Your voter's guide for November 8, 2011 Part 3: AL3, A, D, F

At Large #3: Melissa Noriega

Councilwoman Noriega has two opponents, neither of whom have achieved any particular positive distinction. Chris Carmona is the conservative's choice -- at least according to Amy Peck -- and Brad Batteau is running apparently to try and draw off some of Noreiga's Democratic support (HCGOP lists him as a D but does NOT list Carmona as an R).

Noriega's talent and skills as a problem-solver and council moderate and mediator easily merit her re-election.

District A: Bob Schoellkopf

Republican incumbent Brenda Stardig's most significant claim to fame remains the Long Point road rage incident with her 2009 runoff opponent, Lane Lewis -- who's now poised to become the chair of the Harris County Democratic Party. I just have to excerpt this again ...

The two have not debated face to face — unless you count Lewis' version of them shouting at each other from separate cars while driving down Long Point.

According to Lewis, he attended a Spring Branch West super-neighborhood meeting on Nov. 12 (2009). Attendees asked aloud why Stardig was not present and speculated that she was at a nearby bar.

After the meeting, Lewis went to the bar and photographed the license plate on what he believed to be Stardig's car, he said.

While driving home, he said, Stardig pursued him, honking her horn, swerving to both sides of his vehicle and shouting questions at him. Lewis said he shouted answers back.

“It was an irresponsible choice that a candidate for a district race for City Council would choose a bar instead of a neighborhood meeting,” Lewis said.

“I've been everywhere I need to be,” Stardig said. She would not comment on specifics of the encounter.

Helena Brown is challenging Stardig from the right, as in the far, farther, farthest TeaBagging right.  Check this out:

Helena Brown of Houston is not pleased.

A lifelong Republican — and a precinct chair at that — she also identifies with the Tea Party movement and was a Debra Medina supporter. Now she and her fellow Tea Party Republicans must decide whether GOP candidate Gov. Rick Perry is worthy of their support or perhaps look for an independent write-in candidate. (Brown says she thinks actor Chuck Norris might be interested.)

Schoellkopf is a loyal Democratic activist. How hard is this?

District D: Wanda Adams

Incumbent, good Democrat, hard-working. The HGLBT Caucus has criticized her, but that has seemed a little harsh to me. Challenger Larry McKinzie seems like a nice enough fellow, though ...

District F: Peter Rene'

Incumbent Al Hoang has been savaged by his Vietnamese constituency in this way-out-west district. The local newspaper even describes the tussle between Hoang and challenger Hoc Nguyen as the "Vietnam War Revisited" (the Google cache still has that headline; the article has been changed). But I'll excerpt instead from the Chron a few days ago:

Councilman Al Hoang pocketed tens of thousands of dollars in donations meant for the local Vietnamese community organization he headed prior to his election as District F councilman, a lawsuit by a group of Vietnamese civic activists claims.

Hoang denies the charges and has countersued the plaintiffs for what he considers libel.

The lawsuit is another step in what Hoang sees as a persistent campaign of harassment against him. Detractors have been so aggressive, he said, they once mailed him a photograph of themselves urinating on the graves of his parents.

He is a target not for any legal improprieties, he said, but for his maturing attitude toward Vietnam, one that has evolved from focusing on the regime's violent overthrow to one of promoting change from within the country through trade and dialogue.

"They want me to use this seat as a base to overthrow the Communist government" of Vietnam, Hoang said.

Outside of court, Hoang is being challenged for re-election by Hoc Thai Nguyen, a businessman who claims Hoang's sister-in-law threatened to poison his children, calls Hoang "the Gadhafi of Houston," and says he fears for his life because he believes Hoang is capable of killing him. Nguyen is not a plaintiff in the lawsuit.

That's pretty spicy stuff. There's more at the link regarding the investigations of Hoang's alleged impropriety since he was elected two years ago. A proud Republican, Hoang defeated Democrat Mike Laster in the runoff for F in 2009; Laster is running in Sharpstown's new J district (I'll cover that contest tomorrow). Back to the Chron for the reasons why you should stand well back from this Vietnamese food fight and vote for Peter Rene':

After a series of controversies involving incumbent Al Hoang divided his Vietnamese-American base, Hoang indicated he would not stand for re-election. Though he later changed his mind, we think his initial decision was the right one. The district, which has demanding infrastructure and economic development needs, requires new, focused leadership at City Hall.

Fortunately, voters have the opportunity to elect such a person, businessman and community activist Peter "Lyn" René. Born on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia, René came to Houston in 1979 and graduated from Westbury High School and UH-Downtown.

The Westchase resident is the CEO of the Caribbean American Foundation of Texas, which organizes events that bring together Houston's sizable and vibrant Caribbean-heritage community.

René is an integrated technology project manager who owns and operates Consumer Information Services, LLC. He is a certified mediator who does volunteer work at the Harris County Dispute Resolution Center and is the founder of Singing from the Soul Foundation. It provides talented but economically disadvantaged high school students classical voice training and preparation to seek college musical degrees and future professional careers.

