OT: The Yankees win #27!!
I haven't been this happy about a baseball game in a very, very long time.
Thanks, boys. I know my mom appreciates it.
Today Americans March on Washington
1 hour ago
November 04, 2009
Levity from the Cap Metro sunset report
I count myself lucky that I don't have to read through sunset reports as part of my daily job, but I know people who do. I got clearance to share this tidbit y'all might find interesting:
Capital Metro is explaining, in the report, which policies give them concern and will cause them trouble in the future. In the ADA section, Capital Metro says:
"This service currently consumes approximately 20% of the agency's budget for two percent of its riders."
Wow! Think about how the rest of us taxpayers feel on a daily basis. This transit authority consumes 44% of our local sales tax revenue for less than 2% of our daily commuters.
"This service currently consumes approximately 20% of the agency's budget for two percent of its riders."
Wow! Think about how the rest of us taxpayers feel on a daily basis. This transit authority consumes 44% of our local sales tax revenue for less than 2% of our daily commuters.
Majority of ISD tax increases passed Tuesday
Oh, now, come on, people! At least Lake Travis ISD voters rejected their tax increase. 26 districts passed tax increases yesterday - roughly 63% of school district tax increases that were on Tuesday's ballot. Which, admittedly, is down from a high of 93% in 2006. But with voter turnout so low everywhere, you have to think that apathy prevented more tax increase rejections.
The Statesman article I linked to above mentions that Canutillo ISD, near El Paso, was one of the districts where the tax increase failed. The El Paso Times has an article about what the failure means. Scare tactics like these apparently failed to move voters: "With the $1.9 million revenue the Canutillo school district would have received if the proposal on the ballot had passed, officials were looking to increase salaries of 900 employees, which required $500,000. Other expenses Canutillo was looking to fund with the tax increase included building upgrades to meet the Americans with Disabilities Act."
It's no wonder, though - Canutillo ISD is currently in bonded debt to the tune of $123,621,565 - over $100 million - and that was as of August 2008 (source: Texas Bond Review Board). What on earth did they do with over $100 million in bond building funds, some of which dates back to 1996, if they weren't making their buildings ADA compliant?! And with that kind of debt load, it isn't any wonder the district is having trouble meeting salary increases.
Until school districts learn to reign in their spending, voters should not approve tax increases, at least not without taking a hard look at where the money is going. I have to commend once again the voters in Lake Travis ISD and Canutillo ISD, and in the 13 other districts where people said "no" to tax increases during rough and uncertain economic times. At the same time, you have to wonder - if they had just said "no" a little earlier, to huge bonded debt, and demanded fiscal responsibility, would the districts have had to ask for tax increases now?
We need to learn that fiscal responsibility and accountability is important in times of plenty as well as in leaner days.
Read more...
NY-23: Why Hoffman's loss was not a win for moderates
I started seeing this meme hit Twitter and Facebook last night: NY-23 was a referendum on conservatism, and maybe now the Republican Party will learn to run moderates in northern races because we can't win otherwise.
All due respect to the gentlemen who believe that, honestly. But I must disagree.
NY-23 was a referendum on nothing except poorly executed strategy and Republican establishment arrogance. This is a race that wasn't really a race until the NRCC began spending money (over $1 million, according to some estimates) slamming - you guessed it - Doug Hoffman instead of the Democratic candidate Bill Owens. The liberal Republican candidate, Dede Scozzafava (and all indications are that she is, in fact, to the left of even Owens!), did not drop out of the race until late last week - absentee ballots had already begun arriving in election offices.
A great combination of factors ensured, ultimately, that Hoffman was going to lose.
Consider this: Hoffman is no one's idea of a politician, except the scrappy grassroots who are determined to grow citizen candidates. He didn't have a lot of money, and he was rejected by the Republican party insiders locally who thought only a liberal-leaning "career" politician could pull off a special election. Given the tremendous force going against him early on, he still got 45% of the vote. Owens only won with 49%. Scozzafava, not surprisingly, managed to scrape 6% of the vote because her name was still on the election day ballot, and up until Friday of last week, she was still running for the office.
Scozzafava did what an unknown third party candidate tends to do in hotly contested races. She made up the margin of victory and swung the race to the Democrat. She was responsible for what we in Travis County Texas might call the "Libertarian" effect on the final vote tally.
Let's face one other hard truth. Scozzafava may have been responsible for what was, in effect, third party shenanigans in the vote tally, but she was a candidate from one of the two major parties. Doug Hoffman was the true third party candidate. There is every chance that there were party-line voters who could not stomach voting for someone perceived as outside the mainstream - there is a reason third parties are more successful in polling than in elections. Despite the occasional wailing and gnashing of teeth from certain grassroots movements about the need for a third party in this country, none has ever been truly successful in doing anything other than taking votes away from a major party.
