Burnt Orange Report

Hutchison Not to Resign Until After March Primary

Michael Hurta — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 22:30:41 GMT

The AP's Jay Root first reported that Kay Bailey Hutchison will not resign until after the March primary.

U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, who is challenging Gov. Rick Perry in the Republican primary, plans to announce Saturday that she won't resign her Senate seat until after the March primaries are over.
Campaign officials provided The Associated Press a copy of her prepared speech to Republican women in Galveston on Saturday.
In it, Hutchison will say she is stepping down in 2010 regardless of who wins the Republican primary for govenor.
But she says there are too many important issues facing Congress for her to quit this fall as she had planned.
The senator says in the written speech that she "will be resigning this Senate seat" next year. "Make no mistake, this is going to happen," Hutchison plans to say.

Although this original report states that the announcement will come in Hutchison's speech tomorrow, the Texas Tribune reports that she already "began calling other Republicans Friday afternoon to tell them to make other plans."

This obviously changes the dynamics of the Gubernatorial race. It changes the way she will campaign, as it will be shrouded in a sort of cowardliness. There is also a very good chance it will push Bill White and/or John Sharp into the race for Governor, even if she plans on resigning no matter the outcome of the primary. I don't think her word on resignation can really be trusted anymore.

We will keep you updated as we get more info.

UPDATE: Both the Sharp camp and the White camp reiterate that they are still running for Senate.

John Sharp stated, "I said when I got into this process last December that I would be a candidate when the seat becomes available, whether that is in 2012 or anytime before then. I'm campaigning full time and will continue to."

White spokeswoman Katy Bacon gave me the blunt statement, "Bill is running for the U.S. Senate regardless of when this election takes place."

I prodded, and Katy insisted that yes, that even means 2012.

Also, according to the Statesman, Senator Hutchison will state in her speech that not only is she waiting for the Health Care fight to end but also for Cap and Trade to conclude.

UPDATE 2: Via an @TexasTribune tweet, we learn that a Hutchison campaign spokesperson said, "I never envision a situation where she would lose the GOP primary."

I responded by laughing, because this campaign surely has been quite jokey so far. If she does pull of a surprise to come back and beat Perry, though, she might face Hank Gilbert or Tom Schieffer.

Gilbert's website, The Scoop quickly had a comment on this news:

Naturally, Kay's Magic 8 Ball was predicting this (and many other things) weeks ago.
Hutchison wants to have it both ways. This will cause a lot of issues in the overall Republican field-and could create a lot more contested primaries up and down the ballot.

When asked, Tom Schieffer's campaign declined to comment.

UPDATE 3: For a direct quote from Hank Gilbert, here is his statement:

Anyone who says they are shocked by her announcement hasn't followed the lengthy trail of broken promises she's left in her wake, starting with her promise to serve only two terms. She is an unreliable and undependable public servant who dodges and weaves as it suits her political ambitions. Senator Hutchison has left her supporters and contributors holding the bag.

FOX "News" Outed as Propaganda Arm for the Republican Party

Libby Shaw — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:47:41 GMT

Cross posted at Texas Kaos.

A big thanks to ericlewis over at Daily Kos for posting this.

Well, folks, there can no longer be any doubt whatsoever now that Fox is not a legitimate news organization.

The Fox owned tabloid The New York Post is no better.

A former editor who had been fired for speaking out against an unacceptable cartoon has filed a lawsuit against The New York Post.
It should come as no surprise that the organization is blatantly racist and it treats its female employees like sexual objects.

As part of the 38-page complaint, Guzman paints the Post newsroom as a male-dominated frat house and Allan in particular as sexist, offensive and domineering. Guzman alleges that she and others were routinely subjected to misogynistic behavior. She says that hiring practices at the paper -- as well as her firing -- were driven by racial prejudices rather than merit

The story gets uglier and uglier.

A White male senior editor sexually propositioned a young female Copy Assistant, telling her that 'If you give me a blowjob, I will give you a permanent reporter job.'"

When we think it could not get any uglier, the article goes on to reveal that:

And she recounts the paper's D.C. bureau chief stating that the publication's goal was to "destroy [President] Barack Obama."

There you go, folks. Now we know what we have suspected for the past year, is 100% true.

Fort Worth Expands Non-Discrimination Ordinance

Karl-Thomas Musselman — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 01:40:53 GMT

As many BOR readers may have noticed, I was out of state for 3 weeks last month working in Kalamazoo, Michigan on a ballot initiative where voters were asked to asked to affirm a prior city commission non-discrimination ordinance which would have expanded basic job, housing, and public accommodation protections to citizens based on sexual orientation and gender identity. I returned home from that successful effort last weekend to further good news in that the Fort Worth City Council voted 6-3 on a measure to expand a similar set of city protections to include gender identity.

