Tag Archives: Christopher Busby

Gov. Abbott Rules Out Special Session Over Marriage Equality Fallout

As Americans wait for the Supreme Court’s ultimate ruling on Marriage Equality, there’s been one question looming in the distance… how will we handle states fallout?

For Texas especially, this question has been quite unclear.  With a new Governor and much legislative turnover, some have wondered if a ruling in favor of Marriage Equality would cause the Governor Abbott to call a Special Session to rebuke the nation’s highest legal authority.

But today in a radio interview with WOAI San Antonio, the Governor essentially put those questions to rest…

The Texas Legislative Session is over, but several social conservative groups are calling on Gov. Greg Abbott to call a special session for lawmakers to consider exceptions to same sex marriage, as the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule this month that Texas must either allow same sex marriages to be performed, or to recognize same sex marriages performed in other states as valid, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.

[…]

The social conservative groups, including the Texas Eagle Forum, Texas Values, and a group called Americans for Truth About Homosexuality, specifically want Abbott to recall lawmakers to consider a bill that would prohibit county clerks from issuing same sex marriage licenses.

[…]

But Abbott says it won’t happen.

“I do not anticipate any special session,” he told News Radio 1200 WOAI.  “They got their job done on time, and don’t require any overtime.”

Governor Abbott’s statement may cause fury among some fringe Right groups, but for the majority of Texans, right and left, this is the correct stance to take.  If the state ban is struck down and no Special Session is called, legal marriage would be able to take place for nearly 2 years before the legislature could reconvene.  That’s 2 years of marriage equality taking place across the state, and 2 years of Texans getting used to it.

Of course even in today’s climate, many GOP activists have moved past this issue.

Houston area Representative Sarah Davis (HD 134) recently became Texas’ first Republican state-level office holder to publicly support marriage equality.  She also earned the endorsement of Equality Texas back in 2014.

Christopher Busby, chair of Harris County Republican Party Precinct 34, had this to say…

I’m glad that Governor Abbott decided to forgo wasting taxpayer money on a special session on a law that would have very likely been ruled unconstitutional at the end of the month. I look forward to the day when Republicans across the state are not only making sound judgment, but championing legal equality for lgbt citizens.

Try as they may, a few loud-mouthed, anti-equality fringe groups cannot stop the evolution of the Texas GOP.  We’ll wait to see if the Governor remains true to his word.

 

Why A HERO Referendum Could Be Good for Houston And Texas

After years of planning, a slew of phone calls, repeated trips to City Hall, organizer trainings, exhaustive blog posts and countless closed-door meetings with Council Members, citizens finally found a voice when the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance was passed on May 28th.  The new law instituted an historic new level of protections for all Houstonians, and for many was a cause for celebration.

But today, after being dealt what in their view was an affront to their values, the opposition to HERO struck back, turning in 50,000 petition signatures to City Hall (pending verification by City Secretary Anna Russell).  If at least 17,000 of them are verified as residents of the city, then the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance will be placed on the November ballot, and could even be voted down.  Supporters of HERO will have to work even harder to thwart the litany of lies, and convince voters to keep this critical law on the books.

The referendum is going to be hard work, but it could actually end up being very good, not only for Houston Progressives, but for Progressive causes across Texas.  Here are the reasons why.

For starters, Houston is ready for the referendum.  Long before a non-discrimination bill came before Council, supporting organizations have been preparing for the possibility of a city-wide vote.  The campaign to defend the ordinance is well under way, and has already engaged a broad coalition of organizations and elected officials.  You can learn more about the Equal Rights Committee at the Equal Rights Houston website.

Secondly, as a city-specific referendum, the math is on HERO’s side.  The opposition is asking voters to repeal a law that their elected representatives passed.  In general, that’s tough to do.  But that vote also occurs only in the city of Houston… the same electorate that sent Mayor Parker to office three times in a row.  In every past election, similar argument’s about Parker’s “evil LGBT agenda” have been waged against her, and they have never won.  After seeing Houstonians through a recession, and 4 years of record job growth and prosperity that other cities in the nation only dream of, are Houston voters really going to get enraged enough to vote this down?

