Draft David Van Os Campaign Gains Momentum

We have it from good sources that progressives within the TDP are urging David Van Os to challenge Boyd Richie for chair of the Texas Democratic Party.

Van Os is an attorney who ran for Texas Attorney General in 2006 with the campaign slogan "Fight 'Em on the Ice." As a populist, Van Os has a strong and loyal following among Texas progressives.

Van Os' Whistle Stop campaign targeted every county in Texas in 2006. Boyd Richie, who has been criticized by many activists within his party for targeting races, was elected in 2006 after beating a strong challenger in Glen Maxey. Maxey ran on the need to build organizational strength in every county.

One Van Os supporter noted that the practice of targeting races was one of the key failings of the Clinton campaign, and the strategy in Texas has led to the diminished strength of Democrats in areas outside of traditionally Democratic-leaning counties.

Richie recently surprised many Texas Democrats by going public with his support for Barack Obama. Richie responds to his critics and touts his successes in a recent Burnt Orange Report interview.

The question for both Van Os and Richie is, given the fact that the Democratic "old guard" is not well represented among the attendees to the state convention this year, how will a group of delegates not terribly familiar with the recent history of the state party chairman's race react to either candidate?

boyd richie endorses barack obama

Despite the fact that Sen. Hillary Clinton won the popular vote and 227 out of 251 counties with primaries back on March 4 here in Texas, Chairman Boyd Richie of the Texas Democratic Party and his wife Betty, both superdelegates, have endorsed Sen. Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination.

"I believe Sen. Obama is the candidate who can best provide the leadership and change Texans desire," Richie said in a statement. "Too many Texas families find themselves unable to make ends meet, much less save and invest in the future, due to Republican policies that burden the middle class and divide Americans. Sen. Obama has the skill and ability to unite Americans from all walks of life and put our country back on the right track."

It's interesting to note that Richie thinks Texans "desire" the candidate that lost the Texas primary. [You might want to check out "Some Questions for Boyd Richie" over at Brains and Eggs.

Another tidbit: Richie's opponent for the state chairmanship at next month's convention has been threatened that she'll lose her superdelegate status if she continues her campaign. An Obama supporter, Texas Democratic Party Vice Chairwoman Roy LaVerne Brooks is considering jumping ship to Team Clinton if the antics in the state party continue.

DFW Election Officials to Testify at Voter ID Hearing

The DFW area will be very well represented at Friday's hearing by the Texas House Elections Committee on the highly charged issue of voter ID and voter fraud.

The committee was previously chaired by Denton Rep. Mary Denny (R) before she stepped down in 2006. The current committee is chaired by Leo Berman (R-Tyler) and includes Rep. Kirk England of Grand Prairie, who recently changed party affiliation from Republican to Democrat, Rafael Anchia (D-Dallas) as well as Tom Craddick's favorite Democrat, Lon Burnam from Fort Worth.

Capitol Annex has the scheduled witness list, which includes the elections administrators from three counties in the DFW area:

Bruce Sherbet, Dallas County Elections Administrator
Steve Raborn, Tarrant County Elections Administrator
Don Alexander, Denton County Elections Administrator

Check out the rest of the witness list here. Democratic Party chairman Boyd Richie and his Republican counterpart, Tina Benkiser, are also scheduled to testify.

UPDATE: You can livestream the testimony starting at 10:00 a.m. tomorrow, Friday, Jan. 25th.

http://www.house.state.tx.us/media/welcome.php

supreme court rules on redistricting

On Wednesday in a 5-3 decision (Chief Justice John Roberts abstained from voting), the United States Supreme Court decided to uphold most of the Texas congressional district map. Politicos had been whispering for days that the high court was poised to issue a ruling on the case. It's hard to decide the victor, though.

In 2003, the Texas Legislature voted to enact Tom DeLay's mid-decade gerrymandering, despite numerous attempts from Texas Democrats to block the perceived illegal action. Democratic legislators fled to Oklahoma and New Mexico while trying to block its passage, but inevitably the Republicans prevailed and gained six coveted congressional seats in 2004.

With the "new swing voter" Anthony Kennedy casting the deciding vote, the Supreme Court only took issue with one congressional district.

The justices ordered lower courts and the state to fashion a new District 23. The district takes up a huge part of west Texas, from El Paso to San Antonio, and the seat is held by Rep. Henry Bonilla, a seven-term Republican.

It is unclear whether a new map for District 23 can be redrawn in time for the November midterm elections.

Boyd Richie, Chairman of the Texas Democratic Party, considered Wednesday's ruling a victory for Texas Democrats. Because of the Supreme Court's decision, disenfranchised Hispanic voters in South Texas will now be assured that their votes really count. Mr. Richie also expressed disappointment that the entire map of Texas wasn't thrown out or revised.

Tom DeLay exploited a weak-kneed governor and compliant President to abuse voters in every corner of Texas. Republicans in the Texas legislature wasted millions of taxpayer dollars and ignored addressing important issues such as school finance and insurance prices to do Tom DeLay's dirty work.

The challenges that remain for us are to rebuild our Party and elect good Democrats to every office from the Governor right on down to our local commissioners, clerks, and judges. I urge everyone to vote a straight Democratic ticket and let's put government back where it belongs-- in the hands of the people of Texas.

Attorney Rolando Rios agreed with Mr. Richie's assessment in a CNN interview. "The federal courts have to come in and protect the rights of Latinos against the abuses of the state of Texas. [Republicans] do everything they can to keep us from having our due."

