12 November 2010
Disney: Where Chron.com lives?
WHERE HOUSTON LIVES* may not yet be A Place Called Perfect, but, well, we'll just let this screencap from yesterday speak for itself:
* Chron.com's nifty little motto.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/12/10 11:09 PM |
11 November 2010
News and views roundup (11/11/10)
THANKS to all of our veterans! On to the news and views roundup:
- Houston City Council considers fee increases due to budget woes (Gabe Gutierrez, KHOU-11 News)
Who saw Clarence Bradford emerging as the sane fiscal conservative on Council? But he's right. Cut the spending."These times are too difficult on citizens and businesses to bring about new fees and new taxes," Councilman C.O. Bradford said.
- Houston City Council debates future of Safe Clear towing program (Gabe Gutierrez, KHOU-11 News)
Greanias said Safe Clear had reduced freeway traffic and prevented accidents, but he cautioned against having Metro bear the entire cost of the program.
That quote is either wrong or Greanias is mistaken. SAFEclear arguably has reduced post-accident freeway congestion. It has not reduced "freeway traffic." - Red light cameras still up even after voters ban them (Ted Oberg, KTRK-13 News)
- UH practiced deception, cooked up "cover story" as it closed deal to acquire Rice U's KTRU radio station (Steve Miller, Texas Watchdog)
- There are alternatives to Metro's plans for rail (Bill King, Houston Chronicle)
Good ideas from Bill King, as usual. See below. - How METRO could work (Harris County Almanac
The place to continue the discussion. - White blames straight-ticket voting for defeat (Doug Miller, KHOU-11 News)
Err, what? When Bill White decided to run for statewide office in 2009, he was still mayor. He never resigned.Looking back on his political career, White confirmed that political insiders advised him to run for governor four years ago. That was shortly after his nationally praised leadership of the Hurricane Katrina crisis, when hundreds of thousands of storm victims evacuated to Houston.
At the time, Perry was considered so politically vulnerable he attracted three challengers. (Perry ultimately won with only 39 percent of the vote.) White said "the numbers looked good," but he decided he had an obligation to finish his tenure as Houston mayor.
"I personally do not see how somebody could both run for statewide office effectively and hold (the mayor's) position," White said. "You'd have to resign. You know, work full time on it. And my parents didn’t raise me that way."
What sort of mental illness causes politicians to lie in this manner, and seem actually to believe what they are saying?
- Economic hard times drive prostitutes off street corners (Rucks Russell, KHOU-11 News)
One word: SWEEPS!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/11/10 10:27 PM |
10 November 2010
News and views roundup (11/10/10)
It's your Wednesday evening edition of news and views:
- Houston man's $2,500 water bill leads to weeks of confusion, bureaucratic wrangling (Steve Miller, Texas Watchdog)
Our near doubling of water rates probably won't produce similar gains in customer service, we're guessing. Still, public officials ought to call back reporters with some answers when they promise to do so. - How safe is your water? (Mark Greenblatt, KHOU-11 News)
After the ridiculous increase in my water bill (higher than electric this month) thanks to the Parker Administration, I would hope there were concomitant increases in safety! In all seriousness, go check out Greenblatt's work. - King Street Patriots Ready To Go National (Hair Balls)
Well, isn't that nice?During this year's election cycle, the King Street Patriots became an easy target, identified as a bunch of Tea Party crazies who descended upon the polls to intimidate voters in minority precincts.
After an election night party last week, we've been wondering if any of that is true, and really, it's probably not. The group, mostly made up of middle-aged white people, became extremely well-versed in state election laws (moreso than many election judges, the group says) and set out during early voting and on Election Day to make sure those rules were followed.
You know what would have been even nicer (and not gutless)? If just one professional at Village Voice Houston had stood up three weeks ago when the Amateur Hour was posting rumor and innuendo about King Street Patriots as news on their blog, and actually done some real reporting on the topic.
- The 10 Worse [sic] Things About Family Thanksgivings (Hair Balls)
The quest for pageviews produces.... unfunny mockery of family tradition. Wow. What a sad fall from onetime media critic at a publication that grownups read to lingering bitter hack at local corporate alt-weekly amateur hour. - Houston's Spending in the Red (Laurie Johnson, KUHF-88.7 News)
Remember how Council was so eager to compliment itself after allegedly passing a balanced budget in June? Premature.The end of the first quarter of the fiscal year came with some bad news for Houston councilmembers. The city has overspent its budget by $9.6 million. City Controller Ron Green says $1.6 million of that is for higher electricity costs. But the remainder is because cost-saving measures that were written into the budget and scheduled to go into effect this past July still haven't been implemented.
Oh, and where was Mayor Parker during this tough talk about lingering budget deficits?
Incidentally, the mayor was absent for the budget discussions. She's at an education summit out of town.