René promises to be a strong voice at City Hall for street repair and district beautification. To counter budget cuts that have closed community centers and after-school programs, he says he would use his skills as a grant writer to solicit funds from corporations and foundations to continue vital municipal youth services.

Greg and Charles, who follow these things day-to-day closer than I do, were both a little surprised by the endorsement and went out on limbs to guess that the Chron would also not back Jolanda Jones (bad prediction there, guys).

I really don't get why they were so shocked; the district has been redrawn significantly and seems wide open to this casual observer. Throw in the controversy swirling around Hoang and you have yourself a contest.

With two Asian names and one French-sounding, it's hard to know which way the Anglo Republicans will go -- maybe for their fellow traveler the stained incumbent. This district's vote will be split, and all bets are off.

In any case, Rene' is the best (really the only) choice.

Continuing this series tomorrow.

Your voter's guide for November 8, 2011 Part 2: AL2, AL4, K

At Large #2: Kristi Thibaut, Jenifer Rene Pool

These are the two women I wish to get in the runoff for the seat from which Councilwoman Sue Lovell is retiring. Pool is the HGLBT Caucus endorsee and has been pretty tireless in campaigning; I've known Thibaut since we worked together on Borris Miles' first statehouse campaign in 2006. She also served a term in the Texas Lege (I walked blocks in that far west district for her then). Either would make a fine addition to Council. I hope we get to choose between the two in December.

There are mostly folks in this contest whom you should NOT vote for, and I have blogged extensively about him. Also avoid Bolivar Fraga, a candidate who has block-walked Republican houses telling them he's a Republican, and Democratic precincts claiming to be a D. An aspiring politico this disingenuous doesn't deserve anyone's vote. Elizabeth Perez has a huge rack and is a Republican; Griff is Houston's most lovable perennial loser. David Robinson has the resume' and lots of signs out, especially in the Montrose; Rozzy Shorter's been active in Democratic political circles, particularly in SD-13. Andrew Burks has been on the ballot previously but has no website and Gordon Goss is unknown to me. If you consult HCDP for a clue, you will see that only Pool is listed as a sustaining member. HCGOP lists Fraga, Perez, and Griff as R's based on their most recent primary voting activity. Dick, naturally, is an RLC contributor. The rest they show as D's except for Goss, who apparently is a ghost politically despite what he says about himself.

So that whittles ten options easily down to four: Thibaut, Pool, Robinson, or Shorter. Kristi and Jenifer are my top two -- I'll have to pick one when I vote and won't until then -- and David and Rozzy are acceptable alternatives.

Since AL2 will be settled in a December runoff, that's where the closer scrutiny will lie.

At Large #4: Amy Price

This one of course is easy for me. I've written a lot about this race, so if you need to be refreshed or need an introduction, by all means do so. Here I disclosed my limited participation in Amy's campaign and explained why her challengers fail the test to qualify for your vote. (Nothing personal against the two men; they just don't hold a candle to her.) Here is an embedded video and a link to her audio interview with Charles Kuffner. Amy's already earned the endorsements of people who say they would not normally consider a candidate like her. That speaks volumes about her and why I support her.

As I have mentioned previously, electing Amy Price sends the message that Houston City Council will not conduct "business as usual". Which is precisely what we need right now.

District K: Larry Green

Just as easy as the last one. Green has piled up endorsements in this new district -- my district -- while his two challengers are virtually invisible. Like Greg, I expect Larry Green to walk onto council. With expectations this grand, he needs to be able to deliver big things. I'll be watching closer than usual.

More as we draw closer to the early voting period beginning next Monday.

Gene Green, Al Green, Sheila Jackson Lee all support Keystone XL

If you thought that the Koch Bros only had their hands up the backsides of Republicans, think again.

Nearly two dozen Democrats led by Rep. Gene Green of Houston implored President Barack Obama today to approve the controversial Keystone XL pipeline that would carry oil-sands crude from Canada to southeastern Texas refineries.

The project would boost America’s energy security and the U.S. economy, the lawmakers said in a letter (.pdf) to Obama.

“The proposed Keystone XL pipeline represents a true shovel-ready project that would directly create 20,000 high-quality domestic manufacturing and construction jobs for Americans who are desperately seeking employment,” the Democrats wrote.

False.

Sean Sweeney, director of the Cornell ILR Global Labor Institute, said today in an interview: "This report questions the jobs claims promoted by TransCanada Corporation, the American Petroleum Institute (API) and other proponents of the pipeline. The report's findings should generate a high level of skepticism regarding the value of KXL as an important source of American jobs."

"It is GLI's assessment that the construction of Keystone XL will create far fewer jobs in the U.S. than its proponents have claimed and may actually destroy more jobs than it generates," Sweeney said.