I know a lot of people won't want to hear that, but take a look at Virginia, where Republican Bob McDonnell ruled the day among independent voters. Despite all the rhetoric about the evil Republican Party, McDonnell won handily as a Republican.
I think there was a lot playing in NY-23 that those of us who weren't there for most of it haven't taken into account. Hoffman's loss is not about conservative versus moderate versus liberal. It is about Republican branding, and to whom Republican leadership lends aid. Had the Republicans backed the conservative from the get-go, like they did in Virginia, victory might have been Hoffman's. History bears this out - when a Republican at least talks like a conservative, he/she wins. Go liberal, and the base will revolt. They did in NY-23. They've done it elsewhere.
Last night's elections in New Jersey, Virginia, and New York were referenda on three things: Barack Obama's leadership, Congressional folly, and the Republican Party's embrace of individuals who do not represent the majority of Republican values.
November 03, 2009
Aggies, rural counties against Prop 4
Despite the fact that Prop 4 will ultimately pass statewide, it is going down in Brazos County - the only county with a Tier One university to oppose Prop 4.
Gig 'em. :-D
The Houston Chronicle's Texas Politics blog is also reporting that Prop 4 is suffering in rural counties - and, perhaps not surprisingly, Williamson County.
Props 1 and 4 are only passing with about 57% of the total vote, whereas every other proposition has 60% in favor or better. With regards to Prop 4, I think this deserves some analysis, because clearly the Hobby-funded Texans for Tier One and the elected official support was not enough to ensure overwhelming victory - and a handful of conservative grassroots groups with far fewer resources (we didn't have billboards, for instance) managed to change quite a few minds.
Be interesting to see - did more Republicans turn out statewide than Democrats? We already know that was the case in early Travis County voting.
Beer/wine sales APPROVED in Hewitt, TX; liquor sales approved in Temple
Yeah, yeah, there are much bigger things going on. I know, but this is really interesting!!
Hewitt, Texas residents are so far rejecting propositions approving propositions that would allow beer and wine sales in stores and restaurants. Hewitt is near Waco, for the geographically-disinclined among you.
Meanwhile, in Temple, TX, voters are ALSO so far approving a referendum allowing liquor sales in stores.
Hewitt and Temple are probably an hour drive apart.
Just so you know.
Election results coming in; post updated
I'll try and keep updating this post as election results trickle in. Polls officially closed in Texas about two minutes ago. I'll also update with some of the results from across the nation, as they are relevant to the conservative movement.
The first thing I want to link y'all to is a list of predictions for NY-23 on Red County. As a part of the editorial staff at Red County, I offered a prediction, listed with those of my fellow editors.Check it out here.
In Virginia, the governor's race has been called for Republican Bob McDonnell. Watch Creigh Deeds' concession here.
Live results (Politico has maps, including NY-23)
Texas (Constitutional Amendments)
Texas (Houston/Harris County)
Travis County early voting results are in. Here's how Travis County voted early on the propositions and local tax increases.
Ballot initiatives across the country being reported on here. Major issues include Taxpayer Bill of Rights in Maine and Washington, and a vote on same-sex marriage in Maine.
Travis County early voting results are in
Travis County early voting results, on the 11 state constitutional propositions and local elections:
Prop 1: 49.42% for, 50.58% against, 13,179 votes cast
Prop 2: 60.65% for, 39.35% against, 13,185 votes cast
Prop 3: 65.26% for, 34.74% against, 13,159 votes cast
Prop 4: 55.66% for, 44.34% against, 13,179 votes cast
Prop 5: 70.01% for, 29.99% against, 12,934 votes cast
Prop 6: 67.73% for, 32.27% against, 12,946 votes cast
Prop 7: 73.31% for, 26.69% against, 13,148 votes cast
Prop 8: 76.27% for, 23.73% against, 13,213 votes cast
Prop 9: 81.78% for, 18.22% against, 13,184 votes cast
Prop 10: 75.63% for, 24.37% against, 13,010 votes cast
Prop 11: 77.49% for, 22.51% against, 13,197 votes cast
City of Rollingwood Proposition: 65.13% for, 34.87% against, 152 votes cast
Village of the Hills Prop 1: 91.27% for, 8.73% against, 401 votes cast
Village of the Hills Prop 2: 93.03% for, 6.97% against, 402 votes cast
Lake Travis ISD Proposition: 44.12% for, 55.88% against, 1419 votes cast
Travis County ESD #11 Proposition: 76.00% for, 24.00% against, 75 votes cast
Confirmed: Republicans pick up seats in Palo Pinto, Hardin, McCulloch Counties
Confirmed! Here's the press release from the Texas GOP.
