Count me as among the stunned that U.S. Senator John Cornyn turned on President Bush yesterday on the subject of immigration. The former Texas attorney general, whose approval rating ranks 87th among the 100 senators, was cited in the Dallas Morning News as saying that President Bush
“They take a shot at the presidency indirectly through me, which is fine . . . It just angers me that our professional journalists have accepted lower standards. I feel like Sergeant Friday: ‘Just the facts, ma’am.’”
Silvestre Reyes has a plan for the border.
NEW ORLEANS — This morning the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals heard the Texas Republican Party’s appeal of an Austin federal district court ruling prohibiting the RPT from declaring Tom DeLay ineligible to remain on the ballot as the GOP nominee from congressional district 22 (on the grounds that he
I will go to great lengths to keep readers informed — in this case, some 500 miles. Tomorrow the U. S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans will hear the Republican Party of Texas’s appeal of the Tom DeLay ballot case. and I’ll be there. (Great sacrifice, having
Is the Republican party bent on self-destruction? David Broder’s column in today’s Washington Post features an interview with an unnamed longtime Republican bigwig from the South who laments what has become of his party–in particular, President Bush’s veto of the stem cell bill and congressional Republicans’ refusal to wage
What is George Bush running for? George P. Bush, that is. The Rice University (a plug for the old alma mater) and UT Law School (and another plug) grad told Time last year that a run for public office was at least ten years away. But Republicans in North
I want to call readers’ attention to the posts by Jason Stanford of the Bell campaign concerning my takes on the Wall Street Journal/Zogby Poll (“Polls Apart”) and the Rasmussen poll (“Bell Tolls”) earlier this week. The Zogby poll had Bell running second, at 20.8 percent, an eyelash ahead of
Texas lawyers have been burning up cyberspace sending around this three-minute video excerpt of a deposition featuring famed Houston trial lawyer Joe Jamail. It gives a whole new dimension to the term “oral argument.” Definitely R-rated.I’m not confident that the link is going to work, so I’ll duplicate it
It was fun while it lasted. One day after a Wall Street Journal/Zogby poll showed Chris Bell running second (see yesterday’s posting, “Polls Apart”) to Rick Perry by 38%-20%, a new Rasmussen poll shows him running fourth, and not a very good fourth at that:Perry 40%Strayhorn 20%Friedman 19%Bell 13%And
Chris Bell is touting the first poll to show him running second in the governor’s race. The July Wall Street Journal/Zogby poll has Perry in front with 38.3 percent, Bell second with 20.8 percent, Kinky third with 20.7 percent, and Strayhorn trailing with 11 percent. I am dutifully reporting
What is the likely outcome of the Texas redistricting case, which will be argued before a three-judge federal court in Austin on August 3?Although a multitude of maps have been filed with the Court, only three are likely to matter: the State Defendants Plan (approved by Perry, Dewhurst, and
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has set the Tom DeLay ballot case (Texas Democratic Party v. Benkiser) for oral arguments on Monday, July 31, in New Orleans. The Court had the option of deciding the case on the briefs alone, so a reasonable conclusion is that the legal issues
This is for serious political junkies only: Check out the NY Times online electoral guide. It has great information about every U.S. Senate and House race and all the governors’ races–including, when available, money raised, candidates’ commercials, polls, and demographic data. One thing the map doesn’t do is offer
Our spy on the scene at the ALEC legislative conference in San Francisco Blackberried this report: “Sen. [Troy] Fraser was playing golf with Michael Gregg, his chief of staff, Wednesday. Michael hit a tee shot 200 yards and knocked Fraser out while driving his cart. The golf ball is resting
This is the text of a release received from Bonilla’s office late this afternoon:“Today Congressman Henry Bonilla (R-TX-23rd) issued the following statement regarding the brief in response to the redistricting proposals submitted to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.‘Last week my colleagues Lamar Smith and Henry
I had hoped to do a list of major and interesting donors to Kinky Friedman’s campaign, as I have done for the Bell, Perry, and Strayhorn campaigns. But — and I trust this will not come as a huge surprise — the Friedman campaign is not like the Bell, Perry,
“Management” has suggested that I use this blog to tout the many wonderful articles in our August issue, which is hot off the presses. At first, I was very huffy about this, but then I realized that I wasn’t keeping up with the times. I
This is the final installment of contributors from the Perry campaign’s semiannual filing with the Ethics Commission. The report runs to 2,280 pages (one contribution per page), but the last 400 or so represent expenditures rather than contributions. That leaves 371 names from which I culled the biggest and most
A story is making the rounds that Kay Bailey Hutchison sent (or is sending, or will send) an emissary to David Dewhurst with the message that she is definitely running for governor in 2010 and would like the lieutenant governor to find some other office to run for. Is this
This is the third of four lists of big-bucks and otherwise interesting contributors to the Rick Perry campaign. Donors appear in alphabetical order in the campaign’s filing with the Texas Ethics Commission. This posting encompasses pages 1,001 through 1,500 of a 2,280-page filing. *Anne Marion, art patron and
Chris Bell had 665 campaign contributors. I have not been listing “in kind” contributions for other candidates–donations of airplanes and automobiles, funds expended to host an event, and the like–but because Bell’s largest contribution falls in that category, I will include in-kind contributions for donors who gave at least $5,000.
