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March 2008 ArchivesMarch 31, 2008Travis DA: 8 Day Out ReportsHere's some top lines, we'll take a look inside the numbers next: Rosemary Lehmberg Mindy Montford March 30, 2008Caucus ConnectionsNothing like love blooming in a sprawling field of democracy. Dem consultant Harold Cook, who had too much time on his hands, found Democratic delegates lookin' for missed connections on craigslist.
Cook found ads for the Houston area and the Austin area. Here are some of my faves: hot Hillary delegate - m4w - 27 damn fine dem - m4w - 39 March 29, 2008Obama Wins Travis County ConventionAs expected, Barack Obama cleaned up most of the delegates in the joint Senate district convention which included Travis and parts of Hays County. In District 14 (Watson) Obama won 67% of the delegates to Clinton's 33%. That's 311 state convention delegates to Clinton's 144. In District 25 (Wentworth), Obama won 63% of the delegates, which is 70 delegates to state to Clinton's 40 delegates to state. Check out district-by-district numbers at Burnt Orange Report. Their Google Docs spreadsheet is very handy. County Convention: Livebloggin!6:08pm: We must peace out in order to work on the news package for the 10pm newscast. So I'll end the liveblog part of this day and update on the numbers in fresh posts. Thanks for playin'! 6:05pm: This room looks so empty now that all the delegates are gone... but tabulation continues. The remaining folks still have to vote on various resolutions. There were at least 50 submitted from the precinct caucuses. 5:10pm: I'm off to catch a few more delegates for interviews and knock out a liveshot for the 6pm news. Will check back in about an hour. 4:47pm: The crowd's clearing out now that the precincts have caucused and voted for their state delegates. But we're nowhere near a count. 4:14pm: Democracy in action! Precincts from Senate District 14 are caucusing amongst themselves now to select their delegates to state. I love seeing all this democracy - voting by raising badges and what-not.
(It's a step-by-step winnowing process. Everyone who caucuses on election night votes for precinct delegates. Then the precinct delegates come here to the county. Then at this level, the precincts delegates choose their state delegates. Then at state, delegates for the national convention will be chosen.) 4:00pm: Outside the convention hall, county party leaders are counting the sign in sheets in which each delegate put down their presidential preference. This breakdown determines the ratio of state delegates which will go to each presidential candidate.
3:54pm: Someone turned on some serious AC in here, which is making things a lot more bearable. It actually seems like people are having a pretty good time, I've observed lots of random reunions among Democrats. 3:41pm: It looks like most of the precincts here have caucused amongst themselves to select their state delegates. Most precincts have at least two delegates that go to state, and they make speeches about why they should go to state, or just decide casually who can do it. 2:49pm: Former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk is speaking on behalf of Obama. Obama supporters clearly outnumber Clinton supporters in his convention, it's obvious from the decibel level. Afternoon UpdateAdditional restroom facilities (port-a-potties) have been brought in," announced Travis County Democratic Party Chair Chris Elliott. Oh, and the room just started doing the wave. Totally organic. It's gone around twice already! Man, this keeps getting better... one of the delegates just came up and made a plea for diapers for his baby. "If anyone has Huggies size 3 diapers, we sure could use them right now." Several altruistic fellow Dems actually had some, and brought them over. Now Democrat dad has a stash that will last him the whole day.
It's All About ProportionSo, each of the seven thousand delegates here today made a presidential picks on a master list. We're waiting now to find out the breakdown of that list -- how many signed in for Clinton, how many signed in for Obama. This breakdown will determine the ratio of delegates awarded to each presidential candidate... which determines the statewide and then national delegate count.
County Conventioning ItAbout seven thousand people here at the combined county convention for Senate districts 14 and 25. Senate district 14 has the most delegates to the national convention of any district -- a whopping eight.
