Houston GLBT Caucus Judicial Endorsements

I had heard good things about the Houston GLBT Caucus' endorsement process for contested Harris County Democratic judicial races in the March Primary. The questions were rigorous, and the selections were important to the HGLBT membership. I got the list of their endorsements yesterday from President Kris Banks, along with a quote from him. I've added in parenthesis the opponent(s) in each Democratic Primary race.

"We're really proud of this year's endorsement proceedings. Our screening committee worked really hard and put forth probably the most difficult any of the judicial candidates will face. Some compared it to taking the bar again. We did it that way because these races are extraordinarily important to us. We want to make sure we had the absolute best candidates. We're going to be mailing out our endorsement card to a strong universe of voters. We're also looking at other volunteer opportunities to make sure our candidates win."

Kris Banks, President, Houston GLBT Caucus

HGLBT endorsed judicial candidates in contested Democratic Primary races in Harris County:

113^th Civil District Court

Christina Bryan
(opponent: Jerome Fjeld)

157^th Civil District Court

Chuck Silverman
(opponent: Shawn Thierry)

180^th Criminal District Court

Lori Gooch
(opponent: Darrel Jordan)

189^th Civil District Court

Andy Pereira
(opponents: Ursula Hall, Larry Hinojosa) 

190^th Civil District Court

Jim Wrotenbery
(opponent: Olan Boudreaux)

234^th Civil District Court

Tanner Garth
(opponents: Nile Copeland, Jim Peacock)

245^th Family District Court

Janiece Horn
(opponent: Ray Fisher)

247^th Family District Court

Clinton “Chip” Wells
(opponent: Mary Kay Green)

248^th Criminal District Court

Trent Gaither
(opponent: Jim Sullivan)

270^th Civil District Court

Charles Spain
(opponents: Lee Arellano, Bob Thomas)

281^st Civil District Court

Donna Roth 
(opponent: Juliet Stipeche)

295^th Civil District Court

Paul Simon
(opponent: Reginald Mckamie)

308^th Family District Court

Bruce Kessler
(opponents: Porfiro Diaz, Julia Maldonado)

310^th Family District Court

Judy Dougherty
(opponent: Tammy Demming)

311^th Family District Court

Steve Herskowitz
(opponents: Damiane Curvey Banieh, Brad Morris, Deborah Wright)

313^th Juvenile District Court 

Natalie Oakes
(opponents: Marc Isenberg, Anthony Referente)

314^th Juvenile District Court

David Longoria
(opponent: John Liles)

315^th Juvenile District Court

Bill Thursland
(opponent: Keith Branch)

County Court at Law No. 1

Steve Reilley
(opponent: Erica Graham)

County Court at Law No. 2

Damian E. LaCroix
(opponent: Cheryl Elliot Thornton)

County Court at Law No. 3

Damon Crenshaw
(opponent: Javier Valenzuela)

County Criminal Court No. 1

Beverly D. Melontree
(opponents: Anthony Limitone, Louis McWherter

County Criminal Court No. 2

Mary Connealy Acosta
(opponent: Miles LeBlanc)

County Criminal Court No. 13

Dennis Slate
(opponent: John O'Sullivan)

County Criminal Court No. 3

Judith Snively
(opponent: Oliver Lloyd)

County Criminal Court No. 9

Silvia Pubchara-Munoz
(opponent: Juanita Barner)

County Criminal Court No. 12

Robert “Bob” Cardenas
(opponent: Cheryl Diggs)

County Probate Court No. 2

Joellen Snow
(opponent: Michael Skadden)

County Probate Court No. 3

Mary Galligan
(opponent: Priscilla Walters)

Needed in Fort Bend: Democratic Spell Checker

The incumbent chair of the Fort Bend County Democratic Party, Elaine Bishop, turned in the names for the Democratic Primary ballot and spelled her opponent's name wrong. It's Stephen "Steve" Brown, not Stephan Brown. OOPS. And, they had a testy exchange, via the Fort Bend Herald:

Brown:

“This situation is unfortunate, but not surprising,” Brown said in a statement Wednesday. “Ms. Bishop’s lack of diligence in carrying out her official duties was a motivating factor in my decision to run for this position. This isn’t the first time Ms. Bishop has made errors in submitting a candidate’s name for the ballot. If Ms. Bishop would only give the kind of attention to official business as she does to her own campaign, we would not be facing this kind of problem on the eve of an election. Her lack of leadership hurts the party, but her lack of attention to detail in the discharge of her public duties costs the taxpayers.” 

Bishop:

Bishop told The Herald she took responsibility for the mistake, that it was corrected and “we’re moving on.” She said there was no attempt to target him, and she wondered where he had been the last several years insofar as his own contributions to the county’s Democratic Party.

