Texas Blog Roundup

The Texas Progressive Alliance hopes everyone had a happy Election Day last week, and is already looking forward to the next one. Here are this week's highlights.

TXsharon continues to report from a backyard in the Barnett Shale. Despite all the local and national press on drilling related toxins, carcinogens and neurotoxins in our air, Aruba Petroleum Refuses a Simple Step to Improve Barnett Shale Air and thereby recklessly and willfully endangers public health and safety. Read it on Bluedaze: DRILLING REFORM FOR TEXAS.

refinish69 announces his endorsement for the Democratic nominee for Texas governor at Doing My Part For The Left. The progressive choice has to be Hank Gilbert with his policy issues and especially his strong stance on GLBT issues. Hank Gilbert for Texas Governor was the only choice refinish69 could make.

Justin at Asian American Action Fund Blog has a thorough take on the results of election day in Houston.

The Texas Cloverleaf provides an election night roundup of some of DFW's races you never heard of, and some national ones you have.

If you dislike Rep. Dennis Kucinich as much as Mayor McSleaze, there's probably something right with you.

quizas of South Texas Chisme notes that Galveston medical facilities are among those not notifying about rules for the poor, while CouldBeTrue notes South Texas Democrats join Republicans in shafting poor women. Shame on them.

BossKitty at TruthHugger Let me ‘dis’ the local Austin TV news media who gets around to breaking the Health Care Reform Bill news TWO and a half hours later. Hooray for the House Austin just lives in a bubble.

Over at BlueBloggin, nytexan takes a long look at another disgusting practice of our medical insurance industry. We Have One Twisted Health System, Living Organ Donors Beware. The organ donor’s family is never charged for donating. The family is charged for the cost of all final efforts to save your life, and those costs are sometimes misinterpreted as costs related to organ donation. Surprise for organ donors: unexpected medical bills. Austin man who gave kidney to co-worker is one of many who have faced health complications, billing problems.

Bay Area Houston says Hispanics, the largest voting block in Texas, are not voting.

WhosPlayin learned of an illegal meeting of Lewisville ISD trustees this past Thursday and Friday, and has video of trustees mentioning this blogger when discussing whether to implement video recording of trustee meetings.

Vince at Capitol Annex takes a look at an interesting story about Judge Sharon Keller of Court of Criminal Appeals that was eclipsed by the tragedy at Fort Hood.

Off the Kuff has six questions for the runoffs in Houston.

Harris County Clerk Beverly Kaufman toes the ethical line with her active promotion of an assistant for her job, and the local media thinks that's just fine. Get the details in PDiddie's Brains and Eggs.

At TexasKaos, Libby Shaw has news for Cornyn and Sessions about the Republican Resurgence. As she notes:

I wouldn't gloat too much, boys. Your job in Washington just got a lot harder. Meanwhile, back here at home, in case you boys forgot that Houston is the largest city in Texas, three progressive Democrats and one Republican ran for mayor. The Republican dude and the old white guy with boatloads of bucks lost. The run-off race is between a gay woman and an African American male.

See the rest here: I have news for John Cornyn and Pete Sessions

WCNews at Eye On Williamson reports on the local toll authority's latest shenanigans, CTRMA to jack up tolls on 183-A, add automatic annual increases.

Neil at Texas Liberal bought Thanksgiving cards drawn by a young person with cancer who is being treated at Houston's M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. The design Neil bought is both bleak and hopeful.

There was much rejoicing this week at Texas Vox and among the environmental community at large when it was announced that Dr. Al Armendariz was named new Region 6 Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. A Texas EPA administrator that "embodies the ‘Principles for Environmental Leadership and Real Change’"? You better believe it.

Yet Another Gas Driller With No Regard For Public Safety.

TXSharon over at Bluedaze shows us another one of the local gas drillers disregard for public safety and air quality. Aruba Petroleum could install a simple part to its diesel engine used to drill, in order to cut emissions, and won't do it. On the video on the post you can clearly see black smoke billowing from the engine, only 100 or feet from a residential home.

To us, it looks as though if you had a diesel truck parked in your back yard and it just puffed smoke on your house every 5 to 10 seconds. Who would want to live there? Who can honestly say that is even safe? Is it going to take an accident like Love Canal or something of that nature to get our state government to wake up?