There's a sea of humanity in here, and it's getting quite hot and muggy with all the people. It seems like all the delegates I've talked to are happy to wait it out though, the first time delegates are taking in the whole democracy-in-action thing, the longtime delegates just thrilled to see so many people out here. Keep on Conventioning OnIt's county convention day! I'll be at the Travis County Expo Center, home of the rodeo, in about an hour to post updates and photos throughout the day. Registration for delegates started at seven o'clock this morning, and these kinds of massive countywide/districtwide get-togethers are going on across the state. The convention I'll be blogging from is for precincts in State Senate districts 14 and 25 (Watson and Wentworth). My main man Matt Stiles is going to be blogging from the Senate district 15 convention in Houston (Whitmire). Send in any good photos or video you have of the action, I will post the pictures I take once I get there and get all set up. March 27, 2008Craddick Deposition: Talk to the HandOur intrepid web team at KVUE has posted raw video of parts of Craddick's deposition (see post below), but if you want to see the condensed version we put on TV, here's the 6pm video story. In this version you can watch the travel company owner, Phillip Marsteller, talk about the so-called "threatening" letter he received from Craddick and lobbyist Bill Messer. Since we didn't post all eighty minutes, I took a snapshot for you of an interesting moment we didn't post online. This is Craddick talking with his attorney, in the middle of the deposition. Instead of taking a break to meet privately, the attorney put his hand over Craddick's face. Not sure why Craddick didn't put his own hand over his mouth.
"I've never seen anything like that before in a deposition," plaintiff's attorney Kevin Buchanan said. "I made clear that they could take a break." Craddick Under Oath: The VideoThe deposition of Tom Craddick lasts about eighty minutes, and all of it is riveting when you consider Craddick almost never sits down for extended "interviews" like that. Click on the picture to see raw video of the end of the deposition, where Craddick walks out before questioning is finished.
This second clip is from earlier in the deposition, in which he claims he never read a letter in which a threat of "embarrassment to the reputation" of the travel company owner is made. Craddick signed the letter, but says he didn't read it. Re: Deposition DayI am watching House Speaker Tom Craddick's deposition video from this morning, and it's a lot of "I don't know", "I don't remember", "I'm not advised" and "I have no idea's". Craddick was fidgety at first but overall appeared calm and at times even a little bored in the video. It lasts about 80 minutes, and lobbyist Bill Messer was deposed separately for another 90 minutes. His attorney, Dallas-based Tom Thomas, is a tiger! (If I am ever in trouble with the law, I am so calling this guy.) He snaps at plaintiff's attorney Kevin Buchanan several times, and instructs his client, Tom Craddick, not to answer about every other question. "You got questions for him, ask him. No politics, no histrionics in the corner," Thomas says. Oh, and the deposition didn't actually finish. Craddick and his attorney stormed out. Video tonight at six. Re: Deposition DayJust a quick update, questioning of Craddick and Messer is complete in their fishing lawsuit depositions. Plaintiff's attorney Kevin Buchanan said the deposition lasted about ninety minutes. I'm told there was lots of asking Craddick to speak up (he tends to mumble sometimes) and Buchanan is admittedly a little hard of hearing. The transcript won't be available for another ten days or so, but I'll have details about the questioning this afternoon. Deposition DayHouse Speaker Tom Craddick and lobbyist Bill Messer are going under the oath right now in the lawsuit filed against them by a Dallas travel agent. (See the backstory and documents here.) The plaintiff's attorney, Kevin Buchanan, says it should go "pretty fast" so I'll update once I hear anything. A judge denied Craddick's earlier motion requesting that attorneys be prohibited from talking to the press, so we should definitely be hearing something. Travis County DA Race: