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Obama chief taking job with Travis County Democrats
Ian Davis of Austin, a Democratic activist who’s been busy in the presidential race as a coordinator of Texans for (Sen. Barack) Obama, plans to leave his paid post with the Texas Freedom Network to steer voter registration and turnout for the Travis County Democratic Party.
Davis assumes the role Saturday, said Andy Brown, the county party’s chairman.
Davis and Brown declared a goal of adding 50,000 voters to the county’s roll of registered voters, which now numbers about 450,000.
Brown said: “We’ve got a ton of excitement generated in the primary” with new volunteers expected to pitch in this summer. “I see the primary as a springboard.”
Davis said: “We obviously can’t turn Texas blue by ourselves, but Travis (County) can and should do its part. We’re going to combine the latest innovative technology with all the grass-roots energy stirred up in the primary, and we’ll have some fun. Hopefully we’ll create a successful model that can build upon as we march into 2010.”
Austin-area Democrats are invited to the kickoff of the county party’s coordinated campaign, which is set for 1 p.m. Saturday at Nuevo Leon, 1501 E. Sixth St. That’ll be preceded by a gathering of Travis County delegates and alternates to the party’s June state convention from noon to 12:30 p.m. Saturday in the Mary E. Branch Gymnasium at Huston-Tillotson University, 900 Chicon.
I’m checking on GOP plans to knock on doors this Saturday; word is that Roger Williams, who heads the Republican Party’s statewide coordinated campaign, is leading a “walk to win” intended to reach 100,000 households that day.
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Shapiro joining White House trip to Israel
State Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, has been chosen to join the White House delegation to Israel to celebrate the nation’s 60th anniversary.
The honorary delegation of about 80 people includes a bevy of big names from the religious, political, academic and business worlds. Among the other delegates are former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, Nobel laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle and Mort Zuckerman, chairman and editor-in-chief of U.S. News and World Report.
The celebration will be held in Jerusalem this week.
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Surplus talk unrealistic, report says
The Center for Public Policy Priorities on Monday threw some cold water on the recent overheated talk of a state surplus.
It is “wishful thinking,” according to the policy statement, that the state will raise enough money to cover its costs in the 2010-2011 budget and also produce some extra for tax cuts or rebates, as Gov. Rick Perry has suggested.
Whether the “surplus” is $15 billion — as House Speaker Tom Craddick suggested it could be — or the comptroller’s estimate of $10.7 billion, most of that money is already spoken for. The Rainy Day Fund takes up $5.7 billion and $3 billion is set aside for school property reductions.
That leaves $2 billion to cover any new costs.
Neither Craddick nor Comptroller Susan Combs are “using the term ‘surplus’ in its ordinary sense,” according to the policy statement.
That money is not extra or unneeded, said Eva DeLuna Castro, a budget analyst for the group. It will be necessary to cover cost increases such as fuel and health care, which are bound to demand more from the state coffers. But those needs are not being figured into the baseline of the future budget.
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Perry heading to California to help San Diego GOP
Gov. Rick Perry, who made a splash with a let-conservatives-be-conservatives speech to California Republicans in September, is returning to the Golden State on Tuesday to raise money for the San Diego Republican Party, his office announced Monday.
His stop at a noon fundraiser is to be followed by a roundtable discussion featuring a candidate for the California Assembly, Nathan Fletcher. Fletcher may be best known in Texas circles as the husband of Mindy Tucker, former press aide in George W. Bush’s campaign office.
His California swing is set to end with an evening speech at the 2008 San Diego GOP Lincoln / Reagan Day Dinner.
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Mark Sanders wins council seat in Eustace
By drawing 69 votes, longtime Capitol campaign consultant Mark Sanders has landed on the city council in the East Texas town of Eustace.
The way it played out, he says, 93 voters cast ballots Saturday to fill three council seats. Under Eustace’s approach, voters could vote for up to three candidates on their ballots and then election officials tallied the number of total votes for each candidate. The top three finishers—Sanders says he ran second in the group—are due to be sworn into office Friday.
