazán-Apache Courts.

In a couple of follow-ups to postings from last week's Wrangle, Rice University's ventilator is all ready to go ...

The plans for Rice University’s ApolloBVM, an open-source emergency ventilator design that could help patients in treatment for COVID-19, are now online and freely available to everyone in the world: https://t.co/bf7tUXH55g pic.twitter.com/KknG9lXtvU

— Rice University (@RiceUniversity) April 10, 2020

... and Half Price Books is about to go out.

Half Price Books furloughs or lays off 78 percent of employees https://t.co/9yBHAoSb6C

— San Antonio Express-News (@ExpressNews) April 6, 2020

In the wake of furloughs ordered by parent company Gannett, and with print media facing a troubled future, the Austin American Statesman turns to ... radio.

.@statesman is bringing a familiar voice back to the city’s radio landscape with the Statesman News Network https://t.co/tBRYlpbeE7

— Austin 360 (@austin360) April 6, 2020

And to conclude another week of the best of the left of Texas, here's few lighter-side pieces.

Released in 1978, “The Whole Shootin’ Match,” was directed by Eagle Pennell. It was the first film to gain national attention for the Austin film scene. https://t.co/toix5iBx9Q

— Texas Standard (@TexasStandard) April 9, 2020

Save Buffalo Bayou is enjoying tending their garden during this self-imposed spring exile.

Kevin Brady's having a really bad week

The Republican Congressman representing many of the eastern Texas counties devastated by Hurricane Rita is in a world of hurt lately. Let's summarize his woes; first from the Houston Chronicle (all emphasis mine):

Rural East Texans cried and vented frustration today over the lack of relief aid they've received and their belief that federal and Red Cross aid is being unfairly concentrated on urban areas where the suffering is not as great.

Dozens of residents gathered under tight security at First Baptist Church in Deweyville, which sits on the Texas-Louisiana border, to talk with Red Cross and Federal Emergency Management Agency representatives. Many said their homes are uninhabitable and the only power they have comes from generators.

U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, who wore a bulletproof vest under his dress shirt, attended meetings in Jasper, Newton, Deweyville and Buna today with plans to visit Orange, Vidor, Kountze and Woodville on Tuesday.

Brady spokeswoman Sarah Stephens said she couldn't offer specifics about the extra security, but said, "It's certainly not a fashion accessory and something we don't normally do when we're in the district."

As Brady stepped up to the church altar, four Texas Department of Public Safety troopers lined up in front of the lectern, separating the congressman and other federal officials from the rural residents who say their needs have been neglected.

East Texas is where I grew up, and where my parents still call home. In fact, my 79-year-old mother just made it back to her home in Orange County last Friday after evacuating ahead of the hurricane; she still doesn't have electricity after two weeks.

But back to Brady. He was jailed just last Friday night when he returned for his university's homecoming festivities:

U.S. Rep Kevin Brady was arrested and charged with driving under the influence while in South Dakota, according to a published report.

The Texas Republican was pulled over by a state trooper Friday night for a problem with the tail lights of his vehicle, The Dallas Morning News reported.

Authorities were waiting for results of a blood test to determine Brady's blood-alcohol level at the time of the arrest. The legal limit in South Dakota is 0.08. If convicted of the misdemeanor charge, Brady faces up to $1,000 fine and a year in jail, Clay County Sheriff Andy Howe said. Brady was in East Texas on Monday and could not be reached for comment, spokeswoman Sarah Stephens told the newspaper.

Poor Ms. Stephens is really having to earn her salary, isn't she? At least she didn't have to front for the Congressman regarding the dirty DeLay money he refuses to return:

While U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady, R-The Woodlands, did not receive money from TRMPAC, he did receive $10,000 from ARMPAC in 2003.

"I'm certainly not going to return it," Brady said Thursday. "Tom DeLay has been fighting for everything important: less taxes, stronger national security and to protect our families. He has helped us restore sales tax deductions to Texans, and he played a key role in getting federal road dollars."

You really think highly of Mr. DeLay, don't you sir?

"As for me, the Tom DeLay I know is principled and respects the law. I just don't believe he would break the law, and this (the matter of his indictments) is going to give us a chance to see all the facts."

I expect that the good people of Southeast Texas are about ready for a new Congressman. And there's lots of good Democrats over there who should delight in taking on this challenge.

Expect to see announcements about this race here frequently in the coming election season.

I have a whole bunch to blog about

and a short time to do it. (Hey, just look at the time stamp...)

