June 28, 2013

Happy Tau Day

Today is Tau Day or twice Pi Day http://www.mathgoodies.com/articles/Tau_Day.html Here are some fun links concerning the State of Tau Day http://tauday.com/state-of-the-tau

Go forth and eat two pies

June 26, 2013

First law suit attacking voter id under Section 2 has been filed

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BxeOfQQnUr_gdWRsUm14amh0WDA/edit?usp=sharing Chad Dunn is also the main outside attorney for the Texas Democratic Party. The law suit is well done and it is clear that the Chad and company have been ready for an adverse ruling on Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act

June 19, 2013

Capital Area Democratic Women calling for help

The House is considering a Trap bill tomorrow and the Capital Area Democratic Women are asking for volunteers to come and try to slow down the procedure. http://juanitajean.com/2013/06/19/calling-all-texans/

Greetings!

Last night, after six hours of debate, the Texas Senate passed the omnibus abortion regulation bill. If this bill becomes law, the number of clinics where safe and legal abortions are performed will drop to 5 in the entire state of Texas. Today, there are 47. There will be no clinics west of I-35, no clinics in South Texas, none. Five facilities for all the women in Texas.

We have one last chance to stop this attack on safe and legal abortion in Texas: the public hearing in the House State Affairs committee, currently planned for tomorrow late afternoon. If enough people speak at this hearing, the bills will lose the one thing they don’t have on their side: time. Can you speak at State Affairs tomorrow, June 20th?

Here’s how it works: the hearing process allows three minutes for each person to testify. If 20 people testify, the hearing lasts an hour. 40 people, two hours. 100 people, five hours. With the special session ending next Tuesday, June 25th, every minute this bill spends in committee is a minute its supporters lose to get it passed before the Tuesday deadline. We need to pack this hearing with pro-choice supporters who will speak for three minutes each. It’s that simple.

The tricky part is that we cannot give you an exact start time for the hearing. I know how frustrating this is, but this is the way it works in the Legislature. State Affairs will meet upon adjournment in the House. If the floor debate is short, that could be as early as 4pm; however, if the debate on the redistricting bills goes long, the State Affairs hearing could start much later. We need to be prepared to get to the Capitol early and to stay as late as it takes. Frankly, the best thing that could happen would be for the hearing to go so long that the chair decides to continue it Friday morning.

To make this easier for you, we’ll send an email alert tomorrow afternoon with information about the start time in State Affairs. We’ll also update the CADW Facebook group with information about the hearing. We’ve also created a special CADW registration page for people who can commit to coming tomorrow and Friday. Please register right now! Knowing how many of us can come and speak (and who can be there on Friday morning, if necessary) will help tremendously. Thank you for letting us know you’ll be there tomorrow and speak against this attack on Texas women.

Here’s what you need to do:

1. Sign up on CADW’s registration page so we know how many Democratic women (and men) to expect tomorrow. We’ll send you an email Thursday afternoon letting you know how it’s looking. If there’s no reason to rush there at 4pm. we’ll let you know. We’ll also update the CADW Facebook group with the information.

2. Come to the State Affairs hearing on Thursday afternoon (or evening). It’s in the Reagan Building, room 140, on the Capitol complex. Here’s a map–it’s called the JHR on the map.

3. Register to testify against the bill. This is simple and there will be people there to help you. You’ll do this when you arrive at the Reagan Building. (This is an official state form; registering on the CADW form does not register you with the committee.)

4. Wait for your turn to speak. Remember, you won’t be alone. We’ll all be waiting together.

5. Speak personally for three minutes about why you oppose the bills under consideration. It’s very important that you tell the committee why you are personally motivated to attend and why you oppose the bills they’re considering. Don’t be afraid! The committee knows that you are there as a concerned citizen. Be polite, be personal and take all 3 minutes.

6. Be prepared to return to the hearing on Friday morning and speak when your turn comes. The hearing happening on Friday morning is a great thing, but we still need to use all the time we can to slow down this destructive bill. If you can be there Friday, that would be fantastic.

Again, we’ll use Facebook and email to keep people informed about the hearing start time. We’ll also keep you posted about Friday morning.

Clearly, this is a huge undertaking. We need as many people to speak as we can get. There are women coming in from across the state to speak for only three minutes. The women of Austin need to be there too. It’s the least we can do for the women across this state.

Thank you for coming on Thursday. See you at the Reagan Building, room 140.

Lize
Lize Burr, President
Capital Area Democratic Women

I know that Juanita Jean is headed to the capitol and I am checking ot see if I can go

June 14, 2013

Goodhair cuts funding for Public Integrity Unit

One of the other vetoes issued by Goodhair today is the line item veto of the funding for the Texas Public Integrity Unit http://www.texastribune.org/2013/06/14/senator-perry-vetoed-equal-pay-bill/

Gov. Rick Perry issued more than two dozen vetoes Friday, including a line-item veto that wipes out funding for the Travis County prosecutors who investigate government fraud and public corruption.

