Hehehe.

A blog to recommend, news on HD 48, and a crazy old Austinite running for Congress

So check out The Texas Whip, which has been keeping close track of the special election for HD 48 in west Travis County.

They note that an ethics complaint has been filed against Bentzin. If I had to guess it won't be the last.

Way to go Andy Brown for doing the right thing:

Brown gives Howard campaign money
By Jason Embry Monday, January 23, 2006, 10:38 AM

Andy Brown, who had been planning to run in the Democratic primary for the House District 48 seat in the House, took a formal step today to throw his support behind fellow Democrat Donna Howard for the
seat.

Brown said he would give Howard $10,000 from his campaign account to help her in an upcoming runoff election against Republican Ben Bentzin. Howard and Bentzin are vying to see who will finish the year left on the term of former Rep. Todd Baxter, a Republican who resigned in November. Brown could not compete to finish Baxter’s term because he has not lived in the western Travis County district for a year.

Brown said he’s “not planning on running in the primary,” regardless of whether Howard wins the runoff and captures the seat.

Also give Texas Whip credit for alerting us this crazy old guy running for Congress in Austin.

Smith has very little love loss for Delay stating

"I think (DeLay's) the biggest fraud that left Texas in years, and I think the district attorney Ronnie Earle's going to put him in jail before he's through," Smith said. "I think jail's too good for him. I think they ought to castrate the son of a . . . "

[...]

"Look, I've been president of the Board of Realtors; is that a good recommendation? And I've been a Kiwanian for many years, so I'm not as radical as you might think."

Patrick Rose takes yet another step towards the Dark Side

As Quorum Report tells, the manufacturers of Texas have a new friend in the lege, which is great because they had been sorely under-represented previously.

Of course, what do you expect from a Democrat who tries to advance his career by gay-bashing?

If he's like this at 26 years old, what kind of jackass is he gonna be at 30?

January 26, 2006 5:44 PM
Copyright January 26, 2006 by Harvey Kronberg, http://www.quorumreport.com/, All rights are reserved

KEFFER AND ROSE PIONEER MANUFACTURING CAUCUS
Already 36 charter members

Ways and Means Chairman Jim Keffer (R-Eastland) and Patrick Rose (D-Dripping Springs) sent a letter to colleagues a few days ago announcing the formation of a new House caucus focusing on manufacturing in Texas.

Rose says the idea was inspired at a recent briefing he gave to the Texas Alliance of Manufacturers Associations. The membership of the alliance is wide ranging from formal regional associations to loose groups of like-minded businesses. After the briefing, one of the folks asked Rose why there was no manufacturing caucus in the House.

Rose says he got to thinking about it and it was a question he couldn't answer. After all, there are all types of caucuses currently in the House, even including one concerned with tourism. He shared his thoughts with Keffer, himself a manufacturer, and found an enthusiastic ally in proposing the idea to his colleagues.

Rose describes manufacturing as an essential component in the Texas economy and cites Dell, AMD, Hewlett Packard and Samsung at one end as major employers and small highway beam manufacturers in his district at the other end.

He said manufacturing is a very broad, diverse category which includes all regions, races, ethnicities and political persuasions. Issues ranging from taxes to last session's asbestos and worker comp fights could all benefit from having this caucus Rose said.

Ben Bentzin, a spitting image of #10

Unbelievable.

Hopefuls prepare for runoff
'I'm Vince Young, and it's halftime,' Bentzin said.
The Daily Texan

Democrat Donna Howard and Republican Ben Bentzin, both candidates for Todd Baxter's vacated Texas House District 48 seat, began revamping their campaign efforts Thursday in preparation for a head-to-head runoff.All of the candidates in Tuesday's special election failed to win a majority of votes, resulting in the pending showdown between Howard and Bentzin.

[...]

Bentzin noted the low voter turnout, which was about 14 percent, and said that a higher turnout would be in his favor. He said that his campaign plans to promote the importance of this election in order to increase voter turnout."I'm Vince Young, and it's halftime," the former Dell executive said.

