Tag Archives: Texas Politics

Fifth Circuit Rules Texas Voter ID Law Violates Voting Rights Act

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The Dallas Morning News reports that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has ruled that Texas’ voter ID act violates section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.  The ruling, however, is narrow and neither a complete win nor loss for either side.  Red would support such a law if there was one iota of evidence that in-person voter fraud is a real problem.  Everyone who knows anything about elections in Texas knows the real hanky-panky occurs with the mail-in ballots and the current law does absolutely nothing  to prevent massive abuse in that regard.

The hard part of the ruling to swallow is the Fifth Circuit’s finding that the intent of the law was not to discriminate against minority voters.  Red understands that is tough fish to land, but come on . . . really?  Even in Texas, the GOP is scared because the angry old white men that are dying off are being replaced by young brown ones.  Gerrymandering will work for a while, but demographic destiny takes over at some point, and with the legacy that Patrick and Abbott are leaving, recruiting Hispanics and Blacks to the Grand Ol’ Party is going to be a tough sell. If they can cut minority voting by even a percent or two, then they might just hang on for a couple of more election cycles past their expiration date.

In an unanimous decision, a three-judge panel ruled that the controversial and Republican-backed measure violated Section 2 of the landmark civil rights law. The law has been part of a complicated legal battle for years.

But the victory was narrow win for opponents of the law. The judges also rejected a previous judge’s ruling that the law was passed with the intent to discriminate. The Fifth Circuit sent that portion of the lawsuit back to a U.S. district court.

The court wrote that, if the lower court finds in its review of the case that the voter ID Law only violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, it should find a solution that can still reduce the risk of in-person voter fraud and satisfy the legislative intent of the voter ID law.

“Simply reverting to the system in place before SB 14’s passage would not fully respect these policy choices — it would allow voters to cast ballots after presenting less secure forms of identification like utility bills, bank statements, or paychecks,” the court wrote in a 49-page opinion.

Texas could appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, or the state also could ask the full 5th Circuit to review the case. But now, a fight over what exactly the complicated ruling means is more imminent.

Today in Texas History – August 4

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From the Annals of the Governor’s Office – In 1941 Lt. Gov. Coke Stevenson became Governor when W. Lee “Pappy” O’Daniel was installed as U.S. Senator following a special election.  Known as “Mr. Texas”, Stevenson was a no-nonsense conservative whose remarkable life story appealed to most Texans.  He had basically educated himself rising from mule team freight hauler, to bank custodian, to bank cashier, to lawyer.  Stevenson’s political career began with election as county attorney of Kimble County.  He later served as County Judge. Before being elected as Lt. Gov. he served several terms in the House and was selected as Speaker of the House.  Stevenson’s approach was so low-key that his critics accused him of doing nothing. He served two more full terms as governor stepping down in 1947 at which time he was the longest serving governor in Texas history.  Unfortunately, Stevenson is perhaps best known for his loss in the 1948 Senate race to Lyndon B. Johnson.  Stevenson is portrayed heroically in Robert Caro’s Means of Ascent.  Critics have complained that Caro’s portrait of Stevenson was influenced by his growing disgust with LBJ as his research progressed.  Nonetheless, Stevenson’s rise from poor country boy to Governor is a remarkable story in itself.

Photo from http://www.texashistory.unt.edu

Today in Texas History – August 3

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From the Annals of the Feud – In 1898, the Colorado County Feud began.  The Feud was ignited by the County’ Sheriff’s race and involved a series of gun battles between members of the Townsend family of Columbus. The actual election was between incumbent sheriff Sam Reese and a former deputy Larkin Hope. Former state senator and power broker Mark Townsend dropped his backing of Reese and endorsed Hope. The move indicated victory for Hope since Townsend typically backed the winner.  It was not to be, as Hope was gunned down Columbus.  Hope’s backers suspected Jim Coleman, a close friend of Sam Reese’s sons, Walter and Herbert, was behind the killing. Townsend picked a new candidate, Will Burford, and, with feeling running high against the Reeses, Burford won the election. Less than a year later, on March 16, 1899, Sam Reese was killed in a gun battle on the street near where Hope died. Will Clements, Marion Hope, and Mark Townsend were among those shooting. Stray bullets killed Charles Boehme, a bystander, and wounded a boy named Johnny Williams. Even though the best evidence suggests that Reese had provoked the fight in which he was killed, his sons vowed to get revenge. In five more gunfights five more men were killed and several others wounded. The dead included Reese’s brother Dick, Burford’s son Arthur, Will Clements’s brother Hiram, and Jim Coleman. No one was ever convicted of any of the murders. Those accused included Mark Townsend, Jim Townsend, Step Yates, Will Clements, Walter Reese, Joe Lessing, Frank Burford, and Marion Hope.  Perhaps not so curiously, the Townsends, Reeses, Burfords, Clementses, Hopes, and Lessings were all related to each other.