Debate!The two prosecutors facing off for Travis County DA met up for their only post-primary debate on the campus of UT last night. From what I can tell, it wasn't a snoozer. My colleague Melissa McGuire, who is on the night beat this week, included a lot of the barbs over public integrity in the video story here. (If you were there, share your thoughts! I am scared of UT Parking and Transportation Services so I generally stay away from any events that require parking at UT.) March 26, 2008Fewer Boys on the BusOn the Clinton and Obama campaign planes, many of the seats usually filled by traveling press are now empty. As media companies slash budgets, several large newspapers have opted not to pay for their reporters to travel with the campaigns everyday. The topic is the feature of a NY Times piece today, which devotes a section to the decisions of my Belo-brethren at The Dallas Morning News. Among the newspapers that have chosen not to dispatch reporters to cover the two leading Democratic candidates on a regular basis are USA Today, the nation's largest paper, as well as The Boston Globe, The Dallas Morning News, The Houston Chronicle, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Baltimore Sun, The Miami Herald and The Philadelphia Inquirer (at least until the Pennsylvania primary, on April 22, began to loom large).Your thoughts? Is it better to be on the bus? Or on the shoulders? March 25, 2008Obama Girl ReturnsBet you couldn't wait for this one. Viral video vixen "Obama Girl" is back. Her new video features her own take on the 3am phone call commercial which started airing before the Texas primacaucus. One of the final shots of the video features Obama's brief dance on stage at the Austin Music Hall, after the Texas debate. Check it out and let us know what you think. March 23, 2008Travis County DA Race Goes To The DogsThey may have their differences on the best ways to reform the Travis County District Attorney's office, but competing candidates Mindy Montford and Rosemary Lehmberg share at least one thing in common - they both LOVE their dogs. Montford loves her dogs (a beagle and a mix) so much that both four-legged friends are featured in a TV ad, "Mindy Montford's Animal House".
A friend of mine, who says he's undecided in the race, pointed me to the ad tonight. Is it about animal cruelty? I asked. "No, it's just about her dogs and how she loves dogs," he said. This kind of cracked me up, because on a personal level, the only thing I know about Rosemary Lehmberg is how much she loves dogs. The first time I ever went to Lehmberg's house for an interview, I met her dogs before meeting her. We proceeded to spend all our chit-chat time before and after the interview talking about her dogs, my dog and, if I remember correctly, a doggy fundraiser she encouraged me to take part in. Whatever happens in the runoff, trust that your next Travis County District Attorney will be dog-friendly. Watch Those Right-of-WaysSome signs of the fierce primary campaigning remain, but even signs for upcoming races are getting tossed if they're in the wrong place. I asked him whether the fact the election was still coming up made a difference, but he said no. "Technically, it's in the right-of-way," said inspector Terry Hurd. Obviously these guys have more important things to do, so they aren't patrolling town for errant signs all the time. But if they see them, they will pick them up. So the City of Austin reminds you to know your right-of-ways. They typically start where private driveways end.
Unlike Houston, Austin looks pretty clean of signs around polling places now, with the exception of the Travis County Courthouse, where you can find the LJD sign shown above. But if you still want to show your support on your private property, that's totally cool, unless of course you live along a highway, in which case that sign needed to be down within 10 days of the election. March 21, 2008Thank You, Wayne SlaterThe DMN's venerable political journalist Wayne Slater took some funny pictures of reporters on the presidential campaign trail, and he actually took one of my journalist crush, Newsweek's Richard Wolffe! Thanks, Wayne, for heeding the call and sending this in. All right, so Wolffe's eyes are closed... but I'm grateful nonetheless.
