Motley Moose – Archive

Sondra Haltom, founder of Empower the Vote Texas, is correct when she reminds us that we simply cannot afford to freak out or to freak others out when dealing with the Republicans’ new voter suppression law requiring photo identification to vote. As Texas Democrats help voters deal with the confusion and obstacles created by this unnecessary law that is being challenged in court, we need to try to focus on voter protection. What that means in practice is to not just get angry, but to get informed and to get active.

Turn Texas blue? Not if we can help it! http://t.co/59yrg63Fu3 #BGTX #txlege #tcot

– FreedomWorks (@FreedomWorks) June 26, 2013

In the midst of Texas state Senator Wendy Davis’ epic filibuster of SB 5 on Tuesday evening, GOP strategists apparently decided it was time to leak their plans to counter Democrats’ efforts to turn Texas back to blue (my emphasis):

The conservative outside group FreedomWorks has drawn up plans to spend nearly $8 million mobilizing and expanding the GOP base in Texas, in a move to counter state and national Democratic efforts to make the state more electorally competitive, POLITICO has learned.

In a twelve-page internal strategy document obtained by POLITICO, FreedomWorks says that the Republican Party should be alarmed in particular by the Democratic group Battleground Texas, which several Obama campaign officials founded this year with the mission of organizing liberal-leaning constituencies that currently vote at below-average rates.

Several weeks ago, Steve Munisteri, Chairman of the Republican Party of Texas, announced that they will receive help from the national GOP, which is an indication of how seriously the Republicans are taking the threat that BGTX poses to their continued control of Texas. It’s the equivalent of national Democrats’ spending large amounts in California, or even New York.  

Munisteri has also vowed to raise 10 times as much as Battleground Texas:

“They talk about they’re going to be putting tens of million into Battleground Texas,” said Munisteri. “If there ever were a significant threat because somebody put $20 million in, our business community would probably spend that on Republicans by a factor of several-fold; $75 million was raised just from Texas for Romney. None of that money was spent in the state. Over a six-year period, the RNC raised $41 million in Texas and spent about $400,000. Those dollars can easily flow back the other way if we need them, so if they spend $10 million, we can spend $100 million.”

If so, for a national Democratic donor that would mean for every dollar spent in Texas, Republicans would spend $10, money they wouldn’t be spending elsewhere. That’s not a bad return on investment.

The Republican Party of Texas is going to need all the help they can get from the Koch brothers via FreedomWorks as well as from their national party, but it still isn’t going to be enough. There are approximately 200 volunteers in the inaugural group of Battleground Texas Summer Fellows, and we have been organizing and registering voters all over our state. Every single day.  

Anyone who doubts that Texas is now a battleground state should take a second look at the hard-fought battles-including Thursday’s “people’s filibuster”-during the past week after Republican Gov. Rick Perry, at the urging of Republican Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, added onerous abortion restrictions to the special session, restrictions that would close all but 5 abortion clinics in Texas even though the GOP-controlled legislature had failed to pass any anti-abortion bills during the regular session.

Please Stand With Texas Women today as our Democratic Senators filibuster Senate Bill 5 while other Democratic politicians, women’s health advocates, activists, and ordinary Texans support this battle to prevent Republican Senators from passing their anti-woman, anti-abortion omnibus bill in the final hours of this special session, which ends at midnight.

Dems Approach Abortion Victory as Special Session Wanes

Texas Democrats, far outnumbered by Republicans in both the House and the Senate, are nonetheless on the verge of killing one of the most restrictive abortion proposals in the nation – at least for now.

Using delaying tactics and parliamentary rules, the minority party argued into the wee hours in the state House on Monday morning and then stuck together to keep the GOP from jamming Senate Bill 5 through the Senate in the afternoon and evening. Republicans vowed to try to muster enough support to push the bill through Monday night, but that effort failed. […]

Sen. Wendy Davis, a Fort Worth Democrat and rising star in the party, has vowed to launch a filibuster. Unless Republicans can change some votes, the abortion measure can’t be brought up for debate until Tuesday morning at about 11 a.m. Since the session ends at midnight Tuesday, that means she could kill the legislation by talking nonstop for about 13 hours.