There were thousands of people at the Art Car Parade and Festival on Saturday. And while the autos were fun, it's always the sideline observation I enjoy best. Some of my fellow parade-watchers didn't look as if they venture outside often during daylight hours, and then mostly just to add another tattoo or watch the band rehearse. Oh yeah, Kinky Freidman's car broke down halfway through, and before he was rescued from walking by a golf cart he blamed the malfunction on a Republican conspiracy.

There were hundreds of people at the "Save America Without DeLay" Family Fun Festival, and while Barbara Radnofsky and Chris Bell and Richard Morrison all had something to say, the most interesting thing was Gordon Quan busting a Tom DeLay pinata (figuratively speaking only; the kids hogged all the real ones). My good friend Lyn specifically asked him to run in the 7th, and he demurred. This leads me to speculate that what Quan really wants is to take on La Cucaracha Grande -- which by extension means Nick Lampson in the Democratic primary. (Aside to Mr. Lampson: why weren't you present at this event?)

And now for something completely different ...

D Magazine asks: who is Joseph T. Farkasdi?

Who is this man? Is he your local Toyota car salesman who wonders, "What do I have to do to earn your business today"? Or is he a conservative blogger, offering "real deep social responsive thought on the most divisive issues of today"? Or is he your ticket to financial freedom, helping you "eliminate all your debts and create new forms of income in less time than you might imagine"? Or is he Joseph with the Sensual Touch, a model, escort, masseur, nude, or semi-nude who offers "special rates for couples, seniors, and groups"?

The answer? He's all those things and more, including motivational speaker and adult filmmaker. Joseph is a real renaissance man. WARNING: search around his sites at your own peril, Joseph likes to be naked--and his enjoyment is a bit too obvious, if you know what I mean.

My observations:

-- anyone with the word "Fark" in their name simply begs ridicule right from the jump; and ...

-- from his candid glamour shots, it appears that Joseph (like his idol Jeff Gannon) is eager to supply his oh, maybe seven column inches -- edited -- of 'top' reporting to anyone who'll take him up on it.

My questions:

-- what Metroplex megachurch does he attend? I'll have a few followups to this question, probably ...

-- how much has he donated to GOP candidates? Yes, yes; data readily available online but I don't have time to look it up, would you mind?

I also saw "The End of Suburbia" over the weekend. 'Troubling' is the best I can do for now. It's a slant on the Peak Oil discussion and how it's affecting us already (with Middle Eastern wars being a byproduct and not the focus). This Houstonian, a member of Cheney's energy task force (you know, the one which we'll never learn what was discussed) was quoted prominently in the documentary. As well as author James Kunstler, who turned up on Salon on Saturday, so that's your primer.

Last night I got in a couple of hours of precinct captain training and then went to the movies again. Again, very upsetting. I'll try to have something serious and coherent to say about them later, but I'm not promising anything.

And just so I don't have to finish this post depressed, here's a letter that Jesus' General wrote to Tom DeLay suggesting a bake sale as fundraiser. Don't forget to click on the 'reports' at the end.

Update: One of our town's conservative bloggers got a little snarky when he couldn't find any posts about the "Without DeLay" Festival, and when I pointed mine out to him, he got even more tetchy. Pretty funny.

Here's another post, Chris. It's got pretty pictures ...

And here's some more photos, and here's some of Kym's pics from the Art Car Parade.

More on Morrison, TX-22, and the rising Democratic tide

I promised a post a while back on the subject of the "birth tax", which Richard Morrison brought up in our conference call earlier this month; the cartoon above explains the concept as well as any words I could use.

This continuing assault on the middle class in favor of the moneyed class is what defines the GOP today. This fiduciary deconstruction of the working class American -- another example is the freshly-signed bankruptcy legislation -- will be the lasting legacy of Tom DeLay's Republican Congress.

Unless they can be stopped.

It's no surprise, then, that Democrats are lining up to knock off King Cockroach, and likewise that the GOP is looking high and low for someone to run against him in the primary, so worried are they about the image of their Majority Leader going down in flames.

Candidly, though, there's no good reason why Richard Morrison and Nick Lampson and Gordon Quan should beat each other up for the right to defeat La Cucaracha Grande. (Every Democrat in the country ought to be running against Tom DeLay -- tied around the neck of his GOP opponent -- anyway.)

