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April 2009
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May 2008 ArchivesNow that the stress of deciding between HRC and Barack Obama is gone, I wonder whether Texas Democratic Party Chair and superdelegate Boyd Richie will be found dancing in the streets somewhere. We all know he's an excellent dancer. (Everyone has different definitions of excellent, okay?)
OK seriously, Richie and... Austinite and former Bush Press Secretary Scott McClellan appeared on the Today Show this morning, where he said he decided he had to start telling the truth. Now there's this wacky "truth" stuff spilling out all over the place, and McClellan's former White House colleagues are doing all they can to discredit him. Here's his interview from this morning. Let us know what you think. ...... Does the GOP have a minority problem? A recent story in the Politico said yes. Here's the lede (I think that's how the newspaper people like to spell "lead"): Just a few years after the Republican Party launched a highly publicized diversity effort, the GOP is heading into the 2008 election without a single minority candidate with a plausible chance of winning a campaign for the House, the Senate or governor.Corbin Casteel, the campaign manager for Texas Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams, says Republicans don't hav... Aw man. The soon-to-be-released memoir by Austinite Scott McClellan is causing quite a stir this morning. Bush's Brain, Karl Rove, was on Fox News and said this (emphasis mine): "That doesn't sound like the Scott I know, it sounds like a left-wing blogger... If he had these moral qualms, he should have spoken out about them." Oh dear. Rove called McClellan a... BLOGGER??!?!? Snap! ...Former White House press secretary, Scott McClelland, son of former Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton
In a Politico exclusive, he pulls no pun... Totally unproductive three-day weekend here at PJ headquarters. Just to get y'all back up to speed: On the Texas front: --The Texas Supreme Court reviewed documents over the weekend but so far has not made a decision on whether to overturn a ruling by the Third Court of Appeals that Texas was wrong to seize those 460 children from the FLDS compound. --The "who loves veterans more" back-and-forth between Senate candidates John Cornyn and Rick Noriega continues. Noriega stoked the flame... Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee is the man voters in CQ's VP Madness game picked as the best running mate choice for Republican nominee John McCain. View the final bracket here. (Unfortch, Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison was knocked out in the Elite Eight by Minnesota's Tim Pawlenty. Governor Rick Perry lost in the first round to Alaska's Sarah Palin.) On Huckabee: Huckabee's backers have touted his executive experience -- he served more than a d... We've wondered out loud about the Texas Senate's longstanding practice of closed-door "committee of the whole" meetings... now the House General Investigating Committee, looking into the swirling ghost worker scandal, is not going to be seen or heard by the public. The committee - comprised of R's and D's loyal to House Speaker Tom Craddick - is set to meet today. But the the meeting is likely going into executive session, excluding not just you and me, but even other House members who aren't on the commi... I must confess. I didn't watch last night's coverage of the Kentucky and Oregon primaries. It marked the first night I've skipped coverage of a primary or caucus since the start of this crazy season. I later watched the candidates speeches online, and found Obama's highly-praised speech to be a little... long. What's wrong with me? I think I've lost that lovin' feeling. But a link that just landed in my inbox told me I'm not alone. Here's the Columbia Journalism Review: We started the season elated ... Washington and the rest of the world are reacting to the news that "liberal lion", US Senator Ted Kennedy, D-Massachusetts, has been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. Texas US Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison released the following this afternoon: "Sen. Ted Kennedy is a legendary figure in the Senate, having given 46 years of his life to public service. About $5.5 million in the last month. That's what state agency leaders reporting to the Senate Finance Committee this morning estimate is the total cost of goods, services and "things at Walmart and Target" for the Eldorado raid and response. (That's $5.3 mil not budgeted for in the agency budgets, and already invoiced. There's another two million or so that they expect to be filed in the next few weeks.) Ongoing monthly costs are expected to be about $1.7million a month, assuming all the children remain in state care... these are foster care placement costs, staffing, etc. "We haven't even talked a... The "ghost worker" scandal at the Capitol keeps on giving. (The scandal's name refers to the practice of listing state workers as full-time employees even though they might work just a few hours and make a few hundred bucks a month, so that those people can receive full state benefits.) Civil Practices Commitee Chair Byron Cook this morning appointed a special subcommittee to explore employment law as it relates to the house and house rules. State Rep Mark Strama, D-Austin, was appointed to chair the special subcommittee. State Rep. J... Ubiquitous online celebrity blogger, Perez Hilton, is reporting that Austin's sometimes-political activist Lance Armstrong has a new lady, and they were spotted at various hangouts around town this weekend. Kate Hudson and Lance Armstrong are an item! The pair have been quietly seeing each other (in private) for a few weeks, but now that we "outed" their relationship... Last week two separate polls (Rasmussen and Research 2000) came out showing Democrat Rick Noriega just four points behind incumbent Republican US Senator John Cornyn. There are reasons to suspect those numbers, but the Noriega campaign proudly trumpeted both polls. Hey, a closer-than-expected race could convince on-the-fence donors to give. But a "real race" helps Cornyn drum up the cash, too. Tonight, his finance director sent out the following message: We don't put much validity in either poll, but Democrats certainly are. Liberal bloggers and Democrat partisans alike have pounced on the res... Haven't updated today because I've been diverted by a crazy storm that sent what sounds like sideways hail through the Central parts of Austin. Politics took a back seat (well, not that much is going on right now anyway), but let's get back on track... ...As Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples prepares to head to Cuba, Texas Secretary of State Phil Wilson is hanging out with Texas business leaders in The Big Apple. He rang NASDAQ's closing bell.