Here are more major or otherwise noteworthy contributors to Rick Perry’s reelection campaign, from pages 501-1,000 (of 2,280) from the report filed on July 17 with the Ethics Commission.*Hugh Fitzsimmons, investments, Houston, $10,000. (Former chairman of the Texas Racing Commission.)*Morris Ester, president of Exxon-Mobil Production Co., Houston, $3,500 (two
A few days back, I posted a comment spiking the rumor that Republican nominee Ben Bentzin would abandon his race against Democrat Donna Howard for state representative in Austin’s District 48. Howard won a special election runoff in the spring. Ever since the posting, based on a conversation with
I’ve been through the first 500 names (of 2,280) on Rick Perry’s campaign finance filing. The list was filed in alphabetical order. Perry had many more small donors than Carole Strayhorn did, and, so far, no contributions that were even in the neighborhood of the $250,000 Strayhorn received from trial
Before I list the donors who gave at least $25,000 to the Carole Keeton Strayhorn campaign, permit me to tell you a story. Before the 1998 governor’s race, I wrote about the contributors to George W. Bush’s and Garry Mauro’s campaigns. One of Mauro’s contributors was Larry Gatlin of Abilene.
The campaign fundraising deadline is a good occasion to look at the state of the governor’s race. Rick Perry remains the favorite, but a good argument can be made that any of the other three major candidates — Chris Bell, Carole Keeton Strayhorn, and Kinky Friedman — could finish second.Perry
The Strayhorn campaign confirms: $3.1 million raised since January 1, $8 million cash on hand. But don’t look for it on the Ethics Commission Web site today. A phone call to the commission elicited the information that “it takes a long time to pull [the electronic filings] over.” If I
The Quorum Report says that Perry raised $4.7 million and has $10 million in cash on hand. Strayhorn’s report this afternoon will likely show more than $3 million raised and around $8 million in cash.