(Eustace, turns out, is easy to find, according to the city’s Web site. It’s 12 miles east of Mabank and 11 miles west of Athens.)
Sanders, 45, whose past clients included Carole Keeton Strayhorn, David Dewhurst, Jerry Patterson and Rob Mosbacher Jr., said Monday he’s intent on introducing a code of conduct for council members and the mayor that would require any one of them charged with a felony to resign immediately.
Sanders had made the plunge into life as a candidate after failing to persuade Mayor Laura Ward to resign; she was arrested in September after striking a woman outside a bar in Gun Barrel City.
The code of conduct, Sanders said, “is designed entirely to get rid of the mayor.”
So much for a honeymoon period.
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LULAC sues Texas Democrats over delegates
Making a stab at changing how Texas Democrats allocate delegates to the party’s national convention, two groups representing Latinos sued the state party on Friday saying the system short-changes Latino voters in violation of federal voting rights.
Hector Nieto, spokesman for the party, had no immediate comment except to say that the method of allocating delegates has been approved at past state conventions.
The suit, fetchable here, was filed in San Antonio by LULAC of Texas, the Mexican American Bar Association of Houston and six voters described as Democrats upset by the party’s method of rewarding delegates.
Luis Vera, LULAC’s general counsel, said LULAC wants a judge to toss the results of the March 4 primary because it believes delegates weren’t allocated fairly, considering Latinos invariably support the party’s nominees. The party bases the delegates awarded within each state senatorial district on the percentage of voters who turned out and voted for the Democratic gubernatorial nominee in the most recent previous general election.
A key factoid: Latino-heavy districts end up fielding fewer delegates to the national convention. Why? Turnout in those districts often drops in general elections partly because Democratic candidates in those districts face fewer serious fall races.
Vera, set to be a delegate to the state convention pledged to Sen. Hillary Clinton, said it’s possible Clinton would benefit from a change in delegate allocations. Clinton, after all, bested Sen. Barack Obama across the Texas-Mexico border region.
“Of course, it’s possible,” Vera said. “That’s inconsequential. I could care less. This is not about Hillary Clinton and this is not about Barack Obama. My loyalty is to the Latino community.”
It’s going to be up to U.S. District Judge Fred Biery whether to take this suit seriously. He hadn’t acted as of the close of business Friday.
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Romney raises Austin money for Cornyn
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, juiced his already-bulging campaign kitty Friday with a fund-raiser in Austin featuring Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who might prove to be Sen. John McCain’s vice presidential choice.
Word is that Romney has a reunion of Texas donors in Houston on Friday night, to be followed by an event raising money for McCain’s campaign on Saturday.
U.S. Reps. John Carter, R-Round Rock, and Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio, were among the 45 people at the event at Austin’s Headliners Club, helping the campaign raise about $50,000.
Kevin McLaughlin, Cornyn’s campaign spokesman, said: “We’re always looking for creative ways to raise money. We are not shy about asking people for money.”
I wondered if former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, the Republican who outlasted Romney in the presidential race, is next up for a private shindig with Cornyn. He’s not.
Tony Gray, a spokesman for the Democratic U.S. Senate nominee, state Rep. Rick Noriega, was unaware of Romney pausing to help Cornyn. “More evidence that his machine is out there moving and working,” Gray said.
Gray said the blogosphere has gone nuts over a new poll suggesting Cornyn is barely ahead of Noriega. Peek at it here.
McLaughlin said he was “flummoxed/dumbfounded/perplexed” by some of the poll results including an indication that Noriega is better known in Texas than Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
“I find it hard to take a poll seriously conducted by Daily Kos that finds a state representative in Texas is better known than Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton,” McLaughlin said.
Gray said there was no intent to cut the Texas press out of a national conference call Noriega’s campaign did to tout the poll at midday Friday. The campaign’s new strategic communications firm sent out notice of the call from a national press list, he said.
