The typically left-leaning blogosphere turned a deeper shade of azure after Hank Gilbert's official announcement for governor last week. Bloggers are also buzzing about other Democrats, gubernatorial Republicans and subjects of a sensitive nature. Plus, news about the Houston airport, and more.
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Tom-Hank
Eye on Williamson points [1] us toward a 20-minute interview with Gilbert [2] by newish blog Southern Shift News. Calling himself a "fiscal conservative Southern Baptist Democrat," Gilbert addresses a number of topics, including the Trans Texas Corridor and Gov. Rick Perry, whom Gilbert describes thusly — "a corrupt governor who just runs people in and out of his office in through the toll road companies and back, and taking money under the table every day to promote this lucrative scheme of investment."
Gilbert swings his firearm around from Perry to Democratic opponent Tom Schieffer, accusing the former U.S. ambassador of "copycatting" him on public education [3], says Texas Kaos. The same blogger prints Schieffer's response [4], saying that he's been talking about schools since way back "when Hank Gilbert was still talking about running for agriculture commissioner." And here's the story from the Austin American-Statesman's Postcards [5] and Fort Worth Star-Telegram's PoliTex [6].
Burnt Orange Report relays another interview [7] with Gilbert, this one on the metroplex's WFAA-TV. McBlogger notes in the comments section to Off the Kuff that Gilbert did make his goal of raising $100,000 [8] by the time of his official announcement to run. And the Texas Observer's Purple Texas' take on Gilbert is that he could be the liberal in conservative's clothing [9] that Texas Dems have been dreaming about, but he still probably won't win.
Houston hair care company owner Farouk Shami has hired [10] Houston political consultant Dan McClung and California pollster Ben Tulchin, reports the Houston Chronicle's Texas Politics, taking that as a sign of Shami's seriousness about the governor's race. And in a Q&A with poli-sci undergrads, Schieffer blames Kinky Friedman [11] (yet another Democrat for governor) for Perry's reelection in 2006.
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Liberal education
The Statesman's Out & About sits down with actress Holland Taylor to talk about her newest project, a one-woman show about former Gov. Ann Richards that could be on stage next spring. Click here [12], here [13] and here [14]. Meanwhile, Reps. Pete Gallego, D-Alpine, and Solomon Ortiz Jr., D-Corpus Christi, headlined the kickoff fundraiser [15] for Rep. Marisa Marquez, D-El Paso, according to NewspaperTree.com Blog. And Texas Freedom Network's TFN Insider named Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, Rep. Joaquin Castro and Rep. Mike Villarreal (all D-San Antonio), as its 2009 Legislative Heroes [16] for aligning with the organization's causes.
The Houston Chronicle's Texas Politics talks to Houston mayor (and U.S. Senate hopeful) Bill White about energy policy [17]. And the Austin Chronicle's newsdesk notes former Texas Comptroller (and current U.S. Senate hopeful) John Sharp's popularity among the (legislative) ladies [18], including Reps. Donna Howard, Valinda Bolton, Diana Maldonado and Senfronia Thompson.
Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, is a top adviser [19] to former Texas Tech wide receiver Michael Crabtree, who's involved in a contract holdout with the San Francisco 49ers, reports ESPN.com [20], via Postcards. Meanwhile, Dog Canyon gives one reason why [21] they believe Texas Democrats will win in '10: "Texas Republicans have been paid millions by the insurance industry so the insurance industry can steal your money and ruin your health."
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GOPers for governor
BurkaBlog hadn't given much thought to Debra Medina's candidacy for governor, that is, until a Rasmussen poll showed the Wharton Republican's support (3 percent) as larger than the difference between U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and Perry (2 percent). Burka says, "Perhaps it's time to pay attention. This race is fertile ground for a wild-card [22] candidate to be a game-changer." Later on, a GOP consultant tells Burka that the poll results are unreliable, and after looking closer, Burka tends to agree. "I have seen the crosstabs, and they are weird [23]," he says.
Burka pooh-poohs Tina Benkiser's move from the Texas GOP to the Perry campaign, saying she "has too many critics and too little to show for her tenure as chairman [24] to be a major asset to the campaign." In related news [25], Dallas County GOP executive director Kim Garza has gone all in with Team Hutchison, the Dallas Morning News' Trail Blazers says. And Perry has signed on Austin-based advertising agency LatinWorks to help with Hispanic outreach [26], Postcards reports.