Lampson's motivation is that part of the old 2nd Congressional District he represented -- an area surrounding NASA -- was redistricted into the current 22nd, so he has a little name recognition and some base of support -- certainly a few folks living there who've cast a ballot with his name on it before. Quan is a popular but term-limited Houston city councilman who senses the rise of the Asian-American Democratic bloc in southeast Texas, acknowledged in Hubert Vo's recent statehouse victory over Talmadge Heflin.

But neither Lampson nor Quan actually live in the 22nd District, and that fact could work hard against them in a general election. DeLay -- or some other Republican -- could paint them as a "carpetbagger". One thing the disenchanted conservatives in Sugar Land won't do is vote for a Democrat they perceive is an opportunistic outsider.

My idea is that Lampson ought to consider running for Congress in the 14th (Ron Paul is retiring, allegedly, and that district also overlaps some of Lampson's old one in Galveston County) and Gordon Quan should challenge John Culberson in the 7th -- where Quan's residence lies. Three good strong campaigns against two significantly weakened GOP opponents and one open seat -- potentially a three-seat switch for the Dems -- would go a long way toward nullifying the DeLay-engineered 2004 gerrymandering.

That would be a good start toward taking our country back -- wouldn't it?

While we wait...

..for Judge Joe Hart to issue his ruling in the TRMPAC case, let's catch up with what people are saying about "The D.A. and Tom DeLay".

The first block quote below is from the CBS transcript of last Sunday's 6o Minutes piece:

DeLay’s fellow Texan, Republican Rep. John Carter, says whether the law was broken depends on what your definition of “administrative” is. "No court has actually defined clearly what administrative purposes is," says Carter. 60 Minutes showed him TRMPAC's brochure with the statement of how the corporate funds would be spent. "Active candidate evaluation and recruitment. Message development. Market research and issue development," says Stahl. "I mean, how is that administrative?"

"Active candidate evaluation and recruitment, that’s a party of administrative procedure," says Carter. "That’s a party function."

"I thought administration was the running of the office. The Xerox machine. Paying bills," says Stahl.

"This is what the court has to rule on," says Carter. "If they find all these things are administrative, there’ll be no convictions in this case."

And here's Charlie Kuffner's take:

I'd like to propose an alternate explanation to the question of why no court has ever ruled on what constitutes an "administrative purpose". There's no case law because no one has ever come anywhere close to violating this century-old law before, and the reason for that is because anyone with two brain cells to rub together can plainly see that "administrative" means "non-political". When you have a law that is crystal clear, and that draws a very bright line, as this one does, it seems to me that you should expect there to be very little case law because there should be no confusion about what the law says. Nobody's been brazen enough before to claim that confusion was even a plausible explanation. If they get away with it now, then this law never actually meant anything.

Norm Ornstein's clever quip about Mother Teresa getting caught turning right on red in a state that doesn't allow it is spot on. This isn't an honest mistake, it isn't a testing of boundaries, and it isn't a case of the law not keeping up with new technologies. It's shameless pettifoggery, and it deserves to be slapped down.

It's this kind of duplicitous bullshit and slavish toadying performed by footlickers like Carter that makes me despise the Republican party. DeLay ought to be tarred and feathered, and all of his minions in the House know it, and they just don't have the stones to do so, much less speak up about it. They continue to vouch for him, cover for him, run interference, and punish those who dare stand up and speak out.

Tom DeLay is precisely the reason why the GOP invites comparisons to the Nazis.

If they know what's good for them, they'll get rid of him. I ain't counting on the Repubs to take out their own trash, though. And if Joe Hart doesn't oblige, and Ronnie Earl gets derailed, well, there's another opportunity for Richard Morrison in a bit less than two years.

Ted Cruz, Tom DeLay, and rapper M.I.A.

-- Here's Why Ted Cruz's Plan To Defund Obamacare Was Always Doomed.

The House bill that continues funding for the government is expected to pass on Friday. It will go to the Senate, where Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) will face two potential filibusters of the legislation.

One is on the vote to begin debate — which is not likely to produce a fight. The language will enter the Senate with the House language, so there's no reason for conservatives in the Senate to vote against opening debate on the bill.

The key procedural movement will come next. A Democratic Senate aide said that it's likely Democrats will introduce an amendment to strip the House language defunding Obamacare after the vote to end debate occurs. Because of Senate rules, they can do so by a simple majority vote.

That makes the second cloture vote the one to watch. That's when Cruz, along with Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), can argue that voting to end debate will enable Reid to get rid of the House language that defunds Obamacare — "which is true," the Democratic aide said.

