Very, Very Disappointed

The Republicans wanted to be clear. They were disappointed.

“We are disappointed,” said U.S. Rep. Adam Putnam of Bartow.

“We’re clearly disappointed,” said Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri.

“I’m disappointed, as are some others,” echoed Rep. Key Granger of Texas.

“I am very disappointed,” sighed David Dreier of California.

Why were these forlorn Republicans so dejected?

Because, said Putnam, the Democrats “missed [an] opportunity to really change the way that the House does business.”

The disappointment centered around the Republicans being the minority party in Congress for the first time in 12 years. Playing second fiddle is no fun, so the Republicans have come up with a “Minority Bill of Rights” to better include them in the legislative process.

It is, said Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., “based on the exact text that then-Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi submitted in 2004 to then-Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert.” He added it would ensure “all sides are protected, that fairness and openness is in fact granted by the new majority.”

Ah, such a wonderful concept. In all fairness and openness, and to make sure all sides are protected, shouldn’t the Democrats adopt the bill?

What McHenry didn’t say was that the Republicans certainly didn’t embrace “the exact text” in 2004 when they were the majority party.

Okay, okay what we have here is the republicans floating the same “minority bill of rights” that Nancy Pelosi herself tried to throw out there when the republicans were in charge. Instead of being disappointed in her reaction now shouldn’t they be kicking themselves for their reaction in 2004. I don’t see anyone on that side of the aisle taking any responsibility for putting themselves exactly where they are. Their behavior over the last 6 years deserves a heck of a lot worse than what the democrats have been giving them. It seems to me they should be thanking the heavens they aren’t being treated with the same contempt they showed the minority party during their reign of terror.

What happened to fairness and openness back then? Reported The Washington Post, “In keeping with the general atmosphere of the House these days, aides to Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., said he will not respond to the two-page proposal from Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.”That same news account quoted Dreier, who was then chairman of the House Rules Committee. He said the Democrats were crying about the process, while his mission was “to move our [Republican] agenda, and to do it in the fairest and most responsible way possible. And I do it in that order.”

Hastert didn’t even think it was worth his time to respond, why in the heck would those silly republicans be running around being “disappointed”? Seems like they missed their chance to me.

I have to say I have been getting a kick out of all the whining they have been doing lately I might even have sympathy if they weren’t complaining about rules they put in place and used liberally during their time in the majority. For the record I am not saying they are being treated unfairly, they have certainly been treated with more respect than they treated the democrats with during the last 6 years. I guess they just figure if they scream they are being treated unfairly that someone might believe them. Sadly, for them, I don’t think it will play since the democrats are doing things like this..

ABC News: House passes more ethics reform, budget rule:

The rules changes also try to ensure that House-Senate negotiations on bills are more open, with participation by the minority party, and that final drafts of legislation are not subsequently altered in secret.

and saying things like this..

“We have no intention of keeping our foot on your necks as you did to us,” House Rules Committee Chairwoman Louise Slaughter, a New York Democrat, said to Republicans.

Maybe if they keep up the whining about how badly the democrats are treating them while the democrats continue to walk the higher path they will finally be unmasked for the liars they are.

Technorati Tags: Nancy Pelosi, Dennis Hastert, republican, democrat, congress, house of representatives, spin

Then came The Poll.

Texas Democrats have pulled even with Republicans, and the state is now about half red, half blue. At least, that’s according to 1,053 Texans surveyed by an independent Democratic pollster.

The poll’s news announcement focused on one specific response: By 46 percent to 35 percent, respondents said Democrats “care” more about “people like me.” That’s a reversal from two years ago.

But most eyes went immediately to the bottom line of the poll, conducted in early December by Austin-based Montgomery & Associates:

Asked which political party they lean toward, 45 percent chose Democrat.

Only 43 percent chose Republican. If you figure in the poll’s margin of error, that’s a tie.

Two years ago, in the same Democratic poll, Republicans led by 55 percent to 34 percent.

That is an exciting development. It was a poll of Texas adults not likely voters but it is still a change in direction and if we can get out there and get voting numbers up then there shouldn’t be a distinction between adults and likely voters.

