All but One Big Piece in Place for Abbott's Run

All but One Big Piece in Place for Abbott's Run | The Texas Tribune var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-9827490-1']); _gaq.push(['_setCustomVar', 5, 'LoggedIn', 'False', 2]); _gaq.push(['_setCustomVar', 1, 'ContentType', 'story', 3]); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); window.jQuery || document.write(' window.jQuery.ui || document.write('                 Register Login (function(){ var allScripts = document.getElementsByTagName('script'), currentScript = allScripts[allScripts.length - 1], node = currentScript; while (node = node.previousSibling) { if (node.nodeName == "A"){ node.href += document.location.pathname; break; } }; })(); Enter Search Lege Livestream Front Page Sections Data Blogs Directory Multimedia Events Newsletters TribPedia Menu Sections Give Now In The Flow Texas Weekly $('#site_search').siblings().children('a.mega-toggle').on('click.megamini', function(e){ e.preventDefault(); } ); //TODO: FIXME when we fix the menu! $('a.newsletters').click( function(){ var leftOffset = $('a.newsletters').offset().left, topOffset = $('.below_nav').offset().top - 19; $('#newsletters').css('left', leftOffset).css('top', topOffset); }); Economy Education Energy & Environment Government Health & Human Services Law & Order People Politics Race & Immigration Transportation Loading... $(function(){ $('#sections-tab-container').load("/esi/components/megadropdown/"); }); Front Page Lege Livestream Blogs Directory Multimedia Events Texas Weekly In The Flow TribCast Tribpedia Economy Education Energy & Environment Government Health & Human Services Law & Order People Politics Race & Immigration Transportation Contribute Today Monday, July 1, 2013

All but One Big Piece in Place for Abbott's Run by Ross Ramsey July 1, 2013

Comment Republish Email Tweet Recommend Enlarge photo by: Marjorie Kamys Cotera Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, during a Senate Finance committee hearing on February 5th, 2013

Greg Abbott has a shiny political résumé, an astonishing amount of money in the bank and has geared up for a statewide campaign with careful and deep planning on the ground and in the air.

Here’s the sweet part: the mere existence of that political arsenal might be enough to ward off any rivals. It is possible he could become the next governor of Texas without any serious competition.

The fly in the ointment is named Gov. Rick Perry. Should the governor choose to run again — a hot topic around the Capitol for the last few months — Abbott’s hope of a free shot could turn into a political donnybrook. Perry said on a marketing tour in the Northeast that he would announce his intentions by Monday, but since then he has called lawmakers back into another special session that is likely to delay his revelations.

Those who love election battles pray for the spectacle: they want a Perry-Abbott bout at the top of the ticket. They might get a coronation instead.

Republicans in Texas and elsewhere are historically orderly about these things. It is not unusual to wait in line for a climb up the career ladder. But with most political competition here confined to primaries instead of general elections — the result of Republican hegemony in statewide races and redistricting in congressional and legislative ones — the infighting has increased. Perry was challenged in 2006 by Carole Keeton Strayhorn, a Republican comptroller who ran that year as an independent. Four years later, it was United States Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison who tried and failed, along with Debra Medina, a newcomer who lost that race but plans to run for comptroller on the Republican ticket next year.

 

Then Ted Cruz showed up and elbowed his way to the front in a Republican Senate primary runoff, defeating the presumptive favorite, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst.

Along with the other lessons of that race was this: Texas Republicans seeking higher office do not have to wait for resignations or deaths to move up.

It might not matter next year, with most statewide offices open. The lieutenant governor might be the only statewide official on the ballot seeking re-election, and the unraveling of the first special session last week left him in terrible political shape. One of the 31 senators under him — Dan Patrick, R-Houston — took advantage of the break between special sessions to announce he would run for lieutenant governor because, he said, “we need new leadership.” Two other state officials are also in the race. Incumbency usually wards off challengers, but Dewhurst’s problems have proved attractive to them.

In a year that promises great turbulence in the government organization chart, only Abbott and Tom Pauken, the former workforce commissioner, have expressed interest on the Republican side in the governor’s job. Abbott has apparently scared everyone else away.

