Tuesday, December 14, 2021

Filling the Filings Wrangle (with updates)


I'm so old I remember when Warren G. Harding (not the former president) got elected state treasurer, and Gene Kelly (not the deceased dancer, as Barbara Radnofsky will attest) almost -- well, not quite -- got elected US Senator.


Anything that pisses Dave Carney off is worth a few laughs.  Update: Such as the Bum Steer of the Year award.


The downside is that serious candidates will again be forced to beg for attention from the state's political reporters while they chase the 'not that Rick Perry' story.  As long as you can accept that we live in an oligarchy on the days when it isn't a plutocracy, you won't be too disillusioned.  More blunt: Just stop with the 'democracy' shit already.


Not fond of but not surprised by Collier's overuse of the royal 'we' in his statement here.  He really ought to be called a 'perennial' -- or 'frequent' -- candidate in that dismissive tone that some use.


We'll wait and see re: "progressive".  Far too much co-opting of the word by Democrats, certainly Texas Democrats.  I question whether Latinas in South Texas not named Jessica Cisneros are breaking the mold, but I'll keep an open mind.


An update to TX-07:


On Tuesday, Javed acknowledged he was being asked to get out of the race but said he was determined to stay in it. Several hours later, Javed declared he had pulled out, too, with no further explanation.

And one additional morning-after reaction.


Really hoping the Democrats in John Whitmire's Senate district see fit to send him off to his previously-announced '23 H-Town mayoral campaign.


The Dean is going to have to put a lot of lipstick on his pig if he loses his last run for re-election to Austin.  And I will be here for it.

Truth to tell, however, there are bigger wads holding office that need to be ejected next year.  Let's consider the professional evaluations of Beto's latest tactic.


Seems like it might be effective.


Someone might fact-check Ms. Gilberg's claim, but regardless, enough evidence stands up to point out the governor's hypocrisy on defunding the police, especially in Austin.  Watch to see if this gains traction among LEOs.


I teased Michelle good-naturedly about her header and she took it in stride.  Her blog is outstanding from a civil rights perspective.  A little too heavy on the blue shilling for me, but that's because I'm Green now.  Delilah Barrios gets my support, money and vote for Texas governor.


One last filing update, intersecting with the criminal and social justice news (which follows).


... Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced grand jury indictments of three local Democrats -- Richard Bonton, Natasha Demming and Damien Jones -- connected to two election fraud schemes tied to local Texas House of Representatives races in House Districts 142 and 132.

You can read on at the link.


Nothing particularly new here; an aggregate of stories that have been ignored by the Blue crew for reasons that are patently obvious.

Updates from Texas Monthly's Mike Snyder and the Chron's Matt Schwartz.


Just plain weird.  Update:


The San Antonio Current is on top of one Alamo City school district's willingness to pull library books off the shelf.


The latest in climate.


Bloomberg Quint reported on two mysterious plumes of methane appearing on satellite above some East Texas oil and gas fields.  Update: ExxonMobil says it will use satellites to monitor the Permian Basin for methane leaks.  On the bright side, Environment Texas has a list of the top ten wins for the state's ecology this year, and the AP recounts the many coal-fired plants closing after the implementation of new federal wastewater guidelines.

Power producers that say they will shutter coal-fired units as a result of the new rule include Atlanta-based Southern Co. and Houston-based NRG. Southern, which operates electric utilities in Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi, said it will shutter two-thirds of its coal fleet, including units at the nation’s two largest coal-fired power plants, Scherer and Bowen, both in Georgia. NRG said it plans to stop burning coal at its domestic plants outside Texas, and install new pollution controls at its two Texas plants.


That's enough for today.  Closing with one soother.

Monday, December 13, 2021

The Filing Deadline Wrangle


Filing for partisan nomination or an independent candidacy for the 2022 general election concludes at 6 p.m. local time (today).

As far as we can tell, all incumbent statewide officials, legislators and members of Congress who announced plans to run for re-election (or at least didn’t announce plans to the contrary) have filed except for Reps. Claudia Ordaz Perez (D-El Paso), Ana-Maria Ramos (D-Dallas) and Ron Reynolds (D-Missouri City). Ordaz Perez is paired with Rep. Art Fierro (D-El Paso), who has filed for re-election.