Here's why that's a problem: Reid needs 60 votes to end debate. He can count on all 52 Democrats (including himself), as well as the Senate's two Independents, to vote to end debate and strip the language defunding Obamacare.

That means he needs only six Republicans to vote to end debate. And 14 Senate Republicans have already expressed their dismay with the strategy — mostly because doing so involves the possibility of shutting down the government.

Even the cartoonists have grown tired of lampooing Cruz, when there are others just like him (only lacking some of his talent at bombast).

For his part, "Poop" has already worn out his welcome in Washington, and in less than a year.  You have to admit that's quite an accomplishment.

The truth is that defunding Obamacare -- just like ending abortion -- is a fundraising mechanism for the GOP.  They use the issue to fleece conservatives who have more money than sense.  It's always been this way.

There are Republicans who are starting to see through Cruz, they're just not the poor saps who sent him to DC in the first place.  These folks who vote in the Texas Republican primary are probably not redeemable at this point after so many errors in judgment (Rick Perry, Greg Abbott, David Dewhurst, Dan Patrick,John Culberson, Louie Gohmert, Steve Stockman, blahblahblah).

We have to stop allowing deranged, delusional people create the reality that the rest of us have to live in.  How's Battleground Texas coming along, anyway?

-- La Cucaracha takes a victory lap.

Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, reveling in victory Thursday against Texas prosecutors in a money-laundering case, said his political career is over but he’s eager to return to the courthouse.

If he can find a lawyer “with a backbone,” DeLay said, he’ll considering suing the Travis County district attorney for the eight-year legal clash that ended with an appeals court tossing his conviction.

“I cannot take this laying down. For the welfare of the people that serve in the future, I can’t just let this go,” he said.

The threat was vintage DeLay.

Let's allow him to get comfortable, then let's squash his guts all over the floor.  Again.

-- The NFL wages war on another halftime performer, and she's fighting back.

On Feb. 5, 2012, nearly 167 million TV viewers tuned in to Super Bowl XLVI to watch a matchup between the New York Giants and New England Patriots. Besides the football action, what had people talking that day was a halftime performance by M.I.A. and, specifically, how she extended her middle finger during a performance of "Give Me All Your Luvin' " while mouthing, "I don't give a shit."

But the NFL did care. One month after the performance, the league initiated legal proceedings against the English-Sri Lankan rapper-singer. In a March 13, 2012, filing at the American Arbitration Association, obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, the league demanded $1.5 million from M.I.A. for allegedly breaching her performance contract and tarnishing its goodwill and reputation.

In the 18 months since, the 38-year-old M.I.A. (born Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam) has been waging a secret legal war with the NFL over what happened at Super Bowl XLVI. Last week, league lawyers continued their push to have her deemed liable for her actions on summary judgment before moving to a trial for damages.

This is not going over too well with M.I.A, best known for her catchy agitpop music including the hit song "Paper Planes," which includes the repeated sound of gunfire. She's also used her fame to spotlight human rights abuses in her war-torn South Asian homeland. Now her lawyer Howard King tells THR that his client plans to launch a public war on the mega-powerful football league.

Moneyshot, from her barrister...

"Of course, the NFL's claimed reputation for wholesomeness is hilarious," King tells THR, "in light of the weekly felonies committed by its stars, the bounties placed by coaches on opposing players, the homophobic and racist comments uttered by its players, the complete disregard for the health of players and the premature deaths that have resulted from same, and the raping of public entities ready to sacrifice public funds to attract teams."

What, you forgot the NFL was a big bunch of socialists?

Greens ballot bid update

Wayne Slater:

A top Republican lawyer has been hired to represent the Green Party in a lawsuit in which Democrats want to know who bankrolled a petition drive to put the party on the ballot. ...

Andy Taylor, a Republican redistricting lawyer with ties to Tom DeLay, John Cornyn and Rick Perry, will represent the liberal Green Party. It's unknown who's paying him. Neither Taylor nor Green Party state coordinator Kat Swift returned telephone calls. The hiring of Taylor is the latest in a series of GOP connections to the Green Party effort.

Taylor represented GOP efforts to beat Democrats in legislative races in 2002 to clear the way for a DeLay-backed redistricting plan. He has represented DeLay's political action committee, Texans for a Republican Majority, and the Texas Association of Business, which spent corporate money that is banned in Texas races to elect legislative candidates. He was a top aide to then-Attorney General John Cornyn. And he has defended Republican candidates in political cases. As a lobbyist, his clients have included top GOP money givers such as Houston homebuilder Bob Perry, the governor's biggest campaign contributor (no relation).