"The industry's U.S. job claims, and even the State Department's analysis, are linked to a $7 billion Keystone XL project budget. However, the budget for Keystone XL that will have a bearing on U.S. jobs figures is dramatically lower – only around $3 to $4 billion. A lower budget means fewer jobs."

TransCanada and API's job projections also fail to consider the large number of jobs that could be lost by construction of Keystone XL, Sweeney said. This includes jobs lost due to consumers in the Midwest paying 10 to 20 cents more per gallon of gasoline and diesel fuel, as Keystone XL diverts oil from refineries in the Midwest to the Gulf region.

These additional fuel costs -- $2 to $4 billion -- will suppress other spending and cost jobs, he said. "Furthermore, pipeline spills, pollution and increased greenhouse gas emissions incur significant human health and economic costs, thus eliminating jobs."

Lara Skinner, associate director of research at the Cornell Global Labor Institute, said: "The company's claim that Keystone XL will create 20,000 direct construction and manufacturing jobs in the U.S. is unsubstantiated. There is strong evidence to suggest that a large portion of the primary material input for KXL – steel pipe- will not even be produced in the U.S."

Overall, she said, "Keystone XL could kill more jobs than it creates. There are alternatives to this kind of dirty energy that, if supported, could create large numbers of jobs in the emerging green economy."

Meh. Twenty-two House Democrats, including Texans Henry Cuellar, Charlie Gonzales, and Ruben Hinojosa swallowed the "jobs" BS and regurgitated it back onto this letter.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is expected to decide by mid-November whether the 1,700-mile pipeline is in the “national interest,” paving the way for Obama’s final decision on whether to permit the project later this year.

But the question is a major political test for the White House, pitting two of Obama’s core constituencies — organized labor and environmentalists — against each other. Conservationists have cast the choice facing Obama as the biggest environmental dilemma he has experienced during three years in the White House, and they insist his chances of winning another term hang in the balance.

[...]

Environmental activists, native Americans and religious leaders insist that the 36-inch pipeline would jeopardize drinking water supplies in the nation’s heartland and keep the U.S. dependent on a form of bituminous oil that takes more energy to extract than other fossil fuels.

'Game over' for the environment didn't sway these Democrats. The sick and dying children who already live near where tar sands oil will be refined haven't swayed them. I doubt whether a revised economic forecast or another bunch of dirty effing hippies protesting is going to.

Houston's air already fails quality compliance, we're adding a coal plant to the mix, and hey, the Republicans want to kill EPA anyway. Now Gene Green and Al Green and Sheila Jackson Lee have signed on to this rush to environmental apocalypse.

Hope the money is worth it to them. Meanwhile ... we need to get all the money out of politics.

Get. the money. out of politics. That happens to be moving rapidly in the way wrong direction as well.

Your voter's guide for November 8, 2011 Part 1: Mayor, AL1, C

You can vote early beginning Monday at most of the usual locations around the city. On the heels of Greg's G-Slate, here's some of my selections:

Mayor of Houston: Annise Parker

Yes, it's her and five also-rans. If I didn't like the mayor personally so much my protest vote would go to the Socialist, honestly. What bothers me about Parker is that she goes to the Pachyderm Club and brags about being a fiscal conservative, and then backs that up by laying off several hundred blue-collar city workers, cutting library hours, and reducing many other city services. The ongoing ominous threat is that she will reduce the city's contribution to the municipal pension fund, which is just another in a series of defensive moves to try to ward off a Republican challenger two years from now. She could have done something brave and bold, like raising property taxes on the richest Houstonians. Of which there are more than ever.

But because so few vote in our municipal elections -- in a city of 2 million-plus, perhaps 100,000 to 125,000 will turn out, or around 5% -- the voice and influence of the most powerful drown out the the rest of the people's to an even greater degree than would normally be the case.

About one-third of Houston's children -- depending on how it is statistically defined -- live in poverty (that would be a 4-person household earning just over $22K). Probably some of their number now include the children of furloughed city workers: clerks, parks and recreation workers, garbage men, librarians. Given that Mayor Parker will coast to re-election (the percentage of victory she posts will be divined as whatever strength or weakness she will have as she runs for re-election to a third and final term in 2013) what can we progressives do to get her attention to this and other of our causes?

For now ... our support, and then our righteous indignation if she continues to cater to the wealthiest and greediest. Some of us expect a lot more from you in your second term, Mayor. This blog's unofficial motto,'Comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable', has to go into overdrive after November 8.

At Large #1:  Don Cook

Cook, as I have indicated previously, is the progressive running against incumbent Stephen Costello, who sponsored the now-infamous Rebuild Houston drainage fee, about which fresh and troubling questions  have arisen just this week. Costello, a civil engineer made wealthy on municipal contracts long before he was first elected to Council two years ago, allegedly bragged recently to the Pachyderm Club that his own drainage assessment was coming in well below the city average. As in about a third of the city's now-revised average of $8.25. On his $300,000+ HCAD-assessed domicile.