Hank Gilbert 1st Statewide Candidate With LGBT Policy

This just in....

 

HOUSTON-Democratic gubernatorial candidate Hank Gilbert made history Tuesday night with the release of a sweeping progressive policy statement on issues of importance to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Texans-including a call for civil unions in Texas designed to give LGBT couples the same rights and privileges as opposite-sex couples.

 

Gilbert made his clarion call for reform during a meeting of the Houston Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Political Caucus, the oldest LGBT civil rights organization in the American south.

      

"Knowing that discrimination exists in Texas and doing nothing about it goes against everything I stand for. Those who remain silent on this issue are passive participants in that discrimination," Gilbert said.

      

Noting that the office of governor was a position from which the state could be led toward progressive public policy innovations, Gilbert said staying quiet LGBT rights issues he strongly believed in was not an option for him.

      

"Just because some people see this as controversial or say that Texas isn't ready for this is not a reason I can use to justify remaining silent on this issue," he said. "This is what is right for Texas," he noted.

     

 "The issue of equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals is the new civil rights battle for the 21st century," Gilbert said.

     In addition to proposing civil unions with the same rights for LGBT couples as for opposite sex couples, Gilbert also:

• Proposed sweeping legislation prohibiting employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity or expression. 
• Proposed ending discriminatory insurance practices negatively impacting Texas' LGBT citizens. 
• Proposed legislation allowing Texas' public universities and governmental institutions to offer same-sex domestic partner benefits. 
• Sweeping reforms prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity or expression in housing, public accommodations, and real estate transactions. 
• Laws establishing the authority of domestic partners in medical decision making. 
• A tough anti-bullying statute.
• Extending the James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Act to include gender identity or expression. 
• Legislation making it less costly and cumbersome for transgender individuals to change the gender marker on birth certificates and state IDs.
• Allowing gay youths the same defenses as straight youths under Texas' "Romeo and Juliet" statutes.

 

"Most of these changes in policy aren't things that are brand new concepts to Texas," Gilbert acknowledged. "Many of them have been proposed before by progressive leaders in the Legislature like State Representative Garnet Coleman here in Houston. Representative Coleman and his progressive colleagues have carried the torch on these issues, and Democrats should be proud of their steadfast leadership. What we need now is a Democratic governor in the governor's office who supports LGBT rights and is willing to bring the full weight of his office to bear on these issues so they can finally be passed," Gilbert said.

 

"A Democratic legislature is not enough to ensure LGBT rights in Texas," he continued. "Until we have a Democrat in the governor's office who is willing to show leadership on this issue, the changes LGBT Texans are fighting for will not happen," he concluded.

Election Night Round Up

In case you didn't look at the other 1000s of outlets showing you election results, we'd like to give you a brief view at the wins and losses here at The Leaf, since all politics is local and we know that some races are overlooked. We will hit some of the big ones, and not so big ones.

 

Texas Constitutional Amendments: All passed. We wonder if anyone read them all?

 

Dallas ISD, TX: Edwin Flores was reelected to District 1. In District 3, incumbent Leigh Ann Ellis and Bruce Parrott will go to a runoff. In District 9, Bernadette Nutall and Sally Cain will go to a runoff.

 

Carrollton Farmers Branch ISD, TX: After much waffling, the ISD cancelled the special election on October 13. This is your tax dollars at work, ISD residents. They already spent the money to contract with the county to hold the election, and also a court battle over Place 4.

 

Lake Dallas TX Place 4 City Council: Ricky Mathews, a McDonald's construction manager, won the election to fill this vacated seat.

 

Pilot Point, TX: Home rule charter was approved by voters.

 

Denton, TX: Charter propositions to clarify city council term limits and residency all passed.

 

Fate and Sunnyvale, TX: The fate of liquor sales in Fate is known. The little Rockwall County town voted down beer and wine sales. Ditto for Sunnyvale.

 

DeSoto, Italy, and Farmersville, TX: They know they like to drink and Satan won't befall their fine cities. Beer and wine sales passes in these three towns.

 

Houston, TX: Openly gay City Controller Annise Parker heads to a mayoral runoff with Gene Locke for the open seat.

