Tuesday, June 29, 2010
You knew you were at the TDP convention when...
You get tagged in photos on Facebook and, in half of them, you look drunk (but weren't) and had your mouth open.
The Democrats with Disabilities Caucus was upstairs.
Boyd Ritchie's hair was so snowy white you know he had to have used some of that rinse old ladies use.
You sweated through your two best suits/dresses.
Some Republican morons were told to move a pickup truck parked at an event for press attention and the funniest thing about that is it was the most attention they got.
Faux coyote meat was served in a mobile home that was later given to charity.
Two political operatives who worked for Farouk Shami had to help some poor lady pick up her weight in coroplast Bill White signs off the ground after she dropped them and they went everywhere.
There were vegetarian sandwiches in the pressroom.
The TDP media advisory on convention parties included almost as many parties as caucuses.
The concession stands at the convention center ran out of everything except blue Gatorade and Frito pie, and you paid $9 for said combo and had immediate regrets.
Everywhere you turned, there was red-business-suited Molly Beth Malcolm (I swear to god, the only place I didn't run into her was in the bathroom, and I checked under the stall doors to make sure all 6' 5" of her wasn't hiding in there to tell me about how Bill White helped pay for conventions when he was party chair, or how you get a two-fer with Boyd and Betty Richie).
Police had to escort some nutjob from the Credentials Committee who was trying to unseat the entire Brazoria County delegation because they didn't pass some resolution he wanted -- and he calls YOU a tool of the party establishment.
Two prostitutes walked into the blogger's caucus and it was totally no big deal.
People laughed about Dick Cheney's heart attack openly and without reservation.
Your bags and purses were searched -- not to make sure you didn't have weapons, but to make sure you didn't bring in a cup of coffee or bottle of water you didn't pay $7 for at a concession stand.
You have that awkward moment where you have to ask one of the Castro brothers: "now which one are you?" (Note: San Antonio mayor Julian is to be on Stephen Colbert's Report tonight -- scroll halfway down. Or maybe it was last night.)
A candidate for justice of the peace from Coryelle County (or some damned place) goes up to everyone in a suit, hands them homemade, hand-lettered campaign literature and asks for a check.
Susan Criss tells you to stand still, snaps your photo unexpectedly, and posts it on Facebook.
The escalator briefly breaks down, someone asks you why, and you tell them it was the scooter someone tried to ride up it, and a crowd of people instantly believes you, and wants to make sure everyone is okay and someone says the legislature should mandate warning signs to prevent that before you have time to say you were joking.
David Van Os was running for something or nominating someone else to run for something, and no one involved in that equation is successful.
There were so many iPhones in one area it ground Corpus Christi's 3G network to a halt so badly you could not email the person standing next to you.
You walk up to a group of people having a conversation and within a minute realize it is two legislators and two transgendered individuals talking about the intricacies of gender reassignment surgery and how it plays into the voter ID debate -- and then stick around because it is one of the better public policy discussions you've heard all day -- and everyone laughs like hell when one of the non-legislators talks about asking John Carona if he wants to debate which bathroom the individual should use.
You walk into a bathroom, someone you don't know recognizes you, and before you have a chance to pee, they want you to blog about something, and you have no recognition of who they are except that you saw them at the previous two conventions.
As someone who is not Carl Whitmarsh walks by, people whisper and ask, "so is THAT Carl Whitmarsh?"
You finally meet Carl Whitmarsh, and mention it to someone in passing and everyone grows more interested than if you were talking about the latest Hollywood scandal -- and you are asked to describe Carl Whitmarsh down to hair color and what he is wearing because no one around you has met him before.
You witness someone who clearly has no business being at a TDP convention ask Leticia Van De Putte where the bathrooms are without realizing who she is. You consider calling security.
You hear Leticia Van De Putte introduce herself on nine separate and distinct occasions as the highest ranking Democrat in Texas.
There are people in your delegation who chastise you for leaving the floor because there might be important things to vote on coming up. Which may have been proper in the days before text messaging.
3 people running for Temporary Secretary of an unnamed ethnic issue caucus all talk about publishing a newsletter to keep members better informed, and a point of order is raised to ask the president to explain to the hapless candidates exactly what a temporary secretary is.
