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April 2009
More KVUE Blogs
Political Blogroll
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Recently in Open Government CategoryState Rep. Joaquin Castro's quest to bring you the frenzy of the daily floor sessions live on your TV will soon be a reality. Castro got more than 100 other members to sign a letter to broadcasters, cable and satellite providers, asking that they create a Texas "C-SPAN" -- statewide channels to broadcast the Texas House and Senate. (Time Warner already provides this coverage for Austin viewers, AT&T and Direct TV do not.) Castro says AT&T will show the House and Senate for U-verse customers statewide starting at the beginning of April.... Longtime PJ readers will remember The Purge, a meandering series on email as open records in Texas. The Purge led FOI advocate John Washburn to push and force the release of thousands of Governor Rick Perry's office emails, and highlighted a longstanding policy in the governor's office of purging electronic public records every two weeks, or even sooner, because staffers get to decide which of their ... Well, that was quick. The University of Texas-Austin suspended its longstanding rule banning signs in dorm rooms on Thursday, after two students' refusal to take down their political signs sparked community outcry. On Wednesday, Connor Kincaid and his cousin Blake Kincaid were barred from registering for classes next semester as a penalty for breaking the UT rule. "They didn't show any signs of backing down whatsoever," said Connor Kincaid. But the university reversed course Thursday morning. UT President Bill Powers called for the immediate suspension of the rule banning signs in d... Meet Connor Kincaid. He's a sophomore at UT, majoring in music. He likes Barack Obama and other Democratic candidates. He and his cousin/roommate Blake posted two burnt orange posters, measuring 11"x17", on their dorm room windows. See our video story here.
Those signs could now cost Connor and Blake the... 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... If you are a new reader, The Purge is a meandering series on open government -- on state government email retention policies, in particular. I haven't updated The Purge since January, so here's a brief recap: The Purge started in the early days of this blog, when I read that Missouri Governor Matt Blunt took a bunch of heat for his office's policy of deleting emails every two weeks. Which led me to start a journey on this platform, asking questions about the Texas retention policy. What did we learn? Texas state agencies each get to set their own retention policies, so long as they follow the >> Continue reading: The Purge, Part 12 Congressman 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. House 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? ...The 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... You know that video you seen in our newscasts of people voting? Mainly just the backs of their heads and shots from a distance? Well, you won't see it from any polling places in Travis County. The county elections coordinator has banned all cameras from polling places (even those in public buildings), per state statute. The Secretary of State's office says it is state law, but that counties kind of decide on their own what their individual policies will be regarding cameras. Some counties are more lax, which means our early voting video today will come from our sister stations in Dallas and Houston, which ... |
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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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