Heard In The Ladies Room At The Texas Democratic Convention - Day 1

by Barb Walters

Close to the end of day 1 at the Democratic Convention in Houston. Spent most of the day in the Ladies Room and met men and women from all over the state.

Michelle Petty is running for the Texas Supreme Court. All 9 on the court are Republicans and have been for years. Michelle shared examples of the kind of decisions they need to make.

The court has ruled that rape cases involving health care providers have to go under the medical malpractices act which limits their rights of recovery and makes it more difficult. Historically these have been personal injury cases. Vote Michelle.

Spent time getting to know James White who is running for Senate District 8 Committeeman. Personally I am endorsing James because he will work collaboratively with the SD8 Committeewoman and will work across the county line between Dallas and Collin. He spent time in the Ladies Room.

I met some union women from Wise County and Harris County and will learn more about what their political issues are during the "Labor of Love" session tomorrow.

My session on how to activate Democrats was well-received. Several people offered their ideas of what they do in their counties to activate Democrats -- like doing outreach to recruit precinct chairs, writing letters to the editor, and offering programs at meetings on important issues like same sex marriage. One button says: Democrats: Say I Do. Stonewall Democrats were distributing these at their reception asking us to put same sex marriage in the Democratic Party Platform.

I can say the Ladies Room was :"bubbly" with sparkling wine and sparkling conversation.

Barb Walters, CPLP
Texas Democratic Women of Collin County President
president@tdwcc.org

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The Ladies' Room Hospitality Suite Schedule - Hilton Hotel Room 21029 west

Thursday, June 7th

• 3 - 4:30 PM - Welcome Reception, Meet the RW leadership and members (Sponsored by ROADWomen)
• 5 - 7 PM - Top 10 Ways to Activate Democrats! Workshop (Sponsored by the Democratic Women Collin County)
• 8 - 10 PM - Stop by! Visit! Network! (Sponsored by Zeph Capo, Candidate for DND Committee)

Friday, June 8th

• 8:30 - 10 AM - Breakfast and Organizational Meeting of The Progressive Democratic Women's Network (Sponsored by Texas Progressive Women)
• 10:15 - 11 AM - Reception for Union Women. Host Andie Gardner (Sponsored by I.L.A. Local 1351 Port of Houston)
• 11 - 1:30 PM - THE HIGH TEA PARTY! Honoring Non, Sissy Farenthold (Sponsored by Capital Area Democratic Women and National Women's Political Caucus-Texas)
• 2 - 4 PM - Down Time with lemonde, cookies & relaxation (Visit and Network) or possibly function featuring Ann Johnson DS 17
• 5 - 7 PM - Honoring Women's Health Champions. Special guest Melanie Linton, CEO of Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast. (Sponsored by Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast)
• 7:30 - 10 PM - Champaign & Martini Reception "Friends of Education" with the smooth sounds of Carli Mosier & Taylormade (Sponsored by Zeph Capo, Candidate for DNC Committeeman, Hosted by Erica Graham, Candidate-Judge Harris County Civil Court at Law 1 and Linda Bridges, President of Texas AFT, Gayle Fallon, HFT, and Sherrie Matula, TSTA

Saturday, June 8th

• 10:30 - 12 noon - "Flush Rush" and "Send Perry Packing" Farewell Event. Come sign petitions against Rush and Perry (Sponsored by I.L.A. Local 1351 Port of Houston and Vicinity

Obama's New Ad And Romney's Dash For The Cash In Texas

A week after Texas GOP primary voters gave him the delegates needed for him to secure the Republican presidential nomination, Mitt Romney comes to Texas looking for campaign cash. Romney is scheduled to deliver his core argument, "that he knows how to create jobs and as president he would revive the struggling economy," Tuesday afternoon at a Fort Worth office supply company. He then heads to a fundraiser at the old Belo Mansion in downtown Dallas on Tuesday night, before heading to fundraisers in San Antonio and Houston on Wednesday.

Texans have contributed more than $5.8 million to his 2012 campaign, and that doesn't include the millions of dollars in cash wealthy Republican have contributed to Romney-booster super PACs, including Restore Our Future and American Crossroads. The gate fee for Romney's Dallas fundraiser starts at $2,500 per person, and Donors who contribute $50,000, or motivate $200,000 from others, get a private reception with Romney.

We've Heard it All Before
Obama for America Television Ad

Meanwhile, President Obama's OFA campaign has placed a new television spot directly attacking Mitt Romney's core argument: that he knows how to create jobs and as president he would revive the struggling economy.

