A Democratic House member told me that the surviving D’s caucused on the day of Edmund Kuempel’s funeral. A common theme in the discussion was anger over what some members regarded as racism in the campaign. “Oliveira was the grownup,” the House member told me. “He said, ‘We don’t need
From today’s Chronicle: According to the complaint filed by Dave Palmer, a California-based ethics watchdog, Taylor has used his campaign/officeholder account to pay for $31,952 worth of travel expenses, including 90 airfares, 12 hotel bills, 5 conference registration fees and a car rental – all of which Taylor also
To be fully accurate, Chisum did not say these words directly. He agreed with a questioner at a Tarrant County meeting who said these words. The episode can be seen on YouTube. A questioner asks, “I’ve seen a letter purporting to come from Representative Hughes’s office where one of
Poor Snoopy. He concocted the best Thanksgiving dinner he could, but Peppermint Patty flew into a rage when she saw the spread: buttered toast, pretzel sticks, popcorn, ice cream sundaes, and jelly beans. I’ve never understood why Patty got so angry at Charlie Brown about that assortment of carbs and
In today’s post, I am going to concentrate on the politics of the DeLay case rather than the law. That will come later. Will the DeLay verdict spell trouble for the Travis County District Attorney’s Public Integrity Unit, which receives state funding? In a blog post dated April 15, 2009,
Making it past the new sign outside, I entered into the dining room where I ordered a half rack of the sweet and spicy baby backs, a chunk of brisket, and some jalapeno cheese sausage. The sausage had great spice and flavor. The meat was incredibly moist with
In a post yesterday, “New Pledges for Paxton,” I addressed the news that several freshman members had decided to join the Resistance to Joe Straus: “One of the things that has been going on is that certain consultants have encouraged their clients to pledge to Paxton. Is that really doing
A spokesman for Marchant asked that this be posted on this site. The surgery took place in Dallas after he had chest pains. First, the official release: On Monday, Texas Republican U.S. Congressman Kenny Marchant, 59, had successful double by-pass heart surgery. Marchant is recovering well and expects to be
Reggie Bashur asked me to post this information for his friends and associates. He has a malignant brain tumor. It is a compact mass, which is a positive sign. He will undergo surgery at M.D. Anderson on Wednesday, December 1. His doctors are optimistic. He expects to return to work
Zedler, Landtroop, Charles Perry. No surprises here. Zedler had already revoked his pledge to Straus. The next move by the Resisitance to Straus could be for Chisum to leave the race and throw his support to Paxton. These developments amount to rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. What the Resistance
Leave it to me to write something cryptic on the office party Thanksgiving potluck sign-up sheet. Under the desserts column, I just wrote “butternut squash surprise.” One skeptical colleague wrote “dessert??” underneath my claim. “Yep!” I replied, with confidence. Except I had no idea what to whip up. Another colleague
Today is the anniversary, forty-seven years ago, of the Kennedy Assassination. For many of those years, the anniversary received significant mention in the state’s newspapers. TEXAS MONTHLY regularly published stories in November issues, usually at five-year intervals, updating the latest in assassination scholarship and trivia. Today, the event was largely
At its December meeting, the State Board of Education made recommendations to the Legislature concerning the issues it regards as a priority for the next legislative session. Here they are: 1. Assure full funding of Proclamation 2011 instructional materials to honor the commitment made to publishers during the 81st session
This article appeared in the Jewish Herald-Voice, a Houston/Gulf Coast community newspaper for members of the Jewish faith. Chisum supports the Jewish state and respects the Jewish faith, his former pastor says A challenger for the Texas House speaker job was wrongly associated with a religious identity attack against
This report is unconfirmed. I received it around 6 o’clock this evening. I left a phone message at Hancock’s district office seeking confirmation. A source writes: “A friend of mine in the Dallas area told me that Kelly Hancock spoke to the Metroplex Republican Women today and said that the
This is the official release: AUSTIN – Reggie Bashur, 58, an Austin consultant and former press secretary to Gov. Bill Clements, fell ill while traveling back to Austin on Thursday night. He is currently under evaluation at Seton Hospital in Austin, according to his assistant Matthew Bentley. * * *