- Harris County taps experienced hand for public defender (Chris Moran, Houston Chronicle)
There's a new member of the local establishment, and the Chron is there. Rah rah! - Houston police will issue red-light camera tickets until March (Gabe Gutierrez, KHOU-11)
Fine. There's no good reason to pay the things, though. - Greanias Asks Business Community for Support (Write On METRO)
Come on now. That's not The Houston Way. More accurate: "If I screw this up, I will take a job with one of METRO's many contractors/affiliates/favored interests.""The question for all of us is: If we build the new METRO...will you join us? Will you help us? We're going to work our hearts out," said Greanias, adding, "One of the down sides of being a local guy is, if I screw this up, I will have to live with it."
- Channel 2 anchor Jerome Gray's contract not renewed (David Barron, Houston Chronicle)
- Sen. Dan Patrick Has Good Start, Files Fiscal Conservative Bills (Big Jolly Politics)
Good for KDAN. His effort to weaken the supermajority requirement in the Senate, however, is a shortsighted, not-conservative move.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/10/10 08:59 PM |
The pipeline from the Chron to government agencies is still open
** EXCLUSIVE MEMO! MUST CREDIT BH. EXCLUSIVE!**
To: HISD Employment Office
Re: PR Spokesman position
To whom it may concern:
Hi -- Jason Spencer here. I'm inquiring about the opening in your Communications department for a spokesman. Yes, I'm THAT Jason Spencer, former reporter/current editor covering education for the Chronicle, but I'm hoping we can let bygones be bygones. You know, times are kinda tough in the newspaper industry and I hear that government jobs are where the money is at.
Anyhoo, I may have had some challenges when I was a reporter getting everything right (the Chron's layers of editors sometimes let me down), and then when I became an editor, I may have still had the occassional oops, but in the long run, I think I helped HISD. I gave the Communications department PURPOSE back in the day! And just because I wrote a blog post complaining about former spokesman Terry Abbott's salary and PR tactics doesn't mean I don't want to get in on the action.
So, I was hoping we could get together and chat about what I can do to help METRO, er HISD. (Sorry, momentarily forgot which local governmental agency I was applying with.)
Looking forward to hearing from you,
Jas
P.S. I would prefer a position with the title of Public Information Officer as opposed to Press Secretary. I don't want Terry Abbott's former title (that would be awkward), but I wouldn't mind his salary!
Hair Balls: The Chronicle's Jason Spencer: From Covering HISD To Promoting It
** For any literal readers, we kid.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 11/10/10 01:35 PM |
09 November 2010
News and views roundup (11/09/10)
It's your Tuesday edition of news and views:
- HPD's crime lab still has major rape-kit testing backlog (Cynthia Cisneros, KTRK-13 News)
- Red light camera revenue top on the agenda today at Houston city hall (Sonia Azad, KTRK-13 News)
Since city officials have constantly assured us the cameras were NOT about the revenue, I can only assume this headline is mistaken, and a discussion about carrying out the will of the voters and dismantling the cameras immediately is the real agenda item. Right? - Houston City Council seeks ways to balance growing budget deficit (Gabe Gutierrez, KHOU-11 News)
- City of Houston experiencing budget woes (Miya Shay, KTRK-13 News)
- How to calculate your drainage fee (Chron Houston Politics)
Better answer: Nobody honestly knows how to compute the rain tax or how much it will eventually cost.Before we tell you how to figure it out, be forewarned. There is no way to know your fee for sure at this point, because the ordinance implementing the fee has not yet been passed by City Council.
- The 10 Worse Things About Family Thanksgivings (Hair Balls)
The Village Voice Houston amateur hour has nothing better to post than thanksgiving mockery? Maybe a new staffer will help. - Rival who defeated Sylvia Garcia aims to make difference (Chris Moran, Houston Chronicle)
The pro-establishment newspaper is always good about running these sorts of glowing profiles when the establishment changes. - Joel Kotkin speaking Wed on Houston's past and future (Houston Strategies)
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/09/10 09:53 AM |
07 November 2010
News and views roundup (11/07/10)
Time to clear out some links and get ready for next week:
- Frank Wilson's last hurrah (Steve Miller, Texas Watchdog)
- Former Yates High Principal Ronald Mumphery accused of sexual harassment, HISD records show (Lynn Walsh, Texas Watchdog)
- Former Yates principal Ronald Mumphery's sexual misconduct investigation (Mike McGuff, KIAH-39 News)
- Houston wants to continue red-light cameras after voters rejected them (Grits for Breakfast)
- Don't mess with a Texas chef: Bryan Caswell stumps for Houston (Eatocracy)
Our prosperous, livable city does indeed have a thriving food scene, made even better by the diversity of our international city. Good for Caswell for making the case to national folks. We're not all that concerned if coastal elites think Houston is "world class" or not, frankly, but it's nice to see Caswell cite Kotkin, who rejects so much of the "smart growth" nonsense advocated by urbanists infatuated with A Place Called Perfect (and, apparently, at Village Voice Houston -- see below).Here are some questions for you all to answer:
- In the past 10 years what U.S. city has grown 24% (five times the growth rate of San Francisco, Boston and NYC)?
