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April 2009
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Political Blogroll
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November 2007 ArchivesBe honest. You aren't really going to miss another liveblog of another presidential debate. But I have been trying to keep up with them and I apologize for falling short. The excuse is I'm preparing for a trip and Fun Fact Checker (who co-liveblogs) is battling an epic cold-allergy thing. I'm about to shut down the constant blogging for about ten days (starting Friday) and am preparing for the (near) blackout. I know it's a big risk to take -- slowing down the pace on a new blog. But it's winter. Humans can hibernate too, right? ...This just in. The University Interscholastic League has created the protocol it will follow to perform mandatory steroid testing of high school student athletes. The new mandatory testing comes as a result of Senate Bill 8, passed this spring. The protocol is basically a set of rules and guidelines, including definitions of steroid-testing related terms, and an explanation of how athletes become ineligible. It also lists all the banned substances.* UIL has not selected a date this program... We posted the raw video of former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee's press availability in Austin Monday night. Click here for unedited Huckabee ...Two "Purge" entries in one day, because I had the opportunity to take the question about Governor Perry's email retention policy to U.S. Senator John Cornyn. Cornyn is pretty well-known for his strong support of open government laws. During his time as Texas Attorney General, his office was charged with interpreting the Texas Public Information Act, and reporters who were around during his tenure say he made fair calls. Since he's been in the Senate, Cornyn >> Continue reading: The Purge: Part Seven
SCENE: Schlotzky's, Riverside and Lamar Here I am standing around waiting for my Turkey Original and bo...
Some rapid response just landed in my inbox. Diana Maldonado, the Round Rock ISD trustee running for Krusee's seat as a Democrat, is weighing in on his retirement. Here's the bulk of her statement, which popped in my inbox about 24 seconds ago: Despite widespread rumors of political payback for his steadfast support of toll road privatization plans, Mike Krusee failed to state why he is stepping down, how he will be rewarded, or what backroom meetings took place in the planning of this announcement, just days before offici... In Part Five of this series, you saw the responses from the governor's office to public information crusader, John Washburn, about his twice-weekly requests for emails that end in "governor.state.tx.us". Now Washburn is responding. With a formal complaint to the Texas Attorney General's office. Dear Mr. Simpson: In Part Five of this series, you saw the responses from the governor's office to public information crusader, John Washburn, about his twice-weekly requests for emails that end in "governor.state.tx.us". Now Washburn is responding. With a formal complaint to the Texas Attorney General's office. Dear Mr. Simpson: Okay, he didn't really say peace out. But The Statesman is reporting that longtime State Rep. Mike Krusee, R-Round Rock, is expected to announce his retirement from the Texas House. Krusee's also the House Transportation Committee chair. Most folks around the Capitol expected this, largely because Krusee almost lost his re-election bid in 2006 to a woman whose biggest fundraiser was a spaghetti dinner. And because this spring, Krusee took a decidedly firm stance against Ho... Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, who leaped into the first tier of candidates after recent polling showed his strength in Iowa, stopped in Austin last night to tap the Texas ATM. I was looking forward to meeting him but ended up getting sidelined by illness - so the photographer, Todd, did an excellent job of chopping up my preview to include actual sound from last night. >> Continue reading: Huck Drops In Anyone have $2,300 to spare? That's how much the office of Governor Rick Perry estimates it's going to cost to fulfill John Washburn's public information requests for about two weeks worth of the Governor's office emails. If you are new to the blog, a quick summary: But who's to kno...
Ryan Rusak found some presidential candidate goodies like the foam "Mitt Mitt" that might make for a winning holiday present. I found some others - for both the live-free Republicans and the die-hard Democrats in your life. Hill...