(In an earlier post featuring my presidential campaign slideshow, I made an open call for any pictures of Wolffe. So far, Wayne has been the only one to come through.) March 20, 2008Coming Sometime Soon: Craddick's Deposition VideoHouse Speaker Tom Craddick is set to go under oath on March 27th in a nearly-yearlong lawsuit, in which a Dallas travel company owner claims he was bullied by Craddick and lobbyist Bill Messer when he refused to give them their money back after a fishing trip that didn't happen. See my May 2007 story here. Craddick requested a judge to limit the time and scope of the deposition. A motion filed by his Dallas attorneys also requested that the attorneys involved be restricted from talking to the media about it, and that any videotape or other recording be kept private. The Dallas Morning News reports a judge denied the motion today: On Thursday, the 191st District Court ruled that the depositions would remain public record and that while the questions had to stick to the scope of the complaint, it wasn't as strong a limit as the Craddick types were asking for.So you'll be seeing the video eventually, if you want to. DOCUMENTS: The original lawsuit (filed May 2007, Craddick's letter to the agent is on page 8.) Travis DA Race: Working the PhonesThe Mindy Montford campaign has phoned at least two Austin-area state lawmakers, to assure them that Montford isn't incahoots with Republican political consultant, Reb Wayne. Montford is in a Democratic runoff for Travis County DA with fellow prosecutor Rosemary Lehmberg. "I can confirm I got a call assuring me that Reb Wayne was not at her press conference," said State Rep. Mark Strama, D-Austin. Strama is certainly familiar with the consultant in question. Wayne helped run two House races against Representative Strama. State Rep. Donna Howard's chief-of-staff says her office also received a voicemail message from a Montford aide. "She said she was calling about a post in the Capitol Annex blog, mentioning that Montford had a Republican consultant at her press conference and that it wasn't true," said Howard chief-of-staff Eleanor Hewitt. "She didn't ask us to call her back, just left her number if we have questions." State Representatives Valinda Bolton, Elliott Naishtat and Dawnna Dukes said through staffers that they had NOT received such a call. What is this all about, you ask? Some back-and-forth flared up at Capitol Annex after author Vince Leibowitz wrote that Wayne was at Montford's Tuesday press event. So far, no evidence has popped up that Wayne was actually there. Meanwhile... during my call to State Rep. Eddie Rodriguez to see if he too received a call from the Montford campaign, he said he endorsed Rosemary Lehmberg just this morning. "Perhaps the Montford campaign caught wind of it and so they didn't bother to call me," Rodriguez said. "I don't know." Whitmire in the WaPoIn this morning's Washington Post, find State Senator John Whitmire, D-Houston, co-authoring an op-ed suggesting "smarter" ways to address the country's overcrowded prisons: Our country has a million more prison beds today than it did just 20 years ago, yet the average time served behind bars has increased by only six months, to about three years. Holding inmates an extra six months costs a bundle, but greater reductions in recidivism may be achieved by the alternative treatment and sanctioning programs that have begun to be funded.Read the op-ed in full. Whitmire's co-author is a Republican State Senator from Kansas. A Vo-Dao Connection? Vo Campaign RespondsSee item below regarding the Texas GOP calling for an investigation into illegal in-kind contributions to State Rep. Hubert Vo, D-Houston, from Lot 8, the boutique owned by Project Runway winner Chloe Dao. "Hubert Vo paid for the event in question. No in-kind contribution was made, none was reported, and our campaign report is true and accurate. We look forward to the Republicans' apology for wasting taxpayer resources with this frivolous complaint once it has been dismissed." -- Karen Loper, Vo campaign manager March 19, 2008The Project Runway Winner and The State Lawmaker?
