tie game (dems make gains in texas house)

Texas Democrats may have failed to elect any of their statewide slate yesterday, but they did make inroads in the Texas Legislature.

With most of the races completed, Democrats have picked up a net gain of three seats in the 150-member House. They flipped six seats that had been held by Republicans and lost three of their own seats. And there's an Irving seat where GOP incumbent Linda Harper-Brown has eeked by with a 25-vote margin (out of 40,700 votes cast), but there are still provisional ballots to count and a recount in the race is almost certain.

If the Democrats are able to flip Harper-Brown's seat in a recount, then the Texas House would be tied with 75 Republican members and 75 Democrats. That could mean that a speaker race which could end with a Democrat as Speaker of the Texas House.

As we head into redistricting, it's more important than ever to have Democrats in control of the state legislature. And it's looking more and more like a real possibility after yesterday.

crownover votes for radioactive waste dump

West Texas is a beautiful place, but it's certainly lacking something. What could we add? What could make it better? According to Myra Crownover, it needs a radioactive waste dump.

Back during the 78th Texas Legislature in 2003 (the first one where the Texas House was under GOP control), the Texas Legislature passed House Bill 1567 which allowed for the disposal of “low-level” radioactive waste from other states right here in Texas. A slew of Republicans in hotly contested races this year including Betty Brown (R-Terrell), John Davis (R-Houston), Dwayne Bohac (R-Houston), Myra Crownover (R-Denton), and Linda Harper Brown (R-Irving) voted to make Texas a glowing, leaking, radioactive waste dump. [CSHB 1567: Record Vote 316, Day 53, Texas House Journal, 78th Texas Legislature, p. 1713-17-14].

The real kicker to the whole story is that these folks not only voted for the radioactive waste dumping bill, but took buckets of money from Harold Simmons, the corporate raider who purchased Waste Control–a company that has seen a lot of benefit from HB 1567. (Oh, did we forget to mention that House Speaker Tom Craddick (R-Midland) has taken at least $50,000 from Simmons for his campaign account?)

Sounds fishy to me.

Take a look at her opponent, John McClelland. We asked him what he thought about this, and here's what he had to say:

The proposed radioactive dump is just another item on the laundry list of what Republicans are doing wrong in Texas. The GOP and Myra Crownover apparently do not care for the well being of the people or the environment of West Texas. They only appear to care about the donations they receive from special interests in oil & gas, and in this case radioactive waste disposal.

Let's dump the waste elected to the Legislature. As your next state rep, John McClelland would make health and the environment a priority in House District 64 and all of Texas.

Make a contribution to John today and help send Myra packing in November!

Thanks to WhosPlayin for the photo above.