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Abbott helping candidate for governor of Virginia
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott plans to host a June 4 fundraising reception for Bob McDonnell — who has not declared his candidacy for office in Texas or any place yet, though that’s evidently a technicality.
Abbott writes: “My friend Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell is coming to Austin to help raise support for his campaign for Virginia Governor. … I need your help to ensure he ends up in the Virginia Governor’s Mansion.”
Abbott’s pitch says that for a contribution of $5,000 or more, donors will be admitted to a private reception before the main event that day at the Austin Club.
Unsaid: He and McDonnell have a sore point in common. They each endorsed former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson for president last year, before Thompson’s candidacy flamed out.
According to news reports, McDonnell, elected Virginia’s AG in 2005, looks likely to be his party’s nominee for governor should he formalize his candidacy. The state’s lieutenant governor, Bill Bolling, decided not to run for governor in March, saying he’ll seek re-election instead.
McDonnell told The Washington Post that he and Bolling will spend much of this year “building the party to make sure Virginia stays red in the presidential race.”
In 2009, Virginia Republicans hope to end what looms as the Democrats’ eight-year hold on the governorship.
The Democrats do not have a clear front-runner for their nomination. State Sen. Creigh Deeds, who lost to McDonnell by less than 400 votes in 2005, and state Del. Brian Moran of Alexandria are contenders.
To pony up for McDonnell, as Abbott urges, send an e-mail to Janet Polarek, janet@remedy-consulting.net .
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Shapiro’s interest in U.S. Senate is growing
Talk picked up on Thursday surrounding state Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, and a possible run for the U.S. Senate if Kay Bailey Hutchison comes home to run for governor.
Bryan Eppstein, a consultant to Shapiro, says, “At this time it’s just an interest in running and it’s a growing interest.” Eppstein also threw in the obligatory “she’s getting encouraged to run” bit.
Here’s how the scenario might play out: Hutchison leaves the Senate in 2009 to run for governor. Gov. Rick Perry then appoints someone to fill her seat, but there is an election in 2010 (some say it might be sooner than that) in which the voters would decide who the next senator is. Shapiro, assuming she’s not the person appointed by Perry (or even if she is) would jump into that race.
Texas Weekly reporteded Thursday that she’s planning to form an exploratory committee. Eppstein wouldn’t directly answer whether she has such plans.
Shapiro’s move could materialize about a year after she told the American-Statesman’s Gardner Selby that she’d welcome a chance to be in the U.S. Senate.
“It is a position obviously that anybody that’s an elected official would covet,” she said in April 2007. “It’s not something I’ve even been planning at all to date … I haven’t really thought about it very much.”
At the time she had just lunched with Roger Staubach in Dallas and he had urged her to run.
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‘The Big Sort’
Is there really a way to know whether a neighborhood leans Republican or Democratic without studying voting records?
Author Bill Bishop says there are signs. He means that literally.
Speaking today at an event hosted by the Center for Politics and Governance at the LBJ School of Public Affairs, Bishop showed a photo of a sign in his heavily Democratic Travis Heights neighborhood that said, “Impeach.” He also showed a sign at BookPeople advertising a Darwin Day event. Not the kind of signs you see in heavily Republican areas.
In his new book, “The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like-Minded America is Tearing us Apart,” the former Statesman reporter writes that for the past three decades, Americans have been sorting themselves into homogeneous communities, churches and clubs.
“The middle has dropped out of everything,” Bishop said.
There’s been a big focus on red states and blue states, but Bishop and co-author Robert Cushing, a retired UT sociology professor, looked at a smaller area: the county. They found that Americans are much more likely than they were 30 years ago to live in counties where one party won by a large margin, 20 percentage points or more. Even though the presidential election in 2004 was very close, nearly half of voters lived in communities where the election was not at all close, the book says.
“As Americans have moved over the past three decades, they have clustered in communities of sameness, among people with similar ways of life, beliefs, and in the end, politics,” Bishop wrote.