Just a shameless plug here for our sister station, WFAA-TV. On Sunday morning, I join Channel 8 reporter Brad Watson, the DMN's Todd Gillman and Gromer Jeffers Jr. to talk about the political "turkeys" of the year. We picked some obvious turkeys in state, local and national politics (i.e. Fred Thompson, The Texas Straw Poll) but others I didn't expect. Inside Politics airs on WFAA weekend daybreak at around 8:45am every Sunday. ...We are going to digress from politics for a moment because clearly I have seriously offended a superfan of the Austin band, Fastball, which opened for Barack Obama on Saturday. Check out this anonymous comment: Why are you picking on Fastball? They have accomplished much more than you ever will. You are a no-name reporter, but Fastball was nominated for two Grammy awards. So what if their peak came in '98 and '99? Does that mean they aren't allowed to play their music anymore? Get a grip!Hrmmm. Well, first off, I'm sorry if any Fastball fans out there thought I was "picking on" the band -- I... Isn't there that saying about how if you do something 28 times in a row it will become habit? Well, if that's true, it's entirely possible watching presidential debates has now become habit for you. So mark your calendars -- more debates have been set. This time, they're for next year's general election. First presidential debate: Friday, Sept. 26, University of Mississippi, Oxford, Miss. The Star Telegram's Jay Root went "Jay-walking" (hehe) a la Jay Leno, and asked people on the streets of Fort Worth to identify the photos of our Governor, Lieutenant Governor and the Speaker of the Texas House. The result is this hilarious video, which features such great moments as: "Is it Romney?? Oh! No! It's Rick Perry. They're both robotically handsome." For anyone who was actually following the Obama live-blog in real time, my apologies for having to break down before Obama took the stage at The Backyard. I realize the effect of my action means you had to read a liveblog about Fastball. Sorry. Here's Sunday's DMN story 3:20pm We're on the outskirts of town awaiting Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. He already stopped in Houston for a private fundraiser and has another one tonight, but in between, he squeezed in a rally for the general public at the outdoor concert venue, The Backyard. It does feel like a concert -- except for all the secret service. 3:22pm Fastball, famous for that one song that goes "Am I out of my head or am I out of my mind..." is opening for Obama. The lead singer says "We're not a political band, but I do support the candidate..." 3:25pm...
Texas Governor Rick Perry is betting that Texas' Major League Soccer team, the Houston Dynamo, will beat out the New England Revolution in the MLS cup this weekend. He's so sure that he bet Texas barbeque on it. “There is no chance the New England Revolution can keep up with the Lone Star State’s reining soccer champs,” Perry said. “The Dynamo play to win and I expect a huge victory come this Sunday.” Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick bet his state's lobster. “I am confident that the Revolution will continue this season of champions in New England. I hope the Texas ribs are as good as t... Team Bell responds to Team Perry, after Team Perry called Bell's lawsuit "sour grapes": “What a load of hokum, hooey and balderdash. Is this the same Robert Black who said in February that Rick Perry ‘has always thought that Chris Bell was a very, very decent man’?" former Bell campaign manager Jason Stanford said. "Obviously, they can’t explain this obvious violation of state elections law and have to resort to the same ‘shoot the messenger’ tactics that didn’t work for Tom DeLay and won’t work now. This is simple. You can’t play Hide & Seek with $1 million in Texas elections. All the king’s ho... 2006 Democratic Gubernatorial candidate Chris Bell is suing Governor Rick Perry's campaign and the Republican Governors Association for a total of $4 million in damages. Bell's suit alleges that a total of $1 million in campaign money that the RGA gave Perry in the waning days of last year's election was in violation of Texas campaign regulations and financial reporting laws. It alleges RGA wasn't legally qualified to cont... Rumors are swirling that House Transportation Chair, State Rep Mike Krusee, R-Round Rock, will opt out of running for another term. If he doesn't come back, he will join a wave of other members who have already decided not to attend the 81st session festivities: State Rep. Robby Cook, D-Eagle Lake We visited a college and an elementary school in one morning, and the elementary school was marginally more fun because there were seven live meat goats there.