Well, probably, like me, Brown hasn't wanted to contribute to a Party that is not effective and not really organizing. (wild guess)

The same story ran on Fort Bend Now, where they noted that the word "county" is misspelled as "country" on the list of candidates on the Fort Bend County Democratic Party website. That led me to go take a look and see if there were other misspellings, and there are some:

Govenor instead of Governor
Lt. Govenor instead of Lt. Governor
Phillip Atisebaomo instead of Phillip Aitsebaomo
Marsha Rovia instead of Marsha Rovai

At least the list of candidates looks a little more complete than when I first looked at it a few weeks ago. I have to wonder if Aitsebaomo's and Rovai's names are spelled incorrectly on the ballot.

You can message Steve Brown for a yard sign through his Facebook page. I just did.

A Kinky Story Involving Jason Stanford and a Dog

Here's how the story goes:

Jason Stanford is an opposition researcher and political consultant who has been Chris Bell's guy - ran his 06 campaign for Governor and was a senior consultant on his SD17 Senate run. Stanford recently did oppo research for the Gene Locke campaign, and very briefly consulted on the Farouk Shami's campaign for Governor. Democrats will remember that Kinky Friedman ran against Bell for Governor in 2006, as an Independent. Kinky wanted to do it again in 10, but this time run as a Democrat in the Governor's race (like that would work).

Anyway, when Bill White got in the Governor's race, Kinky moved over to the Agriculture race against Democrat and Shami-supporter Hank Gilbert (making it a Kinky Hanky contest). This still seems like a terrible idea  - we know Kinky is not a real Democrat - but, hey, until we pass a Party ID bill, why the hell not?

Now we learn that Stanford is the communications director for the Kinky for Ag Commissioner campaign. Jason has all the oppo research on Kinky from 2006, so he goes into it with his eyes wide open on the inappropriate quotes. But, how does Chris Bell feel about it?

"I'm not going to pretend I was pleased about it," Bell said. "That wouldn't have been my choice. Kinky has gone to great lengths to continue to disparage me."

[---]

Bell said Stanford has known Friedman for a long time. "I think he adopted a dog from him," he said.

I've got another very good friend working on a campaign I'm not supporting, and I wish both him and Jason well . . . folks have got to work. But, while I wish Jason well, I don't wish the same for Kinky. Jason's got to do what Jason's got to do, but Kinky is not a Democrat and he needs to lose to the real Democrat in the Ag Commissioner's race - Hank Gilbert - in March.

Musing About Unnecessary Quotation Marks in TX-18

Have you ever read the "blog" of unnecessary quotation marks? It's full of hilarious examples of people using quotation marks when they don't need to. I got this email today from the Jarvis Johnson campaign, which sent me scurrying to find the link to that blog:

The Jarvis Johnson Campaign for the 18th Congressional District has truly gained "momentum." We invite you to "JOIN THE MOMENTUM" this Saturday, January 30, 2010 @ 10:30 a.m. at an energy-building campaign rally for a New Direction. Come by the Campaign Headquarters (3404 Lyons) and meet the candidate. Hear why Jarvis is the community's choice for the 18th Congressional District. There will food, fun, special entertainment, and opportunities to volunteer. Bring the family!!! Be on the “right side of history”! We voted for CHANGE in Washington in 2008. NOW IT'S TIME TO BRING IT "TO THE GROUND!" www.jarvisforcongress.com

Is it important to quote the "right side of history"? As if someone might be dumb enough to mistake it for the "wrong side of history"? Bring it "to the ground" instead of bring it "up in the air"? Who "wrote" this?

Will Sheila Jackson Lee put out a "dueling" press release? Maybe something about how she is a "proven" leader who has had 16 years of "momentum" in Congress?

Go read that unnecessary quotes blog. You'll get a good laugh, so you can "thank" me now.

Second Semester Brings Focus on TAKS

With the Houston ISD school board voting to base teacher evaluations, in part, on their students' TAKS scores, I thought I'd give you a glimpse into how schools are preparing their students for TAKS.

TAKS will be administered during March, April and May. The schedule can be found here. My examples of TAKS prep will be focused on science - the content area where I do my education consulting.

What grade levels administer Science TAKS tests and what do they cover?

5th graders take a Science TAKS test that covers information and skills they learned in 2nd-5th grade.

8th grade students take a Science TAKS test covering 6th-8th grade material.

10th graders take a Science TAKS test that covers the Nature of Science (mostly interpreting experimental results, but also lab safety and lab equipment), Introduction to Physics and Chemistry (IPC - mostly not taught anymore) and Biology.

11th graders take a Science Exit TAKS that covers the mostly the same topics as the 10th grade test. Texas high school students cannot graduate without passing their science, social studies, English and math Exit TAKS. Students can retake their Exit TAKS up to five times to try and pass (and, I have seen students have to take the Science Exit five times). Retakes for the Science Exit are in October, March, April and during the summer. I've worked with students who passed all their high school course work but have failed one or more Exits, and have returned to high school just to participate in TAKS prep classes, so they can get their diploma.

