AUDIO:
POSSIBLE TOPICS: VOTETEXAS.GOV—Voter Information; REGISTER TO VOTE; APPLY FOR MAIL-IN BALLOT; Your Voice Your Vote: All you need to know for runoff elections in Houston; Pearland considers plan for how it will develop its unused land; Harris County parks study looks to Spring Creek Greenway expansion; HISD committee advances plan to extend year, allow uncertified high school teachers; Harris County OKs $11M contract to send 360 inmates to Mississippi to ease jail overcrowding; Vote delayed on Bush airport expansion after Houston controller raises financial concerns; How McConnell helped engineer Manchin’s exit; Wisconsin judge orders former chief justice to turn over records related to impeachment advice; More.
Welcome to Thinkwing Radio with Mike Honig where we discuss local, state, national, and international stories. My co-host, assistant producer and show editor is Andrew Ferguson.
Thinkwing Radio with Mike Honig (@ThinkwingRadio) is now on Wednesdays at 11AM (CT) or Thursdays at 6PM on KPFT 90.1 FM-HD2, Houston’s Community Media. You can also hear the show:
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- An educated electorate is a prerequisite for a democracy.
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Except for timely election info, the extensive list of voting resources will now be at the end.
- Your Voice Your Vote: All you need to know for runoff elections in Houston; By Mayra Moreno | ABC13.COM | Friday, November 10, 2023 5:56PM
- Elections in our area ended on Tuesday, and just as expected, we’re heading off to a runoff, so we are not done yet.
- That means the candidates who did not get the needed 50% vote will go into a runoff race to finally declare a winner. …
- The main one is, of course, the mayor’s race between State Sen. John Whitmire and U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee.
- The Houston controller’s race is also going into a runoff with Chris Hollins and Orlando Sanchez.
- Out of all five at-large city council positions, four of them are also going to a runoff. Houston Council Districts D, G, and H are also going into a runoff. …
- Early voting for the runoff will be Nov. 27 through Dec. 5. Runoff voting day is Saturday, Dec. 9.
- The polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. except on Sundays, when they’ll be open from 12 p.m. to 7 p.m.
- Take note that sample ballots for the runoff will not be available until Nov. 22, and as a reminder, even if you didn’t vote on Nov. 7, you can still vote in the runoff.
- The last day [for the County Clerk to] receive a ballot by-mail application is Nov. 28. [MIKE: But imho, that’s cutting it WAY too close. Apply ASAP if you are entitled to one.]
- You can visit com to find your nearest polling location, sample ballot, and more.
- MIKE: FYI, if you weren’t registered to vote for the election, there is not enough time to register for this runoff. According to Harris Votes, “…You may easily confirm your voter registration status by searching for it on our websiteor the Texas Secretary of State’s website. If you are currently living in Harris County but are registered to vote in another county, you must be registered to vote in Harris County at least 30 days prior to Election Day in order to vote in Harris County.”
- MIKE: But again, if you were registered to vote in the Nov. 7 election but did not, you can STILL vote in the runoffs.
- MIKE: ALSO — If you were eligible to vote by mail-in ballot for the general but did not get a mail-in ballot, there is still time to apply for one for the runoff elections. Be aware that if you fill it out online before printing it, the phone number field only has room for 7 characters. So you may want to leave that field bland, print the form, fill in your phone number by hand, then sign it and mail it according to the instructions. It’s a self-addressed mailer, but you need to fold it and seal it.
- ANDREW: And this seems like a great time to mention that runoffs tend to have lower turnout than general elections, so if you can vote in the runoff, please do. Also consider checking out RCV for Texas, who advocate for adopting ranked-choice voting to make these runoffs unnecessary.
- Pearland considers plan for how it will develop its unused land; By Rachel Leland | COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM | 4:11 PM Nov 14, 2023 CST, Updated 4:11 PM Nov 14, 2023 CST
- As Pearland’s population continues to grow, city officials are thinking critically about how to best develop the city’s remaining 24% of undeveloped land by 2040.
- On Nov. 13, city staff presented Pearland City Council with a comprehensive plan for how Pearland’s remaining undeveloped land could be built out.
- City staff stressed the comprehensive plan merely sets forward a vision for how land can be developed to serve Pearland’s current and future needs best, and is not legally binding like zoning regulations are binding.