It will be interesting to see the implications of this ruling. Expect more from NTL as they unfold in the weeks to come.

state convention 2006 - saturday

On the final day of the State Democratic Convention, I arrived just in time to hear Barbara Ann Radnofsky, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, deliver her moving speech. I have had the privilege to hear her speak on another occasion, when she came to Lewisville, Texas, and gave a speech to area Democratic groups. That event was hosted by the Flower Mound Democrats in the summer of 2004. I spoke with Barbara Ann after her speech and she told me that she remembered our group. She said, “You knew me when I was a baby politician!” I told her about our groups efforts to canvass southern Denton County, and she told me to get some copies of her new fliers for any future block-walking. She also informed me that her campaign had distributed over one million leaflets during the State Convention.

We heard from several major candidates, including David Van Os (running for Attorney General), Hank Gilbert (running for Commissioner of Agriculture), and Fred Head (running for Comptroller), and Maria Luisa Alvarado (running for Lieutenant Governor). U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, a Dallas Democrat representing U.S. Congressional District 30, introduced the Texas delegation to the U.S. Congress as well as the candidates, such as Tim Barnwell, who is running in the 26^th District against Rep. Michael Burgess, and Nick Lampson, who is running in the 22^nd District for Tom DeLay’s old seat. This led into a stirring seat by U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards, who represents George W. Bush’s home district (the 17^th).

After hearing the slate of candidates and office-holders speak, we began to caucus in order to vote for State Chair. We heard speeches from all four candidates: Boyd Richie, Glen Maxey, Charlie Urbina-Jones, and Lakesha Rogers. Each of the candidates designated three of their supporters to second their nomination with a short speech. When one of Rogers's supporters mentioned that Kesha was representing the LaRouche Youth Movement, there was a mixed reaction from the crowd, including some jeers. The Convention Chair stepped in and told the audience shortly that booing would not be accepted and that as Democrats we believed in the right to free speech. That received a great ovation from the crowd, and many Democrats, no matter which candidate they were beholden to, gave Lakesha Rogers a great show of support. Ms. Rogers made some good points, and her slogan - Out of the Bushes and Into the Future - was definitely one that we could all support. Maxey's supporters were the most vocal, shouting "¡YA BASTA!" to show that they had had enough of the way things were going. Because four candidates were running, it was difficult for one candidate to reach 51% of the vote. Richie nearly did, though, with about 47%. The race went into a runoff. Some delegates had wandered off by the time Charlie Urbina-Jones and Lakesha Rogers released their delegates. Neither of them specifically endorsed Maxey or Richie, but Urbina-Jones (who was popular with the Hispanic Caucus) told his supporters to "do what we discussed." I took this to mean that he wanted them to support Maxey. About half of the Urbina-Jones delegates did vote for Maxey, but it wasn't enough. Boyd Richie was elected to retain his new post as State Chair of the Texas Democratic Party.

Overall, I enjoyed myself. It was my first time to attend this sort of thing. I've always been politically active, but getting involved locally has really changed my outlook on things. After becoming a precinct chair and a delegate to the State Convention, I really feel like we have a fighting chance. If we work for it, we can change the status quo in Texas. I look forward to working with the new County Chair here in Denton, John Gossett, and the new State Chair, Boyd Richie, to finally win some elections. If anything, the State Convention ignited a fire under the bellies of the delegates, and we've left united and ready to fight it out until the end. As David Van Os says, "Fight 'em until hell freezes over, then fight 'em on the ice."

The State Chair Race

The Democrats this year are running on a fifty state strategy. But in Texas, that doesn't translate to a 254 county strategy. Why? Texas' population is a bit unevenly distributed, to say the least. In fact, Texas has the distinction of having some of the most and least populated counties in the country.

There are five candidates running for state party chair at the upcoming convention, but it's safe to say that the frontrunners are Boyd Richie and Glen Maxey. Boyd Richie is from Young County, population 17,843. Glen Maxey is from Austin. In the Burnt Orange Report, former Denton County Chair Edra Bogle responds to someone who suggested that Maxey might focus too exclusively on Travis County:

In 2004 the eight counties with the largest populations contained over half of the registered voters in the state. The situation probably still applies. Of these, Travis County was fifth in size, with 555,565 registered voters of the total 12,722,671 registered in the state. Young County had 11,337 registered voters, or 2.04% of those in Travis County and .09% of those in the state...

What makes Mr. Teal believe that a small-town lawyer with a background limited to West Texas even for his college work (except for a couple of years as a young man in Washington, DC) will be able to understand the problems and interests of the large urban counties in the state? Of the African/American population, since it is only 1.32% of the population in Young County with Hispanics at 10.62% and "other" at .81% (2004/05 Texas Almanac, 294)?

Good question.

Denton County is the ninth largest in Texas. But as any candidate with a "D" by their name can tell you, we don't rate very highly in the priorities of either the national or the state party. That probably has something to do with the fact that we're also the second or third most Republican in the state. So a question for Mr. Richie and Mr. Maxey: What are you gonna do about that?

Interim Chair of Texas Democratic Party Elected

Boyd Richie, a resident of Graham, Texas, just north of Fort Worth, has been named interim chair of the Texas Democratic Party. Richie will replace Charles Soechting, who is resigning early. Richie was the only nominee, although Charles Urbina Jones withdrew his name, citing the fact that he was running for the permanent position in June. The appointment is not without some controversy, as Richie is also running for permanent chair. The concern is whether holding the interim position confers an advantage in the race, or implies endorsement. The other candidates are Glen Maxey and Lakesha Rogers. The vote for chair will take place at the state convention in Fort Worth in June.