Tag Archives: David Dewhurst

Houston Politics

Texoblogosphere: Week of March 3rd

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The Texas Progressive Alliance is delighted to see marriage equality take another big step forward as we bring you this week’s roundup.

Off the Kuff examines the past performance of UT/Texas Trib polls in statewide Demorcatic primaries and finds it wanting.

As the Uber rideshare program (and all its politics) come to Houston, George and Horwitz at Texpatriate take different sides on the issue, one in favor, one against.

After a recent visit to the Natural State, Texas Leftist has discovered that Arkansas’ ‘Private Option’ alternative to Medicaid expansion is a rousing success. So successful in fact, it seems only natural that dysfunctional GOP politicians would try to kill it. Are they really willing to kick one hundred thousand people (and counting) off of their health plans?

WCNews at Eye on Williamson reminds us that the Texas GOP holds all the power in Texas and therefore Everything That’s Wrong With Texas Is The Texas GOP’s Fault.

It’s a good thing that Greg Abbott doesn’t comprehend the damage he’s doing to his chances to get elected, observes PDiddie at Brains and Eggs. And as long as Abbott continues not getting it, Ted Nugent is going to be the gift that keeps on giving.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme wonders why Greg Abbott’s campaign publicly endorses Ted Nugent’s views.

Neil at All People Have Value posted about the brave and hopeful man who interrupted arguments at the Supreme Court to speak up in opposition to Citizens United. All People Have Value is part of NeilAquino.com.

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

John Coby has Greg Abbott’s next apology all ready for him.

The Texas Green Report updates us on the Sierra Club’s litigation against industrial polluters.

Offcite looks at your cancer risk in Houston.

The Lunch Tray reports that a growing number of Congressional Republicans are seeking to gut the 2010 Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act.

The Inanity of Sanity mocks the latest video smear attempt by James O’Keefe, this time against Battleground Texas.

TFN Insider awaits an apology to teachers from Dan Patrick and David Dewhurst now that their accusations about CSCOPE have proven to be utterly groundless.

Grits explains again why more security cameras do not equal more security.

Happy Electtion Day!! Make sure to go VOTE!!!

Texas Politics

Texas Lege DECIMATING Women’s Health Services

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Republicans have learned quickly in Texas just how “Special” a Special Session can be.

Late last night in the Senate, the GOP took advantage of unique rules in the Special Session, and were able to pass SB5 against Democratic objections. Senate Bill 5 is textbook amongst TRAP laws, or Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers. Like the ones already passed in other states, it would place unnecessary restrictions on abortion providers, such as each doctor on staff having admitting privileges to a hospital within 30 miles of their practice, or the need to upgrade their facilities to match that of an Emergency Room. Given that Texas is a VERY sparse state in rural areas, and what few hospitals there are have religious objections to abortion, this is basically an eviction notice for women’s health services. These restrictions will effectively end abortion services for Texas women in all but a few select urban areas. Only 5 clinics in the whole state at present meet the rigorous qualifications set forth in SB5, which would cause the shut-down of 42 clinics.

During the Senate hearings, Republicans said that they were passing the legislation out of “concern for women’s health care”, but that reasoning was a total lie, as revealed by Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst. After the Senators spent hours trying to say otherwise, he proudly boasted such news on Twitter by tweeting out the map showing how many clinics would be forced to shut down…

Given that the Texas House is dominated by Republicans, the measure will likely become law tonight. At the same time, Texas women from across the state are headed to Austin for rally in protest.

This is truly a new low for the Texas Congressional GOP.

—-UPDATE—-

9:10am June 21st— Though the Senate has done it’s dirty work by passing SB 5, House Bill 60 (HB 60) is still in committee. And thanks to the bravery and true dedication of 700 Texans last night and into this morning, HB 60 did NOT get a vote. They descended upon Austin and staged an astonishing Citizen’s Filibuster as everyone present signed up to speak about the bill. It was a total takeover of what the GOP House members expected to a “rubber stamp” hearing.

Here’s part of the first-hand account from Andrea Grimes at rhrealitycheck.org

We’re here as part of a citizens’ filibuster against a bill added to the Texas house’s special session calendar at the last minute by Republican Gov. Rick Perry. They spent the day anxiously waiting for their names to be called by House State Affairs Committee chairman Rep. Byron Cook (R-Corsicana). They’ve been poring over testimony, timing themselves on smartphones, practicing their statements in the hallway with quavering voices.

Seven hundred people registered to testify today. Tonight. Into the wee hours. They were prepared to wait as long as it took.

At midnight, Rep. Cook told us that, after nearly seven hours of testimony against HB 60, our words were getting to be “repetitive,” and he would allow just one more hour of testimony.

That’s when the yelling started.

“Let her speak!” chanted women and men who gathered in the room as one woman was escorted away from the podium by a Texas State Trooper.

Shortly thereafter, citizens took over the hearing room and decided to testify with or without the committee members present.

That’s when #HB60 began trending worldwide on Twitter. That’s when people stopped tweeting about getting coffee delivered to the James H. Reagan building here in downtown Austin, and started tweeting about bail money.

Eventually, Rep. Cook and his colleagues called the hearing back to order and gave the gathered citizens another half-hour to speak against HB 60.

“Our words are not repetitive,” testified Lesli Simms, a first-generation American. “Our government’s attacks on our choice, on our bodies, is repetitive.”

There are hundreds of people still waiting to have their voices heard. But it may be their silence, engineered and ensured by Rep. Cook and right-wing lawmakers, that will speak loudest of all.

These courageous Texans fought for all of us last night. And for that, I thank them.