As Democratic Senator Wendy Davis leads the filibuster, she needs Texas women to share your stories:

Stand with me tomorrow, and share your story with me so I can tell it from the Senate floor. http://t.co/svlU3seE6z #SB5 #txlege

– Wendy Davis (@WendyDavisTexas) June 25, 2013

Filibuster: 2 hours @WendyDavisTexas going strong with less that 11 hrs to go. Stand with Texas women. #txlege #SB5 pic.twitter.com/278MDqjgWN

– Sylvia R. Garcia (@SenatorSylvia) June 25, 2013

On Tuesday, tom 47 posted a comment quoting State Rep. Yvonne Davis’s (HD-111, Dallas) email emphasizing the importance of our participating in the field hearings that have been scheduled during the Texas Legislature’s special session on redistricting:

It is important to note the federal district court repeatedly expressed that these interim redistricting plans are temporary plans. Not only are the interim redistricting plans temporary in nature, the courts only ordered the plans to provide for timely 2012 primary and general elections in Texas.

The interim maps do not go far enough to reflect the minority population in Texas. Therefore, I encourage you to attend any one of the hearings and urge the select committee to draw and adopt fair, nondiscriminatory plans that accurately reflect the population of Texas. […]

So let’s encourage our elected officials to vote for maps that are fair and representative of our state’s diversity. Empower the Vote Texas explains how (my emphasis):

Better – Attend a public hearing and register against HB/SB 1, HB/SB 3, and HB/SB 4 (the bills that would make the interim maps permanent). All you have to do is fill out a card and your position becomes part of the official record of the hearings. A good option if you can attend but are uncomfortable testifying.

AWESOME – Testify at one of the public hearings! There is nothing more compelling than hearing from voters about how legislation impacts you. Come let the committee members know how the current maps don’t fairly represent your community.

Texas House of Representatives

The House Special Select Redistricting Committee has scheduled public hearings in Dallas, San Antonio, and Houston:

Dallas: Thursday, June 6 , 2013 @ 2:00 P.M.

DART Headquarters

Board Room – 1st Floor

1401 Pacific Ave., Dallas, TX 75202

Notice of Public Hearing

San Antonio: Monday, June 10 , 2013 @ 2:00 P.M

VIA Metro Center

Terry Eskridge Community Room

1021 San Pedro Ave, San Antonio, TX 78212

Notice of Public Hearing

Houston: Wednesday, June 12 , 2013 @ 2:00 P.M.

University of Houston – Main Campus

Michael J. Cemo Hall, Room 100 D

4800 Calhoun Rd., Houston, TX 77004

Notice of Public Hearing

If you attend a House hearing, sign in AGAINST HB 1, HB 3, and HB 4.

Public testimony will be limited to 5 minutes. If submitting written testimony, please provide 25 copies to the committee clerk with your name on each.

Texas Senate

The Senate Select Committee on Redistricting has scheduled public hearings in Austin, Corpus Christi, and Houston:

Austin: Thursday, June 06, 2013 @ 9:00 AM

Capitol Extension, Room E1.036

Two overflow rooms will be available in E1.016 and E1.028

Live broadcast

Notice of Public Hearing

Corpus Christi: Friday, June 07, 2013 @ 5:00 PM

Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi

University Center, Lone Star Ballroom

6300 Ocean Drive

Corpus Christi, Texas 78412

Notice of Public Hearing

Houston: Saturday, June 08, 2013 @ 11:00 AM

University of Houston

Michael J. Cemo Hall

4800 Calhoun Road

Houston, Texas 77004

Notice of Public Hearing

Austin: Wednesday, June 12, 2013 @ 9:00 AM

E1.036 (Finance Room)

Two overflow rooms will be available in E1.016 and E1.028.

Live broadcast

Notice of Public Hearing

If you attend a Senate hearing, sign in AGAINST SB 1, SB 3, and SB 4.

Note the live broadcasts of the Austin hearings.

Invited and public testimony will be taken. Public testimony may be limited to three minutes. If submitting written testimony, please provide 30 copies to the committee clerk with your name on each.

This is short notice, but our participation in these redistricting field hearings will, at the very least, signal that we’re paying attention as Texas Republicans attempt to rush through adoption of the court-drawn interim maps, which were based on the 2011 Republican-drawn maps that a federal court rejected because they intentionally discriminated.