A CHI was raffled off at the meeting of the only caucus to have endorsed Farouk Shami.
Someone in your SD caucus runs for the Rules Committee on a platform of "I think it is important to follow the rules." And when he loses 138 to 15, everyone feels so bad for him he is named Alternate to the Rules Committee in case the winner doesn't show up.
By the time the last of the statewide candidates speak, there is barely a quorum left to conduct business.
There is a choir of LaRouchites annoying everyone, and the LaRouchites get more mainstream media coverage than most candidates.
A candidate tells the Stonewall Democrats about an organization naming her an "Honorary Lesbian," and she gets massive applause, although you strongly suspect some people in the caucus want this proof in writing
just to make sure.
The most repeated comment is, "thank god there isn't as much confusion as there was in 2008," in nearly every caucus.
Someone refers to the LaKesha Rogers "booth" as the Starship Kesha and you laugh so hard you almost piss yourself.
You start wondering if the LaRouchites really are different from a doomsday cult.
One lone old guy is protesting killing babies outside the convention center, and you really have to resist the urge to go out and try to convert him just for fun.
You get buttons with sayings like, "Do I Look Like An Illegal," and "I like pro-choice girls" on them -- for FREE.
Someone mentions Fred Head's bus and you start feeling nauseated, but you aren't sure if it is the bus, the booze, or the $9 Frito pie that is making you sick.
You are at a bar and someone looks at your Obama shirt, uses the N-word, and you realize there is the real potential that person might not actually leave the bar alive whereas, at home, if you wore an Obama shirt into a bar YOU might be the one who doesn't come out alive.
The Democrats with Disabilities Caucus was upstairs.
Boyd Ritchie's hair was so snowy white you know he had to have used some of that rinse old ladies use.
You sweated through your two best suits/dresses.
Some Republican morons were told to move a pickup truck parked at an event for press attention and the funniest thing about that is it was the most attention they got.
Faux coyote meat was served in a mobile home that was later given to charity.
Two political operatives who worked for Farouk Shami had to help some poor lady pick up her weight in coroplast Bill White signs off the ground after she dropped them and they went everywhere.
There were vegetarian sandwiches in the pressroom.
The TDP media advisory on convention parties included almost as many parties as caucuses.
The concession stands at the convention center ran out of everything except blue Gatorade and Frito pie, and you paid $9 for said combo and had immediate regrets.
Everywhere you turned, there was red-business-suited Molly Beth Malcolm (I swear to god, the only place I didn't run into her was in the bathroom, and I checked under the stall doors to make sure all 6' 5" of her wasn't hiding in there to tell me about how Bill White helped pay for conventions when he was party chair, or how you get a two-fer with Boyd and Betty Richie).
Police had to escort some nutjob from the Credentials Committee who was trying to unseat the entire Brazoria County delegation because they didn't pass some resolution he wanted -- and he calls YOU a tool of the party establishment.
Two prostitutes walked into the blogger's caucus and it was totally no big deal.
People laughed about Dick Cheney's heart attack openly and without reservation.
Your bags and purses were searched -- not to make sure you didn't have weapons, but to make sure you didn't bring in a cup of coffee or bottle of water you didn't pay $7 for at a concession stand.
You have that awkward moment where you have to ask one of the Castro brothers: "now which one are you?" (Note: San Antonio mayor Julian is to be on Stephen Colbert's Report tonight -- scroll halfway down. Or maybe it was last night.)
A candidate for justice of the peace from Coryelle County (or some damned place) goes up to everyone in a suit, hands them homemade, hand-lettered campaign literature and asks for a check.
Susan Criss tells you to stand still, snaps your photo unexpectedly, and posts it on Facebook.
The escalator briefly breaks down, someone asks you why, and you tell them it was the scooter someone tried to ride up it, and a crowd of people instantly believes you, and wants to make sure everyone is okay and someone says the legislature should mandate warning signs to prevent that before you have time to say you were joking.
David Van Os was running for something or nominating someone else to run for something, and no one involved in that equation is successful.
There were so many iPhones in one area it ground Corpus Christi's 3G network to a halt so badly you could not email the person standing next to you.
