LetMyPeopleVote
LetMyPeopleVote's JournalFort Bend County Local Race getting Fun
I was a fund raiser for some school board candidates at Susan Bankston's home (aka Juanita Jean) on Thursday and there were talk about the tea party backed candidates getting arrested for stealing political signs. On Saturday, the local paper had an article about this arrest and Juanita Jean had some fun http://juanitajean.com/2013/05/04/fun-with-the-perry-family-battleground-texas-starts-here/
Everything was going pretty smoothly until the Tea Party and a paid Republican political consultant recognized that this particular race is the hotbed of turning Texas blue – the next area of Fort Bend County to flip Democratic. Once this commissioner’s precinct flips, the county will flip and once the county flips, Texas will flip. Fort Bend County, on the edge of Houston, is the most diversified county in America. This is the petri dish of Texas becoming a Democratic state. I live here.
And this school board race is in the Hispanic part of the county that needs energizing. We elected a county commissioner here in 2008 and he kept his seat by a frighteningly slim margin in 2012. If Texas truly is a battleground – it starts here and it starts now.
This school board race began getting ugly back in April, when a local man named Rodney Vannerson, who is bail bondsman, formed a PAC and named it the deceptive “Whistle PAC“. He says they are whistle blowers. He named it that because “We Don’t Want To Pay Our Taxes or Have Our Kids Go To School With All Those Diverse Kids PAC” was already taken.....
Bob Perry died last month and by all reports is still trying to explain to Sweet Jesus about the whole Swift Boat Veterans for Truth thing, but his name lives on – as does his money and political philosophy.
The sad thing is that this is going to be a very low turnout election and the tea party people could win
Lawyers Come Out To Support Rosemary Lehmberg
First, please understand that I have a bias on this topic. One of my law partners is the brother of the Travis County District Attorney.
Gov. Goodhair really wants to have Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg resign so that he can name her replacement. I and a group of other lawyers all signed an amicus brief to support Lehmberg. http://www.keyetv.com/news/features/top-stories/stories/lawyers-come-out-support-rosemary-lehmberg-8259.shtml We can not give Goodhair the opportunity to name a replacement for Rosemary Lehmberg. I was busy forwarding the petition to a number of lawyers and I was happy to see a good response.
Again, Lehmberg made a mistake but should not be removed from office unless you want to see Goodhair control this office.
Texas Senate approve electronic voter registration
This is a very big step in the right direction http://www.chron.com/news/texas/article/Senate-approve-electronic-voter-registration-4457600.php
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The Texas Senate has voted to allow voters with driver's licenses and state identification cards to register to voter over the Internet.
The Senate approved the measure on Tuesday, and it now goes to the House for consideration.
The bill by San Antonio Democrat Carlos Uresti would not allow people without state ID cards to use the system. He said the aim is to eliminate the errors created when people fill out voter registration cards by hand. Those have to be transcribed and may not perfectly match state records.
Battleground Texas-Houston kickoff meeting
I was at the Houston kickoff meeting on Saturday for Battleground Texas along with 349 of my fellow Democrats. Here is a good report of the meeting. http://offthekuff.com/wp/?p=52087 Between Battleground and a revived State Democratic Party, I am feeling good about Texas becoming a battleground state sooner than I expected.
Jenn Brown is am impressive leader and there was a great deal of energy in the room. I was in a discussion group with Juanita Jean (she is from my county) and Susan took me up to meet Jenn afterward.