Some things are obvious: 
Science TAKS accountability falls only on teachers with 5th, 8th, 10th and 11th grade students.
These teachers are being told right now, "you are responsible for your students passing TAKS." If you are a fifth grade teacher, it's often the case that science isn't really taught in 2nd-4th grades, because of the TAK pressure in the areas of reading, writing, and math, so you've been spending the entire year backtracking on skills and knowledge from past grade levels. You are quite possibly in panic mode right now, after looking at data which shows low scores on fall benchmarks.

Science is definitely taught in 6th and 7th grade, but there's no guarantee a teacher's 8th grade students got quality science instruction in the previous grades, or that the students retained prior knowledge. You've got no option but to find time to review the 6th and 7th grade material.

High school has different scenarios. 10th and 11th grade TAKS takers are sprinkled throughout a variety of science courses. It might be the case that MOST 9th graders take Biology, and most 10th graders take Chemistry and most 11th graders take Physics - but some students are in IPC as a freshman or sophomore because of low math or science grades. Some students have failed classes, and while they should be in 11th grade if they are taking physics, they might actually be classified as a sophomore. To add to confusion, administrators are in the process of reclassifying high school students right now, based on if they passed enough classes in the fall to move up a grade level.

So, how are schools prepping students for TAKS?
First, schools who are on top of things are carefully examining student data to determine which students need extra help to pass TAKS. Generally, you rank your students in order from most likely to pass, to least likely, by looking at past TAKS scores, current year benchmark scores, grades and the teacher's professional judgement. Whether anyone wants to say it out loud or not, there are "bubble kids" who are in the middle - those who are expected to barely pass or barely fail who need intervention to ensure they pass. When I refer to benchmark scores, this usually means scores from a practice TAKS - one of the previously given TAKS tests that is provided by TEA. Schools typically give one benchmark in the Fall and one or two in the Spring.

Whole class focus on TAKS
Right now, and hopefully all year long, teachers are hyper aware of what material is on TAKS and what is not, so as they march through their schedule, they always do some sort of TAKS focus - more instruction on material covered on TAKS and less on other content, as well as practice TAKS questions.


After school and Saturday tutorials
These are targeted at students who are projected to fail or barely pass. The trick is to get kids to these tutorials. Food is usually used as an incentive. I asked one elementary principal who is having greater success this year getting students to tutorials than last year, how he made that happen. His answer: Happy Meals. You can make these tutorials "required", but you can't really make students attend. Enlisting parental help is a must. Motivating students by showing them what TAKS objectives they need help on, is also important.

Rescheduling students to TAKS prep classes
This is typical in higher performing schools where there are fewer students in danger of failing TAKS. Some teachers will be reassigned in the spring to teach TAKS prep classes for those students whose benchmarks scores are low and grades are poor.

TAKS packets
Oh, the joys of sending students home with TAKS prep materials and crossing your fingers they will complete them. This works a little better for higher performing students, but it takes a lot of encouraging, monitoring and reviewing to get results from this strategy.


Special TAKS prep during the school week - high schools
High schools are in a bind on TAKS. You've got a kid sitting in a Chemistry class, but they have to do well on the Biology and Physics portions of TAKS. How do you prep them? Many campuses have something like an every Friday TAKS day where Bio, Chem and Physics teachers rotate into all the science classes on a schedule, teaching very focused TAKS lessons to all students. Some high schools implement a post-spring break through TAKS test day schedule where each teacher reviews all subject areas. Yes, clearly, these strategies prevent teachers from fully covering their own curriculum during much of the Spring semester, but what are you supposed to do when your school accountability rating depends on good science scores, not to mention teacher evaluations depending on the same thing?

If this sounds complicated, it is. These sorts of TAKS prep program can fail at several points - if the teacher is absent, if the student is absent or refuses to participate in tutorials, and if they lessons are not truly aligned with TAKS. New teachers, and schools without common planning periods or effective leadership structures, have a difficult time with aligning instruction to TAKS.

You can probably guess where I have the most problem with basing teacher evaluations on TAKS. How can one science teacher be truly accountable for all the science teaching and learning that should have happened in the other classes, and the other grade levels, that TAKS covers? It would be a little better if schools could tie each student back to every science teacher they ever had - and reward or punish those teachers for the job they did preparing that student for science TAKS in a later grade or other subject - but I don't find schools' data systems to be anywhere near sophisticated enough to accomplish that.

When does this ever end? With end of course exams, which will be required of freshmen entering high school in 2011. And, by all accounts, that will create a whole new set of challenges.

If you have your own TAKS prep scenarios or stories, please leave them in the comments.

Richard Morrison: Commissioner on Your Corner

Richard Morrison is one of two Democratic county commissioners in Fort Bend (the other being Grady Prestage). Commissioner Morrison represents Precinct 1 (map), which includes the rural parts of western Fort Bend County, Greatwood and on around south and to the west to take in part of Sienna Plantation.