COMMENTARY: W. GARDNER SELBY
Candidate goes long, invokes Vince Young
For voters, will comment be seen as sign of confidence or torn hammy?
Austin American Statesman
Thursday, January 26, 2006

The trailing candidate in this year's first race for the Texas House proclaims: "I'm Vince Young, and it's halftime."

Ben Bentzin's identification with the celebrated Longhorns' quarterback, printed in The Daily Texan, could help or hurt.

[...]

The con: Who is Bentzin zooming? Young's champion Longhorns led at halftime of the memorable Rose Bowl. For Bentzin's Young-ism to make sense, voters will have to embrace the last time Texas trailed at intermission before roaring back (against Oklahoma State in late October).

Howard's showing in the Republican-leaning district was flat-out stunning, especially impressive since another Dem tallied 10 percent, possibly denying Howard a knockout.

If this bothers you, give to Donna Howard.

The US Senate finally got something right

Congressional Record, Thursday, January 26, 2006

****SENATE FLOOR***

Congratulating University of Texas Longhorns Football: Senate agreed to S. Res. 352, commending the University of Texas at Austin Longhorns football team for winning the 2005 Bowl Championship Series national championship.

A modern day "Gay Place"

But, of course, not supposed to be as good. But it is about Austin, and politics, and by a former Observer writer, so worth a mention:

Waterloo : A Novel (Hardcover)
by Karen Olsson

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers WeeklyIn Olsson's intricate, ambitious debut novel, the titular setting, an undisguised Austin, Tex., figures just as vividly as her sympathetic slacker protagonist, Nick Lasseter. A news and politics reporter, Nick, at 32 years old, suffers a faded sense of purpose. He's hung up on his ex-girlfriend, Liza, who just got engaged to her now wealthy childhood friend, Miles. The Sunset, Nick's favorite dive bar, is closing down, another sad sign of the times since the tech boom altered the city's landscape. Jaded by political rhetoric, Nick is tired of his beat, and his editor at the Waterloo Weekly warns him he's underperforming. But Nick is assigned to profile Beverly Flintic, a newly elected Republican state legislator, whose story the narrative follows alongside Nick's. Beverly, a middle-aged married woman, is having an affair with beefcake gubernatorial candidate Mark Hardaway. She's also embroiled in an urban planning scheme, a boondoggle Nick's alcoholic uncle Bones tips him off to. This story, along with a growing romantic interest in fellow reporter Andrea Carter, might be the key to restarting Nick's engine. With clean, brisk prose, Olsson brings a specific, authentic sense of character, time and place to this story of Texas politicians and muckrakers.

Operation Filipino Freedom

So I took Molly's advice to "look up Mark Twain on the war in the Philippines" and wow:

CommonDreams.org
Mark Twain in Iraq?
The Famous Writer Championed a Proud Tradition of American Anti-imperialism
by Mark Engler

It was autumn, electoral campaigns were in full swing, and U.S. intervention abroad represented a crucial issue separating the political candidates. Amidst the excitement, one of America's foremost literary personalities made a homecoming that was both celebrated and politically charged.

The writer was Mark Twain and the year was 1900. The nation was engaged in an intense debate over its military action in the Philippines, a country that it had recently bought for $20 million dollars at the conclusion of the Spanish-American War. Twain, who had been living abroad for nearly ten years, brought a prescient analysis of the situation.

Initially, he had supported the war. "I said to myself, here are a people who have suffered," Twain explained, echoing the White House's rationale for action. "We can make them as free as ourselves, give them a government and country of their own, put a miniature of the American constitution afloat... start a brand new republic to take its place among the free nations of the world."

"But I have thought some more, since then," he said. Upon reading the 1898 Treaty of Paris and questioning the official motives for war, Twain concluded: "We have gone there to conquer, not to redeem."

"And so I am an anti-imperialist. I am opposed to having the eagle put its talons on any other land."

[...]

And when apologists for the White House, like General Frederick Funston, argued that anti-imperialist critics should be "hanged for treason," Twain retorted that he was "quite willing to be called a traitor -- quite willing to wear that honorable badge -- and not willing to be affronted with the title of Patriot and classed with the Funstons when so help me God I have not done anything to deserve it."