As Houstonians like the talented Christopher Busby prove, Equal Rights should NOT be a Democratic or a Republican issue.  Sad though it is, the fight for HERO has become politicized, with most of the opposition’s coalition being Republican (again, not all but most).  Because of this, a referendum will likely serve as a motivator for Democrats to vote in Houston and Harris County.  It could even stand to boost turnout for Democratic candidates.  Again as mentioned in the above, this is specifically the city of Houston, whose electorate has already proven that they vote on the Progressive side.  This assumption could be wrong, but barring some smoking gun to move the issue, it’s not likely.  Giving Houston’s Democrats another big reason to get out the vote is sure to have statewide implications.

Finally, the opposition is built on lies and misconceptions about the law.  The Houston Equal Rights Ordinance isn’t a mystery anymore. It’s a real law, and is available on the city’s website for any and all to read.   Even for the people that are confused, they can go to the link above and actually read the ordinance.  The Mayor said it best in today’s press conference…

“It is illegal today, it will be illegal tomorrow, it will be legal after HERO for a man to go into a woman’s bathroom.”

Like the childhood legend of monsters under the bed, fear dissipates when mom or dad flips the light on.  HERO has been brought to light, and there’s NOTHING scary about it.

There’s still a possibility that the petitions could be invalidated, but for now, it’s time to plan as though the referendum is going on.  HERO needs some heroes again, and I strongly suspect that they are on the way.

 

 

Is Ted Poe A Go for Light Rail?

Unless mine eyes and ears deceived me… yes. Though unlike the Chronicle’s Dug Begley, I’m not exactly ready to call him a ‘new rail line champion’.

In a bit of a shocker on the House floor yesterday, Congressman Ted Poe spoke in support of federal funding for Houston METRO’s University Line, the “cornerstone” branch of Houston’s light rail expansion that would connect Downtown and the Medical Center to the Galleria.

It’s common knowledge that John Culberson, who represents the area in which the westernmost branch of the rail line will run, is Capitol Hill’s most vocal opponent of rail transit. He has tried time and time again to kill all urban rail projects in Houston. But in speaking with Ted Poe yesterday on the House Floor, he almost sounded supportive of the line as well. Perhaps he was just trying to sound cordial with Poe and his Republican colleagues, but it’s a greater positive step than he’s ever taken before. From the video, Here’s what Poe had to say about the rail…

“…I have never been a strong champion of light rail, but my Congressional district includes a significant portion of the proposed rail line… A majority of my constituents in the affected area that would be served support the light rail. I am concerned that Section 166 of the bill that would prohibit federal funds from going to a part of the University Line that falls in… Mr. Culberson’s district, number 7. This language, although affecting his district primarily, indirectly affects my constituents because it has the effect of killing the whole project. Federal funds are needed to build the University Line in Houston. To be clear, Section 166 really doesn’t save any federal money, it just sends those funds to somewhere else

I’ve recently surveyed the constituents who live in the affected area in my Congressional district… Those in the affected area want light rail. On Facebook alone over the last few days, 604 people supported light rail and 340 opposed it.”

Just in case you’ve forgotten, this rare occurrence where a member of Congress is against a project, but is later swayed by the overwhelming support of his constituents? That’s actually how our government is supposed to work. Americans send Congress to Washington so that they will vote the interests of their constituents, not just hold to their personal, rigid beliefs. It was also quite surprising to see Poe concede this fact publicly.

Now the next question… will Ted Poe’s reasoning be enough to sway John Culberson to drop his bill killing federal funding? No one knows for sure, but after yesterday’s events in Congress, Houston is again closer than ever to completing a major piece of it’s planned transit infrastructure. It’s good to see that some in Washington are beginning to figure out that Houston doesn’t need to fall behind just to prove a talking point.

Many Republicans in Culberson’s district are in support of transit investment. I asked Republican activist and Houstonian Christopher Busby what he thought of Poe’s remarks, and here was his response…

“As a former University of Houston student who understands the need for a modern transportation system, I think Congressman Poe’s support for the University line is great. As we continue to grow and become a more dense urban population, projects like the University light rail will become more and more essential to the development of our city’s infrastructure. We have reached the time when development of new roads and maintenance of old ones is not enough to sustain our population growth.”

But having more Houstonians in support of rail transit is just the first step. Most of the University Line is still planned as an At-Grade system, and that’s going to lead to more accidents in the future. While renewed hopes for federal funding are great, it’s time for city leaders and METRO to consider grade separation for the University Line. Most expect that when completed, this line will have the highest ridership of the whole system. It will also be traveling through the most high-density area of the city… an area that is still growing very rapidly. More people and more cars make for a higher probability of accidents. But if Houston plans for a better system now, those future issues can be avoided.

For more on this, check out Off the Kuff.