Here’s what he has to say:

Texas Republicans have an important election on May the 29th.  We have a lot to be proud of.  That’s why I’m proud to endorse David Dewhurst,”
Perry says in the 30-second TV spot. “David Dewhurst repeatedly cut spending. David strongly opposes a state income tax.  David’s the one candidate best prepared to make conservative change happen in Washington.  Don’t let anyone tell you differently. Our country needs him and so does Texas.”

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I suppose the Dewhurst campaign thinks this is a plus for the light gov, but I’m doubtful that anyone is going to be influenced by what Perry has to say these days.

From the politicalwire Web site:

The Topeka Capital Journal reports that robocalls made by Sarah Palin to influence the outcome of the Republican U.S. Senate primary in Texas were actually going to voters in Kansas.

Said Palin: “Hello, Texas! I’m Sarah Palin.”

Allegations against Hamilton, posted on  the Web site “Texas Conservative Republican News” include:

* Tax liens of $601.92 and $2,657.91 against Hamilton

* A $2000 civil penalty levied against Hamilton for ethics violations

* Sexual harassment allegations against Hamilton

The latter was an incident that took place on the floor of the House. A female member from El Paso was at the microphone when Hamilton asked her suggestive questions about the size of the “mountains” in El Paso and whether they were real. TEXAS MONTHLY singled out Hamilton for a “Dishonorable Mention” award for his actions.

During his commencement address to UT graduates and their families on Saturday, Gates praised Bill Powers, saying, “You are blessed to have him as your leader. The best I can wish for all Longhorns is that people like Bill Powers and [former president] Larry Faulkner continue to lead this great university long into the future.”

Gates also made reference to another issue in higher education, the value of research, which has been questioned by critics:

“You have experienced the unparalleled learning that takes place at the University of Texas – learning enriched by the teaching and research that has made American higher education the envy of the world….” What is discovered in the lab one day is taught in the classroom during the next. This blending of teaching and research makes UT, A&M and all great universities unique incubators of human talent, discovery, and economic development and innovation.”

This is a correction of an earlier post concerning the counties with the highest percentage of registered voters who have cast ballots. The corrected numbers:

Montgomery 3.01%

Galveston 2.68%

Williamson 2.33%

Fort Bend 2.23%

I am somewhat surprised by the result. I don’t think Montgomery has a lot of hot races. Eissler has a tough reelection battle on his hands, but that is about all.

The high turnout in Galveston is explained by a congressional race with ten Republican candidates, including state representative Randy Weber, and a state Senate race involving Larry Taylor. Weber and the winner of the likely runoff will face former Democratic congressman Nick Lampson.

The Williamson county turnout is driven by a high profile district attorney’s race between incumbent John Bradley and county attorney Jana Duty. Bradley refused to allow DNA testing of a evidence that would have exonerated Michael Morton.

Fort Bend County has a nasty sheriff’s race that is driving turnout, as well as a battle for Charlie Howard’s seat that has some high profile contenders and will probably be resolved in a runoff.

There is a lot of action in Tarrant. It’s not a primary race, but Mark Shelton vs. Wendy Davis will be a titanic general election battle, and Kelly Hancock vs. Todd Smith is a critical Republican primary race. There is also a congressional race with twelve candidates in a district that extends from Tarrant County into Travis County. But Tarrant did not have a sufficient turnout rate to place in the top four counties.

Gates’ resume includes his current job, Chancellor of William & Mary, as well as Secretary of Defense in the George W. Bush administration and Director of Central Intelligence.

It will be interesting to see if Gates alludes to the current controversy at UT. Perry wanted Phil Gramm to be president of A&M when Gates got the job, thanks to the votes of holdover regents appointed by Governor Bush. Knowing Gates (I did a cover story on him just before he left A&M to be SecDef), I wouldn’t be surprised if he had something to say on the subject. If he does, it won’t be favorable to Perry.

The first obvious point to make is that somebody failed to vet White. The question that should be asked of every candidate for office is, “Have you ever done something that could cause you a problem if it becomes public?” In the White campaign, who did the vetting? Some consultant’s head ought to roll.

The second obvious point to make is that the fleas are going to land on somebody. As of now, the number one candidate is Rick Perry, who endorsed White. Perry made a big show of going around the state and bestowing endorsements. That’s all well and good if you know what you’re doing, but if something goes wrong, the fleas start to circle. Perry is going to be asked if he stands by his endorsement, or if he is going to walk it back. The fleas are going to land on TLR too. As I wrote in a post yesterday, TLR is playing a dangerous game. They are “all in” against veteran legislators, and if something were to go wrong, they’re going to be in big trouble. Well, something has gone very wrong, and they’re about to be in big trouble.