- In summary, the plan’s vision promises to provide Pearland’s diverse, growing population with a strong economy where people will want to live, work and play, goals that align closely with the strategic priorities City Council approved in March.
- To achieve this vision, the plan recommends three strategies including:
- Continuing to develop the Lower Kirby District
- Encouraging middle-market housing
- Updating the unified development code to ensure future permits granted align with the plan’s overall vision
- In developing the plan, city staff identified Pearland’s biggest commuter exodus heads toward the Texas Medical Center, so many of the recommendations focus on developing the land to create more health care jobs in Pearland’s boundaries.
- City staff identified six areas, or catalyst sites, in Pearland with significant amounts of undeveloped or underdeveloped land, and included recommendations for how Pearland officials should consider zoning regulations and granting land use permits in those areas to best align with the city’s vision for its future.
- To create the plan, Pearland sourced feedback from the community and stakeholders, including an online survey that garnered over 295 comments and 73 survey responses.
- MIKE: Forward-looking planning is always a good thing, and I applaud the Pearland City Council for trying to anticipate the best way to plan for growth and city prosperity over the next two decades.
- MIKE: I notice one gaping hole in the three bullet points mentioned: Park and recreation space.
- MIKE: As Pearland grows, there will not only be a need for affordable housing. There will also be a desperate need for open green space and recreation spaces. Once these lands are developed as anything other than green space, they’ll never go back. Just like when farm land is sold to build a subdivision, it never goes back to agriculture, and that arable land is lost forever to expanding and hungry populations.
- ANDREW: I agree, and I would say the plan doesn’t adequately address either of the needs you mentioned.
- ANDREW: “Middle market housing” didn’t seem to be defined in the article or the actual Pearland 2040 Looking it up, I found a study by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, which defined the “middle market” as “the stock of housing with rents between the 40th and 80th percentiles of local rent distributions, adjusted for number of bedrooms where possible.” Essentially, it’s the middle 40% of rents in a given market. Considering that the Department of Housing and Urban Development sets the maximum price for “affordable” housing at 30% of the occupants’ gross household income, whether “middle market” housing is going to also be “affordable” housing or not will vary, but it seems unlikely that most of it will.
- ANDREW: The plan does make some mention of parks, but largely talks about increasing the amount of activities at existing city parks rather than providing for new ones. This lack of planning doesn’t exactly surprise me considering the whole point of the plan is to assume that by 2040, all of Pearland will be developed. I don’t know about you, but the idea of a 100% developed city sounds pretty cramped to me, not to mention not particularly eco-friendly. Wildlife need somewhere to live, after all.
- ANDREW: I also want to point out that there’s no concrete mention of improving public transit. There is some discussion of making it easier to go from driving on roads to biking on trails, which is nice, but not everyone can bike. Similarly, there is some discussion of new pedestrianized space – again, good to have, but not going to reduce the amount of traffic that the report says puts several of Pearland’s intersections at capacity. The plan talks about METRO being a key player in the implementation strategy, but doesn’t say anything about what they actually need to do, or what the City needs to do to engage them. Deep in the document, there’s a few words about working with the Houston-Galveston Area Council on transit planning, but aside from one example of a park and ride to the Med Center, it’s mostly just “watch this space”.
- ANDREW: To sum up, this plan goes into plenty of detail about the things that City Council has focused on for decades now: new housing, new businesses, and new streets. These things are important, yes, but in my view, they get an inordinate amount of attention by city leaders. It’s time to talk about Pearland’s other needs.
- MIKE: I want to say how impressed I am when you actually dig into these actual mind-numbing documents.
- Harris County parks study looks to Spring Creek Greenway expansion; By Jessica Shorten | COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM | 1:45 PM Nov 10, 2023 CST
- Plans to expand trails along the Spring Creek Greenway are scheduled to move forward following the release of the Harris County Precinct 3 Parks and Trails plan on Aug. 31.
- According to the document, which outlines roughly $125 million in new trail projects in the service area including Spring, Cypress and the southernmost part of The Woodlands, the Spring Creek Greenway project will connect a trail spanning from Gosling Road to the Tomball Parkway in the next 20 years.
- “We needed a plan to connect residents with our amazing green spaces,” [Republican] Harris County Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey said. “Our population is expected to double by 2045, which means engineered solutions for green activity spaces are a must for future generations.”
