What does it say? George
Archive for 1996
Judge Black’s order?
Friday, December 20th, 1996A look back at the Nov. 5 Congressional elections
Friday, December 20th, 1996 Now that all the Congressional races are finally done it is time to look back at what happened as a result of the three Judge Federal Court’s decision on Congressional redistricting. The Judges caused special elections in 13 of the 30 Districts in Texas. These elections were not part of the normal general election in that you could not vote a straight party ticket.
And it showed! 387,368 voters who voted for President did not vote in the Congressional elections. In fact 90,000 more Texans voted in the Railroad Commission race than they did for their local Congressman. While there is always a voter drop off it has never been this high for Congress. Usually many more votes are cast for the Federal seats than for the Railroad Commission.
According to the Dallas Morning News, in each of the 13 districts with special elections the average turnout was lower than in the 17 other districts. Some of this is due to a historical higher turnout in more affluent Republican districts but not all of these discrepancies can be explain away by that.
It seems clear that Beverly Clark a Democrat, should have been in a run-off with Ken Bentsen if some of the votes who were voted for more one candidate had been counted. Other voters believed they could vote for either a Republican or a Democrat by voting the straight ticket. Perhaps other changes in the final vote could have also occurred if the over 387,000 voters had been able to find the right page and understand the instructions for Congress.
The Federal Judges messed up and many observers believe they did it on purpose with an understanding of the partisan impact of their decision. Judge Jones is the former Texas Republican Party attorney and Judge Smith was a very active member of the Harris County Republican Party prior to his appointment to the bench.
Partisan decision should be left at the court house door.
Registure political consultants?
Tuesday, December 17th, 1996 The gossips in Austin say that the Texas House is going to try and pass a bill that would require political consultants in Texas to registered and report who they are working for. It would also require them to tell how much they are getting paid! The proposed law might also prohibit political consultants from lobbying. Oh My Goodness!
The gossips believe that the proposed bill is aimed at Todd Smith, a GOP political consultant who ran the very unsuccessful campaign against Speaker Laney. Some gossips think that Smith should find another line of business just due to his won-loss record. Others think that Dr. George Shipley ( Dr. Dirt) is the subject of the bill.
Very few political consultants are also lobbyists. The author, for instance, does both, but not against incumbent members of the Texas legislature. Too much of a conflict of interest.
There is also a rumor that some House committee will soon start hearings on this important matter.
Some lobbyists think this is a good idea. Some political consultants think it might raise the professional level in Texas. Others think the bill should be amended so that even lobbyists and political consultants would have to have some real experience with the legislature or in political campaigns before they could call themselves lobbyists or political consultants.
The next election..1997 race for Mayor
Thursday, December 12th, 1996 The next election in Houston will be in 1997 for Mayor, Controller and all 14 seats on the City Council.
Who is thinking about running for Mayor? The gossip say everyone who thinks they can raise a million dollars.
Here are the leaders as of now:
Lee Brown, former Drug Chief for the President and former Police Chief of Houston.
Sheila Jackson Lee, Member of Congress and former City Council member
Sylvester Turner, a candidate for Mayor in 1991 and a State Representative
John Whitmire, a State Senator
Rob Mosbacher, son of the former Commerce Secretory and a former state-wide candidate for Lt. Gov.
Mike Stevens, the Mayor’s Housing Chief
Helen Huey, a member of the City Council
Lloyd Kelley, the City Controller.
Gracie Saenz, a member of the City Council
Ned Holmes, the chair of the Port Commission
and then there are others some of the present members of the council, former elected officials and others who want their names in the paper. If you know of others e-mail their names to gstrong@political.com.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ George Strong: George Strong and Associates provides government relations, political consulting, internet pages and grassroots lobbying. See us a http://www.political.com ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++