Morrison conducts these as town hall style meetings where citizens can come to him and voice their concerns, as well as ask questions.

Upcoming Commissioner on Your Corner events:

Kendleton
Saturday, January 23, 4 PM
Church of God
619 FM 2919

Fresno
February 4, 6:30 PM
Mustang Community Center
4521 FM 521 North

Orchard
February 18, 6:30 PM
City Hall
9714 Kibler St.

Morrison has already held Commissioner on Your Corner events in Arcola and Needville in 2010. You can contact Commissioner Morrison at 281-344-9400 or at commpct1@co.fort-bend.tx.us.

Farouk Shami's Donations to Other Candidates in 2009

I heard rumors last fall that about the time Hank Gilbert got out of the Governor's race, Democratic candidate for Governor of Texas Farouk Shami wrote Democratic Agriculture Commissioner candidate Gilbert a check for one million dollars. A quick search on the Texas Ethics Commission website shows these donations by Shami to other candidates and political organizations during 2009:

$5000 to Ted Cruz, Republican candidate for Texas Attorney General (5/21/2009)

$10,000 to Barbara Radnofsky, Democratic candidate for Texas Attorney General (9/23/2009)

$150,000 to Hank Gilbert, Democratic Candidate for Texas Agriculture Commissioner (12/7/2009 and 12/31/2009)

$5000 to Rodney Ellis, Democratic State Senator (9/29/2009)

$20,000 to the Texas Democratic Party (9/3/2009 and 9/18/2009)

$5000 to House Democratic Campaign Committee (9/30/2009)

$1000 to El Paso County Democratic Party (12/11/2009)

$5000 to Texas Democratic Women PAC (12/2/2009)

If Shami promised Gilbert $1 million, we aren't seeing the totality of that yet. The next campaign finance reports for candidates in contested primaries are due on thirty days out from Election Day - Feb. 2nd - two and a half weeks from now.

Gilbert got out of the Governor's race on 12/4/2009 and endorsed Farouk Shami for Governor on that same day. I think my surprise is that Shami did not make more donations to more Democratic candidates.

UPDATE: Ross Ramsey with the Texas Tribune wrote about this as well (after my post went up, but hey, who's looking for attribution?).  He's got some interesting details including the tidbit that Shami did not report the Gilbert contributions on his campaign finance reports. He'll have to correct that.

I'm Supporting Steve Brown for Fort Bend County Democratic Party Chair

And here's why - Steve Brown in his own words on the priorities he has set for the Fort Bend County Democratic Party. We are currently lacking in all of these areas, and it's important we start moving in a more organized direction, with funding and involvement by more activists. I'm encouraging all Fort Bend Democrats to vote for Steve Brown in the Democratic Party Chair race in the March Primary:

Promote Our Brand - the Fort Bend County Democratic Party must be active, visible, and vigilant more than just in an election year. By reaching out and connecting with our neighbors all year, we can build a richer relationship between the party and the community. This includes developing deeper relationships across the multitude of cultures, races and ethnicities living here. We will also look to utilize all technologies to expand voter interaction in the county including but not limited to, an improved party website, e-newsletters, interactive blogs, facebook, and twitter.

Growing the Base – it’s absolutely essential that we have active and engaged precinct chairs in every Fort Bend community. Vacancies must be filled immediately and talent will be recruited in order to build the framework for engaging democrats and independents house by house. We also need to increase the number of democratic clubs. I will be a Party Chair that grows our tent so that each Democrat can find a home that facilitates their activism. I’ll recruit for the establishment of Fort Bend Democratic clubs such as: Tejano Democrats, Young Democrats, GLBT, etc. In fact, we need localized clubs in every corner of Fort Bend County.

Raising Money – FBCDP must have the resources to establish a headquarters that will centralize our activities and provide needed visibility. Resources are also needed to fund year-round voter engagement initiatives as well as a Get Out The Vote (GOTV) program during elections. To do so, we must have a major annual fundraiser, and solicit help from supporters throughout the region.

Campaigns and Elections – getting democrats elected will be driven by recruiting elect-able candidates and providing them the human resources to help garner votes. That is, we must begin cultivating campaign experts/staff who understand voter engagement and campaign management. I will promote an academy that brings in the best campaign operatives in the business (field, fund raising, social media specialists, etc.) to help train local volunteers so that we can begin staffing candidates with people from Fort Bend.

Leadership – finally, our Party must be organized and energized! Our County Executive Committee must meet regularly (as established by Party protocols), a strategic plan must be developed and executed, and Democrats must feel like they’re a part of something special in Fort Bend. This foundation of leadership will help to preserve and sustain our party, and provide for a more permanent grassroots organization county-wide. 