Oh, how downtown Austin’s Rainey Street has changed. This quiet little neighborhood used to be the last refuge of cute houses in the area, and its inhabitants probably never imagined such a transformation. It started with a modest influx of hula hoopers and beer-pong players at the trendy
Mike Hailey got it exactly right in Capitol Inside (November 17): A grassroots campaign by conservative leaders to overthrow Texas House Speaker Joe Straus has been severely undermined by an outbreak of anti-Semitic rhetoric from which the two challengers in the leadership fight are now attempting to distance themselves as
Sharon Hage, the chef-owner of York Street, one of the smallest, yet most celebrated, restaurants in Dallas, is closing it on Saturday. Food writer Teresa Gubbins broke the news on the web site Pegasus News about an hour and a half ago. Gubbins wrote that Hage told she
I checked the Empower Texans web site today to see how many signatures they are claiming on their anti-Straus letter. It’s 4.500+. However, Peter Morrison, whose references to Straus’s Jewish religion and other musings have been documented by Harvey Kronberg on the Quorum Report web site, is no longer signature
Here’s what I don’t get about the speakers race: Where are the grownups? Aren’t there some distinguished Republicans out there who don’t want to see the party divided going into a legislative session? Doesn’t Rick Perry have a stake in stopping the vicious attacks on Straus, one of the perpetrators
Every five to six years (starting in 1999), this magazine has published a roundup of the best Mexican restaurants in Texas. Our December issue marks the third edition of that opinionated, subjective, and controversial list. First, a few words of explanation: The headline on this story is “LET’S HAVE MEX-TEX.”
The caucus leadership decided to go through with the straw poll today. I have good information about the process but I do not know the result of the “poll.” The polling and tallying was done by telephone, by an employee of the caucus. Two questions were asked. The first was,
[This post has been revised today. The latest information is that the purpose of a poll would be to determine if the speaker should be chosen by the Republican caucus. I read this information on the Quorum Report.] The caucus leadership is Straus-unfriendly, to put it mildly. Taylor has been
From the article: Texas Gov. Rick Perry will be tapped as the new chairman of the Republican Governors Association when the organization meets next week in San Diego, GOP sources tell POLITICO. Perry recently released a book taking aim at the federal government and both the subject of the
Many have wondered (a) whether and (b) when religion would become an issue in the speaker’s race. The answers are, (a) yes and (b) now. The following is the online Peter Morrison Report, dated November 11: Summary of this week’s report: Joe Straus, the liberal Republican Speaker of
In Texas you can’t lift a fork without brisket raining down on you, à la Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. In the trailer scene, slap a bun around that baby and you’ve got the ubiquitously uniform brisket sandwich, ready to be eaten on your way to the bar, stumbling
This was the morning where instead of discovering another great barbecue joint in Texas, Smokemaster1 and I were taking my friend Rob to the heart of barbecue country to find out what all the fuss was about. A stop at Chisholm Trail for excellent sausage and brisket but no
From the Web site of the Texas Tea Party Patriots PAC: Well respected Conservative Ken Paxton, of McKinney will announce formally he is running for Texas Speaker of the House tomorrow. Ken has over a 95% conservative record and draws support from across the State. This comes in light of
The statement: “These allegations are outrageous and I have a call into Rep. Hughes to insist that he name the individual with whom he had this alleged conversation. I did not and would never authorize, allow, or condone linking redistricting in any way with the Speaker’s race, and anyone who
No sooner had I declared that the speaker’s race appeared to be over than the Bryan Hughes letter came out: REP. BRYAN HUGHES WITHDRAWS SUPPORT FOR SPEAKER STRAUS Today after much prayer and counsel, I formally withdraw my support for Speaker Joe Straus. I do this with no malice toward
This is Michael Quinn Sullivan’s latest ploy in the speaker’s race: Good morning, More than 1,700 Texas voters have joined 120 tea party organizers, Republican leaders and conservative activists in calling for a conservative speaker of the Texas House. And the list is growing daily. The letter, copied below, is
I received this e-mail from the UT Athletic department. Dear Longhorns fan, Thank you for your continued support of UT Athletics. As a loyal Longhorn Scoreboard subscriber, we want to provide you an opportunity to purchase tickets to a remaining Texas Football game at a discount price. For a limited