Many Democrats still seem to be operating under the mistaken impression -- as they were in 2009 -- that Costello has drifted away from the GOP. Don't bet on it.

Other candidates include perennial James Partsch-Galvan and Republican Scott Boates, who may draw off a chunk of Costello's support from his right flank. Boates has purchased sustaining membership in the HCDP, but that's just camoflage. He's pretty much a TeaBagger from what I have heard him say at candidate fora I've attended. But if you need proof: the Harris County GOP lists Boates on the Republican Leadership Council (and Costello and Partsch-Galvan also as Republicans).

Don Cook is simply the only choice for Democrats, liberals, and progressives in this race.

District C: Karen Derr

I started out this campaign cycle as a supporter of my former state representative in my former city council district. But after I observed that she received $10,000 from "Swift Boat" Bob Perry in 2009 -- around which a separate and recent kerfuffle has erupted -- and then in this cycle garnered the endorsement of the Houston Association of Realtors (who endorse Republicans only slightly less than 99% of the time), I simply couldn't get on that bandwagon. We should have elected Karen in '09 to the AL1 seat Stephen Costello sits in now; the city would be so much better off if we had.

Which means we're getting a do-over for Karen. And we need to get it right this time.

C leans a little to the right -- outgoing Councilwoman Anne Clutterbuck previously worked for several years in constituent services for former Congressman and House Ways and Means chairman Bill Archer -- so it's possible the Cohen juggernaut will be stalled by one of the two RWNJs running: Brian Cweren and Randy Locke, who are busily trying to out-conservative each other. Forget them both. Josh Verde is also competing in this race and is a fine candidate. But Karen Derr is, once again, your best progressive option. I intend to help her into a runoff with Cohen and then get a real debate going on the issues.

More later this week.

Who won the 'Yet Another" Debate last night?

I really enjoy this particular site, and not just because the Paulians infest it. Cast your vote here.

Surprised to be leading in polls Herman Cain

Whom Republicans will settle for Mitt Romney

Fast fading and desperate Rick Perry

Wasting our time Michele Bachmann

Curio from a bygone era Newt Gingrich

Ideologically pure and tough as nails Ron Paul

Crapping his pants in a SF gay bar Rick Santorum

Already lost Jon Huntsman

It was an 8-way tie

Lorne Michaels

Dr. No currently leads with 79%. I voted for Frothy Mixture (hey, he had a good night. Really.)

Bill White, Jack Christie, and Jolanda Jones

Fail.

Former Mayor Bill White has endorsed Jack Christie for the At-Large 5 City Council seat. It is the only endorsement the ex-mayor has made in this year’s city elections.

[...]

White, last year’s Democratic nominee for governor, passed over two Democrats in the At-Large 5 race to endorse Christie. 

The reaction from the Khronically Konservative Kommenters seems to be the same as mine. Namely, WTF?

If Bill White so disliked Jolanda Jones that he had to endorse a Republican over the other African-American Democratic woman in the contest ... then I really doubt whether Bill White considers himself a Democrat any longer. Of course, if you have read this blog for very long, you know that my position is that the former mayor and loser to Rick Perry in 2010 is just coming out of the closet here.

Christie narrowly lost to JoJo two years ago in a runoff for At Large 5, and as Charles has noted, the Chron has not announced an endorsement in this race yet, moving on to propositions as of today.

Jolanda Jones has fought for every little guy in sight -- from the po' folks to the union men and women -- and she has paid the price for it: pointless investigations, vendettas from HPD, and even mockery by other city officials. She is by far the strongest progressive on Council and earns the enmity of her detractors as much for that as for her fighting spirit. (Of course, Houston voters can add a couple more progressive fighters to Council -- starting next Monday as early voting begins -- by replacing C.O. Bradford with Amy Price and Steven Costello with Don Cook, but that will be for another post later this week).

Conservatives who seriously think that White's endorsement damns Christie with faint praise have another option in AL5: Bob Ryan. Bob's a longtime friend of my family, and earned some renown as the Harris County grand jury foreman that in 2008 indicted Texas Supreme Court Justice David Medina on arson charges (that former DA Chuck Rosenthal refused to pursue). Ryan's about as principled a Republican as they come.

In the interest of noting the widely differing opinions in this contest, I will observe here that my friend Neil, with whom I agree on nearly everything, does not agree that Jones has been an effective council member.

Personally I am going to walk my precinct for Jolanda this weekend, and work hard for her re-election.

Update: Nice job here by the Chron.

The defense attorney and former track star campaigned for office on the promise to serve as "the voice of the voiceless" at City Hall. Over the past four years she has more than fulfilled that commitment, winning a devoted following in the low-income communities of Houston while irritating and sometimes enraging critics and colleagues. She has rough edges, and certainly does not represent business as usual.

The Chronicle believes that on balance, Jones has served a valuable function on a City Council that has historically played a subservient role in Houston's strong-mayor form of government. She speaks out frequently, questioning administration proposals and demanding more information. That lengthens council meeting times and often delays action, but it also provides additional scrutiny and the impetus to improve legislation.