The national Democratic Party has left the locals, and they're flocking to the GOP. We are more than happy to welcome them with open arms.
ETA: Beaumont Enterprise has more on the Hardin County swaps.
House Ways & Means Chmn. against spending and revenue caps
"It is the ultimate act of arrogance to tell you how to spend your money."
No, that's not a quote from Ron Paul, or even John McCain. It's from Democrat State Rep. Rene Oliveira, chairman of the House Ways and Means committee, the committee that handles all taxation in the state of Texas. He said it while addressing a conference put on by the County Judges and Commissioners Association in Corpus Christi (more here).
It is in reference to revenue and spending caps for local governments. Oliveira believes that no one should tell counties and cities what to do in terms of spending - apparently, not even the people who elected county and city governments.
It is the ultimate act of arrogance to tell you how to spend your money - you being the taxpayer, who doesn't get much of a choice in how the governments who collect the taxes spend it. Oliveira claims that groups who want spending or revenue caps don't understand what it costs to run local governments. The thing is, we do understand - what we don't get is how a county can justify spending $100,000 or more on lobbyists for tax increases, or how a city can justify spending $40,000 or more to send elected officials to conferences. We don't get how requiring local governments to get a vote of the people (on a uniform election day) before spending beyond a certain limit is tyrannical - after all, the best form of local control happens at the polling booth.
Rep. Oliveira thinks it is arrogance to tell cities and counties how much they should be allowed to spend. This is the man controlling the committee that dictates tax law in the state of Texas.
You should be concerned. You should be very, very concerned.
PS - Rep. Oliveira was named Legislator of the Year by the Texas Association of Counties, an organization your city pays dues to belong to, and whose legislative agenda is blatantly contrary to taxpayer interests.
PPS - Along these same lines: Democrat State Rep. Garnet Coleman, who chairs the House County Affairs committee, said at this same conference, "The people who you pay for now through indigent health care will have insurance paid by the state and federal government if a meaningful health care reform bill passes Congress." A fancy way of saying, we're just going to shift the burden, and not actually do meaningful reform, and we'll congratulate ourselves when we do. Coleman was named a Champion of County Government by the Texas Association of Counties.
Party switching in Hardin and Palo Pinto Counties
This news is so huge, I'm almost afraid to post it.
This morning, various sources indicated that as many as 73 Democrat elected officials across the state are going to announce today that they are switching parties. 73 new Republicans, all over Texas, at the local level.
Confirmed switches: 4 in Palo Pinto County (the county judge, the county clerk, and two JPs) and 8 in Hardin County (positions unknown).
To give you political junkies some geographic orientation here, Palo Pinto is in State Rep. Jim Keffer's district, and Hardin is in State Rep. Tuffy Hamilton's. Both are Republicans, whose counties are the yellow-dog Democrat kind.
Not so much anymore.
I'm going to go ahead and post this - there will be more information on this later today.
November 02, 2009
The World Series and the Economy
Conor Dougherty from WSJ on the World Series and the economy:
"If the Yankees win the World Series the economy will have a nice bounce back in 2010 but if the Phillies prevail it will be a long slog to recovery, according to a Real Time Economics analysis of gross domestic product following Yankees and Phillies World Series victories since 1930."
So - Go Yanks.
Read more...
Dems celebrate anniversary of election - Republicans turn out to vote
Organizing for America is "celebrating" the anniversary of the 2008 election by hosting Election Day Reunions across the state. Meanwhile, Republicans in Travis County are turning out in force to actually, you know, vote in the current election. Travis 211 is reporting that 3"R" voters (three or more Republican primaries in their voting history) made up most of the early voting turnout in Travis County.
County-wide, about 20% of “3R” Republicans (those that have voted in the last 3 primaries) have voted early, and its close to 10% for all voters with a Republican voting history. Democrats are turning out at around 3%, and non-partisan voters are turning out still well under 1%.
It is really impossible to tell what this means for particular amendments. One could make an educated guess that Travis County Republicans are getting a lot of the non-partisan conservative messaging on the amendments, and that might have something to do with it, and it would mean that Props. 2, 3, and 11 have a good shot of passing in Travis County. Statewide, these numbers mean little unless compiled with other counties' numbers, and we know that the election will be swung by Harris County turnout because of the local elections there.
Still, I find it interesting that the Dems are celebrating last year's victory, instead of working to turn out voters right now.
Dem primary field for governor narrows
Mark Thompson, a Democrat who had been seeking the party's gubernatorial nomination, has dropped out of the race and endorsed Hank Gilbert.
This leaves Gilbert, Tom Schieffer, and Kinky Friedman (and possibly others) in the mix on the Democratic side.
H/T Burnt Orange Report (say what you want about the BOR Boys, they're a great source for insider Democrat news)
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