OFA's ad, which is running in nine battleground states, begins with a clip from Romney's campaign to become governor of Massachusetts and him saying that he knows how to create jobs. It then highlights that the state dropped to 47th for job creation under his tenure.

"One of the worst economic records in the country," a narrator says as headlines flash on the screen. The ad attacks Romney for losing twice the national average of manufacturing jobs and says he outsourced call center jobs to India.

The message: "Mitt Romney ran for governor of Massachusetts promising more jobs, decreased debt, and smaller government. By the time Romney left office, state debt had increased, the size of government had grown, and Massachusetts had fallen behind almost every other state in job creation. Romney economics didn't work then, and it won't work now."

The ad will run in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

Voter Registration Cancellations

Houston Chronicle

More than 300,000 valid voters were notified they could be removed from Texas rolls from November 2008 to November 2010 - often because they were mistaken for someone else or failed to receive or respond to generic form letters, according to Houston Chronicle interviews and analysis of voter registration data.

Statewide, more than 1.5 million voters could be on the path to cancellation if they fail to vote or to update their records for two consecutive federal elections: One out of every 10 Texas voters' registration is currently suspended. Among voters under 30, the figure is about one in five.

Texas voter registration rates are among the lowest in the nation, but Texas pays nearly twice as much to cancel voters - 40 cents per cancellation - as it does to register new ones at 25 cents.

State and federal laws require the nation's voter rolls be regularly reviewed and cleaned to remove duplicates and eliminate voters who moved away or died. But across Texas, such "removals" rely on outdated computer programs, faulty procedures and voter responses to generic form letters, often resulting in the wrong people being sent cancellation notices, including new homeowners, college students, Texans who work abroad and folks with common names, a Chronicle review of cancellations shows.

The Secretary of State's office says it automatically cancels voters only when there is a "strong match" between a new registration and an older existing voter - such as full name, Social Security number and/or date of birth.

However, each year thousands of voters receive requests to verify voter information or be cancelled because they share the same name as a voter who died, got convicted of a crime or claimed to be a non-citizen to avoid jury duty.

In Harris County alone, more than 100,000 voters share their name with at least one other voter. The phenomenon is even more common among Hispanics.

Voters receive form letters generated by workers in county election offices that "therefore may be more subject to error," said Rich Parsons, a spokesman for the Secretary of State in emailed responses to the newspaper. Voters who fail to respond to form letters - or never receive them - get dropped.

Statewide, 21 percent of the people who received purge letters later proved they were valid voters, compared with 16 percent in Harris County, according to a Chronicle analysis of the latest U.S. Election Assistance Commission data. Other counties had higher percentages: 37 percent of voters who received removal letters in Galveston County were valid voters, 40 percent in Bexar County and 70 percent in Collin County.

Read the full story @ Houston Chronicle.

Texas State Democratic Convention And The SDEC

by Linda Magid

Delegates to the 2012 Democratic State Convention will assemble in Houston from Thursday, June 7 through Saturday June 9. One of the first items of state convention business that delegates will consider is who they will elect to serve on the State Democratic Executive Committee until the 2014 Democratic State Convention convenes.

But what is the State Democratic Executive Committee and what does it do, exactly?

TDP Chair Candidate Gilberto Hinojosa

By Michael Handley, DBN Managing Editor

Texas Democrats, who will attend the State Democratic Convention in Houston June 7-9, have an opportunity to change the direction of the party. Party chairman Boyd Richie is stepping down, and a new party chairman must be elected at the state convention on June 9th. Judge Gilberto Hinojosa is running to be the next chairman of the Texas Democratic Party, to bring that much needed change.

Last November this Blog published an article, "The Texas Democratic Party Needs A New Direction:"

Texas’s House Delegation Likely Won’t Reflect Hispanic Boom

TPM

After intense infighting and multiple delays, Tuesday’s Texas primaries proceeded under a compromise map intended to hand two of the state’s four new House districts to Latinos. It now appears as if neither of the new Hispanic-majority districts will send one of their own to Washington.

Texas’s population ballooned over the last decade due to the state’s rapidly growing Hispanic population. Between 2000 and 2010, the number of Hispanics grew by 2.8 million in the state; the group now comprises almost 40 percent of the population. But they make up less than one-fifth of its congressional delegation — and after November, that contingent could shrink, even after advocates fought tooth and nail to open the doors for Latino candidates with the state’s redistricting map.

Collin County Primary Results

By the end of primary election day the 435,397 registered voters in Collin County had cast 54,901 ballots in the Democratic and Republican primaries for a 12.6% voter turnout.