- The Woodlands Township also approved contributing $5 million toward Precinct 3’s projects to expand the Spring Creek trail and amenities as part of its partnership with Ramsey’s office. …
- The projects are on a 10-year time frame but could be pushed back depending on economic and weather conditions, officials said. The funding for the projects at Spring Creek will mostly be funded out of the 2022 Harris County $1.2 billion bond package with $5 million in joint funding by the township.
- Construction will be managed and overseen by Harris County, and The Woodlands is not expected to have any obligation besides the joint funding on the project, officials said.
- MIKE: I’ll be honest. I never would have given Tom Ramsey credit for being a forward-looking green space guy, but I’ll give credit where it’s due. And while I can’t believe I’m saying this, the Pearland City Council might take a cue from Tom Ramsey on this greenspace issue.
- ANDREW: You’re telling me. Next, Ramsey will be talking about adding new bus and light rail stops.
- HISD committee advances plan to extend year, allow uncertified high school teachers; by Asher Lehrer-Small / Staff writer | HOUSTONLANDING.ORG | November 14, 2023
- The Houston ISD school year is likely to begin earlier and last longer in 2024 after an advisory committee on Tuesday evening advanced a plan opting the district out of several state education laws.
- The plan would let HISD start the school year sooner in August, hold up to 180 days of class, adopt a new teacher evaluation system and hire uncertified high school instructors without seeking state waivers, among other changes.
- In a 41-to-11 vote from its District Advisory Committee, which is required by law to sign off on the plan, HISD took the second-to-last step to become a so-called “District of Innovation,” a designation the vast majority of Texas districts already share. The process, ushered by new Superintendent Mike Miles, began in early September and is scheduled to move to HISD’s state-appointed school board for a final vote in mid-December.
- “Roughly 95 percent of districts in the state (have received District of Innovation status). We believe HISD students also deserve the flexibility that is allowed by a (District of Innovation) plan,” said Edgardo Colon, an attorney and University of Houston-Downtown lecturer who helped create the proposal.
- The plan, which includes requests for seven exemptions from state law, is a scaled-back version of a draft HISD released earlier this month. The final document tweaked the guidelines for implementing certain provisions and removed others entirely after members of the advisory committee voiced concerns during a Nov. 8 meeting.
- The three abandoned exemptions would have sought to increase class size limits for kindergarten through fourth grade, scrap a requirement that families be notified if their children are taught by an uncertified teacher, and allow schools to eliminate their behavior coordinator position. Because of their removal from the plan, HISD will continue to be beholden to those state laws. …
- Despite the changes, the plan remains controversial. Several dozen community members spoke during public comment, the majority urging committee members to vote against the proposal.
- Catherine Valdez, a parent at HISD’s Coop Elementary School, said she was concerned about the provision allowing uncertified teachers to be hired at the high school level without waivers. …
- The implementation guidance in the final proposal also sets a 180-day maximum for next school year, allows for up to 185 days by 2025-26, and pushes back the implementation of a new, HISD-specific teacher evaluation system to 2025-26 at the earliest. Miles previously tried to implement his own evaluation tool, but ran into legal troubles in late August.
- An earlier draft of the District of Innovation proposal also had sought to allow the hiring of non-licensed instructors in most elementary and middle school grades, but the final proposal walked back language in its “implementation guidance” section to specify such hires only would be made at the high school level.
- The recommendations for implementation are not legally binding, Miles has acknowledged, leading some community members to worry the expressed parameters may not be followed. Miles has said he will stick to the plan, even if “in theory” HISD could break from the guidelines without penalty.
- “I’m from the old days where if you make a handshake, that’s a promise and you do it,” Miles told the advisory committee last week in a video of the meeting obtained by the Houston Landing. …
- MIKE: I’m from the old days, too, and even back then, when push came to shove, a handshake deal wasn’t worth the paper it was written on. Going on …
- If HISD’s board approves the District of Innovation plan in December by a two-thirds majority, its provisions will take effect immediately, according to a district spokesperson.
- Any future changes to the plan that add exemptions from state law must receive approval from the District Advisory Committee and the school board.