He has been an aggressive attorney general, suing the federal government more than two dozen times and slapping the Obama administration with a steady stream of news releases and statements that reinforce his conservative bona fides with his red state supporters.

He has kept himself out of the governor’s way, moving in parallel on almost all policy issues and avoiding situations that might make the two men appear to be rivals. Strayhorn and Hutchison were critical of Perry before their races, leaving some to wonder — especially in 2010 — whether he might have stepped aside if the other aspirants had given him some room.

Abbott has given him that room.

None of that explains why the attorney general is the presumptive favorite on the Republican side.

It’s an expensive business, and Abbott has money. The Republicans spent more than $40 million in the 2010 primary. Since his first race for attorney general, in 2002, Abbott has not faced a strong opponent who could match his combination of organization and political treasure. After years of building his bank account, it totaled $18 million at the end of 2012, according to his latest campaign finance report. Another, due in a few weeks, is expected to be just as daunting to would-be opponents.

He looks formidable. Only Pauken seems willing to challenge him in a primary, and Abbott’s only real obstacle is the governor, who has not shared his plans.

  Texas Tribune donors or members may be quoted or mentioned in our stories, or may be the subject of them. For a complete list of contributors, click here.

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Related Content Session Gives Perry More Time to Decide Future by Jay Root 4 hours ago Ahead of Perry Decision, Abbott's Campaign is in Motion by Emily Ramshaw 5/23/2013 (23)

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All but One Big Piece in Place for Abbott's Run

All but One Big Piece in Place for Abbott's Run | The Texas Tribune var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-9827490-1']); _gaq.push(['_setCustomVar', 5, 'LoggedIn', 'False', 2]); _gaq.push(['_setCustomVar', 1, 'ContentType', 'story', 3]); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); window.jQuery || document.write(' window.jQuery.ui || document.write('                 Register Login (function(){ var allScripts = document.getElementsByTagName('script'), currentScript = allScripts[allScripts.length - 1], node = currentScript; while (node = node.previousSibling) { if (node.nodeName == "A"){ node.href += document.location.pathname; break; } }; })(); Enter Search Lege Livestream Front Page Sections Data Blogs Directory Multimedia Events Newsletters TribPedia Menu Sections Give Now In The Flow Texas Weekly $('#site_search').siblings().children('a.mega-toggle').on('click.megamini', function(e){ e.preventDefault(); } ); //TODO: FIXME when we fix the menu! $('a.newsletters').click( function(){ var leftOffset = $('a.newsletters').offset().left, topOffset = $('.below_nav').offset().top - 19; $('#newsletters').css('left', leftOffset).css('top', topOffset); }); Economy Education Energy & Environment Government Health & Human Services Law & Order People Politics Race & Immigration Transportation Loading... $(function(){ $('#sections-tab-container').load("/esi/components/megadropdown/"); }); Front Page Lege Livestream Blogs Directory Multimedia Events Texas Weekly In The Flow TribCast Tribpedia Economy Education Energy & Environment Government Health & Human Services Law & Order People Politics Race & Immigration Transportation Contribute Today Monday, July 1, 2013

All but One Big Piece in Place for Abbott's Run by Ross Ramsey July 1, 2013

Comment Republish Email Tweet Recommend Enlarge photo by: Marjorie Kamys Cotera Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, during a Senate Finance committee hearing on February 5th, 2013

Greg Abbott has a shiny political résumé, an astonishing amount of money in the bank and has geared up for a statewide campaign with careful and deep planning on the ground and in the air.

Here’s the sweet part: the mere existence of that political arsenal might be enough to ward off any rivals. It is possible he could become the next governor of Texas without any serious competition.

The fly in the ointment is named Gov. Rick Perry. Should the governor choose to run again — a hot topic around the Capitol for the last few months — Abbott’s hope of a free shot could turn into a political donnybrook. Perry said on a marketing tour in the Northeast that he would announce his intentions by Monday, but since then he has called lawmakers back into another special session that is likely to delay his revelations.

Those who love election battles pray for the spectacle: they want a Perry-Abbott bout at the top of the ticket. They might get a coronation instead.