Houston Politics

Time to Saddle Up for Paul Sadler

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Ok Texas Democrats… we’ve got some work to do.

If you haven’t noticed, there is an election for the United States Senate going on, and the GOP candidates are in hot pursuit. Texans can’t go 5 minutes without seeing mud-slinging against Ted Cruz or David Dewhurts on their TV and computer screens. Forget the national election… in Texas, their primary is the battle royale. The good news is, most of those ads will stop after the July 31st Primary Runoff is over.

But the Democratic Primary is also going on. Though it may lack the constant bludgening of the GOP side, a very important race is being held between Paul Sadler and Grady Yarbrough. Here’s my take.

Texas Leftist wouold like to formally endorse Paul Sadler as the Democratic Candidate for US Senate. He is the only candidate with the experience and acumen to be able to represent Texans, having held elected office as a State Senator from 1993-2001. During his time in the State Legislature, Mr. Sadler worked tirelessly to improve the State’s education system, passing 3 teacher pay-raises and public-school employee health insurance. He also has a record of strong bi-partisan leadership having worked with then Governor George W. Bush (Republican) and Lt. Governor Bob Bullock (Democrat) to improve the lives of all Texans. On some of our nation’s most pressing issues, Sadler supports the expiration of the Bush tax cuts, and investment in America’s children and infrastructure. He supports the Affordable Care Act as law and thinks that Texas should allow the expansion of medicaid so more Texans can recieve quality care. Mr. Sadler also supports full marriage equality, saying that government issuance of marriage should be separate from the rights of religious organizations. “Interfaith marriages, second marriages,” he said. “Some religions don’t approve of those. We shouldn’t be assigning a religious litmus test.”

By contrast, Grady Yarbrough has no legislative experience. Though his work as a life-long teacher is certainly commendable, he remains something of a “great unknown” to most Texas Democratic organizations. Most importantly, he has not shown any indication or ability to compete with Dewhurst or Cruz on the state-wide level. Of course any man that garners over 100,000 votes in the Primary election deserves honorable mention.

For these reasons, my full support is going to Paul Sadler. So Democrats, it’s time to saddle up, vote in this week’s Primary, and get ready for the general election!

(Photo credit by Jana Birchum of the Austin Chronicle)

Houston Politics

Texas Senate Debate… Democrats included

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Something quite unexpected and welcome occurred during last night’s Texas Senate debate. Titled “Conversation with the Candidates” it was produced and Co-Sponsored by Houston Public Media and the Texas Tribune.

For the first time since 2006, the state of Texas had a major political debate in which both Democrats and Republicans were present. Sure the Democrats were outnumbered 4 to 2, but at least both viewpoints were there and were voiced. This was a huge “win” for Texas Democrats even if one of their candidates doesn’t win the seat.

Now you may be thinking “2006? That can’t possibly be true. We had a Gubernatorial election in 2010… Rick Perry vs. Bill White.” Bill White and Rick Perry only participated in Primary debates, but there was never a debate in the General Election. Had Perry debated White, we may have been spared the abysmal performances he gave us in the 2012 Primary Election cycle. You know what they say… Practice makes perfect, right?

As divided as those viewpoints were at times, last night’s debate was quite respectful among the candidates. The presumed GOP front-runner David Dewhurst spent most of his time attacking The President saying that real economic improvement couldn’t occur until we “send Barack Obama back to Chicago, get a good, conservative Republican in the White House that will follow a stable, predictable course.”

Dewhurst also spent much of his time touting his accomplishments along side Rick Perry. Though, it’s fair to say that Texas is no longer under a surplus and education and health care costs for our state continue to surge out of control. He apparently thought it was a record worth sharing.

Ted Cruz spent most of the evening going after Dewhurst for harsh campaign ads, and name-dropping all of the Washington insight he’s built up as an Attrorney arguing before the Supreme Court. Not a whole host of solutions.

It was clear from the debate that former NFL-player Craig James had no prior political experiences. Between living off of mayo sandwiches, fear of “hurting our lizards” during natural gas fracking, and his invaluable life lessons on the goat ranch, his other pie-in-the-sky answers left this viewer non-plussed. He calls for lowering corporate tax rates to 0 percent, and then somehow jobs and business will simply flood our shores. He’s not ready for Prime Time yet.

Among the GOP contenders, the most capable candidate to handle real problems of everyday Texans was former Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert. Even if you don’t agree with his positions, you have to respect him for presenting logical solutions to our state and our nation’s issues. He presented his views with a clarity and poise that wasn’t present in the other Republican candidates. That’s not an endorsement… just a recognition.

The best surprise of the debate was a 31 year-old Dallas business owner named Sean Hubbard. A clear, unapologetic Liberal who stands up for his values, but also presented the logic skills that are so desperately needed in Washington right now. When asked about the future possibility of drought in Texas, he say that “We should be investing now in Deselination plants.” A solution that no other candidate (and most in our state government) have even considered. Though mostly in agreement with his Democratic opponent Paul Sadler, Hubbard maintained a more concise, prominent and straight-forward presence among the group. When discussing Women’s Rights, Hubbard said that it’s “an embarrassment” and stated that “women are more than capable of making their own decisions about their bodies and their health.” He even revealed that for a time his wife used the services of Planned Parenthood “not for abortions, but for cancer screenings”.

After two long hours, my endorsement would have to go to Sean Hubbard for his clarity of thought, innovative solutions and strength of viewpoint. The Honorable Mention would go to Tom Leppert, because even if I didn’t agree with his positions, the willingness to search for real solutions instead of just saying no.

Here’s a link to the full debate. Watch for yourself and form your own opinion.