 

Maine: 53% of the state's rural bigots repealed the state's marriage equality law. Yet, medical marijuana was approved. Can stoners not focus on more than one item at a time? We were looking forward to a lobster wedding too!

 

Washington: The state not the district. A slim margin of victory goes to expanded gay rights which voters there have termed "everything but marriage".

 

New Jersey: Republican Chris "Fatboy" Christie pulls out the win for governor over Johnny "The Clown" Corzine. That's their assigned mob nicknames of course.

 

Virginia: Republican Bob McDonnell laid the smack down on Creigh Deeds for the governorship there.

 

NY-23: Not the Palin Effect, but a Palin FAIL! The Democrat Bill Owens takes this special Congressional race away from a the GOP, which had held the seat since the Civil War. The GOP candidate had pulled out to endorse the Democrat over the Conservative Party candidate here.

 

CA-10: Democratic Lt. Governor John Garamendi easily becomes the new Congressman here in another special election.

 

New York City: Mayor Bloomberg wins a third term in a tight race.

 

Boston, MA: Mayor Thomas Menino wins a record fifth term.

 

Atlanta, GA: A runoff will determine whether the 35 year run of black mayors remains, as Mary Norwood, who is white, will face Kasim Reed, who is black. Yay race card!

 

Chapel Hill, NC: Openly gay Councilman Mark Kleinschmidt won the mayoral race with 49%, There is no runoff system in place in that college town. Go Tar Heels!

 

That's all for now folks. If anyone else has anything exciting or under the radar results, feel free to post in the comments.

Texas Blog Roundup

The Texas Progressive Alliance reminds you to get out and vote on Tuesday. Here are this week's highlights.
Aruba Petroleum is drilling a Barnett Shale gas well in the backyard of Tim and Christine. Their property was taken, it's value diminished, they were threatened and now Aruba Petroleum spilled toxic drilling waste a few feet from where their daughter plays. Another tale (with VIDEO) about the Victims of the Shale on Bluedaze: DRILLING REFORM FOR TEXAS.

Justin at Asian American Action Fund Blog has a roundup of the Houston city elections and proposed Texas constitutional amendments.

The Texas Cloverleaf looks at the high cost of low turnout elections by examining Denton County. $25 a vote, anyone?

This week at McBlogger, we took a look at Hank Gilbert's plan to Get Texas Moving Again.

Big news from San Antonio, where with just days before City Council was to vote to move forward with the South Texas Nuclear Project expansion, officials suddenly announced that the cost estimate for the project had ballooned by up to $4 Billion! Find out more from Citizen Sarah over at Texas Vox.

WCNews at Eye On Williamson posts on the Texas' GOP leadership that thinks our state's economy is just fine, Dunnam hammers Perry, Dewhurst - GOP needs to face rality on economy in Texas. They'll be singing a different tune when they're out of work in 2011.

TEXPAC, the Texas Medical Association's political action committee, hosted a forum where all six declared US Senate candidates -- John Sharp, Bill White, Elizabeth Ames Jones, Florence Shapiro, Michael Williams, and Roger Williams -- made an appearance. See the videos posted by PDiddie at Brains and Eggs.

John Coby at Bay Area Houston wonders What does it take for a republican to resign?

Off the Kuff takes a look at how Houston's mayoral candidates are spending their money.

At WhosPlayin, Trace makes his case for why we need to talk to Iran.

Mean Rachel wonders why Texas Democratic statewide candidates have Electile Dysfunction.

At TexasKaos, liberaltexan brings us up to date on Republican efforts to "fight liberalism" on the A&M campus, and it ain't pretty. Check it out : Young, Conservative, and Intolerant.

This week Teddy at Left of College Station writes about the young, conservative, and intolerant Texas A&M Chapter of the Young Conservatives of Texas and about the lies and misinformation that the Coalition for Life gives to women in front of Planned Parenthood. Check out the videos posted from President Obama’s visit to Texas A&M including an interview with a Texas A&M student, a rant from a member of the Texas Minuteman, and highlights from the anti-Obama protest.

Craig Watkins Endorses In HD 100 Battle

And the endorsement goes to..... Eric Johnson. In the HD 100 Democratic primary battle, first time candidate Eric Johnson will be taking on the incumbent Representative Terri Hodge.