Fort Worth Star Telegram: The vote dealt only with one facet of the proposals: expanding the city's anti-discrimination ordinance to include transgender people. The ordinance already prevented discrimination based on race, sex, religion or sexual orientation.
A lot of the debate, though, centered on broader proposals, some of which the council has already tacitly approved. City staffers will be trained on dealing with the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, and the Police Department has appointed a liaison to the community.
Other recommendations will require further study, including offering domestic-partner benefits and expanding the city health insurance plan to cover gender reassignment procedures, including sex changes.

The vote itself included organizing by both the gay community and counter-protestors. The view below from the Dallas Voice highlights the nature of the debate outside of the council. The most interesting parts are closer to the end when the pastor of a 80 member congregation gets interviewed about his more interesting thoughts on "victims, sissies and sodomites" before getting questioned about whether his congregation meets in a double-wide trailer.

Rick Perry: Obama is "Hell-bent on Taking America Towards a Socialist Country"

Phillip Martin — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:34:42 GMT

In his remarks, Rick Perry calls for doubling the size of tea parties. This is from last Friday's tea party, which took place (as you can tell) directly outside the Texas Capitol. Rick Perry's campaign was signing up people -- literally -- just outside of this shot:

Rick Perry's call to double the size of these violent crowds is far more dangerous than anything he may make up about what's going on in Washington today. Perry has no sense of self-respect -- for himself, or for the state of Texas -- when he makes these calls of action.

As a resource for those who may visit or pass along this post, I wanted to re-post something the Texas Democratic Party recently put out -- the "Top Ten Rick Perry Failures." Here they are -- with full resources, links, facts, and talking points on each page that is linked:

State Official Makes Ignorant, Anti-Latino Comments; Republicans Think It's OK

Katherine Haenschen — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:38:42 GMT

It's actually not OK for employees of the Secretary of State's office--including the Elections Division--to make ignorant, offensive comments about non-English speaking voters.

I wouldn't think we'd need to make this so abundantly clear, but after a disturbing occurrence last weekend at a statewide county party chair training it seems sadly so. Both Democratic and Republican County Chairs gathered for a seminar on how to conduct next year's primary elections. During the training, Elections Division staff member Melinda Nickless "instructed" those gathered on how to behave towards voters who don't speak English.

Unfortunately, rather than teaching tolerance, Nickless simply reiterated one of the worst "ugly American" stereotypes when she suggested that elections officials YELL SLOWLY AT NON - ENGLISH SPEAKERS. The Statesman reports:

Melinda Nickless, assistant director of the secretary of state's elections division, said election workers should speak slowly and loudly to non-English speakers, and then related an anecdote about her mother's encounter with a Spanish-speaking driver. ...
Initially, Nickless correctly answered a question by saying poll workers should try to place interpreters at polling places and offer to fetch help for non-English-speaking voters.
But then Nickless said election judges should be taught "to say really slow and loud: 'Sit down, I will call someone to help you. Un momento por favor, me telefono somebody.'"

I wonder if she treats folks of other ethnic origins with the same disdain as she does perceived Spanish speakers. Texas is a true polyglot of immigration and language ability. We have extensive Asian populations across Texas who speak many different languages. We have naturalized citizens from all over the world who may not be comfortable speaking English. Heck, we've event got citizens from New Zealand, Africa, and parts of Europe that are actually speaking English who can be difficult to understand. Yet the Elections Division official singles out Spanish-speakers, and in what she probably thought was a respectful suggestion, tells County Chairs to yell at them in English.

Democrat Rosalie Weisfeld of McAllen was among offended observers. She said, to applause, that non-English speakers deserve to be treated like anyone else. ... Weisfeld, still steamed, subsequently told me that Nickless gave carte blanche permission to "make fun of people who do not speak English. That's not treating them with the dignity and respect that they deserve ... It was demeaning."

Why is Nickless singling out Spanish speakers? Yes, Texas has a large Latino population. But we also have a large population of folks from just about everywhere else. Would it really be that difficult to prepare a page for polling workers with "please wait one moment" in the 9 most-common languages spoken in Texas? (For the record, those languages are: English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Chinese, German, French, Hindi, Korean, and Tagalog.)

Our own Secretary of State, Hope Andrade, who is the first Latina to hold the position and was appointed by Rick Perry, was not pleased. Nor should she be: her office should not condone such rude treatment of any Texas voter.

Meanwhile, two very different reactions from the leaders of the party activists assembled:

Skipper Wallace, legislative chairman for the Texas Republican County Chairmen's Association, said Nickless clearly intended no harm.

What is he thinking--that if you can't speak English and you don't like being yelled at for it, maybe you shouldn't be voting?