- MIKE: As a kid, I would not have been in favor of a longer school year, but I suspect that parents are all for it. It means less unsupervised time for kids that parents have to worry about, or alternatively pay for more childcare for younger children.
- MIKE: Also, studies show that a longer school year tends to lead to higher academic achievement. Basically, kids have more time to learn and less time to forget what they’ve learned.
- ANDREW: I’m strongly against this plan. For one thing, a longer school year is like if your employer gave you fewer vacation or sick days and didn’t increase your salary to compensate, or if you were forced to regularly work overtime without pay. Schooling is far more like a job than most adults want to acknowledge, and just like adult workers need rest, so do students. If parents need more time away from their kids, school districts should offer free after-school childcare that doesn’t come with educational requirements for students. That way, kids still get the chance to rest, and so do parents. It would also create an opportunity for more jobs, and for districts to lobby for more funding. Everyone wins.
- ANDREW: Talking of jobs, though, I have another objection to this plan. The idea of allowing uncertified teachers is very alarming to me from a labor perspective. Teachers are already underpaid and overworked. If HISD is allowed to hire uncertified people to teach classes, any teacher that tries to advocate to improve their conditions or compensation could be replaced that much easier. Theoretically, this change would benefit teachers who have lost their certification unjustly, for things like quitting a poor teaching job during the school year. It would also help HISD keep adequate staffing in spite of the teacher shortage. But better solutions to those problems exist, like allowing teachers to quit without endangering their certification, and giving teachers increases in pay and restoring their rights to organize and collectively bargain as labor. Some of those solutions are outside of the scope of HISD, but I believe this “solution” of not needing certification will do far more harm than even doing nothing.
- ANDREW: I think this plan is another fine example of why you should never trust anything Mike Miles likes.
- MIKE: Yes, you’re right. Mike Miles is automatically untrustworthy.
- Harris County OKs $11M contract to send 360 inmates to Mississippi to ease jail overcrowding; by McKenna Oxenden / Staff writer and Akhil Ganesh / Staff writer | HOUSTONLANDING.ORG | November 14, 2023
- Harris County will send up to 360 jail inmates to a Mississippi private prison under an $11.3 million contract approved by Commissioners Court Tuesday, nearly two weeks after state regulators ordered the county to move more people out of its congested lockup.
- The county has struggled to ease jail overcrowding in the face of a backlog in its criminal courts. More than 70 percent of the 9,378 current inmates are awaiting trial, according to the county’s online jail population dashboard.
- The agreement will begin Dec. 1 and last for one year, with an option to renew each year, for up to four years, under the same terms. The contract calls for the county to pay $85 per inmate per day to be held at Tallahatchie Correctional Facility in Tutwiler, Mississippi. Commissioners Court unanimously approved the agreement.
- County leaders said the contract is necessary to meet state jail regulations and “maintain a secure workspace for employees and safe living environment for inmates.” The Tallahatchie Correctional facility is “the only one” that has adequate staffing and bed space, according to the county administrator’s office. …
- The state Commission on Jail Standards earlier this month told the county it had to move more people out of its crowded jail and gave the sheriff’s department until Dec. 1 to come up with a plan to transfer inmates to other facilities.
- Spencer said the county looked at proximity, price and track record while working with the county’s purchasing department to find the best fit.
- The Tallahatchie Correctional facility is a private prison run by CoreCivic, which operates more than 100 criminal justice facilities throughout the United States. The Tutwiler lockup is a medium-security facility that houses inmates from states as far as Vermont and South Carolina, as well as federal inmates. Inmates to be sent from Harris County generally will be those who do not have a court date in the near future, officials said. …
- The Tallahatchie facility is about 500 miles from Houston.
- Asked if the Mississippi facility had a track record of proper care and security, Spencer said, “I would say there haven’t been any red flags that have been brought to our attention.”
- Texas Jail Project co-founder and executive director Krish Gunda disagreed, saying CoreCivic’s prisons have been “plagued by allegations of mistreatment and abuse.” CoreCivic’s prisons in Tennessee underwent a state audit in 2020 that revealed that correctional facility staff did not collect and accurately report data on inmate deaths, nor did they record allegations of sexual abuse and allegations in a timely manner.
- Gunda also pointed to the federal government’s move to end its use of private criminal detention facilities as a sign that the county should be apprehensive about working with the company.
