Brainy Endorsements: Mark Roberts

Mark A. Roberts is the Green Party's nominee for US Congress, District 2. The GOP incumbent is Ted Poe; the Democratic nominee is Jim Dougherty, and the Libertarian candidate is Kenneth Duncan.

This map shows the gerrymandering performed on CD-2 by the Republicans, after all of the court wrangling. The district is commonly referred to now as "The Giant Shrimp", and as you can note, it lost all of the area of Southeast Texas (Jefferson and Liberty counties) and was moved entirely into Harris County, and now includes inner loop -- and bright blue -- neighborhoods of Montrose and West University, immediately west of the Texas Medical Center (recall we had a discussion previously about district lines in the TMC when James Cargas -- and subsequently Evan Mintz of the Houston Chronicle''s editorial board -- got confused). The district's PVI is R+13 according to the Cook Partisan Voting Index Wiki page, but that data is aged. I suspect --without being able to confirm -- that the new district has gotten a bit more purple.

Dougherty, an attorney and CPA, filed to run almost on the deadline last December, and told me he felt like 'somebody had to challenge' Poe. I like Jim Dougherty personally, and have supported him in his previous bids for public office (HD-134 in 2004, Harris County DA in 2000), but when I learned he excoriated Rachel Van Os in her recent bid for TDP chair -- publicly, and to her face -- essentially for being a progressive, I was forced to step away from endorsing his candidacy.

I am capable of supporting a few moderate and conservative Democrats -- like Max Martin for one, and Nick Lampson for another -- but I cannot do so when there is a better progressive running, and especially not when it's a candidate as solid as Mark. From his Amazon.com authors' bio page...

Roberts is a husband, a father, and a grandfather. He has been teaching full-time and part-time for twenty-five years. Currently he is a social studies and language arts instructor for a small private school in Houston, TX. Chinavare's Find began as a character sketch in a creative writing class in the early 90's, and gradually morphed into a novel.

Here's Mark's introductory video.



Roberts makes as clear and obvious an elucidation of what Greens feel are the problems -- and their solutions to them -- as you will find. If you don't know or understand what the Green Party is all about, then watch this video. If you still don't understand after watching, then you probably won't ever get it. That's okay, because you still have the option of voting for the same old corporate thing and expecting a different result.

Mark's campaign has some cute slogans:

If the Republicans have your seeing red,
and the Democrats leave you feeling blue,
Vote Green!

and...

 If you believe in the proper removal and disposal of petrified dead wood clogging the community, then remove Ted Poe and vote Green!

Roberts is, in short, exactly the kind of "Mr. Smith" we need more of in Washington. The voters of Texas' 2nd Congressional District would be well-served by replacing Ted Poe with Mark Roberts.

Find Mark also on Faceboook here.

Prior Brainy Endorsements have included the following:

Nile Copeland for the First Court of Appeals
Alfred and GC Molison for HD 131 and SBOE, respectively
Henry Cooper for HD 148
Keith Hampton for Presiding Judge, Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
Barbara Gardner for the Fourteenth Court of Appeals
Don Cook for Congress, 22nd District
Max Martin for Congress, 36th District
Remington Alessi for Harris County Sheriff
David Courtney for Texas Senate, District 17
Ann Harris Bennett for Harris County Tax Assessor/Collector
Ann Johnson for HD-134
Mike Engelhart, Larry Weiman, and Al Bennett for the Harris County bench

Ed Emmett, Don Sumners, and "esperanza"

Harris County Judge Ed Emmett has brokered a deal with the Texas secretary of state to restore about $700,000 in funding the state had cut off after the county tax assessor said he would not purge presumed-dead voters from the rolls before the Nov. 6 election.

Tax Assessor-Collector Don Sumners on last week said he would delay the purge after hundreds of very-much-alive voters called his staff, upset about a letter they had received from his office saying they may be dead and would be removed from the rolls if they did not act within 30 days.

Those voters were on a list of about 9,000 names generated by the Secretary of State's Office using data from the Social Security Administration's master death file, as mandated by a new state law.

State officials, saying the purge is required by law, accused Sumners of jeopardizing the integrity of the election and cut off his voter registration funding. Sumners had received about $31,000 of an expected $732,404 this year before being shut off, secretary of state spokesman Rich Parsons said. 

When this news broke last week -- along with the subsequent developments -- my first reaction was the same as everyone else's: "I'll be damned; Don Sumners did the right thing". As I thought about it some more -- given Sumners' inherent Tea Party bias -- I began to wonder if this wasn't some kind of three-dimensional chess game, where Sumners would be able to disenfranchise last-minute registrations, hang a 'Mission Accomplished' banner at the King Street Patriots' headquarters, and avoid being seen as the bad guy. (Texas SOS Esperanza "Hope" Andrade is, after all, appointed by the governor and thus unaccountable to public opinion.)