Republicans in Texas and elsewhere are historically orderly about these things. It is not unusual to wait in line for a climb up the career ladder. But with most political competition here confined to primaries instead of general elections — the result of Republican hegemony in statewide races and redistricting in congressional and legislative ones — the infighting has increased. Perry was challenged in 2006 by Carole Keeton Strayhorn, a Republican comptroller who ran that year as an independent. Four years later, it was United States Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison who tried and failed, along with Debra Medina, a newcomer who lost that race but plans to run for comptroller on the Republican ticket next year.

 

Then Ted Cruz showed up and elbowed his way to the front in a Republican Senate primary runoff, defeating the presumptive favorite, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst.

Along with the other lessons of that race was this: Texas Republicans seeking higher office do not have to wait for resignations or deaths to move up.

It might not matter next year, with most statewide offices open. The lieutenant governor might be the only statewide official on the ballot seeking re-election, and the unraveling of the first special session last week left him in terrible political shape. One of the 31 senators under him — Dan Patrick, R-Houston — took advantage of the break between special sessions to announce he would run for lieutenant governor because, he said, “we need new leadership.” Two other state officials are also in the race. Incumbency usually wards off challengers, but Dewhurst’s problems have proved attractive to them.

In a year that promises great turbulence in the government organization chart, only Abbott and Tom Pauken, the former workforce commissioner, have expressed interest on the Republican side in the governor’s job. Abbott has apparently scared everyone else away.

He has been an aggressive attorney general, suing the federal government more than two dozen times and slapping the Obama administration with a steady stream of news releases and statements that reinforce his conservative bona fides with his red state supporters.

He has kept himself out of the governor’s way, moving in parallel on almost all policy issues and avoiding situations that might make the two men appear to be rivals. Strayhorn and Hutchison were critical of Perry before their races, leaving some to wonder — especially in 2010 — whether he might have stepped aside if the other aspirants had given him some room.

Abbott has given him that room.

None of that explains why the attorney general is the presumptive favorite on the Republican side.

It’s an expensive business, and Abbott has money. The Republicans spent more than $40 million in the 2010 primary. Since his first race for attorney general, in 2002, Abbott has not faced a strong opponent who could match his combination of organization and political treasure. After years of building his bank account, it totaled $18 million at the end of 2012, according to his latest campaign finance report. Another, due in a few weeks, is expected to be just as daunting to would-be opponents.

He looks formidable. Only Pauken seems willing to challenge him in a primary, and Abbott’s only real obstacle is the governor, who has not shared his plans.

  Texas Tribune donors or members may be quoted or mentioned in our stories, or may be the subject of them. For a complete list of contributors, click here.

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A Second Life for Houston's Astrodome?

Where Astros Played, Conventioneers Could Gather | The Texas Tribune var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-9827490-1']); _gaq.push(['_setCustomVar', 5, 'LoggedIn', 'False', 2]); _gaq.push(['_setCustomVar', 1, 'ContentType', 'story', 3]); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); window.jQuery || document.write(' window.jQuery.ui || document.write('                 Register Login (function(){ var allScripts = document.getElementsByTagName('script'), currentScript = allScripts[allScripts.length - 1], node = currentScript; while (node = node.previousSibling) { if (node.nodeName == "A"){ node.href += document.location.pathname; break; } }; })(); Enter Search Lege Livestream Front Page Sections Data Blogs Directory Multimedia Events Newsletters TribPedia Menu Sections Give Now In The Flow Texas Weekly $('#site_search').siblings().children('a.mega-toggle').on('click.megamini', function(e){ e.preventDefault(); } ); //TODO: FIXME when we fix the menu! $('a.newsletters').click( function(){ var leftOffset = $('a.newsletters').offset().left, topOffset = $('.below_nav').offset().top - 19; $('#newsletters').css('left', leftOffset).css('top', topOffset); }); Economy Education Energy & Environment Government Health & Human Services Law & Order People Politics Race & Immigration Transportation Loading... $(function(){ $('#sections-tab-container').load("/esi/components/megadropdown/"); }); Front Page Lege Livestream Blogs Directory Multimedia Events Texas Weekly In The Flow TribCast Tribpedia Economy Education Energy & Environment Government Health & Human Services Law & Order People Politics Race & Immigration Transportation Contribute Today Monday, July 1, 2013