Taylor also led the losing effort to unseat Hubert Vo and re-seat Talmadge Heflin in 2004. This scumbag is a Republican-exclusive hired gun. Every billable hour is spent advocating the legal causes of the GOP. And he doesn't do pro bono, either.

The Lone Star Project:

Any doubt that the Green Party of Texas is willingly being used by high profile Republicans with connections to Rick Perry can now be set aside. With an ethical cloud hanging over the Republican-Green Party petition collaboration, notorious GOP attorney Andy Taylor has signed on to represent a Green Party of Texas Co-Chair. ...

Perhaps most interesting is his relationship with Rick Perry. Andy Taylor has such a close relationship with the governor that when Perry was looking to fill vacancies on the Texas Supreme Court, he asked Taylor to interview “potential candidates and [assess] their strengths and weaknesses.” (Source: Texas Monthly, February, 2005)

One other thing: Dave Carney is a big fat-ass liar. Surprise!

Rick Perry's chief political strategist now acknowledges that the consultant who spearheaded the petition drive for the Green Party in Texas is somebody he's worked with in the past. But Dave Carney says he didn't work with him to put the Greens on the state ballot this year. ...

But Ross Ramsey at the Texas Tribune got a different reaction when he caught up with Carney at the state GOP convention this weekend in Dallas. Carney said he and (GOP consultant Tim) Mooney had worked together in the past after all, but are no longer in contact: "I couldn't pick him out of a lineup, and I haven't seen him, emailed him or talked to him on the phone in years."

Horseshit and corruption all around. Par for the course for the GOP, and the Green Party is coming due for a name change to the Watermelon Party; green on the outside, red on the inside.

Tom DeLay, Lawrence Meyers, and the Christian caliphate in Texas

Lots of things to do today -- blockwalking for the Wendy Davis campaign in my precinct again this morning, a Green statewide candidate fundraiser this evening.  Some things that I meant to blog, or blog more about...

-- Tom DeLay plans on returning to DC as a politician, but first he needs to sue the Travis County DA for corruption.  Such rich irony.

I wrote so much about El Cucaracho Grande in the early years of Brains.  That protest we had in front of the Hilton at the 2005 NRA convention was off the hook.  I even went down to Pasadena and stood in the sleet at 7 a.m. at an elementary school and pushed cards for Richard Morrison, who ran against him in 2004.  This post, one of the top ten most-clicked here -- it was search-engine optimized, as you can perhaps tell -- appears to have been the last thing I blogged on the topic (that wasn't about Dancing with the Stars).

I knew after the first appeals court white-washed his criminal record that he would skate.  The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals -- about which I have written more recently -- is nothing if not consistent.  And that court and its judges are, it should be emphasized, the actual problem in Texas with respect to the infestation of corrupt Republicans that pervades the state's body politic.  Tom DeLay -- and Greg Abbott and Rick Perry and Louie Gohmert and Sid Miller and all of the rest of the worst conservatives money can buy -- are just symptoms of that problem.

My Cuban in-laws used to say of Fidel Castro: "bicho malo nunca muerte".  A bad bug never dies.  Truer words were never spoken of either man.

-- The only Democrat on the Texas CCA, Lawrence Meyers (he was a Republican until recently), is suing Texas over the voter/photo ID law.  This news gives Texans who are not Republicans hope for a better, more just Texas.

-- But progress comes slowly, and often there is regression before progress can be resumed.

Women's clinics in Texas are closing, the burdens being created for Texas women to exercise their rights to choice are harsh and undue, and the worst is yet to come.  The next step will be the Texas Legislature passing a bill in 2015 that outlaws abortions in Texas, even in cases of rape or incest.  Governor Greg Abbott will sign it.  After that, the focus will shift to criminalizing the perpetrators of abortion.  Specifically, capital punishment.  This should not surprise anybody when it occurs.

Update: Think Progress gets it: The ultimate goal of the Texas abortion law (HB2, as it's called) is having the Supremes overturn Roe v. Wade.  As Charles reminds, elections have consequences.

And then they will go after the gays.  I expect the Legislature to try to void equal rights city ordinances like Houston's and San Antonio's with bills written next year.  We should see nothing less than legislation crafted by the people who wish for a Christian caliphate coming out of the Lege next session... that is, if they can elbow the corporate lawyers and lobbyists out of their way in the stampede up the Great Walk.  The rightest of the right will have a super-majority in Austin next year.  They can do whatever they like.  The only real fight will be between the Fundys and the Corporatists.