Bishop plans to talk about “The Big Sort” at BookPeople on May 28 at 7 p.m.
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Justice Wainwright’s remarks on patriotism-plus
My column in Thursday’s paper, posted here, brushed on remarks by Texas Supreme Court Justice Dale Wainwright at an event at the University of Texas last month.
Wainwright was part of a panel speaking to the future of the Republican Party, which is viewable by clicking here. Or fetch the audio only here.
Pasted below is my transcript of what Wainwright said at the event about Texas Republicans understanding the political fundamentals of religious faith, patriotism and a belief in equal opportunity for all. This passage was preceded by Wainwright saying, without specifics, that the Republican Party has made some missteps over the years in Texas and nationally.
Then he said: “I think perhaps the saving grace is that the Democrats I don’t think understand and perhaps don’t believe as strongly as Republicans, at least here in Texas, that three fundamentals as I see it are our faith, patriotism—you’ve got to love this country without question, and if Americans have a question about that, they are going to start questioning your candidacy. You’ve got to believe that there is a greater being that created us all and that guides things ultimately. And you’ve got to believe that there is outstanding opportunity in this country for everybody, regardless of race, color or gender.
“And the person that espouses that vision and backs it up with execution, and a plan to execute that, even if it’s not perfect, is going to be the person that our state, I’m confident of, will get behind and I believe our nation will get behind and elect.”
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Bullock bio stirs Jan Bullock and longtime aides
My story in Wednesday’s editions about the Bob Bullock biography by Dave McNeely and Jim Henderson—peek here—yields the first post-publication comments by Bullock’s widow, Jan Bullock, on the book, which is in its third printing and has drawn favorable reviews. It is viewable here.
Several longtime aides to the late lieutenant governor are similarly disappointed in “Bob Bullock: God Bless Texas,” with some saying the authors made an insufficient effort to tap their knowledge and experiences of Bullock. McNeely told me they deliberately did not do so partly because they didn’t want to cause one of the Bullock-ites to hurry their own book into print.
Glen Castlebury, who worked for Bullock for 20 years starting in 1974, said the authors could have started their research by querying people closest to Bullock.
“I would have thought they would have gone to the Bullock loyalists probably first (for interviews); it would have been most obvious (approach),” Castlebury said. “Then you would have gone out to talk to all the other turkeys walking the street to see if they had something to say.”
My sense is that Henderson was permitted to listen to a few oral histories given by Bullock friends and associates, as reported, because librarians at Baylor University didn’t initially know he was teamed with McNeely, who had a testy relationship with Bob Bullock.
Jan Bullock cut off public access to the histories until the year 2009, she told me, because she figured McNeely wanted to finish his book before President Bush left office that same year.
Bullock and Ben Rogers, director of Baylor’s W.R. Poage Legislative Library, said the authors did not delve into thousands of available pages of materials in the Bullock collection including newspaper clippings and “opposition research” Bullock’s campaign put together that put him in a vulnerable light.
McNeely and Henderson said they were told by Rogers in 2004 that bound newspaper clippings were not available. The library said it has no record of the request; Rogers initially said he didn’t remember the authors visiting together in 2004, later insisting they did not visit together.
The authors did not interview Jan Bullock, but they contacted her.
Henderson called her in 2006, saying he tried again later, without leaving messages. He said he expected she would call him if she wanted to visit.
McNeely delivered a draft manuscript to Bullock in February 2007. She shortly e-mailed Henderson, saying: “I can tell you two certainly did your research.”
McNeely then solicited her corrections, suggesting they get together.
If “there are things that are inaccurate, we want to get them corrected,” McNeely said in a March 30, 2007 e-mail. “…So let’s do get together as soon as possible.”
On May 4, 2007, Bullock wrote him to say she couldn’t help. She made her decision after sharing the manuscript with aides to Bob Bullock. Her letter states that she found mistakes, urban legends, gossip and distortions.
