Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-El Paso) may have a shot at being appointed chairman of the House Intelligence Committee when the new Congress convenes in January.Texas Democrat Reyes is the third ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee and is now the most likely pick to chair the committee in the Democratic Congress.Tuesday's decision came despite Hastings pleading with colleagues to ignore the "sometimes venomous attacks" stemming from a bribery investigation in the 1980s.
Hastings, then a federal judge, was acquitted of the criminal charges that resulted from the probe, but he was later impeached and removed from the bench by Congress.
By a vote of 4-3, the Nov. 13 session of the Flower Mound Planning and Zoning Commission rejected the Market Street plan proposed for the area north of Cross Timbers Road and east of Long Prairie Road. (See previous post Planning & Zoning to Consider Amendment to Flower Mound Master Plan.)"The rezoning would be necessary to accommodate the building of The Shops at Market Street, 17.5 acre property zoned for retail usage. After hearing specifics from town staff and listening to the comments, both for and against the project, the commissioners voted 4-3 against approval of the multi-million dollar development."
Shortly afterward, Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Missouri, won a 137-57 vote to keep his post as whip, which will be the No. 2 GOP job when Republicans become the minority party in January. Blunt is currently the No. 3 House Republican; he defeated Arizona conservative Rep. John Shadegg despite sentiment for fresh leadership faces and concerns that Republicans had strayed from their conservative principles.Capitol Annex has information on Texas Republicans that were elected to the leadership.
The White House on Wednesday submitted Terrence Boyle of North Carolina and William James Haynes II of Virginia to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va.; Michael Brunson Wallace of Mississippi to the 5th Circuit in New Orleans; Peter Keisler of Maryland to the District of Columbia Circuit; and William Gerry Myers III and Norman Randy Smith, both of Idaho, for the 9th Circuit in San Francisco.Everyone except Keisler has generated intense opposition from Democrats.Under Senate rules the nominations must be resubmitted after Congress takes an extended break, as was the case this year for the 2006 election.Why would the president choose to resubmit judges who couldn't reach the floor before the elections? Because he's a uniter, not a divider, meaning after the thumpin' Republicans just took at the polls, he's trying to shore up support among his conservative base by uniting them with tired rhetoric about activist judges. Apparently, that old cunard still works for some.
"I think if the president is concerned about his legacy, he will continue to nominate the judges he promised in his campaign speeches in 2000 and 2004," said Bruce Hausknecht, judicial analyst for Focus on Family Action, a Christian group started by James Dobson. "If those nominees are obstructed, I think the American public needs to see the Democrats in action."Prominent among the list being submitted is
To be fair, based on the president's previous choices in public servants, the Bush administration obviously considers the whole issue of competency to be a bit overrated. I'm sure Judge Wallace would do a "heck of a job."...attorney Michael Wallace, who is nominated for the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, which hears cases from Texas.
Wallace, a Biloxi attorney and former aide to conservative Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., received a rare "unqualified" rating from the American Bar Association.
So Cornyn, who felt that the public had sent a clear "message of change" with the midterm elections, intends to apply that lesson by.....refusing to budge an inch. Apparently, "stay the course" doesn't just apply to Bush's failed Iraq policies. Blogger James B. Shearer dryly notes a silver lining in the judicial debate."It is my hope that with the election behind us, the Senate could move forward in a bipartisan manner," said Texas Sen. John Cornyn, a Republican member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
It seems, however, that despite their bipartisan rhetoric on election night, some of my Democrat colleagues seem intent on continuing their record of obstruction when it comes to the president's nominees."
"Well if you like pointless demonstrations of “resolve” this is good news. At least unlike Bush’s Iraq policy it won’t get people killed."
"The U.S. is an outlier in the democratic world in the extent to which we allow those in office to control their own fates by rigging the rules."The ruling on the Texas plan earlier this year highlighted the limits of the judicial branch in resolving the redistricting debate. It did not throw the door completely open on mid-decade redistricting. Two factors were key in the decision: 1) the legislature was replacing a map drawn by a federal court and; 2) the courts had preserved a majority Democratic delegation in a majority Republican state. But as the challenge to the Texas redistricting plan proved, courts are reluctant to address the issue of competitiveness. With the courts limited ruling, and without an initiative and referendum process, the best possibility of reform still lies with state constitutional amendments.
