Monthly Archives: February 2009

Well, it seems right-wing hate-monger Sean Hannity has finally fallen off the deep end. In his worthless show, he stated the National Council of La Raza “has called for Mexico to annex the southwestern states.”

Now, NCLR has been a good organization, but hardly a “radical” one. They are aggressive when it comes to fighting for civil rights, empowering others through nonprofit groups, and more. On the political side, though, well, let’s just say that, as a big-time liberal, I’ve been less that impressed with NCLR. A “radical” group it has never been. If anything, I’ve been one who has thought of the group as one which flies whichever way the political winds blow.

The problem that Hannity has with NCLR is that it is a strong proponent of Comprehensive Immigration Reform. If anything has impressed me about NCLR it has been their advocacy for immigrants. Given their stance, Hannity has decided to vilify them by spreading outright lies about NCLR, and about any group or individual supporting comprehensive immigration reform. Hannity’s job is to be a right-wing hack who only delivers misinformation and Republican talking points for a nice living.

Now, if we really want a “reconquista” it would be of Hannity’s job; perhaps replacing him with some radical Chicano bloggers. Just a thought.

My colleague and friend Matt Glazer turns 27–what a pup! For those of us that still remember how fun 27 was, we now have an opportunity to give to TexBlog PAC in celebration of our young’un in the PAC. Here’s his letter.

We don’t say this enough… Thank you.

In late 2007 we sat down and thought about how we could have an impact in the 2008 election cycle. Thanks to your help, we formed the TexBlog PAC to enable us to put our money where our mouse is.

In one election cycle, you made it possible for us to raise over $75,000 and endorse 5 fantastic Texas House candidates from across the state.

With your support, 4 out of 5 candidates we endorsed won their November elections. We wrote massive checks to all of our candidates, and while we didn’t quite win back the Texas House, we were able to put ourselves in position to finish the job in 2010.

I am not writing you to gloat about our PAC’s success or talk about what’s next. Instead, I am asking you a personal favor. Your recent donations helped us make an immediate impact. I’d like to say there is time to wait until later… but I can’t.

February 27th marks my 27th birthday. To celebrate, I am asking you to donate $27 to ensure TexBlog PAC has the resources it needs to make a difference in the 2010 elections.

Times are tough, and a $27 donation is helpful. For those of you who can afford to make an even greater impact, I am asking for you to be one of 27 people who sign up to give $27 for 27 months.

We have no overhead. No staff member gets paid. 98% of every dollar donated goes to electing Democrats.

In 2010, we will have to protect our four incumbents and determine how we can elect another handful of Democrats in order to win a majority in the House and deliver a Democratic Speaker to the Texas House.

We have to start preparing to win elections in 2010 now. We can’t wait until June. We can’t wait until we see which bills are passed and how discreetly Speaker Straus plays his particular brand of partisan politics. If we are going to have a Speaker of the House – and perhaps a Democratic Governor – for the year that we do redistricting, we have to start raising money now.

Help me celebrate my birthday. Be one of the 27 people to give $27 for 27 months, or make a one time donation of $27 today. In either case, you are helping Turn Texas Blue, and we sincerely appreciate your support.

Democratically Yours,
Matt Glazer

Give today because from now on, we’re all getting older!

Note of Congrats…
I haven’t read back to see if I had done it or not, but I do want to send a note of congrats to State Rep. Jessica Farrar on being chosen by her Democratic peers as Chair of the Texas House Democratic Caucus. No doubt, she’s earned the leadership post.

Like A Good Leader…
Mayor White continues to take hits, especially now that he took it in the chin for the Credit Card Payment idea that was floated this week. As far as this is concerned, no harm-no foul. Of course, the Chron taking credit for the “1700″ comments that were generated seems a bit silly. Probably the same ones that whine and moan about Katrina evacuees and Latino immigrants. Let’s move on now.

OK…That’s Enough “Pedro”
Is that Peter Brown’s Latino strategy? It was cute during the first (or was it second?) campaign. Now, not so much.

Austin School District…Not The Best Example for HISD
When it comes to Superintendent searches, AISD is not the best example for HISD to use in finding the next schools chief. There’s a big debate going around about having more of an “open” search versus keeping the applicants a big secret to save them local aggravation in their home districts. There’s a happy medium. School districts need to stop naming one sole finalist. Once an applicant has been chosen amongst the top 3 or 5, then there should be community meetings and more openness to introduce them. As diverse as these big school districts are, there should be community consensus. Austin seems to have missed the mark as far as process goes. As far as quality, we’ll have to see.