The Towers at the following Texas Airports will be closed on April 7, 2013 due to sequester
A large number of airports will closed down due to the sequester starting on April 7, 2013 http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/flights/2013/02/22/travel-delays/1938959/ The Texas airports affected by the sequester are set forth below:
ACT Waco Regional Waco, Texas
BAZ New Braunfels Municipal New Braunfels, Texas
BPT Jack Brooks Regional Beaumont, Texas
BRO Brownsville/South Padre Island International Brownsville, Texas
CLL Easterwood Field College Station, Texas
CNW TSTC Waco Waco, Texas
CXO Lone Star Executive Houston
FWS Fort Worth Spinks Fort Worth, Texas
GGG East Texas Regional Longview, Texas
GKY Arlington Municipal Arlington, Texas
GPM Grand Prairie Municipal Grand Prairie, Texas
GTU Georgetown Municipal Georgetown, Texas
HYI San Marcos Municipal San Marcos, Texas
RBD Dallas Executive Dallas
SGR Sugar Land Regional Houston
SSF Stinson Municipal San Antonio
TKI Collin County Regional at McKinney Dallas
TYR Tyler Pounds Regional Tyler, Texas
VCT Victoria Regional Victoria, Texas
Sugarland airport is on this list. From what I have seen driving by this airport, it is fairly active for small private planes.
Update of SCOTUS oral arguments on Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act
The oral arguments for this case occurred this morning. The following persons made the arguments http://www.scotusblog.com/2013/02/argument-preview-the-courts-options-on-voting-rights/
Urging the Court to strike down those provisions will be Bert W. Rein of the Washington, D.C., law firm of Wiley Rein LLP. Dividing time in defense of the law will be the U.S. Solicitor General, Donald B. Verrilli, Jr., with twenty minutes to represent the federal government, and Debo P. Adegbile, an attorney with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in New York City, with ten minutes to represent individual voters and other private defenders of the law.
Mr. Adegbile is the head of the NAACP legal team and was one of the lawyers who defended the Voting Rights Act before the SCOTUS back in 2009.
The initial reports from the oral arguments are not good and there is a belief that this will be a 5 to 4 decision http://www.scotusblog.com/2013/02/from-the-shelby-county-argument/
Following through on the deep constitutional concerns stated in its prior Northwest Austin decision, a majority of the Court seems committed to invalidating Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act and requiring Congress to revisit the formula for requiring preclearance of voting changes. The vote seems quite likely to be five to four. The more liberal members pressed both the narrow argument that an Alabama county was not a proper plaintiff because it inevitably would be covered and the broader argument that there was a sufficient record to justify the current formula. But the more conservative majority was plainly not persuaded by either point. It is unlikely that the Court will write an opinion forbidding a preclearance regime. But it may be difficult politically for Congress to enact a new measure.
Scalia made a very telling comment during oral arguments http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/02/27/1646891/scalia-voting-rights-act-is-perpetuation-of-racial-entitlement/?mobile=nc
There were audible gasps in the Supreme Court’s lawyer’s lounge, where audio of the oral argument is pumped in for members of the Supreme Court bar, when Justice Antonin Scalia offered his assessment of a key provision of the Voting Rights Act. He called it a “perpetuation of racial entitlement.”
Finally, there is some reporting out today that Chief Justice Roberts has been out to gut the Voting Rights Act for a long time going back to when he was an attorney in the Reagan DOJ. http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/02/john-roberts-long-war-against-voting-rights-act
When he was in his late 20s, John Roberts was a foot soldier in President Ronald Reagan administration's crusade against the Voting Rights Act. Now, as chief justice of the Supreme Court, he will help determine whether a key part of the law survives a constitutional challenge.
Memos that Roberts wrote as a lawyer in Reagan's Justice Department during the 1980s show that he was deeply involved in efforts to curtail the effectiveness of the Voting Rights Act, the hard-won landmark 1965 law that is intended to ensure all Americans can vote. Roberts' anti-VRA efforts during the 1980s ultimately failed. But on Wednesday, when the Supreme Court hears oral arguments in Shelby County v. Holder, he'll get another chance to gut the law. Roberts' history suggests a crucial part of the VRA may not survive the rematch.
Back in 2009, people were predicting that Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act would be held to be unconstitutional. Hopefully the current predictions here will be just as wrong as the predictions in 2009. I also remember the predictions about the Affordable Care Act in the case before the SCOTUS last summer.