A constitutional amendment would have to be approved by the public, but once passed, it could not be overturned at the whim of the legislature. While HJR 31 would prevent a mid-decade redistricting such as the one conducted by Tom DeLay, it still allows a partisan redrawing of the map in the year after a decennial U.S. census. Other legislators are considering taking the redistricting process out of the hands of politicians altogether.State Rep. Allan Ritter, D-Nederland, introduced a proposed constitutional amendment Wednesday that would prohibit congressional and legislative redistricting more than once a decade unless the courts order otherwise.
House Joint Resolution 31, to be considered when lawmakers return to Austin in January, is intended to forever forbid a repeat of the maneuver engineered by DeLay in 2003 when he was the Republican leader of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Several efforts have been made over the years to reform the redistricting process. Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, has long advocated turning the process over to a nonpartisan panel and has said he will likely renew that effort during the 2007 session. Rep. Mark Strama, D-Austin, has signaled his intention to join forces with Wentworth.The real reason such reform hasn't been more popular, of course, is that the party in power is the only one who can push for this kind of legislation, and usually they are the beneficiaries of the gerrymander. Since the Democrats are still a minority party in the Texas state house, it will require the cooperation of a significant number of Republicans to support the non-partisan approach. Don't hold your breath.
In 1987, just before announcing his 1988 candidacy for the Senate, Lott likened his campaign to a "crusade." The Washington Post reported that he told the Christian audience, "Conservative, G-d-fearing, hard-working Christian people make a mistake by not being more aggressive. This is our country and it's time we take it back."
Senate Democrats elected their leadership slate on Tuesday, allowing their previous leadership to have a promotion. The senators that led the Democrats through the minority era will now control the Senate.House Democrats will pick their leaders Thursday; House Republicans hold leadership elections on Friday.Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada and Minority Whip Richard Durbin of Illinois will ascend to majority leader and majority whip, respectively.
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-New York, will continue as the chairman of the party's campaign fundraising committee. Schumer also will add vice chairman to his title, making him No. 3 in the leadership and a chief strategist.
Sen. Patty Murray of Washington will serve as conference secretary; Debbie Stabenow of Michigan will chair the steering committee; and Byron Dorgan of North Dakota will serve as chairman of the research-focused policy committee.
It seems that although the crowd outside was 90% Hispanic and 10% White, the authorities only let about 10% Hispanics into the chambers for the meeting. According to one source, Hispanics were being turned away while whites were let in. The source estimated the attendees inside the chambers to be 90% white.
On Monday night, the P&Z will be considering a development plan that calls for the drastic reduction in Flower Mound’s Urban Forest Protection Zone located north of Cross Timbers Rd, west of Forums Dr., south of Euclid Dr. and east of FM 2499. This is an area designated for protection in the Master Plan 2001. The developer is proposing a 69,000 sq ft grocery store, a bank, a fast food restaurant and 3 small retail buildings. This development plan replaces Cross Timbers Forest with concrete parking lots and a big box grocery store.There is a public hearing at tonight's P&Z meeting.
There is a great deal of nervousness among pundits and party loyalists on both sides that the Democrats not be perceived to swing too far to the left. By emphasizing that the voters "fired the Republicans, they didn't hire the Democrats," they hope to dampen the expectations of the left wing that this election represents a mandate for a more liberal platform.
It's easy to understand why party operators who watched Newt Gingrich self-destruct over the Clinton impeachment would want to avoid making the same error. But make no mistake, voters supporting Democrats this fall were also expressing outrage over the corruption of the entire Washington political machine. Here's the difference. All the polls prior to the 1998 election suggested that the majority of Americans wanted to put Monica and the little blue dress behind them, and get on to matters of more vital concern to the affairs of a nation. Polls prior to this year's election suggest that corruption was a motivating factor for those voting Democratic. Republicans made a great effort to inform voters that Pelosi's leadership would result in endless investigations and subpoenas, and voters still gave Democrats the House by a wide margin. It's hard not to read that as a mandate for oversight and accountability.
Does that mean impeachment? No, that means the public expects Congress to convene hearings and conduct due diligence to determine where the train went off the track, and take corrective action. The public's outrage over President Bush's executive overreach has muted to a slow burn. It will take some fairly damning new revelations to push that sentiment far enough to call for the ouster of a sitting president. But given the excesses to which this administration has gone to thwart any accountability, and surely there is a reason for the extraordinary amount of secrecy with which they have conducted their affairs, you can guarantee we haven't seen the last indictment. How well the President and Vice President have protected themselves from any fallout remains to be seen.