"I'm responsive to the people who put me in office," says Jones. "If I have to push, I will, but I do a lot behind the scenes. I don't brag about it, I just get things done."

Damn straight.

Update II: And a nice rejoinder to Bill White from Chris Bell:

Jo doesn’t mind ruffling feathers and obviously has made some people mad along the way. But if you’re just going to go around City Hall trying not to make anyone mad, you’re not going to get much done. Personally, I’m glad she’s willing to ask tough questions and stand up for people who otherwise might not have anyone in their corner. [...]

There are a lot of powerful people in Houston who would like to see Jolanda Jones off City Council. They don’t like it when someone stands up to them and refuses to go along to get along. But City Council Members aren’t supposed to just be voices for power brokers; they’re supposed to stand up for average citizens. That’s exactly what Jolanda Jones does and that’s why I’ll be standing with her on Election Day.

Update III: And a 4 bars of soap, walleyed, snot-nosed screamin' hissyfit from Juanita.

KochCain

If you want to get down. Down on the ground.

Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain has cast himself as the outsider, the pizza magnate with real-world experience who will bring fresh ideas to the nation’s capital. But Cain’s economic ideas, support and organization have close ties to two billionaire brothers who bankroll right-leaning causes through their group Americans for Prosperity.

Cain’s campaign manager and a number of aides have worked for Americans for Prosperity, or AFP, the advocacy group founded with support from billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, which lobbies for lower taxes and less government regulation and spending. Cain credits a businessman who served on an AFP advisory board with helping devise his “9-9-9” plan to rewrite the nation’s tax code. And his years of speaking at AFP events have given the businessman and radio host a network of loyal grassroots fans.

As the Not-Romney of the Month, Herman actually has a chance to stick around a little longer than Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry before him.

His links to the Koch brothers could undercut his outsider, non-political image among tea party fans who detest politics as usual and candidates connected with the party machine.

AFP tapped Cain as the public face of its “Prosperity Expansion Project,” and he traveled the country in 2005 and 2006 speaking to activists who were starting state-based AFP chapters from Wisconsin to Virginia. Through his AFP work he met Mark Block, a longtime Wisconsin Republican operative hired to lead that state’s AFP chapter in 2005 as he rebounded from an earlier campaign scandal that derailed his career.

Block and Cain sometimes traveled together as they built up AFP: Cain was the charismatic speaker preaching the ills of big government; Block was the operative helping with nuts and bolts.

When President Barack Obama’s election helped spawn the tea party, Cain was positioned to take advantage. He became a draw at growing AFP-backed rallies, impressing activists with a mix of humor and hard-hitting rhetoric against Obama’s stimulus, health care and budget policies.

So the Tea Pees have known about the Godfather for some time now.

Block is now Cain’s campaign manager. Other aides who had done AFP work were also brought on board.

Cain’s spokeswoman Ellen Carmichael, who recently left the campaign, was an AFP coordinator in Louisiana. His campaign’s outside law firm is representing AFP in a case challenging Wisconsin campaign finance regulations. At least six other current and former paid employees and consultants for Cain’s campaign have worked for AFP in various capacities.

And Cain has credited Rich Lowrie, a Cleveland businessman who served on AFP’s board of advisors from 2005 to 2008, with being a key economic adviser and with helping to develop his plan to cut the corporate tax rate to 9 percent, impose a national sales tax of 9 percent and set a flat income tax rate of 9 percent.

“He’s got a national network now that perhaps he wouldn’t have had 15 or 20 years ago because of his work with AFP,” said Republican Party of Wisconsin Vice Chair Brian Schimming, who has introduced Cain at events in Wisconsin. “For a presidential candidate, that’s obviously helpful to have.”

The political experts on your teevee keep saying Herman's got no on-the-ground organization, though. They are obviously mistaken. It's a stealth organization, flying under the Beltway radar. And like the rest of the conservative extremists, Cain is just as mean and ignorant as Perry or Bachmann ...

GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain is pushing the idea of an electrified fence on the border with Mexico, complete with a sign in English and Spanish warning that it’s lethal, the New York Times reports:

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain said Saturday that part of his immigration policy would be to build an electrified fence on the country’s border with Mexico that could kill people trying to enter the country illegally.

The remarks, which came at two campaign rallies in Tennessee as part of a barnstorming bus tour across the state, drew loud cheers from crowds of several hundred people at each rally. At the second stop, in Harriman, Tenn., Mr. Cain added that he also would consider using military troops “with real guns and real bullets” on the border to stop illegal immigration.

The Times reported that Cain said a sign would accompany the fence saying, “It will kill you — Warning.”

It’s an idea that Cain has broached before. When President Obama joked that some would want a moat with alligators, Cain embraced that idea, too.