Where Astros Played, Conventioneers Could Gather by Jody Serrano July 1, 2013 6 Comments

Comment Republish Email Tweet Recommend Enlarge photo by: Michael Stravato AstroTurf was dragged out of storage after a small electrical fire and water damage in the Astrodome last year. One of Houston's most famous landmarks, the Astrodome has sat vacant and shuttered for years. HOUSTON — Ryan Bokros was 8 years old when he attended his first baseball game at the Houston Astrodome. It was 1985. The dome was bursting with people, the famous scoreboard bright with lights and the space bigger than anything he had ever seen.

“In Houston, it was the eighth wonder of the world,” said Bokros, now a 36-year-old real estate agent, echoing a statement that many have made since the dome opened in 1965.

Nearly five decades after making history as the first indoor sports stadium of its kind, the Astrodome is covered in a layer of dust and spider webs, its entrances lined with trash and leaves, and its once impeccable turf ripped up and dirty. Houston condemned it as uninhabitable in 2009, and it is being used for storage.

The city has debated what to do with the Astrodome for years. Some have suggested tearing it down for parking; others have implored the county to repurpose it. This year, a decision may finally be made.

Over the past few months, Houston officials and community leaders have engaged in a vigorous debate over the stadium’s future.

 The Harris County Sports and Convention Corporation last week unveiled a $194 million proposal to turn the Astrodome into a convention center. The plan includes tearing down the ramp towers and ticket booths, ripping out 65,000 seats to create an event floor, installing energy-efficient systems and adding restaurants on the ground floor.

“We have entertained many ideas in 10 years, and we’ve had lots of meetings with lots of people,” said Willie Loston, the sports corporation’s executive director. “It’s clearly a community asset, some say a community icon.”

The Harris County Commissioners Court is currently reviewing the proposal. County commissioners have asked staff members to determine how much the project would cost and how much taxpayers would have to pay to finance the renovation.

If the county approves the project, it will probably go before voters in a November bond election.

The Astrodome cost more than $40 million to build and was primarily paid for with county bonds. Roy Hofheinz, a former Houston mayor, led the movement to build the stadium and called it the Astrodome in honor of Houston’s space program, said Debbie Harwell, managing editor of Houston History magazine, published by the University of Houston.

In its heyday, the Astrodome featured expensive suites, restaurants, cushioned seats and a $2 million animated scoreboard. It was the home of the Houston Astros for 34 years and housed the livestock show and rodeo.

“A lot of Houston businessmen in the first half of the 20th century really saw Houston as the city of the future,” Harwell said. “It was the first major league baseball franchise that had a stadium as a part of its logo. Hofheinz was using that as a symbol of what the stadium represented to the city and this whole idea of moving forward.”

People care about what happens to the dome, said Judge Ed Emmett, who presides over the Harris County Commissioners Court. 

“In my mind, this is not about saving a historical building. This is about maximizing the use of a county asset,” Emmett said. “We have a county asset in the Astrodome that is unique in the world.”

  Texas Tribune donors or members may be quoted or mentioned in our stories, or may be the subject of them. For a complete list of contributors, click here.

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All but One Big Piece in Place for Abbott's Run

All but One Big Piece in Place for Abbott's Run | The Texas Tribune var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-9827490-1']); _gaq.push(['_setCustomVar', 5, 'LoggedIn', 'False', 2]); _gaq.push(['_setCustomVar', 1, 'ContentType', 'story', 3]); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); window.jQuery || document.write(' window.jQuery.ui || document.write('                 Register Login (function(){ var allScripts = document.getElementsByTagName('script'), currentScript = allScripts[allScripts.length - 1], node = currentScript; while (node = node.previousSibling) { if (node.nodeName == "A"){ node.href += document.location.pathname; break; } }; })(); Enter Search Lege Livestream Front Page Sections Data Blogs Directory Multimedia Events Newsletters TribPedia Menu Sections Give Now In The Flow Texas Weekly $('#site_search').siblings().children('a.mega-toggle').on('click.megamini', function(e){ e.preventDefault(); } ); //TODO: FIXME when we fix the menu! $('a.newsletters').click( function(){ var leftOffset = $('a.newsletters').offset().left, topOffset = $('.below_nav').offset().top - 19; $('#newsletters').css('left', leftOffset).css('top', topOffset); }); Economy Education Energy & Environment Government Health & Human Services Law & Order People Politics Race & Immigration Transportation Loading... $(function(){ $('#sections-tab-container').load("/esi/components/megadropdown/"); }); Front Page Lege Livestream Blogs Directory Multimedia Events Texas Weekly In The Flow TribCast Tribpedia Economy Education Energy & Environment Government Health & Human Services Law & Order People Politics Race & Immigration Transportation Contribute Today Monday, July 1, 2013

