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Texas Politics

Texoblogosphere: Week of January 25th

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The Texas Progressive Alliance hopes everyone stays safe in the snow as it brings you this week’s roundup.

Off the Kuff interviewed Harris County Sheriff candidates Ed Gonzalez and Jeff Stauber.

SocraticGadfly questions the mainstream media narrative that the GOP presidential race is down to a Trump-Cruz two person event with this analysis and has a follow-up skewering of the Trump-Palin fun coming.

State Sen. Rodney Ellis, state Rep. Garnet Coleman, three current and one former Houston city councilmen all want to take the place of the recently-departed Harris County Commissioner El Franco Lee on the November ballot. PDiddie at Brains and Eggs has the latest on the most highly contested 2016 race that you won’t be eligible to vote for.

Of course the frackers are big GOP donors. CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme knows that the Texas Republicans don’t work for you. They work for their rich buddies.

Neil at All People Have Value took a Martin Luther King Day picture of two different types of birds sharing space in peace. We could learn from these birds. APHV is part of NeilAquino.com.

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And here are some posts of interest from other Texas blogs.

Keep Austin Wonky interviews Texas House candidate Huey Rey Fischer.

The Current advertises a movie screening to raise money for the Texas Civil Rights Project.

Texans for Public Justice filed a complaint with the FEC against Ted Cruz for his failure to report those Goldman Sachs and Citibank loans from 2012.

Anastasia Hansen tells you things you may not have known about Houston’s bus system.

Progress Texas documents four decades of Texas abortion laws.

 

These Boots were made for Walkin??  Only if you’re tall enough to touch the Texas skies.

For 36 years, ‘The Giant Justins’, a sculpture by Bob “Daddy-O” Wade have greeted shoppers, tourists and fans at San Antonio’s North Star Mall.  The 40 foot tall twins have been certified as the tallest pair of boots in the world by the Guinness Book of Records.  So there you go folks.  Everything may not be bigger in Texas, but at least when it comes to boots, we’re walkin’ all over the competition.

Big Boots SA

Photo credit:  The Travel Nurse Blog

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Texoblogosphere: week of October 21st

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The Texas Progressive Alliance is old enough to remember when everyone who ran for public office did so on a premise of making it work better as it brings you this week’s roundup.

Off the Kuff assesses the state of Houston’s elections going into early voting.

Texpatriate endorses Annise Parker for re-election as Mayor of Houston.

Eye On Williamson is blogging at a temporary home. A recent article says that Texas may be the future for the US. It will only happen if we let it, Why Texas doesn’t have to be our future.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme is really ashamed that all Texas Republicans voted to keep our government shutdown and to default on our debts. Don’t forget. it was Texas Republican rep Pete Sessions who sealed this shutdown with a pernicious rule change. Shame indeed.

There’s a disconnect between the power and influence of Ted Cruz and the Tea Party in Texas, and in the rest of the country. PDiddie at Brains and Eggs observes that this dichotomy is going to affect everything that happens between now and this time next year, and they’ll either create their reality…or suffer the effects of actual reality.

Neil at All People Have Value is looking forward with his blog and with his website. All People Have Value is part of NeilAquino.com.

Libby Shaw over at TexasKaos finds it helpful to think of Ted and his Tea Party allies as part of an “Animal House” approach to politics. Check out Ted Cruz and his Texas Tea Party Animal House Shut Down.

And here are some posts of interest from other Texas blogs.

Grits for Breakfast eulogizes Ruby Cole Session, whose son Timothy Cole died in a Texas prison after his wrongful rape conviction before he was posthumously pardoned.

AzulTX points out that undocumented immigrants make significant contributions to the US economy.

Jason Stanford scoffs at the notion that John Cornyn is anything but a hardline conservative.

Greg Wythe takes a deeper look at the use of text messages in local campaigns.

The Texas Green Report endorses Proposition 6, the water infrastructure fund amendment.

Offcite shows what truly open streets would look like.

Progress Texas urges a vote against Pasadena’s regressive City Council redistricting scheme.

Finally, all of us at the TPA wish Karl-Thomas Musselman the very best in what comes next as he concludes his tenure with the Burnt Orange Report after ten productive and excellent years.

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Brookshires, Kroger Don’t Support Equal Pay for Texas Women

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Sad, but very true. This shocking story came from Patricia Kilday Hart at the Houston Chronicle…

Gov. Rick Perry vetoed a bill that would have let victims of wage discrimination sue in state court after receiving letters against the measure from the Texas Retailers Association and five of its members, mostly grocery stores, according to records obtained by the Houston Chronicle.

Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, who authored HB 950 mirroring the federal Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, said she unaware that the group and the businesses opposed her bill, or that they sought a gubernatorial veto.

Among the businesses advocating for a veto was Kroger Food Stores.

“I shop at Kroger’s for my groceries,” Thompson said. “I shopped there just last week. I’m going to have to go to HEB now. I am really shocked.”

Also writing to seek a veto were representatives of Macy’s, the Houston grocery company Gerland Corp. [Food Town], Brookshire Grocery Company, Market Basket, the Texas Association of Business and the National Federation of Independent Businesses.

HEB is a member of the Texas Retailers Association, but lobbyist Rusty Kelley said the company did not lobby against the bill.

The letters to Perry provide a behind-the-scene glimpse of the legislative process. Entities such as the Texas Retailers Association can seek a gubernatorial veto without the knowledge of sponsors. Thompson and her Senate counterpart, Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, say they were blind-sided by Perry’s veto and the retailers’ opposition.

Veteran Austin lobbyist Bill Miller said seeking a gubernatorial veto is a common lobby tactic. “That’s a smart play. You don’t fade the heat (by publicly opposing a bill) on the front end and you win on the back end.” He said that, except for the Chronicle’s open records request, “no one would be the wiser. You do what you gotta do to protect your client.”

Makes you wonder how many of Perry’s other seemingly ludicrous vetos were done in this manner. But in any case, this is unacceptable. I can’t believe that I have to write sentences like these, but women are equal citizens in every way. Why would anyone support laws that discriminate against a woman’s ability to earn fair wages, and pursue those fair wages if they’ve been stolen from her? It’s because of that reasoning that the bill passed the hyper partisan Texas Legislature with bi-partisan support… it’s the right thing to do!! And yet Governor Perry would rather please his lobbyist friends than stand with Texas women?

Give me a break.

Houstonians may be less familiar with Brookshires, but the grocery store chain is a staple of East Texas. In fact for many small towns north of Houston and East of Dallas in the state, Brookshires may be the only major grocery store for 30 miles. Brookshires also has stores located in Arkansas and Louisiana.

Gerland Corp is a prominent grocer in the Houston area as well, as the owner and proprietor of all Food Town grocery stores. I plan to boycott all of these businesses, because I don’t want my money going to places that don’t support Texas women. Kroger is going to be especially tough, but it will happen. Houston State Senator Sylvia Garcia, who had a scheduled appearance at a Macy’s store earlier this week, cancelled that and all other events for businesses affiliated with blocking the legislation. Progress Texas already has a petition drive for the boycott. As readers, I would urge you to do the same. And to make it even easier, here are some handy maps letting you know where NOT to go.

Fellow blogger Dos Centavos has an excellent post on this as well.