The more you know about Bentzin...

...the less you like him.

Consider, in 2002, he got 58% of the vote in HD 48 in his unsuccessful state senate bid.

In 2006, he got under 38%, a drop of 20 points.

Take a hint.

Someone In Touch With Mississippi

"We're going to cut meals to $20 a meal. Where are they going to eat? McDonald's?" -- Sen. Trent Lott (CNN, 1/18/06).

Bentzin goes down

When you run the most shameful campaign Austin had seen in decades in 2002,
get beat, but come back to run in a special election for House District 48,
a special election especially rigged by the Governor, the R establishment, and the outgoing state rep specifically for you to run in and at an advantage,
when the Ds can't even settle on a candidate or get their shit together to run any opposition 'til the last minute,
when you can't even get Rich Oppel to endorse you because of your dirty ties with John Colyandro and TRMPAC,
when you're too pussy to debate (probably because Gonzalo -- far from the best debater -- kicked your ass last time you went before a public forum),
when you outspend your opponents using your personal wealth,
and take a last minute infusion of cash from the likes of Jim Leininger and Bob Perry,
but you still can't break 40% in a district that is 53-54% Republican,
You suck.

The election results from the special in Western Travis County are cause for celebration:

Ben Bentzin
REP
5,124
37.80%

Ben Easton
LIB
310
2.28%

Donna Howard
DEM
6,705
49.46%

Kathy Rider
DEM
1,416
10.44%

Bentzin goes down. Howard within 75 votes of winning outright.

Kathy Rider did the right thing by withdrawing from the March primary. Andy Brown -- never a promising candidate -- should do the same.

And Bentzin should take this for what it is -- a message from the good people of Travis County that we don't like you, that we want you to go back to Arizona and fulfill your college dream of acting in musicals (no shit, this is what the guy wanted to do at age 20). Take your Dell money and fuck off.

Seriously, withdraw from the runoff. Save the taxpayers and the people you presume to want to represent the expense and hassle of an election with a foregone conclusion.

Baxter fucked his constituents (as did you by helping arrange this rigged special election), now let those constituents have a real state rep for this special session. Let Donna take the seat now.

Run in the general if you want your hat handed to you again, but back down.

Bentzin quoted in Statesman saying,

"In the special election, I was running against a field of several other candidates," Bentzin said. "In the runoff election, now we have a clear choice between two candidates, and that's what we'll be communicating to voters."

What? 60% plus voted Democrat. Clearly.

Baxter would never back out though. It'd be a classy move and that's totally out of character for him.

So we have a runoff coming up, and the fuckers on the right will play dirty. Travis County Dems did a great job at the end of this race, and deserve a hearty congratulations, as do Donna and her campaign (you can contribute here).

Enjoy this, enjoy the recognition that Austin is still Austin, and then let's get ready to pop Bentzin in the mouth again when the dumbass gets off the mat.

AP punks Chris Bell

In a story about the TX governor's race, Race for Texas Governor Gets Wild, the AP pretty much forgot Chris Bell even exists.

First consider the photo and caption that went with the story:

The top contenders in the Texas Governor's race are from left: humorist Kinky Friedman running as an independent; state comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn also running as an independent and incumbent Rick Perry, a Republican. (AP Photo/file)













The story starts:

AUSTIN, Texas - Republicans fought for years to win control of Texas. Now they rule and are ripping one another in a ruthless race for governor.

The squabbling got so bad that Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn pulled out of the March GOP primary, opting to run as an independent. That means her attacks on Republican Gov. Rick Perry could last until the November election.

Humorist Kinky Friedman, declaring himself the "anti-politician," also wants on the ballot as an independent.

Bell doesn't even warrant a mention until the 10th paragraph. And then the article asserts that Friedman is the main beneficiary of Rs splitting between Perry and Strayhorn in the general and implies he has a better shot than Bell.

Strayhorn and Perry could split the Republican vote, and Friedman could end up being Perry's greatest threat, Polinard said.