- What city has an influx of new residents equal to that of NYC and 50% higher than Boston or Chicago?
- What city did Joel Kotkin of Forbes Magazine name the most successful 21st century urban city?The answer to all of these is Houston. That’s right, you heard me: H-Town, baby.
Those who write about food, music, culture and art are supposed to be in the know. Obviously, they’re not paying attention. Well, I’m here to put you in the know: Houston’s restaurant scene is thriving as fast as the city is growing.
- Bryan Caswell Defends Houston on Eatocracy, But Can We Defend Ourselves? (Eating Our Words)
Our culinary scene is great, but it would be "world class" if we would just regulate the things that Village Voice Houston folks want regulated, not regulate things that Village Voice Houston folks don't want regulated, and spend lots of money on trinkets to impress tourists (and maybe some food writers elsewhere)! What an incoherent mess -- pretty much the norm at the Village Voice Houston amateur hour these days. Definitely short of world-class. - Pictures of the Historic Preservation Ordinance and How It Affects the Houston Heights (Cynthia Mullins' Real Estate Market Blog)
Eh, what could a professional know about the market, compared to the Houtopians who dream about A Place Called Perfect? - Some Friendly, Post-Defeat Advice for What's Left of the Texas Democratic Party (Bryan Preston, PajamasMedia)
Actually, it was more like $10 million last we checked. Think some enterprising Texas political journalist will sit down with Mostyn at some point for a chat about his efforts this election cycle?Much more difficult will be dealing with the Shadow Party, aka the Lone Star Project. It’s a proven failure now: Matt Angle rode into town pledging to take a statewide office and take the state House by 2010. That’s now, in case you hadn’t noticed, and he’s failed. Angle’s LSP has spent millions left to him by a late trial lawyer, millions that went into setting up front groups and launching attack after attack after attack on Republicans, and has nothing to show for it. But he is the “de facto state party right now.” The problem is, he has no credibility. The TDP lost ground under his watch. Angle isn’t in politics for any discernible good. He doesn’t even care if Texans want the policies his party offers. He doesn’t even seem to care if they’re good policies. He’s just a soulless operative who wants to destroy Republicans, and he and his pack of wild blogs do just that, 24/7/365. Angle needs to be sent packing, to mess with some other state. Messing with Texas has made him wealthy, but has left the Democratic Party here in worse shape than ever, and made our politics more acrimonious than any of us should like.
Thornier still, will be dealing with the Lone Star Soros, Steve Mostyn. The Houston millionaire lawyer spent about $5 million of his own money this cycle, in order to replace Gov. Perry with Bill White, and in order to capture the state House, evidently to control enough votes to get Texas’ successful tort reform overturned. Seen in that light, the $5 million is nothing but a business investment, spent to make it easier for lawyers to sue the pants off of everybody else. Like Angle’s fronts, Mostyn and his front groups like the Back to Basics PAC (which are basically sock puppets on his hands) don’t really stand for anything other than attack ads and gutter politics. Together, Angle and Mostyn don’t just practice the “politics of personal destruction,” they are the “politics of personal destruction.” And after this election cycle, everyone in Texas knows that that brand of politics is all that they stand for, and everyone knows that they control the Democratic Party.
- How about hiring a fact checker? (Unca Darrell)
- Double standard (Houston Chronicle)
Keep on beating those dead horses. - The front page got it (Unca Darrell)
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/07/10 08:51 PM |
Because he was so successful as police chief...
THOMAS C. LAMBERT, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER: Did you know that METRO's hapless police chief is no longer police chief? I've been out of the loop, so I'm not sure when that happened, but it doesn't inspire confidence in the "New" METRO that Lambert is now the CAO.
The guy was so clueless about security at Park and Rides that they turned into Park and Pillages; he berated Houston drivers for every Danger Train accident even when the accident was METRO's fault; METRO PD gave up patrolling bus stops because officials said there were too many of them -- METRO reminded bus riders that if they had a concealed carry permit, they could legally carry a gun on the bus -- yet METRO has an elite counterterrorism unit for the downtown (key word) light rail.
And now he manages METRO's daily operations.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 11/07/10 01:37 PM |
04 November 2010
News and views roundup (11/04/10)
HERE'S an early-morning edition of the roundup:
- Houston voters OK drainage fee, but who will pay for it? (Bradley Olson, Houston Chronicle)
Of course that question about the massive rain tax went unanswered before the election along with others, but a majority of voters seemed unbothered. - Don't rev up to run the red lights in Houston just yet (Steve Miller, Texas Watchdog)
- The People Have Spoken -- And Houston City Government Doesn't Give A Crap (Rhymes with Right)
- Softballs from the editorial board (Unca Darrell)
- Another thing the Chronicle should do (Unca Darrell)
- Misunderestimating the Tea Party (Unca Darrell)
- Elections 2010 (This Blog Is Full Of Crap)
- KTRK 13 investigative producer Steve Bivens leaves the Wayne Dolcefino world (Mike McGuff)
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/04/10 08:14 AM |
03 November 2010
Local blogger recap of the election
THANKS AGAIN to the folks who dropped into the BH election live chat last night. We had a good time with it, and hope others enjoyed it as well.