* I spoke at a freshman-level political science class St. Edwards University, the private hamlet of higher learning down on South Congress. The professor gave me fifty minutes (which is 48 and a half minutes longer than one of my typical television stories). EGAD! I brought a few stories from the whirlwind final weekend of the 80th legislative session to show. The student reactions to Craddick's failure to recognize members were interesting --... The Purge project aims to take a look at the email retention policies of state agencies and offices beyond the Governor's, but the Governor's office policy of deleting every seven days continues to drive additional questions. See Kuff and Vince for some of their concerns. The Star-Telegram reports the policy will stay in effect: Just asking f... I'm staying out of upcoming races for the Austin City Council; I know very little about the happenings at Austin City Hall (except that I don't like having to pay to park there.) But for the city politi-nerds out there, I bring you my colleague Kevin Peters' Kim-Shade showdown piece from the 10pm newscast. Nothing too new here, but some of Shade's kickoff event is included. ...Randi Shade is running for Austin City Council Place 3 against incumbent Jennifer Kim, and it looks like she already has a few fans on social-networking site, Facebook. The Facebook group, "Randi Shade for Austin City Council!" counts almost fifty members after only a few days in existence. Now, to be fair, the group "1,000,000 Strong for Stephen Colbert" has about 1.5 million members. And the group "Rick Noriega" has 620. But you gotta start somewhere. Note: I don't think you can view the group page u... If you've stopped by this here blog within the last few months, you know we've been examining Texas Governor Rick Perry's office policy of deleting state emails after one week*. "Our emails get automatically deleted every 7 days," said Governor Perry's spokesman Robert Black. "We kept the same policy and schedule as Governor Bush." But does Bush set a good example for open government? This just came across the wire: WASHINGTON - A federal judge Monday ordered the White House to preserve copies of all its e-mails, a move that Bush administration lawyers had argued strongly against.<... It sounds like we must have touched a nerve with the Purge project, which examines our state officials/agencies and what they're doing to your public records. The open-government crusader, John Washburn, has now been interviewed by the Star-Telegram and an Austin radio station wants to talk to him, too. Meanwhile, we shall soldier on in our learning. As I mentioned in earlier Purge entries, each state agency/governmental office establishes its own retention schedule for all of its records, and creates a time frame to archive or delete... What did you do with your Saturday night? We ate too much Mexican food and subsequently watched the complete, four-hour long Iowa Jefferson-Jackson Dinner on C-SPAN. If you missed it, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi played emcee, and halfway through the speeches from the Democratic candidates for president, Iowa US Rep Leonard Boswell displayed his startling skills as an auctioneer and auctioned off "Nancy Pelosi's scarf". The high bid was $6,000. For the Speaker's scarf. Then, a few minutes later, P... The original aim of my meandering reporting journey, The Purge, was to question whether it was good policy for our state's government offices to be routinely deleting its email communication within a short time, and not backing it up. Emails are part of the public record, only, they weren't staying around very long in the Texas Governor's office. The question got a Wisconsinite named John Washburn's attenti... So, I wander onto left-learning Burnt Orange Report to find the top post written by none other than "French-looking, aristocrat-looking"* US Senator John Kerry. (*Can you remember who said that about Kerry, before the primaries in 2004? Answer's after the jump.) Lest you think he's been a Burnt Orange blogger all along, he says he's never posted on Burnt Orange before. He's a little pissed about the President being in Houston today to raise money for U.S. Senator John Cornyn. And he's also pissed because he says... A few weeks ago, we began the reporting journey I dubbed The Purge, which focused on public records -- specifically email retention policies -- of governmental bodies in Texas. The Governor's office was singled out, because the impetus for this examination was the Missouri Governor and his office's practices. The Texas Governor's Office routinely deletes its emails (which are considered public records) every seven days. It backs up some of the emails with hard copies, but not all of them. A reten... Looks like the race for District Ninety-Sizzle has narrowed to two. The R in the runoff is Mark Shelton, the Tarrant County pediatrician who raised and spent a lot less cash than fellow R's Craig Goldman and Bob Leonard.
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