Here's the quote in context:

Cain made the fence comments Saturday at a Tennessee rally while kicking off his bus tour to promote his "9-9-9" tax plan.

Speaking to the crowd, Cain recalled a conversation he had on his conservative radio talk show with a caller who argued against building a fence to prevent illegal immigration.But Cain said he fought back, telling the caller:"When I'm in charge of the fence, we going to have a fence. It's going to be 20 feet high. It's going to have barbed wire on the top. It's going to be electrocuted, electrified," Cain said. "And there's going to be a sign on the other side that says it will kill you."

On yesterday's D.C. BS Talking Heads, Herman was quick to say "That was a joke." Good to hear. Cain, as much as anyone, ought to be well aware of the price some people pay not only for bad jokes but for the sort of thing an electrified border fence would meet the definition of: a high-tech lynching.

Of course, the price paid depends on who's getting bought and who's getting sold.

Here's a bit more on the topic from Eminem (unreleased and NSFW at the link):

This was a beat with no words at first, it's a blank painting
Exercising the mind, it's brain strength training
Starts off something like shady's an insane maniac
Yeah slim shady that's a zany name aint it
Now all you needs an image to go with the name, baby
Wife beaters and white t-shirts
Hanes mainly, it's a long shot but is it possible
There's a lane maybe,
If not, he's gonna have to come and change the whole game aint he
He wants the fame so bad he can taste it
He can see his name up in lights

[...]

But he aint trailing anymore he's ahead of the race
While maintaining his innocence
Little does he know his train is derailing...

The Weekly (waiting on the cold front) Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance reminds you that early voting for the November election starts next week as it brings you this week's roundup.

Off the Kuff looks at the likely effect of voter ID on voter participation. Hint: Fewer people will be able to vote. Who could have guessed?

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme calls out Lamar Smith for his racist legislation that will harm abused women.

WCNews at Eye On Williamson says it's time for the people of Williamson County to stand up so they no longer ask: how do these people keep getting elected?

Neil at Texas Liberal offered some pictures of Occupy Houston. Neil has visited the good folks at Occupy Houston a few times now and donated some supplies and a few bucks. The Occupy movement has taken hold in many Texas cities and across the nation. Please consider supporting Occupy in some fashion.

The Ghost of Sam Houston has some unkind words for Rick Perry's energy plan over at Darth Politico.

In the spirit of Halloween, McBlogger takes a look at The Return of the Living Dread.

Sunday Occupied Funnies

Or is it Octopi?

Open Source Dem on Rebuild Houston's fees going to hike and bike trails

Toes will be stepped upon and oxen will be gored. You've been warned. -- PD

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

Re: Rebuild Houston funds may be going to hike/bike trails ...

There may or may not be a good reason for that. We will never know because Houston does not have plans or standards for this or anything. Remember? That Peter Brown was the plans guy, not Annise Parker the financial guy. (Ed.: *ouch*)

We have big deals, small deals, and probably -- in the case of hike/bike trails to or from nowhere -- side-deals. Such are the artifacts of collusive bargaining. The accounting aspects of all that are interesting -- well, to me, the economist -- but the accountability aspects of it are devastating to me the political executive: There are none!

This is pervasive unaccountability, which mainly benefits GOP incumbents and ideologues in state, county, and local governments. That is, government that the GOP here mostly controls but “govmint” that it runs against successfully for lack of any principled opposition or coherent alternative from the cringing liberal party of Vichy Democrats.

Municipalities have something called funds accounting. This (collusive bargaining, not funds accounting) will allow the drainage fee and Rebuild Houston scheme -- a huge transfer of municipal debt into a special-purpose entity “off the books” -- to have consequences that somebody envisioned originally (the transaction lawyers, surely) but that most of our elected officials and few if any citizens even begin to grasp. “Who could have known?” the Tim Geithners and Andy Ickens will ask rhetorically?

Well, the fee-men know for sure. They know about the fiascos they engineer (financially) and the whiz-bangs they plant in government (politically).

The right wing take, a “rain tax”, is farcical but predictable. It was a stupid-clever phrase that was nearly successful in defeating the measure in 2010 and, oh, a great way to sweep Sylvia Garcia out of office. That was not bad politics from the GOP standpoint. The, well, center-wing critique -- a “management district” -- is comparatively lame but true. Still it was nothing cringing liberals wanted to hear, so they lined up behind the drainage fee, and now they get their little hike/bike trails.

Some things are knowable: logically, funds accounting is neither complex nor much different from what people think of as budgeting or as just reconciling a bank account. Funds accounting is something the Democratic Party ought to not just understand but to use if it is to compete with the GOP for votes and, oh, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo or the King Street Patriots for money and activists.

In practice funds accounting can be very complex, indeed opaque, if a municipal or non-profit corporation like a hospital or my favorite, the “Fat Stock Show”, has many sources and uses of money. It may be channeled through many different funds and some officials may be able hide from others what is going on behind the legal mumbo-jumbo that municipal business in Houston is festooned with. To deal with such accounting, financial engineering, and even legal complexity, you have to trust the people managing it or at least appreciate the result ... as Rodeo, Pickup Truck, and Barbecue fans seem to.

