"Governor" Steve Ogden: 'politics is bad'

Peggy Fikac from Texas on the Potomac:

The Bryan-College Station Eagle spotlighted a speech by state Sen. Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, mentioning the effect of political ambition on the legislative session:

“He said Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst was ineffective because he ‘made it clear early that he wanted to be the United States senator from Texas rather than lieutenant governor.’

“‘If you’re elected to a job you don’t really want, and you’re trying to use that job for something else,’ Ogden said, ‘you’re pretty miserable while you’re in that job and everybody else around you is pretty miserable.’”

When I caught up with Ogden last week, he said the comments about Dewhurst were part of a bigger point he was making about politics in the legislative session (the newspaper also reported other remarks in that vein) and added, “I’m sorry I said it. I’ve endorsed him” for U.S. Senate. Ogden said he didn’t find the endorsement inconsistent, saying, that Dewhurst “is the most qualified candidate in the race and knows more about finances and health care reform than anybody else.”

Steve Ogden is one of three state senators mentioned in this Texas Tribune straw poll of political insiders who would likely be selected governor and/or lieutenant governor if Rick Perry is elected president and David Dewhurst is elected US senator. I say 'selected', because it's the Texas Senate -- 31 men and women, two-thirds of whom are Republicans -- who do the 'electing'.

Hand a bunch of insiders a list of 31 senators and ask what's going to happen next, and you turn them into outsiders. The most insider deals of all happen when legislators meet amongst themselves to choose their leaders. It happens in the House every session. In the Senate, it only happens when the lieutenant governor leaves in mid-term. With David Dewhurst running for U.S. Senate, the game is afoot; if he wins in 2012, the Senate will pick his replacement. If Rick Perry leaves the governor's office, the lieutenant governor — Dewhurst or otherwise — would get his job.

That's the setup. We asked the insiders to forecast what might happen if the senators were to meet to choose new high officials. Who would win? Would the Democrats have any say in a Republican Senate? While we were at it, we asked the insiders which senators won't return in 2013, either because of retirement, defeat or the search for another office.

The results? No clear winners. If senators were picking a new lieutenant governor, the insider money is on Kevin Eltife of Tyler, with 36 percent, Robert Duncan of Lubbock, 26 percent, and Steve Ogden of Bryan, 18 percent. Only one other senator — Tommy Williams of The Woodlands — broke 5 percent. No Democrats made the list.

Picking a governor? Duncan led, with 26 percent, followed closely by Ogden, at 24 percent. Eltife came in at 11 percent, followed by John Carona, R-Dallas, at 9 percent. Nobody else crossed the five percent line.

Who's Steve Ogden, you're still wondering? He's the fellow who sneered at Texans when they came before his committee last June to protest the legislature's budget cuts to Texas education.

After hearing several witnesses urge lawmakers to use the reserve Ogden pointed his finger and told them to forget it.

"Hope is not a plan," Ogden said shortly before the bill passed the committee.

[...]

Ogden also said he doesn't believe what he called threats of "draconian" cuts to local schools.

"We're not cutting school budgets," Ogden said. "We're just not giving them as much money as they think they are entitled to."

To hear him tell it, though, Steve Ogden stands above the fray, making the difficult and important decisions about the future of Texas without regard to politics or ambition.

Do you believe that?

RIP Ester King and Jon Axford

The progressive movement in Houston lost two of its warriors last week.

"From the '60s to 2011, there was barely a progressive movement that took place that did have the involvement and leadership of Ester King," said longtime friend and fellow Houston activist Omowale Luthuli-Allen. "I'm going to miss his intellectual brilliance, his unceasing devotion to peace and freedom and I'm going to miss the steadfastness that he had to encourage the community to have a backbone."

[...]

Of the many writings King left behind is this explanation about his initial interest in social justice: "There was one incident that really caught my attention, the Emmett Till lynching in Money, Mississippi in 1955. He was my age, on vacation with relatives in a rural farming town just like Magnolia Springs. As I looked at that infamous picture of his coffin-enclosed corpse (almost recognizable as human) in Jet magazine, I learned to my utter horror that lynching was not reserved for adults."

[...]

King supported causes ranging from environmental justice as well as the rights of workers, women, tenants, children and immigrants. He was involved in the Free South Africa movement, anti-death penalty coalitions and efforts to address police use of deadly force.

"He was consistent. Some people were involved when they were young, but he stayed on the front lines and he helped train a whole new generation of organizers and activists in the community," said Kofi Taharka, national chairman of the National Black United Front. "There are a lot of younger people, like myself, that consider him a mentor and adviser. He dedicated his life to the liberation of African- American people and social justice causes for all people."

At the Harris County Green Party's Labor Day function Saturday evening, the lives and legacies of King and Jon Axford were celebrated.

Here's what Jon had to say about himself on his Facebook page: "I post pictures on Indy Media, I try to help promote peace in the world, etc." Indeed Jon contributed much to many peace and justice campaigns over the years. From anti-war protests to Veterans for Peace to campaigns against Halliburton, Jon was always there to help.

One of his enduring contributions is the hundreds of photo essays he took and posted here on the Houston Indymedia site.

Even as progressives in Houston and Harris County grow the movement, it hurts to lose the history and the spirit these two men represent.

May they rest in peace.

My Hope for Labor Day 2011

From my friend David Van Os.

This weekend a multitude of elected and would-be political officeholders are appearing at Labor Day picnics. Hoping to obtain labor endorsements for their next candidacies, they ascend the speaker’s platforms and loudly swear their undying loyalty to the issues of working families.

My great hope for this Labor Day 2011 is that working people will finally tell the politicians:

“We are tired of Labor Day speeches without action. Talking big at a Labor Day picnic where it is safe and convenient is meaningless crap. Tell the truth out there in the world about the class war that the gilded aristocracy of corporate executives and bankers is waging against the people. Tell the truth out there with passion and anger. Fight for the truth. Use your votes in the assemblies of government to defend the people against the powerful. Stop compromising with evil. Stand up and fight for us. Fight to tax the rich, stop the wars, defend workers and unions, restore the Constitution, defend the poor and the helpless, and protect the environment.

And next year don’t come back with mealy-mouthed excuses for why you didn’t fight for these things and why you compromised us. We don’t expect you to win every vote but we DO expect you to fight like Travis at the Alamo, like the Minutemen at Bunker Hill, like Chavez in the lettuce fields, like King in Alabama, like Gandhi in India, like Mandela in South Africa -- always fighting for the right and never giving up.

Fight like a warrior for truth and justice or don’t come back.

We would rather be left alone to enjoy next year’s Labor Day with our friends and families whom we love and trust than listen to one more lie or one more excuse from one more compromising politician.”

Sunday Funnies