Quick updates on Houston municipal elections

As we wait for Charles' manifesto...

-- Via Stace once more, the Democrats are crowding into AL1 (Costello, term-limited, running for mayor) and AL4 (Bradford, term-limited).

Laurie Robinson, Amanda Edwards and Larry Blackmon will all run for the at-large city council seat to be vacated by C.O. “Brad” Bradford, according to campaign treasurer designations filed in recent weeks.

Bradford, a former chief of the Houston Police Department, was elected to at-large position four in 2009 and is now term limited. The seat in recent years has been held by an African American.

Robinson, who leads a management consulting firm, lost her race for an at-large seat in 2011, and considered, but declined, a repeat run in 2013. Edwards is an associate at the law firm Bracewell and Giuliani, and Blackmon is a retired school teacher active in local politics.

The other open-seat at-large race more quickly drew names: Lane Lewis, chair of the Harris County Democratic Party; Houston Community College trustee Chris Oliver; Trebor Gordon, who successfully challenged Houston’s campaign blackout period; Philippe Nassif, a local Democratic activist; and Jenifer Rene Pool, a leader in Houston’s transgender community are all running to succeed Stephen Costello, who is running for mayor after being term limited.

Not mentioned here is the candidacy of Jan Clark, an attorney/Realtor and the vice-president of the Oak Forest Democrats, who purportedly intends to run in At-Large 5 against Jack Christie.

It seems a shame to let Kubosh in AL3 just skate back in; maybe somebody will grow a pair and take him on.  Christie seems notably the weakest incumbent on council after managing just 55% two years ago against two hapless Democrats (sorry, Noah's dad).

Update: Texpate expands a little on the above.

-- A rarely-cited source of local political news is Aubrey Taylor's blog; he's got the take on the three African American men bidding for mayor (Sylvester Turner, Ben Hall, and Sean Roberts).  HBCM is difficult to read because of its style and graphics, but he has insights into the black community not found elsewhere online.  Taylor sees some obstacles to Turner's front-running status at this early juncture, but goes out of his way to warn anybody from extrapolating that into his disfavoring the state representative's bid for mayor.

Methinks too much warning.

Noteworthy there is Congressman Al Green's early and second-time endorsement of Hall.  As a sidebar conversation, there's a lot that could be blogged about Representative Green (who represented me before 2010 redistricting).  My first falling-out with him was his support of the bankruptcy re-org legislation favored by the big banks in 2005; he's more recently voted in favor of the Keystone XL pipeline.  He might be best known outside of Houston for being a rail hog at SOTU speeches.

He's a big-time holy roller and probably has been friends with Hall since divinity school, the most likely motivation for his crossing the aisle and supporting this Republican in the mayor's race.  While he's been a decent liberal on many issues, including gay rights, when he slips occasionally, they're doozies.  Somebody needs to get the congressman on record in support of or in opposition to the city's equal rights ordinance, and contrast that with his support of Hall, who will no doubt be prevaricating on the topic again.

More as it develops.

Update: Marc Campos has crowned Bill King the monarch of potholes.  That's the best thing that guy has blogged in years.

Scott Walker isn't ready for prime time, and more Sweet '16

He has certainly peaked way too soon.

"You talk about leadership and you talk about big, bold, fresh ideas," she said, dispensing with his boilerplate. "What is your big, bold, fresh idea in Syria?"

The question should've prompted an admission that many geopolitical problems are unavoidably thorny – that there often isn't a "big, bold, fresh idea" that would solve them.

Instead this exchange followed...

Just go read the back-and-forth between Martha Raddatz and Walker, and the analysis that follows.  It was as bad watching and listening to it as it is reading the transcript, indeed somewhat worse.  He was in completely over his head, and it was the shallow end of the pool.

Think ABC and Raddatz, or The Atlantic, is "librul media"?  How about Forbes?