Meanwhile, in municipal government …we do not have planning and standards so much as we have deals. We do not have agendas on Commissioners’ Court or City Council, we have dockets. So we fire-proof half a warehouse and wake up one morning with all the voting machines burned up. Duh!

The civil engineering is done not by actual civil engineers but by bond lawyers on behalf of land speculators and slumlords; thus, the engineers design the basements of world-class buildings downtown, then connect them all to an underground garage next to the bayou and eventually wonder: “why do all the buildings flood?” Duh! Plaintiff and defense lawyers -- symbiotes politically, mock adversaries in court -- loot banks and insurance exchanges all over the world with such fiascos and laugh all the way to … wherever else in the world they hide the proceeds. This is the way to run a pirate's cove, not a world-class professional and economic powerhouse.

Corporations, criminals, and syndicates comprised of both only have one fund to account for: a bottom line, also known in the trades as “net, net, net” or, in the original Italian, patrimonio netto. Exotic public/private enterprises use “special-purpose entities” -- specialty bankers or just 'bagmen' -- and now what are called transaction lawyers to do externally what, for example, the City of Houston does internally: exploit the fungible nature of money … creatively, as they say. When the internal and external obfuscation overlap, as they did here in Austin, and in D.C. with Enron, we get grand larceny as well as everything from the incompetent terrorism of the Iranian used-car salesman from Corpus Christi to the flamboyant piracy of Sir Allen Stanford. That is sad and dangerous but at this point almost funny.

There is no telling what will become of Rebuild Houston. Certainly it does not seem to be any different from what has gone before, just a new way to provide public credit for private real estate development and to poorly maintain everything with the cheapest labor possible. Hike and bike trails will certainly appease a few goo-goo liberals among the newly-prized class of political investors with incomes in the $250,000-1,000,000 bracket -- the darlings of political bundlers and consultants, the constituency of Martin Frost.

Sadly, the legalized criminality and criminalized legalism that pass for proficiency in municipal government is not conducive to peace or prosperity. They will destroy moderate Republicans like Ed Emmett and Steven Costello as well as sweep well-meaning Democrats out of citywide and countywide offices they have been elected to.

What we have been doing here in Houston and Harris County for decades cannot go on, so it won’t. The magical realism of the far-right noise and cringing liberal sham of center-left government will end in brutal clarity of some sort.

“You can fool some people all the time and all the people some of the time, but not all of the people all of the time.”

President Lincoln said that, and I think President Obama gets it.

But I worry about the rest of the Democratic Party. It is plain enough that many of the voters I represent have less and less trust in our complex machinations and excuses for cowardice or failure. They do not think that a tortured succession of deals amount to a plan, and the Solyandra vultures on talk radio will not let them forget it.

Yes, this public credit for a private venture was craven, rotten, bundler/consultant politics from first (Bush) to finish (Obama). And that is likely how the White-Parker deal culture will play out as long as whiz-bangs -- in Steampunk terminology called mountebanks -- like Andy Icken are involved.

So who here would trust anything an Andy Icken would vouch for, a Vinson  Elkins would sign off on, and an Arthur Andersen -- now called Protiviti -- would account for?

Nobody in their right mind!

But those are whom the Seinfeld “Party about Nothing” rely on in city government obviously, and County Commissioner Precinct 2 most recently. This deal-culture -- legal or not -- is a suicidal paradigm of politics and government. It benefits the parasites of government and the pirates of modern commerce.

The Tea Party suspects as much. Cringing liberal, center-left office squatters and their entourages do not. They haven’t a clue and in fact live from deal to deal. They will probably lose their Blazing Saddles jobs owing to precisely the sort of demoralization they are spreading with regressive and indirect taxation multiplied many times over by the obfuscation of public finance generally.

Perry campaign needs to muzzle Anita

Before she applies the coup de grace to her husband's already-gravely-wounded presidential aspirations. Yesterday she said this:

"It’s been a rough month. We have been brutalized and beaten up and chewed up in the press to where I need this today," she said. "We are being brutalized by our opponents, and our own party. So much of that is, I think they look at him, because of his faith. He is the only true conservative – well, there are some true conservatives. And they’re there for good reasons. And they may feel like God called them too. But I truly feel like we are here for that purpose."

So it's not the governor's poor debate performances, his swaggering rhetoric, his inconsistent approach to undocumented immigrants or even his unwillingness to condemn a pastor who both endorsed him and called Mitt Romney's religion "a cult" that are the reasons he's come under criticism. And correspondingly lost the respect of GOP voters to the tune of over 20 percentage points in the past month.

She likened Perry's decision to run to encountering a "burning bush," a reference to the Biblical story of Moses receiving a sign from God. And Anita Perry suggested that her husband's current difficulties were a "test."