But then I remembered: this is Don Sumners. He can't be trusted to pull on his boxers with the snap in front. Even Ed Emmett knows this.

Emmett blamed Sumners for the mix-up, revealing the tax office had been sent two lists by the secretary of state, but only acted on one. One list included 9,000 names the state considered "weak" matches to death records. The second list was composed of about 1,000 names considered "strong" matches to death records.

Sumners' office only sent letters to voters on the "weak" list. Sumners, who serves as the county's chief voter registrar, acknowledged his office erred, believing until late last week that the 1,000 names on the "strong" list were among the 9,000 on the other list.

Emmett's deal is based on the "strong" list. The secretary of state has agreed to restore Sumners' funding if the taxman sends letters to the names on the strong list, canceling those whose relatives confirm they are dead and removing from the voter rolls those for whom there is no response after 30 days, Parsons said.

Everybody -- yes, even Democrats -- believes the deceased ought to be removed from the voter rolls. Only a few people who drink too much tea and watch too much Fox News believe it's a good idea to do it the way Sumners did it, especially less than two months before Election Day. He must have gotten a lot of calls from allegedly dead Republicans to have reversed himself so quickly.

To the larger issue of voter disenfranchisement generally -- and the growing franchise operated by Catherine Engelbrecht -- here's an example of what KSP thinks is happening... and what's really happening.

In Houston, the group targeted the Congressional district represented by Sheila Jackson Lee, a Democrat who is black. Ms. Engelbrecht said the group settled on Ms. Lee’s district because thousands of addresses there housed six or more registered voters, which it took as an indication of inaccurate registrations. The methodology, which the group still uses, could disproportionately affect lower income families. 

Volunteers spent five months analyzing 3,800 registrations in Ms. Lee’s district, discovering more than 500 voters that the group said were problematic. More than 200 voters were registered at vacant lots, prompting Ms. Engelbrecht to later remark that those voters had a “Lord of the Rings Middle Earth sort of thing going on.” 

The reality was far less interesting. 

“They had one particular case I remember very well,” said Douglas Ray, the Harris County assistant attorney who represents the election registrar. “They had identified an address where eight or 10 people were registered to vote. There was no building there.” Mr. Ray found out that the building had been torn down and that the people simply moved. 

This would be another example of conservatives really having no understanding -- and even less empathy -- of how the poverty-stricken live their lives.

My feeling is that most independent voters are as sick of sneering plutocrats and oligarchs as the the rest of us. But we'll have to wait and see what the poll that concludes on November 6 says.

That's moving from esperanza and toward surety every day.

Happy 225th birthday, Constitution

A message from Move to Amend.

Today is Constitution Day, the anniversary of the day the US Constitution was ratified in 1787.

Breaking from the tyranny of the British Empire was an important victory. Most of us have seen the paintings of the Founding Fathers in that historic moment, and heard stories about how our country came to be.

But there’s a problem with those paintings and stories: there are a lot of people missing.

At the time the Constitution was ratified, only about 8% of people living in America qualified as “legal persons.” That means that 92% of people didn’t qualify for those inalienable rights that are supposed to be innate to all human beings – they were too poor, the wrong sex, or not white enough.

That’s a whole lot of people to leave out of a democratic republic.

Today's also the the one-year anniversary of the Occupy movement. On a day when percentages like 47% are all the news, it's important to be reminded that if the 99% all went to the polls in 50 days, the 1% wouldn't matter.

Luckily, though, the 92% weren’t about to take this sitting down. From the Constitution’s adoption, our forefathers and mothers spent decades organizing and agitating to make the promise of American democracy a reality.

Ordinary people are the ones who gave us the political rights that we associate with the Constitution today – they insisted the Bill of Rights be added, and they fought for the additional amendments to secure equality. They also realized that they would not be free until they secured economic democracy as well.

That’s why many states set up laws to hold the most powerful form of concentrated capital in check: the corporation. They legally required that corporations serve the public good, that charters expire after a short period, that yearly revenues be capped, that shareholders be local, and that corporations couldn’t spend a single penny in elections!

These folks were on their way to political and economic equality!

But the wealthy elite fought back too. The Supreme Court made corporations legal persons – before they would acknowledge women’s right to vote and while they approved Jim Crow laws that denied African Americans their rights to equal protection.

So on this year’s Constitution Day, we at Move to Amend ask you to imagine what it would look like if the picture had been different. What if women, the poor, the indigenous and people of color had written the Constitution? What kind of country would they have created? And what would democracy look like if it actually represented all people?

Join Move to Amend in our struggle to amend the Constitution to return human rights back to real people, not corporations – find your local group or start one near you. And then join us as we embark on the even bigger task of creating the kind of democracy we have never actually seen in this country: one where "We the People" – all people – create the world that we want to see.