All of these developments suggest a bright economic future for barristers on both sides of the aisle.

Thanksgiving Week Wrangle

Here's the pre-Thanksgiving edition of the Texas Progressive Alliance's Weekly Blog Round-Up, compiled by Vince from Capitol Annex.

The Texas Cloverleaf examines the ongoing feud between TxDOT and NTTA -- this time the funding for the Hwy 161 project Dallas County may face its wrath. To toll or not to toll? That is TxDOT's question.

Hal at Half Empty wants to ask John Cornyn just one question: "When are you going to stop flip-flopping on a border wall?"

XicanoPwr reports on the noose found hanging from a scaffolding on separate occasions over at the Exxon Mobil facility in Baytown.

NYTexan at Bluebloggin discovers that some things will just never go away; Tom DeLay will launch an activist group. Two stellar citizens, DeLay and former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, have teamed up to promote the Coalition for a Conservative Majority (CCM).

Kay Granger pretends to care about the environment by sponsoring an energy expo but TXsharon at Bluedaze points to her ZERO score on environmentally friendly votes and begs to differ.

Harris County election officials adjusted the vote at 1:30 a.m. Wednesday morning, after Tuesday's final election results had been released to the media. The Democratic Party's observer, a long-time voting rights activist, was stunned to watch it happen. What does this mean for the integrity of electronic voting in all of Texas? PDiddie at Brains and Eggs has questions without answers.

John Coby at Bay Area Houston reminds us that Texas is #1 in sucking with tuition for UT up by 63% since in 2003 in The high cost of college tuition deregulation: increases again.

CouldBeTrue at South Texas Chisme complains that Texas keeps money meant for hospitals in 'state funds'. You can hear the Republicans yammering for another tax cut.

Muse wonders why Tom DeLay can't seem to stay away from Fort Bend County when he is supposed to be a Virginia resident. His new Coalition for a Conservative Majority kicks off there and has Ken Blackwell as its chair. Yeah, that Ken Blackwell; SOS in Ohio during the 2004 elections.

Mayor McSleaze at McBlogger asks What part of "interfaith" was not clear? in his post detailing the actions of Hyde Park Baptist Church.

Why can't Rudy Giuliani talk about baseball any more without pandering? Off the Kuff takes a look at his latest shenanigans.

Vince at Capitol Annex explores Texas Congressman Ron Paul's "surge" in the polls and in online contributions and wonders why his Republican supporters haven't bothered to examine his terrible record on behalf of the middle class in Texas.

WhosPlayin brings back the Texas Dim Bulb Award for Cracker-Barrell Craddick.

On The TexasBlue, David Gurney explores the total absence of integrity displayed by the religious right's endorsements of Giuliani and Thompson.

Easter Lemming watched the Pasadena mayor's race candidate forum in some amazement: How often do you hear a Texas candidate say: "He's just told me the position pays $102,000. I had no idea. If I had known that, I would have put out more yard signs." And Easter Lemming gets the candidate to reply in the comments.

Texas Toad of North Texas Liberal explains why the Chicken Pickens of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth owes Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., a sum of $1 million.

Good riddance to bad rubbish.

It seems like a dream, but it's real: Tom DeLay is quitting the race for Congress and changing his residence to Alexandria, VA in order to trigger a special election for his seat. That appears the only way to utilize arcane Texas election laws to the GOP's advantage.

"Even though I thought I could win, it was a little too risky," DeLay said.

How noble. How gallant.

Kuffner summarizes and links extensively so I don't have to. Sugar Land mayor David Wallace has all but announced for the coming special.

There'll be more to say about this later; for now, that DeLay has chosen to suddenly cut and run speaks volumes about the true character of this so-called Christian. He's been plotting this withdrawal for quite some time now, obviously, and took this action not just to try to keep his seat Republican but to have a (typically heavy) hand in anointing his successor. Apparently he had no use for those who dared challenge him in the primary less than thirty days ago.

La Cucaracha Grande is nothing if not a master manipulator. He will no doubt transition seamlessly into a lucrative career lobbying Congress on behalf of various corporate and Christian causes, losing none of his influence while quintupling his income.

And he may accomplish his goal of staunching the GOP bleeding and lessening the November losses in the House -- beginning at home with TX-22 -- but that fate now lies more with Democratic efforts that it did yesterday.

Go back to work, people.