- “So, the (Federal Bureau of Prisons) stopped working with them, but somehow the Commissioner’s Court sees them as a responsible custodian for Harris County residents? I don’t understand that,” she said.
- County Judge Lina Hidalgo said “there’s no other option” other than to support the contract. She said she sympathizes with families who will face difficulties visiting their incarcerated loved ones and that she is “working to create other options for us and not just accept that as the answer.”
- “To those families, it breaks my heart, and I wish we didn’t have to do it and I’m hoping to honor them by figuring out a solution,” Hidalgo said. “It’s not going to be easy, I don’t have it yet. It’s a little scary to say I’m working on one and I don’t know if we’re going to find one. But I’m going to try my hardest to find one.”
- The contract requires CoreCivic to provide access to “reasonable visitation with family members.”
- “Harris County’s preference is to also provide a video visitation solution for their inmates to visit families and friends,” the contract states.
- That solution is not good enough, according to criminal defense attorney and former Harris County public defender Allison Mathis, who said the lack of in-person visitation can make it hard for families to understand what is happening to their loved ones in jail.
- Video calls also can hamper the quality of the criminal defense Mathis said she can offer.
- “I feel uncomfortable showing a client evidence in their case over a recorded, or even a seemingly unrecorded, video visit because I can’t trust that it won’t somehow be recorded,” she said. “I need to be able to have private, privileged, in-person conversations with my clients and I’m unable to do that when they’ve been shipped out.”
- She said when clients are sent to other facilities, it becomes much more difficult to assess how well they are actually doing in jail.
- Earlier this month marked the first time in recent years that the Texas Commission on Jail Standards ordered the sheriff’s office to reduce its inmate population. Previously, officials voluntarily moved them out of the county. …
- The Harris County Jail has been considered out of compliance with Texas’ minimum safety standards since Sept. 2022, when an inspection found dozens of incarcerated people waiting to be processed in holding cells for more than 48 hours, a violation of state code. Subsequent inspections identified failures to provide medical care, lax monitoring of a person who died in the jail and staffing shortages. …
- At the request of Hidalgo, the Office of the County Administration will provide an update on the county jail at each Commissioners Court meeting. On Tuesday, the court decided to focus efforts on prioritizing ways to reduce the length of jail stays, particularly for those charged with murder, in an effort to reduce the jail population. The county also will focus on the retention of detention officers.
- “We want to provide a relief valve for the jails right now and then look at longer term issues,” said County Administrator Diana Ramirez. “And right now length of stay is one of the biggest problems.”
- MIKE: On behalf of the inmates involved, my first reaction to the headline of this story was, “Oh crap! Going to jail in Mississippi??”
- MIKE: My second reaction to the body of the story, was, “Oh crap! To a privately operated jail??”
- MIKE: And then, of course, there’s the issue of 500 miles away from friends, family, and representation.
- MIKE: According to the story, Harris County has been out of compliance since September of 2022. So we need more courts and judges, speedier trials when possible, and perhaps more bail releases where safe and practical. My last choice would be more jail space, but that can’t be left off the table.
- MIKE: This problem of insufficient, relatively humane jail space was surely predictable a long time back. It’s fair to ask why something wasn’t done earlier, even years ago.
- ANDREW: Agreed. I would also suggest looking into whether some of the over seventy percent of current inmates who haven’t yet been convicted have cases that the prosecutor’s office thinks are based on circumstantial evidence or otherwise unlikely to result in conviction, and see if they can just drop the charges. Mercy may be an alien concept to the criminal legal system, but it may be just the thing to help Harris County deal with its overcrowding problem.
- Vote delayed on Bush airport expansion after Houston controller raises financial concerns; By Shaheryar Khan, Shawn Arrajj | COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM | 6:37 PM Nov 14, 2023 CST, Updated 6:47 PM Nov 14, 2023 CST
- The plan to expand Terminal B at George Bush Intercontinental Airport hit a delay at a Nov. 8 Houston City Council meeting as Houston City Controller Chris Brown declined to approve an agreement between the city and United Airlines, leading to the postponement of a council vote.
- The item is slated to return to the council for discussion at a Nov. 15 meeting.
- The agenda item would allocate $150 million from the city’s airport system construction toward the nearly $2.6 billion project. The project aims to modernize and expand Terminal B, which was announced in May during a Houston City Council Economic Development Committee meeting.