Bill Holcomb, chairman of the Texas Democratic County Chairs Association, advised his party to hold fire until Andrade can meet with offended parties.
But Holcomb, mindful of legislative attempts to require voters to show photo IDs before voting, harbors an interpretation potentially reflecting badly on the state's GOP leaders: "They're signaling that they're fixing to start a campaign of disenfranchisement. What they can't win at the legislative session, they're going to do at the" polls.

Yelling at non-English speaking voters, telling voters they need illegal identification, where does the intimidation stop? Why doesn't the Texas GOP just add a poll tax to their party platform and be open about it?

And frankly, Nickless's solution is as ignorant of the realities of the situation as it is insensitive. I've done a lot of traveling, and all over the world, I've seen Americans try to SLOWLY YELL THEIR WAY PAST A LANGUAGE BARRIER. Message to anyone who tries this: INCREASING THE VOLUME OF YOUR VOICE DOES NOT HELP.

IT ONLY MAKES YOU LOOK LIKE AN ASS.

Texas is lucky to have diverse immigration to the state, and a broad range of ethnic groups and communities that choose to make their home here. It gives our state vitality, fosters economic growth, and helps Texas play a bigger role in our ever-globalizing marketplace.

I find this incident offensive for another reason. Last fall, I was fortunate enough to help register voters at a naturalization ceremony here in Austin. The ceremony was right before the deadline to vote in the 2008 presidential election. Democratic Party volunteers registered new voters from all across the globe, folks who were eager to vote with the more inclusive, big-tent party.

The experience was one of the more moving and memorable of my life--a feeling shared by my fellow volunteers. I want these folks here. I don't care if they're not fluent in English. If people are willing and eager to come to America, if they want to help us rebuild our economy, if they want to share in the freedoms so many of us take for granted, if they are able to naturalize and vote in our elections, who are we to turn them away?

It's kind of ironic. The flags of six nations have flown over Texas land, we've had governments that have used English, Spanish, and even French as the official language. We are a multi-lingual state, and it's something that makes Texas great. Rather than yelling at folks who aren't comfortable using English, our Secretary of State needs to adopt policies to make all Texans feel welcome. No where is this more true than at the voting booth, where Americans exercise their right to what should be a truly representative democracy.

Imagine Austin: An Update on the City's Comprehensive Plan

Karl-Thomas Musselman — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 19:00:00 GMT

As one of the newer members of the City of Austin's Comprehensive Plan Citizens Advisory Task Force members (courtesy of the Mayor and City Council last month), I wanted to share some updates on the process and encourage local BOR readers to attend some of the upcoming forums and check out resources online about how to get involved.

Tomorrow night, there will be 2 different Community Forums held in Austin for the Comprehensive Plan.

Community Forum Series #1 -- Issues and Aspirations
Please note: Doors will open at 5:30pm for evening meetings. Food, music, kids activity, and public input on the Strategic Mobility Plan will be available until the meeting begins at 6:30.
* November 12 at 6:00 pm -- Reagan High School
* November 12 at 6:00 pm -- Travis High School
Spanish-language interpretation will be available at Reagan and Travis.

I also encourage readers to check out the new Comprehensive Plan website: www.ImagineAustin.net, join its Facebook Page, and follow @ImagineAustin on Twitter. You can also spread the word to your local constituencies about getting involved in the process via the website where you can download the flyer, request a speaker for a group meeting, or copy a blurb for your newsletter or listservs. You can check out the 7 easy ways to get involved page, review the 4 Community Forum Series stages, or simply review the process so far as to how the Comprehensive Plan has gotten to where it is now.

Point being- try to come to a forum, and check out the new website. I'll be posting more about this throughout the year so that the broader community can make sure they have had an opportunity to give their input and feedback into this massive project.

Texas Round-Up

Karl-Thomas Musselman — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:30:00 GMT

I've often wondered why most Musselmans in American tend to be more Republican than Democratic (measured by the political contributions and anecdotal primary voting history in Texas). I thought it might have something to do with heritage, as the Mussselman name is concentrated in Pennsylvania as it was tied to the immigration of the Pennsylvania Dutch. Turns out, that's exactly right as identification as ethnically Dutch is tied to voting behavior as revealed in this awesome OpenLeft article about ethnic European voting trends.

Read about the new Capital Metro Board Appointments.

Bike Boxes arrive on Austin streets. Neat.

The Republican Tea Party folks really are uncontrollable. Anyone who thinks that GOP officially will be able to escape primaries without them, even if they are in conservative districts, is missing out. A half a dozen incumbent GOP Congessmen in Texas are facing Tea Party primary challengers. You know there is an intra-party battle going on when even Rep. Michael Conoway in TX-11, who represents the 3rd most Republican district in the entire country, has a Tea Party challenger. Read more here.

Oh hi there sarcasm.

Who are you calling a Democrat, Kinky Friedman?