"The anti-Perry (voter) might decide, 'What the hey, if it's good enough for Minnesota, it's good enough for us," Polinard said, referring to the 1998 surprise victory of former pro wrestler Jesse Ventura for governor of Minnesota.

Friedman's campaign manager, Dean Barkley, helped engineer Ventura's victory, and Ventura has showed up to support Friedman's candidacy.

Ventura and Friedman offer a similar style and approach to politics, said Larry Jacobs, a political scientist with the Humprhey Institute at the University of Minnesota.

In a final dis to Bell and the Dems, the story reminds us in closing:

In the last three governor elections, the winner of the GOP primary has gone on to become the state's chief executive.

Houstonians: Good judges of character

Lay, Skilling Seek New Enron Trial Venue, Citing Juror Pool Vitriol
Kristen Hays
The Associated Press
01-06-2006

Enron Corp. founder Kenneth Lay and former CEO Jeffrey Skilling say potential jurors' answers to questionnaires in their fraud and conspiracy case are so vitriolic the men can't get a fair trial in Houston.

Prospective jurors called Skilling a "high-class crook," who "would lie to his mother if it would further his cause." He "projects a high sleaze factor," he's a "thief," and a "cheater," according to a filing Wednesday in which his lead attorney, Daniel Petrocelli, asked again to move the trial to another city.

The filing noted some of the potential jurors called Lay "the biggest lying crook of all," a "career Enron leader who conveniently looked the other way as his lieutenants bent and broke laws in pursuit of profits and ever greater stock prices" and "did a lot of injustice to a lot of good people."

"These are not the hasty responses of random people who participated in a test survey. These are actual responses from actual prospective jurors in this case who took time to carefully and thoughtfully write out their answers," Petrocelli said in the filing.

Tee time is at noon

Monday, Jan. 9, 2006, 12 noon

Judiciary to hold hearings to examine the nomination of Samuel A. Alito, Jr., of New Jersey, to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.

Does anyone think the Dems will use this effectively? Expect long, self-aggrandizing speeches. Especially in light of the Texas re-redistricting case, I hope they focus on Scalito's voting rights record. As NYT reported:

In his 1985 job application, Mr. Alito said that his interest in constitutional law was motivated by disagreement with some decisions of the Warren Court, among them those concerning reapportionment. The decisions, from the 1960's, required states to draw voting districts with equal populations. Some legal scholars at the time contended that the decisions did not have a basis in the Constitution.

Judge Bork, too, was critical of the decisions at his confirmation hearings. "There is nothing in our history that suggests 'one man one vote' is the only proper way of apportioning," he said.

In November, after the disclosure of the 1985 job application, the White House said that Judge Alito now believes that one person one vote is "bedrock principle."

CHAMPIONS

outside the TX capitol now

Rose Bowl, baby!

It's time for the Rose Bowl
After a month of hype, the day of reckoning is finally at hand.

By Suzanne Halliburton
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Wednesday, January 04, 2006

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — Texas has had a month to relish the idea of playing Southern California in the Rose Bowl in its first Bowl Championship Series title game — 31 days to contemplate why it's been 36 years since the Longhorns last brought a national football championship home to Austin.

They've had a little more than four weeks to figure out a way to thwart the Trojans' offense, which is being hyped as the best that's ever toed a cleat on grass. They've heard that no team has won three consecutive national titles. They know that no team has featured two Heisman Trophy winners in one backfield.

The hype has been everywhere. Now, finally, the game is here.

UT rocks, SC sucks.

If you've been following ESPN's sycophantic coverage of USC, you know they've been comparing the Trojans to the best teams in college history.

In an aptly titled piece in Slate, Why USC is overrated, Jonathan Chait exposes the farce:

For instance, the ESPN crew discussed a hypothetical game between USC and the 1997 Michigan Wolverines. That Michigan team had a spotty offense, but its defense was phenomenal, allowing less than nine points a game. The Wolverines had probably the best pass defense in college history, with 23 interceptions and just five touchdown passes allowed. It had Charles Woodson, who bucked history by winning the Heisman Trophy as a defensive player, along with three other future NFL cornerbacks. They held what was then the highest-scoring team in the history of the Pac 10 to 16 points.