It generally takes a couple of weeks for all the filing activity to shake out completely. County and state party chairs are not required to submit candidate information to the Secretary of State until December 21. The Secretary of State has an additional day to post certified candidate lists on its website. In rare cases for which extended deadlines are triggered, these deadlines shift a few days later. It can take longer to obtain information on independent candidates, who must file declarations of intent by tomorrow (Monday), but their actual application is not due until June 23. Write-in candidates cannot begin submitting their applications until July 23.


Another filing update tomorrow.  Local school board election results from Saturday:


Didn't see any whining about delayed returns posted by Harris Votes, but didn't look very hard, either (had much better plans for my Saturday night).  Relative to the outcomes: it must have been those two non-votes from my household that turned the the tide red.  Wait; nope.  Don't live in those jurisdictions.  Blame other Green Party members, or maybe Susan Sarandon.

For those who have offspring who will be educated in the state's public school systems, better get out there and hustle up your preferred electorate in the next election.  Because the fundies certainly are.

Back to the future (2022).


Fifty-five million dollars and more every day in the coffers and Governor Helen Wheels still grinds on the telephone like an extended warranty salesman.  Are you impressed by his determination?  Is this the type of person you want re-elected?

IMHO it's the result of a political system long gone rancid.

Another example: the ridiculousness of the latest goobernatorial poll underscoring the lack of value of this so-called science.  Braddock again with the hammer on the head of the nail.


Gambling on another Uri that does not come to pass probably ruins Texas Dems -- or at least their consultants -- for another generation, which is to say forever (when the climate fries us all).  Yes, I have blogged recently that the grid issue is paramount for Team Blue.  But they need to fight on multi-fronts, and on some bipartisan topics that Abbott won't risk touching, like cannabis legalization and civil asset reform (or better yet, abolishment).  Maybe even damage to the state's economy.


Meanwhile ...


I would imagine Diaz gets very favorable treatment from the state's political media.  How that translates into electoral success is to be determined.  This seems like a vanity play.  The TexDem Latin@ base vote might push her into a runoff with Beto.  Won't that look great for everybody.

Prescient from the TexTrib's James Barragan and Cassi Pollock.  Or was it Brett Kavanaugh?


Since I got a few days behind again ...


Kuff also reviewed the state and federal rulings on SB8.


SocraticGadfly also blogged about the latest suit against the Texas election law, the minor parties over filing fees (trust me on this: SG hates everybody).  Jessica Huseman at VoteBeat.org reported on the insanity of the Potter County Republican Party and its plans for an all-analog primary.


One environmental update ...


... and one social justice update today.


More tomorrow.  Ending with the calm-me-downs.


The Austin Chronicle has a South by Southwest update.

Wednesday, December 08, 2021

Hump Day Wrangle

I've caught up, finally, so these round-ups of the best of the left of Texas are going to start getting weirder, in that what-Austin-used-to-be kinda way.


Not what you clicked over for?  Okay.  Back to politics.


Chairman Padrino looks a little defensive back there (and this photo wasn't taken recently).  Maybe the Colonel was already ragging him about something.


I'm wondering if Svitek has ever written "who is White" or "who is Latin@" after someone's name. Smells like elitism to me, and that's on an upwind day.  I retweet him a lot but I have to be honest: the stench of clubby oligarchy hangs thick on the guy.  He's been snuggling with Evan Smith, the Roger Ailes of the Lone Star State, since the TexTrib first got going, and now they are two sides of the same coin.  Even Scott Braddock and Harold Cook aren't this bad (but they're still bad).


These aren't the drones we're looking for.  This isn't the democracy I paid for.


But my satisfaction wasn't guaranteed, and I don't get my money, or the decade I spent trying to change the Democratic Party from within, back.  If I could, though, I would use it to build my pie higher.  I'da been a better capitalist.  Made a lot more money and then become an expat by now.  That's still the plan.


I cracked back on Dr. Jones earlier for this.


I'll let others pick up the slack.


Democrats and Republicans should pay, since they conduct primary elections.  Greens and Libertarians nominate at convention, so filing fees for them -- as well as stringent requirements for independent candidates -- are just a ballot access cockblock.  Which is the way the Blues and Reds like it.  Couple that with the Sviteks and Smiths who won't so much as acknowledge minor party candidates, and it's a perfect storm of indifference.

To his credit, Braddock is an adept purveyor of snark without fear of its potential consequences, like losing access.


Then again, Larson capitulated to the wingnuts.  He gave up all his power, so swinging at him after he's left the building seems gratuitous.

Let's move on to the criminal and social justice news.


That's my segue to the environmental updates.


Ending today with the calm-me-downs.