The Church of Chi

Like Rick Casey, I received the press release from the Farouk Shami campaign for Governor beating back the plethora of attacks on Shami's religion. Being the internet maven that I am, I wasn't going to admit out loud (in other words, pull out my Twitter megaphone) that I wasn't aware of the sudden deluge of media stories on Shami being a Muslim or a Quaker or a Muslim Quaker, or perhaps a new religion du jour. I consulted my research assistant, Ms. Google, and she pointed me to this Burnt Orange Report post about unelectable Democratic candidate for Governor, Bill Dear, and his anti-Muslim rant. That was it. That was all I could find.

Casey revealed the real campaign killer - that Shami doesn't go to church. So, let me get this straight. Farouk Shami is running for Governor of Texas and he doesn't vote AND he doesn't go to church? What's next? He doesn't hunt? He hates parades? He doesn't wear boots?

Oh, wait, he's got that last one covered, as he is the proud owner of forty-two pairs of red go-go boots. Here's some free, but genius, advice on a new Shami campaign slogan (channeling Hoover):

A Chi in Every Pot and Red Boots in Every Closet. 

It will give the media something new to latch on to, and the rest of us hope that, as Governor, Shami will give us a fashion makeover we can believe in.

Fort Bend County: Democrats on the 2010 Ballot

I had to do some detective work, and not only rely on the list on the Fort Bend County Democratic Party website, but search the list on the Texas Democratic Party website (where multi-county candidates file), in order to get a complete list of Democrats who will be on the ballot in 2010 in Fort Bend County. If I've missed anyone, or gotten anything wrong, let me know. I've tried to correct the many misspellings of names on the FBCDP site, but if I still don't have something right, please leave the correct spelling in the comments. Democratic incumbents are bolded, and Republican incumbents are identified in parenthesis.

If you don't see an office here, it means that as far as I can discern, no Democrat is running for that office in Fort Bend County. I'm providing links to some of the candidate websites, and will provide more as I find time, and as they go up on the web.

The Fort Bend County Republican Party website is loaded with bells and whistles and bright, shiny objects, but I couldn't find a list of who is running in their Primary, so I'm not touching that, for now.

U.S. Representatives
District 9: Al Green
District 14: Jeff Cherry, Robert Pruett, Winston Cochran (Ron Paul, R incumbent)
District 22: Kesha Rogers, John Wieder, Doug Blatt (Pete Olson, R incumbent)

Governor: Bill White, Farouk Shami, Star Locke, Clement E. Glenn, Bill Dear, Felix Alvarado, Alma Ludivinia Aguado (Rick Perry, R incumbent)

Lt. Governor: Linda Chavez-Thompson, Ronnie Earle, Marc Katz (David Dewhurst, R incumbent)

Attorney General: Barbara Radnofsky (Greg Abbott, R incumbent)

Land Commissioner: Bill Burton, Hector Uribe (Jerry Patterson, R incumbent)

Railroad Commissioner: Jeff Weems (Victor Carrillo, R incumbent)

Agriculture Commissioner: Hank Gilbert, Kinky Friedman (Todd Staples, R incumbent)

Texas Supreme Court, Place 3: Jim Sharp (Harriett O'Neill, R incumbent)

14th Court of Appeals, Place 5: Wally Kronzer (Kent Sullivan, R incumbent)

State Board of Education, District 10: Judy Jennings (open seat, currently held by Republican Cynthia Dunbar)

State Senators
District 13: Rodney Ellis
District 18: Patricia "Pat" Olney (Glenn Hegar, R incumbent)

State Representatives
District 26: Phillip Andrews (Charlie Howard, R incumbent)
District 27: Dora Olivo, Ron Reynolds
District 28: Wayne Raasch (John Zerwas, R incumbent)

District Judges
240th Court: Fredericka Allen (Thomas R. Culver, III, R incumbent)
268th Court: Albert Hollan (Brady Elliott, R incumbent)

County Judge: Phillip Aitisebaomo, Rodrigo Carreon (Bob Hebert, R incumbent)

County Commissioner, Precinct 2: Grady Prestage

District Clerk: Veronica Torres (Annie Rebecca Elliott, R incumbent)

County Clerk: Korinthia Miller (Dianne Wilson, R incumbent)

County Treasurer: P.K. George (Jeff Council, R incumbent)

County Judges
County Court at Law #1: Milton Flick (Bud Childers, R incumbent)
County Court at Law #2: Harrison Gregg, Jr. (Walter McMeans, R incumbent)
JP Pct 1, Place 2: R.J. Blue, Aurelia Moore, Marty Rocha (Gary Geick, R incumbent)
JP Pct 2, Place 1: Joel Clouser, Tony Sherman

Fort Bend County Democratic Party Chair: Elaine Bishop, Steve Brown

Facebook pages: Steve Brown for Fort Bend Democratic Party Chair, Judy Jennings for SBOE 10, John Wieder for TX-22, Doug Blatt for TX-22, Ron Reynolds for HD 27, Korinthia Miller for Fort Bend County Clerk, Fredericka Allen for 240th Judicial District Court

UPDATE: Thanks to Alan Blakely, my SDEC member, for catching that I left TX-14 (currently held by Republican Ron Paul) off my list. I've corrected that.