What did ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit predict as the final score? 34-17, Trojans. ESPN's Mark May? USC, 49-14. Will the reader please note that mediocre defenses like Arizona State and Notre Dame held USC well below 49 points this year?

My favorite, though, was the matchup with the 1991 Washington Huskies. That team outscored its opponents by a staggering average margin of 42-9. Herbstreit's conclusion? "There's no way that that defense could stop SC." May: "It wouldn't even be close."

For amusement, also see Horn Fans' coverage of USC vs the Greatest Armies in History.

On a serious comparison, ESPN's own bowl preview notes that in close games (7 points or less, since 2001), Texas does far better:

RECORD
USC 6 - 7
TEX 10 - 2

And Chait adds:

Nor is it clear that USC is better than this year's Texas Longhorns. Both teams have fantastic offenses. (USC averages 50 points a game, Texas 51.) But Texas' defense is very good (allowing 14.6 points a game), while USC's is barely above average (allowing 21.3.)

Also, from a NYT article on Julius Whittier (now a trial lawyer!), the first Black player to play for UT, an interesting anecdote about LBJ's involvement in football recruitment:

It was Whittier's engaging personality that made him one of Royal's favorites and got him on Johnson's guest list. Johnson was crazy about Texas football and occasionally asked Royal to take players to his ranch. It was Johnson who suggested that Whittier continue his studies at the university's new school of public affairs. He earned a master's degree there, before he became a lawyer.

Whittier's success on and off the field -- he was a three-year letterman and a starter his junior and senior year -- paid immediate dividends for Texas. Roosevelt Leaks came here in 1971 and Earl Campbell in 1974, and they became all-American running backs. Soon, one of the set pieces for prospective players was Johnson's landing by helicopter on the lawn of his presidential library on campus to tell them why they should play for Texas.

Chronicle slams Rs on pollution votes

Five bids to control pollution kept at bay
Houston-area lawmakers voted to table legislation that was aimed at public safety

By DINA CAPPIELLO
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

The majority of Houston-area lawmakers in the Texas House voted against legislation intended to protect the public from toxic air pollution, a Houston Chronicle analysis of 2005 voting records has found.

The five rejected amendments would have made the state's health screening levels for pollution more strict, required companies to continuously monitor emissions and set fines for the periodic releases known as "upsets" that plague fence-line neighborhoods.

Yet 20 of 34 representatives in the eight-county region, where toxic pollution problems have been well-documented, particularly along the Houston Ship Channel, voted to table these actions.

All 20 of the dissenters are Republicans, some of them representing industrial districts such as Pasadena, Baytown and Seabrook, where people and industry exist side by side.

Typically, a party-line vote on legislation to increase regulations on industry would not be surprising. However, legislators during this year's regular session were presented with increasing evidence that toxic pollution was a problem locally and that Houston residents were more concerned than ever about its impact on health.

Kudos to the Chronicle for reporting this straight up. Rs voted against pollution standards. Most papers would have buried the actual story with an effort to seek a false balance. Call a spade a spade. The truth is not always halfways between what the two parties say and the media has an obligation to search it out.

Several local lawmakers said they voted against the amendments solely on the legislation's merits, not because they were unconcerned about pollution or influenced by industry donations.

"We can always do better. We just want to do better fairly," said Rep. Wayne Smith, R-Baytown, whose district includes the massive ExxonMobil refinery. "I do believe we should have good quality air to breathe."

When you have to assert you support clean air, you don't. It's like when Bush says we don't torture.

In January, both the state and the Houston Chronicle released data showing several communities had levels of chemicals that could increase the risk of contracting cancer. The findings prompted community meetings and special Houston City Council hearings.

Cancer! Brings to mind the quote attributed to Pericles in 430 BC: "Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you."

Republicans=Cancer! (new bumper sticker)

Rep. Toby Goodman, R-Arlington, whose tabled amendment would have lowered the levels the state uses to screen pollution's health effects, agreed.