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On Eggshells
Railroad Commissioner (and U.S. Senate hopeful) Michael Williams writes a column on the topic of race, relayed by Blue Dot Blues. His position is that it's unproductive for supporters of Pres. Barack Obama to label critics as racist, and that unfair allegations of racism trivialize real incidents of racism that still occur. Williams, who is African American, says, "Racism exists, but so does opportunity, and I can personally attest to the fact that there is far more opportunity than racism [27]." On another blog, an Urban Grounds commenter describes [28] Williams, approvingly, as "articulate and clean." (Didn't Joe Biden already make that mistake [29]?)
Meanwhile, TFN Insider documents another cringe-worthy moment [30], where State Board of Education member Don McLeroy states that minority groups were given rights by majority vote. For instance, he says, "the women's right to vote, the women didn't vote on it. The men did. The men passed it for the women. Isn't that right, ladies?"
And former U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay's debut on ABC's Dancing with the Stars gave In the Pink nightmares, but also provided fodder [31] for a blog entry. Speaking of The Hammer, A Capitol Blog's Rep. Aaron Peña, D-Edinburg, notes that the House Redistricting Committee meets this week for the first time in the remapping cycle. Peña doesn't think the process will be as contentious [32] as, say, 2003, because 1) DeLay is out of the picture, and 2) Dems and Reps have both learned their lesson.
Things seem to keep getting worse, somehow, for jailed billionaire R. Allen Stanford, who was hospitalized recently after a fight with another inmate. Adding insult to injury [33], his wife Susan is suing her own divorce lawyers, alleging they never told her that her husband was willing to let the divorce go through if he (only) had to pay her $200 million, Tex Parte Blog reports.
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Captain Moonlight
Texas Watchdog continues its investigations into the Houston airport system with a multi-parter on a City of Houston employee who's been moonlighting for a Norwegian city. Here's the nut of the story: "Drawing a paycheck to promote Houston to Stavanger [in Norway] while also working to promote Stavanger to Houston seems like a can't-lose setup — but it could also present a potential conflict of interest," according to the blog. One problem is that the City of Houston paid for her to fly to her other employer's hometown. And then there's a fuzzy area concerning just how much access the employee has to Mayor Bill White. Click on the links to read the story, here [34], here [35], here [36], here [37] and here [38].
The Statesman's Public Capital reports that the founder of their blog, Bob Elder, has applied for a spot [39] on the Employees Retirement System of Texas board. Elder, who's been a state employee for about a year, has started a blog [40] called Signals in the noise to chronicle his experience.
The Observer's Forrest for the Trees attended a state-agency-sponsored "Cap and Trade Summit" at the Capitol Building. He went into it unimpressed by the advertised attendees: "A rogue's gallery [41] of carbon-based industry reps and climate denialists," he calls them. The blogger provides commentary and video [42] from the meeting, and then complains that the mainstream media-types missed the real story [43] because they were too busy continuing the assault on Perry for his recession talk.
The Statesman's First Reading posts video of Rep. Delwin Jones, R-Lubbock, talking up [44] House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, and also has a podcast with Statesman colleague Corrie MacLaggan about food stamps and healthcare reform. Meanwhile, Grits for Breakfast tells fake Twitter account users to watch out after he spots a state law passed this spring making it a third-degree felony to impersonate someone else on social-networking sites [45].
After reading an article in the Abilene Reporter-News saying the biggest water user in town [46] is the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (more than Dyess Air Force Base and Coca-Cola), Grits says the issue of paying for water to supply state prisons isn't going to go away, especially if utilities start charging higher prices to the biggest water users.
Finally, the Ellis County Observer's Joey Dauben was freed from New Hampshire jail [47] after the Texas warrants for his arrest were recalled. Here [48] are more details from the Ellis County Press.
This edition of Out There was compiled and written by Patrick Brendel, who hails from Victoria but is semi-settled in Austin. We cherry-pick the state's political blogs each week, looking for news, info, gossip, and new jokes. The opinions here belong (mostly) to the bloggers, and we're including their links so you can hunt them down if you wish. Our blogroll — the list of Texas blogs we watch — is on our links [49] page, and if you know of a Texas political blog that ought to be on it, just shoot us a note. Please send comments, suggestions, gripes or retorts to Texas Weekly editor Ross Ramsey [50].