When Raddatz asked, “What would you do about the 11 million undocumented who are still here?,” Walker responded, “We for sure need to secure the border. I think we need to enforce the legal system. I’m not for amnesty, I’m not an advocate of the plans that have been pushed here in Washington… we need to find a way for people to have a legitimate legal immigration system in this country, and that doesn’t mean amnesty.”

Wow…how is it possible that nobody else has thought of securing the border? This is a new and bold idea.

And while he bravely suggested that we need to ‘find a way for people to have a legitimate legal immigration system in this country,” the whole idea of having bold, fresh and new ideas is to actually propose these big solutions—not remind us that “somebody” needs to “find a way.”

I did something I never do any longer: tuned in a Sunday Morning Talking Head Show to watch a specific interview.  My motivation was to look again at Walker and see if I had missed something; has he overcome the Droopy-looking, putzy, Midwesterner-who-dropped-out-of-college bit for a fresh, smartened-up presidential contending one?  Has he gotten some sort of charisma infusion?

The answers remain 'no he hasn't', and 'no he hasn't'.  It's difficult for me to believe that the GOP is capable of nominating someone far more ignorant in every single way than George W. Bush.  As blogged previously, he should have some staying power just because the turf he's staked out is unoccupied by three other Republican wannabees.  And the first debate that includes him and Rick Perry is going to be an instant classic for the guffaws and Twitter memes alone.  This might develop into some significant problem for him, but even if it doesn't, Walker simply isn't bright enough -- JMHO, of course -- to be vice president.

Unless he's on a stage between a row of corn stalks and cornpones, he's out of his element.

Update: No More Mister Nice Blog will keep an eye on him for me. As befits a man of low intelligence, he's got a few things memorized, and when he gets knocked off his script, he's lost.

-- Stupid isn't Chris Christie's actual problem.  He knows exactly what he's doing, and doesn't care that you know.  A Dale Carnegie course won't save his campaign, and neither will Romney's exit.  Some digging produced another example of his grifting, pandering ways, and when you ladle some of his trademark arrogance over the top of that... well, let's just say that he's going to be fun in the debates too, but the South ain't gonna vote for no fatass Yankee asshole.

-- Rand Paul is going to make contempt for the media a thing again.  Unlike Walker's foreign policy depth and Christie's anger management issues, this could be of some benefit to his ambitions.  But the case for more libertarianism is failing with the emerging 'debate' over 'vaccine choice'.

Even Rick Perry, for crying out loud, is smarter than this.  And Ben Carson, too.  The issue is still going to drop a few more aspiring presidential candidates into the hot, popping grease.  Hard for me to see how Paul avoids the fire as he eventually scrambles out of the frying pan.  The nostalgia of the conservatives for the 1950's does not extend to the understanding that childhood vaccines began to be mandated a hundred years earlier than that, and for obvious reasons.  The conservative base's contempt for science, logic, and facts notwithstanding -- and to be fair, an oddball collection of limousine neoliberals -- this nation isn't quite stupid enough yet (I think) to elect an anti-vaxxer.  If I'm wrong and it is, then we can stop worrying about climate change.  Contagion will cull the herd much faster.

-- The political consultant hot stove league has warmed up for Perry, and Ted Cruz as well.

A political firm that has been part of Perry's brain trust is aligning with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's likely campaign team. On Monday, two veteran GOP consultants, Danny Diaz and Jon Downs of the Washington-based firm FP1 Strategies, joined Bush's Right to Rise Leadership PAC, according to a CNN report.

The move raised eyebrows in Washington, because one of the firm's other founding partners, Terry Nelson, was part of a circle of advisers who aided Perry's effort at redemption after a lackluster 2012 presidential campaign, according to The Washington Post.

The positioning led some in the GOP consultant class to wonder if the firm would split alliances between the two camps.

That will not be the case, according to a statement from Nelson.

"We have great respect and admiration for Governor Rick Perry as a leader and as a person," Nelson said. "But FP1 has decided that our efforts going forward should be united in the event either Governors Perry or Bush decide to run.”