We expect the usual news sources will be dominated by election recaps/analysis over the next few days, but here are some very good early recaps by local bloggers:
- Opening thoughts on the carnage (Off the Kuff)
- The Noise Machine (11/03/2010) (Harris County Almanac)
- Oh, What a Night! (Big Jolly Politics)
For those who haven't gotten enough of the election yet, feel free to add your thoughts in the comments.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/03/10 01:03 PM |
02 November 2010
blogHOUSTON Election 2010 chat
WE'RE going to copy our friends at Brothers Judd tonight, and host a live chat during the election coverage this evening. We'll be hanging out with fellow poligeeks as we do every two years, but we should still be able to check in and discuss the election from time to time. Anything election-related is fair game, although obviously this audience probably follows Harris County and Texas politics more closely than most (so please share any tidbits or results you'd like). Also, please try to keep your discourse substantive (not personal) and your language clean (same as with the forum).
We'll get underway about 7pm.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/02/10 12:24 PM |
News and views roundup (11/02/10)
Here's your "Election Day" news and views roundup. Thanks to everyone participating in the political process today, and especially to Harris County poll workers for their hard work in pulling it off despite a fire that wiped out all the equipment just a short time ago!
- Could Houston have its own downtown serial killer? (Isiah Carey's Insite)
- With new names, illegal massage parlors stay open in Houston (Yang Wang, Houston Chronicle)
- Election season cries of voter fraud, suppression hit fever pitch across the US (Steve Miller, Texas Watchdog)
- Harris County focus of national attention in voter fraud debate (Trent Seibert, Texas Watchdog)
- King Street Poll Watchers Absolved of Harassment (Warner Todd Huston, EmergingCorruption.org)
- A Kinder, Gentler Tea Party in Houston (Michael Berryhill, Texas Observer)
- Political Partisans Give $8 Million in Final Week (Ross Ramsey and Matt Stiles, Texas Tribune)
THAT is a pretty big story (especially given the success of a handful of Progressive millionaires in flipping Colorado from Republican to Democratic over a few election cycles) -- and yet, the Texas Tribune chose to christen its "partnership" with the New York Times with the umpteenth story on GOP money man Bob Perry instead.Steve and Amber Mostyn and their law firm have contributed at least $9.2 million so far this election cycle — by far the most of any single donor. And they played big through the last week, giving three-quarters of a million dollars to a collection of PACs and candidates.
- Cohen, Hochberg, Vo appear vulnerable (BurkaBlog)
Burka, the "dean" of the state's lackluster political media, has now pulled this post and seemingly changed his mind about the whole thing. For what it's worth, I'm doubtful any of these three will lose, but they might have been in more trouble if the area GOP had snapped to the coming tsunami sooner and gone hard at the seats. - TV anchors named Barajas taking over Houston and Texas (Mike McGuff)
- The Future of Air Travel Thanks to the TSA (Stephan Segraves, badice.com)
Agreed on both points! We're certainly behind any local pol who wants to stand up for travelers (read: voters) against TSA Security Theater.Let’s start sending notes to the men and women who work for us in government and ask that a serious look be taken at the procedures used at airports and oversight of the TSA. If someone in either House wants to make this their pet project, I’ll back them 100%.
For those of you who fly out of IAH, you can technically clear security at any checkpoint so long as your airline does not require you to go through a certain one (some international flights do). A number of the checkpoints do not have the backscatter machines, feel free to use those.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/02/10 10:40 AM |
KTRK's Dolcefino looks at HPD's speeding ticket operation
KTRK-13'S UNDERCOVER MAN WAYNE DOLCEFINO has run a few stories on HPD and speeding tickets in recent days (which we were a little slow to notice, since Dolcefino's stuff inexplicably does not show up in KTRK's main RSS feed. UPDATE: We're now also using the separate Dolcefino feed):
- Are officers issuing tickets for traffic safety or money? (Wayne Dolcefino, KTRK-13 News)
- Who is issuing your speeding tickets? (Wayne Dolcefino, KTRK-13 News)
- Do you deserve your speeding ticket? (Wayne Dolcefino, KTRK-13 News)
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/02/10 07:59 AM |
01 November 2010
News and views roundup (11/01/10)
It's Election Eve, so the roundup is election heavy:
- Greanias: Metro doesn't owe the city (Michael Reed, West U Examiner)
The "new" METRO sounds a lot like the "old" METRO picking this nit. - Repudiation Day minus one (Unca Darrell)
Unca Darrell takes apart the Chron's latest effort at political analysis. Most MSM print reporters should really stick to straight reporting, and leave "analysis" and PolitiFarce-style editorializing alone. But they just can't seem to help themselves (even as readers continue to turn elsewhere). - Bad weather may add to Democrats' election woes (Joe Holley, Houston Chronicle)
Apparently, he's so unknown that the Chron's political reporter and copy editors couldn't get his name right. It's MORMAN. Perhaps this also explains why the Chron's resident plagiarist had trouble finding him on Google. Terrible.Locally, Jared Woodfill, Harris County Republican Party chairman, spent a part of his Sunday afternoon training poll watchers and predicting a few surprises on Election Day. He was particularly excited about the possibility that in the Precinct 2 county commissioner's race, challenger Jack Moorman, an attorney in the office of former County Attorney Michael Fleming, could knock off two-term incumbent Sylvia Garcia, first elected in 2002.