"I didn't need many more votes. I am a mainstream Republican member and a lot of mainstream Republicans follow me," Goodman said. "I get closer than anyone else, but I still don't win. Industry is the reason you don't win, the mindset of the members of the House against further regulation, and the misguided perception that if you vote for an amendment to clean up the air and water you are some sort of liberal activist."

Voting Republican (with few exceptions like Goodman) means giving industry free rein to do whatever the hell it wants.

Dennis Bonnen, R-Angleton, who chairs the House committee on Environmental Regulation and who raised the motion to table the amendments, said his "significant contributions" from the industry had nothing to do with it.

Yes, and we don't torture.

His votes, he said, are in line with his constituents, who view the risk posed by pollution very differently than residents of east Houston.

"In the Ship Channel, these are big corporate companies that have no benefit. The people that live by those plants have no connection to them and just live there, and they view" pollution as a nuisance, Bonnen said.

"The people (I represent) work in these plants and live here," he said. "We understand these things, and we don't think they are dangerous."

Bonnen, an insurance agent with a liberal arts degree who works for a bank, is not an environmental health expert, but he plays one in the Texas lege.

Rep. Robert Talton, R-Pasadena, said he has seen no proof of an increased risk of cancer from pollution.

"I have been around this all my life, I have been up to my waist in the levee which holds dredgings from out of the Ship Channel, and I don't have cancer yet," Talton said.

Brilliant logic, Talton. Talton, you might guess, lacks a background in simple statistics (sample size=1 is usually not so definitive), but is an attorney who has made a crusade out of banning adoptions by gay people.

Anyway, good reporting by the Chronicle, shameful votes by Houston legislators.

Carole [INSERT LAST NAME HERE] enters election Kinky-style.

Strayhorn to run for governor as independent

AUSTIN — Declaring that "it's time to shake Austin up," Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn announced Monday she'll run for governor as an independent, abandoning the Republican primary for a direct shot at the state's top job in November.

Her decision, announced hours before the candidate-filing deadline, requires Strayhorn to earn a ballot spot by gathering more than 45,000 signatures from people who don't vote in the GOP or Democratic primaries and don't sign a petition for independent gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman.

Asked why she thinks she can win, Strayhorn said, "Tough times might just need one tough grandma to shake Austin up," a reference to her self-description.

Perry, she said, "has so politically fractured this state that the only way we're going to get anything done is to have independent leadership."

This is great, assuming she gets on the ballot, which, as referenced above, is no small feat. I think it will be easier for Kinky to get the signatures than for Strayhorn. She'll have to tell her supporters not to vote in their local Repub primaries, whereas Kinky supporters probably have less history of primary voting.

This is good news, because 1) it clearly hurts Perry, and 2) it indicates a moderate will continue to have a hard time in R statewide primaries in Texas, which hopefully indicates that if the Ds get our shit togther maybe we can knock one off.

I think this helps Kinky, by splitting the vote and making it more of a free for all. More of a circus. Kinky makes the best ringmaster, which increasingly is what the governor is: an essentially powerless showman wielding a wand surrounded by the wild beasts of state government that dance for the audience while shitting all over the floor and then leave town.

How does this affect Bell? You could argue that true independents looking for a responsible non-Perry choice go with Strayhorn now, which hurts Bell. She's a much better candidate who has won statewide. You could also argue that she splits the R vote and Bell runs away with the Ds. Or, I'm afraid most likely, he just gets lost in the shuffle.

Abramoff sings

So far 2006 is looking up. As NYT reports:

Jack Abramoff will plead guilty to three felony counts in Washington today as part of a settlement with federal prosecutors, ending an intense, months-long negotiation over whether the Republican lobbyist would testify against his former colleagues, people involved with the case said.

Mr. Abramoff, 46, is pleading guilty to fraud, public corruption and tax evasion, setting the stage for prosecutors to begin using him as a cooperating witness against his former business and political colleagues. In exchange, Mr. Abramoff faces a maximum of about 10 years in prison in the Washington case.

Who will he rat out?