- Under the agreement, the city would allocate $624 million in total in three tranches.
- Brown said he declined to approve the agreement due to various concerns outlined in a Nov. 9 memorandum his office sent to Mario Diaz, director of the Houston Airport System.
- The main concern, according to the memorandum, is the lack of clarity on the financial terms and design plans for the Terminal B redevelopment project.
- Brown said his concerns include:
- The project is only partially designed, which Brown said makes it challenging for the city to accurately estimate costs.
- The feasibility study for the $650 million city bond issuance required by the memorandum of agreement has not been completed, which Brown said is needed to assess the city’s capacity to issue the planned debt.
- The resolution that details the financing for the $1.9 billion in special facility revenue bonds has not been completed for review.
- United has a B credit rating, which Brown said indicates potential financial risks.
- At the Nov. 8 council meeting, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said he was not informed why Brown was holding the item up prior to the meeting, suggesting the move was political. The said the project was ready to move forward and was too important to hold up, adding that United could decide to build the project in another city.
- “His job is to certify if the dollars are there,” Turner said. “The dollars are there. There is no reason for the controller to be holding on this item and jeopardizing this major project at United.”
- Brown said not enough analysis has been done on what might happen if United defaults and gates need to be leased again, which he said shows a lack of risk assessment.
- Brown said the agreement will burden the next administration with an extra $2.6 billion in debt within two months of taking office, which he said causes worries about the financial strain on future administrations.
- In a statement, United officials thanked Turner for his support of the project and said they remained eager to move the project forward.
- “United Airlines is committed to providing the best travel experience to our customers and that includes investing in the $2.5B redevelopment of our Houston hub,” officials said in a statement. “We are eager for the Houston City Council to approve their portion of this project, so we can deliver on the numerous benefits to our customers and employees.” …
- The Houston City Council will meet again Nov. 15 to further discuss the Terminal B redevelopment project.
- MIKE: As someone whose experiences at enormous airport terminals have become increasingly traumatic, I have several reactions to this story.
- MIKE: First, I acknowledge the need to grow and modernize the airport terminals as traveler demand increases, infrastructure ages, and technological capabilities and needs grow.
- MIKE: Also, at least superficially, I think that controller Chris Brown may be making some good points. I can’t tell whether Brown’s objections have political motives, fiscal ones, or a mix of both.
- MIKE: Mayor Turner’s unreserved support for the project is politically predictable, but doesn’t seem to address Brown’s concerns, at least within this story.
- MIKE: But I have my own concerns about airports generally, and the plans this Terminal B and other terminals going forward: How are human adults and children supposed to navigate these enormous terminals that are designed for airlines and leased businesses, but are not designed for easy navigability by humans?
- MIKE: It seems that as airport terminals have grown, they deliberately been made less As one example, there is a long stretch of one terminal at IAH — Terminal C, I think — that used to have a moving sidewalk to help travelers navigate long stretches of corridor. That was eventually removed. The reason, as best I can ascertain, was so they could rent corridor space to retail carts along the way. A moving sidewalk would make it inevitable that people would bypass those carts, making the space useless for retail, so income revenue won, and travelers lost.
- MIKE: In my one experience at Heathrow in London, a prime example was a large cosmetics retail space between security and the gates. The corridor through this retail space was winding, making it longer and slower to navigate. In the case of one elderly couple ahead of me, the wife stopped her husband so she could shop for cosmetics on the way to the gate. This is a prime example of retail and the airport winning, but the husband lost.
- MIKE: In sum, if you want to expand and upgrade an air terminal, that’s fine. Get the designs and finances worked out and do it. But just as large cities need some forms of mass transit, so do airport terminals. The traveler must come first. It’s the humane and necessary thing to do.
- ANDREW: Good points. I’m mainly disturbed by Turner’s concern that United will choose to fund a terminal extension somewhere else. To me, worrying that a business (especially a multimillion-dollar business like United) is going to choose to go somewhere else is a sign that a public servant is not prioritizing their constituents. If United can’t wait for the very reasonable expectations of, you know, knowing what all the money is going to be spent on and whether the city can handle the debt, then they should go somewhere else because that deal sounds like a metaphorical ticking time bomb – something usually not very welcome at an airport.