[snip]
Woodfill noted that Garcia started the year with $1.7 million in campaign cash and raised $577,000 more this year, while Moorman, a political unknown, has spent only about $60,000.
- An Aggressive Prosecutor (Life at the Harris County Criminal Justice Center)
- The Battle of Harris County (Abby Rapoport, Texas Observer)
Unsurprisingly, True the Vote is portrayed as a conservative project, but Houston Votes is not portrayed as a Dem-dominated, ACORN-like GOTV operation. - Sheila Jackson Lee's Thug Tactics Against Law Abiding Poll Watchers Doomed to Backfire (J. Christian Adams, Big Government)
- The King Street Patriots Speak Out (TexasSparkle)
My feeling is that we should not encourage violations of the Texas election code.My feeling is that we should have volunteers that videotape any actions that they know to be violating voting rights or interference. Let the videos speak for themselves.
- White looks back (Chron Texas Politics)
Bill White certainly has some audacity. Thank goodness the state's political media -- as lackluster as it is in many ways -- didn't prove quite as pliable as Jeff Cohen's newspaper when it came to examining White's record in Houston. The campaign rhetoric may be exaggerated*, but the problems are hardly imaginary."I was somewhat slow to respond to some things when they had been in the public records and hashed and rehashed about the City of Houston's finances and use of the pension net. The criticisms that lacked basis in fact had been there and been covered by the media and discussed in public forums for years. Frankly, when something was old and stale and proven wrong years ago, with due respect, there were some in the state media playing out the same thing all over again. It seemed so ridiculous on its face to me, when we had managed the city with such fiscal discipline, that people would question otherwise. I was a little slow to react."
- Gov. Rick Perry Invades Kingwood Tea Territory - And They Aren't Happy (Big Jolly Politics)
* Effective political rhetoric is frequently exaggerated, which is why we are so often amused by PolitiFarceTX announcing that some political statement is exaggerated (in excruciating detail). No, really?! *laugh*
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/01/10 12:22 PM |
29 October 2010
News and views roundup (10/29/10 edition)
Here's a Friday-night edition of News and Views:
- Parents irate after Katy bond drive dials wrong number (Ericka Mellon, Houston Chronicle)
It's hard to blame them. - METRO Admits Motorist Helpers Were Not Watched (Stephen Dean, KPRC-2 News)
Over a two-month period, Local 2 Investigates found several METRO Motorist Assistance Program workers avoiding their duties of patrolling Houston freeways for stranded drivers. Hidden cameras found one driver parking his truck at the same restaurant day after day, sometimes leaving to head to another lunch break with other MAP employees.
A 31-year veteran worker resigned his position after Local 2 Investigates found him visiting numerous X-rated video stores while on duty. He was also recorded spending hours leaned back in his truck in hidden parking lots.
METRO records show the agency claiming it helped between 68 and 91 stranded motorists on each day that Local 2 Investigates was following some of its workers.
A criminal investigation was launched into veteran worker David Richard after his daily work records reflected 11 different stranded motorists being helped, during times that Local 2 Investigates found him elsewhere, sometimes across town.
- County Hopes Tape Will Quiet Poll Watcher Controversy (Bill Stamps, KUHF News)
- Citizens United attorney says Texas law cited against King Street Patriots is unconstitutional (Patrick Brendel, Texas Independent)
After numerous hit pieces (dressed up as "journalism") on the King Street Patriots, this is apparently the Colorado-model Independent's attempt at balance. Either that, or someone funding the Independent realized that too much interest in opening the financial records of the nonprofit King Street Patriots might well generate similar interest in the financial records of the nonprofit Independent. Doh! - Quannel X warns King Street Patriots not to intimidate at the polls (Isiah Carey's Insite)
- Fired for not cheering her alleged rapist (Rick Casey, Houston Chronicle)
The Chron's lazy columnist is now ripping material from Ms. Magazine? As friend Matt Bramanti pointed out to us earlier, Casey seems like an unlikely subscriber.Ms Magazine and others are blasting a recent federal appeals court ruling involving that reliable Texan source of national controversy, a cheerleader.