Texas SBOE's War on Social Studies

The Texas State Board of Education is coming to the end of a long effort by social conservatives to insert religion into the required K-12 social studies curriculum. A side battle which they are having a lot of fun with, is ensuring white males rule the curriculum and textbooks, excluding minorities, females and oppressed peoples. One of the "expert reviewers" appointed by two of the religious right members of the Board justifies that piece of the fight with an argument that females, Hispanics, blacks, etc. were only able to rise up and achieve because of the white males in charge who heroically allowed them to do that. (I'm not making this up - google "David Barton" and grab a stiff drink, and know this guy is influencing textbooks and educational standards in The Great State. Here's a link to prayer requests for David Barton prior to one of his appearances before the SBOE. )

The current makeup of the SBOE is no accident. The religious right faction ran and won in order to inject religion into the science and social studies standards. This faction includes McLeroy, Lowe, Dunbar, Cargill, Mercer, Bradley and Leo. There are 15 elected members on the board, and there are some weak sisters whom the seven seem to have some spell over, getting them to vote with them (spell may very equal "position on the Permanent School Fund committee and it's accompanying personal financial goodies" - one of whom is not running for re-election - Agosto.) Anyway, as social studies curriculum expert and SBOE Board Member Pat Hardy says, "They've got the votes . . . fasten your seat belts.

This group's "successes" with the English language arts and science TEKS are instructive as we look at what to expect when the social studies TEKS are finalized at the March SBOE meeting. With ELA, they tossed out all the work of the educator committees and adopted their own standards that were literally slipped under hotel room doors of SBOE members the day before the final vote. I was at the SBOE meeting where they approved the new science TEKS and it was not a win for good science, although it could have been far worse.

At tomorrow's SBOE meeting, they take public testimony. On Thursday, the board discusses and debates the standards, and on Friday they take an initial vote on the social studies standards. At their March meeting, they finalize the standards. Know that their January votes are non-binding, and that this is how it really works - you can watch the proceedings live on the internet, but what you miss are the various Rasputins whispering in the ears of the religious right members, guiding the process. These board members are on a religious mission, and they have far right religious leaders advising them and orchestrating their every move - including amendment wording - which is were the game is really played, the twists and turns of amendments leading up to the final vote.

The Texas Tribune has a great overview of what's been going on with the social studies TEKS revsions over the past year, and as always, the Texas Freedom Network blog is a must read source on the SBOE. They will be blogging live from the SBOE meeting Thursday and Friday.

UPDATE: Kuff correctly observes that while we have real opportunities to oust some of these wingnuts in November, it will be too late to prevent what they are about to do to the social studies curriculum . . . and what the damage they've already done to ELA and science teaching and learning in Texas.

Harris County Democratic Party and Primary Endorsements

While I'm trying to keep warm at my house, waiting for the pizza to arrive and the national championship game to start (hook 'em!), I have friends who are Democratic precinct chairs in Harris County who are at a county executive committee meeting. Thinking about them being deprived of football tonight, brought to mind this press release I received today. There's a group calling themselves the Coalition of Harris County Democratic Elected Officials, and HCDP Chair Gerry Birnberg wants to make it clear that group does not speak for the Harris County Democratic Party. Read his statement below, at the end of this post.

Gerry makes it clear that elected officials, organizations, clubs and precinct chairs can endorse one Democrat over another in the Democratic Primary, but that the Harris County Democratic Party does not. From the Texas Democratic Party rules, there is some clarity about who is not allowed to endorse a Republican candidate (or any other opposing Party):

1. A Party Officer shall be removed from office if during the current term of office such officer publicly supports or endorses an opposing party or nominee of an opposing party, a person seeking the nomination of an opposing party, or a non-Democratic candidate seeking an office in an election in which candidates may file by party affiliation and a Democrat is seeking the office in question.

2.The terms “publicly supports” and “endorses” shall include, but not be limited to: serving on a campaign committee; giving financial support, including contributing money or its equivalent such as equipment loans, services or supplies; willingly and knowingly allowing the officer’s name to be used in any kind of letter, public endorsement, news release, or advertisement; or actively soliciting votes by making a public appearance or a door-to-door solicitation of votes.

Party officers are: precinct chairs, county chairs, SDEC representatives, State Chair, convention Delegates and Alternates, and any other officer elected by a Party committee or convention.

From HCDP Chair Gerry Birnberg:

A WORD ABOUT ENDORSEMENTS

Now that the filing deadline has passed and we have a record number of Democrats seeking elective office - many of them in contested primary races - various clubs, organizations, groups, and individuals (or groups of individuals), including precinct chairs, will be making recommendations or endorsements concerning who they think voters should select in the primary election, many after interviewing the candidates or obtaining questionnaire answers from them.