“There is an attitude change nationally that is affecting Texas,” said Cal Jillson, the Southern Methodist University political science professor who correctly foresaw a Republican sweep of state offices in the November elections and also the Democratic gains in the Texas House.

“People are increasingly concerned with the results they see from the Republican majority,” he said. “In Austin, those numbers are playing themselves out in the hanging of Tom Craddick. Republicans have begun to panic that the unease in the public is going to be taken out of their hide.”

This change was a long time coming. It is great that the legislature has this information before they go back into session. We might see a very different Texas legislative session. Politicians live and die by poll numbers and while I understand polls don’t always tell the whole story they don’t. Okay, that is me not being fair I am sure they understand that polls don’t give a totally accurate picture, they make the polls and so they know they can skew them with leading question and skewed answered.

Last year I took a national political poll (Boy, that poor kid was sure sad my number was called)and the questions were transparent. You sound like an idiot answering no, I don’t want to be safe from terrorists when in reality the answer is no, I don’t want my civil liberties stepped all over by this administration. They don’t give you those options though so I answered the only way I could which was that I don’t accept the premise of the question and here is my answer and this is why. I am pretty sure my particular responses probably weren’t counted but the poor kid on the phone certainly understood by the time I hung up that the questions he was asking were worded outrageously and so the results would be incorrect. So, while I don’t put a whole lot of stock in polls this one is still encouraging.

By the numbers

Political parties Texans say they lean toward:

Party	2006	2005	2004
Democrat	45.1%	37.2%	33.9%
Republican	42.6	49.2	54.7
Independent	6.4	10.5	10.2

SOURCE: Montgomery & Associates

Technorati Tags: Texas, Texas democrats, Tom Craddick, republican, democrat, poll, politics, texas politics

As the new chairman of the House Government Reform Committee, Waxman will have free rein to investigate, as he puts it, “everything that the government is involved with.” And the funny thing is, Waxman can thank the Republicans for the unique set of levers he will hold. Under a rules change they put through in the days when they used the panel to make Bill Clinton’s life miserable, the leader of Government Reform is the only chairman who can issue subpoenas without a committee vote. Then Chairman Dan Burton–who famously re-enacted the suicide of Clinton deputy White House counsel Vince Foster by shooting at what he called a “head-like thing” (later widely reported to be a melon) in his backyard–issued 1,089 such unilateral subpoenas in six years. Since a Republican entered the White House, the G.O.P. Congress has been far less enthusiastic in its oversight. Waxman likes to point out that the House took 140 hours of sworn testimony to get to the bottom of whether Clinton had misused the White House Christmas-card list for political purposes, but only 12 hours on prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib.

This is a bonus that comes out the midterms. I really like Henry Waxman and I think he will do a fine job as the Government Reform Committee. Funny, I had forgotten we had one of these. It has been so quiet for the last 6 years and even when the oversight committee did make the news it wasn’t to really oversee as much as to just rubberstamp whatever Bush and Co. was doing that the public found offensive. 12 hours for Abu Ghraib vs 140 about a Christmas card list. That was a really good job of oversight there. I have to say I find the end of this article hilarious.

While Waxman promises what he calls oversight, the Republicans say it’ll be more like a witch hunt, and the Administration is promising to fight him all the way to the Supreme Court to protect itself against what it expects to be a frontal assault on Executive power. Waxman says the G.O.P. should take comfort in the fact that he has historical perspective. “I’ve seen a good example of overreaching,” he says, referring to the committee’s treatment of Clinton. “It’s not the way to behave.”

The administration and GOP are being a bit hypocritical here. Do you think they might be projecting their actions onto others. They know they couldn’t help but use their majority to start witch hunts and maybe it is just beyond their little reptilian brains that while them having absolute power corrupted them absolutely that the dems don’t have absolute power and might not be so easily corrupted. Not to mention Henry Waxman doesn’t have to go on any type of witch hunt since the Administration has so kindly done their dirty deeds in full view of the public.

I am completely in the dark about what happens next. Yes, I know that President Bush and Vice President Cheney could be impeached but will the Democrats do that? My opinion is that they probably won’t but I would suppose that would depend on what the administration does now.