Back to the Think Tank…
Not many thoughts today. I skipped town last night to Lantana so we could have another Think Tank con-fab. Thus far, we’ve only debated differences between Zinfandel and Chardonnay. Both won, apparently. I’ll be attending a couple of Dem functions, so expect some photos. One function is the one-year anniversary of the African American Museum in Denton on Saturday. Should be fun.

The Hispanic and African American communities are protesting the lack of diversity within the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo. A press conference is scheduled for Friday, February 27, at 10:30 a.m. at the Harris County Administration Building located at 1001 Preston. Everyone is welcome to support the cause.

A protest at Reliant Stadium is scheduled for Friday, March 13, at 5:00 pm. The performer for that evening will be Clint Black.

The Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo was established in 1931 and has used government facilities since 1938. Millions of tax dollars have been used to create venues and provide year-round office space for the rodeo. For this reason, leaders from both communities feel the rodeo should be inclusive of all communities.

Last year, it was about Tejano music and a few issues. This time, it’s about money–who is making it, and who is not. And the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo seems to be hording it. Already, Senator Mario Gallegos has filed a bill to bring a much needed microscope into the boondoggle of an operation that is the Rodeo.

State Sen. Mario Gallegos said he will be filing a bill Friday that would require the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo to contract with more minority-owned businesses, include minorities on its board and comply with open records requests.

Specifically, a diverse group will hold a press conference on Friday at 10:30AM at the Harris County Administration Building (1001 Preston) to address the following:

1. Board Members
There are 320 board members at the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo, of which 233 are voting board members and only 7 are minorities. The process of becoming a board member is dependent on being a big donor, serving on the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo Committee for decades, or being recommended by the executive board members. There are many minorities that have volunteered for the rodeo for decades, yet they have never been recommended to serve as board members.

2. Board Executives
There are 42 executives on the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo board, which includes 17 vice-presidents. Of the 42, there is only one minority. By the way, the rodeo will consistently show him in the press to show they are diverse. Why don’t they show the other 41 executives on television?

3. Full-Time Employees
There are 90+ full-time employees at the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo. There are only 7 minorities, which are groundskeepers and other low level employees. The rodeo executives have consistently hid the salaries of employees for their own benefit. They do not wish to show anyone their hefty 6-figure salaries. The rodeo is a non-profit organization using government property. There should be no reason to hide these facts.

4. Scholarships
The Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo will bring in approximately $120 million in 2009 and yet it only has committed to award $11 million in scholarships, which amounts to 9% of the total funds collected. An organization that claims to be all about scholarships is really a money-making machine for those in leadership positions.

5. Concerts
The Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo has 20 concerts per year. One day is dedicated to Hispanics and one day is dedicated to African-Americans. Are we to celebrate this?

6. Contracts
This year approximately $50 million will be awarded in contracts by the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo. Has anyone seen a Request for Proposals distributed to the community? I didn’t think so. There is no process in place to ensure minority contractors and vendors have a fair opportunity to bid on any of the contracts associated with the rodeo. It is the good ole boy network at its best.

7. Pay Parity
The average attendance for the concerts at the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo is 55,000 a concert. Go Tejano Day (now called Hispanic Heritage Day) averages almost 70,000. Go Tejano Day has consistently broken attendance records throughout the years and yet the artist performing on that day have consistently been paid much less than their counterparts. The average pay for a performer for each performance is between $750,000 and $1,000,000. Little Joe, a Tejano music legend, was paid $40,000 for a concert.

8. Open Records
The Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo has consistently avoided being transparent to the citizens of Harris County. Basic information has been requested year after year and every time we are given excuses. What is there to hide?

9. Selection of Artists
The selection of entertainers is done by Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo executives with no input from the Go Tejano Committee or the Black Heritage Committee. I guess this executive committee knows it all.

Non-profits are supposed to have books available for viewing, yet, the HoustonRodeo folks continue to avoid the issue. What gives?

Although the issue of the lack of Tejano music at the Rodeo brought people together last year, there is a whole set of other issues, more pertinent to the Latino and African American communities, including the lack of inclusion in the operation, and the lack of contracts given to minority-owned businesses.