Although the San Antonio Court’s redistricting hearing was scheduled for May 29th and the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to decide Shelby Co. (challenge to the constitutionality of preclearance requirements under section 5 of the Voting Rights Act) by the end of June, Republican Gov. Rick Perry went ahead and called a special session to begin considering on May 27th

Legislation which ratifies and adopts the interim redistricting plans ordered by the federal district court as the permanent plans for districts used to elect members of the Texas House of Representatives, Texas Senate and United States House of Representatives.

Credit: The Economist

Michael Li tweeted updates throughout the San Antonio court’s redistricting hearing, then posted a recap:

[Wednesday’s] redistricting hearing in San Antonio was largely procedural but did have the court wrestling with some key threshold issues.

Indeed, much of the hearing centered the possible legal consequences of the Texas Legislature making the interim maps permanent.

Hispanic and African-American plaintiff groups took strong issue with the State of Texas’ argument that the case would essentially begin anew.

Although the San Antonio Court’s redistricting hearing was scheduled for May 29th and the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to decide Shelby Co. (challenge to the constitutionality of preclearance requirements under section 5 of the Voting Rights Act) by the end of June, Republican Gov. Rick Perry went ahead and called a special session to begin considering on May 27th

Legislation which ratifies and adopts the interim redistricting plans ordered by the federal district court as the permanent plans for districts used to elect members of the Texas House of Representatives, Texas Senate and United States House of Representatives.

Credit: The Economist

Michael Li tweeted updates throughout the San Antonio court’s redistricting hearing, then posted a recap:

[Wednesday’s] redistricting hearing in San Antonio was largely procedural but did have the court wrestling with some key threshold issues.

Indeed, much of the hearing centered the possible legal consequences of the Texas Legislature making the interim maps permanent.

Hispanic and African-American plaintiff groups took strong issue with the State of Texas’ argument that the case would essentially begin anew.

In Finally Something We Agree On, Battleground Texas just posted an audio clip of Steve Munisteri, the Texas GOP chair, speaking to the newly created “Battlefield Dallas” group. If y’all think that name sounds a bit familiar, just wait til you hear the clip, which I have transcribed for those who can’t listen at the moment (my emphasis):

Have any of you heard of this group, Battleground Texas? Raise your hands.

Okay, I want all of you to know that I have also heard of it. So I think it will save us a lot of time if you don’t call the state party to ask if we know about it.

In fact, I have threatened to have a new fundraising program that for everybody who calls to say, “Steve, have you heard about the Democrats, what are we doing about it?” … you have to pay a dollar. I think if we do that, we could raise a lot of money.

Folks, yes, we know about them. Isn’t it going to be nice that instead of Texans having to go to Ohio and Florida to have the action, I like the fact Texas is going to be a battleground. I like the fact that we don’t have to go out of state any more. The eyes of the nation will be on our state. And as our state goes, our entire country goes.

Now, some people are scared of that. But I take that, embrace it, and say, “What a wonderful opportunity for every one of us to help decide the direction of our country,” and that can start right here today.

It sounds as though Battleground Texas has Republicans worrying. A lot. And Munisteri has now conceded that Texas is going to be a battleground state, which is quite a turnaround from the Republicans’ attitude toward this effort back in January:

Republican strategist Dave Carney, who has worked extensively in Texas and steered Perry’s 2010 reelection, dismissed Democratic claims that a brand-new voter mobilization project would help transform the state. He called it a matter of “consultants coming up with a project to get paid.”

“The more money they spend on [Battleground Texas], the better it is for Texas and the taxpayers of Texas, because it will basically lead to continued conservative dominance of the state. There’s a reason voters are low-propensity voters. They don’t vote,” Carney said.

We already know that Munisteri is confident that the Republicans have considerably more money to spend here (my emphasis):

“They talk about they’re going to be putting tens of million into Battleground Texas,” said Munisteri. “If there ever were a significant threat because somebody put $20 million in, our business community would probably spend that on Republicans by a factor of several-fold; $75 million was raised just from Texas for Romney. None of that money was spent in the state. Over a six-year period, the RNC raised $41 million in Texas and spent about $400,000. Those dollars can easily flow back the other way if we need them, so if they spend $10 million, we can spend $100 million.”

If so, for a national Democratic donor that would mean for every dollar spent in Texas, Republicans would spend $10, money they wouldn’t be spending elsewhere. That’s not a bad return on investment.