 

Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins is now added to an increasing list of supporters for Eric Johnson, which includes Young Democrats of America past President David Hardt. Johnson is a Harvard bachelors recipient and Penn graduate of law, who worked for the powerful Haynes & Boone LLP, but now has his own practice. Johnson has also shown his will to fundraise, having raised $100,000 in 100 days a few months ago.

 

We here at the Leaf believe that many in the district feel that Rep. Hodge may be in for a lengthy battle in court next year, and may very well suffer the same fate as former Mayor Pro Tem Don Hill. Her federal court date, on charges of bribery and tax issues, has been set for March 8, 2010, less than one week after the March 2 primary election date.  Throwing political weight towards a fresh face may be the only way to keep the primarily Democratic seat, and to fend off any sense of ethics allegations from Republican challengers. We are not sure how Johnson will parlay his ethics-challenged opponent into the race for the primary, but it is not looking pretty. Representative Hodge maintains her innocence, and currently maintains she will run for reelection.

TX Constitutional Amendment Election Turnout's High Cost Of High Apathy

When does a vote cost $25? Apparently it does in Denton County this year.

 

We inquired with the Denton County Elections Administration as to why there was no early voting available this past weekend, as most other counties had their polls open. In response, the office informed us since it was not required by law, they did not have to do so. Turnout was also expected to be extremely low (.0297% in Denton County as of 10/23), thus creating a large expense. Roughly, each vote was costing $25.

 

Typically, most of the cost of voting is incurred by the Texas Secretary of State's office and redistributed to counties in need of reimbursement. We hope state legislators are paying attention to this. Our ancient ways of amending the TX Constitution for every little item is costing the state taxpayers and counties more time and more money that could be put to better use elsewhere.

Kay Bailey Hutchison's Magic 8 Ball

In case you were wondering when Kay Bailey Hutchison will resign from the US Senate to run against Governor 39% Rick Perry, then perhaps your answers could be found with Kay's Magic 8 Ball.

Perry Is Way Overrated

If you agree that Governor 39% is overrated, then vote in this Washington Post poll!

Texas Blog Roundup

The Texas Progressive Alliance is ready for the start of the World Series, and it presents to you its weekly highlight reel as we await the first pitch.

quizas of South Texas Chisme wonders about the US detaining a Mexican human rights activist.

WWJD on Carter Avenue? TXsharon wants to know if Chesapeake Energy or anyone in Fort Worth government has stopped to consider the answer to that question. Bluedaze: DRILLING REFORM FOR TEXAS.

Bay Area Houston wonders if the Hispanic community will dump their endorsement of Gene Locke.

WhosPlayin lost a fight with the Lewisville ISD, whose board voted unanimously to define media as print and broadcast only and give itself permission to shut out bloggers. (includes video of meeting)

Not sure how to green up your life? Lucky for you, there's a whole series of tips to that topic at Texas Vox, the Voice of Public Citizen in Texas. This week's suggestion:Start a compost pile! Even in your freezer...

The Texas Cloverleaf picks up on the "Pay to Play" system, alive and while with Rick Perry and the TABC.

Problems for the Democrats in 2010? Harry Balczak at McBlogger uncovers something that says that's what we're exactly heading toward.

Dembones at Eye On Williamson Posts on TX-31 Rep. John Carter's latest hypocrisy Carter’s income disclosure problem spoils GOP tactic.

Progressive Coalition candidates for Houston city council (and a Socialist running for mayor) are the subject of PDiddie's post at Brains and Eggs.

Neil at Texas Liberal suggested that voters in Houston consider Progressive Coalition candidates running for Houston City Council. It is hard to see how voting for Democrats year-after-year in city elections has been of great benefit to the people of Houston.

Over at Texas Kaos, libbyshaw provides a public service by providing a Republican hypocrisy score card. Check out her Texas GOP Hall of Hypocrites. You can't tell the hyprocrites without a scorecard. Wait, you can almost. If there is an "R" beside their names, the odds are better than even....

Off the Kuff notes that a settlement has been reached in a lawsuit between Democrats and the Harris County Tax Assessor's office over allegations of voter suppression.