A couple of months ago I wrote a post about how unusual it was for statewide officials to endorse in legislative races. Some readers took me to task, saying that it happened with some frequency. I’m not going to debate that point. My sense is that it is rare for state officials to endorse as far down the ballot as state legislative races, but even if I am wrong about that, I think that for a high ranking state official to involve himself or herself in endorsing candidates in obscure local races is foolish. At least Combs had a reason to endorse, being desperate to pander to the far right. As for Perry, he was looking for a way to remain relevant. Endorsements are not risk-free. They can come back to bite you if the candidate you endorse loses or self-destructs. Perry spent his political capital on something that didn’t matter at all. If several of his chosen candidates lose, it is going to embarrass him, and if James White self-destructs, the governor’s influence is going to take a hit.

Here is the lead from the Journal’s story:

The national debate over the cost of a college degree is roiling the University of Texas’s flagship campus, where the school’s president has been at odds with board members and with Gov. Rick Perry over the wisdom of raising tuition.

The dispute has reached such a point that the chancellor of the state’s multi-campus university system, Francisco G. Cigarroa, stated this week that he hasn’t tried to fire William Powers Jr., president of the Austin campus.

The Journal article incorporated a chart (above) listing tuition and fees for twelve major public universities. The most expensive was Berkeley at $14,461; the least expensive was North Carolina at $7,009. Seven schools ranked higher than UT’s $9,722.

UT Chancellor Francisco Cigarroa was quoted in the story as saying, “The trend of consistently raising tuition to counter reductions from other funding sources is not sustainable for students and parents.” This can be read as an implicit criticism by Cigarroa of the state’s leadership and the Legislature for their lack of support of higher education; in fact, it can hardly be read in any other way.

[Readers can find the story in the Daily Buzz section of the Quorum Report.]

From the QR story:

HE 19 candidate James White this evening described as “a desperate lie” the disclosure by the Tuffy Hamilton campaign of student and parental complaints against White of inappropriate and sexual references made while teaching at the Livingston ISD in 2006 and 2007. “I stand by my actions,” White said.

“No other issues raised by Tuffy Hamilton’s smear campaign, which involve comments taken out of context, resulted in any actions taken against me. The so-called profanity cited involved using the words ‘hell’ and ‘damn,’ which are common vernacular in church on Sunday, even if considered profane by some.”

In his response, distributed this evening, White said he did not resign his position because of any reprimands, but because he had been offered a position with a school district nearer to where he lived. He said that his usage was no rougher than words like “hell” or “damn” and that his language came in the context of a Texas sodomy case that was heard by the U.S. Supreme Court.

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This development obviously changes the dynamics of the HD 19 race, in which Hamilton was believed to be nurturing a narrow lead. There is considerably more detail in the Quorum Report’s story. White will likely face more questions in the days ahead, as could Texans for Lawsuit Reform, White’s principal backers — starting with whether TLR knew of the accusations against White.

I’m not going to engage in any further speculation but will keep an eye on the situation as it develops.

Mail-in ballots exceed in-person voting in a couple of counties. For example, in the first day of voting in Harris County, 3,380 votes were cast in person. Mail-in  ballots totaled 10,027. The other big county for mail-in ballots was Tarrant (Fort Worth). On the first day of  voting, 2,147 votes were cast in person. An additional 5,477 were mail-in ballots.

Harris County politics have evolved in a unique way, a subject that was dealt with at length by Houston attorney Ed Hubbard on the blog bigjollypolitics.com. According to Mr. Hubbard, a major factor, if not THE major factor, in Harris County Republican politics is “slate mailers”–that is, direct mail flyers sent by competing groups with slates of names and check marks for recommended candidates. Some of these flyers are for-profit, pay-to play operations, in which candidates who want to be recommended have to pay to get on the slate mailers. Hubbard writes:

Almost two decades ago, at the dawn of the era of Republican political dominance in Harris County, a civil war broke out in our local party between the groups that had traditionally dominated the party and new activists, many of whom had become involved in politics primarily to promote socially conservative issues.  Over the years, this battle led to a contest for political control of our primaries,  which spawned the slate mailers that now dominate our primary process.  Although little actually remains of the civil war, because there are so few conservatives or Republicans left who are not (to one degree or another) socially conservative, the slate mailers live on, and appear to dictate who will eventually win the local primary.