Rick Right-Wing Record

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A recent column by Ted B. Lyon, Jr. in the Dallas Morning News attempts to set the record straight on Rick Perry’s record as Governor of Texas.  Lyon’s ire was raised by a recent Jay Ambrose column that as Lyon put it did  “everything but give Perry credit for talking Sam Houston into attacking at San Jacinto.”

Let’s compare what was written with some facts.

Crediting Perry for holding schools accountable or that he urged affordable college education is misguided at best. Texas parents sure know better.

Perry was so hostile to public schools that over 600 districts — in rural counties as well as urban and suburban neighborhoods — sued him for failing to meet the minimum standard of support required by our state constitution. Exhibit A is the $5.4 billion education cut Perry signed into law. It’s the first time in over two decades that state leaders failed to fully fund Texas’ rapid enrollment growth.

Forget that Perry might have urged making college more affordable. Look instead at what he signed off on: deregulation of college tuition that has been devastating to families with college-aged kids. On Perry’s watch, the cost to send a young man or woman to college in Texas shot up by over 50 percent.

As far as jobs go, the one Perry protected best was his own, and he made sure he got paid pretty well, too. Turns out that Perry was not only earning a full-time salary as governor, he also was double-dipping by taking a state retirement pension. While a lot of new jobs were created in Texas, most of them were due to Texans’ willingness to work more for less pay than people in other states, making it harder to support a family.

Perry actually turned down the biggest new jobs opportunity — health care expansion. Nonpartisan studies show that expanding health care in Texas would create over a quarter-million new jobs and pump billions into the Texas economy. Republican governors all over the country put their personal politics aside to realize this benefit for their states. Perry didn’t have the insight, political courage or plain old common sense to do the right thing for Texas.

Perry backers like to throw around buzzwords like deregulation and trivial lawsuits. That may be music to the ears of insurance executives and nursing home owners, but what has it really meant for Texans? Well, under Perry, Texans have been forced to pay the third-highest home insurance rates in the country. If an elderly parent or disabled loved one dies from abuse in a nursing home, Perry has tied the hands of judges and juries. He’s capped the value of a loved one’s life or disabling damage suffered to $250,000 — less than Perry took home in salary and pension every two years.

There’s no problem with Rick Perry letting everyone know that Texas is the greatest state in the greatest nation in the world. I absolutely agree with him. I also know, along with others who are paying attention, that Texas is a great state despite Rick Perry and not because of him.

Quote for the Day

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“Ken Paxton is an ethics dumpster fire that might be spreading.  Governor Abbott and state regulators failed to take action to enforce the law, and Texans deserve to know why.  Governor Abbott should stop hiding from the Paxton scandal hoping it will go away.”  

Lone Star Project Director Matt Angle.

Not sure what an “ethics dumpster fire” is but it sure sounds bad.

Profiles in Courage – However Misguided

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Rusk County Clerk Joyce Lewis-Kugle resigned her office rather than have to comply with the U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage by issuing marriage licenses to same sex couples.  Lewis-Kugle who was first elected in 2006 explained her reasons in her resignation letter to County Judge Joel Hale.

“Before taking office, I was required to take an oath to uphold the laws of this State and the United States. Due to the recent decision by the Supreme Court, the laws I swore to have now changed.”

I disagree with her views, but Lewis-Kugle did the honorable thing by resigning her office rather than complaining or engaging in grandstanding like some other Texas county clerks.

Of course, Red is also willing to bet that Lewis-Kugle will attempt to leverage her resignation into a run for another office as she will undoubtably be viewed as a Tea Party martyr.

How Long Has it Been Since We Bashed Ted Cruz? – Well That’s Too Long, Cont.

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All Red has to do is sit back and let the Washington Post take up the cudgel and repeatedly whack Sen. Cruz (TP – Texas) several times up side of the head.  This time it involves Cruz’s utterly spineless flip-flop on fast track trade authority.   But let others do the heavy lifting.

In the space of a week he voted for fast-track authority, heard cries from the far right and then reversed himself — and still had the nerve to denounce GOP leaders with whom he voted the first time around. Politico explains:

The Texas firebrand and Republican 2016 presidential hopeful had been a vocal supporter of trade legislation, even co-authoring a Wall Street Journal op-ed in April saying that the fast-track bill, known as Trade Promotion Authority, is a “fair deal” for the American worker. In May, he voted to advance the TPA bill, which also included a worker aid package favored by Democrats.