Chuck Todd, Editor of Hotline:
Ed Goeas, Republican Pollster:
That last comment was probably the most interesting of the entire clip. Goeas has much more to say, including some interesting comments on the roll of the Blue Dog Democrats, and is worth a listen. Tomorrow I'll summarize comments by the Democratic pollster Celinda Lake and add a few thoughts on the conventional wisdom.
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld tendered his resignation today in the wake of the Democrats taking control of the House and possibly the Senate in yesterday's midterm elections.Riding a trend that began four years ago, Democrats have turned the tide in Dallas County, rejecting a high-profile GOP candidate for district attorney, kicking incumbent county judge Margaret Keliher to the curb and choosing dozens of Democrats for judicial posts.
Although a ruling from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals will have enormous impact in the long term, the influence on this year's elections is largely decided. An article in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reveals that mail-in ballots for Tarrant County were down compared with 2002.Brender: It's a victory for every voter who needs to vote absentee - people that are elderly, that can't get out, that are bedridden, that are disabled - because for many, many years, up until this law went into effect a couple of years ago, anybody could help them.....
Veasey: It basically suppressed that partciular tradition in the coummunity of neighbor watching out for neighbor. And that's what was so really significant about this ruling.....
Rabb: In an email statement, Texas Solicitor General Ted Cruz writes: "The Office of the Attorney General will file an immediate appeal...the district court's decision is contrary to binding precedent from the U.S. Supreme Court, and we are highly confident upon appeal." Brender hopes the federal judge's ruling stands.
Brender: The Attorney General in the comments to Judge Ward said "Well, we would never prosecute anyone for just mailing somebody's ballot, handling it and putting it in the mailbox, that sort of thing." So that admission, I think, is an indication the law is overly broad.
All of the thirteen people Greg Abbott has prosecuted for voter fraud under the 2003 law have been Democrats, and all but one has been Hispanic or African-American.Mail-in voting for the November general election has dropped 62 percent this year in Tarrant County, although early voting in person is up 8 percent in the county and across the state.
With early voting ending today, Tarrant County Elections Administrator Steve Raborn said he could not explain the sharp drop in mail-in ballots since the comparable election in 2002, but said mail-in ballot applications generated by the major political parties appear to be down significantly this year.
Statewide, mail-in ballots have dropped 26 percent, according to the secretary of state's Web site.
A direct comparison to the 2002 election is difficult, with both sides agreeing that strategy may have influenced results. And it's difficult to determine how many of those choosing to forgo mail-in ballots chose to vote in person. However, in the end, it appears Republicans may have accomplished their goal - suppression of minority votes.Amber Moon, spokeswoman for the Texas Democratic Party, predicted that the post-election analysis of the mail-in ballots will show that the decrease is mostly from Democratic strongholds.
Vote by mail in our communities have suffered more because our people have the attorney general's task force following them," Moon said.
According to Dr. Rausch, “[t]he site will have a series of exit poll links with different surveys for Randall and Potter counties, Amarillo, Canyon and for people outside of Randall and Potter counties. The surveys will include questions about property tax freeze initiatives and the changes to the Amarillo City Commission as well as questions about the Texas gubernatorial elections.”
"I'm sick and tired of seeing him use Tarrant County equipment and manpower in his back yard. I hate seeing our Tarrant County tractors cutting his lawn and him taking advantage of our tax dollars and not being a good steward of our money," Lerma told the Editorial Board.
And the reason I know this, and I'm not just saying this because I'm running, is because he's my neighbor. He lives three houses away from me. I see this. Not only do I see this -- my neighbors see this."
Johnson's blunt response: "It's ridiculous. I don't do that. Never have and never will."
So one letter to the editor in today's paper caught my eye. Amid the usual character endorsements, was this little gem.
I'm a neighbor of J.D. Johnson. Without my permission or knowledge, he placed an asphalt road on the back end of my property to make access to his home more convenient for himself.
When I returned from work one afternoon, there it was! We tried to settle the matter but couldn't. His attorney said we couldn't win a lawsuit because his client was J.D. Johnson, county commissioner. The court ruled that Johnson could no longer use the road to access his home!
This is why I support Steve Lerma for county commissioner. I feel he'll bring back honesty and integrity to Pct. 4.
Bert Nunez, Fort Worth
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram endorsed incumbent J. D. Johnson, saying "We find nothing in his performance that demands replacement." Apparently, his neighbors beg to differ.