Invitations and public documents obtained by the Republican Party of Texas show Rep. Vo accepted illegal in-kind corporate contributions from "LOT 8 SALON INC." According to records provided by the Texas Secretary of State, "LOT 8 SALON INC." is a "For-Profit Texas Corporation".I have to say, I never expected to be writing about Project Runway on this blog. You made me do it, Hans Klingler. :) P.S. Austin City Councilwoman Jennifer Kim and I know that Asian-Americans can sometimes get confused for one another, so just to head things off, no, I am not Chloe Dao. Oh, and Mark Strama is not Patrick Rose. The Bob Bullock Book PartyTexas politics and history buffs unite! The LBJ School's new Center for Politics and Governance is hosting the authors of Bob Bullock: God Bless Texas on the UT campus. Authors Jim Henderson and Dave McNeely will be joined by former Lieutenant Governor Bill Hobby, former Speaker of the Texas House Gibson "Gib" Lewis and State Senator Rodney Ellis. They're gonna talk all things Bob Bullock. After the panel, join them for some cookies and other refreshments. Wednesday, March 26, 2008, 6:30 p.m. March 18, 2008Travis County DA Race: Endorsement WatchSay what you want about whether endorsements matter, but both candidates in the race for Travis County DA race have racked them up. Travis County Sheriff Greg Hamilton came out for Mindy Montford today. "Ms. Montford is one of the toughest prosecutors you'll ever meet in a courtroom. As our District Attorney, Ms. Montford will be fair and impartial in the administration of justice throughout Travis County," he said in a statement. It's tough to keep up with all the new endorsements trickling out so here's a rundown of each candidate's featured supporters, from their respective websites. UPDATE: The Montford campaign points out that in my original links I linked to "supporters" rather than "endorsements" and it prefers endorsements. So links for endorsements of both candidates are now below. Rosemary Lehmberg's endorsements State Rep. Dawnna Dukes: Newspaper Taking Me OnState Representative Dawnna Dukes, D-Austin, led a presser this morning to speak out against a proposed landfill in Eastern Travis County, near the Village of Webberville. She linked the proposal for the landfill with an all-but-scuttled film and music studio complex in the same area. Here's Dukes: "Why is it okay to put something in a community that a community opposes, but to oppose something that is positive like the Villa Muse development?" City councilmembers who rejected the developers request to be released from Austin's extra-territorial jurisdiction (say that three times fast) say one thing doesn't have to do with the other, and the Villa Muse debate is quite complicated. The 4-3 vote to deny releasing the project from the city's ETJ came as a result of concerns about the environment (the project was proposed on a floodplain) and losing taxing and regulatory authority indefinitely. Anyway -- Dukes' support of Villa Muse has been questioned by both the Statesman and the Austin Chronicle, which point to the fact Villa Muse developer Jay Podolnick has given about $4,000 to the Dukes campaign in the last two years. Dukes has also made news recently over failure to pay franchise taxes and failing to itemize nearly $90,000 in campaign credit card charges. Dukes made mention of her press treatment today: "The city was getting taken on, and that's why I started getting taken on by certain individuals in the newspaper," she said. March 17, 2008TDP Letter to Clinton's AttorneyEarlier today, the Texas Democratic Party denied a request by the Clinton campaign to have the state party verify all one million caucusgoers and postpone the county conventions as a result. "It is not appropriate, nor is it lawful, for the TDP staff to review these signatures and disqualify persons and/or re-calculate results. The Texas Election Code 174.025(c) requires the precinct chair to determine the eligibility of participants. There is no statute, rule or directive that authorizes the TDP to comply with your request... With regard to your campaign's request to push back the upcoming March 29, 2008 precinct conventions, this request also can not be accommodated." I'll let the party's attorney, Chad Dunn, explain for himself. The full letter from the TDP to the Clinton campaign attorney is here. Texas Democratic Party Staying on ScheduleThe Texas Democratic Party denied a request by Hillary Clinton's Texas campaign to postpone the county conventions set for March 29th. The delegates from the caucuses won't be certified until those county conventions, but the Clinton camp sought a delay, in order to verify the one million plus caucusgoers. The campaign says it has received more than 2,000 complaints of irregularities, and that it doesn't want ineligble voters to be counted. "We're saying to the party, before we have the county conventions, we need to make absolutely certain