Emil Reichstadt, a 2008 Democratic primary candidate for U.S. Senate from Texas, will be in Tarrant County this week to meet with the CGS (Colleyville, Grapevine, Southlake) Democrats.
From the CGS Democrats website:
Special guest Emil Reichstadt
Three Democrats have announced their candidacy in the U.S. Senate race - Rep. and Lt. Col. Rick Noriega, Emil Reichstadt and Mikal Watts. Emil Reichstadt will attend his Thursday's CGS Democrats meeting. The 58-year-old former JAG Army officer was the first candidate to announce his bid. He currently practices law in Dallas. Please read up on Emil, come with your questions and bring a friend.
Date: Thursday, July 19 - CGS Democrats regular monthly meetingPlace: Grapevine's la Madeleine, 900 Highway 114 (NE corner of Hwy. 114 and William D. Tate Ave.)Time: 6:30pm to socialize and eat, 7pm to meet
4 comments:
I hope Reichstadt turns out to be OK.
I don't like Watts because of his personal view on abortion (he's against it except for rape, incest, or risk to the mother).
I don't like Noriega because he's far too tied in with Centerpoint Energy (he's made political contributions to Centerpoint's PAC which then pays out to Republicans including Cornyn and Noriega voted with Centerpoint and against the progressive Democrats who tried to stop Dan Branch's efforts to prevent the closure of corporate tax loopholes).
I also don't trust Noriega because of his vote against the progressive Democratic coalition again when he voted for the Flynn amendment to HB 109 so that Texas now has to act as the policeman who says undocument Texas children cannot participate in CHIP and because his main political patron is Bob Perry who is the number one Republican jackass.
According to the House Journal for that day, the Flynn amendment (No. 8) was amended by Rep. Rose with an amendment to the amendment (No. 9).
If you read the text of the original amendment and the amendment to the amendment, it becomes clear that, while the amendment sounds somewhat unpalatable, it, in reality, simply facilitates allowing TDHS to comply with federal law in all ways. In addition, with the Rose amendment to the amendment, it continues to allow TDHS to use other means aside from SAVEP to verify eligibility.
That aside, other Progressives also voted for this amendment, as did non-progressive Latino Democrats. While a lot of Progressives may have voted against this amendment, this was by far not among the worst amendments put on this bill. Further, much of the crux of the amendment actually related to compliance with existing federal laws related to the program which, in theory, should have been followed prior to this session.
It's also important to remember that the totality of a candidate's voting record is what is important.
As for the Centerpoint PAC stuff, that's really a stretch. All of those contributions are under $20.00. For those familiar with such filings, that usually means they are regular payroll deductions made by employees who work for companies with PACS. Hundreds of thousands of Texans participate in such PACs; it doesn't mean they support every candidate the PAC supports. Also, those donations appear to have ceased in mid-2004. This hardly ties Noriega to the PAC.
Also, since you have to search for "Richard" Noriega to find those contributions, you may also want to search for "Rick" Noriega, because he has a good record of donation contributions far larger to progressive candidates.
Geez. If Reichstadt's picture and website is anything like his candidacy, it is over now.
p.s. I am biased. Noriega is my pick. He's got it all.
I completely agree with "waiting for a real democrat."
The evidence is mounting that Noriega is a sham candidate being run by arch-Republican Bob "Swift Boat" Perry so Cornyn will have a lay-down opponent in the general election.
Here is an excerpt from the Texas Observer's blog:
"a reader asked about the connection between Houston Rep. Rick Noriega and notorious Houston Republican financier Bob “Swift Boat” Perry. The short answer: Perry has given Rick Noriega $9,500 since 2000, with $7,000 of that total donated in 2006, according to filings (1, 2, 3, 4 — all PDFs) with the Texas Ethics Commission.
The Houston Chronicle has also reported that Perry and his family were the biggest contributors to Noriega’s wife, Melissa, in her recent successful run for Houston City Council. In all “Perry, his wife, Doylene, their son Jack and his wife, Stefani, gave Noriega $20,000,” the paper reported. That amount nearly matched the entire fund-raising effort of her opponent, Roy Morales. Noriega outspent Morales 5-to-1 in the race. TEC filings did not show any contributions from Perry’s immediate family to Rick Noriega.
According to Bloomberg News, in 2006 Perry surpassed George Soros as the country’s highest political donor, giving more than $9 million to Republican House and Senate campaigns nationwide. That number figures largely into speculation that Perry is backing Noriega in the U.S. Senate primary in order to derail the campaign of his would-be opponent, lawyer Mikal Watts, who is from Corpus Christi and now lives in San Antonio. Watts, a long-time donor to Democratic causes in the state, is known as an excellent fundraiser and a believer in building party infrastructure in Texas. In a discussion last month on Burnt Orange Report, some commenters suggested Perry would abandon his support of Noriega if the Lt. Col. made it to a showdown with Sen. John Cornyn, with Perry going all in on the Republican’s side."
In response to this research, Noriega's paid campaign consultant James Aldrete responded to the Texas Observer with this rebuttal:
"James Aldrete says:
July 3rd, 2007 at 11:27 am
Matthew,
For the record ... I wanted to let you know that the first time Riok met Bob Perry was when Perry visited the George Brown Convention Center when it was turned into a shelter for those forced to flee New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Noriega, as you may know, was asked by Mayor Bill White to oversee operations at the center, and Perry left impressed enough that he became a financial supporter of the Noriegas."
The Noriega campaign is plainly lying about Noriega's long-time relationship with Perry. A search of the Texas Ethics Commission’s Campaign Finance Reports confirms that Bob Perry has been giving money to Noriega money at least as far back as September 29, 2000 (ironically, five years to the day before Hurricane Katrina destroyed New Orleans) and Perry is Noriega's number one campaign contributor.
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