Henderson, speaking to the negative reactions, said in a recent e-mail to me: “Jan wanted to write her own book about Bullock. Didn’t happen. Get over it. Then she did her best to obstruct the writing of this book. Didn’t happen. Get over it. Then she did her best to block publication. Didn’t happen. Get over it. She apparently wanted to control everything written about her late husband. Didn’t happen. Ain’t gonna happen. Get over it.”
Bullock earlier told me: “I would have loved to see a grand book about Bob. He certainly was not an angel. And he was difficult, temperamental - my god, he was every adjective in the book… I mean, I have great stories. I have love letters that he’s written me that people wouldn’t even believe.”
A longtime Bullock aide, Mary Jane Wardlow, identified factual errors in the book including a reference to one senator serving in 1991 who took office in 1993.
In another part, Bullock is described as introducing senators to his forceful leadership style by rushing through measures. It’s placed in 1991 though it occurred in 1995. And, Wardlow said, the book mischaracterizes the late action in a legislative session catching the Senate up after the death of its parliamentarian.
Wardlow also said the book incorrectly describes Bullock’s funeral. Bullock did not repose on a floral altar; his body was in his coffin next to sprays of flowers.
Carolene English, another longtime aide, inquired last year into the UT Press’s method of fact-checking as the book approached publication. The UT Press said the book was vetted by two outside experts it did not identify and cleared by its Faculty Advisory Committee, which unanimously approved publication.
English said this year that details were muffed such as the fact that Bullock had surgery to remove one third of a lung (not most of it), and that he had deeper Texas roots than stated. She said the authors also missed Bullock intervening in the 1980s to ensure that Democrats created legislative districts winnable by black and Hispanic candidates.
McNeely said the record isn’t so simple. And, he noted, Bullock is credited in the book with hiring and promoting minorities.
Castlebury and John Moore, a longtime Bullock aide, told McNeely last year that he mistold episodes from the years during which Bullock was a heavy drinker. The two also did not specify what was incorrect.
Their stance, Castlebury said, amounted to “don’t feed the snake.”
John Keel, a Bullock protégé, presented McNeely with letters from individuals last year saying incidents in the manuscript didn’t happen; two stories were removed before publication.
McNeely informed Jan Bullock—who knew Bullock for 22 years and married him in 1985—of the excisions with a comment she did not appreciate, writing: “I might remind you that all of these things happened before you and Bob were married and before he quit drinking, and do not involve you.”
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State surplus a squishy number
House Speaker Tom Craddick’s statement last week that the state could have a nearly $15 billion surplus heading into the 2009 session might be a bit optimistic, according to the state comptroller.
Texas Comptroller Susan Combs said at a press conference Tuesday that her office is projecting a $10.7 billion surplus, including the $5.7 billion set aside in the rainy day fund and $3 billion designated to reduce school property taxes.
The comptroller’s estimate is correct as it stands today, Craddick spokeswoman Alexis DeLee said. But the speaker believes the surplus could be significantly higher by the time the session rolls around in January because the state’s economy is strong, she said.
Craddick told a group of Hidalgo County Republicans last week that the hefty surplus was the work of rising oil prices as well as Republican policies, the Rio Grande Guardian reported.
“Now, I didn’t create the price of oil and I know that’s helped a little but let me tell you right now, so did cutting spending, so did consolidating agencies, so did saying the word ‘no’,” Craddick said, according to the news service.
Independent of the surplus size, the state is not looking to greatly expand spending, according to a budget memo sent this week to state agencies.
The agencies were told to keep their 2010-2011 general revenue budgets at the same level as their current budgets. They must also submit a plan for reducing their budgets by 10 percent.
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Noriega in striking distance of Cornyn, poll says
A Rasmussen poll of Texas households — could be likely voters answering the automated telephone calls or rapscallions just causing trouble — shows state Rep. Rick Noriega, D-Houston, in striking distance of U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. The outfit also divines a close fall presidential race in Texas.