Gammage files for Governor

As of this morning, the Texas Democratic Party will have a legitimately contested gubernatorial primary in March:

Bob Gammage today filed paperwork with the Texas Democratic Party, officially becoming a candidate for Texas Governor. Below is the text of his of his remarks.

“Good morning. Thank you all for coming. In the weeks to come we will have a formal announcement that addresses specific issues and goals. Today I will just make a brief statement about why I am running.

“This campaign is about reform. It is about opening state policy-making to public scrutiny. It is about restoring the public trust.

“When I first entered public life as a newly minted freshman member of the Texas House some years ago, the people of Texas faced a crisis of political corruption. Our lawmaking process and our entire state government were dominated by an authoritarian system, controlled by lobbyists, special interests and power elites who ran rampant in our halls of government, and who ran roughshod over the public interest. I soon became a proud member of the Dirty 30 - a bipartisan group of 19 Democrats and 11 Republicans in the Texas House - who stood up to the power brokers and, with the help of an outraged citizenry, beat that corrupt political machine.

“Today, unfortunately, our state government has come full circle. Once again we desperately need the citizens of Texas to take charge of their state government.

“Today there is a corrupt political machine which stretches from Washington, D.C. all the way to Austin. Tom DeLay and his cronies are at one end, and Rick Perry and his pals are at the other. The money flows both ways. It has corrupted our politics, corrupted our government and, more importantly, corrupted public policy and betrayed the public trust.

“Public office is a public trust. I am running against today's corrupt political machine. I am standing up for reform. I am determined to do everything in my power to restore the public trust and the integrity of the political system. Sometimes good citizenship requires you to put your personal interests aside and just do what's right.

“In an ideal world, the governor of Texas should denounce the shenanigans of Tom DeLay and his twisted, unethical schemes. But Rick Perry is too weak and too dependent on the wealthy, powerful and ruthless special interests that both he and DeLay work for.

“The sad truth is that bad values and weak character at the top produce bad policies for the rest of us. We've seen it time and again -- a leadership that preaches character and commonly held values while practicing neither. On virtually every important issue - funding our public schools, the tax burden on middle-income families, health care for our children, preserving our environment, funding for our public colleges and universities, and how we choose our elected officials -- the men at the top do not fight for the common good, but for the privileged power elite who bankroll their campaigns and keep their machine rolling.

Let's hope for the sake of ridding ourselves of Rick Perry that this doesn't turn into an expensive knockdown dragout that weakens our eventual nominee. Gammage sounds capable of taking the fight to the GOP, and he offers a clear choice between old guard and New Mainstream.

To be clear: if Gammage wins the primary in March I'll gladly support him.

But I'll support my former Congressman and friend Chris Bell in the primary, and I'm still waiting for Bob -- or anyone else -- to answer some questions for me.

Update (12/16) : Yesterday morning, I e-mailed the Gammage campaign the questions I asked in the blog post linked immediately above, and last night I attended the Harris County Democratic Party holiday party, where Bob Gammage coincidentally was a late arrivee. As I made my way over to introduce myself, his associate John Effinger intercepted me and -- being familiar with my questions -- brushed them aside with a curt "There's nothing there".

Well John, in the holiday spirit I chose not to make our intial meeting confrontational, but that answer just won't wash.

I'll keep asking them, and it might be wise if you suggest that Bob consider answering them straight.

Democracy Fest 2005, Austin

Much has been said, here and elsewhere, about this seminal progressive event taking place in Keep-It-Weird this weekend. I have been granted media credentials (boy, doesn't that make me sound like hot shit, eh?) and will liveblog some events as wireless access allows and others after the fact. The Bloggers Caucus opens the weekend and features appearances by the following candidates and their representatives:

Barbara Ann Radnofsky, a Houston attorney and Democratic candidate for the United States Senate seat now held by Kay Bailey Hutchison, who will be represented by her campaign blogger Seth Davidson. Radnofsky has posted recently at Burnt Orange Report and Off the Kuff.com and will also be at our blogger's breakfast on Sunday with Markos and Jerome.

Chris Bell, exploring a run for Governor of Texas, will be represented by operations manager and blogger Tim McCann. Bell has participated in conference calls with the Lone Star blogosphere -- most recently this week -- and will also be on the Saturday panel called "The DeLay Factor" with Richard Morrison, whose campaign against the Bugman last fall rocked the establishment, and Lou Dubose, whose book "The Hammer: Tom DeLay, God, Money, and the Rise of the Republican Congress" is a fine primer for DeLay watchers.