When shifting from his position on the Governor's staff to Governor's appointee, Wilson retained his role as an economic development expert/liason for the stat... ...But will he find Scarface? Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples is making the first trip to Cuba by a statewide elected official in more than four decades. And he's bringing friends -- an entire delegation of folks from Texas to talk about expanding trade deals with the Caribbean country. "This is a great opportunity to build long-lasting trade relationships with Cuba," Commissioner Staples said. "We want Texas producers to have access to this growing market and for Cubans to have the chance to enjoy the best agricultural products the world offers: Texas food and fiber." You may be... Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison has survived the second round of CQ Politics' VP Madness, in which online voters like you help John McCain select his running mate. Here are the results from Round Two, winners are on the left. (Governor Rick Perry was voted out in Round One.) * Mike Huckabee (54%) vs. Condoleezza Rice (45%) Texas Allstate customers will get a total of $71 million in refunds after the insurance company settled with the Texas Department of Insurance , over the insurance company's excessive premiums*. Here's how it will affect you, if you are in "good hands": Allstate will refund almost $37 million for new and renewal policies written between Dec. 1, 2004-April 23, 2006, a period when the state said its rates were too high. Washington Post blogger Chris Cilizza does a quick "Winners and Losers" analysis piece after major primaries/caucuses, and I'll try it here on PJ since my photoblogging failed so miserably last night. (Blasted wireless card!) Final election results are here. I admit my knowledge of Austin city politics is quite limited, as state politics/the lege usually keeps me busy enough. I'm covering city races because our former City Hall reporter, Kevin Peters, left just before elections heated up. (He went to our sister... 12:24am: Photoblogging failed miserably because of unreliable connection to the internet, both via the wi-fi available at the victory parties and the shoddy wireless card I had with me. To make up for my miserable liveblogging failure tonight, I will do a post mortem winners/losers post in the morning. Well, later in the morning. A commenter asked whether I made a mistake in linking to the Chronicle's reporting on Jennifer Kim's consultant and his troubles with the PUC. But my conversation with PUC spokesman Terry Hadley backs up the Chronicle's original reporting. Let's hit this in Q&A format, since it's Friday night and y'all have other places to be. 1.) Has a formal complaint been filed against the Kim campaign for its robocall? Your favorite MSNBC bloviator and mine, Chris Matthews, debuted his new 'do last night. His locks are no longer bleached blonde. Instead, he's wearing a warmer tone that kind of looks like the color of straw. Your thoughts?
Disclaimer: This following post will only be interesting to you if you are a level five political nerd or higher. (Not sure how many levels there are, let's assume five is high.) With municipal election day just a day away here in ATX, the dueling campaigns of incumbent Jennifer Kim and challenger Randi Shade have gotten bogged down in a dizzying fight over law enforcement's endorsement of Shade. Those of us in the press were already weary by Wednesday's round three -- or was it round four -- when Kim's consultant... I recycle an old high school cheer from Plano Senior High School to bring you DMN reporter Wayne Slater's hot-off-the-presses piece on State Senator Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, and her possible run for U.S. Senate. AUSTIN -- State Sen. Florence Shapiro of Dallas* is considering setting up an exploratory committee to run for the U.S. Senate in anticipation of Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison running for governor. My alma mater*, the University of Missouri-Columbia, owns and operates its own commerical NBC affiliate for the Columbia-Jefferson City market (DMA # 137). The station is staffed by paid, professional anchors (who also help teach students). But the reporting staff is made up of college broadcast journalism students. For the kids, (who technically pay to be there), the station provides invaluable experience of doing real reporting/broadcasting on an actual affiliate, responsible not only to viewers but to advertisers and rating... Research 2000 is polling US Senate races for progressive blog DailyKos. The Noriega campaign says when it's released, it will reflect this week's Rasmussen poll, which showed Noriega within striking distance of Cornyn. Look for that on DailyKos in about an hour, hour and a half. ...As you know (even if you didn't stay up waiting for Lake County, Indiana) there are now more unpledged superdelegates in the race for the Democratic nomination than there are elected delegates. After a big night Tuesday, Obama didn't see a "tsunami" of supers go his way, but netted four while HRC netted one. Clinton spent Wednesday meeting privately with undecided supers in Washington. The Politico reports one of those supers is Texa...