Nelson was an adviser to a nonprofit called Americans for Economic Freedom that is aligned with Perry advisers.

Here's a little about Rick Perry's money we should know.

Of the $103,537 that Rick PAC reported taking in between Nov. 25 and Dec. 31 of last year, a majority came from donors and their spouses who “maxed out,” or gave $5,000, the most federal law lets them donate to a PAC like Perry’s during a calendar year. Among those contributors are longtime Perry supporters such as Houston engineering executive James Dannenbaum, Houston investment adviser James Lee and former Astros owner Drayton McLane.

This is the only kind of TPS campaign finance reporting I have interest in: who's buying and who's selling whom.  (Ross Ramsey at the TexTrib is doing a bang-up job in this regard with respect to the Lege; more on that in a post to come.)  And here's the latest on the third Texas favorite son who wants to be president next year.

Cruz raised $100,000 for his PAC during the final five weeks of 2014 and spent just about as much to pay for its advisers, many of whom were hired in recent months as Cruz increased his travel to the country’s early-primary states. His joint fundraising committee, which gave about half of its proceeds to the PAC, collected $230,000 during that period.

His top political expenses continue to be Vincent Harris, a digital consultant who recently switched to join Rand Paul’s probable 2016 team; Jason Johnson, the Austin-based strategist credited with planning Cruz’ upset in his 2012 primary against David Dewhurst; and Lauren Lofstrom, a national fundraising consultant.

This past summer, Cruz beefed up his political shop by hiring Lofstrom, communications adviser Jason Miller and strategist Jeff Roe, who runs a direct-mail firm in Kansas City.

Keeping track of the puppeteers and the money they require to keep our political system corrupted is going to remain the focus of my efforts going forward.

The Weekly Wrangle

More than three-fifths of the Texas Progressive Alliance believe that the Seahawks should have handed off to Marshawn Lynch as it brings you this week's roundup.

Off the Kuff writes about opposition to the Plano equal rights ordinance from transgender activists, who say it excludes their community.

Libby Shaw, writing for Daily Kos, sounds the alarm bell on conservative lawmakers. When one touts one's conservative credentials, voters should never assume this means one is necessarily fiscally responsible, ethical or honest, in Conservative Texas: Cronies, Crooks, No-Bid Contracts, No Oversight, Junk Science.

WCNews at Eye on Williamson knows that Dan Patrick and the GOP are going to cut taxes no matter what, and need has nothing to do with it.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme is appalled at the racism coming from Texas Republican representatives to the US House and the Texas Legislature.

Bob Stein at Rice University's Baker Institute handicapped the Houston mayor's race much the same as PDiddie at Brains and Eggs did... two weeks ago.  And Dos Centavos posted the latest cheez.

Politicians love to talk about the economic skills gap -- where there are a lot of job opportunities out there, but not enough skilled workers to fill them. But thankfully as Texas Leftist learned, some Houston politicians are moving beyond the talk and working to actually address the issue. Plus, some big news for Texas musicians as we finally learn the fate of the Texas Music Office under Governor Abbott.

Neil at All People Have Value acknowledged the bad behavior of Texas conservatives inside and outside the Capitol last week, but also wondered when Texas Democrats would stand up in defense of justice and fairness.

Bluedaze documented the Texas earthquakes on Super Bowl Sunday.  Just the ones on that day.

Ted at jobsanger wanted to know if juvenile justice actually got better in Texas, or if that was just an illusion.

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

And here are some posts of interest from other Texas blogs.

The TSTA Blog reminds us that "school choice" is not a choice for many families in Texas.

The Rivard Report predicts that driverless cars will not solve all of our traffic problems.

Texas Clean Air Matters urges the Legislature to restore clean air funding.

Keep Austin Wonky maps the decline of the capitol city's bus service.

Minding Houston explains 1115 waivers.

Mark Phariss implores the citizens of Plano not to reject its equal rights ordinance. Nell Gaither, on the other hand, argues that it excludes the transgender community.