You walk up to a group of people having a conversation and within a minute realize it is two legislators and two transgendered individuals talking about the intricacies of gender reassignment surgery and how it plays into the voter ID debate -- and then stick around because it is one of the better public policy discussions you've heard all day -- and everyone laughs like hell when one of the non-legislators talks about asking John Carona if he wants to debate which bathroom the individual should use.
You walk into a bathroom, someone you don't know recognizes you, and before you have a chance to pee, they want you to blog about something, and you have no recognition of who they are except that you saw them at the previous two conventions.
As someone who is not Carl Whitmarsh walks by, people whisper and ask, "so is THAT Carl Whitmarsh?"
You finally meet Carl Whitmarsh, and mention it to someone in passing and everyone grows more interested than if you were talking about the latest Hollywood scandal -- and you are asked to describe Carl Whitmarsh down to hair color and what he is wearing because no one around you has met him before.
You witness someone who clearly has no business being at a TDP convention ask Leticia Van De Putte where the bathrooms are without realizing who she is. You consider calling security.
You hear Leticia Van De Putte introduce herself on nine separate and distinct occasions as the highest ranking Democrat in Texas.
There are people in your delegation who chastise you for leaving the floor because there might be important things to vote on coming up. Which may have been proper in the days before text messaging.
3 people running for Temporary Secretary of an unnamed ethnic issue caucus all talk about publishing a newsletter to keep members better informed, and a point of order is raised to ask the president to explain to the hapless candidates exactly what a temporary secretary is.
A CHI was raffled off at the meeting of the only caucus to have endorsed Farouk Shami.
Someone in your SD caucus runs for the Rules Committee on a platform of "I think it is important to follow the rules." And when he loses 138 to 15, everyone feels so bad for him he is named Alternate to the Rules Committee in case the winner doesn't show up.
By the time the last of the statewide candidates speak, there is barely a quorum left to conduct business.
There is a choir of LaRouchites annoying everyone, and the LaRouchites get more mainstream media coverage than most candidates.
A candidate tells the Stonewall Democrats about an organization naming her an "Honorary Lesbian," and she gets massive applause, although you strongly suspect some people in the caucus want this proof in writing
just to make sure.
The most repeated comment is, "thank god there isn't as much confusion as there was in 2008," in nearly every caucus.
Someone refers to the LaKesha Rogers "booth" as the Starship Kesha and you laugh so hard you almost piss yourself.
You start wondering if the LaRouchites really are different from a doomsday cult.
One lone old guy is protesting killing babies outside the convention center, and you really have to resist the urge to go out and try to convert him just for fun.
You get buttons with sayings like, "Do I Look Like An Illegal," and "I like pro-choice girls" on them -- for FREE.
Someone mentions Fred Head's bus and you start feeling nauseated, but you aren't sure if it is the bus, the booze, or the $9 Frito pie that is making you sick.
You are at a bar and someone looks at your Obama shirt, uses the N-word, and you realize there is the real potential that person might not actually leave the bar alive whereas, at home, if you wore an Obama shirt into a bar YOU might be the one who doesn't come out alive.
Greens appeal to Texas Supremes
All lawyered up with no place (yet) to go, the Greens plead for help from the highest (corporate) court in the state. Bold emphasis is not mine but Gary Scharrer's ...
The Green Party is asking the Texas Supreme Court to nullify a district court ruling prohibiting the party from certifying candidates for the November election ballot because of an "unauthorized illegal contribution."
A Republican front group - with help from Texas Republicans - raised the money to help the Green Party get enough signatures to make the ballot. But the money came from a corporation and anonymous donors, which violates Texas election code, claim Texas Democrats, who say Gov. Rick Perry's GOP friends want a Green Party gubernatorial candidate on the ballot to siphon votes from Democrat Bill White.
The court must rule by Friday, which is the deadline for parties to certify their candidates.
"This case matters because voters should have an alternative to entrenched career politicians. Despite the signatures of over 90,000 Texans, entrenched career politicians and their lawyers want to deny voters the right to choose in November," said David Rogers, one of the Green Party lawyers.
A trial has been scheduled for January.
"However the Texas Supreme Court rules, we're going to continue with this lawsuit, and we're going to get to the bottom of what happened," said Chad Dunn, a lawyer for the Texas Democratic Party.
