For the last few weeks we have been listening to wall-to-wall coverage 24/7 about the flamboyant governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, and pay-to-play politics. As we all know by now the Illinois governor is charged with criminal conspiracy for attempting to sell President Elect Barack Obama's U.S. Senate seat. Rod Blagojevich is clearly another crooked and arrogant politician who thinks he is above the law. But at least this one found himself impeached by the Illinois House.
It is nice to know some states have lawmakers who have an ethical spine where such blatant corruption and beyond the pale pay-to-play politics are concerned. Too bad Texas is sorely lacking in this area. But one has to remember the Party that is running the state at this time, although not all Democratic politicians would receive A's in ethics and integrity departments either.
When the Blagojevich scandal broke, several of the cable TV talking heads and pundits appeared especially outraged by pay-to-play politics and so I promptly sent off an email to MSNBC and CNN and suggested that if they are so livid about pay-to-play, they ought to send their research staff down to Texas to see how it works in a state where purchasing elections and pay-to-play is business du jour. Apparently other folks from around the U.S. contacted the media with the same request. Chris Matthews of Hardball responded with a chart that listed the most offending states. Texas is among them.
For the past few days I have been reading about Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick's fall in the Houston Chronicle and The Burnt Orange Report. The Burnt Orange Report has provided excellent moment-by-moment coverage of this fascinating drama. The blogosphere is a great place to read about these kinds of developments because it affords lively discussion and debate among the bloggers and their readers.
Yesterday morning the Houston Chronicle's Lisa Falkenberg wrote an excellent and very revealing commentary on how Houston would benefit from a House Speaker who is from a large urban area.
After reading the article this life-long urban dweller and native of NYC who has lived in Houston for over 20 years, finally understands why I have been so frustrated by how our Austin lawmakers operate. Falkenberg's article nailed it for me. Texas has been run by a bunch of country boys who are more concerned about boll weevil eradication and transporting hogs to markets than they are a big city's crammed prisons, crumbling inner city schools, over-extended hospitals, torn up roads and gridlocked freeways.
Wow, was watching the boob tube tonight, caught a snippet of Craddick, "making news." To my delight, yes, he is not making a bid for a fourth term as House speaker. See the Dallas News story here!!!
"To achieve your best, get in over your head and rise to the top." - Dr. Richard Tapia Professor of Computational Mathematics, Rice University
Senate District 17 will be having a special election on November 4 to replace Kyle Janek (R), who announced in January that he'd resign in March, then changed his mind to June so any current House members couldn't run without giving up their seats.
Chris Bell is one of the six candidates running (four R, two D). He filed a lawsuit against the SOS for certifying the other Democrat, since she lives in one county but voted in another for 14 years, calling her residency and eligibility to run into question.
Donna Keel is running for TX-HD 47. Does Travis County really need another keel in the legislature or any elected office? The last name alone is enough to make any thinking person in the Austin area cringe. Let's not forget that Donna would be under her father-in-law's thump, actually Tom Craddick's from the get go. Her family name and politics have been so tied to the worst extreme in Texas Republican Politics that there is no doubt where she would stand on any issue or who she would support for speaker of the house.
We know that Tom DeLay and Tom Craddick are fools no matter what month it is, but we didn't want to launch this fundraising effort yesterday lest you think it's a joke. We're serious- earning back a majority in the Texas House has enormous repercussions on issues important to all Texans.
A Democratic majority means we can fight to expand CHIP, ensure environmental protects are written by Texans and not by corporations, and give teachers the support they need to improve education for every child.
This April you can ensure TexBlog PAC has the resources to endorse 2 challengers and help defeat Tom Craddick.
Check out Brian Thompson's commercials. Brian is running to make sure the Travis County delegation in the Texas Legislature are all Real Democrats!!! Donate to Brian Thompson's campaign to help keep these commercials running through the primary.
Travis County is the bluest county in Texas and on March 4th, voters have a chance to make it a TRUE BLUE Delegation in the Texas Legislature. Brian Thompson is running against Dawwna Dukes for District 46. Brian has received every major endorsement in the Travis County area and for good reason. He cares about the district and is willing to vote for the people of Texas instead of supporting Tom Craddick and his minions who have thrown children of SCHIP, stolen women's rights away each legislative session, sold out Texas land owners for the Trans Texas Corridor, and were instrumental in writing legalized discrimination into the Texas Constitution.
This election season, Tom Craddick and his allies are playing a skillful game of chess. Recognizing that he is unlikely to gain any votes for his continued Speakership in the general election--as Republicans are projected to fall like flies across the state--Craddick has, in effect moved all of his pawns on the chessboard into Democratic districts in an attempt to defeat progressive, anti-Craddick state representatives.