Newsdesk explains how open carry advocates shot themselves in the foot.

Scott Braddock highlights another controversy connected to Michael Quinn Sullivan.

Unfair Park reports that the city of Fort Worth has extended spousal benefits to same-sex couples.

Burnt Orange Report takes note of the Tea Party under way in the Texas Senate, but not (yet) in the House.

Socratic Gadfly points out to Bernie Sanders that he's taking the wrong fork in the political road.

State Impact Texas noted that the financial markets are now betting on the Keystone XL pipeline.

And the TPA welcomes Diary of a Mad Trial Lawyer, the occasional observations of former judge Susan Criss, to the Tex-blogosphere.

Mittens is out of the clown car, but Miss Lindsey is in

We don't need to link to Governor 47%'s withdrawal, do we?  How about Governor 39%'s clarity?  Let's excerpt it anyway just for the laughs.

During an appearance on Fox News on Wednesday, former Gov. Rick Perry told host Sean Hannity that he realized how unprepared he was to run for president in 2012.

He started an "intensive program" in late 2012, he said, with domestic policy, foreign policy and monetary policy, "so when I stand on the stage and debate this next time, you're going to see a person who is very, very well prepared and able to talk across the board about the issues that the president of the United States is going to have to deal with as we go into 2017."

Perry had gone on the program to discuss the recent developments on his pending indictments, calling the case "a badge of honor."

Video at the link.  He's going for the Dan Quayle bump, for all you millennials who don't have a clue about scorn worn as a fashion accessory.  I'm anxious to change my Twitter avatar to this, but nah gah do it until Zombie Governor Oops gets another stake driven through his heart.

The real news is the heretofore stealth candidate coming out, Madam Senatah from the Grate State a Sou' Cahalina.

The already-crowded field of would-be Republican presidential candidates grew again on Thursday when Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) announced the formation of an exploratory committee for president.

The launch of the Security Through Strength committee enables Graham to raise money for a potential run. It’s the clearest sign yet that he is serious about entering the race, and comes as a flurry of White House aspirants are taking public and private steps toward entering what could be the most wide-open GOP primary in memory.

Graham is not regarded as a top-tier candidate by most Republicans and may run into problems because of some moderate views he holds.

'Moderate' once again being a relative term in this usage.

But he is known primarily as one of the GOP’s leading hawks on national security and represents an early nominating state, making him a potentially disruptive force in a fluid race. His positions on the use of U.S. force will probably put him at odds with at least one other prominent 2016 hopeful, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who represents the growing libertarian wing of the party.

There we go: a faceoff between the Teabagging warmongerers and the Teabagging isolationists.  It's Chris Kyle's world now in Dumbfuckistan (also known as the Deep South) and Graham Cracker sees an opening to exploit.

Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, another Republican making moves toward running, called Graham a “good man,” a “friend” and a “man of deep passions.”

Does it make anyone else's gaydar go off when sullen Republican white men talk about each other's passions?  Speaking of latent homosexuality, the thing to watch for at any GOP shindig over the next year -- and there will be one every other weekend, as we know -- is whether or not Rick Perry and Lindsey Graham are bunking in the same cabin.  (That link is probably NSF your W.)

Of course, Graham’s main problem is that he may have some skeletons rattling around in his, er, closet. His far-right opponents in last year’s GOP primary didn’t have any problems labeling him “ambiguously gay” and “a nancy boy.” Rumors about Graham on the verge of being outed pop up every once and a while, a phenomenon that will increase dramatically if he runs for president. Esquire political columnist Charles Pierce pointedly calls Graham Senator Huckleberry J. Butchmeup. (Graham’s official photo doesn’t do much to knock that nickname down.)

Needless to say, Graham insists he’s not gay. He’s done so by speculating about having a relationship with Ricky Martin, which is exactly the kind of thing that a red-blooded heterosexual would do.

I'm laughing so hard I'm coughing and choking.