Luling and Friendswood voted last week to start allowing alcohol sales and do away with their "dry" status. Cheers.

Greg made an awesome map with chart of how Proposition 4 voted by county across Texas last week. The urbans carried the day, especially Houston, with an interesting alliance of support among the Valley, Metros, and the Panhandle.

Houston

There was a lot of great number crunching being done by Houston bloggers in the wake of last week's elections in Houston. Here is a listing of some of the best posts.
Off the Kuff: Precinct analysis: The Mayorals by Council district
Musings: Mayor's Race: 1st, 2nd, 3rd & 4th in Top 50 Precincts
Off the Kuff: Six questions for the runoffs

In addition, Greg has made some awesome precinct by precinct maps of the top races so you can visually see how people did across Houston.
Mayors Race:
Annise Parker
Gene Locke
Peter Brown
Roy Morales
City Controller Race:
Ron Green
MJ Kahn
Pam Holm

Pete Sessions's Facing Tough Times with NRCC

Karl-Thomas Musselman — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:00:00 GMT

Texas GOP Congressman Pete Sessions as chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) is charged with fundraising for his party's efforts to take back the Congress. Last week, his committee suffered a major defeat in the NY-23 special election, not just because his party's nominee lost, but because his committee spent nearly $1 million in the process. Oh, and after doing so, the GOP candidate dropped out and endorsed the Democrat who won.

That expenditure wouldn't be as painful if not for the weak fundraising by the NRCC as reported in this Politico piece.

If Republicans hope to make a play for dozens of Democratic-held House seats, they'll need a well-stocked campaign account to fund all their candidates. But right now, after spending money in two contentious off-year special elections, the National Republican Congressional Committee has a long way to go to raise enough money to compete across the national map.
The National Republican Congressional Committee ended September with just $4.3 million in the bank, less than one-third of the $14.7 million banked by its Democratic counterpart. So far this cycle, NRCC Chairman Pete Sessions hasn't improved the fundraising fortunes of the committee - he's raised $10 million less than his predecessor, Rep. Tom Cole, did at this same point in the past election cycle.
And the committee took an additional financial hit in the New York 23rd District special election, spending nearly $1 million on a race in which the GOP nominee, Dede Scozzafava, ended up quitting and then endorsing the Democratic candidate. Worse, the NRCC's decision to support Scozzafava's campaign has played a role in alienating conservative donors.

Pete Sessions certainly is no John Cornyn when it comes to fundraising. Maybe he's distracted by his Democratic challenger Grier Raggio who has raised over $25,000 in wake of Sessions's comments last week suggesting that it's ok for health insurance companies to categorically charge woman higher health insurance premiums than men.

American Spectator: Hutchison as Governor Would Be Very Similar to Perry

Michael Hurta — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:33:46 GMT

The American Spectator, one of the stalwart conservative publications in this country, gives us reason from the other side of the aisle to believe that Kay Bailey Hutchison would be an equally disappointing Governor in comparison to Rick Perry.

Just in case you still prefer Ms. Hutchison due to her "moderate" views, here is William Murchison (emphasis mine):

It all seems to me part and parcel of an argument going on around the country among Republicans: can we "play to the base" and succeed, or should we tweak a few things, rethink matters of policy and emphasis and tone? Kay says, to the latter question, you bet.
"I...want to build a Republican majority," the senator says. It's an unexceptionable objective from the Republican standpoint. So what policies get the job done? She enumerates them: better education, better transportation, healthier respect for property rights, opportunities for health care. We get there...how? Not through regulation. She isn't for that. Not through higher taxes. She wouldn't go there even if she wanted to, and I don't think she does, actually. A Hutchison administration, at the end of the day, probably wouldn't do things very differently than the Perry administration has been doing them. Maybe with kinder, gentler voice -- that's all I can think of, and it isn't a lot for purposes of differentiation from the man she would unseat. Nor am I sure by any means how many brownie points that would earn her with voters.

This being from a Republican. You want Kay Bailey Hutchison as the alternative to Perry? She's just a milder version. Rick Perry with less of a kick.

The Burnt Orange Report has been saying this for a while now, but a Conservative with no particular stake in this primary agrees with us. If Rick Perry loses in the primary, we get rid of a fire-breathing Conservative. But in Kay Bailey Hutchison, we have no moderate; we definitely still have a Conservative with a capital C.

Americans United for Change Airs Ad Thanking Rep. Ciro Rodriguez for Health Care Vote

Karl-Thomas Musselman — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 03:33:06 GMT

Americans United for Change launched a new television ad campaign in Texas today applauding U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez (TX-23) for standing up to the big health insurance industry and helping pass the Affordable Health Care for America Act on behalf of Texas families. The TV spot called "It's Time" is airing throughout the week on a mix of broadcast and cable TV in the San Antonio media market.