Local blogger Egberto Willies can answer any question you may have about the Houston effort.

Update: Only tangentially related, PBS has a lengthy interview and video excerpts with former Supreme Court Justice David Souter on the occasion. Here's just one piece, from the end.

The greatest threat to America's republican form of government won't come from foreign invasion, or military coup, he said, but from what he described as "the pervasive civic ignorance" of Americans today.

Because of cutbacks in civic education from the 1970s onward, and exacerbated by the No Child Left Behind law, two-thirds of Americans today don't even know that their country has three branches of government, he said. So they don't know whom to hold accountable for the country's festering problems. "What I worry about is that when problems are not addressed, people will not know who is responsible," he said. "And when the problems get bad enough -- another serious terrorist attack, another financial meltdown -- some one person will come forward and say, 'Give me total power, and I will solve this problem.' That is how the Roman republic fell....That is how democracy dies. And if something is not done to improve the level of civic knowledge, that is what you should worry about at night."

Hoping against hope to end on an upbeat note, I asked: "Do you think we're losing our ability -- which has always animated our belief in the Constitution and our country -- that we are always perfecting our democracy?"

His reply was anything but hopeful. "I don't think we have lost it. I think it is in jeopardy. I am not a pessimist, but I am not an optimist about the future of American democracy," he said. "We're still in the game, but we have serious work to do, and serious work is being neglected right now."

Does he think we still have the capacity to do what the Framers did over the hot Constitutional Convention summer 225 years ago, which was compromise to overcome our differences? Souter paused. "I would like to think that enough examples of non-compromise are going to start people thinking that there must be a better way to try to govern the country," he replied. 

Brainy Endorsements: Engelhart, Weiman, Bennett

Mike Engelhart, Larry Weiman, and Al Bennett are three Democratic jurists who are all worthy of re-election to the Harris County bench.

Engelhart is a fairly hilarious stand-up comedian and clever blog commenter in addition to his various social media skills (blog, Facebook, Twitter). He's also the only judicial whose bumper sticker currently rides on the back of my truck. Engelhart is hosting a fundraising event for his campaign on September 20 at Hotel Icon. More details on that are here. And here's a video he made for his campaign from '08.



Weiman, also first elected in the 2008 blue wave, has nearly quadrupled the resolution of jury trials for cases in the 80th District Court in which he presides. He earned Democracy for America's endorsement that year. Two items of note from that link...

It is also my goal to eliminate the practice of judges soliciting or accepting campaign contributions from attorneys or parties with active cases before that court.

Finally, it is my goal that after serving my first 4 year term that people from every party as well as independents consider me to be a fair and impartial judge who is courteous, professional, compassionate and decisive.

Indeed you have met those goals, Judge Weiman.

I first met Judge Bennett in 2006, when he contended for HD-146 against Borris Miles and Al Edwards in their first matchup (he finished third). Bennett asked me for my support but I had earlier committed to Miles. I told him than that I was impressed with him and would look forward to supporting his future candidacy in some capacity. That opportunity for me came in 2008, when -- along with Engelhart and Weiman and others -- Bennett joined the group of the first judicial candidates elected to the bench in Harris County since 1992.

Bennett is so highly regarded by his peers that he was elected unanimously by them to serve as administrative judge over all of Harris County's 24 civil courts.

Bennett is holding a fundraiser on September 27 at Farrago (details as they are available). There's little my endorsement adds to his record of accomplishment at this point. I'm just pleased to count him as a friend.

Mike Engelhart, Larry Weiman, and Al Bennett have earned the respect of the attorneys who have practiced in their courts, and they merit return to the Harris County bench by the voters.

Update: The Houston Chronicle joins me in endorsing Weiman and Bennett. And also Engelhart, with this high praise:

Since his election in 2008, Judge Mike Engelhart has been a leader within the Harris County Civil Courts, spearheading e-filing initiatives that save time at the courthouse and money for taxpayers. Inside the courtroom, this Democrat has stood out as one of the hardest-working judges, writing thoughtful opinions where many others would issue quick rulings. Board-certified in personal injury law and fluent in Spanish, Judge Engelhart is among the top judges in the county, if not the state, and deserves another term on the bench. 

Well-earned.

Earlier Brainy Endorsements include...

Nile Copeland for the First Court of Appeals
Alfred and GC Molison for HD 131 and SBOE, respectively
Henry Cooper for HD 148
Keith Hampton for Presiding Judge, Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
Barbara Gardner for the Fourteenth Court of Appeals
Don Cook for Congress, 22nd District
Max Martin for Congress, 36th District
Remington Alessi for Harris County Sheriff
Ann Harris Bennett for Harris County Tax Assessor/Collector
Ann Johnson for HD-134

The Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance is still on a post-convention bounce as it brings you this week's roundup.
 