Update of SCOTUS oral arguments on Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act
The oral arguments for this case occurred this morning. The following persons made the arguments http://www.scotusblog.com/2013/02/argument-preview-the-courts-options-on-voting-rights/
Urging the Court to strike down those provisions will be Bert W. Rein of the Washington, D.C., law firm of Wiley Rein LLP. Dividing time in defense of the law will be the U.S. Solicitor General, Donald B. Verrilli, Jr., with twenty minutes to represent the federal government, and Debo P. Adegbile, an attorney with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in New York City, with ten minutes to represent individual voters and other private defenders of the law.
Mr. Adegbile is the head of the NAACP legal team and was one of the lawyers who defended the Voting Rights Act before the SCOTUS back in 2009.
The initial reports from the oral arguments are not good and there is a belief that this will be a 5 to 4 decision http://www.scotusblog.com/2013/02/from-the-shelby-county-argument/
Following through on the deep constitutional concerns stated in its prior Northwest Austin decision, a majority of the Court seems committed to invalidating Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act and requiring Congress to revisit the formula for requiring preclearance of voting changes. The vote seems quite likely to be five to four. The more liberal members pressed both the narrow argument that an Alabama county was not a proper plaintiff because it inevitably would be covered and the broader argument that there was a sufficient record to justify the current formula. But the more conservative majority was plainly not persuaded by either point. It is unlikely that the Court will write an opinion forbidding a preclearance regime. But it may be difficult politically for Congress to enact a new measure.
Scalia made a very telling comment during oral arguments http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/02/27/1646891/scalia-voting-rights-act-is-perpetuation-of-racial-entitlement/?mobile=nc
There were audible gasps in the Supreme Court’s lawyer’s lounge, where audio of the oral argument is pumped in for members of the Supreme Court bar, when Justice Antonin Scalia offered his assessment of a key provision of the Voting Rights Act. He called it a “perpetuation of racial entitlement.”
Finally, there is some reporting out today that Chief Justice Roberts has been out to gut the Voting Rights Act for a long time going back to when he was an attorney in the Reagan DOJ. http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/02/john-roberts-long-war-against-voting-rights-act
When he was in his late 20s, John Roberts was a foot soldier in President Ronald Reagan administration's crusade against the Voting Rights Act. Now, as chief justice of the Supreme Court, he will help determine whether a key part of the law survives a constitutional challenge.
Memos that Roberts wrote as a lawyer in Reagan's Justice Department during the 1980s show that he was deeply involved in efforts to curtail the effectiveness of the Voting Rights Act, the hard-won landmark 1965 law that is intended to ensure all Americans can vote. Roberts' anti-VRA efforts during the 1980s ultimately failed. But on Wednesday, when the Supreme Court hears oral arguments in Shelby County v. Holder, he'll get another chance to gut the law. Roberts' history suggests a crucial part of the VRA may not survive the rematch.
Back in 2009, people were predicting that Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act would be held to be unconstitutional. Hopefully the current predictions here will be just as wrong as the predictions in 2009. I also remember the predictions about the Affordable Care Act in the case before the SCOTUS last summer.
There is nothing to do now but wait until May or June for the decisions of the SCOTUS on this issue. We may want to start planning on having to deal with SB 14 (the voter id law) to be on the safe side.
I disagree
I was on the board of my temple when we had a fight over this issue. The compromise was that the troop and the pack would take a very liberal view of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy and only enforce the rule if someone wore their scout uniform to a gay pride event. As far as my Temple was concerned no one should tell us who our leaders should be. BTW, two of the last three presidents of my Temple have been gay and they have had no problem with how the Troop and Pack have been operated.
By the same token, it would be difficult to tell a LDS unit that it had to accept gay scouts and gay leaders. That church should establish ist own qualifications for its leadership. The Dale opinion from the SCOTUS basically states that freedom of association means that each group should be allowed to establish its own membership standards and no one should force a church or other private association to accept someone as a member if that member does not meet the membership criterion for such organization. While I dislike the results of the SCOTUS decision, I basically agree that the First Amendment association clause must allow groups to set their own membership standards.
The proposed BSA policy extends the Dale ruling down to the individual chartering units and that is a good first step. To go beyond this, one would have to redefine or change the current interpretation of the First Amendment association clause.
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