This appeal could work out well for the Greens, since the SCOTX is 100% GOP, they favor defendants 86% of the time, and the Citizens United case decided in the SCOTUS last month in favor of corporate campaign contributions could be cited as precedent. We shall see ...
Update: From Jason Embry, public comments from two attorneys associated with each side ...
Election lawyer Buck Wood, who often helps Democratic candidates, said Monday that the Green Party leaders who certify the ballot could be susceptible to criminal charges if the Supreme Court agrees with (state district judge John) Dietz that the money that got the Greens onto the ballot was an illegal corporate contribution. Or, more to the point, if they do not disagree with Dietz.
They would become vulnerable if they followed through with their plan to certify the candidates on the ballot, Wood said. The key is that they now know that it was a corporate contribution that came in from Take Initiative America, which paid for the petition drive that appeared to make the Greens eligible for the ballot.
“They’ve been told it’s illegal. They’ve got knowledge now,” Wood said. “If I were their lawyer, I’d say, ‘You go ahead and certify those names and hopefully the Travis County district attorney’s office won’t take an interest in you.’”
David Rogers, a lawyer for the Green Party, said, “With all due respect to Mr. Wood, who is a very fine election law attorney, I believe he is misreading the law in an attempt to gain an electoral advantage for the Democratic Party. He is a consultant for the Democrats in this matter, and all his comments regarding the law in this case need to be considered with that in mind. Texas allows corporate contributions for ‘normal operating expenses’ of a political party. If getting on the ballot isn’t a ‘normal’ expense of a political party, what is?”
Monday, June 28, 2010
My convention experience
I'll grade it a B minus. Here are some thoughts I jotted as the weekend went on ...
-- We arrived Friday at the Omni Bayfront at lunchtime in 3 hours and change. Google Maps had left me with the distinct impression that it was a four-hour drive from Houston. Garmin had us getting there an hour early; which I did not believe until we were nearly there. That was a nice surprise.
-- We ate lunch at a table next to David Leibowitz, whom I was meeting for the first time. Afterwards I shuttled over to the convention hall and got my two credentials but missed the one caucus I thought I could make, "Democrats Against the Death Penalty". I heard that it was as good as I thought it would be. Update: The Texas Moratorium Network has an excellent post about the caucus, including video of death row survivor Juan Melendez and a photo slideshow of convention activities.
I had short and sweet visits with Garnet Coleman at the lobby elevators and Richard Raymond at the convention hall, Dinah Weems (wife of Jeff) at his booth, BAR and Katie Floyd as I picked up my creds, and Borris Miles at my senate district caucus.
-- Speaking of that, the SD-17 caucus was contentious; it was a face-off between Harris county and the others (Brazoria, Fort Bend, Galveston, Jefferson). The others mostly got their people elected while the Harris county contingent got mostly shut out. There needs to be some intra-party fence mending by my two SDEC committee members Alan Blakley and Carol Wright. We ran right up to and slightly past the 5:00 deadline so I barely had time to change my shirt and catch the shuttle back to the American Bank Center for the opening session at 6 pm.
This is my only serious down-rating for the weekend (though you may remember that I also complained about the media accommodations) : the shuttle buses running between the convention hotels and the convention center weren't a good situation. I boarded the bus at 5:45 but didn't arrive at the ABC until 6:20. It's about six blocks between the Omni Bayfront and the ABC, but the bus runs in the opposite direction and makes two stops. I walked the rest of the time, yes in the blazing humid heat. It was worth the sweating.
This was also, as you might imagine, a tremendous burden on the not-quite-so-ambulatory delegates; the long queues, the slow boarding, and the climate conditions made it tough on everyone but especially those with canes and walkers, in wheelchairs and scooters, and on oxygen. It pointed out to me that Corpus wasn't well-equipped to handle a convention of our size, even as downsized as we were this year.
-- The highlight of the evening session was, of course, Bill White using Rick Perry as a pinata. The convention ran so smoothly that he got onstage 45 minutes early, and we were done before 7:30. So we went to dinner at Blackbeard's (the one on the beach) at 8:30 with Tom and Sylvia Gederberg -- the shrimp and oysters were scrumptious -- and then the Blogger's Caucus around 10:30 until almost 1 am.