According to Juanita Jean, Goodhair's threat to veto this funding may have been illegal http://juanitajean.com/2013/06/14/oh-rick-being-a-bully-aint-cute/comment-page-1/#comment-61755

The campaign finance watchdog group Texans for Public Justice announced today that it has filed an official complaint with the Travis County District Attorney and County Attorney, asking them to look into whether Gov. Rick Perry broke the law in threatening to veto funding for the Public Integrity Unit unless Travis County DA Rosemary Lehmberg resigns her job.

June 14, 2013

Perry vetoes Texas Equal Pay Act

Goodhair just vetoed the Texas equal pay act http://www.texastribune.org/2013/06/14/senator-perry-vetoed-equal-pay-bill/

Perry also vetoed a bill aimed at preventing pay discrimination against women, a measure that would have required railroad commissioners to resign before seeking another office, legislation that would have taken power and authority away from the University of Texas System Board of Regents, and a bill that would have changed the way Texas handles threatened and endangered species.

When you combine this veto with Goodhair adding abortion issues to the special session, it is clear that the GOP war on women is still in full force and effect

June 13, 2013

House Committee Hearings on Redistricting in Houston

I attended the Senate Committee hearings on redistricting on Saturday and made it to the House hearings yesterday. I was looking for a seat when a man called me by my screen name on DU. It was PDiddie who I met at a DU meet up many years ago.

The most interesting thing at this hearing was the fact that Jeff Archer of the Texas Legislative Council provided some advice in public to the Committee. Archer's advice or opinions were actually very helpful to the upcoming litigation in that Archer did not believe that the interim maps being considered were intended to be final maps and that the approval of such maps would not help the Texas GOP in the next round of redistricting litigation. http://brainsandeggs.blogspot.com/2013/06/todays-redistricting-hearing.html

I agree with PDiddie that it was fun watching Trey Martinez Fischer grill Archer in that Archer was not allowed to testify in the redistricting litigation.

Which was a grilling of the state's legal advisor, Jeff Archer of the Texas Legislative Council, by Rep. Trey Martinez Fisher. It was just a prelude to what is happening now (which you can follow over at G's O).

Martinez Fisher asked how many of the briefs and emails Archer had read, how much of the hearings he had witnessed, and other questions that essentially established Archer was fairly well out of the loop throughout this session on the topic of redistricting. Archer often looked helplessly at the chair, Drew Darby, to be bailed out, and Darby occasionally obliged him by nodding -- or shaking -- his head. After about 30 minutes of skewering, committee member Rep. Linda Harper Brown tried to short-circuit the cross-examination of Archer by Martinez Fischer (and succeeded).

Dutiful long-time followers of l'affaire redistricting may recall that Archer's deposition two years ago was barred by the state. (You can watch more of Archer speaking at an LBJ School of Public Affairs symposium. He's in the opening ten minutes.)

I talked to Archer during the break and he basically told me that he agreed with my analysis of the interim maps and the legal effect of the Texas legislature adopting these maps. The Senate Committee approved the interim maps yesterday without change and I have no doubt that the House Committee will also rubber stamp these maps. However, these hearings will be helpful in the litigation that is going to occur with regards to these maps.

It was fun seeing another DUer at this event.

June 8, 2013

Houston Redistricting Hearings (senate version)

Juanita Jean, her husband and I all attended the Senate Redistricting hearing at the University of Houston. It was fun. It is clear that these hearings are for show only and that the maps approved by Lt. Gov. Dewhurst and AG Abbott will be rubber stamped by the GOP.

Bubba aka Mr. Juanita Jean got to accuse AG Abbott of spitting on LBJ's grave.

June 5, 2013

Houston Democrats-Redistricting Hearings in Houston

As part of the GOP’s attempt to rig the redistricting process, there will be separate State House and State Senate hearings in Houston on Saturday, June 8, 2013 and Wednesday, June 12, 2013. The details of the hearings are set forth below:

Saturday, June 8th
11 a.m.
University of Houston – Main Campus
Michael J. Cemo Hall
4800 Calhoun Road, Houston, TX 77004
The agenda and the rules for this hearing can be found at this link http://www.legis.state.tx.us/tlodocs/83R/schedules/html/C6252013060811001.HTM
Please note that according to the agenda:

Public testimony will be taken and may be limited to three minutes. If submitting written testimony, please provide 30 copies to the committee clerk with your name on each.

Wednesday, June 12th
2 p.m.
University of Houston – Main Campus
Michael J. Cemo Hall, Room 100 D
4800 Calhoun Rd., Houston, TX 77004
The agenda and the rules for this hearing can be found at this link http://www.legis.state.tx.us/tlodocs/83R/schedules/html/C0852013061214001.htm
Please note that according to the agenda:

Public testimony will be limited to 5 minutes. If submitting written testimony, please provide 25 copies to the committee clerk with your name on each.

I plan to be at both hearings and I urge other Houston area Democrats to attend.