Stuff from the Paper

Fort Worth to Rick Perry -- Thanks for nothing: In a not-very-surprising move, Governor Goodhair chose Dec. 18 for a runoff election for a seat in the Texas House of Representatives, rejecting a request by Tarrant County election officials to hold the runoff on Dec. 11 to coincide with the District 9 City Council runoff. After learning of Perry's decision, the City Council moved the District 9 runoff date to Dec. 18. I figured that Slick Rick would do this because the thought of all of those Democrats showing up to vote for Juan Rangel or Joel Burns are probably also going to cast a vote for Dan Barrett. Burns told the S-T that he is concerned that a date closer to Christmas will hold down turnout. Rangel said he is concerned that no early voting will take place on a Saturday.

FW is gay-friendly: Not new information here, but still it is a positive trend that deserves noting. Sez the S-T: " "Fort Worth, long known as one of the nation's more conservative communities, is home to 10 times as many same-sex couples than it was 16 years before, a new study shows. ... In Fort Worth, the number of same-sex couples in Fort Worth jumped to 2,254 in 2006 from 196 in 1990, the study shows." Why is this positive? Richard Florida said in his book, The Rise of the Creative Class, thriving, growing cities attract culturally and ethnically diverse people — artists, gays, people who are physically fit and open-minded and anyone who thinks and creates for a living. I see this trend as a positive indicator of the city's economic health.

Kinky in 2010?

It may not be popular with some Democrats, but Kinky Friedman says he's not through with electoral politics but has come to the conclusion that he'll need backing of a major party if he'll have any shot of winning. So he's laying the groundwork for entering the 2010 Democratic gubernatorial primary.

"I consider myself a Democrat in the mold of JFK, [former Texas Gov.] Ann Richards and [journalist] Molly Ivins," Friedman told John Moritz for Sunday's Startlegram. "If God was running as an independent [in 2006], he couldn't have beat Rick Perry."

Kinky, if you run, you've got my support.

Politics, Unusual

You know, I had just about written off the Lone Star State as a lost cause. Any state that would give Slick Rick Perry such a long term at the helm would not seem to be taking full advantage of everything that representative democracy has to offer. However, we have a few glimmers of hope lately:

Senate District 10: There's blood in the water, at least according to The Lone Star Project. The ethically-challenged Kim Brimer, who pioneered the sleazy practice of using special interest campaign contributions to make mortgage payments disguised as "rent" on a second home kept in the name of a spouse. Brimer used the scheme to funnel over $200,000 to his wife to pay for a second home in Austin. Enter Wendy Davis. Sure, she's well liked in downtown Fort Worth, but how will a Democrat play in the red collar suburbs of Colleyville, Grapevine, and Euless? Reports that she donated to George W. Bush in 1999 as well as Kay Granger may make her a little more acceptable. But will that make her less likeable to Democrats? Will Tarrant County Democratic Party Chairman Art Brender decide to run? Who knows? But PinkDome has isolated one huge factor in her favor: she's much hotter than Brimer.

Fort Worth City Council Race: Of course, the real reason that the Caravan is excited about Davis taking an early exit from the City Council is the open door for Bernie Scheffler to run again. The Startlegram finally got around to calling Bernie for a Saturday story. Bernie told the S-T: "It came a little earlier than I expected it to," he said. "I think I'm still going to be one of the smaller candidates, campaign-funding-wise. But there will be one familiar name on the ballot, which will give me an advantage, unlike the last time, when I was a political newcomer." Looks like one opponent will be Joel Burns, a member of the city Zoning Commission and chairman of the Fort Worth Historic and Cultural Landmarks Commission, announced his candidacy via e-mail Friday. I'd like to encourage all my regular readers to take a minute to visit Bernie's campaign site at I Heart FW and read a little about the man and if you could, send a few dollar his way. He's not a big-money establishment candidate, his money comes from small donations from regular people sending in a few dollars at a time. Help if you can.

Rick Noriega: There was a great post on Job's Anger about another ethically-challenged Republican, John Cornyn, who not only voted against ethics reform, he opposed increasing the funds available for the State Children's Health Insurance Program. Great guy, Cornyn. Why help children when you can help the fat wallets in the insurance industry get fatter. Enter Lt. Col. Rick Noriega. This is the guy I want representing the great state of Texas for me in the U.S. Senate. And as long as I am trying to pry money out of your wallet, send Rick Noriega some, too. He's got an uphill battle against Cornyn in the money department. He needs your help. And we need him.

Kinky in '10? Well The Kinkster hasn't ruled out another tilt at the wildmill in 2010, as a Democrat no less. He's already got my vote. Just tell me where to show up. I can't quit you.

Abstinence of Malice

Congratulations, Rick Perry, your state had the nation's highest birth rate among teenagers ages 15 to 19 in 2004, according to a newly released study of children's health.

The Kids Count study, which is updated annually by the Annie E. Casey Foundation in Baltimore, said the Texas rate of 63 births per 1,000 teens remained the same from 2003 to 2004. "It's a touchy subject," Robert Sanborn, president of Children at Risk, told the AP. "We can preach abstinence quite a bit, and there is nothing wrong with that, but it doesn't affect some kids, and apparently it's really not working in Texas."

Good job, Rick. Texas may not be No. 1 in any education or healthcare access categories, but at least we're No. 1 in this. You've made us proud.

Hell Freezes Over, Part 2

Governor Goodhair actually does something I approve of -- designate Steve Fromholz as poet laureate of Texas for 2007. Another great story from FWWeekly's Jeff Prince

Waiting for The Other Shoe to Drop

In case you missed it, Texas Monthly's Paul Burka has an excellent recap on how TXU got bitch-slapped back into reality after threatening to close some of its power plants. Hmm, you may ask yourself, what about the shadowy hand of Slick Rick Perry? Well, here it is:

What worries me about this is that the PUC, like many state agencies, is run by a former Rick Perry staffer, and, as we learned from the HPV controversy earlier this session, the governor has been known to involve himself in agency actions and decisions. Perry has also taken six-figure contributions from TXU and its officers. Will he intervene to help TXU again, as he did in trying to fast-track the licensing of their power plants?

Cronyism and graft in state government? Not in Texas!

Slick Rick: Show Him The Money

"If Rick Perry is for something, and there's a lot of money involved, it's a cinch that one (or more) of Perry's pals is involved up to his neck," writes Paul Burka on his Texas Monthly blog. True dat. As he goes on to quote from the Houston Chronicle:

Former U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm, a friend of Perry's, is handling discussions for the proposed lottery sale, a spokesman for Gramm's company acknowledged.

Gramm is vice chairman of UBS Investment Bank, which has been advising the governor on the proposed privatization of the state lottery. Gramm was a federally registered lobbyist for UBS last year.

Ray Sullivan, a lobbyist registered with the investment firm in Texas, worked as a spokesman for Perry several years ago. Sullivan is now in business with Michael Toomey, Perry's former chief of staff.

Toomey said he does not represent clients with lottery-related interests, and he added that Sullivan does not work on lottery-related issues for UBS.

And it just gets better. Seems that Perry's own son is working for UBS too, the DMN reports. "You have to give Perry credit," Burka writes. "Nothing embarrasses him."

Gov. Goodhair and HPV

Did Slick Rick Perry create a constitutional crisis with his executive order on HPV? Texas Monthly's Paul Burka thinks so."If a governor can legally do what Perry is attempting--establish a program that spends money--the balance of power between the executive and legislative branches will be forever altered."

And you thought he just wanted to give a nice little kickback to Merck (sixth item).