- How McConnell helped engineer Manchin’s exit; Assuming Jim Justice wins in West Virginia, the Senate GOP now only needs to gain one more seat — or none at all, depending on the presidential race — to take the majority. By Burgess Everett and Ally Mutnick | POLITICO.COM | 11/09/2023 06:19 PM EST [Filed under: Congress, Sherrod Brown, Mitch McConnell, Filibuster, Joe Manchin, Steve Daines, Kyrsten Sinema, Ruben Gallego, Jim Justice, Matt Rosendale, Tommy Tuberville, John Fetterman, Kari Lake, Tim Sheehy]
- Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans worked for more than a year to make Joe Manchin’s retirement announcement on Thursday a reality. And for good reason: The Democrat’s decision puts Republicans on the precipice of a majority that’s eluded them for two straight election cycles.
- McConnell himself laid the groundwork last fall when he flew out to see the popular Gov. Jim Justice (R-W.Va.), the GOP leader said in an interview. McConnell said Justice initially seemed like he had never considered it, but a few months later, Justice launched his bid.
- After the governor got in the race, McConnell’s campaign chief, Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), spent months trying to persuade former President Donald Trump to endorse Justice, according to a person familiar with the discussions. During the ultimately successful operation, Daines argued to Trump that endorsing Justice could knock Manchin out of the race — and make the Democrat more likely to run for president, siphoning votes from Biden. …
- The [2024 election Senate] map is not in Democrats’ favor. There’s almost no chance they hold West Virginia now. That means Sens. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) will have to hold the line in difficult territory.
- All the while, Republicans released polling showing Manchin faced an uphill battle against Justice and spent early money on ads attacking him for supporting President Joe Biden’s agenda. Justice was in the middle of an interview with a West Virginia newspaper when news broke of Manchin’s retirement, and an aide sent him a text message with a link to the video announcement. …
- Beyond defending Tester, Brown and a slate of purple state senators, Democrats are now under additional pressure to oust Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.), difficult pickup opportunities that represent their best shot this cycle. That’s how the party expanded its majority last year — reelecting every incumbent and then adding a seat with Fetterman’s midterm win.
- The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is making investments in those states as former Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell of Florida and Rep. Colin Allred of Texas mount uphill challenges to Scott and Cruz. …
- Democrats’ easiest path to keeping the majority is probably to reelect all of their incumbents, who are generally raising eye-popping sums while Republicans focus on electing candidates who can be successful in a general election race after Trump’s endorsements sank the GOP’s hopes last cycle. Montana and Ohio are both redder territory than any of the seats Democrats held last cycle.
- MIKE: The story isn’t quite as nefarious as the title suggests. From McConnell’s point of view, it’s actually perfectly reasonable.
- MIKE: This is a nationally focused story, so Texas is mentioned almost as an afterthought, but it raises again my puzzlement about why John Whitmire is running for Houston mayor in 2023.
- MIKE: Given his campaign war chest and centrist credentials, I felt he should have made a run for Texas governor in 2022 or even Senator in 2024. (Nothing against Colin Allred, who I like a lot.)
- MIKE: Maybe Whitmire has a more Machiavellian strategy in mind. Assuming he wins the mayoral runoff, he might get a statewide profile as a centrist Houston mayor, and then run for Governor of Texas in 2026. Or, if he loses the mayoral runoff, he may enter the race for US Senate in 2024. That would be late to enter, but not impossible. He has high name recognition and lots of campaign money. Although at 74 years old now, he is probably reaching the end of his political career. Maybe he sees running for Houston Mayor as his last hurrah.
- MIKE: Now that I think about it, at the age of 73, Sheila Jackson Lee may be having the same thought, especially having started her career in Houston City Council.
- MIKE: At their current ages, either Whitmire or Jackson Lee might end up as a one-term mayor.
- ANDREW: That almost sounds a little ominous. You’re not planning something, are you, Mike? (I’m joking.)
- ANDREW: Running for Mayor of Houston would certainly be an effective way to build name recognition in the largest city and second-largest metro area in the state for a later bid for another I wonder if any of the other candidates who didn’t make it to the runoff are planning that.