- Might Sylvia Garcia be in trouble? (Rick Casey, Houston Chronicle)
My best guess is most Houstonians would be surprised to know that a bipartisan group of local "political junkies" (read: journalists, pols, staffers, and other interested parties) meets weekly for drinks and local "bidness" -- but they probably shouldn't be.Each election, Professor Murray prepares an election pool for a bipartisan group of political junkies that meets weekly over drinks as "The Roundtable."
A Chron.com commenter schools Casey on his apparent inability to use Google. Come to think of it, THAT may explain his plagiarism (if he can't use Google, maybe he thinks his readers can't either.... hmm).Morman is so little known that Googling him as a commissioners' court candidate or as a Houston lawyer turns up no hits.
- A Republican sweep in Harris County in 2010? Possible, but not likely (Prof 13)
Is this Professor Murray speaking analytically, or Dem Activist Murray trying to fire up the troops? It's never all that clear these days.I still think Republican candidates have the wind at their back in Harris County, but the likelihood of a complete sweep at the courthouse has diminished in recent days. With close contests likely, candidates should be scratching for every possible vote over the next 96 hours.
- How can you write an editorial about . . . (Unca Darrell)
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/29/10 10:05 PM |
28 October 2010
News and views roundup (10/28/10 edition)
It's the "we're posting late because a flier told us to" edition of local news and views:
- Renew Houston leaders backing drainage fee made millions from city of Houston (Steve Miller, Texas Watchdog)
A nice get for the city's main source of watchdog journalism. - Houston's Prop One: fee or tax? (Gabe Gutierrez, KHOU-11 News)
Yes. Vote against. - Now an analysis of ... "The Bill White story the Chronicle doesn't want you to read" (Unca Darrell)
The Olson rewrite will go down in Chronicle lore. The mask of honest news and analysis came off. Underneath was naked political bias and a contempt for both the standards of journalism and the people of Houston.
- Pedicabs are regulated for first time in Houston (KHOU-11 News)
Because there weren't enough laws/regulations on the books in Houston. - "Green Vehicle Initiative" Finally Comes To Vote; Passes Unanimously (Hair Balls)
See above. - Voter Misinformation Spread in Black Voting Areas (Isiah Carey, KRIV-26 News)
It's difficult to decide which is more shameful -- the people who put together the misleading fliers, or the apparent belief that certain groups of people are somehow more likely to fall for such silliness. - King Street Patriots Continue Fight to Preserve Freedom and Liberty (Big Jolly Politics)
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/28/10 10:28 PM |
27 October 2010
News and views roundup (10/27/10 edition)
Welcome to the "long day of flying" edition of news and views:
- City of Houston ethics plan would restrict outside employment, tighten lobbyist rules (Steve Miller, Texas Watchdog)
In the midst of cuts to balance the city budget, massive water-rate increases, and cheerleading for a massive drainage tax, of course Houston's pols support a minor enhancement of the city's ethics policies. It's a happy, feel-good move for the pols that probably won't affect The Houston Way one bit. - Houston Prop 1 Funding - An Engineers Money Grab Dream (Big Jolly Politics)
- Harris County tax rate stays the same (Chris Moran, Houston Chronicle)
- DNA lab would cost at least $4.8 million (Chron Houston Politics)
- The Bill White story the Chronicle doesn't want you to read (Unca Darrell)
- Bill White, Houston Police, and Sanctuary Cities (Perry vs World)
- White praised for Katrina, but left headaches (Jay Root, AP)
The bolded part is the only real misstep in an otherwise solid review of White's record as mayor (that, inexplicably, comes a week and a half into early voting). As BH readers know, Mayor White talked of making some tough choices to deal with the city's massive unfunded pension liability... before ultimately punting the problem down the road, as we've noted recently and the Baker Institute blog has pointed out.White generally gets praise for reforming the city's lavish pension system, which threatened to sink Houston in a sea of red ink after White took office in 2004. In part, White used controversial financial maneuvers in the reforms — essentially using new debt to pay for old debt — that Parker opposed and has since quit doing.
UPDATE (10/28/2010): That's not the only misstep. The story refers to METRO's $40 million dollar contract with a Spanish vendor that violated federal law. The contract was a $330 million dollar contract. Again, if journos started reviewing White's record a little sooner (than the end of early voting), there might be time for better fact-checking.
- In final week, Perry and White parry over two pivotal issues (Joe Holley, Houston Chronicle)
As Perry vs World and a commenter explain, that is one strange sentence the Chron's reporter chose to include."The polls have been steady for three months or so," Jillson said, "which suggests that White has made his best case and 45 percent of Texas are impressed with it. But it takes 50 percent-plus-one."