David Van Os, candidate for Texas Attorney General, will appear at the caucus in person accompanied by Dave Collins, chair of his steering committee. I'm privileged to know Van Os from my earliest days as an activist in connecting to him through the Progressive Populist Caucus of the Texas Democratic Party. Van Os is hosting a campaign reception immediately following the Bloggers' Caucus Friday evening from 6:00 P.M. - 8:00 P.M. at Nuevo Leon Restaurant, 1501 E. 6th.

John Courage, who is hoping to replace Lamar Smith (R-San Antonio) as Sixth Street's Representative in Congress (CD 21), will be present, as will Andy Brown, an Austin attorney who has announced for HD 48 against Todd Baxter, and also Mark Strama, the Democratic incumbent in a swing district, HD 50. One of the most critical aspects of our caucus will be discussing how we can help secure re-election for strong progressives like Strama who have stayed true to their base while representing close districts.

Judge Charlie Baird was formerly on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and was one of the last Democratic judges elected to statewide office. He is a candidate for the 299th Judicial District Court in Travis County and will be represented at the caucus by Glen Maxey, former member of the Texas House, Democracy for Texas political director and Baird's campaign manager. Judge Baird wants to generate public discussion, utilizing the Lone Star blogosphere, of the possibility of reforming judicial elections in Texas.

And LGRL of Texas will be represented at the Caucus in connection with the upcoming vote on the proposed Marriage Amendment to the state Constitution. LGRL is very interested in working with us Texas blogmeisters to get the word out about the discrimination proposed by the Amendment and its unintended consequences if enacted.

There's more, a whole hell of a lot more, but I'm going to try to dole it out in bite-size pieces over the weekend.

Please stay tuned ...

"The DeLay Effect"

That's what Republicans are calling it:

After enlarging their majority in the past two elections, House Republicans have begun to fear that public attention to members' travel and relations with lobbyists will make ethics a potent issue that could cost the party seats in next year's midterm races.

In what Republican strategists call "the DeLay effect," questions plaguing House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) are starting to hurt his fellow party members, who are facing news coverage of their own trips and use of relatives on their campaign payrolls. Liberal interest groups have begun running advertising in districts where Republicans may be in trouble, trying to tie the incumbents to their leaders' troubles.

The article names specific Republicans in danger -- Bob Ney of Ohio, Richard Pombo of California, Tom Feeney of Florida, and Charles Taylor of North Carolina and quotes GOP officials as saying they will likely lose seats in the House in the midterm elections.

Pair that with this news about Bush's latest polling (also from the WaPo via the Chronic):

A clear majority of Americans say President Bush is ignoring the public's concerns and instead has become distracted by issues that most people say they care little about, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

The survey found that 58 percent of those interviewed said Bush is mainly concentrating in his second term on problems and partisan squabbles that these respondents said were unimportant to them ...

Ominously for Bush and the Republicans, a strong majority of self-described political independents — 68 percent — say they disagreed with the president's priorities.

That suggests Bush's mixed record in the second term on issues the public views as critical, particularly on Iraq and the economy, may be as much a liability for GOP candidates in next year's midterm election as his performance in his first term was an asset to Republican congressional hopefuls last year and in 2002.

Currently, 52 percent of the public disapproves of the job Bush is doing as president.

This is the first time in his presidency that more than half of the public has expressed negative views of the president's performance.

It appears the tide may be turning. Trend or mirage?

DeLay is gearing up for 2006

but it's how he's doing it that's creating the interesting questions -- even from his supporters.

Charles, via Jesse, has the skinny. "Inside baseball" warning: it'll take a while to read and click through all of the links and comments, but I encourage you do so if you're interested in getting to the mindset not only of DeLay and his campaign staff but Republicans nationally (the RCCC) and locally (two local conservative bloggers, one of whom claims to be close to the ground in Sugar Land).

Especially revealing are the on-the-scene viewpoints of perennial DeLay opponent Michael Fjetland at his blog. No sour grapes on his part; just intriguing observations.

It's just too early to tell what this all means. But I'm certainly enjoying watching it.

Corruption as art

Salon peels back the layers of Tom DeLay's charitable organizations, political action commitees, and the cronies and hacks and lickspittles that bind them all together. And one question (at least for me) remains: what's DeLay's golf handicap?

At one time in our recent history, the mere appearance of impropriety was enough to trigger the resignation of Congressional leaders -- of both parties.

Not so with DeLay. Have you ever seen a cockroach dig in his heels and grimace?

Me neither. I mean, usually they just scuttle away.