Cut to the available Senate overview with a question on Gov. Rick Perry’s performance here. Or peek at the presidential poll—suggesting Sen. John McCain leads Sen. Hillary Clinton by 6 percentage points and Sen. Barack Obama by 5 — here.
Tony Gray, spokesman for Noriega’s campaign, said Monday: “It’s certainly good news and it’s reflective of what we’ve been finding in a handful of focus groups around the state. “Take Cornyn’s lack of strong name identification on top of the negative associations with the president, and Noriega also getting traction,” Gray said, adding that another factor could be excitement among Texans in the Democratic presidential candidates.
“It’s a dangerous time for incumbents,” Gray said.
Kevin McLaughlin, spokesman for Cornyn’s campaign, said the senator has always expected a serious November race. “People are going to have a clear choice come November,” he said, forecasting that Noriega favors higher taxes and bigger government while Cornyn does not.
Rasmussen Reports summarized its Texas poll this way:
“It’s time to add United States Senator John Cornyn to the list of potentially vulnerable Republican incumbents in Election 2008. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in the state find Cornyn leading Democratic state legislator Rick Noriega by just 4 percentage points, 47 percent to 43 percent.
“Any incumbent who polls below 50 percent is considered potentially vulnerable. That is especially true when a little known challenger is so competitive in an early general election match-up. The race for President in Texas is also fairly competitive early in Election 2008.
“Noriega leads among voters earning less than $40,000 a year. Cornyn leads among those with higher incomes. Cornyn leads among evangelical Christian voters and other Protestants. Noreiga leads among those with a different faith background. Both candidates do well within their own party and are fairly evenly matched among unaffiliated voters.
“Democrats are likely to expand their majority in the Senate this year by picking up several Senate seats currently held by the GOP. Early polling indicates that many states offer potential Democratic gains including Virginia, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Colorado, Minnesota, Oregon, and Alaska.
“Cornyn is viewed favorably by 50 percent of the state’s likely voters, unfavorably by 37 percent. Noriega earns positive reviews from 45 percent and negative assessments from 39 percent. Thirty-four percent (34 percent) of voters say the state’s Republican governor, Rick Perry, is doing a good or excellent job. Twenty-eight percent (28 percent) say he is doing a poor job.
“President George W. Bush doesn’t do as well. Just 39 percent of voters in his adopted home state say that the president has done a good or an excellent job. Forty-five percent (45 percent) rate his performance as poor.”
An at-first-glance oddity: Rasmussen’s posted question and answer on Perry’s performance says that the pollster asked people how they thought Perry was performing in his role — as president. Who knew?
Rasmussen Reports said Monday morning said the Perry question was just mistyped in the posted results; the actual question was about Perry’s performance as governor. It was going to be fixed in the posting, according to Mike Boniello, vice president of finance and operations.
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Benkiser in a hole, or does it just look that way?
In launching an online TV project, the Republican Party of Texas presents its chairman, Tina Benkiser, speaking from what looks a little bit like a hole in the ground. Surely that’s not so; in fact, unless I hear otherwise, I’ll stipulate that Benkiser is not making the case for Republicans from a hole in the earth.
Before you poke fun, note the top factoids in the vid—Republicans hold every statewide elected office and voters have lifted more than 1,400 Texas Republicans to local offices around the state.
Watch Benkiser here—along with three GOP Texas House candidates:
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Commissioner offers more info about sect children’s impact on foster system
State Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Lewisville, said yesterday she wasn’t satisfied with testimony about the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints provided by Commissioner Carey Cockerell of the Department of Family and Protective Services.
Specifically, she wanted him to more thoroughly explain the impact of putting hundreds of the sect children into the foster care system and what policy changes may be needed.
Per her request, Cockerell last night gave her this written response.
The highlights:
• “Even with the addition of the FLDS children to our foster care system, there are thousands fewer children in foster care than there were 18 months ago,” Cockerell wrote. “The addition of 463 children represents an increase of less than three percent in the number of children in Texas foster care.”