-- I slept a little late and dawdled around getting back for the Saturday session which started at 11 am, and when I finally got there at 12:30 pm after the magnificent lunch buffet at the Omni, I had missed Linda Chavez-Thompson's speech and the chair's election. The vote totals were announced a few minutes after I sat down in the SD-17 section, with Boyd Richie of course elected to another term. Then the remaining statewides had their turn on stage: Barbara Radnofsky, Jeff Weems, and Hector Uribe. Senfronia Thompson spoke for Hank Gilbert, who was lost his mother the day before the convention opened and wasn't able to attend. There were the various Democratic legislative delegations appearing as a group onstage: the statehouse reps, the state senators, and the Congressional delegation. Back to business after that and the previously reported Texas Two-Step unpleasantries. Then the judicials spoke: Jim Sharp, Bill Moody, Blake Bailey, and Keith Hampton. Having ground enough sausage for one day, I blew out around 4 pm as the resolution, platform, and other committees were beginning to report.
-- Saturday dinner was at Landry's by the bay -- a magnificent meal as always from one of Tilman's places -- and after ordering dessert we joined Stan and Julie Merriman, Amy Manuel, JR Behrman, the Gederbergs and David and Rachel Van Os, who had come in about an hour behind us. The conversation was lively.
-- Sunday we slept a little late and had breakfast at 10:30, visiting with Bob Slagle (he's fit as a fiddle, by the way, unlike two years ago) and Gene Green and Behrman again. Then it was off to the USS Lexington for a couple of hours touring the magnificent old aircraft carrier, then home via Port Aransas and Port Lavaca.
A great meeting of Democratic minds, united for a common purpose, in a relaxing coastal setting. Hard to beat this past weekend.
-- We arrived Friday at the Omni Bayfront at lunchtime in 3 hours and change. Google Maps had left me with the distinct impression that it was a four-hour drive from Houston. Garmin had us getting there an hour early; which I did not believe until we were nearly there. That was a nice surprise.
-- We ate lunch at a table next to David Leibowitz, whom I was meeting for the first time. Afterwards I shuttled over to the convention hall and got my two credentials but missed the one caucus I thought I could make, "Democrats Against the Death Penalty". I heard that it was as good as I thought it would be. Update: The Texas Moratorium Network has an excellent post about the caucus, including video of death row survivor Juan Melendez and a photo slideshow of convention activities.
I had short and sweet visits with Garnet Coleman at the lobby elevators and Richard Raymond at the convention hall, Dinah Weems (wife of Jeff) at his booth, BAR and Katie Floyd as I picked up my creds, and Borris Miles at my senate district caucus.
-- Speaking of that, the SD-17 caucus was contentious; it was a face-off between Harris county and the others (Brazoria, Fort Bend, Galveston, Jefferson). The others mostly got their people elected while the Harris county contingent got mostly shut out. There needs to be some intra-party fence mending by my two SDEC committee members Alan Blakley and Carol Wright. We ran right up to and slightly past the 5:00 deadline so I barely had time to change my shirt and catch the shuttle back to the American Bank Center for the opening session at 6 pm.
This is my only serious down-rating for the weekend (though you may remember that I also complained about the media accommodations) : the shuttle buses running between the convention hotels and the convention center weren't a good situation. I boarded the bus at 5:45 but didn't arrive at the ABC until 6:20. It's about six blocks between the Omni Bayfront and the ABC, but the bus runs in the opposite direction and makes two stops. I walked the rest of the time, yes in the blazing humid heat. It was worth the sweating.
This was also, as you might imagine, a tremendous burden on the not-quite-so-ambulatory delegates; the long queues, the slow boarding, and the climate conditions made it tough on everyone but especially those with canes and walkers, in wheelchairs and scooters, and on oxygen. It pointed out to me that Corpus wasn't well-equipped to handle a convention of our size, even as downsized as we were this year.
-- The highlight of the evening session was, of course, Bill White using Rick Perry as a pinata. The convention ran so smoothly that he got onstage 45 minutes early, and we were done before 7:30. So we went to dinner at Blackbeard's (the one on the beach) at 8:30 with Tom and Sylvia Gederberg -- the shrimp and oysters were scrumptious -- and then the Blogger's Caucus around 10:30 until almost 1 am.