All but One Big Piece in Place for Abbott's Run by Ross Ramsey July 1, 2013

Comment Republish Email Tweet Recommend Enlarge photo by: Marjorie Kamys Cotera Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, during a Senate Finance committee hearing on February 5th, 2013

Greg Abbott has a shiny political résumé, an astonishing amount of money in the bank and has geared up for a statewide campaign with careful and deep planning on the ground and in the air.

Here’s the sweet part: the mere existence of that political arsenal might be enough to ward off any rivals. It is possible he could become the next governor of Texas without any serious competition.

The fly in the ointment is named Gov. Rick Perry. Should the governor choose to run again — a hot topic around the Capitol for the last few months — Abbott’s hope of a free shot could turn into a political donnybrook. Perry said on a marketing tour in the Northeast that he would announce his intentions by Monday, but since then he has called lawmakers back into another special session that is likely to delay his revelations.

Those who love election battles pray for the spectacle: they want a Perry-Abbott bout at the top of the ticket. They might get a coronation instead.

Republicans in Texas and elsewhere are historically orderly about these things. It is not unusual to wait in line for a climb up the career ladder. But with most political competition here confined to primaries instead of general elections — the result of Republican hegemony in statewide races and redistricting in congressional and legislative ones — the infighting has increased. Perry was challenged in 2006 by Carole Keeton Strayhorn, a Republican comptroller who ran that year as an independent. Four years later, it was United States Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison who tried and failed, along with Debra Medina, a newcomer who lost that race but plans to run for comptroller on the Republican ticket next year.

 

Then Ted Cruz showed up and elbowed his way to the front in a Republican Senate primary runoff, defeating the presumptive favorite, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst.

Along with the other lessons of that race was this: Texas Republicans seeking higher office do not have to wait for resignations or deaths to move up.

It might not matter next year, with most statewide offices open. The lieutenant governor might be the only statewide official on the ballot seeking re-election, and the unraveling of the first special session last week left him in terrible political shape. One of the 31 senators under him — Dan Patrick, R-Houston — took advantage of the break between special sessions to announce he would run for lieutenant governor because, he said, “we need new leadership.” Two other state officials are also in the race. Incumbency usually wards off challengers, but Dewhurst’s problems have proved attractive to them.

In a year that promises great turbulence in the government organization chart, only Abbott and Tom Pauken, the former workforce commissioner, have expressed interest on the Republican side in the governor’s job. Abbott has apparently scared everyone else away.

He has been an aggressive attorney general, suing the federal government more than two dozen times and slapping the Obama administration with a steady stream of news releases and statements that reinforce his conservative bona fides with his red state supporters.

He has kept himself out of the governor’s way, moving in parallel on almost all policy issues and avoiding situations that might make the two men appear to be rivals. Strayhorn and Hutchison were critical of Perry before their races, leaving some to wonder — especially in 2010 — whether he might have stepped aside if the other aspirants had given him some room.

Abbott has given him that room.

None of that explains why the attorney general is the presumptive favorite on the Republican side.

It’s an expensive business, and Abbott has money. The Republicans spent more than $40 million in the 2010 primary. Since his first race for attorney general, in 2002, Abbott has not faced a strong opponent who could match his combination of organization and political treasure. After years of building his bank account, it totaled $18 million at the end of 2012, according to his latest campaign finance report. Another, due in a few weeks, is expected to be just as daunting to would-be opponents.

He looks formidable. Only Pauken seems willing to challenge him in a primary, and Abbott’s only real obstacle is the governor, who has not shared his plans.