I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Brian Thompson last night and speaking with him at some length about his campaign for Texas Legislature House District 46. Brian is articulate and poised but even more importantly, he believes in representing the people of his district in East Austin and Texas. He is not willing to sell his soul to the likes of Tom Craddick as the incumbent-Dawwna Dukes- has.
This year, in addition to recognizing its Texan of the Year (which will come this Friday), the Texas Progressive Alliance elected to recognize a number of other Texans who have contributed to Texas politics and the Progressive cause during 2007. This week, leading up to the TOY announcement, we bring you our Texas Progressive Alliance Gold Stars (one each day through Thursday). Yesterday, we recognized Rick Melissa Noriega. Our Silver Stars, announced last week.
Denise Davis. Few stories this year enthralled the politically inclined among us this year like the ongoing turmoil in the Texas House of Representatives.
(Great stuff out of Houston, with an Austin touch. - promoted by sccs)
Last week I attended a town hall forum with the editor of Quorum Report, Harvey Kronberg, sponsored by my previous state representative and my current one. Truth to tell, I went mostly to see and hear them. I respect what Kronberg does, I just think there are a few of us New Media types -- such as Charles and Vince -- who do what he does better and without the annoying $300 subscription.
Let me first say that I left with a tremendously increased respect for Kronberg, who after 18 years of following the Lege is probably better connected than anyone. Better than Burka, better than Selby, better than Radcliffe. What I never really got from him before is the insights from all of that history. Most of you know I'm a history buff; "lessons/doomed to repeat" and all that.
In an evening filled with one cogent analysis after another -- at one point I saw even Rep. Cohen taking notes -- the one that kept my ears ringing a week later is the one in the headline. But I'll come back to it in a moment.
Petty Dictactor Tom Craddick wouldn't allow a resolution honoring the parlimentarians who resigned rather than pervert the rules of the Texas House of Representatives.
While it is no substitute for the official recognition, not to mention reinstatement, they deserve, I reprint the resolution offered by Rep. Lon Burnam after the flip.
(H/T to Glen Maxey, and the rest of the amazing BOR posters and commenters who've made the arcane doings of the Tx legislature a little more understandable.)
BOR is on top of the continuing saga of corrupt Craddick.
Go take a read, if you've got a few minutes. This is history in the making, and the folks at BOR are doing incredible work reporting on it. Major, major props are due.
A few excerpts on the flip to whet your appetite if you haven't been keeping up. (Be sure to check out the comments over there as well.)
Just when you thought the drama couldn't get more intense, KVUE reports that a civil lawsuit has been filed against Speaker Tom Craddick for (shock) attempting to bully a tour operator into giving him a refund.
The suit, filed by Patrick Marsteller of Amazon Tours, Inc., says Craddick and Austin lobbyist Bill Messer paid the company for a fishing trip that was rescheduled. When high water on the Amazon made fishing conditions difficult, the company says it offered to reschedule the trip as a courtesy.
The suit goes on to say that many months later, Craddick and Messer refused to go on the trip and demanded a refund. Amazon Tours said contract terms wouldn't allow a refund.
Craddick and Messer then sent a letter threatening embarrassment to the travel agent's reputation.
Johnny Castle and Baby could have taken lessons from Texas Speaker of the House Tom Craddick and Joe Pojman of Texas Alliance for Life. With the Speaker's one-man rule of the House facing an unprecedented challenge from within his own party, with the passage of a high-impact antiabortion bill at stake, and with the Texas legislative session in its final days, Craddick and Pojman were caught dancing the political payola polka.
"One of the sources of irritation with the Speaker this session is the amount of blood spilled and floor time that has been committed to socially conservative issues," but Craddick and the "pro-life" lobby are longtime partners - and one good move deserves another.
In the Texas Legislature, dirty dancing is only politics as usual.
(forgot to frontpage this. oopsie. - promoted by boadicea)
The latest installment of Drama Under the Dome has everything the most lurid telenovela could offer-with the possible exception of nubile young women looking for love (unless you're hanging out with Rep. Dan Patrick, R. Misogyny).
Follow me on the flip for a rundown on some of the heroes and villains featured in the latest episode.
Travis County is the bluest county in Texas and on March 4th, voters have a chance to make it a TRUE BLUE Delegation in the Texas Legislature. 
Denise Davis. Few stories this year enthralled the politically inclined among us this year like the ongoing turmoil in the Texas House of Representatives.