Thanks to the Bell campaign for explaining that I misunderstood what they told me. Here are the revised figures.Amount raised since the beginning of the year: $1,633,000Amount raised since February 26: $1,313,000Cash on hand: $655,000
While I wait for the Perry and Strayhorn folks to call, I might as well give you the street talk. Strayhorn will show that she raised somewhere between $2 million and $3 million — a good showing — with support from big-time trial lawyers. Perry will show around $3 million
Today is an important milestone in the campaign season — the deadline for candidates to file fundraising reports for the period ending June 30. Keep in mind that Perry and Bell, who ran in primaries, had to file reports in late February, so their totals were achieved during a shorter
On the posting about Prairie View, readers should know that Prairie View A&M president George Wright is a friend of mine, and his wife, Valerie, is a colleague at TEXAS MONTHLY. They did not approach me about this item. I did discuss it with Valerie , and
Here’s more on the battle between Prairie View A&M and the University of Houston over UH’s attempt to get Co-ordinating Board approval for a branch campus in Northwest Houston at the former Compaq Computer headquarters. The issue is on the Co-ordinating Board’s agenda for July 20.Prairie View president
Should the Texas Federation of Teachers, which has endorsed Carole Keeton Strayhorn for governor, reconsider its choice? The Houston Chronicle quotes Strayhorn as saying, “The Texas Federation of Teachers know I will make sure that the days of underpaying and underappreciating teachers in Texas are coming to
Just talked to Bonilla’s office about the changes to his district in the congressional bipartisan compromise map. To satisfy the Supreme Court’s ruling that the split of Webb County in the Legislature’s 2003 redistricting plan, removing some 100,000 Latinos from his district, violated the Voting Rights Act, Bonilla agreed to
Late news from the redistricting front: The Texas congressional delegation has weighed in with its “bipartisan compromise” plan. This has been in the works for several weeks. I first heard about it a week ago today, when I went to Laredo for a congressional hearing on immigration that was attended
I feel as if I’ve officially been initiated into the world of blogging. This morning I rushed to post an item about redistricting plans–my source was good, you’ve gotta believe me. Just wrong. So, here’s the REAL redistricting scoop.Today was the deadline for interested parties to file maps in
Today is a big day in the redistricting case that centers on Henry Bonilla‘s 23rd congressional district: It’s the deadline for turning in proposed maps to the three-judge federal panel that will draw the ultimate map. The two most important submissions are the leadership map (Perry-Craddick-Dewhurst), which will be
The Fifth Circuit has granted the Republican Party’s motion to expedite the case involving Tom DeLay’s ballot status in Congressional District 22. The expedited schedule is necessary because the determination of the GOP nominee must be made by late August. The RPT’s brief is due on July 14, the Democrats’
My perfectly normal day has just been ruined. Bill McKenzie of the Dallas Morning News and I were doing a radio interview about the governor’s race on KERA in Dallas when a caller said she had heard that Rick Perry was going to name Kent Grusendorf, the
It’s just an itty-bitty item, number VI.D on the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board‘s July 20 agenda, but it’s going to cause a big ol’ fight. The University of Houston wants the Coordinating Board’s approval to purchase the former Compaq headquarters, now owned by Hewlett-Packard, to establish a
Oh, my goodness: It seems that somebody is actually reading this stuff. See the comment by Art Chapman of the Star-Telegram, who has done great work on the state of the state parks, taking me to task for letting the Legislature off the hook and blaming governor Rick
The Republican Party of Texas has asked the Fifth Circuit to expedite its appeal of Judge Sparks’ ruling enjoining the removal of Tom DeLay’s name on the ballot. Time is of the essence because of deadlines for printing ballots and sending out overseas ballots. August 25 is the deadline for
A late-afternoon letter and accompanying memo from Kay Bailey Hutchison holds out little hope for Jet Blue and Northwest Airlines, both of which have protested the deal to phase out the Wright Amendment that has been agreed upon by the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth and American and
Sometimes it’s better not to open one’s e-mail. Here is what a prominent lobbyist is sending to the Capitol crowd today:“The latest Kinky Friedman telephone poll results on whether or not people in Texas think illegal immigration is a serious problem:“41%: Yes, it is a serious problem. “59%: “No hablo
James Bopp, Jr., attorney for the Republican Party of Texas, explained to me moments ago the RPT’s two grounds for appealing the decision of Federal District Judge Sam Sparks that Tom DeLay’s name must remain on the ballot as the Republican nominee in Congressional District 22.The first is that the
State senator Eliot Shapleigh of El Paso is NOT in imminent danger of defeat by Republican Dee Margo, a GOP legislator from out that way tells me. Yes, Margo will be well funded, and, yes, he will have the services of the consulting firm formerly headed by Karl Rove,
A Republican officeholder who worked hard to elect Ben Bentzin to fill Todd Baxter’s unexpired term in a West Austin legislative district tells me that despite speculation on the Internet and in real time, the former Dell executive will NOT be withdrawing from this fall’s general election race against
Several papers weighed in last week on the sorry state of the state parks system. Here’s what Art Chapman of the Star-Telegram had to say: “Texans are repulsed by the decline in our state parks system and enraged by a Legislature that has turned a blind eye to