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Guest Column: Protest Caused by Unruly Bunch in Control

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Guest Column: Protest Caused by Unruly Bunch in Control by Kirk Watson July 1, 2013 1 Comment

Comment Republish Email Tweet Recommend Enlarge photo by: Marjorie Kamys Cotera Sen. Kirk Watson D-Austin, announce legislation to modernize the Texas Open Meetings Act on March 7th, 2013.

When discussing the events of “Filibuster Day” in the Senate last Tuesday, the word “unruly” has been thrown around a lot. One definition — “not submissive or conforming to rule” — certainly applies.

It was an unruly bunch controlling the Senate on Tuesday night.

A worldwide audience saw those in control flouting rules, chucking out tradition, ignoring common sense and doing whatever they had to do to get their way. They debased our proud, prestigious chamber in the name of an ideology focused on undermining women’s health and women's rights.

It’s ironic (to put it kindly) that these folks who so shamelessly ignored the rules to get their way have now, insultingly, applied the “unruly” label to the citizens who packed into their Texas Capitol on Tuesday.

Keep in mind, the people in the gallery watched quietly for 11 hours, late into Tuesday night. There was very little trouble until it became obvious that those in control were panicking and trying to rush through the bill's passage literally at the 11th hour.

 

Here’s a short list of just some of Tuesday's stunning rules determinations:

They ruled that current Texas abortion restrictions aren’t germane to a discussion of a bill containing new abortion restrictions.They ruled that Roe v. Wade, the famous Supreme Court decision guaranteeing a woman's constitutional right to make decisions about her body, isn't germane to a discussion of a bill that would severely limit a woman's right to make such decisions.They broke an express promise that senators would vote on whether Sen. Wendy Davis could continue her filibuster.They repeatedly refused to recognize Democratic senators who rose with “parliamentary inquiries.”They inappropriately recognized a Republican who wanted to throw out my motion to appeal a ruling — wrongly taking the floor from me and giving it to someone they agreed with.They cut off the filibuster under a rule saying there can be only three findings that a speaker addressed a non-germane point — even though there were only two such findings on Davis.

That list doesn’t even count the arbitrary elimination of the Senate’s traditional two-thirds rule. The rule requires two-thirds of the Senate to bring a bill up for consideration. It’s meant to encourage compromise and foster harmony. But the lieutenant governor tossed that out on the first day of the special session and never restored it.

(It should be noted that in this special session alone, those in control have discarded the two-thirds rule to pass redistricting maps that disenfranchise minority voters and legislation that targets women’s health and women’s rights. There seem to be different rules for bills that affect women and minorities.)

The audience watched those in control impose their will on the Senate. They watched rampant rule-breaking make a mockery of parliamentary procedure and basic common sense. They saw that injustice and absurdity were about to determine the night’s outcome. And, not surprisingly, they reacted to seeing those in power rigging an unjust game.

And the folks in control of the process didn’t know how to deal with it. They're so used to getting their way that they expected to do whatever they wanted, however they wanted, with no regard to rules, tradition, optics, common sense or just about anything else.

They were taken aback when Texans who deserve a democratic process were insulted by this display of raw power. They forgot that disrespecting and trying to suppress others' points of view should be unacceptable to everyone.

What made Filibuster Day truly historic wasn’t the policy or even the politics.

It was, first, the effort to use raw power to pass bad legislation that senators had killed in the regular session and, by Tuesday night, had every right to kill in this special one.

And, second, it was the fact that it didn’t work. The people’s voices were heard, and they prevailed.

Regardless of our politics, all Texans want an honest government. We want our leaders to play by the rules. We expect our voices to be heard.

In that, every Texan won last week. And those in control of the Legislature should be very careful. Because no matter the issue and no matter the result, if they try to shove something into law with no regard for the rules or the people, they’ll lose every time.

Kirk Watson, D-Austin, represents Texas Senate District 14 and heads the Senate Democratic Caucus. 

  Texas Tribune donors or members may be quoted or mentioned in our stories, or may be the subject of them. For a complete list of contributors, click here.

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video: Main Attrakionz – Summa Time

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