They’re going to outspend us. So be it. Our side has people who were fired up and ready to go in both 2008 and 2012. And that’s not just some meaningless slogan-at a brunch yesterday honoring Democratic women in Galveston County, Jenn Brown, BGTX’s Executive Director, emphasized the number of Texans who volunteered in battleground states during the last two presidential elections, as well as the remarkably high level of energy and enthusiasm she has encountered all around our state during the past few months.

Late last night, the Texas Senate finally passed House Bill 950, a state version of the federal Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009. Authored by Democratic state Rep. Senfronia Thompson (HD-141), who has served for four decades and is a force to be reckoned with, HB 950

clarifies that pay discrimination claims based on “sex, race, national origin, age, religion and disability” accrue whenever an employee receives a discriminatory paycheck. Under the measure, a 180-day statute of limitations for filing an equal-pay lawsuit resets with each new discriminatory paycheck.

The bill passed after two Republicans weakened amended it:

One change to the bill, made by state Sen. Robert Deuell, R-Greenville, would limit the equal protection rights to wages, and not to benefits or other compensation. Another change came from state Sen. Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock, and it would require that the act apply only to claims that occur on or after the law takes effect in September.

Every Democratic legislator in the House and the Senate voted for HB 950, but many Republican lawmakers did not. Unfortunately, it wasn’t just Republican men who voted against equal pay for Texas women. Katherine Haenschen at the Burnt Orange Report sums up the situation:

What’s most appalling to me is the number of Republican women who voted against letting other women address gender-based pay discrimination. Jane Nelson, Joan Huffman, Cindy Burkett, Stefani Carter, Angie Chen Button, Myra Crownover, Marsha Farney, Susan King, Stephanie Klick, Lois Kolkhorst, Jodie Laubenberg, and Geanie Morrison — what the heck is wrong with you?! Do you really not recognize that women are paid less than men? Have y’all had such rarefied or willfully ignorant experiences that you don’t realize the need for this legislation? (I don’t understand the pathology of women who vote Republican anyways, but this seems like an extra dose of Stockholm syndrome here.)

When conservative Republican men can vote for this bill — whether for craven political reasons or out of a genuine concern for economic fairness, on some levels it matters not, seeing as the bill passed — and a bunch of professional, successful women serving in our Legislature cannot, these women need to reevaluate their decision-making criteria.

Here’s a fact that should have gotten the attention of more Texas GOP lawmakers, especially the women. Based on reports in the 2012 Census, Texas women outvoted men by approximately 625,000.

Selected Voter Turnout Data for Texas (in thousands)

Now obviously not all women vote for Democrats, but State Senator Wendy Davis (SD-10) was re-elected in 2012 in part because of a gender turnout gap that had women in her district outvoting men at a greater level than in Texas overall.

When HB 950 gets to his desk, Republican Governor Rick Perry should not be afraid to sign this bill. After all, businesses get to decide whether or not to pay all of their employees fairly:

“Employers who are doing the right thing and treating women fairly don’t view this bill as a threat,” said state Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, who sponsored the bill in the Senate. “Equal pay decisions should be made in the CEO’s office rather than a courtroom.”

And regarding the Republican women who voted against equal pay for equal work, many working women and those who care about them might be inclined, as Haenschen at the BOR was, to recall former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright’s saying:

“I think there is a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women.”

Trying to top last Saturday-“Gun Day”-which the Texas House spent passing 12 firearms bills in a transparent effort to pander to the NRA, the 83rd TX Legislative Session has now protected the rights of professional Santas to visit children in public schools again. And I’m not even going to try to list the ridiculous antics of Texas Republican politicians here and in Washington, DC.

I applied for and have now accepted a Battleground Texas Summer Fellowship. Are you fed up enough to apply as well? To attend a 1 1/2 hour training to become a Volunteer Deputy Voter Registrar for your county? Or to call Democratic supporters to let them know about BGTX?

After traveling around the state and meeting with 3500 activists, Battleground Texas is now scheduling Volunteer Deputy Voter Registrar (VDVR) trainings in many counties. The Austin American-Statesman has published an excellent and lengthy update: Battleground Texas wraps up 1st phase; now hard part begins:

“Texans are so excited, it’s unlike anything I’ve seen before,” said Battleground Texas’ executive director, Jenn Brown, the 31-year-old community organizer from Southern California who ran Obama’s field operation in indispensable Ohio in 2012. “Texans are ready. It’s time.”