- ANDREW: As for the Senate race itself, from a third-party perspective, I’m hoping to have someone on the 2024 ballot that I can stomach voting for. I haven’t seen anyone declare for the Libertarian nomination yet, but there is one person who’s filed paperwork to run for the Green nomination. Their filing address is in North Dakota, interestingly, but then, sometimes an outsider can really improve a political landscape. God knows Texas has plenty of room for improvement.
- Wisconsin judge orders former chief justice to turn over records related to impeachment advice; Story by By SCOTT BAUER | ASSOCIATED PRESS | Nov. 10, 2023 @ 7h ago
- A Wisconsin judge on Friday ordered the former chief justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court to produce records related to her work advising the Republican Assembly speaker on whether to impeacha current justice.
- Former Chief Justice Patience Roggensack was one of three former Supreme Court justices asked by Assembly Speaker Robin Vos to give him advice on pursuing impeachment. Vos has floated impeachment against liberal Justice Janet Protasiewicz [PRON.: pro-tuh-SAY-witz] based on how she rules on a pending redistricting lawsuitDemocrats hope will result in new legislative electoral maps.
- The liberal watchdog group American Oversight fileda lawsuit seeking records from Vos and the three former justices. Vos and two of the former justices, David Prosser and Jon Wilcox, turned over records. That included an email from Prosser to Vos advisingagainst impeachment. Vos turned over more than 20,000 pages of documents last week, American Oversight attorney Ben Sparks said at a Friday hearing. …
- The only former justice who did not produce any records was Roggensack.
- When American Oversight attempted to serve Roggensack with a subpoena at her home, an elderly man who answered the door said he did not know anyone by that name and closed the door, [American Oversight attorney Ben Sparks] said in court while quoting a statement from the process server.
- On Friday, Dane County Circuit Judge Frank Remington issued an order giving Roggensack 30 days to produce any records she has. …
- All of the former justices have a responsibility to produce records they maintain related to their work “whether they understood it or not in accepting the invitation to opine on the question presented,” he said.
- Roggensack’s attorney, Robert Shumaker, did not return a phone message or email seeking comment. …
- [Assembly Speaker Vos] originally said he was considering impeachment if Protasiewicz did not recuse herself from the redistricting She did not recuse. Vos did not move to impeach her, following the advice against impeachment from the former justices. But now he’s suggestinghe may attempt to impeach her if she does not rule in favor of upholding the current Republican-drawn maps. …
- Protasiewicz, in her decision not to recuse from the case, said that while stating her opinion about the maps, she never made a promise or pledge about how she would rule on the case.
- The redistricting lawsuit, filed the day after Protasiewicz joined the court in August and flipped majority control to 4-3 for liberals, asks that all 132 state lawmakers be up for election next year in newly drawn districts.
- The legislative electoral maps drawn by the Republican-controlled Legislature in 2011 cemented the party’s majorities, which now stand at 64-35 in the Assembly and a 22-11 supermajority in the Senate. Republicans adopted maps last year that were similar to the existing ones.
- Wisconsin’s Assembly districts rank among the most gerrymandered nationally, with Republicans routinely winning far more seats than would be expected based on their average share of the vote, according to an AP analysis.
- MIKE: Wisconsin is an important electoral state. I don’t think this case has any precedent-setting potential in other states, but it’s important in and of itself. And it might act as a deterrent for similar attempts at judicial impeachment for partisan purposes.
- ANDREW: True, although this is a good time to mention that we don’t have to keep putting up with gerrymandering.
- ANDREW: The Fair Representation Act would eliminate gerrymandering of US House elections in most states by turning the whole state into one multi-member at-large district. In Wisconsin there would be two districts and a boundary drawn between them, but as there would be only one line to examine and a lot more voters in each district, gerrymandering would be very difficult to pull off.
- ANDREW: These would be federal House districts, but putting them in place for federal elections would make it more likely that similar ideas would be adopted for state elections, too. More information about the FRA is on the blog at com.
- MIKE: The way you describe the FRA, it almost sounds like turning federal House elections into a parliamentary system, where legislatures are apportioned by vote fractions. I’m honestly not sure if a US state can do that in our federal system, but I honestly don’t know. It may be a state discretion issue, like how they apportion districts and regulate elections. From the way it sounds, I don’t see how this solves the problem of gerrymandering the new distracts with different forms of packing and cracking.
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- Make sure you are registered to vote! VoteTexas.GOV – Texas Voter Information
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