When this all started, many of the new activists had been energized and mobilized by Pat Robertson’s Presidential campaign of 1988, and the groups that formed in the wake of that campaign…. One of the leaders of this movement locally was Dr. Steven Hotze, whose family has been at the vanguard of socially conservative causes for decades.  Dr. Hotze formed Conservative Republicans of Harris County and Conservative Republicans of Texas.  Dr. Hotze’s Conservative Republicans of Harris County created one of, if not the first, of the local slate mailers of this era.

“Slate mailers” are endorsement slates in party primaries, and in the general election, which are typically published by individuals or organizations that are not affiliated with a political party.  The mailers present their endorsements in a form that looks like a primary ballot with check marks or an “x” by the name of the candidate being endorsed.  These slate cards are made so that they can be torn away from an absentee ballot request form or larger mailer, and be used by a voter at the polls.  The mailers often appear to have an official blessing of a party, which they do not have.

These for-profit advertisements, with removable slate cards, provide down-ballot candidates with a real, cost-effective service—but at a real cost to the integrity of the system.  Remember, that these mailers are simply advertisements—advertisements that pay for the dissemination of one person’s or one organization’s opinion of the candidates.  Moreover, because the advertisement fees normally exceed the costs incurred to produce and mail the slate mailer, the purveyor often makes a good living just by telling the public what his personal opinion is.  Because of the appearance of these mailers, most voters don’t understand that they are not official evaluations from the local party, but instead, are paid-for propaganda from one person or organization intended to influence the outcome of the primary.

The most effective slate mailer in our primary is the for-profit advertisement called The Link Letter.  It is printed with red, white and blue colors and black print, in the form of a multi-page political newsletter, and it contains at least two 8 ½ by 11 faux sample ballots with check marks by the names of the endorsed candidates, either of which can be torn out and kept for use when voting.  The purveyor of this slate mailer is Terry Lowry, who has a local radio program on a small AM station.  Terry is a Republican precinct chair of a precinct north of I-10 in State Senate District 7.  Terry charges the candidates for advertisements, and virtually all of the advertisers are candidates who have received his endorsements on the enclosed tear-away ballot.  Terry has the most extensive mailing list of the other local slate mailers, and his endorsed candidates have experienced an over 90% success rate in recent primary elections.

The second most effective slate mailer, and probably the most effective mailer in primary run-off elections, is Dr. Hotze’s Conservative Republicans of Harris County .  One of the reasons this mailer is so effective is it is first sent out as a tear-away attachment to absentee ballot request forms to senior citizens. Because so many local Republican voters are over the age of 65, this tactic is extremely effective to influence how these voters fill out their ballots in down-ballot races.  Dr. Hotze is close to a handful of political consultants, most notably Blakemore & Associates.  Although Dr. Hotze does not take money for advertising, there is a strong correlation between the candidates he chooses to interview and ultimately endorse, and those who have hired one of the consultants with whom he is close—and this correlation is understood by the candidates.  In fact, Alan Blakemore is said to often be present during Dr. Hotze’s interviews of candidates who are running against Blakemore’s candidates.  Though Dr. Hotze has been known to endorse candidates who are not represented by Blakemore, or one of the other close consultants, the rarity of such endorsements underscores the perception among many candidates that Conservative Republicans of Harris County amounts to little more than a rubber-stamp for Blakemore’s clients.

Before I get to the other slates, I need to briefly discuss the role of one radio station in all of this—KSEV, radio 700.  The presence of effective local conservative radio forums in the Houston area is wonderful, and KSEV has provided our candidates with an effective vehicle for getting radio advertising to a conservative base.  However, the control of the station by a sitting, and very ambitious State Senator casts a long shadow of out-sized influence over our local party and its primary. When he, or one of the other celebrity politicians on that station, steps into a race either during commentary on a show, or as a voice-over in an ad, more than just a politician’s endorsement is involved—it creates an advertising revenue stream for the Senator.  The problem created by this blurring of political influence with personal income is hard to distinguish from the problem created by the for-profit slate mailers.  Though the ownership of a clearly political radio station by a very political State Senator is not illegal, it can’t be separated from the entire context of the private “pay for play” culture that now exists in our local primary.

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Hubbard’s article drew back the curtain on the sleazy pay-to-play culture of Harris County Republican politics. It is in serious need of reform, to wrest it from the control of self-appointed bosses with a profit motive.