"Last week, someone came up to Rick and gave him the scripture. He said Rick, I want to tell you God is testing you," she said.

Yeah. Next up for Rick Perry: boils all over his body and  locusts to swarm and cover him entirely and suck the pus from them. You know, before he is rewarded ten-fold (or whatever).

Anyway, then today Anita said this:

"My son had to resign his job because of federal regulations that Washington has put on us," Mrs. Perry said while campaigning for her husband in South Carolina, after a voter shared the story of losing his job.


"He resigned his job two weeks ago because he can't go out and campaign with his father because of SEC regulations," she continued, referring to the Securities and Exchange Commission. "He has a wife... he's trying to start a business. So I can empathize."

"My son lost his job because of this administration," she said a few minutes later.

[...]

Her comments about her son came in response to a question from 45-year-old voter who said he lost a job paying over $100,000 and who now makes $12 an hour as a handyman.

Griffin Perry resigned his six-figure position at Deutsche Bank in order to work on his father's presidential campaign. And -- in the wake of 2008's Great Crash -- because there are SEC regulations now in place to prevent Wall Street executives from participating directly in political campaigns, it's Obama's fault that he lost his job.

These two delusional gaffes followed last week's revelation that "people are hungering" for minimum wage jobs that her husband has graciously provided the citizens of the state of Texas.

There's simply nothing to add to this. There's not sufficient medication to relieve psychotic episodes this severe.

If she keeps saying things like this, even the $17 million bucks he raised in the third quarter isn't going to get him out of the hole she is helping him dig. 'Implosion' is now an understatement.

What the national media is exposing just by following her around and quoting her words is a detachment from reality even most of us in Texas weren't fully aware of. And trust me, it is breathtaking.

Rebuild Houston (drainage fee) funds to pay for hike/bike trails

Texas Watchdog:

It was passed by Houston voters as a tax to address the city’s decrepit drainage system and Third World streets. But $857,000 of the new Proposition 1 fund --- which Mayor Annise Parker pitched as a "lock box that can only be spent for street and drainage improvements" --- is slated for hike and bike trails.

The money will pay for "design, acquisition and construction" of trails as part of an overall plan to provide "an alternate route of travel for bicyclists and/or hikers away from street traffic," according to the city's latest capital improvement plan.

Shown the budget item, a chief proponent of Proposition 1 was baffled.

“The money was not supposed to go for hike and bike trails,” said Bob Jones, part of the successful Renew Houston effort. “This is not the intention for the money that we voted on.”

Wait a second; it's all a mistake. Specifically a too-vaguely-named accounting journal entry.

The fund, also known as Rebuild Houston, draws from four sources: drainage fees on property owners, developer impact fees, property taxes, and government grants.

[...]

The city's Public Works department acknowledged the hike-and-bike program is to receive Rebuild Houston money -- but not via the drainage tax component. The entire Rebuild Houston program is pegged by city charter for "Houston's drainage and streets."

The trails program "will not receive any funding from the drainage fee component," Roberto Medina, senior staff analyst at the department, said via e-mail, adding assurances from a planning person who heads hike and bike trail plans.

"Yes, it is listed as (Dedicated Drainage and Street Renewal) funding, but there are four components to that fund," Medina said. "We are well aware that it is not a clear way of identifying how a project is going to get funded, and it would have been nice for it to be more specific."

Yes, that would have been nice. Meanwhile ...

(Mayor Annise) Parker declined through a spokeswoman to comment.

Uh-oh. What about other supporters of Proposition 1/Renew Houston/Rebuild Houston?

Texas Watchdog contacted several supporters of Prop 1 to weigh in on this story. Jack P. Miller, president of RG Miller Engineers, and Christina Lindsay, executive director of the Houston Council of Engineering Companies, did not return calls. A person answering the phone at the home of Jeff Ross, of Pate Engineers, hung up on this reporter.

The Rebuild Houston Oversight Committee, which includes Ross, meets at 10 a.m. every fourth Tuesday in the Mayor’s Conference Room at City Hall.

Now I mostly take everything Texas Watchdog says with a shaker-full of salt, because they lean too far to the right for my taste. Just take a look at their headlines today, or any other day for that matter. But that doesn't mean a blind hog can't occasionally find a truffle.

What this looks like at first blush is -- at the very least -- yet another black eye for the mayor. But does Councilman Steven Costello earn any blame for the wording of the charter amendment establishing the fund with an exploitable loophole in it? (And if you do think he's at fault, keep in mind he has two three challengers in his re-election bid, and one of them is a real progressive.)

What about the rest of council? And the city's legal team -- led by City Attorney David Feldman -- who are supposed to do the due diligence on matters like these? Feldman certainly has been no stranger to controversy of late.

Or is it we the voters, who believed what they told us -- well, some of us believed; some did not -- who are at fault? Can you accept Medina's contention that it's all just an accounting mashup?

Who do you believe? Or more to the point: who do you want to believe?