A meeting is scheduled this afternoon at the building occupied by the Texas Public Policy Foundation. It is probably taking place as I write. My information is that representatives of Straus and some of his adversaries, including Michael Quinn Sullivan, are having discussions that could result in the shaping of
More heavy artillery in the speaker’s race. Berman sends an open letter to Straus. Sid Miller fires back. There is a link to both letters on the Quorum Report Web site. I am grateful to the QR for the link. I did receive a copy of Miller’s letter but not
For months prior to the election, the favorite speculation game in Austin was, What number of Republicans members would it take to undermine Joe Straus’s chances of keeping his speakership. I don’t think anyone guessed 99. But that’s the number, and the forces on the right wasted no time in
Smitty’s is just too good to dock it a star based on one mediocre visit, but this last one wasn’t up to the level I’m used to at Smitty’s. [After some poignant review of the last few visits, I must reconsider the high rating of five stars. Of
I’m surprised that Donna Howard won. Military ballots usually favor Republicans. That said, Dan Neil didn’t deserve to win. He hardly ran a campaign. I got an e-mail message about him blockwalking — in October. There is, of course, a major difference between a majority of 99-51 and one of
If I were stranded on a deserted island and could only have three foodstuffs to take with me, they would be dark chocolate, red wine, and (most importantly) cheese. So when it comes to lackluster meals, my go-to fix is simply to add one of those three. The pan’s too
In a recent post about Kay Bailey Hutchison and her future, several commenters took issue with my statement that the bailout has been a success. One of the points that I made was that TARP had made money for the government, and that Hutchison had been right to support the
The lead item in the Web site politicalwire.com today is Mark McKinnon’s column in The Daily Beast: Texas Gov. Rick Perry beat Democratic challenger Bill White, the former mayor of Houston, for an historic and unprecedented third four-year term by a whopping 13 points, a margin that surprised even his
Twenty-three Democratic senators will be up for reelection in 2012 compared to only thirteen Republicans. The conservative Web site RedState.com is looking for potential tea party targets–among the Republicans, not the Democrats. From the RedState article: As you are settling down from yesterday’s victories, you will want to also
I don’t know why I love tea so much. I think it has to do with exploring a different cultural reality than the “DWF Seeking Something Fun To Do On The Weekend Besides Go See A Movie That Everyone Saw When It Came Out” that is my current life. Anyhooo.
Everybody liked Edmund Kuempel. He never had a mean word for anybody. No one enjoyed being in the House more than he did. Longtime Capitol observers will recall the days when he went around the floor stealing kisses from women colleagues. After his heart attack in a House elevator near
She may not have been a lady who lunches in the traditional sense, but she sure knew how to lunch: The woman standing in front of me at the Peached Tortilla ordered Belgian fries and peach poppers. Granted, the hand-cut fries rocketed out of this world when combined with
This is from a Web site called Mr. Media Training blog: “2010 was supposed to be the year that attacking the media — if not ignoring it altogether — was the winning media strategy. It didn’t turn out that way. Tuesday’s election results are a vindication for media strategists
Observant readers may recall this post from last week, which ran under the headline, “For whom the bell polls:” The very last poll of the election season is the final newspapers’ poll. Perry is +12, 49% to 37%. This is less a reflection of Perry’s and White’s individual strengths and
Regrets: My fantasy for the night was that John Weems’ superior qualifications for the Railroad Commission would impress enough people for him to beat David Porter, a stealth candidate who knocked Victor Carillo out of the race in the Republican primary. Not even close. Surprise: I didn’t think Republicans could
This report is from my colleague Patricia Kilday Hart, who attended Warren Chisum’s press conference this morning: Warren Chisum, surrounded by an impressive array of dead animal heads on his basement Capitol office walls (“I still remember the looks in their eyes”) announced this morning that he was still a
There are 25, including Zedler, who withdrew his pledge. Republicans/District X = new member 2 Flynn 3 Cain X 6 Berman 7 Simpson 9 Christian 12 White X 26 Howard, Charlie 30 Morrison 45 Isaac X 61 King 66 Taylor, Van X 74 [Gallego pledged to Straus] 82 Craddick 83