As one of the leaders of the effort, Ben Mendez, states in the press conference press release, “The Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo was established in 1931 and has used government facilities since 1938. Millions of tax dollars have been used to create venues and provide year-round office space for the rodeo. For this reason, leaders from both communities feel the rodeo should be inclusive of all communities.”

I agree. It’s time to stop the excuses and let some sunshine into this $100,000,000 operation that no one at HoustonRodeo seems to want folks to know about.

Check out this video on the CensureLeo.com movement. My friend John Cobarruvias adds some truth to the whole debate. If the vid doesn’t open on my site (for some odd reason), go to Coby’s site.

And check out ‘ol Leo. Talk about one hateful sum’bit**.

Some of you may have enjoyed (or at least read) Marc Campos’ post on the 18th Congressional District being in play and then e-mail debate that continued if you’re part of a certain e-mail group. There’s no doubt that some folks are still up in arms about Congresswoman Jackson Lee’s support of Hillary. Given that I was one who supported Hillary, it is easy for me to come out and continue supporting her. But my support for her goes beyond Hillary.

When the Comprehensive Immigration Reform debate was at its hottest, it was Sheila Jackson Lee that was working hard to represent what has become 40% of her constituency–Latinos. Latinos did not care much for the vitriolic and racist language of the Culbersons and Poes, and Sheila Jackson Lee represented the pro-migrant side of things very well.

Now, if Sheila Jackson Lee goes off to bluer pastures in the Obama Administration, she will leave a huge void in CD-18. Whomever decides to run must remember that 40% of the district is still Latino and that they must be represented–and well. I would hope that anyone in the running would still want to represent everyone and not just one constituency. Given the fact that CD-18 is becoming quite mixed, what is to stop some progressive-minded Latino/a from running?

Whether Campos’ statement is just a dig at Sheila Jackson Lee, or indeed a real challenge (given that the State Rep. he talks about is a former/current client), Latinos need to keep in mind which representative has indeed represented them well. If Sheila Jackson Lee moves on, then it will be a new ball game. Frankly, if all of these well-paid Latino consultants haven’t been able to send a Latino to Congress in what is supposed to be a Latino district, then what the heck, we should run one in an open-seat CD-18.

Till then, we have and should keep SJL.

Kuff has more.

Good!

I can’t say I was trusting of a program that would dole out $3,000 credit card payment grants to folks who just missed qualifying for a house because of 20 points on a credit report because they overcharged their plastic. Things are tough all over, and although I support increasing homeownership opportunities, the City could do it in a much better way.

According to the Chron’s report, the money would have come from $455,000 left from Ike funds. That means, as little as 150 would have received funds, but not everyone would have received the $3K, so perhaps a few more would have received some funds and qualified for a loan. Out of how many qualified applicants? I’m sure there are thousands who have joined the ranks of the “teetering” between Excellent and Fair credit scores with this economy.

Frankly, if someone’s credit is iffy, at best, then that person probably got overextended. I would rather the City pump that money into a non-profit that helps people get back on track with credit counseling. Sure, it may take a person a few months, rather than an instant payment, to qualify for a home, but at the very least, it would be a test for that person to ensure he/she doesn’t go back to charging up those cards after the home purchase. An instant payment hardly empowers one to be more responsible in their budgeting.

The city and others offer some great down payment incentives, and I highly support those. But we must also promote personal responsibility as part of this process to becoming a homeowner, and paying someones non-essential bills (it’s not food, it’s not gas, it’s not daycare, it’s not even a rent subsidy) is not very empowering.

On Thursday, February 18, 2009, State Rep. Leo Berman (R-Tyler) committed an act which we believe constitutes conduct unbecoming a member of the Texas Legislature—for which he should be censured by members of the Texas House of Representatives.

After a panel discussion sponsored by Texas Employers for Immigration Reform, Rep. Berman was engaged in a heated verbal conflict with Harry Joe, a Chinese American immigration lawyer from Dallas.

Berman, who was invited to participate in a panel discussion to speak about a bill he authored requiring illegal immigrants to relocate to “sanctuary cities,” was approached by Mr. Joe after the session.

Following their exchange, Berman told Harry Joe to “go home” (as in “back to China”) and “kiss my ass.”