I am sure the next two years are going to be interesting to watch. It is funny to see them crying foul before anything has been done. It is funnier to see them crying foul about things they were exceptionally guilty of themselves. I am going to take particular glee in bringing their words back to haunt them when they do these things.
I don’t expect the Democratic Majority to act the way the Republicans have for so many years but that remains to be seen. There is a part of me that would love to see the dems do it because the GOP’s behavior over the last 12 years has been outrageous but the better part of me says it is time to take the country back from that kind of politics and move forward into a better future. We aren’t in Kansas anymore the “Great Uniter” ended up being a great divider and our country is more splintered than ever and its time to repair that rift.

Ciro Rodriguez

This is the statement you will find about Henry Bonilla

REPRESENTATIVE HENRY BONILLA REPEATEDLY REFUSED TO PROVIDE ANY
RESPONSES TO CITIZENS ON ISSUES THROUGH THE 2006
NATIONAL POLITICAL AWARENESS TEST WHEN ASKED TO DO SO BY

Key national leaders of both major parties including:
John McCain, Republican Senator
Geraldine Ferraro, Former Democratic Congresswoman
Michael Dukakis, Former Democratic Governor
Bill Frenzel, Former Republican Congressman
Richard Kimball, Project Vote Smart President

Over 100 news organizations throughout the nation also urged their candidates to supply their issue positions through the National Political Awareness Test.

You can find Rep. Bonilla’s recorded votes here.

The problem with that is it doesn’t show his positions per se. There could be many reasons why either or both voted one way or another on a bill that have very little to do with their choices on that particular subject. Bills are amended dozens of times before they are actually voted on and any member of the house can add things to them that don’t have anything to do with the bill at hand. If the republicans want the democrats to vote no on a bill about lowering taxes they simply add an amendment that says that if it becomes law banks can charge up to $1000 for a bounced check. Certainly that is not something any of us want but you now have all the democrats voting no (hopefully the republicans to but if they are doing it for show then they don’t care because they just won’t publicize the amendment.) I really wish this wasn’t the way it worked but, sadly, it does and so voting history without reading the entire text of the bill tells us very little.

I know you are all seeing the attack ads that have a smiling and sweet faced Rep. Bonilla next to a dour Ciro Rodriguez saying Ciro voted for the death tax. First, let’s remember “death tax” is a emotionally manipulative slogan it is called the estate tax and it doesn’t affect any but the ulta rich and yes Ciro Rodriguez voted against repealing it. Let’s remember that repealing the estate tax only affects the top 2% of the people in the United States and last time I checked Ciro Rodriguez has always spoken for the middle class and the working man, not the person whose biggest problem is where they will vacation this month.

The other ad that has bothered me to no end, again, has the happy faced Rep. Bonilla next to a dour faced Ciro Rodriguez saying that Ciro Rodriguez voted against creating the department of Homeland Security. First, let me just say that the pictures they use of one looking good and the other looking distracted and a bit angry are just the most base form of manipulation they can come up with. It really goes to what the writers of those commercials think about us. They think that by seeing an unattractive picture we will in our deepest core be revolted by the image and vote for Rep. Bonilla. That is just sad and if you have a brain in your head you will see it for what it is, manipulation of the lowest level. Second, yes, he voted against it but not for the reasons the commercials tell you he did. His vote doesn’t mean Ciro Rodriguez doesn’t want to keep americans safe (oh man, I have to check my gag reflex every time I hear that). He voted yes on creating a new Director of National Intellegence which is what the 9/11 commision recommended. That would have made a liason between all the different organizations that were working to protect us then and cut through the red tape that has caused our intellegence community problems in the past. Creating the Department of Homeland Security did the exact opposite, it just made more red tape. No one is against keeping americans safe, they are saying it to make you afraid and we need to say no to the politics of fear.
Don’t pay attention to attack ads, no matter where they are coming from. They are made to cater to our baser instincts and we are more than our baser instincts. We have higher thought and the ability to reason and should use it. Here are a few more bits of homework for you to peruse at your leisure. These are voting histories so remember if you see a vote that seems out of character take the time to read the whole bill and find out why that candidate voted that way.