• Though many of the staff members who were sent to San Angelo have returned to their normal duties, others will be needed to handle the needs of the sect children, including 42 caseworkers who will track their progress in foster care.
• Cockerell does not yet have any suggestions on policy changes or legislation needed.
Is Nelson satisfied with Cockerell’s written response? An aide said this morning she’s still reviewing it.
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Senator not satisfied with commissioner’s answers on Eldorado
State Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Lewisville, chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services, said that she’s not satisfied with what Commissioner Carey Cockerell of the Department of Family and Protective Services told the panel today about the operation in Eldorado.
She asked senators not to ask Cockerell any follow-up questions publicly so as not to jeopardize the ongoing investigation.
“I agreed to this format with the understanding that the agency would cover the topics we discussed,” Nelson said in a statement, referring to her request that Cockerell discuss the impact of the Eldorado case on the foster care system. “That didn’t happen at the hearing, which concerns me because, as policy makers, we have a responsibility to ensure that the agency is fulfilling its mission. We have asked for a written response by the end of the day to the questions we put to the agency and are now awaiting that response.”
Nelson did not mention these concerns about Cockerell’s testimony during the hearing, which is still in progress. Senators are discussing ongoing trouble with the foster care system (high staff turnover, for example).
UPDATE: Later in the hearing, Nelson told Cockerell she thought he did not provide complete information on the four Eldorado topics she requested he discuss (update on investigation/welfare of kids, challenges from policy/resources standpoint, impact on system as a whole, any needed legislation the agency has identified for next session). Cockerell said it wasn’t his intention not to fully answer her questions. A spokeswoman for the agency said it’s too early to address some of the topics, such as what legislation might be needed. The spokeswoman, Jennifer Sims, said the agency will provide the written answers Nelson requested but won’t yet be able to offer much detail.
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Delisi, over earlier senatorial objections, to lead TxDOT
The appointment of Deirdre Delisi to lead the Texas Transportation Commission had been knocking around the Capitol for months now, hung up by objections by state Sens. John Carona and Kirk Watson.
Carona, R-Dallas, chairman of the Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee, in a barely veiled reference to Delisi earlier this year, opined that the commission should not be lead by “political hacks.” Watson, because Delisi lives in his Austin district, had the ability under the tradition of “senatorial courtesy” to block appointment of Delisi. For awhile, he appeared to be doing so.
Perry, having apparently overcome at least Watson’s objections, today named Delisi, 35, as the successor to the late Ric Williamson and San Antonio’s Hope Andrade, who had been the interim chairwoman of the committee since shortly after Williamson’s death Dec. 30. Andrade, whose six-year term expired more than a year ago, will also be leaving the five-member commission and will be replaced by Fort Worth businessman Bill Meadows.
Delisi was Perry’s chief of staff until last summer, when she had twin boys. At that point, she became a partner with her husband Ted in his political consulting firm, Delisi Communications. Meadows, a former vice chairman of the North Texas Tollway Authority board, is chairman of Hub International Rigg, an insurance company.
Both Delisi and Meadows will take their seats on the commission in a few days, after completing the necessary paperwork and some legally required “board training.” To serve out the rest of their terms, to Feb. 1, 2013, both would need Senate confirmation in next year’s session.
Perry spokesman Robert Black said he believes they will be confirmed. He said Watson, who has not yet commented on the appointment today, had met privately several times with Delisi.
“I think when any member of the Legislature … sits down with Deirdre, they will see someone exceptionally bright, someone who wants to find the solution to a problem and doesn’t care who gets the credit,” Black said.
Of Carona’s harsh assessment to a Fort Worth audience in February, Black said that “anyone who uses terms like that doesn’t really know Deirdre. You would be more accurate to call her a policy wonk than a political hack.”
Carona should be well acquainted with Delisi, however. Black said that in her capacity as chief of staff, one of Delisi’s “top priorities is going to be working with members of the Legislature to get things done.”