But just hours before a decisive Tuesday vote, Cruz [changed] his tune. . . . Cruz, who has long aligned himself with the tea party wing of the party, has taken some flak from the right for backing the trade bill initially — so voting “no” now could insulate himself from some of that criticism. Yet it could further alienate himself from big business and deep-pocketed donors who are staunch proponents of expanded markets.

Now, even before this latest jaw-dropper, Cruz was in no danger of getting mainstream support. There are not too many non-tea partyers who appreciate him after orchestrating the shutdown, going whole-hog on anti-immigration reform, whipping up support for an anti-gay marriage constitutional amendment and advancing a frankly incoherent worldview (yes on destroying the Islamic state, no on the NSA and on anymore troops). He’s in single digits in most state and national polls, overshadowed at this stage by the likes of Ben Carson and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee — whose supporters he appears to be chasing after.

Cruz likes to fancy himself as the only principled man inside the Beltway, but with stunts like the trade flip-flop he makes crystal clear that his only deeply held belief is self-promotion. Coverage in Texas media of his about-face was stinging, painting him as a political coward. (“For months, Sen. Ted Cruz backed a critical part of President Barack Obama’s trade agenda. But after weeks of taking heat from conservatives, Cruz abandoned his support for Trade Promotion Authority on Tuesday.”) And the  Wall Street Journal editorial board observed, “Much of the opposition [on the far right] has been pure opportunism, an attempt to parlay distrust of all-things-Obama into talk-show rating points or Internet clicks. The hucksters make up false accusations and spread them like Elizabeth Warren. Top prize for such opportunism goes to Ted Cruz, who turned against the trade bill at the last minute.”

In his spinelessness (and oddly on both trade and the Islamic State, not to mention Syria, where both celebrated the refusal to enforce the red line) he most closely resembles Hillary Clinton.

Resembles Hillary Clinton?  Them’s fighting words in Texas!

And if that weren’t enough, Politico reports in detail on how Cruz threw Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Clueless-Kentucky) under the Tea Party Bus.

Cruz, who has long aligned himself with the tea party wing of the party, has taken some flak from the right for backing the trade bill initially — so voting “no” now could insulate himself from some of that criticism. Yet it could further alienate himself from big business and deep-pocketed donors who are staunch proponents of expanded markets.

Cruz cites a deal cut on the Senate floor last month between McConnell and Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) that would give Congress a vote to extend the charter of the expiring Ex-Im Bank, an entity that Cruz says is riddled with “corporate welfare.”

Cruz suggests that McConnell misled him last month on the day of the trade vote.

“At lunch that day, I asked Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell what precise deal had been cut to pass TPA,” Cruz wrote. “Visibly irritated, he told me and all my Republican colleagues that there was no deal whatsoever; rather, he simply told them they could use the ordinary rules to offer whatever amendments they wanted on future legislation. “

He added: “Taking McConnell at his word that there was no deal on Ex-Im, I voted yes on TPA because I believe the U.S. generally benefits from free trade, and without TPA historically there have been no free-trade agreements.”

Cruz may soon learn that hell hath no fury like that of a droopy-faced, drawling politician who has real power in his hands and wants to punish a grand-standing, shameless self-promoter.

Texas Voters No Longer to do the Two Step

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For nearly 40 years, the Texas Democratic Party has conducted a two tiered method for selecting delegates to the National Convention.  Some delegates (75%) would be apportioned on the basis of the primary vote, but others (25%) would be selected in caucuses held after the polls closed on election day. But the “Texas Two-Step” tradition is officially over. The Democratic National Committee asked the state party to pick between a caucus and a primary and the primary system won out.  Texas Democrats tried to keep that system, but the DNC forced them to pick one, so they went with a primary.  Thus ends the “Texas Two-Step.”   Let the Texas Rhumba begin.

Today in Texas History – June 26

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From the Annals of Democracy –  In 1928, the Democratic National Convention began in Houston at Sam Houston Hall.  It was the first nominating convention to be held in a Southern city since 1860 when the Democrats nominated Stephen Douglas.  The 1928 convention resulted in the nomination of  Gov. Alfred E. Smith of New York for President and Sen. Joseph Robinson of Arkansas for Vice President.   The Democrats were the first to nominate a Roman Catholic for President. The Texas delegation, led by Gov. Dan Moody strongly opposed Smith.  After Smith was nominated, they rallied against his anti-prohibition sentiment by fighting for a “dry” platform. Ultimately, the convention pledged “honest enforcement of the Constitution”.

Smith became the first Democrat since Reconstruction to lose more than one southern state in the general election, due to his “wet” stance, his opposition to the Ku Klux Klan, and his Catholicism.