CQ launched a NCAA-like tournament to help Republican presidential nominee John McCain pick his running mate. Two Texans were featured as prospects in Round One -- US Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, and Governor Rick Perry. How did they fare in voting? Kay Bailey Hutchison moves to Round Two, while Rick Perry stays behind. CQ editors made the pairings based on their analysis, and more than 6,000 people cast votes in the first round of balloting. Round One Results Look who I spotted in the parking lot of my ex-gym, Castle Hill Fitness? It's SO-113, otherwise known as State Rep. Mike Krusee, R-Round Rock. Krusee, as you may recall, was charged with DWI last week and spent a night in the pokey. (He did not take a breathalyzer test, which is what most DWI attorneys -- and liberatarians - advise.)
While awaiting a court date... Got a call from City Councilmember Jennifer Kim's general consultant, Elliott McFadden. He used his outdoor voice - and some choice words - to express his displeasure about not getting a chance to respond to Austin Police Association (and other law enforcement unions) calling Kim's latest robocall "a new low" and an "outright lie". Background: The robocall claims Kim opponent Randi Shade made "promises" to increase funding for law enforcement to beef up its staff. Shade - and law enforcement - say there was no such promise. The Ki... Last session, Republican State Senator Bob Deuell pushed a progressive needle exchange program in the Senate, despite opposing the idea just two sessions prior. He said his education on the subject changed his mind. He now thinks needle exchange could go a long way in preventing the spread of disease. The statewide program did not make it into law. But a pilot program in San Antonio was okayed somewhere in the massive Medicaid bill. The Attorney General was asked to weigh in on questions about the pilot program in Bexar County. His ruling today essentially says the program can't be rolled out. The ... First, an apology to PJ readers in Amarillo and such who could care less about the Austin City Council races right now. It's pretty much the only political thing going on lately so here's just a quick update on the Place 3 race between incumbent Jennifer Kim (who I am not) and her challenger, Randi Shade. A lot intrigue surrounded a mystery robocall going out against Randi Shade this weekend, accusing Shade of making budget promises that "could mean cuts in city services". It also features the anti-Shade twisting of... If you live in Austin and enjoy hearing people riff on Texas politics, there's a new show for you. Deece Eckstein is launching "Texas Politics Today", a new weekly radio show on KOOP 91.7, Austin's community radio station. It will air Wednesdays from 2:30 to 3:00pm. If you don't live in ATX, that sucks for you. Just kidding. The show will stream on www.koop.org. The show kicks off with a one-hour special next Monday, May 5, from noon to 1pm. You will get to hear Texas Monthly's Paul Burka and Burnt Orange...
State Senator Glenn Hegar, R-Katy, says he plans to vote no on confirming the Governor's pick to head the Texas Transportation Commission. On Wednesday, the Guvnah (that's how they say it in SC, anyway) announced he would put in his former campaign manager and chief of staff, Deidre Delisi, as chairman of the TXDOT governing body. Hegar says he thinks that idea was a "squandered opportunity": "I had high hopes that Governor Rick Perry would use the vacancy created by the untimely passing of former Transportation Chair Ric Williamson as an opportunity to appoint someone to lead the commission who would w...
CQ Politics just launched a pretty cool if-you're-bored-at-work game modeled after the NCAA tournament in which you can choose John McCain's GOP running mate from a field of 32 potential picks (selected and handicapped by the editors). There's also some info from the reporters on each of the 32, based on who might have the inside track. Interestingly, in the first round match-up, US Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, is pitted against Governor Rick Perry's first pick for president, Rudy Giuliani. What the CQ editors say about Kay: Hutchison is one of the few women in Congress with ... |
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Elise Hu is KVUE's Political Reporter and your dedicated blogger. There's too much politics in Texas to fit into a newscast, so the fun continues here. Email your ideas and feedback to ehu@kvue.com.
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