I just want to remind everyone that the Harris County Democratic Party does not endorse candidates in contested primaries. If you hear of an endorsement by some Democratic club or some Democratic elected official or group of elected officials or some Democratic organization or some precinct chair, please do not be confused: that endorsement does not constitute the endorsement of the Harris County Democratic Party or of the 2010 Harris County Democratic Party Coordinated Campaign and it is not made on behalf of, or at the behest of, HCDP, nor does it indicate HCDP agreement or approval. The folks at the Harris County Project, which plays a substantial role in electing Democrats countywide in the fall, have asked me to inform Democrats that that group also does not endorse candidates in the primaries, and it has not participated in any process to favor or disfavor or endorse any candidates in the primary election. The role of the Harris County Project (and that of the Harris County Democratic Party) is to win elections in the fall, not to promote contested candidates in the spring.

Organizations and individuals (including precinct chairs) are entirely free to endorse candidates of their choosing (so long as they do not publically support or endorse a candidate seeking the Republican Party's nomination for office). In fact, the fact that certain groups or individuals have endorsed particular candidates may be very helpful to some voters in deciding which candidates they wish to support with their votes, dollars, or efforts. But the Harris County Democratic Party does not engage in those activities, and wants to be sure there is no confusion over that fact.

Gerry Birnberg

Chair, Harris County Democratic Party

January 7, 2010

Texas State Board of Education - Who Filed?

So, who filed in all of the Texas SBOE races by the deadline on Monday? Fortunately for all of us, we don't have to track that data down. My smart friend Suzy Allison did the work, so here you go. She's also got info about the location of the districts, as well as a snapshot of their voting history. Suzy is a Democratic activist in Clear Lake, and was a leader on Laura Ewing's campaign team in her 2008 run for the SBOE.

She sent this out as a newsletter, so if you'd like to receive future editions by email, please see how to do that at the end of this post. Here's the newsletter in full. I'll have some of my own analysis of these races over the next two months.

STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION NEWSLETTER

PRIMARY FILINGS ARE COMPLETE - CANDIDATES FOR THE MARCH 2 PRIMARY

District 1 - 38 counties from El Paso to Starr County along the Rio Grande, stretching north to include Midland County, Mason and Bandera Counties.  Rene Nunez (D), incumbent.  Nunez has filed to retain his seat, and will be challenged by Carlos "Charlie" Garza (R).  Neither has a primary challenger, so this is the November 2nd lineup.  This district's down-ballot race non-Presidential year performance in 2006 was 53.5% D, 46.5% R.

District 3 - All or part of 13 counties from Bexar in the north to Hidalgo County in the south.  Rick Agosto (D), incumbent.  Agosto, under fire on ethical questions and criticized for some votes with the far-right faction of the board, is not running for re-election.   Michael Soto has filed to run as a Democrat, and Tony Cunningham and Joanie Muenzler will face off in the Republican primary.  The down-ballot off-year numbers from 2006 for this district are 57.9% D, 42.1% R.

District 4 - Part of Harris County and a small part of Fort Bend County.  Lawrence A. Allen, Jr. (D), incumbent.  Allen has filed for re-election and will be unopposed in both the primary and general elections.  This district's off-year down-ballot percentages are 76.6% D, 23.4% R.

District 5 - Parts of Bexar and Travis Counties, as well as Bell, Burnet, Llano, Gillespie, Blanco, Kendall, Hays, Caldwell, Guadalupe and Comal Counties.  Ken Mercer (R), incumbent.  Mercer has filed for re-election and will be opposed in the Republican primary by Tim Tuggey.   Rebecca Bell-Metereau, Robert M. Bohmfalk, Daniel Boone and Josiah James Ingalls will face each other in the Democratic primary.  The 2006 down-ballot percentages for this district are 41.2% D, 58.8% R.

District 9 - From  Fannin, Lamar and Red River Counties in the north, stretching south to include Brazos, Grimes and Walker Counties, includes part of Collin County.  29 counties lie entirely or partly in this district.  Don McLeroy (R), the incumbent, has filed for re-election and will be challenged in the Republican primary by Thomas Ratliff.  No Democrats filed.  The 2006 down-ballot percentages for the district are 35.9% D, 64.1% R.

District 10 - Parts of Travis County on the western end, and Fort Bend and Brazoria Counties on the eastern end, this also includes Williamson, Milam, Bastrop, Burleson, Lee, Fayette, Gonzales, DeWitt, Lavaca, Colorado, Austin, Washington and Waller Counties.  Cynthia Dunbar (R), incumbent.  Dunbar chose not to run for re-election.  Judy Jennings will be the Democratic nominee, as she has no primary opposition.  Rebecca Osborne, Brian Russell and Marsha Farney will face each other in the Republican primary.  This district's down-ballot performance in 2006 was 46.7% D, 53.3% R.