Carona was not yet available for comment Wednesday.
Delisi will assume command of an agency buffeted over the past year by financial troubles and rocky relations with the Legislature, which cut back some of its toll road powers last spring. The agency last fall said it had virtually no money available for new construction, particularly because agency leaders had decided to divert an additional $1.1 billion to road maintenance.
Then, in February, the agency revealed that it had made a $1.1 billion accounting error, which had further crunched its available money for new roads. The commission last week to some degree pulled back from that maintenance commitment, voting to spend about $4.5 billion of its available money over the next 11 years on new roads.
The Legislature, when it convenes next year, will consider other measures that could provide money for new construction, most of them involving using general state revenue for transportation. Black said Delisi, despite the bumpy road to her appointment, will ease that process.
“The governor just put someone he trusts implicitly, and one of his top legislative communicators, in charge of this state agency precisely to get things done and find solutions,” Black said. “This is good news for the Legislature.”
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Perry appoints 2 to Transportation Commission
Gov. Rick Perry today announced the appointment of former aide Deirdre Delisi of Austin and William Meadows of Fort Worth to the Texas Transportation Commission, which oversees the Texas Department of Transportation.
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41 sect children have had broken or fractured bones, commissioner says
State child welfare workers want to know why 41 of the children removed from the polygamous ranch near Eldorado have a history of broken or fractured bones.
That is according to Commissioner Carey Cockerell of the Department of Family and Protective Services, who revealed new details about the West Texas operation during a hearing today of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee. More than 400 children are now in foster care around the state as officials investigate suspected abuse.
During the meeting at the Capitol, Cockerell also told senators that when the children were in shelters in San Angelo with their mothers, state officials tried using three different ID bracelets but that the families tampered with all of them. It was also difficult to identify the children and women because women switched children, clothes and the children’s clothes, he said. The women are accustomed to “sharing motherly duties, including breastfeeding,” he said.
Cockerell said every decision he and others in the agency made was based on ensuring the children’s safety and dignity.
Citing the ongoing investigation, Senator Jane Nelson, R-Lewisville, chairwoman of the committee, asked that senators not publicly ask Cockerell follow-up questions.
“All of us are concerned for the welfare of these children,” Nelson said.
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Dolph Briscoe stopping in Austin tonight
Former Texas Gov. Dolph Briscoe is expected in Austin on Wednesday evening for an invitation-only event—with a few invitations still available. Anyone interested should call the Center for American History at the University of Texas at 512-495-4369 or send an e-mail to rsvp.cah@austin.utexas.edu .
Briscoe, who turned 85 a week ago, plans to sign copies of his memoir, “My Life in Texas Ranching and Politics,” in the Connally Ballroom of UT’s Etter-Harbin Alumni Center, 2110 San Jacinto St.
Briscoe was governor from 1973 through 1979—and might have served longer but for losing the 1978 Democratic primary to then-Attorney General John Hill. Hill lost that fall to Bill Clements, the Dallas oilman who became the first Republican governor of Texas since Reconstruction.
Briscoe’s book includes a look back at his first inauguration, which drew former President Johnson to a luncheon at the Governor’s Mansion. Briscoe gave a 10-minute inaugural address, promising no new taxes. Peek here.
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Nothing ever changes here in Austin. Same old mud slinging comments. This 40 year Republican is sick and tired of it.
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It won’t be long the people of Eustace will realize what type of person he really is. It looks like great is familiar with him as well! So sorry for Eustace, good luck to the people!
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I look forward to working with all my friends in the Clinton campaign as we unite together to turn Texas blue. Our goal is to produce record voter registration and turnout numbers in 2008, so let’s get organized on the grassroots level and make a
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To the contrary, Captain Obvious, I understand sarcasm very well, and recognize it in Nancy’s little diatribe, though it’s subtle presence seems to have eluded you.
The reason, I’m sure, is that One Worlders so abhor the concept
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