- Miles asked to leave polling place (Chron Houston Politics)
At least he didn't plant an unwanted smooch on the lips of anyone at the polling place. - Two suspects blamed for 150 burglaries (KTRK-13 News)
It's nice that these guys were finally caught. It's not so nice, on the other hand, that it took a year to catch two guys committing roughly a dozen home burglaries per month in the same neighborhood.Houston police have arrested two suspects believed responsible for committing up to 150 home burglaries in the Montrose area during the past year. One suspect apparently drank orange juice and pickle juice from the refrigerator in one victim's home.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/27/10 09:19 PM |
25 October 2010
News and views roundup (10/25/10 edition)
It's the "Athens or Jerusalem?" edition of the news and views roundup:
- Newspaper circ declines lessen again (Bill Cromwell, Media Life)
Only one top-10 weekday paper, the No. 1 Wall Street Journal, saw a year-to-year rise in circulation, and that's likely in part due to digital subscriptions.
Meanwhile, several big papers are still seeing double-digit year-to-year declines, including the Houston Chronicle and Newsday, off 10.53 percent and 11.84 percent on weekdays.
- Chronicle print and online audience continue to shift (Houston Chronicle)
The press-release-posing-as-news is always entertaining after ABC announces the latest declining Chronicle circulation figures. At least Sweeney/Cohen no longer make a reporter at the business desk stick his name on the spin. Apparently, they don't allow reader comments either. - The 10 most entertaining celebrities on Twitter (Dwight Silverman, Chron.com)
Dwight Silverman fiddles while Rome burns. - Politifact: Whose pants are on fire? (Rick Casey, Houston Chronicle)
We know Rick Casey is lazy. Just how lazy? "His" opinion column is a rehash of someone else's opinion, and he doesn't even get the name right in the citation. He should have at least gone with PolitiFarce, which is the moniker Cory Crow righly bestowed on the farcical effort. Casey is just more dead weight at the sinking ship.So I'm turning to Politifax, the Pulitzer Prize-winning service that tries diligently to distinguish the truth from the half-truths and the lies from the "pants-on-fire" outrageous lies in today's political discourse.
- Battleground Houston (Corrie MacLaggan, AAS)
That, and White benefited immensely from following the colossally inept Lee P. Brown."Bill White was a popular mayor, but he wasn't as popular as we might have thought," said Jones, a professor who is chairman of Rice's political science department. "His popularity was sort of artificially high. Since he left office, it's diminished as some of the problems of his administration began to emerge."
- White began contentious "Safe Clear" towing program in Houston (Ben Wear, AAS)
Let's not forget that one architect of White's original program admitted that tow companies were willing to pay for their "portions" of the freeway with the expectation that they would generate revenue by confiscating and selling the cars of poor people who were towed and couldn't pay the fee. One might have expected the state's media to dig into the Houston record a little earlier (a week of early voting has passed, after all).He pushed the initiative through the council in his first year, creating a situation where 11 towing companies were assigned portions of the city's freeways and then agreed to respond within six minutes to any disabled car. If the car wasn't moved within that time, it was towed and the driver had to pay $75 to get it out of hock.
Negative reaction was instant, particularly to the fee. The towing industry also rebelled, especially those not among the 11 under contract, filing suit in an unsuccessful effort to stop Safe Clear. White and the council soon tweaked the program, providing free tows to as far as a mile off the freeway. Free to the driver, not to the city. A program expected to break even eventually added about $3 million to the city's annual budget.
- KTRH & Right-Wing Radio: Can You Predict The Results Of Their Online Polls? (Hair Balls)
The self-parody continues over at the Village Voice Houston amateur hour.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/25/10 03:39 PM |
23 October 2010
News and views roundup (10/23/10 edition)
Friday was busy, so the news and views piled up:
- Today, let's support the Mission (Unca Darrell)
- Metro puts 121 rail deals on hold after $900M grant is withheld (Chris Moran, Houston Chronicle)
- Frank Wilson's Legacy (This Blog Is Full Of Crap)
- Harris County probate fees provide bonanza for some lawyers (Lise Olsen, Houston Chronicle)
- Records raise issues on Harris County sheriff's personnel (James Pinkerton, Houston Chronicle)
- Under plan, Harris tax rate remains same, but port gains (Chris Moran, Houston Chronicle)
Eversole, who is unopposed on next month's ballot for a sixth four-year term, also said, "You're absolutely wasting time if you think we can maintain this budget without a tax increase." He said he does not support a tax increase this year, but that over the next two years the county will have to choose between deep spending cuts and a tax increase.
- Harris County Commissioners Court Meeting Agenda for 10-26 (Big Jolly Politics)
Well, it's good to know there's still room for cuts.[Y]ou'll be happy to know that you'll be sending an employee to Michigan for a week to learn about "Parenting with love and limits co-facilitator training".
- Houston Shines in Census Count (Pat Hernandez, KUHF-88.7 News)
Local media can take a bow. Their seemingly nonstop nagging about census forms paid off. - Bandit Billboards Banished (Swamplot)
- KHOU 11 news director Keith Connors leaving in November (Mike McGuff)
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/23/10 04:01 PM |
21 October 2010
News and views roundup (10/21/10 edition)
The news and views roundups keep coming later for some reason...