that we protect the integrity of the process," said Clinton Texas Chair Gary Mauro. But the party's not having it. It maintains a verification process is already in place, and that verification happens at the very county conventions the Clinton camp seeks to delay. "They have the ability to go to the county convention to bring up challenges and bring before the [credentials] committee any evidence that there may have been an irregularity," said Hector Nieto, TDP spokesperson. The Obama campaign hasn't really gotten involved in this, as it's a Clinton-generated request. But Obama spokesman Josh Earnest said the campaign is cool with staying on schedule. "Our campaign agrees that the best way to capitalize on the incredible enthusiasm and hundreds of thousands of new voters who participated in the precinct conventions on March 4th is to count their votes promptly and accurately. We look forward to continuing to work with the Texas Democratic Party to ensure that happens," he said via email. Mauro says the Clinton campaign will keep its options open. "We could file a complaint with the national committee, we could consider going to the courthouse, which I don't think it's a viable option," he said. Travis DA Runoff: Rick Reed for MontfordAnother day, another endorsement in the runoff race for Travis County District Attorney. It looks like former DA candidate Rick Reed will announce his support for Mindy Montford later this afternoon. Reed worked for Travis County DA's office before abruptly quitting his job during the four-way primary race. Last week, another former candidate, Gary Cobb, announced his support for Rosemary Lehmberg. That started a small flap concerning what was promised in exchange for Cobb's endorsement. Cobb says he was promised nothing from Lehmberg, as it would be illegal. March 16, 2008Texas Caucuses, The Sequel"Todd", the addressee of the emails I receive from the Obama campaign, just got a new call for help. The county conventions, the next step of the three-step delegate selection process, are March 29th. As we saw in Iowa over the weekend, delegates selected from the precinct conventions can change their candidate, and one campaign could squeeze out another delegate or two out of Texas if their peeps show up. Both campaigns are now working to make sure their delegates get to the conventions. Part of the note to "Todd": We're getting ready for the upcoming Texas County Conventions, and you can help keep our momentum going in the Lone Star state....Meanwhile, if you missed it on Saturday, the Dallas Morning News reported the Clinton campaign is asking the Texas Democratic Party to delay the county conventions so that each of the caucus-goers can be certified, first. Part of the letter: "It is the Party's responsibility to ensure the integrity of the precinct convention process by making sure that the Rules were followed...So far, the TDP is keeping the date the same. March 14, 2008Doggett Blasts Secret SessionCongressman Lloyd Doggett is not happy about the House's decision to go into a rare closed session to debate the FISA bill. He called it "mysterious hocus pocus". Here's an excerpt of his remarks: Recent proceedings in this House served one and only one valuable public purpose--hopefully, this totally unproductive exercise will ensure that the Democratic Leadership will never again yield to demands that the public business of this people's House be conducted in secret.See the video here I am a big fan of C-SPAN (and C-SPAN 2 and C-SPAN 3). Arguments for open government aside, the universe is just emptier without the US House on C-SPAN. March 13, 2008Travis DA Race: Why Did Cobb Pick Lehmberg?A little back-and-forth today after the primary's third place finisher, Gary Cobb, threw his support behind Rosemary Lehmberg in the Travis County DA race. Mindy Montford says she's "troubled" by Cobb's endorsement in the April 8th DA runoff. She questions why he's really supporting Lehmberg, because she says Cobb wanted a top position in the DA's office in return for his support. "I was asked once, twice, three times whether I was going to make [Cobb] First Assistant, and by law, I can't make that promise. There is a law that says you cannot accept someone's support or offer in exchange for the promise of something else, and I just don't think it's right to do that," Montford said. Cobb has a different take. "That's an absolute lie," said Gary Cobb. "None of my decision was based on that, my decision was based on who was going to best address the issues I raised in the campaign. I met with her, and she indicated to me that she wanted me to be at the top of her administration. I repeatedly told her I'm not offering my endorsement in exchange for anything. I didnt go in asking for anything, I didn't even want to meet with her." Cobb's DA Endorsement (Video)