Off the Kuff analyzed the latest poll of Texas and its implications.  

BossKitty at TruthHugger is suspicious about the timing of that horrid film clip using the name of Mohammad as a fuse to global meltdown against all things western. She really wants to know WHO is responsible for Opportunistic Sadism and the US Election. But she would rather complain about why America's leaders are so slow to address more imminent hazards to America's children: Half Truths Don’t Protect Our Children From Dirty GOP Toxic Trash.

Paul Sadler, the Democratic candidate for US Senate in Texas, is making the right argument; the question is: will enough voters hear it? WCNews at Eye on Williamson makes it clear: Sadler painting Cruz as an extremist in US Senate race.

Libby Shaw reminds us that Women Will Remember in November . Check it out at TexasKaos now.  

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme wants you to know polluters like Exxon and Citgo do harm to real people and our environment.

A point about money and politics had to be made by PDiddie at Brains and Eggs, and so he made it.

Neil at Texas Liberal posted that where the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers meet at Cairo, Illinois is the place where he was created. Neil said his point of origin was based on 3 factors. He was looking for creation as a whole. A place where the culture and society he lives in is expressed. And for a place that has been part of his own life. This junction of two great American rivers meets these tests.

Brainy Endorsements: Ann Johnson

Ann Johnson is the Democrat running to represent HD-134, the district I lived in a few years ago, in the Texas House of Representatives. She is challenging a one-term incumbent Republican named Sarah Davis, who barely managed to defeat former state representative (and now Houston councilwoman) Ellen Cohen in 2010. There is no Libertarian or Green candidate competing in this district.

Johnson is both a cancer survivor and an out lesbian as well as an attorney and former prosecutor. From her profile in OutSmart...

Johnson supports Obama’s Affordable Care Act, and points out that the LGBT community would greatly benefit from healthcare reform. “I oppose discrimination in any form,” Johnson says. “Texas, right now, is at the bottom of the barrel, dead-last in the nation for being able to provide care to its citizens. Our governor has taken a position to say that he’s going to keep it that way. I don’t agree with that. Texas has to evaluate whether or not it’s in the best interest of our state, our citizens, and our economy to turn down $76 billion that we have already paid [for our Medicaid program]—money that’s due to come back to the state. Making sure we have healthcare is a benefit to everyone, and that is an equality issue for everybody.” 

Davis, a cancer survivor herself, has shockingly voted against much of the women's health legislation that came before the Texas House in the last session, save the bill mandating transvaginal sonograms for women prior to their choosing to end their pregnancies. Blogger nonsequiteuse has the best interpretation of that dichotomy.

Davis likes to call herself a moderate because that's what HD-134 reflects. The truth is that she is more like Greg Abbott: a person who advocated to change Texas law concerning the health crisis he suffered, and has done all that he could to deny others that which he benefited from.

Meyerland Democratic Club president Art Pronin also notes today on his Facebook page...

TX State Sen Joan Huffman (17) is fundraising for Rep. Sarah Davis. Sen. Huffman is the #1 rated anti-choice senator. She authored the sonogram bill in the Senate and is a key ally of Dan Patrick. She also sponsored the (bill) to defund Planned Parenthood. We must inform the voters of 134: Davis is no moderate and the people surrounding her prove it.

Savvy readers will recall that one of my previous endorsements included the Green running against Huffman in SD-17, David Courtney. So with no alternate candidate in this race, I encourage Greens to support Johnson, and likewise for Democrats, Courtney in SD-17 against Huffman.

This is how we build progressive coalitions, folks.

Charles Kuffner has blogged extensively about the race, including this recent interview with Johnson as well as this post last spring signaling the Davis-Johnson tilt as a bellwether for Democratic House prospects.

Update: The NYT -- via the TexTrib -- has a bit about the contest today.

Representative Sarah Davis, Republican of Houston, is running in a district where both Mr. Obama and Mr. Perry were on the short end. That result for Mr. Perry had something to do with his 2010 opponent — former Mayor Bill White of Houston — but almost everybody thinks she has a race this year against Ann Johnson, her Democratic foe.

Previous Brainy Endorsements include the following:

Nile Copeland for the First Court of Appeals
Alfred and GC Molison for HD 131 and SBOE, respectively
Henry Cooper for HD 148
Keith Hampton for Presiding Judge, Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
Barbara Gardner for the Fourteenth Court of Appeals
Don Cook for Congress, 22nd District
Max Martin for Congress, 36th District
Remington Alessi for Harris County Sheriff
David Courtney for Texas Senate, District 17
Ann Harris Bennett for Harris County Tax Assessor/Collector