Rep. Henry Bonilla

Former Rep. Ciro Rodriguez

Remember, that Ciro Rodriguez lost his seat in 2004 because of Tom DeLay’s gerrymandering so his record is incomplete.

Amnesty International has again raised the urgency of its work on Darfur in an effort to stop the atrocities taking place there, but we need your help to make peace and security a reality. Help us make a difference. Your voice is a crucial part of this effort.

Take action to email your Senators to strongly encourage their support for an additional $60 million ($10 million/month) for African Union Mission (AMIS) funding for Darfur. Six months additional AMIS funding will ensure that civilians in Darfur will not be left unprotected after January—while we continue to push to get UN peacekeepers on the ground.

Check out how much your Congressman or Senator cares about the people of Darfur. Click on the DarfurScores link on this page. John Cornyn has recently improved his score to a “C”. Let’s see if we cannnot get him up to a “B” or maybe even an “A”. If you want to prove to yourself that this is a totally non-partisan issue, search on those who have received “A+” scores. It is an unlikely group!

WASHINGTON – The legacy of the once powerful Republican Tom DeLay of Sugar Land cast a long shadow over last week’s elections, in which voters shrank the ranks of a party accused of being too partisan, too cozy with special interests and too fond of big spending.

As majority whip and later majority leader of the House, DeLay helped build a Republican political empire that he tried to make immune from erosion by pushing the 2003 Texas redistricting plan that threw several veteran House Democrats out of office.

For years the former pest exterminator ruled with an iron hand that brought his party legislative victories but also intensified the poisonous partisan mood in Washington.

DeLay’s combative style indeed was one of the factors in turning the electorate away from the GOP, said Ross Baker, a political scientist at Rutgers University.

“I don’t think Tom DeLay as an individual was in the minds of many voters. But the election was very much a reaction to the kind of bare-knuckles politics he practiced,” Baker said. “People thought this extreme, destructive partisanship had gone on long enough.”

Conservatives, independent political observers and officials from both parties also said last week that the close ties between lobbyists and lawmakers that DeLay nurtured, and which led to the political scandal involving convicted former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, cost Republicans some seats as Democrats took over the majority in the House and Senate.

It is going to be hard, but the democrats have to start in January with a plan to lead fairly and without the partisanship they have been subjected to for so many years.  The county is fractured and we can thank Tom DeLay, Bush and Co ect. Ruling with fear and an iron fist is not what we need to start this new session of Congress. We never needed it and I am thankful that finally the rest of my country is starting to see it. This has been an era that will be talked about the same way the McCarthy era is.
We are broken and the divide has gotten larger and larger but I see a light at the end of the tunnel. The democrats have the reins now, they must put aside their past animosities and move forward healing that divide. I can only hope they are up to the task and see it clearly.

Along with Bolton’s nomination, Bush said he would like to move forward on legislation to retroactively authorize the National Security Agency’s domestic surveillance program.

Bush said he would like to see action on both issues before year’s end. The Democratic-controlled Congress begins its term in January.
But Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee, who was defeated in this week’s election, said he would block Bolton’s nomination.

Chafee, a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, told reporters that he did not believe Bolton’s nomination would move forward without his support.

“The American people have spoken out against the president’s agenda on a number of fronts, and presumably one of those is on foreign policy,” the Rhode Island moderate told The Associated Press.

This is a rare act of courage and integrity that should be shouted from the rooftops. I can’t say I knew Lincoln Chafee’s name last month and can’t say I would have cared to but he deserves a round of applause. I am sure the pressure being put on him by the White House is astronomical but he is choosing to do the right thing and whether Republican or Democrat we should applaud ethics when we see them. The only way our leaders will ever know that we want this from them and are appalled when we see them spinning and just out and out lying is to tell them. I for one sent him a little note today and I hope others will too.

It does mean that somewhere someone should have some numbers that look something like this:

And based on such numbers from this year and previous years, the elections administrator would assign resources. So while these numbers obviously exist, the question is who has them and are they actually being used?