Cobb Confirms ItI failed to post this earlier in the day but veteran prosecutor Gary Cobb told me he will be announcing his endorsement of Rosemary Lehmberg in the runoff race for Travis County District Attorney in the morning. When we talked Wednesday afternoon, he said it was "likely" but not official until the presser at 10:30 Thursday morning. Cobb finished third in four-way race for Travis County District Attorney last week. March 12, 2008Keith Gives Hillary The "Special" TreatmentWe are used to them now. The ten minute long impassioned rants, straight into the camera, punctuated only by a few camera turns. "Special comments" by MSNBC's Keith Olbermann came into being in 2006, and he has said his bosses let him keep doing them because they seem to draw ratings, even though they are dripping with pointed (and sometimes poetic) criticism of our nation's most powerful leaders. These special comments are almost always directed at Republican leaders -- President George Bush is Olbermann's favorite target. But tonight, Olbermann takes on a Democrat -- Hillary Clinton and her campaign. He says he's not endorsing Barack Obama, but instead, so outraged by Clinton's handling of surrogate Geraldine Ferraro's racially-tinged comments that "events insist" he give them the "special" treatment. If you missed it, here's Olbermann, pulling no punches: Just Checkin' InI am on the "night beat" this week, which is the branding we give to our 10pm newscast. I am filling in for a reporter who's gone to our sister station in Houston, KHOU-TV. That means I may wander into the general assignments world this week, covering anything from a brush fire to the SXSW music festival. Anyway, the temporary GA shift coupled with my ongoing post-primary blues explains my lack of frequent posting. I will try to get my mojo back soon. Just after I stare at the wall some more, and spend a little more time contemplating throwing myself off something tall. (Don't do it, kids.) March 11, 2008Re: Craddick Moves to Keep Deposition PrivateHouse Speaker Tom Craddick's spokesperson Alexis DeLee just called with a statement regarding the Speaker and lobbyist Bill Messer's motion to keep their upcoming depositions a.) out of public view; b.) limited to one hour; c.) limited in scope (they want the Plaintiff's attorney to be restricted from asking any questions that have to do with politics.) "This is a routine filing, and in this case it keeps the depositions focused on the facts of the case, and prevents any kind of political fishing expedition for partisan purposes," DeLee said. "Fishing" expedition. Was that pun intended? Craddick Moves to Keep Deposition PrivateThe week before the 2007 session ended, House Speaker Tom Craddick, R-Midland, and Republican power-lobbyist Bill Messer were sued by a Dallas travel company owner, who claimed the Speaker abused his power in trying to get his money back over a fishing trip that Craddick and Messer couldn't reschedule. See my May 2007 story here. In a letter signed "Speaker Tom Craddick", Craddick and Messer wrote: "There are clearly exceptional circumstances, and therefore we demand a full refund to be made to each of us in order to avoid legal action or embarrassment to your reputation." The suit came at a sensitive time for the Speaker, just two days before the attempted coup on the House floor. Critics of the speaker said it was another example of the Speaker's bullying tactics to get things done. On March 27th, both Craddick and Messer are scheduled for depositions on this suit. But a motion filed by Craddick's Dallas attorneys seeks to keep those depositions out of the realm of politics, and out of public view. In part, it says: Defendants request that this Court enter a protective order restricting Plaintiff's counsel's inquiries into matters directly related to the allegations made in the lawsuit; that Plaintiff's counsel be instructed to refrain from any political comments, from questioning either of the Defendant's politics, from asking questions relating to anythign other than the fishing trip and the failure to make a refund. Defendants further request that the deposition of each Defendant be limited to one hour, which should be sufficient to discuss fully the limited fact scenario surrounding the fishing trip, its cancelation, and the failure to refund the deposit. Defendants further request that Plaintiff and its counsel be instructed that they cannot distribute the deposition, the deposition videotape, or information contained in the deposition to the media...Craddick and Messer have also filed a counterclaim to try and get the refund for the trip that didn't happen. I'll have a full story tonight at ten, we just wrapped up an interview with the plaintiff's attorney, Kevin Buchanan, in Dallas. I've talked to Craddick attorney Roy Minton, but he says he's not involved in this part of the case. A call to Craddick's Dallas attorney (who filed the motion) has yet to be returned. DOCUMENTS: The original lawsuit (filed May 2007, Craddick's letter to the agent is on page 8.) |