5,676 of those ballots were cast in the Democratic Primary and 49,225 Republican Primary ballots were cast. 22,644 Republican ballots and 2,645 Democratic ballots were counted for Election Day - including vote by mail ballots. Between both parties a total of 1,640 vote by mail ballots were cast with the majority being cast for the Republican primary.

The primary took place under interim district maps ordered by a San Antonio federal district court earlier this year while the maps passed by the 2011 Texas legislature and signed by Gov. Rick Perry continue under "preclearance" review by a Washington, D.C. District Court.

Under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, Texas is one of eight states with a history of discrimination that submit congressional redistricting proposals to either the Justice Department or a D.C. court preclearance before they can take effect.

Texas Republicans are threatening redraw the redistricting maps during the 2013 Texas legislative session. GOP Primary voters approved their party's Primary Ballot Proposition #5 that reads, "Redistricting - The Texas Legislature should redraw the court-imposed lines for Congress and State legislative districts in its upcoming session in order to remedy inequities.

As did the rest of Texas, Collin County voters split their votes for the U.S. Senate candidates listed on the Democratic and Republican ballots.

Remember Why We Honor This Day

Memorial Day is a federal holiday observed annually in the United States on the last Monday of May.

It is a day of remembering the men and women who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces.

Formerly known as Decoration Day, it originated after the American Civil War to commemorate the Union soldiers who died in the Civil War.

By the 20th century Memorial Day had been extended to honor all Americans who have died in all wars.

Many people visit cemeteries and memorials, particularly to honor those who have died in military service.

Many volunteers place an American flag on each grave in national cemeteries.

We should also remember "The Other Forgotten Soldier," military service dogs.

Find out about The Other Forgotten Soldier at:

• Save A Vet Org
• Military Working Dog Foundation

New Orleans' Times-Picayune Newspaper Going Digital

New Orleans learned last week that one of its bedrock institutions will undergo a major makeover: The Times-Picayune, the city's daily newspaper with a 175-year history, announced it will cut back its newsprint version to three days a week and expand its digital news publications. This change, which was taken because of declining print revenues in a digital age, is scheduled to take effect sometime this fall. When it happens, New Orleans will be the biggest city in the country without a daily newspaper.

A new company - the NOLA Media Group, which will include The Times-Picayune and its affiliated web site NOLA.com - will reshape how the New Orleans area's dominant news organization delivers local news, sports and entertainment coverage in an increasingly digital age. NOLA Media Group will significantly increase its online news reporting 24 hours a day, seven days a week, while offering enhanced printed newspapers on a schedule of three days a week. The newspaper will be home-delivered and sold in stores on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays only.

The decision to form a new company signals a change in the way news is delivered to an increasingly wired New Orleans area audience. As printed newspaper circulation declines, online readership is surging. The internet is slowly closing in on television as America's main source of national and international news. The rapid adoption of cell phones and, especially, the spread of internet-connected smartphones and iPad-like devices are changing the way people communicate with others, find information and read the news.

2012 Primary Early Voting Results

With only the Memorial Day weekend to get through until Primary Election Day, the University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll and Burnt Orange Report poll released earlier this week suggests that both the Texas Democratic and Republican Parties may need July 31 runoff elections to select the names that will appear on the November ballot for retiring Kay Bailey Hutchinson's U.S. Senate seat. If a runoff election is scheduled, early voting will run from Monday, July 23 through Friday, July 27.

The pace of voter traffic at early polling places quickened through the second week of early voting across Collin County with the heaviest traffic coming on the last day, Friday.

Several Collin County polling places were quite busy on Friday with heavy Republican voter traffic. Democratic Party voter turnout was also somewhat heavier on Friday, but GOP voters still topped Democratic Party voters by nearly a 10 to 1 ratio.

On Thursday, 3,039 people voted early in the Republican Primary and an additional 5,993 people voted the Republican ballot on Friday. For the Democratic Party's primary 337 people voted early on Thursday and an additional 651 people voted the Democratic ballot on Friday.

In Collin County, the tally for GOP in-person voting through the close of early voting on Friday May 25, stood at 25,257 voters checked in to vote. Collin County had the fifth highest early Republican turnout among all 254 Texas Counties.

The tally for Democratic Party in-person voting at the close of early voting stood at 2,963 voters checked to vote. Collin County ranked thirteenth in early Democratic Party turnout among all 254 Texas Counties. (see table below the fold at bottom.)