-- I slept a little late and dawdled around getting back for the Saturday session which started at 11 am, and when I finally got there at 12:30 pm after the magnificent lunch buffet at the Omni, I had missed Linda Chavez-Thompson's speech and the chair's election. The vote totals were announced a few minutes after I sat down in the SD-17 section, with Boyd Richie of course elected to another term. Then the remaining statewides had their turn on stage: Barbara Radnofsky, Jeff Weems, and Hector Uribe. Senfronia Thompson spoke for Hank Gilbert, who was lost his mother the day before the convention opened and wasn't able to attend. There were the various Democratic legislative delegations appearing as a group onstage: the statehouse reps, the state senators, and the Congressional delegation. Back to business after that and the previously reported Texas Two-Step unpleasantries. Then the judicials spoke: Jim Sharp, Bill Moody, Blake Bailey, and Keith Hampton. Having ground enough sausage for one day, I blew out around 4 pm as the resolution, platform, and other committees were beginning to report.
-- Saturday dinner was at Landry's by the bay -- a magnificent meal as always from one of Tilman's places -- and after ordering dessert we joined Stan and Julie Merriman, Amy Manuel, JR Behrman, the Gederbergs and David and Rachel Van Os, who had come in about an hour behind us. The conversation was lively.
-- Sunday we slept a little late and had breakfast at 10:30, visiting with Bob Slagle (he's fit as a fiddle, by the way, unlike two years ago) and Gene Green and Behrman again. Then it was off to the USS Lexington for a couple of hours touring the magnificent old aircraft carrier, then home via Port Aransas and Port Lavaca.
A great meeting of Democratic minds, united for a common purpose, in a relaxing coastal setting. Hard to beat this past weekend.
The post-convention Wrangle
The Texas Progressive Alliance is still a little sunburned and hung over from Corpus Christi's state convention this past weekend, but is fired up and ready to go with its post-convention blog roundup.
Neil at Texas Liberal offered up four reasons Bill White will beat Rick Perry and, in so doing, become the next governor of Texas.
John at Bay Area Houston says: Before you run for Chair of the Texas Democratic Party, get a clue.
As people across the nation react to GASLAND now showing on HBO, TXsharon @ Bluedaze: DRILLING REFORM FOR TEXAS reminds us that the FRAC Act, Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals Act of 2009, has no Texas co-sponsor.
Musings has a bloggers roundup from the convention.
It's redistricting season again, and Off the Kuff comments on a report from a public hearing on redistricting in San Antonio.
CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme had a good time at the convention. Corpus Christi was beautiful and the facilities for the convention were great -- except for the lack of food. Too bad the local paper and their political reporter suck.
Over at TexasKaos, Libby Shaw asks what will the GOP do about the energy legislation? Check out Texas GOP and its Blind Obedience to BP.
WhosPlayin reports that the city of Farmers Branch would like to add 200 feet to the height of its municipal landfill, which is actually located in America's 10th fastest growing city --Lewisville, Texas.
Neil at Texas Liberal offered up four reasons Bill White will beat Rick Perry and, in so doing, become the next governor of Texas.
John at Bay Area Houston says: Before you run for Chair of the Texas Democratic Party, get a clue.
As people across the nation react to GASLAND now showing on HBO, TXsharon @ Bluedaze: DRILLING REFORM FOR TEXAS reminds us that the FRAC Act, Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals Act of 2009, has no Texas co-sponsor.
Musings has a bloggers roundup from the convention.
It's redistricting season again, and Off the Kuff comments on a report from a public hearing on redistricting in San Antonio.
CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme had a good time at the convention. Corpus Christi was beautiful and the facilities for the convention were great -- except for the lack of food. Too bad the local paper and their political reporter suck.
Over at TexasKaos, Libby Shaw asks what will the GOP do about the energy legislation? Check out Texas GOP and its Blind Obedience to BP.
WhosPlayin reports that the city of Farmers Branch would like to add 200 feet to the height of its municipal landfill, which is actually located in America's 10th fastest growing city --Lewisville, Texas.
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