- HISD spends $18 million in stimulus cash to pay salaries of 200+ workers it doesn't need (Lynn Walsh, Texas Watchdog)
- Metro will use mediator for cancellation of Spanish rail car deal (Chris Moran, Houston Chronicle)
- CenterPoint sees need for speed (Purva Patel, Houston Chronicle)
- Houston police officers warned to be careful of what you post on social media (Isiah Carey's Insite)
- King Street "Patriots": Voter Intimidation Continues At Polling Stations Around Houston (Hair Balls)
Continues? Umm, no. If Village Voice Houston wanted to get in on the Lazy MSM "Voter Intimidation" Narrative (tm), which involves reporting rumor/innuendo without verifying facts or calling sources, then they are about three days too late (the Chron and KTRK-13 owned that action). This is yet the latest sad example of amateurs running amok at Village Voice Houston. Contrast with today's real journalism on the whole "voter intimidation" story.* - Piggybacking (Unca Darrell)
- A Question of Politicking (Harris County Almanac)
* Of course, now that the Lazy MSM Narrative of the first couple of days has been laid to rest, we imagine that a few new examples of "voter intimidation" will be manufactured for some members of the local press to obsess over. Look for that in breathless reports tomorrow, or early next week.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/21/10 09:19 PM |
Chron: Scary "new" trend of big money in politics hits Houston!
In today's Chronicle, Bradley Olson reports on what he calls "a new national trend in politics in which corporations and the wealthy can spend big in election season under the cloak of anonymity."
The story cites two local nonprofit organizations, King Street Patriots/True the Vote and Renew Houston, as manifestations of this "new" trend that various campaign-finance-reform advocates and others who decry the influence of money in politics find scary. The story goes on to insinuate (via these same advocates) that the problem was made worse by the Roberts Court's Citizens United decision on campaign finance.
Now, we certainly wouldn't want to dissuade any Chron journalists from digging into campaign finance records and looking for conflicts of interest. Goodness knows, that would be a welcome change from the sorts of rah-rah stories that too frequently show up in the newspaper.
But "new national trend?"
Please.
Since the McCain-Feingold "reforms" that were going to check the influence of big money in politics (right), we instead have seen the rise of 527s (remember the Bush-Kerry race?) not to mention the sorts of independent organizations cited by Olson in today's piece. There's nothing that "new" about it, unless you've haven't been following politics for the last six years.
Indeed, in recent blog posts, we've referred to the Colorado Model, in which a handful of committed millionaire progressives managed to flip formerly reliably Republican Colorado to the Dems over a few election cycles, through strategic funding of down-ballot political races, creation of a loose network of "independent" news organizations and "ethics" groups to pound targeted opponents, and liberal use (no pun intended) of the legal system to tie up ostensibly conservative organizations. Here's a deep excerpt from the definitive account of the successful effort:
The group immediately recognized that campaign finance reform had completely changed the rules of the game. By limiting the amount of money candidates and political parties could raise and spend, the new law had seriously weakened candidates—and all but killed political parties.
“In the past, the party ran this whole apparatus, they called it the ‘coordinated campaign,’” said Polis. “The party chairs were largely responsible for the fund-raising. The candidates helped raise money for the parties. It all went into one pot.” After campaign finance reform, that pot shrunk to the size of a tea-cup. Polis knew that campaign finance reform “basically guaranteed that the party itself, Republican or Democrat, could not possibly be the main entity that…ran campaigns. The biggest thing is it took parties out of the mix as a money entity.”
The vacuum left by the diminishment of the Colorado Democratic Party also created a tremendous opportunity for the Roundtable.
[snip]
The people at the Roundtable recognized that they, for all intents and purposes, were the party.
[snip]
With campaign finance reform, the Gang of Four couldn’t give much money directly to candidates, so they looked to other avenues. And the most obvious were 527s. Named after the section of federal tax law under which they are regulated, 527s were not new, but until campaign finance reform laws were passed in 2002, they rarely played a significant role in elections, especially at the state level. The Roundtable changed that.
In hindsight, it’s remarkable how quickly members of the Roundtable adapted to the new campaign finance reality. While national political groups were beginning to use 527s (the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth is a famous example from the same time frame), in 2004 it was unusual for state-based organizations to understand these exotic organizations and complex rules that governed them—much less master them to the point that they could be used effectively. The Roundtable capitalized on a key provision of post-campaign finance reform election law, namely, that while nonprofits were no longer allowed to coordinate their activities with candidates or political parties, they were perfectly free to coordinate among themselves.
And coordinate they did. (Adam Schrager and Rob Witwer, The Blueprint: How the Democrats Won Colorado)
2004. Not "new."
As we've noted previously, there has been a concerted effort since 2005 to bring the Colorado Model to Texas, with implications for Harris County this election cycle. This may be news to the Houston Chronicle, but it's not "new."
Now, as to what it suggests in terms of the futility of various campaign-finance-reform efforts... we'll let folks have at that one in the comments.
BLOGVERSATION: Chron Houston Politics, Harris County Almanac.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/21/10 06:38 PM |
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