Media Report Bexar County,Tx

Joint,General, Special & Bond

November 7,2006

Run Date:11/08/06 12:54 AM

Early Election

PRECINCTS COUNTED (OF 622). . . . . 622 100.00

REGISTERED VOTERS – TOTAL . . . . . 897,653

BALLOTS CAST – TOTAL. . . . . . . 276,700

134,211cast early 142,489 cast on election day
VOTER TURNOUT – TOTAL . . . . . . 30.82

Less than 31 percent of voters in Bexar county had their voices heard.

48.5% voted early. That is a pretty interesting stat. You can find the rest of the results at the above link.

Voters in Bexar County voting straight democrat party outnumbered those who voted straight republican by 6,868. There is some interesting information in that.

Henry Bonilla appears to be headed for a run-off in December but that isn’t official yet.

Carol Patterson will be filling the Edwards Aquifer District 1 chair with 67% of the vote

Byron Miller will be filling District 2 with just 45% of the vote. Annalisa Peace took home 41% and lost by only 385 votes.

The District 7 seat will be filled by Enrique Valdivia who took home 56% of the vote.

Rick Agosto took the District 3 State Board of Education seat with 60% of the vote. I have to wonder what was in the mind of the 40% who voted for a candidate that gave out no information about himself.

Well, TechDigger and I had a long night last night running from precinct to precinct, we didn’t plan terribly well so only have stats from a few BUT we have decided that next election day we will make it an all day affair with a planned route. It was very enlightening as we chose to go to Democratic precincts and found some interesting results. I am sure we will both be blogging about it soon.

I just have to say here that pundits make me queasy. Listening to Ken Mehlman last night talking about how he so looks forward to working with the Democrats because they are good people and so are the Republicans. Give me a break, he didn’t come up with that lovely observation until after the house was lost. The GOP has been stomping all over the Democratic party for years calling them irrational folks that don’t want to protect you or yours. It just makes me ill watching them. I suppose it is about time to turn off the tv.

Interesting trivia from yesterday.

USATODAY.com – Electionline
‘Firsts’ accomplished — and missed

• Democrat Deval Patrick becomes Massachusetts’ first black governor. USA TODAY, the Boston Globe and The Boston Herald all say history was made with his election. (Photo: Patrick and his wife Diane celebrate his victory. By Chitose Suzuki, AP.)• Democrat Rep. Harold Ford Jr. missed making history as the first black senator from the south since Reconstruction. Our Gannett colleagues at The Tennessean have more about that.

• Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is now in line to be the first female speaker of the House.

• Minnesota state Rep. Keith Ellison, a Democrat, is the first Muslim to be elected to the House. The Star Tribune has this profile of him.

• Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., was elected to a record ninth consecutive term. The Charleston Gazette has more about that.

]]> http://digdeepertexas.com/2006/11/08/bexar-county-election-results/feed/ 0 http://digdeepertexas.com/2006/10/31/non-update-on-agosto-and-cunningham/ http://digdeepertexas.com/2006/10/31/non-update-on-agosto-and-cunningham/#comments Tue, 31 Oct 2006 13:57:25 +0000 Dig ad veritas http://digdeepertexas.com/?p=75 Well, here we are two weeks and a day after I sent letters to Rick Agosto and Tony Cunningham and I still have no response. So here is a little more I have found about Rick Agosto.

MySA.com: Metro | State:

Board of education candidate Rick Agosto, a San Antonio Democrat and businessman, has filed to run for the State Board of Education seat held by former state Sen. Joe Bernal.

Bernal, who’s represented District 3 on the board since 1996, isn’t running for another term, and he’s endorsing Agosto as well as serving as his treasurer, according to Agosto’s campaign.

Agosto said he also has the backing of ex-Land Commissioner Garry Mauro and board of education members Mary Helen Berlanga and Rene Nuñez.

Rick Agosto’s financial disclosure.

More of the same on Tony Cunningham. He is just in the wind. I can’t even find his financial disclosure form. I am sure it is out there and if someone else finds it please send it to us.

Next election, I will start earlier with questionaires to candidates and hopefully we won’t have people on our ballots that no one knows anything about.

Politics republican election democrat vote Rick Agosto Tony Cunningham state board of education SBEC texas texas politics District 3 education

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