District 12 - Parts of Dallas and Collin Counties, Rockwall County.  Geraldine "Tincy" Miller (R), incumbent.  Miller has filed for re-election and will be opposed in the Republican primary by George M. Clayton.  No Democrat filed.  This district's 2006 down-ballot numbers were 37.8% D, 62.2% R.

District 15 - This 75-county (as in huge) panhandle district includes Lubbock County as its largest population center.  Bob Craig (R), the incumbent, has filed for re-election and will be opposed in the Republican primary by Randy Rives.  No Democrat filed.  This district's down-ballot numbers in 2006 were 30.2% D, 69.8% R.

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Next issue of this newsletter will include more detailed information on races and candidates, as well as a little bit of analysis and praise for a group doing great work in raising the profile of the SBOE race in District 10.

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The down-ballot off-year percentages given here are obviously not predictive.  They are taken from the raw numbers for a statewide judicial race in 2006 where neither candidate spent or campaigned much, so are fairly indicative of what party identification alone would get you.  I am indebted to the Texas Freedom Network for the data, which they released at a candidate training (and reality therapy) event in Austin July 22, 2009.  Demographic shifts in the intervening years, the increased public awareness of the State Board of Education and its ongoing controversies, and candidate efforts to increase their name recognition and get their messages out will have an impact on the electoral outcomes.

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News about candidates and events, requests to be added to or removed from the distribution list, and items about the SBOE are welcome.  The email address is Suzy.Allison@att.net.

Interview with CM Johnson about CD 18

Houston City Council Member Jarvis Johnson sat down with bloggers at
Harris County Democratic Party headquarters today for an interview
about why he was running against Sheila Jackson Lee:

It's a democracy. It makes incumbents stronger to have an opponent.
He's had opponents in his council races and that's made him better.

Jackson Lee's constituents need a choice. Some are not happy with her
over her support for Hillary.

He gave a lot of statistics about the high unemployment and dropout
rates. Says we need a pipeline to employment at NASA and the Port via
students in HISD and North Forest ISD.

Johnson says he'll win by going door to door just like he won the
District B council seat. He said he won against an incumbent, but it
was an open seat against Felicia Galloway Hall.

He's won by big numbers in B and I think he sees a political
opportunity in 18 to run on his Obama bona fides. According to
Johnson, 95% of B is in 18.

He was asked what Jackson Lee had done wrong that caused her to need
to be replaced. He said there was nothing horrible she had done, but
that voters need a choice.

Jarvis Johnson files for Jackson Lee's Congressional Seat

Houston City Council Member Jarvis Johnson is at Harris County
Democratic party offices filing to run against Sheila Jackson Lee.

Johnson was sworn into his third term of office this moring along with
Annise Parker for mayor and the other city council members.

Annise Parker's Inaugural Address

Parker's mom, children, in-laws and other family members introduced.

She asks three things from us:
Prayers

Patience - everything we need to do WILL be done. The things we can
do, we can do with hard work. Warning: Democracy is slow and messy.

Perserverance

Fourth thing. We will make mistakes and have failures. Asking for
forgiveness ahead of that.

Her family values - contributing back to her community.

"The City of Houston is on your side."

Compliments City workforce. Gives examples - BARC employee, public
works employee, nurse in city clinic - unsung heroes.

Will not furlough city workers.

Challenges - budget shortfall, opportunities for efficiencies and
improvements. Thanks Mayor White for bringing handed a good city in
good shape. Other challenges - infrastructure, redistricting.

"City will be shaped by it's citizens, not by politicians." "We are in
this together."

Quotes Margaret Mead. Cool! Parker was anthropology major at Rice.

Historic election. Made news around the world. Tradition in Houston of
electing mayors for what they will do, not who they are. Speaks to
HGLBT community. "This is one step towards greater justice. --- Face
world with dignity and integrity."

Asks us to imagine the Houston we can be, should be and will be.
Reiterates campaign themes - coordinated policing, efficient
transportation options (got enthusiastic applause), clean air (good
for business), safe from flood waters (long-term commitment, dollars),
create partnerships, decrease high school drop out rate (yay,
Annise!!!).

"A great city embraces diversity . . . abhors elitism . . . Sees it's
own potential for greatness and makes it happen . . . Join me and make
it happen."

Sent from my iPhone

Mayor Parker swears in City Council members

I know what an exciting moment this is for new council members
Costello, Bradford, Stardig, Pennington and Hoang. Congratulations!

Annise Parker sworn in!

Inauguration is packed!

The crowd roared when Annise was introduced. Exciting day for Parker
supporters!! Big day for Ron Green and the new council members.

The music is lovely. I'm so proud to be here.

Live from the inauguration!

I'm in Council Member Noriega's box and this is my view. Former
mayors White, Hoffeinz, Brown, Whitmire and Lanier are sitting on
stage. 2010 Council members are being introduced.
Inauguration orchestra has been amazing! Melissa just introduced.
Lots of cheering. Jolanda Jones in a gorgeous hat.
There's Mayor Parker and Kathy Hubbard!